Boston School Committee Meeting 9/16/26 - with ASL Interpretation

0:15 Good evening and welcome to this meeting

0:17 of the Boston School Committee. I'm

0:19 chairperson Jerry Robinson. We'll begin

0:22 with the pledge of allegiance.

0:29 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

0:32 United States of America and to the

0:34 republic for which it stands, one nation

0:37 under God, indivisible, with liberty and

0:41 justice for all.

0:51 I want to welcome everyone who is

0:53 joining us tonight in person on Boston

0:56 City TV and on Zoom. I'm going to ask

1:00 everyone here in the chamber to please

1:02 turn off the volume on your laptops or

1:05 other devices so it does not interfere

1:08 with the audio for tonight's meeting.

1:10 Thank you for your cooperation.

1:13 Tonight's meeting documents are posted

1:15 on the committee's web page,

1:17 bostonchools.org/school

1:20 committee, under the September 16th

1:23 meeting link. For those joining us in

1:26 person, you can access the meeting

1:28 documents by scanning the QR code that's

1:32 posted by the doors. The meeting

1:35 documents have been translated into all

1:37 of the major BPS languages. Any

1:41 translations that are not ready prior to

1:43 the start of the meeting will be posted

1:46 as soon as they are finalized. The

1:49 meeting will be rebroadcast on Boston

1:51 City TV and posted on the school

1:54 committee's web page and on YouTube.

2:00 The committee is pleased to offer live

2:02 simultaneous interpretation virtually in

2:06 Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdian

2:09 Creole, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese,

2:13 and American Sign Language. The Zoom

2:16 interpretation feature has been

2:18 activated. Zoom participants should

2:21 click the globe icon at the bottom of

2:24 your screen to select your language

2:26 preference. I'd like to remind everyone

2:29 to speak at a slower pace to assist our

2:33 interpreters.

2:35 We'll begin the meeting with the

2:37 approval of minutes. I'll now entertain

2:40 a motion to approve the minutes of the

2:42 July 8th, 2026 meeting and the August

2:45 5th, 2026 special grants meeting. Is

2:50 there a motion?

2:51 So moved.

2:51 Thank you. Is there a second?

2:53 Second.

2:54 Thank you. Is there any discussion or

2:56 objection to the motion?

2:58 Is there any objection to approving the

3:00 motion by unanimous consent?

3:04 Hearing none, the minutes are approved.

3:07 We'll now move on to the superintendent

3:09 report. I present to you our

3:11 superintendent, Mary Skipper.

3:13 Wonderful. And welcome back everyone for

3:16 the new school year. And welcome to

3:18 those in the audience as well.

3:21 Um, so before I start tonight's report,

3:23 I just want to take a moment to

3:25 acknowledge members of the BPS community

3:28 that have passed away over the summer.

3:31 Beloved colleague and long-term staff

3:34 member Frank Hill was an administrative

3:36 assistant in BPS teaching and learning.

3:39 He also worked in food and nutrition

3:42 services, transportation, family and

3:44 community engagement, and the former

3:47 curriculum and instruction department

3:49 over his 21 years in the BPS. He also

3:52 worked with the Boston Plan for

3:54 Excellence previously.

3:56 We also mourn the loss of Tanya Scarlet,

4:00 who was a first grade teacher at the

4:02 Ellis Elementary School, who worked for

4:04 the district for 25 years. Jodie Hall, a

4:07 beloved theater teacher at the Frederick

4:10 Pilot Middle School who was appreciated

4:12 and loved by students and staff alike,

4:15 and BPS educator for nearly 30 years.

4:18 Meg Goodwin, a longtime teacher at the

4:20 Edison K to8 school, who also served as

4:23 a union representative and was a fierce

4:26 advocate for her fellow educators around

4:29 issues that impacted students. Frank,

4:32 Tanya, Jod, and Meg brought incredible

4:35 talent, dedication, and compassion to

4:38 the district. They will be missed by the

4:40 BPS community. If we could all join in a

4:42 moment of silence.

4:58 Thank you.

5:01 So, as we transition to talk about the

5:03 school year, I'm happy to report that

5:05 the school year 2026 27 is off to a

5:08 great start. And I'd like to share a few

5:10 updates and highlights from our first

5:12 few days. Uh,

5:16 I know that as you entered the room

5:18 tonight, there was a slideshow that was

5:20 running. Um, I want to thank the BPS

5:23 communications office, the mayor's

5:25 office, Tech Boston Academy, and school

5:28 committee executive secretary, Lena

5:31 Parvex, for sharing these photos here

5:34 from around the district. The first day

5:36 for students in grades 1 to 12, which

5:38 was Tuesday, September 8th, and the

5:40 first day for our littlest learners,

5:42 Thursday, September 10th. U, these

5:44 images really capture the excitement and

5:46 the spirit of the day as we kicked off

5:48 the new school year. I also want to

5:50 thank Chair Robinson, Vice Chair

5:52 Scarret, school committee members Torres

5:54 and TR for greeting our students on the

5:56 first days of school. I spent my first

5:59 day of school in Dorchester where I

6:01 greeted students from grades 1 through

6:03 12 and their families. First at the

6:05 Holland Elementary, then at the Leela

6:07 Frederick Elementary where it was uh

6:10 coming back to life as a new new prek to

6:13 six school. The uh Dr. Albert Holland

6:16 School of Technology where I also got to

6:18 see Dr. Albert Holland uh and Tech

6:21 Boston Academy. We started our day at

6:24 the Holland Elementary. There were quite

6:25 a few visitors and guests there. Chair

6:28 Robinson, Mayor Woo was there,

6:31 Massachusetts Secretary of Education Dr.

6:33 Zich, Commissioner of Education Pedro

6:36 Martinez, BTU Union President Eric Berg,

6:40 President of the American Federation of

6:42 Teachers Jessica Tang, and State Rep.

6:44 Chris Warell, and State Senator Liz

6:46 Miranda. So, uh, everyone turned out to

6:49 greet our students at at Holland

6:51 Elementary and that was the first time

6:54 Holland Elementary was being

6:55 reintroduced to the community as Holland

6:57 Elementary. It had previously been in

7:00 state receiverhip with Upholland. So, it

7:02 was lots to celebrate. Uh, it certainly

7:05 was a festive and fun first day across

7:07 the district. There were hugs and smiles

7:09 as students reunited with their teachers

7:12 and their friends while parents and

7:14 caregivers captured these special

7:15 moments in back to school photos. Our

7:18 new students found supportive school

7:20 communities ready to help them find

7:22 their way. Teachers and staff welcomely

7:25 warmed welcomely welcomed our students

7:27 back into schools by greeting them with

7:29 cheers and banners and balloons and

7:31 music. Uh pom poms. I had pom poms. uh

7:34 visits from costume characters,

7:36 including Elmo, Mickey Mouse, and

7:38 Holland Tiger. Volunteers from the

7:40 mayor's office handed out water bottle

7:43 stickers that read, "It's a good day to

7:44 learn," which was a positive message

7:46 setting the right tone for the entire

7:48 school year. On the first day of

7:50 kindergarten, I visited the Lion

7:52 Elementary School in Brighton where we

7:54 greeted students K0, K1, and K2.

7:58 Students received a joyful welcome.

7:59 There were certainly a few tears mostly

8:01 from parents and caregivers as they said

8:04 goodbye students went right in, but the

8:07 line this was especially uh an important

8:09 start for the Lion Elementary as they

8:11 actually relocated buildings as part of

8:13 the long-term facilities plan. Uh and so

8:15 there was uh quite a bit of effort to go

8:17 into that facility at the high school to

8:19 get that ready for our youngest

8:20 learners. Uh I really want to thank all

8:23 of our students, our teachers, uh school

8:25 leaders, volunteers, everyone who just

8:28 made the launch of 2627 a real success.

8:32 On the first day of school, BPS buses

8:34 transported more than 18,000 students on

8:38 609 routes. They were supported by 730

8:41 drivers, 650 bus monitors, and 750

8:45 buses. BPS transportation achieved a 61%

8:49 on time performance rate or what we call

8:51 OTP which was the second highest first

8:54 day on record with 81% of the buses

8:57 arriving within 15 minutes of the bell

9:00 and 92% arriving within 30 minutes while

9:04 also reducing the number of uncovered

9:06 routes from the start of last school

9:08 year. We certainly will continue to

9:11 monitor the average OTP in the coming

9:13 days, weeks, and months as we anticipate

9:16 continued improvement similar to last

9:18 year. Um, in the afternoon to give

9:21 perspective, we were at 73% of our buses

9:24 on time, 88% arrived within 15 minutes,

9:27 and 95% within 30 minutes. So, it was

9:30 certainly a very strong start. Um, that

9:34 said, I think there's challenges that

9:36 happen every school year as bus drivers

9:39 are new to routes or new to the city, as

9:42 buses for the first time are rolling.

9:44 So, sometimes we get a mechanical

9:46 failure on a bus that has to get

9:48 repaired and we have to send a coverage

9:50 bus. Sometimes we have a driver who is

9:53 still learning the route and they can

9:55 get, you know, lost and have to get

9:57 redirected and supported. Um, sometimes

10:00 we can have the GPS because all the

10:02 buses haven't been used all summer. Uh,

10:05 sometimes that can malfunction and then

10:07 we have to walk the bus driver through

10:09 that. And so there are those occasions

10:12 even though we're having very strong

10:13 OTPs where there's a particular family

10:16 or student that is delayed um, and

10:19 sometimes delayed longer than we would

10:22 ever want. And so we always do our best

10:24 to apologize to the families, make

10:26 communication, uh, and work as hard as

10:28 we can to ensure that's the rare

10:30 exception and not practice. Um, I also

10:34 want to share that at the end of last

10:35 year, it was a it was a big celebration

10:37 for the transportation team in the

10:40 district as we reached 95% morning OTP

10:43 in June. um that was the highest monthly

10:46 performance for BPS and I think it

10:48 really underscores the system level of

10:51 improvements. We've made the commitment

10:53 to continuously improving and to try to

10:55 get all of the issues worked out so that

10:57 our students very safely and on time get

11:00 to school and get picked up and brought

11:02 home. Um we're also encouraging our

11:05 parents and caregivers to use the Zoom

11:07 app which just tracks the students in

11:10 real time. Drivers have successfully

11:12 used the Zoom app to track more than 97%

11:15 of trips so far this school year and

11:17 more than 95% of families are currently

11:19 using the app to track their bus. So,

11:22 this is been a tremendous effort to get

11:24 that information out. We want families

11:26 to continue to register. Uh if you are

11:29 currently a parent and your student is

11:31 using our school buses and you don't

11:33 have the Zoom app, you can download it

11:35 from our website at the bostonchools.org

11:37 or and it's under the family resource

11:40 tab. Um we also have BPS executive

11:43 director Dan Rosenard who's here with us

11:45 tonight to answer any questions. But

11:47 again, just really want to pledge our

11:50 continued improvement. Um and also just

11:53 applaud a lot of the great work that

11:54 that transportation team has done to get

11:56 the results that we are getting. As we

11:59 do every year, we're also monitoring our

12:01 attendance very closely. This is a big

12:04 message that we want to continue to push

12:06 out to our parents and caregivers. On

12:09 our first day of school, school

12:11 attendance was 81.4%.

12:13 This was up 2.6 percentage points over

12:16 last year's first day. Big improvement.

12:19 So far, the attendance has increased

12:21 every day over the same day last year

12:24 and steadily increased to 92% today.

12:27 That's again a 2.8% overall performance

12:30 increase. Can't stress it enough to our

12:34 caregivers, our parents, and our

12:36 students, high school students. There's

12:38 a direct correlation with achievement

12:41 and performance in being in school. And

12:43 so, we need you here every single day

12:46 unless there's a reason such like you're

12:47 sick or something like that. We also

12:50 know um you know that we every at the

12:53 start of every school year there are

12:55 students who last year were chronically

12:57 absent or who might have been disengaged

12:59 from school. So, every year we start the

13:02 school year with our re-engagement door

13:04 knock event. Um, it's actually one of

13:06 the most impactful events that I think

13:08 we do. Um, as a district, we have

13:10 certainly with chronic absenteeism

13:12 driven down chronic absenteeism. Was 38%

13:16 in the 22 23 school year and we saw 30%

13:20 last year. Um, and this is just a

13:22 continuous effort of reminding our

13:24 students and helping remove barriers for

13:26 students coming to school regularly. Um,

13:30 at the start of school, we go out and we

13:32 door knock. So, uh, the mayor and I and

13:35 a group of volunteers across the

13:36 district, uh, led by the re-engagement

13:39 center go out and we greet students that

13:43 we know last year struggled to get to

13:45 school. We welcome them back. We tell

13:47 them how much we want to see them back.

13:50 We ask what we can do better or what we

13:52 can do to help support them. And it's

13:54 just always really eye opening being

13:56 able to sit. It's like a grace being

13:58 able to sit with students and their

14:00 parents in their homes and have that

14:02 conversation. It always um amazes me how

14:06 honest our kids are and our parents

14:09 about what they need. Uh so on September

14:11 4th, we held that event. There were 36

14:13 volunteers. We targeted we knocked on

14:16 197 doors and we focused on the Jamaica

14:19 Plane, Roxberry, and Dorchester

14:21 neighborhoods. um we met and made

14:24 contact with 37 students and that's 37

14:29 more students by doing that than we

14:32 would have been invited back into

14:35 school. Um

14:37 I think that what we got a sense from

14:40 students is how important a sense of

14:41 belonging is to them. And so this is

14:43 another big piece of what we're

14:45 emphasizing with our schools is having a

14:47 welcoming environment where students see

14:49 themselves and have a sense of

14:51 belonging. They articulated they want to

14:53 be part and need to be part of the

14:55 school community. And so that focus on

14:58 culture and climate continues to be a

15:00 big effort on the part of our school

15:02 leaders and our educators to make

15:05 environments that are that welcoming.

15:08 As far as staffing goes, our classrooms

15:10 are fully staffed across the 104 schools

15:12 in the district. Uh thanks to our

15:14 dedicated hiring efforts, uh Chief Kanty

15:17 and OR, uh we've already reached 96%

15:20 fill rate for our teachers and

15:22 counselors and the team is actively

15:24 working to fill the last few final

15:26 seats. Last month, we also welcomed more

15:29 than 150 new teachers at our annual new

15:32 educator institute. the events hosted by

15:35 our new teacher development program

15:37 which is designed for educators who are

15:38 new to teaching or new to the BPS. Um I

15:42 go the the union has a strong presence

15:45 at it. We do it jointly. Uh and it's

15:47 always wonderful to welcome that group

15:49 of new educators into our school system

15:52 as part of that family. For permanent

15:55 BTU educators whose positions were

15:56 eliminated, this was a big part of the

15:58 conversation at school committee last

16:00 year, especially at the end. Um just as

16:03 a reaffirmation, BPS is required to

16:06 place or resign or um reassign them into

16:09 comparable positions and that work was

16:12 well underway and continued all through

16:14 the summer on our normal time frame. For

16:17 members of the BTU's teachers unit,

16:18 there were 374 permanent or tenur BTU

16:22 educators who are without permanent

16:24 positions at the start of the hiring

16:26 season. As of today, they have all been

16:29 hired or assigned into a permanent

16:30 position within the BPS. Another concern

16:33 had been like as we reported in July,

16:36 there were 205 paraprofessionals with

16:38 seniority who are members of the BTU

16:41 paraprofessional unit who are without

16:43 positions for the start of the hiring

16:45 season. All 205 were hired or assigned

16:48 to positions for the 2627 with a small

16:52 number either resigning or retiring,

16:54 which is very typical. Um, chief of

16:57 human resource Francis Kanty is also

16:59 here tonight were there to be any

17:00 questions uh for anything relative to

17:03 OHR.

17:05 Um, on August 26th uh the office of an

17:09 inspector general released a report

17:12 detailing concerns about procurement and

17:14 payments at BPS from years 2019 to 2024.

17:18 The report included a series of

17:20 recommendations for how we can make as

17:23 the BPS improvements going forward. as

17:26 recommended

17:28 as recommended

17:30 as recommended by the IGO uh Mike

17:33 Firestone Corporation Council and a new

17:36 Jenth who is my senior adviser uh as in

17:39 the superintendent's office. They've

17:41 been appointed to lead the city and BPS

17:43 in the building on the momentum to

17:46 review the findings and operationalize

17:48 the recommendations contained in the

17:50 report. uh together with the working

17:52 group of BPS and city leaders, they're

17:55 going to be helping to en drive and

17:56 ensure that essential reforms are

17:58 happening. Um as a first step, we

18:01 instituted a 10-day pause on

18:03 non-essential payments to review and

18:05 ensure proper compliance. Um and I will

18:09 continue to update the committee as we

18:13 go through the review process and uh go

18:16 through the timeline with the IG's

18:18 office of providing updates at the 30 60

18:22 and 90day marks.

18:25 The our city just uh in recap uh we

18:29 always do kind of bright spots um and I

18:31 know not only do I have bright spots but

18:33 I know that member Torres has bright

18:35 spots. Um, our city experienced a

18:37 memorable summer. We joined the

18:39 nationwide celebration of America 250.

18:43 The 2026 World Cup brought visitors from

18:45 around the world to our city, giving our

18:48 young people the opportunity to learn

18:49 about the different countries and

18:51 traditions at special events across the

18:53 neighborhoods. Earlier this week, I

18:55 joined Mayor Woo at New Mission High

18:57 School to celebrate the success of this

18:59 year's summer job program and transition

19:02 into the schoolyear jobs program.

19:04 There's approximately 10,500 young

19:07 people who were connected to summer jobs

19:10 and we look forward to continuing that

19:12 moment momentum throughout the school

19:14 year. At BPS, there were approximately

19:17 9,000 students who took part in the

19:19 district's annual fifth quarter

19:20 programming, the exam school initiative,

19:23 and the [snorts] extended extended

19:25 school year. Uh approximately uh 2550

19:30 students participated in the extended

19:32 school year. And then there were another

19:34 2500 students who participated in the

19:36 BPS fifth quarter credit recovery and

19:39 that was primarily high school students.

19:42 Um certainly to help our students and

19:44 families start the school year off

19:45 strong, the office of family and

19:47 community advancement hosted our annual

19:50 back to school webinar on Tuesday Septe

19:53 uh which was located in earlier in

19:55 September. Uh it was attended Mayor Woo

19:58 came to it uh as did 700 families. as

20:00 all of our BPS departments were there to

20:03 be able to answer questions, provide

20:05 information. Uh, and what I've

20:06 appreciated about this event is that

20:08 every year we get more families, we get

20:11 great questions, we build off of those

20:13 questions, uh, in a way that provides a

20:16 real strong packet of information for

20:18 our families. Uh, last week we also

20:21 welcomed [clears throat] more than 750

20:23 attendees at Harami Park, um, which was

20:27 they represented 50 of our schools. We

20:29 gave away a total of 205 backpacks, 20

20:32 raffle prizes, tons of food. Um there

20:35 was a police ice cream truck there that

20:37 visited the park as well. Uh there were

20:40 mascots. So it was just it was a

20:41 wonderful family event. There were also

20:43 free health screenings that happened.

20:46 There was a lot of BPS resources and

20:48 information given away as well as free

20:50 books and games from more than 22

20:53 partners uh in BPS departments. And

20:56 tonight we have a short video to share

20:58 with you that highlights some of the fun

21:00 activities that happen during the

21:01 summer. Uh we will definitely return to

21:04 school committee as we always do in

21:06 October to give a more comprehensive

21:08 presentation on summer 2026.

21:12 But I think chair we want to show the

21:13 video.

21:53 feel like

22:07 I

22:09 Yeah.

22:30 [music]

22:33 Uh, not this one. So, what am I?

22:37 Heat. Heat. N.

23:04 So, thank you to the comm's team and to

23:06 to offer.

23:10 It's just so great seeing our kids doing

23:12 so many different activities, lots of

23:14 academics embedded, but lots of

23:16 enrichment and fun and the kinds of

23:18 things that our students say they would

23:20 like to learn about and do and get

23:22 active. So great summer. So with that

23:24 chair, I will turn it back to you.

23:26 Thank you, Superintendent. I'll now open

23:28 up the floor for questions and

23:29 discussion. I'd like to remind my

23:31 colleagues about our agreed upon norm

23:33 that we five minutes per member per

23:35 round, not including district response.

23:38 Miss Prax will remind us when one minute

23:40 remains and when your time is up. Please

23:43 make sure your questions are on topics

23:44 related to the items in the

23:46 superintendence report. Other topics not

23:48 related to the superintendent report can

23:50 be raised during new business later in

23:53 the meeting. BPS staff, please keep

23:56 responses brief and speak slowly to

23:58 support our interpreters. Thank you.

24:00 Oops.

24:02 And I think Miss Torres has member

24:04 Torres has some bright spots. So I'm

24:07 going to I so I visit uh July, August

24:10 and September. I visit schools and um

24:13 many places, summer schools. It was very

24:16 important to see how the kids are

24:18 working so hard. So I want to thank uh

24:21 thank you chair, superintendent and all

24:23 my school committee members and the

24:25 public. I had the privilege of visiting

24:27 fight sites and see the work that that

24:30 was happening across all summer schools

24:33 this year. Side after sight, educators,

24:36 site coordinators, and program leaders

24:39 pour their hearts into keeping our

24:41 students happy, learning, growing, and

24:45 connected to summer long. And to all our

24:48 students who showed up, doing the work,

24:51 pushing themselves to grow academically

24:54 even in July and August, we see you and

24:56 we are proud of you. In August, I visit

25:00 the summer institute for teacher uh

25:02 residency BT network alongside 10 BPS

25:06 teachers coming togethers to share the

25:09 best practice with the new teachers and

25:12 each other. Great community building

25:14 activities. a day of it. I our

25:18 incredible 25 educators ambassador from

25:22 24th school who stepped up to lead the

25:26 charge in changing the future of

25:28 teaching and learning. Together they are

25:31 spearheading the launch of the BPS AI

25:34 literacy initiative. Now in September,

25:38 my first day of school at the Samuel

25:41 Mason and the first day of kindergarten

25:43 at the Sarah Robert with Lena.

25:47 We a huge shout out to all the

25:49 educators, leaders, and co-leaders for

25:52 the energy you brought to the first day

25:54 of school. It was such a joy to be part

25:57 of a dual language kinder 2 classroom

25:59 where our students proudly introduce

26:02 themselves and share their favorite

26:04 color all in Spanish.

26:07 Naranga was the the main uh color share

26:12 a shout out to to the welcome center

26:16 here at bowling. They were on top of

26:18 their game with explaining the

26:20 registration process and making sure

26:22 families felt welcome and heard. And my

26:26 last shout out goes uh I visit a school

26:28 with uh Dr. Wright today to the to the

26:32 office personnel administration

26:34 educators and all the students from

26:37 kinder to fifth grade sharing what makes

26:40 their school great the best and what

26:43 will need to happen next to get better.

26:46 So thank you.

26:48 Thank you

26:51 comments. [laughter]

26:58 Thank you superintendent for your

27:00 report. Um, I want to refer in

27:03 particular to the inspector general

27:05 report.

27:07 When when I told my one of my best

27:11 friends who happens to be a a BPS

27:14 teacher that I was appointed to the

27:17 school committee, his reaction wasn't

27:19 congratulation was great. See if you can

27:23 do something about the the vendors of

27:26 our school getting paid on time because

27:28 they don't want to work with us anymore.

27:30 and he was referring in particular to a

27:32 pro a very interesting project that he

27:34 does with his students where they

27:36 publish a book at the end of the school

27:38 year and the vendor was saying it's

27:40 taking forever for BPS to pay me for for

27:43 producing those books.

27:47 That's one stream. The the the other

27:49 stream is what happening that we are

27:51 wasting money in it sounds like trying

27:54 to solve that problem. It sounds to me

27:57 that we have a systemic problem. So I

27:59 would like you to comment on what

28:01 systemic

28:02 actions and steps are you and the

28:05 district taking to address this

28:07 situation. Uh thank you. So I welcome

28:09 that question. Um

28:11 first of all because we have a report

28:13 that we need to give to the inspector

28:15 general and and intend to. Uh that is

28:19 where we'll first discuss as we continue

28:21 the review and the team that is both

28:24 city and district comes up with what

28:26 those action steps are going to be. Um,

28:28 and so when that report comes to when

28:31 we're going to produce that after the

28:32 inspector general, I will report out to

28:34 school committee the contents of that,

28:36 but we're still in the process of

28:38 identifying those steps. Um, I do think

28:41 that

28:43 some of what has been was identified and

28:46 remember the report was looking from a

28:49 period of 2019 to 2024.

