School Committee Meeting - June 9, 2025

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All right. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to this June 9th meeting of the Somerville School Committee. Pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the School Committee will be conducted by a hybrid participation. We will post an audio 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. With that, Dr. Carmona, will you please call the roll?

Ms. Pitone?

Present.

Dr. Ackman? Present. Mr. Green? Here. Mr. Pitone? Here. President Pineda-Nufo? Mayor Ballantyne?

Ms. Barish?

Here.

Dr. Phillips? Chair Kripchen?

Here.

We have quorum.

All right, we will start with a moment of silence and a 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. Do we have interpreters this evening? Okay. Spanish, if you could unmute yourself and introduce yourself.

Okay, so good evening everyone, my name is Nari Pineda. I will be interpreting for tonight's solution to this meeting. Put the blog on the bottom of the screen and select the Spanish language. Thank you. Hola, buenas noches. Mi nombre es Artur Vinaldez. Seré con los tres ejemplos de para el idioma español. Para seleccionar el idioma español, por favor, clique en el globo de la pantalla. Gracias.

Thank you, and Portuguese, if you could unmute yourself and introduce yourself.

Good evening. My name is Thelma Leitão. I will be your Portuguese interpreter for tonight. To listen to this meeting, click the globe on the bottom on your screen and select Portuguese. Boa noite, meu nome é Thelma Leitão, serei sua intérprete de português essa noite. Para ouvir essa reunião em português, clique no ícone do globo na parte inferior da sua tela e selecione português.

Thank you, and Haitian Creole?

Good evening, everyone. My name is Angie Supri. I'll be your Haitian Creole interpreter for tonight. All right, thank you.

That brings us to our retiree celebration. Dr. Carmona.

Excellent.

Okay, everyone, so we are thrilled to be here tonight, able to celebrate our most special employees, our staff, who have been here with us for quite some time, so we're proud to have you here tonight. We also are going to have our principals who will be announcing each of the retirees. So we're going to jump into that right now before I do my presentation. So why don't we start with our Um, retiring staff, so, our principals, so I'm going to have, um, Healy, uh, Principal Sarah Wall

Good evening. Oh, thank you so much. I am so thrilled to get to honor Wanda McLaren. Well, Wanda Phoenician McLaren. It feels funny just calling you Wanda McLaren. For nearly four decades, Wanda has provided unwavering compassion and support for some of our most vulnerable learners. Her selflessness is an inspiration and she models the practice of celebrating students for their own unique gifts. Her commitment to our school community will absolutely leave a lasting legacy and we're going to miss her so much. That's what I got.

This is for you.

There are two other folks retiring from the Healy this year who couldn't make it and they're Ana Costa and Yi Liu who have both dedicated tremendous time and energy to the school and have made a huge impact and I just want to recognize them as well.

Thank you. With that, I'm going to have Kennedy Principal Steve Marshall.

So you're going to hear me repeat myself a couple times after each talk. New to us this year, Kathleen supported students in their learning and exemplified what the Kennedy community is about. She was student-centered and worked to support students with a caring attitude surrounding by high expectations. We are grateful for her becoming a Kennedy Tiger. And once a Kennedy Tiger, always a Kennedy Tiger.

Thank you.

Michelle Bennett. Michelle committed her work to supporting students in our SCIP program. She worked to ensure that her students had access to what they need and could succeed and thrive. Michelle was a staunch advocate and again a true Kennedy Tiger. And once a Kennedy Tiger, always a Kennedy Tiger. So I'm going to have to ad lib this one, but that's all right. Shelly Jarrow, I've known Shelly since I started at the Kennedy 26 years ago, and she's a staunch defender of special education for our students.

Her commitment to her students and the rest of the building itself is palpable. It's evident in everything she does. She also has a great sense of humor. She had a great, I guess, roommate before, and they were a great resourceful team. So congratulations to Shelly, and we're definitely gonna miss her as well. Once a Kennedy Tiger, always a Kennedy Tiger. And then the person who couldn't be here tonight was Carolyn Taylor. She provided speech services to the students at the Kennedy. She was caring and consistent in her work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Marshall. Now we have Marianna McDonald from the HR department.

Hello, everybody. So today we have the honor of honoring Margaret Young. We will celebrate Margaret for 29 years of outstanding service in our food and nutrition program. Margaret's hard work behind the scenes ensured our students were nourished, supported, and ready to learn. Her presence in the cafeteria brought comfort and familiarity to generations of students and staff. Margaret's dedication, warmth, and work ethic will be deeply missed. We thank you for your unwavering commitment and wish you all the best in this well-earned retirement. Congratulations, Margaret.

Thank you, Mariana. Now, Somerville High School Principal Alicia Kirsten.

We truly have an incredible group of educators and educational staff here tonight that we're honoring. I can't say enough about them. I'm going to start with Lisa Brewster Cook. Lisa Brewster-Cook is an SH grad herself who's been at the high school for 26 years. In those 26 years, she has shown every day how deeply she cares about the Somerville community and she has worked tirelessly every day. She just works every day to make the high school a better place for teachers and students. She prioritizes the needs of others above her own and makes sure that students and colleagues are connected with appropriate information and resources. and takes care to make sure everyone in the school feels seen and heard in the community. She's been the keeper of many SHS traditions. She's done her best to educate many of us to hope that we can continue them. In her absence, I'm sure we'll be calling you a lot for information. But she's been the keeper of those SHS traditions, protecting them and making sure they're passed on.

She is truly a Somerville High School institution and will be missed immensely. Peg Huben was a chemistry teacher at Somerville High School from 1999 to 2025, so also 26 years. She started out her professional career in computer programming and then transitioned to teaching. At her time at SHS, she taught all the levels of chemistry, served as an advisor of the SHS Green Club, hosted Magic the Gathering games in her classroom after school and supported the Region 4 Science Fair. She was passionate about teaching, cared deeply about her students, and always strived to make her classroom a safe space for all students. And it should be noted that Peg continues to work with our students as a tutor in the ELP program. I'm sure she's still helping our students every day. Peg Cuban.

Yasmina Bellatresh. We are very proud to honor Ms. Yasmina Bellatresh, who has been a dedicated, hardworking teacher. I mean, this woman works so hard. It is truly impressive, her dedication to her students and to her craft. and she has done that throughout her 16 year career in the Somerville Public Schools. She has meant so much to so many students both at the Winter Hill Community Innovation School and at Somerville High School. Her impact has been undeniable. There are innumerable students who can look back with fondness as her as a teacher and at the success they had with her learning math. Her educational vision was characterized by dedication, professionalism and care. Both students and colleagues will miss her and we wish her the very best in her future endeavors.

This next one we only got to have at Somerville High School for a year and she was fabulous, but Claudia Sara Galvez has been a staple in the Somerville Public Schools for over 30 years, working with recently arrived immigrant students and their families. Are you ready for this list? She taught at the Patterhouse Community School, Lincoln Park Community School, which is now the Argenziano, and she served our multilingual learners in grades six, seven, and eight for many years at the Winter Hill, spent this last year with us at the high school. And during her time at Winter Hill, she was focused on providing newcomer students with a positive first experience in Somerville. She was dedicated, hardworking, and always willing to learn. She's had a big impact on so many students. While only having one year at SHS, she made a strong impact with the team and with students. Her strong organization, knowledge of multilingual instruction, and commitment to social justice made her a formidable force in the classroom. We appreciate the time we had with Claudia at Somerville High School and wish her the best in her next chapter.

And Kenny couldn't be here today, but Kenny Olson has been at Somerville High School for 34 years, ever since he graduated from college and he went to Somerville High School. and just a really amazing, positive, just hilarious, just wonderful presence, just a can do kind of person who just could work with so many kinds of students. And I just have to shout out that he, there was a Somerville high school baseball record, I think the GBL champions, that was last won in 1989 when he was at Somerville. 87, when he was at Somerville High School, that was just matched last year, not this year, right, but the year before by the baseball team. and so it was kind of cool to see he could sort of get bookended he set the record when he was high school and it didn't happen again until last year almost his last year of teaching but he really also is the Somerville institution and we're going to miss him a lot thank you

Alicia, I'm worried that when you are, when some of these retirees are gone, some of the memory, the memory in the building will be gone. Yeah, you gotta keep them at a speed dial. Yeah. And now we have from our Health Department, Liz Quarantillo, Director Liz Quarantillo.

