All right. Welcome to the June 2nd, 2025 uh meeting of the Dennis Yarmouth Regional School Committee. If anyone can please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. So, this is the one meeting a year where I open the meeting as superintendent and for a brief few
seconds act as chair until we nominate a new chair. So just as for a brief reminder, the way the process will work is we'll start by taking in a brief moment here start by taking nominations
for uh chair. There'll be voice nominations. So I'll start by opening nominations. We'll take voice nominations. Once we're done taking nominations, then I will close the nominations. There'll be a period for discussion on the nominations and then
we'll take a voice vote by roll call on those nominations. The nominations do not need a second. Uh however, the person nominated does have the option to either accept or decline the nomination. Any questions on the And then once a
chair is elected, I'm done. Any questions? All right. So, I will open the floor to nominations. I nominate Tomas Tolantino to be chair. Sir, do you accept the nomination? I
accept. Any other nominations? Seeing none. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll do roll call vote starting at the end of the table. Uh, Mr. Glenn. Yes. Mr. Morris. Yes.
Mr. New Mr. Martin. Yes. Miss Landers. Yes. Miss Bemis. Yes. And Mr. Tolantino. And I vote yes. All right. Sir, the gavl is yours. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Smith. And thank you, fellow members. Uh we will take now
nominations. We're going to start with treasur for the position of treasure. Um, do we have any nominations for the position of treasurer? I'd like to nominate Jenny to the position of treasurer. Jenny, do you accept the nomination? We do not need
any seconds. Is anyone else nominated for the position of treasurer? Seeing none, any discussion. We'll also do a roll call vote for that. Mr. Glenn, yes. Mr. Morris, I would vote yes. Mr. New,
yes. Mr. Martin, yes. Miss Landers, yes. Miss Bemis, yes. And I vote yes. Congratulations and thank you for the enormous amount of service you've done this past couple months and for the next 30 days. Uh but uh the people in the the
crowd are all appreciate getting paid and your work uh allows that to happen. So, thank you. Um, next we will be looking for our secretary. Do we have any nominations for the position of secretary? I nominate Glenn Martin.
Glenn, do you accept that nomination? I do. Any other nominations for secretary? Seeing none, any discussion? Seeing a pattern here. Um, we'll do a roll call vote. Mr. Glenn, yes. Mr. Morris, yes. Mr. New, yes. Mr.
Martin, yes. Miss Landers, yes. Miss Bemis, yes. And I vote yes. And then next we will do the vice chair. Do we have any nominations for vice chair? I nominate Marilyn Beis. Marilyn, do you accept a nomination? Yes. Do we have any
other nominations for vice chair? Seeing none, any discussion? We will do a roll call vote. Mr. Glenn, yes. Mr. Morris, affirmative. Mr. New? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. Miss Landers? Yes.
Miss Bemis? Yes. And I vote yes. I guess we made it easy for you not to have to change the the format here. Thank you. And as we uh complete that, we will go straight into our school committee reorganiz. We did the organization the school
committee acknowledgement of Dennis Sharma through hirees. All right, thanks for bearing with us. Now to the most well to a very important I don't want to these are my seven bosses. So,
um, so, um, just a couple of words. Uh, so one of the things that I learned very early on in my first, uh, year here in DY was that there are so very many staff members that are dedicated to the
district. Staff that spend a long time here in the district giving most or all of their professional lives to being a dolphin. to pursue my own uh professional path. I've had to move districts uh a little and uh and I've having created a lot of districts or a
lot of relationships in multiple districts across the Cape, but with that breadth of experience, I've sac sacrificed the depth that comes with dedicated service to one district. Now, not every retiree on this list, this long list of retirees,
uh, has given their entire career to DY, but this list list represents 557 years of service to the Dennis Yarmouth Regional School District. 557 years. If we were to stack all those
years up longitudinally, that would take us back to 1468, prior to the European exploration of the Americas, to a time when the land we are standing on was inhabited by indigenous peoples. If we think about everything that has happened since that
time to the present day, from a time to when most of us thought the world was flat to a day when a few keystrokes in an AI language model would have written this speech, the collective spirit experience of all of these educators is a
representation of that change. On this list are four people with over 30 years of service to the district. eight people with 25 years or more experience and 16 people with 20 or
more years of experience or years of service rather to the district. This is a list that is impressive not only in its volume meaning the number of people but also in its depth meaning that so many people on this list have given so much of their time to
DY. Of course, there's a double-edged sword to this um celebration tonight. With each of them leaves an immeasurable experience, knowledge, and experience, and expertise. And while
