School Committee Meeting - June 16, 2025

Recording in progress All right, everyone, we're gonna get started. Welcome to the June 16, 2025 School Committee meeting. Pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the School Committee will be conducted via hybrid participation. We will post an audio recording, audio-video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. So let's start off with a moment of silence and salute to the flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Superintendent Carmona, you want to call the roll?

Yes, through the chair. Ms. Pitone?

Here.

Dr. Ackman? Mr. Green?

Here.

Mr. Pitone? Here. President Pineda-Newfull? I'm here. Mayor Ballantyne? Ms. Barish?

Here.

Dr. Phillips?

Here.

Chair Kripchen? We have quorum.

We're going to take things a little out of order tonight. Dr. Carmona and I had the great pleasure of attending the eighth grade civic action projects at Argenziano on Last Wednesday, I think, and it was really exciting and we wanted to invite them here today in part because some of their projects affect city council and we have President Pineda-Newfeld with us tonight. So I'll turn it over to Dr. Carmona to introduce them and then invite our students on up to the podium to give their presentation.

Thank you, Chair. I am honored to kick off tonight's meeting by introducing the Argentinian 8th grade class to present their civic action project. I was there with Dr. Phillips to witness the amazing celebration, the amazing exchange of ideas, and it was really breathtaking. To know that we have students who can be eloquent, that can talk about complex ideas in a manner that were simple and well articulated is a pleasure. In our strategic plan, our primary mission is clear, to cultivate and inspire learners who are equipped to make positive impact on the world. This presentation and these amazing learners bring our mission to life. And I would like to thank Nancy Baicke for your leadership and to teach each and every student for your curiosity and engagement.

So, Nancy, this is the turn in which you introduce your students and we're here to listen. Portuguese?

Hi, here's Thelma Leitão. I will be your Portuguese interpreter for tonight. See you. Very good. Olá, eu sou a Thelma Leitão. Eu serei a sua intérprete de português essa noite.

Thank you. Spanish? Haitian Creole.

Good evening, my name is Angie Supri. I'll be your Haitian Creole interpreter for tonight. Thank you.

Thank you, Member Pitone. For the reminder, Ms. Baicke, it's all you.

Thank you so much. It's really a pleasure and a privilege to be here. I enjoyed having my students present their projects to Dr. Carmona and Dr. Phillips last week. and we are delighted to be invited here to present to you this evening and I'd like to just turn it over to the kids because they did all the work here so if you guys want to come up and join me. We have Luca Biuson, Oliver Gary, Sambav Pokhrel, Cooper Simon, and Mayank Manandar. Take it away.

Good afternoon, student hall. We are the eighth grade of Genziano School. We are coming here today to present the Lincoln Park Field with turf.

The Lincoln Park grass field has many disadvantages and many of them directly affect the safety of our students. There are dangerous holes in the dirt and it gets slippery when it rains and is closed for much of the year for maintenance.

In contrast to the grass, our idea of wooden pellet turf provides many benefits to our city and students. Turf rarely has to be maintained and can be used year-round. It also won't reveal any inconsistencies in the appearance or hazardous defects.

These are our overall project goals. We aim to replace the Lincoln Park field with eco-friendly turf, ensuring that it will provide benefits for the Somerville residents and have positive impact on the environment.

Wood pellet turf is an eco-friendly alternative to black rubber pellet turf. It is completely safe for animals and it is non-toxic. Many sources of wood pellet turf are also made from renewable wood sources. So there should be no environmental concerns.

There are some concerns that you may have about the installation of turf on the Lincoln Park field, but we will try to relieve them. Some may think that the cost of installation is too high to be worth it, but the very low cost of maintenance will help offset this initial cost over time. Another common belief is that turf becomes excessively hot in the summer, but the wood pellet turf fixes this by dispersing the heat better than the black pellets. Another argument we have heard is that turf is bad for the environment, but many sources for wood pellet turf are eco-friendly.

These are the responses we have from the students at our school. As you can see, 71.3% of the students surveyed voted yes, changing the field to turf would benefit their sport. 75% of the students said they've been hurt during recess during the past year. 64.8% of people would use it more often. This is very convenient for them because they don't have to travel to other schools. The residents also wouldn't have to worry about traveling far to use a usable field. Finally, the majority of the students surveyed that they would like to switch the grass field to turf. This shows that switching the grass field to turf benefits the students and residents living nearby.

