School Committee Meeting - May 16, 2026

All right, good evening. We're glad you're here. Welcome to this May 18th, 2026. The meeting of the Somerville School Committee 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, 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. Superintendent, please call the roll.

Yes, through the chair. President Davis. Member Piton.

Here.

Member Lippens. Here. Member Eldridge. Present. Member Green. Here. Dr. Stellman.

Here.

Mayor Wilson. Present. Member Biton. Here. Dr. Ackman. Present. With eight members present, we have quorum.

We have a moment of silence and salute to the flag. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So tonight we are going to take things a little out of order in order to make sure our students get some well-recognized celebration. We have our valedictorian and salutatorian. Thayer. All right, is Lucas here? Sweet, thanks for being here.

All right, so we are going to, we have Tommy and Lucas. All right, so can I call Tommy up first? All right. All right. Flowers too. Lots of celebration. All right. Tommy, I'm going to read this about you. Tommy Vandewidge is an accomplished and deeply engaged student whose impact on the Somerville High community extends far beyond the classroom. Academically, Tommie has excelled in rigorous AP and college-level courses where they have demonstrated intellectual curiosity, creativity, and a thoughtful approach to complex topics while maintaining a 4.8 GPA. Tommy has also been a dedicated leader and active member of numerous school organizations.

They've served as president of the Art Club, vice president of the National Honor Society, and secretary of the National Art Honor Society, mentoring younger students, organizing events and helping lead collaborative art and service projects. Through their involvement in the Arts Council, Design Lab, and Local History Club, Tommie has contributed to projects focused on community engagement, youth advocacy, Public Art and Historical Preservation. But what stands out most about Tommie is their character. They are known for their humility, their kindness, their reliability, and genuine care for others. Tommy consistently leads by example, supports their peers, and approaches every opportunity with integrity and compassion. They've made a lasting positive impact on the Somerville High School community and represent the very best of what it means to be an engaged student and thoughtful leader. And Tommy will continue their path of success this fall at Smith College.

Would you like to say anything? Thank you

Lucas, are you willing to come up? All right, congratulations to Lucas Oliver for achieving the prestigious title of... Sorry. Okay, we're gonna keep going to not have you wait. Congratulations for achieving salutatorian for the class of 2026. Lucas's dedication, hard work, and exceptional academic achievements have earned him this honor along with an impressive 4.7 GPA and the completion of more than eight AP classes throughout his high school career.

Lucas has made significant contributions to our school, students, and community. For instance, he served in the community service club, planning and participating in various volunteer opportunities at schools across the city. He has also been a member of the Somerville High School baseball team since 8th grade, building strong relationships with teammates and setting an example of commitment and responsibility not only within the team but throughout the school. Lucas understands his strengths and more importantly has a strong desire to help others. He values his friends and family, which creates a positive impact everywhere he goes. We are proud of his accomplishments and confident that he will continue to achieve remarkable success at Tufts University while he pursues studies in biochemistry. Congrats again on your incredible achievement.

Okay, we are going to take a very brief recess for cake.

There's plenty of cake if you're feeling hungry for some lovely chocolate cake.

Thank you. Get the whip.

All right. Again, we are going with our student items first. So we have our student school committee reps. Um, Babakai, so you're here. Would you, are you ready? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Go for it.

Okay, yeah, no worries. OK, great. Thank you so much. So hi, everyone. My name is and I'm a current junior at Somerville High School. And today I'm going to be presenting about a project that I took on throughout the school year, especially because it is Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month. So I wanted to highlight this initiative surrounding Amplifying AAPI voices through inclusive curriculum. Oops, okay, sorry. So just a quick introduction for some background.

I'm currently leading a community action project as a member of the AAPI Commission's Youth Council. and I really wanted to take on this role because there were a lot of times where I felt invisible especially with um SHS only having about a five percent I noticed that there are a lot of spaces where I personally didn't see myself represented, so I wanted to create that representation for people who looked like me. and I really wanted to address the gaps within the current school curriculum so my original idea was crafting a proposal to establish an Asian American history or experiences course but I realized that is a very long-term initiative and it's something I couldn't take on over the span of the school year so instead my updated project overview was working to amplify AAPI voices through implementing Culturally inclusive and comprehensive lessons with pre-existing curriculum at Somerville High.

Okay.

Okay, yeah, so my steps to success were surrounding understanding how to integrate inclusive curriculum. So this included collaborations. So I collaborated, collaborated, sorry, directly with Somerville High School's history department as well as Cambridge Ridge and Latin's history department and I was able to meet with some really amazing people including Miss Jenny Chung who runs The Asian American Experiences and History course at CRLS and then I also attended some workshops including one led by The URI Education Project, which focused on understanding the basics of how to teach AAPI history and just like an overview of that. So this was really helpful for me personally because I don't really have a background in this type of work but just being able to understand the initiatives nearby schools were taking such as CRLS or how schools across

The outcomes of my project was that I worked very closely with Somerville High School's 10th grade history department in particular. and I met with them and we recognized that all Somerville high school students have to take or have already taken or have to take the U.S. History themes course So that was a great course to target, adding inclusive lessons because all students at some point would have to take that course. and so what I met was the history department we addressed some key areas where AAPI focused lessons could be integrated and we figured out that the best places would be unit four which is immigration and also unit seven which is civil rights which is the civil rights movement and I utilize a bunch of different online resources including the Immigrant History Initiative, AAPI History Hub and South Asian American Digital Archive.

And I also just wanted to highlight with the picture over there that there were a lot of simple additions that could also be made. For example, in a lesson focusing on case studies about different civic action Yes, different civic action initiatives in the U.S. We could add certain ones like the Yellow Power Movement, for example, which focuses on AAPI-led movement. So that's a really easy way to incorporate more inclusive curriculum into pre-existing lessons that we have. Okay, and then these were some of the example lessons that I personally created or utilized other resources and kind of redid to support the SHS curriculum. So the first one is, Asian Americans and Burst Rights Citizenship. If you didn't know this before, Asian Americans were actually a very key It played a very key and critical role in creating and supporting birthright citizenship.

I created a lesson about that so our students would understand that and then there was also a lesson about cross-racial solidarity movements which was Personally, very interesting to me because it examined how South Asians influence the non-violent movement surrounding the black power movement and just civil rights movement in general and actually talked to a teacher about this and it was really interesting because Of course we learned how a lot of non-violence techniques were utilized but we never really learned where they came from. So a lot of these lessons were understanding the different groups of people who impact what we learn about. And yeah, so my current next steps is broadening impact and reach. I'm currently working on creating more AAPI focused lessons, For instance, a lesson surrounding the Dot Busters gang, which is something that's rarely talked about in any curriculum.

And also, just some more lessons surrounding different books, including a lesson focused on a children's book. and I would also love to expand reach into expanding into more history classes or different subjects as a whole for example an English course could be a great way to incorporate AAPI authors or Different art forms from AAPI leaders. And then additionally, I hope to continue working with the SHS History Department. to hopefully spearhead the creation of a proposal for an Asian American history and slash or experiences course. And then finally as a reflection, I'm really glad that I was able to take on this project over the year as this was something I personally felt very passionate about. and I'm deeply grateful for all the support I got from the SHS history department.

I really couldn't do this without them so I just wanted to take the time to give them a special thank you for helping me throughout this work and really letting me do this. And I think that's something really great about Somerville High School as a whole is that our teachers are so open to whatever we as students think would be best and it's just so great to have such receptive teachers at our school. and although I ran into initial challenges with time management of course being a junior like a high school junior becomes very busy at times so that was a little bit of a struggle but you know I was able to persevere I'm here now so I'm really happy that I was able to do that and I'm excited to continue advocating for and amplifying AAPI voices both inside our school and outside our school Yeah, thank you so much.

Babaca, thank you so much for sharing this with us and for your great work on, you know, Enhancing our curriculum is really exciting and anything that's student-led is just essential so I really appreciate it. To my colleagues, do you have questions, thoughts? Member Biton and then Member Green.

Thank you, Chair. Through you, to Bhavika. Great job. I want to just reflect on something you said right at the beginning, which was that you felt invisible. and that feels very powerful and I just want to acknowledge that and extend my Apology to you, I think, and also just thank you for that vulnerability and for turning Those feelings into action. That's exactly what I think our district is aiming to do and what you have demonstrated powerfully through your words and through your actions

What I wonder is how, in your experience through this project, Other students might learn from your struggles and also your perseverance. What advice would you give to students who are thinking about big changes, tackling big problems in our district?

yeah i mean thank you so much first of all that means a lot to me truly and i think for other students i would just say go for it i think we have as i mentioned previously we have a really amazing group of teachers at somerville high school and I guarantee you will find a teacher who wants to do the same thing that you are doing so I think I would first of all say just go for it of course and I think one of the best things that students can do is find other students who are passionate about this Although I did take on this initiative mostly by myself, I had a lot of support from my family, including my sister who's over there. But I think it's really great to find your people and that can really be super helpful in persevering and just motivating you to continue doing the work that you're doing.

Where to start? So many thoughts here. First, I'm going to echo the thanks. And I think it's super fitting that yesterday was the 62nd anniversary of the Brown decision. because this is, in fact, the vision people were hoping for when we decided that schools should be for everyone. Unfortunately, what often happened was A very much a whitewashing curriculum. And so fixing that and putting All of American history back in American history is the right thing both morally and educationally. To that end, I would encourage you not to give up your hope. for having an AAPI history class at Somerville High.

And this is the right time to be pushing for that as I know that there are those who will be announcing things this week about how to... Desegregated Massachusetts schools, which are highly segregated. And one of the recommendations is, as we do that, all high schools should have, as a requirement for graduate graduation, some form of cross-cultural studies class requirement. and while you are correct that critics have some scratch is a lot of work, I would be shocked and stunned if someone in a district that perhaps had more Asian American students hadn't figured this out. and so I would encourage you to keep looking. I would encourage the district to support you in that quest because it's absolutely a class we should be offering.

Because while it is true that currently only 5% of our students identify as Asian, that is the fastest growing group in some of our public schools. and I would like us to not make mistakes we've made in the past when welcoming new ethnic ethnicities to Somerville High and actually be welcoming this time and I think having that kind of curriculum would be a key component to that um and Anyone who argues anything other than diversity is our strength hasn't seen these 100 presentations. This is the kind of thing that a good school district should be seeing more of, and I'm just so impressed. Good job.

Thank you so much I really appreciate it and that is just so encouraging and inspiring and that's definitely gonna keep me motivated to be working on hopefully the elective proposal and maybe I'll come back next year to you guys with that so thank you so much Thank you so much

All right, thanks again, Babaca. Yes, you have a whole committee really excited to see. Should you want to spend your time on it, what you come up with, because we know it was a lot of work. Thank you, thank you. All right, we are moving on to public comment. Welcome, we're glad you're here. Thank you to those who have signed up for public comment. Speakers will be allowed two minutes to present their material. Speakers should begin their comment by stating your name and address or in the case of a district employee your role within the district. The chair of the meeting after a warning reserves the right to terminate speech which is not constitutionally protected because it constitutes true threats that are likely to provoke a violent reaction and cause a breach of the peace or incitement to imminent lawless conduct. Public comment is not a discussion, a debate or a dialogue between the public and the committee.

Members of the committee will not reply to public comment in the course of the meeting, though individual members may follow up and items from public comment may be taken up in future meetings. The school committee will not hear personal complaints of school personnel nor against any member of the school community in public session. Individuals may address topics on the agenda or items within the school committee's scope of responsibilities such as the district budget, goals and policies, or the role of the superintendent. The public is encouraged to submit comments in writing for inclusion in the public record. So we're going to do folks who are in person first, then we're going to go to folks on Zoom. I'm going to read a name, read the two names after. Please have grace for me if I mispronounce your name and when you enter in the public record we'll make sure that we have it correctly. So first we have Ryan Williams and then John Campbell and then Jesse Ratty.

All right, Ryan Williams, Ward 7, Kingston Street. It's an interesting contrast here. I want to first start by acknowledging that we have the most impressive budget document that we've had in front of this community a long time. Thank you to Dr. Carmona, Dr. Breda for doing and making very clear where the precise changes that we're making in the district but crucially we have to find Now that we finally have this level of clarity, we see exactly where our gaps remain and the improvements that are left unfulfilled. And we should also acknowledge to the Mayor that the deeper cuts that we're making in the administration are enabling us to achieve level service here. However, level service is tacit acceptance of level results. We know exactly what those results look like. The recent special education review highlighted that while our structural commitments to inclusion are something to be proud of, our implementation is limiting the progress of our most vulnerable students.

We've given our educators diagnostic tools and our educators are doing incredible work identifying those needs, but we must be honest about what is physically and professionally possible for one person. We have an inclusion model, but one educator can only handle reasonable differentiation in the classroom. We have students who are struggling significantly, for instance, Third grader requires foundational first grade reading support. It's not fair to the student, and it's an impossible expectation of the teacher to bridge that gap while simultaneously teaching the grade level curriculum. That is why families here tonight are urging the committee and the city to prioritize funding for digital reading and math interventions and to continue the successful co-teaching pilot. The conclusion that we simply don't have the money right now, we have to address what is the rest of that plan. We can't cross our fingers. and wait for next year. Are we shifting resources? Are we exploring other partnerships?

How aggressively are you taking the chapter 70 conversation to the state house? We need actions on those contingencies now, not next spring. I do lastly just want to quickly acknowledge the straight line between that conversation one will hear from others unmet academic needs Thank you.

We have John Campbell, Jesse Ratty, and then Kat Johnston. John, whenever you're ready.

Hello, I'm John Campbell. I live at 150 Lowell Street. The first time I ever felt threatened by a gun was at school. It was a hard year for me around the anniversary of my brother's death. I had gone to eat my lunch alone outside the art room. Kids at my school are usually allowed to eat in areas around the cafeteria, so I didn't think anything of it. I just wanted to be alone. I was a teary-eyed teenager deep in his feelings when the school cop approached. He told me I needed to get up now and move my stuff. I didn't want to get marched back to the lunchroom with tears in my eyes in front of all my friends. So I argued. I said I just wanted to eat my lunch and just be alone for a while. That's when the threats started. If I didn't get up, I might get suspended. Being 14, I argued. Because at that point, he might have considered getting a counselor. My school at least had one. Reports have found that up to 14 million students are in schools with police, but no counselor, nurse, psychologist, or social worker.

That's 14 million kids closer to handcuffs than they are to an adult trained to deal with their specific needs outside their teachers who are already overburdened. When I argued, I was threatened with suspension, and it's a fact that the schools with cops on site have been shown to have higher rates of suspensions and expulsions known to be associated with adverse outcomes down the road. And when 14-year-old me refused to obey, he did this. And he put his hand on his gun. Do you think I felt safe? He didn't have the emotional bandwidth or the training for that. Lots of cops don't. Children have been arrested in our schools. And you can Google this for throwing paper airplanes, Skittles, and carrots. Kids can be left with criminal records that can follow them for the rest of their lives. Our kids deserve to be annoying without being arrested, to be sad and angry without being threatened with a gun.

School cops have tackled, choked, body slammed, and knocked students unconscious. And while there is one, I repeat, one case in the past 19 years where a cop has stopped a school shooting, Researchers who study school shootings find that casualty rates are actually higher in schools where a resource officer is present. Why? Because shooters typically come prepared. They know the individuals involved and they know that a cop will be there.

Your time is up. Thank you so much. We have Jessie, Kat Johnston, and Jess Perez-Adams.

Good evening. My name is Jessie Rady, 47 Church Street in Ward 3. And I am here to speak about the recent SRO memo and to urge the superintendent and the school committee to build on the work that was already done toward a limited school liaison model and not an on-site school resource officer. I've been a parent at the Urgenziano School for eight years and my oldest child will attend Somerville High in one short year. For these reasons alone, school safety and school climate at the high school and at all our schools are of utmost importance to me. And last year gave me the opportunity uniquely I talked to hundreds of Ward 3 constituents including SPS educators, recent grads, and high school students.

