Submission of the Record on Round/Table Meeting held on March 13, 2019 to conduct a preliminary discussion on the Cambridge Public School Department Budget for Fiscal Year 2020

1 ROUNDTABLE/WORKING MEETING TO CONDUCT A PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION ON THE CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOL DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020 DATE MARCH 13, 2019 TIME 5:36 PM LOCATION SULLIVAN CHAMBER ATTENDEES Mayor McGovern, Councillor Carlone, Vice Mayor Devereux, Councillor Kelley, Councillor Siddiqui, Councillor Simmons, Councillor Toomey, Councillor Zondervan, Louis DePasquale, City Manager, Lisa Peterson, Deputy City Manager, David Kale, Assistant City Manager for Fiscal Affairs, Ellen Semonoff, Assistant City Manager for Human Service Programs, Taha Jennings, Acting Budget Director, Paula Crane, Deputy City Clerk and Donna P. Lopez, City Clerk. School Committee members: Manikka L. Bowman, Emily Dexter, Patricia Nolan and Dosha Beard, Confidential Secretary, School Committee, Dr. Kenneth Salim, Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Carolyn Turk, Deputy Superintendent of Schools, Maryann MacDonald, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, Anda Adams, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Barbara Allen, Executive Director of Human Resources, James Maloney, CEO, School Department, Claire Spinner, CFO, School Department, Ivy Washington, Assistant Director of Budget and Financial Operations and Elizabeth Liss, Education Liaison for Mayor McGovern. DISCUSSION SUMMARY Mayor McGovern convened the meeting at 5:36 PM. He stated that a few years ago these Roundtable/Working meetings where scheduled to talk about the budget prior to the budget vote. He noted that the first time the City Council would see the School Department budget was the night of the vote which resulted in an awkward position. This meeting is helpful to get questions answered. He reminded the City Council that the role of the City Council is to vote on the School Department budget either up or down. He stated that this is an opportunity to better understand the School Department budget. He stated that the City Council has no control on how the money is spent. Ms. Bowman stated her concerns about holding this Roundtable with the City Council because of where they are at this point in the budget cycle, so it feels a bit awkward to have a conversation. Mayor McGovern stated that many times the budget hearing in May was awkward because the City Council may have had questions, so this is an opportunity to ask questions of the Superintendent before the formal budget presentation. It is an informational meeting.

2 Dr. Salim stated that this is a meeting that was scheduled for February 12, 2019 but was cancelled due to weather. This is an information-sharing meeting. He stated that tonight they will share information around the current fiscal year. He stated that they will be running through key initiatives related to the 2018-2019 school year. He gave an overview of the PowerPoint presentation (ATTACHMENT A). On May 8, 2019 the adopted School Department budget will be presented to the City Council. He stated that another part of the district plan is to set seven measurable objectives. Dr. Salim spoke about the diversity of the school workforce and the school climate and the student survey. He spoke about the five strategic objectives for the district plan and the work done to define equity and racial equity. He spoke about the FY19 district plan initiatives. He stated that leveling up is to provide all students with access to honor classes. Students that need additional support are provided similar courses. The seventh-grade enhanced math program was launched, and students are provided individualized support if needed. He stated that this year the complete roll out to all students was done to provide take home computers to all students. He added that family partnership was also an investment in the budget this year. Dr. Salim now focused on the FY20 School Department budget. He spoke about the five factors that shape the priorities for the budget. He explained that specific conversations with call room educators were held. The strategic investment for elementary schools came out of a Roundtable discussion. The formula for instructional aides was changed to assist students He stated that the implementation of the District Plan initiatives will be continued. There is a post-grad program to help support students. He stated that the trend over the past five years shows that the enrollment is increasing. He outlined the budget development timeline. He acknowledged the commitment from the City Manager for the schools. Dr. Salim stated that the FY 20 budget includes a 5.6% increase with a total budget exceeding $200 million. He added that the vast increase in the budget is in people; there are fifty-nine more full time employees in the budget. Mayor McGovern commented that there are not too many districts that have added 147 positions over three years. He stated that this shows the commitment to support the students. He noted that it is important for the City Manager to talk about expenditures that go to the schools that do not appear in the budget. City Manager DePasquale spoke about the partnership between the City and the School Department. He stated that the School Department budget comes primarily from taxes; the City has alternative revenues that the School Department does not have. He stated with three new schools it will be about $500 million dollars. He stated that while doing the schools there is $6 million this year in capital expenses, the free breakfast program at school comes from the City budget. He said that there is an additional $36 million to capital expenses. He stated that at least $9 million is related to the FY19 budget. He stated that 11 items that Human Services are involved in working with the School Department. He stated that in this budget there is $19 million related to King Open Extended Day, Agenda for Children, Community Engagement Team, Inclusionary Initiative, Center for Families, BabyU, Early Childhood, Community Schools, Childcare, Youth Programs, College Success, the Mayors’ Youth Program and internships.

