3.18.2024 Fall River School Committee

I'd like to call to order the Monday March 18th special meeting of the Fara school committee um I guess it's a little out of order but Deb would you call the rooll Please Mr Agia here Mr Bailey here Mr Cory here miss lvy here M Pereira M rodri here mayor KGAN here uh salute to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

republ for 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 and

permissible citizens input um we have have one tonight Patrick Higgins Roberson Street Fall River good evening I saw on your agenda and Ria Pon I want to congratulate you and thank you for the work you did for the city I hope you have a long healthy and happy retirement Swansea went through the Recruitment and uh search and recruitment procedure for a new superintendent earlier this year on

January 8th the school committee appointed named and appointed the preliminary search committee as outlined by the open meeting law for searches they did contract with the Master Association school committee when they found out that $10,000 was at the threshold that have to go out to bid they contacted Mas masc Master Association school committee and they reduced the price by $5 to get under the

$10,000 bid January 8th they appointed the screening Comm committee January 15th they had their first meeting January 17th applications closed January 18th I sent all of the members of the preliminary screening committee an email to access all of the applicants and paperwork submitted the following Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday the screening committee met went into executive session to review the applications

picked the seven candidates that were going to do the preliminary interviews for in open session on the February 1st they came to the Swansea school committee and announced the names of the three finalists I'll tell you Scott hulham was one of them because I know he's not available because he's the new the next superintendent but there was three candidates then they had a meet and greet at the hoil school on the day

before snowstorm which I believe was February 15th or so and um members of the community came and got to meet the three finalist list on February 17th I believe it was they had their Open Session interviews in the open session to interview and they decided and made an offer of employment to Mr Scott holcom former superintendent adoro now pres now principal of taon high school who will be the superintendent July 1st

so I urge you to make a prary screening committee reach out to Sonia babosa or Elena who are the two members of the school committee who was part of the screening committee and um they did an excellent job they started January 8th and by February 15th they had the new superintendent so it's not a hard lift it's very well organized masc did a great job and uh I just wanted to give you my experience and my

knowledge to help you uh go through the search committee process to replace Dr puns and with that I will sit down unless anybody has any questions okay thank you thank you next item up on the agenda 3.1 is a vote to approve the for of public schools fiscal year 25 budget draft operational budget in the amount of 175 m770 46 for the purpose of public release in preparation for the public hearing

scheduled for Monday April 8th 2024 any discussion Mr agar so we had some hearings and uh I believe that they were beneficial to given some input to the superintendent so my question is have there been any changes to this document as it it's going to go out to the public uh thank you yes uh we did have some good conversations and but at this time we are still holding those positions that were on hold because we

have a lot of unknowns and we are trying trying to create a budget that's sustainable that doesn't mean that those positions are off the table that means we have to wait until we know for sure what we can afford to add um or and not add we don't want to add positions now and then find ourselves in a few months in a position where we're going to have to cut positions so we are holding um

those positions until we are more certain as to the direction we're going so there was no changes no changes it what does actually get released the binder or just the budget what please can you what was that what are we releasing released we're releasing the budget but what what pieces come with it that's all the whole the whole binder gets released M the binder back up like yes some of the questions that we asked

were Clarity sometimes it was more about Clarity something could look a little clearer I think some things could have been presented in a different fashion some conversions weren't conversion whatever it is we had some fruitful discussions so here we are today 3 weeks later and nothing has changed in the document and that concerns me a little because I think that wasn't only about the positions that we were putting a

hold on there was other issues that were brought up along the way so it is what it is it's going to get released but there's no way anybody can tell me after all of those questions and all of those discussions that nothing needed to change to make this a better document to go out to the public in my opinion because the same questions might be asked by somebody already we could have

fixed some of those things but we did fix some things that were asked to be fixed so that the front the page where we included the grants we also um did the FTE added it to the page so there were some of those um things that you're saying that we were asked to clarify that I sent to all of you that we did um change so in the uh discussion that we

had the last at the last meeting which was March the beginning of March I asked a question on the sickly buyback so CLE buyback was is a line item within the budget that's hence the reason why I asked that question at the last meeting which makes my point here today relevant to the discussion so I had asked the superintendent to get some information and I still haven't received it the

email I sent was on March 6th it reads to miss Pon Miss bronhard Dr Curley Miss obenchain and attorney Assad says hello I have stated for a long time that do we not we do not have proper in internal fiscal controls at Monday's meeting I said that we are paying people sickle buyouts when they quit attached is the language that clearly does not say we are obligated to pay staff in those two

unions when they quit but we did please send me all the money that we have paid out over the last five years under these conditions in error and I still haven't received anything the paper that I'm talking about reads the following for the public certification for my colleagues and for Miss Pereira who does isn't here but she questioned whether this was a a good situation or tried to question whether I

knew what I was talking about the language reads there shall be a severance benefit pertaining to sick leave upon either retirement termination for other than cause or death while in the employee of the city payable in accordance with the following schedules as of 25 2005 the Lesser $55 this basically States that upon retirement termination for other than cause or death we will pay sickly

buo now I know recently we paid out under this language a person that worked in the maintenance contract and I brought this up 6 eight months ago and I keep on being told no we we're paying them because we have to now I employ anybody to tell me where it says in this document I just read that it says if you quit you get a sick leave buyout anybody and on March 6th I asked the

question to say all I'm asking you for is how much did we pay out by my indications that's 12 days away and I still haven't received anything part of the reason why I get frustrated is because that's a legitimate question and all I asked for was a legitimate answer but as it goes around here you don't get any answer I also had a conversation with a superintendent directly last week

