Good evening everyone. I would like to call the school committee meeting to order on Wednesday, October 22nd at 7:00. >> Please rise and join us in the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One
nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Good evening. Welcome to our regular school committee meeting on Wednesday, October 22nd in the VR lecture hall. Please note we are live streaming on our YouTube channel and the recording will
be available on the YouTube channel after the meeting. I would like to introduce our school members and attendance this evening for a regular school committee. On my left I have Mr. Gro, Miss Davenport, Mr. Fitz Given, and
Superintendent Powers. On my right, I have Miss King, Miss Boy Thomas, Miss Conrad, and vice chair. And I'm Rachel King, school committee chair. We also have in attendance, assistant superintendent Barry, and Mrs. McDougall, our reporting secretary. We
have also other members of the admin team. U first order of business is correspondence and recognition. Um first I have community emails. Um we did receive multiple emails um regarding special education um from a special
education advocate attorney as well as parents regarding students and concerns relative to special education matters. Those were responded to by superintendent powers Mr. Lo and myself were appropriate. Superintendent Powers and myself also responded to an email
from the BA regarding signing a petition to support legislation to provide additional funding to school districts from the Fair Share Act. Um, next we have recognition of National Merit Amendment Students. Um, Mrs.
Watson. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the school committee, Superintendent Powers. Um, I am super excited to be here tonight. I see one of our young students out there, but Mr. Aan Abasi, Mr. Gus Barry, and Mr. Kevin Posup, all seniors here at PR, have been named as
commended students in the 2026 National Merit Program for Exceptional Academic Promise, demonstrated by their outstanding performance on the 2024 PSAT. Approximately 34,000 commended students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional
academic promise. A spokesperson from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation stated, "The young men and women being named commended students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success. These students represent a valuable national resource.
Recognizing their accomplishments as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of
academic success. Miss Watson, thank you for being here. Um I see Mr. here um this evening. Um I just want to say um I'm so proud of these three students. I do have a senior so I know these students um and especially in challenging years like we have
financially um classwise they have excelled and we are so proud of them. So um despite everything the students that I know in this class are so motivated and I'm glad that we can as a school committee um just highlight that and
show that they are going So, Mr. Barry, could you come up please? [Applause]
Thank you so much for being here. Um, and I will give this to Mrs. Watson for Mr. and Mr. as well. So, thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you. And I do see he has parents in the um audience. So congrats to you as well
because I know they do not do this without their support system. So thank you and congrats to you as well. [Applause] >> Uh next we have public comment. Uh the
school committee welcomes information concerns and opinions from those attending our meetings. In order to give those wishing an opportunity to speak, ensure compliance with open meeting law and other legal obligations and avoid disruption at the meeting. The committee will not engage with the speaker or one
another in deliberation of comments as they are presented during comment periods. At its discretion, the committee may schedule issue issues raised by speaker for deliberation at a future meeting. To reiterate, this is a time for members of the public to voice comments and concerns regarding agenda
items and the committee is not able to respond at in any way at this time. If you would like a personal response, please email the committee for superintendent powers directly following the meeting. The chair will now open up public comment for a period of 12 minutes for
policy and I would ask you to approach the podium and provide your name and address and please limit your comments to three minutes. Do we have anyone from the public that would like to speak? Seeing none, we will close public
comment. And there's another one at the end if anyone would like to speak later on any agenda items. Uh next we have consent agenda. I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented which includes minutes stated September 24th
2025 approval of table Warren stated September 18th 2025 and October 2nd 2025 and the personnel report >> so moved >> motion made by Mr. Second by given. Um all those in favor.
>> Any opposed? Next we have educational reports student advisory. Um I will now call Miss Um, good evening, Madam Chairman, school committee and superintendent powers. Today, I'll be reporting on TJ Squ Rob Robotics and our football team. On
October 4th, TJ Squ Rob Robotics participated in the new England robotics derby competition or nerd as we all are. After very successful qualification matches, we managed to make it all the way from playoffs to finals. At the end of the event, we ended in second place out of 32 teams. We're very, very proud
of our drive team, pit crew, and all of our students at scouted, which was actually led by Karen. So, um, our football team has also had an incredibly successful season so far with a record of four wins and two losses. While we've had some incredibly impressive wins, one
of our best so far was last Friday night. It was senior night and we ended with a win of 42 to New Bedford. We started on a high note with our senior walkouts and ended even higher one after our win. Thank you and I now welcome Kayla Tan to the stand.
Good evening everyone. Tonight I will be reporting on the poster healthcare club's first card making meeting. On October 9th started making festive Halloween cards to donate to Boston Medical Center. This is the second year we are partnering with BMC and they're going to be donated to their medical
surgical and geriatric floors. We had a great turnout and students who attended had a choice to either make their cards from scratch or color a Halloween template and adding encouraging message. They also earned one hour of community service for crafting two cards. Aside from this initiative, we are looking
forward to planning several other events for VR students, including our CPR workshops and healthcare professional. Thank you, and I welcome Sydney Smith to the podium. Good evening everyction. Our president is our vice president.
Our secretary is the treasur. Unfortunately, I was not reelected as vice president but I will will continue to serve as a class for the next years. The student council's next business is distributing our new class and setting
up our driveway. We'll be spray painting the school district logo on the driveway on October 21st and October. It's our hope that we will increase school pride and raise money for events such as
putting down Good evening everyone. Thank you. Thank you for having me here tonight. Tonight I'll be reporting on our music honor society tri and our annual trunk retreat on October 27th this Monday. From 6 p.m. we will be having a family Halloween event trunk or treat in the high school
stadium lot. Our students and their families will have many fun decorated trunks on display for the community to come by and get some candy. Our student musicians will also be playing Halloween music which we have been practicing for weeks. Our trunk treat event is always a successful one and we put a good turnout and we hope to have nothing less this
year. There's a suggested $5 donation which goes towards field trips the honor society takes throughout the year supplies for future community events and senior courts and bibs. Thank you again. Now welcome Jackson. Good evening everyone. My reporting tonight is a little bit about what's
happening with life specifically on the free membership program. The program's goal is to inform kids about the dangers of substance use and how to prevent it and is accomplished with different presentations and activities. At the moment, the dates are set up for the opening assemblies for both the schools. November 7th will be the opening
assembly for RMS and November 14th will be the assembly for the Williams. These assemblies will mark the start of a new year with this program. I'm looking forward to attending the assembly at the library and start my second year as president of district. This concludes the student school committee advisory
board monthly report. >> Thank you. Great job as always. We always look forward to your report. So, thank you to the student advisory committee for your report. Next we have the Ringham High School and
Miss Watson. I'm pleased to be here tonight to present the high school school improvement plan. As you know, our school improvement plan is aligned with the district success plan. This plan was developed in collaboration with school administration, staff, students, and
families. I'd like to first take an opportunity to thank the high school school council who worked on the creation of this plan, Miss Sophia Senna is um a student as well as our co-chair last year, Miss Marcy Cullen, Mrs. Irene Wade, Mrs. Lindseay Redford, Mr. Bill
Barber, who unfortunately served in absentia served nonetheless remotely, and Mrs. Gloria Stanley. As you know, the district student success plan drives the school improvement plan and it's based upon four main pillars. And although we do have multiple school-based action items in our plan,
I'd like to share the action items we are prioritizing this year. Under safe and supportive schools, our original goal was to improve connections to outside mental health resources and for students and families through Care Solace. Due to budget reductions and the discontinuation of our contract with
Care Solace, we have adapted our approach to meet the ongoing mental health needs of our students in our school community. In collaboration with our new director of student services, Dr. D'Angelo, we have introduced school-based counseling services at the high school level. These services
include individual, family, and group counseling as well as consultation support for teachers. We remain committed to improving student and family access to timely and appropriate mental health care by strengthening connections with our community based resources and streamlining referral
pathways under curriculum instruction and assessment. As part of our ongoing work to strengthen teaching and learning, we are prioritizing the use of pair assessment across all classrooms. Pair assessment is a digital formative assessment tool that allows teachers to
create, deliver, and analyze student assessments in real time. It supports multiple formats including multiple choice, open response, and interactive questions. And it in integrates seamlessly with our instructional tool, Google Classroom. Teachers can gather
immediate data on student understanding during a lesson, make it a powerful tool for responsive instruction. But it doesn't just benefit teachers. It also helps our students. It increases engagement. It offers immediate feedback, helping students understand and correct
mistakes. It encourages self assessment and reflection. And it promotes equity by giving all students a voice, including those less likely to participate in whole class instruction. By ensuring teachers use pair assessment, we aim to promote a more responsive teaching and improve student
outcomes. Additionally, it aligns with our broader goal of providing equitable, highquality learning experiences for every student. Under human capital, we're excited to focus on building meaningful leadership opportunities for our staff as we continue to grow and
strengthen our instructional practices. Empowering educators to take on a leadership role is a key part of our strategy. By creating pathways for teacher leadership, whether that is through curriculum development, mentoring, professional learning communities, or facilitation roles, we
want to support professional growth, foster collaboration, recognize our teachers amazing talents, and strengthen implementation. We believe that by investing in our educators as leaders, we're not only building capacity, but we're building a stronger, more connected, and more
innovative learning community. Some of the ways we seek to accomplish this specific goal this year is through the creation of various committees such as a NAS committee, a new wellness committee, and a vision of the graduate committee. Those are our highlights. I'm happy to answer any questions you have.
