001good evening welcome to the Greenfield Public School special school committee meeting today's Tuesday November 14th 2023 at 6 pm. we're at the johnon community center 35 Pleasant Street in Greenfield and per open meeting law any member of the public may make an audio or video recording of this meeting we will move right into our agenda secretary extrom can I have a roll call please member Den secretary extrom I'm presid member John spad here Vice chair Martini here chair pretti here member wall here mayor Woody Gardner here we have a quorum thank you and we're called to order at 602 moving right into our agenda is uh an interview with our superintendent appointee Karen patot also known as askp our assist current assistant superintendent thank you Karen for being here with us we're looking forward to
002a very informative conversation with you tonight um I freely admit I neglected to bring our placards that have our names so I'm going to ask uh we're going to go down and ask the committee to just introduce themselves um for folks who may not know them and folks who are following along at home I'm the vice chair of the school committee Katherine Martini uh secretary Susan X mayor WEA Gartner AKA roxan Jean wall member Glenn Johnson mad and I'm uh Amy priet chair of the committee we also are absent one member this evening uh member Elizabeth Den is not here and uh prior to uh the meeting I did assign the questions we'll be asking of the um appointee to individual members and we're following Along on a script that we have um and I've
003asked that uh member Vice chair Martini actually take the extra questions for folks for the one person who's missing so that's why you might see her ask extra questions I just figured it would be a simple way to do it um and now uh Karen we invite you to make an opening statement and please talk about what's LED you to this point in the your career and then we'll have our series of 10 questions for you and um at the end we will also have an opportunity for you to ask any questions you have of us thank you good evening thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight um I do have a prepared opening statement and I think it addresses what led me to this point but I can always clarify further if
004you feel the need um being an educator today is hard harder than I have ever experienced or witnessed over the course of my 24e career but in those 24 years 14 of which have served the students of Greenfield and in all the roles I have played from classroom teacher to assistant principal at both the middle and high school to the high school principal and now currently as your assistant superintendent I have learned that being an educator is the most rewarding experience this interview process has afforded me the opportunity to reflect on what is important and what matters and how we address that to create the best educational experience possible for our students there's a quote on my desk that reminds me of this every day and I want to share it with you it reads
005leadership is hard nobody said it would be easy when people talk about you keep leading when people compliment you keep leading when your hard work goes unnoticed keep leading why because we are in the kid business kids are the reason schools exist it isn't about you isn't about me it's about the kids when things are good bad or ugly keep leading when we keep showing up to lead that's when success will follow that's when kids' Pathways will be redirected and that is when we know we are changing the world keep leading so 24 years later in education I continue to keep leading regardless of everything else because every day I get up and think about students first it is for them that I do this work so that their experiences in Greenfield Public Schools are
006engaging welcoming supportive and valuable but I cannot and I do not do this work alone I will continue to support our teachers our administrators and our staff to ensure that everyone's Focus remains on what is best for students the vision of the district and my desire for each and every child to get the best possible education in Greenfield Public Schools are reflected in all of my actions decisions and Communications of the school system so that every stakeholder knows that students are the priority and that's what's led me to this point Thank You excellent thank you very much I have the first question and then we'll kind of bounce around it's not in the order that we're sitting so this is a two-part question first how would you spend your first six months as superintendent and
007in this time what do you see as your short-term priorities and the second part what would be your most critical long range objective you know I think back to to when I was appointed as acting principal having been a associate principal at the time in the same building and it really is reflective of kind of the situation I find myself in now I've been working as an assistant um with Christine for two and a half years or so and you know when you start to transition to the lead role your first six months really are about listening listening to hear not listening to speak really touching in and you know really getting a pulse on what folks are feeling at the time with the change of leadership how the schools are operating what do they
008think are the immediate needs how to address those immediate needs um I think one of our short-term priorities has to be Staffing I know the world is in a staffing shortage but um it is detrimental to the lives of our students every day and we have to really term the long-term really revolves around the work I've been doing for the last few years vertical alignment of our curriculum and equity in our programming for all of our students has been started we have a long way to go and I think the long range objective has to be that we keep that in sight and so our students are getting the highest quality educational programming each and every day and that every student has access to that um we have made great strides I I really am
009proud of a lot of the things we have done in the last two and a half years but there is a long way to go and I think that has to remain on the Forefront thank you so what inequities do you see in the student experience and outcomes in the Greenfield Public Schools and what would you do to improve them can you speak to this question specifically with to students with disabilities sure I think um a lot of the inequities when I first took on the role as assistant superintendent were in about what programs were offered in what buildings and what students had access to what opportunities depending on where they actually were enrolled um what was happening with some of our specialed programming and how it wasn't as strong as it needs to be
