001[Music] good evening and welcome to the Greenfield Public School school committee meeting it's Wednesday September 11th 2024 at 6: p.m. and the johnzon community center um the uh secretary is not here so I'll take the liberty of calling the role um member Goodwin here member Childs here member Sexton here and I Glenn Johnson mad am here we have a quorum just barely Jenny is uh the mayor's on her way in um um we um needed to schedule an executive session at this time um so we will be returning obviously and then doing public comment uh we don't think our conversation will take too long but we don't know exactly how long it will take um so I'd like to hear a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to um oh I should say first
002this meeting is being recorded by GCT if any other persons present are also recording you must notify the chairperson at this time not seeing any um I'd like to hear a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 3A section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares also pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 30A section 21 A4 to discuss the deployment of security Personnel or devices or strategies with respect there to Is there a motion so moved motion from member seon is there a second second second from Member Goodwin any discussion all in favor say I I I I and um we
003have an i for the mayor too the mayor arrived and 602 welcome um so we will now adjourn into executive session and we'll be returning um hopefully not too long from now [Music] n [Music] a [Music] a [Music] a [Music] he [Music] n [Music] n [Music] w [Music] n [Music] n [Music] a [Music] n [Music] e e [Music] w [Music] n [Music] n [Music] he [Music] w [Music] yeah e [Music] he [Music] a [Music] a [Music] a [Music] a [Music] he a [Music] n [Music] n [Music] e [Music] oh [Music] w [Music] a [Music] n [Music] has joined as well um so I guess let's see um mayor do we need to vote to come back to the meeting okay okay okay um Sydney are you ready okay um we're reconvening it's 6:42 PM um
004member Martini has joined while we were in executive session and our business manager Andy pette has joined as well our next item is um public comment [Music] good evening um so I have three quick oh Doug zelwin Greenfield um three quick points I hope um the first I had a question about the budgeting process the district budgeting process um I've asked a couple of different members of the school committee about you know what's happening with the bu bud and where things at and I got a universal we don't know which was troubling to me I mean I don't it seems to me that the school committee should somewhere be involved in the process and I remember from years ago that by the time the school committee members at the budget committee we sat in on
005a couple of meetings by the time they got budget numbers basically all the decisions had been made and so it was sort of a a rubber stamp kind of thing so that puzzled me a little and I just wanted to express my hope that there's more communication along the way than than what is visible to me and I don't know so I'm and given that this is not a dialogue it's just me saying things to you um I'll leave it at that but that that was one comment I had is that I hope I hope that's happening um my second category is I have a question about the three kindergarten classes that have been raised and what the impact that has on uh the redistricting that's going to happen I mean if there three additional
006classrooms are there space allotted for those three classrooms my assumption is there aren't more kids suddenly but but but that the cl the kids are divided up differently but I don't know that I mean I'm I'm working in ignorance here so um but I just wondered how that was going to work and whether there was going to be conversation about how that all was going to happen and then my third point it has to do with uh ballot question two and I just wanted to say briefly um that there has been misinformation about it that has come the Boston Globe really is opposed to ballot question to and they've been putting out misinformation um have as have local um local uh TV and so I wanted to just correct a couple of things ballot question
007to the the only thing that it does is it says that the mcast is not a graduation requirement the state standards are still in place that hasn't changed the children the kids the high school students still take the mcast that hasn't changed it's just not a barrier to them graduating they don't have to pass it to graduate as long as they have passed all of their classes which are are aligned with the state standards um and the spreading of misinformation I think is unfortunate um it's the times we live in perhaps but I think all part of our responsibility is to call it out when it's happening so that's what I wanted to do thank you thank you is there any other public comment yeah got it Todd Dodge uh chief of police for Greenfield
008um I'm here tonight um in the wake of the horrible tragedies that are taking place continuously across the country um I'm hoping I don't know past dialogue between the police department and the school committee um but I'm really hoping that you guys would reent the concept of having our school resource officers in the schools I want to protect our kids there's no other motive behind that um if you look at the data that we're seeing here this was days of old this is today and it's not changing okay the only reason why the last line is so short is because we're only one month into September this is fatal shootings of children it's real it's here um I had talked about it previously in another meeting that in the wake of the school shooting in
009Georgia the next day the FBI was in Greenfield I don't know if any of you guys know that so it's here we're scared um we're not here to do anything with the children other than protect them so I know we've been viewed a certain way in the past um perhaps the plan changes these days I was speaking with the command staff today and maybe our our officer our student resource officer just maintains security checks doors throughout the today watches the videos make sure people are not coming on that property that are not supposed to be there historically I think they integrated Karen you could probably answer that more they did a lot with the kids um gym stuff I'm just looking to have someone there at the ready in case this happens again the FBI
010was here in Greenfield already it's it seems almost imminent as sad as that is to say as the chief of police I want to protect the the kids that is my primary goal we have two student resource officers that are always trained up and ready they maintain their certifications I need you guys to help with this I really need you to help with this um we should be in schools I'm not looking to be in come in and look like Storm Troopers and try to scare everybody but we really need to be there so that we can act quickly in the event something happens I don't know what else to say for that um I don't know what the again I don't know what the conversations were in the past um we're not we're not
011trying to do anything other than offer protection and we need to do that so I really hope you guys think about that and again the minute you say you're up to speed we will have someone there for you we have two ready so okay have a good night thank you thank you is there any other public comment okay let see anyone online move on to our report of student representatives to the committee Shane welcome back thank you um so we're going to begin as per usual with the student council who has already been very busy so far this year the executive board over the summer volunteered at the0 5K and the triathlon where we also had our eboard meeting um we've helped at the meet and greet made welcome back gifts for all staff and
012treated the newly hired staff to special gifts as well last week weend we held our first bonding where new members learned many of our school energizers and spent some time getting to know them uh getting to know other members we have Homecoming coming up at the end of the month and we are signing up students to help with the G cleanup and will'll be holding elections for open class officer positions soon as well um new students are always welcome to join student council if they are interested they can reach out to the president who's myself or our adviser Angela Mass um Athletics are off to a busy start this fall season you can go to arbiterlive.com to get all the schedules um on September 20th our home field hockey game versus West Springfield will be
013dedicating the field hockey field to Donna Woodcock um Donna was a longtime educator and coach in the Greenfield Public Schools who passed from injury sustained in a car accident Donna meant the world to many people in athletics especially field hockey and this is the least that we could do for her NHS had their first meeting to begin planning for our events and projects for the year French Club welcomed new members to their first meeting this past Monday where they planned fun French themed activities the school year and this year we look forward to social activities like movie nights and cooking classes and their annual events such as Coffee House and taste of world cultures drama club was excited to welcome new and former members to their first meeting on Tuesday September 17th after school anyone
014interested in acting stage crew lighting sound costumes makeup and or props is encouraged to join in the auditorium the trivia Club had their first meeting on September 6th to determine a studying week time per week um we're going to be sorry we're going to be creating a new team this year with a couple of returning players we're going to be focused on strategy and memorization and are hoping for a higher score and hopefully a win this year and finally um the students of Color Group Club has been founded at ghs so students had their first meeting on September 5th with a mission to address School culture specifically around racialized language they're working with Administration to have educational inter and interactive presentations led by students in advisory as well as with faculty when possible the club
015is working closely with school and Administration and communities that care as an outside support um if anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer any questions for Shane what time is please yeah what what time is that dedication um um let's see I not sure if it is listed on here but um it's a field hockey game on September 20th and if you go to arbiterlive.com you can find that game thank you and um it's going to be sometime in that schedule but I'm not positive exactly on when that's great thank you mayor it's at 3:30 and then the field hockey game begins at 4 um and I just want to thank Shane good to see you back um but I also wanted you to know that I heard from some of your
016clubs and if you have information that you want to get out on our new social media with Facebook or Instagram to please send it our way and we're happy to do that for your for the rest of the club so if you could share that back with your advisers that would be great I can absolutely do that thank you thank you we'll move on to reports of the administration and our business manager good evening everyone you have in your packet the budget report and revolving account as of the 6th of September um where the goal is now at with the year starting as I've said before we are doing our Personnel review to end up realigning where it is that people have the changes that have occurred over the summer you'll also notice on the
017last page that there is a line at it that's called grants undistributed that's where some of those things are going to happen where technically you're not allowed to charge expenses to Grants until the grants has been grants have been written and approved so we charge things that line uh and then when the grants get approved we'll end up moving those out that's a practice that's been done even when we haven't been here uh in Green Field it's a good practice um so yeah that's you know nothing really new to report uh I do have something that I'm going to be sharing in the next um update based on the meeting that we had um ver in the business office has been running some different report scenarios and she and I I think we found a
018very good report that would be both easier to read uh and in line with the the little workshop that we had the last time so we're going to send two reports out next time that are going to be formatted one this way that you're used to seeing and the other that we think will uh lend itself to some more uh uh I'd say educationally appropriate way to look at the budget as far as it it it it Mares La of better phrase both the the Des function codes and the organ objects that the city follows so that's just a sneak PE ahead I can answer any questions that you might have questions for our business manager not seeing or hearing any uh Andy I wanted to thank you very much for responding to the school
019committee's requests for uh some reports that tell the story in a clear way for some of us who aren't steeped in this all the time that's uh going to be important for us and I think will be a useful tool for the community as well so thank you I'll tell you without sounding like a geek I'm actually excited about it well we don't avoid look sounding like Geeks around here very well very often so uh thank you very much assistant superintendent your report thank you it's been good to get the school year kicked off um the real kickoff for us was our new teachers um new teacher orientation for Greenfield Public Schools took place on Wednesday August 21st and Thursday August 22nd at that time we welcome 14 new teachers to our community and over
020the two days these Educators were supported as they transitioned into into their new roles meeting with their assigned mentors and working and working with the IT department to gain access to the essential digital platforms they were also introduced to the district wellness policy our key instructional strategies and priority subgroups and additionally superintendent patod hosted a tour of Greenfield that received rave reviews um she led the bus and showed us all around I said I wish that happened on my first day so um it really was enlightening to see some of the places in the city and where our students are living and the bus rides that they're taking to and from school to help new teachers understand um you know what some of our students or families are are having to deal with every day
021on Monday August 26 and Tuesday August 27th we welcome back all teachers and instructional assistance to kick off the new school year the two days began with a with convocation at Greenfield High School featuring inspiring performances by two student groups strings for kids and twice as smart it was great to have students involved I know teachers and the staff were excited to see students and um kudos to those students who got there for 7:30 the two days before school was starting for them um following the superintendent's message about rebuilding the Green Wave Nation staff returned to their respective buildings to reconnect and prepare for the return of students throughout the two days staff engaged in a variety of professional development sessions including honoring the student experience in illustrative math ongoing support for implementing our key
