recording in progress. >> Good evening and welcome to the December 18th, 2025 regular meeting of the Brookline School Committee. Uh my apologies for not being there in person. We have a lot of sickness in my house at the moment. Um, but I wanted before we
get to business, I wanted to um start us off with a moment of silence. Since we last met, um, there have been mass shootings and and murders in Australia, at Brown University, and most recently
right here in Brooklyn. Um, Brookline PSB PSB dad. So, um, as we approach Sunday, uh, the the solstice and the the darkest, uh, day of the year or, the
shortest shortest day of the year, and then we move toward more light, um, I I hope that we bring more light into the world. So, if we could just have a moment of silence. Uh, thank you. Thank you. I'm going to be turning the regular chairing over to
um Sarah for this meeting. >> We're going to start tonight with a consent agenda. And um I think we're going to take the three of them together. So would somebody like to move it? >> I'll move it. >> Suzanne moves. And is there a second?
>> I'll second it. Thank you, Carolyn. Um is there any discussion? I did have a question. Is Is my mic working? Yeah. Um although it was about the warrant which now was online and I didn't bring my
computer. Um any chance you >> Betsy can either pull it up or print it out. >> And I apologize. Normally I bring my computer and then that has started to seem silly.
Um, is >> it possible to defer this one? >> It was, >> if I can see it, and apologies, I thought it would be in the packet because it has been um, which is not a criticism. There was an item that I just had a
question about. Um, I mean, we can defer it if I I don't mean to sort of make it difficult, but I did Yeah. Why don't we go on to the student report? Does that make sense? And then we'll come back to it. >> Sure. >> Would we like to vote the rest of the
consent agenda or is it okay to move everything? >> Yeah, let's come back to it. >> Okay, then let's go. >> Let's go to the student report. Hey, good evening everyone. I'm going to share my screen now. Okay,
so first off, um, yesterday, December 17th, quarter 2 IPRs came out. So these are interim progress reports, and they're just a chance for teachers to check in with students and families and talk about how the quarter's been going so far. So, there's usually comments,
but no grades attached unless a student is failing the class at the time. And next off, winter sports are now underway. I believe lots of sports had tryyouts um post Thanksgiving and now
seasons have started and people are playing. And another thing that happened recently is that um a couple colleges have started sending out early decisions. And this can be a really exciting but also
like anxietyinducing time for seniors. And um I personally have a few friends who've got in and I'm very proud of them. It's definitely exciting even though it can be a difficult time.
Another thing that happened recently is um administration has decided that days of are going to transition into a new format called community learning experiences. So the main way this is different is that previous groups that have had days
of are not necessarily the same ones that are going to have community learning experiences but it's an application format. So there is a committee involved with um government, student government that um reviews
applications by different groups to have a day dedicated to learning about a particular societal issue or topic. And there are two student representatives who are part of this committee, but there have simultaneously been concerns about how much say students are actually
getting in this process. So, I think as the year progresses, we're going to see some of the first CLE's happening and we're going to see how that plays out. And finally, on a more somber note, um with all the violence that's been going on in this past new cycle, it's deeply
affected many communities um associated with Brooklyn and also groups in the high school. But, um luckily, there's been lots of counseling services that have been offered in multiple ways. So there have been emails sent out to
students and families as well as announcements made during advisory to tell students that counseling services are available and these resources are accessible and they've been explaining who you should talk to, where you should
go if you have any worries or concerns. That's all I have. >> Thank you. It was great to hear from you. So, um, Betsy with you. >> Yep. >> On her. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you for
the report. Um, I'll say two things. One is just to echo on your last point. Um, and I really thought this when we heard um from Bella with her leadership on the issue this
week. Um, how lucky we are to have such a strong counseling department. um led by Matt Dubois. So, just a it's unfortunate to have to, but I do want to acknowledge that. Um and I also want to
acknowledge the IPRs. Um I have my second child in the high school right now. Um and that's a really great system. So, I guess that's a shout out um to Anthony and his team. Um,
as a parent, I find it to be a really great system. It gives me a sense of where my kids are. Um, and it gives me a chance to check in with them and correct where we might need to correct um, and feel connected to the school. So, it's
it's really smart. It's really supportive. Um, it probably takes quite a certain amount of work on the part of teachers. Um, but it's a really great part of of BHS and the way that they support students. So, just wanted to expand on that a little and thanks for
mentioning it. >> So, Betsy is going to pull it up and we are talking about the 1C. Is that what we're discussing? >> Yes. different.
>> If you scroll, there was one. It'll Okay. No, that's not it. >> All right. Well, unfortunately, I can't read it. Well, okay. I can't read. What is the what is L? Thank you.
Okay. So 16 says professional technical services. >> Okay. And then claims and settlements. So I guess um maybe Mariah or someone can answer this. This one was Jesse. I don't know if he's
there just in case it's a detailed question about it. >> Okay. >> Jesse's absent tonight. >> Okay. Well, I can try to answer. I just don't know. Go ahead. >> So, what is typically professional technical services? >> Well, when I write that and I think
Jesse does the same, it could be someone who's coming to consult. It could, for example, it could be like there's so many different things that could be, but it could be someone who's doing like transitional services for a student. It could be a sign language interpreter. It
could be um it's probably not legal services because he didn't call it legal services, but it's any one of those kinds of like outside services that support the activities of the district. >> Okay. Um
Okay. Thanks. >> That was the first question and there were two. >> Yeah. And you know what? There were, but I'll I'll just take these offline because it's not important enough to take time here at all. >> Totally. Thank you. >> So, to be really official, um Suzanne,
would you move the consent agenda again? >> Sure. >> I move the consent agenda. >> Carolyn, >> I'll second it again. >> Thank you. >> Bob, how do you vote? >> I vote yes. Caroline. >> Yes. >> Um,
Mariah. >> Yes. And I just want to express an appreciation for the fact that people are able now to look at the the warrant and are like reading it and that was really the goal of moving it into the consent agenda and I'm glad it's working. So, thank you
>> Val. >> We'll go back to Val. Suzanne. >> Yes. >> Donna. Yes. value with us and >> she swept away I guess and I vote yes. So we will continue on with the
superintendent's report. >> Thank you. Um I just I just have a brief comment of about what's what um chair val um spoke um about earlier. I want to extend
an appreciation for the outpouring of support for the family of Nuno Lero and our school community at large. every day. Um, every day I've observed
so many gestures of kindness and they're often small gestures whether it's food or time. I have seen so many people um reach out and do check-ins whether it's colleague to child, child
to teacher, teacher to family, family to child, child to child. And um it's been a beautiful thing to to witness in at this time. the multitude
of small gestures, the personal gestures um and h how that represents our community and offering comfort um across all groups and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for that.
Um, I do have one other announcement for the report and Susan Given, um, deputy superintendent of the Office of Administration Finance is going to share that announcement. That's a really good
and positive one. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? >> It's okay. I know I'm always told I'm soft. How's that? Better. >> Okay, there we go. Yeah. So, about a
year and a half ago, our uh website provider was bought out. Uh we used to have Blackboard and it was bought out by Final Site, and we've had about a year and a half to convert our site over to the new platform. So effective tomorrow we'll be moving to the new platform
which is is rather exciting um because there's some upgrades that will be uh part of the upgrade. Um a couple of things worth noting is that one we're going to change our domain name will not impact anybody because the old domain name which was uh
you know brookline.mma us etc is now going to be psbma.org. Um, but even if you went to the old website, it would still point you to the new one. So, it will have absolutely no disruption, um, regardless of whether you use the new or the old. So, um, but
it also then helps to streamline some of of our backside processes that have been a little bit challenging. So, we're kind of pleased about that. But also, it's going to be more streamlined um with some updated features. accessibility will be improved, which we're grateful
for that because uh you know, we've had some folks tell us that they've had some difficulty um both with navigation um and uh uh getting access to information. So, uh I think people will be pleased to
uh to see the new site tomorrow. Um other than that, there's really no other changes. Um the elementary schools will have a consistent looking uh homepage uh so that navigation between the schools will make it easier. The high school will maintain their current website
which is not which is just merely linked to the current website. So there will be no changes at the high school level. The district again will be streamlined and we hope that you'll find it easier to navigate. Certainly if there's any feedback you can reach out and let us know other ways we can improve the
website. Uh but um we're excited that we'll be able to launch tomorrow. Um but before I end my comments, I'd like to uh shout give a shout out and a thank you to a few people that were instrumental in making this happen. One is my assistant Z Barry. Um, but also Alli uh
Lopez Kudra who was the website person who has been amazing who's come in in a short period of time and been able to uh get a hold of all of the content and and uh help us to be able to make this uh transition. Scott Moore, our um edtech
uh director was instrumental. Joe Coyle who is our help desk manager on the town side. Um and uh also all the principles and secretaries and ETFs and everybody else that that that met um with us along the way to be able to put their eyes on
it, give us new pictures, updated pictures, and uh review the content. So special thank you to everybody for the efforts they've made in order to help us make this transition. Of course, Susan didn't thank herself because she's the one that actually
coordinated all these people and found all these people to help and and see. Um anyway, but thank you to you too, Susan, for for making this happen. >> And and that's everything. >> Yeah. >> Okay, great. Um, we will start with
public comment. I'd like to just remind everybody that during public >> go there. Are we going to get to ask questions? >> Um, sorry. Do you have questions for Bella? >> Yeah, it's actually for Susan. I was just wondering um how the public or
other people what would be the best way to receive feedback about the new site that would be sort of like is there a form or should they email a certain email address? And just thinking about how people could provide it in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming or chaotic
and goes to the right person. >> I think the best way to do it is we can put a little button on the website for people to provide feedback especially as we launch if they're having difficulty navigating in any kind of a way to give us that kind of feedback be helpful so that we can make adjustments. Um Ally,
the person that's uh assisting us with the website and the backside changes, is going to be with us for the next six weeks to help us make any further adjustments. So, I'll make sure uh tomorrow I'll reach out to her and have her put a a button a feedback but button on the website. >> Awesome. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you, Mariah. >> We're going to start into public comment. And I'd like to just say again that we don't respond to public comment. Um, we listen very deeply to what you have to say and we are going to begin with Nicola Russian who might be online.
She wasn't sure whether she would be in person online. We'll go back to her later. Okay. So, Pean Karimi just hold Okay. Like this. You can hear me? >> Yeah.
Uh my name is Pega. I have uh two um kids, one kindergarten, the other one third grader at Driscoll School. And uh I'm here to raise the concern that we have for the third graders in Driscoll.
And my son is in a class that they are 24 in the class. And I'm sure by the end of the year the number is going to increase and it's going to be even more like 25 or more and the other classes are also the same. There are two other classes.
