of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you for a very enthusiastic pledge
of allegiance. Um, this meeting is being live streamed by Chelsea Tele Media and posted to the CPS website community members to access and watch. Inerson public participation will be taking place tonight in accordance with the Chelsea school committee public participation policy. Anyone speaking tonight during the public input portion
of our meeting is notified the superintendent's office of the desire to speak provided with these guidelines. Upon request written comments received no later than 12 p.m. on the day of the meeting also be read and made part of the record of the meeting during a second public comment session. Uh so welcome this meeting of ch school
committee. Uh before we start tonight I'd like to just take a moment to remember a longtime chford educator Dennis Hunt who recently passed away. Um Mr. Hunt was a science teacher at McCarthy Middle School for over 30 years and in 1995 was named Massachusetts
biology teacher of the year. But beyond his ability to teach was his ability to spire inspire. For countless students, Mr. Hunt instilled the love of science that stayed with them into high school, college, and beyond. I can say this without hesitation because it was because of Mr. Hunt's enthusiasm enthusiasm for teaching science and his
ability to reach students at all levels that I decided to become a teacher myself. So, if everyone wouldn't mind, I just like to ask everybody to take a moment of silence in honor of Dennis Hunt. >> Thank you. All right. Uh, first order of business is to approve the minutes of our meeting from October 7th.
>> I move that we approve the minutes of the regular school committee meeting of October 7th, 2025. >> Second. >> Second. Okay. Any corrections on the minutes? >> Right. All those in favor? >> I. >> Anybody abstain? >> Abstain. >> Obstation. Okay, great. All right, next
we'll hear from our CHS representatives. >> All right. Um, so school picture retake day is tomorrow for high school students. I thought I would need this, but it came in the mail. It didn't look too bad, so that um there's a senior Halloween dance at the Chups High School
cafeterias on Saturday the 25th at 6 p.m. And the class of 2027 student representatives had their Halloween movie night on October 18th. and term one will be ending on October 31st. >> Uh adding off that, there's a half day
this Thursday. Very excited for that. Um and a great win for the volleyball team. It was a a tough match against Central Catholic. Uh keeping their unbeaten streak, 18-0, winning the MVC title and being first in the state. Uh PSAT was on
Saturday for students. Um the pep rally is next month. Students are very excited and looking forward to this event. and the CHS theater is performing the musical Oklahoma exactly one month from today, which is November 21st. >> Great. Thank you both very much.
>> Can I just ask a question? When does tickets go on sale for Oklahoma? Do you know? >> Uh, I'm not sure. They usually go on sale like the last week before the show. >> Yeah, like one or two weeks before. Sounds good. >> Great. Any other good news? >> No, just good news. We just had our third um visioning session with our um
teacher group and parent group for the Parker building um project which was great and we all just rushed over here from there and then tomorrow night don't forget from 7 to 9 at the Elks is the larger public session. So we'd love to see some new faces and lots of people show up to give their input and learn a
little bit more. >> Great. >> Anybody else have any good news they want to share? Um we're in the process of a town meeting y >> right now and some of us had the all of us had the pleasure of being there last night. It goes into a second session,
right? And some things were approved, >> a couple of school projectments, right? >> Which was really important to us and to everybody sitting here because nobody wants to be rained on while they're in school, right? >> All right. I need a roof. >> We're going to get some new roofs.
>> That's right. Right. And just to add add to that, um um this brought to superintendent's attent attention, but also my one of the side me let us know that the Chson High School baseball team was on the cover of the New England Baseball Journal >> for their state championship last spring. So
>> So thank you to Dean Connover for letting us know that. >> All right. Um anybody here for public comment? >> Okay. >> Wait, we didn't have anyone. >> No. Okay. All right. So we'll move into new business. >> All right. first thing on new business. So, uh this is the time of the year that
we start to hear from our departments and our schools about some of the work that's um taking place and we're opening up our very first department presentation tonight is fine and performing arts. So, we'd welcome up uh Dr. Christy Whittley >> and to hear a little bit about your program. And I see we have a lot of
singers in the room, so I'm sure you've got some entertainment later for us. >> I do. Thank you everyone uh for having me in tonight to represent the fine and performing arts department. My name is Christy Whittley and I appreciate this opportunity to share updates on our department's work this fall and upcoming
events. Tonight I'll be focusing on two main areas. First, our department's current priorities around accessible arts education and continued curriculum development. and second celebrating recent student achievements and
highlighting upcoming events. We'll conclude with a performance by members of our fifth grade Parker Chorus under the direction of Martha Robertson. All right. This fall, our K to2 music educators are engaging in important professional development focused on
accessible arts education. We're working with a firstofits-kind guide written by the leader of the Berkeley College of Music Institute for Accessible Arts Education. This resource offers a comprehensive framework for inclusive arts instruction to support and empower
students of all abilities. In two days on October 23rd, we will have the privilege of hosting the author for a visit with our K to2 music educators to support us in implementing these principles into our music curriculum. This work ensures that all students,
regardless of ability, can fully participate in and benefit from music education. We're also continuing our focus on art curriculum development. As you may recall from previous presentations, the Massachusetts Department of Eleary
Education standards for artistic practice describe the processes and skills students learn to achieve artistic literacy through four domains. creating, presenting, and performing, responding, and connecting. I'm pleased
to report that all K to2 CPS fine and performing arts assessments remain aligned to these domains, and we continue to refine this work. This year, our K to8 visual arts teachers are continuing the pro process of examining and refining our curriculum to focus on
alignment in content areas to ensure coherence across grade levels, development of 21st century skills, integration of new media to keep pace with evolving artistic practices and integration of diverse artists to ensure students learn from varied cultural
perspectives. This is an ongoing process and I want to thank the art team for their efforts as we strive to provide the highest quality programming for our students. And now for my favorite part, celebrating student success and sharing upcoming events in the arts
in visual art. One moment. There we go. Visual art. We have several exciting initiatives underway. Our annual Youth Art Month K to2 exhibit will be hosted once again by the Chumsford Public Library featuring hundreds of pieces of student artwork.