>> Thank you. Does any member have questions or comments? Mr. >> I I just have a comment. Um I I'll say this to Mr. Gray when he gets up as well. The first ever committee I served on in
regard to the school district or indeed any um public function I ever did was the um Williams Middle School at the time town council as the community representative. and uh and I appreciate all the work
that the these school counselors do and you are very lucky to have Mrs. Stanton on that committee. >> She reminds me of that every time I talk to you. >> But yes, I am. Gloria Stanton is an amazing community partner. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Next, we have the Mitchell Elementary School improvement plan with Mr. Don't worry, Mr. Pay. I'm not going to repeat the speech. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Good evening, Madam Chair,
Superintendent Powers, members of the school committee. The Mitchell School improvement plan is also aligned with the district student success plan. This plan was developed with the assistance of school administration, staff, families, and a member of the community.
So, I too would like to thank members of the Mitchell School Council who worked on this on the creation of this plan. Retired Fire Chief Michael McDermott, community rep of the school council and co-chair. Mrs. Carlenet, parent, Mrs.
Diana Stewart, parent, Mrs. Nikki Littlefield, teach teacher staff member, and Mrs. Megan White, teacher staff member. As you know, the district's student success plan, which drives the school improvement plan, is built on four pillars like Mrs. Wat like Miss
Watson mentioned, safe and supportive schools, curriculum, instruction and assessment, operations, and human capital. Although we have many school-based action items built into our plan, I would like to share several highlights of the plan. Under safe and
supportive schools, we continue to focus on expanding our schoolwide PBIS, positive behavioral intervention supports initiatives. We are in year three of our desi social emotional behavioral academy. The academy has provided us with direct coaching
opportunities and PD to support our growth. We also undergo a tiered fidelity inventory three times a year to check on the progress toward towards our PBIS initiatives. This year, our focus has grown from implementing schoolwide
systems, supports, rewards, and celebrations to strengthening data collection of behavior and school culture surveys. Better understanding the needs of students, staff, and families will help us to continue to improve in areas that prove difficult.
students to meet expectations easily. We will use Swiss this year to identify behavioral trends that need attention so that the PBIS team can think accordingly. We will also continue to use PBIS school climate surveys to understand the needs of staff and
families and our new family brochure and intera with all families. at conferences. We are also reconvening a subcommittee in our parent group JSP to assist with promoting our PBIS initiatives in increasing information shared with
families under curriculum instruction and assessment. This year we developed a schoolwide instructional focus to strengthen small group instruction through purposeful use of data to meet the academic and developmental needs of all learners. ensuring equitable access
to rigorous instruction and increasing student achievement. All students will be able to access learning because of intentional design and execution of instruction that takes into account disability, language barriers, and other
factors that may prevent access. We also work to protect grade level instruction for all learners using district curriculum to ensure equity through access and exposure to researchbased grade level curriculum and highle instruction.
Teachers are provided with weekly grade level time dedicated to planning as to more effectively target and plan for small group instruction which will in turn improve overall student learning growth and achievement. These meetings
are supported by our admin coaches to and coaches to modify pacing, continuously analyze data, and plan for targeted instruction. Under operations, we continue to focus on improving the overall safety of everyone at school by
continuing our MER team, medical emergency response team, which is led by our school nurse. In these meetings, we discuss and develop protocols and procedures for responding to medical emergencies in the building and receive training from our school nurse as
needed. These have been very beneficial because unfortunately we've had to utilize the team several times between last year and this school year. And finally, under human capital, we continue to focus on developing strategies to make our staff meetings
differentiated and more meaningful and productive for staff. Again, we are trying to increase the amount of time staff spends collaborating with one another to play for targeted instruction, discuss best practices, and analyze student data rather than just a
presentation from these meetings are more focused on student outcomes. Also, highlight and showcase staff members on a weekly basis. Staff are nominated and recognized by their colleagues for their hard work and dedication. We share shoutouts during
morning announcements and in our weekly monster memo letter that goes to all staff and one recipient each week gets to be the lucky faculty member of the week who gets a special parking spot and I must say it is a favorite among staff.
>> If you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them. Thank you very much. Do we have any questions or comments? >> Thank you so much. >> I forgot. Can I just say one thing? I'd also like to give a shout out to Miss
the assistant principal not only for being here but we wouldn't be the school we are for her support as well. So thank you >> next we have administrative and committee reports. We have Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the
school committee, members of the administrative team, and certainly our audience guests. Um, I did want to just provide uh some quick updates for you this past month. As I shared with you, I'm excited to report that our unified sports co basketball team continues to
be undefeated. Uh they have played four games with one remaining. I know Thomas was able to uh attend one of those games and um I know several of you uh you know sent notes of interest as well. So I do appreciate that. Um obviously I want to thank Miss Watson
and Mr. Okonnell and our two teachers, Miss O'Shea and Miss Prela for really supporting that program. Um you know it's quite the quite the crowd that we gather and the kids are very excited. So it's probably the highlight of my month to be able to go back to back games. Um, I also find that the other highlight of
my month has been doing lunch week the last couple weeks. So, I'll leave that uh to to sh to say how my month is going. Um, I I know uh you obviously have in your packet enrollment data. It's obviously the same format that I've
shared with you in the past. You'll note that we are up three students from early October. Obviously, enrollment continues to fluctuate. So some grade levels in some schools uh enrollment has gone up and gone down but overall from the beginning of the month we are plus three. Um I know Miss Cohan will provide
an update in November around our October one numbers. Those numbers are not official until certified by Desi. So although we have um numbers that we share with them based on our October one enrollment, those numbers typically not certified until usually January, late
December, January depending on Desi in their timeline. Um so in terms of those numbers being official, but we obviously will share with you in the future months those numbers that we sent to Desi. Obviously uh in terms of our in district students those numbers are very similar
to what you have in front of you but our October one numbers also include you know students receiving itinerary services our preschool students um it includes you know our district students as well. So it really encompasses more students just what you have in front of
you. So those those numbers will be shared with you in November along with MCCAST. We did send home our MCAST results to our families last Friday. We're providing you additional information in November as well about assessment accountability data and
results. So stay tuned for that. But obviously all that information is already posted to the department's website. So you can visit there questions prior. Um we did meet members of school committee and members of the
did joint class size committee. for the CBA. We did review class size goals. As you know, there's a section in our collective bargaining agreement that identifies ideal numbers for maximum class size. Based on obviously the
enrollment data that you have in front of you, you can imagine that we are not close to really meeting those ideal targets. We'll continue to work with our union partners as well as school committee to really to monitor
class size uh and see what the impacts are going forward. So, you know, more to report out on that in future. Obviously, this week is STEM week. Uh some of you may have heard about that or actually being, you know, participating in some of those activities. It's a
statewide event that takes place in the third week of October. Uh it is something that actually started I believe under Governor Baker where they really organized a statewide event. Um we've had several STEM activities going on throughout the schools. especially at the high school, but and I know
obviously Miss Zachary does a lot at the Mitchell Elementary with STEM. You know, we were really worried uh this year with the loss of Miss Joyce who's our STEM coordinator. She really took the lead in organizing many of these activities. So, we know STEM week looks slightly different uh this year than it has in
the past. Unfortunately, it's a, you know, result of a failed override, but thankfully we've had some staff members really step up and try to, you know, carry on that tradition of providing great STEM opportunities to our students. Although it it looks a little different, we have had several staff
members continue on that. So, thank you to them. Um, in addition, we've started to meet with the towns to talk about FY27 budget planning. We've had several meetings with uh both towns individually and collectively uh to really look at