28:53 uh there were a number of things that

28:54 had been identified that we've been

28:56 actively working on and correcting and

28:59 for the field it has been a lot of

29:02 adjustment as we've put controls and

29:04 measures into place of how contracts are

29:07 done versus how they had been done that

29:10 often does delay to ensure we have the

29:13 appropriate paperwork uh to be able to

29:16 both initiate a contract and to pay it

29:18 and so there's been a lot of you know

29:20 for the field I think a lot of

29:21 adjustment We've done um a number of

29:24 meetings with partners, a number of

29:25 meetings with schools uh and school

29:28 leaders to be able to explain over the

29:30 course of the last several years what

29:32 why those changes were necessary. So a

29:35 lot of this work has been underway. I

29:38 think what the report allowed us to see

29:40 was where that is taking hold and where

29:43 it is not yet. And so that is really the

29:45 areas that we'll be drilling down more.

29:48 Um and I do think we have some good

29:51 suggestions already from the team in

29:53 terms of even things like consolidating

29:56 the way procurement and payment is done

29:58 under one branch as opposed to

30:01 transportation and food service uh and

30:03 facilities all having different

30:05 processes where it's more likely that

30:07 this fracture. So I I do think um we are

30:12 certainly taking the recommendations

30:14 with the strongest consideration. We've

30:16 adopted many of them already. Um, and I

30:19 do look forward with school committee to

30:20 being able to give a broader report as

30:23 we start to update the attorney the IG.

30:32 Thank you for chair. Thank you for the

30:34 report.

30:41 Thank you very much all. I would like to

30:43 start appreciating the entire team that

30:45 worked over the summer.

30:52 Thank you very much. We're working on

30:53 creating beautiful memories for all our

30:55 students.

31:11 I would like to appreciate the job that

31:14 Anna did because it was the first time

31:15 that we have we had a carriage in the

31:17 Dominican uh festival actually and we

31:20 felt that we were represented as well.

31:23 Thank you very much to Anna and her

31:24 team.

31:35 It was very powerful seeing Annie

31:39 sharing everything there and I felt very

31:41 sorry I was not able to lift my

31:43 Dominican flag there. I felt sorry I was

31:46 not present at that time.

32:01 As a matter of fact, what I can in

32:02 regards to a transportation report, it's

32:04 been on time and it's a very uh

32:07 rewarding report. I can actually provide

32:09 testimony regarding my own nephew as it

32:11 pertains to transportation.

32:20 I am very happy because the bus is

32:21 arriving on time every single day. Very

32:24 happy.

33:01 [laughter]

33:02 No, not Okay. So as as we say

33:05 transportation it is not perfect. It is

33:07 not perfect. It's been arriving on time.

33:09 But I do know that there is some

33:11 dissatisfaction from some of the

33:14 families. So the question that I do have

33:16 for you it is what is it that we are

33:18 doing for those families where

33:20 transportation is not arriving on time

33:23 things systems are not perfect and we

33:25 are aware of that but there's been some

33:27 complaints regarding transportation as

33:28 well.

33:34 Moreover, some of the families are

33:36 getting warnings because they are not

33:38 being able to arrive on time to their

33:41 works, to their jobs.

33:47 As a matter of fact, the point that I

33:48 would like to make is that they are

33:50 being uh reported as being tardy without

33:53 any justification. That is the point

33:55 that I would like to make. How the

33:57 families are being impacted by

33:58 transportation.

34:00 Yeah. And I I know that um our executive

34:04 director Rosenard will want to comment

34:06 on this, but what I will say is we

34:09 strive to have every student be able to

34:12 get to school and get picked up and

34:14 driven home safely and on time. I think

34:18 18,000 students with so many different

34:20 routes and buses, there will be

34:23 situations like there are for all of us

34:26 when we're getting across the city that

34:28 impacts it. I think in each of the cases

34:31 when something's reported, Dan and his

34:33 team do an excellent job reaching out to

34:35 the family looking at repeat situations,

34:39 right? And that was when we left last

34:41 year, we definitely had a group of

34:43 routes where they were uncovered. And so

34:46 that's been a big focus with Dan and the

34:49 vendor to really assure enough drivers

34:51 and that the buses mechanically are

34:54 running fine and sound as a way to be

34:56 able to address the uncovered because

34:58 that's really when there isn't a bus to

35:01 pick the student up. That's when parents

35:03 really have to figure that out or the

35:06 bus isn't coming and a replacement bus

35:09 has to be issued and that's where like

35:11 longer delays happen. So Dan and the

35:13 team are certainly working on that.

35:15 They've been on top of it this year.

35:17 Many like much much less when it comes

35:19 to the uncovered routes and any of the

35:21 routes that are really longer. That's

35:23 what Dan and his team start right away

35:26 to identify and look at the data to be

35:28 able to figure out is it a reroute? Uh

35:30 is it splitting the route? You know,

35:32 what is it? Um, but in each case, they

35:34 really do strive to contact the family,

35:36 be in contact with the family so that

35:38 they know if a student's going to get

35:40 home late or is going to get picked up

35:41 late so that the the parent has as much

35:44 notice as possible. Dan, I don't know if

35:46 there's anything.

35:47 No. Yeah. Thanks, Superintendent, and

35:49 thanks member Garcia for the question. I

35:51 think um the only other thing that I

35:53 would add on top of what the

35:54 superintendent said is each year now

35:57 with with Zoom and with some of the you

36:00 know the reforms and improvements that

36:01 we've made is a big focus for us is

36:04 trying to get to steady state and

36:06 stability faster. There's always going

36:08 to be some adjustment at the start of

36:10 the year. you know, both for drivers and

36:13 monitors and students and staff coming

36:15 back to work, but also just there are

36:17 still students who are transferring

36:19 schools. We'll have the the DNR process

36:23 um I think tomorrow. Uh students,

36:26 families who are submitting requests for

36:28 drop off at a after school program. And

36:31 so there's a lot of route adjustments

36:33 that get made throughout the first few

36:35 weeks. And I think a big focus for us

36:37 this year and over the last few years is

36:38 how do we get to that steady state

36:40 faster to reduce that period where uh

36:43 families and students are experiencing

36:46 you know delays at the start of the

36:47 year. And I think along with um the

36:50 reduction in the uncovered roots which

36:52 is about half what it was last year this

36:54 time so far um we want it to be at zero.

36:57 Um the other big focus for us and where

37:00 we've seen improvement is in just kind

37:02 of ramping up faster and getting to that

37:04 steady state faster.

37:06 Right. And Dan, maybe just explain also

37:08 like when you have a like an unattended

37:10 student and you get an undeliverable

37:12 student like how that can impact

37:15 Yeah. Yeah. So um you know most most

37:20 buses will complete I think as you know

37:22 multiple trips in succession each

37:24 afternoon you know at 2:00 3:00 4:00

37:27 school and especially at the start of

37:29 the year as as everyone you know drivers

37:32 monitors families are adjusting to new

37:34 routines. Uh we will often see uh higher

37:38 um instances of what we call

37:40 undeliverable students where you know

37:43 that connection to make sure there's a

37:45 you know safe adult to adult handoff

37:47 particularly for door-to-door students

37:49 or our youngest students um you know

37:52 doesn't happen exactly as scheduled. And

37:55 then there, you know, depending on the

37:57 specifics of the situation, our team and

38:00 the the vendor safety desk will work

38:03 with the family and school to coordinate

38:05 uh, you know, that safe drop off, but

38:07 that can lead to, you know, sometimes a

38:09 bus that maybe has to loop back and

38:12 can't make it to its next school on

38:13 time. And so then we'll, you know,

38:15 either send a covering bus or

38:17 communicate the delay and try to work

38:19 through it as best we can.

38:22 Gracia. Um,

38:29 so my second question is regarding the

38:31 uh teachers.

38:42 According to the report, I do believe

38:46 that the superintendent mentioned that

38:48 104 teachers were reappointed. Is that

38:52 what the report says?

38:53 So, at the be at the beginning of the

38:56 hiring season, we had approximately I

38:58 think it was 374

39:00 or 84 teachers who are permanent. So,

39:03 they are owed a position, but their

39:05 position was either eliminated or they

39:08 chose to come out of their position and

39:10 look for a new position. different

39:12 reasons. We were able in all of those

39:15 cases to find them a position to teach.

39:19 Similarly with paraprofessionals, there

39:21 were 205 who have what we call

39:23 seniority. So they are entitled to a

39:25 position and we once again were able to

39:28 go through and find those 205 a position

39:32 to be able to be a par.

39:45 So I do believe I wanted to clarify

39:47 something. I do believe that uh about

39:50 more than 500 positions belonging to

39:53 teachers were lost.

39:57 500 approximately was that the right

39:58 number?

40:07 So there is part of every budget

40:09 regarding closures. Wanted to change

40:12 regarding closures. I I just needed to

40:14 know exactly how what is the right

40:16 number. Was it 500 teachers that lost

40:18 their position?

40:19 Chief Ky, do you remember what the

40:21 overall number was? I think it was

40:22 roughly 550.

40:25 512. I knew you would know that exactly.

40:28 Uh so 512.

40:30 That was a combination of the permanent

40:33 and other teachers who were provisional.

40:36 That could have been because a school

40:38 was closing, a classroom was closing, a

40:41 teacher chose to e exit out of a a a

40:44 school um or they didn't have lenture,

40:47 they couldn't be rehired. So there's a

40:49 whole range of reasons why it started

40:52 off with 512. But the important thing to

40:55 know is all of the teachers who were

40:58 owed a position were given a position.

41:01 It also there were lots of other

41:03 teachers who also secured positions who

41:05 might have been provisional. Um and

41:07 we'll report that out in October what

41:09 the total numbers were, but the the main

41:11 thing was the 37 the 384 that were

41:15 guaranteed a position. We were able to

41:17 find that otherwise we would have been

41:19 in a layoff situation for those

41:20 teachers. Chief Kanty, anything else to

41:23 add on that? Thank you, Chief Kanty.

41:26 Thank you so much, sir.

41:31 Thank you. Um

41:34 just to follow up on the concerns raised

41:37 by member Peralta and member Garcia,

41:42 I will focus

41:44 pretty much uh specifically

41:47 in the uh area of diversity

41:52 involving

41:54 layoffs especially through that last

41:57 round of uh budget u um problems that we

42:01 have um before I I do this I I'll

42:05 premise my questions with the fact that

42:08 um I appreciate you having been the

42:14 leader in ensuring that um

42:18 diversity in hiring retention uh

42:22 promotion

42:25 are

42:27 within within the criteria that I I I

42:30 think it should be commendable. However,

42:33 it could be even better. The reason I'm

42:36 saying this is because even within

42:42 the retention of teachers, the retention

42:46 of uh

42:48 professionals

42:49 uh who are affected by by u the last

42:53 round

42:56 I have received.

43:00 I'm not going to say the number, but I

43:02 can tell you that numerous

43:05 uh professionals had reached out to me

43:08 with concerns that

43:11 and I I I do think you also are aware of

43:15 it. Numbers of a number of of of these

43:19 are in the hand or at the office of uh

43:23 the union at this point um dealing with

43:27 the administration. I hate to see that

43:30 but there are a number of professionals

43:32 who are affected by this are moved or

43:38 given positions that are not comparable

43:41 to their experience

43:44 and

43:45 they were not given the choice or they

43:47 were not given the chance to apply for

43:49 something that that are comparable to

43:52 their

43:54 um

43:56 experience Because

43:59 the job posting new jobs that are posted

44:03 listed only certain number of languages

44:10 despite the fact that that office or

44:13 those offices

44:16 deal with all languages but there are

44:20 only a number of languages that are

44:22 listed as one of the preferred

44:25 requirements. So that pretty much

44:27 prelude a number of professionals who

44:30 are

44:34 you know who are I believe more than

44:36 qualified absent that preferred language

44:40 even though the person has other

44:42 language that could not apply and the

44:45 other language is also part of the the

44:48 office um uh service.

44:51 So that is something I I think human

44:56 services should look into

44:58 because

45:00 and if you want to I can I can give you

45:02 the number of of of because they are

45:05 they're ready

45:07 in the back of me

45:09 to appear

45:11 to talk about them rather than to talk

45:14 to you directly

45:16 rather than through the union. And I

45:19 think I think you know I thought in the

45:21 spirit of upholding diversity equity

45:27 even within the multi the multi-

45:30 languages

45:32 community it should also be

45:36 applied

45:38 fairly and equally and evenly.

45:41 So these are the kind of issues that I'm

45:43 I'm I'm

45:45 hearing for the last two months or so.

45:50 um

45:53 hiring, retention,

45:56 promotion

45:58 are not really

46:01 I I

46:03 like I I preface before I I I I put this

46:06 question out that I have no

46:11 I have no suspicion

46:15 that your office under the super

46:20 superintendent's ages is doing a hackler

46:23 job

46:25 um in

46:27 dealing with this

46:30 but often time

46:32 small minute issues create tensions

46:35 among them

46:38 my times out thank you

46:39 it's great I what I would s just two

46:42 suggestions or a comment and suggestion

46:44 member tren one is I think it's a great

46:46 idea to suggest to educators to reach

46:48 out directly to Chief Kanty because if

46:51 they have a concern, it's on us to be

46:53 able to talk to them about it and

46:54 explain it. I do think there's a handful

46:57 of positions where language is specific.

47:00 Interpretation services like for

47:02 instance might be one. Testing uh when

47:06 for our um our uh English language

47:09 learners as they come into the district

47:11 might be another that I can think of.

47:13 And then where there's bilingual

47:14 education with a specific language, that

47:17 would be another case. Um, but I think

47:20 it's best solved if we can get the

47:21 educators with Chief Kanty so that we

47:24 can figure out like how we can

47:27 strengthen our process and make it

47:29 clearer. So, thank you for raising it.

47:39 Um,

47:39 that's

47:41 thank you for the update. Um, wonderful

47:43 to hear that all permanent BTU members

47:45 and Paris have been placed uh

47:48 considering the consolidations and and

47:51 closures. Appreciate that update. Also

47:53 appreciate the um uptick in daily

47:56 attendance over first day last year and

47:59 the increase there. Uh I know that we

48:02 are still in the middle of the state

48:04 before um students are dropped from the

48:07 roles after a certain number of days of

48:09 not reporting. Uh so would the next

48:12 meeting be the appropriate time to ask

48:14 about enrollment trends as they're

48:17 looking uh this year compared to last

48:20 year and as projected? Would would that

48:22 be a clearer view by the next meeting?

48:24 Uh we can give some loose observations

48:27 at the next meeting. It's generally we

48:29 wait until the October 1st report that

48:32 we um with SIMS that we give that we can

48:34 then start to crunch the numbers

48:35 officially. it. We're still in a

48:37 transfer period with with students as

48:39 well coming into the district. Tomorrow

48:42 is the last day of official report um

48:45 which we we call it DNRs did not report.

48:48 That's how we should refer to it. Um

48:51 [clears throat] and but there there's

48:52 still an extensive shuffle going on.

48:55 Kids coming in, kids, you know, some

48:58 kids moving between schools, weight

49:00 lists being called. So um I think by the

49:04 next school committee meeting in

49:05 mid-occtober uh we should be able to

49:08 give you a a pretty good idea of the

49:11 enrollment pattern.

49:12 Yeah.

49:12 Thank you. Or even the trends as you did

49:14 today compared to last year at that time

49:16 around

49:17 Yeah. I mean one of the one of the

49:18 trends that we've been tracking all

49:20 along and I just think it's continuing

49:22 unfortunately is that we're just not

49:24 seeing newcomers.

49:26 uh we're not we're not seeing uh our

49:29 ELLL MLE students

49:32 coming into the district.

49:34 Yeah.

49:35 So

49:36 um on that related piece in terms of the

49:39 37 students know every student counts

49:41 and we want every student to be able to

49:43 take advantage um of the education

49:46 available to them. Um the 37 students

49:49 with whom um the staff made contact for

49:52 the door knocking. Is there tracking

49:54 related to those 37 in terms of who

49:56 followed up with reenrollment, whether

49:58 they're placed and settled? Um, and is

50:01 there another circle back for some of

50:04 the students who may not have?

50:05 Yeah. So, I really appreciate this

50:07 question. Uh, because this is actually a

50:08 a passion for me, but um, we actually

50:12 the team knows uh, sort of from day one

50:14 with the did not reports andor students

50:17 uh, that last year were chronically

50:19 absent. Um, we have had like our schools

50:23 have engaged very intently on contacting

50:27 homes, contacting families, visiting in

50:30 an effort to be able to account for

50:32 every student. The ones that we may

50:34 contact through the re-engagement door

50:36 knocking event, um, we follow or the

50:38 re-engagement center follows up with

50:40 those students. If they're engaged with

50:42 the re-engagement center, if they are on

50:44 a school's roles, uh, we would alert the

50:47 school that we door knocked, had

50:48 conversation. If the student, young

50:51 person expressed,

50:52 I don't intend to go back to the school

50:54 I'm at for these reasons, we will

50:57 redirect that student to the

50:58 re-engagement center. We'll make an

50:59 appointment. In fact, one of the young

51:00 people that I happened to visit uh with

51:03 the mayor had an appointment that

51:05 afternoon with the re-engagement center.

51:07 So, the goal is every student accounted

51:10 for. Um and even after the did not

51:13 report time frame goes on, we then are

51:17 also tracking students who are starting

51:20 to compile absences because chronic

51:22 absenteeism starts honestly after day

51:26 one when they don't report that is that

51:28 student is now accumulating absences. So

51:30 if they don't report for 8 days where

51:32 they report on the eth day, they've

51:34 already been absent seven days. 18 days

51:36 is chronic absenteeism. They're already

51:38 moving in that direction. So this is um

51:41 the reason that we've been able to be

51:43 successful

51:45 lowering chronic absenteeism is because

51:47 we're accounting for every kid.

51:49 Similarly, the other group that

51:51 sometimes is more susceptible to

51:53 dropping out and you know this well from

51:55 the high school lens, those students

51:57 that did not graduate their class, did

52:00 not graduate in the summer. We actually

52:02 have that list. We've been reaching out

52:04 and engaging them to either allow them

52:07 to finish the credits that they need to

52:09 graduate for the fall, which would count

52:12 in this graduation cycle, or to be able

52:15 to get into a placement that would allow

52:17 them to graduate during this year.

52:20 Thank you for that update. Um, my last

52:22 two hopefully fast questions. The first

52:25 is um some additional bus followup. uh

52:28 appreciate the illustrative examples of

52:31 some of the occasions where on time does

52:34 not happen. Um I think that's helpful

52:36 for folks to have an understanding. Also

52:39 wondering about the available levers at

52:42 the district's disposal to uh remedy

52:45 issues that fall more on um the bus

52:48 company. Um namely fines or other um

52:52 levers that could be used uh to make

52:55 sure that they're running as efficiently

52:57 as possible and just wondering if we're

52:59 using all of those available levers.

53:01 This is a topic Dan and I have spoken

53:03 about much.

53:05 Um no, thank you for that question,

53:06 member scared. Um, yes. So, we have a

53:09 number of both incentives for improved

53:13 performance and liquidated damages for

53:15 non-performance available to us through

53:17 the contract. I think we've, you know,

53:21 those are not the only levers available

53:23 to us. They're not always the, you know,

53:25 most effective or most appropriate for

53:27 any given situation, but we have found

53:30 in certain situations they are very

53:33 important and effective. Um, for

53:35 instance, last school year when we were

53:37 seeing issues with uncovered roots

53:39 compared to prior years, we, you know,

53:42 first, uh, put them on written notice

53:44 and then when we did not see the

53:46 improvement that we expected to see,

53:48 began to issue liquidated damages for

53:50 uncovered trips. Um, that I think had

53:54 the intended effect and by the end of

53:56 last year, we were seeing significant

53:58 improvement there. That has continued

54:01 this year. Transdev knows that they will

54:03 continue to receive uh liquidated

54:05 damages for uncovered trips. Um and so

54:09 far this year, we've seen a significant

54:11 improvement on that compared to prior

54:12 years. We also saw um last spring was

54:17 the when they hit 95% in June and 92%

54:21 for the the last three months of the

54:24 year. That was the first time that

54:26 transdev had hit one of the performance

54:28 incentives in the contract. So that was,

54:31 you know, great to see as well. And so I

54:33 think that we've we've seen that those

54:35 are effective levers and, you know, we

54:37 will continue to use those to make sure

54:39 we're, you know, driving improved

54:40 performance.

54:42 And does Thank you for that. Does

54:44 performance incentive mean that they

54:46 would be gaining some additional

54:48 financial benefit from the on-time

54:51 arrival?

54:52 Exactly. Yes.

54:52 And is that budgeted? Are we budgeting

54:54 assuming that they make those

54:57 milestones?

54:59 We're we're budgeting assuming that

55:01 they're making, you know, some

55:02 percentage of those and we've, you know,

55:04 been within the budget there.

55:06 Thank you. Um and kind of moving into

55:09 budget, um following up on some of the

55:11 members um questions and interest around

55:14 um the uh report around contracts. Uh

55:18 understanding that you have some formal

55:20 reporting to do that needs to take place

55:23 before our full update. Um just also

55:26 thinking how this connects to some of

55:29 our interests last budget season to

55:32 start discussing budgets and having a

55:35 clearer lens into financial processes

55:37 and systems earlier in the school year

55:40 so that we're not just thinking about

55:42 the next fiscal budget in real time but

55:45 more around how these processes work. Um

55:48 so just wondering if you know in

55:50 partnership with Chief Bloom uh in

55:52 addition to these 30 60 90day reports

55:55 that we can think about um a a budget

55:58 presentation cycle um that would begin

56:01 earlier than the typical I believe we

56:03 usually have our first one in December.

56:07 So I think Chief Bloom can hear the

56:09 request um and we'll look to see if

56:11 there's a time in November to be able to

56:13 give some of that update.

56:15 Thank you. Great.

56:17 So, I have just two quick questions. Um,

56:20 wanting to circle back around the door

56:21 knocking. Is the door knocking focusing

56:24 on students of a particular age group?

56:26 Is it more high school or is it across

56:28 the board?

56:29 Yeah, it's more um it's a great

56:30 question. It's it's a great question.

56:33 And uh I would say it's more uh 9 to 12.

56:38 Occasionally we will have a 16 or

56:41 15year-old eighth grader, right, that we

56:43 will want to engage or re-engage, but

56:46 for the most part it's going to be high

56:47 school age that we go out and visit.

56:50 What do we do about students at the

56:52 lower ages that are chronically Yeah.

56:54 absent?

56:55 So we we started implementing um

56:57 attendance plans for the kids three

57:00 years ago. We use Panorama which is our

57:03 um student platform uh for any kind of

57:06 intervention planning and when a student

57:08 reaches certain threshold with

57:10 attendance there's been calls home

57:12 already uh those could be happening from

57:14 the family liaison to the school

57:16 counselor to the social worker um or to

57:19 the frankly administration of a

57:21 building. uh we log those, make notes,

57:24 um and also start to try to do some

57:27 appropriate intervention to get at

57:29 what's causing the student to either be

57:30 late all the time or to be absent. And

57:33 when a student reaches near thresholds

57:36 for chronic absenteeism, the plan then

57:39 goes into more of like a tier 2, tier

57:41 three, um where it could be home

57:43 visitations that we're doing. uh it

57:46 could be looking at the overall picture

57:47 of the student and seeing if like uh a

57:50 re-evaluation is needed. We we start to

57:52 ratchet up what the different um kinds

57:55 of student interventions are for them.

57:57 It's also brought through the student

57:59 success team um for each school, the

58:01 student support team for each school. Um

58:03 you know, they're meeting as the

58:05 professionals. They'll engage the

58:07 parents and the key piece of it is

58:08 engaging the parents. At the high school

58:10 level, it's engaging the parents and the

58:12 students together. I would say even

58:14 middle school it's the students as well

58:16 because they're old enough to vote with

58:17 their feet. Right.

