3.11.2024 Fall River School Committee

I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the for a school committee for March 11 Deb would you please call the role Mr a here Mr Bailey here Mr Cory here M larv here M Perera here M Rodricks here mayor kouan here salute to the flag please no flag Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to repu for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for

all pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged imp permissible

first item on the agenda tonight is Citizens input um we have a number of citizens that want to have the opportunity to speak we're going to uh time everybody and make sure everyone has three minutes uh because we do have a number of individuals signed up which is extremely positive to see everybody here tonight we're going to ask everybody to be respectful uh treat each other with

dignity and I guarantee that's what's going to come off the stage and if you I'll time you three minutes and I'll just tap the uh read you got it okay so first person up tonight Patty

Rigo hello Patty Rio 25 Ward Street parent of a tany tiger elected members of the Fall Rover school committee the proposed closure of tany elementary school has sparked understandable concern and resistance among us as stakeholders in the education and well-being of our youth we must consider the Irreplaceable impact of this decision on our children and the robust fabric of the tany community although I

did not attend fall Riv Public Schools myself I was steadfast in my decision that my daughter currently in first grade at tany would receive her education within the public school system is a decision I stand by wholeheartedly my only aspiration was for her to attend a school imbued with a genuine sense of community one that was intimate enough to Foster her sense of security as she blossoms into a

remarkable young individual tany has surpassed all expectations providing an environment that has not only nurtured her academic growth but also instilled within her a strong sense of belonging we take immense pride in my house in being part of the tany tiger F family while it's undeniable that tany Elementary is located near Spencer board and reducing the matter to a simplistic view that moving students to a nearby

building warrants no complaint overlooks the nuanced and multifaceted nature of this issue proximity isn't the issue here it's about our sense of community and the bonds we've forged at tany tany elementary isn't merely a building it's a sanctuary of learning growth and opportunity for our students I fully recognize the intricate nature of the educational system comprehending its

complexities both as an instit tion and as a business Endeavor but let's not forget that our product isn't widgets it's human beings we owe it to our children and our community to approach decisions such as this with the gravity and compassion they deserve acknowledging that there are no Simple Solutions we must also acknowledge that the challenges we currently confront have evolved over a span of years while

it's conceivable that the proposed course of action may appear to be the most viable it's important to recognize that it's only one of two options presented after 30 days of research surely within the vast array of possibilities there exist more than just two Avenues of consideration while fiscal concerns May Loom large we must not sacrifice the well-being and cohesion of our community on the altar of

expediency I urge you to revisit this issue and allocate additional time to devise innovative solutions that guarantee the longevity and the prosperity of the Fall River Public School System let us Stand United in preserving the legacy of tany elementary school and nurturing not breaking the bonds that make our community strong thank you for your time and

consideration um next up Isabelle Ferrera thank you Nancy dagel Nancy dagel okay I have I have it here we have it y um Umble read it oh oh I oh okay go ahead Isabelle I'm so sorry take your time hi my name is Isabelle Ferrera I am a parent um have two boys that go to tany that are in the first grade C bir I just ran all the way here good exercise okay

so so I just you know I'm very overwhelmed with what's going on and um I just really wanted to share I know that you're going to hear from a lot of parents um today about their thoughts on this and I'm really just wanted to share my frustration and disappointment with the city um and there's the lack of involvement that the parents and the community members have had in this discussion surrounding the proposal to

to um close tany um so the potential closure of closure of our elementary school it's just you know I know it's not just an administrative decision but it it it it's a de decision that we should all be involved in um as parents as all the stakeholders in the community parents community members all of us and I feel I feel really disappointed again with the city because I um you know and I

understand I completely am on board with Governor um Mora Hy's expectation of the city with universal pre I I agree with that and I think it's important but I I think that um the way that this has gone about with uh bringing us to this point where we have all these people here it was unnecessary and it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth and I'm hoping moving forward we can work together and

have more transparency because there are gaps and as time goes on there's going to continue to be gaps and barriers in the education system in the city and um I think that I just respectfully urge everyone um that I'm talking with today at this panel that you know we're included our voices are important we are parents we decide to some of us make conscious efforts to live in a certain

neighborhood like myself to be able to go to tanzi you know so um It's a Wonderful school I I can't say enough about the education my children have received there there's Alternatives that we can um look into together thank you for your time thank you thank you as well um Nancy dagel you're reading hers okay thank you Miss cabal Nancy G deel 13 Crescent Street Far River Mass my daughter went to tany

and now my son attends there tany has been a godsend to my children if it wasn't for tany they wouldn't be where they are now the whole staff are amazing and I never had a problem with them in September 2022 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and knowing my son is in good hands at this school gives me such peace if you close tany not only will this affect the kids that attend

there but it will affect me tany isn't just another school they are part of a community please do not take that away thank you for taking the time to read this um Christine Souza she wants I have oh have a letter okay again miss cab please Christine Suza 43 Langley Street as a parent of a child attending tany I ask the committee to consider other options for pre classrooms and not close

our beloved tany tany is a beautiful community of children who have their friends and relationships established dedicated staff that my son and most likely others have great connections with and parents tany has consistently performed well with High attendance rates closing tany would be a disservice to the students who Thrive within its walls I believe the disruption caused by closing the

school would have negative effects on the children Not only would they lose the familiar faces of trusted teachers and staff they rely on daily but they would also be moved into much larger schools which could be overwhelming and stressful for them especially after enduring the challenges of of the covid pandemic these children deserve stability and continuity in their education they are finally able to

experience a normal education and were able to build relationships please don't disrupt that also making this decision knowing there will be a new superintendent in place would be irresponsible thank

you uh Kelly Abella okay thank you Kelly Abella 26 Tiffany Drive Fall River Mass I have two children who currently attend James tany Elementary School I cannot say enough about how incredible the school truly is not only is the staff amazing but through their hard work and the hard work of the students tany is one of the best performing schools in the city and has the best student attendance rates it

would be a dishonor to the students parents staff and citizens to close the school and convert it to a pre- facility the students have already had a major disruption in education due the due to the pandemic covid-19 pandemic they finally have some normal normality another major disruption in their education would be damaging my children are an example of what would happen if the school were to close they

would be going to going from a good performing school and forced to attend a turnar around school possibly the lowest performing School in the city moving schools will also take a toll on them emotionally causing a lot of anxiety and stress as they leave the comfort of their school teachers and friends this is unfair to them and all the other students that put that would be put in the same situation tany is the only

school left in the city that doesn't have 600 plus students it has been shown that kids do better in a small school in classroom setting like tany offers tany is a one OFA kind school and I ask that you please do not take this school away from our children please explore different solutions that do not require the shutdown of an incredible school thank you thank you Adam dagel I have his you have his okay thank

you Miss cab Adam dagel 13 Crescent Street hi my name is Adam dagel my son Noah deel attends tany in the first grade I think it's totally awful that the city is trying to close one of the best elementary schools in the city my son has learning problems and tany has been very beneficial for him why close the school and send the students to all different schools so they have to meet

all new kids that's traumatic to a six-year-old the schools that they are sent to all the classes will be over overp populated almost everyone in the city will say tany is one of the best elementary schools in the city it will very big it will be a very big loss for the kids that go there and also for the city please have some compassion for the children that attend the school do not

close tany it will be a very big mistake thank you thank you Jennifer cabal you reading hers too okay thanks Miss cabal Jennifer cabal 189 Highland Farm Road Far River I do not agree with closing tany and moving students out of Spencer bordon who are already attending the school as this isn't in my child best interest for his mental health my child attended prek at Spencer bordon and was accepted to stay there for

kindergarten and I was told he could stay per permanently after I submitted emails to all the school committee and spoke to Maria Pon myself my son suffers from severe anxiety and changing his school after he attended prek at Spencer Borden would have a major setback for him and so they accepted him to stay I was very appreciative and he's doing so well there now to have to move him after

I fought hard to keep him at Spencer bordon just to accommodate prek and not have any feedback from the parents not to mention the high taxes we all pay to live in the Highland area is unacceptable are your only concerns for the new kids who need pre and not the kids who need to continue their where they are now to maintain their well-being and education we are to move them and possibly set them back

that is wrong I live in the Highland area I pay taxes even though my school district is syvia I feel that that I should have a pick in which Highland area school my child attends please keep students where they are my child's health and education is what's most important to me and that should be taken into strong consideration for everyone else's child who suffers with anxiety like mine also how about school times

this also was an issue as to why I needed my child to attend Spencer Borden I am a single parent in workful time to pay for my home and pro and provide for my child Sylvia's times absolutely do not work for my work schedule what are parents supposed to do now there are many factors involved in this fast decision to close tany and I pray you will you can all understand our concerns

and figure out a better solution to accommodate more prek classes thank you for taking the time to read my email and listen to my concerns as I am unable to attend the meeting due to work thank you uh Jennifer

Santos good evening I am a concerned parent of a second grader who attends tany Elementary it came to my attention via social media this weekend that the school committee meeting will be was held tonight and that there was going to be a determination to close tany there was no notification dispers to parents informing us of the potential closure the reasoning behind the closure or the impact that this decision would

make on the entire city school district when registering my daughter for kindergarten I did an extensive amount of research on our City's education system I wanted to ensure that my daughter received the education that she deserved to become academically successful we live in the lower Highlands which put us out which puts us out of the Tandy District by 04 miles I advocated to get my daughter into tany

and agreed not to utilize bus transportation to ensure that she could attend tany tan is a close-knit community where parents come together to ensure that our children are living their best lives while getting their best education that they can tandi has countless school events and fundraisers where families come together to support our children and other tandi students tany also possesses a morning

after school and summer program that my daughter has been involved in since kindergarten these resources are not complimentary and can weigh in on our finances but without these resources most parents would not be able to be employed and provide for their families the way that they do after watching the school committee meeting video on from March 7th it became very clear that our school Comm committee has become

dysfunctional and non-responsive to our community's input school committee officials appear to be emotionless and non-caring of our students teachers and parents our school committee officials requested that the communities vote uh to allow them into the office to make our education system better this decision does not qualify as a good decision and shows each of our school committee members their true character

the work of the school committee cannot move forward with this type of deterioration within our community decisions of this nature must be communicated with the city citizens and the citizen input must be allowed our district has a long-standing commitment to academic excellence and social justice tany is the highest performing Elementary School in the city of Fall River tany has been recognized by the

state for their success in meeting the needs of our City's diverse population and their needed resources once again the city of Fall River is not communicating with its citizens and informing them of this situation this is an impulsive decision that our school committee officials have not thought through thoroughly this decision will drastically impact the entire city district including students teachers

parents and required additional resources let's step back and listen to The Experts and their data as to how your decision can become detrimental to so many innocent children's lives our city already has so many children who come from dysfunctional environments their safety net hope in mode of survival is when they attend school school is where they feel safe can get a few meals with snacks build

relationships with other children and teachers who truly care about their well-being and they they are able to obtain resources to survive stop making this about monetary value start this by valuing our children's innocence and our their education they are our future I come to you today and ask that you find alternative methods to integrate more prek classes into our City's educational

system three minutes please three minutes thank you thank you thanks Jen Melanie Lee Melanie lead here thank you Karina Valencia oh you have it you have it oh okay uh Deb please read it to the mayor and members of the school committee on this Friday I learned of the potential closing of tany elementary school at first glance this is truly upsetting I understand the idea is to close tany Elementary School and

convert it to a pre school there is definitely a need for more pre space but eliminating in elementary school is probably the worst option as a resident with children who utilize Fall River pre very soon and though and whose CH and whose kids are in tany District I request some answers to feel more confident in this proposal firstly can you advise why other buildings in school department wasn't exploring fell through

as far as I know Fall River Public Schools are already struggling with large class sizes and maintaining sufficient Staffing I'm not sure how it's reasonable to try to solve one problem with exaa another or is that not true based on information I could find the elementary schools are overc capacity Spencer boardon capacity was planned at 526 526 students and currently has 581 enrolled 55 students over capacity I

understand the plan is to redistrict some so some Spencer board and students will relocate other to other schools but aren't those schools at capacity too I could only find information about Green School which was planned to have 600 students and currently has 749 students 149 students overc capacity holy moly for the bigger elementary schools built within the last 20 years what was the

original intend intended capacity and what is the current enrollment of these schools if they are over capacity what means have been made to accommodate the excess of students I would not like to gloss over the amount of kids that will have to be shuffled around to other schools kids Thrive with consistency and being forced to a new school should not be taken lightly this potentially affects all elementary

schools tanley currently has 306 students is there room for 306 students even if they are dispersed to other schools what will the revised enrollment numbers be for each of the elementary schools once tany closes if the schools are over capacity what additional accommodations will be made to the EXs for the EXs students I found an article from 2014 that there were concerns about

earlier grades because they had average size classes of over 25 kids per class all elementary schools including tany enrollment has remained stagnant since then so is class size still an issue it will be safe to assume yes I would think kids perform best academically in classrooms under 20 kids per class we did get more classroom thank you Deb Karina Valencia Del car street for over good evening members of the Fall

River school committee I'm here on behalf of myself my wife and my two children in opposition to the proposed repurposing of the tany elementary school we're the proud parents of two tany tigers and our daughter will be graduating this June and our son is currently in third grade we're both the products of public school systems and both employed in public service we understand intimately the limitations of

government systems in our own work and recognize the challenges faced by public schools across the Commonwealth the members of the special education alternative education and early childhood subcomittee along with the superintendent would like you to vote to accept the proposal to repurpose tany into an Early Learning Center and while the proposal is well-meaning it doesn't provide the best educational

model for current tany students the proposal consolidates a small neighborhood School into a large school model and would provide only a partial solution to the question of how to provide Universal prek for eligible students students at tany currently attend the small neighborhood school it's ironic then that the superintendent suggests consolidating tany and Spencer bordon effectively expanding a school

zone to justify creating a distinct K to5 neighborhood School dubb the westall 2.0 research consistently demonstrates that students in small classes perform significantly better on academic tests and more importantly that those academic improvements follow those students on for years we fully support the creation of a new K to5 School in the upper Flint neighborhood I grew up in the Flint shifting resources between

neighborhoods however is not an adequate solution cost Effectiveness is often the Catalyst behind School consolidation such as that proposed here in fact cost per student was a factor highlighted during the subcommittee's meeting on March 7th but an accurate assessment of cost savings must include a more holistic view of desired social outcomes students after all will become the

