[0:00] called this moment this meeting to order

[0:03] with a moment of silence

[0:04] and then a salute to the flag

[0:13] i pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[0:16] united states of america

[0:18] and to the republic for which it stands

[0:20] one nation

[0:22] under god indivisible with liberty and

[0:24] justice

[0:26] ms santiago can you call the role please

[0:34] yes present andre green

[0:38] here laura patone

[0:54] mclaughlin yeah

[0:59] emily ackman here carrie normand

[1:04] here we have a quorum

[1:07] thank you so much for that um i i also

[1:10] wanted to say welcome to everyone i know

[1:12] it's been

[1:13] a if you had a summer it might feel odd

[1:16] and it's an odd start to the year but

[1:19] um to our families our students our

[1:22] educators and our staff

[1:24] thank you for uh making the best of what

[1:27] is

[1:27] an unbelievably complicated and

[1:31] sometimes confusing and frustrating uh

[1:34] state that the world is in right now

[1:36] so i particularly as a parent i want to

[1:39] really thank

[1:40] the educators i can tell you

[1:43] the warmth and the confidence

[1:47] that educators have conveyed to students

[1:50] and families has been

[1:52] reassuring um

[1:55] so i i that is as a parent and i'm part

[1:58] of the school committee i just want to

[1:59] extend a huge

[2:01] thank you and the next

[2:04] the first item is the report of the

[2:06] student representatives in the santiago

[2:08] i don't

[2:09] see cut cat natalia are they

[2:14] have you were you able to have you

[2:16] spoken with them yet tonight

[2:18] natalia's on the call she is

[2:22] under attendees and

[2:25] cats should be joining us shortly okay

[2:29] um well you know that

[2:33] should we wait for cat is that do we

[2:36] know she's coming soon

[2:38] they are both on the call fantastic

[2:42] all right well uh you know what there's

[2:44] nothing uh

[2:45] i love more than hearing from our

[2:47] students and so

[2:48] i want to welcome back natalia and kat

[2:52] as our stu representatives and so item

[2:54] number two is a report of our

[2:56] student representatives i would love to

[2:58] hear from you both

[3:00] first how are you doing how was your

[3:01] summer the start of the year

[3:04] from a student perspective welcome

[3:13] do they need to be unmuted

[3:21] natalia is self-muted

[3:24] i'm not sure if she could hear us

[3:26] natalia can you unmute yourself if you

[3:28] can hear us

[3:30] because you're unmuted

[3:34] yes hi it's so nice to hear your voice

[3:38] this cat with us too um yes

[3:42] i texted her and she should be i don't

[3:44] know if she's having any

[3:46] difficulties right now um um

[3:49] natalia do you want to kick us off yeah

[3:52] sure

[3:53] so um hello everyone it's nice to see

[3:55] you guys hope you all had a great summer

[3:58] um i had a for the most part a good

[4:01] summer

[4:02] um so the first thing i kind of want to

[4:05] mention

[4:06] um so i'll be talking a little bit about

[4:10] some things i've heard from the student

[4:11] body about online and remote learning

[4:13] and then kat also

[4:14] has her part as well so um

[4:17] a little bit about remote learning is

[4:19] that the

[4:21] summerville high school students have

[4:22] felt a little strange um

[4:24] kind of getting back into it which is

[4:26] totally understandable

[4:28] um some have expressed how they do not

[4:31] like having classes

[4:32] after 2 30 since that is like the usual

[4:35] time we all get out and then some have

[4:38] worried about

[4:39] learning like math at home because they

[4:42] don't have

[4:43] the teacher present to be able to help

[4:45] them on the spot

[4:46] to have that connection between teacher

[4:48] and student

[4:50] um also some have asked me questions

[4:53] about block 7

[4:55] and how that's going to work because

[4:56] sometimes it does go past that

[4:58] two o'clock mark where it starts going

[5:00] towards three

[5:02] i know some students have like mandatory

[5:04] classes and then some don't so um

[5:09] there's a little bit of um

[5:12] students just don't like seeing that

[5:16] at least that's what i heard and then

[5:21] besides that i haven't heard any other

[5:23] complaints

[5:25] i think it's very close to what we did

[5:27] at the end of the school year

[5:29] so and then i also wanted to mention

[5:31] something that i

[5:33] have been part of which is

[5:36] the sunrise somerville group here

[5:40] um so the sunrise tell us what that is

[5:43] so it's run by um shs students

[5:46] this group aims to combat climate change

[5:50] by informing students about

[5:52] climate change and how students can use

[5:54] their voice

[5:55] to spread awareness as well as inform

[5:58] others on how

[5:59] we could vote for certain people and

[6:02] certain laws

[6:04] that could then help climate change so

[6:07] um i've only been to two meetings so far

[6:11] i'm it's very new um so

[6:15] if you guys want to check out um what

[6:18] we're up to

[6:19] um we have an instagram account it's

[6:21] sunrise somerville

[6:22] so i just wanted to put it out there and

[6:25] then

[6:26] that's all i have to report for the path

[6:30] that is that is a lot and first of all

[6:34] how exciting that students again from

[6:36] somerville are

[6:37] becoming active both within the school

[6:40] but also

[6:40] in the greater uh political world

[6:43] democracy

[6:44] voting i it matters so much and we have the

[6:51] presidential election this year we have

[6:53] local elections

[6:54] next year there is a lot

[6:57] going on and i think what we've

[6:59] discovered

[7:00] we already knew but i think covet has

[7:02] really highlighted

[7:03] is that your local government um

[7:07] is it matters too right because when you

[7:10] don't have leadership at other levels

[7:12] it becomes even more important so i am

[7:15] thrilled that you are doing this

[7:17] um and before we i was gonna ask

[7:19] assistant superintendent mazza if he

[7:21] could address some of your questions

[7:23] cat are you with us yet

[7:26] i didn't she may be happy

[7:33] [Music]

[7:37] terry are you waiting for me to answer

[7:38] or do you want cat to um

[7:41] i don't know if cat's there

[7:44] so um

[7:47] can you hear us

[7:51] she's unmuted

[7:54] and she's not muted herself

[8:02] maybe while we're figuring that out mr

[8:04] mazza if you could

[8:06] speak explain what the

[8:10] class 7 is the fluctuations at the high

[8:13] school level but also speak

[8:17] to some we've only had

[8:18] we haven't had a full week of uh regular

[8:21] high school yet or

[8:22] um or any school if you could speak to

[8:24] that

[8:25] question of how does a student when they

[8:27] have a question in particular so you

[8:29] know

[8:30] natalia mentioned in math how is it

[8:32] going to be

[8:33] both instruction for the class and

[8:34] individual

[8:36] help individual students um could you

[8:39] just repeat the last part

[8:40] you faded out a little bit i just didn't

[8:42] hear that last part i'm sorry um

[8:44] so there's the question of what block

[8:46] seven is and why what how that

[8:47] fluctuates but also

[8:49] in terms of when we're teaching remotely

[8:52] that

[8:53] if an instruction teacher starts teaches

[8:55] a lesson

[8:56] how then will there be either individual

[8:59] student support or small group

[9:01] work done especially

[9:04] in something like math where it really

[9:06] is you need to be able to

[9:08] do some of it to be able to figure out

[9:09] what you know and what you don't know

[9:11] sure i'll start with that uh through you

[9:14] um

[9:14] so the support piece i mean it's a great

[9:16] question right you have your teacher

[9:17] teaching the class

[9:19] um you need a little additional support

[9:20] how do you make that happen i think

[9:22] one of the pieces is we need to work

[9:24] with our counselors to create a schedule

[9:26] that works for you so you can get that

[9:27] support

[9:28] obviously you can't get the same support

[9:30] when the teacher is teaching you know

[9:32] a lesson but i think really looking at

[9:35] finding places

[9:36] within schedules that you can carve out

[9:39] for that support

[9:40] i was going to take a little creativity

[9:42] on everyone's part

[9:43] because i know most of the high school

[9:45] student schedules are pretty full

[9:47] even though there's a few you know few

[9:49] classes one week and then you have three

[9:51] classes

[9:52] another week but i think the the support

[9:54] piece

[9:56] i would say talk with the counselors um

[9:58] and let's make sure that we

[10:00] can fit that into your schedules i mean

[10:02] we can also look at you know tutoring

[10:04] opportunities

[10:05] um if need be but we want to make sure

[10:08] that you know if you do have questions

[10:10] if you do need support

[10:11] that you can't get it sooner than later

[10:14] so that way we're not falling too far

[10:15] behind

[10:16] i think that's an important piece i

[10:18] think black seven was a creative way

[10:21] for teachers uh to allow for

[10:24] some of that support to happen um we

[10:27] know it runs a little bit it's

[10:29] the class is a little bit shorter than

[10:30] the other blocks

[10:32] but the teachers are looking for ways

[10:34] that they can provide support

[10:37] and give students an opportunity to have

[10:40] advisory

[10:41] to do some creative things as well

[10:44] so you know within black seven again i

[10:48] think it it

[10:49] comes down to you know what students

[10:52] need

[10:52] um at the end of the day

[10:56] okay and i think natalia

[11:00] if you're wrong i think part of the

[11:01] question was at the high school where

[11:02] classes are in 90-minute blocks

[11:06] will there be time during those 90

[11:08] minutes when we have

[11:09] a more typical week for some individual

[11:13] student work with the teacher or maybe a

[11:16] teacher breaking into a smaller group or

[11:18] if it's a class that's also supported by

[11:19] a pera

[11:21] how will that those blocks of time be

[11:23] used

[11:24] sure yeah through you chair norman i

[11:26] think that's right i think the reason

[11:27] for the longer blocks is to build those

[11:29] supports in

[11:30] um as needed uh and and to really allow

[11:34] teachers to break classes into smaller

[11:35] groups

[11:36] because we know that's when you know the

[11:38] true uh learning happens

[11:40] and teachers uh you know one-on-one

[11:42] relationships or in small groups

[11:44] allows students to master skills ask

[11:47] live

[11:48] questions get live feedback uh more so

[11:51] than you would in a class of 25.

