8.26.2024 Fall River School Committee

I'd like to call to order the Monday August 26 special meeting of the Fall River school committee Deb could you please call the role Mr agel Mr Bailey Mr Das here Mr Cory here miss larvi here miss Pereira mayor Coogan here salute to the flag I plg to the flag of the United States of America and to 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 P public meeting or may may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or un perceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible and I uh thank you superintendent uh joining us tonight

virtually is uh School Committee Member Colin dasas okay citizens input we have a number of speakers tonight um I'm going to ask that we wave the rules on the first Speaker from Westport can I get a motion a second so moved second all in favor opposed unanimous Liz carer madaras Courtney Drive Westport negotiations three minutes please Liz thank you hello again I know tonight's meeting is a special

meeting to address the mold concerns but tonight I'm here to speak to negotiations I appreciate the time to speak on this matter uh is urgent to speak to before the next regular meeting and before the next negotiation session starting in April of 2023 yes that's correct a whole year and a half ago um myself and the evaluation team chair group were told that our job would be changing and we would now be responsible

for chairing annual review IEP meetings open to this change but with hesitation and concern for the impact that this increased workload would have on our working conditions we entered impact bargaining which is now continued into contract negotiations I know that you as members of the school committee are aware of this as we in fact have appealed to members of this committee through way of AG grievance but tonight

I'm here to speak publicly about these unresolved concerns because they will impact families and students as well as the Educators we support what should be understood by everyone public included is that the past practice of scheduling and holding annual review meetings was work split amongst 200 plus teachers and related service providers and is being shifted onto 21 individuals clearly this

is a changing working conditions and something the team chair group was open to discuss and eager to collaborate on however throughout these last 16 months a few things have become very apparent the experts in this area the people doing the job day in and day out are not being trusted we as a team chair group and F members have shown up to bargaining time and time again with thoughtful datadriven prop proposals we

we have repeatedly shared that we require recognition of workload limits and working um and have pleaded for working conditions that are feasible and allow us to continue to do a job well the response to our concerns we are simply told that we can handle the increased work with no specifics as to how we've done the math we've shown the hours in the day have come to a common understanding of how much time

particular tasks take and yet here we are 16 months later with minimal progress towards agreements we have been told that we are a value group while simultaneously and repeatedly being given counter proposals that drastically overestimate we can accomplish in a week and that simply aren't based in data I'll give you an example as of April 10th when I left for maternity leave I managed a case load of 21 students I had

run 118 meetings with approximately 65 meetings left to be run from April through June in my absence that's a total of 183 meetings that didn't include annual reviews we're now being told that we have to do and include meetings such as Consulting with teachers building staff admin department meetings and any other work task like the actual paperwork portion of my job the most current proposal from

Administration is that I run 320 meetings per year it's unrealistic it's apparent that our voices are not being heard this is beyond a change in policy yet we've been told numerous times that this change will be implemented without agreement we've even voted on the matter and it was practically unanimous with a 17 to1 vote down that proposals as they stood without acknowledgement of case

load or meeting cap is simply not possible team chairs work in additional 4 days as well as an additional 30 minut minutes each day to complete the workload as it currently stands without this proposed increase in meetings I should add that we are also offered an additional eight meetings of pay um eight hours of pay this year for work outside the school day we've been told that the shift in practice is needed to

support strong connections communication with our families and students and to improve compliance I'm standing here tonight to say we want to better support all these things fam students compliance but we are not robots we have limits the hours a day that we and how much work we can feasibly be completed our students families as well as our teachers staff related service providers team chairs

deserve team chairs to be available and accessible without any realistic workload limit or actionable plan to get there this simply not possible after 16 months we are a group as a group are at a loss of what to do to be heard which is why we're appealing for public support and moving through this portion of negotiations thoughtfully and respectfully thank you thank you Mr chairman Mr AGA can we please have the

superintendent respond to the team chair accusations that are in this citizen input please we're not going to respond to Citizens input Mr AGA at this time okay mi Mr chairman the issue is that we have a person come up this has been going on for over a year now so we have indicated that we were going to implement the team chairs running the meetings last year three or four different times all I'm

asking for the superintendent is for the public certification to tell the public exactly what you've told the school committee which is that we're implementing the team chairs are going to be doing their meetings here the numbers that the lady just mentioned we have a disagreement over those numbers so we shouldn't just let somebody come out and say we're going to have 300 and something meetings when those numbers

are not accurate our own people have indicated that those numbers are not accurate this is the opportunity to go back and say no those numbers are not accurate and we're going to implement in September which we've the whole school committee's voted to say we're going to implement for the last six to eight months I think it's very worthy of a response we can't continually let people

come up and say numbers that nobody's going to challenge and just take it like it's fact those numbers are not fact based on the superintendent our assistant superintendent and the numbers that we've been shown we have to at least indicate what it is and that we're going to implement saying nothing is not okay in my book that's fine with me Mr um next person um I need a motion in a

second from New Bedford motion to wave the rules can I get a second second all in favor I opposed unanimous Jenna Vieira Sterling Street New Bedford three minutes please Jenna good evening my name is Jenna Vieira and I'm here to speak to the importance ex excuse me DI make sure the yeah yeah so better thank you good evening my name is Jenna Vier and I'm here to speak to the importance and

urgency of addressing the ongoing issue of Team chair workload negotiations for context we have been discussing this workload adjustment since April 2023 that is 16 months of discussion data Dives and shared proposals what start started and impact bargaining has made its way into the collective bargaining table and along the way has included numerous sessions with the district a level three grievance and we even