022instructional strategies which are checking for understanding scaffolding questioning techniques and think right pair share and training on using imagine math our interv our math intervention platform instructional assistance also rece rece re training in strength-based instruction and we look forward to seeing these efforts come to life in the coming weeks and months and to build upon this work during the professional development sessions throughout the school year all of these activities are planned with the intention of addressing objectives outlined in our strategic plan and these activities are most re most directly connected to the sections related to curriculum and instructional supports at the end of each session participants complete feedback forms and this information is then used to monitor our progress toward these objectives plan future professional development and inform the work outlined in the dist in
023our district prioritization plan developed in collaboration with the Statewide system of support team assigned to Greenfield by desie as school got kicked off we had the window for our beginning of the year benchmarks also opened uh last Tuesday September 3rd this initial assessment window provides a baseline for our students allowing us to measure their starting point for the school year the data gathered will serve as a foundation for tracking student progress and growth throughout the school year and will help us identify areas in need of targeted support based on this data we will identify individual students and groups who would benefit from immediate intervention allowing us to provide timely and effective support from the very start of the school year teachers and interventionists will collaborate closely with building leaders to identify gaps in learning and
024develop strategies to address these needs this process will be continually monitored and refined through the reg through regular collab collaboration time faculty meetings the student support process and other available resources by consistently assessing and responding to student needs we aim to ensure that all students are prepared to receive grade level instruction with the appropriate supports additionally we have posted for curriculum review team members in math and health and Ela and music were done in year one last year and this will keep us on track with the five-year curriculum review cycle outlined in the GPS strategic plan superintendent good evening um we're going to to start by uh I'd like to introduce my new superintendent induction program coach Kenny Saleem who's joining us this evening Kenny was a superintendent for nine years five in Cambridge and
025four in wayth Mass prior to that he was a district leader in Boston Public Schools where he oversaw new teacher support professional learning and served as the deputy to the chief academic officer he began his career teaching biology at Brighton High School in Boston and is currently teaching educational policy and Leadership at forum's Graduate School of Education please welcome Kenny to our meeting tonight oh thanks great to to be here this evening and uh be here with the school committee uh so I'm pleased to join you this evening and as superintendent Pat said my name is Kenny Saleem and um I am an executive itive coach for superintendent patau through the new superintendent induction program uh which is a collaboration of the U Massachusetts Association of school superintendents uh the Massachusetts Association School committees as
026well as uh Desi um nisip is uh the new superintendent induction program is sometimes called U has been a resource for new superintendent for 15 years um and uh superintendent patau is in cohort 15 and is one of 21 new superintend across the Commonwealth um niip is a three-year program uh that's designed to induct and support new superintendents who are either new to the role or new to the state and the content of the program focuses on instructional leadership uh Team Building supervision and professional learning um there's a strong focus on Equity uh which cuts across all the areas and new superintendant meet on a monthly basis in year one for a total of 48 Hours um in year two for 39 hours and in small Regional consultancy groups in their third year um superintendents
027also meet with their um executive coaches for six hours a month and year one um for four hours of coaching in year two and then in the regional consultancy groups um in the third year we found that superintendents who have participated in NP over many years have um value the content the coaching and the collegiality uh that the program brings and each coach works with their superintendent to establish um onsite coaching opportunities including providing feedback on leadership team meetings um providing feedback on Entry planning and findings and visiting classrooms and observing meetings with principles and earlier today uh had a chance to observe classrooms at the middle school um as well as one of the elementary schools earlier this afternoon um one thing to note is that the relationship between the niss coach and the
028superintendent is one of confidentiality by Design uh coaches provide feedback to the superintendent um only as part of its uh the the program um and it's really focused on on learning and to that end um superintendent produce an entry plan which uh you'll be hearing uh more about this evening as well as a report on Entry findings and strategy for district Improvement uh that'll be based on those findings so I'm happy to answer any questions um that any members have um about the new super new superintendent induction program and um with that I'll turn it back over to superintendent p any questions so far okay oh mayor I think sounds great I'm I'm very happy for the superintendent I told her I wish there there was something like that for Mayors really it's wonderful um
029do most of the new superintendents are most of them take advantage of this they do it really is an expectation um for um really focusing on what it the the the Commonwealth believes both the superintendent Association the school committee Association as well as desie um is important around District leadership um in in the Commonwealth thank you any other questions or comments at this time okay superintendent thank you so I'm going to start with um what Kenny was describing as the entry plan plan and um I have a PowerPoint here and I apologize I should have put the TV on the other side of the room this evening so if you want to move your um but one of the overviews of the entry plan is really uh focused on uh providing you with an introduction
030talking about the core values as the foundation giving you an outline of the phases the tasks and you know the next steps in that timeline and how I'll be reporting out the findings from the entry plan and even though I've been in District um this is my first superintendency role so I there's definitely learning curves and um it's really been eye openening for me to participate in the process of creating this plan um I'm not going to read my letter to you but um part of this is online and accessible to everyone but part of really um what I believe needs to be the foundation of any work that a superintendent does is to build and strengthen relationships and whether that's with students with staff with faculty with you with community members parents families and
031really just listen and continue to understand um all that's going on in the district and all of the things that are ever changing that we need to pay attention to and try to support and move forward so that our Student Success is valid and increasing every year so um you can read my letter at a later date um the core values and beliefs though that I really hold true and are really the foundation of my entry plan are students first um they are the reason we all are employed in these roles they are the reason we get up every day the they are the reason that we make decisions to try to make their experiences better in our school system and with that is that shared Vision with stakeholders we all need to be working
032in the Direction and supporting the goals that we have as a district to move ourselves forward that definitely aligns with support and engagement though you have to offer the support but you also have to be engaged they you need to be seen you need to be um evident out in the community you need to be available you need to really Express that you are um in it and uh willing to do the hard work to make the change happen and lastly just that collaboration with families and how we need to be partners with them that they entrust us with their children and we entrust that they are working with us to have everything moving in a direction their success for their students will happen um so really having that bridge is so important and continuing
033trying to build that bridge with families is definitely one of the values I hold dear one of the things we've been talking about as a school committee though was this um strategic plan that was developed before many of you were actually school committee members and understanding how that Five-Year Plan really um is incorporated into everything that we do so you'll see in Stephen's report tonight and in my report one of the asks was to try to align some of the things that we're reporting out on with the Strategic plan that's in place in year two so we're going to highlight those things as we provide information at these meetings but I also took those four buckets as I'll say that came out of the Strategic plan our overarching um focus points are Communications and Outreach
034instructional supports curriculum and instruction and operations and I feel like those definitely link in support and in conjunction with the core values of my entry plan and I also added our mission statement which came out of of year one with the Strategic plan which is the Greenfield Public School District is a place where every child is supported on their path to success and I think we need to remember that that every child's experience is different and we want to make Equitable experiences for them so that ultimately their success is graduating and becoming good humans in the world doing wonderful things core value number one though students first so um I really think that of all the components this value is at the heart of everything we do and I think all of us need to
035remember that these are the people that we are serving and everything that we do needs to be in service of them I also think that um what they have here in Greenfield is special we have phenomenal staff in every one of our buildings and people that give their all every day for these kids and supporting them in that work is really pivotal to the the mission that I hold dear as a leader but one as an educator where we're constantly learning and trying to do the best for them and improving we're not going to get it right all the time but we definitely are trying our best to improve each and every day how do we do that though and what is it that we want those students first to get we want qualified Educators
036in front of them we we want access to high quality instructional materials and having that grade level curriculum and we've done a lot of work in the past three years when I was assistant superintendent to make sure that that is accessible to students across the board we want their social and emotional needs met we want to support that because we know their emotional needs and their social needs are part of their learning environment and what makes them successful in our classrooms we want our schools to be safe and supportive and welcoming and we want to be culturally responsive and always focusing on Equity some of the things that our tasks or um things that I can do along with our leadership team to make sure that we always keeping those student F those students first
037is site visits to buildings and classrooms Stephen and I need to be boots on the ground seeing what's happening in our classrooms and our buildings and making sure that the work that we are giving to our leadership team is filtering down to the faculty is filtering down to the classrooms in each of our schools We are continuing our learning walkthroughs and this year we have a learning walkthrough with a focus on literacy and we will be doing six official learning walkthroughs as an administrative team along with our ssos partners along with the teaching lab again this year and we've adopted a new tool so that the results can really fine-tune our data on our stud students and what's going on and how we can move them forward we have professional development aligned with the district
038prioritization plan of the ssos team that we've submitted to desie and we're going to be reviewing district and state level data not just three times a year but constantly at our leadership team and then they're going to lead their buildings at collaboration with their teachers so that people know how our students are doing each and every day we have professional development with building leaders we have department head meetings to discuss building needs to make sure that our buildings meet the needs of our students we have a chronic absenteeism issue in green fields we have to be paying attention to attendance we cannot possibly move the needle for student Improvement if our students are not in front of us it has to be pivotal in the work that we're doing and then we need to be
039reviewing student support team report reports at the building level and to see where our students are struggling who's being referred and how we can support them so that they are successful core value two is that shared Vision with stakeholders um we have to be partners all of us together for our students we have wonderful people working hard from all Community um aspects to our PTO to some teachers here that I highlighted to our department heads to every Department that works for our buildings and some of the things that we've discussed as I've just just had some listening sessions with stakeholders we're asking some of these questions so I wanted to share some of the answers that came out of these listening sessions and if you recall I started these listening sessions in the spring as
040assistant superintendent but one of the things um that I asked people is what do you want for the students of Greenfield Public Schools and the an some these are just some of the answers I got Equitable learning experiences for all of our students diverse opportunities to explore College and Career experiencing experiences and welcoming and supportive schools and then I asked what glows do stakeholders have about the Greenfield Public Schools what what is positive that you feel about our schools and really they know that the investment in the educational experience of all children is true they know from the teachers their students have they know it from their building principles they know it from the conversations they have with others in our buildings expanding access and communication venues with the district you know we have really
