 Hi, everybody. My clock says 630. This is the November 19th meeting of the Arlington school committee. Just as we wait for Mr. Cardin to come in, I'm going to go ahead and read our. Open meeting script quickly. And then we can get started. So as a preliminary matter, this is the, I am the chair of the Arlington school committee. I'm the chair of the Arlington school committee. I'm the chair of the Arlington school committee. The open meeting of the Arlington school committee is being conducted remotely consistent with governor Baker's executive order of March 12, 2020 due to the current state of emergency in the Commonwealth due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. In order to mitigate the transmission of the virus, we have been advised and directed by the Commonwealth to suspend public gatherings and as such the governor's order suspends the requirement of the open meeting law to have all meetings in a closed meeting. And as such the governor's order suspends the requirement of the open meeting law to have all meetings in a closed meeting. The order which you can find posted with agenda materials for this meeting allows public bodies to meet entirely remotely so long as reasonable public access is afforded so that the public can follow along with the deliberations of the meeting. Ensuring public access does not ensure public participation unless such participation is required by law. This meeting will not feature public comment. For this meeting, I would like to note that this meeting is being recorded in that some attendees are participating by video conference. Accordingly, please be aware that others may be able to see you take care not to screen share your computer. Anything you broadcast may be captured by the recording all of the materials for this meeting except any executive session materials are available on the novice agenda dashboard. We recommend members of the public follow the agenda as posted on novice unless I note otherwise. We only have one item on our agenda for this evening. So I'm going to skip some of this. Let's see. And each vote taken in this meeting will be conducted by a roll call vote. I do not expect any votes during this meeting. So let's go ahead and start. With attendance and make sure that everybody is present and can hear me. And then I'm excited to introduce Dr. Greer. Mr. Here. Mr. Carter. Yes, here. Mr. Here. Mr. Schlichman. Good evening. Mr. Heiner. And I am also here, which is super. So we are very excited to welcome to our school committee meeting opportunity this evening to ask her some questions and follow up on those questions, so I do want to give her a chance to introduce herself. And then before we get started with our questions, I want to just let the community know what our sort of plan is for this evening, as we discussed in our last meeting, and sort of set some expectations. So Dr. Greer, would you like to introduce yourself to the committee? Many of we've all seen you, and we know you at this point, I think, but if you have anything you wanted to share with us before we get started, we'd love to hear from you. Sure. Well, thank you. It's good to see everyone, and thank you for inviting me back and to come and interview with you and have a discussion this evening. I am overly excited and honored to be offered the opportunity to engage with the school committee this evening, and also have had the opportunity yesterday to engage with various stakeholder groups. And with a community that is such, have such a vast investment of time and resources to public education. So it has been very refreshing over the last couple of days just to have an opportunity to be involved in such discussions. Yesterday, I had a wonderful meeting with various stakeholder groups, and I listened, and I learned a lot about the district, and I learned a lot about the Arlington community as a whole. And, you know, it's very motivating to hear from the very stakeholder groups and listen about the things that they celebrate in the community. And, you know, I heard about the wonderful art programs that the school district has, and I learned about the hard work of our dedicated teachers and staff and the strong professional relationships that are had amongst the staff and between administration and staff. And the time that I spent with the town manager was very nice to be able to have an opportunity to even learn more about the processes and the inner workings of the town. So it was a wonderful opportunity for me. And again, I'm glad to be here. I won't go into a lot about myself. I'm open. I'm an open book, so I'm happy to share anything that you would want to hear and know. But I do want the last thing I guess I would want to share is that over my career, it's really been important to me to continue to evolve and grow as a leader. And, you know, as a sitting superintendent, I've been able to learn a lot over the past three years. And one of the things that I've always wanted and has always been an aspiration is to grow into a larger district. And so I look at this as an opportunity as part of one of the goals that I've had, just in continuing my professional growth, but also joining into a community that has such an investment in education and an investment in being progressive in the work. And so I look forward to our discussion this evening. And then thank you. Lovely. Thank you. So just to give a little bit of context to attendees who may be joining us for the first time this evening, the Arlington School Committee is a seven-member body. We are elected by the voters to three-year terms in various cycles. And our responsibilities broadly fit within three categories. We approve the budget, we write and approve policy, and we hire and evaluate the superintendent. So in June of 2019, our current superintendent of schools, Dr. Kathleen Bodie, notified the committee that it was her intention to retire at the end of the 2020-2021 school year after many years in Arlington. So in the fall of that year, the school committee formed a search process committee chaired by school committee member Paul Schlickman. That search process committee formed a search screening committee of 15 members and two alternates that included three members of this committee, teachers, administrators, parents, students, and members of the community who interviewed a number of candidates for this position and brought forward two finalists to the committee for interviews and district day meetings. So this week, so far, we've had an opportunity to sort of spend a day with Dr. Greer, or actually more, she's had an opportunity to spend a day with all of us. And we put her through a number of meetings and, you know, just times to engage with various groups who are obviously critical to the effective functioning of our schools here in Arlington. And so that brings us to this evening when the members of the committee who will ultimately, as a group, as a collective, make the hiring decision to give us an opportunity to ask some of our questions. And our plan for this evening is that we are, and we discussed this last week, I believe, in our public meeting. So we are going to provide each member with roughly 10 minutes of time to sort of engage and dialogue or ask questions. I'm not going to cut you off right on the 10 minute mark, but, you know, then we'll take a five minute break for everybody and then follow up with five minutes per member. And normally we have an order where, you know, the school committee is a fairly formal body, especially here in Arlington. And we follow an order that's based on, you know, mostly based on seniority. And then the chair speaks last what we've decided to do this evening, because three members of the school committee were on the search screening committee was provide the four of us who were not part of the screening committee, the opportunity to ask our questions first. And then the three members, Mr. Cardin, Dr. Allison Ampia and Mr. Schlickman, who were part of the search process will ask their questions last. And I do want to note to the community and also I think to Dr. Greer that many of us, myself included, and I know many members of the committee have had the opportunity to attend the community sessions. We, you know, that when you're involved in public schools, there are a lot of opportunities to watch professional staff in action because it's all on cable access. So members of the committee have had a lot of opportunity to view candidates, to talk to people about candidates, to read references, to attend community meetings. And so I do want to encourage the listeners that to not, you know, what we're working on tonight, or at least what I'm coming in with the intention of doing is I'm looking to sort of add to the picture that I've already started to create, right. And we've done that through we've been able to see candidates in meetings in Arlington, we've been able to read about them, we've been able to talk to people about them. And so we're using this time to sort of fill in the pieces that we need to better understand to get a really holistic view. So the fact that perhaps we may not ask about something that was covered previously or that we understand, you know, Dr. Greer's position on or we feel as though, you know, we have a good incomplete picture about it. It doesn't mean that it is not personally important to us or important to the committee or important to the district or right now, I think what we're trying to do or at least what I'm trying to do is really hone in on the pieces that I need to understand where we are and where we're going. So nobody's here to listen to me talk. So I'm going to go ahead and start with Ms. Ecksten. Good evening, Dr. Greer. Thank you for being here. So I, in my day job, I am a teacher in public school. So I am thinking about that from that lens as well as a school committee member. So I'm wondering what are some ways that you have prepared for a collective bargaining and how have you tried to make the process of vehicle for making a school a better place for students and teachers? Sure. So I've had the pleasure of, and I think I spoke of this yesterday when I was with the teachers. It's very interesting. I talked about my experience in Cambridge as an assistant superintendent on a collective bargaining and bargaining for the teacher contract and then moving into the role of superintendent and being basically one of the leaders of the bargaining team. And so those are two very different roles that I quickly realized moving from an assistant superintendent to a superintendent. Some of, you know, over the past three years in my district in Sharon, I have, there are five bargaining units. There are two subset, subsections of the teachers bargaining, teachers unit that's within the teachers unit, the administrators and the instructional assistant files within the teachers unit. But overall, there are five units of our bargaining unit. And I primarily have set on the bargain at the bargaining table for the majority of those specifically the teachers, the custodian maintenance, the instructional and the instructional assistants are the ones that I focused on as part of my primary role. And in preparation, I'll speak of the biggest unit because it's the teachers unit. But my process is very similar across all the units. So one of the first things that I do is, of course, I try to memorize as much of the agreement as I can, but I go back and prior to going into our preliminary discussions with our bargaining team and with our legal counsel, I review the current agreement and I go through it with a fine-tuned calm realizing and understanding because the way our current agreement is written, there are some things that are in there that were for temporary, there are some things that were in there for permanent. So I wanted to make sure that we would note all of those different things. From there, I would go back and if there had been any grievances or any challenges that we had with our, with our union, even if it was the union bringing varied issues to our attention, those are things that I would go back and review with the bargaining team, have conversations with the school committee because if they never made it to a level three, the school committee would likely not have a lot of knowledge and understanding of those complaints. And so I would go through those and review those with the team so that everyone was aware of some of the concerns that the unit or the employees have brought and the staff have brought to the administration's attention. The fiscal part is always a big part of any bargaining. And so we do a deep dive review of salaries, of the steps in the lanes, of the fringe, that's any fringe, any additional monies that are embedded in the contract that we give, whether it's a coaching stipend and things like that, we go back and review that where we are currently. I work with the fiscal director and have that person go back, look, look across our comparable districts, districts that are close to us, districts that are comparable to us. And we pull those, those salary schedules, we also pull their coaches and their stipend schedules and things such as that. So we can do some comparisons to see where we lie and how we are aligned. There's a lot of conversations that happen prior to us coming to the bargaining table with our team and with the, with the subcommittee for bargaining with the school committee. And we, we start out with all of the, that information is part of our planning process. And then we begin to have discussions around what is it that educators need? What is it that students need? What is it? What are we doing really well that is part of the, you know, that will have an impact on the contract? And we want to make sure that we continue to do those things and highlight those things and celebrate that. What are some things that we need to enhance in regards to either our district plan and where we are with our strategic objectives and our goals? And is there something that needs to be negotiated within the contract in order to make that happen? And so that's, that's a lot of the preparation that we would, that I would take through a process to lead us to the collective bargaining, lead us to the collective bargaining table. But lots of meetings like we, we probably meet when we very first start, it starts with an internal meeting first with my administrative team and those who will be sitting at the table in the attorney. And then we meet the school committee, subcommittee, then we set out our schedule of what, when our meetings are as well. And then we start meeting after we've gathered all the data and information. So we have information to share with the school committee and have really thoughtful and robust conversations. Thank you. Can you talk about an example or experience working with educators