2026-10-19 - School Committee

01:50All

02:02right. Good evening.

02:03>> Recording in progress

02:04>> at

02:067:02 p.m. Welcome to this October 19th,

02:102026 meeting of the Somerville School

02:13Committee. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the

02:15acts of 2025, this meeting of the school

02:17committee will be conducted via hybrid

02:18participation. We will post an audio

02:21recording, video, recording, transcript,

02:22or other comprehensive record of these

02:24proceedings as soon as possible after

02:25the meeting on the city of Somerville

02:27website and local cable access

02:30government channels. Superintendent, can

02:32you please call the role

02:33>> through the chair? Council Davis

02:35>> here.

02:36>> Rep. Pone

02:37>> here.

02:38>> Rep. Lipins

02:39>> here.

02:40>> Rep. Aldridge,

02:41>> present.

02:43Rep. Green

02:44>> here.

02:45>> Rep.

02:45>> Dr. Stelman

02:47>> here.

02:47>> Mayor Wilson

02:48>> present.

02:49>> Vice Chair Beton

02:50>> here.

02:51>> And Dr. Agman

02:52>> present.

02:53>> With nine present and zero absent, we

02:55have quorum.

02:57>> There it is. Thank you. Um,

03:01all right. We are going to go

03:05to a moment of silence and salute to the

03:07flag.

03:28I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

03:30United States of America and to the

03:33republic for which it stands, one

03:35nation,

03:37indivisible, with liberty and justice.

03:43Thank you. Um I see our student reps are

03:46here. Are you ready to do your report

03:48out? Awesome. Glad you're here. Go

03:50ahead. All right. Um I'll just jump

03:52right into it. Uh the senior trip that

03:55will occur next summer is in the

03:59planning phase. I know it's being

04:00advertised um very enthusiastically.

04:04I believe it is a trip to the Bahamas

04:06and people are starting to sign up to

04:08that. Um, also the football team has

04:12been given the opportunity to play

04:14against the Cambridge football team at

04:16Fenway Park and uh, a lot of people are

04:20just really looking forward to that. The

04:22SHs chorus band and drum line will be

04:24performing at that game. And yeah, over

04:27to Ben.

04:30>> Um, also the Somerville Action Climate

04:32Fund grant applications um, were due on

04:35October 13th. Um, and you can find uh

04:39more information about that um on the

04:42Somerville website.

04:47Yeah, we had um two of our own student

04:49council members, Laya and Selena, who

04:51work on the school improvement council

04:53submit a grant proposal. So, we're

04:55excited to see where that goes. Um, also

04:57the theater season is in full swing with

05:00rehearsals going on for Our Town, which

05:02will be performing November 19th through

05:04the 21st with a total of four shows.

05:08Also, in the arts department, the

05:10Evening of Song/H Halloween Cabaret is

05:12next Thursday, the 29th, at 6:30 in the

05:14auditorium. It is open to the public and

05:16it will feature solo performances, small

05:19group performances, and full chorus

05:20performances.

05:22Back to Ben.

05:25Also, um homecoming tickets are close to

05:28selling out and they're being sold um

05:30during lunch across school days. And

05:33more opportunities for jobs and

05:34activities are being advertised to

05:36students such as the writer's den and

05:38the city's schoolyear jobs program um

05:41and the city's snow shovel winter

05:43shoveling job.

05:46Thank you.

05:48>> All right. Um thank you so much. My

05:51colleagues have questions. Uh Repone. Oh

05:54yeah, thank you. Uh my question is just

05:56a confirmation with the administration.

05:59The senior trip to the Bahamas is a

06:02privately run trip, correct? It is not a

06:05district sponsored. I just want to make

06:07sure everybody knows that and

06:08understands it and students know that

06:10and parents know that. So this is not

06:12some it's something that the students

06:13and some families put together, which is

06:15great, but it's not something that is

06:17endorsed or supervised or managed by the

06:21district.

06:22That is that is correct. This is a um

06:25not a school sponsored trip.

06:28>> Totally fine that you bring it up. I

06:29just want to make sure we're very clear

06:30about that.

06:32>> Agreed. Thank you. Um I also want to

06:35note that the football game against uh

06:38Cambridge, I think it is the Tuesday

06:41before

06:42um Thanksgiving if I'm correct. Uh my

06:46understanding is the city has free

06:47tickets that they're giving away and uh

06:50for those who have paid for Fenway

06:53prices, the ticket the face value of the

06:55tickets that we can buy are $20, which

06:57to me is unbelievable.

06:59[snorts and laughter]

06:59Um

07:02all right, thank you.

07:05All right, we are moving on to

07:08>> Oh, I'm sorry, Mayor Wilson.

07:09>> Yeah, through you chair. I was curious

07:11uh if you might want to tell us a little

07:12about the uh high school's evening of

07:15song on October 29th.

07:22>> Sure. Um so yeah, the evening of song is

07:25a yearly event that um the Summerville

07:28High School chorus holds um usually led

07:32by the chorus director, Mr. Everard. Um

07:36and normally do a little later in the

07:38year. time we're doing it um near

07:40Halloween and we're making it Halloween

07:42calling Halloween cabaret. Um and the

07:45chorus is going to perform a song from

07:47um

07:49uh from The Nightmare Before Christmas

07:51uh called This is Halloween um as I'm

07:54sure most of you have heard of. Um and

07:58then there's also a lot of um little

08:00solo per performances that Someville

08:02High School students have put together

08:03in small groups um and stuff like that.

08:06Yeah.

08:09Uh what the date is?

08:11>> It's uh Thursday, October 29th. It

08:14conveniently comes after Truck or Treat

08:16here at City Hall. So, I'd encourage

08:18people to come to that, wander over the

08:19high school uh in a real stretch. Chair,

08:22I'll be uh playing the role of the mayor

08:25uh during that song. So, yeah.

08:29>> Are we going to hear your chops?

08:30>> Yeah.

08:31>> Great.

08:33Um All right. Thank you.

08:37Um,

08:39thanks so much. Exciting updates. We are

08:41going to move on to public comment. We

08:45have three people here and two people

08:47online. Um, welcome and thank you to

08:51those who have signed up for public

08:52comment. We really appreciate you taking

08:54the time and sharing your opinions.

08:56Speakers will be allowed three minutes

08:57to present their material.

09:00Speakers should begin their comments by

09:02stating your name and address in

09:05Somerville or in the case of a district

09:07employee, your role within the district.

09:09The chair of the meeting after a warning

09:11reserves the right to terminate speech

09:12which is not constitutionally protected

09:14because it constitutes true threats that

09:16are likely to provoke a violent reaction

09:18and cause a breach of the peace or

09:21incitement to imminent lawless conduct.

09:24conduct. Public comment is not a

09:26discussion, debate, or dialogue between

09:28the public and the committee. Members of

09:30the committee will not reply to public

09:32comment in the course of the meeting,

09:33though individual members may follow up,

09:35and items from public comment may be

09:37taken up in future meetings. The school

09:39committee will not hear personal

09:40complaints of school personnel, nor

09:43against any member of the school

09:44community. In public session,

09:46individuals may address topics on the

09:48agenda or items within the school

09:50committee's scope of responsibility,

09:52such as the district budget, goals, and

09:54policies, or the role of the

09:55superintendent. The public is encouraged

09:58to submit comments in writing for

09:59inclusion in the public record. We're

10:02going to go with the individuals who are

10:04here first. I see, and please have grace

10:07for me if I mispronounce your name. I

10:09see Emily Lillenthal. Lillianthal. Uh

10:13then Sarah Campbell. and Cassenia.

10:16I still struggle with your last name. I

10:18apologize. Um,

10:21thank you. I really appreciate it. Um,

10:24Emily, come on up.

10:28>> Good evening. My name is Emily Rudd

10:30Lillianthal. Um, I am the pres I live at

10:3329 Whitfield Road and I am the president

10:35of the West Somerville Neighborhood

10:36School uh, PTA. Uh, thank you so much,

10:39Chair Aman, Superintendent Carmona,

10:41Assistant Superintendent, um, Boston

10:44Davis, members of the school committee,

10:46and Mayor Wilson. Um, so this morning,

10:49uh, we submitted a letter to both the

10:52superintendent and the mayor with 130

10:55signatures of parents and caregivers of

10:57students at West. I want to start just

11:00by saying that we are enormously

11:01grateful that within 24 hours our

11:04students were back in our in the

11:06classroom in a classroom after the flood

11:09that occurred at the West Somerville

11:11neighborhood school. We know that took

11:13an enormous amount of dedication, focus,

11:16logistics, and strategy from the city

11:19and the school department in order to

11:20make that happen and to make sure our

11:22kids lost one day um and were back and

11:26and with their classmates and with their

11:28teachers. So we really appreciate that.

11:30Um where we are struggling is with the

11:32distribution of information. Um we are

11:36we are parents, we are caregivers and

11:38our primary eyes and ears are our

11:40students who are coming home and are

11:42reporting back what they are hearing and

11:44seeing um and feeling during the school

11:46day. and we don't have a lot of

11:49information to help them make sense out

11:51of what is happening when they hear one

11:54teacher tell them about a deadline that

11:56they won't be back in the building until

11:57Thursday. When they're told they will

11:59never have a specialist for the rest of

12:01the year um because of how they are in

12:04which rooms they are. Um when they

12:06aren't sure about the qual the state of

12:08the room that they're going to be in um

12:10and we're not able to say to them, hey,

12:12this is temporary for a week. We know

12:14that they're working on things. we're

12:16trying to give grace or surely those

12:18specialists will be back in your

12:20classroom soon. Just give us all a

12:22minute. So, what we're asking for is

12:24we're asking for um consistent,

12:26transparent um and clear communication

12:28that reaches every parent and caregiver,

12:31not just ones who have the phone numbers

12:34of um city employees and elected

12:36officials. We're asking that that happen

12:38twice a week. We're also asking and

12:40we're inviting the mayor and

12:42superintendent to join us on Thursday

12:44for a coffee hour to share what's going

12:46on, to give us some updates, to hear

12:48directly from parents and caregivers.

12:50The final ask is is that within the next

12:52three weeks um a full community meeting

12:55is held with a virtual option um that is

12:58available for any parent or caregiver of

13:00a West Somerville neighborhood school

13:02student so that they can hear more.

13:04We've included in the letter that we

13:06shared some basic questions that we are

13:08hearing from our parents and caregivers

13:11that would be helpful to have answers

13:13to. We get that you are not going to be

13:14able to give us all the answers and that

13:16timelines are fluid, but having clear,

13:18consistent, transparent, unified

13:20communication is really what we're

13:22asking for. Thank you so much.

13:25>> Thank you. [clears throat]

13:27Um, next is Sarah Campbell and after

13:29that is Cassennia.

13:34Hello, my name is Sarah Campbell. I live

13:37at 18 Trill Street and I'm the parent of

13:39a fourth grader at Brown and a seventh

13:41grader at Kennedy. I'm here today to

13:44talk about MCCAST scores. Um, I want to

13:46recognize the time and effort that

13:48students and teachers take to prepare

13:50and take the MCCAST exam. And in

13:53particular, I want to call out the Brown

13:54School for achieving both an 80% meet or

13:58exceeding rate for their students on on

14:01the test and a average student growth

14:03percentile of 50%.

14:06In particular, I want to call out the

14:08performance of high needs students at

14:10Brown. High needs is a group that

14:13consists of students with disabilities,

14:15lowincome English language learners, and

14:17those with English as a first a first

14:20language that's non-English.

14:22This is a population that's growing at

14:24the Brown School and I expect citywide,

14:27but I don't know that exactly. Um there

14:29is a gap in the meeting and exceeding

14:32percentage at across the city between

14:35highne students and non- highnee

14:38students. But what's striking in the

14:40most recent MCCAST results is that gap

14:43has narrowed to a remarkable degree at

14:46the Brown School where many of the

14:48highnee students at Brown are

14:50outperforming

14:52um non- highnee students at other

14:54schools in the district. Um, these

14:57results are seen in both math and ELA

15:00and are particularly strong in math

15:02where the spread has shrunk to 14% with

15:0668% of high need students meeting or

15:08exceeding the standard.

15:11This is a stark difference from

15:13neighborhood schools with similar

15:15demographic data to Brown and even

15:18compared to Brown's historical

15:19performance. I cannot stress enough the

15:23these results are not due solely to

15:25demographics. I know a lot of time the

15:28success of Brown is attributed to

15:29demographics and here in this sample

15:32it's clearly not the case. There's

15:34something working very well here and we

15:36should learn from it. It is my opinion

15:39that this is due in large part to

15:41principal AI as school improvement plan

15:44where he has used a targeted data

15:46centric approach with dibbles and I

15:47ready scores to early address gaps in

15:50learning and help encourage students to

15:53grow quickly to get up to standard. I

15:56would like to know what the school board

15:57is doing to incorporate this success

15:59across the city and to recognize what

16:02differences between schools make this

16:04difficult and try to resolve those

16:07differences. Thank you for your time.

16:11>> Thanks so much.

16:17>> Hi, my name is Cassenia Sama.

16:20I live at 75 Irving Street and I'm a mom

16:24of an eighth grader at West and a fourth

16:26grader at the Brown. I'd like to start

16:29with uh echoing what our PTA president

16:32of the West has said um and say that it

16:36is surprising to me that to learn what's

16:39happening at my child's school, I need

16:42to come here or dial into a school

16:45committee meeting. uh because I believe

16:47that what you guys are all going to see

16:50is the first time I will actually hear

16:53about what's happening at the school.

16:54All I know is that um uh he's doing

16:59classes in the TAB building which is

17:01amazing and I'm so grateful that we have

17:03this resource. Um I would say I in in

17:07the uh light of the fact that uh this

17:10body is is essentially uh condemned

17:13Brown to be closed um without much

17:16discussion about that specific decision.

17:19uh [laughter] the building where he is

17:23taking doing his 8th grade uh learning

17:27used to be a school and now we're

17:30renting it from uh Tufts because we sold

17:33it and we don't have any uh good uh uh

17:37track record for school buildings. So I

17:40hope that you will keep us the west uh

17:43school parents uh

17:46appraised of what's happening and what

17:48is the timeline because I've heard

17:49everything and the rumors are wild

17:52circulating um around. Um I also wanted

17:56to bring to your attention that the

17:59Brown has been recognized by this the

18:02department of education of Massachusetts

18:04as a school of recognition. This is

18:07something that only 50

18:10or so schools uh this year got out of

18:141800 schools. It's not elementary. It's

18:18all the schools including high schools

18:20and charter schools. This is the the

18:24honor they got for incredible results

18:26they got for um improving

18:30uh test scores for kids especially in

18:34the high needs bucket. And it frankly

18:39blows my mind that we're going to close

18:41the school and not actually understand

18:44what exactly is going on there. And I

18:46think in big part uh these results are

18:50because of incredible focus of our

18:52principal aims and incredible teachers

18:54we have who were able to come up with

18:56plan and know every child in the

18:59building and know what they need, know

19:01what kind of interventions they uh they

19:04could have. And it's impossible to do

19:06that in a a large school um where you

19:10also have uh middle schoolers and you

19:13need to worry about vaping and flooding

19:16toilets. Um uh so thank you so much for

19:19your time.

19:21>> Thanks so much. Uh that is all we have

19:25for in person today. We're moving to

19:27Zoom. Uh we have Samantha Steiner and

19:31then Abby Hair. Samantha, you should be

19:33unmuted. Please start whenever you're

19:34ready.

19:38>> Hi, I'm Sam Steiner and I live at 50

19:41Whitfield Road in Somerville. I'm asking

19:43that community schools afterare include

19:45three-year-olds. As you hear about out

19:48of school time tonight, please consider

19:49these children at Capawano. Preschool

19:52ends at 1:45 p.m. and noon on

19:54Wednesdays, but three-year-olds cannot

19:56access community schools after care. I

19:58feel like many community me community

20:00members may not even realize that

20:02three-year-olds with IEPs attend public

20:04school. I didn't know until I was the

20:07parent of one. Navigating disability

20:09related services is already difficult

20:11and confusing. These children have

20:14identified disabilities programs like

20:16ECIP and AIM provide services through

20:19their IEPs after early intervention ends

20:21at age three. Beyond classroom support,

20:24those services may include speech

20:26therapy, occupational therapy, physical

20:28therapy, counseling, and access to

20:30essential assisted technology. Finding

20:33separate afternoon care can be difficult

20:35and costly, especially when children

20:37need disability related support. That

20:39gap can prevent families from accessing

20:41these educational and therapeutic

20:44services and programs. Children's access

20:46to needed services should not depend on

20:49their family's ability to arrange or

20:50afford afternoon care. So, please

20:53tonight support these children and their

20:55families by making affordable, inclusive

20:58afterare available to three-year-olds.

21:00Thank you.

21:03>> Thanks so much. Um, next is Abby Hair.

21:07Uh, you are unmuted, Abby, whenever

21:09you're ready.

21:11>> Hi, my name is Abby Hair. I live at 18

21:14Wesley Park here in Somerville, and I

21:16have kids at East and Capuano. I am also

21:19speaking tonight about aftercare access

21:21for three-year-olds with IEPs at

21:23Capuano.

21:24This issue did not affect my own family,

21:26but over the years I have met multiple

21:28families who simply could not make an

21:31ECIP or AIM placement work because the

21:34school day ends at 1:45 and 3-year-olds

21:36cannot enroll in community schools. For

21:39a working family, a program that ends at

21:411:45 or noon on Wednesdays without an

21:44afterare option may not really be

21:47accessible. Families can have their

21:49child bust home or back to daycare, but

21:51that requires someone to be at home or a

21:53daycare willing to take a child starting

21:55at 2 p.m. which many are unable to

21:57accommodate. Or the families can turn

22:00down the placement and bring their child

22:01to Capuano for walk-in services like

22:04speech, OT, that sort of thing, which

22:07still requires a caregiver to transport

22:09them back and forth, sometimes multiple

22:11times a week. I would really like SPS to

22:13take a look at the data here. How many

22:15three-year-olds qualify for these

22:17programs, but then turn them down? How

22:19many families are declining because of

22:21the 145 dismissal? What happens to those

22:23children instead? and are they actually

22:26accessing all of the services they're

22:28entitled to? Most importantly, I'd like

22:31the district to look seriously at what

22:33it would take to extend community

22:34schools or another afterare option to

22:36these children. If SPS offers a

22:393-year-old with an IEP a program that

22:41ends at 145, there needs to be a

22:44realistic way for working families to

22:46access that program. We should not have

22:48families turning down an appropriate

22:50place appropriate program for their

22:523-year-old because they cannot make a

22:531:45 p.m. pickup work. I hope SPS and

22:57the school committee will make solving

22:58this a priority as you look at out of

23:00school time programming for next year.

23:02Thank you.

23:04>> Thanks so much. Uh and with that we are

23:08concluding public comment. Um, next is

23:11approval of minutes, but I'm going to

23:13move on to uh the report of the

23:16superintendent.

23:21[clears throat]

23:22>> Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, thank you

23:24for joining us tonight and uh, I'm going

23:26to use the slide deck to u walk through

23:29my talking points. Um, I'm going to make

23:32a couple of changes in the order of the

23:35sequence of events uh, because we are

23:37having a celebration as well. um a

23:40student from the Brown uh who is joining

23:42us today. So if you go to next four

23:45slides for please next one next one

23:53more

23:55>> slide 11 thank you

24:02almost there. Yeah we have a young

24:04author next. Um

24:07there you are. We're celebrating someone

24:09uh among us. We have a young author and

24:11again from the Brown School. Um we want

24:14to make sure that we share that

24:16experience. Uh it is not often that you

24:19have a self uh published author in the

24:21midst of our students especially in

24:23fifth grade. And so with that I'm going

24:26to bring Suris Sura Day to the podium.

24:30And uh please come to the podium. Um,

24:35again, we heard that she published a her

24:39own novel. It's a great story. I'm

24:41always I'm I'm almost on page 25, but I

24:46am really excited about the characters

24:49about the the the uh the celebration and

24:53also the adventures that all these

24:55characters go uh into. I also believe

24:57that there's a lot of the story and the

25:00plot that comes from your own

25:01experience. So we want to celebrate you.

25:04We want also to hear a little bit about

25:06your story as an author. So with that,

25:09why don't you tell us what school do you

25:11go to, your full name, and then a little

25:13bit about your story?

25:16>> I'm Zuri Saday Manika Shri Ramen, and I

25:21go to the Brown School, which is one of

25:25the best schools I've ever been to.