58:19 Great.

58:19 Yeah.

58:20 Thank you. My last question is about um

58:23 teachers. Um the question is about the

58:27 provisional teachers. How many

58:29 provisional teachers

58:31 were either let go or still waiting to

58:34 be placed?

58:36 Chief Kanty, do you have that

58:37 information or some of that information?

58:40 You can come on up.

58:44 I asked that because you also said that

58:46 we have 150 new teachers. Yeah. So my

58:49 question is Yeah.

58:57 Good evening. So out of the 512

59:01 um

59:03 non-renewed educators, we've hired about

59:06 200 of them. Um we have some that are

59:08 currently in the process that are still

59:10 being hired. Um what we are doing is um

59:15 people who have not been hired there

59:17 about a hundred about 200 of that 500

59:21 about 291 of that 512 were because of

59:25 lensure issues. So I think so when we

59:28 talk about this number we have to parse

59:30 out what is it that we're looking at. um

59:34 it's not as clean like everyone was

59:36 non-renewed because of positions or

59:38 there's a variety of the reason as I

59:40 stated because of lensure reasons um but

59:44 we have hired about 200 of those people

59:46 back and people are as positions become

59:50 available there are people who are that

59:53 we've um we've taken a a few of them who

59:56 are now long-term subs um that are still

59:59 within the um the confines of BPS and

1:00:02 are still around so that when the

1:00:04 opportunity in fact presents itself if

1:00:07 we can hire these people in other

1:00:08 capacity we are we are doing that

1:00:12 and we uh one of the things that I think

1:00:14 um uh Chief Kanty and her team do well

1:00:17 is as new positions open uh people have

1:00:21 life circumstances change uh or they

1:00:24 they take another job they move out of

1:00:26 state whatever it may be um Chief

1:00:28 Kanty's and her team are really good at

1:00:31 reaching back to provisionals

1:00:33 who it was clear they're looking for a

1:00:35 position and you know encouraging them

1:00:38 to apply uh and look at the board all

1:00:40 the time with what's open and that

1:00:42 that's just going to be an ongoing

1:00:43 process.

1:00:45 Okay. Thank you.

1:00:48 There any other questions? Okay. Thank

1:00:50 you all. I will now entertain a motion

1:00:53 to receive the superintendent's report.

1:00:55 Is there a motion?

1:00:56 So moved.

1:00:57 Thank you. Is there a second? I think I

1:00:59 heard a second there too. Is there any

1:01:01 discussion or objection to the motion?

1:01:03 Is there any objection to approving the

1:01:05 motion by unanimous consent?

1:01:08 Hearing none, the superintendent's

1:01:09 report is approved.

1:01:16 Okay, we will begin with one report

1:01:18 before moving to public comment. Our

1:01:21 first report this evening is the

1:01:23 Massachusetts School Building Authority

1:01:25 for Madison Park Technical Vocational

1:01:28 High School chapter 74 programming.

1:01:32 Let's aim to keep the presentation

1:01:33 within 10 minutes. Superintendent

1:01:36 Skipper will share introductory remarks.

1:01:38 Wonderful. Thank you, Chair. Uh so, as

1:01:41 we remember, uh this body approved

1:01:43 submitting Madison Park Technical

1:01:44 Vocational High School for the MSBA core

1:01:48 program in March of 2025. In December of

1:01:51 2025, Madison Park was invited into the

1:01:54 MSBA eligibility phase. As part of the

1:01:57 eligibility period that concluded this

1:02:00 summer, the MSBA requires a proposed

1:02:03 chapter 74 program list as well as the

1:02:06 approval of the school committee as part

1:02:08 of the eligibility period, which is the

1:02:11 first phase of the core program. The

1:02:14 approved chapter 74 programs will be

1:02:16 formally studied and evaluated during

1:02:18 the feasibility period. This is the

1:02:21 second phase of the core program. The

1:02:24 final programs for the future Madison

1:02:26 Park are determined during feasibility

1:02:28 and design. Chief of Capital Planning

1:02:31 Dell Stannis Loss is here tonight and

1:02:33 will provide more detail about the

1:02:35 proposed list of 22 programs and the

1:02:38 next steps in the process. Brett

1:02:40 Dickens, our assistant superintendent

1:02:42 for secondary schools and college career

1:02:45 and life readiness is also here with us

1:02:47 to answer any questions that you may

1:02:49 have. Uh I also see Brian Mclofflin

1:02:52 who's a senior project manager at the

1:02:55 facilities department uh and the city um

1:02:57 is also here. Um, I have approved this

1:03:01 list which has also been reviewed by

1:03:03 Madison Park School Leader Paul Neil,

1:03:05 BPS Capital Planning Department, the BPS

1:03:09 Schools Division, the mayor's office,

1:03:11 and the city's public facilities

1:03:13 department. Later on in the meeting, we

1:03:15 will ask this committee to vote to

1:03:17 approve this list. So, at this point, I

1:03:19 will turn it over to Chief Stannis Loss

1:03:22 and uh, Brett Dickens.

1:03:27 Thank you, Superintendent. Um, good

1:03:30 evening to members of the school

1:03:32 committee.

1:03:34 Tonight, I am providing an update on the

1:03:37 Madison Park Technical Vocational High

1:03:39 School project and requesting

1:03:42 confirmation of the chapter 74 programs

1:03:45 that the district will formally study

1:03:48 during the Massachusetts School Building

1:03:50 Authority feasibility study.

1:03:54 This represents an important step in the

1:03:56 MSBA process and in our broader

1:03:58 commitment to creating a modern,

1:04:00 highquality technical and vocational

1:04:03 high school for Boston's students.

1:04:06 Tonight's action does not finalize

1:04:09 Madison Park's future programming. It

1:04:11 established the portfolio of programs

1:04:14 that the district, the MSBA and DESIE

1:04:18 will evaluate in greater detail during

1:04:21 the feasibility study.

1:04:27 I will begin with a brief overview of

1:04:29 where the MSBA project stands in the

1:04:32 MSBA process.

1:04:36 In April of 2025, the district submitted

1:04:38 a statement of interest to the MSBA for

1:04:41 the Madison Park Technical Vocational

1:04:43 High School project. That submission

1:04:46 followed with followed school committee

1:04:48 approval on March 20th, 2025 and city

1:04:52 council approval on April 2nd, 2025.

1:04:57 On September 30th, 2025, the MSBA

1:05:00 conducted a senior study at Madison

1:05:02 Park. This visit helped the MSBA better

1:05:06 understand the school's existing

1:05:08 building conditions, educational

1:05:09 programs, enrollment, and facility

1:05:12 needs. In December of 2025, the MSBA

1:05:15 board formally invited Madison Park into

1:05:18 the eligibility period. The district

1:05:21 began the eligibility period on July

1:05:23 1st, 2026. This is the first formal

1:05:27 phase of the MSBA grant approval

1:05:29 process. On August 26, 2026, the MSBA

1:05:33 board of directors voted to invite us

1:05:35 into feasibility study stage. This is a

1:05:39 major step in the MSBA process as it

1:05:42 allowed the city to complete the 270day

1:05:46 eligibility period in approximately 60

1:05:49 days, resulting in the project moving

1:05:51 forward roughly 8 months sooner than

1:05:54 previous projects in the MSBA process.

1:05:58 The next step in the process is to

1:06:00 select an owner's project manager and

1:06:02 designer. The OPM oversees the entire

1:06:06 project life cycle from planning and

1:06:08 design to construction. The OPM ensures

1:06:11 the project is completed on time within

1:06:14 budget and according to budget

1:06:16 specification.

1:06:18 The next slide provides more details

1:06:21 around the requirement that are the

1:06:25 requirements that are completed during

1:06:26 the eligibil eligibility period. The the

1:06:30 MSBA's eligibility period is typically a

1:06:33 270day process that establishes the

1:06:36 foundation for the project. During this

1:06:40 period, BPS and the city must

1:06:42 demonstrate that we have the governance,

1:06:45 planning, funding, and educational

1:06:48 information necessary to move into the

1:06:50 feasibility study stage. We have

1:06:53 completed the initial compliance

1:06:55 certification and established the school

1:06:57 building committee. We must also submit

1:07:00 the chapter 74 program viability form,

1:07:03 which is the focus of tonight's

1:07:04 presentation. In partnership with the

1:07:07 MSBA, we have conducted a comprehensive

1:07:10 enrollment analysis and reached an

1:07:13 agreement on the enrollment capacity

1:07:15 that the project should study. The

1:07:18 district also secured the needed

1:07:21 approval for funding from the city for

1:07:23 the feasibility study and schematic

1:07:26 design phases. Because we completed

1:07:29 these requirements early, the MSBA moved

1:07:31 us into feasibility phase this past

1:07:34 summer. The feasibility study will allow

1:07:36 us to evaluate e educational

1:07:38 programming, enrollment space needs,

1:07:41 potential design options, project cost,

1:07:44 and overall approach to the Madison Park

1:07:46 campus.

1:07:48 One of the key eligibility um

1:07:51 requirements is confirming the chapter

1:07:53 74 programs that will be evaluated

1:07:56 through the study.

1:08:02 The chapter 74 viability form allows the

1:08:05 MSBA and DESIE to understand the

1:08:07 district's current vocational programs

1:08:10 and the programs we may want to offer in

1:08:13 the future. The form identifies which

1:08:16 programs the district proposes to

1:08:18 continue expand merge sunset and add.

1:08:22 Our recommendations

1:08:24 consider several factors including

1:08:27 current student interests, current

1:08:29 enrollment, workforce demand, projected

1:08:33 enrollment growth, wage potential, and

1:08:36 opportunities for students to continue

1:08:38 their education after graduation.

1:08:41 The process also requires us to

1:08:43 demonstrate alignment with regional

1:08:45 workforce priorities and to document

1:08:48 support from partners such as mass hire,

1:08:51 local employers, and postsecary

1:08:53 institutions.

1:08:55 The MSBA uses this information to ensure

1:08:58 that the building options developed

1:09:00 during the feasibility study can support

1:09:02 the appropriate chapter 74 educational

1:09:05 spaces.

1:09:07 School committee approval is required

1:09:09 before the district submits the proposed

1:09:11 portfolio to the MSBA.

1:09:14 Most importantly, approval for this form

1:09:16 does not require represent sorry a final

1:09:19 or permanent decision about any Madison

1:09:21 Park program. It confirms which programs

1:09:24 will receive further educational

1:09:26 operational workforce enrollment and

1:09:29 facilities analysis during the

1:09:31 feasibility study. Any final programming

1:09:35 recommendations will return for

1:09:37 consideration and approval through the

1:09:40 appropriate public and school committee

1:09:42 process.

1:09:48 The column on the left shows Madison

1:09:50 Park's chapter 74 portfolio for fall of

1:09:54 2026, so this school year.

1:09:58 The column on the right shows the

1:09:59 programs we are proposing for further

1:10:01 study. The proposed portfolio preserves

1:10:05 a board a broad range of established

1:10:08 pathways including automotive

1:10:10 technology, carpentry, cosmetology,

1:10:14 dental assisting, facilities management,

1:10:17 health assisting, HVAC, medical

1:10:20 assisting, metal fabrication, plumbing,

1:10:24 robotics, and other technical programs.

1:10:27 We are proposing a second cohort in

1:10:30 culinary arts and a second cohort in in

1:10:34 electricity.

1:10:35 These potential expansion

1:10:38 expansions respond to both students

1:10:41 interest and workforce demand. The

1:10:44 proposed portfolio also reflects program

1:10:47 transitions already underway or under

1:10:50 consideration, including mergers and

1:10:53 programs that are sunsetting.

1:10:56 For example, culinary arts where you see

1:10:59 on screen hospitality management merging

1:11:02 with culinary arts. We are proposing

1:11:05 three new programs for formal study,

1:11:08 biotechnology,

1:11:09 early child early education and child

1:11:12 and care and veterary science. The

1:11:15 proposed changes are intended to

1:11:17 strengthen the connection between

1:11:19 Madison Park's educational offerings and

1:11:22 Boston's current and emerging workforce

1:11:24 needs. Tonight's vote will authorize us

1:11:27 to study this portfolio. It would not

1:11:30 automatically open, expand, merge, or

1:11:33 close any program. During the

1:11:35 feasibility study, we will evaluate

1:11:38 student demand, staffing, lenture

1:11:41 requirements, equipment needs,

1:11:43 partnerships, space requirements, and

1:11:45 long-term program sustainability. We

1:11:48 will also continue engaging Madison Park

1:11:51 students, families, educators, industry

1:11:54 partners, labor representatives,

1:11:56 postsecondary institution, and the

1:11:58 broader community before any final

1:12:01 recommendations.

1:12:10 Biotechnology has been identified as a

1:12:12 priority industry by Mass Hire, the

1:12:14 Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and

1:12:17 the city of Boston. The Boston region

1:12:20 has a significant concentration of life

1:12:23 sciences and healthcare employers,

1:12:25 creating potential career and

1:12:27 post-secondary opportunities for Madison

1:12:30 Park students. Labor market analysis

1:12:33 indicates strong demand, job growth, and

1:12:36 competitive wages in this sector.

1:12:40 Early education and care. Expanding the

1:12:43 early education workforce is a priority

1:12:45 for both the city of Boston and Boston

1:12:48 public schools. Boston continues to need

1:12:50 qualified early educators and this

1:12:54 pathway could allow students to enter

1:12:56 the workforce while also pursuing

1:12:58 additional credentials or college

1:13:01 degrees.

1:13:02 The program could create a strong

1:13:04 connection between Madison Park and

1:13:06 BPS's own workforce needs. Through the

1:13:09 feasibility study, we will assess

1:13:11 student interests, work work-based

1:13:14 learning opportunities, certification

1:13:16 requirements, and partnerships.

1:13:18 Veterinary science has been recommended

1:13:21 for consideration by the Greater Boston

1:13:23 Chamber of Commerce. The field offer

1:13:26 oppers opportunities in animal care,

1:13:30 veterary assistance, laboratory

1:13:33 settings, and related scientific

1:13:35 careers.

1:13:42 In closing,

1:13:44 these proposed programs reflect our goal

1:13:46 of preparing Madison Park students for

1:13:48 strong careers in Boston's current and

1:13:50 emerging industries. We are asking the

1:13:53 school committee to approve the proposed

1:13:56 chapter 74 program portfolio for

1:13:59 submission to the MSBA. This approval

1:14:02 will allow the district to meet the

1:14:04 requirements of the eligibility period

1:14:07 and conduct the detailed analysis needed

1:14:09 during the feasibility study.

1:14:12 Thank you.

1:14:14 Thank you. I'll now open it up to

1:14:17 committee for questions.

1:14:20 Anyone?

1:14:26 Thank you, Chief Stannis Los. Just a a

1:14:29 logistical question around the list of

1:14:32 programs.

1:14:35 Robotics is listed as a new program in

1:14:38 both columns. Is it that it's new this

1:14:42 year and just will it will continue in

1:14:44 the proposed list next year?

1:14:47 Yes. So, robotics started um last year

1:14:50 as an elective. It's new this year. Um

1:14:52 and we are also like studying it um just

1:14:56 like as a long-term potential for

1:14:58 Madison Park.

1:14:59 Okay. Thank you. Um can you give an

1:15:04 example and I know that this is not the

1:15:05 final list. This is an approval for

1:15:07 further study but um as you all balanced

1:15:11 kind of industry demand with student

1:15:14 interest, community interest, etc. Can

1:15:16 you give an example of a pathway or

1:15:19 program of study that may have had

1:15:22 interest but was determined not to be

1:15:25 feasible for any reason? Just um to give

1:15:29 a more holistic sense of you know some

1:15:31 of the decision-m that was involved.

1:15:37 I I can't think specifically of a

1:15:39 program that was suggested that was not

1:15:42 included in the portfolio. Can you speak

1:15:44 into the microphone?

1:15:45 Sure. Sorry. Um I can't think of a

1:15:47 specific example of a program that was

1:15:49 not included in the portfolio um at this

1:15:54 moment. I I would add um to what Chief

1:15:57 Stannis Los um said is one of the

1:16:00 considerations for programs that remain

1:16:03 is considering all of the factors, the

1:16:05 student interest, the the labor market

1:16:07 demand. Sorry about that. um but also

1:16:11 programs that allow students that might

1:16:13 not be authorized to work in the United

1:16:15 States um good post-secondary options.

1:16:17 That's certainly a consideration um at

1:16:19 Madison Park. Um but I'll I'll go back

1:16:22 and and get back to you. If there were

1:16:24 programs that were raised and proposed

1:16:26 that were not um put forward.

1:16:29 Yeah. I think um one that comes to mind

1:16:31 would be aviation,

1:16:33 right? And uh aviation technology,

1:16:35 right? Tech. So I think that was I think

1:16:37 that's great. example. Thank you. Yeah,

1:16:39 aviation

1:16:41 for um pilots for preparation for pilots

1:16:44 is not a chapter 74

1:16:47 program in um the department of

1:16:49 education. The only option is aviation

1:16:52 tech which is the same as auto tech and

1:16:54 there isn't physical space um for that

1:16:56 program. It needs the space of literally

1:16:59 like a hanger. So thank you. I I forgot

1:17:01 about aviation.

1:17:02 Okay. Thank you. So that program is as

1:17:05 an it is operating as an elective at

1:17:07 Madison but to prepare students for the

1:17:10 pilot license is not a chapter 74

1:17:12 option. Okay. And how um comparable is

1:17:18 this list to some of the more successful

1:17:22 uh career technical education campuses

1:17:24 in Massachusetts.

1:17:26 I think we've all visited um several of

1:17:28 the very successful um programs. It's

1:17:31 very comparable. Um, I think you know

1:17:34 the one the one program that seems to be

1:17:36 emerging in some of the other centers is

1:17:38 advanced manufacturing which also has a

1:17:41 pretty high capital cost and a space

1:17:43 requirement. Um, but I would say the

1:17:45 portfolio is very comparable to the

1:17:46 regional vocational schools.

1:17:49 Thank you. My last oh sorry my second to

1:17:53 last question uh Chief Slannis you said

1:17:55 there is an agreed upon enrollment

1:17:58 capacity that also drove the number of

1:18:00 programs that you're thinking about uh

1:18:03 what is the agreed upon enrollment

1:18:05 capacity? So the enrollment one of the

1:18:08 things that we studied that Madison Park

1:18:10 does not have currently is a seventh and

1:18:13 eighth grade. So this is like wrapped up

1:18:15 in like the um the total number for

1:18:17 consideration with the MSBA. So it's

1:18:19 1,800 students.

1:18:21 Okay. And again, understanding that this

1:18:25 is not a set and committed program list,

1:18:28 but if we were to assume that a similar

1:18:31 list were moving forward um after these

1:18:34 study periods, etc., can you just name

1:18:36 the school year that if everything were

1:18:38 on track, this new column would be in

1:18:42 operation for students at Madison Park?

1:18:45 What school year would that be?

1:18:48 Um,

1:18:50 I would need to look at the MSBA

1:18:52 timeline to give you an answer. Can I

1:18:55 get back to you on that on?

1:18:56 Sure. Maybe just for the public. Is it

1:18:58 like two years from now, four, five?

1:19:00 Like just I think trying to give folks

1:19:03 an understanding of the timeline and the

1:19:06 length out that we're really talking

1:19:08 about.

1:19:08 So, um, the new programs that are prop

1:19:12 being proposed like Madison Park, etc.

1:19:14 Sorry, not Madison Park, but uh

1:19:17 veterinary science. Um currently at

1:19:20 Madison Park there, there's no space um

1:19:24 for that for the for these new programs

1:19:26 that are being proposed. So, it will be

1:19:29 um a part of like the new build or major

1:19:32 renovation through the MSBA process. And

1:19:35 that process can take anywhere from like

1:19:37 for the next like six years. Brian, if

1:19:41 you want to um add anything to that. I

1:19:43 think a high level schedule right now

1:19:45 we're looking uh to stop construction

1:19:47 sometime in 2030.

1:19:49 Can you say that again in the in the

1:19:51 microphone? Thank you.

1:19:52 Sorry. I think right now a high level um

1:19:54 schedule based upon where we're at with

1:19:56 the MSBA process is looking to stop

1:19:59 construction sometime in 2030 with

1:20:01 completion sometime in 2033.

1:20:08 Thank you.

1:20:11 You okay?

1:20:16 question.

1:20:17 I don't have a question. I just have

1:20:18 like a reminder, not a reminder, but uh

1:20:21 just to continue to keep in mind uh the

1:20:24 engagement part of students and families

1:20:27 in uh the broader Madison Park community

1:20:30 through the facility period so they can

1:20:33 be part of the bigger picture and they

1:20:35 know what's going on and how is this

1:20:38 progressing for them.

1:20:40 Thank you so much for that. I think

1:20:41 we're entering the phase like the

1:20:42 feasibility phase which is like the

1:20:44 exciting part for a lot of um community

1:20:47 engagement. The community gets to

1:20:49 influence like the design and stuff like

1:20:51 that like what the future of Madison

1:20:53 Park is going to look like. So a lot of

1:20:55 engagement during this phase.

1:20:59 I have a question. Is there a

1:21:01 comprehensive list of all of the

1:21:04 potential programs that chapter 74 would

1:21:08 have irregardless of the ones that we've

1:21:10 chosen? But is there comprehensive list?

1:21:13 My question being is that the size of

1:21:16 our district um all of our programs

1:21:19 don't just happen at Madison Park. Other

1:21:22 high schools have some programming as

1:21:25 well. How do we begin to look at that as

1:21:27 a complete district in terms of where

1:21:30 are the opportunities? So if a student

1:21:32 couldn't get a specific program at

1:21:35 Madison Park, are there other places in

1:21:38 the district

1:21:39 because of logistics, etc. that they

1:21:43 could get it and are there things that

1:21:46 we don't take advantage of? I I just

1:21:48 have a question. We are a seapport city

1:21:52 and do we have any programs that deal

1:21:54 with the seapport or you know those kind

1:21:58 of things?

1:21:59 Um that's great great questions. Um

1:22:02 there is a list of all potential chapter

1:22:05 74 programs on the DESIE website. They

1:22:08 are sorted by industry cluster. I think

1:22:11 we have a very broad portfolio. We have

1:22:14 32 CTE chapter 74 CTE programs across

1:22:18 five schools. Um so we you know beyond

1:22:21 the 21 at Madison there are another 11

1:22:23 that are spread out in the other four

1:22:25 schools which are English high school,

1:22:27 BAA, BGA

1:22:30 um and EMK. Um the answer to your second

1:22:34 question I think one one industry that

1:22:37 we don't cover um there is a state um

1:22:40 Norfolk Aggie school that covers

1:22:41 agriculture. it's simply an issue of

1:22:43 land um and space. Um so I think that's

1:22:46 you know that is an a program that some

1:22:49 students look for and we don't offer

1:22:51 that but I would say if you look across

1:22:53 the industry cluster we industry

1:22:56 clusters on the DESI website we are in

1:22:58 all of the industry clusters but not

1:23:00 necessarily every potential program. I

1:23:02 think what will be interesting to watch

1:23:04 given the timeline is how the state will

1:23:08 um put forward new standards in the IT

1:23:11 you know in the IT um the information

1:23:13 technology industry cluster and how we

1:23:15 will respond. So that's an area that we

1:23:17 will obviously be watching over the next

1:23:19 several years. Will there be a program

1:23:20 in AI or new technologies that the state

1:23:23 will um develop standards for and allow

1:23:26 us to open up a chapter 74 program.

1:23:30 Okay.

1:23:30 Thank you very much. I think so.

1:23:33 Oh, and you asked about the Seapport and

1:23:35 I I just want to share that you're going

1:23:37 to hear about the Bloomberg grant later,

1:23:38 but you know, we are looking at

1:23:41 um programming within the programs at

1:23:44 Madison to address um issues of clean

1:23:47 energy, to address issues of climate

1:23:49 resilience. So it might not be a new

1:23:51 program but we are looking you know to

1:23:53 to trends that are you know happening in

1:23:56 our climate and and um new energy

1:23:58 technologies and and um carbon neutral

1:24:01 buildings. So we're modernizing the

1:24:03 programs that we have so that students

1:24:05 have transferable skills as the needs of

1:24:07 industry change.

1:24:09 Thank you.

