Welcome to the Monday, February 2nd, 2026 meeting of the Dennis Yamath 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. Um we are going to start uh with our student representative report and um a little um background of our our new student representative today. Um
with the assistance of Miss Williams, we were re we're able to recreate uh a student council in in ways of students from each grade level that will help be the voice of the students of the school. Um they have made the decision to uh
rotate the available students because a lot of our students are also in also athletes. They're also involved in clubs um and they have very busy lives. Um so we're going to have um a variety of students that will speak. Uh Dr. Smith and I uh will meet with them by every
other month to kind of talk about what's on our agendas and discuss uh things and our our goal is to to get them more involved and get their input. Um so they're going to be aware of what we're speaking of and they're going to kind of give their ideas to the representative
uh that will come each week and then um you know we'll invite the representative to um give feedback on some of the things on the agenda. Um, but they will continue to still give us uh an overview of, you know, what's going on in the high school in related to sports and
other activities. So, they'll meet with Miss Bennett to get that information. Um, but then Miss M Miss Williams will assist them in looking at our agendas um and, you know, offering input um as necessary. Again, they don't have a vote as the seven of us do, but they will be
another wave of a voice um as part of, you know, getting them involved um in what we do as a district and what we do as a committee. Um so, I've had the the pleasure of meeting Gladius a couple times um and I'm very excited that he was able to join us uh tonight as a
representative. So, I will pass it over to him to kind of give us an update from the high school. >> Thank you so much. Um, I'd like to take a moment to explain uh the school committee council. Uh, in compliance with state law, the high school has
formed a student advisory council made up of representatives from grade 8 through 12. This group of students will meet every two weeks with our faculty adviser and periodically with a representative from the school committee. Ava Deo will remain the
primary student representative to ensure that there is student representation at every meeting. This group will select a student to attend if Ava is not available. We will continue to update the committee on events and achievements at the high school. We'll also engage in
commenting on a regular basis uh to the school committee when issues of curtain of certain um issues arrive that students care about. Uh, also on a very bright note, uh, on Sunday, January 18th, the Dennis
Yarmouth Unified basketball team traveled to the Boston TD Garden as part of the Andrew James Lawson Foundation. Our team has played Barcel High School and we won 41 to 44. Was amazing. Uh
students are beginning to get enrolled into their second semester classes and electives and we are also signing up for spring sports on arbitersports.com as winter sports are coming to a close of course. Uh February 25th is a big date
coming up. Uh it will be the date of the annual college kickoff breakfast meeting and it will help introduce juniors to the college admissions process. Also on February 25th is the seal of biiteracy testing. This is a new opportunity for
multilingual students to be recognized for their proficiency in more than one language. Uh this will be represented as a mark on their transcript and a seal on their graduation diploma. Other than that, uh Dennis Yarmouth Regional High School has been reaching
some unprecedented heights. Uh thank you so much. Thank you. and it's like I knew what you were going to say but I didn't. So I'm glad that all the things I remembered were correct. Uh so thank you. Uh next we will move uh to very important
discussion is our tenative FY27 uh budget vote and then followed by that will be uh discussion on uh a 5-year capital plan. >> All right. Thank you. Um so going to go over and these two things are connected
because you'll see um some capital items in the cap uh in the in the budget proposal. So that's why we linked these two um for discussion together. But um so we're going to go over some
information that uh the committee saw in the January 5th uh presentation um and then some updated information. So again and and this is going to be really important especially over the next month or so because as the
committee uh will see we've we've got some less than you positive news from the state. So we're going the we're collectively going to have to make some difficult decisions and uh you know thinking about what what do we use as a
basis for decision- making you know really thinking about do these two big buckets right what are our strategic objectives what it is it is it that the district is trying to move towards over the next five years and then what are the values that are driving our decision- making and I think just really
trying to keep this at the center of the decision- making is going to be um really important as I've communicated out uh around the adoption of the core values. Core values are most important when you have to make difficult decisions. Um that's when your
values really start to show. So as an organization, it'll be important for us to really think about not only using them to help us make our decisions, but then also thinking about how we um execute those decisions, right? Um and see them all the way through to the end. Um the values will be really important
um in that. And then also as we start to think about what things are we going to prioritize and what things are we not going to prioritize really trying to keep the strategic plan at the forefront of that decision- making process. Uh so here we are in the budget timeline. So today is the day um the
committee will have to approve a tentative budget. Um and just this is by um regional agreement. gives the towns some general sense on where the budget is heading. And then that gives you um roughly 30 days to get to the final
budget, which can happen no later than 45 days prior to the first town meeting. Okay. So, um factors, we've seen a version of this slide before. the factors that are driving the FY27
budget. Um the predictable ones on the on the lefth hand side largely have not changed. Um we working towards implementing the pri strategic priorities. We have several contracts that we have you know uh predictable increases to
um and we do have some several settled collective bargaining agreements. things that still remain unpredictable uh is health insurance. The cost for health insurance. We're still carrying a 15% increase to health insurance. We
should know where that number is going to land from the Cape Cod Municipal Health Group within the next two to three weeks. Um uh but right now we're carrying a 15% uh increase to health insurance and that has been a a pretty pretty big cost uh in the current
budget. out of out of district tuition continues to increase at a at a rapid rate. We have a slide in here to show that and the projected cost as does the as does transportation. Out of district tuition includes the transportation for that but separately we have uh uh added
district transportation as well as mckin vento transportation. So it's trans transportation for students who are unhoused. this year uh in FY26 it's running approximately $800,000 um in costs just for McKini Bento
transportation and then we do have um some unsettled contracts the largest of that being for our DYA which is our educ uh you know the professional educators and teachers group and then the new one added which
we did not see coming uh was very low um state aid um unpredictably low state aid, which we'll talk about when we get a little further into the slide deck. That one uh caught us off guard. So again, just some again, we've seen
these slides, but just trying to keep the deck fairly consistent. I did take a couple things out just so that we get through this in a in a reasonable amount of time, but some of the things that do uh influence the uh the budget. So staffing staffing has been fairly
consistent. We did see a drop off in staffing after the 23 24 year going into the 24 25 year that was coming off the esser funding plus a couple of other factors but anyways uh but we've we have increased slightly since then but stayed rem that was some of the strategic
priorities from last year but again remain below that level from 23 24 and this is again showing where we stack up in the major categories for staffing compared to are Dart districts which
Dart is uh a tool that the Department of Ed provides which allows you to pick other districts based upon different criteria. So this is based upon districts across the state with similar demographic characteristics as DY. Um and again it allows you to see this is
based uh staffing per 100 students. So it's gives you a similar um ratio metric to compare across you know because some of these districts are bigger than us some of them are smaller than us. So it gives you a a common metric to measure across or to compare across measures of
not the right verb. Um this is student enrollment. These are the kids who are actually in you know in DY who come in and out of the district you know walk through the doors every day. um different than foundation enrollment uh which shows up later in the slide but so
these are the kids who come to school every day in DY we had a trend for five years that was heading in one direction um and has changed direction going into this particular school year the state as I think I've mentioned this here before the state has seen a rapid decline this
year in enrollment there's roughly 15,000 less students in the state of Massachusetts this year compared to last year over represented by um English language learners and students whose first language is not English. Of that 15,000 roughly 7,000 of those are
English language learners and roughly 4,000 are first language not English. We see similar patterns here in DUI um as the state and that it's the it's not like we uh
you know we're and that as of today that number has moved a little you know we're roughly 120 students down from so that number I haven't updated that number but overall we're about 120 students difference today than we were at the same date yet last year, right? So, just
trying to compare date to date, you know, these are October one numbers that are compared to each other. Um, so just looking at like the kids that were I looked at it today and whatever we are, we're at February 2nd. So, I looked at February 2nd today compared to February
2nd 25. We have roughly 120 students less in the district today than we did last year at the same date. Um, and but they're spread throughout the district, right? So it's not like, you know, they're all at a fourth grade, which would make decisions around