25:27[laughter]

25:30>> [applause]

25:33>> And um

25:36the Binley girls started from a drawing.

25:39Um

25:41I um drew them first and then my mom I

25:47showed them to my mom and she told me to

25:50write a book about them.

25:52>> Great.

25:53>> And then I did. [laughter]

25:57So sur I know that the story of these

26:00three girls is full of excitement. When

26:03I was reading part of the story, I could

26:05not believe that a fifth grader was

26:07telling the story. It felt like a older

26:10woman writing a story. So I was very

26:12surprised and I really want to dig into

26:14your brain and how you're telling the

26:16story. But tell me a little bit about

26:17how did you decide to become an author

26:20and how are you making all these stories

26:22out of thin air?

26:25Well,

26:27um I've always loved reading.

26:31Um and when I went to my mom's camp,

26:36I finally realized that I could actually

26:39write even when I was this old.

26:44And

26:46that made me want to. So when my mom

26:50told me to write a book, it felt like

26:53the right thing to do because I wanted

26:56to anyway. And um well, I've always

27:02wanted to go on an adventure,

27:05too. So I wrote a book about an

27:08adventure. Sometimes when I'm going to

27:11bed, I like come up with stories in my

27:14head that I know I would never publish.

27:18But some of them were kind of similar to

27:21the Biny Girls in that they're an

27:23adventure where some kids sneak off.

27:28But that's not the root of the story.

27:31Like I mean the theme I think is um the

27:38bond of friendship and how deep that

27:41goes and how you should always be true

27:45to yourself no matter how hard it is.

27:50>> Wow. How inspiring. How inspiring is and

27:53just two things. One is

27:55for all of us the adults here that

27:57always want to write a book. we haven't

27:59had the courage or the way to do it. So

28:01that's an inspiration. But more

28:03importantly for your friends and for

28:05every summer bill student to know that

28:08we have an author that did it through

28:10you don't have a major publisher. Is

28:12that right? You did it through some form

28:14of a u Amazon.com or something like

28:17that. And so that idea of all of us

28:21becoming authors is such a powerful

28:23thing. So I really thank you for that.

28:25And I'm just going to give it to the

28:26chair right now. We need to a round of

28:28applause. [applause]

28:40Thank you so much for coming. Do you

28:42want a photo with like your family in

28:45the school committee? Do you want a

28:47photo of just your family? Do you want a

28:49photo of you standing here? Like what

28:50can we do to make this feel a little

28:51more special for you?

28:54>> Um, I want a photo with my family. Okay.

29:04>> Yes, please.

29:05>> And and just just before uh you do that,

29:07I I do want to let you know that

29:09Principal Ames uh is not feeling well

29:11and so he couldn't be here this evening,

29:13but he made sure to text well over an

29:15hour ago to just say how proud he is and

29:18how proud the whole Brown School

29:20community is of you. So, I just wanted

29:22to make sure we lift Principal Ang's

29:23voice. [applause]

29:28declaring like a three-minute recess to

29:29take a

31:41All right. Thank you, Zoreday. I hope I

31:45pronounced it right. And to your family.

31:47Uh, this is why we get into this and

31:50this isn't often what we end up doing.

31:53So, we are deeply deeply appreciative of

31:56your hard work in writing a gorgeous

31:58book and uh taking the time to come see

32:04us. Uh Rep. Green has a question for her

32:07or just a compliment.

32:08>> Uh well, a question actually. Can we

32:10take a two minute recess because we're

32:11all getting books and I want to sign.

32:13>> Yes. All right. We're going to take

32:14another short recess to get books

32:16signed. [laughter]

33:56Um yes.

34:00>> Yeah.

34:01>> On that presentation, uh chair, thank

34:03you through you. I just I want to just

34:06acknowledge

34:08what an excellent um job of parenting I

34:12just saw. um to encourage your student

34:16to your child and to push them to you

34:21know to produce something wonderful is

34:23like that's so inspiring to me and um

34:27you know I take a lesson from that. So I

34:31just um I just wanted to thank you for

34:34sharing that this wonderful gift with

34:36us. That's it.

34:39>> Rev Green. And building on that, I know

34:42that um we talk about this a lot in

34:44passing, but um I know that uh Summer

34:49Public Schools is full of artists and

34:52actors and

34:55and more authors and all sorts of people

34:57doing all sorts of talent and it is so

35:00great to be able to take this moment to

35:02acknowledge one and I would love to to

35:04make a habit of that. I know that we

35:06have a lot of talent that may not

35:08necessarily show in our in like our more

35:12even some of our traditional academic

35:15um accomplishments. And so anytime we

35:18can really take a moment to really

35:20highlight just the vast depth of talent

35:23within our schools and our students, I

35:26would encourage to do more of this.

35:33Beautifully stated.

35:35All right, we are going on to back to

35:38the uh report of the superintendent.

35:41>> Great. Um thank you through the chair.

35:44So for today we have three topics that

35:47we want to discuss with you. One was uh

35:49obviously a celebration of our young

35:51author. That was one of the things we

35:53also want to talk about the updates and

35:55some information in regards to the West

35:57Somerville School and um a quick update

36:01on a professional development that we uh

36:03were part of as part of the bar

36:05foundation. And then we have two

36:07district reports, one by our out of

36:09school time director and also by our

36:12equity department um director who will

36:15be sharing a uh plan. So let's go back

36:18again to the West Somerville. I know

36:20there was a question around um updates

36:23and a question about the context. So I'm

36:26going to try to do that and I'm going to

36:28we also have Rich Raj here the director

36:30of asset management who will actually

36:31give us um some information around

36:34timelines and other important details.

36:37So I just wanted to give you a quick

36:38reference basically on Sunday on Sunday

36:42we had a 1.5 inch of rain inches of

36:46rain. So it was significant amount of

36:48rain uh that some of that rain uh made

36:51its way into the west Somerville um uh

36:54because again the roof was being

36:56repaired and um that is the work that is

37:00being assessed right now how we ended up

37:02with that rain but the bottom line is

37:04that that intrusion of the water

37:06impacted um pretty much most of the

37:09classrooms in the building. Uh we knew

37:11that right early morning, early Sunday,

37:14early Monday and then as soon as we knew

37:17we actually have um the entire

37:21department of uh DPW as well as asset

37:24management and multiple uh district

37:27members at the west assessing the the

37:30damage. Uh and also we um right on that

37:34same day we actually had to determine

37:36that uh we needed to have a plan to um

37:40provide a a better option of learning

37:42for our students. So we had to actually

37:44call the day off. Uh we the next day we

37:47met with the teachers to determine what

37:49were the next steps and we as a result

37:53of that created a plan to address the

37:56needs of of the students. Um in the next

38:01slide you can see that uh some of the

38:03damage was significant. We actually the

38:05water intrusion actually um destroyed

38:09some of the sheetrock. Um but as you

38:11know anytime water comes into space in

38:13which there are cavities there is always

38:15the potential for mold. So that require

38:18uh the team to actually

38:20um make multiple um explorations around

38:26the entire building. And so that's the

38:28work that um I am not suited to explain

38:31that but I think I will let Mr. Rich Raj

38:34um share with us a little bit of the

38:36details around what was the technical

38:38work that had to happen. Um and so with

38:41that I'm going to have Rich Raj join us

38:43to share a little bit of uh the work as

38:45well as a potential timeline to address

38:47some of these um challenges that we

38:50face.

38:51>> Thank you. Uh after almost 10 years of

38:54coming up to this podium, I finally was

38:56able to lift the microphone up. So I

38:58would really like fifth graders to

39:00precede me. [laughter]

39:02Anyway, for for your record, uh Richard

39:04Ra, director of infrastructure, um let's

39:07start with uh you know uh what's been

39:09going on at the um at the west. any way

39:13to answer some of the the questions that

39:15I know have been going around the

39:16community. Uh as uh committee members in

39:19school in uh city councilors uh who have

39:23been following um the jointly meeting

39:26committees on school buildings and

39:28facilities know uh after about a century

39:31of ignoring all of our assets uh in the

39:34past nine years, we've really been

39:35focusing on proactively

39:38um addressing our infrastructure needs.

39:41We've got a large number of projects in

39:43the pipeline specifically for schools.

39:45Many of while you know really schools

39:48are the only thing um that the city has

39:51built uh since 1950 when the DPW uh

39:54building was constructed um those

39:56buildings are 25 to 30 years old and the

39:59systems in those buildings are

40:01essentially re reaching the end of their

40:02life. And so in our pipeline, we've got

40:06uh roofs at the west, the Healey, the

40:09JFK. Uh we've got HVAC systems at the

40:13Argenziano West and Healey. Um all of

40:16these are in the pipeline and and we're

40:18working as quickly as we can in terms of

40:21our city's capacity, both in terms of

40:23staff capacity, consultant capacity, and

40:25financial capacity to address all of

40:27these things. Um the the the priority

40:31the two priorities that we had this year

40:34um which were systems that were ready to

40:36fail which would cause you know impacts

40:39to the schools and and uh likely result

40:42in displacement of students uh for this

40:45year was the uh boilers at the

40:47Argenziano uh and the roof at the west.

40:50uh the the Healey roof

40:52>> [snorts]

40:52>> uh and uh HVAC system will will follow

40:56those.

40:58It is however difficult to get those

41:00projects off the ground. We have to

41:02design them. Uh we have to plan the

41:04work. We have to bid that under uh

41:07Massachusetts public procurement laws

41:08which for for a building construction

41:10project like this is difficult. We've

41:13got filed sub bids. There's a there's a

41:15lot of technicalities uh to getting the

41:17these projects off the ground. Um and

41:20even after we have a bidder lined up, we

41:22have to execute the contract before work

41:25can start, we have to pre

41:27pre-construction submittals need to be

41:29approved. All of that is to say, whilst

41:32we had wanted to start this work over

41:35summer, uh it was not lined up that we

41:37could actually physically begin

41:39construction until September. Um we did

41:42have a judgment call to make uh at that

41:44point in time. uh do we proceed knowing

41:47that, you know, it's it's coincident

41:49with the school year or do we wait until

41:51next summer? Uh we made the decision

41:53that the the roof at the west was in bad

41:57enough condition that we didn't want to

41:59risk this winter, particularly knowing

42:01it was it's an El Nino winter and likely

42:03to be wet. Um and and so we proceeded

42:07with with the work.

42:09Um, so that, you know, one of the things

42:12that, uh, I guess wasn't surprising was

42:14just how disruptive that noise was up on

42:16the roof to to the classrooms. And and

42:19so I think as the the committee or at

42:21least the ward um, uh, members are are

42:24aware, uh, we shifted a lot of that work

42:27to the weekends. We were able to

42:28negotiate a fair price with that

42:29contractor to shift a lot of the more

42:31noisy work over the classrooms to the to

42:34to the weekends. and we were leveraging

42:36the long Indigenous People's Day

42:38weekend, the three-day weekend. Um, we

42:41actually basically did a surge. They

42:42were able to bring in additional

42:44laborers over those three days. Uh, and

42:47uh, we were going to knock out what we

42:48called the red zone, which was the area

42:50above all of the the classrooms. Um,

42:52leaving just sort of the hallways and

42:55uh, gym for later. Um, so that work was

42:58progressing over the weekend. Uh, a lot

43:00of work was done on Saturday and Sunday.

43:04uh they left Sunday night and that's

43:06when we had a a decent size rain um

43:09caused a number of combined sewer

43:10overflows. For anyone who's following

43:12that project, please comment on that. Um

43:15and uh you know it it it caused a roof

43:18drain uh to fail uh and and rain uh went

43:22into the the third floor. Um the roof

43:26crews returned early on Monday morning

43:28to continue with their work and oddly

43:32luckily they tripped the building alarm

43:35uh when they started that work. Uh so

43:37DPW responded to the building alarm

43:40being tripped first thing on Monday

43:41morning. Uh and once he shut off the

43:44alarm, Butchie from DPW decided just to

43:47walk the hallways as he typically does

43:49and found a bunch of standing water. Um

43:52so he he made calls. So in a way it was

43:55fortuitous that we caught it early

43:58because one of the the things with water

44:00intrusion and potential mold is catching

44:03it early uh and removing the the water

44:06log materials before uh they can seep in

44:09and the conditions uh can can arise for

44:13um for mold to grow. So Monday, uh the

44:19the our contractor working on the roof

44:21uh brought in a subcontractor that

44:23specializes uh in this sort of thing. Um

44:26they immediately began cutting out um

44:28affected drywall. Uh so in the the room

44:32immediately below the roof drain that

44:34failed uh 306

44:37um you know, the walls were completely

44:40water logged from top to bottom. And

44:42then as that followed down that interior

44:45wall to 206 and 106, those walls were

44:47completely water logged. So the entirety

44:50of those walls uh were removed. Um those

44:52walls were also coincident with sort of

44:54um wood casework like cubbies and

44:57closets. So all of that had to be

44:59removed. Luckily that the the wood was

45:01resilient enough that none of the and we

45:04caught it fast enough that none of the

45:05wood was damaged. So all that casing

45:06could be saved. Um but all the drywall

45:09and insulation uh behind that was was

45:12pulled out as it hit each floor. It also

45:15sort of followed out to the adjacent um

45:19to the adjacent rooms at you know at a

45:22shallow depth half an inch to an inch.

45:24Um but it did impact the the walls in

45:27those areas. So you can see on the the

45:29the wall the the picture to the right

45:32how the response to that is to cut out

45:34about a foot and a half to two feet at

45:36the bottom uh of the wall on one side

45:39and remove the the insulation. Uh so

45:43that was the strategy and all those

45:44adjoining rooms. Uh

45:48so all of that was happening very

45:50quickly. the um the specialty contractor

45:54that they brought in had uh an

45:56industrial hygienist uh on staff. These

45:58are people who specialize in work site

46:00safety and and um uh you general

46:05environmental impact safety. Um they

46:08were the ones directing the initial

46:10removal of uh you know what drywall and

46:13insulation needed to be removed. Uh we

46:16wanted to leave nothing to chance um or

46:19just leave one party in charge of this

46:22uh following the um the the Winter Hill.

46:25I you know it it occurred to me if I had

46:27some time I was going to get a wolf to

46:29to add to the menagerie. Um I might

46:32still do that uh at some point. Um we

46:36brought in uh we we have uh uh an

46:39environmental specialist with an

46:41industrial hygienist um uh on an on call

46:44contract to us. So we called them and

46:47brought them in immediately so that we

46:49had two uh industrial hygienists to to

46:51confirm uh what you know one essentially

46:54directing the work the other um

46:56concurring with it and and our hygienist

46:57found some additional areas that were

47:00cut and pulled out. Um, you know, it was

47:03at that point on Monday that Mayor

47:04Wilson and Superintendent Carmona uh

47:06joined us on site. We walked the site

47:09obvious that we could not have school

47:11there. We also went over to the TAB and

47:13walked the tab and um realized that our

47:16continuity of operations plan that had

47:18been put in place uh could be exercised

47:20particularly with the the number of

47:21rooms uh displaced. Uh and so we

47:24immediately started mobilizing

47:27everything that we needed to for that.

47:29DPD DPW uh called Sterling Movers, their

47:32moving contractor, lined them up first

47:35thing. Uh notices went out to to parents

47:38and faculty um that school would be

47:40closed, but faculty were were to show up

47:42on Tuesday morning. So on Tuesday

47:45morning, um the activities were

47:47continuing. We were continuing to remove

47:49drywall uh and remove uh insulation,

47:52testing areas for for moisture. Um DPW

47:57was there with a fleet of custodians

47:59cleaning um scrubbing the the whole area

48:03and teachers immediately went to work

48:05packing their classrooms because

48:07everything uh not just the the rooms

48:11moving to the tab but to keep uh the

48:14younger grades clustered in in the

48:17building they had to relocate to um

48:20rooms that weren't impacted uh by the

48:22water. So pretty much every t there were

48:24very few rooms that didn't get moved. Um

48:28so the the the west was a flurry of

48:31activity on Tuesday. Um I I'd have to

48:36say from my own observations everyone

48:38was professional. Everyone was

48:39dedicated. It was missionoriented.

48:43Um generally folks were in good spirits

48:45despite the fact that this was a

48:47massively disruptive thing to everyone's

48:49day. Um, I'll also speculate that this

48:54is where um, a lot of the rumors may

48:57have started. So, if anyone has had a

49:00plumbing issue in their house or an

49:02electrician, the very first thing that

49:04that trades person says when they come

49:06into your house, this is going to be a

49:07really big job. Uh, we're going to be

49:10here for a month. So teachers were

49:13overhearing, you know, guys removing

49:15drywall who were opining on how long

49:18this was going to take. Um, devoid of

49:21any part of the actual plan. Um, so, you

49:24know, I I I'm positive it wasn't from

49:27any malice or or any bad intent, but I

49:30think that was the genesis of of some of

49:33the rumors. Um and and it's unfortunate

49:36that we weren't able to to get a a

49:38contrary message out um you know sooner

49:42so that uh particularly parents could

49:44have some solace uh on uh what what the

49:47actual path is which brings us to now to

49:50the actual path. Um over the weekend uh

49:54we had crews uh so let me back up for a

49:57second. On Friday, we brought uh after

50:01the removal of the the water logged

50:03materials, the next thing is to dry out

50:05the rest of the building. Um because we

50:07don't want to gut the building.

50:09[laughter]

50:09Uh we just have to remove the most

50:11impacted stuff and let the rest of it

50:13dry out. The general rule of thumb is 48

50:16hours. Um so the the removal efforts had

50:19essentially completed by the end of the

50:20day on Tuesday. That gave us Wednesday,

50:23Thursday. Uh on Friday, our ind

50:25industrial hygienist came back uh to

50:27test all the materials for moisture.

50:29They've got this like really neat thing

50:30which I'm going to put in my budget

50:31because I want one for myself. Um and uh

50:35most of the classrooms save uh the three

50:39classrooms on the first floor and one

50:41corner of room 206 were cleared for

50:45restoration. Um those other three just

50:47needed three and one quarter uh needed

50:50additional time to to dry out. Uh so

50:53contractors came in over the weekend and

50:56started uh replacing the insulation and

50:59started hanging drywall.

51:01Um those activities continued today. Um

51:06and the in addition to the drywall

51:08hangers, the tapers and plasterers um

51:11have started working uh on on you know

51:14the sort of the finish coat. Uh our

51:17industrial hydrogenist came back today

51:19and cleared those last three and a

51:21quarter rooms. So we're now clear for

51:24full restoration of every room. Uh we've

51:27got drywall crews, both uh hangers and

51:30tapers uh coming in tomorrow.

51:33I don't think they're going to finish

51:36tomorrow. I I think the the drywall uh

51:39work will extend into Wednesday. Um I

51:42could be wrong, but I I suspect it's

51:44going to extend into Wednesday. Uh then

51:46the plaster just needs to to set. Um

51:50which would free us up by the end of

51:53this week to replace the casing work

51:55that was pulled out of the '06 rooms. Uh

51:59the next activity after that will be

52:02painting and putting back the

52:04baseboards, the vinyl baseboards. Um, we

52:07need to once we once we know that all

52:09the drywall is up, uh, we need to have a

52:11conversation on the timing and how we go

52:14about the painting because, as anyone

52:17who's painted themselves knows, there

52:19are odors associated with, not

52:21necessarily hazardous odors or anything

52:23that that is um, threatening, but we do

52:26realize that there are a lot of uh,

52:28faculty and students that may have

52:30sensitivity um to those odors. So the

52:33viability of of um all that painting

52:36happening during school hours is

52:38something we have to discuss and if we

52:40can mitigate that. Um so which is to say

52:45that you know essentially the the heavy

52:47work the heavy construction work will be

52:49done by the end of this week. Then we

52:51have painting ahead of us. Um, so we're

52:54on a very good path uh to have all the

52:57rooms restored and turned back over for

53:00occupancy certainly by uh early to to

53:03mid November. Um, you know, just

53:07ironing out the the last bits of

53:09logistics. Of course, with the caveat

53:12that it is sort of construction related

53:13and anything can go sideways at at any

53:15given time. Um, but that's that's our

53:18time frame. Um, and we're looking to

53:20beat that. Um, we're bringing in as many

53:22laborers as we can uh to to get this

53:24done uh because we certainly want to

53:26reoccupy as soon as possible.

53:33>> Thank you. Superintendent, do you have

53:35anything to add?