The majority of our school students have reported being injured on the field, so we also believe it is time to take action. Our goal is to implement our with the assistance of members of student council.

These are our goals, targets, and tactics. Our main goal is to convert the Lincoln Park field to turf. To achieve this, we need to talk to some specific people. Our targets are Ms. Soto, the Department of Public Works, and the school board. Our strategy is to speak with Ms. Phillips to persuade her to help us advocate for our turf field.

Throughout the course of the project, we have learned that students in our school would prefer turf grass to the grass one. We made a slideshow to display what we learned about the students here at our school and benefits of turf.

Thank you for coming today we are ready to address any questions or concerns you might have.

President Pineda-Newfield. Thank you, Dr. Phillips. First, thank you for your presentation. I wish every presentation I sat through was as clear and succinct and quick as that one, so thank you. I appreciate what you laid out here. I do have some follow-up questions. Do you know at all, have you done any research on what is the cost or the average cost for putting this in?

It's around $150,000, but we've also done the calculations of... Is that for installation? Yeah, that's for like installation, putting the...

You really only have to pay for the paint, to spray the lines on the field. But for grass, you have to maintain it year-round, the grass, everything.

Like we said in our presentation, we have to close it half of the year.

Like it's not well kept. Great. I do have some more questions. Are there other schools either in Somerville or nearby that utilize wood pellet turf?

Um recently like some places have been switching like Conway um I feel like Yeah, Capuano is switched. Every school? I guess every school has wood pillow turf.

Every school that has a field has turf.

Yeah, like a turf field. Every school in Somerville has turf, has wood pellet turf. As a field, has wood pellet turf. Did I say it? Okay. The survey that you asked, was that of the whole school? Like how many people did that survey go to?

This was 6th through 8th grade. So these were students 6th through 8th grade. Yeah, from like just our school, right? Yeah, like we took some surveys from other schools, but mostly our school.

Do you know the participation rate of the students? Like how many actually responded to your survey? I think all of them in our school and then I don't know about the other schools. We could check, but yeah. Sorry, I have a couple more questions about the survey. There was a question about if you've gotten hurt during recess. Is that because they're getting hurt on the grass field or like... Tell me more about that question.

Yeah, there was an open-ended response on how you got hurt and most of them were like about like the like getting hurt on the field by like a pothole. I mean there were what yeah like twisting your ankle like on a pothole like or something in the field gotcha okay

I'll let others ask questions.

This is really helpful. Thank you.

Ms. Barish, did you still have a question? Thank you. Through you, thanks for the presentation and the data and everything. It's awesome. I just wanted to clarify, you're talking about the field that is sometimes used for soccer that's sort of just adjacent to the smaller playground? You're not talking about the softball field? Right, you're talking about that? No, yeah, we're talking about the soccer field. The soccer field. Okay, thank you.

Mr. Biton. Thank you, Chair, through you. Awesome presentation, guys. Really excited also just to learn about something that I had never heard of. This as an issue in our city, so thanks for bringing it to us and bringing light to it. The counterpoint, right? Some of your charts showed that clearly the overwhelming percentage of people and so on. What are you hearing from those people who prefer grass fields? Because I have heard very passionate arguments for grass. So I'm just wondering if you heard that. and how you sort of incorporated that.

Yeah, a lot of the people that, especially in our school, they've said they've often said like environmental stuff, like global warming, the chemicals that come from The AstroTurf, but we already attacked that and we're using wood pellet turf, so it's eco-friendly. And a lot of people say heat. Like we said, wood pellet turf also regulates the heat better.

and also yeah also um it wasn't there was like three choices there was yes maybe or no and on i think all the surveys there were four um There were more maybes than noes, so people were just unsure about what to do. I think Luca was right. It's mostly about environmental stuff, but they just voted maybe just because they didn't know.

Dr. Carmona?