[11:53] so i think within the 90 minute blog

[11:55] there are ample opportunities for

[11:56] teachers

[11:57] to split the class into several groups

[12:00] so that a teacher can rotate from group

[12:02] to group

[12:03] allowing students to get that support on

[12:05] a daily basis

[12:07] thank you natalie does that answer a

[12:11] question does that give you some more

[12:12] information

[12:14] um for the most part yes but i also have

[12:16] a question

[12:17] on so we do our classes on

[12:21] zoom and when we break out into groups

[12:24] we can't break up into like four or five

[12:27] people

[12:27] because of like they've told us that um

[12:31] the kids the students need to be

[12:32] supervised and then

[12:34] each individual kid is is kind of

[12:37] separated into their own breakout room

[12:40] and then that kind of takes a little

[12:41] longer for the teachers to get to one

[12:43] student than the next and the next and then by the time he gets

[12:47] back to you or she you might have

[12:49] already

[12:50] forgot your question or maybe

[12:54] more confused and then you run out of

[12:55] time so

[12:57] how is how like

[13:00] in what ways can we make that

[13:04] better if that makes any sense yeah

[13:06] through your chair no it does make sense

[13:08] and and i totally understand where

[13:09] you're coming from i think this is

[13:10] new uh for everybody the idea of

[13:13] instead of breakout rooms you have

[13:16] individual rooms or

[13:17] basically waiting rooms where you're

[13:18] doing some work waiting for

[13:20] you know your teacher to come and answer

[13:23] your questions work with you

[13:24] individually

[13:25] while the teacher is working with a

[13:27] small group um one of the suggestions i

[13:29] have is

[13:30] if you do have a question when you are

[13:33] in a waiting room i

[13:34] would write it down just so you have it

[13:36] um because it

[13:37] you know and i think teachers are trying

[13:38] to figure out and navigate

[13:40] the complexity of having a small group

[13:42] and then getting to individual students

[13:44] um i think as time goes on i think it

[13:47] will get more efficient it'll be easier

[13:49] i mean teachers will be able to navigate

[13:51] a small group and then move to

[13:53] individual students

[13:54] a lot quicker but again i would write

[13:57] some things down

[13:58] just to have them because it's important

[14:00] that you're able to ask your question

[14:02] and we don't want you to forget your

[14:03] question because it might

[14:05] you know lead to a different question

[14:06] down the road with basically what you're

[14:08] working on right now

[14:09] so does that help at all

[14:14] yes it does okay love your questions

[14:18] um one last question i'm sorry oh yeah

[14:21] absolutely

[14:22] um i heard from another student um that

[14:27] um block seven will continue being um

[14:30] remote learning even though we're back

[14:33] let's say we have

[14:34] we're back in school that block seven

[14:37] would continue being online

[14:39] is that true or false

[14:42] uh through your new chairman chair

[14:43] norman through you um there's a

[14:45] possibility that it will remain

[14:47] remote and i think if it does it really

[14:49] allows for greater flexibility

[14:51] for both students and staff um to create

[14:54] you know authentic learning experiences

[14:56] more so than everybody coming together

[14:58] in one space

[14:59] you can actually be in your own space

[15:02] learning in a different capacity

[15:03] um so there's a possibility yes

[15:06] there's also and mr mazda correct me if

[15:08] i'm wrong part

[15:10] so for those of you who uh are not

[15:12] familiar with the high school schedule

[15:14] the high school will be doing

[15:16] three one week a which will have three

[15:18] longer

[15:19] three classes longer blocks and a week b

[15:23] uh and then there is block seven which

[15:26] will be

[15:27] which will meet four times for a shorter

[15:29] period of time in both weeks

[15:31] the other part about it natalia is is

[15:34] getting back to this is a

[15:35] health health concern so because glock

[15:40] 11 is

[15:40] running both the a week and the

[15:44] week so if you line up going back in

[15:46] different cohorts

[15:49] it would cross over that and i think

[15:51] some of the concern will be a mixing of

[15:52] students

[15:55] trying to minimize and again a lot of

[15:57] this

[15:58] we will know more when we know which

[16:01] students want to remain remote

[16:03] there's a lot of logistical pieces to

[16:05] this

[16:06] but you're right to question you know

[16:08] why is this one class

[16:10] potentially still remote um

[16:14] yeah i mean that's a that's a really good question

[16:17] and it affects a lot of students so

[16:19] thank you for asking that

[16:21] sure norman you are a spot um thank you

[16:25] um cat are you with us and did you want

[16:27] to add

[16:28] anything or um can you hear me this time

[16:33] yes absolutely you have the floor my

[16:35] friend it's so nice to hear your voice

[16:37] it is nice to see you all as well i'm

[16:40] grateful to have this opportunity to

[16:41] come back and check in because

[16:42] um i don't think i'll be a student

[16:45] representative this year

[16:46] unfortunately um but it's good to be

[16:49] able to check in with you guys about you

[16:50] know how the summer went for us shs students and how um we're

[16:54] taking the reopening

[16:56] so thank you guys for having me um i

[16:58] apologize earlier i was like on the

[16:59] phone call and it wasn't working but i'm

[17:00] here now

[17:03] welcome thank you so i

[17:06] want to reinforce everything natalia

[17:07] said she like hit the nail on the head

[17:08] with like what she said um

[17:11] i think that if what mr mazza said like

[17:14] really

[17:15] clarified um to me what the remote seven

[17:18] was because i think i was personally

[17:19] confused about what the remote seven was

[17:21] because i

[17:22] had never heard of michael rowley mr

[17:24] rowley who is

[17:25] my my counselor for that so i was a

[17:28] little bit confused as well

[17:29] but this clarifies it that i think that

[17:31] you know i'm seeing the teachers do want

[17:32] to give a lot of

[17:34] area for support which is amazing um

[17:37] i will give like the general like um

[17:39] feedback that i've heard from students

[17:41] uh before we reopened the school and we

[17:44] were just doing online learning

[17:46] um in the beginning of the quarantine i

[17:48] think that a lot of kids were

[17:49] worried because they thought that online

[17:51] school was going to be distracting

[17:53] or it was going to be difficult you know

[17:55] with kids that have like

[17:56] multiple siblings or just have a noisy

[18:00] environment i think that was

[18:01] one of the biggest concerns but giving

[18:03] all students access to chromebooks

[18:04] really really helped with that you know

[18:06] there's no excuse not to show up right

[18:08] um and uh i think that we're all been a

[18:11] little bit forced to take control of our

[18:12] own education

[18:14] because you know no one's going to tell

[18:15] me to get off my phone if i have my

[18:16] camera off and i'm muted and no one can

[18:18] tell if i'm

[18:20] um if i'm just you know paying attention

[18:23] to the bird outside my window or if i'm

[18:25] actually listening to the teachers just

[18:26] saying

[18:26] so i think that a lot of us have had to

[18:28] um

[18:29] have had to take a lot of control over

[18:31] our own our own education and our own

[18:34] uh learning which is you know not easy

[18:36] for any of us but um with the reopening

[18:40] something i did see was uh there was a

[18:42] lot of confusion about

[18:44] um you know the new classes the new

[18:46] stuff which is why i think it's a good

[18:48] idea that we had a whole week for

[18:49] orientation at the high school

[18:51] um i think that's that's helped you know

[18:53] people find the zoom links and people

[18:55] understand their schedules and all this

[18:56] and all that and i've been personally

[18:58] emailing mr richard nonstop to try to

[19:00] figure out what's going on so

[19:02] i think that the support groups have definitely helped

[19:06] um people on my on my snapchat my social

[19:09] media people were asking me

[19:11] mostly about the teacher mentors and i

[19:14] personally i'm still a little bit

[19:15] confused about what uh as to what a

[19:17] teacher mentor is

[19:18] but um that was that was the biggest

[19:20] thing that i heard like what is a

[19:22] teacher mentor what is this person doing

[19:24] why am i assigned this person that

[19:25] person so i think that was

[19:27] the biggest thing that i heard from

[19:28] other people another thing for me i'm a

[19:30] senior

[19:31] um i only have to take 20 credits

[19:34] and i have a lot of gaps in my schedule

[19:37] um i think people were confused about

[19:39] that and about like remote seven the the

[19:43] thing that i saw with remote seven was

[19:44] not only

[19:45] um is it gonna continue to be this way

[19:47] after you know if we go back to school

[19:49] like physical campus

[19:50] and also what time is it gonna be

[19:52] because i have a class that's remote

[19:54] seven

[19:54] but it's from eight to nine instead of

[19:56] from two to three

[19:58] so those are the biggest things that i

[19:59] found i've been mostly you know emailing

[20:01] rashaw to figure this out

[20:02] but i think the one thing that i will i

[20:04] will ask to the committee is how can i what can i

[20:09] tell the students when they ask me

[20:11] what is a teacher mentor

[20:14] uh through your chair norman so when

[20:17] um the high school staff was you know

[20:20] planning

[20:20] building schedules and planning for you

[20:23] know this reopening

[20:24] they were trying to figure out a way to

[20:26] have each student

[20:28] have an adult in the building that they

[20:30] could connect with

[20:31] on a daily basis someone that they could

[20:33] go to really just have a conversation

[20:38] knowing that

[20:39] high school students are extremely busy

[20:41] but they wanted to provide

[20:43] at least one adult to have a

[20:46] communication have a relationship

[20:48] with and i think that is so important

[20:50] because with with

[20:51] high school students schedules being so

[20:52] busy and you know after school schedules

[20:55] there's never really time to make that

[20:57] connection with adults

[20:59] in high school and i'll be honest with

[21:00] you this is you know one of the first

[21:03] times that i've heard

[21:05] about this kind of mentoring program in

[21:07] a high school

[21:08] i've heard in elementary and middle

[21:09] schools but at a high school i think it

[21:11] takes on

[21:12] a whole different level of of complexity

[21:15] but it's necessary and i think

[21:18] it's a little startling for students

[21:19] because you're not used to

[21:21] you know you have a person that you

[21:22] specifically can go to that's not your

[21:24] guidance counselor

[21:25] um you know or an assistant principal

[21:27] but it's someone really to form a

[21:29] relationship with and someone that you

[21:30] know will be there

[21:32] if you need to have a conversation um

[21:34] you know

[21:35] and we think it's important those

[21:37] relationships are crucial

[21:39] especially now with you know everything

[21:42] being remote

[21:43] we want to make sure that all students

[21:44] are comfortable you know with the person

[21:47] that they have

[21:47] and again it will take work to build

[21:49] that relationship but

[21:51] we think you know students in high

[21:52] school really have the capacity to do

[21:54] that

[21:55] and so that's that's a staff they were

[21:57] very excited about this

[21:58] um about building relationships with

[22:00] students and i think it's just it's

[22:02] going to be an incredible thing

[22:03] but it will take time to get off the

[22:05] ground

[22:07] and let me just add to that and

[22:10] cat natalia you are so good at asking

[22:14] questions and knowing and i applaud that

[22:16] and not just

[22:17] for yourself but on behalf of other

[22:18] students the mentor

[22:21] i think is also there are so many

[22:23] questions about the schedule and how do

[22:25] i do

[22:26] this and i mean this is new to everybody

[22:28] right there was no

[22:29] like pandemic education textbook handed

[22:32] out so

[22:33] um i mean i applaud the all of our

[22:36] teachers

[22:37] and this is about the high school the

[22:39] mentors it is

[22:41] it comes from a place of wanting to have

[22:42] as much

[22:44] give students as many as much access to

[22:46] adults to ask questions to check in with

[22:50] um and that's why this it was created

[22:53] in particular this year right now when

[22:55] we are remote and will be i mean earlier at the town

[22:58] hall

[22:59] the mayor was saying december 1st would

[23:02] be the earliest that we opened the

[23:04] buildings and then and then the rest of

[23:05] the meeting was to describe

[23:07] all the different steps that need to

[23:08] happen so

[23:10] that's where it came from is is a real

[23:12] because we're not

[23:14] you know there's you're not walking down

[23:16] the hall and running into

[23:18] ms brewster cook where you can just ask

[23:20] her a question so these relationships

[23:22] these questions these

[23:23] have to be much more intentionally set

[23:26] up

[23:27] and especially some students are not as

[23:32] they asking questions asking for help

[23:35] doesn't come as easily and so if there's

[23:37] already this designated relationship

[23:39] we're hoping that that will alleviate

[23:42] that

[23:44] we don't want any student to be left and

[23:46] or any family to be like you have a

[23:48] question to ask it and if you don't know

[23:50] who the mentor is a great place to start

[23:53] if you have a good relationship with

[23:55] another teacher or your guidance

[23:56] counselor

[23:58] this doesn't you know have to go to the

[24:01] mentor it's just to give students

[24:03] another

[24:04] option and also to have another adult

[24:07] who's checking in on you just making

[24:09] sure like do you still have your

[24:10] connectivity uh are you looking at your

[24:14] senior what are you thinking about for

[24:15] next year because it's going to look

[24:18] your senior year is going to look so

[24:19] different you already know that

[24:22] so that's really the the thinking behind

[24:25] it

[24:26] and chair norman if i could just make

[24:27] one more comment okay you know you bring

[24:29] up a great point about

[24:30] you know nobody's going to tell you to

[24:32] get off of your cell phone and and

[24:34] you know off of snapchat and things and

[24:36] i think one of the things that

[24:37] the teachers and all the adults at the

[24:39] high school did is when they were

[24:40] looking at creating this program for

[24:42] everyone

[24:44] they first did it from a teacher

[24:45] perspective but then they also

[24:47] looked at it from a student perspective

[24:50] so they could tell okay

[24:51] is this going to work for students and

[24:54] anything that they did they vetted

[24:56] through a student lens

[24:58] because they wanted to make sure that

[25:00] what they did represented

[25:01] you know what students wanted as far as

[25:05] an education at the high school given it

[25:06] being remote

[25:07] because you know student voice i mean

[25:09] we're really really

[25:11] you know big on that we think it's so

[25:12] important to hear from you what's

[25:14] working what's not working what do you

[25:16] need

[25:16] so we can improve your experience

[25:20] and the other students experiences you

[25:21] know at the high school and make it

[25:22] really authentic

[25:24] and something that really is

[25:25] transformative for you as you graduate

[25:28] and move on to you know higher learning

[25:31] so

[25:31] you know i i can't thank them enough but

[25:33] also the student body i mean this is

[25:35] not an easy thing to come back to

[25:39] if you can say come back to um you know

[25:42] and it's going to take work on both ends

[25:44] but

[25:44] i really want to thank all of the

[25:46] students at the high school for

[25:48] being prepared coming back to school

[25:50] with this reopening that is so different

[25:52] than what we're used to

[25:53] you know we always want to hear feedback

[25:56] so

[25:57] we're so happy that you came forward

[25:59] with what happened over the summer

[26:01] and the start of the school year because

[26:02] we need to know if things aren't working

[26:04] so we can change them so thank you

[26:14] go ahead i was just gonna say yeah no

[26:17] problem and thank you for your answers

[26:19] um

[26:19] it it's come it's come across that um

[26:22] the biggest

[26:23] reason for all you know the remote seven

[26:24] classes and the teacher mentors and

[26:27] um this counselor and that counselor has

[26:29] just been

[26:30] to give the support um i will just bring

[26:32] up lastly that um

[26:34] you know as as you mentioned if you do

[26:36] have someone in the room in the high school that you trust and

[26:40] you can go to i personally you know have

[26:42] my people that i've

[26:43] created bonds with i can personally go

[26:44] to miss mosby or mr jabor or mr rashad

[26:47] i've just gone along really well with so

[26:49] um

[26:51] as you said like there are relations

[26:53] that exist and

[26:54] um it's it's become clear to me that um

[26:57] a teacher mentor is just you know an

[26:59] additional support i'm just wondering if

[27:01] there's

[27:02] a possibility that you know in case like

[27:05] the relation just doesn't work out or

[27:06] there's just some complication or

[27:08] there's a history or there's i don't

[27:09] know whatever it is

[27:10] um would students hypothetically be able

[27:13] to change their student mentor because

[27:14] that's something that i've heard

[27:16] um with my participation in the bsu i

[27:18] feel a lot of students

[27:20] i mean they weren't happy with their

[27:22] school counselor and they wish they

[27:24] could change it but it was just never an

[27:25] option to them so i'm wondering um

[27:27] as you said like the student the teacher

[27:29] mentor may not be as influential or as

[27:32] may not be as necessary as for example a

[27:35] counselor

[27:36] but um if that if that were necessary

[27:39] would there be an option to change

[27:41] one's teacher through you turn normal

[27:42] yeah i believe so i mean i think the

[27:44] last thing

[27:45] you know that anyone wants is a

[27:46] relationship that's not working but yet

[27:48] we have to continue

[27:50] you know with it for the remainder of

[27:51] the school year i think you know the

[27:53] important

[27:54] focus is on building that relationship a

[27:56] positive relationship so if things

[27:58] aren't necessarily working

[28:00] you know the way that they're supposed

[28:02] to there

[28:03] should be an opportunity to you know

[28:05] change absolutely

[28:07] how could how could you

[28:11] um we are two days in my friend okay so

[28:15] we i i love that you brought up the

[28:17] question

[28:18] and so uh i don't think we've even

[28:21] we considered it yet i think can we get

[28:24] back to you at the next

[28:26] meeting and make sure superintendent

[28:28] skipper just to make sure that you heard

[28:30] uh the question was about what are these

[28:33] teacher me

[28:33] this the mentors do they preclude me

[28:36] going to someone else so i may already

[28:38] have an established relationship with no

[28:40] and then

[28:41] what if it's not a good uh mix is there

[28:43] a way to

[28:44] change it up yeah um so hi

[28:47] first of all hi uh to our student reps

[28:50] um

[28:50] another another good year coming up my

[28:53] recommendation

[28:54] would be to have a conversation with

[28:56] principal lagambina to start

[28:58] um principal lagunbina and the staff um

[29:02] co-developed what you know including the

[29:04] teachers co-developed what the mentor

[29:06] program would look like

[29:07] and i'm sure that they factored into

[29:09] their thinking situations where there

[29:11] might not be a compatibility between the

[29:13] mentor and the students

[29:14] so i think um it would be good to start

[29:16] with mr logan bina

[29:18] i've also alerted him and let him know

[29:20] that the question came up

[29:21] so i would just i'm going to ask him to

[29:23] reach out to you both tomorrow

[29:25] sound good yes thank you so much and

[29:28] i apologize now i know

[29:31] it's interesting because it it actually

[29:34] shows

[29:35] you know typically you would just go

[29:36] down and knock on mr lagan being his

[29:38] door

[29:39] and you would know where to find him but

[29:41] it brings up the issue

[29:42] if you have a a question like this how

[29:45] do you go about finding mr lagamina

[29:47] so i think um we can help with this one

[29:50] okay thank you so much thank you good

[29:52] luck with the studies this week

[29:54] thank you thank you so much you too we

[29:57] rely

[29:57] on you to convey the students uh

[30:00] perspective

[30:01] and questions and concerns and

[30:05] it's always i know i speak for the

[30:07] entire school committee

[30:08] hearing from the students is always the

[30:11] highlight of any meeting

[30:12] so thank you so much for joining us

[30:14] tonight

[30:15] thank you for having us have a good

[30:17] night thank you

[30:19] who wanted to pop in before they popped

[30:22] off is that all right

[30:23] oh sure uh miss patone you have a

[30:26] question

[30:26] yeah i apologize um it's first of all i

[30:29] wanted to applaud

[30:30] um the students and i think you spoke to

[30:32] this kiri miss norman

[30:34] is that they really include in on a

[30:36] couple of things that

[30:37] students and families are really

[30:38] confused about um

[30:41] in particular the mentors which i think

[30:43] both um

[30:44] mr mazza and miss norman did an

[30:46] excellent job describing but i really

[30:47] would ask

[30:48] that there was some follow-up

[30:50] communication with all the student

[30:51] populations as well as maybe the parents

[30:53] about what this role is and

[30:55] how can we best take advantage of it um

[30:58] and you know another um

[31:02] question that came up that i don't i

[31:04] thought that there was some more work

[31:05] going on was about

[31:07] pursuing whether or not there's a high

[31:09] school level

[31:12] and i will just have i know

[31:15] i'm hearing you sorry um i was talking

[31:18] about the

[31:19] i'm using breakouts can you not hear me

[31:22] no it's like it's getting older um

[31:25] i'll type in you can read it if you want

[31:30] okay okay um

[31:35] oh and eleanor i did not i was not

[31:37] looking at the chat miss bearish did you

[31:39] also have a question

[32:05] the question is about breakouts and zoom

[32:07] for high school students

[32:08] wasn't there work being done to look

[32:09] into that so we are we're looking into

[32:10] this with our legal uh our legal team right

[32:14] now

[32:15] breakouts are supervised we're looking

[32:16] at the possibility at the high school

[32:18] level

[32:19] um of having a permission that that

[32:21] parents can sign off on

[32:24] or let us know if they have a concern

[32:26] for breakout rooms at the heights high

[32:28] school age students

[32:29] to be able to do breakout rooms without

[32:31] the teacher and you know much like a

[32:32] classroom

[32:33] where students will be in small groups

[32:35] and the teacher will rotate through the

[32:37] small groups

[32:38] they don't hear all the dialogue that

[32:40] goes on in the small group but they're

[32:41] constantly popping in and out of it

[32:43] very similarly on zoom to have them be

[32:46] able to go in and out of the breakouts

[32:48] so um we are working actively with the

[32:50] high school team as well as with our

[32:52] legal team

[32:53] and we hope to have an update on that in

[32:55] the next couple of weeks

[32:57] thank you miss paris did you also have a

[32:59] question about the student report

[33:04] i did thanks so much um i just wanted to find out a guest through you chair to

