[0:00] Channel is sponsored by Mishode Insurance. Since 1979, Mishode Insurance has been providing comprehensive insurance options to our friends and neighbors. Find out how we work for you at 978-685-2549-

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[0:22] Well, I'm Carolyn Russo, government services coordinator

[0:25] from the UN Community Studios.

[0:27] Welcome to our 2025 election candidate forum.

[0:32] All local candidates were invited

[0:33] to participate in tonight's event.

[0:36] Some were able to join us here

[0:37] and present their views directly

[0:39] while others could not attend.

[0:41] Every candidate was given the same opportunity

[0:44] to appear.

[0:46] Each participating candidate

[0:48] It will have a few minutes to address the audience, share their vision, and respond to questions.

[0:54] As Matthew and his local access station, we are committed to facilitating open dialogue

[0:59] and providing fair access to the public during the selection season.

[1:04] Thank you for being here.

[1:05] Your engagement is what strengthens our community and democracy.

[1:30] And hello and welcome to Matthew and Community Studios.

[1:33] As we present our 2025 School Committee candidates for him, I'm Seth Graham your moderator

[1:38] And thanks so much for joining us.

[1:40] Over the next 90 minutes, you'll have an opportunity to meet the people.

[1:44] You'll see on the ballot on Tuesday, November 4th, a really quick rundown of the ground

[1:49] rules.

[1:50] They're very simple.

[1:51] We'll be asking all candidates a series of questions.

[1:53] Their responses will be timed.

[1:55] Now they don't know the questions in advance, but they'll have the opportunity to be the

[1:58] first up to answer and also to have the last word.

[2:02] They've also been asked to come prepared with an opening and closing statement.

[2:07] Lastly, we ask the candidates to attack the issues and not each other.

[2:12] So without further ado, let's jump into the opening statements, and we'll introduce our first candidate.

[2:18] Candidate to each have one minute to do so, and we'll start with Alejandro Bias.

[2:24] Thank you, Seth.

[2:25] My name is Alejandro Bias, and I would first like to welcome everyone from a Thun and all the voters

[2:31] and all the community members.

[2:32] I'd like to thank my distinguished colleagues and candidates for bringing their name forward and for serving our community.

[2:40] Like I stated before, my name is Alejandro Bias and I'm running for the McDonald School Committee because I believe

[2:45] that as a student still in college, I am attached to the realities, the challenges and the success that our students are facing today.

[2:54] My candidacy and my campaign is based on sustainable budgeting.

[2:59] It is based on smart and equitable teachings and curriculums.

[3:05] It is based on transparency and accountability.

[3:09] And finally, it is based on moving forward with a war on bullying.

[3:15] Thank you.

[3:16] Thank you.

[3:16] Our next candidate, Nick Desaglio.

[3:19] Thank you.

[3:19] And first off, I want to thank

[3:21] Bethany Community Studios, my other candidates here too, for agreeing to the forum,

[3:27] and of course the residents at home.

[3:29] After probably serving four years on the Mathieu and school committee, I had the opportunity

[3:33] of serving you as a three-term city counselor. As I have termed up this coming fall,

[3:41] I have decided and honored to run again for the school committee.

[3:45] And to do that, I have been looking at how we have a city looked at our schools the last six years.

[3:56] We are looking for leadership, grounded in fiscal responsibility.

[4:01] We need to have guided decisions made by data and also informed by real world experience.

[4:09] Throughout my public service, I have never hesitated to ask the difficult questions,

[4:14] or to stand up for what is right, even if it wasn't an easier decision to be made.

[4:21] I believe that every decision should reflect a careful balance that's when you're responsible

[4:25] budgeting and essential investments.

[4:29] We're sorry, times up.

[4:31] I'm sorry.

[4:31] Oh, I'm sorry.

[4:32] Our next candidate, Danielle Fantry.

[4:35] Thank you very much with the Institute of Students for having me tonight.

[4:38] I am a new candidate.

[4:40] I have two kids at home in the public school systems.

[4:45] I am an active member in the youth community.

[4:48] There's sports, moms groups, and the schools.

[4:52] I have volunteered hours at sport events,

[4:55] PTO, and the school events as well.

[4:57] I have substituted in the Marsh primarily as a teacher there.

[5:02] I have 13 years experience running, I co-founded a Mathieu and Mama's group.

[5:13] Please continue.

[5:14] Please continue dancing.

[5:17] My stop sign is up.

[5:21] I served on the Board of Directors with the doing youth soccer and have coach both of my kids.

[5:30] and have filled coaching votes with other age groups.

[5:36] I plan to bring that same kind of energy that I have demonstrated in the past.

[5:41] Thank you, our next candidate, Maria Figaroa.

[5:45] Thank you, Mitholin Studios, for having us here and for the volunteers and the the one residents,

[5:49] as well as the other candidates.

[5:51] My name is Maria Figaroa.

[5:52] I am a mother, grandmother, and wife.

[5:56] I am a metholine resident passionate about public service.

[6:00] I have been active in public service for over 25 years.

[6:05] Part of what drives me is mental health, sustainability in the community,

[6:13] involvement, volunteering, giving back to the community just being active,

[6:18] available, present, and family-centered practices as well.

[6:23] My hope is to in running for the candidacy be a voice for parents, for children, for families, and for the community,

[6:33] to address issues that may need to come to the table and how to talk about that collaboration and building that home to school bridge so that we can work together.

[6:44] Thank you.

[6:45] Thank you.

[6:46] Thanks up.

[6:46] Mary Beth's on a bit grassy.

[6:48] Hello, I'm Beth Owen.

[6:50] We're really lucky to be here tonight in these beautiful studios.

[6:52] Thank you, staff, and staff for joining us for having us here.

[6:56] Again, my name is Mary Beth Donovan-Grassie,

[6:58] and I hope to earn your vote for a seat on the school committee.

[7:02] I believe that education transforms not only a student,

[7:06] but an entire community.

[7:07] And I've devoted my life to education, 25 years,

[7:11] and with the one public schools.

[7:12] I taught ELA at the Tenney Grade 8, I became associate principal, and then went back to school to receive two advanced degrees in educational leadership and curriculum and instruction.

[7:24] I entered my career of supervising principal at the Tenney, where I was responsible for the education and well-being of 1200 students, 150 staff, building operations, getting children home safely.

[7:40] Currently, I have worked as an adjunct professor at Mary Matt College, preparing students for teaching.

[7:48] And I'm really believed that I have the experience I need to make major decisions

[7:54] to be education of our students.

[7:56] Thank you so much.

[7:57] Our next candidate, Laurie Keegan.

[8:00] Thank you very much.

[8:01] With the included students for hosting us this evening.

[8:04] And my fellow candidates.

[8:06] My name is Larry Keegan, and I'm running for my third and final term on the school committee.

[8:12] I moved to Mithu in 30 years ago by my first condo on Washington Street two years after I graduated from

[8:17] our mat college with a degree in math and secondary education.

[8:22] I was a certified high school math teacher, a sophomore engineer for ten years, and a

[8:25] state home mom for my four children who have various medical and educational needs,

[8:30] ranging from autism to brain and spinal cord surgery.

[8:33] My children's needs led me to become an educational advocate and open a non-profit in the

[8:38] Marimack Valley, helping hundreds of low-income families obtain special education services

[8:42] to meet their children's needs.

[8:44] Those experiences taught me the importance of building relationships to make effective

[8:48] change.

[8:50] I took that experience and drive and decided that the only way I could advocate for all of

[8:53] the children was to be on the school committee.

[8:57] That's why I ran four years ago and that's why I'm running again.

[9:00] I've worked hard over the past four years, advocating for change on our sub-separate students, making sure that the expectation is that they will...

[9:09] Thank you, Laurie, I'm sorry your time is up.

[9:11] Next up, Kristen Maxwell.

[9:13] Hello, I am Kristen Maxwell.

[9:15] I am running for a re-election for School Committee.

[9:19] I just, this is my first term.

[9:21] So I'll be going on my second term.

[9:22] I moved here in 2017 with my three kids.

[9:26] And my husband, I immediately joined the PTO School Council District Committees, Youth Organizations, I volunteer with a lot of youth sports organizations, and I've helped run a summer camp for the last five years.

[9:42] Alongside pretty amazing people.

[9:45] I love what I do. These experiences have allowed me to meet so many of you get to know your children and deepen my commitment to give them back to our community.

[9:54] I'm seeking re-election because I believe every child needs deserves a safe support of an engaging place to learn.

[10:02] I'm going to stop there because I'm going to get the stop sign, so.

[10:05] But for me, number three.

[10:07] Thank you. Next up, Martha's Choice.

[10:09] I'm Martha McCarthy's Choice.

[10:11] I'd like to thank MCTV Studios for hosting this forum tonight.

[10:15] I'd also like to thank Seth for being a moderator and all the volunteers that are here this evening.

[10:21] I would also like to thank the residents of Methuin that have given me the opportunity to put my campaign sign in front of their home.

[10:29] I am forever grateful for all of your support that I have received during my campaign.

[10:34] I retired September 2025 after 25 years of working experience with Methuin Public Schools.