Thank you for the presentation and I will agree with our city councilor president that it was brief and concise. I noticed that when I was there last week there was also another group that was advocating for grass and they were also claiming that They understood what you were asking for and they also were asking for an option. And there was a consensus around the two concerns, which is there are some potholes in the field, that was my understanding. And so they agree with you on the issue of the holes, but they disagree in terms of the solution. One thing I was wondering about is, I know students have gotten hurt out there, so there's this question about causality and correlation, like did the kids get hurt because of the grass or because of the holes In this space.

And is it an issue of replacing the grass or is it an issue of fixing the holes?

I think it's because of the holes. I don't think it's because of the grass at all. Yeah, like... I mean, I don't think the grass really affects it. It's just like the holes. If we replaced the holes, then I guess, but like... Most people like turf because it's just consistent year-round. You don't really have to worry about that type of stuff with turf. So that's what we've thought. Thank you.

Mr. Green. I want a third. The thanks and compliment for the clarity of the proposal. I do not think I recognize when I took this job how much time I'd spend listening to people talk to me about turf versus grass. And of those presentations, yours is probably the clearest one I've ever heard. So I want to thank you for that. And to that point, I want to sort of build on the conversation that's currently being had, because I will admit that my question has always been, because the reason this comes up is because Historically, we don't do a good job of maintaining grass fields in the city. And the question I have never gotten an answer to is, What makes people think we could? So my question for you is, did you all think about To Dr. Carmona's point, could we just fix the grass issue?

And if you did, why did you eventually decide that wasn't the right solution? Did you think about just fixing the grass as a solution? And if you did, why did you decide that turf was a better solution than just fixing the grass?

because we chose turf it's better because over time like we said it's you don't have to take care of it and the potholes appeared in the grass um and they're just going to keep coming up and we're going to keep having to fixing them over and over and I feel like over time it will start to build up a cost but with turf it's just a high installation cost so over time I feel like it's a better like cost worthy.

Thank you.

I also have another one. A lot of these holes are made because of dogs. I didn't point that out. Dogs can't dig through turf. So even if we... If they keep doing it, we do signs. I've seen multiple people ignore those signs. I see dogs on the baseball field. I see dogs on just the regular soccer field. If we keep doing these sides, we would have to maybe have, but I don't think we should hire like a security person to watch the field. That would be kind of, I don't know, silly, but... If these dogs keep doing that, they would just keep digging these holes.

Miss Pitone.

For you, thank you. I was going to not repeat myself on the compliments, but I'm going to compliment again because nobody gets tired of hearing what a good job you did. I'm curious I think at other fields they've had to put up fencing to keep dogs out so that's another Steele, Steele, Steele. The people who are abutting that property for history, and you probably know this, there was a ton of advocacy that went on when this field got put in, and there was a huge push to put the grass in. Particularly, there was also The soccer community that we really wanted to have the turf field because of the limitations of being able to use it.

So anyway, I think that I just wanted to frame that a little bit. You maybe already knew this, but to know that having your advocacy is really powerful. and these other perspectives have to be factored in but I'm really glad that you came in front of us and as a parent who had kids who did soccer that would have to do practice at like that would end at 9 and 9 30 at night because we didn't have enough fields I can see the advantages of having a more sustainable field so thank you.

yeah to get to your point on the like the neighborhood we kind of researched that and reasons why the community didn't want They wanted grass because the turf that the people were proposing, it was not eco-friendly. And so that's why we came with the wood pellet turf, which is eco-friendly.

I'm going to call on myself. Oh, go ahead, Luca. Sorry about that. I also want to come back to you on your why don't we just handle the Grasmiser. Even if that did happen, we would have to close it still in winter times. Because you couldn't use that, but if we had turf, we could use it throughout the whole seasons. So that's what I'm sorry about.

Thanks for that great addition. I have a question actually for President Pineda-Neufeld. These folks have come and done a great presentation and hopefully gotten A lot of us on their side. What other advice do you have for them about how to get this proposal done?

Great question, thank you. I would recommend having a conversation with the ward councillor, which I believe this is ward two, so that's councillor J.T. Scott about your ideas and to see you know if he's willing to shepherd this through or at least have a start a conversation with the city about what this would take. I think the other person on that list you're right about is DPW but I would start with the ward councillor for the ward to see you know Given the feedback from when the park was redesigned, this new idea around wood pellet turf versus the turf that they were proposing at the time, to sort of see if there's some appetite there for continuing this conversation. I'm happy to make that connection. I'm also happy to have a conversation to queue that up for you all so that it's an easier conversation to have with him.

