Saturday, December 30, 2017

The State's FY18 Budget


We're less than halfway through the Fiscal Year (FY18), and, as I was re-reading MassBudget's FY18 budget analysis, I thought it worth noting a few of their key points.

Early Education: Quality early education and care helps prepare our young children for success in K-12 education and allows them to thrive more generally. Early education and care is also a critical work support for parents with young children, by offering safe and reliable care for kids while parents provide for their families. Funding for early education is -22% since 2001.

K-12 Education: Providing an excellent education to all children in Massachusetts supports future generations in the Commonwealth while contributing to our economy over the long term. Chapter 70 education aid is the main program for delivering state support to local districts across Massachusetts, and ensuring that schools have sufficient resources to provide the necessary services to all students.* The current (FY18) budget increased Chapter 70 Aid by $118.9 million (2.6%) to $4.75 billion.^ The FY18 Chapter 70 budget also includes a modest step to implement recommendations made by the Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC) in 2015.** The FBRC noted that current underfunding reduces the capacity of schools across the state to provide services to help all children succeed.

Higher Education: Higher education helps the people of our state contribute to their communities and gain the skills to succeed in a knowledge-driven economy. Our public higher education institutions – including the University of Massachusetts (UMass), the state universities, and our community colleges – educate a majority of Massachusetts high school graduates who go on to college. Graduates from public higher education are also more likely to stay in-state after graduation, contributing to our economy over the long term. Higher education funding is -15% since 2001, which has contributed to a doubling of tuition and fees between 2001-2016.

Environment & Recreation: The state budget funds programs that keep our air, water, and land clean, maintain fish and wildlife habitats, and staff and maintain our parks, beaches, pools, and other recreational facilities. The current FY18 budget provides $200.0 million for environment and recreation programs, which is $6.8 million more than in FY 2017. The Governor vetoed $4.8 million from the Legislature’s budget, largely by eliminating funding for specific environment and recreation projects located throughout the state. The Legislature overrode all of these vetoes. Even with this slight increase in funding in FY18, the environment and recreation budget is 35% below FY01 after adjusting for inflation.

Libraries: The state budget supports local libraries; the Boston Public Library, which serves as the primary research and reference service for the Commonwealth; and other library programs in Massachusetts. The current FY18 budget provides $25.5 million for libraries, which is slightly above the FY17 budget. The Governor vetoed $250,000 in funding for libraries, which the Legislature overrode. Even with a slight increase over FY17, funding for public libraries has fallen by 48 percent since FY 2001 after adjusting for inflation.

Unrestricted Local Aid: General local aid helps cities and towns fund vital local services such as police and fire protection, parks, and public works.^^ The current FY18 budget allots $1.06 billion for Unrestricted General Government Local Aid. Also known as UGGA or “general local aid,” the amount is an increase of $39.9 million over FY17 levels. The Commonwealth’s capacity to fund general local aid has been hindered by a series of significant state-level tax cuts during the 1990s and 2000s combined with the Great Recession. While over the past several years, general local aid funding has increased in step with or slightly above inflation, it still remains 40.5 percent below FY 2001 levels, when adjusted for inflation.

Tax Revenue: The budget adopted several “tax modernization” changes that would deliver a mix of both one-time and ongoing revenue. The Legislature did not adopt a number of proposals for additional revenues: higher taxes on flavored cigars, tighter eligibility and salary caps for Film Tax Credits, and extending the room occupancy tax to short-term rentals such as those made through Airbnb. Nor did the Legislature include an earlier proposal for a Tax Expenditure Review Commission to systematically review and make recommendations about many of the tax breaks provided by the Commonwealth. The budget expands the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) by making it easier for married victims of domestic abuse to claim the credit without filing a joint return with their spouses. Along with this change, the budget limits the size of state EITC benefits for part-time residents and eliminates access to the credit for nonresidents. The Legislature also agreed to create a new business tax credit for employers that hire qualified, Massachusetts-based veterans.
- - -
* For further background on the state’s education funding system, see MassBudget's Demystifying the Chapter 70 Formula
This increase is close to the 2.5% ($113.0 million total) increase from FY16 to FY17. 
** Wherein the Commission found that according to the state’s estimate of what it takes to educate children (called the “foundation budget”), school districts are significantly under-resourced.
^^ For more information on general local aid, please see MassBudget's Demystifying General Local Aid in Massachusetts

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Announcement

As a longtime activist and Lexington resident, I announce my candidacy for state representative for the 15th Middlesex District.*
We’ve been boldly represented by Jay Kaufman for more than a generation and I heartily thank him for his service. Jay has been an effective leader who has tirelessly stood up for our values. His impact will be felt for many years to come.
The causes Jay supported -- and the issues we face in our district and beyond -- still need a courageous leader who isn't afraid to speak up and make change. I will champion:
  • Fair and adequate education funding for each child
  • Responsible energy policy that protects and sustains our environment and natural resources
  • Improved healthcare for all
  • Social justice and equal opportunity for economically disadvantaged, incarcerated, and vulnerable populations regardless of race, gender, religious identity, place of origin, or sexual orientation
I’ve been called upon to play a leadership role in key areas. Beginning in 2007, I worked on the Revenue Working Group with Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts. After holding office in local, state, and national PTA associations, and on the Lexington School Committee, Governor Deval Patrick appointed me as the parent representative on the state Board of Education. The Raise Up Massachusetts coalition asked me to serve as one of the lead signers of its Fair Share Amendment initiative, which establishes a new “millionaires’ tax” to provide needed funding for education and transportation.
Serving as a state representative will allow me to further extend my leadership on issues of critical importance to our families and our future. I am energized and ready to accept this challenge. With the help of voters in the 15th Middlesex, I can succeed.


For information and updates about the campaign, please visit/like the new facebook page.

* Lexington and Wards 1&7 in Woburn

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Public Hearing: Phoenix Academy Public Charter High School, Lawrence

At least one member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) attends one public hearing on a pending application for a charter school and reports back to the full BESE. The idea behind the hearings is to provide members of the public an opportunity to voice their opinions on proposed charter schools and to present information for the Department and BESE to consider in deliberations. This year, there were two public hearings -- in Lynn and in Lawrence. (Read this Press Release for more on the process.)

The Phoenix Academy Lawrence (PAL) is an in-district school that the Phoenix Charter Academy Network (PCAN) is contracted to operate. PCAN is proposing to close PAL and open a new, regional  Commonwealth Charter School to be called "Phoenix Academy Public Charter High School, Lawrence" (PAPCHSL). If approved, it would also draw from Haverhill and Methuen Public School systems.

The hearing I attended and presided over was held in the Main Branch of the Lawrence Public Library. It was a lousy weather drive and getting there took much longer than I had accounted for and, so it happened, I arrived with literally one minute to spare. We were in the library's auditorium and there was a full, friendly crowd. And lots of students. At least as many students came out to support this proposal as came out last year to support the MAP Academy Charter School in Plymouth. All of the oral testimony was in support, by the way. No one speaking indicated they were  from Haverhill or Methuen:

  • 14 Students, Alums
  • 9 Teachers, Staff, or Administrators
  • 5 Parents/Guardians
  • 3 Community Members
  • 2 Phoenix Board Members
  • CEO, PCAN
  • Receiver, Lawrence Public Schools
  • ED, CPSA