[10:42] I have been a member of the Mathieu and Credit Union Board of Directors since 2018 offering

[10:49] me the experience in collaborative work on budgets and long-term strategic planning.

[10:54] I have also helped to raise and distribute tens of thousands of dollars for the previous

[10:58] Jacqueline McCarthy, San Pedro Memorial Scholarship, and the current Brianna McCarthy Memorial

[11:04] Scholarship.

[11:05] My work and volunteer experience lends itself to help me make an informed decision about the

[11:10] hiring of the next superintendent and the future of methone public schools.

[11:14] Thank you.

[11:16] And wrapping our opening statements.

[11:18] Can we let?

[11:18] Thank you very much.

[11:20] I just want to extend my thanks to methone community studios.

[11:25] I would be a remiss if I didn't say hi to my children.

[11:28] Brady and Kendall who attend methone high school.

[11:31] And also my mom who's been such an asset of raising my children.

[11:35] It's been a privilege and an honor to serve in the Mithuan City Council, and by extension currently on the Mithuan School Committee.

[11:44] 14 years of service, 24 years at the State House, resolving thousands of constituent cases.

[11:52] This is going to be a productive, positive, constructive, eye-opening form.

[11:59] form. And I welcome the fact that we have nine candidates. In the years past, we've had just

[12:07] enough candidates to fill all the seats, or we've only had five candidates, and we've had to

[12:15] resort to right-ends. This is so healthy in this community to have competitive elections.

[12:22] If you look at every single candidate's profile, we can be collectively proud as with the one

[12:28] residents, and we should be making sure we're voting on November 4th.

[12:33] I thank you and I appreciate your consideration.

[12:36] All right, candidates.

[12:36] Thanks so much.

[12:37] We're going to jump in now to our first question of this forum, Nick.

[12:41] You're going to be first up on this one.

[12:44] You'll each have one minute to respond.

[12:46] Quick, quick, with these one minutes today.

[12:48] Quick, minute.

[12:50] The Mathieu and School Committee will be tasked with hiring a new superintendent in

[12:54] the coming year.

[12:55] Please tell us about your priorities and how the search should be conducted.

[13:03] First off, I was on the school committee when we did the last search, and I believe that the community should be involved in that.

[13:14] The next superintendent needs to be, and not saying this one doesn't have it, but the next superintendent needs to be fiscal responsibility.

[13:21] We need to look at our current head count, the way that we're aligned as a city from a school

[13:28] perspective, are we still in that era of grade schools or grammar schools? Should we think

[13:35] about junior high? Should we think about elementary schools? Should we think about bringing trades

[13:40] back to Matthew and public? So the next superintendent has to have that national view or something

[13:46] that's not local, I think we need to have a, again, city-wide involvement with those candidates

[13:54] being selected by that committee with no school committee members on it. And then those

[14:03] candidates selected be presented to the school committee for decision. Thank you. Danielle.

[14:08] I believe that the next superintendent should have a lot of energy and really get into the

[14:18] the school system and understand what they need to do as a good leader.

[14:25] I believe trying to find a superintendent we can use third party if we needed to.

[14:33] I don't want to close any doors whether we promote from we then or outside the school system.

[14:43] Thank you.

[14:44] Thank you.

[14:44] Maria.

[14:46] Thank you.

[14:47] I would like to see, as Mr. Desaglio shared, just a universal external internal.

[14:55] Whatever the best fit would be, but I would love to see us be a part of it.

[15:00] Part of that process, the newly elected committee members that met the win chooses. But I would also love to see parents be a part of that process. I would love to see them come to the table, have their concerns, talk about the challenges that have been in here from the new superintendent that may be in question how they would engage, how they would participate, and what they would bring to the table.

[15:25] I think it's really important for the community to also be a part of that process somewhere along the way.

[15:32] Thank you very much.

[15:34] Well, first I'd like to thank Dr. Quan for her service.

[15:37] I think it's a very difficult job.

[15:39] Our next leader, I believe, needs to be truly an educational leader,

[15:43] and not someone who's saddled with worrying about whether or not we have a leaky roof or not.

[15:49] And I'm grateful we're moving in that direction to focus on that.

[15:53] And actually, you must be a budget with, we are facing probably the worst budget when it's coming out of us in the coming fiscal year, and we have to consider what's going on with some of the federal cuts, which are going to significantly impact our special ed classes and offerings.

[16:12] That said, according to the MASC, the Massachusetts Association of School Committee, the process of hiring a superintendent takes three to five months.

[16:21] So we need to get started now, and I'm not saying we select the person now, but we start the process.

[16:27] Hopefully with an independent consultant who will take away any discussion, any sense of people influence decisions.

[16:37] Thank you.

[16:39] Lori.

[16:40] I believe that the next superintendent needs to be focused on the education also.

[16:46] We really need to focus on making sure that our kids graduate from high school, ready for the world,

[16:57] that they can read, they can write, they can do math, and they have the skills to collaborate with other people.

[17:05] I also believe that we need a third party independent person or a company to come in and do all of the legwork and finding candidates across the country as well as from within if there is anyone from within.

[17:23] I would never say that there's nobody qualified in the school system currently.

[17:29] We have some great people, and if they want to apply, I believe that they should.

[17:36] But I also believe that this is going to take a very long time.

[17:39] We do need to get the ball rolling, but yes, the next school committee will be selecting.

[17:45] Thank you.

[17:46] Kristen.

[17:49] So I would be looking for someone not in this community.

[17:55] I would be looking for somebody outside this community.

[17:57] I'd be looking for somebody with a lot of patients.

[18:00] I've been asked this question before and patients

[18:02] was my first answer, because they are going to be walking

[18:04] into a pretty big task.

[18:09] And I think that I would like to focus on someone

[18:12] with a good track record with student achievement.

[18:17] We focus on rebuilding our system,

[18:19] because our system is broken.

[18:23] And someone who is fiscal here is possible,

[18:25] and knows how to allocate the money and the right departments.

[18:30] Thank you, Martha.

[18:33] So, again, I'd like to echo candidate,

[18:36] Donovan, Dr. Brandi Quang has done a fantastic job

[18:41] as our superintendent.

[18:43] It's going to be some big shoes that need to be filled.

[18:47] I'm in his new superintendent.

[18:49] I'm looking for someone who's an educational leader.

[18:51] someone who has gone through the education system.

[18:55] It's far back as starting as a teacher,

[18:58] becoming an administrator, assistant superintendent,

[19:01] and then a superintendent.

[19:03] I feel that a superintendent should know what goes on in the schools

[19:06] and how they run.

[19:07] And I feel that that experience will help them lead our community

[19:16] into a better learning experience and safer schools.

[19:20] I also feel that I do agree with the consulting firm.

[19:23] I think we should hire somebody to come in.

[19:25] It's going to be a financial cost, but I think in the end it will be worth the cost.

[19:30] Thank you.

[19:31] Thank you.

[19:33] Good.

[19:33] If re-elected, I have specific parameters.

[19:37] I do want to have a nationwide search.

[19:40] I do want to have a third-party consultant.

[19:43] I do not want to have any present members of the school committee involved initially.

[19:50] in the process of manipulating the process, we will have a lame duck school committee with at least

[19:58] two members, one because of terminates, the other because of running through a different office.

[20:04] So you'll have two new faces automatically to the school committee.

[20:08] I think it would be a disservice to have the existing school committee.

[20:13] you can set up the foundation, but to manipulate the process, I would not be in favor of that.

[20:21] I believe we need to have a nationwide search. The audit was very critical of the current superintendent.

[20:29] I encourage everyone to read the findings of that audit and we do need to move in a different direction. Thank you.

[20:37] Thank you. And Alejandro. Thank you, Seth. I have been very vocal about this issue.

[20:43] I believe that we need a nationwide and outside hire.

[20:47] I'm not discouraging any members from within to apply, but my philosophy and my ideology on this issue is an outside hire is necessary for the restructuring and redevelopment of the administrative system.

[21:01] I'm looking for a superintendent who I agree with other candidates on this is a budget with as candidate and member Donovan had mentioned.

[21:10] But I also want to candid that it has experienced in special education as half our budget is special education.

[21:17] And the auditions that we are graduating 61% as WD students with disabilities.

[21:26] If I believe that a superintendent that's a budget with that's an outside hire and that's a focus on special education and restorative practice.

[21:34] And seconds is key to moving the district forward. Thank you.

[21:39] Thank you.

[21:39] All right, can it's moving on to our next question, Danielle, you will be first up for this one again one minute for response time.

[21:48] The school district made headlines about a major pest control in cleanliness issue.

[21:53] Tell us how you think it was handled or what would you have done differently?

[21:58] Absolutely. I think once things came to light, even though they had been neglected for far too long,

[22:08] that the process has been going better, it started off kind of rocky and disorganized a lot of issues

[22:20] with between pest control and the schools and communication, I believe the new digital

[22:27] system that they have in place now is going to make the facilities running much

[22:33] smoother and hopefully will be happier that these schools are cleaner. Thank you.

