2026-09-23 - School Committee

03:52meeting. I call this meeting of Westboro

03:54School Committee to order. The time is 6

03:56p.m. The meeting is recorded live on

03:58Westboro TV. All those who can please

04:01rise for the pledge of allegiance.

04:05I aliance to the flag of the United

04:08States of America. and to the republic

04:11for it stands one nation

04:14indivisible with liberty and justice for

04:17all.

04:22>> Thank you.

04:24Um we're going to start our meeting with

04:28citizens request. Is there anybody here

04:30that would like to speak?

04:35Okay.

04:37This

04:39Good evening.

04:39[laughter and clears throat]

04:40>> Good evening. Rod Shepard, a Parkland

04:42Street. And I know the last thing

04:43>> and uh sorry, I just got to read

04:44something real quick here. Apologies. Uh

04:46so before we begin uh begin, we will

04:48remind everyone of the school committee

04:50policy regarding citizens request. Uh so

04:52you must be a current resident of

04:53Westboro. Speakers are allowed to

04:55address the school committee about

04:56issues within the school committee's

04:58purview. Each speaker will be allowed up

05:00to three minutes to speak to the school

05:01committee. Written comments longer than

05:03three minutes may be presented to the

05:05presiding chair before or after the

05:06meeting. You are welcome to hand the

05:08chair additional comments in writing now

05:09or send them via email and the chair

05:11will share them with the other school

05:12committee members. Public comments by

05:14residents at this meeting is not a

05:15discussion, debate or dialogue between

05:17individuals of the school committee. Is

05:19an individual's opportunity to express

05:21an opinion on issues within the school

05:23committee's authority. Our role is to

05:24listen carefully to what you have to

05:26share with us tonight. Clapping,

05:27sharing, calling out or any other noise

05:29during the following uh a following

05:31speaker is not allowed. At the close of

05:33citizens requests, school administrators

05:34may address what the sh what was shared

05:36by the speakers if they wish to do so.

05:38State your full name and street address

05:40and speak directly into the microphone.

05:42>> Thank you. Rod Shaper, 8 Barkman Street.

05:45And I know the last thing you guys want

05:47to talk about right now is roofs, but so

05:49I'll make this very brief. So I

05:51understand from the agenda today that uh

05:54one of the things being considered is

05:56your capital projects for next year.

05:58within those capital projects, there's a

06:00number of roofing uh uh proposals. And

06:04you know, I've cautioned the school

06:06board that uh over the last several

06:10roofing projects,

06:13the person who's made the recommendation

06:15on what to do has been the manufacturer

06:18that's provided through roofing systems.

06:20And I'm not saying that anybody's trying

06:22to do anything uh illegal or anything

06:25like that. I just said I think the

06:27system is set up right now that we're

06:30really limiting ourselves to a

06:31proprietary system and I know Jacob has

06:34agreed to look into this. Uh but before

06:37we go forward with any capital project,

06:39I would strongly recommend that we get

06:41an independent roofing uh consultant

06:45involved.

06:47Candly, I'm not even sure that sealing

06:49the roofs is the right solution versus

06:52uh putting in new roofs. One of the

06:54arguments for putting ceiling as opposed

06:56to putting in new roofs is you can't

06:58reuse the material from the existing

07:00roofs. I'm a contractor right now using

07:04the insulation that's been taken off

07:06roofs as the insulation under the slabs

07:09for new buildings. So there are

07:11opportunities for recycling, reusing

07:13existing roofing products. All I would

07:15say is let's do a little more further

07:17investigation before we commit ourselves

07:20to what's currently being proposed.

07:22Thank you. Thank you very much.

07:26Okay, I think that concludes our citizen

07:29request. We're going to proceed with

07:31superintendent update.

07:33>> Great. I'm um happy to invite Tammy

07:35Castella who comes here every year to

07:37give you a little overview of what's

07:38happening in terms of our staffing uh

07:40particularly after the kind of final

07:43push in the summer and uh to give you an

07:45update about the start of school. So,

07:46thank you Tammy.

07:48>> Hello Tammy. Welcome back.

07:50>> Thank you.

07:52to this. So, I want to hit you point the

07:54thing if you point it at me. But yeah,

07:57you [laughter]

07:59think

08:00um thank you for having me. You do every

08:04year. I love staffing. I love hiring. I

08:08enjoy my job. So, I'm just going to go

08:10through um some of the things that have

08:12happened since about April, since hiring

08:14season. hiring and recruiting and hiring

08:16is just one part of what we do, but um

08:19it's a very crucial part to get us ready

08:21for the school year. So, I will bring

08:23you through the slides.

08:27Okay. Um one of the actually I sorry

08:32there we go. Um so just some hire hiring

08:35highlights for the year, things that

08:37shaped how we did things. The biggest

08:39thing that happened this year was the

08:41elementary redistricting. And so what

08:43that allowed us to do is to transfer

08:46staff from two elementary schools over

08:48to fails where um students were being

08:52moved. So that was a big big part of our

08:55hiring this year, how we did that. Um we

08:57had a very large year of administrator

09:00hiring which I'll get into. And the

09:01other thing that made this year a little

09:03bit um different than in previous years.

09:06So we have six of our seven um unions.

09:09We have new contracts and the unit B

09:12which is our para educator unit which is

09:14now called ESP which is our educational

09:17support personnel. We recognized that

09:19there were um different levels of

09:22positions within that group. And so we

09:25created a two-tier system. So we have a

09:27tier two and a tier three. And because

09:30of that um how we hired we had to be

09:32very specific about which position we

09:34were hiring for. So that was just

09:36something that was um a little bit

09:38different this year.

09:40So as I just alluded to, we had a very

09:43um gang buster year of hiring

09:45administrators for no real particular

09:49reason that I can think of with the

09:50exception of um I think we've done a

09:52good job getting our administrators um

09:56very skilled at their crafts. So, we had

10:00three of our um longtime administrators

10:03leave to go on to other places and be

10:08promoted within their um disciplines.

10:10So, that was some of what we have. Um

10:15so, these are the new administrators we

10:16hired this year. Scott Connory at the

10:18principal, Mark Levida who's our

10:20athletic director,

10:24Ryan Dewolf, director of fine arts,

10:26Christopher Kitell and Andrea Ostroski

10:28are our new student service

10:29coordinators, Katherine Faria, who is

10:33our um literacy and data coordinator for

10:36grades four to eight. and Lauren Dbor,

10:39who is one of our high school math

10:41teachers, has stepped in the role as a

10:43one-year interim assistant principal,

10:46which was part of our plan for replacing

10:49Brian Callahan. And there's one other

10:51administrator I didn't put on here. He's

10:54um

10:55he's a he's an upandcomer in education.

10:57I think he's going to be excellent. His

10:59name is Jack Foley and he's taken over

11:02um at the high school and I think um I

11:06think he's one to watch.

11:10>> So I usually break down our hiring into

11:12classroom staff and everyone else. And

11:15so this is the bulk of our um hiring for

11:19the classroom. We had 40.2 FTEEs and it

11:23was just about half and half. We had 19

11:26teachers that we hired which was 18.2

11:28two FTEEs, but 19 teachers and then 22

11:32PAR educators. You can see that the bulk

11:34of the um hiring or the higher uh hiring

11:38was done at Mil Pond and Gibbons. You

11:41also see that there was more hiring done

11:42at fails and a lot of that has to do

11:44with switching staff from those

11:46elementaryaries to fails. Um and then

11:49also having to to beef up staff a

11:51little, but all of our staffing was a

11:53onetoone. We didn't increase any FTEEs.

11:59This is um something I like to go over

12:01every year which is this the analysis of

12:04the new professional staff unit A. Uh we

12:07had nine internal moves which again is

12:09mostly because of that redistricting but

12:11we also had of those nine we had two

12:14special educators transfer within their

12:17own schools to general education. So um

12:20I have to track internal moves because

12:22we have to then backfill them. So, it's

12:24considered a hire. Um, we had a Gibbons

12:27tutor promoted to a computer science

12:29teacher and we had a fails par

12:31profofessional promoted to a special

12:33educator, which I love when we're

12:35promoting our own staff. And we also had

12:38an elementary long-term subteer at

12:40Armstrong who we recognized was an

12:43excellent teacher and she was hired into

12:45a permanent position at Mil Pond. of the

12:4818 um teachers new to Westboro, we

12:51actually had 19 new teachers that we

12:54hired, but one came back. She had been

12:57here about five years ago for five years

12:58left and now she's back. So we have true

13:0118 new teachers to Westboro.

13:04About three of them, out of about three

13:06of them are in their first year, which

13:08is great. About 60% of them fall in that

13:10two to

13:12nine year range. And then we had four

13:16that were um 10 plus years experience.

13:18So that's the breakdown. I like to see

13:20that sort of even level of experience.

13:23So we're getting all different levels.

13:25And um of the 18 that we hired, we hired

13:28three educators of color.

13:34This is um the teacher retention rates.

13:37This is something I started tracking

13:38when I got here. Uh 2021, 2022. I wanted

13:43to see if we were keeping our teachers

13:45and I also was trying to figure out the

13:47teachers that left why. So I've been

13:49tracking this for a number of years. The

13:51important thing about this is that we

13:52had really good retention this year. Um

13:55we, you know, we lost teachers due to

13:58resignations, retirement, and

13:59non-renewals. Um and this is a lower

14:02than average turnover rate. I was doing

14:04some research and DESI's most recent um

14:09reported percentage is 90.1% is a

14:12teacher retention rate across the state.

14:14So we're at 95.4 for this year, which I

14:17was really happy about.

14:22This is all the other people we hire

14:25besides unit A and unit B. Um we don't

14:29hire interns, but I like to put that

14:31number up there. 34 interns. These are

14:34people that might and in some cases do

14:36come back and become teachers for us. We

14:38also we hire interns for um educators

14:42who were in their last year of teaching

14:44and so they have to come and do their uh

14:47student teaching here. We also hire a

14:49good number of school nurse interns. So

14:53these are people that are potential for

14:56the future that we do tap into. Um,

14:58we're always hiring on call substitutes,

15:01extended day, uh, partial year long-term

15:04subs. We have that for our leaves of

15:06absences, most notably maternity leaves,

15:09but there are other childbearing leaves.

15:10There are others. We've hired five

15:12custodians, five coaches, seven new,

15:15two food service workers,

15:18and a partridge in a pear tree. Mhm.

15:22>> Um, I wanted to go over just a little

15:24bit about stuff coming up in human

15:26resources.

15:28The normal dayto-day is hiring and

15:32taking care of employee issues and

15:34benefits, um, things of that nature.

15:36However, this year there are three

15:39bigger things going on. We will be

15:41hiring a permanent principal for

15:44Westboro High School. That will be um a

15:47very big hire that we'll be working on

15:49and we'll probably start that process in

15:50December and hope to have that wrapped

15:52up by February.

15:54We last year

15:57renegotiated uh six of our seven union

16:01contracts. So it was an extremely busy

16:03year and this year we only have to do

16:05one which is our administrator contract

16:08which is great. So that is on the

16:09docket. We hope to get going on that

16:11soon. uh for our administrators in that

16:14union. You have your assistant

16:15principles, your student services

16:17coordinators, and your curriculum

16:19coordinators.

16:21And then there's also, which you're

16:22aware of, the efficiency study that the

16:24town's doing just to look at if see if

16:27there's any redundancies between the

16:29school district and the town.

16:33And that's all I have. So, I open it up

16:36to you for questions.

16:38>> Thank you. I will say that um

16:41well I already said it actually so

16:43there's more than just hiring that goes

16:44on but this time of year I'd love to

16:46come and talk to you about the hiring

16:48because that's what's been the main

16:49focus since about midappril to pretty

16:52much now. Um we just landed the plane

16:56about a week and a half before school

16:58started and we had all our unit A

17:00positions filled which was great. It was

17:02a very very um tough year for hiring

17:06special educators which continues to be

17:08the trend of our 19 hires. 10 were

17:11special educators and I'm happy to say

17:13that we hired them all, but at the end

17:16we had two that we were really pushing

17:18for. We actually got two excellent

17:20hires.

17:22>> Thank you. We'll start our discussion

17:25questions, Steve.

17:26>> Well, I think it's well put together

17:28presentation and in fact has all the

17:30pieces that we normally would be

17:32interested in and you've you've uh

17:35defined them very well. Thank you.

17:37>> Thank you.

17:38>> Thank you, Jane.

17:39>> Yeah, thank you so much for the update.

17:41Um, and it's very busy. Um, one thing I

17:45was thinking about with the special

17:46education, you know, this is a

17:48persistent

17:50uh challenge it sounds like. And I

17:52wonder, do we ever have um special ed

17:56teachers who were on one of the

17:57long-term sub type roles? And then, you

18:01know, that might be a good person to try

18:03to hire.

18:03>> We do. We do, but um more often than not

18:08the long-term sub, we have we actually

18:11hired someone at the high school that

18:12started as a long-term sub a couple

18:13years ago and now she's permanent at the

18:15high school. Um but special education,

18:19the actual special educators, I'm not

18:21talking about the SLPs and the OT's, the

18:23specialists. I'm talking about the

18:24actual special education teachers

18:26continues to be a dwindling group. And

18:29um it's like this. We have a greater

18:31need for them and they're dwindling. And

18:34so this summer there was lots of emails

18:36between myself and my peers at other

18:38districts saying, "Do you have any

18:40special educators? Do you have any

18:42special educators?" That was maybe your

18:43number two or your number three. So it

18:45wasn't just here. It was pretty much

18:47everywhere.

18:48>> Yeah. I mean it just seems like if it's

18:51something that's a issue for us that's

18:53ongoing strategizing um maybe with the

18:57student with with Meg Garvey too about

19:01um how we can and and I know sometimes

19:04we have student teachers maybe come in

19:07and or or um you know when they're doing

19:10their rotations for school things like

19:12that.

19:13>> Yeah. And one thing, it doesn't sound

19:15like a great number, but for the past

19:18four years, every year we've had one

19:19pareducator become a special education

19:22teacher, which is excellent. They

19:24they've gotten the schooling and

19:25>> they've the best part about that right

19:27now. Um this year, the one that fails,

19:30she was there all last year as a par

19:32educator. She was, as Maryanne put it,

19:35sort of homegrown and then she had an

19:37opening and she hired her. And so that

19:40happens um often enough here. We've had

19:42a couple at the high school that were

19:43PAR educators.

19:45So, that's

19:46>> Yeah, that's great.

19:47>> Our sources.

19:48>> Thank you.

19:49>> Thank you, Tim. [clears throat]

19:51>> Good evening, Tammy. Thank you for the

19:52presentation. Uh, just a couple quick

19:54questions. I know we were talking about

19:56the uh the 34 interns. I'm curious, is

19:58there a budget um that we associate with

19:59the intern program or

20:01>> No, we don't pay the interns. Um, so the

20:05only real expense is what we do in HR to

20:07on board them. We just make sure that

20:09they're coreied and that they're

20:11fingerprinted and we make sure they I

20:12have them sign a confident

20:14confidentiality agreement and then I

20:15have them do some staff training just to

20:18make it that much more

20:20get them ready and they're in the

20:22classroom and they're always our interns

20:23are always with someone. So we we don't

20:25allow interns to be alone with the

20:28students. Not that it's overly a

20:30concern, but they're always with

20:31someone. It is mostly um teaching

20:34interns and nurses

20:38>> sense. And I was curious as well, you

20:40know, Jane was just asking about the

20:41special educators. I'm I'm curious if

20:43you could talk maybe briefly just a high

20:45level of like how long we've been seeing

20:46this going on for like the upward trend

20:47and like are we seeing anything from the

20:49state or like anything that's giving you

20:51hope that that might end? Um,

20:55I think that there are more people

20:56leaving the field than they used to. So,

20:59you have two of our own teachers went

21:01from special education this year to

21:03general ed. And um,

21:07that was great because we got to keep

21:09them and they didn't go elsewhere. But I

21:11was like, that's two more special

21:13educators we have to hire. So, I am

21:16hopeful that it'll turn around, but I

21:18would say this is year three. Last year

21:20was very difficult. this year was more

21:22difficult because we had to hire 10

21:24which was a lot and uh two years ago we

21:27started to see the trend. So

21:30I think I think there's just a shift now

21:33where you have more people just

21:35migrating towards general ed but I'm

21:37hoping that'll change.