um and while I've been at this a long time enough to know that the work always goes on, I also know how difficult it will be to fill the shoes that are being left behind by each of these individuals. On behalf of the entire Dennis Armouth Regional School District
and the entire school community, I'd like to thank all of you for your commitment to each dolphin that has passed through through our halls. We'd all like to wish you nothing but health, happiness, and off tra off off- peak
travel pricing in the future. May your retirement be the start of a new journey, a road less traveled, filled with joy and endless possibilities. Thank you. [Applause]
Now, we have I'm going to read one. We have uh a couple things for you. One is a uh proclamation from the uh from Senator Sears's office. And I'm going just going to read one. Each of them says the same thing with your name on
it. Um, it says from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, state senate, official citation. It's easy for me to say. Be it be it known that the Massachusetts Senate hereby extends its congratulations to and named person with
your role in the district in recognition of the momentous occasion of your retirement after and then your years of uh service to the community, public education, and the Commonwealth. And it be further known that the Massachusetts Senate extends its best wishes for
continued success and this citation be to do duly signed by the president of the Senate and attested to and copy thereof transmitted by the clerk of the Senate. And then it's signed. So each of you will receive one of these plus a gift from the district.
We'd ask that when you come up we can applaud you and then we're going to ask if you may stand up here so we can take a collective picture of all this collective experience. All right. and we're going to come up. We're going to call you up one at a time uh by my list which is here. We're going to recognize
everybody. I know not everybody was able to make it tonight, but we do just want to make sure we recognize all the names. So, um Allison Adams was not able to make it tonight. She's our first uh retiree. Uh Pamela Barton
[Applause] Thank you. You can start us off. Uh Mir Miriam [Applause]
Beltran and then Annette Bose wasn't able to join us tonight. Lynn [Applause]
Brown, Richard Chase right up front. Uh, Victoria Copenhaver [Applause] Uh Sandra Corkin wasn't able to join us
tonight. Next is Mary Cronin. Uh, next is Kathy Dement. That's awesome. Thank you. I lost my place. Oh, next. Oh, I shouldn't have missed this one. Mr. Kevin
[Applause] Deppen, Colleen Eldridge. [Applause]
Uh, Regina Galt wasn't able to join us. Neither was Debbie Gree. So, next is Donna Griswalt. Next we have Anne [Applause]
Hagen. Uh, and next we have Mary Henshaw. And next we have Sandra Kaine. Yes. Thank you. Congrats. Uh next we have uh Jennifer Le. Thank you very much. Uh, next we have Eileen Leine. Uh, next we have Sally
[Applause] McDonald. Uh, let's see. Uh, next is and unable to join us is Patt Patty McKenzie and Clifford Miller. And then next we
have Kim [Applause] Power. Uh, next and unable to join us is
Jane Sauier. And that brings us to Ann [Applause] theion. Uh, next is Mary Jane Tui.
It's gonna have to be wide angle lens. Might be two rows on the stairs. Yeah. Uh next is Eileen Whan. [Applause] All right. And that is our group. If we
can make two rows for a nice big round of applause and a picture [Applause] Thank you. On behalf of the school committee, congratulations to all of you for all that you've done for our students and our families and our
community. Um, as we talk about some retired teachers and things of the past, our next section is reports and discussions. We're going to have a discussion on the Station Avenue Elementary School Gymnasium dedication and memorial of Patricia Watson. Dr. Smith.
So, uh, as the committee knows, they at the last meeting, you received a, uh, uh, packet with information from a group that is interested in having the gymnasium named after Miss Patricia
Watson. And, uh, you also received a copy of the policy uh, and the procedure that goes with the policy. And it's essentially a three-step dance. The first step in the dance is a reading. The first reading
which the committee had at the last meeting where you were presented with information from the a group um largely of ed educators from Station Avenue Elementary School which is interested in renaming the
um gymnasium. And so then the next step for was for the committee to create an opportunity for the public to speak to that matter. So that is today. So today is an opportunity as this agenda item and I I believe there are folks in the
audience to uh available to come to speak to to the petition and so this would be their opportunity to speak to it and then at the next meeting um would be your opportunity to vote in either approve uh the rename or the naming or
not um based upon well obviously that's your decision as as the policy states. So, that's where we find ourselves today is for you all to hear public comment on the naming uh of the gymnasium at Station Avenue Elementary School to be
named after uh Patricia Watson. Thank you. So, we invite members of the community that wish to speak to please step up to the podium. If you could push the push button, make sure the green light goes on um and state your name and whatever you'd like to talk about. Thank
you. Hello. There we go. All right. Hi everyone. My name is Kevin Rodinitis. For the past 15 years, I have worked as a PE teacher at SAE.