1:24:10 I I have one I know got three different

1:24:13 questions going here. One, two, three.

1:24:16 Okay. So I just I I just want to um I I

1:24:20 talked about you know like keeping the

1:24:21 engagement part but also thinking about

1:24:24 the kids that already have they are part

1:24:27 of the program and uh some of the

1:24:30 programs that are being sitting and uh

1:24:34 we letting those kids know

1:24:36 what is going on and you know they'll be

1:24:38 okay.

1:24:40 Yes. So when a program is sunset, the

1:24:42 students that are currently in the

1:24:44 program continue in the program and they

1:24:46 are allowed to graduate. There just

1:24:48 aren't new 9th graders coming in. Um in

1:24:51 the two examples um that the chief

1:24:53 presented around merging programs.

1:24:56 Students that are put in those programs,

1:24:58 for example, culinary and hospitality

1:24:59 will be learning the standards in both

1:25:01 of those clusters. Um and the same with

1:25:03 design and visual and graphic

1:25:05 communications. So whichever program

1:25:07 they came from, they're actually going

1:25:09 to get a more expansive um introduction

1:25:12 to those two fields through the merge

1:25:14 program.

1:25:17 Thank you.

1:25:18 Thank you for the presentation. This is

1:25:20 why I should go first because vice chair

1:25:24 stole my questions and suggestions. But

1:25:27 anyway,

1:25:29 just just to confirm and for for the

1:25:32 benefit of the public because the first

1:25:34 time I saw this list of new proposed

1:25:37 programs, my reaction was

1:25:40 with technology changing by the

1:25:42 [clears throat] minute and AI and

1:25:44 everything like how can we know what is

1:25:47 going to be needed? What technology do

1:25:48 we have to be preparing our students in

1:25:50 eight or 10 years from now? So just to

1:25:53 clarify, we're talking about a

1:25:55 provisional approval of this list,

1:25:58 correct?

1:26:00 Yes, that is correct.

1:26:01 Great. And then in terms of enrollment

1:26:04 capacity, I understood that the new

1:26:07 school will be able to serve 1,800

1:26:10 students. Is that correct?

1:26:12 Yes, that's the number that we're

1:26:13 studying with Desi.

1:26:14 How many are we serving now?

1:26:16 MSBA. Sorry. Um

1:26:19 Madison Park has between around 1,200.

1:26:23 It goes between 1100 and 1200.

1:26:27 Yeah.

1:26:28 Great.

1:26:29 But it does not have a seventh and

1:26:31 eighth grade. So I think that's it's

1:26:33 both the expansion of the 9 to2. Right.

1:26:35 I think the other thing member Palter is

1:26:37 that on the chapter 74 side we are bound

1:26:40 even when technology changes we are

1:26:42 bound to what the state is adopting and

1:26:45 considering chapter 74. And sometimes

1:26:47 there isn't as fast of a process there

1:26:50 to change the actual chapter 74

1:26:53 programming as we want to. So like

1:26:56 robotics is a good example where it took

1:26:58 a while for that to become a chapter 74.

1:27:02 Thank you.

1:27:03 Y

1:27:06 have a question.

1:27:07 No, you're good.

1:27:09 All right. Thank you. Um and I we will

1:27:11 be taking action on this later in the

1:27:13 meeting.

1:27:13 Yeah. Thank you.

1:27:14 Thank you.

1:27:15 Great.

1:27:16 We will now move on to general public

1:27:18 comment. Miss Parvox.

1:27:22 Thank you, chair.

1:27:26 The public comment period is an

1:27:28 opportunity for individuals to address

1:27:29 the school committee on school related

1:27:31 issues. Questions on specific school

1:27:33 matters are referred to the

1:27:34 superintendent. Questions on policy

1:27:37 matters may be discussed by the

1:27:38 committee later. The meeting will

1:27:40 feature two public comment periods with

1:27:42 the first comment period limited to 1

1:27:44 hour. After one hour, anyone who hasn't

1:27:47 testified will have the opportunity to

1:27:49 do so at the end of the meeting. We have

1:27:51 14 speakers this evening. Each person

1:27:54 will have three minutes to speak and I

1:27:56 will remind you when you have 30 seconds

1:27:58 remaining. Please feel free to email

1:28:00 your comments for distribution to the

1:28:02 committee. Speakers may not reassign

1:28:04 their times to others. The time that an

1:28:07 interpreter uses for English

1:28:08 interpretation will not be deducted from

1:28:10 a speaker's allotted time. Please direct

1:28:13 your comments to the chair and refrain

1:28:15 from addressing individual school

1:28:16 committee members or district staff.

1:28:19 Please note the comments of any public

1:28:21 speaker do not represent the Boston

1:28:24 public schools or the Boston school

1:28:25 committee. Please state your name,

1:28:27 affiliation, and where you live before

1:28:29 you begin. For speakers on Zoom, please

1:28:32 be ready to unmute and turn on your

1:28:33 camera when called. To support

1:28:36 interpretation, please speak slowly and

1:28:38 clearly. Our first group of speakers is

1:28:43 Peter Papadopoulos,

1:28:45 Jerasimo Papadopoulos, Thomas Fan,

1:28:48 Christina Nicolides, and Rosan Tang.

1:28:51 Peter Papadopus

1:28:54 is coming.

1:29:06 Hello. Uh, my name is Charles

1:29:08 Papadopoulos. I'm currently an 11th

1:29:10 grader in Boston Latin School and I'd

1:29:12 like to uh begin my presentation. Azy.

1:29:17 Aziz is the official designation for

1:29:19 someone who entered BLS in 9th grade. I

1:29:22 am a busy. Uh that means my math

1:29:25 tracking should be behind. Uh I should

1:29:28 be slower. If you enter in 9th grade,

1:29:30 you enter into algebra. But thankfully

1:29:33 the math department recognized that I

1:29:35 should accelerate and move me to algebra

1:29:37 2. That is where the rest of my ninth

1:29:40 grade peers were two years ago.

1:29:42 They were not buses. Most of those

1:29:44 people in algebra 2, I might note. Uh

1:29:47 now I'm trying to skip up to calculus. I

1:29:49 self-studied it in the summer and I'm

1:29:51 preparing to give KIPP examinations to

1:29:53 prove my readiness for that in

1:29:55 pre-calculus.

1:29:57 Unfortunately, the math department has

1:29:59 stopped granting requests to accelerate,

1:30:02 leaving students on unequal footing

1:30:04 throughout the grade.

1:30:06 There's a student in my grade whom they

1:30:07 granted permission to skip to calculus

1:30:09 in 10th grade, but in 11th grade they

1:30:12 are no longer letting anyone skip. I

1:30:15 feel like the policy prevents equity

1:30:17 within the grade because of that. Some

1:30:20 people are in a higher math class than

1:30:22 others whilst at the same time there are

1:30:25 people in a lower math class who have

1:30:27 the ability for a higher one.

1:30:30 I also observed that there are very few

1:30:31 beeys those who enter 9th grade within

1:30:34 the multivariable calculus course

1:30:38 um because um it's not official but the

1:30:41 way I feel it the school tracking system

1:30:44 is slightly set up to leave bezes a

1:30:47 little further behind unfortunately. So,

1:30:49 I'm registering for the AP calculus exam

1:30:52 at the end of the school year, and I

1:30:54 will study and try to get a good score,

1:30:57 but I I think it would be really kind of

1:30:59 the school to place me in that class to

1:31:01 help me get that score because of their

1:31:04 excellent uh support system in teaching.

1:31:06 You may be wondering why am I addressing

1:31:09 a school board for this? It's because I

1:31:12 have repeatedly inquired into this

1:31:14 matter internally.

1:31:16 discussions have reached uh the

1:31:18 principal but unfortunately I feel like

1:31:21 they have not fell on the most receptive

1:31:23 ears. This is why I'm here to address uh

1:31:27 what I feel is a core inequality at the

1:31:30 school. Our school provides a zoom

1:31:32 course for pre-calculus. This is an

1:31:34 online course so there are no space

1:31:36 constraints. It's not a physical

1:31:37 classroom. That's not the problem.

1:31:39 Seconds.

1:31:40 The course is supposed to catch up beeys

1:31:42 who wish to take calculus. The

1:31:44 prerequisites are only algebra 2 and

1:31:45 geometry classes which I have already

1:31:47 taken by last year. Asking to enter this

1:31:50 course, I was denied despite meeting the

1:31:52 prerequisites simply because I was not

1:31:54 in the 11th grade at the time. The way I

1:31:56 understand that they only interesting in

1:31:58 having this catchup to bring you to the

1:32:00 their baseline but not to follow your

1:32:02 further ambitions. And I feel like

1:32:06 um thank you for your time.

1:32:09 Thank you.

1:32:12 Was that Peter Papadopoulos who came

1:32:14 out? Yeah.

1:32:17 Okay. So, Jerasimus Papadopoulos.

1:32:19 Oh, that was me.

1:32:20 Okay. That's what I thought. So, Peter

1:32:23 Papadopus then

1:32:26 it's going to take

1:32:58 Uh good afternoon. My name is Peter

1:33:00 Papadopoulos and I come also come from

1:33:03 Boston Latin School.

1:33:05 I finished a mathematics course on art

1:33:07 of problem solving, an internationally

1:33:09 renowned pro platform where students go

1:33:12 even to the international mathematic

1:33:13 olympiad. I'm seeking to enter geometry.

1:33:16 I studied algebra and believe I have the

1:33:18 necessary skills to pass such an

1:33:20 assessment. I accelerated in 8th grade

1:33:22 before even high school and my request

1:33:24 was nonetheless denied. I asked this

1:33:27 year again prepared and more qualified.

1:33:30 But despite this, my request was not

1:33:31 heard. The math department didn't even

1:33:34 allow me to take an exam to prove my

1:33:36 readiness. They simply denied my

1:33:38 request. My mother sent a formal request

1:33:40 as a school required through the

1:33:42 official channels and my mom was not

1:33:44 motiv not notified that I wasn't allowed

1:33:46 to take the exam. I'm passionate about

1:33:49 math because I want to be a mathematics

1:33:51 major or an engineering major and I most

1:33:53 appreciate how math stems from a small

1:33:55 collection of axioms to build an

1:33:57 infinitely beautiful language. I wish I

1:34:00 explore this deeper and reach

1:34:01 multivariable calculus in the 12th grade

1:34:04 but by denying me to accelerate to

1:34:05 geometry pens. There are people in my

1:34:08 grade who have already taken geometry.

1:34:10 The math department permits this.

1:34:12 However, they were allowed last year.

1:34:14 Suddenly, the math department has

1:34:15 stopped allowing people to accelerate to

1:34:17 the level that they should be at. I

1:34:19 believe this is harmful since it creates

1:34:21 an inequality in the math tracking where

1:34:23 some people are above others in my own

1:34:25 grade. But we are not allowed to catch

1:34:27 up to them because the decisions have

1:34:29 long been crystallized. The reason I'm

1:34:31 speaking here is because I feel it is

1:34:32 the only place where my voice.

1:34:36 The reason I'm speaking here is because

1:34:38 I feel it is the only place where my

1:34:39 voice has been heard. Boston Latin

1:34:41 School already had issues with equity

1:34:43 within their exam process. But I think

1:34:46 these concerns and equity go further

1:34:47 than just the exam. I believe they are

1:34:49 also within the structure of the school

1:34:51 itself.

1:34:52 Thank you.

1:34:53 Thank you very much.

1:34:56 Next speaker is Thomas Fan.

1:35:12 Prep

1:35:18 Calculus is an exam accepted by 2,900

1:35:21 colleges within the United States of

1:35:23 America. It measures completion of

1:35:25 calculus 1 and I passed it with a 78 out

1:35:28 of 80. I'm currently taking calculus 3

1:35:31 at Bunker Hill Community College.

1:35:35 I am current

1:35:37 Just continue. Keep talking.

1:35:38 Yeah, just keep talking. I am currently

1:35:41 taking calculus 3 at Bunker Hill

1:35:43 Community College, an institution that

1:35:45 is accredited by the New England

1:35:47 Commission of Higher Education. They

1:35:49 also accredited Harvard and Yale. Yet,

1:35:52 when I asked to accelerate within the

1:35:54 math department, I am denied.

1:35:58 Based on this, I feel like I am not

1:36:01 being denied based on merit, but by an

1:36:04 institutional wall. There already is

1:36:06 someone in our grade taking

1:36:07 multivariable calculus within Boston

1:36:09 Latin School. I'm a beey, meaning I

1:36:12 entered in 9th grade, not seventh like

1:36:14 the rest of the people. I believe this

1:36:18 disadvantages me because it meant that I

1:36:20 was automatically set to be placed in

1:36:22 algebra 1 in 9th grade by default.

1:36:25 Thankfully, back then they allowed me to

1:36:27 accelerate to the baseline of which all

1:36:29 sixes start as. I am asking to

1:36:33 accelerate in 11th grade from

1:36:34 pre-calculus to calculus

1:36:38 but they are not allowing me. The

1:36:40 department let people of my grade

1:36:41 accelerate in the math track in the past

1:36:44 but they are no longer allowing that

1:36:46 which makes me feel unequally

1:36:49 treated since I believe I have the same

1:36:51 abilities for math yet am not given the

1:36:54 same opportunities in terms of what

1:36:56 classes I take. Boston Latin School has

1:36:58 already faced other concerns over equity

1:37:02 and we believe that they are not over.

1:37:06 But I hope that the school considers

1:37:07 moving past that era and makes more

1:37:10 progress in helping everyone regardless

1:37:13 of if they came to BLS in 9th grade or

1:37:16 7th grade. Despite of all this, I will

1:37:19 take the AP calculus exam at the end of

1:37:21 the school year. And I simply hope that

1:37:23 the school will provide me support and

1:37:25 allow me to formally take the class so I

1:37:28 have less trouble over passing that exam

1:37:31 since it is diff uh is a difficult one.

1:37:34 BLS is known for its rigorous approach

1:37:37 and I may need some help with it which I

1:37:39 feel that BLS will adequately provide.

1:37:43 DZs by default have less AP slots

1:37:46 because they have to take other

1:37:48 requirements.

1:37:48 30 seconds. So, I feel that allowing me

1:37:51 to take calculus would be a fair

1:37:53 compensation and would level the footing

1:37:55 in terms of GPA.

1:37:58 Thank you.

1:37:59 Thank you,

1:38:01 Christina Nicolites.

1:38:09 Rosantang.

1:38:31 I served on the exam school admissions

1:38:34 task force in 2021.

1:38:37 We all saw the recent Boston Globe

1:38:39 article sharing the good news that black

1:38:42 enrollment at BLS has increased each

1:38:45 year and approached the district's black

1:38:47 enrollment in the school year 26.

1:38:50 However, a closer look at exam school

1:38:53 invitation rates for school year 27 by

1:38:57 race tells a different story. Last fall,

1:39:00 BPS leadership stated that they don't

1:39:03 want exam schools to take up valuable

1:39:05 airtime

1:39:06 that should be devoted to improving

1:39:08 other schools. So, they enacted a policy

1:39:11 which simulations showed would be

1:39:13 regressive and pledged to leave that

1:39:16 policy alone for three years. I want to

1:39:19 acknowledge that two of you voted

1:39:21 against this harmful policy.

1:39:24 In line with this intention, BPS has

1:39:27 quietly posted the school year 27

1:39:30 invitation rates. I don't know when. Did

1:39:33 you see and discuss them? They show

1:39:36 retrograde admissions policy changes

1:39:41 led to Boston Latin School black and

1:39:43 Latina invitation rates declining an

1:39:46 amount equal to the amount that white

1:39:49 invitation rates increased.

1:39:52 For this year, students with

1:39:53 disabilities were invited to exam

1:39:56 schools at 1/3 and multilingual learners

1:39:59 at 1/ half the rate of school year 23,

1:40:02 despite constituting 23 and 35% of

1:40:06 district enrollment, respectively.

1:40:09 According to simulations, the most

1:40:11 concerning policy change last year was

1:40:14 the addition of a citywide top 20% round

1:40:17 of invitations. Yet the BPS report does

1:40:21 not provide disagregation of who the top

1:40:25 20% of invitees are by race,

1:40:28 neighborhood, etc. It does report that

1:40:31 almost half of them live in the highest

1:40:35 of four socioeconomic tiers. The mere

1:40:38 existence of exam schools structures

1:40:41 inequity throughout all of BPS. So, we

1:40:45 should be talking about the equity

1:40:47 impact of changed admissions policies.

1:40:50 Invitation rates likely foreshadow

1:40:53 enrollment rates. So, we should be

1:40:56 concerned about a widening opportunity

1:40:58 gap in the near future. Questions that I

1:41:01 hope you all ask

1:41:03 seconds.

1:41:04 Who was invited in the citywide top 20%

1:41:07 round? For example, what was the

1:41:10 breakdown of this year's citywide round

1:41:12 by race, socioeconomic status, etc.? How

1:41:16 do changes in invitation rates affect

1:41:18 changes in enrollment rates?

1:41:21 Why continue implementing an emissions

1:41:24 policy that simulations and now evidence

1:41:27 prove unjust? Thank you.

1:41:30 Thank you.

1:41:32 Our next group of speakers are Travis

1:41:35 Marshall, John Mud, Audrey Martinez,

1:41:38 Madapakan, Yaken Santos, and Robert

1:41:41 Jenkins.

1:41:52 Good evening. My name is Travis

1:41:54 Marshall. I live in Roslandale. I'm the

1:41:57 proud parent of students at the English

1:41:58 High School and New Mission High School.

1:42:01 I'm also a member of Quality Schools for

1:42:04 Every Student Quest, a grassroots group

1:42:07 of parents in the district.

1:42:10 It's the start of a new school year, but

1:42:14 in the coming weeks, you will already

1:42:15 begin to tackle the budget for next

1:42:18 year.

1:42:19 One facet of school finance that Quest

1:42:23 hopes you consider is the role of

1:42:25 private fundraising in the Boston public

1:42:27 schools.

1:42:29 Quest parents reported on the 2018

1:42:32 Ernstston Young audit of individual

1:42:34 school accounts, the first and only time

1:42:37 there has been a district-wide snapshot

1:42:39 of the role that philanthropy plays in

1:42:42 the schools.

1:42:44 We updated this data from IRS90 forms

1:42:48 annually and last year we were able to

1:42:50 recreate a wider picture using BEDF's

1:42:54 accounting of the schools for which it

1:42:56 provides fiscal sponsorship.

1:43:00 This is important data. However, it

1:43:02 should not be for a group of working

1:43:05 parents to cobble together.

1:43:08 The superintendent circular FIN21

1:43:11 on BPS recognized 501c3 organizations

1:43:15 states that all taxexempt school

1:43:17 organizations need a strong rationale

1:43:20 for the need of a separate independent

1:43:22 501c3

1:43:24 and must update BPS on current details

1:43:28 including board structure status and

1:43:31 operating revenue each year.

1:43:34 To our knowledge, this is not happening.

1:43:38 Despite the recent reimagining school

1:43:40 funding project recommendation to

1:43:42 collect and make available all revenue

1:43:45 information by school, inclusive of

1:43:47 philanthropy, fundraising, and other

1:43:50 private sources.

1:43:53 Quest continues to recommend that BPS

1:43:55 create a dashboard that is updated

1:43:58 annually for all funding sources so that

1:44:01 the funding of our public schools

1:44:03 remains transparent to stakeholders and

1:44:06 taxpayers.

1:44:08 We invite BPS staff and families to join

1:44:10 us on September 22nd at 2 p.m. for a

1:44:13 city council hearing on this matter.

1:44:17 Thank you very much.

1:44:18 Thank you. Next speaker is John Mud.

1:44:32 Good evening. Welcome back to the new

1:44:34 school year. For those who don't know

1:44:36 it, my name is John Mud. I'm a resident

1:44:38 of Cambridge and a longtime education

1:44:40 advocate in Boston. An urgent priority

1:44:44 for BPS and the school committee is

1:44:46 determining when the strategic

1:44:48 implementation plan will be presented. I

1:44:52 hope you agree.

1:44:54 It was promised for this fall at the

1:44:56 time when the committee passed the new

1:44:58 opportunity and achievement gap policy.

1:45:01 Such a strategic implementation plan

1:45:04 should include annual smart goals and a

1:45:07 statement of the changes in education

1:45:09 programs explaining how BPS plans to

1:45:13 reach these goals. If there is any hope

1:45:15 of seeing real improvement for students,

1:45:18 smart goals for disagregated groups must

1:45:21 be set by BPS for student outcomes and

1:45:24 the reduction of proficiency and

1:45:26 achievement gaps on MCCAST, for teacher

1:45:29 diversity, for the expansion of

1:45:31 bilingual education programs and

1:45:34 bilingual teachers, and for equitable

1:45:36 literacy. Will such a full strategic

1:45:39 plan be presented to the school

1:45:41 committee at its October 14th meeting or

1:45:44 at its November 18th meeting? The school

1:45:47 committee needs to see set a date. There

1:45:50 must be a plan by then for BPS to

1:45:53 incorporate new strategies in planning

1:45:56 for the next school year 202728 budget

1:46:00 and for BPS to submit necessary

1:46:02 proposals to the state in time for

1:46:05 implementation in the fall of 2027. The

1:46:08 school committee will need to decide

1:46:10 whether it will insist on real change.

1:46:13 Simply setting smart goals without

1:46:15 spelling out the so-called logic of

1:46:18 action about how P BPS will reach these

1:46:21 goals will likely be empty rhetoric, the

1:46:24 proverbial lipstick on the pig. Current

1:46:27 approaches are failing. More of the same

1:46:31 will not accelerate needed improvement.

1:46:34 I want to be respectful, but a road map

1:46:37 is not an implementation plan. Even

1:46:40 [clears throat] my car road map gives me

1:46:42 the mileage and the routes I need to get

1:46:45 to my destination. The road map that was

1:46:48 posted online has no smart goals and no

1:46:51 explanation of the program changes to

1:46:54 reach these goals. Please ask the

1:46:57 superintendent to produce such a

1:47:00 strategic implementation plan before you

1:47:03 proceed further. Thank you. Our next

1:47:07 speaker is Audrey Martinez for the

1:47:10 Pakam.

1:47:23 Good evening everyone. Thank you for

1:47:25 your time and listening. Um, I'm here

1:47:28 tonight because I am extremely consider

1:47:32 concerned about um the system for uh

1:47:38 IEPs and that it's too complicated um

1:47:42 even for myself, a former teacher, um a

1:47:47 a parent and someone that has been a

1:47:50 researcher in education for over 20

1:47:53 years and also my colleagues with

1:47:55 doctoral degrees um have had many

1:47:58 challenges trying to navigate um the

1:48:01 individualized education plan. Um last

1:48:05 week I was trying to help my friend

1:48:07 complete a consent form for additional

1:48:11 evaluations,

1:48:12 but we were really confused because it

1:48:15 didn't include any of the assessments

1:48:17 that we knew her child needed because

1:48:20 they are bilingual. Um, and I know as a

1:48:25 multilingual person that if I am

1:48:27 assessed in the wrong language, you will

1:48:29 not know as much as you won't be able to

1:48:32 know what I actually know. And so we

1:48:35 were trying to figure out how to how to

1:48:38 put this into the form because there was

1:48:40 very very little space and all of the

1:48:43 things listed had nothing to do with

1:48:45 what we were concerned about. So we

1:48:49 almost rejected it and I later

1:48:54 thanks to my dog [laughter]

1:48:56 learned that we would have been in

1:48:58 jeopardy. And let me explain my dog. My

1:49:01 dog is an angel. And last Sunday uh I

1:49:05 took him for his regular walk, but he

1:49:07 refused to walk where I wanted to take

1:49:09 him. And so instead we went to the park.

1:49:13 And thanks to me going to the park with

1:49:15 him, I ran into a neighbor who shared

1:49:19 with me that her daughter was finally

1:49:21 going to go to a school that was going

1:49:23 to help her because she won a lawsuit

1:49:27 against BPS

1:49:29 because her daughter had went

1:49:31 undiagnosed for several years with

1:49:34 autism.

1:49:36 And because of that, she connected me

1:49:38 with an advocate who then I finally

1:49:42 talked to yesterday and it saved us from

1:49:46 jeopardizing the whole IEP process. Um,

1:49:52 and I, you know, we've been working on

1:49:55 this for about three months.