staffing a lot easier. When they're spread over 13 grades, it makes it a little bit harder to identify one particular area, uh, where we could potentially make a a staffing adjustment. I've shown this slide before, um, but
this shows FY25 compared to FY26, uh, where the class um, sizes have changed. And so, you know, from left column to right column, left column is the grade. And the next one is FY25. How many kids were in that grade? FY26, the
current year, how many kids are in that grade? And then the change in class is that group of kids as they've moved through DY, what's happened to that group of kids. So, the easiest way to look at is kindergarten and FY25. There's 215 kids in it. That group of
kids is now in the first grade. In FY26, there's 98 kids in that group. So that's a change in class, graduating class of minus 17 kids. But the kindergarten had last year 215 kids in it and this
year has 245 kids in all of kindergarten. So changing grade that's plus 30. And then there's no projection for kindergarten next year because it's hard to project kindergarten. And then what you can see that last grade, the last column is a projection
which is taking this year's current group and rolling them up. what's going to be the projected change in the grade level. Um, except the only one that's really hard to project is ninth grade. Between the choices that kids have in ninth grade, it's very hard to project exactly what the ninth grade class is
going to special populations. While our number of students have has gone down, the percentage of students who are high needs has gone up. uh high needs is bro is a is a desi created uh
category. It's made up of these four particular groups of students. Uh students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged. That's the very top line which that's held pretty steady over the last uh four years. 56 to 55% I think it's dependent upon the rounding is
whether it rounds up to 56 or down to 55. So it's a usually a percentage of or a decimal of 55. Uh multilingual learners uh has dropped slightly from 18% to 17%. Uh and the
first language not English has remained stable but where we've seen an increase is in the percentage of students that are uh identified as special education from last year to this year. And then this is the what I mentioned
about our out of district costs. These costs are projected to go up by roughly another $600,000 next year, which is a big cost increase. And that's largely driven a lot by tuition costs. As you can see, the tuition costs are in blue,
the transportation costs are in orange. Um, transportation has a big driver. Uh but uh we're seeing some pretty significant cost increases to some of the tuitions for next year as we're getting some of that information from some of the uh schools particularly
almost all dri by the schools are off cape. The collaborative the local collaborative is very predictable in their increase. the audit, the over the bridge um collaboratives are very uh are seeing some high some rapid increases in
their um in their tuition rates. Uh this shows where where does DY stack up on a per pupil basis and this this is inclusive the state uh provides this is publicly
available information and they provide it inclusive of all the ways that we spend money to support kids. So inclusive the general fund inclusive of our grants inclusive of the way we spend our revolving funds to support kids. Um this is the per pupil expenditure. Uh,
and this is where we stack up against the Cape all the other Cape Towns. And then the similar graphic, um, which does not print well apparently, but shows up a little bit better on the, uh, screen. But, you know, again, it's
every, uh, each little tiny sliver green line is is a district in the state. Um, so that is how we stack up against the entire state of Massachusetts. just v mostly just meant to be a visual to give you a sense of sort of just roughly where DY fits in uh with all the per
pupil expenditures uh across the state of Massachusetts. All right. So, last week, last week we had a a finance subcommittee meeting prior to the revenue information coming out from the state. And the purpose of that meeting
was to uh when when we met in early January, we had presented a budget that did not include any of the priorities. Uh we had presented a prioritized list from 4 to two uh and presented a budget increase that did not include any
priorities. Working with the finance subcommittee uh we're the Dr. Gillson and I were looking for some sense of direction from the finance subcommittee on what to include potentially. uh we had done some additional work with the budget and so between some of the
additional work with the budget and some direction from the school committee of the excuse me the finance subcommittee of the school committee uh is getting a sense of what to present tonight as some things for the committee to consider. So that is what the next several slides are
going to uh present to the larger committee. So again, just a reminder of our prioritization rubric. Use a 43 4 through one uh system. Four being the highest priority, one being the lowest priority. Um those are the descriptors
there. You don't need me to read them to you, but we had four items that were at priority four. um we determined we were able to pre uh fund the first item through an FTE transfer based upon
shifts in enrollment. So that was level funded and then the other three items the the subcommittee determined that we should fund those items but all level four priority items were recommended to be funded and included in the tenative budget.
Then when we got into the priority three items um is where started making decisions. So there were two additional items and these so the the the items that are on the priority four and this is where the
tie into the capital plan fits. The the three items that were on um that were priority four items are part of the capital plan as are these two items. um here in blue. Um they are also part
of the capital plan. However, um the recommendation made by Dr. Gilson and I and accepted by the finance subcommittee is that we don't fund these through the general fund and that we attempt to apply as a district for uh what's called
a federal cops grant. Um now there's no guarantee we're going to get it, but we can apply for this grant. this fits within the bucket of eligible um ways you can spend a cops grant and so we will the recommendation that was uh
put forth by Dr. Gillson and I and recommended further by the subcommittee is that we uh pursue the cops grant to get those two items moved forward in the district. Then the remaining items were deferred um to a to a later um to a
later budget. The next item on the next slide is the um working for the Chromebook replacement.
So as folks and this provides a I know there's a lot on this slide, but the point was here to show what I was trying to articulate. um that there's two costs associated with the Chromebook replacement. So, if you look on this um screenshot of the um
the workbook of the uh what's spreadsheet um you can see grade four and grade eight in the first bolded line. Normal replacement cost for our Chromebooks. We we replace uh our computers
what had previously been um iPads at fourth grade and eighth grade. That's where we do our normal cycle out. Um this year uh we started with replacing them with Chromebooks versus iPads. And I will I have a slide on the next slide
to explain a little bit more about that. So to continue that practice next year is $217,250. That's already built into the budget. As was mentioned in early January, the problem becomes when ninth grade
moves up into the those students now who are eighth graders, they keep their Chromebooks. They move up into the high school. I mean, they're in the high school, but they really start to mix in the high school classrooms. The eighth graders are largely self-contained in the high school is their schedule. The
ninth graders start to mix in the high school and now you have classrooms where some kids are on Chromebooks, some kids are on iPads, some teachers have Chromebooks, some teachers have iPads um instructionally becomes a challenge. So in for next year and next year only to
be able to outfit the entire high school with Chromebooks, there is a difference in cost uh of uh 200 Well, you have to add those two numbers together. 20 uh 49,385. All I have to do is look to the left. Thank
you. Um, so the recommendation is to fund the difference the $249,385 thou $385 out of END because that is a one-time cost. Um, and then the remaining amount would be out of the general fund because
that's a reoccurring cost. We re every year we have a cycle for Chromebooks, but this would be a one-time get the high school um switched over for the remaining grades. And this is the slide that backs up sort of why are we making the transition to
Chromebooks. It comes down to two things. One, uh determination was made. It's a better tool to meet the academic demands for the kids. Integrated uh better with our uh Google Chrome suite. It's got a built-in keyboard. Um and it
also happens to be a less expensive option. every year it's $90,000 less expensive than the current model when you look between a Chromebook versus an iPad. And then um the remaining priority three items was the K5 ELA curriculum
curriculum was the biggest remaining ticket item $738,312 recommendation again this is we can make a uh largely a one-time uh purchase. There's a lot of the items there will be some reoccurring costs that um uh for
consumables but we can buy as the committee has seen in previous years multi-year subscriptions for a lot of the items we can buy all the teacher books we can buy all the PD um all in a one-time oneshot cost so the re recommendation is
to between there's an old uh literacy revolving account which has $150,000530 $150,535 in it and then to supplement the rest of the cost with END and then there's we'll there are the
last several years there's been a desi prism grant which should be available sometime in May but and if we're able to supplement it with the prism grant then that would reduce the amount of ultimately that the committee has to apply to this but if we weren't able to
get that grant or that grant isn't available, then it would be $587,777 for B&B. Uh, and then the remaining items in purple are built into the this budget. They are remaining title, excuse
me, priority three items that were uh lowcost, high yield items. Um we have was a request for to add an FTE to the HR department. Um HR department has been as I mentioned in the last meeting has
been underwater for several years trying to keep up with the demand. We've been back filling with part-time people for the last two fiscal years. And when we did an analysis of what we've been spending on part-time staff, it really ultimately only ended up being a $20,000
increase to the budget to put a full-time person and in place of the part-time fill-in people that we've been spending money on. Uh there was a request to increase the subpay from what is currently $120 a day to $140 a day.