I am speaking on behalf of the Patricia Watson dedication naming committee and I would like to thank the following individuals for all of their hard work. Charlene Kerry, Tina
Andre, Bridget Flood, Tammy Ostramm, Emily Gallagher, Jen Paraso, Erin Hall, and Tracy Seagull. all whom worked with Patty at SAE for many
years. Patty Watson dedicated over 30 years of her life to the Dennis Yamoth Regional School District, leaving a memorable mark on the community through her unwavering commitment to students, staff, and families.
I had the privilege of working alongside her for 10 years and was blessed to have her as my mentor where she had a tremendous impact on my teaching career. Unfortunately, she was taken from us way too soon. Her passion for
education extended far beyond the walls of the gymnasium. She was a role model, a leader, and a beacon of compassion and energy. Among her many innovative contributions, Patty founded the PE pals
program where high school students mentored elementary students during physical education classes, fostering intergrade relationships and mutual respect. She also launched the triathlon fundraiser, an event that seamlessly
blended academics and physical activity to benefit Dream Day on Cape Cod, exemplifying her belief in educating the whole child. Patty organized numerous schoolwide events including pep rallies, the body
walk, jump rope for heart, and CPR training for staff members, which promoted health, school spirit, and community service. These events brought students and staff together in meaningful ways,
strengthening the school culture and supporting worthy causes. As an educator, Patty's philosophy was rooted in the DY values of caring, pride, and work
ethic. Her PE classes went far beyond physical fitness, integrating academic concepts such as math, vocabulary, and communication skills. She was also deeply invested in
students's emotional well-being, often volunteering her time for tutoring, running the after-school activities program, and supporting students in need. She had a deep respect for the learning environment, taking pride in the gymnasium, and instilling
in our students the importance of maintaining and respecting their space. Patty worked tirelessly with special education teachers, administrators, and coaches to ensure all students had opportunities to
succeed. She was a strong advocate for a balanced education, promoting the importance of athletics, academics, and the arts. Known for her selflessness and humor, Patty always put others first. Even though her battle forced her to
retire early, she continued volunteering, helping in kindergarten classrooms, preparing science materials and science kits, and donating clothing and sneakers to students in need. Her commitment to Dream Day on Cape Cod and other community initiatives reflected
her lifelong dedication to service. Patty Watson built lasting relationships with students and their families. She was fun, firm, and fair. Her consistent expectations and
high high standards push students to be the their best in all areas of life. She never settled for average, and her tenacity, kindness, and encouragement inspired generations.
