Three, two, one. >> Recording in progress. Good evening and welcome to the February 5th, 2026th regular meeting of the school committee. Um, before I get started, I'm just going to take a a
point of personal privilege to um just give a shout out to our students at Brooklyn High who um gathered together at at town hall yesterday to protest um the actions of ICE around the country.
So, um very brave in my opinion and um really a a the product of um thoughtful um education and um um yeah, just engaging human being. So,
um thanks to them. First up, we have our consent agenda. We have three items on the consent agenda. The approval of the past record January 22nd, 2026. our accounts payable report and a student trip, the Brooklyn High squash team going to Philadelphia during the
February break. Um, does someone want to move the consent agenda agenda in its entirety? >> So moved. >> Seconded. >> Bob moves and Jesse seconds. Bob, how do you vote? >> I vote yes. >> Jesse, >> yes. >> Andy,
>> yes. >> Sarah, >> yes. >> Suzanne, >> yes. >> Donna, >> yes. Is Carolyn there? >> No. >> Um, I vote yes. I don't see Mariah or Carolyn. Um,
>> I missing anybody. >> She Was it Mariah online a minute ago? >> Oh, she dropped off. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. >> Uh, next up is administrative business. I want to wait for Mariah for number 2A. >> She's
>> um can we start with 2B, please? possible vote to authorize Steps to Success to serve beer and wine during their annual 2026 stepup celebration on April 15th. As folks know, because students will be present, um these come to us for a vote.
Is there a motion to approve 2B? >> So moved. >> Jesse moved. Second. >> Second. >> Uh Donna seconds. Bob, how do you vote? >> I vote yes. >> Jesse, >> yes. Andy, >> yes. >> Sarah,
>> yes. >> Suzanne, >> yes. >> Uh, who am I missing? Donna, >> yes. >> And I also vote yes. Carolyn, would you like to vote on 2BS to success license? >> Yes.
>> And Carolyn also votes yes. >> Um, so on Jesse, do you want to lead us on 2A since Mariah is not here yet? Uh sure. So um at the last um finance and capital subcommittee meeting there
was a um motion made to rename the existing staff materials fee program to non-resident employee tuition program. The basic reasons for that are that the materials, the word materials tends to
make an impression on folks that it's things like pencils and crayons um and paper and folders and three- ring binders um maybe even books and other educational supplies.
Yet um in the uh presentation that was given by Mariah at our last meeting uh she she um indicated that there are many other services provided to students in school that are um not only materials
things like uh learning support if if required um within for for that student um and um other legal services um and the a larger gamut of services provided by the public
schools in addition to what we would put into a bucket called materials. And we um discussed for a while what an alternate term could be. And rather than the word materials, we um uh we uh
proposed, moved, and voted on making it sort of as clear as possible uh that um as uh we're talking about um teachers that work for the public schools of Brooklyn who are non-residents. That's where that part came from. The um
uh the program is like the material fee program, but instead uh a tuition program. And the tuition is essentially a um let's just say a a small piece of what it actually as we know costs to
have a student uh in the public school system. And currently it's not um exactly tied to what it actually costs for a resident student. But um at some point in the future perhaps that'll be part of the school committee's deliberation or finance first and then
school committees is to find a way to actually tie it together so that there is even more clarity. But for the moment the um moving forward we felt that it was um appropriate to make the name change and it was moved and moved and approved by the subcommittee to be
brought here for discussion. >> Oh Mariah's here. Okay. >> Mariah, do you have anything to add to that? No, I think Jesse did a very good job. Thank you, Jesse. >> Okay, so Jesse, are you moving adoption
or confirmation of this vote? >> Yeah. Well, yes, I would move it and then it would go to guest discussion and then >> we need we need a second. Yeah. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mariah seconds. Discussion. >> Bob, you have your
>> We're having disc. We're voting or >> no discussion. I thought you wanted to speak on this. >> Oh. Um, >> did you want >> I didn't raise my hand. >> Okay. >> It was Carolyn, Sarah, and Suzanne.
>> Okay. Carolyn and then Sarah. >> Okay. Thanks, Val. Um so when we discussed and voted at the last meeting on the fee issue um
in my comments I said that I want and need some more unpacking of this. Um it the the discussion of the program has sort of taken a bit of a new
turn. Um we have a policy that has certain wording. We have an agreement that our um parents are asked to sign which is in
front of me. Um the agreement uses the term materials fee. Um and there are other aspects of the program that have come up recently um that for me I I need more understanding. Um um so and my my concerns encompass uh
this notion of a name change um for various reasons um and other ways that we do other things in the district. Um so I am I am not prepared to um vote for a name change.
I'll be voting no. >> Okay, Sarah. >> Um, similarly, I will be voting no. And I I think that what where we're at is we figured out that we do want to have a rationale if we're going to be charging families. Um, and we also are very
confused as to whether this is a benefit to try to help retain teachers um and town employees. So, I just don't think that we've really gotten clarity yet on u where we want to go with this. I think that there is interest in getting clarity in discussing this further and I
think that we should spend some more time um sort of figuring out our values about this one. So, I will be voting no to the name change. >> Suzanne and then Mariah. >> Go ahead.
>> Suzanne Donna Mariah. Sorry. >> Um so, thank you. I just want to start off by saying thank you to everyone who wrote to us. We had many, many emails. Uh, and we did read them all. I'm sure we all did, but I certainly did. And um, also they were unique emails. So, it
wasn't just a standard copy and paste. People really spoke with um, passion and deep feelings. And so, um, I find I find that persuasive. And uh I don't see any reason quite frankly to change if everyone wants it
this materials fee program. It means the same thing to me one or the other. Uh and so I would vote no on the on the name change. >> Donna and then Mariah. >> I think I had more of a
>> Sorry, Val. Um, I had more of a clarifying question because in the policy, and I'm I'm curious, Caroline, you you you referenced the policy as well. In the policy, it it's it's it specifies
non-resident teachers, children, right? under under the section it's non-resident students and then there's non-resident full tuition paying students and then non-resident um school and town employees children. So, I guess
I feel like I missed a I feel like I am coming in on like episode three of a of a series and maybe like I'm missing I'm not quite understanding what what the responses to the word tuition and so I would love to
understand that better. >> If anybody's going to directly respond to you, are you going to directly respond, Caroline? Um I think so. Yeah. I mean I don't know that I can provide the clarification. I print it out and have in front of me J
I don't know what the number is then. C admission of children of non-resident employees of the town of Brooklyn. Um so I'm I don't have in front of me tuition paying. I don't maybe I don't even know what that means. Maybe it means something else. And so maybe someone can
answer that. Um, so I do think and again this is part of my I if the word tuition is used in reference to this program in policy that's not
consistent with the agreement um that that employees are given to read and to put their signature on. So that inconsistency alone um is of concern to me. Um, but I I guess I'm curious to
what the tuition even refers to in the policy. >> So, >> Oh, sorry. >> Go ahead, Mariah. Um, I'm glad, Donna, that you referenced the policy because I
think that um the policy um wording we're trying to make consistency with the policy wording by making clear and the fact that as Jesse alluded to, the materials fee um implies that it's somehow physical materials or people think that when there's much more
that contributes um to this. Um but with that said, like I don't feel particularly strongly about doing this right now. it seems like it's it's causing feelings that I really don't think are actually um
needed either way. So, I think maybe we should just let it go. And I, you know, whether or not the vote passes or not, it it's just not worth like the upset that it's caused. So, we should I mean, I guess I I seconded the motion, but I don't feel strongly about it, and I'm
glad we're having the conversation. There's enough confusion and whatever, and it's just not that important. So, let's keep going and do stuff that really does um that does make a difference. We don't need to change the name if it's going to upset people. >> Jesse, would you withdraw your motion or
do you want to keep it on the table? >> Uh Andy raised his hand, but >> I disagree with the the idea that this isn't important. I think it is important because it it it determines whether we really think of this or it expresses whether we think of this primarily as a
benefit or as a as a revenue raising scheme. And in my book, it's always been a mainly a benefit. Uh, and I think, you know, for that reason, we should keep it the way it is, even though, yeah, materials fee is a little misleading, but not so misleading as changing it would be. >> I'm glad you brought that up because you
you reminded me of something that I meant to say and forgot, which is there seems to be this common thread of people saying somehow like benefits aren't also a shared cost. And I would just point out that, for example, the health insurance of the town is a benefit and a
shared cost. And many of us no matter who our employers are almost certainly have health insurance that is a benefit and a shared cost. So this idea that there is somehow this duality between benefits and things that employees contribute to is not true and we should
just be realistic about that things can be benefits and they can have employee contributions to them. >> That I agree with. I think to call it tuition definitely suggests that it's revenue raising. That's why I oppose it.
Well, that is in fact a factual statement that it does raise revenue, but um not as its main purpose. Um Jesse, would you withdraw your motion? I agree with Mariah and others that it's not necessarily worth
>> um Donna and Bob have their hands up. >> Oh, Donna and then Bob. >> I You can skip. It's fine. I I I think if we're withdrawing the motion >> Well, I'm not sure if we are, but >> Okay, >> Bob.
>> Yeah, I was very persuaded by um the letters that came in. Um and I think everybody knows what the materials fee is and has been since 1972. The term tuition gets me a little nervous in terms of a slippery slope.
So, I strongly oppose the change. So with that said, you know, so with that said, um I think on in finance subcommittee, we struggled to try to find a more nuanced term and did not find it. Um if at this time it's
causing, you know, unnecessary constrnation in the middle of all the other chaos in our lives and around us, it probably makes sense at this point to park it for a little while. And so, you know, following on what Mariah had had suggested as well, I would withdraw it. Okay. Thank you, Jesse.
>> Sure. >> Um, moving on to the superintendent's report. >> Thank you. Um, I just have a couple of acknowledgements. I'll be presenting the budget later. So, this is um, first I I
want to thank the DBW. um we haven't had so much snow in such a long time and I just appreciate um how professional they were to just take on um everything that they did. It was a lot of snow and they removed a lot of
snow. They hauled it away. They brought eight wheelers in and they hauled it away and there's still a lot of snow which kind of underscores um what a task that they had to clear. Um, and I I'm sure they must have taken breaks, but it
seemed like they didn't stop um doing what they needed to do through the the whole store um the storm. And um I have um previously worked in districts with more open space to dump the snow. So I
also appreciate that while there was a lot of snow, it's very limited where you can park that snow. And uh I just wanted to appreciate what they did. I know that they really focused on clearing spots for staff and as everyone must know our
staff park mostly on the street. Um but of course we're not used to the storms and whatever etiquette that might mean but when the staff arrived to schools of course it's only natural that residents saw open spots so they parked in the spot. So some of our staff were left
scrambling that morning. And so it also gives me an opportunity to appreciate the the what our staff had to do in the beginning to um scramble to find parking spaces. And I know in some cases it
annoyed um other residents that staff were parking where they're not supposed to park, but it's because their spaces that have been cleared were occupied. And just to remind everyone that in the moment there were children in school waiting for them. So they really didn't have much choice. So, I I think on the
behalf of everyone, sorry that we might have annoyed people by parking in places we weren't necessarily supposed to be, but thank you to DBW for accommodating and trying to do their best to clear for us and um and continue to make sure that
we had safe spaces and um and it was just it was just a huge task that they undertook. And so just um just thanks to everyone and and understanding. The um other thing I wanted to appreciate or the other group I want to
appreciate is our our Boston police uh our Brooklyn police department. We as you know we had a lockdown at the high school. Um we received a call. It was a perceived threat. It never turned into an actual threat but you know when you get those calls you have to do what
you need to do. And so there was a lockdown and I felt so well supported by the police department and the quickness of their response and um and the magnitude of their response and also maintaining presence after they had cleared um the site and determined that
there wasn't an actual threat and let us go on and proceed. And also for all our students that had um especially at the high school that were having midterms and how they had midterms on Friday and then they weren't in school Monday, Tuesday and then they had exams Wednesday and then Thursday they had a
lockdown. So just all all that means to to kids and their adaptability and and everyone just going with um the flow as things happen when you get calls like that you have to shut down and do what you need to do. So, thank you for that
to them and also to the police department for supporting us. I have a shout out for our um Matt Dubois. Yes. So, um Karen Schmunkler announced this to to everyone. So, I think maybe um
many of you already know this, but Matt Tubois, he was selected as the recipient of the 2026 Outstanding Practitioner Contribution Award recognition by the National Association of School Psychologists Dissemination and Implementation
Practice and Science Interest Group. And it's just a big deal to be recognized at a national level like that. The annual award recognizes practicing school psychologists who have made significant contributions to advancing dissemination and implementation science and
educational settings. Matt is being recognized nationally for his innovative work and supporting evidence-based social emotional learning practices in the public schools of Brooklyn and specifically he exist is acknowledged for his systemic work and facilitating
the adoption of evidence-based SEAL practices in schools applying implementation science frameworks to practice bridging research and practice through consultation and implementation and making meaningful contributions to
the advancement of school psychology practice. So, being honored in bridging research to practice. So, congratulations to Matt and we're very proud of him. And yes,
and so starting with DPW and then the Brooklyn Police and then our our Matt Dubois, I'd like to finish with recognizing the accomplishments of um some of our students in recent junior, senior, and all state music festivals.