The issue is that I see that these classes are overcrowded. We everyone know about Brookline because of the good education that they have. But now I see the frustrations of not my
son but his classmates as well that for like just provide you as an example. He came home one day that we were all lined up to answer questions to have uh our questions by our teachers you know to be answered. we were in line but after the
second one the teacher or the third one the teacher says that sorry we don't have time we have to you know do the other part which is the next things in the curriculum so they are all the time being rushed you know the teachers are doing the great job they can they are of
course exhausted with you know having so many kids at that age like eight year olds that they need all these special needs and Driscoll is uh made the new DR school to be like four session classes and I'm here to ask you that if you can
allocate the budget for next year to have these you know to have four classes for the fourth grader even if you add you know one more class the average size will be still like 20 it's not going to be you know too low but if you don't add
it the average is way more that what is expected or what is even the average size of the Massachusetts sets elementary school and um this is they ask that you know I'm here to represent even the other families and the other
kids at the third grade at Dris school uh that if we can have you know one more class for next year this is also it's not impacting only the educational part of the kids I think it's also impacting their social skills their mental health
you know all the time they feel that oh we are in rush all the time they they are afraid that oh if they don't make it in line on time they can go to the next activity so thank you all thank you
Nicola Russian um would you like to yes >> that works for us thank you >> you do have to use the microphone though that way everybody at home can hear you too >> um my name is a clarashima My husband Peter and I are in our third year as US Massachusetts and Brooklyn residents and
taxpayers. I'm an active member of the Driscoll PTO to give back to the school and PSBMA because of what you have contributed to our kids' educational transformation since coming to the US in Brooklyn in 2023. A huge thank you. And
because Driscoll is a public not private school benefiting children outside of the catchment area to include a metco special needs and labs something that's very important to us as parents of a current thirdyear grade neurotypical son at Driscoll. My husband and I too are concerned about class sizes and we're
part of the 79 signature petition to urge you to add an additional fourth grade and we know that's a crucial time to advocate for this. We understand that the third grade cohort has continued to grow since the original petition where
all classes will have 24 to 25 students um each by the end of the month leaving it the second largest grade in the the district and this will surely increase before year end based on president and g um given the midyear placements that can come for school's very unique and
special offer off offering around lab and notwithstanding that students outside of lab criteria still with needs benefiting from its learning center and it's in specialist support. I first give evidence based on the research for class size reduction known
as CSR benefits and then I'll give you evidence from our own experience of my three children and I refer you to class size matters.org a not for-p profofit which looks at the summary of research in this areaing and area and these findings should be top of mind for Driscoll budgets given what the school
offers uniquely in the area as already described at least um oh go sorry not great sorry at least 24 US states have mandated or incentivized CSR although obviously it's under challenge in this economic
environment accepting the extra teacher costs associated. However, states really take the long-term payback and focus on short-term cash needs. Numerous studies in the Western world and notably in the US show variable but generally positive results especially when class sizes
range from 13 to 17 compared to 22 often considered optimal not 25 plus. Um lower to students student teacher ratios have significant longterm impacts on student educational outcomes. better test math and English scores, for example, when
decreased by four students, class engagement, and other long-term outcomes. And a Tennessee Star study revealed that students in smaller classes averaging between um around 17 outperformed their peers in larger classes of 22 to 25, leading to longerterm educational attainment and
wages later in life. and it seems that they have the largest impact when introduced in the earliest grades and for students from less advantaged family backgrounds. It allows for personalized attention to any child, targeted support and student
engagement as well as teacher motivation and bandwidth to support the to provide the support needed. We know that motivated and engaged kids are better learners. Stressed brains don't and overstimulated brains don't learn. and my dyslexic daughter has been she's now
a straight A student at Brooklyn High School 9th grade and it's because of Driscoll and it's because of the learning center and it's because of the lower class sizes and I don't want my younger son to suffer. I don't want his friends to suffer. My son is at a private school in Brooklyn in Boston
because we chose it for lower class sizes. He said we'd made a mistake at first and now he's thanking us as he has reached his potential and in moving on to university because we were ahead of the game because he had social needs and thought that larger classes would be
better. So I just I know you've got difficult tough decisions ahead. It requires tradeoffs. I know that. But it's really important that learning centered strategies are at the heart of decision- making and creating clear the the the budgeting
criteria are not clear at the moment. Stakeholders across schools, parents, etc. are confused at where they're getting where the money who's responsible for what where the money comes from. I'm on a PTO and they're already challenging back about what we're being asked to fund which is the town responsibility.
and I appreciate that there are many budgeting priorities, but class sizes are key not just to the generation now, but the future economy. Thank you. >> Thank you. And we'll hear from Michael Rosenthal. >> Hello. Can you hear me? I'm on Zoom.
Yes, we can hear you. >> Thank you so much and thank you for the opportunity to speak to the group. Uh I am another one of the Driscoll third grade parents. Uh but I also have kids in PKB and in first grade. Uh I'm also calling in because uh the class sizes
have grown quite significantly and we're starting to see impacts uh in our oldest daughter who's uh in the third grade class now. And I wanted to share some of those anecdotes. And in particular, uh, as classes the class sizes have risen
now up to about 24 in her class, uh, I'm hearing more and more that, uh, she, as a a good student who doesn't, uh, need a lot of, uh, hands-on attention, usually uh, is not able to um, get her
needs uh, met. and when there are students who maybe need a little a little more attention and uh sometimes are disruptive in her area, uh she tends to fall into the background in that situation. And I think we can all agree that Brookline is a place where people
can do wonderful things. We've had the the joyous experience of having fantastic teachers every year for all of our girls and we want to continue to have that be the case. Uh we think that next year as we stare into what could end up being 25 26 27 kids in each class
uh we're quite worried about that and we hope that you will uh consider taking action to provide the kind of staffing we need for our kids next year. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. And now Alina Benoy just hold it. All right, I'm terrible at
public speaking, so I'm gonna read this. My name is Alina Milner Benoa, and my son has been attending Driscoll since kindergarten when he was one of about 17 or so kids in his section to start with. Now, as you've heard, he's now part of
24 in his class. I get daily reports from him about the disruption. Daily noise level and the need to leave everything behind and move into a different room down the hall in order for the guidance counselor to intervene with the escalation of bad behavior in
class. Our thoughts are that the current class size that is only projected to get larger is not developmentally appropriate for the 9year-olds. This class size reduces individual attention. It is also unclear whether the increased disruptions are the cause or the symptom
of this large-siz class since there are some kids who seem to be behave they were okay before and now they're not behaving age appropriately. Are the students with emotional issues or self-regulation issues over stimulated in this environment and teachers are
definitely spending dis disproportionate amount of time on redirect redirecting or addressing these issues instead of teaching. What we the parents are seeing this year is that the increased class size is significantly impacting the instructional quality because teachers
are spending more time managing behavior and adding another section would allow more effective teaching, reduce instructor burnout and create a safer environment for all the students. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. And now Martin. Martin, if you could introduce yourself with your
last name so I know how to pronounce it. Thank you. Hello. Um, my name is Martin Fishbine. Um, I'm a Brookline resident and a Driscoll parent as well. So, uh, apologies for being a bit repetitive, but this is a very important issue for
all of us. Thank you for your time and for the opportunity to share these comments and for all the work we do. We know that this is a hard job and that it's harder during tough times of financial challenges. Uh we just want to encourage you to to keep in mind the
importance of class size. Um and this is as a concerned parent of a third grader but also more broadly um for all the Brookline schools as we face financial challenges. It might seem like, you know, it's it's possible to add another student to the class, but the
consequences are non-trivial. And um we see that from reports of our children as as you've been hearing from um my my fellow um risk parents, we all see that uh sort of like through the experiences of our children. uh but it also shows in
wellestablished research that class size has very substantive implications for student achievement over the short medium and long run. It goes all the way uh to labor markets and uh all the um uh abilities of people to fulfill their uh
opportunities throughout their lives can be impacted by class sizes. Uh these impacts are uh not homogeneous. they are disproportional on uh kids that face more challenges. So there's also an equity uh concern here. And I think that
for Brooklyn the it would be um it would be really great if we can meet this challenge uh by keeping what I think is part of our identity. Uh when I uh moved to Brooklyn 10 years ago, just before my first children was born, my first child
was born, uh Brooklyn schools were uh first and foremost in our mind. And it wasn't just about school quality that was definitely important. It was about the fact that in Brooklyn we have excellence combined with inclusivity. And of course this takes resources and I
know we face challenges. Uh but I I'm convinced that the alternative is worse. Uh the research shows that um it you know class size has a fundamental impact on uh on student achievement and after 25 the uh impacts become nonlinear. uh
there's there's uh the potential for really drastic reductions in in quality and this uh hopefully won't happen. If it does, it will show in the overall quality of our schools and in the way people see Brooklyn. I don't think this is a concern only of the school parents
or uh parents of school children. There are externalities. There are spillovers of school quality all throughout the community. This shows on real estate prices to be concrete, but it also shows in the ability of a community to attract high-skilled, diverse people with uh
high talent that are what make Brookline a great place to live and a dynamic community in economic and social terms. Thank you. >> Thank you. On Zoom, we have Marie Radler. Hello. Can you hear me?
>> Yes, we can. >> Hi there. My name is Marie Radler. Thank you for hearing from me today. I'm a parent of three Driscoll children, one who is in the third grade that we've been discussing tonight through other public comment. Um, I'm here to just
echo the concerns of everyone who has spoken thus far this evening and in prior sessions. One of the things that rings true to me and why Brooklyn was very attractive as a place to settle down and raise a family was because of the public schools. Um, it's my
understanding that the public schools in Brooklyn, elementary and otherwise are guided by certain core values and those include high achievement for all, excellence in teaching and educational equity. And the current class size of the Driscoll third grade school presents
challenges to actually meeting those core values. Um, with the current class sizes of 24 and growing students in the third grade, um, we've heard from other members who or other members of the community and parents talk about how
class size is correlated to achievement. Um, this certainly presents a challenge to achievement. If the goal, the core value of Brooklyn public schools is high achievement for all. um increased class sizes will inevitably result in a real
challenge of meeting that core value for this current third grade cohort. Um and so um I would just among the other parents uh implore the committee to truly assess the current class size of the third grade dri school and increase
a fourth section as the school was designed to accommodate. And uh thank you for your time tonight. Thank you. That concludes public comment. We're going to move on to school committee actions. And our first one is the compensy determination policy
and updates to the high school graduation requirements. This is our second reading and possible vote. >> Sure. And obviously um Robin Benoy is here. Um, Anthony Meyer and Hal Mason
are also sort of on call if you have any questions. So, we have discussed this previously. Um, and I maybe would like to start our conversation out tonight by asking somebody to move the vote and then we'll
um continue with conversation. >> So, moved. I'm happy to move it >> and seconded. >> Great. Thank you. >> Are we voting? What are we >> We're We're voting on the draft that we
see in our packet and it's the high school graduation requirements that we've read before >> and the competency as well. >> Doing as one pack. >> Yep. Go ahead and Andy, >> my question is just whether there are
any changes since the first reading. >> No, there are no changes. >> Okay. >> Okay. With that, we're going to >> Great. >> Great. Um, Bob, how do you vote? >> I vote yes. >> Carolyn, yes. Andy, >> yes.
