CPS

Regular Meeting Meeting | Agenda

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Held in and broadcast from the Dr. Henrietta S. Attles Meeting Room, Cambridge Rindge, and Latin School, 459 Broadway, Cambridge. To sign up to call in using the ZOOM app on your computer or mobile device: visit www.cpsd.us/school_committee/virtual

Regular Meetings will be live-streamed at www.cpsd.us and broadcast on Cambridge Educational Access TV (CEATV) Channel 98/99, as usual. Motions shown below are updated live as they progress.

From the Office of the Executive Secretary to the School Committee

February 15, 2022 | 06:00 pm

1. Public Comment (3 Minutes):

2. Student School Committee Report:

3. Presentation of the Records for Approval:
  • February 1, 2022 Regular Meeting
  • February 2, 2022 Special Meeting

4. Reconsiderations:
None

5. Unfinished Business/Calendar:
None

6. Awaiting Reports:
None

7. Superintendent’s Agenda:

7a. Superintendent's Update:
None
7b. Presentations:

Superintendent's Update: Cambridge Rindge & Latin Update: Culture & Climate Update
Victoria L. Greer, Ph.D., Superintendent of Schools 

Office of Equity Update
Manuel Fernandez., Interim Chief Equity Officer
Leslie Jimenez, Ed.D., Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging; OEIB Team

Cambridge Rindge and Latin Update: Culture and Climate Update
OEIB School Committee Presentation

7c. CPS District Plan:
None

7d. Consent Agenda:
#22-25 Recommendation: Approval of Authorization for the Superintendent to Submit a Statement of Interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for the Replacement of the Amigos School Building Roof
#22-26 Recommendation: Approval of the Memorandum of Agreement between the Cambridge School Committee ("the Committee") and Association of Federal, State, County & Municipal Employees, Council 93, Local 1611 ("Local 1611") on COVID Vaccination & Testing Protocols
#22-27 Recommendation: Day & Residential Program Services not Available from the Cambridge School Department
#22-28 Recommendation: Contract Award: UMass Amherst: Professional & Technical Services
#22-29 Recommendation: Gifts/Miscellaneous Receipts

8. Non-Consent Agenda:
None

9. School Committee Agenda (Policy Matters/Notifications/Requests for Information):
#22-30 Motion by Buildings & Grounds Sub-committee: Download Attachment

That the following be adopted as amended:

WHEREAS: In response to the emergence of COVID-19 in 2020, we focused on zero-transmission strategies in an effort to flatten the curve; and

WHEREAS: In preparation for our return to in-person learning for the 2020-21 year, the Superintendent set up the COVID-19 Safety, Health & Facilities Working Group made up of expert volunteers, the Building & Grounds Subcommittee met regularly to discuss the recommendations of the working group with feedback from the community, and the School Committee adopted the framework of "Schools and the Path to Zero" of Dr. Danielle Allen et al. that stated that schools should be the first to open and the last to close; and

WHEREAS: These efforts resulted in the "COVID-19 Safety & Facilities Procedures Manual", a living document which has continually been reviewed and updated by the Working Group, the Administration and the School Committee; and

WHEREAS: In 2021, with the arrival of vaccines and treatments against COVID-19, we started re-thinking the goal of zero transmission; and

WHEREAS: The Delta and Omicron variants reverted us towards zero-transmission strategies; and

WHEREAS: Now, in 2022, with Omicron starting to recede, with everything we have learned about the virus, and the wide availability of vaccines in our community, and the emergence of treatments against COVID-19, and that it appears we will not eradicate the virus, and we are unlikely to eliminate it; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED: That it is time to modify the goals of the "COVID-19 Safety & Facilities Procedures Manual"; and be it further

RESOLVED: That this includes balancing the costs and benefits of the COVID-19 protocols on the students and staff; and be it further

RESOLVED: That we have and will continue to make decisions based on the latest science, and that given that COVID-19 will continue to evolve, we need to be ready to reassess the priorities of the "COVID-19 Safety & Facilities Procedures Manual", including returning to a zero-transmission goal/strategy.



10. Resolutions:
#22-31 Joint Motion by Member Wilson, Mayor Siddiqui: Download Attachment

WHEREAS: The School Committee was elated to learn about Thomas ‘Tommy' Trainor, 8th-grade civics teacher at RAUC, profiled in “Teaching Civics After January 6th" in US News and World Report; and

WHEREAS: Over the past, three and a half years, Tommy and other CPS 8th grade civics teachers worked closely with the department and Harvard's Democratic Knowledge Project to create, implement and refine a new curriculum, "Civic Education in our Democracy," that is aligned with the 2018 HSS Framework and includes the state-required student-led civic engagement project; and

WHEREAS: Mr. Trainor is from Cambridge played youth baseball, worked in the Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program (MSYEP) as a youth, and later as a Counselor to teaching civics for over 15 years to Cambridge upper school scholars; now therefore be it

RESOLVED: That the School Committee go on record extending their congratulations to Mr. Trainor; and be it further

RESOLVED: That the Executive Secretarybe and hereby is requested to forward a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution to Mr. Trainor on behalf of the entire School Committee.


11. Announcements:
None

12. Late Orders:
#Late Order Joint Motion by Vice Chair Rachel, Mayor Siddiqui, and Member Bhambi in collaboration with Student Member Killian and Student Member Vera-DeGraff

WHEREAS:The Cambridge Public Schools' Title IX/Sexual Misconduct Policy is due for updating; and

WHEREAS: The School Committee will take the time needed to update the policy thoughtfully, and will address issues that require our immediate attention; now therefore be it

RESOLVED: That the second paragraph of Section IV Reporting Complaints of Sexual Misconduct be revised effective immediately to read, "Employees and students and/or their parents/guardians/caregivers are strongly encouraged to file a complaint regarding alleged sexual misconduct in order for an expeditious investigation to be conducted unless extenuating circumstances exist. The employee or student and/or their parents/guardians/caregivers shall fill out a Title IX/Sexual Misconduct Formal Grievance Form that will include, without limitation, the name of the individual, the basis for the alleged complaint, and the corrective action that the employee or student is seeking.”

13. Communications and Reports from City Officers:

None


Updated on 02/24/2022