We can't make $140 a day work um without an impact on the budget, but analyzing the budget, we can make $130 a day work at no additional increase to the budget. Um
looking at there was a request to to create a reorganized central office and create a director of pupil services um and and not have two assistant directors of pupil service. That can be done. Uh again, reooking at the costs and savings in other places by only
having to add an additional $10,000. Again, also looking at the added district coordinator and the responsibilities there, we'd be able to reduce the cost of that ad. And then the after school coordinator uh position and then these are the priority two
items. None of these were included in the um were recommended to move forward. So in summary, what you get is uh what's in the budget is a total as
far as a priority items go. So these are ads essentially to just the budget includes current staffing uh plus these items. So, $467,000 uh from the priority four items,
additional $74,000 from the title uh excuse me, the priority three items and then a total END commitment to do those one-time items. So, it would be a separate it would not be part of your um
if you were to commit or if you were to agree to this, it would not be part of your operating costs, right? It would be you'd commit to um fund or you make a motion for a separate END um uh you transfer thank you to fund
these separate things as separate standalone one-time items not part of the operating budget and then there's a total cost of the pro the items that are deferred is just over 2.2 million
all right so what is that actually I'll think at this point I'll turn it over to Dr. you'll sort of run through. So, what does that bring us in the in the function codes? >> Okay, so the DESI function codes, we broke everything out and um if you look
at the FY27 request list, the total of all those function codes comes out to be $86 million 38845. Um and uh so um that's um the end of the
story really for what the operating budget is summarized. We're going to continue to look at other ways to constructively consider the line items. You do have in your packet this week
uh more detail. So if you you have to get past the budget slides, but once you get past the budget slides, you then have uh item level detail on each of those functions as well. So again, as we get deeper and deeper into this, we'll provide more and more backup and more
and more detail. So you do have that in the packet as well. We don't have slides for it, but you do have it in your packet and we'll take any questions on any of that stuff as well. So then next we go from so there's the
where we are today is an uh uh as Dr. should go mentioned an operating budget of 86,300, excuse me, thank you. 86 million. It's a big difference there. Um 38,845. Um
which uh we were able to uh get that number down over the last day or so with some investment in or some applying some retirement savings. But um and just and this is more based upon a conversation we had on Friday. We had a meeting with
uh the chairs of the town boards and committees and the finance directors from the two towns and the uh town administrators from the two towns. And so just on the way we were accounting versus the way the previous
business administrator had accounted, we just wanted to make sure we were being transparent on our budgeting process because we were accounting for salaries a little differently. Like we were including the title one salaries
and then backing them out and that wasn't how it had been done before. So, we've gone back to taking them out because it really made it look like the budget was even more inflated than it really was. When you add that $764,000
worth of salaries into that 86 million, it now makes it 87 million, right? So, it makes that budget increase look even bigger than it really is. So, both budgets have been supplemented by federally um funded salaries. So
anyways, but so when you look apples to apples, it's been we're currently looking at a just under a $6 million difference between last year and this year, which is a 7.447 budget increase. Now then you start to work through this
is where we've been impacted by the chap the state aid. So there was two challenges with the state aid. One was the chapter 70 increase was not as much as it's been over the last several
years. Part of that is state revenues down. Part of that is that we saw a reduction in the number of students, right, which impacts chapter 70. Um, and then part of it was something you don't see here,
which is that our charge our our assessments. So, state aid is a combination of both what we get for money and what we get charged for students who school choice out and
students who um uh go to charter school. Both the school choice out and the charter school out estimates are up and up like a good number. We're I I wrote all this stuff down on a different piece of paper that
I left on my desk, but um if I remember correctly, and don't hold me to these numbers, but it's roughly 30 more, they're estimating roughly 30 more students at a district um in school choice and from last year to this year.
And I forget the the charter school number, but it largely it makes a big difference. It's roughly a a um when you when you net everything out, the overall aid is is about $100,000 less than what
we got last year where we've been seeing almost a million dollar increase. So between that and the fact that we've been working on a multi-year step down on END with the towns, right? So last year this budget was supplemented two
years ago was supplemented by $500,000 in END. Last year was supplemented by $250,000 in END. So now zero in END, right? So all of those things come together. And if you look at the difference between the budget increase and the assessment increase, you see the
budget increase is a 7.44. 44 but the assessment increase is a 9.44. Um and that is due to a lack of or a decrease in revenue from the state. So more of that revenue needs to come from the town and a lack or decrease in
revenue from the district which was an END. So now more of that revenue has to come from the towns. So those are two of the bigger factors that are why you see that that difference between why it isn't 7.44 at the top and then 7.444 at the bottom. And so again, this is just sort of a
different way of depicting that. So we start with what our overall budget is right now. The state revenue came in much lower than we anticipated further compact compounded which I'm going to show you in a minute for Yarmouth because then we have to next
piece is the minimum local contribution which was a larger increase percentage-wise for Yarmouth this year. So that shifts the burden even further towards Yarmouth. And then the last bit is to split this all by the 5-year rolling average which
is just short of a 7030 split. It's like 69.547 to 36. I mean 39 and change. Well, again, I'll show you those numbers in just a second. So, this shows you it visually, right? So, you can see in the light blue that's since the
implementation of the Student Opportunity Act. And you can see that's our net chapter 70 money since the implementation of the since the implementation of the Student Opportunity Act. And you can see those rise. Now again, we didn't it's not like
all of a sudden we're not getting almost or almost almost $12 million in aid. We're still getting a lot of aid, but what we've been seeing is these large increases in aid that have helped
offset the increases that we've seen in all of our other costs. And so that we haven't needed to ask for those increases from the towns because the state has been helping supplement those increases. But not this year. This year all those
increases are hitting the assessment. Then this is the the required local contribution. Sort of my opportunity to continue to beat this drum, which is it. It's never consistent, right? It's never both towns either increase or decrease by the same.
It's very rare that it decreases I guess unless you have a recession sometimes but um but it never really increases proportionately. So so this is the percentage in which the um local contribution increases for one town or
the other. So Yarmouth in green Dennis in blue. So if you just look at the last three years, right, 2024, Dennis's minimum required contribution went up by almost 9% where Yarmas went
up by 6%. Both went up, but not proportionally. In 2025, it was an inverse. 2026, it was an inverse of that, which was last year. Dennis carried ultimately carried a a larger assessment increase than Yarmouth did
because of that piece right there. And now it's going to be the opposite. You'll see in a second because Yarmouth while both didn't go up a lot. Yarmouths went up at a higher almost double the uh minimum required contribution increase
than Dennis did. So again, overall assessment up about nine uh% for both towns. 9.4% for both towns, but it's not going to shake out that both towns are going to have an increase of 9% 9 and a half% because of that unequal graph
right there. This is the 5-year rolling average, which this year again 69.547 for Yarmouth and 30.457 for this is the third step in the assessment. um piece
and then this is right now as of today what the assessment projections are. So you start with that operating budget at the top, the 86,38,845. Take out those revenue pieces which I had on the previous slide. That gets us down to the total amount to be assessed 68,662,23.
Then you have to start with that minimum required contribution. So Dennis that their minimum required contribution this year is 14,560,512. That comes from the governor. We don't get to pick that. And it's a 1.6 in
change increase from last year to this year where Yarmas is a 3.419 increase. Again, almost double. Actually, mathematically, it's a little bit more than double than um Dennis's increase. So, their their minimum required contribution is just over 30
million. When you add those together and subtract it from the 68 million in change, you get what's left, which is that 24,52,000 and change. That 24 million then gets split by the
5-year rolling average. That 24 million times 30453 um gives you Dennis's remaining amount. And that 24 million times 69547
gives you Yarmas remaining amount. And then you just add it all together. So 14,560 time plus 7324 and change gives you the total assessment to Dennis at 21 million and
Yarmas at 46,700,000 and change. And you can see there then the difference we go if we were to go back several slides we saw the total assessment increase to the towns was up 9.4%.