>> Suzanne, >> yes. >> Donna, yes. Mariah maybe Mariah stepped away and >> here sorry >> um abstain >> okay thank you and Belle >> I vote yes with gratitude to Robin
Anthony and Hal >> thank you for that and I vote and the chair votes and vice chair votes yes as well so um tonight we have discussion and vote to accept the superintendent's recommendation to appoint Dr. Robin Benoy as deputy superintendent for
teaching and learning. So um Bella will you like to actually we'll we'll start by moving it. So Suzanne moves it and second >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Sorry we got Carolyn. I'll write a second before you and um Bella I
wanted to know if you wanted to start our conversation. >> Sure. Um, I did I did send a memo and it and the memo came out today, so I apologize if you didn't have a time to review it. Um, just to remind everyone, when I arrived in July, there was a
vacancy in the deputy superintendent um position for the office of um teaching and learning. And so one of the first actually the most critical task was to fill that position. And the pool was
small, but there was this application in there um that that caught my eye at the time. And also there were references that I knew attached to that application and I reached out to them and um we had
a full interview team um representative curriculum coordinators um and principles and actually I don't know if Susan was part of it at first and you start yeah you definitely got us going and I I presented Robin as the candidate
for consideration and the team actually I think they interviewed her for almost two hours. They pretty much got to ask everything under the sun that they wanted and um so they did that and then they unanimously supported Robin to move
forward. And the the an important thing to notice that Robin had not served in the role before. So they really wanted to ask her everything um maybe with a bit of um skepticism. So they asked everything and she she um she passed her
muster and went through. Now I have been so pleased actually um of of Robin's progress again as someone who hasn't done it before how she has stepped in to the role and she certainly was ready is ready has been ready as her
references would um attest. And so once um the committee made me permanent then um it was almost like oh yeah great you're here now what are you going to do about the rest of the team and so um so
that's part of the timing also um since for for the first few months of our being together um we would we would have ideas about how to move forward and sometimes it would come up you know well how do How do you how do we know you're going to be
here, you know, in a year to be able to do that? And so, this is why I also think it's important to move forward. Um, we are in a state of change and um and we want to be able to move with certitude as um
it just seems everything is important needs to be done now as we're doing this. And so what so then I thought well how am I processing this? So this is about the time we would think about posting and going through applications
but I also feel remiss to do that if I really feel there's someone inside that I feel strongly about to make people go through that process. So what I did to process is I met with every single person that Robin works with directly.
to every single curriculum coordinator and other staff members including our AD, of course, Malcolm, our building principles, the other members of the leadership team, and I was also able to check in with some of the school commanding members that I met with 101
recently. And um there was it was all positive, you know, unanimously positive. people acknowledged that Robin is new to the role and she's growing. But um but the the comments that were quite consistent was that that um
they've been so impressed whether they've spent a lot of time with Robin or just some time and people said even though I've only spent some time my interaction has only been an impression is positive and they look forward to to
knowing Robin more. There are also a number of people that have spent a lot of time with Robin especially around the literacy around the development of vision of a learner um and also setting forth competency determination
and preparing for the curriculum review um that's coming in the spring um getting ready for the MCCAST presentation. So she's actually been be you actually have probably been most exposed of any group um to to the work
that Robin has done this year because she has come to you for multiple presentations. Um and so again the comments have been the the calm and so see if these you know you have them in your memorandum but the the calm demeanor and
professionalism. She leads with listening. She leads with curiosity. um people really feel that she doesn't jump in with a predisposed idea that she really listens and then um contemplates come back and is reflective in her entry
to to um to public schools of Brooklyn. She also um they find her helpful with problem solving and um people have been thoroughly impressed with the range of technical expertise you're able to offer
even at this early stage of of um entering this role. And um people also have been impressed with your resp with with Robin's responsiveness um timely and and always respectful. So
I think people are looking forward to having more of Robin around and growing together. And I will also speak on behalf of the senior leadership team that um it just you I we all feel really fortunate to to be able to have stepped
into a team of each other and um feel that we we um have found that we work really well together and um and there were there's a lot of work that
has been um in front of us and it's good to have feel that you have a partnership that works well at the senior leadership level. Anyway, I'm very pleased to recommend or seek your approval of our appointment going to permanent and um I
hope you say yes and then I look forward to working with Robin. >> Thank you. Not able to see online if anybody has their hand up. Bob, >> we're gonna have a conversation. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, Robin, when I first looked at
your resume, I went not that much experience at this certainly at this level. However, you have demonstrated powerfully to me that you're incred an incredibly quick study. I felt that every presentation that you
made before us has been incredibly well prepared, very eloquent. um um interesting. And so um I ran for school committee because I was concerned about lack of stability in our senior leadership and our leadership in
general. And so I'm very very excited to hear that we're going to have stability with Bella and now with Robin and hopefully continue in that in that vein. So I'm very supportive of Robin's nomination recommendation. Thank you,
Bella. Thank you, Robin. Carolyn, not to belabor, um, but Bella, I really >> Oh, for some feedback. >> Um, I appreciated this memo, Bella. Um I'm assuming it's in the meeting
materials or will be so the public can see but a long bullet list of um the feedback. Um and I circled leads with curiosity which I really love. Um clear
thinker which I think we've seen clear thinker clear speaker. I talked to you about that in our one-on-one. I've really appreciated um Robin's very clear and um professional and maybe sort of
jargonfree presentations. Um so um exciting for you and us. >> I don't think any of us need to um repeat what's already been said. I just was um I agreed with everything that Bob
said and then I was waiting for you to also say that being a member of of the team so that Bella came on um with a team that was already assembled and now she's choosing to keep Robin that's really important to me as well so that
the team continues on. So I'd like to call for a vote if there's somebody online with their hand up. >> All right and let's start with Bob. >> Enthusiastic yes. Carolyn, yes. Yes. Andy, >> yes. >> Suzanne, >> yes. >> Donna,
>> yes. >> Mariah, >> yes. >> Val, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations to us.
We're moving on to presentations and discussion of current issues. Uh we have a pres presentation discussion vote on the climate leaders application including the town's municipal decarbon road map and the fleet management electrification and vehicle replacement policy. It looks like we're going to
hear from Aaron Shu to begin. >> Yeah. And I think yeah, I think that maybe I just have to hold that a little closer. Uh Joe, if you want to go ahead and bring up the presentation and I'll just do a Oh, it's up. Perfect. Okay. Uh good evening. My name is Aaron Cud. I'm the commissioner
of public works in Brooklyn. And uh it's my pleasure to introduce our deputy director of sustainability uh Shelley Dean. uh she will be leading the presentation and discussion this evening. Uh Shelley joined our team
about seven months ago and we are really excited to have her technical expertise and knowledge to support our climate action work which is advancing in really exciting ways. Uh Alexander Veio, our director of sustainability and natural
resources, who you all know uh sends her apologies for not being here this evening, but she's actually out of state officiating a wedding. Uh so tonight we're here to talk about the climate leader communities program. It is a new program through the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources. It
affords certified communities the opportunity to apply for up to $1.15 million in grant funding for projects per year uh that help decarbonize our buildings and fleet. In order to become a certified climate leader community, we
have to meet certain criteria which Shelley will discuss. Some of these Brooklyn has already met. Uh but there are two specific requirements that staff have been working on over the last several months uh that will prepare us for the next CLC
application deadline of December 31st, 2025. specifically a zero emission vehicle first policy which really codifies our current practice and a decarbonization roadmap this evening. We want to share those with you and are
seeking a vote of adoption from the school committee. I'm pleased to share that we met with the select board on Tuesday and received a unanimous vote of support for both the decarbonization roadmap and the zero emission vehicle first fleet policy. And uh we also have
Kevin Johnson uh online. He is our deputy commissioner of operations, the director of highway sanitation and fleet services if there are any questions. And with that, I will turn it over to Shelley. Thank you so much. Um yeah, if you if you don't mind, I um
that would be that would be terrific. Thank you so much. So, um, uh, and and very nice to to meet many of you. Um, uh, I I don't think I've had the opportunity to meet me, uh, you before. Thank you. Um, so I am Shelley Dean. I
am the deputy director of sustainability and tonight I'm here to talk to you about the climate leaders program, um, which requires that Brooklyn's public school district adopt um, two documents. uh the zero emissions vehicle first
policy as well as the municipal decarbonization roadmap. And um this the climate leaders community program as was mentioned is a statewide program um that certifies
um uh that that builds on the green communities program. Uh Brooklyn has been in the green communities program for 14 years and the green communities program has helped uh install LED lighting in many schools and um a number
of other activities throughout the town to reduce our greenhouse uh I'm sorry to reduce our municipal energy use. The climate leaders program which builds on this is not only to reduce our energy use but to make sure that we are
reducing our greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. So it really has to do with electrifying the town's assets. The impetus um behind this is to help communities meet the state's clean energy and climate plan which sets the
goal of net zero emissions by 2050. and Brookline has also accept um uh set that same goal. Um thus far there are 28 communities that have been accepted into the into the climate leaders program and some of
them are our neighbors. They include Cambridge, Lexington, um Watertown and many others. Um the reason for this program the that the reason why this program actually if you don't mind going to the next slide the re the reason why this program is is so important as as uh
commissioner shoe uh identified is that it brings us the opportunity to have significant funding for us to pursue our goals and and those goals being the increasing the energy efficiency of our
buildings um uh using energy management agement services and even in uh things like installing uh local energy generation on municipal assets. So that would be for example installing solar arrays on our schools. Um and the
climate leaders program funding is really critical to help us uh meet those goals. Uh next slide if you don't mind. So to apply for this program there are six requirements. Um, we have to be a
community in good standing, which we are. A green community, sorry, not just a community, a green community in good standing. Um, uh, we need to have established a local community, uh, group that advises the town on clean energy
matters, and we've done that through the zero emissions um, advisory board. We need to have demonstrated a municipal decarbonization commitment which the town has done by setting goals uh to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Uh
we need to develop and adopt a municipal decarbonization roadmap and that's one of those actions that's before us tonight. We need to adopt a zero emissions vehicle policy. Again, another action that's before us tonight. And as a community, we need to adopt the
specialized stretch energy code, which the town did, um, a while ago. Um, so, um, I'm going to start tonight, um, by talking about the zero emissions vehicle first policy. And um that policy
prioritizes that when new vehicles are purchased that we purchase zero emission vehicles over uh traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. And it sets a very clear order of prioritization.
The first are fully electric vehicles. The second if that's not available um is are plug-in hybrid vehicles. The third being hybrid vehicles. And then the fourth being um uh traditional uh
internal combustion engine vehicles. Um emergency vehicles um are exempt from this policy and um the policy has been shared and reviewed by all department heads. The good news for the town is
that this isn't a heavy lift. The town has already been basically uh following this policy uh for years. and um uh uh so it really codifies something that
that's already in in practice in the town. Next slide, please. Um so just as an example, um Brook uh Brookline has about 390 vehicles in our fleet. That doesn't include uh fire
trucks. Those are special. Um uh in in in 2020 in 2022, sorry, um the the town owned one fully electric vehicle. At this point, um today, the town owns 34
fully electric vehicles as well as a number of hybrid vehicles. Um I my understanding is that um the school department has one of the hybrid vehicles. I think the school department um and I I believe that the school department has nine nine vehicles. So um
you know as vehicles turn over we look for opportunities to to replace them always with the most efficient vehicle that's out there and ideally as an electric vehicle. Um I think uh oh uh I guess one other
thing that I want to say which is the fact that we that the town has advanced so much on this front that the town already has 34 fully electric vehicles is um really a standard that many other communities are are quite jealous about
and quite in awe about. I was recently at a at a conference um where Alexandra was speaking about um the town's accomplishments in terms of electric vehicle the electrification of the
town's fleet. And there was a noticeable, you know, gasp of like, oh my god, I can't believe you've done that. That's terrific. So, um and it it certainly made me very proud. I know it makes every uh everyone in Brooklyn quite proud.
