 Good evening, I'm Bill Hanna, Chair of the Allington School Committee. This open meeting of the Allington School Committee is being conducted remotely consistent with the Governor Baker's executive order of March 12th, 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 COVID-19 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 the publicly accessible physical location. Further, all members of the public bodies are allowed and encouraged to participate remotely. The order which you can find posted with the 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 feature, I gather no public comment because no one has signed up for it today. For this meeting, the Allington School Committee is convening via Zoom as posted on the town website, identifying how the public may join. Please note that this meeting is being recorded, that some attendees are participating by video conference. Accordingly, please be aware that other folks may be able to see you and that take care not to screen share your computer. Anything that you broadcast may be captured by the recording. All of the materials of this meeting except any executive session materials are available on the Novus Agenda dashboard or the town's website. And we recommend the members and the public follow the agenda as posted on Novus, unless I, the Chair, note otherwise. I will introduce speakers on the agenda. After they conclude, I will invite members of the committee to ask questions or make comment. For me to confirm the member's present and anticipated on the agenda. Ms. Morgan. Yes. Ms. Ekston. Yes. Mr. Schlickman. Yes. Mr. Thielman. Yes. Dr. Ampey. Yes. Mr. Carden. Yes. Dr. Brody. Yes. Dr. McNeil. Yes. Ms. Elmer. Yes. And Mr. Mason. Yeah. And Ms. Fernandez, the AEA representative. Yes. Thank you all. I'm here too. I'm sorry, Mr. Spiegel. I apologize. One of the most important people on the meeting. Don't forget about HR, Bill. It wouldn't be a perfect meeting unless I screw up at least once. That's my one time for the night. Okay. At this time, I am gonna move on to School Committee resolution. Mr. Carden, please. Thank you. So I will make a motion and then I'll read the draft resolution. I move that the School Committee, the Orange and School Committee, adopt the appreciation resolution. Can I get a second? Second. All right, Mr. Carden. Thank you. So I'll go ahead and read the proposed resolution. Whereas following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the public health emergency that ensued, the educators, administrators, and staff of the Arlington Public Schools faced the unprecedented closure of schools, the shift to online learning, the later shift to hybrid learning, still another shift back to in-person learning and frequently changing guidance on necessary measures and best practices to ensure the health and safety of the APS and greater community. Whereas the educators, administrators, and staff of the Arlington Public Schools have repeatedly risen to the occasion to support our children during a period of unprecedented crisis. Whereas the educators, administrators, and staff of the Arlington Public Schools have demonstrated resilience, responded with care and compassion and persevered throughout the continued uncertainty. And whereas in recognition of the tireless and continued efforts of the educators, administrators, and staff of the Arlington Public Schools to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, now therefore be it resolved that the Arlington School Committee expresses its deep appreciation and gratitude to the educators, administrators, and staff of the Arlington Public Schools for all of their tireless efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. And I'll just note that it's been a very difficult year for everyone and I know, speaking for myself and my colleagues that we greatly appreciate the all of the efforts of the educators, the staff, the administrators, everyone involved with Arlington Public Schools as well as our students and parents as well. But I did propose this resolution to just recognize what a difficult year it's been and how great our educators, staff, and administrators have been in this crisis. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cardin for bringing this forward. Is any of the members wish to make any further comment before I call the vote? Dr. Ampe. I just wanted to thank Mr. Cardin for bringing this forward. It's a great idea. It's well, well deserved. I wish there was more we could do. Thank you. Thank you. Kate, let's take it down the list. Ms. Exit. Yes. Ms. Morgan. Yes. Mr. Cardin. Yes. Mr. Schlickman. Yes. Dr. Ampe. Yes. Mr. Thielman. Yes. Myself, aye. It's a unanimous vote. Thank you again, Mr. Cardin for bringing this forward. Thank you all staff and everyone. It's been a tough year and thank you for all the things that you've done. Moving on. The Island to Public School Librarian Update. Dr. McNeil. Hi, and thank you, Mr. Hayner. So today I have our certified librarian team here. I'm glad to say it's a team because we are building it and it's no longer a individual. So we have Stacy Kitzis who acts as the lead librarian for the district and has done so for years. And she is also the certified librarian for the high school. And so she can wave. Then we have Dr. Susan Bissen who's here as the director of digital learning who supervises the certified librarians. And then who else do we have? Do I see Jennifer Lachlan? I don't see her here. Well, there she is. Jennifer Lachlan, we hired her a couple of years ago. Her first year was actually the pandemic, I believe. And she's been here serving the district very dutifully through that time. And then we have our newest member of the team, Liz. Is she here? She is on her way. She's on her way. Okay. So when she gets here, I will introduce her. So can I have- She's in the attendee list, I think. Okay, so if Liz, if you can hear me, can you raise your hand and then we'll promote you to a panelist. And then can I have screen sharing privileges given to Stacey? They do have a brief slide deck that they would like to- There we go. So Liz, we're waiting for her to come on screen her video. So there's Liz. She's our newest member. I'm proud to say that she started just a few weeks ago or like a month ago, I believe. And she has jumped right in and helping us to continue building our vision and the program, the library program in Arlington. So I'm gonna turn it over to Stacey and hopefully she can share her screen at this point. There it goes. How's that look? Great. So go ahead and so I'm gonna turn it over to Stacey. They're gonna give their brief presentation and then we'll open it up for questions or comments. Great. Good evening. Thank you so much for having us. We are the professional librarians for Arlington Public Schools, Stacey, Jennifer and Liz. And tonight we will be sharing an update on the state of our library program, our work this year and our goals for the future. The past two years have been an exciting time for school libraries in Arlington. For over 15 years, our K through eight libraries have been staffed by library paraprofessionals. And this is where we have to pause and tell you that we have an incredibly talented team of library paraprofessionals who go above and beyond to serve their school communities, both in the room with the children as well as countless hours behind the scenes. Last year, APS hired Jennifer as our first certified library teacher for K through five. With the addition of Liz this spring, we now have a team of two certified librarians for K through eight, which allows us to provide more robust services and equitable access to library resources across the district. The other big reinvestment this year has been in our collections. The district's new commitment to library budgets has allowed us to address inequity and put more and more amazing books into children's hands. Yeah, so one of our first goals has been to update our library collections for accuracy, appeal, representation and inclusivity. And during the last two years, the elementary professional librarian worked with the paraprofessionals at each of the K five school libraries to evaluate and begin to update the library collections. Principles, department heads, staff, students and community groups were included in the process and will continue to be in order to be responsive to the community and each school's needs. Our initial book purchases focused on improving the representation of different and intersecting aspects of identity in the books available to our students. And you can click on the link to see a few of our new additions. So a lack of representation of historically marginalized communities and identities in children's literature of course is not just an APS problem. It's a societal issue. And even when looking closely at just one aspect of identity, race, the disparities in publishing are stark. So you can see in this infographic that the majority of children's books published feature white characters. The illustration here shows people and animals holding mirrors which is based on the work by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop. She developed the metaphor of books as windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors to talk about the impact of representation on readers. White children have the most mirrors or the chance to see that aspect of their identity represented. And even animals have more mirrors than American Indian First Nation, Latin X, Asian Pacific Islander and Black children combined. So not only is this a detriment to children who share these underrepresented racial identities but it is also damaging to white children who lose the opportunity to explore, sympathize, empathize and gain knowledge from people with differing racial identities. And please feel free to follow the link here to read more about the importance of representation from Dr. Bishop. So over the past two years, hundreds of books have been purchased for each school specifically to increase the diversity of the collections while also addressing social emotional topics and student interests. Here's a sampling of some of the new titles in all of our elementary libraries. And thank you for your support of our libraries and for giving our students the opportunity to read so many wonderful books. But of course it's not just enough to buy the books and have the books, right? This year we've featured many of the new titles in our elementary read-alouds during library specials, supported own voices reading assignments at Gibbs, OMS and AHS, created book displays both in person and online, curated reading lists and invited students to get involved in collection development and promotion including the high school's anti-racist working group and the Gender and Sexuality Alliance who wrote monthly book spotlights like the one featured on the slide. The health of a library collection is not just about these new books, buying new books, but constantly assessing and curating the collection including removing outdated