And in those conversations, I heard broad support for the innovative policing model that was forged by many hands and voted on in this chamber. We also had candidate forums where I heard some of you commit, as I did, to supporting the decisions that were made three years ago through an extensive community process. Tonight I would remind you of that commitment. A creative solution has been right here all along to act upon. The community has weighed in. Please embrace the precedent. Take action on a model that gives our school leadership direct communication with the liaison and does not create a permanent police presence in our schools. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you and I appreciate your grace with my mispronunciation. We have Kat Johnson, Jess Perez-Adams, and then Sam Steiner.

Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Kat Johnston. I live at 82 Belmont Street. I'm a parent in Somerville Public Schools, a former teacher, and someone who worked at the Massachusetts Department of Education I've spent much of my career helping schools create environments where children feel safe, supported, and able to thrive. I'm here tonight to speak against the proposed return of school resource officers in our schools. I understand and respect the challenges our high school administrators have raised, particularly around coordination and communication during serious incidents. But I do not believe that embedding armed, uniformed police in children's everyday learning environments is the right solution.

For many children in Somerville, especially immigrant children, black and brown children, and children with disabilities, a daily police presence can undermine trust and belonging, particularly in today's climate. We also know that police presence in schools disproportionately impacts these subgroups and increases the likelihood of future involvement with the criminal justice system. We can strengthen safety coordination and emergency response systems without returning to an SRO model. Last year I ran for Ward 3 School Committee 2 and knocked on hundreds of doors across our community. I heard people ask for updated facilities, strong and supportive teachers, Engaging curriculum, increased social-emotional learning, more time for recess and lunch, and better inclusion and special education services. I learned so much about what our community cares about and wants for our children.

I did not hear calls for armed police in our schools. I urge the committee, the district, and the city to reject the return of school resource officers. Whether through the school budget or the city budget, our investments should prioritize meaningful mental health and behavioral supports Restorative practices and the resources that help children feel connected, supported, and ready to learn. Thank you.

All right, we have Jess Perez-Adams, Sam Steiner, and then Molly Froust-Wiley.

Hi, good evening. I'd like to talk about meaningful participation because meaningful participation cannot exist where outcomes have already been predetermined. Under IDEA, predetermination is a serious concern because families are supposed to be collaborative participants in decision making, not later informed of what a conclusion is once it's been formed. At a systems level, the district's decisions do feel predetermined because despite what parents report, despite what teachers report, and despite what students communicate through crisis, dysregulation, school refusal, disengagement, and behaviors, The district continues returning to the same predetermined conclusion. The children are well. But the district's own data says otherwise. The district's own special education and intervention review documents inconsistent implementation of interventions, uneven MTSS systems, inconsistent instructional access,

Widening achievement gaps for students with disabilities and major variability in supports across schools. Nowhere is that contradiction more visible than at Next Wave and Full Circle. These programs are made up entirely of students with IEPs and housed at SHS. Students with disabilities and who are minorities are disproportionately concentrated there. According to publicly available data, Next Wave reports a 52% out-of-school suspension rate and full circle suspension rates are at 36. The district average is 1.4, whereas the state average is 2.3. These are systems level alarms, not isolated incidents, and these are the students who will be most impacted by increased police presence in that building. Children with disabilities, children who are minorities, children who are already experiencing exclusion, children who are already communicating unmet needs through behavior, who are failed by inconsistent systems, and where are those students located?

In the basement of the high school, the basement. Calling the children well does not make them well. And at the mayor's inauguration, we heard that ADA is the floor, not the ceiling. I agreed with that then, and I agreed with it now. Tonight, while looking at these numbers, while looking at suspension rates, while thinking about where some of our district's vulnerable children are physically and systemically placed, I need to say this clearly. The children are not invisible. They are in the basement. So how can we dare say that the children are well? Thank you.

Thank you. We have Sam Steiner, Molly Kraus-Wiley, and then Erica Eiderhoven.

Good evening. My name is Sam Steiner. I live at 50 Whitfield Road, and I'm the parent of a student on an IEP in Somerville. Mayor Wilson, on the way here tonight, I saw your recent post on social media about school funding. We can absolutely recognize that avoiding cuts and adding some supports matters. Especially in a difficult budget year. But our words matter too and we cannot speak about the current level of support as though it's fully adequate. Students and families deserve to hear clearly that the gaps identified in the Special Education and Intervention Review are real, that their unmet needs are real, and that their experiences matter and their kids matter. Too many students are still struggling to access their education. Celebrating progress should not mean lowering expectations for what our students deserve. I appreciate that the district commissioned the special education and intervention review and appreciate that these findings are being shared publicly.

But the real test is whether this leads to improved outcomes for students. The report says staff were concerned that some students may be, in quotes, slipping through the cracks when parents are not vocal. That should stop every one of us in our tracks. Schools have a legal and moral obligation to identify students who need support, understand their individual needs, and design programs that provide meaningful access Regardless of the family's knowledge, income, language, disability, work schedule or ability to advocate. The report also says some students may be present in classrooms primarily to meet service minute requirements rather than fully engaging in meaningful, inclusive experiences. and may participate in quotes at a service level without consistent access to the curriculum or opportunities for deeper interaction. The report also says that That is not meaningful inclusion.

That is placement without access. Something my child experiences daily. So when tonight's presentations say that the district will strengthen, build, increase, and support, I need to ask, what does that actually mean for students? Those are a starting point. They're aspirations, but they're not a plan. And they're not showing the accountability and action that our students deserve. We need a public implementation plan tied directly to this report Specific actions, deadlines, responsible staff, staffing and budget needs, and clear student outcome measures. Please do not let this become another report that names the problems but leaves students waiting. Thank you.

We have Molly Kraust-Wiley, Erica Eiderhoven, and then Kevin, I think it says Foster.

Good evening, my name is Molly Frost Wiley and I live at 75 Concord Ave. I'm the parent of two Somerville students and I've been working many years with Safeco Somerville to keep police out of our schools. My concerns first began when the police were called on a first grader when my now 13-year-old son was in school. That moment made it impossible for me to ignore the impact of policing in our schools. Since then, I've stayed engaged because I believe that all of our children in the district deserve something better. It's hard to believe that we're at this point again. In 2023, after years of collaboration, civic engagement, and sustained effort, much of it with many of the people in this room today, Our community worked together to halt the policing of our children in schools. That process reflected careful dialogue, shared learning, and a clear understanding of harm. Yet here we are again. The memo that circulated in late April does not acknowledge the depth of the community work or the legal guidance or clear steps that were already outlined. Those steps could have and should have been followed.

The unanimous vote that reflected what many of us understood clearly. The existing MO view needed to be ended and we needed to stop policing children in our schools. I want to share a few facts that have stayed with me as a parent. Between the years of 2018 and 2021, with an over 180-day school year, with just eight schools in our district, The Somerville police entered and exited our schools 4,300 times. When I first heard that number presented in a school committee meeting, it was framed as a point of pride. As a parent, I found it shocking, deeply disturbing. More recently, I learned that documented student interactions with police, 60% involve students from Next Wave Full Circle, who just represent 6% of our student population. The impact of that disproportionate amount

This is why Safe School Somerville continues to advocate for limiting police presence because we believe that we know that what supports students are counselors, restorative justice programs, and training in anti-racism and bias. We're not asking you to reduce safety. We're asking you to redefine it in ways that actually support children. We know that police in schools causes harm and that research shows they do not prevent the harm that are often brought in ways that they're thought to stop. Students of color and students with disabilities and immigrant students are disproportionately impacted. We also know that our community has clearly and consistently expressed support for alternatives. Students, educators, and families have repeatedly called for restorative practices, mental health supports, and investments in caring, not punitive systems. Your time's up. Thank you so much. We would like our schools to be safe because they are supported, not because they are surveilled.

We have Erika Eiderhoven, Kevin Foster, and Jess Wigoda.

Good evening, esteemed members of the Somerville School Committee. Erica Eiderhoven, 11 Wesley Park. I have the distinct honor and privilege to represent part of our city as a state representative, and I am also speaking today As a Nisei immigrant who was called to advocacy and public service out of my commitment to protecting and fighting in true solidarity for our immigrant communities. Recently, both the House and Senate have advanced a bill called the Protect Act, which aims to limit Massachusetts state and local law enforcement cooperation with ICE. While I am proud of the bill as a step in the right direction, it is important for all of us to understand what this bill does not do, even if the most progressive provisions of the bill are signed into law later this year. To illustrate, I want to share with you a specific example of a student in East Boston High School named Orlando. A school police officer filed an incident report on a lunchtime argument Orlando was involved in.

Orlando was wrongfully labeled as a gang member, put in a gang database called BRIC, and despite having no criminal record, was arrested by ICE, detained for over a year, and deported to El Salvador. He is just one case of several well-documented cases of youth detained and reported by ICE through false reporting initiated by a school police officer, and those numbers are increasing since Trump took office last year. I want to be very clear that the PROTECT Act does not prohibit ICE from accessing intra-agency databases like BRIC and ICE will continue to have direct access to it despite these databases being notoriously unreliable with well-documented problems in racial profiling Lack of notice to anyone listed in the database and minimal processes for removing oneself from this database. Both the bill language and the PROTECT Act

and the previous deliberations of the school committee focus I believe too heavily on individual officer conduct and not enough on the system of policing and its inextricable links to surveillance and the cruel and inhumane deportation and detention pipeline. I urge you all to consider these systems and how even seemingly benign choices like a lunchtime argument can easily escalate into permanently life-altering consequences for immigrants and students of color if the system of policing is reintroduced into our schools. Thank you.

Thank you. We have Kevin Foster, Jess Wigoda, and then Maria Narboshway.

Thanks. Thanks for reading my handwriting. My name is Kevin Foster. I live in Ward 3, 34 Putnam Street. My comments tonight are around the school climate and safety memo. I think it would be a failure of all parties involved to return to the status quo of an SRO. It would ignore the massive work that the school committee did four years ago to bring multiple stakeholders to discuss the issue and craft an MOU that took policing out of schools. While I appreciate the members' due diligence in this horseshoe around wanting more data and input, this is not an issue that is a tabula rasa. A reinstating of an SRO would ignore the countless community members who all put multiple hours into meetings, filling out surveys, making two separate MOU proposals, one here and one by Safe Schools Somerville. and giving testimony on why overwhelmingly people did not want an SRO in schools. Somerville also has a much larger problem with inertia when it comes to policing.

We spend precious time, money, and energy looking for a perfect picture of what to do next. When a draft of a picture comes into view with a modicum less power to SPD, it is quickly shelved to gather dust and the issue can come up at a more opportune time. The indecisiveness of the Ballantyne administration is now paving the way for a return and reinforcement of the status quo under this administration, which is disappointing. Much more municipal funding being hoovered up by a police department in the form of SROs, body cameras, and the ever-present overtime for traffic detail. Meanwhile, this school district is struggling for level funding. I urge the school committee to not resign itself as a junior partner in this process. Listen to your community, leverage the power that you have to make sure there's a sensible MOU that doesn't involve an SRO sitting in schools. Thanks.

Thank you. We have Jess, and then Maria Norbachway, and then Derek Rice.

Hi, I'm Jess Wygoda. I live at 26 Grandview Avenue, and I just want to say that I strongly, strongly oppose the reintroduction of SROs in our schools. Thank you.

Thank you. We have Maria Narbachwe, Derek Rice, and then Abby Hare.

Hi, my name is Marcia Narabachwe. I live at 22 Richardson Street, and I came back here today to take a strong stand against police in schools. Four years ago, two profound incidents took place. A white school administrator used the N-word when confronting a student of color and a SHS student was the victim of police aggression. And more context of these events can be found on the Somerville Safe Schools Instagram. These events spurred me and my friends to move. We spoke at a rally to demand change and delivered a letter to Mayor Ballantyne Superintendent Skipper, and School Committee Chair Green. This letter contains our contact information and our willingness to have a meeting. We wanted the removal of police from schools, the implementation of a fully funded restorative justice program, and an annual anti-racism training district-wide in SPS. and a comprehensive independent equity audit of SPS. We continue to push this change in security meeting after two months to demand accountability. Finally, in March of 2023, the Somerville School Committee voted unanimously to adopt policy recommendations that will remove police from Somerville Public Schools.

But now, less than two years from my graduation, I'm fighting to defend this win. While I was in high school, I was heavily involved with change and progress. I was captain of the track team, a co-chair on the school improvement council, I participated in superintendent meetings, and I was involved with the social justice league. I sat right in this room, involved as a student representative of the school Being involved in these roles drove me to listen to individuals and the community as a whole. After COVID, we know community has been redefined and life seems a little more unstable. We worked hard to build back our community. Community engagement specialists were a big part of rebuilding that culture. They bonded with students, gave advice, and became people you could rely on. When the question is asked, who are three safe adults you can go to in the school, these people came to mind. Not only did they de-escalate situations, less situations would arise because of the bond formed between the students and community engagement specialists. Policing school jeopardizes the very fabric of the community we worked so hard to build.

Somerville is a sanctuary city and one of the most ethically diverse cities in the U.S. with more than 50 languages spoken in the Somerville public schools. Some students come from over-policed neighborhoods. Some students feel threatened by local police because of their skin color and others have to live in perpetual fear of ice under this current governmental administration. No matter how nice a police officer is, the person they represent can induce fear in students and fear has no place in school. I've come back here as an adult and I hope we can continue to fight for the progress that would not just make my younger self proud, but would make this whole community proud. We want future generations to benefit from this community and to continue to improve it. Keeping police out of school is a commitment we need to uphold in the fight to make Somerville a better place for everyone. Thank you. Thank you.

Marcia, thank you for your grace with my misreading your name. We're glad you came back. Derek Rice, Abby Hare, and then Anna Feingold. Derek, the floor is yours.

Thank you. My name is Derek Rice. I use he, him pronouns. I live on 49 Craigie Street in Ward 3. Before I get to my prepared remarks, I just want to note about a story about being threatened with a gun. The presence of a gun is the threat of a gun. I just want to make that very clear. I want to add my voice to those of my neighbors who are rejecting the idea of bringing police into our schools. Doing so is at odds with what this community has taken great pains to express over the past years. Since at least 2020, the city has been reckoning with the nationwide problem of over-dependence on police for our public safety needs. Over 4,000 residents petitioned the city to move funding away from armed first responders towards more holistic public safety. The then mayor promised a comprehensive, community-driven process for civilian oversight of the police and so-called reimagining of policing. Since then, a city-led task force has reinforced the need to meet public safety needs with alternatives to the police, specifically social workers.

Why am I talking about any of this? Because it strikes me as rather backwards that while the broader city is exploring how to provide alternatives to police, our school district leadership proposes that police are this answer to behavioral issues with juveniles. An SRO for the Somerville High School is a full-time job, requiring a patrol officer staff position in the Somerville's budget. The average patrol officer costs $119,000 per year. If we create this position, you're increasing SPV budget by $119,000 or more. Alternatively, you could have a school-based social worker for a little bit less. Neither are free. Both are options. A school-based social worker will do more for students than a police officer, at least standing by. It is just as easy to designate funding for a school-based social worker. The executive who makes that decision sits on this committee. I urge the school district, school committee, and my neighbors to ask for the option that is aligned with Somerville's values. Thank you.

Thank you. We have Abby Hare, Anna Feingold, and then Eric Ludwig.

Hi everyone, I'm Abby Hare. I live at 18 Wesley Park and I have kids at Capuano and East. I want to start by noting that more than 100 people have taken the time to email in support of increased school funding. That level of engagement shows how deeply families, educators, and community members care about the future of our schools and our students. The data presented by the district makes clear that too many students are not where they need to be academically. If we are serious about improving outcomes, we need meaningful investment in interventions and student support. That means hiring more interventionists so students can get targeted help before they fall further behind. Interventionists would be a wonderful bang for our buck. They should be seeing many groups of students throughout the week and in theory students move in and then out of their services as they're better able to meet to meet the grade level requirements.

