##VIDEO ID:jSdRnUGP1kY## flag United States of America theice thank you so to open tonight to my left here I have Mr D DM Marino Miss um Martelli myself Jessica dport um superintendent Mr Powers M Mr and Mrs king um and I would like to entertain a motion to take public comment out of order so move all right so the school committee meetings operate under rules that were adopted to improve information for the public make it easier for parents and the public to follow and comment on issues before the committee and make meetings more accessible speakers must keep comments to know more than three minutes is anyone here from public comment tonight the correspondence and recognition so Community emails um we received a request for a special ed audit um also correspondents receed for a joint um Bridgewater Town council meeting for January and as part of the consent agenda for um we uh sorry about that as part of the consent agenda we have um president Miss Kim salmon and um Miss Pam Madden vice president here from greater Bridgewater women of today who are presenting a check with a donation of $500 to the Clos closet at the high school where students can obtain Essentials they may need so I've already given okay principal oh okay perfect thank you so much would you like to say [Laughter] anything thank you yes thank you very much all right can I I would like to make entertain a to um take the consent agenda out of order all right so uh we are going to vote on approval of minutes dated November 20th 2024 do I yes all right so we're just gonna vote on the consent agenda I have a motion second all those in favor thank you all those opposed yes we going to take another thing out of order as well we're going to entertain a motion to uh take the educational reports out of order all those in favor right so we have this king with the student advisory Council thank you um good evening as an update on December the student advisory Council had a school meeting and Mr FG and I attended at that time we discussed the goals of the student advisory Council for the rest of the year with respect to being part of the budget process and how they can advocate for their school such as meeting with Mr Powers and advocating to their state reps at the state level they are also in the process of working on a survey to pull their fellow students to see what the current high school students feel are important priorities budget lines on December 11th 2024 the student advisory Council had their before school meeting and invited Mr Powers to attend the students had a chance to see where Mr Powers was in his budget cycle and how they could give feedback I now invite the student advisory Council to good evening everyone um on Wednesday December 4th the gender sexuality Alliance at the high school went on a field trip over to Oliver as High School in East the reason for attending was for the Southeast regional meeting for the month of December the safe schools program a branch of desie leads the Massachusetts GSA Leadership Council which empowers lgbtq plus high school students and their allies to influence policy Foster inclusive School environments and develop leadership skills that what we focused on at this meeting as well as our main talk which was about mental health friendly spaces in schools also another event i' would like to speak on is the show of gratitude for the BR marching band this took place on Tuesday November 26th where the marching band played its last ever performance of their halftime show their show secret agents Mi 24 featured themes from Mission Impossible and was an extremely fun show to take part in this was very emotional for seniors because this was the part of a half time performance for The Fall season in high school parents came to see and overall it was a very wonderful night to reflect on the very successful fall season in the that the marching B endured the band is now serving as a pet band occasionally at boys and girls basketball games thank you so much for hearing me out and I would like to welcome Rachel Cory to the STA good evening School Comm I will be recapping this year's successful pep rally a tradition of the that has brought the school together on November 27th the high school held a pep rally in a fully decorated gym the class officers of every grade decorated their side of the gym and the senior class ran the event there was an amazing performance by our champion cheer team as well as our step team there was also a basketball competition the classic scavenger hunt and the tug of war Battle where the teachers came out Victorious the whole school was decked out in red attire to represent V in a schoolwide EV soon after on December 7th the NHS and Art Club ran a very successful breakfast with Santa event at the high school where all were welcome this was a holiday uh this event had holiday music food face paint and various craft tables that young children were able to participate in additionally Santa was able to make it to stop by to take some pictures with all the kids it was truly a great way of spreading Christmas spirit and uniting our community I wish you all a very happy holiday unfortunately Sophia couldn't make it tonight so I'm just going to read her blur she wanted to say Mr chairman school committee and superintendent Powers today I'm going to talk about TJ TJ Square's recent dinner auction held on December 6 it was a it was wonderful and fun and a festive time with many enthusiastic participants buying for an item to bring home and with a wide variety of items provided many lucky participants did there were candles candies so far as from the UK technology pieces Galore with even a bike hdden in a corner all waiting to be brought home to be put under someone's was all about the auction items however even if it wasn't all about the auction items even if it might have been everyone's favorite part um there was also a dinner served by our student members as a gesture of our appreciation to all the mentors coaches alumni parents and family for all that they have done for the TJX TJ squ team um they put a lot in tour our team so we wanted to pay them back and all in all this was a very successful night and it helped to get everyone properly into the holiday sphere happy holidays and happy New Year to everyone from me and Sophia and thank you and I hope you have a wonderful night I now welcome even last week the host Health Club started holding a hyg product Drive items such as soap hand saner shoo and tissues are accepted and will be giv community service for donations another event of the session H this Thursday interesting students are encouraged to attend the event learn more about the importance of non CPR recognize location of around and prac lastly the MERS ofst have been dently on holiday cards for individuals and their families in the hospital all cards are donated to Boston Center and a to put oning the holiday new seon thank you for your time and now welcome good evening everyone on Saturday the tree an event created by Miss Kendall school from 8 to Children could shop from a selection of Don Goods in high school cafeteria and have been brought to the cashier to be wrapped or stent helpers helped little kid also managed each station of products brid lies provided hot chocolate for the kids and hot coffee for the parents it was an amazing opportunity for kids to learn about independence and as one of the Cashers a great time to learn about customer service it was a bone free event that required everyone to be totally imers thank you for your time and that I just want to coun for being here every mon um I definitely want you all to have a great holiday um I did want to take a moment to recognize our two senors Mr Daly and Miss Rachel Cory um I know Mr dy's been getting some um College acceptances back he's not ready to commit yet so we're going to hold off on that but I did want to recognize Miss Corey she was accepted and did commit to Har [Applause] so I know they all work so hard and they do so many different things so their early morning week um meetings coming to our late night meetings they have a lot going on so I'm really proud of them and the whole student advisory Council they all do a million different things and are super involved in the school so congratulations to both of you and we'll we'll wait until Mr D's ready to announce but I did want to recognize so congratulations and thank you that concludes my rep all right thank you m and on to the schol Improvement plan uh yes we have Mr bra Mr Mr Clark Mr bra here from the George Mell Elementary and Mr Clark here from the Williams Intermediate School as you know the school Improvement plans are approved by the superintendent but uh for our policy and procedure we share those with the school committee so to start with Mr clar to provide an overview and and we'll move on to Mr good evening members of school committee Mr Po our guests uh the Williams in me School uh School Improvement plan for 2024 2025 is as follows first I'd like to thank the members of my committee Mrs shait uh Miss Lindy Sullivan Mr will McKenzie Miss Kelly Clark M Ashley do and Miss Wendy lasciva uh one of our one of our goals was to kind of match our plan with the district plan under a safe and supportive School pillar um one of the things that we are excited about is we accepted to the Desi PBS academy uh this has been helpful to uh improve our PBS