53:37>> I I do, but it's not in relationship to

53:39the construction piece. So, I we should

53:41probably get the construction piece out

53:42of the way and then I'll continue with

53:44the timeline internally of how that is

53:46impacting the work. Um I would like to

53:50before we go down colleagues on behalf

53:51of the body reiterate my our thanks to

53:54director rece to the teams you have

53:56pulled together to the contractors you

53:58have gone to our union partners to the

54:01educators to the caregivers I mean this

54:05has been a lot and there has been a lot

54:07of grace but there has been a just

54:09monumental amount of hard work uh

54:12director re was kind enough to walk me

54:14through the west today showed me the

54:17work that was done. The rooms that uh

54:20were hardest hit are very very hot

54:23because they're keeping them very very

54:25dry. Um which is my understanding is

54:30great. Uh but they were very hot and on

54:32a cool day that was actually kind of

54:33lovely. Um, and so I just want to

54:37reiterate like deep deep appreciation to

54:40the superintendent, to the mayor and

54:43your staffs who gave up your Monday

54:46holiday. Uh, you know, we we really

54:50thank you. Um, with that, I see uh Vice

54:55Chair Bone, Rep. Green, and we'll keep

54:59going after that.

55:01>> Thank you, chair. through you um to

55:03director re to the mayor to the

55:05superintendent just pile on what uh the

55:08chair said. Um I also just want to add

55:11to that uh director what you

55:16um indicated the perseverance

55:19and resilience that we've seen from the

55:21educators um

55:25uh not just our district leaders

55:27although especially our district leaders

55:29um but you know I know that the school

55:33community has really pulled together um

55:35our PTA uh was really supportive um of

55:39all the educ educators and I'm really

55:40grateful uh for that effort. Um

55:44so all right construction um

55:49I have a lot of questions. I will just

55:51ask one right now and then get back in

55:53line as is our custom. Um so top of mind

55:58for me is the roof and where we

56:02currently stand.

56:05What happens at the next rainstorm? If

56:07it rains tomorrow night, all this great

56:10work that you've done in the ' 06 rooms

56:12and the other adjacent rooms, is that

56:15vulnerable?

56:17uh to the chair. It's uh interesting

56:19that you bring this up because there was

56:21a a highlight that I wanted to bring to

56:23everyone's attention is that on Friday

56:26as we were in there executing all of the

56:28work um and the first grade both first

56:32grades had been relocated to the library

56:35um you know everyone had a sort of

56:37heightened sensitivity and and had their

56:39eyes out and someone noticed that one of

56:41the ceiling tiles in the library which

56:43is above an area that we haven't gotten

56:44to yet that the contractor hasn't gotten

56:46to yet was wet.

56:48Um, so we did some investigation and it

56:50turns out that it was one of the

56:52pre-existing leaks that we are seeking

56:54to solve with this problem. So I do feel

56:57slightly vindicated in in making the

57:00call to move forward with this uh

57:01project and not wait until till next

57:03year. Um, but to answer the the question

57:06in the the all the work uh in the red

57:08zone is now complete. Um, the the drain

57:11connection is still temporary. There's

57:13um uh the the final apparatus has to um

57:18be uh assembled and and put in place. Uh

57:21but the the contractor has made um

57:24triple sure that the temporary uh

57:28connection to that uh drain

57:31um is secure. So, interestingly enough,

57:34the the the drain uh that caused the the

57:38water to uh intrude uh they sent a scope

57:41down it, which I'm not quite sure why it

57:44hadn't been done earlier in the

57:45sequence, but they sent the scope down

57:48um on Saturday, I think, and found that

57:52that drain is itself clogged and it has

57:55been clogged. Um, so I I I will also

57:58point out that it wasn't it wasn't that

58:00that drain pipe failed. Uh, what happens

58:03is, you know, that the the drain pipe

58:05penetrates the roof. Then of course

58:07there's area around that. So so the pipe

58:10itself wasn't draining and all the water

58:12came in from the perimeter of that pipe

58:14and came through the the roof

58:16penetration. Um, so that roof

58:17penetration is now sealed. Uh so uh

58:22barring something really going wrong uh

58:25we will not have an additional incident

58:27like this.

58:31>> Thank you rep Green.

58:36>> Um thank thank you through to uh Mr. R

58:40and perhaps to the mayor. Um,

58:44again, I want to echo all of the thanks

58:47for the for how quickly everyone jumped

58:50to life and hard everyone's been

58:51working. Um, I want to recognize that of

58:55course that even in the perfectly laid

58:57out, perfectly designed construction

58:59plan. Um, where and if everyone's

59:02working at 100% maximum efficiency,

59:04things will still go wrong. Um, so I

59:06want to recognize all of that.

59:09Um, and I want to remind

59:12uh anyone who may be watching at home

59:14that

59:16ultimately speaking there's not much we

59:18as a we as a school committee can do

59:20about construction projects. Um, but I

59:22had do think in terms of systems and I

59:25was wondering when I first heard this

59:27news and you you sort of talk about

59:29about this given a July 1 fiscal year

59:33start.

59:35Are there procedural

59:38um procurement funding changes we can

59:41make so that we're not making the

59:43decision in July if we're going to try

59:46to start a project this summer or not.

59:49Um so we can we can better use summers

59:54for construction projects. Um

59:57and I this is a question I've asked you

59:59know under three administrations

1:00:01countless projects

1:00:03but I think the question still stands

1:00:05are there ways in which we can handle

1:00:08school

1:00:10facility projects in such a way that

1:00:12we're not trying to start them at the

1:00:13end of summer because we can get the

1:00:15money to them outdoor earlier

1:00:17>> through the chair. It's a it's a good

1:00:18question. It's also uh important to

1:00:21understand that most of the projects

1:00:24that um the division called capital

1:00:27projects and engineering for that matter

1:00:30um execute aren't necessarily tied to

1:00:33the fiscal calendar. Um most of the

1:00:35things that we do um either uh leverage

1:00:39uh borrowing uh or uh various

1:00:43stabilization accounts. Um and so they

1:00:47are appropriations that are made when

1:00:51we've advanced the bid packages to a

1:00:54level of sophistication that gives us a

1:00:57confidence in the cost estimate. Um so

1:01:00we're we're not really tied to the

1:01:03fiscal year as much as we're tied to um

1:01:07the execution of the work both in terms

1:01:10of city staff and and our uh army of

1:01:12consultants. Um, so you know, one of the

1:01:16short delays that we got on the launch

1:01:18of this was the the coincidence of

1:01:21getting that bid package and that cost

1:01:23estimate to the ready point, which

1:01:26happened to be coincident this year with

1:01:28budget. So it was very hard for us to

1:01:31schedule a finance committee meeting in

1:01:35June. Um, so you know, we did lose a

1:01:38week or two there. Just to clarify that

1:01:41point. You mean a city council finance

1:01:43committee meeting. Correct.

1:01:45>> You mean a city council finance

1:01:46committee meeting.

1:01:46>> Correct. City council finance

1:01:47commission.

1:01:48>> Want people to understand where we're

1:01:49off pieces. Yeah. [snorts]

1:01:54>> Thank you. Repone.

1:01:57>> Thank you through the charity director

1:01:59Ra. Thank you for being here. All the

1:02:01thanks to everyone who has been involved

1:02:03in turn this around so quickly and

1:02:06unfortunately have a little too much

1:02:07experience and having to turn around

1:02:09tricky f um facility situations, but it

1:02:12also results in being able to have a

1:02:14quick response. So, I very much

1:02:16appreciate that. I also want to name and

1:02:18appreciate the fact that we did have

1:02:20already a contingency plan in place and

1:02:22that was thanks to the collaboration

1:02:24between the city and the school

1:02:25committee making sure that existed. So,

1:02:28um thank you for that. We never really

1:02:29wanted to have to use it, but here we

1:02:30are. And it gave me great um relief to

1:02:34know that there was something in place

1:02:36which everybody may not have been aware

1:02:38of. I had a specific question and I

1:02:40apologize this a little bit too much

1:02:42minutia, but I just want to try to

1:02:44understand the repair or I'm sorry, let

1:02:47me correct myself. The the cause of the

1:02:49the leakage and how that reflects on

1:02:52other buildings. So, for example, I hear

1:02:55that it was a a failure of a drain pipe.

1:02:58You explained that it kind of overfilled

1:03:00and went over and this the seal

1:03:01underneath it leaked. Is is was it the

1:03:06fact that you know what kind of

1:03:08maintenance do we do on drain pipes?

1:03:09meaning like I know it's not like a

1:03:11gutter but it is kind of like a gutter

1:03:13from a from how it get how it works and

1:03:16you know are we doing some kind of

1:03:18preventative maintenance on these drain

1:03:20pipes and do we have other buildings

1:03:21that we're worried about that that could

1:03:22happen or was it just an issue

1:03:24associated with the general roof

1:03:26deterioration that you were trying to

1:03:27solve or the third option was it part of

1:03:31the fact that the roof repair was in

1:03:32progress so I'm just trying to

1:03:34understand the source of the problem but

1:03:36most importantly

1:03:38related to all of of our other buildings

1:03:40and the kind of work that the city is

1:03:42doing to make sure that doesn't happen.

1:03:44>> Uh through the chair, it's it's an

1:03:46excellent question. Um we will be doing

1:03:50a bunch of research on this. I do want

1:03:52to highlight that um in accordance with

1:03:55the contract and in accordance with

1:03:57their right. The the contractor has uh

1:04:00filed a a formal

1:04:03um communication to us uh denying any

1:04:06wrongdoing or fault. um they are

1:04:09proceeding with the the restoration in

1:04:12in good faith uh with the city because

1:04:14we're you know it's a valued contract to

1:04:17them. Um but they they have uh they have

1:04:20the intention of causing this a

1:04:23pre-existing condition um that you know

1:04:26this project was was going to remedy um

1:04:29uh and their intent intention will be to

1:04:32submit a a ch a change order for for the

1:04:34additional effort. Um, as with any

1:04:36change order or claim like this, we'll

1:04:38evaluate it um, as well as our own

1:04:42records both from capital project staff

1:04:44and and our consultants. Um, so so given

1:04:47that this will be the subject of that

1:04:50negotiation, I don't want to opine too

1:04:52much on on what we know or don't know.

1:04:55Um but you know the the short answer is

1:04:59that yes this condition could happen

1:05:02elsewhere prior to the initiation of of

1:05:06construction. Um and and so it's one of

1:05:10the things that I think we need to uh

1:05:13add to our routine uh checklist of of

1:05:16inspections. Both capital and DPW

1:05:18routinely inspect our systems. And you

1:05:22know, frankly, that's why we've got the

1:05:24Healy roof and the Kennedy roof in the

1:05:26pipeline. Um, so as as we're readying

1:05:31for those projects, we'll continue to be

1:05:33vigilant as we will at the at the other

1:05:35schools that aren't um, you know, quite

1:05:38in dire need.

1:05:40Can

1:05:40>> I do a quick Yeah. through the chair,

1:05:42just a quick followup. So it sounds like

1:05:45because it's in this negotiation

1:05:47contract question,

1:05:49there isn't an answer just yet in terms

1:05:51of the source, but are we bring do we

1:05:53bring in our own 30 third party to do an

1:05:55investigation or do we do our own

1:05:56investigation because obviously we don't

1:05:58just take the contractor's word that it

1:06:00was pretty consistent.

1:06:01>> Yeah. Through through the chair, we have

1:06:02our designer that uh prepared the the

1:06:04bid package. In this case is Stantech.

1:06:07Um our our architects for that project.

1:06:10Um and so they'll they'll be the ones

1:06:12leading that from uh a technical

1:06:14perspective. Um they they are on site

1:06:17regularly as well. Um capital projects

1:06:20uh personnel are on site every day and

1:06:22we um document as part of our SOP. So

1:06:24we've got a ton of photos to um sift

1:06:26through. And just just quick followup.

1:06:30Um can I request that once all this

1:06:34stuff sus out, can the school committee

1:06:36get some of memo like with kind of the

1:06:39root cause and then what actions are

1:06:41going to happen to be preventative in

1:06:43the other um buildings in the event that

1:06:46it was something that we can do

1:06:47maintenance to make sure that would be

1:06:49great. And I don't know in maybe in the

1:06:51winter and the spring when you're in a

1:06:52good place to do that

1:06:54>> or after we've been deposed five years

1:06:55from now if it goes

1:06:56>> but if the the chair and the

1:06:58superintendent can make note that the

1:06:59school committee would like some kind of

1:07:00formal documentation when is

1:07:02appropriate. I appreciate that. Thank

1:07:04you.

1:07:05>> Thank you Rep. Bon and then Rep. Green.

1:07:09>> Thank you chair through you. Um,

1:07:13uh, Director Ree, you mentioned in your,

1:07:16um, initial comments

1:07:19some of the rumors that were flying

1:07:21around, uh, about how long By reps. Um,

1:07:26thanks for coming. Um,

1:07:30so,

1:07:32you know, I've heard them, too. Uh, I've

1:07:34heard, you know, we're going to be there

1:07:36till Christmas or, you know, and and

1:07:39thank goodness it sounds like that's not

1:07:41true. Um,

1:07:44so yeah, I'm not intending to start a

1:07:46rumor, right? I'm just squashing one

1:07:48squashing a rumor as I as I hear it. So,

1:07:51uh,

1:07:53you know, as as you know, when there's a

1:07:55vacuum of information around a

1:07:56particular topic, rumor fills the gap.

1:08:00And

1:08:02uh you know I'm glad that here we are.

1:08:05It's October 19th and we have um a

1:08:10timeline in front of us around when we

1:08:13will be back fully occupying the west

1:08:15and out of the tab. Hopefully I heard

1:08:18that correctly. Um,

1:08:23and that represents, I think, a very

1:08:27loudable and noteworthy

1:08:30quick turnaround of, you know, we we

1:08:32have a we have a firm grasp on this.

1:08:35But,

1:08:36um, a lot of the questions that I think

1:08:39myself and many of my colleagues may

1:08:40have been fielding over the last week,

1:08:43um, have been fueled by these rumors.

1:08:46And so, um,

1:08:49I'm I'm not sure,

1:08:51uh, what question I have. It's really um

1:08:57it's more in the line of can we get uh

1:09:00you know I don't I think families,

1:09:03teachers are and students are all very

1:09:07forgiving when there's an evolving

1:09:09situation but

1:09:12uh and so we we recognize that

1:09:17timelines can change as we get better

1:09:19information,

1:09:21but as soon as possible if we can have a

1:09:24a a ballpark maybe when we have it from

1:09:27contractors because I I assume again

1:09:29that you were talking with contractors

1:09:31about how right when you when you bid a

1:09:34job you have to have a timeline

1:09:36associated with it. So um

1:09:40again through you chair if you can speak

1:09:41director rea to um when we knew

1:09:46that approximate timeline and what the

1:09:50considerations were or are for

1:09:53communicating that with families and

1:09:54again just underscoring the importance

1:09:56of doing that

1:09:57>> to the chair it's it's a good question

1:09:59um and there there are a lot of aspects

1:10:03that I think go into um reoccupying

1:10:09uh clearly the the first prerequisite is

1:10:12the building construction stuff. Uh and

1:10:16for that we have to line up you know a

1:10:19number of of things, right? So so first

1:10:22the selective demo had to complete. Um

1:10:24we had to have concurrence on on where

1:10:27the limits of that were. We needed you

1:10:30know at least 48 hours to dry. We needed

1:10:32to test on that before we could start

1:10:34restoration.

1:10:36Um and then to start restoration, we

1:10:39also needed commitment of crews. Uh and

1:10:41and you know, we had the concept that we

1:10:44would be coming in this past weekend. Um

1:10:47but there were some serious questions as

1:10:49to whether we could get laborers. We got

1:10:51uh two crews on um on Saturday and we

1:10:56got no laborers on Sunday because I

1:10:58think the Patriots were playing at one

1:11:00and we couldn't get labor in on Sunday.

1:11:04Um,

1:11:06so there there are a whole bunch of

1:11:09unknowns, you know, on on lining up that

1:11:13that labor. Um, I'm pretty clear with

1:11:17uh, you know, everyone in the room on on

1:11:21what we can commit to, where the

1:11:23unknowns are, what the prerequisite, how

1:11:25the dominoes line up, um, and sort of

1:11:29bracketing, you know, sort of what would

1:11:31be optimistic and pessimistic. And then

1:11:34even after that is complete, there are

1:11:37are other um, aspects that have to line

1:11:40up as well. um you know the the physical

1:11:42move uh you know to bring stuff back

1:11:46from the tab. Can the the um movers be

1:11:49lined up? What are the impacts uh to

1:11:52teachers and how to to how to teachers

1:11:54prep? Um, so as everything was swirling

1:11:59around, you know, last week in

1:12:02preparation for a an end of week

1:12:05communication,

1:12:07um,

1:12:08I am of the mind that a a range could

1:12:12have been communicated, but I'm not the

1:12:14only one to make that decision. Um, and

1:12:17I think given the the breadth of the

1:12:19uncertainties last week, there was a

1:12:21decision to to not uh publicize a

1:12:23schedule.

1:12:28Uh sure.

1:12:30>> Thank you, chair. Um just in followup to

1:12:33that, may I just so I understand that

1:12:37there are a range of stakeholders here

1:12:39who informed that decision and I heard

1:12:42the decision was made. Um I don't know

1:12:45who the decision maker was there. Um so

1:12:49your boss is sitting next to me. I I'll

1:12:51just I'll just say uh Mr. mayor through

1:12:55you, chair um and superintendent. Um

1:13:01communication is is critical um for our

1:13:05families, for our teachers, and the

1:13:09range of dates

1:13:12would really, you know, we learned this

1:13:14lesson with the with the Winter Hill.

1:13:16Um,

1:13:19again, I value all the work you've all

1:13:22done, but just reinforcing that um the

1:13:26timeline on on communicating a timeline

1:13:29is critically important. Thank you.

1:13:33>> Thank you, uh, Mayor Wilson. And then

1:13:36>> thanks, Shar, on that point. Yeah. Uh,

1:13:37always a big fan of communicating

1:13:38timelines. Thank you.

1:13:41>> Uh, Rep. Green.

1:13:44>> Thank you. through you. Um, building

1:13:47actually on especially uh Mr. Pone's

1:13:51last point uh

1:13:54this is a lesson we've learned as a as a

1:13:56community several times COVID reopening

1:14:00uh Winter Hill etc. We know that in the

1:14:03absence of even saying a clear I don't

1:14:06know people assume we do know that we're

1:14:08just not telling them. Uh we've seen

1:14:11this happen on multiple occasions and

1:14:13that's when the rumors come in and once

1:14:15rumors come out it's almost impossible

1:14:16to put them back. Um

1:14:19so

1:14:21even if the email had said we can't tell

1:14:24you anything we we can't even pretend to

1:14:26guess at a at a um timeline yet and here

1:14:29are all the reasons why

1:14:31that is an improvement on what happened.

1:14:34And I know we in Somerville love to be

1:14:37right and therefore hate to say uh but

1:14:41because we in Somerville love to be

1:14:42right and hate to say I don't know when

1:14:43we don't say it.

1:14:46Somerville assumes everyone knows and

1:14:48just whatever we think it is must be the

1:14:49case. And as you said and we know

1:14:51there's two there's nothing contractors

1:14:53love more than saying oh this is going

1:14:56to be six months before they even looked

1:14:58at us at at a thing. Um, and so

1:15:03we can't be passive

1:15:06in the face of misinformation because we

1:15:08know what happens.

1:15:10And

1:15:11that mistake cuz however was decided

1:15:14whoever decided it was a mistake

1:15:18unfortunately for a lot of families more

1:15:20than whites than more than blat out all

1:15:22the immense good we did. In a lot of

1:15:25ways, this has been probably the best

1:15:27performance of our disaster systems I've

1:15:30seen in 10 years. And no one's going to

1:15:32ever believe that because the story is

1:15:35we we we messed up the communications.

1:15:41>> It's unfortunate that uh you know, you

1:15:43can say good, better, best, and this is

1:15:44the best. So that implies that we've had

1:15:47uh three or more uh disasters. So, I

1:15:50I'll take the compliment, but uh

1:15:53also,

1:15:54>> you know, I wouldn't give it if I didn't

1:15:55believe it. We've gone through some time

1:15:56to know that.

1:16:02>> Oh, uh Rep. Lens and Rep. Pot.

1:16:06>> Thank you, Chair. Um to you and possibly

1:16:09the superintendent. Um I know that you

1:16:11said classrooms were mostly disrupted.