Future Leaders of our School departments School committees and so on viewed from that lens the benefits of smaller schools like tany outweigh the costs smaller schools are better at closing racial achievement gaps provide earlier identification of learning disabilities students attending smaller elementary schools demonstrate greater improvements in behavior and are afforded a greater

opportunity for differentiated academic support contrary to one subcommittee member statement that quote what do they have to complain about end quote a consolidation with Spencer bordon means tany students will enter a school with twice the current student population neither members of the subcommittee nor the superintend end team address the impact on tand students engagement academic achievement or

overall outcomes caused by such a disruption the subcommittee has admirably taken thank you Kina appreciate

it Courtney Smith hover

Street good evening thank you uh I'm here speaking on behalf of my family consist of my wife my two children who are currently enrolled in tany my stepdaughter who graduated from tany many years ago they all have amazing memories of tany I didn't grow up in the Fall River Public School System I grew up in small suburban town so I grew up in with a small small neighborhood school and I was so excited

to be able to have my kids have that as well um so I'm up here to express my concern for that decision to close tany Elementary and turn it to a prek center for the city I fully support a designated prek kindergarten Universal prek um to help the expanion population of young students but I cannot support the decision to close tany and I urge you to consider an alternative I'm not concerned about trying to figure out

universal um preschool I think that's an amazing decision but what I'm just asking you from my family is to stop and think and explore all the Alternatives we haven't heard anything about different options that are potential uh could potentially fix this I also feel like this is a very short-term solution the amount of kids that will be coming up into the school is not getting smaller we we need to be able to have

something that will last for years and having this Band-Aid fix is a hasty decision and I don't think it's the best one thank you Emily Souza alaria mellan Street you got got that one to read yep okay good afternoon I wish to not vote in favor of the school being closed down as tany Elementary School my son has been at the school for 5 years this is his last year and the school has been

amazing since he started in kindergarten I truly play Pray my daughter who is in grade one at tany elementary can have the same great educational experience as my son has had in graduate Elementary School there please keep tany open families and staff depend on this thank you thank you uh next up Nelson Vasquez Sunset

Hill hello um you know on behalf of myself I have no children in the school district but many residents who in my who are in my position uh have the same uh interest to see what's best for the children the parents and the staff um what is troubling to me is how this whole thing came about if that meeting was not televised none of us would be here tonight you know transparency is always

the best policy you always have to put it out there for the public to know nobody was kept in the loop the parents the union you know everyone's out here speaking speaking in in opposition of this and the key word that I'm hearing is a solution and I know that this panel is going to want a solution and there's there's there is a solution that I have thought of that is in my

view very important right now there's a school not too far from here across the street Bishop Connelly it's a lot of space right there that school can definitely serve the purpose of a lot of needs of this community and I'm pretty sure that the owners of that of that school would want that school to continue providing you know our students in the city for many years to come because that school doesn't deserve to

just sit there and decay without being used it has Fields it has so many space so I think W with that solution it's not hard to figure out so I think that this Administration and and I'm not calling him out is that it it's do what you have to do it's right there and and to me you know everything happens for for a reason and and now that it's open I think that

that option needs to be explored because when you really thank you and and and the reason why I say that is because you know these students are they're not dominoes you know you can't mush them around and when you push them around you you're putting a strain not only on the staff but on the school system as a whole because right now the goal is is to have better performance

and better test scores and what we have learned from covid is that these kids need structure you can't be moving them around and then doing this is only going to hinder the ability for them to socially adapt because what they need is is to uh just keep on being with their students in in a structural place so I think before I end my segment is that Bishop Colony needs to be looked that it

serves the purpose and I believe if you explore this it'll be the right decision for this moment in time thank you thank you uh next up Colin Das Ray Street for um thank you Mr Mayor and I'm not going to um rehash um all the comments everyone's made um I think we all have plenty of questions and I think everyone's going to expect a lot of answers tonight um I'm just going to tee

off on a separate issue um but I guess it all ties in together um first I do want to thank um superintendent Pon for service to the community and I do wish you a happy retirement um that's first and secondly um with that being said we're going to go through the process of um appointing a new superintendent I think as um we stand at the threshold of a new era in our school district is imperative

that that we approach the process of selecting a new superintendent with the utmost transparency and with Community involvement like we're doing today none of us could have anticipated the need to undertake this task as soon as the most recent election we just had an election in our city hiring and firing a superintendent is one of the main core duties of a school Committee Member no

candidate ran on a platform of outlining their vision for a new superintendent because we did not expect this transition that's why I firmly believe that this decision should be placed at the hands of the voters by waiting until the next school committee election which is in 2025 and appoint pointing a temporary superintendent Indian term we can ensure that this select selection process is fair inclusive and truly is

reflective of the voices and values of our community I think it's important that we Empower our constituents like we're doing today to have a direct say in this pivotal decision that will shape the future of our schools for many years to come however I must express my concern that without this Democratic reproach I think think we risk and I hate to say it but I we risk the majority of the school committee

electing a new superintendent that represents more of the same I don't believe we should we cannot afford to allow farers political Dynamics as it's done for many years in the past to dictate the future of our education system instead we need to cast our net out wider seeking individuals from outside the district outside the community with new fresh perspectives innovative ideas and commitment to

addressing depressing issues facing our district if this school committee selects the superintendent without a fair process in place and without encompassing the thoughts of parents and residents that are you can see are deeply concern that would breach a Red Line in the Sand and that would be an obvious dereliction of your most important duty and one of your most specify duties as an elected member and

there would need to be Swift Swift in a Swift and vigorous response together let us pledge to tirelessly work towards a future where our schools are led by individuals who prioritize equity inclusivity and a holistic development of all students thank you you uh Rachel Lee Donley Street

forer good evening mayor Coogan superintendent Pont and the members of the school committee my name is Rachel Lee and I stand before you today as a very concerned Citizen and educator this city is extremely important to me I grew up in full River I chose to buy my home here I chose to educate my children through the Flor of a public school system and I have dedicated 27 years of my life serving this District as a

teacher thoughtfully planning for the well-being of all my students is something that I take pride in unfortunately I do not feel that the well-being of all students was considered with the city's plan to repurpose tany as a preschool my colleagues and I all agree that this city needs to provide Early Education for all our issue today is that your plan is trading the well-being of the current t students families and

staff for another I ask you have you done your due diligence in this process have you planned for all the disruption that this will cause for families at tany and other elementary schools have you thought about class size SE needs teacher retention you owe it to the citizens of this city to be mindful of all the delicate moving pieces that come into play when creating a school Community the lack of genuine

stakeholder collaboration meaningful Community engagement and transparency in this matter is unacceptable and unfair to the tanit community to the Early Education community and to all other impacted schools we need to do better for our students their families and our staff members of the school committee I implore you today to be thoughtful of all your stakeholders in this process thank you thank

you and next up is Kelly Deano Rock Street for good evening mayor Coogan superintendent Pon and members of the school committee my name is Kelly Deano and I am a teacher at the tanzi elementary school the proposal to close Jam tany Elementary overlooks the social emotional well-being of our students and is a matter of grave concern that cannot be ignored in a district where students face a myriad of challenges from

economic hardship to familial instability the nurturing environment provided by our schools is Paramount to their overall well-being the closure of a school that serves as a beacon of support and stability for these vulnerable children would undoubtedly exacerbate the existing struggles that they face failing to prioritize the social emotional needs of our students not only disregards their fundamental rights to a

holistic education but also jeopardizes their long-term success and mental health research consistently demonstrates the critical role that social emotional learning plays in academic achievement behavior management and overall well-being the impact of school closures on the social emotional well-being of our students cannot be understated the loss of familiar faces trusted adults and a supportive Community can have

profound effects on their sense of security belonging and self-esteem ignoring these crucial aspects of their development sets a dangerous precedent that may lead to a cycle of disengagement trauma and academic underachievement as a responsible members of this community we have a duty to ensure that our children are provided with the necessary support systems to thrive academically emotionally and

socially by neglecting to prioritize this we risk perpetuating a cycle of disadvantage that will have a last that will have lasting repercussions for Generations to come I urge you to reconsider the decision to overlook the social emotional needs of our students and to prioritize their well-being in any future discussions regarding school closures the children of full River deserve a safe nurturing environment

that supports their holistic development and sets them on a path to success the lack of genuine stakeholder collaboration meaningful Community engagement and transparency in this matter is unfair to the tany community as well as the Early Education Community we need to do better for our students families and staff members of the school committee I implore you today to be thoughtful of all your stakeholders in

this process thank you thank

you um the next three speakers are from um out of town I'd entertain a motion to wait the rules so mve um I I have a motion to Second uh all in favor opposed no one next up Elizabeth Daniel hot Street dayon we actually have a student that would like to speak out of turn is that possible she has to leave you giving her your time Liz oh I'm not I'm Liz go ahead

yes good evening my name is Aaliyah Pavo I was a student at Tan Elementary from from kindergarten to fifth grade and when I heard that the school committee wanted to turn sansy into a pre- facility my heart broke sansy is not just an ordinary school was a place that made me feel safe ready to learn and it and it was my second home in my opinion I strongly feel that keeping a small

Elementary School was very beneficial for those students who attend it's less overwhelming they're able to learn better and teachers are able to teach better tany means so much to a lot of people and I hope that the school committee can find it in their hearts to just leave tany alone and let the future students have a chance to gain the best experience es that they have yet to come

thank you and I hope my speech meet something have a great rest of your night thank

you uh next up is Britney persons Rosland Avenue Warren good evening mayor cougan superintendent Pon and the members of the school committee my name is Britney psons and I'm a teacher at tany elementary school teachers are not just Educators they are mentors caregivers role models who play a pivotal role in the lives of their students the bonds that teachers form with their students go beyond the

classroom encompassing a sense of trust support and guidance at tany teachers have Embrace their students as their own kids nurturing them with care compassion and dedication this approach has created a sense of family within our school Community where students feel safe valued and supported in their academic and personal growth the closure or repurpose of our school threatens to sever these deep rooted

relationships that teachers have formed with their students over the years the loss of this close connection built on trust understanding and mutual respect will have a profound impact on the emotional well being and academic success of All Fall River Public School students who may struggle to cope with the abrupt disruption to their support system within this proposed plan's broad

Impact Zone for teachers saying goodbye to their students is a heart-wrenching experience that leaves a lasting void in their lives the bonds that teachers have worked tirelessly to cultivate with their students are a source of fulfillment joy and inspiration that fuel passion for teaching and learning to claim that teachers need to remove the emotion out of this discussion is to

remove the heart of the profession given how deeply connected all educators are to their students it is essential to recognize the Irreplaceable value of the teacher student relationships that Define our small Elementary School these bonds are not just a byproduct of education but the essence of our school Community the foundation upon which our children's success and well-being are

built preserving these connections is not just a matter of sentimentality but a critical component of ensuring the holistic development and academic achievement of our children there needs to be an effort to keep our Educators together and a phase student transition to keep students with familiar Educators to avoid disruptions in learning the lack of genuine stakeholder collaboration meaningful Community

engagement and transparency in this matter is unfair to the tany community as well as the early educ Community we need to do better for our students families and staff members of the school committee I implore you to implore you today to be thoughtful of all your stakeholders in this process thank you thank

you uh next up Keith Michonne East Providence try and have can I say something they asked if student can go first she was she had to leave for something oh is she on the list G on theist so we skipped Mrs Daniel well go ahead Mrs Daniel I I I didn't know she was on the list oh thank you no problem Keith you got bumped good evening mayor Coogan superintendent PS

and members of the school committee my my name is Elizabeth Daniel and I am a teacher at the tany elementary school the small size of our school allows Educators to form deep connections with students provide individualized attention and create a supportive learning environment that Fosters academic growth and personal development students have different needs some thrive in a larger School

setting others thrive in settings like tany in pursuing any changes we should be mindful of all of our Learners needs the proposed closure of our school threatens to upend the stability of our Learning Community the prospect of losing our jobs and the close-knit community that we have cultivated is not disheartening but also a source of profound uncertainty and anxiety in a time when the educational

landscape faces severe educator shortages and difficulty in retaining experienced qualified Educators the city's plan could exasperate these challenges the prospective loss of talented Educators could have detrimental effects on the quality of Education student outcomes and the overall morale of Educators across our district tany Elementary has long been a model of high educator retention High attendance rates and

excellence in academic achievements I urge you to consider the vital role that the school has held in the educational success of students and the vibrancy of our community by preserving this Learning Community students social emotional and educational needs will continue to be met the lack of genuine stakeholder collaboration meaningful Community engagement and transparency in this

matter is unfair to the tanzi community as well as the Early Education Community we need to do better for our students family and staff members of the school committee I implore you today to be thoughtful of all your stakeholders in this process thank you thank you negotiate we can't make any until we negotiate you're up Keith all right thank you so tonight the committee will be asked to vote on a

plan to relocate many students and staff this this is a potential change that staff and families heard about for the first time this past Thursday I can't believe the district would attempt to impose a major change in this way we need to be better than this on Thursday we heard a task force of stakeholders devised at this plan that you'll vote on tonight I don't know who was on that

task force but I know it was absent of union or family representation or input we heard there would be meetings to provide information but not ask for permission or solicit feedback this rattles me to my core that the IND individuals most impacted by this plan would not even have the illusion that they were part of the decision-making process we've been told this is the logical thing to do the

logical thing to me is to work on a timeline that allows for discourse to take place between all stakeholders not just the administrative team change has potential to be traumatic and destructive change also has the potential to elevate us the opportunity in front of us is to improve conditions for learning for all students including addressing current inadequacies in our facilities and

expanding prek opportunities we must do this in a way that values Educators students and families this is done through meaningful multi-stakeholder engagement the lack of genuine stakeholder collaboration meaningful Community engagement and transparency in this matter is unfair to the tany community as well as the Early Education community and all other impacted schools we need to to do better

than this for students families and staff our me members of the school committee I implore you to today to be thoughtful of all your stakeholders in this process thank

