Superintendent Priya Dehigliani opened the committee's teaching-and-learning update with the district's October 1 enrollment numbers and an early attendance snapshot.

Dehigliani said the district's enrollment for the school year is 14,914, a decline of 366 from last year's October 1 count of 15,280. She said the largest drops appeared at kindergarten, third, seventh, eleventh and twelfth grades, while pre-K enrollment rose. Dehigliani also reported a districtwide decline of 220 English learners and that new EL enrollments between July and October dropped from 1,011 last year to 650 this year.

The superintendent noted attendance rates of 93.3% for grades 1 through 12, with stronger attendance in grades 1 through 7 and lower rates in high school and pre-K/K. She said the district must follow DESE rules before withdrawing students and that final attendance figures may be adjusted as withdrawals are confirmed.

Dehigliani highlighted curriculum and extracurricular partnerships, including an MIT Sea Grant lab opportunity for East Middle School and culturally relevant purchases of new books across multiple languages. She also announced that Grants Director Cam Jackson and the district secured a Mass Clean Energy Center award of $4,030,494 to replace HVAC equipment at Plouffe with high-efficiency heat-pump chillers and a new building-management system to improve air quality and advance sustainability goals.

Committee members questioned the causes of enrollment decline and sought analysis of how potential grant losses (Title I, Title III, and the Ropes grant) would affect staffing. The superintendent and staff said they are monitoring federal funding risks, pursuing advocacy with DESE and other partners, and can provide a staffing-impact analysis; staff estimated roughly 96to98 open positions at present.