010and how we need to strengthen that area as well how we need to work on curriculum and what we offer our students um I think the data shows that a lot of our subgroups are still struggling in meeting grade level standards and I think that we need to continue to focus on how we support those subgroups in Rising to the level of expectations we have for the grade level um work but I also think we have to be Equitable in what we offer in terms of electives and I know one of the first assignments as assistant superintendent I was given was to really look at elementary specials and um there's been a lot of conversation about how maybe the music offerings at some schools are less than they were but still have music but I'm
011very proud that 215 students at one Elementary School that never had access to music actually does now so I think really you know the overview of our programming and how how that affects every student in every building has to be what we think about every day and every action that we take with our curriculum and our programming I think with regards to students with disabilities um with our new director of pupil Services one of the things that we know we need to work on is that vertical alignment of special ed programming and also professional development in my role and really speaking to the difference between modifying curriculum and scaffolding and I think that's something that um folks aren't really Savvy in and I think they do the best that they can but I think we
012need to support teachers so that they're modifying grade level curriculum so that special ed program students are receiving grade level content but accessing it in a way that they can so we have work to do there as well but we um definitely have that in our sites ready for me both U excuse me both recent both recently and in times past Greenfield Public Schools has served students placed in Emergency Shelters locally can you speak to both your educational philosophy on serving vulnerable po populations and also your approach to Community Partnerships for serving such populations you know um I've been in Greenfield 14 years and we've seen an influx of this at various times over the course of my career um and by no means are these students responsible for the situation that they have found
013themselves in in life and I think it is our job as Educators that we do everything we can to make sure that their needs are met um and that they are having the experience that they deserve in our schools I think by doing that though you really do have to rely on Community Partnerships more than ever because schools can't sustain all of the needs for some of these students we have great relationships with frog Community Action the rec department the why um I've worked with them many times over the years you know now we have service net our connection now with the influx of uh homeless at the days in but I think we really need to be collaborative and cooperative and really focus on what do students need and how we can provide it
014for them so that when they do come to school we Embrace what they need but provide them with the education they deserve I think we also need to strengthen our L programming um I along with five other administrators are taking an administrative course right now on uh ways that we can do that and how we can review what we do for our elll population and how that can really tie into the work that we're doing with with some of the immigrants we're seeing in our schools today thank you oh sorry excuse me I was supp to take notes um could you please explain the job description of your current job as assistant superintendent and the job description of superintendent and how will you navigate that transition you know it's so fun um Christine and I
015work so well together that often times I don't really know what's my job and what's her job because sometimes we're just in it together you know that we we have a lot of crossover in that um and it might take me into your next question so I apologize if this answer kind of uh really answers them both at one time but um I have been in District where I have seen an assistant superintendent be employed I have been in District where superintendent's been working solo and it is absolutely not possible to run what the needs of this District are in a Solo situation and I know oftentimes the assistant superintendent has been cut due to budgetary reasons and trying to you know cost save in that way but the work that needs to be done
016so that our students get the best education possible is not a solo job so not only handling Personnel matters handling curriculum professional develop vment collective bargaining and Union contracts as Jean knows we've been in many negotiations but um my job as assistant superintendent has been really to support all the needs that the superintendent has I also am responsible though for the grants and writing our Title One Grant and any other supportive grants that we get to support the programs we offer I also um do our Mentor program I do our mentoring for our uh Unit A and Unit C folks I'm also a mentor myself for associate principles and principles so I think the transition's going to be a little awkward because I know how OCD I am and what a control freak I am
017you can probably ask many people in the audience and they can verify that and how it will be a a probably a slow release of some of my responsibilities as an assistant um but hopefully um whenever we can find someone to fulfill my role it will be someone that can work collaborative collaboratively with me and really support um The Duo team that Christine and I have now and really turn it into something that can keep the work going I'll read the next question and if you have anything you want to add you might have already covered it all but I did edit it at the last minute so um when taking on the role of superintend what do you envision the role of a new assistant superintendent would take on and how do you envision
018that relationship would work some people think you should combine the jobs as he said and not have an assistant superintendent do you think that would be feasible why or why not not feasible um there really is um a division of responsibility in the sense that um together we are better and can accomplish much more so I think that is something that uh the role of two people in in these positions of um oversight of the district really is a collaborative nature you know we bounce ideas off of one another and really try to figure out the best route to coming up with good programming you know good staff culture good school culture just trying to support student staff you know um from custodians to Food Service to um everyone involved and really wanting them to
