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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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or at mishodeinsurance.com.

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Well, I'm Carolyn Russo, government services coordinator

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from the UN Community Studios.

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Welcome to our 2025 election candidate forum.

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All local candidates were invited

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to participate in tonight's event.

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Some were able to join us here

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and present their views directly

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while others could not attend.

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Every candidate was given the same opportunity

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to appear.

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Each participating candidate

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It will have a few minutes to address the audience, share their vision, and respond to questions.

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As Matthew and his local access station, we are committed to facilitating open dialogue

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and providing fair access to the public during the selection season.

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Thank you for being here.

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Your engagement is what strengthens our community and democracy.

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And hello and welcome to Matthew and Community Studios.

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As we present our 2025 School Committee candidates for him, I'm Seth Graham your moderator

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And thanks so much for joining us.

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Over the next 90 minutes, you'll have an opportunity to meet the people.

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You'll see on the ballot on Tuesday, November 4th, a really quick rundown of the ground

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rules.

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They're very simple.

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We'll be asking all candidates a series of questions.

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Their responses will be timed.

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Now they don't know the questions in advance, but they'll have the opportunity to be the

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first up to answer and also to have the last word.

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They've also been asked to come prepared with an opening and closing statement.

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Lastly, we ask the candidates to attack the issues and not each other.

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

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Candidate to each have one minute to do so, and we'll start with Alejandro Bias.

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Thank you, Seth.

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

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and all the community members.

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

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

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

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My candidacy and my campaign is based on sustainable budgeting.

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It is based on smart and equitable teachings and curriculums.

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It is based on transparency and accountability.

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And finally, it is based on moving forward with a war on bullying.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Our next candidate, Nick Desaglio.

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Thank you.

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And first off, I want to thank

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Bethany Community Studios, my other candidates here too, for agreeing to the forum,

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and of course the residents at home.

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After probably serving four years on the Mathieu and school committee, I had the opportunity

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

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I have decided and honored to run again for the school committee.

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

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We are looking for leadership, grounded in fiscal responsibility.

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We need to have guided decisions made by data and also informed by real world experience.

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Throughout my public service, I have never hesitated to ask the difficult questions,

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

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I believe that every decision should reflect a careful balance that's when you're responsible

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budgeting and essential investments.

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We're sorry, times up.

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I'm sorry.

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Oh, I'm sorry.

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Our next candidate, Danielle Fantry.

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Thank you very much with the Institute of Students for having me tonight.

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I am a new candidate.

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I have two kids at home in the public school systems.

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I am an active member in the youth community.

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There's sports, moms groups, and the schools.

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I have volunteered hours at sport events,

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PTO, and the school events as well.

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I have substituted in the Marsh primarily as a teacher there.

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I have 13 years experience running, I co-founded a Mathieu and Mama's group.

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Please continue.

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Please continue dancing.

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My stop sign is up.

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I served on the Board of Directors with the doing youth soccer and have coach both of my kids.

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and have filled coaching votes with other age groups.

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I plan to bring that same kind of energy that I have demonstrated in the past.

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Thank you, our next candidate, Maria Figaroa.

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Thank you, Mitholin Studios, for having us here and for the volunteers and the the one residents,

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as well as the other candidates.

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My name is Maria Figaroa.

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I am a mother, grandmother, and wife.

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I am a metholine resident passionate about public service.

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I have been active in public service for over 25 years.

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Part of what drives me is mental health, sustainability in the community,

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involvement, volunteering, giving back to the community just being active,

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available, present, and family-centered practices as well.

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My hope is to in running for the candidacy be a voice for parents, for children, for families, and for the community,

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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.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thanks up.

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Mary Beth's on a bit grassy.

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Hello, I'm Beth Owen.

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We're really lucky to be here tonight in these beautiful studios.

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Thank you, staff, and staff for joining us for having us here.

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Again, my name is Mary Beth Donovan-Grassie,

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and I hope to earn your vote for a seat on the school committee.

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I believe that education transforms not only a student,

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but an entire community.

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And I've devoted my life to education, 25 years,

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and with the one public schools.

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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.

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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.

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Currently, I have worked as an adjunct professor at Mary Matt College, preparing students for teaching.

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And I'm really believed that I have the experience I need to make major decisions

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to be education of our students.

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Thank you so much.

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Our next candidate, Laurie Keegan.

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Thank you very much.

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With the included students for hosting us this evening.

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And my fellow candidates.

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

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I moved to Mithu in 30 years ago by my first condo on Washington Street two years after I graduated from

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our mat college with a degree in math and secondary education.

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I was a certified high school math teacher, a sophomore engineer for ten years, and a

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state home mom for my four children who have various medical and educational needs,

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ranging from autism to brain and spinal cord surgery.

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

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Marimack Valley, helping hundreds of low-income families obtain special education services

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to meet their children's needs.

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Those experiences taught me the importance of building relationships to make effective

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change.

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I took that experience and drive and decided that the only way I could advocate for all of

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the children was to be on the school committee.

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That's why I ran four years ago and that's why I'm running again.

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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...

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Thank you, Laurie, I'm sorry your time is up.

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Next up, Kristen Maxwell.

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Hello, I am Kristen Maxwell.

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I am running for a re-election for School Committee.

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I just, this is my first term.

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So I'll be going on my second term.

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I moved here in 2017 with my three kids.

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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.

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Alongside pretty amazing people.

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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.

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

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I'm going to stop there because I'm going to get the stop sign, so.

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But for me, number three.

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Thank you. Next up, Martha's Choice.

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I'm Martha McCarthy's Choice.

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I'd like to thank MCTV Studios for hosting this forum tonight.

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

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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.

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I am forever grateful for all of your support that I have received during my campaign.

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I retired September 2025 after 25 years of working experience with Methuin Public Schools.

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I have been a member of the Mathieu and Credit Union Board of Directors since 2018 offering

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me the experience in collaborative work on budgets and long-term strategic planning.

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I have also helped to raise and distribute tens of thousands of dollars for the previous

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Jacqueline McCarthy, San Pedro Memorial Scholarship, and the current Brianna McCarthy Memorial

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Scholarship.

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My work and volunteer experience lends itself to help me make an informed decision about the

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hiring of the next superintendent and the future of methone public schools.

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Thank you.

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And wrapping our opening statements.

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Can we let?

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Thank you very much.

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I just want to extend my thanks to methone community studios.

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I would be a remiss if I didn't say hi to my children.

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Brady and Kendall who attend methone high school.

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And also my mom who's been such an asset of raising my children.

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

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14 years of service, 24 years at the State House, resolving thousands of constituent cases.

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This is going to be a productive, positive, constructive, eye-opening form.

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

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enough candidates to fill all the seats, or we've only had five candidates, and we've had to

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resort to right-ends. This is so healthy in this community to have competitive elections.

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

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residents, and we should be making sure we're voting on November 4th.

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I thank you and I appreciate your consideration.

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All right, candidates.

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Thanks so much.

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We're going to jump in now to our first question of this forum, Nick.

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You're going to be first up on this one.

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You'll each have one minute to respond.

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Quick, quick, with these one minutes today.

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Quick, minute.

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The Mathieu and School Committee will be tasked with hiring a new superintendent in

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the coming year.

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Please tell us about your priorities and how the search should be conducted.

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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.

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

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

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perspective, are we still in that era of grade schools or grammar schools? Should we think

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about junior high? Should we think about elementary schools? Should we think about bringing trades

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back to Matthew and public? So the next superintendent has to have that national view or something

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

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being selected by that committee with no school committee members on it. And then those

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candidates selected be presented to the school committee for decision. Thank you. Danielle.

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I believe that the next superintendent should have a lot of energy and really get into the

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the school system and understand what they need to do as a good leader.

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I believe trying to find a superintendent we can use third party if we needed to.

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

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Maria.

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Thank you.

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I would like to see, as Mr. Desaglio shared, just a universal external internal.

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Whatever the best fit would be, but I would love to see us be a part of it.

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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.

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

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Thank you very much.

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Well, first I'd like to thank Dr. Quan for her service.

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I think it's a very difficult job.

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Our next leader, I believe, needs to be truly an educational leader,

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and not someone who's saddled with worrying about whether or not we have a leaky roof or not.

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And I'm grateful we're moving in that direction to focus on that.

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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.

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

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

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Hopefully with an independent consultant who will take away any discussion, any sense of people influence decisions.

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Thank you.

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Lori.

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I believe that the next superintendent needs to be focused on the education also.

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

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that they can read, they can write, they can do math, and they have the skills to collaborate with other people.

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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.

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I would never say that there's nobody qualified in the school system currently.

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We have some great people, and if they want to apply, I believe that they should.

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But I also believe that this is going to take a very long time.

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We do need to get the ball rolling, but yes, the next school committee will be selecting.

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Thank you.

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Kristen.

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So I would be looking for someone not in this community.

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I would be looking for somebody outside this community.

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I'd be looking for somebody with a lot of patients.

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I've been asked this question before and patients

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was my first answer, because they are going to be walking

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into a pretty big task.

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And I think that I would like to focus on someone

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with a good track record with student achievement.

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We focus on rebuilding our system,

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because our system is broken.

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And someone who is fiscal here is possible,

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and knows how to allocate the money and the right departments.

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Thank you, Martha.

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So, again, I'd like to echo candidate,

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Donovan, Dr. Brandi Quang has done a fantastic job

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as our superintendent.

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It's going to be some big shoes that need to be filled.

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I'm in his new superintendent.

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I'm looking for someone who's an educational leader.

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someone who has gone through the education system.

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It's far back as starting as a teacher,

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becoming an administrator, assistant superintendent,

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and then a superintendent.

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I feel that a superintendent should know what goes on in the schools

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and how they run.

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And I feel that that experience will help them lead our community

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into a better learning experience and safer schools.

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I also feel that I do agree with the consulting firm.

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I think we should hire somebody to come in.

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

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Good.

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If re-elected, I have specific parameters.

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I do want to have a nationwide search.

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I do want to have a third-party consultant.

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I do not want to have any present members of the school committee involved initially.

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in the process of manipulating the process, we will have a lame duck school committee with at least

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two members, one because of terminates, the other because of running through a different office.

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So you'll have two new faces automatically to the school committee.

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I think it would be a disservice to have the existing school committee.

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

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I believe we need to have a nationwide search. The audit was very critical of the current superintendent.

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

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Thank you. And Alejandro. Thank you, Seth. I have been very vocal about this issue.

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I believe that we need a nationwide and outside hire.

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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.

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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.

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But I also want to candid that it has experienced in special education as half our budget is special education.

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And the auditions that we are graduating 61% as WD students with disabilities.

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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.

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And seconds is key to moving the district forward. Thank you.

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Thank you.

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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.

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The school district made headlines about a major pest control in cleanliness issue.

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Tell us how you think it was handled or what would you have done differently?

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

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that the process has been going better, it started off kind of rocky and disorganized a lot of issues

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with between pest control and the schools and communication, I believe the new digital

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system that they have in place now is going to make the facilities running much

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smoother and hopefully will be happier that these schools are cleaner. Thank you.