or inaccurate books. In 2018, the average publication date of a book on our library shelves was the year 2000. Many APS libraries had not been weeded in decades. And so here are just a few of the books we've taken off the shelves recently. These books were new when we were fearful of what Y2K would do to our computers, the show Friends was on network television, Pluto was a planet and the caregivers of our present day students were in school themselves. But on a more serious note, it's not just about the age of a book, but the information, the misinformation and potentially harmful stereotypes and oppressive narratives that highlight the urgency of this work of carefully curating collections and we'll continue to do this as we move forward. So this has been, of course, a year like no other and like everyone else, we have had to pivot and then pivot and then pivot. The library is more than a place, however, it is a program and as a teen, we were able to bring our program to teachers and students, whether they were in the building or remote. We found ways to put books into students' hands, supported digital learning tools and experimented with and embraced new models of service. We got creative with instruction. One highlight was the AHS library orientation which was redesigned as a school-wide digital escape room and you're welcome to use the link there to give it a try yourself. While our libraries did circulate physical books with remote and hybrid learning models, it was important for us to meet library users where they were. Following a successful pilot at AHSS spring, we were able to introduce Sora to all APS students in February. By partnering with the public libraries, our students can now access thousands of high quality and age-appropriate e-books and digital audiobooks on their school and personal devices and we're proud to say over 3,000 students and staff have logged onto Sora this year and we have collectively logged over 10,000 hours of reading. The district also introduced Swank Streaming for grades six through 12. Swank is a legal streaming video library which allows teachers to seamlessly transition between learning models. So movies can be shown in classrooms on projectors or watched at home on student devices, promoting flexibility, equity and engagement with the curriculum. It's really a bit of a game changer because students can finish movies for homework, makeup, missed classes or even rewatch scenes when writing about films. The library has also held a variety of engaging activities online and in person in order to foster community and connection. We continued the district mock Caldecott in a virtual environment, conducted Zoom book groups, ran a March book Madness Bracket, held a poetry open mic and read with our pets. These are the winners of our catch your pet reading contest and I encourage you to click on the link to see everybody who participated. We also looked at digital responsibility. Professional staff curated activities to address Massachusetts digital learning and computer science standards which were shared by the library paraprofessionals with our K through five students this year. These videos and discussions were tailored for each grade level and covered topics including safety, responsibility and balancing screen time with off-screen activities. What does the future look like for Arlington public school libraries? In the next school year, we will continue to expand and strengthen our library programs emphasizing a love of learning and reading. We will partner with teachers and staff to develop critical thinking and research skills and promote the ethical use of education technology and information. We will develop resources and professional development opportunities to ensure equity, consistency and professionalism across our school library programs and we will continue to review and improve our physical and digital resource collections so that they are inclusive, informative, relevant and current. Beyond research and read-alouds, school libraries are very unique places in our schools because they are a welcoming space for exploration, curiosity and autonomy of choice for children during the school day. The ability to browse collections and choose books for themselves instills a sense of agency for even our youngest readers. Our libraries will foster a lifelong love of learning and understanding that libraries and books are for everyone. Libraries are also critical in helping people access information with so much information and misinformation available online. One of the most important skills for students is to be critical consumers of media of all types. It is important to teach the skills it is important to teach the skills of critical thinking from the earliest ages. This includes the ability to ask probing questions, verify sources and understand whose perspectives or knowledge are being centered or erased. How do we accomplish these goals? We will create a scope and sequence for research skills and critical thinking. We will lead PD and collaborate to provide direct student instruction. In partnership with community members we will conduct diversity audits of our library collections to identify strengths and challenges. We will make it easier for the APS community to access our digital resources and professional development materials by creating a district library web presence. With the addition of a second K certified librarian we can now offer the statewide database collection to all of our students instead of only at the high school. These digital resources including online encyclopedias, newspapers and more provide current and up-to-date information on a vast array of topics from reliable sources. We have already introduced these resources to our fifth graders and we look forward to expanding to other grades next year. To meet these goals and go further in preparing our students for 21st century success we need to continue supporting the library program through hiring additional professional staff, supporting our paraprofessional staff and continuing to invest in print books and digital collections. This support demonstrates a commitment to the value of school libraries in Arlington public schools and will help our students have the tools they need to navigate our increasingly complex future. On behalf of the entire library team thank you for inviting us to join you tonight. We appreciate the opportunity to speak with you as well as your continued support. So, and I do, I would like to just highlight the work that our entire library team has done over the last, first of all, since I've been here they've been working very hard but I want to also acknowledge the fact that a couple of years ago, my memories, I don't know how I am with the years because everything is now it's like pandemic but before the pandemic we had that panel in the town to talk about growing the library program and like, and we had people talk about what are the steps that we're going to take in order to continue to support the growth of the library program as well as investing our operational resources. So I also want to acknowledge Mr. Mason for making sure that we do have a source, a financial source to draw from in order to continue to purchase the materials that we need in order to have a strong library program. So with that, I will open it up to questions. Thank you, Dr. McNeil. Any of the members wish to ask questions or comments? Mr. Carden. Thank you. Thank you for all your hard work and also for Dr. McNeil for overseeing this expansion of our staffing. Just one comment, quick comment is that I know that some of the PTOs are still fundraising for library books, which is great, we always can use more but I'm always getting questions why doesn't Arlington pay for library books? And we do now, we didn't for a long time but we do now. So it would be great if some communication about this new library program, both the funding of the books and then now we have three, we've tripled the staff. That would be great to update the community. Thank you. Sure, and what I can do with that, Mr. Carden is I can put the slide deck on our district website so that people can access it. And I do want to emphasize or I would like to highlight the fact that we are now investing $10,000 per school on their collections. Any other members? Mr. Thielman. Thank you very much. This is a great presentation. I really appreciated it. You know, I did like that Larry Zonka book when I was a young guy. So I just want everyone to know that I understand you're taking it out but I actually read that book. So my question is this, can Dr. McNeil or somebody just give us a ballpark of where we were maybe a year or two ago in terms of FTEs for this program, for the whole library program as a whole and where we are today. I just feel like you might have said that I didn't get that data point. So kind of like what's been our growth? Because I think there's, I'm reminded of the late Elaine Shea who was always asking and lobbying very, very hard for more resources and more staffing for the libraries. And I would love to be able to answer the question that comes to us at times as members of the school committee. And I want to be able to say, well, we've added X, Y, Z number of FTEs. Just like Stacey or anybody? Anybody have the number? Yeah, so over the last two years we've added 2.0 FTEs to our library staffing. Okay. And then the total staffing is what for that department if you include paraprofessionals and full-time staff? I don't know the total. It was one, Mr. Spiegel can ask, he has his hand raised. It's 1.0 per elementary and middle school. And so we added when Gibbs came online, we added a library paraprofessional like Gibbs. And then there is a library paraprofessional at the high school as well, as well as Stacey. And so now three certified library professionals and one per school, there is not a library paraprofessional at the preschool, but the... That would be 10 library paraprofessionals, FTEs. So 10.0 plus 3.0 certified library. Okay, well, I mean, this is all very good news. I'm sure we'd love more staff, obviously every department would, but I mean, I think we're moving in the right direction and we all should be very proud of that. And I think it's a kudos to the staff for making this a priority and making it happen and for Stacey's leadership and everyone's leadership. So thank you. Mr. Sexton. I just want to say thank you to the three of you for coming and presenting on this. It's, while I'm new to the school committee, I've been following for a while and I feel like librarians come up often, but I've never seen an actual presentation. So it was really nice to hear about all the work that you're doing. I've also heard feedback from the community. They're noticing that you're reading more diverse books and talking about windows and mirrors. So your work is being noticed in the community as well. And I just want to echo the advocacy that the job is huge and paraprofessionals while they are doing a tremendous, tremendous job. I think it's really important that we continue to move toward filling these positions with certified librarians because it's a big responsibility. And so the people deserve to be paved, professional educator wages for this job because it's a really big responsibility. So thank you all. Ms. Blogan. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming. I think it's really important that we continue to make sure that these positions show up in our budget. We know that there's just not the pool of people out there to hire all seven of them in one year to get one at every elementary school, but we're just gonna keep moving along with that. I know that it was a big part of our five-year plan. Librarians win overrides. We can campaign on librarians because everybody understands what they are. Generally speaking, they know what they are. They know how important they are. They know how critical they are to schools. And so it's really important that we just keep on moving. And I so appreciate the three of you. I know that it can sometimes be challenging to work in an interim, not an interim situation, but we're not at our staffing. We're not at the vision yet of where we wanna be. And we fully acknowledge that and recognize that and appreciate you so much for sticking with us as we move to this state that we would like to be at very much. So I'm really grateful for that. I would love at some point in the next couple of years, I know that the some of the school libraries have their own websites and the APS website has some materials on it. I have kids at three schools at Stratton and at Gibbs and at Ottison. And I admittedly get an enormous amount of email, but I learned a lot from your presentation tonight, which means that I haven't absorbed that through any of the other mechanisms that have come to my computer over the last year or so. So at some point when the time is right to help us, help parents like me who have kids over a broad range and we're at a lot of different schools to have a place to go where it's like, oh, this is a great resource for kids going into ninth grade. And I know that you guys, I saw the ninth grade reading list. I'm sure that you guys have seen, I'm sure that that's been something that you've seen and have contributed to, but it's just so helpful when it's people that you know from your town that are putting resources together, I'm like, great, I would like all of these. So when the time comes to put something together for those of us who can't absorb it through email, that would be amazing. So thank you so much. We know we want more of you, but we're so, so grateful that we have the ones that we do. So thank you for coming tonight. Well, I fear to say, you've got a majority vote going forward to grow this program. And I'm excited about it. I'm also vested in my daughter as a school librarian in Lexington. And if I ever voted against anything, I would be disowned. So thank you so much for your work. Thank you going forward. Books are the greatest things in the world. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dr. McNeil, Dr. Bodie and Mr. Mason as well. Can't do it without the bucks. Thank you. So great to move on. Dr. McNeil, continuous improvement and monitoring plan. Yes, but at this point, can I ask, I can, they're welcome to stay, but I just want to let, is that okay, Mr. Hainor? Absolutely. Thank you to all of you for coming. Yeah. All right, thank you for that. And thank you for reminding me. No worries. So moving forward, I'm going to present the tier focus monitoring report. And so I did give the report. I want to emphasize it's on our district website. So it's there for anyone to see the tier focus monitoring process. So in the report, I'll just go through what the report tells us, the structure of the report. And then I'll talk about the things that we addressed as a result of the review that we received. So we are a, it's the tier focus monitoring review, which is to monitor compliance with regulatory requirements focusing on special education and civil rights. So there's two parts of it. And so my part is the civil rights portion and Ms. Elmer does the special education. And so through, and the way the report is organized is it talks about the review process, which includes a self-assessment phase, an onsite verification phase, which includes interviews for a special, in this past earlier this year, around January, February, we had our reviewer conduct interviews with parents of special education students and staff. And then they also looked at the documents that I submitted for the civil rights portion of it. And I also, we went through a discussion where we reviewed the documents, we reviewed what the document, you know, what was contained in the documents. And then from that, we received an assessment. We received an assessment. So in the report, it identifies the things that were, that we needed to address. And you'll see that as well. And then for the civil rights, for the special education, all of the elements that were reviewed, we met, they're implemented, but there were two areas for the civil rights portion that we received a partially implementation rating. So we had to look at those two areas. One had to deal with our student handbooks and the codes of conduct that were contained in the student handbooks. And a review of the documents indicated that the district's code of conduct procedures for assuring due process during the disciplinary proceedings do not contain all the requirements or all the required components, which includes procedures to ensure academic progress for students on short-term or long-term suspension or emergency removal, the right for students who are suspended long-term to appeal the principal's decision to the superintendent and the principal's obligation to provide and writing the student's hearing rights and the parent's opportunity to participate in the hearing prior to the student short-term suspension. So all of that is already contained in our school committee policy manual. So what I had to do is I had to take that language and make sure that it was put into all of our student handbooks at the elementary, middle, and the high school level. So that has been done already. The handbooks have been updated with that language. They've been translated into our four major languages. We added Portuguese. So they're in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese. And so that has been done. They've been posted on the website. So that was part of what I had to do as part of the action plan to address that review in that area. The second one had to deal with the physical restraint policy and that is something that I brought to school committee and I thank you for taking the time to review the policy and the school committee manual and then updating it with the proper language. And so that language also had to be put onto our website and into our student handbooks. So that parents would understand the restraint prevention policy and behavior support procedures that are in place. And we've done that. And again, everything's been put onto the website and into the handbooks and has also been translated into our major languages. So basically, if you look at the report it has the completion timeframe, which is September 24th but all the work has been done and is available for the public to review on our website. So that concludes my report on the tiered focus monitoring review. And I'll open it up for questions or comments. Any members wish to question our comments at this time? Mr. Caden. Thank you. So just one question and a comment, Dr. McNeil on the student handbooks. I don't know if this was something that our attorney would have caught but do we know when the last time we've had an illegal review of our student handbooks? So I work with our attorneys and we go through the different, like that's part of the tiered focus monitoring review where they look at sections of the handbook to make sure that we're compliant with all the regulations and the state regulations. But I don't know when the last time we've had a review of the handbooks but before the pandemic I sent the handbooks out to the, well, no, I do know. So a couple of years ago I sent the handbooks out to our legal counsel and they did look over the different policies that we have in there to make sure that they're aligned with our school committee policy manual and it's updated language. So I would say a couple of years ago when we had went through the self-assessment phase of the tiered focus monitoring review. Great, thank you. And then just the comment. So four years ago when we had the coordinator program review I was very critical of the high number of partially implemented findings that we had. So I just wanna say congratulations to Ms. Elmer and the entire administrative team for coming through this review with zero findings. So that's a great improvement. So thank you for all your hard work. Any other members wish to make a comment or question? Okay, moving on. School calendar, second read. Dr. Bode. And thank you, Mr. Hayner. This is a second read. There are no changes from the first read. I do wanna point out just a couple of highlights just to remind everyone that before and after the February break next year the high school will have an early release day on the Friday for vacation in order to pack up and have their room materials move to the new wing, the steam wing as well as performing arts wing. And then when after February vacation they will have a half day just to have a chance to unbox them. But that is on the calendar. The other is reminding everyone about the screening days for kindergarten. There will be, kindergarten will dismiss so there's two full days in June and plus the half day in order to do the kindergarten screens. And we have an obligation to do this. And the question is really when we do it and teachers have been finding that having June reviews and screenings is a much better time of the year to do that. So otherwise there's just the early release days that will exist for conferences or the middle and the high school conferences what is not on the calendar and it are the evening conference states. Doesn't mean we're not going to have them. Just parents will be notified by the individual schools next year. So what you saw last time remains the same and just wanted to point out those couple of key things for next year. Members have any questions or comments? Ms. Morgan. Just my comment to Dr. Bodie that I make every year I know that obviously the back to school nights aren't on here and we don't know what they're going to look like but I do hope that every effort will be made to make sure they don't conflict with each other and don't conflict with our late September school committee meetings. I think every year I've been on the school committee I have missed one of my kids's back to school nights. So it would be great if that could be something that was taken into consideration next year. So thank you, that's all I have. Anyone else? Somebody remind