Also, these people can be instructional leaders in the building as they are experts in their content area. We also need continued and expanded investment in co-teaching. The results from the co-taught classroom at East has been incredibly promising, both academically and in creating more inclusive learning environments for students with diverse needs. Programs that are working should not only be protected, they should be expanded. That requires a financial commitment. I understand this is a more difficult financial year for the city, but I'm asking you to do the job that you were elected to do. Advocate for our schools and push back on the city and the mayor when our students' needs are not being prioritized. and Tamir Wilson specifically. I appreciate the additions that you have highlighted in the budget, but the reality is that our schools are very far from where they need to be. So the additions are not sufficient and trying to present it at such feels wrong.

The decisions made this budget season will have long-term consequences. Investments made in Students Now will pay dividends for years to come through stronger academic outcomes, better support for educators, and healthier school communities. I am asking you to stand up for our students, advocate aggressively for the resources our schools need, and make clear that public education must remain a city priority. Thank you.

Thank you. We have Anna Feingold, Eric Ludwig, and then I'm going to say Dondra Felix.

Good evening. Anna Feingold, 95 Franklin Street, Ward 1, and I have a child at East End, the neighborhood school. I have comments on the SRO issue that I will reserve for another meeting. Tonight, I want to urge the school committee to push for more SPS funding, specifically to hire more interventionists and to support and expand the co-teaching model that was piloted this year. I want to speak to interventionists because my family has personal support with that this year. Our son has worked with a reading specialist for the whole school year and we've personally seen what a huge difference that can make. Our son loves to read. We read as a family all the time, but he needed more support to learn the things he needed to learn than we could give him outside the school setting and he needed more support than he could get in a typical classroom setting because he was able to access a reading specialist to provide the focused small group attention he couldn't get in the classroom. He's progressed. He's learned things he needed to learn, and he's learned things he's capable of learning outside of a classroom setting.

He has also continued to love school, which is so critical and so important to his ability to learn it all. and is something that I fear would have changed if he had been forced to stay in a learning environment that was just the wrong fit. So at this moment we're a success story for what it can look like for a student to get the support that they need at the right moment before the problem becomes insurmountable. Every student deserves that support. Not every student is getting that support, and I'm very conscious of the fact that many families are faced with a situation that plays out very differently than it did for mine. Access to interventionist works, but you have to choose to prioritize it. It will require more than level service. It will require spending money, not doubling the budget, but a strategic specific investment in something that really matters that is not currently available on an equitable basis. Thank you.

Thank you. We're going to finish up in person. We have Eric Ludwig and then Dunja Felix.

Good evening. My name is Eric Ludwig. I live on Berkeley Street in Ward 3. Some of you haven't seen me for a while, but I have been a regular in these chambers. and online. I'm here because I watched the video from the last session and I read the memo and I'm really incensed. I'm incensed because I know how much energy our community put in to understanding the issue of SROs in schools. I know how much time we put into teaching each other and bringing resources to this committee. I'm incensed because I know how much risk our students took to step up and stand out and talk about SROs. I know how much research this committee commissioned and did. We got Harvard professors to do focus groups over years. We got teachers. We got students. We got parents. Everybody came to an agreement. that we did not need an SRO.

This committee recommended to the superintendent to pursue school liaison officers, not SROs, no cops in the buildings. They recommended the pursuit of an MOU that Safe School Somerville, of which I'm on the organizing committee of, could get behind. We know that the state MOU is just the floor. We know that Mass General Law Chapter 71, Section 37P says each city needs an MOU and the state model is the floor. We can do better. We're Somerville. We can do better. We can reimagine a way to protect our students and our staff and not turn to an SRO to solve what essentially seemed like from that video bureaucratic convenience. That's not acceptable. We have we our group has has put forward Center for Juvenile Justice. We've offered introductions. We've shared this report. We commissioned a thing.

We did all this to so that we could be better. This city could be better. We're not going to stop. We're not going to accept this, not on our watch, not for our kids, not at this moment in history as Erica dictated. We need to follow and implement the recommendations of this body from 2023 and adopt an MOU that continues to keep police out of our schools.

Thank you. We have Joan Jo Felix.

Okay, good evening committee. My name is Donji Felix and my address is 40 River Road. I'm a current student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. and I'm one of the former students at Somerville High who advocated alongside Marcia for the removal of on-site officers. As someone who was present on campus with and without SROs, as soon as they were removed, The school began to shift towards what it should have always been, which is a community. There's a certain type of intimacy that can only be achieved through intentional community work. When you invest in community builders as opposed to said officers, you indirectly invest into a safer school. Having officers onsite isn't a substitute for engagement or intentional engagement between students and law enforcement. I won't speak for everybody, but I know that an armed officer is not as reassuring as it seems. I'm here to say please decide against the implementation of student resource officers.

Thank you and I hope you hear me.

Thank you. We are going to move to our public comment on Zoom. We have Isabella Malinowski, Melissa Duarte, and then Charlotte Walker. Isabella, you are unmuted.

Hello, my name is Isabella Milonowski. I am a resident of 31 Oak Street and I graduated Somerville High School in 2021. and I wanted to leave a comment on adding school resource officers back to our high school community. I just wanted to share a short story from November of 2014. I was a student at the Argenziano Public School. I was sitting in the office waiting to get picked up for a dentist appointment. It was the day after Tamir Rice had been killed by a police officer. He's a young boy, a 12-year-old boy who was killed in Ohio by a police officer because he had a toy gun that the officer felt threatened by.

And I overheard from a couple of cops sitting in my school lobby that one of them said, and I remember it very specifically, she said, I don't care if it was a banana. I would feel threatened by that and I feel like I may have to act. A school police officer said that in the lobby of my school building when I was a child. I think at this point if the police community has lost or has never had trust with the school community, I think that is their issue to solve off of our school floors. Thank you.

Thank you. We have Melissa Duarte, then Charlotte Walker, then Kelsey Clark. Melissa, you're unmuted.

Hello? Hi, go ahead. Melissa Duart, Florence Terer, Somerville. I'm an AIM parent. I keep hearing some families are happy to move to the Argenziano. But families need to understand they are not being asked, they are being told. Meaningful participation does not mean informing the parents after decisions are made. Meaningful participation means families are included Before placement decisions are finalized and with the ability to discuss concerns, review data, consider alternatives, and participate as equal IEP team members. Informed consent is not the district announcing a unilateral placement change and are expecting families to quietly comply afterward. Many families don't even realize that they have procedural safeguards, the right to disagree, request reconvenes, ask questions, seek individualized consideration for their child.

That matters because these students have already experienced years of instability caused by systemic district failures COVID disruptions, emergency school moves, inconsistent supports, and now another forced transition being minimized as merely a location-only change. For disabled students, environment, predictability, staffing, peer relationships, transportation and safety are part of educational access. Right now, families are being put in a position where advocating for their child gets refrained as being difficult, and silence is being treated as an agreement. This is coercion, not consent, not collaboration. And before the district and the city finalize their budget, they should budget for meaningful team reconvenes, family participation,

Compensary supports and actual safety upgrades because as of today there is still no clear public timeline for the crucial fencing and safety improvements at the Argenziano site. Students with disability deserve better than instability, crisis response and decisions made without them or their families.

Thank you. We have Charlotte Walker, Kelsey Clark, and then John Link. Charlotte you're unmuted.

Hi, my name is Charlotte Walker. I live at 39 Oliver Street in Ward 1. I have a second grader and a fifth grader at East Somerville Community School where I serve as the Co-president of the PTA and the CPAC school representative. I also work at the high school as a college and career counselor or advisor, but tonight I'm speaking as a parent and a community member. And I'm here to express my support for more special educators as well as more reading and math interventionists. I asked my fifth grader about his co-taught fifth grade classroom and he said that there's a lot more students who still need help. Even he notices the strain in the classroom. And it's not just this year. His whole time at East, he's noticed a strain in the classroom. He talks about classmates who need more support and who aren't always getting it. And at the same time, there are students who are ready for more, but they're becoming bored and disengaged already because the teachers are being asked to do too much for too many students at once.

and it's not a criticism of our educators it's a sign that they need more support right we need these specialists so also as the city discusses how to respond to student behavioral challenges i hope we invest in prevention Special educators, interventionists, they're not extras. They're some of the most important tools we have for helping students stay engaged, confident, and connected to school. Our students are capable of so much more and I really hope the mayor and the school committee invest more to help them have the support to reach what they are truly capable of.

Thank you. We have Kelsey Clark and then John Link. Kelsey you should be all set. Can you hear me? We can. Go ahead.

Great. Thank you. My name is Kelsey Clark, 67 Church Street. I'm a high school special education teacher at CRLS, a licensed social worker, and the parent of a first grader at the Ogenziano. I'm speaking today to urge the committee not to provide funding for an armed SRO at SHS and to advise the superintendent to seek out alternatives for addressing the safety needs of the high school. There's a popular misconception that we in schools need to balance student safety with student belonging. Yes, of course we want all kids to belong, but we need to focus on student safety. But this isn't true. Student safety is student belonging. Schools can only be safe when all, not just some, kids feel a true sense of belonging at school. The feeling of being authentically known, seen, valued, changed, and accepted. The presence of SROs in schools erodes that valuable and elusive sense of belonging and thus threatens school safety. There's so much research that tells us this.

SROs in schools lead to more surveillance, inappropriate sharing of student information, and an atmosphere of coercive control and distrust in school particularly for kids of color and students with disabilities. I've seen these effects firsthand as an educator. When we ask armed police officers to patrol our schools, we send our students day by day an insidious message that we do not trust them, that we fear them, and that we as educators are not equipped to meet their needs. But the good news is that we actually do know how to make schools safer because we know how to make schools places where every kid belongs. We can hire and retain an educator workforce that matches the diversity of our student population. We can train educators in de-escalation, anti-racism and restorative practices. We can make sure that every kid has at least one adult who really knows them and their family. I understand that there may be real concerns about emergency response coordination at SHS, but our answer to those problems cannot be to bring in an armed police officer.

The known costs to student belonging and school safety are simply too great. We can and we must do better. Thank you.

Thank you. We have John Link. John, whenever you're ready.

Thank you. My name is John Link by Bigelow Street. I am here today to, I guess, agree with so many other people before me. Green asked I think exactly the right question when he asked what problem will an armed and uniformed officer solve and and I haven't heard in that in that meeting in the end of April I didn't hear an adequate answer to that and I don't believe that there is one if I'm honest. The research is clear SROs do result in more arrests, police referrals, suspensions, expulsions, higher absenteeism, and impacts that are felt far higher for black, brown and disabled students, twice as much in fact. So I hear our admin when they say that they need support and I want them to have that support. They should have support from social workers or mental health providers, school counselors.

Mr. Rice was exactly right in pointing out that as a city we're moving in a direction where we're understanding that Alternative response is the correct way to help people, and we need to do that in the schools as well. So I'm asking that the school committee and Dr. Carmona, our superintendent, Take a real long hard look at all the work that's already been done by the school committee, by the community and really focus on that as opposed to trying to just go turn the clock back. Thank you very much.

Thank you. That concludes public comment. I want to thank everyone who came out today. We deeply appreciate your time. We deeply appreciate your voice. We've received many emails, but if you would like to email us your public comment, please feel free. Okay, we are moving on to other items of business. We are seeking an approval of minutes from April 6, 2026.

So moved.

All right. I have a motion by Member Green, seconded by Member Lippens. All those in favor? Aye. All opposed? Name extensions. Thank you. All right. And with that, we're on to the report of the superintendent.

Thank you through the chair. First of all, everyone again, we thank you for your participation and your feedback. As I said in the past, this is what makes a community. So I want to start by recognizing Haitian Flag Day and celebrating Haitian Heritage Month. So yes, it is... It is a great moment to celebrate and it is an honor and a privilege to recognize our Haitian brothers and sisters and our students of Haitian Heritage on National Haitian Flag Day. So early today, I was proud to join Mayor Wilson, city partners, and the community members at the city halls, at the city's Haitian flag raising ceremony at city hall.

and I just wanted to highlight to our Haitian community members to thank them for the gifts of joy, resilience and determination that they bring to our district and to our city and we are proud to stand alongside I just wanted to make sure that we recognize and we acknowledge and also celebrate their presence in our district

I work at the State House and I'm pretty sure it's May 26th. There's going to be a celebration because the Haitian soccer team is one of the teams that's going to be playing at the World Cup and there is a player who is from Massachusetts, I think Everett, it might be Melrose, Francie Perrault, and there'll be a celebration at the State House for those especially college students who might be home if you have time on Tuesday, May 26th. It's open to the public. It's supposed to be like a really wonderful celebration just building on that. So I hope to see some of you there.

Thank you. I also want to thank Babica for her report. Thank you, Babica. I think she thoughtfully highlighted experiences, histories, and the contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Within our schools, our AAPI students and families bring extraordinary gifts Linguistic, cultural, and academic richness to our community and remind us of the importance of belonging and visibility. You said it well, Babica. I think the contributions that they have brought in terms of solidarity and nonviolence movement as well as and reaching our community is something worth celebrating. So thank you for the work and thank you for bringing your voice into that. Thanks.

And tonight, I want to kick things off by expressing my gratitude to students, families, and the broader community for collaborating on a budget that keeps Our service is in place and has targeted investments and roles in coaching, interventions, and social emotional programming at a time in which other communities are experiencing a severe contraction in the services they offer as well as some of them are facing layoffs and again financial hardships that are very difficult to navigate. I also want to acknowledge the mayor and the school committee for navigating a budget shortfall at the local level and still deciding to continue to invest in our schools. at the levels beyond our peer districts. We often say, don't tell me who you are, show me through your actions, and our budget does exactly that.

Before we get into tonight's presentations, I also want to update the community on the process underway as we explore ways to collaborate with SPD to address challenges that have been brought up to our attention by our high school principals. Family focus groups at Somerville High School and Next Way Full Circle have already begun and additional opportunities for engagement will continue in the weeks ahead. We will also be releasing a broader survey to ensure we are hearing from students, families, and staff across a diverse linguistic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. I also want to make sure that the information that was shared tonight will be part of that discussion. So I thank you for your participation. So as you know, our goal is not simply to hear from those with the greatest access to these conversations, but to create a space for broad community input that reflects the full range of experiences and perspectives within our schools. I want to thank SFLC for leading the way in ensuring a process that uplifts all voices and not just the most visible ones.

And I also want to reiterate This is not a done process. We are not engaging in this process with a definite answer in mind. So I just wanted to respond to the principal's concern. and to make sure that I hear from all the different constituents. We're gonna have our principals come to the next meeting and so we will continue to again elaborate in our process and thinking around this subject. And switching gears tonight, I'm pleased to provide an update on the ongoing development and the implementation of our multi-tier system of support. across Somerville Public Schools. So this work reflects our commitment to ensuring that every student has access to the academic, social, emotional, behavioral, and instructional supports they need to thrive.

So over the past year, we have continued building stronger systems, deepening staff collaboration, and refining practices to better meet the diverse needs of our students. This work is grounded in our district's strategic priorities and is strengthened through our partnership with Boston Children's Hospital, whose expertise has helped guide planning, professional learning, and implementation efforts. So Dr. Boston-Davis will provide us with an overview of MTSS, highlight the progress made this year, and outline the next steps as we continue building equitable and responsive systems to support With that, I'm going to have Dr. Jessica Boston-Davis.

Thank you and good evening everyone. I'm making my way around to this side of the horseshoe because I'm joined by Amy Candelora who's the assistant principal at the AFA school. It was really important to ground this with work that's happening at the school level. And so Amy, thank you, is joining to provide What does this look like on the ground as I talk about some of the systems that we are working to strengthen as a district. So we are partnered in that way. I also just want to mention before I jump in just acknowledge Katie Gately-Gahant who is the MTSS specialist this year and Nate Harris who is our partner with Boston Children's Hospital. They helped to contribute to this presentation. So I just wanted to mention them. And with that, I'll begin. I'm sorry. I pressed the wrong button, Erica. Sorry. I don't know how to go back.