Thank you.

Thank you all for coming tonight. It's great to see you. Very, very proud of you. Have a great summer.

Thank you so much. Thanks for letting us.

All right, I think we have some minutes to approve. Thank you. I move to approve the minutes from June 9th. There's a motion by Eleanor Barish, seconded by Leigh Rampitone, to approve the minutes of June 9th. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Ms. Garcia, do we have anyone signed up for a public comment? Okay. That brings us to the report of the superintendent.

Thank you through the chair. Those students were incredible and I know that Nancy has left but thank you Nancy out there for the effort and for making learning visible. What an amazing start of our final meeting before our summer recess begins. Let's switch gears. In your packet, you will find an end-of-year memo which reflects on this past year and celebrates what makes our learning community so special. So this year we'll welcome nearly 300 children into preschool and over a thousand new students across all grades. Our commitment to quality instruction was reflected in the rollout of evidence-based curriculum for grades three through eight. Our staff showed their dedication through more than 60 concerts and theater productions. Our school libraries flourished, lending out over 65,000 books.

and our cafeterias serve over 1 million free meals and snacks. Our conditions for learning survey shows overall improvement in a student's ability to self-regulate. and our iReady data shows steady growth in reading and math. We also reached an important milestone with the official launch of our strategic plan, now paired with a data dashboard that allows us to track our progress in real time. I extend my deepest gratitude to every paraprofessional, teacher, principal, counselor, administrator, and staff member. whose passion and dedication make all of this possible. To our students and families, thank you for being the heart of Somerville Public Schools. Your resilience and spirit inspire us every single day. Thank you. I also have a very important update regarding negotiations with the Somerville Educators Union.

I am glad to share that we have reached a tentative agreement with Unis A, C, and E, which include our teachers, counselors, paraprofessionals, and family liaisons. This was for sure a collaborative effort on the part of the District and Educators Union to prioritize our students and value our educators. I am deeply appreciative of our educators, staff, school committee members, and the mayor for unifying around what is best for our students and families. Special thanks to the entire negotiating team as well as SEU President Deshaun Simmons and SPS Chief Personnel Officer Karen Woods for their dynamic leadership throughout this process. Thank you. This was quite a milestone, so if you were not part of the process, I can tell you.

Andrew Green was there, as well as Eleanor. This was... Thank you very much for the efforts and meeting us all the way through the process. Finally, I want to provide an update on the MSBA building projects for the Winterhill community and potentially for the Brown School. The city has officially selected the owner's project manager who is responsible for overseeing the project. The city selected PMA Consultants, that's the same firm, the same OPM for the high school. Next up, the city is in the process of selecting the designer slash architect. The advertisement for the designer is going out today and the RFQ should be ready by next week. So the first school building committee meeting has been scheduled for July 7.

The SBC is responsible for meeting around the technical aspects of the building. In the last two weeks, we partnered with the city in hosting a coffee hour at the Winter Hill and one at the Brown. Most of you have been present for those meetings, so thank you for joining me on those. This was an opportunity for families to ask the mayor and city department leaders any questions they had about the process. To close, I'll share a high-level timeline. The City's Community Engagement Survey and focus groups are scheduled for late summer and early fall. The Depth Exclusion Ballot question is expected in November 2027. and the completion of construction is anticipated in late 2031. With that, thank you for the opportunity to serve you as your superintendent and for partnering with me for another year to make our schools a place where students can thrive. Thank you. And that's the end of my report.

Seeing no questions or comments, we can move on to the report of the subcommittees.

I move to accept the report of the school building facilities and maintenance meeting June 10th, 2025. Second.

There's a motion by Eleanor Barish seconded by Emily Ackman to accept the report of the school committee meeting for the school building facilities and maintenance meeting on June 10, 2025. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. I'm going to lay that first item of new business on the table till later and move on to the UAW scale program administrator MOA.

I move to authorize the chair to sign the UAW scale program administrator MOA.

Second.

