School Cancellation Project (20 minutes) vote required

Transcript (~34 min @ 53:10)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 53:11 Speaker 1: ep and p portion of our program my name is ed o'connell i am the new chair of this subcommittee in which capacity i'm ably assisted by my vice chair John Abramski. We have one item on the EP&P agenda this evening and it is the superintendent's proposed school cancellation project. A few introductory remarks if you'll indulge me. I would note that what's being proposed is a pilot project which at this point would run for just about two months. I would also note among the several revisions and updates in this proposal as compared to the one that was before us in November that there are significant changes in revisions with regard to program review including language speaking to parent surveys teacher input and student focus groups I would also note that there is now language speaking directly to the concerns that were raised with regard to students on IEPs and those students otherwise receiving services it is my understanding that this proposal as revised is the product of discussions and work by the labor management committee and I think all would agree that anytime we have a proposal in which teachers have input on the front end that is a benefit I'll also report that I have been in touch with my counterparts in Burlington and Wakefield two communities where similar projects are underway and the feedback I've received from school committee members in those communities has been positive from the school committee perspective in that what has been related to me is that the school committees there clearly have felt that this is an idea an initiative worth pursuing at the same time those school committees reported that the feedback from the communities has been mixed and that in each community these projects are very much a work in progress and I suspect it will be no different here in Melrose as a pilot program ultimately what I would say for me I think the key benefit of this proposal is the opportunity that it provides for students to connect with their schools with their learning and with their teachers not only on a day a snow day where they otherwise would not but most importantly at a time of year when it's so valuable typical snow days November December January February March critical times of year for educational purposes as compared to days tacked on at the end of the school year as mandated by law so there's a timing piece of this and I think there's also a momentum piece here these school cancellation days come at a time of year when momentum is inevitably inexorably and appropriately building through the school year unlike those days added on at the end of the school year so all of that said since Since we have no place to go, Madam Superintendent, please.

▶ 56:57 Speaker 4: Thank you, and he did, he did a great job. And Mr. O'Connell and I met last week on this in his role as Chair of Programs and Personnel. Again, there was feedback given in November and I brought it back to principals and labor management. I ask the principals to connect with their school site councils and their PTOs, as well as teachers in their buildings, and to ask for feedback. I think as Mr. O'Connell has said, it remains mixed, and I don't have an answer for that.

▶ 57:35 Speaker 4: I don't think anything we ever do in education is 100% perfect. I don't think anything we ever do in education is 100% acceptable to every member of our community. just the nature of the job it's a very human business and everybody has opinions and wishes and their own children to consider I brought it back with the corrections made and actually added some more based on some conversations with some of you independently for two reasons first of

▶ 58:08 Speaker 4: all I am concerned about this winter we've had two days we almost had a third

▶ 58:18 Speaker 4: and I am concerned about how late we go in June while I think we're less than

▶ 58:26 Speaker 4: honest to talk about June days being as quality driven as days in January February March and April it's a it's a reality of life especially once you get past MCAS and that's a concern of teachers is once you get past MCAS

▶ 58:48 Speaker 4: they've lost momentum and anything they can get done prior to MCAS is important to them so I think the productivity for our students there is a difference in productivity as you flow through the year I think that as I said to some of you independently and as I just referenced one of your goals is educator development and we need time for that it was referenced earlier in in this evening about more time in the calendar in the day i would want nothing better but i've done these calculations every year currently to add a day to our calendar is 120 000 to add 15 minutes to our calendar is approximately 1.6 million dollars we make choices every day of our lives about money would i rather have more days or more time in the day absolutely would i rather have a system like the rest of the country where we only have a march vacation and not a february and april absolutely but those are matters that are beyond me what i'm trying to address is what we're doing here in melrose um i think the the the last thing uh not the last thing the next thing is quite frankly um nobody is punished for

▶ 1:00:12 Speaker 4: not doing the work we have kids all the time who don't do work at home for whatever reasons pump big piece of competency-based education and the habits of learning that we are going to pilot we are piloting right now as I shared two weeks ago is trying to help kids understand the disconnect between doing work because you have a responsibility to be an active learner and to be an independent learner in doing work because somebody's going to lower your grade ten points for every day that it's late so we certainly will