Special thanks to the library for hosting this event each year. We will also be submitting work again to the UMass Low annual high school exhibition, participating in the Memory Project, which creates portraits for children across the world who have faced
challenges and a beautiful way to foster global connections through art. Throughout the year, we'll also be hosting school-based art shows and student work will be featured in the Massachusetts Art Educators Association virtual exhibit. As events roll out through the year, updates will be shared
in the Superintendent S'more. So, keep your eye on those. This is going on its own. So, here we are. >> And I put you back on. I didn't know what slide you were like. >> Perfect timing. So, our theater students are celebrating recent success. Um, here
we go. Last year's musical Beauty and the Beast was a spectacular production, and I'm thrilled to share that it earned significant recognition at the High School Musical Theater Awards, known as the Tammys, as well as the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild Awards in the spring. These achievements reflect the
exceptional talent and dedication of our students and the excellent direction of our theater staff. So now looking ahead, our theater students have an exciting season planned. Starting with Roger and Hammerstein's classic musical Oklahoma. This musical was originally performed on
Broadway in 1943 and was the first to blend comedy, drama, dance, and song where the songs are used to move the plot forward and not just serve as a break from the story. Today, Oklahoma is still a popular production all over the world. And as you see here, we have many
other CHS and middle school theater productions in the works for the year. In music, we have numerous upcoming events and festivals, and you have your list of our concerts uh and art shows coming up. Our students will be participating in the Mass Music
Educators Association Allstate Treble Choir Festival and High School Allstate Festival in Worcester, as well as MMEA Northeast District Junior, Senior, and Trouble Festivals. Many of our ensembles will compete at the Massachusetts Instrumental and Coral Conductors
Association or Micah Festival and our a capella groups will participate in several festivals including the International Championship of High School AC Capella and many more. And all of our events are included on the district website, so keep an eye on
that. I also want to highlight a few special music events and programs from this fall. Our elementary and middle school students will be participating in special performance and concert events this year at the state house and symphony hall as well as performances at
Wooox and Red Sox games that are in the planning stages. Our CHS band chorus and orchestra members are preparing for an exciting Disney performance trip this spring and we've been fortunate to host special guest clinician visits this fall. By the
way, um, Seam Cher Friends of Music is hosting a trivia night this uh, Friday. And if you haven't found your tickets already, they are available through uh, our website. Uh, we have had some amazing clinician visits, including Andrew Hitz, who's a
Jupiter artist and national clinician, who came in to lead a CHS band workshop this week focused on musicianship and performance. And in September, our CHS choirs enjoyed a workshop and performance by OC Times, an internationally recognized barbershop
quartet from Orange County, California. The quartet was in town to headline the annual New England Harmony Brigade, and the special event was organized by John Patton, CHS class of 1983, who was active in our music program and saw an opportunity to introduce Barberhop
Harmony to a new generation of musicians. and it was a really wonderful connection between our programs past and present. All the events and initiatives that I presented today are designed to support students in becoming lifelong participants in and consumers of the
arts. We live in a visually and orally literate society and students lives are increasingly filled with complex images and sounds. Our mission as fine and performing arts educators is to support all of our students in developing the
ability to embrace multiaceted information and experiences as well as to find joy in and through the arts. And with that, it is my pleasure to welcome three of our Parker Chorus students up who will introduce the piece they'll be
performing for you today. So, whoever's speaking can come right up here. Have a seat. There you go. Thank you. Beloved community, my name is Yousef. My name is Yousef. I am honored to stand
with the selected fifth grade course members from Parker Middle School. We're excited to perform for you Tower of Strength. Being in chorus has meant community to me and I've learned the power of my voice. Through singing, I hope to share
the joy and love with everyone. Thank you. Hi, I'm Catherine Dudley and I'm representing Parker Middle School. I am so excited to sing for you tonight and I think we all are. We have been working on this warm-up since one of the first days of school. Being in chorus means
not only we see the best chorus teacher, but we also sing the best songs like Tower of Strength. There's also a really cool song that we perform at our winter concert called Rio Rio Chu, which is in Spanish, and it is really fun to sing in a different language. Thank you.
>> Hi, I am Samira. I am also a proud member of the fifth grade course. We thank you school committee and listeners for your time on music today. Chorus means opportunity. Opportunity is getting a second chance to show who you are in chorus and getting to work with
an awesome chorus teacher. Chorus has taught me what joy is and what passion is. And I hope to share the singing passion. Now we are so excited and grateful to sing Tower of Strength. Thank you. be
could be over here >> bay this way. >> Yeah. face. So, you're going to turn your backs to your parents >> and then grips.
>> Can you back up? >> Okay, you can make another row over here. >> Have you ever had 30 um 30 singers in here before? >> This might be the first the most. >> Okay, I might stand back there.
>> So am I. >> You the awesome music. >> No, no, no. They they just paid me for tonight to come. It was really last minute. Go. >> I am the power of strength within and
without. I am the tower of strength within. I am the tower of strength within and without. I am the tower of strength within. All burdens fall from my shoulders. All
anxiety slips from my mind. All burdens fall from my shoulders. Alliety slips from my mind. I let every shackle be loose. I let every shackle be loose.
Yeah. Yeah. I let every shackle be loose. Every shackle be loose. >> I am a tower of strength within and without. I am a tower of strength within.
I am a tower of strength within and without. I am the tower of strength within. I am the tower of strength within myself. I am the tower from my mind. I am the power of
my shoulders from my mind. I am the power of power. I am the power. I am the sh I am to shadow.
I am shadow. I am shadow pieces. I am shadowless. I am exist. I let every shackle be loosened. I let
every shackle be loose. Yeah. Yeah. I let every shackle be loose. Every shackle be loose. Wow. >> Really good. >> Are they great?
>> Awesome. >> Isn't our coral director great? >> That's what I've heard. Thank you all for the opportunity to come in and share. >> That's well thank you for coming in. That was that was great performance. You know, really appreciate it. >> Anybody have any questions or comments
they'd like to share? >> Uh just don't forget the crew when it comes to all of the shows. We always have this crew in the back that don't always get talked about. >> I only saying that because I'm jaded and my daughter is on crew. So >> Oh, we absolutely could not do it without a full team of cast and crew. >> Absolutely. Right.
>> Um, I just wanted to say I I was really impressed. I have a son at Parker, but he does band, so I don't usually get to hear from the chorus. So, this is a really special treat and um wonderful window of what you all do as a former middle school chorus singer myself.
>> Um, it was really great and heartwarming and wonderful and you guys did an awesome job holding to your own parts while there were all the different parts moving. >> I have a really quick question. You're all in different sections, right? You don't all have chorus >> the same time every day. Have you all
practiced together before tonight? >> No. >> Wonderful. First time you've all been together. >> That's fantastic. >> That's really fantastic. >> Um, I just want to say all of your faces are absolutely beautiful. It was so nice
to feel alive as you were singing that song and uh the song itself >> really good >> was a great choice. A really great choice and thank you so much. Thank you. >> All I have to say is you're the opening
act for department you know presentations. Everybody's got a a big uh big >> Hi. Hi. >> That's right. >> Thank you very much for coming. Thanks. >> Uh, very briefly, I thought students did a wonderful job. Um, it was excellent to hear you. I appreciate you coming out to
the school committee meeting and sharing some of the work that you're doing during the day. As Susan said, it's amazing that you, this is the first time you all performed together. It sounded beautiful. Um, I thought you did a great job and I really appreciate you coming out to show some of the work that you're doing. And as Dennis mentioned, you know, Christy is setting the bar pretty
high for the uh, the presentation. So, we're >> watch. >> All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you guys. >> All right, we'll give him a couple minutes. Couple seconds there. >> Thank you. Yeah,
>> thank you. Really good. >> Oh, Joanna had the sweater on our visiting session. She's also the director of the play and I happen to know because she's now headed over to do a parent orientation for the play. So
>> they already had her meeting today. She's play to this to now a parent meeting. So she's definitely keeping herself very busy outside. >> Take a nap.
>> They were very good. >> They were very good actually. Yeah. >> Like, why did I make it? >> You got a good part. So, >> I like how they set up the three different pieces, too. >> Wow. >> All right, that's it. We can't have another paint.
>> I know, right? >> Can't follow that up. >> All right, but we do have to follow it up. So, u next up are uh school committee and superintendent goals. >> Yes. So, in your packet in your packet tonight are the um >> Well, it depends on what we make as goals. >> What's that?
>> We can make a single. I just said it's a little less musical this next. >> It is a little less. >> We could change the goals around and really >> I can't say I can't sing. So, uh, so that's going to have to be a P minus, Maria, if I'm required to sing. Um, but no, so I we did update the um the school
committee goal. So, we actually just used the red lining. Uh, and then right be uh below it, we accepted the changes just so you could um see them. But um we didn't have any original revisions to um my proposed goals at the last meeting and would just present these for
discussion. Um I know Diana you had kind of brought up some of the work with Maria on the um the school committee goal. Just want to make sure we captured your um you know kind of what you were thinking and um >> if these work Go ahead. Sorry.
