← School Committee · 2025-12-16 · School Committee Meeting
Report: Outreach
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
To Appoint Ms. Cari Berman as Superintendent of Schools pending successful negotiations RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Seamus Kelley SECONDER: Margaret Raymond Driscoll AYES: Dorie Withey, Jennifer McAndrew, Jennifer Razi-Thomas, Jennifer Grigoraitis, Seamus Kelley, Margaret Raymond Driscoll, Matt Hartman 5 2. Report: Outreach Mayor Grigoraitis took a moment to thank members of the Committee and incoming Committee members who attended the first ever lighting of the Menorah at city hall. Superintendent Berman took a moment to thank the Committee for their recognition and support. Ms. Withey recognized Ms. McAndrew's final meeting after eight years of service, expressing gratitude for their collaboration. Ms. McAndrew reciprocated, thanking Ms. Withey on her final meeting as both a School Committee member and Chair, acknowledging the significant workload associated with the Chair position. The remaining School Committee members each offered thanks and shared individual stories celebrating Ms. Withey's and Ms. McAndrew's dedication and contributions. Mr. Kelley, on behalf of the School Committee
Transcript
▶ 1:03:12 Jennifer McAndrew: that motion carries unanimously. Congratulations Ms. Berman. Thank you.
▶ 1:03:27 Jennifer McAndrew: Thank you all so much. Um, we do have outreach reports on the announcements of the chair tonight. Are there any, since last week, have you done a lot of outreach, everyone? No. Okay. Can I say something? Yes, you may.
▶ 1:03:37 Speaker 3: As long as I'm not emotional, you may Please do.
▶ 1:03:45 Speaker 3: I might need a minute. Great. Okay. Um, okay. Yeah, I can do an reach report While you Okay. While
▶ 1:03:52 Jen Grigoraitis: outreach report to the Mayor. No, I just wanted to thank, there were many members of this committee, as well as incoming members who attended Sunday nights, um, first ever lighting of the Menorah at City Hall. Um, obviously that dovetailed with the tragedy that had occurred in Sydney the night before, as well as what had happened at Brown University. So I just wanna thank, um, all of you for showing up for our community. I know it really mattered to many, so thank you.
▶ 1:04:16 Jennifer McAndrew: Thank You. And thank you for inviting the community and for holding that first ever new lighting at City Hall. Um,
▶ 1:04:23 Speaker 3: Thank you for inviting me. Yes. Unfortunately I would
▶ 1:04:30 Speaker 3: family, so not, not able to do that. So I'll see how long I can hold it together. I just sincere thank you for, um, everyone support,
▶ 1:04:40 Speaker 3: um, recognition. Um, I'm not good at taking those things. But also, um, Ms. Whit and Ms. Ra, thank you guys for your leadership and support. And hopefully we'll like see you in the audience. I don't know, like, are you gonna watch us online?
▶ 1:04:55 Speaker 8: Public comment baby? Public comment. Yeah.
▶ 1:04:57 Speaker 3: You can count how many times I say, um, during the night. I don't know, something. So, um, yeah. Thank you. This is, this is like wild. So thank you. I'm, I'm excited.
▶ 1:05:11 Speaker 3: Um, again, I can't say that I ever really aspired to be a superintendent, but it's been really Quite a journey. Um, again, Melrose has been my home in so many ways.
▶ 1:05:20 Speaker 1: Um,
▶ 1:05:25 Speaker 9: Yeah, just appreciate it. So thanks. Thank You. And thank you for your
▶ 1:05:29 Speaker 1: service to our students. Excellent.
▶ 1:05:32 Jennifer McAndrew: Okay, Ms. Withey, Just a moment of quick personal privilege. Um, one I'm really excited for Melrose. I just wanna say that really quickly. Superintendent Verman and two, Ms. McAndrew, I wanna just thank you. I know you just said this is your last meeting of eight years and I feel so thankful to be able to have sat alongside you during that timeframe. So thank you for your support this year as vice chair and for your support for the past eight years too. Thank you so much. Um, and, um, I'll thank you as well. Ms. Withey, this is of course With's last meeting, um, as a member of the school committee and as the current chair. Um, I think folks know that she is a educator, um, an education leader in the city of Boston Public Schools. Um, and, um, just what a, what a pleasure to serve with you and thank you for your services as Chair. Um, I think people may have a sense of this, but the role of chair of the school committee is a tremendous undertaking. As someone who has served in that role, others here have as well. Um, and it's just, um, a really heavy volunteer load on top of being a member of the school committee. So thank you Ms. Withey for your service to students both here in Melrose and in the city of Boston.
▶ 1:06:46 Speaker 1: Um, Ms. Driscoll
▶ 1:06:47 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: Point of personal privilege Chair. Sure thing.
▶ 1:06:49 Speaker 2: Thank you. Um, now I'm gonna get emotional.
