Good morning.

My name is Ben Weber.

I'm the city councilor for District 6 and the chair of the Boston City Council on Ways and Means.

Today is April 16th, 2026, and the exact time is uh 1010.

Um this hearing is being recorded.

It's also being live streamed at Boston.gov slash city-council dash TV and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82, and FIOS Channel 964.

The City Council's budget review process encompasses a series of public hearings beginning in April running through June.

We strongly encourage residents to take a moment to engage in this process by giving testimony for the record.

You can do this in several ways.

One, you can attend one of our hearings and give public testimony.

We will take public testimony at the end of uh each departmental hearing and also at two hearings dedicated solely to public testimony.

Uh the full hearing schedules on our website at Boston.gov/slash council-budget.

Our scheduled hearings uh dedicated to public testimony, which call listening sessions, are in person in City Hall on Tuesday, April 28th at 6 p.m.

and in person in City Hall again on Thursday, May 26th at 6 p.m.

You can give testimony in person here in the chamber or virtually via Zoom.

For in-person testimony, please come to the chamber and sign up on the sheet near the entrance, which I'll just point to for anyone.

And uh for virtual testimony, you can sign up using our online form on our council budget review website, or by emailing the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov, or by emailing Krishma Chohan, that's K-A-R-I-S-H-M-A.CHOUHAN at Boston.gov.

Uh when you are called to testify, uh you can yeah, please state your name and your affiliation, your residence, and uh limit your comments to two minutes to ensure all the comments can be heard.

Um email your written testimony to the committee at ccc.

Or sorry, two that's one is show up in testify in person.

Two, you can email your written testimony to the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov.

That's so you can submit written testimony.

Or you can, number three, you can submit a two-minute video of your testimony through the form on our website.

For more information on the city council budget process and how to testify, please visit the city council's budget website at Boston.gov slash council-budget.

In-person public testimony will be taken following the first round of counselor questions.

Uh individuals will be called on in the order in which they have signed up and will have two minutes to testify.

If you wish to sign up for public testimony, have not done so already.

Please email Krishma Chohan or Central Staff Liaison.

Again, her email is K-A-R-I-S-H-M-A dot C H O U H A N at Boston.gov for the zoom link and your name will be added to the list.

This morning's hearing on docket number the numbers 0733 to 0740 will focus on the Boston public schools.

This hearing will cover topics including chronic absenteeism, unhoused students, student supports, athletics, uh um uh uh alternative education, career and technical education, and early college.

This is one of a series of hearings to review not only the uh the FY27 budget but the BPS budget.

Um I want to note uh and just remind my colleagues that uh BPS central office budget is relevant to discussion at any of our BPS hearings, given the overlap of this budget with many of our specific subtopics.

In the case of this particular hearing services uh that are either completely or partially central funded or are things uh we can uh expect uh our panelists should be expected to be able to address you know at certainly this hearing, I think or this afternoon's hearing, I believe tomorrow as well.

Um these matters were sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu and referred to the committee on April 8th uh 2026, is that right?

Um I'm not sure that's when this was referred.

But anyway, uh today I'm joined by my colleagues in order of arrival, uh Councillor Braden, Councilor Fitzgerald, and I received a letter of absence from Councillor Flynn.

No, I'm just kidding.

He's right here and he was here first.

Um I have received uh a letter of absence from Councillor Culpeper.

Um, based on our practice, we're we're waiving uh uh uh opening statements from counselors, which is if you have a presentation, let's hear it and you know I will give my colleagues some more time so they can make any statement they want to before they get to questions.

So uh I just I'll introduce the panel.

Um we're joined by superintendent of Boston Public Schools, Mary Skipper, Chief Financial Officer for Boston Public Schools, David Bloom, Chief Student Support Chief of Student Supports for Boston Public Schools, uh Corey McCarthy, senior deputy superintendent of operations, Dr.

Sam Dupina, uh Deputy Superintendent of Academics, uh Dr.

Simone Wright, uh welcome.

Uh this is your first budget process with us, right?

Um secondary uh superintendent for college career in life readiness, uh, Brett Dickens.

Is that okay?

Uh and um did I have all the panels?

I had uh director of educational operations, Carlos Diaz on the on the list.

Okay.

Here.

Okay, great.

Um so available to answer questions.

So if you have uh presentation, uh anything you want to convey, uh was your challenge.

Wonderful.

I just have um some opening comments, and then we'll just get right into council questions.

Uh so first I just wanted to thank you, Councillor Weber, Council Fitzgerald, his vice chair, and all of our city counselors.

Uh we really appreciate being invited here today to officially begin the FY27 council budget process, giving us the opportunity to present our 1.73 billion dollar budget spending for the upcoming fiscal year.

Uh as you know, after two months of public hearings, robust discussion and community feedback, the Boston School Committee unanimously passed the BPS budget on March 25th.

Today begins the next step in our budget process.

I'd like to thank Councillor Weber for his leadership during this budget season.

We appreciate having the opportunity to outline our budget planning and overall strategy early in the process, as the city council has given us over the past several years.

You know many members of my team from the Ways and Means Committee working session that was held on March 5th, where we had our initial budget conversation, and you'll see many of the topics that we discussed reflected in our FY27 budget.

As I've said before, your constituents are our constituents.

They're the same students, parents, caregivers that attend our schools.

And we know that when you advocate for programs and resources on behalf of them, you're also speaking for our school communities, our families, and our students.

As Counselor Weber indicated, there's a full panel here today to give you the information, answer as many of the questions as you have.

Um each budget cycle for us is different.

It presents our own channel different challenges.

Since we first began discussing our FY27 budget plans last fall, we've been fully transparent about the difficulties we're facing as a district and how we're addressing them.

They're actually very consistent with what districts across the country and the state are also facing.

Um these pressures that we're facing include rising costs of health insurance, transportation, increased special education services, and collective bargaining obligations.

This creates a great deal of tension in our budget, which is further complicated by a historic enrollment decline, due in part largely for federal immigration policy and lower birth rates.

It's through this lens we began our budget planning last fall, both at schools and centrally.

Working closely with schools and central office departments over the past several months.

We've identified operational efficiencies and reductions that protect our priorities.

We eliminated costs that no longer directly benefit students by funding operational efficiencies in the areas of transportation, safety services, food and nutrition services.

These are not choices that we ever make lightly, but they will continue to allow us to allocate 93% of our funding to services and programs that directly impact and benefit our schools and classrooms.

These decisions will allow us to continue supporting and building on our long-term investments, the use of high-quality instructional materials in every school, the use of high, the use of um ongoing implementation of the inclusive education plan, strong academics, especially with a focus on literacy, social emotional supports for our students, bilingual program expansion, and strengthening our existing programs, and continuing to build college and career pathways for our secondary schools.

This budget allows us to continue to invest in what's working and having the greatest impact on student success.

Last month we celebrated a major milestone for our secondary schools, the highest graduation rate in the district's history, and almost a full percentage decrease in our annual dropout.

DESI data showed the district's 2024 four-year cohort graduation rate increased 81.3%, which was a full 1.6 percentage increase from the previous year, marking the strongest graduation outcome for our district since we began keeping record in 2006.

This means over 400 more students graduated in the 2025 cohort compared to the 2024.

Simultaneously, we are encouraged by the continuing decline in the number of students leaving school before earning a diploma.

Our annual dropout rate fell to 3.6%, which was almost a full percentage decrease from the previous year, and that would have represented the lowest rate on record aside from the pandemic year of 2021.

This decrease reflects over a hundred less students, and I think it's important to put face to these stats.

We attribute the growth in part to important district wide investments that you have allowed us as counsel that we've made in strengthening instruction and student supports, expanding early college and career pathways, and addressing chronic absenteism, which is going to be one of the topics of today's hearing.

The decrease can also be attributed to some of the work of our re-engagement team, which consistently connects with students who've dropped out and helps them to take necessary steps to graduate.

This is just one example of how our fiscal decisions are moving the direct the district in the right direction.

We look forward to sharing more details about it as we build on the momentum of this hearing and at the hearings this afternoon and tomorrow.

This morning we're excited to share details about initiatives, programs, services.

This budget supports that address the needs of the whole child and our students' physical and emotional well-being.

And later today, my team will explain how our investments in operations mean that they will continue to provide students with nutritious, healthy meals, transportation services, and safe, clean facilities, especially following this winter's historic snow.

Today we'll also take a deeper or tomorrow, we'll also take a deeper look at our core work in academics, including our progress in rolling out inclusive education, special education services, programming for multilingual learners, as well as partnerships, student and family engagement, summer programming, and how we are supporting students and families in schools that are closing and merging.

The goal of these hearings is to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of our spending, how we make decisions, how those decisions are directly benefiting and impacting our students.

So thank you again for collaboration and continuing to put our students and families first in our city.

So with that, back to you, Chair.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh Councillor Flynn, we're gonna go seven minutes uh for a first round.

I do think there's uh announcement about a fire commissioner, it's taking place right now, I think, uh so that might explain more of my colleagues will be showing up after that's over.

Um, Counselor Flynn, seven minutes.

Thank thank you, Mr.

Chair, and thank you to um Superintendent Skipper and our team for being here.

I have the opportunity to read much of the fiscal year 2027 adopted budget book that was provided to us and continue to focus on it.

Um one issue I do want to highlight, and just reviewing reviewing my notes, but um, as it relates to student athletes.

Um why doesn't BPS athletes have the same kind of opportunities as students in surrounding districts, and why can't we add more assistant coaches for teams and programs with many with many students?

Uh there should be a clear process for assistant coaches as well.

I know we are experiencing cuts, but I do believe this this should be a priority.

Any any feedback on that issue.

Good morning.

Good morning to the members of the City Council.

Uh my name is Corey McCarthy.

Um good question.

So we have, other than the financial constraints, um, assistant coaches have not been built historically, was not built into the BPS funding model for athletics.

Um that's something we've worked hard to change over the past two or three years.

Um currently, students um student schools have JV.

If you have the numbers, you get an appropriate um assistant coach or a junior varsity coach.

So if you have a, for instance, if you have a low numbers in varsity and you have less than the year allotted roster, most teams are um are not afforded the um the JV coach, which serves as the assistant coach.

Having a model across 31 schools in comparison to the other districts who tend who have like a single school model, like a Reading or Wuburn, they have a single school model, and they're allowed to budget for that assistant coach.

Given that we have multiple teams and some restrictions on the budget, we are not able to afford to provide a coach, an assistant, direct assistant to the head coach for the team.

