Methuen Public School District

The meeting covered the acceptance of the agenda and a flag salute. Public participation included written correspondence from a constituent urging the tabling of the executive session regarding the consolidation of city and school IT departments until after the charter review workshop. The presentation focused on Objective One of the three-year strategy plan: accelerating literacy development and language acquisition. Key discussion points included the launch and professional development supporting the CKLA curriculum, implementation support from DESIE via the Prism 2 grant, and the use of LAN resources for upper school ELA. Middle-of-the-year literacy benchmark data was presented, comparing Mthuan Public Schools scores against national averages, broken down by school and grade level using the M-Class digital version of DIBELS assessment. The humanities supervisors detailed their data review process, including readjusting reading support groups for students performing poorly in phonemic awareness and phonics skills, and implementing small group instruction using CKLA intervention resources for various proficiency tiers. The presentation also touched upon the Insight assessment for upper school students, noting relative strength in vocabulary and challenges in reading comprehension.

The Superintendent Evaluation Subcommittee convened to review Superintendent evaluations. Subcommittee members independently reviewed evaluations submitted by Members Beauregard, Shibilia, Donovan, Keegan, and DiZoglio, noting that the five submitted evaluations were extremely similar with a clear consensus intention. Subsequently, subcommittee members collaborated on compiling comments for the evaluation document, aggregating input from the individual evaluations for review and vote by the full committee.

The Policy Subcommittee meeting focused on discussions pertaining to the Wellness policy. Key discussion points included the approval process for the policy, clarification on the use of the term 'recess' in the actual policy language, and guidelines concerning food in the building, specifically approvals by the principal for fundraisers and school incentives. The subcommittee also considered adding 'Loss recess' as an option within an instructional context.

The meeting commenced with the acceptance of the agenda, which was unanimously approved. Discussions primarily focused on reviewing and amending several policy sections. For Section A, several policies were accepted, but some required reference checks regarding the source of language pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity, and updates were required for the designated Title IX coordinator and 504 coordinator. Policies AD, ADF, and AE were rejected or pulled for further review. For Section B, numerous policies were pulled for further whole committee review, subcommittee discussion, or legal clarification, including BA, BAA, BBD, BDF, BDFA, BDFA-E, BGC, and BGD. Several policies (BBBC, BBBE) were flagged to reference the City of Methuen Charter instead of explicit details. A motion was passed to extend the meeting past 9:00 PM, although the subsequent vote on extension failed. The session concluded with adjournment, noting that an additional meeting would be scheduled to complete Policies C and D.

The Policy Subcommittee meeting focused on administrative agenda approval and subsequent discussions regarding policy matters. Key discussion points included a review of section G and a decision related to DCI checks, specifically concerning GDB, GDD, GDE, and GDO items for Colleen McCarthy.