information from the School Committee held on October 6, 2020

Cambridge City Hall | 795 Massachusetts Avenue | Cambridge, MA 02139 ssiddiqui@cambridgema.gov│[phone removed]│tty: [phone removed]│cambridgema.gov 1 OFFICE OF THE MAYOR Sumbul Siddiqui Mayor To: Cambridge City Council From: Sumbul Siddiqui, Mayor Date: October 15, 2020 Subject: Communicating information from the School Committee To the Honorable, the City Council: At the School Committee’s last Regular Meeting on October 6th, Superintendent Salim gave this presentation to provide a back-to-school update before reopening our school buildings on Tuesday, October 13th. We heard from many educators and families during and prior to Public Comment about their excitement as well as concerns. My School Committee colleagues and I took their statements to heart as we did several walkthroughs of the school buildings to see how well they were prepared for reopening. We were impressed by all the measures taken to provide a safe environment for our educators and scholars. On Tuesday, October 13th, we welcomed back some of our youngest learners and students in specialized programs for in-person classes. My colleagues and I visited school buildings that morning to greet students and their families as they excitedly entered their new classrooms. I was able to stop by the King, Morse, and Peabody schools. Now that we have students back in school, we must continue following our protocols for wearing masks, staying socially distant, and staying home if we feel sick. Please check out CPSD’s “What Should I Do? A Daily Health Checklist and Responses to Different COVID Situations” as well as this Overview of Safety and Health Plans to see the various measures CPSD has taken to prepare for safe in-person learning. In addition to engaging with the families of our in-person learners, I have joined CRLS’s #HerVote club’s #HerVote project with the Radcliffe Institute to help continue shaping the way we understand women’s role in our democratic processes. I encourage you all to also download and print this template, to write your own response, and share it with us on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #HerVote. I signed a proclamation last week to recognize October as Dyslexia Awareness Month in Cambridge. City Hall was lit up red from Tuesday, October 13th through Friday, October 16th. I have also separately filed resolutions on this with the City Council as well as the School Committee.

Cambridge City Hall | 795 Massachusetts Avenue | Cambridge, MA 02139 ssiddiqui@cambridgema.gov│[phone removed]│tty: [phone removed]│cambridgema.gov 2 Due to rain, our next Family Resource Fair on Saturday, October 17th has been rescheduled to the following Saturday, October 24th. It will still be from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on the Cambridge Public Library lawn. This will be a quick grab-and-go event for answering back- to-school questions and sharing resources. The School Committee’s next Regular Meeting will be at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, October 20th, 2020. The agenda is available here. I have submitted a motion asking that the school administration provide the School Committee with monthly data on the number and percentages of students facing chronic absenteeism at each school so that we can better identify and support our most vulnerable youth. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, suggestions, or concerns. Respectfully, Sumbul Siddiqui