Oh, okay. Just press it again. Got it. All right. Thank you. All right. So today we're going to go over understanding what MTSS is. How are we defining MTSS? Talk a little bit about our partnership with Boston Children's and what work we've done this year to strengthen our systems and then next year in future planning. Next steps in future planning, I should say. So let's talk a little bit about how we define MTSS. And we start that by grounding in our vision. This is a vision you should be familiar with. This is our vision from our strategic plan. And I wanted to just emphasize in this vision Some words are in green now. It's a little bit hard to tell on these screens. But the envisionment of every student empowered to thrive through tailored supports and equitable access to opportunity. That is what MTSS is. So it's really important that we're able to ground in our vision because this is really what our goal is as we think about MTSS.

We also always are trying to bring back our newly developed vision for excellent instruction in SPS and our goal is always to ground our MTSS within that as well. So now let's get into what is MTSS. A district administrator who has served in many roles in our district has often said MTSS is how we do school. It's the entire school system. It's not a meeting, it's not this track, it's not this one example of one structure, but it is the entire school system. And it's important to keep that in mind as we use this language. Multi-tiered systems of support is what MTSS stands for. But really it's a data-based and problem-solving approach to ensuring all students are provided with the academic and behavioral instruction and interventions or the supports needed so that all students are able to grow and thrive.

at different intensities, and that's the multiple tiers. This is the definition as found in our DCAP. And when we talk about the entire system, I wanted to ground us in this visual. This visual is actually from DESE. DESE puts out this MTSS blueprint, which is a really great resource and guide. they visualize this often seen as triangle which we'll see in a minute in the form of a schoolhouse the whole school system and there are different tiers the tier one being universal and I'm going to use my notes here because it's a little bit hard to see Despite my glasses, it's a little bit hard to see. Tier one being universal or all students. Tier two targeted and just students getting targeted Targeted supports to meet their levels so that they're able to access Tier 1.

And Tier 3, meaning more intensive supports, students who are further away from grade level and need that intensive support. You'll see surrounded are language that really describes our schools and our school systems. Again, the entire system. Okay, so in SPS we provide three tiers of support. I say three because if you remember Dr. Bobby Barretta, who I should also acknowledge and thank, Focusing on MTSS was his strategic project last year and so he really helped with some of our foundational resources that we have in place now and he mentioned that it doesn't There have to be three tiers, but typically we see three. At tier one, we see our universal supports, which I just described, and that should be what all students are receiving, high quality instruction and support. At Tier 2, small group support for students who need extra help accessing Tier 1.

In Tier 3, we see more intensive small group or individualized support for students with significant and often ongoing needs. These tiers are often visualized in the form of a triangle. There are a lot of small words on the screen and the goal was not for you to be able to read this. This was actually presented in a student support presentation earlier this year. I just wanted you to be able to see the visual of how you often see this floating. You'll see these diagrams in offices or at meetings and that's just the visualization of the tiers of support. So let's talk about what this might look like in action. This is not an exhaustive list. These are just some examples of what these tiers may look like. Tier one being high quality core curriculum. So those are those high quality instructional materials. And school-wide practices for both academics and social emotional learning.

Think of restorative justice practices that we've recently gotten all of our staff trained. Second step, responsive classroom, whole school positive behavior incentive systems. which we call PBIS and things like that. Tier two, more targeted. That might look like small groups of students say during what we call X block. So that's our intervention block during the school day where their teacher is pulling small targeted groups. and students doing a personalized instruction or another kind of specific to them targeted programming. to help support access to grade-level content. And Tier 3 may look like small groups also or one-on-one intervention and direct services led by staff with specialized training. A few things that is that it

Great. Okay, so what does this look like in action? Also, some of our systems of support, again, just to emphasize beyond the just triangle. It looks like data-driven decision-making. Strong MTSS looks like data-driven decision-making. We have platforms like Open Architect that we rolled out this year to support with this. It looks like screeners and surveys. So I listed a number of screeners that we use across academics. It also looks like surveys such as our condition for learning survey for students and families and amplifying student voice through things like student equity action team that's the seat teams that we have in our schools and it also looks like structures and meetings like common planning time where educators can come together can think through supports for students looks like grade level meetings student support team meetings Community meetings at our high school, child study meetings also, which is something that I'll talk more about in two slides.

But those are just, again, not an exhaustive list, but when we talk about this system, these are the different components. In order for students to get those tiered supports that we're describing. Now I'm going to pass it over. Oh, sorry, one more slide before I pass it to you, which is some important understandings. I really want to emphasize these things. And these are important understandings that we as a district had to move towards and we're still moving. But we're landing here finally, I think this year. Strong tier one. This is language straight from DESE, strong tier one, differentiated in design for universal access is the foundation of MTSS. We have to get our Tier 1 correct. Again, this is language straight from DESE, which is why we are investing so much on getting our high-quality instructional materials rolled out strong and all students having access to that. and having access to grade-level learning.

Also, Tier 2 and Tier 3 should complement, reinforce and supplement, not supplant Tier 1. So you have to have a strong Tier 1 in place. You cannot say Tier 2 and Tier 3 or intervene your way out of a Tier 1 foundational MTSS is not a gatekeeper for special education or English language development services. That means we should not ever have a case where a student is not identified or not referred because we want to wait for them to go through an MTSS process. Our legal obligations ensure that Those things can happen at the same time or you know so just want to emphasize those and those are understandings that we moved our district along over the past year. Now with that Ms. Candelora, can you talk a little bit about from your perspective MTSS at your school and through your cohort?

Definitely. I think you did a wonderful It's not one program. It's not one meeting. It's everything that we do in our school to support students' academics. Social-Emotional, Behavioral, so that all students can be successful. I think that's the key. In Somerville Public Schools, MTSS has a strong core instruction, just like Dr. Boscaneva said. We have consistent curriculum right now. That's huge. We had to support tier one instruction. We have data-driven decision making, collaborative problem solving, targeted interventions, restorative practices, and ongoing communication among staff, students, and families. And I want to point that's the key of MTSS. as when we're all working together to support the students who are in front of us. MTSS is really a framework that connects and supports the important work happening in our schools every single day. As a school leader for the past four years,

I've worked with many of the people in this room to support MTSS and child study. Thinking about Bobby a couple years ago with his project, thinking about Nate and Katie this year, I'm really proud of where we've gone. We do need to continue to strengthen and refine our systems to support it even more so that we can be consistent, proactive, and responsive to every student across the district.

Okay, so now let's zoom into child study team. These were when I, I know just even a couple years ago, known as MTSS meetings. So we have shifted that language. These are child study meetings, okay? It's just one meeting, not the whole MTSS process. And child study team regularly meets to discuss students who are in need of additional support and discuss possible interventions to try. once a student is initially discussed there should be a second meeting scheduled at least a second meeting scheduled six to eight weeks in the future to revisit the impact of that intervention and discuss what the next steps families and students should be informed and active collaborators so there's family input forms regular family communication student contribution forms when appropriate there's more coming in our next steps around the areas that we can strengthen But that is our vision as a district.

I just want to also emphasize, and this is also the work of Katie and Nate this year that I mentioned in the beginning, we have this cohort model that Ms. Candelora will speak to in just a few moments. that really worked with three schools to strengthen their child study team. And they created this rubric. There are different components within this rubric, including team composition. Strong meeting structures. Effective teaming, data-driven decision-making, and family and student voices. All that, you know, and they were able to do kind of a self-assessment and figure out areas that they need to strengthen as a school community within this rubric. Really thinking about how do we make our child study team meetings even stronger because they are very important within the MTSS process. Ms. Candelora, can you speak to a little bit about child study team in your experience?

Yeah, so I'm going to speak specifically about child study at the Argenziano and then my experience with it. First, I'm going to start out. Ms. Soto, I know listening. Child study is my jam. It really is. It's a collaborative problem-solving team that supports students who may be experiencing some difficulties, whether it's academic, social, emotional, or behavioral. I have a wonderful team that supports The goal of our team is to make sure students receive target, evidence-based interventions and supports before students become more barriers to learning happen. Students can be referred to child study by anyone. It can be a classroom teacher, it can be a specialist, it can be a family member, it can be an administrator like myself. The team is made up of so many people. I have my counselors, I have my social worker, reading specialists, math interventionists, administration, and I have families as part of my team.

Depending on the needs of the students, I also consult with people like our occupational therapists and our speech pathologists as that's not an expertise of anybody on our regular team meeting, but they will come to our meeting depending on what the concerns of the student is to support The Intervention Planning. So at the Argenziano, we have meetings on Wednesdays. They're 90 minutes long where we review three different students. During the initial meeting, the team reviews students' strengths, areas of concern, previous interventions that have already been put in place, data, and then the family input. While families are not present at the child study meeting, they do have an input in what we're doing with their students. It's an important piece. Family can share things about their home life. It can share things about their goals for their students. But also it can tell us things that we might not know about how their student interacts with students outside of the school day.

As well as even their sleep patterns. It also is an important piece that we find out how children feel about school from home. In addition, although families are not there, they are part of our process at the Argenziano. After our meeting, within 24 hours, they receive all of our notes I just want to point out that all of our messages to families are translated in their preferred home language so that there is not a barrier in language. In addition, if a parent has any opportunities or any questions that they want to ask me about, I'm available by phone. All the time and I write that in my email. So really the base of that meeting is that we design targeted Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions. We also set measurable goals and how we're going to progress monitor them after six to eight weeks.

So after the initial child study meeting happens, we wait six to eight weeks so those interventions can be put in place. And then we have a second meeting where we're going to review the interventions. There, the team will meet again to review the progress. We will review the collected data and we will decide whether the child either met the goal or still needs some support. Then based on that data, the team will either continue a goal, stop a goal, revisit a goal, or go in a whole different direction if there's another concern, for example. If the team does suspect a disability, the student may also be referred to special education evaluation. In conclusion, this child study team exists to make sure that all students receive the sports, strategies, and resources that they need so that all students in Somerville can be successful. Well, I get to keep talking. I forgot about that part. I get the clicker? Okay.

So now let's talk about how Boston Medical... Children helped us this year. So this year, I had the opportunity to work closely with Kate Galant and Nate Harris from the Boston Children's Hospital Neighborhood Partnership. Their work focused on three main goals. The first one being strengthening access to behavioral healthcare, building alignment between schools and community partners, and centering student and family work. These goals strongly align with our district priorities around wellness and joy, my favorite two, as well as our school improvement goals and the district's strategic goals, like Dr. Camano said. Do you mind leaving my clicker? I'm scared of that right now. So here we're going to see our three-year model. So working with Boston Children's, we are currently in the second year of this model. Last year I worked closely with Nate Harris at the Argenziano and completed a building assessment.

It was called a TFI, which meant Tiered Fertility Inventory. This helped identify what strengths our school has as well as areas to grow and next steps for an action plan. My understanding is this TFI happened in all of the schools and they kind of put them all together to look at our entire district as well. During the second year, which is where we currently are, they launched the child study cohort structure. We also piloted two social-emotional behavior universal screeners this year and strengthened student voice using age-appropriate surveys that teachers made. Next year, so our third year, we're going to continue supports and consultation with the Boston Children's to actually grow our skills and strengthen these best practices with cohort two child study team practices

as well as we are going to choose a behavior screener that will be implemented district-wide all right so let's continue to work look at the work that we did this year So as I said before, I was fortunate to be part of cohort one, which meant our school, the Argenziano, was one of the first to take part in the work that was more structured in a collaborative way. At Argenziano this looked like Nate Harris and Katie meeting with me weekly and focusing on what our child study practices were as a team. I'm thinking we thought through the structure of our CST. We looked for ways to improve the Argenziano systems as well as both Katie and Nate participated in the meeting. This was a key piece of it because it allowed us to get real-time feedback, coaching, and another set of thought partners in the room.

Katie specifically has a background in special education and so if there was a question that might be like who should we consult with she was an asset to be in the room to say let's let's bring Tara Hill in our speech pathologist or bring someone else in. We also had regular opportunities to collaborate and learn from other facilitators of child study at the Healy and the West. And it allowed us to really step back and reflect on our practices as a team. We were able to focus on things like increasing student voice or tightening up some of our systems, but we really were able to address gaps as they came up. In addition, we had an MTSS summit where Cohort 1 schools came together and we were also able to give each other feedback. I think this was one of the most crucial parts of it. I got some of the best advice from the West and Healy principals. about what I'm doing too much of and what I need to improve on. So my understanding is that going to the next cohort, you see that there's cohort two and cohort three that

The Cohort 1 will support Cohort 2 which will then support Cohort 3 as years go on. All right, so we want to talk about the universal behavior health screener pilot. Nate's not here, so I'm going to talk specifically about how the Argenziano participated, just to be really clear. So this year he identified two social-emotional behavior screeners that would be the best in the biomass for us to pilot. At the Argenziano, we screened all first, fifth, and sixth graders. And then using those tools, 10 teachers reviewed the results to better understand students' needs. This allowed us to really provide support early from our support systems, but also before concerns became out of hand, we were able to identify them. It's important to note that these screeners are not used to diagnose. Instead, they help our school get a clearer picture of our students' strengths but also determine what supports and interventions are in place.

and then the partnership. So partnership with Boston Children's has been a key player of this year for myself and thinking about the whole child. We need to support students' academic needs, but we really truly need to support students' social, emotional, and behavioral development as well. Overall, the partnership with Boston Hospital and the work that we did Helped us become better aligned services, close gaps, and improve access for students and families. Our work isn't done. I want to point that out. We are still going to be growing with Boston Children's as the next year comes, and our work with MTS is still ongoing. I think that's it, eh?

That was a beautiful bridge to saying our work is not done. We are very aware that there are a number of areas of opportunity. We are very grateful for the review that the Special Education Department did. This is really helpful. I mean, we'll be partnering throughout. This is really, really helpful feedback to help order our next steps moving forward. I wanted to point out two quotes some of which have been read this evening that came from this review that I find to be extremely helpful when I read this I was like this is this is really really helpful feedback to help us move forward in our district the first being The district's MTSS framework and intervention system are clearly articulated in policy documents. which I do not think was the case a couple of years ago, so there is an improvement there.

However, implementation varies across schools and interventions are not consistently used or understood district-wide. Those are our next steps. The other quote being, the district has defined the right structures for MTSS, which is promising. There's something to build off of. We've defined the right structures. the ideas articulated through policy must be translated into practice these are beautiful marching orders for us I distilled them down into three points but there are a lot more here to make make through and if you kind of comb also through this review there there's a lot of really great feedback um but we we are taking out of this that implementation varies across schools that interventions are inconsistent and that family and student engagement practices are also inconsistent. And those are areas that we're going to prioritize to strengthen moving forward.

Here are some of the ways in which we are prioritizing that in SPS for next year First, we're going to continue the CST cohort model. The second and third cohort will both happen next year. So it won't be another two years before all schools are involved. There's going to be one in the fall and one starting in the winter. But as Amy spoke to, there's a strength in having that community of practice to get feedback, to go visit each other's schools, to kind of collaborate, and that moves straight into the second bullet point. and many more. The Third Bullet Points has developed district-wide educator resources to support diverse learners, including accommodation banks,

and research-based interventions. Just a rich resource for educators to pull from to help with some of those inconsistencies and help making sure that we're using research-based interventions. That flows very nicely into our fourth point, so the how is in that fourth point. So we have District ILT, that's the District Instructional Leadership Team, which is comprised of Half educators from every school and some administrators from across the district. And we meet multiple times a month to work on problems of practice that we've distilled from data. and these are the priority groups that have come up and have active working groups working on right now. We're thinking about supporting diverse learners and so that is the group that is creating this Educator Resource Bank and strengthening some of our already existing resources that may be underutilized. Thinking about strengthening X block, which again, speaks straight to tier two in interventions.