The motion by Eleanor Barish seconded by Emily Ackman to approve the UAW scale program administrator MOA. Any questions or discussion? So this is a vote in public of a vote we took in executive session. This is a one-year rollover, is that right, of that contract? And with that... There's a motion by Eleanor Barish, seconded by Emily Ackman, to approve the UAW Scale Program Administrator MOA. All in favor? All opposed? Motion carries. All right we have come to the part of our last meeting of the year where we take a whole lot of motions to keep the district running while we are not. Who's up for the first one?

You want the motion? Is that what you said?

Okay.

I move to participate in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program and the Commodity Food Distribution Program in conformity with requirements of the State Bureau of Nutrition Education and School Food Services for the 25 Sorry, 2025-2026 school year as in previous years.

Second. It's a motion by Eleanor Bear, seconded by Emily Ackman, to continue participating in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Accident insurance.

I move to continue renew the contract for student accident insurance for the 2025-2026 school year with Moran oh sorry I move to receive and place on file, there we go, the new contract for student accident insurance for the 2025-2026 school year. that has been renewed with Marana Insurance Agency, 23 Spruce Street, Suite B, Malden, Massachusetts, 02148, below are the rates, which are the same as last year. Student insurance plan, gold, premium, school time, 750-0020. Premium 24-hour coverage, $49. Dental extended, $10. Plan B, all sports, rock wall shop and lab coverage. Premium gold plan, $6,419. Catastrophic cash benefit, $1,039.

Second.

There's a motion by Eleanor Barish, seconded by Emily Ackman. Yes. Does the Rockwell get used? I thought it wasn't in use.

As far as I know, it's not been active. So I think there's more than that. There's not only the insurance, but there's the certification that we need to have by a third party. To basically certify that the rock wall, I think is on a yearly basis, is in condition to be used.

Okay, so... May I ask a follow-up? Through the chair, so I'm happy that we're, yeah, I just, again, like in the spirit of using our dollars efficiently, if for whatever reason especially because my understanding is you can come back and ask where the rock ball is not in use like do we know Because I assume that is a substantial amount of insurance or portion of insurance. Like do we know what it would be differently if that was taken out?

Through the chair, a good question. We talked about the nature of the insurance today in our discussion with the finance team, but we didn't actually ask that question. Good question. We will have to come back to the table to look at what What is the impact of removing that out of the package?

Okay, thank you. I mean, I'm happy to approve as is, but I hope we do follow up with that.

Ms. Barish. I guess a follow-up to Dr. Ackman's question or request. I wonder if it's something that you have to ensure whether you whether you use it or not because of the risk like a swimming pool like there is a risk inherent in having it but Is there a different rate in having it versus having phys ed classes or a club that uses it regularly? If there is a difference in the rate, it'd be great if we could explore that.

I don't have the answers for that.

Mr. Green.

Just to remind people this is not a vote on paying the bill. We just received the bill and the district handles this business as it sees fit, including hopefully asking if there's a way we can cut the bill down in any way to reform without exposing ourselves to liability.

Thanks for watching!

And with that, we have a motion by Emily Ackman, seconded, no, sorry, by Eleanor Barish, seconded by Emily Ackman to receive and place on file our paid student accident insurance. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? motion carries moving on to authorization for the summer months I move to authorize the superintendent to act on the school committee's behalf to

A pay bills on school department accounts for which commitments have been made by bid or purchase order before the close of schools said bills to be ratified by the committee at the first meeting in It says September, possibly August. B, expend from the FY 2026 salaries account funds for payment of salaries of personnel under all federal grants beginning in September. Should that also say August, or are we okay with September? I'm going to go September. Expend the FY26 salaries account funds for payment of salaries and personnel as detailed in the FY25 budget. Salaries Account and School Operations Account funds to pay encumbrances and salaries for summer programs. Authorize and or reauthorize school department revolving accounts to accept all monies received by the school committee in connection with the conduct of said revolving accounts according to the purposes of the program or programs from which receipts in each account were derived,

and accept all state and federal grant monies awarded through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Department of Early Education and Care, and to authorize the establishment of separate grant accounts that may be expended by the school Committee without further appropriation for the purposes designated in each grant proposal.

Second. The motion by Emily Ackman, seconded by Liran Beton. Is there any discussion? This motion is to authorize payment during the summer months. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to the acceptance of FY25 grant funds.