21 years ago, when Linda and I were both a lot younger, I had the pleasure of interviewing her to be a school nurse for the Somerville Public Schools. She impressed us with her depth of knowledge and her desire to help students learn all they could about their health conditions and she pushed us to learn more too, sharing nursing journals and other professional resources and talking over the many clinical questions that have come up over the years. I'd like to share some comments from some of her colleagues. Lynn tries to give our students messages of hope and strength and to strive to be the best they can be. This is a huge part of what it means to be a school nurse. Thank you for being a great example. Lynn has done an amazing job at Next Wave Full Circle. She had a seamless transition from the Healy and quickly made strong connections with students. Students see Lynn, seek her out not just for health needs but for some TLC and comfort.

Lynn has always been willing to work on administrative issues with colleagues, whether as a union rep, as part of the contract negotiating team, or as part of multiple protocol review teams during COVID. I am always impressed with Lynn's intellectual pursuits, most recently her Portuguese language lessons. Lynn has inspired me to visit Greece with her beautiful calendars and pictures. As you can see, Lynn has multiple facets and we are so excited to see what happens in the next chapter as she prepares to welcome her first grandchild. Congratulations.

Now we have Director of Special Education, Ildefonso Reyano.

Thank you. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Denise Sacco for her remarkable 40 years of dedicated service to the Somerville Public Schools. Throughout her tenure, Denise has contributed in many roles, and she currently supports our special education department as head clerk. Denise has been an invaluable resource to our team, our go-to person for all things Easy IEP Ed Plan, and a trusted expert to many, if not the entire department, on the special education process from start to finish. Her unwavering devotion and commitment to Somerville are truly unmatched. Denise's tireless work and passion have made a lasting impact on our community and we are incredibly grateful for all she has done and continues to do to ensure the best possible outcomes for our students. Thank you, Denise, for your extraordinary service and dedication to Somerville Public Schools.

You will be greatly missed and we wish you all the best in your well-deserved retirement.

Thank you, Mr. Ildefonso. So a heartfelt thank you to each one of you for your dedication and commitment to the work in Somerville. And I know that this is your last year of service, so I know we wish you the best as you conclude We will now adjourn for cake.

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All right, everyone, we're gonna start back up in just a moment. Thank you again all for being here. All right, everyone. That brings us back to our agenda. We have some minutes to approve. I will entertain a motion. I have a motion to approve the minutes from May 9th and May 19th. Is there a second? I have a motion by Dr. Ackman, seconded by Mr. Green. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. We do not have any public comment this evening, so that brings us to the report of the superintendent. Dr. Carmona.

Excellent. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I know I skipped the sequence of the report that I had, but we had to honor our retirees, so I'm really excited about that. So tonight's meeting as you know is an important one. We have the opportunity to recognize and celebrate our most senior students. who have achieved remarkable accomplishments even while facing the ups and downs of life, family, work, and more. I'm so proud to be in a district that creates an environment where our students of all ages can learn, A big congratulations to our skilled graduates who have shown excellence, resilience, and creativity through their time in our district. I also want to point out in your, as we review your agenda, that in your packets there is an out of school time memo.

And also there is a recommended K-5 ELA memo. So I just want to make sure that you are aware of that. Also tonight we have two presentations. Both of them will be done through our chief of staff and strategy, the great Amar Anosike. The first one is the report prepared for the Somerville Construction Advisory Group, which the Mayor convened to provide recommendations regarding the MSBA school building project. for the New Winter Hill School Facility and potentially for the Brown School. And the next presentation will focus on the school committee goals, highlighting progress and alignment with the SPS Strategic Plan A big, big thank you to Amara for her leadership on these very important initiatives. And now let's get to start. We will have Amara on the stage.

Through the chair. Thank you, Dr. Carmona and everyone. As you mentioned, my name is Omari Anasike. I'm the chief of staff and strategy at the district. And I'm really excited to share a report that we put together at the request of the construction advisory group. This is before I get into the presentation. I'll give it a moment. I'm on slide two. I wanted to share some background and give you some context about the scope. So the Somerville Construction Advisory Group is tasked with providing recommendations to the mayor on the location of the New Winter Hill Community Innovation School, and also tasked with answering two questions, whether the project scope should include the Brown School as well, and where it should be located. Just a few points of clarification.

This presentation will explore several considerations raised by the CAG from the perspective of the district. Consistent with the community process outlined by the mayor, this presentation will not provide a definitive recommendation as to the two questions before the CAG. What we do hope is that this presentation will serve as pertinent information so that the CAG members can make a more informed decision. I'm on slide three. Perfect. So here are the research questions that we've came up with based on the multiple meetings that we had at the CAG. I'm one of the members along with Smith, School Committee Member Andre Green, as well. And the district, what we did was we engaged a local expert. His name is Samuel Moulton.

He is the former director of data science and research at Panorama Education, and he supported us as we thought through the implications of the questions that are before us today. which is diverse programming, thinking about access to that in various school facilities and buildings across the district. Distance from School, School Size, and Facility Features. And the goal was to determine how these factors might impact student outcomes and wellbeing. because they may be implicated in whatever the CAG decides. So the first question was, how does exposure to diverse peer groups through specialized programming such as MLE programming, special education, social-emotional learning programming, impact learning and outcomes.

Just a point of information, the current Brown School facility does not have capacity for any of the specialized programming that we currently have at the district. And so what the data demonstrated was that increasing student diversity may slightly benefit other learners if the increase is adequately supported with things such as staffing and inclusive learning practices. Inclusive educational practice have shown positive academic effects for students without special education needs. More diverse schools can reduce prejudice and enhance empathy. That being said, without support more diversity may hamper instructional pace, cause disruption, reduce sense of belonging, and cause resource dilution. These costs may negatively impact outcomes for all learners including those without specialized education needs.

Please note that the potential benefits and costs of diversity in specialized programming really depend on the integration of the classroom. So you can have all of these students in the same school, but if they're not in the same classroom, This data wouldn't hold. So the next research question was distance from school, and we wanted to know how does attending a school in one's immediate neighborhood versus traveling farther impact student outcomes? What we found is that the impact of distance from school and student outcomes is impacted by many factors and is very difficult to study. In urban settings, students often travel longer distance for higher quality schools. And in rural settings, the data shows that distance is often linked to things like poverty. So the impacts of increased distance are relatively minor based on the research.

This most likely could lead to decreased attendance, decreased sense of belonging, and Hamper, Family Engagement. But based on the relatively minor impact that school consolidation would have on commute time, the increased distance under consideration in Somerville is unlikely to affect student outcomes. Next we looked at school size and I was interested to know what the data said about what is a big school, what is a small school, like what is that? And what we found was that Outcomes peaked for mid-size K-8 schools, that's at about 400 to 700 students, while very small or especially large enrollments erode some of the benefits.

So larger schools can leverage scale to host full-time specialists, broader menu of programming, while smaller schools often share staff and rely on inclusive co-teaching. Academically smaller schools match or outperform larger ones, especially for low-income and high-need students because staff can give individualized attention and maintain high expectations. These gains reverse or flatten once a K-8 school surpasses 700 students. Non-academic indicators including safety, attendance, engagement, and extracurricular participation favor smaller schools which cultivate tighter peer networks, lower bullying, and allow for quicker adult intervention.

Many neurodivergent learners thrive in the calmer, more predictable climate of smaller schools whose lower ratios and flexible routines reduce sensory overload. What we found in the data is that districts often pursue a best of both worlds strategy, keeping overall enrollment in the mid-hundreds to balance personalized learning, positive climate, Physical Efficiency and Sufficient Capacity for Specialized Services. The last research question that we looked at was what impact do facility features that allow large gathering spaces such as auditoriums, gyms, and play structures have on student outcomes and overall school experience? Not a surprise, actively used gyms, playgrounds, and auditoriums can boost academics' behavior and engagement.

Daily well-supervised physical activity are associated with small gains in attention, conduct, and test scores. Likewise, arts and assembly spaces lift creativity, morale, and family turnout. These sorts of effects do fade when access to these gathering spaces are limited. These facilities can also host after school and summer programs that raise grades and curb risky behavior for low-income students, provided the programs are high quality and well staffed. Large communal rooms deepen family engagement and can be a very key driver of attendance and achievement. Schools without dedicated spaces can still partner with parks or community centers and use portable equipment or staggered schedules and really use creativity to overcome some of what they might miss without having these spaces.