1:16:15Um, does this include Can you tell me

1:16:17the condition of like specialist areas

1:16:19like art, gym, music, library, and also

1:16:22if any of our like special educators or

1:16:26specialists um OTPT if their offices

1:16:29were damaged and then I'll have a

1:16:31follow-up.

1:16:31>> Yeah. Yeah. Good question. So, um the

1:16:35music room was impacted. Uh it's third

1:16:38floor across the hall from sort of the

1:16:40epicenter. Um, the good news there again

1:16:43is that uh if if you don't already know,

1:16:46the music room is one of the only ones

1:16:48that has uh carpet tile uh in it.

1:16:50Everything else is um you lenolium tile.

1:16:55Um but we caught it fast enough and got

1:16:57the dehumidifiers and fans in there that

1:17:00the um that the carpet dried out um

1:17:03quickly and so there there's no concern

1:17:05there. We didn't have to rip that up. Uh

1:17:07we did have to do the low cuts um on on

1:17:09the on one of the walls uh and then two

1:17:12of the sort of the closets where the

1:17:13instruments are. The other good news is

1:17:15that none of the instruments um were

1:17:17were impacted.

1:17:19They're all up on stands [laughter]

1:17:21thankfully.

1:17:23So the the music room was impacted.

1:17:25There were three specialist rooms that

1:17:29were impacted. Um and and the the um

1:17:35react uh the the mitigation there is the

1:17:37same uh that they were cut out on the on

1:17:40the low areas and the dehumidifiers

1:17:42dried out and they they've been uh

1:17:43cleared for um rehabilitation.

1:17:48>> Yes. So my followup is um I mean this

1:17:51this was a question. So for um students

1:17:54who need um individualized services um

1:17:58is there was there an impact or what is

1:18:00the plan for getting kids um who are

1:18:03moved um their services if if some of

1:18:07the specialists are impacted.

1:18:11>> So that's part of the next two phases

1:18:13that I want to talk about. So I'm going

1:18:15to wait until uh bridge is

1:18:18>> part is is completed.

1:18:20>> All right. We have Repone and then

1:18:23Reputone and then Rep. Green.

1:18:28>> Um, thank you through the chair. I just

1:18:29want to thank publicly I'm sure all my

1:18:33colleagues agree and appreciate the the

1:18:36parents who did their advocacy and wrote

1:18:38this memo. And if this is part of your

1:18:41follow-up report, great. But I am

1:18:42curious at a bare minimum anything that

1:18:45was collected in this meeting I hope is

1:18:46going to be collected into a a letter

1:18:47and sent to families who cannot

1:18:49participate in this um you know

1:18:52can is it what can the district do in

1:18:55terms of communication specifically?

1:18:57They're requesting two times a week. Is

1:18:59that reasonable? They're requesting um

1:19:02an in-person community meeting to happen

1:19:06um in the next three weeks. So, if you

1:19:08can and if you're not ready to report on

1:19:10that, I understand, but that would be

1:19:12something that would be great to hear

1:19:14about the the specific request from this

1:19:15letter from families and PTA.

1:19:19>> Do you want me to respond to that or

1:19:22>> chair?

1:19:23>> Uh, yes, go for it. So, um, again, I,

1:19:27you know, I had a conversation with the

1:19:30director, the the PTA director, and, um,

1:19:34um, totally anytime that anyone says, "I

1:19:36need more information, uh, if we miss

1:19:38the the the target," uh, definitely I'm

1:19:41open to the feedback. Um, uh, we had a

1:19:44meeting today. We opened the space for

1:19:46families who needed to come and visit.

1:19:47We also there's a a uh, coffee hour on

1:19:51Thursday. I believe the mayor is going

1:19:53to join me for that as well. Um and uh I

1:19:56haven't fully got into all the

1:19:57questions. I think that one of the

1:19:58pieces that I have to make sure that we

1:20:00also run all this information through

1:20:03the building leaders because they're at

1:20:05the center of what happens in terms of

1:20:07distribution of resources assignments

1:20:09and so I want to make sure that they are

1:20:11are part of this conversation. But uh I

1:20:13can speak to some of the two phases that

1:20:15we had once again. Um Mr. Director Raj

1:20:18is is

1:20:20>> yeah in terms of uh building updates

1:20:22we're prepared to uh give at least uh by

1:20:26twice weekly updates on on progress and

1:20:29I've already talked with city

1:20:31communications on uh on their support of

1:20:34you know so basically I I report to I

1:20:37I'll I give my technical report to

1:20:39Denise Taylor. She turns it into English

1:20:43um and then can pass it along.

1:20:47Thank you. We're going to go to Dr.

1:20:49Stelman and then Reputone and then Rep.

1:20:52Green.

1:20:53>> Thank you through the chair. Um and this

1:20:56is uh playing off of uh Rep. Pone. Um um

1:21:01and I I wanted to also uh just express

1:21:05appreciation to the PTA

1:21:08uh from the West School. um this the

1:21:10document that they put together um uh

1:21:16it it really outlines um very clearly

1:21:20for our district our for our um

1:21:23superintendent and for the school

1:21:24committee to understand what are these

1:21:26key questions that we we want want to

1:21:29answer and I'm wondering about our uh as

1:21:33as reputon pointed out we have a great

1:21:37contingency evacuation

1:21:39contingency plan in place. Um, and so

1:21:43what I'm wondering is um if um if Dr.

1:21:48Kimona and team and whomever else um

1:21:51could look through some of these um

1:21:54bullet points, not all of them, but

1:21:56select some of these bullet points to

1:21:57put into the contingency plan

1:22:01of which is the communication part of it

1:22:05because we're learning

1:22:07um

1:22:09I mean some of it's not new learning,

1:22:11but how do we how do we introduce into

1:22:14our contingency planning um ways to

1:22:17avoid

1:22:18the

1:22:20um non-helpful, not accurate um

1:22:26um

1:22:28plan uh

1:22:30things that get we that get heard. But

1:22:32how do we help our families know which

1:22:36channels to dial into and how do we make

1:22:39that accessible so that it's not just

1:22:42folks as we heard um that it's not just

1:22:46folks who have the right phone number or

1:22:48the right contact. So, in a in a

1:22:51nutshell, I I like I'd love to see

1:22:55communication planning um that draws

1:22:58from some of these ideas here as part of

1:23:02our contingency plans.

1:23:08>> Thank you. We're going back to Rep.

1:23:10Betone and then Rep. Green.

1:23:13>> Last one I promised through you chair.

1:23:15Um

1:23:17uh to director re, do you have uh a

1:23:20revised estimate on when the roof work

1:23:24will be completed this year based on the

1:23:28you know

1:23:29>> Yeah. So through through the chair what

1:23:31we call the red zone which is the area

1:23:33above the the classrooms is complete. Um

1:23:36so that's all done. We're moving on to

1:23:38what I I the sort of western end of the

1:23:42building uh which is the area adjacent

1:23:44to or around the the library and the um

1:23:49the gym uh and and the bathrooms. Um

1:23:55so that that work is ongoing. There's

1:23:57there is some uh HVAC mechanical

1:24:01equipment that needs to get relocated to

1:24:03finish that work. um which is crane

1:24:07lifts that we can only do on Wednesdays

1:24:09or on Saturdays. Uh which is a long way

1:24:13of saying um I I think we're pretty well

1:24:18clear to have the bulk of the roof work

1:24:21done by the end of the month. Uh we'll

1:24:24we'll likely get into the first couple

1:24:27of weeks of November uh for punch list

1:24:29work. Um, but we're uh we're progressing

1:24:33and wrapping that up rapidly.

1:24:38>> Thank you, Rep. Green.

1:24:41>> I think I think this is my last

1:24:42question. Um,

1:24:45as a as a financial matter, I'm assuming

1:24:48that the extra work will the contractors

1:24:51going to take that on take that on on on

1:24:54the chin. But I also imagine that there

1:24:57was property damage in the water damage

1:25:01um you know staff members uh families

1:25:05whatever but people's personal

1:25:07items were damaged.

1:25:10How does that get made whole? Like is

1:25:12that insurance? Like how how do we pay

1:25:15for any educator or any family's

1:25:18property that was damaged in the water?

1:25:20Um, so as as uh as water damaged

1:25:24materials like that were thrown,

1:25:26everything was cataloged. We took photos

1:25:28of everything. There's a a database of

1:25:31um what was thrown away, both personal

1:25:34and district owned. Um and uh the

1:25:39district is proceeding with procurement

1:25:41of the the items. Most of the most of

1:25:45the items that needed to be tossed were

1:25:47were books. Um but there were some other

1:25:50supplies like that. Um

1:25:54the for expediency because we want to

1:25:58replace those things immediately. It

1:26:00will simply be purchased through through

1:26:02the budget. Um how that then gets uh

1:26:06reimbursed is yet to be seen. Um I

1:26:11suppose we we will have to get to the

1:26:12bottom of the liability on it. um which

1:26:15may take a while uh and and uh whatever

1:26:18insurance claims there may be uh on the

1:26:21city or district side. So um those are a

1:26:25lot of words to say. I don't know. Um

1:26:29>> Green, you have a followup.

1:26:31>> So I what I'm hearing here is that

1:26:33November, December, I'm going to have to

1:26:35have a finance committee meeting where

1:26:36we figure out where this money comes

1:26:37from.

1:26:39>> You're right.

1:26:39>> At least in the short term. I mean in at

1:26:42least in the short term, right? This is

1:26:43these aren't these aren't unbudgeted

1:26:45expenses. That's hopefully not hopefully

1:26:48all said and done. Not not a lot, but

1:26:49it's not zero. So, is that what I'm

1:26:52hearing that we have to figure out at

1:26:52least in the short term how to how to

1:26:54pay for it?

1:26:55>> Yeah, I don't I do not.

1:26:56>> Can Can I understand you're you're

1:26:57requesting an earlier than typical

1:27:00finance meeting of the whole?

1:27:01>> No, I'm just asking procedurally if we

1:27:04are if this if we are going to pay we

1:27:07have to pay for unexpected damages and

1:27:10stuff. We're probably have to have a

1:27:12finance committee. I'm just confirming

1:27:13that I'm hearing this correctly. Now,

1:27:14we're going to have a finance committee

1:27:15meeting to discuss how the that the bud

1:27:19the district absorbs the unexpected

1:27:20cost, which hopefully again is short

1:27:22money, but might not be.

1:27:25>> So, what I'll say is from my end before

1:27:26turning it over to the superintendent,

1:27:28it seems reasonable that that would be

1:27:30an item on your agenda. I would also

1:27:34suggest that once in the new calendar

1:27:37year when we turn to a meeting of the

1:27:40whole that um we revisit it then again.

1:27:46Superintendent.

1:27:47>> Yeah, I think um the costs that we're

1:27:50talking about are not that large that we

1:27:52couldn't address through the

1:27:54efficiencies that we have and so as you

1:27:56know at the end of the school year we

1:27:57often return money because we always

1:27:59have to have a contingency plan. So most

1:28:02likely this will be addressed through

1:28:03the contingency dollars that we set

1:28:05aside. So uh I anticipate that that's

1:28:08going to be the case. But um you know

1:28:09that's one thing that we work in

1:28:12collaboration with the SEU to make sure

1:28:13that we actually provide a replacement

1:28:15to um the loss of materials for

1:28:18teachers.

1:28:20>> Um I will note the union has mentioned

1:28:24generously, I'm going to make eye

1:28:25contact with the president. he will

1:28:26correct me if I'm mistaken, that they

1:28:29have up to $2,500

1:28:31in grant money for books that they

1:28:37um are making available. Uh you know,

1:28:41they're I think technically available to

1:28:44all SEU members, but I think we will

1:28:46focus on the West for you know, these

1:28:50reasons. Um and the hope is that much

1:28:54like when uh

1:28:58when the the city and the district is is

1:29:01made whole that the union can get paid

1:29:03back for those so that they can that

1:29:06money can go to other students and other

1:29:08educators for other books but for now uh

1:29:10that is where they are targeting um

1:29:13their

1:29:16the the grants. All right. Thank you. So

1:29:19that is while it's not you know that

1:29:22that is something as well that our SEU

1:29:23partner is is investing.

1:29:26Um with that I would like to remind the

1:29:29body that we do still have a full agenda

1:29:31including more from the district. So

1:29:33unless there are pressing items that we

1:29:35want to provide to director re I would

1:29:37like to thank him again for his time his

1:29:39commitment. We really appreciate it.

1:29:40[applause]

1:29:43>> Shout out to to the staff and DPW staff

1:29:45too and and the the West faculty. I mean

1:29:48it was an absolute group effort and

1:29:50everyone was outstanding.

1:29:52>> Yes. And I my understanding is we now

1:29:54Somerville now has an emergency

1:29:56management department that was

1:29:57activated. Uh so that's also great to

1:30:01learn and understand that they're doing

1:30:04uh great work and we're still with the

1:30:08superintendent. Um and I am going to

1:30:11describe the two phases that we

1:30:12encounter as we did this work that will

1:30:14in some degree explain some of the

1:30:16changes that we face as well as some of

1:30:18the questions that have come up. So as

1:30:21you know the first week we actually have

1:30:22to respond to the crisis if you will.

1:30:25The main goal around that was basically

1:30:27to limit the number of instructional

1:30:28days that we lost because again any day

1:30:31that a student doesn't go to school is a

1:30:33day we actually have to provide our

1:30:35students with instruction. And for that

1:30:38week basically we what we did is we have

1:30:40to offer a certain amount of specials

1:30:42and it wasn't really a very uh um

1:30:47targeted uh response. Basically we

1:30:49provided services to one location and to

1:30:51the other one. Uh we also minimized the

1:30:54movement that teachers had across the

1:30:56sides. Remember every classroom that

1:30:58moved had a cascading impact. We ended

1:31:01up with two classes of almost 40

1:31:03students in a library. That's not ideal.

1:31:06So that was a response, a quick

1:31:07response, but that wasn't the plan. And

1:31:09so that was a mitigating factor. We

1:31:11actually have to act quickly to respond

1:31:13to that. as we also move to the to the

1:31:16top um the offers that we have in

1:31:19regards to food was um we were trying to

1:31:22mimic what we had at the west. So by

1:31:24Wednesday afternoon is when we actually

1:31:26could were able to have a full warmer

1:31:28and provide all the food services that

1:31:30we provided at the west. And again we

1:31:33tried to minimize the disruption. So we

1:31:35tried to keep the students together.

1:31:37That's why we moved the middle school

1:31:39seven and eight to the actual uh tub as

1:31:42a group. We didn't we want to make sure

1:31:44also that the locations locations where

1:31:46students were could also be um

1:31:49contained. Uh next slide. So the second

1:31:52phase of the work was around the this

1:31:54week basically the week of the 19 in

1:31:57which we were able to normalize some

1:31:59things. We separated basically the

1:32:01location between the west and the tab.

1:32:03uh we um and I think that the the

1:32:06fluidity someone mentioned the word

1:32:07fluidity fifth grade was not included in

1:32:10the first breakdown of the first phase

1:32:12because the water was not an issue there

1:32:14but then we realized that there was some

1:32:16water at the intrusion and so that those

1:32:19two classes became offline uh and again

1:32:22internally there were shifts throughout

1:32:24the building. Um so we also specialists

1:32:28have been already normalized. We

1:32:30actually have in within the week

1:32:32students will be able to receive the

1:32:33four specials as well as our services

1:32:36for IEPs and 504s. So students have

1:32:40already an assigned distribution both at

1:32:42the west and at the top. Um the same

1:32:45thing around the outdoor spaces. We are

1:32:49fortunate that the west was not impacted

1:32:51by that and we have a small park outside

1:32:53of our TOPS offices. There is a

1:32:56beautiful courtyard as well as a

1:32:57basketball uh that is well contained. So

1:33:00students actually uh benefit from being

1:33:02in a space in which they are safe and

1:33:04then can they can do um they can have

1:33:06great outdoor activity and um out of

1:33:09school time and services both at the

1:33:12west and at the top are provided. We

1:33:14actually um educators will score

1:33:17students at the end to bring them back

1:33:18again to the west to receive their uh

1:33:20services for out of school time. So I

1:33:23think all in all we are able to provide

1:33:26similar uh services that they have at

1:33:29both sides. Next slide.

1:33:32Um

1:33:33and you know again our focus is to

1:33:35maintain instruction at both locations.

1:33:38Uh but one of the things that I wanted

1:33:40to highlight next slide is that this has

1:33:42had a significant impact in throughout

1:33:44the district. Um and I have to start by

1:33:47thanking our teachers. um you know that

1:33:50sometimes teaching reside the idea of

1:33:54being an effective teacher sometimes is

1:33:56the space itself like how familiar you

1:33:58are and how adept you you become to

1:34:01utilize the space um I don't want to

1:34:04underestimate that so for some teachers

1:34:05that has been a significant pain and I

1:34:07want to you know uh on behalf of the

1:34:10district um acknowledge that that that's

1:34:12definitely a very upsetting part of this

1:34:15process the same thing the same thing

1:34:17has happened at the spaces in which we

1:34:19are coming into the top. Scale basically

1:34:21has had to disrupt pretty much all of

1:34:23their classes and the district has taken

1:34:27priority over the space and so um but as

1:34:29a result of that multiple program

1:34:32programs have been um impacted um and I

1:34:36know that there are some programmatic

1:34:38decisions that have to be taken into

1:34:40account for scale. They also depend on

1:34:42grants. state and that means that we

1:34:44actually have to make sure that the

1:34:45spaces that we take away we need to

1:34:47provide them again for them. That means

1:34:49that we need to disrupt the entire space

1:34:51to provide a space to uh the scale

1:34:54folks. The same thing has happened with

1:34:56the city department. Um you know the

1:34:58recreation team has actually been very

1:35:01accommodating to make sure that they

1:35:03move out of the conference spaces uh and

1:35:05we create classrooms in those spaces. Uh

1:35:08families who join us today were able to

1:35:10see how that worked. And you know this

1:35:13council of a aging who is a very

1:35:15vulnerable population also has had to

1:35:17give up a space for two days. And so we

1:35:20are really um uh touched by the amount

1:35:24of um commitment to to the work that

1:35:26we're doing as well as uh to um provide

1:35:30us the space uh scale. Again our

1:35:32teachers and our city uh partners have

1:35:35really been graceful with their time. Um

1:35:38and so with that um I wanted to just to

1:35:42highlight that uh there is information

1:35:44in our website at the web the west

1:35:46website and both uh the feedback that we

1:35:50got from the the PTA as well as the city

1:35:53we are in collaboration to make sure

1:35:54that information is more fluid um and

1:35:58again part of that is that changes that

1:36:00have happened have actually changed the

1:36:03trajectory of some of the planning that

1:36:04we have. It's that idea that there's no

1:36:06perfect plan that survives the

1:36:08battlefield. That is very true. Even our

1:36:10new system of emergency preparedness, we

1:36:14have everything prepared and then we

1:36:15have to we found out that the

1:36:17firefighter uh marshall said there are

1:36:20some things you need to adjust here. So

1:36:22we have to reshift some assignments and

1:36:25again the last thing we want to is to

1:36:27disrupt the the arrangements that we

1:36:29have for for teachers that already have

1:36:30some things set up. So that's probably

1:36:33some families will say, "Oh, my student

1:36:34has said this and now has changed." So

1:36:36we did have to make multiple

1:36:37arrangements because of that. Um, so

1:36:40hopefully right now where we are is more

1:36:42stable. We now have a lunchon lunch

1:36:45space. We also know that we're still

1:36:47looking for a location to make sure that

1:36:49we provide indoor rees. At least we're

1:36:51buying four days of good time and that

1:36:54is still in the works. Uh, but I have

1:36:56spoken to the building leadership. Uh

1:36:58we're working with the city to make sure

1:36:59that our coms are much more robust and

1:37:02also that again you heard from um

1:37:05director Rich that there is a timeline

1:37:07um hopefully earlier November if not

1:37:10middle of November but again those are

1:37:12things that are dependent on multiple

1:37:14factors but uh at least we have a date

1:37:17in which uh we can actually somewhat

1:37:19rely on. So that is that in regards to

1:37:22the um the component of the of the west

1:37:26and um uh transition. I again I really

1:37:30want to thank the SEU, our partners, our

1:37:33educators. Uh scale again has been

1:37:37significantly impacted. They are still

1:37:39utilizing some of our sites. Um and

1:37:41that's something that is an ongoing pain

1:37:43for them. Um and again our students and

1:37:46families that are actually are dealing

1:37:48with some of the non ideal locations but

1:37:52we are still acting in somewhat of a of

1:37:55a crisis mode. U but thank you.