Uh next slide please. Um the other thing I want to talk about is the municipal decarbonization roadmap and um that road map um is a very high level review of the of both the
buildings that the town has as well as the vehicles that the town has. And the reason why it concentrates on both of those is because together between uh the the buildings which generate about 80% of the mun of greenhouse gas emissions
from from municipal assets and the vehicles which generate around 15% that's 95% of of the greenhouse gas emissions on municipal operations. So those are both very very important. Um it's a so the road map really is a very
high-level view of looking at those assets and trying to see if it is possible to make them um electrified so that there will be no fossil fuel use by the year of 20 uh 2050 and um and then
it sets some interim goals. The road map looks at at um it it is I I think the road map is was in the package that got distributed. Um it's a very it's a very prescribed format and it and uh it
requires for example that the year 2022 be our baseline year. It assumes that um there are trigger events at the natural uh time that we would be retiring heating systems at the or hot
water systems that we would be replacing them because they've gotten to the end of their useful life or at at the time when we would be retiring vehicles because those two are at the end of the their useful life. That those are the opportunities when we would electrify
them. Um, obviously we have the choice to do it ahead of schedule, but the but the report basically assumes that we would be doing things at the end of their useful life. Um, as well as when it when we're installing new roofs on on
our buildings, those are the times when we would be looking at installing solar arrays. Um, the the road map has been reviewed by our staff as well as by the public. uh our staff meaning sustainability um but
but also um uh it has been reviewed by the public buildings department as well. I want to preempt a question that I'm sure I'll get which has to do with cost and um and the road map specifically
does not deal with cost. Um it doesn't deal with cost and it doesn't deal with um uh um any funding that that would could be available. It's a 25 year year look ahead. Um and it really is a um
just a highlevel feasibility analysis before the road map becomes actionable. Um schematic designs would need to be done for specific buildings. Um then more detailed engineering studies would need to be done and at those at that
those are the points when when costs would really be analyzed. Um, next slide please. So on the um on the building side um we asked our consultant to formally analyze
22 of the town's buildings and um we identified the 20 22 buildings that that uh represent and that emit about 85% of the municipal building emissions. So we
were really looking at um the buildings where there are the biggest opportunities for savings. Um many but not all of those buildings are schools. Um and uh you can see the buildings listed there. You know it starts with with uh Brookline High School going on
to Ronl and and others. Um I also included at at the bottom bottom right hand side the other buildings that the town has that collectively um uh uh generate about 15% of the
building emissions. Um what you'll notice, for example, on this list is that um some of the some of the buildings that we know will soon be um
all electric for or that currently are all electric like the Driscoll School, but also things like the fire stations um were not were not identified as the top emitters, but were included in the
additional municipal building section. Uh next slide please. So um what the road map found and um again these it's a very prescribed report so there wasn't a lot of flexibility here but the baseline year is is 2022 and we looked at emissions
from 2022. Um and then we looked at emissions 5 years later which is 2027 and then 2030, 2040 and 2050. And what what we see is that the expectation is that we can reduce our fossil fuel use
by the year uh 2050. Um that's true of buildings um and it's true of our vehicles. uh it assumes um a a much slower adoption of um electric vehicles
for our heavyduty fleet um because those models makes and models are just not uh commercially some of them are not commercially available yet though um I'm happy to report that the town in fact has an electric trash truck already. So
um so there are a few heavy duty vehicles that the town has that we have electric options. Um it may look like the the um the first milestone is only well the first milestone is only two years away. Um and
uh that might look ambitious uh to you but I want to again point out that the town already owns 34 electric vehicles. We're not we're not starting from zero now. We're starting from zero in 2022. Um and um and obviously with the Pierce
uh school and with um Driscoll and fire station number four and fire station number one soon thereafter, we are in fact moving ahead in terms of electrifying our buildings and uh reducing our emissions significantly.
Uh next slide please. So, um, so where we're at now is, um, you know, as the as the com as the, uh, commissioner mentioned, um, we were we went before the select board earlier this week and we received, um, their
approval to adopt, um, both the municipal uh, decarbonization roadmap as well as the, uh, zero emissions uh, vehicle policy. It's worded slightly differently. It's the fleet management, electrification,
and vehicle replacement policy. But that's in essence what it is. Um, and now we are uh respectfully requesting that the school committee consider both of those and consider adoption of those as well. Um, if we are able to receive
positive votes tonight, the town will be in a position to be able to submit our application before the December 31st deadline. And again, you know, we we think that's important because that opens up a whole new uh uh uh round of
funding for us. So, source of funding for us. So, that's the end of my presentation, but I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Carolyn, thank you very much um for that. I actually have a bunch of questions, but
I'll start with one. Um, so you explained that this none of this has any costs associated that you can tell us. Um,
although I'm sure there are a lot of things that could be reported like about what we've spent so far compared to what we would be spending for example on vehicles if they weren't electric, etc. But specifically in the memo it says to
determine the fe feasibility of executing this road map and the associated costs a technical assessment will be required. So is that done by staff or is that an outside consultant
and if and either way what is the cost of the assessment to assess the costs of electrifying everything? So uh um so I the expectation is that over time we will be um assessing things over time.
We won't do a a full assessment of the um to project 25 years ahead at this at this moment. Um as there are opportunities that come up um one of the one of the um sources of funding for the climate leaders program is to fund those
those kinds of assessments. So, um I think I mentioned that um we're eligible up for a million $150,000. $150,000 is available to do technical assist to do those kinds of technical
studies. >> Sorry. And I'm going to dialogue sorry for a sec. Um, is that in both cases, the 1.5 and the 150,000, that's the pot of money in this program that would be
divided or that's per municipality? Uh, it is my understanding that um we would need to apply for it. Y >> right. Um so um but my understanding is that each municipality has access to that and and it's not just my
understanding that's what's written. each each municipality has access to that if if you are accepted as a climate leader um community. All right, just to to zero in on this a little bit one the the
sort of the comment or question around the vehicles. I just want to make it clear this isn't mandating a replacement of vehicles now. It's really just a decision making process when we are replacing vehicles and looking at most fuel efficient first. So, we're always going to look at your operation. You're
always going to look at your needs. You're going to look at all of that. And so, it's it's really saying we're going to look at most fuel efficient first. In terms of the grant, each municipality can access up to 1.15 per year. And it
depends on the project. So, it's not saying you're definitely going to get that. I understand. >> It's all contingent upon the project you're applying for. And in terms of technical analysis, um you know, for example, uh we're
working on the um solar installation at Pierce and so working with the consultant on the technical specifications for that that will be very specific for Pierce. So each project is going to require its own um
you know its own analysis for the that is specification. And my question is what the costs of those technical analyses are and whether those are done by outside consultants or Brookline staff. It'll depend on the project and the costs will vary depend on the
depending on the size and scope and we'll be working with the building department on those. >> Okay. And then in terms of the grant money that's available, I'm assuming or well I don't or this is a question. Would that be to supplement
initiatives or is the notion that that would sort of fully fund initiatives? >> I think it can be both. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mariah. >> Thank you. Um, and thanks for the really interesting presentation and it's really
great to see how I I'm always so impressed by um, particularly DPW, but other departments too, but DPW doing a great job of long-term planning and this is no exception. So, so thank you for that. Um, I have a couple of different
questions, some of which are process questions for I think you Sarah or possibly Val. Um, one of these is a policy that we're expected to adopt. Do I presume that that would run through policy rather than we're not being asked
to vote this tonight because it hasn't gone through policy, right? >> I think we are voting. Has to be in advance of an application that's due on December 31st. >> So, we're not following our process. were voting this policy absent sort of
well I guess I'll ask another question has our staff had time to review all of this to um share with us any implications on PSB specifically both the road map and the
policy specifically >> we haven't we haven't had a chance to review it but it doesn't mean that we don't support at I mean in in its sustainability goals and to Mariah's question I don't I don't know whether
because this is a policy all already developed so I don't know if the policy subcommittee is a policy that you are know this is a town policy >> right but this one already as a >> but it's not our policy it doesn't apply to us right like so
>> right so that's why I was thinking maybe it was when you go when things go through policy subcommittee you're developing them but this is developed it's being presented as something >> but we haven't even had a first reading and a second reading which is I think part of our policy that we have to have
multiple readings at full school committee >> of our own policies I think this is a policy that is brought to us from the town side and correct me if I'm wrong Erin this needs to be voted as is because that's how it is voted at select board is that
right >> that is correct Correct. Yep. It does need to be voted as is. We did share um information uh with staff regarding the policy um for for the fuel the vehicles
um with what we thought was was time to review and provide any comment. I will say though that in adopting this and if you want to then go through your process and if there's some word smithing that you want to do in the future, we could
modify it and um you know bring it back to the select board. But I think we do want to try to make this uh December 31st date so that we can um potentially seek some really significant grant
funding to do this important work. Thank you for the clarifications. >> It's not committing the school department or the school committee to anything financially right now in terms of adopting um this
these policies and anything that we do would come back to the school committee. >> Andy, thanks Sarah. Uh yeah, I do have a question. So I I understand that this doesn't make us do anything at the moment. If in the future we were to want to acquire uh vehicles for transporting
students like our own vehicles like vans or buses, how constrained would we be by this policy? Would we would we have to only you know source electric buses for example if we wanted our own buses? >> So you would you would look at that first. We actually just worked with the
senior center and they have acquired um an electric um bus uh to transport seniors. So there are great options out there um for that. So that's what you would be looking at first. If there was some operational reason why um that
wouldn't work for the schools, then you would kind of go down in the hierarchy in terms of um hybrid uh type options and potentially um justify and make a decision for a different uh model bus.
>> Would would finances be a be an acceptable justification if if it's just going to be a lot more expensive to >> Well, finances do apply to operations. >> Okay. accounts as operational if it's cost more. >> Okay, >> Bob,
>> I'm sorry before you go on, could you repeat that last point? Did the finances allow you to override the electric or not? >> It well I I think they have a little bit of
a disagreement in terms of um viability in terms of operations. So, it's not explicit in the policy. it will be um in essence I think in terms of practicality uh if we can't fund a particular model
then it doesn't fit and support our operations. >> Thank you for clarifying. >> Yep. I'll give you an example. Um we do have a um an electric uh vehicle which is a electric packer. We use that for
our yard waste collection. and we were able to get a very significant grant in order to acquire that um vehicle. But if we were to go um you know while electric is out there,
they can't even make those packers as quickly as um we would and other communities need them for their operations. So there are a whole host of reasons why even if something exists on the market, it may not be ready for Brookline at that particular point in
time. >> Bob. >> Yeah, thank you. I just feel compelled to state that as our national government seems to be dashing into the dark ages on climate and science in general, it is very refreshing to be in Brooklyn,
Massachusetts um in the Hanukkah season, season of light because Brooklyn clearly is moving forward um in contrast to my deep deep concerns about what's going on in the nation. So I want to thank you for
working hard on this and dealing with some of the issues that are presented to us and thank you. >> Thank you Carolyn. >> Thanks. Um I have another question going back to the vehicles. So in the last so
in roughly three years the town has purchased 34 fully electric vehicles. So, is there any kind of financial analysis that's been done in terms of
what those vehicles cost versus what non-electric vehicles would have cost and also what the ongoing costs are. So, I'll I'll turn to Kevin, but I will say that for those acquisitions, um, we were
able to leverage grant funds, we were able to leverage ARPA dollars, like we were able to, um, upgrade the fleet um, very economically and taking advantage of multiple funding opportunities. So, I
think it's going to vary a little bit over time. Um there still remain um funding opportunities for both charging facilities and for electrification of
our fleet that we're accessing that have made these purchases um very financially competitive for the town. But Kevin, you can I mean I think the full analysis that you're asking for I do not have to present to you tonight.