1:49:57 And I I don't think it's fair that, you

1:50:01 know, even if I have high levels of

1:50:04 education and I was a teacher before

1:50:06 that I don't understand these things.

1:50:09 And so I really want to advocate that

1:50:13 our city should be offering free just

1:50:17 like they offer free legal immigration

1:50:19 clinics, we should also have free legal

1:50:22 clinics for indivi for families that

1:50:25 have IEPs.

1:50:26 Thank you. Your time is up.

1:50:30 Please send your testim written

1:50:31 testimony.

1:50:32 Yes.

1:50:34 Jacqueline Santos.

1:50:40 No, Robert Jenkins.

1:50:59 Good evening, Chairperson Robertson.

1:51:01 Good evening, Superintendent Skipper. My

1:51:03 name is Robert Jenkins, president of the

1:51:06 Madison Park Alumni Association

1:51:08 Incorporated. So, I picked a good night

1:51:10 to come. Uh, be very brief. Uh, a year

1:51:13 ago, I was uh diagnosed with stage three

1:51:17 prostate cancer. As of today, I am

1:51:21 cancer free after going through

1:51:24 uh after going through the MRI, biopsy,

1:51:29 PET scan, and I just two weeks ago

1:51:33 uh spent 4 months of radiation 5 days a

1:51:37 week. So, uh I am fully healthy and

1:51:40 back, you know, as I always been.

1:51:47 I want to thank everyone. Uh it was a

1:51:50 team effort from all of my doctors, but

1:51:53 uh one of the reasons why I'm here

1:51:54 tonight is please vote for Madison Park

1:51:58 moving on. It's been a long process. The

1:52:01 Madison Park Alumni Association has been

1:52:03 involved ever since when we started this

1:52:07 entire process and then it was a ro

1:52:09 there was some it was a roadblock or I

1:52:12 should say a bump in the road where we

1:52:14 had to file for the MSBA which the

1:52:17 mayor's office did. Some people didn't

1:52:19 like it, but you know, like I said, I'm

1:52:21 class of 1978

1:52:23 and I came into that building in 77, so

1:52:27 there's a lot of stake for uh uh the

1:52:29 alumni association. We have we have

1:52:32 space in the building. We're there every

1:52:33 day. We were there for the freshman

1:52:35 orientation week. Uh got to teach uh you

1:52:38 know uh history of Madison. We turned 50

1:52:41 last year as you see my commemorative

1:52:44 shirt there. Uh, also on top of that, we

1:52:47 were there for the first day of school,

1:52:49 which we have been. I've been associate

1:52:51 with my alma mada ever since 2013.

1:52:55 I've been a school site school parent

1:52:57 council member. Uh, as well uh we we

1:53:00 started in 2013, but we were sanctioned

1:53:03 in 2016 when I became president under

1:53:06 the secretary of state's office. Beedf

1:53:08 is our fiscal uh sponsor. So we have a

1:53:11 lot of ties into the school but we

1:53:14 definitely need to move forward. One of

1:53:16 the main goals I am also involved in the

1:53:20 Shard Taylor MSBA process working very

1:53:23 closely with Dell and her team. We have

1:53:26 a community meeting coming up uh on the

1:53:29 24th

1:53:31 at the Madapan um Madapan Library. We

1:53:34 did a presentation a few weeks ago which

1:53:37 I'm working on the aspect of it. But

1:53:39 what most another most important thing

1:53:40 is our athletics. Oh, wait a minute. I

1:53:43 got to make a quick shout out to the

1:53:44 community engagement community

1:53:46 advancement team. They put on one heck

1:53:49 of a show last Friday in which I

1:53:51 volunteer. People see me around the

1:53:53 building. But also too, we have to get

1:53:56 more partners involved and help Chief

1:53:58 Corey McCarthy out on regarding uh

1:54:02 athletics and student supports.

1:54:04 Thank you, Mr. Jenkins.

1:54:06 We will now transition to Zoom um public

1:54:10 comment. Uh please raise your virtual

1:54:13 hand when I call your name. Our next

1:54:16 group of speakers are Judith Baker, Asia

1:54:20 Jackson, Rebecca,

1:54:22 [snorts]

1:54:23 and Christina Norris.

1:54:25 Judith Baker.

1:54:37 Please unmute and turn on your camera.

1:54:42 I'm trying to turn it on and having some

1:54:44 problem, but I will do my best here.

1:54:53 Thank you very much. Uh my name is

1:54:55 Judith Baker. I'm a longtime BPS

1:54:57 teacher, now retired. uh spent most of

1:55:00 my years at Madison Park. Have been

1:55:02 involved as a Madison Park advocate uh

1:55:06 since uh 200.

1:55:08 We can't hear you.

1:55:09 You can't?

1:55:10 Yeah. Now we

1:55:11 Now we can.

1:55:12 It's fine.

1:55:13 Okay. Now you can.

1:55:15 Yes. Now we can stop.

1:55:17 Thank you. Uh my name is Judith Baker. I

1:55:20 taught for many many years at Madison

1:55:21 Park. And then in um [clears throat]

1:55:25 2012 with Mel King and Dennis Wilson, we

1:55:28 started the Friends of Madison Park and

1:55:30 have been very active as advocates since

1:55:32 then. We have submitted a written

1:55:35 testimony to all of the members. So I

1:55:38 won't read it here since you all have

1:55:40 it. The written testimony uh states some

1:55:44 of our really very very important needs

1:55:47 this year and our needs going forward if

1:55:50 we're going to be successful. Obviously,

1:55:52 technical education, high skills

1:55:54 education is a huge benefit to the

1:55:58 students who who enroll in chapter 74

1:56:00 programs. And Boston has been very very

1:56:04 slow to build a really state-of-the-art

1:56:07 uh set of programs since the original

1:56:09 Humphrey Center was first built. We

1:56:11 desperately need your help. We have the

1:56:15 possibility of creating life-changing

1:56:19 skill programs and enrolling uh hund

1:56:23 actually actually 1,800 students in

1:56:26 them. But only if the state comes

1:56:28 through. If the state doesn't come

1:56:29 through, we still have to do it. So

1:56:32 these next seven years are incredibly

1:56:34 important. And in our testimony, we have

1:56:37 listed some of the needs that have gone

1:56:39 unmet. We have certainly worked very

1:56:42 hard with superintendent with Dell

1:56:45 Sandis with um with uh Brett Dickens. We

1:56:51 are very serious about getting these

1:56:53 skills for kids. You have to understand

1:56:56 that there are needs going unmet that

1:56:58 are very important needs and we can't we

1:57:01 just can't do our job without your

1:57:03 attention. So, I'm only here to draw

1:57:06 your attention to that written

1:57:07 testimony. I hope all the members of the

1:57:10 school committee will read it very

1:57:11 carefully and then come back and help us

1:57:14 with these matters. We're of course

1:57:16 we're very excited if the state does

1:57:18 help us build a new building. But you've

1:57:20 got to understand that's 7 8 n years

1:57:22 down the road. We had thought we were

1:57:24 going to start uh shovels in the in the

1:57:27 ground in 2025.

1:57:29 That didn't happen. Our kids can't wait

1:57:32 till 2034 for programs. We have to have

1:57:35 those programs now. we have to have

1:57:37 seventh and eighth grade now. And uh I

1:57:40 hope that you will respond very

1:57:43 seriously to the points that we raised.

1:57:45 Thank you very much. I really appreciate

1:57:47 the chance to speak to you tonight.

1:57:50 Thank you very much. Our next speaker is

1:57:53 not in the meeting. Asia Jackson is not

1:57:56 in the meeting. So we will continue with

1:57:58 Rebecca Otopuk.

1:58:01 I'll stop.

1:58:09 Good evening. I'm here today talking

1:58:11 about

1:58:12 the Boston public school transportation

1:58:15 department. I thought this being a new

1:58:18 school year, it would be a new leaf. For

1:58:20 three years, we have had issues on the

1:58:22 school buses. Yesterday, my 5-year-old

1:58:26 and my 7-year-old got on the bus at 8:26

1:58:29 a.m. Their school opened at 8:10 a.m.

1:58:34 My daughter called me on the wa on her

1:58:37 smartwatch at 9:14

1:58:40 that they were scared and they didn't

1:58:42 know where their bus was. I called the

1:58:44 bus company. They said that they were

1:58:47 dropped off at school at 8:45. I called

1:58:51 the school who told me that they were

1:58:53 not there and they didn't know where the

1:58:55 bus was.

1:58:58 I tracked my daughter from her watch and

1:59:00 we stayed on the phone with her and two

1:59:03 brave girls on that bus held up signs

1:59:06 asking for help from the outside

1:59:08 community that they were in danger with

1:59:10 this bus driver.

1:59:14 I have not heard a single response from

1:59:17 transportation. I've asked for two days

1:59:18 for supervisors to call me back. While

1:59:21 on the phone with my daughter, the bus

1:59:23 was pulled over by Boston police C11

1:59:28 district in Dorchester.

1:59:31 The cop had to redirect the bus driver

1:59:33 on how to get to school. I want some

1:59:36 accountability held for the bus drivers.

1:59:39 Last year, my daughter was lost. She got

1:59:42 hurt on the bus and ended up in the

1:59:43 emergency room. And I've heard nothing.

1:59:47 There's no change and there's got to be

1:59:49 some kind of change. I've reached out to

1:59:51 trans staff. I've reached out to the

1:59:54 superintendent's office. I've reached

1:59:56 out to the helpline to 311 and I have

2:00:00 gone unheard. I've even reached out to

2:00:02 the news. Thank you for your time.

2:00:06 Thank you very much. Our fin our last

2:00:10 speaker is Christina Norris.

2:00:17 Christina Norris.

2:00:22 I'm just trying to get my camera on.

2:00:27 Hi,

2:00:29 good evening. My name is Christina

2:00:31 Norris. I am a Boston parent of four and

2:00:34 three of my children are BPS students.

2:00:38 Given the history of BPS transportation

2:00:40 and my family's experience since we

2:00:42 moved here, I imagine this probably

2:00:44 won't be the last time we meet like

2:00:46 this. On the first day of school, BPS

2:00:49 reported that 61% of morning buses were

2:00:51 on time. But what about the other 39%.

2:00:55 Let me tell you what that looks like. It

2:00:57 looks like my daughter standing on a

2:00:58 sidewalk waiting for a bus that never

2:01:01 showed up. It looks like parents

2:01:02 refreshing an app, watching ETAs change,

2:01:05 sitting on hold with transportation, and

2:01:07 having no idea where the bus is or when

2:01:10 their child will arrive. Yesterday, my

2:01:12 children were part of that 39%.

2:01:15 13 children on a bus where the system

2:01:18 marked them as dropped off at 8:44 a.m.

2:01:21 They were still on the bus. We didn't

2:01:24 even know there was a problem until our

2:01:25 children contacted us. Once a child is

2:01:28 marked dropped off, the app no longer

2:01:30 provides live tracking. Thankfully,

2:01:32 another parent and I had GPS on our

2:01:34 children's phones. We were able to

2:01:36 locate them and give the school their

2:01:38 actual location. The school couldn't

2:01:40 locate them through its own system

2:01:42 because the system said they were

2:01:43 already there. They were picked up at

2:01:46 8:24 and didn't arrive until 10:12. The

2:01:49 bus hit a sign with children on board.

2:01:52 The children signaled other drivers for

2:01:54 help.

2:01:56 The police responded and when I called

2:01:58 afterwards I was told that no police

2:02:00 report had been filed. That is what the

2:02:02 other 39% can look like. And I know that

2:02:05 we are not the only family. Parents have

2:02:07 been telling you about these problems

2:02:09 for years. I have filed multiple

2:02:11 complaints myself. You have the

2:02:12 complaints. You have the data. You had

2:02:15 an independent investigation in 2025

2:02:17 after a 5-year-old child was killed by a

2:02:20 BPS bus. And that investigation

2:02:23 identified serious problems. Yet here we

2:02:25 are in 2026. I want to recognize Miss

2:02:28 Carrie and Mr. Rockoff at Mason because

2:02:30 they have done more to advocate for

2:02:32 these children than I have personally

2:02:34 seen transportation do. They should not

2:02:36 have to do transportation's job and

2:02:38 neither should we. Parents should not

2:02:40 have to help track the buses, refresh

2:02:42 apps, sit on hold, or use their

2:02:44 children's phones to figure out where

2:02:46 they are. That is your job. You have the

2:02:49 complaints. You have the data. You have

2:02:50 the investigation. you know. So, I want

2:02:53 to ask you, what are you going to do

2:02:56 after you know, not eventually, not

2:02:59 after another complaint, not after

2:03:01 another investigation, and god forbid,

2:03:04 another tragedy. What do you do now?

2:03:06 Because I'm going to keep asking, I'm

2:03:08 going to keep documenting. And given the

2:03:10 history, I feel like we will be having

2:03:11 this conversation again. I would much

2:03:13 rather be wrong about that. These are

2:03:15 our children. We should not have to do

2:03:17 your job to get them safely to school.

2:03:19 You know there's a problem. Now show us

2:03:21 what you do after you know. Thank you.

2:03:24 Thank you very much chair. That

2:03:27 concludes public comment.

2:03:28 Thank you Miss Parex and thank you to

2:03:30 those of you who spoke this evening and

2:03:32 shared your perspectives. Your testimony

2:03:34 is extremely important to us. Our first

2:03:37 two action items this evening are the

2:03:39 grants for approval totaling $5,27,984

2:03:46 and the inind donations with a total

2:03:48 estimated value of $750.

2:03:52 Now I'd like to turn it over to the

2:03:53 superintendent for any final comments.

2:03:56 Great. Thank you, chair. So uh as uh

2:03:58 chair just said, we're asking

2:04:00 committee's approval for 10 grants

2:04:03 totaling a little over 5 million. The

2:04:05 largest of these is a $3.5 million grant

2:04:08 from Bloomberg Career Grant that serves

2:04:11 600 students in workforce development

2:04:13 programs. The purpose of this grant is

2:04:16 to provide a skilled trades workforce

2:04:18 development and apprenticeship readiness

2:04:20 program at Madison Park Vocational High

2:04:23 School during a three-year period. This

2:04:26 amount represents year one of a $12

2:04:28 million grant received by the city of

2:04:31 Boston that will provide opportunities

2:04:33 for Madison Park students as well as

2:04:35 students throughout BPS in an afterchool

2:04:38 vocation by Madison program. This will

2:04:42 also include career exploration,

2:04:44 pre-apprenticeship training, industry

2:04:46 partnerships, and student support

2:04:48 services. The remaining nearly 1.5

2:04:51 million is in different buckets. the

2:04:54 Commonwealth Preschool Partnership

2:04:56 Initiative. This is a new competitive

2:04:58 grant totaling 465,000

2:05:01 intended to serve 175 students and 20

2:05:05 teachers in early childhood programs.

2:05:08 The grant will support local

2:05:10 coordination and investment in access to

2:05:13 highquality preschool for three and four

2:05:15 year olds. The FY27 Massachusetts offers

2:05:19 rebates for electric vehicles or more EV

2:05:23 truck rebate increase. This is a

2:05:25 continuing rebate that's totaling nearly

2:05:28 $420,000

2:05:29 intending to serve 46,000 students

2:05:32 districtwide. This grant is a rebate for

2:05:35 the purchase of electric school buses.

2:05:38 The Commonwealth Corporation Round 11

2:05:40 Career Technical Initiatives Grant is a

2:05:43 new competitive grant [clears throat]

2:05:45 totaling $300,000

2:05:47 in the 2620

2:05:49 to the 26 2028 school years. And this is

2:05:53 intended to serve 30 students in adult

2:05:56 education programs and will address the

2:05:58 persistent need for skilled labor in

2:06:01 construction, trades, and manufacturing.

2:06:05 There's also one the Boston Foundation

2:06:07 which is early college consortium with

2:06:09 Roxbury Community College year 2

2:06:12 funding. Um this is continuing

2:06:15 competitive grant totaling $100,000 for

2:06:18 this school year serving 200 students in

2:06:20 early college programs. This grant will

2:06:23 strengthen the development of BPS's

2:06:25 first consortium-based

2:06:27 early college program in partnership

2:06:29 with RCC or Roxbury Community College

2:06:33 and position the model for designation

2:06:35 with DESIE. There's also the Mass

2:06:37 Cultural Council Creative Experiences

2:06:40 Grant, which is a continuing competitive

2:06:42 grant, also for $100,000 this school

2:06:45 year, intended to serve more than 600

2:06:48 students at 20 BPS schools, and will

2:06:51 support creative experiences for

2:06:53 students districtwide,

2:06:55 such as woodworking classes, music

2:06:58 classes, dance classes, uh, etc. There's

2:07:02 a $45,000 mass life science center,

2:07:05 elementary and secondary education

2:07:06 grant, biotechnology,

2:07:09 micro:bits grant, which will is intended

2:07:11 to serve 2500 students and 22 teachers

2:07:15 at East Boston High School and 11

2:07:18 elementary schools in the East Boston

2:07:20 and Charlestown neighborhoods. The

2:07:22 purpose of this grant is to support the

2:07:24 expansion of STEM education and

2:07:27 biotechnology and life sciences and data

2:07:30 science.

2:07:31 Uh, the Cutter Foundation International

2:07:35 Arabic Language Bridge Grant is a

2:07:37 continuing competitive grant totaling

2:07:39 just over $33,000 intended to serve 102

2:07:43 students at Brighton High School. Is a

2:07:46 $30,000 English for New Bostononians

2:07:49 grant, which is a continuing competitive

2:07:51 grant that will serve 25 students in ed

2:07:53 adult education programs this school

2:07:55 year. And last, the Massachusetts 21st

2:07:59 Century Community Learning Centers

2:08:01 Program Continuation Grant from DESIE.

2:08:04 This is an increase. It's a continuing

2:08:06 competitive grant totaling an additional

2:08:09 $1,000 this school year intended to

2:08:11 serve 1,500 students and 29 teachers at

2:08:15 the Dr. Holland Tech uh Al Holland

2:08:17 Technical High School, Jaziah Quinsey

2:08:19 Elementary, and Yumana Academy. Uh there

2:08:22 are also several inind donations before

2:08:25 you. Again, this is for school committee

2:08:28 meeting. So there's just lots of these

2:08:30 grants fortunately and in kind

2:08:32 donations. Uh there's one inind donation

2:08:35 for three- ring binders to the

2:08:37 Department of Early Childhood from the

2:08:40 Boston Children's Hospital valued at

2:08:42 $750.

2:08:44 Um and we have uh Chief Bloom who is

2:08:47 here. Uh don't see Marcela, but Chief

2:08:50 Bloom. Oh, Marcela's here. Uh, Marcela

2:08:53 Mahisha is here who's the director of

2:08:55 federal and state grants, programs, and

2:08:57 compliance. So, if there's any questions

2:08:59 from the committee, both are here. We

2:09:02 would ask for full consideration and

2:09:03 acceptance with a favorable vote for

2:09:05 these resources for our students in

2:09:07 schools.

2:09:09 Thank you, Superintendent. I'll now open

2:09:11 it up to questions and comments from the

2:09:12 committee.

2:09:18 Nope, I think we're all good.

2:09:21 All right. So, um, thank you all. We

2:09:23 have a member with a conflict of

2:09:25 interest for one of the grants this

2:09:26 evening. So, we will separate the grants

2:09:29 into two votes. If there's no further

2:09:31 discussion, I will now entertain a

2:09:33 motion to approve the English for New

2:09:35 Bostononians grant totaling $30,000 as

2:09:39 presented. Is there a motion? So, move.

2:09:41 Is there a second?

2:09:43 Is there any discussion or objection to

2:09:45 the motion? Miss Pravic, will you please

2:09:47 call the role?

2:09:48 Thank you, Dr. Alkins Mr. Peralta

2:09:52 abstain

2:09:53 Miss Palanka Garcia

2:09:54 yes

2:09:55 Miss Torres

2:09:56 yes

2:09:56 Mr. Tran.

2:09:57 Yes.

2:09:58 Miss Garrett.

2:09:59 Yes.

2:10:00 Miss Robinson.

2:10:00 Yes.

2:10:01 The grants are approved.

2:10:04 It's okay.

2:10:06 Um, thank you. If there's no further

2:10:08 discussion, I will now entertain a

2:10:10 motion to approve the remaining grants

2:10:12 totaling $4,997,000

2:10:17 9984

2:10:18 as presented. Is there a motion? So

2:10:20 move.

2:10:21 Is there a second?

2:10:22 Second.

2:10:22 Thank you. Is there any discussion or

2:10:24 objection to the motion? Is there any

2:10:26 objection to approving the grant by

2:10:28 unanimous consent?

2:10:30 Hearing none, the grants are approved.

2:10:33 We will continue with the inind

2:10:34 donation. There's no further discussion.

2:10:37 I will now entertain a motion to approve

2:10:39 the inind donation as presented. Is

2:10:42 there a motion?

2:10:43 So moved.

2:10:44 Thank you. Is there a second?

2:10:45 Second.

2:10:45 Is there any discussion or objection to

2:10:47 the motion? Is there any objection to

2:10:49 approving the grant by unanimous um

2:10:52 consent? hearing none, the ink kind

2:10:54 donation is approved.

2:10:57 Our third action item this evening is

2:10:59 the payment of membership dues to the

2:11:01 Massachusetts Association of School

2:11:03 Committees, also known as MASK, with

2:11:06 school year 2627

2:11:08 in the amount of $8,795.

2:11:12 Mask provides a wide range of programs

2:11:15 and services including professional

2:11:17 development workshops and educational

2:11:19 advocacy support. I will now open it up

2:11:22 to the committee for any um questions or

2:11:25 comments.

2:11:28 Okay.

2:11:28 Um just a just a note um I had had a

2:11:32 question originally um looking at this

2:11:35 payment around how fast the rate was

2:11:38 increasing of annual payments and I'm

2:11:40 seeing that the rate is actually level

2:11:42 to the previous year. So I just

2:11:44 [clears throat] wanted to make a note of

2:11:45 that.

2:11:45 Yes. Thank you.

2:11:48 All right. If there are no further

2:11:49 questions, I'll now entertain the motion

2:11:52 to approve the payment of annual

2:11:54 membership dues to mask in the amount of

2:11:57 $8,795

2:11:59 as presented. Is there a motion?

2:12:02 So, you and a second. Thank you. Is

2:12:04 there any discussion or objection to the

2:12:06 motion? Is there any objection to

2:12:09 approving the motion by unanimous

2:12:10 consent? Hearing none, the motion is

2:12:13 approved. Our last vote is the MSBA

2:12:17 Madison Park Technical Vocational High

2:12:20 School chapter 74 programming that was

2:12:23 presented earlier tonight. If there are

2:12:25 no further questions, I will entertain a

2:12:27 motion as presented. Is there a motion?

2:12:31 Second.

2:12:32 Is there any discussion or objection to

2:12:34 the motion? Miss Pavix, will you please

2:12:36 call the role?

2:12:37 Thank you, Dr. Alkins. Mr. Peralta,

2:12:40 yes. Miss Panco Garcia,

2:12:43 yes.

2:12:44 Miss Torres,

2:12:45 yes.

2:12:46 Mr. Tran,

2:12:47 yes.

2:12:47 Miss Garrett,

2:12:48 yes.

2:12:49 Miss Robinson,

2:12:50 yes.

2:12:51 The motion is approved unanimously.

2:12:53 Great. Thank you.

2:12:57 We're going to transition to reports. If

2:12:58 you need to take a break, you can. Okay.

2:13:02 All right. Go ahead. Our first report is

2:13:04 the Horus men charter governing update

2:13:07 for the Dudley Street Neighborhood

2:13:09 Charter Schools Memorandum of

2:13:10 Understanding. A

2:13:13 let's aim to keep the presentation

2:13:15 within five minutes. Now, I'd like to

2:13:17 turn it over to the superintendent for

2:13:19 introductory comments.

