welcome to the Monday April 7th 2025 meeting of the Dennis Sharmath Regional School Committee Please stand and 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 Thank you Uh we will start with the student representative report Miss Powers Good evening everybody Thank you for having me tonight Uh starting off I mean it's an exciting time at DY spring
finally after a long long winter but our spring sports are in full swing already with huge success which unmounted success that nobody was expecting I think our track teams have been amazing Our baseball team has also been amazing They just had a huge win over Tantasqua
um last weekend and I know they've been doing great ever since as well as our lacrosse teams Uh we had our MCCAST last week for 10th grade and it was the first time that the MCAST wasn't the graduation requirement So I think that teachers were navigating how to keep students motivated and it seemed to go
really well from what I heard Uh right now we're all in deep preparation for our AP exams which start the first week of May and go through the second So it's two straight weeks of exams So all of our AP classes are kind of wrapping up any new information We've just been in like a lot of review ever since Uh we
also are preparing for our play which is taking place during the first week of May as well And also the middle school play is taking place this week as far as I know on Wednesday And then our winter guard and percussion encore show is tomorrow So it's the last time to see the award-winning production before it's
over for the season And I got to see it I know during stepup day when the seventh graders come I got to see a little bit of the show and it was absolutely amazing as per usual And besides that our term three ended today so threequarters of the way through the year And we're just kind of getting
ready for April break which is in a week and a half and we have a half day on the 18th So everyone's just looking forward to that And I see your sweatshirt I know you were highlighted on our website Congratulations for your acceptance to Boston College We're all very proud and
excited for you Um and as you mentioned the Dennis Yarmouth Intermediate School after school group is presenting the Lorax this Wednesday at 6:30 in the um Performing Arts Center uh in conjunction
with Cape Cod Haritz Junior Theater Um and then I know that Mr New is probably going to remind me that the winter percussion um is having their last performance this Wednesday night uh as well in the upper gym uh they received
uh second place in the NS in NESBA um championship last week So great things there as well So thank you for that I think those are all the school stuff and Dr Smith usually has stuff as well but wanted to make sure I pointed out those two things Um thank you so much I know
you have plenty of stuff to do that's due tomorrow So we appreciate your time here today Um and next we have our 2025 2026 school choice participation discussion All right Thank you So uh it's a annual
requirement the school committee take a vote uh on whether or not the district will participate in school choice Uh so this is the committee's vote and again this is just high level about whether or not the district will participate then
and actually the committee just adopted a new policy at the last meeting which will have some more sort of guidelines on how we how we participate We're going to uh and tightens up our process a little bit But now the committee has to make a determination about whether or not we will participate And and just
again for clarification both for your sake and for the public's sake this is doesn't allow us to stop our children from you know our kids can choose to go um into any district that accepts school choice This is about whether or not DY
will accept school choice children Um that's what you uh vote about Yes we will accept school choice children or not And then uh if the committee votes yes then what we'll do as a team is then we'll determine we'll look at enrollment
and determine at which grade levels how many seats um open a lottery and and again the policy that you all adopted uh I believe it was just at the last meeting uh outlines that has some specific dates um for us to post that information on the website etc and
timelines for notifying folks But first you all have to determine whether or not this year we are going to participate in school choice So that is the discussion uh up in front of you Mr Glenn just a quick question Um how
many of the surrounding districts are doing school choice uh as as of today all of them So as as Dr Smith said uh we're required financially for any student that lives in a school-aged child that lives in
Dennis or Yarmouth and regardless if they go to school here And then if they someone we do decide on school choice and they come here then we do get some type of reimbursement from that outlying town So you know for every one lost Um and there's a variety of reasons that
people do school choice and I know we've talked about it Um whether they're going to tech or somewhere else or a charter school Um so there's reasons you know other than um our educations and our great stuff that people leave here Um but and I know we've looked at research
on who's leaving and why and all that type of stuff but um to Joe's point if every district is doing it and we have the capacity which will be decided by administration um you know it's not a bad thing to do but it's up to the
committee Mr New thank you Do you have a breakdown of uh the students that u tuition in so to speak choice choose us uh I don't have the exact number off the top of my head It's roughly 150 students that currently
school choice enter What levels what areas oh it's it's all throughout the district Yeah There's no it's not like a particular grade level There isn't any particular area where we excel in that No it's pretty pretty well spread throughout the district Okay And then
