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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-02-07-SC-minLEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, February 7, 2023 Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 5:35 PM SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Sara Cuthbertson, Chairperson Deepika Sawhney, Vice -chair Kathleen Lenihan, Clerk (joining remotely) Larry Freeman Eileen Jay SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent Dave Coelho, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Dr. Christine Lyons, Assistant Superintendent for Personnel and Staff Support Dr. Maureen Kavanaugh, Director of Data & Strategy Johnny Cole, Director of Equity & Student Support Jennifer Gaudet, Director of Secondary Education The School Committee convened at the School Committee Meeting Room at Central Office and remotely. Members of the public can view and participate in person or in the meeting webinar from their computer or tablet by clicking on the link provided with the meeting agenda. Please note that this meeting is being recorded and that attendees are participating by video conference. This evening's meeting is being broadcast live and also taped by LexMedia for future on -demand viewing. All supporting materials that have been provided to members of this body are available on the Town's website unless otherwise noted. EXECUTIVE SESSION Ms. Sawhney made a motion at 5:36 PM to enter executive session under Exemption 3 — For the purpose of discussing strategy with respect to collective bargaining with the Lexington Educators Association (LEA), as the Chair so declares an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the School Committee, Ms. Jay seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll call vote, passed 5-0. The School Committee re-entered open session at 6:21 PM. Student Representatives, Aditi Swamy and Grace Ou have now joined the meeting. CONSENT AGENDA JK 02/07/23 - DRAFT Ms. Sawhney read the following consent agenda items: Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval a. February 3, 2023 - AP Warrant in the amount of $875,781.58 b. January 27, 2023 - Payroll Warrant in the amount of $4,342,372.90 Ms. Jay read the following consent agenda items: Minutes a. December 13, 2022 b. January 3, 2023 c. January 19, 2023 Mr. Freeman made a motion to approve the entire consent agenda, Ms. Sawhney seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll call vote, passed 5-0. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIAISON REPORTS Mr. Freeman announced that Dr. Hackett will be attending the Lexington Human Rights Committee meeting tomorrow at 8:45 AM to talk about systemic barriers. Ms. Jay attended the CALex Lunar New Year event and CAAL's lantern festival last night. She also attended the SHAC meeting last night that was centered around LGBTQIA+ with a presentation. She announced that on February 15, 2023 at 12:00 PM Cary Library will have a Full Board Meeting to discuss how to proceed with the capital projects for the Children's Room renovation and how to deal with the HVAC system. Ms. Lenihan is a liaison to the Recreation Committee. She reminded the School Committee back when the Minuteman High School was being rebuilt there was a proposal looking for a partner to fund some amenities for their playing fields and who would also be able to use them. They reached out to Lexington, it was investigated but it didn't go anywhere. This is now back and the Recreation Committee sent out an email about it. Ms. Lenihan stated that this is an attractive option because once the new or renovated High School projects starts we will be at a deficit for fields. The next School Building Committee meeting is Monday February 13th at 1:00 PM. Ms. Sawhney attended the Budget Summit meeting on January, 30 2023. The Special Education Reserve Fund, the Special Education Stabilization Fund and how trash is becoming more expensive were discussed. She also thanked CALex for an amazing event. Ms. Cuthbertson attended the CALex Lunar New Year Celebration and on Sunday the CAAL lantern festival. She announced that on Thursday there will be a community conversation "How can our education system foster a sense of racial and social justice in our schools and throughout our communities?" that is co-sponsored by LexObserver and the Lexington Lyceum Advocates. Our own Kerry Dunne and Jane Hundley will be panelists. Aditi made a statement on how students stand by and support our teachers. JK 02/07/23 - DRAFT COMMUNITY SPEAK Andre Verner (in person): He has been a math teacher at Lexington High School for twenty years. He loves teaching at LHS but believes that we are facing massive problems right now. Teachers are finding their work to be more difficult than ever and morale is at an all-time low. He states that there is no way teachers can continue to maintain the level of services that are currently being provided and asked for the "rainy day" funds to be used now. He encouraged parents and