personally appealed to this very school committee during an executive session to allow us to continue bargaining from what started out as a discussion around case load and has since morphed into a discussion about workload it is clear that the job of a team chair is Niche and esoteric we are told that we're team leaders and decision makers IP experts and assets to the department yet at the

bargaining table we are dismissed the data we continue to present is disregarded we have never once said that the proposal the proposed changes are something we refuse to do but rather something we prefer to approach thoughtfully as to maintain the feasibility of this job while negotiations are ongoing and no tentative agreements have been reached on this language we are starting this

new school year with the district's proposed changes becoming our new expectation last year I was assigned to both dery and RPA I ran a total of 190 meetings and I was busy the district's original proposal called for team chairs to run 360 meetings per year and it has since been reduced to 320 these numbers are impractical despite the past 16 months of stressful and complicated negotiations I love my job I take pride

in advocating for students and cultivating strong relationships between the district and the families we serve I come before this committee to urge the district to be realistic about what you're asking for uh from us team chairs when these changes were first presented it was said that the district is looking for team chairs to maintain strong relationships with families and improve

special education compliance make no mistake the district's current proposal as it stands will not accomplish this goal so please please think critically and practically about the expectations for this group of Educators if team chairs are as crucial and valued as you say show us with actions reflective of good faith bargaining and respect for the job we do for this District thank you thank you Mr

chairman uh I thought I heard Mr Das first Mr Mr Das I like to make a motion to W the rules to allow the superintendent to respond to the allegations made I can't I I I think he said he makes made a motion to wait the rules to have the superintendent respond to the allegations correct yeah we got it Mr Das I would second it but no motions needed all just I I think it's just a

matter of fact yeah just you have the right to respond well do you want to respond sure okay go ahead pull the mic up buddy sure so I did um I did read recently remind people that we would be moving forward with plans for etcs to run annual meetings beginning with the start of the school year um that piece is a fact and it is something that was voted

on um last year and we did not fully implement it the plan this year is to implement we understand that there are we are still negotiating in terms of the number of required meetings for um our etcs in terms of total meetings including annuals um but I would say that we are still we still disagree um on the number of meetings that is practical over the course of the year so our most recent

proposal was for 320 meetings um which over the course of the year is less than two meetings per day and um when we look at the the length of typical meetings and things like that it does seem doable um to be to be looking at that 320 as um as the Mark I'm not sure what what else to say we are we we're we're still negotiating this so I think we're at a disadvantage

I would say that we started I just want to say one thing we did start our negotiations um around case load and number of students and then quickly recognized that um different students with different profiles require a different number of meetings so a case load of 200 for one person was not the same as a case load of 200 for another neither was a case load of 100 and 100

um and so we backed into looking at the number of meetings that were um would be required and that's what we're negotiating on right now thank you superintendent I need a motion to wave the rules for Idan Rhode Island motion I have a second I have a motion and second any discussion unanimous Melissa French Mill Street TI and Rh Island good evening uh mayor cin and school committee and superintendent

Curley my name is Melissa French I'm currently the team chair at the Sylvia School I've worked at Sylvia for the past six years and I previously um served as team chair at Henry Lord the Dorne School in fonsica I'm speaking now because of a can I stop you just for one second could you be closer to the microphone okay thank you I'm speaking now because of a significant concern we have regarding

our case loads and the expectations that we will schedule and facilitate annual meetings can you hear me my projected case load as of today is 192 excluding the prek students at Sylvia and to be clear that 192 number is is not without the expected number of referrals that we will inevitably um see as the year progresses I would argue that when teachers hold their annual meetings they continue to build on their their

relationships with our families and are able to expertly communicate about their students academic performance behaviors and social emotional functioning which carries into progress reports and depending on the timelines of students re uh referral uh reevaluation another benefit of allowing teachers to manage annuals is that it serves as a training ground for future team chairs I'm deeply concerned that this

change in our working conditions will have the oppos opposite of the expected effect uh for uh compliance and that our compliances will drop and um we not be able to engage with our families as we have done all along uh please uh believe me when I say that um we are the experts and that we'd like you to listen to what we are telling you about that and respect our judgment and

please reconsider this change in our working conditions thank you thank you I'll need a motion to wave the rules for Somerset so moved second I have a motion second any discussion unanimous next up is Kelly garbari Riverside Avenue Somerset

three minutes please Kelly thank you hi hello um mayor kulan and members of the school committee I'm you must be sick of seeing my face I'm sorry um today I was in my building I'm at the green and as we know the green was um mold numbers were higher than those at lerno but however the work has not wasn't begun until I want to say last week we walked the building on Monday and there was

still so many things that were not finished um and then to top that off um teachers were told that they could come in the into the building into their classrooms and their classrooms were not ready we from Mr bico and the rest of the health and safety team we were told that all sealing tiles should have been replaced and all pipes be all the work in each classroom had to be 100% finished before that classroom was

cleared classrooms were cleared and there's still those tiles from I don't even know what's in those tiles the ones looks like I call them horse hair because that's really what it looks like um that came from the wixon school yeah they're a little old they the stains have come through and come through the coverup spray that we use to cover them up those are still in class Rooms Today um classrooms in a prek classroom

if you don't know much about prek we have a lot of centers and we have to set a lot of things up so my partner teacher was cleared in the entire baseboard like basically the if you pulled the baseboard off the stage was not attached to her wall so how could she set up we can't put a rug down we can't like it's where her quiet corner is it's where her

dramatic play center is it's where her snack table is it's where where her um sensory table goes we couldn't do anything so basically we went said hi and had to leave today I was lucky enough and thank you Mr Pico for allowing me to go in and clean my closet cuz it had I haven't had any time to do anything in my room you are more than all welcome to come and look in my room

today I don't care or after I set it up because yes I have a lot of stuff but I'm a prek teacher and I need a lot of stuff um but I can't set up my room for my babies because there's a tent in my room I have no sink I have no counter um I have no cabinet you can see through the walls um school starts tomorrow and I know my babies don't come until mon