21:40>> Um I know I don't think any other

21:42questions. Um I just do really

21:43appreciate the the number from Desi.

21:44It's great to hear that we are doing

21:45better than the rest. So

21:46>> yes yes we are. Thank you.

21:48>> I think we're, you know, I always say

21:51that we're a great district and I think

21:53there's word of mouth out there and we

21:55do get teachers from other districts and

21:59we get really good comments from

22:01teachers saying, "Wow, this process was

22:03great and everyone here's so nice and

22:05you know, it's just a small thing, but

22:08it it's always nice to hear."

22:09>> Yeah, it's awesome.

22:12>> Sarah,

22:14>> you Tammy, this was great.

22:15[clears throat] Um I have a couple

22:17questions. One is regarding um so the

22:20new hires you have you're showing as 18

22:22new hires. out of that. How how many of

22:26those were went to bails?

22:29Um

22:32the

22:35I want to say

22:37four the bulk of the hiring we did

22:40wasn't so much at fails as it was for

22:42givens in the high school because what

22:44happened is it's a it's a little bit

22:46skewed because you have teachers from

22:48Armstrong and from um Hastings that got

22:52sent over or vacant positions got sent

22:55over and I can tell you let me just pull

22:58it up and

22:59So is that not included in the internal

23:01moves then?

23:02>> It is included in the internal moves but

23:04every internal move still is a hire

23:06because we have to backfill the person.

23:08So the person that moves from Armstrong

23:13well we had someone that moved from Mil

23:16Pond to fails

23:19then we had to backfill at Mil Pond. So

23:21it's technically it's a mil pond hire

23:24not a fails hire because fails we had

23:26already calculated the numbers of

23:29teachers but when I say 18 hires um or

23:3419 hires

23:36we had 19 vacancies we actually had 21

23:39vacancies and we hired 19 people because

23:41two positions we didn't fill. So, we

23:44hired 19 people and I would say I can't

23:47get online for some reason, but I'd say

23:48there was about five or six that were at

23:50fails.

23:51>> And then, so then would you say that the

23:53internal moves were those mostly to

23:56fails?

23:57>> Mostly to fails.

23:58>> Okay.

23:58>> But there were two that were internal,

24:00meaning within their own school. So, Mil

24:02Pond and Hastings each had a teacher

24:05that went from being special education

24:07to general ed within their school. So,

24:09those are internal moves. And then we

24:11had to backfill and hire the special

24:13educators.

24:14>> And then I'm just curious because the

24:17numbers match, but are the third the

24:18three first year hires are they of

24:21color? Are they is that where the 17%

24:23all three of them or

24:24>> No, none of our um three of color three

24:28teachers of color are they're in that um

24:32one was six years, one was 12 years, and

24:36one was nine years. And have we done are

24:40we doing anything different or you know

24:41I know we've talked about this a few

24:43years.

24:43>> Yeah, we actually had a a really So last

24:46year we hired four teachers of color.

24:47This year was three but the percentage

24:49was very comparable. Last year was 19%

24:51this year was about 17%. Um but we did

24:54have a really successful we're part of

24:56MPDE which is the Massachusetts

24:58Partnership for Diversity and Education.

25:00And every year I go with some staff to

25:03their job fair. And this year we hired

25:05two people from that job fair which I if

25:08I hire one person from that job fair I'm

25:10over the moon. So we hired two which was

25:12excellent.

25:13>> Okay.

25:13>> So we do that and you know we very much

25:17look at the applications that we get.

25:19The biggest thing that we do is look at

25:21applications and and make decisions

25:22based on the totality of the experience

25:25they bring to the table.

25:28>> Yeah. Diversity being one of them.

25:30>> Right. Right. I don't know if we've done

25:31anything further. um you know than what

25:35we've been doing. Uh I know we had

25:37talked about different

25:39avenues to try and recruit more, but I'm

25:42I'm not sure if there is. So I'm just

25:43curious. Yeah, I mean one of the things

25:46I do with the principles often

25:49pretty much all summer is I look at all

25:51the applicants that come in and so I

25:54will recommend and we did interview a

25:58few teachers and the reason why I say a

26:01few is because it was about the number

26:03that actually applied not that we didn't

26:05extend interviews. So, um, we hired

26:10three, uh, not those same three, but,

26:13um,

26:14it's it's a work in progress. I'm I'm

26:17happy the direction we're going in. Do I

26:19think it could be better? Yes. But a lot

26:21of it, um, some of it has to do with,

26:24you know, getting the people to apply.

26:26It's not it's it's once they've applied,

26:28we have a good system

26:29>> for, uh, reviewing applications and and

26:32interviewing, but it's it's getting them

26:35to apply. And a lot of that has to do

26:36with our location

26:38>> and the makeup of this location.

26:41>> Okay. And lastly, um do you have a

26:44timeline for when we're going to be

26:46starting the principal search for um the

26:48high school?

26:50>> Yeah, Allison and I have just started to

26:52talk about it, but I think roughly

26:54speaking, we're going to get the posting

26:55up by winter break, probably, you know,

26:59mid to the December the break. We'll

27:02have a two to three weekish period into

27:05January where we're collecting

27:07applications and then we'll do the whole

27:09um first round, second round site

27:12visits, community forums and we'll have

27:15a very um multidisciplinary committee

27:19which will probably start

27:21reaching out for committee members I

27:23would say mid December to get that set

27:25up so we have the committee ready to go.

27:28This is a all hires are big hires. This

27:31is a very big hire and it's probably my

27:34top priority this year.

27:35>> Yep. Okay. Thank you so much.

27:38>> Thank you, Gary.

27:40>> Thank you so much. Um, two quick

27:43questions. First is just regarding the

27:45um Westpro High School principal. Um,

27:48you mentioned that uh there would be

27:50they would be hired by the end of

27:51February. Is that what you said?

27:52Ideally,

27:53>> ideally it would be great. I mean, in my

27:55mind, again, Allison and I haven't

27:57finalized it, but I would like to think

27:58we would have someone named by February

28:01break.

28:02>> Okay. Thank you.

28:03>> Our goal, I I I think we're hoping that

28:05the February 10th school committee

28:06meeting um we will be able to make an

28:09announcement. That's my sort of target.

28:11Um you know, sometimes uh the candidates

28:13themselves make it so we have to have a

28:16little bit of um flex in the process,

28:17but that's really the hope before

28:19February vacation.

28:20>> Awesome. Thank you. I'm just wondering

28:21what the like uh what you see as the

28:24student involvement in that um decision.

28:26I know that students have served on

28:27committees in the past and um I'm just

28:29curious about the process for gathering

28:30student input on that.

28:32>> We will have a student forum. It

28:34actually it will mimic um what we did

28:37for Gibbons which worked out really well

28:40and we had a student group of about 13

28:44uh students and I'm sure we're going to

28:46do some sort of student participation

28:48again. There'll be student forums,

28:51parent forums, teacher forums, community

28:54forums.

28:56Those the big ones.

28:57>> In addition, uh we'll have student

28:59representation on the hiring committee.

29:01Um that was I think very effective in

29:03the case uh particularly of the athletic

29:05director and the director of performing

29:06arts. So we that having a student voice

29:09at the table when we're doing

29:10interviewing. So we'll be seeking a few

29:13you know probably a couple kids.

29:15We had a student on our hiring committee

29:18for the director of fine arts and she

29:20was fabulous and she was very nervous

29:22and they said, "Don't worry. Nobody's

29:25going to nobody's going to call you on

29:26the carpet. You just, you know, you just

29:28ask your questions and we're all here to

29:30help you." And one of the very first

29:32applicants turned to her and said, "Now,

29:34I'm going to put you on the carpet here

29:35and I have to ask you a question." And

29:36I'm like, "Oh." But she handled it fine.

29:39And I love when we have students on the

29:41committee because they have a different

29:43lens that I think is for obvious reasons

29:45very important. And um most of the time

29:49the students we have we we choose people

29:52that are um not shy which is what we

29:55want people who are going to give their

29:56opinions.

29:58>> Uh and then last thing regarding the

29:59Wester High School principal um is that

30:01open to internal um promotion as well?

30:03They would uh go through the Okay. Thank

30:05you.

30:05>> Yes. I I will say that just regarding

30:08the principal search,

30:11the word is already out that we have

30:14this position coming because of the way

30:16we um hired Jack Foley, this again this

30:19newcomer to cover at the U high school

30:23people that are already reaching out and

30:25are interested in the position. So when

30:26we um post for it, I anticipate a large

30:31response. we will do very similar to

30:34what I said to the uh middle school

30:36principal last year at Gibbons where we

30:38we sort of jumped out early and we got a

30:41really good pool and I anticipate the

30:42same for the high school.

30:45>> Thank you.

30:46>> Thank you. All great questions. Uh Tammy

30:49just a few short uh some of mine were

30:51already uh asked and I was wondering we

30:54had the new contracts uh signed earlier

30:57this year. Do you feel like they had any

30:59impact on the hiring process for you? Do

31:00they help? You know,

31:02>> the biggest thing that helps is, and I'm

31:04always anxious once this contract is

31:06signed, I want to get the salary grids

31:09on the website. It's the number one

31:11thing teachers would look at when

31:12they're looking at other districts. I

31:15when we're looking at hiring teachers, I

31:17will guess what their salary is by

31:19looking at the salary grids from their

31:21district to get an idea.

31:23>> So, um it's extremely important. Lynn

31:26has been my partner in crime all last

31:28year getting everything up on the

31:29website. Lynn Hurley [snorts] Allison's

31:32assistant and as soon as it's up I

31:34wanted the teacher contract grids up

31:37right away because we were already in

31:40starting hiring season. So it does have

31:42that impact. Um I do think you know

31:45teachers are more savvy if they're if

31:47they're teachers that have been teaching

31:48a while. They're looking at the benefits

31:50within the contract. A big thing right

31:53now is FMLA and maternity leave. I'm

31:56sure that that was looked at, but the

31:57number one thing people are looking at

31:59is salary and they're not looking at,

32:02but they're considering commute. Those

32:03are the two biggest variables I think.

32:06>> So, at least one of them we can control.

32:09>> The other quick question just I'm uh how

32:11many tutors do we have right now in the

32:13system?

32:14>> Nine. [laughter]

32:14Nine.

32:15>> It's still okay. Um that's all for me.

32:19Thank you very much. Thank you for your

32:21update. Okay, thank you. Feel free to

32:24email me if you have any other

32:25questions.

32:29>> Thank you. Moving on, we have uh on the

32:31agenda district strategy.

32:35>> Reorient myself here.

32:41I'm gonna load this up.

32:50>> So, you know, you have seen this in

32:53draft form and we've been sort of

32:54refining it as as we go along and I'll

32:57speak a little bit to process. Um the uh

33:01leadership team does a summer retreat

33:03and really the main focus of that

33:05retreat is to take some time kind of

33:08carve out time when it's it's quiet to

33:10do some thinking about what is the

33:12district uh what direction are we

33:14headed, you know, uh kind of reflect on

33:16where we've been and where we'd like to

33:18go. And um in the case of this district,

33:21there are a lot of things that work

33:22really well. So it's an exciting time to

33:24be able to reflect on where our needs

33:26are for improvement and then where we

33:27can innovate and get out um and address

33:30things similarly to in prior years. It's

33:33really oriented around sort of four main

33:36um uh strategic objectives. One is

33:39academic excellence. Uh the second is

33:42caring and supporting school and caring

33:44and supportive schools pardon. The third

33:47is connected community and the fourth is

33:49financial and operational stability. So,

33:52those are unchanged from last year. I

33:54think what changes is sort of what are

33:56our goals year-over-year. And then, um,

33:59you know, the back end of this document,

34:01if you want to dig back in, has all the

34:02sort of more detailed action steps. I'm

34:04going to sort of stay high level tonight

34:06because it's an overview, but if you

34:07have questions about any part of it, um,

34:09I would love to hear about that. In the

34:12academic bucket this year, we are really

34:15looking at um, sort of actions that

34:18strengthen our instructional core. We

34:21want to make sure that our our work

34:25builds a foundation for students to have

34:26really strong outcomes as they head

34:28through the school. And two places we're

34:31thinking about that are early literacy

34:33curriculum. You've heard about that last

34:35week from uh Matt and Aubrey and Kathy.

34:38And then uh robust curriculum maps for

34:40our high school courses. This is

34:42something that came out of the NEAS

34:43report as a need. And you know, it's

34:47more than just a documentation issue. I

34:51I think it's actually a really

34:52interesting and substantive exercise.

34:54When the departments take time to come

34:56together and map out here's what we're

34:58doing and how we're doing it, it sort of

35:01is an opportunity for reflection and

35:03alignment. Um um we are also looking at

35:06ways to enhance support for all

35:08students. Um and particularly we

35:12identified math instruction that is

35:14specifically designed to support our

35:16multilingual learners. Um that's work

35:19that kind of builds on the work we did

35:21last year for all students um all

35:24multilingual students in all areas. We

35:27sort of did this more general work and

35:28now we're deep diving into math

35:31instruction in particular. Um and

35:34[clears throat] math is surprisingly

35:35language intensive. you know, you don't

35:37think about it that way, but um in a

35:39math class, oftentimes students who have

35:41a lot of interest or ability may get

35:44kind of held back if we're not using

35:46really careful instructional strategies

35:48to help them kind of get through the

35:50language and get to the math part. Um um

35:53we're going to continue to look at our

35:54co-eing practices um uh strengthen

35:58executive functioning support for our

35:59middle-grade students. And then the big

36:01one that you've heard a little bit about

36:02and we'll be reporting out on this year

36:04is is my cap, which is an initiative in

36:07grades 7 through 12. Um, this is part of

36:09an alignment with uh new state

36:11graduation requirements, but it's also I

36:13think it's just really kind of cool

36:14work. Um, it's essentially focused on

36:17helping kids think about what is next,

36:20you know, what's coming down uh after

36:22high school, after college, and doing

36:24some early thinking about what are the

36:26different pathways out there for your

36:28career and your life. um in helping

36:31expand their thinking so that they can

36:34really tie their academic study now to

36:36something concrete which makes it I

36:38think more um more motivating in some

36:41ways you know um

36:44I'll pause after each bucket if you want

36:46to or should I just blast through the

36:47whole thing

36:48>> maybe blast through the whole

36:49>> I'm gonna blast through the whole thing

36:50okay caring and supportive schools we

36:52have these three big buckets one on uh

36:54digital wellness and uh school

36:56connection and that's really building on

36:59some uh work that we started but also

37:01focuses on some of our our

37:03implementation of the bell to bell p

37:05plan um structures for support we really

37:09want to look at chronic absenteeism in

37:11particular we've um it's been an issue

37:13that's sort of burbling out there around

37:15the state post pandemic you know some of

37:18that I think is um

37:21you know that the norms around coming to

37:23school have changed so there is that

37:25phenomenon right it used to be we would

37:27tell you unless your child is really,

37:30you know, coming apart at the seams,

37:31please send them. After the pandemic,

37:33that did shift. However, this is really

37:35referring to kids who are missing uh 10%

37:38or more of the school year. So, that's

37:4018 or more days. Those numbers have

37:42ticked up and what that suggests to us

37:45is we have work to do around what are

37:47the systems and structures of support

37:49that we need. Um, and that's going to be

37:52exciting work that we'll report out on

37:53this year. Um, I think uh we're looking

37:57to implement new timeout and seclusion

37:59regulations. You heard about those from

38:00me Garvey last spring. Um, we'll be

38:03reviewing our SEAL curriculum and and

38:06supports and also updating something

38:07called the DECAP. Um, we we love uh

38:11abbreviations in education. There's all

38:13these mysterious sets of letters flying

38:14around. So, the district curriculum

38:16accommodation plan, the idea behind it

38:19is really simple. It's um a set of

38:21things that apply in any classroom at

38:24any time for any student who might need

38:26them. And maybe a concrete example that

38:28everybody can get their head around is

38:30if you think about if you're given an

38:33assignment where you have to fill in

38:34blanks for some reason, having a word

38:37bank is an accommodation as opposed to

38:40having just to pull that language out of

38:42your head. It's it's an accommodation

38:43that some kids might need and other kids

38:46might not, but it doesn't truly impact

38:48learning, right? Um, you have to know

38:51enough about the words to put the right

38:52word in the right place. It doesn't

38:54undermine your kind of long-term

38:56learning process, but what it does do is

38:58it helps students who have word

38:59retrieval issues or um or who just have

39:02memory issues to be able to actually

39:04complete the task. So, those are the

39:06kinds of things that happen on a decap.