stating this exact thing and I still receive no answer in that conversation I actually said if I don't get any answer I'm going to be forced to have to read this in public which I did not want to do and I still haven't received an answer can anybody tell me how much we've paid out in the last 5 years of this sick benefit to people under the maintenance or custodial

contract I cannot I I'd have to look it up were you asked to look that up before or or is this the first time you're hearing this no I I'm aware of the situ I'm aware of the request I just have not had a chance to look at it right I asked attorney Assad to weigh in on that looking at that language you sent me those three paragraphs and also

we talked about uh who had gotten paid for si le buy back it's it's not that it wasn't we're getting that information that's but 12 days does it take that long to get an answer I've said the same thing for six months I've said over and over and over again that those contracts are not being followed but it goes nowhere because we just keep waiting and keep waiting and keep waiting and Meanwhile we're paying

out we're paying out we're paying out the quote last month was we are not only on good contract as Miss perea mentioned we're doing super negotiations of contracts cuz we're paying out when we don't even have to pay out and I don't even know how much but it's definitely thousands of dollars that we've paid out for no reason you know you can say all you want that's a small thing if we don't take

care of these things we're going to have a big mess on our hands with contracts not being followed and that's what I see here is that we look at the stuff in the budget let's just pass it through let's not talk about it let's not respond to questions that people ask that's not good way to to lead that's not a good way to get people on you know be on the same page and it's entirely totally

frustrating to me when we look at this budget that we're going to release there's line items in there that that definitely should have changed we're going to now wait and see so everything we're putting here is what we know at the time there's definitely things that should have been changed in this document um I'm a little dis Hoten in it but it is what it is um we should have got an answer I should

have personally gotten an answer on it and it's it's a pretty sad State of Affairs when I have to raise this in public to try to get somebody to respond with that I yield anything further U Miss Rodricks can I just want to uh clarify for folks that this is a draft so this is still a working document more changes can be made um and then it looks like our oh sorry I'm not good with the

mic sorry um but our it's still a draft that changes can still be made and so if we see that there are changes and I'm saying this more for the public not for people on the stage but again it's a draft it's a working document and so hopefully you know with some additional pieces it becomes clear to everybody what's in the budget where the money is going where it's coming from you know

all of the things that are really important to everybody and then come April we'll make the final decision on it right so it's really just a comment clarifying for folks thank um thank anyone else can I get a motion I make a motion Mr chairman second I got a motion in a second discussion none further Deb please call a rooll on releasing Mr AGA yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes M larav yes M

Pereira yes M Rodricks yes may Coogan yes 3.2 is a vote to approve the for of public schools fiscal year 2025 draft of Transportation budget in the amount of 10,897 280 for the purpose of public release and preparation for the public hearing scheduled for Monday April 8th 2024 any discussion any discussion comment oh I'm sorry Mr Mr ragar uh Madam superintendent are you prepared to state

that we will not be going over the 10, 87,000 I I can't guarantee that um obviously you know that that's a moving Target so that that's what we're projecting I don't think any of us can say that but is it based on what like what is it based on based on our current Mr elme can answer that I ask because I think that's way you would so just certainty I guess so

just to clar just to clarify so the budget the projected Transportation figure is $13.8 million as discussed during our budget deliberations um a million 42720 is coming from circuit breaker for out of District transportation a million do is coming from eer uh 500,000 is coming from the mckin vento account so the net figure to come out of the operating budget is 10,897 280 so adding all those together we're

going to make a 900 to can you take us through the process of where that number came up from so obviously we have contracts so we know if we have the same number of routes we correct you can kind of figure out what the the dollar figure is but where is there any other backstory to deliberations to say we've crunched these numbers we know the routs are all working we're on track

this year is there any other thing that you can say to make anybody feel confident that other than the fact that it's based on what we spent last year so it's based on what we're projected to spend this year with a slight increase that's what it's that's what it's based on and there's no hidden like concerns there's no rout that up is as far as concerns go you know mckin vento is a

problem because M mckin vento's increased over the last several years and we know the funding comes in afterwards um you know in any who knows what's going to happen if there are any potential additional routes that are going to come up that we're not aware of at this time but as far as you know this is the best I could do at this time for this figure and the mcken vento is the

city the money goes to the city correct and there's only 500,000 in there no there's more than that there's more than that so the the reimbursement for last year was uh just about a million dollars uh I do project that the reimbursement would be around a million dollar this this 500,000 is what we spent this year out of there so I use the same figure going forward right so theoretically if

there's a million dollars reimbursed last year for mckin vento M and we took that whole reimbursement this year yep we could reduce our number by 500,000 yep yes and what's the rationale for that not happening if the money is for mcken vento I was just trying to keep it sustainable for I was just trying to keep it sustainable so using the same figure we're moving forward if the city

decides to uh spend more money in that line item then this number will change slightly if the city decides to spend how can the city spend money without the school committee I know it's convoluted because it's on their side correct but no that's something that we' bring forward to the school committee and they would know ahead of time but at this time this is the number that we're

using and how much is in that account I know you said we is this does that carry over from year to year it does it's a it's like it's a revolving fund essentially is what it is right so I feel like the a good number would be the reimbursement in the prior year y so if the reimbursement is a million dollars then that million dollar should go to offset the cost of Transportation in the

following year yep I don't disagree I think that's kind of a fair um I way to do it but we arbitrarily have 500,000 in here can you help me out with this Madam superintendent did you authorize to only use half of the reimbursement or is that where did the 500,000 come from Madam superintendent we've used 500,000 the last several years is the amount Mr AGA that's the amount that's been the

placeholder that we've used no I understand Madam superintendent may you respond to whether if we got a million dollars last year in a reimbursement have you been been part of any discussions relative to what the amount is for that yes we actually we meet and and have those discussions we're trying to be conservative uh conservative thank you for the word conservative and trying to

