Report: Strategic Plan

Transcript (~27 min @ 58:40)

▶ 58:25 Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Fogarty. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes education programs and personnel. We're now moving on to policy and planning. Good evening, everybody. This is the policy and planning subcommittee, and we have a few items on the agenda tonight. We will kick off our discussion tonight with updates on our strategic plan. If folks will remember at our meeting in July, I believe, since I was not here in August, we discussed a little bit about the direction we're headed with our strategic planning. And we asked Superintendent Berman to come back in September after having worked with her team to review the closeout of the previous three-year plan, evaluate some of the progress steps that we've had, and point out

▶ 59:26 where we might go for a one-year plan. And that's what she's produced in the packet tonight. I think we have a lot to talk about in that packet. There's a lot of information in there about where we've been over the last three years, and where Ms. Berman, and I see Ms. Acevedo at the table as well, to help us through this dialogue, that we'll learn more about the direction they see for the next year. And then I think we'll have more to talk about as a committee around how we want to plan out for a longer-term strategic planning process. And we'll talk about that after Ms. Berman takes the lead on this with Ms. Acevedo about where we are right now. Sure. So I'm just going to take some highlights from the memo.

▶ 1:00:06 So the memo highlights the strategic plan, and I'll just take some brief highlights from there. But certainly, we had discussed about a potential proposed extension of the plan that expired in June 2026. So as you all know, there have been quite a bit of turnover in leadership, although I will say that in the central admin office, I guess I could say, our leadership team in many ways has stayed consistent with the players, just in some different roles. And I'd like to give us a little pat on the back because even without a consistent leader in the superintendent's chair, we did make a lot of progress. And I do attribute that to the leadership, but more importantly, the educators who are working with our children every single day.

▶ 1:00:55 So, we were all rowing in the right direction, and we did make some good progress. So I think that's really important to highlight. The leadership team did take some time during our summit event in August and really look at what was accomplished. We worked in teams of elementary and secondary and broke it down to find out what was accomplished and what was the evidence to demonstrate that there was growth, or that we met or partially met those objectives. I will say it's now being part of the NESS applause and looking more at the superintendent's role, I think I would propose a different way to format, I guess is what I'm thinking of, for our strategic plan for next year. But this year, we are taking what we have and trying to move it

▶ 1:01:55 forward. So, with that, we identified our areas of need. And I think as I had mentioned before, taking objective three and embedding it into some of our other objectives really felt like the right thing to do. I remember I was part of the team for objective three when we did it, and I struggled with it at that time because I felt like it really was embedded in all of the other objectives. But to a couple people at that time, we were bringing the new civics class on as a requirement. There were some other pieces that we were trying to lean into, and there was this feeling like it needed to be a standalone objective. I personally never felt like it was a good standalone objective. I felt like it really should be embedded. It's embedded in the curriculum, right?

▶ 1:02:44 In terms of those pieces, it's embedded in the teaching and learning. So I just felt like we should really take that global engagement and embed it for the next year into strategic objective one and two. So our academic knowledge and skills, and with that, all of our high-quality instructional materials, and our rigorous grade-level instruction. We should be incorporating critical thinking, historical analysis, media literacy, global literature, taking different perspectives all of the pieces that are really pronounced in three. And similarly, taking those pieces and embedding it into objective two. It literally has the same exact language. "Uplifting diverse families and developing empathy are the foundational behaviors

▶ 1:03:34 of global citizenship." So I think that we can tie those together. I think they dovetail very nicely, and I think my goal is to make a clear strategic plan for this year and moving forward so that our staff knows where we're headed, our students know where we're headed, and our families know where we're headed in clear, plain, concise language, and that we understand the objective. So I do think there's a piece we can add in here a little bit, and we talked about it as a leadership team to ensure that we have some evidence, but what are the actual outcomes? So we had talked about some of the pieces that had been used as evidence in the past couple of years through some other leaders, and how we felt like we could

▶ 1:04:22 bring some of that back as specific evidence and specific growth, and really tie it to our story. So I did ask Melanie Acevedo to join us as well, just as the teaching and learning expert, and I felt like it was only fair because we have an objective, and Ken Kelley was already here, that Melanie should also join us at the table. So I think, hopefully it's clear where we're headed and what we're doing. And again, everything falls under those ABCs, our accountability, our belonging, our consistency as well, and I think we'll continue to use that language as well. But we need to get our new curriculum implemented. We need to continue to care for our children. We need to have high expectations.