[22:39] Thank you. Maria. I think it had a bumpy start, but I also appreciate the fact that

[22:45] You know, the transparency was there, the mayor did put out the page where people could share

[22:53] their concerns, keep that line of communication open, the discussions were ongoing, and

[23:00] the collaborations were there.

[23:02] I know Pestend worked really hard to do what they needed to do, but I also know the teachers

[23:08] did their parts, the students said their parts, everybody had a hand in making this reach

[23:14] the end result possible that it needed.

[23:17] So I think, you know, the bumpy start,

[23:19] we went in the right directions, the conversations

[23:21] we're had and we were able to together get

[23:25] to the end result goal that what we wanted

[23:27] is what a healthy, clean environment for our children and families.

[23:32] Thank you.

[23:33] Very Beth?

[23:34] Well, I like just about everyone else in the city

[23:38] was absolutely horrified at what we learned.

[23:41] I mean, it was not acceptable, but from that darkness came some really good things.

[23:47] Specifically the building task force, which our mayor has put together, I'm fortunate to

[23:53] serve on it.

[23:54] We meet monthly.

[23:54] We talk about everything from mice to rugs to where food belongs in our schools.

[24:02] We're moving in the right direction and we have a purposeful plan now, a dedicated schedule

[24:06] of how we'll be ripping up all those 25-year-old rugs

[24:10] in our grandma school buildings, on how we're dealing

[24:13] with road and control, how we're fixing up the outsides.

[24:17] And now we're at a point where we're even talking

[24:19] about how to beautify our campuses with plants and flowers.

[24:24] And I think we, from that, has come a whole new respect

[24:26] for our buildings, and I'm grateful for that

[24:29] and the cooperation between school committee

[24:31] and city council led by the Mayor and Dr. Quang.

[24:35] Thank you. Lori.

[24:39] As Mary Beth had said, I was also horrified at how bad things had gotten.

[24:46] However, as soon as it came to light, I feel like it was quick.

[24:53] The mayor immediately stepped up with funds for us to make sure that our schools got cleaned.

[25:00] We've switched pest control companies, say,

[25:09] and I forgot, I apologize.

[25:14] That's it.

[25:15] Thank you, Krista.

[25:17] I'm probably not going to give the answer that everybody wants to hear, but I don't think that we've done enough for the pest control and the situations in our buildings.

[25:26] I think our buildings are in pretty bad condition and it's due to years of neglect, you know,

[25:33] do, you know, partly on the city, partly on administration. I think a lot more work needs

[25:39] to be done. I think we've only scratched the surface. These students and staff, they deserve

[25:45] healthy and reasonable buildings to be able to learn and teach our students and right now,

[25:52] that's not what they have. So I know that's probably not the answer everybody wanted to hear,

[25:56] but we need a lot more work on our buildings.

[25:59] We need a lot more focus.

[26:00] I do appreciate the mayor's task force.

[26:02] I think he's done a lot of work,

[26:04] but we've had my center of school since I moved here.

[26:07] And that was very obvious.

[26:10] So I think that a lot more work needs to be done.

[26:13] I think that maybe if the task force continues,

[26:17] we'll see a little bit more of improvement,

[26:20] but what one needs to be done?

[26:22] Thank you, Martha.

[26:24] So I'm grateful for the task for us.

[26:26] I think they've done a fantastic job.

[26:29] I'm grateful to Mayor Borgad for funding the cleaning up of the schools.

[26:34] However, I believe that if our budget was a budget that would include these things,

[26:42] then that wouldn't have happened.

[26:44] I feel like our budget is cut every year.

[26:46] We have to scramble to decide where we're going to spend our money from at the

[26:51] public schools, whether it's going to be on books, or whether it's going to be on mice,

[26:55] or whether it's going to be on feeding the students. And I feel that if I budget is funded correctly,

[27:02] then these issues will no longer exist. And I want to thank the hard work of the custodial

[27:07] department in collaboration with the Mathieu and Health Department, who really stepped up and

[27:12] cleaned up these schools in a quick amount of time for what they had to deal with. Thank you.

[27:19] Thank you.

[27:20] Captain?

[27:20] This is really a triage situation.

[27:23] I returned back to the school committee and I noticed the previous two years they had

[27:29] one maintenance report.

[27:32] So immediately I ordered to have monthly maintenance reports and I also started to receive

[27:38] confidential feedback from teachers and I relayed that directly to the administration.

[27:44] I think the mayor has done a herkilling and task, and I also have to commend the

[27:51] Mithonwood City Council and the Council of Disaglio.

[27:54] They voted every single time to release emergency funding to help with our schools.

[28:01] And that's what we always needed was collaboration and to break down the silos and we're

[28:08] doing that.

[28:08] We're breaking down the silos between the Mithonwood School Committee and the School

[28:12] administration in the City Council, and we still have, like, member Maxwell indicated, we still

[28:19] have a huge task ahead of us, but we're working together.

[28:23] Thank you.

[28:25] Alejandro.

[28:26] Thank you, Seth.

[28:28] This is a huge issue, and I look at it through the perspective of a student myself.

[28:33] I'm grateful for the task force.

[28:34] I'm grateful for the current school committee's efforts in trying to remedy this issue,

[28:40] But this also goes to pride, pride in your school.

[28:45] I went to the tiny, I currently go to the college of the Holy Cross.

[28:48] And if I know that if I enter a school, which is being talked about in the news,

[28:53] which is being criticized in the paper, it's going to make me feel some type of way

[28:58] as a student.

[28:58] And it's not going to be helpful in the way that I learn.

[29:02] So I'm grateful for all the effort that has been going into this issue.

[29:06] But like, remember Maxwell has said, we need to do more.

[29:08] And it starts with the budget as Candidates Oroy has mentioned, as well, correct me if I'm wrong, point of clarification, but our budget, our maintenance budget is shy of what it should be, shy of what it should be.

[29:24] It's hugely off-base.

[29:27] Time.

[29:27] Thank you.

[29:28] And wrapping this question, we'll be next.

[29:30] Thank you.

[29:31] You know, it was said that Mayor Boer-Garde is City Council and School Committee did work together

[29:38] this to make sure our emergency funding was provided.

[29:43] This overall was a city-wide effort.

[29:47] A lot of action was done, a lot of moving parts happen, but what I have not seen is accountability.

[29:55] Yes, we can make it beautiful, we can make it clean and we could talk about how we're going to

[30:00] But no one talked about accountability. Why did we get here? How did we get here? We could continue to blame the budget.

[30:08] But the audit did come out that our allocation is off. We had communities in the same budget with more kids and less kids.

[30:17] But the same value. So we need to look at how our schools are being utilized. We need to make sure everyone's held accountable.

[30:27] And we also need to say neglect happened here.

[30:33] We need to fix that problem first.

[30:35] Thanks very much.

[30:36] All right.

[30:37] Our third question, Maria, you will be first up on this.

[30:40] And we're going to make it a little bit more open-ended here

[30:43] to address a topic of your choosing.

[30:46] What do you see as Mithuans,

[30:48] most pressing educational challenge and how would you address it?

[30:52] That's a good one.

[30:55] That home to school connection, that partnership with the parents, that dialogue, that communication that is needed.

[31:05] I feel as much as education is key.

[31:11] It's foundation starts at home.

[31:13] And I am a firm believer that every parent wants to do right by their child.

[31:18] But if there are conversations that are not being had to allow that opportunity to build that bridge from school and home,

[31:26] you're not going to get the parent volunteers, you're not going to get parents involved,

[31:30] you're not going to get the presence that other schools are getting.

[31:36] I think that is one of the biggest pressing things for me.

[31:40] It's really building on that partnership, that collaboration with families and community collateral as well.

[31:46] Thank you.

[31:47] Thank you. Very best.

[31:49] The most pressing issue I believe is literacy. In the last few years we've made some pretty impressive

[31:54] strides with a new literacy initiative based on the science of reading. But we know that reading is

[32:01] everything. At our fifth grade level, 58% of our kids this past year were at a at stand. I'm sorry.

[32:11] We're considered reading proficiently with our own benchmarks.

[32:14] That's just not enough.

[32:16] It's actually a better rate than the national level, but it's not enough.

[32:21] Because students who learn to read contribute to a community and a community of literate

[32:26] residents, you see a lower tax, you see more tax pairs, wealthier tax pairs, we see a

[32:32] lower criminal rates along, you know, people breaking the law, we see a healthier community,

[32:40] we see all positives.

[32:41] So we need to continue to focus all our, as many efforts and as much money we can, as continuing and strengthening our literacy initiative.

[32:50] Thank you.

[32:51] Thank you.

[32:52] Lori.

[32:53] I believe that mental health is one of our biggest educational challenges.

[32:58] When kids come into the buildings and they sit in a classroom and they have mental health challenges,

[33:04] they're coming from homes that aren't feeding them or aren't treating them well, they're

[33:13] bringing all of that baggage into the classroom.

[33:15] It's causing behavioral problems in the classroom, which is causing them not to be able

[33:19] to learn to read, not be able to learn to do anything.

[33:24] And somehow we need to figure out how to manage the mental health problems that are walking

[33:31] through our doors because they're getting more and more significant and our teachers can't manage

[33:37] those by themselves so we need to figure out how to help that situation so that our students

[33:43] are able to learn better.

