March 11 2021, Meetings

Weymouth School Committee

ZOOM Meeting
March 11, 2021
MEETING MINUTES
(approved 3/25/21)

Members In Attendance: Lisa Belmarsh, Chair; Tracey Nardone, Vice Chair; John Sullivan, Secretary; Kathy Curran; Rebecca Sherlock-Shangraw; Carrie Palazzo

Members Absent: Mayor Hedlund

Also Present: Kathleen Smith, Superintendent; Brian Smith, Assistant Superintendent; Robert Wargo, Assistant Superintendent

The Meeting Came to Order At 7:01pm.

Chair Belmarsh led in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Time was taken to honor and thank John Barker, Deputy Director of Central Maintenance for his 33.4 years of dedicated service to Weymouth Public Schools and the town of Weymouth. March 12, 2021 will be his last day and congratulations were expressed for his retirement.

Former Superintendent Curtis-Whipple shared her congratulations and expressed her honor in working with Mr. Barker as a colleague and friend. Mr. Barker is a veteran who began working for Weymouth in 1987. He is a man of great character and dedication who worked tirelessly behind the scenes, especially on graduation day.

Mr. Barker shared his thanks and appreciation. He advised his success is due to his team that the district is in great hands with Mike Faiella and Mike Manning.

The School committee thanked Mr. Barker for his dedicated service and expressed well wishes for his retirement.

Consent Agenda:
The Consent agenda included:

• Warrant 36-2021 in the amount of $960,552.06. Dated March 8, 2021.
• Regular Minutes: 2/25/21
• Executive Session: 2/25/21, 2/3/21
• Budget Sub-Committee Minutes: 3/1/21

Student Advisory
Students Katelyn Horan, Josephine Burke, and Lauren Crisileo gave an overview of the update (attached to these minutes). Topics included:
-Human Rights Coalition (HRC), conferences, subcommittees and officers; applications to Mr. Galusha and Ms. LaPorto
-Sports and extracurricular activities
-Pleasant Street crosswalk light
-Plans underway for prom and graduation
-Capstone presentations will begin next week
-Scholarship opportunities are available
-SRO Hamacher has been visiting classrooms with therapy dog, Charlee

Chair Belmarsh and committee thanked the advisory for their report and advised that the Pleasant Street crosswalk is on the capital list.

Public Comment
The Chair reminded that public comment be in accordance with Policy BED, items on the agenda and kept to 3 minutes; if members wish to speak-name and address should be added in the chat. Ms. Belmarsh reminded school committee members of decorum and to be respectful of facial expressions and apologized for the behavior of some members in the recent past.

-Carmel McBride, 18 Mary Rose Rd.
As a mother of triplet 4th graders at Academy Avenue expressed her feelings of the inequity in the way students are returning to the classroom. Especially for families with siblings; advising that it should be equal for everyone.

-Danielle Graziano, 430 Ralph Talbot St.
Speaking on behalf of SEPAC expressed concerns on the budget, compensatory services being received, loss of learning and testing be equitable for students. Ms. Graziano also advised that the current DESE program review could reveal additional costs.

Chair Belmarsh advised that there will be an opportunity for public comment after the budget presentation as well.

-Shaun DeWitt, 35 Knollwood Circle
As a parent of a student who returned to hybrid learning after being fully remote expressed feelings of miscommunication on the fact that classroom cohorts would be mixed under the new model and inquired how schools will be able to handle the April 5 deadline.

Report of the Superintendent:
The Superintendent reported on the following:

Superintendent Smith expressed her congratulations to John Barker and appreciation for his efforts in her transition to Weymouth. She also shared her esteem to the student advisory for their fantastic job in reporting the updates.

The Superintendent shared pictures of her visit with Mayor Hedlund to the New Chapman and then Abigail Adams with the Mayor and Principal Meehan. She shared thanks to HMFH and Hill Construction, Inger, Simon and Patrick and expressed her hope that Inger would speak to female students interested in construction.