2:13:21 Uh wonderful. In a few minutes,

2:13:22 assistant superintendent of autonomous

2:13:24 schools, new assistant superintendent of

2:13:26 autonomous schools, Dr. Erveo will

2:13:29 present theouou for the Dudley Street

2:13:32 Neighborhood Charter School. I think

2:13:33 you'll recognize Ervey as the longtime

2:13:36 leader of the Lions Elementary and High

2:13:39 School and we're very happy that he has

2:13:41 joined us in this new capacity. Uh so as

2:13:44 a reminder, the Horus man in district

2:13:46 charter schools are independent public

2:13:49 schools that operate under five-year

2:13:51 charters granted by the Commonwealth

2:13:53 Board of Education and Secondary

2:13:55 Education.

2:13:57 Each of the Horus man charter schools

2:13:59 must operate under a memorandum of

2:14:01 understanding with BPS or what we say an

2:14:04 MOUA.

2:14:05 Thisoua aligns with Horus man schools

2:14:08 that have come before the school

2:14:10 committee with some provisions that are

2:14:13 specific to the Dudley Street

2:14:14 Neighborhood Charter School. Dr. No is

2:14:18 here to walk you through those

2:14:19 provisions. In June, this body voted to

2:14:23 approve the Dudley Street neighborhood

2:14:24 charter school renewal application.

2:14:27 However, this document was not ready at

2:14:29 the time that that was presented. So, we

2:14:32 are asking this school committee to vote

2:14:34 in favor of theoua

2:14:37 at a future school committee meeting. I

2:14:40 will now turn it over I will now turn

2:14:43 the meeting over to Dr. No.

2:14:46 Thank you, Superintendent Skipper. Good

2:14:49 evening madame chair, vice chair and

2:14:53 members of the school committee. My name

2:14:57 is Anu and I am the assistant

2:15:01 superintendent of autonomous schools.

2:15:05 As Superintendent skipper mentioned, I

2:15:09 support our Horus main schools,

2:15:12 innovation schools, and pilot schools in

2:15:16 leveraging their unique autonomies to

2:15:20 drive innovation and improve student

2:15:23 outcome.

2:15:25 And as such, I look forward to

2:15:27 partnering with this committee as we

2:15:30 renew our horsemanus

2:15:34 and advance strategic planning for our

2:15:38 innovation schools. So tonight,

2:15:45 so tonight I am presenting one

2:15:48 governance document for your

2:15:51 consideration

2:15:53 which is the MOUA

2:15:56 for Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter

2:15:58 School.

2:16:00 As as a reminder, uh the MOUA serves as

2:16:04 the primary governing agreement between

2:16:08 BPS and a Horrisman charter. It defines

2:16:13 uh operational responsibilities,

2:16:16 budget allocations,

2:16:18 staffing protocols,

2:16:21 facilities,

2:16:22 academic support for students with

2:16:25 disabilities

2:16:27 and English language learners. Uh what

2:16:31 you have here on the left side

2:16:35 uh all of the agreements that we have

2:16:39 with the charter schools and on the left

2:16:43 side the part that is bolded are the

2:16:47 areas where uh the re the revision has

2:16:51 had substantial uh improvement

2:16:55 and on the left on the right side it is

2:16:59 the implication of these uh revision.

2:17:04 And so

2:17:06 uh first there will be uh three

2:17:11 substantive

2:17:13 uh updates to these to this MOU A.

2:17:18 Number one is that it aligns with

2:17:21 previous

2:17:23 for and BDA that were voted by this body

2:17:29 and it aligns by transitioning specific

2:17:34 uh

2:17:36 operational services such as BPS legals

2:17:40 and compliance from a nondiscretionary

2:17:44 to a discretionary purpose.

2:17:47 Secondly, in doing so or as a result of

2:17:51 this shift,

2:17:52 purvey, could you try using the other

2:17:54 mic? It's just I don't know what is

2:17:56 going on

2:17:58 if that one is better.

2:18:00 Hello. And so in doing so, that

2:18:05 still doing it.

2:18:07 And

2:18:09 in doing so, as a result of these these

2:18:12 shifts, there will be uh an an increase

2:18:17 in demification provision that will uh

2:18:21 protect BPS when Dudley will assume

2:18:26 additional responsibilities

2:18:29 those who were put in bold.

2:18:32 Thirdly, and that is really specific to

2:18:36 Dudley Dudley Street. Uh this agreement

2:18:39 is reiterating uh the district

2:18:42 commitment to collaborate with the

2:18:44 school to establish a pathway K12 to the

2:18:48 Dearborn STEM Academy. And so tonight,

2:18:52 uh, we request your review of the Dudley

2:18:55 Streetou

2:18:57 and your all consideration for approval

2:19:00 at the later school committee. Thank

2:19:03 you.

2:19:05 Great.

2:19:07 I'll now open it up to any questions

2:19:09 from the

2:19:13 Garrett.

2:19:15 Thank you, Dr. Ano. I just had a

2:19:17 question about the K12 pathway and just

2:19:20 clarifying the definition of K12

2:19:23 pathway. Um that it's not implying that

2:19:26 the school would become a K12. You're

2:19:29 saying that there's a commitment to have

2:19:30 a defined pathway from Dudley Street

2:19:36 through K12.

2:19:37 That is correct. that will be um a

2:19:40 defined pathway from Dudley Street to

2:19:42 the Dearborn Academy making it a

2:19:44 continuum K12

2:19:46 and right now there is a gap between the

2:19:52 end of Dudley Street and the beginning

2:19:54 of Dearbornne with

2:19:56 Dudley Street terminating or ending it

2:19:59 in fifth grade and Dearborn beginning in

2:20:03 seventh. So is part of the commitment um

2:20:06 figuring out the right um series of

2:20:09 schools or some advised pathway in the

2:20:14 interim before Dearbornne starts.

2:20:16 Yes, that that is what the the intent

2:20:18 is.

2:20:21 This is a historical um partnership with

2:20:25 Boston Plan for Excellence uh that

2:20:28 oversaw Dudley uh and um for a period of

2:20:34 time was the receiver for the

2:20:36 Dearbornne.

2:20:37 uh the Dearbornne has exited receiverhip

2:20:40 and so the partnership with Dearbornne

2:20:42 is no longer the same although they you

2:20:45 know they they still work to support um

2:20:47 but the Dudley is very much intact and

2:20:50 the spirit of this was always that

2:20:52 students would continue uh in early

2:20:55 college preparation along the pathway as

2:20:58 well as CT or you know any other kind of

2:21:00 career connective activities. Uh the

2:21:03 Dearborn stopped taking a sixth grade

2:21:06 class two years ago as part of a grade

2:21:09 change. Dudley right now physically

2:21:12 doesn't have the space to expand beyond

2:21:14 fifth. One of the things we can look at,

2:21:17 you know, are options around are there

2:21:19 other feeders uh that they could feed to

2:21:22 for the sixth grade uh for either the

2:21:25 sixth, the sixth, seventh, and eighth

2:21:27 with the intent to then transfer into

2:21:29 the Dearborn at either the seventh grade

2:21:31 or the 9th. Right. So, I think that will

2:21:33 be something we'll continue in spirit to

2:21:35 work with Dudley on. Um, and when

2:21:39 they're working with their kids, uh,

2:21:41 that it is always with the intent that

2:21:43 they'd love to see them continue on with

2:21:45 Dearbornne. U, but if not Dearbornne,

2:21:47 there are other schools for sure at the

2:21:49 high school level that they can continue

2:21:51 to work on some of the career and uh,

2:21:54 early college uh, preparation and

2:21:57 continue. But there isn't an obligation

2:22:00 here at this point for us to find and

2:22:03 solve that problem. In spirit, we agree

2:22:05 and want to solve that problem because

2:22:07 we think Dudley is a very good school.

2:22:10 Thank you. Any more questions?

2:22:15 Nothing else. Thank you. And we will

2:22:17 take a vote on this at a later meeting.

2:22:19 Thank you very much.

2:22:22 Okay. Our last report tonight is forward

2:22:24 together the 20 26 to 2031 strategic

2:22:28 roadmap for Boston public schools. Let's

2:22:31 aim to keep the presentation within 20

2:22:34 minutes. And I'd like to remind our

2:22:36 presenters to please speak at a slower

2:22:38 pace to assist our interpreters.

2:22:41 Superintendent, I invite you to give

2:22:43 introductory remarks.

2:22:44 Wonderful. Thank you, chair. Um, so this

2:22:46 evening we're presenting the next step

2:22:48 in laying the groundwork for the next 5

2:22:50 years forward together. The 2026 31

2:22:54 strategic roadmap for Boston public

2:22:56 schools is the latest update to our

2:22:57 planning to build on the foundation we

2:23:00 have created in the BPS. Shortly you

2:23:03 will hear from Dr. Colin Rose, senior

2:23:05 adviser for strategy and opportunity

2:23:07 gaps, Monica Hogan, chief of data

2:23:10 information and systems improvement.

2:23:12 they will be um headlining the

2:23:14 presentation tonight. Uh also uh our

2:23:17 deputies Dr. Simone Wright, deputy

2:23:20 superintendent of academics, Dr. Anna

2:23:21 Tavvaris, deputy superintendent of

2:23:23 family and community advancement, and

2:23:26 Dr. Samuel Deina, senior deputy

2:23:29 superintendent of operations are also

2:23:32 here to support and answer questions

2:23:33 relative to their uh particular areas if

2:23:36 there were any. Um, with the opportunity

2:23:38 and achievement gap policy as our north

2:23:40 star, we have developed the strategic

2:23:42 roadmap to guide our mission into the

2:23:44 next decade. The strategic roadmap is

2:23:47 our blueprint, our outline of the

2:23:49 actions we will prioritize to ensure

2:23:51 student success. We have developed

2:23:54 clear, actionable steps that were

2:23:56 informed by our vision for every

2:23:57 student. Creating rigorous and

2:23:59 culturally affirming learning

2:24:01 experiences with a supportive network of

2:24:04 caring adults and providing wellness and

2:24:06 enrichment opportunities in physical

2:24:08 spaces that support learning. In

2:24:11 tonight's presentation, you will hear

2:24:12 more about the intersection of the OAG

2:24:14 policy, the strategic plan, and the

2:24:17 district success measures we have put in

2:24:19 place to monitor pro to progress monitor

2:24:22 and hold ourselves accountable.

2:24:25 Uh I want to thank the school committee

2:24:26 for your thankful in for your thoughtful

2:24:28 input uh frankly as well as so many uh

2:24:32 in the district and community as this

2:24:34 has been a pretty extensive uh process.

2:24:37 I also want to thank Dr. Rose very much

2:24:39 one for coming back and two for leading

2:24:42 charge on this work. Uh to Chief Hogan,

2:24:45 same thing. Um the members of the OG

2:24:48 task force, the BPS academics team under

2:24:50 the leadership of Dr. Wright and thank

2:24:53 you for coming from Denver, Dr. Wright

2:24:55 and the members of the school committee

2:24:57 for getting us to this point. So at this

2:24:59 point, I will uh turn this over to Dr.

2:25:02 Rose.

2:25:04 Good evening, school committee members.

2:25:06 Uh we are here to update um our final

2:25:11 version of the focus areas, objectives,

2:25:16 and key actions for forward together,

2:25:18 the 2026 through31 strategic roadmap for

2:25:22 the Boston public schools. This is a

2:25:25 culmination of many months of

2:25:26 engagement. Uh I was before you last

2:25:29 April where I outlined our engagement

2:25:32 and presented a draft road map. In the

2:25:35 interim, I along with my colleague

2:25:37 Tamika Eswick Buckmeer worked with

2:25:40 chiefs and deputy superintendents to

2:25:41 refine the road map and I now bring it

2:25:44 before this body for your consideration.

2:25:46 U Dr. Deina, Dr. Diverz uh and Dr.

2:25:50 Wright will be available for questions

2:25:51 tonight as ultimately the work of

2:25:53 implementation falls under their

2:25:55 leadership. In addition, after much

2:25:58 collaboration between school committee

2:26:00 um and the district, especially Dr.

2:26:02 Right. And Monica Hogan, we are

2:26:04 presenting a list of district success

2:26:06 measures. These measures will help

2:26:09 monitor the progress of the district

2:26:12 over the five years of the roadmap.

2:26:18 As discussed in April, our opportunity

2:26:21 achievement gap policy is the northstar

2:26:23 for the district.

2:26:25 And as you're well aware, our community

2:26:27 came together during many engagements

2:26:29 through the long-term facilities

2:26:31 planning process to outline the tangible

2:26:33 components to ensure that vision.

2:26:36 This is called the highquality student

2:26:38 experience, and it includes rigorous and

2:26:41 culturally affirming learning

2:26:42 experiences,

2:26:44 wellness and enrichment opportunities,

2:26:47 a supportive network of caring adults,

2:26:50 and physical spaces that foster

2:26:51 learning.

2:26:53 As stated in the OAG vision, we believe

2:26:56 that all students, no matter their

2:26:58 background, can attain excellence and

2:27:01 that their outcomes are a direct result

2:27:03 of the opportunities that they are

2:27:05 afforded.

2:27:06 Delivering on our mission means that we

2:27:08 must directly and systematically address

2:27:12 the opportunity gaps in the high-quality

2:27:14 student experience that lead to gaps in

2:27:16 student proficiency,

2:27:18 especially for those groups who have

2:27:19 been historically underserved or missed

2:27:21 by our district.

2:27:28 These are our focus areas for the

2:27:30 strategic roadmap which include

2:27:33 highquality instruction and student

2:27:34 supports,

2:27:36 positive school climate and highquality

2:27:39 programming and facilities.

2:27:42 We will also focus on enabling

2:27:44 conditions which are those

2:27:46 organizational dispositions,

2:27:49 mindsets,

2:27:50 structures needed to execute including

2:27:53 equity centered culture and practice,

2:27:56 systems alignment and partnership

2:27:59 and resource alignment and improvement.

2:28:02 In the next few slides, I will discuss

2:28:04 these areas and conditions.

2:28:07 A detailed outline of these focus areas

2:28:09 with objectives and key actions have

2:28:11 been provided to the committee. As a

2:28:14 reminder from last April's presentation,

2:28:16 these focus areas and enabling

2:28:18 conditions are meant to crosswalk with

2:28:20 the major objectives in the OAG policy.

2:28:24 So ultimately implementing this plan and

2:28:26 implementing the policy are one and the

2:28:28 same.

2:28:29 We took great care to provide that

2:28:31 crosswalk as foundational framing when

2:28:34 creating this roadmap with our

2:28:35 stakeholders. Our

2:28:42 first focus area is highquality

2:28:44 instruction and student supports.

2:28:47 This is aimed at improving the core

2:28:49 classroom experience for all of our

2:28:51 students and especially those who have

2:28:52 been historically marginalized to

2:28:55 improve academic performance.

2:28:58 There are two core objectives. One,

2:29:01 scale good teaching.

2:29:03 A few key actions under this would be to

2:29:05 outline a professional development plan

2:29:08 that emphasizes strong teaching

2:29:10 practices for the diverse learners that

2:29:12 we have in Boston as well as ensuring

2:29:15 that the teachers have the curriculum to

2:29:16 do that.

2:29:18 Second, uh there's an objective to

2:29:21 provide strong student supports to keep

2:29:24 students on track and intervene and

2:29:26 accelerate when they do fall behind.

2:29:29 An example of an action under this uh we

2:29:31 will need to continue to better equip

2:29:33 teachers and staff with impactful inter

2:29:36 interventions that actually meet our

2:29:38 students needs.

2:29:44 Our second focus area deals with the

2:29:46 general environment in our schools.

2:29:49 We want to make sure that students are

2:29:51 both attending and feel connected to

2:29:53 school.

2:29:54 Intuition tells us and evidence shows

2:29:57 that students who are in school and feel

2:29:59 connected achieve at significantly

2:30:01 higher levels.

2:30:04 Objective here uh include one ensuring

2:30:07 students generally have a strong sense

2:30:09 of belonging and safety in our schools.

2:30:13 Right? And an example action would be to

2:30:14 ensure strong structure structures for

2:30:17 relationship building and utilizing

2:30:20 student feedback.

2:30:22 Second uh surrounds attendance as a

2:30:25 whole.

2:30:26 We know that having an environment that

2:30:28 f fosters a sense of belonging uh

2:30:30 creates the conditions where students

2:30:32 and families want to come to school, but

2:30:34 there's still often other barriers that

2:30:36 keep them from coming. Uh and we must

2:30:39 attend to those. An example of a key

2:30:41 action to better would be to better

2:30:43 coordinate our attendance supports at

2:30:46 the district level to streamline

2:30:47 resources for staff on the ground and

2:30:49 families so that we can anticipate and

2:30:52 address those barriers quicker.

2:31:00 The last focus area is highquality

2:31:02 programming and facilities.

2:31:05 We need to continue to build the

2:31:07 educational spaces and programming that

2:31:10 respects student and family aspirations

2:31:13 and supports the goal of high

2:31:14 achievement in the district.

2:31:17 Here we have three objectives.

2:31:19 One to ensure we are moving towards 21st

2:31:22 century education spaces. This is all

2:31:25 that work that surrounds both new

2:31:27 buildings and renovations.

2:31:30 Second is to expand access to

2:31:31 programming programming that will set uh

2:31:34 students up for career, college, and

2:31:37 life. Um that includes making sure

2:31:40 students have access to things like

2:31:41 mass, bilingual education, career and

2:31:44 technical education, advanced placement,

2:31:47 dual enrollment, and other experiences

2:31:49 that one would need uh to progress

2:31:51 towards their chosen life path.

2:31:55 Third and finally, given the move to

2:31:58 move towards more modern facilities, it

2:32:01 is unavoidable that there will continue

2:32:03 to be some disruption for families.

2:32:06 We must ensure that a school at when a

2:32:08 school community is uprooted, that

2:32:10 families and students are well cared for

2:32:13 and end up in schools that better

2:32:15 support the high quality student

2:32:16 experience, which is the reason for the

2:32:18 long uh term facilities planning process

2:32:21 in the first place.

2:32:30 In order to be best positioned to

2:32:32 achieve those objectives I outlined, we

2:32:35 also must attend to general disp uh

2:32:37 dispositions,

2:32:39 mindsets, and structures that allow us

2:32:41 to work efficiently, effectively, and

2:32:44 equitably. We call these enabling

2:32:46 conditions.

2:32:48 Many of these are explicitly identified

2:32:50 in the OEG policy as key systemic inputs

2:32:55 in order to move our system forward

2:32:57 without leaving certain student groups

2:32:59 behind.

2:33:01 The first enabling condition is ensuring

2:33:03 an equity centered district culture.

2:33:07 This focuses on the ability of staff to

2:33:09 work across difference with a special

2:33:11 focus on what is needed to serve those

2:33:13 who have historically been underserved

2:33:15 in our system.

2:33:18 Part of this work is to ensure our

2:33:19 staff, especially our teaching staff,

2:33:22 continues to better reflect our students

2:33:24 and their families.

2:33:26 The second condition is to continuously

2:33:28 focus on strengthening our collaboration

2:33:32 with families and communities.

2:33:34 Families and communities come with a

2:33:36 great amount of cultural wealth that

2:33:38 when leveraged can have great impacts on

2:33:40 student learning. On the flip side,

2:33:44 students are at home and in the

2:33:45 community more than they are actually in

2:33:47 our schools. So, being uh better able to

2:33:50 share our practices with families and

2:33:52 communities will strengthen our district

2:33:54 uh our work as a district.

2:33:57 Finally, we will need to ensure that our

2:34:00 resources are aligned to execute the

2:34:01 strategic roadmap including our budget,

2:34:04 person power, time, and attention.

2:34:08 We also need to have the data and the

2:34:10 data systems to be able to continuously

2:34:14 improve, helping us do more of what

2:34:17 works and less of what doesn't.

2:34:25 Finally, to monitor the impact of the

2:34:28 strategic road map, we will use key

2:34:30 measures informed by the OG policy,

2:34:33 including the district success measures

2:34:35 that are being presented tonight.

2:34:38 District success measures reflect many

2:34:40 of the outcome measures identified by

2:34:42 the OAG policy and will be used by

2:34:45 school committee to hold us accountable.

2:34:48 These will eventually be rounded out by

2:34:50 some internal and external measures that

2:34:52 help us track implementation of our

2:34:54 strategies. For example,

2:34:57 although not a district success measure,

2:34:59 teacher diversity will be a key input

2:35:02 uh measure that will be publicly

2:35:04 presented and monitored.

2:35:06 And in line with the language of the OEG

2:35:08 policy, measures will be disagregated by

2:35:10 race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status,

2:35:14 and for multilingual learners and

2:35:15 students with disability.

2:35:18 I want to leave my portion of the

2:35:20 presentation with a quick history

2:35:21 lesson. I'm getting old enough to do

2:35:24 some district history. Uh

2:35:27 the official framing of opportunity

2:35:29 achievement gaps came in to the district

2:35:31 around 2016 version of the OG policy. I

2:35:34 was part of that. Um, prior to it was

2:35:37 framed as the achievement gap and

2:35:39 justifiably so. Um, you know, ultimately

2:35:44 if what we do does not uh close

2:35:46 proficiency gaps for students then we

2:35:49 haven't done our job.

2:35:51 But the addition of the word opportunity

2:35:54 was intentional and the intention was

2:35:57 very clear. We are responsible for the

2:35:59 conditions that foster achievement. The

2:36:02 onus is on the adults.

2:36:04 We believe in the brilliance of all of

2:36:06 our kids, but we must create the

2:36:08 conditions for that brilliance to take

2:36:10 root. The implementation of the

2:36:12 strategic roadmap really is about

2:36:14 providing those equitable opportunities

2:36:16 for students to achieve.

2:36:18 I want to drive that connection home as

2:36:20 we move towards a discussion of the

2:36:22 achievement measures and other outcomes,

2:36:25 which again, and rightfully so, is how

2:36:27 we will uh judge our success. Before

2:36:30 that, I turn it over to Mon Monica

2:36:32 Hogan, chief of data, information, and

2:36:34 systems improvement.

2:36:39 Thanks, Dr. Rose.

2:36:43 So, as we considered what data to

2:36:46 identify as our district success

2:36:47 measures, um we followed three guiding

2:36:50 principles.

2:36:51 first that any measures we chose as a

2:36:54 district success measure would have ways

2:36:56 for us to progress monitor internally

2:36:59 throughout the year.

2:37:01 Second, alignment and external validity.

2:37:04 It was important to us to not create a

2:37:07 brand new framework that would conflict

2:37:09 with existing measures and instead

2:37:11 ensure alignment with things like the

2:37:13 quality school framework and the state

2:37:15 accountability system.

2:37:17 And third, we only considered data

2:37:19 points that would be able to be

2:37:21 disagregated um by the major student

2:37:23 groups that Dr. Rose listed.

2:37:30 So this slide outlines the proposed

2:37:32 success measures. They are divided into

2:37:35 two categories, student achievement and

2:37:37 culture and climate. The student

2:37:39 achievement measures are organized to

2:37:41 reflect a child's journey through BPS

2:37:44 from early literacy through to

2:37:45 graduation.

2:37:47 The culture and climate measures include

2:37:50 chronic absenteeism,

2:37:52 student perspective on sense of

2:37:53 belonging and safety, as well as family

2:37:56 climate survey indicators. You'll notice

2:37:59 a few measures have two asterisks after

2:38:01 them. These are currently under

2:38:03 development, and we'll have more

2:38:04 information at a later meeting.

2:38:09 Uh the next slide outlines the cadence

2:38:12 that these district success measures

2:38:14 will be made available. um based on

2:38:16 timing throughout the year of when data

2:38:18 is available to us. Um you'll see this

2:38:22 is sort of the timing that

2:38:25 is when we are able to present some of

2:38:28 these things publicly. Some of which you

2:38:30 will hear about at our next meeting in

2:38:32 October.

2:38:36 And in terms of next steps from here, um

2:38:38 there will be a vote at a future

2:38:40 meeting. Um, the district is currently

2:38:42 in the process of creating five-year

2:38:44 targets for these district success

2:38:46 measures that we just talked about and

2:38:48 we will share those later this fall as

2:38:50 well. I will turn it back to you, Madam

2:38:52 Chair, for questions.

2:38:54 Thank you. Um, and I'll open it up to

2:38:57 the committee for questions.

2:39:05 If you guys don't want to take a crack,

2:39:06 I'll take a crack at it first. Go

2:39:08 ahead.

2:39:10 Good boy.

2:39:10 Okay, Mr. Tran, you want to begin?

2:39:12 Did you want to begin?