Making revisions to our DCAP. How can we strengthen the DCAP that was finalized last May? So it's a year old, but there are opportunities to strengthen and make it an even stronger document for us moving forward. and thinking about PD alignment. I know that special education will talk about PD across our district very soon and learning walks, which is an opportunity for schools and communities to visit one another and see each other. For the sake of time, I'm going to keep moving. I'm sure there'll be questions. Next steps. We're focusing our district-wide professional development on inclusive practices for next year. So the entire district will receive We really appreciate the special education department in leading on this and this is based directly out of that review and aligned to MTSS needs. We will conduct a monthly meeting focused on MTSS with the school-based principal and our director for equity and excellence.

MTSS and equity are This will fit within the director for equities responsibilities moving forward. Strengthen our district infrastructure. So continue to strengthen this infrastructure in the ways that Amy spoke about through the cohort model. and District implementing this screener, universal behavioral health screener that was spoken about. And then this final point is the last point, but I think it's really should be amplified is I've received feedback that The practices that Amy spoke about are inconsistent across the district as it relates to family and student engagement. And so we really need to strengthen that. One way that we'll do that is through those regular check-ins with principals. How is this happening? Show me your resources. How is this? Another way is to continue to survey and partner and collaborate with families to ensure that we're hearing directly from families especially those who have children and child study team for example how How has the experience been?

Where can we do better as a district? And I think, so that's families. And I think I really, I know the superintendent feels strongly about also amplifying student voice because that's really, really important. With that, I know we went over time. I was keeping time, Dr. Carmona. Sorry, we went a little bit over, but with that, thank you. We'll be happy to entertain any questions.

Thank you. I will say I personally really appreciate, I know MTSS is a term that gets thrown around a lot. I appreciate the explanation. I appreciate the thoughtful, you know way of breaking it down for us because it is a wonderful tool but a complex one to understand so Thank you, and as always, thank you for your great work. All right, I'm going to go counterclockwise this time. So we're going to start with Member Lippens. We are going to Eldridge, Green. and we'll go from there after that after this first round thank you member Lippens

Thank you. I didn't want to go first, but it's okay. Through you, Chair, thank you for this great presentation. I know that term MTSS gets thrown around a lot, and it's really just like what educators and teachers and staff members do every day. and it starts with a really strong tier one instruction which is where our students spend most of their time so I'm really grateful for the district investing in high quality curriculum and also the investment in coaching to ensure that Teachers understand all the different kinds of supports that are available and offered and really strengthening that classroom instruction. So my question is around one of the next steps is like that implementation of child study teams really varies across schools. You know interventions are not always consistently followed so I'm thinking from a budgetary perspective what are some resources and other staffing gaps that

might be causing this also like how are we ensuring that given the tight budget where equitably Using our resources wisely to make sure that we have enough staff members for Tier 2 and Tier 3. Sure.

Thank you for the question. I'll take a stab and then jump in as you see fit. So I think that the first part of the question I'm reminded of, in preparation for this presentation, I went back and looked at Dr. Beretta's presentations from last year. and the first point on his on the first opening slide was that there have been many efforts in SPS to strengthen or look at or you know and so on. White, Squarely Live Anywhere, and I think that's right. We're all doing the work, but are we moving in the same direction? It was great to have the MTSS specialists this year and one thing that I think gives me

Hope and encouragement for future around CST burying and the interventions is the Director for Equity and Excellence. I won't say owning MTSS because we all own MTSS, but really focusing as one of their core responsibilities on I think in terms of resource having somebody own that and I think it Certainly having been in that role in the past, the director for equity role is the great role to own that. That's one. The second thing I'll say is, you know, we have, you know, I think that's the right move so that we have more interventionists across our district in math.

Yeah, I would say, of course, having people to give you interventions is a key component. But I think really building the capacity and having the conversations is the other key component of this. As somebody who was a literacy coach for many years prior, I had the background of being an instructional coach. but it's really about setting that team expectation I'm one person of the team but it I have a large team that supports with child study and specifically if you think about MTSS the whole school is MDSS right so having the common practices I know that we've talked a little bit about a handbook as well I think grounding I have a handbook for the Argenziano Child Study, but really what that does is if you had a question and you were a classroom teacher, I would first say, hey, have you read the handbook? because and if it's not in there I would then add it in we would collaborate and decide what the answer would be to have it in so it's kind of just a resource again but I think that we're going in the right

The right path because thinking just about interventions, MTSS, a child could have a difficulty with anything. So think anything. right that's a lot of things to even have a database about but you really need the people at the table to think creatively out of the box and to think about what the resources we have at the school I will say probably not the most loved comment right now but as somebody who has been in other schools I feel really happy and devoted to Somerville Public Schools. I also want to point out we have a lot of resources in my opinion at our school. Since I have worked in other districts.

I'll save my next question for another round. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. We have Member Eldridge and then Member Green.

Thank you. Through the chair, I really appreciate the overview. It's something I've really been looking forward to learning more about, so thanks so much. I think for myself and maybe families on the engagement piece and trying to strengthen that, that I think there, I think it would be really helpful if you could maybe paint a picture of a concrete example of what this looks like for a student that might be struggling. If you could maybe walk us through what happens when a child fails a screener and then what? And how do we support them? There's a lot of language in there that's like really important but for some of us I think it's hard to grasp and it would be so helpful to understand What it looks like for child whatever it may be that's struggling.

Totally. Great question. That could have been one of my what this looks like slides. So that's a really, really helpful question. I'll speak and then why don't you jump in on so at a high level what this should look like is for example let's say Dibbles We have a dibbles round when students start school in the fall and let's say there's a second grader who scored intensive so that's just below grade level on our dibbles and then therefore and many more. The reading specialists will identify the students for that group. We'll take students and see, the reading specialists can see up to six groups a day, have a Approximately say 36 students on their on their load for

For the round, I'll say that. And so they may see several groups of students who identify in that intensive or even strategic space for Dibbles. The question was around family engagement, so let me just back up and say, in that, families should, first of all, I think that's the best person to talk to, the person who spends the most time with their child. That being said, we'll receive the dibbles. A report that shows exactly where students struggled and exactly where they placed themselves to be and then from there they should receive a letter from the reading specialist Notifying that they will be in a group for reading intervention.

Now, if a student is identified for CST, there's also a family intake form that they should receive.

So, and I have an example of it. So, for example, if, say, a child was in that reading group that she was discussing, but wasn't making progress that was expected, right? Was doing some things that were not typical The reading specialist might want to bring the child to CST or to have just even a conversation with the classroom teacher. What else can we do for this child? We're going to put some interventions put in place for Tier 1 there. Parents are informed at all points of this. So if you have any concerns, if a child had any concerns, say in that reading group, the reading specialist does reach out to them right away so that they can meet with them. And to know, hey, Coach Leifert's going to be working with my child. If a child does get referred to child study, for example, the first part of the submission form for child study, the question is the date on which the parent was informed of the child study, team referral, and by whom. That's a big component of it.

So I would say at the Argenziano, which is one place I can speak about, we make sure that parents are not surprised by this. Just like if a child was going to see the math interventionist, they would also Be informed by the math interventionist. Does that answer your question?

And I want to add one other thing. I do want to add, you know, Ms. Kindler mentioned that While families are not a part of the child study team meetings, and that's really just due to the rigidity of the time and kind of the inflexible nature of those meetings, Families should absolutely be offered an opportunity to discuss further at a time that works for both the family and the school. You know, so a time that works for the family. To talk through anything that has come up in the discussion, to talk through the notes as Ms. Kindler said, you know, there's the phone number, all of that. That also should be a component of MTSS, what it looks like in action. That being said, I am aware and that you may have named this in the start of the question that that is not the experience for everyone and that is an area that we know needs to be strengthened across our district for consistency purpose and that is something that we are working on.

Member Pitone has a follow-up. Thank you, through you, Chair. Thank you for that whole description. This is, I mean, I'm just very... I'm very excited and impressed as the evolution of this district has had from where we were several years ago to where we are now and I also appreciate that you're framing it as like we still have a lot more to do. and I appreciate you flagging the things that are of concern. I think I might have missed it in this conversation, but I am curious, so you mentioned that parents can say, Hey, can you please consider my student because of XYZ? How do parents know about that? How do we create sort of the... The culture around like we don't want every parent like raising their hand because obviously families that have more access are going to be accessing it more. but at the same time I want to make sure that we're introducing it in a way that the language makes sense for families so like they're not going to know what child study team means they're not going to know what MTSS means but I'm curious what your thoughts are

So I can give an example without giving really any details if you know what I mean.

So I had a parent whose child, they were worried about something about their child and they came to me as the assistant principal. I talked to them about this. I said, You know, that's something that I hadn't considered. We're going to have a CST meeting. Is it okay if I, do I have your permission to meet on this child to talk about XYZ LNLP? The child was like, what's that? The parent was like, what's that? I explained it to them that it's a team of people that come with an expertise to design interventions to support their child. They, of course, was delighted and we have gone from there. As somebody who's always present in the school year, Ms. Soto and myself, if a parent came up and was any concern, they do reach out to us quite frequently. That might be something that we have a conversation with them. I do agree that it's something that we could, maybe in our small newsletter, talk a little bit more about. But also, if there's any area of concern that a teacher was told by a parent, that would then initiate a referral. Does that make sense?

Go ahead.

The superintendent is going to say something.

Can I just start a little bit of a, I think we, there's a piece that I think we skipped a little bit, and is, we talked about MTS has been everything we do, is that right? At any point in time, a student struggles with, let's say that I'm in fourth grade, I do long addition, subtraction, and then I have fractions, and then I end up in a place in which, oh my gosh, I don't know what to do. I am anxious about that as a learner. Part of that is that relationship the teacher has with the student and also With the family to understand, if Maria is struggling with fractions, I have to do something different than what I'm doing right now. So there's a layer. that I have to assume a mentality or a mindset of a researcher when it comes to a struggle a student has in the classroom.

When we talked about differences across in our district, I think that we have a level of variance across the entire district in terms of how do I come with this mindset into the classroom. Saretta Hammond that has done a lot of work around culturally responsive teaching she says in for a district not to be at the level of that level of cultural responsive It's something that is going to take away from those learning relationships with the students. So yes, there is growth, not only on the piece around MTSS, but a step back in terms of like how do we also, as we build this, Highly quality instructional materials building the capacity for teachers to also understand the curriculum, understand the kids, pause around learning, and reflect on how do we do this in a different way. In a work that is flowing, in a system that is flowing, often the teacher will say, I'm going to talk to the teacher next door. I'm going to talk to my coach. I'm going to talk to someone.

Because the reality is that students really haven't even flown learning. It doesn't happen in a straight line. And so I think we need to also demystify the fact that if a child is struggling at one point, we actually have to pause and determine Is this a reflection of a new material that is coming? Is it me that I'm teaching in a different way that needs to be broken down differently? Step back a little bit on that because we also have to build on that alignment and we are not there yet. But with the introduction of so many content, I know that that creates also a pause. But I do think that we do better when we know better. And I think that that's our trajectory right now.

Okay. Member Green.

Yes, thank you. Actually, I kind of want to build upon Member Lippens' question. So, first of all, I know firsthand both the Sometimes historic figures of communication on MTSS. As I remember learning that my daughter was getting reading images services from my daughter. They were fantastic, and now she's reading for fun for the first time ever, so I'm thrilled. But yes, the communication originally wasn't there, and I'm glad that we're improving that. and actually that's to my question uh and it's maybe actually to the superintendent actually um the original uh proposal we got for And eventually we see we have an 8% budget, including the MTSS director.

I hear, and I know in past that has been the case, that the current thinking is to have the director of equity excellence own that work. Is that merely a reflection of budgetary realities? Or perceived budgetary realities? Or are there things we think we would Are there things we think we would gain if we had an MTSS director as a separate position? What would those things be? And what are we losing by having it owned by the director of equity?

Through the chair. It's a good question. Just so you know, the work of CSTO was lived in the Department of the Student Services. It actually continues to be the role of the person who does that work. It's work that has continued to be kind of aligned across the board. We are thinking of strengthening that work with someone that not only provides that consistency, but there will be some supervision. So I think that the work that was being done through the person that we assigned, there's an element of supervision and Thank you. Thank you. will take place as a result of being in someone who actually has administrative capacity.

I also think that, as we have said before, is that I think equity in action means that the work of equity is not just about Aligning in terms of our vision, aligning in terms of our values, but also in terms of the outcomes. And I think that there is a world in which Everything that has to do with equity has to do with student outcomes. I think that if we are investing any funding, I am rethinking that that's not necessarily the place where we should be. Put in our efforts.

Clarifying question.

Clarifying question.

Okay. So to be clear, is this an evolution of your thinking since you suggested if we had the money, we'd have an MTS director?

So I think that in terms of the needs that we have, remember we have increased our coaching numbers. We still are not where we should be. We have been talking about tier one instruction for quite some time. Again, as we looked at the strengthening of that work I think that we We will be better off, I think, having the support from both, continue to have the support out of the student services I think it will require a greater alignment, one that will also is part of the direction in where we're heading. And so, yeah, I think that you could say that I am rethinking how we actually strengthen that investment.

Member Lopez, you have a follow-up? Thank you, Chair. It might actually be a separate question, so I can wait. All right, I'm just going to check to make sure no one else has an initial question.

All right, we're going to let Member Biton ask his initial question.

Thank you, Chair Ackman, through you, to the team. I have not fully read the report from which your presentation stemmed, so I really appreciate you summarizing it and contextualizing it within our district. I also really appreciate you bringing forward the key drivers for future work and opportunities for growth in our district and enumerating it in a clear way and reacting and developing a strategic plan that addresses those concerns with both urgency and in a measured way. It's really clear how thoughtful this has been and I'm really impressed with it.

So I just wanted to say that right off the bat. I'm really interested in hearing about so I heard some of the sort of school to school learning that's already happened. and with the potential bigger cohort coming for next year how you envision that logistically happening and also How you'll build upon the inter-school learnings that you already had to inform how you plan for moving forward.

Do you want to speak a little bit about the logistics look like this year?

So I would say that our administration team is really solid. Of course, the assistant principals all chat. Most of the assistant principals actually facilitate the child study team. So that's been a conversation for the last four years since I've been here. of our monthly meetings for sure. Thinking a little bit about best practices and specifically what we're able to do this year is observing each other. Like I can talk and stand up here for 27 minutes but to see it in person is key right and then to be able to ask those questions like why did you do this why do this how did the parent know about this you know things like that That was really the key component of the learning this year but also strengthening the team. I'm one person. But I have a team of people who support child study and we have an entire school who supports MTSS. That's the biggest component. We still have work to do for sure. Strengthening tier one supports is a component that you've heard a couple times here.

But I think it's really like making it manageable and possible for everybody right because we all want the students to be successful.

Thank you to add to that. So I'm hoping next year a similar model continues where we have these first set of A few schools that meet regularly that you know they have organic ways of meeting but a formal way to meet together with the sole purpose of discussing MTSS. and child study team structures specifically. So that should continue. One enhancement for next year is that cohort one leaders, Such as Amy will mentor leader of cohort two. So Amy builds really strong systems that comes through in this presentation and leads a really strong team. and so those learnings with likely an assistant principal from another school will be a really helpful mentorship and a mentorship

and many more. observations, the rubric check-ins, the MTSS summits. Those meetings will stand and the enhancement of learning from the cohort before.

The other thing is is thinking we had three schools right to the cohort well we have three different schools so I know that specifically thinking about the Capuano I was asked you know can you support They have a very different experience if we think about it. Their students are there for one to three years possibly, two years next year, one, two or three years. I'm going to think about that. But they have a different component. They're early literacy only, right? But they're also environmental print. They have different components than they might have executive functioning or even using iReady. So I think as we have all the schools on one page, we will evolve and learn from each other.