1:38:00Um and um I just quickly wanted to

1:38:02highlight again there's a reference to

1:38:04our website at the west. You can

1:38:06actually um get some of the updates in

1:38:08regards to uh where we are. um it

1:38:11doesn't have as much information as what

1:38:12I relay today, but that will be we're

1:38:15working is a work in progress. Um the

1:38:18last part of my presentation is around

1:38:20the work uh that we did um over the uh

1:38:24this weekend. We actually, as you know,

1:38:26we're working with the uh bar foundation

1:38:29on strengthening our uh feedback

1:38:32processes. And so that's the work that

1:38:35we're doing. We're working with Relay to

1:38:37strengthen our muscle, if you will. Uh

1:38:39we have some principal supervisors who

1:38:41are working on um becoming better at

1:38:45identifying ways in which we can support

1:38:47better instruction um through the lens

1:38:50of the principal.

1:38:52Um and that is that in regards to my

1:38:55report

1:38:57and

1:38:58the next part of the report is the two

1:39:01departments that are here uh to share

1:39:03some information with us.

1:39:06>> Thank you. I'm going to pause and double

1:39:08check, make sure colleagues don't have

1:39:10any other

1:39:12follow-ups. Mayor Wilson,

1:39:14>> chair, I'll be quick because the hour is

1:39:15going late. I just I want to point out

1:39:17on on Monday when I was at at uh the

1:39:19school with Dr. Carmona and we you

1:39:21talked about the idea that we might only

1:39:23have to call off school for the West on

1:39:25Tuesday. I was skeptical. Uh it seemed

1:39:28really ambitious, but it's a testament

1:39:30to the work that was put in uh by by SPS

1:39:33on the city side and and really by the

1:39:36teachers uh to make sure that that only

1:39:39one day of school was cancelled. Uh I'm

1:39:42I'm still kind of in awe of that. It was

1:39:45uh the first test of our of the uh

1:39:47continuity plan. Uh and yeah, we

1:39:50identified some areas where it needed to

1:39:52be revisited and and that will help us.

1:39:53you know, god forbid we ever have to go

1:39:55to this again, but at least we we'll

1:39:57know we'll have a better plan sitting

1:39:58there uh if we need it. Uh but yeah,

1:40:01just full of appreciation for for the

1:40:03work that went into that. Uh and yeah,

1:40:06it's it's been something to behold for

1:40:08behind the scenes.

1:40:09>> Thank you, Rep. Green.

1:40:13>> Yeah, I was going to make a similar

1:40:16point to the mayor. Um it is as director

1:40:19Ra pointed out unfortunate that we've

1:40:21done this enough times that I can have I

1:40:22can compare and contrast but here we

1:40:24are. Um and it's you know for all the

1:40:28things that we could still improve upon

1:40:29I do want to ensure the takeaway people

1:40:31have is that this was a better response

1:40:34to a disaster than we've had in the

1:40:36past. Um by contrast when when we had to

1:40:39close the the building Escamore students

1:40:41were out for three day for three days

1:40:43maybe even four if I remember correctly.

1:40:46Um

1:40:48and

1:40:49so you know one day especially coming

1:40:51for act long weekend that's attest to a

1:40:54lot of people doing a lot of work in a

1:40:55very short period of time. Um it took

1:40:58way too long to get one but we do have

1:40:59the fact that we do have an a plan for

1:41:02for swing space is a market improvement

1:41:05the way we we in the past. Um,

1:41:09so you know

1:41:12this while this may only this may

1:41:14definitely only be a kind of B that is

1:41:17substantially higher than some of those

1:41:18average in these kind of situations and

1:41:19we should make sure people get the

1:41:22credit they deserve for what was a

1:41:25really market improvement on our

1:41:28history.

1:41:34>> Thank you chair through you. Um,

1:41:36building on my colleague, uh, Rep.

1:41:38Green's points, um, you know, I I had

1:41:42the opportunity to, um, take the tour

1:41:44today. Uh, it was good to see you there,

1:41:46uh, superintendent. Um, and,

1:41:50uh,

1:41:52uh, Miss King, the school liazison, took

1:41:54us around. Um,

1:41:56uh, it's amazing to see what in the

1:41:59short time educators have been able to

1:42:01do with the space, what the district has

1:42:03been able to put together. Um, so I I

1:42:07guess just kudos. Um, there are some

1:42:09questions and you know, parents asked

1:42:11some great questions about um

1:42:15I don't know the bathroom spaces and

1:42:18what to do in a case of a fire drill and

1:42:20I think that that's sort of an open

1:42:22question about when when are we going to

1:42:23have a fire drill. Um,

1:42:26uh, they are moving forward with picture

1:42:27day which is this Friday. So, you know,

1:42:30there's things to look forward to. um

1:42:34uh

1:42:37and questions around um traffic safety

1:42:39and additional crossings, which I know

1:42:41the superintendent and um uh the mayor

1:42:45and all the teams are working to answer

1:42:47these questions as they come up. So, I

1:42:50guess if you have questions, bring it to

1:42:52your school committee member or, you

1:42:54know, ask the district and we can

1:42:56elevate these concerns cuz stuff's going

1:42:58to, you know, we won't necessarily have

1:43:00thought through all the permutations and

1:43:02I just want to reinforce that.

1:43:08>> Thank you. All right, we have much more

1:43:11to move on to.

1:43:14>> Thank you. Um, yes. Uh the next part of

1:43:17our presentation is our out of school

1:43:21time and we have director Parabelloo and

1:43:26Adriana Waraki who are going to be

1:43:28sharing the plan for the out of school

1:43:30time.

1:43:32>> Good evening. Thank you for having us

1:43:34back again. My name is Rosanna

1:43:36Parabelloo. I'm the director of out of

1:43:38school time.

1:43:40Tonight you will hear from myself and

1:43:42the assistant director of out of school

1:43:44time Adriana Gerki regarding the network

1:43:47of programming we offer to students and

1:43:48families.

1:43:51Next slide.

1:43:54Our mission is to support the academic,

1:43:56social, and emotional development of our

1:43:58students through equitable access to

1:44:01highquality programming. We are always

1:44:03striving to increase access, capacity,

1:44:06and academic opportunities and carry out

1:44:09the goals of the district's strategic

1:44:10plan. Next slide.

1:44:16Someville offers a wide variety of

1:44:17amazing community partners offering OST

1:44:20opportunities both full-time and

1:44:22part-time.

1:44:25I think we're missing some of the other

1:44:26options on this. Yep, there we go.

1:44:30summer programs, full-time afterchool

1:44:33care, out of schooltime enrichment, and

1:44:35middle and high school programming.

1:44:40Next slide. Yep, there we go.

1:44:44Highlights for this year include

1:44:46increased capacity in our full-time

1:44:48programs, the continued growth of the

1:44:50Arbiter registration system for OST and

1:44:53partner programs, increased

1:44:55opportunities for our middle school

1:44:56students with more district-wide

1:44:58programs, more consistent options across

1:45:01schools, and marketing and making

1:45:03improvements around communication so we

1:45:05ensure equitable access.

1:45:10Next slide.

1:45:13We offer programming through contracted

1:45:15providers. These programs are funded

1:45:17through the OST budget. We collaborate

1:45:19with different organizations that pri

1:45:21prioritize academic improvement,

1:45:23cultural competence, and student

1:45:25centered practice.

1:45:27Next slide.

1:45:30Oh, I think we jumped one slide. Sorry.

1:45:33Back to middle school programming.

1:45:41Yep. Middle school programming has been

1:45:44growing and thriving. Robotics has

1:45:46expanded. Calculus Project continues to

1:45:48support mathematical skills with an

1:45:50increase in enrollment. And soccer

1:45:52without borders continues to offer

1:45:54students newcomer support both on the

1:45:56field and off. A middle school college

1:45:59and career readiness program will

1:46:01continue into its second year.

1:46:08Also funded by the OST budget are our

1:46:11OST enrichment clubs.

1:46:15OST clubs provide another layer of

1:46:17enrichment to families who do not need a

1:46:19traditional five day program. Clubs are

1:46:23are 1 hour long and students can choose

1:46:25clubs by on three trimesters with the

1:46:29first beginning October 5th. Club

1:46:31offerings are changing as we hear fe

1:46:33feedback from families. for example,

1:46:35keeping offerings at schools on

1:46:37particular days through the year so

1:46:39parents can plan for care ahead of time.

1:46:44These are the demographics for OST clubs

1:46:46by school for session one. A key

1:46:49takeaway from this slide is that clubs

1:46:51as a district are pretty similar to the

1:46:53K through8 enrollment.

1:46:58Next slide.

1:47:00This slide represents economic levels

1:47:02for students enrolled in our OST clubs.

1:47:05The lowincome cap used was a little over

1:47:08106,000 per year, which does represent

1:47:11the majority who registered for OST

1:47:13clubs. 107 students did not provide

1:47:17information, so we're so we're excluded

1:47:19from this count.

1:47:21Now, I introduce assistant director

1:47:23Adriana Gerki to give us some highlights

1:47:26on community schools.

1:47:31Good evening.

1:47:33Good evening everybody. My name is

1:47:35Adriana Gu. I'm the assistant director

1:47:37for the out of school time. I'm here to

1:47:39talk about to talk to you guys about the

1:47:42community schools program.

1:47:45So community school program is an

1:47:47in-house program staffed by trained

1:47:49educators that creates high quality

1:47:51curricula and fosters strong connections

1:47:54with our schools. As our longest running

1:47:56program is enables it enables us to

1:47:59build meaningful relationships with

1:48:01students and understand them better as

1:48:03learners and individuals. We serve

1:48:06students in prek through sixth grade

1:48:08across eight elementary schools. A site

1:48:11director and an assistant site director

1:48:13lead each site. A clinical consultant

1:48:16and a student service coordinator

1:48:18provides additional support. Next slide,

1:48:21please.

1:48:25Enrollment across the across our

1:48:27community school programs increased from

1:48:29940 students to 974 students. We also

1:48:33added Apollo and Elsma numbers which

1:48:35also experience enrollment growth. This

1:48:38year we expanded our weight list to

1:48:39include all students whose preferred

1:48:41program is community schools including

1:48:44some families currently participating in

1:48:46other programs such as the YMCA and

1:48:49Apollo.

1:48:50The way reflects requests collected

1:48:53after the March registration period and

1:48:55help us better track child care needs,

1:48:58understand demands for our programs and

1:49:01identify opportunities to enroll

1:49:03additional families as a space become

1:49:05available.

1:49:07Next slide.

1:49:09This is the ethnicity race compared to

1:49:12district desi data by schools. is

1:49:15Somerville Community Schools has the

1:49:17highest Hispanic Latino representation

1:49:19at about 61%

1:49:22substantially above the Somerville desi

1:49:25rate uh of 38.4%.

1:49:29Capuano has the highest multi-race

1:49:31representation at about 21%.

1:49:34Winter Hill is also notably high in

1:49:37multi-race representation and about 18%.

1:49:41Next slide, please.

1:49:44Our new sliding scale fee structure

1:49:47adjusts weekly payments based on family

1:49:49income and household size, making

1:49:52community schools more accessible to

1:49:54families. Weekly fee ranges from $5 to

1:49:58$169 a week, allowing us to accommodate

1:50:02families with uh different financial

1:50:05needs and provide scholarships to more

1:50:07families who need assistance.

1:50:09Next slide, please.

1:50:12Distribution of weekly tuition fees.

1:50:16Out of all our students, 346 students

1:50:20receive some from some form of financial

1:50:22assistant, including full scholarship,

1:50:24subside rates, and sliding scale

1:50:27tuition. This reflects our commitment to

1:50:30supporting families with diverse

1:50:32financial circumstances while providing

1:50:34consistency, consistent, high quality

1:50:37afterchool programming.

1:50:39Next slide, please.

1:50:42Where we are now, committed schools

1:50:44continues to grow with enrollment

1:50:46increasing as shown in the chart.

1:50:48Financial assistant has also expanded,

1:50:51allowing us to support more families who

1:50:53need access to our program. We have also

1:50:56increased staff salaries, helping us

1:50:58retain highquality educators and

1:51:00encourage them to stay with our program

1:51:02longer. In terms of staffing, we

1:51:05recognize the challenges of re relying

1:51:07on employees who could only work a few

1:51:10days per week. To address this, we

1:51:12eliminate redundant positions and

1:51:15restructured staffing to provide more

1:51:17consistent schedules, allowing more

1:51:20staff members to work additional days

1:51:22and providing greater stability for our

1:51:25program.

1:51:27Thank you for your time. I'm going to

1:51:28pass it to Miss Pereella.

1:51:32Our

1:51:35goal is always to sustain changes to the

1:51:37program due to growth so we can

1:51:39accommodate all students who apply. The

1:51:42first chart represents the amount of

1:51:43students receiving some form of

1:51:45financial aid or a stateisssued voucher

1:51:47for child care. The second chart

1:51:50represents revenue produced by each

1:51:52school. Revenue supports all the

1:51:54programs as a whole and does not

1:51:56particular target on one school. Next

1:52:00slide.

1:52:04I'm going to move through this chart

1:52:06quickly since the budget as a whole will

1:52:08be presented at a subcommittee. This

1:52:09represents a year-over-year comparison

1:52:11of the CS budget. During FY24 and FY25,

1:52:16the program was spending down a large

1:52:18carryover that was maintained from

1:52:20precoid [snorts]

1:52:22and then revenue postcoid decreased as

1:52:25we tried to rebuild. salaries increased

1:52:27and the program saw it necessary to

1:52:29start to increase tuition rates that had

1:52:32been historically low compared to other

1:52:33programs offered with similar types of

1:52:36programming. We also addressed expenses

1:52:38by decreasing the amount spent on

1:52:40vendors and redundant positions. This

1:52:42year we will move Apollo to the

1:52:44revolving so we will see a slight rise

1:52:46in contracted services in that line

1:52:48item. We will continue to implement a

1:52:51minimal increase yearly to account for

1:52:53increases in salaries, supplies, and

1:52:56contracted services.

1:53:00Next slide.

1:53:04The staring committee. The STEAR

1:53:05committee was launched in school year 23

1:53:07to 24 to address both school and city

1:53:10out of schooltime topics.

1:53:14We are a committee of district and city

1:53:16directors and coordinators who meet

1:53:17weekly to discuss current trends,

1:53:19issues, and data concerning OST needs.

1:53:22The goal is always to increase access

1:53:24and affordability to OSD programming in

1:53:27the community.

1:53:32Next slide. The work of the OST program

1:53:35entails understanding barriers, looking

1:53:37at district-wide systems, developing

1:53:40shared quality standards, and

1:53:43identifying financial strategies.

1:53:45This committee has been such a welcome

1:53:47addition to the work and after school.

1:53:53And that is all and ready to take any

1:53:56questions.

1:54:05colleagues. Uh, Rep. Libertens,

1:54:08>> thank you so much through you chair. Um,

1:54:10just a quick comment. Thank you so much

1:54:12for the work that you do. Um, you know,

1:54:15my daughter is now in high school and

1:54:16I've really seen such a amazing growth

1:54:19in the availability of afterchool

1:54:22programs and also the communication. So,

1:54:24I'm excited about the direction you're

1:54:26headed and I'm just um thinking about I

1:54:30know you said you value feedback from

1:54:31families and it's helped you improve

1:54:33your programs. Um what could you give us

1:54:36um maybe a preview of like what you hope

1:54:40and how the program will grow? Thinking

1:54:42about like enrichment clubs and you know

1:54:45how we might attract new partners.

1:54:48>> Um so

1:54:50new partners are always welcome. the

1:54:52challenge is holding on to the the

1:54:55programs that we value um and also

1:54:58having enough time during the week to

1:55:00offer it all. So I think this year we

1:55:03worked on um dividing up age groups and

1:55:05focusing certain um activities for

1:55:08particular groups. Um so that was a way

1:55:11to sort of spread out um different

1:55:13providers. Um, but we hope to just be

1:55:16able to get um fair um feedback from the

1:55:20schools because we're finding that every

1:55:22school is different in terms of needs

1:55:24and you really do have to evaluate that

1:55:27um that feedback and we also um work

1:55:30really hard with the the family liaison

1:55:33and the site directors at each school

1:55:34because they know the families best. So

1:55:36we don't try to put on you know what we

1:55:40think should be. We listen to the

1:55:41feedback and what they think is best.

1:55:43So, a lot of that work this time around

1:55:46was from the school feedback directly.

1:55:52>> Thank you, Mayor Wilson.

1:55:53>> Thanks, Chair. Uh, in the slide that

1:55:55showed the staffing levels look like it

1:55:57went from 125 down to 117. If I

1:55:59understand you correctly, you basically

1:56:01Yes, we have fewer staff, but they're

1:56:03working typically more. You don't have

1:56:05any like FTE full-time equivalent

1:56:08numbers you might be able to to offer on

1:56:10that, do you? To just to show

1:56:13we

1:56:14>> in sort of firmer numbers uh what the

1:56:17staffing actually looks like.

1:56:19>> Um we do have that information. Like I

1:56:20said, I didn't share all of it because

1:56:22it's being presented at another meeting,

1:56:24but we do have we have that data. But we

1:56:26definitely reduced a lot of we had um

1:56:29assistant d uh assistant teachers and

1:56:32some high school students only working

1:56:33one or two days a week and that doesn't

1:56:35help. We heard the feedback of the site

1:56:37directors that's not helpful. It doesn't

1:56:39help with relationships of students and

1:56:41behavior and all these things. Um, and

1:56:43it it shows it projects that we're

1:56:45spending more than we actually are when

1:56:47we're trying to budget out.

1:56:50>> Chair, thanks for letting me ask. I just

1:56:51want to make the point here that if

1:56:52someone saw that and thought, "Oh, we're

1:56:54dropping staffing levels. You know,

1:56:56we're not we're not hitting the ratios

1:56:57we're supposed to be at." You know, huge

1:56:58if true, not true. Thank you.

1:57:02>> Thank you, Rep. Green.

1:57:08So, thank you for this. Um, and I'm

1:57:11going to think in advance for the the

1:57:12presentation you're going to do before

1:57:14the finance committee. Um, I think I've

1:57:18already got some questions. So, I'm

1:57:19going to ask the question now and it

1:57:22might be complicated. So, I understand

1:57:23if you want to save the answer for the

1:57:25committee meeting, but I want to make

1:57:26sure you're prepared. So,

1:57:29I look at the um, and it's the first

1:57:31time I've ever seen this data point, so

1:57:32it's really was interesting. was looking

1:57:34at the average tuition by school and the

1:57:37demographics of community schools

1:57:40and I you know I know that we have I

1:57:43want to say twice in my time at school

1:57:44committee raise the um top level of

1:57:48tuition um because we have been in our

1:57:51expansion very intentionally trying to

1:57:53make our after school programming

1:57:56accessible to people who don't have

1:57:57other options and so I was kind of

1:58:00disappointed to realize that it's still

1:58:02the case that twothirds of students at

1:58:05community schools are paying uh the top

1:58:08rate and we're only subsidizing about a

1:58:10third of our students. Um

1:58:14even though when you look at things like

1:58:16our enrichment clubs,

1:58:1960% of those students are low income and

1:58:21of course you know 43% of the district

1:58:23is low income. Um,

1:58:27and so my question, and it's in part a

1:58:30question for the data, but it's also

1:58:31part question for the body, is

1:58:34is our thinking that community schools

1:58:35should be a program that caters towards

1:58:39a higher income band. And if so, I'm

1:58:41glad to raise tuition even more. um

1:58:45[snorts] or

1:58:46do we think we need to do more to get

1:58:50community schools to better a reflect

1:58:52the population of our district

1:58:54especially since even at the top rate is

1:58:56still below market rate so it's still a

1:58:58subsidy to those families um you know

1:59:01the cheapest alternative around is still

1:59:02why are the why are um why am I think

1:59:06there's a PB house both of wh are $20 a

1:59:08week less than even our our increased

1:59:11rates so I just want to make sure we are

1:59:13thinking through especially if our next

1:59:16budget is going to be light tighter than

1:59:17this one and especially if correctly

1:59:19we're looking at wanting to figure out

1:59:20how to how to expand access to

1:59:22three-year-olds and four-y olds students

1:59:25how we are resourcing our after school

1:59:27out of school programming

1:59:29in continuous of our stated goals of

1:59:30trying to make those more equitable and

1:59:32more accessible to low-inccome families

1:59:33which I think they say we're not we're

1:59:35not hitting a mark at least community

1:59:37schools

1:59:42>> reput

1:59:44Then Dr. Stman,

1:59:46>> thank you chair. Uh through you just on

1:59:49that point, um I'm curious if we have

1:59:53data that

1:59:56um that indicate that cost is the driver

1:59:59for nonparticipation in after school. I

2:00:03mean it's a good hypothesis but there

2:00:06may be other factors driving you know

2:00:09other you know after school activities

2:00:11or um

2:00:15cultural after school clubs that kids

2:00:17may be involved in. So just curious if

2:00:19we have those data and if we don't if

2:00:22there's a way for us to survey parents

2:00:25or families who do not participate.