initiatives under curriculum instruction and assessment pillars um we are working with our elll teachers for our language acquisition team meetings uh this is where students L students U Student Success plans are developed for our operation action plan pillar um we are doing monthly well walks with faculty custodians and admin uh here we're looking at for building cleanliness maintenance and monitoring of our building upgrades and for our human capital pillar uh we are looking to increase our community connections focusing on events such as our food drive our senior pen pal project art night at the library working with BR State University with their teacher candidates for our writing buddies and also working with our schooler group Bri good evening chairperson fit giens superintendent powers and members of the school committee the Mitchell School Improvement plan is aligned with the district Student Success plan this plan was developed with the assistance from School Administration staff families and members of the community so I would also like to thank the members of school council who work on creating this plan retired five Chief Michael mcder Community rep Miss Anna maleb parent Mrs Diana Stewart parent Mrs Nikki Littlefield teacher and Mrs Kathleen mcfat staff M teacher as you know the district's Student Success plan which drives the school Improvement plan is built on the four pillars as Mr clus over so under safe and supportive schools the Mitchell is focusing on expanding our school PBIS initiatives this goal will be accomplished by working with our PBIS committee District attender Rose and the entire Mitchell staff under curriculum instruction and assessment we have focused on implementing with Fidelity our new reading program with wisdom we are monitoring curriculum pacing utilizing our Title One Reading Coach to support teachers in conducting weekly grade level meetings along with District PD to assist with implementation we are also using our I ready data in the area of breeding to monitor student growth and progress towards year and theaters under operations we have focused on improving the overall safety of everyone at school by continuing our M team which is 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 rece training from our school nurse as needed these have been very beneficial as we have had to utilize the team several times between last year and the school year and finally under human capital we have focused on developing strategies to make our staff meetings more meaningful and productive for staff we are trying to increase the amount of time staff spends collaborating with one another to plan lessons discuss best practices and analyze student data instead of just a presentation from Administration meetings are more focused on student any questions for mray sorry I'm just looking at both of these I'm seeing that the measurable outcomes for Gs are more observ things being put into practice and done comparing it to the Williams where it's looking more like we monitoring meetings outes would Mr Clark or Mr BR like to address that question SL comment by Mr Mr could you just uh repeat that one more time in comparing the two plans I'm seeing much more uh in terms of the measurable evidence of progress much more observable outcomes at the Mitchell versus the Williams the Williams were looking at a lot of agendas uh we're looking at post data it doesn't look like there's much action being done in the ACT measurable evidence in progress I appreciate that feedback obviously from CH with Mr Bray Mr maybe resit approprate thank you m FL other questions concerns see none um thank you very much I always like to say I get my start on a school council so I appreciate all the work that your committee members do and uh you know it's uh it's very important to us to hear from the very um most Atomic level the school level we hear things in the big District level but to hear every individual school and what they're going through is key so thank you very much we appreciate that and I apologize to everyone I busy day at work and I had to do some holiday stuff and I was running a bit late so um not not excuse just a reason uh I missed it all right so did we do student advisory Council Miss yes okay great so we're going to move back to correspondence and recognition um yeah we just need to St number two number two okay great um Mr lazama I apologize for keeping waiting no okay if you could just introduce yourself and uh whatnot that would be great great good evening everyone school committee Educators community members students um superintendent Powers Keith Lama I'm with LMP Educational Services I've been working with the district for many years now excited to report out on the work that we're doing this year um before I begin to share the great work that's happened in the district I just want to knowled the leadership of the district for recognizing that this work is not a one andone effort it is critical we continue to work and find ways to drive meaningful and Lasting and institutional change over the years you have seen staff and Leadership at every level be engaged with professional learning with the goal of building a culture where every student and familys EMP powered valued and included this evening I will outline the work for the 2425 Academic Year following my remarks I invite you to ask any questions or share your feedback or comments as we prepared for the 2425 Academic Year leadership and I discussed and reflected on the absence of the Dei coordinator role which was instrumental in fostering inclusivity across our schools in the absence of this role we recognized the importance of maintaining the momentum of this critical work as such we created a professional development plan specifically tailored for leadership creating a culture of inclusion and belonging as well as providing our prek through four Educators with professional development additionally we introduce a new initiative led by our Educators your Educators known as the champion for inclusive schools so let me begin with the champions for inclusive schools this initiative was created in response to Educators expressing a desire to take a more active role in the work of Dei the goal of this initiative is to address the unique needs of each school by identifying and implementing promising practices that promote Equity centered leadership establish clear procedures and provide support for teachers ultimately enhancing the educational experience and outcomes for all students at the beginning of the year we sent an email to Educators to gauge their interest in joining this group we were excited and thrilled to receive 26 responses from staff members and leaders who wanted to be part of this work these individuals represent the Middle School bridge and Bridgewater rham high school and serve in a variety of Roads across the district the champions of inclusive schools are passionate and collaborative group of Educators who are deeply deeply committed to this work this work is Guided by The District's Equity statement and reflects our Collective dedication to these values the champions of inclusive schools initiative is co-chaired by yoland De Beach per Joyce Christine Richards with the support of the educational services the focused areas for the champions of inclusive schools are modeling and shaping values how do we embody the values and beliefs and behaviors outlin in the district core values why cultivating a culture that prioritizes inclusivity and positions Equity as a central principle number two schoolwide support and accountability exploring ways Educators and administrators to enhance their practices to support students their staff while developing school-based systems that sustain inclusive practices over the long term and number three districtwide rules of engagement how are we establishing a collective set of principles and standards to guide Educators and administrators to ensure they are creating a sense of belonging and inclusion these initiatives this itive March pivotal shift from going from ideation to execution as equity and inclusion become part of the fa of this community now I'm going to talk about professional development for our leadership this year we are conducting a book study in and in-person professional development for our leadership team facilitated by one of our team members Anthony Colina author of leading with the head in heart a practical guide to elevating the school of today and tomorrow the book emphasizes the importance of balancing the immediate demands of schools with long-term planning creating a sense of belonging and integrating emotional intelligence into decision making to inspire Educators and staff the work engages stakeholders just beyond the schools encouraging leaders to strategic action and building meaningful connections with parents families in the community it challenges this work challenges leaders to critically reflect on their practices with a particular focus on leading with their head and hearts now we talk a little bit about our work of our preing for U our pre for professional development so on um January 8 we begin our work with our preap before Educators focused on equipping them with the tools and strategies to create more inclusive classs the workshops aim to offer practical resources and strategies to help Educators Foster a sense of belonging within the classrooms