Yeah 9.44% 44% I think if my memory is serving me correctly but the difference in the two towns now both of those are the towns have already instructed us those are bad numbers for both the towns but you can see there it's a harder
number still for yards because of the disproportionate minimum required contribution and then finally debt service is on top of that that this debt service is the one paying us down um this year because uh we finished paying off the high
school last year. So that's all that's left is the debt now on the on this building um and that by the regional agreement is split at a 6535 split. So that's how those numbers will shake out um for next year. All right. So what's that leave for
next? So next is we will incorporate the health insurance information once we get it where again they're um supposed to take their final vote like the second or third week in February which then we'll
have the solid numbers and um hopefully we will not see a 15% increase. Um but again that is what we are holding right now. Um, and then we're going to need to work, we've already worked to schedule a finance subcommittee meeting to dig into
some of these some of this information to work with the committee to sort of determine how can we meet um the towns at a number that that they can uh sustain. Um,
and we'll have to consider some options, some things that we've given some thought to and that the committee can obviously discuss. Uh are like for example that there's roughly 46 or no
not roughly there is $467,000 in the priority four items that are in the general operating budget are all facilities related projects. the um and they're all designed to move our
capital plan. The idea for building them into the operating budget was so that each year we would have a operational foundation to continue to address the
capital needs of the district. The committee could make a decision to pull those out and either a not fund them or b fund them through END because they are one-time
projects. We will then be in the same boat next year and trying to figure out how to fund the next round of capital projects. But it would that would be next year's problem. Um, other things for us to consider are
looking at for, yeah, collectively for us to look at are to look at and we we will have to bring you some of these details, but looking at potentially looking at class sizes. we have uh
reductions built or we don't have reductions built in to make uh like for example that fourth grade class is an FTE transfer where potentially we would just have to you know reduce that
position overall. I I can present all those options for you but I just need some directionality on what you want me to look at and not look at. Um and again we can look we can be hopeful about health insurance. Um and then like
another thing to consider is there this budget does include an increase uh in athletics because we've been underfunding the athletics account for a while. So does the committee consider uh balancing that with a revenue increase
instead? Consider looking at user fees? user fees has not been something that has been increased for athletics in a long time in the district. So these are all things to consider and discuss over this over the next roughly month until you have to make a final final vote vote
and we could bring you all sorts of options to consider and make determinations on. You know there are some retirements that we could potentially not replace those positions. Um you know that all has impacts right
um but we can those are all different options that we can present and present first to the finance subcommittee and bring back to the larger committee but there's you know we did some rough numbers uh again I have them on a different
sheet but it was it takes to get this to get the current budget down to you know a a to get it down A two and a half% assessment is like $3 million out of the operating budget. To get it down to 5%
for one of the two towns, it's like two two million%. So it it it's not small work, but you know, there's also some things that could have a large impact, right? The the the there's a lot of money tied up in health insurance. So
potentially that's potentially a big savings for the district if we get good news. That's, you know, it's a lot of ifs. Um and but we also have some time to make some uh
to get to the to the to the end of the run. Oh yeah, sorry. Move the chair. There's the wonderful thing. >> So, sorry for Vladus. I know there was a lot of information there. Um, and I'll give you a little bit background. Uh,
Dr. Smith, if you can go to the assessment projections with the bottom large two numbers. Um, on the bottom there, you see the total assessment to the town, the 8% to Dennis and the 10% to Yarmouth. Typically in a year the two
towns uh say recommend the increase be 2 and a half% um from the previous year. So a lot of times you'll hear about Prop 2.5, you'll hear about 2 and a.5%. Um so
obviously starting at 8% for Dennis and 10% for Yarmouth, we're way past that 2.5%. So obviously the town is aware of this. We've had that conversation with them, the first conversation with them. Um, and anyone watching this meeting, all three of you now see this number.
Um, and then when we upload it to our website, we know the phones will start ringing. Um, so what was tasked of us is obviously to see what we could do. The surprisingly the discussion of ED was not brought up. They they know we
they don't recommend us using END towards operating at the current point. um because they know with the Student Opportunity Act ending this year that that number that was lower is not probably going to increase. Therefore, there's we're only going to hurt Ourel
in future years. Um so just as a little bit so where we're starting. So we're we're in a situation that's not um but they were supportive of making sure that we keep the thing we need to do what we need to do to keep the schools where they are. So they were
very supportive of that and they understand that it's the other stuff that they asked us to look at. Right. So that's kind of where we are today which is again as Dr. Smith said cutting $3 million easy task and you know we I
wouldn't say we said it but we said it that we're not going to be able to cut $3 million off of our budget without impacting students and our programs. Um but they they just obviously asked us to look at everything else and that's why
um we have a meeting on Wednesday night uh to look at it again uh because when we looked at it last we weren't here. The these numbers are as of Wednesday night. So obviously Dr. Smith and Dr. Gillison and team have been working very hard to get to where we are today. Um
but again there's only so many hours in the day since then and uh a lot of us haven't had any chance to really to look at everything. So we'll open up questions to anyone um about anything Dr. Smith presented. Um
I know it's a lot to digest. Landers so right. So END not recommended to supplement operating but you know we are if we vote this
proposal then we are using END to fund some priority measures. So if you were to add into the budget the things that are fund that we could potentially fund by END right it's over a million dollars right that we're
now how much were we putting in how much would we put in in END total um >> that was currently recommended $800 >> $800,000 >> so we're not using END but we are right I mean if those things were put into the
into the budget Yeah, >> that would be an additional $837,000 in the budget to to keep our schools where they are, keep our students where they are, right? To keep, you know, curriculum on target and um
technology. So, just want to say that um what who has Chromebooks right now >> currently fourth minus like a couple of random parts here and there fourth grade and eighth grade.
>> Fourth grade and eighth grade. And so if we don't replace all the iPads, what does that look like? be fourth grade, fifth grade, eighth grade, and
ninth. So it's it's the ninth grade that's the problem because of the way they start to mix. So you have >> So the current eighth graders would be taking their Chromebooks up to ninth grade with them. >> So an eighth grader gets their Chromebook in eighth grade and they carry it with them all their experience
their their time. Um and that's hugely problematic >> from an instructional >> stand. Um and can you tell me more about I mean these are small items and in the big picture of things
but can you tell me more about an afterchool activities coordinator reser Baker? Yeah. So, that was a request from that building principal to um work on supporting I have to go back and pull up
all the details, but ultimately about um building uh family and community engagement at that school, expanding opportunities for kids to extend the school day. Um we have a a stipened
position at the intermediate middle school for that and somebody to coordinate uh like clubs etc etc and the person who runs all the signups is uh run is there beyond the day to make sure all the kids get picked up um runs all the
coordination of that. So they were looking to have that same site that we have here at this school also be able to be there so they could run um after school programs at that school.
>> Thank you. Please be >> Is there currently a capitalization stabilization fund that we created that we could tap or is the amount we it's new so it's not well funded to take care of these priorities?
>> No, it it is funded um and it's it's well funded. Um so the committee could make the decision to use those. You're also gonna have so to go back to to answer your question and to Miss Lander's question, um
I I do think having for the committee to have a strategy to thoughtfully use their makes some sense, right? because it hasn't been certified yet, but the committee is going to have roughly three
to three and $3.2 million in uh total after it gets certified this this year. Get we're waiting for the certification. So, um, you want to have some, um, a certain amount, especially as we're heading towards potentially the
Emmy small, um, building project cuz we're going to need if that gets all the way through and we're successful there, we're going to need to bond. So, we need that helps in our bond, right? So, you don't want to burn all that in our ability to bond. Helps with better rating, etc.
Um, and you don't want to just that's that is taxpayer money that we could use to get these projects done, right? So, and capital stabilization we could also that money can sit and
wait for an emergency essentially. That's about the same. It's about the same. It's about three about three million and it's earning some investment money. Um, but we're also going to be coming back to the committee with a different potent in the next month or
two um with an investment strategy for the capital stabilization which would potentially allow it to earn interest that the committee could then apply to projects like this down the road to help support the capital st capital plan. Um so but yes the long the short version of
the answer is yes the committee could use some of its capital stabilization funds if it didn't want to use it. >> Yes. >> Uh my other question uh you know I know we're required for regional transportation. We're a regional school
and so this is probably a very small savings but you know I know a while ago there was a study done and an a lot of analysis and it meant some changes in informing the community about those changes
um but then we changed finance directors so I don't know if there's a stage two you looked at some consolidation I mean maybe it's a little savings But I don't know if any of that is potentially in the thought process.
>> Yeah. So, we we're having trouble right now getting all the buses to school on time and so I'd have a hard time making an adjustment to the buses right now. Um I
I'm not unertain it isn't something we can potentially address next year. Um because we do have a plan to get better busing information this spring than we did last year. Uh we made some changes but they didn't have the impact that I wanted them to have. And part of that is
the information we don't have good as good information as I want. We put a couple things in place this year. um between the new parent square tool, the way we're using powers school, the way we're feeding things into powers school and having all of our parents set up parents powers
school um like parent portals like opening all that up. We did all that this year which now will allow us to collect um information this spring around bus requests and set up bus stops in a in a much better way this year. Um which will allow us we're not positioned
quite frankly to be able to do it this year. Um but by next year I do and then separately from that Dr. Dr. Gillson and I have had some conversations around specifically around the Mckin Vento transportation. Is there like we're spending a lot almost all
that money is I might even say all of that money if not I'll it's safer to say almost almost all that money is being spent on private transportation right so we pay a vendor to move the students around so we've had some conversation around you know would
we be better off purchasing something you know a vehicle and to offset some of those costs we're investigating that I don't have an it because it's not only the vehicle then you got to find a driver. So which
finding bus drivers is is not an easy task right now. So um so we are investigating those potential sus and then on top of that we've decided to defer the the out of district
transportation person. So it was $30,000 that we've decided not to do that would help the coordinator who would then find solutions that better. So we're continue to do it on our own on top of everything else. So it's a you know we had a plan for it but now we don't have the money
to have person do the plan. >> Yes, Mr. New. >> Thank you Mr. Chairman. Uh Dr. Gillson. Uh quick question. What percentage of the increase is due
to the transportation and benefits and fixed charges categories. I mean not not the increase that happened in that particular category but if we take all the categories together the increases in those two items line
codes what percentage of the increase did those two items make okay just kind of doing rough math here it seems that it's close to 40 plus% %. So if the overall budget is up $6
million, right? I'm looking at uh tenative So, I'm looking at a dollar difference in transportation is $900,000 roughly. >> Yes. >> And benefits and fixed charges is 2.2 million. >> Correct. >> Yes. Correct.