There are some areas where we're able to do that based on the particular numbers, and that's something that we're working to systemize in terms of triggering an assistant coach via like having more.

So if you're a school now that has a roster of 12, you have a head coach, but if you're another school as 36, that's not fair for that head coach.

So we work current, we work our channels to try to hire some support for that coach.

Well, thank you.

I I do believe that every school that has a team should have a paid assistant coach.

I do think it's critical.

It supports the students with mentorship, it is it supports a student with athletics and uh helping that student navigate and get their homework done and um counseling, um, but I do think an assistant coach is critical, and I I do want to kind of challenge my city council colleagues on that issue that assistant coaches are important as our coaches.

Let me let me go on to um another another issue.

Um thank you, Superintendent, again, for being here.

Um one of the issues, one of the concerns I had, uh Superintendent, is I listened closely to the school committee vote two weeks ago.

And obviously have respect for you, but I also have respect for um the chair of the school committee, uh Miss Robinson.

But she mentioned that she wished there was a before she voted, she wished there was an audit done of BPS.

Um and she's been in the system, knows the system as well as as well as anybody, well respected educator.

Um that was an important that was an important comment she brought forward.

Do you agree with her?

And what are we doing to support someone like Chair Robinson that that needs that data so she's able to ask better questions?

She needs that data to to be a better school school committee person.

She's an exceptional school committee person, but she does need that data, and and so does this the city council.

Great.

So thank you, Council Flynn, and always appreciate your advocacy for the schools.

Um I have immense respect for Chair Robinson.

Um she's been my chair since I started.

And I think what's important, um, I actually spoke with her last night and then today um about this comment.

And um I think what was important is to in the meeting itself, Dr.

Alkins had actually previously spoken about the need and the importance moving forward of making sure when we're doing presentations or talking about initiatives in BPS that we can align it back to the resources we're spending, that that would be very helpful to school committee to then get a broader picture of how the budget is or isn't supporting the priorities we have.

Chair Robinson uh was responding and building off of Dr.

Alkin's comment when she said um that you know it's time for us to talk about how does the 1.7 billion dollars of the budget uh how does that support and align the work?

She used the term audit, which audit has a lot of meaning within the fiscal world, but in talking with Chair Robinson, what she was really asking for, and I 100% agree, is that for the district it is incumbent when we are presenting information that we are providing supporting data to show how the investments we're making are paying off with student outcome, the return on investment.

That's very different than a fiscal audit, and it was a forward-looking comment, not on the current budget or FY27.

What Chair Robinson offered is she's I know that she's had conversations, I think with you, Council Weber, and I think you, Councilor Braden.

She's willing to talk to any counselor to explain the context of the comment, but she wasn't suggesting that we do a fiscal audit of BPS at this moment of time.

It's much more around the calibration and coordination of the work.

Thank you, Superintendent.

Um Superintendent, you and I have been at uh we've talked at length about the Blackstone School.

I know you have rolling the school BPS is rolling out a new dual language program, continuing to roll out a dual language program.

Mr.

Chair, if you'd like to finish your question.

Okay, yeah.

Okay, I just wanted to be respectful to my colleagues.

Um can you explain the what services English language learners are receiving at the Blackstone, how this will support them, how we'll support students with disabilities and students that also don't speak English.

How are we supporting them?

But also how are we supporting their families as well?

Great.

Uh and I know you're a true champion for the Blackstone.

Um wonderful principal uh Courtney Shipak over there.

Um so we're very proud of the dual language that we are rolling out.

In fact, we're intending to continue to build in the programs, and tomorrow we'll have a pretty robust conversation about this in detail.

But I think long and short with the Blackstone, as the dual language pathway for Spanish is rolling up, it's everything from access uh to materials that are in both English and Spanish, instructional supports uh on both sides, uh cultural experience and um opportunity to be able to explore beyond just language.

Uh it's really having staff who are bilingually certified so that they are appropriate to teach in the dual language pathway.

That is the difference between an actual dual language pathway versus uh students who may be receiving support in ESL and access to native language in other ways in schools.

So the Blackstone is a one of the flagships for as we build this out, the dual language.

It had a great deal of educators who already were bilingual, uh, and they were already doing much of the work needed to set foundation for dual language.

They also have a very strong relationship with the families, as you know, with St.

Stevens in partnership, their parent mentoring, which we've advocated for repeatedly.

All of that comes together at the Blackstone as a way of really immersing the student as much as possible in a dual language path.

Thank you, ma'am.

You're welcome.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh Council Council President Braden.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

Um I'd like to one one the athletics piece is really what something that's a big concern in our district.

How many um regional athletic coordinators are there and what is their role?

Currently we have three regional athletic coordinators for this year.

Uh their role is to support the schools.

Um provide direct service support for the schools, make sure that there is compliance in terms of either school uh academic eligibility, folks who have who need physicals to make sure that that data is uh those um names are appropriated.

Um their role is to also support with some equipment matters, um, serve at the as the direct liaison between the schools and the athletic department.

Um as you know, we have a model where you um can connect with either myself, the chief or um or the executive director of sports administration.

We are on a very open department, so that's but majority of their tasks are related to the schools.

So um we we've heard from staff and students and parents regarding the consent forms.

Um is there if there's problems with getting the consent forms?

Um who who do families contact?

Is there an intermediary person that that helps guide people through that process?

And are the forms available in more than English?

Um absolutely they're available via docusign in multiple languages currently.

Uh we are hoping to transition that to Parent Square, which is our sort of mediating tool for communication for our parents.

We'll make it more easier and accessible.

Um currently, you know, if there's an issue with a consent form, they can contact a regional athletic coordinator uh regional athletic coordinator.

Uh from there, you know, we do the same thing for physicals.

We have our we host our PPE event, which is coming up on uh May 16th at Madison Park, where we provide free physicals for young for young people, and that's sort of led by our regional athletic coordinators as well.

And they could also get support from their coaches at the school level themselves, school administration, um it's also support with getting access to the stuff.

Is there someone in central office who checks the forms and what happens if there's um uh what happens if there's a mistake in the forums?

Who follows up with parents and coaches to make sure that everything's so the kids don't miss out on their programs?

The either the regional athletic athletic coordinator or someone on the athletic staff will contact the coaches.

If there's a further discrepancy, we'll contact the school, the school-based athletic um coordinator.

Each school to um for the most part has an athletic coordinator who leaves that communication between the regional athletic coordinator, which lives out of uh out of athletics, to the school.

Then they could contact the school leader if possible.

And um do we have partnerships with colleges to provide trainers?

Um do we have any partnerships with colleges to provide trainers?

Currently, as it stands, we have a very strong partnership with MGH.

Uh, but your questions around colleges, we are working towards getting more support from colleges and universities, and particularly our PPE event coming up.

Uh we hope to have LaSelle um college out of Newland join us, um, and then we're hoping to add interns who could support us with athletic training.

We do have a centralized athletic training office at Madison, which Madison Park, which serves as sort of like the the central area where folks could get support, but I am definitely proud to say that over the years we have fallen into compliance when it comes to having an athletic trainer at every game.

Okay.

Um I'd like to run back to the issue by the audit.

I've raised this issue in a previous years, but um in 2017 uh internal auditor in in Boston Public Schools, December 6th, 2017, recommended that there would be um an internal an internal audit task force.

What what happened to that?

Or that was it did exist at that time, and why did um and why did the school committee not adopt the recommendations for um uh what does it a chief audit executive position and um that was never filled?

Like I think one thing that concerns us as a council, I think I speak for my colleagues, is that um it's school budgets keep keeping going up, our school population keeps going down, and in this moment right now, central services, the central office is getting more money's been budgeted for central office than for schools.

And um it just for folks who want to try and understand it, um it would be nice to send have a sense that there was somebody um uh w involved day to day, keeping it tight tight uh accountability in terms of where the money's going.

I think you have a uh a huge bureaucracy, uh, and it is a it's not huge, massive, but it's it's a big bureaucracy with lots of layers of administration and you know things get lost in the weeds, but uh I think you know, in terms of good governance, that's something that we have raised over several years at this point.

And really would love to see see some more I I think I we echo I know I've spoken with um Chair Robinson and and I think she um you know obviously has some concerns, but I think we might not necessarily be on the same page, but m more transparency and more accountability would be good.

Yeah.

So I really appreciate it.

And I I do think we're actually all on the same page on this.

I think um I can't answer for what happened after 2017 to when I came in.

I think it was a lot of leadership change, and I think some things just didn't get enacted in the way that it they needed to, mostly because there wasn't steady leadership.

But I think coming in with the systemic improvement plan, um, our district as a whole, when I talk to my colleagues around the country, uh, and certainly in the state, our district is has literally been under microscope for the last four years in a good way.

I think the systemic improvement plan really audited all parts of the programmatic components of BPS, including transportation uh and facilities.

We commissioned the Council of Great City Schools, which is a well-respected organization nationally to actually do deep audits in those areas uh as well as since then have done that with procurement in areas of special education, uh, in a currently doing that with OHC and the Office of Multilingual Learners.

So we are very much about wanting continuous progress to know what we're not doing as well as we could.

Um we have the same shared goal with Chair Chair Robinson and the rest of the school committee and you to ensure that our return and investment, which is our students, that we are making sure our budget supports that and is getting the biggest bang for the dollars we get and being good students.

Uh all of those audits are public, they're all on our website.

The budget book has come back, like the things that fell during leadership transition, we've brought back, and I think been responsive to council when they've asked for particular things to provide those, and that's what we'll continue to do.

I do think that in a place like BPS doing the audit relative to the area of the organization, such as special education, such as our multilingual learner audit, that matters because it's really about the programmatic, how that is working, and then what are the resources needed to ensure that that continues to build.

That's really the healthiest way in public education to do those audits, and that's what we've been doing.

We will continue with Council of Great City Schools to do that.

We'll continue, and David can speak to this just in terms of the fiscal uh components relative to like procurement audit.

Um, but we're very committed to all of that.

And I do appreciate that you reached out and had that conversation with Chair Robinson because I think Chair Robinson is speaking as an educator to say we want to make sure return and investment is the best for our kids.

Uh that was the spirit of the comment, and that's certainly what we will honor in moving forward uh with our school committee to ensure we do in the budget.

Thank you.

I think my time's up.

I'll come back for another run.

Yeah, thank you very much.

I mean, yeah, I I also spoke to Chair Robinson.

