Quincy Public Schools

1-27-2021 School Committee Meetings

Posted on 01/25/2021

Quincy School Committee

Budget and Finance Subcommittee

Mr. Anthony Andronico, Chair

Via Zoom

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

5:30 p.m.

Per Governor Baker’s order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A sec. 20, the public will not be allowed to physically access this School Committee meeting. Members of the Public can access the meeting audio live on QATV Channel 22 or at www.qatv.org. The meeting will also be recorded for rebroadcast and posted on the QPS website on Friday, January 29, 2021.

Agenda

1. FY2021 2^nd Quarter Budget Report Mr. Mullaney

QUINCY SCHOOL COMMITTEE

BUDGET & FINANCE SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING ~ January 27, 2021

A meeting of the Budget & Finance Subcommittee was held on Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 5:30 pm via Zoom. Present were Mr. Douglas Gutro, Mrs. Kathryn Hubley, Mrs. Emily Lebo, Mr. Frank Santoro, and Mr. Anthony Andronico, Subcommittee Chair. Also attending were Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, Mr. James Mullaney, Ms. Maura Papile, Ms. Erin Perkins, Ms. Madeline Roy; and Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk.

Director of Business James Mullaney presented the Quarterly Budget review through the FY2021 second quarter ending December 31, 2020. Quincy Public Schools has expended approximately 31% of the salary budget year to date, in line with historical expenditure levels. Mr. Mullaney reviewed the detail for 26-week, 40-week, and 52-week employees, with each account being at the appropriate level for this time of year. All salary accounts are sufficiently funded to meet contract obligations and step and level raises.

On the expense side, for Special Education tuitions and associated transportation, there is approximately 57% of the budget remaining. Overall, expenses are at appropriate levels for this time of year.

Mrs. Lebo made a motion to approve the Quarterly Budget report as presented. Mr. Gutro seconded the motion and on a roll call vote, the ayes have it.

Mr. Andronico made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 5:40 pm. Mrs. Hubley seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.

Quincy School Committee

Teaching & Learning Subcommittee

**This meeting is a Committee of the Whole**

Mrs. Emily Lebo, Teaching & Learning Chair

Mr. Paul Bregoli & Mr. Frank Santoro, Subcommittee Members

Wednesday, January 27, 2021, 5:35 pm

via Zoom

AGENDA

GLEAM Grant Ms. Vaughan
SIP Data Preview Ms. Perkins, Ms. Roy
Assessment Update Ms. Perkins, Ms. Roy

QUINCY SCHOOL COMMITTEE

TEACHING & LEARNING SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING ~ January 27, 2021

A meeting of the Teaching & Learning Subcommittee was held on Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 5:40 pm via Zoom. Present were Mr. Anthony Andronico, Mr. Doug Gutro, Mrs. Kathryn Hubley, Mr. Frank Santoro, and Mrs. Emily Lebo, Chair. Also attending were Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins, Ms. Maura Papile, Ms. Kimberley Quinn, Ms. Madeline Roy, Mr. Edward Smith, Mr. Christopher Tierney, Ms. Bridget Vaughan, and Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk.

Coordinator of English Language Arts Bridget Vaughan updated School Committee on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education’s Literacy initiatives, including the GLEAM grant. Ms. Vaughan is forming a team of principals and educators to work on grant proposals to strengthen foundational literacy skills and equitable access to the newest materials and professional development, including culturally responsive teaching.

Mr. Gutro asked about the initial pool of grant funding. Ms. Vaughan said that QPS is applying for the maximum, which is $8,000 and while this is a one-year grant, this is a five-year DESE initiative with additional funding in subsequent years.

Mrs. Hubley asked about the timeline, the application is due in April and the first awards will be made in July for the 2021-22 school year.

Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins and Senior Curriculum Director Madeline Roy presented a preview of the QPS School Improvement Plan Data. The focus of this data is district-level Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and analyzes the racial/ethnic and gender participation for High School Advanced Placement, Dual Enrollment, and National Honor Society. Next steps include disaggregating the data for each high school; sharing the data with high school principals, department chairs, and student support team; site-based analysis of barriers to enrollment and development of strategies to ensure equitable access.

Mr. Santoro asked about prerequisite courses, Ms. Roy said that the Advanced Placement opportunities begin in Grade 5 with entry points through middle and high school. The high school Program of Study defines the criteria to enter Advanced Placement and with most subjects, it is fluid for most subjects. Mr. Santoro asked if a student could be refused and Ms. Roy and Ms. Perkins said the approval process will be revisited with staff.

Mrs. Lebo asked for the percentage of the total population be added to the data for each race/ethnicity and gender category. Mrs. Lebo asked if permission is needed for Dual Enrollment and Ms. Smith said that students enrolled in Honors-level classes are eligible.

