information from the School Committee’s Special Meeting and Regular Meeting

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR Sumbul Siddiqui Mayor To: Cambridge City Council From: Sumbul Siddiqui, Mayor Date: June 18, 2020 Subject: Communicating information from the School Committee’s Special Meeting and Regular Meeting To the Honorable, the City Council: This past Tuesday, June 16th, the School Committee and administration had a Special Meeting for the purposes of interviewing Superintendent Salim’s recommendations of Dr. Michelle Madera for the position of Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education and Dr. Nicole Gittens for the position of Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education. After this Special Meeting, we had our Regular Meeting with Public Comment. At the Special Meeting, my colleagues asked the candidates very important about their visions, accountability, and working in coalition. By a unanimous vote, Dr. Nicole Gittens was appointed as CPSD’s new Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education and with a 6-1 vote, with my voting no, Dr. Michelle Madera was appointed as CPSD’s new Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education. Congratulations to them both. I also want to welcome our new Student Members Muriel Vera-Degraff and Anais Killian to the School Committee. Following the confirmation of our new Assistant Superintendents, we continued with our Regular Meeting, where Superintendent Salim presented his COVID-19 Response Update. He provided information about student engagement data and my colleagues demanded more specificity. He also gave an update on CPSD’s summer efforts. It was announced that a student survey went out to grades 6-12 on June 15th and that another would be sent to families on June 17th. We are also expected to see additional guidance from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on June 19th. On Friday, June 18th, the Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee will convene from 12:30-2:00pm to continue the conversation on CPSD’s facilities planning, particularly as it pertains to COVID-19 recovery. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, suggestions, or concerns. Respectfully, Sumbul Siddiqui