39:07you identify what are the types of

39:09accommodations that are out there and

39:11available. Um, ours has not been updated

39:13for quite some time. Matt's going to

39:15spearhead some efforts along with Meg to

39:17look at that. The trick to it is making

39:20it um, authentic. So, really working

39:22with the staff at each building so that

39:24they know what's in there and so it kind

39:26of gives them permission and and also a

39:29philosophical grounding for doing things

39:31that help students and and and are clear

39:34about what your learning targets are. Um

39:39on the connected community front, we're

39:40talking about student and family

39:42partnerships and school family

39:44partnerships. Um we really are working

39:46on the transition for families as

39:48they're moving from the high school to

39:50the burrow program as well as um those

39:53entering kindergarten. The kindergarten

39:54work, the bulk of it was last year, but

39:56there are some things we're going to

39:57continue to refine. Um we we got a great

40:00start especially with CPAC and

40:02revitalizing CPAC. Um, and we want to

40:04kind of continue that work into this

40:06year. I'm really pleased to let you know

40:08that the CPAC leadership along with um,

40:12uh, our student service director, Meg,

40:14myself, and I think one or two other

40:17people are entered into this um, uh,

40:20program called Apple. And I, it's

40:22another abbreviation. I'm not going to

40:23remember it off the top of my head, but

40:25um the Federation for Children with

40:27Special Needs runs a program and it

40:28really is about strengthening the bonds

40:31between the parent community and the

40:33school when it comes to special

40:34education. Um so it's an institute you

40:36go through a bunch of work together as a

40:39group and set sort of a vision and goals

40:41for that for building that sense of

40:43collaboration. Um which I think is is a

40:46great thing.

40:48Um we are looking to promote more parent

40:50engagement districtwide in in all sorts

40:53of things. Uh we've been talking a lot

40:56recently in a bunch of different places

40:58about how do we how do we do that

41:00effectively? How do we reach the parents

41:02who are not typically um involved as

41:05much as other parents in the school day

41:07and school environment. We're really

41:08kind of focusing on our communication

41:10tools and you'll see that reflected in

41:11my goals when I get there. Um, in terms

41:14of infrastructure and long-term

41:15planning, um, we are looking to

41:17integrate our capital planning process

41:19to clarify it and and also work closely

41:22with the town. Um, I've been talking

41:25about updating the budget structure for

41:27a while. Uh, we finally, this is the

41:28year I think um, we had to sort of hold

41:32on until the town was ready because in

41:34order to do it, we have to work through

41:35Munis, which is the shared software that

41:37both uh, the town and the schools use.

41:39But they are doing it and we're doing it

41:40right along with them. So, we'll be able

41:41to update those budget categories and

41:43I'm very excited about that. Um,

41:47and we are doing this internal um

41:51operation review that kicked off this

41:53last week. Um, we actually had our

41:54initial meeting with the consultants uh

41:57Christy Williams and myself just to kind

41:59of get a sense of process. They are

42:01starting to gather information and will

42:03begin um interviews shortly. So they'll

42:05be doing outreach to um uh a lot of the

42:09department heads in kind of both the

42:11municipal and the school side to sort of

42:12understand how things operate. Now um

42:18finally um kind of safety is is a piece

42:21on here that I again I've been talking

42:23about for a bit. I had had this great

42:25plan. I was going to hire um Jack Foley

42:27to help out of retirement to do a help

42:30us with a safety audit and then I came

42:32up with a better thing for him to do. So

42:34this is now coming squarely in my

42:36bucket. Um but we'll be doing an audit

42:38um this year of our kind of manuals and

42:40and then also building out the schedule

42:42for um uh training and structures. You

42:45know, part of it really is with an eye

42:46to having this turnover and

42:48administration um means it's even more

42:51important that we get things sort of

42:52updated in terms of documentation. We

42:54have relied on institutional knowledge

42:56and that's um it works great when it's

42:58there, but once we lose it, we lose it.

43:00So we have to get it written down. Um

43:03and then finally, school committee

43:05operations. Just thinking a little bit

43:06about, you know, how does this group

43:08operate? How can the work of the

43:10district support the committee and vice

43:12versa? How do we make sure the work here

43:14is thoughtful and transparent to the

43:16public, too? So, that's the final bucket

43:19there. Um, this hasn't been blasted out

43:21broadly except on the school committee

43:23agenda. Um, but I will send it out uh

43:26after tonight and after you have the

43:27chance to review, ask questions, and

43:29provide feedback. and uh we will um get

43:32to work. Thank you.

43:35>> Thank you. Let's start with discussion.

43:38Uh Steve.

43:41>> Okay, J. Thank you. This is this is

43:45great and exciting and um one thing that

43:49I just wanted to bring up to encourage

43:51you to keep on the forefront and I think

43:55it actually crosses

43:57um several of our academic excellence

44:03objectives

44:04um is just maintaining the rigor of

44:08[clears throat] um our curriculum and

44:11our evaluation of students in areas that

44:14can be impacted by AI. So, writing being

44:17the biggest one. Um, and I I've said

44:21this a number of times, but I'm gonna

44:23keep saying it because I continue to see

44:27it happening is that there is most of

44:30the writing is happening in the

44:32classroom.

44:33>> And that is we can't do anything but

44:36lower the standard of what we expect

44:38from our students if we're having them

44:39only write in the classroom. um because

44:42there's that defined amount of time. It

44:44also disproportionately disadvantages

44:48our students who require extra time. Um

44:51and that is not what we want to be

44:55doing. Um and no matter what our

44:58students are doing after they leave

45:00Westboro, they are going to do some of

45:02it outside of their workday or their

45:04school day. And so we need them to

45:06practice that skill. Um and so I don't

45:10know it fits into multiple buckets I

45:13think here um in in strategic objective

45:17one but I just hope that will be

45:18incorporated in because um I I don't

45:22really see it here and it just sort of

45:24struck me when I um was trying to think

45:26about how we would address this but I

45:29just hope that will stay on the

45:30forefront.

45:34>> Thank you Jane.

45:35>> Yeah,

45:36>> thank you for the presentation. Um just

45:38a couple quick questions. Um the first

45:41regarding uh decap you know so very

45:43interesting and I am curious to hear a

45:45little bit more um you know just about

45:46how um you know this came to be a target

45:48for this year.

45:49>> I think you know part of it we have been

45:52looking at um our systems for support in

45:56general. Um, you know, the current

46:00thinking in education is around having

46:01this notion of tiers, right? Uh, tier

46:04one supports are those that happen in

46:06the classroom kind of fluidly for all

46:08students. It's sort of like um anything

46:11that you might need extra help with. It

46:13there's a kind of nice medical analogy.

46:15A tier one support would be like an

46:16over-the-counter thing that you can buy

46:19buy some aspirin, right? um uh tier two

46:22or specialized supports that require um

46:25more um you know more expertise and a

46:28and more of a narrow focus. So like a

46:30prescription uh medication, something

46:32that you have to kind of get specially

46:35um assessed for and get some support.

46:37And then tier three may be you may need

46:40a fully different approach um like

46:42holistic medicine, right? So the decap

46:45is designed really to help that first

46:48tier access for all students in the

46:50classroom. and that um you know our

46:54conversation about it really grew out of

46:56looking at our tiered structure

46:58realizing you know we've got the

47:00foundations of it really in place

47:01particularly at the elementary level um

47:04but have some work to do at the

47:05secondary level and before we get there

47:08we have to sort of make sure it's really

47:10clear what are the things that everybody

47:12can do all the time that are going to

47:13help make students more successful. um a

47:15decap. It promotes um really interesting

47:19conversation among teachers around what

47:21instruction is supposed to be. So that's

47:23kind of the origin story and last

47:25updated was 2012 or 2020. Okay. So pre-

47:29pandemic it's been a little while. Um

47:31and our sense is that you know during

47:34that time period that was the time when

47:37you know a lot of people had a lot on

47:38their minds. So I think being able to

47:41get back to it and have more robust

47:43conversation is going to be helpful and

47:44important.

47:45>> Sure. And that just made me think of it.

47:46And when did we start roughly like the

47:48co-eing model

47:50>> that is a historic I'll have to look

47:52that up. I don't actually know that. Um

47:54it's been in place for my understanding

47:55for quite a while here. But

47:57>> I mean just something that I'm sure goes

47:58handinhand pretty well with you know

47:59more student um you know specialization

48:01things like that is having another

48:02educator in the classroom that's able to

48:03take on some of that.

48:04>> Absolutely. Well, I think um you know

48:06the that is first and foremost a special

48:09education initiative. So a way to make

48:11sure um students who have learning needs

48:14are able to have them in the least

48:15restrictive environment. They're right

48:17there in class alongside their peers. Um

48:20and and it helps everybody, you know, it

48:22just happens to have these spillover

48:23effects. So it's great.

48:25>> And then just one other question. Um I

48:27know that you already spoke to this a

48:28little bit but um in terms of like the

48:29safety nets and updating some of that um

48:31could you speak a little bit to you know

48:33some of the work that you potentially

48:34saw you know kind of Jack coming in like

48:35taking on if you were to come back and

48:37just like how you know you plan to try

48:39to do some of that without

48:40>> address that. Yeah.

48:41>> Um you know I haven't ruled out the idea

48:42of um getting some outside help to do

48:45that. Um and it's just a matter of sort

48:47of figuring out who and and how. Um but

48:49in terms of the work it's updating some

48:52documentation is is sort of the not not

48:54super exciting but has to get done part.

48:56But once that's in place, really

48:58formalizing some of the structures. Um,

49:00so having what's called an incident um,

49:02management team um, at each school site

49:05and then a district-wide site and

49:07getting those teams a little bit more of

49:08a regular training schedule. Um, and

49:10what that does is it sort of helps um,

49:14uh, spread the knowledge a little bit

49:16from just the principles and key

49:18leadership people to a few more people

49:20in the bucket, which is always good, you

49:21know. So,

49:23>> thank you.

49:24>> You're welcome. Thank you, Sarah.

49:27>> Thank you. Um, thanks for this. Uh, this

49:30was really helpful to look at. Um, I

49:33have a couple questions.

49:35So, one of them is around in the

49:37academic excellence section, you talk

49:39about the robust curriculum maps for the

49:41high school. Um, I'm really interested

49:44to see what that's going to involve. I

49:46think that that's a great initiative.

49:48Um, I wanted to make a comment that I

49:50did see the email that came through on

49:52the APs, which I think is awesome where

49:54you guys are um this this must be a

49:57brand new initiative about um allowing

50:00students to take AP exams as ninth

50:02graders.

50:03>> That was for self-study. So, a couple

50:05we've there a couple things that we're

50:07hoping to expand the number of options

50:09for students who want access to APs. I

50:12know the administrative team at the high

50:13school did work last year on the

50:15schedule itself. I think there's more

50:17that could happen, but it was a good

50:19start. Um, you know, we're going to hire

50:21a new principal and one of the things we

50:23can do in that hire is sort of put out

50:25priorities and this is is certainly one

50:26is thinking about how do we um work with

50:30the schedule so that we're really

50:31meeting the demand uh that's out there.

50:34Um the self-study option is um it's

50:37really for students who there's either a

50:40specialized class that we don't offer or

50:42they can't get into a class. we do make

50:45it possible for them to study on their

50:47own and take the exam. Um, and for

50:50whatever reason that initial email went

50:52out just to 10th, 11th, and 12th

50:55graders. Um, there are students who take

50:58AP classes at all grade levels

51:00throughout the Commonwealth. There's no

51:01reason in particular to restrict a nth

51:03grade just just because they're a nth

51:05grader. Um, so it was to open that up as

51:07a possibility.

51:08>> So, did we have previous restrictions on

51:09that?

51:10>> We did not. It just wasn't advertised.

51:12>> Ah, okay. Okay, that that's actually

51:15really good information because I I do

51:17think there might have been a little bit

51:18of confusion around that email. Yes.

51:20>> I clearly I was confused because I was

51:22like thinking um you know it's great

51:25because I I've been talking about

51:26expanding AP options for

51:28>> Yeah.

51:28>> since I got on this committee because I

51:30I think that our students are a great

51:31disadvantage when it comes to

51:34applications for colleges when there's

51:36you know other schools are offering APs

51:38and nth grade and we're not. Um, and I

51:41think that because we have so many

51:43limited years that it's being offered,

51:45kids are not able to even as seniors get

51:47into the APs that they want to, which I

51:49think is very uh

51:51>> frustrating.

51:52>> Yeah, very frustrating and and I I think

51:54we need to fix that. Um, and this email

51:58I took as because I was thinking the

52:00roll out of this is very strange coming

52:02once school has started because some a

52:05ninth grader who'd want to pick up a

52:06self-study would not want to do that,

52:09you know, in after school started in

52:11September. I would have thought that

52:12that. So, I understand now what that's

52:13about. I'm glad that I got the clarity

52:15because I was

52:16>> really uh wondering why the roll out of

52:19that was happening at this time when

52:20school had started because if somebody

52:22was going to want to pick up a

52:23self-study, they would have planned for

52:25that last year. So, um thank you for

52:28that. Um and then also I wanted to just

52:32hit on this um piece that you have the

52:34belonging piece. Um

52:36>> you know that that part is really

52:39important to me. I want to just touch on

52:41so we you know had the calendar

52:43committee. I think that the can the

52:45committee came up with certain

52:46recommendations at the end which you

52:48know I I have my issues with but there

52:50were a lot of loose ends um with that

52:53committee. It was sort of you know I

52:55don't know that we were able to to come

52:58to a real consensus and so we kind of

53:00left it as this is the recommendation

53:01but we don't know how we're going to

53:03implement we don't know how we're going

53:05to measure. we don't know how we're

53:06going to get information from the

53:07students

53:08>> regarding the impact.

53:10>> Um and so I see that you've

53:12>> well one from the email that you sent

53:14out which is that I think you're um

53:16working with

53:17>> the staff

53:18>> um in trying to create uh a committee

53:21and and do some evaluation there.

53:24>> Yes.

53:24>> Um and I just want to reiterate how

53:26important it is that we do come up with

53:28some sort of way of measuring the impact

53:31of both. Um, I would say not only now,

53:34you know, this idea of what we're

53:36planning on instituting in two years,

53:38but you know, the homework holiday um

53:41policy has

53:43the Yeah, that's I said that right. Um,

53:45has so greatly changed. Um, I'm really

53:49concerned about the impact that that is

53:51going to have. Uh, and I think like we

53:54there needs to be some real measure of

53:56what the impact is. And I I don't have

53:58the first clue of how you're going to do

54:00this, but I would like to follow up and

54:02I've said this previously as well, like

54:04I would like updates on how this is

54:06going and what information and how

54:08you're obtaining it. So

54:10>> I think that's that's right. I mean in

54:12addition to so there's in addition to a

54:15staff group internally I think um Roger

54:18Anderson and Kim Tinan have put forward

54:20a grant proposal to form a student group

54:23and um which will follow kind of a

54:26similar trajectory. We've identified an

54:29outside facilitator to come and train

54:31both the staff group and the student

54:32group in in terms of thinking about what

54:35is the work of supporting belonging and

54:37equity within the district. How do we do

54:39that well? Um so year one is really

54:41going to focus on a lot of sort of

54:43foundation building. Um we'll be looking

54:45at at data but also doing outreach so we

54:48can understand how things are impacting

54:50students directly. I think that's really

54:52important. Um and that's part of the

54:55reason we need to kind of get those

54:57groups up and running. So

54:58>> yeah. So once you figure out a mechanism

55:00by which you're going to measure, gather

55:02data, if you could please update the

55:04committee on that, that would be I just

55:06don't want to come up on the two-year

55:07mark and then

55:09>> we don't have the information we need.