community members to contact the Lexington Select Board. Avon Lewis - President of the Lexington Education Association: "As I spoke about last week, the budget before the School Committee tonight does not meet two of your stated goals. Tonight I want to talk about another budget goal - to identify efficiencies and cost-saving measures that do not compromise the educational program. Let me tell you a little bit about how this goal plays out in practice. We do not fill some parental leaves and instead spread the work around among staff who already have overloaded plates. We have part-time educators whose workload has exploded in the last year, but yet, they are denied having their positions increased to full-time. With one central office reorganization and after another, we do not have enough staff to manage the annual influx of new students. We have had one serious problem with payroll after another, and the Professional Learning program, which was once a really great part of working here, has atrophied. Finally - the smallest and perhaps the most telling. Dr. Hackett's contract includes an annual stipend of $5000 to drive around the district. Given the current federal mileage rate, she would have to drive in -district for more than 30 miles a day, 260 days a year. That is roughly 5 round trips to school buildings from CO every day, taking no vacation or sick time all year, for this number to make sense. When members of the Tech Unit sought an increase to their drive -around -the -district stipend, which would have cost the district less than $5000 for the entire unit, the district said no, no, and no again. Dozens of hours were spent in trying to figure out something "fair." I don't even know what "fair" means, but that is the kind of penny-wise accounting that we see repeatedly in all sorts of different areas, that makes the staff feel nickel and dimed and just plain disrespected. Sure, shorting some poor tech worker a few dollars probably does not have a direct impact on students, but this message, sent over and over, with payroll mistakes and the loss of Professional Learning, and the repeated "no" to needed staff - is absolutely having a negative impact on students. We are not "the help." We are highly skilled, trained professionals who take pride in our work and who, together, represent thousands of years of experience in making this place work. I want to finish by pointing out a priority that is not in the budget anymore, but it used to be: to pay competitive wages. Good wages have a direct impact on students. They help attract staff, and they help retain staff, and in the long run, that pays dividends for the kids of Lexington. Lexington School Committee - you can do better. The town has the money to provide us with good working conditions, which will result in good learning conditions for our kids, and our students. Please do the right thing and vote this budget down and replace it with one that meets the needs of the students we have." Taylor Casey (in person): She's an eighth -grade English teacher at Diamond Middle School. She feels compelled to comment on the letter that the School Committee sent out to the Lexington community on January 24th, she feels that the letter misrepresented some of the concerns and experiences of Lexington educators. She adds that even though teachers are contracted to work JK 02/07/23 - DRAFT 184 days per year, and 7 % hours a day, they do much more. Also, the letter stated that the average full-time teacher in Lexington earns $94,313.00 in compensation (not including longevity or stipends). Ms. Casey provided some personal content, this is her seventh year working in Lexington, she has both a bachelor's and master's degree and she makes roughly $25,000.00 less a year than that number. She feels the pressure of not making enough money and does not feel loved, respected, or supported. Kristie Borges - 13 Parliament Ln, Woburn, MA: She is a Section 504 coordinator at Lexington High School. She states that there are hundreds of students and families that fall under Section 504 regulations and a subset of hundreds who receive Section 504 protections and who require accommodation plans. There is only one Section 504 coordinator at LPS, at the elementary and middle school levels there is no one specifically assigned to oversee the process of Section 504. Counselors have voiced the need for a Section 504 coordinator at the lower levels, but these requests have gone unanswered. Ms. Borges' caseload has exponentially increased since the pandemic. Every year since 2019, her department has requested a full-time position to meet the growing needs of our students with disabilities, but every year it has been denied. Parents are waiting for months for meetings and students are going without formalized or updated plans for extended periods of time. Dawn McKenna (in person): She has been attending meetings for thirty -plus years, she was on the Board of Selectmen twenty years ago. She wants to remind people that language matters and that