Youk next up Kristen Garin Madison

Street

good evening I want to start off by saying that I respect the work that all of you do for our community some of you are my very good friends some of you I work alongside and I know that this is not an easy job and I truly believe that you all want what is best for our students I'm speak speaking as a tany parent I'm Claire's mom and what I have to say will

obviously be focused on the potential closing of the school but of course I'm also a follower of a resident and I'm afraid of how this will affect hundreds of our students I'm speaking this evening to express my grave concerns regarding the proposed plan to relocate students from their current schools to their neighborhood schools as a parent and member of the tany community I strongly oppose this decision moving

children away from their current School would disrupt their educational continuity and stability it takes time for students to adapt to new environments teachers and peers which can significantly impact their academic performance and emotional well-being as we all know tany is not is not only one of our last neighborhood schools it is also continually H also continually has the best attendance numbers in our

district regularly 92 to 94% proving our kids want to be here and they are thriving in this smaller environment many families have chosen to live in this area precisely because of the excellent education in a smaller environment that is provided by our school relocating students will fracture these Community bonds it will disrupt the social connections they have formed with their peers teachers and staff and

these relationships play a crucial role in their Social Development providing a sense of belonging support and friendship that is essential for their emotional well-being for many children School serves as a safe and familiar environment where they feel comfortable and secure the sudden upheaval of moving to a new school can trigger feelings of anxiety stress and uncertainty leading

to emotional distress and difficulty adjusting to the change it is deeply troubling that this this decision was made without adequate consultation with parents students teachers and other stakeholders the voices of those directly impacted by The Proposal have not been sufficiently heard or considered in this decision-making process instead of uprooting students from their current school I urge the

committee to explore alternative solutions that prioritize the best best interest of our CH of our children in our community as a concerned member of the tany community a parent a neighbor and a partner in the fall of public schools I implore you to reconsider the decision to relocate hundreds of our students and engage in meaningful dialogue with parents and stakeholders to find a

mutually beneficial solution thank you thank you Chris Anderson Roberson Street

Far good evening my name is Kirsten Anderson and I'm here to speak to you about Tan Elementary School I feel this is very disruptive to the community the district and the students that are currently enrolled at tany I went to James tany Elementary School class of 2016 my sister went there my mother and my aunt have all gone there as someone who's gone through the far Public Schools I've even had teachers that have

gone on to tany and came back to teach in the district because of the great Foundation that tany had set for them I cannot think of one bad thing to think about to say about the school I met some of the people I'm still best friends with to this day now in college yes you can say this about any elementary school but it was different the way the school was set up everyone really was a family

taking emotion out of it I feel like I really flourished educationally and was supported in the ways I needed at tany when I heard this awful news that tany might be closed I reached out to former classmates Emma kersa who also attended tany with me said when in elementary school I wasn't great in English class but I succeeded in reading and comprehension because of the teachers

who work there who pushed me in the ways I needed to be she also agreed that she had met some of her favorite people at tany the school is preparing students by having them rotate teachers for science and math and then English and social studies this helped students prepare for middle and high school moving class to class even if it's just the room next door Beyond preparing students and

Performing they are performing well in 2023 students who went to tany did better in the English math and science mcast compared to the district as a whole students in 3 to five were also making more progress in math in the district altogether people in this community have been affected by this discussion already and are stepping forward tonight due to their connection to the school I feel that the district

is perfectly set up that you go to a school in your own neighborhood except high school when you come to dery tansy is a central location for kids in the highlands living in the highlands I want my own Brothers to come here the quaint little building on Ray Street with the brick exterior so now we can say we can put students in other schools we can ship them across the city on a bus or have a

parent drive them the other elementary schools that these students may end up at aren't performing as well as tany their accountability percentiles are low Watson a 10 green and fonsica five Thea slightly better with a 14 laterna with a 19 Henry Lord with a 13 and Doran with a 16 to you these are just numbers but these schools fall between the needing focused and targeted support and having

moderate progress between their target goals tany and Spencer bordon however have substantial progress towards these targets based off their accountability score have you consider the effects of transitioning classrooms at tany and effects it would have on their students these are just numbers however there's a better answer here think why would we take away a well performing Elementary

School to add some preschool classrooms why can't we add preschool classrooms into existing elementary schools if that's the main goal in need of the district this community loves to school and so do I and I would hate to see it change into a preschool thank you G madas Highland

Avenue good evening ready Maduras from Highland I have two kids that one's currently at tany another one is in alumni of tany um I'm here to talk about how great the school is and what it does for my what it has done for my kids and what it's currently doing my son's in fourth grade and if you know what fourth grade means when they started kindergarten they were the covid kids

they were the ones that went into kindergarten first time going into school and learning and then Co hit and they had to go home and learn at home how to use a laptop top how frustrating was that for us parents to teach those kids 5 years old how to use a laptop I can tell you I was very frustrated I also had to work from home I couldn't just stop doing what I

was doing in order to teach my son how to be at kindergarten I actually had to pay for him to go somewhere to the boy Boys and Girls Club and he had to sit there and learn how to be a student on a laptop a 5-year-old he was very sneaky most of you teachers already know who I'm talking about he wouldn't stay concentrated on what was going on on those

laptops he would go ahead and play video games then first grade hit now they go into school and they're not there fully they're there part-time every other week going in camping next to their their friends my son has been struggling for years to learn how to be a good student he's in fourth grade and he is thriving he's doing so well this year I'm so proud of everything that the teachers have done to make him strive

and Thrive as well as my hard work and help helping him understand what he needs to do in the classroom now you're going to take my son in fourth grade and put him into another school in fifth grade learn a new way how to learn they already have their structure my son has finally learned the tany structure and now he's got to learn a new way and then he's going to go to sixth grade and learn

another way of learning it's way too stressful for these fourth grade kids and everything that they've been through and learning and tany is an excellent School you all know that they're the top school in this District I got proof from my daughter she came from a private school into Tan in first grade struggling she was so behind thanks great next up uh next up Kyra Amaral Highland Avenue that was actually a perfect

transition she's not me if you don't mind Kira is very shy come on you want to tell you story go for it my name is Kira Emeral in 2016 I joined tany Elementary School like my mom said I came from a Catholic school and in first grade I was struggling my mom kept asking my teachers if I needed a tutor or any structural support from home my teachers insisted that I didn't

and by the end of the year I had grown to I had grown by third grade I had okay take your time Kyra in third grade I had scored really high on my mcass i' had been accepted to the gate program I had switched to Sylvia's School Sylvia was a completely new environment for me I I didn't have the community or the structure I was used to I had struggled

for two years and Co had hit it was a very stressful time in my life

I I was very unfamiliar with their way of learning and now to see that my brother might have to go through the same thing it hurts and knowing that many other kids will have to go through many and more difficult times than I had it's painful to see my brother has struggled a lot and I have seen it I hope that he doesn't have to go what I had to go through crying my eyes out to

11:00 at night I was 9 years old I didn't know what to do I missed tany I'd cry to my friends and tell them how much I missed it it was such a welcoming community and I'm still friends with some of those kids who I met in tany I have two best friends who I still am in school with and keep contact with l and Paisley they both came into the gate

program and we are all frustrated by the result in tany we keep messaging about it they couldn't come but they supported me in coming and I hope that you'll I hope that you'll make the right decision make the right decision and keep tany thank you thank

you um uh Destiny bper is Destiny still here from South Main Street okay Pat McCabe Morgan Street sorry I had to adjust the mic a lot taller than her good evening evening um I have two kids in tany one in second grade my son Pat McCabe my daughter Ariana is in fourth grade about two years ago we moved back from Florida huge transition for them extremely hard they struggled a lot

they're finally getting the tany way and understanding everything they're enjoying this school they don't want to during the weekends they're asking when's Monday coming they want to come to school they love it they didn't love it as much as they did in Florida the other reason why I'm also standing up here is if you're going to take the build and take the building but keep our family together keep us

together give us another building if that's the case if you need this so bad I don't think anybody would argue if we gave up the building but if you gave us a better one in chance and like man said across the street is Bishop Connelly they have an indoor gymnasium we have two softball fields that if need be dery could actually use the baseball field we lost the JV field I think in this

direction for the parking lot you have a baseball field there there's a huge field in the back back when I was in elementary school we used to have field days we could bring that back if we had the land you don't have to rent anything or nothing just the insurance on the land which we're probably going to end up getting stuck paying for when the but when the building rots they're going to

let this building fall apart and then what are we going to do sell it and redevelop it for housing so why don't we take advantage of what's sitting there we have a huge parking lot it's away from the street now the teachers would be able to park in the parking lot they don't have to park in the street we don't have to worry about our kids walking across the street getting hit by

cars everyone knows even if the sign say slow down nobody listens nobody but my biggest issue is this is such a rush we need to sit down and think about these decisions we can't just kick the can down the road and put a Band-Aid on this we need to sit and think about the future of of our children because as much as we don't want to admit it we're not going to be here

forever and they're going to be the next future and if we leave them with nothing they're not going to have anything to build off of give them the foundation give our kids something to grow from we have an 18 to1 ratio for teachers and that's what it says on the far of our website 18 to1 that's a big reason why tany is the highest for scoring big reason you have a school over there that

built in 1980 that was set for a Max of 800 children we have 304 to 306 kids right now at tany you can easily move them over there you have more than enough room there's a gymnasium there we can hold basketball for them we can do indoor recess for these kids when it's raining out instead of them sitting in a chair let them burn off this extra energy give them a chance to be able to

burn it off and sit down and be like okay I'm tired I want to learn now thanks I think it's Andrew McIntyre North Main

Street coming

down good evening dear members of the school committee we at the J James tany PTO are writing to express our strong opposition to the proposal to close James tany Elementary School and converted into a pre facility this decision is presented with only two options at the end of a very short period of consideration has deeply concerned our community we question the urgency behind such a

momental decision why the rush is it an imperative that we thoroughly consider all possible consequences and Alternatives before making a decision of the this magnitude the proposed closure of James standy Elementary will have far-reaching effects not only for the students teachers and staff directly impacted but also for the Border community of parents and neighbors the disruption of the community cannot be

overstated students will be uprooted from their familiar environments teachers and staff may face uncertainties regarding their employment and parents will have to parents will have to navigate new logical challenges furthermore this decision will reate beyond the walls of tanay Elementary School affecting students across the district what concerns us the most is the lack of parent input dialogue in an

adequate consideration period to explore additional options our voices as stakeholders in our children's education and as members of this community deserve to be heard and valued in the decision-making process by excluding us from this crucial conversation the school committee is neglecting the responsibilities to represent the best interest of all constituents we urge the F rber school

committee to prioritize the well-being and future prospects of our children these students are not just statistics they are the Futures leaders innovators and citizens of f River as such they deserve a thoughtful and inclusive decision-making process that takes into account the diverse needs and aspirations of our community in conclusion we respectfully request that the school committee reconsider its

proposal to close James chansi Elementary School and instead engage in a more transparent and coll process that generally considers the input of all stakeholders of our children deserving nothing less thank you for your attention in this matter thank you Aaliyah poo that was the student she left okay good Sally Lara Moore Brad um Norman North Main Street thank you Matt madus would la Street she's oh I'm sorry thank

you my experience with Tangi family started almost 15 years ago when I was a foster uh parent I have put three children through tany and now have a second grader my children have had many issues with autism anxiety PTSD ADHD trust issues without the staff at tany my children would have never been as successful as they are right now I my children the staff at tany have walked me through 504 plans IEP plans I would

have never understood all of this my daughter has struggled since prek with shutting down no trust the staff at Tandy finally have my daughter almost to the standards of the school I do not want her to go backwards going into a big school my daughter will regress and I just don't think that that's very fair as a parent I'm very very upset about the fact that we were not included in on any

discussions and you guys didn't even take into the fact of the emotional and social aspect of what this is going to do to these children all of them not just tany children every school in this district is going to be affected by this and I think you need to think more about the big picture instead of rushing into this decision that's it thank you um Matt madus uh woodlon thank you mamadera 63 woodlon

Street saav tan.com it's should be obvious by witnessing the support and turnout that tany is more than just a school label on a spreadsheet that the students parents and extended family for those that called tany their home would be decimated by a decision made in the final hour of an arbitrary deadline set by a school subcommittee a decision that wouldn't stop at tany but also have a

ripple effect across an entire District not only in the short term of reshuffling students and the staff but in the long term of the bonds and community that have been made in the schoolyard and hallways of the tany elementary school we shouldn't have allowed this to happen one subcommittee member remarked as he watched one of the most reck loose decisions take shape we're going to have to make hard

decisions he went on later in the meeting closing down tany isn't a tough decision it's the wrong decision committee members took this plan as if they struck gold some undiscovered property that would solve the need for Universal prek requirements the task force didn't prepare a comprehensive 5-year plan but a plan that would plague us over the next 5 years but what do we know we're just the parents and families

that weren't going to be asked for feedback or permission I'm not looking to weigh in on

just I'm not looking to weigh in on decisions like Dell or HP laptops which Farms we Source our school lunch potatoes from but I would like to be consulted when you want to uproot my children extending the lease on Eastern a utilizing existing buildings at dery at dery high school negotiations with the dicese for the Conley property one question I have is what's the rush how are we solving this to extend the

solution over the next 5 to 10 years as Fall River attracts more residents and more people like myself who decide to stay and invest here can we not rush to this decision I grew up in Dartmouth friends and family always ask me when I'm coming back surely you want your kids to go to Dartmouth schools they say my wife uh 20-year ICU nurse in the is a product of Fall River my niece played

basketball for dery also an ICU nurse here in Fall River my sister-in-law is both successful both from Fall River Public School Systems in September all three of my boys will be attending tany Elementary a place we were calling home over the span of 8 years I've seen what Fall River schools can produce and I'm proud to say I want that for for my boys too however tonight's leadership needs

to get back on course and solve this with a wellth thought out and comprehensive plan that takes Fall River Public Schools into the future for all generations to come as it stands this plan is merely shooting off the hip and doesn't begin to lay down a solid foundation we understand that 99% of the time these are thankless jobs I don't envy you but we ask that you regroup regroup and formulate a new plan and

take the children in the community decision thank you thank

you um Carrie Edwards Oakland

Street I want to St start by thanking all of you for your service on the school committee this is often a thankless job and as a parent of a first first grader and a fourth grader I thank you for all your efforts to provide the city's children with an exceptional learning experience the proposed plan to transition James tany Elementary to a prek only facility has me very concerned for the social emotional health and

well-being of the students currently enrolled at tany half of our current elementary school population were students during early covid they've already been through a lot we've already asked so much of them they've only just gotten back to normal in the past two years tany is a huge part of their world and their identity to uproot them from their Community is asking too much from

children who have already been through a lot in their young lives I ask you to reflect back on those special and unique relationships that you had when you were in elementary school and if you are a parent those special relationships that you had parenting alongside the other adults of your child's classmates and friends they may settle into new schools but it needs to be acknowledged that

with this new plan these relation ships will be over as we know them they may be able to have a play date here and there but they aren't going to get to keep dreaming together of the tany Tigers winning the city championship basketball game they already have the Afterparty planned it involves a party at the school on a Saturday in a parade in their honor I believe I have the unique experience of

being part of another school Community here in the city when it was extended day and transferring back to our neighborhood School of tany I only have positive things to say about the other school it was wonderful but tany is different it's a true Community it's a place where the whole class shows up to your birthday party where the Halloween party was so loud there must have been noise complaints

where without a doubt we have the most dedicated PTO that ever was led by Mr Andrew McIntyre and miss Sally laramore I'll never forget meeting Mr McIntyre at the fer Public Library I introduced myself as a new tany mom after having seen him at the back to school ice cream social the night before he immediately called his daughter over and explained that my son Rory would be in her class

and could she please look out for him I say that to illustrate the kind of community that is at tany this is the kind of place where you look to your right at the basketball game and fourth grade teachers Mrs Brienne Kilmer and Miss Kristen Cody and Mrs Lyn pavid and Miss Gabby from morning care are all there at the game too this is a place where the coaches Victoria streo and DC