and school communities these sessions Empower staff with actionable insights and skills to build inclusive environments where every student and educator feels valued and empowered we use case studies and model scenarios educators will simulate classroom situations uh to practice and apply inclusive strategies effectively the work this year is critical to the D ongoing mission to ensure that every educator feels supported and equipped with the skills knowledge and resources to best U serve our students every day I keep saying our students because I feel like I'm part of in closing I want to emphasize that this work is an ongoing Journey um and the district has made significant strides in creating a school community that continues to refine leadership and staff skills necessary for Success so I'm deeply grateful for uh to work with the Educators leaders and community members who are champion this important work so thank you for your time and now I welcome any questions with thank you mrama questions from this side of the table question from so this might be more Super are the train uh so the first training will be on uh January 8th uh will be the early release day um and then we have another one April uh mayil another one so we're basically our roll out plan the last couple years has been we've done it by level um and so what is happening now 3K to 4 happened last year with the high school and middle school folks and they'll roll that out at the elementary level this year because there's been a lot of feedback from the community incidents happening at both schools and both teachers and administration actually to handle it or address it within the school so they're either appealing to parents for their advice or it's just not getting addressed thank you thank you uh further questions comments from Mr Lama Mr Lama I do have a question um could you at a very high level cuz I'm really not that smart Okay uh explain how you approach de uh and and helping Educators help the children at a K2 level versus a you know fifth to eighth grade level versus a high school level because I'm sure it's a very different uh conversation with students in a very different approach and if you could just give us a flavor that appreciate I think most of the work is really getting to the hearts of our Educators right and really tapping into their practice and being able to empower them so they can Empower our students and that looks very different they do two all the way to the high school so when we think about just for example our middle school students we can think about our young ladies um in middle school right what are ways who when the young ladies are interested and passionate about being in science how how we empow now as we look at the data and what the research tells us is that they start to lose that passion for science during the Middle School right so what are ways in which then we are making sure that our classes are inclusive that when they step into the classroom that they are feeling empowered if they're feeling value that we have a curriculum that's responsive so it works very different you know across K through K through 12 um but the main thing is really and this is why we're moving to you know leading with our our sorry our minds and our hearts right and really tapping into the ways that we cultivate that that kids do that great thank you so much anything else from Mr L thank you for coming we certainly appreciate we appreciate all the work you've been doing with the district and we feel like you're a part of the district too so thank you Mr chair if I may I just again want to thank Mr Dr lozama he has been a true partner you told me you were a doctor sir he has been a true partner to us uh he's been very instrumental in in our rooll out uh even before we had the uh Dei position we decided to engage with Dr LZ and his partner um and we've just continued that relationship every year he's been a great sounding board for myself our district administrators building administrators and and certainly not holding that to our staff so I just wanted to publicly thank him for for all his efforts and commitment he really is part of the district and so I'm not surprised to hear him say our students thank you all right moving on to meet our interim special ed director James Leonard Mr Leonard the floor is yours thank you for coming thank you thank you very much for having me so um you know I think the best way to kind introduce myself is to Prov a little bit about my background um I've been in education for 25 years in various capacities started as a building sub at Walter Middle School in manfeld um and then worked my way through teacher Phil for 12 years on to a team chair and then on to Administration in Manfield I had the honor of working in my own Hometown working in the same Community when my children attended school so my last 10 years there was an assistant director and then the last six is the director found special Administration to be very enriching um I I feel very much in home working with our students with disabilities and those staff members and service providers um helping those students so um I think the Cornerstone what my commitment to um special education has really been through U you know building building confidence through compliance and also empowering our staff and building capacity so it's you know kind of a servant to our families our students and our staff so I'm very happy to be here in Bridgewater had a very short retirement I retired in August um and so I came back from some World Travel and and found myself back here um it's very interesting I've been in the district for 14 days to be honest with you it seems like it's been so much longer in the best of ways been welcom by every building I've started the staff meetings met with high school staff today um and moving around the district to meet with each building based staff you know some of the targeted areas I'm working with is kind of identifying um how we look compliance wise making sure we need timelines we owe that to our families and so we're going to work through that start working with our families as you probably as you probably know there's a new IP form that was issued by Des we're working through that to make sure that our staff become more familiar with crafting those PS I have to say the ones I've been reviewing they look really good it's kind of it's It's intuitive form um but it's going to it's going to take some time to kind of go to speed so I I meeting with prev CAC executive on January 7th forward to meeting I'm hearing your concerns and then working collaboratively to try to some concerns may exist all right uh questions comments for Mr Leonard starting on this this um I I I did have a chance to meet with Mr Leonard um a week or so ago for about half an hour and um just to give him the label and in my opinion very open gentleman I will say full disclosure I have a friend who's on the school committee in Mansfield so Mr Leonard comes highly recommended from my friend in Mansfield so we're we're happy to have you here the thing that's most important to me that I heard again tonight that I heard last week was confidence through compliance we need to make sure we're following the laws and and the other thing I think I can speak for the school committee every can shout me down if I'm wrong is we need to know what we don't know and we need to know what it's going to take to make us compliant to make us into a district where we can be confident in the special ed services we're delivering to all our children or perhaps in plac in the M of District when it comes to that and to create a culture of collaboration amongst um the special education department uh teachers parents Etc the whole Community to make sure we're always focused on what's the best interest of the child and and I got that feeling from you so if You' just like to elaborate on any of that I went on moment no so commitment to superintendent Powers was to kind of conduct a two-prong approach during my 10 here right one is to really look at the capacity assessment and also needs assessment and then when you when combine those two elements um it gives you a much clearer picture of proper level of Staff compliance certification levels of teachers um appropriate model of uh of providing special education services um looking at our percentages of students in versus Po inclusion partial inclusion versus substantially separate placements and then making sure that wide range of of programmatic supports will allow us to keep our our children in our district where they really are are they're entitled to that that education be part of their own School Community but you have to have the right programmatics to support their needs so that's part of my commitment to Mr Po to kind of make sure that I give him a really picture of where we stand thank you any further questions m not a question um I will just say I appreciate your comments and kind of where you're focusing or even in the two weeks you've been here what you've already picked up on um and so I just want to say I appreciate those um you know your ability to have conversations with our staff um and moving forward with our families around um you know some of the challenges that we' faced which I'm assum again and I to Mr um it's given familiar with folks in Manfield and we' very highly recommended so um I'm appreci your