some you know it's you know students who you know it's not uncommon to have a student who as example who started in DY and then the family may have moved to a neighboring community and they they want to stay with us So that student is technically a school choice student even though you know essentially they're
choosing to stay with us as opposed to go to the now their new neighborhood school community I sign a lot of those throughout the course of the year Okay Thank you Yep I move that the Dennis Regional School District participate in the
2526 school choice program So we have a motion and a second Any other discussion questions seeing none uh all those in favor say I I Any opposed any abstained okay that motion carries Uh
the next is a discussion on the transfer of END to the capital stabilization All right So uh in your packet uh you have just a little bit of uh support documentation for this next conversation When we had the
conversation during the budget uh I had mentioned that we would be coming back to have this discussion as well And my recommendation to the committee uh when we had our END certified this past uh year or coming into this current
year the excess and deficiency certification was higher than I anticipated And so the committee has so you'll see on that page that you have in front of you you had as of the 4th of
March when you all voted your final budget That's the first column At that time there was $3,250,000 and a little bit more of uh certified END You had voted at that time to commit $250,000 to the operating
budget and voted at that time to commit $416,150 to uh uh debt from END which leaves you a remaining balance currently of just under 2.6 million in END At that time we had recommend or I had mentioned that we'll be coming back with a further
conversation around a potential transfer of some additional END into capital stabilization Uh there's a and then under that par is a paragraph which describes the rationale Uh and so the
rationale for the $700,000 comes from the where that $700,000 comes from So that $700,000 came from unanticipated revenue That unanticipated revenue was
$72,000 107 which came from both from two places One was Medicaid and the other was interest on investments Uh you know the the flip side of the high interest rates is that we're getting good we had been getting good returns on our investments you know those rates are
starting to come back down but we've had you know a couple years of high interest rates which is hard for when you're trying to borrow money but it's good when you have money sitting in accounts So we uh there and we had a higher Medicaid reimbursement than we anticipated So that number that 700,000
is based upon those two higher returns those two higher revenues than we anticipated And then the reason for transferring it into capital stabilization is as you all are aware we do have a a strategic objective related to our strategic plan to work on a 5 to
10 year capital uh plan for the district So this would support some with some additional funds in our capital stabilization plan to allow the district to have some of its own funds to support that capital those capital plans whether it's actually funding projects or
through by funding design to get projects shovel ready Um and then also by moving it into that account uh we're able to uh earn better interest than it just sitting in our uh checking account quite frankly So to be able to those are
the rationale for transferring it And then the timing is uh the towns by right and statute have the ability to if they so choose to put this on their town as a town meeting warrant article to say no
And there's a timing piece And so by waiting till today and not doing this as part of your budget vote it just puts everything within the appropriate timing so they don't have to call another special town meeting Just quite frankly would have been it's statutoily we don't have to
wait for when they already have a town meeting scheduled But it just would have been bad business for us to not wait until they already have a town meeting scheduled So now we're within that timeline that if you all decide this then I will send letters to the
appropriate folks at the town following this meeting notifying them that you all have made this decision and then they will have the timeline between now and when they already have a town meeting scheduled if the if they so choose and if so the town folks decide they can vote no If they do vote no then the
money just stays in A and D or E and D rather Um but again it's just sort of trying to again be good partners and not force if the town wanted to them to have a a special town meeting before they already have a town meeting scheduled
You go Mr Spartan Um I'd like to make a motion to move that the Dennis Yarmouth Regional School District transfer $700,000 from excess and deficiency to capital stabilization We have a motion and a second We have any questions or comments Mr Glenn yeah
I just sorry I try to get in before um just two questions Um is the town aware of this now like do they know these numbers or they won't know until after we vote on it so the town in
general um but town administration Yeah I mean we've discussed this in the finance subcommittee meetings It was part of the the larger budget conversations as well So um yeah No I just I didn't know if they already passed their warrant to go to town
meeting already or not but it's it's like you said it's just good business but and the other question um is tangentally related Um we have had previously I think it was when we were building this building the banks came in
talking about our fiscal health and how our bond rating is And uh I just don't know if that's something that is done We could do that again just because I think we're in very good health And it's good for the community to know that that you
know our our bond rating and what we get you know for our interest rates is good because when she was in here um she was fantastic and it was like this is really good news So I always like to spread good news but it's kind of a different