I mean, I just uh I think I'm not gonna speak for her, but if at some point she revisits that comment, I I think uh I I think I I urge anyone who's referring to it to sort of maybe reach out to her to make sure they're they're you know on the same page because if she comes out and says something that well this has been misinterpreted, then you know it's like we're spinning our wheels uh maybe and and people could be in favor of an audit uh just maybe you know figure out what Chair Robinson meant by that comment.

Um anyway, that's just uh I I think anybody referring to that comment should probably reach out to Chair Robinson uh and do with that what they may.

Uh okay, so uh counselor Fitzgerald.

Thank you, Chair for reaching out to me.

I appreciate it.

Thank you all for being here as always, uh BPS.

Um I have a couple of questions that are actually I'm gonna try and hit some of the things that this hearing is supposed to specifically on, but as these hearings go, I also just have some general BPS questions that we'll get into.

Um very quickly talking just a the easy first question, short answer.

Uh the birth rate trends, you talked about that being a reason for is that just Boston are we on par nationally?

Are we seeing that across the board?

It's it's uh pretty national.

Um and do not where are we just right there with everyone else or I don't competitively know where we are relative, but it's actually a um global birth rate in developed countries is a global issue, not just uh Massachusetts or Boston.

Having three kids, I don't blame anyone.

Um can we talk about uh the numbers around chronic absenteeism?

Right.

Um first, what what are the we where are we?

What's the trend or any numbers around the where we are in the last year?

Thank you for your question.

Uh as far as chronic absenteeism, as of um for 15 2026, uh we're hovering around 90%.

Um the trends are we have trended upward in terms of I'm sorry, downward as far as bringing it down since COVID.

Um and it fluctuates, especially given some of the um immigration issues that happened last year, uh, where many students um where we saw a drop there, but we have maintained or um stepped up in terms of our young people have stepped up because as you know, school is our safe is the safest place for young people.

Uh I think when some of the issue the challenges came nationally, there was a fractured trust.

I our teams have worked extremely hard to reach out to families, um, create targeted interventions, um, do the what we would call the tier three work, calling houses, setting out surveys.

Um, you know, we have school-based and we have improved the areas like adding school-based attendance teams, which talk about individual students and assessing their reasons why they don't come to school, getting them to come to school and sustaining that number.

So that has landed while it's not perfect, um, we have improved in terms of lowering chronic absenteeism every day.

We need and to we need to continue to have targeted strategies to do that.

Yeah, I just wanted to say Corey's being modest.

Um, so in Corey's leadership and with the team, we have now four consecutive years decreased chronic absenteeism, which is not part of the norm of pattern across the state or or in the nation.

We sit it uh today, like right around 25 to 26% with chronically absent with a daily average of 90% in school.

Those are really powerful numbers.

The work that Corey's really been really impactful and focused on is at the high school level, because this is the nut to crack across the state and and nation.

But we are regularly brought in as examples as a district of leading nationally with chronic absenteeism strategies.

That's been a lot of the student support work that Corey's leading with his supervisive attendance, uh, with a lot of the emotional social supports that we provide.

Like these are all of the things, including what you're gonna hear tomorrow in terms of academics and programming, building things up for kids wanting to come to school.

So it's uh I just I need to give that shout out because we are really a model in this area.

Great, thank you.

And I don't want to jump in on your time, but I think we have to understand that it is there are things that the city council could do to sort of to support with that.

We're happy to cross-collaborate.

Um some of our strategies do require more more humans and especially humans with with your level of uh uh expertise and perspective around some specific strategies.

Great.

No, thank you so much.

Uh you pretty much answered that by the follow-up question to that is that what do you all see as the hurdle?

We always see absentee as I I typically hear absenteism starts at the home, right?

That that's a home issue, and that's why they're not coming in.

And I know that there's a legal line that we can all not cross in terms of like you can't go into someone's home and say, hey, this is how what you guys should be doing, or you could say that, but you can't enforce anything.

Um what do you guys see as the sort of uh hardest part about what is the hurdle there that that line about we can only do so much before we are not allowed to do anything?

And if there's anything more we can do, is there any ways to like more legal perspective or like or just overall?

No, like what yeah, well within with within what you can do, and what is it that sort of when you reach a point, what is that point that's what is it that stops you be like, well, we're gonna be able to do that.

So my one to do is X, but great can.

Great question.

My answer would be there's no point, right?

There's no point, right?

We whatever we have to do what we think we're doing, we always come back and say do more.

Um make more phone calls, get more food, try to stabilize folks as much as we can.

Um we function in student support in crisis mode all the time.

And I think as I mentioned earlier, there is a fractured trust, and and we have to sort of like mitigate that through like making sure that families um are able to trust not just the b the BPS, the system in general, because it there is a general consensus that it is f it it has failed them because they can't, you know, they don't love they don't love it here, they don't feel safe enough.

But school is where both are most safe, and once we re-establish that, they come, and that's what's working.

So I guess the answer is to just do more when it feels like you can't do anything else.

But the federal landscape is something out of our control, and for our immigrant students and families, it can be a very scary time, and that is one of the things that to Corey's point we keep trying to reassure and re-establish, but it's very hard when they turn the news on, and it's the contrary every day.

I can understand that.

Thank you.

Um two-part question, but the completely unrelated, but just wanted to get them both in before the time is up.

Um I want to talk about uh partnerships within schools uh from the career and technical education and what we can do for, you know, I know we've talked in the past with each school having a partner or a whatever to sort of subsidize or give a program or do an after school, and where we are with that and and how early can you start uh the career and technical education.

I know it's you know, in this it says for early college and uh so I'm thinking high school, but like we can go all the way down to kinda guide, right, and get kids starting to learn how to be an engineer.

Um and also the secondary to that, completely unrelated, is uh revisiting school assignments.

Uh I know the mayor in her state of the uh BPS earlier this year discussed um you know revisiting into um the role in the bus budget, revisiting school assignments, less time for kids on the bus.

Um, and you guys have all heard me say many times the the each child's own triple A bond rating, academics, athletics, and arts, and how we can reinvest that bus money into academics, athletics, and arts for our kids.

So partnerships and school assignments, I guess, in a nutshell.

Great.

So we're gonna um uh and I'll also uh Brett will uh address the CT component, but I think our hub school initiative is really, as we've had conversation, counselor, this idea of partners organically coming within a school and really standing that school up.

That is the hub school model.

We'll talk about it a bit more tomorrow.

Um, but right now we have 20 schools, including uh establishing before and after school programs in all of those schools, and this plays off of um the commitment that the mayor made to want to see that happen.

Um we believe that from the time the students there before school starts to after school when the parent picks up, we need to have good constructive, healthy options for students and families.

So that's what we're building toward using the hub schools, the 20 of them as our initial ones in that.

Once we prove concept, we get the blueprint, then we can expand it.

Um on the CT side, Brett.

Thank you for the question.

Um I would answer this in two ways.

One is we have a system um by which students are developing um uh career and academic plan, call it my cap.

And our goal is to implement that thoroughly from fourth grade to your point about going into elementary schools all the way through twelfth grade.

Um it has a scope and sequence.

There are school teams um at every site that are trained in delivering lessons to students so that they can develop a personalized plan of their academic trajectory, their career plans, and what coursework, what experiences, what internships make sense.

Um in terms of CTE, um our goal is for a hundred percent of students to engage in career connected learning.

And career connected learning is a continuum from a job shadow, from a panel speaker coming into a school all the way to a summer internship to a co-op, um, to full experiences and clinical work or in const on construction sites, depending on that student's career uh um interest.

So regardless of whether the student is in a CTE program or not, we want all students to have that career connected learning experience, and it goes in depth.

We worked very we work very closely with the PIC, as you know, um, to make sure that students outside experiences are aligned to that career plan and to the program that they are engaged in.

Great.

And just on the assignment, um we certainly are m wanting to ensure that there are good high-quality options in every neighborhood of our our city.

Uh that is the grounding of a healthy student assignment plan.

It is also right now uh with our buses um needing to move students across the city to give access to that.

So part of the inclusion plan is to ensure that special education students, multilingual learners have access closer to home by spreading that access.

Same holds true with uh general education students.

It will take time as we're working hard with the high-quality um uh student experience to create enough seats so that we can look at families in the spine in Matipan in Dorchester in Roxbury and assure them that those seats are available.

That is what is needed before with the reassignment process, we start down a road of talking about neighborhood schools.

And I think I've said this publicly, and you know, we've had this conversation.

But clearly, when we look at parent data, parents want their kids closer to home for lots of reasons.

Accessibility, easier to get to, kids can be in the community with the kids that they're gonna play with after school.

So that is the vision we're all moving toward, but we need to be very careful with the history in our city to not ask parents, which we currently do, to compromise a seat close to home if it is not a quality seat.

So once that happens, once we get those tipping points of high quality seats, particularly in the spine, that's when we can really start to see parents feel comfortable and reassured that they can have their students go into those those schools.

Counselor Weeber, if I have 20 more seconds to address uh another part of his question.

So we have worked also worked extremely hard to supplement um what Ms.

Dickens is working on with her team by having career exploratory learn and earn programming uh where students get paid to um it would have pass two years students and this summer coming up and actually over the break, students will um either receive a students as early as sixth grade will receive one college credit by participating in our artist art of change program with LaSell College.

Um students will um they'll be able to turn their creativity to art, um expressive art, and art will be displayed in this building through the emergency management team in the city of Boston.

Uh they'll go to a LaSalle for four days next week, they'll eat on campus, um, and we have other supplementary programs that include a Wall Street program where the students could as young as 14 could build a portfolio, and we have supplementary programs that offer trades like like what in the appetite for students in trades, um such as real estate, barbering, um, cosmetology as well.

So that's what we try to do is create this sort of holistic opportunity menu while the um Ms.

Dickens team gets to build through the my cap.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Okay, thank you very much.

Um let's see.

So uh I I'm gonna focus on unhoused students.

Um in terms of you know, uh I mean we we've worked on the access to council program, we talked about eHIP.

Can you just walk me through how those services are provided this now?

Uh you know, so I think yeah, operations, student supports, and then I think there's it's the Office of Opportunity Youth.

Yeah, I don't know.

You're talking about unhoused students.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, so as you know, we have our um housing education resource network, the HERN.

Um that students um we have our homeless based or school-based homeless liaisons, and once folks are made aware either through the student support or student success teams when that a student is unhoused, um they then make a referral.

Um from there, students are able to get access to either some immediate resources or getting get put into the um pool where they could get support.

Now I will say that the emergency homelessness intervention program of yours is was extremely helpful, and we hope we could continue something similar because we're we're going um as the fiscal crisis continues, um we we do not have as much uh financial support.