Patty truly embodied the DY advantage, not just in her teaching, but in how she lived each day with purpose, joy, and commitment to excellence. Her impact will continue to echo through the halls of Dennis Yamoth
schools for years to come. and myself on behalf of the committee want to thank you all for getting us to this point where we are today. Um I know it was initially brought up at last uh school committees meeting by Dr. Smith
and um here we are in I believe the second phase of a three-phase process. So, I appreciate everyone um bringing this to the second step where we are today um and my understanding um which will
ultimately go to a vote at next uh school committee meeting. So, I appreciate that. Um and uh if you have any questions, I can do my best to try to answer any questions you may have. Um, we also have members here if uh they
want to get up to say a few words as well, but um I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. I'm going to go with thank you, Mr. R. I'm not going to butcher your last name, as many people probably have. Uh but uh I can see why they nominated you as the
speaker. You spoke so eloquently and spoke so well about Patty. It's great to hear. Um, it's great to see the rest of the the members that are here as well. So, open up the floor to any questions from any committee members. Mr. Morris, Mr. Morris, I would like to endorse and
do a followup on the gracious comments done by this gentleman here. I can testify to Patricia Watson's support as a member of the board of the heart association for the Capeen Islands
and as acting director when the original chair retired. the heart the the walk for heart the other uh related activities for athletics and academics and arts were supported not just by the
Cape Islands board of directors for heart but also related school districts on the Cape Islands. So it was a major fundraising effort. Not to mention having the kids learn their
efforts can contribute to good life and healthy life for so many people regardless of age. So I endorse the commentary I heard mentioned here and in the printout. Thank you very much. Thank
you sir. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Morris. Any other qu any questions? M. Landers, that was definitely one of the most um moving tributes I've heard to um a fellow colleague and friend. That was
incredible. And obviously that represents the voices of a lot of people in your building and people who have come in contact with her. And um I just wondered if you could tell me how the how this idea was sparked um you know within the building and how it how you
all got to this point. Sure. So because of her legacy and and um the impact that she had on this community um you know I wanted to do something to honor her. Um that was her gym from the moment I got hired. She was uh since the school
opened in 1995. um she was there and so I brought it to our the idea to our um principal Valerie Kelly um who um told me about the process and the steps that it would take. Um and so then I thought it would
be best to form a small committee within the school um teachers and staff who knew Patty very well, who worked with her for many years. And so we formed a small committee. We met um on Friday mornings before school um to discuss and
to um to uh follow follow up with the um protocols that um and the guidelines needed for the procedures for naming the facilities. Um we then brought that back to our building principal who then um in
um brought that to Dr. Smith um which was brought to the table last school committee meeting. Um, and so here we are today on the second phase of the threephase process. Um, another thing I'd like to mention, you you may be wondering um how this is going to look
within the gym at the school. Um, we were thinking as members of the committee that um was working on this of having a plaque potentially above the uh
gym as you walk in on both um entrances going into the gymnasium. Um, interesting story. Former student Scott Nagel of DY um, is now a teacher at Cape Cod Tech and they are willing to
donate the plaque. Uh, make the plaque, donate the plaque to the district to Station Avenue Elementary School. Um, and that plaque we're thinking will be above as you enter into the gym and
we'll say the Patricia Watson Gymnasium. And we've been in collaboration with her family as well. Um, and they are super thrilled, happy that we are honoring her um, as a wife, a mother, and um, they they they're they're very honored. So
um, it's not going to cost the district a dime as it's being donated. um from the tech um and we're very thankful for that. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Anybody? Anybody want to comment? Miss
Beis, mine is a comment. I can imagine how beautiful those conversations were on Friday mornings. Poignant, sad, but beautiful in time. Yes. And uh what a wonderful legacy you're proposing. Thank
you. So, Mr. R, we have someone else from the community. You like to second? Yes. I just have you just stand up and come to the microphone. It's just because of the I don't really need a microphone. It's the It's the view. It's the It's the the viewing public who's watching us on channel 22. We want to make sure they can hear. I just want to
know if there's any more information you need for us to convince you that this should go through because this is probably one of the best things that DY could do. No, I I think you you followed the process. uh we have the original application and we we've heard you know
the group story today. So I I don't believe um there's anything we need. Um I said the our policies are done in three waves for all policies and the policy has been followed. So uh at our next meeting we will have it on our agenda to vote. Thank you. Thank
