Quincy Public Schools

The Great Hall (City Council Chambers), Historic City Hall

6:30 pm

Regular Meeting Agenda

Regular Meeting Minutes

Open Forum Letters

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Dear Members of the School Committee,

I am writing to you not only as a parent of three children in our school system, but also as someone who once sat in the same classrooms at Montclair, Atlantic, and North.

Growing up, I learned early that fitting in often meant being just like those around me, feeling the need to be accepted. I quieted my culture and internalizing the belief that success required assimilation rather than being authentic to myself and those around me. Subtle and overt racism reinforced that message.

Today, as a parent, I see echoes of that same struggle. Our district serves a student population that is approximately 40% Asian, yet representation, understanding, and cultural affirmation do not reflect that reality.

When students rarely see themselves reflected in curriculum, leadership, or decision‑making spaces, the unspoken message is clear: you are present, but you are not central.

Representation matters. Cultural understanding matters. And listening to these families matters deeply.

My hope is simple: that our children will not feel the need to reshape themselves to fit in, but instead will be welcomed as they are- proud of their heritage, confident in their identity, and assured that they belong.  So that the single holiday that truly matters to the Asian community can be observed, allowing families to celebrate and embrace their culture and traditions.

In the last meeting, we heard some very emotional plea to the committee. I have spoken to other parents who also felt disrespected in last year's vote.  Please know we are here to stay, we will continue to line these halls and hit the polls until our voices are heard. My family does not need an ‘excuse’ to celebrate my holiday. We need to be acknowledged and have a sense of belonging in the wonderful city of Quincy.

Thank you for your consideration! I kindly ask for your full support and vote to observe Lunar New Year.

Kim Horrigan

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To the School Committee,

My name is Yanna. I am a parent in Quincy. My child goes to Parker elementary school .

I want to support making Lunar New Year a school holiday.

I know some people worry about childcare if there is one more day off. I understand this. But for my family, Lunar New Year is very important. It is a big holiday for us, like Christmas for other families.

This is a time for family to be together. We celebrate and teach our children about our culture and traditions. My parents also spend time with the kids on this day. It is very meaningful for us.

In Quincy, many families celebrate Lunar New Year. I think it is important that the school recognizes this. It helps children feel proud of their culture.

Now, sometimes we have to choose between school and this important holiday. This is not easy for families.

I hope the School Committee can support this for our community.

 Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Yanna
Quincy Parent

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I am extremely disappointed that my will and the will of other voters who democratically elected new members into the board to enact change are not having our voices heard. 

The Quincy School Board’s decision not to make Lunar New Year a school holiday fails to reflect the community it serves and is, frankly, a dereliction of duty to a plurality of individuals you were democratically elected to serve. A decision not to recognize this holiday doesn’t reflect the will of the voters who elected two new members to the Board just on this issue. Nearly 40 percent of students in the district are of Asian descent. Yet their most important holiday is still treated like a regular school day, and they are punished for missing school. I don’t celebrate Lunar New Year, but I think of myself as a good neighbor who celebrates all members of my community, not just those who look like me and celebrate the same holidays I do. It is imperative that we ensure members of the Asian community feel welcomed in this city. 

The impact is clear. In January 2025, about 55 percent of students at North Quincy High School stayed home to celebrate. As a former teacher, I know that when more than half the students are absent, learning is already disrupted. Keeping schools open that day doesn’t help anyone.

This issue is about fairness and common sense. Families should not have to choose between their education and their traditions. To the Board: follow the will of Quincy’s voters and make Lunar New Year an official school holiday.

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I am writing to express support for adding Lunar New Year to the list of holidays in the Quincy Public Schools calendar.

I have lived in Quincy for my entire life, almost 65 years, and attended the Quincy Public Schools. I also served on the City Council for eight years.

My daughters also attended the Quincy Public Schools. 

The demographics of Quincy have obviously changed over the years. Establishing the Lunar New Year now as a holiday would be an appropriate sign of respect for our Asian-American neighbors. 

Sincerely,

Larry Chretien

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I am writing to express my support for adding Lunar New Year to the list of holidays in the Quincy Public Schools calendar.