who resisted your recommendations, particularly veteran educators who are skeptical about your plans? Sure. I will speak to the work that I did in Cambridge as an assistant superintendent. We were taking a deep dive and needed to make some significant changes in the way in which our special education programs and services ran and just improvements and also efficiencies and how well they were running, equity, ensuring that all the students were getting really robust learning experiences. We had challenges around many, many students going out of district at the time prior to me coming and as part of my tenure in Cambridge. And so one of the challenges that our district had at that time is that most students, even students who had mild to moderate learning needs were often being pulled out from the general education classroom for some significant amounts of time to a point that it was actually having a negative impact on their learning. As a result of that, we started a process where we really wanted to begin to look at stronger inclusive practices across the board, provide opportunities for students to attend co-taught classrooms where especially in the areas of reading and mathematics. And so that was a huge shift in thinking and perspective around how we educated children. And I dare to say, I think that I know we speak a lot of veteran teachers being resistant, but quite honestly, my experience has been when we're making really big shifts in how people are accustomed to doing their work. It is difficult most often for many people to make a shift regardless of whether they're veteran or only have been in it for maybe five or 10 years. And I say that because my experience in Cambridge was veteran and also teachers that had not been teaching more than probably eight or 10 years also had challenges as well. And with that, first, we launched the plan. I wanted to make sure that we had a really thoughtful laid out plan because from my perspective, because I've been a teacher in a classroom for quite a bit of time myself, it's anxiety producing to have expectations placed on you, but you really do not know what the plans are in order to get those expectations or get to the end of this thing. And so that was important for me. And so one of the processes that we took is we designed an inclusive practices and inclusive plan and that we began to, we did an analysis, and then we worked with some experts in the field and we came up with a plan of how we wanted to shift our programs within Cambridge to be more inclusive and to offer more co-taught classrooms. As a result of that, we began a huge professional development cycle. A lot of dialogue with educators. I did focus groups with educators. Had lots and lots of conversations. And over time over the course of two to three years, we began to see major shifts they bought into it. We took on early adopters while still supporting. We did phased in, phased in approaches to the practice. First, early adopters, teachers who were really interested in wanting to do it. Principals who were gone called to try new and innovative things in their buildings. And then from there, before things started being required and shifting more and more across the district, we found that that allowed those who were challenged by the change to actually see that it wasn't as difficult or as scary as they thought it may have been. And so through that process, we were able to, I think, bring teachers along. But there was quite a bit of resistance in the beginning. And I think that you get that, like I said, with almost any new initiative that people are unfamiliar with or uncomfortable with. And I think the key to making those things work is over communicating, having opportunities for folks to ask questions, get their questions answered rather than just, so sometimes, you know, we leaders sometimes have a problem with listening and letting people ask questions and then not giving them answers. So that doesn't work really well. So we have to listen, hear their questions and then get their questions answered. And so we spent a significant amount of time ensuring that we were able to get their questions answered, not just from us, but like I said, for experts in the field and also other educators who had already gone along and started the practice of co-teaching. And so that was a success story, but it was also, it took several years to do. Thank you. Am I out of time, Ms. Morgan? That's fine. I'm sorry if I'm getting along. No, no, you're, you're doing great. No, 10 minutes is a hard, it's not one of those time periods I think that we're really accustomed to and locked into. Mr. Thielman. Thank you very much. Dr. Greer, welcome. I wanted to, Dr. Kersi, Allison Ampe and I sit on the high school building committee along with several members of the community and town leaders. And I wanted to, I know Sharon is involved in a high school building project right now. And should you become our superintendent starting in July, you would join the committee and you would be obviously intimately involved in the project. Where we're at in the project now is we're at a 100% construction design. We're about to approve what's called the guaranteed maximum price. And the first deal goes up next week and so we're off and running. But over the course of your tenure, should you become our superintendent, you would be intimately involved and the whole committee would look to you on change order decisions. You would be involved in determining how to get students in and out of that building safely and in collaboration with the principal. And I just would like you to kind of share with the public listening and the committee your experience and Sharon or elsewhere on building projects. Sure, absolutely. Absolutely. I speak to Sharon because I've had to be really intimate with that project. I have had other projects and been a part of the design teams and things such as that. But this is the one that I've actually led from the beginning of the MSBA process until we program. So that has been my experience. When I came to Sharon in 2017, the district had submitted their statement of interest to the MSBA at that point in time. And so we were awaiting that they had gotten approval to be in the program. And so at that point it became mine. And so I saw the process from the first module through and we broke ground on the building and Sharon mid-September. We broke ground. And so we're very proud of that. Our building in Sharon is a bit different. I've actually been following your building project just a little bit, not very closely, but I've followed enough. You guys have some challenges, I think, with your site. That's not a challenge that we necessarily had in Sharon just because we have a little bit more open space. You know, you'll be more landlocked here. But so our building in Sharon was $163 million. I worked on the educational plant and I've been with the architects. I've been with, I was part of the, you know, choosing architects, the construction managers, the OPMs just from the whole process. So I've seen that process through. We actually share a construction manager. Consigli is also on our project and have been doing a very good job for us. So I hope that's the same experience that you all are having in Arlington. When you ask about my updates to or how I involved the school committee. And just as you all are, you have representatives from the school committee as part of the school building committee. But in addition, I took an additional step or we take an additional step because I think it's really important for the entire committee to really be informed. And so I usually work with those liaisons and we think about how often it has been dependent on where we have been also in the process. But we try to be thoughtful about when what we want to bring the architects and maybe have a conversation when did we need to bring the OPMs to have conversations and things like that. And so I will work closely with the school committee liaisons that are on this school building committee to make that determination. But at least once a month, if not more often, we were having consistent updates on the project and even very detailed updates because my committee is very invested in the project and had in some head some concerns as well. And so we wanted to make sure that we kept the entire committee as well as the community very involved and communicated. We did quite a bit of outreach throughout the process, not just to get the buy-in it was all course to get the buy-in in order to get the funding approved. But it was also really important for us because in our town, our high school is close to 55 years old, I do believe. And so it's a significantly old building in really poor condition. But it's also being the anchor in the community, which most high schools are. And so it was really important for us to make sure that the community saw that this process was not just a school process. It was not just a high school process. It was a process in an opportunity for the entire community. And so we did quite a bit of outreach and continued to have community conversations and allow people to come. We work with the butters because where our high school is located is very close to one particular neighborhood. And so there were a lot of concerns. So we held, I know, at least three or four or butter meetings. We even now steal. We have it set in the schedule that the construction managers come with us to have conversations with the butters so that they're well aware of what's happening with the project and how that may or may not impact their properties. And so that has just kind of been the cycle. I work very closely with our owners project manager and the chair of our standing building committee. He and I became best friends because we had to. And now we're we're very best friends throughout the throughout this process. But he's been also helpful because he's almost built almost every municipal building in our town. So their relationship of course flourished throughout this process, but I've learned a lot. I learned some mistakes to stay away from. So my hope is if I came to Arlington I could help us stay away from some mistakes, although, you know, I think one of the biggest challenges that we would have is as I said, I hear that the site has a lot of challenges and so. But I think to be proactive around having public conversations, being transparent and sharing that information. Because that could lead to change orders. And I think being as proactive as we can and having as much knowledge and information up front as we can. I think can combat those issues in the community feeling as though they were blindsided with a bunch of changes in the project. We're trying to stay away from the change orders, but they happen. They do. They do. And I would have to say we haven't had very many at this point. So I'm happy about that. All right. Thank you very much, Dr. Greer. So my next question is I want to get a sense of your leadership style. So it's kind of a I guess a two-part question with just the context. Arlington spends about Paul Schlickman and Len and other people, Kersi will correct me if I'm wrong, but we spend about $2,000 less per pupil than Sharon, I think. And we spend a significantly amount less than Cambridge where you came from. So we're a district with a lean administrative structure. And the superintendent's got to do a lot of her own follow-up and follow-through on projects. And when something needs to be operationalized, she's got to see it through. So my questions are this. One is kind of describe your leadership style when you're trying to drive, get something done, some sort of change through and with your staff. And then two, if we were to talk to principals, department heads and Sharon in general, what would they say are your strengths as a leader and manager? And what would they say are areas where you're still growing and need to grow as a leader and manager? Sure. So we won't count Cambridge because Cambridge's per pupil just doesn't count for anyone. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. But in Sharon, while you all are, and you are, you're absolutely correct, a couple of thousand dollars less per pupil, the leadership structure at the central level is extremely lean. So I am her. Any and almost any and all things. So I'm accustomed to that. That's nothing that will be new for me. However, I am very team oriented. I use who I have. And from the first of all, the way I lead, I'm very, very team oriented. So in my thinking, there is, yes, there are central office administrators. There are building and district administrators. We are all one big team working towards the same goal. And that is positive outcomes for each and every student in our district. That's it. And that's the first message that I send and do usually when I enter and have entered a district or even have been in a district for a long time is ongoing. We continually work on team efficiency, being effective as a team, high functioning teams, because when, especially when you're in a situation that you do not have a lot of bodies, that's okay. Sometimes having a lot of bodies is actually kind of productive to progress. So I'm okay with that. You need people who are willing to work, want to work and willing to learn. And so that's kind of my thinking around how you get things done. What you would see me do is I like to put together projects and put together timelines of when a project has been launched, who is the primary officer responsibility for that project. I determine the individual who is that person. If it's me, that's fine. Then who is going to be my support person on that, who's going to be the support administrator working alongside me on that project. And we put together a timeline. And we work backwards from the time that it needs to be completed. We start there and then we work a timeline backwards. And that's how I usually manage really large scale projects. I like to lay out expectations. I'm pretty direct. I'm kind of direct, but I think that it's important that people know what's expected, how they should help, because oftentimes everyone, my experience has been most people want to do a really great job. And so part of my role as a superintendent is create the conditions so they can do a really great job. Well, one of those things I have to do is be very clear about expectations and how we get it done. And also, how can I support you to get it done? That's always a question I would always ask my team. How can I support you to get it done? Do you have any questions? Do you have any concerns? Are you having any challenges? And then I do frequent check ins. And so my hope is when I come to Arlington that I don't drive people crazy a bit because I do check in and say, are you doing okay? Is everything going well? It's not