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← School Committee · 2026-07-28 · School Committee Meeting

ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT

Agenda original PDF

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Minutes original PDF

Member Present Jen Razi-Thomas Member Present Cari Berman Superintendent Present Ken Kelley Deputy Superintendent Present Also in attendance: Recording Secretary, Kristen O'Connor. With a roll call vote with seven (7) present, the meeting convened at 7:00 PM. 2. PUBLIC COMMENT John Cancelarich, a Melrose resident and parent, expressed concern regarding the use of recent override funds. Mr. Cancelarich asked if the 17 eliminated positions were filled during the 25-26 school year, and if not, what prevented the district from doing so and where were those funds were allocated. 3. ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT Superintendent Berman shared some summer update: Ed Stations and the Summer Learning Academy are in full swing, DPW has been doing lots of work in buildings and a report will be provided at the end of the summer, and IT has been busy repairing and replacing equipment across the district. She reminded families that educators will return on August 31st, students in grades 1-12 and pre-k students will return on September 2nd, and kindergarten students will return on September 8th. 1. Report: Personnel

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Transcript (~2 min @ 4:00)

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▶ 3:59 Speaker 5: Great. Thank you, Chairman Kelley. I have quite a few announcements tonight, so I apologize in advance. Before we get started on the ones that are listed, I just wanted to report a few things that are happening on campus so far this summer. Ed Stations and our Summer Learning Academy are in full swing. We've had a great turnout this year at The Lincoln, which is our elementary site, and the middle school, which is our secondary site. And students are continuing their learning, and it's truly just very nice to see. DPW, in addition, is doing lots of works to our buildings and our grounds, including cleaning and some projects that have been outlined. A detailed report will be provided to you once those summer projects are complete, and we can share all of the information and all of the good work that's being done. In addition, IT is also working in our buildings, repairing and replacing equipment across the district. And I'm just thankful for everyone who's putting in the time to ensure that our buildings are ready to welcome students and staff that first, well, I guess last week of August, so on August 31st. Which reminds me, I'll just begin the reminders that our educators return to work on Monday, August 31st, and Tuesday, September 1st, to engage in professional development. I know August hasn't hit yet, so it seems a little bit early, but just figure I'd say that out loud. Our students in grades one through 12 and our pre-K students will return on Wednesday, September 2nd, and our kindergarten students will come back after the Labor Day holiday, on September 8th. Next week, the parents and our educators will be receiving a midsummer update that will include this information as well as some other reminders. So now I will jump into what is listed. In front of you, you have the personnel report in your packet. I'll just preface it by saying that you can see that it's certainly a very busy time of year for our principals and our hiring teams and the business office as well. Many of the hires that have occurred recently are the result of the 17 additional positions brought to us by the override. You will also see that we have had some resignations, and this is typical This is the time of year when often some families are moving and people are making some career choices and different decisions. So we do see that movement. I do want to highlight that we have had many of our teaching positions that have been filled across the district. I'm really excited about that. In addition, many of our administrative positions have also been filled. So that includes the Director of Academics 6 through 12 for STEM, our Director of Visual and Performing Arts and Student Activities, the Winthrop Assistant Principal and Elementary Curriculum Coordinator position, and the Lincoln Assistant Principal. So those have all been filled. And then I usually wouldn't share the open positions. However, I did a cross-reference of what's on SchoolSpring and with the principals today. I just feel like it's important given the time of year, that I'm just very explicit on what's open in each of our schools. All of the positions that are discussed are accounted for in the FY27 budget and listed. Many of the following positions that I'll share currently have finalists or are in the interview process, but someone hasn't signed on the dotted line yet. We still have both first and second round interviews that are occurring also this week. So frankly, we need two special education/early childhood teachers. We are looking for a dual certification for that, and many of our early elementary educators hold that. Horace Mann's fully staffed. Hoover is fully staffed. Lincoln has two special education teachers, and we also are looking to finalize our family and community social worker.