topic but yeah And as I mentioned I don't know if it's last meeting or the meeting before that uh at some point soon I have the I have legal counsel working on a legal opinion for you I just have it an email but I have him working on a memo I want to come
back excuse me I want to come back to the committee um and get a a motion to restructure the treasurer position and I I know we had some discussion around that in a superintendent's report And once we get that in position I that would be something that I would like the treasurer to come and present that type
of information because again we're going to need to bond uh related hopefully related to the mem small project So there's going to be some things that coming down the road and and when it comes to a capital plan it's going to need part of the what this committee is going to need to work
both as a committee and then with the two respective towns on how are we going to finance the projects you know Um so I all that financial and fiscal health as a district is going to be important information to have as part of that conversation So agreed and having a a
treasure structure um slightly different will be very helpful to that process Miss Venus I'm curious to know why you came up with this amount I know having capitalist stabilization fund is new and much
needed but we also have age buildings So my instinct would tell me not knowing what you and the finance committee subcommittee talked about why not a bigger amount or is this sort of recommended as the beginning or keep a percentage of END sort of in reserve for
a reason anything you want to add yes So keeping END at a healthy number to to Mr Glenn's point actually helps then with bond rating down the road because we we again are going to need to borrow at well assuming things move forward with the Emmy small project we are going to
need to borrow and we are the borrower uh when a project like that comes along so we as the district borrow and then assess the towns for the capital um uh expenses right so we if we have no healthy END that doesn't help our bond
rating which then means means higher interest rates etc etc So keeping a certain amount of money in our END helps uh us when it comes to a bond rating So ultimately this serves two purposes One again this was an excess the specific number was a certain amount of excess
unplanned revenue and two it it the math also brings us essentially right back to where our END was la this same time last year So those are the the logic train behind that without having a solid capital plan really to base anything on
just yet So I think once we have a plan and we have know where we need to start spending some funds then I think we can make a more per so this is and you know it's taking the money putting it in a savings account that's going to earn some better interest So that money is going to make more money um better sitting there than where it's currently
sitting So all those things combined and there's also a maximum we're allowed to have Correct Yeah In END versus capitalization fund There's no specific limit Yeah it's correct and it's 5% So we're we're well well away from that Um
but still it's it's more based upon the previous ideas Um but we're we're a good ways away from that 5% Okay we had a motion in a second Any further discussion okay all those in favor say I I Any
opposed any abstained okay looks like that passes as well Um next we have school committee uh liaison reports from the select board Anything Marilyn from the town of Dennis uh anything Mr Glenn from the town of Yarmouth i think it's
just the ongoing discussions about uh Madakis and obviously Emmy Small which is still on their plate too So excellent Thank you Um next we move on to the superintendent's report recognition of donations and
acknowledgements All right Thank you So uh want to start uh with some of our young dolphins uh who have their art on display at the Cape Cod Museum of Art Uh it's the Through
Young Eyes exhibit Uh this pure my dates I guess Nope it was already a previous Saturday So not this past Saturday but the Saturday before was the um the artist reception but their art is on display from that
Saturday all the way through May the 8th or no excuse me May the 18th um at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis And uh this is in a partnership with the Cape Cod and Islands Art Educators
Association Uh the the museum hours they're open from on Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10:00 to 4:00 on Sundays from noon to 4:00 and uh this all there's over a dozen DY students who have their art on display um at this exhibit So again
through the through young eyes art exhibit it's an annual exhibit uh this 21st annual exhibit and again over a dozen of our students have their art on display um at this exhibit Next the uh Barnstable County uh 4 donated sunflower
seeds to every student in grades K to five Uh in with this donation included uh curriculum for staff regarding plant growing the benefit of sunflowers as well as a letter to parents to support and included documentation for how you can plant the seed how you can grow it
um how to like quick and easy ways to plant it like in a simple cup like this at home and get it from a seedling to be able to plant it in plant it in your yard So again just a big thanks to 4 to be able to get that program off and and um teach students about sustainability And then another uh shout
out to our uh art students specifically uh students at the DY high school and specifically to students taking pottery So students in our pottery courses uh created small uh flower uh bud vases
Then these were for specifically for a project Uh there's a on the 9th So what is that wednesday What's today the 7th Yeah No Wednesday Yeah So on Wednesday uh there's a Cape Cod soup bowls for hunger event And so