>> Sorry. Just to respond to your your point from my perspective. I think the shifts um I appreciate that the shifts were made and I think they capture um the spirit of what I was hoping they could do. Just basically give a little bit more concrete teeth to what that goal was saying.
>> Great. Okay. Any other thoughts on the school committee goals first of all? Any >> I think we're good. >> Maria, you good? >> Yeah, I am. I'm good with it. >> All right. All right. If everybody's good with those, then I will take a motion to
approve our goals for the 2526 school year. >> Okay. I move that we approve the Chumsford School Committee goals for 2526 school year. >> Seconded. >> Okay, we have a motion second. Any other questions? All those in favor?
>> I. >> Okay, moving on to the superintendent goals. Uh any changes in those or those stay the same? They didn't >> look for the red lines. >> No, we we didn't have any changes. >> Okay. All right. So, any questions or concerns with the superintendent's
goals? >> Okay. We'll take a motion on those. >> All right. I move that we approve the superintendent goals for 20 2025 2026 school year as presented. >> Second. Okay. >> Right. All those in favor? I >> 5 Z.
>> We'll get those posted up to the website tomorrow and then we'll start the um tracking mechanism. Great. All right. Um, next is is it the delegate vote? >> So, yeah, we went through the different um items at the last school committee meeting as far as positions on things
are concerned, >> but um we're just looking to um see if we have someone who could represent us that Friday afternoon as the the voting delegate. >> Okay. Is anybody going to be there Friday afternoon? I know I'm not going to be there Friday afternoon. I don't know if anybody else is going to be there Friday afternoon. >> It's crazy the Friday afternoon. I'm No,
I'm not. I'm not. I really don't want to be. >> Do you want to be a delegate on paper and then >> I don't want to be there that long. >> Yeah. >> I can't stay this year. I did it last year but I am unable to stay past like
like 1:30 that day and I think it's at 3. >> It's 3:15. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And I've made you know I've made this comment before like we the votes I know it's important to state where we mean and vote for MASS things. They don't really do anything. I mean
>> I'm kind of neless about this but like I'm just saying I don't know I'm not saying no >> is there a mechanism by which I know it will not necessarily count as a vote by by which we could share with those who will be present what our endorsements
are in terms of the things that we voted on at our last meeting if somebody can't be present in the day of >> I can send an email to like our division chair you know just let them know that if you want do that. Sure. >> I I think it would be a nice gesture to show that we have talked about these things. It might also be a good
opportunity to give feedback that by holding this y >> at 3:15 on a Friday, it may be by design that they are hoping to have fewer people and less debate. But I can say that from my experience doing it last year, that was not the
impact. It just led to a lot of people who are very unhappy to be there and felt dragged into it. I feel like if they move if they want to make this an important aspect of the of the convening, then it should be given a
prioritized spot on one of the full days. >> Yeah, I can do that. I'll I'll I'll send an email to the division chair and let him know both what our votes would be. And then also the fact that, you know, >> 3:15 on a Friday probably isn't the best time to >> Yeah, >> I felt the same thing the year I did it.
People were clamoring to just end debate and leave the session. >> They didn't get the response I think it deserved. >> It had been the day before, the middle of the day. I want to truly apologize but every year on the Friday it falls on
a conference that I have to attend for my own things. So we all have things >> to return. >> It's really awful. >> Okay. >> All right. Let's go with that then. All right. We won't have a formal delegate but I will send an email letting them know how we voted on the resolutions and then also expressing
>> maybe a desire to have it a little earlier in the week. Okay. >> Thank you, Dennis. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. No problem. >> All right. Uh, next up is the middle school CTE exploration policy. >> Okay. >> Yes. So, we put this on the agenda at the last meeting as for kind of
discussion purposes. Again, this was the um draft policy that we worked on with um uh Denise Pigeon from Nova Tech around uh sending schools requirements um with the new uh regulations and um so nothing has changed. I put it back on uh
for this one for actual um action. So, if members have any um you know, questions or would like to talk, we certainly can. But tonight, we're actually hoping for um action to approve this new policy. And then once it's approved, we'll submit it to MASC and they'll put it up on the website for us.
Um all districts across the state sending districts are required to have a um new middle school CTE exploration policy. I believe this is going to be pretty boilerplate. Um most districts have been sharing what they've been writing, so it's pretty consistent um district to district. The only thing that's changing are the type of chapter
74 programs that they're um sending school uh I'm sorry they're receiving school actually offers. So um this is something after we um put it into effect obviously we can go back and revisit in the future if we had to. I believe this is going to um uh comply with the
regulations that we're required to uh submit. Um and after you approve again we'll get it up on the website but I'll also submit it to Desessie and they'll um give it their blessing as well. Okay. John, any questions because you weren't here policies on it? >> Uh, no. I did get to review it before I
came in and then I reviewed it earlier before the meeting. So, um, I definitely understand it. We're good. >> Okay. Anybody else? Any questions? >> All right. If not, then we can get a vote. >> I make a motion that we approve the middle school career and technical
education uh, policy as presented. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Right. Dana doing great. All right. All those in favor? >> I I >> 5 Z. >> Uh, next up is just the Park Middle
School. >> Yep. So, this is just a reminder that tomorrow night, I know Linda mentioned it earlier, we're going to be hosting our first of three um community visions visioning sessions for the Parker Middle School project. These are open to the public. Um staff, students, parents, um kids, interested community members um
can come and hear a little bit about the um project. Tomorrow is going to be um largely bringing everyone up to speed with what's happened over the last couple of years to get us to this point. Talking about the different grade level configurations we're considering, talking a little bit about the size of the different options, the locations
that are being considered. We have left field on as our um project manager. We have AI3 on as our designer. So, we're going to get to meet them, um, hear a little bit about what's been happening in the internal visioning sessions the last, um, 3 weeks, and then just start to have an initial conversation with the
community about what they, um, would like to see in a new, uh, middle school project. They're also going to lay out the timeline for the project, which we're really kind of getting right into. Um, so I think tomorrow will be a great day if, um, you want to just get reaclimated with the process. You may have heard about it, haven't been to and
tuned if you're a community member, but um I'm going to guess the session is going to run about an hour and a half. It's going to be at the Chel Street Elks on Littleton Road, so easy to get into. Good parking. Um and I also just on the agenda listed the dates for the next two. Um the second session is going to be on November 20th and the third
session is going to be on December 17th, all at 7 o'clock, all at the Cheltshire Elks. and we're going to gradually kind of build on um some of the um foundational elements we've been talking about in the internal sessions and ultimately December is kind of a big month for us because we're going to be trying to refine our choices a little
bit for the first submission um to the MSBA which is due in January. So again, we're going to cover the timeline tomorrow night. Um all are welcomed. Um hopefully it'll be a good event. Chel media is going to record it for us. will not be broadcast live, but it'll be recorded and we'll be able to get it up
on our website and um and play on a loop so people in town can watch it as well. So again, just really forformational purposes. Wanted to get that out there. >> So it's going to be on our website. >> Well, it'll be it'll be on our a link off of our website, but it will also be on Chelford Teleias. Yes.