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Thank you. Maria. I think it had a bumpy start, but I also appreciate the fact that

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You know, the transparency was there, the mayor did put out the page where people could share

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their concerns, keep that line of communication open, the discussions were ongoing, and

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the collaborations were there.

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I know Pestend worked really hard to do what they needed to do, but I also know the teachers

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did their parts, the students said their parts, everybody had a hand in making this reach

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the end result possible that it needed.

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So I think, you know, the bumpy start,

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we went in the right directions, the conversations

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we're had and we were able to together get

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to the end result goal that what we wanted

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is what a healthy, clean environment for our children and families.

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Thank you.

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Very Beth?

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Well, I like just about everyone else in the city

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was absolutely horrified at what we learned.

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I mean, it was not acceptable, but from that darkness came some really good things.

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Specifically the building task force, which our mayor has put together, I'm fortunate to

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serve on it.

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We meet monthly.

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We talk about everything from mice to rugs to where food belongs in our schools.

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We're moving in the right direction and we have a purposeful plan now, a dedicated schedule

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of how we'll be ripping up all those 25-year-old rugs

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in our grandma school buildings, on how we're dealing

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with road and control, how we're fixing up the outsides.

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And now we're at a point where we're even talking

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about how to beautify our campuses with plants and flowers.

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And I think we, from that, has come a whole new respect

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for our buildings, and I'm grateful for that

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and the cooperation between school committee

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and city council led by the Mayor and Dr. Quang.

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Thank you. Lori.

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As Mary Beth had said, I was also horrified at how bad things had gotten.

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However, as soon as it came to light, I feel like it was quick.

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The mayor immediately stepped up with funds for us to make sure that our schools got cleaned.

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We've switched pest control companies, say,

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and I forgot, I apologize.

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That's it.

326
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Thank you, Krista.

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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.

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

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do, you know, partly on the city, partly on administration. I think a lot more work needs

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

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healthy and reasonable buildings to be able to learn and teach our students and right now,

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that's not what they have. So I know that's probably not the answer everybody wanted to hear,

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but we need a lot more work on our buildings.

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We need a lot more focus.

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I do appreciate the mayor's task force.

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I think he's done a lot of work,

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but we've had my center of school since I moved here.

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And that was very obvious.

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So I think that a lot more work needs to be done.

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I think that maybe if the task force continues,

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we'll see a little bit more of improvement,

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but what one needs to be done?

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Thank you, Martha.

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So I'm grateful for the task for us.

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I think they've done a fantastic job.

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I'm grateful to Mayor Borgad for funding the cleaning up of the schools.

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However, I believe that if our budget was a budget that would include these things,

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then that wouldn't have happened.

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I feel like our budget is cut every year.

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We have to scramble to decide where we're going to spend our money from at the

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public schools, whether it's going to be on books, or whether it's going to be on mice,

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

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then these issues will no longer exist. And I want to thank the hard work of the custodial

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department in collaboration with the Mathieu and Health Department, who really stepped up and

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

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Thank you.

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Captain?

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This is really a triage situation.

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I returned back to the school committee and I noticed the previous two years they had

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one maintenance report.

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So immediately I ordered to have monthly maintenance reports and I also started to receive

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confidential feedback from teachers and I relayed that directly to the administration.

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I think the mayor has done a herkilling and task, and I also have to commend the

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Mithonwood City Council and the Council of Disaglio.

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They voted every single time to release emergency funding to help with our schools.

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And that's what we always needed was collaboration and to break down the silos and we're

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doing that.

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We're breaking down the silos between the Mithonwood School Committee and the School

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administration in the City Council, and we still have, like, member Maxwell indicated, we still

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have a huge task ahead of us, but we're working together.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Alejandro.

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Thank you, Seth.

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

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I'm grateful for the task force.

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I'm grateful for the current school committee's efforts in trying to remedy this issue,

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But this also goes to pride, pride in your school.

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I went to the tiny, I currently go to the college of the Holy Cross.

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And if I know that if I enter a school, which is being talked about in the news,

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

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as a student.

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And it's not going to be helpful in the way that I learn.

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So I'm grateful for all the effort that has been going into this issue.

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But like, remember Maxwell has said, we need to do more.

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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.

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It's hugely off-base.

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Time.

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Thank you.

390
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And wrapping this question, we'll be next.

391
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Thank you.

392
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You know, it was said that Mayor Boer-Garde is City Council and School Committee did work together

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this to make sure our emergency funding was provided.

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This overall was a city-wide effort.

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

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Yes, we can make it beautiful, we can make it clean and we could talk about how we're going to

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

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

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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.

400
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And we also need to say neglect happened here.

401
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We need to fix that problem first.

402
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Thanks very much.

403
00:30:36,620 --> 00:30:36,820
All right.

404
00:30:37,020 --> 00:30:40,520
Our third question, Maria, you will be first up on this.

405
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And we're going to make it a little bit more open-ended here

406
00:30:43,180 --> 00:30:45,680
to address a topic of your choosing.

407
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What do you see as Mithuans,

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most pressing educational challenge and how would you address it?

409
00:30:52,900 --> 00:30:54,920
That's a good one.

410
00:30:55,940 --> 00:31:04,880
That home to school connection, that partnership with the parents, that dialogue, that communication that is needed.

411
00:31:05,420 --> 00:31:10,040
I feel as much as education is key.

412
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It's foundation starts at home.

413
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And I am a firm believer that every parent wants to do right by their child.

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But if there are conversations that are not being had to allow that opportunity to build that bridge from school and home,

415
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you're not going to get the parent volunteers, you're not going to get parents involved,

416
00:31:30,140 --> 00:31:34,400
you're not going to get the presence that other schools are getting.

417
00:31:36,180 --> 00:31:40,060
I think that is one of the biggest pressing things for me.

418
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It's really building on that partnership, that collaboration with families and community collateral as well.

419
00:31:46,780 --> 00:31:47,080
Thank you.

420
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:49,300
Thank you. Very best.

421
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:54,980
The most pressing issue I believe is literacy. In the last few years we've made some pretty impressive

422
00:31:54,980 --> 00:32:01,180
strides with a new literacy initiative based on the science of reading. But we know that reading is

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

424
00:32:11,500 --> 00:32:14,800
We're considered reading proficiently with our own benchmarks.

425
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:16,320
That's just not enough.

426
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,340
It's actually a better rate than the national level, but it's not enough.

427
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:26,020
Because students who learn to read contribute to a community and a community of literate

428
00:32:26,020 --> 00:32:32,560
residents, you see a lower tax, you see more tax pairs, wealthier tax pairs, we see a

429
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:39,440
lower criminal rates along, you know, people breaking the law, we see a healthier community,

430
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:41,820
we see all positives.

431
00:32:41,820 --> 00:32:50,320
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.

432
00:32:50,740 --> 00:32:51,360
Thank you.

433
00:32:51,540 --> 00:32:52,160
Thank you.

434
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:52,500
Lori.

435
00:32:53,340 --> 00:32:57,600
I believe that mental health is one of our biggest educational challenges.

436
00:32:58,740 --> 00:33:04,500
When kids come into the buildings and they sit in a classroom and they have mental health challenges,

437
00:33:04,500 --> 00:33:13,340
they're coming from homes that aren't feeding them or aren't treating them well, they're

438
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bringing all of that baggage into the classroom.

439
00:33:15,620 --> 00:33:19,540
It's causing behavioral problems in the classroom, which is causing them not to be able

440
00:33:19,540 --> 00:33:23,560
to learn to read, not be able to learn to do anything.

441
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:31,120
And somehow we need to figure out how to manage the mental health problems that are walking

442
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:37,440
through our doors because they're getting more and more significant and our teachers can't manage

443
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:43,760
those by themselves so we need to figure out how to help that situation so that our students

444
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,360
are able to learn better.

445
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:48,140
Thank you, Kristen.

446
00:33:49,660 --> 00:33:55,860
I think that we have quite a few pressing issues but I'll start with bullying.

447
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,500
I think that bullying is a huge issue in our school system.

448
00:33:59,500 --> 00:34:01,880
I don't think that we have enough resources

449
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:06,560
or help to fix the problem and target the real issue.

450
00:34:06,780 --> 00:34:08,500
I also think that IEPP compliance

451
00:34:09,220 --> 00:34:11,220
is one of our biggest issues,

452
00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:14,900
considering that half of our budget goes to special ed.

453
00:34:15,540 --> 00:34:20,200
I would start by getting the request that I made

454
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and maybe figuring out how we can bring our students back

455
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:24,580
into the district.

456
00:34:25,580 --> 00:34:28,380
And as a mom, the most pressing issue in the schools,

457
00:34:28,380 --> 00:34:35,100
I would say is fun for the students, I'd like to see field trips, I'd like to see parents

458
00:34:35,100 --> 00:34:39,660
back in schools, I would love to see students running down the halls given highfives to

459
00:34:39,660 --> 00:34:40,780
the teachers and principals.

460
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,960
Those are the issues that I find the most pressing from the Women Public Schools.

461
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:47,560
Thank you, Martha.

462
00:34:49,020 --> 00:34:53,880
So I have to agree with the Literacy Initiative, that's a big one I know.

463
00:34:53,880 --> 00:35:04,880
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.

464
00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:09,840
Because of the budget, there was no longer available those positions.

465
00:35:11,140 --> 00:35:12,740
Mental health, absolutely.

466
00:35:13,340 --> 00:35:15,580
We need to have more help in our mental health department.

467
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:23,440
It's very difficult for teachers to manage their classroom when they're dealing with student behaviors as well.

468
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:33,180
And the other issue that we have is our job posting, our openings, we have very short

469
00:35:33,180 --> 00:35:36,620
staffed in program assistance, custodians.

470
00:35:38,100 --> 00:35:43,260
We really need to, I really don't know what else we need to do.

471
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:49,840
We've advertised, we've gone to job phase and I'm just not sure how we would solve that issue

472
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:50,240
as well.

473
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:50,820
Thank you.

474
00:35:50,980 --> 00:35:51,480
Thank you.

475
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:52,220
Again.

476
00:35:52,700 --> 00:35:53,680
It's a great question.

477
00:35:54,480 --> 00:36:02,160
I think leadership in accountability are intertwined and to just reflect what Council of

478
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:03,420
Desaglio indicated.

479
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:09,880
I was one of two votes, Member Maxwell and I voted against the Superintendent's contract.

480
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:16,240
Before the audit was even published, they locked her into a three contract.

481
00:36:16,240 --> 00:36:24,580
Obviously, if you look at the findings, the metrics of the audit, it was bullying and discipline,

482
00:36:25,140 --> 00:36:29,600
was lowly rated, professional development and staff morale.

483
00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:33,560
That goes directly to administration and accountability.

484
00:36:34,780 --> 00:36:40,260
Obviously, we had issues with the inspection services department for the city of Mathauin.

485
00:36:40,260 --> 00:36:44,620
We had internally, people not following up on pest end reports.