55:10We're just moving forward with a

55:12decision that's based on right. Um and

55:14then my other question is um

55:20I don't know. So I lost that train of

55:23thought. Um

55:24>> yeah, but thank you. You're welcome.

55:27>> Thank [snorts] you, Sarah. Gary.

55:29>> Hi there. Thank you so much. Um couple

55:32of quick questions. Um the first thing I

55:34just wanted to mention with um what you

55:36described about the decap. Um just

55:38because students uh this mainly affects

55:41probably middle and mainly high school

55:42students um not having access to phones

55:44now and how that's also um changing

55:46education. uh speaking with peers I know

55:49that often phones while they absolutely

55:51in school had harmful effects that were

55:53pointed out um they were also used as

55:55coping mechanisms by students in various

55:58different points.

55:59>> Uh so I'm just curious or actually I'm

56:01just wanted to point out um as the decap

56:03is being rethought kind of how some of

56:05those same supports can be included even

56:06without uh phones.

56:08>> Um

56:09>> and then just kind of letting students

56:10know about that.

56:11>> That's great. Thank you.

56:13Um and then uh the other thing I just

56:15wanted to uh mention was um broader like

56:18student communication regarding um the

56:20district plans. I think that especially

56:22at high school when um when we as high

56:25school students know why certain things

56:27are happening even if they are probably

56:29above our pay grade to an extent of um

56:32like the exact educational reason for

56:34it. I do think that in uh classes there

56:36tends to be more cooperation between the

56:38teacher and the student for why

56:39different decisions are being made. Um,

56:42and because ultimately we're all on the

56:44same team there, I just wanted to also

56:46emphasize making sure students are aware

56:47of these district plans and the

56:49reasoning behind them and that they're

56:50ultimately to help students.

56:52>> Absolutely. I mean, I think one of the

56:53things happening also is um, and you'll

56:56also see that reflected in my goals is a

56:59student advisory committee that works

57:01with district administration. Um, this

57:03is actually not my not my big idea.

57:05There were a couple of high school

57:06seniors who had approached me last year

57:08and my initial conversation with them.

57:11They a lot of the issues they were

57:12focused on were really high school

57:14issues. So I said, well, you know, maybe

57:15this is something to bring to the high

57:17school administration, but then with the

57:18turnover um and a little time to reflect

57:21over the summer, I I kind of thought,

57:22you know, I think students need a voice

57:24at the district level. So I reached back

57:27out to them. We had a meeting. they've

57:28got they're about to send out um a form

57:31basically to the student body asking for

57:34interested students who might want to

57:36sit on that representative group and I

57:38think that is something we'll talk about

57:40how do we get the word out about

57:42initiatives that are coming and also

57:44that group can be a sounding board and

57:46really give some helpful feedback in

57:48terms of direction and communication. I

57:50mean I I think we will always um you

57:54know make decisions that are going to be

57:56uncomfortable sometimes. I think the

57:57phone is a good example of one where um

57:59some sometimes I may see something that

58:01I believe is in students best interest

58:03and the research suggests it is even if

58:05it's you know not what not what people

58:07want you know for a short term and but

58:09to your point if we can communicate

58:10about it well it can help ease the

58:13transition so I appreciate that a lot

58:15you're welcome

58:19>> thank you Allison for the uh thorough

58:21presentation and the and the goodlook

58:23plan for next year I I'm I I mean

58:26everybody seems to have some something

58:28of uh of focus for me I guess would be

58:30the AI road map and it implementation I

58:33mean that's a lot of people are are

58:35looking at that and so I'll be following

58:37that closely I have two questions one is

58:40very specific the other one is more

58:41general

58:43>> um the could you speak a little bit more

58:45to the chronic absentism uh um

58:49forgive me for ignorance but does it

58:51count students for instance who leave

58:53the country

58:54>> yes

58:54>> it does that counts as absent because

58:57that's a different kind of absent

59:01being anxious to come to school.

59:05>> some numbers to see, you know, what kind

59:08of absentism we are we are mostly

59:09concerned with or maybe you can just

59:11speak to that.

59:12>> Right. I I think you know one of the

59:13things I I pushed out like last year the

59:15year before just

59:18update for families if uh families leave

59:20for beyond that chronic absenteeism

59:23threshold we do encourage them to

59:25unenroll um in part because you know um

59:29they're technically not accessing school

59:30during that time they're we're not

59:32actually students we're not providing

59:33them an educational service and um and

59:36it's just not it's not a great practice

59:37but um but you know that's really a

59:40family's choice about making that

59:42decision. Um, in terms of being able to

59:45monitor which students which, it's a

59:47little hard to tell. However, in the

59:49data, it has very different data

59:50patterns, right? A student who's gone

59:52one big chunk of days, it looks very

59:54different than a student who misses

59:55every, you know, Monday and Tuesday um,

59:58in November. Um, so I think part of what

1:00:01um, Kim Tinen's role is going to be this

1:00:04year is p pulling together a committee.

1:00:06um she's working with a couple of the

1:00:08principles and as a sort of subgroup of

1:00:10the leadership team and the data is

1:00:12where they'll start looking at you know

1:00:15where are um the pockets of students you

1:00:18know what are are there characteristics

1:00:20of students in particular that we should

1:00:21be mindful of are there programs and

1:00:23supports that we can put in place um for

1:00:26example there's um there are a number of

1:00:29districts that have now joined um I'm

1:00:32not going to remember the name uh

1:00:34there's um a program out there that is

1:00:38uh helps families connect with mental

1:00:41health services online and uh the

1:00:44districts that have used it have said

1:00:45it's incredibly effective, very

1:00:48powerful, really helpful and often uh

1:00:50the underlying causes of school

1:00:52avoidance are things that need to be

1:00:55addressed that we may not have the

1:00:56bandwidth to help families address. So

1:00:58helping to sort of build in structures

1:01:00and supports can work and be very

1:01:03effective. So, those are the kind of

1:01:04things we're going to be looking at.

1:01:07I don't know. I don't know if I just got

1:01:08to your question or just talked all the

1:01:09way around it and came back.

1:01:11>> You did both, but

1:01:14>> uh the other question is more is more

1:01:16general. Which of these maybe more than

1:01:19one uh goals you find most challenging

1:01:22for the district right now?

1:01:25>> Um it's it's interesting. I think the AI

1:01:27is the thing that I'm the most

1:01:31I think it's the thing you know Matt and

1:01:32I talked about this too. I think it's

1:01:34the hardest thing because um I think

1:01:39educators have a responsibility, a deep

1:01:42responsibility to be mindful of what's

1:01:45in the best interest of children. And I

1:01:47think sometimes there are very different

1:01:49intuitions about what those things are.

1:01:52And um so helping move educators towards

1:01:56something when we don't really know what

1:01:59the outcomes look like for anybody

1:02:01because it's new. we find ourselves in a

1:02:03strange place. Um and um you know I and

1:02:08I think it's not helpful that the

1:02:09external conversation right now in the

1:02:12news media is about how it's just going

1:02:13to kill us all soon, right? That's super

1:02:16unhelpful to us in this moment. Um

1:02:19>> um so we I think have this very

1:02:24challenging task of helping to get our

1:02:28educators comfortable and familiar

1:02:31enough about what do what are these

1:02:33tools? What do they actually do? What do

1:02:35they not do? Uh because I do not believe

1:02:38we'll get any kind of buy in from them

1:02:40until that happens. Um, and I think it's

1:02:44important that we do because to Jane's

1:02:47point, you know, we're sending kids out

1:02:49into a universe where these tools are

1:02:51everywhere. And um, and if our students

1:02:54don't know how to use them um, and what

1:02:56they do not do well as well as what they

1:02:59do well, we are setting them up. So,

1:03:01it's uh, that one that one's tough and

1:03:04uh,

1:03:05>> well, I'm glad you're not going to be

1:03:06distracted by redistricting or

1:03:09>> other projects. So we got more energy

1:03:11for this.

1:03:12>> There's always something distracting.

1:03:15>> Thank you very much. And now we can

1:03:18proceed to very related next agenda item

1:03:21which is your goals for

1:03:24so 26 27 goals.

1:03:27>> Yeah. And these are are very connected

1:03:30as you can see. Um and I I want to speak

1:03:32to how I chose these. I I think um my

1:03:36job is interesting in that there are so

1:03:38many different things I could uh focus

1:03:40my time and attention on. And I think in

1:03:42order to

1:03:44um specifically think about my role

1:03:47here, I did a couple things. One was to

1:03:50think about the district strategy and

1:03:52what are the things where I could have

1:03:54particular I could be a particular help

1:03:57or influence. Um the second thing was to

1:04:00think about feedback um internal

1:04:02feedback from the leadership team. uh

1:04:04from teachers um you know what am I

1:04:08learning from people around me about the

1:04:10work that I'm doing and the third is

1:04:12feedback from you all actually looking

1:04:13at end of the year feedback last year

1:04:15that had a heavy influence in terms of

1:04:17thinking about where and and you and the

1:04:20community you as representatives of the

1:04:22community so those are the things that I

1:04:24really kept in mind in terms of choosing

1:04:26areas of focus um and uh I put these in

1:04:32this order for this reason you know I I

1:04:34do think um

1:04:36thinking about community engagement and

1:04:39really expanding the reach of

1:04:41communication from the district feels

1:04:43very important to me. Um I think that

1:04:46this uh it is the thing that is the

1:04:49superintendent's job more than anything

1:04:51else. Um and it's the thing that

1:04:53sometimes to me feels like the last

1:04:55thing I get to. So, by putting it here

1:04:56and prioritizing it as a goal, it kind

1:04:59of makes it concrete and hopefully will

1:05:02kind of help me keep that uh in my sites

1:05:05all the time. Um,

1:05:09you know, a couple of the things that

1:05:11I'm hoping to do here. One is an audit

1:05:13of what's happening with our

1:05:15communication. And I've mentioned this

1:05:16in kind of offhand way that we have

1:05:18tools that don't seem to be reaching

1:05:20everybody, but I want to be able to

1:05:22provide you with more data about what

1:05:24that looks like. Um,

1:05:27I do thinking about school committee and

1:05:31thinking about the time at school

1:05:32committee, we've had conversation about

1:05:33this as well. um you know, how do we get

1:05:36more people involved in understanding

1:05:38this board's role in sort of shaping the

1:05:42schools uh and really committed to

1:05:44showing up and telling you what they

1:05:46think. I think that's actually important

1:05:47that that folks do do that. Um so I've

1:05:50thought about engagement and engagement

1:05:52with the schools and with the community.

1:05:54Um the partnerships I already mentioned

1:05:57and then uh student advisory council and

1:06:00student voice um is an important piece

1:06:02too. So, I've um kind of advocated for

1:06:04that since coming here. I want to

1:06:06formalize it and expand it. Um I I think

1:06:09I don't know of any situation ever where

1:06:12we um didn't benefit uh enormously from

1:06:16seeking input from students and

1:06:17listening to what they had to say. So,

1:06:20um,

1:06:22thinking about instructional leadership,

1:06:24um,

1:06:26I I really wanted to think again about

1:06:28where is it that, um, we have work to do

1:06:32that I can be helpful with. The AI work

1:06:34was a big piece. Um, and I think my part

1:06:37of that is going to be working alongside

1:06:39Matt to help create the the steering

1:06:42committee advisory group. I can't

1:06:44remember what we're calling them.

1:06:45Advisory group, I think it is. um that

1:06:47has a little broader representation. So

1:06:49looking for some parents. We've spoken

1:06:51with a couple parents in the community

1:06:52who have background and expertise um and

1:06:56trying to kind of pull them together

1:06:57with staff and with some leadership to

1:07:00help us oversee the implementation of

1:07:01that plan. So that's a group that can

1:07:03kind of keep that work on track and um

1:07:06and I think that's important. Um,

1:07:10you know, we've had internal

1:07:11conversations about achievement gaps and

1:07:12I think we do need to sort of bring that

1:07:15out and highlight it in a more public

1:07:17way. Um, it's sometimes within a really

1:07:20high performing district. Uh, we have a,

1:07:22you know, we have great results in the

1:07:24aggregate. Things look really, really

1:07:25good, but they don't look um, great for

1:07:27everybody all the time. And by looking

1:07:29at those gaps, it allows us to um,

1:07:32notice what's working um, and what isn't

1:07:35and for whom. and then we can sort of

1:07:37refine our our work. Um, and then we'll

1:07:41be updating about secondary my cap

1:07:43implementation. I just think that's an

1:07:45exciting one. I want to kind of keep my

1:07:46finger on the pulse of that. Um, um, in

1:07:50terms of staff and professional culture,

1:07:52I've thought a lot about this. You know,

1:07:54I think one of the hardest things in my

1:07:56job is to be able to get out of my

1:07:58office and do stuff in the schools and

1:08:01see firsthand what's going on. And I

1:08:03think people value that. they need to be

1:08:05seen and heard. Um, but it it's it's a

1:08:08hard thing to do unless I sort of force

1:08:10force it to happen. Um, and so I'm

1:08:12trying I keep trying kind of new

1:08:14thoughts or new structures. Um, you

1:08:16know, last year I uh started the office

1:08:18hours. I think some people like them,

1:08:20some people said, "Why are you just

1:08:22sitting around with plate of cookies? I,

1:08:24you know, go do something else." I was

1:08:25like, "Okay." Uh, so [laughter]

1:08:28it's, you know, you get it on both ends.

1:08:30Other people are like, "Great, great to

1:08:31see you. Nice. Thank you for the

1:08:32cookie." Right? So, I'm trying to find

1:08:34uh ways to reach people that work for

1:08:37them. Um

1:08:39and we, you know, we hit on the um the

1:08:41group around belonging and uh and

1:08:43equity. I think that's really important.

1:08:45And not only important, it's legally

1:08:47mandated. So, uh there there was a law

1:08:49passed um and signed by um the Healey

1:08:53administration that that actually

1:08:54dictates that uh every district is

1:08:57supposed to have either a DEI director

1:08:58or a team that does this work. And um in

1:09:02the absence of a director, pulling

1:09:04together a team is the thing that we

1:09:06need to do. And I actually think it's

1:09:07more effective anyway. Um it's work that

1:09:09really should be distributed across the

1:09:11district and should have a lot of people

1:09:13advocating for it.

1:09:16Um and then in terms of uh the sort of

1:09:18safety and management part, I think um

1:09:21for me it gives me a chance to sort of

1:09:23really hone in on this safety goal that

1:09:26um you know Tim asked questions about

1:09:27earlier. um it is the thing that um that

1:09:30I worry about, you know, uh in my uh

1:09:34sleepless hours and so being able to

1:09:36address it is important. And then also

1:09:39working with the town and with our

1:09:41operations folks on um just making

1:09:44everything work as well as it can.

1:09:47I think that's it. Um put together like

1:09:51a summary table at the end. Um and this

1:09:54is helpful for me too so I can track

1:09:55deadlines. I've got a few things coming

1:09:57up soon. Um, but my hope is to be able

1:10:01to report out both at the district

1:10:04strategy level and at my own goals

1:10:06level. So, as we're giving I'm giving

1:10:08you updates in school committee

1:10:09meetings, sort of tagging them to this

1:10:11so you can kind of see the progress as

1:10:13we go.

1:10:16>> That's it. That was a lot of me talking

1:10:17in two different presentations.

1:10:19Apologize for

1:10:20>> All right. Thank you, uh, Steve.

1:10:24Well, I guess first of all the the goals

1:10:26and effort are

1:10:29the second part that I worry about as a

1:10:31member of this school committee is to be

1:10:33careful of burnout.

1:10:34>> Yeah.

1:10:35>> Every single one of these strategies is

1:10:37a full time.

1:10:39Yeah. And I think one of the things

1:10:44about you is your attempt perhaps to do

1:10:47more possible.

1:10:49>> And there's two outcomes. You're very

1:10:51successful, super tired. or you burn up.

1:10:54And so obviously we know the strength of

1:10:58our school system and all the people who

1:11:00work in it and work for you

1:11:03>> is to engage them to help you attain

1:11:05these goals.