micromanaging. It's just so I can stay ahead of it and help them stay ahead of things as well. So that's my leadership style. Lots of communication. Lots of discussing. Lots of support for each individual leader that individual is involved in a project or in a task that will look different because it depends on their level of skill and ability. What would my principals and other administrators say about my strengths? They would say that I work way too hard. I'm a hard worker. I give it 120%. Sometimes when I need to walk away, I won't. I'm tenacious. I never give up. They would say that I am supportive that I would never ask them to do something that I would not be willing to do myself. So when we needed to mark floors for COVID, I was downstairs in the middle school, my principal, working floors for COVID. We do what we have to do to get it done. So they would say that that is who I am. I think strength is also an area of growth for me because I work hard in the way I work, which means that you may see me send emails at 3 and 4 a.m. Not all the time, but I do do that. I have to alert my team that just because I'm sending at 3 and 4 a.m., I do not expect that they are up at 3 or 4 a.m. reading them. And so early on, my team thought that I expected them to be up at 3 or 4 a.m. reading them. So I needed to communicate that that was not my expectation. And so they would say that I work really, really hard. So that can be a strength and that can be an area of challenge because that also means that sometimes it takes me a minute to stop and celebrate and realize that we've actually had some wins. I can say throughout the high school project, with us getting our district plan done and a lot of those things, my assistant superintendent and I, we started a list on my wall in the office where we started just writing down even the smallest things. Oh my goodness, we did not get in the complaint today. That became a win. And so we started because she's a lot like me as well. So we started celebrating the small things. And so even during COVID, I introduced Fun Fridays as a result of that because I wanted to celebrate the hard work that folks were doing. And so I think they would say stopping, pausing and celebrating would be an area that I need to continue to grow and not drive so hard because I drive myself hard. I can also seem like I'm driving others hard as well. Thank you very much. You're welcome. I'm Mr. Heiner. And what I think I'm going to do just to help us have a sense of where we're at is I'll give everybody sort of a five minutes and then like a one. Well, she'll just, again, I'm not going to cut you off or anything just like keeping us with our visual cues. So Mr. Heiner, go ahead. He's doing that just for me. Just to let you know, I'm a retired elementary school teacher, general ed and special education. Welcome, Dr. Grip. The social and emotional state of students versus their academic achievement is a major problem in education at all levels today. As I was new superintendent, what would you want to know about our district regarding this area? And what would you do to help deal with this problem? Sure. Absolutely. The first thing I would ask is what is our tier one SCL curriculum or SCL practices in tier one? That would be one of the questions I would ask. I will actually also be looking for our framework for multi-tiered systems of support, which takes a look at both academics and also social-emotional learning and behavior. I would ask questions about pre-COVID and post-COVID around students' social-emotional needs. I would like to review your team risk assessment data and information. I would like to review any information that the school counselors keep in regards to their need and how not necessarily their notes, but when they document a hospitalization and things like that for students. I would like to actually have conversations with the school counselors about the types of challenges that our students are having. I would like to speak with teachers about the challenges that they see that their students are having. So, part of what I would do if I were to become superintendents, have a 90-100 day entry process and the entry activities and part of that activity would be doing all of these things and having focus groups and conversations with all of the very stakeholders to get a really good understanding of what the condition is within the district. Once I gather all of that data and information, I would make it a part of our district plan and focus within our district plan in ensuring that there is ongoing wraparound supports for students. I found that that to be the most important because oftentimes my experience has been especially here recently in the last year or so is that we've helped a lot of families because families oftentimes their children are challenged with, you know, emotional mental health needs that sometimes parents are at a loss of what to do and so it's been really important in not just in Sharon, but we did it in Cambridge as well to create partnerships with community agencies and mental health workers that are able to support families so they can also get their needs met, like how do they help their children so really trying to wrap around the whole child and the family in order to support them has been a big part of the work that I have done. But I think through the guys also looking at resources within buildings, I think it's extremely important what types of resources do we have within building, not just human resources, but as far as curriculum, as far as processes and strategies, what type of positive behavior intervention supports are we using in order to, you know, support students in in schools. And so these are a lot of the things that I would focus on and try to work on and move us forward. I think the second part of your question, can you repeat it in case I didn't basically how would you go about dealing with and you've you've covered that I think. I thought so. Okay. Thank you. I'm making sure I got it. Great. Thank you. Out of district placement for special needs is a two tier problem. One, the need because the district may not or cannot or does not provide the service. And the other part is the cost and the effect it has on the budget, causing division within the school population itself. How do you see it and how would you deal with it? Yes. It's a delicate matter, something I think that over the past few years, many of our districts have been challenged by it. The needs of students are rising and the costs are not getting any less. I will start in I spoke of this yesterday. Also, I will start with doing some analysis of our programs and services. What program services do we have? And if we don't have certain programs and services, is there a reason why we don't have them? Because there's oftentimes reasons like there were certain programs that we do not have in Sharon just because we do not have a population within a specific grade span or grade level that would allow us to have a viable program with enough students that makes sense. So there are reasons why oftentimes you may or may not have a program. So that would be a question that I would ask, but I really try to get a good grasp on what types of programs and services do we currently have. What programs and services are students leaving the district for in regards to us not being able to service them? And then there are a couple of things. I don't know if we would ever really, I had to be thoroughly honest. At one point, as a director of special education, I used to think that, yes, I can save money. And then you come down to the human factor. At some point, we also need to provide appropriate programs and services for kids. I think that there are ways. We work with collaboratives. The way we've done in and Sharon, we've worked with collaboratives. We've worked with other districts who have programs, neighboring districts. And so that has minimized the cost quite a bit in order to service students. And so I would try to find ways if a student needs a service and we don't have it, of course, we're going to provide it. But I think that there are other ways we can look at it without sending them to some of the more expensive programs because that doesn't just because they're expensive doesn't mean that they're the best ones. And so, but I also don't want to scare parents and them think that I'm coming to not send children to certain, you know, programs. That's not my role to do that. But I do think that that's something that we're able to look at and think about where are we sending children and are we using our partners in order to make good decisions for students that are cost effective. Knowing that I've only got three minutes, I'm going to warn you, get a limited amount of time to answer. Okay. With regard to teacher and administrative evaluation, do you currently use the state form and program or have you come up with your own or a hybrid? We use the state rubric and we just adopt a teach point to use it as our platform. Thank you. I'm going to set my own timer. So everybody has to trust me that I'm not going to give myself extra time. I went on record that I only did seven and a half. I noticed. So, Dr. Greer, I think what I need to understand is how what you would need from us as a school committee, how you would engage with us, how we would work together to form that relationship. You know, you can talk specifically, I guess, about the first 100 days. I think that makes a lot of sense. This is, you know, obviously, it's going to be a big transition for this committee. I have only been on this committee for two and a half years, but obviously all under the same superintendent. And so I'm curious, I'm curious how you see yourself developing that relationship with us. Sure, absolutely. I'll start at the first 100 days and then I talk and I'll speak to some of the thoughts and ideas that I have about ongoing relationship building and also communication. The first 90 to 100 days, actually, school committee members are the first individuals amongst the central office administrators that I usually do focus groups with and meet with. Either with the school committee, I usually try to do two members together at a time. It's really good to have two members to have the same perspective in a room, so I would do that. Also, I would hope, being that the position begins in July, that we would be able to have some time over the summer to bring in maybe someone from MASC, Mr. Kutcher, one of the other field representatives to come in and do a retreat. And during that retreat, that we would work collaboratively together, really talk about how we want to work together and be a high functioning governance team. That is something that really is extremely important for me. I want to have strong and collaborative relationships with my school committee because I feel like we are both responsible for ensuring the wellness and the health of the district. And so because of that, we need to be healthy ourselves. And so that's extremely important. And I have found that using that in leadership is important to kind of set out what expectations you have for me, what things I would expect and need from the committee. How do we want to communicate? How often do we communicate? What does that look like? What does that feel like? When problems arise, how do we address those? Problems that maybe could be at the school committee level, but maybe not. How do we want to make sure that we are all on the same page with those things? And so that's also something that I would look forward to working with you on is developing a retreat and having some time in the retreat for us to work through a lot of our, I call them rules of engagement, to work on our rules of engagement and how we will work together and to collaborate. Ongoing, what I usually have tried to do and have done actually is at least once every few months, I schedule, and I go ahead from the beginning of the school year and put it on the calendar and try to get a schedule out for the year, but I do small group check-in meetings with school committee members. So if there are questions that you're having that, you know, we get in meetings in our school committee meetings and they become really business-like and sometimes you just have a question and say, Dr. Greer, I heard such and such, you know, about this over at this school. What really is going on? And it's important that you are able to ask those questions and not just have it linger in the background. I also do usually every Friday or Monday I send just an overall update to the school committee. This is what's going on in the school district. These are just some highlights of things that I think that you would like to know and that are important for you to know. And so I do that Ongoing. I try to set up either a weekly or bi-weekly meeting with the chair and the vice chair of the committee so we can plan agendas. And I'm not sure if that's how you all have worked, but to plan agendas and do things like that. And so I try to do frequent Ongoing proactive check-ins and conversations with school committee members. And that's why I would hope we will be able to do that and continue that as part of relationship if I'm hired. Great. Thank you. What would you, to that point, what are, you know, a couple of things to maybe things that you would want to know about the way that we have worked or that we that we do our work now? And I'm curious, I guess what I'm trying to get at is I'm trying to get at what you're curious about us about, right? Like I'm curious to know what you actually want to know about this group. Sure, sure. First of all, do you guys have fun? Like I know the meetings are really structured, but do you enjoy yourself at some meetings when you can? I mean, I think this is a very collaborative body. We are very, we are very, very different people. And we certainly do not always agree with each other. But I think what we share very deeply and fundamentally is a respect for the work that that a school committee does. And I think that any one of us has been, you know, I think everybody here, except maybe Ms. Exton, because she joined us in June has been on the three side of a four, three vote or the two side of a five, two vote or a, you know, the one of a six, one vote. And I think that we all very much respect the will of the committee. And so, you know, while we recognize that we don't always agree with each other, we do, you know, we really respect the work that we do. I mean, we are a pretty formal committee, generally speaking, right? Our meetings are pretty formal. We do meet in subcommittee. And those are a little bit more informal. So but I think that it, yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting because I think that the ethos of a committee can really drive or detract from that relationship