The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met for their regular March meeting on March 25 in Everett. The agenda can be found here; the livestream can be found here.
This meeting was the final meeting of Acting Commissioner Russell Johnston, who is leaving the Department on March 28 to become the superintendent of Wallingford-Swarthmore school district in Pennsylvania. At the meeting, Massachusetts School Counselor of the Year Sugeily Santos of the Curley School in Boston was recognized; she spoke the Board about the importance of all students feeling seen, valued, and supported, so they can reach their potential. Before the meeting, new Board member Dr. Christina Grant was sworn in; she replaces Paymon Rouhanifard on the Board.
The meeting opened with public comment. There were again comments regarding the proposed changes to the regulations regarding admission to career technical schools (open for public comment until April 18), including from alums who felt they would not get in under the proposed changes, and from those who have and continue to raise concerns about discriminatory impacts of even the proposed revisions, urging the Board to adopt an open lottery system. There also were comments on the proposed revisions to regulations regarding the use of time out practices in schools. Those comments were supportive of the revisions, but had suggestions for improvements in the proposal. There was also a comment regarding the search for a new Commissioner, urging the Board to find someone who will follow the laws. Finally, Berkley superintendent Melissa Ryan spoke of the difficulty of this year’s budget for her small district which does not fit any of the most often discussed categories of districts (urban, rural, regional), and asked that the Board create a committee to look into the funding needs of such.
Secretary Tutwiler spoke briefly of the Governor’s planned graduation committee, which is intended to take a 365 view, while still working quickly. He spoke highly of Johnston and his “depth of care” fo children and educators.
Johnston introduced the Power of Presence contest winner, a video from the students of Emergence Academy in Springfield:
Johnston also congratulated the rest of the finalists in the contest. The Emergence Academy video will be airing as a commercial.
The three year MOU with the Boston Public Schools has now come to an end; Johnston updated the Board on the progress under that agreement. BPS has met many of the initial benchmarks and have continued to “grow the work.” There is agreement between DESE and district that there is still work to be done. The district now has critical tools to decide facilities needs, including long term enrollment projections. They have made progress towards reliable transportation in morning and afternoon. There has been enhancement to districtwide safety initiatives, and the district has invested in core instructional materials and in multi-tiered systems of supports. The Department urges continued work for students with disabilities and English learners. Craven asked about Madison Park, which Johnston said now is under steady leadership with integrated planning. Member Moriarty asked further questions about transportation, with Member Rocha asking if there had been any calculation of instruction missed due to late buses; that was not something requested. Student Member Asikis noted that late buses may well mean students are also not getting their breakfasts at school, either, and it is hard to learn when you’re hungry.
Johnston announced that the next regular Board meeting is April 29, with the evening of April 28 on hold for a special meeting. There will likely be at least two additional meetings in April: one to hear further discussion on the CTE admissions regulations, and the interview of finalists for Commissioner. The May meeting with be hosted by Methuen High School, home of one of the members of the State Student Advisory Council.
Regarding the search for a new commissioner, Chair Craven said the screening committee is in the process of recommending finalists to the Board. She said interviews of the finalists would be conducted in April, likely not at the DESE offices in Everett.
After the discussion with Ms. Santos, Member Asikis updated the Board the work of the State Student Advisory Council, which he chairs. The SSAC has done work on the Youth Risk Behavioral Health Survey (the 2023 results, as it is given every other year), which looks at student mental health, sense of safety and connectedness. They then hosted a community dialogue on the results. There were discussions on reducing stigma in seeking mental health support, and on ensuring students are being proactive rather than reactive in supporting students. The working groups are creating recommendations that will come back to the Board at the end of the school year. There was a discussion among the Board members of the issues raised within the health survey, with Asikis strongly speaking about the fear that immigrant and other students are feeling right now, when school should be a space students feel comfortable enough to take chances so they may learn. He was asked to look at counselor load and at the ways in which schools support mental health. Asked directly about cell phones, Asikis said he’d brought discussions to the SSAC when the Attorney General came out with her statement on cell phones in schools earlier this school year. The group was very clear that students need cell phones in school setting, whether for safety reasons, health reasons, or other reasons, even as schools can have discussions of limitation within class time. He said, “we’re pretty firm that students should have access to cell phones during the school day.”
In updating on the Department’s mission and vision, Johnston connected that to the proposed updates on regulations 603 CMR 46.00 and 18.00 on the use of time-out practices; section 46 is on physical restraint and 18 on public and private schools. He said that the proposed amendments would update to the use of the word “seclusion” to mean that the student, while apart, was in an unlocked room and could leave. This differs from a time-out that a student would choose to move to on their own. The Board discussed both the proposal and the process (there was some question on length of comment periods for state regulation). Moriarty said he questioned if “simply stricter adherence to current” regulations is what is needed, as he felt that the tools for behavior management were becoming more limited even as the need was more acute. Johnston strongly responded that he saw those two issues as distinct: that there was unquestionably a need for that, but “seclusion is not a behavior management strategy….[and] any conflating of those notions is exactly why we need this” change.
The Board sent the changes to public comment (603 CMR 18.00 public comment and 603 CR 46.00 public comment).
The Board voted to extend the current conditions on the certificates of both of the Commonwealth virtual schools, with additional conditions being imposed on TECCA due to their recent financial audit. The Board also approved the management contract for Roxbury Preparatory Charter School with Uncommon Schools. Both were done with little discussion.
Finally, the Board took up a report on college access, focusing on FAFSA and MAFSA completion. FASFA completing fell during the height of the pandemic, had recovered a bit, and now is down again. There is of course concern among some about sharing information with the federal government.
The main recommendations are:
- creating communities of practice
- increasing K-12 students’ exposure to higher education
- re-engaging adult learners
- strengthening and developing innovation in admission models to college
The state has doubled the amount of financial aid it offers over the past two years.
There was a significant push as well for the state’s “My CAP” (“My Career and Academic Plan”) as a path through to college access.
As noted above, the Board’s next regular meeting is April 29, though it is expected that they will conduct interviews for the next Commissioner before then.