1:11:07>> Indeed.

1:11:07>> And so having said that, we'll watch to

1:11:10make sure you don't burn out.

1:11:11>> Thank you.

1:11:13>> But thank you. Thank you.

1:11:14>> I appreciate that. I I do want to say my

1:11:17goals are not just my goals. I mean, I I

1:11:18have such a I work with such a fantastic

1:11:20team. Um, and I I cannot thank you

1:11:24enough for it. I I I don't know of any

1:11:26other superintendent that feels super

1:11:28lucky,

1:11:31period. Really. [laughter] Um, and I do.

1:11:33Um, and I think part of that is a

1:11:34testament to the people that I work

1:11:36with. Um, the district level team and

1:11:38just the school leaders here are

1:11:40phenomenal. And, um, and because of

1:11:42that, it's it's it's fun. You know, I

1:11:44enjoy it. I deeply

1:11:46>> Well, that's the important thing about

1:11:47any job. It's got to be fun.

1:11:48>> Yeah. I mean, not every single load of

1:11:50every day, but a lot of it.

1:11:54>> That's true.

1:11:56>> Jane.

1:11:57>> Um, yeah, these I am very impressed with

1:12:01the goals and echo what Steve said that

1:12:04they're ambitious and um will do a lot

1:12:07for our district. And that's something

1:12:10that um I've been impressed about um

1:12:13your leadership that you're not afraid

1:12:15to take on very difficult things. And

1:12:17many of these are very difficult. So,

1:12:19thank you.

1:12:22>> Yeah. Um, no real comments. I mean, it's

1:12:25always great to see people, you know,

1:12:26implementing the the smart goals and

1:12:28doing that. Uh, and so I'm just really

1:12:30excited to, you know, I appreciate the

1:12:32deliverables, the timeline, and I'm

1:12:33really just excited to see how we, you

1:12:35know, start checking these off. So,

1:12:36>> thank you.

1:12:37>> Thank you, Sarah.

1:12:38>> Yeah, I'm going to echo what everyone

1:12:40said. Um, I think that this is great. I

1:12:42really uh think that your goals are also

1:12:45quite ambitious, but I too have seen

1:12:48that you um

1:12:50you know put hold yourself to very high

1:12:53standards. So I I appreciate this and

1:12:55I'm I'm hoping that um we're able to see

1:12:58especially in the piece around family um

1:13:00and community engagement and data

1:13:02collecting around how we're going to be

1:13:04able to you know what's the current

1:13:06status and how we're going to be able to

1:13:08get more community engagement um and

1:13:10connect with parents. uh when there's

1:13:12barriers. So, I I appreciate that. So,

1:13:15thank you. Thank you.

1:13:17>> G.

1:13:18>> Thank you so much. I really appreciate

1:13:19it. Um three quick actually no, two

1:13:22questions. Um the first one is with the

1:13:24student advisory council. Um is that b

1:13:28is that going to be implemented in the

1:13:30um way that the um state describes in

1:13:33some cases of districts having the

1:13:35student advisory council or is that a

1:13:37more internal?

1:13:39the the two young men who approached me

1:13:41were part of a kind of statewide

1:13:43conversation. So I think they are

1:13:45pulling um from their experience and um

1:13:49and having

1:13:52sat in on some sort of conversations

1:13:54with other districts and hearing about

1:13:56what what it looks like. Um so very much

1:13:59informed um but I also you know we want

1:14:02to make sure there's room for it to

1:14:04really meet the needs that are here at

1:14:07the high school especially. But I I have

1:14:09also talked to them a little bit about I

1:14:10I'd love to get that group thinking

1:14:12about how do we expand so that they're

1:14:14thinking about students at all grade

1:14:15levels, you know.

1:14:17>> Uh and then the second question is just

1:14:19around student belonging. Um is there a

1:14:21way that that's being tracked and

1:14:22measured right now? And I'm just curious

1:14:24what an improvement in that area would

1:14:25look like.

1:14:26>> It's a it's a great question. So um

1:14:28there is actually there are a few

1:14:30instruments that we've we've looked at

1:14:32some initial data around. Um first of

1:14:35all the vocal survey which is uh

1:14:37administered at the end of MCCAST

1:14:40testing um wasn't being administered

1:14:42before I uh asked people to start doing

1:14:46it. Um and it's um it's it looks at

1:14:50safety environment and engagement and

1:14:53asks students a lot of questions around

1:14:56how they're feeling about their school

1:14:57experience. It's incredible data. Um,

1:15:00and so we have it for Mil Pond and

1:15:02Gibbons, grades four, five, and eight, I

1:15:05believe. Um, it's also given at grade

1:15:0710. Um, so my hope is to get the 10th

1:15:10grade implemented this year. Um, now,

1:15:12you know, uh, survey data that's taken

1:15:15at the end of the MCCAST test, you know,

1:15:16I is understandably, you know,

1:15:20>> might be a little skewed toward the

1:15:21negative, right? I I totally get that.

1:15:23But it also, you know, everybody

1:15:25district statewide is doing that. So

1:15:26it's at least like with like um so it

1:15:28gives us a sense of how we're doing

1:15:30compared to the state and how we're

1:15:31doing year-over-year. It breaks out into

1:15:33subgroups so we can see what's happening

1:15:35with particular groups of students and

1:15:37um and that's incredibly useful. So we

1:15:40did a first pass with leadership team

1:15:42this summer at looking at those

1:15:43preliminary um data. They weren't

1:15:45published yet. Uh the second set of data

1:15:47that we have already in hand is from the

1:15:50Metro West Adolescent Health Survey and

1:15:52that's um it's less asking directly

1:15:54about how kids are feeling and more

1:15:56asking about what they're doing, you

1:15:58know, um whether it's things that are

1:15:59risky or things that are healthy and

1:16:01that can be kind of a an indicator of

1:16:04how you're feeling about school,

1:16:05[clears throat] whether you're engaged

1:16:06in the the kind of things that we're

1:16:08trying to do to help feel help folks

1:16:11feel attached to school and like they

1:16:12belong or not so much, you know. And so,

1:16:16um, there are other tools out there and

1:16:17that's something that we may well end up

1:16:20exploring, um, at some point as well.

1:16:22So,

1:16:22>> thank you.

1:16:23>> You're welcome.

1:16:24>> Thank you, Gary. Um,

1:16:27and thank you, Alison, for this

1:16:28presentation. I'm not surprised the

1:16:31goals are ambitious. I I know I've

1:16:34learned enough that you respond to any

1:16:35feedback, critical feedback with even

1:16:37more work. So

1:16:39>> uh just I I think it will be your

1:16:42success in achieving these goals will be

1:16:43our success uh you know the whole

1:16:45district. So I wish you all the best. I

1:16:48just one specific question.

1:16:50>> Sure. Um, you mentioned the the position

1:16:52of DEI director. Uh, so if you could

1:16:55help me understand the timeline because

1:16:56I remember a couple years ago there was

1:16:58MAC resolution that we I believe we

1:17:00voted against it and I believe that that

1:17:02resolution failed but then is is it the

1:17:04case that the state went ahead and still

1:17:06established that as a mandate? Yeah,

1:17:09there there is a state law that was

1:17:11passed um and uh I'll I'll get the

1:17:15citation and send it along to you, but

1:17:17um and so yes, I think it was 2024, I

1:17:22want to say. Um and you know, it's I I

1:17:27think the idea was that there's been

1:17:29important work that's happened around

1:17:32thinking about, you know, making sure

1:17:34we're really paying attention to

1:17:35everybody who's here. Um, and not to

1:17:38lose ground and to lose sight of that.

1:17:40Um, so Matt, do you want to just say

1:17:43[laughter]

1:17:44>> Matt's looking it up for me?

1:17:45>> Yeah. So, Matt's general law, Chapter

1:17:4870, section 101,

1:17:50uh, Massachusetts public school district

1:17:52and charter schools required by state

1:17:53law to hire and appoint a diversity,

1:17:54equity, inclusion, DEI officer or

1:17:56establish a diversity team.

1:17:59>> Okay.

1:18:00>> Yeah.

1:18:00>> So, it doesn't have to be necessarily

1:18:01position. It can be

1:18:02>> It can be a great team. And did does the

1:18:05state provide any funding for this or

1:18:06no?

1:18:07>> Just a requirement. [laughter]

1:18:10>> And to date, they haven't offered

1:18:12guidance either. I mean, usually when

1:18:13there's a kind of a mandate, there's

1:18:15some guidance and that is still pending.

1:18:17Um, so I'll be curious to see what they

1:18:20come out with. You know, I'm attending

1:18:21tomorrow a webinar on the Protect Act

1:18:25guidance. So, um, they've they've kind

1:18:26of hustled it up on with that one in

1:18:28particular. This will be interesting to

1:18:30see. Uh the good news is I've um you

1:18:32know I've found a a consultant who's

1:18:35somebody I I know and have worked with

1:18:37and trust before who's done a lot of

1:18:39work around facilitating training for

1:18:40teams uh who do this work. And I think

1:18:42it's really important to get that group

1:18:44trained well um so that they're

1:18:46approaching the work in a way that's

1:18:48thoughtful and welcoming and really um

1:18:52you know helps it be a thing that pulls

1:18:55the community together and doesn't pull

1:18:56it apart.

1:18:59>> Thank you. Welcome.

1:19:00>> Okay.

1:19:01>> I just have a follow to that.

1:19:02>> Yes, absolutely.

1:19:03>> So, um, this came up a couple years ago

1:19:06as well, um, about the DEI director and

1:19:08I understand that now, you know, you can

1:19:10either go with that or have a task force

1:19:12of some sort. Um, and you know, I I want

1:19:15I wonder uh because you referenced that

1:19:18you think it's actually a better idea to

1:19:20have a team, but um, absent any

1:19:23budgetary constraints,

1:19:24>> would I want both?

1:19:26>> Yes.

1:19:26>> Yeah. I mean because I [laughter] have

1:19:27seen a lot of districts who do have this

1:19:29um and my understanding is that it

1:19:31allows you know that one person to be

1:19:35focused on this solely and so the really

1:19:37move the work ahead. So I'm curious as

1:19:39to

1:19:39>> yeah I mean in an ideal universe uh

1:19:42where funding is no object I think

1:19:43having both is great um in part because

1:19:45of that you have built-in leadership um

1:19:48and I think the danger of having just a

1:19:52leader and not another structure is then

1:19:55that single person is carrying the

1:19:57weight of this whole project and it can

1:20:00it can lead to dynamics that I think are

1:20:02really hard and um having known and and

1:20:05worked with and interacted with a lot of

1:20:07people who've held that position in the

1:20:09state. That has very much been their

1:20:11experience that they feel isolated and

1:20:14um and you know they do a lot of putting

1:20:17out fires and feel like it's very hard

1:20:20to get the strategic work going um if

1:20:23it's just a single person. So I think a

1:20:26a group is a necessary component. A a

1:20:29director would be a nice to have thing

1:20:31too.

1:20:33>> Thank you. You're welcome. And we're

1:20:35moving on to the next item on the agenda

1:20:37to our excellent student representative

1:20:40Gary.

1:20:40>> Hey there everyone. Thank you so much.

1:20:42Um yeah, starting with the elementary

1:20:44schools. Uh this week Fails is having

1:20:47its uh first Wester food pantry

1:20:49collection for breakfast items. Uh that

1:20:51goes to the end of this week. Uh and

1:20:52over at Armstrong tomorrow is the book

1:20:54fair uh for families and students 6:00

1:20:56p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Uh also we have open

1:21:00houses for all of the elementary schools

1:21:02tomorrow. And uh Mil Pond is happening

1:21:04tonight um at Gibbons and the high

1:21:07school clubs are starting up for the

1:21:09year um at Westboro High School. I think

1:21:11we had uh yeah uh nine clubs were

1:21:14announced uh over the loudspeaker for

1:21:16their first meeting just today. Um so a

1:21:18lot of different communities uh

1:21:19community events happening there. Um and

1:21:21late buses began last week for both uh

1:21:24Gibbons and the high school. Westpro

1:21:26High School is having its homecoming

1:21:28dance on October 2nd and then the

1:21:29homecoming festival which is available

1:21:31to the entire community on October 3rd

1:21:3312 to 3 p.m. And Gibbons is also having

1:21:36an upcoming fall dance. Um as we

1:21:38mentioned earlier uh the new holiday

1:21:40guidelines are in place are in place for

1:21:43uh homework um which we had the first

1:21:46instance of happening uh over this uh

1:21:48long weekend with Yamapor. Um I think

1:21:51that right now students are still uh

1:21:53understanding the way the new system

1:21:54works. there was some surprise around um

1:21:56how homework was still offered because

1:21:58we were used to the category 1 system uh

1:22:00that was before but um that's starting

1:22:02to get rolled out uh and students are

1:22:04becoming familiar with the

1:22:05[clears throat] new way that it's going

1:22:06to work. Um my cap was used for the

1:22:09first time I believe at Gibbons today.

1:22:11Um and students uh seem to like both at

1:22:14the high school and Gibbons the idea of

1:22:15focusing on the future as opposed to

1:22:17just the content. So incorporating into

1:22:20the um three pillars of my cap. um today

1:22:23they completed a vision or some students

1:22:24completed a vision board uh at Gibbons

1:22:26during their structured time for it. Uh

1:22:29and then the other thing I just wanted

1:22:30to uh bring attention to is um I think

1:22:33Miss Owens you were saying the uh

1:22:35writing in class and um how that works

1:22:38given the new um concerns around AI and

1:22:41uh many students have um reported both

1:22:44this year but also a lot last year about

1:22:46the way that we do um writing systems uh

1:22:50in when we're in class or when we're

1:22:52outside of school to ensure that AI

1:22:54isn't being used. Um, I'm curious if uh

1:22:57there's been any thought towards

1:22:59specific software that students can

1:23:00write in. Right now, we used locked

1:23:02Google Forms on schoolisssued devices in

1:23:04our English classes or wherever else

1:23:06that's needed, but Google Forms isn't

1:23:07really designed for like the word

1:23:08processing environment. So, I'm just

1:23:10curious uh if there's anything else um

1:23:13that's happening there. And then aside

1:23:14from that, happy to take any questions

1:23:15about any student affairs that are going

1:23:17on.

1:23:18>> Excellent. Thank you, Gary.

1:23:21Um gonna move on to the financial

1:23:24update.

1:23:27Wonderful.

1:23:29Hand things off to Anita here.

1:23:32[laughter]

1:23:34>> So, we had a couple sections here. Uh

1:23:36capital planning first. So, I'm going to

1:23:38let

1:23:39>> Okay, it is capital season

1:23:42>> and budget season. Um okay, so starting

1:23:46with the capital projects. Um if you

1:23:49look on this spreadsheet um the first

1:23:51six tabs um they show the capital

1:23:54projects um that we have um for FY28. Um

1:23:59you can see that there's two of them

1:24:01that are highlighted in red. Those are

1:24:03for um two possible projects that we can

1:24:07go out for MSBA funding.

1:24:10We did do a lot of um research. We spoke

1:24:12to our internal um subcommittee and

1:24:16after doing um talking to everyone we

1:24:20kind of decided that it was best and for

1:24:23the um sake of time efficiency and cost

1:24:26efficiency that we actually don't go

1:24:28through MSBA because when you look

1:24:30through the spreadsheet you can see that

1:24:31it would cost us more and um the MSBA

1:24:34funding would be two to three years out.

1:24:36So by the time we get it the project

1:24:38would be even more than what we think it

1:24:40would be as of today.

1:24:43Um the second two um are for the

1:24:47Hastings um parking lot expansion and

1:24:50the Hastings playground replacement. Um

1:24:53we are um actively getting um quotes for

1:24:56the playground replacement right now and

1:24:59we are putting together a um scope of

1:25:02services for our parking lot right now.

1:25:04And I'm actually working with Tim on

1:25:06that. Um Tim and um Kelly Jackapello on

1:25:09that.