019be part of a a culture that they are proud to work at Greenfield Public Schools and support our students but I really think that some of the work that um can't be let go is that instructional leadership piece you know we have uh four schools now and targeted assistance and we have uh ssos uh leading some of our uh professional development and we really have to do better better for our students so I think to have an assistant superintendent that can keep their eye on the prize with the instructional leadership with the superintendent supporting that is so necessary right now and if we gave up that role I really see that that's where that's taken the hit over the years and not having that curriculum alignment and development and anyone having oversight over what's being
020implemented in our classroom so um I do not think it's feasible not to have one thank you okay uh what is parent and family engagement to you and how can a superintendent practice and Lead others in improving it um I really think parent and family engagement is tied to availability and opportunity for connections um I was talking with some folks in in the little preh half hour and just talking about how grocery shopping sometimes takes me two hours because I do live in town and have relationships with many students and their families and then you see them and you really have conversations that are at the heart of what worries them or what concerns they have or what they would like to see in schools or whatnot um my husband can attest that we can
021go nowhere without someone talking to me about something about schools so um I really think availability is at the heart of parent and family engagement I also think um some of the practices I did as a principal really would do well as a superintendent you know I had a great school council at the high school had a lot of people that um were very interested in getting me out into the public and having more access to the principal of the high school for families that wanted to engage walking and talking at the track I was shooting hoops at the W one night and I do not shoot hoops I just want to make that clear but I would I am very willing to partake in just about anything to um make those connections I want
022families to feel like their voices are um heard and that we are listening I also think um just building those strong relationships um having your your face out there having um Connections in the community and letting people know that you are available and you're willing to listen really is at the heart of the matter I think I practice that now so I think that's something that I model for others and that I would continue to do so as a superintendent this one's mine too they W they weren't both mine um I'm interested in your experience with facilitating mentoring and professional development for district administrators how would you approach this work and what experiences have you had in your own professional path that informed that approach can you give an example of an effective mentoring relationship
023you've been a part of um I think this question really goes towards supporting the district administrators and really um becoming a collaborative team I think we have a phenomenal administrative team in District that really works hard every day I think one of the things though that we're um really turning the tides on is being more culturally responsive in our practice it has become part of the desie uh administrative rubric this year it will then be adopted by the educator rubric next year for teachers and I think it means so many different things to so many people but in terms of the work that we do and how we Implement a cultural responsive um culture in our schools really needs to be part of the PD that we move forward with as as a district and
024our Administration um I think um we've tried you know book studies we've done articles at e teams we've talked about you know Hot Topics in education and what's going on and you know I think we all bring something to the table to build these relationships that can improve our practice as administrators I think one of the most successful effective mentoring relationships I have is um Michelle Fenimore who um I hired as a teacher many years ago at the middle school who went on to be an assistant principal and um who then took over as principal at Federal Street and now we have her luckily at our middle school and um I was her Mentor for um a lot of her administrative work and I think um collaboratively it's just a success story that I'm so
025proud of the work that she does now for our district and so uh grateful that she's here with us still and I think that that just shows you know when you support good Folks at any level and what they want to pursue in their career and education and make opportunities for good staff to uh either be promoted if they want to go into uh Administration I think that's what we should do because the people that work for us and are committed to Green field are those that we should train and keep and and support in those Pathways what do you believe a school committee is able to do to make the greatest impact on student achievement and how will you as a superintendent collaborate with the school committee toward that you know they talk about
026your role as in creating policy and oversight of the budget um I I think you also have to be quite supportive of the superintendent that you have trusted to lead your district and if that trust isn't there then there are all sorts of things that can go wrong so I think having that collaborative relationship and trusting who you actually appoint to lead the district district is important it's a critical role that the Integrity of the job of superintendent is upheld by the school committee I think there's um this sense in the universe today that everyone's kind of Rogue about how they deal with matters and while I understand that um everyone should be accessible and everyone should be able to you know talk to whomever they want and and query anyone that they want in
027the school committee I think ultimately the collaboration between the school committee and the superintendent needs to be topnotch I think um your greatest impact on student achievement comes in the budget cycle what do you value what do you value for our children and how are you going to um support where the money needs to go so that those values are upheld and the education that we can provide for them and I think budget season is really the most important um job you have so that folks know know that what we need is being supported by all of you I also think um the vision and the mission of our school should be something that's kind of embedded in the work that you do or the conversations you have and wherever you are whether you're at