[33:10] mr mazza

[33:11] um are the mentors to stay with the

[33:14] students throughout their four years or

[33:16] is this going to change on a year by

[33:18] year basis

[33:20] um through youtube norman i will check

[33:22] and get back to you on that

[33:24] because i'm not sure but i want to give

[33:25] you an accurate answer okay

[33:28] thanks you're welcome

[33:31] thank you okay superintendent did you

[33:34] want to say anything at the now 7 45 top of our meeting

[33:40] um so i mean we just left a town hall

[33:44] that was really well attended

[33:45] um and we shared some important

[33:47] information um that we will

[33:49] there will be slides that will be put up

[33:52] on the websites

[33:53] it was really to talk about the work

[33:56] that's been done on the city side

[33:57] with the buildings to do a very thorough

[34:00] evaluation of the building as one of the

[34:02] conditions

[34:03] for a safe and healthy um we talked

[34:06] about

[34:07] as part of that process uh that december

[34:10] first

[34:11] is the the deadline right now that we're

[34:13] looking to be able to bring the

[34:15] buildings

[34:15] online um each building has gone through

[34:18] a metric

[34:20] of risk analysis looking at everything

[34:23] from air filtration

[34:24] air flow and exchange to humidity

[34:28] and the goal is to move all of the

[34:30] buildings out of the category they're

[34:32] currently at for risk which in most

[34:34] cases is a moderate risk level

[34:36] and move that move the building into the

[34:38] low risk level which is

[34:39] for astra they're the acceptable um the

[34:42] acceptable range

[34:44] we also had an update from health and

[34:45] human services

[34:47] and the city around copa testing and

[34:49] some progress that's been made with a

[34:51] partnership with broad

[34:52] um relative to being able to have that

[34:55] operationalized

[34:56] for in-person return so i would just

[34:59] encourage the audience

[35:00] um to you know to go and look at the

[35:03] slides if they were not able to join

[35:04] and then certainly we can look to see if

[35:06] we can um

[35:08] re-present that information on the safe

[35:10] side

[35:11] at one of the upcoming school companies

[35:13] and will that slide deck

[35:15] be it's on the city will be on the city

[35:17] side will it also be on the

[35:19] summerville public schools website i

[35:21] believe it'll likely be a link on our

[35:23] side to theirs

[35:25] yeah thank you so much for that and okay

[35:28] and with

[35:29] that we are going to go on to item

[35:31] number three which is public comment

[35:34] um and uh hi sam

[35:38] i just realized i did not read the the

[35:40] blurb at the beginning of the meeting so

[35:41] i'm gonna

[35:42] get all my official i should have said

[35:45] at the top of the meeting and

[35:47] my po comment i'll be taken care of

[35:50] right now

[35:51] uh persian of governor baker is march 12

[35:54] 2020

[35:55] orders suspending certain provisions of

[35:57] the open meeting law gcl

[36:00] 30a s18 and the governor's march 15

[36:03] 2020 order imposing strict limitations

[36:06] and the number of people that may gather

[36:07] in one place as well as mayor cody

[36:09] tony's declaration of emergency dated

[36:11] march 15

[36:12] 2020. excuse me this meeting in the

[36:16] summerville school committee will be

[36:17] conducted via remote participation we

[36:19] will post an audio recording

[36:21] audio video recording transcript or

[36:23] other comprehensive

[36:25] record of these proceedings as soon as

[36:26] possible after the meeting on the city

[36:28] of summerville

[36:29] website and local cable access

[36:32] government channels

[36:33] scat and then at the top of public

[36:35] comment

[36:37] i also need to read this so bear with me

[36:42] at the start of each regular school

[36:44] committee meeting individuals or groups

[36:46] of representatives will be invited to

[36:47] address the school committee the length

[36:48] of this public comment would ordinarily

[36:50] be 20 minutes in length

[36:53] i'm going to let more likely go over

[36:56] that but i'm going to limit

[36:57] speaking speakers to two minutes tonight

[37:01] speakers will be allowed three minutes

[37:03] to present the material the presiding

[37:04] chair may permit extension of this time

[37:07] additionally the chair may limit

[37:08] comments to two minutes based on the

[37:10] number of individuals signed up to speak

[37:12] and a group of residents appearing as at

[37:14] a meeting to express favor or opposition

[37:16] to a particular agenda item

[37:18] is encouraged to designate one member of

[37:19] the group as a spokesperson to be heard

[37:22] on the topic other members of the group

[37:24] may be heard if they feel they can

[37:25] contribute additional information

[37:26] regarding the topic

[37:28] improper conduct and remarks will not be

[37:31] allowed

[37:32] defamatory or abusive remarks are always

[37:34] out of order

[37:35] if a person continues to just disrupt

[37:38] the meeting

[37:39] after a clear warning the chair has

[37:41] authority to order the person to leave

[37:42] and authorities may be called

[37:44] per massachusetts open meeting law all

[37:46] remarks will be addressed through the

[37:48] chair of the meeting and the school

[37:50] committee will not hear personal

[37:52] complaints of

[37:53] school personnel nor against any member

[37:55] of the school community

[37:56] in public session individuals may

[37:59] address topics on the agenda or items

[38:01] within the school committee's

[38:02] scope of responsibility under most

[38:04] circumstances administrative channels

[38:06] are the proper means for disposition of

[38:08] legitimate complaints involving staff

[38:10] members

[38:11] and written comments may be presented to

[38:14] the school committee

[38:15] before and after the meeting for the

[38:16] school committee members review and

[38:18] consideration

[38:19] and the public is also encouraged to

[38:21] submit their writing their comments

[38:23] and writing you can send them to the

[38:25] central office

[38:30] there that's it so uh so much

[38:34] the speakers tonight i'm going to read a

[38:36] list of

[38:37] three at a time so that you are ready

[38:40] you will need to get two minutes

[38:42] when um when you were given the floor if

[38:44] you can give your name

[38:46] and your home address that would be

[38:48] helpful so

[38:49] the first three speakers are amy

[38:52] marinville

[38:53] danielle latonya and then annie march

[38:56] amy you have the floor

[39:02] can you guys hear me yes all right

[39:05] excellent

[39:06] thank you uh for giving me the time to

[39:09] speak

[39:10] uh my name is amy moranville i have two

[39:13] young children both

[39:14] autistic who are both going

[39:17] to and have been in public schools here

[39:19] in somerville

[39:21] when school shut down in march the goal

[39:22] was to flatten the curve so the

[39:24] hospitals didn't get overwhelmed then we

[39:25] did that and we know

[39:27] what it takes to keep risk low in

[39:28] contrast

[39:30] we do not know how to safely provide

[39:32] resources and support for special needs

[39:33] kids

[39:34] outside of school our children are

[39:36] suffering they are struggling

[39:38] and the schools are failing them keeping

[39:39] children especially those with special

[39:41] needs

[39:42] out of school is not tenable especially

[39:44] considering that a

[39:45] young children still need to be cared

[39:46] for many of them outside of their homes

[39:48] so school closures are not preventing

[39:50] children from exposure to others and b

[39:52] covet is just one of the dangers facing

[39:54] our kids this fall there are other

[39:56] dangers including

[39:57] massive social regression extreme trauma

[40:00] from loss of educational support and

[40:01] learning

[40:02] and the seemingly endless slog through a

[40:04] situation without clear goals

[40:06] or end nates when we all started this

[40:09] journey in march

[40:10] the reasoning was clear and the

[40:11] expectations understood now

[40:13] that situation has unraveled and debates

[40:15] continue between the stakeholders with

[40:16] no clear end insight

[40:18] as such i believe that a decision maker

[40:20] should be identified who will be the

[40:22] final decider for reopening

[40:24] this person should have the knowledge of

[40:25] the science required to create safe

[40:27] spaces

[40:28] and leadership ability to lead

[40:31] somerville through this mess right now

[40:34] we have boards and committees and

[40:35] political leaders and no clear singular

[40:37] voice telling us what will need to be

[40:39] done

[40:39] this czar would should be someone for

[40:42] whom success is implicitly connected

[40:44] with school reopening not a

[40:45] superintendent or a mayor but a person

[40:47] who will be the liaison for all parties

[40:49] someone who is a point person for

[40:51] collecting information

[40:52] and making final decisions summerville

[40:54] has a rat czar

[40:55] why do we not have a school czar i

[40:58] request that we discuss

[40:59] why tents and other outside spaces

[41:02] aren't an option

[41:03] i request that sps acknowledge that the

[41:05] school district is failing

[41:06] to provide services for equal for early

[41:09] special education

[41:10] virtual systems are not a substitute

[41:12] there is no way to meet the necessary

[41:14] standards without in-person therapy and

[41:15] support

[41:16] and i request that that project those

[41:18] priorities be readjusted to consider the

[41:20] definite and immediate harm being caused

[41:22] every day

[41:22] to the most vulnerable among us thank

[41:25] you

[41:27] next is danielle

[41:30] latonya and then annie march and then

[41:33] allison goodman

[41:34] danielle you have the floor

[41:38] hi my name is danielle lanting 234

[41:40] summer my kids are third grade and pre-k

[41:43] both now with john from somerville

[41:44] public schools i sit on international

[41:46] code committees discussing coveted

[41:48] transmission routes

[41:49] tonight we heard to reopen schools we

[41:51] are planning for a worst case

[41:52] theoretical

[41:54] aerotrial aerosol transmission events

[41:56] from young children

[41:57] note this worst case situation isn't

[41:59] supported in epidemiological data

[42:01] but to plan for this theoretical we need

[42:03] to do extensive mitigation measures

[42:05] masking social distancing hand-washing

[42:07] services infection surveillance testing

[42:08] of k-12s potting extensive hvac repairs

[42:11] to be clear i know of no other school

[42:14] anywhere in the world that is planning

[42:16] for this this is unique worldwide

[42:18] and as some of these measures take

[42:20] extensive time and resources it is now

[42:22] clear remote in somerville is long term

[42:24] with the first students potentially

[42:26] returning december 1st

[42:27] thus i have three requests one be

[42:31] transparent remote schooling is no

[42:32] longer only an emergency

[42:34] measure but instead for many families

[42:36] could be for much or

[42:37] all of this school year to understand

[42:40] there's knowledge from across the world

[42:41] not just the us

[42:42] on how to safely reopen schools if

[42:45] somerville is remote long-term in a low

[42:46] transmission setting

[42:48] we are unique and we will be conducting

[42:50] an experiment on our students

[42:53] three understand remote learning is less

[42:55] effective than in person and is

[42:56] intensely difficult

[42:58] for our at-risk populations ell sped

[43:01] for these populations long-term lack of

[43:03] services could have lifelong impacts and

[43:05] regression dropout rates learning and

[43:06] earning potential

[43:08] to end i don't give a somerville rats

[43:10] behind if sps

[43:12] offers my children anything this

[43:14] academic year

[43:15] however as a community we are morally

[43:17] and ethically obligated to provide

[43:19] services

[43:19] to our most at-risk populations and it

[43:22] is a

[43:23] failure of political leadership if we

[43:24] fail to do this in a timely manner

[43:27] thank you for your time and for all your

[43:28] work

[43:31] thank you the next step is annie march

[43:34] then

[43:34] allison goodman and then elizabeth