There's one other thing I wanted to add to that. I'm sorry. It just dawned on me. The playbook. Is that what we call it? The playbook? Handbook. Excuse me. I'm sorry. The handbook. that Ms. Candelora described should be enhanced through the best practices of other cohorts and will be a district-wide handbook.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. That cross-pollination and mentorship and learning really takes advantage of the Tremendous instructional leadership and thought leadership that we have in our district and I'm so glad that we're leveraging those resources to help our students and improve Best Practices, Developing a Playbook or Handbook or whatever we're calling it. I think that's phenomenal, so thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else have first pass?

Seems like we're just at quorum. All right, Member Lippens. Thank you, Chair.

I'm just very excited about this work. I am thrilled that we have established this really strong structure, if you will. and I'm thinking about our students who are furthest from justice and how we might like systematize that they are given I hear you talk about you are well resourced, you feel like you have more resources and I'm just thinking about I heard Dr. Carmona talk about how we really need to think about student outcomes. How are we doing that in a way that meets the needs of all students but really prioritizes our students' who because we only have so many resources so is that

That is a fantastic question. One that I think I will use as we move forward. I don't know if I have a clear, succinct answer as the way in which we're going to do that, but I think that is a really I appreciate your language furthest from justice at the center and prioritized in these systems often that have I think that's a really great question. I have some ideas that I'm brainstorming in my mind right now but this is something that I am curious to talk to the team especially for the people who are doing the work and thinking about what practices occur across schools. and can probably come back with a stronger response. But for now I will say I really deeply appreciate the question and I think it's a good vision question to keep front of mind as we move forward.

I don't know if there's anything to add.

The only thing I would add is the Argenziano has a very diverse community and I would say we see students who might need more supports as other students. I think justice is rooted in. This is probably why I'm so jazzed about it, to be honest with you. We support all students who might not have the voice that others have. And so I think that is the important work that is MTSS and specifically is child study.

Thank you. I'm going to note the time unless these are pressing questions.

Member Eldridge, you have a pressing question? Go ahead.

maybe not so much as pressing as just trying to understand moving forward will we be able to anticipate seeing data on like as we build upon the structure what it looks like as we build up like in very real terms of like this is how many students were referred this is how many students we were able to meet the needs of this is like because as we look at budgeting and things like that going forward having a real understanding of where the need is and making sure we can have the proper staffing and support seems like a big part of it and just having a better understanding of where we're moving would be so helpful

Absolutely, I'll respond quickly. That's a great question. That data exists, but it's not consistent. And it's not tracked at the district level in a consistent way. So moving forward, the quick answer is yes, and I'll actually add that for myself in the slides as a goal because it's just a best practice.

Thank you. Thank you for your time and your great work. All right, Superintendent.

Thank you. So this is a segue. It's not that MTSS leads to special education, but we have a segue into special education. I know that everyone is anxious to hear from our department in terms of All the feedback we have received as well as the development of the or the results that we got from a commission study that we have With a partner. And so with that, El Defonso, the floor is yours to share what was working and our next steps.

Thank you very much. My name is Ilifon Soriano. I'm the director of special education. For the presentation today, there's going to be two parts. We're going to be getting a summary from our advancing parent Professional Leadership and Education, our APPEL group, the work that we did this year and the work moving ahead. That'll be the first part. The second part to the presentation will be to summarize some of the points from the Review that we had and also talk about the LEA determination and our next steps in terms of planning, putting all these things together as we move forward to help support our students. I'm going to start with the Apple Institute. I am going to have all of our members introduce themselves before we begin.

Hi, I'm Sarah Krakauer. I'm a member of CPAC.

I'm Sam Steiner. I'm a member of the CPAC and current chair of the CPAC.

Hi, Jess Perez-Adams, CPAC co-secretary and PTA officer for the Kennedy.

I'm Abby Hare, member of CPAC.

Hi, I'm Marissa MacDonald. I'm the assistant director of special education.

All right, so last summer, in partnership with the Somerville Special Education Parent Advisory Council and the Special Education Department, We applied and were selected to participate in the Federation for Children with Special Needs Advancing Parent Professional Leadership and Education Institute. This partnership has provided us with valuable tools and collaboration Thank you for joining us today. Students experience greater success academically, socially, and emotionally.

So we had a wonderful team of people who worked together to put forth a couple of initiatives. So all these lovely people up here with me, but I also want to acknowledge that member Eldridge was also part of the group. as well as Maria Theresa Nagel from the Summerbaugh Office of Immigrant Affairs as our community partner and she brought really insightful We have a voice to members of our community and how we can engage with immigrants and families who are more marginalized. We worked together to create this aspiration statement which took us quite a bit of time but we finally came to our goal or like our aspiration to pause with intention Listen and collaborate to create a culture of belonging so students can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

So I'll talk about what we created. So building off our aspiration statement, we had multiple different One of the things that we like actual action steps that we took so one of them was we created the Massachusetts IEP quick start guide This was something, it's a resource, it's two pages, it's plain language, and it gives a basic explanation of what's an IEP, What's the first step I might take if I'm concerned with my child's progress or something in school? How to respond when you receive an IEP? Where to go for help? How to prepare for an IEP meeting and it also points you to CPAC and some other resources like the Federation for Children with Special Needs and Mass Advocates.

and that is hosted on the Somerville CPAC webpage that we built and building off of this resource that we also created What we're calling like our knowledge base and we're building more plain language resources for families on a lot of different subjects related to special education. We have a flow chart that shows the basic process. We have a more detailed guide that gives definitions and points people to different resources and other resources. one about 504 plans too so we're trying to build that out and everything's also translated so we've been translating everything into spanish portuguese and haitian creole on our website to try and make things as accessible for families and like I said focusing on plain language so that this is something that

You know, families can use and help demystify what's a very often inaccessible and confusing system to navigate.

The other thing we made was this survey. So it's given at the end of every meeting, every IEP meeting to parents. It's anonymous. It launched on April 1st. And when we met to review, sorry, not getting into that. It took us a while to settle on these nine questions because we wanted to really get to what the root of the disconnect was between what families are experiencing and what's happening with special education. We have a lot of backup questions for when we're getting high scores consistently in all of these areas. We're going to kick one out and put a new one in. Yes, so this little yellow sign is on display in all the conference rooms and the IEP team lead is encouraging parents to fill this out at the end of every meeting.

I'll talk a little bit about our first month's survey data. So we got 31 responses from March 27th through May 1st. Three languages were represented and seven schools were represented for our first month's worth of data. It's a little hard to read on here. We have a link. I built a data dashboard for our Somerville CPEC website that's interactive so you can look at all this data and more data about what's coming out of the survey. You can look at it by school. You can look at it by question. There's a lot of different ways to look at the data so that we can analyze and we can see trends and areas of concern. Also did some

Data processing on the comments that we get to, looking at common themes and taking account on how many times we see certain themes coming up in different comments in the survey. And let me see if there was anything else. So you can see those are like the answers to our questions there. They're strongly agree, agree, disagree, and then strongly disagree. for most of those those are positive um some questions like did you know the i can't read them but it's like the purpose of the meeting that right now is almost I think entirely positive and maybe one does not apply so that might be one of those questions that we boot off at some point and add a different question so that we can You know continue to learn more and hopefully evolve this process as we go.

All right, so the question of what are we going to do with this data? We are meeting monthly, so the special education team and The members of CPAC who are on the Apple team to analyze the data and look at what we can learn from it and try to put it into action. So for instance at our first meeting where we were analyzing the initial data we saw that communicating the meeting purpose was a strength so we thought about maybe taking that question off like Sam was saying. and then we looked at analyzing what were the major things that people gave constructive feedback on and so we noticed things like A bunch of people seemed confused about what a 504 is. There were also some people who wanted more transparency around service delivery. So we flagged those things as

areas to you know improve and Mr. Arellano is meets with the team leaders is that what they're called IEP team leaders yep department coordinators every month and so he basically brought those things to the meetings and also We noticed that a couple of the schools didn't have any responses and so that was also a reminder to those schools to make sure that they were Letting people know about the survey and that the QR code was put out in a good spot. So the goal is obviously not just to collect the data, but to use it to improve outcomes for students. and so that's why we want to continue meeting just so that we can regularly look at how we can use the data.

How do you go to the next slide? Okay I skipped one.

Hi, I'm going to discuss how we work together. But before I get into that, I want to thank everybody for still being present and with us. None of us here really expected for this meeting to go this long, just like none of us standing here We're not expected to be special education parents. It's just something that happened to us. So now we're here advocating not for all of our kids, but all of our kids. So the way that we work together, and the focus I feel of the work that we did was by practicing something called progressive stacking. Actually, it's been touched on in a lot of different ways this evening through Dr. Boston Davis's presentation through other comments parents have made it means that we are intentionally making space for voices that are often heard last

Least or not at all so that the decisions made about these children are not shaped only by the people who speak first most often or hold the most power in the room. For our Apple team, this means that we are committing to prioritizing family voices that may be missing or underrepresented. We are using translation and accessibility to reduce barriers to meaningful participation. We are using our anonymous Apple survey data to hear from families who may not wish to speak publicly. We are treating family experience as the meaningful data that it is, reviewing the feedback monthly and turning it into action steps. For us to move forward on and we continue to pivot collaboratively as we learn more.

We are also focused on co-design which means that we're creating solutions with the people who are Most affected by the issues at hand. We are not designing something first and then asking For the Apple team, this has meant that we're bringing families and district staff together as partners, that we are using family experiences to shape the tools, questions, and our next step Again, very similar to the work that was presented with MTSS. So there's a lot of really wonderful parallels here to build family engagement and student well-being. We are creating resources within the Apple team that respond to real needs that families are identifying, and we move forward by reviewing data together and deciding which actions should follow. And most importantly, We keep improving the work as we learn more.

We've all come to an understanding that we are all consistently learning. All, everything individually, but together we can always learn more. This matters because this project is not just A survey and a guide. It's a way for us to practice shared power, better listening, and visible follow-through to improve outcomes for every single student in this district in accordance with the district's strategic plans.

All right so what comes next as we said we're meeting monthly to review the data and we're going to continue using these I think we already talked about this that we're going to edit the questions as we get feedback from them so that They stay meaningful and we really want to make this data available and transparent to the wider community so that anybody can access the data and know how the feedback is being used. and then turn it into action steps so that the programs are improved across the different schools based on the feedback that we're getting. and using this as a tool for shared accountability. So it's been a really exciting project for us and thank you all for being witness to it.

Man, where would our community be without people who are willing to give their time? Thank you so much. I mean, literally tonight, but over the past many, many months. Thank you. Yeah, this is really exciting work and I'm really appreciative that you've committed to it. All right, we do reverse clockwise again. We're going member Green, then member Biton. First round.

So I'm going to save all of this some time. And on behalf of all of us, gosh, how are we? Immense thanks and pride in this work. And especially those of you who are volunteering your time on this work, thank you for that. Um, the through line we've heard tonight and everything is... The need for better system structures and resources to live up to our goals. Given the reality, I'm going to quote an ex-union president, that all education budgets are austerity budgets, and that it is impossible for us to fund at a level I think our school should have. I'd add zero to our budget and we'd still find ways to spend it.

I've been thinking a lot these last couple weeks around The tension between funding more direct service and funding the bandwidth capacity to create more systems and create better systems and better user resources already have. knowing that both are needed and neither is adequate. What I'd love to hear from you all individually and collectively is If we could only do one thing more in our next budget, what do you think the thing that has the most bang for the buck is?

Listen to the children. If I need to elaborate, the kids speak with us as parents, as administrators, as trusted, protected adults. Whether they're communicating with their words, with their behaviors, the children are telling us what they need. As a mom of three who are all neurodivergent, This is something I've learned from therapists, providers at Boston Children's in Florida through Nemours Children's. All behavior is communication. If a child cannot pay attention for whatever reason, this will be expressed as something deemed behavior. If there are consistent behaviors, there is a need that is unmet, whether it is

undiagnosed dyslexia such as one in five children do have whether this is an emotional need that is impacting educational access The children are communicating and it's up to us as the adults with the life experience in the rooms To understand, even when it's hard. So if we listen to what the children are communicating, if we practice that progressive stacking, If we listen to the voices that are most impacted by the decisions of the school committee and the city and our superintendents we can't go wrong. We can only improve and give them what they need. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair, through you. That's hard to follow up. I just want to echo Member Green's sentiments, really extending thanks to all of you, each and every one of you.

Thanks for watching!

and just reflect that everyone I've talked to on both sides like of this partnership the tremendous value that I've heard coming out of it and it's apparent today So you know I think What I'm hearing from my colleague Member Green's question and from the response, Jess, that you gave, you know, is... A common understanding of sort of how we identify where issues might be and how you know what what I think we all agree that we need to provide supports. And I think it comes down to tactics.

And that's something I've been wrestling with as well. Where does it come? Does it come through building systems? Does it come through direct services? And I really appreciate that conversation. I'll stop. I don't have anything to add. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. I lost my list. So we're going to go. Neither of you have spoken yet. Sorry. OK, great. Member Pitone and then Member Lippens.

Through the chair to the team, I'm just super impressed. I know we had member Green give very kind and thoughtful thanks, but I just really tangible actions that you guys have taken as a team together to Influence the Future, Serve Families with this Quick Start Guide, and to have this data input system. I mean like I'm really, really impressed. I just I wanted to say that and I wanted to thank you and I really look forward to hearing um I guess one thing I'll say is that I wouldn't be It's so quick to get rid of questions right away because you haven't heard from a lot of schools and I know you guys are really eager because you have these other questions you want to hear about. But I think in six months there'll really be some real thinking about what this means and a year because as you roll it out longer

you'll get hopefully more input and I'm just really excited to hear what the recommendations are to it from that process improve the system and I'm sure the educators are actually super excited because everybody wants to know you know everyone's working hard there's no doubt in my mind that all the educators and the IEPT limiters are working super hard but without this feedback loop they don't necessarily have a system so just bravo and thank you

Member Lippens. Thank you again. Ditto. And if I'm a parent and I'm listening and it's at 9.45 at night. and I'm awake and I want to get involved in CPAC. Can you tell us maybe the next meeting where we can find information so we can join and get involved and maybe a quick quick why it's so important to get involved.

I'll take this one. I would love any parent who's still watching this or watching it on a recording to join us. Our next meeting is... I know this is May 27th. Thank you. I was just checking my calendar. It's an important meeting for us, too. We'll be announcing our recent election results and voting on new bylaws, so we would love to have people join us. and as always you can give us feedback and we have great conversation it's a lot of great people so highly recommend we also We have an active community. We have a WhatsApp group where people frequently ask questions of each other and we can provide community support. We're also gonna have our end of year celebration coming up at the end of this month too.

I think we're still planning the 28th, okay. We're still planning the 28th so more details to come on that. We put out monthly, usually monthly, sometimes not always, newsletters. We have an email list. We have opportunities for parents to give feedback to us through our website and the website is something that I really love and have been really trying to add lots of resources too. And anyone can also just email us. We have the SomervilleCPAC at gmail.com. I check it regularly and would be happy to hear from anyone. So please do that. And if I can, can I answer Mr. Green's question? Fire away. Okay, so if I were to answer your question, and I've been thinking about this a lot, I would say student-facing staff.

For children like mine, Without the staff there to physically help, learning doesn't happen. Access doesn't happen, social communication, and relationships with peers doesn't happen and belonging isn't there. Those people who are there with our kids helping us are invaluable. and I think the report told us we have a lot of systems we have a lot of structures in place it's making them happen consistently and having the staffing that we need to do that so from my personal perspective it would be that and the understanding of our kids and the the professional development the training that we need so that everyone in the building understands the diverse learners that we have so people can look at my kid and they can

and all the other kids who might communicate differently, might move differently, might access the curriculum in a different way than their peers and we need every child To be seen, to be understood, and to belong. And that's everyone's responsibility. And just to remember that special education students or general education students first. So that's what I would say. All right. Thank you.

All right.

