The Marblehead School Committee spent the bulk of its Sept. 30 meeting reviewing draft goals for the upcoming year and discussing how to make them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time‑bound). Committee members presented overlapping proposals focused on communications, a public goals tracker, budget transparency, educator voice and student representation.

Members proposed practical steps tied to several goals: repackaging existing superintendent and student updates for broader distribution; building a public-facing goals tracker (using Google tools) with a proposed build-by date in October and a launch in mid-November; conducting a baseline community survey this fall with an intermediate review in spring; and creating one-page budget explainers and public forums to improve transparency ahead of the district budget process. One member said a communications “low‑hanging fruit” approach — using materials already produced by the district but repackaged for wider audiences — would reduce ongoing administrative burden.

The committee discussed elevating educator voices via listening sessions and exploring whether a nonvoting educator or student representative could participate in discussions. Members cautioned that adding representatives or changing liaison roles may require legal review and careful attention to supervisory relationships; several encouraged consultation with the superintendent and legal counsel before moving forward.

Members agreed to seek an outside facilitator to help the committee synthesize its proposals into a concise set of committee goals and timelines. The committee mentioned engaging MASC (Massachusetts Association of School Committees) or a similar facilitator; one member volunteered to contact MASC about facilitation. The committee also noted that the superintendent’s district improvement plan will be a central document to which committee goals should align, and they discussed the superintendent evaluation process and timeline as a related matter.

No final vote on goals occurred; instead the committee agreed on process steps: engage a facilitator, coordinate with the superintendent on resource needs and timelines, and return with a draft set of SMART goals for further review and adoption.