you Mr. Glenn. Yeah. I just I I have a feeling that it's looking pretty good, but I don't want to get the caught before the horse. But I I feel the sense of uh community
here, which um Ms. Watson uh she obviously had. And uh I want to let you know that because sometimes we have a vote and nobody's here or you know, you might just get the word that you know it was passed. But I want you to know that
there's a movement to not name things because there's always someone that feels like they would have a you know there's somebody else and there's a movement around to not have names uh on anything. So I want you to be especially
honored if we do approve it because um it says a lot for for Mrs. Watson and and it says a lot for uh what we got from you. you know, if we do uh approve it. So, I just wanted to make you feel that um if it is approved, it's it's a
it's a special honor. Mr. New. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have one comment. Uh when you talk to Mr. Nagel, please encourage him to go bigger because it's always better with the sign. Big
sign, visible. Thank you. Um, yes. So, Mr. Glenn said, you know, there's a lot of we have a lot of property. There's a lot of rooms and things, so it's it's hard. It's not always easy to to make a decision. Um, you know, and I look forward to that opportunity next week or next meeting to
do that. Mr. Martin, are you raising your hand after I was closing, Mr. Martin? Yes, absolutely. You know, timing is everything after all, right? Um, I think what stands out to me the most to me, I read I read uh um the uh
explanation and and and she sounds like an incredible woman. I've never I've never met her. Um but um I think what's what speaks volumes is the is the people that come up on her behalf. Um you can
tell the influence that she had. you can tell the warmth and the um and the love that they had for Patricia um Patty uh and and it speaks volumes when you have people advocating for you for such you
know for such a monumental thing you know I mean we we have um you know we have the the Jinx auditorium you know uh named after you know a very um a very unique and wonderful man um this would be you know, you know, on par, you know,
I mean, she sounds like she had her she had her hand in everything. She was, you know, she was not shy with her time. She, you know, embraced her students, you know, she had she worked with her students that had, you know, that had left and and and she was still in contact with them and that speaks
volumes for her as an educator and a person as well that, you know, that her former students would want to continue to interact with their teacher, right? Um, so I, you know, I think, you know, I mean, I I I know what my vote is going to be. Um, but yeah, I just, I hope this
goes through and I I would love to see her name on on the gymnasium. Thank you. And seeing no other anyone else standing, we'll close public comment on that. Uh, we'll move next on to uh communication survey presentation
uh from Miss Fano. Is the mic on? Did you guys leave it on for me? Thank you. Good to see everyone from Station Avenue. Good evening. My name is Leela Spano and I am the communications and community relations coordinator for the
district. Sorry. Uh thanks for having me here tonight. I'm going to share a little bit about a communication survey that was sent out earlier in the year. The purpose of the survey was to gather
feedback and to see how we are doing as a district in terms of communications and to see how we could do better. We had 648 responses of 62% of that was parents and guardian
followed by 29% from staff, 11% from student and 8% other. Uh the highest participation came from the high school with 39% followed by 24% coming from the Dennis Yarmat Middle School and pretty
good uh participation from the intermediate school and the three elementary schools as well. So to the statement I am satisfied with the overall communication from the district. We had a favorability score of
85% which means out of 586 people who answered the question um this is how many participants voted for strongly agree agree or stayed neutral to the statement the information I receive from the district is timely we
had a 90% favorability score out of 531 people. This is how many voted for strongly agree agree and either agree or disagree. And to the question, how effective is the district in communicating during
emergencies and crit critical events? Uh 91% favorability score. Participants voted for very effective, effective, and neutral. We also had some uh open-ended questions
and you should have received in your packet uh communication summary that looks like this highlighted uh some key strengths and areas for improvements. So the next couple of
slides will show you some direct quotes that support that information to this question. What is one thing the district could do immediately to improve its communication with you? Top things that came up or timely and consistent updates. Let us know of
events as soon as they are planned so we can plan accordingly. Notify us im immediately of safety threats. Send information in a timely manner. Another top theme was single communication platform. There was a
desire to have consolidated communication into one platform. Use one app and pick one channel and utilize only that channel of communication for all communication. Oops, this is very
touchy. Sorry about that. Uh advanced notice for events. Give more than one to two days notice about events the parents can attend at schools. I'd love to know about events sooner. Uh also a top theme was multilingual
communication where families responded. The first one is in Portuguese. Uh please add more information about students in Remind. And the second quote is in Spanish. Continue with interpretation and translation in other