Tuesday but still we're going to have students in these buildings how are these things going to be rectified how is my classroom how is my classroom going to be ready for my kids on Monday or Tuesday I'm one of those people who like yelling I need to be in my room cuz I clean every single toy I clean every single shelf I label every single toy and every single shelf okay I can't get it

done thank you uh uh I'll need a motion to wave the rules for New Bedford second I have a motion second discussion all in favor opposed unanimous Lisa Lemieux uh lofter Street New

Bedford so um most of you know me I'm the union organizer with the mass Teachers Association and I've been helping to uh facilitate the cleanup of the two schools and I would uh first and foremost say that I'm super proud of the work that we've been doing to collaborate um with Ken and the team uh I think that we've all been working hard to do a super great job and I would um

applaud Ken and his team um they've all been working hard and it's unfortunate that you know Green is not where it should be today you know we were disappointed that it's not further along uh but the one thing that I have said to certainly uh the team within frea is that the one thing that I feel deep deeply about is that um these schools are in better shape today than they were when we left them in

June um and I know that as we continue to work together that they're going to continue to get better each and every day um and it's because of the work between MTA and um with F that we've been able to help make these schools better but it really saddens me that one of the problems that we have here is the leadership within our schools and I forwarded it to to you the school

committee and the leadership um an email that I got from Kelly on Friday about the problems that she's having with Dr Dunn at Green and that is that there seems to be a problem with um leadership within the Fall River Public Schools that uh a leadership that that uh people seem to think that they can lead under fear or this process that we shouldn't report problems or that we shouldn't talk about things that aren't

right within our district and I'm here to tell you as an organizer at the mass Teachers Association or whether it's the president of the greater sou Eastern Massachusetts labor Council that we do not tolerate people not working under healthy working conditions and the fact that we have schools that have molded them and I understand that I've learned a lot about mold here in Fall River and that there's mold

everywhere all the time but there's acceptable levels and there's unacceptable levels and the levels that we have at Green are unacceptable and that there are principles that we expect to lead in our schools and when our staff go to you and tell you that there's a problem we expect those leaders in our schools to do something about it and when we have leaders in our schools that are not allowing these

things to be reported and dealt with we're going to do something about it and it's that simple so I want to say thank you to everybody here who's working with us we want want you to know that from MTA and F and all of our members we want to work with you we want to keep these schools open and we're going to do everything we can to make these schools better to make it healthy

for our staff and for our kids and we want to work with you but if we're going to come across people who are going to put barriers in front of us we're going to fight and we're going to fight hard thank you

thank you uh next agenda item number three is the discussion and update on mold remediation efforts is presented by Ken Pacho Chief Operating

Officer thank you Mr chairman um you have a document in front of you that highlights green and lerno and if if I could before I get started in this if I could just address Kelly who um has worked with us and and um we kind of have been there quite a bit um over the last few weeks so we are um the sheetrock is going to be put up tomorrow uh tomorrow morning um the contractor

was there today uh those walls that have been taken apart um we'll be put back together and the only thing that we won't be doing um before the students walk in unless um we have uh the right humidity in the room and also the um the ability to paint those prior to uh the students coming in we have baseboard that needs to be put back up we remove baseboard to be sure that there was

nothing behind them um at the request of um of our um hygienists uh and professionals so we did that work in in that school as far as the tiles um we do have a lot of tiles to replace in that building we didn't want to leave bare ceilings so we needed to be sure we had tiles to replace them uh we currently had one delivery if I'm not mistaken today um and we're expecting another

delivery by the end of the week of tiles and as we um as we can and as we have the ability to take them down we'll be replacing them also a second piece of having tiles that need to be cut they take a lot more time so the Carpenters a um hopping around the district doing that work both the lerno here Spencer um and I'm green I'm sorry not here green

and um we have some tiles that were being cut at Sylvia so that work is ongoing um to to address that particular piece um and we will have that sink is going to be a little while longer and um I assure you that that that will be taken care of along with the sink in in um room uh 239 if I'm not mistaken um at um lerno um we have a sync that's going

to be installed in that room so that we can accommodate some uh remediation work or preventive work I should say um we do have a couple of things today we had a couple of minor drips um out L turno for work that was um that was remediated um so we are addressing that tomorrow and Wednesday um to be sure that that is um that is uh buttoned up and um we did have um a lot of

testing that was done in the district one more day tomorrow and then we'll be awaiting those reports to come in um so that we can fill everybody in as to where we are and uh allow us to make a plan moving forward on any work that needs to be done um on that list that you have before you um there's some items um Mr Terell is here if you have questions of him um he will um

gladly explain um the document but also um you know any other questions you have on the green and lerno uh schools Kenny I know I took a walk through the schools so this will be ongoing right until Wednesday you have button up Green tomorrow you think so uh the work will be going on tomorrow during the day um um and then after this Friday um we'll be working in the schools again um

without you know anyone uh in session and then some work that we can do that is is not going to cause us grief um we'll do after hours uh we do have quite a bit of work in the district that's still ongoing we've got carpets we're replacing at fonsica um with the VCT Tile uh so that work is happening we we just did some Friday into Saturday and we're also working next Friday into