>> And they'll be playing it on one of their uh >> Okay. >> One of their feeds. >> Wonderful. >> Yeah. >> And just also the just mention we there is a website dedicated just to the park. do um yep. In the newsletter this past week, Jenny put a little QR code that you can um click to get right to the
website. You can also just go to the Chelsea public schools website and hit the Parker uh school site and it brings it right to you. And all of our different information for the new building project is going to be right there. Links to the different uh school building committee meetings and the different actions we've taken are all going to be right there in that one location.
>> That's terrific. >> Yep. >> All right. So, hopefully we see a lot of people out there. >> I'm hoping. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yep. Tomorrow night at um 7 o'clock. Great. Um, next item on the agenda six is um Joanna is going to share the first quarter financial reports and overview with us. >> Okay.
>> Thanks. >> Thank you. In your packet tonight is um a memo uh talking about the fiscal 2026 budget, the uh actual year-to- date budget
report, a grant and revolving fund summary, and the uh student activity account balances for the high school and both middle schools. So, this year's budget is $75,650,000. And I'm going to just highlight some of
the variances that um have emerged just through the first quarter. So through the end of September. Um the classroom teacher category which is the largest of our budget approximately 27
million. We are favorable by $434,000. As a reminder, we budgeted for the um collective bargaining and the cost of living adjustments in this category of 1.6 million. And all the contracts are
settled and this committee approved budget transfers for budget transfers moving dollars out of this one account and into the labor accounts where um the costs are recorded. And this category is still favorable by $61,689.
So later in the year we'll this money um has an opportunity to be reallocated to something else. Also in this category was the um salary reserve for lane changes or that's when a teacher achieves a higher degree and
uh this committee already approved the budget transfer for those lane changes of 111,000 to the different labor accounts and this account still has a favorable balance of $16,597. The other reason we're favorable is
because we have when we budget a vacancy, we budget it at master step three. And then when someone gets hired, if they come in less than that on the uh salary grid, it would be a favorable variance. And if they come in higher, that's mainly an internal transfer. Um
it would be unfavorable. But when you add all those together, we're favorable by about 186,000. And then the other contributing factor to the favorable variances are um approved unpaid leave of absence. The
dollar amount is pretty low at this point of the fiscal year, but um that will likely increase as the months go on. Um the next favorable variance is in the specialist teachers. So that's like ELLL,
um, special ed, they are favorable by 19,000 at this point of the fiscal year for similar reasons as described with the general ed teachers. If you go to page 8 and nine, we're favorable in the uh, library media
center category by 115,000. And the main reason for this is um we have some people in this category who are getting less than what was budgeted and um the timing of filling some of the
positions in this category. We're also favorable in the psychological services category by 71,000. And as you may remember, we hired three new school psychologists and collectively that category will be
favorable by that amount. The uh employee separation cost is favorable and will remain favorable um by about 49,000. This is when a teacher um retires and they get the incentive
and they can get that incentive. We budget for it in July, which is this fiscal year, but we paid them out in June, which was last fiscal year, because we had some favorable variances last year. So, that money will also be
available to come to the committee for reallocation. And then special ed tuitions, um just a reminder, we budget all of the special ed tuitions. Uh well, we pay for all the special ed tuitions out of this account
in the local budget and then we transfer some of the costs to the circuit breaker revolving fund. So the total amount we budget for special ed tuitions is $7.3 million
and we have um paid and encumbered 4.4 4 million through September. And then Amy will still um be encumbering uh more tuitions
uh in the next coming months, but we also prepaid fiscal 26 tuitions last year, which we um that was about $1.83 million. So if you look at kind of the second
chart that kind of gives us a current outlook of our special ed tuitions and we are expecting to be favorable um pretty much by that prepayment amount
the 1.883 at 883 million. And then um we will we received an extra $2 like $80,000 of circuit breaker funds in July of this year because the
um they increased the amount that transportation was reimbursed. was originally reimbursed at 41% and they upped it to the 75%. So we are predicting to be favorable in this category by the prepayment amount
and then a little bit of that extra 280,000 that we received in circuit breaker. I just ask a question. The the money we in to meeting they transferred back budget transfer back. >> Where does this figure into this?
>> It it I tried to do a little footnote. >> Okay, >> it does figure into this. >> So um basically it the it's kind of the footnote on the bottom of page two. We had budgeted the offset to for
circuit breaker to be 3.557 million. Um if we hadn't have gotten the town meeting to reallocate the free cash back to us, that number wouldn't we wouldn't
have been able to achieve that number because the balance wouldn't have been there. We would have had to dip into other reserves. But since they voted that back to us and since we received the extra 280,
um, we're really going to be up at 3872891. >> Okay. So, it's already baked in that. >> It's already baked in, >> right? And then the last part of the memo is just a um little reminder of what's going on with our
school choice revolving fund because at one point we used to fund special ed tuitions out of here. We are not anymore. We're funding the onetoone computer initiative. So that is just showing you know our balance of 3.2 2 million and then we have um we're going
to have three charges to that for the one to one computers and we're expecting to end the balance at about 3 million. So any questions on the local operating budget of 75.65
million? >> No. >> I just want to say two things. one. I was really pleased yesterday that nobody asked questions about the 408963 because I found it confusing when it was
first presented. So, I think we were clear enough on what it was and that was really good. And the other thing I want to say is Joanna, I really um appreciate that you go to all our town meetings. >> Oh, >> and that you know you No, because
>> she really likes them though. she loves it, but it's but um probably not you wouldn't go that far, but it really does make a huge difference. Um, and so I I want you to know I really truly appreciate that and it just really shows to me and I think
to everybody um that you know you're an integral part of this whole entire process for this district and where we are financially is in large part due to everything that happens in that department. So thank you.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Anything else on the local budget? >> Okay. do the >> the next um pages are the grant and revolving fund summary. So, this has been updated for the 2026 grants and
then some of the multi-year grants that we finished have moved off of the report and then um the grant or the revolving funds are on the last page. So up at the top are the multi-year carryover grants that we're still have money on that
we're spending such as in title one and the special eda and then the second section are the newly awarded grants just this summer um mostly the entitlement grants and then the lower section is some of
the um private grants and circuit breaker things like And then the last page is um just all the revolving funds, school nutrition, athletics, um child care,
transportation, that >> any questions on these? >> I I do have one question. Um I noticed that innovation pathways fill year 26 was listed but shown as zero dollars. Do you could you explain what that means?
>> Yep. So, we had uh it wasn't approved by July or by September 30th and but it was approved like October 2nd. So, I wanted to kind of put it out there to say it's coming and then in the next report uh we'll show the $50,000 that it's coming.
>> That's great. I It's much better than what I wondered which was did we get awarded zero dollars for that? So, >> it's placeholder. >> Any other questions >> in that light? It looks like all the federal stuff is being funded. >> Yes. >> Which is great.
>> Yes. >> Yeah. >> All right. Uh, everybody else good on that? Right. And then forget the >> Yep. And then this is just the student activity accounts. So for all the clubs and um sports. So the high school
balance is about 182,000. The McCarthy is 32,000 and the Parker is 73,000 73,000. And then there's all the clubs and teams in their balance.
Any questions on the activity funds? Great. Do we usually vote to just accept this as a report as a report of progress? >> Okay. I move that we accept um accept Yep. >> the report um that was just presented to
us on our financial standing the first quarter's uh financial report for fiscal year 2026 as presented. >> Seconded. >> Good motion. All right. Uh any other questions? All right. All those in favor?