3 Councillor Carlone thanked Dr. Salim for the presentation. He said that the range of the programs is impressive and the stretch of all the efforts is all-encompassing. He said that if someone is not up to the level in English, math or reading, are their programs to help students. Dr. Salim responded that the model of the multi-tiered system of support is about leveraging the many other resources. He said that other support and counselors can provide those supports. They are trying to move toward having more of this support happening in the classroom. In addition, they are looking at leveraging times such as summer. For the upcoming summer, there is partnership with MIT on a summer literacy program to prevent summer learning loss and augment supports. He said that this may be something that may be able to be scaled up in a larger way in future years. He said that they continue to try to strengthen collaboration with out of school time partners. He said that some of the work that they are proposing is exploring a launch for the elementary school network. He stated that this is a wraparound approach. He noted that at the middle grades, they are looking at school vacation weeks to have an academic and enrichment program. He stated that there are also a number of Saturday enrichment programs. He said that they have had a focus on how to use assessments. He said that this is not only formal assessments. He said that information assessments help to check for students’ understanding. Councillor Carlone said that the feedback is working with the children that need the extra assistance. He asked if there is follow-up. Dr. Salim said that it is about monitoring progress. Mayor McGovern said that all 4 of his children needed extra support in reading and that support was received outside of the classroom. He commented that it made a world of difference. Vice Mayor Devereux asked about the enrollment growth projections. She said that the graphs stop with the coming school year, but the growth does not stop. She asked if it is primarily in the lower grades, certain neighborhoods, high schools and how does it impact transportation cost. Dr. Salim responded that they are looking at ways to be creative around scheduling to support the needs of the students. In the last couple of years, it has been more at the high school. He said that in the lower grades, there are very high applications at the Student Registration Center and that does have some impact on transportation as well as the new developments. He stated that they see very full first grade classes across the schools. He said that they have looked at how to address space needs because they are very real. Vice Mayor Devereux said that in looking at the number of new full-time equivalents, are we getting additional personnel for addition support? Dr. Salim responded that this breaks down to 26.5 are enrollment based and 32.5 are related to planned strategic initiatives. Councillor Siddiqui stated that regarding STEAM, she would like an update regarding the budget. She asked how it is reflected in 2020. Dr. Salim said that there are ways that are not additional budget issues, but part of the work is how we are using existing resources in different ways. He said that the robust partnerships have been in collaboration with the math and science departments. He spoke of the Biogen’s investment in Cambridge and Somerville to support STEAM initiatives. He said that there are a number of non-profit organizations that have been the recipients of support. He noted that the Broad Institute has a long-standing partnership with science teachers. He spoke about leveraging other City Departments to augment STEAM experiences for students.

