Minutes
Quincy School Committee
Teaching & Learning Subcommittee Meeting ~ September 29, 2021
A meeting of the Teaching & Learning Subcommittee was held on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at 6:00 pm at the Coddington Building. Present were Mayor Thomas P. Koch, School Committee Chair, Mr. Paul Bregoli, Mr. Doug Gutro (arrived at 6:10 pm), Mrs. Kathryn Hubley, Mrs. Courtney Perdios, Mr. Frank Santoro, and Mrs. Emily Lebo, Subcommittee Chair. Also attending were Superintendent Kevin Mulvey, Assistant Superintendent Erin Perkins, Mr. Robert Cavallo, Ms. Allison Cox, Ms. Julie Graham, Mr. James Mullaney, Ms. Maura Papile, Ms. Kimberley Quinn, Ms. Madeline Roy, Mr. Keith Segalla, Mr. Edward Smith, Ms. Bridget Vaughan; and Ms. Laura Owens, Clerk.
Superintendent Mulvey introduced the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) III Implementation Plan. Thanks to all who participated in the stakeholder meetings and completed the surveys, including students in Grades 5-12, staff members, and parents/guardians. Ms. Perkins reviewed that the grant application requires a 20% reservation of ESSER III funds to address the loss of instructional time with evidence-based interventions. Based on the feedback received, identified priorities included enhanced core instruction (purchasing and/or expanding use of high-quality, aligned instructional materials for curriculum areas including English Learners and Special Education; extending the school day/year and prioritizing student access to additional time by student need; tutoring programs and support); targeted student supports (acceleration academies during school year, vacations, and summer); conditions for student success/social-emotional and mental health supports (building and strengthening partnerships with community-based organizations to increase student/family access to services for mental/physical health and well-being; arranging for wraparound services to be provided at schools); and other interventions/strategies (translation services and technology upgrades).
Ms. Perkins reviewed the allowable expenditures for the ESSER III funding: (1) Educational Technology; (2) Supplies and services that enable remote learning (including translation services); (3) Any activity authorized by Title I, II, III, IV, and IDEA; (4) Planning for and coordinating during long-term closures; (5) Mental health services and supports; (6) Activities to increase the unique needs of high needs students including low income, students with disabilities, English Learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and students in foster care; (7) Planning and implementing activities related to summer learning and supplemental afterschool programs; (8) Inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement and upgrade projects to improve the air quality in school facilities; and (9) other activities necessary to maintain district operations and services.
Director of Business James Mullaney reviewed the budget for the $16,000,000 in ESSER III funding: $3.7 million for mitigation of lost instructional time; $4.4 million for technology purchases; $2.0 million for curriculum purchases; $750,000 each for social-emotional programs, English Learner curriculum, and Special Education curriculum; and $3.7 million for capital expenditures (reimbursement to the City of Quincy for HVAC upgrades in 2020 and 2021).
Mr. Santoro asked what the next steps are to spend the funding as allocated. Ms. Perkins said that areas for curriculum updates have been identified: social studies for all elementary grades, ELA for K-5, English Learners, and Mathematics for Grades 3-5.
Mrs. Hubley asked about the rollout of the tutoring services for students and afterschool enrichment programs. Ms. Perkins said as soon as the grant application is approved, the funds will be available. Tutoring will be provided on an invitation basis and there are multiple levels of intervention, small and large group, in addition to one-on-one tutoring. The afterschool programs will be split between targeted invitation-only programs and others that are open to all students. Mr. Mullaney confirmed that the timeline for funding availability is not yet set.
Mr. Gutro said this is excellent work with the short timetable for this implementation plan development. Mr. Gutro asked what has changed in the plan based on the stakeholder input. Ms. Perkins said the need for in-school counseling supports was a clear priority for survey respondents. Other feedback aligned with the district priorities, including enrichment activities for afterschool and curriculum. Mr. Gutro asked how we are determining learning loss for our students. Ms. Perkins said the MAP Assessment for Grades 2-8, MCAS data, and classroom benchmark assessment data. All of these data points can be analyzed to determine gaps in student learning and failure to reach growth milestones. Parents are also a valuable part of this assessment, alerting teachers to where they see a student struggling with assignments. Ms. Perkins said the School Improvement Plans and the District Improvement Plan data presentation will also show School Committee progress measurements.