041tried to be more available and to communicate better and to expand access to building leaders District leaders in different venues and they definitely over and over and over I should have put this one in bill in big letters know that teachers care deeply about their kids and they know that administrators are supporting teachers in that work the last question I asked was where would you want us to grow where do you see us needing Improvement either in the next school year or in years to come because this isn't going to happen overnight the expanded opportunities and career exploration was really a highlight for our students um you see a lot of Workforce Development opportunities um budding out at GCC our local Community College you see a lot of um kids that don't want to go
042to a tour fore college but they want to have a livable wage and they want to take other career paths and how can we get them the opportunities to explore that they want to see Diversified clubs and extracurricular activities shaking it up a little so that there is more for more students to get involved in um we see as schools match wits that made a come back at the high school I also saw an advertisement for a crochet Club so you know teachers are listening they want to expand those opportunities so that they have students who feel like they belong in a certain area or can enjoy some Afterschool activity with their peers and have some um fun and opportunities to do that and then um one of the highlights that I always hold dear
043is more opportunities for highlighting academic achievement of students not just that honor role in the newspaper quarterly but how else can we highlight all of the good that they're doing all of the hard work that they're doing so that that is celebratory and rewarded um core value three is that support and engagement and I included um part of the work that I started with our admin team we are doing a book study on leading with dignity by Donna Hicks um if you've never read the book I strongly recommend it it's not just for educational leaders it's about leadership in general and how we treat people that we are in um collaboration with whether it's in the workplace or other um we did our first uh PD development at our e team this week where Stephen
044and I led the first two chapters of this but I really I took this quote and it really hit home with our e team and I really think it really shows um what we value and that dignity not only explains is an aspect of what it means to be human but also is a Hallmark of our shared Humanity everyone wants to be treated in a way that shows they matter I started our convocation with the puzzle piece analogy and that we are all a puzzle piece in the greenwave nation that need to come together and we are not whole without each other's peace and I think that is true at every level and our students are very important in that whole puzzle um really supporting the whole person we try to do it with our
045staff and our admin team the building principles are doing it with their teachers and with their students creating class rooms of trust collaboration and respect Community connections and Outreach um really just making sure that we are doing the best we can to try to connect with everyone who's a part of our student experience modeling and leading by example how do we want our leaders to lead how do I want my principles to lead in their buildings how do we want our teachers to lead in their classrooms and I really think that that's the culture that we're trying to create and then showing up for our students and staff they want to see us outside of the classroom they love when you go to an activity a band concert they see you at the football game
046um I I was shopping at Big Y and I get the huge shout out of Miss bat node they love to engage with us and they would love to see all of you join them in supporting and engaging with them as well I put this on here as a former High School principal you know our shared vision is that all students are successful and that they continue as lifelong Learners and they are active and engage contributors to our society we want to get them to the finish line but we want them to go out and be good humans and give back to the world in which we live so we want the support and engagement along the way so that they know that that is possible for each and every one of them and then
047core value four is really that um ingrained collaboration with families and being out in the community and being accessible um we had quite the representation in the parade this year for any of you who saw us we were um a football field long is what a picho mom said to me so I am very happy with the representation but I have done Saturday Library visits to try to meet families I worked the Harvest supper we've done food truck supper nights we've done listening sessions and we will continue to be accessible throughout so that families can engage with us in whatever venue they feel comfortable in I think we need to continue to gather that feedback we did a survey in March of family Communications and we want to do another one before the uh winter
048break so we will be following up with that we want to respect and welcome all to their children school we want people to feel comfortable coming to us we want to celebrate the successes of their students together and we want to make sure that they feel we are creating and we are actively Equitable access for every student and we want to plan and organize family engagement events to avoid conflicts one of the biggest pieces of feedback is they can't be somewhere if they have children into two schools and the event happens on the same night so we want to really take their feedback and make sure that we make the the positive changes so they know we're listening and we know we care about what they what they expect of us um and I think
049that we have to keep in mind that we have to revisit and adapt as we go through the process this is only year two of our strategic plan we might have to you know pivot and make some changes but we are listening and we are paying attention the tasks and timeline just so you all have um some outline as to when all of this entry plan andent findings are going to happen um we're I'm sharing the plan with you tonight at our school committee we're going to continue to provide listening session forums for stakeholders from now through December going to gather that information and data and then do site visits as well and take into account the information we get back from the site visits process all of that information I will keep you updated
050in my monthly superintendent uh reports to the school committee we'll be analyzing and synthesizing the information December and January and then our report of Entry findings um a draft will be shared with our admin team at that level in January and then the final will be presented to you in February one of the things though that I really want everyone to keep in mind is not only do we have the district prioritization plan with our ssos team but we have a district um desie site review scheduled for this year so we have been chosen to undertake that and that is quite an undertaking um I was listening on a webinar the other day to all of the things that we have to do so between those two um exercises in reviewing our district and seeing
051where we stand and analyzing data and reviewing and T giving feedback to building leaders and doing more walkthroughs and doing the cycle over again we're going to have a pretty good um insight as to where we stand as a district come February March after all of this um if the dis desie District site review happens in October which was one of the dates they had proposed they did say that it would be about four to five months with the findings so we might have them in Spring if they don't come until later in the year we may not have their findings until the summer so I just wanted to keep you a breast of that and that is the end so I do have um if you want to save questions I do just have
052a uh update though as well to my superintendence report just to add a little more information that wasn't part of the entry oh thank you um so we opened school as you know August 26th we had convocation and um as I spoke about in this presentation we really were just trying to message that we are all valuable pieces to the Greenfield Public Schools and that we need to work together and collaborate in a respectful Manner and that way we can create positive learning experiences for our students I really do want to shout out and take this time to thank our maintenance and custodial staff the admin assistants the tech department our business office staff and building administrators for all of the work they did over the summer to get our schools ready and uh looking
053fabulous for opening and a big shout out to the F Food Service staff they supported all of our summer school extended year programs with meals and then did 60,000 meals this summer in our summer eats program and I just can't thank them enough um I have added additional photos of them uh from the parade they were left out of my s'more on Monday because I did didn't have any so we've added many more to the s'more so if you have access to that link still please go back there's many more photos but I told them I would give them a shout out tonight because I felt sorry that I forgot them um I do want to just highlight though they have switched their point of sale system to school Cafe and fam should be getting
054that information not only in my parent updates but also in the school newsletters so if you haven't switched over to the new point of sale for your child in school lunch please follow the link toam schoolcafe.com um and I also added that this was part of the operations District strategic plan for year two so Greta is doing a fabulous job as the food service director and making this happen and appreciate all of the tech support from our tech department um district-wide Staffing we obviously as you know are still looking to fill some positions we have instructional assistance at the elementary in middle school we have special education positions at middle and high some night custodian positions we have a kindergarten position in Federal Street and we're always looking for substitutes um one of the things
055I did want to also just say is there's been some conversations around the grade shifts that we had to make at our elementary schools to accommodate an additional K classroom at each Elementary School and the reason this happened was due there was a significant amount of registrations in late summer so I went and did some data collection with our registar today and between August 12th and August 28th the district had approximately 45 new registrations many of whom were those kindergarten families so we continue every day and I know for those of you that have been in Greenfield long enough you know they continue to move into district and register on an ongoing basis so those numbers really spiked in lat summer the budget that we had approved for this year did not allocate funding support
056to support additional teaching positions the budget was developed last fall approved in the spring based on projections and information at the time and there we had to work on being budget neutral in each school and that required working with the Union adhering to collective bargaining agreements discussing with the school committee Vice chair Glenn was on vacation and Kate was in charge and her and I had a lengthy conversation and Kate is also the budget subcommittee chair um and then I had informational sessions with each building PE principal and all of the teachers that were affected by this so we met with all parties and made the necessary shifts to best meet the needs of our students and in order to support the difference in sections in other grades we look to our Title One federally
057funded Grant so that we could um offer a shared IA for those classrooms and we are still looking for those IAS so if we have anyone out there that would like to come work with us we would welcome you um it is important to note though that each Elementary School houses a subpar special ed program and some of those class enrollments reflected in total grade level numbers are not reflective of day-to-day operations in classrooms um so I just wanted to clarify that and then my last bit of an update I think is so exciting because I know this is near and dear to the committee's heart is the music um we welcomed a new band director Hannah Cherry to the GPS staff and Rockstar we also welcomed Rachel Herz who is our Elementary fourth grade
058instrumental teacher Eli Litwin who is splitting his time between Federal Street and Newton and we have our returning music teacher Sarah page who splits her time between Federal Street and Discovery and for those of you that don't know strings for kids is uh hosting their program now Mondays and Fridays at our own Greenfield Middle School so that students in the program K7 Come Together um and can practice together and learn from the older kids teaching the younger kids and I talked to Julie KW after Monday was their first day she said it went phenomenal so very excited to share all of that news along with the entry plan with all of you tonight well thank you very much both of you for your reports and um superintendent uh for your very thorough and um presentation
059of your induction um plan it's uh impressive uh questions and comments from the committee member ston yeah um thank you very much for laying your plan out and for mapping the uh strategic plan to the core values appreciate that um I had some questions about things that you did didn't mention that have been coming up just from the community that I wanted to follow up on um I know that there was a little bit of a busing snafu and a communication snafu during the first few days with some of our elementary school students where their children were late uh by more than an hour and there was not communication from the schools to the parents about this has how are you planning to make sure that that doesn't happen at all again in the in
060the remainder of the school year um and then I'm I'm actually uh a little bit concerned that the public comment from Chief Dodge was the first time that I had heard that the FBI was at our school recently not at our school the city in the city okay in the city uh not at our school okay oh no I was that would be news to me too okay great um because there was a a separate comment that I had received from a from a parent or wondering um or believing that there had been an incident at our schools and uh so I just wanted to make sure um because I I don't want that to be the way that I find out I would love to hear those kinds of things from you when if
061if hopefully not when uh they happen um and I was also just curious about these the about the kindergarten class and if I could follow up on that is are these is the actual total number of kindergarteners that we have this year substantially more than the actual number of kindergarteners that we had last year okay and so these are totally new totally unanticipated ated we could definitely not have reasonably predicted these 45 reg later in 2023 we had 86 kindergarteners enrolled in 2024 as of September 9th we have okay those are all the things that I wanted to follow up other questions remember good one oh sorry I had um actually told member Martini Who's online that I'd recogniz her next I forgot member Martini do you want to speak thanks Glen I just wanted