Superintendent Smith advised of the required dates for the return to five days of in-person learning released by DESE on March 9, 2021:
April 5, 2021 for grades K-5
April 28, 2021 for grades 6-8
TBD for grades 9-12

She advised that the following presentation will be modified to reflect the new DESE information. She advised for spacing, classrooms will be 3’ and the cafeteria will remain a distance of 6’. With Chapman offline, 400 students are now at the high school and 500 are dispersed throughout the primary schools, which makes space uniquely problematic for Weymouth. Families will have the option to be completely remote or be completely in person for the remainder of the year. If a family changes their mind about remote learning and wishes to be full in person, some advance notice will need to be given to allow for spacing accommodations.

The Superintendent expressed her thanks to the WEA and president Mike Murphy, SEIU, and AFSCME for their collaboration on the return to school task forces so that students and staff can return safely.

Principal Jeremy Angelos gave an overview of the return to school task forces, their meetings and action steps. Task forces meet to identify ways to get more students safely back for in person learning. Members are Principal, Custodian (SEIU), School Nurse, Administrative Assistant, Classroom Teacher, WEA representative, Central Office, and parents/family members. All aspects of the school day (spacing, transportation, ‘gymacafetorium’, staffing) norms, potential hurdles/obstacles identified and next steps are discussed at meetings. Recommendations using the template are made and presented to the Superintendent by the Principal. Target dates by grade and school were highlighted. Sunday Message correspondence will continue.

Superintendent Smith thanked Mr. Angelos and advised that information is available on the website:

https://www.weymouthschools.org/district/covid-19-information-center
The Superintendent expressed her understanding of parent frustrations and shared her confidence that plans can be adjusted to the new DESE return dates. She advised that all administrators and staff are working quickly and efficiently to return students as safely as possible. Additional spacing and tenting was mentioned

The state has set aside the following dates for school staff to be immunized against COVID-19 3/27, 4/3, 4/10, and 4/11.

Superintendent Smith reminded families of seniors to fill out the FAFSA even if their student is deferring admission to college. There will be a robust 2021 summer program with academic interventions.

Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw suggested that the slide with return to school dates by school be available to families. She also clarified that 8th graders will be considered middle school. The Superintendent advised that a waiver can be sought based on building configuration for them to return with the high school and that more information would be forthcoming. Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw asked that seniors be afforded as much in person time before graduation and that the attendance policy be modified for the rest of the year.

Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw inquired if the St. Jerome School was looked at for additional spacing. Assistant Superintendent Smith advised that in early summer after speaking with the archdiocese, Dr. Curtis Whipple, Melanie Curtin, Allyson Bell and Dr. Sullivan, and himself evaluated the space. Due to cost and a limited time frame, moving forward with the North and Pratt library space was decided.

Ms. Palazzo mentioned the 3’ spacing in classrooms could place students in the category of close contacts with COVID-19 infected people since the CDC says it is within 6’.

Mrs. Nardone mentioned the possibility of fully remote students having a different teacher than their original classroom teacher. The Superintendent advised that there are a lot of moving parts and that all is being done to support families. On a case by case basis, students may be able to stay with their current teachers, but others may have to switch.

NEW BUSINESS

a. Unfinished Learning-Intentional Instruction-Assistant Superintendent Wargo

Before the presentation, Assistant Superintendent Wargo thanked Athletic Director O’Leary for his work for the wedge season while also preparing for the spring season.

The Assistant Superintendent thanked the curriculum team, Terri Marculitis, Teri Fleming, Lauren Saracino, and Dennis Jones who presented the update. The intentional instruction and learning timeline for students as well as staff was reviewed. Opportunities for students to acquire skills needed to be successful will be over April break, Saturday morning learning activities, summer learning, a ‘jump start learning’ week long class, Q5 as well as extended school year program.

The Superintendent added that even with 5 days in person learning there may be an opportunity to secure time for professional development.

All questions asked by the committee were addressed. The committee thanked the team for their presentation.

b. Return to School Parent Survey-Data Manager, Pamela Stazesky, Ph.D.

Dr. Stazesky gave an overview of the presentation. The survey was deployed on 2/19/21 and closed 2/26/21 and there were over 3000 responses. Data was collected prior to the DESE guidance released on 3/9/21. Survey data for Hybrid vs. Remote Instruction and transportation was summarized.

