Alex Grant introduced the draft of the ED evaluation and asked for comment.  Most of the discussion was directed toward the part of the draft evaluation that involved the Bill’s recommendation to begin the 2020-21 school year fully remote and to remain remote for most of that school year.  The draft evaluation set forth the background of the recommendation and decision to go full remote and the disappointing scores of SPCS on the statewide MCAS tests for 2020-21.  The draft evaluation indicated that Bill’s recommendation to go full remote, while made in good faith, was an error in judgment.

Kelvin Molina said the decision to go remote was the Board’s decision, not Bill’s.  He also noted that knowing what he knows now, he would have still voted to go remote.

Robert Leonard said he agreed with Mr. Molina.  He said that Bill and the Board evaluated all the information and made a good decision in opting to go fully remote.  Mr. Leonard agreed that it was a major decision.

Ms. Monson asked a question about the process of deciding to go full remote and she added that she agreed that Bill should not be faulted for his recommendation.

Mr. Grant noted that students in the suburbs who had the benefit of in-person learning did better on statewide assessment tests.  He also noted that SPCS students did worse on a relative basis, with the SPCS year-over-year declines greater than the state average.

Mr. Leonard stated that SPCS should not have gotten out in front of larger school districts.  He noted that Springfield and Boston both embraced full remote learning.

Mr. Molina said that SPCS went back to in-person learning earlier than the Springfield Public Schools.  He also suggested that the recommendation and decision to go full remote should be omitted from the evaluation.

Mr. Leonard said that the decision-making process surrounding remote learning should remain in the evaluation but that it should be re-written to better reflect the views of the majority of the Governance Committee.

There was agreement that another meeting should be scheduled to consider a re-draft of the evaluation that Mr. Leonard would do.  November 26, 2021 at 11 am was chosen as a mutually convenient time.