Oh, sure. Member Eldridge. I just wanted to say it was an absolute pleasure working with you all as a CPAC chair, but then as a parent after. Seeing everyone work together and find shared goals was such a magical thing. The Federation for Children with Special Needs had basically a moderator of sorts or an educator that kind of held our hand and walked everyone through the process of using their I just really really really appreciate that. I also wanted to give a second of space because I was also curious from hearing from member Green if there's anyone else that wanted to chime in on any things that were of importance to them when it came to was it budget item but budget stuff

I have to agree with what Sam said. I think the people who are face to face with the kids are the most important systems are important too and things get lost in the sauce you can have an amazing system and then a teacher doesn't buy into it for whatever reason um because she's too overwhelmed or whatever it doesn't matter like it's got to be the people with the kids all right I will do my scan for further comments

Member Biton.

Real quick, Chair, to you. I would love to hear further updates on this topic. In six months, in a year, you know, as this work moves forward and evolves, I think this is really an important start and I would love to see how it carries forward. So just a request.

Great. Same. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate your time so much. Superintendent?

That's the second part of the report that Director Al-Defonso Arijana is going to have, so he will continue with the microphone.

Sure, so the purpose of this presentation is to provide the school committee here an overview of the Special Education Intervention Service Delivery Review. Marissa is going to be synthesizing about 102 pages of a lot of information and then I want to be able to give you a summary of the district's 20, 25, 26 I.D.E.A. L.E.A. Determination that came out earlier this month. And then we really want to discuss the key findings related to the instructional practices and student outcomes and then our initial priorities for district Improvement Planning Moving Forward. So without further ado, I'm going to hand it over to Marissa.

All right, thank you. So the district partnered with Empowered Ed School Solutions to conduct this comprehensive review of special education and intervention services across K-8. And just like a little bit about Empowered Ed, they've worked nationally with districts and state educational agencies around inclusive practices, disproportionality and special education system improvement. And the purpose of this review was to gather data, observe classrooms, analyze systems, and provide recommendations regarding service delivery structures and instructional and inclusive practices across the district. and the review included achievement placement and demographic data a review of that we also did 98 classroom snapshot observations in our k-8 schools

We had focus groups with staff, administrators, and we got family input as well. They also reviewed district documents and programs. And they also analyzed service delivery models across schools. And like Ildefonso said, I want to acknowledge that this is a very comprehensive and lengthy report And tonight I'm going to do my best to synthesize and summarize the key findings and themes most closely connected to our ongoing district improvement work. Just recognizing that there's a lot in there so we're going to focus on a couple few things. So I'm going to start first with the strengths. And so one of the clearest themes that came out throughout the review was that Somerville already has a strong structural foundation for inclusive practices and support systems for diverse learners.

The report highlighted many times the district's commitment to inclusive education and noted that currently 77% of students with disabilities are in full inclusion settings, which exceeds the Massachusetts state target, which is 65%. The report specifically notes that these inclusion rates reflect a districtwide philosophy that values access to general education curriculum for students with disabilities. The review also highlighted strong implementation of intensive research-based interventions by special educators across the district, whether that might be Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, Sonday, Those are just a couple of like the reading programs. But there's also some math interventions that educators have put together or have done like touch math.

The report also noted and highlighted collaboration between general education and multilingual education staff as an important district strength. and noted that this provides a promising model for expanding co-teaching partnerships between general education and special education staff. It also noted and acknowledged the district's increasing emphasis on early literacy and tiered reading supports. specifically the report highlighted universal screening district-wide literacy implementation intervention pathways and the use of x block to provide intervention support without removing students from core instruction Classroom observations noted positive classroom environments across schools with strong relationships between students and staff and clear educator commitment to diverse learners.

and then additionally the report identified educator commitment to diverse learners that came out of our stakeholder focus groups and also that leadership had openness to improvement as an important district strength. So overall, the report makes clear that Somerville has strong foundational systems already in place. In terms of opportunities for growth, the review identified several areas of growth. There were about seven of them, but kind of synthesized them into four main themes, one being instructional practices,

Thanks for watching!

The next being MTSS, which you guys heard about today, so I'll be really quick on that one. Additionally, curriculum adaptation. And finally, greater clarity around alignment and roles and communication structures. So one of the strongest themes in the review centered on instructional consistency and access to grade-level learning. The snapshot observations found that scaffolding, differentiation, and strategies to support access to grade-level content were not consistently evident across At the same time, co-taught classrooms showed some promising practices. About 55% were rated fully or substantially for multiple access points to learning, compared to 30% district-wide. An active engagement was rated fully in 41% of co-taught classrooms compared to around 30% district-wide.

The data also showed somewhat stronger implementation of instructional scaffolds within co-taught classrooms with 25% rated fully for scaffolding compared to just 7% district-wide. However, while co-taught classrooms demonstrated stronger indicators overall, the data still suggests that meaningful instructional access and scaffolding were not consistently evident across settings. The report also found that within substantially separate settings, curriculum adaptations, differentiated practices, and access to grade level curriculum were not consistently evident. Taken together, the findings suggest that Somerville has built strong inclusive structures. Inclusive practices across both inclusive and specialized settings are not yet consistently creating meaningful access though. The review connects these instructional findings to student outcomes. Despite high inclusion rates, achievement gaps remain significant.

So for example, in 2025, MCAS grade five math proficiency was at 31% for all students compared to 4% for students with disabilities. For ELA, it was 37% for all students compared to 5% for students with disabilities. So the takeaway is that inclusion is a strength, it's there, but consistent instructional access is the next layer of the work. The review found that Somerville has many core structures associated with a strong MTSS framework, which I think you guys heard today. So the district has established universal screening tools, student support and child study teams, X block intervention systems, but observations and stakeholder focus groups identified variability in implementation across schools.

Stakeholders noted that they had concerns regarding consistent intervention implementation. There was a lack of clarity between Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports. and also concerns regarding intervention pathways across buildings. The report also found that interventions are not consistently matched to student need and that problem solving structures are not consistently used to inform instruction. Additionally, parents expressed concern regarding perceived delays in accessing intensive services. The report concluded the district has robust MTS structures but the implementation remains inconsistent across schools and grade levels. The next point was curriculum adaptation and instructional access. So focus group participants describe variability and how curriculum is adapted and modified for students with diverse learning needs.

Educators expressed the need for additional guidance and professional learning related to instructional scaffolding, curriculum adaptation, and ensuring students can meaningfully access grade-level content. Stakeholders raised questions regarding whether instructional materials, pacing, and curriculum implementation within specialized programs remain consistently aligned to district grade level expectations. And snapshot observations reinforce these concerns as well, noting that district-wide, 47% of classrooms received a not-yet rating for providing multiple access points to learning. and 29% received a not yet rating related to instructional scaffolds. The report also found that classrooms and program-based special education settings demonstrated the greatest variability and the highest concentration of partially and not yet ratings. Despite having structural conditions intended to support individualized instruction.

And taken together, these findings suggest that students can experience different levels of rigor depending on classroom and placement, and that grade level standards are not consistently maintained across instructional settings. In some cases modifications reduce access to court content rather than supporting it. So overall, the review points toward the importance of strengthening alignment between curriculum expectations, instructional delivery, and access to grade level content across instructional settings. And the last major theme across stakeholder groups was the need for greater clarity, alignment, and consistency across district systems. So staff reported variability in roles and expectations, implementation across schools and settings, and instructional practices across classrooms.

Stakeholders also described inconsistent alignment between general education and specialized instruction particularly around communication, implementation practices, service delivery, and curriculum expectations. And parents expressed a desire for clearer explanations regarding placement decisions, available supports, and service determinations. While staff and administrators acknowledge the need for stronger share expectations and more aligned professional learning district-wide to support our most diverse learners. The report ultimately notes that the issue does not appear to be relational intent, but rather systemic clarity and consistency. And that's the review and I leave it to Ildefonso to go over the LEA determination.

Thank you. So I'm just going to talk about the LEA determination. As many of you are aware, last year Somerville received the local educational agency, the LEA determination of needs assistance. for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which required the district to engage in a root cause analysis and, oops, and Action Planning Process. Through that work, the district identified student achievement as a key area of focus and recognized the need to build greater coherence in instructional practices through professional learning. so as part of that action the district committed to developing a sequence professional learning plan by june 2027 focus on strengthening access to tier 1 instruction and support the generalization of skills for students with disabilities. So that was the plan based on that needs assessment, the needs assistance, excuse me, from last school year.

This year, the beginning of May, the district received an LEA determination of meets requirements with an overall score of 83%, which is 29 out of the 35 possible points. We showed strong compliance indicators, performance above state target for inclusion, which Marisa referenced also in the report, and no findings of significant disproportionality. While this reflects meaningful progress, we recognize that student outcomes remain an important focus area. Particularly as MCAS proficiency rates for students with disabilities continue to fall behind state targets in ELA and math. So that was very clear in the report. Yeah, next slide right here. Kind of shows the MCAS data.

So the findings from the review process have helped identify system level factors contributing to these gaps and the special education department remains committed to continuing this work in collaboration with DESE to strengthen these inclusionary practices and improve student outcomes. So our work moving forward. As we said, findings from both the program review and our LEA, Determination Action Plan Process identified several common themes that are going to guide the district's improvement efforts moving forward, including strengthening professional learning, ensuring consistent implementation of MTSS, Improving instruction in substantially separate settings and increasing communication and system-wide consistency. As a result, the district's focus will center on strengthening Tier 1 instruction through inclusive instructional practice and universal design for learning, which is also known as UDL.

This work is intended to increase access to grade-level curriculum, strengthen scaffolding and differentiation across classrooms, build greater consistency, In instructional practices district-wide and support educators in proactively designing instruction that reduces barriers to learning for all students. And finally, To support the work, the district will implement aligned professional learning across all schools and programs, establish shared expectations for instructional access and differentiation, and provide embedded coaching and mentoring support through EmpowerEd. Additional support will also be provided to instructional coaches, interventionists, CPT leaders, administrators and educators to ensure ongoing alignment between general education, specialized instruction, and intervention system. I think that's it for the slides. The theme since I took over as being the director has been a shared responsibility and I think this work highlights that, that it's not just

Special Ed's responsibility, it's not just General Ed's responsibility, MLE's, it's all our collective efforts for all of our students. Strengthening Tier 1 is definitely something that's going to get us there, because it's a benefit for everyone, not just Special Ed. So that's the theme, that's what we want to capture moving forward. And just to kind of go back with something that was said earlier by Sam that Our special ed students, our MLE students, our dual ed at the vice students are general education students first. So I will conclude with that.

All right. Thank you for sharing these findings, sharing these updates. We appreciate everything you're doing and for staying standing and bringing the energy at this time of night. Okay. I'll start with member Biton, go to member Green, then member Eldridge, and we will see if there are more first round after that.

Thank you, Chair Ackman, through you to Director Arellano and Assistant Director McDonald. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for this clear-eyed, Concise and visionary presentation. I think this is really important work you're presenting tonight. I have a very targeted question. It's late. I'll just get to it. You mentioned on slide 12 by June 2027, so end of next year, The district will complete a coherent, sequenced professional learning plan Can you share with us what the timeline of that plan is expected to be? I'm not asking for, you know,

So that came out of the needs assistant

Steele, and so on. Be aligning in terms of this report, the findings that we received. We really wanted to focus on those tier one instructional practices. We are going to be using EmpowerEd, which did our review, to help plan our professional development. So we are working with the curriculum department so that we have a comprehensive... Thank you. Thank you.

Goll. Thank you, Chair. I guess my question is really about the implementation timeline of that plan. Is it self-implementing? Does it implement as soon as it's in place? Is it going to be an ongoing plan?

I don't see it as a one-time deal. that goal was a requirement from the Department of Ed as far as from the Department of Special Ed it is something that we want to introduce and we want to continue to build on it so it's not just by the end of 2027, we're done and we're kind of moving to the next thing, but we really have to continue that work. It's not a one and done deal.

Thank you. Before we go to Member Green, I just want to mention on your slide, you mentioned LEA a few times. And in my quest to constantly explain acronyms, LEA is the state's It stands for Local Education Agency. I'm going to just make eye contact. You're going to correct me if I'm wrong. And it's their way of saying usually a district or like a Charter School Group, in our case, a district. So LEA, local education agency, us. Thank you. Sorry. Member Green.

Thank you. Both your presentation and the question reminded me of what is One of the great structural paradoxes of public education work, which is that it takes five or six years for change to take root, and superintendents can average three-year terms. What I'm hearing in your remarks and what I've heard throughout this evening is that, you know, some of the things that Superintendent Carmona came in saying in year one, now that we're solidly in year three, we're starting to actually see, like we're seeing the shifts as... Davis pointed out, in culture on MTSS. We're seeing some of these things on intervention, et cetera. With that in mind, I am curious.

To the degree to which you think part of what we need to be doing in terms of investments in terms of time for the bandwidth is to Keep on keeping on as the first two places where we need to be thinking about where we need to be shifting course. Do you mind just asking me? You know, when we're talking about these investments, we're talking about our strategies. Sometimes the solution, as we get into your three-year term, your three-year, the Camorra's term, is... We're on the right track. We just need to resource it more or stick to it for culture change reasons. And sometimes it's like, oh, we need to actually change course. Have you given some thought to, when we're looking towards the next couple years, how much of it is we need to stay on course and, you know, where necessary, add more resources versus, oh, there's something we need to rethink how we're approaching it?

For me, this is something that we've kind of, you know, have been looking at for, you know, two years now, going into this third year. So it's not about changing course. It really is moving the work forward. I think when I first came in, inclusive practices was something that I'm very passionate about. I want our special education students to access, to be able to be in general education. Classrooms accessing. So this is a great way to strengthen that and to continue with that. We see research shows that students who get their support with their general education peers are more successful. That is what we want. That is what the research says. And that is what we want to move forward with. Yes, students will continue to need specialized programming. That's not going away, but we want to be able to enhance both.

All right, we're going member Eldridge and member Piton.

Through the Chair, appreciate the presentation. It's really encouraging to see the LEA determination move from needs I appreciate the recognition that we still have work to do because there is large achievement gaps for our kids with disabilities. I'm wondering how you believe we should be defining success beyond compliance and like what measures we're going to be using to determine that we are are on the right path with all these great new things in play and like I guess can we anticipate updates to those measurements of like what should we be looking at to be like Okay, we're on to something and our outcomes are changing. Short of MCAS, which I know that it's, yeah.

Yeah, MCAS is definitely just APs. It's the data that the state uses in order to help determine. But we're constantly looking at the number of students in sub-separate programming. How many students are actually being placed and how much support is being provided to the students as we're moving to more of a co-taught model or co-taught To a co-taught model, we're expecting that students are in the general education classroom. We are looking at their access data. We're looking at I-Ready data, DIBELS data. So all those markers that tell us how our students are performing, you know, from, you know, within whenever we do those type of assessments. So it is something that we continue to look at. It is something that we continue to make sure that our students are actually growing.

I think what helps us with the state is that it kind of gives us a perspective in terms of compared to where the state is, where does Somerville fall. It doesn't necessarily mean that we can't do better. We should be doing better. and just because we're meeting those those markers should not be sort of like the stopping point we have to move beyond that closing that gap for our special education students is important and it's something that we're committed in doing.

You had mentioned the Dibbles and the I-Ready and those items. Is that data available to us when it comes specifically to looking at this historically marginalized community?

Yeah, we should be able to pull it from the Open Architects. That information is there. So yes, we can definitely get that. I really appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you, Member Pitone. Thank you through you, Chair. Thank you for the presentation. I don't want to minimize the statement you made in the end, which was your vision is about shared responsibility. And as a parent who has been through this process, I understand the importance of our gen ed staff and our special education staff working. I do, but I'm just talking that way. Can you hear me now? You know our general education and our regular education staff working in partnership so I just really wanted to A highlight to that idea that you put forward of shared responsibility. When I was in the situation The language that I was heard was students will do well if they can, right? That's a very common language. Well, I would also say educators will differentiate and be inclusive if they know how.

and if we hold them accountable there's both of these things that really need to come together that's why I love that this presentation the MTSS presentation You know, touched on all of this. So like the right resources, the right professional development expectations, rubrics, and accountability. You know, I understand last year our district Y, or this year our district Y PD focused on restorative justice. Very exciting and then like this updated evaluation and now it sounds like we're going to focus on inclusive practices but I just want to name also that at least the district-wide PD is what Thank you. Thank you. Give people the resources and the tools that they need and how the accountability is going to plan moving forward. And you might have an answer right now, but I want to put that out there.