the students in that class created the there there'll be decorations for them to put flowers in these little vases And so the students in in the pottery classes created the table vases to support the flowers And then actually two staff members uh Mr Bro and Mrs Star
Stes uh created several of the soup bowls for the for the event which uh are auctioned off for the event So both staff and students supporting a great event here in our community And then the other one I had was um already stolen by two different people which is the Encar
performance No it's fine Um so I'm not gonna I'm not going to beat that drum Uh again touche All right So next I have I just want to pass uh just in case you folks are not on our just pass a press release
So we did conclude the hiring process for um Mr Depp's well nobody can replace him but um the next principal of the Baker School Um and so I'm pleased to announce the selection uh of the next
principal effective July 1 is uh Mr Patrick Riley Uh I had a great challenge uh in that we had an excellent pool of candidates all the way I didn't participate in the initial round of interviews but from those that did participate in the initial round of
interviews uh that there was a strong pool of cand there was a big pool of initial people that were inter interested which meant that they had a strong pool of people that they actually brought in just to initially interview which got us down to a strong pool of semian finalists which got us down to
really two really great finalists um and really came to nuanced differences in selecting um the final final candidate which again ended up being Mr Riley um comes to us with previous experience both in the district as an assistant
principal at station a principal at Emmy small and then has also stepped outside the district and has been re most recently the principal at the Turo central school Um so brings both perspective from inside the district and outside the district Has a commitment uh to both students and their social
emotional uh well-being but also really to academic excellence which was really something that was um really uh central and important as we continue to move forward as a district that you know we've talked a lot about at this table where we really need um instructional leadership and we need to continue to
move that needle as a district Um and I and again I can't there was so many people that participated in this process to get here It was really a rigorous process um multiple layers The last part being the finalist spending all day and
night at um Ezra Baker to ultimately get to this final decision Um and again it really came down to uh really some subtle differences I had I you know I've said Marie and I were debriefing it this morning I really had a a good problem and that the the the interview teams
that did all the work really gave me two great choices Um and I think um we have a great candidate to to not only honor the history in the Baker School but also then move it forward into its next phase as a
school Next uh is our other open search process which is the director of finance position So in your packet you will see you have the updated timeline Unfortunately I think I can't remember if I um I know I updated you all in email I just can't remember if I
mentioned it in public session or not But um you know the first round of interviews uh were not s successful So we had we did repost the position Um that posting has closed It closed on Friday U Maria and I met this morning um
or this afternoon actually Actually I think it was right at noon right um so at the bridge between morning and afternoon um and uh we selected from the pool of candidates we have uh five uh
resumeumés that we're going to invite in for interviews and you can see the new timeline here which gets us uh hopefully a candidate to recommend Again this is a position that uh ultimately I'll bring a candidate but ultimately you all have to
appoint this position because of its tight uh relationship to the budget Um so that that timeline has us now out to the beginning of May um for that final um uh recommendation um the middle
actually sorry the the middle of May the 15th of May Um so again we're hopeful um a different pool of candidates Um and we're hopeful that we will be back here in the middle of May with uh with with someone for you all Um it is a very
difficult position Um actually Capen Island superintendents met on Friday We're talking about this similar challenge across the district I know um the the chair got an email from another district who is um having um challenges with the pool and just sort of
confirming you um is is this what everybody else is seeing and it is is a difficult position And I know the superintendent association across the state is trying to work with MASBO which is the school business association group on how to sort of deal with this um
applicant or the the what's the word yeah Well just the the pool um I'm trying to I'm losing the word but anyways Um but that doesn't help us right now right they're they're sort of thinking about it more long term and how to build a pipeline That was the word I
was looking for Um and which is great but that's long term I I need today Um so I'm I'm there are some some strong candidates in this particular application pool we had Um so I'm hopeful that they'll see the process all the way through and and that we'll we
will be back here in May um celebrating Um that brings to the last item So school safety planning uh which again ties back to one of my my goals And so the you've had a couple
presentations and we talked a little bit about the new standard response protocol that we adopted as a school district I know uh officer Pascar Roa did a pre presentation early in the year uh on the I love you guys protocol And so since
then we've adopted uh and we have we had a training as a school leadership team There's a an app or actually as the as the safety team I shouldn't say school leadership team So those of us that meet in that joint team that I've mentioned before that's made up of school staff
