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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-27-SC-min LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, February 27, 2024 Meeting Minutes AGENDA: CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:04 PM SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Sara Cuthbertson, Chairperson Kathleen Lenihan, Clerk Larry Freeman Deepika Sawhney, Vice-chair (attended virtually) Eileen Jay (attended virtually) Student Representatives: Tara Pai and Adlan Bogatyryov SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent The minutes were taken by Julie Kaye, School Committee Meeting Recording Secretary. 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. CONSENT AGENDA Ms. Sawhney read the following consent agenda items: Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrant Approval a. February 23, 2024- Payroll in the amount of$4,808,449.01 b. March 1, 2024-AP Warrant in the amount of$2,204,169.07 Ms. Lenihan read the following consent agenda items: Donations a. $936 Donation from Snap Mobile, Inc. for Aerospace Robotics Club Mr. Freeman motioned to approve the entire consent agenda, Ms. Lenihan seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll call vote,passed 5-0. SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIAISON REPORTS JK 2/27/24-DRAFT Mr. Freeman had nothing to report. Ms. Lenihan reminded everyone that on March 6 at 6:30 pm at the Cary Memorial Building, there will be a Community Forum for the High School project, which will be recorded. She also announced that yesterday, there was a great School Building Committee meeting. Ms. Jay reminded everyone that Town elections are next week, March 5, 2024. Ms. Sawhney congratulated Diamond Middle School educator Ms. Whitney Factor for her work with the Diamond Science Bowl team. Ms. Cuthbertson mentioned that she shared a spreadsheet with the School Committee that includes Town Meeting articles, and she asked that it be reviewed prior to the next meeting. Student representatives announced that the Senate would hold a bake sale on February 14, 2024, to raise money to enact some policy changes. COMMUNITY SPEAK Rajeshwari Godbole - 6 Tewksbury St (in person): She spoke about the word "swastika" and how it is a Sanskrit word, not German. "My request here is simple. Please stop using the word swastik." Megan Klein Hattori -44 Forrest St (virtually): She read an anonymous statement from a parent describing the struggles their child went through who has a learning disability. The writer emphasized the importance of early evaluations. The statement asks the School Committee "for a swift outside evaluation of Lexington's literacy programs" and "to enforce early, frequent, and in-depth testing of all students in order to ensure that no student must fail before being rescued and asking School Committee to hire specialists trained and OG or Wilson's" Jack Losier- (virtually): Jack lives in Lexington and attends the Carroll School. He read an anonymous statement from a Lexington Public School student diagnosed with dyslexia. The student felt consistently behind and frustrated, they also described not wanting to go to school and asked for help. A virtual speaker called in to share their views on leftist politics. Could not verify the speaker's name or address. Mr. Freeman and Ms. Cuthbertson reacted to the statement. Dr. Hackett read the letter she sent out to the community on February 23rd: "Dear LPS School Community, there are so many tragic world events that it can be difficult to know what to write and when. Listening to what's on the hearts and minds of members of our school community can provide a clearer path forward. Several of you have reached out to share JK 2/27/24-DRAFT your pain and worry about anti-LGBTQIA+ efforts that are weighing heavily on many. I write today to offer our love and support to all LPS students, staff, parents, caregivers, and community members who openly or quietly exist as transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive. Recent events have left many in the LGBTQIA+ community reeling, starting with the conviction of Brianna Ghey's murderers, followed by the cis-gender student being threatened after a Utah school board member accused them of being trans. Most recently, the tragic events of Nex Benedict, the 16-year-old non-binary student who, according to news reports, faced bullying at school for many months, have left our students and all those who love them feeling unsafe. When someone in our community hurts, we hurt, too. In the words of one Lexington parent: "We will not turn a blind eye to the bullying or discrimination that you face. Remember, your worth is not determined by the ignorance or hatred of others. You are beautiful; you are brave, and you deserve to live a life free from fear and discrimination—a life full of joy." Remember that in times of darkness, there is hope. In Lexington, we believe in the dignity of all