with a superintendent. Absolutely. No, you're absolutely right. And I think the only other question I would have is how do you all manage like community engagement, community concerns, when those things come up, how has that traditionally been handled between the school committee and the superintendent? Right. And we can talk more about, I mean, we have a community relation subcommittee and we do run some of that work through them. But we all have our own constituencies. We have kids at different schools. We know different members of the community. And so those concerns when, you know, we use our discretion and judgment, we, you know, we tend to communicate through the chair, but we do bring those directly, you know, directly to our current superintendent. And she's, you know, very effective at addressing them with us, you know, generally, you know, in close to real time. So so that's helpful. I think, you know, I think that's something that's really important. You know, it's important for us to understand what that relationship's going to look like. And, you know, so that we can, you know, we can sort of see where we're going. And I know I only have a couple of minutes, but I think the other piece that I was curious about is, at what point in the budgeting process do you see yourself bringing a sort of fairly flushed out budget so that we work our budget through a budget subcommittee? At what point in your process do you see coming to that committee for feedback? To the subcommittee? I usually start there pretty early. So I try to, I try to bring not just the subcommittee. About a year ago, we decided to do away with the budget subcommittee and Sharon and just deal with the budget as the entire committee, just for various reasons, which is fine. But I can not see us doing that here in Arlington, but who knows? Oh, that's I'm agnostic. So I usually, at the beginning, once we set the budget calendar in the process, I work really hard to bring the committee along the through the subcommittee, lockstep and barrel. So if we have, if I have a meeting with the internal team, when I mean administrators and kind of start the process with the CFO and all of that, we have a first look. I will come and report that to the subcommittee and say, this is, this is what we've done. This is what this looks like. And that kind of continues in iterations over time. So if, you know, you all will have to tell me it's too much. But I try to make sure that I step the entire committee, the subcommittee along or the committee along with the process. So we're not getting to the end of the thing. And then you're getting the budget proposal and you're like, how do we get here? I want you to understand from the beginning of the process, how we ended up where we were. So that's typically how I've managed that with the school committee. And that's how I would like to manage it. And I think it has cut, well, I would hope it cuts down on confusion about how we come up with the proposal that we come up with. Great. Thank you so much. I will cede my 15 seconds to Mr. Cardin. Thank you. Welcome back, Dr. Greer. I was on the search committee. So got to see you there. So I want to discuss with you sort of a real hypothetical. It's a real question that Arlington is facing, but it has to be dealt with before you get here. And I also don't have all the details, so I'll make some up. But it's about, you were asked a little bit about this in the community session, but due to the pandemic to make scheduling easier at the high school, many classes were switched to heterogeneous classes. So honors and non honors were collapsed together. In responding to questions about this, the high school principle indicated that heterogeneous grouping is used in several area high schools, including the well publicized honors for everything initiative in Cambridge. And it's something that's recommended by Niasque, the accrediting committee. So we need to decide whether we're going to continue this post pandemic or switch back or or even switch to honors for everyone, which is actually a different flavor of this. So I have a series of questions, but in Arlington, a lot of these classes, like an ELA and social studies, very high percentage of the students like 80% opt for honors anyways. The other issue, and I don't have any data on this, is whether there's disproportionality of under representation of minority students. Let's assume that there is because it likely is under representation of minority students in honors classes. So that's that's an assumption. So first, can you can you tell me your general thoughts on this issue about heterogeneous versus honors classes? Right. It's a couple of things. I think if we're really getting that equity issues, and we have structures that could potentially cause inequity, we really need to evaluate those structures and and make a decision about them and determine if there is another way to do it. So all students needs are met and all students can have access to the same opportunities within within the public schools within the high school as any other student. So that's kind of my my first point of thinking. Then there's the other side of it. Each and every school community community is unique. Because I've gotten asked this quite a bit being that I was in Cambridge at the I was actually at the tail end and was part of some of the first conversations when we decided to start working on what was called leveling up at the time. And of course, there are lots of concerns about that. But the the the great thing about it is it it allowed for our conversations and our thinking around it. We had that at a show that yes, the way in which we were tracking students because it's basically what we were doing. We were blocking certain students out of honors and higher level level courses. So and it wasn't just students of color or students from both socioeconomic homes. It was also students by ability as well. So we were seeing students with IEPs not also be represented in these courses. And so that started kind of the platform for that conversation in Cambridge. And then Dr. Salim and the team took it forward once I left. And I was a huge proponent of that in in now sense, because some of my former students are getting ready to graduate and they're graduating with honors. And that may not have happened if the district would not have taken that route. What it didn't do is stop other students who were already on that track to be on an honors track. It didn't stop them. What we did is change the expectation that every student is an honor student. And I personally don't think that there is anything wrong with it. I will say that this decision that you have before you is a painful one. And it's painful in many regards. You know, I hear families and I and I also empathize and understand. So for families who have students who have very, very high attitudes for rigor and want to just go beyond with the honors and the APs, that is a real need. And that's a real desire. And I understand it. So we can't negate that as well. But I do not believe that it has to be in either or I do think that there can be a both in the same. And I think that this is where proactive communication is going to be extremely important, because we have to make sure that families understand that no one's losing, everyone will win. We also have to support our educators, because this is a new and different way that they will have to approach delivering their content. There's going to have to be some scaffolding that may have to take place for some students. And what does that look like? And how do you do that? How do you do that in a way that keeps the rigor high in that class and in that course? And so it's going to be a learning curve is for everyone. But I do believe that proactive communication and working collaboratively as an entire community with the school committee, the administration, the educators themselves in the administration, the school building administration, I do believe it can be done and I do believe it can be done well, but there will be growing pains. I mean, so I don't, you know, we shouldn't think that that would not be the case. But I do think that when we speak of equity, if we're really invested in it, and we're really invested in equitable opportunities for all, we would take a really deep long look at it and try to be creative in how we ensure that for all students. So related to that, if you determine that it's an equity issue or maybe it's just a best practice, what is the role for either the teachers or the school committee or the community of parents and students themselves in deciding how these courses should be structured? Is that taken away from them because it's an equity and best practice decision or is that something that's a conversation? No, I think it's a conversation. I think this is also where you, I like to use advisory groups so that you have folks that are going to either be the receivers of what the decision is or either the doers of the decision. And I think having that advisory group can go a long way, because in some instances, I've had advisory groups of folks helping me with decisions with COVID and things like that. And it actually helped. It helped me think beyond what the group of administrators who were sitting at the table at the time, even even the school committee were thinking at the time, it helped us think beyond that. So I'm a huge believer in advisory groups and have, and embedding those thoughts and ideas. And this is what we're thinking and this is how we think that we can make it happen. What challenges do you see or what other things what you think could work and make this work for everyone. And that has been very helpful in doing that in my experience. Great. Thanks. So I think I have enough time for another short question. Shifting gears a bit, you know, we in at the end of your interview with with the search committee, you talked about special education, because that was an issue that was raised in the focus groups. And in the community session, you also talked a little bit about, I thought it was very good about how you said that you can't govern based, you can't make decisions based on anecdotes, you need data. But as we discussed in the search committee, a lot of the concerns around special education in Arlington are based on anecdotes. And there's a lot of them. But how would you sort of get to the bottom of what's driving these concerns and sort of figure out what's going on as a way to try to find a way to improve things? Sure, absolutely. I've done, I've done it a couple of ways in in two different districts. In Sharon, we got commissioned an external review of student services and multi-tier systems of support. And that got us where we needed to be because they held focus group, they shadow students. They did a deep dive into all of our data information in across the board in the district over a five-year period of time. So I did that there. In Cambridge, I made that part of my entry process in Cambridge. I did it. And so I did the deep dive and I did the focus groups and reviewed the data and information and was able to then deliver and say, oh, okay, so when I see that there's an achievement gap with students and disabilities in eighth grade and math. And now I've now put that together with this focus group I did with eighth grade students now see what the issue is. So I was able to do that. So you can either do it internally, which it's a lot of work. It's a lot of time and work. But I think both ways that we did it, it yielded a set of really concrete findings and then recommendations. What are we going to do to address it? In Cambridge, once I came up with the findings, and it was really around the fact that students were not getting access to general education curriculum as rigorously and as often as we wanted them to. I commissioned Dr. Marilyn Friend who has done quite a bit of work around inclusive practices to help us come up with some really thoughtful implementation points and strategies and things that initiatives that we would want to take on in order to improve the findings and address the findings. And so at that point, I didn't come up with what the resolution would be. I had someone else come up with that who had more expertise to do that. So that would be where I would recommend. I would say if I were hired and in a 90 to 100 day plan, a lot of that would be I would do some data analysis of quite a bit of that. As a result of that, I would spend a lot of time with families and students and also the staff and the director of student services to really get a good understanding of the work and how things have ran over the past few years. And so that's where I will begin. Great. Thank you. Sure. I'm Dr. Alton Ampe. You're on mute. Sorry. Okay. Hi, Dr. Gray. It's good to see you. This time you can hear me. I'm going to do my best with this question. You'll understand why I've been a little worried. Okay. As you're probably aware at this point, Arlington's a very engaged and involved community. This extends the close scrutiny of the superintendent interactions into the superintendent candidates. Of course, we're aware of the pending litigation and Sharon. And I myself have watched hours of Sharon School Committee meeting videos and attempt to get a sense of what's been going on. So first, I'm sorry that this has happened to you. Second, I acknowledge as a white person, I do not have the ability to put everything in the same context as would a person of color. And I'm also not denying any possibility. I am also in no way denying the possibility that any racially based discrimination occurred. But I know a question that will be on our minds and is also on mine, it'll be in our community's mind. It's also on mine is if you were to come to Arlington as our superintendent, what specific actions could we, the school committee take to avoid such an incident? What actions could we take with our community? And what actions would you take to avoid such incidents? Wow, that's a prickly one. Okay, it's a good one. It's a good one. Thank you for asking that question because I don't want to shy away from it. It's out here. And so I will start by first saying the level of organization that you have with the way you operate, if this is how you operate as a school committee, that helps a whole lot. It helps a lot. I would also say that let me take a step back. Being in the seat of a superintendent, if you don't know that you're going to be scrutinized and criticized by everyone, even down to what you wear sometimes, then you probably shouldn't do the job. So I would have to also say I'm not a person who is easily offended at all by any means. And so I expect that when I, and if I should say if, I'm chosen for this position that there's going to be scrutiny. And I will make mistakes. I'm not perfect. And