So, for the junior district festival auditions, which are um is grades 7 through nine and senior districts are grades 10 through 12, um our students participated um they had a 59%
acceptance rate with 44 students auditioning and 26 students accepted. of the students that were accepted, there were 12 first chairs and nine second chairs. I was I'm so impressed by
that. And then earlier this year at the senior district festival auditions, 51 students auditioned and 24 were accepted. Of the students that were accepted, there were
five first chairs and 11 second chairs. again. So impressed. And then of the And then when you are in senior districts, you get invited to apply or audition for the allstate festival auditions. And so
it goes to the top 50% of the students that participate in the district festivals. And so this year 15 students were invited to audition. And um of the 14 that audition, 12 were accepted to the All State Festival. And
out of this group they earned and this is this is like anyway they earned three first chairs and three second chairs. It's really really really amazing. So not to just be accepted but to be recognized as um first and second chairs
and it doesn't it's not just their musicality that's recognized when they're chosen for that. It's also their ability to lead a section. So congratulations to um to everyone on that. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent Wong. Next up,
we have uh public comment. Just as a reminder, we uh provide 15 minutes of public comment at this portion of the meeting. Speakers are limited to three minutes. Betsy is our timekeeper. Uh we take folks in the order that they signed
up. First, we have Matt Durant, followed by Mark Goldner. Betsy will start recording when she's back at her seat. Good evening. My name is Matt Durant and for 26 years at Hay School, I've
dedicated myself to this community. I'm deeply alarmed by the proposed cuts that you'll hear about later tonight around the education technology specialists or ETSs program. Brookline's strategic plan is rooted in innovation, pledging to provide every student with an
extraordinary education through enriching experiences so they may develop to their fullest potential. The ETSs team integrates technology to drive innovation. We transform uh classrooms into creative hubs, bringing the
district's strategic plan to life by equipping our students with essential skills and our teachers with vital support. We invite you to our schools to witness our impact. And while you're there, you'll see that the ETSs is dedicated dedicate our days to teaching
students per uh excuse me, purposely integrating technology to deepen their learning while modeling best practices to our fellow educators. You'll notice us fostering a supportive community through collaboration. We co-plan units, provide personal professional
development, cross-pollinate the best ideas, and encourage reflective practices. Our collaborations empower educators to continually improve and ensure that success scales schoolwide. ETSs's you'll see us working behind the
scenes to ensure that technology integrates seamlessly into each day's routine. When a projector fails, potentially ruining a teacher's class, we quickly restore it. When a student's MCCAST test stalls and panic begins to
set in, we resolve it without delay. So, we see history repeating itself here. Brookline has previously rejected an identical 50% cut after a massive outcry from parents, educators, and leadership. They recognize then, as we
do now, that this is not about efficiency. It is a chainsaw taken to the collaborative model that drives our innovation. If enacted, these cuts will fund fundamentally diminish our Brookline students experience.
Reduced ETSs time leads to inconsistent and delayed student support. Less collaboration increases teacher workloads and threatens instructional quality. Cutting PD uh leaves educators ill equipped equipped for everchanging
technology and best practices. Cuts to Brooklyn innovators are not new. The district has gutted the enrichment and challenge program, literacy coaches and specialists and math specialists. We must learn from these past mistakes
which have consistently consistently led to less support, larger workloads, and less innovative teaching and learning. Having the EST uh team would severely weaken Brookline's ability to innovate. I urge our administrators and our school
committee to preserve our program as it stands, protecting the high standard of education our community expects and our students deserve. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Matt. Next, we have Mark
Goldner, followed by Carrie Hibbert. >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Mark Goldner. I've taught science at the Haye School for 24 years. I'm here because I'm deeply concerned by the current budget proposals. Um, and tonight I want to talk specifically, I specifically want to address the destructive way that
language is being used to mask their real impact. In the proposal that you hear about later, the elimination of vital educator positions is called efficiencies. Let's be clear, these are not efficiencies. These are service reductions that will directly damage
student success. Consider the proposal to cut a guidance counselor at Driscoll. You're taking a case load of over 500 students and collapsing it from three counselors down to two. That's a 50% increase in workload for the the guidance counselors left. At a time when
students face unprecedented stress, your efficiency ensures fewer students will receive support. It's a bitter irony that this particular proposal arrives during National School Counselors Week. Consider the proposed cut that you just heard about of the ETSs positions.
You're reducing instruction and digital literacy, AI navigation, engineering, and other educational innovations at the exact moment that these skills have become essential for success. Shifting these duties and the other ET ETSs duties such as coordinating tech during
MCCAST and access testing um onto classroom teachers and overburdened vice principles doesn't create efficiency. It merely shifts these burdens onto fewer people, reducing their ability to serve students. Furthermore, the proposed elimination of a special education and
ETF positions ensures that our most vulnerable students lose the support they are legally and morally entitled to. How does that make us more efficient? We need plain and honest language here. Our educators are not inefficient. They are overstretched and
undervalued. These cuts prove that you are not listening. We are at a breaking point. We have told you this through our workload contract proposal. Yet instead of addressing the workload crisis, you're intensifying it. The real problem is that town finances are being
controlled by budget hawks who would rather hoard tens of millions of dollars in a rainy day fund than invest in our schools. I understand that demanding more money requires political courage. If you're unwilling to show that courage, okay, but be honest about it. Don't hide behind the word efficiency.
Tell the public that once again you accept an austerity budget. Tell us which services you are abandoning. Tell us that you choose to devalue tech literacy and mental health and special education. Tell us that you no longer value retention of teachers through a robust materials fee program. Tell us in
plain language that Brooklyn students must lose out so the town can sit on a surplus. Please stop the word games. Reject these cuts. Prioritize our students by supporting the educators who support them. >> Thank you, Mark. Next, we have Carrie,
followed by Liz Sullivan. Thank you. My name is Carrie Hibbert. I am a counselor at the Driscoll School. I have been working in the Brooklyn public schools for 20 years, 18 of them as a Driscoll counselor. I am speaking tonight in hopes that the school committee members refuse to accept a budget that requires the reduction of a
counselor FTE. My understanding is it's being taken from Driscoll and it is being explained as a fiscal efficiency. I hope by the end of my three minutes you will see that the reduction in the counselor will not make Driscoll more efficient. Our robust model of
prevention services will no longer exist. We will be deficient. Our services will be forced to be in a reactive triage model and we will not meet our students needs. Currently, all Driscoll Elementary students receive highquality tier one instruction in
SEAL. All students learn important skills for emotion management, problem solving, and social awareness. All KTO 5 students have the opportunity to participate in school belonging or specific skill buildinging groups. Most will have participated in this prevention-based service between two and
four times during their elementary school years. Cutting a counselor at Driscoll spreads the remaining two over nine grade levels, 28 classrooms, and approximately 520 students. We are still growing. The KTO 5 tier 1 services will
be drastically reduced at Driscoll, if not eliminated. There will be a reduction in the number of K to5 school belonging groups and skilluing groups available and less counselor availability to support individual students and families. Because we have built a robust tier 1 counseling
program, I can confidently say that we know all of our students. They know us. We are the trusted adults that students and families feel safe and comfortable with when seeking help. On a daily basis, we set goals, make plans, and work with students to build skills to help them through friendship conflicts,
anxiety, depression, emotional and behavioral regulation challenges. And when a problem arises outside of school, like family illness, the loss of a grandparent, a pet, divorce, trauma, or community violence, Driscoll students and families know they have pretty quick
access to their counselor. And because of our tier one work, we have shared language tools and strategies already taught and we can work quickly and calmly towards a positive outcome. I would call that really efficient. For the size of our school, there isn't enough time in the day or day in the
week for two counselors to provide prevention programming and respond to immediate student distress. We must respond to this distress first. Cutting a counselor will have a snowball effect. Without the ability to use a prevention model, we will see the rise in the number of students with anxiety,
depression, behavioral dysregulation, thoughts of self harm, suicidal ideiation, and school refusal. Reactive support will consume our days. I know I've already lived that. I've been here 18 years. Research also tells us that
that's also the award that Matt just won for researchbased prevention practices. Thank you for your time and I implore you to refuse this cut in the counselor to the budget. >> Thank you, Carrie. Uh, next is Liz
Sullivan, followed by Stella Eagle. >> My name is Elizabeth Sullivan. I'm a third and fourth grade learning center teacher at Driscoll. On Tuesday, January 13th, you sat in this room as my negotiating team colleagues and I talked at length about the many years we have been overworked and unable to do our
jobs with fidelity. You didn't seem to hear us since you then turned around and eliminated positions you feel are inefficient. To suggest that there is any extra within our schools when our educators feel like they are drowning and have been drowning for years is
grossly untrue. Our classroom teachers are barely making it through the curriculum due to the many other roles they play inside their classrooms. And now they can be expected to add tech support to the list of demands placed on them each day. At Driscoll, we are in a brand new building filled with
technology. We have smartboards and mic systems in every room. And while that's wonderful, it means that we are in constant need of support from our edte specialists. Having that support unavailable to us each day may mean that curriculum is unable to be taught. Given that most of our resources are on the
computer and it's not like printing out materials is a reasonable fallback plan because our copy machines rarely work. Not only are you reducing the amount of tech support available to our teachers and students, but also likely eliminating technology and computer classes in entirety. Currently, our ETSs
goes into every single K to6 classroom once a week to teach students a wide range of skills, including typing, using the Google Suite, coding, and making online books and presentations. As a special educator, this is a time when many of my students truly feel successful, and it's a small part of
their school week they look forward to. To remove this opportunity from our classrooms would be devastating to so many of our students. In addition to the many demands placed on our teachers, students social, emotional, and behavioral needs are higher than ever. This is not new information. Yet,
instead of continuing to support our students, you are choosing to eliminate one of our guidance counselors. Our clinical staff will be spread thin, and our students will be getting far less attention and support. The cascade effect on all of our students and staff will be undeniable. When a student is in
crisis, the few providers remaining will have to leave sessions to respond and continue to cancel sessions as the crisis progresses. Unless you genuinely believe paying for compensatory services, lawsuits, and 45day mental health placements is more efficient than maintaining a position that is
desperately needed. This cut is completely illogical. Driscoll is not the smallest school. Yet, we are the school with the least amount of clinical and special education support. Smaller schools than ours have additional FTEEs in BCBA, social workers, and
psychologists. To exclusively look at guidance numbers is not telling the full story about social, emotional, behavioral support available. These cuts are absolutely unfathomable to those of us who are actually in the schools every day. Our PSP community, our educators,
and our students deserve so much better than this half-hearted plan. We will never stop fighting for our schools, and I'd urge you to join us. Thank you. Next we have Stella Eagle. >> My name is Stella Eagle. I'm a seventh grader at Driscoll and I'm here to share
my concern about middle school guidance counselor being position being cut. Earlier this school year, I had a scary incident happen between me and another student. Once I told my parents, they immediately reached out to Miss Lavine and she met with me and started helping me feel better at school. She gave me
scheduled breaks at her office when school felt hard. Miss Lavine also set up many bucket fillers or activities to improve my day, such as working in a first grade classroom. This gave me something to look forward to every week. Not only has Miss Lavine given me support and comfort throughout the year,
she has also given me resources to help with managing my anxiety. She will talk with my parents about ways to help me at school and gave me tools to help me manage my stress during school. Knowing that I have a grown-up in the school that understands me makes me feel safe and supported in this community and has
helped me through a really difficult time. I am not the only person she has helped. One of my friends told me that she was having trouble in a class and Miss Lavine scheduled meeting times for them to work together to study to catch up and to organize her work. I'm pretty
sure you could ask anyone in the middle school and they would all have a story about how Miss Lavine has been helpful to them. She is also in charge of multiple clubs including GSA. For the sixth graders, she leads one of the advisory classes. She also helps with eighth eighth graders prepare for high
school. If this middle school doesn't have a dedicated guidance counselor, I'm worried students won't have the same kind of access to support that they need, especially during times when they most need it. Our community needs more people like Miss Livy, not less. And I hope the school committee reconsiders
this decision. Thank you. THANK YOU. NEXT ON OUR AGENDA, Superintendent Wong and the uh budget update. >> Thank you. >> Um so Betsy is going to run the slides for me.
So um you'll I hope you'll bear with me. There's um a lot of slides here. And so the first I want to um just to show the agenda slide. Thank you. And um and also before starting just acknowledge the work of the senior
leadership team. We have our deputy superintendent for administration and finance here, Susan Gibbons. Our deputy superintendent for um for the office of student services, Dr. Karen Schmuckler, who's here. and our deputy superintendent for um the office of
teaching and learning, Robin Benoy, also um had a lot of inputs from all our principles, our 10 principles across the district and also input from from senior level staff and other staff members that work in the offices here and across our
other schools. Um so, so this is the agenda. I I do want to give a historical context before um talking about our budget as we present it and then the budget development um the thought that we put into it, an introduction to the
budget book which um you are now just receiving hard copies of but I know it was just posted recently on the website. Um just to review the budget calendar, the guidelines, looking at our enrollment projections, which are a
really important consideration. Um we've been at a slight at a a decline over time, so a level or a decline. And so much of the work for the for the recommended budget reflects an adjustment for that enrollment
staffing changes expense highlights and then also concluding with the the funding challenge that we face as we move forward. So, moving toward um just the historical context, um the FY26 budget, the one the year
that we're living in now, um there were a lot of reductions in staffing primarily at the district offices, but also um three custodians across the district. Um most of the staffing otherwise was all um saved um across the
district. some non-staff reductions. Professional development was um reduced tremendously from the budget, saving the professional development for the literacy implementation and vision of a learner. But other than that, pretty
much everything else was was cut. Online tools, professional services, contracts, and supplies. The funding allocation for this year was just under $6 million.
um reflected a 4.16% increase over the FY25 budget was insufficient to fund the FY26 budget as we are with all current staffing, all
current programming, no professional development except for the literacy implementation and vision of a learner. Um it reflects all the reductions that already happened. was still insufficient to support the current year budget. So
the school department made the decision to use 1.943 million64 out of the circuit breaker reserve and that reflects a structural deficit for the current year.
So and that reflected a 1.36% increase over FY25. So for a net funding to support the FY26 budget, the increase over FY25
was a was altogether 5.52%. But that 1.943 comes out of reserve funds and they were reserve funds that were intended to pay for tuition for next year. Right? So
this is to underscore the gravity of the structural deficit that we have in in the moment. Um so when I arrived in July there was already discussion about the
creation of the FY27 budget. So all the way from July to to now we've been working on it and we've been working with our town partners as well. Um, but if you go to the next slide, there's more to the context I want to describe.
So, in the FY26 budget, the executive director of educational equity, the associate associate director of educational equity, the entire office for educational equity was eliminated. We have we had two senior directors for
the office of teaching and learning. Teaching and learning. The most important thing happening in the district is what is happening in the classroom. There were two senior directors for the office of teaching and learning and one of them was eliminated. So we are left with one. A senior
director for the office of student services was also eliminated. Um there are a number of senior directors for student services across the levels. um and also um some for for more moderate
services but then some also um intentionally for clinical or other specialized services. Um so for for the office of teaching learning only two reduced to one and we lost one of our senior directors for office of student services.