Um but what that has been able to do and what the HERN is able to do is to sort of like prevent eviction, job loss, um utility shutoffs, and um domestic instability.

Um there is a rapid shelter track that we have um and we try our best there, whether it's 30 days or 90 days stabilization, but it's as you know, and you're in this work and you're passionate about this work.

It it we it's all either case by case or like trying to work through the grace period until we could get as much support as we can either from the state or the city.

But I will be quite frank with you, we need a lot of support in that area because we were codependent on some on some grants that help make this successful.

And for the for the students that um are currently experience um spring signals challenges while they're it's still enrolled in BPS schools, we do also provide transportation accommodation for wherever they're located to make sure they're coming to school and working with the school success teams to make sure that there's continuity in their education in the meantime.

Correct.

The social worker is connected, like the homeless liaison is really pivotal in helping to kind of case manage and ensure that all of the supports be them academic, getting back and forth to school, family communication.

To be honest with you, it's the students that aren't listed as homeless, but we know our house in or home is insecure, particularly at the high school level, that are major concern because um then they don't formally identify, they coach surf, um, and you know it's above the 5,000.

We've just these have been exponential numbers for us.

We're also looking at students who are 18 plus who sort of exempt that sort of takes them out of much of the required supports that they need, and we have to unpack um some of that data.

We'll love to collaborate on that with our team around other data points such as families who have four or more fit kids in the home, those pieces.

Um but our overall goal is to move from fragmented practices to more data-driven systems so that we can you know mitigate that grace period so that students could get the students and families can get the support they need.

Okay, and but it okay, so it seems like this year, up to this year, you know, it's in central and with the office of what is it called, opportunity youth, like that's sort of the that's connecting the kids to services in eHAP.

I you know, and that something is changing for next year.

So what is the what's the plan for next year for how to connect those 5,000 plus kids to the services?

Are you making the change?

So we're working, we're working diligently right now to try and patch funding together to be able to continue as much as possible of the current program.

Well, and I would also just say this as well.

That work is a large partnership with a lot of people, a lot of organizations, and it's not just hinged upon that one department.

Um the way I would describe next year's planning is more around we went through a process of delayering and making sure that we provide the services to students and making sure that those students' services are still intact at the school level and on the ground as much as possible.

So those opportunities are gonna continue.

Um we may do some restructuring reorganizing to make sure that there's um different oversight in the continuation of those partnerships and continue to work with our seeking grants, working with our city colleagues, working with our families directly to make sure that continuity happens that will not be disrupted by any means.

The level of service we're gonna provide with the resources we have will be a question that we'd love to continue to work with you on, but the continuity will happen.

We're just reorganizing how we manage that work, but the day-to-day student experiences and supports families will be there on the ground.

Okay, yes.

Yeah, so right now I think the family liaisons I I think they're connecting people to services with I I thought it was the opportunity youth.

The homeless liaisons are school based.

Yeah, and they can they serve as the um mediators of that and primary contacts for for the referrals and I did, but we also have other mechanisms that identify students so um who are struggling with homeless instability, um, whether it is um various hop line hot lines, oftentimes as you know, homeless instability um is linked to chronic absenteeism.

So sometimes you call, you may and and you work with students and families, and you find out that that's part of the reason.

And lastly, I would just add that we also work with different partners.

So I've just highlight higher ground for an example.

Yeah, we work closely with a lot of partners to help us engage in this work as well.

Yeah, but to to just underscore the ehip work is really essential.

We had about 1,500 families, right, who are directly being supported, which is why we talk about it all the time that we're really hoping that there's dollars at the state level that come to support that because that is a loss for our district.

Okay, yeah, I mean, I spoke to my uh two of my state reps in my district, Montana and McGregor, and I think they got four uh four hundred thousand.

I don't know what's happening at the state has two for ehip.

Uh is that gonna make a difference next year?

I can't, you know, uh every little bit helps comment.

Thank you very much.

Right.

I mean, we we will we as we always do, we will um we'll go out, we'll hit the pavement for partners, right?

It it'll put more more pressure on the other partners to step up for sure.

Um, but yes, I mean it will help, but it is just to underscore it's 1500 kids in ehip was helping.

So okay.

Um yeah, I I I have more questions on that.

I mean, I is the uh I mean is so is the model changing for next year, or are you just trying to figure out how to do the same with less resources?

No, so in in Corey in Corey's shop, right?

As easy was saying, there's a family there's a homeless liaison in each school, and that has been uh that was one of the major things we did that allows as we identify students through different mechanisms that a family is homeless or a student is homeless, that enables us to be able to put a plan in place.

That will continue as will it continue with the work with some of these other organizations like Kirk and Hearn.

The issue is the volume and whether the volume keeps going up for our homeless kids or if it starts to go down.

And when it's our multilingual learners, it's extra complex because families are really hesitant to ask for help.

Um, and so that that often requires a different level of work with the family.

And the earn team has done an excellent has done an excellent job.

Um we just have to and to Dr.

DePina's um point, we're not disrupting anything, we're always trying to comb and improve systems.

Um so be as you know, as things improve, you tend to unearth more students who are struggling, more families who are struggling.

Um the superintendent mentioned couch surfing couch surfing.

That's not a that's no one's tracking couch surfing anyway, but because we have strong school-based relationships, we're now able to discover um help and and build and build through that.

Um I mean, as far as like our media supports, I mean, we're talking to YMCAs, boys and girls clubs, folks who offer meals at 6 p.m.

and then getting families to shelters or like programming, um programming on weekends and after school up to 8 p.m.

so folks could leave our programs to go right to shelters.

Um I I think we have to have a uh a strong, we're committed to having a stronger ecosystem management when it comes to homeless instability.

Uh and as I mentioned, it's not perfect, but we're definitely um unearthing some some challenges that would be able to track the data appropriately so we could hopefully get the funding to support that.

Okay, yeah, and we're gonna go to a round of public testimony.

I just have a couple last questions on this.

Uh so that one concern is in this uh I I know everyone wants to cut central and and other stuff, but in central, right?

Is student support that's one of the that's one of the offices.

Uh I think it's that's yours.

Yes, sorry.

Uh and then so it the there's a cut of you know eight or nine FTs.

Is that in in support uh student support?

Like, is that gonna impact our ability to like is that gonna go to the helping unhouse students?

Like the if the cuts was is gonna have an impact on that, yeah.

Every single cut is gonna impact.

We we're student facing every there will be some impact, but we will we are we're hoping to design um and and create um and and sort of like delegate some particular tasks without interrupting the work while committed to coming continuous improvement.

Um we can't there's nothing positive I could spin about a cut, so but what I will tell you that we we are going to be strategic about how we shift.

Yeah, the only thing I would add to that counselor is um over the years, and um luckily with the benefit of ESSER dollars, we were able to really ramp up the different models and how to support students.

And we've tried a lot of great things under ESSER, and now we've learned what works and what doesn't work.

Now our goal since ESS was gone is how we restructure central office that'll manage that work and how best to manage it without interrupting the direct service of the students.

So we're prioritizing the direct service part of the work, how we manage essentially will look different, but the work will continue.

Yeah.

Okay.

But those cuts, just to be clear, the cuts you're referring to were not the dollars were not redirected to homeless initiative.

Okay.

I I was uh I was I guess I was sort of the re redirected from you know uh homeless uh yeah, no, uh we didn't we didn't touch any existing homeless support, homeless initiative support.

And then sorry, last question on this uh for now.

Um so in the in this school funding formula, there's like six hundred dollars for each uh student experiencing homelessness.

I think that's how it's described.

Is that related to what we're talking about?

EHIP and things like that and how it's um it is related to what um the superintendent um and Corey and the team were just describing.

So um oftentimes a school-based uh homeless liaison at a school with a smaller number of homeless youth is a stipended position for someone to work after school and on the weekends to support homeless youth so that funding can pay for that.

At schools with um more students experiencing homelessness, they may have a dedicated position of focusing just on coordinating and supporting homeless youth.

The funding does not go to eHIP directly, it's more about the the funding that's in school budgets is more for the direct school-based initiatives.

Uh and then EHIP sort of builds on top of that.

Okay, and it is kind I think the numbers are there, uh the students experiencing homelessness or concentrated, maybe it was like four schools.

It was Boston International, uh, I can't remember MATAHUNT, maybe.

I I did see a list.

Uh I don't know if that um so hopefully those schools have staffers.

I I think the percentage of kids it's not evenly spreading.

No, in fact, the the that school funding came directly from feedback from Walter Henderson when he was when he first came to the Matahunt when the school was reconstituted uh 10 years ago, and he said, uh, you know, I know we get an allocation for uh income, and I I don't think it's wrong.

He's like, but something feels different about the needs of our population than some of my colleagues when I'm in conversation.

And so we did some data review with him, and what we we found that exact data that you're mentioning, right?

That there are certain schools that are just even relative to their levels of poverty, are experiencing much higher concentrations of homelessness.

And so that's why um that's actually the origin of that funding and this school-based liaison program, and um some of the things we've been describing today has just been the fact that that is not evenly distributed.

Okay, yeah, thanks.

I think we'll continue to have this conversation.

I I'd like I'd like to go to public testimony.

Uh I know some folks are in the room.

Um I'm gonna start out.

I did just I got uh I'll read out uh some written testimony, it's very short.

Um was an email uh says uh my name is uh Jess McCabe Johnson.

I am the family housing hardship program director at Boston College School of Social Work.

This is not in there, but is this this is one of the partners I think uh that um was listed in our RFI responses on on house students.

Uh so uh uh Jess says uh I would like to ask the committee uh to restore funding for eHIP, the early homelessness intervention and prevention program.

The research my colleagues and I conducted over the past six years showed that families participating in eHIP experience improved housing stability, higher levels of well-being, and reduced chronic absenteeism uh without BPS funding for eHIP.

I worry that many BPS students and families who could benefit will unnecessarily face adverse housing, well-being, and academic consequences.

I understand that this committee is tasked with many uh with making very difficult decisions, but I urge you to prioritize eHIP.

Thank you for your time and consideration, sincerely, just McCabe Johnson.

Um, PhD, MPA and social uh LCSW at uh Boston College uh school social work.

Um okay, well thank you for that.

Uh uh we have uh three people signed up here in the room uh Larry Siemens, Ted Ehrlich, and and uh Gregory Manor.

So in that order, um you have I think both mics are on.

Uh and then we'll go to uh uh another round uh for my colleagues.

Um okay uh you it's it's two minutes for I'll I'll put on the clock.

Yes.