I move to accept all federal entitlements and continuation grants and all state continuation grants awarded to the Somerville Public Schools. As listed as follows, private BU consortium, $2,000 for SFLC home visiting for pre-K and K. State Mass Hire North Workforce $76,200 to scale Department PACMAN Construction Training Program. and Mass Hire North Workforce $52,000 for Scale Department Pac-Man Construction Training Program.

Motion by Liran Pitone, seconded by Emily Ackman to accept the FY25 grant funds. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. We have a donation to approve.

I move to accept with gratitude the following donations. Anonymous donation of $10,000 from Belmont Massachusetts for the SHS Scholarship Fund.

There's a motion by Mr. Green, seconded by Dr. Ackman, to accept this generous donation. Discussion, question, Mr. Green?

Yeah, just procedurally, it occurs to me that like, I totally understand why someone would want to donate money to us and honestly I appreciate that. How do we ensure as the body, because part of the reason we approve these things is to How do we do that due diligence with an anonymous donation? I don't know the answer right now, but I think it's a systematic thing. How do we know in the case of an anonymous donation that it's not being

on toward any ways that we would there's something we can bring up with our new chief financial officer great we will do that and get back to the body Any further discussion on this? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries.

Yeah, I read the update. That was part of the report.

Great. Awesome. Okay, going back to new business. Dr. Ackman, is there anything you wanted to say about the things going around the horseshoe right now?

Yes, I tried to get here as quickly as I can. I was at the Healy Moving On ceremony, brought a tear to my eye, they all do. But so thank you for the grace of my colleagues to allow me to be a little bit late. We have Thank you cards that we are sharing to Ruben, to Jess. and we hope that you'll pass the ones to Karen and Pat to Erica and pass the one to Amara you know we thought about getting you a gift but we hope that like our sincere notes of thanks for the amazing work that you do Will, You know, you'll know our appreciation. We also have one for Judy to thank you for all that you've done on behalf of Council for us,

My understanding is there is a something. I'm going to kick that over to the chair, but yes.

Yeah, as we say goodbye to another lovely city council president, we're going to send you out the way school committee sends people out. We have a resolution, and then we're going to shower you with love. Mr. Biton, you want to come up and read that resolution?

That's what I thought. Then he said, come up, and I froze in my tracks. This is my absolute honor to present. I will read it aloud and to the extent I can get through the tears that are already welling inside of me. Resolution honoring City Council President Judy Pineda-Newfeld. Whereas, Councilor Judy Pineda-Newfeld was elected by the City Council as its president on January 6, 2025, and served In that capacity as a member of the school committee from that date until June 2025, whereas President Judy President Pineda-Nufeld served honorably and notably engaged in school committee deliberations both in public session and executive session, providing valuable input on matters related to budget,

Collective Bargaining, and Navigating the Tumultuous Time of the 2025 Federal Presidential Transition. Whereas, President Pineda-Newfeld provided critical insights into the machinations and workings of City Council to the extent they pertain to School Committee and Somerville Public Schools. Whereas, President Pineda-Newfeld used her position to better establish connections between the separate elected bodies of the City Council and the School Committee, for the collective benefits of all Somerville residents. And whereas the Somerville School Committee and the Somerville Public School Community benefited greatly from President Pineda-Newfeld's leadership Partnership, and commitment to service in Somerville, particularly during her tenure as president. Therefore, be it resolved that the Somerville School Committee emphatically expresses its heartfelt gratitude

for President Pineda-Newfeld's contributions to Somerville Public Schools, including to its administration, educators, students, and families, and for her leadership guiding the Somerville Public Schools. and be it further resolved that this resolution be recorded in the minutes of tonight's meeting and that a framed copy be presented to City Council President Judy Pineda-Newfeld.

We do have to vote on it, don't we? We never vote on these things. I lied.

We never vote on these things.

All right, good to know. Andre, though, has something he wants to say.

