We are live streaming on our YouTube channel and the recording will be available on the YouTube channel following the meeting. Um and again thank you for your patience. Um we just returned from our budget workshop for letting me audit this. Please rise and join us
to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I would also like to have a moment of silence for Marie Hunt, a Rainham mother
of three Bridgewater Ringham students who tragically passed away on August 8th, 2021. Our thought prayers are with her and her family and her children and friends. Thank you. I would like to introduce our school
committee members and have been in attendance this evening for a regular school committee meeting. On my left I have Mr. Gibbons, Miss Hoy Thomas, Mr. Guth, superintendent to On my right, I have Mrs. Connto,
Vice Chair Lo, and myself Rachel Kings chair. We also have in attendance assistant superintending secretary and other members of the island team in attendance. First on our agenda, we have the fiscal
year 2024 audit. Each year, the school committee tries to have two professional development workshops and generally in the fall, we have a budget related one. This evening, prior to the school committee meeting, we opted to use this workshop to review the fiscal year 2024
audit, which we just received. We invited Renee Davis, the managing director at CBI CPA CPA PC to attend the work the audit process, highlight anything specific she want the committee to note and answer questions school committee
members have had regarding the audit. I would like to invite Miss to the microphone. Thank you. Thank you for being here this evening. I appreciate it. Thanks. So, we did just meet for an hour to go over a presentation related to the
24 audit and the results of that audit. What an audit does, we as independent auditors are hired by the school to come in and review and give an opinion on your financial statements. For an auditor, always sort of looking in the
looking in the back. We were going through the results of the fiscal year 2024 audit very soon to start the fiscal year 2025 audit. What we do as auditors is we look at your financial statements and test the amounts and the disclosures
to make sure that they are um accurate and that the controls in place to prepare that information are intact and acceptable. There were no the results of our clean were unmodified opinions. We own just the three pages of the audit
report that includes CIA CPA's opinion on the financial statements unmodified. There were no findings related to our testing that had to be reported. We had a couple of small suggestions for improvements and controls and reconciliations that we went over um in
detail and we talked to the staff about nothing material, no material weaknesses, no significant deficiencies that were reported. We also prior to that meeting asked for questions um specifically related to the financial statement or the audit process. We
through that process received several questions and went into a more detailed explanation of how the numbers in the financial statements relate to funds that are available for you to use in the budget process. Um, specifically the state certified EMD number and how that
how the two work together and go together. Um, nothing nothing of significance again was reported and um, it's what we consider a clean clean audit opinion. The anticipation it will go a little bit
faster getting that ready for the state in the next couple weeks. Thank you. And the reason um that this audit came in so late, could you just Sure. There's a lot of different things that go into an audit. Gathering the information, we do help to prepare the
financial statements, gathering that information, testing, it takes a while. This year was particularly different and that we the start of last year's audit were um under a smaller CPA firm powers and Sullivan was the firm that I've worked for several years and we've done
your audit um annually. We had two mergers over the year. We first merged with a national company then during the year last November we merged with Cena which is another national company. So the processes in
going through that quite a bit. We anticipate that that's all done now. There'll be no more changes in the process so we should go smooth this year. Thank you. And what were the two minor recommendations that you had for the business office? Sure. Um one of them related to
reconciling items in the cash account. So what we we test your cash balances, the balances that are in the bank um compared to what's in your financial statements or on your ledger. There are reconciling items always outstanding on cash checks or timing differences.
There were approximately $25,000 in older items, old void checks that just haven't been properly recorded in the ledger. So the the recommendation is that those be up. Um you've identified what they are. You know what they are. You just have to in the ledger. That was
about $25,000. The other one relates to reconciliation of student activity accounts. Student activity accounts are allowed by Mass General Law. Um this is for money that's collected students for things such as field trips or clubs or groups and the
principles in each of the schools is allowed to have a separate checking account with the school committee's approval within the limits established by the school committee. Those accounts then have to be reconciled back to the district's ledgers. That reconciliation process has not happened. Um the reason
we didn't think it was material or significant is that the variance has not significantly changed in several years. It's been approximately It changes a little bit to not significantly. You do need to have procedures in place to both reconcile
those and then have a specific aged upon procedures engagement done to verify that those operations are acting as they should. Thank you. Do we have questions? Mr. Ski, thank you. So on a roughly hund00
million budget, you had recommendations on improvements and $7,000 of those of that budget. Correct. That's true. Thank you. And then my other question which I asked you in in the meeting, but I want to have it on TV and everything
because you have a huge audience now. Almost hundreds of people watch us, believe it or not. Um, we talked, you talked and there was a question about forensic audit and did you do that? And then the answer was
no. And we we understand why because you're here to just check the books, make sure it all works. Uh, and that you do a forensic audit when you suspect fraud somewhere. Would you in your professional opinion as an
auditor ever ask someone to come in and do a forensic audit where you didn't have a reasonable suspicion of fraud occurring somewhere and send them on a a fishing expedition so to speak?
No, just to sort of cl to clarify that if so we did not do a forensic audit that's not what we're engaged to do. We do procedures as part of giving an opinion on your financial statements. We in transactions. We look at your internal controls. There's a significant
amount of work that goes into verifying that the information in your controls are accurate. If we through those procedures identify any weaknesses in your controls or if we identify fraud, we are required to report that to you. It's not the reason for the audit, but if we find it, you certainly have to
report it. There was none of that identifying. If you So, to to answer your question on the when when would you engage forensic audit. It would only be if you suspected. It has to be very specific what you're what you're asking somebody to look at. If you for example
expected um thought that there could be payroll fraud, you would say these are the parameters. You would have to tell the forensic auditors what you want them to look at, what you want them. You have to agree with them what they're going to do to be able to verify that. It is not we just want a forensic audit of
everything. Thank you. Anyone else have any questions? Um, and again, just to let everyone know, we did have hard copies here if anyone I think we have a few copies left, maybe um, if anyone needed one. I know Mrs.
Riley's here from the town if you want a hard copy. Um, we also emailed a copy to both towns as well. Um, and I'm sure Mr. Par will be putting it on the website if anyone else wanted to review that as well. So, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate that. Thank
you. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda is the consent agenda. Um, I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented, which includes minutes dated July 23rd, 2025 and August 4th, 2025.
Excuse me. Sorry, I wasn't done. at payroll le board dated August 6, 2025 and August 11th, 2025. Second motion made by Mrs. Conrato, second by
Mr. Lo. Um, any discussion or actually consent agenda? All those in favor? Any opposed? Next on the agenda is correspondence under general community correspondence received. Um this month since our last meeting I received an email from a
community member with questions regarding the common center agreement and for spec and asking for specifics as to the scope of work etc. Mr. Powers responded to this with specifics. We received an email from a community member praising two of our staff members
who went above and beyond for a family in their time of need. We received an email from a community member requesting to be able to school choice into one of our middle schools. U Mr. Powers and myself both both responded to that. Um second on that was um MASC. I received
correspondence and I wanted to note that the Mass Association of School Committee Mass Association of School Superintendent joint conference is scheduled for November 12th through November 14th this year at the Emerald Resort and Conference Center in Hyannis. Each does
have tickets to attend. Um due to budget cuts this year, we will only have one ticket per day and as the school committee delegate, I will attend on behalf of the school committee um during the workshop days as well as the delegate vote on Friday. Um I will bring forward any resolutions and my vote
recommendations at our October meeting and approval. And next on the agenda, still under correspondence, is the letter to towns in response to their July 2025 correspondence. Um, as we know, we did receive
correspondence from the towns. um prior to our July meeting. Um we did discuss that letter um at our July meeting and it was agreed upon that I would draft a response to that letter to
be reviewed at this meeting and then forwarded in response to both town of Bridgewater and Town of Rain. Um we did also discuss that at the joint working group meeting that we held last week. Um a copy of that response was uploaded to
your Google Drive. Um, and several comm several committee members provided feedback which was incorporated and the letter was revised. Um, do I have I'm going to put a motion on the floor to accept that um letter in a moment and
then I will I will entertain a motion to accept the draft response letter and allow the chair to send the letter to the towns on behalf of the school committee. So moved. Motion made by Mr. Lo. Do I have a second?