1:25:15Those are the four kind of things that

1:25:17we anticipate moving before the kind of

1:25:21capital expenditures committee. Um, and

1:25:25we put together the information about

1:25:28both the MSB and and nonMS MSB versions

1:25:30because we believe that question will

1:25:32come up and so we wanted to have it

1:25:34there. Um, and you know, I appreciate

1:25:37Anita kind of she's spent a lot of time

1:25:40uh kind of on the phone with MSBA

1:25:42digging into sort of back um background

1:25:46um research about cost per per square

1:25:48foot, whatever we could kind of get our

1:25:49hands on. Um because the reimbursement

1:25:52rate, it looks like this great thing,

1:25:54but when you actually kind of look

1:25:56around at what those cost per square

1:25:58foot report outs are, it it kind of

1:26:01washes out. And in addition to the wash

1:26:04out, because the involvement delays the

1:26:06process, we're concerned that in those

1:26:08intervening years, the price point might

1:26:10ratchet up. Um, you know, you heard from

1:26:12a community member this evening about

1:26:14the restoration versus replacement. Um,

1:26:17and you know, that's something we can

1:26:19bring back to the capital subcommittee

1:26:20for conversation. Um, you know, I think

1:26:23our director of facilities has has noted

1:26:26that restoration is becoming an

1:26:28increasingly popular option uh out

1:26:31there. It's been done all around um the

1:26:33state and seemingly with good results,

1:26:36but that's a conversation we can look at

1:26:38too.

1:26:40>> Before we begin the the discussion and

1:26:42question, I just have

1:26:43>> Yeah,

1:26:44>> I'm confused about these two two tabs.

1:26:46We have one Hastings Elementary School

1:26:49parking lot redesign.

1:26:51>> And then following is parking lot and

1:26:55playground redesign.

1:26:57Is that just a

1:26:58>> That is just a typo that should have

1:27:00been edited. So,

1:27:01>> sorry.

1:27:02>> At one point we had those glombmed

1:27:04together and then we pulled them apart.

1:27:05So,

1:27:06>> okay, that's

1:27:07>> the first is parking lot and this one

1:27:09should be just a playground.

1:27:11>> Yep. So, I'm going to do that right here

1:27:13in real time about there. [laughter]

1:27:17>> Excellent.

1:27:18>> Thanks for catching that.

1:27:19>> Thanks for catching that. That would be

1:27:20confusing for anybody.

1:27:23>> Thank you. Okay. Uh can you start with

1:27:25questions Steve?

1:27:27>> Uh no I think you answered one of my

1:27:30questions which was the combination and

1:27:32the wording of them. I think it's

1:27:35clarified now. Uh, and I guess I would

1:27:38comment on on the

1:27:41work that you did to look at what it

1:27:43would cost us to do the work directly in

1:27:46our own schedule with our own hired

1:27:48people uh versus the quote contribution

1:27:52to Comwalth Massachusetts or for similar

1:27:56projects

1:27:57and hit the nail on the head that unless

1:28:01it's a borrow and unless it's really

1:28:03beyond the capital capacity of the to do

1:28:07a plan. It is much more expensive using

1:28:11the MSBA

1:28:13term.

1:28:15And one of the things I didn't didn't

1:28:17mention was probably no and that is that

1:28:19they also don't um consider the entire

1:28:23cost as reimburseable by the state.

1:28:26That's the allowable piece. for example

1:28:29for uh

1:28:31fails out of the 50 something million

1:28:34dollar project with all the piece that

1:28:37the MSBA was contributed to was around

1:28:4036 million. So there's quite a bit that

1:28:43the town has to carry on their own in

1:28:45regards to the way the MSBA works.

1:28:48>> Uh which I'm sure you will have to

1:28:50answer before the finance committee when

1:28:52they discuss these two numbers versus

1:28:56for the same project.

1:28:59I think additionally with that, you

1:29:01know, uh the other thing Anita sort of

1:29:04in her math looked at is the fact we're

1:29:07sitting on already um sort of mostly

1:29:11completed schematic designs for both

1:29:14both of those projects. If we were to go

1:29:16through MSBA, we would have to redo

1:29:18those. Um

1:29:18>> yeah, because they want to hire their

1:29:20own engineer and their own

1:29:22>> OPM. So, so there's a cost savings in

1:29:25kind of working off what we have

1:29:27already.

1:29:29>> Thank you, Jane.

1:29:31>> No questions. Thank you,

1:29:33>> Tim. So, I'm I'm fully on board with

1:29:36everything we're talking about here with

1:29:37MSBA, but can you just walk me through a

1:29:39little bit more like how that can

1:29:40happen? Like looking at the numbers, how

1:29:41one is so much higher than the, you

1:29:43know, if we did it ourselves.

1:29:44>> Yeah. So, the cost if you go through

1:29:46MSBA, it's um anywhere between $41 to

1:29:49$55 per square foot and versus um if we

1:29:54were to do the project right now, it

1:29:57would be approximately $25.66

1:29:59per square foot.

1:30:00>> And do we know is that because of the

1:30:01approved contractors? Like what is

1:30:03driving that that large price increase?

1:30:06>> I think it's a combination of um the

1:30:08MSBA. They have so many different um

1:30:11areas that the contractors have to look

1:30:13at and they have to go through. So they

1:30:15set their own prices and I think Steve

1:30:18can probably answer it answer that

1:30:20question better than me.

1:30:20>> And they also review the scope of work.

1:30:23For example, there there is new uh

1:30:27oversight if you will that they require

1:30:29in regards to any project that their

1:30:32agents i.e. the hired engineer requires

1:30:38terms of state oversight in terms of

1:30:41what you have to build. For example, if

1:30:44we wanted to build a new high school and

1:30:47we wanted to put an auditorium in it,

1:30:49they would not carry any of that.

1:30:53So that's why it gets bigger. uh if you

1:30:56want to get what what you need isn't

1:30:58necessarily going to be supplied by the

1:31:01school

1:31:02and that was the case with our high

1:31:04school. We had to limit the size of the

1:31:06auditorium

1:31:09to what their standard was.

1:31:13>> Another question. Thank you. Thank you

1:31:15Sarah.

1:31:16>> Um I just have a couple questions. One

1:31:18is regarding the milon roof. So we had

1:31:22this was before us what three years ago

1:31:24I want to say and then we had pushed it

1:31:26off

1:31:27>> because we had something else that was

1:31:29there at that time.

1:31:31>> Um

1:31:32>> just to tell you the finance committee

1:31:33wouldn't support what we asked for.

1:31:35>> Sorry they didn't support it.

1:31:36>> Right. Yeah.

1:31:37>> So that was the so that blew it up.

1:31:39Okay. Um, so my question though is

1:31:42because it's interesting that we were at

1:31:45the prime time at that time

1:31:47>> to have the sealant done and now we're

1:31:49still at the prime time have the sealant

1:31:51done.

1:31:52>> So window

1:31:53>> Yeah, it's a window. I understand. I

1:31:55just want to understand a little bit

1:31:57more as to

1:31:59>> how long that how long we can stretch

1:32:01that, right? Because we want to be able

1:32:02to do that as long as we can. And I'm

1:32:04just trying to I don't know who can

1:32:06answer that. you know, at the time it

1:32:09was offered, it was um brand new. There

1:32:12wasn't any experience about it or

1:32:15whether any of it would work. Uh

1:32:17obviously, there's now three three more

1:32:19years worth of experience with it. Uh

1:32:21and going forward with that approach

1:32:24might be easier to offer and support

1:32:28based on other history of other work in

1:32:30the meantime. Uh but the the secret to

1:32:33it all is

1:32:35if the manufacturer will provide the

1:32:39warranty,

1:32:41okay, then it works because they have to

1:32:44go back and fix it at their cost,

1:32:47which I I pretty sure we we didn't bring

1:32:52that forward at the time, but it was

1:32:54what was offered. They were going to

1:32:56offer a warranty for that repair, which

1:32:59would have added for

1:33:01approximately half the cost using that

1:33:04method. Um, another 20 years worth of

1:33:09capacity, if you will, under warranty.

1:33:12>> Um, but at the time the town was

1:33:14strapped with other projects that needed

1:33:16to get done and it just didn't get into

1:33:18the mix.

1:33:20>> Are you asking to the urgency of of this

1:33:23project?

1:33:24>> Um, not really question. I mean in

1:33:27general I think like since we presented

1:33:29it or it was potentially something that

1:33:32we were considering three years ago and

1:33:34at that time we were able to defer it

1:33:36you know I'd just like to be to know

1:33:39when somebody asks me you know why can't

1:33:42you defer it again sort of thing right

1:33:43so I'm just trying to yeah what what are

1:33:45what is the criteria but I understand

1:33:47that's probably not something I would

1:33:49answer

1:33:50>> in the bigger picture I think for the

1:33:52school committee to bring forward any

1:33:55article We need to do all the research.

1:33:59Okay. And then present that and present

1:34:01it uh with the

1:34:04support of all the players on our side

1:34:07and hopefully we could get the board of

1:34:08selectmen and and the town manager to

1:34:11agree with us. Obviously the role of the

1:34:14finance committee is to query

1:34:15everything. Uh but if ultimately the

1:34:18town doesn't have enough money to do it

1:34:20and all the other things, we have to

1:34:22stand back and in effect try again.

1:34:25>> Yeah.

1:34:26>> So here we are.

1:34:27>> That makes sense.

1:34:29>> Yeah. So Sarah, so I'll add that we're

1:34:32actually going to get the roofs

1:34:33rescanned just to make sure that they're

1:34:35um eligible for the restoration itself.

1:34:38>> Okay. So we're not we don't know that

1:34:40right now they are

1:34:41>> correct.

1:34:41>> Oh, okay. That's that's good

1:34:43information. They're still within the

1:34:45window of time that we believe. Uh and

1:34:47you know in terms of the shape they're

1:34:48in, we're you know they are requiring

1:34:52ongoing maintenance and repair work. Um

1:34:54which is why the restoration is is

1:34:56important to do. Um so we're optimistic

1:34:59but we just want to make sure that it's

1:35:01actually

1:35:02>> it would be interesting to find out from

1:35:03them what the criteria is just so that

1:35:05we have an idea um for other Absolutely.

1:35:08>> Who's them?

1:35:09>> So actually that's a good question. And

1:35:12who who is it that's going to be

1:35:14evaluating or scanning and doing the

1:35:16roof to see if it it's eligible for

1:35:18this?

1:35:19>> Well, as Rod brought up earlier, we do

1:35:21have a consultant. Uh certainly the the

1:35:25statement that in fact that our

1:35:26consultants in cahoots with a specific

1:35:29manufacturer I think requires some

1:35:30research to either affirm or deny

1:35:35because it's the consultant that we're

1:35:37using to tell us what we need to do. And

1:35:40that's an important understanding maybe

1:35:42different than what happens in

1:35:43Washington but I think in our case we

1:35:45need to do it right.

1:35:46>> Right.

1:35:47>> And in fact uh I believe we have been

1:35:50doing it right because I don't believe

1:35:51that the individual works for any

1:35:54manufacturer

1:35:56but let's make sure we know that

1:35:58>> and that was actually my second

1:35:59question. So um this came up at town

1:36:02meeting as well. Um I believe somebody

1:36:04had come up and it may have been him. I

1:36:05don't recall.

1:36:06>> It was Mr. Hley. No, it was it was

1:36:08>> right, but it was to the same um

1:36:11>> it was a concern about that and u we had

1:36:13conversation in the wake of that and I

1:36:15think want to be able to look to

1:36:18engineers and independent people to to

1:36:21make that assessment uh as much as

1:36:24possible. So just to say that um you

1:36:26know since this has been brought to our

1:36:27attention as a potential

1:36:30>> um we want to make sure that we're

1:36:31looking into this as

1:36:33>> but but keep in mind it's not that

1:36:35single individual that agrees or

1:36:37disagrees. The engineer's responsibility

1:36:39is then to listen to um the the issues

1:36:43if you will of all players including the

1:36:45consultant and and provide a document

1:36:48that in fact meets state law and has all

1:36:51the the bells and whistles of what's

1:36:53required in public bidding. uh and uh as

1:36:58was done particularly as a result of the

1:37:01discussion at town meeting was to make

1:37:03sure that the contractor who was the low

1:37:07bidder

1:37:09actually

1:37:10was performing and asking questions

1:37:13according to state law that was

1:37:16documented as part of this project. So

1:37:19I think u and and the outcome of the

1:37:23work so far uh has been beneficial to

1:37:26the town.

1:37:27>> Sure. So I guess I guess the question is

1:37:30and it may be just that I don't

1:37:32understand which I don't think I

1:37:33understand. So the consultant the the

1:37:36allegation or what what's being stated

1:37:38is that the consultant is um

1:37:40>> was a manufacturer's rep

1:37:44>> right? So engineering the basically

1:37:47engineering the plan such that you know

1:37:49only specific people would be eligible

1:37:52to bid. Correct.

1:37:53>> That was the second.

1:37:54>> No not people specific material uh could

1:37:58be used.

1:37:59>> Right. So engineering the plan so that

1:38:01basically stating that this is the type

1:38:03of

1:38:05>> the specs the specs that were set were

1:38:07favorable to a specific vendor. Right.

1:38:10>> Or bidder rather.

1:38:11>> Yeah. That was the second state.

1:38:13>> Right. And so did we

1:38:14>> we corrected any misunderstanding there

1:38:17was about the rights of contractor to

1:38:20offer any product he wanted that quote

1:38:23unquote would meet the spec and was not

1:38:26uh a a single

1:38:29manufacturer's product that you would

1:38:31have to hire or buy that product u

1:38:35contrary to state law

1:38:37what was done was in in in that

1:38:41particular issue

1:38:43was that the contractor was allowed to

1:38:46offer anything they wanted in the

1:38:49anticipation of meeting the

1:38:51specifications offer and under review

1:38:55everything that they offered was

1:38:56accepted.

1:38:59>> Right. And I I concur with everything

1:39:01you're saying. I what I'm trying to

1:39:02understand is so I don't know that there

1:39:04was a question of whether or not it was

1:39:06in compliance with state law. I I think

1:39:08that the the question was whether or not

1:39:11we are getting the best pricing that's

1:39:14out there. Um

1:39:16>> that's why you bid a specific scope of

1:39:19work,

1:39:20>> right,

1:39:20>> with a specific requirements of that

1:39:23work and it goes out to bid and the low

1:39:26bid is the one that we selected and

1:39:28awarded to. That's how you make that

1:39:30statement.

1:39:31>> But if we are skeptical of the actual

1:39:33specs being put out, that that's my

1:39:36question. I'm not saying that we are.

1:39:38I'm just saying that I hope that we're

1:39:39evaluating the prospect of that.

1:39:41>> Let me chime in. I you know my

1:39:44understand

1:39:44>> say one thing that might be helpful

1:39:45which is in terms of like looking ahead

1:39:47the the uh scanning is actually going to

1:39:50be done by the engineering firm not by a

1:39:52a representative of any company. So in

1:39:54terms of the analysis looking forward we

1:39:56are sort of sensitive to this.

1:39:58>> That's something else in here. It is.

1:40:00>> I mean,

1:40:02>> obviously if you're talking about a

1:40:03project um of this magnitude, there's

1:40:08it was 150 pages maybe of the

1:40:10specification.

1:40:12But uh the research was done. The issue

1:40:16of whether the contractor had the

1:40:18opportunity to offer something that in

1:40:21their opinion met our specs

1:40:24u was uh they didn't take advantage of

1:40:27it upfront. But we ask them specifically

1:40:30under the terms of the state law as to

1:40:32how you bid, particularly whether or not

1:40:34you have uh another offering, if you

1:40:38will, other than what was specified

1:40:41to to submit it, have it reviewed and

1:40:45approved.

1:40:47And that's what happened.

1:40:50Yeah, you were saying.

1:40:51>> Yeah, I just want to add I I I don't I

1:40:54believe we looked into it and we

1:40:55determined that the spec was not written

1:40:57to favor a single vendor. That was not

1:40:59the case. And I I do support uh

1:41:04uh hiring a independent roofing

1:41:06consultant uh just to I don't know

1:41:10reassure

1:41:11the residents that we doing our due

1:41:13diligence. But uh I don't I think the

1:41:15due diligence due diligence was done in

1:41:18the first place.