Kevin, there's time. So, um, as the, uh, Hello, uh, Kevin Johnson, deputy commissioner of operations, highway and sanitation director, and fleet maintenance. Um, as the commissioner says, we don't have a
full analysis for the entire fleet, but I did do an analysis on the the nine vehicles for the that school department has just for a reference for tonight. And right now, the actual value of your vehicles is uh roughly $250,000.
And if we were to um replace those vehicles today that are eligible to be replaced fully electric, it would cost us about $430 to $450,000. So, um, out of the nine vehicles that
the is in the build, uh, the school department, there's only one vehicle that we do not have a replacement, um, that we could use is the the the small van that has refrigeration in it.
So, I don't know if that explains it a little bit better, but um there is a sign significant cost increase to go electric, but as the commissioner said, there are with these grants, we are hopeful that they will meet um in the
middle where a regular um combustion engine would cost and the grants would take us to the next level of the cost for the vehicle. >> Donna, >> hi. Thank you so much. Um, this was, um,
I want to recognize all the effort that went into this, um, and the information, um, is incredibly helpful. I was hoping I could zoom out maybe more on the school or like to understand the process on the school side.
This would potentially have financial implications for our budget. Is that accurate? >> I don't know. I would defer to Susan. >> Might it have financial implications? I'm glad. Yeah. So when you're looking
at the road map, a lot of that will be initiatives that um the sustainability office is working with the building department on energy efficiency in the buildings at looking at solar opportunities at things like that that are not part of the school operating
budget and hopefully would actually yield savings over time. So, as we're looking at solar um long term, we're looking um to meet climate goals, but also realize savings. So, I don't see those as having um budget impacts. I
think the decision-m around the electric vehicles is something we're all going to need to think about and I think work hard at um finding uh grants that will uh close that gap on the difference between EV and internal combustion
vehicles. Um, but also the technology there is changing very rapidly and we can over time be moving to some of the smaller EV vehicles that hopefully will be very competitive in terms of costs in the near future. Um, so we're hoping those
costs actually come down. The differences uh overall are smaller. >> Okay. I guess um what I'm asking is whether I I can have an assurance from either our superintendent or from Dr. Given
that there that they feel comfortable with any potential financial implications that the vote might have tonight or can you share can you flag anything for us before we vote if we were to vote? I I feel like there's no financial analysis, so I'm a little bit
confused about the process. >> Yeah, sure. I I I mean, my comments would just be uh based on what I'm hearing tonight. Um I think Andy's question about if we were to purchase buses, because I did look at that a couple of years ago, maybe a year and a half ago, electric buses are
significantly more expensive and also you have to have the infrastructure in order to be able to charge them. So based on that um we were you know kind of pumped the brakes on it because it was not really within our um you know
financial ability to pursue that. So if if it's a choice that uh should we decide that we are going to bring in an in-house fleet of some sort and one of the factors can be whether you're paying 800,000 or 400,000 for the vehicle it
matters. So um but if we have a grant and that offsets that cost then you can have savings on the other hand because then we wouldn't be paying for for for fuel. So I think each situation would be unique and we would have to evaluate uh
the circumstances grant availability etc. But as long as you can take all those things into consideration I from what I'm hearing and you can then I don't see a harm in um supporting this uh proposal.
Carolyn, >> I recognize I've spoken a few times. I just want to make sure there's nobody else waiting. Okay. I'm going to sort of respond to Donna with my perspective, which is not the technical one.
Um, so I think that anything that costs the town money does have implications for the school department um and school operations ultimately, right? because
uh it it when things get tighter for the town, when there's pressures on town finances, when we're in an override year and we're determining, you know, what the split will be. Um to to my way of thinking,
it's all holistic. Um and obviously, you know, it goes without saying that we all would like to reduce emissions. um and and care about um climate change.
Um as stewards of a of a municipal budget um or for my perspective um in in that in that role um is to to have to um you
know balance what we'd like versus what we can afford. Um, I'm a little haunted always by um some of my early conversations um with um
members of ZAB, like literally somebody who said, "I don't care what it costs. I just want everything electrified." Um and I don't feel that as a as an elected person um and a school committee member that I can I do
care what it costs. it's my responsibility to care what it costs. Um so and there and we are in an override year. Um there was this survey that went out um about the potential override. Um
climate initiatives were not a high priority um in the responses. Again, that has nothing to do with my own personal view. Um, but I I have concerns about this. Um, I have concerns about
being locked into a policy that is then referred back to um to to reason um spending that I'm not sure we can afford or that is is a top
priority um given all of the things we would like. Um, so that's my perspective there. >> Thank you, Suzanne. >> So, um, I think as a policy, this makes a lot of sense for the town that this is
what we're based on, that what we aspire to. It may not be what we get or how far we get, but it's aspirational in some sense. I would hate for us to leave money on the table if we have a chance to have 1.15 million towards this effort. is maybe just not the schools
but the whole town. I think that's really worth considering and I think again we've had some of these conversations around our new school buildings talking about geothermal solar panels and we know that upfront sometimes it costs more money but in the long run it's going to save us money. It
may be 10 years I don't know how long it will take for payback. It may take some time but I think this is the direction we want to go. We we've not been unhappy. We look at what the Driscoll School is doing in terms of emissions and we're pleased. We're pleased. And so I think it is forwardinking to think
about a policy like this. I'm not saying committing to millions of dollars. I'm not suggesting that, but I am suggesting that as as a policy to guide us that this is where we want to go as a community. >> Thank you, Mariah.
>> Thanks. Um just a followup about the busing. Does this um policy affect only purchased vehicles or does it affect our current um service contracts with the bus companies that we have?
>> It's acquisitions. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So to be clear about that, we um Andy's question was if we did consider purchase. So, um, we should we move on
to a vote? >> Okay. If I can just respond. Um, I appreciate what you're saying, Suzanne. Um, I just want to respond in you're bringing up the Driscoll school, which which is valid. So, yes, it may be
that geothermal and solar will save money on the town's um bills in the long run, but that money doesn't come back to the taxpayers who have paid for it. So, anytime we're
making a capital investment, whether it's vehicles or other kinds of infrastructure, that costs the taxpayers money. So, and then it might save money
later in revenue that goes towards the bills. Um, but I have the taxpayers in mind when I'm thinking about this. >> Um, I'd like to call for a vote to adopt the municipal decarbonization roadmap and fleet management, electrification,
and the vehicle replacement policy. Can I make a I don't know what the motion is, but to split the vote. >> Okay. So, what would you like to split it into? >> The two bits. The road map separate from the policy. >> The road map separate from the policy.
>> Yes. >> Okay. So, I'd like to um Does anybody um I guess I will >> Would would somebody like to make the motion or is is that the motion when
with >> maybe motion to adopt roadap? >> Okay. I'd like to make the motion to um adopt the road map. >> What did Mariah just say? >> Um we're going to separate out the um road map from the policy. >> Okay. So what what would that mean exactly?
>> We are going to first vote for one and then vote for the other. So the first vote would be for the um mun municipal decarbonization roadmap and the second vote would be for the fleet management electrification and vehicle. >> Oh I see. Okay. Thank you. >> But what does it mean for their
application is my question. I think before you worry about the split, both of them are going to get voted. >> I I understand that, but I'd like to know if it's split and something doesn't pass, what happens to their application?
>> We cannot submit it. >> Thank you. >> Sarah, may I ask a clarifying question before we go to vote? >> What is the actual road map? Is is it Got it. That's okay.
>> It's like 43 pages or something. >> Mariah, knowing that the impact on >> um the application, do you still want We didn't get a second. So, do you still want to separate the vote? >> Yes, I'll second splitting. I will
second the motion. >> Like you made a motion to do the road map. I'll second your motion to to vote the road map. >> Okay. So, um I'm going to begin the other way around this time. Val, how do you vote? >> Yes.
>> Mariah, >> yes. >> Um Donna, >> this we're voting the road map. >> The road map. >> Yes. >> Suzanne, >> yes. >> Andy, >> yes. >> Carolyn, abstain. Bob, >> yes.
>> And I vote yes. Um, does anybody want to make a motion for the policy? >> Sure, I will. >> Okay, second. >> So, um, beginning again with Val, how do you vote?
>> Yes. >> Mariah, >> I abstain only from a procedural reason. >> Thank you. Donna, >> no. >> Suzanne, >> yes. >> Andy, >> yes. Carolyn, no. Bob,
>> yes. >> And I vote yes. >> Can you confirm the vote tally? >> Yes, no. >> Sorry, your your mic wasn't on. Do you mind repeating? Thank you. >> Uh, five yes, two no, and one abstain.
So, it passed. >> And what was the first one? Um, seven yes, one abstain. Uh, ex Yes, seven yes, one abstain. >> Thank you. >> So, I want to thank you all. I look
forward to working with Superintendent Wong um on this and I um we have heard all of your questions, all of your concerns um both in terms of operations, in terms of cost, in terms of responsibility to the to the taxpayers.
So we hear you on um all of that. We share your collective goals and um you know that will be part of our roll out. So u we look forward to coming back to you and um reporting on our overall progress. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> We're moving on to the update to the multi-year budget projection um with Susan Given >> and and me. So I um I'm gonna talk through the slides. I think um Betsy is going to help us run the slides. I just need to check Susan. Was everyone
supposed to have this as well? >> They do. Do you Oh, I didn't see them. >> Okay, great. >> All right. So, you should have a one pager that has um the multi-year
projection as it stands at the moment plus the prior three years. All right. And so that'll get printed out and you will have it. But Betsy also said she was going to help me run the slides. Um while I'm talking through slides, it's Susan Given who really did all the work,
the bulk of the work along with um everyone else contributing, the other members of the senior leadership team, the building principles, the other budget preparers. So, I have um in mind one of our parents that spoke tonight about how the budget
process isn't is confusing to them. So, I just want to say that it's our hope and intention to um speak clearly in in ways that everyone will be able to understand. And um and by all means if
something isn't clear to to ask um the budget I mean we have a $143 million budget so there are many pieces to it and um and every all the lines that that um make up the budget it can make the process seem kind of daunting about what
goes where what comes from where. So this is just an overview to provide um an orientation to where we are in the moment. We have u 142,792,591 budget approved for FY26.
That money um reflects an increase over the prior year of 5,944,973. And so just to understand that that is that is a town allocation. And the other number was the increase we received this
year over last year, 4.3%. Um what it takes to run the schools is actually a bigger number. So there are other funding resources, grants, particularly um state grants, federal
grants, um local grants. So So it's that's not the entirety of what it costs to run the schools. Um but that is the town allocation for us and it represented a 4.3% increase over the prior year. Coming
into this year um the district also the school committee approved taking 1.9 one,943,64 from revolving account the circuit breaker revolving account that happened and those were monies that
were intended for FY27. So that's the context where we are in the moment. The allocation from the town recognizing the increase in that allocation from the town recognizing that to fund this year's budget we drew from a revolving
account from funds that were intended for FY27. If you take that number and and convert it to a percent over FY25, it's 1.4%. So in some ways you can look at it as a 5.7%.