>> So, that's roughly $3 million of of the uh increase in our budget is due to those two line items. >> Yes. because um in uh benefits you've got the 15% that we added in for the health insurance and the transportation
the McKini Vinto um that is about $800,000. >> Right. So those those two line items we virtually have no control over. Is that correct? >> The the McKini Vinto is um mandated by law.
>> Right. and um that we transport if if the parents make that request that they'd like to remain in district. >> So, am I correct to say that $3 million of the increase that's happening in this year's budget is to due to factors that are beyond our control as a committee
and we're we're uh liable to fund to those levels. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. And so then what I'm what I'm asking is >> the overall budget increases close to $6
million >> um the overall budget increases. Yes. >> And so 50% of this increase is due to factors that are virtually beyond our control. >> Yeah, that is true. >> Okay. I'm just just for the public whoever is the one or two people that's
listening outside there. Yeah, you know, I want I want them to understand that what we're talking about here now >> is trying to cut the $3 million that's left in this budget package. >> Yeah. >> And all of that impact services
to the children of the district. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And then I just got one other side side note. I the per pupil expenditure chart, you can tell me if I'm wrong with this. I don't think it's something that that
should be included with a statewide because depending where you live on the state, the costs are different. So somebody that's living in western Massachusetts where housing, food, transportation, all those things are a far lesser amount as are the costs
associated with educating the student students in those schools. I I don't think that that is a a just comparison. So to put us on a chart like that, I like the chart that features just those schools that are on the cake. I think that's more reliable. And if you want to
throw in southeastern Massachusetts, you know, Ducksberry and and Passet and, you know, all the rest of those towns that are on the seboard there, I'm all for that. but including us with towns that are very small and very far away.
And I don't want people out in the public to say, "Well, you know, I I saw this town and you're way you're twice as much as that." >> Sorry. I think I think the point is just to show that like like the variability
even though we're like, you know, twothirds of the way down the line, like the variability is not really that much. Like when you really look across the state like visually like there's not a significant amount of difference between us even across Yeah. like if you go all
the way over to Bridgewwater aren't sure. Um but they're also right now dealing with classes of 35 to 40 kids in a class, right? So yes, you could have that, but there are consequences that come with that. Um, and so it's more
just to show sort of it's not like DY is all the way over there on the left where things are a little bit out of whack, right? It's just to show more like that we're, you know, the state's pretty consistent and we're pretty much in that same ballpark. We're not some random
outlier. And then when you look at to your point, like looking in a regional context, um, that's where we sit in the region. are still in the bottom third. We're you the the two towns get a good product for their their spending. Um you
know, within the the the couple below us, we're only a couple hundred per pupil, you know, couple hundred dollars per pupil and we'd be two spots lower. >> I mean, if if you take I mean, take a look at at Monoy uh down to uh UCT,
Upper Cape Tech, you know, we're all in the same ballpark. >> Yeah. and and I think that that is relative information that is important for the people of our communities. >> So, I'm just pointing that out. I, you
know, rather than look at that one chart where we're all the way over to the left in comparison, I like this better as being more factual and more important to us. >> Yeah. I just, you know, I I don't want to be u accused of sandbagging. I
understand. Thank you. And another point I'll I'll make um you know the discussion with the town of Yarmouth was Cape Tech had a large increase as well. Um they have 30 more Yarmouth students this year than they
did last year. Um so you know on top of the high increase again 10% we're saying now. Um and you know to look numberwise they expected 2.5. So they expected uh I don't know what the number was um but the difference is about three $3.3
million more. Uh they expect I think they expected 4 million 4.3 and we're asking for 3.3 currently. Um on top of that there's 800,000 that's above in Cape Tech. So now the town of Yarmas is saying okay so the DUI school district
is asking for 3.3 more than we thought and KEK is asking for 800,000 more. Um, so for schoolwide, so when they look at their school budget right now, they're in a $4.3 billion deficit from what they expect. Again, I'm not saying Cape Tech
has to do with us, but when the town looks at as a whole, meaning the taxpayers, schools are are $4.3 million up. So again, that's something again on the mind of the the town of town of Yarmouth. Again, to say that's not a
problem. It again it's education and so it does affects us. Um so when you know those big slides are in the room next door and you know one one school is asking for $800,000 more and we're asking for $3.3 million more you know depends on what order it goes in. Right.
Um so there's there's a lot of numbers and again that's why it's very important for us to continue what we do. Any other questions? Gladius any questions from you? I know I know it's a lot of information and we we uh s Susan
does a great job of explaining it and we have a lot of information but uh I just want to make sure that you know as we continue that we that you feel involved as well. Yep. Miss Landers, >> do either of you know Mark or Susan approximately what comes in from
athletic user fees? And you can get back to me on that. Just Okay. >> Yeah. I I think estimated I I I sent it to you on the spreadsheet. Look at us fees. Yep. Um I was generated was I
think under 20 at under 20,000. >> That's right. That's not >> No. >> Um and then I mean we're going to have to look at some right economies here. this, you know.
So, Mark, you know, I think, you know, we had some goals for class size across the district and keeping those consistent across the district and I think that for the most part, you've been able to stay within those parameters and keep the
class size within, you know, the recommended levels. So I assume that you know there's that you have looked at and you will continue to look at are there places where there are some consolidations
adjustments to be made that would still keep us as close as we can to those you know classroom sizes. I don't want to jeopardize that, but we're going to have to, you know, we have to look at and um you know,
uh bleachers at the high school are $300,000. Are they is that is that really a a safety situation? Tell me a little bit about that.
good to can we without necessarily fully leaving this topic since it's a subtopic could we speak to the capital plan because it's tied to the capital so I I think it's a a long-winded way to answer your question but I'd situate it in the capital plan and let Susan speak to the
capital plan because it's one of the capital plan items >> okay >> then then after that maybe if you have specific questions but I just I feel like I'd be answering >> you got yeah >> question before answering your question >> yeah since it's the topic and a subtopic. We can always come back and ask questions related to this
presentation. But to Dr. Smith's point, if we talk about the budget plan and why things were put in operating and why we talk about that, >> just need to make sure the operating Yeah. would be just somebody needs to move. I should
>> I can do >> well I don't you can do >> after the capital presentation >> it's all part of >> okay >> okay um as as Dr. Smith mentioned in the budget presentation the third strategic objective in the district was to address
the district's short and long-term facilities and capital needs by developing a multi-year capital plan. So um we have gone ahead and um I've worked exclusively um with the director of facilities um
and also um Dr. Smith in um going through and developing the capital plan and um these are not notable accomplishments um that occurred related to um all of our facilities over the
summer. Uh this is the high school mason repair project that was completed um previously and and our uh funding um basically our debt service funding um was uh dropped or decreased for this
year. Um capital plan uh we were looking for ways to influence policy with regards to capital plan. Um, and a capital plan should outline major facility, equipment, and infrastructure investments that have a useful life of
five years, cost $25,000 or more, and preserve and uh improve and replace school buildings, grounds, major systems, or long-term equipment. Uh, the one thing that we very proud of
this year was um this is our playground. You've all seen the playground, driven by the playground. Um, and it was funded by um, several funding sources which, um, you know, we want to thank the town of Yarmouth for that, but it was a
multi-year approach to funding was supported with a community preservation grant from Yarmouth through Yarmouth capital funds. Uh I had to um talk to our uh 240 grant uh for special education and actually complete a
capital expenditure uh request. They granted that. So we're able to apply uh funding from our 240 grant um and uh donations from the from the PTO. Now I'm going to take you to a website um that
will be released on the district um web pages uh in probably in mid-March. um so that you can see what these three links look like. There are many other ways or means to work with the website, but um I'm going to have Sam help me get to
those tabs. Um type in my email. Type in my email address. Okay. Oh, wait. Okay. Here we go. Okay. Well, um we may be taking you just to one of those tabs um so that we can get going with the meeting. Um and then
um Basically, we talk this is the um the easy view tab um that is um on the easy that will be on the website and the um basically all of the projects are identified here. Um the specifics of the
bleacher replacement project um it's basically to replace outdated and non-repairable bleachers at the um Dennis uh Yarmouth High School. the benefits of new indoor bleachers for schools. It's enhanced safety. Modern bleachers meet current standard code
safety safety codes and they reduce the risk of injuries. Uh space efficiency. Um the telescoping or retractable bleachers save gym floor space when they're not in use. Durability. Um new materials resist wear, weather, and
damage. Lowering maintenance costs. Accessibility designed to comply with ADA standards. um ensuring all students and visitors can access seating. Um aesthetic upgrade, you know, that's the for a modern look. Um and um increased
