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School committee accepts multiple grants and approves middle‑school cell‑phone policy
Summary
The committee voted to accept several grants (CAT academics $53,000; REACH private grant $50,000; Mass Cultural Council $5,000; DESE English learner grant up to $514,750) and approved a middle‑school secondary cell‑phone policy; all votes were recorded as affirmative with one member absent.
At its final meeting of the year the Chelsea School Committee approved a slate of grants and a new secondary cell‑phone policy for middle school students.
By roll call the committee accepted a $53,000 CAT Academics grant for FY24–25, $50,000 in private funds for the REACH program, a $5,000 Mass Cultural Council Creative Projects for Schools grant for FY25, and up to $514,750 from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for English learner education support. Each of those items was read, put to roll call and recorded as carried “in the affirmative and 1 absent.”
In the same series of votes the committee approved a proposed secondary cell‑phone policy for middle school, a measure that committee members said is intended to increase student engagement in classrooms; one member publicly thanked central office and educators who provided testimony in support of the policy.
During the meeting staff also reported district success indicators: a districtwide daily attendance rate of 95% and steady enrollment at 6,143 students. The staff presenter provided counts for high‑school failure rates and mobility figures across grade bands; the committee commended the reports to the record.
All grant acceptances were presented as routine roll‑call votes; committee members asked that staff continue to monitor fiscal and programmatic conditions for grant‑funded activities and to prepare any required reporting to funders.