Beth Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Phoenix Charter Academy Network: good work happening in Lawrence and we want to do more, especially with our youth
Student: transferred from a school in NH; Phoenix is a caring community
Jeff Riley, Reciever, Lawrence Public Schools: graduation rate has increased more than 20 points in 6 yrs, but still well below state's average; need options for children; Phoenix has proven to be a great model; need to expand
Lane Glenn, President, Northern Essex Community College: wears many hats in the community; $275K lost with each student dropout; in six years has seen "triple the number of students transitioning from Lawrence High School (LHS) to their local community college"
Student: LHS felt way too big; with Phoenix has a better, more flexible schedule; can complete her work
John Connors, Phoenix Board Chair: students are awesome; students tell their stories; wants to help more students; Phoenix is there to help them; nationally recognized model; wants 11 BESE voting members to support the move to become a Commonwealth Charter School
Student: a 17yo senior; moved from NY; Phoenix has earned her trust; people at the school help a lot; school starts at 9AM is a big help
Teacher: been teaching there since 2013; supporting young moms; expanding means opening up to older moms
Admin: using project-based learning; lots of support and flexibility; majority of students are young men right now; expanding to a regional shool will bring changes; need to get to know Haverhill & Methuen; need to expand ELT program
Alum: now in second year at Brandeis University; had behavior problems at LHS; Phoenix gave her a second chance; gave her support, taught self-advocacy
Alum: "lots of support at Phoenix...looking back, they were the only family I had"
Alum: left LHS because it was too big, no support; dropped out -- has 6 sisters -- "went back to school to graduate to be a role model for them"
Student: "Phoenix has had a positive influence on me"
Parent/Guardian: "don't know if they do magic there or not, but they got it"
Parent/Guardian: "care about my kid's education...no one wants to see their kid fail"; dropped out -- got a GED 25 yrs later; "students need 1:1 attention; they're not perfect, they're kids and each one learns differently"
Staff: is a sister, aunt, cousin, friend; "building relationships is our heart and soul for students"; Phoenix really is a family; home visits and phone calls
Student: went to LHS and did well freshman year; slacked off sophomore year and made "bad 'friends' "; had to go to Phoenix; great relationships with teachers; "Phoenix makes me want to go to school...I've been applying to colleges I've never heard of"
Marianne Paley-Nadel, Owner of Everett Mills: Phoenix is the tenant of her building; building a Lawrence partnership; impact not only on the student, but on family and community, too
Parents/Guardians: 2 children - 1 in college, 1 at Phoenix; were reluctant to send him to Phoenix at first; "he's a smart kid who sometimes steps out of the box...at Phoenix there is love and support"
Student: moved a lot; "schools feel like a business...have always been on the edge, with respect to grades...at Phoenix, there's a human connection, as opposed to one that feels more robotic"
Teacher: Phoenix believes students will succeed; "we build trust with our students"; teachers collaborate with each other; "we give them feedback and let them revise their work"
Student: able to be responsive to needs of students; got Ds and Fs at LHS; at Phoenix,  must maintain at least a C average -- lower is not acceptable; "skipped a lot of classes at LHS"; now feels ready for college
Admin: growing up "felt like a statistic because I was failing, a teen mom, and -- on top of all that -- a Latina"; can relate to students at Phoenix
Staff: works in college services at Phoenix; is a Haverhill High School grad; feels that will give him an edge with students when Phoenix expands
Alum: skipped a lot at LHS; had to go to Phoenix; "Phoenix built a foundation for me"; is currently in a bachelor of science nursing program
Student: Phoenix is one big support; "they really care for you...becoming a charter school would be a big step in the right direction"
Student: supports becoming a charter school; "personally, didn't have a lot of problems with school or problems with attendance...Phoenix challenged me and I wanted to do better"
Tim Nicolette, Executive Director, Massachusetts Charter Public School Association: "proud and moved by students and parents"; charter schools are to provide new models; Phoenix is a unique model; "the power of second chances...deep connections in the community build a web of support"
Trisha Perez Kennealy, Phoenix Board Member: shares personal story; parents from Puerto Rico; parents worked hard to give her a good education; knows the value of it and wants all children to have one; believes in the Phoenix model
Teacher: a first year teacher at Phoenix; students here "are the most misunderstood young men and women in the state"
Student: younger, supportive teachers who care; came from CA then KS then MA; in KS he failed courses, had to pay $91 for each class failed; "can you imagine that"; been at Phoenix since September and has a good feeling being there
Parent/Guardian: parent of a student at Phoenix; student was very attracted to LHS; "people said Phoenix was a school for bad kids"; soon came to realize that students had very different needs; Phoenix has heart; students have friends
Gregg Croteau, MSW, Executive Director, UTEC: Phoenix is building a community

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Lexington: Join me in voting YES

I'll be voting YES tomorrow (December 4th) in support of a new Fire Station Headquarters, Hastings Elementary School, and Lexington Children's Place preschool. I hope you will join me.
  • It is well past time to replace the Fire Station Headquarters, built when Harry S. Truman was president (1947). Our modern fire equipment is too heavy for the fire station floor (something akin to the family game, Jenga, provides support under the floor and prevents its collapse). Our first responders need this modern equipment and spaces to train and optimally meet the emergency needs of our community.
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower was president when the Hastings Elementary School was built (1955). Repair is no longer an option. The Town will be reimbursed $16.5 million dollars to replace it, if the debt exclusion vote passes. If we vote no, we jeopardize this reimbursement and also miss the opportunity to expand capacity at the elementary level (by 9 classrooms at this location). It is time to replace.
  • The Lexington Children's Place is a state-mandated program of the Lexington Public Schools that supports preschool children with special needs (ages 2.9 - 5) in an inclusive, least restrictive learning environment. Currently, it's operating near capacity in spaces separated by 600' and two parking lots. If we fail to unify this program and create new capacity, we will soon be forced to send our youngest, most vulnerable students out of district. Some of the placements can cost as much as $100,000 or more per student per year. If passed, this project will also help to alleviate our capacity issue at Harrington Elementary School, by opening up 4 additional classrooms there once the LCP is relocated to its new home.
The Town Manager's and Board of Selectman's goal is to minimize, as much as possible, the residential tax implications of completing these three projects. Their plan is to limit increases to an average increase of 0.5% over what is allowed by Proposition 2 1/2, or an average increase of 3% per year, total; not over and above a more "standard" annual increase of 2.5%. For a median-value home of $831,000, this would translate to a peak increase of $418 for these projects in 2024.

Lexington's paid professionals and volunteer boards and committees continually monitor the Town's capital assets with respect to the condition of our buildings and the evolving needs of the community. Together, these three projects represent the next phase of Lexington's comprehensive capital plan. With our school population growing at a rate of 2.5% per year, capital projects that increase our capacity have become a priority for the communitry. A new Hastings and free-standing LCP meaningfully address this need, yielding 11-13 additional classrooms. Both the Fire Station and Hastings are failing structurally. They need to be replaced.

You may have heard that we can do this work without taking on additional debt, that we can achieve these projects within the limitations of proposition 2 1/2. We cannot. All of the proposals forwarded by the opposition to this debt exclusion have been duly considered and either implemented to the degree that our Town could support, or rejected outright by the elected officials, volunteers, and staff who have been involved with the Town’s master planning efforts for the past decade. Attempting to pay for these projects within the levy will come at the sacrifice of other town services and programs and dramatically reduce the scope of these projects and their potential benefits, if they happen at all. Read this to more fully understand the flaws in the opposing side's arguments. More info is here.

I hope you're convinced of the merits of these projects and will make the commitment to vote to support them tomorrow, Monday, December 4th. We need at least 5,000 votes to see them funded. Please make sure yours is one of them.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Yes for Lexington

Due to a "a glitch in the system further up the food chain", the letter of support for the Yes for Lexington Campaign signed by former members of the Lexington School Committee didn't make it into last week's Minuteman newspaper. Please remember to vote this Monday, December 4 -- and I hope you will support these projects.