[33:47] Thank you, Kristen.

[33:49] I think that we have quite a few pressing issues but I'll start with bullying.

[33:55] I think that bullying is a huge issue in our school system.

[33:59] I don't think that we have enough resources

[34:01] or help to fix the problem and target the real issue.

[34:06] I also think that IEPP compliance

[34:09] is one of our biggest issues,

[34:12] considering that half of our budget goes to special ed.

[34:15] I would start by getting the request that I made

[34:20] and maybe figuring out how we can bring our students back

[34:23] into the district.

[34:25] And as a mom, the most pressing issue in the schools,

[34:28] I would say is fun for the students, I'd like to see field trips, I'd like to see parents

[34:35] back in schools, I would love to see students running down the halls given highfives to

[34:39] the teachers and principals.

[34:42] Those are the issues that I find the most pressing from the Women Public Schools.

[34:46] Thank you, Martha.

[34:49] So I have to agree with the Literacy Initiative, that's a big one I know.

[34:53] Not too many years ago, we had reading tutors that would come in and take small groups of students into a different area from their classroom and do reading projects with them.

[35:06] Because of the budget, there was no longer available those positions.

[35:11] Mental health, absolutely.

[35:13] We need to have more help in our mental health department.

[35:16] It's very difficult for teachers to manage their classroom when they're dealing with student behaviors as well.

[35:24] And the other issue that we have is our job posting, our openings, we have very short

[35:33] staffed in program assistance, custodians.

[35:38] We really need to, I really don't know what else we need to do.

[35:43] We've advertised, we've gone to job phase and I'm just not sure how we would solve that issue

[35:49] as well.

[35:50] Thank you.

[35:51] Again.

[35:52] It's a great question.

[35:54] I think leadership in accountability are intertwined and to just reflect what Council of

[36:02] Desaglio indicated.

[36:04] I was one of two votes, Member Maxwell and I voted against the Superintendent's contract.

[36:10] Before the audit was even published, they locked her into a three contract.

[36:16] Obviously, if you look at the findings, the metrics of the audit, it was bullying and discipline,

[36:25] was lowly rated, professional development and staff morale.

[36:30] That goes directly to administration and accountability.

[36:34] Obviously, we had issues with the inspection services department for the city of Mathauin.

[36:40] We had internally, people not following up on pest end reports.

[36:45] There was a silo mentality, there's a culture of fear,

[36:50] and that's something you can't accomplish anything

[36:52] if you need to change leadership.

[36:55] Thank you.

[36:56] Alejandro.

[36:57] Thank you.

[36:58] I'd like to make it known that all of these issues are pressing.

[37:03] None of these should be ranked higher than the other,

[37:05] and I would like the community to take that into consideration.

[37:07] For me, I have to agree that IEP compliance and special education is for me priority in terms of what am I looking for for example in a superintendent.

[37:20] The audit shows that we are not being compliant in IEP cases.

[37:25] The audit shows that bullying is a huge issue and again I want to thank the mayor for declaring a war on bullying.

[37:33] Finally, low staff morale and favoritism in the schools.

[37:37] We need to do better a better job as Candidate Sororay mentioned in advertising job postings

[37:41] and getting staff that are bilingual, staff that represent the community, staff that are in touch

[37:49] with the realities of our students to be able to give our students a chance of relating

[37:56] and learning any healthy environment.

[37:59] Thank you.

[37:59] Thank you. Nick, all the above.

[38:04] I think a little bit.

[38:05] I mean, I mean, there's no, I don't think there's a right answer.

[38:08] Everything here is correct.

[38:11] It starts at leadership, it marks its way down.

[38:13] It starts in the classroom, because the teachers,

[38:16] you know, the morale is down.

[38:17] Maybe the students morale goes down.

[38:18] Parents, there's issues at home.

[38:20] You know, that feeds back into the students and literally.

[38:23] I mean, it all is intertwined and connected.

[38:26] And for me as a father and a husband of an educator,

[38:29] I see it daily coming home, my children, they read, I make sure reading is top key, literacy

[38:38] is huge.

[38:39] If we have students, it's been a proven fact that students that know how to read and write

[38:43] will go on and graduate and move forward and crime rates will go down.

[38:48] Bullion will go down.

[38:51] Mental health would be better.

[38:54] I mean, we're all talking about the same thing and we can't, I can't say a budget is to

[38:58] on this. It's morale. Our teachers are very important and we need to make sure that those jobs are filled and made aware.

[39:08] I'm trying not to just cut it off.

[39:10] Thank you, I appreciate it.

[39:12] I want to sound like an educator.

[39:15] Yeah, we're all talking.

[39:16] Thank you.

[39:17] Thanks, Nick.

[39:18] Such good answers.

[39:21] I mean, we have so many issues, so many things that we need to continue to work on.

[39:27] We've brought up a lot of issues tonight.

[39:30] I would love to see community involvement.

[39:34] It's amazing at what the community can do when they're working together.

[39:38] I mean, ZPW came in and helped out cleaning up the buildings.

[39:44] We had goats.

[39:46] Yes, we had goats.

[39:49] And I think by the community being engaged, we're opening up.

[39:57] conversations and conversation is important and working together to get things done.

[40:03] Thank you.

[40:04] Okay.

[40:05] It's, thank you so much.

[40:06] We're going to take a quick break here, but before we do, I just want to take one moment

[40:11] to let you know, watching right now, more information about how you can vote on Tuesday,

[40:15] November 4th.

[40:16] You'll find that on the city's website at metuin.gov, there you will find all of the information

[40:22] about which precinct that you belong to and where you should show up to vote for these wonderful

[40:28] candidates on election night. So with that, we're going to take a quick break. Please don't go anywhere

[40:33] as the 2025 School Committee candidates for them continues here on Mithuin Community Studios.

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[42:12] Community studios.

[42:13] This is the school committee candidates for them.

[42:16] Thanks so much for joining us.

[42:17] I'm your moderator, Seth Graham.

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[42:36] Now, let's get back on into the questions.

[42:40] Mary Beth, you're going to be first up on this one

[42:43] and you'll all have one minute to respond.

[42:46] Now, many of you touched on special education

[42:48] in the last segment, and that's what this question is about.

[42:52] I want to talk about out of district,

[42:53] special education costs.

[42:55] So for out placement, that brings the total

[42:57] per student cost for the district,

[42:59] averaged altogether to $22,000 annually.

[43:02] And a State Desi report shows the city has 12.6, 12.6% of students in those separate schools

[43:10] and facilities.

[43:11] And that's above the state's target.

[43:13] Should Mathieu and Invest more in district, special education services?

[43:19] Absolutely.

[43:19] That's a really good question.

[43:21] And that's one of the things that I will be working on and supporting if elected.

[43:27] I think there are opportunities to bring students back into our district.

[43:30] It's something we tried to do last year, but because of budget constraints, we could not.

[43:35] We were going to bring in a special program to come in and work with staff, work with students,

[43:40] to start building capacity. I think we're all better when we have our students in our community

[43:46] learning, being with their neighbors, being with everyone that surrounds them, not having to make

[43:53] long commutes to school, so that is absolutely without it out. It'll cost us some money in the

[44:00] and truly support our students in the long run.

[44:04] Thank you, Lori.

[44:06] Absolutely, it would be fantastic if Mithuin could have

[44:10] their own public day program in district.

[44:14] Just like Lawrence does, just like Lowell does,

[44:17] just like Hazel does.

[44:20] We tried to do it in the last budget cycle.

[44:23] We were going to have a public day program for the autism

[44:28] subseparate kids and we needed $2 million to do it. It wasn't we didn't have the money in the

[44:33] budget to start it and so therefore we had to give it up. You know to try to bring kids back

[44:40] into district it's a parents decision they have the input we can't just say you have to come back

[44:46] and so we need to start building capacity so that we don't send kids out to begin with because

[44:51] those parents fight very hard to get their kids out of district is very unlikely that they're

[44:56] I don't want to come back, so we really need to...

[45:00] Bill the program in district and then start filling our kids that are here already. Thank you.

[45:06] Thank you. Kristen.

[45:08] So the last time I asked for numbers, we had 176 kids out of district. Back in April, I requested some data to find out why kids were out of districts.

[45:20] What there needs were, what wasn't being met, what homeschool they belong to.

[45:25] I'm still waiting for that data.

[45:27] So once we get that data, I think we can really narrow down our search into why we have so many

[45:32] kids out of district and how we can bring them back.

[45:35] I also think that we would benefit from an alternative school.

[45:39] And I know nobody wants to hear that because it's a budget constraint, but I do, I think

[45:43] that our students would benefit from that.

[45:46] A lot, we have a lot of, Territu, T3, behavioral support that we need to address, so yeah,

[45:54] I would like to see where our needs are. Is it reading? Is it writing? Is it behavior? Is it OT? Is it PT?

[46:00] But I'm still waiting on those numbers from April. So when I get them, you'll get them.

[46:05] Thank you. Martha.

[46:08] So again, I'm going to bring up the budget. Like I have several times this evening.

