The Regular Meeting of the Brockton School Committee was held this evening in the George M. Romm Little Theatre at Brockton High School, at seven o'clock. These minutes contain a summary of the meeting and list items that were under discussion.

Present: Mr. Minichiello, Vice-Chair; Ms. Asack, Mr. D’Agostino, Mr. Gormley, Mr. Bath, Ms. Sullivan, Mr. Sullivan, Interim Superintendent Thomas

Absent: Mayor Rodrigues

Also Present: Executive Team Members

Mr. Minichiello called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m., followed by a salute to the flag.

Consent Agenda

Mr. Minichiello explained the purpose of the Consent Agenda and asked members for requests to remove items for further discussion.

Mr. Sullivan moved the Superintendent's recommendation to approve the following Consent Agenda items, the motion was seconded by Mr. D’Agostino.

1. Approval of Minutes of the July 16, 2019 Regular School Committee Meeting
2. Approval of Report: July 16, 2019 Security, Safety, Transportation
3. Subcommittee Meeting
4. Approval of Report: July 29, 2019 Finance Subcommittee Meeting
5. Authorization to submit a FY20 proposal for MA DESE Adult Basic
6. Education Grant
7. Acceptance of Notification of Personnel Appointments: Non-Certified
8. Acceptance of Notification of Personnel Appointments: Certified
9. Acceptance of Notification of Personnel Actions: Leaves of Absence, Resignations, Retirements

Voted: to approve the motion, unanimous.

Interim Superintendent's Report

Interim Superintendent Thomas introduced and welcomed three new principals in the district: Jose Duarte has been appointed to be Principal of South Middle School, Jason Conetta has been appointed to be Interim Principal at East Middle School and Melanie Hart will be Principal at the Raymond School.

Mr. Duarte has been the Principal at the Fuller Middle School in Framingham since 2016. Prior to that he was a Principal at several Boston Public Schools from 1996 through 2016. He also served as the Operational Leader, Cluster Leader and Assistant Principal in Boston.

Mr. Conetta has served as Assistant Principal at Silver Lake Regional Middle School in Kingston since 2015. He also served as Assistant Headmaster at Randolph High School from 2013 until 2015 and Dean of Students at Randolph High School from 2011 through 2013.

Ms. Hart has served as Assistant Principal at Huntington Therapeutic Day School 2015 to present and Assistant Principal at the Raymond School 2014-2015.

They each spoke on behalf of themselves and expressed their desire to serve the children of Brockton and were looking forward to working with staff and the community.

The entire school committee welcomed them to their new positions and offered their help in any way they needed.

YMCA / Summer Leaders Program

Interim Superintendent Thomas then introduced Matt Gurley, Director & Tiffany Smyth, Program Assistant of the YMCA Summer Leaders Program. Also present was Yalexis Rosario, a 2019 graduate of the program. This program was set up by our Community Schools Program and Heather Arrighi in partnership with the Y. Yalexis read her graduation night speech and Matt and Tiffany explained the program. The program works with 8th graders going into the 9th grade. They work on leadership development, character development, social emotional development, along with academics. There were 24 graduates this year. The camp is held at Camp Yomechas and Camp Satucket.

Back to School Update

Teachers report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The first day for students grades 1 – 12 is Wednesday, September 4th and the first day for PreK and Kindergarten is Monday, September 16, 2019. Bus routes will be in Thursday’s paper and on the BPS website.

Budget Update

No new news, we are still waiting on the state to disperse the pothole funds. Aldo Petronio is in contact with the state. As soon as funds are available they will be reported.

Items to Refer to Subcommittee

None.

Unfinished Business

None.

New Business

Ms. Asack thanked Cradles to Crayons for donating backpacks filled with school supplies for our students. Mr. Thomas, Mr. Sullivan, Ward 6 Councilor Jack Lally, Michele Bolton, herself and some family members attended a fill the backpack event in Boston recently. Everyone contributed to filling backpacks. Brockton Public School District was recognized at the event and Mr. Thomas commended Ms. Asack for giving an excellent speech.

Mr. Sullivan read a letter from Janet Trask a member of the DW Field Park Association, thanking everyone who made the movie night “How to Train Your Dragon-The Hidden World” on August 16th such a great success. The families and children were all polite and respectful of the park and helped with the clean-up. Everyone left with a smile.

Mr. Thomas thanked the CEO of the Nixon Peabody Law Firm, Mr. Andrew Glincher, a Brockton High School alumnus who believes in giving back to his community. He started a mentorship program for Brockton High students to give them a chance to look in the possibilities of a career in law. He allowed 8 of our students to do an internship this summer.

Mr. Thomas then spoke about a partnership between the Empower Yourself Program and Seacrest Motel in Falmouth, Ma. And the possibilities of internships in the hospitality business.

Brockton High School Principal, Dr. Cliff Murray and the Charity Guild will be holding a can drive at the first BHS home football game on Friday, September 6th to help families in need. He asked for people to please bring canned goods to the game.

Mr. Minichiello spoke in length regarding his recent visit to Annapolis Naval Academy. He could not express enough how impressed he was with the students and the facilities. He said the Academy is looking to recruit Brockton students. He stated a student must have excellent academic grades, be an excellent athlete and have excellent leadership skills. There is an Academy Prep School located in Newport Rhode Island. The Academy is 2/3rds male and 1/3rd female and they are looking to recruit more female students. Students studying Chinese as a major are of interest to the Academy, along with math and science.

Mr. Thomas and Mr. Minichiello then welcomed Mr. Bath back to the school committee team. He will be filling the empty Ward 2 seat for the rest of the term. Mr. Bath thanked everyone for welcoming him back and stated he was looking forward to his role on the committee.

Mr. Minichiello announced that the school committee had personnel matters to deal with and would go into Executive Session and they would come back only to adjourn the regular committee meeting. A roll call vote was taken.

• Mr. Minichiello – yes
• Ms. Asack – yes
• Mr. D’Agostino – yes
• Mr. Gormley – yes
• Mr. Bath – yes
• Ms. Sullivan – yes
• Mr. Sullivan – yes

School Committee went into Executive Session at 8:20p.m.

Mr. D’Agostino made a motion to adjourn.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:23p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Michael P. Thomas
Superintendent/Secretary
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