November 19, 2017

To the Editor:
As former members of the Lexington School Committee, we have advocated for all children in our public schools. In each decade there are challenges that our town must work through to assure excellent and equitable education.
We have seen a steady rise in the student population over the last 6 years.
The School Committee has studied capacity at every school to determine gaps, and evaluated short-term and long-term construction solutions.  They also changed the policy on school assignment, allowing the administration to optimize available seats town-wide. Although some in town believe that money can be saved by increasing class sizes, they are mistaken. This idea has been examined and rejected by school committees for more than a decade because it assigns students to schools based simply on space availability without considering the myriad other factors involved in student assignment. No school committee has been prepared to sacrifice individual students' education to some theoretical vision of maximum efficiency.
Meanwhile, the current School Committee has worked with all relevant committees to monitor conditions at all school facilities and update the school portion of Lexington’s Master Plan.
The projects on the ballot are a result of this planning process, and include a new site for the public preschool “Lexington Children’s Place - LCP” and a new Hastings.
LCP is where our youngest children with special needs have gotten their start at a fair chance for an appropriate education for the last 20 years, despite being moved to multiple facilities. Relocating LCP will free space at Harrington elementary and help alleviate elementary overcrowding.
The new Hastings will also alleviate system-wide overcrowding.
We endorse all three questions, as the schools rely on the Fire Department for public safety.
We urge you to vote Yes! on all three questions Monday, December 4.

Bonnie Brodner, Trodden Path
Scott Burson, Cary Avenue
Helen Cohen, Patterson Road
Rod Cole, School Street
Margaret Coppe, Barrymeade Drive
Judy Crocker, Currier Court
Tom Griffiths, Massachusetts Avenue
Bill Hurley, Young Street
Florence Koplow, Brent Road
Judy Leader, Fairfield Drive
Barrie Peltz, Jackson Court

Mary Ann Stewart, Rawson [Avenue]

Saturday, November 4, 2017

NASBE Town Hall

Jay Barth, NASBE Chair
John Kelly, NASBE Chair-elect
Kris Amundson, NASBE President & CEO

Amundson: 5 Takeaways from the Conference:
1. Our challenge now is to move beyond the state plan; it's about legacy leadership now.
Need to think about those children, epecially with regard to equity.
Children in poverty -- 30Million fewer words; they are two years behind when they come to school -- it is our problem to solve.
Thinking about what Gov. Deal said to us -- in Georgia, education is Pre-K through prison.

2. This is our moment -- the equity moment.
Answers are not going to come from DC, but from you all in the states.
There is no "magic pill".

3. SBEs can't do it alone.
You need tools and allies.
Need better understanding, better assessments.
Like Candice McQueen said: need to "get better at getting better".

4. It is so important that SBEs model civility.
Our work is not partisan.

5. SBEs all have day jobs.
You can't do all this by yourselves.
Reach out to NASBE -- it's why we are here!

Q from Delaware: Moved past the ESSA plans -- tax bill, what's on the horizon?
Amundson: Perkins; IDEA - that's really a complicated piece of work; I think more and more is going to come into state's hands
Barth: Continuing to examine [Executive] Orders from the last administration that end up affecting [SBE members]. On legislative front, CTE -- it's the area of unity in Congressional offices; in 2018 find some real unity for accomplishments.
Kelly: Don't get distracted by what's going on in DC. Under NCLB, it was pretty controlling, but you went about your business. Need to do that now, too.

Q from Kansas: I like "this is the equity moment", please address, "this is the citizen engagement moment".
Amundson: You all reached out to engage people in your ESSA plan (KS, WA in particular); that can't end. If that was a "one-and-done", you have wasted your time. If parents of children with disabilities, ELL, of color were at the table, they are not going to let you lower expectations. Keep them at the table to ensure that they will hold your feet to the fire -- it won't be pleasant, but it will be right.
Barth: If folks are not invited to the table, they will position themselves at the table. We know the power of social media to help. IDEA has so many "hot buttons" around it.
Kelly: Lots of folks now know what "good" looks like and they are not going to let you get away with anything less. The expectation is "I want for my child what you have for yours" and there is no turning the clock back.
Amundson: Look at Louisiana SBE, Chief -- trying very hard to address persistent gaps.
Kelly: The ESSA plan itself forces you to go there. Example: highest performing Mississippi school district had the widest gaps between white and black students.

Q from Nebraska: Many of us appreciate the resources that NASBE provides. Please share themes, topics to come in publications in near future.

Amundson invites NASBE Editorial Director, Valerie Norville, to the mic.

Norville: Have a terrific Editorial Advisory Committee. Next issue of the Standard is on Early Education, followed by, School Turnaround; School Finance; Wraparound Services; Stakeholder Engagement; School Leadership; Teaching and Learning. State Innovations format is to showcase innovations in the state -- let me know what's going on in your state.

-- End of Session --

Excellence through Equity

Presenter
Pedro Noguera, UCLA

Was once an elected local school board member in Berkley CA.
Didn't particularly like it.
Referred to it as "my sentence".
Thought we were only barely managing a "status quo" that didn't work for most kids.
We were cutting budgets all the time.
So, acknowledge how important this is.
Applaud you for your service.
In Colorado, can't fill many seats, can't get people to run for those offices.
That's a problem.
Democracy depends on people running.
I'm going to say some things to shake you up.
I think that's my job.

Need now for equity and deeper learning: making high standards and powerful learning opportunities available to all teachers and students.

Was in Alaska recently -- school leader there, "We do not know how to educate Alaska-native children".
There's a crisis.
High suicide rates.
Kids barely coming to school.

A failure of reform.
We have focused on the wrong things.
Our education policies have ignored social context and deeper systemic problems, particularly related to poverty.
We have relied on pressure and gimmicks to address chronic failure in schools serving poor children.
The persistence of race/class disparities in achievement is a by-product of social and economic inequality.
Reforms have not been devised or implemented with clear focus on how they will solve the problems schools face.
Reforms have not been implemented with the educators who must implement them.
Raising standards is unlikely to lead to better outcomes unless we improve learning conditions and respond more effectively to student needs.

Poverty is not a learning disability, but, when needs of children are not addressed, made manifest in school.
Not simply hunger, housing, health.
Lots of kids can't read -->because they don't have eyeglasses -->and we don't have a plan to address that.
Children have social and emotional needs that we are only just beginning to recognize.
Bill to address Trauma in California.
We recognize trauma in veterans -- it is a disorder (PTSD); in children, it's chronic.
As a nation, we haven't come to terms with trauma.

Was in Florida -- at a "FFF" school. Principal says, "FFF" means have failed the state exam three times in a row. Will fail it again. State will take over. He's leaving.

Opportunity to utilize higher order thinking skills -- analysis, evaluation, application, creativity.
To undertake and learn through complex tasks and challenging texts.
To acquire skills needed for college -- independent research; critical/analytical thinking.
To produce high-quality work that serves as a reflection of what a student has learned -- mastery.

Time to focus on equity and deeper learning.
Want to focus on learning -- not focus on gimmicks: like, ooh - iPADs. Extended day.
Not just extending the day -->need to improve the day.
Need to focus that all kids are challenged or else the kids fail.
Teachers quit.
Education is one of the first professions where we put the least experienced people in the job.

Access to challenging learning opportunities is an equity issue:
  • We have used assessment to rationalize sorting/tracking students and often teachers.
  • We have traditionally *dumbed down* the curriculum for students we thought were not *college ready*.
    • We have confused academic performance with intellectual ability and potential.
  • We have not given teachers sufficient guidance in how to teach a variety of learners.
Gap between ability and performance.
Gotta approach this differently.
Gotta take equity seriously.
NCLB sounded pretty serious but we left lots of children behind.
All kids are different.
Some need more time.

Equity is: 
  • Addressing the needs of all students
    • academic, psychological, emotional
  • Recognizing differences, compensating for disadvantages, and mitigating harm, hardships, and risks to all students
State boards must stay foused on outcomes -- academic and developmental, and conditions in schools.
Success is not only about achievement.