▶ 1:06:53 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: Um, it has, um, it has been an incredible privilege to serve with Ms. Withey. Ms. McAndrew, you have done some very hard things in this room. You've had to say no, sometimes you've had to shepherd conversations. You've had to lead us in a wide variety of ways, at different times in different places. Um, and all of those conversations meant so much to you. And you have treated every one of them with respect and authenticity. That is very hard to do, especially when you have your own personal feelings about them. But you need to bring everybody together to get to an end that is appropriate for everyone. That is very hard. There are very few people who can do that effectively and with kindness. And you have both done that. So I just wanna say how grateful I am and I know that the committee has a little something that we would like to give to you. And if, I don't know if anyone would else would like to say anything, but I don't wanna, um,
▶ 1:07:55 Speaker 6: Thomas, I would love to say, um, that it's been an honor, um, and a privilege to serve with you, Jen. The Jens are gonna be one down and we're gonna miss you, number one. But number two, I have admired all that you've done for Melrose over the last eight years, but a lot longer than that. I think there was some talk about you having something to do with the kindergarten, becoming like a full day thing. Um, and that might've been your first foray. And then, um, the Melrose Education, um, foundation, I think you were one of the founders of that. Uh, you are tireless. Mm-hmm. You do so much behind the scenes, you do so much in the front. Um, I just admire you. You're political savvy, your incredible intellect, your dogged determination. You never give up. There's been so many hard moments, but I will always remember you fighting the good fight for the kids, for the families, for Melrose. And I just have to say, great job. Great job. And we're gonna miss you here. Thank you. 'cause you've done so much. And then D Dubs, you did it. D dubs, we were gonna order out tonight, but I know we thought that would be disrespecting the process of the, of the school committee. But, um, you know, we want, we've always had at least ordering food here in the middle of a meeting, but we're not gonna do that. No. But it's been really, really incredible to have you serve for four years. You did so much in such a short time. And I've learned a lot about education, especially the, um, younger years. 'cause I know the older years, but I don't know the younger years. Um, and I just, your impact was, was fast and furious and I wish it was gonna be longer, but the Boston Public Schools are very lucky to have you. Thank you. And, um, maybe you'll serve after Mrs. Berman.
▶ 1:09:45 Speaker 6: But anyway, it's been such a pleasure and I love laughing with you, so I'll keep watching what your star is gonna do in the future. Thank you. Thanks for your work here.
▶ 1:09:56 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thanks, Mr. Hartman.
▶ 1:09:58 Speaker 5: I'll make some brief comments. Um, I am grateful to have served with both of you on this committee, uh, even just for the two years, um, in different capacities. You've helped navigate through some, some things that we've faced. And, uh, personally, I I really help really like the help that Ms. Mc, Andrew always gives on a, on a calling, a vote, and figuring out how to navigate that. Um, uh, there's a lot of ways of doing it and, uh, she's always helpful at the table to do that. So I've appreciated that as well as, um, all of the work that you've done in the community and, and, um, the advocacy that I've partnered with you on in so many cases has been, and I'm sure I will in the future as well. So, um, I know it's, it's goodbye in this forum and, and hello in another forum, I'm sure. But, um, and Miss Withey, it's, it's been a pleasure to get to know you. I didn't know you very well before coming on the committee. Um, but we've partnered very well on things and, and I've been grateful for your, um, dialogue, particularly around, uh, as Mr. Razzi Thomas is talking about your, your deep experience with education has been such an insight for me to, to, um, learn from and to apply in the work here. And so we're certainly gonna miss that as, um, Ms. McAndrew says, change can be good or bad. But I would also say it's almost always, uh, uh, hard to go through. But we're gonna end up in a great place. 'cause I think we have some, some great futures ahead of us. But it's, we're gonna miss you both.
▶ 1:11:13 Jennifer McAndrew: Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Kelly.
▶ 1:11:16 Speaker 4: Sure. So I want to thank both of you for your service to Melrose. Eight years, four years, and then the two years that I've been able to be on the committee with you. Um, I was thinking back about what I might wanna say tonight, and I got to know both of you in kind of strange ways. I got a call or a text from a then city counselor telling me, oh, you might hear from Jen mc Andrew, she wants to take you to lunch. And at the time I heard there might be some openings on the school committee. So we had a, a lunch that I think went about two and a half hours. Um, so that was, that was kind of an interesting thing. And then at the same time, I heard a voice, but I didn't know who I, a voice that I, that I recognized at the SGAs YMCA gymnastics center. And it's our two kids were, uh, on the same program together. So I got to know Dory that way and talk to her and really learned a lot about just what motivated her to wanna be on the school committee. Um, so just, that's kind of a, the funny way I've met, got to know both of you. I'd like to thank you, Jen, for all of your work during the COVID years. I know that was certainly was not hard. I, I certainly was not easy. And then some stuff that came afterwards and then Dory for your leadership around literacy. Um, it's been super helpful. I think one of the funny things about being on a school committee is academics doesn't really sit under school committees. And you've, I know at times you've probably crossed the line into wanting to provide a little bit more literacy direction. Absolutely. Absolutely. But I think that's a good thing. And I think, you know, ultimately we're better for that. So thank you both.