For practical purposes um in in terms of allocation of additional funding at this time at this time the town has not yet determined a FY27 allocation for the
school department. So just to understand that all the numbers presented tonight, the forecast is not being offset by a proposed town allocation. We do appreciate that the town allocation that the town has been um has done their
presentations about, you know, um not being able to determine what an allocation might be. Um, but to underscore that at this time last year, this time last year, December of last year, there were at least some monies
that were being committed and actually those monies increased by the time the budget was finally approved. Right? So, it's just to keep in mind these are numbers without an allocation. Thank you, Susan. You can just chime in if I miss
something. Yeah. Slide one. All right. Yes. >> Sorry. I will jump in and ask a clarifying question. When you just said those what did you say those funds weren't committed or the monies were
what what do you mean when you say that? >> Oh, so at this time last year there was some monies that were that were designated for the town for the school budget. Um but it that allocation grew over time and but I also want to be
careful to say that we shouldn't assume that that even if we shouldn't assume anything about what could be the allocation or the size of the allocation. Um we do hope there will be
some allocation. Um but that's but you have to look at all the numbers we're presenting. So in the past we might have said this is what we project for an increase. This is minus the town allocation and there's your gap. Right? Right now the gap theoretically is the
entirety of the increase that we are looking for next year. Um I do also want to make it clear that as we're talking about a budget that we're building, we're talking about a level service budget. We're talking about a budget actually more than level service. We're
looking at a budget that the school committee create created budget guidelines for you had aspirational goals for us to to meet. All right. So that so this is this is a budget that we
are developing that we would propose is something that would meet the guidance of the school committee. This is a budget that we would want to have hope to have. Um so at this time the development of the FY27 budget remains
in progress. Um the forecast will change as more work is completed. But I also want to say that the bulk of the work is 100% done and that all the parts that are not yet
done are at least 80 to 90% complete. Right? So we so a substantial part of the work has been done and we're going to do our best to provide some clarity about the areas that still need to be done. Um but I just want to let everyone
know that Susan in particular um taking all the information from from our budget preparers has been um getting to getting to the end and it's been a substantial amount of work and time. The multi-year
forecast presented tonight is lower than the last reported on 1113. So the first one we presented was um 9% for FY27. So those are the numbers. This is the new forecasts, new multi-year forecasts
that we are offering for tonight. Our hope is that whatever number we present that we are using conservative assumptions. We're working hard to refine those numbers, but that we will we won't give you a bigger number next
time. That we're trying to make sure that the number we give you is the number we have. And then we're trying to work to see if we can improve on that number while meeting the guidance that you that you all gave us. Right. So you
can see on that chart on that slide the new number is on the left the former number from a month ago is on the right and and so we've so we Susan everyone has improve has have improved the number
significantly for next year 6.97% as we finetune the number for FY27 you will see the numbers for FY28 and FY29 shift Thank you, Betsy.
So, again, the development of the budget remains in process and um sorry, this looks like it's a multiple one, but it's okay. That's a repeat. My fault. I just have to delete it from the Yeah. Um the
when just to acknowledge when we're doing the the budget there's an annual budget prep that um Susan um does every year. So it's just looking at steps and lanes possible cola um because we are negotiating six contracts this year.
Staffing changes meaning people who are in leaves of absence. Are they coming back? Are they leaving? Um do we have anti- do we have people who have declared they're retiring? Do we have anticipated retirements? And then fund allocation is um is that salary being
charged to a grant? Is it being charged to the general fund? Where where's the source of funding for it? Um again, the budget number you present is not it it's absent the grants. It's it's the left it's what remains that um becomes um
funded by the town. There's always space, program utilization, looking at enrollment. Um, we're always looking at our educational programs, reviewing um, and our assessments. We want to make sure that our what we're funding is in
alignment to the strategic plan, meaning supporting realization of its um, projected outcomes. And we're always looking at special revenue fund and fee assessment. And there's always operations, food, transportation, buildings, um, etc. It's data, it's
everything, um, to sustain the operations of the school district. That's the annual work. Um, this year, recognizing that it is um, a potential override year and also recognizing that
um, we had a very challenging budget cycle coming into this year. Um so some of the guidance categories that were created were to look at efficiencies, reorganization, restoration, reduction and new growth. I um so this
is what we we all supported at the beginning of this process, but as we do the work, it actually is tricky reporting out strictly in those categories. So I just want to be open about that. We're going to try to do our best to recognize and
align with the guidance that we all agreed to, but in fact, sometimes an efficiency and a reorganization may give you um funding for a new growth. So, when you put them all in those boxes, they don't fit as they're not fitting as
neatly as we thought. Um, so we may want to talk about how how we're gonna do these boxes or we're gonna keep them either way. But we're So, and just to be clear, when we identify an efficiency, that's not a reduction in pro in
service. An efficiency is a way is honest is a less expensive way to do something that will achieve what we need to achieve. Right? So, when we identify efficiencies, that's a good thing. We are still offering the same service but
found a way to do it more economically. Reorganization, moving things around, um maybe different titles, moving consolidating functions in in a new new position versus what where it was. Reorganization
may realize an efficiency or we might even get a restoration out of it. This is where like oh the boxes didn't work for us. But how we got there was a reorganization. Restoration may result from a reorganization. So you might see us
trying to attempt to put things in a box and another box because it kind of fit the different boxes. Then there's reductions. Reductions. And again, this budget that is being worked on is the budget we're proposing to meet the needs
of the district, to meet the budget guidance as voted by school committee. A reduction is a re-evaluation of a need or a way something was being used and we're saying we can reduce that. We're still delivering the service you want.
So this this whole conversation is about still getting you the budget or us the budget that we want and need. New growth the cost may be covered or mitigated by any of the above. Just because we
identify it in the category of new growth doesn't mean that cost a lot. Right? Then um this is a category new liabilities which was not contemplated
but as I as we were working on the budget and I'm like okay where does this go? It doesn't fit in any of the other boxes. So we created a new one for the moment new liabilities. Um sometimes the state creates new rules
that might be an unfunded liability. I'm going to say there's some liabilities that are being shifted to us and I don't know how else to capture it but to call it a new liability and then there's also the evaluation of funding resources which
actually this was um precipitated by the idea of new revenues. So new revenues don't fit in the other boxes. So we created another box evaluation of funding resources. All right. Okay.
>> Bella, could you um just give an example of Sorry, back one slide. Um yeah, the new liabilities. My understanding is the town has pushed some things over to us without uh coralary and funding. Could you just speak to one of those as an
example? >> Do you want to speak to an example? I can or you can. You go ahead. Uh so an example of that would be FFN. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So uh in the past uh there's been
an account in FFN or in um the CIP for furniture. Um and the town is kind of changing its philosophy about what they want to fund through the CIP and furniture fixture and equipment. um there's a feeling that
that does not belong in a CIP mini grant or or or otherwise. So this year uh we're going to need to fund those expenses that were previously funded through the CIP out of our operating budget. So that's an example.
So that that is an example of um and I I went so we schools, fire, town, police, DBW, we are all drawing from the same pie. So, but in but but for clarity around
the budget like comparing from this year to last year to next year if um what was in in one budget is moving to our budget I think just needs to be clarified. Um but it's it's all coming out of the same pie as long as everyone recognizes okay
we would have funded it there hopefully they'll fund it where it where it ends up. Um, but that's I don't So that's that's what we're calling something that wasn't in our budget before. That's new,
>> Carolyn. >> Thank you. And is new growth enrollment growth? Is that what that means? >> New growth. When we get to that slide, it'll probably explain it better. Yeah. Thank you. Um so again efficiencies are not a reduction in service but these are
things that would fit in that box. Um and and so this was a lot of work um that's that we did together with the principles and our other directors. Um but staffing adjustments based on projected enrollment and student profile
that impact a number of teaching sections. So student profile when I say that you know students may have needs that we have to assess um it could be e students could be students of the IEPs it could be a number of things that
would um allow us to allow us to consider teaching sections or um spots and learning centers etc. Staffing adjustments based on projected enrollment and student profile that impact case loads. So that's not just teaching sections. We are also looking
at case load ratios. We feel we've pretty much finished the analysis on teaching sections. But um looking at case load ratios is pending right now. Remember when I said that things are in process just because
it's pending doesn't mean that z we're at 0% completion. It means we're probably 80 to 90% on our way of finishing that analysis. Um Susan along with her team re-evaluation of transportation routes and I understand
that is a lot of work has been done um just not 100% complete um pending review of budgets to eliminate redundancy. So we took a a fresh look at um everyone's lines and double checked you know some
anyway for that and that that um these are efficiencies you know and so ensuring same service but doing that reorganization of OAF um we had to do that anyway because in the last budget
cycle positions were eliminated so we had to do it anyway and find a place for um functions or just um things that need to be done. And so Susan and her OAF team have done a really really
thoughtful intensive look at this. And so in the everything that is staff sensitive um I've shared with all our budget prayers and I want to reinforce with all of you that we're not going to provide u much
detail about that um prior to the break. Um but anyway so just intensive look at at OAF Bob. Yeah, I just have a qu clarifying question. At the end of the last budget cycle, I wasn't here. Um the town
supplied um closed a gap that we had and Yes. >> No. >> No. >> Last year we closed our own gap using balances from some of our >> Yes. >> It was in discussion. it was in
discussion and so I'm glad you asked the question because I think people because it was in discussion still think that happened but in the end um the money came from the the district's revolving accounts. So the 1.9 that I just
described that came from the circuit breaker revolving account funds intended for FY27 but it came from funds that were available. Is Bob not referring though to the Lincoln school? Is that what you were referring to, Bob? The playground money that's being held in an
account. >> I don't know the specifics of it. I just I remember that there was some there was a gap and then the gap disappeared through and my question is is there an impact on the FY27 budget from that from that decision?
>> There is an impact um due to our own taking from the Ribolian account but not from funds from the town. Not that. Okay. Because um so this is we >> so we borrowed money from our own. >> Yes. >> Yes. So it has an impact on us.
>> Okay. Um any questions on this slide? Then I'll go forward. Um and then in the category of restoration reorganization. So there were some positions that were
eliminated and we feel very strongly we need to restore the director of data and information systems. Um if the members themselves reflect how many times you've asked us for data it has been hard for us to do that but also district leaders
I mean across the school system have been looking for data to inform their practice. And so this is this would be the senior level precision of of that. Um we have restored um professional
development and training that has been really hard um not being able to fully fund that. This is training for there's always like right now there's AI and there isn't funding to really do that. We've been sort of capturing pieces here and there, but there's always um there's
always material to constantly maintain. Um safety training has to be done over and over. Um there's always new literature. There's always there's just always things that just to sustain um our practices at a high level that need
to be done. So those lines were restored. There were computer leases that were postponed. um that were on a timeline to to be done that were postponed that may need to be restored that's pending.
Tuition expenses really refer to um our out of district tuition lines and looking at that and we do feel that's complete. All right. So we've finished reconciling that and have projected
um an amount for the next year based on that work even though the communications director was eliminated and we and we have felt the loss of that. I felt the loss of it and I didn't even I mean I didn't have it but I feel the loss of
it. But in terms of looking at our our um budget and recognizing we're in an override possible override year, we just didn't make there were other things we gave a priority. And so no communication director restored, but we added some
money for consultancy if we might need that um to just just uh to be able to carry us forward. and um and maybe with the director of data information systems, maybe it will help us
understand if we do need to restore or we're able to do some of the work. So, we talked about the website um going to the new new platform. Um we couldn't do that actually without hiring someone
part-time to do it. And so, as Susan mentioned, the person that's been working with us is going to sunset in six weeks, six weeks now that it's been done. Um, but maybe this person will have a capacity to do some of that work. So, it might come back at another time.