Mrs. Curran was assured by Special Education Director Bell that compensatory service (due to Covid or not) are dealt with during IEP meetings and with individual families.

The committee thanked Dr. Stazesky for her presentation.

c. Report of the Budget Sub Committee: 3/1/21 & 3/10/21 (action requested)

Dr. Sullivan read his report of the 3/1/21 meeting into the record. Topics included food service and Weycare fees as well as an update on the budget, which will be discussed more later on in the meeting. Topics of the 3/10/21 meeting were the transportation IFB which the Town Council approved for a 5 year contract which will be awarded the end of April. The FY22 budget was also discussed which will be presented later.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to approve the report of the budget subcommittee. Seconded by Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

d. Review Request for a School Committee Resolution to suspend MCAS 2021

Chair Belmarsh read the resolution into the record and thanked Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw for putting it together. Many districts have also written a resolution.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to pass School Committee resolution to suspend MCAS 2021. Seconded by Dr. Sherlock Shangraw.
Amended motion by Dr. Sherlock Shangraw to pass School Committee resolution to suspend MCAS 2021 and send as voted to the Governor, Commission Riley, and Jim Hawkins. Seconded by Mrs. Nardone.

Mrs. Curran suggested striking the last sentence as well as changing ‘locally controlled voices’ to ‘district determined competency’.
Dr. Sullivan shared his support for the original motion as formative assessments are in place, the resolution is sufficiently clear and matches language from around the state.
Roll call vote. Passed 5-1. Mrs. Curran voted no.

e. Report to Retain or Release executive session minutes: 7/25/19, 1/16/20

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to table this agenda item. Seconded by Dr. Sullivan. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

CONDUCT OF PUBLIC HEARING

a. Subject #1-School Choice; as reported in 2/17/21 Weymouth News

Chair Belmarsh advised that under MGL 76, Chapter 12B, the school committee has to be voted on every year on school choice which would allow non residents to attend Weymouth Public Schools.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone to open public hearing for School Choice. Seconded by Dr. Sullivan. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously. There was no public comment.

Motion by Mrs. Nardone for Weymouth Public Schools not to participate in School Choice for the 2021/22 school year. Seconded by Dr. Sullivan. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

b. Subject #2-FY22 Budget as of 2/17/21 for Weymouth Public Schools; as reported in 2/17/21 Weymouth News

For the full School Committee forum, Assistant Superintendent Smith presented the FY22 budget. He gave an overview of the budget timeline and meeting schedule advising the memo from the Mayor’s office to maintain level funding has been shared with school committee members.
Details are available and regularly updated on the website:
https://www.weymouthschools.org/district/finance-operations
Assistant Superintendent Smith expressed his thanks to Kelly Powers for assisting with the website.

Operating and revolving funds, chapter 70 aid and formula calculation, as well as cherry sheet estimates and assessments were summarized. There will be a small net loss of -$83,552 in state aid for FY22.

Grants and ESSER funding were reviewed. ESSER II funding is available for the next 2.25 years. A $1.9 trillion Covid relief was just passed; if prior calculations are utilized funds received could be as much as 2 or 3 times the ESSER II amount.

The FY21 budget amount was $74,392,872 with additional cost of full day kindergarten and tech lease of $1,391,973.

As of February 17, 2021 the draft budget is $78,615,625, a 5.68% increase. Assistant Superintendent Smith advised that 90% of the budget is for personnel. After projected ‘breakage’ of $909,285, the FY22 proposed draft level service staff level funding expense (maintaining) amount is $77,706,340. Additional requests with potential funding sources were discussed; compliance, teach leases, curriculum cycle and non-union adjustments equalling $1,114,781, a 1.5% increase Also in addition to the level budget amount would be full day kindergarten. 1 classroom can be funding through Title, the remaining balance would be $1,001,095. The total FY budget proposal is $79,822,216. School committee will vote on the budget at the next meeting March 25, 2021 before sending it to the Mayor's office.