Gonzales are disagreeing with the refs during the basketball game as though it was the NBA because to our boys it is their NBA you may not know me but you know my son Rory Edwards just a month ago he was here as just one of two students districtwide to obtain perfect scores on the ELA math and

mcast I say that not to brag about him although I could brag about him all day thank you thank you Chris Chris Edwards Oakland Street she asked you to remember his face when you make your decisions to the school committee thank you for serving our city you have one of those great jobs where the wonderful things you do are forgotten at a moment's notice but I thank you for your dedication and Your

Excellence as educator myself we have the opportunity to send our children to our district where I teach it is an excellent District but we choose Fall River as I understand it the current proposal has two goals pave the way for Universal pre and reestablish neighborhood schools I support these goals I'm particularly proud to hear of language for doing more for our kids than is mandated however I believe the plan of

action to reone students this fall is based on many false premises false premise one you have to do this immediately in terms of pre facility the lease does not end for around 18 months I believe and Universal prek is years away from being mandated mandated yes we support that Vision but it is not a problem for this coming school year number two this gives us time to be ready if the staff was notified less

than a week ago it is impossible the research was done to confirm a realistic timeline their feedback would be essential feedback you do not have how can you be sure that shuffling multiple schools is not going to result in a delay of the school year number three this is the best way the proposal might make the dollars work but it's ultimately our kids being asked to pay this bill maybe there's opportunity at

the state level to Pilot Universal pre with funding for new facilities while that might be a dream this proposal is a nightmare I am not certain there is a better way but I am certain our children deserve that we not wave the right the White Flag yet number four reestablish neighborhood schools to reestablish neighborhood schools we should consolidate neighborhood schools to see

this point you have to take a step back from contracts and class sizes bus routes and building codes this proposal's plan of action is The Logical opposite of one of its goals tany as you will hear tonight might be the best example of what a neighborhood school can be if the goal is to get back to Neighborhood schools tany is your shining star look to copy it not to close it number

five families will get used to it we rely on morning care for which tany begins at 7: a.m. Spencer Borden's doors open at 7:30 we cannot accommodate this we will pay an additional rate of around probably $25 a day for outside care and transportation before they get to morning care for each of our children which will cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of $18,000 a year this is why we transferred already cuz we were

paying $112,000 a year because Sylvia did not have after care we will not get used to it number six the numbers add up one after another the building capacities were listed with Zone populations it was concluded that the numbers work but you have a major miscalculation we are the numbers and we are telling you that this does not work for us each number is a student our children job what he said Rachel cavalo or Ogden

Street good evening my name is Rachel carvalo and I am a licensed clinical social worker and I have been working with the youth and families in Fall River for 20 years I am also a proud parent of a tany tiger I am concerned about the recent decision to close the tany school in order to repurpose it as a preschool facility while I understand the importance of early childhood education I am deeply

worried about the impact this decision will have on the social and emotional functioning of the children in our community I am not only concerned about the tany students but also the other elementary schools that this impact this plan impacts many of these children have already experienced significant disruptions in their early childhood education due to covid and having to learn via distance learning distance

learning significantly impacted our children and now you propose another description to the same group of children furthermore I am concerned that this proposal plan failed to address the safety and social emotional needs of our most atrisk students our preschool-aged population the current proposed plan aims to incorporate Stone therapeutic school students at the location on South

Main Street where some of our preschool population is currently being served while I understand the importance of providing support and intervention for children with significant social emotional Behavior avoral challenges at an early age there are significant safety considerations that must be addressed by incorporating this population with preschool age students first and foremost preschool age

children are at a critical stage of development where they require a nurturing and supportive environment conducive to learning through play and social interaction introducing a behavioral School into this setting could disrupt the natural flow of development and potentially expose young children to behaviors and interventions that they are not equipped to understand or cope with young children are still

learning to regulate their emotions and behaviors and they may not have the cognitive or emotional maturity to understand why certain interventions are being used or how to respond appropriately Additionally the presence of older children with significant behavioral challenge could create an intimidating or frightening environment for preschoolers leading to feelings of anxiety fear or even trauma preschool

should be a place where children feel safe supported and free to explore their interests and abilities without fear of intimidation or harm instead of incorporating a therapeutic school with a preschool population I urge you to explore alternative approaches that prioritize the safety while being in developmental needs of young children investing in early childhood education is important but it should not come at

the expense of the well-being of our current students and our most at risk students in the city of Fall River please reconsider these decisions and explore alternative solutions that preserve the Integrity of James tany Elementary School as a valuable resource for our community while also creating a safe place for our preschool students to learn thank you for your time thank you Daniel adern Robison

Street hello I first learned of what the school committee is proposing Friday morning last week at work I got a par a frantic text message from one of my daughter's uh classmates parent that said they're going to close tany my daughter loves that school she has blossomed by going to tany and I've heard someone else mention you treating students like dominoes and shuffling them around I don't feel that

students are dominoes students are puzzle pieces that interlock as they grow they develop relationships with their fellow students with the teachers and faculty and to all of a sudden rip them from what they know is not right all also have you considered the additional cost to the families whether it be before school care after school care or just the fact that moving these students

to a whole entire new school is going to cost the families outof pocket expenses for new uniforms that they may use for only one school year I know I've recently replaced much of her because she's outgrown it and now I'm possibly going to have to replace it entirely and then only two years from now replace it again that is just not right there has been practically no input asked of the

parents and this is just going to be shoved through that's just showing these young students that the people who are supposed to be looking out for them don't care thank you thank thank you next up Jordan Sylvia Highland Avenue uh good evening everybody so I'm going to flip it up a little bit um remember this is the very school committee that recently months ago wanted a 200% pay increase remember that

I how many people uh paid attention to that um I feel bad for the parents who aren't used to this environment where you come here this first off the citizens input portion shouldn't be we speak at the wall you guys stand stoically looking at us and then everything moves on it should be a discussion you should be answering all these people's concerns but you won't I understand I'm very well versed in the

format um closing tany I feel bad for these people it's only a symptom of the real problem in Forever it's the it's the entire school system that we have people are only upset because a these people actually monitor what happens with their kids education because where the school's located they're my neighbors you guys are my neighbors um I don't send my kids to the schools in for

over because I've had this conversation I don't feel the educations proper in any of the schools that's a much longer decision uh discussion um but yeah who we just had an election did any of these people run on um closing the best performing school in Florida it was a good idea would any of them still have this job today no we all know that it's not the case uh but they don't again

they don't care what you think that's not how this that's not how this really goes guys um it's it's literally the worst decision they could possibly make the most ignorant decision so that's probably what they'll do but what concerns me is the the the solutions I've heard proposed so far are to grow the for River Public School System by well we're going to move toilets around prek in every school by Conley guys we

need these people not involved in the education of your kids that's the real that's the that's the real talk so I may offend people but that's the reality they shouldn't be involved in your kids education at all my kids learn at home on an online school um so they they're upset with that because they don't get the the the money reimbursed from the state that all your kids uh get them

that funds every year um but they're going to scapegoat moraly and say oh it's the governor everyone talked about covid right Charlie Baker didn't shut down the schools and the entire city of Florida the chairman of the school committee did Paul Coogan he's the mayor Mor hey doesn't run the city of for River so don't let them say it's Mor Healy it's Paul Coogan and these other people going to do it right um again the

core problem is we spend $77 million more every year on education in for River guess what we've gotten worse results our kids score worse on tests after 77 million we spend every year more than we did 5 years ago I was told that's not the case and that is true it was more than I thought actually um so that's the real problem get your people get your kids away from these people uh

my kids learn online uh it's about money guys that's the other thing it's all it's always come down to money we need more here here's a solution that actually works school choice um again get your kids out of the schools send them to online schools send them to Charter Schools uh I've been talking about subsidizing the schools right so Conley just closed because no one could pay to send a kid to Conley if we spent

half the money spending hey that we do sending our kids to dery and all these other schools they get better outcomes um I I will say this I'm very proud days like I'm very proud to be from Fall River when people get pissed off and show up at these things one last criticism of all the people here don't ask I see a lot of people asking them please consider this that's not how this

thing works you tell them if they don't like it don't wait to be respectful please thank you thank that's what they have to complain about people like you than sit down thank you thank you for your efforts next up Britney Pacho ivanson Britney

picoy well I deeply appreciate the commitment to expanding prek opportunities in our city shutting down an entire neighborhood Elementary School is not the solution this decision would have far-reaching impacts Beyond tany and will ultimately affect students and teachers across Fall River we should use this as a moment as an opportunity to show a commitment to expanding education not engaging in a detrimental Shuffle

that will hurt our students teachers and our city as a whole we cannot willingly increase classroom sizes knowing the negative social and academic academic outcomes for students and how it makes the already difficult work of teaching all the harder most importantly we cannot lose sight of the fact that we are talking about about children some of the most vulnerable people in our community these

are children who have experienced the trauma of the pandemic volatile Economic Times and the shadow of school shootings whether it's tany Spencer bordon or another school community that they are involved in these children are in their supportive communities they are in places that are helping them deal with the trauma of the modern world that we live in it would be irresponsible responsible to add trauma with a

decision like closing one school only to shuffle students around from school to school finally it's never about a lack of funds to invest in education it's about resource allocation as a city we can and must find the funds for our children because that is the future of our city on a personal note my daughter is a first grader at tany and I can't imagine a more welcoming inclus inclusive and supportive environment for

her we are currently working on uh figuring out what she needs for an IEP and things like that and I can't even tell you the support she has received from her teachers in that time not even halfway through kindergarten all of the teachers and staff knew her by name when we would walk into events at the school it was like she felt like a rock star because it wasn't just her friends who

knew her every staff member knew her by name every teacher knew her by name up to grades that she may never even get a chance to be in if we close this school so I I urge you to please look at other options because we absolutely cannot choose to reduce our classrooms thank you thank you um Kelsey pasas from Bradford Avenue hi everyone can you hear me okay as a parent and educator I understand

that parents are not just stakeholders in the education system we are advocates for our children with a deep seated interest in ensuring that their needs are met and their voices are heard active parent involvement in the school Community Fosters a sense of collaboration trust accountability that is ENT IAL for creating a supportive learning environment the closure of our school will not only impact our students

and Educators but also the parents like myself who have invested their time energy and resources in building a strong School Community our pect uh sorry our perspectives concerns and ideas are invaluable in shaping the future of our educational landscape and must be given due consideration in all decision-making processes there has been tremendous focus on family engagement and our

district and our families are highly engaged it appears that we are being penalized for this and are intentionally being left out of the discussion to hear school committee members state that no one can be mad because of the proximity of Spencer bordon to tany Highlights how little the community sorry I can't talk guys my bad the committee understands about what community and engagement

really means this is our community not the building as a parent and educator I implore the school committee to rethink its approach and make a meaningful effort to engage the Fall River Community and stakeholders in a transparent and collaborative decision-making process we need and can do better for our students families and staff thank you thank you Chanel legassi

Atlantic dear school committee members mayor Coogan and superintendent Pon I would like to say thank you for all that you do your job is not easy and you have to make some very hard decisions not everyone will agree with I'm here today as a proud tany parent anyone that knows me it's very hard for me to speak up so today is a big deal for me my daughter started kindergarten in 2020 2021 during

the pandemic I'm truly grateful to this district for taking my daughter and allowing her to be a member of the tany school Community student these students have been through so many changes whether it Beal needs it's a big deal moving students around and it's not easy to explain to them that they will not be graduating with their friends students are finally getting back to normal meeting routines building positive

relationships back to normal as parents notification that the committee is considering closing the entire tany Elementary School and re relocating our children elsewhere comes with in insufficient notice No Time advance to I'm sorry no time for advanced logistical operational or academic planning tany is a neighborhood Elementary School that Prides itself on long-standing relationships hard work in academics

faith in communities and generations of our community if there is if if there is to be changed to such a solid system as tany it should be done with cautious planning our parents students teachers administrators know each of our students by name we trust each other we know each other outside in the playground when they're trouble we approach each other and we work together thank you tany for thank you so

much and I just want to say thank you for listening appreciate it thank you thank you Reena Brown Reena Brown uh we MO Jesus I'll fire it up hi I'm Reena Brown I am a uh a small business owner in Fall River I'm a voter in Fall River I'm a property owner I pay taxes and I am the very proud parent of two children uh that go to tany they receive special

services um and I I could go on and on but I think that you have heard about how wonderful tany is I'm proud to be a tany tiger parent and I can't say anything more than what my uh friends and family from tany have done however I just want to reiterate a few ideas we had because I think one of the sentiments are that nobody at the subcommittee or this school committee

has listened to our ideas or our opinions I mean we can tell you all day long how great tany is I think you get the message um we have eight elementary schools six middle schools if you put one classroom one classroom in each of those of 25 pre that's 300 pre spots Is it feasible I don't know that part is your job but we just have some ideas and one is putting

a prek in every Elementary put a prek in each middle I don't know maybe some collaboration with the private Care Centers now I know that this prek issue has dated Back 40 something years we knew this was coming right and I know that this has been an ongoing discussion about prek my children are a product at prek at a private facility and they were more than prepared for kindergarten so maybe

there's an opportunity to collaborate you know with our eec licensed facilities to put your prek people in there Bishop Connelly Wy school I don't know why that's sitting there empty but I do know we got a couple empty buildings here that could accommodate preschool uh I don't even know what's going on with 2501 South Main Street I know you might not know that either but why not use some spots there for prek

it's probably inevitable that these small schools are going to get phased out but I would ask you this at least let the children that are there right now graduate as tany

Tigers one of my sons has special needs one of his disorders is attachment disorder can I tell you how proud I was that he has a best friend that he has been best friends with in Tanz and it's because of people like uh Mr Brad and Miss G and miss souo is not going to retire I don't care no matter what wherever she is but Friday when they went to school it was like yelling

fire in a crowded Auditorium thank you you can't scare our people please

reconsider next up Tiki BR uh Tiki parin

dear for River public school committee members mayor Coogan and superintendent Pond my name is Tiki parin I am a mother of a fifth grader and a second grader who attends James teny Elementary School I would like to express my deep concern about the proposal to close the school teny is a school that demonstrates diversity and inclusion it is a crucial part of my family when my fifth grader

started kindergarten in 2018 he needed counseling for two years with the school adjustment counselor and now 5 years later he made a bunch of friends at school and he thrives academically he got the Massachusetts students Achievement Award from the department of Elementary and secondary education in 2022 and 2023 two years in a row my second grader loves the school and she does grade socially and

academically as well my children feel that they belong to the school they get guidance support and encouragement from all the exceptional Educators who work there my husband grew up in for River he went to teni years ago and now he is one of the educators of the for River Public Schools I resided in for River 10 years ago and now I am one of the committee members of the teny school

PTO James teny Elementary School is such a phenomenal School in forever it provides quality education to Young students who just start their life journey of learning so many many resources and hard work have been put into it for over seven decades please do not make any disruptive move to put an end to this school that will negatively impact hundreds of vulnerable Young Learners and their families thank you

very much for your time and I sincerely hope our school committee members will explore all the other possible options make economical and sustainable decisions for our Public Schools and all of our for refer citizens thank you thank you um Ashley Rivera