2:00:31There was a survey done last year by um

2:00:35summer promise. Yeah. Where we collected

2:00:39that data um and

2:00:42we used that information moving forward

2:00:44to um address some of the the gaps that

2:00:47we saw. I think we saw like um there was

2:00:50a large need from parent feedback. There

2:00:52was a large need for afterchool care at

2:00:54Healey. However, when we do registration

2:00:57year after year, it's it's significantly

2:00:59one of the lowest enrolled programs. Um

2:01:02the same for Winter Hill. Um we we

2:01:06continue to try to address what you know

2:01:09what surveys we can do and what input we

2:01:11can get. Um and from what we learned

2:01:14from the OST clubs, it sounds like um

2:01:17there's a lot of recruitment done at the

2:01:19school level to um offer like specific

2:01:22targeted um with family leaison calling

2:01:25home trying to enroll students into this

2:01:28into these free programs but it

2:01:30continues to be an obstacle for that to

2:01:32happen.

2:01:33We did see an increase this year. We

2:01:36think that um the use of arbiter has

2:01:37been helpful in that case um as well.

2:01:42Thank you Dr. Stillman and then Rep

2:01:44Green.

2:01:45>> Hi, thank you through the chair. Um can

2:01:47we take a quick look at slide 19 um just

2:01:52before from the end?

2:01:57Um I think the one right after this one.

2:02:04Yeah. And this may be what uh the this

2:02:09may be what mayor what you were

2:02:12referring to. I'm not sure. But can we

2:02:14just um

2:02:16uh this is like the first time I'm as a

2:02:18school committee member wrapping my head

2:02:20around this data. So I'm seeing these

2:02:23you know we we've got the community

2:02:24schools revolving right and then we this

2:02:28shift from Apollo from OST to CS

2:02:32revolving. So what I'm what I'm

2:02:34wondering is there's this huge drop off,

2:02:37right? Um and so I'm I'm trying to

2:02:40understand what um what is this uh if

2:02:46you can give me a bigger context about

2:02:48this sort of the significant change. I

2:02:50know you've talked about it but it's it

2:02:52hasn't congealed yet for me.

2:02:55>> Um you mean regards from year to year?

2:02:58>> Yeah. Or just at looking at our FY FY27

2:03:02to present

2:03:03So FY27 is present. This is real time.

2:03:06>> This is our real time.

2:03:07>> Yes. I didn't I didn't add the

2:03:09projections because again that's in a

2:03:11subcommittee meeting. Yep.

2:03:12>> Okay.

2:03:13>> All right.

2:03:14>> So this is like a snapshot of what

2:03:16exists right now.

2:03:17>> Okay.

2:03:17>> For FY27

2:03:19>> and in general it's just it's you're

2:03:22expecting it to just follow the current

2:03:24trends that we have.

2:03:26>> Yes. Well, I mean, we we're striving to

2:03:28ensure that we end the fiscal year with

2:03:31enough money to support summer

2:03:33programming and then start off the

2:03:35school year because we have a loss in

2:03:37revenue over the summer and then

2:03:38September. Okay. All right. For

2:03:41community schools,

2:03:43>> thank you.

2:03:47>> Thank you. Uh, Rep. Green. Oh, sorry.

2:03:51Sorry, Rep. Eldidge. Rep Green and then

2:03:55Rep. Dr.

2:03:59>> Uh thank you through the chair. Um I

2:04:01really appreciated your presentation and

2:04:03also uh the focus specifically stated at

2:04:05the end of um

2:04:09on focusing on equity and increased

2:04:11access. Um I know it was a topic

2:04:14conversation that came up last year

2:04:15during one of the out of school time

2:04:16listening sessions and I'm wondering if

2:04:18you've heard any feedback from families

2:04:20in regard to access for students with

2:04:22disabilities. I didn't see that touched

2:04:24upon here, but has there been any um

2:04:27feedback A or B improvements made to

2:04:29ensure that uh students navigating

2:04:32disabilities within our school system

2:04:33have access to after school

2:04:35opportunities?

2:04:36>> Yep. Um so in terms of community

2:04:38schools, there's a pretty big support

2:04:39system for students who are on IEPs, uh

2:04:43504s or even behavioral challenges. Um

2:04:46so any families that enroll um gain that

2:04:50access to supports too for after school.

2:04:53Um and we haven't had any um feedback

2:04:56around um negative feedback around this

2:04:59topic for the school year. Um or in

2:05:02terms of the OST clubs um this hasn't

2:05:06been this has not come to my attention

2:05:09um any No, I did hear that feedback

2:05:13before. Um and again we always strive to

2:05:16include to ensure there's inclusive

2:05:18practices so that all students can

2:05:20participate and there's a lot of um

2:05:23communication with parents and um we

2:05:25have a clinical consultants and um

2:05:28student services coordinator for OST and

2:05:31they frequently have meetings um with

2:05:33the site directors with um the parents.

2:05:36They create um behavior plans. They meet

2:05:39with the school day staff around

2:05:41behavior plans. um and follow that

2:05:44through the year because a lot of these

2:05:46students start in prek and we have them

2:05:48until sixth, seventh grade. So

2:05:53through the chair, quick follow-up. Um

2:05:55if there is a family that's interested

2:05:57in some of the offerings and doesn't

2:05:59know how to proceed or maybe is

2:06:01concerned about whether there's barriers

2:06:03because of disability, how do they go

2:06:05about navigating that process? Like who

2:06:07do they reach out to? like how do they

2:06:09begin the process of trying to get the

2:06:11supports in place to be able to

2:06:12participate?

2:06:12>> So, if they're not enrolled,

2:06:14>> if they're current Yeah. not or maybe

2:06:16interested or maybe just haven't taken

2:06:18that leave because they didn't think it

2:06:19would be a good fit or there wasn't the

2:06:21proper supports, like how does a family

2:06:23begin that?

2:06:24>> That's a good question. I know that when

2:06:26we advertise for the school for um

2:06:28registration, we um during the

2:06:31registration process, when they're

2:06:32registering, we ask that if they have

2:06:34any behavioral needs um that they um

2:06:38will have a meeting with our student

2:06:39services coordinator ahead of time um to

2:06:43review information and make sure there's

2:06:45um support in in place. So, we do we do

2:06:48offer that and then the student services

2:06:51director once everyone is enrolled will

2:06:53will review um information with the site

2:06:56director on on needs of the students.

2:07:01>> Okay. Do you have a followup? Okay.

2:07:03Mayor Wilson

2:07:05>> chair. Well, sorry. I have a second

2:07:08question. It's not a follow-up to to

2:07:09what

2:07:09>> Oh, then if it's then we're going

2:07:11>> back in the stack, please.

2:07:12>> Yeah. Sorry. then you're going back in

2:07:13and then we're going Patone and then

2:07:15Green and then Wilson. Thank you.

2:07:18>> Thank you through the chair to the team.

2:07:20Um I'm just so appreciative of the level

2:07:23of data every time we have this

2:07:25presentation.

2:07:27more and more thoughtful, more and more

2:07:29targeted particularly around access. Uh

2:07:32which I think um as other members

2:07:34including um Representative Green spoke

2:07:37to is that's one of our for many of us

2:07:39one of our concerns is how do we make

2:07:41sure that we're providing as much out of

2:07:44school time support to the people that

2:07:46need it the most. Um and I know you know

2:07:49you're doing some head scratching and

2:07:50you're going you know how do we get this

2:07:52to happen? Um I appreciate what's going

2:07:55on at the east. there's clearly um a

2:07:59much higher uh adoption of getting these

2:08:02sliding scales and scholarships and I

2:08:05don't know if there's families or the

2:08:07liaison that's doing the recruiting to

2:08:08make this be successful but kudos to

2:08:11that. Um, and I also always scratch my

2:08:16head about what's going on at the Healey

2:08:18with the number of students are there.

2:08:19And I don't know if anybody knows

2:08:21historically, but we used to have uh was

2:08:23it Boys and Girls Clubs that used to be

2:08:24at the Healey and families

2:08:26>> had the choice program.

2:08:28>> Yeah.

2:08:28>> I mean, there's a demographic change,

2:08:29but there was a Boys and Girls Club

2:08:31>> instance and families paid like $30 to

2:08:34$5 for the entire year to have full

2:08:36access. And granted that was kind of a a

2:08:39fantasy situation for I mean I'm not

2:08:41making any comments on you know what was

2:08:43going on in the programming. Um

2:08:46I just like I said I wanted to

2:08:48compliment there's still a lot of

2:08:49headscratching and this this is hard

2:08:51work. I hope that um my understanding is

2:08:54there's a new initiation of the

2:08:56children's cabinet. We have our friends

2:08:57from summer promise sitting here and I

2:09:00hope that this is high on the list of

2:09:03that work of what the children's cabinet

2:09:05or whatever it's going to be called. Um

2:09:07just so people know that's a a

2:09:08collaboration space between the city and

2:09:10the schools and it used to exist maybe

2:09:13five or six years ago and it was a space

2:09:15where we made a lot of progress

2:09:16particularly for early childhood

2:09:18education. a lot of work together to get

2:09:20grants budgeting really successful

2:09:25and now it's being reinitiated and I

2:09:26hope that this is on the higher part of

2:09:28the list because uh I'm the

2:09:30representative [laughter] and I'd love

2:09:32to be part of this work. So, thank you.

2:09:37>> Thank you. We're going uh Rep. Green and

2:09:39then Rep. Wilson.

2:09:42>> Thank you. Um

2:09:45I'm going to build on uh Miss Patone's

2:09:48points because she shared some of mine

2:09:51um particularly

2:09:53uh at the heler

2:09:55hill. Um I'm actually going to reach

2:09:57back a little bit also build on Veron's

2:10:00point. So I do believe we all have ane

2:10:03an anecdote

2:10:18care options and and um not adopting

2:10:22them. But it takes that that is true and

2:10:25I can see why those are also our two

2:10:26poorest schools. Uh I I also want to

2:10:29remind people that if we are doing that

2:10:31work and not getting pickup that we not

2:10:34do the thing that Somerville loves to do

2:10:37which is that we build something for one

2:10:38population that ask population to join

2:10:40really badly and then when they don't

2:10:41when they don't say yes we just ask

2:10:43harder. Um

2:10:46to the extent that we have anecdata

2:10:48suggesting that there are cultural

2:10:49differences that might be preventing

2:10:52some groups from taking of services.

2:10:55What can we do to make our to what can

2:10:57we do to change to be more welcoming and

2:11:00more suitable to the those cultural

2:11:02norms, right? Like I'm gonna ask that we

2:11:04not do what we often do, which is be

2:11:06like and we and we do it at Hilly, too.

2:11:08I'm guilty. We're guilty of it, but um

2:11:11where we ask people to join this thing

2:11:12because we think it'd be really good for

2:11:13them if they did our thing rather than

2:11:16building the thing they want.

2:11:19So like if the Healy's community is

2:11:22saying, "Hey, we need more child care

2:11:24and not taking advantage of childare

2:11:25we're giving them." Then we're giving

2:11:27them the wrong childare and we need to

2:11:28figure out how to fix that.

2:11:31>> Thank you, Mayor Wilson.

2:11:33>> Thanks, Sher. Uh obviously last year

2:11:35there was a whole discussion uh around

2:11:37adjusting the rates uh midyear in

2:11:40response to, you know, a burn rate that

2:11:42was not sustainable. Um

2:11:45looking here, you know, month and a half

2:11:49into the school year, uh we're seeing

2:11:51that that carry forward balance

2:11:53dropping.

2:11:55How are we feeling about that

2:11:56sustainability

2:11:58uh with the burn rate that we're seeing

2:12:00right now with the revenues we're

2:12:01bringing in?

2:12:04>> Yeah. Um, we've done pro we've done the

2:12:07like I said in the different meeting,

2:12:08we're going to show the projections

2:12:10based on our projections and then actual

2:12:12revenue that we're collecting um out to

2:12:16the end of the fiscal year. Um, and

2:12:18we're not looking at a deficit if that's

2:12:21the question. However, we realized that

2:12:24if we're for years there was no um

2:12:27substantial increase and we were

2:12:30increasing um costs for programming

2:12:33including costs for um salaries and and

2:12:35educators. That's the biggest part of

2:12:37our program. Um and we weren't raising

2:12:40costs to match what we were paying out

2:12:42in um expenses. Um and that the biggest

2:12:45the biggest um the majority of the

2:12:48budget are salaries. um very little in

2:12:52supplies. You're talking 10,000 a year

2:12:54even in contracted providers. You know,

2:12:56usually only about 300,000. The majority

2:12:59goes to um the educators. And so, um to

2:13:03ensure that we can um pay out in

2:13:05salaries, we have to continuously

2:13:08um implement some type of increase. And

2:13:10so, we're evaluating this year what that

2:13:13should be. But if you know cost of

2:13:15living is you know 2% 3% then that has

2:13:18to raise at the same time.

2:13:25>> Thank you.

2:13:27>> All right. Thanks so much for being here

2:13:29and great presentation. Thank you for

2:13:31having us. [applause]

2:13:39>> Thank you Director Parabelloo and

2:13:40Assistant Director Qu. Now to finish

2:13:44this part of the report, I am having Dr.

2:13:46Michelle Channon. She is um

2:13:51the director of our equity uh system in

2:13:54Somerville. I am thrilled to have her

2:13:57spearhead that work. Um part of what I

2:14:00always have said is that equity and

2:14:02excellence live in the same space and I

2:14:04think that um Dr. Shannon has been

2:14:07really um doing that work uh so far. So,

2:14:10I'm really excited to see your

2:14:12presentation today and share with the

2:14:14school committee.

2:14:15>> Thank you, Superintendent. Good evening,

2:14:17everyone, to the chair, to the mayor,

2:14:20everyone here on the committee. I am Dr.

2:14:23Michelle Shannon. Um, and I am the

2:14:26director of equity and excellence for

2:14:28Somerville Public Schools. Um I bring

2:14:32with me I stand here with 30 plus years

2:14:35of experience in public education both

2:14:38at the classroom level at the school

2:14:41level and at the district level as well

2:14:43as experience with higher ed and working

2:14:46with districts across the country and

2:14:48internationally as well. So, it really

2:14:51is an honor to be here at home in

2:14:53Somerville

2:14:55um supporting our schools and our system

2:14:57and to do well. Um I want to start a

2:15:01little bit and I'm going to be mindful

2:15:03of time because the hour is late. Um but

2:15:06this is not new for you. The vision is

2:15:10for us to have every single student get

2:15:13what they deserve and what they need to

2:15:16thrive. not just survive school, but to

2:15:19thrive in school and to thrive in life.

2:15:22Um, as the superintendent said, equity

2:15:25and excellence, they are they go hand in

2:15:27hand because you can't be excellent if

2:15:30we don't have equity.

2:15:33So, I'm a department of one.

2:15:35So, you know, it seems my job is to

2:15:38partner with folks. So, I'm partnering

2:15:42with school leaders, with educators,

2:15:44with students, with families, with the

2:15:46community at large to help our district

2:15:49realize our vision for equity and

2:15:51equitable education for all.

2:15:55Next slide. So, what have I been doing?

2:15:58You know, I started on July 1st. I think

2:16:00I was the only one in the office that

2:16:02day. [laughter]

2:16:03Everyone was resting from last year. Um

2:16:06and so for me the the game really just

2:16:09started you know six weeks ago. So how

2:16:11have I spent these six weeks? The first

2:16:14piece is around being present

2:16:17being ever present in our schools. I've

2:16:20visited 100% of our schools at least

2:16:22once actually some of them several

2:16:25times. I'm participating in principal

2:16:28meetings in common planning time meeting

2:16:30in professional development

2:16:32opportunities. My whole focus is about

2:16:35building relational trust, right?

2:16:38Because when we want to talk about

2:16:39equity, we have to trust one another to

2:16:42have the hard conversations.

2:16:46When I'm in schools, you can go to the

2:16:48next piece. Um, I'm really laser-like

2:16:50focused on the most important work that

2:16:52we do, which is teaching and learning.

2:16:54What is happening with students and

2:16:57teachers in the presence of content in

2:16:59the classroom? high quality tier one

2:17:02instruction. And so that has been my

2:17:04focus. I've visited over 50 classrooms

2:17:07so far. And I'm building a baseline of,

2:17:12you know, what does the quality tier one

2:17:14instruction look like, feel like, and

2:17:15sound like. The second thing that I've

2:17:18been spending time on is our multi-tered

2:17:20systems of support.

2:17:22It's late, so don't ask me 50 questions

2:17:24about this later. I'm going to talk a

2:17:27little bit more about it, but I've

2:17:29really been trying to understand how our

2:17:31child study teams work. How do we

2:17:34identify our students? How do they come

2:17:36before child study team? What's the

2:17:38communication like with families, with

2:17:41students themselves, and with educators?

2:17:44How do we know and strengthen the

2:17:46opportunities that we have?

2:17:49In addition to

2:17:52in addition to being present, I'm being

2:17:54a partner and a support to our leaders.

2:17:57Principles called come, can you consult

2:17:59with me? Help me think about this, help

2:18:02me to strategize solutions. And I'm

2:18:05cultivating partnerships with Harvard

2:18:07Graduate School of Education,

2:18:10with Youth Guidance, our BAM and WOW

2:18:12partners, and with the Boston Children's

2:18:15Hospital, and looking to have additional

2:18:17partnerships as we move through.

2:18:21I think most importantly, I've been

2:18:23using my systems level leadership lens,

2:18:27the experience that I've brought with me

2:18:30to help make sure that equity is at the

2:18:32forefront of the conversations that

2:18:34we're having.

2:18:36You can go to the next slide.

2:18:38So, I want to double click on two points

2:18:41and then I'm going to take my seat.

2:18:45First of all, being a team of one is a

2:18:48setup for failure, right? No one person

2:18:52can be responsible for bringing equity

2:18:54to a entire system. And so I'm building

2:18:58the team. You can go to the next slide.

2:19:01The team of equity specialists. We're so

2:19:04fortunate in our district. You have made

2:19:06the decision to invest in educational

2:19:09leaders, teachers, paraprofessionals

2:19:12who stand with me as equity specialists.

2:19:15I actually left them to come here this

2:19:17evening.

2:19:19um and they are working with their teams

2:19:21at the school level to help to address

2:19:24the equity challenges that they face

2:19:27every day in their work.

2:19:30I'm not saying that we're not going to

2:19:32focus on celebrations and initiatives,

2:19:34but it's less about one-off initiatives

2:19:37and more about bringing this idea of

2:19:40equitably equity equity focused school

2:19:43improvement to our schools and across

2:19:46our schools.

2:19:48I want to introduce if you go to the

2:19:50next slide a framework that I'm using to

2:19:53help ground the work that I'm doing with

2:19:55our equity specialists. We are using a

2:19:58researchbased continuous improvement

2:20:00process. It's called leading through

2:20:02spirals of inquiry. And what I love

2:20:04about this process is that it is student

2:20:07centered. It starts with the learner.

2:20:10What is going on with our learners? How

2:20:13do we know and why does it matter? And

2:20:17every all all afternoon when I was

2:20:19meeting with them, I could just bring

2:20:20them back to these three questions to

2:20:22ground and anchor what are we doing and

2:20:25why are we doing it and how are our

2:20:26students experiencing what we do because

2:20:29what we think is often happening

2:20:32what what they're experiencing is not

2:20:34always the same. And so I'm really

2:20:37excited to bring this framework to our

2:20:39work to really anchor and drive the work

2:20:41towards continuous improvement for

2:20:43equity.