>> I have zero. >> Thank you, Joan. >> Thank you, Joanna, for doing that. >> Thank you, Joan. >> Thank you. Uh next up we're going to switch into I'm going to do a little bit out of order. So we're going to switch into the capital planning and uh we're going to talk about next year's capital plan work which is going to be getting underway
very soon. But I just wanted to um give you a quick little update and share some pictures of a couple of the final projects uh that happen this spring just for the viewing audience that maybe didn't get a chance to come out to see some of the schools. So this past summer, one of the big focus areas for us was uh building out the secure
entryways at the uh five um five remaining schools. So this is at at Bay. On the far left picture, you can just kind of see what the um entryway used to look like. Um and you can see that the double um kind of glass windows closest
um to the wall near the office were rem removed. And uh basically that's where we built the secure entryway. In the middle uh picture, you can see that it actually blends in quite well um to the building. And the far right picture is just a view if you actually came in from the outside of the building. So you come
into that little area, you check in on the right with the iPad. Um you can correspond with the office and then if you get um you know clearance to get into the building, uh they uh press and allow you in. Oftentimes people are just actually dropping off stuff for the kids if they forgot like a book or lunch or
something like that. So most of the schools have like a little shelf. You can see here they have like a little bucket that you can just leave stuff in and it really just minimizes the amount of traffic coming in and out of the buildings. Um so that's worked um worked very well for us. While we're over at Bay um each summer we've been trying to
update one of the school libraries. Um we had done Harrington last summer. So this summer was Bay Stern. Um so you can see that um they got completely renovated. um new uh flooring, um lighting was upgraded, um bookshelves,
furniture on the right was all added. It's modular. It's very movable stuff. The kids really like it. There's little reading nooks and uh so that project went over um very well. Bill um worked with one of our u vendors on that. We'll be looking to do another elementary
school this coming summer. Um at Bayam also um might seem like a small thing but it's a big thing to the community that utilizes the uh school the basketball hoops were all um u completely changed out in the building and these are the ones that go up and down. So for like for the smaller
children uh child basketball we can lower now and um raise and lower the hoops automatically. So that's a big thing for basketball folks. Um this is the new center entryway. This is a little bit of a different design because um center had the double doors outside that you ring in to get into the
building. And uh here at the very top of the landing uh we constructed the wall which you see in the middle um uh screen. You're seeing the inside of the school, not the outside of the school, but you basically come up um check into the office on the left uh to present and if you're authorized to go in uh they
would release and and allow you into the building. This has worked um very well at this school. When we get to South Row, it was very similar because they already had the double exterior doors. We had to construct a hallway in the inside. Uh center also got the uh the new basketball hoops which um go up and
down. Um Harrington Elementary School almost um textbook like biome. The the buildings are very similar in size. So the far left picture again there was no vestibule. The middle picture how it was built in and then on the far right is when you enter from the street. Um again that's worked out very well. Um,
Harrington had their they the only elementary school we have with the hardwood uh floor, which is highly desirable, but they had the gym floor completely redone this summer and uh refinished with the uh lines and the logo. Uh came out very nice. And then Harrington also got the hoops that
automatically adjust up and down. Um Southro Elementary School, again, this was a completely different revamp. Um so you come in on the far left was the old picture. We actually took down that inner doorway um just to free up some space. So in the middle picture when you're coming in off the street,
you uh check in on the left um when you're granted access to the building um they buzz you in and you're able to go in. Um so that has worked out at South Row as well. And South Row you have the two left pictures with the old hoops, two right pictures of the hoops that go up and down. Oh, actually I said they
were the only school with the hardwood floor, but Southro apparently has one, too. >> They like it over there, too. Um, Park Barker Middle School again, very similar setup to Harrington and Baym with a far left. Uh, two windows were removed and the new entryway was installed there.
Um, that has come out very well. And you, this is the one has on the left the bookshelf. You can see where the parents can just drop stuff off for kids. But again, it just cuts down on traffic. Um, at the high school, this is really just more cosmetic. On the far left, you can see all the red um, kind of awnings and
um, metal work had just deteriorated and really faded over the years. Um, so all of the um exterior red metal of the school was repainted this past summer and it really pops if you uh if you drive by. Um, a lot of it even had like the um the under layers was starting to
show through so you had like different colors and things. So the high school u paint job on all the metal came out really nice. That's the picture on the far right. It honestly doesn't even do it justice when you pull up to the school. It really again it pops. at the high school. They completely
gutted and redid the the wood shop down in the um in the basement of the building. Um this is kind of wood shop um tech lab, tech room. Um at this point um they still have all the woodworking equipment, but they also integrate added some additional um pieces of equipment
as well as new furnishings for the uh staff and students and that's been very um very wellreceived. Um not to put you on the spot, do either one of you guys have a class down that way? >> Yeah, I take wood shop. >> Oh, you do? >> Yeah. That's really nice. You like the new room? >> It's super cool compared to last year.
Everything's like brand new. It's like a completely different room. >> Cool. >> Yeah. >> Very good. >> Yeah. I took it last year, so I didn't get this cool new room. >> Well, I'm glad one of you could enjoy it. >> Uh it did it did actually come out really nice. And that was that's just a
little overview just to again because we didn't get a chance to see all of those different sites just to um to show them to you. So then if we start shifting into uh fiscal 27 um it's hard to believe we're already starting to talk about fiscal 27 but our capital projects
for tonight's purposes. I really just wanted to kind of give you the list to show you that what I'm kind of starting to work from. We're not asking for any action from you tonight on this but um we have a rolling five-year capital plan at the school department that actually was a 10-year capital plan. Originally we worked with Doran Whittier on but
we're already five years into it. So we're in the last five years of the plan. DPW also has a um kind of a project list with some of the bigger items that we didn't have on ours like the boilers and roofs, things along those lines. I've integrated them all into this document that you have before
you. And then I've gone through it and I've just made some notes uh colorcoded things uh by fiscal year and um what ultimately you'll be removing from the list. And you can see we've actually done a tremendous amount of work over the course of this past um year, year and a half. U but say one example was
the top line at the high school. We had wanted to renovate the art classrooms and so that had been on as a capital project uh but it just didn't get funded because of all the different competing priorities. So that was something it did take us two three years to do. But with onetime school department money, we were able to actually complete that over the
last two summers. So like that's a project that'll be removed. And then I know we've talked about this previously when we do some of that one-time um use of our funding for these projects. It just allows us to get further down the capital plan list. Um, I'm not going to read every single one to you, but there's a bunch on here that are like
roof related. Obviously, last night at town meeting, town meeting approved another $2 and half million dollars for the McCarthy roof. So, that's the back section is going to get completed next summer. The south row roof qualified for an MSBA grant that we applied for. That's almost a $4 million roof that
about $2 million is going to be paid for by the state, uh 2 million by the town, and you can kind of go right down the uh the list. So all the things that are, you know, basically removed um will come off. And again, I I think we did some considerable work over the course of this last year, year and a half. Um
you'll see uh notes to defer um several projects. Most of those deferrals are related to Parker just because we're we're doing all the safety life uh life system uh type work, but any of the cosmetic aesthetic type stuff, we're waiting on the uh the new building uh
project. And then I actually for tonight's purposes I just sorted the rest of the list by school because it used to be sorted by fiscal year so you could actually kind of see what was coming up. But for today's purpose if you just happen to go to a school I wanted you to be able to see what was on the list. And then internally we're working this week with um Christine
Clancy and the group over at DPW to kind of come up with a recommended joint list on projects for you to consider and for ultimately the capital planning committee to consider. Um there are some big items um you know that we're we're talking about. we've been able to do obviously like boilers has been
significant. We do have a series of roofs that are coming up and the the pricing on the roofs is just much more significant than I think we had um thought about. Um internally uh just as a little flag just to let you know um this past summer we did that uh Bill
Silver and the tech group did the new clock system uh that they piloted over at Harrington that went um very well. People seem to be very happy with that. that it was an integrated clock and intercom system in the school. Um his group is able to do uh on their own
basically probably a school a summer. Um what we did talk about this morning was um possibly even having a vendor help a lot of it's the pulling of the cable. So having a vendor help do some of the cable polls at one of the other schools so we could at least get two schools done next summer. Um one of the schools
we know we want to do is South Row because at South Row the exterior roof is being replaced on the inside of the building. the acoustic um ceiling is going to be replaced with like a drop ceiling like we have here. So, if we're already opening up the ceiling, it's a
perfect time to do all the poles um of the cabling. So, we're looking at South Row and we're looking at one other elementary school likely Bay because we know the Bay and the Harrington are the same uh basically building and we know what what it took to do the Harrington this past summer. So, it would make sense to pop over to Bay next summer.