timelines uh the budget development process, expected revenues, expected expenses uh obviously uh for both or all three bodies, you know, anticipated revenues. It's very early to be able to have concrete numbers. We don't get our numbers typically until mid to late
January from the state. Uh the towns obviously are even later than that. We're hoping to, you know, have a sense based on state reporting what maybe some of those numbers might look like. Obviously, expenses for either the towns or the school district will be identified early on certainly before
January because you know that's when we do our preliminary budget presentation. Uh in addition to that, we're also scheduling uh some time. We're working with our principles to try to identify some dates and times that we can extend an invite to members of the school committee as well as members of the town
council and select board to actually visit some of our schools and classrooms. You know, it's one thing for me to stand up and say, you know, we have classes of 35 and 40. It's another thing to actually visit those classrooms and see what 35 students in a class or 40 students in a class actually looks like. Uh so those will be taking place
over the next couple months. Uh we'll be sharing those dates with you relatively soon. We're trying to coordinate the different levels that we can uh make the most of the time and if you do take advantage of that, be able to visit the high school, middle school, elementary schools potentially hopefully all the day. Uh so more to come on that and
happy to answer any questions that uh oh in addition to that we are scheduling some time with our students as I've spoken to you the last few years um you know my time with the students on a daily basis is awesome wouldn't be doing lunch you if it wasn't uh but the sheer fact that I'll be able to meet schedule
intentional meetings with them so we do have some meetings coming up with them in November meeting with a group from high school uh both elementary schools you know specifically around what their experience this year again from their perspective um you know what have been the negative consequences of of the the
failed override what is it like to be in a class of 35 40 I think you know again it's one thing for me to stand up there and say to the public what those impacts are it's another thing to have a student report out on that and we're going to repeat that process again with our staff
as well and then also we're in the process of organizing an opportunity for our parents to do Thank you. Do we have questions? >> Sure. >> Um I wanted to understand the context of the class sizes in relation to this the
staffing. Um one of my questions was what was the staffing levels were currently and I was informed that it was n 99% but I see that the class sizes are still above 30. How how does that um
those two reports kind of complement each other having the large class sizes but being at 99% um at staff. >> So I think that 99% uh level that Miss Keely shared with school three is reflective of uh staff that we currently
have that we started the school year been able to retain since the beginning of the school year. Not just class size uh not just classroom positions but positions across the district. So that 99% is reflective of all positions that we currently have >> as in like positions open. We're almost
filled if I'm understanding this. >> So if we're that close, how do you mitigate the class sizes? It sounds to me that we're almost all open positions, but our class sizes are still large. like what where do we need to
>> what >> is the hiring percentage that we need to be at to get to the class the lower class sizes. >> Mrs. Beans, you know, over the last two years, we're down almost 50 staff members. So, in terms of why class size is so high is because of all those
positions lost. In terms of that 99% rate that Miss Gilly shared with me, that is just staff that we started the school year. We haven't been able to retain or fill So it's not reflective of the position we need. We would obviously need all of
those, you know, 50 plus positions back. >> So can we get the percentage of what we have and what we need? Like what that is? >> Uh well I I think even if we were to say 100% staffing, it wouldn't necessarily
be 100% of if we were at 100% means all positions that we currently have would be filled. We would need in addition to that 50 additional staff. So it would be really over 100% of what we need. I
think this what you're asking maybe I'm not following. >> Right. I just to interject for a moment. I also think we had the previous budget presentations of what class size would have looked at per the allocations and amount we were asking for and that also had the the uh corresponding staffing
for it as well. >> I understand I'm trying to I'm trying to get to what's the gap wise between what we have now and what we need to get to the class sizes that are desirable. >> I I'd estimate it's about 20%.
>> So we're at 20% right now. >> No, we're 20% below what we need to be. >> We're 20% below where we need to be. >> Just on a quick back of the end thing, >> that's
Mrs. Mrs. >> But Mr. Fitzgib If I'm hearing you, we're 20% below, but we can't do anything about that. We have no funding to hire those staff even if we I mean we we can hire them. >> Oh, we have no money.
>> No money to hire them. So, it's kind of a false reality. Like, we're 26% below, but we can't hire those staff to begin with. We don't have the funding. >> And I hope that's not what I'm implying. I was trying to get an understanding of the report, right? To put it in context. So I'm not
saying why we don't just trying to understand what the gap is. Thank you. >> Do we have any other questions? Just one. >> Um yeah, maybe my question is for Mr.
Bray, Miss Watson. um the human capital uh part of your um I'm sorry uh improvement plans the policies they seem a little aspirational just with the funding um part that we're
in and just not to talk about how we're going to implement them in a way that's impactful for our staff. I love the idea of the parking space and don't get me wrong, love to have it. Um just how How is it meaningful for the staff and
and what are we going to do? Just we approved the um the personnel report and we had resignations in there and we don't have the explanation uh on those resignations. Just even a brief description of why they did resign. So I'm just making assumptions. Um
maybe anyone can speak to that. Uh >> sure. >> How are we going to put those into action? >> Well, I can speak to the resations. had one um special education administrator actually uh took a promotional position in another district and then our two
other resolutations I believe were both uh ESPs uh and they resigned for family and personal reasons. I can answer that part in terms of how Mr. is gonna uh you know put the parking spot in place. Uh spots and I'll defer
to uh to them if they have any meant for the hiring in retention with what we're going through and the class sizes. I'm sure people are taking jobs with less stress. >> So bluntly we're not >> bluntly bluntly we're not we don't have
the money to do it unfortunately. It doesn't mean I'm not going to keep putting it into our plan though every year something that we believe in. That's That's particularly why the focus of that entire pillar though is on the building leadership capacity of the staff because we know we can do that at
no budgetary impact. But the other two items that we actually have in our school improvement plan. Yes, they they do require the the addition of staffing and unfortunately we know that be able to do that. >> The parking spot it might be easier.
>> I would I would just say that Our focus on the human capital this year is more about celebrating staff and recognizing the achievements and hard work trying to recruit new people as we know is what it is. So we're just trying to
keep people at school happy and categis. >> Thank you Mr. Right. And I I appreciate that. I know this is a hard year for all of our staff with the high class sizes and everything going on. So, anything that you are doing within your schools
to keep your morale up and keep your staff um knowing how much they appreciate it is great. And I know Miss Watson at the high school, you took the biggest hit. Um we know that many of us up here have high school kids and we understand that. So, we know that you
are also working So, anything that you can do to also give you more love, please do so and know that we appreciate all those teachers there. >> Anything else for Mr. Uh, next we have the quarterly business
office report and good evening madam chair committee members and superintendent. I'm reporting this evening on the treasurer's quarter of the report of July 1st, 2025 through September 30th, 2025. Chapter 70 school aid. These funds
have been coming in timely at the end of each month. High school athletic fees for fiscal year 26. We estimated receiving $14,400. We have collected $171,000
during this quarter. Please note, we will be issuing refunds this month in the amount of $9,600. >> Miss, could you just speak to what that the refunds were because we did have a question on that. >> Sure. The refunds were due to waiverss
and um nonparticipation. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Investment of funds. Interest earnings for fiscal year 26, we estimated receiving $300,000 due to high balances. We collected
$190,7255 for this quarter and we anticipate receiving $19,274 by the end of the school year. Miscellaneous receipts, we estimated receiving $55,000 for fis fiscal year
26. During this quarter, we received $31,199.13. We are still expecting to receive approximately $23,800. Parking fees, we estimated receiving $40,000 for fiscal year 26. We have received
year to date $29,875. We anticipate receiving $10,125 by the end of the school year. Rental of school facility, we collected $10,950 during this quarter. We estimate
receiving we estimated receiving $65,000 for fiscal year 26 and still anticipate receiving $54,50 charter school. For fiscal year 26, we budgeted $80,000. As of this quarter, we have collected
$39,61 and we anticipate receiving the remaining of $40,399 by the end of the school year. Construction debt appropriations and town assessments we are receiving time.