Overall, Somerville can expect some academic and social benefits from multipurpose spaces if they remain actively programmed, inclusively scheduled, and properly resourced. So I tried to keep pace with the key takeaways throughout each slide but this is sort of a summary of what we just went through and I do want to again thank Samuel T. Moulton and all of the members of the Construction Advisory Group for their thoughtful engagement throughout the process. Also members of the team, Samantha Elogene and Danielle Berry. So, thank you.

All right, thank you so much for that.

Thank you through the chair. Thank you. This is well organized. I appreciate the presentation. I am curious. It says, under school size, you mentioned districts often pursue a best of both strategy. I didn't understand in that snapshot what the both, like small versus large, school, what is both?

I think that's a good question. I would say it's the 400 to 700 range, so sort of like a mid-size school is what the data would show. Yes, the plan is to present this deck to the CAG, I believe it's on June 17th at the next meeting.

Thank you actually to that end. I'm going to save any commentary until that meeting, but I will, one, ask my colleagues for their thoughts tonight, or between now and the 17th, so I can share with the CAG. and I do have one question I suspect will come up and so I just so you can have time to get some data on it. We were talking about distance. What does busting or, in some of those cases, the lack thereof fit into that conversation? I just think there's a question that's going to come up, so I'm going to flag that for you.

Through the chair, thank you for flagging. I'll take a look at that before the CAG meeting.

A lot of places means miles versus, you know, a mile and a half or half a mile or whatever you have to be able to do.

Thank you, Chair, through you. I want to follow up on the point Mr. Green just made. The citations, which are really helpful, and I'm glad you included them, You showed your work. That's great. Around the distance question really seemed to focus on bus rides. And... As Mr. Green alluded to, we don't provide busing here in Somerville for most students. So the distance of an extra mile in a community that does busing may not account for much time.

Whereas in Somerville, a mile, as many residents may know, can take, especially at 7.45 in the morning, could take 20 minutes. My first reaction upon seeing the distance from school slide and that the impact of increased distance or relatively minor was some degree of Incredulity. That's not my experience in Somerville. And I think the analysis that one of the CAG members put together, Ryan Williams from the PTA, around lock sheds for each school suggests that the locations for each school zone in walking terms are really very unique.

So I would just encourage you to take a look at that and think about I think that's really thoughtful, so thank you.

I would just say that this is based on the evidence base and the data, how the CAG That kind of takes that in and what additional data that they might look at like the walk sheds and the fact that most students don't ride buses. In Somerville, I do think that that's something that they do appreciate and we have discussed in the CAG and I think that that's something that they should consider with the data although I will be reaching back out to the researcher and doing our homework on whether we do have more Thank you through you.

First of all, thank you. Through the chair to you. It's a really thoughtful framing of research and kind of factual information and we're in a really challenging situation where we're asking these two different school communities who have an affinity and an affection and a good experience with their own school community to be part of this conversation. So I appreciate trying to put in as much as we can the data and the research. So I think it's really valuable and I hope that the CAG I also understand what a hard task that they have to be able to resolve all these issues and respecting the fact that people really love their schools and they love their school community. also acknowledging that we have potentially an opportunity to move forward for something that can serve our kids for the next 50 plus years that could either look different or look similar to what we're doing right now.

I'm curious, this is probably not to you, this is probably more to the chair, what is the expectation for us, school committee, in terms of this conversation? I think the CAG has asked us to somewhat weigh in and I asked for data or information and I'm guessing this is part of that and also I'd be curious what kind of information In addition to this was shared with the CAG. And so I don't know what the timing for that is. Do you understand my question?

I do. And just to be clear, the CAG has not seen this yet. Amara is bringing this to us first to discuss and you are correct that this is coming out of the CAGS request from us to to sort of weigh in um and so how we handle that I don't know we haven't decided so it's not like today everyone's going to stand up and

Not necessarily. Thank you.

Dr. Ackman. what Ms. Pitone said made me think of and I don't know how the CAG meetings work and so if there's sort of default understanding in every meeting but one of the things that I keep trying to kick around and I guess my request would be for when you present it to them is the size of each of the like what you know like you're talking about numbers that I think this is really valuable and is you know making me think deeply about it um but it's like The Winter Hill needs a new building. So for what number of students do we need a new building that is part of that? For what number of students you know is like should the brown community come on is that then addition and

you know then comparing it to these numbers here and I know the numbers roughly like but I think like if you unless it's just something that's in the CAG and sort of in the conversation like adding it here I think The reality of the larger school that's potentially proposed is higher than any of the numbers that seem to be you know what data says would be best practice um and that you know that's my interpretation but that gives me pause in this like and so on. Not research-based, but just having been in enough schools that this makes sense to anyone who's been in enough schools, especially K-8s. Anytime it gets over 700, that's a lot.

So that makes a lot of sense to me. but yeah, if like, If it's sort of like the minimums and maximums of the numbers that are being considered while also talking about best practice. If I were on the CAG, that would help, and I think that would aid in this presentation.

So just to quickly clarify if I'm correct, Winterhill has approximately 400 and Brown has approximately 200?

Am I wrong? 338.

If you account for the fact that Brown School 5th graders have to go somewhere in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, I would think that Were we to combine the two schools it would make sense to for those students to continue and so that would actually be another 40, 80, 120 students which would put it at 756 if I did my math right. Mr. Green?

So just to be clear, the numbers that the CAG is discussing is that we probably need currently about 700 seats. The fact that the city has got an obligation for 900. is that rare place where we have space.

Three. Looking it up. $397. $397. $430, $440?

Oh Laura, your mic isn't on. I was just clarifying the numbers so what everyone was saying was the current Winterhill is 397 but normally it's at about 430 the current Brown which is only K to fifth grade would be 221. And then Ms. Barish referenced that If in theory in this the idea of a new school again not advocating for this those 220 would continue for the next three years so that would add approximately another 120 students. and so that's comes up to this 700 plus seats that just to replace what we have right now although for context the city has gotten some feedback from the MSBA that they would possibly support a building that could serve more students with upwards to 900.

905, I remember correctly.

905. May I add something? I apologize. Now I'm leaning out of this question and into another question. Because the school has particular programming that has much smaller classroom sizes, is that accounted for in here? So like our AIM program doesn't have 24 kids to one teacher. We will have We have classrooms that have smaller numbers and is that accounted for here in terms of the space allocation so it might be 900 kids if they were all general ed but if we're using some of those classrooms for the AIMS students I would think it would be a little different Do you want to answer that Mr. Green?

My understanding is that the MSPA is going to authorize a building up to 905 student slots. How we use those student slots is a decision we would as a district have to make.

Through the chair, I just want to add, when we submitted the application, our special education department outlined how many smaller rooms that they would need We also reached out to our out-of-school time department about the kind of spaces that they might need for larger gathering spaces. We had enrollment there. We also consulted with MLE. So we were very specific about if it were to be in that, whatever facility, that there would be enough spaces for specialized programming.

Ms. Barish?

Yeah, if the numbers that I see are correct for the East Somerville School, this would be comparable to the size of the East Somerville School. And it makes me wonder, well, that doesn't make me wonder but this presentation saying that 700 students is sort of a tipping point makes me wonder I know we've kicked around the idea of you know The theory of the middle school model and what the pros and cons are. And I'm wondering if we have considered or if the data would support the idea of not changing to a middle school but having a second administration at the school for the middle grades does that make sense so essentially you have two schools in a single school and does that Um, mitigate the impact of the larger number of students.

I just, I don't know enough about education, administration, and you're all experts, so.

Just a quick reference. Andrea is right as far as the numbers as well as Amara. One of the things that we, when we met with MSBA, we highlighted the fact that we had no space in our district. and others. Interventions were in the hallways, tutoring was difficult, out of school time, instruments. I was aware that the capacity of the building was going to be much higher than the actual number of students enrolled. I don't know where the 700 number comes to mind, So it's 227 and 397, what, 618? So you're thinking that for the future enrollment, where does the 700 come from?

Because if the Brown School fifth graders If we were to combine the Brown School and the Winter Hill School into one school, those Brown School fifth graders wouldn't be dispersed across the district. I mean, maybe they would, but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. They would stay at that school. So that's another 120 students for Two strands of 20 in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, which is typically what the Brown School has had.

