A communication regarding information from the School Committee’s Public Hearing on the FY21 Budget & Budget Workshop …

Principal Smith also provided updates at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, outlining efforts to expand student access to college credits, the evolution of the Level Up program, and what CRLS is doing to provide social-emotional learning and mental health supports. I want to highlight that supporting the CPSD administration in creating Early College pathways for underprivileged students, by way of formal state designation, is an area of particular interest to me as Chair of the School Committee.

The comments from the Public Hearing portion of the meeting centered around revisiting the budget to address the root causes of racial equities as well as the achievement gaps that continue to widen in the face of COVID-19.

In his closing remarks, Superintendent Salim announced that his team has been listening very intently to the discussions and ideas presented during the budget process and that he will share his responses to the concerns that have been raised—particularly around how this budget builds on the anti-racism work—at the next Budget Workshop on April 28th. He also stated that we are facing a new reality that is very different from when the budget was initially formed and that he will meet with City Manager Louis A. DePasquale to discuss the possibility of extra funding as he continues to monitor the information provided by the state and federal governments.

Governor Baker announced this past Tuesday, April 21st, that while this does not mean remote learning will stop, all school buildings will stay closed for the remainder of the school year. This will certainly be very hard on our seniors, who have long looked forward to this monumental time in their lives. The School Committee and district are working hard to provide as much support as possible as they make this difficult transition.

Following my motion that was passed in the April 7th Regular School Committee Meeting, the Curriculum & Achievement Subcommittee and the Special Education & Student Support Subcommittee separately convened last Friday, April 17th, to begin a series of conversations—open to the community—around distance learning best practices, engaging community partners to plan and implement supports for the most vulnerable students, and addresssing learning loss in preparation for extended closures due to the COVID- 19 crisis.

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, suggestions, or concerns.

Respectfully,

Sumbul Siddiqui