project on that and use that number and then work from there that's the history of what we have done I mean Mr almeer and I go over the numbers and go over the budget multiple times we've had meetings me him and our team so yes and with the city also Mr a we met last week um I I think you'll see a you know again as as Sarah so eloquently put it this is a

draft I think you'll see some changes there we actually talked about it last week in a meeting but we wanted to make sure we had our draft budget out there's a couple of other things that you suggested that you were concerned about and obviously that was one of them but we wanted to see if that number changed a little more going down the road but it had been discussed both with the chief

finance officer myself and the schools had another one of our meetings last week we talked specifically about mckin vitto right so my concern is having sitting here with my other colleagues on the school committee our responsibility is for the schools we were never told that this number when we got the million dollars that is optional that you mentioned last time Mr almea we were

never told that the city is sitting on half a million in mckin vento funds that is not going to be used so therefore for we need to give them the million the way I see it is that 500,000 that we're giving out of either our Essa funds or the circuit breaker which you said was voluntary we're giving more than what we have to give but we're not being brought

to decision to us to say members of the school committee would you like to give a another half a million dollars to Transportation even though it's going to come out of half a million dollars and something for the schools and the kids we've never been presented that uh discussion and I think that's a problem because you all can have a discussion with the city the city's responsible for

the transportation I get all that but in the difference between the 10.8 and the 13 is discretionary money that you all use your discretion to say yes we're going to give this to the city or for transportation but this school committee never got a chance to vote and say whether we want it to or not we're just going to try to get this thing passed through so yep they got us again for another million and

I think we should have a vote before these things are happening but nobody told us so I don't think we should be voting on The 108 I think we should be maximizing the number and reduce the 500,000 off of what we say was Esser Mr El would that be the line if we were going to cut 500,000 to support schools yes would be to reduce it from the Esser yes to me that makes the most sense

because that's given $500,000 to the schools where they already have the money in an account on the city Side to me that makes a lot of sense so I'll make a motion that we reduce it by 500,000 and from the Esser funds the end result will still be the same here but we will be saving $500,000 in s funds that the schools could use for the kids are y uh I would I would like to address

that I think that as as everybody in the audience knows the entire increase that we get this year from raising our taxes by two and a half goes directly to the schools we don't get one penny for police fire or anything because of the increases we are obligated under student Opportunity Act if if sharing the money as Mr agar says with the city is uh a negative experience then he should vote

no and uh I'm I'm going to vote Yes this is money that goes a long way to transport kids um the city does fulfill its obligations at the next um School Comm uh I'm sorry next city council meeting was sending down another transfer of 1.1 million so we meet our 100% as obligated and we're trying to do that again for next year so I don't think that this is anything that bad

having the schools pitch in more for transportation um I'm I'm respectfully asking that we uh we leave the budget as is if there are adjustments coming um as we told the schools we can work on them this is a draft and we'll fix things going forward but at this time I would not suggest that Mr chairman Mr Ria I made the motion based on the facts of what we have so we have

a million dollars in school funds that we're going to give to the city did last meeting we talked about that being a structural deficit going forward for the city all I simply did was make a motion to ask that we remove 500,000 from the Esser in this number that's all I didn't ask you so at that point at that Point Mr with all do respect I didn't hear a second and I said all do respect with

all do respect Mr Mayor y when somebody makes a motion the next comment isn't to try to change the vote or whatever you want to do the next comment is Mr Agia made a motion is there a second and then we give it personis the opportunity to do that if my colleagues don't want to Second it and they want to give $500,000 of school money away to the city that's the vote but please ask for a

second I'll ask for a second I I'll second the motion because I think that everybody has a has an opportunity and everyone should have an opportunity to weigh in on whether or not they want to do that fine I I made my piece um I'm not going to change what I said I think it's fair anything further on this one Deb call the rooll Mr yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory excuse me can what are we

voting on CL the CL the SR money to reduce it by 500 I'm having I'll be honest with you I'm having difficulty hearing that side of the room so the clarification I'm voting on something I'm not quite so if I can just for clarification Deb you want to read the uh motion I can clarify no Deb closer I can clarify m per if you like hold on I didn't recognize you go ahead Deb re say

what motion we're voting on please it was to reduce the transportation budget by 500 in the SR funds so you're saying but what I was hearing if I'm allowed to say this what I was hearing Comm AGA was saying that he's saying use it from the SR uh don't use it from the SR funds take it from an account that we already have so the school is not getting less money the

transportation is still getting paid for we're just taking it from our re transfer reimbursements as opposed to Essa funds right is that what I'm getting may I respond please go ahead Mr a so the question is and you're pretty much on right on Miss Pereira so right now in order to to pay for transportation Mr almea has worked with the superintendent to come up with $13 million total thereabouts in that amount

we have a a fund that the city gets on the city side like a bank account that has was reimbursed last year for $1 million total so they have a million dollars plus sitting in an account for transportation for transportation for transportation on the city Side we are saying voluntarily we're going to give as a gift basically to the city a million dollars to pay for to help pay for transportation and out of that

million doll bank account where they have for transportation we're only going to use 500 what I'm saying is use the reimbursement for what it has to be and take the eser funds that Mr almea has identified and reduce that by 500,000 therefore he has to come back to this school committee and say now we have an additional $500,000 to spend on programming for the kids in the school schools so they have

an account there with a million dollars in it they're only going to use half a million but we're going to end up paying an extra half a million next year it's going to be a structural deficit on the city side because Essa funds are gone and we don't have that money so all I'm asking for is that once I was told that we got reimbursed last year for mckenny vento transportation a million dollars