Um, we also lost the director of data and information systems, a very key level position for the analysis of of our data to inform our practice in terms of like holding us accountable. Are we doing well? How students are doing where
we need to target our services. That position was eliminated. The communication specialist was eliminated. And so, um, we're trying to communicate, but it probably you've noticed a difference in terms of what has come out, um, and newsletters, but we're
trying to make sure that the information gets out, but it's it's, um, we're not doing as good a job in terms of really conveying to the community all the great things that are happening in the district. Um, and so I'm glad for for people who watch our meetings or read
what we do send out. and we did lose also three custodians. These are the staff reductions um coming into FY26. Next slide, please. The other thing that happened um in in
the late spring at the same time the FY26 budget was being developed, you you lost a lot of your leadership um at the district level, the superintendent of schools, the deputy superintendent for the office of student services, the
deputy superintendent for the office of teaching and learning, and of the of the senior directors that were left that person also left. So the senior director of the office of teaching and learning that meant all four of these positions
were replaced by interims myself included and the other deputies. And so for people that don't don't know this in the um at the at the senior leadership team level there is the superintendent and three deputies. So that meant three
of the four positions were all interim coming into um the start of the FY this this year and also losing um compounding the loss of the deputy superintendent of office and teaching and learning this
one of the remaining senior directors. So this is the context in which this new team arrived. Next slide please. and then continued challenges to the district in the departure of um the
former senior leadership team. There were espersions cast on financial accounting the way um the way accounting was being managed. When you make the headlines for that you come to the attention of multiple entities and you
get invited for an audit. So um following the CLA report which was done in the spring and um had a list of recommendations for the district to consider um and then the um Brooklyn audit committee was then engaged with
administration. So on our entry, the new senior leadership team, we were charged with responding to the recommendations of the CLA report and also interacting with the Brookline audit committee on the recommendations of the CLA report
that ended up realizing into a me memorandum of understanding um executed by myself and the town administrator to address and identify specific points in the CLA report that
we were committed to addressing. So theou said that we would commit to quarterly reports that we would commit to um reviewing our HR operations would commit to a whole bunch of different things of committing and reporting. And
so that was theou and that that actually was executed um in in September. So it took the entire entire summer to negotiate. Also at the same time because everyone
understands that coming into FY26 we have a significant structural deficit that there was possibly likely in the need for a override question to be
considered for the town to raise revenue to be able to address that deficit. and where we are in our in our budgets. So the expenditures and review study committee was formed a representative
group that was appointed by the chair of the select board. And so this this study committee um was charged to review what had happened, records, audits, um
reports and determine whether they would make a recommendation to the chair of the select board and to the select board in its entirety whether there should be an override question. Um and then I think between the select board and the
town administrator um they would determine if there was to be an override. The second question is the size of that override. So both questions are critical to us in the school department, not just the school
department but all town departments. Um the expenditures and review study committee to their charge have a ask us a lot of questions and so actually too many questions for us to be
able to respond in in the way that we received them. We did respond to a lot of questions in the beginning, but understand that we were a new senior leadership team and we were short staffed and we were new. And so our focus was to
make sure that we could um support our principles, support our teachers in schools and as things were happening that we could support crisis events and there have been a number of them in this in this period. um and and to be able to
be there um and to make sure that schools were running smoothly, students needs were being met as long as staff needs. So I thank the members of the school committee which really took the responsibility of representing the school department and the various subcommittees.
So the expenditures and review study committee at some point they turned into three subcommittees and um the members of our board um began to take responsibility for representing and sort of mediating what um information that
was needed for that study committee. The study committee is um outlined their report and they are drafting the parts of that report and ultimately um I believe the end of February there will be a report
completed with a recommendation >> early March. >> Okay. So early March um with a recommendation. So they're working on it based on the information we've been able to provide through the representation of our of our board and also by our own
attendance at some of the some of the meetings they will present um to the select board a recommendation and so that's a really important report and the outcome of that um and so through through that work Dave has
sought asurances from us that we were mindful ful of um managing the our expenses, how we spend, how we budget, and that we were mindful of um making sure that everything that we
present and propose are is something that we feel justified in proposing and funding. Um and so we did so I I'll talk more about what is reflected in the guidelines um to reflect that our our
commitment to the expenditures and revenue study committee which again is a representative body of the town to um support hopefully their recommendation for an override and also of the
magnitude that we hope will um support our recommendation as well. At the same time, while we are new and learning the district, building the budget and working with these um town committees,
we were invited to a audit or Desi said they would commit an audit of our idea grant. Every time you are subjected to an audit, there is a massive document production and you have to give them access to your files and it's it's um
all good. they need to do that, but it takes away um our capacity, takes away our time to be able to do all the other things to support um the functionality of the district again um to benefit our students, support our
staff, and support our building leadership. So we also um were committed and invited to um participate in an MTRS audit and um so our DESIE audit came back
incredibly clean. I'm used to audits coming back with okay you're good but you have these corrective actions. It came with zero corrective actions. That was huge for us because in the espersions in the spring captured by the
CLA report there was um there there were allegations that we hadn't managed the IDI grant well and so that report came back absolutely clean clean no corrective actions our MTRS audit has
also come back clean right so we were invited to participate in September we've only received the conclusion of that report um last month. So in all this time we've been waiting and um had uploaded our documents. The town audit
is nearing its completion and so it's not just us. We participated in that but it's also um town centered and other departments. We're waiting for the conclusion of that audit but that also required a lot of doc document production and a lot of meetings with
the auditors. Desessie chose us to participate in a curriculum review audit. Not every district gets chosen. This is not one of those mandated um regular reviews that you get. This one is they spot check
different districts to do it and we got chosen. I did ask if we could wait a year and do it next year but no. So they will be coming in March and there has been a tremendous document production for the curriculum review audit um all
our curriculum materials but they're also looking at finances. They're also looking at our accounting systems. There will be um there will be oh my gosh what do you call them like focus group meetings. So there'll be
focused group meetings of involving faculty, involving school committee, administration, community. So it's a big it's a big audit that we'll be um committing to in March. They also will be coming into all the schools and they
will be observing classes and they will be writing reports on what they see when they come to all the classes. They're not going to see every single class, but they are committed to come to every single school and see some classes. So,
we are preparing staff to welcome them into our classes come March. We have been recently invited to participate, I mean last month, in a title 2, three, and four audit. So,
again, document productions. And so this is to help I think for people to appreciate that the new senior leadership team is committed to represent the district in in the best of circumstances and in the best light.
But also we have um we're under tremendous um we're we're under tremendous um need for transparency um through the audits. everything is being provided. And so we are we're
charged to make sure that everything that we're doing is um is is matches our budget guidelines but also um best practices and yes um that we are being fiscally
responsible. The term efficiencies is meant that we are finding ways to do things that is not a detriment to service. Okay. And that's where we are at this level. The the projected budget at this point does reflect um our
analysis of um everything that we're doing. And yes, um there are reductions that are going to be part of that projected budget. At the same time, we are presenting a budget that maintains level service and also
needs for um s sustaining and um maintaining our programs, but that means an investment in training and professional development moving forward. Um, so these are continued challenges to the district, some historical context.
And um, I I want to say to our at this point too, our new senior No, it's okay. You were perfect going our new new senior leadership team. I feel very good about the team. We're fortunate that um
that several that we have so many years of experience. It's a new team, but we have several decades of experience um in leadership in different school systems, some in this school district. Um and so coming together, we've come together
quickly and collaboratively. Um we're able to be open with each other, challenge each other. We don't always agree at different points but we have come together on this budget that we are
presenting for you. The other district transitions and initiatives if we have new school committee members and what that means is that as we proceed we can't make assumptions about what any member has familiarity with. So that's
another part where we're having to think about how we communicate and if we're doing it in a way in a fashion that addresses the needs of new committee members to come to an understanding um about everything because in the end we want to be able to come together and
advocate together. We want to be unified in the presentation of what we need in our in our budget and support moving forward. We have three newly permanent principles. One brand new to the district, two who are formerly interims
but new in their permanent roles and they're not. So one is in the school that they were in before but one's in a school that they weren't in before. So so there's been also a need to support new principal leadership. And so I say
after classroom teachers, the most important educator is the building principal. They're the ones that are working on the front line um meeting with stu with the with our students, our staff, but also our families. They are the ones that are most directly
interacting and assuring that what we are hoping hoping is happening in every classroom is and they're the ones to asssure that you're getting the resources that you need. The other transition initiatives were new transportation routes because we reduced
the bus between last year and this year and I think it was a little rough in the beginning but that also took time out to work um with the with solutions and I think it took um several months. Also keep in mind that we had a new
facilities director and so transportation was also new to that person. So many people learning and um and I I think I hope I do believe the fe feedback was positive that we were
able to to figure out the transportation um in the end. Really importantly, we've had the implementation of a new literacy and and um curriculum across RK5 with a mind to expanding to grade six
through eight and MTSS building that curriculum as part of that implementation of the literacy program. We're also expanding the work of the vision of a learner that actually is required by the NEAS process that the
high school was engaged in for its accreditation. The dennial process for accreditation that it underwent division of a learner for the high school we've determined and I think you should you all agree that it's going to become part
of a K12 or preK12 vision of a learner and expanding that. So those are new initiatives. We also are engaged in six contract negotiations. So we're engaged in them. We're in process. Um and I
think the progress on that is somewhat I I appreciate our our unions in engaging that and being available. Um but we're also I think they appreciate that our capacity has been impacted through our changes and um the demands of building
this budget but we've also um had new turnover at the district level that we did not anticipate. So we've had a departure of u two key positions in the in the district offices our director of finance and our HR
director. So additional new turnover at the district level, we've determined not to fill those roles. All right. So part of the work we did for preparing this budget was to reorganize and rethink the
functions. So we um are not filling refilling the position, but it means an additional demand on those of us that are at the district level. So the historical context of what you happened in the spring, the impact on your your
leadership, the change in leadership, the reductions and adjusting to the ad reductions and um answering a lot of questions that got generated by what happened last spring
and um trying to negotiate, build the budget and here we are. So next slide FY27 budget development. So I hope you appreciate that that that the context is important as we come into this and how
we approach the um budget development. And if you could go to the next slide. Um the budget book has been uploaded to the website. It's available to anyone. So anyone can see it much more detail than you're going to hear in this
presentation. I'm going to sort of hit the um the highlights, but also my goal is is for one to appreciate um the importance of the projected budget and the importance of supporting
the budget as we proposed. Um so, next slide. This is the budget calendar. It's a little hard to read, but it just tells you that we've been committed to this timeline. So um the beginning is is creating our
budget priorities, the guidelines and then working with our um principles and other budget preparers across the district. There are over 60 budget preparers in the district um department coordinators
um different leaders all the way through um with our principles and of course the senior leadership team pulling that all together. And so where we're at is we are at February 5th today where we're presenting the proposed budget and then
the rest of the calendar is deliberation. Next week, Thursday is an important budget hearing where there's more of a dialogue that can happen. The school committee is invited to send their questions. Um
I believe we're sending them to Z. Z is going to collate your questions for us. So you are so you are encouraged to create your questions and then also um the public is create to create their questions and that they can come to the
public hearing. Um the school committee must vote the budget um in time to submit it to the town. I believe it says February. I can't read it. >> Yeah. Thank you.
The deadline is because of um when the town meeting occurs and so there's a deadline for when you have to submit your budgets and then they build the warrants from there. So this is so this isn't in our control. It's dictated by these processes that are part of um
>> it's >> Marching hearing the actual >> we have to submit it to the town but then um >> the hearing in February and the budget possible. >> Okay. I thought it was earlier. Susan
Donna has correct. >> Yeah. >> She can't hear from me. >> Well, any case, we have a budget hearing next week and I thought they had I thought committee had to vote. >> We have to vote by February 15th and so
the public hearing and the vote will be on the same night, but that's not the final vote. That's basically the vote to transmit this budget. >> So at least get one budget and there may be revisions along the way. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. If you could go to the next slide.
So these are the budget guidelines that were voted by the school committee. The school committee votes the guidelines and they send them to me. And so these are the standards that we adhere to around class sizes um and also to our prior priorities
identified um in that related to the strategic plan and also a commitment and this was partly in um collaboration with our expenditures and revenue study
committee that we were doing what they needed to assure um to asssure that they were going to have enough to be able to make a conclusion about their recommendation. So part of
creating the budget was to evaluate current operations and programs for possible efficiencies and revenue generation. So that's under six up there that's a little hard to read. Um, so evaluate current operations and
programs. create budgets for possible overwrite planning scenarios that will identify financial operational efficiencies, revenue generation, the ongoing K8 literacy implementation, and district-wide MTSS development,
FY26 reductions to restore program modifications to asssure educational equity for all students, including but not limited to social, emotional, and academic learning. And then the final part is to outline
consequences of a failed or override assuming there is an override question. And so just to let you know that the that we will provide more clarity and time for the February 12th meeting. The
next slide is um looking at our enrollment projection. Looks like part of it is cut off there. Thank you. Um so the similar enrollment patterns as
FY26 we've had an overall sort of overall netline um and so it's it's not like precipitous but it it is an overall decline that's been happening and so our projection
um for FY27 is we're projecting 6989 so a slight decline fine, but it's been a decline from FY25 on and is comparable to what we had in FY22.
The projection is not for a big increase. The projection is actually more of the same for the next couple of years. So because um the enrollment has been as such we did look at um we did
look at our programs with an eye to that. So preparation for FY27 this is in so this is over several slides preparation for FY27 and this one highlights the things that we looked at
for efficiencies reorganization and and and revenue possible revenue. I again want to underscore that efficiencies are for things that are looking at our enrollment, adjusting for our enrollment, which means looking at
case loads. And the recommended budget, it is a budget for a level service and also maintaining some growth. Financial operational efficiencies and maintaining level service. We are we
have um created a plan to restructure the district offices. So we're not rehiring a finance director and we've reduced an additional position um in our HR department. We are seeking
to restore um our data direct our data director. We're not going to restore the communications. We're not restoring the other senior director that was eliminated. We're not restoring the OEE.
So there are many things we're not seeking to restore. We are seeking to restore the senior data director as a high priority. Um for us, for a district this large and this complex, we need a senior level person that helps us look
at our data to inform our practice. um that and I know that teachers and principles are looking at data and they need additional support to be able to make best use of that data to again aform their practice for the benefit of our students.