028the grocery store or uh whatever it is you're talking with people about Greenfield Public Schools that positive um response to what we're doing as a collective group needs to be uh exhibited by everyone involved in the schools thank you how can literacy be achieved for the most number of students and how do you use data to make informed decisions about this what support does a superintendent need to give to teachers and staff and receive in order to affect this I think we're getting better I don't think we're there as um you and I have had many conversations about the foundational skills needed in the science of reading and how every student should be capable of reading by grade three um I think we have worked on a better intervention system with our Title One programming
029and really working on how we're monitoring that data in six week Cycles with our interventionists more closely and then really thinking about if students are not making progress in literacy where are we going next I think when I first started in this role um intervention was a lifelong sentence for the year that kids were in intervention for way too long and we weren't really looking at the data or really trying to purse out what was actually happening and not doing um referrals as as quickly as we needed to so I think we've gotten better in that sense I think what the superintendent needs to do is really sh share some of that data not only at school committee and with public but we need to be talking about that at the district level at our
030e teams and then having administrators really talking about that at the building levels um teachers do a great job usually in their classrooms with their own data with the kids in front of them but then what do they do with the data and what do they do with the needs of what the data shows them is really the tricky part you know they only are one person usually and then how can we support them in well if so and so is showing this in this data how can we you know move this student here or how can we support them through interventions there or what other programming do we have I think more professional devel development on how to analyze data is definitely needed we're seeing that through our collaboration um we've partnered with open
031architect as you know and they are our data dashboard now and we've really uh started talking about that more and more we were at an e team today and just saying how um folks look at a lot of data but don't understand sometimes what the data means and really understanding what the data means and then what we do with that data is where we need some PD um not only at the staff level but I think at the administrative level too and we were talking about how we could further progress that today even Arts education has been proven to enhance well-being and academic outcomes for all students how would you prioritize this throughout our schools and collaborate with Educators and others to support this I feel um really lucky that Greenfield has always supported the
032Arts um I've can't recall a time where we've said okay that's on the shopping block at any time because I think the value of the Arts in this community is quite High I've worked in other districts where that's the first thing to go I think how our Arts are provided to our students in different ways means a lot of different things to community members and they would probably like to see more of that at every level but I also think people have forgotten the effect coid has had and how chorus and playing instruments was really a back burner thing even when kids came back to school those opportunities weren't really there because of masking and social distancing and then the inability to learn either an instrument or you know we have a Ceramics class at
033the high school you weren't obviously you know doing Pottery at your house during those times so rebuilding those programs is something that's really important to us now we know the value of that we know what strong electives and those interests keep kids in school like a lot of kids come to school because that's their passion so I think we really need to think about course selections think about our offerings vertical alignment of those course selections um we were talking the other day this uh Garden Club at the middle school is like the Hot Topic these days there's tons of kids that go they love love to be outside and gardening and growing their own food and we have this interest for 5 to seven and then what happens and you know I laugh because we
034go to the high school and we have a farmer who works for us who who is a certified teacher but we're not thinking about the vertical alignment of the passions of our students and I think that um we have to be better about that so like what interests are our kids kids having either at the elementary level or at the middle school level and how can we build a progression of those interests so that they grow um I also think that we have to be a little more creative these days that kids are uh growing and progressing in ways that we're I don't think we've caught up with yet and that some of our elective choices and the Arts are not as interesting as they could be um we did adopt Naviance as you know
035and it's going to have a College and Career pathway that starts you know kids will start filling out in sixth grade but I think we can do a lot more work before that in knowing what passions our youngsters have and trying to build vertical alignments so that those passions don't just fade out thank you so that is the conclusion of our questions for you and I thank you and we we'd also like to give you an opportunity to ask any questions that you may have of the school committee I didn't particularly have any questions but I'm interested if any of you just would like to respond to what do you think the number one priority for your new superintendent should be based upon the time you've served here and what you think our school needs
