 All right guys, so this is my lovely place that I actually love here and I never get tired of telling the story So I'm gonna say it as fast as I can in the next five minutes. I'll be here the extra time And it just feel free to turn heads as you can, you know, and we're gonna just be talking to these panels What I want you to know here is that in 1963 is when that whole thing started with Boston in 1963 This woman right here our founding mother of the medical program Luke Batson Actually heard that there was a school up the street for where she lived right here in Boston But it was a white neighborhood there were having science private science fairs, but our kids were not talking about the same things They made same Boston city. So she actually, you know, what went to find out why was it getting better assignments? So she went to the NWCP and actually taught them about how to ensure that all of the schools in Boston are getting the same exact education and they said you should both speak to the education chair of the NWCP and she said great Who is that is that is you rules? That is your new job You are the new chair of education for the NWCP and honestly, that's how she got that role She became the chair and this is her meeting with Louise Hicks And basically, you know asked her if she could have a meeting to talk about these Indifferences in all of Boston public schools that depending on where you live in the same mayor same school committee You had a different education and different resources Every single time she went into that office to me with Louise into the school committee They every time she mentioned the word desegregation that we must desegregate they stopped the meeting I said you can't say that word here. She asked for another meeting You say but you cannot say that word again. We said I mean sorry I'm would said it and they stopped the meeting three times It's all documented. You can hear it with with this voice on a radio show Talking about this in three times. She tried and three times. She was told no So basically the school committee did nothing to actually integrate our schools while she was trying to do this this letter right here and Somebody one of the medical directors told me that they nearly all you got to do is just change that day by day and put Today's date and it's pretty much the same exact demands. They made 14 demands to the school committee. They're written in different words from back in the days But basically talking about integrating our curriculum diversifying our hiring professional development resources for students of color so nothing happened with the school committee, but at the same time the The the parents of Roxbury did not give up on this They wanted to do something called an act of civil disobedience what men didn't actually go protest in a bad way They just decided not to go to school and they went to churches and community centers in numbers of the thousands Okay, 10,000 black students occupying all of these places in Boston and spending the day doing youth development youth leadership Black history and the cool thing here is that a thousand white students actually got on buses till we showed up on that day To support what was happening in Boston? That's kind of what people thinking about medical because it's Wellesley and Western which are two medical communities So, you know, so those things happen. It was called a sale for freedom day They did several of those throughout that year In 1965 it was the program called Persian Exodus a lot of people think that was the startup of the medical program It is not we were not actually busting into the nape into the suburbs. This was actually Ellen Jackson And Elizabeth Johnson two other Roxbury mothers who found a loophole in the school committee rule in the school laws That basically said if you can get yourself to whatever school you wanted to you can attend any school in the city of Boston But we're not going to help get you there. You just have to get there on your own So they did it 900 students went to 25 schools and this lasted for three years. It wasn't what we see it wasn't funded There was no support for transportation So it died down by itself because it wasn't sustainable At the same time in 1965 The racial imbalance either you've already heard me talk about it in the video was was actually adopted They can basically say it is illegal in massachusetts not to try to integrate your schools Or we can actually keep our state funding in our fund in our fund you And then at this time that I love this wall here This is this is the wall that I tell you that's about about the school committee that I love This is the chair of the school committee. Let's let's see. This is where this is you here Chair of the school committee in brookline Dr. Leon Trilling a professor at MIT who heard what Ruth Basson was doing in boston and that boston wasn't listening to her In the black families and he was the one that said that he did not want You know his kids to be educated in isolation and he invited over for a school committee meeting in 1966 to actually talk about this And um, when I see this was when we were funded this was actually after they've already began the program They took that same conversation to actually to other to other nearby suburban towns and say hey Do you want to do this? The cool thing is that in such a short period of time between 65 and 66 not even a four-year-old bike A meco program that incorporated they got a board of directors and they actually opened up the doors to 220 students That went from what you asked me before from the age of five to the age of 16 Got into buses and went to school for the first day in in the seven communities And right here it tells you basically what the communities are and when they started So this is the map of meco and it tells you when people came on as they make a community So arlington you were number one you guys came over that came on in 1966. That's amazing. I don't think I remember that but um So you guys were you guys were one of the founding partners of the meco program And the important thing here in this wall of 1968 is basically that that's where marluda king was assassinated And why is that relevant to the meco program because look at 1968 the meco program doubled in size that year So what did you think that tells you like what was happening in these in these communities when they saw what was happening in this country? What do you think happened? What do you think happened? Why do you think they joined people got motivated and there were activists who were calling for integration I see People got motivated like it happens, you know during our history that when people see some injustices Some people that are compassionate and have social justice in mind. They want to do something about it So they actually joined the meco program and that was the last Large influx of the meco program the meco's history after that We've only had four other times joined in the last one being in 1977 The of this wall is there, you know an important wall. This is our second mother of the meco program 1971 That is when gene maguire goes to be that no gene maguire That is when she came on board some people say that she's the founder of the meco program that is incorrect I don't want to take away from battson and everything she did to get all this started But she was the one that held it down for the longest amount of time for 43 years So and at the same time, but I love about this picture with her here He raised in her hand that was her running for the