202 we are opening our meeting at 7 o' um at the Rainham Middle School in the auditorium. Please note we are live streaming on our YouTube channel and recording will be available on our YouTube channel afterwards. Please rise and join us in the pledge of >> allegiance
[Music] to the flag of the state of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you. I would like to introduce our school committee members in attendance um as well as the admin in attendance this evening for our regular school committee meeting. On my left I have Mr. Vitz Given, Mr. Guthro, Miss Boy Thomas, Superintendent Powers. On my right I
have Mrs. Mayville, Mrs. Conrad Labberto, Vice Chair Mr. Lo, and I am Rachel King, school committee chair. We also have in attendance assistant superintendent Barry, Miss Roashau, as well as Miss Balola, um, and Mr. Chaka,
our director of facilities. Um, we also have other members of admin in attendance. Um, as well as Mrs. Judy McDougall, our recording recording secretary, school committee member, Mrs. Danport is away this week and is not able to attend tonight's meeting.
Um, as we do have a guest here to present for us, I'm going to take that out of order. Um, I would like to entertain a motion to take item six, administrative and school committee reports, budget items, number two, school essential contract, and number
three, all state waste contract out of order. >> Motion made by Mr. Lo, >> second by Miss Thomas. Any discussion? All those in favor? Any opposed? Thank you.
Um, so we do have the first item that we just took out of order is the schooling Mitchell contract. Um, we do have Mr. Barry here from Schoolie Mitchell. Um, I would turn the floor over to Mr. Powers to introduce him, please. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, yes, excited
to uh introduce Mr. Brian Barry from Schoolie Mitchell. Uh, he's also a local resident. um he had reached out to me a number of months ago to talk about uh what school could possibly do for the district in terms of uh analyzing our
costs and possibly generating some cost savings, looking at some of our contracts uh for goods and services. Uh so we had shared some uh information, Miss Babalola and her department had shared some of our previous invoices um with him and in school Mitchell and they
were able to do an analysis and potential cost savings which I know we've spoken about before uh but we thought tonight where obviously the item is on the agenda uh it would be good to have him here if there are any potential questions or if you wanted to share a few thoughts and words. >> Absolutely. I appreciate your time. Good
evening everyone. Um yeah, so Brian Barry, um I own a franchise called Sully Mitchell. We do business expense reduction optimization. Um we work with public and private entities. We do deep dive analysis in up to 14 different expense categories. That one of them is
the waste. Um it's all contingency based. So we don't charge any fees unless we're able to find savings and you accept our recommendations. We also monitor invoices for a period of time after. We handle all your vendor issues. So it's a great way to just add back in to your budgets.
Uh, thank you so much for coming here tonight. We really appreciate it. Um, I know Mr. Par probably filled you in. We've had a failed override and we've had a lot of budget um, problems this year and probably going forward. So, it's something that we're really looking at all areas in the district of where we
can save money, where we can look at um, any costsaving measures. So, we really appreciate. Um where do you foresee I know we have this service agreement and then the waste contract which we're going to look at. Where do you foresee other areas that you're going to look into? >> So right now um they had recommended
they checked off three different categories. The facilities and office supplies, the telecommunications and the waste. Um facility office supplies, it's a bit of a different scenario because you buy in bulk purchase once a year and then fill as needed. So there's not a consistent basis. So for us to do a
contingency based model, we cannot do that. Um but the telecommunications area um we think that there's a substantial amount that we can help in in that area. Um so that's your internet services, all your phones, your all the data lines,
security lines. Um and you have multiple vendors. So we're trying to do a consolidation and it does take a period of time to negotiate and work through that. So, I do expect to have something in the next 30 to 60 days.
And what we uncover, we uncover. You don't know until we really look, take a look under the hood, so to speak. Um, but it's great in the fact that, you know, for a couple hours of your time to be able to go through this and potentially find all different kinds of savings. Um, could be quite beneficial
because I do have other partners that do the same model where it's at no cost. So overall if we look at a whole variety of categories over the next say 12 months there could be some substantial savings. Um if you look at the waste there was a
36 12% was the highest and there was a 20%. So there were three different options that we provided and what you decide you decide. Um but you just never know until we take a look at it. Oh >> we appreciate that. Do I have questions on this Mitchell um agreement for
members? >> Miss Thomas, >> thanks. Um my question, I guess, is about business office duties and what falls under their scope. Um with the fair bid process, they're not allowed to do what Skoolie Mitchell is allowed to
do to negotiate pricing. Um I guess my question is for the superintendent. Are we kind of outsourcing something And we're already paying for the business office to be doing. >> Uh not necessarily. Uh obviously we could put these items out to bid depending on uh the price. U obviously
procurement we have to follow procurement process to be sure that's obviously intact. When we look at um you know the the amount it's obviously calculated by threshold so dollar amounts. So in terms of for regional school districts the threshold amount for goods and services was increased um
I believe in 2022. I have to confirm that date, but I believe that was the date to up to $100,000. Uh where all we have to do at that point is just uh secure three quotes from vendors. Uh so that's
obviously what Miguel had done for us in terms of having to go out to bid. That was not something because of the dollar amount. Obviously, if it was over $100,000 uh through the procurement process at that point, we would have had to go up to a public bid.
Miss Bville, did you have a question? >> I wanted to get some clarification. >> Can you do you mind just using the microphone? >> Okay. Um I wanted to get an understanding of your compensation. Um my from reading um through the contract
it appears that you get a percentage of the cost savings. Is that how >> correct? It's a percentage. It's a shared savings. >> Okay. So how does that impact the ultimate um total savings that the district will receive? Like what is what would be your cut from those savings? >> So typically as with the with the
service agreement that was signed um it's a 50-50 split for the first 36 months. So in your example with the waste that you're saving 36%. Um the first three years you're going to save 18% then you get the full realized savings of 36% our services would end.
So during that three-year um term, what we do is we review in every single invoice every month, make sure that there's no errors. If there are any errors, billing problems, we handle all that for you. We engage the vendors to help you save that time. We currently um
we're in the marketplace consistently. So I have teams that do that 40 hours a week. So we're always looking for better rates and services for you. Um there's an analyzed review as well. So hopefully at some point during that first 36 months I may be able to come back to the school opinion and say here's another 10
15 18% whatever we can find in the entire marketplace you know what are your thoughts so we're there just to help support you it's a complete support role >> um and how do based on that model um how do you address conflict of interest
um meaning that would you be know feel like there would be an opportunity for you to go to like more favored vendor. So just how do you address conflict of interest with that compensation? >> So we're agnostic. I don't we we do not
do one vendor versus another. We bring we actually went up to 10 vendors. We went through the whole negotiation process and came down to a final three that we presented to um Mr. powers in this Babolo and you pick and choose what
you want. It's entirely your call. We don't we customized it because there were a couple of requests as far as dumpster styles and location. So, we make sure that we take everything into consideration and we draw it up to really what you're looking for. Lay out a few different options in a perfect
world of three or four options for you and you pick and choose what you want to do. >> That's good. >> Yes, Mr. Fitzg. >> Yes. So, thanks for coming in, Mr. Barry. I just want to clarify something for the folks watching at home on YouTube, all
27 of them. Um, >> might be 30. >> Might be 30 now. Okay. As soon as I'm done talking, it'll be 15. Um, but you you keep referring to waste. You're referring to solid waste generated by the school district and not waste in a
general sort of we're wasting money somewhere, right? >> No, this is one category. It is waste, solid waste, food waste, trash recycling. >> Thank you. >> Yes, that's the one category that we have completely gone through presented.
>> Thank you. Any other questions? >> Um my question is the um fee structure. It's a five-year contract and you are compensated the first three years. What changes in year four and five? our services end as far as reviewing
your invoices, um shopping the marketplace consistently, handling any vendor issues and looking out for you. Um at after 36 months if I if we cannot find any more opportunities. Um so at the end of that 36 months, our services would stop that contract you
have with um all state waste would still continue and you get 100% realized savings versus the baseline that was created with your current vendor. >> Thank you. And then one more um on page nine of your contract there was the um
schedule but the contract also says it can't guarantee the pricing beyond 63125. Has that been updated for us? >> The pricing on Yeah, that was already signed. We've already put that in. So yeah, we do we
do a quote for 30 days and if you don't make a decision within the first 30 days, we look to the vendors to try and accept that. >> Thank you. Yes. This question is for Mr. Powers. Um wondering what is the internal process that will be used to vet and review the
the recommendations that are put forth and is there a role that the school committee will play? >> The role the school committee will play is this evening to uh vote to decide to approve or not approve the vendor contract uh with all state for trash and
recycling. uh the process that we obviously went through uh in meeting with school Mitchell and Mr. Barry was we reviewed the uh the three proposals that he brought forward uh in terms of um you know their offerings, dumpster size, uh number of pickups um and
obviously you know pricing uh and then uh their percentage increase uh over time uh and all state waste um in many of the categories and overall uh proved to be the the best option for us. Thank you. Okay. Um, seeing that, I'm
going to entertain a motion to authorize the superintendent to enter an into an agreement with Schoolie Mitchell and allow payment of 50% of the cost savings for the first three years of the 5-year waste management contract with all state waste subsequent toie Mitchell's
costsaving analysis. >> Motion made by Mr. Loach, second by Mrs. Do we have any other questions or comments on that? >> Mrs. M. >> Did we evaluate any other options besides >> other vendors such as school?