We did offer an early retirement incentive. We offered teachers that were thinking about retirement um $20,000 that would be payable to them upon their retirement at the end of the year. And so we have about 10 to 12 people that
have indicated and accepted that incentive. And I say 10 to 12 people because the retirement it it comes into effect if people actually are able to go ahead and enact their retirement. Some people are still working with MTRS to assess um
to make sure their information is correct and is something that they want to do. So, we've incorporated the savings for some of that, not all of them. So, conservatively, like maybe half of the number into our FY27
projection. Um, we looked at each of our schools, our K8 schools with our principles, and we looked at the enrollment projections section by section. And with our principles, we determined that in some
cases we needed an additional section. Some cases we needed it was to go down. Now, when we went down a section, it was because if we carried the same number of students forward to that next grade level, we might have been looking at
section size of 15, 16, or even fewer. That's when we reduced a section. This was not about going from 20 to 23, right? It was about we're we're not running us. We're not running all the
sections that we have because we're talking about sections of 15 and 16. Sometimes we went up, sometimes we went down. The guidance enrollment based adjustment um we looked at the average
across all our all our K8 schools. So the adjustment on guidance on a guidance counselor is based on that. We and so every single every single staff reduction was a process of multiple people being
engaged in that conversation and multiple conversations. This is something that we did um over time. special education case load also across all levels, all schools. This was
carefully done um in each circumstance. These were not quick calculations. These were with building principles with our um special ed directors case school by
school program by program administrative support adjustment also across looking across everything there are no custodial reductions I just want to remind you there were three reductions in that
department for the current year computer leases right sizing Our enrollment has gone down. Our teachers have gone down. So part of this was working with it to change their
assumptions for renewal license renewal equipment. We also determined that for K and and one that we would go to shared Chromebooks, not oneonone. So we still have Chromebooks for classes. So they
that roll from class to class but we moved away from the one to one. So these are some of the efficiencies that we feel don't jud don't um undermine delivery of service but are so this is what we mean by efficiencies print
materials adjustment we did look at all our curriculum coordinator budgets and we made adjustments there. um revenue generation. So as you know this also was a was a
long process of development. We identified just three just three of our specialized programs identified three to start and did a lot of work in terms of building that tuition. tuition was
approved by the subcommittee and then by the finance subcommittee and then by this committee. We are not projecting revenue for that until FY28. It's a it's a it's a big shift for us to
accept students through a tuition in like program like this. So, we want to make sure we're doing it in a measured way and um so we're not we don't want to put pressure on on our staff that we're expecting that tuition to balance the
budget next year. So, we're projecting it for FY28 and so but this is something that we are committed to doing and committed to doing it right and thoughtfully. BEAP tuition went up and that's the that's
the revenue generation for BEAP. Um material fee, the school committee voted a 3% increase in the material fee um and for for staff that bring their children and it's not just school staff but all town staff and that is revenue
generated. That's the increase. Yes. Um facility rental cost is something is a TBD. Um, so I think that is something that we are looking to increase expenses. Just a heads up, we'd like to um maybe engage staffing for afterchool
access. So that will fold into what we might consider for rental use increase. Um, next slide, please. Um when I started I was told that we absolutely could not add anything to the
budget um unless I took something away. And so I did say that there were so many reductions that happened that I thought it was only fair to look at the impact and make a recommendation for some restoration. So as I said the director
of data and information systems many things were cut out of the district offices. I cannot say moving forward with the FY27 budget as recommended that the district offices offices are fully resourced.
Our focus and our prioritization was as much as possible to support direct service to students, direct service to schools and to our building leadership. But this is a position that the SLT team unanimously supports as a
priority restoration and it will not it will serve OAS, OAS, OSS and OTL. It is but it's intentional to to hold us accountable for our performance in our
support of students student learning. The Otto copy releases they were unintentionally omitted from FY26. We had to they're just it's not an expense that's negotiable. We have to have them. So we had to restore that in
the budget. They were always in the budget in FY25. They were left out of the FY26 budget. So they're coming back in. Professional curriculum and development was cut in FY26. And that has been really hard for our teachers in
our schools. And um it's not just about sustaining I mean teachers are better are better teachers if you're also learning. So it's also support the learning of our teachers but it's also to support new curriculum and um new
technologies. And so we are asking to restore um that kind of training um that was cut in FY26. Computer leases were a cost savings for FY26 and have to be we have to they were deferred. So we put off um I believe
replacement cycles and so they have to be put in for FY27. Transportation has been um underfunded and so we're trying to write the funding for transportation in the FY27 budget.
Stipens were also underfunded in FY26. So we're trying to right fund them for FY27. Thank you. The next thing um this is also about restoration and growth program maintenance and and and growth.
We are sustaining the K8 math curriculum renewal. That is the lensure renewal. It expires this year. We have to it's just we have to we have to renew the license. that is our
curriculum. The Google workspace is also a necessary relicure. Um we want to launch a science and technology curriculum review. Um it hasn't been done in in a in a long time.
When I say budget neutral, it's not it's not without a cost, but we can build that within the budgets that we have and um and other grant funding or remainder revolving accounts that we have. Vision of a learner is we're continuing that
that's also budget neutral for the same reason. Sila by literacy is is also um budget neutral. We're finding capacity within our staffing to be able to take responsibility for that and that it will be a new program. CILA by literacy is a
certification program that recognizes students that reach a certain level of mastery um in a language other than their native or their home language. So if you are if English is your primary language, it
would be the mastery of French or Spanish or another language. If English is not your first language, it's the mastery of English. So it's a biiteracy um certification program promulgated by
Desi um in in um in the name of um equitable equitable acknowledgement of mastery of learning another language. We are hoping we have um approval of new
career and technology education courses at the high school and so this fosters a diversification of programming for our students that um that might take that path ultimately. So meeting needs of um a broader group of students. chemical
hygiene safety plan development also budget neutral to enhance our safety um in our in our lab sciences um at the high school um and I believe in our middle schools um the BHS curriculum articulation work is
again part of the NEAS work um gave us a recent update and cited that this was an area of continuing work and along with the vision of a learner and this is budget neutral because we had set aside funds for this and that's
in in a revolving account. World language curriculum work also budget neutral and then continuing ELA ELA curriculum development again um monies are being held in revolving account that we can carry forward. So you can see
that most of the program maintenance and growth that we're identifying is budget neutral assuming that the budget that we're asking for is supported as proposed. Um and then other adjustments, new
liabilities. We are anticipating the loss of title 2, three, and four to the amount of um almost $300,000. That has been important professional develop money for us. other um curriculum supports. And so we are not
we're not assuming everything that was covered by two, three, and four. We went through and we try to adopt things that we thought were most critical and have folded that into the budget. FFN was always carried on the town side
of the ledger and so they have asked that we put it on our side of the ledger and so um it wasn't funded. So we are putting it on our side of the ledger and um and
funding. So these are new liabilities um that we're we're recording. These are the net staff reductions. It's a n it's a net reduction of 19.7 across all schools
preschool our k8s our high school and reflects also additional changes in the in the o in our district offices they are they're they're one or two or
fractional there is no building that sustains the bulk bulk of anything. We we have done our best to distribute the reductions across as many sectors as possible to
minimize the impact. Um we looked and it's largely right sizing for enrollment over time, right? So we have additional reductions in the district offices and again
custodial I want to remind everyone that we did reductions coming into this year and so staff changes um if you go to the budget book that's online you will see um you will see the
detail out. All right. So, they're in the budget books. Staffing changes by office. Um, superintendent and school committee. We actually don't have it's just um it's just me and the secretary. So, um and so
the other reductions are in admin, finance, student services, and then it the office of teaching and learning. So, that has everything the elementary sections um the PS
there is a librarian and then this is um this reflects this reflects in some way the the magnitude of work that's been done. Again, we are a new leadership team
and um the initial preliminary budget projection was 9% over the current year. Um it reflected all positions as they are. It also did restore professional
development because that has been a priority for us and it restored the um data position. Over this period of time, we've again looked carefully at all our lines across
every school, across every department, OTL, OSS, OAF, every single section we've looked through carefully. And so this reflects where we are today
at 8.1 million increase, but it's a tremendous change. from where we started in November and it reflects a lot of inputs from a large body of people and we're at
a 5.68%. So I feel that the budget we've presented or we are presenting is a solid body of work and represents
fully what we feel is needed to fund our programs in the way that we want to support the excellence in our programs to support the to support what our students need. what our staff need to be
able to deliver that service. And so, um, in the next slide, it's also to give you some context. Historically, that has been our town revenue allocation.
All right? So, keep in mind, we're saying the increase we need is 8.1 million. That has been the historical allocation. If you go to the next slide, this is an illustration of the impact of
the structural funding deficit over time. All right, so bear with me. If you look at FY23 and you just go down vertically, if you go down vertically,
what was received in circuit breaker in that year is the bottom number 3280301. That is what was received in FY23. Historically, the district
takes all the money they receive in one fiscal year and they charge it against the tuition for the next school year. So that's what that arrow indicates.
All the money received in FY23 and circuit breaker got charged against the tuition in FY24. The bottom line in FY24 36066
3606449 is all the money received that year in circuit breaker reimbursement. I'm sorry. Circuit breaker reimbursement is the money we get for every student
if they every student we we can we can determine for some of our student with higher needs the amount of money um it costs to serve that student. So it might be a parah in a specialized program or
it might be out of district tuition. When we take that cost and we take the amount over a threshold determined by the state that that money above the threshold is subject to a reimbursement
statutoily the state can reimburse up to 75%. Historically, sometimes it's 75%, sometimes it's less. So, the threshold is around 50,000. So, the money we spend above 50,000 is
eligible for possible reimbursement at most at 75%. So, that's what that monies reflect. It's a sizable amount of money which supports there's a sizable amount money being invested to support um our
students with intensive needs. So if you note the total tuition line in the bright blue that is the total tuition line as it progresses across the fiscal years. All right. So then we get to FY25
and you see the money that was received in FY25 and you see that it was entirely allocated for this year FY26. The town allocated almost 6 million to
the district. It was not enough to fund the budget for this year. So the district, the department committed to drawing 1.943
million64 from the money being received this year. Right? Historically the money received in a given year is charged to the next year.
But we committed to take 1.9 out of this year's which means there's less money available for the next year. Where does this structural funding deficit come from? It's been rolling
forward for the past few years. There are things in the budget that haven't been funded in the budget. We've been using one-time revenues to cover that. Sometimes we make a
budget for salaries and maybe there's some breakage. So, there's a little bit about that. All right. But it's one time revenues. We've been doing that. What the proposed budget this year? I think
it's in the next slide. Uh not in the NE. Can we jump to the next slide and then back to this one? Nope. Sorry. Just just go back. I thought I had put a slide in there, but I didn't. All right. Let's just go back
to here. All right. If um 8.1 million 8.1 million um almost two million of it reflects the structural deficit.
All right. So if you take 8.1 million and you remove the structural deficit, it's 6.1 million. Historically, the town has been able to give us about that amount. Historically, that has been like we're
we're pretty level to what we have been over the years. If we are fully funded, and I'm asking and hoping that we can be fully funded for the proposed budget,
it will it will fund the structural deficit on top of what we're saying we need for the budget moving forward. Once the structural deficit is solved in the out years, we will go back to
more of that 4.4 4.5% hopefully. All right. In growth. Yes. Which is more sustainable for the town as a whole. So the next um slide
is just our big budgets over time. So um it doesn't look okay. So so my fault it doesn't have the percent increases over time but you can see where we are like if you look down at FY 23 24 25 26 27
and then you can see where our net toil is is at 8.1. So um if I if I thought to do an additional slide, I would just show what our percentages are. And actually our percentages are revealed
um in a prior I believe in the in the 122 chart it has the percentages in there. And so if I had my hands on it, but I don't have my hands on it. Um it's okay. So, if you look at it, the
the budget increases were more like 4.34, 4.4, and then it looks like we're going to 5.63 for this one, but again, it it's including the structural deficit. If it's fully funded, it will go back to
the 4.4 numbers. And then, um the last slide, I don't know what our funding shortfall is. Um, at our last meeting, the um, town ministry was comfortable with me saying that there would be a $2 million allocation, but um, but they're
not as comfortable at this point. And I want to say that um everyone is working really hard and so the town administrator and their staff is working really hard at figuring out what's available and um it's complex and so um
there will be an allocation but I just don't know what the size is. And so once we know the size then we will know what our funding gap is. So what this budget proposes is a 8.1 increase. I don't know what the allocation will be
and um and then once we know what the allocation is and we know what the funding gap is then we can be more clear about what the impact is about not having a funded budget. Do you have anything to add Susan?
Okay. So we invite I don't know if you have immediate questions for clarity but otherwise we invite the members to submit questions >> just had a yeah >> go ahead and then we'll we'll go around
um after after you will go around the room. Yeah, a question and a comment. Um, on the page 35, the last big picture, I I don't I mean, again, I scan it quickly. I didn't see professional development anywhere. There's like a blank line. Maybe it didn't print or something like that. I don't know. That's on page 35. >> Okay.
>> Maybe it got missed. It was I thought maybe it's that blank line, but it's not there. >> Oh, because this is Office of Students >> only OSS. Okay. Got it. >> Yeah. So, it would be in a different >> It'll be the other one. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And the Thank you. >> Okay. And the other thing I wanted to mention, just I guess for the public,
the the additional town allocation is funded through a prior override. That's not money that the town like got revenue from some other source and then was able to allocate it um to the school, a portion of that money that it
had from some magic account and give it to the schools. that six to seven million each year um in in my understanding is the is monies that were raised through the three years ago override which begins to make you think
about well without an override that the the zeros that um that Bella was showing across the bottom for future allocations to close the gap would be large. So, just as a clarity point is to describe
where that revenue came from, that additional revenue. >> Thank you, Jesse. Uh, anybody else? >> Quiet in the room. >> Okay, go ahead. >> Thanks. Yeah, just um maybe a clarifying
question, more a question to make sure I heard you correctly and understood what you said. So um when you talked about so this year's so this request represents a 5.68% increase over uh fiscal year 26 and then
you also said I believe that that includes the 1.94 million that's needed to once and for all kind of close the structural deficit. >> I think it's is it 1.94? Yes. >> Yeah. So that's like 1.3% roughly of our budget doing a back of back of the
envelope. you took that out. Yeah. You'd be looking at a four a 4.34. >> Yeah. So, >> which is actually in line with sort of the town allocation increases that we've been getting the last couple of years. >> Yeah. So, kudos to to the finance team
um being able to to to come to that clarity. >> Yeah. >> Um but if Yes. So, we're if it were to be fully funded, then it would we would move forward with lower projections, >> right? >> Yes. Okay. Just wanted to make sure I heard you correctly.
>> Yeah. >> Thanks, >> Mariah. >> Thank you. Um, thank you to you, Bella, for presenting tonight and to um, Susan and and to the principles and Robin and Karen for putting all of this together. I know how
much how challenging it is and how complex and what you've worked on. Um, so I appreciate that. Um I wonder Bella if you could forecast for us um how you expect the process to go from here and and I'll say just two questions. One is
um do you expect this like is there going to be conversation that the school committee will engage in on the choices and the cuts that were made or how are you expecting us to um discuss or talk about those? And then
just more broadly, if you could provide a timeline of um for example, when will you be presenting um the no override scenario? Um yes, that would be I guess my next question.