for the school committee When it was when it was actually elected committee back in the day that also school committee is no longer elected It is the only city or town in the entire massachusetts that it is not elected The only one there's a lot of people saying about whether that's equitable or not That we want the people to vote or not, but it is because Um of the racial injustices that happened when they had to take it away and be elected because then people of color were not winning And people were not voting for them, but now there's people saying that okay now we have enough cloud We want to be able to elect our own people because that mayor can also be maybe not doing the right thing for all day years So that is her um, she was the first black woman to be elected in the school committee in boston And right next to her though. Some of you may have heard this name. It is john d o bryant Where this high school that is named next door. It's an exam school. He was the first black Man to be elected into the school committee. So at the same time while g maguire was running the mecca program She was trying to transform boston public schools And then here this wall is not necessarily about the mecca program, but we can leave the theory of busting out This is where massachusetts in boston and really any boston is really known for like the busting history that was so problematic That is when the judge made a decision here judge garrity that schools in boston have to integrate But what happened was it was mandated. So it was by force that mecca program is Voluntary people chose to open the doors. That's where the program works that we always say So in this time you see all of these things happening police escores I have pictures and videos of people in horses at the beach to get them the black families out of the beach This was people throwing things at the windows Hanging a black dummy in in one of the housing projects and trying to lynch it This was all stuff that happened in the 70s because people did not want to integrate the schools But what i my favorite part about this panel right here is just the last line What does the last line say any of my young people that let me have you because you haven't railed to me yet It's the last line. It's not the bus. It's us. Oh, no, sorry over here the last line of this paragraph. All right Meanwhile mecca buses continue to ride to the suburbs such a simple line But I love it because all of this country was in turmoil in that country But you know what also the country was always in turmoil at this time Now while boston was in turmoil and people didn't want our students to go to school in better neighborhoods That mecca buses just continue to do his job Almost like nothing else was going on. We're going to continue to go to a place where people want us And that's the part that I love about the mecca program and i'm not going to say anything else here This is my time here and you guys heard me talk upstairs basically that summery assistance 2.0 Anti-racism work and this is us talking about george floyd and that means basically my two comments that I always tell people Nobody should be educated in isolation Nobody benefits from that level of isolation and then people ask me why is mecca program still needed today? It's mecca still needed. I'm like, oh, that's a really easy answer. Is there still racism in this country? Then yes the answer is yes mecca still needed because we're fulfilling something that is different and unique So I tell people I don't compare ourselves to boston public schools Like I told you my husband wants one of the schools here in bosses So I will never be able to go home if I start bashing bps wherever I go So I tell people that is not about a comparison to boston public schools We are not better. We are different. We are different. We are unique and we are special But every school system needs help the suburban communities help around anti-racism You know the boston public schools need help around around curriculum and resources You know everybody needs some sort of help But we are we are not in competition with anybody because nobody can compete with us Because we're better So thank you All right, so I like I told you earlier I'm happy to take any other one or two comments if you want if the list the list allows me But if not, I like I told you before Okay, I like I told you before I'm so sorry that I love I usually like to stay here for all of these things But I got two teenagers at home alone and I have to get to them Because I don't trust and they're already asking me what's how I'm coming home. Like I said earlier So I gotta I gotta get home. She's like it's gonna still come over. It's a boy. No, he cannot Yeah, they're sourcing me out. I'm like, no Anything else that I can answer for you We can ask for shell too to pass it on Okay, I just I just want to make a comment that um I am a Roxbury girl by heart by default. And so it's it's wonderful to see Roxbury moms Right. Roxbury moms are powerful. Absolutely. Absolutely All right guys, I'm gonna leave you to it And do my monday message more photos just in case in the bill might have cut anybody off No face in the bill, but It's been a pleasure guys. Thank you Good evening I'm calling to order the regular meeting of the Arlington school committee on thursday march 16th 2023 I'm Liz X in the chair. We are holding this meeting at the metro headquarters at 11 Roxbury street in Boston I want to say thank you to Millie Arvaje Thomas who I think is left, but thank you for hosting us and having us here And I also want to say thank you to miss Diggins for all of the coordinating and organizing Transportation the food the space. So thank you very much for making this exhibit hall tour and metco presentation We are now going to have our Arlington public schools metco program report by our metco director So I think so you can go up there and click with the mouse or there's a slight advantage. Did she not give it to you? No So yeah, the controls are all right up there Is there a slight advantage sitting up there? This is this thing We're in big city everything's fancy. No, no, I see. I gotta go some way away. I'm sorry Oh So good evening everyone Welcome to my hometown Roxbury I am presenting on our Arlington metco program For the 22 23 school year So the vision and the mission of this program has stayed the same To build an interconnect relationship with students and families metco arlington staff Arlington and boston community while increasing the program engagement and student academic and scl achievement We currently and I'm so excited to say we have four full-time staff members That includes myself the director two licensed social workers And an instructional specialist We have three part-time staff members and that includes two bus monitors and our family engagement liaison We have one part-time social work intern from Simmons University We have one parent elected on the aef board on that happened last year, but she's still there We have 71 students currently in the program across k through 12 We still operate out of bishop party pierce Gibbs oddison in the high school We have two buses And one operates through eastern bus company and that's for our elementary students And then arlington transportation for our middle and high school students. We've combined the bus to share We have one late bus that leaves from ahs that often will Help out our students at oddison that may need to stay after And then we have an alternate late bus for our elementary students. And that is on an