But it's a strand of two, so that's 40 kids, is that right?

Two strands of two, so 40 for sixth grade, 40 for seventh grade, and 40 for eighth grade, so that's 120 on top of the six whatever that was...

But just to be clear, those would be seats at other schools that would then become, I mean, it wouldn't change the overall number of our students.

No, but it would be the size of that school because we're talking about this apparently, you know, pivotal number of 700-ish students that makes a difference in... outcomes. Mr. Green.

To the point of clarification, the numbers Rich Raich gave the CAG to think about for the schools was around 450 for the Winter Hill, around 250 for the Browns, so it would also be 700.

Mr. Biton.

Thanks, Chair. Through you, following up on Ms. Barish's question, I'm curious And maybe this is something Rich Raesch said a long time ago, and I have forgotten since. What flexibility do we have on programming for said new school? Are we locked into the... The K-8 model. Can we explore different flexibilities around middle school?

Ms. Green?

So, the MSBA's mandate is we can build one school or two schools, well, we can build one school right now, up to a certain size. What we do at that school is a school committee decision.

Mara, did you want to respond as well? Through the chair, I believe for the funding for the MSBA process, it has to either accommodate the enrollment for the Winterhill or the enrollment, and potentially the Brown. So it's not like a whole district. like reorg from my understanding for the funding obviously after we receive that and it's built I don't I don't know how that works but um that's that's what the MSPA has communicated

Ms. Barish and then Dr. Ackman. I also just want to point out that the building would be designed significantly different I think if it was going to accommodate pre-k students to eighth grade students versus all sixth to eighth students so If we were to start with a building for pre-k to eight and then decide to turn it into a middle school, that would be a heavy lift, I think. Dr. Ackman?

Thank you. Through the chair, I thank Well, I don't know if it's building on that point, but given the population that gets supported at the Winter Hill, I think about at the high school, and you know the next wave full circle and their carve out and but what it has allowed those students and how it has allowed them to engage in general ed classes which seems to be like just so positive for the learning of those students and their school experience and so I think about like I personally don't know how much beyond the really robust data

that Amara provided, like how much we can answer this question without sort of understanding the spaces that would be provided for supporting this programming. I believe we owe it to those students, to those families to provide like a, A wonderful space for their students, to the educators who serve them. I guess you know while the numbers certainly matter I would like to even a rough sketch of like what just the Winter Hill would be just to understand like

How those classes would be integrated or how, you know, if there'd be specialized spaces and if so, you know, is there lighting considerations for the populations? Are there... you know noise dampening considerations things like that that that and and how how can we be best providing them because to me again part of that is like I don't know if it's more expensive than a you know a typical build out but we want to serve those kids we want those families and do it right and like to me I don't know, I need to understand what space we can be providing them in order to think about what that building can be.

It is my understanding that the building committee will basically task with all these questions about the programmatic design, The structural design, and that's when architects come in, that's when special education, that specialists in all the different fields come in to As the same question, what is this going to look like? I believe that that was the trajectory they used for the high school as well. So as the building committee that embarks in that process, I think it would be hard for us to say let's do this without having, that is a consensus and it's also a very robust team that actually embarks in those inquiries. One thing I can share with you is that We are having a challenge in terms of providing more inclusion spaces for our students in the AIM program because being a two-stranded school,

is a challenge and the chances of having multiple choices to have peer models that can serve for integration purposes It gets very limited when you have a lower number of students and when you have such a large program as the AIM program.

I have Ms. Pitone and then Mr. Green. I thank you through you chair. I think I'm going to my question was related to what Dr. Carmona brought up which is I have seen in the past For example, at the Kennedy School, that it can be very challenging for students who are often in separate classrooms to be and many more. That's one of the things that was very compelling to me when I learned that the AIM program is so large and it's... I want to make sure that I'm representing this properly. When you only have two strands, which means two classrooms per grade, there's less opportunity to place those students, because you can't just place five kids in a classroom.

That doesn't work, particularly for students that often have sensory issues and need a high level of support. I hadn't thought about that challenge. that's a I guess programmatic advantage possibly of having a school that has three strands per grade that there are more opportunities for our students to be included which I think is part of our longer term I know it's something that our educators want more of I know it's part of something that many parents want more of and there may be An opportunity here if this school is larger that our students can be more successfully included in classrooms. Is that what I'm understanding?

I know that that is a challenge that has been brought to my attention through Director Ildefonso. And that came to me even before this conversation around what do we build is we need to make sure that we have So again, I am going to do my best to not...

Deliberate on this one so I can But I want to be a conduit. So I do want to, in that regards, flake something that has been weighing on me, to give you those thoughts. And it kind of ties in to both Dr. Ackman and Ms. Barish's question. Most recent comments because I think it's kind of a double-edged sword, right? Like I think a lot about the Capuano. which was specially designed to be an early education center back when we, that was our pre-K strategy. We have since changed pre-K strategies, I think correctly, But now we have this building that is overbuilt for a specific purpose and it's really hard for us to repurpose it. And I believe very strongly that we owe, especially the AIM community, the best facility we can build for them.

And I think those two things have a certain public attention to them. And so I want to flag that as something that has been weighing on me from the beginning of this process and something I'd love to hear people's thoughts about.

Ms. Pitone? Thank you, through you. Just to follow up on Mr. Green's comment, you know we do have several schools that have very sensory stimulating It is problematic not just for our kids with special needs, but it's problematic for many of our general ed kids to be in a very Acoustically Not Dampened Space, whether it's a cafetorium, which again was created as a multifunctional space and it has been very successful for the most part for the district, or a gymnasium. And so I do think things like Sound controls are going to be serviced to all our students. but I do also am sensitive to what Mr. Green has said about like classroom sizes and and you know you know is there a time in the future where the district wants to have two AIM programs I don't know they want to have one part on the city I don't I don't know and and that's something that

you know educationally what the vision is for the district anything that we can receive from central office around what your educational vision is will be super helpful for us in terms of whether or not we sustain or make a recommendation to sustain two schools or one school or whatever.

I'm certainly no architect, but I'm also just wondering how much flexibility we can build into whatever design is made. And this is just a hypothetical that perhaps, you know, School Construction and Design has improved since the Capuano was built in terms of like how much flexibility you build into these buildings. Ms. Pitone.

Thank you. To extend, while I don't I don't disagree through you regarding Mr. Green's comment. Disagree that we've made some strides in terms of pre-K and having it in different schools, but we've also created problems for ourselves. So it's not just about the Capuano. Now we have single pre-Ks in most of our schools. and that has created a lot of issues for families and some families get access to the the one in their local neighborhood schools some have to go to the Capuano you know I've talked to many people about my fantasy wouldn't it be nice to have a pre-k I mean, on the west side of the city so that we could release those classrooms in our K-8s and give our classrooms some breathing room. So that's just something that's in the ether for me. The question I guess I'm going to add, and this question is outside the scope of what you presented, but I am going to put it out there because it's really important to me as a taxpayer, is that part of the

The equation about decisions about buildings have to do with whether or not the city has the capacity to support the Brown moving forward. and whether or not, so right now we have money to replace the Winter Hill or possibly combine. We have a building that has reached the end of its useful life. I think that's the words that have been used by the city. and also it's not ADA compliant also doesn't necessarily have all the programming and the community spaces but we also have a community that is very much in love with how this small school operates. I would be very very hard-pressed if there wasn't a vision or a long-term plan to if people really want to keep this small school and there's a A sea of energy behind this. If there's no money to do that work in the next 10 years, I would feel very fiscally irresponsible

to support that decision and I don't know how to resolve this because I don't know how much you know I've heard every number from It would cost $50 million to deal with the Brown to $150 million to deal with the Brown, and that it would have to add stories to the Brown, to add a gymnasium and common spaces. There's so many question marks, but for me as a representative, trying to separate the facts from the community issues, it feels so irresponsible. to make that choice without understanding whether or not it's financially viable to sustain the two schools.

Mr. Green and then Mr. Biton and then Dr. Ackman.

I want to thank Mr. Pitone for that point. There is, I would say at this point, a large pile of financial questions the CAG is asking the city to which we have not gotten clear answers on. I'm happy to add that one because I think that is a good and new one and I wish I could add that to the pile. There are a whole lot of questions here that the city has not given good guidance on and CAG is deeply aware of that fact.

Mr. Biton, and then Dr. Ackman.