Glasgow hi I am a preschool teacher I teach the age four to five um so I very much agree with all our preschoolers getting education um however I'm very confused on how you guys want to put them Allin one building because I know regulations through eec and transportation issues that would that you guys should be looking at the cost of that um as far as I know I'm I

believe 45 minutes a kid cannot be on a bus for longer than that and they need special seating to keep those kids safe at that age so I'm wondering what if you looked into that I think that preschool four to five should be in public schools I think that you guys should look into slowly integrating them maybe one class per school I think that this is really important for me I am also a tany mom

and what tany has done for my daughter has been amazing um she does struggle academically I am worried because I did pick School a choice because Tan's near my job that's I couldn't make it in time to go get her at another school which the school that you guys would be changing her to would be a very low academic school they're not they're not a great school so I'm very concerned for my daughter's

well-being in this school but most importantly I think we need to be looking at what's making it easier for the preschoolers to get to school too about it being near them too or convenient for them and spread out we should be looking at the dayc carees where dayc carees are and having the dayare centers help you guys with this plan thank you thank you Sheila chassi Grove

Street many of you know me as Yaya all the kids in the school call me Yaya my grandson goes to tany elementary unfortunately brillan was not able to go to preschool because of covid so when he approached tany his kindergarten year he struggled he had social anxiety separation anxiety and my tany family accepted brilin and helped me and my daughter Move brillin Along he now loves to go to school he

runs for me in the morning when I drop him off I'll tell you a little story my daughter went to Fowler School which used to be on sprag Street many moons ago and that was a small school like tany and she thrived and they closed it and I had to put her in a Catholic School wasn't a bad choice but it was a disruption to her education in the elementary level she struggled for

years I don't want to have to do that for my grandson please don't close tany it's a great school it's a great Community they're supportive let's just think of another way there has to be another option there is always another option I urge you to rethink this thank you thank you okay that concludes citizens input I'd like to thank everybody that spoke you have a letter one more yes she

was here but she left but she didn't want to who who is it Britney Aruda okay Britney Aruda is our last one thank you Mr cabal please good evening I am writing to you in hopes to save tany our kids are the future of your future we must give careful consideration to the quality of that Legacy if you are cutting corners on education and hurting these kids by making the wrong choices

now then that affects all of us negatively including you the schools are extremely overcrowded because far Riv a population is rising now with train coming it will only keep Rising closing another school will make the already 26 to 30 students per teacher ratio worse overcrowding classrooms affects health and fire safety a decent education will become impossible to achieve there is so much facts studies

and research on overcrowded classrooms causing a detrimental impact on everyone I recommend you all look into it tany and Spencer bordon are both completely full and are clearly needed please even if you think your minds are made up make the right choice by reconsidering and rest strategize this plan thank you thank you I I want to thank everybody for being extremely respectful

and go ahead what's your name you got to tell us your name though please motion to wave the rules motion to wave the rules second all in favor go ahead what's your name please um my name is Michaela Gonzales I live on 1795 Highland a I'm a tany alumni so I would just like to start off by saying that I'm currently a junior at dery high school from grades K 3 I attended tany

Elementary School however in third grade I was accepted I'm sorrya take your time honey you're doing great move the mic close however in third grade I was accepted into the gate program and attended Sylvia Elementary for the remainder of my Elementary School career based on my experience I have attended both a large Elementary School and a small Elementary School now I I have no bad things to say

about Sylvia and I thrive there as a student and socially but the adjustment from a small school to a large school was very dis difficult the tany community is very family oriented and everyone knows everyone however at syvia it was extremely different and quite frankly the complete opposite although I was able to make the adjustment I know many students will struggle to nothing compares to the tany environment I am

the oldest of three and we have all attended tany Elementary School where we have all thrived my youngest sister Bella May is currently enrolled there in kindergarten and she loves it she would be devastated to have to change schools and leave her friends and teachers that she has grown to love I am now 17 years old and the teachers that I had are still working at the school some of them are in the crowd right

now miss noera she's now Mrs Lee Mrs corll Miss cisin Miss pavid Mrs Daniels and I'm sure there's more but um there are amazing teachers who helped me develop into the student I am today I'm sure for them it would also be devastating to leave the school where they have met so many students and made a difference in their lives and I would love for my sister to have the opportunity opportunity to experience

the education I did sorry the overpopulation in the city is absurd and I believe it would be even more absurd to overpopulate the schools further by closing tany I hope that you will strongly consider this decision before taking away a school from young children loving and educated teachers and more importantly a family thank you thank you also I apologize for my appearance I came from the G okay thanks

ketti um I would like to take an item out of order because uh faith our student uh representative has stayed she definitely wanted to hear everybody's comments can I can I get a motion to take before we do that I I do think it would be in a if we didn't at least have something in response to the I mean we sat here for two two hours I agree but

it's on the agenda can we wait like let's forward them forward all right so let's let Faith go in the interest of time and then we need to resp all right let is okay with faith uh everybody okay with faith going go go ahead Faith okay hi everybody I'm faith cadiro I'm the student delegate from dery I know this is a weird transition from what was happening but I would like to say I did

not go to tany I did go to Spencer bordon but I would like to thank everybody for being a role model to the youth M Kaya T you really got me um just showing us that you can use your voice in what you believe and I hope that people see dery the way that you guys see tany and that's my goal before I graduate Michaela you got me so I hope you can enjoy some of the

things that tany alumni are doing at dery um we are currently um having a staff and student dodgeball brought To Us by Kyle cares on Thursday uh parent teacher conferences are also on Thursday March 14th at 5:00 p.m. there is a powderpuff going on which I think Michaela you should be participating in um to get the school as a community um there's a planning for cultural awareness in the works a dery

theater competed in States over the weekend seniors have started to pick gowns in giving the measurements to prepare for graduation NHS induction ceremony is April 2nd uh representatives from dery CTE program participated in the skills USA District test and dery's deca took 38 students to the State Career Development conference and won multiple Awards there there's a few um they won the silver chapter of

Excellence the chapter spear award the chapter membership campaign gold certificates for the Summit Campus Store the elevations beauty salon and gold resert recertification for granite grow Forest Meo want his running to be a state officer and represent Massachusetts at Deca that is all thanks faith find yeah okay um school committee person larvey yeah so mayor I'd like to make a motion

to move 12.5 discussion and vote uh to approve prek 2501 South Main Street as referred by the special education alternative education in early childhood subcommittee presented by Maria Pon superintendent of schools second I have a motion a second Miss Pon can we take a roll call take I'm sorry go ahead with the roll call first I'm sorry de Mr what's the motion just to move it up just to move move yes M Mr

Bailey yes Mr Cory yep Miss larvey yes Miss Pereira yes Mr Rodrick absolutely mayor Coogan yes so at this time uh superintend is not going to make a statement but um I think the rest of us do have something to say uh her and our team presented to the subcommittee on this past Thursday night uh what I'm prepared to say is I'm not ready willing or prepared to make a vote of any kind

tonight that's going to affect any students in this District at this time okay when I first ran for school committee a little over four years ago uh my platform was uh a big part of it was to help bridge uh the gaps between commun uh community and schools and I'd be a hypocrite tonight if I could if I would cast a vote and and not hear from my the entire school committee uh and

maybe even table I'm even considering tabling and exhausting all our options giving us a little more time uh but I I I'm not willing to to make a vote right now okay please so at this time I'm going to yield because I think uh a few of my colleagues have something to say um it's not only me and uh we'll move on thank you I yield uh Miss Rogers please so in the interest of transparency I'm

also a tany parent um I did double check to make sure that I could actually speak on this and I can because I don't have any financial interest there's no hardship with me um speaking on this matter so we claim that this is just a proposal and in theory that's accurate this is just a proposal no decisions can be made without a vote of the full committee however like my colleague said

I am not prepared to make any kind of vote on on this kind of matter so as one member of the committee I only learned about this on Thursday night I only had access to the meeting playback just when the rest of the community did on Friday afternoon and at best that is not nearly enough time to make a decision as significant as this there are multiple things here that are true we need

Universal prek there's no question about that we also have several overcrowded schools Fons is one of them that's absolutely true that doesn't mean though that we can make a proposal like this without vetting all of the other options and I go I'm saying that based on the fact that at the February subcommittee there were five other options proposed tany was actually never mentioned at

that subcommittee meeting and we haven't gotten any followup provided at last week's meeting in regards to those five other options those five options were Deval Street um uh property on glob Street adding modulars to some of our buildings using the PACE Center that other space out out of dery and potentially using the Armory so there were five other options in addition to now all of the other options that folks

are talking about that have not been vetted if they have right that information wasn't shared with us so for me I'm having a really hard time with understanding how we got from there to here without any of that followup in addition at that last meeting it was stated that we can't close the building because we don't have space in other buildings so again that was at the February meeting but somehow those

issues weren't mentioned last week and I'm not knocking anyone this is a hard hard not decision to make because the decis we're not making a decision about tany what we're talking about is expanding prek it's a hard thing to figure out because we don't know the numbers when you don't know the numbers it's really difficult to come up with a solid plan but we need a plan and for me

I think this is the start of that discussion which frankly should have happened a long time ago I don't think we followed best practices in developing the proposal to my knowledge again as one member of the committee um stakeholders weren't included in that conversation in the development no meetings were held with families no meetings were held with families to seek their input and that's

exactly why you have as many families as you have here tonight um we didn't carry through a process that was transparent um we can't say in one breath that we need family engagement and then turn around and not seek input right we can't have those two things that's right and I'm sure I'm aggravating people as I say this but part of the reason why there is a assumpt there's this

assumption that this is a done deal is because no one no families were included in that prek expansion discussion so that's why this assumption is being made Additionally the meeting agenda wasn't posted until Friday afternoon and that didn't give anyone enough time us included the opportunity to process that minimal information um that was presented it was it was posted Friday I think like 3 4:00 with the revised

agenda the original agenda had been posted but the revised agenda wasn't until Friday so we've asked for a thorough cost benefit analysis where's the analysis of all the options that were mentioned at the February subcommittee do we have an analysis of where our kids are across the district besides what we have in terms of tany Spencer board in phansa and those are just some of the questions that I

frankly need to have answered before I can make any decision as a Tanz parent I don't want tnz to close of course not right my daughter's a second grader however if that's the best decision then I can support that decision with a very thoughtful transition plan for our kids right again we've got to look at all the options and when we do that then we can then we can look at multiple proposals and with that I

yield I I'll go uh Shelly I mean Miss Pereira then Tommy okay I want to thank everybody who came tonight um the best thing I think a child can have is great parents or Guardians who advocate for them so I respect that you're here I'm sorry if I seemed too stoic as I sit I was just sitting how I normally sit but I was listening to every word and I took notes

because everything you said is important to me and there are some things that I think we can clear up a little bit first of all the thought that this was some hidden I knew Wednesday because I got the Powerpoint to the meeting on Thursday that I reviewed before the meeting this was the first time as well that I heard tany and I've been on this committee with Mrs rodri I was very surprised

um I campaigned as well as most people on here to expand prek I made it very clear in that meeting that at points it didn't sound like an expansion it sounded like a relocation and I would not be voting yes for a relocation um the LA one of the last PowerPoint slides says next steps this is the meeting I was at I wasn't under the impression that this was being referred

to to the full committee for a vote tonight I was under the impression it was being referred to the committee for us to vote on giving the superintendent permission to go ahead and hold committee meetings I'll hold Community meetings and established a lot of the questions we had for her at that time which they were several questions that we had one of which how are we transitioning how many children with

special needs are in t where would they be going can we move my concern was and that's what I meant by it shouldn't be too bad my concern was can we keep the kids in the neighborhood in the neighborhood so if we're going to be relocating can we think about making sure that the kids at tany are the kids that are going to be able to maybe go to Spencer Borden I understand that you're

here advocating directly for your children which is what you should do 100% that's what being a good parent is I'm on the school committee so not only do I have to do what's best for your kids I have to do what what best for the other 10,000 and some odd children in the community as well as the hundreds hundreds of special needs four-year-olds they they they need advocating for too this is a horrible

decision if we have to make it and I'm with Sarah it's not what I want to make if it's if it's the last choice I listen got M May don't worry I can just ignore him in one or out the other he's just infatuated with me it's quite all right sir I get it I get it baby I get it so my point is I advocate I understand what you guys are doing

nobody nobody thinks this is fun nobody wants to do it but what I what I think we do need to do is make sure we have conversations because we need to make sure we're doing right by every child in the community now there was a lot of talk of it just happened recently we haven't with we're just willy-nilly this it's I've been on the committee for a little over over two years and this was

talked about before I even got on the committee and this was um talked about before I even got on the committee so I know that we've been looking for prease spaces for a very very long time there's reasons we can't use some schools like the Wy um because the schools first of all are going to cost way too much to fix we can't fill it with prek there's reasons we can't use Globe 2501 we can

but only certain flaws this is not easy they've been looking for years and years 251 we can only use we can only use the ground level or first floor for prek so when we talk about redoing our old schools that doesn't really help with the prek situation so we're trying the superintendent is trying her best I was not happy with everything I heard nobody there was like this is the best solution

we're trying to find a solution but I don't want anyone I don't want anyone to think that nobody was thinking of involving you cuz right on this last slide next steps family forums family for right up here it says Family Forum for feedback so no one at that subcommittee meeting that was at that subcommittee meeting thought we weren't going to hear from families I know that I left I know that I left

assuming that our next step was for the superintendent to schedule family meetings and also on here meet with tany staff these were all things that were supposed to be done the next step I don't make the agenda so I I don't write what's on it I don't approve the agenda I got the agenda probably I believe at the same time everybody at this meeting did and I immediately said I'm not comfortable taking this vote tonight

that's not what we were supposed to be doing we were supposed to be continuing a conversation about what is best and if this is our only option so I wasn't planning on taking a vote tonight I heard my colleague down the end say she wasn't comfortable doing that so I'm not sure where the disconnect came but I certainly had no intention of voting on closing any school this evening and I guess I'll yield because

okay Hey listen listen okay guys we we were so respectful when everybody had opportunities to talk we would never interrupt you we're asking Patrick Pat Patrick Patrick you're better than that I'm not you're better than that let let us talk hey let the let let the committee do their work I'm so glad that all these people showed up tonight because this is an important issue but we want to let you have your

time which we did uninterrupted we're going to ask you to be just as respectful to us please that's all I'm saying Mr I'm not sure where we thought I was lying everything I just said was truthful M Mr AG Mr Cory was first so I'll yield him I think Mr Cory go ahead I just want to say I was so very impressed by the tany parent and the community of tany school and um in my

career in education I've always been very concerned about the social and emotional needs of all students and I I want to appraise the work that you're doing there at chanzi to for G such a close family likee community in the school and at this point I was never intending to vote to close tany school but only never never but I will not support that but we we were just at a subcommittee meeting

where our Central administrators are being pressed to come up with plans so at the subcommittee meeting we're just thinking out of the box without any confirmations and there was no intention to hurt people's feelings I was very moved by the testimony I heard tonight from all of you and I was especially U uh I I took note of many of them especially the one where I believe Mr madira said there's no rush to action

here we can take our time and really vet our options and you can bet that it won't be done in a closed door that we will be fully transparent with the community throughout the entire city thank you Mr chairman I yield Mr AA thank you uh I would like to also thank everyone for not only coming tonight but the emails when we read through the emails I mean most of them

were respectful I think and there's some good ideas that were brought up and obviously you have passion for your children's school and we get that I want and I can tell you that we have other schools that even though some people say are underperforming that that's that same passion with a lot of those parents whether the students have 500 kids or 600 kids and so I think it's just important for

us to know where we're all coming from where are the administration's coming from and I think a lot of it is from uh very similar places so I've been frustrated with the fact that we've been talking for probably three or four years about the need for prek expansion not just because we wanted it just because because data shows that that's the best way to get our children up to speed

early on to prevent our students from struggling for years and years and years so that's where this is coming from in my angle when I called a meeting in February of this year the topic was prek expansion because during campaign season we all the state politicians the governor everyone wants to talk about prek expansion we need to expand pre but we don't necessarily get something down

in paper where we say what is the plan what is the plan for us to do that I've been frustrated with this district and the and the um planning that we have because consistently year upon year we get to March or April and we realize that even though we're obligated by law to service children that are three and four years old with with pre- opportunities we are told we don't have