2:39:13 Yeah, sure.

2:39:14 Go ahead.

2:39:15 Yes.

2:39:17 Hi, how are you? Thank you for a very

2:39:20 thorough road map

2:39:22 for OAG.

2:39:26 So, there are four times according to uh

2:39:29 your road map,

2:39:33 there are four times throughout the

2:39:35 academic year that you're going to

2:39:36 report to us on the progress

2:39:40 October, December, April and August

2:39:44 with disagregated uh data

2:39:49 and in that would include the percentage

2:39:53 of achievement

2:39:55 per per group.

2:39:57 Yeah. So in the October category um

2:40:01 that's where the main achievement

2:40:03 measures are. So that is when we get

2:40:05 MCCAST data. Um, so the MCCAST

2:40:07 achievement measure is the percentage of

2:40:09 students in grades three through eight

2:40:11 meeting or exceeding expectations in ELA

2:40:14 and math. Um, there's also the access

2:40:17 measure for our multilingual learners

2:40:19 related to making progress in learning

2:40:22 English. Um and then there is a high

2:40:25 school achievement measure that we have

2:40:26 listed as under development as the state

2:40:28 graduation council um makes final

2:40:31 determinations about what the future of

2:40:34 end of course assessments will be for

2:40:36 our high school students. So we are

2:40:38 awaiting further information about what

2:40:40 that measure will look like in the

2:40:42 future but wanted to include it here.

2:40:45 Okay.

2:40:47 the proposed success measures.

2:40:51 Whatever that page is, there are two uh

2:40:54 columns.

2:40:55 Yes.

2:40:55 One is student achievement, the other is

2:40:58 cultural culture and climate.

2:41:02 Yes. Describe to me how specific

2:41:05 are the benchmarks or are the uh the

2:41:09 actual

2:41:10 steps that you are implementing

2:41:14 to define culture and climate uh

2:41:17 success.

2:41:19 How

2:41:19 the are you asking about the actions we

2:41:22 are taking or how we are measuring

2:41:24 progress?

2:41:25 Measuring progress. So the

2:41:27 for me culture okay I'm Vietnamese I'm

2:41:30 I'm from a culture how do you define

2:41:34 culture success in in

2:41:38 uh in a student student body

2:41:42 I think

2:41:42 chronic absentism student sense of

2:41:44 belonging school safety family survey

2:41:47 participation family survey

2:41:51 family relationship

2:41:53 yeah I think the category here referring

2:41:56 to culture and climate is about the

2:41:58 culture of the school environment that

2:41:59 the students are in. Okay.

2:42:01 Um so chronic absenteeism is um looking

2:42:05 at the percentage of students who are

2:42:07 absent more than 10% of the school year.

2:42:10 Um student sense of belonging and school

2:42:13 safety are both um domains on the

2:42:15 student climate survey. And so we hear

2:42:17 from our students um twice a year in the

2:42:20 middle of the year and the end of the

2:42:22 year about how they are feeling um

2:42:25 within their school building their sense

2:42:27 of belonging as well as how safe they

2:42:29 are feeling. Um family survey

2:42:32 participation. This is an annual climate

2:42:34 survey that we give at the end of the

2:42:36 year. Um and so we are looking at

2:42:39 increasing the participation of our

2:42:41 families who respond to that survey. Um,

2:42:43 and then the the last measure, staff

2:42:45 family relationships, is one of the ones

2:42:46 that's under development. We are

2:42:48 currently looking at the questions on

2:42:50 the family climate survey to determine

2:42:52 if the questions we are currently asking

2:42:55 measure what we truly want to understand

2:42:58 about the family perspective on culture

2:43:00 and climate at their child's school. Um,

2:43:02 and so we'll have more information as we

2:43:05 further refine what that measure looks

2:43:07 like. Does that answer your question

2:43:09 to a certain extent? Yes. So in in a way

2:43:13 whenever we re receive your report you

2:43:16 know the the the the quarterly report we

2:43:19 would expect to see

2:43:22 some positive uh outcome for each of

2:43:26 these uh success measure I hope

2:43:29 ideally yes

2:43:31 okay I will come back with the other

2:43:33 questions but uh

2:43:35 I think I I I understand the the uh

2:43:40 uh the cement semantic behind um

2:43:44 uh culture and and climate.

2:43:48 Go ahead.

2:43:49 Okay, Mr.

2:43:50 Question. Yeah, I have a question on

2:43:52 Thank you for the presentation.

2:43:54 I have a question on accountability. I

2:43:56 know that we say we, but that's a lot of

2:43:59 people. And how do we all connect to the

2:44:03 schools to be able to know what school

2:44:05 is making progress and how are we

2:44:09 measuring that?

2:44:13 Yeah. So I think um these measures are

2:44:15 all available to be able to be broken

2:44:18 down by school. Um, our schools are also

2:44:21 held accountable through the state

2:44:22 accountability system, um, which you'll

2:44:24 hear a more detailed report about in

2:44:26 October after that data is, um, made

2:44:29 publicly available.

2:44:30 Right. The schools also have, um, CUP

2:44:33 plans. And so on those CUP plans, for

2:44:36 instance, um, chronic absenteeism,

2:44:39 right, the sense of belonging, uh, some

2:44:41 of these are coming from the CUIP,

2:44:43 right? We have asked schools to focus on

2:44:45 kind of three core things and we want

2:44:48 the consistency of that. Um so while

2:44:51 we'll be reporting up the disagregated

2:44:54 aggregate right the disagregated rollup

2:44:56 of that we also will be looking at how

2:44:59 individual schools are doing right as

2:45:01 part of what we we do like each fall uh

2:45:04 in the cycle. And that's something uh

2:45:06 actually all three deputies will be

2:45:08 looking at where the particular measure

2:45:11 falls. Right.

2:45:12 Because that was one of my questions

2:45:14 that do have we chosen some of the uh

2:45:17 focus.

2:45:17 Yeah.

2:45:18 And say to the school these are the

2:45:20 focus that we are working on and uh how

2:45:24 do you measure that in your school? So

2:45:25 you can have we can have data within the

2:45:27 QIP.

2:45:28 That's right. So yeah. So, so for the

2:45:30 CQIP the sense of belonging which is the

2:45:32 climate right the school climate that

2:45:34 we're trying to establish um because it

2:45:36 drives uh students coming to school and

2:45:40 uh it is linked to academics uh the

2:45:43 academic um measures that the uh that we

2:45:47 have as part of the accountability um

2:45:49 framework that is part of it uh and

2:45:51 chronic absenteeism. So those have been

2:45:53 the three and then we also have spoken

2:45:56 with our school leaders about family

2:45:58 engagement, the importance of the

2:45:59 participation on the survey uh and the

2:46:04 uh what the outcome is of that

2:46:06 performance. Right? So um are we getting

2:46:10 a good sampling of families responding

2:46:12 to the survey and is it favorable for

2:46:14 how families feel about that school?

2:46:19 Thank you.

2:46:20 Welcome.

2:46:22 Thank you. Thank you.

2:46:38 So I have to say that many of us that

2:46:40 are here, we are very pleased and very

2:46:42 happy with the proposed U plan that he

2:46:45 have and I congratulate you for all the

2:46:47 work you've put on that.

2:47:07 So one of the questions that we might we

2:47:09 have most of us is how is the

2:47:11 implementation of this plan lead to

2:47:15 wonderful results the implementation

2:47:17 itself how are we going to achieve those

2:47:20 proposed Most goals.

2:47:34 You talk about the climate culture and

2:47:36 the student achievement and uh the

2:47:39 metrics of success that you have here

2:47:41 were divided in those two particular

2:47:44 groups.

2:47:52 I do agree the the way you divided that

2:47:55 information in both groups just as I

2:47:58 just mentioned. However, my concern is

2:48:14 so you're talking about the cultural

2:48:16 environment and we are talking about the

2:48:18 the families as well. And you mentioned

2:48:20 as well that a survey was in place for

2:48:24 this purpose.

2:48:37 I do believe that our surveys are very

2:48:39 important but it is very important to

2:48:41 make sure that the families have the

2:48:43 ability to monitor this success metrics

2:48:46 because not not every family gets a

2:48:49 survey or is surveyed.

2:48:59 Is there any plan or something you have

2:49:01 in mind for the families to be able to

2:49:03 monitor the progress of the success

2:49:06 metrics that you're suggesting? How can

2:49:09 they monitor success if they don't have

2:49:11 access to a survey?

2:49:13 I I would suggest maybe Dr. virus, you

2:49:15 could just speak to the work you're

2:49:16 doing with the family liaison um the the

2:49:20 uh family councils and the school site

2:49:22 councils to make sure that we're

2:49:24 engaging our families um and that they

2:49:26 do in fact will have access to the

2:49:28 surveys.

2:49:30 Thank you for your question. Um school

2:49:32 committee member Polano Garcia, we have

2:49:34 many touch points as the superintendent

2:49:37 has mentioned.

2:49:39 One of them is the cadre of staff

2:49:42 members that we have that are family

2:49:43 liaison as you know that are positioned

2:49:46 at almost every single one of our

2:49:48 schools that receive professional

2:49:50 development very specific and aligned

2:49:54 with this strategic plan. Once it is

2:49:56 approved by this body, uh we already

2:49:59 have set up a calendar for the school

2:50:03 year where the family liaison will be um

2:50:07 not only will they receive professional

2:50:09 development from key key

2:50:13 team members from the different

2:50:15 departments that are supporting this

2:50:17 work, but also it is aligning with every

2:50:20 single QIP at the school level, which

2:50:22 the superintendent also mentioned The

2:50:25 quality school plan is really important

2:50:27 to this work as is the training of the

2:50:29 family liaison as is also the support of

2:50:33 the family councils at every single

2:50:35 school as is the school site council

2:50:37 which I know you know comes from the

2:50:40 voted members from the family council

2:50:42 and that um imperative need of having

2:50:46 the connectivity not only with these you

2:50:49 know we're we're we're speaking at this

2:50:51 level here and we want to make sure we

2:50:55 invite families in so that they are with

2:50:58 us and that we have dialogue with them

2:51:02 around what does this mean and how will

2:51:04 this impact the learning of their

2:51:06 children at the school level. So you're

2:51:08 right to ask us okay this is all this

2:51:12 this is all well and good and Dr. Rose

2:51:14 has worked really hard with his team to

2:51:16 get this work in front of you, but what

2:51:18 is that going to look like when it's

2:51:20 implemented at the school level? And

2:51:22 that's the the work that we are excited

2:51:25 about and ready to implement once this

2:51:28 body decides that we can move forward.

2:51:37 parents.

2:51:52 It is very important that you're

2:51:53 mentioning that there are the the side

2:51:55 council and the families that are they

2:51:58 they are able to act as leaison as well

2:52:00 for the purpose of communicating the

2:52:02 strategic plans or success measures to

2:52:05 the parents themselves at the school

2:52:06 level.

2:52:13 And the other question I do have is

2:52:15 regarding the uh publishing of data and

2:52:18 the the calendar that is attached to it.

2:52:35 Will you guys be present here as

2:52:37 established in the calendar? Are you are

2:52:40 you guys going to come here? How are we

2:52:42 going to as members of this committee

2:52:45 know about the the progress that this is

2:52:47 happen? Tell me a bit a little bit about

2:52:49 this.

2:52:49 I know the team will and I'm going to

2:52:51 invite my colleague Monica to come and

2:52:52 respond.

2:52:59 Uh thanks Dr. Tamarz. Um

2:53:02 I think some of this is um up for

2:53:06 conversation of how you would best like

2:53:08 to be updated. um if that is a formal

2:53:10 presentation each of these months, if

2:53:12 that is a memo, if that is a dashboard,

2:53:14 um I think that's something that we are

2:53:17 interested in hearing what um what you

2:53:20 would prefer and then working with the

2:53:22 the chair and vice chair to make sure

2:53:24 that that gets sort of put on the agenda

2:53:26 as needed. So

2:53:29 to be determined

2:53:33 and I also don't want to ignore your

2:53:34 original question around like

2:53:36 implementation. Um clearly this isn't a

2:53:38 detailed like implementation plan. This

2:53:40 is like our high level roadmap. Um we'll

2:53:43 continue to have to think about like how

2:53:45 we present data so that folks can digest

2:53:48 it. uh and also you know refine codify

2:53:53 uh internally what those action steps

2:53:56 are as uh similar to when we're creating

2:53:59 targets and how we communicate that best

2:54:01 uh to the public and you all to

2:54:02 understand deeply kind of what our

2:54:05 strategies are like Anna just helped you

2:54:08 understand her thoughts around strategy

2:54:10 with families but there's got to be a

2:54:12 way to kind of communicate that out um

2:54:15 what our key actions will be beyond like

2:54:17 the things that you see at the top

2:54:19 in this plan

2:54:21 and I would just add about

2:54:22 implementation. Good evening everyone

2:54:24 that all of our um respective

2:54:26 departments um have provided feedback on

2:54:29 um this road map and this is work that

2:54:32 we know that we're going to align to

2:54:33 rally around continue and go deeper into

2:54:36 in some areas. So the implementation's

2:54:38 already started um is what I would say

2:54:41 where our teams are aligned um the

2:54:43 schools have the quicer plans identified

2:54:45 and mapped out and our work now was

2:54:47 basically to um work with all the teams

2:54:49 to make sure there's continuity between

2:54:51 central offices and departments making

2:54:53 sure dayto-day we're working with

2:54:54 schools to make sure that these um

2:54:56 strategies and goals and initiatives

2:54:58 that we laid out are being implemented

2:55:00 supported from central where we need to

2:55:03 lean in and provide more supportive

2:55:04 schools we will need to do more work

2:55:06 with the community and families we will

2:55:08 where we need to rally around partners

2:55:09 to help us move the work, we will. So, a

2:55:11 lot of it's already started. Um, but to

2:55:13 the point how we um present it to you,

2:55:15 we're open for feedback and how we do

2:55:16 that.

2:55:18 Right. And I think I think what I really

2:55:22 appreciate about the [clears throat]

2:55:24 leadership with uh with Colin and Monica

2:55:26 and the the team as well as the deputies

2:55:30 is you can have a really nice looking

2:55:32 strategic plan and have it do nothing.

2:55:36 And we've had that in the past in BPS.

2:55:39 And I think we're all committed at every

2:55:42 level to wanting to change to the

2:55:44 positive the experience of our kids and

2:55:46 our families.

2:55:48 So that is really the outcome we're

2:55:50 looking by establishing the measures and

2:55:53 the road map and then setting smart

2:55:56 targets to those but drilling down

2:55:59 throughout the organization so that this

2:56:01 becomes the language that everyone's

2:56:03 using.

2:56:28 So the other question that I do have it

2:56:30 has to do with the two vulnerable

2:56:31 populations that we do have English

2:56:33 language learners and special education.

2:56:36 Considering the ambitious plans that you

2:56:38 have as part of this road of success map

2:56:41 that we have that strategic plan in the

2:56:44 future, how is how is that going to

2:56:46 align to the current budgetary

2:56:49 restrictions that are in place provided

2:56:52 this ambitious plans that you have at

2:56:54 the same time?

2:56:58 Yeah, I think that that's part of the

2:56:59 enabling conditions. Like we have to

2:57:01 take a look at what we want to focus in

2:57:03 on our strategies and make sure that our

2:57:05 budget, our people power, our attention,

2:57:08 and our time uh is on that. And I'm

2:57:10 going to hand it off to

2:57:13 Simone.

2:57:15 Uh thank you, Pal uh Member Palanka

2:57:17 Garcia. Um, I think it's worth

2:57:19 acknowledging, um, we we're on the

2:57:22 journey of hyperfocusing on the

2:57:24 performance of our students with

2:57:26 disabilities and our multilingual

2:57:28 learners. I think this predates me. I

2:57:30 think a lot of the resources and the

2:57:31 structures are in place. I think for the

2:57:34 work of academics um, and the support of

2:57:37 schools, it's really getting more

2:57:40 fine-tuned around how we use various

2:57:43 data inputs to support our students. Um,

2:57:46 I mean that's that's really going to be

2:57:48 the work I think to accelerate um,

2:57:51 learning for those particular student

2:57:53 groups. I think many of you got the

2:57:55 opportunity to engage with the

2:57:56 superintendent um, around the

2:57:58 presentation she did for our school

2:58:00 leaders um, and she made it clear. She

2:58:03 was like, "We're closing gaps, right?"

2:58:05 Um, and she laid it out. We our school

2:58:08 leaders have all developed goals that

2:58:10 are hyperfocused on the some of the

2:58:12 student groups that you just named. Um

2:58:15 and our our central support teams are

2:58:18 are already I hate to say it in the

2:58:20 streets. Um um really working alongside

2:58:24 our school leaders um to ensure that you

2:58:27 know those particular student groups

2:58:29 have an excellent year.

2:58:35 That absolutely and I and the other

2:58:37 thing I would say is that this is like

2:58:39 an example where we when we look at just

2:58:42 say on the pure academic side when we

2:58:44 look at the

2:58:46 benchmarks that are given in state

2:58:48 accountability they're incremental at

2:58:51 best

2:58:53 or particularly our students with

2:58:54 disabilities and our multilingual

2:58:55 learners with and without disability and

2:58:57 so we cannot be satisfied for that. we

2:59:00 have to move this achievement because

2:59:04 these are our kids and they represent a

2:59:07 large portion of our kids. So I think

2:59:10 that is what we spent a lot of ALI

2:59:12 talking about. It's what um our OSS uh

2:59:16 um office of specialized services and

2:59:18 ourme are very focused on and we see it

2:59:22 in different sets of strategies like

2:59:24 expanding bilingual education and access

2:59:27 the hiring of our staff right special

2:59:30 education inclusion and giving access to

2:59:32 students. So, we've already begun many

2:59:35 of the strategies, but I think this

2:59:38 really is making it very public and

2:59:41 accountable what our expectations are

2:59:43 going to be and they need to be as

2:59:45 aggressive as possible with the gaps

2:59:48 because the gap isn't between groups.

2:59:50 The gap is to proficiency.

2:59:53 That is the goal. Every student doesn't

2:59:56 matter

2:59:57 what category a student falls under.

2:59:59 It's every student has to be proficient.

3:00:04 Thank you. Thank you so much.

3:00:09 Thank you

3:00:11 Monica and Colleen for the presentation.

3:00:14 I see that you brought the top GANs and

3:00:18 that sent me two messages. One is this.

3:00:22 This is important.

3:00:24 Yeah. That you are good-looking all. You

3:00:26 are all good. So this is important. This

3:00:29 this is where where you want to focus

3:00:31 your energy this this school year and

3:00:36 the upcoming school years until at least

3:00:39 20 30 31. And the other thing that this

3:00:43 is telling me is that this is not a

3:00:45 oneperson

3:00:47 job.

3:00:49 We we need everybody involved in getting

3:00:53 this. We need the families to understand

3:00:55 that they are important part of the

3:00:58 success of their students and we need

3:01:01 good schools and we need the best

3:01:04 materials and the best strategies in our

3:01:07 in our classrooms for our teachers and

3:01:10 and par profofessionals. So I feel we

3:01:13 are getting closer and closer and it's

3:01:15 clear that we all are on the same thing.

3:01:18 I love what you said of we just need to

3:01:20 do more of what works and less than less

3:01:23 than the things that are not working.

3:01:26 Um, it sounds all great. I I need you to

3:01:31 come back with a

3:01:34 baseline and a target

3:01:38 um measure of success. I'll give you an

3:01:40 example.

3:01:42 Part of the work that I do for English

3:01:44 for New Bostononians is to convince

3:01:47 local companies to open English classes

3:01:50 for their workers, what we call

3:01:52 workplace ESOL.

3:01:55 My target for this fiscal year is

3:01:57 opening 15 new of these classes.

3:02:02 you know, when June 30 of 2027 comes, I

3:02:06 I'll have to show Did Did we open 15 new

3:02:11 classes for for workers? And there is

3:02:13 obviously there is a a dollar amount

3:02:16 attached to that that is supposed to

3:02:17 come into English for New Bostononians

3:02:19 or did we did we open more classes or

3:02:23 less? Um, so that's what I need that I I

3:02:26 need that to know like how close are we

3:02:29 getting? I I'll give you for example

3:02:31 right here. Bear with me. Uh focus area

3:02:36 three high quality programming and

3:02:38 facilities. Expand equitable access to

3:02:42 highquality programming and facilities.

3:02:44 Goal 3.2 expand equitable access to

3:02:49 rigorous and culturally affirm affirming

3:02:51 learning wellness and enrichment

3:02:53 opportunities. Key option key action

3:02:57 3.21. 21 fully implement the existing

3:03:01 expansion plans for dual language and

3:03:05 bilingual education programs.

3:03:07 The way I read this is there is a

3:03:09 baseline. There is a plan that is going

3:03:12 to be expand. How many do do we have

3:03:15 now? And what does expansion mean? when

3:03:20 we get to 2031,

3:03:22 I want to know yes, we hit that mark of

3:03:27 success because we opened this number of

3:03:29 new classes. That's that's what I need

3:03:32 from from you.

3:03:33 Yeah. No, absolutely. And that's the

3:03:35 intent. So at the the next presentation,

3:03:37 the next piece will be the metrics and

3:03:40 that will start with baseline as long as

3:03:42 well as the 5-year look ahead so that

3:03:45 you can all see where we're trying to

3:03:47 get to the rationale of why we're trying

3:03:49 to get there, how it positions us, and

3:03:51 then the conversation about what are the

3:03:54 strategies and the initiatives that

3:03:55 we'll be employing to do that. So we're

3:03:58 all on the same page.

3:03:59 Thank you.

3:04:00 You're welcome. [clears throat]

3:04:02 Yeah.

3:04:03 Thank you. Um,

3:04:06 I want to pick up on member Peralta's

3:04:09 um, great example in terms of the

3:04:12 specificity of a measure for progress.

3:04:15 Um, I do appreciate that there are

3:04:19 proposed success measures here that at a

3:04:21 future meeting would have specific 2031

3:04:24 numeric targets as compared to current

3:04:27 baselines with annual reporting on each

3:04:31 of those indicators and a reflection on

3:04:33 whether we're red, yellow, or green on

3:04:35 those indicators. I think I'm hearing

3:04:37 you all say that these are the topline

3:04:40 success measures that if the plan is

3:04:43 successful, these will be met. But I

3:04:46 think member Peralta's example is really

3:04:49 important because he's pointing out a

3:04:52 key action that also needs a measure.

3:04:55 These are the success measures for the

3:04:58 plan. And then there are necessary

3:05:00 implementation measures to measure the

3:05:02 effectiveness of the action along the

3:05:05 way which if they all are all on track

3:05:08 will increase the odds that these big

3:05:10 measures i.e. like the district's report

3:05:12 card will be successful. Um so I think

3:05:17 my my first question is just what's

3:05:20 coming next in terms of the level of

3:05:23 detail that we don't have today but is

3:05:27 in progress because this plan is 2026 to

3:05:30 31. Um you know and as Dr. Dpina said

3:05:33 it's underway already. Uh so what don't

3:05:36 we have that will fill in some of the

3:05:40 blanks of you know what my colleagues

3:05:42 are describing that can kind of connect

3:05:45 some of the dots. Um I think we have

3:05:47 great agreement that there is nothing in

3:05:49 this document that is not important that

3:05:54 we cannot get behind that we do not

3:05:56 support. Um, but I think a greater

3:05:59 understanding of of what is underneath

3:06:02 it. Uh, and when we have access to that

3:06:06 would allow us to help support that

3:06:09 question that you all had of what the

3:06:11 right reporting mechanism is on it. So

3:06:15 just a greater understanding of what's

3:06:16 still to come.