languages and reduction in communication overload. Reduce the number of reminds limit doubling up on same announcement. So the feedback is that from participants that too many
messages are sent and some are repetitive. Um and another thing that came up as well was the district website was also identified as an area that needs improvement. So for action steps, we had a discussion
at the Dennis Armed Leadership Council meeting uh around communication improvements and to centralize communications to reduce me message overload and the implementation has already started. An example of that was
our last holiday for Memorial Day. instead of each school sending out the message that was sent from central office and all families got it with just one message. And as far as the website goes, we are working on an implementation of a
new website and we incorporate uh feedback from the survey and we anticipate a launch date of mid-occtober. Thank you. Thanks for having me here tonight, Miss Bano. Thank you so much for the presentation. I know
we've seen you take pictures and we've seen your communications, but it's great for us to hear from you. Um, and a lot of the stuff you talked about goes to things that we discussed at Dr. Smith's um, evaluation about the communication. Um, I think communication has definitely
come a far far away from in the past. Um, and we've addressed some of the concerns already publicly. Not many people may have heard them um or miss or attended the meetings when we talked about the you know immediate threats. Um our first action is to take care of the immediate threat. Um I know parents
would like to know the second that it happens but there's steps that we're doing inside the buildings to make sure that our students are safe and when it's safe to send a message we do. Um, you know, unfortunately sometimes students get the message to parents before we do, but uh I think the we have so many great
things in place and have continued uh fixing or making processes better um to do that. So, so thank you. Um Dr. Smith, anything you want to add? just immediately to that point in that
so Leela actually serves on our safety committee um that joint team that I've talked about multiple times because communications is one of the roles in that um in that team. So one having a public information officer is a is a
especially for larger district level crisises uh and as we look at each of the um potential scenarios we have now communications been bent uh to to each
of our scenarios. So how will we handle the communications aspect? So, we haven't obviously figured out every uh avenue and every aspect of it, but we've even started to put things, you know, in the can, so to speak, so that we have
pre-planned me messages at least partially drafted so that we're not starting from scratch every time. Um, so these things will continue to improve and we'll continue to get better and we'll continue to get refined. You know, I'm Leela's a little bit of a
perfectionist and I keep reminding her it's only been about eight probably seven months or so that she's been on the job. Um, six. All right, so there we go. Um, so we still have a lot Yeah, we have a lot of we have a lot of um room still to grow and get better. Um, but
there had, you know, I think I said it, you know, when you all were giving me a lot of credit for a lot of the stuff that we've done really, I've just given her ideas and she's taken them and run with with them. So, there's a lot of she gets a lot of credit for a lot of the work. Um, but a lot of things that you
you saw on those um positive communication slides, uh, she she gets a lot of credit. She's done a lot of work in a very short period of time. Thank you, Dr. Smith. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. And another thing we talked about at our last meeting was the importance
of, you know, telling our story and uh through social media and through different avenues and working with all the schools, you've helped uh tell the DUI story from our from our lens. Um and I think we're on the path of starting a new a new light and a new view of of our
all the hard work we talked about the retirees have put in to to our district and all the teachers and staff we have now. So So thank you for that. Yes, Miss Landers. I just want to say that I'm I'm heartened by these results. I feel like usually the only time you get 600 people
to respond to a survey is when they have something really negative to say. So to get that many results and to have such positive results, I think we've um you uh central office, everyone um admin buildings have made tremendous strides
in uh increasing communication and better communication. You know, I'm also a parent and I'm so I'm on the receiving end of a lot of these messages and you know, certainly a lot of that rings true in terms of looking for some streamlined communication. I definitely get like all
at once five texts, five emails that direct me to five different apps and websites to read. So, it's a lot, but I'm glad we're overcommunicating. And now it's time to figure out how to pair that back a little bit to the right amount. But I'm
glad we're overcommunicating. I'm glad to see these results. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you, Mr. New. Thank you. I want to echo Miss Lander's comments. I think the survey is a great great indication of the work that you've
done in the six months that you've been with us. I I would encourage uh you to try to make the transition as smooth as possible in October given that the school year is going to start a month earlier than that. I I hope and we will
look forward in your thinking to devise a system where everybody will be able to make the transition immediately to the new platform. Thank you, Mr. Morris.