Thank you, Chair, through you. I think questions beget questions, and we are having Just the tip of an iceberg of a conversation around a ten slide presentation that starts to get at what the major questions are. and I think we owe it to our constituents to have a big conversation and to have that soon I think there are big questions that are impacted by this little question around potential consolidation of two school communities.

that have a ripple effect into many different areas around inclusion. If we, just because it's my pet project, around the middle school, centralized middle school option, Think about all the different K-8s in our district, if we move the 6-8 or 7-8 into a central Middle School. That allows more space for specialized programming. West doesn't have any, right? And more diverse Sped, MLE, SEL programming could be hosted at all of our K-6s or K-5s across the city. So that's just one example of a Implication that this decision will have as a ripple effect across our district.

So I really think having a big conversation is something that we need to do and we need to weigh in with respect to this decision that's going to be made in the next six months.

Mr. Green. Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't have your head up.

I was like, I would agree with that, but I don't have anything to add to it.

Sorry, it was Dr. Ackman who had her head up. Okay. All right. So procedurally, Amara is bringing this to the CAG on the 17th. The CAG also asked for our opinions. If I'm understanding correctly. And so I'm just asking the question to Mr. Green or to Ms. Onosike, do you think us endorsing this district presentation is helpful? Do you think us, like what's most helpful

And I will defer, but I think for me, hearing the conversation, I'm going to ask Garcia, to get me the minister section as soon as she can. But I can report on the conversation. Since the CAG is not until after our next meeting, if people have more thoughts, if they want to share them with me, I'd appreciate that. But I don't think, in part to Mr. Pitone's point, that I would need a recommendation from the school committee at this point. and I think just

I think digging into our understanding of the challenges facing the district in conjunction with the district's proposal I think is a good starting place and it would not surprise me if The CAG at our meeting gave me homework to give to all of you to do individually over the summer.

I just want to name it feels a little bit like a chicken and egg problem which I know you know I'm just so I'm just naming it like Dr. Ackman's point about wanting to understand what the spaces might look like in order to make the decision but no one will design the spaces until you make the decision the point about Are we fiscally responsible if we don't know what it costs and if we can afford it? So how do we make a decision if we don't know whether we can afford the decision? So I'm just naming that and the frustration which we all share.

Welcome to be a member of the CAG. I think if you asked any CAG member, they would have some variation of we're caught in a circle we can't figure out how to get out of.

Ms. Pitone. Thank you, through you. I think one question I would have, and I think this is to the city, in the event that Only the school building that gets built is only sized for the current Winter Hill population. What do they envision their long-term plan to address the risks associated with the Brown School? Building, not the school, the building. I also, I don't know if the district can speak to this at some point, is that programmatically or kind of environment-wise, what their expectations would be to sustain a small school would it have to have I know it has to be ADA compliant like that's kind of a for me it's a deal I'm sure it's for everybody here it's a deal breaker it's legally

I mean you know we've gotten grand I don't like that word sorry but we've gotten kind of a pass because we didn't do spend as much money on the building and it's been kind of a game that the city has been playing but that It probably looks more than that for the district. They don't want to just do ADA compliance. They're gonna be more expected, whether it's a group space, an indoor group space, whether it's more service space like what does it have to look like to be able to meet the expectations of the district in terms of delivering the best quality education or the standard that we have set for all of our Students.

It's a big question.

So are you asking me what would the new design of the Brown look like?

So, I mean, I don't know that's... What would be the functional requirements in NerdSpeak of what Brown would have to do, be able to do, to be able to meet our standard?

Through the chair, we submitted an application to the MSBA that outlines what would be helpful in a new facility. And I think that would be the blueprint that we would use for the Brown. and I'll let you guys continue this conversation but I do have one comment about the data that I want to clarify for folks. None of the factors that we talked about are definitive in terms of there are large schools that are very good. and the data is very clear on that. And there are small schools that are very good. There are all kinds of schools That are good and these aren't necessarily the factors that make or break a strong public school and I think I'm going to add that before I present to the at the end, because I don't want anyone to think one data point should really overwhelm or stress them out in terms of where they're leaning.

And I do think based on the conversation that is happening today, That this slide deck is giving a lot of food for thought and that was the goal and I tried to say that up front that the decision will continue to rest with the CAG to make their recommendations to the mayor.

I had Dr. Ackman and then Ms. Pitone and then Mr. Green.

Thank you. Through the Chair, after this really thoughtful conversation and amazing presentation, I would say the one thing that I personally want to say definitively that I hope moves forward clearly with the CAG is Member Barish's recommendation about making sure that like that you know the subpopulation of students who attended Brown who do not for the middle grades that that as we talk about populations that you know I like that is a great point and maybe that is like everywhere on CAG's radar but it's the first I've heard of it and thought of it and I just want to make sure it it like gets drilled into CAGS radar.

Ms. Pitone and then Mr. Green. Thank you. Through you. This presentation doesn't necessarily touch on the scope of location for the school. And I'm not saying you should. You captured what you were trying to capture from outcome standpoint in terms of the different factors. However, I do hear a lot in In the ether and in the community about if the school were to be at Trum, how would we replace with contiguous green space? And from what I understand that... My understanding honestly is through hearsay which is it's got to have a softball field but you could put a softball field at the Winter Hill. I want the truth about what The constraints are what the city expects that they can or cannot do because I think that will be a huge impact on whether or not TREM could be a location besides the community who loves using TREM for softball. That's a whole other piece.

That's what I would like to hear at some point.

So first of all, so the CAG, I think is the honest answer to that question. That has been raised at literally, I think, every meeting of the CAG. Hasn't been answered. The answer is they still have to figure that out. And I would point out, as I have multiple times, that the city has reviewed the trauma as a possible location for a new school twice before and rejected it both times, so I'm not quite sure what new information comes to light. The closest I've heard, and I think you were the same meeting I was, was Rich Race had suggested perhaps the use of the Sycamore Street site as part of the swap. It is true that it has to be comparable use, not just contiguous. And I am questioning, since the Sycamore site is famously built into a hill, How do you build a softball field into a hill? But I'm not going to answer yet.

Okay, and then you also had your hand up, Mr. Grange. Do you have another question?

Thank you. Actually, this is a really good segue. I understand this part as much to myself as to everyone else, which is that we are all spending a lot of time, effort, and energy trying to find the right answer and I do not believe that exists. I do not believe we can possibly have enough information in a reasonable, practical way to know what is categorically the right decision. And I think I as a member, I think the body, the administration, I think a whole lot of people The community has to accept that reality, that we're going to have to make an imperfect decision based on imperfect information, which has historically not been Somerville's strong suit.

Thank you Mr. Green I think that my comment first of all publicly thanking the CAG for their time and I know this has been a really complex process and and I just really appreciate the people that have been rolling up their sleeves and being part of this and doing the best that they can to sort of you know having an initial emotional response but trying to use the facts and the data and best they can to think about the long-term vision for the district and I also acknowledge that there's no answer that's perfect to this problem like if there was a perfect answer we wouldn't have a CAG it would be much easier to do this work if we had tons of open space and it was exactly where we wanted it we could create and as many schools as we want but we don't and we have financial constraints and we have community concerns and to try to put them on the table equally right now I feel like I'm hearing more community concerns and I'm not getting this

Financial Information, but naming that I hope as we move forward and this is my vision whatever the answer is that we can really move into a space of what we gain as a district and as a city. and that there's net gains there's going to be losses right because it's not going to necessarily look exactly the way it looks now and so there is potential losses especially if we're going to make changes but that there's really exciting opportunities for gains whether it's the school of the size of just the Winter Hill on the current site or a new site combining the two schools and I really as best we can in our roles focus on you know what can we get out of this can we get additional community space can we get youth space can we get

maybe a swimming pool you know the district maybe should have more than one indoor swimming pool or the city might want to have more than one there's there's spaces here to create opportunity and i hope that everyone can be open-minded about that so thank you

Okay, are there any further questions or comments? Seeing none, that brings us to the next report. Please also, Ms. Onosike.

Thank you, through the chair. The next presentation will focus on the school committee goals, highlighting progress and alignment with the SPS strategic plan. A big thank you again to Amara for having led this work and having integrated both the current strategic plan and the goals that the school committee has laid out for us. Thank you, Amara.