3:06:19 Yeah, I think you're you're talking

3:06:21 about implement like the implementation

3:06:24 metrics and specific strategies that go

3:06:27 underneath these focus areas. So um I

3:06:30 think that [clears throat] is the next

3:06:32 uh set of work that we need to codify

3:06:34 internally um and decide how we're going

3:06:37 to report that out uh to you all. Um,

3:06:40 you know, we've already had great

3:06:41 discussions. There's been um other

3:06:44 metrics decide uh that have have been

3:06:46 decided. Obviously, teacher diversity

3:06:48 isn't one of your um success measures in

3:06:52 this, but it certainly will be something

3:06:53 that's reported out and tracked. So I

3:06:56 think there's a that background

3:06:59 oag measures that we need to decide what

3:07:02 are those things that are going to show

3:07:04 progress towards these key actions um

3:07:07 and have agreement

3:07:09 um what what things we will communicate

3:07:12 what things will be internal

3:07:14 um but I agree this is not a full-on

3:07:17 implementation plan with very detailed

3:07:19 strategies it wasn't meant to be but I

3:07:20 think that that is the next document

3:07:22 that we need to produce

3:07:24 I I think I think there may have been

3:07:27 some expectation of that being more

3:07:32 developed at this point than where we

3:07:34 are. I just want to say that. Um

3:07:37 and

3:07:39 so

3:07:41 as my question

3:07:45 trying to decide if I have question or

3:07:47 if I just want to make a couple of

3:07:50 recommendations maybe that might be

3:07:52 helpful. Um I think a potential way to

3:07:57 help clarify the next steps of work

3:08:00 would be to isolate the road map by year

3:08:04 um to better understand what um kind of

3:08:09 the subsets of these large key actions

3:08:11 are by year. Uh we certainly I don't I

3:08:14 think it's totally unrealistic to expect

3:08:16 an implementation plan for four years

3:08:19 from now. Um and so just taking the

3:08:23 example of a um instructional key action

3:08:27 of redefining the district-wide

3:08:30 professional learning strategy including

3:08:32 job job embedded coaching. Um I can

3:08:35 imagine year one might be around

3:08:38 something specifically related to

3:08:40 school-based PD or but year two might be

3:08:42 around like what does job embedded

3:08:44 coaching mean? Are we getting new

3:08:46 instructional coaches? Are we doing more

3:08:48 informal feedback? So I think maybe if

3:08:51 it were sequenced by year in terms of

3:08:54 where the actions lived by year and then

3:08:58 for the ones that were for the current

3:09:00 year maybe had like the leads listed and

3:09:03 like a few key milestones then we could

3:09:06 align kind of our calendar and things to

3:09:10 to that and I think it could help sort

3:09:12 out there's so much work here so much

3:09:15 important work um and I think there also

3:09:17 some um key streams of work that live in

3:09:22 here but don't appear explicitly. Um

3:09:25 like the continued improvement of

3:09:27 inclusion around the district or um you

3:09:31 know what we heard from Madison Park

3:09:34 today like this increasing um career

3:09:37 pathways is like it's here but like

3:09:39 that's a whole big piece of work. Um, so

3:09:42 I'm I'm just trying to figure out how to

3:09:44 how to drill down and also how that

3:09:49 connection between the enabling

3:09:50 conditions and the focus areas could um

3:09:54 be a little easier to digest. um that

3:09:57 maybe

3:09:59 I don't know maybe it could be organized

3:10:02 in a um in a different way but um

3:10:07 I'll leave it at that for the

3:10:08 yeah I think we have some I think

3:10:09 there's some recommendations we're

3:10:10 reviewing about how to streamline a bit

3:10:13 more um the focus areas and enabling

3:10:15 conditions I think it's the team all of

3:10:19 this has been done by team and so I

3:10:21 think like the next part of that process

3:10:23 is to go back to the team and talk

3:10:26 through what makes sense with that. So I

3:10:29 think that is underway. I think the time

3:10:31 sequencing is really important because

3:10:34 it is a if you take the inclusion plan

3:10:36 just as an example we couldn't roll out

3:10:39 all grades in the inclusion plan in the

3:10:41 first year it took us five years right

3:10:43 it's taking us five years and that is

3:10:46 the truth in much of BPS work because of

3:10:50 the size and the volume we have so I

3:10:53 think part of what the team's charge is

3:10:55 is to go back and start to look at this

3:10:57 five years and say what's the starting

3:11:01 points? Some things could all could be

3:11:04 started in the first year with a step.

3:11:06 There are others that may need to build

3:11:09 and have some other things take place in

3:11:11 the first two years before they would

3:11:13 begin. And so I think being able to put

3:11:15 it with some time sequencing which also

3:11:17 is priority um will be important.

3:11:20 Yeah. or even the work already in prog

3:11:22 maybe everything that's happening in the

3:11:24 first year is work already in flight

3:11:26 and just

3:11:28 sharing what's happening with that for

3:11:30 for year one and obviously other things

3:11:32 need to be designed and and mapped out

3:11:35 absolutely and I think even with the

3:11:36 baselines you know like chronic

3:11:38 absenteeism is a great example but like

3:11:42 baseline wise we have made pro we have

3:11:45 made our projected

3:11:48 um

3:11:49 measure every single year, right? Like

3:11:52 we have made that that

3:11:54 uh we have made our metric every year

3:11:57 and exceeded it. So that's an example

3:12:00 where we could actually be more bold and

3:12:03 not necessarily go with the states flow

3:12:06 and be more bold with that if that's

3:12:09 looking at the data what makes sense.

3:12:11 whereas there may be others that are

3:12:13 moving slightly slower that we need to

3:12:15 figure out how do we change the strategy

3:12:17 and the approach and what what will we

3:12:21 be able to do in year one in year two

3:12:23 and year three so I think once we can

3:12:26 show that I think graduation rate

3:12:28 dropout rate there's many of there are

3:12:31 uh some of these that we are well ahead

3:12:36 of where we want to be but where we want

3:12:39 to be is much more progressive

3:12:41 than where we're being called to be. So,

3:12:44 I think there's that conversation that

3:12:46 the team is having and digging into um

3:12:49 which is why Colin and Monica's

3:12:51 partnership uh you know in this work is

3:12:54 just so important.

3:12:56 Yeah. And I don't want to leave the

3:12:57 impression that those conversations

3:12:58 haven't been going on. It's just how do

3:13:00 we present like we have to come to

3:13:02 agreement like how that gets presented

3:13:04 forward and and that wasn't going to be

3:13:06 part of like this piece.

3:13:08 Yeah.

3:13:09 Um I just I promise just one last

3:13:12 request on the success measures because

3:13:14 I do want to acknowledge um how much

3:13:18 more specific these are than for

3:13:20 instance in the in the previous plan

3:13:22 which did not ever articulate the new

3:13:24 the actual targets but just kind of left

3:13:27 it as the way they're listed here which

3:13:29 I know is not what we're

3:13:30 doing um this time

3:13:33 would just request that when um we're

3:13:36 looking at the 2031 targets for each of

3:13:39 these um that obviously we have the most

3:13:42 recent baseline data. Um but you know

3:13:44 Chief Hogan talked about how there are a

3:13:46 couple of um data points that need to be

3:13:50 um designed to create a new baseline for

3:13:53 those. I think it would be helpful to

3:13:56 have some baseline data on a related

3:13:59 data point in the meantime. Um the

3:14:02 panorama survey being a great example as

3:14:05 um Dr. Tvar has talked about, you know,

3:14:08 we have year-over-year data on a lot of

3:14:10 things that families tell us. And I also

3:14:13 understand that we're not necessarily

3:14:14 asking the right question yet that gets

3:14:16 at what we're looking for here, but we

3:14:19 can certainly share some data on um I'm

3:14:23 looking at member Peralta because I know

3:14:24 we fill out these panorama surveys as

3:14:27 parents every year and there are a lot

3:14:28 of questions on it. So, if we can kind

3:14:31 of get a snapshot of that. Um, I know

3:14:33 10th grade achievement is another

3:14:35 challenge as MCCAST is likely temporary

3:14:39 at this point with end of course exams

3:14:41 coming in, but it would be helpful in

3:14:43 the meantime to think about where are

3:14:45 10th graders right now understanding

3:14:47 that the instrument might change. Um,

3:14:49 the same with early literacy. I know

3:14:52 that uh that's in progress, but is there

3:14:54 something in the meantime to give us an

3:14:56 indication of where we are? um just to

3:14:59 help the public's understanding to

3:15:01 member Palano Garcia's point of really

3:15:03 just using this as an opportunity to

3:15:06 build some collective understanding

3:15:08 around where we're starting as a

3:15:09 district and then where we're moving

3:15:12 forward together.

3:15:15 Um I'll just note on the survey results,

3:15:17 those are all posted publicly on our

3:15:18 website. Um and we can make sure that

3:15:20 Miss Parvex has the link so you can get

3:15:21 it in your next um set of materials um

3:15:24 to peruse at your at your leisure. um

3:15:27 the climate survey data that is public

3:15:31 and the MCCAST will be part of the

3:15:35 October presentation. So we'll be

3:15:37 we'll be back in a month

3:15:38 and we we do dis we actually disagregate

3:15:41 quite a bit of this on a normal basis

3:15:44 but with extra attention now right

3:15:46 because of the commitment um but yeah

3:15:48 there's you know there is a lot publicly

3:15:50 available in this but I think like being

3:15:52 able to underscore in the presentations

3:15:55 I think this requires us all to look at

3:15:57 it with new eyes right

3:16:03 go ahead

3:16:05 just a a a quick uh summary just for my

3:16:10 understanding. I

3:16:13 I've heard a lot and what what I hear

3:16:16 from you is pretty much a promise that

3:16:21 if I look at this as just an overview

3:16:24 because to me you know whatever before

3:16:26 me lacks specificity and

3:16:31 and to me it is just you know a a

3:16:34 preamble of a book. So you are going to

3:16:38 provide us with specificity plans

3:16:44 outlining benchmarks

3:16:47 uh steps to take for each and every

3:16:49 measures here right and that would be

3:16:52 forthcoming I don't know when I hope

3:16:54 sooner rather than later but there

3:16:58 this is not to me

3:17:02 a working

3:17:05 implementable able

3:17:08 um

3:17:10 map it just preamble. I like to see

3:17:14 things that are specific. Okay. You you

3:17:17 are saying that okay by

3:17:19 September

3:17:21 2031

3:17:23 all students will be culturally all

3:17:25 student will be you know exposed to a

3:17:27 culturally affirming uh uh student um

3:17:31 environment. Okay, then I'll take that.

3:17:35 But right now whatever is in front of me

3:17:40 lacks specificity and I need to see that

3:17:44 to make sure that I can measure it. I

3:17:47 can see that actually

3:17:50 opportunity gap are closing and you're

3:17:54 coming up with that. That's what you you

3:17:56 mentioned that something about codifying

3:17:59 something. So, I I'm hoping that he's

3:18:02 coming for for

3:18:04 Yeah, we're in the process of um

3:18:06 determining what the 5-year overall

3:18:08 targets for the success measures are.

3:18:10 And I think um some of what I'm hearing

3:18:12 in the the comments and questions is

3:18:14 that um a more uh detailed sort of logic

3:18:19 model of how these key actions that

3:18:21 we've laid out will interact with and

3:18:24 hopefully result in improvement in the

3:18:26 success measures. So, I think Dr. Rose

3:18:28 and I can take that feedback back and

3:18:29 think about um what are sort of the

3:18:31 detailed actions, the inputs and outputs

3:18:34 that go along with those actions and

3:18:36 then the sort of um alignment with the

3:18:39 success measures that we believe that

3:18:41 those actions will result in movement

3:18:43 on. So

3:18:45 yeah, I also I just want to level set

3:18:47 that

3:18:49 we are working with the timeline we had

3:18:51 committed to which was the OAG policy

3:18:54 rework which we did which was an

3:18:58 incredible foundation for the strategic

3:19:00 plan. Working with our internal teams to

3:19:04 be able and school committee to be able

3:19:06 to create the success measures which are

3:19:09 the buckets that we believe are going to

3:19:12 help move all students to the kind of

3:19:15 education we want to provide in the BPS.

3:19:18 The next step with teams because this is

3:19:21 all being driven. So it is happening

3:19:23 throughout our district is to now set

3:19:27 metrics baseline and metrics for the

3:19:32 five-year along with the through line of

3:19:36 for the next five years. What will be

3:19:38 happening each year in terms of the core

3:19:40 actions that will help us to lead and

3:19:44 commit to making those metrics happen.

3:19:48 So the specificity comes in the next

3:19:51 piece. But again, I just want to

3:19:53 underscore we could get in the room, the

3:19:57 six of us, and give you that tomorrow.

3:20:00 That is not going to translate to change

3:20:03 in the BPS. What has been missing and is

3:20:06 key is making sure this is done through

3:20:09 teams. And so Colin has worked endlessly

3:20:13 with teams since in the community and

3:20:16 then in the district for the last like

3:20:19 good eight months. The deputies too have

3:20:22 now been moving their teams all the way

3:20:25 down into the schools division along

3:20:28 with principles around these measures.

3:20:31 So the what we're doing for the strategy

3:20:33 to operationalize and do action, we have

3:20:36 to make sure that those are through the

3:20:38 BPS. And that's the reason we've been

3:20:41 rolling this out step by step by step to

3:20:44 you with the idea that come October, you

3:20:47 are now going to see the total direction

3:20:50 of where we're going, where we believe

3:20:52 we can get in the five years, and then

3:20:55 how we're going to get there, which is

3:20:57 what I think you're asking for, member

3:20:59 TR. Well, in a way, yes. Thank you. I

3:21:02 my my concern is that OAG has been

3:21:07 an issue with us, you know, for a time

3:21:10 in in memorial.

3:21:11 That's right.

3:21:12 Even before I came to on the board, it

3:21:14 has always been there. That's right. I

3:21:16 came on there.

3:21:17 That's right. Yeah. We've been

3:21:19 I hope

3:21:20 Well, and the Yeah. And no, and the good

3:21:22 news is that the OAG task force when it

3:21:25 reconstituted and put so much work into

3:21:28 the rework of the OAG policy, I think

3:21:31 you guys all remember the room was full

3:21:33 with people from the OG task force

3:21:36 saying this is our work. We believe in

3:21:37 this work. That is what is integrated

3:21:40 into the strategic plan. So it is a

3:21:42 village. It has to be the community, the

3:21:45 OG task force, us all the way down

3:21:48 through the schools beyond us down into

3:21:50 the schools for this to work.

3:21:53 So that that's my biggest issue is that

3:21:55 as I look at the list,

3:21:57 these are there's nothing new here

3:21:59 in terms of things that we have not

3:22:02 talked about over many years.

3:22:04 We have maybe set them out differently

3:22:06 and focused. But the issue for me has

3:22:09 been in the p I want to know what's

3:22:11 going to be different this go round.

3:22:13 I'll give you an example. We get the

3:22:15 MCCAST data. Usually it's at the end of

3:22:18 the year for the group that just went on

3:22:20 to the next grade. We see that things

3:22:23 have not changed. So what's different?

3:22:25 What's different for those third graders

3:22:27 that went to the fourth grade and didn't

3:22:29 get something in the third grade because

3:22:31 they didn't make proficiency? What's

3:22:33 happening different for me the third

3:22:35 grade teacher is I get a new group of

3:22:37 kids. We need to hear that piece of it,

3:22:39 not just the reporting of the data,

3:22:41 because how do we know what's our

3:22:43 evidence that we're actually closing

3:22:45 gaps? What is the gap now? What is the

3:22:48 specific gap? If I'm a third grade

3:22:50 teacher and I take a look at the the

3:22:54 issues of my kids,

3:22:56 who's helping me to understand

3:22:58 specifically

3:23:00 what I need to do to make sure when

3:23:02 these kids take the third grade MCCAST

3:23:05 that they've actually got the skills and

3:23:07 I have closed gaps between the first and

3:23:10 second grade or whatever so that we are

3:23:12 coming to a place that we can actually

3:23:15 say yes, we have closed these gaps and

3:23:18 we're going on to proficiency and

3:23:20 excellence, but we haven't heard that

3:23:24 yet.

3:23:28 Thank you, chair. [laughter]

3:23:30 Um, I will just quickly respond. Um, you

3:23:34 know, I've had the opportunity to really

3:23:37 get to learn BPS and learn Boston over

3:23:39 the last eight months. And you know,

3:23:41 soup, if you don't mind me saying this,

3:23:44 um I [snorts] think the one thing

3:23:46 superintendent shared with me at the

3:23:47 onset was Simone, like I've had to lead

3:23:50 a lot of change.

3:23:52 And I think at times we minimize what

3:23:55 that change means for our teachers who

3:23:58 are engaging with our kids. And I just I

3:24:01 think doing my own listening and

3:24:04 learning really starting to dig into

3:24:06 some of our data. Um I would offer that

3:24:10 the system is at a place like when Soup

3:24:13 talks about the foundations like we've

3:24:16 given the teachers the curriculum,

3:24:17 right? And I think we're we're finally

3:24:20 at this place where we can like build

3:24:22 efficacy and confidence about around

3:24:25 pedagogical practice that is culturally

3:24:28 and linguistically affirming. And I I

3:24:31 believe that we will start to see the

3:24:33 impact of that um with tightening up

3:24:37 some of our resources and and how we

3:24:39 work together.

3:24:40 Yeah. Our speaker at ALI, I can't

3:24:42 remember her name now,

3:24:43 Dr. Brownie.

3:24:44 Dr.

3:24:46 said a critical thing to us in that

3:24:48 meeting [snorts] and she says as a

3:24:49 district you've got all of the the

3:24:52 foundations everything is there but the

3:24:56 number one thing when schools have

3:24:58 closed gaps is the issue of do the

3:25:01 educators believe that they can educate

3:25:05 the kids that they have in front of

3:25:07 them. Do they believe these kids can

3:25:08 learn and are they giving them the level

3:25:11 of in the types of activity that is

3:25:15 grade level? You can have wonderful

3:25:17 materials but but I'm not using them

3:25:20 appropriately.

3:25:22 Just having the materials is not going

3:25:23 to make that child be proficient. But if

3:25:25 I don't believe these kids can learn or

3:25:29 if I don't believe I have the skills to

3:25:31 teach them in the way that they could

3:25:34 learn,

3:25:35 then kids are being impacted by all of

3:25:38 the adult behaviors.

3:25:40 And just quickly responding, I'm going

3:25:43 to draw the through line to member trans

3:25:45 question around culture and climate,

3:25:46 right? Um, we're two weeks into the

3:25:49 school year and as we're walking

3:25:51 schools, right, we're talking to

3:25:53 students and we're essentially sussing

3:25:56 out like, are you building

3:25:57 relationships? Do you have a champion in

3:25:59 this building? Right? Um, you know, for

3:26:01 our schools, they have three priorities

3:26:03 as superintendent said, high quality

3:26:04 instruction, culture, and climate, and

3:26:06 attendance. And I think it's easy to

3:26:09 think about those things as three

3:26:11 different things, but they are very

3:26:13 highly interconnected. And I think what

3:26:15 Dr. Brownie was really putting out there

3:26:18 is you have to start with the conditions

3:26:20 for success, the relationship building

3:26:23 so that students are like they learn,

3:26:26 right? Um I would agree with you. I

3:26:28 think while curricula is definitely one

3:26:31 of the most impactful ways to streamline

3:26:33 educator practice, I think doing that

3:26:36 divorce from knowing your students well,

3:26:40 um we won't get where we want to go. And

3:26:43 I think Sup and I feel very confident

3:26:45 about how our educators think about our

3:26:47 students. Like we got to spend time

3:26:49 together on the first day. Um and one

3:26:51 thing I will offer that's been true

3:26:53 across many schools is that our

3:26:55 educators do care.

3:26:58 Yeah. I I also think we can do a better

3:27:02 job underscoring because we are agreeing

3:27:06 to a group of measures to really focus

3:27:08 on that. We can actually show in some of

3:27:11 these where we have already really

3:27:15 worked on gap closing. Graduation rate

3:27:17 is a great example. For the first time

3:27:20 in over in I think in ever our black

3:27:24 students reached the graduation rate,

3:27:28 the average rate um as a group. I think

3:27:31 our Latinx students made huge progress

3:27:34 but were slightly below. That was not

3:27:37 true 5 years ago. that was not even

3:27:39 though the graduation rates were good

3:27:42 the gap was there and so I think we can

3:27:46 show that I think when we talk about

3:27:48 advanced uh coursework you know we had

3:27:52 historic 4,300 APs and what drove that

3:27:56 was the access of our black and brown

3:27:59 students taking APs and scoring a seven

3:28:04 the equivalent like 70% of them scoring

3:28:07 a college credit. So there are examples

3:28:11 today in the data. K2 literacy is

3:28:14 another one. However,

3:28:17 we know there's gaps like we know where

3:28:20 the gaps are. This is what we spent all

3:28:22 of ALI focusing on, right? As I know you

3:28:24 sat through it, right? We we we talked

3:28:27 about this because

3:28:29 we don't want anymore on we we don't

3:28:32 want to say well you know our our our

3:28:35 multilingual learners or special

3:28:37 education students should strive to meet

3:28:39 the level of our white students for

3:28:42 proficiency. No, they should strive for

3:28:44 proficiency. And that is like a

3:28:47 different way that we are trying to

3:28:49 measure ourselves that's very different

3:28:52 than historically in the BPS where we

3:28:54 set ceilings for our kids that we should

3:28:56 never have set. And so that I think is a

3:28:59 huge shift in the field. And I think as

3:29:03 you go to the schools and because I know

3:29:05 you guys all visit the schools, ask the

3:29:07 principles what's the gaps you're trying

3:29:10 to close

3:29:12 and they should be able to tell you

3:29:14 specifically in their data.

3:29:17 Here's the two or three gaps that we

3:29:20 have spotlighted that we believe need to

3:29:23 be moved in our school. That's a great

3:29:26 exercise for you guys, right? That's

3:29:29 going to be the focus the next 3 to four

3:29:31 years is the gap because the aggregate

3:29:34 in moving the aggregate is great but it

3:29:36 doesn't move it for all children. So

3:29:39 that is why this team is so committed to

3:29:42 the OG policy and so committed to a

3:29:45 strategic plan that supports it.

3:29:47 Thank you

3:29:50 you all. We look forward to continuing

3:29:52 this conversation always. always.

3:29:57 Miss Farick will now return to public

3:30:00 comment.

3:30:02 John Mud,

3:30:04 I don't think I need

3:30:08 Thank you,

3:30:09 Shard. That's it.

3:30:10 That's it. Okay. Thank you. Any new

3:30:13 business?

3:30:14 Uh, yes. report on that. I want to get

3:30:19 an update on an idea that we talked at

3:30:23 the end of last school year when I

3:30:28 suggested that it will be in the benefit

3:30:30 of everybody if our high schoolers

3:30:34 receive uh once a year communication

3:30:37 about how many um credit they have

3:30:42 already uh achieved and how many more

3:30:46 they needed.

3:30:47 in their journey to graduate from high

3:30:50 school under the new um mask or

3:30:53 graduation requirements.

3:30:54 And that is coming. And so Simone, do

3:30:57 you have the date?

3:30:59 I do. For for seniors, the drop the

3:31:03 deadline is October 9th.

3:31:05 And for our juniors and our sophomores,

3:31:08 we've asked um that that is communicated

3:31:12 before Thanksgiving.

3:31:14 Um I just want to acknowledge our career

3:31:17 college life readiness team. They put

3:31:19 together really really great resources

3:31:22 um that's really going to help you

3:31:24 understand like student has acrewed

3:31:26 three English credits right um and like

3:31:29 what that means in terms of their

3:31:31 trajectory.

3:31:32 Yeah,

3:31:32 that's great. Yeah, I actually think the

3:31:35 tracking that we're

3:31:37 the way that we're dashboarding and

3:31:38 tracking the mass core, I think now that

3:31:40 the state is adopting it as a model,

3:31:43 right, for all districts, I think we're

3:31:45 actually going to be a leader in that

3:31:46 area. The team's done really thoughtful

3:31:48 work.

3:31:49 Wonderful. Thank you. Okay,

3:31:52 that concludes our business for this

3:31:53 evening and our next school committee

3:31:55 meeting will take place again here in

3:31:58 person on Wednesday, October 14th at 6

3:32:01 p.m. right here at the Bowling Building

3:32:03 in Nubian Square. Um, if there's nothing

3:32:06 further, I will entertain a motion to

3:32:08 adjourn the meeting. Is there a motion?

3:32:10 So moved.

3:32:11 There a second.

3:32:12 Second.

3:32:12 Is there any discussion or objection to

3:32:14 the motion? Is there any objection to

3:32:16 approving the motion by unanimous

3:32:18 consent? Hearing none, this meeting is

3:32:21 adjourned. Thank you all.