>> Uh, no. Schoolie Mitch was the only vendor that uh had approaches about uh this competitive pricing uh analysis and so they're the sole vendor that we have uh entered into an agreement with the soul you've spoken to
>> in terms of this process. Yes. >> Thank you. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? All right, motion passes 62 actually 65 to two.
Thank you. And on a related matter is the all state waste. Um do you want to discuss Mr. Powers or Mr. Barry the allstate waste contract? Um the main points of that? >> Uh sure. Obviously uh you have that for
your review. Um I think you know for us it it it presented the best option. It lockd in uh to a set increase over the next five years. Uh they presented to us uh multiple options in terms of you know single year threeear fouryear and
obviously fiveyear option. As you can imagine with most contracts the longer you enter into those contracts the lower the percentage increase. Uh for us, you know, as we spent so much time this spring talking about being able to forecast and and predict our budgetary costs, it made sense for us to lock into
a longer uh smaller increase. When we actually looked at uh what our trash and recycling uh increases have been over the number of years um because we were doing year-to-year contracts uh for a while, uh it ranged anywhere from, you know, 8% increase up to, you know,
double digits, 15 20% increase back down. So there wasn't that consistency. This allows us obviously to um you know better better predict and forecast when we're developing our budget around waste and recycling. And obviously as Mr. Barry said looking at those other areas
of of the operation hopefully we'll be able to do the same. I I think obviously you know this aligns to what school committee had uh you know charged the district with doing in terms of creating those models and this allows us to be able to better do that with more accuracy.
Thank you. And then um I just want to point out so are these figures still correct? So the savings overall over the fiveyear period I know we do the split for the first three years the overall savings will be $156,786 >> for your portion you're referring to. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. There's a chart in that whole presentation that shows year in four where you get 100% of the realized savings. >> Yes. Correct. >> Um I'm going to motion on the table and then I will take questions on it. Um I will entertain a motion to authorize the
director of business services to enter into a 5-year contract with all state waste management. >> Motion made by Mr. Lo. Do I have a second? >> Second by Miss Conrad. Do I have questions on this?
Sorry you had your hands. Um, how do these new proposed rates compare to our current waste management costs? >> Uh, well, right now, um, compared to your current vendor, um, the first year
you would save $44,800 roughly, which in reality after our fees, it's $22,400. That goes right back into your budget. >> Mr. Powers, do we how do how does it currently work with our current vendor?
So, as I uh just uh review that it is currently we're on a year-to-year contract uh with our waste and recycling vendor uh you know so this would allow us again to get locked into that predictable rate for the next five years. Obviously uh you know we are
somewhat at their mercy uh because we're it is a year-to-year contract. Um, we obviously have looked at other vendors, but you know, again, because we're not entering into those multi-year agreements or haven't been, uh, this provides us that opportunity to go ahead and secure those savings over time. As Mr. Barry said, you know, obviously
we're cost sharing, uh, that savings for the first three years and those last two, the the savings is 100% back to the district. >> Thank you. >> Do you have another question? >> Sure. >> Um, will the service levels um stay the
same or improve with this new contract. >> The minimum is that they stay the same. We design this so that it's completely in the client's interest. We're only there to support you. Again, we have full staff. So, if you do have any run into vendor issues, it's a phone call. I have teams behind me that will handle
all that. So, we take that time and all that off your plate because you're obviously fairly busy and have other things to do. So, I mean, that's that's part of what we offer. So, it's all in the benefit of you. In line with what you just said about handling all the vendor issues with this
being a five-year contract, which is a significant um length of time, if there is um any level of dissatisfaction or we want to pivot um is there termin what's the termination clause in there in the five-year
>> with >> if there is such >> there's not with all state I there aren't early termination fees as as dictated typically in waste environment. As with All State, it's multiplied by the number of months left on the contract. But again, for the first three
years, we're there to do it all for you. Um, as you have today with your current vendor, if you had an issue, you'd be on the phone trying to chase them and call them and do whatever you have to. We handle all that for you. And hopefully, in the perfect world, within the first 36 months, I'm going to we'll be able to
find you more savings because we're in the complete marketplace. And hopefully it goes longer than that. trying to simplify and make your lives easier and save money for the hopefully as I as I told you superintendent powers ideally if we could save a few teacher
salaries doing multiple categories and if we can get a few teacher salaries in there back so that you know some of the classrooms hopefully a few kids less especially in the high school >> just because you mentioned it um the three years of compensation for you is
equivalent to a teacher's salary, which is part of my weighing this in my head. Um as you continue to look at other contracts going forward, I guess that's where my hesitation lies. Um just are we again paying for a
function that our business office could be and should be doing? I think we're going to get that question from the public. You might, but um does the business office and the school do you have time to reach out to 10 or 12 vendors on a regular basis? Do you have
time to do all the research for the entire marketplace to know what's really truly going on, the opportunities that are out there? In the end, even though we're sharing savings, we're automatically adding back into your budget. >> That's extra money right into the budget
at no cost. I think compared to a lot of districts, our actual business office does quite a bit smaller. They're doing the most they can on a daily basis. So, I do think this was an effective use of time and funds to contract to bring them in to do this work because I think they also just lost one team
member. They have to do more with less. So, I think this was an appropriate time to move into this contract. Um, and it is considerable cost savings over a year. And if we can help you at no cost, we're adding back to your bottom line.
>> Thank you. All right, I'm going to put this for a vote. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Um motion passes 621. Thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. And >> um we'll definitely Mr. powers. I know
we'll be in touch with you and those will also come through budget into full committee for other um things that you want us to review. So, I'm sure we'll we'll see you more often. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Thank you so much. >> Have a good night. Um, moving back to the agenda, we have
the consent agenda. Um, I will take a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented, which includes minutes dated June 11th, 2025, June 25th, 2025, June 26, 2025, and payroll ledger warrants
for June 12th, 2025, June 18th, 2025, June 26th, 2025, and June 30th, 2025. >> Motion made by Mr. Lo and second by Miss Conradto. Discussion. Oh, sorry. I forgot. Not applicable. All
those in favor? >> Any opposed? Thank you. Mr. Fitzgiven is my Robert's room person. Uh, moving on to correspondence. Um, regarding general correspondence
from the community received, um, we received an email regarding the track and tennis courts at the high school and why and if they are to the public. Um to which Mr. Powers as well as I responded. Um we also received a BA letter regarding the ratification of the teacher contract. Um to which I
responded as well. Um regarding the grounds of the high school again regarding requesting if any admin would be cut or if it was only staff. Um the PTO group requesting the school committee meeting schedules. um email regarding our health insurance increases
with some suggestions for cost-saving measures, which we received several of those and we do appreciate all of those um suggestions and comments regarding any cost-saving measures. Um an email from the community member encouraging us to make sure we spread some positivity
to our teachers and staff, especially in these uncertain times. an email from a town council member regarding a grant opportunity to look into um and several emails from parent and community members regarding losses of the electives um at the high school. Um we did receive
several of those um which we have responded to and it is of utmost concern to um myself, Mr. Powers, many of us up here that have high school students. Um so it will be a continued discussion at budget and at school committee meetings
as well. Um the next item on the agenda, um state legislation to ban cell phones in school. Um on July 15, 2025, I received an email from Senator Bill Driscoll regarding legislation to ban cell phones
in school, which will be debated in the Senate later this month. Senator Driscoll would like our thoughts and comments for his consideration. Um so I did receive an email from Mr. Driscoll. I'm just going to read it quickly. Um the Senate members of the
education committee recently advanced this bill to ban cell phones in schools for the duration of the school day belltoell. He is not on that on that committee but he would appreciate some thoughts and comments as that will be taken up as debate later this month in
the Senate. Um so I just wanted to get some comments and concerns um points that you would like me to. I did respond to him and say that we would put it on the agenda. Um, so I did want some comments from committee members if you would like me to take those under
consideration. >> If anyone has any comments, >> I I think it really comes down to what is the the scope of the ban. It really is a very broad topic to address. Uh cell phones in school we know can can go in really either direction to be used as
a positive tool in the classroom or as we also know students can use them to uh as a distraction or they need to unfortunately at times get themselves in trouble. Um I really think you know it's going to come down to what is the state going to look to propose and also look
to assist districts to implement this. because I think many districts will incur a cost in order to implement a cell phone plan across across the board. Um, you know, and I also think this is an area that, you know, if there's not funding put towards it, um, that, you
know, we're going to have a lot of additional discipline issues that I think could be avoided otherwise. >> I think Mr. Given had his hand up first and then Mrs. Conra. Yeah, I just think um the state
legislature needs to realize there are 351 cities and states in the in the state of Massachusetts. They need some towns in the state of Massachusetts and um and they all elect school committee some way somehow and they know the best
for what their communities are dealing with. We don't need a top down solution. We need a bottom up solution on this. So, I am completely against any mandate from the state, especially as Mr. Le says, it's probably going to cost us money and they won't give it to us.
Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. >> I think I'm just echoing what Mr. said, Mr. Lo said is um you know, having been involved in kind of legislation and what happens at the state house, um it's all good and well intended and then once it
gets written on paper and approved and negotiated, words get changed. it's changed um in the likelihood of it being a funded mandate and the discipline issues it could cause. I would say this is a local issue. It
needs to be managed and dealt with at a local level. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. >> I would echo my fellow committee members. I would encourage our state lawmakers to focus on the problems that we can't solve at the local level, which
is funding primarily top of mind in this district, and to allow us to actually administer the day-to-day operations, including things like how we handle cell phones at the local level. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> All right, I will put those thoughts
together um and send uh Senator Driscoll an email. I also have the same I sent him something personal, you know, from myself which was very similar to this that I've seen other unfunded mandates which we really don't have the ability
to do right now. Um as well as you know we implemented last year um the pouches on the back of the classrooms and we have received positive feedback from the staff and the students as well on that. So I also would like to keep that at the local level of how it is working within
our district. um at this time. So, I will put that together and send that out. I'll have Judy also um upload a copy of that so you can all see that. Judy, do you think that needs a a motion or is that fine?
Okay. Thank you. Okay, next on the agenda is the town support of independent review. On July 18th, 2025, I received two letters um which were in your drive from both the town of Ringham uh select board and the
town of Bridgewater Town Council. Um hopefully everyone has had a chance to review those. Um the focus of the letter um in each they both um I believe written collaboratively very similar. Um they were both to formally request that
the school committee commission an independent operational and financial review of the district. The scope of this review would include internal budgeting procedures, personnel and educational cost um I'm sorry, personnel and special education costs, the use of
revolving funds, compliance with financial controls, and any systemic issues contributing to structural deficits. Um so those were both similar letters from the towns. Um so it were they were letters sent from
the towns. They are expecting some sort of a response. I know this was born out of the failed override and the state of the budget right now. Um I just want some feedback from all of you whether that's a motion or what we would like to
do going forward. Um after reviewing those letters, bearing in mind um while each town each town funds us, we are an autonomous body. They can request us to do anything. Um but it is up to us as a
body to vote or to make a decision on our own what we would like to do and how we want to proceed. So um do you want to give your thoughts on what you have discussed? Shall we open it up to the committee? >> You raise my I'll have take questions from the committee and then I'll have
Mr. Powers um comment. Mr. Fitzg. >> Madam Chair, I I don't think um this is an urgent matter that requires an answer tomorrow. Um I'd suggest we craft a statement and and a and a letter
back to the two towns that we can look at in our August meeting and say, "Here's here are our thoughts. uh if you could listen to the committee tonight to put those together and obviously to the superintendent tonight when he makes his
comments that would be good. The only thing I would I would definitely want to include in that is that we request as our own, as you said, our own separate municipal entity that the towns do the same thing and forward us their results as well. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Given. Um that actually is my number one no. So you read my mind. Um I will accept um comments from other but that that is a good idea and that was actually what I was thinking. Mr. Mrs. Conra I would echo what Mr.
Fitzgiven said is you know if they were looking for us to go under review then what's their own internal process to to do this? And my other request would be they are both looking for this for the for us to do this is I think they should fund it. We are already short on
funding. Um that's and I have no problem doing this but they need to supply us with the dollars to do this. >> Uh I understand that was actually one of the things I did have um conversations with um one of the select board members regarding that um off the record. Um
that is a concern of mine as well. If we go further with something like this um who will be funding this when we're asking them for extra money right now to fund this upcoming budget which is not enough. Um so that's a huge concern.
Do I have other comments before MS? Mr. Powers. Um Mr. Powers does have an update of kind of had in the works which is a start of what the town is kind of looking for. >> Thank you, Mrs. King. Uh yes, I did want
to just share um during the month of May, I did reach out to the Collins Center in UMass Boston. Uh it's a center for public management. They work with uh municipalities, cities, towns, uh school districts across the Commonwealth, uh and really across the country to uh you
know conduct financial reviews, assist districts with uh you know management and operations. uh for example uh some districts that have a uh you know smaller business department or a small human resources department they may be expanding they'll come in they'll help with those uh startups but they'll also
help with uh reviews of current practices and so you know while uh you know from the superintendent's lens um you know I'm confident in our business practices I also realize there have been some questions raised um and because we are a learning organization uh and
obviously always want to take advantage of every opportunity to learn and grow. I I did think it was in our best interest to reach out to the Colin Center uh to see what potential services they could offer the district. Um we received a proposal um which I believe you you may have a copy of. If not, we
can certainly get that to you. Uh we did enter into an agreement with them to uh begin to work on um reviewing our budget practices. Uh again, you know, we want to make sure that we're effective uh that our dollars are going to um all the places that should uh primarily to
teaching and learning and to our students. Um again, confident that that they are, but we obviously want to make sure have somebody else come in to to prove what we think we know. And we also want to make sure that we're efficient, uh that we are using, uh every dollar in the way it should be used. Um, and we
want to make sure I I know the term, you know, transparency has been put out there, although I do feel as though we made every budget document available, all of our presentations available. You know, if there's a better way for us to communicate information to the community in a more uh userfriendly
uh accessible way, then obviously that's something we want to be able to look at as well. Um, and so in meeting with the Colin Center, representatives from the Collins Center uh to talk about this scope of work, we actually had a kickoff meeting yesterday. We are in the process of sharing um documents with them now.
They've obviously they've requested all of our u you know prior budgets any type of budget document process that we currently have in place. Um they want to look at obviously capital. They would like to look at uh you know they obviously looked at uh and discussed forecasting and what type of budgetary
projections we have and obviously they're they want to make sure that our practices are aligned to you know industry standards. uh they use the Association of School Business Officials uh as kind of their gold standard and really what they hope to uh be able to help us with is making sure that all of
our practices are aligned to those standards and that we can put forward a product uh in in the way of of what is referred to a lot of times as a budget book that's a clear easy to follow u userfriendlyformational guide for not just for school committee
not just for u staff and the district but also for the community. Um it's very laid out succinctly. So it's something that we are in the process. We we should have obviously um you know a finished product as the year unfolds. Uh we obviously know that we do our
preliminary budget in January and then obviously school committee uh takes that bud budget under under their control and and revises it as the spring goes on. So it's something that they know they'll it'll be a living document and they'll make changes as the year unfolds. But I have to say very excited. Uh our meeting
with them yesterday was great. They have already started to uh do some information gathering on their end even before our meeting. Uh they'll be reaching out uh you know they'll be creating a school profile, town profile. Uh they'll be you know obviously getting information not just from us but you know whatever they can uh that's
accessible to the the general public on the town websites to review funding that we've received from them. Obviously obviously the state as well. Uh so really, you know, I appreciate what both towns are are asking the school committee to consider and to undertake
and certainly uh no way, shape or form trying to to stand in the way of that. I feel confident that much of what they're asking us to do will be accomplished uh through this scope of work. Uh I did mention to them that uh you know what both towns were looking for and that you
know as the process unfolds or as they start to review our documents if they felt as though that one particular area needed a deeper dive or uh you know greater analysis uh that certainly we could uh you know pivot from the scope and and and go ahead and do that and
they are certainly open to that. um you know they obviously want um you know us to be successful uh because if we're successful then obviously ultimately they are successful as well. I know um you know obviously you can visit the Collins Center website has a list of all the public entities that they have
worked with as I stated uh cities, towns and school districts. Um, so they're well-known, reputable organization uh through the um University of Massachusetts system and we're excited to be able to work with them for the upcoming school year.
>> Thank you, Mr. Powers. Um, so just to reiterate, so the Collins group is going to be doing a budget book, kind of walking us through the next budget cycle, creating a more streamlined process for budget, um, a better way to present that to the public and for the
school committee. >> Uh, correct. Yes. Um and then I also see um on page four they do have in addition to that other elements may be considered such as financial forecasting um fund descriptions or structures um different
budgeting description of basis of budgeting etc. So there is they are open like you said to kind of pivoting or if during this process they need to do reopen the agreement and say we really need to do a deep dive into this um we need to streamline this particular area
or department. >> Correct. Yes. >> Do we have other questions on this Mrs. Mville? >> Um how much did this cost and was this included in our budget? >> Uh so this the total cost I believe is in your proposal. If not, uh, Miss
Neville, I apologize. Uh, it's $32,500. Uh, we were able to secure end of the year, uh, funds, uh, before the, uh, fiscal year 25 closed over. We because we did start this project during, uh, fiscal year 25, we did use fiscal year 25 funds. Um,
to make an initial payment, uh, half of the payment was due in the beginning and then obviously uh, as the process goes on, we'll also be invoiced. But I know Miss um carried the remaining balance over into FY26 debate to this.