Saturday to replace three more um carpeted areas in that school and that's happening elsewhere um also so there's for the next probably 3 weeks four weeks uh there'll be quite a bit of work going on across the district okay thank you any questions Mr Corey uh thanks a lot Mr Pacho for givv us this update obviously it's touching sensitive nerves with uh with a lot of people and I know there's a lot of

pressure on this particular issue what I'd like to know is once you get a handle on the initial um uh remediation that's going on now are we going to have ongoing are we going to keep real targeted Vision toward this issue down the road we are so would um we will be working with Mr Terrell on a on a preventive maintenance plan also a plan moving forward on on all of the buildings and the these two

in particular now and then moving forward will go uh further um we also will be asking um the school committee um to go to the next step which is a study a remediate um study remediation and um basically upgrading equipment across the district um after that study is done so it'll be an engineering firm that we'll be looking to bring in um we will sit down with um the uh the committee the safety and health

committee um to um develop um a plan that we would like to move forward with um as far as um the particular firm that we're going to hire and also next steps so everything we do moving forward um it'll be a complete document it'll be across the district um in each in each of our buildings and it'll also uh include a pricing Matrix um so that we can um take care of all the low-lying

fruit right away so to speak and then moving forward um some long-term planning Capital planning to uh take care of the rest so that would be next steps as far as on the outside the longer term but short term we're going to continue doing this work we've got work above quite a few ceilings in the district that we want to work on and we're going to be working with the

service company to figure out how we can encapsulate um and do that work ongoing as opposed to waiting for any kind of vacation week or things like that the weekends will be busy in the buildings thank you if I may could I refer to Mr Terrell for this next

question hello hello Mr T thank you for being with us today appreciate it I have to say from the subcommittee meeting that you presented I I learned a lot about you know mold itself the science of it and um you know the efforts to remediate it are are are really intense and uh so you helped me to understand the issue what I'd like to ask you is it's really a burgeoning issue for our school

district here in the summertime and it's been an extremely humid summer it was extremely humid just earlier today before the storm came in so do you think that as we continue to work this issue down the road are we probably going to get ahead of it once the weather gets colder yes I do um there's several things that have happened that will help us with humidity in the buildings uh a lot of unit dehumidifiers

have been installed so in the past you probably had zero or maybe a few scattered around where there were problem areas now there's a broad number of dehumidifiers in problem rooms so those are spot control devices that help another thing that's happening currently is that the hbac system is being sort of overridden and operated in a way that removes more humidity from the building

that not a long-term solution it's a energy costly solution but it works so those those are things that are being done right away and they're helping uh they're not the long-term solution because they're not that energy efficient but for now they help a lot so what happens between now and the beginning of the heating season is that temperature and humidity gradually decline with some spiky days some hot

humid days and as soon as the heating systems start running even a little bit relative humidity drops dramatically in buildings and so let's say in October when you've had a week or two of heat on in the buildings A lot of these things will be in the rearview mirror that's not that doesn't mean that they can't occur next year it's just that that's the timeline for how humidity will be going in the next

couple months thank you thank you so much for that I appreciate it thanks for your expert analysis and helping us to figure this big problem out thank you you're welcome I I'll be around to answer other questions as they come up Mr I I'm not sure who well we have our um Zoom member uh Mr Das thank you I had um one question for Mr FICO if he could go in depth as to

like the collaboration between like is staff himself the administration and um either the F Health and Safety Committee or just um miscellaneous teachers and and the public if you can just inform the public of like what steps we took like within the last months to collaborate between the two can somebody interpret for me I think the question is around um what has the collaboration looked like between

you uh Mr Pico the health and Safety Committee F Rea communication and collaboration over the last couple of months yes and and just any other like enti like the Any teacher or any um any like teacher educator had a concern raised just in general got nothing ju just in general I think he said the collaboration I heard the last part of it Ken well I'll tell you what um my intentions are uh I'm

going to work with Ken Pico on um sorting through the the ongoing work um so the the things that could be done immediately have largely been done there's a few punch list items that are still ongoing that Ken just talked about but we're going to kind of switch gears from the immediate work to the longer range stuff and uh that will involve plans that will involve me uh either looking at directly or having Ken me

with information about the changes and so we're not done with the collaboration but the uh me visiting the sites and a lot spending a lot of time in the schools will be uh greatly reduced partly because schools are starting and partly because the immediate work is largely done so just to continue on that um we as we had I earlier said that the bringing um an engineering firm um to

the district to look at um the current systems um where we can retrofit those systems and where we need to replace um parts of of those systems or whole systems in general um there's a lot of there's a lot of um there a lot of ways that we can attack this and um obviously uh it's going to take us some time to get where we need to get we we've got quite a few

months here before our next season and we want to be sure that um we're ready um as a district uh in all the schools that we've had issues with so some of that work is is already ongoing uh with the equipment that we've purchased um we will probably be you know towards um you know after mid year taking a look and see what else we can possibly do um there is as I said some remediation work

that we're going to continue doing at all the schools and um the collaboration piece um it's important that we know what we don't know because we're not in every building every day um so it has been very very helpful to have lerno and green teachers on board um and working obviously for the same cause it it's it's a lot of work I'm I'm not going to say this has been one of the