486
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:50,080
There was a silo mentality, there's a culture of fear,

487
00:36:50,540 --> 00:36:52,820
and that's something you can't accomplish anything

488
00:36:52,820 --> 00:36:54,540
if you need to change leadership.

489
00:36:55,140 --> 00:36:55,620
Thank you.

490
00:36:56,660 --> 00:36:57,120
Alejandro.

491
00:36:57,760 --> 00:36:58,360
Thank you.

492
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:03,000
I'd like to make it known that all of these issues are pressing.

493
00:37:03,300 --> 00:37:05,200
None of these should be ranked higher than the other,

494
00:37:05,460 --> 00:37:07,460
and I would like the community to take that into consideration.

495
00:37:07,460 --> 00:37:20,080
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.

496
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:24,680
The audit shows that we are not being compliant in IEP cases.

497
00:37:25,740 --> 00:37:31,300
The audit shows that bullying is a huge issue and again I want to thank the mayor for declaring a war on bullying.

498
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:36,340
Finally, low staff morale and favoritism in the schools.

499
00:37:37,860 --> 00:37:41,940
We need to do better a better job as Candidate Sororay mentioned in advertising job postings

500
00:37:41,940 --> 00:37:49,700
and getting staff that are bilingual, staff that represent the community, staff that are in touch

501
00:37:49,700 --> 00:37:56,640
with the realities of our students to be able to give our students a chance of relating

502
00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:59,280
and learning any healthy environment.

503
00:37:59,620 --> 00:37:59,980
Thank you.

504
00:37:59,980 --> 00:38:03,920
Thank you. Nick, all the above.

505
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:04,920
I think a little bit.

506
00:38:05,460 --> 00:38:07,920
I mean, I mean, there's no, I don't think there's a right answer.

507
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:10,840
Everything here is correct.

508
00:38:11,300 --> 00:38:13,000
It starts at leadership, it marks its way down.

509
00:38:13,500 --> 00:38:15,260
It starts in the classroom, because the teachers,

510
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:17,240
you know, the morale is down.

511
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:18,640
Maybe the students morale goes down.

512
00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:20,130
Parents, there's issues at home.

513
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,060
You know, that feeds back into the students and literally.

514
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:25,600
I mean, it all is intertwined and connected.

515
00:38:26,380 --> 00:38:29,660
And for me as a father and a husband of an educator,

516
00:38:29,660 --> 00:38:38,180
I see it daily coming home, my children, they read, I make sure reading is top key, literacy

517
00:38:38,180 --> 00:38:38,900
is huge.

518
00:38:39,180 --> 00:38:43,600
If we have students, it's been a proven fact that students that know how to read and write

519
00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:48,680
will go on and graduate and move forward and crime rates will go down.

520
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:50,340
Bullion will go down.

521
00:38:51,460 --> 00:38:53,140
Mental health would be better.

522
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:58,600
I mean, we're all talking about the same thing and we can't, I can't say a budget is to

523
00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:07,780
on this. It's morale. Our teachers are very important and we need to make sure that those jobs are filled and made aware.

524
00:39:08,540 --> 00:39:10,300
I'm trying not to just cut it off.

525
00:39:10,580 --> 00:39:11,920
Thank you, I appreciate it.

526
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:14,240
I want to sound like an educator.

527
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:16,140
Yeah, we're all talking.

528
00:39:16,900 --> 00:39:17,440
Thank you.

529
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:18,020
Thanks, Nick.

530
00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:20,060
Such good answers.

531
00:39:21,140 --> 00:39:26,600
I mean, we have so many issues, so many things that we need to continue to work on.

532
00:39:27,380 --> 00:39:29,820
We've brought up a lot of issues tonight.

533
00:39:30,420 --> 00:39:34,000
I would love to see community involvement.

534
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:38,420
It's amazing at what the community can do when they're working together.

535
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:43,760
I mean, ZPW came in and helped out cleaning up the buildings.

536
00:39:44,540 --> 00:39:45,420
We had goats.

537
00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:47,680
Yes, we had goats.

538
00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:55,600
And I think by the community being engaged, we're opening up.

539
00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:03,200
conversations and conversation is important and working together to get things done.

540
00:40:03,540 --> 00:40:04,600
Thank you.

541
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:04,920
Okay.

542
00:40:05,060 --> 00:40:06,140
It's, thank you so much.

543
00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:11,140
We're going to take a quick break here, but before we do, I just want to take one moment

544
00:40:11,140 --> 00:40:15,840
to let you know, watching right now, more information about how you can vote on Tuesday,

545
00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:16,640
November 4th.

546
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:22,280
You'll find that on the city's website at metuin.gov, there you will find all of the information

547
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:28,240
about which precinct that you belong to and where you should show up to vote for these wonderful

548
00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:33,940
candidates on election night. So with that, we're going to take a quick break. Please don't go anywhere

549
00:40:33,940 --> 00:40:40,600
as the 2025 School Committee candidates for them continues here on Mithuin Community Studios.

550
00:40:54,970 --> 00:41:01,270
Find out how we work for you at 978-685-2549-

551
00:41:01,270 --> 00:41:04,750
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552
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Whether it's our stories,

553
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:10,540
the warmth of our laugh,

554
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555
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We all bring something different to the table.

556
00:41:18,940 --> 00:41:20,120
So make some space.

557
00:41:21,220 --> 00:41:24,840
The power of connection is waiting right outside your comfort zone.

558
00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,580
Learn how you can help strengthen your community.

559
00:41:29,060 --> 00:41:32,520
At belong begins with us.org slash team up.

560
00:41:38,110 --> 00:41:41,590
Hi I'm Leland Moveon and I travel to space twice as a NASA astronaut.

561
00:41:43,030 --> 00:41:45,550
Space Technologies help protect our precious Earth.

562
00:41:45,930 --> 00:41:48,530
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563
00:41:49,250 --> 00:41:50,850
Track the pace of climate change.

564
00:41:51,190 --> 00:41:53,370
It even helps us fight natural disasters.

565
00:41:54,050 --> 00:41:56,710
Make sure that you get out to your local science museum.

566
00:41:56,710 --> 00:42:01,410
or go to spaceforall.us to explore and learn about space in science.

567
00:42:01,930 --> 00:42:03,750
Space is for all.

568
00:42:12,540 --> 00:42:13,300
Community studios.

569
00:42:13,500 --> 00:42:16,160
This is the school committee candidates for them.

570
00:42:16,380 --> 00:42:17,740
Thanks so much for joining us.

571
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:19,120
I'm your moderator, Seth Graham.

572
00:42:19,720 --> 00:42:21,440
And by the way, if you're enjoying this programming,

573
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:24,320
this is coming to you from the studios of MCS,

574
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:25,420
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575
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:27,420
If you want to see more of our programming,

576
00:42:27,820 --> 00:42:30,180
we invite you to like and subscribe on our YouTube channel,

577
00:42:30,420 --> 00:42:31,840
where at Matthew and TV,

578
00:42:32,140 --> 00:42:34,180
or you can log on to Matthew and TV.org,

579
00:42:34,180 --> 00:42:36,300
where you can watch us live or later.

580
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:40,120
Now, let's get back on into the questions.

581
00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:43,020
Mary Beth, you're going to be first up on this one

582
00:42:43,020 --> 00:42:45,500
and you'll all have one minute to respond.

583
00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:48,960
Now, many of you touched on special education

584
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:51,580
in the last segment, and that's what this question is about.

585
00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:53,440
I want to talk about out of district,

586
00:42:53,540 --> 00:42:54,860
special education costs.

587
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:57,800
So for out placement, that brings the total

588
00:42:57,800 --> 00:42:59,440
per student cost for the district,

589
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:02,480
averaged altogether to $22,000 annually.

590
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:10,180
And a State Desi report shows the city has 12.6, 12.6% of students in those separate schools

591
00:43:10,180 --> 00:43:11,040
and facilities.

592
00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:12,920
And that's above the state's target.

593
00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:18,300
Should Mathieu and Invest more in district, special education services?

594
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:19,420
Absolutely.

595
00:43:19,820 --> 00:43:21,000
That's a really good question.

596
00:43:21,540 --> 00:43:26,440
And that's one of the things that I will be working on and supporting if elected.

597
00:43:27,060 --> 00:43:30,780
I think there are opportunities to bring students back into our district.

598
00:43:30,780 --> 00:43:35,340
It's something we tried to do last year, but because of budget constraints, we could not.

599
00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:40,240
We were going to bring in a special program to come in and work with staff, work with students,

600
00:43:40,580 --> 00:43:46,820
to start building capacity. I think we're all better when we have our students in our community

601
00:43:46,820 --> 00:43:53,680
learning, being with their neighbors, being with everyone that surrounds them, not having to make

602
00:43:53,680 --> 00:44:00,760
long commutes to school, so that is absolutely without it out. It'll cost us some money in the

603
00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:03,160
and truly support our students in the long run.

604
00:44:04,700 --> 00:44:05,680
Thank you, Lori.

605
00:44:06,580 --> 00:44:10,760
Absolutely, it would be fantastic if Mithuin could have

606
00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:14,840
their own public day program in district.

607
00:44:14,980 --> 00:44:17,600
Just like Lawrence does, just like Lowell does,

608
00:44:17,740 --> 00:44:18,920
just like Hazel does.

609
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,560
We tried to do it in the last budget cycle.

610
00:44:23,860 --> 00:44:28,220
We were going to have a public day program for the autism

611
00:44:28,220 --> 00:44:33,760
subseparate kids and we needed $2 million to do it. It wasn't we didn't have the money in the

612
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:40,620
budget to start it and so therefore we had to give it up. You know to try to bring kids back

613
00:44:40,620 --> 00:44:46,500
into district it's a parents decision they have the input we can't just say you have to come back

614
00:44:46,500 --> 00:44:51,920
and so we need to start building capacity so that we don't send kids out to begin with because

615
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:56,460
those parents fight very hard to get their kids out of district is very unlikely that they're

616
00:44:56,460 --> 00:44:59,460
I don't want to come back, so we really need to...

617
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:06,280
Bill the program in district and then start filling our kids that are here already. Thank you.

618
00:45:06,720 --> 00:45:07,600
Thank you. Kristen.

619
00:45:08,700 --> 00:45:20,100
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.

620
00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:25,000
What there needs were, what wasn't being met, what homeschool they belong to.

621
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:26,840
I'm still waiting for that data.

622
00:45:27,140 --> 00:45:32,640
So once we get that data, I think we can really narrow down our search into why we have so many

623
00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:34,900
kids out of district and how we can bring them back.

624
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:38,880
I also think that we would benefit from an alternative school.

625
00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:43,840
And I know nobody wants to hear that because it's a budget constraint, but I do, I think

626
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,360
that our students would benefit from that.

627
00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:54,560
A lot, we have a lot of, Territu, T3, behavioral support that we need to address, so yeah,

628
00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:59,620
I would like to see where our needs are. Is it reading? Is it writing? Is it behavior? Is it OT? Is it PT?