>> Miss M. Sorry, >> no problem. Um were other proposal reviewed and um compared? Uh the reason why I voted no to the um Skoolie Mitchell contract was because it was the only vendor that approached us and so I
do have hesitation when we just go into contracts when other proposals wasn't reviewed and compared. So was that done in this situation? >> Uh UMass uh Boston, the Colin Center, UMass Boston was the only organization that we reached out to. >> Um how were you aware of the this um
vendor? uh they they have a reputation across the state. Um obviously other cities and towns and districts have used them for uh similar type of processes or as I mentioned other areas of the organization. So it's a reputable well-known organization in um municipal
organizations. >> Miss Cong Mr. powers, you know, I can see some, you know, they listed, you know, again what the basic step of work is and then there's other options and then they give their rates for those
other options. I'm assuming if there's other things that we want um that you would come back to us if it goes beyond the initial the 32,500 I believe. >> Yes, that that is correct. >> Or whatever if there's other things that are needed within those rates they proposed.
>> Yes. Um, superintendent power, just to clarify, would this work satisfy the request of the towns or is this a concurrent workflow that would be separate that we would undertake on our own? I I believe looking at uh what the towns
have requested uh this may satisfy that. I can't, you know, 100% say for sure. Obviously, I I don't think this will, you know, dive deep into uh you know, personnel structures and special education costs, but obviously look at those budgetary from a budgetary standpoint. Um, you know, from the
letters from the towns, I I think they're asking us to, you know, provide again or conduct a deeper dive into those areas. Obviously, as you know, we've just hired a new director of student services. Um, she's been amazing thus far and already uh really working
to make sure that any money that uh is, you know, an expense of the district is being thoroughly reviewed. Uh, obviously, uh, you know, Miss Haley in the personnel department and human resources. So, I I I feel as though that what we're getting from the scope of work put forward by UMass
should suffice. Um, obviously, if there's uh something additional that we feel as though that or school committee feels as though that needs to be undertaken, but I I I would, you know, I don't want our efforts to be uh duplicated or certainly the cost to be duplicated.
you know, obviously contacted UMass prior to to the towns requesting this. Um, so I I do feel as though that this would suffice. Um, but again, that's, you know, my professional opinion. Um, but that would be my recommendation at
this point. We go through this process. If it doesn't give us the information that we feel as though that we need um or that school committee needs or the public has requested or the towns have requested then we can you know further go back out and explore other areas or expand the you know the scope of this work.
>> Mr. Lo and Superintendent you pretty much just said actually what I was say so just echoing your comments to ensure that you know if we do move forward with anything with the 10 in terms of independent review just ensuring it's not duplicative of this process uh throw money at something we've already
done. Um, and you know, the cool is kind of gold standard across the Commonwealth. So, I am more than comfortable expanding that scope, but that's what we needed to do. >> Thank you. Um, so going along with what Mr. Gibbons had stated, um, drafting up
a letter in response to the town. Um, what my thought process is, I give them a status on, um, acknowledging their receipt. uh what Mr. Powers has, you know, started with this um Collins group, what their scope of work is. Um
I've also reached out um and had Mrs. McDougall email at both towns so we can get the working group back up. I was thinking we would meet in late August or early September. So perhaps at that point we can kind of give them a status update what that scope is um kind of
keep them involved in that process as well so they know if they have feedback we can take that back to the Collins group um because they will be providing updates throughout this process. It's not just a deliverable at the end of the process. It'll be constant updates. So, we can try and get that in August or
September and have them get a status on what we're doing, get the scope of work kind of so they're on board if there's further information that they want to see. We have thoughts on that. >> This is I just want to restate what I I
I heard just to make sure I understand. So, we are going to invest $35,000 into this initiative, this intervention, and in the event that we've missed the mark, we will then come back and invest
more funds into um trying to meet the needs that was voiced by the town and the community. Is that what you're saying? Okay. So based on my initial reading of the
contract, it it to me from my past experience, what the town is asking for and what is captured in this contract are different, right? One is more um um going through the budget process, making it more digestible and understanding
um easy to understand by the community, but the town is really asking for some efficiencies and to kind of, you know, check make sure that our checks and balances are in place. So I anticipate since we went forward with this contract before meeting with the town that there
will indeed be a gap and if there is a gap, what I thought I heard was that we would come back and and and change the scope which would possibly um incur more costs. We can change the scope at any point
which potentially yes will change the cost. Mr. Powers feels like this will capture a going through that budget process will capture a lot of the streamlining procedures and budget processes that they're looking for. If
so here's my what you're getting at is we're not get letting the towns guide this which we're a separate entity. I want to work as partners with the town but at the same time we're like we could be a different town in Birmingham
Bridgewater like this is our this is our duty because it's our budget and our district so yes I want to partner with them but we need to guide it not the towns do you understand what I'm getting at I want their input and I want them
along for this process um and they can give us feedback as we go through this but it is on us and it's our duty and obligation. >> I guess because of the fact that we're not self-funded and we we need to go to
the town and the community to get the funding. I'd like to be able to meet the needs and the desires that the community has articulated. So I I understand the comparison, but the towns don't come to
us for money. We come to them for money. And so it does feel that it should be a more collaborative um uh collaborative solution. And it is a little disappointing that we would we
have signed a contract um previous to meeting with the towns to see if this would actually um be the the kind of intervention that would meet their need for more transparency and understanding and meet the needs of their
constituents. M >> so just just to go back uh m superintendent power you said earlier you start a conversation with us when >> the end of May >> right so this was done in a proactive
measure to start to look at and examine these areas this wasn't done in response to the tax request I think now that we have already entered into this contract there is a potential to expand it but I think there was consensus among several of us that we would want the town then
to pay for those portions if they want to go beyond this initial contract. But this was done in a proactive measure towards the end of last budget cycle when we were going trying to approve a budget, not in response to anything from the town about looking at this independent review. That has been more of a recent development as a result of a
failed override. Um, how many positions from this edge past school year are not going to be filled in the next school year >> between uh retirements again somewhat
still but we're looking at roughly 10 retirements not being filled potentially another uh 20 teaching positions. Obviously, we've reduced support staff. So, some secretarials, four secretarial positions, uh four part positions. Uh
we're not. >> So, that that sounds like roughly between five and 10% of our workforce is not coming back year over year. Well, and I'm sorry, Miss Mel, but I completely disagree with you what you said where the town doesn't come to us
to ask for money. They came to us for to ask for money by not letting anyone of their works workforce go this this coming fiscal year when we're observing a 5 to 10% cut in our workforce. We should all as I've been saying since the
beginning of this last September we we should all be in it together. Everybody shares the pain. Everybody shares the wealth. And they do come to us. say they do use us to balance their municipal budget period.
>> Mr. Uh, I do think it is of paramount importance that we do everything we can to give the residents of both Bridgewater and Reo confidence in that the money that we are getting whether we think it's enough or not. Uh, I think we
all know how this group feels about the budget, but that the money we're getting is being properly spent, properly allocated. I think the the Collins Center, right, is very well respected for their work in this area. They are well respected authorities. So I think
taking a proactive approach prior to receiving these letters is is a positive step. I also think ensuring that you know we we do have a response for the towns where um you know I think my number one question is similar to others. How do we pay for this and will
they help us pay for this? because as we've already pointed out there's um you know we already don't have the money to put towards what we need to put it which is towards teachers and towards students and reducing class sizes and programs. So I I do think we need to have a
conversation with the towns about how do we responsibly pay for this? If it's the towns are able to pay for it that would be ideal. Um, but I do think, you know, what they're asking is not unreasonable because we have to remember that we're going to be having similar conversations in 9, 10, 11, 12 months from now that
we're having now because I don't think there's going to be a pot of gold at the bottom of a rainbow that appears that's going to help us get our staffing back to where it needs to be. Inflation, economic pressures, and headwinds are not going to slow down. Insurance costs are not going to decrease. So I I do
think that we need to continue to work with the towns to give everybody in both towns the confidence that the money that we are getting is being spent properly, is being spent and aligned with best practices. Um so that they have one fewer objection when we go
back with superintendent powers goes back with our budget proposal for for next year. I think that is is absolutely a critical step that we need to begin working on uh sooner rather than later. And I think you know meeting if there's an opportunity to meet with the towns um and to discuss this and discuss what
precisely is going to satisfy them uh and how we can actually execute this in a way that it can be completed ideally prior to serious budget discussions the January budget window um I think would would do ourselves a world of good as we look into our next budget cycles for
next year. >> Thank you Mr. So, my proposal, I don't think we need a motion this evening. I would like to draft a letter then for review by the committee and bring it back to the
August meeting. Um, I'll draft it earlier so everyone can review and give um Mrs. McDougall feedback um before that meeting um and any other comments etc that you might have before then. Um, I'll also
try and meet with the working group in August before that meeting so I can have comments from them as well. Um, should we then also think about having a joint meeting sometime in September um
with the entire select board, the entire the entire town council. That way we can start this process earlier. We can all be on the same board. I understand where they were going with the letter, but it's very difficult for the three separate entities to kind of be on the same page. And I know where Mrs.