we are one town. At the Board of Selectmen meeting last night, they talked about needing more money for a composting program. She also spoke about how she grew up in Lexington and how teachers made such an impact on her to this day. She also spoke about the old budget process. SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT Dr. Hackett reviewed the following from her report: A. Congratulations and Celebrations • It's National School Counseling Week. • Massachusetts School Counselor Association 2023 Rising Star Award was won by Francisco Hernandez Salgado, for the second time. • The Clarke Math Team had the qualifier to make it to States this past Saturday, they got first and the Diamond team placed second. • There is a link in the report to the Singular Vision Photography Exhibit. • The Lexington High School Track Varsity teams competed in the ML -12 Championship Meet. Congratulations to the LHS Girls' and Boys' Indoor Track and Field teams who are both Middlesex League Champions. School Committee Questions/Comments: Ms. Jay would like to add to the Celebrations that former Lexington student Steven Fiefke won a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble! Dr. Hackett replied that this is in her report. There is more information in the full Superintendent's Report that can be viewed here. JK 02/07/23 - DRAFT Ms. Cuthbertson read an update that will be sent out to the school community tomorrow addressing the status of contract negotiations. PRESENTATION: 2022-2023 ANNUAL LPS REPORT ON EFFORTS TO REDUCE SYSTEMIC BARRIERS The slideshow was presented by Dr. Kavanaugh and Mr. Cole. The final plan and our subsequent school and department Innovation Plans are centered around four strategic objectives: Address and Narrow Equity Gaps, Redefine Success, Cultivate Student Agency, and Innovate for Sustainable Change. There are six sections of the report: • Ensuring a Diverse Workforce • Ensuring Equitable Access to a Diverse, Rigorous Curriculum • Ensuring Inclusion In The General Education Learning Environment • Ensuring Alignment with MA Dyslexia Guidelines and Support for Struggling Readers • Addressing Disproportionate Use of Suspension & Student Discipline, and • Ensuring Progress toward our "We All Belong" Core Value. Further details can be found in the full written report. School Committee Questions/Comments: Mr. Freeman asked, Why do you think black students are being disciplined more often? Mr. Cole responded that this is a challenging question to answer and that he has heard that students feel "more seen" for similar behaviors that go unseen in other peers. There will be training with students and staff around trying to counteract some of that. Mr. Freeman is happy to have the data but we have to think about the real-life impact, if we don't think about why this is happening then we're never going to eliminate it. Mr. Cole explained that there are a couple of different ways we are looking at it. Dr. Hackett added that one thing we do is look at case-by-case situations and explore antecedent behavior. Dr. Kavanaugh spoke about unmet needs, missing supports, and how responses could be disciplinary or therapeutic. Dr. Hackett spoke about cases being therapeutic but it still counts as putative according to the State. Mr. Freeman also made a comment that "looking at it at the complete opposite side, there is a certain sentiment in Lexington that this data does not support, that says Black and African American students are not punished for inappropriate behavior in our schools because of this initiative." Mr. Freeman asked, how would you address that statement? Mr. Cole replied that what we are doing as a community is rethinking what responses to behaviors mean, what is discipline? The work that we are doing now isn't as visible, students may be involved in an altercation (physical, verbal) and they may not be in the class for ten days which was a very viable sign that something happened, what's not being seen is all of the hours and hours of learning conversation that is happening. There is a shift in understanding and we are working with students to help them understand the impact of their actions. JK 02/07/23 - DRAFT Mr. Freeman then brought up special education environments and how special education students are placed in gen ed classrooms seem to be off balance. Dr. Hackett responded that some of it is intentional in terms of some of our programs and that we try to make sure students don't feel isolated and that we try to take it kid by kid to figure out what is best. She also explained that where a student is placed sometimes has to do with programming and transportation, and none of it is perfect. Mr. Freeman gave the example of having multiple special ed students in one gen ed class, and having other gen ed classes not have any special ed students is a disservice to the special ed students and the gen ed students because they are not getting exposed. Mr. Freeman then stated that he does not think this report would be understood by our