capacity. Basically, it can accommodate more spectators safely during games, assemblies, and events. Okay. Um so um Okay. So um looking at that um
basically um without replacing these it's a safety um and so that what is why it gets priority uh priority and so let's go back here to the capital um improvement um that's the playground
basically what we did was we had we ranked the priorities of the all um all of these projects Um there were three district um leaders that ranked everything. Um we had a score of one to
four and uh basically gave each uh a weighted uh o a weighted uh rate ranking on the score. Um, in terms of the capital plan projects, um, basically right now, um, we actually looked at the
bleacher replacement and the gym floor refinishing as one number. Um, and then, um, the fire alarm panel at the high school and then the two SAPE burner replacements. Okay. And so, um, we developed a
priority ranking system to arrive at those. and um you know the through year five um these are the priorities up to through year five um action that we've taken. Uh the other pieces that we've looked at is um Dr. Smith talked about
um you know creating a stronger funding stream. Right now we do have $3.2 million in the capital stabilization fund. Um we are looking at um yeah continued um talks right now with um an
investment firm and we will present more um to you on that in about a month or two about how to grow our money in that investment fund. We're looking tonight to have you take a vote um in taking the user the user fees that were voted on
last time and actually putting them into a fund so they can build um and and move towards turf fields uh usually take about 15 years before their life expires. And so, um, hopefully after the
rentals of the turf field, hopefully we'll be able to, um, increase, um, the monies that we have available for replacement. Um, we've worked with local, state, and federal grants. Um, for example, the 240A
grant was used to help, uh, fund the Station Avenue playground renovation project. The other uh, the other piece that we're looking at is uh, utilities. how utilities can be um uh basically
help us with the savings. Um and I'll talk about that in a in a little bit. Um bonds are another one. Um and um and just in we're going to continue to work with the towns in terms of the capital
projects. Um again um the um basically we looked at um let's see um basically creating some active revenue from energy savings. So we actually brought in a uh a company to do an audit of the high
school and um we looked at uh GAF electrical. This is the chart of the the um yearly um basically all of our energy bills over the span of the year from October 24 to September of 2025. Um so
we had them look at look at what the potential savings might be. Um basically, um they evaluated that our current annual spend at the high school on gas and and electricity is um about
$530,000,000. And so what they're recommending, they think that by um applying um a strategic like a smart thermostat um that we might be able to save at at the very
uh least we might be able to save um a year 191,000 um dollars. And so, uh, basically the features of that smart thermostat, they're talking about energy optimization. And so, it's a system that
they have that is unlike any other in the country. They are sole source procurement. Um, which means that um, they are the only ones that have this. Um, it's a it's a device um that, um, connects with online weather. You can
integrate it with the high school scheduling program. it can integrate with our facility scheduling program and um they have gone in and looked at all um 204 HVAC parts. HVAC is is an
extremely expensive um the expensive in terms of contracts um supplies any type of repairs. Um and basically what the company is saying is if if there aren't any savings they do not charge us. Uh
basically what they do is they take um they take a percentage of the savings for a three-year period. It's a conservative estimate that should be paid off. And if that's paid off um you know and we've looked at data from
multiple school uh districts nationwide and that has given us um basically it's given us confidence in in the fact that we might be able to use this. We'd also like to um use it um as
maybe a way to fund or increase our savings and be able to apply that to capital project revenue potentially. Um so um so um anyway, so that's one thing that we're looking at. We can do the
same sort of audit on the middle school building. So we have two places. So we are hoping we could really um garner some savings with um looking strategically at electricity and and gas. Um so um again um we're also
looking at promising grants um and uh like the the community preservation act which we drew on this year again to fund the res the um renovation of a playground and um as uh Dr. Smith mentioned um there is a grant from the
US Department of Justice uh they usually announce whether it's available in the spring um and um it it does we're looking at that to basically um potentially apply to try to fund the security camera upgrade um and the
Genitech security upgrade. So, the ma the maximum amount that you it is a matched grant. The maximum amount from what I understand they will award is like a $500,000 amount. Um and um whether or not it's been available the
last several years. Um and across the country um and there's typically one school in district in Massachusetts that will um end up being a recipient of that grant based on past history.
Okay. So, um, basically, um, what I would need from you now is to basically take a vote to approve this capital plan and um, also to approve the definition
of the capital plan so that it becomes a part of policy. >> Okay. Well, there's a there's a lot of information there. There's three things that we're looking to vote on tonight. One would be, and again, we're would be voting on our operating budget amount
that would not include debt service. We're looking to make a vote on approving this capital plan. Page one, it says 2027 to 3031. I believe it's 2031. I would I would assume it's a fiveyear, not 105year. Um
what what I want to note which was what I what we explained to the both towns this capital plan is not saying we're taking the money from either capital stabilization or or capital or END the funding has not been decided for all of
these projects as we said some of them may be through grants some of them may be from a town that it it could be any of those sources but we've been asked to do a capital plan for many years. We purchased the program the town of Yarmouth uses that every piece of
equipment we have in the district is in it and what its value is and when we expect to replace it. All of that information is in there. The town can see it. Um but we need a plan of what we're going to do over the next 5 years, right? So what we're expect
non-emergency to spend. So we need to vote and approve a plan um of what we're plan to replace over the next five years. again how the how the money is going to be spent again could change um but just to give a a broad overview and
Dr. Smith has some more too. >> Yeah. So what we're looking for is the approval of on 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 slide seven and eight which is the prioritization of FY 27 through 31 those projects right
years 1 through five that um the capital planning subcommittee had given direction. Yes, these this slide and the next slide the the capital planning subcommittee had asked the the leadership team to go back and do
prioritization and then bring it to the larger committee that these are the items in this order that we want to try to work on and again funding will be a different I you know different issue. We put those
first those five items. We tried to get them into the budget this year. Some of them didn't make it. So now they're going to become year two items. And that's the way a capital plan works. But at least we have a the idea is we have a plan. These are the things that we see as priorities. And then you know next year we're going to have a year six
which will become a year five because year one becomes you know the new year year two becomes the year new year one. But we need to have something to start with and and then each year we'll bring you a new version of this and we'll look for approval of this is where our current plan sits. Um and this is what
we believe are the priorities that we're working on. And then we'll then this we can then bring out with us when we go when we meet the two towns and we can talk about this is what we're working on see priorities over the next five years. Um that's part one. And then part two is
go back two three slides up up one more right there above it right above it. Yeah. >> Um is a definition because there is nowhere in DY where it is defined what do we mean when we say capital. So as a as a committee we need a policy a
financial policy. What is it that we mean when we say capital? What is it that we're going to put in for capital? And that we would recommend that this is what you adopt as your policy financial policy for capital which give us
direction. Those are the two things we're looking for specifically with this. And then the third one to Tomas's point would be the the tentative approval of the operating budget. Um so we need to communicate that to the tenants.
>> So are you looking for us to vote also this capital plan definition or is this something the policy subcommittee is going to take from here and make create that policy? >> If you would like we could take it and run it through policy subcommittee. We'll take whatever direction that you
all would like. I I don't know if we're able to adopt a policy that hasn't come from somewhere is my question. If we're creating a policy of a definition of a capital plan, I think we could agree tenatively
tonight that, you know, this is this is what the committee believes should be in a capital plan. And then yes, I think the policy subcommittee should be um should maybe draft a formal policy that's not just the definition, but how
we're going to, you know, sort of function on it. And I have a question of >> Sure. >> So, I've been over here making a bunch of faces because I'm really confused why this didn't go back to the capital subcommittee.
They my understanding and you can speak um correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is the direction from the capital. >> Okay. So >> no I'm on the capital subcommittee >> right and I understand we you had asked us to prioritize the projects and then
to bring it back for to full school committee >> to full school committee. >> Yes. Is that your recollection? Glen, who's on that? Oh, John. Right. Sorry.
>> You are. We met that. We've only met once >> back in the fall >> and we talked. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yeah. >> John doesn't even remember he's on the committee. So, I'm not going to rely on John's memory. So, >> yeah. >> Got it.