[46:16] Like remember Maxwell, excuse me, remember Keegan said,

[46:19] It was a program lined up to come in this year.

[46:24] It takes several years to get a program set to where it needs to be to provide for our students.

[46:34] And it takes, it was going to take $2 million.

[46:36] Again, that was something that was cut from my budget when we were told that is one number

[46:43] that we get to and that's it.

[46:45] So that was also included in the cuts that were this year that was another great opportunity

[46:52] for our families in Mothoen to keep their children in district and to not send them out.

[46:58] We save money with tuition, not sending students out and we also save money with busing our students.

[47:05] Thank you. Thank you.

[47:07] Okay. I think ultimately is an issue with the state in terms of funding. I think it's a

[47:12] It's an enormous number about the circuit breaker that people on the D impression that

[47:18] methone receives 100% reimbursement for federal and state mandated special education,

[47:24] and that's not the case.

[47:26] The taxpayers of methone have to pay initially $52,000, and then the threshold could be fluctuating

[47:33] anywhere from 65%, the 75%, I've been advocating for 90%, it really should be 100% because

[47:41] The funding should match the child.

[47:43] You have children with profoundly medical issues that often require one-on-one coverage.

[47:49] I would love to have an opportunity to reallocate resources locally and to find a facility.

[47:56] But we also need state partners on that.

[47:58] We were very fortunate at the last second together in a fusion of additional circuit break

[48:04] and money in the amount of $3 million to help us because we have had massive layoffs.

[48:09] we have to do better in our partnership with the state. Thank you. Thank you, Ken.

[48:13] Alejandro. Yes, as I mentioned before, one of the biggest priorities in my platform is

[48:20] special education. Now, I'm in total agreement that we need to bring our children back in

[48:25] district.

[48:28] To do that, however, we need to have the correct data as member Maxwell had mentioned previously.

[48:33] Once those, once that data is out there, once the investigation has come to fruition, we

[48:39] can know what we need to do.

[48:40] Whether that be the reallocation of resources, do we have the staff necessary, the infrastructure

[48:46] to be able to do this?

[48:48] Those are questions that need to be answered and need to be prioritized.

[48:51] Thank you.

[48:52] Thank you.

[48:53] Nick?

[48:55] Public Day Program, Alternative Programs, I've been asking for it for almost 10 years.

[49:00] It's been on the wish list every year, so I agree with it.

[49:05] It has to be funded.

[49:07] Now nothing's ever been cut from the budget.

[49:10] So I want to make sure that's clear.

[49:12] If something is being allocated, if I have a budget of 120 million and I want 10 million,

[49:18] but I get on 123 million, nothing was cut.

[49:23] All right, positions and requests come in every year in the budget cycle.

[49:27] We don't get the full request.

[49:28] And yes, every year, this request is not fully funded or funded.

[49:34] But nothing was cut.

[49:36] When you cut a budget, you go from 120 million to 190 million.

[49:40] That's a million dollar cut.

[49:42] The budget keeps going up every year.

[49:45] We're just not allocating the funding correctly.

[49:49] Or we are not allocating it where it needs to go.

[49:52] But yes, we came up very close to a deficit this year

[49:55] and we got the funding at the end so that we did not have any cuts.

[49:59] Thank you, thank you.

[50:00] Daniel.

[50:01] So I have a child that's currently on an IEP in several years.

[50:08] We had considered out placing him because he was not making the progressive improvements

[50:16] that we really wanted to see.

[50:18] But ideally, we chose to keep him in the Mithuan school system,

[50:22] which was great because he's formed so many relationships with his teachers and other

[50:29] students and it was really difficult decision to want to have to pull him out of the

[50:34] system. I don't think that any child should have to feel or parents should have to

[50:39] make that decision of pulling their child out of the school system so it would be

[50:44] wonderful if we could have a better special ed program here but ideally I don't

[50:51] think it's in the budget at this time and we need to keep working on trying to find a solution.

[50:58] Thank you.

[50:59] Thank you, wrapping this question will be Maria.

[51:01] So I am going to come from a grandparent parent perspective as well.

[51:05] I'm not going to talk about the budget because everything that needed to be said was said.

[51:09] But I agree with Ms. Danielle.

[51:13] It's very hard.

[51:14] It's very difficult.

[51:15] Kids should be home that connection, that community.

[51:18] the resources that we have, that collaboration should be there.

[51:23] But if they are not feeling that we're meeting the need,

[51:28] if that mindset that we hear over and over again,

[51:31] that we want to do what is in the best interest of your child

[51:35] and a parent's not trusting that,

[51:38] sometimes they're left with no other alternative

[51:40] than to seek that out of school placement

[51:43] and advocating for their child.

[51:45] So yes, in home sounds ideal, it would be a good goal to see somewhere down the line, but

[51:54] budget taking all those things into factor, we have to do what's in the best interest of the child.

[52:00] All right, get it? It's thanks so much. We're going to move on to our next question. Now,

[52:03] Lori, you will be first up on this and we're going to talk about the audit.

[52:08] A recent audit of the school district identified communication, and that's from routine, no

[52:14] tone, to responding to parent concerns, as an area of improvement.

[52:19] How would you encourage administration to improve communication with families?

[52:26] So the audit made recommendations of communicating with families once a week.

[52:32] We already do that.

[52:34] And so the fact that communication is an issue, I think first up, we need to figure out what

[52:39] type of communication parents need and want, because we're doing it a lot. We have the

[52:46] data, we send out weekly newsletters, we have parent teachers sending out talking points,

[52:54] but people keep saying it's not enough or it's not what I want. So we need to figure out

[52:59] what it is that people want and need and then we need to develop a plan to meet those needs.

[53:05] But until we know what people are looking for, just to say that communication isn't good enough and we need to do it more often, it doesn't really make sense.

[53:16] So I would say we need to first investigate and then come up with a plan. Thank you.

[53:23] Thank you, Chris.

[53:23] So I can speak on this as a parent and I do know that the audit came out and it gave a

[53:31] poor rating.

[53:32] I do think that we need a lot of help in the communication department when it comes to parents.

[53:38] So parents are pushed out of the district when COVID happened and they were never invited

[53:42] back in.

[53:44] We need to invite parents back in.

[53:45] We need to make them feel welcome.

[53:47] We need to make them feel like they're partners in their child's education and not an inconvenience.

[53:51] Any time a parent reaches out with a concern, it's your problem, not hours, and instead of that attitude, I think we should make it our problem and not the parents problem.

[54:04] I just want to, I just want to bring parents back in the district. That's all I can. That's it.

[54:10] Thank you. Martha.

[54:12] So we do, this schools do send the principal send a weekly newsletter home to the parents.

[54:18] There's a monthly flyer that goes out, an actual paper flyer about sports and other activities

[54:24] that are happening in the city.

[54:28] We have a PTO in every building that's always struggling for volunteers and people to join

[54:33] there committee.

[54:36] We have a school council in every school.

[54:39] We are parents are invited to sit on and join and, like November Keegan said, I'm not

[54:45] sure what parents are looking for.

[54:46] If they would let us know what are the communications they would like, I'm sure that that could be taken care of.

[54:55] Parents, I'm not involved enough in the schools, sadly but true, and I think if they got involved

[55:03] in some of these activities and things that are happening in the buildings, they would see that it's a great

[55:08] thing to be a part of. Thank you. Good. I think there's different means of

[55:14] interpreting communication if again I encourage everyone to read the audit because I think

[55:20] there's been silent mentality that's been established, there's been a culture of fear.

[55:27] I know the teachers have a sense of hopelessness that their issues are not being addressed.

[55:33] I know that the parents conveyed that the students even conveyed that and if someone is being bullied

[55:40] And it's not being resolved.

[55:43] That's a lack of communication.

[55:45] If there's a language barrier, that's a lack of communication.

[55:50] If the teachers don't find merit in what they're doing as a position,

[55:57] and they go elsewhere, that's a communication issue.

[56:01] The central office, I've said that repeatedly,

[56:05] there's been communication issues.

[56:06] So I think the survey we did we have to continue to do the survey as part of the audit, it's crucial in that front.

[56:15] Thank you. Oh, a hundred. Yes.

[56:18] I like to tackle this issue two different ways.

[56:22] The first one is communications with parents and the community in general.

[56:26] Now, from my understanding, communication is bilingual in official documentation and letters to parents and whatnot.

[56:33] But I would like to know, are the newsletters that are being set out by language, or the flyers by language?

[56:39] The informal communication, the cultural responsiveness of the communications, is that being addressed?

[56:46] And secondly, in regards to the institutional institutions like school councils, PTOs, CPAC, LPEC,

[56:54] how much of those are being manipulated by administration and leadership to push out

[57:01] parents in maybe in a purposeful or not purposeful way but those are

[57:06] barriers that are created that we need to address. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[57:15] I know we're doing it. We've been doing it for 10 years. Parents, teachers,

[57:21] administrators, maybe it's the volume, maybe it's the lack of volume, but a part of it

[57:27] is, again, we don't know exactly the communications very ambiguous term here, but the

[57:34] audit brought up that the schools, though, are different. So even though one school might be

[57:42] doing a lot of communication, one may be doing something smaller. It's not universal.