work here and your support to the district anything else from Mr Leonard Mr chair I may again just want to thank uh Mr Leonard for joining us for being willing to come out of re time and uh it has been 14 days it does feel like longer but in such a great way the amount of uh areas that he's been able to identify and the progress that he's already been taking uh in those 14 days is is certainly been very impressive and so we're we're excited what the rest of the year brings and uh look forward to continue work with this thank you very much Mr L thank you for coming in and you don't know how hard it was not to make a reference to the jerk when you guys were talking about it was only two weeks but it seems like longer look it up if you don't know um all right so we're back on the on schedule administrative and school committee reports um Mr power [Music] superintend thank you Mr chair members of the school committee members of the uh administrative team and for those listening at home our community members uh good evening I just wanted to provide a few quick updates uh for you as you know uh last week we had some electrical challenges at the Rainham middle school so I just wanted to be able to provide a little bit more information um on those challenges that I informed you about last Tuesday there was a power outage in the area of rham Middle School uh when power was and actually Mr Chaka Mrs Barry and I were actually there for the power outage when we heard the school was running on generated power we gone over there um while we were there tmlp had arrived on on scene in the area to restore power to the area uh as they started to do that uh they were only able to return uh two of the three phases learning new things as I go three pH three power phases that come into that building they were a only able to restore two of the three phases which uh still required the generator to be engaged um at that time because between the two phases of the generator there was certainly a large amount of power coming into that building and it did cause some of our fixtures to uh really Surge and begin to smoke so we had what we thought so the fire alarm went off uh we discovered that in one of the fifth grade hallways on the first floor we did have a pretty good smoke condition coming from one of the light fixtures from one of the ballasts uh obviously the fire department was notified by the alarm activation uh and because they were already on uh in the area for a previous uh incident they actually uh deputy chief Johnson responded right away uh he was able to call for additional uh resources at the same time uh we began a sweep of the building obviously our students were uh being evacuated uh but it was then discovered up in the eth grade on the other side of the building that we had a very similar situation up there producing a large amount of smoke and then uh in the back hallway of the building Mr chalk and his team discovered that there were some light pictures that had blown there as well they hadn't really started to smoke like the other two uh once it was determined uh kind of what the initial cause was poers the two phases were shut down uh those fixures ended up stopping to smoke fire department was able to vent the building as fast as possible we did bring the students into gym into the cafeteria I was Pro probably about quarter of 11 at this point um once we kind of knew what the plan was uh the problem was the U odor left by that you know burning material up in the lights was so strong and pungent uh because it was in multiple areas of the building I didn't really feel comfortable putting students or staff back into those areas so my first thought was do we relocate our students to a different area uh we had reached out to U you know the L Liberty in in Merill kind of put them on notice we may be moving students there and we also called uh luini bus uh right away as well just to say you know we may have to move students we have students outside can and Mr lucini is's great he sent us buses and vans right away so if we had to have students stay on the buses to stay warm uh we could uh but at that point uh really we were going to bust the students to La Liberty and Merill to sit in the cafeteria in the gym there um so I go through that exercise so I made the decision to just go ahead and have an early uh dismissal I did have some uh reservations about putting our middle school students on a bus uh going home just because I you know uh Although our policy doesn't require someone to be there at the bus stop I'm also mindful that you know putting a fifth grader uh Home Alone U maybe unexpectedly you know could cause some angs and stress and same thing for six seven and eight so I did make the decision to just make it a parent pickup um so we uh ended up you know dismissing over 700 students uh Mr shet had uh put a an EMA and and had recorded a call uh we discovered from some feedback that unfortunately the call didn't process so we did send a a follow-up phone call out um it was one of those that we didn't really notice just because of the sheer volume of parents that were there we figured so many had received that call and email but then thankfully uh we got that feedback that that didn't go out uh I think by the time we um finished dismissal we had about 25 students left I think it was about 25 Mr Barry um that just couldn't be picked up we made contact with the parents parents just couldn't be there so they did ask us to put the students on the bus at the end of the day so we planned at that time to run a normal dismissal uh parent pickup buses uh but again at that time we only had I think one student that was LE parent pickup and the rest were buses and so Mr lucini had arranged for those buses to still show up and we went through dismissal as as normal and then you know that particular day again we always you know take feedback um I think our big thing um you know we really worked communication uh that presented some challenges because we were outside uh we're used to maybe having things going on in the building where we can get to a computer and send out a quick call or email because there was obviously a smoke condition and we were evacuated from the building we really were kind of um un you know unexpectedly facing that challenge uh We've obviously uh put some measures in place um so now we have everybody has an app on their phone that we can use School Messenger to communicate through an app if we're not able to get back into the building uh so you know we're was trying to to take feedback and learn uh and I know Mr chaker and his team were on site that day uh Miss Richards and Miss Joyce came over to join us and many other uh staff members from ours pit did so as um as always there's areas to learn and grow I do have to say uh you know very proud of how the students and staff responded we thought that uh the issue had been resolved uh however as I notified you uh on Friday morning right before arrival the fire line was activated again um and they did discover in one of in in the back hallway behind the gym that uh there was a smoke condition in there as well uh we initially thought it was probably going to be just where the smoke was coming from um another light ballast um electrician was um I actually think he was either close or had already been there because he was he was there quite quickly as was our hbac Tech and some of our other staff uh Mr chaker Mr Barry and I went uh went over as well and met with uh the fire department um they because it was isolated to one classroom kind of in a back hallway you really open school as usual uh the smell was not as strong as it was the last time and because there was exterior windows were able to vent the fire department did a great job of venting the building right away there was still some lingering smell but more in that classroom it certainly hadn't spread throughout the building so that's what you know the difference in terms of our response uh you know they didn't uh you know deem any concern danger uh as upon further uh investigation it seems as though that there was a motor in the ceiling above the light fixures part of the heating system that one of the belts burned out in that motor and so that's what actually was causing uh the smoke in talking with the electrician talking with the fire department uh fire chief LCI CA uh there certainly is a possibility that those two events were related uh that uh the power surge on Tuesday could have taxed that motor um already and then you know just by the end of the week um had just you know get the and wasn't able to continue to run um or it really could have just coincidence uh we certainly have had that happen I'm sure you know in other businesses areas homes um you know like pictures do burn out on occasion motors do burn out so we weren't really 100% able to determine whether or not it was a coincidence or uh it was related um certainly our electrician remained on site as he did that first day he went through as much of the systems as possible checking on the circuit breakers uh to make sure that there weren't any other areas ever tripped or any other um you know faulty areas and obviously had gone through the building and you know we're closely monitoring that situation thankfully we have not had any additional problems uh so we're hoping that uh that has resolved itself but happy to answer any you know