non-English, or English is not their first language -speaking families. Dr. Hackett replied that we can do an executive summary so it is translatable. Ms. Lenihan appreciated the chart in the presentation that showed enrollment data for students receiving special education services and the race -ethnicity breakdown in the honor and AP classes. She thinks it would be even more helpful to have that broken down into individual departments or classes. She also wanted to point out that in the written report in Section 2b. Ensuring Access to Advanced Course Work for All, under Access to Advanced Placement in Social Studies there is mentioned that some courses do not require any specific prior coursework or knowledge, making them accessible to students. She thinks that we could expand our efforts on that. Ms. Lenihan stated that it would also be great to see the same effort put into improving access to Advanced Placement in our science classes. Mr. Cole responded that there are some departments that are not highlighted in the report and that each department is looking at how to promote access in different ways. Ms. Jay stated that the report is a tour de force with 80 pages and that it keeps getting bigger each year because we keep digging deeper. She is thankful for the report and for the district's support behind it. She would also like to see the data around access to course levels by the department. She also asked if we are clustering too much, she understands that some of it is because of resources. Ms. Jay hopes that students stretch themselves into trying new things and she is interested in what comes before high school. She thinks that by the time kids get to high school they may not feel like they can stretch themselves or they might feel like they are behind. Ms. Jay referenced the chart on page 7 and how the meeting or exceeding expectations percentage for African American students in elementary school is not that high. She asked, "What is going on there?"Is it a lack of confidence, is it an inability to understand the content and what can we do at those early ages to build that so that by the time students are in high school they will feel prepared? Ms. Jay asked the question, "What are we doing to look at those precursors in elementary and middle school?" Dr. Kavanaugh mentioned how the new elementary math program was selected very intentionally. We have to make our instruction more accessible, rigorous, and thorough but we also have to build beliefs in our learners that they can do these things and that they are ready when they get to upper levels. Mr. Cole added that diversifying our staff is another piece to this. Ms. Jay asked how we know if what we are doing is working. Mr. Cole gave an example that high school students helped with the new JK 02/07/23 - DRAFT elementary math program, and we talk with students and get their experiences. Dr. Kavanaugh added that one data point that we don't have to talk about here (especially in math) is the lack of gender gap, this is hope that we can make meaningful change. Ms. Jay brought up the DEI curriculum, we are finding that implementing this is hard and it needs to be done very intentionally. Caitlin Ahearn, Director of Elementary Education, then spoke about the new Illustrative Math curriculum. She pointed out that we have math specialists in every elementary school that work alongside teachers. Also that the new math program was selected in part due to the cultural responsiveness of the pedagogy. We want to make sure that all children see themselves as mathematicians. Ms. Ahern added that the math specialists are aware of the achievement gaps that still exist and persist. There is a bi-weekly PLC meeting that the math team attends and the first part of the meeting is focused on equity building. This work is ongoing but we are trying to put in place new strategies. Ms. Sawhney loves the collaboration that went into the report. She asked if there are any mechanisms for collecting information on a negative incident that does not happen on school grounds (sports or music events for example). She also brought up Table 4: 2019 & 2021 VOCAL Results: Student Perceptions Regarding Teacher Expectations (% of Students who Answered Always True or Mostly True) on page 35 of the written report. Ms. Sawhney noticed that in the Grade 8 column in years 2021 and 2022, LPS's number is lower than the State's. She also pointed out that pre-COVID the number was "decent." She would like us to monitor this, why are our kids feeling the high expectations? Ms. Sawhney spoke about genocides around the world and other historical events. She asked how we incorporate student's voices. Ms. Sawhney also spoke about how the high school is going to feel even smaller once construction begins. She asked if there is a way to allow summer classes that would count as an elective on transcripts. Dr. Hackett wanted people to know that the goal is to do construction in the same building and to have minimal distractions. Ms. Sawhney would like to