[43:36] gaskell annie march you have the floor

[43:44] awesome i just got admitted it's annie

[43:46] march

[43:47] address do we give addresses to yes

[43:50] please

[43:51] okay 29 berkeley street in somerville

[43:54] our beautiful city

[43:55] those were some awesome comments that

[43:56] preceded me um i wanted to let you all

[43:59] know that my second grader had an

[44:01] awesome awesome first day it went really well

[44:04] and i wanted to say thank you to

[44:06] everybody who made that possible

[44:08] that's on this call because i've

[44:09] listened to a lot of your calls and i

[44:11] know you guys do a lot

[44:12] all the time um one of the things that

[44:15] was awesome is that his teacher had this

[44:17] nifty camera

[44:18] that showed her desktop not her computer

[44:20] desktop but her physical

[44:22] desktop and we could see her turning

[44:26] pages and writing things and i really

[44:28] want that

[44:29] for my four-year-old next week and i

[44:32] don't know if he'll have it i don't know

[44:33] if his teacher has it

[44:35] but it would be great to have that to

[44:36] show manipulatives so like little pre-k

[44:38] kids

[44:39] um i think would make a huge difference

[44:41] there were problems with camera angles

[44:43] and things last spring

[44:45] so i'm i'm saying i'd like to request

[44:47] that um

[44:48] also i want to say my kid is non-ell

[44:51] he's non-sped

[44:52] he's uh a white middle-class boy

[44:55] with a mom who can pay a lot of

[44:57] attention to him and he had an awesome

[44:59] first day but i'm concerned about all

[45:00] those who did not

[45:01] have an awesome first day okay oh also

[45:05] please don't have a town hall and a

[45:06] school committee meeting on the same

[45:08] night again

[45:09] okay that's it i'm done thanks

[45:12] thank you for that in particular the

[45:14] last comment uh

[45:16] so next is allison goodman and elizabeth

[45:18] gaskill then gabrielle

[45:20] jacquet allison goodman you have a floor

[45:25] great um hello my name is alison goodman

[45:29] i live at 15 cutter street unit 1 in

[45:32] east somerville

[45:34] i'm a mom to two kids one in second

[45:36] grade

[45:37] and one who is a three and a half year

[45:39] old and

[45:40] she has significant special needs she's

[45:43] in a self-contained classroom at the

[45:45] capuano

[45:47] she's been receiving early intervention

[45:49] in private therapy since she was three

[45:51] months old

[45:52] now it's been six months without real

[45:54] services

[45:56] that's 15 of her entire life and

[46:00] at an age where interventions are most

[46:02] critical

[46:04] i'm feeling unsupported by the district

[46:08] it's not enough to wait and see how

[46:10] virtual learning works in the fall for

[46:12] kids like mine

[46:13] we know it doesn't work it can't work

[46:16] despite the you know heroic efforts of

[46:19] her awesome teachers and therapists

[46:23] it was understandable during the surge

[46:25] when kovit was in the community at an

[46:27] extraordinary

[46:28] rate and we knew very little about it

[46:30] now we know

[46:31] a lot about transmission and risk and

[46:33] ppe

[46:34] and community levels are really low i

[46:38] beg the district to talk to families

[46:40] like mine

[46:42] you know show some urgency and

[46:43] creativity involve the scientists i know

[46:45] everyone is working hard

[46:48] but it's truly not hyperbole to say that

[46:51] my daughter's future

[46:52] depends on you thank you um next is elizabeth gaskell

[47:00] then gabriel jackie and and then

[47:04] ronald mclaughlin elizabeth you have the

[47:08] floor

[47:13] elizabeth are you there does she need to

[47:16] be

[47:18] unmuted elizabeth you are self-muted go

[47:22] ahead and unmute yourself

[47:31] elizabeth are you there and can you

[47:33] unmute yourself

[47:37] um gentlemen do you want to move on to

[47:41] yeah let's move on to and i will put

[47:43] elizabeth

[47:44] we will call on her again at the end of

[47:47] the

[47:49] to give her another opportunity so next

[47:51] is gabrielle

[47:52] gabriel and then rana and elizabeth

[47:55] penske

[47:57] so gabrielle you have the floor got

[48:06] really there

[48:09] uh i can see the mic but i can't can

[48:12] anyone hear her

[48:15] um

[48:19] shoot i wonder what's

[48:23] gabrielle oh we cannot hear you

[48:29] gabrielle please try rejoining the

[48:31] meeting

[48:32] um we can move on to the next person and

[48:35] then try you when you're back for some

[48:37] reason we cannot hear you

[48:39] and it may just be an audio issue on

[48:41] your computer

[48:44] thank you miss artiago uh rihanna

[48:48] mclaughlin are you there

[48:54] i'm here can you hear me this is

[48:55] gabrielle oh

[48:58] um we can't run sorry i just

[49:01] i had to unmute but it kicked me out of

[49:03] the meeting to do that

[49:04] can you want me to wait who's speaking

[49:08] now

[49:09] this is gabrielle but i could wait if

[49:10] you want me to

[49:12] no why don't you go ahead are you okay

[49:15] yep

[49:15] thank you my name is gabrielle jacques i

[49:18] live at 24 appleton street and i have a

[49:19] first grader enrolled at the brown

[49:21] current

[49:25] doing remote learning at the summerville

[49:27] ymca every day and a three and a half

[49:29] year old at somerville

[49:30] preschool

[49:33] you're breaking up a little bit we're

[49:35] having a hard time hearing you now

[49:39] oh

[49:42] gabrielle we cannot hear a word you're

[49:44] saying

[49:46] maybe um can you hear me now

[49:50] no i can yes okay do you

[49:53] do i need to start again or did you hear

[49:56] um

[49:57] we did not hear anything i didn't after

[49:59] ymca and you have another

[50:01] child at a daycare center then we did

[50:03] not do anything

[50:05] okay i am also an emergency physician at

[50:07] boston medical center safety net

[50:08] hospital

[50:09] and currently teaching in person at bu

[50:11] school of medicine we all acknowledge

[50:12] that school closures are

[50:14] necessary in march since we didn't

[50:15] understand what we were dealing with and

[50:16] now six months later

[50:18] many of us have been back at work with

[50:19] our kids in organized group child care

[50:20] settings

[50:21] we now have information on what to do to

[50:23] prevent covid and we know that the

[50:24] disease isn't going away for a long

[50:26] time now it is time to stop and reassess

[50:28] the situation from a public health

[50:29] standpoint

[50:30] at this point in time i firmly believe

[50:32] school closures are doing more harm than

[50:33] good for our children

[50:34] by keeping schools closed right now we

[50:37] are not in fact reducing risk we are

[50:39] instead pushing it out

[50:40] to groups that aren't unionized such as

[50:42] remote learning centers such as the ymca

[50:44] where my daughter is

[50:45] that often have 60 students in a room

[50:46] together with unknown hvac

[50:49] and a teacher of unknown age and

[50:50] immunocompromised status

[50:52] to quote someone from the town hall

[50:53] we're rolling a different set of dice by

[50:55] doing this

[50:56] believe me i would be happy to help

[50:57] facilitate remote schooling at my house

[50:59] if we're actually evidence-based

[51:00] and indicated however i really believe

[51:02] we're harming our most vulnerable

[51:04] for no evidence-based benefit to our

[51:06] teachers or any other group on a macro

[51:08] level as a public health practitioner

[51:10] physician i'm very distraught at work

[51:12] due to school closure i've seen

[51:13] many exacerbations of mental illness and

[51:15] eating disorders increased rates of

[51:17] child neglect and suicide

[51:18] these numbers are delayed in being

[51:20] reported in the press and so the data

[51:21] will not be available for a while

[51:23] watching my first grader on zoom on

[51:24] friday broke my heart because honestly

[51:26] all that she and the other vulnerable

[51:27] kids at this age

[51:28] is social all they need is social

[51:30] emotional development safety and

[51:31] security and that cannot be provided on

[51:34] zoom no matter how hard everyone is

[51:35] working as i saw

[51:38] for my own eyes they cannot

[51:39] self-regulate their emotions on zoom

[51:41] learn how to share take turns interact

[51:42] with others

[51:43] or become a contributing member of our

[51:45] somerville community on zoom

[51:46] for what gain are we doing this the

[51:48] public school systems of most other

[51:49] towns are letting our most vulnerable

[51:51] students return in person private

[51:53] schools are as well time is brain as we

[51:55] know

[51:56] it's time to listen to the science and

[51:57] stop sacrificing the children

[51:59] of somerville for no evidence-based

[52:01] reason i ask you please consider the

[52:03] public health tool we're taking

[52:04] the physical and mental health of our

[52:06] most vulnerable children is truly at

[52:07] risk

[52:08] and as i currently contemplate

[52:09] withdrawing my first grader from sps

[52:12] i ask that you give us an actual return date for each group of students

[52:16] so that we can expect uh return to

[52:18] in-person learning at some time this

[52:19] year

[52:20] thank you very much thank you

[52:24] uh so next step is

[52:27] ronna mclaughlin then elizabeth pinsky

[52:30] and then lauren

[52:31] hittner rana you have a floor

[52:38] she's still with us

[52:42] hi it's rhonda can you hear me yes we

[52:45] absolutely can welcome

[52:48] great thank you um so hi i'm ronna

[52:50] mclaughlin 96 rogers ave in somerville

[52:53] i'm a mom of two kids um a pre-k that's

[52:56] going to stay at his full-time in-person

[52:58] private day care

[52:58] since remote won't work for a

[53:01] four-year-old

[53:02] and first grader um that was going to be

[53:04] going to brown

[53:05] and is enrolled there and then doing the

[53:07] remote schooling as of the past two days

[53:09] but via the

[53:10] ymca sacc program as my husband is an

[53:14] essential worker and i have a demanding

[53:15] full-time job

[53:16] um and uh this is a feminist issue

[53:20] um so they're in full-time care um

[53:23] why are these full-time in-person

[53:25] centers and very old buildings with no

[53:27] testing plans low bars for hvac

[53:30] ventilation that have been running for

[53:31] months in somerville and have been so

[53:33] successful

[53:34] not informing the somerville strategy

[53:36] for those under 40 years old the flu is

[53:38] actually more deadly than covid

[53:40] i'm not a trump supporter um i'm just

[53:43] saying that the flu is more deadly than

[53:44] covid for under four years old that's

[53:46] just a fact

[53:46] it's not politics yet schools never

[53:49] closed for that

[53:50] instead it seems the city has set an

[53:51] almost insurmountable bar

[53:53] with their approach to building

[53:54] ventilation this new safety first

[53:56] mentality of our current administration

[53:58] when it comes to schools is becoming

[54:00] much more dangerous

[54:02] than the virus itself what we are doing

[54:04] is subjecting a vulnerable population to

[54:06] the cruelest of experiments

[54:08] we're seeing how long they can go

[54:10] without essential services and how much

[54:12] isolation and screen time

[54:13] over long durations the youngest can

[54:16] tolerate

[54:16] the effects of this experiment that

[54:18] summerville is embarking on will surely

[54:20] have many long-term

[54:21] unintended consequences regression poor

[54:24] mental health outcomes

[54:26] and pushing our loved families out of

[54:28] the city

[54:29] and loss of job satisfaction in our

[54:31] educators who

[54:32] many of which severely want to return to

[54:34] the classroom

[54:35] but as i've been told by several are

[54:38] intimidated

[54:38] and harassed by a subset of their peers

[54:41] into silence

[54:42] thank you for listening

[54:46] thank you next is elizabeth pinsky

[54:51] then lauren hittner then vera silva

[54:54] and then if elizabeth gaskell is back

[54:57] we'll

[54:57] have her be the last speaker

[55:01] rana are you there

[55:09] elizabeth spinsky is the next person

[55:12] oh i'm sorry elizabeth

[55:15] it has been a very long day thank you

[55:17] for that ms santiago

[55:19] elizabeth penske you now have the floor

[55:25] elizabeth are you with us

[55:31] [Music]