Whenever you're thank you, thank you, Chair Weber, thank you, Senate uh City Council President Braden, Representative Flynn and Representative Fitzgerald, good to see all of you.

My name is Larry Siemens.

I'm the president and CEO of Family Aid Boston.

We're a hundred and ten-year old organization that's worked with Boston Public Schools for 110 years.

Uh I'm here because Family Aid is the proprietor of the EHIP program.

So with so many BPS administrators here, I wanted to provide some clarification about what the program is because there are a lot of acronyms and things get confused a little bit.

So EHIP is a 4.3 million dollar program that is funded through Family Aid for the Boston public schools.

It's funded by some of the largest corporations here in the city of Boston, and the work is organized with 28 social workers, housing navigators, service navigators, and 22 partners who family aid organizes on behalf of the BPS.

The work is conducted through the Department of Opportunity Youth across all schools.

The program is privately funded, is supplemented, was supplemented by $750,000, so less than uh a percentage, a small percentage from the Boston public schools, and funding from the city council to fund an attached program, which are key attorneys for eviction.

So I want to very quickly mention I do agree costs go up, enrollments are going down, and there needs to be an audit, which we have.

The reason why those things happen is because the safety nets for children living in poverty are increasing, are decreasing.

Evictions are up, poverty is up.

Boston is the 25th largest city in this country, but we have the fifth highest level of childhood poverty in the entire country.

That's why we created EHIP, which has been proven you asked for an audit, uh, counselor.

We have research from Boston uh college, which I have right here, that shows over a six-year study that the program that is funded very small portion is from the city.

So just because we we don't have a lot of people here to testify, and this is highly technical.

I think uh for the folks in the room will give you three minutes, so one more minute for you and each uh Mr.

Ehrlich and Maina.

Thank thank you so much, uh Chair.

So I need this committee body to understand that the safety nuts are fraying.

I don't know if you know this, but our state legislature put into law that families who are evicted because they did not pay their rent, cannot get into family shelter.

And that is why EHIP is so incredibly important.

I again have research to prove it's best in class and nation, and I would ask this body, both bodies, the school committee and the city council to consider restoring the existing Department of Opportunity Youth that has been so successful in implementing the program, the small slight bit of funding that comes from uh from the city uh school district, and most importantly, our eviction prevention program because that will be the safety net that we will need in the face of all the federal and state cuts to come.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh I believe uh uh Mr.

Ehrlich, you're up next.

Three minutes.

Um thank you, Chair Weber.

Um member the comedian, um folks from BPS.

Um my name is Hed Ehrlich, I am the managing attorney of the housing unit at Greater Boston Legal Services.

Um we as we have many programs that are addressing um eviction defense and other legal services for low-income families within the housing unit.

One of our um more successful programs is working with with you all from uh BPS and um and um family aid together.

We provide um access to counsel.

We receive cases from both um family aid Boston as well as Office of Housing Stability, so long as the household includes school age um kids.

This is an upstream intervention, so preventing these families from becoming homeless with the support that we in Family Aid Boston as well as other vendors of Office Housing Stability can provide.

So far, the program has been we had a slow start the first year, so we're about year and uh quarter in.

We have served uh over a hundred families so far, providing full representation in housing court as they are facing eviction.

We have as close to a hundred percent success rate as as can be, which means eliminating these the risk of uh homelessness of these families, especially with the you know, the implosion of the state shelter system and other services that are that are decreasing, both statewide and and in our city.

Um we truly believe that our program is provide one of the most important upstream interventions, um, capturing the families at the most vulnerable place at the very end beginning of homelessness and preventing homelessness as an upstream intervention.

It truly is a cost-saving measure for for the city, both McKinney Vento-wise and um any other, you know, any other services that these families would otherwise have to receive from both BPS, the city, and and state programs.

Um I really want to thank uh Councilor Weber um for his leadership in getting this program up and running.

We were very disappointed to learn um last week that the entire access to council is not in the mayor's proposed budget for um for next year.

For I would say two years in a row.

Um it's it didn't make it to the final budget.

Um, and we are hoping that city council will again um file an amendment to include it in it.

It was the city council um envisioned that program.

We believe it was successful, and we are looking forward to um keep serving the seat the city's children and youth who are um about to become homeless.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, uh Greg Maynard.

You have three minutes.

Thank you.

Uh my name is Gregory Maynard, and I am the co-founder and executive director of the Boston Policy Institute.

A major policy that was touched on in this hearing, but that the council has never held a standalone hearing on is the five-year-long state intervention in Boston Public Schools, which ended in June 2025.

BPI commissioned and published the only comprehensive review of that intervention in March 2025.

That report, beyond small fixes, the case for continued accountability in BPS was written by Dr.

Carrie Donahue, who formerly served as the Chief Strategy Officer for the Boston Schools Fund.

In addition to BPI's report, acting education commissioner Russell Johnston provided a number of important updates, including a May 2024 memo and an oral report in April 2025.

The bottom line from all those reports, BPS did not meet its goals.

In April 2025, Johnson said, quote, we've seen mixed results, but definitely much effort, really concerted effort on behalf of the district, the school committee, and the mayor, in order to meet the requirements that are in the SEP.

Dr.

Donahue's report laid out that though what those mixed results looked like, tracking how the district performed on each of the goals laid out in both the 2020 agreement and the superseding 2022 agreement.

The most important goal that BPS did not meet, the state found the district's so-called long-term facilities plan did not meet expectations.

Johnston wrote in May 2024, quote, the plan does not include future student enrollment projections, which is a vital component to inform future launch, large-scale renovations, mergers, and closures.

Additionally, the plan lacks specific information on an overall timeline by which right sizing the district will be complete, as well as the size and number of buildings needed in the future state.

Almost two years later, BPS still has not released a long-term facilities plan that includes all of those components.

There are 21 agenda items in the three BPS budget hearings scheduled for this week.

BPS capital budget, the long-term facilities plan, and follow-up from the five-year-long state intervention are not among those 21 agenda items.

If the council wants more information on school building, it has to hold a hearing on it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

And we don't have any up to you.

Okay.

No, I think we can just make my colleagues can ask questions based on that.

Um we'll do five minutes.

Uh maybe a we'll do a third round if necessary.

Uh Councillor Flynn.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um what I want to focus on as we tackle the BPS budget is I want to ensure that there are no cuts to any person, any BPS employee that interacts daily with BPS students.

I know or I think I I I think one of the plan of possible cuts is three district social workers positions that may or may not have been cut.

I believe these are important to support schools, especially at a critical time of such as a crisis.

The other aspect I want to I want to highlight is the importance of social workers, psychologists, counselors to students.

But my question is, what what is the current ratio of social workers, psychologists, and counselors to students, and how do FY27 cuts impact these positions so we'll get that for you, counselor, in a minute.

Um, but I know that Chief McCarthy wants to address the district social worker piece.

Okay.

Thank you for your question.

You know, when we're um exploring and unpacking the budget, we much similar to your point, um, especially in student support, like work that's the work directly with young people.

Um that is the mediating tool for which my our decisions are made for student support.

Um we have school-based social workers, um, but our district social workers, um, they are more central office, right?

Um but they do do wonderful work with the students.

But especially during a time of crisis, right?

Uh immediately, right?

Crisis response, right?

Um, which I mentioned earlier, like that's the mode where we're always in.

But the but but but for me, voting on a budget, I I need to get three district school workers, social workers in the budget, because I believe students need that.

And if if we're not able to hire put that those three positions back in the budget, um a major city like Boston, you know, we have we have we have we have major challenges here, and we we need to get that those social workers in this budget um because our students need them.

Our students rely on them, especially during during a time of crisis.

We we had a um uh a student that was that was um injured by a a car crash, car accident uh out in front of the Condon School.

I I know social workers um worked with with students, social workers there work with parents.

But we we we can't be cutting those positions.

Those positions that interact with with students and families, they can't be cut, in my opinion.

We have to look at the budget another way.

What else is there that needs to be cut?

And and also I don't think all the cuts should be coming from BPS.

Um personn cuts.

Why is BPS the only city department that that is being cut?

Um I'm I'm not necessarily asking you to answer that, but it's it's a question for my colleagues here on the city council.

If we're cutting positions at BPS, shouldn't the other parts of the city um be cut as well?

Because I know the last thing I can support is cutting social workers.

I can't do that.

I can't support cutting psychologists.

I can't support cutting um teachers or paraprofessionals, someone that interacts with children and students every day.

Um that's what's important to me.

Why is it important to me?

Because that's what's important to BPS families.

Yeah.

Um counselor, so we've proposed in our proposed budget we have 396 of those mental health providers that you of the types you mentioned, which is a ratio of about 115, 117 to 1 for our project.

117.

Yeah, about.

Okay.

Mr.

Chair.

I'm almost out of time, so I don't I don't have any further questions.

I I just wanted to highlight how important I think these positions are as it relates to the critical services they provide every day to allow us students.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you very much.

And just I don't know if you in terms of we talk about the central budget.

I mean the social workers are the central budget, is that's correct.

Yes, districts.

District social workers.

Yeah.

District social workers.

School based social workers.

School based social workers.

School-based social workers are that would be in the that's in the other.

The vast majority of our mental health providers are directly on school budgets.

So social workers and school psychologists.

We you know those positions we've allocated onto school budget, so we can see the direct impact.

Um but there are some central oversight of those positions.

The district social workers are part of the the larger management team of social workers.

We have a wonderful team led by Jenna Parafense.

Um there are two assistant directors.

One um assistant director manages the school-based team, and the other assistant director manages the district social workers.

And the crisis teams and trauma response teams are uh will be intact and they will continue to provide that and we will have the resource available for our students and families.

Right.

I think I think the other uh pieces uh to council Flynn's point.

We've been trying to preserve as much as possible any of the student-facing positions.

Um after ESSER, on which a lot of these were funded.

The last two years we moved most of those positions over onto the school budgets and cut central office, not school-facing central office, but central office.

Um central office over the last three years has been reduced about 50 million dollars in order to preserve the school-based.

Um Corey, it might just help to just differentiate what a district social worker does from a school-based social worker.

Correct.

Um I will also like to highlight that that before um the superintendent got here, um, you know, student support was not as uh robust as it is now.

I think there's been significant investments.

The division was built basically on if you take our health services and athletics, it was built on ESSER.

Um, but our district social our district social workers are amazing group of uh amazing team that lead to crisis response, they support our school-based social workers, they support principals.

Um I like to call our that particular department and team like the second responders to counselor Flynn's point.