>> So we wanted to make sure you had it before the 212 meeting. Um and so we have been actually talking about how to approach um a non-overrite budget
scenario um and so talking about it with the principles and um and other other directors. So for everyone um our budget our budget are expenses
and they are salaries. The budget is essentially expenses and salaries. There are not enough expenses for us to cut to be able to close that gap. What are the expenses? And there are
some expenses we can't touch. So expenses we can't touch. We can't touch the tuition. We can't touch transportation. We can't cut food service. There's just these there's so a lot of there's we're limited by what we can reduce on the
expense side. So unfortunately with a gap that that big we'll do what we can on expenses but it largely comes out of the salary side. So
it's possible we can present some scenarios where we can just take okay this is what we can do now we're now we have the salaries we can take the salary line we can divide
it by salary and then you get your total FTEES that's just one look the >> you're talking about to cover the whole 8.1 million Bella Yes. >> Well, there might be some expenses we
can do, but we're not we can't you can't what I'm making clear is that essentially it will end up being massive staff reductions because there >> you can't make up that gap and also I'm assuming there will be a
town allocation. So what I town administration knows that we very much have wanted that number because it determines the scope of of the work that we have to do next. So I'm hopeful that
we will have that in time for us to give you better clarity before the next next meeting. Right. So, so one approach is the minimal that we can do out of expenses. The rest of it is salary. We
can divide it by a number and you get a FTE count. And then and then another is okay, we've identified these programmatic reductions that reflects
this amount of FTEES and this amount of money. And then after that there is a smaller remainder where we say this is this is what the cuts are. Um we may propose
okay this amount distributed to the high school this amount distributed to the K8s. I have no idea what you do with beep. I don't know how you reduce at beep. Can
you just clarify, Bella, when did you say when you were thinking that like this conversation will happen or it's or you're saying it'll really depend because the scope of what you need to do will really depend on when the town provides us with a more accurate allocation. >> It just so if we if we say, "Oh, it's a
8 million gap and this is what it looks like or maybe it's seven or maybe it's six." It's just really confusing. So, we're just hoping to have some clarity to know what it is we're dealing with. Um, >> so I don't think we would say it's this.
I think we would probably show what are possibilities of ways to approach that. Um, and there I there will be there will be no there will be no great options,
>> right? I mean, at 8.1 million, assuming sort of an average staff assumption, it's almost a hundred people. it's devastating to the district. So, um there are no great options and as you say, hopefully the number will be much smaller.
>> And um I do I do underscore that I feel like we we've done our due diligence. We've looked hard at at the budget and we fully support what's on the table. meaning you're responding to the to both
what you've retained and what you've chosen to remove. >> Yes. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Um but also realizing that it does we are honestly with with the town allocation being possibly where it's at, there was
no way we were going to be able to present a budget without a funding gap. Um, so but I'm also saying that um this is it's a solid budget as as
proposed as analyzed and um so I'm hoping for a full for a for a full funding of it. >> Okay, anyone else questions, initial questions? >> Just speak up, Bob.
Thank you, Val. Um, so I just want to say, Madame Superintendent, that with the constraints that you described, changes in staffing, the limitations in staffing, the audits that were expected
from you, um, your facility with this budget and the challenges that we face are just impressive. And I want to thank you. >> You know, I'm gonna say it's a team. Um,
yeah. Um, everyone's worked really hard on it. Thank you, >> Val. My hand is up. It's Carolyn. >> Go ahead, Carolyn. >> Thanks. Um, thank you to everybody for putting this
together. um and for that um very detailed explanation, Bella. So I just want to clarify so I know for our role in the next couple of weeks and thank you for inviting us um to forward questions. So I just want to like I was
jotting down a few questions just sort of clarification things. So that's the kind of thing just like could we get a little more detail here a little clarification there is that the the the nature And you want us to email
Z? Do you want to give us a deadline? >> A deadline? That's a good idea. What's a deadline that works for you? >> Do you want to give us a limit? >> Is it >> no more than five? >> Is it Monday? >> What? A deadline for what? Asking
questions in advance. Well, if they want the answers >> for submitting questions to Z. >> Yeah. So, questions of course will come up. >> Sure. >> As we go along, >> but it would be ideal if by the end of the day on Monday if you have some
pressing questions if you could get those to Z so we can lump them. No. >> So, we're doing presentations we can kind of glump. >> Sure. >> You know, like >> and I don't have anything scary or challenging. I just want to it's helpful to know the so the process can be
supportive of your work. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Anything else, Carolyn? >> No, thank you. >> Okay. Uh Mariah, >> thanks. Um I just want to make sure this
is a little bit like more for the for the public. So the budget book is posted on the website. Um, Bella, will you also or Kathleen on your behalf be sending a link out to it um to the community so
that they can see it >> just to make sure people can find it because sometimes the website can be a bit >> we can send it to so we can send it tomorrow. >> Yeah, not tonight of course. Yeah, like just if you Yeah, that would be helpful maybe with a short summary of the some
of the remarks you gave tonight so that people are aware of the budget coming out. um and some of the highlights. And then in terms of the public coming next Thursday is the public hearing and so they can sign up in advance by emailing
school committee atpsbma.org the normal way. >> Yes, Susan's nodding yes. >> Okay. And of course they can also just send in written comment to that same email address. They don't need to come in person. they can just send that comment and it goes straight to the
school committee members and to and then you receive it as well. I just wanted to say that out loud so that everyone knows what they can do. That's all. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else in the room? >> Yeah, it's Suzanne.
>> Okay, go ahead, Suzanne. So, so this is your proposed budget with the gap and we don't know what the allocation is going to be from the town. I mean, how much that will be to cover that gap? But I'm also wondering about the override.
Will we end up having two budgets? Like if there's an override, if the override passes, what that budget might be, or do we just how do we how do we reconcile that? How do we figure that out? Isn't this the budget if the override passes?
>> It is. This is the budget if it passes, Suzanne. >> Okay. So, do we have to think about if it doesn't pass? >> That's what I was just asking about. Embella was saying they would, you know, she would they would talk through it, but they need to know what the allocation is >> to know what the gap is.
>> Okay. I I have to remind everyone that even if an override question is determined, the amount is the second question. >> So, I'm advocating for full funding of
the proposed budget. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? If so, just speak up. Okay. I'm sure there'll be lots of um questions forthcoming. Thank you for this detailed presentation to you and um
Susan and Karen and Robin and and the whole team, the principles and the whole team. Um next on our agenda, item 6A is the Brooklyn High School course catalog changes for 26 to 27 review discuss
discussion possible vote. um 6 AI algorithms and data structures and 6A uh sub 2I systems programming computer science both in the computer science. Um Suzanne, do you want to lead us through
this? >> Sure. Um so the uh curriculum subcommittee met last week and uh Britt Stevens uh presented these two courses. I will say upfront that they are budgetneutral.
Uh one they're both uh computers are both halfyear courses. So uh they have a teacher already who is teaching a fullear course and he would then drop one of those courses and then they would put these two courses in as half years.
Uh so that's how it's budget neutral. um it's part of their it's a little bit part of their um uh pathways around uh computers and and coursework that way. Um the first course
uh you can read it, it's there. Um and and the notion is uh is it really presents analytical thinking uh she mentioned Java as a language computer language and the second course is uh systems programming and it's um
understanding systems a level of understanding um so she thinks that there is quite a bit of interest in this and um we voted unanimously to bring uh it to the full committee for approval. of these two horses.
>> Val, >> do you have a question for Suzanne? >> Oh, no. I have a motion on this >> and a statement. >> Hold the phone. Bob, any Does anybody have any questions for Suzanne? >> Uh Bob, go ahead. But I'm going to if it's what we discussed, it's going to be
out of order. But go ahead. >> I'm sorry. >> Go ahead with your motion. I move that we approve the proposed new courses for inclusion in the BHS course catalog and also require the high school to offer WISP honors in addition to unlevelled
WIS wisp for 2026 2027. >> Second part of your motion is out of order. Uh was not posted. It's subject to it would it would violate the open meeting law. >> Would you like to present the first part of your motion?
I would like an explanation for why a member of the school committee cannot make a proposal and a motion on the school high school catalog. >> Sure. We have Jen King here to discuss. >> What's that?
>> Jen King is going to discuss our council. >> Um, so one moment. I'm just pulling up the agenda once again. Mom. So, we have an agenda posted um and that includes
school committee actions for course cataloges with respect to algorithms and data structures, computer science and systems programming and computer science. Um the open meeting law does require 48 hours notice if um we are going to um add or change things to the
agenda. If there is less than 24 hours notice of um a matter to be added, especially if it is um a motion for something new that is not on the agenda. the attorney general's office may find that we are out of compliance with the
open meeting law and can require that the school committee um basically revoke anything that it did with respect to that. So, um the school committee just needs to be very careful with respect to
um any addressing any um unressed or unanticipated matters that were not on the agenda, particularly those based on guidance from the AG's office um that might cause an interest in the community and might draw people
um to public comment or to an attention. So, um you can always remove things from an agenda or like not address those, but when you want to add something during a meeting, um the AG's office recommends um delaying until the next meeting so it can be properly posted and to avoid an
open meeting law complaint. >> So, I cannot make an amendment to the motion. My recommendation to comply with the open meeting law is to hold off on that motion and to um to ask the chair to add
that to the agenda for the next meeting so that way there are no open meeting law complaints against the school committee. >> Okay, I will do that. Thank you. >> Fantastic. Thank you. >> So, right, happy to discuss a new business, Bob. Uh, Mariah,
>> um, I just want to follow up on this because it's really frustrating to me as a member of the committee that no matter how you feel about WISP, it feels like this has been deferred and deferred and deferred and has been a topic for a year
and a half. It's literally val the opposite of new business. It is old, old business. And it's frustrating that the agenda was set up in a way that it was so tight as to not allow for any sort of amendment even to really the the the
item on the floor. And I just, you know, I I would hope that we could even just defer this item to next week, assuming we're we are meeting next week because we have the hearing and write rewrite this in a way that lets us have this conversation finally. Um,
>> so there is a conversation, Mariah, and Suzanne will probably talk about it during her curriculum update. Um, the chair of the department is out on a medical leave. >> No, I understand. I can read my emails. I understand all of that. >> Okay. Well, I'm saying this for the public because they don't read your
emails or mine. So, >> well, but the but this has been going on for at least a year and a half, if not more than that. This has been a long-term conversation, and I just feel like it's been frustrating that it gets deferred and deferred and deferred. Let's just have the conversation already.
>> So, you did read, I'm sure, the email that talks about the process for introducing new courses and bringing them to the school committee. And if you look at it, it starts off right at the top that says that the curriculum
coordinator with the work of their department will start to look at what a new course would look like. And they have to do the leg work. and they then present that to their administrators in their schools and to their
administrative council, get the green light there. If it goes, if they get that green light, then they're going to come to curriculum subcommittee and get the green light there. And then we bring that to the full committee. That's in
the policy. And we have actually stuck to that process as we're looking at WISP. And I don't know that we've been doing it for a year and a half. Bob just came on in May, so that's not a year. But
that is what we're allowing the department to do. And so we have arranged and Bob knows this for a meeting with uh the head of the department Jen Martin and with uh the administration at the high school. They
want to meet with Bob. They've included him in their beginning work that they would bring to us. And so I know it's frustrating, but this is a big decision and we want to give them full opportunity
to present what they would like to present and they also want to hear from the school committee what it is they're looking for. So I think it's only fair that we stick to the process. I know it's frustrating. I hear it a lot.
Tonight we are voting on the two um courses that has already gone through this process. So we're going to vote tonight. I will move because I think Bob, your motion was not accepted. I will move that we
accept these two courses tonight. I look for a second to that and to a vote because the high school and HAL needs to know this that these courses are coming through now. And then we will continue the process when we look at a review of existing
courses, which is a little unusual because usually school committee members do not ask for a review of an existing course, but that doesn't mean we can't. Okay. So, I now have on the floor a motion. I would ask for someone to second that. >> Seconded.
>> Okay. Thank you, Jesse. >> Jesse second. >> Al, I'm going to turn it back over to you. I just wanted just just since we're having discussion, I'll just point out as a matter of fact that this is the same question that I asked approximately one year ago when I was on the
curriculum subcommittee and it got delayed and delayed and delayed and never docketed until this day. So it's not Bob Winr issue. It's a longer issue than that. >> So no >> in my personal experience. >> Bel, can I make a statement? >> Of course.
>> Thank you. So what Suzanne is describing is the normal process for approving courses throughout the school system. Um what I'm saying is that and I do you mind if I read a small a brief statement
>> and then that'll explain why I am interested. Okay. So I I made a a motion that we require the high school to add WISP honors. Okay. Last May, the three candidates elected to the school committee expressed their opposition to
deleveling at Brooklyn High School. I was appointed, as you know, to the curriculum subcommittee nine months ago. Suzanne knows that. You just mentioned it. And I have requested many, many times beginning in May that the subcommittee have a discussion on the
assessment of WISP, the required unlevelled 9th grade social studies course. Other members of the school committee have also expressed a strong interest in assessing the WISP classes as well as other aspects of the curriculum. We have, with all due
respect, Suzanne, we have been deliberately denied the opportunity to discuss and assess WISP. It is now the 12th hour, which is the reason for my motion. It's too late for a regular process that Suzanne described to
include an honors choice for the students in 2026 2027. I and I'll just say one more thing. I know the motion is controversial in the high school and at the central office, but it is supported by a large segment of our community that I was elected to
represent. I do not want to wait another year and a half for nth grade students to have an honors option in the ninth grade social studies. And I have much more to say, but I'll say it next week when I'm allowed to present my motion. Thank you. >> I I just have to say just to jump in.