I will receive feedback for that. I am open to feedback. And I will say that is what's helpful to me is if there is something that the committee sees that I'm challenged by, especially if we're having check-in meetings and things such as that, it is extremely helpful just to say, hey, Dr. Greer, I'm really concerned with X. Let's discuss that. And that is the most effective and efficient. That's what I do for my staff. And that's what I would want to have done for me. And in regards to the community, the outpouring and the sharing community has been extremely overwhelming. So I don't have a lot of critical things that I would ever say about anyone there because they have been extremely supportive throughout this entire process. I think that having rules of engagement that we all stick to and hold one another accountable for, and it's just not me saying you guys need to hold me accountable as well, rules of engagement, ongoing opportunities to check in and have conversations and be supportive of one another, but also honest and clear about what you're thinking and what you're concerned with or even what's going well. The job of a superintendent is very difficult. The job of the people who work in education is extremely difficult from the administration to our teachers to everyone. And sometimes it's just nice to hear that everything you do is not horrible. So it's nice to hear when you do things well. So that would be extremely helpful as well. And it's not always me. That's another thing. You don't ever have to tell me I'm doing a great job. I want my team to be recognized for the great job that they do because they're doing heavy lifts a lot, mostly often. And so I think if we could figure that out, if I'm chosen, I don't think we would have any issues or any problems. And I think I went into this last night in the community meeting. There was one that was asked, I will have to say never in my entire life. So I'm a high performer, which means I put a lot of pressure on myself. And that has been since I was probably five or six years old. I'm a perfectionist by nature. And I'm trying to work on that. I need a little therapy around that. But with that, what that means is that I have done really well in my life as a person and as a professional. And so this is the first time in my entire career that I've ever been faced with a challenge like this. And never would I have thought in my entire life that I would have brought suit against an employer. And it has been very difficult for me to do that. But it did come to a point that I had no other choice and that was the avenue that I had to take, although I didn't want to take that route. And I would never want to have to do it ever, ever again. It is, it's been extremely difficult, not just for me, but my entire family, both near and far. So I'm just looking forward to moving on and having a great continuance of my career. Great. Thank you. I guess one thing I'm wondering is just, so it sounds like Sharon's community has been very positive. And I'm not talking about just in this instance, but I'm thinking I'm trying to come up with a polite way to put this. The Arlington community is not always the most patient with if there are missteps saying calling a snow day or it can be things large and small. Anyway, the Arlington community is very desirous of having their opinions understood, especially if they're not happy usually. And I'm just wondering have you encountered that in, and in this I'm really talking more community, so lots of emails and things like that. Have you encountered this in either Sharon or Cambridge and how have you dealt with that? Yes, all of the above I have. Snow day calls are the worst. You just don't get it right, no matter what. I had a parent that was extremely upset because it was snow and the roads to Sharon actually get really, really treacherous. I see very quick. And my supervisor of transportation had to call me like at 4 a.m. and say, Victoria, this is just not going to happen. And if we do, it's going to be extremely late. So she and I made the decision. It was too late to really call school at that time because we had our buses already going, getting ready to go out to Boston. And so we were like, I said we're going to have to do a delay and let everyone know that transportation is going to be like long story short, out of probably 2,000 families that take bus transportation, one family didn't get the message and the child was on the bus stop. And so you would think that, and I just apologized. I got rid of one and I took it. You just take it. And I said, I apologize. I'm so sorry. I know how difficult that is. I don't want children out on the bus stop. It's freezing cold. It's snowing, of course. But I took it, apologized and said, we will make sure that we work more more thoughtfully in the future. And so we hope it doesn't happen again. And so that happens and it's going to happen. And as I said, I'm not a person who really gets easily offended and I'm a parent myself. So there are things that I get really hot on the collar about too as a parent. And I know my kids schools are just like, oh my gosh, this is the mother. So I get it, you know, you know, I'm a mom. And so I also see it through that frame as well. And I respect parents advocating for their children and their families. I don't I do not have a problem with it. The only thing I ask is that we do it respectfully. And I know sometimes that does not always come across that way. And so I usually am very good about saying, can we take a breath, slow it down? And let's let's talk about this in a really professional way. And that's usually how, you know, when someone is really upset and not happy with something, that's the way I deal with it, whether it's a community member, a parent, a staff member, whomever. Okay, great. Thank you very much. I think my time's up. I can't see James hands. Okay, thank you. One or five. Okay. Mr. Schlikman. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Greer. It's good to see you again. You as well. Yeah, I'm a past president of the Mass Association of School Committees. Okay. Normally, I find myself advocating for school committees and defending their role in public governance. After watching far too many hours of sharing school committee meetings, I found it to be painful. I focused on several meetings after you left Sharon. And I can only imagine what it was like to work in that environment. So thank you for being here tonight. I worked with Carla Bear when she was in Lowell. I found her letter that she wrote on September 30, which was basically after all the controversy, Bruton Sharon, to be filled with extraordinary specificity and thoughtful analysis of your work. Now I learned an awful lot from Dr. Bear, and I'm really interested in hearing you to tell me what it was like for you to be supported by Dr. Bear and describe something you gained from that experience. Absolutely. No, thank you for asking that. First, I have to say, Dr. Bear, after my first year and her being my coach in NSIP, I told her she's never going to be done with me. So she has become my lifelong mentor. So even today, I speak to her. But Dr. Bear has supported me in thinking thoughtfully about the superintendency and my role and what that looks like. Specifically, I have always had an interest in ensuring that I was supportive of other leaders and growing leaders from within. So she and I discussed ways that my role as a superintendent could support my principles and assistive principles in doing that. As a result of that, in sharing my assistant superintendent and I started basically a coaching cycle with our assistant principals, because we knew many of them wanted to eventually become principals. And so we wanted to make sure that we were doing that work with them to grow their leadership. And so working with Dr. Bear helped me to be able to do that within my district. Also, teaching me how to manage the stress of being a superintendent, how to balance. And I don't know if we ever find this to happen in our roles, but being thoughtful about the balance between work and life. So she and I have lots of conversations about that because in NSIP, they really teach us that in order to be a great superintendent, you also have to be healthy and take care of yourself. And because she came to know me really well, so she knows that I would stay up hours and hours and hours to get it all done. And so over that course of three years, she really helped me develop the balance around it's going to be here and it's going to be okay. And so knowing how to balance that and learning through that has been a big help to me. And I think one of the biggest things that Dr. Bear, she's done a lot, but one of the things that stands out to me is really I saw the discussions and the support that she gave me and helping me think about the district strategy and moving the district plan and those strategic objectives and those initiatives along and how to work through my leadership team, work through my teachers in order for us to move our strategy along so we can get to the outcomes that we had identified. And I think that was one of the most valuable pieces of learning that I received from her. On another note, totally unrelated. I want to talk about MECCO a little bit. Yes. When I was in Boston, the principal I worked for was a MECCO parent and her child attended school in Arlington. And there was she really loved our community and thought that our schools did a lot for her for her child. And she respected us. But in retrospect, here we are sitting in the year 2020 and for many years of participation in the MECCO program. I don't get a feel that the MECCO students once they walk across the stage maintain a connection to the community. And certainly if we're looking for educators of color, it would be easier for us to recruit students who loved our school and loved our community to come work for us. So can you talk to us about how we build a better relationship with our families in Boston? Absolutely. And that has been a large part of the work that I've had the pleasure of working with my MECCO director in Sharon, because we were trying to make sure that we were being supportive. And I think that it starts by acknowledging that in laying the expectation that students who are in the program are Arlington students. My experience with the program is that oftentimes students who are enrolled in the program don't all the time or always feel as though they're part of the community of the schools in which they attend in the communities that they attended. So I think first acknowledging that and laying the expectation, these are Arlington students, they're in a program, but they're Arlington students. They're Boston students. They live in Boston, but they're Arlington public school students. I think that is huge. I think also making a connection going to Boston, I know COVID makes it a little bit more difficult now, but prior to the situation in Sharon, my MECCO director and I, we did at least two or three Zoom meetings with my Boston families. And I made myself available to them, which I think made a huge difference in them knowing that they had the voice of the superintendent and they can share their children's concerns and the concerns of what, especially it was COVID. So what, how COVID was impacting them and their children and how we could support them and the ways in which we could support them in that. I think that made a big difference. I think, you know, host families has been, have been something that the MECCO program has done traditionally, but I one of the things that we started thinking about are there other ways to create connections within the community and families that may not necessarily be the host family model, but a little bit more creative and more modern. And so we're still trying to tease that out. So if I'm chosen as superintendent, I would love to have the opportunity to work with Ms. Creedle Thomas to really think about how to, to increase the engagement of our Boston families and, and welcoming the students into the community and making them more part of the school community. But that also starts with each building leadership. They, the kids have to know that they're, they're wanted there. And that's a, that's a big part of the work. And we talk about that with MECCO Inc. as well. Thank you. I think you've met with our town manager. I did. Yes, I had the pleasure yesterday. Yeah. We have a town manager with a very high reputation both in the community and throughout, throughout the region. And one of the things that we are pleased by is the relationship the school side has with the town side in terms of our fiscal planning. Can you just give us some indication in, in the couple of minutes left, how you're thinking about that relationship with the town manager in the town side? Absolutely. He and I had the pleasure of speaking to him that yesterday and I, I talked to him about the relationship that I have with Mr. Turkington, who's the town manager and Sharon. Mrs. When I came, we were rebuilding the relationship between the town and the school department. Mr. Turkington, I both were pretty new in the job. I think he had only been there two years. I was brand new. So we saw it as an opportunity. And from that moment, he and I said, you know what, we're just kind of attached at the hip from here on out. Our fiscal directors, my director of finance, his director of finance, they, we brought them together. The four of us would meet at least once a quarter. The fiscal directors themselves would bring that they started bringing their staffs together because what we would have is that the school staff was complaining about things that the town staff did, the town staff is complaining about things that the school staff did. So in order to bridge that gap, we started bringing the two staffs together so they could problem solve. And so I spoke yesterday about that and my hope that we would be able to, if that's not already happening, that we can maybe build, continue to build upon the good relationships that are already there. And so that's just an example of my relationship working with my town manager and also my town committees. I have a liaison to two liaisons to the finance committee. We meet every two weeks and talk about everything schools so that they are able to go to their finance committee meetings and have robust conversations about what's going on with schools in the schools and how that could impact the budget and finances and resources. And so that has worked really well for us over the past three years. Thank you. I think it's my time, Jane. It is, Mr. Sutman. Thank you. So we're going to go ahead and in just a minute and take a five-minute screen break. We're going to practice what our students experience. It gives everybody a chance to move around