[57:47] So, I think that's where we need to attack is making sure all four schools from a grammar

[57:52] perspective, then the high school should get a different type of involvement.

[57:57] But those four schools from a grammar perspective, K-3-8 should all be on the same page on

[58:03] communication.

[58:04] The way they interact with parents, the councils, the PTOs, the way that newsletters go

[58:09] out, it all should be aligned in the same process and the audit said that it did not.

[58:14] Thank you.

[58:15] Thank you.

[58:16] I agree with a lot that has been said so far.

[58:21] I believe that parent engagement is critical.

[58:25] I feel that we're trying multiple different ways to communicate talking

[58:31] plates.

[58:32] I think has improved.

[58:34] I've been looking at my talking points more frequently.

[58:38] However, I think just the energy in the schools,

[58:42] the morale in the schools is

[58:44] affecting parents at home and they don't want to participate. They don't want to come into this

[58:51] schools. So we have to find a way to get that energy back into the schools through events. I don't know.

[58:59] This is certainly how to do that. But thank you.

[59:03] Thank you. Maria.

[59:06] So communication. It's a challenge. And I'm coming again from a parent perspective. I think

[59:13] parents are, they want purpose, they want a sense of belonging, they want to understand

[59:20] and sometimes it's, as they share, there's newsletters, are the newsletters going out

[59:25] in a timely manner. Some of the things that I hear from parents is, you know, I'm getting this

[59:30] but it's last minute, I work, I don't have time, some of them are single parent households.

[59:36] So it's, how is that communication being sent? And do you have accurate information for the parents?

[59:43] is all that data up to date, and just making parents feel welcomed when they come into the

[59:50] school.

[59:51] Let's get grass rooted.

[59:52] Let's just talk to them when they're there, take advantage, and have these conversations.

[59:57] And find out where those breakdowns are so that we...

[1:00:00] We can kind of get past that bump in the road, but it is a non-going challenge. I can attest to that as a parent.

[1:00:07] Thank you. Rapping this question, very Beth.

[1:00:09] It's hard to be the last person's response. I think the question is about consistency and communication.

[1:00:17] And also, communication is a two-way street. I can tell you as a principle, sometimes my emails were blocked by parents, because I was emailing too much, and sometimes I don't want to hear from myself.

[1:00:28] And I get that.

[1:00:29] But if you look at our website, you can go to the schools

[1:00:32] and see every Friday every principal posts, a newsletter,

[1:00:36] about what is happening.

[1:00:38] I talking points, parents have the ability to access

[1:00:41] in their language they are most comfortable with.

[1:00:44] The most successful opportunities for communication

[1:00:47] happen when parents are invited into the schools.

[1:00:50] And I've been lucky enough, if you've been on the school

[1:00:52] community, you've been invited to all these great activities

[1:00:56] to the read across America, where you can go in

[1:00:58] read and you meet other families there participating,

[1:01:03] the biography fears, I don't want to

[1:01:06] say wax museums, but the living museums where all these wonderful opportunities, we need

[1:01:12] to meet the parents there and expand our conversations.

[1:01:17] All right, Canada, thank you so much, we're going to move on now to our next question and we'll

[1:01:21] keep talking about the audit, Kristen, you're going to be first up on this one again one

[1:01:25] minute response time. So, second question for the audit. It showed concerns about higher than

[1:01:32] usual out of school suspensions and inconsistent discipline enforcement. What would be your

[1:01:37] recommendation to district administrators?

[1:01:42] So, I think that I think that we need to start and repurpose our discipline procedures to begin

[1:01:54] I think that we should have in-house suspension, I think we should have detention.

[1:02:00] I think that we should have Saturday detention.

[1:02:02] I think that the principles, the supervising principles,

[1:02:06] really need to be the lead in discipline and communicating with kids.

[1:02:12] I do think that we have a high suspension rate.

[1:02:15] I don't think that it's unnecessary because a lot of our problems

[1:02:21] Um, a lot of our problems are behavioral issues that I don't want to say, I, you

[1:02:26] be behavioral issues, but behavioral issues, meaning kids just don't like something

[1:02:30] so they fight with each other or their feelings are hurt.

[1:02:33] So they don't play or, you know, my biggest concern with discipline really right now, though,

[1:02:39] is I've heard a lot of parents complain that recess has been taken away from their kids.

[1:02:44] Um, so we really need to focus on restorative practices and bringing them back.

[1:02:52] So, in-house suspension and Saturday suspension is a great idea for the high school, in-house

[1:03:01] suspension for the elementary schools, Saturday suspension students can't get a right home.

[1:03:06] They can't get a right there, and they can't get a right home.

[1:03:09] So that's always been for the lower grade levels in issue with that.

[1:03:14] I think a lot of our suspension issues are mental health issues.

[1:03:21] I think that we need to find a way to be able to keep these children in school.

[1:03:28] Again, I think our mental health department needs a boost in staff

[1:03:37] and educate more education on how to handle these different issues.

[1:03:44] And I think that's all I have to say.

[1:03:46] Thank you.

[1:03:48] It's such a complex issue.

[1:03:50] It really is.

[1:03:51] We only have two risk specialists in order to conduct in-house suspensions.

[1:03:58] So we do have a disparity.

[1:04:00] I would prefer in-house suspensions because if you have out-of-district,

[1:04:05] out-of-school suspensions, you don't know the mindset or the dynamic on a home front.

[1:04:11] And I'm very concerned about that.

[1:04:13] I'm also concerned about internally how we track bullying and discipline issues.

[1:04:19] I don't think we sufficiently track bullying and discipline issues.

[1:04:25] So we really have to redouble our efforts.

[1:04:28] Part of it also is the state because we are limited in how we can handle discipline issues and bullying issues.

[1:04:37] And so we need to reach out to a legislative delegation.

[1:04:41] unfortunately, Peabody had a suicide because of bullying, so I recommended to the mayor

[1:04:47] of having a bullying summit and also a bullying task force, and I know the mayor is going

[1:04:53] to follow up on that.

[1:04:54] Thank you.

[1:04:54] Thank you, Dan.

[1:04:55] Alejandro.

[1:04:57] Just like there needs to be consistency in communication, there needs to be consistency in

[1:05:02] discipline.

[1:05:05] I see a disparity between the numbers of bullying claims that are substantiated and

[1:05:12] substantiated and the bullying in the audit. Why is that? I would like to know. I think our

[1:05:19] suspension is way too high and we need in-house suspension. We need restorative practices and we

[1:05:24] need a new superintendent that it's going to be focused on the war on bullying and making sure

[1:05:28] that our practices are in line with an equitable school system that brings all of our students in

[1:05:34] in a way that doesn't promote a structural and a systemic bullying that is not reported

[1:05:40] like a member is saying that a systemic in a way that is not even being reported.

[1:05:46] We see that disparity in the audit and in the bullying and the audit and in the bullying

[1:05:52] numbers that are reported.

[1:05:53] Thank you.

[1:05:55] Thank you.

[1:05:55] Nick.

[1:05:57] I mean, as a former student of Mr. Owen Public Schools, I got a detention quite a lot

[1:06:01] back in the day.

[1:06:02] So, but what got me out of it was getting involved in sports and extra curricular activities.

[1:06:09] We really should be promoting the arts, promoting other opportunities for students.

[1:06:14] And that was why back in 2016 when I came back on the school committee, we saved the

[1:06:20] performing arts program and we kept it going and we saved it again this year.

[1:06:25] Things like that should not be thrown out because these type of programs bring new light

[1:06:30] to students who are expressing themselves.

[1:06:33] You can agree or disagree about mental health

[1:06:37] and bullying, but it starts at expression

[1:06:41] and their ideology.

[1:06:44] I think ultimately, if we started doing more

[1:06:47] in-house suspensions or more community service,

[1:06:49] instead of sending the kids home to play

[1:06:51] on their PlayStation 3 and Xboxes and TikTok

[1:06:54] and doing all those videos,

[1:06:57] That gives children better opportunity.

[1:07:01] Thank you.

[1:07:02] Thank you.

[1:07:03] I kind of agree with Nick here.

[1:07:05] At a school suspension, I feel is stressful on a child who may already be stressed out at home or at school.

[1:07:14] Maybe there's a health component here.

[1:07:18] Maybe we need to look at other schools.

[1:07:21] What their current policies are and try to work on.

[1:07:24] and a new policy to keep the kids here in the in-house

[1:07:29] or potentially community service, just to help out.

[1:07:33] Thank you.

[1:07:34] Thank you.

[1:07:35] Maria.

[1:07:35] I, first of all, want to say thank you to each and every one

[1:07:38] of the candidates for touching on mental health and bullying.

[1:07:43] Because behavior, it is really important to keep the kids

[1:07:46] in school, definitely in health suspension.

[1:07:48] But I think there's a missed opportunity for us to reach out and collaborate with the resources,

[1:07:57] the rich resources that we have in our community and in our surrounding community,

[1:08:02] to work with professionals for behavioral health and social emotional development

[1:08:08] that we shouldn't only keep this institutionalized, that we partner and collaborate with agencies,

[1:08:14] And we have these conversations with parents.