In the public relations field for business communication, people who put together various avenues of response to new products or new services or new
hyperboles. One to 2% response. 6% is max of the traditional return. Your results are showing a far stronger response base than the general public did for products. So, since we
have a most important product that we're working with, uh, you're doing very well to start off. Thank you again. Thank you, Mr. Morris. Okay. Thank you so much for your presentation. Thank you all. Uh, next
we'll move to the subcommittee representatives leazison report. School committee leaison to the select board. Anything from the town of Dennis of note to add? No. Seeing none, Mr. Glenn? anything from the town of Yarath? No, there was election uh I forget the guy's
name and one school committee. Um but uh it was a sort of a disappointing low turnout, but um those people that did get out, it is important. So uh congratulations to the people who did. Thank you so much. Uh next is
superintendent report. Um just one uh thing I believe uh Dennis right the town of Dennis we have students tomorrow night uh presenting their civics projects they're early on the agenda um in the town of Dennis for
anybody who's uh who's either free to watch um or free to attend. um there I know at least one group is presenting their civics action project um in the town of Dennis uh select board meeting. So um so maybe
maybe that's also an acknowledgement. I'll say I'll say that's part of my superintendent report. Um so anyways uh so starting with donations, I want to thank uh three separate donations to the Dennis Yarmouth Regional High School
Hall of Fame. Uh so uh totaling a uh total of $3, uh $250. Kenneth Comr, uh Rob, excuse me, Rod and Margaret Sherman, and Barry
Merrill all contributed different amounts for that total of $3,250. Um and again, just I know I say it all the time, but the the contributions from the community are overwhelming. And you know, everybody finds their passion project, but all those passion projects support our
students, support families in our district. Um, this is just another great example of that, supporting a great uh program at at at our high school, acknowledging our former, u high school athletes. Next, uh, so it's with great
thanks, I thank those those donors to help keep that great program alive. A great way to honor our former athletes and coaches. True. Yes, we're most most uh namely in this last induct induction. Yeah, induction. Um, all
right. So, a couple of updates. So, or start with an update and end with an update. The uh high or the the field construction here at the intermediate middle school is is plugging along. I don't know if anybody took a drive by on the way in, but the turf on both the
lower and the upper fields has been fully removed. and the rolls of the turf are gone. Uh the throughout the process, testing of the subbase material has been going on both by our engineers that are part of a contract that we have as the
district to protect our interests as well as folks that were involved in the original construction as design as you might imagine with um the the concerns over that we have in the separate parallel track um regarding the original
construction and the original design. um folks from both of those parties are have folks coming out to text to test the samples now that the carpet has been peeled back. So that's been ongoing. And then in this last week there was testing
or really cameraing if that's I don't think you can take a noun and turn it into a verb but I just did of the the drains underneath. So, I don't know how much people remember of the design of that fields, but there's the turf on the top, a pad, subbase material, and then
there's large drains. And so, the idea is the water quickly gets through the pad and the turf and then supposed to get through the subbase material and then get into large drains and get get out of there. And so, there's testing at all the different layers. And one of the testing is to see if the if there's any
material in the drains. So they just send they send cameras down um you know like a plumber might send a camera down your drain or like a surgeon might send a camera in your internal plumbing, right? So same same type of deal. They're there. They've been sending cameras again from all these different
groups to to check for any clogged material in the in the drains. Um, and then, uh, you also, especially if you drove by the lower field today, you would have noticed they they've been pushing all the material into larger piles, um, taking it off layer by layer.
And that's all prep work because, and, I think I've said this before, they're not really moving any of the heavy material off site until we're done with school because the big trucks, the the contractor has been really deliberate and considerate. I would probably be the
other word of the fact that we're still in school session and they're they're doing as much prep work as they can until school's out and literally on that my understanding is on June 18th they will rolling these are like not like your normal 18 wheelers they're like even bigger than normal 18 wheelers they
use a term that if I was in construction I might know what it meant but um but they when when I ask our OPM they're like oh no no they're like really big trucks okay but anyways those things will start rolling in here um as basically on June 18th. So, they're doing all the prep work, pushing
everything into piles so they can just bring the big excavators in, load those big trucks in, and they'll be flying in and not flying, but moving rolling in and out of here. Um, starting as as uh soon as school is out. So, that's again, everything's moving along uh very well.
Um, we have weekly progress meetings and everything has stayed um on schedule thus far. Uh, next on on the Friday before Memorial Day, Officer Pascarosa and I had the privilege of attending a re
reunification drill that was put on by the Sandwich Public Schools. Uh they did a um secondary site school evacuation for their 7 to 12 school
roughly a thousand kids or so and they use a uh so they evacuated to a secondary site and then they ran a reunification drill which is where you put kids back together with their families. Um they didn't reunify the all a thousand kids. They reunified about a
hundred kids, but they ran uh and they use a modified version of the I love you guys protocol, which is what we use uh here in uh DY as well. So it was really great opportunity. We haven't gotten to the reunification phase yet. Like we've
sort of talked about it in theory, but we definitely haven't seen it in action. So it was great for officer Pascarosa and I to go be observers, see it in all different phases, go talk to people who were running it. They had done it a few
days before with one of their younger schools. So one, they have a pre-K to2 school. So talked about how much different it was doing it with preK to two kids versus then having then doing it with 7 to 12. Uh and then they let us sit in on their debrief. So they had a
debrief with their central office folks and their public safety folks. So we got to sit in on their debrief and learn about how they were going to modify it because then they were running it again uh the next week with their three to six school. So learning on what were they going to iterate and change between the
two sessions. So for us it was a really great opportunity to sit or to watch then sit and listen and then for us to now go back and talk about okay well how will that apply back here in DY? what what did we learn by watching somebody else run through a system as we start to think about implementing for us as well.