as-need basis So that's part of the crew right there And i'm excited. It doesn't include our bus monitors. We try to make sure that they're included So some of our affiliations, uh, we are i'm a part of the superintendent's diversity advisory committee We are part of mecho ink A part of mecho directors association um I am the professional development chair for the mecho directors association um I am also leading the 2023 simons university black alumni symposium this year um I am also served on the dei committee as well as Simmons. We have veterans on our staff So we have the u.s. Army u.s. Navy and they also serve in veteran services as well um I am also a goodwill health program Board member And we are affiliated and connected with the boston public health commission. You'll learn a little bit more about that So i'm showing this because i'm a Simmons alum as well. And so uh, this was a graduate um last year From arlington high school. She also was the bsu leader last year She's currently a Simmons university student So i'm just trying to show how our worlds are interconnected and I actually showed up there Because i'm the african-american alumni association vice president and I had to lead the candlelight ceremony And it just so happened. I see her in the crowd of students. So I was pretty excited to see that. We took a picture. Um Yeah, so some of our employee highlights. I am still the co-advisor for the black student union We are in our second year successfully of our bipop affinity group at oddison where myself and the middle school Social worker and elementary social worker. We lead and facilitate structured conversations around Anti-racism and what students are looking forward to seeing in their school community This year myself and the elementary social worker were Voices united facilitated at the high school for all our ninth grade students Let's see here. I participated and will continue to participate in learning walks instructional rounds Instructional leadership team emergency response team at the high school Serves on the committee for the oddison assistant principal and the deputy superintendent search See I am leading district by professional development. We did our second session yesterday and we had two three esteemed Arlington graduates one from 87 and one from 2013 and then another one that attended school between 2001 and 2009 um And so let me see what else have I done here So I participated as a panelist in our on di bj conversation on creating cultures of belonging in this year's mpde bridging building bridges conference I am again the professional development chair of the meccal directors association and have been nominated for the mda president this year We haven't had our vote yet, but Our instructional specialists will teach fashion design Fashion design class at our arlington community as summer program this year And our bus monitor will work as the meccal program counselor to just try to assist with any busing or any issues with our students And our instructional specialists and elementary social worker have attended our meccal director leadership conferences And so that's a picture of me as a panelist for creating cultures of belonging Bless you. All right. So student highlights. Um, so we have six graduating seniors this year And right now we're looking at uh, Wentworth bunker hill pace university bridge water state and some folks are actually Really late in the process. So they've come up to me and I like miss miss. I need to go somewhere So I need your help. So I have a college workshop that I put together for Next thursday from 3 to 6 p.m I'll be sitting down in there with them so that we can apply to whatever rolling application colleges they can apply to um We've been doing uh field trip. So while graduating seniors attended a field trip led by on a hs History teacher j barry. He's been partnering with us this year. It's been amazing. Um, and so Our graduate our 2013 graduate christian walks He is the director There at the african the museum of african-american history. So he was able to show us around And that was really really nice. We had a student serve and the only student to serve on the deputy superintendent So one of our students did that We had two students that participated in the audison assistant principal search as well So that happened over the summer and so we had two students that were participating In the a summer fund program that said sure. Why not we'll we'll serve on that committee We had eight students that participated in our mechal directors association youth leadership conference Six middle schoolers will participate in our middle school leadership Retreat at the ronburton training village We had one student that participated in our L and p educational services hv you hbcu college fair So she did about I think about like six or seven interviews like back to back We had one student that participated as She came and represented helped put our table together and everything we had a mechal mechal ink Showcase and it was a recruitment fair. So we were able to recruit because families can have choice now So we're able to recruit and tell Families about what we have to offer here in arlington Our superintendent shadowed our students. So that did happen. Um She said shadowed our student for a day and she also wrote on the bus with our students and our students report back That they really enjoyed that so you may have to come back again I did too best days. Yes. Um, they were like, listen, we had her she was captive audience We were able to talk about the prom we were able to talk about these things. So they were super excited to have you on the bus um We have high school students that participate in school based activities bsu volleyball basketball football chair leading um The list is endless and our middle school students that participate in school based chorus Um affinity groups and they helped to organize our black history month activities this year One that we missed is our scavenger hunt and we're actually going to add that when they have autism day So our elementary students have participated in activities as well school based activities Chorus and we have one in the school play at bishops. I'm super excited about that next week So this is a picture of our um seniors at the museum of african-american history And in the checkered shirt is your 2013 graduate of arlington high school Who is also the director of that at that of that museum? And so this is another picture of from the youth um leadership conference at the medical directors association one And these students act they had a wonderful time Even the one standing next to me. That's not so smiling. I was like, you're gonna stand next to me So new program implementations and connections we have a monthly breakfast club now And that's led by j barry. So once a month at the high school students, um go into the conference room They have these really fancy bagels and orange juice and all that stuff and teachers are invited to come in And and just connect. So it's just really to build community around there We have friends of arlington meckel that is still thriving. Um, we have some new members including the teacher representation So we're super excited about that and we'll continue to build upon that. We are continuing summer fun So we have a three week summer fun program that will happen this year with transportation And right now our numbers are showing 17 students signed up for week two 16 signed up for week three 14 signed up for week four and two of the students in that