toughest Summers across the district we've had regular work to do and this work is um is on top of that regular work 10 weeks go by awful fast and uh here we are ready to kick off another school year and we and we could use another 10 to 12 weeks of summer vacation to uh to do some work however um I think that that collaboration is where we are going to make our our um

our plan um and and without it um we we can't do this work so um I as I said we we need to have people tell us when there are situations and you know um I respond to emails I respond to phone calls and um our group um the fno group um is is ready willing and able to uh to carry this through so that we have a a a

better summer next year but also we can uh get through this year uh and make the changes we need to make if I can ask a followup um what what kind what kind of impact are both students and um Educators going to see when they go into school next week at both green and lerno is it going to be um a big impact or is it going to be minimized um if I'm the impact on

students coming in is that what I think that's what he said yeah so the impact obviously on student is going to try to be as minimal as possible we are going to uh continue the work that we need to do we're we're um in green um uh what Kelly was talking about earlier um we are going to try and get her classroom as close to as close to what she had um

as possible um it like I said painting things like that I may not be able to get to but functionality of the building uh and her room especially um we're going to try and get back to her before those students walk in um the sink is a little iffy I don't think we can um it's a custom piece that has to be made so I don't think we're going to be able to get that um right

away but we will work on that and again as I said moving forward we've got work that we still want to do but we are going to be cognizant of the fact that the students are going to be in there the next morning so work will be limited to the amount of work we can do in a few hours each day and then whatever days we can work like this Friday coming but

also um on a Saturday um to get some contractors or our own uh our own Personnel to get some stuff done and keep the uh the projects moving thank you um Miss larvi uh Kenny couple of questions um we spoke last time about the dehumid fires the larger ones being in the common areas and the smaller ones that that kind of filter out into the sinks and yes classrooms are all of

those purchased in in place so I have six of them purchased I have 20 that I'm waiting on okay do you know about when they'll be I I don't I think they're uh they've been delivered um to the warehouse so okay we're just waiting on on that but that's um that's where we're at with the uh with the lodger units um what about the wall humid sensors is that what you call so the humidistats

hum um have been installed in three schools okay and um they are being monitored those that need to be monitored every day uh the ones that we download um in and for instance Mr Green the uh senior custodian has put together a nice spreadsheet um so he's checking them every day and then getting giving us some data later on that we can see how these rooms are trending um over a

period of time that work will be ongoing um and and eventually if if um the upgrades um allow some of that will be automatic um and um we'll be trying to move in that direction as we can here um at dery uh and um we can do some of that work at Watson now with the new system so that's the goal uh thank you for that uh last question as far as teachers carpets uh

yes go how many have we the district had throw out so we didn't throw out any all of all of them we've put aside we try to um have them professionally cleaned um but they were pretty bad uh when they came back um they would they were not usable so we have those and we're replacing uh carpets with um carpets that we've we've ordered okay that was my question if we if the district was

going to replace the carpet for the teachers okay so we we have I think we we ordered a little over 250 carpets um and as they're being made they're they're being dropped off uh to us and we we've been Distributing was there any of any other teacher belongings that that we kind of had a I'm not positive on each individual item I'm sure that there are some items um that we had in

the schools that were damaged uh sometimes it's the um the soft Furniture uh bean bags things like that that have you know that may have um had damage on them and um as a district we'll figure out how we're going to handle that moving forward okay that's what I want make sure thank you I yield thank you anything further Mr agier so just a few questions but um there was an accusation about uh fear people

having fear of being reported so I have already asked the last time this this came up several weeks ago to do an investigation relative to how this is happening because if someone in the union is saying that they're afraid that they were told don't give a picture don't show AYSO whatever it is that's not acceptable and I've already asked the superintendent for that in the past and I'll reiterate it again because we

haven't got that report to just say this is another one so can I just speak to it I would love I did follow up um the last time this came up I did follow up I asked if there were any people who were willing to tell their story basically because I didn't have names or any you know definitive information the information that was shared this evening was the first I've heard of

it so I guess the message is just what is the message so I'm assuming just knowing you that you wouldn't say no don't send us a thing you don't need to be in fear if you want to make a complaint about mold like I just think it something needs to be said to folks that you as the CEO the leader of this District needs to tell everybody you're not you shouldn't be afraid for your job

so if you go to your principal and say I have mold in my billing and they tell and the principal tells you a story such that oh if you do that it might affect your career if that's what's being said if that's what's being said to staff members I don't think anybody you included would think that that's okay but I think it's a time now to not get into just to what's your stance on it so

if people have something they should be able to send us a picture if somebody has a picture of mold in their building I think they have every right to send it to you or any member of their school committee if somebody wants to complain about something they have a right to complain doesn't mean that we're going to take it as 100% gospel all I'm suggesting is that it sounds like people

are worried that they're being shut down from making a complaint and I think it should be addressed so we have I will say I have received multiple photos um of con you know photos of things that look concerning to folks whether they are um materials from classrooms or they are ceiling tiles or anything of that nature um I I think that everybody knows there have been no repercussions from

that I have never looked up to see what room number it was and who's in that room and who's filing this complaint I would want to start by sending a message to our school leaders and anybody else who is taking these complaints that we welcome the information it's the only way we're going to be able to attend to it now and get ahead of it in the future so I just want to make sure everybody

has that message um so that if you're receiving those kinds of messages that you understand that we it it is welcomed and it's something upon which we can act and that no I don't think um I don't think any I don't I and I don't think anybody on my team um would tolerate any kind of threatening messages that are going out to staff and what I hope what