>> Bob, read your motion because I I'm having trouble with your motion, the wording that you're using. Can you say that again for me? >> Sure. >> Yeah. I don't I don't understand how we have that kind of authority and power to say >> the school committee has ultimate responsibility over curriculum in the
school system. >> I understand you're saying >> it does not say no. Let me finish. There is no defined process that you described. There is a there is past practice. There is the way we usually do business. But this is the 12th hour, which is why my frustration has resulted
in this motion. The motion says, I move we approve the proposed new courses that you described for inclusion in B in the Brooklyn High School course catalog. And I also move that we require the high school to offer WISP honors in addition
to WISP unleveled for 25 for 2026 2027. >> Yeah. So it's the word require that I'm I'm struggling with. >> Yeah. That's our responsibility. >> Not necessarily as a school committee. Our comm our responsibility is to approve curriculum. I'm not sure our responsibility is to require
>> our responsibility is to oversee the curriculum in the public schools of Brooklyn. >> I understand that. That's not the same in my mind as required. >> Okay, we disagree. >> Okay. And I will say although you're not going to like any of this, I will say there have been extenduating
circumstances. You came in May. We weren't going to take it up in June or nor over the summer. And Robin came uh to us new in September and she's our deputy superintendent for teaching and learning. We want to give her an opportunity to partake in this
conversation and to help. And we know that Jen Martin has been out recently on medical leave and you had an appointment to meet with her earlier and she was not available. So >> nine months ago I initiated the request >> and I just explained how we happened to
get here now. So I'm I'm just explaining Bob. You don't have to like it. You don't have to agree. I'm just explaining my point of view. Okay. Thank you. So, there's a motion on the floor in a second. Is there any further comment? >> I have their hands up. Yeah. >> Whose hand is up?
>> Caroline. >> Caroline. >> Thanks. Um, I want to say a few things. I'm going to second what Jesse said. It's not just Bob. I've been on the school committee. This is my second year. This conversation has been brought forward by members of the public.
Members of the public, many last year specifically asked for a discussion of WISP in curric curriculum subcommittee including data. Um rather than that being the discussion, there
was a long presentation about what the curriculum is um in K through 12. Um, and I think that disappointed a lot of people and it felt like I'm just going to be really honest. It
felt, I think, to members of the community like running out the clock um rather than engaging with integrity on a topic that's of great importance um to many people for for big reasons that
matter. So, it's not just Bob, it's not just this year. Um, and I'm just going to note a couple of sort of I don't know if ironic's the right word. Um, Suzanne, I respect that you're talking
in detail about the process um of making a change. WISP was added with no process. It was never voted by the school committee. It was
>> okay. Is that that's correct? >> It was presented to the school committee and voted. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um then I'm wrong there. I just we need to just be have honest
conversations about things that people want to have conversations about. And it's I mean I appreciate Val your point about the um about the um agenda and having an
attorney lined up to address that. Um there was a committee meeting last year where we were talking about the the school year calendar. Um and a vote was a motion was proposed and I alone
and to my embarrassment because of how it was received said we can't take a vote on something that's not on the agenda. Um, and I was shot down and told I was wrong and, you know, that I was essentially a troublemaker. So, I want
to make that point. Um, so I'm glad to have integrity to process and terrific that there was a lawyer on hand to tell us what our restrictions are, but um, it's interesting when those choices are
made. Um, and it's also frustrating to try to get something on the agenda. So I like I don't even know how we're supposed to get something on the agenda and Bob is is asking and Val I mean if Bob is asking for this to
be on the agenda are you agreeing that it will be you and >> there's a conversation Suzanne remind me of the date >> which conversation I'm sorry >> is there a social studies conversation right is it in two weeks
>> Bob Are you asking for this to be on the full school committee agenda >> or on >> Bob has a meeting set up and I don't it it's right it's right after the break >> and okay so there were some frustrating things that happened today that I learned about going on in the system
that caused me to make this motion spontaneously um a a great concern about the the direction of curriculum at the high school to some extent I mean because mainly the high school is spectacular mainly the high schools is an incredibly rigorous place. I understand that. But
people wait for nine years to get to the high school and have a have a choice of a rigorous course such as honors and eventually AP. And so some of what I heard today that is relevant which caused me to move ahead in this direction was that I heard that from
three schools the guidance counselors and teachers of the eighth graders are discouraging the eighth graders from taking the English honors course responding to literature. And I got that from a number of parents who are upset about it. And if that's the direction
that we're going, sort of a subtle uh re reimagination of nth grade unleveling um where teachers and guidance counselors at the eighth grade level are discouraging kids saying, "Oh, it's a waste to take the honors course." To me, that's a dilution of the power of the
academic program in our school system and at the high school. That's why I went crazy and said we're going to I'm going to make a motion here that we're going to just require the high school to to to incorporate an honors whisp program for the fall. I didn't want to
wait anymore. You know, I was and and that put me over the edge and I apologize because people are annoyed with me. But I represent lots of people in the community. They elected me to this position and one of the reasons they did is because I talked about sort of reigniting the academic center of
gravity of our school system and that's what this represents to offer an honors course in ninth grade in social studies. That's part of me advocating for the academic center of gravity in the public in the public schools of Brooklyn, which
I want to protect and that I see diminishing to some extent um at the high school unfortunately. You know, this is really hard for me. I love Anthony Meyer. I love Jen Martin. I worked with them for years, but I disagree with them on this and I'm sorry, but I have to stand up for what I
believe in and what the community I believe wants. Bella has her hand up. >> Go ahead, Bella. >> Um I I have spoken with um Jen about this and so I think she's really open to
anything. Um but she just she wanted to be able to have the conversation and she wasn't able to have it with you sooner. So this is not to disagree with anything that you have to say. I just wanted to correct that assumption about Jen.
That's all. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Well, I and I said that as well, Bob. Jen does want to meet. She wants to meet. She wants to understand and she wants to address the issue. >> This is not a Bob issue. It's there are
others of us. I've been talking about this for two years. Other people have. The community has. So now we're really digressing from the two wonderful courses that are um proposed for us to vote on. But I would like and maybe I'll raise this in new business.
I don't know as a school committee member. I don't think I've ever succeeded in asking for something to be put on the agenda and having it be put on the agenda. I don't know what it takes um for um something to be discussed in your docket
meeting and make it onto the agenda. Um Val, Sarah, and Bella, my understanding is you control the docket. Um I think this is a broad discussion that's interesting and important um and has been ongoing for some time.
So, I I support what Bob is saying and and I guess I just feel a little uncomfortable with a response being like, >> "Oh, Bob, don't worry. You're going to be meeting with Jen. >> The problem that's not good. >> The problem is the lateness of this of
the moment. The problem is that if we don't make a decision, you know, I'm hoping we make a decision to have the high school offer an honors program. I hope that Jen um and Anthony agree with that. But it's very late because students are about the co the course catalog's probably been you know
prepared and students are beginning to make their choices for for 2026 2027 and right at this very moment Wisp Honors is not a choice. I want wisp honors to be a choice. So the timing of this is very important. So Suzanne, I
know that we postponed um the meeting that I was supposed to have with Anthony and Jen uh because of, you know, because of Jen's health. I I respect that and I'm happy to hear that she's recovering. Um but if we have that meeting on the 23rd or I think it was 25th, but now
it's the 23rd of February, that's well into the the eighth graders preparing their schedules for the high school. And so that's why it's an issue. That's why the 12th hour is here. That's why I'm That's why I'm advocating to get this done. If we can get it done at the next
school committee meeting next Thursday, that makes me happy. Fine. >> That raises the question, what would it mean to get it done? Like, what does the world look like the day after the school committee votes to require that the high school offer this honors course next year when there's been no preparation by
staff? As far as we know, no staff buyin yet. So, the school committee just says, "You're going to have this course next year. It's going to be called WISP honors." What then? We're that's not what I consider getting anything done. >> I will make a statement next week if this is on the agenda and I hope it will
be to explain a lot of the details that you're concerned about Andy. The the the reality is that WISP right now is leveled within the classroom. You know that, right? There's spicy and then there's mild and and people get and the kids get different assignments. They get
different assessments assessments. They get read different reading materials. You know that the spicy wisp uh curriculum today translates into an honors course easily. Okay, that's what is being that's what being that's what is being communicated by the high school
and by the social studies department that they have spicy a spicy curriculum within WISP within the within the heterogeneous classroom. To me take spicy and that's your honors course. You don't need preparation. and also many many high school teachers in this social
studies department have taught honors world history for years and years is this will not take preparation >> as a point of clarification are you sure that the spicy is offered in wisp and not in the English pilot >> spicy is in wisp >> okay
>> just just one additional comment um on the frustration piece I I wasn't sure I wanted to say anything but I will just add that when we had this discussion a year ago So, at the time the um it was what happened
as um Carolyn mentioned is the fact you can go back to the recording that the presentation used up everything but the last 10 seconds of our time for the meeting and all we could really get um to happen was a request that we'd review
this. Um and at the time I think the recording will show that um the staff presenting said that they would have to collect some data and then get back to us. That never happened. So in my from my point of view just let me finish from my point of view from like March to
April to May to June to July to August to September um there was a like if there was a real desire and and again we had the same OTL deputy director there you know um Jod Fortuna. If there was a real desire to move it
forward and to honor the honor the question that the subcommittee had proposed to staff, it could have gotten done. It just was sort of left along the side and not brought up at any future
meeting. It just wasn't. >> Okay. So again, we said that we would come back to it this year. I'm not sure that we have buyin yet from the social studies department. We might. I don't know. But I do feel that we need to give
them the opportunity to have the conversation with us about what their concerns are and then what our concerns are. And I feel that we have to do that. And can we do that next week? Probably not, Bob. Probably not. But we owe that
to them. I again am quite bothered by the word required. We are supposed to be working together. We're not over them in the sense that we tell them what to do. We work together. >> Okay, Suzanne, I'm there are times in leadership when you have to make a
decision that's going to annoy the people that you work with. >> And I'll give you one quick example, okay? Just bear with me. Um, there was a time when the enrollment in AP classes at the high school was very, very minimal. Okay? and maybe 10% of the kids
were taking AP classes. So I had become the headmaster of the school for a few years and noticed the low there was like 10 10% enrollment in AP classes. For example, a push AP US history. Okay, there were 47 48 kids in
that program um every year. I said 10% of the kids not enough. So I worked with my team with the team. Okay. >> And we we said, "We're going to get rid of barriers to AP because honestly, when I looked at the way that a student had to get into an AP class, I don't know if
I could go through those hoops." It was a very comprehensive application process to get into an AP class. What we did is got rid of the barriers to AP. We said, "Listen, truth and advertising. Um, this is the this is what the AP course looks like. This is what what the demands are.
This is what the expectations are. If you want to try that, do it and we'll support you. It's important. You can do this. We'll help you and then we'll celebrate your success. Okay, here's some data. That's it. I have data on a
lot of stuff, but this is data that's very powerful. We had 4748 kids in a push. Couple years after we got rid of the barriers to AP, we had 125 kids in a push. A AP US history. 125 from 4748.
Okay, at the end of the year, we all know they take a test, the AP test. When we had 4748 kids in AP, the average score at Brooklyn High School was 4.2, which is a decent average. You get college credit if you get three, four,
five sometimes. Okay. Okay. The average test score when we had 125 kids in AP US history was 4.3. Well, that worked. We increased the
number of kids in the powerful AP course and the scores went up a little. That was so counterintuitive. And by the way, so by the today I asked Anthony a couple months ago, how many kids are in USP? He said about 150. About onethird of the kids at Brooklyn High School are in US
history AP doing well. And Anthony said that there's a um an increased diversity of kids in that course. The goal of a school should be to push kids, launch kids into high-powered curriculum and support them and make and and help them
be successful. And that's what that's what I'm all about in this proposal to offer an honors class for freshman social studies. it. There's no data. There's no data that says that the unlevelled
WISP course does anything to accomplish the goals that the social studies department um articulated back in 219. I read all the transcripts and again if we discuss this next week, I have a more comprehensive presentation. Yeah, I think I think Jen has some data, but I
what I do want to comment on is exactly what you said, which is when you were the head of school and you were the leader, you brought the people together from the department and you had a conversation and you talked about buyin and you talked about trial and you talked about making it work and you
looked at the data and that's exactly the thing that we want to do with our social studies uh curriculum coordinator. We want to work with Jen and we want to work with Anthony and we want to make we want to have the conversation that says what do we need
to do to have buyin are we off track or are we on track? There is one more important piece of information. Okay. When I proposed to get when we proposed the leadership to the curriculum coordinators to the chairs that we're going to get rid of barriers to AP
enrollment they were very upset. They said, "We're going to dilute the power of our academic program at Brookline High School." One of the one of the coordinators quit. She said, "I'm out of here. I'm done because I I don't believe in what we're doing." Okay. So, there what I'm saying I'm sorry for the
passion. >> I I appreciate the passion. >> What I'm saying is that there are times in in the life of a leader, and I consider nine of us here leaders of the Brooklyn Public Schools, and there are times when we have to make decisions that are unpopular. We have to get into
good trouble, necessary trouble. John Lewis said that. I view that now as my motto in this particular moment. And honestly, I I rarely if ever >> told people what to do. I was always, you know, working with people
collaboratively. This is moment that's unusual. But I am very very clear as you can see about the need for leadership to make a decision right now about this. But I do not want our curriculum coordinator nor our head
of school at BHS to quit. As you said, someone quit. I want to work with them. I want them to work with us and I want to work with the staff. That's just so that's the conversation we need to have. >> In two or three years, the WISP honors is going to be very successful.
Everybody's going to say, "Good move." >> That may that may be, but let's do the process. Let's make it work. >> Can we have the vote? I have something more I want to say. Sorry. >> Okay. But if if we're veering off back to WISP, we are really a foul in a field
of where we're supposed to be right now. But go ahead. >> Okay. I'll try and say a few quick things that came to mind listening to Bob and Suzanne talking. One, perhaps next week we can have Anthony here just to talk about the genesis of this. Where
did this come from? Where did this think? What was the pedagogical thinking behind this initiative? Why did they take away honors English in 9th grade? Two, >> social studies. >> Social studies and English. Well, they've kept the English, but it's being
discouraged. I literally have a text from a parent here tonight who's sitting in the curriculum 8th grade to 9th grade introduction saying they're discouraging kids from taking the honors and pushing
the mild medium spicy other subject. I want to say why this matters. This is really important to me as a parent and as an elected school committee member why this matters. This is a whole year of our children's our
students 9th grade. They're 14 and 15 years old. It's the first time they're in the high school. It's the beginning of their academic career in the high school. It's a time where we as PSB are saying here's what we do. Here's what we
expect. This is what we do here. And if students are not challenged and they're bored and they're not seeing that what's expected of them
is high level, you lose them. You lose them emotionally. You lose them intellectually. And the vast majority of students in BHS are the children of people who moved to
this town at great expense for the schools and it's our responsibility to live up to those expectations and to provide students. I I will say and I try not to talk about my own kids as a
school committee member, but when you watch your student, your child not be challenged, it's heartbreaking for a whole year and you lie in bed at night and think, did I
make the wrong decision? Should I have moved somewhere else? Should I have tried to get my kid to into private school that I can't afford? It's heartbreaking. Um, it's really, really important to me. It's really important. It should be important for us. It's a
whole year of a whole subject and it shouldn't take until 11th grade when they have the opportunity to be in AP to be engaged. We have to engage our students from day one. Um, and there was one more thing I
wanted to say about this that I don't remember now. Um, oh, we w have to Suzanne, you're talking about needing to um make staff happy. And of course, that's
true. If we want to pass an override, we need to be thinking about the community. And the community has made itself very clear on this issue. So, we need to be thinking about that.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um, let's take a vote on the motion. Bob, how do you vote? >> What's the motion, Val? Cuz >> as the >> I made a motion. >> It's Suzanne's motion that was seconded by Jesse to add the two classes. >> The two computer science courses.
