The Everett School Committee voted 9-0 on Monday, May 4, to send the mayor and City Council a fiscal 2027 operating budget of $139,290,473, plus $6,104,926 for special education transportation and $36 million in city chargebacks, the package Superintendent William Hart had presented at the April 28 public hearing.
Vice Chair Marcony Almeida Barros made the motion and thanked Mayor Robert Van Campen, who “for the first time that I am aware of, has reduced the chargebacks, and worked with us to have a balanced budget.” He said the year was difficult and “we sadly had to let some staff members go,” but compared with other districts “we were able to put together, I would say a balanced budget.” He added a warning: “the current fiscal scenario across the state might not be the same next time and next year.” Member Joseph D’Onofrio was absent.
No school choice, and AI images
On Hart’s recommendation after a public hearing the week before, the committee voted 9-0 not to participate in the state school choice program. “If you’re voting yes, that means you’re voting no,” Almeida Barros explained before the roll call.
Member Robin Babcock asked how district policy covers “false AI images that are sometimes explicit and embarrassing.” Hart read the cyberbullying policy’s language on technology and electronic devices and said the district’s outside Title IX attorney, who “has actually defended cases like this,” advised “our existing policies would cover any of this AI-generated manipulation of imagery.” Asked by Van Campen whether it is already a problem, Hart said: “It’s not a problem yet, but have we encountered it? Yes.” Member Margaret Cornelio asked about images made outside school; Hart said if it is brought to the district’s attention “we would call them in.” Almeida Barros asked that AI be named specifically when the student and staff handbooks are updated this fall, and reminded parents that the state’s two-year-old revenge porn law makes sharing non-consensual nude images a crime. The item was referred to the superintendent pending state guidance.
Superintendent’s report
- Kindergarten registration opened May 4, along with sign-ups for the district’s first dual immersion classrooms: Portuguese at the Parlin and Spanish at the Keverian, starting in kindergarten and adding a grade each year. “This is something I think that’s probably been long overdue in this district,” Hart said.
- State Rep. Joe McGonagle presented the Webster School a distinguished school citation that day; Hart said only two schools in Massachusetts were nominated by the state education department for the honor.
- More than 630 students registered for April vacation acceleration academies at the Lafayette, Parlin, Keverian and Madeline English schools, with 46 teachers, plus 250 at the high school, paid with federal Title I money. Hart said preliminary results show every K-8 school “went up significantly in comprehension and language.”
- Dr. Anna Seiders was named a finalist for Massachusetts STEM Teacher of the Year. Senior class president Danica Pham was named Everett’s CTE Student of the Year, one of 55 honored statewide in Worcester. The percussion ensemble advanced to semifinals at nationals in Dayton, Ohio; Chair Samantha Hurley said it placed in the top 15 of 60 bands.
- A strategic planning effort brought more than 70 people together for the first of three sessions, with more than 370 survey responses, and a Memorial Day concert was set for May 20.
The committee also accepted a $20,000 federal preschool grant, $500 from firefighters Local 143 for the Devens School fun run, $850 in sandboxes from the Home Depot Foundation for the Adams School, and $300 in Market Basket gift cards from the Zonta Club. Lafayette School students presented a year-long service learning project that built math toolkits for teachers, and the cast of Grease invited the committee to the May 7 and 8 shows. The meeting adjourned at 8:03 p.m.
Previous School Committee meeting (April 29): Five Speak for Everett’s $145.4 Million School Budget and No One Against at a 23-Minute Public Hearing; Vote Set for May 4