common sense is you'd put that M first million dollars towards Transportation that's all I'm asking not for more just where you got reimbursed from the state if that was only 500,000 it makes sense to me but we get a million doll reimbursement we're going to pay $500,000 out of the money that we could be using to do projects for kids hope that explains it um okay a question wh which motion

are we voting on right now we're voting on that motion that Mr agar just descri okay um where are we de it was Mr Cory it was vote um ahead you vote oh no no Miss larvey no Miss Pereira yes Miss Rodricks yes mayy Coogan no next item up on the agenda discussion and and vote to approve the submission of the student Opportunity Act to the Department of Education and the secondary and secondary education is

presented by Dr Tracy cury assistant super point of order Mr Aga voted on the my my motion was you right so now we got to vote on the real motion to reduce the um I'm sorry thank you Mr agar to reduce the um transportation budget of 10 million to release it by from 10897 210 39728 Mr chairman yes I think it stays the same Mr Mr almea can correct me

stays the same the mount's the same it's that other piece that's on the back end oh the S piece the S piece is the only thing so we just need to at least vote for I think this motion as it reads make a motion to approve second all um go ahead Deb Mr AGA yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes Miss larv yes M perrera yes M Rodricks yes mayy Coogan yes then we'll go back

thank you Mr AGA 10.3 is I mean 3.3 is discussion and vote to approve the submission of the student Opportunity Act to the Department of Education and secondary education is presented by Dr Tracy Curley assistant superintendent Chief academic officer good evening so all of you received a draft of our three-year SOA plan and I just wanted to talk a little bit about um SOA planning here in the district I think

for the most part people understand the student Opportunity Act as legislation that was aimed at ensuring that every student in the Commonwealth has access to high quality public education and you know the tag there is regardless of the ZIP code um and it's meant changes to Chapter 70 funding I think that's what people recognize um you know think about most when they think about the student

Opportunity Act but it also includes some policy updates and um it sets forth an expectation that every district is um to focus on addressing disparities in um The Learning Experience and outcomes of students that are the least well served and then also on the policy side is a requirement that every District in the Commonwealth um creates and presents a three-year plan so this is our second

plan um the other the other piece of the um the ACT says that once we have a three-year plan in place we do annual progress reports so we have a a three-year plan being presented in 2024 we'll do progress reports in 25 and 26 and then we will come back and present a a new or updated plan plan in 2027 uh what the committee has asked to approve tonight is um is the second of

our plans and the plan itself has been developed within a process and using a template that was provided by the Department of Education and so we're charged with summarizing our plan which you see there we have to analyze our data the state actually gives us some dashboards um heat maps for the district which show the areas of the greatest disparity for specific student group groups um we're asked to sub um create

ambitious targets some of those are prescribed by the department of Ed others you see outlined in our plan we um are asked to engage our stakeholders and then select um evidence-based programs so the the plan itself the template itself requires that we select one to three Focus areas we have actually selected three and then which in within each of those Focus areas we are asked to select one to three um

evidence-based programs Fall River is one of 17 districts that will also have to do an addendum which is um a longer form budget um which shows spending across all of the focus areas and all of the evidence-based programs so I think um everyone had a chance to review but our plan highlights four student groups for our focused work our focused work will be um around students with disabilities English

Learners lowincome students and our Hispanic Latino students so we saw the greatest disparities for our English Learners and students with disabilities um in terms of student achievement and then we looked at other indicators um and specifically chronic absenteeism we saw great disparities for our um students with disabilities lwi income and our Hispanic Latino students so we are three Focus areas

that you would have seen are promoting students physical and mental health and wellness in welcoming and affirming in safe spaces selecting and skillfully implementing high quality and engaging instructional materials and supporting um culturally and linguistic sustained practices um that Foster deeper learning and then also using the mtss process to implement academic supports and

interventions that provide all students in particularly students with disabilities and multilingual Learners Equitable access to deeper learning learning So within the focus areas we identified five different evidence-based programs um by which we will engage in our work these includes positive School environments inclusive curriculum adoption processes supporting curriculum implementation effective use of the weda

framework and high leverage practices for students with disabilities um across the board we're committing to deepening the work that's already underway I would say that um if you took a look at our draft plan there isn't anything in there that would look out of the ordinary it's very much aligned with our budget priorities um and then a lot of you know what you heard people talk about as part of our

budget process for the coming year uh we've invested a lot of um time and resources um in you know in our people and in our materials and our plan is to stay the course in service of our students any questions yes Mr Cory I'm very pleased to hear this uh Outlook as far as student Opportunity Act monies are concerned um I already noticed in in the uh draft here it says to support an

online technical platform to try to engage more parents that really grabbed my attention big time and I think that's a very positive step forward I would I would not be averse to possibly looking at within if we have any uh strong people with technical capability to to help devise that online platform so that we could engage that idea as quickly as possible uh getting more parents engaged

especially in in that low strata bracket would be I think critical for achievement in the classroom and relationships with the teachers I think is so critically important moving forward our numbers are stockk they're very real and there's there's a real challenge presented to our school teachers every day in the classroom and our staff uh so I'm very pleased to hear about the student opportunity proposals

and I think at the last meeting I think we voted to approve the cartwheel partnership which I thought was an excellent proposal as far as uh an evidence-based program is concerned um I know that from a clinical point of view our counselors and our seaon could certainly use this type of critical backup uh trying to keep the kids Behavior within regulation which is such a key challenge in so many of our

schools not only here when I say our schools I mean all our schools throughout the Commonwealth throughout the country actually with what's going on right now so one more question when you uh presented the idea of an addendum to the budget for the cost of the SOA is that what you meant yes so there are 17 districts in the Commonwealth um those who meet certain threat thresholds for the amount

of increase increases in the amount of money we receive as part of um our budgets and we have to do a longer form budget pre like budget workbook for them so when they for the plan itself we have to put narrative um in text to picking out one to three of the programs and then for each program one to three evidence-based um programs Associated but for the long form addendum that we

have to submit um it's a budget workbook and we have to put dollar amounts and Associate them with with each one of the focus areas each one of the evidence-based programs I want to thank you and your team for uh this is a real serious draft proposal here there's a lot of information in here I want to thank you for putting that together along with your team and and assistant superintendent bronhard for bringing in