Equity is not:
  • Lowering standards
  • Something only schools serving poor children of color should be concerned about
  • Choosing some children over others -- all children must be challenged to reach their potential.
Affluent white children more likely to be stressed out.
Pervasive inequality makes the pursuit of equity difficult, but essential.

Challenges to equity include:
  • Out-of-school Factors: poverty, unequal access to basic needs health, housing, transportation, etc.
  • Policy Factors: unequal school funding and unequal learning opportunities.
  • In-school Practices: disciplining for disadvantages, lack of focus on meeting the needs of all students.
Too often, schools reproduce patterns of privilege and disadvantage.
This achievement gap is a manifestation of privilege and disadvantage. 
Alienation starts early.
There's a Trajectory of Marginalization -- the progression of disengagement.
Lots of kids in prison pipeline -- had we intervened early, wouldn't be there.
More than $230K/child per year on juvenile justice system in LA and less than $10,000/person in school-->we're investing at the wrong end.

What we know about child development:
  • Student achievement is affected by a variety of social, psychological, emotional, and environmental factors
  • Services must be provided in a coordinated manner to counter effects of poverty and improve developmental and learning outcomes
We have proof -- just look at Harlem Children's Zone.
Geoffrey Canada has been at this for 25 years.
Need evidence that fixing your teeth or eyeglasses is a good idea?
We do have evidence what happens when you meet the needs of the Whole Child.
Brockton High on a path for success for 20 years -- then they hit it -- Level 1 school.
Worcester Tech -- success.
Success is all around us.

Key Elements of the Brockton Strategy:
  • Brockton started with shared leadership -- teachers own the work.
  • Concerted effort to obtain buy-in around the strategy
  • A coherent strategy focused on student needs
  • Differentiated professional development
  • Follow through, examining the evidence, sticking with it
Not test prep -- actually have to teach the children.
Differentiated professional development -- not all teachers need the same things.
Creat conditions where all kids can be successful.
If we focus on the right conditions, it is no longer predictable which children will fail.
Students in control of learning-->Hollenbeck Middle School, Los Angeles
Not just learning Math -- learning how to work together.
Differentiated learning for kids.
Teachers are facilitators of learning.
Not about behavior control -- it's about engagement.
The bell rings and they are disturbed -- not packing up 10 mins early.
If you can do that in East Los Angeles, you can do that anywhere.
Hollenbeck is right down the street from [Garfield] High School.
He was teaching the desire to learn.
Come in on Saturdays. Stay late.
Instead of focusing on achivement -- we must focus on engagement.
Get excited about learning.

Pathway to achievement is through engagement:
  • Behavioral engagement
    • Preparation
    • Persistence
    • Instrumental Help Seeking
  • Cognitive engagement
    • Deep Processing
    • Meta-Cognition
  • Emotional engagement 
    • Interest
    • Value
California County prisons are educating inmates through Project-Based Learning.

Teachers focus on Evidence on Learning: 
  • Make expectations clear and standards explicit
  • Model and expose students to high-quality work
  • Utilize diagnostig tools to check for understanding
  • Learn about their students' interests in order to make lessons culturally relevant
  • Expect students to revise and resubmit work
  • Solicit feedback and questions from students
  • Analyze student work with a focus on evidence of competence and mastery and with a willingness to reflect on efficacy of methods
Real learning is in the REVISION.
Real teaching is in the FEEDBACK.
Most powerful PD is Teachers coming together to analyze student work.

Social and emotional learning must be integral to effort to increase academic engagement (aka LIFE SKILLS):
  • Deferred gratification
  • Ability to collaborate
  • Impulse control
  • Ability to resolve and mediate conflicts
  • Empathy
As SBE members, you get to ask questions.
Move away from compliance to capacity building.
Great colleges and universities don't create master teachers; they can create great novices.

State Boards Must Stay Focused on the Five Essential Ingredients:
  • A coherent instructional guidance system
  • Ongoing development of the professional capacity of staff
  • Srtong parent-community-school ties
  • A student-centered learning climate
  • Shared leadership to drive change
Need a holistic vision to achieve equity in outcomes.
Gotta think about the Whole Child.
Once common for every Kindergarten to have a piano in the classroom and for the K teacher to know how to play it.
People with Alzheimer's -- the last thing to go are the songs and music they learned early in life.

Amundson & Pedro
Amundson: SBEs are policy makers, so how can we ensure that Ts are high-quality?
Pedro: Incentivize to bring master teachers into high-need schools. Residency-mentoring for the first year of teaching. Districts need to write that into policy. Sensible practices into policy. SBEs can create standards by which Ts can become certified and evaluated. Those 5 essential ingredients for schools...the Brockton stragegy...to bring about coherence...need literacy to do math, science and everything else...when we see schools are struggling, see how they are doing on those 5 elements.

Q from DE: Wilmington stuggles like other places. Politics. How can we help them to overcome themselves to affect change?
Pedro: I will leave the politics. I would start positive. Look at  Karin Chenoweth's book, "It's being Done" and her next book, "How it's Being Done".

Q from MS: Lots resonated with me. Equity is not about lowering standards. How do I get Principals to understand that so that teachers understand that?
Pedro: TOY in GA -- T was sent to struggling school. Sent a signal: IB programs. Kids will be safe. Kids will be well-served. All the kids. Need to shine the light on high-functioning places where it is working. Should not assign brand new principals to lead struggling schools. We haven't learned from it. 

Q from GA Teacher in HE: Equity MUST be central to our work. As a Education Leadership provider, EVALUATION and STANDARDS -- glaring missing link on equity...thoughts on influencing policy?
Pedro: Broadening what we look at. Equity-based accountability system. Schools that are beating the odds. If you don't have the policy guidelines, will never be able to acknowledge. Lots of gaming strategies: yeah, higher grad rates, but remediation in college courses and high percentages of dropping out in first years.

Q from KY: The slide about lowering standards, all means all. Still, some kids have not received anything. Need for targeted strategies? Gives more to what hasn't been done before? Equal access. How to deal with the resource Q?
Pedro: If we're serious about equity, it will be reflected in outcomes. Places are figuring it out. Example: Algebra is a gateway course. Kids who don't have it, get double the time with a master teacher on it. Also less homework. Need to make space for innovation.

-----
Panel Presentation: Reenvisioning Success for Students and Schools

Presenters
Pedro Noguera, NCSEAD
Gene Wilhoit, NCSEAD
Rachel Wise, Nebraska SBE and NASBE Chair-elect
Jacqueline JodlDirector NCSEAD (moderator)

Schoolhouse and State House alike have emphasized the academic skills students need to succeed. But overwhelming evidence demands a complementary focus on social and emotional skills and competencies. When somebody is doing it well, we need to stop and pay attention.

Shriver: We have a whole script and I'm going to blow it off -- you can't listen to Pedro and not adjust. Lots of different people have come together to form this work. Grassroots. Roots in 60s, 70s -- some would say even as far back as John Dewey.
Learned to use Jim Comer's framework*: academic, social, emotional.
The social and emotional ARE learning.
Learning is relational.
Lots of attention to academic; almost none to SEL.
Not as a replacement to academics, but to complement, to engage the heart.
Every problem for kids at-risk will eventually be a problem for the other kids.
They are the canary in the coalmine.
Equity = justice.
Cannot dichotomize academic and SEL.
"We don't have time"; "We don't have resources" --- false dichotomy.
Integrate them in a high quality way.
All kids: for stressed-out high wealth kids and low income kids.

(Aaand - this is where I was listening to the panel discussion and not taking notes!)