Second by Mrs. Conrad Lab. Uh do I have any other feedback or questions on the letter from any committee members? Mr. Thank you for putting it together. Um I think we heard from the auditor as well.
So I think it ties in very very well with that. So thank you for doing that. Thank you. So, um, if this is approved, once we take this vote, I will email this to the towns um based on our response and then we do have a September
joint meeting with both Rayham, Bridgewwater, and the school committee that we can further discuss um their requests regarding an operational audit, kind of go over what the auditor just said, um what our next move is, what we want to do based on the next budget year
that we're looking at right now. Any other comments or questions? Does it need one edit with the 112 budget news that received? I did make that edit to the the final version. Thank you. Um that that might be good under this to
announce that to everybody. I I have that under Mr. Powers. Oh, okay. All right. All right. Sorry to steal you. Sorry. Sorry to steal you. I don't want to steal the thunder, you know. Um All those in favor?
I. Any opposed? Thank you. I appreciate everyone reviewing that and those who are providing feedback. Uh next we have public comment. The school committee welcomes information, concerns, and opinions from those attending the meeting. In order to give
those wishing an opportunity to speak, ensure compliance with the open meeting law and other obligations, and avoid disruption, the committee will not engage with the speaker or one another in deliberation as comments are presented during the comment period. At its discretion, the committee may schedule issues raised by a speaker for
deliberation at 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. If you would like a personal response, please email the committee or superintendent powers directly following the meeting.
The chair will now open up public comment for a period of 12 minutes per policy BEDH and would ask anyone who wishes to speak to approach the podium. Provide your name and address and please limit comments to three minutes. Um I will open up public comment at 7:25. Do
we have anyone who would like to speak or two members of the public? No pressure. Seeing none, I will close public comment at 7:25. You'll have one more chance. No problem. Next, we have administrative and school
committee reports. Report of the superintendent. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening, members of the school committee, members of the audience as well as the administrative team. Um, I did want to provide just a few brief updates and overviews for you. Uh, as Mr. Fitzgibbon
said, uh, we did receive information from Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that we have been officially uh, removed or I think they were terminated from the 112th budget. As you know, both towns had approve recently approved our revised budget
from the school committee and we had submitted all that information to the department for their review. Obviously, we were battling somewhat uh of a scheduling conflict on on their end. Uh so finally we're able to have all parties review that from the department and they did send us correspondence just
the other day uh that we are now officially off of 112 budget. So what does that mean for us? Obviously we're have shared that information with the towns. We can to receive the fiscal year 26 full assessments uh that the towns uh provide to us on a monthly basis. Uh we
had essentially put a hiring I'm sorry a spending freeze in place um as well. And so now we have those funds available to be able to spend um supplies, resources to get school up and running. Obviously some of our facilities projects, not just capital but everyday facility
maintenance projects that need to take place, those will all start to happen as well. So, we're excited uh that we're removed from this, especially given the fact that, you know, teachers and staff are coming back next week. As you know, we did not have those expenses over the
summer months, salary expenses over the summer months. So, we're very um very worried that if we were not off the 112th to start the school year, that would present significant challenges. But thankfully, we we are. So, I wanted to start there. Um I did also want to share a few other updates. We did hold
our new teacher orientation today. We welcomed 17 new educators, I believe, Miss Healey, uh here to the lecture hall at the high school. Um, ju just to point out, and I know you know this, but for the public safety, these are not 17 additional positions uh over last year,
as you know, and I'll get into staffing in a minute. Uh, we obviously had to reduce staff going into this year, but some of the staff that we had hoped to be able to call back uh took jobs in other districts or we did have some retirements that we knew we were going to fill. And so these positions uh
reflect those uh that we knew we were going to fill going into this year. Uh majority of the individuals that we hired This is a commitment for us did fall under our student services department. So we were able to welcome them. Um Miss D'Angelo and her team
spent about 45 minutes uh working with our um student services providers just talking them uh talking to them about all things uh student services related kind of some of our district policies and procedures. Um Miss Joyce and Miss Richard spent some time with our
classroom teachers, our general education teachers, and Mrs. Barry spent some time with arts teachers. And I did want to just thank Mrs. Barry and Mrs. Healey for putting together today's event. I also want to give a shout out uh to BA. I
know Mr. Conroy is here. Uh but each year they do sponsor a lunchon for our new educators after the fact. They welcome them down um to be uh the school where they can enjoy a lunch and get to learn a little bit more about the REA and all the benefits that the union
provides. Uh but I did want to just thank them for doing that. It's always a nice transition to be able to welcome our staff, provide them some information, but then to to be able to feed them after the fact. So, thank you for doing that. Um, we did uh start the month of August holding our administrative retreat. I know it's not
much of a retreat. If you think of uh you know, we're not whisking anyone away for spa days or anything like that. It really is a full day of professional development for our administrative team. Uh we held that here uh in the district actually at the high school in the library. Um we obviously engage in um
activities district related. We look at our student success plan. We look at uh goals and objectives for the upcoming year. We obviously review the prior year. We talk about educational leadership and philosophy. We also bring in outside u presenters as well. Also, we did have one on artificial
intelligence to help our administrative team uh you know increase their capacity and awareness because obviously we know that is certainly a way of the future. Many of our students are using AI, many of our faculty are using AI. So for us as
leaders, we wanted to make sure that we're staying one step ahead of everybody. But it also afforded us the opportunity for us to learn how we can use it as an administrative team as well. I actually created a I'm quite proud of something I never ever thought I'd be doing but uh I have it if I could
play for you later like um and then obviously we had our legal updates from Murphy to me and the as they always do they come in to talk about case law any of the recent u changes for the school year. Another um thing to share we have
once again been selected two of our schools to participate in the uh NAPE which is the national assessment of educational progress. Uh really is an assessment given to all states across the district. It allows the US Department of Education to compare
states um against one another with one unifying assessment. We have over the years that I've been here in the district multiple times been selected. Uh this coming school year, Bridgewwater Middle School with a grade eight students will take mathematics and reading and the Williams Intermediate
School read for mathematics and reading as well. and the testing window will be sometime between January and March. Williams was selected last year as well, but um they never followed up with them. A lot of Williams were the two schools selected last year. So it looks as
though that Williams will be tested this year. And then um I did want to obviously um you know provide an overview of FY26, share the good news about the 112 budget uh which then um you know also
transitions and this is that we'll be bringing forward to you uh next month because as you know any type of grant or acceptance of funds needs to be approved. Uh but we do have our federal uh grant allocations for the school year. Um obviously you know even though
we have to go through the process of applying for our grants this is money that has been allocated to the district. So it is ours as long as we complete the application pro uh complete the application in full which you know every year has never been an issue for us. Um,
but we'll be sharing that information with you. Uh, and you know, pleased to report our allocations did go up this year, which is great. Obviously, we'll be able to use that money. Some of these federal grants are very specific in what we can use this money for. So, for
example, title one, title one funds are to provide reading and math services um to uh schools that are identified as title one schools based on, you know, funding data. uh income data and so
forth. That money is specific to those positions. So, we couldn't take our title one money and use it for uh regular classroom staff. We have to use it uh for positions that are going to be providing title one services. Whether it be, you know, your traditional title one
teacher that you may think of, it could be uh you know, some type of other remedial or accelerated services that were provided. But, you know, even though we had $100,000 more this year than we did last year. It's very specific in what we can use. Uh title
two is uh another grant that we receive. Again, those funds went up and we're actually using those funds as we did last year. Uh we have a little bit more flexibility. We can use those funds for class size reduction positions. Um so that is something that we'll continue to do. Uh title three is obviously for our
English learners. That money is specific for them. And title four is really for for for us to look at technology, students health and well-being, mental health and well-being, and then, you know, high quality education for our
staff. So, again, that went down a little bit, but we will use those funds to uh provide some of our professional development and pay for that. But more to come on that. Just wanted to kind of let you know that we did receive those funds. Uh in addition to our special education uh grants that we are are also
entitled to the 262 grant which is an early childhood grant that goes to uh help with some of our preschool expenses and then what's referred to as 240 grant that's the IDA grant which is really our larger special education grant was a
little over 1.6 up from 1.5 last year. So again, a nice increase there and that will go directly to providing services and necessary resources to our students. Moving into along FY26, but moving into
the school year, I did uh send over a document to you this afternoon, MC McDougall did, so thank you for doing that, MC. Um just around uh staffing and class size. Uh this obviously is information that is fluid and ever changing. Um And Meg can attest to this.