Space 3 years four years in a row that's not okay in my book so when we had a meeting in February all with good intentions was to say where are we at the administration at that time suggested that we're probably going to be up against compliance issues again like we were the prior year so we all together were're trying to figure out how can we best handle this moving mov

forward at that time time is of the essence for this year what do we have to do this year so the subcommittee and more so me because I said I think we needed to have another meeting was to have a short-term plan a one-year plan as well as a Five-Year Plan well thought out with the transition and all that information that was in February immediately thereafter I scheduled a meeting for 30 days later because we

need to hold our administrator's feet to the fire to say we've been talking about this long enough we need to plan those 30 days I think more work was done in those 30 days than it was done in the last year or two years and to to their for them I think we owe them some credit for doing that work they're not coming in to try to say we want to disrupt kids

or hurt their needs of our students no administrator here at that task force the superintendent or any member of the school committee was thinking we want to hurt children because that's not why any of us are doing this but we have to face the reality the reality is that right now it's March whatever it is but at the meeting was March 7th we have to do something in order to provide

opportunities for our children between now and the end of June which we're going to get some students in that we need to Service as well as in September so that's where this was coming from to say what are we going to do for a plan at the same time I ask that the subcommittee get a a vote here today to try to get some direction to the administration we all say we want

Universal prek we want to expand prek but if we don't know what that costs we cannot say let's just do it because we don't know what it costs so I've been asking for several weeks or months to say we need a true cost benefit analysis for expanding prek now if we were going to expand prek classrooms and it was going to cost us $500,000 a school that would be cost prohibitive to us so we

need that data in order to us to determine to give direction to the superintendent whether it's this superintendent or the next superintendent to say where are we going to go with prek and I think that's just trying to set up where we're at is we need to give them some Direction so I believe firmly that we should take some of the considerations that were talked about and they weren't all in agreement

there were some people that said one thing some people wanted to maybe stagger it uh some people wanted to do different things at the end of the day I think we're all saying the same thing we want the best school system for our kids but what I think we need to do now is just figure out and give some direction to the superintendent if we're going to have uh a need coming up what are we

going to do are we going to have the need for three classrooms are we going to have the need for five classrooms are we going to need 30 classrooms and some of the information we ask for we do not have yet as Miss uh rodri had said I believe that we've had a lot of task force we've had quote unquote task force to look at all these things but we don't

have any reports that show the reason why this school can't be done or that school can't be done so we need to get that so they're very transparent to the public we need to look at a cost benefit analysis like I said to know what is it costing us to know whether we have the funds the state legislature and the governor are saying we need to do Universal prek if there's no money

attached to that and we get proof that if we expand the prek classroom it's going to cost us in both Transportation Staffing and a building more money than the state's giving us to educate those children we got to say time out then we have to wait for that fun to come in that so we can do it because we can't afford to go backwards on the on Staffing across the district so I do

think there's a lot of moving Parts uh to it so we need the prior information we need to know what we what we have for a cost benefit analysis at the same time I think this process has shown us that we have some issues going on across all of the Fall River Public Schools with where the lines are drawn for each school now 15 20 years ago when we opened these other schools we closed

most of the small schools that each and every school that closed had many of the same stories that you all told us today but the way that the funding mechanism came to build new schools is we had to combine in order to do that so getting back to True neighborhood schools like tansy across the whole district is not a feasible option for anybody to say that it maybe so but it it's just not

feasible to be totally honest with you so it's not feasible so I've been respectful to you I'd ask you you be respectful to the committee as well please so let let Mr have his time like we did to you please so we have to look at what is truly feasible and what's not feasible and then make our decisions accordingly but make informed decisions uh the task at hand for the

subcommittee and I was going to say this at the um if we talked about it the task at hand for Mrs Pon and her team was to establish a task force explore prek expansion and physical space options re review classroom reduction options develop a facility usage plan at 251 South Main Street offer school committee recommendations to achieve these outcomes through a phased in or all at once approach and I think that's

the most important piece to determine where we're going with it today if we don't make any decisions or give any guidance the administration is not going to know what to do with not only the tany but there's another issue with different schools so if we voted at any point to table it I think we're going to be setting ourselves up another month or however long to not address it but just

know that we there's other issues besides this one piece of tany so what I would recommend is that we look at um some of the options that were brought up I think we should look at some of the options that we've asked for and then just at some point we do have to give some guidance on what we're going to do uh moving forward relative to the foner um change that was proposed in the

same package so we might need to um split up some of the votes I think at some point just to provide some options or meet again in a short period of time but I do think that everyone in the administration I think they've come from a place of trying to do the right thing now lastly I was frustrated just like everyone was trying to figure out what's going on and I saw a um we had received

a demographic report and in that demographic report it's it's dated August of last year year 2023 in that report it was really frustrating to me to say that at that time it was this analysis at the time they dated August 7th will provide the district the needed information to plan long-term strategies for prek to2 needs and redistricting My worry is that we hadn't done anything that I know of as far as

with that information until now so I'm trying to take a positive out of this that we are actually looking at it and we're putting pressure on us to make some decisions long-term planning we need to do that we need to have a strategic plan long term we don't have one of those this District needs a strategic plan that as says where we going to be 5 years from now on all

areas we need to do a lot of those things and they're not in place right now and to me that concerns me we should have had it done and we're definitely in needs of improvement when that comes so all I'm saying is I think that we um we have some work to do we but I just don't want to let everybody think that we can just table this and not address

some of the more pressing issues with that I you thank you Mr Bailey um first off I I just want to say how amazing it is that um you guys showed up uh we continuously excuse me talk about uh parents showing up and advocating um for students and advocating for the kids um I'm I'm pretty sure I'm repeating a lot of what um people said on on the stage um for me

it was a little frustrating because um I learned about this late as well I I actually learned about it from a few teachers texting me calling me uh few parents and uh people in the district um no question we need to find a solution um I showed up today ready to uh table this because I didn't have enough information I needed to know more of what was going on um just like you

guys I watched the the subcommittee meeting um myself um I'm I'm obviously working in a school I was busy all day Friday so um if it wasn't for a few people I probably wouldn't have read my agenda till Saturday um to see some of these things going on um I do think everyone on this stage has the best intentions right and and I I know it's hard to see

that right now um I can tell by some of the responses that are in the crowd um very tough decisions have to be made I'm pretty sure now that you guys showed up and even before then um people didn't expect this but uh the right decision will be made um so you know where I stand on it and I think you know where everyone else stands on it um but I just

like I said I'm I'm glad that everyone showed up um and I think it's it it speaks and some of the testimonies were were were really moving um haven't had the opportunity to get down to tany um but I'll tell you right now um I'm I'm Amazed by the support that this students have there and the faculty have there and it's it's great to always hear that um our faculty are doing well and that

they're making an impact on students lives um that's pretty much all I had this year a lot of a lot of people already said a few things so thank you guys thank you m Roger Mr can I just clarify one thing when I say I didn't I didn't know about this until Thursday what I'm talking about specifically is the te proposal because the discussion about prek has been an ongoing one so that was

not new I just want to be very clear about that however at the February meeting right tany was not on the table okay so when I say that was the first I heard about it that was the first I heard about this particular proposal and so when we talk about like why families are showing up and how they're making assumptions about what's going to be done and what decision is going to be

made it's because you can't make a proposal you can't present a proposal about closing that would involve closing down a school and not expect that families are going to react what I think we go back to the process right giving folks a heads up involving them in that task force from the beginning when we were talking about prek expansion that probably would have been a whole lot more helpful um but hindsight is 2020

right so we can't go back now and say oh this is what we should have done I think what we can do again looking at can I see your your thing for a second just with the so the the task at hand right what we see this is at the beginning of the proposal and these were the things that ideally were done prior to making that proposal last Thursday but you know it

it was said that family input wasn't warranted or that we weren't going to seek family input that was stable and I can't sit here I can't sit here and act like that didn't happen right so my subcommittee is family and Community engagement so I'm going to have a really hard time saying that we need family engagement and then act like it didn't happen do I think that was the intent no no I do not

not for one second I don't believe the intent was to be like we're just not going to include families I don't believe that because I do think that every single person in this district is trying to work hard to make the right decisions for kids but we can't ignore the impact of that statement right int impact is more important than intent so we've got to at least acknowledge that so we did know about the prek

expansion that was not a secret that absolutely was on the table you know was anything meant to be done without transparency no but again we go back to the process impact is more important than intent and that the process was not transparent or Equitable and with that I yield Mr Dr so uh when we had talked I somebody had mentioned it so I think it's important to talk about the at the sou

committee we talked about excuse me moving the stone therapeutic school to the 2501 South Main which is a building that the committee had purchased uh or lease purchase or whatever in order to get some additional prek classrooms as well as some sort of additional uh schooling on the upper floors that was going to relieve some of the pressure in our other schools at the committee uh superintendent and her task force

presented that the fonsica school has a major issue relative to how many students are in that building and they did some research they studied the lines trying to figure out where could we do uh what type of school could we put at 251 that wouldn't cost us a lot more money and also allow us to free up some other spaces so the 251 proposal which is to move the stone school most of those children are

already bust and that was one of the considerations so the consideration of the um superintendent's recommendation to move the stone school to 251 on the upper floors will therefore allow the westall school to be a 2unit school where they can get to work on trying to reorganize some of those and free up some of the um issues has nothing to do with prek per se it has something to do

with making decisions that are in the best interest of many hundred hundreds of students across the district so with that said I want to make a motion that we approve the moving of the stone school to the 251 and that would free up the West allall school and therefore you would be allowed to at least we'd get move forward on this and then if we wanted to table the other issue that's

so be it that's I make that in form of a motion can repeat can I I I just want to say she just asked to repeat oh yeah that makes sense to me I mean I we're not voting on tany this is not something we should do but we did purchase that school we have empty space upstairs it makes sense and somebody did also I want to I forget who mentioned it but

somebody made a point of saying putting the stone school near a prek I want to make it very very clear that the way that school is set up it's completely divided almost two separate cuz that was a discussion point I don't know if you're familiar with the old Atlantis Charter School that's 2501 South Main um it's completely divided our prek is going to completely completely separated

from the other population of students they have a separate entrance they have a separate playground they have a separate safe facility and I do think we need to use that whole school so I'm personally okay with that portion of it with that I I do want to say something though Mr Agia we're going to we're going to move kids we're going to take kids out of their other schools whether they're at fansa Green vas it's it's

we're going to fill that school with 300 kids and they're coming from somewhere I'm not a bit concerned about as Mr Agia pointed out the stone school going down to 251 I've been in that building a number of times there's definitely isolated entrances isolated areas that will not be an issue but we are going to move kids because if we go back to westall which has also been rehabilitated it's very nice inside

we're going to have 300 kids in there so this is going to also be some work and I uh it just for that piece Mr Agia suggested um I would like um the superintendent or um Ken Pico to weigh on in if we're ready to do that part of it letting tany sit Mr AGA yeah I just wanted to clarify so M rodri had asked what the proposal was just wanted to clarify what that is

so we're all on the same page so at the subcommittee we talked about having to make one move before and we need to provide direction to the administration so I hear totally what you're saying Mr Mayor what my my motion is is so that we can at least give them guidance to say the stone school is going to move to 2501 at that point 201501 is full between prek and stone that will

therefore open up a westall now the superintendent at that time and her team would have to determine how are we going to fill that school up my expectation would be that they're going to do that through notifying parents Community meetings all the things that we just talked about that we need to do with the tany we should do for that but if we don't make a decision at least to get the ball rolling we're just another

month away from having it so my intention is just to give her the opportunity with her team to talk about how do we fill up the uh would be now vacant West so then your your motion would be to report back for the next school committee meeting with a solid plan of how we're going to move Stone and how we're going to repopulate West do par the stone is pretty simple like

not simple but the easiest part as far as uh moving other children I think it learning from what we just went through today of course we should have them right figure it out over 30 days but at least Mr bico and his team can now start to work on 2501 saying okay if we're going to move in what's the logistics of that so that time is uh sort of off the

essence okay we do as you know 251 we do lease that building it's going to be uh city property in a year some some of these other rumors that are going around have just been uh outrageous uh I do want to say something though I had and talk all night I was very quiet but I do can't tell you how much I get a kick out of seeing my old students like Patrick

come up and talk and Ashley she used to drive me nuts yeah that's right and geretti I don't know where you found your voice but um you should talk to me about a political career because you're going to be good someday and you got your daughter running right with you so I do get a kick out of seeing my old kids come forward I really do I think most of us came to this meeting tonight

with the preconceived notion that realistically we were not in any way shap sh or form ready to do anything with tany to tell you the truth I thought Mr agard's compromised about the stone school which is something that is very easily doable but we have to explore it and um and getting a bunch of kids into West all that district is so long and convoluted do you know that by

law they want kids to walk from the other side of dery street to fansa that's almost halfway across the town that's that District so if we can make it a neighborhood school at West doall it's win-win but the same passion and ideas you guys came forward with that uh Mr agie I was talking about we're going to have to prevent that kind of bubbling up by making sure people understand that