[55:33] i see her there we go elizabeth can you

[55:35] hear me now

[55:36] yep yes we can okay great thank you

[55:40] my name is elizabeth pinsky i live at 27

[55:42] william street

[55:43] i'm a pediatrician and a child

[55:45] psychiatrist at mass general

[55:47] i come at this problem from the angle of

[55:49] child mental health

[55:50] development and trauma covet is not the

[55:53] only threat to the health of

[55:55] somerville's children the mayor said

[55:56] tonight that he is not quote

[55:58] rolling the dice unquote with health in

[56:00] somerville and i agree

[56:01] we are not rolling the dice we are

[56:03] assuredly doing some children harm

[56:06] we were already facing a child mental

[56:08] health crisis prior to the pandemic with

[56:10] escalating rates of self-harm and

[56:12] suicide

[56:13] we know that isolation and loss of

[56:15] structure are leading to loneliness

[56:16] anxiety and depression we also know that

[56:19] despite having the

[56:20] best teachers imaginable the social and

[56:23] emotional needs of younger children

[56:24] simply cannot be met remotely we know

[56:28] that for children with developmental

[56:29] disabilities including children with

[56:30] autism

[56:31] missing services has lifelong

[56:33] consequences and we are planning to ask

[56:35] these children to wait

[56:37] nine months to resume services if they

[56:40] live in somerville

[56:41] but not if they live in our neighboring

[56:42] cities and towns that is damage that

[56:45] cannot be undone i am

[56:48] frustrated by the lack of adequate

[56:50] public health and medical expertise in

[56:52] this planning process and i understand

[56:54] that the mayor would like reopening to

[56:56] be exceptional in somerville

[56:58] and if there were data to support that

[57:00] plan i would be in wholehearted

[57:01] agreement

[57:02] but we cannot ask children with special

[57:04] needs young children and english

[57:06] learners to be patient without

[57:08] very good reason these needs are urgent

[57:12] we need a plan that is safe for teachers

[57:14] and staff

[57:15] and safe for our community we do not

[57:17] need a plan that is better than

[57:18] cambridge

[57:19] we need more input from experts

[57:21] infectious disease doctors

[57:23] epidemiologists and public health

[57:25] engineers because they are telling us to

[57:27] get our most vulnerable children black

[57:29] and i would beg the city please involve

[57:31] these experts in the process

[57:33] thank you uh

[57:40] okay so

[57:43] it appear uh

[57:46] so it appears that lauren hittner's uh

[57:50] emailed in her comments uh

[57:53] and did she not want to speak i don't

[57:56] know she's still here

[57:57] lauren hittner is on the call carrie

[58:00] very sober

[58:02] send her commented oh i'm sorry i

[58:05] okay um lauren you have the floor now

[58:09] i am i apologize

[58:13] lauren hitler are you there

[58:22] lauren are yourself muted

[58:34] uh lauren outlook

[58:38] so is elizabeth gasville there

[58:43] can we go to her give her one more

[58:45] chance to

[58:47] speak

[58:51] hi thank you so much sorry i have a phd

[58:53] biochemistry and i can't work out how to

[58:55] use go to meeting i really appreciate it

[58:57] can you hear me now

[58:59] we can can you give us your name and

[59:01] your address please yes on

[59:03] gaskell at 35 electric avenue and thank

[59:06] you for the opportunity to speak i'm a

[59:07] mom to a west summerville neighborhood

[59:09] school first grader

[59:10] i want to address the town hall

[59:11] statement about surveillance testing of

[59:13] staff and students

[59:14] we all agree that testing and more

[59:16] testing is a good thing

[59:17] ensuring equitable access to fast

[59:19] turnaround diagnostic testing for

[59:20] symptomatic individuals should be our

[59:22] highest priority

[59:23] however i'm concerned that the plan for

[59:25] surveillance testing of asymptomatic

[59:26] students is beyond the bar set by other

[59:28] in-person learning establishments

[59:30] i encourage us to think carefully about

[59:31] whether the positive impact of proposed

[59:33] surveillance testing is worth delaying

[59:35] in person learning

[59:36] i want the committee to understand that

[59:38] surveillance testing of students

[59:39] requires a separate infrastructure to

[59:40] diagnostic testing including an

[59:42] operational partner willing to test

[59:44] minors

[59:45] this is an addition to the broad

[59:46] providing the lab work as doug knows

[59:48] it is also very costly due to the scale

[59:50] involved to test everyone in sps once

[59:52] per week is likely to cost about half a

[59:54] million dollars a week

[59:56] it is also unclear what the benefit of

[59:57] surveillance testing of students in our

[59:59] schools will be

[1:00:00] but we can estimate that at our current

[1:00:01] rate of community transmission

[1:00:03] we might expect to perform 6 000 tests

[1:00:05] every week to find one positive person

[1:00:07] in our schools

[1:00:08] professor scott pina presented a helpful

[1:00:10] slide on viral load over time but we

[1:00:11] must assume that one infectious person

[1:00:13] per week will

[1:00:14] be masked with a six foot distance

[1:00:15] creating minimal opportunity for viral

[1:00:17] transmission

[1:00:18] i fully support access to optional

[1:00:20] surveillance testing for staff however i

[1:00:22] argue that surveillance testing of

[1:00:23] students should be considered the icing

[1:00:25] on the cake of code mitigation measures

[1:00:27] and should not be a barrier to returning

[1:00:28] to in-person learning

[1:00:30] in addition if surveillance testing is

[1:00:31] mandated as opposed to optional it's

[1:00:33] likely to cause delays to reopening with

[1:00:35] negligible impact

[1:00:36] for example has this been negotiated

[1:00:38] with the sda

[1:00:39] most importantly how does the male weigh

[1:00:41] up the merits of spending half a million

[1:00:42] dollars a week on surveillance testing

[1:00:44] as opposed to providing for the

[1:00:45] immediate needs of students

[1:00:46] disproportionately negatively affected

[1:00:48] by remote learning now

[1:00:50] such as special ed and ell populations

[1:00:52] and those families who are struggling

[1:00:53] financially

[1:00:54] i suggest the district instead

[1:00:55] prioritize equitable access to fast

[1:00:57] turnaround diagnostic testing for

[1:00:59] symptomatic individuals

[1:01:00] and an optional surveillance program for

[1:01:02] staff should community transmission go

[1:01:04] up or the price and availability of

[1:01:05] testing come down broader surveillance

[1:01:07] testing can be revisited

[1:01:09] and thank you very much for staying

[1:01:10] awake this light and letting me speak

[1:01:14] thank you so much santiago is there

[1:01:17] anyone

[1:01:18] is elizabeth penske here and did she

[1:01:21] speak

[1:01:22] she did so we are now concluded um i'm

[1:01:25] sorry it is

[1:01:27] lauren hintner is the last person on the

[1:01:30] caller

[1:01:36] i see her but i can you can you hear me

[1:01:42] lauren yes we can welcome sorry

[1:01:46] my name is lauren hittner i live at

[1:01:48] seven park place i have

[1:01:49] a second grader in argenziano and a

[1:01:51] four-year-old attending in-person

[1:01:53] preschool

[1:01:53] i'm a pediatrician in a district north

[1:01:55] of the city where about 30 percent of my

[1:01:57] patients come from an

[1:01:58] urban setting similar to our own in

[1:02:00] summerville

[1:02:02] i haven't actually been able to be in

[1:02:03] this firm before because i work late on

[1:02:05] monday nights completing physicals and

[1:02:07] corresponding forms required for

[1:02:08] in-person return to school

[1:02:10] from the delays at the height of the

[1:02:11] stage that means i've been really busy

[1:02:13] trying to keep those commitments

[1:02:14] that we made to our population to ensure

[1:02:16] that they're healthy and ready to return

[1:02:18] to school

[1:02:18] because all the districts in my region

[1:02:21] are returning in some form

[1:02:22] i spent a lot of time asking kids how

[1:02:24] school is going and they've started

[1:02:26] before us

[1:02:27] it has been about a week but the

[1:02:29] experience mirrors my own in the past

[1:02:30] two days in summerville

[1:02:32] the kids who've started off only remote

[1:02:33] due to their choice or because they

[1:02:34] haven't had in-person school days yet

[1:02:37] are disappointed they've shed a lot of

[1:02:39] tears their parents report they've shed

[1:02:41] their own tears

[1:02:42] families do not think they're getting

[1:02:43] services equivalent to their own

[1:02:45] prior iep standards kids who have had

[1:02:48] their in-person days say to me

[1:02:49] unequivocally

[1:02:50] it was weird and then i can't wait to go

[1:02:53] back

[1:02:53] they have forged connection with their

[1:02:55] teachers they've stood six feet in the

[1:02:57] hallways they've worn their masks

[1:02:59] and they're ready to do it again when at

[1:03:01] the height of the surge healthcare

[1:03:02] providers asked everyone to stay home

[1:03:04] we did as a community and we listened

[1:03:06] and agreed that it was the right thing

[1:03:08] to do

[1:03:08] when we brought this pandemic under

[1:03:10] reasonable control and your healthcare

[1:03:11] providers are saying

[1:03:12] kids belong in school we can do this

[1:03:14] safely look around you at the preschools

[1:03:16] and open schools

[1:03:18] in low community transmission

[1:03:19] environments we have plenty of evidence

[1:03:22] suddenly we've decided to go against

[1:03:23] advice and go it alone and i really do

[1:03:25] mean

[1:03:25] alone no other district that i'm aware

[1:03:27] of is trying to achieve so many layers

[1:03:30] of protection so as to put our children

[1:03:31] at the bottom of the list of people to

[1:03:33] protect

[1:03:34] protecting our kids means putting them

[1:03:36] first lifting them up it means

[1:03:37] recognizing that we have what it takes

[1:03:39] to put our most vulnerable children

[1:03:41] in school already we only seem to lack

[1:03:43] the will to do that

[1:03:44] thank you and thank you to all of our uh

[1:03:51] public

[1:03:52] comment speakers tonight it's always

[1:03:55] good to hear from the public

[1:03:57] so we are now moving on to item number

[1:03:59] four report of the superintendent

[1:04:01] uh superintendent skipper

[1:04:06] thank you gentlemen just in terms of the

[1:04:09] personnel report

[1:04:11] there are two retirements i'd like to

[1:04:13] actually three

[1:04:14] um argenziano a grade four c

[1:04:18] teacher uh common chagas uh for

[1:04:21] 33 years and 158 days of service

[1:04:25] at the healey of special education

[1:04:27] teacher barbara stroud

[1:04:29] at the end of this year 32 years of

[1:04:31] wonderful service

[1:04:33] and at somerville high school health

[1:04:34] education teacher janet flynn

[1:04:36] and this is at the end of our school

[1:04:39] year for 33 years of service

[1:04:42] just like to thank all of these

[1:04:43] educators for a wonderful career

[1:04:45] and all of the benefits that our

[1:04:46] students and our staff have received because they have been a

[1:04:50] part of our somerville family so

[1:04:52] to them we thank them and we'll

[1:04:53] recognize them for sure at the end of

[1:04:54] the year

[1:04:55] during our retirement uh celebration

[1:04:59] um and

[1:05:03] that is actually uh all in terms of the

[1:05:05] reopening

[1:05:06] um just a few comments i think um

[1:05:10] i think in terms of the remote learning

[1:05:12] uh our staff collectively

[1:05:15] um is owed a great deal of appreciation

[1:05:17] and thanks for

[1:05:19] long days and hours across the board to

[1:05:22] be ready for the remote learning

[1:05:24] we made a commitment when it was clear

[1:05:26] that we could not return

[1:05:28] initially in the hybrid in person to

[1:05:30] make sure that the remote learning could

[1:05:32] be as positive as possible and as full

[1:05:34] as possible

[1:05:35] and that's the effort that we have tried

[1:05:37] to do

[1:05:38] we've had excellent attendance and

[1:05:40] engagement in the first couple of days

[1:05:43] relative to about 25 we continue to

[1:05:46] resolve last last minute kinds of issues

[1:05:49] relative to the technology

[1:05:51] there will be some additional

[1:05:53] multilingual um

[1:05:54] tech sessions that will take place at

[1:05:56] the east somerville school anyone is

[1:05:58] invited but it specifically will have

[1:06:00] uh bilingual supports um and that will

[1:06:03] take place 8-12

[1:06:05] on wednesday thursday and friday and

[1:06:07] saturday of this week

[1:06:09] many of the schools on saturday continue

[1:06:11] to give resources out to families

[1:06:14] and we'll do so again next saturday

[1:06:17] i think additionally all of the

[1:06:19] preparation teachers have done both

[1:06:21] during the summer

[1:06:22] in terms of training and then certainly

[1:06:24] in the first 12 days

[1:06:25] that were allocated from deci to us i

[1:06:28] think

[1:06:28] shows in their preparation of their

[1:06:30] classes

[1:06:31] their excitement to see their students

[1:06:33] and their students excitement to see

[1:06:35] theirs

[1:06:36] there is no way to replace in-person

[1:06:38] learning as i think

[1:06:40] um all of the prior speakers have

[1:06:41] indicated and i know we share that

[1:06:43] sentiment

[1:06:44] but i think in terms of the remote we're

[1:06:46] attempting to do our best

[1:06:48] um while we continue to um

[1:06:51] work with the city to resolve the

[1:06:52] building issues and the testing

[1:06:54] protocols

[1:06:55] to make the remote as robust and

[1:06:57] rigorous as possible

[1:06:58] um and just you know just again thank

[1:07:01] you to

[1:07:02] all of our staff for just exceptional

[1:07:04] work um in these first couple of days to

[1:07:06] get everything launched

[1:07:10] thank you presentation um in the

[1:07:13] beginning of october

[1:07:16] just to remind um that we'll this was a

[1:07:19] modified summer school obviously because

[1:07:20] of covid

[1:07:21] but we still had an extensive service

[1:07:24] menu

[1:07:24] for ell learners for special education

[1:07:28] learners and a reading program of a

[1:07:30] one-to-one reading

[1:07:32] using the digital tools also

[1:07:35] with rory harrell and community school

[1:07:37] so

[1:07:38] all that data is being pulled together

[1:07:39] and will be presented um

[1:07:41] at the next school committee in october

[1:07:43] which i believe is the first week of first week of october i

[1:07:47] believe

[1:07:50] um i should know it it is actually

[1:07:52] monday the 5th

[1:07:54] yes uh yes and then the following week

[1:07:57] is indigenous people weekend okay thank

[1:08:00] you

[1:08:01] we look forward to that and um

[1:08:03] especially since it was a

[1:08:04] an unusual summer and does that conclude

[1:08:07] the superintendent's report

[1:08:09] it does today yes thank you so much for

[1:08:12] that

[1:08:12] moving on to item number five reported

[1:08:14] subcommittees the school committee

[1:08:16] meeting for rules

[1:08:17] management um dr ackman actually you

[1:08:20] have two reports i don't know if you

[1:08:21] want to

[1:08:22] go through them both and then make a

[1:08:25] motion or however you want to handle

[1:08:29] uh i think technically i have two

[1:08:32] meetings to report out on

[1:08:34] i'm not sure that i have both of those

[1:08:36] reports

[1:08:39] so let me find

[1:08:43] i apologize uh

[1:08:48] let me find the report that i do have

[1:08:50] bring that up

[1:08:52] and is it in

[1:08:56] oh it's not nothing that's okay uh so

[1:09:00] the rule subcommittee report i do have

[1:09:02] is for september 16

[1:09:04] 2020. uh called to order at 4 23 p.m

[1:09:07] with myself and miss bearish dr phillips

[1:09:09] arrived at 4 26.