We just thought let's we will try to get through another fiscal year. So, we're not restoring the position though. It's a very important function. Um, equity leadership team. So, I put that there. The Massachusetts Diversity Education
Act requires all school districts to have a diversity officer and or a equity leadership team. And so Karen, Robin, Susan, and myself have
have agreed that we will serve the role as the equity leadership team. So, um I guess that's a reorganization or taking from each of us. Um but it it won't cost you anything extra. Um but it's something that needs actually the state
requires you to have and so we we decided we'll we'll take that on and um I think the other members of the team for agreeing to do that. Um and then I here you see reorganization again because it just fit in this box. So
reorganization of of OAF Next slide. Did Oh, sorry. >> Donna, >> so is that an reorganization of OAF showing up there? Is that an example of what you were seeing earlier that something might
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Carolyn, >> and um are computer are the lease computers? Is that staff, students, both? Both. Thank you. I was wondering do you feel that an
equity audit is needed in order to proceed with equity leadership um what you need to do? >> So um honestly we have had um so much to do um
in the last months. If you think about the events of this week or the events of another week and um our a lot of our energies have been focused on building this budget. So there are things like
this that are being put on hold until we complete the building of the budget and then then the next part is you know explaining it to people and answering questions around it. But right now so much of our energy has been just really
toward creating this that has everything else is waiting. So we will have an answer to that question but I don't feel that we haven't been able to talk about it amongst ourselves. >> Bob, >> thank you. Um, Bella, during the
interview process, I translated some of what you said in terms of building budgets. Um, as you, again, I may be wrong on this, but I translated what you were saying, um, into your interest in a
zerobased budgeting process. Was I incorrect in in was I misinterpreting that or are you doing some of that in terms of building this budget? I don't I don't we didn't say we're doing a zerobased um approach and um and you
might have misinterpreted what what I said, but I do believe that we that we always look to um I think Susan and I were aligned in this that you always look to look for efficiencies and make sure what you budgeted is um what you
really need. I think in this round of budget development, we we were able to look at um other budgets more closely um for again to identify if there were redundancies or efficiencies.
So I think it was taking taking budgets and asking a lot of questions about what what the funds were being used for. And so the so that that would lead to some
of the reductions in um in a in a future box. >> And will we be able to participate in that um analysis of >> analysis will have been done but you definitely will be able to I mean that analysis are being we're
doing it now but you will be able to see where you'll have more spec specificity. So am I like am I going to say am I going to be allowed to say well what about this what about those expenses what about that >> I think you might be able to yes >> okay >> because you know I'm looking carefully
and uh >> right I think we have well if we move forward you'll see it's where I identified it in reductions >> okay >> okay reorganization so reorganization's coming back again and again it was about
for FY27 OAF. We really so we really did and a lot of the work again with Susan and her own staff reviewing and redefining the department rec to recover loss functions ensure reporting alignment that will improve productivity and accountability. So it really things
are really aligned differently and um it's I don't know it looks very positive the changes in FY28. So in the next year we anticipate additional reorganization as we review the middle school schedule and structure and we'll expand our
review of organizational systems to OTL and OSS. The work that was done for AF was a lot. It's a lot. And so we looked forward to in time to looking at the other two big groups
reductions. So there's some reductions in computer leases that are pending. Um I think we've identified them as just a number of conversations that need to need to happen before we can declare materials and supplies. I know it's very
generic term but this is where we were looking to budgets and identified um recommendations or to to reduce um and then there there are reductions and staffing across all categories and um
it's it's pretty a lot of work has been done I would say again somewhere between 80 and 90% complete and some pieces pending so it could be it could be um could be it could be administrative, it
could be teaching, it could be para, it could be support. That's what I mean by across all categories. New growth, I don't know you labeled cost neutral. I think they're mostly it ends up at maybe cost neutral. So new growth meaning um so the vision of a
learner was first defined to be 9 through 12 but we want to expand it to to be prek12 so in a way that so anything new is um not already in the budget um that we want to do. So science curriculum review wasn't identified in
this year's budget we want to do it for next year. the K8 math curriculum renewal. Um that actually is just a lensure that's expired that we have to renew. Um math program conversion um as
you all know we have left the calculus project. Um but what we have done is continued with the programs that we had and so it's just a conversion. There's a little bit of savings in there because um the fees that we would have paid to
calculus project won't won't be there anymore, but the staffing that we are utilizing to support students in in math acceleration remain. So that's what that is. Literacy expansion to the grades 6 through8. We've talked about a lot of
times. Um we continue to do work in K5 and expansion to 68 but we think that may be grant funded expansion of MTS is also continual new growth um development of that and um CTE classes we're hoping
to increase the number of CTE classes available at the high school it may be costneutral I think it's likely to be costneutral and we're working on that sila bi literacy whether whether it's um cost neutral or not is pending. So
that's in process. >> Donna, thank you. I have two questions. Could you explain seal of biiteracy and also can you remind me um whether whatever the new name of child
study team is? I can't remember >> it. Does that fall under MTSS? >> Okay, thank you. >> Um, Sila Biteracy, it was a diseas um 2015 around there. It's been a while. It been a while. I don't know if it was
ever here. It went away or it's something that we want to do. >> We've never had it. >> Never had it. Um it's so it was from Desian actually was equity in um achievement through equity in
recognition. So CLA by literacy means if I am studying it's mastering a language other than your mother tongue. All right. So if I if French is not my mother tongue or native tongue I should
say um and I reach a level of proficiency I may earn a sila by literacy. Similarly if I'm learning English and I reach that level of proficiency I will earn a cila by literacy and it's just recognizing that
they both are momentous achievements and so that's what that is. Um it does to to manage cila bi literacy does need um either a release or a stipen from a person because um it's a lot of tests.
So to prove their proficiency um is is is the um formal assessments and you need someone to to manage that. >> I'd like to just explain the word seal. So, you know, when you get your um your graduation um diploma, this is an
additional thing that you could have to sort of show your competency. >> Thank you. I can't see online if there are hands. This is so new liabilities is shifting known liabilities and now you know what
that might be and then new unfunded liabilities. um that can come from from the changes in I don't know changes in in um state requirements or federal requirements.
It's just to capture it there. Evaluation of funding resources. So federal and state grants, I don't know, they're pending. I don't we'll have additional information as we go forward. I think we're we're 90% done there. I think there's just one more grant that
we're looking at. >> Yeah. So, I do want to call out here that um in our planning, we are not anticipating that we're going to receive title 2, three or four. So, as we've been inter interrogating accounts, including these, which are uh federal
grants, we're not anticipating where to get those resources. We do uh expect at this point to get title one and IDEIDA which are the two bigger uh grants of our federal grants. Um and that work has been done. What hasn't been done is uh I
haven't completed the state grants. So just to be really clear when we are looking at this sheet and we look at expense total earlier you said that the numbers that we're looking at aren't able to take into account
all of what we will receive. So when I look at last year's 142 million and this year's 152 million, both of those have assumptions on grants that we will receive in both of those
numbers, but it's still pending the full understanding of that. Okay, thanks. Um and then local grants we we are privileged to benefit from you know be BEF or innovation fund but there's also
a multitude of other local grants that we benefit from. Some of them actually um cover allocation of staffing. So this is something we always have to look at. Um the other is looking at our revolving accounts in particular the circuit breaker and we do believe that work is
complete. Uh, circuit breaker is complete. There's still additional work I need to do on like use of facility funds. Beep. I haven't quite quite reconciled, but I'm getting close on some of those other ones, but not quite there yet. >> And uh and then again, this box was was
um precipitated somewhat by the the conversation around exploring revenue opportunities. And I think that um so I there were there were ideas that have come from the revenue um sorry revenue and study committee that we have adopted
in our work in developing the budget and this one was definitely one that um came from there and I thank um Susan and Kieran for doing a lot of work on that revenue opportunities. It's pending. Um,
one of the significant things in here is whether we would bring students from other districts into space available in our current programs and what we would charge for that. So that is pending because we have to establish the
tuition. Um that is that is 80 to 90% complete in terms of um the analysis the data that have been collected. You know what is it what is the administrative cost? What's the staffing cost? what's the material cost all of that and so
that's that's pending but um but a lot of work has been done so these so this is the box of evaluation of funding resources and then future planning I know we're so multi-year so FY208 FY29 we're doing our
best to anticipate what we can put out in those future fiscal years strategic plan development. I thought I had been talking about trying to really get into that for FY27, but as we looked at our
reorganization and the potential for future reorganization, we think that maybe that's that will be a lot of what we'll do um in in in the FY20 in anticipation for FY28.
Um, and then also the middle school schedule. As um, as we looked at the middle school schedule and reflect on the work already been done, it was clear there's not like a easy
tweak to um, resolve the challenges of the middle school schedule. it it requires a deeper look and um and so we're we're putting forth that that's going to take a lot of time in the fiscal year out to to realize. We'll
start looking at it this year and through next year, but it may to actually affect a change will um likely have some impact, some fiscal impact, but it's too early to say what that would be. Um again expand the
review of our organizational structures um to OSS and OTL. It's really looking at the systems. >> Yeah, Donna. I'm sorry. I I feel like I'm asking so
many questions. when you had um middle school schedule up on the slide, were you were you referring specifically to the variation in minutes from in different subjects from school to school? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. Yes. So, um there was a middle
school study that was done. Everyone in town knows about it. um and that there is um not the same minutes in instruction across core core areas depending on what school you go to. Um but it's not an
easy fix and so it's going to take it's going to take more more of a look. We don't have a recommendation between now and another month what that would be. So, I don't know if you wanted to say
more, but I think you want to go through this. Yeah, >> I can give some highlights. Um, but I know folks have just received it and of course this is a work in progress, but I I can certainly give you a little orientation if that would be helpful.
Okay. Most of this information uh 23 24 25 and 26 is all information you've seen before not necessarily crunched into this format because usually you don't get this until I uh publish the budget. So but I have shared it with you um
previously. I thought it would be important to include this now so that you can kind of start looking these numbers over. It also helps for sensemaking as you're looking out into the forecast. Um, how I use this
information of course um is to see what our actual spending was as opposed to what we budgeted, right? That that's an important part of uh interrogating accounts. So, um, in this case, um, I thought it would be helpful for you to
see some of what I've been looking at, um, as I'm putting together the 27 budget, uh, which then, um, impacts the 20, uh, 28 estimate and the 29. So, uh, as Bella said in her summary,
um, the numbers down from what the forecast was. The forecast is before the budget build, okay? So it's not based on um true expenses associated with our programs uh for FY27. This information that you have here
tonight is part of the budget build. Right? So these numbers have been adjusted based on the work that we have done. There are some accounts here that are going to change and I just want to say that this is not the final number. You know the accounts are going to change. Some of them I feel are are are
pretty close to 100% if not 100%. But also when I interrogate and I look at the special revenue funds and finish the salary work, these numbers will have to be adjusted um based on um my learning there. So more work to be done. Um as Bellis
said, don't anticipate that the numbers going up. I mean the number um as we tighten up our our our work, these numbers will um improve. Um and we're hoping that uh in January we'll be able to give you that um you know final
tightened up number and then we'll publish the narrative and the analysis and everything that goes along with that as we had uh uh uh said that we would in the beginning of February. So you'll get another update in another uh month.