we're putting their students in a place where they can go to a neighborhood school walk down the street hang around with their friends in the neighborhood and get a grade one education um and and that's the way I I think we should probably tackle it tonight uh I thought that was a great idea Mr agar came up with we come back to the next meeting with that plan I'm all for it but as far

as anything related to um um tany I will uh I would love to entertain a motion that we table that right now so it's off the table motion to table second second I have a motion in a second Deb Deb would you please I made a motion first we had ation had a motion on the table the table we got to vote on the stone piece first all right we'll do stone first I second

that motion Tove can I hear the motion the motion Mr agar please repeat your motion sure so the motion is that we move the stone school students to 251 South Main they for freeing up the West all school which will allow the superintendent to do her research do her studying and come back to this committee at the next meeting with a plan to how to fill up the West all school I have a

motion and M Roger seconded go ahead but you Mr AGA I'm willing to amend whatever I think people are just trying to all get to the same place so yeah no just just in that motion the guidance is also that prior to coming to a proposal that families are included in that process I just want to be clear about that part Miss Miss uh superintendent Pon please if I could just clarify why that

would even be on the table first of all thank you for being here every parent should be doing what you're doing absolutely we learned in the process of exploring how we as a district could use our existing properties and expand prek classrooms right that was what we were tasked with if that was even possible and as we were looking at numbers from neighborhood to Neighborhood looking at zones what we

learned as that fansa the zone is so large and so densely populated that 1,195 students live in the fansa district District yet the school Can Only Hold 650 670 so we have many many fanska students that are displaced and are being um sent to Green to lerno to vas all over the all over the district and this is why we wanted to to relieve some of that pressure because I heard a lot about

neighborhood school right you all have a community that you want to preserve those kids that are displaced also deserve to be in a neighborhood school and we wanted to use the westall site as an opportunity to bring back 300 and some of those students and create a neighborhood school and bring it back to the neighborhood where they could walk to school be with their friends and be in their neighborhood that was the

rationale behind opening opening up fansa uh another fansa um neighborhood school because the neighborhood is so densely populated that was as a result of looking at all the information looking at all the data and we will absolutely the next step we were bringing this to the table to ask the committee all right take a vote and tell us where you want to go which direction you want to go and right after

that meeting I contacted right after that meeting when I got home principal brat I need to meet with your staff I don't want anybody to read about it so we can start that process saying it's on the agenda if it gets voted for us to explore that further they need to know know that that's what's happening right if they say no we're going to go in other direction then we go in the other

direction but there was never an intent to say no parents I know parent voice is important and we need to make sure that in hindsight I will say we probably should have done that before the subcommittee at least say because that was you're right uh to miss rodri's point the tany piece was a byproduct of saying well if we do this then we know prek we need space t is the only on

level School in our district and yes we do have 16 classrooms that are located within six of our schools prek classrooms in addition we have two additional sites but we do have prek in the schools and if we could just add more prek with into our existing schools that would be the easy answer we would so it it's complicated and we're trying to make the most respectful decision for

everybody you are right so our next step to Mr agar's point and M Roger point is we need to in we need to meet with stone parents to explain why we would want to make that move and we need to meet with fonsica all these kids that are displaced those parents and say this is what we're proposing this is why we want to bring our students back that was the rationale behind all of

this Mr AA yeah just uh I'm sorry I'm sorry Mr AGA Miss lar AB I forgot I told um hearing everything uh we just a motion was just made to move the stone students without any communication with the parents and their Community I sat here and said I don't feel comfortable taking a vote to relocate any students without Community engagement without speaking to the stakeholders without speaking to the

parents without speaking to the school so so I don't want to Mr agie I respectfully ask you just to withdraw until the superintendent can speak with the stone uh community and principal and however we decide to move forward we're you're asking us to do exactly what we decided not to do to tany so I I I yield Mr thank you so we had a very busy obviously a busy subcommittee meeting

with a lot of information some of the things that were brought up at that meeting were uh utilizing the bank Street Armory as some of the uh um to both preserve it work with the city so that we can actually have different spaces so that should be I think on the table several years ago I had mentioned relative to trying to make expansion classrooms at the dery auditorium I can't stress enough that we need to have

all of these things either up or down with some facts and in writing so that we can actually have something one of the things that is definitely it it struck me was that we have lines drawn we had a demographic study and we don't have a strategic plan related to this and I think that's I want to just focus on that that I think that's one of the real detriments to

where why we're in the situation we're at is because we just keep on grab two here grab two there we need to do a comprehensive look at all of our lines so that we can make these decisions so it's not just one thing after another but it is March 7th I just want to let people know and as we continue to just say we can't make a decision it's going

to keep getting us closer to next year where we're not going to have any any solid numbers and we're not going to be able to move in so time is of the essence and if you would like to come back in in 30 days but we have to have a real plan because I've been saying this for how long multiple years we keep saying the same thing you know Administration we need to have a plan

this it's just really frustrating when it gets to the point where we don't have a solid plan and and the issues with the um where we're going to move kids I have no problem with we you talk to parents of course that's that should happen but at the same time I just want you to know it's already March the demographic study came out in August and we don't have anything so I'll withdraw my motion and

in 30 days we will come back um thank you Mr to uh hopefully have some solid information so you're going to uh Mr AG are you gonna hold that motion I withdrew it so it's we're basically on I'm gonna let Miss Pera go then miss Rogers M per so I agree I agree um I agree that we need to have a conversation with the parents first before we're moving kids but I also want

people to know it is different than tany I think in terms of we're what we're talking about is moving an entire school with all of their teachers which is different right than what you guys thought was happening but with the stone we're we know we're moving that whole Community to a different location and all those kids are already busted because they receive you know special services so it won't be an impact on

transportation to the parents and they will be traveling with their Community with that being said I still think we need to talk to them first and tell them first um but I also agree with Mr AIA everybody wants to push a push it down the wheel but then we end up I've only been doing this for a little over two years but I can tell you we end up

pushing a ball and then we end up having to make a decision at the last minute that makes everybody uncomfortable so I agree we need to talk to the parents first it is different than the switch that the superintendent was proposing with tany but we do have to do it quick this it needs to be done with that I you miss Rog all right I have two comments and then I'll pipe down um so first off

I sincerely appreciate that you turned around and you said yeah we should have talked to parents first so as a parent that means a whole lot to me me and as a colleague that that Fosters a whole lot more I've had respect for you but that offers more respect because to look at something and say yeah you know what we should have done this a little bit differently we should have done this

better I think takes a lot of guts and not everybody has has the guts to do that so I really appreciate that um I think it's meaningful and I may have said that to you privately but I'm saying it publicly on purpose because I think it matters um the other piece is you know my colleague Miss L had said you know we're doing the same exact thing I agree which is

exactly why I made that amendment that we need to talk to parents because even though we might be picking them up and moving them all together again that's a special population who may struggle even more with that transition so those families those kids need to be prepared and so yes yes to all of the things and again I sincerely appreciate that you could look back and say you know what we

should have involved parents from the get-go and I yielded I'll shut up now can we motion to table Mo we have a we have a motion the motion in a second to table is on the floor um Deb could you please call the roll Mr Agia yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes Miss larv yes Miss Pereira yes M rodri mayor Coogan yes um I'm been sitting here all night I got

to take a break five minute recess thank you everybody we appreciate you coming out

back in business people oh it's order we're back in order um Deb would you please call the roll I know where we are Bailey herey Cory say you oh yes oh miss lar yes M Carrera yes M rodri yes mayor cougan here um subcommittee updates item number four um special education alternative education early childhood education chairman Mr Agia the uh I don't need to go over the part that we

already talked about obviously we know what happened there the other issue that we talked about was I think a a solid organizational chart for the special ed Department which articulated where and I believe everyone has a copy this it articulated all of the divisions that fall under this assistant superintendent for special education and I think that's important to for us to look at when

you're building an organization to know there's a reporting structure who's held accountable to do X Y and Z and I think that was a big piece of uh the second part of the meeting so I want to thank Miss openchain and her staff for and the superintendent for presenting that and the other piece we had already talked about thank you okay uh next is facilities and operation subcommittee Mimi larvie

please thank you Mr Mayor uh facilities and operation subcommittee meeting was held on Thursday January 18th at 2024 uh all members of the subcommittee were in attendance myself Mr Corey and Mr agar on the agenda was a discussion uh in vote to refer a request from Fall River Youth Soccer a discussion and vote to refer the brightly software contract and addition and a discussion and vote

to refer the renewal of 300 Eastern Avenue contract preschool and a discussion to uh to vote and refer the proposal from RTA Architects and opms for RPA uh Naomi Tavaris from for vith soccer presented documentation along with a request to place a 8 by10 vinyl uh storage shed on Sylvia school property she stated it was going to be used uh to house equipment to maintain the field throughout the season the

subcommittee voted to refer to full committee uh K Pico provided documentation and information on the brightly software which is formerly uh School DED management system Mr Pico along with the input from the directors who attended the meeting stated uh brightly is similar to uh School dude but has much more a much better platform it has a notification alert system to manage tickets and alert when projects

become complete brightly off also is a more efficient way to manage rentals as well subcommittee voted to refer to full committee Mr Pacho requested uh continued use of 300 northeaster na Parish of St Anthony the desert he requested to enter into a one-year uh 237 600 on all-inclusive contract the committee voted to refer to full committee Mr pachico presented documentations for RTA Architects and

opms for an assessment of the RPA at 290 Rock Street the documentation revealed a road map to the design and work sequence for RPA to be renov renovated and restored the subcommittee voted to refer to full committee thank you thank you Miss Lar mayor Mr a just uh on that we had talked about the um fall of Youth Soccer and I think there was an issue I can't remember who asked me about electric

having electric on site uh you know to plug something in do you know if there's anything in history there of whether we said we were going to not going to whatever the so mrag there's there's no current power in that particular area um but we can reach um a section of the field uh closer to the softball area where we do have a power uh connection and then we will work on

that inhouse and uh run a line over for them so usak is okay for now and then in the future we'll ex run something with one of our guys in house thank you very much I yield uh next item up is item number five superintendent report um hiring update and a student Opportunity Act plan thank you Mr Mayor just so just uh ahead up that the student Opportunity Act plan uh we are um finalizing a

three-year SOA plan uh on Monday March 18th next week we will bring our three-year SOA plan to the school committee for approval this plan and annual progress reports are required every for every district and this this one will take us through uh school year 27 student achievement data feedback from staff and families observation data and other sources were considered and there's no surprise where we landed uh

we'll focus our our work primarily on addressing disparities in the performance of our English language Learners and our students with disabilities and also examine opportunities for prek expansion while we're not required to identify every area in which we are allocating money we are required to identify one to three Focus areas along with um evid evidence-based programs that we will

Implement within each one of those areas so that will be presented on Monday um um at the school committee meeting and also for a hiring update since our last school committee meeting um we have hired 36 uh folks eight teachers two administrators um 10 PA professionals nine educational support positions and seven Operational Support um positions and we have also had 13 people exit uh

six teachers uh two parent professionals two educational support positions and three Operational Support positions um we had a recruitment event on February 29th uh where 23 potential candidates attended that was at Morton we also have an event coming up in March and we have our big event in in the spring which will be held at the end of April and we will be participating the Bridgewater on

uh May 1st um and recruitment event and the Merc recruitment event in Boston which is scheduled for April 18th that's all Mr chairman Mr agar just on that I I think that um one of the biggest pieces of news in the uh superintendent's report SL information was that superintendent is going to be retiring and um I think I support her decision to for the reasons that she described with us so the only thing I'm

wanting I know we just talked about having people out in the community wondering about what's going on I I'm curious if you're going to be committing to be here until June 30th and just so that we can plan what our process is but I'm assuming based on what I've heard that you're committing to being here until June 30th is that accurate that Absolut that's my intention um the letter and I will say that I notified

all of you and then I I notified staff and I'm sending something out tonight for um All Families put posting something I mean it's it's not big news but it's news right um people should know uh but my commitment is uh I intend to finish out the year on June 30th um and uh transition into uh another chapter in my life so I person Al support that but um I appreciate what

you said about June 30th I'd just like to weigh in on in my opinion um at this present time with the needs that we have I believe that we need to to do a search for a an experienced superintendent someone that can come in and deal with a lot of issues including what we just talked about today and um I think that the sooner that we have that knocked down the better we are and I'm glad

you're going to be here for a few more months to guide us through that process as well with that I yel thank you can I make a comment on that sure M he like sure Sor I was going to talk again um and I've already said this to the superintendent but I think it's really important that you provide your expertise if you want to but your expertise and your understanding of our

district to whoever it is that steps in and fills your shoes because you have a lot of experience behind you that's really important that you share with other people it's valuable Insight that other folks are just not going to have so I'm I know I said that to privately but I'm saying it again publicly I I will never say um I will never turn my back on Fall River I'm a product fall

Public Schools I certainly believe in it so um I think that Mr Medeiros spoke very eloquently about follow Public Schools um but I think that um certainly where the need is you know that I have some family commitments um uh you know in the Horizon But as time uh um I will do whatever I need to do to support continue to to support follower public schools in any way I can always in our

search for an experienced person it matter your input matters and I yield yeah you've input matters um I think I think what we're going to do is um the last time I was involved with an exterior or or a full-blown search we contracted with the Massachusetts Association of school committees they have a five-phase process anyone can see it on their website it involves the super um the school committee extensively uh

but they do a lot of the work the pre-work that goes into um vetting the candidates and coming up with a potential group that would be best suited to the city of Fall River um we've uh We've contracted with them before they're doing a number of searches across the state right now and I think they could do an objective search on who could best serve the residents in the city of Fall River they

know a lot about an urban district and um I'm sure that's where we'll probably end up going until they recommend candidates to us which will then be vetted by our committee uh last time we did this was with um one of the former superintendents we ended up at BCC in an Amphitheater doing the interviews uh I think it'll be a process similar to that um and I think it's a it's a good solid

um objective process that takes uh politics and things out of it which is exactly what we want to do but going forward I'm sure we'll all talk about a little more uh item item number seven approval of minutes could I get a motion a second on the mo motion to accept 71 72 and 73 second I have a motion a second Deb could you call the role Please Mr yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes

M lar yes M perrera yes M rodri yes mayor cougan yes we have a number of travel items on the agenda but we are going to pull the last one Doran Community School Jason Sue is a president the destination was Roger Williams they're not ready at this time okay uh so we'll pull that one off can I get a motion to second on the Travel items motion to approve second I have a

motion to Second Deb could you call the rooll Mr yes Mr biley yes Mr Cory yes M lar yes M Perera yes Mr Rog yes may yes we Have No donations tonight item number nine item number 10 we have no grants tonight we do have a few contracts um anybody have any question questions on the contracts which are on item number 11 uh s Miss rodri please so I just wanted to pull

cartwheel and smck it's the last one on there so we're going to pull cartwheel and Southeastern Mass educational collaborative can I get a motion so moved on the second other two all right on Maxim and Norton I have a motion second to approve Deb or any discussion Deb could you please call a roll on those two Mr yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes Miss larv yes Miss Perera yes M Rodricks yes mayy kouan yes Miss