▶ 1:05:07 We need to give them diverse perspectives, and teach them to become independent thinkers. And it's kind of all wrapped up into there. And then, of course, Ken Kelley, I don't want to forget about you. Ensuring that we're sustaining our finance and operations, and stabilizing that given our override and using data-informed decision making for all of our decisions about personnel, curriculum, any of our expenditures. So that's the overview, and I'm certainly happy to answer any questions that may be specific, or if you need more information, I'm happy to try to provide that as well. Mr. Kelley, I saw your hand. Yeah, sure. This is more of a comment, in general, that I certainly appreciate what you said around clear, plain, and concise language.

▶ 1:05:57 Oftentimes, we've maybe in the past received materials that you have to take out Google to say, "What does this word mean?" Because I'm not a professional educator, so anything like that that can just really make things easier to get through, I certainly appreciate. I think it goes back to some of your stuff that you talked about when you were first hired of your ABCs. So I just wanted to make a comment that that's something that I appreciate the district, because it makes us understand what's coming across, and I think it makes it easier for families as well. Thank you. Other members? Ms. Leo. Thank you. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of reducing the strategic objectives from five to four so there's not overlap and redundancy when I was

▶ 1:06:42 thinking about clarity there. I just wanted to get a little bit of feedback about this idea of the diverse worldviews and rigorous instruction. It seems critically important as you described, that it's part of high-quality instruction. But it might make sense to add a little bit there in the evidence or in the language to make sure that reflects our community values and what deep learning looks like, because there are lots of ways to learn deeply, and our beliefs are part of our strategic plan. And so thinking through the importance of civic education, for example. The civic experiences that students have here are incredible, and making sure that we are lifting that up and not taking a spotlight.

▶ 1:07:25 I don't think that you are at all. I think that you've spoken really clearly about that, but sometimes we need to be able to refer to the plan. So just embedding as in objective two, that language was already embedded there. Finding a little way to just recognize diversity of perspectives and problem-solving is one way we think about instruction. Yeah. And I'll just respond to that too, because I know you'd given me a little preview on that, which I appreciate. And one of the things that is in there as some evidence is our instructional walkthroughs that we'll be establishing this year and our areas of focus, and I can certainly share those, but number one is focused on that kind of sense of belonging.

▶ 1:08:08 So the learning environment creates a welcoming and supportive space for all students, and we would be looking for evidence as we're going through our walkthroughs on that. Number two is teacher and student interactions reinforce inclusivity and value unique experiences related to background, identity, language, ideas, and perspectives. So I think it's a little side step to that- Yeah ... and these were chosen by the leadership team for our look force. And so those will be our areas of focus as we do these non-evaluative walkthroughs. So I think it, again, kind of dovetails nicely into the language that you are hoping to get in there. I kind of feel like it's there, but behind the scenes a little bit.

▶ 1:08:48 Thank you. You're welcome. I really appreciate that, and just lifting that up. That absolutely addresses the exact thing I was talking about. That clearly our administrators and our leaders are still thinking about what was objective three in everything they do, which is really important. Thanks. Yes, Mr. Sciacca. Thank you. So just a point of clarification relative to our work here, we are voting on this plan? We don't have it listed for a vote. I think it would be appropriate at some point for the committee to vote, whether at this meeting or a subsequent meeting. For next meeting. Okay, yeah. So for next meeting then just for feedback, presuming that will be, I won't make a motion. I would love to see, first of all, I agree with all of you or those who spoke,

▶ 1:09:30 that I like the fact that most of this I can understand as a non-educator, and that's super helpful because it has not always been that way, and I think that was articulated well earlier, so I just wanted to amplify that. Of course, you know my favorite area is finance and operations, no surprise to anybody. So I, of course, appreciate what Mr. Kelley has done with the budget and so forth. I did notice that that recommended focus areas for '26, '27, were to continue strengthening and maintain proactive community budget workshops, and then maintain transparent fiscal management, and so forth. And I would love to see a recommended focus area around something that I think you're already focusing on, so I don't think it's radically different.