You know, we're talking on a regular basis about students enrolling and students withdrawing and it it it is changing on a daily basis. And so the information you have on this uh sheet may have already changed by uh the time you're you're actually looking at it. It may change by Friday and certainly could
change next week. We would actually anticipate it to change next week. Not significantly, but obviously uh student here or there. Um what you have on your piece of paper, I tried to just capture it all. onto one document. So you're not looking at a staffing, you're not
looking at a class-siz document, you're looking at it all in one place. Uh but as it's broken down, you see that we started with Bridgewater K to8 and I tried to go grade level by grade level, but I also provided you some notes on the other side on the side about uh each individual school. So when you're
looking at uh the Mitchell Elementary School and we focused on kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, we didn't include preschool for for these purposes. Um they did not any positions from last year. Now, that doesn't mean we didn't move staff, but what you're
going to find in most cases is we actually move staff around. So, at the Mitchell Elementary, we actually transferred a staff member in there to help fill some of the voids. Um, and so when you see that they didn't lose any staff from last year. Um, you know, I I just wanted to be able to explain that
to that maintain staffing by transferring staff in. And as we get into some of the other schools where we trans transferred staff, I I'll obviously get into that as well. Uh but you can see without losing staff. Um still trying to maintain uh class size where we could uh it's not I would never
advocate that this is great class size. So we're maintaining what we would consider higher class size than desired, but it did allow us right now based on enrollment as of today and I say as of today and I'll say it multiple times because it could be different for tomorrow. We're looking on average of having 26 students in our kindergarten
class at the Mitchell, a little over 26 in first grade, 26.1. Um, and obviously you can't have a tenth of a student. So really looking at, you know, 27 in some cases, but just for mathematical uh reasons, I included the decimals here.
Uh, and grade two would be 27.7. Certainly again, not ideal. Um, you know, when we look historically at some of our class size data over the last couple years, 26 27 is on the higher end. Um, it's not significantly different. When we look at
some of our past grade levels, especially on the Bridgewater side, they are hovering around that 26 average, uh, where main been a little bit lower. But it hasn't been uncommon for us to have a class at 26 or 27, um, especially as we go up in the grades. However, you know,
26 at the kindergarten, first grade level is is not ideal and not something that I know school committee certainly uh would never advocate for, but that is our reality. As we start to go up in the grades, uh you can see the Williams Intermediate School, they did lose two positions. Uh both were due to
retirement that we did not fill. Uh so what and again we had to make some internal moves uh with staff to uh kind of chase some enrollment bubbles. Uh but by doing that, not filling those positions, we will have a class size average in grade of 28.3,
grade four 28.3 as well and uh grade five 28.3 as well. But actually the enrollment was very very similar in all three grades. U but again by moving staff around we were able to maintain that as well but we did lose you know
two staff members there because of retirement. In grade six at uh the Odon Middle School, we are down three positions. Again, actually lost more teaching positions than that, but
because of internal transfers, we did transfer staff from other schools to uh make up for some of these losses. Uh but as it stands right now, we have gone from 10 teachers per grade level at six, seven, and eight down to nine teachers per grade level. U and you can see we
lost one due to retirement and two due to layoffs. Uh and class size averages uh you know low 30s 31.4 32.6 and 32.3 giving us an overall class size average on the Bridgewater side K8 and 29. But
again we transferred multiple staff members and you'll see this down below multiple staff members from the high school to fill some of the openings at the middle school level. So they are essentially there are more that we unfortunately were not able to bring back but you will
see the significant hit at the high school to be able to minimize the impact on the middle schools. Uh Ranham again very similar. I've set this up for you. Our kindergarten has lost two positions uh one due to retirement, one due to layoff. You can see the projected
kindergarten numbers for next year at 26.8. The other thing that we did and obviously when we started to look at you know do we need to transfer staff is trying to keep the numbers equitable not ideal but equitable across the district. So if we had 26 in Bridgewater and
kindergarten we wanted to try to come as close as possible to 26 on the right hand side and vice versa. We did have a couple of situations where it just didn't make sense to make transfers because we were going to solve a problem and create a problem. Uh essentially you know flip-flopping numbers. Uh first
grade we did not staff uh and that bubble coming up into first grade is is somewhat low. So the class size average for next year is right now projected to be at 23.2. Here's an example of where, you know, we took a teacher from Merrill
and sent that teacher over to Mitchell. Again, we're essentially flipping the problem. So now Bridgewwater would be at 23 and Rainand would be at 26. uh grade two at La Liberty, grade three, I'm sorry, grades two, three, and four at La Liberty. They are down two
positions overall. One due to a transfer. Uh we did transfer one um second grade teacher from La Liberty over to Mitchell. And we unfortunately had to lay another position off. Uh so you can see the class sizes at La Liberty. Again, not ideal. Nothing that
we're advocating for. 26.5 in grade two, 31 uh 31.3 in grade three, and 30 grade four. Uh the numbers obviously are are much higher when we get into the middle school level. RMS is down five positions
overall. Again, even uh we were able, you know, transferred some some staff into that school to be able to try to minimize the negative impact, but even still being down five is significant. Uh we had two retirements that we did not fill and the three positions that uh we
did not fill because of layoffs. And so they are down five alto together. And you can see in grade five the class size average right now will be 33 34 in grade six 34.6 35.4 in grade 7 and 30 in grade
8 for an overall average K to8 in Ringham of 30.1. And then we get into the high school and I've shared this information with you before that the high school unfortunately is has taken uh the largest hit. Obviously, it's our biggest building, but just even significantly uh
has been negatively impacted. Um you can see they're down 21 positions alto together. Uh it's 21 uh 20 teaching positions plus the guidance counselor, 21 alto together. There were five retirements that we did not fill. There were five teachers that we transferred
from the high school to the middle school level. And then unfortunately, there were 11 positions that we did not fill due to layoffs. And then obviously districtwide uh we are down positions as well as you know we reduced positions in the facilities department for the second year in a row.