And um no one wants to cut any individual, any position, however, prioritizing the given the budget and fiscal clear prioritizing the school-based uh was something that we we wanted to do and maintain that stabilization, but that team um is is highly effective uh to council um for counselor Flynn's point is highly effective.

Um they do manage real-time situations and work towards stabilizing our schools when it comes to crisis.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh did you have it?

I mean, we I I didn't mean to uh hijack, but I I just had some clarifying questions from for me.

If you that would led you to another question, feel free.

No, ms uh Mr.

Chair, your your comments were were very good.

Uh they helped the conversation and appreciate your feedback and um thank you to the BPS team that answered my question.

Thank you, Mr.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Uh Council President Braden.

Um thank you.

Um keep going about social work.

It appears that the Department of Social Worker or social work is under operations.

Which is under student support.

Uh and then behavioral health is an academics.

Yes.

So that's two separate divisions, each with their own deputy.

Um has there been any thought about like a certain overlap there?

Like has there been any thought about streamlining the central those departments to and and require more collaborative efforts.

Like it seems like there are two very two types of apples here, and they should all be in the same bunker.

Yeah.

So like most things in BPS, there's a history.

Um there is a history to this.

Before there were a critical mass of social workers, there was behavioral health.

Um the school psychologists primarily work on um testing.

They work on IEPs and within special education, and then they also do some crisis management within schools.

When the social workers came in, uh, they came in uh in a different way, and uh were really part of the student support department, um, which resides as you pointed out in operations.

They work very collaboratively together, as does the leadership to ensure that social workers are the leads with the families and doing the direct counseling with students in the school psychologists' primary duties are around our special education students, uh testing, uh, and then some amount of internal counseling.

As much as they are on two sides of the house, they do work very collaboratively together.

Um, you know, that is something we're constantly revisiting because it it is also true, there's other people that perform counseling besides just those two.

We have adjustment counselors as well.

So it's really important with behavioral health in general that the deputies are working closely together, which Dr.

Wright and Dr.

DePina do, as do the chiefs, such as uh Chief McCarthy and Chief Seal.

And what makes it equal what makes it um super effective uh and and to further justify why student support is in operations because literally student support is a 24 hour operation.

So I have a question.

Is it a is it uh a 365 days a year operation?

Yes, yeah.

Because we had a kid just a BPS kid killed last year in our uh in all in Brighton, Alson Brighton.

Um we really I think that we dropped the ball completely in terms of support.

Um it was a pretty and then uh trauma response like are we uh and then we had another k kid shot recently.

Uh he survived, thankfully, but and and the trauma response was a completely different experience this time.

So we fixed what the problem was last year.

But I'm just wondering like is it just a hit and miss thing, or have we got a really solid trauma response?

Alston Brighton's not the place as you expect to hear of a lot of students, BPS students being killed or shot, but uh it is happening, and um uh you know, and having having access to those services and and multilingual supports for families who don't necessarily speak English, it's really really important.

Yeah, so this is a really critical point.

I think the circumstances when there is uh an incident do matter in terms of who's responding.

So when there is something that happens off hours uh or even on ours, and it is a criminal matter, uh it a death of violence, we work really closely with the city trauma response team.

Um we would be secondary there.

Uh when it is something within our schools, such as uh a student uh is sick uh and passes, or there's a uh you know an accident involving uh injury, that's where we're the lead on that.

But Corey Shop is pretty much 24-7.

There is a hotline, we are responding.

So, for instance, the young person that was um shot last weekend, we were all part of that response to ensure that the schools were set up appropriately on Monday morning to respond, family was outreach to, etc.

I think we've gotten much stronger working together with our city colleagues on this to let each of us do the part we do best, but most important to ensure that families and students are supported.

And we immediately jump into we immediately jump into crisis mode.

When something happens, the moment it crosses any sort of um communication channel, we jump immediately into crisis.

The kids that was was killed last year was a Mary Lyon Opera School kiddo and um you know it was it was vacation, it was somewhere time like I have to say needless to say it wasn't, I wasn't happy, but um it was much better this time.

I have many more questions, so we'll come back for another round.

Okay, thank you very much, Counselor Fitzgerald.

Thank you, Chair.

Um question around athletics, uh two part one.

Um I guess it's some somewhat related.

Um I just think about if kids stayed in athletics and BPS and don't get poached to the you know ISLs and the other schools of the world, how much more attractive BPS schools would be at the high school level.

I know we can't, it's a hard fight to fight uh when they're offering free tuition and high academics and all that other stuff.

Um just don't know if you've thought about ways to make sure because it's there's nothing, there's no better story than when the local kid from the local school is the star player in the state and stays in home and it you know creates that community around it.

Um and I guess somewhat related to that is I know last year we discussed Huddle, um the technology used to sort of for for parents, grandparents, other people to stream games.

Um I think there was also a safety component that I felt was around that as well.

Just an update on that quickly, Corey.

Thank you.

I think great question.

Uh we are fighting back in terms of like retaining our student athletes.

Um I've invite anyone on the council to come see.

We started elementary sports, it's called foundations, literally for that reason.

Um every Saturday at Madison, we have about 200 kids are representing of about 16 schools that come in and they we have a unique model where the the coaches, we have coaches, but we have individuals that stop the game to teach kids how to play.

The answer to our problems around that is like having more kids play.

So we are trying, we are having foundations for um basketball, football, indoor football, um, volleyball, which is the fastest growing sport in the in the district, um, to further mitigate students leaving.

We are offering uh multiple camps, we're getting involved with local colleges and universities to do direct recruitment.

Um last year we held a prospect camp for the first time ever where kids were able to go and get NCAA um eligibility training as well.

We offer LT NCAA training for families.

Um in the past two sessions.

I've had over a hundred and we have had uh over a hundred and eighty families, and we tailored that to elementary school students so we could dispel the myths.

What we need to be what we need to publicly tell our people in the city is that if you go to a BPS school no matter what school and you go through all of your courses, you are automatically eligible for the NCAA.

But if a kid goes to an ISL school and takes a fifth year, that fifth year you're automatically ineligible for uh and for the NCAA.

Your courses do not count.

You go to a BPS school for four years, you 100% will get the 19, even though 14, even though 16 is the requirement.

These are the messages that we need to get out.

Uh furthermore, we have multiple camps, we have a massive volleyball camp next week.

We have over 225 students participating in that.

We have um our middle school program, we change it to a developmental program where um we have internal intramural pro in internal intramurals and we supplement that with jamboree's going on to the huddle question.

Um, you know, I'm glad I'm grateful for the advocacy advocacy.

We met with Huddle multiple times, and we are prepared, we use the data where the usage data, which was low in some schools, but we looked at the schools who were using it and said, hey, we are going to support you with uh with a um uh a heavy portion of that so that if you're invested, you will you uh if you're invested, we will help you and we will supplement that.

But for the schools who do not use it, they won't invest, right?

Um, but we're encouraging them to do that.

So we included in that package some trials so that we could go back and look at the data and say, hey, are people using this?

And I agree on the safety side.

I love to I love to watch as many games as I can as opposed to being in person.

Yeah, and I just want to give a shout out to all of our coaches out there because our coaches are also doing a phenomenal job, and we're also working collaboratively with them to do more, right?

So our goal is to um make sure our students and families know that if they do play in BPS sports, they they do have an opportunity to go on to post-secondary um uh athletics as well and pursue their dreams in sports and festival too.

It's also embedded in the size of the high schools, so part of the shift to 712 is starting the interscholastic earlier to get the kids ready, but then it's also there's a certain amount of kids you need to have healthy sports teams.

That's the reason why in the long-term facilities plan we've made that shift to slightly bigger high schools and the 712 footprint.

If you're a parent that has a if you're a parent that has a kid in BPS and you have a kid in elementary school, you have a kid in middle school and high school, you will have a pathway from age three.

You could attend the Sunday program at age three and get training in five different sports.

In middle school, you could get the same training.

In high school, you get the same training.

So from age three to about 19, you can get support from BPS in athletics.

And I will maintain that our one of our most successful subgroups in BPS is the athlete.

They go to college more, they attend school more, they lead more, they have and and I really really cannot emphasize the the value of athletics and our athletes in in this district.

Great.

And also, lastly, just super quickly, two more seconds.

Just we're also um really competitive now, more so than over the different years.

We've got a lot more state championships, so we're very competitive, a lot of great city championship teams.

So we're just overall the competition is getting a lot higher and better in BPS.

That's great, thank you.

And I appreciate the passion and the answers.

It was a different feel.

You say athletics are there's a different feel to those answers uh than some of the other ones.

But that's awesome.

I I highly value athletics, and so I'm glad that they were thinking about it in such a wide array of ways to make kids involved.

Um a very short answer, Corey.

Uh you said earlier about uh we were talking about paying kids from sixth grade on and all that.

Uh there was something in the last round of questions.

You talked about the kids get paid to participate in something.

So the learning just where yeah, to the learning.

Um who pays?

Is that does that the city pay them, or is that a private?

We work with so there's three, there's three different ways.

Number one is successful.

Yep.

Right, um, which is obvious.

And number two is the Boston pick.

And we work with either um YouthConnect um and other areas to identify particular funds to work with the PIC to um to pay students a small stipend to attend career exploratory programming that con that technically is a job.

And where we're and when we're talking about a large part of those students are students who are court involved, um, students who need some extra academics, um, and it's proven to be widely successful.

Um we have a menu that we can share.

I shared a document with Council Weaver about um sort of like what are our holistic supports and what they look like.

So we're happy to have you guys come and see what we're doing this summer.

Thank you.

Um I only asked because I know some youth things are in the budget with the fiscal constraints have been cut, and I just was wondering like is that you know, we're relying on pick and other things to make pick up slack, and is there enough to go around?

Was the only is why I asked that question.

If I could just get one more question in uh counselor, I apologize.

Um it's the more of a the philosophical approach uh to the high quality schools for every kid that we just talked about already.

But I I see this going of one of two ways, um, and I I just put it to you to think about in the one one approach, it's getting all high quality schools first, and then that way people have the ability to go local, right?

Because you know that wherever you are, you have it.

The other approach that I think about, and I wonder is is going local first and then assessing what the needs are once you have more local schools and more uh individually identifying the needs to bring it up to a high quality school.

So there's sort of two tracks, or you could two very different tracks of how you could do that.

I guess my question to to sort of think about is which one has the better impact, faster in a more fiscally prudent way, right?

Uh is it trying to get every school up to snuff so that everybody has the options, or is it allow everyone to go local and then individually tailor things to make sure, okay, you know, maybe over here it's lacking X, let's invest X.

But over here it's why, let's invest Y, and and um calibrating it that way.