>> This concludes my report. >> Um questions, Mr. Yes, thank you for the report. Just to be clear, because I know athletic fees is a big uh topic of discussion,
we received 171,000 for the quarter, but I anticipated only 101,000 or something like that for the year. And the reason for that was what was built into the budget was before we decided as
a school committee to increase the fees so dramatically and it stayed in the budget as the lower number. Correct. >> Correct. >> And so we we should expect it to be bigger because we we put in a higher
number. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Miss Ma. I wanted to better understand the fees and how the circumstances came that they had to be in reimbursed. Are you are is the district collecting the money first and
then determining that they qualify for fee waiverss and these other things and then re and then returning the monies to these families. Is that how it's working? >> Correct. students um that were on did end up paying originally um and then when we were notified of the waver list
we did for the refunds will be posted this month October. >> Is there a process that could prevent families from being out of pocket for $600 for whatever period of time that is before needing to be reimbursed? In
other words, can we ask if our determining people are qualified for the fee wavers before payments? >> Well, I think this year was a little bit different um just because of the payments being increased to $600 and all
these families just went on. It's not like we built them. They went on themselves and made the payment of $600. Um when we got the list from the high school and We compared
in some of those students that were unwaver didn't unfortunately make that that payment. So we are refunding them. >> Is there a way to improve that >> perhaps going forward if this continues
with the fee being $600 we can look at making a better plan. Some of it has to do with as Miss Ro said when you actually sign up for athletics you also have the ability to go in and pay at that point. So a family could sign up pay and then after the
fact either become eligible for a waiver or inquire about a waiver. So it would really be um we wouldn't want to block off that payment option right away because obviously we want families to be able to pay. So we are going to you know take a look at that to see if there's a
possibility. However, We have to continue refunds as they come differently like that for winter and obviously the spring as well. >> Is there a cost to the district for issuing those refunds? Like is there printing for the checks or anything like
that or is it just electronic transfer? >> No, we do required for the waiver might have applied because students so they didn't lose athletes. We we do get into athletics during budget. So we were down a significant
amount of this year as well. So I know coaches were trying to encourage and educate their athletes that was able to apply that to them. With the lower fee they didn't think about it but coaches were telling the
team if you think you might please Do you and you may not know um along those lines, Miss King, you were asking is the amount of waiverss that we have this this time last year versus this year? Do we have more this year than last year or is it a similar number?
>> So, I don't have that number compared to this time last year. I believe last year for all three seasons we had about 70. Um but I will get that confirmation up to this point maybe 40 students on just for the fall
>> just for the other questions. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening madame chair members of the school committee superintendent powers. The purpose of the report tonight is to
provide an initial overview of the fiscal year 2026 budget performance covering the period of July 12 July 1st sorry through September 30 2025. I believe a copy of the full report is
included in your packet. Rather than going through every line item tonight, which will be time consuming, I will be focusing on key areas instead. Since we are only since we only process
a few warrants in the first quarter, our main focus in this quarter has been on making sure staff were charged to the correct line accounts, encumbering funds for key contracts, and tracking out early spendings.
The fiscal year 2026 budget originally approved in June 2025 was 104,370,231 allocated as follows. Operating budgets at 98.6 million
capital projects at 1.69 69 million debt services 4.1 million for a total approved budget in June of 104.37 million. Then in August the budget was
rewarded and adjusted to 102.94 million reflecting a 1.43 43 million reduction due to the timing of capital project funding from both towns. 258,949
of Ringham's capital assessment has already been included in the 102.94 million total. The remaining balance of $457,413 is expected to funded this fall after
the town's END is satisfied. The town of Bridgewater Edwards full share of the capital assessment in the amount of $976,138 [Music] is also expected to be funded this fall
after the town's DND is satisfied. The school committee will meet to vote tonight to amend the budget to reflect the full capital assessment for both towns. So during this quarter that we are um looking at tonight that is from
July through September we have expended 14 million441,8 I mean $481 which included six payroll warrants across the district. We have also encumbered approximately 85% of all
salary obligations. Like I said earlier, I will be picking on few uh cost drivers to look at tonight. The substitute line on pages four through five of your budget report is
pretty much in place. There is not much activities right now, but we're keeping an eye on this as a fiscal year moves forward. On page eight, we have our regular and special education transportation.
These were being monitored and during this period we have encumbered over 75% of transportation cost and we continue to do so as the fiscal year progresses.
If we go straight to page 11 is outline actuations to out of district programs. These also are being monitored. Any overages will be offset each quarter using our
circuit breaker reimbursement fund. We had a balance of approximately 2.37 million but so far we have used 395,000 to offset some of the overages.
So leaving the balance of 1.98 million. So now looking ahead, since this report only covers the start of the fiscal year from July to September, we have not seen major spending trends
yet. More data will be available in the next reporting period for comparison with prior year trends. So overall, the fisc year 26 budget is off to a strong start.
and early spending is on track. The business office will continue to monitor all costs, especially especially the key cost drivers to ensure that all spending is carefully directed to support students and staff
while maintaining fiscal responsibility. This concludes my report. questions and comments. >> Thank you. Next we have budget sub. On October 22nd, um the budget subcommittee meeting met just right
before this meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the library. Um it was called to order at 5:33 p.m. Mr. Loach, Mr. Prince Gibbons, Mrs. Bealola, Miss Mishau, Superintendent P, assistant superintendent Mary, Miss McDougall, and myself were in attendance. Miss
Davenport was only a few minutes late and she attended as well. Um, the first item that we discussed was fiscal year 2026 budget amendment for capital. Um, as just noted, um, Mr. P, can you give us
an update regarding capital right now? Uh yes. So uh currently right now in terms of capital expenses um as you know we had to remove capital from the budget the proposed budget um at the end of the summer to meet the town's timeline. And
so what tonight is to vote to amend the budget to include those capital items. So therefore, we've received that funding from the town to begin to be able to do our capital projects during the 2526 school year. In addition to that, we have been working closely with
the towns to try to align our capital requests and funding timelines. As you know, sometimes towns wait until the fall when their free cash is certifying to actually take on capital projects, not just for schools, but also for other
town departments. and at other points they're actually able to uh have funds available in the spring. Um what we're really working through right now is to try to get on the same page so that Rainham and Bridgewater are aligned if we're all going to wait and um you know send those capital expenses and capital
requests in the fall when free cash is available or shouldn't we still send those capital requests as part of the spring budget? We're also working closely with Destiny and DOR to make sure that whatever we do put into place uh is aligned not regulation, but also
is aligned to our regional agreement. We do believe that language in our regional agreement does allow us to follow a fall timeline for capital. Uh but we're just waiting to schedule time with Desi and do or at least Desi next week. a do may
join just to confirm that based on their read of our regional and if that's the case then we will obviously put a practice into place going forward in terms of our budget presentation what it actually will include. It may include just operating expenses and debt for the
spring and then a separate request in the fall outside of the school budget or capital request. But so that that's just a a quick update. No final decisions have been made but that's what we're looking make sure that we're aligned with the town process and the town process is aligned to to us.
>> Thank you for that update. Um so just to note, so this would be to amend the capital for fiscal year 26 budget. Um if this passes, it would go to rain for their special town meeting where they appropriate all of their fall capital money um and to Bridgewater Town Council
in November which would be two um so two different meetings and that would also be um for their appropriation. Um, and then as Mr. Powers just stated, going forward for fiscal year 27, we're just trying to make sure that we're aligning with what
the Jessie um and DM regulations are. Do we follow the state guidelines? Do we follow our regional agreement? So, we're doing everything correctly, especially now that the state um has said, you know, you need to fix this because the two counties are doing it differently. So, that leads to a line um for fiscal
year 27. Um so, If that makes sense to everyone motion um on the floor regarding this and then we can discuss it questions etc. I will enterain a motion as follows
regarding the revised capital budget fiscal year 2026 based on October 1st 2024 enrollment figures. Capital costs will be assessed to each town as follows. portion of the capital cost of Bridgewater Rainham Regional School
District is $457,413 plus the $258,949 approved in the spring for a total fiscal year 2026 capital assessment of $716,362. Bridgewater's portion of the capital cost of Bridgewater Ringham Regional
School District is $976,138 for a total fiscal year 2026 Bridgewater capital assessment of $976,138 for a total fiscal year 2026 capital assessment from Rainham and Bridgewater in the amount of 1,692,500.
Do I have a motion? Second >> motion made by Mr. Lo, second by Mr. Given. >> Do we have questions or comments on that to this vote? I was looking for the
breakdown of how the funds were going to be used, specifically looking for the capital plan. Um, was there supporting documentation for this kind of overlooked from the original in the spring when we
approved our original budget. Um I don't have the capital items already but whatever we had approved at that original budget >> March um those were the capital items the items have not changed um it's just we
to take it out because it was not the correct procedure as per Jessie >> in the future it would be helpful just add the link so that I didn't have to See no other questions. All those in favor? >> Any opposed?
>> Information in advance. >> Thank you. >> Uh fiscal year 2026 budget quarterly update. Missola and Missain over that. Um the next that we did discuss was END.
Um, Miss, would you mind coming to the podium for this? >> All right. Thank you very much. Um, in September, on September 25th, uh, AD was satisfied by, uh, DR
in the amount of 4 million 17,396. Um, out of that, out of that, we voted to use 2.8 million in March for 3826 budget,
which brought the balance to 1.5 million and Back in August, we also voted to use about 32,000 on debt to pay for past due
invoices. So that brings us to a balance of $1.48499 in our school. >> Thank you, Missola. How does this compare to what
we normally have to carry over for the year? >> This is definitely lower than what you know the past trains asking. Um and this is because one we used more than what we
normally take out of this year because of the short that we have. Um and also um looking at the end of the year as I'm projecting that might be a little
bit challenging to be able to bounce us back to where we started with. So definitely we use we used more of 26 compared to all that we have used to help.