So, we'll likely do re or the recommendation will be to you to do um South Row and then um buy them, but we're going to refine some of the pricing on that. Um the other issue that you're going to see on here, which kind of jumped out to me as just a huge number, is most of the buildings were
recommended for new intrusion or security systems, and they're running about a half a million dollars a piece. And when we were talking with Bill, um, again, that was before we started doing, uh, some of the IT work with the control access and everything because you would have had to have gone to every, you
know, door, every access point, wire it, put the contacts on it, everything. So, it was pretty significant. We've already done a significant amount of stuff with that on our own. So, we're going through now to kind of see exactly what remains to be done. Um, oftentimes like the security panel when you walk into the buildings might need to be updated. We
might need to add some additional sensors um on the first floors of the buildings, but we're revising that number. It's not going to be a half million dollars per school, but I just don't know exactly when those final numbers are going to come in, but um that's like a big thing that is on the on the horizon. Um so over the course of
this week, early next week, we'll work with DPW to put together that list. The next time we meet, we'll share kind of a recommend recommended list with you. We can talk about that and ultimately in November need to kind of uh finalize and figure out what we want to request. Um
ballpark parameters. The town has typically been funding about $6 million of capital a year. Approximately half has been school related, half has been uh town department related just based on our sizes. Um you know some of our projects again are just significant like you know the the McCarthy roof. Uh even
last night we got the extra 2.5 but we had already um allocated 1.2. So just to do from the back um you know we go into the gym after have to go down the ramp the um cafeteria the main gym the small
gym the modular classrooms it's $3.7 million so that's a big number just for that we still have to do the front part of McCarthy roof so when we do like you know it might take a couple years even to be able to fund some of these roof projects we may have to wait and uh see
if we have a once you hit 28 years you're potentially eligible for MSBA funing and then MSBA would fund um you know half the roof. So we may be in a situation also of just because there's so many of them they're going to be coming figuring out if someone you know is something we can keep operable um you
know patch for a year to kind of get that extra year of life to then be able to get say half off if we did the if we did the roof. So this is what internally we're working on. I just at least wanted to give you the list to kind of show you um you know documentation of some of the the work we did which I think um I think
we should all be happy with but um just know that we are kind of finalizing this over the next week or two in the next time we meet. We'll continue talking about this. Any questions? Um I'm curious. Uh I see that there is
there are a lot of items around code compliant handicapped accessible cabinets, countertops, shelving and sinks. >> Um I know and it looks like those are on this spread out over a few years as as an imagined pace of doing that and they
are pretty significant costwise. I'm curious if any of I know sometimes you make certain upgrades and it triggers the requirement that you make certain ADA accessible upgrades. Are any of these
requirements versus things that we would like to do in order to be more inclusive and accessible? >> Yeah, they're not requirements at this point. And so when we did the 10-year capital plan with Doran Whittier, um they prioritized and helped us um kind of sequence when things would need to be
done. So there were items that they identified that were in like the immediate to threeyear time frame that had to be funded. Those were a lot of like real code issues. Um life safety system upgrades that were necessary um significant had to be done immediately. We did those. Then they had some
short-term, you know, three to five year projects that they recommended be done. They had some medium-term projects, you know, six to eight years be done. And then they had an eightyear, 8 to 10 year, they call long range window, things that, you know, you'd be nice to do if you had funding. Um, they weren't overly pressing. And that's the category
that these all fell into. Um, we're just kind of at the 8 to 10 year point of the plan. >> So, I personally don't see us um advancing those projects just because um again, there's nothing in the buildings that are happening that trigger them. Um
we, you know, do keep like the we talked about this today actually like the functioning um water in the classrooms, things like that. Those are upgraded if something were to to fail. Um but this was originally thought about actually like pulling out all of the existing casework in classrooms and putting in
new casework. I just don't think given all the other demands that we're going to have that that's going to rise to the level of um it's more of like a want than a need. Yep. Um, and at this point, again, there's nothing requiring it to be done. Um, it's basically, um, McCarthy could potentially, you
know, again, this wasn't even one of the schools that was targeted, but McCarthy could potentially get close, but it's still not going to trigger it with all the roof work and things like that because you got to figure out by the time we're done with that roof, it could be nearing, you know, 8 to9 million of just roof work at that particular
school. And you have to take a look at the assessed value of the property. there's a whole bunch of different things to be done, but the elementary schools aren't going to be triggered by it. >> I was specifically thinking about McCarthy, knowing all the work that we've been doing on the roof. Um, >> knowing that we're deferring a lot of that stuff at Parker for obvious
reasons. Um, >> I was I had McCarthy in mind because I was like, that's the other school we're investing quite a bit of money in around. >> Yeah, I still I mean, the last we looked, McCarthy still was not going to trigger it, but um if there was a school that was even going to get close, um, it'd be McCarthy.
>> Okay. Uh but that certainly is on our radar. Um what I would say is if you read through these and there's if you have like a question about something you don't fully know what something is or you want me to do a little bit more um detail, please let me know. I'm happy to do that. We're also trying to like
refine some of the pricing for some of these projects just because even something that we thought two or three years ago we wanted to do might be much more expensive now. Um so we want to just make sure if we do an ask of the capital committee, we have good pricing behind it. Um,
the other thing to bear in mind, these projects, even if they are funded in the spring, would likely not be accomplished until the summer of 27 because by the time you get your funding, you get your stuff together, you're looking at 27. This coming summer is going to be an
incredibly busy uh summer for us. So, we already mentioned South Row, interior roof, exterior roof. Um so throw actually there was a little handicapped um accessibility code thing that was triggered with two of the bathrooms over there. So we actually have to upgrade two of the adult bathrooms um at that
building. So that's going to be happening. Last night town meeting approved the switch gear, the electric switch gear being updated. That's another significant thing at South Row. Um the roof at McCarthy is going to be significant. So there's a bunch of major projects. Um on top of those, we also have three elevators that are being
installed this summer. Uh McCarthy has an elevator. Um Westlands has an elevator and high school. The high school elevator is going into what's that? >> We have so many elevators in this town. >> A lot of elevators. >> And did we find elevator old? >> Unfortunately, we have one per building. Yeah.