So I think it's... So every person who has the job of being the council president and therefore an exhibition member of the school committee handles the job slightly differently. Some of that is temperament. Some of that is the nature of what's going on at the time. And you are the fifth person in that seat I've had the pleasure of working with. And I will say that of those five, I don't think you had a particular focus that was greatly appreciated and greatly needed on actually making sure that all of these disparate parts of this complicated I think we call some of government which works far more on like handshakes and official

unofficial norms that I think most people want to realize that actually worked in the common purpose for the students of Somerville and that is was greatly appreciated made Among other things, made the negotiations and the budget process go smoother than they otherwise would have. I often say to people that oftentimes the measure of a good school committee member is what doesn't happen because of them. and in a year we had the opportunity to have so many landmines blow up in our faces. The fact that they didn't, you had more to do with that than I think most people will ever know. So I want to thank you and you'll be missed.

Emily. Thank you. Ditto that you will be sorely missed. Your leadership, your diplomacy is just impressive and has been a joy to watch to learn from and Your engagement with us, your thoughtful engagement as a city councilor and a soon-to-be SPS parent, we'll say. is just been nothing short of inspirational and I thank you for that deeply and you really look forward to like Watching your trajectory and celebrating it.

Ms. Pitone?

Thank you through you to President Judy Pineda-Newfeld. I just wanted to note a couple of things that I so much appreciated about your leadership. I think that you always bring an action orientation and you're very clear about what some next steps are or how to move forward and I think in the milieu of an opinion and emotion it's often hard to be I really appreciate that about your leadership. I also believe that you bring such a sincere curiosity to the work that you do. and you come at your questions and you're concerned from that heart and I really value that and I really feel like it inspires me to be better and making sure that I'm bringing things from a point of curiosity and not necessarily a point of criticism or

I also think that you are incredibly thoughtful about trying to factor in all these different points of view and then being really clear and justified about what you land on moving forward even if it doesn't make everyone happy which Sometimes that's really hard to do, but you know that that's in the best interest of the situation in the city. So anyway, I think that your voice and your heart will continue to influence us in Somerville, and I just thank you for your leadership. I learned a lot from you, so thank you.

Eleanor. It's hard to say something new after all my colleagues' glowing reflections. Compassion and thoughtfulness, but also sort of no-nonsense-ness. And I think sincerity is really what it comes down to. You know you're here to serve and you're here to make progress and I just look forward to seeing how you continue to make an impact in the future because I know you're not done.

So I met Judy like, I don't know, 20 years ago? Like, my first job in Massachusetts and Judy had just graduated from college and she was already a rock star. She had already gotten someone elected to the state legislature and she was like what, like 21 years old. So she went on and became a trainer for the Democratic Party. She ran Emerge Massachusetts and I remember That she was kind enough to have coffee with me when I wanted to run for school committee and she told me that she had always wanted to run for Ward 3's City Council seat and that that was her seat and how much of a bummer it was that she didn't live in the Ward 3 anymore. and more. And then six years later, four years later, she ran for the ward seven seat and won. And we are so lucky to have you in city government here in Somerville. As a constituent, I care most about electeds who get things done.

I don't like people who just talk. And Judy doesn't talk all that much, but she gets an awful lot done. And we are so grateful to have you here. It's been a real pleasure to get to work with you again and I hope I get to do it another time still in this lifetime.

Can I say something too? Absolutely. Thank you. I'm overwhelmed. And this is really meaningful. I just want to say that you all know I'm a mom to a two-year-old and I get to talk to a lot of parents in my mama hat of Somerville students. and you know they don't all know you know I don't I don't like wear a shirt that says I'm the city council and I'm on the school committee so some of them don't know my connection to city government and I get to hear like real thoughts about the Somerville schools from parents at the playground you know daycare pickup folks that have older kids

and I hear such like glowing love for this city and its schools and for friends that have older kids that have graduated from high school or that are moving into high school talk about the Not just the teachers and educators, but the learning environment, the love that they experience in our schools and how unique it is and how you know when they when they compare you know because we do this as parents their kids with their friends kids right who go to other schools I will not name any municipalities here but they say like the richness of the education is so unique in Somerville and I can't wait to put my kid Some of you know I'm looking for a bigger apartment because I have a growing toddler. In no way am I leaving the city because I want my child to be educated in Somerville Public Schools. That's so important to us.