um The sign up our new students and one that's actually new to the program this year. So we're super excited about that We did some community service at woods mullin shelter. That's the boston public health commission homeless service bureau With a service 240 women plus a night So we were able to organize a closet and fold some clothes up there So that was students and families that came out and did that We have a partnership with a ycc this year where we have a licensed professional that comes in on tuesdays That sits in the meckel office and has counseling for students on site And so she currently has five of our students on her caseload Uh students are offered the opportunity to become program counselors with a summer fund So we do have one really excited student Who is actually new to the program this year started at the high school that has already explained She is applying to become a counselor at age this year We also were afforded job opportunities to our students and this is something that Dr. Jenga doesn't know but i'll be rolling this out to him because i want to spread it out a little wider to our Entire school community at a hs and so that's through boston public health commission homeless service bureau. They have offered Some employment to our students the walnut street center and the goodwill health program also would like to come in And connect with our students and talk about some of their job opportunities that they have available. So I'm excited about that. We are still partnering with dropout academy. I know it sounds Sounds bad, but it's not it's dropping out of the old way of thinking and dropping into a more um I don't know like the emotional wellness type of approach to your school and into living so He has facilitated some wellness luncheons at the middle school. He's coming back to work with our team He worked with our he we did one session with our meckel team including our bus monitors So they were a part of that as well and then our arlington meckel offers bus monitor employment And so i'm so excited this year that we do have three student applicants that would like to um Call monitor with our current bus monitor. Uh, so that they can get a little extra cash and some experience Work experience and so this is what um one of our from one of the dropout academy Wellness luncheons and this is our middle school students and they have a blast whenever dropout academy shows up This is our arlington. This is the high school And so that is sitting next to me is melissa moise. That's the a y cc licensed social worker And so um our students all know her even though they may not be on her caseload They will stop in and say hello. And so we had some pizza just introducing her to and They have it some of the students there All right, so spreading the news about arlington meckel So we did do the showcase and that was in december and from that We did get some families that are interested in arlington that are currently in my cube right now That will be coming in to do interviews soon We have um, we did a presentation with audison a black history advisory activity where we rolled out an activity for uh audisons extended advisory so myself and shea lolo, which is our elementary social worker We put together a curriculum for all the teachers to be able to roll out an advisory We did all about meckel student face and presentations are coming up For audison and coming up for pierce. We're doing some professional development around meckel But also around microaggressions. We've been asked to come in and do that. So we are going to do that We have an upcoming Elementary field day where we're bringing all our elementary students together We're hoping to do it at bishop and we're trying to have a field day where we have our High school students help to coordinate some of the activities for that field day We did apple picking through the meckel directors association We have our bridging two communities annual family walk coming up march 26 We have moving on celebrations that we do weekly lunch bunch including our resident students So they get to come in as well Once and it's structured So there's some curriculum around social and emotional learning and just building friendships and connections And then we will continue our community service at woods mullin shelter And so that's from the showcase and that's one of our seniors in the middle and our family engagement liais liais in there and that's her daughter and that is some of her artwork Because she is a part of the art program at 8 hs And so she got to showcase some of her work and that's what really drew in some of our folks as well They were like, oh you have our program And so it was nice to have our our student there to represent and you'll see j barry He is all mecca. I'm telling you like he's mecca staff really so He's a part of that This is where we were when we were at woods mullin shelter And you'll see some of the bags and it's like a box of socks that we have to put together So that was really rewarding you hear one of my students say I didn't know this was homelessness I had a whole Different understanding of it and he's like I want to come back and his mom called and was like he's folding his clothes So I guess he learned how to fold that day and he started folding his clothes, which is great So if you see on the top on the top left Our mecca social worker shea lulul put together The a black history periodic table that is still kind of showcased at audison right now When we put it up and that's some of the team that put it up When we put it up the kids all circled around and so I had pictures of like students just like whoa This is amazing. This is awesome. I know this person and that person. So that was awesome Our mecca directors association leadership conference You'll see here and you'll see liz a part of that. It is always a lovely time when we have liz around So of course we always have to take our pictures um We all got the I think you were part of the Simmons crew that day because it was like a whole bunch of Simmons alone And we just got together like yay So, um, then we were able to take this picture and get ourselves together So looking ahead we have mecca advocacy day coming up and mainly told you all about it on tuesday Um, because my son attends brown university sometimes I get privy to folks that are in that community And so I was able to meet with someone who has summer program and that said they paid for students to come out To brown and so she said she's been wanting to partner with mecca. And so that's what we're going to do for next summer We're going to partner with brown university and get some of our students out there. Um, we will have some hiking with giddy foul I'm super scared and excited at the same time So we'll have that will be with our high school students and we're working that out now Um building friends of arlington mecca membership is growing We're going to have a local college tour that will include our middle and high school students Our middle school students came to me and they said we want to go on the college tour I said well, it'll be a local one. So there you have it. So j barry is organizing that Um along with me. And so we'll be taking our middle school and high school students on a local college tour We'll continue to build upon our arlington mecca Family friends program. So we've started this year. We're partnering our students with one of their resident friends That's an organic relationship and friendship. Those students participate in our lunch bunch And we've