Motion by Chair Belmarsh to open public hearing for the FY22 budget. Seconded by Mrs. Curran. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

Out of district tuition pre payments as well as compliance and the special education review were discussed. Confidence was expressed that funds could be found if the program audit of the special education program should require additional staff. Clarification of funding sources was requested for additional requests.

Motion by Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw to close public hearing of the FY22 budget. Seconded by Mrs. Nardone. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

The Committee thanked Assistant Superintendent Smith and team for the presentation, increased transparency and communication and expressed their appreciation for their hard work and efforts.

OLD BUSINESS

a. Chapman School Building Update, Adams Renovation and Transportation Building Update (Town Measure 20 072 - Amend Measure 19 017)

Mrs. Curran advised that the tiles to be used in the new Chapman Middle School are displayed in the Town Council Chambers.

b. Superintendent Search Update

Mr. Brackett from the Collins Center commended the screening subcommittee for their productive lively conversations and hardworking efforts in screening the candidates to determine the finalists and that all stakeholder voices were heard. The subcommittee reached a unanimous decision on the 4 finalists. Next week finalists will be in the community meeting with different forums (student, administrators, parents and community members) and closing with a public school committee interview. Mr. Brackett expressed his thanks to Chair Palazzo and Vice Chair Newman for chairing the committee.

Ms. Newman summarized the screening process of the 30 candidate applications received. From the 30 candidates, 10 were identified for interviews over March 2, 3, 4, and 8, 2021. A unanimous consensus was reached for the following 4 finalists (announced alphabetically):
Dr. Margaret Adams (in the community on Wednesday, 3/17/21)
Dr. Earl Metzler (in the community on Monday, 3/15/21)
Dr. Thomas Raab (in the community on Tuesday, 3/16/21)
Mr. Robert Wargo (in the community on Thursday, 3/18/21)
Ms. Newman reviewed the candidates education and experience and advised that information and resumes are available on the district website:
https://www.weymouthschools.org/district/district-information/pages/superintendent-search-i nformation-and-documents

The members of the subcommittee were recognized and thanked; Carrie Palazzo, Chair,; Delrose Newman, Vice-Chair; John Sullivan; Fred Happell; Joan Cederholm; Ronald Zaccardi; Melanie Curtin; Maryann Foley; Maggie Murphy; Jeremy Burm; Joseph Wilkins; Kimberley Ferreira; Amanda Peterson; Steve Buccigross; Olivia Pietruszewski; Melissa Freitas; Matt Tierney. Special thanks was expressed to the Collins center for their invaluable guidance and support

A special school committee meeting will be held Saturday, March 20, 2021.

Questions for school committee members to ask the finalists were discussed. All finalists will be asked the same questions and given them in advance to prepare. The Collins center forwarded a bank of questions to the committee to choose from. Each school committee member will pick 2 questions, with 2 as back up if needed. Interviews will last approximately 90 minutes with an opportunity for a closing statement. The Chair will finalize the order in which questions are asked and by whom.
Members of the committee chose questions as follows:
Mrs. Nardone chose questions she formulated herself:Why is the candidate leaving their current district and how would lead through the remainder of the pandemic?
Dr. Sullivan, #16, #82
Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw, #37, #38
Ms. Palazzo, G, #57
Mrs. Curran, #80, #82
Chair Belmarsh, #30 and a CTE questions, and maybe #65 (budget finance)
Interviews will be held in the Humanities Center as well as through ZOOM.

Thanks was expressed to leadership of the committee, Ms. Palazzo, Ms. Newman as well as the Collins Center and to Superintendent Smith. The announcement of finalists will be posted 3/12/21.

Discussion of vaccine sites for school staff was had. Talks with Elaine Lane and Dan McCormack have taken place with an eye toward partnering with South Shore Health for community vaccine sites. Interim Superintendent Smith investigated why some school districts were able to set up in-house vaccination clinics and discovered that those communities partnered with organizations that were receiving vaccines from the federal government, whereas our partners were to receive them from the state. Members considered sending a letter to Governor Baker and local legislators. Councilor Haugh added this topic to the agenda for Monday's Town Council meeting.