Mrs. Lebo asked for similar information for the middle school Advanced programs.

Coordinator of English Language Arts Bridget Vaughan, Mathematics Curriculum Team Administrator Kimberley Quinn, and Science Curriculum Team Administrator Edward Smith presented an update on the Measures of Academic Progress baseline assessment that was administered in the fall to grades 2-8 remote and hybrid/in person students following all COVID protocols for in-person and remote students. 12,215 assessments were administered for English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science and Quincy Public Schools students continue to exceed national student normative data.

The ACCESS for English Language Learners assessment will be administered between February 1 and April 30 and all students will be assessed in person. Families have been sent information about safety protocols and scheduling in their home language. Principals are creating schedules; schools may assess students at any time during the testing window. The results will be available in June 2021.

For the Grade 5 Advanced Placement Program, since last spring’s school closure did not allow for the administration of the CTP exam, all 144 students who were eligible to be assessed because of being in the top 20% on their Grade 3 MCAS Assessment were invited to participate. Currently 125 students are participating in the remote APP program. An APP Planning Team is being formed to assess the current Grade 5 program and criteria for assessment to enter both the Grade 5 APP and Grades 6-8 APP program at Central Middle School.

Early Literacy Screenings are being administered remotely and in-person to students in Grades K-2 and Integrated Learning Team meetings are being held three times this year as usual. DESE is continually updating information about MCAS and currently is planning for in-person administration for Grades 3-8 and 10 with defined testing windows for ELA, Mathematics, and Science/Technology. Test sessions will be shorter and there will only be one session for each subject test. For high school students, the Science/Technology exam will not be required for students graduating in 2021-2023. Grades 10 & 11 students will be administered the MCAS ELA and Mathematics Assessments in May.

Mr. Santoro said the MAP assessment data will assist with showing gaps in learning and asked about summer programs to assist students. Assistant Superintendent Perkins, Ms. Roy, and Ms. Quinn reviewed the programs that were held last summer and are planning for similar programming this summer with targeted interventions.

Mr. Santoro asked if the School Committee can have a separate discussion about the Grade 5 Advanced Placement Program prior to any decisions being made by the planning team. Superintendent Mulvey agreed this should be an agenda item at an upcoming meeting.

Mrs. Lebo asked if remote high school students will have a remote option for MCAS, but this is unknown at this time.

Mr. Santoro made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:25 pm. Mrs. Lebo seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.

AGENDA

Regular Meeting of the Quincy School Committee

Wednesday, January 27, 2021, 6:30 pm

via Zoom

Per Governor Baker’s order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A sec. 20, the public will not be allowed to physically access this School Committee meeting. Members of the Public can access the meeting audio live on QATV Channel 22 or at www.qatv.org. The meeting will also be recorded for rebroadcast and posted on the QPS SchoolTube website on Friday, January 29, 2021.

Approval of Minutes: Meeting Minutes for January 13, 2021

II. Open Forum: An opportunity for community input regarding the Quincy Public Schools. Community in this context is defined as a resident of the City of Quincy, a parent of a student who attends the Quincy Public Schools, or an employee of the Quincy Public Schools. Non-community persons not permitted to speak at Open Forum may submit written statements to the School Committee. After giving his or her name and address, each speaker may make a presentation of no more than four minutes to the School Committee. An individual may not exchange their time or yield to others.

To participate in Open Forum, interested parties may submit written statements or may speak live at the meeting by submitting a request to: [email protected].

III. Superintendent’s Report

Chairman’s Report Mayor Thomas Koch

QPS COVID-19 Metrics

QPS Enrollment & Learning Models Update

Hybrid Learning Expansion
High School Streaming
Updated Enrollment

Virtual Parent Academy:Family Math Night with Greg Tang, February 2

Parent Involvement Opportunities:

Quincy Parent Advisory Council to Special Education, February 1

Citywide Parent Council Meeting, February 8

English Learner Parent Advisory Council Meeting, February 9

QPAC Virtual Gingerbread Craft Night, January 29

IV. Old Business:

V. New Business:

Spotlight On: QPS Principal Communication Ms. Perkins, Ms. Roy
Academic Programs Update Ms. Perkins, Ms. Roy, Ms. Papile

VI. Additional Business:

VII. Communications:

Upcoming School Committee Meetings:February 10, 2021; March 10 and 24, 2021 (Regular Meetings, 6:30 pm, Coddington Building)
Upcoming Subcommittee Meetings:February 3, 2021:Policy at 5:30 pm; Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at 6:00 pm

VIII. Reports of Subcommittees: None

IX. Executive Session: None

X. Adjournment:

Quincy, MASSACHUSETTS – January 27, 2021

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Regular Meeting of the Quincy School Committee

A meeting of the Quincy School Committee was held on Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 6:30 p.m via Zoom. Superintendent Kevin Mulvey called the roll and present were Mayor Thomas P. Koch, School Committee Chair, Mr. Doug Gutro, Mrs. Kathryn Hubley, Mrs. Emily Lebo, Mr. Frank Santoro, and Mr. Anthony Andronico, Vice Chair.