629
00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:04,640
But I'm still waiting on those numbers from April. So when I get them, you'll get them.

630
00:46:05,980 --> 00:46:06,940
Thank you. Martha.

631
00:46:08,580 --> 00:46:13,260
So again, I'm going to bring up the budget. Like I have several times this evening.

632
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:19,840
Like remember Maxwell, excuse me, remember Keegan said,

633
00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:23,300
It was a program lined up to come in this year.

634
00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:32,440
It takes several years to get a program set to where it needs to be to provide for our students.

635
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:35,940
And it takes, it was going to take $2 million.

636
00:46:36,560 --> 00:46:43,800
Again, that was something that was cut from my budget when we were told that is one number

637
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:45,720
that we get to and that's it.

638
00:46:45,720 --> 00:46:52,360
So that was also included in the cuts that were this year that was another great opportunity

639
00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:57,880
for our families in Mothoen to keep their children in district and to not send them out.

640
00:46:58,620 --> 00:47:04,780
We save money with tuition, not sending students out and we also save money with busing our students.

641
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:06,820
Thank you. Thank you.

642
00:47:07,140 --> 00:47:12,360
Okay. I think ultimately is an issue with the state in terms of funding. I think it's a

643
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:18,020
It's an enormous number about the circuit breaker that people on the D impression that

644
00:47:18,020 --> 00:47:24,540
methone receives 100% reimbursement for federal and state mandated special education,

645
00:47:24,860 --> 00:47:25,840
and that's not the case.

646
00:47:26,380 --> 00:47:33,800
The taxpayers of methone have to pay initially $52,000, and then the threshold could be fluctuating

647
00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:41,380
anywhere from 65%, the 75%, I've been advocating for 90%, it really should be 100% because

648
00:47:41,380 --> 00:47:43,060
The funding should match the child.

649
00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:49,180
You have children with profoundly medical issues that often require one-on-one coverage.

650
00:47:49,740 --> 00:47:56,080
I would love to have an opportunity to reallocate resources locally and to find a facility.

651
00:47:56,660 --> 00:47:58,620
But we also need state partners on that.

652
00:47:58,780 --> 00:48:04,020
We were very fortunate at the last second together in a fusion of additional circuit break

653
00:48:04,020 --> 00:48:09,440
and money in the amount of $3 million to help us because we have had massive layoffs.

654
00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:13,400
we have to do better in our partnership with the state. Thank you. Thank you, Ken.

655
00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:20,160
Alejandro. Yes, as I mentioned before, one of the biggest priorities in my platform is

656
00:48:20,160 --> 00:48:25,380
special education. Now, I'm in total agreement that we need to bring our children back in

657
00:48:25,380 --> 00:48:25,980
district.

658
00:48:28,020 --> 00:48:33,420
To do that, however, we need to have the correct data as member Maxwell had mentioned previously.

659
00:48:33,420 --> 00:48:39,060
Once those, once that data is out there, once the investigation has come to fruition, we

660
00:48:39,060 --> 00:48:40,380
can know what we need to do.

661
00:48:40,700 --> 00:48:45,740
Whether that be the reallocation of resources, do we have the staff necessary, the infrastructure

662
00:48:46,430 --> 00:48:47,840
to be able to do this?

663
00:48:48,260 --> 00:48:50,940
Those are questions that need to be answered and need to be prioritized.

664
00:48:51,460 --> 00:48:52,400
Thank you.

665
00:48:52,660 --> 00:48:53,440
Thank you.

666
00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:53,740
Nick?

667
00:48:55,000 --> 00:49:00,140
Public Day Program, Alternative Programs, I've been asking for it for almost 10 years.

668
00:49:00,140 --> 00:49:05,060
It's been on the wish list every year, so I agree with it.

669
00:49:05,060 --> 00:49:06,320
It has to be funded.

670
00:49:07,500 --> 00:49:09,580
Now nothing's ever been cut from the budget.

671
00:49:10,180 --> 00:49:11,480
So I want to make sure that's clear.

672
00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:17,240
If something is being allocated, if I have a budget of 120 million and I want 10 million,

673
00:49:18,340 --> 00:49:22,120
but I get on 123 million, nothing was cut.

674
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:26,720
All right, positions and requests come in every year in the budget cycle.

675
00:49:27,100 --> 00:49:28,700
We don't get the full request.

676
00:49:28,700 --> 00:49:33,160
And yes, every year, this request is not fully funded or funded.

677
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:35,280
But nothing was cut.

678
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:40,760
When you cut a budget, you go from 120 million to 190 million.

679
00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:41,900
That's a million dollar cut.

680
00:49:42,780 --> 00:49:45,220
The budget keeps going up every year.

681
00:49:45,940 --> 00:49:48,460
We're just not allocating the funding correctly.

682
00:49:49,300 --> 00:49:52,280
Or we are not allocating it where it needs to go.

683
00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:55,740
But yes, we came up very close to a deficit this year

684
00:49:55,740 --> 00:49:59,120
and we got the funding at the end so that we did not have any cuts.

685
00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:00,420
Thank you, thank you.

686
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:00,720
Daniel.

687
00:50:01,880 --> 00:50:08,460
So I have a child that's currently on an IEP in several years.

688
00:50:08,700 --> 00:50:15,640
We had considered out placing him because he was not making the progressive improvements

689
00:50:16,340 --> 00:50:18,180
that we really wanted to see.

690
00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:22,440
But ideally, we chose to keep him in the Mithuan school system,

691
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:29,400
which was great because he's formed so many relationships with his teachers and other

692
00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:34,380
students and it was really difficult decision to want to have to pull him out of the

693
00:50:34,380 --> 00:50:39,760
system. I don't think that any child should have to feel or parents should have to

694
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:44,860
make that decision of pulling their child out of the school system so it would be

695
00:50:44,860 --> 00:50:51,860
wonderful if we could have a better special ed program here but ideally I don't

696
00:50:51,860 --> 00:50:58,020
think it's in the budget at this time and we need to keep working on trying to find a solution.

697
00:50:58,540 --> 00:50:59,380
Thank you.

698
00:50:59,460 --> 00:51:01,200
Thank you, wrapping this question will be Maria.

699
00:51:01,940 --> 00:51:05,580
So I am going to come from a grandparent parent perspective as well.

700
00:51:05,700 --> 00:51:09,240
I'm not going to talk about the budget because everything that needed to be said was said.

701
00:51:09,860 --> 00:51:12,060
But I agree with Ms. Danielle.

702
00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:14,660
It's very hard.

703
00:51:14,820 --> 00:51:15,240
It's very difficult.

704
00:51:15,460 --> 00:51:18,520
Kids should be home that connection, that community.

705
00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:23,400
the resources that we have, that collaboration should be there.

706
00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:28,080
But if they are not feeling that we're meeting the need,

707
00:51:28,420 --> 00:51:31,000
if that mindset that we hear over and over again,

708
00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:35,300
that we want to do what is in the best interest of your child

709
00:51:35,300 --> 00:51:37,800
and a parent's not trusting that,

710
00:51:38,860 --> 00:51:40,720
sometimes they're left with no other alternative

711
00:51:40,720 --> 00:51:43,240
than to seek that out of school placement

712
00:51:43,240 --> 00:51:45,340
and advocating for their child.

713
00:51:45,340 --> 00:51:53,480
So yes, in home sounds ideal, it would be a good goal to see somewhere down the line, but

714
00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:59,020
budget taking all those things into factor, we have to do what's in the best interest of the child.

715
00:52:00,380 --> 00:52:03,920
All right, get it? It's thanks so much. We're going to move on to our next question. Now,

716
00:52:03,980 --> 00:52:08,160
Lori, you will be first up on this and we're going to talk about the audit.

717
00:52:08,860 --> 00:52:14,820
A recent audit of the school district identified communication, and that's from routine, no

718
00:52:14,820 --> 00:52:19,020
tone, to responding to parent concerns, as an area of improvement.

719
00:52:19,980 --> 00:52:24,100
How would you encourage administration to improve communication with families?

720
00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:32,560
So the audit made recommendations of communicating with families once a week.

721
00:52:32,940 --> 00:52:34,300
We already do that.

722
00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:39,520
And so the fact that communication is an issue, I think first up, we need to figure out what

723
00:52:39,520 --> 00:52:46,140
type of communication parents need and want, because we're doing it a lot. We have the

724
00:52:46,140 --> 00:52:52,960
data, we send out weekly newsletters, we have parent teachers sending out talking points,

725
00:52:54,100 --> 00:52:59,320
but people keep saying it's not enough or it's not what I want. So we need to figure out

726
00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:05,460
what it is that people want and need and then we need to develop a plan to meet those needs.

727
00:53:05,460 --> 00:53:15,240
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.

728
00:53:16,420 --> 00:53:22,460
So I would say we need to first investigate and then come up with a plan. Thank you.

729
00:53:23,200 --> 00:53:23,760
Thank you, Chris.

730
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:31,640
So I can speak on this as a parent and I do know that the audit came out and it gave a

731
00:53:31,640 --> 00:53:32,100
poor rating.

732
00:53:32,500 --> 00:53:37,700
I do think that we need a lot of help in the communication department when it comes to parents.

733
00:53:38,040 --> 00:53:42,800
So parents are pushed out of the district when COVID happened and they were never invited

734
00:53:42,800 --> 00:53:43,600
back in.

735
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:45,640
We need to invite parents back in.

736
00:53:45,700 --> 00:53:46,860
We need to make them feel welcome.

737
00:53:47,100 --> 00:53:51,600
We need to make them feel like they're partners in their child's education and not an inconvenience.

738
00:53:51,600 --> 00:54:00,580
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.

739
00:54:04,530 --> 00:54:09,090
I just want to, I just want to bring parents back in the district. That's all I can. That's it.

740
00:54:10,250 --> 00:54:11,030
Thank you. Martha.

741
00:54:12,010 --> 00:54:17,670
So we do, this schools do send the principal send a weekly newsletter home to the parents.

742
00:54:18,450 --> 00:54:24,770
There's a monthly flyer that goes out, an actual paper flyer about sports and other activities

743
00:54:24,770 --> 00:54:26,590
that are happening in the city.

744
00:54:28,050 --> 00:54:33,890
We have a PTO in every building that's always struggling for volunteers and people to join

745
00:54:33,890 --> 00:54:35,670
there committee.

746
00:54:36,550 --> 00:54:38,850
We have a school council in every school.

747
00:54:39,330 --> 00:54:45,390
We are parents are invited to sit on and join and, like November Keegan said, I'm not

748
00:54:45,390 --> 00:54:46,950
sure what parents are looking for.

749
00:54:46,950 --> 00:54:54,310
If they would let us know what are the communications they would like, I'm sure that that could be taken care of.