genders, and we are blessed with an incredible upstander community. One of my greatest joys each year is to see the nearly 100 students who participate in an active bystander training learning to listen, speak up, talk to one another, and take action to effect change. In the Lexington Public Schools community, we all belong. We will continue to embrace our unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to break the cycle of all forms of oppression. We invite you to partner with us as active "upstanders" to create a more compassionate, humane world." Dr. Hackett is considering this her Superintendent's report. Ms. Cuthbertson wanted to reaffirm "the School Committee's commitment that we have made over and over again to our diverse curriculum, to Serious Talks, which includes being understanding and welcoming and inclusive of all people. And that is something that's not going away. And no matter what somebody comes and says to us, that is something that was one of our core values that we believe in very strongly. I know every single person at this table, my colleagues joining us at home, feel that way. So I just want to make sure that people feel safe in our community." Ms. Cuthbertson moved to change the order of the agenda(move the SMMA presentation up), and Ms. Sawhney seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll call vote; Ms. Sawhney voted—yes, Mr. Freeman voted—yes, Ms.Jay voted—yes, Ms. Lenihan voted—yes, and Ms. Cuthbertson voted—yes; the vote passed 5-0. NEW BUSINESS SMMA Initial Presentation of Educational Proem— and Space Sura ari (anticipated vote on 3/12) Dr. Hackett introduced Rosemary Park, Philip Poinelli, and Lorraine Finnegan from SMMA, the design firm for the LHS project. A slideshow was displayed explaining the process of developing the educational program. Ms. Park stated that "the space summary spreadsheet is a template that's provided by the MSBA and itemizes the program quantities and areas that are needed to support the school's JK 2/27/24-DRAFT curriculum and educational goals. So, it's designed to an 85% utilization rate. So this also helps allow for efficient use of the facility, but still accommodates for fluctuations in the student enrollments and population." She spoke about the proposed larger classrooms and many new labs, "Looking at your curriculum, these various spaces are what we believe your school needs in order to support the curriculum that you have." She also mentioned that the current high school is 352,000 square feet, the proposal is for a high school of 465,500 square feet. School Committee Questions/Comments: Ms. Lenihan spoke about the large size of the proposed new high school and its cost. Mr. Freeman asked if there is going to be space in the new locker rooms for non-binary and non-gendered people. Ms. Park replied that there was an emphasis on equity in the educational program planning process. She does not know yet in what capacity, but all-gender facilities will be incorporated. Mr. Poinelli added that these will not only be in the gym/locker room area but throughout the school. Ms. Sawhney asked that the spreadsheet that is being presented be shared with the School Committee. She discussed classroom sizes and quantities with Ms. Finnegan and Ms. Park. Ms. Sawhney asked if the language about graduation requirements in the education plan could be relooked at. Ms. Lenihan pointed out that the Ed Plan is more than just about the physical building. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Vote on Fih-Performance Buildin Policy The School Committee had reviewed updates to the High-Performance Building Policy at a previous meeting and took a vote for approval at this meeting. Mr. Freeman made a motion to adopt the High-Performance Building Policy, and Ms. Lenihan seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll call vote, Ms. Sawhney—yes, Mr. Freeman—yes;Ms. Lenihan—yes, Ms. Cuthbertson—yes, passed 4-0. Vote on Superintendent's FY 2025 Bgdget Mr. Freeman asked about the special education portion of the budget; "I know the dollar amount is not being decreased, but it still seems like the staffing is. Am I still reading that correctly?" Dr. Hackett responded by saying, "Yes and no, this is such a hard one. Here's the way it is. I know I wish we had so much time to kind of go through line by line. I think the easiest way to explain this, I just finished my budget recording for Town Meeting. And the overall percentage of students who have disabilities in Lexington Public Schools is 14.2%, 33.09% of our budget goes to the 14.2% of students with disabilities. So that should give you some indication of the proportion of our spending that goes to service children. The FTE changes year to year, but we bring people back, so it is a moving target. If kids move in, if needs are, if additional JK 2/27/24-DRAFT needs arise, we'll add more staff. That happens in the natural course of business. The one area that we did make reductions