the old man, do we take a vote on this or do we just accept it? We are taking a vote. I will entertain a motion to accept the school calendar for 2122. Is there a second? Second. Roll call. Ms. Morgan. Yes. Ms. Exton. Yes. Mr. Cardin. Yes. Mr. Schlickman. Yes. Dr. Ampey. Yes. Mr. Thielman. Mr. Thielman Frosch. I will vote yes. And Mr. Thielman. Yes. Thank you. I was unanimous. Unanimous vote, no problem. We unfroze. Yeah. District calls for 2021-2022, school year's second read, Dr. McNeil. So we, for the goals for 2122, we took the feedback that we received from school committee members and we updated the language. So I'll just open it up right now to any questions or comments based upon the updates that have been made. And so we're open to your feedback. Mr. Schlickman. Has Dr. Homan reviewed these? I would have to defer to Dr. Bodie. I know we've made them available. We've made. But Dr. Homan, the question was, has Dr. Homan had an opportunity to review the changes in the goals? Dr. Homan is listening this evening. And the question is, has she had an opportunity to review the changes? And the answer is no, but we are meeting tomorrow and we'll go over with, over district goals with her at that time. I'm a little uncomfortable approving goals at this point on a permanent basis without the person who's going to be charged with implementing them, having reviewed them and at least coming with an understanding of what she's buying into. So I would like to move tentative approval of the goals pending a review by Dr. Homan. Dr. Bodie. It's perfectly fine if you want to wait until the fall to approve the district goals. I think that as they are in this form, they qualify for what our teachers are looking for, which is direction about the direction we're going next year so that they can develop their own goals in the fall. The thing that is the case in the district goals that really affect teacher goal making themselves are really in the first two goals. And we're not having a substantial change in those goals from this year. There's been a little bit of language change. And I think one of the things I would point out is that we do mention the vision of student as learner and global citizen. That is not a static document. I think that that's something that, you know, everyone can take a look at and see how that may want to have that change over the next couple of years. But I think that as they are, and I will disseminate them, I can put draft on them to everyone in the district so they can at least see that we really are continuing the work that we've been doing going forward. Yeah, I don't see us moving far off of them, but there's an accountability aspect of this. And we may want to sit with her and tweak them at some point. Not a wide movement off of where we're at. We might have proved them just the way they are, but I really think that there has to be some level of participation of an incoming superintendent when we are going to hold her accountable for progress towards these goals. One of the things that the school committee has not seen, we talked about this the last meeting, that the actions that are part of each one of these goals are going to be worked on over the next couple of months. So you will see what the specific efforts are going to be by department next year and by school as well. So if you want to wait on this, there's no reason you have to vote on these this evening. And during your retreats this summer, you can continue to work on them. Okay, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Superintendent Bode. And I just wanna emphasize the point that Dr. Bode made about utilizing the goals as a guidepost for the work that we're going to do this summer. A lot of the work that we're gonna do is looking at our equity review and inserting the recommendations and setting goals for next year to implement those recommendations. So I just wanna, just to say that I echo Dr. Bode with the overall spirit of the goals will be taken into consideration as we do the work this summer. So are we going to postpone the vote or are we gonna, I would recommend that we postpone and talk to Dr. Holman during our retreat. Mr. Thielman and then Dr. Ampey. If I won't freeze up this time, I would, I'm comfortable, personally comfortable voting to approve the goals. With the understanding that over the summer there will be, Dr. Holman will meet with Dr. McNeil and staff and may make modifications and we'll come back in September and say I got the goals that you approved in June on June 10th, I appreciate that. I've made some modifications, I'd like to approve them. So I, myself, I can only speak to myself, I'm probably comfortable voting for this unless I understand that most people don't but I'm comfortable voting to move things along. Dr. Ampey. I'm with Mr. Schlickman. I feel uncomfortable approving something when I know that there's been changes that Dr. Holman has not had a voice in yet. And I think I don't see much utility in approving them right now. I see this more as a first read. I think we would be able to approve. I think we will probably have at least one regular school committee meeting sometime over the summer and we could approve them then. And I just, it just feels wrong to me to approve something that the person who is, as Mr. Schlickman said, the person who's charged with accomplishing it, they haven't given us their input. So thank you. Mr. Cardin, did you want to say something? Okay, Ms. Eggston. I share the concerns of Mr. Schlickman and Dr. Allison Ampey that Dr. Holman hasn't had a chance to see the revised goals. And I guess my other concern is that she's had a lot of opportunities to meet with Dr. Bodie and Dr. McNeil and that these, but the goals haven't been a part of those conversations when those goals belong to the school committee and the superintendent moving forward for next year. Yeah, I think it's important that she's a part of that. My other, my hesitation though, is that I don't want to make it difficult for teachers to be able to think about their own goals moving forward. So I guess I'd be in favor of a tentative approval just in the sense that I want, I want teachers to have an opportunity to work on what they need to be doing this summer if they choose to do that and not have things changed tremendously, which I don't think they will, but I want to be aware of that. You're on mute, Phil. Thank you, sorry. My understanding is that the question that was asked has Dr. Homan seen the changes since our first read? I just want to make that clear because as far as I know, Dr. Homan has, there have been discussions with regard to the goals going forward. I know I've talked about, talked to her about them. So again, to be clear, it's just the changes since the last meeting brought about by a couple of the members and going forward. May I, Mr. Haman? Go ahead, Dr. Bordi. Okay, thanks. I would say that we definitely have been talking about the goals in many different ways of looking at them and we will continue to do that. The specific language was actually brought up, not the specific language, but the intent of how to modify it was brought up at the school committee last time. And I think it was very valid suggestions about including some language of recognizing that we are going to be going into next school year on the heels of a pandemic year and being mindful both in terms of social emotional learning and as well as academic learning that impact which we've talked about many times in the last couple of months. One issue of course is the summer programming. So there's no substantial change. There are just simply the suggestions that you have made. The other thing I actually should have mentioned is this, that there was some discussion last time about the sort of the analysis of the odyssey and infrastructure of the envelope, just the whole systems. And actually one of the things where we spent some time at my team at the office did was looking for the onsite insight report and we don't, which was done a long time ago. I think it is time as we're talking about what might need to be done at Odyssey and that the first step in this is really looking at a study of these infrastructure systems. So the language is in the goals that opens the door for the facilities committee to and working with Mr. Mason and of course Dr. Holman to move forward and some of the study that needs to happen. When they did the, you know some of the other building projects they were always preceded by a large study of the building. So I think that's where we are at this point. And even any study that was done 10 years ago is not necessarily where the building is today. So that language is there. And this was in response to the issue about Odyssey. It's my opinion that the majority of the committee is putting second read on hold. I will put it on the agenda for the workshop to discuss so that we can get to it as soon as possible. Dr. McNeil. Well, I have a question about procedure here. So do we have an agreement with the union that the goals have to be approved at the during the last school committee meeting for the years or are we violating that agreement? Mr. Spiegel, are you aware of anything to that? I mean, I think that was our agreement that they were supposed to be approved by the union meeting. Then why, then might I suggest that we take a vote on a, I will entertain a motion to approve the second read subject to. Forgo. I have a motion to that effect before. Okay, just a second, just a second. Mr. Thielman, they had his hand up first. Well, if Mr. Schlickman is working on the motion, he's probably written it better than I can, but my motion was going to be basically moved to the Arlington School Committee, approved the second reading of the goals that's presented with the understanding that Dr. Holman will review and revise them and report back to us by no later than the first meeting in September of 2021. Mr. Schlickman, is that within what you were going to present? Well, I actually spoke a motion out when I first started to speak that we tentatively approve the goals subject to review with the new superintendent. I don't know if the word tentative will meet the language of the contract. I think Mr. Thielman's language would meet the contractual language. That's my opinion. You have law degree, so I will back off and allow you guys to be more precise. Is there a second to Mr. Thielman's motion? And I will second it. Thank you. Any other discussion on the motion? Roll call, though. Ms. Borgen. Yes. Ms. Hexton. Yes. Mr. Cardin. Yes. Mr. Schlickman. Yes. Dr. Ampey. Yes. Mr. Thielman. Yes. Mr. Hanna, yes. Thank you. Superintendent's report, Dr. Bodie. Thank you. I just have a few things to mention. We always talk about the high school, where that is going. And the project is definitely moving forward. There are still more subcommittee meetings over the next couple of weeks, and we'll be looking at some transition issues as we come into the fall. Some of that is preparing for when, after we move into the new buildings, that