Quincy Public Schools

A meeting of the Quincy School Committee was held on Wednesday, January 11, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. in the School Committee Room at the Coddington Building.  Superintendent Kevin Mulvey called the roll and present were Mayor Thomas P. Koch, School Committee Chair, and School Committee Members Mr. Paul Bregoli, Mrs. Tina Cahill, Mr. Douglas Gutro, Mrs. Emily Lebo, and Mr. Frank Santoro, Vice Chair.  School Committee Member Mrs. Kathryn Hubley was absent.

Also present were:  Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins, Ms. Kim Connolly, Ms. Allison Cox, Mr. Michael Draicchio, Ms. Julie Graham, Mr. James Mullaney, Ms. Maura Papile, Mr. Keith Segalla, Mr. Christopher Tierney; and Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk.

A moment of silence was observed in memory of Joyce Wells, Grade 5 teacher for 35 years at Snug Harbor, Leonello “Mel” Pellegrini, Quincy Vocational Technical High School teacher for 18 years, and Debra Randall, Science teacher at Quincy High School for 10 years.

Mr. Santoro read the following statement into the record:  Pursuant to the Open Meeting Law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium.  Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible.

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Regular Meeting

Vice-Chair Presiding

Mrs. Lebo made a motion to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting for December 7, 2022.  Mr. Bregoli seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.

Mrs. Cahill made a motion to approve the minutes of the Executive Session for December 7, 2022.  Mr. Gutro seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.

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Approval of Minutes

Members of the Quincy Education Association urged the Quincy School Committee to continue to negotiate as progress is being made toward an agreement:  Ryan Herlihy, Jacqui Principi, Andrea Curtain.

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Open Forum

Superintendent Mulvey recognized Quincy High School senior Christiana Nguyen who was recently accepted into the prestigious National Association for Music Education All-Eastern Treble Chorus.  Christiana will join high school music students from twelve eastern states in Rochester, New York in April to rehearse and perform at the annual All-Eastern Concert.

With the return to school on January 3, Quincy Public Schools students are busy with Winter administration of assessments: ACCESS testing for English Learners is underway, with 1,658 students in Grades K-12 scheduled to be assessed for reading, speaking, listening, and writing between January 9 and February 10.

Winter MAP testing is also underway for approximately 4,300 students in Grades 2-8 for English Language Arts and Mathematics, and Grades 4-8 for Science and will be completed in early February.  1,400 Students in Kindergarten through Grade 2 will also have the winter administration of the Amplify mClass Early & Foundational Literacy screening this month.  Our High School students are busy with course-based projects and assessments as the 2nd term ends on January 27.

Kindergarten Registration for the 2023-2024 school year is underway, with the online link for families to pre-register posted on the Quincy Public Schools website and social media.  Pre-registered families will be contacted by school secretaries and Central Registration staff beginning on February 6 to schedule registration appointments.  180 families have already pre-registered as we begin the process of welcoming the QPS Class of 2036.

Superintendent Mulvey concluded his report by congratulating North Quincy High School Boys Basketball Coach Kevin Barrett.  With last Friday’s win against Pembroke High School, Kevin became the “winningest” coach in North Quincy High School Basketball history, with 179 wins over 17 seasons. 

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Superintendent’s

Report

Mrs. Lebo made a motion to accept School Committee Policy 9.15 Student Personal Electronic Devices.  Mrs. Cahill seconded the motion.

On the motion, Mr. Gutro said he will be voting no as he would like teachers to have the discretion to use cell phones as a teaching tool.  He is also concerned about the implementation falling on the teachers.

Mrs. Lebo said that she has heard positive feedback from teachers and students about the implementation of this policy in the high schools this year.

Mr. Bregoli said this Policy will provide consistency across the district.

On a roll call vote, the ayes have it, 5-1.  Mr. Gutro voted NO.  Mrs. Hubley was absent.