Also present were: Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins, Ms. Maura Papile, Ms. Madeline Roy; and Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk.

School Committee Member Paul Bregoli was absent.

School Committee observed a moment of silence in memory of the following former Quincy Public Schools employees who recently passed away: Gladys Barnes (retired secretary, 30 years); Cathy Cameron (retired secretary, 29 years), Michael Dwyer (husband of former School Committee member Elaine Dwyer), Dr. Jack Merrell (teacher and department chair, QHS, 32 years), and Kathy Mitchell (retired Director of Library Media Services, 35 years; President of Quincy Retired Teachers Association; building substitute teacher at Point Webster Middle School through January 21).

Regular Meeting

Vice-Chair Presiding

Mrs. Hubley made a motion to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting for January 13, 2021. Mrs. Lebo seconded the motion and on a roll call vote, the ayes have it, 6-0. Mr. Bregoli was absent.

Approval of Minutes

Mr. Andronico read a letter from Ms. Jennifer Chen who urged in-person opportunities for the QPS Robotics team and Mr. James and Ms. Kristin Campbell who support a return to in-person learning for all Quincy Public Schools students.

Open Forum

Superintendent Mulvey recognized Mayor Koch for the Chairman’s Report. Mayor Koch congratulated Vice Chair Andronico who has been appointed as the Ward 2 City Councillor as of January 28, 2021. The next step is for the City Council and School Committee to meet in a Joint Convention to appoint a new School Committee member to fill Mr. Andronico’s term. Mayor Koch will survey City Council and School Committee to schedule a date.

Mayor Koch said that Phase 2 of the COVID-19 Vaccine distribution will begin shortly with Step 1 being for residents over age 75, Step 2 being for residents over age 65 with two co-morbidities, and Step 3 which is essential workers, including all educational staff. Mayor Koch emphasized that vaccines will be distributed in the City as soon as they are available, in partnership with Manet Health. The 180 Old Colony Avenue building will be utilized and logistical planning is underway, more information to be shared with the public as soon as possible. Mayor Koch noted that the Health Commissioner position is open with Commissioner Jones’ recent retirement.

Mr. Gutro noted that now-retired Commissioner Ruth Jones was a consistent, reassuring presence at so many Quincy Public Schools and School Committee meetings. Mrs. Lebo asked about vaccine availability, Mayor Koch said that first responders have already been vaccinated but the major rollout is still to come, unfortunately not as quickly as people have hoped. Mayor Koch expects much progress in February on the vaccine deployment.

Superintendent Mulvey thanked Mr. Andronico for his service to Quincy Public Schools as a School Committee member for the last three years.

Superintendent Mulvey then reviewed the QPS COVID-19 statistics for the last two weeks (January 13-26), including 80 student cases (37 hybrid, 12 in-person and 31 remote) and 22 positive staff members. The two-week positivity rate is currently 6.55% and in the red and there was no in-school transmission. Superintendent Mulvey noted that the breakdown of positive cases by school has also been shared with School Committee.

Mr. Gutro asked about contact tracing, Superintendent Mulvey confirmed that the Commonwealth’s Community Tracing Collaborative is working with the City’s Health Department nurses and Quincy Public Schools nurses under the direction of Coordinator Rita Bailey to coordinate the reporting, contact tracing, and family support for positive cases.

Superintendent Mulvey and Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins introduced the initiative to return Grades 1-3 students to full in-person learning after February vacation. Under the proposal, all students in these grades currently participating in the hybrid model would now attend school 4.5 days per week, with the early release day on Wednesday. Students and staff will maintain 6-foot distancing; teachers will be assigned one cohort of students that will remain with them all week. In order to maintain the distancing requirement, this applies only to students currently in hybrid learning. The district will consider requests to switch to in-person learning from remote at the close of trimester 2 on March 19, 2021 and will allow changes if space permits at individual schools. There may be some change in teacher assignments for Virtual School students as teachers may swap assignments to meet staff remote accommodation needs.

Mr. Santoro thanked the presenters and asked that the family notification stresses the importance of monitoring student health and keeping students home when they feel unwell.

Mrs. Lebo praised the plan and the importance of consistency for the students. This is the first step on what will be ultimately successful return to in-person learning for all grades.

Mrs. Hubley asked if there is an option for families who do not want to have students attend school five days per week, Ms. Perkins said those families can contact their principals about transferring into the Virtual School.

