Minutes
Quincy, MASSACHUSETTS – October 13, 2021
--------
Regular Meeting of the Quincy School Committee
Regular Meeting
Chair Presiding
A meeting of the Quincy School Committee was held on Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. at the Coddington Building. Superintendent Kevin Mulvey called the roll and present were Mayor Thomas P. Koch, School Committee Chair, Mr. Paul Bregoli, Mr. Doug Gutro, Mrs. Emily Lebo, Mrs. Courtney Perdios, Mr. Frank Santoro, and Mrs. Kathryn Hubley, Vice Chair.
Also present were: Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins, Ms. Allison Cox, Mr. Michael Draicchio, Ms. Julie Graham, Mr. James Mullaney, Ms. Maura Papile, Ms. Kimberley Quinn, Ms. Madeline Roy, Mr. Keith Segalla, Mr. Edward Smith, Mr. Christopher Tierney, Ms. Bridget Vaughan; and Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk.
School Committee observed a moment of silence for the men and women in the armed forces serving at home and overseas.
§
Approval of Minutes
Mrs. Hubley made a motion to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting for September 22, 2021. Mrs. Lebo seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.
§
Open Forum
Kathleen Sharkey, Melissa Webster, and Laura Moye all submitted letters to Open Forum in favor of School Committee working to relocate the Grade 5 classes at Point Webster and South~West Middle Schools to their respective neighborhood elementary schools Clifford Marshall and Lincoln Hancock. A letter co-signed by Heather McDuffus, Gina Favata, Jon Gorey, Christine & R. David Atillio, Megha & Jesal Sangani, Scott Alessandro, Liz Speakman, Grace Young-Jae, Jeanne Lucas, Matthew Valencius, Amy Sorenson-Alawad, Kristin Perry, Alisa & Peter Bokulich, Yang Chung, Kathleen Groom-Nguyen, Joe Herosy, Ginger McGill, Susan Bill, Phoebe Chan, Shivpree Singh, and Truc Lai in support of the Quincy Education Association and urged the Quincy School Committee to negotiate a contract extension with similar provisions as other city unions.
§
Superintendent’s
Report
Mayor Koch’s presented the Chairman’s Review, the COVID-19 cases are continuing to decline with a 1.7% positivity rate for the City of Quincy, hopeful that the positive trend will continue. Mayor Koch announced that liveability.com rated Quincy is the #6 community to live in nationwide, the only community in Massachusetts to be so highly ranked. Mayor Koch said that while School Committee usually does not respond to Open Forum letters, he wanted to address the negotiations issue as much as possible. Mayor Koch said he believes that the School Committee would settle tomorrow with the same figures that all other unions received and immediately begin negotiating a longer-term agreement. Negotiations are a process and Mayor Koch wants to get back to the table, as he currently is doing with other unions. Mayor Koch appreciates the work of all Quincy Public Schools educators and administrators, the hard work they put in, along with the frontline responders across the city, including public safety and city services. No City of Quincy employee missed a paycheck and the majority of federal COVID-19 relief funding went directly the schools.
Superintendent Mulvey reviewed that as of the October 1 state reporting deadline, there were 9,612 students registered in Quincy Public Schools for Pre-K through Grade 12. Detailed enrollment information was shared with School Committee. One area for concern is the class sizes for North Quincy High School, this is being reviewed with the goal of creating new sections for Term 2. Today’s enrollment is at 9,645 students with 70 additional new registrations pending at Central Registration and school sites.
Mrs. Lebo asked for data for enrollment in Early College High School classes and suggested staff may need to be shifted from Quincy High School.
Mr. Gutro reiterated that he has asked about enrollment data correlated with new development in the city in the last five years.
Mr. Bregoli asked for clarification, the first option would be to ask North Quincy High School staff to take on an additional section with compensation. Mr. Bregoli asked about Science classes, the majority at both high schools are at 25 students or below. NQHS has three sections with 26 or 27 students.