know why we do not offer AP English. She also loves that we are supporting our paraprofessional staff in becoming licensed educators. Ms. Sawhney stated that what she took away from the report is that a lot of our problems are about implicit bias and systemic issues. We offer training and messaging to role model the right behavior. Dr. Hackett added that a third of our educator new hires are people of color and that our administration has changed significantly. Ms. Sawnhey stated that she is constantly looking at MCAS data, in five years we haven't been able to move the needle as much as we hoped in terms of race. She would like to see more big changes in individual student cases. Dr. Hackett mentioned that she has met with many staff members and what she has been told is that children right now are different because of everything that happened during the pandemic. Educators have described to Dr. Hackett that kids have different skill sets now and are able to express what they need. This does not mean that we only think about social -emotional learning or that we only think about academic rigor, both are needed in a system and we need to think about balance. Dr. Hackett asked the student representatives, Grace and Aditi, if they think students need summer courses. Grace sees the JK 02/07/23 - DRAFT benefit of having a program to help students but she worries about accessibility. Dr. Hackett added that we do offer summer courses. Ms. Cuthbertson asked if there is data that supports that short-term tutoring would fix the problem in the long term. Aditi made a statement about having a diverse group of students sign up, we might just see a certain type of student sign up for summer courses. Aditi asked about the health curriculum. She knows there are a lot of students who say they don't feel that the health curriculum sufficiently or accurately represents LQBTQ identities. Students in the past have tried to get in contact with the Health Department but their concerns were never met. Aditi asked if there are any plans to evaluate the curriculum because right now students are left to find their own information. Mr. Cole responded that he knows that our health department has met with students, and he knows of several recommendations that have been taken into account. He recommended that if students feel like they are not being heard, to reach out to the principal, Jennifer Gaudet, or themselves. Grace mentioned that student engagement is very important, she asked how we are reaching out to make sure that all voices are heard. Mr. Cole replied that all of our efforts to incorporate students' voices and to collaborate with students is with diversity in mind. We don't just wait for students to volunteer because we would only hear one perspective. Dr. Kavanugh added that we do surveys. Also that it can be hard to get unengaged students to be involved, but it is important to get those voices. We are constantly working on that. Ms. Cuthbertson stated that one of the things that the School Committee has been talking about is taking more legislative action. In the works is a legislative breakfast where we invite our legislators and also combine with other School Committees to advocate. She asked for key points to bring to this meeting (she mentioned the increased cost of special education services). Ms. Cuthbertson also mentioned that the Planning Board had a very busy meeting talking about the MBTA communities and Article 34 to amend the zoning bylaw for multi -family zoning. This is something that will come before Town Meeting this year. There is a need for more diverse housing options in order for staff to live in Lexington. Ms. Cuthbertson stated that she really liked hearing about the student -led professional development and how much we value student feedback. We don't just listen to students and put it into a chart somewhere, educators here are humble enough to say I know that my students are the experts in their experiences and that we can learn from our students. NEW BUSINESS A. Ad Hoc TransOortation Committee An Ad Hoc Transportation Committee is being formed by the Town to review the Lexpress bus service and make recommendations to the Select Board. They need to have a School Committee representative on the committee. Ms. Jay made a motion to appoint Deepika Sawhney as the School Committee representative to the Ad Hoc Transportation Committee, Mr. Freeman seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll call vote, passed 5-0. JK 02/07/23 - DRAFT UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. Suoerintendent's FY 2024 Budeet. Dr. Hackett stated that there have been many public hearings and a staff budget hearing last week that about fifteen staff members attended. There was a discussion about the challenges we face and how we can navigate those challenges. Dr. Hackett also raised the idea of the legislative breakfast. The two things educators say that they want in national surveys are better compensation and good leadership. Mr. Coelho added