we have a transition plan for both moving into it, and then the beginning of the teardown of column house. So that's going to require some work around dust issue, dust mitigation issues. And so that will be moving forward. But, you know, it's been, it was a really rough week for the construction workers. I want to commend them for, you know, their efforts this week. It was a rough, but, you know, every week that you, you can make progress. It brings us closer to making sure that we are going to be able to meet that February deadline and turn over those two wings. The building committee will meet the first, actually, I'm not, they're probably going to meet the first Tuesday in July, unless there's someone that, you know, there's some change in that. But the plan is that the school committee will, I'm sorry, the building committee will continue to meet the first Tuesday of the month. Probably one of the more important things I want to say is to congratulate our seniors. We had a wonderful graduation that we did not envision that we could have at the beginning of May. We certainly have gone through many iterations. And at the end of the day, we were able to pretty much return to the same format that we've had in past years. And it was, it was a warm day, but everyone was in wonderful spirits. It was like the class has so many accomplishments. And that's one of the things that I was, I highlighted during the, in my part of the presentation, and there's much they have to be proud of in all aspects of their experience at Arlington High School. One of the things that our seniors do every year, as part of graduation, is to pick out the, no pick out, that's not my word, to identify at each of the elementary schools who was particularly influential in their, in their education. It does not mean that other teachers were not because I think that that's always been something where they have found that sometimes it's very hard to choose. And they did the same thing this year. And as I said, the students themselves have every, a lot to be proud of, but as, as our teachers and all of our educators are very proud of them. So we wish them well and I will, and the high school will miss them. I'm glad they were able to have a regular prom. Well, it wasn't exactly regular, but to have a prom this year and to have a graduation. So thank you to Mr. Heyman for speaking in graduation. He did a great job. He might even want to talk about what he said. All I suggested to them is to remember the child inside them and don't quote, don't ever grow up. Imagination comes from the child inside you. That's it. And I want to commend Dr. Bode. There was a young man that sat next to her. That was the most excited enthusiastic individual. He must have screamed and deaf and poor Dr. Bode for 300 some art graduates. It was a phenomenal graduation, including in spite of the heat was well done. And I'd like to commend the entire staff for running a really great graduation. And as far as I know, not one single person got sick from the heat. And that's that that's a testament to the organization that the staff put together. They did. They did a phenomenal job. And they, unlike past years, they had to do multiple iterations as we went through the last couple of months. So it was. And I will be sending out to all staff, the teachers that were commended at the different levels. And I know that they will. That will be appreciated by everyone. The last thing is I want to, to mention that Jason Levy. Who is a social studies teacher at Austin middle school. Has just been awarded. The Brian, I mean, say it's correct with Brian, the chef reward for national history day. As you know, it's a great honor to be here. I bring to you the, the successes of our students in this very important contest that competition that happens every year. This year was particularly challenging year. Because of all of the, the interviews with students was done virtually. But Mr. Levy has been doing this for many years. And he puts in enormous amounts of time. He's doing this for the nation, and he has been cheering them on. You know, making sure they stick to their timelines. And this particular award was developed. By the. The national history competition. For a teacher who is quite beloved. And. One thing I will say is that Mr. Levy is a very. as are many other teachers, but I want to congratulate him and commend him. I think for this very well-deserved honor. And that is my report, Mr. Hayden. Thank you very much. The next item is on the agenda. Sorry. Go ahead, Mina. Yes. Sorry. Sorry, there were two things that I had emailed about that if we can't get an update now, maybe we could get an email update. They were both with hiring updates. So I was wondering where we were as far as hiring assistant principals, and also with the allocation of the 10 reserve positions, where any of those have been assigned so far. If we don't have that update now, then perhaps we could get that by email. Dr. Bode, Dr. McNeil, is that something that we can? For the AP positions, almost certainly. OK. We can get those up to the members in the next day or so. Well, we can also tell you what the status of them are right now. Go right ahead then. Well, we have three elementary schools that are hiring an AP, and Pierce Elementary has chosen an AP, and a hiring letter has gone out to her. The other schools, Brackett and Thompson, are still in their process. And with Ms. Salvatore becoming the middle school principal Grottendoncible, there's also the Gibbs Middle School still in process for hiring for replacement. And Mr. Coyle, what was the other one? So we had a large number of reserve positions in the budget. We had 10 reserve positions. And we had discussed a budget wanting to get an update about where those were going. We don't want to leave all 10 open until August. Do we have any of those assigned yet, or are they still open now? No, they're not. Well, the special ones, special education ones, have been already spoken for in terms of what needs to just recast. And then maybe we may even need some other reserve positions for special education. But the moment that those have been spoken for in terms of positions. With the 10 reserve positions at the moment, we have 3 and 1 half that we know that we are going to be hiring. But in addition to that, we've also hired an additional support person technology. So that would be 4 and 1 half in terms of, if you're thinking about this, in terms of moneys. So that's where we are at the moment in terms of that. I think that as we see how enrollment changes over the next couple of weeks through July, you'll have a much better report on where that stands in August. But we can also update you periodically as well. Yeah, we could get a list of where those positions in both the special ed and regular ed where they went. That would be great. Thank you. Sure, we can do that. Mr. Karnay, I apologize. You asked me in a timely manner, and I apologize for not bringing it forward. Oh, you did. You did it. That's fine. Thanks. OK. The next part is on Dr. Bodhi. I would like us, if there's no objection from the committee, to just each one of us say a little piece for us because Ms. Morgan is going to be addressing the dedication plaque in her part. So I would invite Ms. Exton. Thank you. Dr. Bodhi, this is interesting farewell as you and I have never had a meeting in person. And now we are here to honor your dedication and service of the Arlington Public Schools on the occasion of your retirement. During what is likely the most challenging and unusual year for public school educators everywhere, your knowledge, experience, and study leadership have helped our teachers and students to move through ever-changing educational directives and situations feeling supported and capable. With retirement just weeks ahead of you, your commitment and dedication to Arlington schools has not wavered. You continue to focus on programming and infrastructure for the future, supporting curriculum initiatives, and hiring outstanding educators and staff. It is clear from your long and accomplished career in the Arlington Public Schools that you have impacted the lives of countless educators and students. Your tenure in Arlington saw enrollment growth, renovated elementary schools, a new sixth grade school at the Gibbs, the start of a long-awaited and much-needed new high school building, and the hiring of exceptional teaching staff. The Arlington Public Schools will continue to benefit from your impact here for many years to come. I'm sorry that we will never get to sit in the school committee room at the high school together, but it has been a privilege to join you remotely this year to support the students, families, and teachers of the Arlington Public Schools. Congratulations on your retirement and thank you for your dedication and service to our schools in our town. Thank you, Mr. Cardin. Thank you. I also want to thank Dr. Bodie for her tireless service to the Arlington Public Schools. Over the last 13 years, Dr. Bodie has been a dedicated leader, putting her all into her role as superintendent, managing the complex day-to-day operations of a rapidly growing school system while maintaining a focus on important long-term initiatives. At the risk of duplicating what some of my colleagues will and also say, will and have also said, I will call out some key achievements from the Bodie years. Upon taking office, Dr. Bodie stabilized a tumultuous system and refocused attention on delivering the best education possible. As the system has grown, Dr. Bodie spent endless hours on redistricting school enrollment, planning, additions at Thompson and Hardy, renovation and opening of the Gibbs School in the larger capacity to high school building now under construction. Dr. Bodie has worked closely with elected and appointed town officials and committees to ensure the public support of these building projects as well as the operating overrides needed for the increased funding we need due to our increased enrollment. Over her many years, Dr. Bodie has focused over her many years, Dr. Bodie has also focused on the need for social emotional learning, installing an SEL director and infusing SEL throughout the system. More recently, Dr. Bodie has led a focus on cultural competency and diversity inclusion, implementing related staff professional development and curriculum updates. Throughout her years, Dr. Bodie has attracted and built an incredibly strong leadership team that will continue to serve APS well long after her retirement. I'm grateful for the leadership and diligence that Dr. Bodie has brought to APS and I wish her well in her retirement. Thank you. Apologize. Dr. Rampe. Thank you. Dr. Bodie, your tenure has completely overlapped my school committee career. So I've had a breath of, I've had a very good view of the breadth of issues you've had to manage. Three of the ones that stand out to me are the teacher relations, hiring choices and our new high school. When you first started as superintendent, my impression