Mr. Santoro asked for an analysis of the instructional time teachers spend with a class for each high school, given that the two high schools have different schedules.
Mrs. Perdios is concerned about additional stress on staff, Superintendent Mulvey said that this would be voluntary and teachers are compensated at the contractual hourly rate.
Mrs. Hubley asked for and received clarification that the Open Enrollment is not substantially different between the two high schools, so the majority of students attend school in the neighborhood they live in.
Mrs. Lebo asked about the issue with substitutes, Superintendent Mulvey said that we are having difficulty covering daily teacher absences. Mrs. Lebo said that our pay rate for substitute teachers is low, Superintendent Mulvey agreed that School Committee will need to address at an upcoming meeting.
For COVID-19 metrics: 24 students and 3 staff cases were reported in the two weeks September 29-October 12. There were 27 close contacts: 16 test & stay, 4 quarantine, 7 vaccinated so exempt from testing or quarantine with no symptoms. For vaccines, 68% of 12-15 year old and 78% of 16-19 year old Quincy residents are fully vaccinated. Quincy Public Schools student vaccine data will be shared at the October 27, 2021 School Committee meeting. COVID-19 Pooled Testing is underway with just over 1,600 staff and students tested, all vaccinated and unvaccinated staff are urged to participate in these safety checks. Quincy Public Schools partnered with Walgreens to schedule onsite flu and COVID-19 vaccine clinics at all school sites, over 400 flu vaccinations and 6 COVID-19 vaccinations were given.
Mrs. Perdios asked to go back to the negotiations comments made earlier, noting that School Committee is not part of the negotiations team. Mrs. Perdios objected to Mayor Koch’s comments, does not want to be disrespectful to Quincy Education Association and the leadership. Mayor Koch said that the fact is that the Quincy Education Association chose not to negotiate during the summer yet have chosen to wear stickers and t-shirts to school to protest.
Mr. Bregoli asked for clarification, there were no negotiations during the summer at the Quincy Education Association request.
Mrs. Lebo asked about the current status of negotiations, there have been recent negotiations on the Memorandum of Agreement relative to the return to school for 2021-2022. The Quincy Public Schools MOA negotiating team is made up of Superintendent Mulvey, Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins, Human Resources Director Allison Cox, Senior Curriculum Director Madeline Roy, and Principals Larry Taglieri, Dan Gilbert, and Steve Sylvia.
Superintendent Mulvey reviewed that the most recent Department of Elementary & Secondary Education guidance on Mask Mandates and Vaccine Thresholds has been shared with School Committee. As he mentioned earlier in the meeting, data on student vaccination will be available at the October 27 meeting. Staff verification could be done as a survey, staff would self-identify and self-attest. Superintendent Mulvey will verify the requirements with our legal counsel.
Mr. Gutro asked for clarification, elementary schools will not qualify for lifting the mask mandate due to the students being age-ineligible.
Mrs. Perdios asked for clarification, we are hoping that the technical issue allowing data access will be resolved this week. Mrs. Perdios asked if School Committee will be notified before the mask mandate is lifted, Superintendent Mulvey clarified that a petition has to be filed with DESE for each school to request lifting the mask mandate and would be discussed with School Committee prior to submitting.
Mr. Gutro asked whether there was any other data that would allow for the mask mandate to be lifted. Superintendent Mulvey said there is no other option at this time.
Mr. Bregoli asked about natural immunity for staff or students who have had COVID-19, this is not a consideration. Mr. Bregoli is concerned that civil liberties have been impacted, parents cannot choose for their students whether to be vaccinated or wear a mask or not.
Superintendent Mulvey noted that a challenge was trending on Tik Tok for students to damage school bathrooms, there were a few isolated issues at middle schools. The middle and high school principals and guidance counselors have addressed with students that these actions will not be tolerated.
Mrs. Perdios asked for clarification, the incidents were limited to the middle schools. Mrs. Perdios said that she has been told of issues at the high schools with vaping and graffiti in the bathrooms, Superintendent Mulvey asked for families to report concerns to the school principal and/or his office.