2:20:46All right, here's your favorite topic. I

2:20:49know MTSS MTSS,

2:20:52multi-ter systems of support. So first

2:20:55of all, why do these two things even go

2:20:57together? Why is equity and MTSS in the

2:21:00same sentence? Well, equity and MTSS are

2:21:03the same thing. It says,

2:21:07"MTSS is equity work because it's about

2:21:10ensuring that every student has access

2:21:12to what they need to thrive. Period.

2:21:17They go hand in hand.

2:21:20So, as the director of equity and

2:21:23excellence, I don't own all of MTSS

2:21:26because MTSS is all of our work. It's

2:21:29your work. It's my work. every

2:21:31educator's work in the system because it

2:21:33starts with highquality, strong tier one

2:21:37instruction.

2:21:41What I'm doing is examining who is and

2:21:44who isn't experiencing success in our

2:21:47classrooms.

2:21:49My job is to help us to identify

2:21:51patterns of disproportionality.

2:21:54It is to focus and center our our ears

2:21:57on what the students say is happening

2:21:59for them

2:22:01and then to use that data in our

2:22:03continuous improvement process to drive

2:22:06us towards educational equity.

2:22:11I want to highlight a couple of

2:22:13priorities.

2:22:15So number one really trying to bring

2:22:18some coherence to the work of

2:22:20multi-tered systems of support. I know

2:22:22that that's very important. One of the

2:22:24ways that we're doing that is going to

2:22:25be to foster some cross collaboration

2:22:28across schools. We have schools and

2:22:30every single school is engaged in

2:22:32multi-tered systems of support. Like

2:22:34that is happening everywhere every day.

2:22:37What it looks like on the ground is not

2:22:39always the same because our schools are

2:22:42not the same. And what I'm not trying to

2:22:44create a cookie cutter approach, but

2:22:46what we do want is coherence

2:22:49so that students have similar

2:22:51experiences regardless of the school

2:22:53that they attend. So we're going to

2:22:55foster some cross school observation and

2:22:58collaboration.

2:23:00I'm implementing a monthly check-in with

2:23:03our principles. MTSS is on the top of

2:23:06the list of things that we talk about.

2:23:07First, I'm like, what equity challenges

2:23:09are you having in your school? second

2:23:11tell me what's happening with MTSS

2:23:13and then you know on to the next one and

2:23:16the next one really want to focus in on

2:23:19strengthening the diff the the district

2:23:22infrastructure one of the things that

2:23:24I'm playing around with is with each

2:23:26school having their own sort of way of

2:23:29doing it and not and not not doing it

2:23:32poorly just doing it their way that does

2:23:35it makes it hard for us to have a

2:23:37systems view of like what's really going

2:23:39on. And so that's one of the things that

2:23:42I'm focused on.

2:23:44The other thing is really trying to

2:23:46ensure that we have consistent practices

2:23:49for the ways that we engage our students

2:23:51and families. I will say that in the

2:23:54child study team meetings that I've been

2:23:56to so far, families have been engaged.

2:24:01It just depends on where and when in the

2:24:03process. For some, you might get a form

2:24:06that's like, "Tell me about your child's

2:24:09strengths." For others, you might get a

2:24:11memo coming home. Here's what we talked

2:24:14about in terms of your child and what

2:24:16we're planning to do to to support them.

2:24:19We want some consistency across those

2:24:22experiences across our schools.

2:24:26And most importantly, we want to hear

2:24:28from our students, right? How do they

2:24:31feel supported by the systems that we

2:24:33put in place?

2:24:36Lastly, it says it's my first quarter

2:24:39plan, but it's probably a little bit

2:24:41longer than that. So, because I think

2:24:42we're close to the end of the first

2:24:43quarter. So, I've spent these first few

2:24:46weeks really honing in on tier one

2:24:48instruction, which is that first bucket.

2:24:52I'm deeply embedded now in our child

2:24:55study teams because I really want to try

2:24:58to understand what these processes are,

2:25:00how they use data, how are we setting

2:25:02goals for our young people, how are we

2:25:05monitoring their progress towards those

2:25:07goals, deciding when they need to

2:25:10continue support and when they need to

2:25:11move on to the next thing. And then when

2:25:14I'm done with the child study team

2:25:16focus, I will move into our X block or

2:25:19win block. And I know that there's been

2:25:22some study of that in the past, but I

2:25:25really wanted we've recently put out

2:25:27some new guidance for schools around how

2:25:29they should be using that time. And it's

2:25:32my job to go in and inspect and observe

2:25:34to see how that time is being used. Um

2:25:38because that's where the the majority of

2:25:40our tier 2 and our tier three

2:25:42interventions and supports are

2:25:43happening.

2:25:45So that's all I have for you this

2:25:46evening.

2:25:48Thank you for your time and I'm happy to

2:25:50take a couple questions.

2:25:53[applause]

2:25:59My colleagues, we're going uh Rep.

2:26:03Stelman and then Rep. Green.

2:26:05>> Thank you. And through the through the

2:26:07chair. Thank you. Um uh Dr. Shannon. Um

2:26:11>> you can call me Michelle.

2:26:13>> Thank you, Michelle. Um I uh I wanted to

2:26:17ask you about um the concept of thrive

2:26:20because it it's a very compelling

2:26:23and critical

2:26:26bar that we want to reach for each

2:26:28student. But I'm wondering what what

2:26:30does that look like? How do you know

2:26:32when you how do how do you work with our

2:26:34colleagues and how do you know when

2:26:37students are thriving?

2:26:39That's a great question and I I it's

2:26:41hard there's not one answer for that

2:26:43because to thrive is a very personal

2:26:46experience. So what brings you joy? When

2:26:50are you experiencing a sense of clear

2:26:53purpose? You know what you're doing and

2:26:55why you're doing it. You're curious. You

2:26:59can ask questions

2:27:01and know that you that there are people

2:27:03around with resources to help you find

2:27:06your own answers. when you're thinking

2:27:09deeply about something and really using

2:27:14the doing the cognitive work. That's

2:27:17what I think of when I think about

2:27:19students thriving, having joy,

2:27:22curiosity, purpose, and rigor.

2:27:28>> Followup.

2:27:30>> Thank you uh through the chair. Um, so

2:27:32from a that's an inspiring u um

2:27:38description and I'm wondering from a

2:27:40systems perspective,

2:27:42how does that how does that um manifest

2:27:45itself so that educators

2:27:49have a way to to gauge that for

2:27:51individuals and for their groups.

2:27:56I think the best way for first of all

2:27:59the the most important thing that I want

2:28:01to say about this is that we have to

2:28:03have this idea of symmetry. If we want

2:28:05our young people to thrive, our teachers

2:28:08have to feel a sense of they that they

2:28:11are thriving as well. We can't ask

2:28:14teachers to produce something for

2:28:16students that we aren't helping them to

2:28:18produce for themselves. And so once we

2:28:21are in and I'm not saying that we don't

2:28:23have educators who are thriving because

2:28:25we do. We if you came to the tab today

2:28:29despite everything that was happening

2:28:31around them teachers were thriving and

2:28:34students were learning. So despite the

2:28:37obstacles and challenges,

2:28:40it's hard to quantify,

2:28:42right? How do we measure thriving? And

2:28:45so I'm not going to give you a hard

2:28:47statistic around it. But what I think is

2:28:49a system that is focused in and I think

2:28:51we are very much focused on teachers

2:28:55building teachers. Our whole common

2:28:59planning time structure which is around

2:29:01teacher-led learning, it's not coming

2:29:04from the top down. It's coming from the

2:29:06ground up. That's how we help our

2:29:09teachers thrive.

2:29:15>> Thank you, Rep. Green.

2:29:19>> Thank you. Through you. Um,

2:29:22so Dr. Shannon, and I will call you that

2:29:24because we're in a formal meeting. I

2:29:25call all the other doctors doctors in

2:29:27these meetings. So my mother would hurt

2:29:29me if I didn't do if I didn't do that.

2:29:31Um, so you are um the third person to

2:29:36hold this position or a very position

2:29:38since it was created six, seven years

2:29:40ago. I don't remember how long you've

2:29:42been here. Nine years ago. Oh. [sighs]

2:29:46Um, and it's always good to have um

2:29:52a new set of experienced eyes looking at

2:29:53what's been done when you got here. Um,

2:29:56so I'd be curious to know,

2:29:59uh, when you got here, can you name some

2:30:02things you thought you saw that you

2:30:03thought the district was doing well and

2:30:05some things you were like, "Oh, we need

2:30:07to these are places we I need to focus

2:30:09my efforts on change in my first year or

2:30:11two." Just that's that gut check.

2:30:15>> I'm not going to talk about change yet.

2:30:19>> Because it's too soon. I'm still

2:30:21learning. And with all of my 30 plus

2:30:24years of experience, I stand here as a

2:30:27learner first and foremost at all times.

2:30:30I think that we have the infrastructure

2:30:34in place. There are a lot of systems and

2:30:36structures that have been set up to

2:30:39support the work of educational equity

2:30:41moving forward. And I'll I'll really

2:30:43speak to common planning time. I've not

2:30:46ever worked in a district that had such

2:30:49a robust system for teachers developing

2:30:53one another and being developed on a

2:30:56regular, weekly, consistent basis. That

2:30:59system we should be super proud of. Um,

2:31:03even with all of the potential

2:31:06inconsistencies,

2:31:08having all of our K8 and K5 schools have

2:31:12an X block have an actual block built

2:31:15into the master schedule for students to

2:31:18get their tier 2 and tier three supports

2:31:20without having to be pulled out of core

2:31:23instruction.

2:31:25Can I just say that doesn't happen in

2:31:27most districts.

2:31:29the ways in which that we are bringing

2:31:31our principles together and having our

2:31:33principles drive their own learning and

2:31:36not have it just be a sit and get from

2:31:38on high. Principles literally leading

2:31:41the learning and being the lead learner.

2:31:44That doesn't happen in most districts.

2:31:47Um I could go on and on, but I I I think

2:31:50that we have a solid foundation

2:31:54from which we can build on. And give me

2:31:57a little bit of time. I promise I'll

2:31:59give you some answers to the second part

2:32:01of your question.

2:32:04>> Thank you.

2:32:05>> Thank you.

2:32:06>> Uh Rep. Betone and then Rep. Patone.

2:32:12>> Okay.

2:32:14>> Patone and then Rep. Bettonone.

2:32:17>> Thank you through the chair to Dr.

2:32:19Shannon. I want to thank you for being

2:32:20here so late. I wanted to compliment you

2:32:24on your learning first focus and your

2:32:29systemic focus on tier one

2:32:33uh MTSS

2:32:35uh child study team and Xlock. I just

2:32:37really appreciate how you're framing

2:32:38this and how you're naming the

2:32:41partnerships and the collaborations that

2:32:43you have to pursue to do this work as a

2:32:46as a leader but without its own expanded

2:32:48team. your team is all embedded in all

2:32:50of these schools and it's clear that you

2:32:53value that. Um you know one of the risks

2:32:56of creating roles in teams like this is

2:32:58everyone says well equity is doing that

2:33:00and that is not the work and that's not

2:33:02how we intend to do the work and it's

2:33:03clear that you between you and the

2:33:05superintendent assistant superintendent

2:33:07are all aligned and how to move forward.

2:33:09So I just really wanted to compliment

2:33:12and appreciate how this work moves

2:33:14forward and I look forward to hearing

2:33:16you know what you find and what you

2:33:18learn in the future. So thank you.

2:33:20>> Thank you

2:33:22>> reput.

2:33:23>> Thank you chair through you. Um

2:33:26uh to Dr. Shannon um thank you for uh

2:33:30being here for the presentation for sort

2:33:32of walking us through um

2:33:36uh your work what your vision is. Um I

2:33:38think it's all perfectly aligned and and

2:33:41actually one thing that um you know you

2:33:44talk about yourself as a team of one

2:33:46here. I disagree. I think we are all

2:33:51aligned around this value of equity in

2:33:53this district. I think if there's anyone

2:33:57who's situated in this district as a

2:33:59team of maybe a thousand, it's you. Um

2:34:02we are all on the same team here. So I

2:34:04just like I want to sort of I know you

2:34:08are connecting all of us in that work.

2:34:12So I I just I think that's really

2:34:13important. Um I also think it's

2:34:15important the way you framed MTSS as a

2:34:19way of implementing equity and I think

2:34:22that's that's really critical. Also, um

2:34:26the recent Desi review of the district

2:34:30uh highlighted, you know, many of our

2:34:33strengths and it also said that we um

2:34:37uh we should look toward

2:34:39strengthening,

2:34:41excuse me, strengthening more consistent

2:34:43implementation of the district's MTSS.

2:34:46So your work is critical to filling that

2:34:49um filling that gap and and sort of uh

2:34:54boosting us across this um this

2:34:57important area. Um

2:35:00one thing that I'm not asking for an

2:35:02answer tonight because again you're

2:35:04you're still um synthesizing also the

2:35:08great work that Dr. Betta did before

2:35:10your tenure here. Um, but I'm looking

2:35:14forward to and curious about um what you

2:35:18see as as

2:35:21uh

2:35:23when do you envision coherence in this

2:35:25district around that? I mean, it's a big

2:35:27question, right? Um how do we know when

2:35:30we're there? So, I'll just plant that

2:35:33seed for you and um welcome any thoughts

2:35:35you have now or later.

2:35:36>> Thank you. That's a great question. I

2:35:38don't have an answer yet, but thank you

2:35:40for that.

2:35:44>> Thank you, Rep. Eldridge.

2:35:48>> Uh, thank you so much to the chair. I

2:35:50really appreciate you being here. I know

2:35:52how passionate you are about this kind

2:35:53of stuff and we've already had some

2:35:54really fantastic conversations, so thank

2:35:55you for taking the time to put this

2:35:57together for us. Um, I hope that we get

2:35:59the opportunity to hear more from you. I

2:36:01know you're just kind of getting your

2:36:02feet wet and getting oriented. Um and

2:36:05and I'd love personally the next time

2:36:07that we get to hear from you um if we

2:36:09could maybe hear a little bit about how

2:36:11we're taking some of the feedback from

2:36:13our Empower Ed report and how we're um

2:36:16taking some of the work that we've done

2:36:18with uh Children's Hospital and kind of

2:36:20putting some of that to work here. I'd

2:36:21love to just understand like the larger

2:36:22context of like what we're putting in

2:36:25place and how it's um benefiting our

2:36:28teachers and our students. And I love

2:36:30what you said earlier. I just want to um

2:36:31celebrate that um diving into trying to

2:36:34understand uh the child study team as

2:36:36well as like the life cycle of what it's

2:36:38like to participate in or being a

2:36:41student in child study or being a

2:36:42student in MTSS. It's something I'm

2:36:44always really curious about too and I'd

2:36:45love to like really understand what that

2:36:47looks like and the rates of how our

2:36:49students are coming in and then going

2:36:51out and like how we're doing that work.

2:36:53Um I'm just so curious and I just would

2:36:55love to hear more sometime. Thank you so

2:36:57much.

2:37:03Thank you. Uh we appreciate the work

2:37:05you've done in the few months that

2:37:07you've been here and are really excited

2:37:08to see what you continue to do. Thank

2:37:10you so much.

2:37:12>> Thank you. Have a good evening.

2:37:14[applause]

2:37:19>> That concludes the superintendent

2:37:21report.

2:37:23>> Okay. Um,

2:37:26I'm going to go back to Roman numeral

2:37:28four on our agenda. The approval of

2:37:29September 14th's minutes. Seeking a

2:37:32motion.

2:37:33>> Motion to approve September 14th um,

2:37:362026 minutes.

2:37:38>> Second.

2:37:38>> All right. I have a motion by Rep.

2:37:40Lipin, second by Rep. Green. All in

2:37:42favor? I.

2:37:44>> I.

2:37:44>> I. There we go. All opposed. Oh, any

2:37:48abstensions?

2:37:50Okay.

2:37:51>> Just a comment if I may. Um, I know it's

2:37:54late, so I'll just be brief, but um uh

2:37:58the

2:37:59minutes that we just approved um include

2:38:03a full statement by um public comment

2:38:07that unfortunately due to the length was

2:38:11uh exceeded the 3 minutes and um

2:38:13unfortunately had to be cut off but um

2:38:16you know I think is worth the read um

2:38:21and highlight highlights

2:38:24uh the framework that uh under a human

2:38:29rights view of engagement with our

2:38:34educational process and with um the

2:38:37broader civic structure that we have

2:38:40around this public comment is actually

2:38:41very fitting. So, I encourage um my

2:38:44colleagues and the public to um take a

2:38:47look at that public comment um if you

2:38:49get a moment. Um and

2:38:53uh just to reinforce that we don't uh

2:38:58we don't

2:39:00uh execute our our rules to be um you

2:39:05know to limit people's speech but um

2:39:07really to conduct an effective meeting.

2:39:10Um, but that said, we do value uh the

2:39:13input and um I I thought there was a lot

2:39:17of good uh food for thought in this that

2:39:19may be worth taking up at a later

2:39:21meeting. Thank you,

2:39:24>> Repone.

2:39:25>> Uh thank you through you, chair to the

2:39:27superintendent. I just we didn't mention

2:39:29the memo that we received on the annual

2:39:32school building walkthroughs.

2:39:35That was from um Danielle Barry who is

2:39:38our coordinator for transportation and

2:39:40facilities. I I just wanted to

2:39:41compliment and appreciate that memo. Um

2:39:44Danielle has been a fantastic resource

2:39:47and incredibly responsive. I sent her an

2:39:49email about some black top stuff of the

2:39:51Kenny and she was like bam right on it.

2:39:53So uh and I also just wanted to name a

2:39:55couple things that were in here. one the

2:39:57request and I'm going to name in front

2:39:58of the mayor for more bike racks at the

2:40:01high school. Apparently they've been

2:40:02asking for years and this is on the list

2:40:04so I hope that gets bumped up and I was

2:40:07asked to bring it up publicly if I could

2:40:08and I think the Brown is also asking for

2:40:10them too but so anyone else that wanted

2:40:13to um and I also wanted to compliment I

2:40:15am beyond thrilled that we're moving

2:40:17forward with the acoustical upgrades at

2:40:19the Healey. This is something that's

2:40:20been on my list for a decade so bravo

2:40:24for that. So clearly between the

2:40:27investment that the city's making, the

2:40:29work of the combined school committee um

2:40:32city council um committee that elevates

2:40:35these school buildings. I'm just really

2:40:37appreciative of how we continue to move

2:40:40forward and make incredible progress on

2:40:42our buildings. Even though there's a lot

2:40:43more work still to be done, um these

2:40:45things are moving and happening and

2:40:46there's a lot of talent within DPW and

2:40:48capital projects in our district doing

2:40:50this work. So thank you.

2:40:53Uh, I'll go rep Green and then Rep.

2:40:55Wilson.

2:40:58So, I want to thank u for bringing this

2:41:00up because I was going to ask if we

2:41:01could just table it for next week so we

2:41:03can actually share it like I think you

2:41:06know some of the highlights should be

2:41:07shared publicly and I want people to

2:41:09hear some of the work that was done over

2:41:10the summer and some of where things are

2:41:12in a way that's actually productive and

2:41:14I think that's probably best done at our

2:41:17next meeting if we can table it one week

2:41:19or two weeks or

2:41:21>> um I will say this much given that we

2:41:23don't know what's coming down the pike

2:41:24that will definitely be a goal but I

2:41:28I'm not ready to commit to it, but yes,

2:41:31that's that's a definite goal and I am

2:41:34happy to

2:41:36put that in the in the on the list. Uh,

2:41:39Mayor Wilson.

2:41:40>> Yeah, Ch. I just wanted to pass credit

2:41:42along to uh DPW Commissioner Eric

2:41:45Weisman and and the culture they've

2:41:46established there. Uh Eric likes to call

2:41:48it a culture of how uh which is a

2:41:51shortened version of how do we get to a

2:41:52yes. um when I get approached by

2:41:57principles, uh it's not uncommon for

2:42:00them to mention a noticeable

2:42:03uh a real appreciation for for DPW uh

2:42:06looking for ways to come through uh and

2:42:09get things done. And it's a real credit

2:42:10to the leadership in DPW um as well as

2:42:13just an overall commitment to

2:42:15collaboration and and and trying to get

2:42:18trying to get to a yes culture of how

2:42:24Thank you.

2:42:26All right, minutes are approved. So,

2:42:28we're going to reports from

2:42:30subcommittees.

2:42:32Um,

2:42:33I think we have received all of these

2:42:35reports. That's correct. All right.