was that teacher relations were not great. And that was echoed this afternoon by the teachers union. The teachers contract have been under negotiation for a year moving in and out of mediation but still without resolution. There are issues of concern and mistrust. In contrast, during our next contract cycles, after you had been charged for several years or more, we were able to reach mutually acceptable agreements with a minimum of fuss. I think this is a large due to the trust that you had built up with our teachers. This has served us well during this current year of COVID, where other towns were unable to reach agreements or worse, only to work together to come up with a plan that worked well for our students and for our teachers. The second area where I've seen your strong, very strong influence is in our many administrative hires, our many outstanding administrative hires. From the top, first with Dr. Laura Chestins assistant superintendent, it was then very able succeeded by Dr. McNeil to other wonderful sixth floor administration such as Mr. Mason, to our many principals or department chairs. Throughout, you've created an outstanding team that works well together for the best of our students. The final area that stands out over the years is the new high school. From work in 2013 towards that first SOI submission to the interior design meeting that we will have tomorrow, you've been completely immersed in the project doing everything to ensure that Arlington will have a high school that will be a source of civic pride for the next 100 years. And throughout all this time when you have dealt with these issues and so many more, I've been impressed by your amazing work ethic, your grace under pressure and your dedication to our students and staff. Your car was often seen parked in front of the high school until late in the evening as you worked ceaselessly for the betterment of our schools. I've made the claim in many of my annual evaluations that you were the hardest working person in our schools and I still believe this to be true. However, despite these many hours or even more when there were being problems or crises, you have always responded with grace no matter how difficult the problem. Your ability to manage these issues and still maintain an even keel is what I admire greatly and attempt to replicate. But the best lesson I have learned from you is to keep our teachers and our staff as our focus. During all these years with all the many issues that have come and gone with even a pandemic for a finale, you've consistently reminded everyone that our students and our staff are the most important thing and they know it and we know it because that you do it because you care. Dr. Brody, you've been amazing leader for our schools over the past 13 years. We've benefited from your work, we've learned from your example and we will go forward in a better way because you've helped us a long part of it. Thank you, best thing you require. Of course I wish you'd invest in your retirement, but thank you. Mr. Schlickman. Thank you very much. In 2007, I chose not to run for reelection. Things were going well enough to pass the baton after two terms. Little did I know what was about to come. The Arlington advocate reported on the school committee meeting of August 7th, 2008 by a vote of five to two, the school committee designated assistant superintendent, Kathleen Bodie to take on the duties of the superintendent until it decides what further action should be taken. The committee is confident that Arlington school committee will unite in support of its efforts to work collaboratively to move forward in the best interests of the children of Arlington. Next paragraph starts off Kathleen Bodie who is currently out of town. We'll take on these responsibilities upon her return to the office Monday morning. Well, surprise and now here we are 13 years later. By the time I found my way back to the committee in 2012, school committee meetings were boring again. This is because Kathy is a steady hand with a calming strategic leader. The community knew things were in good hands and they allowed us to move forward on our path to excellence. I've worked with many superintendents, some incredibly good, some well, not so much. Superintendent Bodie has been exemplary on so many levels but the most important in my mind is she hires well. Hiring is the key to this job. It's putting the right people before our children, putting the right people in leadership positions, the right people who will collaborate and make things happen for our students in the advance of district forward. And she has done that in an exemplary manner. And she cares for the caregivers. What we saw this afternoon at the retirement and honors ceremony was the appreciation of the faculty and the staff for her efforts that she's taken the time to learn everybody's name, to know everybody, to know everybody's classroom and to have compassion for the people who are doing this amazing work in Arlington. That will be part of her legacy along with the buildings in our new high school. Superintendent Bodie is very well respected by superintendents across the Commonwealth which is made obvious when we go to state conventions. She had built confidence in the community that allowed us to pass debt exclusions and operating overrides. It's been a remarkable run. And taking from me who retired last year, retirement's a good thing. I hope you enjoy it. And we appreciate you when we hope we see you at many ceremonies going forward as we open our new high school. Thank you, Kathy. Mr. Thielman. Thank you, Bill. Bill gave me the honor of speaking on behalf of the committee this afternoon at the event that we had in the courtyard of the high school. It was a wonderful event. And four of us were there, Bill, Percy and Paul. And it was just a wonderful event and it was clear how much affection Kathy's staff have for her and how much affection she has for them. I'm gonna read some of what I said at this meeting at the event today. One of the things I wanna point out is that as I said to the group, Kathy has been involved and immersed in in every single detail of the high school building project from 2013 on. And her hand and her eye and her mind are represented in every single detail and aspect of that building. And Dr. Holman, the incoming superintendent has told us that she will be calling upon Dr. Bodie in the coming weeks and months. And that Kathy will be doing some consulting work for us. So her mind and eye and heart will still be part of that project in the time ahead. And Jane's gonna talk a little bit more about the dedication. It is appropriate, I think, that we dedicate the discourse lab. We have a dedication plaque to the discourse lab to Kathy Bodie. Kathy and I have known each other for 18 years. I was on the school committee when the vote was taken to name her superintendent. And I was on the phone with Kathy around that time when we were in the middle of a transition. And so we have known each other, worked closely together on many projects and had many long conversations. And there are so many things that have happened over the past 13 years of her superintendency that have had a profound impact on the community, all of which I guess someone has mentioned before, the new Gibbs school, the Stratton rebuild, the Hardy expansion, the Thompson building, the Thompson expansion, the high school, of course. And so many other wonderful things beyond the buildings in terms of curriculum innovations, improvements in how we deliver services to kids. It is a much improved in a much different district than it was. It's important to note that the voters consistently supported our schools because they trusted its leadership and they trusted Kathy Bodie. Kathy's focus has always been on what is best for the students of this community and what is best for her teachers and staff. I told this this afternoon to the group and I think if there's people watching, I think it's worth repeating, Kathy was raised to value education and service to others. She is the daughter of a doctor who served in the Korean War in a mobile army surgical hospital and mass unit, practiced medicine in his community and serve as the director of his county's health department. Kathy's mom, Janet was a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, a trustee of a community college and a longtime advocate for education in Aurora, Illinois. When you understand how Kathy was raised, you understand why serving others is the way she interacts with the world. Over the years is Kathy raised her children, planned their weddings and welcomed grandchildren. She and I have had conversations all hours of the night and day. Once I texted her there was free to talk at a certain hour. We got on the phone and I said, Kathy, where are you? And she said, I'm getting ready for my son's rehearsal dinner. It's a true story. He's getting married tomorrow, but I've got 30 minutes. This is a good time to talk. And Kathy gave me 30 minutes and we talked about an issue in the schools. Despite all the things going on in Kathy's life, taking care of her dad when he was in his late nineties, managing family life or waiting the birth of a grandchild, Kathy Bodie always had time for our kids. Our children and their wellbeing were always on her mind. Over the course of her career in Arlington, you never heard Kathy, a true servant leader if there ever was one, talk about herself or put herself first. She always talked about how making the school district work was a collective effort. She relished the opportunity to praise her staff, to let her staff shine, to allow her staff to talk about their impressive work. Anytime an administrator or teacher was recognized, it happened tonight. There's my dog. Sorry about that. That was the first thing she mentioned in a regular report to the school committee and to the public. Kathy's legacy will be what people see. A high performing school district, new buildings and a never rising enrollment. In fact, the fastest enrollment growth in the region. But Kathy's true legacy is our children. The opportunities they'll have to reach their potential and the careers she has helped watch here in Arlington and beyond. Serving as superintendent can be a lonely job. At the end of the day, there are many decisions about people, policies, programs, who to hire and who not to hire, fall in your lap. It is impossible to keep everyone happy. This has never happened before. A friend sent me a quote a few years ago from Michelle Goodridge's book, Ena the Temptor's Snare. The quote is, don't ever give up, don't ever give in, don't ever stop trying, don't ever sell out. And if you find yourself succumbing to one of the above for a brief moment, pick yourself up, brush yourself off, whisper a prayer and start where you left off, but never, ever give up. Kathy Bodie never gave up on her children. She never gave up on her staff and she never gave up on Arlington. Because of Kathy, we are a better people. Our district is in a better place