Mr. Gutro said that he has also seen the photos of the bathroom graffiti and it is deplorable.
Mr. Bregoli asked for clarification, Mr. Gutro explained that Tik Tok is a short-form video app.
Mrs. Lebo suggested a Parent Academy focused on Tik Tok. Mrs. Lebo is also about the high school bathroom graffiti.
Mr. Bregoli asked for clarification on the vaccination rate, the entire school population has to be considered, not just those who are vaccination eligible by age.
Superintendent Mulvey shared his Goals for the 2021-2022 School Year, five goals for Professional Practice, Student Learning, and District Improvement (one of which is also a Student Learning Goal). Superintendent Mulvey suggested referring the Goals document to the Teaching & Learning Subcommittee.
Mrs. Lebo would like specifics about re-socialization of students to be included in the Superintendent’s Goals.
Superintendent Mulvey gave an update on Quincy School~Community Partnership, Cradles to Crayons recently donated 1,000 elementary school books and 1,000 winter coats with hats and gloves to Quincy Public Schools. Mayor Koch added that the Norfolk County Labor Council raised $15,000 to support the coats donation. In addition, members of the Partnership supported 114 educator mini-grants of $350 to support the academic, emotional, and social development of students.
Superintendent Mulvey concluded his report by noting that Massachusetts STEM Week will be held October 18-22, a collaboration of Science teachers across the district to promote STEM in education and as a career path.
§
Old Business
Mr. Bregoli reviewed that the revised School Committee Policy 5.5.1 Transportation Services is before School Committee for discussion. As there was no discussion, the Policy is eligible for vote at the October 27, 2021 School Committee meeting.
§
New Business
District Data &
Curriculum Goals
2021-2022
Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins and Senior Curriculum Director Madeline Roy reviewed that the challenges of the last two school years are reflected in tonight’s presentation, there is clearly no substitute for in-person learning. There is a lot of information contained in the data and it will be important for diagnostic purposes to assist in closing the gap of student learning loss. At the state level, there was a drop in achievement from the 2019 MCAS in all grades 3-8 for ELA and Grades 3-8 and 10 for Mathematics. Parent/guardian reports are being mailed out this week, including translated materials in ten languages. Students who qualified for the John & Abigail Adams Scholarship will be notified by the end of October.
In terms of participation, Quincy Public Schools rates were very high, 99% for ELA and Mathematics for Grades 3-8 and 97% for Science in Grades 5 and 8. Grade 10 students were required to take the MCAS in person and had a 93% participation rate for ELA and 94% for Mathematics. Coordinator for English Language Arts Bridget Vaughan presented the English Language Arts and Reading Data. Over 50% of Grades 3 and 10 students Met or Exceeded Expectations. For the MAP data, all grade levels 2 through 8 showed growth, although not as high as in other years. Comparing the data to national norms, Quincy Public Schools students were higher at all grade levels. Mathematics Curriculum Team Administrator Kim Quinn reviewed the MCAS Mathematics data, where Grade 10 was the only level where more than 50% scored Met or Exceeded Expectations. For MAP data, all grades 2-8 showed growth over the course of the school year and exceeded national norms in all grades except for Grade 6. Science Curriculum Team Administrator Edward Smith reviewed the MCAS data for Grades 5 and 8, the data represented is only for students who took the assessment in person. The data for remote STE MCAS Assessments is not yet available. For MAP data, students in Grades 4 through 8 showed growth over the course of the school year and exceeded national norms for all grades. Coordinator of Data Christopher Tierney presented the Quincy Public Schools district demographic data, including an analysis of Career Vocational Technical Education students currently in Grades 10-12, Dual Enrollment (2020-21 data), Early College High School for students currently in Grades 10-12, Advanced Coursework (including APC and Reach).