and public safety on an app that uh is has the protocol built into it um didn't recognize my face because it wasn't facing my face that has the protocol built into it So we've started with some initial training with that team on and
on how to run it So now the next phase is to work on training with school teams and get everybody in the district trained on the app because the app is essentially a digitized version of all that protocol training that you got and
uh alerts So the idea would be if we had to activate any one of these in a school that everybody would get alerted on their device that you know we're in a hold or we're in a lockdown or we're in whatever or we have to evacuate etc And
and then we could start we could do reunification and those pieces through the app and the rostering and etc etc Um so the we're going to begin pilot with a couple of pilot schools We're going to start with some of the smaller elementary schools we'll do this spring
or soon actually within the next month or so we'll get training for the smaller schools and run some drills with the smaller schools and work out some of the bugs Um and then that will be followed by the whole district roll out by next
fall We'll get everybody in the district trained and then start drilling with everybody uh by next fall and also be work start to work on integrating one of the benefits of this particular tech
uh platform that we went with is it excuse me integrates with some of our other systems So like our controls for the doors it integrates with some of those with those control systems So um starting to work on some of those integrations to be able to you know if
we're in a lockdown to be able to automatically lock all the doors things like that Um so by next year uh we'll be running all the drills will occur with the app um as a as a as we begin to train again work out the bugs work out
the systems Um but then we'll we'll be training with the app and everybody will be on that system So that's again continues to move forward Uh I also on a tangentally related um note I attended a
meeting Friday uh with Caven Island superintendent at an off-site location U I'm going to be deliberately vague about the location but to discuss uh mass evacuations So if we had to evacuate and
because other school districts have the same challenge So if we had to mass evacuate the portions of the district and we had to take students to a third site u that isn't affiliated with the district and work on student and family reunification at that site and we're
talking about what if we could all work on a plan at a site like that and essentially develop a plan with that site that would be the essentially the same plan that everybody could use Um and develop some type of a consistent
MOA orou with that site because the chances of us all needing to use the site at the same time are unrealistic Um the chance of us any of us ever needing to use it are very very slim The chances of all of us needing to use it
at the same time are really really really really really really really slim Um so having a having a finding a location that multiple places could potentially use should we ever find ourselves in this situation Um
so we started that conversation The place is open to the to um that work So it's designing a template that each of us could use um and then down the road potentially drilling that situation Um
and or you know whether we all drill it or as a leadership teams like one school district drills it and the others go and observe because again if we're all using the same space then um it's um we can
all learn from each other And then um the last is two Fridays ago so the 28th Um myself uh and then some district staff and
some school building leaders plus um some of the mental health staff uh because we didn't want to remove all these people from the buildings all on the same day at the same time from DY Intermediate DY Middle and DY High
School Attended a training at Sandwich High Schools which is a partnership between us and Sandwich Public Schools to do uh what's called SEASAG training So CASTAG stands for comprehensive school threat assessment guidelines And so we attended an all day training on
this And essentially what CARAG training is it's a process for creating interdisciplinary teams Um and the process for the teams is to assess school threats u and determine first is
the threat what they call a transient threat which is not a serious threat like you know if um some kid says like in a joking manner oh I'm going to kill you like you you have to assess it and determine is it a threat or is not a threat but if you
determine it was done in a joking way then that's a transient threat Um but you have a process that you go through to determine and an interdisciplinary team does goes through that process or is it a substantive threat and then if it's a substantive threat then there's another set of steps that you go through
determine what's going to be the response and there's like levels to substantive threats too um and you work your way down the levels and determine um the responses So that that group had is sort of our first group to go through
the training Again it was wasn't everybody that we would want to have on the team because everybody that we would have on the team would have meant we would have dumped the building of all the people who respond to a crisis should there be a crisis in the building And so we didn't feel like that was a good idea to do at our intermediate school our middle school and our high
school on a Friday Um so we pulled some of those people out Um so what'll happen next is actually just had a meeting about it today Those people will come back together over the next we'll start that I think we decided they start the week right work week work right after