been in contact with their families so that our students can, you know, spend the night if they want to And vice versa and you know be able to stay out in the community longer than what, um They could if they just get on the bus And we also our middle school students are really into basketball Which is my jam. So we are trying to get them to a college basketball night So we are working on that right now because obviously the seasons have ended for a lot of folks including my son at brown So we are trying to make sure we can try to get them to a game. Um, and j barry was saying baby bc So we'll figure that one out try to get them there and is that is that it? Yeah, I think that's it Thank you very much this I'm tired listening to all of the incredible things that you are doing. It's amazing. Um questions or comments from the history building How many open seats do you have today? I mean, how many people are you recruiting for? So right now I have 10 in my queue and I would like to put some more in there So that I don't know if someone was here. Harrison is the one from here that uh, so he said I have a lot more students So I'm always in communication with Liz to ask her. Hey, when do we have seats? When do we have seats and I try to lock it in really quickly. So We're actually early on our process. Usually we're a little later in the game Arlington, we're not we're like early in the game. So I'm really happy about that So we're doing our interviews in two weeks and then I'll be asking for more So Liz you're gonna need me from me. Yeah, she always gets it then usually late at night by the way Can you explain how that process works down with recruitment? Absolutely. So Families get choices And they'll pick three Communities that they are looking for their student to attend and From there, I'm all I am always asking where do we have where do we have room? Where do we have space? Where do we have space and as soon as I find that out? I'll request it through mecho ink. So there's a whole process They have electronic process and I'll request The number of so if it's like First graders, I'll say me. Can I have five first graders? It doesn't mean that they'll Be with us, but you know, can you send me five files? And so when the files come to me, I reach out to the families immediately to say, hey So nice you've been referred to Arlington And then sometimes you'll get fans like that's a little too far. I'm like, okay What if it is you you'll have to withdraw so that I can add, you know to that first grade pool After I reach out the initial reach out then I set up some time So that I can do a program overview for them. So we just recently did a program overview for our families. I did it virtually and I give them a rundown of what Arlington Mecca looks like so they get some of this information as well Including like the bus route and stuff because I want them to be able to make the the right choice for their family and their student Once we do that then we schedule the get into know you session Where they'll you know, I will ask them some standard questions just to get to know the student because we do have particularly from k through Five we have three schools so I had to make sure you know match up personalities and you know so forth So I want to make sure that it that do the right placement for that student and so once we meet and we You know have the get into know you session Then we'll sit down as a team and that team is going to include our faculty as well APS not just mecca staff And we'll figure out where where we should play students And if this is the right fit for the student I can't really say, you know, yes or no But it may not and we'll talk to the family and say, you know, is this what you want Particularly if they have some questions and then we'll give them their assignment We'll give them their school assignment and then they start registering so they start registering so I'm trying to get them in Quickly because I feel like we're competing against private schools charter schools So I wanted to start the process earlier this year. So So if people drop out in the process, are you still able to show those seats here? So if the seat is still available So once we start getting drop out and if we're like a month in I will go back to to Liz and ask when we have Seats available. She'll give me that information and then I'll request those files. So Last year we took ninth grade students Historically, we have never taken ninth grade students, right? I can't say never because I don't know Before Margaret, but we historically there was no we went up to six. We've we've taken ninth grade and it has been It's been it's been great. I mean this student is really involved and connected This student is a cold bus monitor in her community service like she has really been involved This student was on the deputy superintendent search So, yeah Yes You mentioned that you're doing affinity groups and I was wondering it sounded like you were saying perp you're Trying to communicate what people wanted to learn about races I'm wondering do we have affinity groups where staff are having a sense to develop a sense of community and support for themselves Absolutely, we have staff affinity groups. I'm a part of one of the staff affinity groups So when we we'll have lunch Or we'll have after work Dinner and we'll connect and we'll talk and Laugh maybe talk about some of the issues we may have and some strategies around how to you know Navigate things. So there are affinity groups for staff members Can I add to that also during our professional learning series? We have two affinity groups. We have the white ally Affinity group and then we have The african-american or people of color affinity group and they just met again this past wednesday So that's part of our professional learning series that we have throughout the year So that's a more formal way that we have affinity that we found a structure to have affinity groups as well Yeah, I'm not a part of that one because I'm leading pd this year about meccals So the question I usually ask people to come present to us is what do you need from us to make things better We need buses We need transportation. I work Side by side with Steve and I think he is One of the greatest people I've ever met He's amazing and I can call him if there's an emergency if there's anything going on And he's probably gonna kill me for saying this but he's amazing and he has been such A like a tremendous it's just been a tremendous partnership with Arlington transportation And it will free up a lot of our our money so that we can do more programming like this and really, you know Not rely on brown university pay for our students But that we're paying it for our students to attend brown university summer programming. So I think um That is my own ass is that that Transportation transportation is given Arlington transportation more resources So that they can be they can thrive better. Thank you. Yes The family friends program How's it going? It's going well. So we it's a slow start And we are modeling something that LaToya Revis did in western and I think she kind of adopted it from someone else Wanted to make sure it was organic Wanted to make sure that students really had a connection didn't want to just Partner students up and they didn't really have a connection. So we are partnering with The classroom teacher to say hey, do you notice if so-and-so is having you know a connection with someone in class And they're they're sharing that information with our social worker Our social