Q&A
Q: One of the barriers is initiative overload. It overwhelms teachers. Reflections on that?
Shriver: It is THE problem in school reform. Not because it is [teachers'] disposition, it is because it is done poorly. Need a sustainable plan. A change process under one plan. Get out of "check the box". Need systematic, integrated strategy/plan. Otherwise we will alienate teachers, and rightly so.
Pedro: Gates has another new initiative --> hasn't shared the lessons of previous initiatives. An arrogance that creates deep cynicism. He should say, "We wasted a lot of money and this is what we have learned"..."Here's some things we will not do again". Otherwise, not changing the culture of learning.
Shriver: CASEL -- launched collaborating districts. Understood we were in for multiple years. Created contiuous commitment. Ownership has changed. Owning it together.

Q from MI: Structure of learning: first tedium, then enjoyment. Comments on that experience?
Shriver: Learning has emotional underpinings, isn't the only way it plays out. Emotions are the internalization of the learning. Recognizing is the art of teaching. Mystics talk about relationships in community. Solitude, even. Always operating, even when they are not physical. Coping strategies. Mindfulness as a tool for perserverance. 
Jodl: Instruction needs to be student-centered; equitable.

Q from Nebraska: Models for scope and sequence? Impact on class, culture, and community?
Pedro: Science is most popular class for students in elementary school. Imagine capitalizing on all of that early learning for science.
Wilhoit: Tools for Students to assess their own learning.

Jodl: Commission will "sunset" in the 4th quarter of 2018. Will issue a report. Change agenda to include: local focus, as well as the practice piece for sustaining the work.

Hull: Legacy Leadership. NCLB result of neglect of leadership. Legacy of SBEs taking advantage now, at this time. Not all means all. All means each.

-- End of Session --
* From Wikipedia: Though a principal-led but shared management framework, organizationally and/or primarily by the school staff, organizational, management, and communication issues are pulled together in a way that promotes collaboration, assessment, capacity building, and a focus on teaching in a way that leads to the integration of student development and academic learning. By minimizing confusion and conflict in the building system through this process, educators can make sound programmatic decisions based on student behavioral, developmental, and learning needs; and intentionally prepare students for school and mainstream life success. Our outcomes suggest that when students are developing well they will learn well.
While the School Development Program helps building level participants bring about change, it has been used as a framework for system-wide reform, providing mechanisms by which school boards and district central administration can coordinate and support the reform work at each school.

Friday, November 3, 2017

Leading Innovation to Advance Teaching and Learning

Presenters
Ash Vasudeva, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Research)
Glen Harvey, WestEd (Policy)
Candice McQueen, Tennessee Commissioner of Education (Practice)
Robert Hull, NASBE (moderator)

Hull:
How do you think creatively to solve a problem? This session brings together leading experts in reasearch, policy, and practice to consider how state board members can pursue and support innovation. How can improvement science foster a more user- and problem-centered approach to improving teaching and learning? We will explore ways to build state capacity to identify, adapt, and scale up promising innovations.

Vasudeva:
Collectively, we expand decades of research, practice, and policy-making.
Wisdom in this room, and classrooms -- education systems continue to face extraordinary challenges.
Many times, "what gives" is a rich and rewarding educational experience.
[Missed the name of the person referenced in his example here]: Addressing families at large community forums: first thing is stating/admitting that "they don't have it all figured out".
Just giving voice to that moved the dynamic from confrontation to communication.
Expertise alone is not enough - need to work with others to accomplish goals.
Form new relationships.
Admitting we don't have all of the answers doesn't mean there's nothing we can do.
(Introduces concept of "Discipline Inquiry" - create teams to test solutions and commit to make meaningful progress).
Disciplined inquiry bridges the organizational journey from compliance to continuous improvement by attending to and focusing on learning.
References the book: Learning to Improve
ESSA represents the opportunity to make this shift (^ from enacting policy from "compliance" to "continuous improvement" by attending to and focusing on learning).
Three questions for consideration:

1. What is the relationship between research and practice?
2. What constitutes evidence?
3. What is the role for policy?

Researchers are expected to innovate; practitioners are expected to implement.
Need to connect research to practice.
ESSA plans for making progress.
Use discipline inquiry in service to innovation and improvement:

Evidence - Disciplined Inquiry = Compliance Modes of Thinking

Evidence + Disciplined Inquiry = Improvement Mindset

As SBEs, how do you use your policy superpowers? (Power to Convene; Power of the Question; Power of Policy)

McQueen
Reality on the ground when you try to put research to practice.
It's messy.
TN articulated a Vision: for all students to have knowledge and skills to successfully embark upon their chosen path in life.
Comprised five priorities - 4 of them very policy driven; they are:
  • Early Foundations & Literacy;
  • High School & Bridge to Postsecondary;
  • All Means All;
  • Educator Support.
The last one, District Empowerment would use research for solving problems in practice through newly created Network Improvement Communities (NIC, in 7 districts).
Utilizing NICs:
  • Foster a new kind of working relationship between the state and districts
  • Leverage collective expertise to solve a statewide challenge
  • Identify scalable solutions to common implementation challenges that hold the state back from achieveing its goals
  • Learn at all levels how to "get better at getting better": and develop a collective sense of ownership for the work to sustain progress
Learning to date:

  • Improving literacy outcomes
    • communication between teachers and interventionists is important for success
  • Empowering district innovation
    • culture of learning and sharing is critical to making progress
  • Engaging educators in continuous impovement efforts
    • educators must want to learn from one another through a community approach
What's next?
  • Scale and spread the NIC approach
    • Spring 2016: Cohort 1 = 7 districts in 2 CORE regions
    • Fall 2017: Cohort 2 = 21 districts in all 8 CORE regions
People sometimes don't want the process, they want the pill.
Reality is, when they know the outcome they will work to embed in practice.
Go slow at first; once familiar, then can go fast.

Harvey:
Learned so much from [NASBE sessions] yesterday.
Thank you for the TN story - grew up in KY, not a leader in education reform; it's empowering to see how much can be accomplished over time.
State policy role in supporting innovation...
What is innovation anyway:

"A process that creates something that addresses a specific need effectively in a new and different way with better outcomes creating value"

Emphasis on "different" and "better"
Problem is, if it is "new and different", it probably doesn't have a lot of evidence.
Need to balance tried-and-true practices with something new.
What's your capacity for innovation?
To take risks?
What's the pulse in your state?
SBEs: Champion of children and their right to an equitable, quality education:
  • Convenor, giving voice to others -- stakeholder engagement through listening tours, town halls, and focus groups
    • good ideas can come from anyone and anywhere
    • model openness to new ideas and different perspectives
    • create a process for exploring promising new ideas
    • communicate back what you have heard and will do
    • keep the dialogue going
  • Visionary and catalyst for change, keeping the public's collective eye on what matters most
    • use the power of the bully pulpit
    • be the state's storyteller
    • keep everyone's eye on the state's North Star (the big idea)
    • focus on big ideas, enduring problems, and solutions
    • use the power of persuasion, vision, staying power
  • Enabler and empowerer, removing barriers to innovation (removing policy so people can move forward):
    • NH: flexibility to achieve a big idea (i.e., competency-based learning)
    • CA: flexibility focused on state and local indicators (i.e., a local control funding formula; school safety and climate)
    • CO: flexibility to spark innovation for learning (CO Innovations Schools Act -- ask for waivers from SBE to move forward)
Create opportunity.
Need to do better by those children who are not doing well right now (especially to consider homeless, foster, trauma, i.e.).
Before establishing a new policy based on local innovation, ask:
  • Is this new approach addressing a specific need?
  • Is there sufficient evidence that it addresses the need effectively?
  • Is there a solid research base?
  • Is the solution economically viable?
  • Is it scalable and sustainable?
  • Do we have the capacity to implement, scale, and sustain across the state?
  • Is there stakeholder buy-in?
  • What unintended consequences might there be?
Q&A:
Ohio asks about Trauma-informed education; says, under ESSA, Title II funds available for this.
Massachusetts asks TN about importance of aligning standards with work in the NICs.