[1:08:18] I love and appreciate the, well, that Ken did bring that up,

[1:08:23] and we were able to talk about it.

[1:08:25] And the mayor is all for having a committee for bullying,

[1:08:30] because, again, these conversations need to happen.

[1:08:34] Thank you. Very best.

[1:08:36] Well, I believe it was late last year.

[1:08:39] The school committee approved creating some new physicians,

[1:08:42] focus solely on addressing behaviors.

[1:08:47] And then we asked for data when we hired these positions.

[1:08:50] And we found that having these highly skilled staff members

[1:08:56] in place to work with students before the behaviors escalated,

[1:09:01] made a huge impact on classroom behaviors

[1:09:04] will definitely lower disruptions in some in the areas

[1:09:08] where you didn't want to see any disruption

[1:09:10] or anyone else feeling uncomfortable, and made a very positive impact according to staff and

[1:09:17] other students about getting ahead of the problem. And what we did see was reduction in suspensions

[1:09:23] and office referrals. I'd like to see that program expanded. When I was principal at the

[1:09:29] Tenney a long time ago, or not that long ago, we went kind of rogue and we had our own Saturday

[1:09:34] attention for tardies and behaviors. We found a tremendous improvement in behaviors and I'd

[1:09:40] love to see that continue. Thank you.

[1:09:42] Cory.

[1:09:44] The attitude of suspension rate is extremely high and I'm the one that actually started asking

[1:09:50] for the attitude of suspension rate because the laws are pretty clear about you're not

[1:09:56] spending kids, and so I feel very strongly that we need more staff to be able to keep kids

[1:10:05] in school for when behaviors do happen in the classroom.

[1:10:09] We need to remove them and manage the behavior, manage whatever is going on, and I believe

[1:10:15] that our discipline needs to start with education as opposed to punishment.

[1:10:20] And so, you know, the first thing shouldn't be detention, it should be your now assigned

[1:10:27] at lunchtime to go to a group to learn about whatever it is so that we're educating

[1:10:34] the kids and we're teaching them how to behave as opposed to just saying, don't do that.

[1:10:41] Thank you.

[1:10:42] Thanks so much.

[1:10:43] We're going to move on to our next question and Martha, you're going to be first up on

[1:10:50] So this question is going to touch upon the most recent school committee meeting, but that being said I would encourage a broader discussion about what was a major topic.

[1:11:03] So here's the question. Please tell us how you would handle a parent's complaint about curriculum or course materials.

[1:11:13] So, I would definitely direct them to the superintendent and the assistant superintendent.

[1:11:21] I don't feel that I'm qualified to talk to them about the issues that they have.

[1:11:27] I feel that when parents do come to school committee, I think that they should be directly sent to the administration.

[1:11:38] I know a lot of parents have issues with the curriculum and the issues that we had at the

[1:11:44] school committee meeting the other evening. Parents have a right to opt out of things.

[1:11:50] I don't know if parents are aware of that. They should be. And I just think that a lot

[1:11:57] of things should be directed to the administration. They're the professionals. They're the ones

[1:12:01] that should be handling these questions from these parents. Thank you.

[1:12:05] Thank you. Again. I mean obviously I'm in favor of a universal parental opt-out in relation to issues

[1:12:13] of sexuality. If it impacts someone's religious and moral objections, there was a debate internally

[1:12:21] about what would be primarily within a course. Again, if any type of sexual reference,

[1:12:30] graphic material, things that could be ejectionable to someone's religion, someone mocking

[1:12:38] someone else's religion.

[1:12:40] On and medically, there should be a parental option to opt out.

[1:12:45] And I'm strongly in favor of that.

[1:12:48] There was never any discussion about banning a book.

[1:12:52] I support freedom of speech, but I also support the minority right under the constitution,

[1:12:59] reinforced by Supreme Court decisions to emphasize there is parental rights and that we should

[1:13:07] not be abandoning those parental rights.

[1:13:10] Thank you.

[1:13:11] Alejandro?

[1:13:12] Yes.

[1:13:13] I believe this is an issue that goes down to checks and balances and constituents services.

[1:13:18] The three incumbents sitting at this table know that voted by however many votes, 2000,

[1:13:23] 1,3,000 votes that the community put a trust in you to handle issues of constituent services.

[1:13:31] Now, it is checks and balances.

[1:13:33] I do believe that the administration does have the qualifications to handle these issues

[1:13:38] and to handle the timeline of answering these issues.

[1:13:42] However, I also believe that these checks and balances go both ways.

[1:13:46] There was never a discussion about banning a book.

[1:13:49] Yet the agenda item language, which is written by a point of clarification, the chair, the vice chair and the superintendent,

[1:13:58] collaborate on writing the language of the agenda, whether or not a member can say, I want this on the agenda or not,

[1:14:06] the language was chosen purposefully, and that is not right. Thank you.

[1:14:12] Thank you.

[1:14:13] I have to last meeting, I should have bought stock or trademarked the word ban.

[1:14:18] But here's the thing, is the word ban never came up in any of the conversations that

[1:14:23] the school committee put on that agenda.

[1:14:26] And I don't think that was the intention of anyone that brought that to that conversation.

[1:14:30] I think it was about policy.

[1:14:32] What is the policy if this type of book is being subject mattered in your classroom?

[1:14:38] That's what I believe it was.

[1:14:40] But the school committee's job in all respect is policy, budget, and the superintendent.

[1:14:49] Anything outside of that should be directed to the professionals, which are the superintendent and their staff.

[1:14:56] Where this is a policy question, I don't see why it couldn't have been added to the agenda.

[1:15:00] But I did not believe banning that book was any topic of discussion that was the point of that meeting, the other day. But again, I think it went a little too far.

[1:15:15] I think it got out of context. I think the discussion should have been quick, not four hours long.

[1:15:23] Thank you. Daniel?

[1:15:24] I think sending parents through proper channels is an necessity, obviously as a school committee member and a parent,

[1:15:34] you want to empathize with the parent get to understand where they're coming from, you know, what's going on,

[1:15:43] but ultimately they need to go through administration and follow up potentially from the school committee member to make sure that

[1:15:53] things have been addressed properly. Thank you. Maria. Thank you for asking this question set.

[1:16:02] This one hits home for two reasons. Personal and lived experience and this is my job in the

[1:16:07] community. This is part of what I do. It's really empowering parents to know who their contacts are in the

[1:16:14] school. Some of the feedback that I get is, well, I've gone to administration and the gas lighting

[1:16:21] and the redirecting and that you should talk to this person, that person, the other person,

[1:16:25] parents don't know who to trust and who to talk to. When I give them a name, their surprise,

[1:16:31] they're taking back and saying, why wasn't I given that from the beginning instead of having to

[1:16:36] tell my story over and over and over and some of these stories are retraumatizing? And I think we

[1:16:43] need to be mindful, consider it, compassionate, that when parents bring these attention, whether

[1:16:49] said administrators are not, they're trying to reach out to someone they trust. And it

[1:16:55] may not necessarily always be an administrator for whatever reason. So apologies, thank

[1:17:01] you. Thank you. Very best. Mr. Desaglio was right on. We have three jobs to do as a school

[1:17:09] committee. Policy budget and supervising our superintendent. We have experts in the field that

[1:17:17] make decisions about curriculum and instruction.

[1:17:19] That's not, and instructional materials.

[1:17:22] That's not our job.

[1:17:23] We are not equipped to do that.

[1:17:28] And those people understand what students need to be engaged

[1:17:32] and how they should be represented in the materials.

[1:17:35] I believe when the school committee opens the door

[1:17:37] to these kinds of discussions,

[1:17:41] they bring along their personal and political beliefs.

[1:17:45] And that's very dangerous in a public education environment.

[1:17:49] We are a public school.

[1:17:52] It's a responsibility of the parent as well to find out what is going on.

[1:17:56] And we know that there are still a bit of syllabi.

[1:17:59] There are open houses.

[1:18:01] There's opportunities for parents to find out what their students are being exposed to.

[1:18:07] And we have to start trusting our educators.

[1:18:10] Thank you very much.

[1:18:12] Lori.

[1:18:13] I agree with, but Mary Beth and Nick both said, it is not the school committee's job to get involved in the day-to-day business of the school.

[1:18:23] That's not what we do.

[1:18:25] And so when a parent comes to you and has a problem with something that's happening in the school, we need to direct that person to whoever it is that can solve that problem.

[1:18:35] We are not the problem solvers for the day-to-day issues.

[1:18:39] We had a policy makers, we had the superintendents overseer, we are the budget people, but that's it.

[1:18:47] And in this particular instance, this parent could easily have been referred to the high school.

[1:18:55] It is common practice that you can opt out of English books.

[1:18:59] My child opt out out of the kite runner when she was in ninth grade, because it had objection material.

[1:19:06] So, absolutely, this situation should never have made it to the school committee at all, thanks.

[1:19:15] I'm wrapping this question.

[1:19:17] Okay, so I would like to say that I agree with, I don't know who necessarily said it, but this was politicized and dramaticized completely.