>> I vote yes on the two courses. >> Okay. Carolyn, >> yes. >> Jesse, >> yes. >> Sarah, >> yes. Suzanne, >> yes. Andy, >> yes. >> Donna, >> yes. >> Mariah, >> yes. >> And I vote yes as well.
>> I have to say these courses sound awesome. Yeah. Like I wish I I so wish they had existed when I was in school. >> Yeah. I got to go back to high school. Yeah. >> Hey, I want to thank your endorsement of the classes and um Ashley Britney has ideas for more, but these were the two
that we could fit in. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Um, next up we have non-aligned extra comp hour hourly rates and stipens review discussion possible vote. This came up at a joint uh meeting yesterday of finance and the full school committee. Mariah, do you want to lead
us through? >> Sure. Um, so what you see in front of you and got in your packets is a slightly cleaned up version as I promised from yesterday to today. Um, so the first section is um the same as what
we saw yesterday. I just rolled in the student intern rate and that figure has been updated with the Brookline living wage. Um, the community afterchool programs that were all separate have now been consolidated into one block. You scroll down a little bit, Betsy. But
again, those numbers are the same as you saw yesterday. If you recall, we talked it showed 27 an hour. That was a typo and it was 24, which was corrected. um the director coordinator cost basis that table is the same just organized then you see the summer programs that's
exactly what we discussed yesterday and if you could keep going down Betsy um we had talked about the star academy team leader and not not um a little bit of uncertainty on that one um that was clarified between yesterday and today
last year's rate was provided and this year's rate was calculated and the beep enrichment director Um yesterday we had said, "Oh, that was in the contract, but we wanted the reference and we didn't have the current um information." So, that is now in there. It was It should
be 13,878 and that is a contractual um position as was stated yesterday, but we didn't have the information. So, um, and in fact, honestly, can I just say that it's contractual, so I don't know think that it actually needs to be in this document at all because this is only the
non-aligned document, but I left it in there since we had it. Um, and then you'll see this paragraph or this table, I mean to say it doesn't repeat the director roles from the previous one. I just consolidated. So, this is all of the other staff rates um that you saw
yesterday. So, no change there. Just pulling it all into one thing. And then the stipens that you see in the bottom. Um I'm don't think that there's anything different from yesterday. If you could just scroll down a little bit more,
Betsy. Yep, that's it. And so um for those of you who weren't at the meeting um we discussed um that the basically the subcommittee recommended to the full committee um the summer rates. Um
there is we talked about how this particularly this last table um a lot of the great work that's been done in in sort of understanding the different summer um director and coordinator and assistant coordinator and assistant director roles um to sort of come up
with a rationale for that that ensures that the um there's equitable rates set across the different programs. That was really great. staff worked really hard on getting the summer program sort of in um and span shape and um this
table though has not been completely done yet and there's probably not going to be time to do it this year but we talked a lot about some of the different um questions and and um things that school committee is thinking about you know understanding for example um I'll
pick on well I won't pick on but I'll point out for example the first row child study team how how much money total is in the budget for child study team. So we see some of these things that is listed for 800 but we don't know how many for example how many um stipens are held for this or what the total
budget is or any sort of measure that gives us a sense of scale or um or participation much more broadly. So we asked for that um for the future. Um and so what the subcommittee did was we
voted just to um forward the summer program information which as you see is this table and the one immediately the two tables immediately above it. So the the other staff rates that's shown now the director and coordinator rates um and then the cost basis um for those
calculations. Um and so we could vote that or we could just vote the whole thing to move ahead. um and not come back to it again because our conversation yesterday really was very much about definitely moving ahead the summer programs but staff not necessarily having the bandwidth to deal
with um the the other stipens that are in that final table. So, um I guess I don't want to make a motion either way yet myself because I well actually I am going to make a motion. I'm gonna make a motion to approve the whole thing and
see if we can put this to to bed for this year. >> I'll second that. >> Great. >> Any further discussion? >> I'm sorry, Miss TR had a second. Jesse, thank you. >> So, um I'm raising my hands, Val. Sarah.
>> Okay. Um, our staff is very busy right now and a lot goes on and I just want to make sure that we're not going ahead too quickly on something that we can't reverse later. And the issue when I look through
all of this, the issue has to do with one director whose pay is going to be greatly reduced. And we have a real thriving program with Star Academy right now. And I'm concerned to make a rash
decision. I do think that staff did a lot of this ta this table is great. Um the staff did a lot of great um work to make sure that they understand how many days a program goes for, how many students are in it, um how many staff the director is in is uh supervising,
but I'm not sure that we really have great clarification on all that goes into these roles. And um we might be doing something drastic here to be reducing by almost a half or um a third the um
one of these rates um which is all paid for by grant. So, I just want to make sure that um my fellow school committee members know that I'm not sure that extensive conversations happened there to make sure that we we will really keep
Star Academy in the same um way that it has been. And Star Academy, you know, really um benefits an important segment, the Yells, um of our um community. And that work that happens with students over the summer so that they don't lose
out on um on their educa like they don't lose hours on on in English helps the classroom teacher greatly too because there's a lot of work that has to do in order to make sure that you have your students you know all be able to learn together. So I just wanted to highlight
that in case um people um didn't know about that. >> Thanks Sarah. Anybody else? I have a followup question. Oh, sorry, Bella. >> You can go first. >> Okay. Thanks. I'm gonna So, Sarah, I
think you're talking about things that I don't know as much about. I actually And I'm I know we talked about this before. So, I don't fully know what Star Academy is. And I know that Star Academy
is it's funded at least in part by the METCO allocation >> and then the rest is on another grant. >> Sorry. >> And then the rest is on another grant. I don't know a lot either, but the one thing that we do both know is that that
director's pay is being decreased greatly. And so is it worth asking a few more questions before we perhaps really change something that's working well? >> Okay. And so and knowing that some of it
is funded by the METCO allocation, like is there a way for some of the METCO allocation to be adjusted to to readjust this? I I don't know what the interactions are in how all of this
works. So, I'm I'm interested in your concern, >> Superintendent Wong. >> Thank you. Um I I want to speak to the introduction of the review of the stipens was to address
um inequity and compensation across different sectors. Um and the and so there will be a change um that will affect um a person in this role. But it it was
with a lot of thought that went into creating a formula that would make it more fair. Um it's understood what all the functions are. um it does reflect a lot of work and so I
I guess I just want to say that um the changes are with not a lot of con it's not not done without a lot of consideration. I I' I'd like to just know more about that. So um a lot of consideration
doesn't mean just the information in this in this table. It means understanding all the work that goes into the role and the lead work that needs to be done. >> I don't know if um someone wants to speak to to Star Academy. Um
well, we have is this on? Okay. So, I think one of the challenges we have here is we had stipens that were greatly inequitable um for people in similar roles. And so we were charged with kind of thinking about how do we bring greater equity to that as we started to think about the
components of that. The pieces that we looked at because these are summer programs. They all have leadup work. They all have hiring to do. Um part of that was factored into thinking about how many staff. The more staff you have, the more hiring you have to do, the more students you have. And so that that kind
of went through um as we why we chose those pieces. Star Academy is funded out of two grants. It's funded uh partially out of the METCO grant and partially out of the type 3 grant. So I think as we think about any of this um we also want to make sure that these programs are
sustainable moving forward. So particularly as we anticipate the loss of some of our grant funding. So >> so I heard the word similar. So I think that I have to assume that that came with great evaluation on your part of equal roles
um for equal pay. >> Yeah. So we looked at kind of the responsibilities of any of the directors and coordinators for these pro programs as long as the as well as the assistant program coordinators. And I think the other piece you have to remember is some while there's leadup work some of that is being done within the school year
within the scope of their their typical workday. >> Thank you. Robin Karen, are you speaking to this or >> Sure. Um I mean I think the other piece and and obviously that's it's notable uh in terms of raising that you know we we
started from a sort of judge there was no judgment right it was what we were tasked with is you know this historical inequity and to come up with a formula for all summer programming that took into account as many exigencies as we
could. It's certainly not a perfect formula. Um it's but it's it was really a way to start the state clean and build the rates up based on an equitable formula with the knowledge of um as as
Robin said all the programs have prep work. The pre-work is staffing. It's developing the curriculum. It's figuring out what's happening in terms of students. It's doing food service. So all of the directors have all of those different components. then you run the summer program and then there's postwork
and so we try to take account the sort of the full scope of what everybody does in summer and so and and obviously the length of the programs are very different as you can see some are 15 16 20 24 25 um and so that obviously when
we looked at the base rate um is impacted by how many actual days during the summer people work um and so you know it is very notable absolutely But that sort of was our process. We we you know there's no judgment on it was really looking at is there a way to do
this with some more equity and parity in the system. >> And you had the time to have the conversations with those directors to understand exactly what what the role um takes on. You didn't just do this information. You had time for the the
conversations. >> We didn't have conversations with them about setting the rate. We had to start from a place of >> Sorry. You had conversations with them about the role in order to make this evaluation that you're saying that the roles are equal. You had conversations with the individual.
>> We looked at their job descriptions that are part of kind of determining what they're hired to do. Okay. >> Time. >> Thanks. >> The job descriptions and looked at them to see what their responsibilities were. >> Thanks. Anybody else on this?
>> Just quickly, Val, it's Carolyn. Um I just want to repeat something that I was um yesterday's finance meeting was a joint full school committee meeting so I was able to comment. Um so it's helpful to get this list and we
know that there are other stipens paid and that some of those positions are listed in the contract. I don't know if they all are um at the risk of creating work. I'm just going to repeat a request that I made sort of similar to what Mariah was talking about. I think we
were kind of directionally the same. It would be super helpful for my edification and I think for others um and the public if at some point there was just like a report even of last year like what were all the stipens that were
paid what like what the work was and what the amount was just to sort of have get a better understanding um at some point not tomorrow of this whole sort of world of stipens because I think there a little bit in in different buckets in
different places. Um so um that would be helpful for me at some point. >> Okay. Um I think that we're moving to a vote. Bob, how do you vote? >> I vote yes. >> Carolyn, >> yes.
>> Jesse, >> yes. >> Sarah, >> yes. >> Suzanne, >> yes. >> Andy, >> yes. Yes. >> Yes. Mariah, >> yes. >> And I also vote yes. Um, we are returning to public comment. I will
remind folks that uh public comment is limited to three minutes. And um, next on our list is Heather Pritchard followed by Angela Harvey. text this.
Wow, people watch. >> Hello, my name is Heather Pritchard and I teach sixth and seventh grade social studies at Driscoll. While I don't have a bird's eye view of district finances, I am well positioned to talk about what is happening in sixth grade at Driscoll
and how we cannot sustain further staffing cuts. I want to begin by putting things into perspective. Just last year, sixth graders attended all of their general education classes every day, as well as world language three times a week and specials like PE, arts,
and conservatory each two times a week. They also had one extra block of math instruction and one extra block of writing instruction each week. They had advisory once a week and it was taught by sixth grade teachers and guidance
staff. They only had three windblocks, essentially study halls, each with their sixth grade teachers. This year, the picture is quite different because of staffing constraints. Sixth grade students no longer have extra writing and math
blocks. Their win blocks have increased to four per week and are partially staffed by teachers who don't even teach sixth grade. Only two of the advisory classes are taught by middle school or guidance staff. The third, believe it or
not, had to be picked up by our principal. One might say all of these things are just a reality of a tight budget. I keep hearing the word absorb over and over. We however cannot absorb anymore. There
are literally not enough middle school staff in our building to cover the state's mandatory times for structured learning. We are already not meeting these minutes this year for our sixth graders. I want to restate that we are already
not meeting statemanded dated requirements for structured learning time for our sixth grade students. This week we learned that next year a full-time guidance position in half of our ETSs position is being cut. The guidance position that is being cut
staffs a sixth grade advisory class. The edtech position that is being decreased staffs a weekly technology literacy class for our sixth grade students. This means that next year we will be down two more periods of instructional time for
our sixth graders being even further away from state mandates for structured learning. Two years ago, we moved into our new school. This new building presents so many exciting opportunities, including welcoming four sections of sixth graders
to the middle school next year instead of our typical three. The district, however, cannot give these students a proper welcome without also providing them with enough teachers and staff and delivering on mandatory state requirements for time on learning.