[1:09:11] in attendance was miss corruption

[1:09:12] superintendent skipper and

[1:09:14] the superintendent fellow iwasaki in the

[1:09:17] audience was the vice president of the

[1:09:18] sta megan brady

[1:09:20] we reviewed we reviewed an amended

[1:09:22] version of policy ebc supplemental

[1:09:25] that was first discussed in the meeting

[1:09:27] on september 11th with additional

[1:09:28] language that was added by the

[1:09:29] superintendent

[1:09:31] and mr rasaki the body decided to pull

[1:09:33] out the language around

[1:09:36] the attendance policy which is a

[1:09:37] temporary addendum

[1:09:39] um and it was passed out of subcommittee

[1:09:42] as a standalone policy which is

[1:09:44] j.e temporary addendum which will be

[1:09:47] addressed tonight after further

[1:09:49] discussion the body

[1:09:50] passed policy ebc supplemental out of

[1:09:53] the subcommittee as it was originally

[1:09:54] proposed with the additional statement of the

[1:09:59] superintendent will bring any

[1:10:00] substantial changes of policy to vote

[1:10:03] for the school committee while minor

[1:10:04] alterations to policy as warranted do

[1:10:06] not need to be brought to the school

[1:10:08] committee

[1:10:09] all motions were put forward by ms

[1:10:10] barrish and then seconded by dr phillips

[1:10:12] each was passed unanimously

[1:10:13] the meeting adjourned at 5 17 pm

[1:10:16] um i can also

[1:10:21] offer a brief synopsis of the

[1:10:25] meeting which was before that i'm trying

[1:10:30] or i can we can vote that out and i can

[1:10:32] have minutes the following

[1:10:34] in our name why don't we do that why

[1:10:35] don't we take a vote on the report that

[1:10:37] you just

[1:10:37] um provided and you can make a motion to

[1:10:41] accept and then we'll take a vote on

[1:10:43] that

[1:10:44] and move to accept the minutes seconded

[1:10:47] by eleanor

[1:10:48] thanks thank you so much so there's a

[1:10:50] motion by dr ackman seconded by eleanor

[1:10:53] barish can i go to

[1:10:54] is there any discussion or questions on

[1:10:57] that report

[1:10:58] can i get a roll call vote please

[1:11:03] certainly dr phillips yes

[1:11:08] description yes

[1:11:11] president mclaughlin yes mr green

[1:11:15] yes mayor curtis tony

[1:11:19] miss parish yes ms patone

[1:11:24] yes dr ackman yes

[1:11:28] and miss norman yes motion carries

[1:11:32] thank you um dr ackman would you like to

[1:11:35] make

[1:11:36] the we can put the report for the next

[1:11:38] one on to the next school community

[1:11:40] agenda would that be

[1:11:42] let's do that thank you so much so then

[1:11:44] moving on to unfinished business item

[1:11:47] number six uh

[1:11:50] under i i spoke with our attorney

[1:11:54] mike long who recommended that we hold

[1:11:57] off

[1:11:57] on the following the policy of

[1:12:02] jlcb the immunization policy

[1:12:06] he wanted to look further into it and

[1:12:08] also

[1:12:09] um

[1:12:13] that it might there were some more

[1:12:14] information from the town hall tonight

[1:12:16] too

[1:12:17] so we would like to put that off for

[1:12:20] another

[1:12:21] to the next meeting until i've gotten

[1:12:23] more feedback from

[1:12:25] attorney long the next item is new

[1:12:28] business

[1:12:28] and the first item is summerville public

[1:12:30] school policy

[1:12:32] manual and there are two policies for

[1:12:36] their first reading

[1:12:37] so what that means is these these are

[1:12:39] policies that the

[1:12:41] rules subcommittee has already worked on

[1:12:43] and this is the language they have voted

[1:12:45] out

[1:12:45] which will now be considered by the full

[1:12:48] school committee

[1:12:49] and i know they are lengthy policies but

[1:12:51] i think uh

[1:12:53] for the first reading it's important to have the public

[1:12:57] hear them can i get someone to volunteer

[1:13:00] to read

[1:13:01] the first one and then someone to read

[1:13:03] this a second

[1:13:08] would you like to sure i'm happy to do

[1:13:10] either i'm also happy to offer by means

[1:13:12] of explanation

[1:13:14] is there any clarifying points um so as

[1:13:17] i just mentioned in my committee report

[1:13:19] um the je attendance

[1:13:23] or temporary attendance addendum is

[1:13:26] uh intended to address attendance issues

[1:13:30] during the pandemic

[1:13:32] and um file evc supplemental

[1:13:35] is was voted out of committee

[1:13:40] with the intent of uh

[1:13:43] hopefully still making some changes to

[1:13:46] it

[1:13:47] but the goal was to get in front of the

[1:13:49] full body as quickly as possible

[1:13:51] ebc supplemental is

[1:13:54] something that was put out by masc

[1:13:58] we've added a little bit of language to

[1:14:00] it it's intended to sort of touch on

[1:14:03] all of the policies that might be

[1:14:06] uh needed to be addressed

[1:14:09] by the superintendent during the

[1:14:10] pandemic and

[1:14:12] the intent is sort of to give her and

[1:14:15] her staff

[1:14:16] um authority to address these as they

[1:14:19] see fit and

[1:14:21] bring uh as we mentioned you know the

[1:14:24] important issues to a vote in front of

[1:14:26] school committee and the minor issues

[1:14:28] um to address them themselves and to

[1:14:30] notify the school committee

[1:14:31] so that's that's broadly what it is for

[1:14:34] uh just because it is a very fun policy

[1:14:37] um

[1:14:39] i i'm happy

[1:14:42] to read uh i see that

[1:14:45] miss bearish is happy to read one so i'm

[1:14:48] going to choose to read the shorter one

[1:14:49] to start and

[1:14:50] uh let her work her vocal cords on

[1:14:54] the longer one so ms barish please

[1:14:57] uh get ready

[1:15:01] so what happens when you volunteer right

[1:15:03] um

[1:15:04] so a policy oh up here there's a mistake

[1:15:07] it says jh is policy je the attendance

[1:15:10] addendum

[1:15:11] uh i'll i'll submit a corrected one all

[1:15:14] summerville public schools students are

[1:15:15] expected to attend and engage in all

[1:15:17] synchronous and asynchronous activities

[1:15:19] designed by their teachers for the full

[1:15:21] school day sps teachers in pre-k through

[1:15:23] 8 will take attendance during homeroom

[1:15:25] daily and report

[1:15:26] in aspen all teachers must enter virtual

[1:15:29] present or virtual absent in aspen each

[1:15:32] day for

[1:15:32] each every student pre-k to 8 teachers

[1:15:35] will also take attendance during each

[1:15:37] learning block and keep an electronic

[1:15:38] record of student attendance for high school students will

[1:15:42] be taken daily at the beginning of

[1:15:43] period one at the beginning of every

[1:15:45] academic class block during the school

[1:15:47] day

[1:15:48] in addition somerville public school

[1:15:49] educators will monitor whether

[1:15:52] students are present asynchronously for

[1:15:54] example submitting

[1:15:55] assignments online logging into online

[1:15:57] learning platforms and attending

[1:15:59] virtual check-ins during remote learning

[1:16:01] in the case of illness parents and

[1:16:03] caregivers must

[1:16:04] call the school sick line to report a

[1:16:05] student absence

[1:16:07] uh the contact information can be found

[1:16:09] towards the bottom of each school's

[1:16:10] website homepage

[1:16:11] and after three days of consecutive

[1:16:13] absences due to sickness parents

[1:16:15] caregivers

[1:16:16] must submit a doctor's note

[1:16:17] electronically to the school office

[1:16:19] throughout periods of synchronous

[1:16:21] learning

[1:16:22] uh sps educators will observe will

[1:16:25] observe for students presence if it

[1:16:27] observe if it is observed the student is

[1:16:30] not continuously present

[1:16:31] the educator will contact the building

[1:16:33] redirect teacher or dean of students

[1:16:35] for follow-up action the redirect

[1:16:37] teacher or dean of students will contact

[1:16:38] the student's parent caregiver to

[1:16:40] support getting

[1:16:41] the student back online if a student is

[1:16:43] consistently absent

[1:16:44] and does not respond to outreach by the

[1:16:46] classroom teacher the school redirect

[1:16:48] teacher or dean of students

[1:16:51] that student or dean of students that

[1:16:53] student will be referred to the school's

[1:16:55] student support team for further support

[1:16:57] it was passed out of rural subcommittee

[1:16:59] on september 16th

[1:17:03] thank you for that um and then ms

[1:17:06] barrett

[1:17:07] uh superintendent skipper yeah i just i

[1:17:09] just wanted to

[1:17:10] comment on this um that the virtual

[1:17:12] present and the virtual absent are new

[1:17:14] codes that the department of ed have

[1:17:16] added this year

[1:17:17] thus the need for us to be able to

[1:17:19] modify the policy

[1:17:20] procedurally this is pretty similar to

[1:17:22] what we do now

[1:17:24] at the high school it's identical in the

[1:17:27] case of the

[1:17:27] k-8s the only real difference is that

[1:17:30] typically teachers are taking visual

[1:17:32] attendance

[1:17:33] so because they're with students for the

[1:17:35] day so they're making sure

[1:17:37] as kids are coming in that the student

[1:17:39] is present

[1:17:40] this here is just asking them to keep an

[1:17:42] electronic record of that attendance

[1:17:44] which is again something the department

[1:17:46] of ed is asking so those are really the

[1:17:48] changes to it

[1:17:49] and again the change of coding virtual

[1:17:51] present and virtual absent

[1:17:53] is necessitated that is how students

[1:17:55] will be identified in the collection to

[1:17:57] sims by department of ed

[1:18:00] thank you for that miss um ms viton you

[1:18:03] have a question

[1:18:08] yes through you chair norman um i don't

[1:18:10] know if this will

[1:18:11] go with the superintendent or to dr

[1:18:13] ackman

[1:18:14] i just had i'm curious is there a reason

[1:18:17] in the beginning of the policy we don't

[1:18:18] reference why this is being put

[1:18:20] in place there's no reference to remote

[1:18:21] learning or coping 19

[1:18:25] just it's city it's something

[1:18:28] right and this one or two the broader

[1:18:30] policy miss paton now they tend this one

[1:18:32] i mean just like a little caveat at the

[1:18:34] end of the first paragraph saying during

[1:18:36] remote learning implemented in response

[1:18:38] to the coven 19 pandemic just because

[1:18:40] there's no context to it

[1:18:41] sure i'm just like yeah

[1:18:44] good point we can make that note

[1:18:49] all right so we will

[1:18:52] sorry okay one moment one moment i so

[1:18:55] we'll

[1:18:55] uh when we see the policy again there

[1:18:58] will be that introductory remark but

[1:19:00] also

[1:19:00] to my colleagues one at the second

[1:19:03] reading

[1:19:04] uh before but we can always amend it to

[1:19:07] ms fatone yeah thank you through youtube

[1:19:10] norman um the second thing just

[1:19:11] again also just context maybe just one

[1:19:13] little blurb about what synchronous and

[1:19:15] asynchronous learning are

[1:19:16] i mean we use these words a lot but we

[1:19:18] don't actually put definitions down and

[1:19:20] i think that would be

[1:19:21] good context sure

[1:19:26] thank you uh mr green you have a

[1:19:28] question too

[1:19:31] yeah just a point of information is

[1:19:33] there anything in this policy

[1:19:34] that isn't required by uh destiny is

[1:19:38] there any

[1:19:38] like or is this just staying in

[1:19:41] compliance with with this

[1:19:42] requirements so uh three months here so

[1:19:44] it's a good question

[1:19:46] obviously some of this is our own

[1:19:48] vernacular like the dean of students the

[1:19:50] redirects some of these are the

[1:19:51] procedural

[1:19:52] um no i mean the main pieces to the

[1:19:54] department of ed is the

[1:19:56] again it's not an extensive uh guidance

[1:20:00] but it's really about the coding and

[1:20:02] then it's just about

[1:20:03] um you know multiple points of contact

[1:20:05] during the day

[1:20:06] keeping a log um and relative to the

[1:20:09] asynchronous

[1:20:10] looking at things like the submission of

[1:20:12] assignments online

[1:20:14] um or logging into particular

[1:20:16] applications that an educator may assign

[1:20:19] a student as a way to be able to measure

[1:20:21] asynchronous participation so

[1:20:24] okay thank you you're welcome thank you

[1:20:27] are there any other questions on

[1:20:30] this policy clarifying

[1:20:33] okay ms barish would you be so kind as

[1:20:36] to read the second policy

[1:20:37] for the first reading

[1:20:41] i am happy to do that i just want to

[1:20:43] double check because they're um

[1:20:45] i think there are two similar policies

[1:20:47] in our handouts and i just want to make

[1:20:48] sure that i read the correct version

[1:20:51] um i see ebc supplemental

[1:20:55] and then i see masc pandemic

[1:20:58] you want the evc supplemental the other

[1:21:01] one's the one i edited

[1:21:02] thank you so much dr phillips here we go

[1:21:07] uh let's see oh shoot hold on

[1:21:13] i thought i was ready let me try again

[1:21:20] okay policy issues for the pandemic

[1:21:24] file ebc creation of a general interim

[1:21:28] policy on covid related issues

[1:21:30] supplemental oh sorry file abc

[1:21:32] supplemental

[1:21:33] the school committee takes note of the

[1:21:35] covet 19 emergency resulting disruption

[1:21:37] of the traditional school

[1:21:38] day and year growing concerns of

[1:21:40] students families and the community

[1:21:42] and the growing number of issues that

[1:21:44] will affect public education

[1:21:46] therefore the school committee

[1:21:47] establishes an emergency interim policy

[1:21:49] to

[1:21:50] promote public safety and safety of

[1:21:52] students and faculty

[1:21:53] maintain to the extent possible the high

[1:21:55] and efficient level of educational

[1:21:56] services

[1:21:58] ensure support for students in general

[1:22:00] and in particular for those at highest

[1:22:01] risk educationally

[1:22:03] as well as those at social and economic

[1:22:04] risk and

[1:22:06] comply with the emergency orders of the

[1:22:08] governor and adhere to the

[1:22:09] extent possible to the guidance of the

[1:22:11] department of elementary and secondary

[1:22:13] education

[1:22:14] and other agencies of state and federal

[1:22:16] government and

[1:22:17] expedite the safest strategy for

[1:22:19] returning students to school

