Thursday evening’s (April 8, 2021) School Committee (SC) meeting was called to order at 7:11 PM by Chair Stacey Raffi, and after members approved minutes of several prior meetings, (9.3.20, 9.10.20, 9.24.20), Raffi turned the floor to two Holliston High School students.

Students Sakhr Kolkarni (above right) and Kiley MacLeod (above left), both supporters of Generation Ratify Massachusetts, spoke concerning “Period Products Poverty,” and the necessity for free menstrual products at HHS.  In a well-researched and delivered plea, Kolkarni and MacLeod alternately supplied data to the School Committee that supported their request.  Presently only four states require free period products be supplied:  NH, NY, CA, and IL.  Massachusetts is now one of 7 states with pending bills to provide free products to students in schools.  “We urge you to support supplying free products,” said Kolkarni.  Superintendent Dr. Susan Kustka said, “I am happy to share this information with our office.” When pressed for a date—whether this might happen within the year, Dr. Kustka said,”There is a good possibility if we can make it work—we will do some homework ourselves.”

Mary Greendale offered information to the SC about a proposal to create a Comprehensive Long-Range Planning Committee for Holliston.  She noted that at previous SC meetings, members had indicated a need for such a vision statement.  Greendale said, “The goal [of the proposed committee] would be to create a vision for the town and a plan to enact the vision.”  All town departments would be included in the Committee.  “I want the Town Meeting to own this,” said Greendale. “I want it to be a bottom up plan.”

Dr. Peter Botelho, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, made the third and final presentation of the evening.  Entitled “Assessment and Interventions: 2021-2022,” Botelho utilized PowerPoint to display systems that are presently and will continue to help to identify struggling students, especially in post-COVID times.  Botelho highlighted ways both academic and social and emotional shortcomings will be addressed, gave examples of targeted assessments and practice adjustments, and the programs and personnel who would address these. 

Dr. Kustka included the following points in her COVID-19 Update:

• A few cases of COVID were noted at the Middle School, and the HPS Website/Dashboard would reflect these numbers;
• Pool testing of students is now occurring in all four schools.  This week all test results were negative.  The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is funding pool testing for the remainder of the school year;
• Dr. Kustka was happy to see that staff are getting vaccinated;
• Middle and High School students will return to full in-person classes on April 26, 2021.  She noted that the numbers of remote students is significantly decreasing.

The Committee adjourned at 8:26 PM, with plans to return to its executive meeting for collective bargaining.  The next meeting of the SC is on April 15, at 7 PM.