is in that read the watch list, the high needs watch list. Because we had to make up the gap somewhere" She continued to explain, "We have the Special Ed Reserve account and the Special Ed Stabilization account. So, we have two additional buckets of money, two additional places for funding if we need more staff. We also have unallocated positions, which we talked about, that's how I'm able to go and address the concerns at that moment through the supplement supplemental process." Ms. Lenihan discussed the potential results of assessments on sixth to eighth-graders and how that could mean the need for additional staffing. Dr. Hackett explained about some new programs that will be implemented during the summer. Ms. Jay requested "a little bit more clarity on the status of the LLP programming, particularly in the staffing." Dr. Hackett replied, "We actually had two potential reductions, one at Bowman and one at Clarke. It was, I believe, a 1.0 reduction at Bowman and a point five at Clarke. We reinstated those through the supplemental budget process"... "So even though the budget book may say there's a reduction in those two areas, what I'm telling you is we have reinstated them with the supplemental budget. So there will be no changes to Bowman and to Clarke". Ms. Lenihan moved to approve the Superintendent's FY 2025 Budget, Mr. Freeman seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll-call vote:Ms. Lenihan—yes;Mr. Freeman—yes; Ms.Jay—yes, Ms. Sawhney—yes;Ms. Cuthbertson—yes;passed 5-0. The School Committee took a recess from 7:21 PM to 7:35 PM. Student Representative Tara made a statement to the community: "As the people here in this room representing Lexington High School body, we just wanted to reach out to the students watching this to all the students at Lexington Public Schools and say that we see you, and you belong here...we just wanted to let you know that we as a body are here to represent you and to speak for you and to advocate for you. We don't know how many of you know this, but our [LHS Senate] meetings are open to anyone, to any student, to any faculty member. So if any of this has affected you, which I'm sure it has, for many members of our community, you are more than welcome to come to our meetings every Wednesday at 315 in the LMC at LHS. We would love to hear your thoughts and we would love to advocate for you and to make policy changes and to stand up for you." PRESENTATION: 2023-2024 ANNUAL LPS REPORT OFFORTS TO REDUCE SYSTEMIC ARRI R 2023-2024 Annual LPS Report on Efforts to Reduce Systemic Barriers PowerPoint. Presented by Dr. Maureen Kavanaugh, Director of Data &Assessment, and Johnny Cole, Director of Equity & Student Support. "This annual review describes work underway to identify and dismantle systemic barriers to equity that exist in our school system and school systems across the nation. The work is a reflection of the ambitious and ongoing efforts of staff across the Lexington Public Schools (LPS), often in partnership with students, families, and other community members. LPS's annual JK 2/27/24-DRAFT review has evolved over time, informed in part by community feedback and questions, and includes reports across six (6) areas: ■ 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 ■ Ensuring Progress toward our "We All Belong" Core Value School Committee Questions/Comments on the Ensuring a Diverse Workforce section: One of the student representatives spoke about the importance of being on the hiring committee that is currently interviewing for the high school principal position. Ms. Lenihan asked if/how many SEPAC representatives are on hiring committees. She then clarified that she would just like to make sure that someone in special education is represented on these committees. Ms. Sawhney reflected on the Boston School Committee meeting that happened in the fall. She would like to get more information out to those families as well as ELL families. Ms. Jay asked how the $70,000 DESE grant for diversity recruitment is being used. Mr. Cole explained that it was for the 2022-2023 school year, and "The majority of it was to help current non-certified staff work towards certification through tuition reimbursement." Ms. Jay added, "And you mentioned doing some outreach to HBCUs. I was wondering what kinds of efforts might be done for other groups for Hispanic/Latin X or Asian potential staff members?" Mr. Cole replied, "We have the benefit of having some staff who are currently faculty at colleges." Kerry Dunne, who teaches at LHS and a college, has helped recruit graduates. Ms. Jay spoke about how most of the staff diversity is in Unit C or D and was wondering if there are any strategies that we could employ to make strides in other Units, specifically teachers. Dr. Kavanaugh replied by talking about the possibility of converting some of our Unit C and D staff, "promoting from within essentially." Dr. Hackett added that the "number of teacher candidates of color is