>> Okay. So, I mean that is not my recollection >> and I'm and I'd be surprised if that's what we had agreed on just because normally a committee reviews and makes a recommendation to the full committee and
I can't make a recommendation to the full committee tonight from the capital subcommittee without us meeting and reviewing all of this. So, I'm not sure I'm not sure. >> I'm wondering if we can at least
um begin a discussion of a plan, the definition, and then direct it to the policy committee that would then elaborate of the process to present the plan. But we're starting at step one,
just recognizing that we need a formal plan and then language that would be further presented by the policy subcommittee. >> So based on Smith, you have something to say. >> Yeah. So I'm just thinking procedurally.
So because I think there's two things that play, right? One I think is a policy piece and then I think what I'm hearing from Miss Landers is she'd like the plan itself to come back before the capital subcommittee. So I think we can make both think again I think there was
just a miscommunication, right? So I think our understanding was that the the direction was from the first presentation was for us to prioritize and then bring the prioritization back to the whole committee for a vote and it was just a I think just a miscommunication a misunderstanding. So
that was the direction we took and that is why we're here today. So that being said, we can bring create a subcommittee meeting for the plan and have
the subcommittee review it and make a recommendation and have it come back to the larger committee through the capital planning subcommittee. have that group make a recommendation as part pathway one and pathway two can be
that the policy subcommittee can make a recommendation for a polic financial policy for defining a capital yeah for defining capital and anything
else that I'd have to do some thinking exactly what that else would need to be in the policy but if yeah process and I don't want to make extra work for people and I'm not here to add layers of red tape and I'm just you know
I'm I'm a little bit at a loss to you know say that this was like I can't say this was vetted by the capital subcommittee and that we have a formal recommendation. I mean the other members sitting everyone sitting here tonight can make up their own mind based on this presentation if they want to accept this
you know if someone wants to make a motion to accept this capital plan as presented without a recommendation from the capital subcommittee that can certainly happen like I'm not you know I'm not going to gum up the works here um but that leads me to a question which
is if we decide to hold on this vote tonight on this capital plan. We're not holding up the budget. I mean, we can still vote on a tenative budget tonight and we can come back. Okay. >> Yeah,
>> Mr. New. >> Thank you. That was my question. Was this vote going to hold up the overall budget process? It's not going to. So, there's no urgency in this matter. And um as now I'm remembering I am part of
that subcommittee. I would be in favor of having another meeting and we could discuss it as subcommittee and give it the rest of the board. >> As we say, it doesn't affect there are items on here that we've discussed moving to capital. Um, however, that
we've done that in the past without having a 5-year capital plan. So, I I don't think that should affect our budget and our idea of utilizing capital funds for items that have been listed. And and I do want to say now that my memory is coming back, it was a great
meeting and I was all I was all in favor of capital improvement plan. >> Yeah. I mean so and all of these things were presented at that time. So for sure and and that we showed you the website as well. Um you know so um the the
direction that I heard um was to actually prioritize and you would vote on the prioritization. So, and and I apologize that that was, you know, me miscommunicating at that meeting as to who needed who I thought,
you know, should take the next vote. >> Yes. And I I for us it's just we um it won't it might inform the committee's decision around where you might want to fund particular items from, but it won't
impact the budget process. And uh it will having a capital plan a as part of our strategic plan. So continuing to move this work forward is important and um it helps as we transition from communicating with you
all to communicating with the select boards and the finance committees because they're hungry to see a capital right. of, you know, continuing to move this work forward is but, you know, having it in draft form and then eventually it'll become um voted and
approved. You know, we'll just share it in whatever form it's in. >> And the two towns are aware that we're working on it. They're both very happy because they've asked for it. Um, and we've shown them this draft. So, they're aware that we have ideas of what we want
to do. And again, they're questions of how you're going to fund it. and we we we can't give them that answer because we don't know what grants we may get each year. We don't know um you know different things and you know there was discussions on them about funding and there's a lot of things we still need to look at. Um and at some point you know
we'll probably have to create how we're going to uh policies on how we're going to use some of the funds like the stabilization funds. There was recommendations from the towns on what money was used on that. Um, again, something we don't have to worry about now, but uh, but I make a motion that we we table both the the vote of the uh,
capital plan and the definition of the capital. We have a motion in a second. Any questions? Mus. >> Um, the only thing I I guess it's not a question or request. I hope this committee can meet within the next
couple of weeks because if we're going to make tough decisions on the final budget, we may take everything that is in the operational budget and decide because we have to make changes all those fours um and put them on the
capitalization fund. So I I would really like or hope that that committee can meet within the next two weeks before we finalize our budget. >> Can I Well, I take the vote first. So no other questions about Okay. So all those
in favor of tableabling the the two items say I. Any opposed? Any abstain? So we'll table those two items. will give both those specific committees time to um review and make recommendations to the full committee. Um we appreciate the work and I said with lots of stuff going
on, lots of communication uh can be um things going on misunderstood. So we're glad we have these meetings and we can again do our best to make the time to make decisions on these. Um but we we will still make a um our tenative uh
budget vote on operating budget not to include debt service. >> Um I make a motion to approve a tenative operating budget for FY27 of 86,38,845.
>> We have a motion and we have a second. Any discussion? And Dr. Gilson confirm that that number is correct before we make the vote. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. >> I know we took it right from your numbers but
>> and again what what we have learned is that our tenative budget vote can go up and it can go down. Our final number cannot. Obviously with the numbers the way our in the town our goal is not to increase our operating budget but that number can change between now and our
final vote. Always gets the question of that. Um, so we have a motion and a second. All questions have been answered. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstain? So, we officially have the number that we can give the two towns and I know that our finance committee
will meet in two days to review uh possibilities of bringing that number down. Um, and then we'll look. So, thank you. It was a lot of information. Um, but we appreciate everyone's time and making sure we have right information. And then it looks like we have information about our Q2 budget report
and our general ledger. >> Yes. And um this was like something I was going to present like last week. So um the snow kind of blew that blew that away. Um but um the report has not changed. It's straight from the fiscal
ledger. Um and I'm going to again the format is the same as I presented for quarter one. Um, so I'm going to highlight um, this is the district summary of the financial position for the period from July 1st through
December 31st. And I'm going to go through and really look at this. Again, um, the key words are, you know, what did what was the budget appropriation? That's the total amount approved by the school committee for each major account at the start of fiscal year. Expended
means the amount that's already been paid out for salaries, goods, and services. Encumbered means funds that have been committed through purchase orders, contracts, or salary obligations but not yet paid. Um, and what I also um
in terms of amount remaining, it's the portion of the appropriation that's not yet been spent or encumbered and remains available for future use. Um, so all of these categories provide a snapshot And um the second quarter budget summary
basically says the budget um what began at 84 uh438405 across all major accounts. Um at the end of the second quarter the district expended um 35.9 million and encumbered
uh 43.9 million leaving um 4.58 million uncommitted. and overall spend spending patterns are consistent with expectations for this point in the fiscal year. And um the interesting
thing that I noted in the first quarter summary was that basically the over the year there would be a transition meaning that um incumbrances would dwindle um and flow into expended lines and that um
that absolutely did happen and our rema amount remaining in our budget um is you know as of December 31st was4,576,00 248. So basically there's 5.42% remaining at the end of quarter 2. Um so
um again um you know there's the highlights uh for each major account in the DESI function codes. You're more than welcome to to read that. Um and I um looking at um the continued question
where are we um with our spending? So um our Where are we with our spending? As of um December, um we were right aligned. And if you look at our trajectory of our spending history, this
is the the green line represents 26 spending habits. So the next quarter, um you know, hopefully we'll continue to maintain that trajectory and it looks like we're right on target um in terms of uh monitoring our budget. So, um,
again, I always like to do a verification reference, um, with what's in the, um, with what's in the general ledger. We provided you with all the pages of the general ledger if you, um, are are looking for, um, some additional
bedtime reading or examination of the lines. Um, but again, um, you know, the, um, we started with this amount. um we um encumbered this uh this amount and
the amount remaining is 5.25%. So um and that was as of December 31st when the general ledger was printed. Okay. So um if you have any questions um that's great. Um if not that's also
fine. >> Any questions for Dr. Gillson? >> Perfect. Thank you so much. Next, we'll move the school committee lesson on select board. Anything from the town of Dennis?
