Superintendent Sippel told the Malden School Committee that passage of Question 2 requires the district to replace MCAS-based competency determination with a locally defined policy and that he will bring a recommendation to the committee in February.

Sippel said the district’s locally adopted requirements — including alignment with MassCore — remain in force. He noted that the Class of 2026 will need two years of world language and a full year of fine arts as part of those local requirements and that the competency-determination language in state law will now be implemented by school-committee policy rather than by MCAS scores. He said DESE has issued guidance but not prescriptive requirements and that the administration recommends defining competency by passage of specified courses and levels of proficiency.

Why it matters: the change affects current and near-future seniors and how the district documents mastery for graduation. Sippel warned the committee that state accountability (including use of MCAS for district accountability and potential corrective action) remains in place, and he said the district will seek to avoid situations that would prevent eligible students from graduating.

Sippel described next steps: the administration will present a written recommendation in February, the committee may refer that recommendation to the policy subcommittee for additional review, and the committee discussed the possibility of a special meeting or expedited referral so the policy can be adopted in time to provide clarity for affected seniors. “We will get the competency determination figured out. We will not hold anyone back, as long as you've met those local requirements,” Sippel said.

The superintendent also reviewed the district’s entry findings and improvement work. Highlights include:
- Communications: a parent-caregiver survey completed in December, a staff survey with hundreds of responses, a communications coordinator (Tess Mehar) recently hired, and a new district communications platform planned for rollout in July to unify family-teacher messaging.
- Extracurriculars: principals and the administration have launched additional middle-school clubs and after-school options (band at Beebe, a theater club, Tiger TV at Linden, volleyball, crochet and art at Salemwood, expanded clubs at Ferryway) and the district is providing stipends for advisers in many cases.
- Attendance and chronic absenteeism: the district has distributed an attendance message to families, developed an attendance playbook for consistent school-level interventions, and will continue community outreach.
- Scheduling and directed study: Sippel said about 664 Malden High School students currently have a directed study as part of their schedules (roughly a third of the school) and that more than 120 of those students have two or more directed-study periods. The administration has engaged Education Resource Strategies to analyze transcripts and scheduling data and convened a design team including teachers, school and district leaders and union representatives to rework schedules so students have fuller, more purposeful schedules next year.
- English learners and inclusion: the district has begun integrating some beginning-level English learners into lunch and exploratory classes to increase interaction with English-speaking peers and accelerate language development; professional development for teachers is underway.
- Staffing and recruitment: vacancies remain in world language, special education and ELL positions. The district engaged an external recruiter and plans earlier postings for next year’s anticipated vacancies.

Committee members asked for detail on timing and implementation. Member Macklin asked whether a committee vote would take immediate effect and how the district will measure competency for this year; Sippel said state guidance was issued in December and that the district recommends basing competency on course passage, specifying which courses and what proficiency will count. Member Hordy requested sample schedules and concrete lists of the most important skills for key courses so the committee can evaluate proposed competency standards. Several members favored referral to the policy subcommittee for more detailed work; the chair and Sippel said they will try to expedite the timeline and consider a special meeting if needed.

On scheduling, Sippel said the administration and external partner will bring data and proposals to the district-high-school design team next week; the union’s president (Giswoldo) and executive-board members are participating in the design work. Sippel emphasized the district’s aim to avoid last-minute changes that would unfairly affect students eligible for graduation.

Votes at a glance:
- Approval of minutes (Dec. 2): motion by Mr. Barnard, seconded by Mr. McCarthy; committee vote “ayes” — motion carried unanimously.
- Motion to enter executive session (to approve executive-session minutes and to discuss open-meeting complaints and contract negotiation strategy under M.G.L. c.30A): motion by Mr. Barnard, seconded by Mr. McCarthy; roll-call vote recorded as yes by committee members present; executive session was convened.

The superintendent said a fuller written report of entry findings will be delivered in the spring (scheduled for March) and the district will continue targeted listening sessions and focus groups by topic (special education, advanced learners, world language and others) before producing the final entry-findings report.

Sippel closed by congratulating the Class of 2025 and reiterating the administration’s pledge to provide clarity so students who meet local requirements can graduate.