>> Yes, we have been trending 1.5 million to now 2.8 million. So it is definitely decreasing every year. how much we're how much we're contributing versus how much we're ending. So that is concerning. Mr.
>> Yeah. Not to put too fine a point on it, but just to make sure I understand and everyone in the audience understands, we had whatever we had at the um end of last fiscal year. And usually what we've tried to do historically, at least since
I've been back here, 21 is to really roll over whatever we were going to put in the end date. We just rolled it over to the next year. We didn't take it from the seed corn, so to speak. Now we we've taken
$2.8 million, right, out of END, which now brings us down to 1.5, 1.4, 1.5, somewhere in there. We don't have that money going forward next year. So
that's a whole that's another budget hole. We're going to have to plug or lose more staff. Correct. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> I will point out the only positive is Miss Roash did note that our revenues for the first quarter at least are
higher than anticipated. So that money does go down to So that's one positive, but I don't think it's going to be update on athletic fees. Just to go back to that conversation, we're trying to monitor
the fees quarterly or in front of per season just to see where we are versus athletes fees collected etc and see if next year we're still going to need to continue that trend or we need to revise
that Mr. >> have to give an update uh currently we have uh 315 athletes for the fall 153 boys 62 girls. Uh that is 60 less athletes for the fall than last year. Of
those 315 students, we did have 40 students qualified for waiverss. Uh leaving us uh for 275 all athletes that would pay the $600 fee. Um as of Misho shared numbers as of the end of September. However, even since that
point, uh we should have collected 165,000 based on the 275 fall athletes at $600 a piece and we have collected that 165,000. Uh as Mr. Ritz Gibbons uh you know already highlighted we had budgeted uh
anticipating 104,000 only because of the the timing of this uh the anticipated budget amount was much less because that was done during the spring spring budget season uh before we decided to raise the fees. Um, so again, I I can't
confidently say that this trend will continue for all three sports, for all three seasons. I think we're going to see eventually a dip in the number of athletes. Um, you know, 60 less athletes spread out over all the teams, varsity, JV, freshman. Um, you know, it's it's a
significant number. Um, it's not as drastic drastic as I maybe anticipated, uh, but still, uh, you know, significant. And I think we're only going to see that number maybe get larger as we go through the winter and spring. Um, in terms of middle school sports in addition to the high school
numbers I just shared with you, um, as you know, we are running uh, soccer at the middle school levels. At Ringham Middle School, we currently have 13 boys participating. Um, and we have collected all the 300 dollars of anticipated revenue for those
13. We had collecting fees over a period of time with one family and due to make their final payment which will then make us whole. Um unfortunately uh because of low enrollment we were not able to field a girls soccer team at Rainand Middle
School at the MS O'Donn Middle School. We did have 20 boys come out for the soccer team and we had collected the ball fees associated with that the 12,000 and same thing for the girls. We had 14 girls come out for the MS soccer
team at $600. We collected all the 400 that was >> miss powers. Um it may be helpful because I know we've had some dip in enrollment in some of the schools in particular at the high school. I mean last year senior
class is the biggest senior class we've had in a really long time. So it's hard for me like we've had a dip also in sports but also we've had a dip in enrollment. So maybe not to ask you to thing. Um, helpful just to see like the percent of students that do high school
sports because that would be more comparative than the numbers. So like last year it was whatever 4% of kids did sports at high school and this year it's 4%. Right? That's it's more comparing apples to apples to me than looking because there's a dip in enrollment. So
it's hard to judge if that makes sense. Thank you. >> I know. >> I just I just observed that see on 300 some is about 15%. We didn't have a 15% drop in enrollment. So, it's going to be
a lower percentage, >> right? I just would be interesting to compare apples. >> Oh, yeah. No, no question. No question. >> And I mean, we had also discussed going forward to look at middle school sports if we continue this trend of having this higher fee because I know personally it
has affected we definitely have a lower participation rate at the middle school level. um at RMS specifically the boys team only having 14. I know in past years every year they've cut it at a certain point and then cut kids from the team. Um and probably on the same on the
other side as well. So we might have to look at middle school sports next year if we revise that fee. Is it too high that we're pricing middle school kids out as well? Do we do two different years? That's also a conversation we'll have to have and see how the the fall as
well season I'm already hearing talk at the high school winter because a lot of kids do winter sports at the high school say they do track just to do it to keep in shape for the spring in between conversation we had >> and kids are already saying I'm not
doing it right one thing and especially if it's something I'm not super interested in but I just did it to do it. Um so there's a lot of talk again around winter sports and dropping. I'd be interested to see what teams feel at winter sports because
they're not usually as as much envirment in winter sports. I don't maybe I'm wrong, but what I perceive >> I know specifically Mr. did mention that especially for that particular >> it's it's something that if you're if you're doing other seasons and it was
might as well do >> or $500 or whatever, right? >> Well, no, every season we're going to and see where we are. Next was a base update. Do you want to speak to that?
>> Sure. We're actually sharing some good news uh with regard to the PA program. As you know, we run a before and after school program on the Bridgewater side of the district. Uh for the Rainham side, it's the Rainham Pocket Rec program.
Bass has uh fluctuated over the last couple years in terms of revenue and expenses. And as Miss Babyler and I have shared with you, uh, at times base has been running a deficit. We put some internal controls in place this year to
really separate summer base from school year base. So we could really identify the trends and you know where were some of the challenges that we were having? Was it summer base carrying over the school year? School year carrying over the summer base. Uh, and by separating
them it really, you know, was able to make it more manageable for us. In addition, we also really monitored um staffing levels. As you know, we implemented a a much stricter calendar policy in in practice where parents have
to identify the days that they're coming for the month in advance and they are being charged for those days. uh we really have stopped the process or practice of being able to add on last minute because what we wanted to be able to do is accurately predict staffing on
any given day either in the morning or afternoon. Um and same thing with the summer because we were able to really have a concrete number of students attending over the summer. We were able to staff it uh and because we're you know not uh because we are staffing it appropriately not over staffing it on
certain days uh it it really has made a difference. So for the summer base we 179 students enrolled in the summerbased program. Uh we anticipated bringing in around $109,000. Uh based on that enrollment, uh we also collected $4,475
in registration fees. As you know, uh we implemented a registration fee for summer base and school year base, I believe, going into uh not this past year, but the year before. And so that we anticipated bringing in about 113,000. Uh we actually brought it slightly
higher. We brought for u implant income higher than what we had originally anticipated which was 109 actually brought in $110 plus the $4,400 in registration fees for a total of $114,6919.
Um when we looked at what our expenses were for the summer, obviously it was, you know, salaries after we paid out our salaries for the summer which totaled $17,014. We actually ended the summer in the positive uh which was a nice change for
us. We did not have any supplies paid out in the summer. We really wanted to be sure that we were able to end the summer positive with a positive balance. Um now obviously those registration fees certainly contributed to that. Uh but that was also you know something that
really helped us out going into the school year. Obviously we're you know really sharing numbers for September. is still early on. Um we had anticipated between our three sites Mitchell Elementary for the preschool, Mitchell
Elementary K to2 and then at the Williams Intermediate. Uh as you know we have combined our MS program. So those students now actually attend the Williams program. probably very low enrollment at MS and we you know just because of staff student ratios we were
maybe having one two students at the school and having to hire uh you know three staff members to stay with them. So by combining those programs uh we're able to work uh closely with lucine just to arrange transportation to and from the Williams and those students are able to attend there. Uh so we were
anticipating for September 437 437 students uh spread out over those three sites. Uh in addition uh we did not run the ARMAC program at over at Rainand Middle School this year. U Mr. McCrae from Rainand Park and Recre is in
the process of trying to absorb those students uh into the park and wreck program and he's just waiting for state approval to um for that additional space, the additional classroom. Um what we actually brought in for September was $190,226
uh which is which is great. Um obviously you have that information um broken down by site. We also had some past due collections that Miss Joel and Silva, our director base, made uh she is um great in terms of working with
families uh any past due amount. Uh she really works with them to to not just um you know to to collect those fees and collect them even if it's past due uh she's still working with them because uh you know every dollar counts at this point. So you can see we were able to bring in going back to uh the summer and
even last school year, $32,000. Uh what we paid out in salaries for September was roughly $46,498. Um and we did have some expenses, $6,783 in expenses. Uh we obviously need supplies and materials for base to run.