worker is then reaching out to that family. Do you try to pair up the same age? Oh, yeah, because they're in the class together. So yes, so we we're looking for classroom buddies. Yeah That's what we've been doing. Yes Can I add one more thing? Ms. Smith, you also go to our curriculum leaders meetings. I'm sorry Yes conversations with directors. And so she's she's locked in to what we're planning and how we strategize around curriculum And she's a very active member of that. So that makes ever every other Monday. And so she's a she's an integral part of that group So I just want to make sure that should all the other things that she's a part of she's also a part of that that group Absolutely It is great being in there as well I just we are truly fortunate to have you Thank you for all your work. Oh, thank you It's my second home now Any other questions Yeah, um, so the first time I met Rochelle I brought oh, I wasn't working for Arlington yet. We had you had an outdoor Oh, yeah, we had a VDS celebration Yes, and I brought my daughter and the first thing that stood out to me about Rochelle was her instant connection with my little five-year-old Who they were jumping through the loops at one point and she asked when she would get to see this Rochelle again So we need to we gotta get together. Yeah, we gotta get together The community walk is something I'm going to talk about in my update in just a minute Which is a great opportunity for families to come and get to know some of our families in the Metco program but Rochelle is Liv's breeds exists this program and we aren't immensely Lucky to have her in this role and some of the New things that you have brought to the work and your constant dedication to it is evident in everything that you do and all of the New ideas you've brought forward and that our kids are benefiting from so. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you Thank you very much All right, we have public comment next on our agenda Okay, um, AHS student representatives to the school committee Amy and Tomaki and Mo Any updates? Days coming up spring playing For juniors and seniors not a lot of interest really That's happening on spring sports. We're opening up Um, recently there was a rather unfortunate incident at the school bigotry field graffiti in the bathrooms and that's being discussed among distant bodies A lot of people are thinking about that Yeah, on top of that, there's also uh in april there'll be a series of invasories dedicated to inclusion of diversity workshops that are run Uh by like teachers, but also club leaders and students to help, uh, I guess spread awareness and diversify our community All right, thank you all very much and thank you for coming Here Okay, the superintendent's proposed budget I will just briefly share a couple of adjustments that are in the final budget document from drafts that the committee has reviewed previously There we have been able to take a look at our library programming model And attempt to get a little bit more resources into professional librarian staffing levels In order to do this, we took a look at where we had the ability to because of either how long A library of paraprofessional have been in the role or through attrition or the vacancy of a library of paraprofessional role Pilate having a full-time librarian and a couple of schools next year So for next year the plan is to have a full-time librarian Without a library of paraprofessional at pierce and stratton elementary schools In an effort to start moving us towards a model where we'll have a full-time librarian at every single elementary school The other schools will share the remaining library roles and paraprofessional roles and I will work and mona I'm miss four Walker will work with our Library team if we need to make adjustments to that pilot model if there are things we need to do So the change then is that there's an offset a reduction of two library of paraprofessional roles in order to add Another fully licensed librarian in addition to the one that had already been in the budget So there will be an addition of 2.0 That's financially offset by that The paraprofessional roles and then the only other change is that there was a role in the essor grant That was a family transition liaison at the gift school that is That is now in the essor grant and the role that was in the essor grant was the director of communications and family engagement Which is now in the general fund any other changes that we made the rest of them Just for the record, how many elementary librarians will he have next year? Exactly 95 We will have five with the Editions for next year. So we're five on our route to seven. Yes. Okay Okay, thank you I don't want to I don't want to leave out We do have one between that's shared between Gibbs and Odyssey right now in the middle school level So we will have certified librarians and I mean we have now at every level But I just want to make sure that we include Yeah, as part of we'll eventually need another one to have one at each of the middle schools correct I was looking at the revised updated budget and But late this afternoon, which life and I had a chance to call you I think One of the librarians is not mentioned I understand we're planning to there's there's one mentioned, but I think not the second one In the summary document. Yeah. Yeah, okay It was like so so in the narrative text, it's not there, um The The turn on page 20. Yes, he's a typo. Okay page 23 Budget Job descriptions, um It's a possible for approval So I won't Go into great detail with each one the materials are in your your novice files There are two job descriptions that were reviewed some adjustments were made based on feedback by the cia subcommittee Those are the director of research data and accountability Which will report primarily into the deputy superintendent and jointly into the director of diversity equity inclusion belonging to justice And a director of communications and family engagement that will be a cabinet member cavity team member This role will oversee the implementation of a Welcome center will oversee all aspects of registration enrollment and district-wide communications Uh, there is all there are also three job descriptions that were reviewed Some adjustments were made based on feedback from a budget subcommittee meeting that occurred yesterday Those are all going to exist within the business office One is the assistant director of finance that will report into the assistant superintendent of finance and operations the grant administrator who would also report into the assistant superintendent of finance and operations that is Splitting the role of communications and grants which is currently existing in one Single role that these two of these job descriptions are splitting up those roles off into new different offices And an administrative assistance the assistance superintendent finance and operations Which is an administrative assistant offset from another administrative assistant role that currently exists in the superintendent office We've made some minor adjustments to Minimum qualifications for some of these roles as well as included some Clarifications of performance responsibilities on some of them based on feedback that we got from the committee and we're happy to answer any questions about any The contracts going forward would they be for one year a year or three year contracts all of these positions would be higher letters So they'd be one year one year Objections i'm going to have us approve all of these in one motion So