followup questions in regards to to R in middle school but again thank the the staff and the police and fire that responded both times so quickly um and you know they were the that Tuesday uh the first incident they were stretched pretty thin across town um so U you know we had several five fires once they were able to clear other events on scene which was great but um they were they were there as were police uh we had you know the police chief the fire chief helping out U and and the best part about our partnership with them even once they were cleared they really could have left they said how can we stay and help with dismissal um you know could we uh help uh you know sign kids out and they did they stayed on scene the whole time uh so it was really it was great I I appreciate all their efforts of Chie questions on RMS for the superintendent Mr D Mr P where the school I think middle school if I remember correct opened in 2001 so it's approximately 23 years old this is the third incident with the school the first being uh the clog and leak that caused us to spend money to which I do know now have to change the bleachers there because it's floor and the these inces is it uh probably time to do kind of a complete audit of the school to see what needs to be replaced so we don't have similar incidents and not where the budget's getting Tighter and Tighter having to keep on those back and spending money to I mean given you know wear and ha take care of some things that can be avoided from a biger is plac in the FL electrical fires right I so I I I think to to that point certainly I think a lot of those um issues that you're I think you're you're speaking about that you know would show up when we do preventive batement um when you know we either through our own vacance team or bringing in our outside vendors to go through our HC systems and so forth um we have done some work over there the last few years uh up uh updating the boilers uh the hot water system I think uh you know school committee knows about that we had a temporary hot water system over there we're replacing they done some AC work so those types of things uh have been ongoing and I think obviously to your point 23 years old it's it's uh probably time um I think overall you know other than say last week what stood out that gym FL obviously uh really flood related there was a drain issue Mr Chaka has a a pretty solid plan in place we haven't again had any issues since he put that place I do think there's probably some additional site work we could do there to to maybe prevent further further issues I think that um electrical issue last week U just given kind of the the freak situation of what happened in the area there was a electrical issue with the town of rhand was putting a new pump station in actually behind the school it was actually that's where the electrical issue actually started and it knocked out power to the school and obviously the surrounding areas um but you know we can certainly make any big things coming up as our maintenance team is going through that building or outside vendors and see if there's anything that maybe we're missing uh that we haven't already put on the capital plan but you're right I think um you know you know as a whole member myself now of house that still fairly young um 11 years I feel like I'm replacing things all the time now so I can appreciate uh on a much larger scale as a school district how much more expensive those things are and need like there used to be my parents had one refrigerator time I was growing up well I did appreciate that being as proactive as we can other questions from um yeah I have on the communication issue I know I was a parent that was part of it are involved and um and a student there you know think it was a good learning opportunity of like calls didn't go out but emails did and that's great to hear that you all res figure out resolve is that District wide and my question is it districtwide and not just at RMS because it's again can happen across schools yes so we had um Mr Shan and M Cohan U as part of our kind of after action uh debrief U make sure that we are set up so that all of our principles working on our assistant principles District administrators all have the app um Miss Cohan walked through in terms of how to subscribe to all of our different distribution lists um Mr Shan is working to make sure because the other issue once the power out we also didn't have any internet um and so we did have Genera power but no Wi-fi U but Mr shant has in the past and he's I know we have some new administrators that have joined us since uh rolling out making sure that everybody has a Hotpot to be able to utilize as well uh but we should be set up and ready to go go anything else on that anything further Mr H uh yes just uh two other quick items uh Mr chair um the district team and I as well as Miss Watson and her team attended a desie conference call this afternoon to discuss mcast um as you know the competency determination is no longer tied to mcast the mcast assessment will still be given uh but what districts now will have to determine uh on their own is what that compens determination will be for our high school students so there's really two things that we'll need to identify uh over the next month or so uh and you know we certainly will bring it forward to you is how are we going to determine uh students meeting their competency determination and then how are we going to obviously review our graduation requirements obviously if there you know what desie shared today is if they're meeting the graduation requirements by default uh they should in some cases be meeting their compens determination in not all cases that that may be happening uh so we want to make sure that we're identifying both Pathways for our students to be able to um still meet that compet competency determination and also the graduation requirements it's not required but recommended that we uh you know bring that forward possibly through policy uh and make it policy of the school committee uh going forward you know I hate to say in typical Desy fashion but you know more information to come uh they did give us a lot of information today certainly enough that we can start uh putting pen to paper and and we have a meeting schedule for when we return from the break with Miss Watson and her team and central office team to start crafting what that will look like answer questions what would an example be where their graduation requirement wouldn't be good enough I guess so what they're they're saying the comp competency determination um there it's not tied to mcass anymore but what was assessed on mcass is what they're saying your student should at a minimum be meeting so for example on uh the math mcast back in 2023 they were basically assessing Algebra 1 and geometry skills so what they're saying is that at a minimum your students have to demonstrate that they've mastered um or you know met the compy determinations in Algebra 1 and in Geometry we could have us well you know not necessarily us because our our path is algebra 1 geometry Algebra 2 they use that example today that some high schools may require you to take four years of math but they don't necessarily say you have to take algebra one GE and so forth so it could be a case of um you maybe took algebra one but never took geometry so you really haven't Master those skills that are related back to the 2023 mcast um same thing in science uh they use the example right now uh 2023 science mcast is biology physics and Tech and Engineering they said you could um maybe have a local requirement where you take um you know life science um and geology those skills AR transferable to what was assessed on the 2023 mcast and so they would be really different you may have a local graduation requirement that says you can take life science and geology but you don't have anything that says you have to you be exposed to biology physics Tech engineering and so if they're not engaged in those type of course work um or skills then they haven't met their compens and determination now would they just be a requirement rather than elective or something like would we make those a reir I think for us I could be oversimplifying it when I think of our path I think what we have laid out right now for I think it'll certainly tie into what the compeny determination will be I think we have to be thoughtful of um if there are any other students that maying their path doesn't take that traditional um course where it goes algebra one geometry Algebra 2 um and how do we maybe uh you know adjust things for that so I just have a follow up to that Mr Po so a student um passes let's let's say they get to see in algebra one in geometry in from a bridgew ram high school math class uh however um their high stakes testing of mcast they cons continuously fall one or two point short so they wouldn't have qualified as competent yet our Educators see them as a c Lev student passing the course is the idea that that would be good enough regardless of what your score is on an m so going forward yes that that will really be up to us um they're saying essentially that um we should try to align it so that students were meeting expectations prior on mcast and that's what their competency determination would be we should try to align our new requirements to what those meeting expectations would be um it's going