Rodricks on cartwheel so I was just hoping we could just inform the public what that was um because I think it's an important resource that folks hear about thank you very much so we've had an opportunity to partake in a partnership that has been started across the state to further enhance our students access to Clinical Services as we know one-on-one counseling is a big piece um of support for our students

when it is identified as a need um and in the city we have noticed um not enough uh councilors in the city to be able to meet the needs of our kids across all of our schools in addition to that the cartwheel program will create essentially a 24-hour turnaround window where we will be able to within 24 to 48 hours connect our families with a tah health model we have an opportunity to

Pilot the program this spring one of some of the attractive elements of the program as well really support our community with multilingual services so when we think about our students that need multilingual therapeutic care as well as Psychiatry treatment and in some cases medication assist assistance should our student students need that service um uh cartwheel will be able to

provide that for our students as well as the fact that it's an 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. availability as well as offering telea Health opportunities on Saturdays for our students and families there also is a robust wraparound program for families who get involved in the cartwheel um program we have done some work um investigating how cartwheel has if they've really met up to their end of

the bargain because when we met with cartwheel it almost felt as though yeah right this is too good to be true that they would be able to follow through within the timelines that they've marketed and in doing some research with local school districts Diamond being one of them that has been utilizing cartwheel um they have given them a five-star rating and ultimately gave us the green light that you can expect

every part of the partnership to play itself out um also just to note um you know this is in Partnership where half of it is funded through the district and then the other half is funded through a 10year dph grant that Grant is two years into its 10 years so we do have an opportunity to partner with cartwheel for upwards of another 8 years per se based on the Department of Public Health

grant that is available to us as a community so we're going to start this spring to Target um and identify 50 students at the secondary level as a pilot in the district to see how our families interact with the telea health model because that is something different um and then we will come back to the committee once we are able to evaluate the program its responsiveness to our families and the needs of our

community to make a recommendation as we think forward for next school year to bring the program to scale from our elementary schools through 12th grade Miss lar and Mr Cory so two questions Dr bronhard uh one you did say the next 10 years or two years into it but what is this 45,000 for the 40 the 42,000 I'm sorry 45,000 was the total cost for us to be able to put 50

students through the program from now through the summertime that being said we only are going to be paying half of that and the dph grant will be funding the second half which is the reason why we're bringing it before the committee because we will pay out the we willay pay out the 45 but we will get reimbursed just until uh June until the end of and through the summer okay and then the

option to pick up again is there right for the next eight years for next school year okay so second question how many languages and what languages currently spoken Spanish Portuguese Haitian Creole Indonesian Hebrew Ghana and mor okay Moroccan Arabic would be available I'm understanding that Asian uh the Creole is really coming on strong right now I was just wanted to make sure that was on

there thank absolutely thank you thank you miss Larry Mr Cory so um I'm I'm looking at it looks like a really good proposal uh Dr B uh what's the feedback from the other districts that have used cartwheel has has there been any feedback like I said we directly reached out to the local at Diamond and we partook on a round table um probably about two months ago that really sparked

our interest based on the feedback that our partners across the state from the western Mass through the Boston area and again locally here and all of those Community Partners had given the positive and the thumbs up you're telling me that it can service up to 200 of our kids uh between grades 1 and 12 at the point of full expansion at this point this spring we are just looking at

the middle schol y up to 200 kids and only at a cost of $73,000 because the dph grants I got it right here the dph grants kick in and cover all the other costs so that's basically the cost of an extra sack you know that could service up to 200 kids my other question is how will those clinicians integrate with our staff clinicians so I appreciate you for asking that we did host a webinar with

all of our secondary staff that would be involved in this process there is a robust tracking portal that Direct directly connects our care coordinator at the cartwheel side with our school-based folks as well as the district folks and points of contact to be able to support students ensure that families are getting connected and also break down any barriers of Outreach should that be part of the hesitation to

get families connected um I think it's important to also know um family health insurance would be part of this equation but we also asked um as it relates to our students who may not have health insurance and we were assured that no students get turned away so we have a few things that we can evaluate through the spring to make sure that all of our students have access should they need it

so it looks like it's going to be able to reach out and and service a lot more students because our case loads have been growing by the year and by the month especially postco our case loads have grown so you really see a positive impact on those case loads throughout grades one and 12 there's a posit would they might they be uh doing professional development with St people there are all

elements that um of professional development and other aspects for the program that become available to us as partners it it almost seems too good to be true but but really I have to commend you for uh seeking this out because um I'm very impressed by this proposal with that I yield Mr chairman thank you thank you any uh Miss rodri um so I appreciate that you said that they're not going to

turn any of our kids away I just I just want to monitor that usage and I know that you said that that was the plan was to track it because sometimes folks will say that but there's only certain slots available for kids who either don't have insurance or don't have the right insurance so it's just something to keep in mind um and then to remember it is Tella health and so not every one of our

kids can access that and so I know that was something that we had talked about before and whether or not there's clinician turnover like what all those things look like so just in our tracking I think it's important to keep that that stuff in mind a lot of our kids are not in positions where they can access tella health because of their home situation or what whatever the situation might be

so just if we're tracking things I think those are a couple of key points just to keep in mind and I need anything further okay do we have uh do we have a motion a second on to approve second I have a motion to second on carwheel Deb would you please call the role Mr AA yes Mr yes Mr Cory yes Miss larvi yes Miss Pereira yes M Rodricks yes mayor cougan yes um again miss

Rodricks on southeastern Mass educational collaborative so I don't have a question I just needed it held because I can't vote on that I need to approve okay I have a motion second I have a motion to Second Deb please call the Mr AGA yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes M lar yes M Pereira yes M Rodricks see mayor yes item number 12 for the committee of the whole is a discussion

and vote to approve the conversion of an S par a professional to anal liaison at vona presented by Kate Cobb principal any questions on that conversion I have a Miss Rogers question or just kind of a point um so that liaison position was included in the list of unfunded positions from when we went over the budget last week so it just seems like a very quick turnaround and because it

wasn't included in the original budget and then it was a list it was listed on that so just to be so just to clarify so when I did the budget I had already put in as a conversion because I thought it was going to be on um in the February meeting but I forgot to put it on to the February meeting and it's on this meeting for conversion so it's already

included in the budget as a position and I apologize for that okay thank you I have a motion second Mr agar so can you explain more of the district what schools have an SE par professional um to to be honest with you I they may be one of the only ones that had them I don't believe um there are any other schools to be honest and I think that obviously

I'm all for issues this is once again another opportunity where this should have gone these type of discussions should have gone to the subcommittee level where we can get into the details of why is it how many do we have so that we can determine what it is when I keep on saying they're in this budget process there's winners and there's losers some people have things and not this is the

type of situation so we this school going to convert a position that nobody else has or very few have to anazon so oh that's just a conversion but the poor person at school whatever it is that never even had anal power can't convert I just it doesn't sit well with me when we didn't do this so I know I'm going to be having a meeting because we have some other U issues with the special

subcommittee so I'd like to ask that this go before them so we can figure out what this really is so I'm making a motion to refer to the subcommittee second there was already a motion I believe a subcommittee would take precedence but I'm not positive but refer to a subcommittee takes precedence over motion of approv do you me to take it off the table we have a motion to approve first then Mr agar's motion was

secondary to um refer to a subcommittee so I guess we'll vote on the first motion first table he said that takes precedence Mr a that's what I believe it takes precedence that we talk about they both they both main motions but it doesn't make sense to uh to vote on the on the first motion if the second motion is to refer it right without a vote so I withdraw my motion oh you were the

one that did it sorry so the first motion to approve has been withdrawn Mr agar could you say your motion again please refer to the special education subcommittee second I have a motion a second um Deb call the rooll Please Mr ago yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory no Miss larv yes M Pereira yes M Rodricks yes mayor cougan uh yes all right so spe uh I'm sorry number 12.2 is

a discussion and vote to approve the special education program description is referred by the special education alternative education Early Childhood subcommittee motion to approve I have a motion to approve do I have a second any discussion Deb call the role Please Mr AA yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes M larvi yes M Perera yes M Rodricks yes mayor Coogan yes uh 123 is a discussion and a

vote to approve the spending of the $2.5 million appropriation is presented by Maria Pont superintendent schools superintend tenant Mr Mayor um in light of the fact that we just um said that we were going to be moving um Stone and creating a new um the uh westall school I think that it would be in the best interest of us to just hold off on spending you know uh trying to figure

out if there are going to be any expenditures associated with those moves before um those because they would take precedence over the allocation the targeted allegation allocations so my question if there's no spending plan and you already have the money do we have to vote on this item at all Mr uh Assad have to vote on what was that do we have to vote on this item at all there is no longer a spending plan so

justd it's just withdrawing 124 is a discussion and vote to approve the arst artist Kevin Leo's contract as presented by Ken Pacho the Chief Operating Officer motion to approve with a question I have a motion to approve can I get a second I'll second it but I have a question you have a question too Mr Agia go first Mr Cory next my only question was on if this is a bid is this exempt from bidding

because it's a specialty type of situation it is a specialty item um and last time we didn't go out to well I wasn't it went through a different U mechanism but it it did fall short of us we don't have we're not violating any bidding laws by not going thank you I Y okay Mr Cory um Mr pigo what's the symbol of his artwork what's it going to represent so

um same artist that did Doran um and what he normally would do is he would take a um take students so 251 the population in now is three year olds and four year olds so he'll talk to um the parents of students who are parents who are interested in having their student in this mural and then he will see how best to portray that student just as he did at Doran that's a Doran

student who's on the side of Doran this will be the north facing wall of um 2501 as you come up the hill it'll it'll be very very uh noticeable so that's his normal process so that it will be a student so it's meant to grab the Public's attention and uh send Positive Vibes through everybody right is that what it's about yes thanks I yield any further discussion yes just a quick

question Mr Pico yes so as the years lapse would this person be available to say 10 years down the road with these other ones that are up on the like how do we keep them updated and bright and all we have to do is hire them to do to another cont yeah or anybody else abely anybody El if we change yes it doesn't have to be him no right okay thank you

no I can't see I know missar had a question first right no no okay sorry um so if we're going to move stone in there right that's a very different population than the little guys and so then how maybe it's not a question maybe it's more of a comment I think we just have to be aware and mindful that the needs of the or what the stone kids may want just

given their age differences um will look very different than the little pre kids so we might have to consider you know where we're putting that do we put two in that building do we look at it a little bit differently because again the little guys and the older kids are going to have vastly different opinions about what that should look like what I can do um is maybe can be incorporated together we

will have a conversation um with uh Mr Leo and see if he can incorporate the two populations absolutely stone is prek through 12 so you know you do have some but a majority of those kids are older exactly so I think there is room to collaborate on that but I just want to make sure we're mindful of that because again their needs are very different absolutely right so I have Mr Cory just one brief

uh according to that is there any way that Miss Leo could um present to the subcommittee meeting his his idea so I I once we get him a contract then he'll come down because he's um he's he's not local so he'll come down do that interview process we can present this piece um this change to him and see what he thinks about it and then I'm I'm sure we could we're not going to he's not

going to do this without us having a rendering so to speak right uh and then we can bring the rendering here or it's a subcommittee whichever we'd rather have it out thanks M I have a second on this okay anything further dead please call the rooll Mr AGA yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes M larv yes Miss Pereira yes M rodri yes mayor Coogan yes um I item 13.1 retirements resignations um appointments and

regretfully some death notices can I get a motion to accept motion to accept second and Deb could you call the role on that Mr yeah yes just had a question at some point you want to to the vote first and ask Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes M lar yes M Perera yes M rodri yes mayor K yes Mr agar my only question on the appointments was the um Administrative Assistant office of instruction is that

the one we talked about where one was for one is for Dr B one is so this is the one for this is the one for cuz I thought we were keeping the person in the office of instruction and creating one for the office of did but they they swapped walked out the the people Dr B took the one that was there and Miss fer is going to no problem just

want to make sure we were separating so let's all thank you item number 14 new business any new business come before the Committee hearing none is there a reason to go into executive session there would be mayor um you want to read the reason shest sure u m laws chapter 38 section 2187 to review and approve executive session minutes for February 12th 2024 regular school committee

meeting Master Law chapter 38 uh section 2183 to discuss strategy with respect litigation including the civil action regarding Taran Camaro versus the city of Fall River at Al United States District Court District of Massachusetts docket number one21 CV 1017 D WGY as the chair has deter that open session may have a detrimental in impact on a litigating position of the school committee Nation law chapter 38

section 2183 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation including work as compensation case regarding James Gillette Department of industrial accidents Board number 01171 15-18 and Department of industrial accidents Board number 42217 as a chair is a term an open session may have a detrimental impact on the litigating position of the school committee M Law chapter 38 section 2183

to discuss strategy with respect to Collective Bing relative including hearing grievances relative to All Professional teaching employees the forward School System including coaches Title One teachers nurses occupational physical therapists and specialists in the teaching profession represented by the for educators Association as the chair is determined that open session may have a detrimental impact on the bgy

position of the committee M Law chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining relative to all administrators and employees represented by the for of Administrators Association as the chairs deter an open session may have a detrimental impact on the Bing position of the committee Mas laws chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with the expect the colletive Bing relative

to all civil clerical employees of the forward school system represented by the forward Department of Civil Service clerical employees Association as the chair is determined that a no possession may have a detrimental impact on a bargaining position of the committee M laws chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to Collective Bing relative to all par professionals employees of the for school system

represented by the for Federation of par professionals as the chairs determined that open session may have a detrimental impact on the baining position of the committee we will reconvene there may or may not be a statement at that time can I get a motion in a second motion to enter executive session second I have a motion a second to enter executive session um Deb could you please call the role Mr yes Mr Bailey

yes Mr Cory yes M larv yes M Perera yes M Rodricks yes Mary cougan yes executive

session we're back from executive session uh Deb could you please call the roll Mr AIA here Mr Bailey here Mr Cory here M larvey here miss per here M rodri here mayor Coogan uh here uh anything further to come before the committee yes Mr Mayor I'd like to make a motion to approve the executive session minutes for February 12th 2024 um yes it's the 11th I think do I have a

second down there I'm gonna go down there hello could you second it Tom yeah yeah thanks somebody say second say say something yeah time I thought shell did planet Earth call no I said it's actually the 11th she said the 12th and I it's actually the 11th but yes I said minutes all right I got a motion M yes Mr Bailey Miss lar yes pleas perrera yes M Rodricks yes mayor coug yes anything

further come for the committee I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion second a motion is second Deb call the roll pleasey getting silly Mr Cory yes M lvy yes M Perera here yes Mrs rodri yes mayor adjurned yes