▶ 1:12:43 Speaker 1: Thank you. Oh, Sorry, I can I regret this.
▶ 1:12:45 Jen Grigoraitis: Um, since everyone else says I am tremendously grateful to both of you for on many, many levels, um, thank you for making me better every day for making this committee better and for making Melrose every be better. Um, you will both leave holes. I'm excited for our new folks to join. I also just wanna thank your families, which I don't think we say enough. This is hard. Um, there is an impact of this at home. Um, there are times when this has been not just hard, but downright ugly. Um, and so I just wanna say thank you to your partners and children and parents who, you know, have kind of been on this journey with you to provide love and support. So we we're grateful to them too.
▶ 1:13:23 Jennifer McAndrew: Thank you. Um, thanks everyone. Um, I'll just very quickly say, you know, um, quite unlike me, I did not prepare something to say, as you know, I, we had a lot of real business tonight that I was preparing for. Um, and, and, um, just, uh, but I really just wanna say a huge thank you to everyone. Um, I'll start by thanking my family because, um, the mayor's right, they put up with a lot, um, for everyone in these positions. Um, and, um, it's just been, um, you know, a real journey over these eight years. Um, when I, um, started, I had three kids in the public schools, um, all different levels. And now I have two that are in college and one who's at Melrose High School. So they've sort of, um, grown up in the Melrose Public Schools while I've been on the school committee, which has been really wonderful. Uh, I wanna thank everyone, um, who I've, um, worked with, um, now superintendent about to be, I guess, we'll, we'll still call you interim mentally negotiate that contract. But, um, interim Superintendent Berman, deputy Superintendent Kelly, our principals team, our prior superintendents and interim superintendents and everyone, um, who served, um, the, the students of Melrose so well, um, the, the educators. There are some here. Um, it's been just wonderful getting to know you on many different levels, um, as a parent in the district, um, and also through the school committee. Um, just, you know, just so much love and respect for all of our educators. Um, and of course, um, to everyone here, I wanna thank Ms. O'Connor for all of her hard work. Um, it is, um, you know, it's a big, it's a big ask for someone to be here at some of these meetings, um, so late into the night, uh, when she's worked all day in the superintendent's office, um, and just, um, and Diane Hogan, who was her predecessor in that role. So thank you. Um, thanks to everyone that I've served with, the folks who are here and the folks who, um, previously served with me on the school committee. Um, thank you also to everyone in the mayor's office who gives us so much, uh, support, um, in these roles and really appreciate it. Um, I, I am really grateful for the opportunity. Um, I, you know, just didn't, I decided not to run for another term, um, really just because eight years felt like a good amount of time and 12 years felt like too much for me. Not that I was assuming I would be reelected, but, um, you know, it's been a really wonderful experience. It's, it's only been one part of my civic engagement and my civic life here in Melrose. And, um, you know, those, those other venues for civic engagement will certainly continue. Um, I'll continue to, um, be your champion, uh, from the sidelines for everyone on the committee and also for our new members. So I'm very excited about their leadership, um, within the city of Mel Rosen on the school committee. So, um, thank you all. Um, I think I'll just, um, close by saying, you know, it can be, it's funny when you tell someone that you're on the school committee, I'm sure this is, you know, happen to all of you. They, you know, have this sort of horrified reaction usually, um, around, you know, oh, it must be so hard. Oh, the meetings are so long. Oh, everyone is, you know, complaining. Oh, well, you know, just how do you do it? How do you do it? That's always what people ask. You know? And, um, and, and I will say that there, there it can sometimes. I've always, I I don't think it's been a terrible experience at all. I think it's been great actually, but, um, it can be lonely sometimes. Mm-hmm. Um, and I've often reflected on how, um, I, I sometimes feel lonelier or, you know, I might have some like, dread about something we're working on or doing, um, when I am not here in this room actually. Um, but I've never, um, felt lonely when I'm here. And I think that's because even on, you know, the hardest days that we've had, um, it's because of all of you and everyone that I've worked with and served with. And it's because the people who I've served with and the people who've led the district, um, and taught in the district during that time, um, have always put kids at the center. And that's what I've tried to do too. So thank you for that. And I know you all will continue to do that. Um, and I just really appreciate you all and thank you for your, your service with me. Um, and with that, um, we do have need for an executive session tonight. Oh, we're still Okay. We're not done. Sorry. Sorry.
▶ 1:18:00 Speaker 2: Did you wanna see?
▶ 1:18:12 Speaker 4: Those are beautiful. Oh no. I'm bringing these back to Candace.
▶ 1:18:19 Speaker 1: Take it back. Thank you. Those are so nice. Thank you.
▶ 1:18:22 Speaker 9: Lovely. Thank you so much. Beautiful.
▶ 1:18:26 Jennifer McAndrew: Okay. Are we done? Alright, great. Okay. Um, and with that, we do have need for an executive session tonight to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel. Carrie Berman. Do I have a motion to adjourn to executive session motion? Adjourn made by ms. With, I'm gonna let her make it seconded by Mr. Kelly. Um, Ms. O'Connor, will you kindly call the role?