Um so looking at what we brought in 190 versus salaries and expenses uh we were left with a positive 136,944 uh which is you know phenomenal for us to start. Um obviously you know we won't have those registration fees on a on a rolling basis. There's a school year
registration fee collected. So that's not something we'll see see every month u show up. And obviously we had some uh negative balances carried over from last year. Uh but even with uh looking at those negative balances, we we still will be in the in the positive, which
pleased to report because it's been some time since we've been able to do that. >> Thank you. Um I'm losing the name. What is the director's name? >> So I really want to thank her for her diligence this year. I know we've been talking about the base program going
back two years now, trying to come back we were like $200,000 to us. So, I really appreciate everything that you did and she's done to collect back fees, work on the
calendar, really look at staffing, um to finally this month not be in a deficit and even backing out the registration fees and the past two collections were still positive about 60,000. So,
hopefully this continues and I'm glad to see both summer and September right now look good. So we will continue to monitor that but that's a good positive and we're not dipping in operational
budget to fun. I needed it to be sustainable as we all wanted to. So thank you. Um next we have contract review and approval regarding the Do you want to speak to the contract
with your recommendation? >> Uh the current contract I mean the current contract for the P um postage meters that we're using extending next month. Uh we went out to S for quotes
from other vendor. We could only have a different additional vendor that does exactly what we need along with Pney B. Um we got a quote from them and also a quote from Pney B. Uh if we're going
into 3 years of um what we currently have with the larger screen, currently we have a 10 in uh screen of posting machine. If we're going with a larger screen of 15 in,
we will be um spending a little bit less than what we are currently doing. But if we're going for three years contract, we'll be spending a little bit more than what we are currently doing. So I'm proposing tonight uh to go with big goals uh for the fiveyear contract which
will be cost effective for posting matching for the district. >> Thank you. Um, accordingly, I will entertain a motion to authorize the director of business services to enter into a 5-year lease with Pney Bose for its postage
services with a price per month fee of $352.74 for a total annual fee of $4,232.88 over the 5year lease period. >> So, second motion made by Mr. Second by
Miss Thomas. Um as stated um our lease expires November 2025. We received two estimates our current provider and um Miss Bola is recommending the 5year
lease um or it's the third column they send from mail center 2000 without the central online. So that is something that they it is a downgrade they're not offering with this recommendation. They do not use that because our machines do
not have capabilities. Um, but as she said, as she said, it is cheaper. Um, and it does have a larger screen. >> Do we have other questions? Mr. G. >> Yes. Uh, just to confirm, Miss Bab, all procurement laws were followed and
regulations and everything. And these were the two quotes we got and you're recommending that based on being the lowest responsive and responsible. >> Correct. >> Uh, reply. Thank you, >> Miss M.
Are there any specific costs that are not included in this monthly um and yearly price that's included on the proposal? >> Yes. >> So, it includes the any kind of repairing
fees. >> Okay. Um has the district more digital communication to shift um this kind of reduce the number of mailing that's required by the district. I think we have
we are still doing it. So email rather than um sending letters out there email rather than snail mail. So yes we are >> and how has review um informed this
five-year contract. I wonder if over the next five years if some of these things will become obsolete as you continue your review process and utilize more digital versus um mailing. So I'm I'm just thinking about the benefit the pros and cons of going to a fiveyear knowing
that you're still under review and that certain things might be obsolete versus a three year. What's your thoughts? >> Well my thought on that is no matter what is still going to be need for communication to parents because the law
requires it. So there's no way we can shy out of this. This is still going to be uh one way of communicating to parents. So whether we going to go over to uh after this contract probably go over to another five years or not I
believe that by the time we get to that point five years time we'll be able to make that decision but there's no way we will not engage in because of the law and all the requirements that we
have to Mr. Powers, can you explain exactly what we send out through I mean I know like IEP materials, assessments all go through snail mail. Um but like parent communication like newsletters and
transportation all go through email. Are there other things that go out like >> correct? Yes. So I mean it's not just parent correspondence. It's obviously corresponding with different vendors. Um you know we have materials that we have to ship out. We're actually able to, you
know, print out labels from the postage machine. So, it could be something from facilities having to mail out. Um, so it's not just always parent communication. There are other things that we actually have to send through this the mail. Um, to that point, you're right. Uh, transportation letters, class
placement letters, report cards, you know, we're not printing those and mailing those home uh anymore. Um but so we really tried to reduce that but there are just daytoday mailings that actually have to go out and not just like I said parent communication but all
communication. >> Thank you. >> Seeing no other no other questions. All those in favor >> any passes. Thank you.
We did have a fiscal year 2027 budget discussion which Mr. um touched on during his report as well. Um just what his preparation has been meeting with the towns etc. um and developing that timeline for next budget
season. Um and also we did have that meeting the joint class size committee meeting with which he did touch on as well. We did approve the budget subcommittee minutes of September 15th, 2025 during our
budget setting. Um the last item that we did discuss um after our last school committee meeting um which we did discuss um we had a joint town meeting which most of you were there in September. Um at that time during our
joint meeting with the two towns, we did agree on that um all parties did want to go forward with an operational review of the school district. Um and we did talk about um that we would come together during a small joint working group to
develop a um scope of work. Um after that was complete um the towns would then go into their November appropriating at the town meeting. the funds for that operational review. Um
and Bridgewater Town Council would have their two readings at their November meetings um if we could get the scope of work put out. Um so we did have the on October 15th, 2025, Vice Chair Lo, Superintendent
Powers and myself met with RAM select board chair Miss Riley, um RAM finance committee member Dr. Bridgewater Town Council President Mr. Loretti and Bridgewater Town Council member Miss Strickles for the joint working group to discuss the status of fiscal 26 and
develop um the timeline regarding fiscal 27 as well as collaborate on the scope of work for the operational review. Um this revised scope of work was circulated this week. Um and once this is complete, the business office will procure a vendor from the state approved
list. Um which there are 12 on that list and we need at least three for scope timeline and feasibility. Um if this is under 100,000 which we are estimated it to be um once we have this does not need to be a sealed bid because
of that um once we have this estimate this will be forwarded to the towns for appropriation as I stated um in November um at special town meeting and Bridgewater town council's meeting um so we did have a scope of work that was
circulated and provided to us um he did work with the company CLA um to develop the scope of work that he presented to um the with the select board at that joint meeting with Mr. Mr.
Um the scope of work was similar to what they have um earlier. A historical financial analysis um regarding expenditures, use of one-time funds, recurring versus pandemic error grants. Um EMD balance history, variance
analysis, etc. Um program and cost drivers including special education, transportation, labor and comp compensation and health insurance, which those are four main cost drivers. uh capital funds and projects. Um
receipts and expenditures of school capital funds since 2019. Project list of status and budget to actual comparisons. Compliance with funding authorizations and procurement requirements as well as projection and tools regarding projections for the next
three to five years incorporating enrollments placement, transportation rates, etc. Insurance trends, grant sunsets, and capital debt impacts. Further identifying findings, benchmarks and recommendations, identifying factors
driving cost increases and any control gaps. Um providing prioritized recommendations regarding policies, processes and contracts. Um so that was proposed um at that meeting. We did discuss it um and
during those discussions we did provide some feedback. Um Mr. did indicate that we felt most of those things were fine even though some of those cost drivers we have provided um a lot of feedback to the public especially
private health insurance the PC that we've reopened um going out to join a different collaborative to try and get those costs down um but they still felt really strongly that all of those cost drivers should be included um from an
outside company to look and that we can provide efficiencies. Um, but like I said, Mr. Lo and I did um indicate that we did want to add something to the scope of work uh regarding comparisons.
Um, I thought best case scenario um I'm hoping they do find some efficiencies that we could change. Do we have policies and procedures um and efficiencies that we can find the district money? Um, that would be best case scenario. I don't think
that we were short. Um, but one of the big things during the override was people wanted a financial audit. They wanted to see how we spend our money. Um, so I feel like this might be a good way to show the public that we're being
transparent. Um, this is a story of them looking at how we're spending our money. Are we being efficient? So, we also thought it would be important to include on there comparison. What is our classroom size look like right now? What does our enrollment size? What does our staffing look like right now? How are we
comparing um to outside districts of similar size and similar location? Um how are we using our resources and what's that look like compared to other districts? Um they felt very strongly that they did not want that included in
the scope of work. Um they Um so >> what was their explanation as to why this came? >> Um they thought it would take away from the the scope of work that they presented initially.
