Letter from Mayor Siddiqui, communicating information from the School Committee

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: November 5, 2020 Subject: Communicating information from the School Committee To the Honorable, the City Council: On Friday, October 30th, the Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee convened to discuss the current health and safety metrics and hear from CPSD’s scientific advisors. The scientific advisors wrote a letter with proposed revisions to the metrics, suggesting that the scope of our metrics narrow in order to focus on more Cambridge-specific data. The Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee unanimously passed a motion onto the full School Committee to accept the recommended changes. The video for this meeting is available here. These proposed revisions are to be discussed and voted on at the School Committee’s next Special Meeting on Thursday, November 5th. Please see the agenda here. In keeping with guidance established by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, for this year only, CPSD will not cancel school on days of heavy snow, and instead will have a remote learning day on such days. Remote learning on snow days will be required to meet all the state's requirements governing remote learning. On Saturday, November 14th, I will be hosting one more Family Resource Fair with the Cambridge Public Schools outside the Pisani Center from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM. I will share more details on this next week. As I announced last week, Elevate Youth, the WorkForce Program, and my Office are extending the Local Parks Program through November 18th. Due to daylight savings, programming will run from 2:30-4:30 PM (instead of 3:30-5:30 PM) on Mondays and Wednesdays at Danehy Park. If you have or know of a 4th or 5th grader who would benefit from social and emotional learning activities centered around structured time in the outdoors, please have them submit an application ASAP. We still have spots!

Cambridge City Hall | 795 Massachusetts Avenue | Cambridge, MA 02139 ssiddiqui@cambridgema.gov│[phone removed]│tty: [phone removed]│cambridgema.gov 2 Our upcoming meetings are as follows: • Thursday, November 5th, 2020 o Governance Subcommittee Meeting | 4:00 PM ▪ Discussing the code of ethics and reviewing ways to support school councils o Special Meeting | 6:00 PM ▪ Discussing and voting on the updated changes to the CPSD metrics • Tuesday, November 10th, 2020 o Joint Roundtable with the School Committee City Council ▪ discussing the impact of COVID-19 on Cambridge Public Schools • Thursday, November 17th, 2020 o Regular Meeting | 6:00 PM • Wednesday, November 18th, 2020 o Special Education and Student Supports Subcommittee Meeting | 6:00 PM ▪ Discussing the reading level benchmark data, resources to scholars reading below grade level, dyslexia indicators, and professional development to educators Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, suggestions, or concerns. Respectfully, Sumbul Siddiqui