and get a drink of water when we're not doing it on screen. I am really, really going to keep it to five minutes. So Mr. Sutman's timer is about to go off. But I did want to bring your attention. I know that we spent a lot of time this evening. Dr. Greer talking about the relationship between the committee and the superintendent and behaviors and expectations. And one of our policies, and I will send it to you through Mr. Kutcher after this evening, we do have a set of norms and standards that we have developed and adhered to. And I think we all have our favorites and perhaps at some point in the future we'll have a chance to talk about those with you. Mine is that my favorite is the no surprises expectation, right, that we try to behave in such a way that we, the committee does not have the intention of surprising the superintendent and vice versa. And that I think makes for a very effective way of doing the important work that we're all here to do. So with that in mind, I'm going to set a five-minute timer. I'm going to turn off my camera. Anybody else can do whatever they want. And we'll be back here in five minutes. Great, thank you. This is the problem though. So you guys are starting, we had a break, which was great. There were clear parameters, five minutes. Now we're all coming back in, right? This is like recess. You can't herd cats. I don't know. All right. So welcome back. I think that was an important thing to do. These are important conversations. And we are, we're asking a lot of Dr. Greer to just take us on one at a time. And so I'm, I'm glad that we're able to just take a minute to breathe. So what I'd like to do is give everybody an opportunity for five minutes each of sort of follow up. I'll just cue you on the one minute, roughly. And so Ms. Extin, you can go ahead and start. Thank you. So both last night and today you've mentioned commissioning someone to look at the special ed programming and, you know, school districts often will bring in consultants to look at various aspects of their programming. And I'm wondering how you, how you think about that. And when you make a decision that you want to bring someone for an organization in versus sort of using the team that you have to consider a program or something? Sure. Oftentimes it determines, is determined by the community. If there's enough community trust, not just the overall Arlington community, but even within the staff that they would trust it done internally to receive the feedback. And so it has often to do with that. I also use a gauge that if there has never been an external program review, at some point you really should have someone outside come in and take a look at programs. It's just good best practices to do that over time, especially if it's never been done. And that was the case in Sharon. It had never been done. They had all been done internally. And so there were challenges with people really accepting and being okay with what the information was that they were receiving. And internal team is challenged by the depth and like how much information they can digest at a time. So it depends also on how deep of a dive we would want to do. So those are all the things that would be part of a conversation after I was able to get a dipstick of what is really going on, how complicated is this concern, is this issue, and that will help determine if we could put a team together and do it internally or if it's something that we would want to do an external program review on. I get more time. Is that okay? This is a bigger question, but we'll see. So sort of I guess backing up from that or moving forward from that. How does that play into or vice versa? I'm thinking about strategic planning. So what are some other things that you would consider when planning and executing a strategic plan? And if you can share briefly because I know we don't have a lot of time. Just about some strategic planning that you've overseen or participated in. Right. In developing our strategic plan, or I often call it a district plan, the process that I have taken on is the DESI process. It's pretty comprehensive. It's very inclusive. It is driven by thinking about what, garnering a lot of input and feedback and data and information to design and develop those emerging big ideas that tend to become your strategic objectives. Even based on this small time, I could tell you that an area that Arlington would more than likely have is a strategic, it could change because I haven't talked to enough people, but it sounds like equity, diversity, inclusion, it just keeps coming up in so many different iterations. I'm sure that would be a huge strategic, a huge goal in a focus area to work on. So part of that process is inclusive where you bring together various constituencies and you work through a process and really try to reimagine the Arlington Public Schools. What does Arlington Public Schools look like now? What do we want Arlington Public Schools to look like in five years or 10 years? And we begin to identify and come up with characteristics of what the Arlington Public Schools would evolve to all the time. And then what are the things that we need to do in order to get the Arlington Public Schools to that point? And that's what the process looks like. But I like to say that it's all inclusive. There are so many stakeholders. We had a group of about 40 stakeholders that became the core group that started the work. And then even then, we started vetting it through other and getting feedback across bigger groups of individuals and stakeholder groups before we came up with the final plan. And is that something, I guess, so how do you see it working in terms of working with the school committee and with your leadership team? Sure, sure. So the leadership team sits at the table. I always ask the school committee, kind of almost what you did with the superintendent search that you bring representatives. And then from there, I do a session. We do a session. We come back and do the, we call it a visioning process. We do that with the school committee. You do it with each and you do it with each one of the stakeholder groups. And then you kind of bring all the information together. Thank you. I'll set Ms. Morgan. Thank you very much. I, we did talk a little bit about the situation and Sharon, I appreciate you being forthcoming. I spoke to some of your folks down there, Emily Smith Lee, she and I went to the same law school and she hired, she was on the hiring committee when you were hired and then she moved to the select board. Marcy Kaplan, Fern Fergus, I spoke to Bill Highton on the select board, Abigail Masters, who I got connected through friends who said, good things about you. She runs the Sharon cooperative. So I got a good sense of your, your, your ability to connect with the community and with students. A theme that came up and I can't really, you know, there's no specifics is that an area of growth might be communication sometimes with some staff. And I'm wondering if you, if that did come up in your evaluations, if you kind of thought about that and any adjustments you made in communications over the course of your time and Sharon and kind of some lessons you might bring in to Arlington. Sure, absolutely. In year one, the school committee did give me feedback and asked that I would have more varied opportunities for individuals to engage and to have discussions and conversations. And I did make many adjustments. At that time, I was also creating an educator advisory committee and, and started it and got it off the ground, but our teachers union had a problem with it. And so I was not able to continue in the way I wanted to continue it. But I did also implement an every, I think it was like every two weeks, it was about every two weeks that I would do a staff communication out to the staff and started implementing that. I also implemented it again, my walk and talk Tuesdays were for everyone to participate in. So I implemented varied opportunities to engage, not just with families, not just with students, but with anyone who would want to take the time to engage with me. So that opportunity was there. I had plans this year to implement, ask the superintendent, and I was just going to do a Zoom once a month that anybody could call in and ask the superintendent, I just haven't had the opportunity because of the situation to be able to do that. But that was a plan that I had for this year. Thank you. The other thing is, I'm not in Sharon, but I have, I do, I mean, it looks like to me from based on all the conversations I had that you have right now have, you have developed a K through 12 hybrid model. So you have students in the high school, in fact, which has, I don't remember the numbers, but it's over, it's over capacity. So if the building, I'm going to throw out a number you can correct me, you probably you obviously know the number that maybe it was built for 750 and it has a thousand kids and 900 or something like that is about it is built for 750 and it has about 1150 in it. Okay, 1150. Okay, so got it. So you, I would like to know the process you went through to successfully implement a K through 12 hybrid model in Sharon, Massachusetts. We're hoping that it's successful. It's still going on now. I can tell you work that I did up until mid September. Forget the adjective successful, implement the model. Implemented a hybrid model, sure. It actually started with we did, of course, lots of surveys. We had an advisory group made a COVID advisory group made up. I think I had about 135 individuals on that group that were parents, teachers, educators, representatives from the union, so forth and so on. And we broke up into various groups. And we developed all three models as we were supposed to. We decided to go with hybrid because at that time and even still now Sharon's numbers as far as COVID was pretty low. And so we felt that the best way to move forward would be a hybrid model. We did not have the capacity within the building to be full in person just because we set a standard that we wanted students to be six feet and no less four feet apart. At the high school, we had to tweak that a little bit where some of our classrooms are smaller. So those classrooms were three feet apart, but the standard was four to six feet. And so we started there. We did a survey in a family. We gave families choice as far as whether they wanted a hybrid, full remote or a hybrid plan and be involved in that. We previously, through the spring when COVID first came, we had did a huge distribution of technology devices and things like that. We had our tech department working. We had a group within that advisory group that worked on what types of platforms do we need that we don't have. We knew that we needed a different type of account with Zoom. We knew that the middle and the high school that Schoology wasn't a great tool to you. So we started transitioning some of those pieces out to use more Google Classroom and things such as that. So we also did an analysis of what worked and what didn't work in the spring. And I think in the end, the way we got to having a pretty robust and decent hybrid model was through a lot of conversations, a lot of compromise. The principals held meeting after meeting after meeting, inviting the staff in, inviting them to come in in small groups and look at the work that we had did with placing PPE in the classroom, spacing, ensuring the safety. The principals also invited their teachers in to be part of developing their school, like how they wanted things to run and go in their schools. And I think that went a long way because the educators were at the table having those conversations. So I think the success that we have had or Sharon has had at this point and the way in which we were able to implement was as a result of lots of meetings, lots of conversations and involving a lot of varied voices. But I can tell you it was painful and I'm sure, you know, I don't know because I'm not active right now, but I'm sure there's still a lot of transition going on and changes based on any new changes in information that's happening. But for the most part, I do have to say that I think that we were pretty successful and it went pretty well. And also I would like to put a point in from the beginning of March when COVID hit from March 13th until my last active day in Sharon, I sent a weekly communication to the community in a bi-weekly communication to the staff that they knew what was happening, what was going on, what we were doing, what we were planning for, even though we may not be able to do it yet, they knew what was coming. Thank you, Dr. Greer. Sure. Mr. Heiner. Dr. Greer, would you share with us what you feel has been your greatest accomplishment to date and what would you change, either taking it in either order you want? My greatest accomplishment today, I think I've had many, but I am very proud of helping us get a new Sharon High School. That was a huge undertaking in a bedroom community to get over 70% approval of a $163 million building is hard. And so our team worked tirelessly to get that building passed, worked tirelessly to make sure we were designing it around 21st century, learning standards, worked tirelessly to make sure that we were being thoughtful and environmentally responsible and conscious. And so I would say that is one of the things that I'm most proud of other than a lot of the work that I did in Cambridge. I would have to say that's one of the things I'm most proud of. What would you change if you could, looking back? Looking back, what would I change? You know what? I don't have any regrets. There's nothing I would change. No, I have no regrets. I think that anything that happens in my life happens for a purpose and it makes me better. Good, there gives me another chance to ask another question. Do you see post COVID, it's gone? Yes. Do you see yourself being physically involved in the classrooms at all? Oh, absolutely. Like I'm having withdrawal. Actually, Dr. Vody and I spoke about that when she and I met yesterday and I told her, I said, I blocked time in my calendar and I am in schools. Well, Sharon has five campuses and I would try to go to every school every two weeks. And I definitely was in every school once a month. And walking, I spent half the day there. So I would be with the principal. We would observe, we would walk classrooms, we would problem solve and do things like that. I don't see that changing. And I would definitely do that. I would set up office hours at the high school. We had some challenges over the course of my tenure at the high school. So I would go and set up office hours. Teachers could come in and talk to me. Students could come in and talk to me. I would walk the building, check in with the principals and administrators. So yes, definitely. Does the teacher ever want to go back? Will our teachers ever want to go back? No. Do you, the teacher and you want to get back to teaching at all? I will at some point. I don't know if I'll teach. Let me rephrase it. I'm retired teacher. Every now and then I get the opportunity to go in and teach a class. Do you ever, you see yourself as a superintendent, an active superintendent, possibly taking on a teaching role short-term one time? Yeah, I have done it. Okay. Thank you. You could find me in a kindergarten class on the floor. I, you know, yes. They're the best. I am. I'm also. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Heiner. So Dr. Greer, I guess what I'm curious about is that at, you know, we're looking ahead towards next year and that will be a budget that will be set, you know, as part of our process this year. But obviously there's going to be significant remediation needed after this sort of, you know, certainly the time that students were out of school in the spring and then, you know, throughout this year, which has been challenging in many ways. What, what do you see as the three most important areas for investment, monetary investment to, you know, looking ahead for, for Arlington or for any school district. I can't imagine that the chair, you know, that what you would think about that Sharon would need to come out of this would be that different necessarily than what we would need here. So what are the three places where you think that we need, we'll need significant monetary investment? Absolutely. I think that there's going to be a need. You talked about remediation and I think addressing any potential learning gaps that have occurred over this really tumultuous learning and teaching and learning in school experience. I think that there needs to be resources set aside, even if it's just a, you know, just in case we don't have enough resources within our buildings to address the needs because it's fairly difficult right now to get a handle on what the needs are because we're so inconsistently engaging with students and even in hybrid, while it's a consistent schedule is still an inconsistent, it's not everyday in person in front of a teacher. And so for each student that feels and looks different. And so not really knowing and having a good grasp on what skills students are lagging in is going to be an area that I think we need to plan for. Another area is social emotional. I think that there is going to be challenges in a lot of different ways. They're going to be students that have been home now for a while that are going to be challenged in coming back into the building. And so, you know, how are we going to support them and getting them back in and being successful when they get there. And then I think the third area, I do not think the need for continued safety protocols, even when we return and even with a possible vaccine is going to go away for a while. So I do think that we need to plan for continued safety measures in regards to PPE and also some of the practices that we may have. So when I think about, when I have to think about it, those are the three things that I would set resources aside for or plan for. Great. And where do you think, so if I am getting in the weeds here a little bit, but I suppose that's my purview in my three minutes that I have left. So where do you think that there would be differences between the areas where you see as the most important and let's say we asked, you know, a focus group of 10 faculty members, what do you think that they would say would be, do you think that there would be areas of difference in that or do you think that they would broadly, you know, as you've talked to teachers and worked with teachers, do you think that those would be their same priorities? I do think that they may not, yeah, no, I think that they will probably be very similar. I mean, I know just speaking to teachers who are my friends and speaking to, I just spoke to my own son's teacher the other day, and she is just anxious about making sure that all of her students are doing well. And I just think that that's something that is going to continue. And so I would say that it's probably going to be very similar. I would be surprised. They may or may not think about the safety measures as much, but that's hard to believe because I think we've all been really concerned about safety measures. You know, during this time of COVID, even like I said, even with a vaccine, I think there's still going to be a lot of questions. So it's an extra precaution. So I think that we may be aligned. And I do believe, especially around the learning gaps, we're going to be aligned there. Great. And the last piece that I'm curious about, what do you see as the sort of bright lines between the school committee and the superintendent? I think we all have those in our heads. And I think that, you know, generally in our time working, I hope that she would agree. I hope that Dr. Bode would agree that, that, you know, we have, you know, some alignment over where those bright lines are. But I'm sort of curious about where sort of the purview, where do you see some of those places where there's a bright line between sort of the purview of the superintendent and then the purview of the school committee? Sure. They're, they're great. It's easy for me to talk about the gray areas rather than talk about the blur lines. I mean, I think the gray areas are, can you just get gray around? Well, let me answer your question. It's hard for me. Well, so like for example, for me, like I see there's a very like clear bright line with sort of like a personnel issue, right? Like there was a personnel issue with, with, you know, Dr. Bode staff. I see there's a very bright line there, right? That is very much in, you know, that is not under our purview, right? No, you're right. The reason I've just had a situation that at some point it did become a purview of the school committee because it was an issue around policy and other things that led to the need for the school committee to be involved. So, you know, there, yes, with personnel, the superintendent is responsible for, for personnel for hiring, for even dismissing certain positions, not all, but certain positions, all of it that, that falls under the superintendent. Although I do believe that I still should make you aware that these things are happening only because sooner or later someone in the community is going to say something to you about it. So you shouldn't be surprised to hear it, right? So you may not need to know the details, you just need to know this is what is going on and this is what happened. I think other spaces that probably it can be clear is you, you know, the school committee kind of sets the vision, you know, and of course, across policy and things of curriculum. And then I guess that gets blurry, that could get blurry. So, you know, it's really hard for me to answer that only because I know that there are lines. I mean, we're not going to call snow days. That's for sure. A bright line. I know that. Right. We're not going to deal with those. I don't know what this question, but I think it's no, I think it's really fair. I think that it is, I mean, as somebody who is, I am the second most junior member of this committee, right? And it's definitely an area that I've had to have a lot of conversations about and, and, you know, expand my understanding. And I would imagine that some of it is sort of cultural to each district, too, in how they behave. And so I do think it's something that has to really be teased out and talked about. So thank you. I would agree. I think that's where the conversations come in, and especially when you all have norms. I mean, it just makes a lot of sense. And I think if we operate within the norms, I think even those bright lines and those blurred lines, we still are able to success the work with us. Thank you so much. Mr. Cardin. Great. Thank you. So Dr. Greer, I mean, every, every administration has bumps in Arlington. We had a $1.5 million deficit that was discovered after the close of the fiscal year, for example. So I want to discuss some things that have been raised as possible bumps and Sharon to see if, if, I mean, they may be misinformation or maybe you have a different view, but I want to just run through them briefly to see, you know, what, what, what, whether they were bumps in. Sorry about that. Cursor went over the mute button, whether they were bumps in the road from your perspective and if they were, you know, what you learned from them. So the first one that I've heard about is either you either cut an AP class or wanted to cut an AP class, maybe AP stats or differential math, something like that is was that something that, that was an issue? It was an issue, but that's not what happened. We cut a section, not the force. Okay. Yeah. And there was some parent criticism or or disappointment in that? Yep, but we had a $1.5 million deficit in the budget. So the funding issue. Okay. And then there was the issue in the spring, we had a similar issue where we were advised to not renew the contracts of our non professional teachers, which we fortunately decided we didn't have to do, but you faced a similar issue where you ended up sending a layoff notice that the school committee says they weren't told about in advance. Hmm. Was that something that you felt was a was a misstep or, or, or not? The committee was well informed of that. Okay. Then the other thing that someone has raised is a significant number of grievances and unfair labor practices in Sharon that may have predated your tenure, but continued during your tenure. Sharon has always had a lot of grievances. Okay. Have you done anything to try to reduce that? Or is that just sort of a I'm not trying to not answer myself. No, that's fine. I have to, there are certain things I need to be discreet about. So yes, I talked about holding periodic meetings or trying to schedule meetings with the union to have discussions before issues arise and have done that and offered that since I started in my tenure. Okay. And continue to do that. And so when they did meet with us, we met about it, tried to get ahead of things if I knew that they were coming. Yes. And then the other last thing is, you know, you did mention your use of the consultant for the special education review. But I believe some of the staff there also feels that there were consultants brought in for other purposes that were that were probably too heavy overall a too heavy reliance on consultants. I only use consultants for the special education review. And then we worked with a liaison from Desi to do our district planning. So I don't know what other consultants they were speaking. Okay. Great. So I guess part of the hard one of the hardest roles for the superintendent is, you know, getting criticism and responding to it in a sort of productive manner, because often it's unjustified criticism. So can you talk about some of your experiences with that? I mean, you did talk about that once in a day incident, but are there other times where, you know, you've been criticized and how do you respond to that? How do you, without becoming overly defensive? Have you found a way to do that? I think So sorry, my question is, as a superintendent, you're going to get criticism. Yes. Right. Have you built a hard enough shell so that you are able to. That's a good question. Have I built a hard enough shell? Yes, my shell is very hard. Okay. It is very hard. I mean, it's like I said, I think I have the patience of joke. And so other people may not necessarily see it that way, because at some point in time, you do have to finally say enough is enough. But usually within, I'm just not a person who really gets rattled very easily. Because I realized that I would hope it's not personal. If it is, then that's not my issue. And then, so I tried to always take the high road in most things. And as I say it, as a superintendent, if you go into this and you don't think you're going to be criticized, then you've gone into the wrong field. And so I know very much and very aware of what I signed up for. And, you know, I know many of you all have been on school committees for quite a while, and some have not. But the reality is, is that oftentimes, like some of the things that you're sharing, there's a deeper story behind the story is more complicated than just, did you do this? Did that happen? Did that happen? And I'm like, no, there's actually a deeper conversation, a deeper story. There is more to it. There are more facts to it that I don't necessarily know if it's appropriate for me to go into in this venue. However, I would say that, you know, if there's a concern in regards to, do I get easily offended? No, I do not. I do like for the professional atmosphere to be professional. And I do like for all of us to have mutual respect. And that's across the board in every situation. And I'm a very respectful person. And so the one thing I don't think that anyone could say about me is that I'm ever disrespectful, that I'm ever rude, or that I'm not willing to continue to still try to have a conversation and people are being rational. And so, you know, those are the things that I know that I do and I do very well. And I also work very hard to develop relationships, because I believe relationships get you a very, very long way. But there is one point that you can only develop relationships with individuals who desire for relationships to be had. And so as long as there's just this openness for relationships to be built, I'm going to be one of the persons who will work the hardest to build those relationships, even if we don't always agree, because we're not going to always agree. And I'm not just speaking to you guys, like as a school committee, I'm speaking overall with, you know, all stakeholders. We're not going to always agree, but we could, we can graciously and gracefully disagree. Great, thank you. And then we'll leave her in that. Yes. Thank you. Dr. Allison Ampe, you're on mute. Sorry. Mentoring, feedback and evaluation are some of the most important duties of a superintendent when working with principals or central office staff and etc. You've already talked about building some strengths. Can you give some specific examples of situations where you've helped staff strengthen their weaknesses? I'm especially interested in what action steps you had. Sure. I think, yes, I have worked with staff who needed support in a few areas. One, I can speak of, I'll speak about principal and giving effective and efficient and also timely feedback on their evaluations. So I do monitor whether evaluations are being completed, whether evaluations are being completed on time. And so part of the work that I typically do in my time with principals as I go in, especially during like the evaluation cycle at the height of when we have certain deadlines for the either formative