Thank you, Dr. Carmona, through the chair. Switching gears for sure, this presentation is on the school committee goals that ran from school year 2023 To this the end of the school year and also strategic plan alignment and that got kicked off this school year through the 2030 timeline. So for this presentation, we're going to talk about I think it's important to say here that Dr. Carmona and I were new to the district and these were Really strong goals that were put in place before we got on board, but I would say that there was

Great alignment with the leadership and educators and staff on moving forward on what you guys identified as priorities. So that was really nice to see as we go through some of the progress on the next page. So there's a lot of data on this slide, and I just want to stop and thank Dr. Boston Davis for helping me figure out what all the data meant, and also Sam Elogene, who sat with us today as well. So the goal is on the left side of the slide where it says under the category of whole child learning. So we wanted to look at where we are when it comes to literacy and math, particularly at The grades that you guys identified as priorities, which is third, sixth, and tenth. And the goal was to have students, about 75% of students meeting or exceeding the defined formative assessment.

and so we in the third grade we wanted to look at I-Ready data because we have it through the end of the year. MCAS is not available yet and we do know that I-Ready data pretty much is very consistent with MCAS. and you will also see you'll see that in the ELA and math and I'll let you go through it yourselves and ask questions at the end but I wanted to point out The jump in growth, students meeting growth targets from last school year to this school year, that is fairly significant growth and again I do want to Shout out Dr. Boston Davis and all the staff that she works with. This is also notably a grade and subject area where new curriculum was rolled out. And so we do see that the curriculum changes and advancements that Dr. Boston Davis' department have rolled out has been successful.

In the sixth grade, we also saw a significant jump in students meeting growth targets from last year to this year. and that was in the ELA and I believe that is also a curriculum base so the data is very clear that the new curriculum is working. At 10th grade we looked at MCAS data And you'll see that in 2024, the average student growth percentile is 54. Which really shows moderate growth and that what that number shows is that this the students in terms of track growth over to MCAS I believe two plus and you kind of compare them with students who scored similarly and that percentile will show you where they fall and at 54 Dessie has identified that as moderate growth. And so the takeaway here is we're seeing increased growth in each grade level and subject area and look forward to making more

for progress towards this goal as a result of the rollout of new curriculum in core subject areas and new initiatives such as common planning time. So this next goal is also under whole child learning. And the target from the school committee goals was a 50% reduction in conduct referrals compared with 2021 to 2025. you wanted to see improved ratings on condition for learning survey questions for students and also improve results on the youth risk behavior survey and we're all we're comparing with the 2021 baseline And so I did get data from, I do want to shout out the director of student services, Liz Doncaster, for this data, and also Sam Elogene.

So we saw a significant reduction in conduct referrals from the last school year, 22% in our K-8s and 17% in our high school. We also saw really great, a lot of growth in the questions for the Conditions for Learning survey. I couldn't fit them all here today. But this is just a sampling. The data from the conditions for learning survey and the YRBS survey is very strong. We see here students answered, I can stay calm and manage my emotions even when I'm stressed, upset, angry, or someone provokes me. So we see steady increases from 2020. 21, 2022. And we also, this is a question that is really important to the district around, I have at least one trusted adult at the school. And we do see the strongest numbers to date. So we were really happy to see that because a lot of investment and time went into that.

So, the takeaway is reductions in conduct referrals and increases in SEL questions on the Conditions for Learning Survey and the YRBS Survey demonstrate meaningful progress in supporting positive behavior and improve school climate. Again, under whole child learning, you guys wanted, or the school committee voted for and wanted to see an 80% of students participating and Early College AP or CTE courses, a 5% increase in the four-year graduation rate. and a 90% of graduating students with a defined post-secondary plan. In terms of progress, I kind of want to stop and clap for CTE and Alicia and Jim Jess, and all the folks doing all of the academic stuff in the schools.

That is really impressive, a 48% increase from 2021 to current, and I know they're steady growing. In terms of the four-year graduation rate, we did see a dip of 3%, and we are continuing to explore what may some of the causes of that be. It's something that is definitely top of mind for all departments across the district, but particularly we've even started initial conversations with various teams to really dig deeper into that. We exceeded the target in terms of 93% of students in the class of 2024 with a defined post-secondary plan. Key takeaway here is CT enrollment has seen a significant increase, demonstrating significant efforts to expand equity and access.

While there is ground to regain in the four-year graduation rate, we look forward to seeing a turnaround based on the numerous investments made in academic and SEL curriculum. So this slide was a slide that I didn't have to tap into too many people. I kind of did this one. It was around conduct a district-wide enrollment study, develop strategy for school building development, and create a strategy for assignment and programming that aligns with the district's equity policy. And I take that back. This one is actually very collaborative in terms of like partnering with the city of Somerville and also you all, school committee. But the city conducted an enrollment study in school year 23-24.

In terms of the school building strategy, we continue to collaborate with the city on the MSBA process for the Winter Hill and potentially the Brown. We've onboarded a new facility safety and transportation coordinator who is already doing amazing work. And we continue to develop systems to track maintenance, improve systems to track maintenance requests. In terms of assignment and programming, I know the Rules Committee is reviewing very many policies, including policies that impact assignment. So a key takeaway here is while there's ongoing progress being made to put systems in place to maintain and improve our facilities, Continued collaboration with the city is required to move things forward on various fronts. Also, policy changes related to enrollment, assignment, programming will require broad input from the community. So workforce diversity slide or category.

The goal was to see an increase in the percentage of staff of color by 6% by SY25 compared to SY22. And there's room to provide more data here, but for now the data that I do have is that the Diversity and Recruitment Fair, which is something that our Director of Equity and Excellence leads, and also partners with HR and many other departments and leaders at schools and at central office. We've seen a 25% increase in registrants from 2022. We've also launched a data dashboard, which is something that is highly important because we do want to be transparent about Our data, particularly demographic data and how representative we are, and I do think that

Not only with the fair which is an important initiative but also with us tracking DESE data and comparing it with our student population. We have set the groundwork to increase our staff and our diversity. So this one is about the categories equitable resource allocation and the goal was to design, evaluate, and implement student-based budgeting by 2025 or identify alternative mechanisms to more equitably allocate District Resources. And so I do want to thank our new chief Interim Financial Officer Dr. Bobby Barretta for his support in getting this information here. We are partnering with ERS via a grant on a resource audit to analyze our spending and identify inequities.

He's been meeting with them. already to look at preliminary findings. We have surveyed leaders on this year's budget process, and these results will inform improvements. We've continued to, it's not on the slide, but in terms of the budget collaborative process, we've done more and more to make sure that we're including more stakeholders in that process. which I think serves equity goals. The finance team aims to draft test funding formulas this summer. But due to leadership transition, planning for a student-based budgeting will continue in SOI 25-26 with potential implementation in school year 27-28. Okay, so that is the progress report on the school committee goals. I just wanted to say that when we embarked on developing the strategic plan, We weren't starting from ground zero. We had your goals in mind at the forefront.

and all we did was take all of the community input as well through surveys and focus groups and root cause analysis sessions and what we got was the development of the strategic plan that really is a continuation of the school committee goals. Very much a shared vision around a student centered learning community where every student honoring their unique strengths and background. is empowered to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally through tailored supports and equitable access to opportunity. And I just wanted to quickly highlight key areas of alignment. I think mission, vision, and values are really lockstep with the school committee goals and the strategic plan, many shared priorities, goals, and values. Data-driven decision-making was something that I really appreciated how specific the school committee goals were in terms of targets and measures.

And I think with the data dashboard with open architects that the administration really is carrying that torch through the strategic plan to make sure We are looking at data, reviewing data. We just had hundreds of conversations about that today in various meetings about how are we looking at data to adjust and that is definitely aligned with what I saw in the school committee goals. and then family and community engagement that was referenced in the school committee goals particularly around the resource allocation and the school assignment and programming. That is a key priority in the strategic plan and it's something that we are continuing to do. Which brings me to the next slide in terms of What we envision as next steps. So we want to continue to implement the strategic plan. You've seen it through school improvement plans, We've been doing professional development.

Again, progress monitoring is something that is very important. We want to continue to use data to drive decision making. We would like to provide periodic progress reports to the school committee and continue to engage our stakeholders and I believe it was in April we had a breakfast with the families that did a root cause analysis session just to let them know like here's where we are with a strategic plan and get more feedback about how we've done so far. and we developed an executive summary just for ease of access and thinking about more ways to get us all rowing in the same direction. and so a lot of people to thank because all this data obviously came from across the district. So again, thank you all the folks that I mentioned for your support in getting this presentation prepared for tonight. Happy to answer any questions.