062to um speak my thoughts about the um presentation of your entry plan um Karen because as you were going along I was just um noting all of the ways in which I have been seeing you put those um actions into practice over the last um couple of months and even you know while still in this um planning phase and I appreciate how much you have uh put yourself out there to be available to the community and um participatory and um and and engaging with all different stakeholders and uh in terms of the priority the first priority that you um identified putting students first um that's something that uh was definitely part of the um conversation that you and I had in regards to um what to do about the uh influx of kindergarteners and um
063how to go about identifying the most Equitable uh the most Equitable action to take for our students um and to do that regardless of what um may be popular or uh what opinions might be out there so uh in any case I just uh wanted to say I can definitely see those values taking taking place right out there um in your actions over the past couple of months and I appreciate that so um you sharing your plan really helps me to um understand where things like that are coming from and I appreciate the presentation of that and also I just wanted to give a a special um a special shout to miss Herz I'm so excited to have our um fourth grade Band program coming back like we planned um as part of our uh
064effort to to improve our music program that have been going on over the past many months so um that is all thank you thank you member Goodwin I have two questions when does the middle school have a music teacher Hannah Cherry splitz your time between the Middle School and the high school the high school has a band and in the middle school I talked to Hannah this afternoon she has 31 fifth graders signed up for ban 126th graders and nine seventh graders so um I think we see the investment in growing the middle school program and how that will feed into the high school and I also want to let you know that 69 Fourth Graders are interested in taking instrument lessons and that is 2third of our fourth grade signed up for that so
065so um Rachel Herz is going to be very busy thank you and so when the whole kindergarten information came out I went to the dec website and they had us having 125 kindergarten students last year so did we have 80 kindergarten students last year yes I shared the enrollment numbers with you from our Sims data right but the D the state has got wrong data that's weird okay well could be so you only budgeted for the 81 for kindergarten teachers so at the time when we were developing the budget Discovery School had 10 kindergarteners enrolled um if my memory serves me correctly I would go back to calling Christine for an answer on that but and uh historic Ally Discovery School is not a school that usually grows exponentially in numbers so uh with 10
066at the time and I think that was maybe March when did you approve our budget Jenny April so I I would say in March they had 10 so that was the reason that they went down to one in the spring and that's what was budgeted for but as we can see we can't predict the future so how many we do our best how many are at each elementary school right now kindergarten teachers two no Newton and Federal Street have three and Discovery has two okay because Newton's numbers and Federal Street numbers were just as high as the one in the two at the other schools so we added across the board okay for our youngest Learners great I do have an answer so as you know we have a new principal at Newton um and
067uh at 3:45 she called me because she was trying to get everyone on board and at 3:46 I sent the message out because I said have you told parents that they're this late and so we messaged as soon as I was aware but our followup was um Stephen um as well as her Mentor who is Miss fenamore from the Middle School School spent the next 5 days down at Newton working on a dismissal plan and you can report but I think we're pretty good now um even with the change of strings for kids but um I think it was um a learning curve for a principal in realizing that we have to communicate better and um we sent a message out and did our best to apologize and understand people's frustration but um I don't
068know if Steph wants to just he was boots on the ground and the dismissal yeah I I think superintendent Pat said it well I think it was a challenge especially that first day and I think then on Friday we introduced kindergarteners but they got out on a half day Friday so we had a trial run with just kindergarten and then had to adjust the plan based on some other after school activities at YMCA learning null things like that that were coming that following week so it was bumpier than we would have hoped for the first couple days um but I would say by that t last Tuesday Wednesday it was up and running well and um the feedback that I got from a couple of parents that I had met the first couple of days
069was much more positive this the at the start of last week than it was um and rightfully so we recognize that and our convers ation with those parents where we absolutely need to be better better communication um to make sure that they know and we know that their students are the most important things to them and um we recognized that that was on us and we had to make some shifts to be better and I think we got there quickly but unfortunately probably not quickly enough and the one addition that we did add on is um travel CA has adopted a new system um which was also part of the snafu so now we meet with travel CUA every Friday to review all of our lists and our runs and just touch base because they're
070also undergoing a lot of changes in their company with the new system and just trying to figure out where every kid's supposed to be on what bus so we're trying to do open communication follow-ups and have boots on the ground so that we are better always trying to improve follow up can you speak a little um to the complications because I think a lot of us in our minds School transportation is you you're at school you get on the bus and you go home but I know it's more complex than that different students are going to different places can you speak a little bit to that sure um we are very thoughtful and allowing kids to take buses to um after care so Newton doesn't have after care so if they go to after care
071they get bused to Federal but they may not go to after care every day they may only go to the YMCA on Mondays they might go now to strings for kids on Mondays and Fridays so you might have a second grader who takes bus six on Monday bus eight on Tuesday and Wednesday takes bus four on Thursday and then on Friday and then you also might have that same student who um is going to go over a friend's house so it's this ever changing um especially at the elementary level just with how young they are and how often um we get information from families during the day on changes to Transportation um I'm sure member Goodwin can remember that as an elementary principle and how it is always influx in changing and um it's just
072always trying to keep them in line so one of the things we did do to try to address that is change the dismissal protocol and really um we had teachers practicing that dismissal protocol after that event and um we had the principal and Stephen down there just going through the motion so that everyone had a better handle on that thank you other questions mayor first I wanted to just say I'm very impressed with your community engagement it's like practically on a daily basis and I thought was very reflected in the fact that you took all the new teachers and we're bringing them to show them all of Green Field and wherever everybody was and what was happening here I thought that's really you know showing them what our community is like also so thank you
073um so I have a couple of questions one um uh you and I we were both on the uh shelter call on Wednesdays and um if you're EXP ing a bigger you know a change in the elementary school numbers I we heard so there's 45 families there and it sounded to me as if quite a few would be leaving now do do we know if they're going to be schooled in Sunderland do you have any idea of that so the information we're waiting to find out is if they're still technically considered un housed in Sunderland and if so they can remain with us for the school year and even if they acquire a lease it is my understanding they can remain with us until the end of the school year so um I'm not sure
074after today's call we've got a list of some that have moved into Sunderland but are not confirmed as lease holders and how that affects their school for their kids so um we have been having as I indicated on this morning's call we had to have a separate call just to try to get a handle on the EB and flow of um the five new open rooms now we were informed five families are coming and they do have schoolage children so we don't have those registrations yet or grade levels so it's this constant influx and then trying to figure out what Transportation they go on as well so so it's it's uh definitely um a lot right I just wanted everybody else to understand that as well um you were done a good job on those
075calls and um at at the very first I was there at the beginning and people were there getting everybody registered and then we knew that there were 45 families but I think that some of that was maybe upon the individuals themselves to get registered so that was a bit of a challenge and then to say also we will be filling up every room and um I'll be reaching out to the delegation for um you know as much funding as we can so I want to work together with you on that I don't know um it has a great impact on the schools and you know also on the community so uh there'll be more changes in those numbers probably so I just wanted to to kind of ask about that and say that um I
076do want to add though we welcome every student with open arms and enjoy all of them in our community um even on day one we had five that weren't registered but we kept them and um loved them and fed them and um in had them in our classrooms until we could get them properly registered reged so um we do what we can because students first thank you that is something that they keep highlighting at all the the calls that this is a community that is one of the most welcoming embracing and a lot of that starts right there so thank you other questions or comments thank you both very much let's see we're moving on to item six action item amendments to Title Nine policies I'd like to start by just kind of giving a
077um little update or overview of a kind of a um orientation to our policy review process we used to um talk about uh passing passing things on first reading and then passing things on second reading but we um um have recently um updated our policy adoption policy um and so the um phases that a policy goes to on its way to becoming adopted by the committee is one it's an information item it's distributed with the with an agenda then and ideally there's a discussion item where we get a chance to talk about it um and then it can be um sent to the policy subcommittee or come back for um come back at the next meeting um and then there's uh when it is an action item when it is discussed um and adopted or
078rejected at times we do need to move items directly from information item in other words distributed to you with your agenda immediately to action item that's happening tonight with the amendments to Title Nine policies um before we get to the sub of that I just want to um check in any questions about our policy adoption process it's kind of new for us okay great um superintendent could you Orient us to these uh policy changes sure um August 1st the Title Nine uh laws and regs change so attorney roach who you met this evening um has uh Incorporated the changes to Title 9 into to policy ACA and acab for us um for adoption under the new regs and laws thank you uh so I'd like to start with a motion to adopt policy ACA non-discrimination
079on the basis of sex or gender identity so moved a motion from the mayor is there a second second second for member Childs uh discussion hearing none we'll move to a vote because member Martini is attending by um by Zoom we will do the um vote by roll call um uh member Goodwin yes member Childs yes member saon yes I'm a yes mayor motion passes unanimously thanks every body oh okay I'm sorry take my vote Yes okay K also vot is yes so it is unanimous um okay we'll move on to policy acab sexual harassment may I have a motion to adopt um the uh revised policy acab as presented so moved motion by member Childs a second second second by member Goodwin any discussion hearing none vote by roll call member Martini yes okay
080member Goodwin yes member Childs yes member ston yes I'm a yes mayor disorder yes yes passes unanimously thank you everybody next we will move on to acceptance and enrollment of foreign students superintendent will you give us uh the setup sure um G the Greenville Public School registar received information regarding two students who are staying with host families in Greenfield one is from Spain and one is from Germany um in looking at our current school committee policy we do not have a policy on allowing foreign students to enroll in the district as part of any Exchange program so upon review with District Council um there was a directive that the acceptance of the two students would be required by a vote by school committee tonight and then the policy subcommittee could take this matter under advisement
081moving forward after that but if the vote was in favor of that we could um support these students and I do just want to add they are under a J1 visa and under that Visa uh Desi does not provide any Financial Funding to the schools for that and the students do not acquire any um high school credits they simply would get um if they enroll a seniors a certificate of attendance if they chose to walk at graduation um it's really about the experience our students would have by um having them integrated into the school Community okay we'll start with the motion and then we can discuss is there a motion to accept and enroll the the uh foreign students who are applying for uh acceptance and enrollment I move that we accept the foreign student
082exchange um students into Greenfield Public Schools okay is there a second second okay uh [Music] discussion are they both seniors when they return home they'll probably do it's it's considered like their Gap year they come here for that um they're not technically seniors but we would do that so that they could engage in all of the activities um that are part of that experience um you you mentioned that we're obviously we're not gonna get uh any additional monies from Desi but are you confident that we can we can support these two students reasonably yeah the high school senior numbers are pretty low um relative to past classes so I think it would not be an issue I have a um comment or question from Member Martini go ahead member [Music] Martini first I just um