▶ 1:00:45 Speaker 4: not punish children for this but we want children to become independent learners teachers do not get the day off they are going to have office hours I'm not even going to go down that road about people who say why should teachers get the day off I just can't go there right now considering how many hours most of my staff work weekends summers and every other day of the week I think that the

▶ 1:01:19 Speaker 4: last thing is we are trying to be an innovative district and innovation means taking risks and sometimes you succeed and sometimes you feel but if you wait for the conditions to be perfect on an experiment or a pilot or a risk you will never take any and I will remind you of some of the risks we have taken beginning when I got here the very first summer I got here I had a parent come and say to me I have a child who was very bright she would like to take a third language your schedule doesn't allow her to do that at that time Mary Ann was principal and I said why can't we figure this out why can't we find a away for a child to take a third language if she's interested and we

▶ 1:02:07 Speaker 4: found that became the basis of the blended and online learning that is just every day in our high school five years later okay that was a risk we took we've

▶ 1:02:22 Speaker 4: taken other risks creating the academic facilitator position at the high school the people in this room supported me in doing that I had an idea I had an idea about how we begin to introduce flexible and personalized learning for

▶ 1:02:41 Speaker 4: kids you took a risk on my idea this is how we've been operating CBE I brought it forward you took a risk on that idea to this day I don't know where CBE is going I know we're making progress but I don't know what the final product will look like that will be determined by a lot of people not just staff but parents

▶ 1:03:06 Speaker 4: and children I to me this is for three days a risk worth taking and getting feedback from parents about what this looks like in learn and understanding

▶ 1:03:17 Speaker 4: where kids need more support about being independent learners and where kids are ready to fly as for the equity piece we are trying to address that MEF has provided us with some equipment at the middle school at the elementary level There are low-tech and non-tech alternatives for kids.

▶ 1:03:42 Speaker 4: I will also say this out loud. I find it interesting where people pick their arguments about equity. IXL is very much part of this district. It's summer work. It's weekend work. And I'm not getting into a debate about IXL's worth. But IXL is a given in every classroom. and nobody in this room ever brought up the equity issue about IXL I said

▶ 1:04:15 Speaker 4: excuse me nobody at this horseshoe ever brought it up okay so to me you're

▶ 1:04:20 Speaker 4: either willing to take the risk or you're not if you're not willing to take the risk so be it but believe me I'll bring back something else that's a risk for you to take but at some point if you want to be innovative creative and a progressive district you have to take risks very good Thank You mr. school

▶ 1:04:40 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: yeah thank you I supported this in its previous iteration and in this new iteration I like this even better I like the fact that it's a pilot program and should it be the will of the committee to proceed with this pilot program tonight I would very much want to hear the results at the end of the school year so that the community and the committee could listen and consider for the future but I think that's a good way to allow for innovation and also collect feedback and then to in our oversight role ask you to provide that to us for future considerations so I am in full support of trying this and encouraging all of your folks to take all of this to heart and and work hard on it and I have no doubt that they will so I fully support this proposal before us tonight and I would make a motion for approval sir second to the motion to approve

▶ 1:05:48 Speaker 1: second second by mr. Gander it like a discussion on the motion mr. so mr.

▶ 1:05:58 Speaker 3: Cambridge mr. sound please I would propose an amendment to the proposal on the table to approve this as written but for it to be implemented fall of 2018 to ensure proper time for planning parent education and teacher development as was reference we needed time for outreach and teacher development second that that's second

▶ 1:06:22 Speaker 1: so discussion on the motion to amend to move this to next year Mr. Mayor please so uh from the chair uh to Mr. Selm so you this would be a pilot program for next year or would there be a permanent program for next year this would be a pilot program for next

▶ 1:06:36 Speaker 3: year as written the proposal as written at points talks about it starting in the fall and then continuing on as a pilot and at other points talks about it being implemented today with the three remaining extra days so I merely try to

▶ 1:07:00 Speaker 1: clarify starting in the fall for the record it's not gonna snow for the rest

▶ 1:07:07 Speaker 1: of the year any further discussion on the motion to amend to move this to next

▶ 1:07:14 Jennifer McAndrew: here miss McAndrew please thank you and through you to the superintendent I'm interested in your view on how this would affect how moving it to the fall what the implications that would be for versus doing it now as you see it what I

▶ 1:07:32 Speaker 4: would ask for is clarification if it's a pilot in the fall that means all five snow days are can be used for this right now you only have three snow days left so are you limiting how many snow days next year it can be useful please mr.