I have lived in Quincy for 30 years. My two children attended Quincy Public Schools from K-12th grade. The school system served them well in most respects. My family does not have a tradition of celebrating the Lunar New Year, but I believe the school climate would be improved for all if the school calendar acknowledged the cultural tradition of close to 40% of its families. Formally recognizing a holiday that emphasizes family togetherness and good fortune should be a simple choice.

Sincerely,

Karen Chretien

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Dear Members of the Quincy School Committee,

My name is Emily Hua, and I am a resident of Quincy. I have two children attending QPS at Montclair Elementry. I am writing ahead of your May 6th vote on the 2026–2027 school calendar to respectfully ask that you consider formally recognizing Lunar New Year as a school holiday.

As a first-generation Chinese American born to immigrant parents, this issue is deeply personal to me. It is tremendously important that I raise my children with a strong connection to their cultural heritage. Lunar New Year is one of the most meaningful and widely celebrated holidays in our community, it is a time centered around family, tradition, reflection, and renewal. These are values that resonate universally, and they are especially important for children growing up navigating multiple cultural identities.

Lunar New Year is not just a single-day event. It is celebrated over multiple days, often requiring travel, family gatherings, and participation in cultural traditions that have been passed down for generations. Across the globe, entire countries pause for this holiday, businesses close, schools shut down, and families come together. In today’s interconnected global economy, Lunar New Year is widely recognized as a major cultural and economic event.

Here in Quincy, a city with a vibrant and growing Asian community, recognizing Lunar New Year would be a meaningful step toward inclusion and representation. Many families are currently faced with the difficult choice between sending their children to school or having them miss important cultural and family traditions. Acknowledging this holiday would send a powerful message that all students and families are seen, valued, and respected.

I respectfully urge the committee to consider the impact this decision has on students and families like mine. Recognizing Lunar New Year in the school calendar is not only about honoring a holiday, it is about affirming identity, fostering belonging, and embracing the diversity that strengthens our community.

Thank you for your time, consideration, and commitment to all Quincy students and families.

Sincerely,
Emily Hua

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Dear Elected Members of the School Committee and Honorable Mayor Thomas P. Koch:

The case for recognizing Lunar New Year on the Quincy Public Schools calendar is both an equity issue and an operational necessity—but it is also long overdue.

For five (5) years, students, families, and community members have consistently advocated for this recognition. One student-led petition gathered over a thousand signatures, demonstrating clear and sustained community support. That student has since graduated from Quincy Public Schools, yet the holiday remains unrecognized. This raises a necessary question: how long should students have to wait for their culture to be acknowledged?

The need is measurable. At North Quincy High School this past year, approximately 55% of students were absent in observance of Lunar New Year. At that level of absenteeism, meaningful instruction is not taking place. Teachers must delay or reteach content, disrupting curriculum pacing and diminishing academic continuity.

Operationally, the district continues to run at full capacity—staffing, transportation, and facilities—while serving barely half its students. This is an inefficient use of resources. A planned closure or observance day would better align operations with actual attendance.

A practical solution already exists. When the holiday falls on a weekend—as it will on Saturday, February 6, 2027—the district can observe it on the adjacent Friday or Monday, consistent with other holiday practices.

Recognizing Lunar New Year is a data-driven, community-supported decision that advances equity, improves operational efficiency, and reflects the community Quincy serves. I respectfully urge the Committee to take action and formally include Lunar New Year in the school calendar.

The community has spoken clearly and consistently; it is now the Committee’s responsibility to act.

Sincerely,
Grace Young-Jae

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Dear Quincy School Committee Members,

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Dear School Committee Members:

I am a QPS parent, Quincy resident, and a higher ed administrator and educator, and I write in STRONG support of adding Lunar New Year as an observed holiday in our Quincy Public School district.  I cannot be there for the meeting but appreciate you reading this letter.