[1:22:22] the school committee will approve the

[1:22:23] final plan submitted to desi

[1:22:25] which will outline its strategy for

[1:22:28] returning students to school and will

[1:22:30] in collaboration with the superintendent

[1:22:32] make such modifications to the back to

[1:22:34] school plan

[1:22:35] and district policy and will authorize

[1:22:37] the superintendent to suspend

[1:22:39] revise or create protocols to facilitate

[1:22:41] the safe return to school

[1:22:43] the superintendent will designate the

[1:22:45] appropriate staff members to oversee the

[1:22:47] safe administration of coveted related

[1:22:49] policies during the period of the

[1:22:50] pandemic emergency

[1:22:52] and shall make such recommendations to

[1:22:53] the school committee as needed

[1:22:55] the school committee will authorize the

[1:22:56] superintendent to act expeditiously in

[1:22:58] executing the back to school plan in

[1:23:02] accordance with current law and

[1:23:03] regulation and will

[1:23:04] where noted authorize the superintendent

[1:23:06] to suspend revise or recommend policies

[1:23:09] rules and protocols as needed to serve

[1:23:11] the best interests and safety of

[1:23:12] students their families and the

[1:23:13] community

[1:23:15] the superintendent will bring any

[1:23:16] substantial change of policy to vote for

[1:23:18] the school committee while minor

[1:23:19] alterations to policy as warranted do

[1:23:21] not need to be brought to the school

[1:23:22] committee

[1:23:23] the back to school plan shall constitute

[1:23:26] the policy of the school district

[1:23:27] during the pandemic emergency and the

[1:23:29] superintendent shall exercise the

[1:23:31] authority provided in law to carry out

[1:23:33] the plan as needed

[1:23:35] general district goals affected by the

[1:23:37] pandemic

[1:23:39] the superintendent with the advice and

[1:23:41] consent of the school committee may

[1:23:43] suspend or modify

[1:23:44] individual district policies to address

[1:23:46] the kubernetes emergency

[1:23:47] as declared by the governor such

[1:23:49] suspension of policy shall expire upon

[1:23:51] the end of the emergency as declared by

[1:23:53] the governor

[1:23:54] the goal of her of emergency pandemic

[1:23:56] policies shall be to

[1:23:58] ensure the safety and health of students

[1:24:00] faculty staff and all persons who may

[1:24:02] come in contact with them

[1:24:03] provide the most effective educational

[1:24:05] services as possible to students under

[1:24:07] the

[1:24:07] circumstances authorized changes to

[1:24:10] operating protocols as needed to open

[1:24:12] and operate schools effectively from

[1:24:13] various venues or platforms

[1:24:15] conduct the district business and

[1:24:17] operational functions of the district as

[1:24:19] efficiently as possible

[1:24:20] allow the superintendent and staff to

[1:24:22] act quickly to carry out a

[1:24:24] back-to-school plan

[1:24:25] and facilitate the re-establishment of a

[1:24:27] safe and productive school day and year

[1:24:30] student assignment to schools file jca

[1:24:34] subject to the guidance from the

[1:24:35] department of elementary and secondary

[1:24:37] education the superintendent may suspend

[1:24:38] or revise the assignment of students to

[1:24:40] schools

[1:24:41] including the assignment of new students

[1:24:43] for such a period as the emergency

[1:24:45] declaration is in force

[1:24:47] school calendar file ic ica

[1:24:51] subject to the guidance from the

[1:24:52] department of elementary and secondary

[1:24:54] education and the provisions of

[1:24:55] collective bargaining agreements

[1:24:57] the superintendent may suspend or revise

[1:24:59] the school calendar with the approval of

[1:25:00] the school committee

[1:25:02] class size file iib in order to maintain

[1:25:06] healthy safe and effective classrooms

[1:25:08] the superintendent may suspend district

[1:25:09] policy on class size

[1:25:11] subject to the provisions of the

[1:25:12] collective bargaining agreements where

[1:25:14] applicable

[1:25:16] attendance file jh subject to

[1:25:19] operative law and regulations suspend

[1:25:21] modify or adapt policies related to

[1:25:23] student attendance including the link

[1:25:25] between the app

[1:25:26] the link between and absences when

[1:25:28] appropriate

[1:25:30] including the link between attendance

[1:25:32] and grades

[1:25:33] chronic absence policies and

[1:25:35] accommodations for students requiring

[1:25:37] special

[1:25:38] placements time on learning file ic

[1:25:41] ica and id subject to the guidance from

[1:25:45] the

[1:25:46] department of elementary and secondary

[1:25:47] education and the provisions of

[1:25:49] collective bargaining agreements

[1:25:50] the superintendent may suspend or amend

[1:25:52] requirements for time

[1:25:54] on learning for the duration of the

[1:25:55] coveted pandemic

[1:25:57] grading and retention file ike in

[1:26:00] accordance with guidance from the

[1:26:01] department of elementary and secondary

[1:26:02] education the superintendent may propose

[1:26:04] subject to the approval of the school

[1:26:06] committee

[1:26:06] modifications to the policy of the

[1:26:08] district for grading and retention of

[1:26:10] students

[1:26:11] local graduation requirements file a ikf

[1:26:16] in accordance with guidance from the

[1:26:17] department of elementary and secondary

[1:26:19] education and modifications of

[1:26:21] to current regulation or law the

[1:26:23] superintendent may propose

[1:26:24] subject to the approval of the school

[1:26:26] committee modifications to the policy of

[1:26:28] the district regarding graduation

[1:26:29] requirements

[1:26:31] duplicate statement in special education file ihb ihba ihbaa

[1:26:39] ihbf the superintendent and school

[1:26:41] committee should be mindful that

[1:26:42] attainment of a high school diploma may

[1:26:44] render certain students ineligible for

[1:26:46] further services

[1:26:48] discipline and suspension expulsion with

[1:26:50] homeschooling rights

[1:26:51] file jic and jk

[1:26:56] the back to school plan recommended by

[1:26:57] the superintendent and subject to the

[1:26:59] approval of the school committee shall

[1:27:00] contain protocols for serving students

[1:27:02] who are disciplined or suspended during

[1:27:03] the pandemic emergency

[1:27:05] further the superintendent shall provide

[1:27:07] in these back-to-school plans

[1:27:09] provisions for students

[1:27:13] who were disciplined or suspended or who

[1:27:15] may elect to remain

[1:27:17] at home under the provisions of the

[1:27:18] policies related to homeschooling

[1:27:20] or who may elect remote learning in the

[1:27:22] interests of safety or health concerns

[1:27:25] exemptions for particular groups of

[1:27:26] students i.e use of masks for youngest

[1:27:33] sorry

[1:27:37] um use of masks for youngest children

[1:27:39] high-risk students file jl

[1:27:42] superintendent shall provide protocols

[1:27:43] to principals and teachers regarding

[1:27:45] students

[1:27:46] who may require special exemptions from

[1:27:48] health and safety standards during the

[1:27:49] pandemic emergency

[1:27:51] such protocols may address exemption for

[1:27:53] utilizing support animals

[1:27:55] job descriptions file gca the

[1:27:58] superintendent may revise job

[1:27:59] descriptions for district staff

[1:28:01] considering the provisions of current

[1:28:02] collective bargaining agreements

[1:28:04] in order to secure the safety and health

[1:28:05] of students and staff establish

[1:28:07] effective

[1:28:08] communications between school and

[1:28:09] community maintain facilities

[1:28:11] transport students as needed provide

[1:28:13] food services and acquire necessary

[1:28:15] materials to operate schools safely and

[1:28:18] securely during the pandemic

[1:28:19] the superintendent will inform the

[1:28:21] school committee of any such changes

[1:28:23] any changes to job descriptions shall

[1:28:25] expire at the end of the declared

[1:28:26] emergency situation

[1:28:28] students at risk j-i-e-j-l jlc

[1:28:31] jlcc during the coveted pandemic the

[1:28:35] superintendent or principal of a school

[1:28:37] may revise or suspend provisions of

[1:28:38] policy to facilitate the education of

[1:28:40] students at risk or with special

[1:28:42] physical needs or their family

[1:28:43] caregivers including but not limited to

[1:28:45] caring for

[1:28:47] or educating students with disabilities

[1:28:49] illness pregnancy child learning

[1:28:50] responsibilities or special education

[1:28:52] needs consistent with law and regulation

[1:28:55] privacy of students file jra

[1:28:59] during the pandemic the rights to

[1:29:00] privacy held by students and their

[1:29:01] families shall not be abridged by the

[1:29:03] public schools

[1:29:04] such rates extend to the confidentiality

[1:29:07] of student academic records health data

[1:29:09] economic status and other such

[1:29:10] information as may be considered

[1:29:12] confidential by law

[1:29:14] massachusetts law prohibits the

[1:29:15] recording of individuals without their

[1:29:17] permission

[1:29:18] similarly students may not be recorded

[1:29:20] in classrooms by audio visual or remote

[1:29:22] means without the permission of parents

[1:29:23] or

[1:29:24] if of age by individual students during

[1:29:27] periods of remote learning

[1:29:30] the privacy of students participating in

[1:29:32] online classes shall not be violated by

[1:29:35] recording them without appropriate

[1:29:36] permissions

[1:29:38] pivoting back to remote learning or back

[1:29:39] to in school instruction

[1:29:41] the superintendent shall incorporate

[1:29:43] into the back to school plan

[1:29:45] protocols for modifying these plans

[1:29:46] including addressing the needs of

[1:29:47] students who may require reversion from

[1:29:49] in-school to remote learning modalities

[1:29:51] because of the pandemic emergency

[1:29:54] homeschooling file ihbg temporary

[1:29:57] homebound instruction file ihbf eg

[1:30:00] students with physical disabilities and

[1:30:02] remote instruction for students in

[1:30:03] quarantine

[1:30:05] the back to school plan shall provide

[1:30:06] for students who are temporarily

[1:30:08] homebound due to illness quarantine or

[1:30:09] disability

[1:30:11] public safety officers including the

[1:30:12] school resource officer moa with the

[1:30:14] local police

[1:30:16] subject to current law or regulation the

[1:30:18] superintendent shall report to the

[1:30:20] school committee of any change in status

[1:30:22] of the school resource officer

[1:30:23] if the district eliminates visitors to

[1:30:25] school during the school day the sro may

[1:30:27] be impacted

[1:30:29] eligibility for participation in

[1:30:30] extracurricular activities including

[1:30:32] sports

[1:30:33] file jj subject to law regulation and

[1:30:36] standards established by the appropriate

[1:30:37] and legitimate regulatory body

[1:30:39] the superintendent may propose changes

[1:30:41] to district protocols

[1:30:42] for participation in extracurricular

[1:30:44] activities including sports subject to

[1:30:46] the rules established by the

[1:30:47] massachusetts interscholastic

[1:30:49] athletic association attendance versus

[1:30:52] participation in events

[1:30:54] file jh and student athletic handbooks

[1:30:57] subject to law regulation or emergency

[1:30:59] delivery declaration

[1:31:00] the superintendent may propose protocols

[1:31:02] or modifications or suspensions of

[1:31:04] district policies

[1:31:06] regarding attendance by students or the

[1:31:07] public in school events including but

[1:31:09] not limited

[1:31:10] to assemblies sports events large

[1:31:12] gatherings or other programs

[1:31:14] visitors in schools and buildings file

[1:31:17] ki

[1:31:18] subject to current emergency

[1:31:20] declarations the superintendent may

[1:31:22] propose suspension or modification to

[1:31:24] district policies regarding visitors to

[1:31:25] school buildings during the school day

[1:31:27] and after school hours

[1:31:29] illness and contact tracing file jlcc

[1:31:34] subject to the provisions of the back to

[1:31:35] school plan the superintendent may

[1:31:37] establish protocols for tracking student

[1:31:38] contacts

[1:31:39] as a means of locating others for whom

[1:31:42] the student

[1:31:43] from whom students may contract or

[1:31:45] expose other persons

[1:31:47] to the covid19 such protocols will be

[1:31:50] consistent with law and regulation

[1:31:52] and be consistent with standards to

[1:31:54] protect the privacy of students their

[1:31:55] families and other persons

[1:31:57] transportation and busing file e e a e e

[1:32:00] a a e e a e c e e

[1:32:03] a g subject to current law and

[1:32:06] regulation the superintendent may

[1:32:07] suspend or modify policies related to

[1:32:09] the transportation of students by the

[1:32:11] school district legal requirements

[1:32:13] relating to ieps that contain

[1:32:15] transportation for students shall not be

[1:32:17] altered without the appropriate family

[1:32:18] consent

[1:32:19] these modifications shall be consistent

[1:32:21] with the district back to school plan

[1:32:23] operations and plant maintenance file ec

[1:32:26] eca

[1:32:28] subject to the provisions of law

[1:32:29] regulation and collective bargaining

[1:32:31] agreements the superintendent may

[1:32:33] suspend or

[1:32:34] amend current policy to ensure the

[1:32:35] efficient operation of business

[1:32:37] functions and maintenance of school

[1:32:38] buildings

[1:32:39] and other such offices as the different

[1:32:41] district remains

[1:32:44] sorry as the district maintains

[1:32:48] and this last bit i suspect is a note

[1:32:50] but it says possible need to add

[1:32:51] something on technology

[1:32:56] that is all i hope everyone is still

[1:32:57] with me thank you so much for reading

[1:33:01] that um i would anticipate that we might

[1:33:04] waive the second reading

[1:33:05] at our next meeting but i do think it's

[1:33:08] important

[1:33:08] to to hear it and see it um

[1:33:12] so thank you so much so the next

[1:33:15] item is uh fy20

[1:33:19] yes i'm sorry someone has a question oh

[1:33:24] i do mr green please jump in thank you

[1:33:27] so much

[1:33:28] oh and certainly dr phillips has a

[1:33:30] comment i'm sorry

[1:33:31] first i want to commend uh miss parish

[1:33:34] on her

[1:33:35] excellent reading and speaking voice she