▶ 1:10:19 Which is, and we talked a little bit about in the subcommittee, Mr. Hartman, about our community relations and our boosters and our donations, and really working hard. We have the override from our community, but there is so much more that the community gives to us. And I want to ensure, number one, that we are following our donations policy. We have no thresholds right now. The body may choose to do that, but right now, there are no thresholds, so presumably, even something that would be a very small dollar amount would need to come before the committee. And I wouldn't expect the community to know all of that, but just in terms of showing fidelity to the policy manual that we have, I'd love to understand something like, I'll just propose a little language so you

▶ 1:11:07 can hear what I'm thinking is, that by June 30th, that the district in collaboration with the community and the school committee, explore, revise, and propose an updated donations protocol to the committee for policy revision consideration. So it's really that process of understanding where the donations come from. And I'm sure, Mr. Kelley, you would have much more if you had six hours to speak with us about this. To help us understand what those donations are, because I'm thinking of all the athletic, not necessarily equipment, but different kinds of supports that are provided in co-curricular activities and on and on. And I'm not asking for donations of tissue boxes. Like please, I- You know, we'll be reasonable if that would be expected.

▶ 1:12:02 So, just to get a handle on what are the kinds of things. Occasionally we'll see things like furniture or computer equipment or things like that. So those are always so helpful to me to see how generous this community is. So, I'll pass that along for future consideration, please. Thank you. I think we've started some of that work actually- Yeah ... because we just created a Google form to share with all the principals to ensure that anything that comes through the PTO, and it's shared with all of leadership. So we're starting to do that because going back to we have to quarterly report out on those things. So we want to make sure that we're doing that. We put it on our calendars to get that memo out.

▶ 1:12:42 We have the timestamp for the Google. So I think we're on the same page with that and understanding that there's a need for that. So that can be one of our pieces that we work towards. So thank you. Wonderful. Thank you. I'd love to see that memorialized. That would be super helpful. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Rossi-Thomas. Thank you so much. So, I appreciate first of all, that you put the key accomplishments down on the left column, because there was a lot of great work that's been done in the last year or two to get us ready to take the next step in the strategic plan. And it's a reminder to all of us that it starts with our beliefs and values and our mission. Then we create the plan, and now this will be our roadmap for a year, and then

▶ 1:13:26 we'll build it out further. So thank you, first of all, the three of you in particular, Ms. Acevedo, Mr. Kelley, and Ms. Berman, for all the work that you've done thus far for helping us stay on our map, for clarifying the map, and then also I look forward to a robust discussion that's community-based for our next five-year plan. I would love to see a very skill-based portrait of a graduate created because the one that we have currently is big and it's fluffy, but it's not really skill-based. It's more like, "This is what I would love all of our kids to get to someday." But I'd like it to be a little bit more concrete than what it is right now, even though it's a lovely hope. And then I also hope after we go through this community process of creating a

▶ 1:14:21 strategic plan, that we have at least one objective that really focuses on culture, belonging, and community. And I've already talked to you about that, but I know we don't need that for this year, but I hope that's what we'll get to, so it doesn't feel like we're slipping that in through the other objectives. Yeah. And I think we can do some assessment of that this year, right? Mm-hmm. And ensure that what is needed from that- Mm-hmm ... whether it's certain groups or populations or whatever else, right, that may not feel that sense of belonging. Mm-hmm. Where do we target an objective or a goal if that's an area of need? So I'd love to try to assess that through this year so that we can develop that as

▶ 1:15:03 well if needed for our next plan. And I just also want to say as a general comment, because since this is our first back to school meeting, that I've heard a lot of very good-- Besides the Minga thing, I've heard a lot of really good things about the back to school culture in all the buildings, and parents are quite happy, and students seem to be quite happy, and certainly students are noticing that there are fewer students in a classroom, which is at the secondary level. So I think there was a lot of good work that was done last year, as well as the override was successful, and hopefully we can really continue to build to make our district even better. So thank you. Thank you. Other comments from members?