>> So if the one elevator, >> yeah, you're in trouble. >> But um again, this is I just wanted to kind of share this with you as a starting point. We'll keep working on this over the next couple of weeks, but um >> that's kind of where we're at so far. I was I was going to ask you the switch gear money that we was approved
yesterday that targeted to a particular school. >> South Row. Okay. >> Yeah. Uh because there's a significant amount of electrical that's going to be done with the panels. We got to remove the old solar panels, put new solar panels on, it all has to be tied in. So, um Christine was thinking this summer if
we're doing all those projects over there anyway, we may as well make sure that the electric system can um take everything. So, no, that was specific for >> Okay. because I see it's on the other schools too and it's on other schools. >> McCarthy this past summer. Yeah. So McCarthy was done. Um and that went very
well. Um next one is South Row again because of the roof project. So that's one pro again it's just a funding issue and also just like a manpower issue. We'll probably end up doing like one a year. I don't see that being like you know doing four or five at the same time. But um the other thing I thought
Christine did a very nice job last night just explaining that you know it's not adding completely new um uh electric to the schools. It's basically just changing out the panel that's there to accept all the power. Everything is still old in these buildings. You know we're talking about the new Parker
school building but the rest of the stock is still aging and you know we we're running into potential problems with this stuff. We're trying to keep it alive for as long as we can, but um you do need to make these investments in the older buildings to make sure they do stay functioning. >> All right. Anybody else? Thank you for
sharing those pictures, by the way. >> Yeah. No, you're working. It's great to see you. It's all done. We saw it kind of process >> to see it with the car, you know, >> it's gone up. It's gone over very well. And I can say as a as a parent at two of these schools and a visitor at a third, I um I've really noticed they've been
they've seem to be really seamless in terms of how they're being used. And um I feel like I get a very consistent experience from one school to the next. And you know, there's other people like me who are in different schools throughout their day. So I think it's nice that there's a real kind of unified
approach now at all of our schools, at least except for the Westlands. >> Right. Weird question. Were the outdoor in the bay? Were the outdoor basketball hoops replaced, too? >> The PTO did that. >> Okay. >> Uh, >> they look great. Yeah, >> somebody did it. I think >> No, it's Do they call themselves a PTO
or something else? >> No, it's the um >> BSA. >> BSA. The BSA paid for them. >> Yeah, that's cool. >> So, u And again, so if you drive through the bay, like the parking lot's in tough shape over there. Um that's one of the project that's on the capital plan through the town for next year. But the
poles um they actually installed because they're installed on the grass. So we're still going to be able to pave like right up to them. So almost pave like a new basketball court for them. We didn't want them to have to wait another year to get the new hoops. They do look very nice. >> They look good. Y >> BSA paid for those.
>> Right. >> Uh next item, item number eight is the personnel report. Um just a list of your personnel transactions for the month of September. uh some new hiring again, a few resignations, and um a couple of retirements that became effective in September.
>> I have a quick question. I know somebody who is was recently hired as a whose name is not on here, as a uh I don't know exactly what the title is, but through title one funds, I believe, supporting students who need
kind of pull out support at Harrington School. I I see that that's not on here. Is that because it is a technically a consulting role rather than a hireer in the district or like I don't see any of the because I know there's several people who are working in that position. >> Yeah. Um let me find out. They're
interventionists that we hire through the the grant programs. Um I remember seeing some of the reports previously. >> I just don't know what their start I don't know who the person is and what their start date. >> The one I'm thinking of her first date was was considered an October 1 start date and so I didn't see this. I know
that she mentioned there were several others and I didn't remember anecdotally having seen them. So I wasn't sure if they were hired as consultants or if they were like considered hires. >> No, they they are hires. They >> Yeah. So we hired We'll have to just loop back with HR. We hired I think 17
>> and um they are part-time employees >> and I'd have to go back and look at old reports to see if we showed the interventionists on like the October reports. Yeah, I might just be forgetting it, but I I knew that that was happening and I think it's great, but I just was curious why I wasn't on
>> We'll find out for you and I'll shoot you an email even just to confirm. Um, if they didn't start until October, they wouldn't have been on the September report anyway. They would have come out on the October report. We were always a month behind on the reporting. So, this is technically the se the September hires.
>> I just noted some October dates here, >> but they may have been hired prior, just didn't start till those dates. So, it could be >> I will find I will find out for you, but um and again, we very well may not list the part-time people either. So, let me confirm and I'll shoot you an email.
>> Sure. Yeah. I was just curious. I guess part of the reason I'm asking is because I I guess I was just curious, you know, hearing somebody I knew got hired for that was my first hearing about that role. I know only title one schools are eligible, but I was curious what exactly the role of the interventionists is. Um
and you know what that looks like. It's um I know it's a little different than our other um curriculum support type roles. So, >> but is it different? I mean, we've had part-time math interventionists who don't share the same role as the big
title interventionist. So, maybe they're called something different. Are they just called tutors? >> That's what I was I was wondering. I was kind of wondering >> because we've had people for years who come in in elementary schools and and you know take um individual students for short bits of time to tutor in math and
things like that. I don't know what their titles are. >> Yeah, we have interventionists. We have tutors, but we have interventionists that co that hired through the title one grant. >> Right. And we have tutors. So we don't always I mean it's not >> we have some tutors on the on the local
budget. The interventionists are typically just to keep the job titles separate. They're on the grants. Um I just honestly don't recall if they're on the reports or not, but I'll I'll find out. Uh but this isn't like a new thing. This we've had these roles for um for quite some time. >> Yeah, it was honestly like I said because I knew somebody who was hired
for it. It was my first time because it's at a school that I am not as intimately aware of. So I wasn't, you know, in the loop with him. >> Yeah, I'll find out for you. >> Other questions? Maria, >> on these interventionists, were we able to fill other positions? We're close. >> We're close. We >> close. Okay, good.
>> Is a good number. We typically have anywhere between 17 and like >> That's good. >> 20 21ish. >> Good. Cuz that was a problem. >> Yeah, >> that's great. >> Anything else on personnel? >> All right. I guess we do have a field trip there. >> Yeah, we had a field trip come in. My goodness. Um
>> to make a motion. >> We have a motion coming. So, this was the Chelsea High School uh senior class banquet. Um news to me. Um the Westwood Regency is closing. Yes, >> I just saw that officially announced.
>> Closing for permanent permanently >> on the 18th of December. >> Closing it, tearing it down, putting in new >> apartments. >> Apartments. >> Really? >> Yeah. So, that was the the previous venue for the banquet. So, the senior class went to look at different um
venues or banquet halls and they have selected Alpine Grove, which is in um Hollis, New Hampshire. >> Here comes New Hampshire again. >> In New Hampshire, I know. So they're um they're looking to uh to have their banquet there on June 5th. >> Okay. >> So they would request permission for that.
>> I move that we approve the Chsford High School 2026 senior class banquet at Alpine Grove in Hollis, New Hampshire on June 5th, 2026. >> Second. >> Any questions on the field trip? Right. All those in favor?
