← School Committee · 2026-06-09 · School Committee Meeting
Vote: Secondary Code of Conduct and Handbook
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
lissa Holleran AYES: Jennifer Razi-Thomas, Jennifer Grigoraitis, Seamus Kelley, Margaret Raymond Driscoll, Matt Hartman, Melissa Holleran, Sheri Leo A Vote: Secondary Code of Conduct and Handbook Principal Merrill and Assistant Principal Sewyck presented updates to the Secondary Code of Conduct and Handbook, reworking policies to ensure effectiveness for grades 6–12. Changes included adding extended summer learning as a possible recourse for chronically absent middle school students, and updating the cell phone policy to require confiscation and parent pickup to comply with the new "bell-to-bell" state law. Additionally, the range of consequences was adjusted to be more age-appropriate for 6th through 12th graders, and consistent language was added regarding class skipping and first-block tardiness across the middle and high schools. Discussion included: how AI is being reviewed and used by students. MOTION: To approve the Secondary Code of Conduct and Handbook RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Melissa Holleran SECONDER: Matt Hartman 4 AYES: Jennifer Razi-Thomas, Jennifer Grigoraitis, Seamus Kelley, Margaret Raymond Driscoll
Transcript
▶ 52:05 Speaker 4: Great. Thank you so much. So I had a motion to approve by Mr. Kelley. Do I have a second? By Ms. Halloran. Thank you. So motion to approve the Melrose High School program of studies. Let's take a vote. All in favor? Opposed? Abstain? Abstain. That is seven in favor. Thank you very much, Mr. Merrill, for that. We're going to move on now to the secondary code of conduct and handbook. And now that we are joining both schools under one campus, under one leadership crew, Wendy, you'd like to take us through the code of conduct and handbook for us?
▶ 52:40 Speaker 6: Absolutely. Thank you. So, Ms. Suek, obviously one of our assistant principals at the middle school, along with Mr. Black, Mr. Beaver from the high school, Mr. Corrigan, and myself, and I think Mr. Tucznati also was involved with updates going through and some changes. I'll let Ms. Suek drive through that.
▶ 53:02 Speaker 3: Sure. Most of the changes, some of it was just reworking some policies to make sure it was effective for 6 through 12. Two things that were added that I think one is that at the middle school, we have not really had any recourse for students who are chronically absent. And this year, we do have a few students who are going to the Summer Learning Academy to hopefully make up for some of that lost instruction time. So we just put it in that that may be a possibility for students who are chronically absent, with that definition of 18 or more. And then the other one in this goes, you were asking about cell phones. As of right now, we don't have full guidance from the state, but since it is now a law that students are bell to bell without a cell phone, we have changed the policy for both buildings to say that if a student is caught with a cell phone, it will be confiscated, and a parent or guardian would need to come and get it. Those are the two biggest changes. We updated the range of consequences a little bit, again, just to make sure that it felt a little bit more appropriate for what could happen to a sixth grader as well as a 12th grader, for some of those. And some of it was just making sure that we were all on the same page of what that looks like as well. If we're saying it's parent or caregiver communication, that doesn't necessarily have to be us. That can be a teacher, that can be whatever adult addresses that behavior. So yeah, those are the only two significant changes. And we did put in explicit language about skipping classes and first block tardies, again, to make that more uniform across both buildings.
▶ 54:26 Speaker 4: Thank you very much. Any comments, questions, concerns from the committee?
▶ 54:34 Speaker 4: Go ahead, Ms. Leo. I noticed there was a section about AI and the use of AI. I thought that was really thoughtful and well thought out. I was wondering how much that had been tested this year. Is that new? Was that in here? Just tell us a little more.
▶ 54:49 Speaker 3: That was in there last year. That was approved as part of the code of conduct last year. I can say at the middle school, I know that some of our teachers, umDefinitely really walk students through what's appropriate for AI and what's not, and telling students, "This is an appropriate time in which AI could be helpful, and then this is you may not use it." And many of our teachers are moving away from even having access to a computer for some of their work to make sure that students are doing authentic work. But I do know that many of our teachers are trying to also show students ways in which it can be helpful. And I know that there were some lessons done in some of our classes, specifically around AI and saying, "If this is what AI spits out, how do you make it your own?" So I think at the middle school level, it is being used and followed. We still are calling it, if a student directly copies and pastes it, we're saying that is plagiarism because although it might be some of your own thoughts, it doesn't read like a sixth, seventh, or eighth grader wrote it. So yeah, that's how that's working at the middle school. I don't know.
▶ 55:47 Speaker 6: So at the high school, there's been a lot of professional development that's been done optional for a lot of teachers that have really dug into this a little bit and then come back and presented at faculty meetings over the past two or three years. So certainly, our library media specialist, Christy Magoon, and Josh Cristiano, one of our English teachers, they've done a lot of work and worked with a lot of teachers around this.
▶ 56:15 Speaker 2: It's a constant struggle,
▶ 56:17 Speaker 6: but I think it's not going away. As much as I'd love to make a lot of this kind of stuff disappear, you can't do that. And again, if you type something into your phone right now, it comes up with AI. No one shuts that off. But I think we've seen a biggest struggle for us at the high school is probably in our English department, for sure. And I think the answer to some of it certainly has been going to pen and paper, especially when it's some shorter pieces of writing, that they've just gone to using pen and paper and a red pen for the teacher. So it's a little different, but it's also tough for some of the teachers that have got really used to Google Docs and how they give their feedback. So, it's a challenge. It's added a way to work differently and it's a little more difficult for teachers, for sure. But it's a constant challenge, and as an administration, we just have to be as diligent as possible with accountability in trying to teach students and redirect them in a different way.
▶ 57:37 Speaker 4: Thank you, Ms. Leah. Any other questions, comments? I just want to say, from someone who works in a high school, it was really helpful to take a look at your secondary school student attendance intervention plan checklist. I printed it off just to make sure that what we're doing is what you're doing. But I really appreciate the good stuff that we're hearing about everything going on at the middle school this year and all the hard work that both of you do every day. Any other questions for these folks? Do I have a motion to approve the secondary code of conduct and handbook from Ms. Holleran? That's the first one. And the second from Mr. Hartman. All in favor? That passes unanimously. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you all. Good luck with the rest of the school year. Thank you.
▶ 58:24 Speaker 5: Thanks. Appreciate it.