2:42:38seeing to uh

2:42:40>> motion to approve approve the ED

2:42:42programs from June 16th, the ED programs

2:42:45for September 29th, the school building

2:42:47facilities and maintenance from

2:42:49September 8th, and the rules

2:42:50subcommittee report from September 28th.

2:42:54>> Second.

2:42:55>> All right, I have a motion by Rep.

2:42:57Patone, seconded by Rep. Beton.

2:43:01Uh any comments, Repone?

2:43:04>> I'm sorry through you, Chair. Um, I just

2:43:07wanted to point out uh a discussion we

2:43:10had at the

2:43:12um school building facilities and

2:43:14maintenance subcommittee

2:43:16back in September, September 8th. We

2:43:19talked about and we had some discussion

2:43:21here at a later regular school committee

2:43:23meeting around uh uh work on the coming

2:43:29school. And I just thought it was timely

2:43:33with the flooding situation that we had

2:43:35at the west around

2:43:38our investment schedule with our

2:43:40buildings recognizing

2:43:43um the the limits that we have with

2:43:46investment

2:43:48time in time you know um sorry with you

2:43:52know how much we can spend at any one

2:43:54moment. Um, I'll just note again that

2:43:59uh the city is not planning at this time

2:44:02to put um the coming school

2:44:05uh building project

2:44:08in the next 5year cycle. So that's in

2:44:10the report. Um and I just thought it was

2:44:14timely.

2:44:17>> Thank you.

2:44:19All right. Uh I have a motion by Rep.

2:44:23Patone, seconded by Rev Betton for the

2:44:26report from subcommittees. Uh, approval

2:44:28of reports from subcommittees. All those

2:44:30in favor?

2:44:31>> I. All opposed. Any abstensions? Okay.

2:44:35We have unfinished business. MSBA.

2:44:42>> We receive a feedback on the preferred

2:44:45schematic report that we submitted last

2:44:47time. And um, we have probably close to

2:44:50eight items that need to be addressed.

2:44:53the mayor and I received that email

2:44:55today around 2 2:18 p.m. So, we have up

2:44:57to 14 days to respond to that. There's

2:45:00one piece around special education that

2:45:02has to be really fleshed out and there

2:45:04are some other things that are more kind

2:45:06of a detailed nitty-gritty uh

2:45:09descriptions that they gave us feedback

2:45:11on, but that's where we are. Uh we also

2:45:14are in the process of collecting some

2:45:15focus groups information from both uh

2:45:18the um Winter Hill and the Brown School.

2:45:21So, those are the two things that are

2:45:22pending right now.

2:45:25>> Thank you. Um, all right. We are also

2:45:29moving on to our policy manual. We're

2:45:32going to call it a second reading, but I

2:45:34think we've looked at it more than once.

2:45:35Section C. Uh, Vice Chair Bone, are

2:45:38there comments, updates that you would

2:45:40like to provide?

2:45:41>> Thank you, Chair through you. I think

2:45:42this might be our fourth viewing of this

2:45:45policy. Um

2:45:47uh gratitude to my colleagues who have

2:45:50been very patient um as we work through

2:45:52our policy review. Uh finally got my

2:45:55head around section C and I enumerated

2:46:00the um

2:46:02uh what the policies are, what the

2:46:05recommended changes are from the

2:46:07subcommittee

2:46:08um and what we're seeking to do. there

2:46:12was no additional conversation that

2:46:14needed to be had after our January 26th

2:46:18meeting. Um, so I bring this back to you

2:46:21all today with a recommendation for

2:46:23passage. The memo explains

2:46:26um, uh, all the changes again and I hope

2:46:30everyone had a chance to look at it. Um,

2:46:32and if we need more time, I you know, I

2:46:35certainly

2:46:37I I just want to get it done. So, we're

2:46:39um hoping to blaze forward and I will

2:46:42continue to bring to you sections as

2:46:44they are completed.

2:46:46>> Thank you, Repone.

2:46:48>> Thank you. Through you, chair. Um I've

2:46:51gone through it all. There was only one

2:46:52policy that I had some issues with,

2:46:54which was CBC, the superintendent's

2:46:57power and responsibilities. It feels

2:46:59like there's components of it that feel

2:47:00super dated. So, it references an

2:47:03authorized list of textbooks. It talks

2:47:05about course well course of study is

2:47:08something we do look at but like

2:47:09classification of pupils in terms of

2:47:11which schools they go to versus

2:47:12programming like there's something about

2:47:14it that didn't feel like it was

2:47:17necessarily

2:47:18up todate. It doesn't reference

2:47:20curriculum. So I would like to make a

2:47:23motion to approve everything but that

2:47:24one and ask that the subcommittee take

2:47:27that one back and maybe take a little

2:47:28glance. And for reference this is not a

2:47:31policy that is currently recommended by

2:47:34MASC. It's a policy that we have only in

2:47:36Somerville. And so, um, I'm not anti-

2:47:39having that policy and I can give you

2:47:41more feedback, um, me, uh,

2:47:44Representative Betone, um, versus

2:47:46belaboring this, but my motion is to

2:47:48approve everything but that one. So,

2:47:50exclude, uh, CBC, super uh,

2:47:54superintendent powers and

2:47:55responsibilities.

2:47:55>> Second.

2:47:56>> All right. I have a motion by Rep.

2:47:58Patone, seconded by Rep. Green. Um, I'll

2:48:03say this, our our uh policies are quite

2:48:07cumbersome. So, if there's something

2:48:08that there's a chance that we can take

2:48:10out, that's exciting. Um, [snorts]

2:48:15Rep. Green,

2:48:16>> thank you. That was actually going to be

2:48:17my comment. I was like, I'm not sure why

2:48:18we have this policy. I would love to

2:48:20hear give give a reason, but from my

2:48:22reading of it, I would be also be happy

2:48:24to just not have to have one viewer

2:48:25policy.

2:48:27>> All right. So, I have a motion by Rep.

2:48:29Patone, seconded by Rep. Green to pass

2:48:31the comprehensive policy manual that

2:48:34Vice Chair Bone has been working quite

2:48:36diligently at uh with the support of the

2:48:39rules subcommittee

2:48:41uh except for

2:48:45policy CBC.

2:48:47All right. Uh

2:48:51do I have any further comments?

2:48:54All those in favor? I

2:48:56>> I.

2:48:57>> All opposed. Any abstensions?

2:49:00Uh, that passes. Thank you for your

2:49:02great work on that. Um,

2:49:06all right. I'm going to bounce a little

2:49:09bit because I think the conference

2:49:10resolution might take a minute. Um,

2:49:14let's go to high school diplomas. Is

2:49:17there anyone who is looking at the

2:49:20agenda and wants to give me

2:49:24>> I have it open.

2:49:27Motion to approve. Correct. Um, SY26

2:49:31Somerville High School diploma for

2:49:33Michael Cochran.

2:49:34>> Second.

2:49:35>> I have a motion by Rep. Lipen, seconded

2:49:37by Rep. Patone.

2:49:39All those in favor? I. All opposed? Any

2:49:42abstensions? Congrats, Michael.

2:49:45[applause]

2:49:49>> Um, I also would like to bring up our

2:49:52side letter with SEU unit ACE.

2:49:56M

2:49:57>> um can I have a motion before we discuss

2:49:58>> a motion to approve the SEU unit AC and

2:50:02E side letter to authorize the chair to

2:50:05sign the SCU

2:50:06>> second.

2:50:07>> All right, I have a motion by Rep.

2:50:09Lipen, seconded by Rep. Green.

2:50:12Um this side letter is to ensure that

2:50:17the educators who were displaced from

2:50:21the west um because they legally or by

2:50:27dusty policy have to make up the day. It

2:50:30is going to be my understanding a half

2:50:32day on January 4th that uh this the

2:50:38educators will be in the school to make

2:50:41up with their students. Just to give an

2:50:44overview of what this letter is making

2:50:48with the union chair who I think will

2:50:50wave if I'm incorrect.

2:50:52Just making sure we have the Okay. a

2:50:54noon dismissal

2:50:55>> and there will be a noon dismissal um

2:50:58for families and that will be very

2:51:01clearly communicated much later down the

2:51:03line. Repetone.

2:51:05>> Thank you through your chair. I just

2:51:06wanted to u have thanks to our union

2:51:09leadership and the educators and the

2:51:11administration that made quick work of

2:51:12this so that this was behind us as we

2:51:15moved forward with the building changes.

2:51:17So, thank you.

2:51:18>> All right. Um All right. I have a motion

2:51:23by I didn't make a note. Rep. Lib and

2:51:26second by Rep. Green I think. Uh to

2:51:30authorize the chair to sign this unit

2:51:32ACC side letter. Um all those in favor?

2:51:37I all oppose. Any abstensions? Okay. Now

2:51:41I'm going to MASC conference

2:51:43resolutions. If I remember correctly,

2:51:47Rep. Stelman is our

2:51:50is going to be our representative.

2:51:52Repetone is our alternate.

2:51:55Has anyone is there any specific

2:51:58feedback on the conference resolutions

2:52:00that we want to be sure our body is

2:52:04represented and our feedback is

2:52:06represented through our reps. Um,

2:52:11you know, we usually trust them to use

2:52:14their best judgment. They understand our

2:52:16body, our culture. Um, Rep. Green.

2:52:22>> Yeah. Um, resolution two I think is

2:52:26great. It's fine, but it it further um

2:52:31draws a a bead on what I think is

2:52:34probably uh the board's biggest

2:52:37weakness, which is that by law forbids

2:52:41after school community representation on

2:52:42it.

2:52:44Um, so I would would not be aiss if our

2:52:48representative were to try to push an

2:52:50amendment adding that conversation to

2:52:52this thing because I agree there should

2:52:54be people with expertise um with

2:52:56vocational educational technical

2:52:58expertise as someone who has that on the

2:53:00board but there should also be people

2:53:00with expertise in the actual governing

2:53:03of school districts.

2:53:05So yeah,

2:53:10>> uh Rep. Stman,

2:53:12>> um to uh piggyback on resolution two, I

2:53:16I did like that resolution. I just think

2:53:19that there the there's some lack of

2:53:22clarity in um in some of the language.

2:53:26And so that's my hold up on that.

2:53:32>> Makes sense. Anything

2:53:36else?

2:53:38Just to be clear, this is not our only

2:53:40opportunity to provide the feedback.

2:53:42This is just our public opportunity.

2:53:47Dr. Stone,

2:53:48>> just as a point of clarification for me

2:53:51again as a uh new to this um process,

2:53:56um I'm just wondering, you know, are um

2:54:00it was easier for me to sort of look at

2:54:04things and and ask questions but not be

2:54:07totally sure about how this is working

2:54:09with h what the process I guess it's a

2:54:12process clarification between in our

2:54:15discussion. Are we sort of

2:54:18trying to arrive at a single

2:54:22at something that we um have consensus

2:54:26on?

2:54:27>> So I'm going to attempt to answer that

2:54:28and Rep. Green and Repatone who are you

2:54:31know have also been around for a minute

2:54:33can can support.

2:54:36Um so what I would say is

2:54:40you know m much like you are the elected

2:54:43representative of W six therefore you

2:54:45know and you're going to bring forward W

2:54:47six concerns I would say that is on

2:54:50behalf of the body and on behalf of the

2:54:52district and the city what you would be

2:54:54doing at MASC. Um, and so I I would say

2:54:58to that if if we felt very strongly

2:55:02cohesively about something and made sure

2:55:05you are aware, made sure the public is

2:55:07aware, then um, you know, that would be

2:55:11something. Otherwise, for the most part,

2:55:13you know, we trust our colleagues to

2:55:16make thoughtful

2:55:18um, you know, representations of the

2:55:21body. Uh,

2:55:24Rev. Green. Yeah, I would just say that

2:55:27if a majority of [snorts] the body so

2:55:28was so so inclined, we could direct you

2:55:32explicitly. That has never happened in

2:55:34my time on school committee. I would

2:55:35oppose it vehemently if we were to try

2:55:37to do so only in part because I've done

2:55:39this many times that like giving someone

2:55:42instructions that explicit and that also

2:55:46uh locks them in in case these amend

2:55:48things are amendmented or any of those

2:55:50things like so I encourage members to

2:55:54share their opinions if they think their

2:55:56opinions like I think for most of these

2:55:58this year these are pretty

2:55:58straightforward and I don't think

2:56:00there's much to it. Um, but if there was

2:56:02a situation where a member felt strongly

2:56:04or I would encourage them to say it, I

2:56:06would oppose efforts to to bind bind

2:56:08your hands though.

2:56:21>> Thank you. Uh, through your chair, just

2:56:22I'm going to urge everyone on the school

2:56:24committee to read them. Read the

2:56:26resolutions. If you don't understand

2:56:28anything, reach out to Emma and I and

2:56:31we'll just we're there to ask the

2:56:33questions that are relevant to

2:56:34Somerville as Dr. El Aman so eloquent

2:56:37said like we're representing what our

2:56:38needs and desires are. Um but really do

2:56:41take the time it should be thoughtful

2:56:43and it should be helpful to you as your

2:56:44work on the school committee. So and PS

2:56:47Somerville can submit resolutions. We I

2:56:50don't know if we've ever done it in my

2:56:52tenure, but just so you know, if there's

2:56:54something that you feel incredibly

2:56:55passionate about, you think that we

2:56:56should be doing at a state level and

2:56:58that the full body of all the school

2:57:00committee should be advocating for, this

2:57:01is something that we can bring forward.

2:57:03Thank you.

2:57:06>> Thank you,

2:57:08Repman. Yeah, I just wanted to note um

2:57:12that it I found it interesting that

2:57:15there is a Massachusetts school building

2:57:17authority assistance programs.

2:57:20Um it's the last one. It's um

2:57:25where is this? Um

2:57:31>> it's the very last. Yeah, it's if you

2:57:33have this booklet, it's on page 28. Um,

2:57:38and I just think it's it's given that we

2:57:41are in the throws of an MSBA. Um, it

2:57:48uh it's I think it's worthwhile to to

2:57:50read through this if only for our body

2:57:53to have a discussion at some point.

2:57:58>> Green.

2:57:59>> Yeah, that's just for the people who

2:58:01aren't at home and or who are at home

2:58:03and don't can't see it. That is one of

2:58:05the three that is up for renewal. It

2:58:07means it's been the position of the of

2:58:09MASC for three years. I believe they

2:58:11renewals every three years. So there are

2:58:13three resolutions up for renewal. To um

2:58:16Dr. Aman's point,

2:58:19I think

2:58:21it was too late to do this year, but I

2:58:23think especially in light of reports by

2:58:27groups like Brown's Promise and Mass,

2:58:30Inc. about the deep inequities of MSBA

2:58:33and how they are one of the main driver

2:58:35how facilities differences is one of the

2:58:37main drivers of some of the intra

2:58:39district uh inequities and segregation

2:58:42we see in Massachusetts that I would be

2:58:44deeply interested in submitting for next

2:58:46year propos proposals to radically

2:58:49rethink MSBA and as I'm working on it

2:58:52over the next year I would love people's

2:58:53help

2:58:58>> fantastic Okay.

2:59:00All right. Uh we are on to field trips.

2:59:05I am seeking an approval

2:59:08for November 13th.

2:59:11Motion to approve the field trip on

2:59:14November 13, 2026 for 40 students from

2:59:17the SHS chorus who will travel to Dunkin

2:59:20Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode

2:59:21Island to perform at the Providence

2:59:24Bruins game. Travel via bus. Student

2:59:26cost 22. Second.

2:59:31>> All right. I have a motion by Rep.

2:59:32Lipin, seconded by Rep. Beton.

2:59:36Um,

2:59:38all those in favor or sorry, any

2:59:40comment? All those in favor? I. All

2:59:43oppose. Any abstensions? Thank you. All

2:59:47right. Donations.

2:59:49Um,

2:59:51>> motion.

2:59:51>> Have a motion.

2:59:53uh accept with gratitude the following

2:59:55donation which was from Bristol Bristol

2:59:57Meyer Squib from Cambridge for $7,000

3:00:00for 700 Museum of Science theater

3:00:02districts for all fifth and eighth grade

3:00:05students.

3:00:06>> Second. How wonderful.

3:00:08>> Uh I have a motion by Rep. Pone,

3:00:10seconded by Rep. Lipens.

3:00:13Do we have any comments?

3:00:15All right. All those in favor? I oppose.

3:00:19Any abstensions? Thank you to Bristol

3:00:20Myers Squib.

3:00:22Um we are moving on to community or

3:00:26calendar items from committee members.

3:00:29Rep. Patone.

3:00:30>> Uh thank you through you chair. Um this

3:00:33is a request I think to the

3:00:34superintendent and as well as to the

3:00:37city. Um, I'd like to know if there are

3:00:41plans or recommendations

3:00:44uh regarding applying for the

3:00:45accelerated repair program with the um

3:00:48MSBA for the many buildings that have

3:00:52roof andor window andor interest in heat

3:00:55pumps. Those are three of the

3:00:56categories. So the request is to come

3:00:58back to the school committee and say

3:01:00what might you suggest putting into that

3:01:02program and and make sure that we have

3:01:04it in the timeline to do the work

3:01:06appropriately to get the application in

3:01:08on time.

3:01:09>> They they they I think last year they

3:01:11almost gave every single person that

3:01:13asked, even districts that were already

3:01:16had buildings being built, they gave

3:01:17them accelerated repair money. So never

3:01:19assume that we're not going to get

3:01:20money. I think we should always request

3:01:22it if we have a need.

3:01:24>> Thank you.

3:01:27We're at B time.

3:01:29>> Thank you. I just wanted to um

3:01:33uh boost the PTA hosted coffee hour at

3:01:37the TAB uh this Thursday. It was in

3:01:40their their letter that they sent um

3:01:44uh in the morning on Thursday the 22nd

3:01:47from 8:10 to 9:10. I will be there in

3:01:49the I'm putting this under the list of

3:01:53um uh coffee hour um office hours. So, I

3:01:58know that's still a in process item, but

3:02:01um I will be there for that.

3:02:05>> Thank you.

3:02:07Um

3:02:09I would like to remind all of us that

3:02:11there is early voting available at city

3:02:14hall. Is that correct? And uh I would

3:02:16like to remind anyone who's still

3:02:19listening, but all of us that there are

3:02:22nine ballot questions. And I would

3:02:24highly recommend that uh you know it is

3:02:27our civic duty to do our due diligence

3:02:30uh before we make the

3:02:34make the choice to step into the voting

3:02:37booth or vote from home or early here.

3:02:42Rep. Green. On that note, because we

3:02:45only have one more meeting until that

3:02:46election, I remind families that

3:02:48election day is a is a day off from

3:02:50school.

3:02:52>> Yes, in Somerville, election day is a

3:02:55day off from school. If uh your kids go

3:02:58to afterare programs, I know there's uh

3:03:01available coverage through that. Dr.

3:03:03someone

3:03:04>> um uh earlier we had a um person from

3:03:08our the election department who was uh

3:03:11printing out and testing these ballots.

3:03:14They and he showed me that if you go in

3:03:16person, you will have three

3:03:20three sheets of paper that are front and

3:03:23back. I believe he showed me um I am a

3:03:26person who really likes to go vote in

3:03:28person and what and and I enjoy doing

3:03:31that. But one of the things he just he

3:03:33did warn me and I'd love anyone who's

3:03:35continuing to listen and my colleagues

3:03:37that he uh has he is uh pretty sure that

3:03:42there's going to be longer lines. So if

3:03:44there is an opportunity to um vote

3:03:47early, uh he recommends that. I don't

3:03:49know if Mayor Wilson is nodding his head

3:03:52for people who are not watching this.

3:03:57Um, yep.

3:04:00All right. Um, with that, I want to move

3:04:03on to Roman numeral 10, our upcoming

3:04:07meetings. On November 2nd, which is the

3:04:10day before election day, we will have a

3:04:12health update, an MLE presentation, and

3:04:14I presume we'll be hearing more about

3:04:16what's happening at the West. Um,

3:04:20vice chair, do we have condolences?

3:04:28Somerville school committee offers our

3:04:30deepest condolences to the family of

3:04:34Edward Albert Brewster, retired metal

3:04:37fabrication teacher at Somerville Public

3:04:39High School. I'm sorry, Palmer

3:04:40Somerville Public Schools and father of

3:04:43Lisa Brewster Cook, retired SHS English

3:04:46teacher.

3:04:54We are journed.