▶ 1:07:49 Speaker 3: so if I may the motion as written limits it to three days on its face so I would

▶ 1:08:02 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: continue that limit to three three days mr. school please I I appreciate that I think a pilot can start with especially with the level of detail that is here before us um now because it gives us a shorter window to try it so um i um appreciate the

▶ 1:08:19 Speaker 1: amendment but would not support it any further discussion on the motion that i'm in please

▶ 1:08:26 Speaker 1: miss rosie thomas can i just ask some questions please please do yes absolutely excuse my lack

▶ 1:08:28 Speaker 3: of knowledge with the procedures so i'm wondering if you can give us further clarity about what you

▶ 1:08:37 Speaker 4: you mean by office hours so we we do that now so it when when the staff are doing something online or they'll say to the kids I'm going to be checking you

▶ 1:08:49 Speaker 4: work between 8 and 10 on Friday so basically it's a warning to the kids that you better have work up there between 8 and 10 if you want the teacher checking it so it's it's that type of office hours it's kind of using Google

▶ 1:09:02 Speaker 3: classroom probably interaction back and forth between the teacher and the student yes so what if there's no power with the at the teachers home because not all the teachers live in Melrose with our wonderful electrical grid that never goes out but what happens if either the child or the parent or the teacher doesn't have electricity or capacity to have office hours well

▶ 1:09:26 Speaker 4: remotely that's that's a possibility in any storm and in that case i suppose we would just start

▶ 1:09:38 Speaker 4: from scratch and count it as a snow day and make it up i would also not invoke this easily it's calling snow is not something i don't do easily the mayor will tell you he's often on the phone with me at 5 30 in the morning where i'm saying i'm not doing this yet um because it's not something i like to do i think i believe kids belong in school and we all agree that nothing's

▶ 1:09:57 Speaker 3: better for students than to have direct instruction from the teacher that knows them really well in person instead of parents trying to figure this out during a snow day when they're trying to figure out how to get to work themselves so it's obviously you're not in control of the weather we're not in control of the weather it's beyond all of us but i i think what i've read from the the letters that have been sent to us is that I think it seems to me like the parents really need to be taught more about competency-based education, online learning, and all of that in order to be more comfortable with using this as a protocol. So I worry about the long-term effects to competency-based education if we don't roll this out correctly and make sure that parents are really trained up on what to do in these perhaps through the parent university or PTOs you know different meetings in different ways sometimes we need to train parents just as much as we need to teach kids so I'm a little worried about doing this so quickly in the middle of

▶ 1:11:11 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: the winter point of order please mr. yeah I believe so we're gonna be discussing the amendment is that correct so that so I believe our discussion should pertain exclusively to the amendment on the floor which is to postpone the entire proposal until the fall is that correct mr. some please

▶ 1:11:30 Speaker 3: correct the motion and while the previous while our colleague did go into competency-based education she did address that the put the issue of

▶ 1:11:45 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: postponing very good just want to make sure everybody's clear on on what we're

▶ 1:11:48 Speaker 1: what we're talking about Thank You mr. school so we might I guess a question is so would we vote again in the fall whether we are going to adopt this as a

▶ 1:11:57 Speaker 3: pilot our adopt our vote no no the amendment on if I may chair please thank you sir the amendment is to approve this tonight but for habit to have it start in the fall and have the audit happen by April 2019 as is written and then for the feedback to come back with all the parent outreach and feedback that

▶ 1:12:26 Speaker 1: occurs as well as teachers teacher survey etc so my issue is and you know people would be surprised by this because I am an educator that I'm not completely in favor of this but that being said for specifically special education students and EL students who learn so much from their peers and from that interaction with other children and that modeling from other children in the letters that we've received people have spoken to that quite a bit especially the special education students and so how do how do we really address that so

▶ 1:13:06 Speaker 4: again two things happen we're an inclusion school system our

▶ 1:13:11 Speaker 4: expectations for our special education students and our ELs are the same as they are for any general ed student if you are in I'm going to pick on mr. Tuchinati who's sitting very quietly in the back of the room if you are in his English class and you're a special education class student the expectations to write a paper in his class and no different than the expectations of any other kids sitting in this classroom so to think that the demands on a special education child is less just because they are in SPED as a former SPED director I find disturbing oh no I don't think it's less okay no no