>> I have not thought it was public knowledge. Oh, that's that's that's very interesting because I remember certain town councilors saying they had complete no knowledge of it till we sent them the budget in March. So
>> maybe I'm misremembering. >> So we did remove that portion of it. Um we're going to go with their original presented scope that Mr. drafted with CLA. Um but I thought it might be might behoo us to have Mr. Powers go to the
um and see if something like that could be added in and what that cost would be to add that to what he's having them look at for our budgetary um document um or if it needs to be a separate thing. Is this something that they could separately because I do think it's
important if we're doing this operational review to show the public um are we efficient? How are we spending our money? I also think it's important for them to see how we're compared to other districts. how low our resources are right now compared with how many
students we have. So the process from now is the school that we have the business office um needs to send that out because of the amount that it is um there's 12 um
vendors on that list. So we'll send it to those 12 vendors and hopefully get estimates from multiple of them. Um those will be reviewed by business office or are they meeting this work? Um
are is it feasible for them to do this because the towns also have a very tight deadline. They want to appropriate this money in November when they do their capital appropriation and they would like it done by February which is a very
also need to have as well. That was a lot of information. Anyone have questions? this thing I just want to point out I I do appreciate you know how your efforts and Mr. efforts to to really try to
collaborate with both town bodies if it was not for a lack of effort on either of your parts to really try to advocate for that addition of information because we do think at the end of the day it's going to be helpful information not only for us but also the community. So I I
just want to thank you for for that advocacy. >> Thank you. And we can go forward and see if this can be something separate. I think Mr. Wilsh said, I think I think it's important um you know, as we heard
from Miss Watson and Mr. Gray earlier, we've lost a lot of staff, but we're still having I mean, we're slightly down students this year. Um but the class sizes are are really challenging this year for everyone from kindergarten all
through 12. So, you know, we just want people to know what resources we're working with and how that So they can make decisions next year or the year after we decide to do
potentially over the budget for fiscal year 27 in the spring. So I think the whole picture is >> um and I know you've probably negotiated this with the towns. Um one thing maybe
to think about is the way the information comes whoever is the selected vendor comes back to us having done some of this work. It can be a really long technical report and which to the plain eye in plain language to
many of us means nothing honestly. Um I would request that there is that technical report that comes back but that also the organization or the vendor that does this actually has a report that's what's called in technical term plain language. Um and that means that a
layman person can read it. Um because this is going to come back so technical and long that it's really I'm concerned that it's really not going to do us any good honestly. And so getting a plain language report I think would be more helpful for us and especially with the
public and with the average person or the lay person being able to read it and understand what it says. >> Thank you. No, that's that's helpful because the whole point of this is to provide it to the public so they can look at it and say, "Oh, you know, this
is the special education. this is, you know, where you could find efficiencies or this is where you're doing your best. Um, so we definitely need it as something that not just public education people can understand it, just regular community. >> Yeah, it's a technical report and a
plain language report. >> Question. >> Oh, yes. Um, >> I guess my my struggle is with the timeline. Um, I do think it will add the transparency that we need for the public. They've made it very clear that that's what they need. Um, what do we
think we will gain having it in February with the timeline that we were hoping to improve getting this information in February? Do we think that will help our timeline? I know with what we suffered with this year's override timeline, do we think we
will gain anything? >> I think with February timeline, they were they were hoping to coincide with budget season. So, we have all information available when we're presenting our budget to the towns, to the public, etc. I can't guess if it's going to make an
impact, but I feel like we need to do everything that the public has asked us for. And one of the main things to review if we're managing our money
are other ways you can save money or be more does it the requirements sorry I'm just thinking the bit too many bits RFPs um does the RFP or what is the scope of work here require that whoever is the
vendor pres present in kind of multiple forums this information because if that's not there then that's not going to like the vendor should be presenting to us as the town council and whether a public meeting is that going to be in the bid. >> Uh so that what uh the scope of work
that's been reviewed by and I'm sorry I shouldn't speak um the scope of work that is more about the content right now uh we haven't uh written the um scope the bid yet to go out but that's certainly a great because it factors into the cost. I'll
just >> All right. Um I will keep you all updated um at the next meeting of that. Next we have polic Thank you. The policy subcommittee met
on August 7th, 2025 2025 and attendance was um Mrs. King, Miss Boy Thomas, Mr. Powers, and myself. Um the first I would like to bring a motion um to wave um again the first to wave the
reading of visitors to school. Again, we did the first reading um last meeting. So Mrs. made a motion to wave the second >> M discussion. >> All those in favor.
>> Um and I at this point um we received no feedback on this policy. So at this point I would make a motion to adopt um polic visitors to the school. >> Mrs. made a motion to adopt. Second by Mr.
>> Any discussion or question? >> See none. All those in favor? Any opposed? Um the next policy that um that was reviewed was IKF the competing determination. Um the superintendent has
been meeting with uh high school administration to create a policy to address the change in the determining the mastery of certain p courses since MCCAST is no longer being used. Um as people know the school district was tasked by Desi to create a policy
outlining the new process. Um the high school and different administration um thinks that the policy um aligns with the new standards. Um the Mr. Super Mr. Powers and Merry reviewed um also
determined competing determinations from other districts and they were alignment. One thing I will say is MASC and actually the policy subcommittee felt very strongly that the compsy determination was not based on one test.
So there's been some discussion in other districts across the state that if you will the your final would determine your competency and we all felt very strongly that um that that should not be the determining factor for competency
determination. It should be looking at your mastery of the course as a whole instead of as one individual test. Um so at this point I would make a motion to wave the first reading of of policy IKF. Second >> motion made by Mrs. Conra, second by Mr.
Given. Any discussion on the motion to all those in favor? >> And I would just encourage if people have questions or comments about this if they could reach out or email us and Mr. Powers, Mrs. Watson has really been kind
of I think taking lead on some of this. Um, and I think Mr. Mr. President, I don't have anything to add is I did see that there's a statewide committee now and it's like there's a lot happening in this space right now. >> There is there's a there's a statewide graduation committee that they formed um
you know really looking at graduation requirements. However, you know, without fully knowing what they're going to produce, I would imagine not only graduation requirements but also I would think competency determination be factored into that somehow. Uh they are
creating a statewide or they have statewide portrait of a graduate, portrait of learn is sometimes referred to as just common expectations that we want students to be able to leave uh their school experience with uh what attributes, what qualities, what skills, what knowledge and that's something that
even as a district we're we're going to try to model after what Jesse has produced. So some good things to come out of that but uh you know more to come I think on graduation requirements and competency determination for the state. >> Thank you. And then second reading after the meeting.
>> Yes. >> And do we have a time frame we're supposed to submit something to Mr. Powers? Was it the end of December or >> uh Yes, it it's the end of the calendar year. Originally it was very early. I think it was maybe originally thrown out as October and then I think they got
some feedback. Um I think it was always due at the end of December, but Desi was hoping to move that up and then realized that that time may not be reasonable. And so they've gone back to end of the calendar year. >> And the next policy I would say again
some preference and context is MASC presented a whole lot of policies that were updated maybe in September or August. And so we've gone through some of the we've gone we've started to go through that list to update our policies. That's where some of this is being driven from but some of it is also internal. So the next policy um that was
updated by um MASC was around school food and nutrition and it was really around meal modifications. We um do have a policy around um MAC had a separate policy. We had it um we do have a wellness policy that incorporates a lot
of food in school nutrition. We did add the meal modification, but since our last meeting and to today, there's been some other changes that we need to make to that wellness policy based on Desi feedback. So, um at this time, there's no action on this as we're bringing we're going back to policy to add those
changes to the wellness policy that Desi has recommended. So, we will bring this forward um the meal modification and the other changes to um another meeting. So there's no action at this point to the school the the wellness policy
the school. Yeah. The next policy um that MAC that we reviewed in subcommittee the subcommittee that um MAC brought forward was the parent advisory council's um packs. There's both the the English language learner pack and the special education pack. Um the policy
subcommittee reviewed the language and determined that um that adopting this policy was unnecessary as there's already a legal requirement by Desi and master law. Um so the policy decided there was we did not need to take further action and adopt a separate
policy around this. Um the next um Mrs. um Thomas had requested um to discuss transportation services for students and this is just to update the committee. Um there had been a conversation around really
looking at some of our transportation our transportation policy and potential cost savings and one of it was around um during COVID we let families actually Mrs. White Thomas pointed out we let families wave transportation um and say that their child was not
going to take the bus so there's some desire to go back and look and see could we actually allow parents to wave um their rights to bus to busing um Mr. Powers is going to review that and see whether we had any option because it potentially could be a because there are
some kids um at all levels throughout the district that never step foot on a bus because they're transported by parents through the year or they drive themselves particular to the high school. Um so Mr. um Power is going to go back and look at that and we will bring it back to our next policy meeting
to review whether that's even an option for us to wave some of that. Um but it could be some cost savings for us so there's no action taken. Um the next was around um Thomas actually wrote this word too was around um electronic
devices um and some of the potential changes that may come um and also some security challenges particular I would probably say more high school maybe some of the middle school um kids that bring their own devices into school don't have
the firewalls that our Chromebooks have on them and so um how are we monitoring that um and and what is doing the policy around some of that. So, Mr. Pow was gonna again look at some of that
and bring it back to our next um meeting. There was also, I believe, I don't know if it's passed the House or the Senate, one of them in the state around cell phone and the um and ability to use cell phones next year. I don't think it's been signed up for the
governor at this point actually. Um but that was part of also um if we may need to review our electronic devices if that passes both the house and the senate and gets governor sign off to also need to amend our policy to kind of think about what that will mean for us. Um and when
we do yeah so we talked a lot of different options potentially um but again we will um after Mr. P's research we will bring back to our next policy meeting to review both of those. I don't know if people have the end of that
comments questions. >> Thank you Alberto. Do we have any questions? >> Thank you. >> Uh next we have safety and security report with Mr. >> Thank you. The safety and security
meeting took place on Friday, September 26th. Uh present at that meeting were district and schoolbased administration as well as fire and police from both towns. Uh the meeting kicked off really kind of about doing a quick review of opening talking about a little bit of issues around uh student based threats
and how they were being addressed throughout the district and they really were taking a proactive approach to ensure uh that students knew you know what their words meant and then also that we were investigating all of those threats. Then they moved into EMS considerations and what they really needed to be aware of going into schools
and what was really on site this year they needed to take into account. Next piece up on the agenda was uh the security camera update. Um that all schools at this point have been upgraded. In addition that uh Bridgewater and RAM both have uh you know good access to all cameras. Um they
also were looking into uh for Mr. Sh looking into addition uh potentially adding additional cameras and some blind spots throughout the district. Um then that transitioned as well into um talking about training around threats uh when they potentially have what our
individual police forces have done. They also have master keys located at uh all schools that are located at the principal's desk to make sure they they're aware of that piece. Uh next piece on the agenda was talk about just uh having good two-way communication and a lot of pieces around students. Um and
you know there's been good back and forth between both groups. Last but not least, we're really into the area of transportation. Uh looking at things like uh construction and road closures, bus evacuation routes, um as well as, you know, some issues that have been
identified by community members around pickup and drop off around certain schools. Um but also really making sure that we're encouraging families with these issues to really make sure they're using transportation versus pickup and drop off. Um and then really our next
meeting will be in December. Thank you, Mr. Do. We do not have a facilities report that will be moved to the November meeting. New business, we have approval of general ledger warrants. I will entertain a motion to approve the
general ledger warrants dated October 2nd, 2025. >> So moved. Motion made by Mr. Given. Do I have a second? Second. Second made by Miss Conra. Any discussion? All those in favor?