something like seven points" in Massachusetts, so "our recruiting efforts are limited by where we are geographically." Mr. Freeman brought up the previously mentioned $70,000 grant and asked, "How many black people benefited from that $70,000 grant?" Mr. Cole will get that number; he believes it to be three or four people out of about 15 who had tuition reimbursements. Mr. Freeman asked Mr. Cole if he brings Black staff members on his trips to HBCUs. Mr. Cole replied, "I do not. These are just personal trips I'm taking; these are taking my own children, my two children who are black, on college tours". He is interested in taking staff to HBCU recruitment fairs and students to tours. Ms. Cuthbertson "really liked adding in student-athlete leaders" JK 2/27/24-DRAFT School Committee Questions/Comments on the Ensuring Equitable Access to a Diverse, Rigorous Curriculum section: Ms. Lenihan spoke about the low number of African American students taking certain classes. She asked, "So what would be preventing students from taking those classes?" Jennifer Gaudet, Director of Secondary Education, responded with, "I think there's a part of this that is really built into the culture, the student culture, in Lexington, and by the time our students get to these advanced opportunities, that sort of their identity as the student has really been formed. And I think it's very hard, even when teachers do identify that a student can move into a higher level, there's a lot of hesitation and resistance on the part of the students" Ms. Gaudet added that she would like to hear from a student. One of the student representatives spoke about the student perspective. She agreed with Ms. Gaudet and stated that the "honors track" usually starts in middle school. She also added, "And then also,just from talking to other peers, I know that at the high school, a lot of students feel that there's like such a big difference between like honors courses and regular courses, and AP courses. So then they feel when it comes to the next academic year, the jump is so large that many students feel that they can't make it." Ms. Lehihan, Ms. Gaudet, Mr. Cole, and the student representative discussed the placement and appeals process. Ms. Jay asked about the Elementary DEI curriculum. She mentioned that different schools are doing different things. She asked, "How are we sort of ensuring that students across the district are getting kind of similar lessons and similar materials?And will there eventually be an effort to make that a little bit more consistent across the district?" Caitlin Ahern, Director of Elementary Education, replied, "Yes, that is absolutely the goal of the work. Throughout the spring and summer, we're working with our department heads and curriculum coordinators to identify the areas in our literacy curriculum, math curriculum, science curriculum, and social studies curriculum that are already touching some of the social justice standards, adjacent to the social justice standards, and seeing where we can further flesh that out and make it more explicit, make the connections clear. And so we're sort of taking what's already there and trying to strengthen it inservice of the DEI curriculum." Ms. Jay also asked about the integration of this into the secondary level as well as regular curriculum reviews. Ms. Gaudet explained that "during the audit phase, we require that all disciplines review of social justice standards and articulate where they are being taught, explicitly within their curriculum or where they're not." Ms. Jay brought up community interest in these topics, she asked if it's possible to have a meeting with DEI leaders to figure out a mechanism on how there can be community input or community feedback during the phase of the curriculum review. Ms. Gaudet is happy to meet at any time and shared that there are "explicit strategies for reaching out to the community so we can share with you what we currently ask and then make it better from there." Ms. Jay also mentioned MCAS results and the lowering post-pandemic percentage of African American middle school students scores at the proficient level. She asked if this could possibly be pandemic-related and if there is a way to see if there are learning gaps. Dr. Hackett replied, "I would just say that that's part of the day-to-day work that our educators do if you remember back to the pandemic, before we even went into the summer, when it concluded, they were doing those analyses with the assessment data to see what the gaps were, what kids had missed, and what they needed more support with. So we do that on an ongoing basis. We are taking a closer look, especially as we think about the summer work that we talked about earlier JK 2/27/24-DRAFT in the evening" Ms. Gaudet added that a universal screener is being piloted in math this year. Ms. Jay is glad to hear that this is happening. Mr. Freeman commented on academic gaps and how the same group of students intersect and