to be somewhat difficult because we you know not giving an assessment like that uh but obviously I think we can look at our course work and set either and again I'm just using examples not saying we're definitely going to do this but look at a minimum GPA or a minimum um you know grade in those courses uh because if you know to your point I think if we were to say oh you go to D um is that really showing that you're meeting the grade level expectations and May doesn't you we'll have to kind of determine that as as we work through that okay thank you go this Miss have a lot of questions um they're not going to be resolved tonight ask as many as a they're not going to be resolved because even I Know M speci math um you know student right now could get a d not pass M or I say MC is four different kind of levels i' say I don't or ratings um and you whatever the plan is you have to just take four years math um and so will we I'm assuming this will go Mrs Watson or yourself or will write up some kind of policy or recommendation that it would go to policy and I don't want to say allow for exceptions but like there are alternative paths for kids and that's really the term they kept using today is that we have to think of the pathway for our students laid out in a policy not just one because there's alternative pass now for incast category like sport um so that would be laid out and we would have to lay all of that out and even whether because I also question exposure and taking a class versus passing a class is also two different things exactly and and I think that's what we have to try to really as much as we can flush out I I do know uh desie did urge us today to really and so this may be something that we have to come back and refine really looking at those students in the class of 2025 who haven't their mcast yet they won't have the opportunity to take it again to get their compy competency determination so we really have to have something in place some type of certification procedure uh going forward the spring so that those students can actually graduate from high school so what we put in place for the class of 2025 uh may eventually look different for future classes only because you know we may find that oh we have to make some Provisions to this we're really thinking about the small group of students we have in front of us now now what does this maybe mean going down you know going forward so I I think what we we're going to try to bring a comprehensive plan for you that covers everybody in the future but it may be a case of option A is let's just focus on 2025 and then we may have to make some changes yeah from yeah an incremental plan right because we have no policy now I look just a second ago we have no policy but our handbook our student handbook you know all it says is four years of ma doesn't say like what level of math or it doesn't get to that deep inent need something and maybe it's incremental the time you had a lot of questions well I think some of it's wait and see make sure yeah on my head but um but I just think it's wait and see what that policy or what is recommended um from the district office and from Mrs Watson of what that would look like and I think hearing that it's incal I'm assuming a lot of districts are trying to work on this yes and and Jesse did share that you may or may not put out a a model plan for districts to use um I think they're really looking at you know the new law uh the the updating statute of the law really put youone his back on the districts and I don't I don't want to say desie is kind of wiping their hands clean of this but I think their response is well this is what the law says it goes back on you you know kind of figured out um so but they are giving guidance to to move forward my other question is because many other states have competency like they have these core requirements already is mass looking at any of this employing any kind of thing and I don't know if they've had that chance or like from other states that have some of the core competencies already other examples so the only thing they put out thus far is like a legal legal brief on you know the election results and what may come forward they haven't necessarily given us examples of anything else last the last item yes and I know Mrs King will touch upon this so I I will do my best not to steal her Thunder uh but we did uh and I know some of you attended as well uh we met with Town officials at the beginning of December to review our our current fiscal uh situation in our future fiscal situation uh so we did have three members from the town of rham uh Mr Barnes the Town Administrator Mr Lavalette the finance director and this is Pat Riley from the select board and for bridge of water we had acting uh Town manager of Life Robinson and L Mr L GRE who is the their Finance director um at this meeting as I know I've shared with you uh members of the school committee in the public I drafted a letter and sent that to the town just kind of outlining some of the challenges that we're currently facing due to a reduction in staff as you know we're down 24 positions last year um and you know what the challenges that those 24 positions are not having those 24 positions are presenting um and really the need to bring those back with some additional positions and these aren't uh as I outlined in the letter and I've shared with you in the past uh these aren't you know uh positions that would you know just be nice to have these are positions that we need uh when we look at you know in Al toll I think to offer a minimum level of service that as Mr Leonard talked about is is meeting compliance uh and meeting regulations and providing opportunities for our kids you know we're looking at not just those 24 uh but really almost 60 positions and I I do think that would get us to a place where we are offering a quality education and that's not to say that we're not now I think our educators are working as hard as they possibly can um and you know they're they're up for the challenge they're up for the challenge of high class size and what that means and the impacts that have um not just on them but also the other students in the class but we want to try to be able to provide additional support for them so that we don't have Educators uh you know special Educators with case loads of 30 or we don't have class size of 30 uh we really want to try to be able to provide lower numbers for our students our staff our community members and so you know when we look at U that number of of almost 60 and I I know that's you know a significant number and obviously the price tag that corresponds with that um you know that's not everything that we we've talked about in the you I know we' talked about Middle School electives you know that those 60 positions don't include that um you know the these 60 at a minimum and obviously when as you get my preliminary budget in January you know we'll certainly be talking about these additional positions but that that those 60 positions I think critical we've really tried to operate with doing more or less and we're at that critical point where I just don't think we can do that anymore so really advocating to the towns uh here's what we're you know potentially coming for how they choose to fund our budgets is really up to them but you know not really um acessing to the you can't beat that number it really is this is the number you have you have to it so we'll we'll see how that uh that goes during the budget season but um just want to a quick update on that and I'm going to just ask we hold comments until M King's report because you you have budget discussion on it we can have the whole discussion thenone okay with that so thank you Mr P uh speaking of leip budget sub commmittee report Mr C thank you Mr um on Tuesday December 10th 2024 the budget subcommittee met at 5:30 and the superintendence conference room in attendance were MRG Mrs Martelli Mrs dport superintendent pow assistant superintendent Mary Mrs babalola Director of Business Services Miss R show District treasur dor of HR Mrs mcdou recording secretary and myself um first on the agenda we had a discussion of the uh fiscal year 2025 budget update Miss babalola gave an update on the fiscal year 2025 budget from November 1st through November 30th the budget is currently Frozen as it has been since October 1 and there has not been any significant change highlights included during that discussion the budget is 99% incom Point um we are monitoring and watching the following lines as we normally do page four of that report is the sub line specifically the teacher class coverage line um so we are we do have enough in the total subline but that teacher class coverage line is high at this point so that will be need to monitor um page eight which is transportation um as always we monitor Transportation um as new students move into thect and that increases Transportation um page n utilities as we know we did start our new utility contract as OFA was that November when that began right um so those did we did factor in that new contract pricing but we will watch that and see how the winter goes um and how those lines look um page 12 which is special education and out of District tuition again we do have funds and those funds will get reclassified at the end of this quarter um but we do always watch that out of District tuition as new students which