>> I have zero. >> And that's all I have. >> All right. Anybody have any liaison reports to share? >> Um, I do have one. Um, just a couple days after our last meeting, um, was the first McCarthy and Parker joint PTO
meeting on the 9th. Um, heard a lot of updates from both schools. Um, on the Parker side, um, they spoke of how there's a real a large number of new staff there um, this year. and um in a good way. They felt like the chemistry was there, the staff is off to a really
good start, working well together. Um they mentioned that restorative circles are really big at Parker this year and um everybody was very excited about some sort of extracurricular and co-curricular things happening. Um, one
of which, um, worth naming was, um, they brought in the Bionic project that went really, really well, focused on kind of universal design. Um, so that was great at Parker. Um, they do have a pizza,
pumpkins, and paperbacks night on Wednesday for the Parker community. um combination of ability to get to the book fair um a pumpkin decorating contest and uh kind of a community event. So um at McCarthy they um I got
the good fortune of meeting their new assistant principal who was present at the meeting um and it was great to meet him. Um they raved about the positive impact of having two supervisors of students in the school which was a shift this year. Um
they also were feeling really positive about this the year. They noted specifically that there's a bunch of new math teachers and um so that's sort of the biggest area where there's a shift but um they all come with experience and um they're feeling good about it. Um,
one thing they're really working on right now as a school is they are hoping to establish a really high functioning best buddies chapter that's not just focused on athletics but also after school leadership and um deeper involvement in the school community. Um,
and for those who aren't familiar, uh, last year we we did have some visitors talking about Best Buddies and the experience of pairing students of, uh, sort of different learning, um, skills and needs together to really engage in fun activities and give a real
inclusive, um, community for a variety of students. Um, and the last thing I will mention, uh, is that they, and I'm sure we will hear this from center school as well, are really, um, getting pumped about recycle day on November
8th, which is, um, for the schools a very big fundraiser, but it's also a great chance for the community to get rid of uh, things that are hard to get rid of. >> Right, Susan? Anything? >> Not since our last meeting. >> Okay.
>> Okay. I attended the council of schools uh meeting and so did uh our superintendent and our assistant superintendent. Right. >> Yes. >> It's always a two-hour meeting at least and comprehensive. Um they have full
full uh group together the whole executive team. Uh they are going to do again this year the uh community readin. So, they talked about that and that'll be right at the beginning of March uh for us to keep that in mind. It's March
2nd through the 6th. Uh they're still they're running the photo contract again. So, they talked about picture day and so on. And then they give all the PTO's an opportunity to uh do a report. Uh a principal, the principal of South
Row, I believe is Terry came and she presented on what's going on at the various schools. And then um we give a report and I got to share the report this time because um >> you did a very good job. >> Right. Well, thank you because uh Dr.
Lang was um at your meeting for the building. Um so but he came in towards the end and I think you know it was a pretty good discussion uh on on the things that are going on. Uh they are a very involved group and that is for
sure. Um they're helping each other along the way. And one of the things they all complain about is that it's very difficult to get volunteers. And so um I'll use this to say um that the best
in my opinion the best school districts are always the one that have great parents involved and we want to make sure that parents remain involved as much as possible. And I know all of us have that common experience when we go to these PTO meetings that it's very
difficult. It's a lot of hard work, but it pays off so much for the schools. So, if parents can get involved, please chill. >> Okay. John, anything? >> No. >> Great. Um, as mentioned, we did have a building committee meeting. Uh, we're just getting updates of where we are. A lot of what they presented, we'll see
tomorrow night in terms of schedules that it's it's it's great when you see all the work that has to be done between now and January. It's >> it's it's a lot. Um, but I I think they're well equipped. the people we're working with seem like they have a good handle on everything. So, >> yeah, I'm very happy with them.
>> Yeah, >> they've been they've been very good to work with. >> Okay. >> All right. >> There is there a shift, I'm sorry, with left field. >> There's another >> Oh, just in their business model. It's not going to affect us at all. >> It's not going to impact us in any sort of concerning way.
>> No. Uh David and Hamdi are our twooint people. They're still called left field. Their company is just joining a lot >> corporate changes. Okay. >> Right. Right. Yeah, >> but we should be good. >> Yeah. Yeah, they're staying on and um I think part of the reason they were either acquired or or whatnot was
because of their municipal work. So, um they definitely want to be a showcase for what they do. But no, our team is staying intact. >> That's great. >> All right. Any new items >> um to put on the future? >> Anything you want to bring up? >> Yeah. One of the things I thought of as
we went through the budget update is if we could get some idea on what's going on with class numbers, >> how we're doing when you have a chance for that. Um, yeah, whenever I see >> we usually No, and we always look at that. Um, so October 1st is when we have to do our submission to the state. Uh,
SIMS report goes in and then it has to get certified. So once it's certified, I do all the enrollment numbers for you and I'll put that report together. But I do that every fall. >> Wonderful. >> And we use that as a basis for budgeting. Thank you. All right. >> Anything else? Anybody else? I had a question I have to ask the assistant
superintendent even though she's going to kill me. We had a discussion last night, but I'm sure people at home want to know the new graduation requirements. What, if any, impact are they going to have on our students? Uh, do they even know what they're doing yet? Now, they're talking about testing now again.
>> No, we don't know yet. Um, so there was an announcement that they're talking about some end of course um assessments. We're still trying to figure that out. um they want to um have the state send those out and and grade them. So, similar to what we've done for MCCAST, I
know there's a lot of push back that's happening with that because people are trying to figure out what's the difference between having an MCCAST and an end of the year course. So, is it just rebranding it and putting the information back out? But as of right now, we don't have to do anything. We're still moving forward with the CD
requirement that you voted on last June that's being uploaded to the state um by the 31st of this month. sure why we're uploading it, but I guess we'll find out after we upload it. Um if there's going to be any feedback on it, but we're still just going to follow suit with what we have for the upcoming graduating
class of 2026 and 2027. That also includes the um civics piece for the class of 202. >> So, our seniors should be fine. >> Our seniors are fine. Yeah, there will be no change for the seniors um that we're aware of. And we'll just we'll work through this like do everything else, but you have no action right now.
>> Great. Okay. Uh, last thing I want to mention is um our upcoming schedule because it's a little bit different. Um, we only have one meeting in in in um November, but we do have a meeting on Monday the the 3, which is our workshop AI workshop. >> Yes, I'll be there.
>> We won't need a recording secretary for that one. Um, but yeah, so that's on the third. It's a Monday. It's at six o'clock. Okay. So, just I wanted to I myself looking through my calendar like why do we have a Monday meeting and I remember that. Um and then the following
Monday, the 10th is a tri board meeting which will be here. >> Um and it's one of two. I think we're gonna have two tri board meetings this year. >> Um and then our regular meeting is on the 18th. So it's a little bit you know we're Monday, Monday. >> Yeah, it's a little I didn't Thanks. >> That's why I wanted to mention it just
cuz uh you know when you look at look at it's a little a little different. >> No, we are on the 18th Susan. >> Yes. >> Okay, >> I've got that. Um, what time is the meeting? The tri board meeting. >> 6. >> 6. >> They also hold that as >> Yeah, they're always at six. >> Thank you. >> Right. So, put on everybody's calendar
just to >> Yeah. And on tri board, they usually have it by remote as well if you need it. >> I remember this. >> We did that last year. >> Yeah. There was somebody that joined wasn't feeling up perhaps. >> Yeah. I think >> so. There may be a remote link if needed
for that um for that meeting. >> Just Yeah. All right. Um, nobody don't see any emails, so we have no public comments. So, I will take a motion to adjurnn. >> I move that we adjourn. >> Seconded. >> All those in favor? >> I.
>> All right. Thank you very much.