[1:19:27] These items were brought to the table by me.

[1:19:30] I brought those two topics to the table, and I did, in fact, tell the parent to go to

[1:19:38] the superintendent, however, when you have a superintendent that parents do not feel

[1:19:43] like they can talk to, or principals that they can talk to, they have nowhere else to go.

[1:19:48] We as a school committee do, in fact, approve curriculum and I think that we need to be a safe space for parents if they don't feel comfortable going to administration and I will continue to do that.

[1:20:03] I don't regret bringing those two topics to the table and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

[1:20:09] candidates, thanks so much. That concludes our questions. We're going to move on to our closing

[1:20:13] statements now. You'll each have one minute to do so, and we'll begin with Ken.

[1:20:18] I mean, this has been fat tested. And I want to thank again to volunteers at Mithouan

[1:20:23] Community Studios. I want to thank you, Seth, such a veteran of all these debates and

[1:20:28] forms. I want to thank my fellow candidates because I don't think we engage in any

[1:20:34] personal attacks, we had deep conversations.

[1:20:37] And sometimes when you disagree about an issue,

[1:20:41] that necessarily means that you're attacking that person

[1:20:45] or that you're negative, you're in disagreement on the issue.

[1:20:49] And we had turbulent times the last two years.

[1:20:53] We had the passing of a beloved mayor.

[1:20:56] We had the resignation of a superintendent.

[1:20:59] We had an audit.

[1:20:59] We had two budget crises that we had to handle.

[1:21:04] We had to deal with a cell phone policy.

[1:21:07] We had to deal with obviously maintenance issues and bullying issues.

[1:21:13] And we have tested the waters.

[1:21:15] We've made significant improvements.

[1:21:18] We've worked in collaboration.

[1:21:20] Methon should be proud and we need to work on those goals further.

[1:21:24] Thank you.

[1:21:25] Alejandro.

[1:21:26] Yes.

[1:21:27] First and foremost, thank you to MCS, to my fellow candidates.

[1:21:30] This has been lovely to learn where everyone stands, and to have the platform for the voters

[1:21:35] to know where we stand.

[1:21:39] I have personally learned through this forum, per se.

[1:21:44] That the most important quality for me in an elected official, and when I'm casting my vote

[1:21:48] for the other school committee members, it's authenticity.

[1:21:52] And I think that a lot of us have been authentic today, and I know that I have been

[1:21:55] today. So for the voters, vote authenticity, vote passion.

[1:22:04] I also want to say that I live my life

[1:22:07] by two quotes that define my ideology. The first one is by a grief philosopher. If you know,

[1:22:14] you know you know nothing and the second one is injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere

[1:22:22] Martin Luther King, Jr., and I will bring that to the table.

[1:22:25] I humbly ask for one of your votes.

[1:22:27] Thank you.

[1:22:28] Thank you.

[1:22:29] Nick.

[1:22:32] Now, clock starts now.

[1:22:33] OK, great.

[1:22:33] Thank you.

[1:22:35] You know, being a homeowner here, but doing a father

[1:22:39] of two amazing children, 8 in an Olivia,

[1:22:43] and the husband of an educator,

[1:22:46] I come to this job, again, with integrity, transparency, and purpose.

[1:22:53] I've enjoyed every minute of my dedication to the Mathieu and public schools and to the city of

[1:23:00] Mathieu and I couldn't be proud of the amount of people have come out this year to run for office.

[1:23:08] Not just in the school committee but also at City Council.

[1:23:11] It shows that we're moving in the right direction.

[1:23:14] People are getting involved.

[1:23:15] People are talking.

[1:23:16] When I started in these roles 10 years ago, you know, it's crazy to believe that, again,

[1:23:24] people were just being slotted into this.

[1:23:27] As a former student in a Mathieu and Public, I'm proud of where I come from, I'm proud

[1:23:31] where I'm at, and I look forward to hopefully getting your vote on November 4th, number

[1:23:35] 1 in the ballot.

[1:23:36] Thank you.

[1:23:37] Danielle?

[1:23:38] Thank you very much.

[1:23:40] I believe that a key component of having a successful school committee in the next couple

[1:23:50] of years is hiring the proper superintendent getting community engagement, parent engagement,

[1:24:01] I think that a lot of these issues in the schools has been started and is progressing nicely.

[1:24:12] And we need to just continue on with all the work, the great work that has been done so far.

[1:24:19] And I hope that we are very successful in the near future.

[1:24:26] Thank you.

[1:24:27] Thank you. Maria. I want to say thank you for inviting me here. Thank you for everyone for

[1:24:32] your input and feedback. It is very much valued. I love that I was able to make the connection

[1:24:38] about where really what drives us, what we're passionate about and it is definitely our community.

[1:24:43] This is home. So I just want to say what you see is what you get. I definitely have had to get

[1:24:57] not publicly speaking, as I have been doing lately, but I have been so grateful for that, and I appreciate everyone's curiosity, everyone's desire about wanting to learn about one another, and the opportunity to have these civil conversations among my peers.

[1:25:16] Thank you. Thank you for that, and I hope I get your vote.

[1:25:19] Thank you. Very good.

[1:25:20] I hope I made myself clear in the opening comments about my qualifications for this job.

[1:25:26] I've devoted my life to education and Mathieu in schools, and I hope to continue that.

[1:25:32] And while I have a minute, I hope left.

[1:25:34] I just wanted to share with everyone the importance of literacy.

[1:25:39] I started the Mathieu and Literacy Partnership with Representative Hamilton, the director of

[1:25:44] the Evans Library, Kristen McLeod, the support for my board guard.

[1:25:47] We believe that literacy is not the responsibility just of the school's district, and we want to involve everybody, including parents, community leaders in our efforts.

[1:25:59] We've started at the process, we're beginning some research in the next few weeks, and we're hoping everyone will log on to WWE, can you see this?

[1:26:09] Mathieu and Reeds.org, Sina, will reach out to you and you can help transform this community.

[1:26:16] Thank you, Mary Beth. Lori. Thank you. I've been, I'm a Throne resident for 30 years.

[1:26:23] I raised my four kids here. My youngest is still at the high school. All of my kids have unique

[1:26:30] educational and medical needs. I've been the founder of a non-profit to help kids with special ed

[1:26:37] get the services they need across the Marmack Valley.

[1:26:42] I've served on the school committee for the past four years.

[1:26:44] I've showed up, I've done the work, and I've delivered results.

[1:26:49] I worked on the teacher contracts on the negotiating team.

[1:26:54] I'm on the Policy Subcommittee working through every single one of the school committee

[1:26:58] policies and trying to make them up to date.

[1:27:03] I've done a lot, and I understand the challenges and the budget coming towards us.

[1:27:07] It's going to be a really tough budget.

[1:27:11] Thank you.

[1:27:12] Thank you.

[1:27:12] Crystal.

[1:27:13] So I wish there were 20 people that were running for school committee,

[1:27:17] because I think that that would bring value to the district.

[1:27:22] I welcome opposition.

[1:27:23] I think that it's, I think it's great for people to disagree on issues,

[1:27:29] so that we can come to a common ground.

[1:27:30] I think that's the role in a school committee.

[1:27:32] You're not all going to have the same view.

[1:27:36] Making a difference has become my purpose.

[1:27:38] It's everything I want.

[1:27:41] I want to make a difference for kids.

[1:27:43] I want my food to be a place that's desirable for families to live.

[1:27:48] I want to be a part of that.

[1:27:51] I started as an involved informed parent and I want to continue by being an involved informed decision maker vote for me number three.

[1:27:59] Thank you.

[1:28:01] Martha?

[1:28:01] I'd like to thank, again, MCTV and Seth for inviting me this evening.

[1:28:07] I'd like to thank everyone that's on the panel this evening.

[1:28:10] I thought it was very enlightening to hear everyone's opinions,

[1:28:14] and to have just a nice civilized conversation.

[1:28:19] It was fantastic.

[1:28:22] I've lived my entire life in the city of Methon.

[1:28:25] known as the, well, the town of the known as the city of Macauan.

[1:28:29] I graduated from Macauan High School in 1981.

[1:28:33] My children, Jennifer and Joey graduated from Macauan High School 0709.

[1:28:40] I just love this community.

[1:28:43] I've worked for the School Department for 25 years.

[1:28:45] I want to continue to work for the students,

[1:28:49] the staff, and the families of Macauan Public Schools.

[1:28:52] Thank you.

[1:28:53] All right.

[1:28:54] Get it.

[1:28:54] It's thank you so much.

[1:28:55] A wonderful discussion.

[1:28:57] Thank you for running.

[1:28:58] Thank you for being here for this for this forum.

[1:29:00] We appreciate it.

[1:29:01] And now it's your turn.

[1:29:03] Tuesday, November 4th is the day.

[1:29:05] Please go vote.

[1:29:06] The polls will be open all day long.

[1:29:08] You can find out more information online at matuin.gov and we'll be a quick goodbye.

[1:29:13] So thank you so much for watching.

[1:29:15] I'm Seth Graham for all of us here at MCS.

[1:29:17] Take care.

Elections 2025 - School Committee Forum

Transcript