Mr. Gutro asked if teachers would only teach to the students in front of them. Ms. Perkins said students who are in quarantine would be able to stream the live instruction during the time they are home.

Mr. Andronico thanked the team for all of their work in preparing for this next step in the Quincy Public Schools re-entry plan and maintaining the health guidelines and thoughtfully planning this transition.

Superintendent Mulvey announced that high school teachers will be livestreaming instruction to hybrid students on their remote learning days beginning with the 3^rd term on February 1. Educators are being supported through professional development and on-site mentorship between colleagues and from the IT team. Thanks to Mayor Koch and the CARES Act funding that allowed for the installation of additional access points to support livestreaming.

Mr. Gutro asked for clarification, Superintendent Mulvey confirmed that hybrid students will no longer have two asynchronous days. Mr. Gutro asked how many students will be impacted, Superintendent Mulvey will follow up with that data.

Mrs. Lebo thanked the team and hopes that this will inspire some students to move from fully remote to hybrid learning. Mrs. Lebo asked how many teachers will be ready to implement this immediately. Ms. Roy said that most teachers are ready to begin the transition with the support of the department chairs. Mrs. Lebo thanked all of the educators for their efforts.

Mr. Gutro asked if any students would be required to change teachers due to this livestreaming. Superintendent Mulvey said this implementation would not affect schedules unless students were in half-year courses that would change for 3^rd quarter which begins February 1.

Superintendent Mulvey reviewed that current enrollment is 9,693, a slight increase over the last two weeks, with about 20 registrations pending. The instructional model breakdown is 48% for hybrid/in-person and 52% remote. Pre-Registration for 2021-2022 Kindergarten is underway, with over 200 families already completing the online form.

Superintendent Mulvey reviewed the high school extracurricular activities available in person and remotely to support student social emotional learning, including Robotics, which is meeting virtually through student choice.

Superintendent Mulvey reviewed recent Virtual Parent Academies held on January 19 (Grades K-2) and January 26 (Grades 3-5) highlighting Picture Books for Tough Times with Dr. Nancy Boyles and the upcoming event on February 2 for Grades 3-4, Family Math Night with Greg Tang. Additional opportunities for parent involvement in early February include: Quincy Parent Advisory Council to Special Education meeting on February 1 at 7:00 pm; Citywide Parent Council meeting on February 8 at 7:00 pm; and the English Learner Parent Advisory Council meeting on February 9 at 6:00 pm. QPAC is also hosting a Virtual Gingerbread Craft event on Friday, January 29 at 6:00 pm.

Superintendent’s

Report

Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins and Senior Curriculum Director Madeline Roy presented on the Principals’ Strategies for Keeping Students, Families, and Staff Connected. Highlights included Quincy High School’s video announcements and Think, Work, Share Newsletter, North Quincy High School’s Google Homeroom, In-Person Homework Club, and Raider Roundup Newsletter. Both high schools also use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. At the middle school level, school newsletters, virtual community meetings, the One Book, One School initiative, morning announcements, Peer Mentoring, and parent newsletters were shared. At the elementary school level, principals are hosting daily virtual announcements, sharing resources, hosting virtual family events and read alouds.

Mr. Andronico thanked the presenters, the principals and staff have done a fantastic job to adapting their communications to the challenges of this school year. Mr. Gutro and Mr. Santoro agreed.

New Business

Spotlight on QPS

Principal

Communications

Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins, Senior Curriculum Director Madeline Roy, and Senior Director of Student Support Services Maura Papile presented highlights of the Academic Programs, including Art, Music, Instrumental, and Physical Education. These programs have adapted to incorporate safety guidelines and to engage and educate both remote and in-person students.

Mrs. Lebo thanked the presenters and requested a similar presentation for Student Support Services.

New Business

Academic Programs

Update

Mrs. Lebo thanked Mr. Andronico for his thoughtful approach to being on School Committee, appreciated his insight into the State House.

Mr. Gutro thanked Mr. Andronico for his leadership, he became Vice Chair just before the pandemic began and faced many challenges.

Mr. Andronico thanked everyone, he is excited to join the City Council but sad to leave the School Committee and the QPS team.

Additional Business

Mr. Andronico noted that the next Regular School Committee meetings are scheduled for February 10, 2021; March 10 and 24, 2021 at 6:30 pm at the Coddington Building.

Communications

There were no reports of Subcommittees.

Reports of

Subcommittees

There was no Executive Session.

Executive Session

Mr. Andronico made a motion to adjourn the Regular School Committee meeting at 8:35 pm. Mrs. Lebo seconded the motion and on a roll call vote, the ayes have it, 6-0. Mr. Bregoli was absent.

Adjournment