Driscoll needs more teachers and staff, not less. Thank you. Angela Harvey, followed by Archer Shen. >> Hello, my name is Angela Harvey and I am a second grade teacher at Dris School. This is my 17th year working in Brookline and I'm here tonight because
I'm incredibly frustrated and disappointed that educators are once again being forced to advocate for fully funded schools. Fully funded schools are not a want. They are a critical need. It is baffling to me that educators must work so hard to convince the town of
Brooklyn to financially support our schools. Driscoll is once again finding themselves in the position of having crucial roles cut from our staff. The latest proposal reduces the role of our educational technology position to a shared role across schools as well as removing an entire guidance counselor
position. These roles are not merely line items on a budget. They are imperative to our success as a school. The damage that will be caused is significant and the consequences long lasting. Educators are expected to help students grow as community members, which includes developing their digital
citizen citizenship skills. Who do you think is creating and teaching these lessons across grade levels? Our educational technology specialist actively designs, implements, and collaborates with staff to ensure our students are being challenged and supported in their growth as community
members. Every day we are reminded that students are struggling with their mental health. How can our school support these students when staff is cut and then stretched too thin? Our clinical team will now be scrambling to manage the overwhelming social and emotional needs in a reactive way rather
than the proactive manner in which they are currently operating. It should not be the responsibility of the staff in this district to bear the weight of the consequences for poor fiscal management in the town of Brookline. Year after year, the town is inadequately funding our schools and expecting the staff to adjust and
compensate. When will enough be enough? Why do we have to work so hard to convince you that we deserve working conditions that support all members of our community and allow for us to do our best by our students? As I often tell my students, do the right thing even when you think no one is looking. Let me be
clear. We are looking and waiting for you to do the right thing. Thank you. >> Thank you, Archer. Uh followed by Beth Gilligan. Hi everyone, my name is Archer and I'm a
seventh grader at Driscoll School. Today I'm going to be talking about the budget cuts going on, specifically the cuts around our middle school guidance counselor, Miss Lavine. Miss Lavine plays a bigger role in the middle school ecosystem than you might think. And without her, the whole Driscoll
community would fall apart. First, I just want to point out the obvious and that Miss Lavine does a crazy ton for Driscoll. And putting what she does on people who already have their own things going on is crazy. People say that when important people leave, the new person
has big shoes to fill. But you can't fill shoes when you're already in your own shoes. And I think this is the situation that the remaining guidance counselors will face if Miss Lavine leaves. Miss Lavine talks to students about challenges going on in their lives, manages the middle school by
sending messages and announcements, and even runs clubs and advisory classes. Second, throughout my middle school journey, I've learned just how important it is to have somebody to talk to. And in middle school especially, it's important to have someone to help understand what you're going through.
Mr. Lavine provides that and more. She is an extremely important person in many kids' lives and has truly made an imprint on her school. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Next, I think the person that I have the most inbox messages from is Miss Lavine.
She sends out almost all the announcements for future events and more than onethird of the notifications on the announcements Canvas page are from her. Without those announcements, I think me and many other middle schoolers would be pretty lost and confused. For example, how would you find the Panorama
Survey if there was no link to it? One final point I want to mention is the GSA. GSA stands for Gender Sexuality Alliance and is a club for LGBTQIA plus kids and allies to have a safe space to talk. Miss Lavine is the one
and only adviser for GSA. And without her, there would be no spa safe space for kids to talk about who they really are. I personally have gone to GSA myself and it truly is really helpful. It let it's allowed me to discover and form connections, make friends, and most
importantly, it's helped me and most of my friends discover who we truly are. All in all, Miss Lavine provides a crazy ton for our community. And I think our Driscoll circle wouldn't function and would collapse if she leaves. Many kids, and probably me personally, too, would
have increased anxiety and stress. And I'm guessing that's not something you guys want in your schools. Thank you for letting me speak and I hope I have in some way changed your view around the cuts going on at our school. Peace. >> Thank you um Beth. And then I believe
it's and please forgive me with pronunciation Amin or Eony Fedvachi and uh your students your daughter uh Delar will be after Beth. >> Okay. Always hate to follow Archer. He's amazing. Um my name is Beth Gilligan.
I'm a parent at Driscoll School. Um I won't repeat many of the powerful testimonials that have been made. Uh but did want to draw everybody's attention to the open letter that all of you should have received earlier today signed by over a hundred members of the Driscoll community. We do that to not
flood your inboxes. You're welcome. Um but you know we this particular issue is something that really hit close to home. I think we are all aware of the financial realities of the district. We're also aware that if this role gets reinstated, there may be something else
that has to go. And that's that's really difficult. But the reason we've spoken up is because, you know, one of the uh one of the things that happened at Driscoll last year was one of our VPs was cut. So, we're already feeling the strain of that day in and day out. The
morale, the logistics. Uh Mr. Uclas and Miss Lions are incredibly dedicated and work very hard, but they can't replicate that. and that VP uh was focused on the middle school. So the notion of losing another cherished member of our community and of middle school in
particular, it's a very vulnerable population. Everybody did kind of sweep into action. Um Miss Lavine is an incredible member of our community. Our guidance team is really a team. Um we feel so fortunate to have them. So if there are any other avenues you can
find, we just wanted to bring that up and please encourage you to read the letter in detail and discuss. So thank you. >> Thank you, Beth. >> Hi, I'm Amy Neet. I'm a parent at Driscoll of a seventh grader. You've had
a very long meeting. A lot has been said. I'll just just I know you already know this, but given the mental challenges facing tween and teens in the country today, the idea of cutting a guidance counselor from a middle school feels like the very last thing we should
be doing. So, I'll just thank you. >> Uh my name is Dar Star and I'm here to talk about the potential loss of the middle school guidance counselor, Miss Lavine. Um, so a few months ago, like I want to bring some attention to one of
my personal experiences. A few months ago, a boy in my class who I trusted, um, he assaulted me and he put me in a chokeold. And it was honestly a completely really, really scary experience. And when he let go of me, I started
crying like rivers of tears. And I was so scared to like hurt him that when I got home, I like barely got through telling my parents about this. And like I didn't want to bother them, but more
importantly, I didn't want I wanted to protect him, which like I see now was not the right mindset to have, but somebody who was there when it happened told Miss Lavine about it. And I don't know who it was, but I am like so
forever grateful to them. And Miss Lavine helped me realize that none of what happened was my fault. She told me that it was okay to feel anger and grief. I told her I felt guilty because he did it to someone else as well. And he helped me see that my anger wasn't misplaced. Miss Lavine helped me
so much. And because of her, I had the strength to talk to a police officer about my experience and go to a therapist. If you get rid of Miss Lavine, there will be no one for people like me to turn to. And if and when something like this happens again, there
will be no one to encourage people to be brave. And it will enable the perpetrators to do something like this again. This will never not be uncomfortable to talk about for me, but for Miss Lavine, I feel like it will always be worth it. She's an essential part of our school community, and it
would not stand to be without her. Thank you. Um, next is Jenny Murphy. >> Hi. >> This is not my first time speaking with you guys. Good to see you. My name is Jenny Murphy. I am the technology teacher at Wrl School. This is my 19th
year in Brookline and my 26th year as an educator. and I am here to speak about the proposed reduction to my department. The proposal is asking to reduce the elementary educational technology
teachers from 8 to four. Four, four of my colleagues are going to lose their jobs. This reduction has been described as an efficiency that will have no impact on students or teaching and learning. And I
disagree with that. I believe a change like this will significantly impact teaching and learning across the district. I don't know if you guys know this, but we teach students every day. We don't fix Chromebooks.
We teach students. We teach digital literacy, digital citizenship, research skills, responsible technology use, computational thinking, and the ethical use of emerging tools like AI. We collaborate with classroom teachers to
integrate technology into their instruction so that it enhances techn enhances their instruction rather than distracts from it. Cutting our department would mean fewer lessons taught, fewer teachers supported, and fewer opportunities for
students to build the critical skills they need to navigate an increasingly digital world. Technology isn't an add-on to learning. It is now embedded in how students read, write, research, communicate, and demonstrate
understanding. reducing my educators on my team because I feel like they're my people who teach these skills will undermine the district goals around equity, innovation, and student preparedness.
Finally, it is important to state that having to repeatedly defend the value of my colleagues and my team every budget cycle is disheartening. I didn't have to do that for 16 years. This started three
years ago. Our impact is visible every day in classrooms, lessons, and student outcomes across the district. We shouldn't have to justify this role year after year when our work is central to teaching and learning in Brookline.
I really urge you guys, the school committee, to reconsider this. I thank you for your time. Thank you. That concludes public comment. Uh we're moving on to subcommittee and
leaison reports. Just want to mention that Monday at 4:00 we have our um annual meeting with legislators where we can talk with them about issues like the budget, the state budget and how that impacts us here in Brooklyn um and other
uh policy and and legislative initiatives. It's hopefully everybody can attend in person. and it's a great opportunity to really have um conversations with our state and federal partners. So, that is Monday at um 4
p.m. Uh curriculum, is there an update? Well, we've covered half of what curriculum was about. >> All right. The other half was about uh vision of a learner and um is required
by NISAC at NIA NISK NE A C um and uh they are working on it and they're going to include they meaning people from the high school and they're going to include a stern student survey grades 6 to 12. the the
initial work is going to be around the high school vision of a learner, but then we hope to make that K to 12 and bring that all in. Um what else? They they're feeling good about what they're doing, the work they're doing. Um Robin is leading a lot
of that uh work and um we talked about having an opportunity for school committee members to participate at some level or offer some input around the vision of a learner. for that is to be determined and to come in the future. >> Thank you. Um Mariah, anything
additional from finance? >> Um I would just say that we are originally scheduled to have a meeting next week, but we're um I believe we will end up not holding that meeting since we had one this week and there's a lot of other stuff competing priorities for staff. >> Okay, thanks. Um negotiations, Suzanne,
anything um time schedule-wise? the the uh school committee team met uh yeah today was this morning and we're going to meet again next week but we're not meeting with the bargaining unit so we don't have really additional our next meeting with the
bargaining unit with the um union is a February 25th >> thank you uh Andy anything from policy >> uh no updates right now we have a meeting uh at the end of February but uh nothing at the moment Okay, ERSC, Mariah
and Jesse, any updates? >> Um, yeah, I I just want to um stay at the beginning um I wish there was a surplus. I mean, a comment was made earlier tonight about well there's there must be surpluses around in the town. There is no surplus.
Um, so what what I want was um we're at the point now where the three subcommittees that Bellow referred to earlier, futures, uh, schools and town, the town of which I'm the chair of, are putting together their reports that
include primarily recommendations to be voted by the subcommittee and then be voted by the full committee and those will become uh the headliners essentially full expenditure and revenue study committee. report. Uh the drafts
are coming together now for um review by the full committee basic. >> Yeah, there was >> all right. I'll just try closer. Um by the end of February, we should have um at least a final draft for features, I
believe, as well as for town. I think the school subcommittee is still waiting on some additional budget information and they're sort of ready to go with it as it's available. Um the um the the the key the key votes that have been taken that are that are on in the public
record. Uh as uh at a full at the full committee letter level is a features recommendation to um invest in solar energy on certain town buildings with a um a guy a um taking advantage of
government federal tax credits to bring the capital cost down and to begin to attack the 10.3% increase in utility costs that we're going to be facing next year. And then hopefully in the out years as time goes on we continue to do what we can to hit that you know utility
to bring our utility costs down overall as we're going and building all electric buildings. The um second one, the um uh the two that have been voted on on the school side um this week were uh first of all a um a more transparent
um a pilot to look at a more transparent and open reservation system for rental facilities throughout the district to be shared by BRCE and maybe run by Berek and um and then for PSB um to provide a
uh a systemwide view for people both inside the district as well as for third parties um into what space is available uh what the fees are etc in one unified system. Uh there's a thought also that that could bring in additional revenue because it's very hard for people from
third parties sometimes even navigate to find out what's really there. So the uh the vote was to at least start with a pilot in that um in that direction um at some point in the in the future. And then the second one was the um uh some
some detailed work that had been done on modeling the school district's design that is from the current model to perhaps a middle school design you know a K to 5 6 through 8 in the high school and um there's a um for those that want more information all the um the um that
reports online as far so it can be you know you can you can read further into it on the um on the town side. Um, >> can I say more about that one, Jesse? Just before you talk to the town side. >> Um, just to be clear, the modeling that was done was was very um didn't have a
lot of detailed inputs into it and was done without the benefit of staff collaboration. But what it did show was the potential for savings and ultimately the the language adopted by the full committee um was something along the lines of to encourage PSB to begin to to
consider this um or to explore like a study. I can't I don't even have the exact wording in front of me, but really there there understanding is there could be savings, not how much, but there was certainly nothing determinative about PSB going to a middle school model or
not at this time. I just want to be here for anyone. >> I think it was like to explore a conversation starting in FY27 or something like that. >> Very long-term value. You're right. Yeah. Very long term. Wasn't meant to be immediate at all. >> And then the um on the town side, um we
got an up upgraded set of numbers from CHAZ this morning in our weekly town subcommittee meeting uh looking at a um potential override $5.3 million, which is about the same as what we saw two weeks ago. Um there's a $3 million gap
this year. Um the um uh revenue projections have increased somewhat in terms of what the town thinks it could get from increasing fees, parking meters, and other things. And uh never nevertheless the 5.3 million or so is a three-year ask uh would take care of
next year's uh gap uh sorry yeah this coming gap plus split into sort of a reserve fund for unanticipated expenses in FY28 and 29 that 5.31 million doesn't include the schools at all in other words that still that will come out of the school subcommittee in terms of what
they uh under Saddaf determine is the uh total amount of money that we as a district are asking for that would need to be covered by uh by by the taxpayer in order to be able to balance our budget uh in the next in the next three
um years. One just final point there is that even with the override the town is proposing reductions both in services and FTE small but still um recognizing in the same way that I think Bella did tonight too that there are potential efficiencies that well not potential
actual efficiencies that they're claiming can be made and that um there may be some actually um service cuts as well in the event of no override the um the numbers are much higher obviously and both in terms of staff and services and programs that we have come to enjoy in the town. So, more to come on that.
The um select board has to vote um to put this on the ballot or not as an option. Um at the end of March, there'll be a public hearing the week before, sort of in the 20s of March. So, this report will have to be finally the full EOS report will have to be ready just shortly before that. So, there can be a
public hearing as well. So, in about a month from now. >> Thank you. Um moving on to new business. I've heard loud and clear about a conversation about nth grade social studies. Any additional new business?
>> Yeah. Hi, Val. I just want to make a statement um having nothing to do with what we were talking about before. Um, as as we all know, we're celebrating Black History Month um, in our country, and we are experiencing at the national
level a denigration of African and African-American history, uh, dismantling evidence of black history throughout museums at the national level. And I just want to, um, affirm that in Brooklyn, we do honor Black
History Month. And I want to commend um our neighbor author Conquest who is I don't know if you've seen his commentaries but he's publishing basically a daily commentary on uh black history and it's really it's interesting it's informative it's educational and I
just want to shout out Author Conquest tonight as part of our celebration of Black History Month. Thank you. >> Thank you. Where is he posting these Bob? >> That's a good question. Um I >> um I know he's emailing them, right?
>> It's the PAX email >> stream and I maybe on Facebook, the Brooklyn FA town Facebook maybe. I don't know. I don't I can find out. >> Thanks. Any other new business?
>> Okay, seeing none, we have no need for an executive session tonight. Um so we will uh adjourn if there's a motion to adjurnn. Everybody still moves. Okay, sounds unanimous. Thanks everybody. Have a great evening.
>> Thank you. >> I'm so tired.