036most and that forone thank you and I would open that up to anyone who wants to share uh well the first thing that comes to mind is um the need to build cohesiveness in our school community and the community at large which is uh many faet and complicated and nuanced thing um but that is something that um feels like a a very precious goal um to me and um equally important is the focus on student achievement um really it comes down to what sort of future we're giving our students uh and what role GPS has to play in that so there can really be no um no higher priority than that from my point of view um so no secret I became part of the school committee because I had so much invested in special
037education people Services things like that um and one of the things that I still see and and I think I maybe ask Christine when she was interviewing or we had something about it um or perhaps chair and I had discussed it was um how someone interprets inclusion inclusion can be you know there are places where inclusion is well special needs kid is sitting in the corner so they're part of the group as opposed to what you had mentioned is making accommodations and teaching a classroom so that everyone in the classroom can learn it and there are but certainly um even as I look at my own daughter there are certainly I don't want to say limitations but you know limitations there there are places where people Peak um and I don't want someone to be
038limited I don't want any student to be limited because sort of that's where they peaked um but I also don't want other students to to not gain their full education because they're it's being taught to a singular person's ability um and it's a tough balance I don't know what the answer is to that and that's why I'm not a teacher or superintendent anyone else yeah please um one of the things I've really admired both about um the superintendent and your work together with the superintendent is putting the getting the trains kind of running on time there's just been this feeling from my vantage point of of seeing operations and systems getting into place and looking at things and just kind of one step at a time aligning things like you were saying across the schools
039and things like that and that's been so helpful I think we need we need more of that for sure I think that's a that's a work in progress and the other thing is one thing I've experienced on the school committee and I'm sure superintendent and assistant superintendent uh experienced it as well there's not a lot of psychological safety we're kind of out here invisible and people you know aim a lot at us but I would really like I this isn't about a particular thing but it's like I would really like I really like the superintendent to have the the backing of the school committee and the community to dream a little bigger like think about something more aspirational um and I think that would be unique to whoever is in the role it has to
040be something that they particularly are passionate about so I wouldn't really necessarily put any specific topic on it but just more like I think we could we could dream a little bit bigger for Greenfield I particularly liked your answer to the last question on the Arts Ed piece um because I agree with you I think this school district has always focused heavily on that and I like the idea that you want to continue to build on it because we had some setbacks I have a I'm fortunate to have a grown child who um love love book learning too but mostly his passion was theater and he went on to get an undergraduate degree in theater and an a graduate degree in arts related stuff and he wouldn't have done that maybe if he'd been at
041one of those other schools where ours wasn't important so to bring it back around to how that's important for the city of Greenfield not every child is is a he happened to also like book learning but um as a book Learning child and we have to be able to create a school district that is is um is attractive to a lot of people for a lot of reasons a lot of families who want to bring their kids there so I like that you uh recognize that um that's why some PE kids come to school um and that's why some families bring have make sure that their kids do come to this school so um keep that up I don't it doesn't have to be top priority but um that's I think that'll that'll serve us
042well as the person who spent many many many many hours with you in Christine on Union negotiations I would like for the community to know that you and Christine value the staff of the schools more than they can even imagine and that you worked so hard to uh make sure that we gave everybody who works for the schools as much as we possibly could on their list of things they desired and I'm not sure that people realize the emphasis that was put into all of the work with the unions I just want to quickly Echo what jean said and then also kind of tie together I think what Glennon um and the mayor um maybe everyone was saying um we as a school committee need to be really um in tune with what the day-to-day
043challenges are of the operations of the district and obviously we have those budgeting priorities that we can um you know lean on to uh make change to implement and dream bigger I like that um and also uh you know be creative in our collaboration like we've seen you do with um the beacon program that was started during the pandemic the alternative um school that has really taken on a life of its own and you know left the Greenfield Public School nest and is on for bigger and better things which um I think is pretty cool and uh you know Jean's comments reminded me that we as a school committee are directing the um ability to compensate um the the folks who work in the district and that piece is very mysterious to the public and
044very mysterious outside of that negotiation process um but it where we get our information is from our communication with the superintendent and the assistant superintendent and um to be able to like you've talked about um be sure there's Integrity in those relationships and that there's trust in those relationships I think is really critical to um what we've worked so hard to do which is you know incrementally improve uh the um compensation that we provide and we're not done but being able to put all of those things together to be you know very responsive as much as we can be responsive and creative with a budget that seems anemic at times um and so yeah I just those things are so hard to put um into uh words for an outsider of the processes to understand
045um but I think you know looking at those examples of of how we negotiate uh to get uh to an agreement that is sustainable and affordable and and um at a minimum Fair compensation for the folks in the district and then also how we can you know put things together creatively and watch them grow I think um really speaks to where we can have an influence yeah thank you for asking that question do you have other questions for us all right so I want you to again I thank you and I want you to sit tight for a minute there um at this point we'll discuss and what I'd like to do is ask for a motion that the Greenfield school committee enter into contract negotiations with assistant superintendent Karen patod to be our next