So, um, you know, I think those are the the other highlights I would make is just a reminder that in 25, to Bob's point, we closed in deficit, but we didn't go to the town for funding. The money that we needed in order to close our budget and balance was used out of
fund balances in two of our revolving funds, BEAP, and I've reported on this, so it's just a reminder, the BEP revolving fund and the material fees fund. So, that was in 25. And I make the note down here because when you're looking at transportation, for example, those were the expenses that were pushed
off into the revolving funds. When I look at and I'm forecasting, I'm going to use that as the example um for 27. And when I look at 2026, I can see when I add this number to 25 that the number in 25 the actual spend
was higher than what we have in the current year budget. So I'm course correcting in 27. So that that's just an example of of some of the implications for using revolving fund balances and how it has a ripple effect that comes back online with expenses in at a future
point in time. Okay. And the other one I called out here was the one Bella did which is on our uh circuit breaker expenses. So you can see when you're looking at out of district tuition, you can see the numbers are going around 4,4549.
So they're kind of escalating up. And then you can see in the 26 budget we're at 3 million and that is because we took $2 million of expenses and charged it off against the revolving fund. That has to come back online in FY27 as uh as Bella explained. So those are a couple
of things I wanted to point out. It has implications um in 27 based on um decisions that we we made in 26 or in 25 um uh to close our our budget gap there and to close the 26 budget um with a
balanced budget. >> And while oh sorry while you were looking at the chart um just so you see the percent increases from FY24 on so 5.9 4.44 44
4.34 but I want to make sure to point out that um the monies taken from the circuit breaker was about 1.4%. So in reality, the district really needed 5.74% to and think about all the things you
cut out to get to this point. And so what you what you needed to fund and um so we've been work looking hard to find other efficiencies or reductions, but we have made we really uh we've made two
restorations again to the PD training line and the other one is the senior director um data analyst position. We didn't really willy-nilly restore a a lot of the other things. Those are
the two areas of focus of restoration. Carolyn, thanks and thanks Susan. I'm just going to ask a couple questions to make sure I'm sort of tracking on some fundamental stuff. Um, and one or two of these may
just be things you already just said, Susan, but I need to clarify. Um, so in the first asterisk, um, did I hear you say that the 866894 that was needed
um, came when you're saying revolving fund balances that that was the beep and materials fee? >> Yes. >> I thought the beep and materials fee 1.2 2 million was it? It was like 1.2. Okay. But I don't remember the numbers.
I thought that was um when we had the salary deficit that that's what those were used for. >> We made some adjustments based on grants and revolving services. Okay. >> But I'm calling it out here on transportation because the lion share of
the expense was transportation. >> Okay. >> Okay. Okay. So, I I just wanted because if absent that information, uh, you would look at 25 and say, "Wow, your expenses are going down." But actually, they blew they they were blowing up at the time, right? So, I'm just reminding you of of of that,
>> but it's and yes, and it's also I mean I think the and this is not a criticism, but just the at all, but the fact that we used those revolving fund balances, the beep and the materials fee, I think they're that's just important for people
to kind of know. And then presumably now there's not much left that those >> kinds of um funds wouldn't be readily available again anytime soon. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. And then I also
um and I'm sure we went over this last year, but the second asterisk and the circuit breaker and Bella, sorry, you might have just said this. I understand what we did to push forward the circuit breaker. And so now, do we need to sort of
correct that at some point or is that going to be what we'll just continue to do that? >> New the new projected budget reflects that we've corrected for it. >> Okay. >> Yes. So, >> so then we'll go back to the old. >> If you think about it, >> that new budget number reflects that we
corrected for it. As as Susan has said, and I will say too that as the number gets refined, we're hoping that it will improve, get lower, and I remind everyone, you're looking at
a number with no no town allocation. >> So, so we have corrected for it. Um, we are we've had some shifted liabilities. Um, we are anticipating the loss of
title two, three, and four. >> So, I hope I This is to appreciate all the work that's been done that we're at the number that we're at. >> And we'll continue to work on it. >> Thank you. >> Can I try to clarify that just to I'm
not sure I understood what you meant by corrected for it. Do you mean that um some expenses for fiscal 27 that we would have liked to charge to circuit breaker will in fact be part of our sort of our um the I don't know what to call it the
operating budget or the the allocation or what we're hoping the allocation will be because we already drew that money out of circuit breaker for last year >> right so there's two components to that one you lost the revenue right that would have otherwise been allocated this year that won't come back online till
28, which is why you kind of see this little bit of a wave in that that account line. >> So, the first step of restoring is we got we still got to pay those expenses. They have to come back online because there's not revenue now to um to offset them.
>> And by online, you mean sort of what's on >> online to the operating budget, right? Back onto the operating budget is what I mean to be clear. >> Okay. >> So, that's why you see if you look at that line, it goes down to the 2,968,000. Now it's up to 5,24,
right? There's two components to that. We have less revenue that we can use to offset and those expenses that we moved over one time onto circuit breaker now have to come back onto the operating budget because they're real. Yeah,
>> Mariah, >> thank you. Um and thank you Bella and Susan for this um presentation which I think um provides a lot of important detailed information. Even though as you say it's not a budget, it's a really helpful
um next peeling of the onion to start to understand how the forecast is breaking down um across categories and across multiple years. and it shows the a lot of the significant work that you've been able to do is you've highlighted getting
from um the higher percentages in the outyear down to particularly this next year. Um and I just want to comment um one of the things which maybe I think that Bella and Susan have said we haven't gotten the forecast from the
town but we have gotten the forecast from the town at least at the initial long range forecast and it shows a reduction in the allocation to PSB. So, not only as you see here, it says additional town revenue allocation. It says zero, but in fact, the first number
showed the reduction going down by um I believe it was just under or just over $400,000. Am I correct, Susan? Am I am I misremembering anything? And Bella, does that align with your understanding? >> So, that is that is where it is right
now. Um so, I think >> Well, let me just keep going. Right. >> Y that it's gonna Yes. >> But in a typical year, in a typical year, you would see that the overall revenues and typically you would see the
allocations going to the departments. You know, everyone's heard of Prop 2 and a half and that's the sort of base growth and then there's typically new growth. And so you expect in a typical year you're going to get three maybe three and a half% growth on your budget. And so to have zero is obviously really
unusual, really challenging for for everyone. Um but but I just want to sort of like as we think about three three and a half being sort of typical growth numbers that we might see from a town revenue allocation, what's really exciting is we have yes, we have this
correction year last next year that we've been talking about, but then you see that 28 comes in very close to that and 29 is a little higher. But I guess my point is that when we think about these numbers, it also is in context of a sort of a typical growth that we would see in the budget. And so I'm really
impressed that these numbers to see a number that's estimated at coming in at just over 3 and a half% in one of the years years it really does reflect um really starting to approach I know that the goal that we all have of having a sustainable budget. So, how we can get
there, the more years we can come in close to that sort of more standard um revenue increase, the better we'll be in the long term. So, I just want to highlight that and thank you Susan um for all the work you've done um to continue to get us going in that
direction. Um it's really it's really meaningful in the long run and I appreciate that. >> I can't take credit for all of that. It's been a team effort and certainly I appreciate my my fellow deputies here for digging in with me as well as Bella and uh Z and the rest of the finance
team. They've done Yman's work. It doesn't happen alone. Principles, there's been a lot of collaboration around this. So, >> thank you to the whole team. >> I feel like that's a good note to end on because we do all appreciate the work work that you've put in. Thank you.
It's true there is I mean Susan's the one that gets the numbers to work and so yes thank you um I'm going to run through subcommittee and liaison reports starting with curriculum
uh we are scheduled to meet on January 21st however that happens to be a night of negotiations so um we are looking to find a different date and um getting all the people who are going to uh be a part of that discussion. I mean it we
probably will talk about MTSS where that is and we will also hear from the high school team on the uh suggestions for course uh uh additions and re and um any
uh courses that they're going to take off the course catalog. So that's stay tuned for the date on that. Thank you. diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice um will be cancelled for early January. Um finance and capital
projects, >> we did not last week um and um in part because of all the budget work that's getting done needs to take the um priority. Um and I think our next
meeting is it's mid January. I don't remember the date right now, but um we we will hopefully be coming back to um talk about some of the topics that have come up tonight. For example, the um fee um determinations um for the district,
including the out of district fees, >> government relations, >> we actually met uh December 15th. We met, the subcommittee met. We are getting ready for our legislative um what do we call that forum? >> Yeah, meeting. >> Yeah, meeting with legislators. But that
will happen in February. So, uh Caroline has offered to do a first draft with uh looking at uh the areas the big buckets that we're concerned with and the questions that we might want answered. So, we will be meeting again. Did we set
a date? January. Not yet. Okay. sometime early January so that we can present it to the the whole body, the whole school committee uh before our February date >> negotiations. >> Uh yeah, we had our second meeting with the BEu on December 16th. Uh we're
hearing initial proposals and we'll continue to do that in January. Uh we currently have three meetings scheduled in January with the union. Uh the 13th, the 21st, and the 28th >> policy. Yeah, that's me again. Um so our
December meeting got cancelled at the last minute because of poor management by me. I apologize for that. Um so uh that means that our January meeting uh I expect will be dealing with instructional materials as well as our original plan of talking about fiscal management. Uh but that's still
tentative. >> Um and do we have any liaison reports? >> How about expenditures and revenues? So, um the full committee met this afternoon to talk about um some of the
process around um what the report will look like. And um it appears that um the I think I'm I'm going to capture this accurately. the final writing and the
final voting will not include select board members or school committee members and possibly advisory committee members. There was talk about essentially um all of the townwide positions um not having a hand in that.
And I just I'm not quite sure if it included advisory or not. Um and schools subcommittee is meeting tomorrow and um at 9:00 a.m. um to review to meet with
um Bella and Susan and talk um have some opportunity to talk about the presentation that we just received. >> Excellent. New business. Carolyn, this is I don't know if it's new
business or a little around the town report out that's not a subcommittee. Just wanted to say uh yesterday I attended a nice event um which was a promotion of two of our wonderful police officers in our wonderful police
department. Um the deputy uh sorry the superintendent of police which is the number two position is retiring. um a long-term veteran, Paul Campbell, was promoted to superintendent and a um
longtime Brooklyn resident, mother of four PSB children, former town meeting member. Casey Hatchet was promoted to deputy superintendent, number three position in the department. She's the
first woman to ever hold that position. So that was a nice event to attend and congratulate those officers >> and when >> I think I understand that we do not have the proposed executive session. Is that what I'm to understand?
>> Um I don't think we need one. >> So um we will at this point adjourn. Oh sorry. >> No I'm so sorry. >> Um actually two things for new business. One is um and this is also like a
community information. Mariah and I attended um a mock trial event at the Brooklyn District Court. We served on the jury together. Um it was really interesting this past Tuesday. Um students from uh Wrl and I
think there was one student from Hayes present who participated in the case. Um they the students did an absolutely incredible job. Um, and the the mock trial case was about um a student suing their school district, which I thought was really interesting. Um, and then in
in terms of new business, I wanted to ask whenever it's appropriate if we could consider um sharing more information on the work that's happening around portrait of the learner. >> Noted. Okay. >> Thank you. >> And with that, we will conclude this
school committee meeting. Thank you.