and our kids have brighter futures. So Kathy, thank you for all you have done, all you have given to our town. Congratulations on your retirement. And we wish you the very best in the next chapter of your extraordinary life. Thank you, Jeff. This group is a tough act to follow. So I want you to all think about Kathy Bodie standing next to me. I don't know exactly how tall Kathy is, but I'm six foot five. I weigh over 240 pounds. If someone were to look at the two of us, it would be quickly, they'd make the assumption right away, I'm the bigger guy, I'm the stronger guy, I'm the tougher guy. Not true. Anyone that's a superintendent and more so, and I've seen it with Kathy, you gotta be a heck of a lot tougher than me. And she is. When you have to make a decision of whether to have school or not because of snow, you know right from the beginning, you are not gonna please everybody and you are going to get a lot of phone calls. Some of us get the phone calls too, but we're fortunate. We've always been able to say, not our call, it's the superintendent. We shift that blame right to her. The one thing you've heard tonight over and over again, and you will continue to hear, Kathy Bodie, number one thing are the students and the teachers. They come first every single time going across the board. She and I have not always seen eye to eye, but we've been able to talk to each other. And I hope we've developed a friendship. Like my wife, Pateek usually is much stronger than Big. And that is Kathy. She is one big, strong person. We have one thing in common, Kathy and I. We will in a couple of weeks. We're both retired. Don't get caught in the trap I have, Kathy. I volunteer for too much. Enjoy it. At least take five, six months. The upside of retirement is when you get up in the morning, you can turn around and roll over. You don't have to go to work, okay? And you can also say, not right now. I'm not gonna go. Enjoy the grandchildren. I know you have. That's one thing you and I have had in common. They are a treasure. They grow up way too fast. I went to my granddaughter's graduation last night. Happens too quick, just like our own children. Enjoy every moment. Thank you for everything you have done for us. Good luck. Miss Morgan. All right. Well, as usual, I'm the least prepared member of the group. So that's nice. It's always good to be that person. We all have our roles to play in this band. So I have a dog too, who's actually tearing up a package of sunships on the floor. Funny story that actually, we told our kids, because sometimes I've talked to Kathy on the phone and my kids have overheard it. And the schools have been giving out food like lunches and we've been picking them up. And at one point, I think in a fit of sort of exasperation in the fall, my kids were like, where's all these good snacks coming from mom? You don't buy us this stuff. And I was like, oh yeah. You know the person I talked to on the phone, Kathy? Kathy, she brings you those snacks. So anyway, we call them the Kathy Bodie snacks at our house. So I think there was a time a few years ago and it was the night that the vote came in on the high school building. And I actually had forgotten the date and I looked it up earlier today. It was June 11th, so three years ago tomorrow. And I was sitting on the floor at the, I think it's the Elks, the building by the Boys and Girls Club. And it was late and it was very clear that the vote on the high school was gonna be overwhelmingly positive from the community. And it had been a long day and Kathy came over to me and I think I was actually sitting on the floor for some reason and she looked down at me and she said, gosh, Jane, thank you. Thank you so much. And I don't remember what I responded with. It was probably something snarky like, oh, I'm so damn glad this is over. That was awful. But she was just so gracious and so humble at a time when the schools had received just this extraordinary vote of confidence from the community. And at the time, I'm sure that I didn't say anything. Nice or gracious to her. So I can say it tonight, you know, Kathy, thank you. Thank you so much for everything that you've done. You're a veteran superintendent. There were multiple times when you could have easily finished your career someplace else and you chose each time to stay here and to stay in Arlington and stay in this community. And we've just benefited so tremendously from that dedication and service. So for me, it's so powerful to have had the opportunity to work with a strong and capable superintendent, a woman in a leadership position. It's still really important, only 27% of superintendents still now in 2020 are women. And so for women like me, who either aspire or maybe don't to positions of leadership but want to be leaders in our own way, being able to watch you do your work has been empowering and inspiring. And I'm so grateful that my daughter got to see you probably more than she would have liked honestly on Zoom over the last year or so, but that she has been able to see a school district run so capably by a woman who has been so clear in her vision, whose compass points towards doing what's right for students. And so I'm really, really grateful for that as a mom, as a mom to a daughter that has been really meaningful and powerful to me. So there are two things that I have been charged by Mr. Heiner to do this evening. The first is I believe that either earlier today or yesterday, Ms. Fitzgerald organized for a chair to be delivered to Dr. Bodie's residence in Winchester. And so I wanted to share a picture of that with the committee so that you guys can see that. Let's see. Let's try this one. They need to let you share. I think you've got to let me share. Sorry, guys, as we're setting that up I will say that in looking at the pictures I did grant access. I'd like to record this computer screen. That's fine. That I did email Ms. Fitzgerald and I said, gosh, what is the picture? That's evil. We lost your audio. Oh wait, here we're back. Can you hear me now? Yeah. All right. Well, let's see. Do I have, can I share or not so much yet? Google Chrome unknown. Maybe not. So maybe I'll be emailing you guys is a really nice chair. Mr. Schlickman maybe has one because he tried to retire once from the school committee. I don't know. Ms. Seuss I know has one. So anyway, it's a lovely chair. It has a lovely engraving on it. Thanks to Ms. Fitzgerald for making this happen. This is a gift from the school committee to Dr. Bodie. It has her dates of service on it. And I'm sure that she will enjoy sitting on it. I'm glad to see I saw her. She acknowledged that it had been delivered. So that fills me with great joy. So, Jane, I have a share screen button. So if you email me, let me text it to you. Yeah, and I'll just, you know, keep, let me, I have a share screen button too, but there's for some reason it is not enjoying. Let's see. Let me just, should I email them to you? Is that the easiest? Probably. Maybe you'll be able to share them. And Ms. Fitzgerald even went so far as to take a picture of the chair by Dr. Bodie's chair in the school committee room, which felt very meta to me. And I was very impressed with her thoughtfulness. So I thought that was incredibly well done. So as we wait to see if the APS email server does what it's supposed to do, I have noticed that sometimes there's a lag. So I think all those like safety filtrations are doing their job. I do want to provide an update. Several meetings ago, we passed a motion directing Mr. Hayner to solicit input from the public memorials committee about a dedication plaque to Dr. Bodie in the discourse lab. And they worked very hard. I don't believe that that committee has met at all during COVID and they really pulled it together at the last minute to make this happen for all of us. Part of our policy is that we solicit their input, which was important that we do. And we received a lovely letter from them. Mr. Hayner and Ms. Tussoni and I prepared some materials that we submitted for them to review. And they gave us a letter today. And I just wanted to read one brief part about it because I thought that it was very, very thoughtful. So the public memorials committee acknowledged that Dr. Bodie's accomplishments, outstanding performance and unselfishness in promoting excellence in education far exceeded the limits and responsibilities that superintendents are obligated to perform. So I thought that was very nice. And these are mostly people who have not had the privilege of meeting with Dr. Bodie. So the fact that they could glean that just from a list of her extraordinary accomplishments speaks to how extraordinary they are. So I would like to make a motion that the school committee create a dedication plaque to be placed in the Arlington Hay School Discourse Lab in honor of Dr. Kathleen Bodie. Motion has been made and seconded. Any further discussion? To vote. Ms. Morgan. Yes. Mr. Thielman. Yes. Dr. Rampey. Yes. Mr. Schlickman. You muted Mr. Schlickman. I'll come back to you, Mr. Keiden. Yes. Ms. Exton. Yes. Mr. Schlickman, give me a thumbs up. There you go. Yeah, let me see. I've got the pictures up. So I just... Okay, just say yes right now for this motion. Yes, for this motion right now. And I say yes, so the motion is passed. So if you get the picture up, I'm gonna try. Let's see if... Are you seeing anything come up? Nope. Okay, here we go. Let's try this. You see the preview? Nope. Well, this is... You're getting a great picture at home with the rest of us on. Why don't we have Ms. Morgan email a picture? She can send it to all of us that way. We'll let us see. The most important part is Dr. Bordi got the chair. Oh, wait a minute, there we go. That's great. Very nice. That's very nice. Thank you, Mr. Schlickman. It is a rocker, correct? Ms. Morgan, it's a rocking chair. Oh, I've been told. Okay. I believe it's a rocking chair. So Kathy, don't fall off your rocker. That joke, I'm sorry. Oh, God. Dr. Bordi, would you care to talk, say anything? I can understand either way, whichever way you want to go. Just a couple of things. I'm rather, it's rather an emotional time. Today was a very emotional time. There were a lot of surprises today in today's reception. This is our annual staff appreciation and awards ceremony. But first of all, I want to thank you for your kind words. You often hear people say it's an honor, it's been a privilege, but it really has been an honor. And it's truly been a privilege to have this role. And actually, I felt like that, even when I started in Arlington, a very strong emotional commitment to the success of our students and to the well-being and success of our teachers. I'm very moved by your very kind words. I have been one of those fortunate people and I think many of you here tonight probably share this where I have really loved my work as an educator and I've been doing this a long time, many years. We're into decades of teaching and doing this, doing service in other kinds of ways as well. But it really has been very special. I cannot tell