Just a philosophical approach I pose to you guys um about what might be.

Yeah, no, it's I mean it's a great point.

I think we're actually running in the middle right now, right?

Which is we have school choice which prioritizes for families the ability to choose local.

I think for special education students and multilingual learners, that was not the case.

So what they had access to or showed up on access is choice was more relegated to where programs existed.

What inclusion is done is to break down those barriers and open it up.

I think at the same time, we're working really hard in each of the regions to really build up the quality.

Some are go some schools are moving faster than others because, like, for instance, they get a new building, right?

Or they get a renovated building, um, or they get particular programming, like to language that really attracts parents.

So I think we're trying to identify for each region and the schools in it, one or two things that's really moving toward the high quality student experience, and at the same time, for it to really work, given a third of our population are multilingual learners or more, and a fourth are special education students.

We have to deal with the programming as well, and that means through inclusion, opening up access to those parents.

That's how all of this starts to come together in getting parents comfortable and believing that that local choice is right for them.

But that is, you know, that is how the choice system is set up, is they see their school list based on where they live and what is around them.

There are other factors they can sort for.

But what we don't want is a pairing having to choose local, knowing they're compromising quality.

So that's why we're working as fast as we can to make sure high quality student experience is throughout the district.

No, uh I and I appreciate that.

I understand.

Of course, we only want the best for our students always.

Uh thank you very much, Chip.

Thank you very much, panel.

Thank you.

Councillor Fitzcherald, I got a text message from uh Mike in West Roxbury.

You wanted to know how you managed to resist the crush of basketball recruiters at your coming to your door to stay at BLS.

Because this is true.

He's referring to my brother Mike.

And at a time I was at Latin school, he was at Latin Academy, and we scrimmaged each other.

And so he had to cover me, so it was great.

It was like being in the backyard, right?

I hit a three in his face off the glass.

So couldn't even, it wasn't even like I'm good.

It was a lucky three, but I shuffled back on defense like I was the damn man, right?

And I'll never let him forget it.

So you can text him that.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Um okay, uh so uh just sort of trying to uh get some clarification on on unhouse students.

Sorry to harp on this.

I mean um uh so uh I guess my my question is going forward for FY27.

My concern is that uh ehip funding is you know, maybe it was 750, maybe we get to 400 uh thousand if the state comes through.

I don't know, you know, where other sources would come from.

I think f family, you know, uh uh in aid uh can maybe help with that, but um you know, in terms of your your staff and uh I my sense was that the and we you know we heard in listening session department of opportunity youth works on chronic absenteeism in this and that are is that good department going to exist in FY27 and then if yes, if not, like how are we gonna be able to provide the services that I mean obviously it's an overwhelming need.

Yeah.

He's certainly yes, the department 100% is existing.

It's not going anywhere.

Yeah, I think Corey, maybe to maybe it would be helpful to address what might what is not being funded.

Right.

Uh what will not be in as far as like opportunity youth.

Uh so what will not be funded uh is all things that are as of now we don't have uh particular grant other than McKinney Bento.

Um as we still have our we have one supervisor of attendance who will not who was not be uh will not be funded.

Um our assistant as it stands today, our assistant director for opportunity youth, as well as our senior director for opportunity youth.

We're doing a re-org across the entire division um based on budget cuts, but not to to really increase efficiency at the same time and really value continuous improvement.

So we will be losing um members there.

Um cuts are inevitable evident, but as I mentioned earlier, all decisions that are made start with this the proximity to students first.

And um if we made um particular changes that are not close to students, um it will not be as helpful as it would if we uh if we were able to sort of like redistribute some tasks and duties and responsibilities to other folks in other shops in st in student support.

Um the student support divisions, um division itself is multiple departments, and those department members are well versed in a lot of the work that's done across the division.

So those changes are difficult, they are hard, but we believe that there's a strategic um plan that we will put in place that will mitigate some of the challenges in sunsetting some of those positions.

Okay, and just to be clear as well, the clearer and not to what Mr.

McCarthy saying, the Hearn um unit will remain intact.

So a lot of the work that funnels through the opportunity youth through the Hearn department will remain intact.

I also want to just uh be remiss if I just don't also publicly thank Family Aid and Greater Boston Legal Services for their partnership um over the years as well.

And we're like, you know, again, in this with all of our partners, uh including some I mentioned earlier.

Um but again the Hearn program itself directly will still exist, and that continuity of services will happen.

Like I mentioned as well, the way we manage the work will be different, but the work will remain.

Okay.

Uh and yeah, I I believe uh Mr.

Siemens was telling me uh we I ran to him at a uh at a uh I don't know, symposium, I don't know what you call it at Boston College School of Social Work on housing and and students, and that they they get three families a week.

Was that right?

Yeah, that come to them for these services and BPS, and uh, you know, it's just thinking about three different families every week needing these things services and how we can help them.

And also I just like to, you know, I GBLS uh has has been a great partner and uh in terms of the funding going up and down every year.

I mean, these attorneys that go end up at GBLS, I couldn't get hired at GPLS uh coming out of law school.

They can go literally anywhere in the country, and for you know, they could be you know, for for their boss to essentially say, Well, I'm not sure we could be able to fund you next year.

Um it's uh they they might just pick up and say, Okay, I'm gonna go into Texas Rio Grande legal aid to where I where I worked.

Um and it's it's like to give them some predictability year to year so they can keep this, you know, staffing on is something that concerns me.

I just want to thank GBLS for sticking with us as we get this project up and running.

Um and I get so we we talked about busing costs.

I mean, how much does it cost again to uh to to bus kids from outside the district?

Do you have those numbers?

Yeah, no, it was we heard 17 million like when we first discussed this a year and a half ago.

Yes, I can pull up those numbers for the yeah.

Okay.

Um we do get a reimbursement for uh telco.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um in terms of so I just a quick question on athletics.

You know, we're I when I when I was in school, and maybe Councillor Fitzgerald was lighting up uh BLA uh defenders at BLS, uh, you know, it was just you whatever teachers were in the school or the coaches, you kind of lucked out.

You know, I had some great coaches, uh I'm not gonna name names, but some of the coaches weren't so great.

Uh like is that still the model and like where our pool of coaches is kind of limited to the people in the school.

I think there's preference uh to union members, yeah.

As to how it works, like preferential to union members.

Uh however, if you cannot find someone, if a school leader cannot find or an athletic department cannot find someone within the school, then we could move towards external applications.

Okay, and is that how how is that system working?

It is um it is I would grade it as a as a B.

B.

Not great, not grading our coaches as a B.

I think there's there's no system that's an A when we're talking about public education.

However, um what I will say is that we do have strong coaches, um, but we are also committed to providing more professional development for them in terms of like coaching symposium.

The junior Celtics Academy is a major partner that joined us recently, and they provided uh their role they have are rolling out a massive coaching curriculum that we're gonna follow.

Um we're actually the first people that that the first group that's gonna take on that curriculum, and with that, it's gonna lead us to provide additional uh professional development for our coaches and create a pipeline for younger coaches to sort of enter the BPS ecosystem.

And the only thing I would add to that is um both from a coaching perspective and as well as um uh an office of sports administration um perspective, we've been working closely with the coaches and our union to both learn from each other and how to get better.

So I would really credit the work that we're doing with the Boston Teachers Union and our um current Office of Sports Administration and our advisory partners that we've established that are outside of BPS to help us like really learn about best practice in athletics and how we can implement that in Boston.

So I just want to also note that we're learning from each other and we're just continuously looking for ways to get better when we're both having shortcomings.

Okay, yeah, I mean, one thing that I heard uh is about uh training of track coaches uh and uh you know, I think basketball, we have there's a lot of people play basketball, some can even make threes off the glass without calling it and still taunt their brothers.

But uh track is like one of these things where you you know I ran track in college, like if you don't have that you like sort of technical uh knowledge, it's tough.

And so I think it's one of these sports where people just wind up, you know, like they coach football in in the spring in the fall, and then they're just around, so maybe coach track and then they read a book or something.

Um and uh I I've talked to track coaches who said that this the district could do a better job, just provide like requiring a certification or something so people have basic knowledge, like you know, because it's just not as popular as basketball, for example.

Uh and so I'm not sure what we're doing in that space.

I do know that BLA, my daughter was on the track team last year.

I mean, that their track team is incredibly well run.

I was really impressed.

Uh and you know, led, I mean, a bunch of kids on BLA won the state championship across country.

Uh so I you know, there's there is good track and field in BPS, but I'm just maybe across the board.

Uh there might be a big gap.

Yeah, it's definitely nuanced, and um, yeah, we appreciate that feedback.

We know that everyone can stand to improve.

Um, but you know, our coaches, the the more committed we are to their improvement, um, the better.

And you know, I'll take that as definitely put some feedback to take back to the team that are on track.

Okay.

Um yeah, thank you very much, uh, Councillor Braden, Madam President.

Um I'm gonna I'll set it at five minutes.

Maybe we do one last round.

Okay.

We we gotta take a break soon.

Yeah, oh yeah, because we have to get ready for the next one.

We have another one.

Folks want to eat, don't you?

Yeah.

Send out for pizza.

Okay.

I was just looking in terms of uh total contracted services and non-personnel costs in the central budget.

Um can we is it possible to see a breakdown of the account code and the program code for each central office department?

Uh currently we only see um the district uh as a whole, and it doesn't really give you a sense of what money's been spent on.

Um the budget book indicates that a total of three three three hundred and seventy-one million two hundred and eighteen dollars and two thousand two hundred and eighteen thousand two hundred and twenty-two dollars is non-salary, equipment supplies contracts, and other non-personnel.

So I I'm just curious, like that's a lot of money, but this thing, get off.

Um that's a lot of money.

I'm just wondering it's for equipment supplies, contracts, and other non-personnel.

Like, is it possible to get a breakdown of exactly what uh what all those things are?

Yes, we can we can definitely break it down for you in a variety of ways for sure.

We can give you some more detail.

Is it like contracted services?

Is that for not other like nonprofits who contribute to the supporting our students or what does that so contracted services is uh primarily not um the grant agreements?

Um we do some of those uh but not a huge number.

Um so our contracted services, our biggest contracts are for things like um translations, supplemental special education services, um also like um all of our big IT systems.

Um go through contracted services.

Um of our hub schools work as contracted out with partners at the YMCA.

Um so th those are the main things that are in sort of as you look at central office contracted services.

But um I'd be happy to have a discussion about how you'd like to see it broken out.

We can certainly break it out.

It was a it's a big organization, as I said earlier.