Mainville was going. We need to work more collaboratively. Um, but it's very difficult when we're in our own meeting having a business meeting, then they meet another day, have their meeting, and we never are in the same room together. So, that's kind of my proposal. um that I'm gonna kind of try
and make that work for September, start that year off at least at the beginning of before we get budget season kicked off. Does anyone have any other thoughts regarding that or that timeline? Okay, I will prep that ASAP um so
everyone can kind of give their feedback to Mrs. McDougall and we can have that ready for August um and set up those meetings as well. Amen. Thank you. I have public comment next. Do I have anyone that would like to come up for
public comment? If not, I'm not going to read my entire spiel and I will move on. We will not have public comment. Um, administrative and school committee reports. We have report of the superintendent.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I just want to provide a couple quick updates for the school committee and for the public. Uh the department of elementary and secondary education has released guidance for school districts in developing a policy uh in regards to competency determination. As you know,
this is something that uh the competency determination was part of MCCAST when MCCAST, not the test itself, but the requirement, the competency determination requirement was um removed back in um the fall or the pre previous
fall. Um the onus was put back on the districts to develop a competency determination to ensure that students were not just meeting graduation requirements but also meeting their competency determination which was again based on the um assessed areas in
MCCAST. All of our students in the class of 2025 uh had fulfilled that as I shared previously and we're currently reviewing our class of 2026. However, that was because we were still waiting for guidance from the department. We didn't want to necessarily put anything
concrete in place because we knew that guidance was coming. They had released that and so what we will begin to do obviously is work internally and also with the policy subcommittee to develop a policy that fulfills their requirements. Uh it does need to be approved by the full school committee by
the end of October. So that is something obviously you'll um you know be seen in the in the near future. Uh but that is something that we'll be you know working on as well. Um, as you know, we're currently operating under a 112 budget um for the foreseeable future until the
towns decide to take action. As you know, those two meetings are coming up, the town council in Bridgewater and the Marine Hemtown meeting the first week of August. Um, and so until that time, obviously uh we are being very uh conservative with uh spending. Thankfully during the summer months, our
salary lines are not as large because our our teachers are not working. Uh but in preparation obviously for the fall uh we know that is coming. However uh you know it has impacted the the district obviously uh when we start looking at ordering supplies materials for the schools uh for the facilities
department. Some of the bigger projects that Mr. Chakra and his department wanted to take on uh just you know upgrading grounds uh and the overall facilities. Some of those projects have had to uh be put on hold until we uh can come out out of the 112 budget. Um along
those lines, obviously um you know, we're working with our human resources department, our business office to really review, as I mentioned, you know, we have been able to bring back some staff members, especially in the areas of student services, that was our priority, that was a priority going into
the budget season as as I shared. Uh and we knew even though many of those individuals because of their teaching status did receive layoff letters, we have been able to uh bring many of those positions back. Uh we'll give a full update in August once we have final numbers for you before school starts in
terms of how many positions were actually able to be brought back, how many positions overall were lost. Uh what we're going through now though is looking at you know if we did have a a position that's open because of say a retirement and that teacher was uh you know making
retirees after 30 something years uh you know would be $100,000 plus. Uh obviously as we bring in new staff there is a savings there. Uh also if our retirees uh were taking the um health insurance benefits and other employee benefits uh and now the new hire is not
there's additional savings there. So both departments uh are working with the superintendent's office to go through that process because that may allow us uh to hire back additional staff that we're you know not confident at this point that we'll be able to do. Uh the other moving target as I've mentioned
all along is unemployment. Um, Miss Healey uh is is doing her due diligence every day as she is bringing back um staff whether they're being uh you know rehired obviously um you know to get them off unemployment as quickly as possible. Um you know it's not as simple
as you were hired today, you come off today. There are um you know some some processes that we have to work through with unemployment. Uh those benefits do extend a certain period of time. So, as I did share already, we knew that we were going to incur those costs uh throughout the summer, and obviously
we've we've continued to do that. Our hope is that, you know, we can get as many staff members back as possible and to really reduce that number. But we will have updated information for you around not just staffing, but also enrollment and class size. Um obviously, I've shared with you our projections for
next year, but that's based on end of the year enrollment. As you know, every summer we have uh enrollment uh changes and and fluctuations because students are moving in, students are moving out. Um and so, you know, we're our central registration office and our building
offices are all going through that process to um go ahead and and facilitate those u move in, you know, registrations and also the withdrawal as well. I I will say I've shared this um publicly, but I will just reiterate we do have over a hundred new registrations
in process. um you know obviously that is a trend that I've shared with you um for school committee with the public that we've seen 100 more students every year now uh because I I did say those are in process what we do find sometimes is that those registrations are actually
not complete that a family may stop the registration process and decide not to move to Bridgewater or Rainan uh they may move to another community so you know I I share that number with you because it it is trending in the in the similar direction that we've seen however We also have to go ahead and
process all the withdrawals and see how many of those registrations actually go through all the way and then I'll you know have a better number for you in in August in terms of what enrollment will actually look like. Uh but it you know we're anticipating it to to be high like
what I've shared with you and our class size averages to be high uh as a result of the you know failed overrides. But again share that information with you uh in August. Um and I I did want to just take this opportunity to publicly recognize um two two different bodies.
Uh first uh Lucini bus line, Mr. Lucini, we have a meeting scheduled with him tomorrow. Uh but he um reached out to us a couple weeks ago most graciously. I appreciate what he's trying to do as he is a partner of the district. Um
obviously he is our transportation vendor but he wants to make sure that our our students are transported to and from school safely every day. Uh unfortunately one of the layoffs that we had to uh undertake was our transportation coordinator position. That was not something that we could
sustain. Um again it was a fairly new position for us within the last five to seven years. Um so you know transportation was previously done by a number of individuals. Um and MC never wants to uh be involved in
transportation ever again, but it was something that was on the horizon for us. Uh Mr. Lucine recognized that and he also recognized what a a great service that our transportation coordinator was able to provide uh to his organization. Uh and he has made every effort uh to be able to hire that person to work
actually for Lucini. So really although it's a you know an unfortunate loss for us um because behind every position as a person uh and you know this individual was outstanding did a really good job uh for us built great relationships with our admin team and with the community um
but we're so thankful that Mr. Lucini is has uh you was willing to to hire him as a Lucini employee and and still really serve as the liaison between Bridgewater Ring and and Lucini. So I I share that because you know obviously Lucini boss
has come forward with a solution and uh looking forward you know a way to help uh given our you know current challenging financial times. So I do really appreciate Mr. Lucini and what he's done uh Mrs. Barry and I are meeting with Mr. Lucini and his team tomorrow to kind of flush out the
specifics but really at this point it it it really will will be seamless. We have every uh belief that you know again this liaison position will really still service our needs even though the position won't exist anymore for Bridgewater Iranian because of um our budget challenges. So I just wanted to
publicly thank Mr. and his organization. Uh and the second is the uh educational foundation the BR educational foundation. Uh they sent out information this afternoon to the schools. Uh as you know they provided grant opportunities to our staff. Staff have been able to
apply for those grant opportunities. uh they have actually decided again uh to try to assist the school district. They've sent emails this afternoon to the building principles. I haven't been able to read them all, but I was able to read some of them uh offering uh grant opportunities to the principles uh to be
able to use funds uh that may not be able to be supported through the operational budget for staff um not for staffing but for obviously um to be able to provide staff with with what they need to start. So again just you know two organizations that have stepped forward. Miss King have you know
mentioned earlier in correspondence that you have received correspondence from community members offering productive and proactive uh suggestions and we do appreciate that and I did did want to take this opportunity to you know again extend a big thank you to Lucini and to the educational foundation for doing the
same thing coming forward with a solution and assistance. So that concludes my report. >> Thank you Mr. Congress and um really thank you to Lucini and the Bridgewater Rain Education Foundation for helping especially now um and stepping in where
we needed them. So that we're very appreciative. This is Conra Labberto. >> Mr. Powers, I just have a question on budget wise. Um it's been the national news and I know local districts are being impacted by it is I just was curious about how it's impacting us as a
local district. Is um you know states not receiving federal funded funing around school programs, ELLL um support, and I was just wondering, have we been impacted by that and our budget? Um I know some of it was released, but
there's there's billions of dollars that have not been released at this point. >> Yes, great great question. Uh and and yes, I mean, obviously we we rely on those federal grants u grants Miss Conrad Labarto um or is referring to the title one, uh title two, title three,
and title four. uh the federal government uh has every intention to release the title one funds on time. Uh although they say they uh typically release those July one, we don't always find out until late July, early august what those uh grant fund aotments will
be or applications and but what they've shared is that we still receive our title one funds. Obviously those uh can be used to provide u remedial uh and accelerated math and reading services to our students. how many of our students in schools benefit from title one
services. Uh title two is really around providing um professional development. We use title two to be able to do that. We've also in the past used title two to reduce class size. You can hire staff to reduce class size. Title three is is is
support for our English learners. Um and then title four is really high quality uh education. It can go to a variety of different things. Social emotional learning um technology, it could obviously go to professional development. So, titles two, three, and
four are grants that we um haven't had to in the past rely heavily on uh for personnel obviously because you know the the allocations are typically on the smaller side. don't fully fund um positions, but we have
used them for um professional development to be able to provide resources to staff and obviously students uh and families when when needed depending on the grant. Um the title one obviously is our largest uh grant of the title grants and you know
we do obviously use that to fund some of our title one staff and so obviously we're pleased to know that we will receive those funds on time because that would be a a huge concern for us but we're not necessarily building our operating budget uh on title 2 three and
four we haven't done that in the past we did going into FY26 as Any other questions for Mr. Powers? Thank you, Mr. Powers. Uh, next we have policy subcommittee report from Mrs. Conrad Labrento.