may need which may need those Services um go into that line um as of next month Miss Bola will be giving her quarterly report for the January meeting um this year's budget right now looks stable and on track with spending Mr Powers also discussed several special education positions that are needed in this budget due to increases in students and Cas specifically at the high school and at Williams I know we've mentioned a couple of times special education and Mr Leonard um and his commitment to compliance so that was necessary as we are specifically out of out of compliance at the high school in right now um so we did have a discussion on those positions that are needed um Second and most importantly we did have a lengthy discussion year 2026 budget preparation um Mr pow gave an update on where he was in the fisc year 2026 process he's been meeting with all of his admin teams and to together their budget requests he's also been meeting with the towns um as we stated Mr C hosted a joint budget meeting with representatives for both towns and Mr fitg Mrs DAV and I were also there on December 3D during that meeting Mr Powers and members of the budget explain the dire Financial forecast of the district particularly as we are down those 24 positions from last year and with the new student grow that we have already had this year already an additional almost 200 students since the beginning of this school year um upcoming budget sub on January 21st Mr Powers will be presenting his preliminary budget before the January school committee meeting um we're also in the process ofing Town Council school committee meeting with Bridgewater which is part of their Charter which will be either at the end of January on January 21st or February 4th and that has not been set yet um a particular concern during this budget prep conversation was special education and the increase in the amount of students we have and the lack of compliance we're having which we do not want to be out of compliance with the state nor do we want to be out of compliance with um and not giving that huge percentage of students the services that they require and they need and the amount of support they need as well as the staff um and as always we talked about class size which is has been a conversation that staff has been bringing to us especially the unions and parents um and teachers so those were all a discussion um and where we're going to be at in January when we get Mr power's budget and how the towns are going to funding so I'll pause pause thank you discussion question or discussion on either fy2 budget where we are or FY 26 when we look when night govern this St Court Mr I know you mentioned during our budg meeting that you a list parents or you know contact that we can go theate or town yes correct yes in the process of doing that now um some of the newly elected officials um because they haven't taken office yet there uh State contact information is are questions or discussions on FY 26 budget uh Mr J I just you know Mr P thank you for send the letter I mean I've been saying this for two years now and I know that you mran you know when he was chair of budget subcommittee had made a promise that we weren't going to accept no for an answer next time well we got to stay within the BS um you know this is our community this is going out and probably regret saying this but I feel for the students it's the best thing to say to our elected officials in each town no one likes a tax increase but this is how we get the for our students looking at Mr P's letter we're the lowest spending in our little cohort right everybody says it's great towns to live in what's one thing that people look at when they decide to move into a town is the school district so I hope that the elected officials in each Town realize this and if it continues that we are forced to spend minimum dollarars and not meet requ with special education have elected uh elected electives sorry uh for our students to better situate themselves when they go out in the real world those town the towns are going to be dead no one's going to want to move here the property values are going to apply so I would stress to both communities to let their elected officials know this look into it it's out there on the internet about it all the time you go to Zilla one of the things that talk about in the school districts it's necessary I know there there's been a big push in Rainham about shooting down proposition two and a half uh overrides but we're R Crossroads and I I strongly suggest that the public look into this and talk to the people because I will tell you I'm disgusted every year forcing our teachers to do more with extremely less thank you Mr Deo anything else Mr anything further on the budget I me I to that I mean last year we only received a 2% increase from bridgew and less than that um we can't support that again this year that barely covers our contracts our contract all of our contractual obligations that's why we had to cut and not fill positions we can't support that for another year without cutting even more positions and we're really Bare Bones and even less than that right now we create a budget and we bring it to the towns we don't fund ourselves our funding comes from the state which they also have not been funding us enough as well as the towns and yes we're a department but we are the largest department and like Mr deeno said when people come to our town that's what they want to know what is your school district like how are you building your students up for Success when they leave your school district we're not providing that success we're not providing all of the services um we can't survive another year of just barely 2% and and not expect to be even worse next year M conr Mr I would just like to add to that is you know something to consider too in our budget that we we need to consider we need to think about is we are in the middle of negotiations with our teachers right now last year our teachers took a 0% increase um because of the budg concerns um and thank you to them but they are working harder with less and that is going to be an impact as we negotiate with our teachers right now on our budget in addition so there is no way that we can sustain all we need plus a teacher a new teacher contract with what we had last year it is not possible anything further I want to be very clear that's why I move the microphone closer to me so people can hear me without a doubt and looking right into the microphone fy2 fy2 was built on a $2 million uh donation from our Surplus money from the prior budget FY 25 is not going to generate a $2 million surplus from this this C budget as you heard we're going to need to add a couple of Staff members uh we had a very unexpected um difference between our earned interest and our expected interest uh last year um and we've consistently done this and um it it's it's going to be about time to pay the piper on that one unfortunately um that said 24 positions lost last year if we fund the same level of uh funding from the town same type of increase with a similar type of increase that we're getting from the state it's going to be another 24 positions lost and that was with a 0% coming from the teachers union the largest Union we have it's unfair to ask somebody to go two years in a row on a zero in my opinion we have to get creative as towns as communities to fund this District the way it needs to be funded period end of story that is my plead both towns of Bridgewater and rham thank you moving on um Miss King substitute secretary thank you um another issue that Mr Po brought up um is the secretary um we're having a very difficult time also when secretaries are out to attract people toover position as we know each school only has maybe one to two secretaries it's not a position we can leave open um right now I believe the secretary rate for a substitute is $15 per hour um M if that's incorrect um she's having a very difficult time filling that go um at a low rate um an idea that Mr Powers and his healing have brought to us is to have retired V SD secretaries to fill those positions it's a very small pool of people to pull from um but it would be someone that they could go to um however at the low rate they are not able to attract those people um so they did offer that as we have done with a few of the other um positions such as retired custodians um to attract those retired people that they would not have to train or oversee um and still be able to fill those job positions that are needed um is to raise that retired rate for secretaries to the step one of the CBA um we did speak to miss Bola would we be able to support that and would it make any much of a financial impact and it will not there's not that many positions or it's a very small bargaining unit and a very small amount of people that we need to fill those positions um but it's not a position that we can really open in that so with their recommendation um we I would like to make a motion to increase the substitute secretary rate for Bridgewater rham Regional School District retired secretaries to align with step one of the secretarial Collective second second by Mr de Marina discussion this Mr de Marino any other discussion see none all those in favor I opposed it's unanimous thank you um we did also approve the budget minutes of November 19th 2024 which were approved um under other Mr cowers