There's a lot of things to unpack.

Yeah.

Um then um I'm just wondering in terms of um could this this I'm really a big fan of uh uh um sports and schools and access to athletics.

I think it's a lifesaver for many kids, but um this elementary sports foundation's program.

Um how many schools are is that available to?

It was available to every elementary school.

Is a pie is um however some of our schools are very small and it could not field the basketball teams, but when we transition to volleyball, there'll be different schools that'll have to take advantage of the opportunity, and then we transition to the other sports and soccer.

So it's available for every elementary school.

And many schools in Austin Brighton are participating.

And none.

We offered it to um the Austin Brighton schools.

Every school got an email.

None of the schools took you up on it.

Excuse me?

No schools in Alston Brighton are participating.

None, none.

Tell them, give them a call, tell them like we could combine them, we could have a Brighton team.

I know that there's that they're uh on their own, they're organizing with some column kills to play soccer, like the wind chip and this and but that's their own initiative, and you know why why are we have why having to do it our own do it ourselves?

Like anyway, um, and then you said that there's a Sunday program for three-year-olds and up, like for little types.

Where's that local?

So we've had this is this Sunday will be our hundred and second Sunday uh at Madison Park.

Uh we have a program called 6176W ON7.

Um it is a wellness program.

It used to be just athletics.

Uh, in the morning, you could get basketball for three-year-olds for girls, three year girls.

We start with three-year-olds and up for girls, then we go into older girls at 1030.

Um, boys' basketball at 12, older boys at two.

We then have rugby at nine, boxing at nine, we have yoga at 10, dance at 10.

Uh, we also have a food access program for families who could who need um food, and we have a huge partnership with Spoonfuls who provide who provide foods for our families.

Uh we have also provided college access as well, um, which some of your students at Brighton High has participated in.

Um, and then we also offer STEP as well as chess, and the media has covered the chess piece um so far, and you know, it's free to the community, free to families, and we have about 1200 registrations and any given day.

Oh, I mentioned I forgot to mention volleyball and soccer, but any given Sunday we get over 500 different people.

So is it a breakdown by district like where those did those families come from?

I could I could give it to you by school.

I could probably tell you in three minutes how many schools in Brighton or Austin Bryan are represented.

More locally, because it's just not well, actually going to Roxbury Crossing and good 66 bucks.

66 bucks is good, but I don't know how good it is on Sundays, but anyway, that's all right.

I really would appreciate that information.

Thank you.

No worries.

I've run out of time again.

Council Braden.

Um so I guess I I I know the the mayor has sought funds for access to council in the the state budget.

Uh I mean how so what is what's the plan or for this program?

Like are are we gonna funnel in money, you know, if we get some money later on?

I you know so I I think the access to council portion of it, I believe has been funded through the mayor's office of housing previously, so we can work, we can talk to them, we'll we'll talk to them about that, uh, and we'll work collaboratively on it.

I know we are working on a number of angles on uh replacing our sort of lost grant funding that we put together for this year's program.

So we're definitely still um hustling that money together, but we're we're hopeful we'll be able to find it all to continue the program.

Yeah, I mean, I think I I we've we've this council has supported it twice and hopefully support it again, and uh we appreciate we appreciate the collaboration here.

Figure out how to how to support that program.

Uh um I and I guess so the the changes to how this will work with eHIP.

I mean, are these changes that were made because of uh financial constraints or like would you be changing the program with the same amount of funding?

Like or or how you know uh sorry, particularly with like the Office of Uh Opportunity Youth, or um you know, sort of losing that piece of it.

Is that just because funding's tight or explain the decision making process there?

Yeah, I mean, um as we mentioned earlier, we we any cuts that we have to make are just painful cuts.

Let me just start by saying that.

Like we've done so much as a district over the years to really um staff different models of what we can do and provide our staff and students, and um we've tried different things, and we're unfortunately set a point where we just can't sustain a lot of what we did.

And it's nothing against the people in those positions, it's nothing against um um the work that they've done.

It's more around our fiscal realities that we have to manage.

So I think with dollars, of course, we would continue to fully fund different models that we know work, but now that we're in this fiscal reality, we have to just adjust those systems in a way that we can stand as best possible, but but with the primary focus on the direct service to students and families.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's it's it's the hard part with the grant-funded initiatives, right?

Is like how to be able to sustain them.

That's what we went through with ESSER and what to be able to take back in.

Um there's other areas for us where grants are getting cut, or where partners of ours that we rely on are having a grant cut that has direct bearing on us, and then trying to figure out what our budget can actually support.

So I think these are the hard trade-off pieces.

Um but I mean, this is such a critical needs area that we're all in agreement to advocate as much as possible for it, and to use the resources we do have to try to um support what would have been tied to the grant that we no longer have.

Okay.

And then um, sorry, just uh one more we've been joined by Councillor Murphy.

Uh in terms of alternative education, the I think centrally their teachers being I have here uh it's the alternative education department is losing four teachers and substitutes.

I don't know, is that your facial expression makes me think that's wrong, but um uh um oh sorry, sorry, it's sorry and and so I'm just trying to figure out what's going on and I apologize.

Yeah, I um didn't make the connection.

So there was uh alternative uh education program at Excel High School that was actually run and budgeted through the alternative education department.

Um called AIP, I believe.

Got the nod from Carlos, didn't screw that up.

Uh so as that school is closing, that program is also closing.

Um students will be able to transition to programs at other schools, similarly to any other student at Excel, but the um staffing for that program is being cut.

But the um staffing for that program is being cut.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then I mean, so will those so programs like Greater Eggleston uh high, like they'll still be supported.

Oh, yeah.

No, in fact, we've we've actually been doing a lot of reorganization with our alternative ed in investment in particularly to create seats and programs that match the needs of the students we have.

And so um Carlos Diaz, who's the executive director, um, is here, but this has been an ongoing for the last three years of redesign and expansion of seats for students.

You've heard of like the next program, the Bada East, right?

Like we've been creating those programs, uh, but then also doing a lot of strengthening in the alternative education network.

So Greater Eggleston that you referred to uh along with Boston Collaborative, along with um you know, BATA, like all of them are doing professional development, supports together, the leaders are now working much more closely, and we're moving toward a single point of entry to really understand what a student needs before assignment.

Okay.

Uh okay, I just uh wan wanna give my colleagues some time here.

Uh Councilor Murphy, so we we're uh this morning's hearing and it uh is focused on I yeah, you you're you've got the list.

Um so we we we were about to wrap up, but we're uh definitely hold the panel uh for you.

Uh if if you no you have five minutes uh No, I know we have two more meetings with it.

It's fine.

Okay.

I'm good.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay, well th thank you for being here.

I appreciate it.

Uh um Council Brain, do you have a last question for us?

I was wondering and in terms of um the uh we need to have updated organisation organizational chart that reflects who's leading each department and supervising that department.

I think the last BPS blue book was 2021, 2022.

Uh and the website doesn't include any contact information for the different leaderships in the different departments.

Is that is that correct?

It's what we'll follow you.

I think we have something for you.

Yeah, because it's really difficult to do book.

Yeah, we don't do the blue book.

Uh sorry, that was bringing back that was like in college, thinking of the blue book.

I went back in time.

Kelly's blue book.

Yeah, yeah.

So we have um there is a in your budget book.

Um do we have a list of you know, an on an on-chart for the BPS.

We do, it's our website but we'll we'll get it all printed and give it to you.

Yeah, that would be really good.

Great.

And then the other question I had was an autonomous school department.

Um it's um it's it's uh not listed in the school budget book.

So is it um is there anyone leading the autonomous school department?

Or you know the overseeing your charters and your pilots and all that, is that still uh a going concerned is that still being managed as a as a discrete group of schools?

Yes.

So um we actually they're part of the regions.

Um, but like for instance, Gardner is in yours.

Um there's also um a support for them right now in the form of a direct person to help with governing board issues, um training, things like that.

Uh that will continue in next year's budget.

And it's it's a part of our school's office budget.

Schools office budget?

Inside the school, all the work lives inside the school's office.

Okay, all right.

And um I know it's um everybody's getting hungry.

Uh we'll be back in the afternoon, so thank you.

Um it's good to see you all.

It's good to see you too.

And it's good to have a little fun here.

Thanks.

Uh oh, yeah, Councillor Murphy, if you have a question.

Um for being here, listening in.

But one question I know a lot of people have is the loss of jobs, and you know, we can talk about it many different ways, but this question might be through the chair.

A lot of rumbling too from some colleagues, not all, but will we chair be requesting a supplemental budget?

Is that something that you've been talking about?

Or that we've been talking about with BPS.

I mean, well, we we have not been talking about it, but I believe I knew it was a school committee meeting last night.

Correct, I can jump in.

Yeah, yeah, feel free.

Sure.

So um last night did request uh for school committees consideration.

I think as you recall, we uh identified early in the year that it was about a $53 million deficit.

Uh we were able through a lot of mitigation to work that back.

Um and so really the delta right now is the difference of the health insurance with our utilities.

These are areas we work very closely with the city on projection.

We very much appreciated that the city this year recognized that the first projection was going to be too low, and subsequently gave additional dollars so that our budget for FY27 reflects it.

We didn't have that happen in FY26, so that's why we're coming to you as counsel or will be if there's an affirmative vote by school committee.

Yeah, so yeah, Councilor Murphy.

So I I believe early May school committee will vote on it.

No, I know that, yeah.

Then we will hold a hearing uh on that.

I think we you know we're I we did we have a spot May 27th.

Uh and I'm if if if if some reason needs to happen sooner, we'll work on that.

Uh and we can shuffle things around.

I'm not sure what the timing issues are, just having kind of no, that all that all sounds fine.

Our next step is school committee, right?

Like we have that.

And then we just also wanted to publicly thank counsel for the Mel King unanimous vote for a Melvin H.

King South End Academy.

That meant a lot, and last night it was reaffirmed at school committee.

Yep.

The building is needed, but we have to do a lot of work with the programming too there.

100%, definitely ongoing.

And um, Liz mentioned, because I do often look at this and it does get updated, but it is true that there's never been contact information attached and figure it out, but most people don't realize that Boston public schools don't have a Boston.gov, you know.

People don't realize and there's an S at the end of school things that I can figure out, and that it's like first initial, it's different now the rest of the city.

So I think that would be helpful for everybody.

Absolutely.

Yeah, it's a great point.

We'll we'll make sure that we take care of that.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh so we're gonna uh uh well this hearing Okay, we're gonna adjourn this hearing and come back this afternoon.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you.