▶ 1:15:47 Seeing none, I'll just say a few words. First off, thank you for putting this together. I think it's really to everybody's point, very accessible. That is a real skill to have, to put that into a way that's accessible and something we can really tackle. I do want to raise up, particularly around Mr. School's comments, that we've started the path a little bit, I think through a couple of recent things that have happened with-- I know Mr. Kelley had taken a look at all the student activity accounts. That was a very deep dive process, I'm sure. That's reflective of the work that's gone into our finance and operations side of things. In addition, we've started the work on the policy for booster clubs and

▶ 1:16:29 started to look at that and started a process around that, which I hope that we start to hear more of soon. We're going to hear some more updates on that soon. But, I think we're taking a look at those things in the appropriate way and balancing the policy with the operational work and making sure that we're diving deep to understand those questions about the particular donations and how things are being handled at the district level. Trying to make clear expectations out of it too, for everybody involved. So I just wanted to raise that up, and I appreciate the point as well that could be a useful highlight to both highlight the work that's already happening, but also set ourselves to have something to look back on in the future.

▶ 1:17:08 I agree with some of the comments around how we can incorporate maybe potentially some more language around global inclusion, particularly critical thinking, I think was a piece that is hard to document sometimes, but something that's really important. And whether it's part of this document or whether it's part of the future, I love the idea of a portrait. What is our student portrait that we would love to see at the end of four years of high school and however many years before that in the Melrose Public Schools? But as we paint that portrait, I think critical thinking skills is a really important aspect that's reflected only in objective three right now. That certainly, I think is in the other objectives, as you mentioned,

▶ 1:17:45 superintendent. But how we highlight that, how we document those sorts of things is going to be important as we look at the longer-term strategic planning process. Because I think to your point, Ms. Rossi-Thomas, the skill-based world is out there. We need to identify how we're thinking about skills. We have a lot of documented test scores and things. Those aren't necessarily the things that employers look for, that people outside of colleges necessarily look for. So we've got to think about those things too as we create that portrait. Certainly, those are important elements and very important in many circumstances, but we've got to think about the whole picture of what students should be when they graduate from our school.

▶ 1:18:25 So I appreciate that commentary as well. I think at this point, the only thing I'd want to move on to on strategic planning is we talked about a little bit of school committee process and where we fall in this process. Ms. Berman has come through with her one-year plan. We can bring it up in a future meeting if we want to vote on it, if she makes any changes in the meantime. But in terms of what is the role of the school committee in that longer-term strategic planning process? So whether it's a three-year, which is I think typically been a cycle, or a five-year, we still have to make that decision or the request for the superintendent, so that she knows what to look forward to. But also, we had talked about whether there would be a planning session for us and

▶ 1:19:05 whether that's an opportunity. So at this point, I open it up to the floor if members want to commit to an idea. I think a planning session would be very helpful for us, and we can move forward with that, look for support on that. But, I also respect that people's schedules are very tight. It will be hard, though, I think, to have a kind of in-depth planning session in the evening meeting in the middle of the week. Just, I think we would have to think about a weekend time to get together on that. So with that, I'll open it up to comments from members about where they would like to go with that so that we can have committee input on this process as well. Mr. School. Thank you. So, in other strategic plans, there were an

▶ 1:19:45 hour and a half or two-hour training session, and I found them very valuable because strategic planning is not something that I do in my day job all the time. And I think most of us do them in three-year increments or whatever we do. And having those reminders, certainly strategic plans theory, if you will, changes. So I just think having somebody help us understand who does what and in what order gives us also the opportunity to create that kind of timeline that gets us to the end whenever we want that end to be and lets us know who does what and sort of how those things happen. So I found it helpful, and I think find it helpful again. Okay, great. Other opinions or thoughts from members? Ms. Leo?