Cartwheel I think that's going to be a real help to our people thank you very much I yield anything further Rodricks um do we have a comparison to the one that was done three years ago because it says that this is a three-year plan draft so I'm assuming one was done three years ago we did we enacted a plan that uh we had to submit in I think it was January of 21 the

timeline ended up being a little bit off because of um because of covid and so the timelines were off so I think the last one we did was submitted in January of 21 and then but we might have actually it was voted on uh a little differently this time they were very specific with schools to get them in front of districts to get them in front of uh school committee prior to

submitting to the state okay I I was just because I wasn't here at that time so there are things that as I'm reading through this like I don't know what the comparison was to three years ago and I would love to see that so if we could again I don't expect you to have that right now but if we could get that that would be that would be fantastic um I

was just looking at some of these numbers and I thought they were higher I could be wrong um but I thought our uh special ed population our students with disabilities was actually higher than 25% I thought we were hovering closer to 30 so we we because of the there are changes we go through this each year with the um even with our budget and when we put together budget cover sheets

and things like that always a question of whether or not we're using real time or the official numbers that the state has because our October one enrollment um is what actually determines our funding for the following year and so I believe that what you're seeing here is probably October one numbers okay so that's that clarifies that's helpful um again I haven't seen one of these so I

just have questions um and then these pieces on the third page around engaging families so integrated family engagement in professional learning the collaborative family engagement plan the Family Academy advisory the home visit initiative quar quarterly leadership meetings are there other areas where there's more information in regards to those things because when I'm reading that I'm reading it as a like a specific

task force right the collaborative family engagement plan so I'm thinking of that as like a written document that has a plan with you know data that we collect and things like that so again not asking for that information right now um but when I read this it looks to me like this is an actual written plan that I haven't seen right so in this particular section it is actually our Narrative of around things

we already have going on at the district level like you know through our parent and um Community engagement Center so these are things that are up and running and they are they do exist and so if they're not readily available I think that we would want to make them to make sure that people know about them okay again it may seem tedious that I'm asking these questions but I haven't

seen one of these until we just received it and so I want to make sure that I understand what I'm looking at um the same thing with like integrating family engagement and professional learning like what does that look like um a Family Academy Advisory Group I know that the Family Academy and um that Workshop Series has been pretty successful which is awesome but this is the first that I've seen about an

Advisory Group so those are just pieces that I'm looking for more information about um again not right now CU I don't expect to have that at your fingertips but moving forward and then this is the first I'm seeing of a family WhatsApp group too I am going to be honest with you and say that I I received this information and I didn't I didn't know that that it was being used um but it was it was

identified by our um parent in community engagement folks that that is um a strategy that they're using right now yep all right so again that's another one like could we get more information about that sure um I think that was all I had it's it's really I'm looking for more information um just because I haven't seen one before and I'm looking for that comparison and just looking for

more detailed info especially on the family engagement piece because we know that you know that's a huge huge need in our area so for now I yield that okay I reserve the right to ask more questions anything further Mr AGA so uh I'd like to see also the the three-year plan to see what it looked like before and whether we met or didn't meet some of the things I think that

would be helpful when we sort of look at this but also as you mentioned we're basing a budget based on some of these things now when I can just I can read I know what it says here I don't have to like what I'm reading per se and like the parts about analyzing data and the our scores and stuff we all I think understand that there flatter than flat or you know whatever

wording you want to use but when I read in the second paragraph down it says the last line says Ela and math data indicate an overall achievement slide has subsided and that we are recovering towards 2019 levels in some areas I think that is I've said this before when we went over the data that's not something to Aspire to to be back we're getting closer to where we were when we

were way behind before covid isn't it it doesn't really make me feel like we're on track to get where we need to get to and I think I've said that before it's not a secret the second page it's the same thing reviewing the data conclusion shows that all students in comparison to schools across the district and the state performance gaps at the elementary are wide across all content areas doesn't make me feel good

about where we're at compared to Performance groups within our district disparities are concerning for our English Learners and students with disabilities low income Hispanic and multi- another major concern and as I'm reading these things I'm trying to figure out by approving this are we saying that we're going to make strides like what what are the goals and it's I don't think there's the point of

this per se but it has to match up with something to say sure it does when are we going to get to where we should be right so what over the next three years what we're expected to do annually is we identified some um benchmarking that we would use in each of our um for each one of the focus areas each one of the evidence-based programs and then in addition to that we

are responsible to the targets that are set um by the department of Ed specific ones um in terms of subgroups lowest performing 25% and we have to agree as part of um putting forth this plan and taking the money and um moving forward with these plans that we are going to be held accountable to those specific measures so this is very focused on particular student groups the the state

and the support that we get from them is very focused on specific student groups and that's the data to which we're being held accountable on an annual basis I I get that so my concern is though if we looked back at the one three years ago I bet you there was similar language in there related to this so we three years ago we created the plan we said we were going to look

at the benchmarks we were going to look at the targets we were going to look at the all of those things for the most part didn't come to fruition and this plan probably looks very similar to the other plan and that said in three years we're going to look at stuff to see where we're going to go with our our data and our day every year it goes three years go by we our data