you how highly I think of the staff and I'm so glad that you commended them tonight because the Arlington Educators, Administrators and Staff just stepped up in such an amazing way this year. And it was hard. We began the year with a lot of fear. As I said this afternoon, a lot of worries and also what was the remote learning going to look like for those that volunteered to do that. And it was all hard, but they are an amazing group and they helped each other, supported each other. I love the story of when the vaccinations became available, people were running around helping each other and that typifies how they operate in our schools every day. And I can't say this enough because I think the people in Arlington need to know what a tremendous group of people you have. And I would agree that I've hired well. I think highly of all our department chairs, our principals, our central office, they are amazing and they also all work together so well with a singular purpose. And that is to have all students be able to be all that they can be and to have every opportunity possible. And we're constantly, I think that's the one thing that also characterizes the work we do and how we work together. Everybody is always looking how they can do better. And that's endemic in the entire district. So there are, as those of you who have retired know that, yes, you remember your accomplishments and I really appreciate all that you have mentioned tonight. But we also just remember all those special relationships and the people you work with. It's all about the people, about the relationships. We know that and that's what makes it a really excellent school system. And I think that there's not things we don't need to work on, we do. And I've talked to Dr. Homer about that and we'll continue to talk. But the thing is, every year we create a better base and a better, we keep moving forward. And I know, I trust that that will continue to happen. Thank you for this opportunity. I've learned a lot. And yes, it's many late hours but it's been a work-along and I really have appreciated these years. And I will look back always with my fondness in my heart and appreciation. So thank you very much. And the chair, the rocker will be a reminder. I will tell you a funny, a little bit funny story. I came home last night. I actually am part of a book group. We had a book group meeting last night and it was late. And so I came in and I see this big box and just inside the door but close to the dining room. And my husband wasn't home yet either. So this morning I said, what's that big box in the dining room? And I didn't know, I had no idea it was coming. I had no idea. So I appreciate it. Every time I rock in it, I will always think of all of you and think of our wonderful school system. So thank you very much. Thank you, Dr. Bodie. Thank you members. Moving on, consent agenda. All items listed with an asterisk are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the committee saw requests. Which event the item will be considered in its normal sequence. Approval of warrant, warrant number 21268 dated June 1st, 2021. Total amount, $850,244.60. Approval of minutes, school committee regular minutes, May 27th, 2021. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Is it a second? Roll call, Mr. Thielman. Yes. Dr. Ampey. Yes. Mr. Schlickman. Yes. Mr. Cardin. Yes. Ms. Ekston. Yes. Ms. Morgan. Yes. I think I'm going to vote myself. Yes. In the end of his vote. Subcommittee liaison reports and announcements. Budget, Dr. Ampey. I think budget's going to try and see if we can work on a meeting date next week just to talk about how the end of the school year is working out financially. That's all. Thanks. Community relations, Ms. Ekston. We met last Thursday to discuss returning to in-person meetings. Dan Sheehan, the interim director of IT and Jeff Monroe from ACMI are working on ordering equipment. Well, I guess Dan is working on ordering the equipment to make it possible to have hybrid meetings. We did vote to recommend that the policy subcommittee revise our public participation policy to permit remote participation. And then we also voted to recommend to the full committee that we've returned to primarily in-person meetings starting on July 1st, 2021. So I don't know, do we need to vote on that as a full committee? I think right now the state is expecting it so we get, there is legislation in the process to allow remote to continue, but it has not gone forward as yet. So I think the expectation is that we will be. Okay, something happened later this afternoon, but I guess. Oh, okay. I will check with the Dugheim Town Council on that. And either way, I will get back to the full committee and to the superintendent's office as well. Okay. And then sorry, the other piece to the community relations was we discussed chats for the fall and have a less rigorous schedule for next year that we'll share in September. All set. Curriculum Instruction Assessment and Accountability, Mr. Carden. Thanks. We have a new position that was created in the guarding data management or data analysis that we'll review at some point. So we'll have to have a brief meeting likely. If we're allowed to do remote meetings, we'll have a brief meeting to review that once we get permission to do that again. Also, while I have the floor as the plie is on report, the Arlington Education Foundation had its last meeting of the year. Julia Schilling, who is the president is, her term is over. She's leaving the board. She's been on for six years, did a great job. Over the past year, they had a, not quite a, well, the year isn't over yet, but a very, very good fundraising year. People, I think with the STARS appreciation program have been sending in buying certificates for teacher appreciation and the community has been generous this year. So that's great news. The new president is Judy Geyer. I believe she's a Bishop parent and she's likely a two-year term as president. So they've got a strong team there. Thank you. Thank you. Facilities, Mr. Filman. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Heiner. We have not met, obviously. The goals have been approved. I'm thinking that we just kind of try to have a meeting some point this summer to regroup and get a sense of where we're at. That's none of my thinking. I don't know, but I don't think we're gonna be able to get a meeting in before the end of the year. Thank you. Policies and procedure, Mr. Schlickman. Well, it looks like we have a task put forth before us by the community relations committee. I think we need to take a look at what the legislation will allow us to do going forward before we have a meeting. But as soon as we get a sense of what the ground rules are going to be, Ms. Ekston, Dr. Allison Ampey and I will have to meet and look at the policies that relate to remote participation. Thank you. Allie, tonight's school building committee, Mr. Thielman. I mean, Dr. Bode gave the report. I did wanna remind the public that Dr. Bode will still be involved in the project. Dr. Holman has indicated she'll be consulting with Cathy going forward about different issues that impact the building. So that is very good news and we're grateful for Cathy's willingness to help. We meet on July 6th. We have a meeting scheduled on July 6th. I believe right now that's gonna be by Zoom but we're waiting for clarification. Any other liaison reports at this time? Ms. Ekston. There was a CPAC meeting on Tuesday evening and Dr. Holman joined the meeting to introduce herself to the community and answer questions from family. Any others? Ms. Morgan. I just had an announcement. I guess I'm the, as appointed by Mr. Hayner, I'm the liaison to the hiring of the school committee slash superintendent, administrative assistant. I spoke with Mr. Spiegel about it today and well, in good leadership form, I asked Mr. Hayner about the role we would play in that hire and he said, super, you are it because you asked, it's you. And that's what good leaders do when people chirp about things, they make them do work. So anyway, here I am. Mr. Spiegel was great today and you can choose, the members of the committee can choose to be well represented by me or not. And if you'd like to chirp about it, you can let me know before Monday. So anyway, we are making progress on interviews for that and congratulations to Ms. Fitzgerald on taking the position of assistant to the superintendent. So that's all I have. I just wanted to tell all the members of the committee, don't hesitate to bring something up like this. I will volunteer Ms. Morgan for whatever has to be done in the future. So feel free to bring it up. Are there any other announcements from other members at this time? I would like to say one more time, how appreciative we, the committee, are of the superintendent, administrative staff at the top, all the way down, every single member of the Arlington School community for what they have done this year. They have made an impossible task work. And thank you all. And thank you parents as well in supporting it. Any future agenda items at this time. The chair will be communicating with the members about there are two tentative dates at right now, the second and fourth week in August. I realized there are conflicts for summer vacation. We needed to stop, put them on the calendar. They're not locked in stone as yet. We will be right now, and there will be more information coming forward on the school committee workshop for July 24th, going forward. Okay, executive session to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with union and our non-union personnel, on negotiations with union and our non-union in which they've held in an open meeting, may have a detrimental effect. The next strategies with respect to collective bargaining litigation, which have held in an open meeting may have a detrimental effect. To discuss and approve the AFL, CIO, state council 93 local 680 school bus operators contract. We will be coming out of executive session to take a vote. I will entertain a motion to go into executive session. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Roll call vote. Ms. Morgan. Yes. Dr. Ampey. Yes. Mr. Schlickman. Yes. Mr. Thielman. Yes. Mr. Carden. Yes. Ms. Ekston. Yes. And myself, yes. Going into executive session. I will entertain a motion to pass the, get the correct language. The best driver's contract, AFL, CIO, state council 93 local 680 bus. Move. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Mr. Thielman. Yes. Ms. Morgan. Yes. Mr. Carden. Yes. Dr. Ampey. Yes. Ms. Ekston. Yes. Mr. Schlickman. Yes. And I vote yes. I move it around to just make sure you all stay awake. I don't want you to get too used to it. I will entertain a motion to adjourn. The last committee meeting of this year. I'll move. Is there a second? Second. Roll call vote. Ms. Ekston. Yes. Mr. Carden. Yes. Ms. Morgan. Yes. Mr. Thielman. Yes. Mr. Schlickman. Yes. Dr. Ampey. Yes. Mr. Hayner. Yes. Thank you all. Everyone have a good evening and we'll be talking. See you soon. Bye now. Bye.