All right, I will entertain questions from my colleagues. Ms. Barish?

Thank you for this like you said there's there is a lot of data here which I appreciate and look forward to digging into a little bit more I was curious and this is a Just a question about the design of the presentation. Are the green highlighted numbers like statistically significant or are they just things that You wanted to highlight. Is there a reason why those things are green, or is it just like, look at this?

Look at this. It's a highlight. It's literally a highlight. Look at that growth. Yeah. I don't know. I think they're significant, but in the data way that you just asked, I don't think that's what... It says a lot about the growth and how the new curriculum rollout has been very successful.

I was curious about the four-year graduation rates and wondering how much we track which K-8 the students who aren't graduating went to. And if not, could we just sort of figure out some sort of root causes and try to fix those problems earlier?

Does that question make sense? It makes a lot of sense. Sounds forward-thinking, preventative, and it's definitely a part of that exploration that we are embarking on. Thank you.

Other questions from my colleagues? Oh, yeah, Mr. Piton and then Mr. Paton.

Thank you, Chair, through you. About the workforce diversity question, the goal, as I understood it, was a 6% increase over, what, four years or something like that. The data, first of all, anytime you can link me to that data dashboard, it's a gift. I get lost in it. Thank you. The progress that you provided in here shows 25% increase in registrants to the recruitment fair. That doesn't feel one-to-one with what the goal was. Do we have data that are directly responsive to the goal?

I believe DESE has data, and in all transparency, I can get you that another time. I feel like our departments are very busy right now at the end of the year, and I'm happy to follow up with that.

Awesome. Thank you.

Ms. Pitone and then Mr. Greenfield. Thank you, through you, Chair. Thank you to you and the whole team. I was really pushing for this because I felt like we had moved forward in a really exciting way with the strategic plan, but I also feel as a school committee member we have to be accountable to the work that we had committed to and obviously there's parallels strong strong parallels between the strategic plan and the school committee goals but there's lots of differences in terms of the types of data that we're capturing and I'm not necessarily I don't have an answer right now so like if I look at the data on the dashboard about Academic Outcomes, it's MCAS Growth. which is lagging, which doesn't give us a lot of information. When I look at this kind of data, super compelling to me and I'm seeing the evolution. I'm not saying that we should

I don't think we should replace the dashboard with those data points, but I do think we should have a conversation about whether or not there are better data points to use than something like the MCAS growth. And maybe I'm wrong, so I'm completely open to being wrong, What I'm seeing in this data set, and again it could be too minute, and I recognize that, it could be too much detail, too complicated to create, but I do, I guess as a school committee with administration, want to have This conversation and figure out is there a middle ground in terms of quality data that starts to really tell a good, or not even good, a useful narrative. That's the bottom line is it's a useful narrative and what narrative should be transparent to families. Because does that make sense?

Through the chair and jump in either of you guys. I will say that I-Ready was something that was newly implemented and we're just now getting Sam is a whiz at like adding stuff to the dashboard and so that's the plan over the plan is not that the dashboard is static We'll talk about what potentially should be on there. Obviously, deferring to these two right here, but that was always in mind, and some of this stuff is just coming hot off the press.

Just to like yes and I had my like introductory conversation with Dr. Perretta and That was one of the things that we spoke about is sort of in talking about the future of the district. this is yes how do we showcase and showcase in ways that are easy to digest which I think is what you were getting at like you know the amazing things that are happening the way students are growing because like One of my students reads below grade level but still writes amazing pieces of work. These one-off metrics have value but don't Tell a story that shows, you know, how well a student, any given student is doing. And I think it's immensely valuable.

Which is why we like to talk about the whole child. Mr. Green, I believe you had your hand up.

Yes. Thank you. I have two questions, if that's okay. So the first question is point of information. So when we look at those graduation rates, FY24 refers to the graduation rate of Class of 2024, right?

You were asking the comparison of the reduction?

When it says SY24, that's the class, that refers to the class of 24, right?

Yes.

All right. I ask that because that's the class that started high school remotely, which we knew was going to be a pain point. So I'd love to see the data for 23 to 25 so we see, is that a one-off? Is that a trend? Just because we know that class was unique and different. So I'd love to get that follow-up information. My second question refers to Hopefully revisiting student-based budgeting. It was a real priority of mine before COVID. And I recognize that we have not had a I really hope we can put district bandwidth into next year because I do think it's a key component in between school equity.

I hope that is the plan. Thank you Mr. Green for bringing up the student-based budgeting. It was always a very I don't even want to say the word controversial topic. It was just a topic that the district was very challenged to make any progress on. Part of it was a function of our size of our district and I don't want to speak for the school committee but from my point of view was all about How can we allocate our funds based on need as best as we can and be systemic about it as opposed to, oh, you know, that classroom's got a lot of kids who have a lot of need, let's put a pair in there. Which, you know, sometimes happens and we appreciate the support level. So I think that the next, so I wanted to name that, but the next conversation is as a school committee, what do we want to do with this?

We have goals that are on the website. and we have the opportunity as a school committee to either have our goals completely be exactly the same as the district or we can pursue things in a different way. We can discuss each item that we have on here and say this is closed or not closed. We don't necessarily have to have that conversation today, but I just wanted to put out there that we have a responsibility as a school committee to either just say hey we want to be exactly the same as what the district is or we want to add these certain things because they're what we're pursuing as a school committee because someone's goals can be literally be our goals not necessarily the goals and the idea is not necessarily to add and make it super complicated but Can you continue this conversation about how these have morphed and can we close some of these things out that are currently on our goals or make that translation to what the new ones are?

and possibly have conversations about evolving the metrics and saying like this is some of the meatiest metrics I've ever seen from this district. and there was a lot of work that went into this. Are these the exact right metrics? I don't know, but I think it's worth moving forward and having a conversation about it.

I want to thank Mr. Tome for bringing it up. I was going to bring it up. Winding up, winding down. I want to pop that we will have at least three new members of this body come next year with With Dr. Phillips, Ms. Barish, and President Neufeld will not be members of this body. So it seems to me that we should probably plan Starting in January of next year to really take a hard look at our school committee goals. So I would agree with that as something we should do. I would just say we probably wouldn't do it. I would say we should do it with the new members.

Yep, Ms. Pitone. Through you, I think that's very thoughtful, Mr. Green. If there is a conversation after we've digested, if there's certain things that we feel like we've just moved on from, or we've decided that other things are more relevant and we I think that's possibly relevant to do now, but that's up to the chair's discretion. I'm happy to have a conversation with you offline to see. I mean, the net is I don't want to create a ridiculous amount of work, but I also want to learn from this process and move forward and see how this continues to feed for the district and like Amara said that you know we have such a talented data staff that can figure out what is the best representation But again I want to make sure that we're building on this as opposed to just saying goodbye to it.

Agreed and I think we should all digest this and we'll discuss it again When it makes sense to do so. All right, if there are no more questions for Ms. Anaseke, I think we can let you go. Thank you. Dr. Carmona, is there more to your district report?

That is the end of my report. Thank you.

Okay. That brings us to some reports of subcommittees. I will entertain a motion.

Move to approve the subcommittee reports of I'm guessing finance and programs. Is there another one?

There is an Ed programs, a Rules, and a Finance and Facilities.

Yep, that's what I said.

Second. I have a motion by Dr. Ackman, seconded by Ms. Barish. If there is no discussion, all in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. That brings us to school committee meeting schedule for August through June. Did that make it into our packet? Oh, I didn't see it. It's for informational purposes only. It's not something we have to vote on. So unless anyone has any specific questions. Mr. Biton.

thank you chair through you i note of course that the joint subcommittee with city council on school buildings is not on here for obvious reasons because That is the result of a lot of complex negotiations between this body and the other. But hoping we can add that when

I mean these the schedule does tend to change this is just so we have a place to start okay If there's nothing further, no other questions, that brings us to May.

I move to approve the May bill rules.

Second. I have a motion by Mr. Green, seconded by Dr. Ackman, to approve the May bill rules. If there are no questions, all in favor?

Aye.

All opposed motion carries. That brings us to a request to transfer some funds. I will entertain a motion.