Mrs. Perdios asked how the funding allocations were made. Mr. Mullaney said the Superintendent’s Leadership Team met to analyze the priorities surfaced in the surveys and webinar meetings. This is a 3-year allocation and can be adjusted over the life of the grant, needs may change and affect the allocation. Mrs. Perdios is concerned about the allocation for social-emotional being too low, Mr. Mullaney said this is based on estimates that were rounded up. Mrs. Perdios asked about additional support in classrooms for teachers who are livestreaming. Superintendent Mulvey said this is a topic for negotiations with the Quincy Education Association so cannot be discussed in too much detail at this time. There are concerns about adding staff positions under this grant that cannot be absorbed by the regular Quincy Public Schools budget and may cause future layoffs.
Mrs. Perdios asked about these positions being contractual for a certain length of time so not subject to unemployment. Superintendent Mulvey said since the requirements of the position would be similar to paraprofessionals, they would be subject to current collective bargaining agreements.
Mrs. Perdios asked about the level of Technology expenditure, what is the long-term plan for Chromebook distribution, will 1:1 implementation be the expectation for technology in future years. Superintendent Mulvey said the current purchases are an insurance policy in case of another emergency return to remote learning. Superintendent Mulvey said the decision to continue this in future years will be School Committee’s purview based on the available budget and priority of needs and his recommendations. Currently the technology is valuable to assist families who are quarantining now. Ms. Perkins said that Chromebooks usage for students is a permanent need, the technology allocation includes interactive projectors and replacing older desktops that would be difficult to address in a regular budget year.
Mrs. Lebo asked about ESSER I, Mr. Mullaney said this was available for expenses beginning in March 2020 and spent over two years. Custodial salaries were eligible to be covered, extra time spent on cleaning in 2020-2021. Mrs. Lebo asked about MAP assessments, QPS uses for Grades 2-8 for math, ELA, and science. Mrs. Lebo asked about high school subjects that are not formally assessed, such as social studies and world languages. Ms. Perkins said that will be coordinated with department chairs. Mrs. Lebo asked about the new clinicians, most likely to be social workers. Mrs. Lebo asked about the Technology purchases, $1.5 million is backfilling for already expended funds.
Mr. Bregoli said that the survey response rate for high school students were very low, only 39 out of 3000 students responded. Mr. Bregoli asked about IEPs and 504s being updated earlier than the yearly requirement, important to reflect the learning loss as soon as possible. Ms. Perkins agreed and emphasized that accommodations remain in place until a new one is created.
Mrs. Lebo said the Homework survey was given to high school students during social studies class, so there were hundreds of responses.
The next item on the agenda was an overview of the School Improvement Plans presentation dates. Similar to last year, the School Improvement Plans will contain a review of last year’s goals, new goals and action steps, site-based professional development plans, extended day information, family engagement, demographics, MCAS and MAP data, and facility areas of need. In terms of goals, schools will set goals for ELA, Mathematics, Science, and social-emotional. Reflecting the discussion last year, building principals will have more latitude but the goals should be SMART and data-driven. MCAS data is being disaggregated and the goals can be tailored to the needs of the building, addressing student learning loss, student engagement, multi-tiered levels of support, the high schools may look at graduation rates and college and career readiness.
Ms. Roy reminded School Committee that the common data points are Grade 10 (ELA and Mathematics) and Grades 3-8 (ELA and Mathematics), Early Literacy Screening for Grades K-2, and MAP for Grades 3-8.
Mr. Santoro asked for and received clarification that the goals and action steps will be for this current school year.
Mrs. Perdios asked if the REACH program will be reflected, Ms. Perkins said in the data and action steps.
Mrs. Hubley noted that the Facilities needs will automatically be referred to the Facilities, Transportation & Security Subcommittee.
Mrs. Perdios asked if the SIP could request additional needs beyond facilities, such as an additional guidance counselor or translation support. Mrs. Lebo is concerned about the School Committee’s ability to fulfill that. Mrs. Perdios suggested an Other Needs category that does not include staff.
Mrs. Lebo would like to see AP, Early College, and Dual Enrollment data be included in the high school SIPs.
Mrs. Lebo said that parents seem to feel that communication is unequal between schools, suggested the SIP Goal category be Family Engagement & Communication.
Mr. Santoro made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:50 pm. Mrs. Lebo seconded the motion and on a voice vote, the ayes have it.