assessments to be completed or the deadlines for some tips to be completed, that becomes part of my walkthrough or my visit with them, is that we go through that. And we review, I sometimes do samplings of how the feedback or the evaluations have been written up. If they have not been completed, we discuss that. We come up with plans of actions. And I've had to do that with principals before to help improve. In most instances, they did improve. There have been situations that they didn't. And that was reflected in that principal's evaluation. So that's one example. I've also had to help some central office staff have some areas of needed improvement. And usually, I meet, I do with my central office administrators, we have weekly meetings. And we have bi-weekly meetings as a whole group. And then on the off week is when I meet with them individually for one hour. And that's when we talk about their their departments, their areas, and their individual challenges or anything that needs to be worked on. And I usually use that time for us to talk about any challenges that we may have. And so again, it has been around managing of staff. It's really hard to have courageous conversations as a leader. And so that has been the area that I have worked with leaders on the most is how to have really thoughtful, reflective conversations with your staff and giving them effective feedback so that they can improve. And so I've had to model that for my leaders in order to do that. Okay, great. Thank you. Have you, I guess when I'm wondering, how do you make sure you're following up an appropriately timed manner for an issue which is occurring over a period of time, not the evaluations, which kind of give their own set follow up, but something that's more open-ended than that? Sure. I will say that for other issues, I'm usually aware if a parent has a concern that they may have brought to a principal. And usually I give it a few days. And then I'll just follow, I usually put it in my tickler or, you know, my calendar to say follow up with or my, you know, my to-do list. And I usually follow up within three to five days to say, you know, where are you with this? Has this been resolved? And if it has, great. If it hasn't, then why not? And then how can I support you in getting it, you know, resolved? And that's usually how I manage that is I use my, you should see my calendar is color coded all across. So that's how I try to make sure I stay up and follow up on it. Again, I also use my school visits for those, depending on what it is and when it happens and how I need to do it. In my district, I, there are some principles that I've talked to sometimes every day. So I mean, that's the kind of relationship that I have with the principals in order to be able to do that. Okay. Great. Thank you. Mr. Schuchman. Thank you. It's been a long night. And I know we've appreciated having this conversation. I just want to enter one thing into evidence and then just follow up with a final question. Yesterday, you spent an hour with some of our students and they were totally engaged. And rather than move, try to move down to an adult talking to a child, these students were ready to talk to you at a very high level. And you engaged and you met them there. Similar to what happened with us in the initial meeting when you were the only candidate of the group who came to us at the end where we had the fluffy, what would you like to know from us? And you asked us challenging questions. And these are two things that people haven't seen that I appreciated in watching you going through the process to this point. And, but there's one other thing that you said in our initial interview. I firmly believe that our experience is an elementary child and going through to high school in the public schools influences who we are as educators. And you talked to us a bit about what it was like for you as a student in school in Tennessee. And I'm wondering if you could just sort of reflect back to your experiences as a child in the public schools, the way you did for us when we first met you. Sure, sure. I hail from the big windy city of Covington and Brighton, Tennessee. I always like to say that because it's really small. But it is a rural forum time. And I am one of two. And education is extremely important to not just me, but it was to my family. My parents and my grandparents were sharecroppers. And I had a wonderful kindergarten teacher, Ms. Patsy Feet. I had a wonderful school principal, Mr. Smith. And I had a fourth grade teacher, Glenda Pryor, Ms. Patsy, Mr. Smith, and Glenda Pryor, the reasons why I wanted to become a teacher. Interestingly enough, in kindergarten through the upper elementary, I was only one of three African American children in my school, in my grade level. And so in third grade, I got elected to the homecoming court. And that's a big deal. You get the homecoming, you do pageants. That's a big deal in the south. And so I got elected to homecoming court. And I wanted my best friend, Hank Deal, to be my escort. And so during that time, you should know that, of course, I'm African American. Hank is white. And we were very best friends, actually, still friends to this day. So that's really funny. That's a whole other story. And so we wanted to, he wanted to escort me. Our parents both were in agreement with him escorting me. But our school principal told us that that could not happen. And of course, me being who I am, I asked why. And he just told me it's just, it just can't happen. And so I said, yes, can. And I kept pushing and pushing and pushing. My parents and our parents helped us push. And Hank Deal and I were the first interracial couple to walk in our homecoming in the third grade at Brighton Elementary School. And I like to tell that story just because I think that goes to do I have grit? Yes, I do. Am I tenacious? Yes, I am. Do I give up? No, I don't. And do I take things personally? I'm human. I can. So I don't say I don't. But most times I usually don't. And my experience growing up is that I had a family that valued education and they placed that value in both my sister and I. And in us doing that, it made me just want to be a better person and maybe want to contribute and maybe want to give back. And so I take education and educating young people very, very seriously. And it's a real thing for me. And so that's kind of just a little snapshot of what I gave the original committee. But I talked about just my experience growing up in the rural South in school. And I had wonderful teachers and they supported me to become I think who I am today. Thank you so very much. And thanks for being here with us tonight. Oh, thank you for having me. All right. Well, we do appreciate you coming and answering our questions so graciously and gracefully. And it was it was really nice to have this conversation with you. I know that you are meeting on Monday with some members on that town side. There goes Mr. Schultzman's timer. And and I know that they're looking forward to seeing you as well. So I'm sure that we will talk again. And we really appreciate you being here, Mr. Thielman. I'm sorry to do this. Should we give Dr. Grichans to ask us any questions? I'm sorry if I'm wrong. Absolutely. Just wanted to know if I don't want I should check with you beforehand. I'm sorry. No, no, no, I think that's I think that's great. Do you have questions for us? Actually, I'm sorry. I'm natural program a little noisy. I do I have to but I can I can live with only asking one of them. Oh, no, you got to ask both of them. I think you can't leave questions on the table. Okay, well, great. So you don't have to vote to continue our meeting until 10 p.m. So as a school committee, what are you most excited about and look forward to in the next year as you prepare for the future of Arlington Public Schools? All right, who wants it? Mr. Heyner? I look forward to getting back to what I might term normal. I know it's never going to go back to where we were taking nothing from Dr. Bodie. I'm excited about the idea of having a new superintendent that's in a new high school and all that goes with it. That's where I'm coming from. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Schiffen? You know what? Yeah, the new high school and getting out of COVID hell are certainly at the top. But back and Mr. Heyner will definitely be on my side on this one. Eight years ago, when I came back to the committee, we were in the process of doing our group of retreats that were facilitated by MASC and it allowed us to build a common language and common purpose, both with Dr. Bodie and with each other. And it was an important team building exercise for us. And the quality of our work as a school committee improved dramatically as a result of that retreat. We've had turnover on the committee so that the ethics and the drive and determination to do the right thing as a group has survived. But I think it's time for us to go back and do that again because we have new members that we need to know who we are as folks. And I see the bringing in of a new superintendent as part of that process that will make us an even stronger committee going forward. I think that great things are ahead of us as a district and I look forward to moving ahead. Like my two colleagues, I look forward to finding ways to get more students into our schools, particularly in the early grades, K through one, K through two, in the middle of a situation which is uncertain. I look forward to the future of our high school, just like Sharon, Dr. Greer. We, the town came together, 76% of the community voted in favor of the high school and we're a little below budget and almost on time. We're very, very excited about that school and I think it was something that brought the whole community together and I think it gives a lot of hope to people. And by February of 2022, we expect to have students in the building and the steam wing on the front, the steam and performing arts wing on the front of the lot there. So I'm excited about the future. I also think this experience with COVID will actually make us stronger and better people, although right now it's pretty difficult. Thank you. I think for me, what I look forward to is having, I think this is a time of extraordinary uncertainty. I have four children, 13 and under, so I have uncertainty at home. I work for SNHU, which is a large online institution. We are seeing explosive enrollment growth there, a lot of uncertainty at work. There's uncertainty around the school budget. There's uncertainty around who our superintendent is going to be, frankly, right? We're living in a time right now of a lot of uncertainty and I am looking forward to this district moving forward and working through issues around the budget, working through issues around our contracts or not even issues, just working through the process because I think that we do have a lot of unknowns right now and I'm the kind of person that I like to know what things are going to look like. And so I'm looking forward to eventually having a little bit more certainty about some things. Sure, absolutely. Dr. Allison Ampe. Mine is not as lofty as many. I'm looking forward to being able to be in the same room with you all, hopefully without masks and not being told by the health department that they would prefer us not to. I'd like to be in town meeting with everyone without masks and all in the same room and be able to sit next to your partners and grumble about the speakers and tell them that they're talking too much. And I would like to see our community recover from this. I know it's been a tremendous economic hurt for many and we've had people leave the town because they have to because of the changes that have happened from COVID and I'd like to see recovery at least in progress. Great. Dr. Gerard, you have another question, right? Excuse me. I'm okay. I can hold my last one. We have plenty of time. Take your time. We've had that effect on her. Show me up. Excuse me. Now, honestly, I get my next question if I get an opportunity, it's probably more appropriate for that. So I can hold it. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well, we really appreciate you being here. Thank you for taking so much time with us, with our community yesterday. Arlington is a town that's very committed to process and to engagement and to transparency. We do, obviously we do all of our meetings as a school committee and public because we have to by law, but I think that it really brings an important, it really brings the community into this process so that they can see us connecting with you and talking to you and being with you. And I think that part of what's really important about being a committee and being a member of this committee is that we are very much the same people in public and in private. And because we do all of our business in public, that's all that everybody sees. So anyway, we really appreciate, I do hope that you got a sense of us. I think we really are very much like this, both publicly and privately, because it's too exhausting to try and be two different people. So I do hope that you got a sense of a little bit what we are about. We certainly got to hear a lot from you for which I'm sure that we are all very grateful and it helps to round out our sense of who you are and the many things that you would bring to Arlington. So thank you so much for joining us tonight. Thank you to members of the community who are here, members of not only the Arlington community, the Arlington Public Schools community, I definitely saw some of our teachers and administrators on the attendees list. And it's always good to have them here and interested in this process because their opinions are also very important. So thank you so much to everybody. I actually think that while this has been an extraordinarily fruitful conversation, I think helpful for many of us. I'm not sure that I have had under my tenure as chair Dr. Greer a meeting that has ended before 9 p.m. So this is a very auspicious night. I am expecting large non-illegal gifts from all of my committee member friends to thank me for getting through this. But we wish everybody a very good evening and thank you so much for being here. Have a good night. Thank you. Motion to adjourn. Oh gosh, yeah, I forgot we're in a real meeting, right? Thank you, Mr. Greer. You almost blew it. I was going to hit that red button. Oh my gosh. Motion to adjourn by Mr. Cardin, seconded by Mr. Hayner. Ms. Extin. Yes, Mr. Cardin. Yes. Dr. Allison Ampe. Yes. Mr. Thielman. Yes. Mr. Slickman. Can I withhold my vote till 9-0-1? No. I was going to say the same thing. You're still going to lose. So Mr. Hayner, you can vote no, Mr. Slickman. We don't need you. No, I'll vote yes. Yes. And I'm also yes. All right. Thanks so much, guys. Have a good night. Thank you, doctor. Be safe, everyone. Bye.