▶ 1:20:33 Yeah, I'll just chime in to say I agree. I have not been part of the previous process, but it sounds like it would be really helpful. And I think it's something that as a school committee, we can engage and provide support and kind of governance advice on. And that feels like the right touch. I would love to be part of that if we decide that's where we want to go. Okay. Yes, Ms. Soloren. And as a new committee member, just I think, yes, it would be helpful. My only hesitation would be does this delay us in implementing the strategic plan and moving forward, or is this just for talking about the multi-year in the future? The discussion that I think people have been kicking around is really for the

▶ 1:21:23 longer-term plan. Okay. So this piece here, I think, is on a separate track for the current school year. And then we would work to build a bigger plan beyond that for the future years, which would take longer than a number of months probably, with Superintendent Berman and her team, really digging deep on some things, connecting with all the buildings, connecting with the staff, and figuring out what is their direction on things, and of course, regularly reporting back to the committee about progress and when we start to see things come together. Okay, great. Thank you. Any other thoughts? So I think maybe the next step then is that I'll work with Chair Kelley on maybe picking some dates in October-ish to think about.

▶ 1:22:06 Perhaps on a weekend where maybe two hours of time we could block out to have the committee gather and have some session on our strategic planning process and what we want to get out of it, and maybe think about highlight areas for the superintendent to consider in her process as she gets back with her team through the months that we had talked about previously. Previously, just to put a large arc on the picture, we had had some activities identified in the fall. This would be one of them tonight. And then through the fall, the school committee, we had talked about a school committee meeting in this session. And then the superintendent having time with her team to develop plans and ideas, feedback, and do that through the winter.

▶ 1:22:51 And then sometime in the early to midwinter would be when we would see a more formalized larger plan. I think we're still working out some of the specifics around those dates, but that's kind of the larger arc picture. Is that fair at this point for everyone to understand? Great. So if nothing more on strategic planning, we can move on to the next topic. Can I just say one thing really quickly? Oh, go ahead. Just because Melanie, I just appreciate you being here. And I just wanted to make sure that I covered everything and that I didn't miss anything that you want to highlight, because there's been a lot of work done. There has. And you were part of a lot of these discussions. So I just want to make sure there's nothing. Do you want to say anything?

▶ 1:23:32 I think just one of the things that I know Superintendent Berman and I have been working on probably for the past year now is really bringing back those instructional rounds, instructional walkthroughs, and seeing what's happening in classrooms. I think her and I try to be as visible as humanly possible, given everything that we do. But really having a purposeful kind of meaning of going into classrooms and having our five instructional focuses that we have shared with staff, that have gone out, that principals are re-sharing with staff, so that it's not a surprise, right? These are the things we're looking for and these are the things we're tracking. Several of our previous leaders have said things that get tracked, get done.

▶ 1:24:14 And so I think that this is one of those goals that Superintendent Berman and I both share in wanting to have a more purposeful walkthrough structure and this plan building into the next one. That's going to give us feedback to really think about that. We're also part of a district review this year that's coming in the fall. So they're also going to be giving us-- This is a DESE district review, so they're also going to be giving us some feedback about things that they perceive as going well and things that we can kind of look at as next steps. So that's also going to be part of our planning process moving forward. And that will be great data for us. And I think the ultimate goal is right now

▶ 1:24:58 looking at, these are non-evaluative walkthroughs, but with the leadership team. But I think eventually the ultimate goal is to make sure we have educators on those teams as well, so that they can see what's happening in other classrooms and across the district, whether it's vertical or horizontal alignment, and really have their voice be present on our teams to ensure that we're doing a good job for teaching and learning. Thank you. So thank you, Melanie. Thank you. Ms. Asmar. Thank you. So with that, I think we'll move on to the final item in policy and planning. Unfortunately, I think this is the second time tonight we're going to hear about impacts of the current administration on the operations of Melrose Public Schools.