I hope is that this is a more of a perception than um actual words or messages that have been um sent out to any staff members because I the last thing we want is to people to be fearful of their jobs um because they are trying to alert people to um possible um harmful things in our schools so thank you for the opportunity thank you and I think I would say the same thing for

school committee members uh getting information so people sometimes are very concerned about their careers and their job and it should never be said by anybody in administration that oh we're going to find out who's telling the school committee because the issue isn't what's the problem it's how did we how did somebody on the school committee find out that to me has to be a shift in in

uh perception here in this school district because what it has been is the issue isn't as important as how did somebody find out where I'm more like this is the issue it's wrong so we shouldn't be worrying about it and worrying about whether somebody's telling a school Committee Member they have a right to do it and I have plenty of examples of that I'm just glad that you gave that message to your own senior

staff as as administrators that they need to be careful when they're doing that that's my only suggestion so I do appreciate it I think he was well said uh the question Mr Pico was you said minor drips at we had a heck of a rainstorm can you please describe what was there and was there any other leaks around because when you said Miner I I have a view of what minor is and maybe

this so we had four um we had four spots at lerno um that um we have been working on um one of them is in a very difficult location a few different areas of the roof meeting and they're having an issue with getting that area to stop um we had a cut under one piece of equipment um um probably um an abrasion that's been there for a while but is now split so

that was found um and uh the company that's doing the work for us um thought that they got the whole thing um so we' already made that phone call when we heard about it today so this there's four spots uh one was a nail um something on the roof that was stepped on and it made a hole in it and uh there was um an area with a ladder um

going up to another roof uh a permanent ladder that uh the base of that was a problem so I I say small leaks meaning um a cup or two maybe three cups of water uh with today's rain which um with the amount that came down today it was uh quite substantial and when you said somebody's going to take care of it you meant the leak not necessarily I was hearing you that it was it created more

problems for the Plus it was it was easily cleaned up um what someone who's going to come in um the roofer will come in um they know exactly where they're going to go um to do that Mr Green uh was accompanied these um um contractors the last time they were here so they're they're going exactly where um he knows those leaks are y the um on the page that you put about a bait

a bait drywall under conditions and it says two seiling locations that El complete and one wall location and green complete so the abatement is complete so they cleaned out the areas were so the abatement piece was removing the sheetrock um and then making sure that there was not no other moisture up there um if there was anything up there sometimes it's uh trash so to speak a construction tra that was left there

during construction so paper products that would absorb water and then end up you know causing us grief so that kind of stuff was all taken care of and then the room was left to breathe so to speak and now we're going to sheetrock those areas that's stuff that was looked at when I'm looking at this I look at it there's two locations at the lero and one at the green that were Abad is that

a wrong assumption so it's it's a it's quite a few areas at Green there were rooms that were cut the lero area was two locations that we um that we had sheetrock to take care of so and that was all that was baed because no no there was other things abated so we abated pipe wrap um we worked on the unit ventilators um so there's work that went on but as far as

the abatement um for removing sheetrock we also had a wall um in a classroom that was cut up two foot high it was a wall that was not done um at the flood of 21 um but there was it was clean behind that wall um we did it as a precautionary measure so there was more I'm I'm I visited the green and there was more than one wall location cut out and

that's why I'm trying to there's about seven locations in three rooms cut out and um just what we had handed to us was a bait damage drywall under control conditions it says b one wall location at the green and that's the I've seen more than one personally with Dr Curley in our walkth through so I don't know if this is just an error or is this am I missing something with eror my pop so it

should say so it should say multiple areas that green will cut out and them have been and have all been Abed yes right y the the um the wall with the uh sink I guess it's a like a wall between another wall so you can see through the so both of them are done one on each side so you're saying that that wasn't mold no I'm not saying it wasn't mold I'm

just saying that the wall was wet the wall was wet behind the sink so whether or not that was an issue of the sheetrock getting wet because of the sink or whether it was water damage caused by something else it was it was removed it was Abad under control conditions y that was just surprising to see and we did the walk through and I normally I was thinking it was going to be a piece of

sheetrock and when the whole wall was gone the sink was gone yes one of them was able to salvage the the countertop the other one was not which leads me to believe well how did how bad was it and I'm waiting on the the issue was yeah the she the sheetrock itself was wet you know damp and showed staining so we wanted to get it out completely and we couldn't Salvage the sink on that one

yep so we haven't seen any test results but did Mr Terrell do any testing that recently that anybody's seen any numbers because I and maybe I'm wrong if I I haven't seen any uh test results come to the school committee at all so we should should have some very shortly that work was done and some of these testing uh agencies take a a week or so to come back so we will have that those tests to

everyone who who should have Terell has no results from any testing other than July I do I've got something please sir I got results on um Friday night from the lab I asked for expedited turnaround I was just there you know middle of the week so I asked for a quick turn and on at uh green the results were uh mixed they were a little bit similar to the first go round there was a

tremendous amount of work going on in green so it didn't surprise me too much uh just the sheer amount of dust and things like that but green wasn't great it was a little better than the previous time but um still higher than I'd like to see uh outdoor levels that green were 20,000 spores per cubic meter and indoor levels were approximately one/ tenth of that uh but they were still they still had uh

some types of spores that you see when there's a lot of physical activity or uh demo or other things uh ceiling tile removal was the main activity that was going on on that day so it doesn't surprise me that we had slightly elevated levels um at lerno uh things were pretty good there the previous time that I visited and they were uh good they were great in all rooms except for