April school vacation those people will come back together debrief the training so it's you know one of the great things we walk away with this great manual that's got the whole process broken down all the details it comes with a all these um customizable forms for you like
interview processes step-by-step um uh step-by-step steps um to follow as a district uh but to take these and customize them for DY So what's the DY version of this process going to be
and and then also what's our public facing version of this because it's also important for us to communicate should we get a threat this is how we will respond and for us to be clear with the public should this should we get any
type of a student threat uh an adult threat to the building this is how we're going to respond this team made up of these types of people and this is the process that they go through so that everybody understands that this is the process that we use and so that there's already another training scheduled for
the fall uh around the all cape in service day where we'll then get the next batch of folks so the folks that didn't go this time we'll send the next batch of folks but then when they're getting trained we'll have already the DY version of this in place so they'll
get the generic trainer same trainer She was fabulous Uh she works in Cambridge Um she was trained by the she was a fellow with the the person who created this but she works locally in Cambridge Um and so she'll come back she'll do the
training and then we will get the next batch of people they'll come back be integrated into their school teams uh and we'll have this DY process in place and then we'll work and schedule the next round of folks And then at that
point we'll probably have just about everybody we need trained and then by that point it'll be maintenance training going forward So that is that and that's you know part of one of the things I think I've mentioned I I
meet with the Cape Island superintendent once a month and I think everybody else stepped backwards and I was the last one standing so I ended up somehow as the chair of that group Um and so one of the things that I know I've been trying to
push as an agenda with that group is this type of stuff where we can work together and share um opportunities to train around like needs and school safety is one thing that we're all working towards And so this was this actually is an outgrowth
of those conversations where myself and the sandwich superintendent knew that this was something that we were both working towards So we worked collaborative and shared the cost of this training Um he hosted we participated and split the cost Um and now it's expanding to where the
collaborative has taken on the next round So the collaborative is going to host uh actually we're going to host it physically here in DY but the collaborative has gone on to organize contact the vendor The collaborative will then bill out to the districts So actually be even less expensive um
because uh more people can participate and instead of the cost getting split two ways it's going to get cost is going to get split over everybody that participates Um and it's um so anyways so these are just opportunities where we're trying to work more collaboratively as a as a group of
superintendents that have similar similar needs and not will every district participate no but more than two are going to participate this time So it's going to split split again split the the share the wealth for lack of a better phrase I think that is everything
Mr Glenn um thank you so much for that And um not only was that one of your priorities but that was uh a priority of the school committee Um and so you know
we can't drill home enough how important safety is for our students Um my question is and maybe it's in the collaborative vein but um financing and funding are always you know unfortunately we have to put a number on
everything this seems to be very reasonable and and you're sharing the cost But um is there any way that we can look into funding the same way like federal funding state funding where we do it collaborative collaboratively and
do we ever anticipate that we kind of line item it in a budget like is it just our cost of doing business like our lights or do we want to drill down and say we put this in the budget and and line item it
so I think it depends upon what we're talking about So when if it comes to like training like this I think we could we could line item the costs and this this wasn't this is actually fairly reasonable And in this particular case
um because of the staff that were involved we were able to actually cover this under um some some grant funding that that Maria had access to Um if we're talking about like so for
example I have an email from one of the two towns from one of the select board members regarding uh security cameras at our elementary buildings and then what that select board member is interested on moving some work forward there So
there's some interest from the town My thing is I don't want to just move it forward at one town or one elementary school right and and and we've raised this at our uh safety committee uh meetings as
well in that the elementary schools essentially just have one well not essentially they just have one camera at the entryway And now each of our elementary schools are laid out differently So it's not like we can say each school needs you know whatever 10
cameras It's more about and and I've actually tasked the committee is going to start working on it at the next meeting which was which was generated from this email on determining what's sort of the basic
um uh forget how I phrased it but like what's our baseline for an elementary school like what do we want for base coverage so as a simple example like we want the front door covered do we want the playground covered do we want the cafeteria covered the main hallways like
what are the sort of the the areas that we want covered in a K to pre-K to3 elementary school then we'll have to look at each plant and say because Ezra Baker is designed very differently than Station Avenue which is designed very differently than Emmy Small and that and