did note that the Mars and NC have indicated that the governor's projected budget for next fiscal year of 2026 is expected to be released January 22nd so we might have more accurate accurate fiscal year 2026 budget numbers after that time um we did move because of our lengthy 2026 budget discussion we did move Sports fees and parking fees to the January meeting agenda for Budget um I also have a meeting with Mr Powers and Miss babalola in January I believe the 14th to discuss um Bas Financial reports so all of those reports and recommendations regarding the base program will also be on the January meeting as well um and that concludes my report's any question M I would just say Mrs King and to M Mr par is um this this base issue needs be resolved we cannot keep going forward with base and losing the amount of money it's been kind of kicked to the can for at least a year now if not more um so I think we need to try to resolve it sooner and later given some of the budget concerns that we have no I agree um that's why I am going to meet with them and go over the specific program and come to budget with recommendations so we can hopefully get all of that brought to the and make some sort of decision on WE and even yes because also summer's coming up and what are those rates and what's that going to look like and how do we sustain these programs if we sustain them or someone else does that's thank you m anything else on the budget um all right um and just to emphasize what Miss King said um we do have new business to move our January meeting to the 29th so that we can um react to the governor's budget as it comes out on the 22nd so that's why that's on there so folks understand all right moving on um music boosters leaon update with stort all right so earlier this month I was able to attend the music boosters meeting the parents who are part of this group are truly passionate about music offerings for the students and the accessibility to it within our school district they organize numerous fundraising events throughout the year to help support their scholarship fund where they annually give out scholarships for graduating seniors who are part of the program this past weekend they had held their annual cookie GS event where they brought their music and cookies to spread holiday chair around their community and it was great success also this year so far they have had other events including however not a trunk or treat in various Raffles this cheerful time of year is Al is also a busy time of year for them on top of the cookie gram last weekend earlier this month the marching band took took part in a Christmas parade as well the Winter concert with the bands and chus is also on the horizon senba Southeastern Massachusetts school band Masters Association will have their auditions for Bandon chus at the beginning of February last year 44 of our students auditioned in for accepted let's hope for another great showing this year also at the meeting we spoke about the needs of the music department and they were wondering what to expect with the budget similar to what Mr power shared in the December 6 version of The Buzz I also share that this year's budget is going to be a challenge Sim similar to last year's their hope is that music will make it not only on the initial budget but the final one as well I share their concerns and I believe many other parents do as well however everyone the challenges we do have with the budget um I think music is a much needed class not only in our lower grades but we should also hope for the ability to offer a variety and more in-depth options as student students progress the school system as a followup to the meeting I emailed them to advise them that the initial budget presentation will be done at the January school committee meeting and I'm looking forward to attending additional meetings in 2025 question rep music boosters are one of the most passionate clubs uh of of parents that you're ever going to meet that's great they weren so hard on it all right moving on uh Safety and Security report Mr lo you want to bring the mic up so folks home can hear you this is important to the I assume the Safety and Security subcommittee met on December 6 in central office conference room updat provided the first few rounds of fire DRS have occurred and bu DRS are on all Sites done one table top exercise with Alice uh the major discussion of the meeting was in regards to Alice drills and student participation in response through email uh the consensus was that students should participate however drills should be done in an age appropriate manner differ differents there's also discussion around alarms EMS considerations also regularly next meeting of Safety and Security meeting is for thank you Mr L questions obviously we can't get into any particular details on these but general questions for Mr L okay thank you Mr L for the update uh new business um much else you want to just to the side can't see uh approval of pay Ro Wars dated November 28 uh 2024 and December 3rd 2024 is there motion uh made by Mrs K second by Mr damarino discussion Mr King Mr de Marino any other discussion seeing none all those in favor say I hi it's unanimous thank you um m melli is welcome back now um vote to move uh the January let's take these as one motion if we can uh vote to move uh the January meeting uh to the 29th of January at uh in this venue um the reason for that being as you just heard the governor's budget is expected to come out on the 22nd which is when we're scheduled to meet so um I think it's prudent for the superintendent to have a week or so to react to it and then obviously it's one of the bigger meetings of the Year people want to see the presentation of the budget where we are and we always invite Town officials and I know the music boosters will be there and I know all of the other interested parents will be there so got a much bigger venue here that said is there a motion to change the date and venue of the meeting made by Mrs Martelli second by Mrs dport I thought I heard you say something it sorry um all right um m any discussion M St any discussion any other discussion I will just say just to put on the record it is I understand the moving of the meeting um I have a prayer commitment I out of town and I cannot be okay thank you for letting us know and we know it's a it's a fun prior commitment um all right any other discussion seeing none alls in favor I opposed it's unanimous thank you uh moving on to public comment do we have anyone from the public here to [Music] comment Mr con just name name and identify yourself for the record please Paul conar president of the Bridgewater R Education Association thank let's make a few comments based on the things said at today's meeting regarding special education and compliance want to restate the position compliance is on the district not individual members uh regarding the funding of the schools I implore the Two Towns to fund the schools adequately when I started here 31 years ago we were not at the bottom of the list for dollars per student now we nearly are I'd like to thank the school committee for their efforts to get good funding for the school on behalf of the music boers there's a concert tomorrow night at the high school at 7 thank you very much and my CL on attention all right any other public comment uh seeing none I do have um you know what I'm going to open this up to the entire committee to wish everyone a happy holiday season so stop with Mr D uh Mr demarino on the said my voice went high now after all those years now uh just wishing everybody happy holiday season I know for a lot of individuals uh this is a tough time um just to kind of go out there you know if you're struggling reach out um you know my background you know being a lawyer doing criminal defense you hear a lot of stories about what people do around this time reach out this people there programs um you're not alone but to my uh committee members Mary Mary jooin the time with your families see you back here in the New Year Mr Mel thanks um yeah I would Echo that and um yeah please reach out to anybody that is in and um I was a um recipient of a cookie Grim um last weekend during a gra we make a date and it was awesome three three gentlemen came and it it was really good it was fun and I applaud them because it was freezing cold that day um and I just want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas miss yeah really to the community Administration um school committee members merry Christmas happy holidays Happy New Year and excited for 2025 that's good I just want to say happy holidays to everyone and to the committee and hope everyone break and a nice little reset which I know everyone is stressed out with work and activities and everything going so hope it's Ace reset rest I want to wish everyone a happy holidays especially educators are able to take this time tocharge and come back everybody else and yes everybody can reset our students our teachers come back ready to go thank you and uh happy holidays to everybody out there to um build on what Mr dearo said there are great um programs in both towns if you need any help um somebody knows someone who can help you and uh that's very important because no child should not have a happy holiday season I guess I'll close with that uh motion to adjourn made by Mr Deo second by m marelli all those in favor oppos