These items are not new. Well, I should say they're not new. Um, This is the uh the title um title nine. Um in this we already voted to um wave the first reading at the last meeting. So at this
point um we did not receive any additional feedback on this um between the last meeting and now. So I would um make a motion to adopt the title N policy previously approved 2020. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? Second by Mr. Lo. Discussion on Mrs. Conra's um
motion. Seeing none, all those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Motion passes. >> Um the second item um was the policy JQ, student fees, fines, and charges. Um
>> sorry, Mrs. So, we've waved that second reading. Do you want to approve that policy? >> Oh, yes. Um sorry. Yes. I would make a motion to >> sorry to approve title nine policy um to adopt title n
>> motion made by Mrs. Conra Labrento second by Mr. Do we have discussion on that? Seeing none, all those in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Um the next is on uh the B schedule
policy JQ. It's on student fees, fines, and charges. Um this policy was presented to uh the policy subcommittee to establish an annual it was requested that we um write into the policy to establish an annual review. Um we discussed it um and we discussed adding
that um we didn't want to add um any kind of cost of living increases into it but we would we agreed that the budget subcommittee should review this um schedule annually. Um we have received I'll say um received some feedback from Mrs. main bill and that feedback we have
not reviewed as a subcommittee but we will review our next meeting in August. So at this point I would make a motion to wave the first reading of policy JQ student fees fines and >> thank you. Mrs. Conrad Labrento has made a motion. Do I have a second? Second by
Mr. Lo. Any discussion on that? >> All those in favor. >> Any opposed? So we will bring that back to policy. I believe when do you have that scheduled? August 12th. So we'll bring that we'll bring that back to August 12th for revisions and
then second reading at our August 20th meeting. >> Do you have anything else? Thank you Mrs. Conor Le. Next we have long range planning subcommittee with Mr. Loach. >> Thank you. So the long range planning
subcommittee met earlier this evening in the Rain Middle School library. In attendance was myself, committee members Gunthrow, Fitz Given, the superintendent, and Miss McDougall. Uh we initiated the meeting by reviewing uh the the evaluation process uh for the
superintendent. Uh we also reviewed the prior year's goals. Superintendent then uh proceeded to proceed uh to propose new goal areas for this coming school year uh around student learning, professional practice, district improvement uh one, and district
improvement two. uh the committee all thought these were uh positive areas for the superintendent to pursue and over the next few weeks he and I will uh go back and forth on really kind of developing and forming those goals to review at our next meeting on August
18th at 6 p.m. >> Is that 5 or 6 p.m. >> Uh 5 p.m. Thank you. Did you have anything else, Mr. Lush? Thank you. Next, we have um budget subcommittee
report with myself. On July 7th, 2025, the budget subcommittee met at 5:30 in the superintendent's conference room. In attendance were Mr. Fitzgiven, Mrs. Stavenport, Mr. Lo, Superintendent Powers, Assistant Superintendent Barry, Miss Babalola, Miss Roashau, Mrs.
McDougall, our recording secretary, and myself. U Mr. P gave an update and overview on the current budget um which he did previously this evening. Um the first thing that we did review was the fee schedule for the 2025 2026 um school
year. Mr. powers suggested reviewing and increasing increasing the fees for the fiscal year 2026 to help offset shortfalls in the budget. The subcommittee reviewed each fee and discussed whether each warranted an increase. The following are specific notes on certain fees that we had
discussed uh regarding color guard twirlers and marching band. Mr. Pyros indicated that the music boosters had preemptively sent him correspondents that felt a fee of $300 would support the program and would be affordable for their members. Um so
he supported an increase from $200 to $300 based on their feedback that they had given to him. Uh winter percussion and jazz band uh we discussed an increase in fee from 110 to 165. alternative high school. We discussed an
increase for indd district students over the age of 22 to $500 and for out of district students of any age to $1,000. Regarding summer school, Mr. Powers recommended no change to summer school fees for resident students as these are
usually required. Um, and we recommended an increase fee for non-residents to $600 for one course and $900 for two courses. Regarding middle school instrumental lessons required RMS, WIS, and BMS, we recommended an increase fee
from $88 to $120. Um, upon review of the base programs, Mr. Powers noted that the ARMAC program is still running in a deficit. Um, but Rean Park and Breck will be taking that over for the fall and is in the process of doing that. Um, the preK program is
still experience a deficit as well. final reports. So, there were reports in the draft due to review, but final reports should be available in August following the fee increases we made from last year to bring that program to be self- sustaining hopefully in this next
coming year. After much discussion, the only recommendation that we had, as most of those have all been increased recently, was to align the base prek fee per day with the base wraparound program fee per day for an increase in the base
prek fee from $27 per day to $28 per day. So, those are aligned. Um, regarding athletic fees, we had a lengthy discussion on this. Uh, Mr. Powers indicated that to make that program sustainable, we would need to charge approximately $900 per student.
However, there was much discussion about this fee and the family cap. A huge concern regarding this pricing, the fee to $900 was the current amount of students that we have. This 9 I'm sorry, the $900 fee that Mr. Powers quoted as
being self- sustaining is based on how many athletes we have at this time. However, several a few of us did feel that if we priced that too high, we would have a significantly less amount of athletes being able to afford to play. The subcommittee agreed that $600
would raise significant amounts to help significantly enough to help close that gap, but not price it out of reach totally for most of our athletes. The subcommittee also had discussions on asking FRA and the sports teams to help fund raise more to assist in fees,
especially so their athletes can afford it. um especially certain programs which might be more expensive such as with equipment or rental fees such as hockey. We agreed that we would also monitor this per season to assess any changes needed um in the amount of athletes we
had registering etc. Um so we did recommend an increase in the athletic fee to $600 per athlete per sport with no family cap. Regarding high school parking, we had raised that significantly last year from $100 to $125.
So, we opted not to raise it again this year and no action was taken on that fee. Regarding clubs and extracurriculars, Mr. Powers recommended leaving this fee um as it was and he had he had had a discussion with admin regarding ensuring that the fees for all
clubs um that students sign up for and regularly attend are collected as this has not been enforced. Any that has travel such as DECA would also have an additional travel fee assessed. No action was taken on that fee other than that regarding admin procedures within
the within this um high school. Um sports are fun. The subcommittee discussed raising this fee. However, this program is a revolving account that is self- sustaining and we found no reason to increase it at this time. So, no action was taken on that fee as well.