4 Councillor Siddiqui asked what community input looks like as it relates to budget priorities. Dr. Salim stated that they had a public budget hearing focused on educator voice with more budget hearings in January and February to gather input in a public setting so that committee members could hear from the community members. Dr. Salim said that they provide babysitting at those sessions and they have invited people to share e-mails and information. Councillor Kelley said that for many years there has been no meaningful change in terms of achievement issues. He said that he knows that it is not all on the School Department to deal with these gaps, but he does not know why this budget is going to provide the change that past budgets have not. He said that if there is something that the School Department needs, we should not be held to 5.6% increase to give our kids the education that they need to succeed. He said that he is heartbroken that all kids are not getting the education that his children did. Ms. Nolan noted that it is true, there have been similar goals but there has been uneven achievement. She stated that the 8th grade Math scores went up dramatically and the three-year goal was met in one year. She said that there was a significant increase across all subgroups in MCAS. She said that there are many schools that are performing in the 90th percentile in the state. She said there are bright spots. She said that the question is how to use the money and resources and this budget is trying to craft such a plan on research and evidence based. As we move forward, we need to continue asking tough questions. She said that this budget builds on past work and we need to hold all accountable to measure results and make needed adjustments. Dr. Salim stated that they have been very explicit and open around the targets and where they are falling short. An on-line Data Dashboard was launched last year that shows the gap around different demographic sub-groups across all the outcome measures. He said that this is important. He said that it was important to have measurable outcomes and targets and clearly communicate progress. He said that in addition to work in the district, they are continuing to measure success after high school. He said that there is a mindset around improvement, particularly when thinking what happens in the classrooms and schools. Mayor McGovern stated that everyone is frustrated that certain young people go through our schools and go off to great colleges and yet there are kids that drop out of Bunker Hill. He said that the hope is that we have a community that is so rich in resources that we should be able to overcome these issues. He said that what he likes about this budget is that it responds to what the teachers have said. He said that these positions will directly impact the city’s young people. Ms. Dexter stated that they are adding 26 new class time positions which is about 1 position per 200 kids. She spoke about wraparound program. She talked about partnering with the City for a universal out of school time networks. Dr. Salim stated that the idea around an elementary out of school time network really grows out of the idea that there could be something about giving greater access to families. He said that some of the systems and structures are not as optimizing as they could be. It is the 8-6 whole day experience for the student that we need to leverage as part of a student’s social emotional as well as academic learning with adults that they trust and can engage with.

5 Councillor Kelley stated that if we go back to the Innovation Agenda or any other interventions, they have not given us the academic results that we want. He said that he looked for some feedback on the Innovation Agenda. He said that he has no clue if the Innovation Agenda did what it was supposed to do. He said that there is a lot of faith that goes into a budget, but he lacks a lot of faith seeing minimal improvement over the years. He said that he is skeptical, lacking some better formal process of review. Dr. Salim said that regarding accountability, schools as a sector operate in one of the more codified accountability systems through a state accountability system and the federal government. He said that what we are talking about is that it is not just about the money, it is about how we are using the resources that we have. He noted that we are not doing planning just through a budgeting process. He said that it is about how we are using our time, how we are using staff to meet the needs of students, focusing on equity and access, family engagement and improvement. He said that they are seeing some areas where there is some improvement. Another area that they have invested in is the work around research and assessment evaluation. This has supported schools in more effectively using data. Councillor Carlone stated that he applauds what is being done. He said that many are advocates for expanding pre-k and bringing kids to a place where their expectation of themselves is higher. He said that this would help the final product. He said that when thinking about the 8th grade Math scores, he thought about the literacy at 3rd grade level is less productive. He asked if we have learned from what has worked in 8th grade that could be used in the 3rd grade. He asked if reading is so different that teaching that is more personal. Dr. Salim said that they saw a 7-point improvement last year on 3rd Grade MCAS. He said that they are looking at other spaces, so the attention is to summer programming and literacy support. Dr. Salim said that they can share the report from November on the most recent MCAS performance. Ms. Nolan said that in 8th grade math, they met their three-year goal in one year. Ms. Nolan said that the Innovation Agenda has not been assessed. She said that early literacy comes down to a quality program. Mayor McGovern stated that no one is saying that we are at the point where we want to be, but he feels that looking at one measure is always the best thing. Councillor Kelley said that what he sees in the MCAS results reflects a host of other things that are indicators of academic success. He said that the City has seen an increase in the achievement gap in the 8th grade MCAS despite 17 years of a per capital expenditure per student close to double at the rate of inflation despite three major innovation attempts. He stated that the 8th grade numbers are not impressive. Councillor Simmons concurred with Councillor Kelley. She said that most of the School Committee was present for the Innovation Agenda. She said that one of the biggest selling point of the Innovation Agenda was that it was going to decrease the achievement gap which it did not. She said that at some point, we must determine the core problem. She stated that for all the resources that Cambridge has for the achievement gap to be flatlining is unfortunate. Dr. Salim said that they highlight the 2017-2018 changes because there was a change to the assessment. He said that the state found that the previous test was not aligning to what student’s needed to be successful after high school. He said that the next generation MCAS will be coming to the high school