046superintendent beginning July 1 2024 so moved second and let's let's have a discussion any comments any thoughts are we ready to move to a vote that seems premature um I just you you know me I'd like to talk about procedural things um please go ahead if if that were if if the case is that yes we decide to do this what is the next steps for committee and sure thank you for asking that um so in terms of next steps the the first Next Step would be uh that we would call together the school committee for a meeting where we would enter executive session to discuss the uh parameters of the contract negotiations and and um uh we uh you know we have as a as we have two resources for that that are kind
047of uh precedent for how we've done this in the past one is we work with masc um who have been our guide through um these processes in the past and they are with this one as well and then we would also um uh work with last time around we worked with Judy Hol um I'd like to be able to ask Christine to help us to be a reference for um how we would enter those discussions and what things we should consider um and there was something else I was going to add this is the second time today I've lost my train of thought um you look like you want to add something for me please and last time that this was done was there only one member of the school committee who was involved with
048the negotiations or was there more than one person oh that's a good question so um I did the communicating as chair with Christine but we met several times as a group to work through the details of the contract so any time there was a change or development we would come to together again to work through that in an executive session um and we also of course use um our legal councel Adam dupe would be the person that would work with us to review the contract um and primarily it is uh us coming together as a group me being the representative as chair to those discussions with um the appointee and then um coming together to agree um once we once we can settle on the appropriate parameters thank you for asking the question other thoughts
049qu yeah please I just want to say I enthusiastically um vote Yes for this I think we have a wonderful candidate and it's been it's really great to hear your story about developing from a teacher to an assistant principal to a principal to assistant superintendent what a gift to us to have someone who's been such depth of experience in relationships in the community and um all of the expressions of support for you um since we started this these conversations have been really very touching and inspiring and you have a lot of fans so that that's a benefit to starting a job like this to have to have a base of support thank you member Johnson mad please go ahead member well I think that we are the luckiest School District in Massachusetts to have you
050as a candidate having gone through the process before of hiring a super super intendent it's so uh sketchy because you really don't know the pr people that you're interviewing and you just have to trust your gut we're not trusting our gut we have somebody we know is great and thank you for uh applying to be here along the same lines as What Glenn said I I I too was impressed by the number of people that wrote to us and and it was unequivocal who they wanted as the next superintendent and I have a feeling if any any one of you um Strays from their your role of supporting the Integrity of the job of superintendent you're going to be in big trouble so I think you're safe other discussion I just want to say a
051couple of things first of all it's so unique and truly inspiring to be in this position as a school committee and as this specific school committee considering where we have been in the recent past and where we are now um and I thank you for wanting to move forward with us Karen patod um I also just briefly want to uh thank the committee everyone submitted some really thoughtful questions which is what you heard tonight and specifically uh Vice chair martini and secretary extrom for putting together from the the ones that were submitted the ones that we uh asked you tonight um and then I thought I saw oh she is here Liz leond is here uh from masc um and thank you Liz for all of your help and support through this process they help
052us every time we do a search like this um and then the only other thing I want to say is I've twice seen you in Big Y and you were talking to someone and you didn't see me to follow up on that one of the questions was essentially how do you be a rock star and live in Greenfield and go to the grocery store we did that one out um I was just going to um to I don't want to um draw things out because everything um that has been said down the table is uh completely true um and I think we are in a unique position to um have someone that we are so familiar with and have been able to watch in action you know all this time and uh with whom so
053many people uh among the staff in the community are already so familiar uh and so supportive of so um that that makes us very fortunate and um I am glad to have been able to do um this interview process because uh it was really valuable to see the um questions put forward by the rest of the committee um because this really um is a great document representing the priorities of the school committee uh which actually gives us um a really good footing I think to start out on um in this relationship so I think this um this process has gone really well and I don't think that there's anything anything more you know we would need to do before taking that next step are you calling the question sure am the question's been called we
054will move to a vote secretary exam let's do a roll call vote please secretary xtram yes member Johnson mad yes Vice chair Martini yes chair PRI yes Ember wall yes mayor wyard yes we are unanimous congratulations Karen thank you very much thank you to the committee thank you to all the folks who are here in support I saw um some hugs at the beginning which is great um and we're looking forward to the next steps here how about a motion to adjourn so moved and a second second and we do not need to do a roll call we just did one but we don't have to uh any any abstentions from voting to adjourn any no votes we are adjourned at 653 p.m thank you again