083had a hard time hearing exactly what motion was could you repeat it h m Susan Farber can you Susan Barber's coming up or coming to a mic the motion is to accept and enroll the foreign students in the Greenfield Public Schools did you hear that member Martini I yes I did thank you and I just want to say I'm really excited about the prospect of having students from Germany and Spain joining our uh our students here in Greenville I think that there are so many mutual benefits um for our kids and um and these visiting students and and I'm very excited about it thank you any other comments Okay no Okay um I'll I'll say I also think it's one really wonderful and uh can really I know from my own experience of forming friendships
084with people from other countries it's really helpful um in expanding my own Horizons and getting out of my us or bubble um and uh I hope it will be enriching for them but I I think it will also be enriching for our own students great so we will do the vote um member [Music] Martini yes member Goodwin yes member Childs yes member seon yes I'm a yes mayor yes motion passes unanimously welcome to the Greenfield Public Schools uh let's see yeah okay let's see can so um the consent agenda um as you know this any member can remove an item from the consent agenda if they want to consider it separately we need to remove the um item a because um those are not the um minutes of the school committee they were um they
085were draft notes um so there's more formal minutes that we will take up um another day um so are there any other items um be through I on the consent agenda yes U member Goodwin I'd like to remove the vote to withdraw from neas okay we will discuss the um withdrawal from nas separately anything else that anyone would like to remove all right um I'd like to hear a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented with the exception of items A and E so moved motion from the mayor second second second from Member child's um any discussion let's m seon assuming that it passes I just want to preemptively thank green and Greenfield for Their donation great wonderful thank you so much um any other discussion hearing none um we'll vote um member Martini
086yes um is that a yes yeah okay great um m Goodwin yes member child's yes member ston yes I'm a yes mayor yes the consent agenda um passes with those exceptions um we can now move uh let's see we're at we're at 7:57 we're going to keep going um let's discuss um so I guess I would like to hear uh separately a motion to withdraw from Neos maybe we need a little more um orientation to that superintendent can you give us a little overview of that sure um my letter to the school committee for the proposals included in your packet but um Nas has often been uh years ago as the member organization that is overseeing accountability with um high schools and it's a 10-year accreditation visit and it's a lengthy process that um follows
087and tracks seven standards and how our high schools compared to other high schools in um not only Massachusetts but in the country um it was really uh the only accountability system at one point which is why everyone was engaged in it for many many years um we were involved in the process when I was at the high school and went through it and um then they give you two and five year plans after that that you have to account for and uh work on but it is a lot of time and energy on the staff to be part of all of the seven standard subgroups and you need a steering committee and um all of that takes time away from the time that we need for other initiatives that we have moving fast forward 10
088years later we are in the 10e cycle they delayed us a bit because of covid but um I had a superintendent's call the other day and just kind of asked around what everyone locally has been doing and many if not all of the surrounding high schools have removed themselves from nas it is um to me an unnecessary process for Greenfield considering we are in ssos turnaround we are also having a desie district site review this year so to then add a a third accountability um engagement process with the high school staff along with everything else that we're working on seems to be a bit overwhelming I did um do a survey of the high school staff um and had um the majority of them also reply and agree that it is not a process that
089they felt they could undertake at this time it is also quite expensive so you have to invest in um a lot along the way but then when the site visit comes Upon Us you're putting up the site visit committee members at hotels they're spending four days here you're um spending your time with them and really uh it is not something that we need a deep dive on we have a lot of oversight already on our school system including the high school which is now in turnaround um I listed some other areas where we are monitored and audited over the course of just my uh few years in District leadership uh we like I said we've been chosen for the desie district site review and that's going to focus on a lot of areas of districtwide
090improvement we have the ssos targeted assistance overview we've recently undergone a Essa title 12a and four six-year monitoring audit we have also undergone a tiered Focus monitoring of our L program we've undergone a tiered Focus monitoring review of our special ed programs and um it just is one more ask from an accreditation system of accountability that um I don't think at this time Greenfield High School needs or um Can undertake so um I did also get the question though like what does that do for our students colleges and universities and how is that measured and I talk to UMass I talk to GCC I talked to Westfield State and I believe I included let me just see um the colleges and universities all replied they do a holistic review of applications for all of their
091applicants admittance and applicant from an accredited High School is not automatically guaranteed admission neither is an applicant from a non-accredited school automatically denied and in talking to the local universities they said they don't even pay attention to accreditation anymore on college applications so um at this point it just with our building Administration with all of the other oversight and items we have on our plate um I think it is not something we want to engage in and it is timely because neas is also off you know asking us for our feed to engage in the process and to um have them come soon to the high school which is why it's on the agenda at any time in the future if we change our mind um we certainly can rejoin and go back into the
092nas accreditation cycle um I do know I think I listed on here the local schools that have removed themselves but um it is you know Frontiers no longer involved Pioneers no longer involved uh Gil monq has removed themselves from it as well as well as you know Hampshire I think grami remove themselves um so there is this um I don't know want to say need because we do have oversight and accountability but we didn't need one more aspect of that thank you for that thorough introduction so is there now a motion to um vote to withdraw uh the Greenfield Public Schools from nas so moved oh okay um let's see why don't we do member child's for the motion and member Martini for the second okay um discussion member Goodwin so where are we in
093the 10e cycle right now are we if we withdraw are we accredited this year how does that work so we are in the I think 2025 is the planning year so I think for this year is our 10th year it's really our 12th because of covid and they extended our plan so the process would then start and then um 26 and 27 would be an enormous amount of undertaking and then you would have have the site visit and um I don't know 2028 I would think but I can find more information out if you want and we would also have to consider where we are budgeting for this because this is not a budgeted item any questions or comments other items all right let's move to a vote oh sorry member Martini please uh well
094my question is related to what superintendent Pat just said what do they charge what is the cost of the district for participating let's see it's in our packets $55,500 wait the total cost for the 10e cycle okay yeah total cost for the 10year cycle is $55,500 annual membership fee is $ 3550 anything else member Martini no that was all okay are we ready to vote okay um member Martini yes member Goodwin yes member child's yes member sex yes I'm a yes mayor yes um motion passes unanimously thanks everybody it's now 8:06 the school committee um gets to take a 5 minute break after 800 PM um going to give you whatever the rounding up the minute so you get to we will reconvene at 812 [Music] he [Music] a [Music] n [Music] n [Music] a
095[Music] n [Music] a [Music] he [Music] second I just like to say these chairs really get better and better as the night goes on [Laughter] everything gets better and better as the night goes on you're ready when we are okay we're not ready yet oh now we are okay uh we're reconvening um and so we have before us um resolution for the Green Field school committee about ballot question two I'd like to hear a motion that the committee adopt the resolution as presented so moved motion from the mayor is there a second seconded second for member Childs um uh this was brought to us by Doug swin Doug do you want to say anything else about it you spoke about it during public comment but if there's anything else you want to add I don't
096think so I think it's pretty clear I'm happy to you know answer questions but it's seems to me that it it's pretty self-explanatory any discussion okay um well I guess we're just all I'll I'll just say I appreciate you very much for bringing this to us I appreciate you for your um mcast advocacy and um I'm very much myself in support this I especially liked um your emphasis that um it doesn't change the fact that people may be taking the mcast but they can graduate on the basis of passing their courses not on the basis of a standardized test and I think that um there's a lot of a lot of um value that and data that we get sometimes from standardized tests and it also when it's when it's tied to certain things and
097when it's used as the only rubric Etc um that can be really damaging for education and so I think this is one step towards reforming that system thank you for bringing it to us um so let's take a vote member Childs yes oh I said M I'm getting tired member Goodwin yes uh we'll go around the room the other way mayor yes okay I'm a yes uh and member sex yes member Martini are you back with us member Martini I'll take that as an exstension from Member Martini so that the uh motion passes thank you very much I appreciate it thank you um and Doug just let us know how we can work with you to get the word out about having ad Ed it or whatever the next steps are signatures and the like
098whatever you need among other things part of the resolution is letting um both communicating with the governor and our local legislators I mean that's that's built into the legisl the the resolution so that would be one step and of course there's a lot of canvasing and and activity going on um to let people know about about the fact that there is this ballot question so um maybe we can talk together about how to how to work together on it I'd love that thank you thank you okay all right um M Martini I'm sorry I've been putting my phone face down and probably makes it hard to hear okay um on um we're moving on to appointments um I had uh presented to you I think last time um draft um or or the uh subcommittee
099functions and duties and just wanted to open up the discussion for any questions or comments about the um about the subcommittee functions and Doc subcommittee functions and duties document member ston I have two questions one about a specific subcommittee and one in general um I'll start with the more general question uh a few months ago I honestly can't remember how many months but earlier at the end of last Academic Year we had voted as a part of this uh initial discussion to eliminate a committee that did exist that was specifically naming as student Equity um and in part of that that discussion what emerged is the idea that Equity is part of all of the things that we do which I believe is true but I also believe that Equity when it's not explicit is
100often not enacted and so as as part of the prior discussion we I I had urged or asked that um these committee descriptions and in and their functions duties roles and responsibilities included some specific element of how they were working to address an equity issue or working toward more Equitable outcomes for our students and I am just not seeing that reflected in many of these descriptions and I would love if that is occurring at the specific subcommittee level I would encourage all of those chairs to revisit that question um and name something or if you're waiting on something in particular to communicate that what you're waiting for um but I just don't want us to forget that the second thing was specifically to do with the redistricting subcommittee and why it it appears that like
101y'all don't think that that committee can be judicious in its choosing of its own meetings and why that one needs requires a vote of the full committee or the superintendent gets to decide when those meetings happen as opposed to the chair of that subcommittee um well I guess I can speak to that um the the all of our all of our um standing committees and um subcommittees are to take on work that has been charged to them by the full committee um and currently there is no work assigned to that committee um the I think I heard a lot of um interest from that Committee in when we were discussing because I it it is an ad hoc committee which means that at some point it does come to an end um it does sunset
102um and um in that discussion I heard one of the major reasonings that people wanted to kind of keep the uh ad hoc committee up and running in spite of the fact that we did establish our our policy and our plan for for redistricting was that something could come up for the superintendent and wanting to be able to have that committee there to be helpful to her um so oh youing oh please yeah I think with um some of the shifts and moves um we should have a committee meeting so I don't recall Stacy who else is on that committee with you Ann and Jenny um just because we were we are going to have to make some budget decisions earlier rather than later this year with regards to those shifts and um I'm happy
103to have a committee meeting with you to get some input on some of that so if that's something you are um I just wanted before we got into a lengthy conversation just to to put that out there so that we could schedule something if that's okay of course yeah yeah um great and yes I would love to schedule something my I believe that one of the roles of this committee is that it doesn't only serve as an instrument of hearing from the superintendent but also from the community um on on their questions and what they still have lingering about the redistricting process or the policy itself as well so that's another reason why I wanted to be able to call my own meetings if I needed to because it's it's not a responding only to
