School Committee

LOWELL SCHOOL COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Date: November 4, 2020 Time: 6:30PM Location: City Council Chamber, 375 Merrimack Street, 2nd Floor, Lowell, MA 01852 1. SALUTE TO FLAG 2. ROLL CALL On a roll call at 6:34 p.m., members present were, namely: Ms. Doherty, Mr. Hoey, Mayor Leahy, Ms. Martin, Ms. Clark, Mr. Descoteaux and Mr. Dillon. 3. SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS 3.1. Communication Remote Participation: Members of the public may view the meeting via LTC and those wishing to speak regarding a specific agenda item shall register to speak in advance of the meeting by sending email to the Superintendent indicating the agenda item, your phone number and email address so we can provide a zoom link to access the meeting. Email address is mpalazzo@Lowell.k12.Ma.us. If no access to email you may contact us at 978-674-4324. All requests must be submitted before 3:00 PM on the day of meeting. 4. MINUTES 4.1. Approval of the Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Lowell School Committee of Wednesday, October 21, 2020 Mr. Dillon made a motion to approve both the Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Lowell School Committee of October 21, 2020 and the Regular Scheduled Meeting Minutes of the Lowell School Committee of October 21, 2020 and to place them on file; seconded by Mr. Descoteaux. 7 yeas APPROVED 4.2. Approval of the Minutes of the Regularly Scheduled School Committee Meeting of Wednesday, October 21, 2020 Mr. Dillon made a motion to approve both the Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Lowell School Committee of October 21, 2020 and the Regular Scheduled Meeting Minutes of the Lowell School Committee of October 21, 2020 and to place them on file; seconded by Mr. Descoteaux. 7 yeas APPROVED Lowell Public Schools • 155 Merrimack Street • Lowell, MA 01852 • http://www.lowell.k12.ma.us  (Page 2 of 5) 5. PERMISSION TO ENTER 5.1. Permission to Enter: November 4, 2020 Mr. Hoey asked for a report on the number of deaf and blind students in the district. Mr. Hoey made a motion to approve the Permission to Enter; seconded by Mr. Descoteaux. 7 yeas APPROVED 6. MEMORIALS 6.1. William K (Ken) Clark, Husband Of Retired Bailey School Teacher, Dorothy Clark, Father Of Retired Adie School Coordinator, Patricia Clark-Nowoswiat, Father Of Retired LHS Fine Arts Department Chair, Dr. Sharon Clark, Father Of Sullivan School Special Education Teacher, James Clark, Father-In-Law Of Wang School Teacher, Kathryn Clark, Grandfather Of Shaughnessy School Special Education Teacher, Cassandra Clark And Uncle Of Bailey School Teacher, Mary Ellen McNamara. 7. SUBCOMMITTEES 7.1. School Improvement and Performance Management Subcommittee: Report of the Meeting of Thursday, October 29, 2020 [Connie Martin, Chairperson] Ms. Martin, Chairperson of the School Improvement and Performance Management Subcommittee informed the Committee that Dr. Guillory spoke to the Subcommittee about the metrics that the district is monitoring throughout the year. He stated that the presentation presented was comprised of the following District Wide Goals: Review Key Performance Indicators:  Improve academics and student achievement at every school site.  Improve operational efficiency across the system.  Ensure that every school is safe and welcoming to every student and every family, every day.  Increase community engagement and empower families as partners in the educational process. She also spoke about the key performance indicators that have been identified to reach the above goals. The presentation also included a mock-up of a school tracker by goal area. The indicators included community satisfaction, language access, SSC participation and parent/teacher conference that showed baseline, current, trend and district percentile. Ms. Martin stated that the Committee will receive a report in mid-November updating the Committee. Ms. Doherty made a motion to add KPI indicators regarding equity around size in the classroom in the updated report that will be provided; seconded by Ms. Martin. 7 yeas APPROVED Ms. Martin made a motion to accept the report as a report of progress; seconded by Mr. Dillon. 7 yeas APPROVED Lowell Public Schools • 155 Merrimack Street • Lowell, MA 01852 • http://www.lowell.k12.ma.us  (Page 3 of 5) 8. REPORTS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 8.1. Strengthening Equitable Practices in the Lowell Public Schools Ms. Phillips, Chief Equity Officer and Abraham Osorio, School Climate Specialist provided a PowerPoint presentation to the Committee about Strengthening Equitable Practices in the Lowell Public Schools. The report addresses the logistics and the technical pieces of the new report and protocol for discrimination, harassment, racism and grievances. The report included the process, findings, action steps, protocol for reporting grievances and next steps. Ms. Clark made a motion to send the Strengthening Equitable Practices in the Lowell Public Schools report to the Family and Community Engagement Subcommittee; seconded by Ms. Doherty. 