in order to cover those areas it's going to require different numbers of cameras in each of those buildings But if we say that this is what type of coverage we want then we can then start to map out what it's going to require to be for cameras in those buildings And then we
can go back as part of the capital plan and say this is what it's going to cost and then we can say is it a because part of the work of the capital planning will be to prioritize those items So is this
a you know whatever we come up with if four is the top and a one is the bottom or vice versa you know four is the top then is this a four is this a three is this a two is this a one where does this fit against all of our other needs yeah So that I mean I wasn't using it as a
mechanism to lowball you but to to get a a a showing of the community and to everybody to know that these are all of our priorities and I don't think there's too many people that would be against it but that we can maximize and get you
know use it as a mechanism to get all we can get instead of you know cost cutting because we all know that funding in in getting resources are all finite at some point So we have to understand that But if we let everybody know that that this
is a major priority and we're not lowballing anything So that that was the purpose of asking the question Yeah No Yeah I didn't I didn't think you were I I agree with you I just think we have we have a responsibility and that we have to organize and present the information Like I I don't think we can just show up
and say "Hey we need a bunch of cameras." like we need to be clear on like what is it we're asking for and what does that look like um we have to do our due diligence as well And then there are you know I know uh John and I had a conversation because I went uh
when I went to the the superintendent conference there was a presentation on uh I'm going to lose the acronym I think it's M COP There's a there's there's a couple of federal grants um which are
related to school safety planning and I know John's done some work with them in the past and I went to the presentation and they they make no bones about it It is a um how do I word this delicately it's
not an easy process to get just to get through the bureaucracy to get to the funding Right so you know without a full-time business manager at this time right it's like because I was like I was like all excited about it until they
really started talk They were like "Oh here's all the things that qualify." I'm like "Oh we need that We need that We need that." And then they started talking about "Well you know here's what you have to do in order to actually even get into the government grant process." I was like "Oo." Um do I really have time to do that like myself right now
probably not Um so it's I I do think we will be able to access because then it's another revenue stream in order to access that we won't have to ask the towns for It's just like I see that it's like right over that little horizon when we if I go back to you know the
superintendent report like when we get through that other little process of hiring a director of finance it's like something I can then say here's something we need I need you to get into that edg process I need you to get us the credentials we need because when that next round opens and quite frankly
a lot of that stuff just given everything that's going on right now most of that stuff hasn't opened even like it was supposed to have opened in March and hasn't but anyways that's neither here nor there once that stuff opens like I want us to be able into the
next round because it because we have needs and needs that we can meet with that funding Yeah Well that's why I was asking about collaboratively with the collaborative or with other districts Yeah To maybe go for that funding collaboratively But thank you so much
Yep Know as you're talking and I'm looking around this cafeterium and seeing five cameras and realizing we have more cameras in this cafeteria than we do at our elementary schools is is a hard thing to swallow
Um and with that I I know this was part of your superintendent goal five I probably should be better about this and I'll look at Miss Miller who may have an answer for me of when uh evaluations are due Um because I know it was prior to the May 20th election So I would believe
they are due in May And I could be wrong but we will make sure an email goes out The evaluation templates have been sent out So I know you've all worked on them already Uh but uh um I'll ensure that we have them resent out at links because they are due in May uh prior to the both
town elections so that all the sitting members now can give their feedback and valuations in the event that there is any changes in our board Yeah I'm pretty sure I'm scheduled it's either at the next meeting or the meeting after that to give you my final um uh evidence So
it's coming up soon It's right around the corner So just notice it said goal five and figured I should remind those who take a little longer or need the time to you could start filling out comments at any time and then um wait till the final one before it will be due
and we have our public discussion of it Um next we have school committee business enclosure Um we have a donation from uh the Rotary Club of Yarmouth I should have known that Rotary Club of Yarmouth
a thousand dollar donation uh for the DY horiculture club and the DY garden project Um I heard a great presentation a couple weeks ago about the horiculture club and the garden project They're building a garden at the front of the high school uh which will be doing a lot
of different uh programs They'll be working on a community garden over the next you know year or so Um but the seedlings and we had some they had some dirt that was donated which is really important But uh a really great project that I got to hear about But uh the Royal Club of Yarmouth donated a hund a