1:41:19uh as far as I understand.

1:41:23>> Okay, thank you.

1:41:24>> I think we can move on. Uh Gary, any

1:41:26other questions?

1:41:27>> Oh, uh nothing major. I just wanted to

1:41:29say uh great to see all of the uh

1:41:32improvements that are planned and I'm

1:41:33sure Hastings is going to be super happy

1:41:34with the new um playground. Um, I just

1:41:37wanted to mention one thing um that I've

1:41:39just noticed at town meeting where

1:41:40there's always someone that's asking

1:41:42like why wasn't a capital expenditure

1:41:43budgeted for which obviously they work

1:41:46different than um recurring budget items

1:41:48but um just want to encourage that it

1:41:50the school communicates it um about why

1:41:53uh these are capital projects versus

1:41:55budget items to the broader community

1:41:56just so that we ensure these get passed.

1:41:58>> Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate

1:42:00>> Thank you. Okay. Now, just add just

1:42:02>> Well, I mean, the first answer is

1:42:04there's no way that we could out of the

1:42:06school budget in any given year. Um, you

1:42:09know, carry a million dollars, $2

1:42:11million, $5 million project by

1:42:13definition. You don't do them very

1:42:14often. They're that's what makes them

1:42:16capital.

1:42:17>> Yeah.

1:42:17>> But, but the definition of capital in

1:42:20terms of let's say the finance committee

1:42:22is their definition.

1:42:24>> Yep.

1:42:24>> Right. So, I mean, actually, that's

1:42:26where to point that question and we

1:42:27react to it in either or.

1:42:30>> Yep. Right.

1:42:31>> I just want to uh say one one thing at

1:42:34the end. I don't know if that was very

1:42:36clearly presented that if if all these

1:42:38ask go through the process and they end

1:42:41up on the Tom Warren, we would be asking

1:42:43for the wing the seawing roof

1:42:46restoration design money for the for the

1:42:49mill pond and uh the parking lot

1:42:54redesign and and the Hastings

1:42:56playground.

1:42:57>> So all four of them.

1:42:59>> All four of them. And with the with the

1:43:01mil pond, if if it if it gets to that uh

1:43:05then the following year we we'll be

1:43:07going to ask for the for the full uh

1:43:10actual project.

1:43:12>> No,

1:43:12>> no,

1:43:13>> no. So that 1.7 million and that 2.276

1:43:17million that includes the project costs

1:43:19as well because we already have the

1:43:21design money because we already did the

1:43:23design, right?

1:43:24>> So we already have that in hand. So that

1:43:26money is for the project work, for the

1:43:28OPM work, and for the um architect.

1:43:32>> Okay.

1:43:33>> If we were to go through the MSBA, then

1:43:36it would stretch out and be a a bigger

1:43:38time.

1:43:38>> I was looking.

1:43:39>> Yeah.

1:43:41>> Thank you.

1:43:43>> Okay.

1:43:46Moving on to budget summit preview.

1:43:48>> That's great. Um

1:43:51I shared a draft of this earlier uh with

1:43:55um the advisory finance committee

1:43:59leaison uh that work with the school and

1:44:01I'll I'll sort of I I will go through it

1:44:04quickly because I want to keep us on

1:44:06time here. Um but uh I welcome your

1:44:11feedback because you know part of my job

1:44:14in the budget summit is to sort of put

1:44:16forward to um the other boards in town,

1:44:19the advisory finance committee and the

1:44:21select board sort of a little bit of the

1:44:23state of affairs of the the school

1:44:25department and try and help them

1:44:28understand some of what we're grappling

1:44:29with. So, in doing so this year, I

1:44:32started where I always like to start,

1:44:33which is bragging a little bit about the

1:44:35school district. Uh, saying, um, you

1:44:36know, our our students do really well,

1:44:38they perform well, there are great

1:44:39things happening, and they're very

1:44:41exciting. One of my favorites is this

1:44:43best, uh, bang for your housing buck,

1:44:45uh, uh, note, which we've been on that

1:44:48list a couple years in a row. It's a top

1:44:5010 list. So, that's top 10 in the state.

1:44:52That's pretty good. Um, and although

1:44:54these ratings, they move up and down. I

1:44:56think we're up in Boston magazine. were

1:44:58down slightly in US News and World

1:45:00Report because they have slightly

1:45:01different metrics. Um, Westboro always

1:45:03is really reflected and that is a

1:45:06testament to the incredible work of of

1:45:08the staff here. So, I like to give them

1:45:10a lot of proper credit for this. Um, so

1:45:14major categories I I put out so people

1:45:16have a sense of scale, right? Where does

1:45:18their money go? And the overwhelming

1:45:20majority of our money goes toward people

1:45:22toward the staffing. Um, the kind of

1:45:24next greatest category is special

1:45:25education. Uh then transportation, other

1:45:28non-s salary which is going to include

1:45:30all materials and supplies and kind of

1:45:32everything else under the sun. Uh

1:45:34buildings and grounds and then utilities

1:45:37and um I got some help with updating the

1:45:41pie chart. You remember my pie chart

1:45:43with a really tiny writing. So this we

1:45:44did this instead the donut. Um and this

1:45:47is just nice to show the percentage of

1:45:49how these different things appear in the

1:45:51budget. And it's also helpful for folks

1:45:52to understand what the levers are in the

1:45:54budget. you know, we really can't make a

1:45:57big impact on savings in the budget by

1:46:00looking at non- salary items because

1:46:02they're such a tiny portion of the

1:46:04budget. If we ever need to make

1:46:06reductions, unfortunately, the place we

1:46:08have to look uh inevitably is in uh

1:46:11salary and in staffing. So, that's just

1:46:14an important thing for people to

1:46:15recognize. One important note too here,

1:46:17our salary is has actually shrunk as an

1:46:20overall percentage and that's for two

1:46:23reasons. one is our FTE has shrunk a

1:46:25little bit over the past couple years,

1:46:26but also um the the costs that we don't

1:46:30control have escalated and that's a big

1:46:32focus of this presentation is helping

1:46:34people understand how our our universe

1:46:37is impacted by these other things. Um so

1:46:40I'll talk about these four main buckets.

1:46:42The first is enrollment, what's going on

1:46:44there. Um the second is out of district

1:46:46costs. So tuition and transportation for

1:46:48students who attend schools out of out

1:46:50of the district. um student needs. Uh I

1:46:54I really want to focus on that this

1:46:55year. In the past couple years, I've

1:46:57talked about spec especially last year.

1:46:59Um I talked about level services and

1:47:01kind of just keeping things stable. I

1:47:04don't think we can do that anymore and I

1:47:05think I need to be able to address that

1:47:07publicly right now. Uh and then also

1:47:09state mandates um which are kind of

1:47:11coming at us fast and furious. So I want

1:47:13to be able to to note that we need to be

1:47:15responsive to things that are happening

1:47:18at the state level. Total enrollment

1:47:20continues to come down. We are down

1:47:22between last year and this year. These

1:47:23are estimates based on Septemberish

1:47:26numbers. I'll have like a very robust

1:47:28enrollment presentation for you next

1:47:30time u when we meet in October. But uh

1:47:33this is just the the big picture and you

1:47:35can see this is sort of a a long-term

1:47:37trend of kind of coming slightly down.

1:47:39This is not unique to Westboro. It's

1:47:41happening in a lot of places in the

1:47:42state. Um but interesting when you break

1:47:46it apart into different groups. Um, you

1:47:49know, we are down at These are tiny, so

1:47:52they're hard to see. I apologize. Um,

1:47:54but we're down at the high school, we

1:47:56are down in grades four to six, we're

1:47:58down at the middle school. Uh, we are up

1:48:00slightly at the preschool this year, and

1:48:02that's great to see. That's partly due

1:48:04to the fact the preschool was able to

1:48:06offer extended day this year, and I

1:48:07think that has had a positive impact on

1:48:09our enrollment, uh, which is great. That

1:48:11is a, uh, tuitionbased program, too. So,

1:48:14there's a kind of revenue income. Uh the

1:48:17most interesting thing though is right

1:48:18here. So this is K to3 um has rebounded

1:48:22a little bit and what I would say is

1:48:24this is a thing to watch. Uh enrollment

1:48:26cycles in schools tend to go in about a

1:48:2820-year arc. They go kind of up and down

1:48:30in waves. So uh and if you notice this

1:48:32has been down down down. Uh if this

1:48:35continues in next year to kind of keep

1:48:38on the upswing, I'd say we could

1:48:39probably expect there may be more of

1:48:41that to come. Um so and that will then

1:48:44wave out through the school levels just

1:48:46as the downward enrollment has trended

1:48:48through the school levels. Um um the

1:48:52good thing about keeping an eye on this

1:48:54is that it has implications for

1:48:55staffment. We just need to be really

1:48:57cautious about any staff reductions

1:48:58because we don't want to reduce and then

1:49:00have to add back next year. Uh it just

1:49:02creates churn.

1:49:05Um we've talked about this before but I

1:49:08think one of the big drivers in our

1:49:09budget is special education. Uh it's an

1:49:11important investment and really uh

1:49:13creates programming that's strong and

1:49:15supportive for our students. It's a

1:49:16responsibility I take very seriously. Um

1:49:19the costs for our outofd district

1:49:21placement have skyrocketed in the past

1:49:23few years. So um as you're aware, we

1:49:25have a handful of students in the

1:49:26district um whose needs can't be met

1:49:28here in the in the district. We do a lot

1:49:30to try and build programming to keep

1:49:32kids here. Uh but in some cases, their

1:49:35needs uh are specialized and need to be

1:49:37met elsewhere. um when we send students

1:49:41out of district there are two types of

1:49:43schools collaboratives and private

1:49:45schools and you can see the cost per

1:49:47year per student are pretty incredible

1:49:49here. Um so collaboratives and these are

1:49:52updated costs this year are now running

1:49:54in the 70 to $80,000 range and these are

1:49:57sort of based on our numbers. Uh private

1:49:59day placement between 80 and 183,000 and

1:50:02then uh private residential trait

1:50:05placement is $300,000 and up. Um, as you

1:50:09know, we do get some partial

1:50:11reimbursement for this from the state

1:50:12for some of these services and tuitions.

1:50:16Uh, but it is partial and it comes the

1:50:18year after the expense. So, it's a very

1:50:20tricky thing to budget with that in

1:50:22mind. What I'm showing here is actual

1:50:24cost, not the cost after the application

1:50:27of uh circuit breaker because I think

1:50:29it's important to see the total cost

1:50:30escalation over time. Uh the good news

1:50:33is there is substantial advocacy going

1:50:36on at the state level not only for

1:50:38addressing circuit breaker which is that

1:50:40reimbursement program but also for um

1:50:44seeking more transparency from the

1:50:46private schools around cost escalation.

1:50:50Uh we've seen some schools apply for um

1:50:54tuition increases above and beyond what

1:50:56the state allows uh through um

1:51:00restructuring their programs. And

1:51:02there's a movement right now among the

1:51:04superintendent association to try and

1:51:06create some legislation to mandate uh

1:51:09much more transparency so that so that

1:51:12the communities have insight into what

1:51:13exactly is happening and is it serving

1:51:15the needs of students. Um these are our

1:51:17students. We take that very seriously.

1:51:19If these are necessary costs, so be it.

1:51:22If they are not, then people should

1:51:24know. Um

1:51:26um I do feel like these are important

1:51:29numbers to share because they also

1:51:31indicate when we have invested really

1:51:33heavily in special education

1:51:34programming, in co-eing and in all the

1:51:37things that we do to support students

1:51:39here. It is an investment in keeping as

1:51:42many students in district as possible,

1:51:43which is the most cost-effective thing

1:51:45we can do. So, it's also just a

1:51:48wonderful thing to do.

1:51:50Um, out of district transportation

1:51:53continues to be another area that's

1:51:55really volatile. This is one of the

1:51:56hardest things for us to predict

1:51:57year-over-year. Um, these contracts are

1:52:00tricky and also um we don't always know

1:52:04uh we may have an idea that a student's

1:52:06going to be um heading toward a private

1:52:09placement, but we might not know where

1:52:10how far it is, what kind of

1:52:12transportation needs are going to be

1:52:13required. So that's so individually it

1:52:15adds up really quickly.

1:52:17>> Really quickly I have a quick question.

1:52:19Um can you remind me is the

1:52:21transportation cost also factored into

1:52:23for um circuit

1:52:24>> circuit breaker. It is reimburseable.

1:52:26We've over the past few years our our

1:52:28costs are high enough that we've applied

1:52:31our circuit breaker reimbursement

1:52:33primarily to tuition um because we have

1:52:36enough of it to you know eat up all the

1:52:38circuit breaker. Um, but we we have a a

1:52:42just incredible person who works for us,

1:52:44Lisa Ber, who works in this special

1:52:46education department, does our circuit

1:52:48breaker claiming, and she's excellent at

1:52:49it. It's a it's an important job in the

1:52:52district in terms of making sure we're

1:52:54getting as many of those dollars back as

1:52:56possible. Thank you.

1:52:59>> Um, our total transportation costs have

1:53:02really escalated too over the past

1:53:03several years. If you notice like what

1:53:05it looked like back in 22 um versus what

1:53:08it looks like uh this past year um it's

1:53:12it's

1:53:14it's incredible. Um and you know I I'm

1:53:17grateful right now we're in a contract

1:53:19that is stable because with fuel prices

1:53:22and everything else going on. It's nice

1:53:24to know it's going to be a controlled

1:53:25cost for this year and next. After next

1:53:28year we'll have to go out back out to

1:53:30bid. So um this will become another

1:53:32issue for us.

1:53:34Yes.

1:53:35>> Are we subject to escalation relative to

1:53:37fuel cost within the contract based on

1:53:39the fact that when it was bid it was

1:53:41probably three bucks a gallon and it's

1:53:43now six. So we have to adjust I think

1:53:46based on the cost of fuel.

1:53:49>> I didn't know that.

1:53:49>> Not so good. [laughter] But that's it.

1:53:51>> Thanks for telling me that.

1:53:54>> Um I was unaware of that until right

1:53:56now. Um yeah that's a bummer. Uh so

1:53:59[laughter]

1:54:01>> all right we'll get ready. Um I think uh

1:54:04and that may impact how we think about

1:54:06budgeting moving forward if things don't

1:54:08sort of stabilize in the next little

1:54:09bit. Uh we're going to hope for you know

1:54:11the end of you know we're going to hope

1:54:14for peace and lower prices and fuel for

1:54:17many reasons. Uh

1:54:20um so other kind of driver I wanted to

1:54:25talk about this year and I did not do

1:54:27this last year was really talk about

1:54:28student need and specifically three

1:54:30areas. I talked a little bit about this

1:54:31earlier, but um when we've gone through

1:54:34the budget process the last couple years

1:54:36and also in the strategic planning

1:54:37process, some things have emerged as

1:54:39areas that we really want to focus on as

1:54:42a district. Uh one is early support for

1:54:44our youngest learners. Um we are one of

1:54:45the few district that doesn't have ESP

1:54:48eSPs in all kindergarten classrooms. Um

1:54:52which is a pretty um wonderful support

1:54:55for kids as they make that transition

1:54:56from preschool into kindergarten. And

1:54:59because we're seeing kids have a harder

1:55:01time with that transition in general, we

1:55:03think that's a worthwhile investment

1:55:04that we're going to be looking to

1:55:05pursue. Um whether we do it all at once

1:55:08or we do it in phases, it's definitely

1:55:10going to be on our list of things to

1:55:12look for. Additionally, we had talked

1:55:14last year a little bit about

1:55:15transitioning from um math tutors to

1:55:18math specialists in the early grades.

1:55:20really bolstering up our our work

1:55:22supporting math instruction in K to3 and

1:55:24building that really strong foundation

1:55:26together with the literacy initiative

1:55:28which is uh even above and beyond the

1:55:30grant going to cost us something to

1:55:32implement. So we're kind of keeping an

1:55:34eye on all that early support work.