-- End of Session --

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Rethinking Teaching and Learning

Presenters: Linda Darling-Hammond, Learning Policy Institute; Donna Johnson, Delaware State Board of Education

Session takes a deep dive into a rethinking of teaching and learning with leading researcher; covering recent research on professional learning and a systems approach to retooling curriculum and instruction. "Only well-prepared, culturally skilled, committed techers can ensure that all students graduate ready for college and careers".

Darling-Hammond is live-streaming with us online.

D-H: What kind of learning are we talking about?
Demand for skills is changing.
Top skills for Fortune 500 companies in 1970 were Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic; today, they are teamwork, problem-solving, communication skills.
Knowledge is expanding and exponentially.
Working with technology that hasn't been invented yet.
Need to transfer knowledge to new problems.

Teaching for learning ability, the abilities to:
  • Transfer and apply knowledge
  • Analyze, evaluate, weigh, and balance
  • Communicate and collaborate
  • Take initiative
  • Find and use resources
  • Plan and implement
  • Learn to learn
Includes social emotional learning:
  • Know and manage self and emotions, including stress
  • Have empathy and interpersonal skills
  • Engage in positive relationships
  • Collaborate well
  • Make good decisions
  • Behave ethically and responsibly
  • Have a growth mindset
  • Be resourceful, perservering, and resilient
Teaching SEL skills has been found to foster personal, social, and academic success and reduce opportunity gaps

Teaching these skills -- to what end? 
  • Resolving conflict
  • Sustaining the earth
  • Sustaining people
    • Employment
    • Food and shelter
    • Clean water
  • Nurturing peaceful collaboration
  • Developing new products, solutions, strategies for living and learning
And Authentic Learning:
  • Problem-based and Project-based learning
  • Performance assessment
  • Rubrics  for self-, peer-, and teacher-evaluation
  • A pedagogy of revision and mastery
How well are we teaching higher order skills refers to trends on PISA 2000-2012. (Answer: not very well)

What kinds of schools can create these abilities?
  • Schools designed for effective caring
  • Small Learning Communities
  • Looping
  • Long-term Relationships
  • Advisory systems
  • Close parental contact
Some states and many nations are transforming assessments. High achievers use:
  • Open-ended essays and problems to be solved and explained
  • Performance tasks that require students to design and conduct investigations, collect data analyze and present findings in writing, orally, and with technology
Effective teachers:
  • Engage students in active learnning
  • Build on children's experiences and prior knowledge
  • Create intellectually ambitious tasks that apply knowledge to real world problems
  • Develop and effectively manage a culturally responsive, collaborative classroom in which all students have membership
  • Use a variety of teaching strategies
  • Assess learning to adapt teaching to student needs
  • Create effective scaffolds for language and content learning
  • Provide clear standards strong models, constant feedback, and opportunities for revising work
  • Reinforce students' competence and confidence
Recommends book: A Pedagogy of Confidence (on amazon and short video clip HERE) by Yvette Jackson:
  • Focus on strengths
  • Teach cognitive strategies
  • Build confidence and motivation
  • Build educator capacity
Topic moves into teachers and professional collaboration and learning:
  • Shared planning time
  • Teaching reams
  • Regular professional development
  • Inquiry about student learning
  • Problem solving around students
  • Leadership focused on instruction
There are schools where this is happening.
However, United States teachers spend the most time on instruction and the least amount of time on planning than other leading nations.
Curriculum and teaching access matters for learning: Holding SES constant, students of color and white students who have equally well-qualified teachers and comparable curriculum, perform comparably in reading and mathematics.
Teacher shortages: demand for teachers is high and increasing, but the supply is rapidly decreasing.
  • Are methodologically rigorus
  • Demonstrate positive link between teacher PD and student outcomes
  • Identified common features
Policy implications:
  • Adopt standards for PD
  • Redesign schedules to support collaboration
  • Conduct assessments of teachers' needs
  • Develop expert teachers as mentors and coaches
Today, the kind of education we need, must be available for all; quoting John Dewey: What the best and wisest parent wants for his or her child, that must the community want for all of its children. Any other goal is narrow and unlovely. Acted upon, it destroys our democracy.

Johnson: In Delaware -- with thanks to NASBE -- the systems grants looking at a Standards-Based System; comprehensive approach; how one initiative complements another. Areas of focus on efforts to rethink teaching and learning: 
  • Educator preparation
  • Professional learning
  • Roles for educators
  • Standards and assessment
State Boards utilize:
  • Power of Policy
  • Power of the Question
  • Power to Convene
That's a wrap

Welcome and Plenary

We're in Atlanta for NASBE's 59th Annual Conference. The Conference theme is Moving Beyond the State Plan: Excellence - Equity - Innovation


Presenters: Kris Amundson, NASBE President and CEO; Jack Griffin, Food-Finder (attending by video); Dr. Meria Carstarphen, Superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools; Mike Royal, Georgia Board Chair/Presiding; Jay Barth, NASBE Board Chair

Royal: Welcome. Legislative action for a GA Chief Turnaround Officer, GA/SBE just hired yesterday, NASBE ran the search.

Carstarphen: Welcome to Atlanta. Believes that Education is the cornerstone for our Democracy -- "I have drunk the Kool-Aid". Kids need career skills and decision-making skills and also need to have the heart to be better people than we are to do the work with pride and hope and inspiration and thunder. Important to hear from other Superintendents from beyond your schools for better perspective.

Barth: Thanks members of NASBE Board of Directors. Transformative year, with power shifting back to States. A thrilling time to be working at NASBE with leaders and staff. Food insecure families can be connected to their next meal, via the Food-Finder App, created by high school student, Jack Griffin. 

Griffin: (video) explains how he was inspired to create the app after seeing a video on hunger. His father now takes the stage to say more about Jack's story: Food insecurity is a problem because it's invisible. Rapid rise of technology makes smartphones readily available. Jack figured out how to connect people to food. App is integrated with google maps. Superintendents also integrate with the app, using social media to raise awareness. Top 10 States using the app: Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, California, Michigan, Texas, New York, Alabama, Tennessee, Washington DC.

Amundson: Planning for this COnference began right after last year's. Thanks NASBE staff, asks to stand so attendees can acknowledge. Introduces Robert Hull, NASBE Executive Vice President.

Hull: Provides overview of Conference. Notes Area Meetings happening later today, election of representatives for regions.

Next up: Fostering Excellence, Equity, Innovation

Presenters: David Coleman, President and CEO, The College Board; Sal Khan, Khan Academy; Jonathan Amaya, James Madison University Student; Jay Barth, NASBE Board Chair, Arkansas Board Chair; Kris Amundson, Nasbe President and CEO (moderator).

Amaya: First in his family to attend college. Kris Amundson was his mentor since 7th grade. She was his "reality check". Learned he couldnt get to college if his SAT scores weren't higher. Knew his family couldn't afford SAT prep. Kris pointed him to Khan Academy: "It's FREE". He loved it. Retook the SAT, score had gone up significantly -- he was one of ~75 students to be interviewed for scholarship; he was selected for full scholarship. Quotes Forrest Gump: Life is like a box of chocolates. Be kind. Be positive. Introduces Sal Khan.

Khan: Quick check -- many in the room already familiar with Khan Academy? Either they or their child have used Khan Academy? Now we're watching a video montage of Khan Academy lessons. Lots of laughter. Tells the story of his background how his cousin needed support in math that got him started with videos to support and tutor her, siblings, word gets around...
(Now he's talking Bloom's Taxonomy!)
We're seeing a montage of Khan Academy videos in languages other than English
Exploring ways state board members can achieve a new vision for teaching and learning that supports all students in mastering rigorous content and applying critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in college and careers and contribute to the knowledge economy.