doesn't get any better our assessment our achievement doesn't get any better but we come with another three-year plan that looks very similar to the one before that's sort of where my concern is with this plan this plan actually doesn't look like the old one because this is very specific um from desie as a result remember we had a pandemic in there too which impacted the old plan and the data when I agree with you I

think everybody um we've said this many times we're not where we need to be but we also part of that when when you say um we're not uh we shouldn't be aspiring to get to prior to to 2019 you're right that we need to have high expectations but what we're saying is that the that's the most normal year we had prior to the pandemic and we need to at least that's part of recovery that's what districts

are we were all teered and that's what we all need to get back there and then some you're right but we also let's let's not forget that we had this pandemic that kind of threw everybody off course and for us it throws us off course even more because we struggle even before the pandemic you're right but that doesn't mean that this is not exactly the way the old one was this is

very prescriptive it was that when we created the SOA plans at first now there's been time that people have looked at it they've um watched them go into you know being implemented and now um the state is saying Okay so let's be very specific as to who we're targeting how we're spending that money and because the whole point of changing the formula is recognizing that our students

with disabilities our students who with multilingual students our students of poverty require more and we need to make sure that we are putting those resources to those students yeah I I agree that you know we have to put more resources and I get that but if the sections I don't have it to look at so I can't compare I'm just going off my head now section three says set ambitious

three-year targets for improving student achievement was there no heading in the last report section three that said set ambitious three-year targets for improvement student achievement is that a new heading I don't I I don't know if the the the template changed the spirit of it didn't um this specific language around confirming um that the district will use our three-year targets for

increasing performance Bel lowest um performing I don't know if that specific language was something that we had to sign off on we do as a matter of accountability we are held accountable to those numbers but I don't remember if it was embedded I would say that for us as a district the biggest um the biggest difference in I would say in our experience in terms of drafting the plan um and and where we landed is really

around the student groups I think that even though the spirit of the student Opportunity Act from its Inception was focused on student groups and kind of leveling that playing field and making sure the greatest disparities got the greatest amount of attention as a district we didn't do that and I think we rested on the fact that we were you know we're a low performing District we're always focused on you know how you

know how bad things look overall and we had this built and like oh we can't focus on student groups we can't really look at students with disabilities and give more you know resources and time and energy because across the board we're not doing well um and that's been a big shift for us over the last couple of years where we've said no we yeah there are disparities there are differences between us in the state but

within this District we have very large gaps for our students with disabilities and for our English Learners and some of other other student groups and this the difference for me in this three-year plan is that we are we're focusing um it's not a I want to say we had eight or nine areas of focus in the last plan there was a maybe a list of 20 and we pretty much started by

saying we're going to do it all and I think that we've really doubl down on the areas that matter and um we have a much tighter plan so for me that's the big difference yeah I I agree with you I think the focusing is important I just look at it we're approving this plan and then we're probably never going to see it again and that's something that I don't really want to haveen I'm going to politely

disagree because I think over the last couple of years we've been very focused with our instructional priorities it's driven work in the district from the district level into schools into weekly plc's at schools I think that I do think that it's different I wasn't referring to you Dr Curley no I don't know I was referring to us like that we no but I think it's but see to me I think I think

it's important we have to report out on this specific plan not you know mcast overall we we have to report out annually um um and that and that is a little bit different that piece of is is different I do remember writing um a progress we did an amendment one year we did a progress report another year the state is saying you're doing these progress reports every year um we meet

regularly with people a team from the state that comes in to review data with us so I do think I do think it's more focused and I do think that you know this will drive our work for three years yes so I when you talk about the need for improvements to those areas like special education and elll if I take everything that you said everything that we've been talking about and look back

and and determine did we actually do what we needed to do relative to the budget in all those areas I would say no because I think when I was going over the budget and I kept asking do we do a zerob based budget do we not like so based on everything that you said which I tend to agree with that we were looking more at the big picture and not the specific

during the budget we didn't look like that we looked at what everybody already had so then they just keep what they have and we'll maybe grab a little more from here we'll call it a conversion if these were the true Focus areas we would say stop from zero and we have to do whatever we have to do for the special education for the elll we had the lady from elll up here that said she couldn't

find enough people to work and then it was like I'm not going to add the positions because we're not going to be able to fill them and this and that well that flies in the face of this being the priority in the SOA plan that we didn't even put position positions in the budget because we said we couldn't fill them and therefore we just let it go so I tend to agree to wholeheartedly what

you're saying of focusing on those groups I would just want you to sit with your team and go backwards and say did we truly do that because I think we left status quo and we scattered around a little a couple of things that's my only concern and you know as well as I do that us achievement is not where it needs to be superintendent just acknowledged that um when we look at

page eight says increase high quality instruction material implementation increase SGP on math and Ela mcast that's a tall order we haven't improved on that I don't believe in years I might be wrong but I don't think we have that's a tall order that I bet you was probably something in the last one so when we get it we might have more questions but I appreciate the work on

it I just think it's step one we have a lot more work to do to get to where we need to but that y anything further no I was just going to say motion anything further R I just have one other question um section five selecting um evidence-based programs right so 1.1a which EVPs are we going to implement so it says here that we're going to utilize a system for integrating services and aligning

initiatives that promote students behavioral and mental health and wellness and then there's a ton of stuff about social emotional learning which you don't have to convince me I can't hear you I can't hear you you and I'm Portuguese too um you don't have to convince me to focus on social emotional learning but what I am wondering about is that specifically it's written in here about inclusion of students with

disabilities and I don't see anything targeted towards inclusive practices like how do we get those kids you know out of our substantially separate rooms and integrated more in our activities and in with other you you so I'm just wondering how How can any of these I'm going to go I think it just might be in there might be some language um related to that in another section yeah there's a piece about