▶ 1:13:51 Speaker 1: I don't want to say it's less I want to say that they benefit right but every

▶ 1:13:58 Speaker 4: child from the interaction every child benefits letters that we've received

▶ 1:14:05 Speaker 4: right specifically note that but every child benefits greatly you can be the kid who is the please God don't ever let their teacher call on me not receiving service child and you are benefiting from being in that room and hearing the discussion so for me that is not a distinction all our children benefit that's number one I think the letters you received well what is about people worried about kids who get specialized services and what I would say to any parent how many kids had got makeup services from the two days in January that we were out how many kids in your building and you're a heavily EL district got makeup services from the two days that we were out what happens is you come back in after a snow day we pick up where we left off teachers check in with kids individually to say how you doing do you need a little help here today it's been three days since I saw you that is how we operate as educators what I have put in here that was not in the previous one is a requirement that after three days we would check to see if a kid has experienced any regression all right but in both the EL law and the special ed law there is an acknowledgement of what is called incidental absences you are absent as a teacher the kid is absent as a kid you may be sick you may have gone on a field trip none of those change it again I fully respect people's protection of

▶ 1:15:48 Speaker 4: their children I really and truly do I was a you know a mama tiger too at one point in my life but I've also been in this business a very long time and I've also raised three children and I have great faith in kids I have great faith kids to find their way to learn from each other to help each other and I sometimes think when we when we underestimate our children's ability to be independent learners we do them just as much a disservice and that is a concern for me and one of the things that we have to work better at is helping kids be independent learners and I'm going to throw this out here because it's something I say to my staff all the time that we need to help parents understand especially when you're a disabled child there are no sped banks there are no sped grocery stores there's no driver school for just sped kids our job is to get all our children to be independent self-sufficient as we can they can possibly be before they leave us and for me this is one more step in

▶ 1:17:01 Speaker 1: it very good let's tend to procedure folks any further discussion on the motion to amend to move this proposal to next year seeing none all those in favor of the motion to move this proposal the motion to amend I'm sorry to move this proposal to next year point of clarification the proposal is not to

▶ 1:17:20 Speaker 3: move it to next year but to approve it to implement understood thank you thank

▶ 1:17:29 Speaker 1: you for the clarification all is in favor of the motion to amend to in favor

▶ 1:17:38 Speaker 1: those opposed and the balance of those so the motion to amend fails which brings us back to the main motion to approve this any further and final discussion on the motion to approve this please miss McHenry so I have a just one

▶ 1:17:51 Jennifer McAndrew: clarification and then just a question about communication around this the clarification is so I just want to understand and I know that you mentioned this in the materials in here but that the adoption of the pilot would not influence the threshold for cancellation of school I recognize that these are tough calls but I think you know just to address this issue because it's been in the news I think we've all heard about the call in Wakefield and other districts most recently last week and I just want to sort of raise and reinforce my own support for the idea that this would not in some way adjust the

▶ 1:18:42 Jennifer McAndrew: threshold that's my understanding I just want to clarify that if this passes and is implemented as a pilot and I'm personally very glad to see it put forth as a pilot time limited and that there's as mr. O'Connell mentioned many opportunities for feedback and focus groups how would that feedback and the summaries of the feedback that you and your staff get after assuming we have a snow day maybe we won't and it's and it's actually piloted be communicated back to the wider community and parents and the rest of the district so the

▶ 1:19:19 Speaker 4: first obligation is always when we get that type of information is to bring it to you first and after it's brought to you it's disseminated through the buildings via the principals via PTOs and school site councils and when would

▶ 1:19:37 Jennifer McAndrew: you anticipate that would happen I'm just asking like for a season like

▶ 1:19:42 Speaker 4: summer before the fall no it would probably happen by the end of the school

▶ 1:19:48 Speaker 1: okay any further discussion please mr. so and I just want to note that two

▶ 1:19:56 Speaker 3: things if I may one we have teachers and staff we are we pride ourselves on a district and a school committee in allowing our teachers to explore things on their own and innovate in their classes to that end I am aware of some

▶ 1:20:14 Speaker 3: staff that have innovated and attempted this during those two days that we had

▶ 1:20:28 Speaker 3: off so if we are approving this tonight are we not in fact approving a new policy pilot for the district this is programmatic it's not policy except that