104one entity I'm not only responding to you I am responding to you but I'm not only responding to you I'm also responding to the members of our community our parents who still have questions and I want to be able to call a meeting without necessarily needing a full vote of everybody else who's not part of that Committee in order to make that happen if needed so can you can you talk a little bit more about the scenario you're imagining like sure I've received many questions actually about when the eighth grade moves out of the high school what happens to the space what are we considering putting there um and what are the options that we have for utilizing that that space that will become vacant once those students are moved back into the middle school
105so that's one example of a question that's come up so you're saying there are members of the community who have questions about how the policy is going to be implemented and the implications on that on the operations of the school not only that yes yes and they want a place to weigh in I don't see any other venue for them to weigh in on that type of question I mean there's here but not everyone comes here so it sounds a little bit like you would like to be able to um have the subcommittee um function as almost like a place where people could come and um talk and share their questions and concerns about the way that the um our policy is being implemented yes yeah I think that but then that see this kind
106of goes back to Liz Leon's uh conversation with us last time that once it changes from a policy that we're instituting to something that the superintendent is implementing then it it kind of enters that realm that is out really outside of our scope as a school committee I would like to refer to policy AE and just let you know um we don't necessarily need but implementation is necessarily part of policy and policy is necessarily part of implementation and this is there's not a clear and hard boundary on this particular issue and so I I will fight for this the existence of this committee and my ability to call a meeting when I need to AE commitment to accomplishment the school committee accepts ultimate responsibility for all facets of school operations because it is accountable to
107residents of the district the school committee will maintain a program of accountability consisting of the following elements clear statements of expectations and purpose as these relate to operations programs departments and positions Provisions for the staff resources and support necessary to achieve stated expectations and purposes subject to financial support by residents of the district evaluation of operations and instructional and staff development programs to determine how well expectations and purposes are being met specific performance objectives to enable individuals to direct their own efforts to the goals and objectives of the district evaluation of the efforts of employees in line with stated objectives with the first purpose of evaluation being to help each individual make a maximum contribution ution to the goals of the district every effort will be made by the school committee superintendent and staff to
108fulfill the responsibilities inherent in the concept of [Music] accountability I'm I mean I guess the way I guess we we see things differently um I see I don't see this acceptance of ultimate respons ability as um being a directive for us to get involved in the ongoing operations of the district I think that it's clear in other places that our role is really different our role is comined to budget policy goals and super uh and evaluation of the superintendent so I don't see it as our role to convene um to have have subcommittees whose goal is to listen to the community members concerns about the way that our policies are being implemented by the superintendent I see it as the superintendent's role to um be in communication with the community and to be listening to
109their needs and concerns and I think our superintendent has demonstrated a lot of willingness to listen and uh does get a lot of phone calls with a lot of feedback about a lot of the the um a lot of our policies and how they're being implemented so um I I guess so you know our our policy about um about about uh the way our sub subcommittees get organized is basically that people will be provided with a list of functions and duties and as of now I not inclined to change the functions and duties that I'm providing to the committee but I appreciate your sharing your um your concern and your disagreement any other um comments or questions member Goodwin when we moved to the fourth grade back to the elementary schools there was a committee
110called the star committee and they met every Thursday afternoon and I was on that committee along with parents from every Elementary School and it was led by school committee members this superintendent attended when she could but it was a good platform for parents just to express questions which nobody ever thought about before um and so I think you know parents are trying to we have a history of putting grades in different places closing schools opening schools in Greenfield that parents are just looking for an outlet so the star committee um gave them an outlet for those questions and they were you know everybody was allowed to speak like a public comment um so that there was a way to get an outlet thank you other comments C mayor so I have a question and maybe
111I wasn't paying attention to this when it came up before um this new thing this is new this sub committee functions and duties who who wrote this I did oh okay so did we have something I didn't mean that in a bad way I just I was like where did that come from yeah fair enough fair question so uh did we have anything before about what all the subcommittees did we did not so um our we have a policy that had not been being implemented that um school committee members would be presented with a with a list of their functions and duties for each of the um standing Andor um ad hoc subcommittees that they serve on and so this is a a new um and that I think is is part of um what's
112creating a little bit of this discrepancy is that you know we uh when we created that ad hoc committee there wasn't a functions and duties that was created as kind of sort of the chartering process for creating the um for creating the the subcommittee followup if I may yes pleas so on so I'm just looking at like the budget and finance subcommittee the duties at the very beginning if if the school committee has oversight is supposed to have budgetary oversight the way this is worded analyze superintendent budget proposals and Ure alignment with District priorities and goals well the the way our budget process works is the first you know the budget that is originally developed is the superintendent budget with um school committee input and then after it goes to the city council and then
113comes back then we vote on the individual line items or changes um based on the um new number that we get from that Pro process so if if we didn't vote to support this then what happens you mean if if you didn't vote to to support what um the def these def these new definitions I guess was that what we call them definitions of the job descriptions of the duties of Comm functions and duties um the way our policy is written they are just to be presented to you so I'm sharing them with you as a review but I'm not seeing them as something that requires a school committee vote okay thank you any other discussion okay um next um and we have listed here as communication subcommittee but I I think I was also
114thinking of it as a community engagement subcommittee uh this is an idea I had that I wanted to put forward to us that we uh establish a um subcommittee um to um to look at Community engagement and Communications um not not basically school committee uh Community engagement and Communications in other words what are our own Communications what's our own engagement with the community um and so um it's one of the I guess I can talk more about it but I guess first I would um like to okay oh I'm on Echo oh somehow I'm on Echo in Kate's world I think let me see what's happening with our Zoom sorry folks Kate I'm sorry I didn't see your hand have you have you had your hand up for a while oh now you're quiet can
115you try again Kate okay um Kate if you come back just speak up um so I'd like to hear um a motion that we uh create a um Community engagement subcommittee so moved is there a second I would second that okay [Music] um let's see yeah so discussion yes I can hear you now before I was hearing an echo of my own voice I think the reason you have the echo sorry about that you open on YouTube okay you can turn off YouTube I unmuted myself and I apologize for my technical glitch it i y I had a couple I have a question and then and then a suggestion was a little bit of History so because were M at yes there there is a motion to create a uh Communications I mean a community
116engagement subcommittee and it would be a standing subcommittee I guess I didn't that should maybe be um included in the motion so who made the motion would you accept that as a friendly am amendment to make it a standing committee yes uh and this person who seconded yes okay so um amended to be a standing um Community engagement subcommittee okay and is that motion to create standing or rep it's just to add the U Community the standing uh Community engagement so the the ad hoc committee would stand yep okay I see thank you well in that my my comment about history was perhaps irrelevant but I just wanted to share some information based on Section comments and I also appreciate theorical information from as well experience on this when I it facp to fit Reas
117devoted to our fac MERS excellent aad purpose related to our facili not distri process but especially withs to the long range that this committee has talked about many element andersh C that would a su if if we're considering the purpose and of but it doesn't sound like that was part of this motion so I'm not really clear how the discussion wandered over to that but that would be my feed on the discuss so I thank you um any other discussion about the um Community engagement standing committee member Goodwin how do you see this being different from what Karen is already doing for Community engagement this would be focused on school committee engagement I mean so how are we getting out into the community how are we talking and relating to people how are we um
118showing up at community events not focused on um the superintendent's work but our own work as school committee members other discussion all right um then let's move to a vote um member Martini yes member Goodwin yes member child's yes member ston yes I'm a yes mayor disorder going to abstain abstain the motion carries uh we will have a community engagement standing committee um I'd like to move immediately to um appointments to the subcommittee I'd like to um I'm I'm put forward a um um I guess my my appointments would be um if approved um uh member seon is chair member Goodwin and um member Den is there um a motion to approve that um assignment a motion from Member Martini is there a second I'll seconded okay second from Member ston discussion have those listed
119members all agreed to participate um I haven't had a chance to talk to all but um I I would definitely welcome to hear from people if if they don't want to be if they don't want to serve we can certainly um discuss that and amend the motion yeah I'm just thinking because one of the mentioned members is not present yep y I think she'd be willing to serve um and uh any other discussion all right let's move to a vote member Martini oh member Martini I see your hand raised sorry I keep forgetting to look at the laptop feel free to just speak up I don't know the perspective of those particular members on taking on this responsibility but I just wanted to voice my support um I think that um I always appreciate member
120ston for your leadership um capabilities and uh and your interpersonal communication with people so I I would strongly support that and M Goodwin I know has relationships already with lots of people in the district and it would really be valuable to have a person uh with those relationships on on a Communications committee and members needs is um I I always admire for um her technological Savvy and knowledge when it comes to Modern communication uh with people which is not my structure so she would definitely be better than I um for this particular sub committee so that's that's how I see those three individuals being a good fit for a committee like that and whether they want to take it on or not that's that's I would support them if they wanted okay all righty uh
121member seon I would be willing to take on the chair of that subcommittee I want to be clear to the other people in the room I am in favor of having a committee like that um I did I will just share that I did speak with chair Johnson mad about about the opportunity and I want to be also very clear that it's not a figurehead position that I actually do want to be out there doing stuff possibly in coordination and collaboration with you superintendent Pat node but you know in you know other things also um and I I welcome creating another dedicated venue for engaging with the public and for getting their feedback and for being out amongst them talking about what matters to them thank you any other discussion remember Childs I I just
122need a little bit more reassurance that I I'm not doing something terrible to member Den while she's not here to say no to more work I she said yes she said yes okay thank you thank you no subcommittees without consent um any other discussion all right let's vote member [Music] Martini yes member Goodwin yes member Childs yes member ston yes I'm a yes mayor I'm gonna abstain abstain okay um thank you everybody I'm really excited about that I think that's going to be a a really strengthen us as a as a committee and strengthen the community and help to um ensure the success of every child um we're moving on to uh school committee reports report of the chair um I'd like to make some exciting and share some exciting and good news I can
123find it um lost my tab um but our uh illustrious uh Elizabeth Den who has been serving as our um our rep to um R uh mask division five uh has been recognized uh by mask as the oh thank you superintendent um The Masks division 5 all state school committee 2024 Award winner um so these are awards that are given um each well they're given each year uh if a district feels that there's someone um who is worthy of receiving it so it's not just something that is offered every year they have to have someone that they feel is really deserving and I think we've all seen um the wonderful advocacy and relationship that um M deneve has um made with mask um and also the wonderful um resources she's brought to Greenfield in terms
124of trainings and encouragement to go to trainings in other places sharing resources gathered at those trainings with us and it's been a huge um gift to the committee that she's been um doing that and I only wish she was here and not feeling sick to uh be able to receive our um our um Applause for her wonderful success um yeah wonderful news we'll move on to reports um member Martini the budget and finance subcommittee can I that shaking myom for that award she definitely deserves it yes wonderful um I I have appreciated the organization and um training that she has brought to the committee and uh the uh coalescing of our um our own participation with within masc and with regard to um legislative advocacy so much as that to her so um she's definitely