[1:33:38] should have considered a career in radio

[1:33:41] um but i do have a question sometimes in

[1:33:44] those

[1:33:44] you know sub-sections the grant is to

[1:33:48] the superintendent and other times it's

[1:33:49] the superintendent

[1:33:51] with the consent of the school committee

[1:33:53] and i was just curious to know

[1:33:55] what made the distinction between those

[1:33:57] two and

[1:33:59] why that might be

[1:34:03] uh dr ackermann as sheriff

[1:34:06] rules do you want to speak to the origin

[1:34:08] of this

[1:34:10] sure so um and this actually i think

[1:34:14] feeds in well

[1:34:15] to dr phillips uh hopefully imminent

[1:34:18] comment

[1:34:19] is our goal was to get this in front of

[1:34:21] school committee as quickly as possible

[1:34:23] we did not think the language in this

[1:34:25] was perfect this is almost verbatim the

[1:34:27] language that came to us

[1:34:29] from the masc sample policy

[1:34:32] and we passed it out of subcommittee so

[1:34:36] that we could have a first reading

[1:34:38] dr phillips in that time has made some

[1:34:41] edits but

[1:34:42] because the superintendent expressed

[1:34:45] urgency in getting

[1:34:46] some sort of policy such as this past we

[1:34:49] passed

[1:34:50] uh this version as it was

[1:34:53] taken from the masc website out of

[1:34:56] subcommittee

[1:34:57] and i'm going to lead into dr phillips

[1:35:00] who has made

[1:35:01] done work on this and has um some

[1:35:04] amendments

[1:35:06] that we will probably discuss next time

[1:35:08] but has a version of this that

[1:35:09] uh sort of addresses those

[1:35:13] questions if that makes sense are you

[1:35:15] comfortable with that doc

[1:35:16] mr green that makes sense i'd love to

[1:35:18] hear

[1:35:19] um dr phillips um

[1:35:23] two amendments

[1:35:27] uh through you madam chair thank you for

[1:35:30] that lead in mr green and dr ackman

[1:35:33] um just kind of his background um as dr

[1:35:36] ackman said

[1:35:37] you know we wanted to get this policy

[1:35:39] before everybody

[1:35:40] so that we could make changes not let

[1:35:44] um perfect be the enemy of good and make

[1:35:46] changes together as a group

[1:35:49] um as background you know like for my

[1:35:52] work

[1:35:53] i spent a lot of time doing statistics

[1:35:54] and we're always interrogating our

[1:35:56] measures and trying to figure out what's

[1:35:58] the signal

[1:35:58] and what's the noise and in the policy

[1:36:01] as written by masc

[1:36:02] my read is that there is some very

[1:36:04] important signal and a lot of noise

[1:36:06] and so the revisions that i did in the

[1:36:10] version that's titled masc

[1:36:11] pandemic with sp edit at the at the end

[1:36:15] is trying to get rid of the noise and

[1:36:16] the noise that i saw was

[1:36:18] it seems like there's a lot of guidance

[1:36:20] in the masc policy so i tried to strip

[1:36:22] that out

[1:36:23] um there's a lot of confusion in terms

[1:36:26] of

[1:36:26] kind of the things that that mr green

[1:36:28] was pointing out

[1:36:29] sometimes it requires the advice and

[1:36:32] consent of the school committee

[1:36:33] sometimes it doesn't

[1:36:34] sometimes it requires that the

[1:36:36] superintendent pay attention to

[1:36:38] regulations sometimes legislation

[1:36:40] sometimes collective bargaining

[1:36:41] agreements

[1:36:43] um and it wasn't really clear what the

[1:36:45] change was

[1:36:46] so in the version that that i

[1:36:49] revised and and that we added to the

[1:36:52] packet

[1:36:53] it tries to strip out all the noise i

[1:36:56] tried really hard

[1:36:57] not to edit the policy like i think

[1:37:00] there's further changes we should make

[1:37:02] but i tried to just cut out the guidance

[1:37:05] streamline the what the superintendent

[1:37:08] has to check

[1:37:09] um and so it's there for your review

[1:37:13] i'm not quite sure what the next step is

[1:37:17] so hopefully

[1:37:18] you can help me there uh chair or dr

[1:37:21] ackman

[1:37:23] um well i think so

[1:37:27] first of all thank you for the sub

[1:37:29] commit the rule subcommittee for doing

[1:37:31] this so

[1:37:32] um efficiently but also thank you

[1:37:36] dr phillips for then taking the time to refine it and to

[1:37:40] clarify it so what i would hope

[1:37:44] uh if we could submit that

[1:37:48] for the next meeting is that um

[1:37:51] are there two versions so there's the one that's straight up from

[1:37:55] maac and then there is your version and

[1:37:58] so what i would like maybe we entitle

[1:38:02] yours

[1:38:03] so you know sarah with edits to have

[1:38:05] both of those policies

[1:38:07] in the packet for the next time and we

[1:38:09] can um

[1:38:11] uh decide to approve one or the

[1:38:14] other or to work you know take one and

[1:38:17] amend that

[1:38:18] and um but i think it would be very

[1:38:20] helpful to see

[1:38:21] both of them um

[1:38:25] mostly in just what you were saying how

[1:38:27] to use how do you go through a document

[1:38:28] and pull out the noise versus the

[1:38:30] signals

[1:38:31] and i think that is very helpful i think

[1:38:33] maac is trying to cover

[1:38:35] everything possible and sometimes

[1:38:41] it's not always clear so if we could

[1:38:43] have both of those

[1:38:45] versions to look at beforehand and then

[1:38:49] at our next meeting i think i would

[1:38:52] entertain a motion to well let's look at

[1:38:55] that whether we

[1:38:56] amend it or whether we just wholesale

[1:38:58] vote one

[1:38:59] down and and then more work on the other

[1:39:03] um so yes dr phillips by all means

[1:39:08] clarify they're both in the packet now

[1:39:10] in case anyone

[1:39:12] didn't have a chance to look at both in

[1:39:13] advance of this meeting

[1:39:15] i'm assuming since it's already in this

[1:39:17] week's packet it'll be in the packet for

[1:39:18] the next meeting

[1:39:19] yes it's fine just flagging that it's

[1:39:22] there

[1:39:24] it's the one masd pandemic specific

[1:39:28] thank you so much for that clarification

[1:39:30] i can say that

[1:39:32] um that was lost on me but that is very helpful

[1:39:35] and so um we haven't

[1:39:39] we've just had a reading we haven't had

[1:39:40] any motion to go vote on either of them

[1:39:43] so that gives us more flexibility

[1:39:45] so thank you very much for that

[1:39:46] clarification um

[1:39:49] does anyone else want to make a comment

[1:39:51] or

[1:39:52] have a question on this

[1:39:55] okay so both of those will be up for the

[1:39:59] second reading at the may

[1:40:01] 5th school committee we are now on to

[1:40:04] item c

[1:40:05] donations and i would be happy to

[1:40:07] entertain emotion

[1:40:10] oh diplomas excuse me wow uh

[1:40:14] i don't know be fyi 20 scale and adp

[1:40:17] diplomas

[1:40:18] can i get a motion on that

[1:40:22] yes um i

[1:40:26] moved to approve

[1:40:30] uh the fy20 scale adp diplomas for

[1:40:34] uh ronald omar santos morales in

[1:40:37] somerville

[1:40:38] a samia scheib from somerville

[1:40:41] and ellie daniel bion from summerville

[1:40:47] aren't you great thank you so much mr

[1:40:50] green for seconding that motion

[1:40:52] is there any discussion can we get a

[1:40:54] roll call votes on approving those

[1:40:55] diplomas can i just ask a quick question

[1:40:57] kerry

[1:40:58] sure of course do we have scale

[1:41:01] of graduates all through the year are

[1:41:02] there specific times that they happen

[1:41:04] just curious that's a great question

[1:41:08] or is there like you know superintendent

[1:41:12] sure as they as they actually meet

[1:41:16] their um their requirements same with

[1:41:18] the elp

[1:41:20] so you know that that um yeah so

[1:41:24] and that's great and congratulations and

[1:41:26] yeah so i was just curious thank you

[1:41:28] so that's always good to clarify and

[1:41:30] then as they graduate throughout the

[1:41:32] year

[1:41:32] they're all invited to the celebration

[1:41:34] and the graduation at the end

[1:41:36] of the year fantastic so with that

[1:41:40] there is a motion by dr ackman seconded

[1:41:42] by mr

[1:41:43] green can i get a roll call vote please

[1:41:46] sure dr phillips

[1:41:51] sorry yes miss corruption

[1:41:55] yes president mclaughlin yes

[1:41:58] mr green

[1:42:01] yes mayor carter tony mr

[1:42:06] yes ms patone yes

[1:42:10] dr ackman yes ms norman

[1:42:14] uh absolutely yes passes congratulations

[1:42:18] thank you so much uh next item is item c

[1:42:20] donations

[1:42:21] can i get a motion please

[1:42:25] i move to accept the service

[1:42:27] recommendation to accept with gratitude

[1:42:29] to find donations

[1:42:31] from 400 in cash to

[1:42:34] from the somerville high school track

[1:42:36] pack to the somerville high school

[1:42:38] athletic scholarship fund

[1:42:40] and standard 85 supply kits valued at

[1:42:42] two thousand eight nine

[1:42:43] sixty five dollars from staples today

[1:42:45] it's third row public school students

[1:42:48] second and who was national second

[1:42:52] emotion please

[1:42:52] eleanor barish thank you miss bears uh

[1:42:56] there's a motion by mr green seconded by

[1:42:58] ms barish

[1:42:59] is there any discussion can i get a roll

[1:43:02] call vote on that too please

[1:43:06] um can you have a

[1:43:09] question i i think that was from before

[1:43:13] mr green was that question from

[1:43:15] before it was indeed and the previous

[1:43:18] thank you so much

[1:43:19] go get a roll call vote on the approval

[1:43:21] of donations

[1:43:23] certainly um phillips yeah

[1:43:27] miss corruption yeah president

[1:43:30] mclaughlin

[1:43:31] yes mr green

[1:43:35] yes mayor carter tony miss parish

[1:43:38] yes mr tony yes

[1:43:41] dr ackman yes miss norman

[1:43:45] yes motion passes

[1:43:49] thank you so much i miss uh

[1:43:53] mrs skipper did you want to say anything

[1:43:56] i did i just i actually wanted to

[1:43:58] mention the staples donation um and um

[1:44:01] we really appreciated the kits these

[1:44:03] were back to school kits

[1:44:05] that contain school supplies for our

[1:44:07] students

[1:44:10] we uh

[1:44:14] picked the kids up but there was a team

[1:44:17] of people that worked

[1:44:18] back at edgerly to put the kids together

[1:44:21] and to

[1:44:22] ensure that we could give them out so ms

[1:44:24] santiago played a pretty big lead role in this so a big

[1:44:28] public thank you to her and to stephanie

[1:44:30] from

[1:44:30] special education uh into our attendance

[1:44:33] officers um

[1:44:34] matt and jen uh as well as lynne

[1:44:36] doncaster so

[1:44:38] um it really was a team effort to get

[1:44:39] the kids out to the school santiago uh

[1:44:41] really spearheaded it so

[1:44:43] just want to say a big thank you to her

[1:44:45] uh

[1:44:46] huge miss santiago not only it keeps

[1:44:49] everything moving but

[1:44:50] it has always whatever has been asked of

[1:44:52] her

[1:44:53] name um matt and jen and also

[1:44:58] stephanie uh they all were at edge early

[1:45:02] and and helped in and it was

[1:45:03] no small feat and we also want to thank

[1:45:06] staples for donating it

[1:45:08] um it does take a village to get kids

[1:45:11] crayons

[1:45:12] i think that's what we've learned so

[1:45:14] thank you so much

[1:45:15] especially miss santiago uh are there

[1:45:18] items from

[1:45:19] board members

[1:45:23] hearing uh mr mazza and then mr green

[1:45:28] uh through your near chair norman i just

[1:45:30] have an answer to that question about

[1:45:32] the uh

[1:45:33] teacher mentors and i just wanted to

[1:45:35] publicly say it's for one year um

[1:45:39] it's for this year only right now the

[1:45:42] teacher mentor program

[1:45:44] thank you so much for that clarification

[1:45:46] and that bit of information

[1:45:48] mr green i just want to make sure we

[1:45:51] took a moment

[1:45:52] on this second day of school to really

[1:45:55] thank

[1:45:55] the teachers who are you know busting their butts to

[1:46:01] make remote learning as

[1:46:03] good as possible and have to do it with

[1:46:05] the unfortunate especially for those

[1:46:07] who are parents little kids who still do

[1:46:09] it with parents watching

[1:46:11] in a way that you know allows for some

[1:46:14] you know tripping from the cheap seats

[1:46:16] that might otherwise be happening

[1:46:18] um and i want to especially contrast

[1:46:20] that with

[1:46:21] hybrid the schools that are currently

[1:46:24] doing hybrid

[1:46:25] which are you know also learning as they

[1:46:28] go and

[1:46:30] oftentimes making mistakes but since

[1:46:33] kids aren't since the parents aren't in

[1:46:34] the room

[1:46:35] those mistakes aren't as visible so i

[1:46:37] want to thank our teachers

[1:46:38] because i want to be cognizant that two

[1:46:40] days in they've done a great job

[1:46:42] but you know this is still very much on

[1:46:43] the learning curve

[1:46:45] and i want to encourage everyone to be

[1:46:47] patient as we figure out how to do this

[1:46:48] as well as possible because even when we

[1:46:51] start a hybrid thing

[1:46:52] the remote learning price will be a huge

[1:46:54] part three days of a school of a

[1:46:56] student's education will still be remote

[1:46:58] it's important that we take this time to

[1:47:00] learn how to do it right

[1:47:03] thank you for that and i could not agree

[1:47:06] with you

[1:47:07] more i i have

[1:47:10] heard from a lot of parents and

[1:47:13] it has been overwhelming the the amount

[1:47:16] of gratitude

[1:47:17] and the towards teachers and said you

[1:47:20] know

[1:47:21] this one went above and beyond and

[1:47:23] here's what this one did and

[1:47:25] um it is it is incredible

[1:47:29] i mean i have a high schooler so that's

[1:47:31] the world i'm in that high school

[1:47:33] orientation on thursday it was

[1:47:37] to be able to make remote physics seem

[1:47:40] not only doable but exciting

[1:47:42] it was really quite something and i i i

[1:47:46] as a parent i'm very grateful because it

[1:47:49] means a lot these

[1:47:50] uh all of our educators are such

[1:47:52] important adults in our kids lives so

[1:47:55] thank you for that um

[1:47:58] any other uh dr

[1:48:01] ackman are there condolences

[1:48:05] they're not they're not and with that

[1:48:09] this meeting is adjourned

[1:48:12] thank you so much

Regular School Committee Meeting - 9/21/20

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