The next part of the presentation was focused on district goals for 2021-2022: (1) During the 2021-2022 school year, students in Grades 3-8 will show evidence of achievement in English Language Arts as measured by an increase of three (3) achievement percentage points, from Spring 2021, as evidenced by the Spring 2022 PE303 MCAS Results by Achievement Level-School-District- and State Comparison Report. (2) During the 2021-2022 school year, students in Grades 2-8 will show evidence of growth in Reading as measured by the following increases in RIT points, indicated in the Spring 2021-2022 MAP District Student Growth Summary Report: 10 RIT points above the fall average for Grade 2; 5 RIT points above the fall average for Grades 3-4; and 3 RIT points above the fall average for grades 5-8. (3) During the 2021-2022 school year, students in Grades 3-8 will show evidence of achievement in Mathematics as measured by an increase of three (3) achievement percentage points, from Spring 2021, as evidenced by the Spring 2022 PE303 MCAS Results by Achievement Level-School-District- and State Comparison Report. (4) During the 2021-2022 school year, students in Grades 2-8 will show evidence of growth in Math as measured by the following increases in RIT points, indicated in the Spring 2021-2022 MAP District Student Growth Summary Report: 10 RIT points above the fall average for Grade 2; 8 RIT points above the fall average for Grades 3-4; and 5 RIT points above the fall average for grades 5-8. (5) During the 2021-2022 school year, students in Grades 5 & 8 will show evidence of achievement in Science, Technology & Engineering as measured by an increase of three (3) scaled score points in the All Students Average Composite Scaled Score from a baseline of 498.0 for Grade 5 and 494.5 for Grade 8 according to the District Achievement Distribution by Year Report (PE305). (6) During the 2021-2022 school year, students in Grades 4-8 will show evidence of growth in Science as measured by the following increases in RIT points, indicated in the Spring 2021-2022 MAP District Student Growth Summary Report: 7 RIT points above the fall average for Grades 4-5; and 4 RIT points above the fall average for grades 6-8.
Ms. Perkins thanked the presenters for their work disaggregating the data and planning the action items to support these goals. Moving forward, the schools will be holding Assessment Days to analyze data at school levels and create individual school goals and action steps.
Mr. Santoro thanked the presenters and asked for clarification on the Graduation requirement for MCAS. Ms. Roy said that current seniors were not required to take MCAS but schools will submit proof of competency determination and there is an extended range of coursework than in previous years that can be considered to complete the graduation requirement.
Mr. Gutro thanked the presenters and asked for clarification on the growth, elementary had some growth, while middle school seemed flat. Ms. Perkins said that while there was evidence of growth, it wasn’t to the same level as in pre-pandemic years so there are identified areas of concern. Mr. Gutro asked about comparison to 2019 data, Ms. Perkins said that DESE has advised school districts not to do this, the 2021 test was significantly modified and students were allowed to access remotely, so the data is not comparative.
Mr. Gutro asked how much the actual data impacted the preliminary plan for interventions that was begun before the data was available. Ms. Perkins said that the team anticipated the learning loss and that the planning began as soon as last school year ended, beginning with the summer programming.
Mrs. Lebo asked that an explanation for the national norms for MAP to be shared with parents so they understand that growth will be higher in the primary grades and lower in the upper elementary and middle school grades.
Mrs. Lebo asked about who would participate in the November 2021 retest. Ms. Roy said Grade 11 students who did not test at all last spring or did not meet expectations.
Mrs. Lebo noted that Grade 6 students may have been affected by the transition to a different school. Grade 9 students may reflect the same difficulty, but they are not assessed by MCAS.
Mrs. Perdios asked about Grade 8 STE data for students who accessed the test remotely, do we have a prediction on the impact on the overall data. Mr. Smith said that there is still hope that the scores will become available, but if not, the MAP data can be disaggregated between in-person and remote assessments.
Mrs. Perdios requested information for Early College High School enrollment broken out by grade level.
Mrs. Perdios noted that the APC and Reach programs have under-representation for Black and Hispanic students, asked about steps for increasing participation rates. Ms. Perkins agreed that this is a long-term goal, ensuring that students successfully transition from the Reach program to the APC program.