are interconnected in data points. He wonders why we don't do some unconventional thinking about identifying first or second-grade students. Dr. Hackett asked Mr. Freeman what his ideas were. He suggested watching five or six students progress through high school. Ms. Sawhney asked about this Systemic Barriers report, "Is this Lexington only endeavor? Or is this something that is mandated by DECE? Like some of the...like the YRBS reports that we do." Dr. Kavanaugh replied, "This is our own adventure." Mr. Cole added that we are not required to do this. Ms. Sawhney stated that she would like the community to understand that "this report is the accountability mechanism." She also suggested reevaluating homework policies. Dr. Hackett thanked Ms. Sawhney "for recognizing and pointing out that this is the work that we do to ourselves." She also spoke about implementing changes. Ms. Cuthbertson spoke about the "UDL" approach. Student Representative Tara suggested giving students exposure to the honors-level curriculum. She added that it is easier to "drop down" than to "switch up" "I'll just take the hardest level class, and we have a little add-drop period. If I feel like it's too hard, I may go down." Dr. Kavanaugh responded that social studies has been experimenting with what they're calling embedded honors. Students can enroll in a CP-level course but have the option to be exposed to honors-level work and, if completed, honors-level credits. Ms. Lenihan commented on the mixed messaging eighth-grade parents may be getting about honors requirements. School Committee Questions/Comments on the Ensuring Inclusion in the General Education Learning Environment section: Ms. Lenihan brought up the Understanding Our Differences program and how it is currently being run by parent volunteers. She suggests devoting budgetary resources to it in the future in case no one volunteers. Ms. Sawhney stated that she would really like to see teachers use Teacher's Ease. Dr. Hackett explained that Teacher's Ease is a reporting system. School Committee Questions/Comments on the Ensuring Alignment with MA Dyslexia Guidelines and Support for Struggling Readers section: Ms. Sawhney asked, "How are we doing on math assessments?" Ms. Lenihan asked if our classrooms were all using the Revised Units of Study. Ms. Ahern responded, "Many of our kindergarten and first-grade classrooms are using the Revised Units of Study. This year, we offered it as a pilot." The plan is that all classrooms will be using the Revised JK 2/27/24-DRAFT Units of Study by next year. Ms. Cuthbertson asked if the problematic portions of the previous Units of Study have been removed, and Ms. Ahern confirmed. Dr. Kavanaugh responded to Ms. Sawhney's question about math assessments; elementary uses AIMSweb. Dr. Hackett continued by speaking about Star assessments and how to bridge assessments from the elementary to the middle school levels. School Committee Questions/Comments on the Addressing Disproportionate Use of Suspension & Student Discipline section: Mr. Freeman asked about the students that don't get suspended but that are not in the classroom. Dr. Kavanaugh responded, "For now, we're calling it administrative referrals." Dr. Hackett spoke about restoring time on learning by reducing suspensions. Ms. Sawhney mentioned English language learners entering our system at every grade level. She asked how we deal with the complexities of deciphering if a child is struggling, if it's an English language issue, a dyslexia issue, a behavioral issue, or if the child is unable to explain themselves. Dr. Kavanaugh responded that our Student Success Teams and our data teams discuss this frequently. School Committee Questions/Comments on the Ensuring Progress toward our "We All Belong" Core Value section: Dr. Hackett, Dr. Kavanaugh, and Mr. Cole specifically discussed climate. Ms. Cuthbertson stated: "And it looks certainly like things are moving in the right direction overall as a whole; still pockets that haven't budged as much as we would like, or, you know, some outcomes that are still not where we want them to be. But I know that our faculty and staff are really working hard, have come a long way, seen a lot of changes. And I know, there are always changes in school systems...this is the most important thing, for me, for us anyway, I think, for us is like focusing on these things. So I really appreciate you coming, sharing this with us, the good, the bad. And there's so much good here, and that deserves to be celebrated. But I also appreciate that we are very clear with the things that we still need to work on. And I think it helps us to look at the things that we need to put in future budgets, places where we need to target funding for additional support" NEW BUSINESS (continued) 1. FY 24 Second Quarter Report- Postponed for a future meeting. 2. First Reading of Polio IJLA- Librar�r Resources - Postponed for a future meeting. 