125devoted a lot of personal time above and beyond um her obligations to the committee and Greenfield and I just appreciate that so much so I'm very glad to hear that uh on to budget and finance I am um delighted to share with everyone the uh budget development calendar for FY 26 that is in your materials um this as you recall is something that the committee has discussed over the past several months um it is not something that we have had before and it is something that um is a practice in many other school districts and uh we wanted to take it on because uh in the past we've had um some difficulties when it comes to uh confusion uh for people about how exactly the uh School Department's budget is formulated and where their opportunities
126are for input in that and uh so this the goal of this calendar is to um help us overcome those issues and it's just a first step this is not a magic wand and it's not going to solve all of our uh challenges with regard to that but uh but I think it will be a good step a good first step so as see there is a cover page there uh for our our calendar and you'll notice that all over it are our students and and I I want to just explain that that is there because it it's there as a reminder that that is who we do all of this for um and so that we will keep our students front and center um when we are discussing and deliberating on and considering issues
127related to our budget so uh they are the face of our budget development calendar so that we are always uh reminded that we put students first uh which is part of our values and also part of school committee policy um which you'll see a little bit later in this document now the second page is the calendar itself you'll see that it is uh colorcoded in to several different categories so that uh we can elucidate for people the uh parts of this budget development process that come from the city that are done by the school committee itself actions that are taken by the school administration and then uh events that happen at the state level that impact us so um we couldn't you couldn't possibly put every single step that all of those entities take into
128one calendar and have it end up on one page okay so this is curated to the most important um events that take place throughout the year and um hopefully hopefully this is will make sense to people I realize there are some acronyms on there and the reason for that is um just space uh it's not if I were have to have spelled out those acronyms every time then um it wouldn't have been possible to um make this format work um on the page so what I tried to do was um spell Out full names for those things the first instance and the acronym and parentheses and then thereafter you'll see uh things like CIP stand for Capital Improvement program uh and so on and so forth so um I am putting this forward to the
129committee with uh one small adjustment that will need to be made because I missed one of those first instances of an acronym which was B andf which stands for budget and finance subte uh and uh then down on the third page this is the last page of the document um that goes to um offer people some um good solid basic uh information about what the school committee policy is on public engagement uh which you can read for yourself there uh and then how all the different ways in which currently um a member of the public can share their input and and participate in this process so I try to um link things directly for people in there so that it will be really easy to just hop over to whatever it is you're interested in
130there whether it's the school committee policy manual this or uh specific email addresses and things like that uh and if this is meant to just be um like a FAQ for people about how they can join in and participate in the uh budget development process which is part of our um our policy and it's spelled out for you there um that I do have I have more to say about what's next for the budget and finance um subcommittee in terms of implementing our policy there uh about public engagement in this process but first I would just like to uh move that the school committee adopt this as our uh annual budget calendar budget development calendar par me for FY 26 uh with one clerical change to spell out the first instance of B and on
131page two thank you would anyone like to I just want to make sure Susan got the um motion uh the acronym that b and F budget and finance that um okay great is there a second also I should also just add for the budget and finance committee itself we did meet very recently and approved this as as our final draft and um the vote from our subcommittee is unanimous in support of approving this as our fy6 budget development thank you so much member Martini so you made the motion is there a second second second for member child's discussion uh mayor I just wanted to to thank member Martini she was dogged in her pursuit of the information um making sure every date she was coming to me asking to meet with the mayor asking to
132walk with the mayor to make sure she got all the dates down she she put a lot of effort into that I just hope you can hear that Kate um thank you you did a great job M xton yeah I just wanted to second that and say that this is a beautiful tool that our newly created Community engagement committee can utilize to help ensure that everyone knows when and where and who to bother about their their budget concerns other comments or questions well I'll just say Kate I'm not sure that you were here but we actually had a public comment from someone who was saying you know in the past the school committee hasn't been engaged until it was kind of too late and how are you going to address that and there's members on
133the committee who don't have answers to basic questions about the budget and uh I I knew that this was coming but I'm really pleased and um uh thanks to everybody on the budget subcommittee for your hard work on this and you in particular for spearheading the effort Kate um it's it's really wonderful I'm so excited uh about it remember ston sorry I did actually just I could probably find it myself up here but noting that in the on page two under November the dates are not there so there are dates be written in there times when there are dates on the committee that aren't aren't there on purpose Kate yes so you're probably noticing that in the late spring I didn't mention our regular school committee meetings and the reason for that is because we
134don't usually discuss very much with regards to the budget at in those particular months and the reason why is because immediately before that we have approved the uh School Department's budget request and then it's up to the mayor and the city council then to uh take that forward for the next few months until we do in fact have a uh a city budget in place so there the school committee itself discusses the budget in all of the months prior to that uh we do a lot of work that leads up to it and then we have to um sort of let it take its wings and fly with the city and wait for um wait for the mayor and the city council to get through their parts of it um so you'll see that uh
135for example the school committee's discussions about um Capital Improvement need to take place in the fall um because then the capital Improvement committee needs to um do what they do and then the mayor needs time to come up with her Capital Improvement program then go to city council uh and what happens so we as the school committee discuss those things up front and then we and then after that we are um there's not much for to do uh and the same thing with the operating budget once we finish our um our deliberations and approval of that which usually takes place that's either around the very end of February the beginning of March um then there's not much for us to do until um until after the mayor and city council including Ways and Means and
136what have you get through all their business which that would not take be until about the end of May so we probably wouldn't take up another budget topic other than our monthly updates until June so that's why and then just reading looking at the format there are some for example in November you have three items there but there isn't a particular date that's unintentional right there are times when you you won't know the dates or it's not something that's tied to a particular date yeah that's right um certain things within the budget process take place over a period of time rather than on a particular day uh so like for example when the when the um superintendent is looking for her department heads to create their individual uh budget requests that's something that doesn't take
137place on one particular day it takes time for those department heads to put together their requests um and so that's not you know that would go without a date on the calendar because it takes place across multiple dates um but I put those in the the month or the start of the year in which that thing would take place um I hope that makes sense yeah it makes sense to me other questions or comments about the about the uh calendar right uh anything else from you member Mar Martini before we vote no all right uh we'll start with you member Martini yes yes okay remember Goodwin yes remember child's yes member suton yes I'm a yes mayor disor yes yes passes unanimously thank you so much big achievement really appreciate it I'm so excited thank
138you so much this is definitely a little labor of love but I also just want to let you know make sure folks remember this is a you know changeable amendable document if something comes up or you see a need to make a change we can always uh you know go back to the to the drawing board with it and and amend it if we need to but I'm so glad to have this framework in place so now we can we can get going on what comes next which brings me to the other piece of my report so uh the next piece as you'll see in the calendar there is for U budget and finance to meet uh to discuss the implementation of our school committee policy dbd which is all written out for you there
139on page three uh basically the school committee's policy is that the needs of our students always come first when it comes to the development of the budget and the school committee is very interested in um having input from our community so there are already a number of ways in which members of the community can have input into the budget development process um people can uh come to our meetings and make public comment they can write email to individual committee members or all of the committee uh through our website and um we have had um you know we have individual members such as myself who have regular office hours that people are welcome to come and speak to us uh directly so um I could go on but so we have a number of ways in
140which we already do this however um I'm really inspired by superintendent Pat level of Engagement with the public over the last couple of months um since she took on her new position and um that's something that I myself would like to uh carry on and and um integrate into our work as a committee so that we're also doing our part especially when it comes to the development of the budget and now I know that I care about this maybe more because I happen to be chairing that subcommittee uh but I would like to um I would like to have a discussion about whether the committee would like to um and how and when do more to implement this policy so I plan to we will be having a a subsequent meeting our next meeting of
141this subcommittee will take place in a couple of weeks and uh that will be one of the topics that we will discuss so I wanted to ask the members of the committee right now um if uh they have ideas that they would like budget and finance to discuss in terms of um doing anything new or additional uh in terms of public engagement on the budget development process um so I would I would open that question for discussion great responses feedback I mean we just created another committee to engage the public and so I think that there's opportunities for joint committee operations if you will so that we could work together to think of some things great great thought others what that ston talking because it was very hard for me to hear oh yes member
142ston was saying that uh with the uh creation of the new community engagement subcommittee there might be opportunities for collaboration um about U Community engagement about the budget exactly what I was thinking yes um I also wanted to just add for members I know I you might have ideas later that um you're not able to think of on the spot right now and that's okay um and I I welcome um individual input from Members if they have suggestions that they would like to make I just want to remind members that um if you're communicating something like this it needs to be one onone directly to me because um no one should be deliberating on anything um or doing anything that could be seen as deliberation on a school committee um topic or anything under the
143SCH committee perview um in between open meetings so um I welcome individual um Communications so that I can I can um evaluate those suggestions properly with the subcommittee and then bring it back to everyone thank you all right anything else on your report no that's it I'm excited okay great um policy and program subcommittee that's me uh as chair and we did not meet we had a meeting and got canceled uh one person wasn't able to be there there was an item where it seemed useful to have the full committee available um so we will um convene again next month there was also not an executive subcommittee meeting um since the last meeting um um I don't think there was redistricting and reorganizing uh school committee handb handbook ad hoc committee um the chair isn't
144here to report on that is there a member who would be willing to to report remember seon we haven't not met since the last update that was given uh but I will I would like to remind folks to when you get a chance review the draft that we sent to folks um again not with a not with an editorial eye this is not your chance to play New York Times editor but it is your opportunity to provide broad brushstrokes feedback about big areas that are either missing that you'd like to see or ways that we presented something that you would like maybe presented differently um and I know we have another meeting on the calendar and if you give me 30 seconds I can tell you when it is it is the 23rd of September
145at 6: pm. and I'm not sure if we have a location set for that yet but we usually try to meet in person okay great um I guess I would just encourage you all to consider just cleaning up the version that was presented to us last last time and bringing it for a vote I I think it's ready for with with the you know there's places where it's saying you need this information or whatever but um I think it's really ready for the full committee to discuss and vote on and then could be something that could get added to but even what you have there would be such an improvement over not having anything at all and I really appreciate the work everybody's been doing on it um any other questions or thoughts for handbook