inclusion inclusive academic practices but when I'm reading social emotional you know mental and physical well-being and welcoming affirming spaces I'm looking look at something more than just the academic piece okay so I think that makes sense and I'll and I'll say that um we do have a responsibility in each narrative piece to identify you know we identify specific student groups I think it makes

sense that we are that we will include pieces of that in the narrative I don't know how that looks and sounds for you guys um when we're asking you to approve it tonight but I do think that it's it's worth it for us to return with your permission as part of the vote um to revisit that and that we commit to with specific language in within that evidence based program I think that

makes I think that makes sense the other piece and this could just be like my lack of understanding so 2.1 um inclusive curriculum adoption process right so year four of K5 wonders Elementary illustrative math that all of these things are across the districts correct yes okay but underneath it says which schools will be impacted by these efforts we only have dery RPA and stone and so that is um that is specific to a

new a new piece because the new um piece of this was for um High School Ela curriculum that's the next thing that we anticipate will happen in the next three years um and so those were the schools that were going to be impacted by the new the new elements I will actually have to check with somebody because it might be that it it should have said all schools even though the new piece was just for okay

yeah I get what you're saying just the the way that and again could be just the way that I'm interpreting the first part talks about all of these pieces that we're using districtwide um and then this the I guess third paragraph talks about a specific High School Ela curriculum right so I see that as separate but there's also that first part so that's what just y stood out to me that's all um and then

there was one other piece that I um okay so use the mtss process so page 8 2.2 right so use the mtss process to implement academic supports and interventions that provide all students particularly students with disabilities and multilingual Learners Equitable access to deeper learning but then in the narrative it just talks about multilanguage Learners so I think that is because um

within that area of focus for 2.2 there are two parts 2.2a and 2.2 B all right I missed that part okay you broke it out I looked I looked at it and thought it was a separate goal but okay I got that okay I yeld Mr Corey I'll be brief I know uh since my uh term on the school board began in around 2018 or so I've seen a real growth in our CL services to all

schools and I know that it's an evolutionary process and I know that um the S SOA proposal from the state level was conjured up as a result of the Gateway cities really struggling with so many similar numbers so I I don't want anything to get lost in especially our local state delegation that helped us to ascertain These funds over a real long amount of time that we had to lobby for

them and that these funds are so welcome and I see that this process I like that there's a three-year you know review on this to see where we're at in three years we're going to have to answer to the state at some point how the overall progress of the S SOA plays out but having the SOA in place is creating this entire conversation of expanding all of these services and especially for our

students with disabilities that I'm very proud of I'm very proud that we have this money to work with it's really going to help us a lot again I want to thank you team and I know that you'll always be uh coming to us with you know whatever numbers you can so that we can always look at this and say yes and no to those proposals but really overall I think that's an evolutionary process and that

we're at the first phases of it I'm really happy that we're talking about social emotional learning and social emotional growth because ultimately I think that's going to help with our achievement uh in the classroom to help our school teachers get through thank you with that I yield anything further do I have a motion a second Deb you do not I do not motion to approve second I have a motion a second Deb please call

the role Mr AGA yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes m l yes Miss Pereira yes M rodri yes mayor kouan yes 3.4 is discussion and vote to retain the Massachusetts Association of school committees to assist the school committee with respect to the superintendent search motion to approve second any discussion Deb please call the rooll can we just explain for folks what that looks like uh um briefly uh they go

yeah you don't have to give a dissertation just like short ver for they uh they do a lot of the necessary steps to make sure that the next superintendent has the right experience credentials is properly vetted uh and they help to check the references which is also another key piece and then they present the finalists to us uh and we obviously will do our own Ser series of interviews and going forward um we will

make our selection Bob's got a question question are you done sorry no I was just I was just saying after Mr hiin spoke at it just to clarify that's similar to the process that thet went through right in Timeline okay similar Mr AGA uh just a couple things one is how much money is it going to cost well again um one of the things was pointed out was if we go over I mean we

could always put an amendment on it says in compliance with all procurement regulations in Massachusetts so we don't do anything you know to get ourselves in trouble um I believe it's a soul Source item but if it's not we'll have to be under the $10,000 amount to comply with the law so one of the things I think it and I agree with what the mayor said at the last meeting the mayor said at the

last meeting we need to get a search uh work with the masc to get a search for the best candidate without politics that's what the mayor said at the last meeting and I couldn't agree with them more we do need this process to find the best person best qualified person to come in and Lead our district with the tremendous amount of challenges that we have superintendent is leaving on June

30th I feel like we should be making this a process as quick as possible so that we can not just rush the thing through but get the candidates get them in screen them with the masc and get them back before this committee as soon as possible because time is of the essence in my opinion U my personal opinion is we need to look at some of the qualifications and what we're

looking for I don't know how that process will go this is the first I'm seeing of this particular piece but I want to weigh in publicly that I believe we need an outside superintendent with experience somebody that has experience as a prior superintendent somebody that can come in and lead a district with a lot of challenges and work with uh strategic planning and the like so I think I don't know when when I look at

the number one like when do we weigh in on those pieces um is that an individual Thing by the masc or we is that to be determined Mr Mayor no well the process is kind of laid out right there for you Mr agar um I do think that we um you know know where you stand on bringing in someone from the outside I believe another another committee me me person already mentioned

that but in my mind we want the best person to lead the city of Fall River and that's what I'm looking for I really don't I'm not closing my eyes to anybody I'm not saying they have to be internal I'm not saying they have to be external but I know what we're going to do is hire the best person for the city of Far River and this process will help us yes