Um, I'm going to entertain the motion and then we can discuss it once it's on the floor. I can find it. Okay. I will entertain a motion to approve the changes to the 2025 2026 fee schedule as outlined by
the chair. >> Motion made by Mrs. Conra and second by Mr. Lo. Do I have questions or comments on the fee schedule? Mrs. Mel. Regarding the fee increases, could you
please explain the guiding principles used to decide the fees? Um, were example, were these fi fees primarily based on a detailed analysis of the actual cost for running these programs or were they set with specific revenue generation targets? Or perhaps there's a
different reason. Do you want to comment on >> I was really >> uh yes obviously uh we had looked at as Mrs. King said uh a number of the fees that hadn't been raised over time uh and so to bring those uh in line with uh
just inflation and not being able to um I know this is a concern of of Mr. Fitzgibbons uh you know being able to incrementally increase some of these fees versus uh you know a one-time large increase. So, we we did look at uh some of those fees. Obviously, um as Mrs. King mentioned, you know, the base
program um you know, we're we're cautiously optimistic that program will uh get back to um running as a self-sufficient program. Uh but we, you know, we obviously looked at uh you know, some of those programs uh such as
base prek and we wanted to make sure those prices were aligned with the other uh base and preschool programs. And then in terms of uh such as athletics, which is certainly the largest increase uh that you see here, uh it really was based on uh being able to offset the
operating budget uh given the current constraints that we're in. I I think, you know, if all things were um all things were different, you know, it would be my recommendation that, you know, we weren't charging uh these fees. U but we're certainly never we're not in
that time. Uh and so we do have to look at when I have to look at, you know, how can we bring back staff? Uh how can we avoid losing staff? Unfortunately, we've had to make these difficult decisions. Uh but but so some of these uh increases are reflective of just a you know incremental percentage increase. Um and
then others were um based on you know covering or offsetting the cost of um you know the full expense. So such as athletics to offset that completely would anywhere from 900 to $1,000 based on the number of athletes that are
currently participating. But as uh Miss King said, you know, our concern was that if a number was too high, um we wouldn't be able to be self sustaining anyways because we'd lose a number of athletes that just wouldn't be able to afford it. Uh looking at other districts, uh in terms of what they
charge for athletic fees, um Mr. Okonnell, the athletic director, and his assistant, Miss Ward, uh did some information gathering, and uh that $600 per sport per student uh is not uh uncommon. Uh many of the teams that we
play, such as teams from the Hakamak League and many of the other uh high schools we play, do charge an athletic fee very similar to that. M >> Mr. Vince Gman, >> you like to just add a little more depth to that answer. Um, first of all, I'd
like to thank the uh BR music supporters group for actually doing the work behind them and coming in with a positive uh recommendation on what would be affordable to music family and what would make us work uh you know us work
sustainably going forward. And that's where the three 300 came from the 200. And then we kind of did that same percentage 50% increase to other music fees as they as they came through the
the fee schedule. So the 88 um went up to 120 or something like that. We tried to we tried to be mindful of you know where where were those going. Um and then but I I think the other clubs
um it's more a matter of just making sure we have a good roster of who regularly attends and then being diligent about collecting those and that's why we didn't change those fees. And obviously the biggest discussion centered around athletic fees and it
really became a balance of well if we say we'll do this are we going to just create a participation not get the revenue we expect versus um you know having some increase put in and hopefully uh not put in such a big
increase that on that supply and demand curve the demand to play sports goes down so far because of the price that were able to better cover the total cost of of the sports program. And I think those were kind of the considerations
the committee had. >> Yes. Thank you for explaining that. This is Conra. >> Um my question is if we approve this tonight, um how quickly, Mr. Powers, can you get this? I mean, I know I already have a child that's doing a sport in the fall that's already started practice and
we've already registered. Um so I just think for families to be prepared about what these What I have heard from families is again myself, I mean this could cost me $3,600 a year at this point. I have two kids um at the high school is so just that families can be
prepared around these costs. Um so I'm just curious when when you'll have the ability to actually we approve this tonight to get this out and I know registration somewhat has been delayed for some sports but not others in the fall because they're waiting on some of this. I >> I know Mr. McConnell is anxiously
awaiting uh the outcome of tonight's meeting because he does want to be able to get this information uploaded uh to the registration portal as soon as possible. Registration is open for the fall. Uh but I I don't hold you to this, but I believe it says, you know, something along the lines of to be determined for a fee. Um so, you know,
we we have fielded those questions. However, we wanted to make sure the registration was open just because, you know, we know captain's practices are happening and and so forth. And then officially in August, the you know, the seasons will start for fall sports. Um, but I our intent is once you know a decision is made this evening, we will
get this information out ASAP, you know, either through Mr. Okonnell, Miss Watson, or myself, uh, you know, by the by the end of the week, especially to our high school families and middle school families who need to register for athletics. >> Mrs.
um, I wasn't able to find it in the folder, so I apologize if it's there. What is the estimated total revenue increase that this proposed fee schedule is expected to generate and what kind of impact do we see that having on the
overall budget shortfall? >> I can speak uh specifically to athletics uh Miss Bainville when we did the analysis based on the number of students that are currently participating because obviously that's what we have to go based on uh looking at the priority years as well. uh it's roughly um uh 600
athletes. Uh we obviously have a number of athletes that are on waiverss. So knowing that those waiverss would carry forward, we certainly didn't include those students. But when we looked at increasing the the number of um increasing the fee based on the number of participants, uh we do believe that
that if all athletes continue to play the same number of athletes, it would bring in $500,000 plus um to help offset the budget. So aside from the athletic portion of it, when we looked at each fee, those were just trying to be raised enough
that it would make those programs self sustaining such as winter percussion just so it's sustaining what the stipend fee is for the whoever is running that program. So that's what we were kind of going for though. None of those other fees had been raised in years and there
was that gap of we charge them 100, but it's not really sustaining the full stipen. So we're that that gap will once we see who actually signs up for all those programs. I'd like to see at that end of that season how where we are if
we're sustaining all of those programs or if we need to look at another increase next year. So all the athletic portion of it was the huge portion of it, but all of the other random it was really just are the clubs, are the percussion, those those small things are they just at least supporting like the
price of their advisors. >> That kind of was where you were kind of going. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Um seeing none, all in favor? >> Any opposed?
Thank you. Um otherwise for budget um regarding END we did get a tenative update on the status of the end of year END which Miss Babalola estimated to still be at 2.2 million to certify to END that will not
be finalized and certified until October 1st but we will continue to get an estimate as she closes out everything for the year. Uh, regarding the audit, the 2024 audit was received after the July 7th, 2025 budget meeting. However,
it has since since been received and uploaded to the budget folder for review by all members. We will have a workshop at 6:00 p.m. on August 20th before the full school committee meeting and the auditor has been invited to come to that workshop. They will be taking questions
and re reviewing the audit at that time as requested by Mrs. McDougall. Um, please submit any questions prior to that meeting so the auditor can prepare responses. Uh, do we have any questions on that? >> Miss G. >> Yes, Mr. Fris Gibbons.
>> It might be helpful um to ask the board of select the town council to come to that meeting as well and as observers to hear, not as participants. >> Thank you. That's a good idea. I will have Mrs. McDougall do that as well.
Um after that we did approve the June 9th 2025 budget subcommittee um minutes at that time. Um under other we did have carryovers for the end of the year. Um we had several carryovers that I will itemize.
Uh first were the end of year time sheets. These are time sheets that were submitted by any staff by June 30th but did not make the final payroll. Accordingly, I will mo accept I will entertain a motion to authorize the director of business services to carry
over funds from fiscal year 2025 into fiscal year 2026 to pay outstanding time sheets submitted by June 30th. >> Motion made by Mr. Lo and second by Mrs. Floyd Thomas. Do we have discussion on that? And I believe though all of these
are were in your drawing to review. Seeing none, all those in favor? >> Any opposed? Um, regarding payroll carryovers, this I will entertain a motion to authorize the director of business services to carry over funds in the amount of 95,669.72
from fiscal year 2024 2025 into fiscal year 2025 20226 for the purpose of paying payroll receipts. >> Motion made by Mr. Los. Do I have a second? >> Second by Mr. Guthro. Do we have
discussion on that? Seeing none, all those in favor? >> Any opposed? Regarding vendor carryovers, I will entertain a motion to authorize the director of business services to carry over funds in the amount of 2,579,923.7
from fiscal year 2024 2025 into fiscal year 2025 2026 for the purpose of paying vendor receipts. >> Motion made by Mr. Lo, second by is it Mrs. Hoy Thomas. uh discussion on this
>> Mrs. Mrs. B >> more of an observation for future reference. It would be really helpful if um the ask the document that accompanies this request includes a column that tells us the status of each of these
accounts whether it's um items that are late invoiced or backordered etc. Um, this way it helps with transparency and allows us as school committee members to see trends from one year to the next.
>> Mr. Par, do you want to just comment what this vendor carryover is since it is a significant amount of money? >> I'm happy to do that. Yes, you're 100% right. It is a significant amount of money. uh obviously uh you know these these uh dollars are being carried over uh because either the work as Miss
Mayville uh has stated hasn't been performed yet or we haven't been invoiced yet uh you know a lot of the times depending on the vendor depending on the scope of the work uh some of this could be tuition related to some of our out of district students some of those
students are in programs that actually run year round and so we wouldn't get the invoice um until July uh because the student is in school all the way through June. Same thing when you look at like utilities. Uh obviously we're not going to get all of our utility bills middle
of the month even though you know we're operating on a fiscal year. We still have to account for those uh full utilities for the month. So we we have an you know a projection of what we need to carry over to be able to pay that. And then obviously we get our uh you
know invoice after the fact. So in some cases we can't prevent this. I know obviously uh question has been asked in terms of you know what what can we do to try to um you know make this more timely. Uh certainly there are things I I know Miss Babola and her staff do reach out to the vendors uh proactively
to say hey we're you know we're coming up at the end of the fiscal year. We really need the invoice the you know the job has been uh complete. We need to be able to pay this before the end of the year. So they are doing that and then there are other cases unfortunately where uh you know despite their best efforts the invoice still doesn't come
or it simply like I stated uh that some of the uh items just simply won't be invoiced until after the fiscal year because they're actually going through June uh the end of June. Um but yes, you know certainly being able to um provide
that explanation, we're always happy to do that. So maybe for her chair is next year for this particular vendor carryover since it's so significant maybe for Miss May's point we do add another column of what the kind of status is for that
particular Thank you Miss um I did also look at historical data just to see if we were within the realm of what we normally do carryover. Um, fiscal year 2020, we had 3 million carryover. 21 it was 3.3.