Mrs. Perdios is concerned about extended day programming not being accessible to all students due to transportation. Ms. Roy said that the School Improvement Plans will feature some creative opportunities so that all students can access.
Mrs. Perdios asked about outside programming and new curriculum resources, Ms. Roy said they will align to the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework.
Mrs. Perdios asked about the students who don’t need remediation, how will they be challenged. Ms. Perkins said that this is a challenge for teachers and the Leadership Team’s responsibility to support the differentiation efforts within the classroom. In addition to achievement, students need to reach growth milestones. Ms. Roy suggested that families reach out to their student’s teacher if they are concerned about their students being challenged.
Mrs. Lebo asked about the Reach program transition to the APC program, Ms. Perkins said that the Reach team will meet to discuss whether the CTP screening will be used again or other screening options considered.
Mrs. Lebo requested further discussion of Early College and Reach program at an upcoming Teaching & Learning Subcommittee meeting (both items are already in Subcommittee).
§
New Business
High School Community
Service Learning Waiver
(VOTE)
Mrs. Lebo made a motion to waive the High School Community Service Learning requirement for the Class of 2022. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Hubley.
On the motion, Mrs. Perdios asked that students who are voluntarily completing Community Service hours have the opportunity for their hours to be logged in by the Community Service Coordinators.
Superintendent Mulvey will work with the principals to see that this gets done.
Mr. Gutro agrees with the waiver and the recording of any hours completed voluntarily.
Mr. Bregoli asked if the Community Service hours can be earned cumulatively. The original intent was for students to complete 10 hours each year and not complete the requirement in one year.
Mayor Koch suggested referring High School Community Service to the Policy Subcommittee for further discussion.
On a roll call vote, the ayes have it.
§
New Business
Appointment of MASC
Conference Delegate
Mrs. Lebo nominated Mrs. Hubley to represent the Quincy School Committee as the Delegate to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees Annual Business Meeting. Mr. Bregoli seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.
§
New Business
MASC Resolutions
Mrs. Hubley reviewed that the 2021 MASC Resolutions were shared with School Committee for their review. These will be discussed and voted on at the October 27, 2021 School Committee meeting.
§
Additional Business
There was no Additional Business.
§
Communications
Mayor Koch announced that School Committee will be meeting on November 10, 2021 and December 8, 2021, all at 6:30 pm in the School Committee Room at the Coddington Building.
Subcommittee meetings will be held on October 20, 2021 beginning at 6:00 pm (Quarterly Budget & Finance; Facilities, Security & Transportation; and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion).
§
Reports of
Subcommittees
Mayor Koch noted that Subcommittee minutes are posted on the School Committee page of the Quincy Public Schools website quincypublicschools.com.
Mrs. Lebo reviewed the Teaching & Learning Subcommittee meeting from September 29, 2021 where the ESSER III Grant proposal and the School Improvement Plan development process were discussed
Mr. Bregoli reviewed the Policy Subcommittee from September 29 where the Information Technology & Training Program Improvement Plan was presented and approved and School Committee Policy Section 5.5.1 Transportation Services was reviewed, updated, and moved to the full School Committee (see Old Business).
Mr. Bregoli made a motion to remove School Committee Policies 9.8.5 Interscholastic Athletics and 9.11.1 Homework from the Policy Subcommittee as it is recommended that there be no changes to these Policy sections. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Lebo and on a role call vote, the ayes have it, 7-0.
As there were no changes requested, the minutes of the September 29, 2021 Teaching & Learning and Policy Subcommittee meetings were accepted as presented.
§
Executive Session
Mrs. Hubley made a motion to go into Executive Session at 9:15 pm. Mrs. Lebo seconded the motion and on a roll call vote, the ayes have it, 7-0. School Committee will not return to Regular session.
§
Adjournment
Since School Committee moved to Executive Session at 9:15 pm, the Regular Meeting was adjourned.
§