750
00:54:55,590 --> 00:55:03,010
Parents, I'm not involved enough in the schools, sadly but true, and I think if they got involved

751
00:55:03,010 --> 00:55:08,410
in some of these activities and things that are happening in the buildings, they would see that it's a great

752
00:55:08,410 --> 00:55:14,850
thing to be a part of. Thank you. Good. I think there's different means of

753
00:55:14,850 --> 00:55:20,310
interpreting communication if again I encourage everyone to read the audit because I think

754
00:55:20,310 --> 00:55:26,250
there's been silent mentality that's been established, there's been a culture of fear.

755
00:55:27,350 --> 00:55:32,490
I know the teachers have a sense of hopelessness that their issues are not being addressed.

756
00:55:33,230 --> 00:55:40,030
I know that the parents conveyed that the students even conveyed that and if someone is being bullied

757
00:55:40,030 --> 00:55:42,350
And it's not being resolved.

758
00:55:43,250 --> 00:55:44,790
That's a lack of communication.

759
00:55:45,490 --> 00:55:49,590
If there's a language barrier, that's a lack of communication.

760
00:55:50,190 --> 00:55:57,230
If the teachers don't find merit in what they're doing as a position,

761
00:55:57,810 --> 00:56:00,570
and they go elsewhere, that's a communication issue.

762
00:56:01,510 --> 00:56:04,270
The central office, I've said that repeatedly,

763
00:56:05,290 --> 00:56:06,690
there's been communication issues.

764
00:56:06,690 --> 00:56:14,450
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.

765
00:56:15,190 --> 00:56:17,050
Thank you. Oh, a hundred. Yes.

766
00:56:18,150 --> 00:56:21,770
I like to tackle this issue two different ways.

767
00:56:22,050 --> 00:56:25,190
The first one is communications with parents and the community in general.

768
00:56:26,110 --> 00:56:33,310
Now, from my understanding, communication is bilingual in official documentation and letters to parents and whatnot.

769
00:56:33,310 --> 00:56:37,970
But I would like to know, are the newsletters that are being set out by language, or the flyers by language?

770
00:56:39,150 --> 00:56:46,050
The informal communication, the cultural responsiveness of the communications, is that being addressed?

771
00:56:46,610 --> 00:56:54,670
And secondly, in regards to the institutional institutions like school councils, PTOs, CPAC, LPEC,

772
00:56:54,670 --> 00:57:01,750
how much of those are being manipulated by administration and leadership to push out

773
00:57:01,750 --> 00:57:06,390
parents in maybe in a purposeful or not purposeful way but those are

774
00:57:06,390 --> 00:57:13,810
barriers that are created that we need to address. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

775
00:57:15,490 --> 00:57:20,450
I know we're doing it. We've been doing it for 10 years. Parents, teachers,

776
00:57:21,830 --> 00:57:27,050
administrators, maybe it's the volume, maybe it's the lack of volume, but a part of it

777
00:57:27,050 --> 00:57:34,970
is, again, we don't know exactly the communications very ambiguous term here, but the

778
00:57:34,970 --> 00:57:42,270
audit brought up that the schools, though, are different. So even though one school might be

779
00:57:42,270 --> 00:57:46,730
doing a lot of communication, one may be doing something smaller. It's not universal.

780
00:57:47,470 --> 00:57:52,350
So, I think that's where we need to attack is making sure all four schools from a grammar

781
00:57:52,350 --> 00:57:56,530
perspective, then the high school should get a different type of involvement.

782
00:57:57,570 --> 00:58:03,290
But those four schools from a grammar perspective, K-3-8 should all be on the same page on

783
00:58:03,290 --> 00:58:03,870
communication.

784
00:58:04,450 --> 00:58:09,030
The way they interact with parents, the councils, the PTOs, the way that newsletters go

785
00:58:09,030 --> 00:58:14,350
out, it all should be aligned in the same process and the audit said that it did not.

786
00:58:14,890 --> 00:58:15,670
Thank you.

787
00:58:15,850 --> 00:58:16,270
Thank you.

788
00:58:16,270 --> 00:58:20,730
I agree with a lot that has been said so far.

789
00:58:21,210 --> 00:58:24,670
I believe that parent engagement is critical.

790
00:58:25,770 --> 00:58:31,650
I feel that we're trying multiple different ways to communicate talking

791
00:58:31,650 --> 00:58:32,150
plates.

792
00:58:32,450 --> 00:58:33,810
I think has improved.

793
00:58:34,390 --> 00:58:37,710
I've been looking at my talking points more frequently.

794
00:58:38,790 --> 00:58:42,610
However, I think just the energy in the schools,

795
00:58:42,790 --> 00:58:44,560
the morale in the schools is

796
00:58:44,560 --> 00:58:51,760
affecting parents at home and they don't want to participate. They don't want to come into this

797
00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:59,360
schools. So we have to find a way to get that energy back into the schools through events. I don't know.

798
00:58:59,880 --> 00:59:03,640
This is certainly how to do that. But thank you.

799
00:59:03,740 --> 00:59:04,660
Thank you. Maria.

800
00:59:06,420 --> 00:59:13,940
So communication. It's a challenge. And I'm coming again from a parent perspective. I think

801
00:59:13,940 --> 00:59:20,720
parents are, they want purpose, they want a sense of belonging, they want to understand

802
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:25,840
and sometimes it's, as they share, there's newsletters, are the newsletters going out

803
00:59:25,840 --> 00:59:30,860
in a timely manner. Some of the things that I hear from parents is, you know, I'm getting this

804
00:59:30,860 --> 00:59:35,600
but it's last minute, I work, I don't have time, some of them are single parent households.

805
00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:43,920
So it's, how is that communication being sent? And do you have accurate information for the parents?

806
00:59:43,940 --> 00:59:50,740
is all that data up to date, and just making parents feel welcomed when they come into the

807
00:59:50,740 --> 00:59:51,020
school.

808
00:59:51,340 --> 00:59:52,340
Let's get grass rooted.

809
00:59:52,520 --> 00:59:56,120
Let's just talk to them when they're there, take advantage, and have these conversations.

810
00:59:57,140 --> 00:59:59,960
And find out where those breakdowns are so that we...

811
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:06,540
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.

812
01:00:07,260 --> 01:00:09,140
Thank you. Rapping this question, very Beth.

813
01:00:09,300 --> 01:00:16,620
It's hard to be the last person's response. I think the question is about consistency and communication.

814
01:00:17,940 --> 01:00:28,340
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.

815
01:00:28,340 --> 01:00:29,280
And I get that.

816
01:00:29,580 --> 01:00:32,120
But if you look at our website, you can go to the schools

817
01:00:32,120 --> 01:00:36,480
and see every Friday every principal posts, a newsletter,

818
01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:37,780
about what is happening.

819
01:00:38,700 --> 01:00:41,620
I talking points, parents have the ability to access

820
01:00:41,620 --> 01:00:44,080
in their language they are most comfortable with.

821
01:00:44,840 --> 01:00:47,660
The most successful opportunities for communication

822
01:00:47,660 --> 01:00:50,260
happen when parents are invited into the schools.

823
01:00:50,640 --> 01:00:52,800
And I've been lucky enough, if you've been on the school

824
01:00:52,800 --> 01:00:55,560
community, you've been invited to all these great activities

825
01:00:56,040 --> 01:00:58,100
to the read across America, where you can go in

826
01:00:58,100 --> 01:01:01,360
read and you meet other families there participating,

827
01:01:03,620 --> 01:01:06,760
the biography fears, I don't want to

828
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:12,340
say wax museums, but the living museums where all these wonderful opportunities, we need

829
01:01:12,340 --> 01:01:16,300
to meet the parents there and expand our conversations.

830
01:01:17,500 --> 01:01:21,060
All right, Canada, thank you so much, we're going to move on now to our next question and we'll

831
01:01:21,060 --> 01:01:25,720
keep talking about the audit, Kristen, you're going to be first up on this one again one

832
01:01:25,720 --> 01:01:32,400
minute response time. So, second question for the audit. It showed concerns about higher than

833
01:01:32,400 --> 01:01:37,920
usual out of school suspensions and inconsistent discipline enforcement. What would be your

834
01:01:37,920 --> 01:01:39,720
recommendation to district administrators?

835
01:01:42,760 --> 01:01:54,940
So, I think that I think that we need to start and repurpose our discipline procedures to begin

836
01:01:54,940 --> 01:02:00,080
I think that we should have in-house suspension, I think we should have detention.

837
01:02:00,340 --> 01:02:02,100
I think that we should have Saturday detention.

838
01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:05,900
I think that the principles, the supervising principles,

839
01:02:06,060 --> 01:02:11,840
really need to be the lead in discipline and communicating with kids.

840
01:02:12,380 --> 01:02:15,300
I do think that we have a high suspension rate.

841
01:02:15,640 --> 01:02:21,080
I don't think that it's unnecessary because a lot of our problems

842
01:02:21,080 --> 01:02:26,460
Um, a lot of our problems are behavioral issues that I don't want to say, I, you

843
01:02:26,460 --> 01:02:30,060
be behavioral issues, but behavioral issues, meaning kids just don't like something

844
01:02:30,060 --> 01:02:33,020
so they fight with each other or their feelings are hurt.

845
01:02:33,740 --> 01:02:39,620
So they don't play or, you know, my biggest concern with discipline really right now, though,

846
01:02:39,620 --> 01:02:43,460
is I've heard a lot of parents complain that recess has been taken away from their kids.

847
01:02:44,460 --> 01:02:48,140
Um, so we really need to focus on restorative practices and bringing them back.

848
01:02:52,200 --> 01:03:01,840
So, in-house suspension and Saturday suspension is a great idea for the high school, in-house

849
01:03:01,840 --> 01:03:06,640
suspension for the elementary schools, Saturday suspension students can't get a right home.

850
01:03:06,740 --> 01:03:09,040
They can't get a right there, and they can't get a right home.

851
01:03:09,900 --> 01:03:14,360
So that's always been for the lower grade levels in issue with that.

852
01:03:14,360 --> 01:03:20,360
I think a lot of our suspension issues are mental health issues.

853
01:03:21,020 --> 01:03:27,240
I think that we need to find a way to be able to keep these children in school.

854
01:03:28,320 --> 01:03:36,340
Again, I think our mental health department needs a boost in staff

855
01:03:37,240 --> 01:03:41,720
and educate more education on how to handle these different issues.

856
01:03:44,240 --> 01:03:45,880
And I think that's all I have to say.

857
01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:46,480
Thank you.

858
01:03:46,480 --> 01:03:47,960
Thank you.

859
01:03:48,440 --> 01:03:50,220
It's such a complex issue.

860
01:03:50,380 --> 01:03:51,340
It really is.

861
01:03:51,800 --> 01:03:57,420
We only have two risk specialists in order to conduct in-house suspensions.

862
01:03:58,100 --> 01:03:59,320
So we do have a disparity.

863
01:04:00,500 --> 01:04:05,040
I would prefer in-house suspensions because if you have out-of-district,

864
01:04:05,400 --> 01:04:11,640
out-of-school suspensions, you don't know the mindset or the dynamic on a home front.

865
01:04:11,880 --> 01:04:13,680
And I'm very concerned about that.