>> Any opposed? And we have one. Motion passes. Thank you. >> Uh next we have MSC MASS joint conference 2025 resolutions. Um I had a brief update in your drive
regarding this. Um November 12th through November 14th, 2025, we'll be at the Admiral Resort in Hyannis will be the joint conference this year. Um on Friday, November 14th, 2025, at 3 p.m. I will be attending on the VR school committee's behalf as their delegate to
the delegate assembly of Massachusetts School Committees. on October 17th, 2025, I attended the MASC learning lunch 2025 resolutions preview to review and discuss the upcoming resolution votes. The only new
resolution this year that was presented was resolution banning BMI screening in public schools. This was submitted by Grafton school committee. Um their reasoning for this submission is BMI is viewed to be a poor indicator related to education and no differentiation of fat
and muscle. requires more than BMI and a combo of genetic, medical, social, and socioeconomic factors. School staff are not trained to diagnose problems related to BMI. Screening guidelines do not suggest school-based interventions, only
reporting to DPH and guardians, and this may cause emotional distress. Um, due to those um recommendations, I'm recommending that the school committee vote yes on this. Um, and I will do so on your behalf. Um, the other
votes that will be that night is a reauthorizations. Um, as was passed two years ago at the conference, resolutions that have passed around the books without any movement of legislation will sunset after three years. This year's resolutions that are upcoming for sunsetting unless we
reauthorize them are as follows and are to be voted on as a slate of resolutions. Sanctuary for transgender students increase maximum balance allowed by special education reserve funds from to 5% of net school spending, authorized
membership of vacine by school committee members, preserving local governance of mass schools, personal financial literacy in schools, and establishment of regional school assessment reserve funds. And I'm again recommending to reauthorize to keep those on the book so
they do not sunset um as there would be a slate of resolutions. Um just to note, there was only one new resolution proposed this year. Normally there at least 10. Um, a lot of the focus this year are the executive board
and the resolutions committee um and school committees across the commonwealth has been to increase school funding through chapter 70, chapter 71 and the fair share act. Um, so MAC really wanted to focus on that um this year and going into next year um to try
on um increasing funding and looking at the different ways that funding is coming to the different school districts. Um so accordingly I would entertain a motion to allow me to vote on behalf of the school committee at the delegate
conference. Um with this in mind also keeping in mind that depending on what happens at the committee I will vote in the best interest of school at that time. >> So move >> I have a motion made by Mr. and a second
by Mr. Other questions and comments regarding this comrad >> um the beginning of the BMI screening I would just encourage you to really think about this because I would say well while your BMI doesn't indicate your
educational needs it does your physical health your physical poor physical health has a factor on your education and all this is is a screening and the screening can lead to referral for other support in
Um, so I I mean I think being my screen has been around forever. I remember it. Um, I would just say I think there's some this isn't exactly I think this is a little shortsighted about what is here. >> And again, like I said, every time I go
here, so this was presented by Grafton, >> right? >> So I'm not sure what's going to come out at that time. Um, >> I was just for your thinking. We can vote how you're going to vote, but I just think for your It always depends on a lot of things come up, right?
>> This is a screen. This is not this is only a screen and referral to whatever medical it depends on the outcome. So yes, it's really just for your good for >> seeing no other questions. Um all those in favor.
>> Thank you. So I will In November, I will come back with a um an update on the status of the resolutions at the delegate assembly. Um I do not have any other business. Um we have another public comment.
Please come up. >> Good evening. Dave Patrick, vice president. Uh so I thought it would be important for me to come up here tonight for the next budget cycle uh as I represent u hundreds of
teachers and support staff who at this time are exhausted. They're overwhelmed and deeply concerned about the direction our schools are headed uh due to the present budget situation. Now tonight we heard from Miss Watson
and Mr. uh as they presented their plans for improvement their respective schools and I and I commend them for being hopeful um under the current difficult budget circumstances staffing situations
but I'd like to add that you know we can't improve schools when they're being styled with basic resources that they need financially It's hard to function when you don't have staff. We can't pretend to the public that
everything is fine because things are not fine. Right? That's I I feel very important. Our classrooms, they're busting at the seams. Uh teachers are are stretch uh stretched beyond their limits
and some sacrificing their own well-being to keep things together in the classrooms. You know, our students are losing out on on some real important opportunities, fewer electives, fewer interventions, fewer supports.
Um and you know, when does it end? We have to ask ourselves that, you know, every year the towns of Bridgewater and Rainingham, they continually underfund the schools. All right, that that's numb.
The burden and that burden lies squarely on on teachers, administrators, and staff. And we have to ask ourself when is the breaking point. I would hope that as a school committee
that we're going to fight for our students and for our teachers for the for the budgets that that we deserve and need. We need to advocate fiercely for Okay. Uh we can't be apologetic.
Now I've heard about audits in the works. Okay. uh being on school committees for many years, I I can't tell you how many audits I went through and and look, they're not going to solve your
funding crisis. They're not. They all come out the same, right? Which is we need more. All right? I know they don't I know people don't want to hear that, but the general public are not going to go
through an audit with a fine tooth comb and say, "Oh, yeah, now I'll vote yes." It's just not going to happen. I've se I've seen too many of them. At this point, audits are just distraction. And
you know, frankly, myself personally, I find it insulting when I was on a school committee. And yes, let's have an audit. Let's have an audit. Let's have an audit. All right. That, you know, that's somebody saying, "Yeah, we don't trust you. We, you know, we we can't go back to the
towns with with a hat in hand. We have to give them mandates. All right? We need them to know that we can't do more with less again, again, and again." The whole more do more with less thing is to me that's a nice way of
saying We're just not going to do the best we can for kids. And um yeah, it's okay if teaches. >> That's your time. >> Thank you. I appreciate public comment.
Um, I have a tenative budget subcommittee date of Monday, December 8th, 2025 at 5:30. I still need to confirm both. So, um, Ringham Town special meeting will be November 17th, 2025 at 7 p.m. at RMS.
Our next regular school committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19th, 2025 at 7 p.m. at RMS. Does any other member have announcements? Um, this concludes our regular school committee meeting. I will entertain a
motion to adjourn our October 22nd, 2025 meeting at 9 p.m. >> Um, second >> second. >> All those in favor? Thank you everyone.