22 it was 3.5. 23 3.4. Uh, 24 was 2.1. And then this year it's 2.5. So it's always between 2 and 3 million that we're carrying over because it's tuition and supplies etc. Um, but we can try and um do a little more detail as well so we
know what the what the reasoning is for those. Is that would that be sufficient? Again, I voiced my concerns last year reducing that number and and you know at that point some um changes were described but we here we
are again with another two over two million in carryover. So I you know my concerns and voiced last year is the same as this year. I do understand that there will be some carryover and just like last year I'm just concerned about the the amount. This is very large to
me. I know a huge difference on this year I did notice from last year was the special education residential and special education day school. Those two items were 280 and 185. Those were much higher than last year. So I know tuition
has gone up a lot or we do have extra students as well >> as as exactly we've shared you know we have 16 more students this year out of district placements than we do did last year. So certainly uh paying those tuitions throughout the month and again you know our last day of school may not
necessarily be their last day of their program. Um it could go all the way through uh the end of June in some cases. Um and so those numbers are significant as certainly when we're adding students as well. >> Thank you.
>> Do we have other questions on that? >> Seeing none all those in favor. >> Any opposed? Thank you. The last carryover we have is the capital carryover. Um I will entertain a motion to authorize the director of
business services to carry over funds in the amount of 810,000 from fiscal year 2024 2025 into fiscal year 2025 2026 for the purpose of paying capital project receipts. Motion made by Mrs. Mr. Lo, second by
Mrs. Conrad Labberto. Um, Mr. P, do you want to um surprise with this? >> Yes, absolutely. Yep. Happy to explain. Uh, we obviously had some projects that were not completed or are in the process of uh beginning to be complete. some of
the, you know, projects once obvious obviously the budget is approved um in and those funds are available July one say going back to last year you know one of the items was to be able to uh do some work to the high school parking lot. We're obviously at the mercy at
that point uh of scheduling it with the different vendors. Um and so sometimes we can't do that work uh because it's scheduling. So we have to carry it over. Obviously, school is is just getting out. So, being able to get on their schedule for those, you know, two weeks in June once school gets out before the
end of the fiscal year isn't always possible. So, again, uh having to carry over some of those projects. Uh the same thing with uh some of the HVAC um upgrades as well. Um I I know there's two, one for La Liberty, one for uh
Williams that will both carry over. Um again, Mr. Chago working with you know the different vendors to really go through those um you know as we start to kind of really dive into those system upgrades uh you know sometimes we find that um you know it's going to be a bigger project than once thought we may
actually have to shut down uh our HAC units and we certainly can't do that while students are there so what may have you know originally planned to be a a fairly simple straightforward project doesn't always turn out to be that way. Um and then obviously um you know some
of the other items such as uh the rear entrance to RMS u we did have some drainage issues uh over there or I should say over here um going into this year um we that was something that we really we met with the towns we worked with the towns on coming up with a plan
but we all agreed that uh we kind of wanted to wait and see uh some of the uh remedial things that we put in place Mr. talk with the RMS staff here and the facility staff. Uh, you know, were we going to continue to see flooding? Um, so far, you know, despite some of the
heavy rains, we've actually been okay. Uh, but in working with the towns, we wanted to be, you know, obviously able to, you know, bring that money over should we find that we do need to replace that. There is some work that needs to be done back there regardless. Uh, but we may not necessarily need to do that full amount. But, as you know,
with with RAM, um, we're not receiving this money until actually the projects are complete anyways. Thank you. Um, Mr. Chucka, since this is a large amount that we're carrying over for unfinished projects, could you come to the August meeting and or if you
haven't now, but if can you come to the August meeting and give us specific details on what the status is of all of these projects? >> Okay, thank you. Would that be if you can meet with me and kind of detail that out because that is a lot of projects
that we're carrying over that are unfinished from last year. Can we use this capital money for operational money just so other people understand? >> So this capital money as you know going into FY26 we did have discussions with the town about reallocating some of the
capital money towards operating expenses um given the budget constraints. This money however uh being carried over from FY25 is specific for these projects. >> Thank you. I know people have asked about that since it's a large amount. So
that's already encumbered for capital projects. So but we do want to get a status on what all of these are since it's a large amount for next meeting. Do we have other questions or comments on these on this? Miss
>> um what's our capacity to um manage these projects that will come online in 2025 2026 in addition to the other projects that the long range committee
has um queued up for the next year. I think given the fact that we uh reduced uh the capital items that we were looking to complete in FY26 because we may need to use that capital money uh towards the operating budget. Uh I I
feel as though that Mr. Chakra and his department would you know be able to manage these these projects in addition to the small number of projects that we plan to complete uh in FY26. Seeing no further questions, all those in favor? >> Any opposed?
>> Thank you. Lastly, just some updates. Um both Bridgewater Town Council and Rainham Town Meeting are scheduled for Rainham Town special meeting is scheduled for August 5th, 2025 at 7 p.m. to vote on our amended fiscal year 2026 budget um
that we approved on June 26, 2025. Um the next budget subcommittee meeting will be Monday, August 11th at 5:30. Um and that concludes my budget report. Um, under new business, I approval of general ledger warrants dated June 12th,
June 26, and June 30th. I will entertain a motion to approve general ledger warrants dated June 12th, 2025, June 26, 2025, and June 30th, 2025. >> Motion made by Mr. Fitzgiven and second
by Mrs. Conrad Larento. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? And we have one abstension. Thank you. I do not have any other business. Um Oh,
yes. I just um and I should have done it during the superintendent's um presentation, but I just new business or a comment. Um given some of the cuts that we're seeing and specifically at the high school, there's been a lot of questions about dual enrollment. I know
I mentioned it before. I guess I would just hope that Mr. um Super working with Mrs. Watson to help resolve that and help us understand and help families understand what is happening there. I know schedules aren't coming out too later
till later. Kids have already been notified. schedules are changing and so I don't know if there's any I know it creates anxiety when schedules come out early earlier than originally but I just because the high school has taken a particular hit and a lot of families and kids are just concerned about what is
happening >> yes I understand I have the same issue I also have a high schooler as Mrs. Conor Leberto does. Um, and she's very concerned about being a senior next year and what her schedule is going to look like and not taking fluff classes and
making sure that her GPA is high enough. So, >> yes, 100%. And obviously the the cuts at the high school are significant and and you know will without a doubt have a negative impact um on on our offerings. as you know, and we've talked about, you know, the eliminating 40 plus uh
electives, not to mention higher class size. Um dual enrollment, as you both know and as the committee knows, uh has always been an option for families. Uh but it's always been incumbent upon the family to seek that out. Uh whether it be through Massoy, whether it be through
Bridgewwater State or other institutions. Uh so that was something that, you know, always the high school always supported. We actually do have a meeting with Bridgewwater State uh this week to discuss expanding enrollment uh specifically at Bridgewater Rainham. Now uh you know admittedly so uh by both
parties you know we're not sure we're going to be able to get anything in place for September uh but certainly we want to be able to uh look at options uh that exist whether it be through Bridgewwater State or other avenues but you know I would obviously encourage families if they really are thinking of
exploring dual enrollment as it currently stands uh they certainly should you know consider that. However, we are hopeful that uh we'll be able to secure some additional offerings through Bridgewater State. However, I just think given the timing of it, I'm not sure it's going to be feasible before September for some of the students to
replace their classes. >> I know one of the issues a lot of parents are having is there's no guidance counselors available to approve the application because once they sign up with dual enrollment, it does email their guidance counselor who knows they're approving that. So, maybe that's
something to also talk to Mrs. Watson. they can handle that and get that approved during the summer. >> Sure. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, guidance doesn't work during the summer. Um, you know, that wasn't as a result of the the budget, but obviously was been the process in the past for those summer
approvals. I'll have to talk to Miss Watson about I would just echo that's what I've heard from families recently is they're enrolling their kids into enrollment. It needs approval from someone at the high school. And so, where are people going? How are they getting that approved? Thank you. Good thing to talk about and
kind of think about the summer. I know that's very aggies right now. Uh we do have another public comment period. Do we have anyone that would like to speak? Seeing none, we have some announcements.
Um as I stated, Rainham Town special town meeting and Bridgewater Town Council August 5th at 7. Um, budget subcommittee, Monday, August 11th at 5:30. Um, policy subcommittee is Tuesday, August 12th at 5:00. Long
range, August 18th at 5:00 p.m. Um, we do have a budget workshop to review the 2024 audit on August 20th at 6 p.m. in the library at the high school. And our next regular school committee meeting is Wednesday, August 20th at 7 p.m. in the
lecture hall at the high school. Do any other members have announcements? Okay, we do not have any. That concludes our regular school committee meeting. I will entertain a motion to adjourn the July 23rd, 2025 school committee meeting at 8:46.
Motion made by Mr. Los, second by Mrs. Hoy Thomas. All those in favor? Any pulls?