Uh we had obviously reduced the number of secretaries. Obviously our secretaries play such a vital role um in the organization in our schools. Um you know we are feeling the losses there. Uh one in particular I just wanted to point out our administrative assistant for
transportation. Um unfortunately we're not able to fill that position. I know Mr. has made every effort to u absorb that but there is still a great responsibility placed on um central registration uh Judy and Natalie uh in the superintendent's office and so you
know that is a position that is much needed obviously it's something that we brought on and who we are you know feeling the impacts of that um obviously we're down support positions proctors um across uh the district at various sites and then we're down three administrative
c office positions. Uh we currently have, as you know, we do not fill the law liberty elementary principal position. So we have one administrative position there. Uh Miss Richards and Miss Westell are going to work together. So to ensure that we always have two administrators over there, but we by
doing that have essentially lost a teaching and learning position at central office. Uh we also have our coordinator of uh family and student supports uh Sarah Moore uh who you I know you know. Uh she served many roles. She was the attendance officer, uh the
court liaison. She also was the uh homeless liaison, the Kento liaison. Um organized many of our supports and resources for our families in need. Uh she has resigned uh to take a position at Bristol Aggie and that is a position that's open for
us right now. again looking at how can we um you know spread out those responsibilities but it's we're we're putting responsibilities on staff that are already you know in in many cases overwhelmed uh but we wanted every area of the organization to unfortunately you
know feel this we didn't want to put the burden on one particular group uh but you know overall districtwide we're down 12 so you can see significant number of uh positions lost uh going into this school year Um, this information will be
shared out with the public. Obviously, we've been updating everybody as we've been going. Uh, you know, we've shared projections, but now as these numbers become closer to reality, we'll be getting this information out. Obviously, working closely with Meg to see uh, you
know, how quickly we can update this. Um, Meg and her team and then the school secretaries are trying to process enrollments and withdrawals as quickly as they can just so we can have number of what we could or should expect on day one. But you know there are going to be
obviously as you can see significant negative impacts to the classroom to our buildings to district operations. But what I will say is you know I have every confidence in the world that our staff will rally. I know it's going to be a challenging year for
them. We'll obviously welcome the back of money uh on Monday and have a conversation uh in regards to this. We've already talked about it as administrative team uh you know our first priority uh has to be of the students and so everything we do as we do on a daily basis is about our
students and will continue to be that way and that's what our focus will be. Uh but it's obviously going to take a lot more of us uh to support teaching and learning that happens in the classroom. making sure that every administrator, every central office position uh is prepared to support what's happening in
the schools because our faculty, as you can see, are going to need every ounce of support that they can they can get, especially when they're dealing with class sizes of, you know, 35 plus. That's uh the overview for right now. Um happy to answer any questions on on the
information I provided to you. And again, we'll get this out, I would say, not sending a correspondence out to families no later than Monday afternoon. Typically in years past I've sent something out after convocation just acknowledging that we've had convocation. So that was obviously
Monday. So you know Monday at the latest this information would be going out but knowing that it's obviously be updated even all of next week prior to school. Um I think the towns also wanted to have a copy of that too so they have up toate information as well.
Um Mr. Given, did you have a question? Oh, I I'd just like to um say thank you for the update. Thank the um town council uh of Bridgewwater and the selectment of
the town meeting for voting those extra budget funds for us so we could get out of that 112 position. And then um just to summarize what you were talking
about by number of teachers reassign etc etc. What what you really focused on was putting teachers closer to the younger grades at the expense of
more teachers of the high school. It's a tradeoff and it's it's your decision to make that. I'm not questioning the decision, but in a nutshell, if someone were to say, how do you make this work? Yes, I would say that's that's that's in
a nutshell. Yes. Uh, you know, obviously you've heard me talk about this. I know as you know, a priority for budget sub and school committee as a whole, we have heard about class size, especially at the lower levels. So, for me, uh, this was about trying to again not lower class size, but at least maintain, uh,
you know, higher numbers that we've already had. Um but yes to your point it's at the expense unfortunately of of the high school. Um and obviously you know our student services department that was al also another focus making sure that any position we brought back
um really had a student services focus or um you know played played a role there as well. So, I would say student services and trying to maintain class size as best as we could at the lower elementary were the two priorities as I
was making my decisions where to move staff, where to fill positions and Mrs. Con. Mr. this is helpful because I know at least myself and probably many of us have been asked about some of these numbers and positions and who's still
around, who's not around. Um I I guess I would um three of us and I know you you also Mr. Powers um have student have kids that are at the high school and there's a lot of conversation around this right now and kids have their schedules. Um I guess I would just ask
because on here is the class size and the The high school is a little funky, right? It's not apples to apples compared to what happens at the elementary middle school. And I know Miss Watson said it out this week. I can't remember the day. Um, but maybe in the notes if we could
comment about how many classes were cut at high school because that to me is what is and I can't remember what those numbers are now. Um, but and I don't know if this is true, but what I'm hearing through kids and families is most seniors at this point have two
study halls at the high school. Um, which is disappointing. Um, but and I know Mrs. Watson, I think, tried to alleviate some of the she the seniors probably took more of the pain than actually the kids even at the high school. But I think if we could
recognize that because the class sizes isn't it's a weird number at the high school and it's really to your point uh it's it's those core classes so it's not really you know some of those electives that we are still offering are going to have 40 students in it but it's not reflected here so I could definitely try to add some additional information
right just the number of classes that were lost like there's 40 classes that were cut at the high school right I can't remember exactly it's approximately it's approximately 40 classes were cut at the high school um I would be helpful to see. Um, and I would just, and I know
you all talk about it, again, our budget es and flows and based on some of the grant money and other things is, um, I guess I would just say is if there's any way during the year if we can bring contract employee or contract or whatever, there's some extra whatever
happens, I would per I would like to see the high school some priority area at the high school. And I know that's hard to bring someone in during the year, contractor, whatever. It's just um it's disappointing to see these kids, especially junior and seniors, and what
is happening to them and what they have to go through. And I know everybody's trying to manage and deal with it. Um and kids have been throwing classes that they didn't want to go into, but they are dealing with it. So, but thank you. Yeah. I mean, there's really no good
decision here. I mean, do you move people around and have 26 and 28 still in kindergarten and first grade? Those are foundational grades where the teachers are trying to teach those students to read. Um, and they're going to have difficulty doing that with a huge class size. And then at the high
school level, they're missing 40 classes. So, they're, you know, two out of seven classes are going to be studies. So, there's really no good decisions for this coming budget year. Maybe the class sizes aren't as bad as we thought, but they're not great. Um,
the high school not great this year. So, um, I know that the staff is going to do the very best they can. And like Mrs. Connor and Labberto said, we focus a lot at elementary and middle because those are foundational grades. They're learning the basics, but we never
prioritize the high school. And Mrs. Watson takes it with a grain of salt and her staff takes it and they do the best they can. Um, but to her point, if we have extra funds, we need to do something at the high school.
So, those are the kids that are responsible and they can take it, but we're also trying to set them up for the best career po, you know, secondary education, etc. So, they need they need it as well.
One question I forgot to I know we had over the years in kindergarten had an an aid or is that still true in all in all of our kindergarten classes? Yes. Do we have other comments, Mrs. Thomas?
Um, just a couple. And um, thank you for bringing up the need to focus on the high school. I know districtwide it says we're losing four proctors and support staff. Is that from the high school? Uh, no. Uh, there was there was multiple locations. Uh there was one I believe at
the high school. Um there are two from the Williams and one. I apologize. No, thank you for that. Um I just kind of wanted I know you're putting together a puzzle with not all the pieces. It's
you Thank you for doing it. Um but with that proctor and secretary loss like those are the class sizes that are the biggest. there's four bigger than I think 40 you said. Um what happens when the flu hits? What happens when a teacher's out? Where are you going to
put those extra kids? So I think that's a huge focus that we need to um get with. You mentioned enrollments and withdrawals for the current year. Do we have a figure just I know you said they change daily, but um I have it on my laptop.