6 and will have an impact on the high school relating to graduation. He stated that the School Department try to determine what the best strategies overtime with a focus on progress monitoring. Councillor Simmons said that they invited Charter Schools and their best practices. She said that there are Charter Schools in the district that do well. She said that the answers are out there. She asked how they do well with less and the City of Cambridge Schools do so poorly with more. She said that it is within our ability to turn this around. She commented that it is frustrating to have these conversations year after year. She said that she is impressed about the diversity work that is being done. Dr. Salim stated that the dialogue with Charter Schools is important. Vice Mayor Devereux said that it would be valuable to revisit the idea of meeting with the Charter Schools. Vice Mayor Devereux asked about hiring educators of color. Dr. Salim responded that they are at 24% with educators of color. They exceed 30% when looking at administrators and paraprofessional. He stated that work that is being done is working with administrators where implicit bias can exist in the hiring process and how to mitigate this and to be creative at how job descriptions are crafted. Vice Mayor Devereux asked if they have done the Behavioral Interviewing trainings. She asked if this is something that the School Department has been offered? Dr. Salim said that they did have training on this subject. Dr. Salim said that 46% of new hires this year were teachers of color of which 33% where male teachers of color. Ms. Dexter stated that for students who are economically disadvantages, 70% in math are below expectations. She said that when thinking about the high school and what transfer students are getting from K-8, the resources cannot be compared to what these transfer students have received from private schools. Mayor McGovern noted that there is a lot of work to do but the City of Cambridge has incredibly hardworking people in the school district. Mayor Simmons stated that she spoke as a policy maker and we all have a role in this. She said that she hopes no one would feel that we are just making this the responsibility of the teachers. Councillor Kelley stated that the numbers are the numbers despite everyone’s hard work. He said that if it takes more money for better results, he is willing to have this conversation. He said that the 8th grade MCAS numbers are horrible. He said that he does not want anyone walking out of the room thinking that he is happy. He said that the City has not moved the needle in any meaningful way despite the effort. Councillor Siddiqui stated that there are things that are happening citywide that the public many not be aware of. She said that it is important to work with existing programs to make Math a focus. She said that there is existing work being undertaken. She said that the Family Policy Council has been talking about this and work is happening. Councillor Carlone noted that this is a group that has two responsibilities, but everyone cares about the kids and the schools. The purpose is to learn where the school is going as it relates to the budget. He said that he picked up on the vibe of School Committee members and the subjects that were presented.

7 He stated that we are present to share our point of view. He said that everyone present appreciates the efforts and he stated that he can see a difference at the high school. He commented that there is a social caring that is much more prevalent which is tremendous. Vice Mayor Devereux commented that she does not have any numbers before her. She stated that she does not know the extent of the gaps. She said that as a City Councillor, she spends time talking about programs in the Human Services Department. She said that she does not know how to be more supportive. She noted that she feels helpless given that there is no direct control over the budget. She said that in future presentations, she wanted the gaps on paper and share the information with the City Council. Mayor McGovern said that School Committee will have a workshop and come back to the City Council in May. On a motion by Vice Mayor Devereux the meeting adjourned at 7:28 PM.