7 yeas APPROVED Mr. Dillon made a motion to accept the following Reports of the Superintendent 9.1 through 9.2.3 as reports of progress; seconded by Mr. Hoey. 7 yeas APPROVED 8.2. Enrollment Report The district enrollment report provided to the Committee showed the breakdown by school and grade through October 28, 2020. Mr. Dillon made a motion to accept the following Reports of the Superintendent 9.1 through 9.2.3 as reports of progress; seconded by Mr. Hoey. 7 yeas APPROVED 8.3. Home Education Superintendent Boyd recommended that the following parents/guardians be allowed to home educate their child: Richard Healy 55 Frothingham Street Ms. Doherty made a motion to approve; seconded by Mr. Hoey. 7 yeas APPROVED 9. NEW BUSINESS 9.1. Budget Transfer Ms. Doherty made a motion to approve a budget transfer of $2,951.00; seconded by Mr. Hoey. 7 yeas APPROVED Lowell Public Schools • 155 Merrimack Street • Lowell, MA 01852 • http://www.lowell.k12.ma.us  (Page 4 of 5) 9.2. Approval to Accept and Expend Allocated FY21 Awards Ms. Turner, Chief Financial Officer provided a report that requested that the Committee vote to approve and accept the list of FY21 grant allocations received to date that was provided to them. These funds include Federal and State entitlement, continuation, competitive and private funding awards that have been secured by the Lowell Public Schools through the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education (DESE), Susan Smith Foundation and Project Lead the Way. Ms. Doherty made a motion to approve and accept the Allocated FY21 Awards; seconded by Ms. Martin. 7 yeas APPROVED 9.3. Temporary Amendment of Snow Day Policy EBCD-R-2 Ms. Desmond, Chief Academic Officer provided the Committee a report that informed them that in the October 19, 2020 Commissioner’s Update, News from Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), guidance was provided on snow days. It was stated that, the DESE’s regulations for remote learning may include synchronous or asynchronous components, provided that students have opportunities to regularly interact with teachers, such as thorough feedback, office hours, and other regularly scheduled individual student interactions. Remote learning models must include the following components: 1. procedures for all students to participate in remote learning, including a system for tracking attendance and participation; 2. remote academic work shall be aligned to state standards; 3. a policy for issuing grades for students' remote academic work; and 4. teachers and administrators shall regularly communicate with students and their parents and guardians, including providing interpretation and translation services to limited English proficient parents and guardians. The enclosed School Committee policy and regulations, “School Cancellation & 1 hour or 2 hour Delay”, establish options for the Superintendent to exercise when weather conditions dictate a change. It is recommended that the policy be amended, for the pandemic, to allow for remote learning to take place on days when weather conditions dictate a change in the normal opening of the school day. Mr. Dillon made a motion to approve the Temporary Amendment of Snow Day Policy EBCD-R-2; seconded by Ms. Clark. 7 yeas APPROVED 9.4. Discussion and Selection of MASC Proposed Resolutions Ms. Doherty informed the Committee about the resolutions that were moved forward by the Resolutions Committee and approved by the Board of Directors and will be discussed at the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) meeting that she will be attending on Saturday as the Committee’s representative. She stated that she’s comfortable with voting yes on all resolutions except for the resolution about MCAS and it being eliminated for three (3) years. She agreed that the test shouldn’t be holding students accountable considering the pandemic, but believes the test itself is still important for the students to take. Committee members agreed with Ms. Doherty stating that the test should be used as a tool and not hold the students accountable. Lowell Public Schools • 155 Merrimack Street • Lowell, MA 01852 • http://www.lowell.k12.ma.us  (Page 5 of 5) 10. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Dillon made a motion to adjourn at 7:52 p.m.; seconded by Mr. Hoey. 7 yeas APPROVED Respectfully submitted, Joel D. Boyd, Ed.D., Superintendent and Secretary to the Lowell School Committee JDB/mes Lowell Public Schools • 155 Merrimack Street • Lowell, MA 01852 • http://www.lowell.k12.ma.us