3. First Reading of Polio IJL- Library Materials Selection and Adoption - Postponed for a future meeting. 4. Resolution of Affirmation of LCBTQIA+ Ms. Lenihan read the resolution. Ms. Lenihan made a motion that the School Committee adopt the Resolution of Affirmation on LGBTQIA+, Mr. Freeman seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll call vote. Ms. Lenihan—yes, Mr. Freeman—yes, Ms. Sawhney—yes, Ms.Jay— JK 2/27/24-DRAFT yes, Ms. Cuthbertson—yes, passed 5-0. COMMUNITY SPEAK Lia O'Donnell - 5 Stonewall Rd (virtually): She shared her story of her daughter, Beatrice, who is currently in the fifth grade at Hastings. Beatrice was tested by a psychologist for behavioral challenges, she was diagnosed with ADHD and orthographic dyslexia. Ms. O'Donnell explained that she expected the school to help their family learn more about Beatrice's diagnosis and provide support, she claims that the school decided not to accept her diagnosis. The family was confused but decided to trust the school's direction. Beatrice was struggling so the family hired an advocate to help teach them about her diagnosis. Eventually, the school offered her Wilson reading services on a nearly daily basis. Ms. O'Donnell stresses the experience for her family; "All in we spent nearly$5,000, and it took nearly two years. The stress and anxiety for her has continued to this day, and it is really heartbreaking. And her story is not unique. I've connected with many other parents in Lexington who had similarly long, expensive, and stressful journeys, and I hope that you can agree that these outcomes are not acceptable." Max Quattrocchi - 102 Pleasant St (virtually): Max is a student who read an anonymous statement from another eighth-grade student: "I went to Bridge Elementary, and now that I am in eighth grade, I don't remember much. I do remember being called to the back of the classroom, having to read from a box of books suitable for my reading level, and hating the experience of reading. When I went to Clarke for sixth and seventh grade, my reading support teacher was not very helpful. She offered an audio version of books for reading assignments, where I had to read the book along with listening. But I pushed the play button and didn't read. Between my teacher's classroom style and the permissiveness of not reading much to myself at home, I didn't learn much for two years. No spelling, no reading. This impacted all my classes, and my teachers didn't have a lot of patience. The school I go to now teaches differently. Some classes are smaller, and learning is more project-based. [inaudible section] Over time, I started to become more confident in all my classes and read more. Now, I volunteer to read in class and take books out to learn about things that interest me. Reading is no longer something I avoid. still struggle a lot to spell properly. I wonder what will happen to my friends who feel the same way I did last year. I see them often, and they avoid reading now more than ever. I don't understand what is happening between parents and teachers, but I know I didn't feel I was learning in Middle School in Lexington, which is odd because I was told Lexington has a such...has such a great school system. PS not sure if it helps, but maybe you should know, I have ADHD, and I am not dyslexic. I am mostly a typical student, but had to leave Lexington to learn a potential diagnosis, depending on which evaluator you ask and math disability. Thank you." Olga Guttag - 273 Emerson Rd (virtually): Olga has lived in Lexington since 1983 and had four children go through Lexington Public Schools. She also was a member of the School Committee from 2004-2007. "Today, I'd like to bring to your attention an issue that I believe could establish really bad precedents for future School Committees and administrations. First, however, let me thank you for all the time you donate to improving our schools through policies and supervision of our Superintendent, Director of Special Education and few other top administrators. I know from experience how hard your job is, so thank you. Now to my two concerns: Since the State JK 2/27/24-DRAFT started collecting data on children's literacy, Lexington, among others, was informed of having a curriculum that promoted discredited reading teaching practices. COVID brought to light students' reading deficiencies due to these curricula. This will add to Bill Senate 263, which forced underperforming systems, including ours, to either improve or be held accountable. Just prior to the vote of the Subcommittee, I saw a letter from Dr. Hackett soliciting support for killing the current bill. The letter, sent to the many professional associations, was on LPS stationery with additional signatures of employees with their LPS titles and also signed by the chair of the Lexington School Committee. There was no discussion of this bill by the School Committee. While I served on the school committee, people could lobby freely, but if they used their LPS Association, we