866
01:04:13,680 --> 01:04:19,700
I'm also concerned about internally how we track bullying and discipline issues.

867
01:04:19,920 --> 01:04:24,760
I don't think we sufficiently track bullying and discipline issues.

868
01:04:25,300 --> 01:04:28,120
So we really have to redouble our efforts.

869
01:04:28,460 --> 01:04:36,780
Part of it also is the state because we are limited in how we can handle discipline issues and bullying issues.

870
01:04:37,560 --> 01:04:40,360
And so we need to reach out to a legislative delegation.

871
01:04:41,600 --> 01:04:47,080
unfortunately, Peabody had a suicide because of bullying, so I recommended to the mayor

872
01:04:47,080 --> 01:04:53,000
of having a bullying summit and also a bullying task force, and I know the mayor is going

873
01:04:53,000 --> 01:04:53,720
to follow up on that.

874
01:04:54,000 --> 01:04:54,240
Thank you.

875
01:04:54,240 --> 01:04:54,940
Thank you, Dan.

876
01:04:55,040 --> 01:04:55,520
Alejandro.

877
01:04:57,540 --> 01:05:02,460
Just like there needs to be consistency in communication, there needs to be consistency in

878
01:05:02,460 --> 01:05:02,920
discipline.

879
01:05:05,640 --> 01:05:12,080
I see a disparity between the numbers of bullying claims that are substantiated and

880
01:05:12,080 --> 01:05:19,660
substantiated and the bullying in the audit. Why is that? I would like to know. I think our

881
01:05:19,660 --> 01:05:24,240
suspension is way too high and we need in-house suspension. We need restorative practices and we

882
01:05:24,240 --> 01:05:28,540
need a new superintendent that it's going to be focused on the war on bullying and making sure

883
01:05:28,540 --> 01:05:34,940
that our practices are in line with an equitable school system that brings all of our students in

884
01:05:34,940 --> 01:05:40,940
in a way that doesn't promote a structural and a systemic bullying that is not reported

885
01:05:40,940 --> 01:05:46,000
like a member is saying that a systemic in a way that is not even being reported.

886
01:05:46,760 --> 01:05:52,300
We see that disparity in the audit and in the bullying and the audit and in the bullying

887
01:05:52,300 --> 01:05:53,280
numbers that are reported.

888
01:05:53,820 --> 01:05:55,260
Thank you.

889
01:05:55,260 --> 01:05:55,600
Thank you.

890
01:05:55,820 --> 01:05:56,000
Nick.

891
01:05:57,260 --> 01:06:01,420
I mean, as a former student of Mr. Owen Public Schools, I got a detention quite a lot

892
01:06:01,420 --> 01:06:02,160
back in the day.

893
01:06:02,160 --> 01:06:08,380
So, but what got me out of it was getting involved in sports and extra curricular activities.

894
01:06:09,160 --> 01:06:13,580
We really should be promoting the arts, promoting other opportunities for students.

895
01:06:14,220 --> 01:06:20,880
And that was why back in 2016 when I came back on the school committee, we saved the

896
01:06:20,880 --> 01:06:24,800
performing arts program and we kept it going and we saved it again this year.

897
01:06:25,580 --> 01:06:30,360
Things like that should not be thrown out because these type of programs bring new light

898
01:06:30,360 --> 01:06:33,020
to students who are expressing themselves.

899
01:06:33,700 --> 01:06:35,980
You can agree or disagree about mental health

900
01:06:37,420 --> 01:06:41,420
and bullying, but it starts at expression

901
01:06:41,420 --> 01:06:43,140
and their ideology.

902
01:06:44,280 --> 01:06:47,520
I think ultimately, if we started doing more

903
01:06:47,520 --> 01:06:49,780
in-house suspensions or more community service,

904
01:06:49,820 --> 01:06:51,440
instead of sending the kids home to play

905
01:06:51,440 --> 01:06:54,500
on their PlayStation 3 and Xboxes and TikTok

906
01:06:54,500 --> 01:06:56,060
and doing all those videos,

907
01:06:57,420 --> 01:06:59,520
That gives children better opportunity.

908
01:07:01,020 --> 01:07:01,340
Thank you.

909
01:07:01,400 --> 01:07:02,380
Thank you.

910
01:07:02,400 --> 01:07:03,020
Thank you.

911
01:07:03,100 --> 01:07:04,900
I kind of agree with Nick here.

912
01:07:05,600 --> 01:07:14,720
At a school suspension, I feel is stressful on a child who may already be stressed out at home or at school.

913
01:07:14,840 --> 01:07:17,520
Maybe there's a health component here.

914
01:07:18,140 --> 01:07:20,220
Maybe we need to look at other schools.

915
01:07:21,140 --> 01:07:24,080
What their current policies are and try to work on.

916
01:07:24,080 --> 01:07:29,120
and a new policy to keep the kids here in the in-house

917
01:07:29,120 --> 01:07:33,560
or potentially community service, just to help out.

918
01:07:33,740 --> 01:07:34,460
Thank you.

919
01:07:34,520 --> 01:07:35,040
Thank you.

920
01:07:35,120 --> 01:07:35,260
Maria.

921
01:07:35,940 --> 01:07:38,180
I, first of all, want to say thank you to each and every one

922
01:07:38,180 --> 01:07:41,180
of the candidates for touching on mental health and bullying.

923
01:07:43,200 --> 01:07:46,280
Because behavior, it is really important to keep the kids

924
01:07:46,280 --> 01:07:48,660
in school, definitely in health suspension.

925
01:07:48,660 --> 01:07:57,580
But I think there's a missed opportunity for us to reach out and collaborate with the resources,

926
01:07:57,760 --> 01:08:01,960
the rich resources that we have in our community and in our surrounding community,

927
01:08:02,460 --> 01:08:08,060
to work with professionals for behavioral health and social emotional development

928
01:08:08,060 --> 01:08:14,840
that we shouldn't only keep this institutionalized, that we partner and collaborate with agencies,

929
01:08:14,840 --> 01:08:17,860
And we have these conversations with parents.

930
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:23,940
I love and appreciate the, well, that Ken did bring that up,

931
01:08:23,940 --> 01:08:25,900
and we were able to talk about it.

932
01:08:25,920 --> 01:08:29,680
And the mayor is all for having a committee for bullying,

933
01:08:30,740 --> 01:08:33,340
because, again, these conversations need to happen.

934
01:08:34,920 --> 01:08:36,080
Thank you. Very best.

935
01:08:36,720 --> 01:08:39,120
Well, I believe it was late last year.

936
01:08:39,320 --> 01:08:42,860
The school committee approved creating some new physicians,

937
01:08:42,860 --> 01:08:45,760
focus solely on addressing behaviors.

938
01:08:47,440 --> 01:08:50,020
And then we asked for data when we hired these positions.

939
01:08:50,500 --> 01:08:56,540
And we found that having these highly skilled staff members

940
01:08:56,540 --> 01:09:01,400
in place to work with students before the behaviors escalated,

941
01:09:01,420 --> 01:09:04,700
made a huge impact on classroom behaviors

942
01:09:04,700 --> 01:09:08,960
will definitely lower disruptions in some in the areas

943
01:09:08,960 --> 01:09:10,900
where you didn't want to see any disruption

944
01:09:10,900 --> 01:09:17,560
or anyone else feeling uncomfortable, and made a very positive impact according to staff and

945
01:09:17,560 --> 01:09:23,840
other students about getting ahead of the problem. And what we did see was reduction in suspensions

946
01:09:23,840 --> 01:09:29,440
and office referrals. I'd like to see that program expanded. When I was principal at the

947
01:09:29,440 --> 01:09:34,940
Tenney a long time ago, or not that long ago, we went kind of rogue and we had our own Saturday

948
01:09:34,940 --> 01:09:40,020
attention for tardies and behaviors. We found a tremendous improvement in behaviors and I'd

949
01:09:40,020 --> 01:09:42,520
love to see that continue. Thank you.

950
01:09:42,780 --> 01:09:42,880
Cory.

951
01:09:44,940 --> 01:09:50,980
The attitude of suspension rate is extremely high and I'm the one that actually started asking

952
01:09:50,980 --> 01:09:56,420
for the attitude of suspension rate because the laws are pretty clear about you're not

953
01:09:56,420 --> 01:10:05,680
spending kids, and so I feel very strongly that we need more staff to be able to keep kids

954
01:10:05,680 --> 01:10:09,280
in school for when behaviors do happen in the classroom.

955
01:10:09,680 --> 01:10:15,740
We need to remove them and manage the behavior, manage whatever is going on, and I believe

956
01:10:15,740 --> 01:10:20,500
that our discipline needs to start with education as opposed to punishment.

957
01:10:20,500 --> 01:10:27,940
And so, you know, the first thing shouldn't be detention, it should be your now assigned

958
01:10:27,940 --> 01:10:34,920
at lunchtime to go to a group to learn about whatever it is so that we're educating

959
01:10:34,920 --> 01:10:40,660
the kids and we're teaching them how to behave as opposed to just saying, don't do that.

960
01:10:41,480 --> 01:10:42,140
Thank you.

961
01:10:42,880 --> 01:10:43,480
Thanks so much.

962
01:10:43,480 --> 01:10:50,320
We're going to move on to our next question and Martha, you're going to be first up on

963
01:10:50,320 --> 01:11:03,620
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.

964
01:11:03,960 --> 01:11:11,160
So here's the question. Please tell us how you would handle a parent's complaint about curriculum or course materials.

965
01:11:13,600 --> 01:11:19,820
So, I would definitely direct them to the superintendent and the assistant superintendent.

966
01:11:21,380 --> 01:11:27,580
I don't feel that I'm qualified to talk to them about the issues that they have.

967
01:11:27,980 --> 01:11:36,040
I feel that when parents do come to school committee, I think that they should be directly sent to the administration.

968
01:11:38,660 --> 01:11:44,420
I know a lot of parents have issues with the curriculum and the issues that we had at the

969
01:11:44,420 --> 01:11:49,900
school committee meeting the other evening. Parents have a right to opt out of things.

970
01:11:50,360 --> 01:11:57,460
I don't know if parents are aware of that. They should be. And I just think that a lot

971
01:11:57,460 --> 01:12:01,260
of things should be directed to the administration. They're the professionals. They're the ones

972
01:12:01,260 --> 01:12:05,080
that should be handling these questions from these parents. Thank you.

973
01:12:05,080 --> 01:12:13,460
Thank you. Again. I mean obviously I'm in favor of a universal parental opt-out in relation to issues

974
01:12:13,460 --> 01:12:21,020
of sexuality. If it impacts someone's religious and moral objections, there was a debate internally

975
01:12:21,640 --> 01:12:30,560
about what would be primarily within a course. Again, if any type of sexual reference,

976
01:12:30,560 --> 01:12:38,580
graphic material, things that could be ejectionable to someone's religion, someone mocking

977
01:12:38,580 --> 01:12:39,880
someone else's religion.

978
01:12:40,560 --> 01:12:45,660
On and medically, there should be a parental option to opt out.