180 uh potential enrollments uh right now. I think it was closer to about a hundred of ones that we're fairly confident are actually going to come. And by that I mean Meg can actually go into the system and see when was the last time they actually
did anything for the registration process. Um she gets notified the registration office gets notified when somebody opens a registration application. But if they open that in June but haven't done anything since um it we're cautiously optimistic they may
not be coming. So that 80 isn't necessarily truly reflective of what we think will will show up. I think it was closer to 80 to 100. They're making progress. It's they're under review in the nurse's office. Um and then but
that's not to say that we want to more show up in terms of the withdrawals. And Mr. why you're looking for the withdrawals. Um I'm just curious and you may not know right now but maybe in the future the withdrawals are they we
talked about 30 years are they more at the high school level because I know kids that are leaving the district because of what's happened in the high school. So it it's across the board. So just you know for example um you know at the elementary level right now say on the Bridgewater side uh we have eight first
graders slated to move out eight second graders um six and third grade 14 and fourth grade 14 and fifth grade um on the Rainham side and I apologize I don't have all the updated numbers here but I I do have it on my computer but I can share this with you after the fact um uh
you know three withdrawals in kindergarten five withdrawals in first So we're seeing it across the board. When I looked at it earlier, it was about 100 alto together withdrawals from the K to8 level. I know in speaking with Miss Watson, she was anticipating just based on who she believes is going
to say like BP uh or some of the other uh schools, it was about a 100 students, 100 students, more than what we typically lose. So I think we ended the year last year I'm sorry. So, we ended last year, 1431
students at the high school. Right now, if everything gets processed as it should, our students that typically leave for uh BP and the other vote tech schools, private schools, uh we're still going to be down 100 students on top of
those. So, again, it does seem as though that we are losing but K to8 we've lost similar numbers as well. Um we're getting a flurry of requests from parents right now for homeschooling as well so that we're seeing an uptick in that
and then we'll have final numbers. We do like the October first seat counts so then we can see year to year where we're going to fall. Mr. Gunth, did you have a question? I did. I did have a question. Um I think I agree there's no there's been
no decisions. There's a lot of hard decisions. Um, I was wondering if you could put some context perhaps around the class size figures and maybe just talk for a few minutes about how has class sizes been trending in VR. Obviously, I think I'm sure they've been
trending upward, but could you talk over the last few years about how these class sizes compare to say last year, couple of years ago? And then could you also talk if I could put you on the spot about how do our class sizes compare to perhaps and I know every district is
different but you know speaking broadly statewide averages what an average Massachusetts middle school should expect. Um clearly population size right as a city as a town whatever it you know it it varies but you know there there are also kind of best practices uh for
maybe what a educational environment should look like. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on on those topics. Sure. just to kind of give you some enrollment numbers first and then you know I can speak about that. Um so trying to go back to just the last couple years per se even going back to
say uh school year 23 24 and you know you've heard me talk about our class sizes on average have been higher um than what we would advocate for. So class size uh you know we've been able to be under 30 uh but for
example in the 23rd 23 24 school year just on the Bridgewater side kindergarten was at 27 first grade was at 25 second grade was at 28 third grade was at 28 fourth grade was at 27 um 28
and 5th 27 and six 257 and 26 and 8. Uh when you look at those numbers the following year 24 25 very similar you know changed by maybe a student up or a student down. Um you know for
example kindergarten went from 27 down to 26. First grade went from 25 up to 28. Second grade stayed at 28. Third grade went from 28 up to 30. Fourth grade 27 up to 29. Fourth I'm sorry. Fifth grade stayed at
28. 27 to 28, 25 to 28, 26 to 25. So it it varies on the Rainham side. Again, just our numbers, class size average on the RAM side has been a little bit lower. Uh typically I was around 24 to 26. Um so
again going back to 23 24 22.8 in kindergarten. Uh 24 25 was 21. Uh first grade was 27 to 28. 26 then 27. Grade three was 24 up to 26.
Grade four was 24 up to 27. Grade 5 24 up to 28. Grade 6 26 up to 29. Grade 7 23 up to 26 and 25 up to 27 in grade 8. So you can see that those numbers are trending up over the last couple years.
Obviously as we went into the 24 25 school year, we were down some positions. So, you know, we anticipated that to happen. Uh, but even, you know, to go back, we talked about it with our new teachers today. We're talking about class size. Uh, and one of our
principles, uh, came up through the ranks as a teacher here. He shared, you know, even, you know, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, it wasn't uncommon to have a class size of 25, 26, 27. So, you know, higher class size
starting to creep up. Certainly, we never want to be this high, but I don't think it's um really been a new problem. This is my 11th year in the district. These numbers have been pretty steady around that. Again, creeping up um but
you know, not out of the realm of what they've been. I think, you know, when we really look at comparable districts, um you know, we are seeing lower class size, especially at the elementary level. talk to some of our neighboring districts, you know, they talk about
their kindergarten classes with the par professional that 19 20 students. Um, it's it's hard to to to grasp that. That's what our kids deserve. Um, and I think, you know, when we we start to have some families look at leaving us
for school choice, it's it's because of those type of situations where they're going to be in a kindergarten class of 26 27 here or 18 19, you know, with another adult. um you know somewhere else. I I don't have good uh middle school and high school data for you. I
can certainly look into that and get that how we compared to the other districts. I think ideally what we would advocate for um you know there's when we talk about class size going from you know 25 to 24 students yes it's it's
lower. Is it going to have a significant impact on outcomes you know obviously teacher once I would say well one student makes a difference you know 24 25 I would definitely say no but I think what we would really advocate for is to get down to those low
20s the high teens especially in that K to3 level I think we can uh you know have such a significant impact on those early grades early literacy uh early numeracy skills u and then as the students get they have a stronger foundation and so now if they're in a
class of 25 26 you know they're able to to, you know, still progress, make progress, still have achievement because they've had those foundational skills. The more students that are in a classroom, the less individual instruction they're going to get from
the teacher. So, I think any time that we minimize those opportunities for our teachers, it, you know, we're doing a disservice to our students. It's not to say that, and I I will say this so many times, and I'll say this to our faculty, I know they're still going to make every
effort to do that. It's just going to take a little bit more time because now we're going to have to do it with 30 students. But our staff's committed to it. Um it's not ideal. It's not something I think anybody in this room certainly sitting up there would want to advocate for, but you know, it's our
reality right now. But hopefully we can get to a situation where we are putting the standard. people looking at well they took VR a few years but wow they're at you know 19 20 in kindergarten and middle school doesn't go above 25 high school has all these positions back in life is that that I think is ultimately
where I'd like us to be yeah go ahead um I I'd just like to amplify on what the superintendent said somewhat respond to Mr. And
um really to folks listening at home is we we can hide class size disparities by families choosing to leave the district
right at younger grades and moving out and saying I don't want my kid to go there anymore. So they that we lose that enrollment the superintendent was talking about the open grades. We can hide uh K to 8 um
you know uh class size issues by as we were just talking about taking stuff away from the high school where there's not as as Ms. Conor and Alberto said there's not a great number for what's a class size at the high school. But when
you have when you hear the number 40 classes cut, that's a real loss to those those students of the high school and then their parents are voting to go to alternative high schools or homeschooling as the superintendent
said. So your enrollment may stay the same. the enrollment we should be serving is a lot bigger I would submit to you than what we are serving. Yeah. I mean I think the problem is
twofold right now. Our population has been increasing by 100 net hundred every year. We'll see what this year comes out to. Um so that's been increasing steadily year-over-year, but our staffing levels have either remained
stagnant or been reduced every year. So last year was the tipping point where parents were like, "Hey, we're noticing that class sizes are getting bigger and bigger." Well, yeah, because students are keep moving in and our staffing levels are staying the same or they're getting reduced. Last year it was