146committee okay um collaborative for Educational Services rep remember goodwi um very excited that the collaborative is celebrating their 50th year as a collaborative on September 18th um they're having a big shindig in Worcester um if you're interested in participating in the shindig let me know um and I will send you the link thank you um City Planning and construction rep we have not met okay um legislative rep is U member Den she's also our division five rep uh District Wellness committee our first meeting will be on October 7th um and I believe it will be virtual great that is uh committee reports um next we have um our new business um we'll say given the hour if anyone would like to move to table any of these items if they don't they don't want to
147discuss them tonight I I'm very open to those types of motions but our next item is the music program uh which I believe member Goodwin asked to be put on through the agenda I believe superintendent patod brought us celebration on the music program tonight yes okay excellent item handled uh petition on changing the school funding formula um so um let's see I in your packets I believe is a um petition that um that I mean I think the intent actually was to have a resolution ready for us which would be different from just the um petition um um Jesus is here representing that and has said that other districts will be voting on resolutions next month so it is an item that could be tabled uh alternatively I could accept a motion to um to
148uh approve the um to sign on as a school committee to the um petition as presented so it's kind of we could go either way we could do a resolution next month or we could have a motion to sign on to the petition as presented and discuss it now any any preferences anyone all right I guess what I'm gonna say given the hour why don't we do this in October if that's okay it sounds like it was okay I don't have my glasses on so I can't read you okay um great uh we will table that oh why don't I take a a motion to um take up a resolution on changing the school funding formula in October so just a motion basically to take this up next month is there someone who'd make that
149motion motion all right uh okay got a motion for member Saxton and a second from Member Martini um any discussion uh member Martini vote yes member Goodwin yes member Childs yes member ston yes I'm a yes mayor yes yes okay motion carries unanimously we will discuss that at our um October meeting lpac and CPAC updates um superintendent oh sorry oh oh I didn't realize we were actually getting an update that's great I thought that I was making a motion to CU oh the intent of why I brought it up was so that we would actually have representatives from those bodies come and give us updates is my that was the intent that I brought that forward from but I would be happy to hear the updates that you have for us tonight I I'll just
150say I asked the superintendent to gather some information about us so so she can share the information she's gathered and then the committee can decide what our next steps are thank you superintendent sure um the director of people Services Dave messing um oversees both of those and um the CPAC is set to meet next Wednesday um September 18th at 6 o'clock they meet in the Greenfield Middle School library they also offer child's care um for any members that want to come they are working on getting um officers elected and and approving their bylaws that they started last year because we find fin have some parents um on the advisory committee that joined us last year and are continuing the the hard work so they're moving and shaking um the bylaws um I looked into this
151because I wasn't quite 100% certain but the bylaws actually dictate how they report to the school committee so once their bylaws are approved we'll see what's in the bylaws and then if they don't actually have that in their bylaws Mr messing said he's happy to send reports either that I can share with you or he can come to a meeting um our lpac has been a little slower getting off the ground but that meeting is on Thursday September 26th 6 o'clock Greenfield Middle School library these um things will all be in my parent updates and reminding folks where and when and that we do offer child care so folks who want to come and don't have that they can bring their children um but they are just starting out they did not have any um
152solid representation last year so they're really looking for people to join that and that's the English language parent advisory committee so um if um you know anyone that wants to join please contact Dave messing and we will get you where you need to be for those groups so I'll keep you posted as they meet and as the bylaws get adopted any discussion or all right um um then I don't think there's any other action for us right now that's all right not this time okay um item D we have the school resource officer in schools um the mayor asked me to put this onto the agenda and we heard during the public comment uh the chief uh uh imploring us to please uh reinstate a school resource officer in the schools uh I think what
153I would like to do on this is basically have a vote about whether the school committee um wants to um deliberate and um and uh vote on having us basically whether we want to take this up because um we did um not too long ago um you know make a choice as a school committee about which direction we were going in with school resource officers which was not to have one um so I do feel like it would require our committee choosing together about whether we want to um initiate I guess the way I would put it is um I would hear a motion that the school committee initiate a comprehensive study and deliberation process to evaluate the potential addition of a school resource officer to our school district so is there a motion to
154that effect um a motion from the mayor and is there a second second from Member Goodwin okay um discussion I just wanted to um say one thing without and I don't want to say too much but um this actually came up after um we had a meeting we had a department head meeting and the the FBI was not at the school but was at the home of of um uh a student um and there was a threat to the school is my understanding um no so if you can correct me if I'm wrong I I actually it was concerning to me enough to to bring it up and I didn't go into all of the details but or I did I don't know all of the details but I know that they were in touch
155with you and so maybe you'd like to Enlighten us a little bit yeah we don't talk about like security issues in a public form yeah okay there other discussions member goodwi so sorry okay so I would just say this when I heard that I had a concern about public about safety so I put it so I asked that it would be on the agenda for a discussion and I wanted you to know where that came from that there was something behind that okay thank you thank you mayor member Goodwin I think the world is a very scary place and unfortunately things are happening everywhere and that everybody likes to think not where they live um and I'm sorry we need as much help as we can get to keep our schools safe um and we've
156had a good relationship for a long time um with our local police they would show up at our schools when there was a problem um and some of our schools are more isolated from downtown than others location matters so I would say to you um sro's um are a necessity for today's world our doors are not always people can just walk indoors um our new security system hopefully will help with that that but there is always somebody who's going to leave a door open in our schools um I think it's a um something that's necessary and every time there's a shooting you know you sit there and you go you just hold your breath and I do not want us to be sitting here in tears because children or teachers died because we didn't have
157um people in our schools to help and there was a school committee meeting I can still remember years ago where they talked about um arming our custodians and I can remember that school committee as clear as day and sitting there going you've got to be kidding um but people react every time there's a shooting um and every time something happens and then it fades away and today of all days um it is 911 and I have not forgotten that day I was would say to you that the more security you have the better off you are before I hear other comments I just want to emphasize again to the committee um the reason why we have uh an executive session I item um that we we actually happen to have met for this reason today
158to discuss the deployment of security Personnel or devices or strategies with respect there to so we do get to have an open discussion about whether to have a school resource officer but we need to be extremely sensitive about what information we're disclosing or not disclosing um in that discussion so please be thoughtful thank you member Childs can you speak a little more about what the comprehensive study would entail and what the time frame on that would be because the the movement was about that I think if the committee took it up then we would have that discussion and determine that um I don't have that I mean with this item was uh submitted a few days ago so I I certainly don't have a draft plan and plus the committee hasn't decided to take it
159up so member ston you mentioned in opening this discussion that it was quite recently actually that the committee took up this question and and decided to not no longer longer have SRO in our schools and I would like to think that they went through a deliberative process and addressed many of the same concerns and questions that we would be facing with this comprehensive review I would not be in favor of reopening that if there if we can go back and look to their deliberations and see how they chose to respond and the measures that they put in place to address the concerns about safety it is my understand understanding that even without SRO we do still have police officers who respond to incidents at our schools is this true they're still there um yes we
160can connect with dispatch or anytime we need something dispatch will send someone if asked for absolutely um I'll just say my computer went to sleep so member Martini if you're wanting to speak please uh just unmute and say something so I know you want to talk because I don't have my password handy and all that um okay no problem am so I I understand if newer members um want to discuss this topic um I however was on the committee when we did discuss this um issue quite extensively uh not that long ago and I remember so clearly the um input from lots of community members about this and the ones that are uh the most at the Forefront for me are the ones from our students um and and they are the most important when
161it comes to um any decision we make and uh I I will not forget from our discussions on that um the opposition expressed by many of our students um and the poignant description of why certain students would not feel safe having police in our schools um and uh I worry just as much as as anyone else about uh about our security which is why I appreciate the um Regular communication that the committee has received from the school administration in uh our executive sessions o to the need to keep our security um procedures and um capabilities uh Within um within our own knowledge in order to uphold the Integrity of those things um and then in terms I understand why this issue comes up um when a tragedy occurs and I spend a lot of time
162um reading as much as I can about each one um so it's not lost on me that um having an SRO did not prevent a tragedy in Parkland having uh having two officers responding right away um did not prevent people from losing their lives in the most recent one and a school having its own entire police department did not prevent uh one of the worst tragedies in our nation's history in you Val so um I myself I'm not interested in revisiting this topic I think it would be um a better use of our time to to focus on other things but um if other members as a majority of the committee want to go through a process of studying this again then I'm here for it thank you other uh comments um I'll speak to
163this I also am not in favor of the school committee taking this up um I also was on the committee when when we discussed it it did come up uh in the wake of uh George fluid's killing and the um the rise in Consciousness and um voice about the role of the police in our community about how um I mean at the time I don't think the school resource officer has been brought to us before with the idea that that having a a single School resource officer at a school would increase the safety of our students in terms of um protection from um mass shooting events for example it was always presented to us as something that um was needed in order to build a good relationship between the students and the police department and
164is something um that would contribute to that uh the challenge for um students of color in particular um Black and Hispanic students um is that the role of the police in these communities has not um always been um what it should be in terms of protecting uh people and so it can be uh triggering and inhibiting of learning to uh have a police presence in the schools on an ongoing basis certainly we do have uh events and invitations to the police to come and bring Comfort dogs and so on that does occur but uh I I uh agree that um with member Martini that um the idea of having a um a single um school resource officer in the school is really not going to contribute to the safety of our children um unfortunately from
165those mass shooting events um and yeah the exact same examples those member Martini I think chose the perfect examples of of where that has not been effective so I am really um not interested in um red deliberating about this and I will uh vote against the committee taking it up uh on an ongoing basis any other discussion or questions all right let's have a vote um member Martini no member Goodwin yes member Childs yes member ston no uh I am and no um mayor disorder yes okay we are tied uh 5050 uh Robert's Rules of Order kind of calls for us to keep deliberating and keep discuss discussing um another option would be for us to uh table lay this on the table until our October meeting um when there will hopefully be a an
166odd number of us present for the vote um any I'd just accept informal feedback from people if you have a preference one way or the other if you think that you could your vote could be changed by more discussion I would be open to talking about it more tonight I moveed to table move to table by the mayor is there a second second second from Member ston discussion no it's not a no discussion item yep thank you okay so we will vote um member Mark Martini motion to table okay that's a yes member Goodwin yes member child's yes M ston yes I'm a yes mayor yes all right motion passes unanimously we will um consider the motion to um study and deliberate on this topic at our um October meeting and with that uh are
167there any requests for future uh agenda items hearing none I'd take a motion to adjourn so moved motion from the mayor is there a second second second from Member suon any discussion let's vote member Martini yes member Goodwin yes member child yes member ston yes I'm a yes mayor yes motion passes unanimously we are adjourned at 9:30 p.m. thank you thank you everybody [Music] a [Music]