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Old Business

Student Personal

Electronic Devices

Policy (VOTE)

Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins, Senior Curriculum Director Madeline Roy, and Data Coordinator Christopher Tierney presented a review of the data from the Spring 2022 VOCAL Survey, which was administered to students in Grades 4, 5, 8, and 10 at the end of the MCAS administration.  There are three dimensions surveyed:  Engagement (Cultural & Linguistic Competency, Relationships, Participation); Safety (Emotional, Physical, Bullying/Cyberbullying); Environment (Instruction, Mental Health, Discipline).  Each grade level has questions in each of the nine indicators within the three dimensions.  The VOCAL Survey is voluntary, but Quincy had participation rates of 95% for Grades 4 and 5, 94% for Grade 8, and 76% for Grade 10; all were far above the state level of participation.

Index score ranges are Most Favorable (71-99), Favorable (51 to 70), Somewhat Favorable (31-50), and Least Favorable (less than 30).  Overall Climate Scores for Quincy Public Schools are: Grade 4/63, Grade 5/56, Grades 8 and 10/45.  Across the state, no districts scored in the Most Favorable range for any grade level.   Overall Dimension scores are Favorable with Engagement/52, Safety/51, and Environment/54.  In Disaggregating data by race, the dimension scores mirror the overall scores for the district. 

Engagement Climate Scores for Quincy Public Schools are: Grade 4/60, Grade 5/55, Grades 8 and 10/45.  Areas for growth include opportunities for active engagement, instructional materials that reflect the students’ backgrounds, and students’ respect for each other.   Safety Climate Scores for Quincy Public Schools are: Grade 4/62, Grade 5/54, Grades 8 and 10/43.  Areas for growth include addressing bullying and acts of aggression and making students feel comfortable about seeking assistance from trusted adults.   Environment Climate Scores for Quincy Public Schools are: Grade 4/630, Grade 5/56, Grade 8/46, and Grade 10/48.  Areas for growth include providing students with opportunity to be involved in decisions about school rules, ensuring students see relevance in their learning, and lessening students’ feelings of pressure to perform well at the high school level.

The principals have analyzed this data on a school level which was shared in the School Improvement Plan presentations.  The Department of Elementary of Education has suggested that this data be looked at in conjunction with other data such as attendance rates, chronic absenteeism, discipline, graduation rates, social-emotional learning, and curriculum.

Mr. Gutro asked if there were any anomalies in the school-based data that would require individual interventions.  Ms. Perkins said that for both Quincy Public Schools and statewide, the scores for elementary scores were higher than middle and high schools, especially in the safety dimension.  Ms. Roy clarified that the individual school data was contained in the School Improvement Plan appendices.  Ms. Perkins said the data about staff being supportive of students were high at all grades while the older students were less positive about student behavior in the Safety dimension.

Mr. Gutro requested to see incident data broken out into categories and correlated to the students’ perceptions about aggressions and bullying.  Ms. Perkins said that there will be a presentation on the Quincy Public Schools Bullying Prevention plan and the accompanying data at an upcoming meeting.

Mrs. Lebo noted that district participation in the VOCAL survey is voluntary, and would prefer to analyze data trends against past Quincy performance versus the state.  Mrs. Lebo questioned the validity of some of the questions, how can students teach a lesson in a content area class or learn about things they learned at school while at home.  Mrs. Lebo said there are certain topics that are of higher interest, such as student perception of weapons and bullying/cyberbullying and consistency of reporting about incidents.  Ms. Perkins said that this has been reinforced so that principals are documenting reports, investigations, and outcomes.  Mrs. Lebo emphasized that the QPS Bullying Prevention Plan needs to be reviewed by the staff as well as parents and other community members.

Ms. Perkins said that bullying can arise from conflict between students, especially when other peers join in.  It is important for students to understand the line when a situation moves out of the realm of normal conflict.

Mayor Koch said that it is interesting that Quincy is aligned with the state averages, but noted that not all students may have responded productively to these questions. 

Mrs. Cahill asked for clarification, the Department of Elementary & Secondary Education mandates the survey be administered at the end of a long morning of academic assessment.  Student fatigue and the age of the participants can be factors in getting a true response.

Mrs. Cahill agrees that some of the questions are not relevant and asked about the time frame between receiving the data and the next administration of the survey in the spring.  Ms. Perkins agreed and there are a number of things we would do differently if we were creating a survey.  Ms. Perkins said the principals have the data to analyze in the fall and can include strategies in the School Improvement Plans.