Motion by Dr. Sherlock-Shangraw to draft a letter to request assistance for local vaccine sites for school staff. Seconded by Mrs. Nardone. Roll call vote. Passed unanimously.

c. Joint Committee on Community Host Agreement between Weymouth and Algonquin Gas Transmission regarding North Weymouth Compressor Station

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission opened a timeline to accept additional information. Chair Belmarsh filed a motion to intervene, which holds a place for the school committee to file a brief or not. There is no obligation. A vote will be taken at the next meeting about whether or not to submit a brief. Language in the motion came from the letter that the Joint Town Council and School Committee Sub-Committee had sent previously.

Announcements:
SEPAC-March 23, 2021-6:00pm via ZOOM
Budget Subcommittee-March 24, 2021-6:00pm, via ZOOM
Weymouth Market-April 7, 2021-3:30pm-WHS Gold Cafeteria in a drive thru manner
Town Wide Parent Council-April 13, 2021, 7:00pm-ZOOM

Next School Committee Meeting:
Regular Meeting: Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 7:00pm

The Meeting adjourned at 10:30pm on the motion of Mrs. Nardone, seconded by Dr. Sullivan. Roll call vote - passed unanimously.

Documents Attached to These Minutes:

• Return to School Plan
• Report of the Budget Subcommittee
• MCAS Resolution
• FY22 Budget

Respectfully Submitted,

John Sullivan
Secretary

Student Advisory Group
School Committee Meeting - March 11, 2021 - Via Zoom

Members: Lauren Crisileo, Katelyn Horan, Josephine Burke

Updates for School Committee on WHS Human Rights Coalition {HRC} HRC has signed up for 2 conferences
a. First, the Sutton High School Connections Social Justice Conference for Students & Teachers on Wed, March 24, 8:30 - 2
b. Second, the 2021 National Student Leaders Social Justice Virtual on Sat, April 10, 10 - 5
2. HRC has developed sub-committees for our first action items, and students have volunteered to draft documents to present at the next HRC meeting on Monday March 15, including:
a. Captain Application Process Sub-committee/Code of Conduct
b. Job description for chair and co-chair of HRC
c. Code of conduct for student leaders
d. Art installation sub-committee
e. Scholarship Sub-committee:
f. Education Sub-committee
3. HRC has been making daily announcements during our Tues-Fri hybrid learning days after the Pledge of Allegiance and the moment of silence. Student volunteers from the HRC greet the WHS student body every morning to give a little information about who we are and what we are trying to accomplish. Additionally, we continue to invite any and all interested students to speak with Mr. Galusha or Ms. LoPorto to join HRC.
4. HRC has created a Google Classroom to stay organized, and we are now 41 members strong and counting!

Sports and Extracurriculars:
Sports - Wedge Season: Fall Sports 2
Unified Sports - Two different cohorts meeting Tuesday through Friday. They are hoping to have an intramural game at the end of the season
Football - The first game is tomorrow, Friday, March 12.against Milton at Milton.
Girls Volleyball - They played Milton today.
Dance and Cheer Teams have been practicing outside
Boys and Girls Indoor Track teams both won their season openers against Milton yesterday.
Extracurricular Activities, such as Theater, Band and Color Guard have started to meet in-person -

Pleasant Street Lights
This was brought up last year to see if there could be solar crossing lights, similar to those at Legion Field installed on Pleasant Street. This is especially important now with Chapman and High School students returning to the building

• Posted positions for crossing guards

Prom:
Plans are in the works for this to happen with COVID protocols being considered.

Graduation:
As of right now, it looks as though Graduation is going to happen. Audience participation will be determined by COVID protocol.

Administration is looking at all options to get high school students back in school 5 days a week.
Capstone Presentations: This year’s presentations are being done virtually with members of the WHS community invited to participate.

Scholarship Opportunities for Students pursuing a career in Law Enforcement, Human Rights as well as a scholarship for a Student of Color interested in furthering their education.

SRO Officer Hamacher has been going to classrooms in the building with Charlie.

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