Coleman: The College Board 100 years. We have plenty of assessments; we need more opportunity. Never give someone one chance. PSAT does not tell you your potential, who you are; who you might be, with practice. Test prep free forever through partnership with Khan Academy.
Now were seeing a promo, student perspective, partnership with College Board + Khan. Free resources for every AP class. Through Khan. Broken promises of assessment. Too many inequities, need more opportunities. Cannot rely on virtual learning alone; need a caring adult. Relationships important and necessary. End the war between "college and career" Need choices and power. Talked to employers about required skills. No test can tell whether you are career or college ready. Knowledge matters in civic education. And, BTW, so does free speech. End the insanity of the "Admissions Process". What haappened to faith, family, and fun? INvite young people to one or two things. Asking for 12 is madness. Trying to do everything I can to promote calm and confidence.
Invites Khan and Amaya to join on stage.

Panel now: Coleman, Amaya, Khan, Amundson, Barth
Coleman to Amaya: What shall we do different?
Amaya: Usually, find that people skip through videos to get to the point at the end. Need application to what you are learning. Find that I go to more videos on history instead of blog videos on youtube.

Amundson to panel: Numbers of low income kids to Stanford? Not very many. Would like to hear what you would say to Admissions Office at Stanford?
Khan: Khan and College Board can make progress with kids; need to figure out how to give kids more tools to be motivated to practice, belief that you can go to college like Stanford.
Barth: Rural schools left behind. Students left behind. Leaders can be some barriers. What can we do as citizen leaders?
Coleman: What you did in Arkansas. State supported 4-5 AP courses. Access framework. More kids in Arkansas in AP courses. Opportunities are present.
Khan: Always ask leaders like yourselves; amazing how many are not aware -- or skeptical -- about resources out there. I'd like to work with everyone here to spread to leaders in your state.

Amaya presents Coleman and Khan hats from James Madison University.

End of Session.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Special Town Meeting (STM) 2017-3 *

Back in Cary Hall tonight to continue with STM 2017-3.
Warrant is HERE.
Motions for STM-3 Articles 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,13, HERE.
Motions for STM-3 Articles 2,5(revised),10,12, HERE.
Report of the Appropriation Committee (AC), HERE.
Report of the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC), HERE.
October 16, 2017 Votes of Town Meeting Members (TMM), HERE.
My post for the previous night (STM-2, Monday, October 16) HERE.

Madam Moderator (MM) indicated previously that we'll begin with the following Articles:
  • Article 2: Amend Zoning Bylaw -- 45-55-65 Hayden Avenue
  • Article 12: Appropriate Community Preservation Act Projects
  • Article 8: Appropriate Design Funds for Visitors Center
Time permitting:
  • Articles 3 & 4 -- Amend General Bylaws -- Recreational Marijuana Facilities Prohibited & Amend Zoning Bylaw -- Recreational Marijuana Moratorium
Time permitting: any other unfinished STM 2017-3 Articles.
Holding Monday, October 30 for a possible 3rd night, if needed.
- - - - -
Madam Moderator (MM) has called the Meeting to Order
7:30 PM
120/200 Town Meeting Members (TMMs) are present - we have a Quorum (at least 100 TMMs constitute a Quorum)

First up:
  • Article 2: Amend Zoning Bylaw -- 45-55-65 Hayden Avenue
"To see if the Town will vote to amend the Zoning Map and Bylaw of the Town to create the Planned Development District PD-2, based on the information provided in the applicant's Preliminary Site Development and Use Plan ("PSDUP") for Lots 20B and 21A of Assessor's Map 17, addressed as 45, 55, 65 Hayden Avenue (the "Site"), or to act in any other manner in relation thereto."

Thomas Ragno, authorized signatory of CRP/King Hayden Owner, LLC makes the presentation (max. 20 mins).
King Street Properties has long history of developing, owning, and operating high quality life science centers. They currently own and operate over 680,000s.f. of lab/office space in Lexington, and recently developed the new life science building located at 115 Hartwell Avenue in the Hartwell Innovation Campus. This Article proposes a rezoning of the Property, the former Merck campus that currently contains two existing office/laboratory buildings, a parking garage, and surface parking areas, and include an additional office/lab building (adds, "75 Hayden Avenue") and parking garage structure.

Richard Canale for the Planning Board (PB).
Report received and placed on file.
PB: Unanimously supports
BoS: Unanimously suports
Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC): Supports this project
Chamber of Commerce at Citizen's Mic: Unanimously supports

Zoning Articles Require 2/3 Majority Vote
YES: 148
NO: 2
Abstain: 2
Motion Approved
- - - - -
Brief recess for CPC caucus (~8:05 PM)
Back in session (~8:09 PM)
  • Article 12: Community Preservation Act
It is anticipated that the Housing Project will be IP'd and brought back to the ATM in Spring 2018. Prior to the recess a moment ago, the Land Project had yet to be voted upon by the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) and it is unknown if this project will move forward.

CPC Report & Addendum received and placed on file.
CPC recommends that both Projects be IP'd.
CEC: Unanimous
Voice Vote of TMM: Unanimous
Motion to IP is Approved
- - - - -
  • Article 8: Appropriate Design Funds for Visitors Center
This Article requests an appropriation of $150,000 to fund production of Design Development Documents for a new Visitors Center, to be located on the present site across from the Battle Green.

Current building was constructed more than 50 years ago (1966) and was designed to provide restrooms and information for tourists coming to commemorate the bicentennial of the Battle of Lexington in 1975. The building is not fully handicapped-accessible, lacks adequate restroom facilities for use by tourists and Minuteman Bikeway users, is inadequate for accommodating the flow of visitors, and lacks the technology on which visitors now depend.

Pat Goddard making presentation. USA250 Celebration & Plymouth 400 make this a good time to improve the facility (because more history buffs as visitors to Lexington for the history). Design to meet LEED v4 Silver Certification.Exceed Stretch Code by 30%. Still reviewing for Solar. Total Project Budget from Schematic Design Submission was $4,549,000; adjusted for escalation & scope: $4,408,000. Opportunities to review and lower costs. Requesting $150,00 tonight.

BoS: Supports 4-1
CEC: Supports 5-2
AC: 8-0-1 Supports
Tourism Committee: Supports
Chamber: Supports

Q Mic: Does a YES assume approval of a specific design (and cost) for a new Visitor Center?
Carl Valente, Town Manager (TM): No
Q Mic: About accessibility - can you describe in more detail? Wheelchair, other requirements?
Mills: Small buildings - one elevator. Most services are on the first floor and accessible from fron and back. Restrooms downstairs -- accessible from stairs and elevator.
Q Mic: Alternate forms of funding -- more detail?
Tourism: Two things -- 1). initial contributions from Grants or Individuals 2). nothing approved, possible Mass Cultural Council, Historical Society, exploring creative options.
Q Mic: Safety in restrooms and building in the evenings "after hours"?
Goddard: Schedule of hours haven't been determined.
NO Mic: Doesn't think Lexington taxpayers should be subsidizing tour buses to Town. Also, Debt Exclusion on Capital Projects makes this a lower priority.
YES Mic: Over 60 buses a year come to Town for at least 2 hours to eat and visit museums, etc. Also, these are the same arguments we heard back in 1966. It's important to be able to see and tell in the Visitors Center. We don't realize just how much tourism brings to the Town.
Q Mic: BoS was 4-1...could we please hear why?
Selectman Pato: Wasn't easy decision. We are at a time when fiscal pressures demand that we spend very carefully.