979
01:12:45,660 --> 01:12:47,920
And I'm strongly in favor of that.

980
01:12:48,340 --> 01:12:52,340
There was never any discussion about banning a book.

981
01:12:52,820 --> 01:12:59,700
I support freedom of speech, but I also support the minority right under the constitution,

982
01:12:59,700 --> 01:13:07,380
reinforced by Supreme Court decisions to emphasize there is parental rights and that we should

983
01:13:07,380 --> 01:13:10,100
not be abandoning those parental rights.

984
01:13:10,420 --> 01:13:10,840
Thank you.

985
01:13:10,840 --> 01:13:11,620
Thank you.

986
01:13:11,820 --> 01:13:12,180
Alejandro?

987
01:13:12,820 --> 01:13:13,140
Yes.

988
01:13:13,520 --> 01:13:17,880
I believe this is an issue that goes down to checks and balances and constituents services.

989
01:13:18,860 --> 01:13:23,840
The three incumbents sitting at this table know that voted by however many votes, 2000,

990
01:13:23,840 --> 01:13:30,520
1,3,000 votes that the community put a trust in you to handle issues of constituent services.

991
01:13:31,320 --> 01:13:32,760
Now, it is checks and balances.

992
01:13:33,540 --> 01:13:38,980
I do believe that the administration does have the qualifications to handle these issues

993
01:13:38,980 --> 01:13:42,200
and to handle the timeline of answering these issues.

994
01:13:42,780 --> 01:13:46,440
However, I also believe that these checks and balances go both ways.

995
01:13:46,880 --> 01:13:49,560
There was never a discussion about banning a book.

996
01:13:49,560 --> 01:13:58,080
Yet the agenda item language, which is written by a point of clarification, the chair, the vice chair and the superintendent,

997
01:13:58,760 --> 01:14:05,720
collaborate on writing the language of the agenda, whether or not a member can say, I want this on the agenda or not,

998
01:14:06,920 --> 01:14:12,460
the language was chosen purposefully, and that is not right. Thank you.

999
01:14:12,760 --> 01:14:13,560
Thank you.

1000
01:14:13,560 --> 01:14:17,620
I have to last meeting, I should have bought stock or trademarked the word ban.

1001
01:14:18,520 --> 01:14:23,960
But here's the thing, is the word ban never came up in any of the conversations that

1002
01:14:23,960 --> 01:14:26,220
the school committee put on that agenda.

1003
01:14:26,260 --> 01:14:30,480
And I don't think that was the intention of anyone that brought that to that conversation.

1004
01:14:30,620 --> 01:14:31,980
I think it was about policy.

1005
01:14:32,760 --> 01:14:38,280
What is the policy if this type of book is being subject mattered in your classroom?

1006
01:14:38,840 --> 01:14:40,340
That's what I believe it was.

1007
01:14:40,340 --> 01:14:48,380
But the school committee's job in all respect is policy, budget, and the superintendent.

1008
01:14:49,340 --> 01:14:55,400
Anything outside of that should be directed to the professionals, which are the superintendent and their staff.

1009
01:14:56,060 --> 01:14:59,980
Where this is a policy question, I don't see why it couldn't have been added to the agenda.

1010
01:15:00,270 --> 01:15:13,950
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.

1011
01:15:15,730 --> 01:15:21,850
I think it got out of context. I think the discussion should have been quick, not four hours long.

1012
01:15:23,170 --> 01:15:24,210
Thank you. Daniel?

1013
01:15:24,210 --> 01:15:34,270
I think sending parents through proper channels is an necessity, obviously as a school committee member and a parent,

1014
01:15:34,810 --> 01:15:42,810
you want to empathize with the parent get to understand where they're coming from, you know, what's going on,

1015
01:15:43,110 --> 01:15:53,070
but ultimately they need to go through administration and follow up potentially from the school committee member to make sure that

1016
01:15:53,070 --> 01:16:00,690
things have been addressed properly. Thank you. Maria. Thank you for asking this question set.

1017
01:16:02,470 --> 01:16:07,510
This one hits home for two reasons. Personal and lived experience and this is my job in the

1018
01:16:07,510 --> 01:16:14,690
community. This is part of what I do. It's really empowering parents to know who their contacts are in the

1019
01:16:14,690 --> 01:16:21,710
school. Some of the feedback that I get is, well, I've gone to administration and the gas lighting

1020
01:16:21,710 --> 01:16:25,510
and the redirecting and that you should talk to this person, that person, the other person,

1021
01:16:25,870 --> 01:16:31,310
parents don't know who to trust and who to talk to. When I give them a name, their surprise,

1022
01:16:31,770 --> 01:16:36,270
they're taking back and saying, why wasn't I given that from the beginning instead of having to

1023
01:16:36,270 --> 01:16:43,330
tell my story over and over and over and some of these stories are retraumatizing? And I think we

1024
01:16:43,330 --> 01:16:49,570
need to be mindful, consider it, compassionate, that when parents bring these attention, whether

1025
01:16:49,570 --> 01:16:55,350
said administrators are not, they're trying to reach out to someone they trust. And it

1026
01:16:55,350 --> 01:17:01,990
may not necessarily always be an administrator for whatever reason. So apologies, thank

1027
01:17:01,990 --> 01:17:09,570
you. Thank you. Very best. Mr. Desaglio was right on. We have three jobs to do as a school

1028
01:17:09,570 --> 01:17:17,450
committee. Policy budget and supervising our superintendent. We have experts in the field that

1029
01:17:17,450 --> 01:17:19,650
make decisions about curriculum and instruction.

1030
01:17:19,650 --> 01:17:21,730
That's not, and instructional materials.

1031
01:17:22,170 --> 01:17:23,230
That's not our job.

1032
01:17:23,470 --> 01:17:25,450
We are not equipped to do that.

1033
01:17:28,030 --> 01:17:31,770
And those people understand what students need to be engaged

1034
01:17:32,150 --> 01:17:34,610
and how they should be represented in the materials.

1035
01:17:35,690 --> 01:17:37,690
I believe when the school committee opens the door

1036
01:17:37,690 --> 01:17:39,830
to these kinds of discussions,

1037
01:17:41,590 --> 01:17:45,050
they bring along their personal and political beliefs.

1038
01:17:45,050 --> 01:17:48,590
And that's very dangerous in a public education environment.

1039
01:17:49,270 --> 01:17:50,990
We are a public school.

1040
01:17:52,330 --> 01:17:56,150
It's a responsibility of the parent as well to find out what is going on.

1041
01:17:56,490 --> 01:17:58,970
And we know that there are still a bit of syllabi.

1042
01:17:59,750 --> 01:18:00,990
There are open houses.

1043
01:18:01,870 --> 01:18:07,050
There's opportunities for parents to find out what their students are being exposed to.

1044
01:18:07,730 --> 01:18:10,010
And we have to start trusting our educators.

1045
01:18:10,910 --> 01:18:11,870
Thank you very much.

1046
01:18:12,210 --> 01:18:12,350
Lori.

1047
01:18:13,730 --> 01:18:23,490
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.

1048
01:18:23,950 --> 01:18:25,190
That's not what we do.

1049
01:18:25,810 --> 01:18:35,410
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.

1050
01:18:35,970 --> 01:18:39,610
We are not the problem solvers for the day-to-day issues.

1051
01:18:39,610 --> 01:18:46,710
We had a policy makers, we had the superintendents overseer, we are the budget people, but that's it.

1052
01:18:47,690 --> 01:18:55,050
And in this particular instance, this parent could easily have been referred to the high school.

1053
01:18:55,490 --> 01:18:59,610
It is common practice that you can opt out of English books.

1054
01:18:59,970 --> 01:19:06,110
My child opt out out of the kite runner when she was in ninth grade, because it had objection material.

1055
01:19:06,110 --> 01:19:14,990
So, absolutely, this situation should never have made it to the school committee at all, thanks.

1056
01:19:15,650 --> 01:19:16,390
I'm wrapping this question.

1057
01:19:17,250 --> 01:19:26,870
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.

1058
01:19:27,690 --> 01:19:30,970
These items were brought to the table by me.

1059
01:19:30,970 --> 01:19:38,070
I brought those two topics to the table, and I did, in fact, tell the parent to go to

1060
01:19:38,070 --> 01:19:43,210
the superintendent, however, when you have a superintendent that parents do not feel

1061
01:19:43,210 --> 01:19:48,410
like they can talk to, or principals that they can talk to, they have nowhere else to go.

1062
01:19:48,410 --> 01:20:03,250
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.

1063
01:20:03,350 --> 01:20:07,970
I don't regret bringing those two topics to the table and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

1064
01:20:09,290 --> 01:20:13,070
candidates, thanks so much. That concludes our questions. We're going to move on to our closing

1065
01:20:13,070 --> 01:20:17,790
statements now. You'll each have one minute to do so, and we'll begin with Ken.

1066
01:20:18,370 --> 01:20:23,950
I mean, this has been fat tested. And I want to thank again to volunteers at Mithouan

1067
01:20:23,950 --> 01:20:28,550
Community Studios. I want to thank you, Seth, such a veteran of all these debates and

1068
01:20:28,550 --> 01:20:34,230
forms. I want to thank my fellow candidates because I don't think we engage in any

1069
01:20:34,230 --> 01:20:37,070
personal attacks, we had deep conversations.

1070
01:20:37,850 --> 01:20:40,830
And sometimes when you disagree about an issue,

1071
01:20:41,510 --> 01:20:45,410
that necessarily means that you're attacking that person

1072
01:20:45,410 --> 01:20:48,430
or that you're negative, you're in disagreement on the issue.

1073
01:20:49,090 --> 01:20:53,210
And we had turbulent times the last two years.

1074
01:20:53,550 --> 01:20:55,690
We had the passing of a beloved mayor.

1075
01:20:56,190 --> 01:20:58,630
We had the resignation of a superintendent.

1076
01:20:59,010 --> 01:20:59,870
We had an audit.

1077
01:20:59,870 --> 01:21:03,770
We had two budget crises that we had to handle.

1078
01:21:04,930 --> 01:21:07,130
We had to deal with a cell phone policy.

1079
01:21:07,870 --> 01:21:11,750
We had to deal with obviously maintenance issues and bullying issues.

1080
01:21:13,050 --> 01:21:15,450
And we have tested the waters.

1081
01:21:15,990 --> 01:21:17,770
We've made significant improvements.

1082
01:21:18,270 --> 01:21:19,690
We've worked in collaboration.

1083
01:21:20,710 --> 01:21:23,790
Methon should be proud and we need to work on those goals further.

1084
01:21:24,150 --> 01:21:24,610
Thank you.

1085
01:21:24,730 --> 01:21:25,610
Thank you.

1086
01:21:25,730 --> 01:21:26,170
Alejandro.

1087
01:21:26,930 --> 01:21:27,250
Yes.

1088
01:21:27,770 --> 01:21:30,470
First and foremost, thank you to MCS, to my fellow candidates.