And then the last is the core value steering committee update. The group has been diligently meeting. I want to thank Miss Beis for her uh participation in the group. She's been an valuable asset in the group. And so over the last two meetings in particular, the group
settled on five core values for the district moving forward. and the last meeting drafted definitions for each of those values. Um, so we're really and they drafted those the values and the definitions based upon the community
input survey that went out uh was probably three to four weeks ago at this point as well as based upon the strategic plan and some other key data points from across the district. And then they should have a final version to you probably not by your next meeting.
So most likely will be your business meeting in August for you all to vote and then we'll have new core values to move forward as a district. So that's moving along on schedule. It's well on the new schedule. My old schedule. We're definitely off my old schedule, but
we're moving on on the new schedule. And that is my update. Take any questions through the chair should you have any. Mr. Glenn. Yeah. just say uh I have two one on each topic but um the uh the survey that you did on the core value
how was that participation and how did it help you? Uh participation level was good not as good as actually as the communication survey. I think we talked a little bit about it in the committee. I think we got to a little bit of survey fatigue probably this year. Uh I also
the there was a fairly quick turnaround time between when it went out and when uh we needed to start working with it. But the it was also uh an what's called an engagement. It's one of the ones where people could put in a comment and then rate other comments. And we had so
we had I forget the number off the top of my head. It was somewhere in the ballpark of like 300 people participate but we had 4,000 uh interactions. So the people who did engage like I engaged at a high level. So there there was a lot of part yeah
I'll just be repeating myself as if I say anything different. And the other question in regards to the fields, um, I heard you say it at the beginning about the different parties and are we doing something to just for ourselves like to
investigate separately versus the other parties involved um to I don't know for lack of a better word uncover or maybe there isn't a better word to uncover um our position to strengthen our position
to uh confirm our position. Yeah, that that's probably a good way to phrase it. Yeah. So, we have the original position that was presented to the school committee in executive session. So, the same uh uh client that did that presentation
is on site through each of these stages taking different testing. Plus, the engineer who designed is also on site plus our OPM is on site. Um, so as each layer is coming off, we're doing testing. We also happen to have the
blessing, yeah, I'm gonna call it a blessing of a really heavy rainstorm right after the turf came off. So that gave us a lot of good visual evidence as well. So that was all documented. So we've been documenting and that was part of the conditions as that as we set up this contract too is with you know we
have the the builder and they're the new builder is got little to do with anything other than they're building us a new field right but uh the designer the engineer the current engineer and our OPM and uh Hayen Aldrich who's the
engineer who did the testing for the committee they are all contracted to help uh as it was deconstru as this current fields are deconstructed to uh get further detail, further evidence um
to the original faulty design. Anything else? Perfect. Thank you, Dr. Smith. Uh next we have our consent agenda. the consent agenda for the 3,250 for the Dennis Yarmouth Regional High School Hall of Fame and the minutes
for the May 19th, 202025 meeting. Move the consent agenda. Move motion in a second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Perfect. Bills, requisition, and payrolls I have right in front of me. Calendars. Uh we have
this Thursday is senior awards night um at the high school gym. I believe we did the upper gym. They call it upper gym. I've never seen the lower gym. I'm curious about that. Um in the upper gym for senior awards night uh this Saturday, uh a very big day, uh Dennis
Chararmath High School graduation at 10 a.m. on the field. We'll say it's on the field. It's going to be on the field. Um on Monday the 16th, we have our next school committee meeting. And the last day of school, if you heard nothing during this meeting, is on
Tuesday, June 17th. It'll be a half day. It'll probably be the most asked question for the next 15 days uh to teachers, parents, and on public social media. Um, so public comment. Anyone looking to speak for public
comment? Okay, seeing none, any other motions? I move to adjurnn. Motion. Motion journ. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Any saying? Thank you, Miss Powers, for our wonderful reception and thank you
everyone for attending today.