TMM Calls Q
Voice Vote to close debate: Approved

Requires Simple Majority Vote
YES: 103
NO: 45
Abstain: 7
Motion Carries
- - - - -
  • Articles 3 & 4 -- Amend General Bylaws -- Recreational Marijuana Facilities Prohibited & Amend Zoning Bylaw -- Recreational Marijuana Moratorium
Article 3 Proposes a General Bylaw that will effectuate an outright permanent ban of recreational Marijuana sales in Lexington. Article 4 proposes a temporary zoning bylaw moratorium on the licensing and siting of any recreational marijuana dispesary in Lexington. Any bylaw passed by TM must first receive AG's approval before it goes into effect. Therefore, waiting until the Spring TM in 2018 is not desirable if Lexington wants to prohibit or control the location of marijuana establishments.
BoS: 4 members support a Ban (help restrict access of marijuana to underage youth; 53% of Town opposed Ballot Q 4; Ch.55 of Acts of 2017 allows Cities and Towns that did not support Q4 to ban marijuana by a vote of the local Legislative Body (TM). Lexington majority didn't support the Ballot Q last fall); 1 member supports a Moratorium
PB: No position on Article 3; Article 4: 4-1 in support.
School Committee (SC): Unanimously supports Article 3; also supports Article 4.

Q Mic: Permanent Ban?
Town Counsel: Could be reversed by future TM, up to 2019.
NO Mic: Not so concerned about the effects of pot.
Q Mic: Ban proposes cultivation and testing?
Ciccolo: We did not discuss the testing.
YES Mic: Addiction to brains due to alcohol. Why would we want to further add to that? 
Citizens Mic: As parent, Town resident, scientist  is opposed.
NO Mic: Couldn't support a prohibition of any type.
YES Mic: Moral obligation to pass this Article.
Q Mic: Testing? I have an amendment (wants to strike "marijuana testing facility")
Town Counsel: To clarify - the terms used come directly from MGL Ch.94G
Citizens Mic: Parent, clinical SW, work with children and their families and this is my perspective: I urge you to vote YES on Article 3. Too many negative consequences.
NO Mic: Couple things: we did not legalize marijuana for children and/or teens. This is for adults. It's been here for a while. Economic opportunity.

Amendment: Add after "Ch 94 sec.1" the clause "other than  Marijuana Testing Facility"
BoS on the Amendment: 4-1 Opposed to the Amendment
SC on the Amendment: Supports the Amendment
YES Mic
(on the Amendment): I 
NO Mic (on the Amendment): I don't know what the definition of a Marijuana Testing Facility is.
Q Mic: For Counsel -- language put us in peril of having whole thing struck?
Town Council: Answer is the language uses statutory terms; Ch.94G is clear that a Town may have different types.
Vote on Amendment:
YES: 63
NO: 81
Abstain: 7
Motion fails

Back to the Main Motion.
Q Mic: SC referenced the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. How does marijuana use compare to alcohol -- binge drinking, included?
SC: Looking at the presentation that summarizes the data: Lifetime alcohol use -- could be at a holiday party -- Middle Schools: 31%; HS 65%. Binge drinking -- more than 5 drinks -- 10.7% 
Q Mic: Current marijuana use?
SC: 18.4% HS in their lifetimes; lower levels
Citizens Mic: Clergy member. Been working with at-risk youth for 20yrs. Lack of teaching for discretion. Discernment is lacking, not only for adults, but for kids. Alcohol isn't explicitly for drunkenness; marijuana is. We need to teach our children to handle stress and discernment.
NO Mic: Experimentation with marijuana is quite widespread already, that's not going to change. The scary thing is that you don't know what is in it; needs regulation. That's why I support. Would prefer a Townwide referendum on this question instead. My pitch for those concerned about our kids, stay concerned. Vote for the Moratorium -- see what the regulations are and revisit this when we know more.
Q Mic: BoS remind us of the total percentage of Town voted in November 2016? I'm struggling because many seem to think we have a mandate for a ban, but I don't see it.
MM: Turnout in November was 84%.
YES Mic: Thank you to the Citizens who came to speak on the impact of drugs on our youth. We have heard of drug overdoses of youth in Lexington.
TMM Calls the Q
Voice Vote: Ayes have it.
Ciccolo for the BoS: Heard a presentation from State Police who visited Colorado. This is all very new. No need to get ahead of this at this point. Banning makes sense.

Article 3 (Ban)
YES: 109
NO: 34
Abstain: 6
Motion Approved

Article 4 (Moratorium through 2018)
YES: 143
NO: 8
Abstain: 7
Motion Approved
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  • Article 5: Amend FY2018 Operating, Enterprise Fund
This Article allows for adjustments to the current fiscal year (FY18) appropriations, as approved ad the 2017 Annual Town Meeting. These amendments will bew used to make any other adjustments to the current fiscal year budgets and appropriations that may be necessary. Also, this article will determine whether the money shall be provided by transfer from available funds.
BoS: Unanimously supports
AC: Unanimously supports
Requires 2/3 Vote
YES: 135
NO: 0
Abstain: 1
Motion Carries
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  • Article 10: Amend General Bylaws -- Distribution of Town Election/Town Meeting Warrant
This Article proposes to amend the Town Bylaws to authorize the Board of Selectmen (BoS) and the Town Clerk (TC) to alter the means of distributing the Warrant to all households.
BoS: Unanimously support

NO Mic: This body has an obligation to inform residents with hard copies mailed to them.
YES Mic: I'm a fan of electronic docs.
Q Mic: Is there data from recycling folks in Town that Warrants are in fact being recycled at a high rate? Or, is this annectdotal evidence?
BoS: No, we have no data on the recycling rate.
Then, TMM urges NO: Town Meeting is a public structure unique to New England. Receiving a hard copy encourages civic engagement.
NO Mic: In favor of getting electronic as quickly as possible, but also hard copies to households.
No Mic: It's our job as TMMs to engage our people.
TMM Calls Q
Voice Vote: Unanimous

Simple Majority 
YES: 25
NO: 103
Abstain: 0
Motion Fails
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  • Article 11: Appropriate for Lexington High School Security System Design
This Article seeks funding for the Engineering and Architectural Design of improvements to the security system at LHS. Enhanced security at eight elementary and two middle schools have already been implemented.

The LHS project is more complicated because of its multiple buildings and open campus. Annual Town Meeting 2017 appropriated funds for an upgraded Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) system, which is similar to the system at the other schools and the Central Administration Building. The upgrade was completed this past summer.

Shawn Newell, Public Facilities makes the presentation. Current security level at LHS: 38 sets of doors remain unlocked throughout the school day; No changes to parking; No perimeter fencing; No change to visitor management. (District Security Level includes all of the immediate above).
SC: Unanimously supports
BoS: Unanimously supports
AC: Unanimously supports
CEC: Unanimously supports

Q Mic: Why is this coming up now and not at the ATM?
Valente: With new HS principal coming on, consulted with them.
Q Mic: Will the same apply with the new Superintendent?
Valente: Can't answer that.
SC: Not concerned with new superintendent. The reason for getting input from principal is because they are in the building and it was important. It is a priority for the SC.

Simple Majority Vote
YES: 115
NO: 3
Abstain: 1
Motion Passes

STM-3 Dissolved
10:56 PM
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* Because a STM was held on the first day of Annual Town Meeting this past Spring, the two Fall STMs have been designated "Special Town Meeting 2017-2" (appropriate for three long-pending capital projects) and "Special Town Meeting 2017-3", which includes:
  • 8 financially-related Articles seeking updates to FY18 Operating, Capital, and Enterprise Fund Budgets;
  • 2 Community Preservation Act Projects (Housing -- potential IP and Land -- Pending);
  • 2 Amend General Bylaw (Recreational Marijuana & Distribution of Town Election/Town Meeting Warrant)
  • 2 Amend Zoning Bylaw (45-55-65 Hayden Avenue & Recreational Marijuana Moratorium)
  • 2 Appropriate Design Funds (Visitors Center + LHS Security System enahncements)
Two STM-3 Articles were approved Monday (Articles 6 & 7 -- Specified Stabilization Funds and Amend Revolving Fund Authorization) and 2 STM-3 Articles were IP'd (Articles 9 & 13).