1089
01:21:30,690 --> 01:21:35,130
This has been lovely to learn where everyone stands, and to have the platform for the voters

1090
01:21:35,130 --> 01:21:36,490
to know where we stand.

1091
01:21:39,740 --> 01:21:43,920
I have personally learned through this forum, per se.

1092
01:21:44,960 --> 01:21:48,700
That the most important quality for me in an elected official, and when I'm casting my vote

1093
01:21:48,700 --> 01:21:51,000
for the other school committee members, it's authenticity.

1094
01:21:52,400 --> 01:21:55,960
And I think that a lot of us have been authentic today, and I know that I have been

1095
01:21:55,960 --> 01:22:02,100
today. So for the voters, vote authenticity, vote passion.

1096
01:22:04,350 --> 01:22:07,750
I also want to say that I live my life

1097
01:22:07,750 --> 01:22:13,670
by two quotes that define my ideology. The first one is by a grief philosopher. If you know,

1098
01:22:14,130 --> 01:22:22,490
you know you know nothing and the second one is injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere

1099
01:22:22,490 --> 01:22:25,370
Martin Luther King, Jr., and I will bring that to the table.

1100
01:22:25,590 --> 01:22:27,390
I humbly ask for one of your votes.

1101
01:22:27,590 --> 01:22:28,370
Thank you.

1102
01:22:28,450 --> 01:22:29,250
Thank you.

1103
01:22:29,590 --> 01:22:29,750
Nick.

1104
01:22:32,370 --> 01:22:33,270
Now, clock starts now.

1105
01:22:33,450 --> 01:22:33,770
OK, great.

1106
01:22:33,930 --> 01:22:34,210
Thank you.

1107
01:22:35,510 --> 01:22:39,350
You know, being a homeowner here, but doing a father

1108
01:22:39,350 --> 01:22:42,570
of two amazing children, 8 in an Olivia,

1109
01:22:43,090 --> 01:22:44,310
and the husband of an educator,

1110
01:22:46,390 --> 01:22:52,430
I come to this job, again, with integrity, transparency, and purpose.

1111
01:22:53,270 --> 01:23:00,450
I've enjoyed every minute of my dedication to the Mathieu and public schools and to the city of

1112
01:23:00,450 --> 01:23:07,590
Mathieu and I couldn't be proud of the amount of people have come out this year to run for office.

1113
01:23:08,170 --> 01:23:10,770
Not just in the school committee but also at City Council.

1114
01:23:11,850 --> 01:23:13,970
It shows that we're moving in the right direction.

1115
01:23:14,090 --> 01:23:15,170
People are getting involved.

1116
01:23:15,570 --> 01:23:16,270
People are talking.

1117
01:23:16,270 --> 01:23:24,510
When I started in these roles 10 years ago, you know, it's crazy to believe that, again,

1118
01:23:24,870 --> 01:23:26,690
people were just being slotted into this.

1119
01:23:27,030 --> 01:23:31,190
As a former student in a Mathieu and Public, I'm proud of where I come from, I'm proud

1120
01:23:31,190 --> 01:23:35,310
where I'm at, and I look forward to hopefully getting your vote on November 4th, number

1121
01:23:35,310 --> 01:23:35,870
1 in the ballot.

1122
01:23:36,250 --> 01:23:36,610
Thank you.

1123
01:23:36,830 --> 01:23:37,490
Thank you.

1124
01:23:37,730 --> 01:23:38,030
Danielle?

1125
01:23:38,950 --> 01:23:40,290
Thank you very much.

1126
01:23:40,290 --> 01:23:50,110
I believe that a key component of having a successful school committee in the next couple

1127
01:23:50,110 --> 01:23:58,930
of years is hiring the proper superintendent getting community engagement, parent engagement,

1128
01:24:01,890 --> 01:24:12,110
I think that a lot of these issues in the schools has been started and is progressing nicely.

1129
01:24:12,410 --> 01:24:18,330
And we need to just continue on with all the work, the great work that has been done so far.

1130
01:24:19,910 --> 01:24:25,710
And I hope that we are very successful in the near future.

1131
01:24:26,310 --> 01:24:27,030
Thank you.

1132
01:24:27,030 --> 01:24:32,790
Thank you. Maria. I want to say thank you for inviting me here. Thank you for everyone for

1133
01:24:32,790 --> 01:24:38,150
your input and feedback. It is very much valued. I love that I was able to make the connection

1134
01:24:38,150 --> 01:24:42,950
about where really what drives us, what we're passionate about and it is definitely our community.

1135
01:24:43,310 --> 01:24:56,230
This is home. So I just want to say what you see is what you get. I definitely have had to get

1136
01:24:57,990 --> 01:25:15,690
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.

1137
01:25:16,490 --> 01:25:19,070
Thank you. Thank you for that, and I hope I get your vote.

1138
01:25:19,750 --> 01:25:20,670
Thank you. Very good.

1139
01:25:20,670 --> 01:25:25,950
I hope I made myself clear in the opening comments about my qualifications for this job.

1140
01:25:26,330 --> 01:25:30,970
I've devoted my life to education and Mathieu in schools, and I hope to continue that.

1141
01:25:32,230 --> 01:25:34,430
And while I have a minute, I hope left.

1142
01:25:34,950 --> 01:25:38,710
I just wanted to share with everyone the importance of literacy.

1143
01:25:39,310 --> 01:25:44,830
I started the Mathieu and Literacy Partnership with Representative Hamilton, the director of

1144
01:25:44,830 --> 01:25:47,810
the Evans Library, Kristen McLeod, the support for my board guard.

1145
01:25:47,810 --> 01:25:58,750
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.

1146
01:25:59,470 --> 01:26:09,270
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?

1147
01:26:09,270 --> 01:26:15,850
Mathieu and Reeds.org, Sina, will reach out to you and you can help transform this community.

1148
01:26:16,410 --> 01:26:23,150
Thank you, Mary Beth. Lori. Thank you. I've been, I'm a Throne resident for 30 years.

1149
01:26:23,470 --> 01:26:30,190
I raised my four kids here. My youngest is still at the high school. All of my kids have unique

1150
01:26:30,190 --> 01:26:37,770
educational and medical needs. I've been the founder of a non-profit to help kids with special ed

1151
01:26:37,770 --> 01:26:40,710
get the services they need across the Marmack Valley.

1152
01:26:42,370 --> 01:26:44,630
I've served on the school committee for the past four years.

1153
01:26:44,970 --> 01:26:47,830
I've showed up, I've done the work, and I've delivered results.

1154
01:26:49,550 --> 01:26:54,490
I worked on the teacher contracts on the negotiating team.

1155
01:26:54,790 --> 01:26:58,270
I'm on the Policy Subcommittee working through every single one of the school committee

1156
01:26:58,270 --> 01:27:01,810
policies and trying to make them up to date.

1157
01:27:03,210 --> 01:27:07,750
I've done a lot, and I understand the challenges and the budget coming towards us.

1158
01:27:07,750 --> 01:27:09,710
It's going to be a really tough budget.

1159
01:27:11,170 --> 01:27:12,130
Thank you.

1160
01:27:12,290 --> 01:27:12,770
Thank you.

1161
01:27:12,950 --> 01:27:13,030
Crystal.

1162
01:27:13,910 --> 01:27:17,570
So I wish there were 20 people that were running for school committee,

1163
01:27:17,830 --> 01:27:21,370
because I think that that would bring value to the district.

1164
01:27:22,130 --> 01:27:23,150
I welcome opposition.

1165
01:27:23,970 --> 01:27:29,330
I think that it's, I think it's great for people to disagree on issues,

1166
01:27:29,330 --> 01:27:30,930
so that we can come to a common ground.

1167
01:27:30,990 --> 01:27:32,850
I think that's the role in a school committee.

1168
01:27:32,930 --> 01:27:34,910
You're not all going to have the same view.

1169
01:27:36,090 --> 01:27:38,430
Making a difference has become my purpose.

1170
01:27:38,850 --> 01:27:41,310
It's everything I want.

1171
01:27:41,550 --> 01:27:43,090
I want to make a difference for kids.

1172
01:27:43,370 --> 01:27:48,090
I want my food to be a place that's desirable for families to live.

1173
01:27:48,270 --> 01:27:50,190
I want to be a part of that.

1174
01:27:51,210 --> 01:27:59,090
I started as an involved informed parent and I want to continue by being an involved informed decision maker vote for me number three.

1175
01:27:59,550 --> 01:28:00,950
Thank you.

1176
01:28:01,130 --> 01:28:01,250
Martha?

1177
01:28:01,250 --> 01:28:06,310
I'd like to thank, again, MCTV and Seth for inviting me this evening.

1178
01:28:07,170 --> 01:28:10,110
I'd like to thank everyone that's on the panel this evening.

1179
01:28:10,270 --> 01:28:13,670
I thought it was very enlightening to hear everyone's opinions,

1180
01:28:14,450 --> 01:28:18,570
and to have just a nice civilized conversation.

1181
01:28:19,090 --> 01:28:19,770
It was fantastic.

1182
01:28:22,110 --> 01:28:25,070
I've lived my entire life in the city of Methon.

1183
01:28:25,070 --> 01:28:28,790
known as the, well, the town of the known as the city of Macauan.

1184
01:28:29,750 --> 01:28:32,330
I graduated from Macauan High School in 1981.

1185
01:28:33,170 --> 01:28:39,330
My children, Jennifer and Joey graduated from Macauan High School 0709.

1186
01:28:40,990 --> 01:28:42,750
I just love this community.

1187
01:28:43,130 --> 01:28:45,570
I've worked for the School Department for 25 years.

1188
01:28:45,650 --> 01:28:49,150
I want to continue to work for the students,

1189
01:28:49,710 --> 01:28:52,190
the staff, and the families of Macauan Public Schools.

1190
01:28:52,590 --> 01:28:53,050
Thank you.

1191
01:28:53,050 --> 01:28:53,970
All right.

1192
01:28:54,090 --> 01:28:54,450
Get it.

1193
01:28:54,590 --> 01:28:55,570
It's thank you so much.

1194
01:28:55,570 --> 01:28:56,570
A wonderful discussion.

1195
01:28:57,030 --> 01:28:57,750
Thank you for running.

1196
01:28:58,230 --> 01:29:00,110
Thank you for being here for this for this forum.

1197
01:29:00,210 --> 01:29:01,290
We appreciate it.

1198
01:29:01,290 --> 01:29:02,670
And now it's your turn.

1199
01:29:03,210 --> 01:29:05,310
Tuesday, November 4th is the day.

1200
01:29:05,370 --> 01:29:06,370
Please go vote.

1201
01:29:06,690 --> 01:29:08,030
The polls will be open all day long.

1202
01:29:08,110 --> 01:29:13,070
You can find out more information online at matuin.gov and we'll be a quick goodbye.

1203
01:29:13,350 --> 01:29:15,070
So thank you so much for watching.

1204
01:29:15,130 --> 01:29:17,690
I'm Seth Graham for all of us here at MCS.

1205
01:29:17,830 --> 01:29:18,250
Take care.