i will entertain a motion to approve the following job descriptions director of research data and accountability director of communication as family engagement Assistant to assistant superintendent of finance and operations Assistant director of finance and brand administrator so move Second you have a motion by mr. Hayner seconded by mr. Schlickman those in favor All right Oh, sorry. Yes. Sorry. The assistant to the assistant finance has been changed to administrative assistant office of finance The title yeah the title Instead of assistant to the assistant it's the administrative assistant The office of finance that actually isn't what the document in of this says so Mr. Mason The title yeah, I can't read to assist it to to office assistant to the office of finance and operations Those in favor of those extensions I can pull slides up on the screen. Um, they're in your materials Or I can just speak through these bullet points. Does it helps? I don't think the pictures are all that informative Here I can I'll look one month. Thank you. Yeah, maybe Pictures are fun. So we'll just Hope that I'm still logged in Okay, so As we mentioned a few minutes ago There is a bridging two community family walk hosted by arlington metco program. Um, that is coming up Not this weekend, but next weekend At one o'clock in the afternoon at the arboretum in boston if we get good weather It's a wonderful opportunity to get some exercise and see some folks and bring your families And join the families in the metco program and I encourage everybody to attend We had this past week an lgbt qa plus Forum with the rainbow task force And it was focused on representation and censorship in libraries. Thank you very much. Dr. McNeil and his work as liaison I believe you're passing that off potentially Before long as you go to someone who's going to do a great job with it Um, dr. Hoyo and I heard that we got a lot of accolades after the presentation I wasn't able to make it to that one, but the conversation was rich and a number of I've stopped through the beginning and then I had to go But it was great to have that set of conversations with our families April inclusion workshops as our students mentioned are coming up at arlington high school and there's a link there I think you can access through the pdf to see the workshop offerings If you want to take a look the workshop offerings are really exciting I'm trying to decide which inclusion workshop I intend to join Um, uh, there's going to be a heritage day at audison middle school tomorrow And that has been organized by members of the staff and uh, was shared with me by the english language English learner teacher over at the audison We're really looking forward to celebrating all the different heritage and cultures at audison middle school And we did have as the students also mentioned some recent hate speech and vandalism events and issued a statement in collaboration with town commissions And in collaboration with town departments About uh, why we condemn those acts and we're looking forward tomorrow actually to our teachers And members of the aya have organized a stand out with lots of signs promoting belonging inclusion acceptance And love in our schools. And so the whole message of tomorrow is that we stand against statements like this and um any Display of intolerance in our schools and we have a number of town officials who will be joining for that and family members So we'll probably be standing outside with us before school starts. So feel free to join us Moving on A couple of logistical things the strategic plan Is that it's final working we have closed the feedback form We've received comments from 58 community members. They were very thorough those who went through And offered comments had clearly read through segments of the plan Based on their interests and the things that they felt really invested in commenting on we thank them for their time Looking through all of those materials. The video has been watched many times. I'm not sure what the count is right now But I received notes from several community members saying thank you for making the video This was a nice way to make a sense of what's in the plan Um, we have a final full document that is in development. We will be doing published Paper versions of those to give to members of the committee and other members of the community And that will also be a required reading for our august leadership workshop for all of our leaders as they come in at the beginning of the next school year And the cia subcommittee will meet on march 27th to do a final review of that before it's accepted at the last meeting of month Our hiring season is kicking off and we have a lot of exciting things planned to help us recruit some excellent Candidates as part of our hiring season on april 1st. We'll have a coffee and conversation session at arlington high school There's the lovely flyer that was developed by one of the interns in the superintendent's office tristle And we have some open administrator hiring searches The bishop principalship is now open and we are accepting applications for two weeks and then we will be doing a search And two of the jobs three of the job descriptions that you just approved And likely the other two will be posted tomorrow as soon as we Can get those up and posted to the community and we will be launching those searches We're going to try to stagger searches as much as we can just to capacity of those of us in the central office But we are very much looking forward to getting these started so that we can get competitive candidates While the market is still hopping And uh, finally your enrollments are in your packet with a projection sheet I've not been making significant adjustments to projections. I have a couple of spots that i'm watching very closely Um, and that I anticipate will get another section But at the moment we're not going i'm not going to allocate those because I just want to let a few more Here in three moments At what point will you make some decisions about section? I would probably like I I'd like to get through Um, I I would like to get through April. I'm not sure that I will actually wait that long Um, because I think we have we have room in the projections because right now The way that the way the projection sheet is working is that we have Fewer sections next year. We budgeted flat sections But we have fewer sections in the projection sheet than we currently have so we have the three Positions the sort of contingency positions And we have two positions that could be allocated anywhere in the map right now So I may in the next few weeks decide where to allocate those two sort of floating positions And then make and then wait until more kindergarten sections are in to make determinations about kindergarten Some of the things that I'm also thinking about is at Thompson Thompson's particularly tricky because of space Um, we don't want to take over the multi-purpose room. It's a very usable space But we would have to if Thompson adds a section next year overall And if we don't if we take over the multi-purpose room that has pretty big implications for pe Because they use that room to make those large pe classes smaller um And so i'm doing a lot of talking with miss denado about the sort of need profiles of each of the grade levels And where she feels it would be most appropriate for us to put Any number of sections so right now it's it's slated as even but we're in conversation about where it might make The most sense for us to adjust sections in order to have Uh, even