008 and in that room they were good but not great and I think there was uh well I'm not sure exactly what was going on other than lots of activity in the school yeah so there aren't any rooms that I would say would be disqualified from opening or being used but there's still a lot of ongoing how about 8 the one you just mentioned again what about that yeah would that be

one you said you're not sure of any rooms that would be closed but 008 has been mentioned just a few times in the last 008 was not one that would cause me uh to say it shouldn't be used but the numbers are not good I think they weren't great they were slightly elevated because of a lot of recent activities and ripping out a wall and rebuilding a wall and doing some

other things yeah so in general your analysis that you have did you send that analysis to our folks on Friday night I talked to uh I sent an email to Ken at like 7 o'clock that night and am I wrong that we don't have any of this or am I missing that no I don't have it okay the um so when you compare just generally so when you look in you came in July whenever you were

contracted July 1 or July 5th or something like that so your first round of testing at the schools were whatever it is now you did another round of testing do you have have you provided us something that shows what it looked like then and what it looks like now so we can see no but I just got the data back no I I'm planning on doing that oh you don't have it yet but you could

extrapolate the data to see what it would be so we could do that work on our own if need be yes um testing when there's a tremendous amount of activity in a school is not an ideal time to test to see efficacy the main thing that we wanted to do when I was visiting both schools was to go through the recommendations and see if they were completed and I went room by room and looked at

all the recommendations and most everything was done the way that I wanted to but not everything so we made a list and those things got done in the last couple of days um so as far as the inspections went that was a very satisfactory and productive activity and that's about 90% of what you hope to accomplished with something like this air samples were done uh they're not perfect they were you know on the order

of on10th the outdoor level of mold but a few spores of types of mold that we don't like to see on the inside of buildings that make it so it's not perfect can I I just did you say outdoor level is that what you when you're saying it's one/ tenth of I I can't make out what you just said all right we just that one piece you said we always do a comparison to Outdoors because indoor

air is a mix of the air that's there and air that's being brought in from the outside so uh at Green in particular the level of mold was I think 20,000 spores per cubic meter and the numbers on the inside were you know about a tenth of that so overall the um if you just look at the number of spores levels were great but that's not how we valate mold we look for mold types as

well yeah I just didn't I couldn't hear based on the microphone not what I wasn't challenging what you said I just couldn't understand whether it was Outdoors but now now I so if you want me to kind of give you a big picture of what I did and and how I feel about it uh I feel tremendous progress has been made but we're not completely done I don't feel that anyone is acting

in bad faith and I don't feel that there are any problems that would U prevent students and teachers from occupying those rooms but I do suggest that um we keep working on this you know that we're we're not there yet no I I I appreciate the information and uh I'll hold my comments about the scores I just think I guess my only comment on the scores would be or the test results is

that with the High um import importance of this we have a meeting today I would have expected that we would have gotten some information as soon as you give it to us it should come in our hands and the analysis because I know you're going to take a little bit of time but people are looking for a little bit of uh something to um have some certainty and feel and and

feel good about it and I appreciate you given the that you did have some scores but I'm I am truly disappointed that we didn't uh get those I do think that a lot of work's been done I I don't know anybody that we didn't hire you for what I I wanted to hire you for personally which was for you to come here and put your name on the line and say this is

what you were going to I understand you went higher to do that I still have a problem with how that went down from the beginning but I do think people have made progress and I I just think we need to start keep keep on working and the issue today is about getting a school open the issue of the HVAC systems not working properly for many many years is something that we need to continue to

investigate because we shouldn't have been sitting here in this time and we spent probably hundreds of thousands of dollars when all said and done on this particular problem that could have been avoided in my opinion but I do appreciate your work sir thank you I yield Mr Cory I for one I for one would like to thank you Mr Terell for your uh partnership on this crisis that we're

undergoing because I I try to look at it proactively and um I know that the word fear was just brought up to us at the meeting and that tends to spike everybody's acute interest in the issue uh the superintendent H did address that there should be no fear in reporting so I want to appeal to all of the staff that's here and and everybody that's watching that you can always send us a

message according to your your fears or anxieties uh regarding your work because we appreciate your service and we need your service in order for to move forward Mr Terell and Kenny if I may propose that um I learned so much at the subcommittee meeting through Mr Terrell's presentation in the science of mold itself and you raised a lot of very important points Mr Terell especially as

it appeals to our classroom teachers and I think that sometimes we as teachers and I was one I remember collecting so much paperwork and and vinyl folders and this and that and in your meeting you presented to us in in in periods of high humidity mold grows on the paper mold grows behind the vinyl we learned so much so I'm just wondering Madam superintendent if there was something that we could do to Fashion of

professional development for all staff for for custodial staff for instructional staff for administrative staff in order to we're all of us need to work together it can't just be on the department of facilities and operations that's a lot of pressure mold is an everpresent issue and if we could all contribute in a proactive manner I bet you we could really improve this issue next year the year after and the year

after that without any fear or anxiety but more proactive Progressive behavioral measures to uh be able to talk to the necessary people the appropriate people and move it along and try to Abate it ourselves maybe classroom teachers can work you know and see the beginnings of a mold issue maybe something hanging on their wall behind a vinyl poster maybe having too much paper accumulated in one corner of the room

that may be near a window that may take on more humidity than another area of your classroom there are so many different ways and I think maybe Mr Terell is is is a scientific expert on this issue and I wouldn't mind if if you put together a PowerPoint for all of us for our for our instructional staff and helping us to understand it even more at the base level with that I yield thank