and I just can't wait for him to experience what I know is true from parents but also what I know is true from sitting in this room and sitting around this horseshoe and getting to hear from principals and students and like the I love that. So, you know, and some of you know we've had Youth come in front of the council very recently because the founders rank and they're just so courageous to stand in front of this room and advocate for what they care about and that's because they go to the schools here. You know, like they're learning a level of education that I am so excited for Isaac to learn. So I just want to thank you all because that couldn't be possible without the hard work All of you in this room and the truly the loving care you put into the schools and the school system in the district and it's it's just I'm gonna miss

I'm sitting around here, but I'm going to listen in from home and I will be an annoying constituent, don't worry. I'll come to public hearings and ask you questions and pay attention to the budget, but I'm really proud of the work that I got to do here for the short time I was here and thank you all for everything that you do. So I really appreciate all the nice words.

We're going to miss you. And that brings us to items from committee members. Ms. Pitone.

thank you through the chair I just wanted to compliment the district I had the opportunity to attend the staff recognition ceremony and it was an incredibly I just want to share this my colleagues it was It was so joyful that they passed out pom poms and noisemakers when you walked in the room. I took zero pictures because I was too busy being like, yay! and it included you know recognition for years of service so people 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, I don't know how it went high and as well as awards that were nominated by peers so I it's almost like I'm getting a little glow of satisfaction even though I had nothing to do with it other than just being a cheerleader but I just want to thank the district for enacting that and I hope that you got good feedback from the staff and if you want to make a few comments about it. It was just really lovely and it is in your email you guys can see the presentation about who got the awards in the email.

I totally agree with you, Laura. And I just want to say something in regards to what I heard a minute ago. Two things. Thank you for acknowledging the hard work of the team. I think that for me, I'm very fortunate that I'm in a place where this is a district that really values community. and I have an impressive team and I think that to me that's a gift. And when I hear the comments around the benefits of being in a community that cares about belonging, cares about academics, That is what makes a difference. And again, the work that happens, happens because of the folks who are working together and holding hands. of Teacher Celebration was part of the strategic plan and it was a couple of individuals that ran on that goal and built that with a collective.

And so all those things happen from the idea place, but it only happens through the hands of those folks that are in the community working hand in hand with teachers and working with administration. I just want to thank the teachers. I want to thank my team. Jess is here. Every single time we come here, Erika is always helping us. But it's these ideas that really help us become a team. And I cannot imagine any of this being possible without their support. Thank you for the recognition and I do think that it really is exciting to see that our team is being recognized for that and that's a gift to us, so thank you.

Thank you through the chair I just I would like to I I did review the slides from the the staff appreciation and like the you know what was happening 15 years ago 20 years ago definitely made me giggle and feel old simultaneously But, I that is um something that i offhandedly had mentioned to previous administrations more than once and like it the idea of that was met with various roadblocks and so I never mentioned it to you and not that I would but like the way you did it and like you know speaks to who you are your value and community and like the way it was executed and like I'm so happy that we're doing it and that it was done in a communal way. So not just that you did it, but that like,

there have been opportunities to do it before like it has been put on the table and it never got carried through so i'm you know excited to have it continue and um that it was as wonderful as the slides led me to believe it would have been

that it's floating confetti and there were like cheer teams and it was just a really it's a in addition to all the other events we're doing that are celebrating students which I know all of us have had an opportunity to go to different moving up ceremonies or graduation or class day. It was really nice to be just as a fly on the wall, although a screamer with my pom-poms for something that was celebrating staff. So thank you.

I have a goofy item from committee members that I hope you all indulge me about. Two weeks ago, when we were here, to watch the mayor present the budget, Ms. Barish and Mr. Green and I all learned that behind this curtain is a balcony and so I'm going to request since it's my last last of the year school committee meetings that we all go out there after the meeting and take a picture and and be happy together so Thank you. And with that, the school committee would like to extend its deepest condolences to the family of Alia Josephine Jojo Antetomaso Basso, former paraprofessional at the Edgerly School, and Teresa Terry Medeiros, parent of Brianna Grandoyt, speech-language pathologist at the East Somerville Community School.

and to the family of Florence Elizabeth Wilton McGuire, mother of Catherine E. McGuire, school counselor at the Somerville High School, I think at the Somerville Hill School at the Broadway community. And with that, this meeting is adjourned.