With over 40% of our student population identifying as part of the Asian community who celebrate this holiday, and the fact that this is a CULTURAL, not a RELIGIOUS holiday, I stood up to speak about this at a previous School Committee meeting a couple of years ago, along with several others who have been advocating for this measure for years.  This decision is a no-brainer, and I cannot understand how this committee has repeatedly let our pleas fall on deaf ears and ignored the requests of the constituents who voted for you to represent us. 

In the past, our QPS SC has not been able to respect and recognize this important holiday that is so fundamental to so many of our community members.  This is unfathomable, and it is a matter of right or wrong.  But now you have another chance to do the right thing and vote the way so many are pleading for you to vote. I don’t see how, in good conscience, you could vote any other way.  

It’s a district’s responsibility to listen to and reflect the needs of its community and much like many cities or towns with high concentrations of Jewish or other cultures’ holidays which are recognized in their district, so too should we recognize this important Asian cultural holiday.  I do not think it “opens the doors” for all other holidays to be added – it’s just we have such a LARGE contingency of students who are affected by this, and making it an excused absences isn’t enough.  Being “allowed” to miss school puts the rest of our kids in a holding pattern on this day where not a lot of learning happens with nearly half of the schools empty.

Aside from Brookline who has had Lunar New Year added since 2020, Hopkinton and Wayland both added Lunar New Year as an official category 1 holiday in 2025.  As such an Asian-rich city, we should be leading the way here, not following.  (See below this note for newspaper references linking to those decisions.)

If the worry is adding another school day to the calendar, I have a solution for that as well.  I’m a church-going Catholic who also doesn’t understand why we need to have Good Friday off.  I propose we could just swap the day to keep the numbers the same if that is the worry about getting out another day later.  We Catholics don’t need to do anything on Good Friday that would conflict with the School Day.  (Unlike Lunar New Year where folks have daytime activities they do as a family.)  If we Catholics want to observe Solemnity at 3pm, that is AFTER school lets out.  For adults, it’s a day of light fasting (really just abstinence from meat and a small meal still allowed), and there is dispensation for children not needing to fast.  Good Friday is the only day of the year where a Catholic Mass isn’t even offered, so I do not understand why we have the day off.  Our kids are not in Catholic School… 

So many QPS parents need to take a vacation day to accommodate child care on Good Friday as there is no childcare from our aftercare programs that run vacation camps, etc.  – so we could just swap that for taking Lunar New Year.  And then Good Friday could become the Observance Day “category 2” type holiday where school is open but families who want their students home could count THAT one as an excused absence.  My guess is that the numbers of students absent would be much smaller on that day.  

And if folks insist that Good Friday needs to remain on the calendar for some reason, then I say just add Lunar New Year in and add another day to the school year where actual learning will happen for the rest of our students.  That would be greatly preferred.

Thank you for your consideration and your deep reflection on this issue before you vote in good conscience on behalf of the constituents who voted for you to represent them.   

Keeping fingers crossed THIS is the year where our voices are finally heard.

Dr. Jana Mulkern

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Dear members of the school committee, and more specifically, members Bregoli, Cahill, and Hubley,

I am writing to you as a deeply concerned stakeholder. I am a Quincy homeowner, and parent.  Two of my children are presently students at the elementary school level in QPS and two are college students who have moved on from QPS.  Additionally, I have the unique perspective working inside Quincy public schools in direct student instruction for the last two years for an outside contractor.  

I have heard directly from students, spoken to other parents in the community, and shared conversation with city of Quincy employees (namely educators) who are strongly in favor of Lunar New Year as a holiday for the students and staff of QPS.  There are a few key points I feel must be stated at this juncture, and based upon the latest developments as published in the Patriot Ledger regarding “super majority” decision making. 

1. There is no doubt about the fact that this city loudly made its voice heard in the last election cycle. The two new school committee members, with Tom Leung topping the ticket, stood for the equity and change that QPS had been lacking.  The voters made their voices heard by choosing not to elect the incumbents, and rather selecting new representation in Leung and Campbell who openly and proudly supported the incorporation of the Lunar New Year holiday throughout their campaign messaging.  This was no mistake.  The majority has spoken and their will of the people must be enacted.