that the process of the budget was also discussed. Dr. Hackett stated that where we landed in the budget is a 3.89% increase. Dr. Hackett also added that at the staff hearings, the fact that in five years we have not cut positions and people have not lost jobs was discussed. Ms. Jay made a motion to approve the Superintendent's Fiscal Year 2024 Budget, Mr. Freeman seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll call vote, passed 5-0. Ms. Lenihan had to leave the meeting. POLICY SUBCOMMITTEE Ms. Cuthbertson stated that we do not have updates on Revised Policv JF: School Admissions Policand Revised Policy JFAB: Policy on Rion -Resident Students, so the readings were tabled. COMMUNITY SPEAK Marina Simons -Fulton (in person): She is a speech language pathologist at Clarke Middle School. She commented on the bargaining update that stated that educators work 7 % hours per day, this is not the case. She talked about how special educators don't receive lesson plans, assignments, or materials until the last minute or after school hours. A directive many staff was happy about was the generation of equity teams at each school. Participation is voluntary, Middle school teams meet after school outside of contractual hours, and elementary and high school teams meet during the half-day collaboration time. At Clarke, twelve colleagues meet every other week for an hour because they believe that this is important work. Ms. Simons -Fulton went on to explain many other things teachers do that are above and beyond the contractual hours. She made the point that in corporate America, employees who work overtime are compensated. She is asking to be paid respectfully and fairly for the extra work that educators do. Jessica Antoline - 40 Elmwood St, Somerville, MA: She stated that in order to teach about modern genocide, it is essential to teach about World War I, imperialism, and Western dominance. We teach about the Congo, Armenia, Rwanda, the holocaust, and many other genocides. We teach about why Churchill's image is painted in our high school hallways near Gandhi and how that might express our lack of understanding of the ways in which the British Government and its companies destroyed livelihoods in India for 200 -plus years. Ms. Antoline said that we would like to teach more but that requires time exploring resources that aren't JK 02/07/23 - DRAFT available. We need more time than just a two-day summer workshop. She added that she and her colleagues do not make a living wage. Teachers believe that teaching about these things matter to the community, but they can't keep doing it without support. Labor history is also taught in tenth grade, it was a shame that educators couldn't share with students some information about the real events that were going on in Lexington this week. Alicia D'Abreu - 15 Spruce St, Waltham, MA: She is a first -grade teacher at Bowman and has been an educator in Lexington for eight years. She states that our schools are filled with teachers who exude passion and creativity and are always looking for ways to refine educational practices and maximize opportunities for students. Since the pandemic, she has seen colleagues dedicating more time and energy than ever to invent new ways for our students to learn and connect. She has noticed a significant decrease in the apparent value of varied perspectives and expertise of our educators. Value is what she is hearing others ask for this evening, more value is to be placed on educators' time and on the complex work that is done each day. Ms. D'Abreu mentioned that Friday afternoons help teachers collaborate, create the best possible learning opportunities for children, and it allows teachers to master our curriculum. She also brought up that she knows many teachers that have to have second jobs. Also that decisions are being made without a presence within the building to see firsthand what changes and supports are most needed. Teachers deserve to be heard. Erin Barrett - 2001 Symmes Circle Arlington, MA: She is a member of the Social Studies Department. She addressed comments made by Ms. Cuthbertson on desirable class sizes, 25 students is not a desirable class size. She agrees with Ms. Lenihan's suggestion to encourage more underrepresented students to take AP and honors classes, but not just for the data. In order for students to be successful in those classes, they would need scaffolding and individual support which takes a lot of work. She states that we need to hire more staff to reduce the untenable workload. She also stated that we try to offer students voice and choice. Reducing the number of classes and capping the student load would allow teachers to do their jobs. Teaching conditions are student learning conditions. POSSIBLE ACTION ITEMS The discussion of possible action items was tabled. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Freeman made a motion to adjourn at 9:14 PM, Ms. Jay seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll call vote, passed 4-0. JK 02/07/23 - DRAFT