The training that we have focused or that we're planning on is really is providing some baseline information on what these instructional practices look like. We really want to tie it to the current high quality instructional materials that we have. So when you're using the third grade reading curriculum, how does implementing instructional So very practical and very hands-on for the teachers. In addition to that, it can't just be teacher-focused. Administrators have to be part of this work because they're the ones who are in charge In the classrooms, they're observing the teachers. We highlighted providing some professional development also for the coaches, a little bit more targeted, so that when they are going in, they're able to help Aboff support the general education teacher, the special ed teacher, the ESL teacher, being able to provide everyone.

We're envisioning providing them a little bit more of a comprehensive Training in order to be able to act as and here now teachers you you understand it and this is how you might want to tweak Some of the curriculum or some of the materials that you're giving the students.

All right. Member Eldridge, do you have a second comment? Go ahead. Thank you.

Through the chair, if we could quickly touch on the EmpowerEd report. One of the things that I saw in there was that there was an encouragement for a deeper analysis of the resource room. Staffing Levels, Caseloads, Intensity of Services, and stuff like that. I'm wondering how y'all are hoping to address that moving forward. I thought it was really great that they recommended looking at that on a deeper level.

Yeah, I think like anything else, we're always analyzing our data, our special education staff. One of the things that we have noticed in terms of a trend is that our special education numbers really haven't changed. So when you look at the percentages that we've had over the last three, four years, they've pretty much maintained at about that 19% of students are identified as special education. What we have noticed, however, is that intensity in services has gone up. So while it's still, and I'm gonna just be super simple, 10 students, the amount, it's no longer like the two times 30. If anything, those amount of services have increased in terms of, like I said, the intensity of the reading support, the intensity of math, if they're working on executive functioning, Speech, those have really gone up.

and I guess I point I say this because it makes a lot of sense because we're not seeing the changes in outcome so it's like figuring out what that lever is because we're giving more services yet you know we're not seeing these games that we're hoping for for these students.

And I have to say that coming into the district, I think that that was one of the shifts that I kind of looked at and said, We have to be able to provide the students what they require, what they need. So if we need to say that yes, we have to increase services, we should be by every single Students are entitled to services and whatever they require in order to meet that effect of progress and make those gains, we should be able to provide those students. So it's something that we're continuing to look. You know, tier one, the inclusive practices is one of the things that we want to ensure that we're solidified. The next step is really looking at that specialized design instruction. Do our staff have that training to be able to provide that for our students?

Mayor Wilson

Thanks, Chair. We heard in the discussion of the reports talk of the issue of consistency. We heard anecdotal reports of the issue of consistency. To Member Pitone's point about accountability, and I'll reference Member Green's important reminder about things take time, I guess I'm left wondering, How are we measuring? We seem very convinced the systems are good. You call it the implementation or the execution. It seems like that's where we're zeroing in on where the challenges lie. How are we making sure we're doing that differentiation and measuring that? What's the performance measurement like and how are we, to member Pitone's point, how are we ensuring we have that accountability? So we can get that consistency. It seems to be that that's everything is the consistency.

In terms of very specifically with students who are on individualized education programs, it's those goals that they have. Are the goals aligned to their goals? So if you have a fifth grade student who has a reading goal, is it aligned to the fifth grade benchmarks? That's number one. Number two, how much progress are they making in terms of the goals? We have a responsibility. to ensure that students are meeting the IEP goals and making that effective progress towards that. For us, a very clear way to ensure that our students are making progress. There's a responsibility on our end that if students are not making that kind of progress, we should be reconvening the team, having a discussion with the parents and adjusting. So that is a benchmark. We also look at district data in terms of how special education students are performing. So it's a multifaceted way to look at a student and ensure that they are making those gains.

Yeah, so if I may add a little bit to that answer. I think it's not that we do not know what's the next level of work in order to do the work that needs to be done or to get the impact that it needs to happen. We know that districts that are working on what they call lesson internalization are getting to the next level of the work. Just imagine this, you're a teacher with a new program, you're actually trying to work The tools that you have but you're still not really proficient with those tools, that takes a little bit of a gap. That gap also reflects in terms of outcomes. We have done an intensive work around that volume and that number. I mean, we have done it in the K through five. You have literacy, you have math, you have multiple areas in which you are becoming an expert, is that right? And so we know that once you start to gain traction is when you actually say, I now know what to do with these materials.

I now know the profile of my learner. Now I can mix those two things. Schools that actually are heading in that direction gain much more gain, especially knowing that 70% of our students are We also will be working with a partner that does that for a living, and that's through the Barr Foundation. We're working on... The next level of lesson design, which is coming. So that is very promising, but I think that Again, we do better when we know better and I think that it is a function of how we are implementing new material and supporting the work around coaching, around accountability, and also supporting teachers.

practical like example because I think about this often that students are like working on their individualized goals with their special educator or their related service provider to kind of provide that access. And so they're working and sometimes making progress towards those goals. And then they're in a classroom and I'm just going to use reading as an example because I think that's like a really easy one but you have a student maybe in fifth grade who's reading below grade level maybe they're reading at a second grade level and they're making progress in their small group reading services with their special educator and they go into the classroom and it's a fifth grade text in front of them and they're being asked to like analyze character in that text and if they can't read it then they're not really engaging with the curriculum and it kind of like

is like they're kind of just sitting there and kind of like flying under the radar whereas like when we look at inclusive practices when we look at UDL What is the barrier that we need to take away? And maybe it is, well, this student can't read this independently on their own, but I can provide access by providing them a read aloud, right? There's audiobook solutions that we have for kids. they can listen and then they can engage with that curriculum or do I have students partner read and they read to each other or do I read as a teacher to the whole class just this part of the text so that all students can now have meaningful access to that curriculum and I think that's what we're looking at because that we noticed in like the review is that those scaffolds and that differentiation is kind of lacking so that's what our inclusive practices is really going to Does that make a little bit of sense?

So this issue of variance is not that we are atypical in that way. This actually happens We also have another review by the AIR Department of Ed that I reviewed, which whenever it's finalized, we can share that. But the preliminary discussion was this idea of variance, the variability between classroom to classroom, Sometimes could be greater than classroom to school to school. So this is something that we know that any district is working on making sure that we tighten that experience that every student has Imagine they say that if you have a student that has a great experience three years in a row, that's all it takes to eliminate a gap, a learning gap. But that consistent and that alignment has to be well articulated across the board.

But again, I'm not trying to excuse our need for improvement around that area, but that's something that is typical especially when you are building new instructional materials across the entire ecosystem.

All right. I'm going to say thank you for this amazing work and your time.

That's the end of the report.

Okay. Do you have a personnel report?

Yes. Okay. Through the chair, we have some retirees. Kristi Savas, she is a physical education and health teacher at the Argenciano School, and she has been with us for 33 years, so we thank her for her service. And I'm gonna read the list and then we can actually celebrate them at the end. Linda Murray Walsh, Special Education Resources Room teacher at the Winter Hill, and she has been with us for 30 years, 30 years of service. We really are indebted to her contribution to our district. Cheryl McGovern, senior cleric at the Somerville High School, and she has had with us 20 years of service. And so please join me in celebrating and thanking them for all their contributions toward this trade. I also want to recognize a couple of resignations.

So we have Megan Hubbard, grade two teacher at the John F. Kennedy School, and Elizabeth Natigal, Special Education paraprofessional at Somerville High School. We also are going to celebrate new hires. We have Daryl Lynch, Payroll Coordinator for the Payroll Office. Sarah Kasiev, grade two teacher at the E. Somerville School, Arush Ganji, boys varsity tennis assistant coach, and Daniel Pena, boys ultimate Frisbee, Club Coach. So we continue to hire teachers as well as lunch attendance. And as you know, leave of absence continues to grow and is an area of continuous attention for us. But that concludes the personal report.

All right. We have reports from subcommittees. Two of them were received fairly late in the day. who due to receiving them like right before these the meeting who wants to uh wait to have us vote until the next meeting are we okay

Question, do we have the ed programs?

I was going to say let's table it because that was the latest one. I did send it in but it was an email so I would recommend tabling it. Thank you.

So then I will take Roman numeral 7 B and C if someone's willing to give us a motion.

Motion to accept the report of the Rules Management Subcommittee meeting of April 27, 2026. And motion to accept the report of the Finance and Facilities Meeting of the Whole of April 29, 2026.

All right, I have a motion by Member Lippens, seconded by Member Pitone. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Any abstentions? Okay. Is there an MSBA update, Superintendent?

Yes, a quick one. I just wanted to share that we have two design planning forums that were recently held with broad community participation. I think we announced them here last time we were here, last time we met. and some of the topics included sustainability practice and most recently the community use of the facility beyond the school day and that again is something that has been approached by the mayor's team as well as is an ongoing question that how can we actually maximize the space in our buildings. We also heard positive feedback on the inclusion of dedicated space for SFLC. which is one of the many features that is reflected in the building that we are looking forward to build and that seems to be a shared community We have high expectation around the use of our community partners especially the work that SFLC does.

And I also share with you the process of the module three, the preliminary design. Not much has happened around that. We need to receive the feedback from MSBA to make that feedback into The final document that has to be submitted in August. And I believe the deadline for that is August 28. We might be having a meeting to discuss the MSBA process in August 17.

I think that's actually as much as, since this is on the agenda, My goal is to have as much information as possible by our June 15th meeting, our final meeting of this school year. But, and then we should pencil in now August 17th as a meeting to discuss this. and but the goal is to have materials in as far in advance as possible but It will be a time where if we want to have a first reading and second reading in August,

meaning two meetings I guess I'm I'm asking sort of the will of the body now and we don't have to I don't need answers right now if you think of something let me know but I think that is you know something that we need to decide if as this information comes in We don't usually meet in early to mid-August, so there's going to be at least one additional meeting, but we need to decide if we would like to have a second. I'm open to anyone weighing in now. We can also have that conversation. and MSBA update every meeting.

Thank you, Chair. Be open to an additional meeting so that we don't overload that first meeting in late August which I'm sure is going to be packed with other critical agenda items so if we do want to Have an additional meeting to discuss this, I would be supportive.

Thank you. The thing I will remind us is that this meeting will be, unless there's opposition, fully remote and that because of that and because it's not our typical time, it doesn't have to be on Mondays as well. So we can... you know possibly do it with like a 10 business day separation something like that as well um I would say if you have any ideas about it, please make sure that you're either ready to share them by our next meeting or you've shared them before our next meeting so we can sort of land dates there.

Yep, that's the report on MSB. Great.

I hope I'm coherent at this point. Okay. We have some field trips for approval.

Motion to approve the field trips listed below. June 5th, 2026, 15 students from the SHS Auto Tech will travel to New England Dragway, Zoom, in Epping, New Hampshire, travel via bus, Cost of students $0 June 17, 2026 83 8th grade students from East Somerville Community Schools will visit Canobie Lake Park as an end of year celebration. Travel via school bus and student cost is $30.

Second.

All right, I have a motion by Member Piton, seconded by Member Biton. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Any abstentions? Okay. Thank you. We have diploma requests. Wonderful news.

Do I have a motion? I move to approve the following FY26 scale diplomas for Maria Eduarda Bittencourt, Daniella Selidu, Evelyn Chevalin, Cosmo Cisneros, Miguel Angel Hueso, Mirna Lopez, Lady Mauricio, Isidro, I'm sorry, Isidro, Rodanel Mecharles, All of Somerville, Mass., Wilkin Pineda of Revere, Allison Plaites-Canones,

I'm sorry for butchering everyone's name, Kenna Ramirez Velasquez, Arnulfo Reyes, all of Somerville, and Lydia Pineda of Chelsea.

All right, I have a motion by Member Biton, seconded by Member Piton. Enthusiastic about this, any... Comments or questions? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Any abstentions? Congratulations. to these scholars. That's so cool. All right, we are moving on to our upcoming meeting topic. So in June, there will be an out of school time presentation. We will finalize our district budget. We will keep talking about our MSBA plans, like I mentioned, dates for August. We'll be noting administration retirements and the Somerville strategic plan updates.

Thank you through you first of all thank you again for continuing to try to set expectations and giving us and the community a vision into what we're doing there was a mention of the High School Administration coming at our next meeting to talk about possible SROs. Was I hearing that correctly?

that didn't okay I'm gonna misheard it I'm getting a nod yes from Erica so I'm going to say yes so

I'm excited and looking forward to hearing what kind of data and information that they want to share about their experiences but I also don't want to put that team on like high defensive. I want to make sure that the administration has some response to whether or not we're considering the new or the recommendation from several years ago because I really think that question needs to be discussed in the context of what the needs are from the high school so The recommendation that was put forward from the Subcommittee on Policing didn't get implemented and I want to make sure that we're following up on that in the context of Thinking about what the needs of the high school are.

Does that make sense? So what I'm hearing is that the recommendations from the policing subcommittee as the sort of framework for the presentation?

I would actually want to hear a little bit about that first before I heard from administration, but that's me. I don't want to speak for the whole body. Again, my concern is The high school administrators are clearly having a pain point and they're feeling a need. But I also don't want to do it outside the context of this original recommendation that came forward. because we really haven't heard back from administration whether that's the high school or the superintendent's office about their thoughts about that original recommendation that the school committee did approve at one point.

That makes a lot of sense to me. Thank you. All right, so that is more about our upcoming meeting topics and the content. Anything else about upcoming meetings? All right, we're on to community or calendar items. I have member Biton.

Thank you, Chair. For you, it's late. I don't want to add something, but I saw an alert, an air quality alert for tomorrow. And I felt it was my responsibility to bring this to everyone. So tomorrow, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has declared we'll be unhealthy for sensitive groups air quality due to high levels of ozone. That means that for sensitive groups including people with heart or lung disease such as asthma, Older adults, children, teenagers, and people who are active outdoors. People with lung disease are at greater risk. from exposure to ozone, while people with either lung disease or heart disease are at greater risk from exposure to particle pollution, which can also be high in smog events.

people in sensitive groups should reduce prolonged and heavy outdoor exertion so if you're playing a pickup soccer game tomorrow maybe don't maybe wait until later in the week when it cools off If you start to feel tightness in your chest, you carry an inhaler, please carry your inhaler. This can save your life. Speaking as someone who suffers from asthma and has been caught without my inhaler at times, I've had to be hospitalized for that in the past. I would hate for that to happen to you. Please carry your inhaler and take it if you need it. So that's it.

Thank you. Member Green.

On the topic of saving lives, I'm pleased to highlight that our SCU, in conjunction with the Somerville Office of American Affairs and the Welcome Project, are doing an online fundraiser to raise $25,000 for immigrant legal supports, primarily the paying of fees and other legal necessities. I will not read out that link into the message right now because it's a very long link, but all the members of the school committee have been shared with you via email, so I encourage all of us to share that link to our networks. and people who have that link to continue showing it out. This is a really important way in which we can help the Wellcome Project help our most vulnerable residents in this time of increased legal scrutiny.

Thank you. I would like to note that the Teen Empowerment Community Block Party is on May 29th from 4 to 6 PM. Graham at 24 Dane Street. You may also know it, to the best of my knowledge, as that alleyway near Market Basket. It's a lot of fun and it is a really lovely event. I also just want to note that from between now and our next meeting is the holiday of Eid and so To our Muslim community members, we hope it is a joyous celebration for you. Any other community or calendar items? All right. Vice Chair, do we have condolences?

We do. The Somerville School Committee extends our deepest condolences to the family of Kevin Anzalone, brother to Michelle Anzalone, paraprofessional at the West Somerville Neighborhood School.

We are adjourned.