2. Some long standing facts ought to be given the credence for which they are owed-

3. 1. QPS is approximately 40% Asian student body. This is no small margin.  Based on this fact alone the dominant group deserves recognition during the most important cultural holiday of their calendar year.

   2. NQHS specifically has even higher numbers based on student population and as such saw a congruent number of absences during Lunar New Year in the past. With learning already being so severely disrupted it is simply logical to denote a holiday for all students.

4. From a social/emotional perspective it is critical that we respect the cultural traditions of our families. Creating space for ALL strengthens the community. We don’t even consider the implications of planning the December vacation around Christmas, and many couldn’t imagine it any other way.  To which I would specifically ask, does this seem equitable?  Who gets to decide which holidays are more valuable and why? What message does this send to our Asian students regarding their value to Quincy as whole and their sense of belonging? We need to do better and prioritize equity in governance.

5. And finally, in raising the question regarding technicalities around majority voting vs. super majority voting- to be blunt– this feels like messy politics.  I am unable to fathom a reason to be so strongly opposed to the will of the people you are meant to represent. Looking for a loophole in policy really hammers this point home. You care not about the majority wish for our schools but are working from some personal bias that can not go unchecked. Even the fact that this is up for debate strengthens the argument that supermajority policy is unclear and open to interpretation. 

In closing, I have watched this argument play out for years. In fact my daughter was part of the youth group that first came and spoke to the school committee years ago to express the wishes of the students from North Quincy High. Santoro was the only person at the time to have the decency to extend kindness and truly listen to these civically minded, and choicefully engaged young people. Other members offered contempt at worst, and disinterest at best.  Sadly, it seems some things haven’t changed. When we have come so far, and elected the appropriate representation to do the will of the people- please allow it to happen.  No more stalling, no more political game play. Lunar New Year needs to be a holiday and recognition of our 40% Asian student body is overdue. Before you choose how this will play out, I implore you, consider the ever changing social climate in Quincy.  Our priorities need to align with this and sometimes progress is necessary. This is one of those moments. Do the right thing.

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Dear School Committee, especially the members attempting to not recognize a cultural majority - Hubley, Cahill, and Bregoli. Possibly Koch.

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Members of the Committee,

I am frustrated and disappointed. I had planned to speak tonight about core instructional infrastructure, specifically, the implementation of Yondr bags, our inadequate internet capacity, and the chronic underfunding of our school libraries. Together, these decisions form a single systemic issue: they restrict students’ access to information, which is the foundation of equitable education.

But I cannot focus on those urgent academic concerns tonight, because some members of the school committee are once again disrupting regular policy work by refusing to place Lunar New Year on the school calendar. Their continued opposition, the disinformation and near malinformation circulating about union contracts and procedural authority, has forced this district into yet another avoidable cultural conflict. These claims about union contracts and policy decisions are not accurate. They function as obstacles. And when those obstacles consistently fall on the same community, the effect is unmistakable. It is supremacist in action, even if not in intent. 

My father is an Irish Catholic immigrant, and my mother is a Mayflower descendant and a Protestant. My father grew up during the Troubles in Ireland. After my siblings were born, a Catholic priest refused to baptize them because my mother was a Protestant; he called us heretics. That message, “you are not fully one of us,” has never left me and fuels my distaste for others who engage in cultural divisiveness. What is happening here in Quincy feels painfully familiar. When a district where roughly 40% of the population is Asian is repeatedly denied recognition of Lunar New Year, the message is the same: that their culture is optional, negotiable, or less worthy of institutional respect. This ongoing denial undermines the district’s commitment to equity and inclusion. It is just as despicable now as it was then.

You have the authority to correct this. You have the authority to stop allowing misinformation to dictate policy and to act in alignment with the values this district claims to uphold. Recognizing Lunar New Year is not radical. What is radical is refusing to do so in 2026. Your leadership can make a meaningful difference.

I urge you to act now, not after another cycle of excuses. Immediate recognition of Lunar New Year will demonstrate the district’s commitment to equity and respect for all cultures. Delaying only prolongs systemic inequities and cultural disrespect.

Lindsay Robertson

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