always required adding in quotes "speaking for myself." Without this addition, one can interpret the stationery and the titles as representing a School Committee vote. I urge you to do this in all future lobbying efforts to prevent such confusion, even though it is not required by law. Further, having experienced an administration where employees felt harassed if they disagreed, a Superintendent should not ask their employees to co-sign their letters. And this is not commenting on our current Superintendent. But for future, employees may either send their own letters or lobby through their associations. This process will prevent future administrations from pressuring employees to agree regardless of the employee's opinion. Think of this a similar policy to protecting employees from sexual or race-based harassment. Thank you for taking my suggestions under consideration." Taylor Singh -40 Hancock St (virtual): Taylor is requesting a community forum, she would like the film "The Right to Read" to be screened. "I'd like to see LPS take the lead on creating partnerships for this event, per slide 14, Progress Highlight number five, from the Reducing Systemic Barriers annual update that we heard tonight. I'd like SEPTA to be asked to partner, as well as ABCL. I'd like to see an upcoming date set with a time and a location. I'd love roundtable discussions with mixtures of parents, SPED educators, students, administrators, classroom teachers, literacy specialists, and interested community members after we all watch the film." Monica Davis - 26 Hayes Ln (in person): She is reading an anonymous letter from another parent: "My comments are being read anonymously because my children loved their teachers and told me they didn't want me to say anything that might make their teachers feel bad. They didn't want me to speak at all. I, too, adore our teachers. They pour their hearts into teaching, see our kids struggle, and have to follow the curriculum they were handed. Current curriculum has hurt my little learner. That is not our teacher's fault. I'm asking you to make better decisions about curriculum and interventions. At the beginning of first grade, my child was put in a reading intervention group. I'm not a reading specialist and assume that LPS was following best practices informed by research. When other parents complained about closing the gap in their children's education after COVID, I would encourage them to trust that LPS knew what they were doing. Halfway through first grade, my son was put in Reading Recovery. I continued to say trust LPS. At the end of first grade, we had a meeting with the reading specialist. After an entire year of knowing that my son needed extra help, It became clear that LPS was not meeting his needs, and instead was using a reading program criticized in multiple peer-reviewed articles. He needed phonics, not to be taught to guess and skip words. My son started first grade excited to go to school every day. He was ready by 6:15 am. He was thrilled to tell me stories about his teacher, his classmates, and everything he was learning. By the end of first grade, he refused to JK 2/27/24-DRAFT get out of bed for school. He would tell me that he is dumb. He would tell me that he feels like a baby. He would tell me that this all was his fault. I'm sorry, I'm emotional, but this is my son. My son should not have been allowed to put so much effort into a debunked reading program. He tried so hard. The only thing he got from all that effort was the fear that we will all figure out how dumb he is. Learning that he has dyslexia and wasn't being taught correctly has helped him see himself as more than a dumb, dumb baby who can't even read. But he still needs support outside of school to manage his anxiety. Had LPS not put him in Reading Recovery, our son would have started evidence-based interventions a year earlier during first grade. While a year doesn't sound like much to an adult, it is an eternity to a seven-year-old. We now regularly pay over$7,000 for him to go to summer at Carroll, where he gets the reading skills I have trusted LPS to give him. His summer gains are bigger than his school year gains. I'm not surprised that Lexington's MCAS scores show that low-income students, who cannot afford outside support, suffer. Everyone should have access to evidence-based interventions. Not everyone has the finances to pay for Carroll summer school. Please stop giving our teachers a curriculum that is not evidence-based. Please support them in making this change. Please give our students what they need to keep their natural joy and learning. We all want our students to have a joy in learning. We need to make changes to realize that goal. Thank you for your time" ADJOURNMENT Ms. Lenihan made a motion to adjourn at 10:18 PM, Mr. Freeman seconded. Ms. Cuthbertson took a roll call vote, Ms. Lenihan—yes, Mr. Freeman—yes, Ms. Sawhney— yes, Ms.Jay—yes;Ms. Cuthbertson—yes,passed 5-0. JK 2/27/24-DRAFT