I move to authorize the superintendent to transfer funds from the salary account to the specialization account in the amount of $350,000. Second.

I have a motion by Mr. Green, seconded by Dr. Ackman. Yep, Mr. Green.

I want to start by saying I really appreciate the fact that we are officially doing this now as a positive improvement in governance. And in that note, it would be great if in the future As part of these promotions, we could get like what the line items actually are and like just those two lines from the expense report so we can know and share with the public where the money being moved is going from and to.

Ms. Pitone. Thank you. Through you. I'm just curious what this actually means. So are we...

So this is, if I'm understanding it correctly, this is funds that are left over at the end of the year in one account and it's... That's what I needed to know.

Thank you. What it was for. My apologies.

And it just comes from different places. Every building has a budget allocated to them. If monies are not used by a certain time of the year, those monies, we don't want to and so on. If we can't return them to the city necessarily, they can be utilized for efficiency purposes. The same thing happens with the staffing. If you set up a budget for someone at a certain level, And just to be clear, this transfer specifically is from the salary account to the special education account?

So just to clarify, it's not that anybody has been eliminated, no jobs, but it's jobs that either weren't filled or were filled with somebody at a different level and it creates this Steele, Steele, Steele.

also to be clear this is sort of moves that students have made every year this historically has not been transparent the school committee so this is a positive step forward in both Superintendent, School Committee Transparency, and School Committee Larger Public Transparency. But this sort of thing happens every year. Just now we're finally doing it through upper channels.

Every year in every district is the same process as well. There's the efficiency monies that come from that process at the end.

and just so that anyone watching at home is clear there is typically money left over at the end of the year for all sorts of reasons that we discussed and special education tuitions is one of the places that we can legally prepay for the following year. So just letting people know that at home. Okay, so I had a motion by Mr. Green, seconded by Dr. Ackman, I believe. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. That brings us to some scale diploma requests. I will entertain a motion.

Move to approve. I'll do it. The scale diploma request for Genora Pineda and Anthony Lopez, both from Somerville, Massachusetts.

Second. Second. I have a motion by Dr. Ackman, seconded by Mr. Green. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Congratulations to our new graduates. I have another diploma request.

I move to approve the FY, I guess, Class of 25 Summer of Ohio School Diploma for Tucker Calley.

of Motion by Mr. Green, seconded by Ms. Pitone. All in favor?

Aye.

All opposed? Motion carries.

That brings us to some grants. I will entertain a motion. Motion to accept all federal entitlement and continuation grants and all state continuation grants awarded to the Somerville Public Schools. A private Tufts University grant of $3,000 for the MLT department for Spell field trips and a Tufts University grant for $3,000 for the library department for a second grade literacy program.

Second. Motion by Ms. Pitone, seconded by Dr. Ackman. If there is no discussion, all in favor? Aye. All opposed? motion carries that brings us to unfinished business I'm guessing there isn't anything to update us on the MSBA since we had that presentation earlier but if there is

That is correct. The only thing is that we met with the city at the Winterhill site. The City met with the community to discuss where we are in terms of the development of the Cox Brothers, as well as general updates. So that happened. Most of you were there. That happened on Friday morning. And that's the only update I have.

All right, with that, that brings us to items from committee members. If anyone has any items, Ms. Pitone?

Thank you through you chair to the superintendent's office. I didn't know if we ever got a final update about the pool and whether or not there was programming going to be offered. for the students who didn't have access to the pool and what the city responded to that. But I also wanted to note that there was another problem with the pool recently and I think it's back up. So if you could talk about that, that'd be great.

Sure, through the chair. Thank you for the question. So we have met with the rec staff and also the chief of staff to the mayor today actually. So we've been having a number of ongoing conversations around The swimming program and we had a meeting today to really just kind of solidify some of our plans going forward and it was a really productive and positive and collaborative meeting so I really appreciate our partnership. All around at this time we don't have the capacity to make up I mean you know with our school year coming to a close and so we don't have the rescheduled dates for third grade There are graders who missed the pools this year due to the pool closing or another unfortunate circumstance.

But we have a solid plan in place going forward for future years with a number of updates that we're working through the logistics of and then we will update the committee on whether in terms of what the program will look like. So there's a number of shifts that we're hoping to make to make the experience better. That said, obviously the pool closing is completely out of our control, but we've even discussed The communication protocols around that going forward to make that improve.

Thank you for that update and I very much appreciate you doing the hard work to figure out how administratively and for the students how it can be a better experience because I'm sure we have some much more evolved thoughts on it. I am curious, I know there was some conversation about whether or not The city would be willing to offer to families who are willing to take the kids to the pool in the summer like free slots to make up for that and I really do think that would be really appropriate I know not every student will be able to take advantage of that they might not have transportation for the students who could I would think at a bare minimum offering you know you can sign up for a week-long course in the summer and it'll be on the city's dime I think would be really and then show that willingness to try to support families as much as we can.

Absolutely. I think that's a great recommendation. I will follow up as soon as we finish this meeting with our partners at REC. I get the sense from the way our meeting went today that they are Eager to collaborate and want to make it work. Everyone wants to make this the best program it can be. I know that they do have some shifts around staff, as many of their staff are College students or you know so there are they did mention that there are some shifting in staff as the school year ends and the summer begins that being said I will absolutely explore this as an option going forward and can communicate that when we communicate many of the other things in place we just have to work out a few we have a couple of you know not quite settled

I appreciate that very much if there's anything that school committee can do to I encourage this to happen because I think it's a very small expense that creates goodwill and actually could serve our students because they had that loss of an opportunity. If 20 kids do it, I don't think it's a huge loss to the city and a gain to our students.

I appreciate Mr. Soto's thinking on this issue, and I hope they can also think about ways to make sure that this wound doesn't only last for the students who can't afford transportation in the summer. who are also the students who are less likely to get spring transition either way so while anything is better than nothing I hope that we can do real thought on how to make sure that the students we created this program for, the students who will not get swimming instruction if they don't get it through the schools, are still covered and made whole.

Ms. Barish? Thank you. I was not able to attend the meeting at the Winterhill School about the MSBA project, and I just wanted to, I don't know if any of my colleagues are in the same boat, but the, I was gonna say happy hour. The coffee hour at the Brown School on Friday at 8 30 a.m will also be a meeting about the MSBA process so I think the same content that was shared at Winterhill. So I just wanted to let folks know that there's another opportunity if they want to do that.

Ms. Pitone?

Thank you through you. I want to thank Ms. Barish for bringing it up. I want to thank all the parents that came out. I want to thank the city officials that were there, the city staff that was there, the school officials were there. It was a really challenging conversation. families were frustrated the city is trying is pushing forward to say they're doing everything they can I think the net for a lot of families was unless and until a decision is made about what's the scope of the school and where it's going to be there's just going to continue to be this unrest and Low enrollment for the younger classes at the Winter Hill and it's really tricky and frustrating and I understand that we're all in a hard place. So I just wanted to at least acknowledge, I'm glad you brought it up, and acknowledge that You know, there was a really great turnout and lots of frustration and listening, too. So, thank you.

Think to a new item? Sure. Thank you. I have an update from the last meeting of the ML PAC. Educators and families collaborated in reviewing multilingual learner education FAQ, which will be frequently asked questions, which will be available to families next year. and based on the meeting and conversations, the goal for the MLPAC next year will be to talk about how to support at home, connect to community resources, including out of school time activities and build parent leadership. So it was a very productive meeting. and thanks to the families who came and the educators who were there to support. If I may, I also have office hours to announce Saturday. So next Saturday, June 14th, I will be holding office hours with Board 7 City Councilor Judy Pineda-Newfeld,

Barber, Rep. Christine Barber, and Senator Pat Jalen from 1230 to 2 at CALA, which is Right next to Luann David Park at 1060 Broadway. And I invite my friends in the neighborhood and everyone else to come on by.

All right, thank you for that. If there are no other items from board members, that brings us to condolences, which I will find because Dr. Phillips couldn't be here. The school committee would like to extend our condolences to the families of David Hinckley, Bangs Jr., father of Liz Cortiello, director of school health services, Joseph B. Mello, father of Maria Tully, school nurse at the Somerville High School, and Beverly Finnegan, mother of Wanda McLaren, special ed teacher at the Arthur D. Healy School.

and with that we are adjourned.

Have a good night everyone.