number of sections to this year at Thompson so that things maintain use of the multi-purpose room Um, so that's one tricky area Stratton grade two is tricky too in part because we keep having students Enroll in the buffer zone between stratton and bishop and bishop sections of the same size is in grade two into three As stratons and so i'll probably be making a determination soon about where to play students that come in in that buffer zone because Then I can plan to put a section in that spot. So that's one of the things i'm also thinking about Yeah, I just wanted to find out i'm right now. I'm concerned about stratton grade one next year. Or no, sorry, thompson grade one 23.8 per class is worrisome for what's great. Yeah, like really works I would also like to look at I feel like the totals right now are low for kindergarten For where they where I might anticipate them being But I haven't analyzed that against how quickly like what percent of students we've enrolled by this point Historically yet, so I need that fancy graph And to look at that and once I do I'll have a better sense of whether k is actually looking lower than it Yeah, I just know that traditionally in the district if there's been a cohort that's had an extraordinary large class size in one year that's sort of the cohort that we try to rectify Put a priority on so they don't have You know the large crack our class sizes two years in a row Consent agenda all items listed with an asterisk are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the committee so requests in which event the item will be considered in its Final sequence part number two three two zero seven Eight in mark seven twenty twenty three in the amount of four hundred ninety thousand five hundred eighty nine dollars and forty two cents School committee regular meeting minutes mark second twenty twenty three Or to approve this presented Second We have a motion by mr. Heiner seconded by mr. Schlickman Call in favor Extension Subcommittee leaders on reports and announcements budget dr. Allison and beat budget we met this week What do we discuss We went over the budget book job descriptions job just we went over the job descriptions and We sort of started talking about Thinking about long reach plan, but we're going to we agreed that we'll meet next week to talk about that some more Um, the long reach plan is meeting every Friday from now until Now until We are working on trying to refine what do you think the needs of the strategic plan Would be to implement in the future To make it more Compatible with Community relations of stargainer school committee chat There'll be a school committee chat for families of color the saturday march 18th at 11 a.m curriculum instruction assessment and accountability in this morning. We went to go over the job description um And we are meeting again prior to our next meeting which everybody is invited and encouraged to attend It's going to be super fun To go over. Um, I think we'll focus on the content of the strategic plan and leave the dollars around the strategic plan in budget kind of so we'll we'll sort of Try and focus on that and then um, dr. Herman, I think is going to share some of the community feedback With us either in broad strokes or specifics. I don't know Find out it's going to be great Facility since earthyland no report Policies and procedures, mr. Slick No report except that everybody got in the mail a substantive update document from ma sc of Mostly minor tweaks to the policy. So I think that we're going to have some work ahead of us Once we do your We met The other weekend the building is We continue to move making good projects. We're making very good writers Superintendent evaluation mr. Garden. Nothing. Thanks. The asm report future agenda item Beccy, do a session Have people put in requests for next year's? Some people have and some have not we still have People who have not we please Do Just like to clarify if you don't put in a request the chair has the option to Hey Okay So I will entertain a motion to enter into executive session for the purposes of conducting strategy with respect to non-unit negotiations Or to conduct an elected party in sessions of non-union personnel specifically the superintendent doctor See To conduct a session the preparation for negotiations if you get in or non-union personnel or contract negotiations If you get in or non-union in which a thousand open meeting may have a detrimental effect to conduct strategy with respect to selected parties Bargaining or litigation in which it's held in an open meeting. We have a detrimental effect to collective bargaining We also be inducted. We will be term free returning to open sessions We have a motion by mr. Hainor seconded by Morgan Yes Yes And I vote yes Um executive session and the next item on our agenda is the possible vote to approve contract with superintendent Elizabeth C. Holman from July 1st 2023 to June 30th 2028 I move that we Approve the contract as presented with administrative corrections to section a point one And authorize the chair to sign the contract on behalf of the school committee second All right, we have a motion by mr. Schlesman seconded by mr. Hainor under We're very excited about this contract. Yes. Yes I I am thrilled that we have Put together this contract and I am very excited about the leadership that you bring to the Arlington public schools And that you will continue to bring the public schools for the next five years We have agreed as a group that five years seemed like a good Plant given their strategic plan is five years. It gives us a chance to implement and really it shows that we have dedication to Our aspirations and expect that you will be able to help us As well as great confidence Yes This is a strong vote of confidence in the superintendent We are thrilled that we we're all thrilled that we're able to reach Uh, this negotiation and that we'll be able to work together for another five years Roll call vote. Mr. Thielman. Yes, mr. Carden. Yes, dr The namping yes, mr. Schlesman. Yes, mr. Hainor. Yes, mr. Morgan. Yes, and I vote yes So first of all, thank you. Um, I knew when I was sitting in my house Quarantined with a card table and my laptop This is what my interview setup was with my son who was one on the opposite side of an exceptionally thin wall Being put to bed by my husband during the community forum with everybody I knew then that I had really Met an incredible community that I was very excited to become a part of and very hopeful that I would get to become a part of Uh, that was a very different world in that two-dimensional zoom land than the one that I encountered when I arrived And the one I encountered when I arrived and that I go to work in every day and that I connect with kids in every day And and that I need staff in every day is even more exciting So I we have a lot we've done a lot of really incredible work since I arrived 21 months ago And I'm very excited about the work. We still have to do There's a lot of momentum and I work with an unbelievable team Without whom I'd never be able to accomplish everything that we've done so far and that I know we're going to work together to do so We are always a we and I'm grateful for all of you and I'm so grateful for all of our incredible students and the Brilliance they bring to our schools every day And I'm honored that the committee and the community has the confidence in me Um to give me the opportunity to continue the work and implement the goals of the strategic plan. So thank you I figure we're doing Is you okay