1:55:36Wraparound partnerships is this idea of

1:55:39looking to build structures and services

1:55:41that are going to help kids who need um

1:55:45kids and families really who need um

1:55:47more extensive support than what is sort

1:55:50of typically provided through the

1:55:52school. So, uh, if students are are

1:55:55coming to us with, um, learning needs

1:55:58and a trauma background, for example,

1:56:00and, um, in their family, they've had a

1:56:02hard time accessing mental health

1:56:04supports and services, that really

1:56:06impacts a student's success in school.

1:56:09And if we aren't able to kind of help

1:56:11connect that student to to the support

1:56:13they need, it's going to undermine their

1:56:16uh, attendance and probably their

1:56:18long-term um, capacity to achieve in

1:56:20school. So, we're looking at how do we

1:56:22build some structures. We've kind of

1:56:24been handling this on a um case-byase

1:56:27basis, really trying to um wrap around

1:56:30arms around kids and families and and

1:56:32help them, but we need to take a more

1:56:34systems approach to it and build in some

1:56:38um kind of consistent structures so that

1:56:42uh we're not always solving the same

1:56:45problem over and over again in a

1:56:46different space. Um that's part of the

1:56:48work that Kim Tinen will be engaging in

1:56:51this year and leading and along with

1:56:53that chronic absenteeism and those two

1:56:55kind of go hand inand because sometimes

1:56:56these things run parallel. Um you know

1:56:59students are who are coming with a lot

1:57:01of complicated needs. Um sometimes

1:57:03school avoidance is in the mix with

1:57:04those needs as well. So um all of these

1:57:07things we're looking to address and we

1:57:09anticipate there'll be some cost to

1:57:11doing this and doing it well.

1:57:15uh state mandates. You know, we've

1:57:16talked about the early uh literacy

1:57:18legislation. Uh we've talked about the

1:57:20bill to bill cell phone fan. We ban we

1:57:22uh were very grateful for Senators

1:57:25Moore's office for earmark funding that

1:57:27came through. Yay. Uh which helped

1:57:29offset the cost of the uh initial

1:57:31investment in yonder pouches. And uh in

1:57:34order to make sure we maintain that

1:57:35program, we are going to need to add in

1:57:38uh some amount to the budget. It's not a

1:57:40huge amount, but we want to make sure

1:57:41we're able to have that stable for at

1:57:43least the next few years. Um, you know,

1:57:45it's possible in the long run there'll

1:57:47be a different solution that's a cheaper

1:57:49solution, but for now the pouches seem

1:57:51to be the thing that people are saying

1:57:53works best.

1:57:54Um, there are these new high school

1:57:56graduation requirements. We want to be

1:57:58thoughtful about potential costs

1:58:00associated with those, especially as we

1:58:02see sort of the myap development. At the

1:58:05end point of that, we're looking to add

1:58:07uh things like more robust internships

1:58:09and kind of career coaching kinds of

1:58:13opportunities and that may take some

1:58:15staffing changes. Um so we want to think

1:58:17about that and then again this diversity

1:58:19team that we're looking to put together.

1:58:21Um you know this year we are going to

1:58:24try and find ways to do it on a

1:58:25volunteer and um some like PDP credits

1:58:28and and things like that. going forward,

1:58:30we'll be looking to create stipens so

1:58:32that those positions are really stable

1:58:34and people are compensated for their

1:58:36time and effort. [snorts]

1:58:39Um, I will also provide people with a

1:58:41snapshot of our federal grant funding.

1:58:43Um, I've done this the last couple

1:58:44years. You know, I I put it here just to

1:58:47say that this is a pot of money that's

1:58:49been relatively reliable. And yet, over

1:58:52the last few years, it hasn't felt like

1:58:55um we could 100% rely on on on this from

1:58:59the federal government. Um and in

1:59:01particular, the the highlighted ones

1:59:04here, the pink ones are the ones we feel

1:59:06are the most vulnerable. Now, I've said

1:59:08this and it it keeps showing up, so

1:59:10we're grateful for this so far, but I

1:59:12don't, you know, I don't know what will

1:59:14happen in the future. So, as we budget,

1:59:17we really need to think about um what

1:59:20would happen if this pot of money

1:59:22disappeared and how we would backfill

1:59:23for it.

1:59:25Um, finally, kind of looking at

1:59:29what the year-over-year cost increases

1:59:32have been, you know, we have been able

1:59:34the past two years to sort of start to

1:59:36bring the overall percentage increase

1:59:38down, and I'm I'm proud of that work. I

1:59:40think um, Anita and the business office

1:59:42have done an incredible job. We've also

1:59:44really asked the leadership team to kind

1:59:46of look at reallocation and reduction

1:59:49where that was responsible. Um, I don't

1:59:53know that we're going to be in that

1:59:54position this year. I think it's um, you

1:59:56know, we'll do our best to to bring a

1:59:58number that is reasonable to the

2:00:00community and that can get passed. At

2:00:02the same time, I think if there are

2:00:04savings that we realize from decreasing

2:00:07enrollment, we may need to reinvest them

2:00:10in those things that support our student

2:00:12needs. So, that's really going to be my

2:00:14main focus in talking to folks tomorrow.

2:00:17um you know, we have these things that

2:00:19have changed over the last few years in

2:00:21terms of kids school readiness, in terms

2:00:23of the need for additional supports for

2:00:25students at all levels and um we have a

2:00:29responsibility to do what's right for

2:00:30kids and I want to make sure we're we're

2:00:32putting that in the mix. So um that is

2:00:36that is a snapshot. If you have

2:00:38feedback, you can either share it now,

2:00:40send it to me in an email, but I will

2:00:41see you hopefully there tomorrow night,

2:00:43too. And I I got some nice feedback. The

2:00:46uh uh AFC leazison had a few

2:00:49recommendations. I did not have time to

2:00:50implement them because they came at me

2:00:52at 3:00 today. Uh but I'll be working on

2:00:54that tomorrow to kind of put up a little

2:00:56more emphasis on a few of these things.

2:00:59>> Thank you, Allison. Um since we are 20

2:01:02minutes behind schedule, I would uh ask

2:01:04that we limit our questions to maybe one

2:01:07or two. I already asked my questions

2:01:08earlier during the presentation to AFC.

2:01:11So um um I'll let you Steve start.

2:01:14>> Yeah, I don't have any real questions

2:01:15about it. I I think it's it's um you

2:01:18know the full presentation that will be

2:01:20presented tomorrow night. I think it's

2:01:21very good. I think it's an eyeopener for

2:01:25the team teams AFC boris selectman and

2:01:29ourselves. Um and I I think it's a fair

2:01:33place to start. Obviously we're going to

2:01:35have comments

2:01:36u but um I think it's well done. Thank

2:01:39you.

2:01:39>> Thank you.

2:01:41Thank you, Jane.

2:01:43>> Yep. Thank you. I agree. It's great.

2:01:45Very clear. Um, and one thing that I

2:01:49think I'm sure you'll emphasize is that

2:01:51these investments that you're you're um

2:01:55wanting to make in our students,

2:01:57especially the early grades, really do

2:02:00bear fruit down the road in probably

2:02:04lower special education um uh costs and

2:02:08just, you know, in in addition to

2:02:11improved probably educational outcomes.

2:02:13If we're talking about the money of it,

2:02:15you know, if we intervene early, we know

2:02:18that the students need less support

2:02:20later.

2:02:20>> Absolutely. I think their experience is

2:02:22better, too. I mean, I think that just

2:02:24and it all kind of goes together often.

2:02:26When kids are engaged and they feel

2:02:27successful, everything just goes better.

2:02:31>> Thank you, Tim.

2:02:33>> Thank you for the presentation. Um, just

2:02:35one quick question regarding the

2:02:36enrollments. Um, I know that you said

2:02:38that uh typically like you see kind of

2:02:4020-year trends and I'm curious like is

2:02:41that within schools? Is that like within

2:02:43the state? Like I'm just curious if you

2:02:44could expand on that a little bit.

2:02:46>> It's interesting. I got that um so

2:02:47NASDAQ that does these enrollment

2:02:49projections has just sort of said that

2:02:51and I it seems to be true broadly with

2:02:53looking at the data here, looking at

2:02:55data from other places, it kind of waves

2:02:57um like this and I'm not sure why. Um um

2:03:00I don't know if it's true in all

2:03:01districts. Um it may be in certain types

2:03:03types of districts. I've only worked in

2:03:05districts sort of similar to to

2:03:06Westboro. So um I c I couldn't speak for

2:03:09the urbans. Um that's a different

2:03:11different ball of wax. time.

2:03:12>> Yeah.

2:03:13>> Thank you.

2:03:14>> Thank you, sir.

2:03:15>> I don't have any questions. The

2:03:16presentation is very thorough. Thank

2:03:17you.

2:03:18>> Thanks.

2:03:19>> No questions. Thank you.

2:03:20>> Thank you.

2:03:21>> Thank you very much. And can move on to

2:03:25the next item, which is uh student

2:03:27activities account approval.

2:03:30>> So, this is something that we ask school

2:03:32committee to do um annually. Um you have

2:03:36to approve all of the student activity

2:03:38accounts. There's one located at each

2:03:40school. Um if you see on the paper um

2:03:44you can see what the ending balance was

2:03:46um for FY26. I'll add that these um

2:03:49these balances are for the checking

2:03:51account. Each [snorts] checking account

2:03:53has a companion money market account and

2:03:56that account earns interest.

2:04:01>> Thank you. And since this is our uh our

2:04:03first um discussion item under under new

2:04:07business, I think we just we can just

2:04:08move on uh to that point.

2:04:11And do I have a motion before we start a

2:04:14discussion to vote to approve the

2:04:16student activities account?

2:04:18>> So move.

2:04:19>> Is there a second?

2:04:20>> Second.

2:04:21>> Is there discussion?

2:04:25>> No. Thank you. All those in favor?

2:04:28>> I.

2:04:28>> Okay. 500. The motion passes.

2:04:32Thank you. Uh

2:04:35our next action item today out of three

2:04:39is uh vote to approve SRO agreement.

2:04:43>> Yeah, just in brief, this is just the

2:04:45agreement that we make with the um town

2:04:48to um have our uh SRO who serves really

2:04:52as the point person uh in a kind of

2:04:55communication link between the police

2:04:56department and the schools. Um and uh

2:04:59working with Detective Delight has been

2:05:01great. His office is directly below mine

2:05:03and in in his words, all I need to do is

2:05:05like stomp on the floor and he'll come

2:05:06right up. And um I'd say Chip has been

2:05:10really critical in a number of things.

2:05:11One is some training and outreach for

2:05:13staff and leadership around safety

2:05:15protocols, but also whenever there's

2:05:17anything happening in town, he's able to

2:05:19communicate back to us so we know what's

2:05:21going on. If there's a major issue or

2:05:23accident or something like that, he's in

2:05:25touch with our school principles, our

2:05:26bus coordinator. um you know he has you

2:05:30know he's boots on the ground he's at

2:05:31the schools kind of getting to know

2:05:32students seeing what things are like and

2:05:35really with that eye for safety and it's

2:05:37a it's a bargain we pay the town exactly

2:05:40$1 a year for um having him uh part of

2:05:43our school community and I'm grateful

2:05:45for that this goes alongside the um uhou

2:05:49and that's actually signed by the the

2:05:50chief of police and the superintendent

2:05:52but that's sort of our how we

2:05:54communicate between departments which is

2:05:56regulated through the date. So, um, but

2:05:58this is a kind of companion document

2:06:00that the school committee signs.

2:06:02>> Thank you. Do I have a motion to vote to

2:06:04approve uh student activities? I'm

2:06:07sorry. Want to approve the SRO

2:06:08agreement?

2:06:09>> So, move.

2:06:10>> Is there a second?

2:06:11>> A second.

2:06:12>> Um, I'd like to just ask one question.

2:06:14Does this contract

2:06:17um agreement rather differs in any way

2:06:20from the previous uh version of this?

2:06:22>> Nope.

2:06:24>> Uh, is there any discussion? Yes, Gary,

2:06:27>> just a quick question. Is I know we were

2:06:29discussing the protect Act um last

2:06:31meeting. Is theou publicly available or

2:06:33is that kept private?

2:06:34>> That can be public. I mean, it's should

2:06:35be part of public record. So, I'm happy

2:06:37to share that and we can post it

2:06:39anywhere. It probably needs to be posted

2:06:41somewhere. So, I'll make sure it's out

2:06:42there.

2:06:43>> Thank you.

2:06:43>> You're welcome.

2:06:45>> Okay. Uh we'll proceed to the vote. All

2:06:48those in favor?

2:06:50>> I I 500. The motion passes. Thank you.

2:06:54And we have one more agenda item action

2:06:57item in our discussion uh section which

2:07:00is vote to approve donation from Eel

2:07:04Harvey.

2:07:05>> Want to show a photo of the guys who

2:07:07came to donate this. Um this is a

2:07:08wonderful donation. Um and this is above

2:07:11and beyond. I know the youth and family

2:07:12services does outreach in a backpack

2:07:14drive which is fantastic. And then on

2:07:16top of that Yale Harvey sort of swooped

2:07:18in and donated 75 backpacks filled with

2:07:21school supplies. So 25 at Mil Pond, 25

2:07:24at the middle school, 25 at the high

2:07:26school. And I can tell you this is it's

2:07:29just such an incredible thing to have

2:07:31this. They're brand new. They're totally

2:07:33stocked. So when whenever we have uh

2:07:35even if we don't use them all at the

2:07:36start of the year, we have them. So if a

2:07:38new family moves into town, we've got

2:07:39them right at the h at the ready. Um so

2:07:42we're really grateful to Harvey for

2:07:44their donation. It's worth a little over

2:07:46$4,000. So, it's nice and uh had some

2:07:50help from our facilities department like

2:07:52moving these uh around wherever they

2:07:54needed to go. So, thank you to them,

2:07:55too.

2:07:57>> Thank you. I'd like to say, you know,

2:07:58this is first of all, thank you uh to EA

2:08:01Harvey for this generous donation. you

2:08:03know, we we receive them every once in a

2:08:05while and and I was wondering if do we

2:08:08have any kind of recognition wall or

2:08:10some website or something where we can,

2:08:12you know, list all the different people

2:08:14that are so generous over the years and

2:08:16and contribute to our to our schools. I

2:08:17think I don't know if we have something

2:08:19like that in place or not.

2:08:20>> It' be nice. Yeah, it'd be neat on the

2:08:23almost like on a website like a photo

2:08:24thing or something. It' be great. Uh so

2:08:26it's out there too. But um I love that

2:08:28idea. Thank you.

2:08:30>> Thank you. Okay. Do I have a motion to

2:08:34approve donation from Eel Harvey?

2:08:36>> I move that we accept the donation from

2:08:38Eel Harvey with appreciation.

2:08:43>> Second.

2:08:44>> Thank you. Any discussion?

2:08:47All those in favor?

2:08:49>> I 500. The motion passes and thank you

2:08:53again to Y Harvey.

2:08:56Okay. U we're going to proceed to school

2:09:00committee reports. Steve,

2:09:02>> none.

2:09:03>> Jane,

2:09:04>> nothing to report.

2:09:06>> Tim,

2:09:07>> nothing to report. Jane,

2:09:09>> just there.

2:09:10>> Nothing to report.

2:09:11>> I'm sorry. And same for me. Nothing to

2:09:14report. Uh, this means we're moving on

2:09:17to the next item, which is the consent

2:09:20agenda. And

2:09:23do I have a motion to approve the

2:09:25minutes from meetings on August 31st,

2:09:29September 4th, and September 9th?

2:09:31>> I move that we accept the minutes of

2:09:33August 31st,

2:09:36uh, September the 4th, and minutes of

2:09:40the 9th of September as well as written.

2:09:43>> Is there a second?

2:09:45>> I'll second.

2:09:48>> Okay. Uh, we'll proceed to the vote. All

2:09:50those in favor?

2:09:51>> I I 500. Motion passes. Thank you. Do I

2:09:56have a motion to adjurnn?

2:09:58>> I move that we adjourn the meeting.

2:10:00>> We have a mover today. Do I have a

2:10:02second?

2:10:02>> Second.

2:10:04>> Uh all those in favor.

2:10:06>> I 500. The meeting is adjourned. Thank

2:10:09you very much. And we are ending three

2:10:11minutes before the schedule time.