so stand by my comment Y that we need a superintendent that has experience prior experience we had a mess with Dr Malone Dr Mone left and we need somebody that was going to have be stable and work within the district that was Mrs ponts at this point with a lack of progress that we've been making as well as the situations that we have going on relative to organizations with the structures and the like we need somebody

from outside of the city to come in because there's too many hands in this pocket making it difficult for a superintendent to do what she needs to do and this superintendent has faced that over the past several years so I I do believe that we need to have somebody from outside this district and to the m point of me telling another colleague that I wanted to get somebody with experience

absolutely we need an experienced superintendent but Mr Mayor you told that same person that you you want to try to force somebody in that works for the current School District who did I tell that to you told that to other school committee members and you've been trying to advocate for one particular individual to get the job so don't be trying to give me some lines of well he told one member of the committee when

you're not willing to take it on your own I will take it on my own Mr agar again that's how you operate in the shadows my point is we don't close the door to anybody we get the best candidate for the city of Fall River I don't care where they're from you vote you obviously have always been an independent voice you vote whatever way you want my position is we go forward

with the best candidate for the city of forer and I have a lot of concerns about where we're at currently apparently you don't if you want to just continue with the status quo and put people forward but don't start coming at me trying to say that I said something when you don't want to own your own comments and your own action own my own comments own your own comments and own your own actions

before you start accusing me of something I didn't accuse you of anything I echoed what you said no I echoed what you said if you're uncomfortable with your own words don't be you said uncomfortable no you said you wanted an external candidate and I respect that my point is we get the best candidate for the city of for and I said we need an external person and we need somebody with experience as a

superintendent that's what we need we have a motion second do gu we can't somebody as a hands up Mr Cory um as a Counterpoint to that argument U Mr chairman um I know that the people that work within this District have been committed to this district for a number of years and understand the U the social and emotional needs of our school district inherently I think there's something to be said about long-term

commitment and I'll use our superintendent as an example who gave her entire career to the Fall River Public Schools and had no prior commitment as superintendent but uses all of those years as a wealth of experience in creating the logic behind all the choices and decisions that a superintendent has to make so in that that regard I have the highest regard for superintendent Pont because she took

on a battled District at that time and she helped to stabilize it mightily have the ultimate regard for her so if we have to choose somebody as next superintendent I agree that it's uh going to be for the benefit of our schools here in Fall River doesn't necessarily have to be some outside choice or inside choice but the best choice with that I M PR yeah I I just think that I I

understand where my colleague is coming from I guess but I think we have a process here that seems like it's going to be a pretty good and thorough one um so why don't we let the process play out I think going in saying well we need somebody from the outside or we need somebody from the inside is ridiculous what we need is the best candidate what if we don't have good external

candidates and we have an internal candidate that may be better I don't know I mean I think it's just a process proc that we have to play out and I I I think that that's fair um I I C the mayor certainly didn't talk to me about any of this except to say that we're going to use this very fair and transparent process so I think it's important that as committee members

we're up here sort of with an open mind to the candidates that are coming before us because if I'm sitting here saying I want somebody you know who works for our school district well that already makes it look a little weird when I'm in a process of hiring some somebody without even seeing who they are yet right so I think we just kind of have to be careful of I I I understand where you're coming

from but I think we have to be careful on how we're handling this and I'm sure because the pro process seems thorough they're not just going to give us one person a look at that we will have external candidates so at that time we'll take a look and we will absolutely hire the person with the most experience and the most qualifications I mean I think that's I would think that's what

we're all looking for um but with that I yeld I hope so miss Rogers can I just ask a question about the process so phase one um says leadership profile development right so identify success factors major issues expectations that's bolded so that's a piece that we do correct absolutely okay so when do we sit down I'm getting the use the mic well um msac will contact us all they have they have forms and formats that

they want us to put down our issues in and then they'll co co coate everything and get back to us on what the committee is looking for so everybody does that individually correct not in a broader meeting okay and then we develop the job they develop the job description based on that okay and then they come back to us and approve the leaders we approve the leadership profile correct correct

okay and then FOC who do the focus groups the M the masc will probably work closely with the outgoing superintendent to talk to her and maybe um people in the district to see who would be good on focused groups that report to the school committee it goes right in order as it says there Mr Rogers again I'm asking those questions because I haven't done this before and so if we're talking

about you know how do we set this up and who's what are the the parameters then I think if we have specific things in mind like somebody who's maybe been the superintendent of a large Urban District right like I'm I'm just throwing out random things here but if we're looking and that that that's what we put in our expectation Absol okay so I yield for now Mr ago is there a requirement on

screening or is that could they masc just do that themselves I think they do that themselves initi looks like that then they bring the candidates to us so we don't there's not an obligation to have a screening committee they would just bring them to us and we'd interview everybody is that your impression I can't understand you yeah it's hard to hear would would there be a screening

committee or would the masc narrow it down for several candidates for us to interview ourselves um I think there's a in committee made up of people in the district uh maybe one or two people from the school committee and then they select the finalist that go forward to us that's how it worked last time but are you saying that masc is going to follow up with that after this vote is what you're saying they're going to

start they're going to probably start at number one and start the phases go right through everything so that'll be food for thought in the future yeah that's not necessarily now no right now they're going to go we're going to assign them to a contract we don't know how much but we're going to maybe have a screening committee whatever and I'm totally fine with the masc screening the candidates down and

having us do the interviews but it just isn't articulated as well as I would like it to be but I yield anything further can I get a motion a second there is motion there is one already y okay Deb could you call the role Please Mr AGA yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes Miss larv yes Miss Perera yes M rodri yes Mary Coogan yes I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn

second I have a motion a second dead please call the role Mr yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Cory yes Miss lovy yes M Perera yes M rodri yes mayor C yes adjourned