you Mr Cory Mr angia just had a couple of questions follow up on the laterno leaks so is the library leaking still yes and is that not from this that's been an ongoing or is it it's an ongoing leak that we've kind of slowed it down but it still hasn't stopped so it was leaking today and that's one of the ones you talked about or that's just you can't figure it out yet are you're

still working at it the courtyard that that's where the issue was in the past I believe right that the water was backing up in that drain that was no the courtyard was backing up in bathroom drains from um the uh Anthony Street side of the building so the courtyard doors that the water goes underneath or something is that still ongoing or those doors need to be fixed or I don't know

if there's a threshold issue in the courtyard I haven't seen water coming in a threshold in the courtyard I have not from what I'm being told there's water that comes in via the courtyard so the door you know on the bottom the water can just come in so uh I think that's just something to look at and um in the art room so at Lono is there an issue in the

art room 108 yes that's not 08 that's 108 right and that's where we have a we had drips today um but that sheetrock has been not where the drip is the drip is in the ceiling um towards the wall the sopit just above um some cabinets and items there that that sheetrock was taken down um Abad and we'll go back up because that area is fine it's a little further from that point North in that

room and uh Wednesday is the first day for students yes are you going to be ready with all of the things that um we talked about that for instance just use that as an example so that sheetrock will be up ready to roll the sheetrock will be up the room may not be painted those joints may not be taped um they're going to get as much done as they possibly can

tomorrow and then on Friday they will go back and do more work uh and then uh hopefully um put a coat of paint on it if we do have time and what is the mechanism for staff to uh not so much to complain but just to notify everybody so is it via the principal so if it can be and it can be directly to me I informed Lisa Lemieux and the health

committee they have my phone number I have no problem accepting phone calls everyone else calls me so they might as well no I hear you so I I it's the easiest way I hear you right to a source it was more a little my question was more along to the lines of the superintendent so I think we've focused a lot on the green and latero because they were the worst cases we have mold

or we have issues all over this District so I think trying to streamline for what the expectation is that a principal in charge of their building should be the person whatever it is I I just think it needs to be streamlined so that if a person has an issue they bring it to the principal principal now addesses it with the superintendent so everyone's on the same page because I could sit here for

another two hours and say what about that room what about this room but I'd rather have it said that the principles have all said every room in their building is done they've reached out to you and here's what the needs are so we can try to move forward with it I I just think a streamlined process would probably make sense and would that I yield thank you okay thank you uh Phil and Ken that

was a great explanation or um information I should say about mold in our schools um next item up is a request for executive session uh Mr Assad is there any need for executive session it would be yes ma'am um I can read them off please okay Mass general laws chapter 38 section 2187 review and approve executive session minutes of August 12th 2024 regular school committee meeting master of laws chapter

38 21 section 2183 discuss strategy with respect to Collective barging agreement including uh hearing grievances relative to All Professional teaching employees of the forward School System including coaches Title One teachers nurses occupational physical therapists and specialists in the teaching profession represented by the for of Educators associations and chairs determin that no

possession may have a detrimental impact on a b position of the committee M General Law chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining relative to all administrators and employees represented by the for administrators Association as the chair is determined that no possession may have a detrimental impact on a bargaining position of the committee Mass general laws chapter 38

section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect the collective Bing relative to all cafeteria employees the for school system represented by the American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees Council 93 local 1118 as the chair is determined that an open session may have a detrimental impact on the bargaining position of the committee Mass general laws chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with the

respect to collect the Bing Rel to all maintenance employees the forward school system represented by the American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees Council 93 local 1118 is a chair is determin that an open session may have a detrimental impact on the bogging position of the committee M General Law chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with respect to Collective Bing Rel to all cial

employees for a school system represented by the American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees Council 93 local 1118 as the chair is determined that open session may have a detrimental impact on a bing position of the committee M laws chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with respect to collect the Bing relative to all safety security employees of the former school

system represented by the American Federation of State County Municipal Employees Council 93 local 1118 as a chair determine that an open session may have a detrimental impact on the Bing position of the committee m general laws chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to Collective Bing relative to all civil clerical employees of the forward school system represented

by for Department of Civil Service clerical employees Association as a chairs ATT T an open session may have a detrimental impact on the baring position of the committee M laws chapter 38 section 21 A3 discuss strategy with respect to colletive bodying relative to all par professional employees forward school system represented by the forward Federation of par professionals has a chish to T session may have a

detrimental impact on a bing position of the committee Mion Law chapter 38 section 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel and or to conduct contract negotiation with non-union Personnel including all instructional support Lia on 25 positions all seela on 38 positions all Community facilitat 16 positions and Dr Tracy cury superintendent of schools the

committee would reconvene the may not be statements at that time I need a a motion in a second so moved a second uh Deb can you call the W to go into executive session Please Mr Agia yes Mr Bailey Mr Das yes Mr Cory yes M larvi yes M Perera Mary Coogan yes

recess we're back in session from executive session Deb would you please call the role Mr Agia Mr Bailey Mr D Mr Cory present miss larav here miss Pereira mayor Coogan yep anything further to come before the committee yes mayor I'd like to make a motion to approve the executive session minutes for August August 12th 2024 the regular school committee meeting can I get a second second I have

a motion to second on the minutes any discussion Deb please call the roll Mr draga yes Mr Bailey Mr Das Mr Corey yes M lar yes M Pereira Mr um mayor cougan yes anything further motion of J second I have a motion a second on J that please call the rooll Mr AGA yes Mr Bailey Mr dasas Mr Cory yes Mr lar yes M Pereira mayor kougan yes M turn