reduced by seven. This year it's a net 34 loss. Like we Yes, we're going to have 35 in a class if that's what we're doing. So next year we need to
We're going to keep talking about this over and over again. So, we definitely have tried to implement some things this year and I know we have a lot of joint meetings with towns coming up. So, we definitely need to figure a plan because every school, every
classroom is going to be affected this year. Thank you, Mr. Powers. Um, next we have long range planning subcommittee report with Mr. Lo. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, the long range planning subcommittee met on 7:23 with
members, Mr. Gman, myself, superintendent powers, and attendance. The committee reviewed the superintendent evaluation process, the student success plan, and the superintendent proposed four potential goal areas for student learning, professional practice, and two district improvement goals. Committee provided
initial feedback and as the superintendent to direct goals, action steps, and benchmarks and evidence for the next uh subcommittee meeting. The lower age planning subcommittee met again earlier this evening with the same members in attendance. committee did a brief overview of the prior meeting and
then superintendent powers presented his proposed goals, key action steps and benchmarks and objectives for all four goal areas. I want to thank Mr. McDougall for sending the draft copy of all those out to all committee members so you should be familiar with all four goals areas
and key benchmarks and objectives. Um the only two changes that we had as a result of these um was on goal number one uh where Mr. Fitzg made a motion and for the superintendent to amend the student learning goal to provide
baseline data from the 2425 school year in order to determine a starting point for each area within the key uh excuse me for the benchmarks and evidence. The other uh adjustment we made as well um was for goal number two under
professional practice. Mr. G it's given as for a uh summary of meetings to be included in the superintendent report incorporating participation of stakeholders feedback and potential action items. There was uh feedback provided on the two other goals but no
no changes were recommended by the subcommittee. The sub committee did recommend for and pass all four goals off to uh tonight to the full committee. Thank you. Um accordingly, I will entertain a motion to approve the
superintendent's goals as recommended by the long range planning committee. Second motion made by Mr. Lo, second by Mr. Fitzgiven. Any discussion or questions? I I'd just like to say um
Mr. Powers and Mr. three together and kind of getting to a point where we could get to a a whole document and you know really took into account what what we talked about in the
first meeting much as Miss Mayville did uh last year in her role as as the chair of the committee and and I think that's a very healthy process going forward. So I I would recommend that to the long range planning committee, whoever may
serve on it in the future, to really take advantage of allowing the chair and the superintendent to discuss the goals kind of offline and bring it back with really solid
a really solid document to to bring forward uh to the rest of the committee to allow uh very focused discussion instead of kind of scattershot discussion if you want hopefully.
Thank you. And then when and how will the superintendent report out on the status of the goals? Um happy to take that. The timeline established by the long range committee I believe we've amended it the last couple years because I think it calls
for maybe a January update. We've waited until February just because that way we gone through the budget presentation and provide evidence to that. So we now tend for February for the mid year review but certainly a different
Do we have other questions? I just want to know I just want to thank the superintendent one for putting together such goals and also really with a high level I think to the point we sometimes need feedback to to kind of scale it back a little bit. Um
we need them to be attainable. Exactly. But uh it's commendable that you know this really comes from a good place that he wants to see students achieve and do well um and really do well by his staff in addition. So thank you for this process. I appreciate that. Thank you. And thank
you to the long range committee for working so collaboratively together on this process. Appreciate all of Thank you Mr. Mo for putting that together and Mr. Powers and the committee for working on that. Um, seeing no more questions. All those in
favor? I. Any opposed? Um, next we have transportation subcommittee report. Mrs. Mville is not um available this evening, but her report was in the drive. Um, there was no action items or votes. So, I'm going
to continue on unless if anyone had any questions on that. Okay, seeing none. Um, next we have policy subcommittee report with Mrs. Conrad Labberto. Thank you, Miss King. The policy
subcommittee met on August 12th. The attent, Mrs. King, Mr. Gunro, and Mrs. Thomas was there at the very end. She was late due to traffic. Um, uh, policy JQ student fees was reviewed for a second
time. school committee member had suggested some changes and the committee discussed those changes decided to incorporate two of those changes into the policy. Um these included defining the quote inability to play pay and adding language around the superintendent's ability to wave certain
fees. The committee did discuss the other changes that were recommended around students with late fees and those permissible penalties. The committee felt that this was an item it wanted to keep in the policy as they were permissible but not
Um so at this um this time I would make a motion to approve um sorry first wave the second reading. Oh sorry so at this time I would make a motion to wave the second reading of policy J motion made by Mrs. Conrato second by
Mr. Fitz given all those in favor. Any opposed and motion to approve? Now I make a motion to approve also. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mr. Lo. Any questions or discussion on that?
All those in favor? Any opposed? Okay. Um next um was the community use facilities. Um there was a request to review this policy. Um the committee
discussed the policy at great length. Um there were initially several language changes that were um reviewed. Um the subcommittee discussed the motivation behind creating a policy and changing the policy and the subcommittee decide
to leave it as is for the time being and take another look if um other questions or concerns were to come in. Um and also given that the policy only really applies to um
not BMS or RMS as the town's control to use those um those sports facilities. The committee felt it was better to leave it as is rather to get into who and when could use the sports facilities at the high school. Um no action was
taken on that policy. Okay. Um and next um it was requested that this um sorry um it was requested that the subcommittee review policy ING animals and schools um the policy um
update was born out of the Bridgewater Police Department's desire to implement a therapy comfort dog um into their outreach at the schools. Mr. Powers explained that he wanted to be sure that the program wouldn't conflict um with our current policy. the comm the
committee reviewed um the district's internal animals and schools internal protocol um and we uh the edits that were made to the policy were made to ensure that they were consistent with our protocol and
there wasn't conflict. So at this time I would make a motion to wave the first reading of policy IMG animals and schools. Motion made by Mrs. Conrad, second by Mr. Gibbons. Um discussion or questions on that one?
Yes. Just just a quick one. Um did we look in other districts and um the policy manual? Yes. To understand. Yeah, we probably reviewed I probably reviewed between eight and 10 other policies from other districts. Um we had
an animals in school policy and that was IMG and we added to our policy the therapy in the therapy dogs in schools. Um, and we reviewed other districts and won't say we copied and pasted, but we kind of looked at kind of what was I'll
say best practice across other policies and incorporated some of those in addition to our protocol. Thank you. And this was mostly born out of um the police, was it Bridgewwater Police? Do you want to take I know uh Plymouth County, the Plymouth
County uh District Attorney's Office uh has a pretty robust um comfort therapy dog program throughout the the county. Um I know Bridgewwater Police has been interested in expanding uh and becoming part of that program. So just an initial conversation with Chief Damonte recently
um they were going to start exploring really making it a reality. Um, I can't say for sure it'll 100% come to fruition, but we wanted to make sure that if we did want to move forward or if Chief Del Monti decides to u move forward with with the program for the Bridgewater Police that we did have
policies that as Miss Conrad Laboro said were in conflict with going forward with this. Um, so we're excited possibility certainly something as the superintendent I support. I had some experience when I was a building principal having comfort uh comfort dogs, therapy dogs in and we've actually
used them throughout the district during my time here uh for various events at our staff wellness fair and unfortunately we've had some tragedies occur within the district that we've actually reached out to Plymouth County and and had the therapy and comfort dogs come in. So, they've been well received by staff and by students and it's
certainly something that um I would advocate support for and I think this policy really gets us in line with with with that practice. And Madam Chair, may I just add that we probably all during budget season will want to have that comfort dog in the room with us.