▶ 1:20:41 Speaker 3: it comes to canceling school and what would what the policy would be with regards to the expectations of our kids I don't know if there's a policy around

▶ 1:20:58 Speaker 4: canceling school there's a policy around when you plan the calendar and that you have to adhere to the regulations and this adheres to the regulations now that

▶ 1:21:09 Speaker 4: the DESE has allowed it but there is no there's no policy on how I cancel school and make that call the only policy that we have as a district is our obligation to do 180 days plus 990 hours at the secondary level and 900 hours at the elementary and under the desi's and desi has retreated from that by putting forth the information I shared with all of you on what are they calling it alternative instruction school days they've retreated from that their own their own

▶ 1:21:45 Speaker 3: requirement so if I made the second half of this is since the since we are very positive on allowing giving our staff and teachers the latitude to explore and innovate why do we need the formal program vote tonight to approve this

▶ 1:22:04 Speaker 4: because according to DESE in order for it to count as a school day I need your vote teachers are going to do this with or without you that was evident from the two days in June agreed especially if you had a high school kid you know that all right but in order for it to count as one of the 180 that is what the vote is needed for I don't need your permission for teachers to say I think there's going to be two days of snow so everybody take home their math book their social studies book and the book that we're about to begin reading if I

▶ 1:22:39 Speaker 3: may that was my point yeah you didn't need our permission which is why we're

▶ 1:22:42 Speaker 4: doing this is for it to count as a school day that is what the information from the states as you very good thank you

▶ 1:22:51 Speaker 3: mr. Essie Thomas can you tell us more about this it sounds like very important professional development that you want to get in at the end of June and so and whether you can mandate the teachers to go to that if they miss these actual in

▶ 1:23:06 Speaker 4: time to go to professional development but this district makes it very desirable for them to go to professional development by our contract the more professional development you have the more PDPs advance on the contract but our teachers are also very professional and very invested in it but they also we find that by July 1 it becomes harder we run a huge summer Institute we run three sessions we run the session in June which is a week-long session that we also open up to our neighbors we run a session mid-july that is not as extensive because we have from experience learned it's harder to get people to come to that one and then we run a session in august which we get a few more people at because maybe some people are beginning to get ready to come back but that really is more focused on the new teachers and that type of induction program so it we run a full five days we run it in those areas that the professional development committee which is in the contract in which i believe a member of this board's liaises to um determines is the needs of this district it's all tied together that professional development is not willy-nilly it's tied to the goals of the district it's tied to the survey done by the professional development committee as to where we're going and what we need to do it's tied to the street strategic overview and it's also tied to anticipated changes that are coming down the pike so that when our teachers come back in September or late August as many of our staff as possible are ready for what is going to happen with our curriculum so the tone of the

▶ 1:24:52 Speaker 3: proposal is that nothing not much is happening at the end of June academically for students and then you also can't mandate the staff the teachers to come to the professional development so if we lose two days because of this going through those are basically potentially a wash for this academic year because the teachers don't have to come to the professional development in June they could come in July or they can come in August and I know most of them are going to do a lot of you know I know what I do in the summer i know that teachers work really hard but i'm still concerned about it feels like we're we're you know we're chained it's a little bit like changing a contract in the middle of a

▶ 1:25:38 Speaker 4: contract well again this was done with the labor management committee and again melrose is very forward in the fact that we have had for five years a labor management committee that when it was created agreed that contractual issues could be decided at that table as things arose

▶ 1:25:56 Speaker 4: rather than have to go reopen the contract or do other matters so we've addressed a lot of things at that table and it's worked very well and that's why as mr o'connell said when this became a topic last spring i brought it to them after researching it i brought it to them and i said what do you

▶ 1:26:20 Speaker 4: think is this doable is this something they would agree to and they said yes unanimously so that's all I can tell you about the contractual issue the teachers feel this is worthwhile as well again this is what you're elected to do you make this decision however you make this decision I live with it and I implement it or I don't implement it and I work with the staff I've got around whatever decision you made that's the bottom line yeah any final discussion seeing none all those

▶ 1:26:58 Speaker 1: in favor of the proposal so one two three four in favor five in favor those opposed to oppose the motion carries and that concludes the educational programs and personnel portion of our program thank you thank you very much next in

▶ 1:27:17 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: our agenda is the subcommittee assignments which you have experienced and enjoyed this evening and they are listed on your agendas for you any quick