Mr. Bregoli asked if principals or districts could deliberately not report incidents so that data looks better.  Ms. Perkins said that DESE expects districts to report data and address concerns about school safety as they arise rather than be concerned about corrective actions from the state.  Mr. Bregoli would like to see the numbers of students who completed the questions and not just the percentages.

Mrs. Lebo said that School Committee will support the district even if DESE is concerned about the number of suspensions or other discipline.

Mr. Santoro asked if there is an opportunity for feedback on the VOCAL questions.  Mr. Santoro is concerned about Grade 5 and would like to see a comparison of data for the students at Point Webster and South~West and the elementary school-based Grade 5 students at the next Facilities Subcommittee meeting.

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New Business

VOCAL Data Review

Superintendent Mulvey said that the Quincy City Club recently made a donation of $2,000.00 to support the work of Leslie Bridson with students and families struggling with homelessness.  In addition, Walgreens has made a donation of $2,600.00 to support this work as well.

Mr. Bregoli made a motion to accept the donation of $2,000.00 from the Quincy City Club to benefit Quincy Public Schools homeless students.  Mrs. Lebo seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.

Mrs. Lebo made a motion to accept the donation of $2,600.00 from Walgreens to benefit Quincy Public Schools homeless students.  Mayor Koch seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.

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Superintendent Mulvey  said that Quincy Public Schools applied for and was granted $100,000.00 from the MassHire South Shore Workforce Board to fund the QPS Internship in Education Initiative.  44 North Quincy and Quincy High School seniors will have paid internships in our elementary and middle school and work as teaching assistants, tutors, and monitors.  Students will have training and professional development and this experience will hopefully assist in our goal of growing our educational workforce.

Mr. Gutro made a motion to accept the grant of $100,000.00 from the MassHire South Shore Workforce Board for the Quincy Public Schools Internship in Education Initiative.  Mrs. Cahill seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.

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Superintendent Mulvey  said that the Quincy Public Schools Art Department has been granted $3,000.00 from the Charitable Gift Fund of Jessica K. Davis-Myers to support the creation of artwork celebrating the City of Quincy to be displayed during the city’s 400th anniversary year of 2025.  This is the first of a three-year grant to support this project, developed in collaboration with the Quincy Art Association.

Mayor Koch made a motion to accept the grant of $3,000.00 from the Charitable Gift Fund of Jessica K. Davis-Myers for the Quincy Public Schools Art Department.  Mr. Bregoli seconded the motion.

On the motion, Mr. Santoro thanked Jessica and Dan Myers for their support of the Art teachers and students of the Quincy Public Schools,

On a voice vote, the ayes have it.

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New Business

Donations & Grants

(VOTES)

Mrs. Cahill made a motion to refer Creating Professional Staff Guidelines to the Policy Subcommittee for discussion.  Mr. Bregoli seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.

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New Business

Referral to Policy

Subcommittee

Mayor Koch made a motion to approve the Out of State/Overnight Travel of the Quincy & North Quincy High Schools Robotics Team to the FRC Robotics Competition at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire, March 23-27, 2023.  Mrs. Lebo seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.

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Mr. Bregoli made a motion to approve the Out of State/Overnight Travel of the Central Middle School Grade 8 to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, June 6-8, 2023.  Mr. Gutro seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.

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Student Travel: Out of

State/Overnight

There was no Additional Business.

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Additional Business

Mr. Santoro noted that Regular School Committee meetings are scheduled for January 25, 2023; February 8, 2023; and March 8 & 22, 2023 at 6:30 pm at the Coddington Building.  Upcoming Subcommittee meetings include the Quarterly Budget & Finance, Athletics & Wellness, and Facilities, Transportation & Security Subcommittees on January 23, 2023 beginning at 6:00 pm.  The Joint Special Education and Teaching & Learning Subcommittees will meet on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at 6:00 pm.

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Communications

There were no Reports of Subcommittees.

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Reports of

Subcommittees

Mr. Bregoli made a motion to adjourn to Executive Session at 7:40 pm.  Mrs. Lebo seconded the motion and on a roll call vote, the ayes have it, 6-0.  Mrs. Hubley was absent.

School Committee will not return to the Regular Meeting.

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Executive Session

Since School Committee did not return from Executive Session, the meeting was adjourned at 7:40 pm.

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Adjournment