Yeah, exactly. Um and then this will have a second reading at our September meeting. Um seeing any other questions? All those in favor? I do have anything else? Yeah, I would just add there was discussion around the
need to address the competency, determination and graduation requirements and we did just receive some things around this. So um we do need to create policy on that um to DESIE by December. So so um we are waiting we will review some of that in
September October and then um MASC just sent a list of probably eight or nine policies that need to be updated. Um so we'll over the next few months we'll be taking a look at some of those. That's it. Thank you so much. Um, next is budget subcommittee report of Rachel
King, myself, um, for August 20th. The date of the subcommittee meeting is August 11th. On August 11th, the budget subcommittee met at 5:30 in the superintendent's conference room. In attendance were Mrs. Davenport, Mr. Lo, Superintendent Powers, Assistant
Superintendent Barry, Miss Balola, Miss Robasham, Mr. Shaka, Mrs. McDougall and myself. Miss Huy Thomas attended as a member of the public. Um Mr. Powers gave an update and overview of the current budget staffing and classroom sizes which he had already um given this
evening. Um next discussed was the state function code transfers which is an annual um transfer that we need to do at the close of the fiscal year. U Miss Babalola gave an overview of the state function transfer report and attached
spreadsheets and page. This is required at the close of each fiscal year to ensure each function code is properly adjusted when the budget is created in January for the following fiscal year July through June. The function code amounts budgets are estimates and this
must be reconciled before the audit. It does not change the bottom line of the budget. The school committee must vote to do these transfers. On the attachment to the summary report on page nine of nine, Miss Babalola has indicated the reasoning for each transfer.
Okay. Um, accordingly, I will entertain a motion to approve the fiscal year 2025 transfers between state function codes as follows. Increase of 101,4787 to the 1000 series admin technology.
Decrease of $11,4787 to the 2000 series instructional services. Decrease of $381,1822 to the 3000 series. Other student services decrease of 132,730.99
to the 4000 series operations and management decrease of $17,871.79 to the 5000 series benefits and fixed costs. No fixed charges. No change to the 7000 series. No change to the 8000
series. increase of $621,621 to the 9,000 series programs with other schools. So moved by I'm sorry Mr. Fitzgiven second by Mr. Lo. Do I have questions or discussion on that?
All those in favor? Any opposed? Thank you. Um next at was the facilities project update which is the next agenda item and there is a report that Mr. provided um an update on the summer
projects. Um that see also the August 11 budget sub minutes does have a detailed analysis of that as well. Um following that is proctor salaries. Um proctors are used throughout the
district in various schools and roles such as covering classes, covering the library, etc. They are not in any marketing unit. So while they're able to opt into the health insurance, they do not gain Union benefits. Proctors work 6.5 hours per day during the school
year. Um, because they have so much flexibility, they are vital to the district in their roles. In January of 2023, former school committee member Mrs. Hullbrook expressed the need to review and increase the proctor salary. At that time, we had approximately 25
proctors and their rate of pay had not been increased since 2015. Accordingly, the rate of pay was increased by 2% that year, and the budget sub and the school committee acknowledged the need to review their rate of pay annually to keep them competitive and to retain
them. In January 2024, the pay rate again was reviewed and increased by 2%. Either by inadvertence or oversight, the budget sub did not review the proctor rate of pay this January. Admittedly, we were in the midst of the 2026 budget and
were hyperfocused on that. Um, currently we have 14 proctors in the district. We laid off four this year due to staffing reductions. The rate of pay is $20.3 cents. Currently, the financial impact of increasing a 2% raise to these
proctors would be $9,534 for the fiscal year. This is still below the step one of the ESP contract for fiscal year 2526, which is $2160. Accordingly, I will entertain a motion to approve a
2% increase to the proctorate hourly rate for fiscal year 2026. Sorry, the break was a moment. Uh, so moved by Miss Hoy Thomas and seconded by Mr. Lo. Do we have questions and discussion on
them? Seeing none, all those in favor? Any opposed? Uh the next topic we discussed was the fiscal 24 audit which we already um discussed during the workshop and earlier with Miss Davis who attended the meeting.
Um after that we did discuss the athletic fees. Um we received an update from Mr. and we will revisit that once the fall rosters and payments are complete and no action was take taken. Um we have several contracts to review
um for um printers etc. The first of which is core technology for the printer contracts. This is a three-year contract and includes printers, laser cartridges, labor and parts and software to monitor page counts. This went out to bid
through com and we received bids from two vendors. This was the lowest bid. I will entertain a motion to authorize the business office to enter into a three-year contract for printer services with core technologies in the amount of $2,600
per month for the term of three years. So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Lo, second by Miss Conrainto. Any questions or discussion? All those in favor? Any opposed? The second was also with Core
Technologies for equipment acquisition. This went out to bid also through combis to eight vendors and we received one bid from Core Technologies. This is a three-year contract for paper cut which are e printer card readers and the
contract amount is $31,65020. This will hopefully reduce excessive unnecessary copying and printing. I will entertain a motion to authorize the business office to enter into a three-year contract for equipment acquisition services with core
technologies in the amount of $31,650. So moved. Motion made by Mr. Lo. Do I have a second? Second by Miss Conrad Lingo. Any discussion or questions? Uh seeing none, all in favor?
Any opposed? And the third contract we reviewed um is a three-year contract renewal with power school. This is our SIS student student information system. The business
office negotiated a 033 increase for the term of the contract. It was not put to it was not put out to bid at this time as changing to a new SAS system is a very in process and need several years to vet a new system. The business office
will start this process during the term of this three-year contract to explore other options and be able to properly transfer over data that we currently have. I will entertain a motion to authorize the business office to enter into a three-year contract with Powers
School in the amount of $336,254.35 over the term of three-year contract. So moved. Motion made by Mr. Lo. Do I have a second? Second. second by Mrs. Conrad Labberto. Um, do I have any questions or comments?
Yes, Mrs. Mis. With the power school, when you buy it, the software, um, does it come with modules that we have to add on such as like discipline or do we buy the whole software as one unit? So, yes, uh, there are when you buy
powers school, it it does come with several modules built in. There are add-ons that you can purchase. Um, Meg, you might be able to speak better to this. There's like an attendance tracker. Um, plug I think you call plugins, not modules, but
yeah. So, we have the H module. We have special programs special programs in our enrollment software. Those are additional modules.