thousand dollars to help start some of that Um and then we had the minutes from March 17th on the consent agenda Anyone move the consent agenda i move the consent agenda
Okay All those in favor say I I Any oppose any extend bills requisitions and payrolls are all signed um calendars Um I know Miss Power is very excited about all the things going on the school Most importantly the half day on April 18th
and then the April vacation uh which is the 21st to the 25th Um and then we have our next meeting next week in uh before that vacation So that's calendars and public comment Our policy on public
participation at meetings can be found on the table in the back with the agenda Uh the public is reminded that a school committee meeting is a meeting of a governmental body at which members of the body deliberate over public business We welcome your attendance and appreciate your interest in reviewing your school committee as we conduct our
regular business meeting The school committee believes that the school district community should have an opportunity to comment to the committee on issue issues that affect the school district and are within the scope of the committee's responsibility Some questions you may have may have may some
questions you may have may not be within the scope of the committee's responsibilities In that case I will suggest that you send or give your question in writing to the appropriate person so that your concern may be given proper consideration Individuals may address topics on the agendas items specific for public comment or items
within the scope of the responsibility of the school committee This is an opportunity for individuals to address the topics on the agenda Each citizen will be allowed to speak for no more than three minutes Do we have anyone interested in speaking excellent If you can just give us your name um and then
you will have three minutes Just got to make sure the green light is on There's a button that says push Doesn't always work It's right below the light All set There you go We got Thank you Kate Gregory Um good after Good evening everyone Um a
little background I'm a forensic social worker for the court systems on the Cape Ben Islands and I um I have lived on Cape Cod most of my life in Dennis specifically I went to Desert Baker I went to Wixon and I went to DY myself
Moved away for a little while worked in the prison systems off Cape but I've been back for approximately 15 years And one of my roles was working in the school districts um various school districts as a school-based counselor um
with elementary age children And I'm here to um advocate for my son Cole Um Cole has been at the Ezra HBaker Innovation Preschool for two years He was moved into the second year of
preschool last year versus some of his um peers that were had fall birthdays He was moved because his teacher felt like he was ready to be in the sec the older group and all 11 of his other peers are moving on to kindergarten um this fall
Cole's birthday happens to be September 4th Um and I know this district I know 33 Massachusetts public schools have September 4th and further than September 4th as the cutoff ages
including Sandwich which is September 13th but the Dennis Yarmouth district is August 31st So I did reach out um first to the school um and then I reached out to Dr Smith Um and um I spoke to some of my
colleagues um one who went to the school committee in Falmouth and advocated for her son um to start school start kindergarten early because of the cutoff as well and um she had a positive experience going to the school committee
Dr Smith um explained to me that it would be something that I would have to go to the school committee um on I researched a little bit with the different schools and the different start dates and the school committees actually in Massachusetts do not need need an appeal process to um to make
changes or make exceptions for students uh when um there's a specific policy So I researched that a little bit um and I just feel like his teacher feels like he's ready to go on to kindergarten father and I um and my
mother who's lived in dentist for since she was pregnant with me 40 almost 48 years ago um feel like he's ready to go on to kindergarten and it would be very detrimental for him to not move on with his peers All 11 them of them are going
on and he's been with them for two years It's also only two hour and a half uh four days a week preschool that he's in And I feel like he needs more than that educationally And I'm really worried about him socially especially as my background as a social worker I feel
like he's been with these peers for two years Um he's ready to move on And that is my plea is that I'm not asking for a complete policy change I'm asking for I feel like education should be
individualized for each individual student I'm asking for an exception I believe all parents should be able to come here and plea their case to the school committee board So I'm not saying that I'm the only one that should have
an exception I'm saying that um if in my situation um whose child has been in the preschool at Azerbaker for the two years um should have a chance to move on Um I don't need
a full change of a policy Um but I feel strongly um and he will be five when school starts because Cape Cod I don't understand why like it's not September anyways The sandwich makes sense September 13th but Cape Cod schools I
think only one year did they start before Labor Day for some reason because of snow days Otherwise we could just wrap up We're just at the past three minutes You can you can finish state I just have to remind that's all I have to say Okay I'm just advocating for my son Thank you so much
Anyone else that would like to speak during public comment see anything from the committee we have a motion to adjurnn Would you like to make that i make a motion to
adjurnn Do we have a second all those in favor say I I Any