CHW SI Thank you. Then so what is the plan with P school? Are we happy with it or because we did not put it out to bid at this time. So what was your thought? So I I I think overall P school is certainly much better than our previous
student information system. Um there are you know functions of powers school that I think we'd always love to see improved. Um Meg is constantly uh working with their um support systems to see what type of enhancements upgrades can um you know we can download and and
try to improve. I I think it behooves us at some point uh and as you alluded to it is a multi-year process but it it does behooves at some point to start looking to see if there are other options which we certainly know there are other options but are there other options that are going to be better than
powers school? you know, several districts uh around us use Aspen, which again is just another student information system. And you know, there are many positives that come out of Aspen. I'm sure there's some concerns. Um but Aspen seems to be one of the bigger ones um out there. Um there are
several districts around us that that use power school. So, it's not uncommon. It's not as though it's uh you know, we're oneoff. I know several local districts in Massachusetts use power school. I know Stoen uses it. Um, so we even locally, um, districts use it. But I I I think it's it's to the point where
we want to be sure, uh, it's servicing all of our needs. I think when Power School first came in, and that was probably seven years ago, maybe now 2017. 2017. Okay. Yeah. I I mean, it was the the one that the teachers um seemed to be most
impressed with. Uh, they were most excited about. Uh, we had several different vendors come in. Um, and I think, you know, we want to replicate that process and see, okay, is this still the program you want or is there something else out there? But it does take multiple years, one to get the vendors in to do some type of
presentation. Um, giving our teachers access to be able to use it. Uh, you know, I they use the term play around with it. There's always some type of like sandbox that they they can play with. But then even just the data conversion, that's not something that we would in June be like, let's switch in
July. I mean, make needs months and months and months to be able to work with a new vendor to be able to get all of our data to roll over and roll over accurately. So, you know, we would be multiple years away if if we are going to switch, but Megan and I have talked and you know, it's it's one of those
that we we think we want to hear from staff. Is this something you want to explore? Is now the time to start looking at it or um you know, is Power School servicing um their needs and our needs as a district? Do you know how power
Do you know how power school is comparatively to other programs that you have seen in the Commonwealth or you're not sure? Um so pricewise um price-wise I I I think it's fairly comparable. Um I I don't remember when
we had the vendors in you know now um what the price difference you know was at the time. Um we hadn't necessarily explored other vendors at this point. So I I can only kind of go back to 2017 when we first brought them in and and they were, you know, roughly the same,
but because we've had to buy these additional modules, obviously we're kind of going above and beyond where, you know, one of the things that we've heard from some of these other programs is that it is all-encompassing and we don't have to purchase other modules. So that's, you know, something else we want to explore to see if that's really true. You know, I think at first power school
was like, oh, here's all we can offer you. We were pretty excited about that and then come to find out it was, well, we don't offer you that. you have to pay for it. So, you know, I think a little misleading initially um for us, but um certainly something that, you know, I think it's time to explore other
options. Mr. Giddens. Yeah. I I I think it's always good to explore when you can and make sure we have the best deal. Um, one of the things as you know as we go forward with
any of these um, EI systems or whatever you want to call them, um, we should have pretty solid performance guarantees around up time, you you owe us money if you get if our data gets
hacked, etc., etc. So that they they they have to pay attention to us and otherwise they're going to be sending a chunk of money back to us because they were only up 90% of the time and you know parents couldn't access grades in a
timely manner. You you got hacked and now all of our kindergarters data is out on the dark web. We don't want that. So you got to pay us if we have to do it. Do I have any other questions? Mr. Just just super quick. I think given
also the reduced administrative capacity and looking at a switch at this point would have been realistic because typically moving SIS human resources and special programs at the same time requires additional hands, resources and money to make that switch especially with a significant data migration.
I see no more questions. All those in favor? Any opposed? Thank you. Um the budget sub also approved the July 7th 2025 budget subcommittee minutes. Uh the last item
um to note regarding budget on Thursday August 14th vice 2025 vice chair motion I hosted the joint working group meeting at the Oon Middle School in Bridgewater. In attendance were Superintendent Powers Rainham Select Board President Patricia
Riley, Rainham FinCon member Dr. Suowski and Bridgewater Town Council member Bridgewater Town Council President John Letty was unable to attend. We also had in attendance the audience in the audience school committee member Miss Roy Thomas and Bridgewater Town Council
member Mark Lindy. During the meeting we discussed the challenges of the budget cycle as the regional school district cycle runs earlier than the municipal budget cycle of the two member towns. Specifically when we were asking in January through March during each budget cycle for a commitment or estimate of an
assessment increase the towns not start their budget cycle at that point or still in the process of meeting with their department heads. We further discuss ways we could collaborate better during these cycles such as regular joint meetings and meetings with Mr. P and the town manager and town
administrator as well as having this superintendent powers andor the budget chair attending select board meetings and Bridgewater Town Council or FINCOM meetings to give updates. We discussed the letter sent from the towns and the potential audit and operational review
regarding scope and payment. This was agreed upon to be further discussed at the September joint meeting and October joint working meeting. Both towns expressed concerns about the financial outlook for fiscal year 2027 as well.
Um The next budget subcommittee meeting will be scheduled for September 15th, 2025 at 5:30 in the superintendent conference room. And that concludes my report. Do we have any other questions? Um, Mr. Shaka was not able to attend
this evening, but he did prepare a report which was in your drive to review. I will not read the report, but if anyone has questions on it, please let me or Mr. Powers know. Um, new business. We have approval of
general ledger warrants. I will entertain a motion to approve the general ledger warrants dated June 30th, 2025, July 24th, 2025, July 31st, 2025, August 1st, 2025, and August 7th, 2025.
A motion made by Mr. Fitz Gibbons and second by Mrs. Conra. All those in favor? Any opposed? And we have one extension. Thank you. Um, under other business, I not have
any. Um, we have a second public comment. I do not see any members of the public if I may. Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. Sure. Just in lie of the announcements of the class sizes. I know the new contract that we signed with Bara has a joint
committee on class size that requires we meet um in November and there's a few other um members of school committee, superintendent, assistant super and um so I can't recall who else but I don't know how we get that ball rolling. I
just wanted to put that out there. Thank you for putting that on my horizon. I'll talk to Mr. Harris about that. It was the V members that Yep. And I would uh take issue, Madame Chair, with the fact that we don't have a member of the public here. We have a
very important member of the public here from Grand M. Riley. Sorry, that is true. Mrs. Riley, would you like public comment? I'm also Thank you. I apologize. No problem. Under announcements, um Mr. Fitzgiven, do you have an announcement that you would like to state, please?
Yeah. Um, actually people have heard the name uh a few times in this meeting. Uh, but on Friday uh the 22nd at 2 p.m. in the Horseshoe Driveway of what is now the old Bridgewater Middle School, we're
going to have a naming dedic uh dedication ceremony to rename it the Edward J. Odon Middle School in honor of um Mr. who served as the for first full uh fully regionalized superintendent here.
Um I happen to have the privilege of working with him during that time and uh I can't think of a better honor. So, inviting all the public listening tonight to come down um probably park in the big lot and uh and come over uh to
the to the horseshoe lot and um you know honor honor great man unfortunately passed uh within the last couple of years but his family will be there uh to uh to accept the honor on his behalf. Thank you. Thank you Miss Mr. Given and thank you
taking this on and and leading the charge on that. I really appreciate that. Um, further uh Bridgewater Arena Regional Staff Convocation is scheduled for Monday, August 25th at 8:30 a.m. here in the auditorium. All school
committee members are invited and encouraged to attend. Um it's I've gone to a couple of them and they're it's a great feeling to have all the staff back together um to feel like the excitement of that first day. Um so if you can attend, it's a great way to be there for
the staff, especially with going into this year, they need all the positivity, all the positivity that we can give them. Um the first day of school for grades 1 through 12 is Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025. Kindergarten and prek return Wednesday, September 3rd,
2025. Budget sub is Monday, September 15th. Uh we have a joint school committee, Rainham Select Board, Rainham Fidcom, Rainham Town Administrator, Bridgewater Town Council, Bridgewater FinCom, Bridgewater Town Manager, every
and school committee, everyone is invited to attend that um on Wednesday, September 17th, 2025 at 7 at BR here in the library. Um, and then our next regularly scheduled school committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday,
September 24th, 2025 at 7 p.m. at the Rainham Middle School. Do I have other announcements from school committee members? Okay, seeing none, that concludes our regular school committee meeting. I will entertain a motion to adjourn our meeting at 8:40 p.m.
So moved. Motion made by Mr. Los. Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor? And he goes.