>> Uh yes, and it's encouraging news or the next phase. I think I mentioned in late uh August or September that there was a committee formed and they were moving with sort of a design image of what a community center should look like for
all ages in the town of Dennis. Well, tomorrow night at the select board meeting which starts at 4, it's the first item on the agenda. There is going to be a presentation from the architect who's been asked to sort of render a
plan, a design and cost implications. So, it's moving forward for those students who ask for it. It's moving forward whether it comes to fruition, but this is one of many steps. >> Thank you. Also for the town of Dennis,
um originally Dr. Smith was on the agenda to discuss the budget, but after um the numbers came out, uh we've asked to be moved so that we have time to review it. Um so we will meet with them at a future time. Um Dr. uh Smith will
talk about it shortly but uh he is scheduled on the town of Garmouth's uh scheduled for tomorrow to discuss u and updates on any small feasibility study and to follow up from a previous meeting of that. So then we move to superintendent
report. >> Thank you very much. All right. Um starting with uh acknowledgements and recognitions of donations. So starting with the acknowledgement, I just want to start uh read a note from Mr. Beino. Mr.
Vino would like to thank the Rotary Yarmouth Rotary for recognizing and honoring the very first middle school rising star uh at an award that highlights student growth, perseverance, and character. Mr. Bevino and Mr. Steel
uh proudly nominated Gavin Foreman, a seventh grader uh at the Dennis Yarmouth Middle School for this distinction in recognition of his remarkable turnaround and commitment to the school. After facing attendance challenges in his earlier years, Gavin has achieved a 99%
attendance rate this year and continues to demonstrate steady academic growth, including strong performance in English language arts and a return to grade level expectations in math. Gavin's journey reflects resilience, determination, and a positive impact on cons and of consistent support and high expectations. Yarmouth Rotary has been a
consistent um supporter of the schools. They provide um a rising star recognition for our high school students for sure for a long long time. I know ever I've been going ever since coming becoming superintendent in DY. So um it's great to see this opportunity
expanding to middle school as well. Um, so I know this is the first and my understanding is uh it's going to continue as a practice. U I know yeah I know Tomas is a a member of the Rotary so I know they're planning on continuing this practice. So it was great again just a great another opportunity to
highlight um our students here in Dw. Uh the as you all get to the consent agenda you'll find numerous uh donations. I mentioned in January that there was going to be several more coming that we'd received multiple donations during the holiday season.
Mentioned during that meeting that the holidays for a lot of us is a great op great time of the year and for several families it's a difficult time of the year um to get through and that our community just continues to come through during those times. Um so just really
want to highlight the this sort of rounds out all the donations that came in during that time of the year. you know, you'll notice um two particular related to that. There's two buckets of donations that I want to highlight. One is over 8,000 dollars of donations and
gifts that came into the middle school to support families in need. And then like too many different types of gifts that came into the Baker School. It is like a it's a two-page memo worth of um items that came into the Baker School uh
of gifts and uh between money and gift cards and clothing donations and toys, etc. There's just a laundry list of items that came in. And then on top of that, you have uh which I'm going to speak to and um my thunder was already
stolen um by Vladius a little bit, but uh two different donations that came in to support uh the the unified basketball team and their trip up to the TD Garden. Uh so one that was uh a straight
monetary donation from three different folks, but then also another one that went specifically to outfit the team um going up. And then the last is they've come and presented uh the the boys, quote unquote, the boys and their and their annual golf tournament um that
goes to support the athletic um uh fund at the at the high school. but they donated uh another $15,000 to support the athletic uh fund at the high school. So, that donation is also in the packet. So, again, I know I say it I'm like a
broken record with this, but it just it really shouldn't go without saying every time, but our community is just really outstanding. Um they provide such ongoing and just remarkable support uh to our schools um
in a wide variety of ways. It's just another example. Um, next on the uh my list of items is uh as Tomas mentioned uh tomorrow night I'm on the agenda to go in front of the Yarmouth select board to discuss the ME
small feasibility uh study. So a couple of things just to update the committee. one I on Friday afternoon received uh several bits of documentation from the MSBA uh like the formal documentation that
will invite us into the feasibility study. So, we've been waiting for that documentation uh later this month. we uh will be the actual meeting with the MSBA board of governors uh uh to get the actual invitation in, but there's
paperwork, the feasibility study agreement. We have to get something from our local council, essentially verifying that we do have legal counsel. Um but several of those documents, including the feasibility study, I'm going to bring through legal counsel, have them verify. Um, and then there's a
couple things that I need to ensure u or get legal counsel's uh advice on. So, I've sent that off to them mostly around who's the governing because a couple things have to run through approving governing body and I
just I need to have them look over the um the language that you all already created when or the the motion that you all had or what's the word I'm looking for? motion that you all made when you
created the Emmy small building committee and whether or not you gave them the authority to make certain decisions or whe whether or not this particular it's ultimately who is the group that has to vote to approve the feasibility study whether whether it's
you all or whether it's them. So anyways, I just need to get that determination made. So either I'll be bringing it back to you all to approve it or bring it to them to approve it. They have a meeting this month as well, the um the building committee. But um so that that is all sort of in process. Uh
like I said, that just came on Friday afternoon. So I've been going through that, send it off to the attorneys today. Um we'll get advice and direction uh in the coming days from them. And then uh again, I'm going in front of the select board tomorrow. This is in um to
help address some concerns that have come up both through the select board and through some public comment around the feasibility study, the direction of the feasibility study. Um and some comments that were made at a meeting in
December. Um, and so I'll be presenting some things that were already discussed actually in our last building committee meeting, which is really just try to help hopefully come some of the concerns
that the feasibility study is essentially like a foregone conclusion and that we that it won't study a wide variety of alternatives. um that you know I have actually have a
whole presentation prepared for the um uh for the select board but I've grabbed a couple of things from MSBA has a whole bunch of supporting documentation from their regulations to their requirements to uh there's more paper digital paper
on their website than um one human could probably process in their lifetime. Um but um couple of things that I'll be I'll be reminding and and really drawing people's attention to is that MSBA is is and they uh repeat this phrase multiple
times is they're they are looking for the most cost effective and educationally um appropriate solution but they talk about cost effectiveness all the time. Right? So there because there's been a concern that we're sort of going to end up with this runaway
expensive project, but MSBA doesn't want to spend any more money than an MSBA wants to. That's state because state money is backing this project as well, right? So they talk about multiple times that they're looking to that. Two, that it's a project that's done in collaboration with MSBA. You can't just go off on your own. Everything has to be
done with approval and in collaboration with MSBA. and you can't get out ahead of the MSBA process or or you run the risk of losing MSBA funding. Um, and then there's again a sort of a concern that the project wouldn't
explore enough alternatives. um that's sort of been a concern that's been raised and right in the initial sta stages of the feasibility study is going to be what's referred to as a pre preliminary evaluation of alternatives which is the designer that ultimately
would be selected by the the district is going to have to explore a wide variety of potential alternatives that before they ultimately the committee the building committee selects the um the
the um like the best solution, but they have to be presented with a wide variety of alternatives first. So, the concern that it's just going to be a foregone conclusion that we're going to only end up in one place and we're not going to
explore all the potential options and all the potential ways the district could solve this problem is not the MSBA process. because the MSBA if ultimately you don't have to build the school then the MSBA doesn't want you to build the school. Um so exploring all the options
is part of the process. Um, so really I'm hoping tomorrow that I can sort of set some of the concerns at bay um by just presenting the facts, presenting the process and helping people understand that there is a process and
the process is designed to set some of these concerns at bay and to present people to present the committee which is another open meeting in which we we you know we post all those meetings online.
um to allow the public to see all the alternatives and present the public with all the information and see the process in an open way so that when ultimately you get to whatever the preferred solution is that people can see that all the alternatives were examined before
you. So that's what I'm going to do tomorrow. Um, I'll take whatever questions come from the board as I get there, but really trying to hopefully calm turn the temperature down a little bit on the conversation. Um, and then lastly, um, again, thunder
stolen a little bit, but, um, one of the best experiences I've had in the last couple of weeks was, uh, couple weekends ago going up to the TD Garden, watching our unified basketball team, um, play against the Bar Unified basketball team.
And the rivalry lives on, but DY, as was mentioned, did come out victorious. Um, was a back and forth game. And it was it was really like CD does a They they did a great job, right? I mean, like everything from like the highlight reels were running like while
the you know, the kids are, you know, you start the longer you're sitting there, the more you realize it's going on. You know, the kids are going up and, you know, scoring and then running the court's running down and then it's just like as if you're at a Celtics game, but you know, the highlight from the kid just making the shot is running on the running on the scene. The the cheerleaders were in the corner doing
their cheers and again they're showing like highlights of the cheer. It was just it was like such an amazing and DY was there like they showed up like there was a ton of people in the stands. It was just it was really a great great experience and um you know I put it out
in my district-wide newsletter, but just for the three people that are watching now like so much credit needs to go to Miss Wise like she she it was the catalyst behind making the whole thing happen and you know and it's not
um it's not a light lift to take you know a whole team of exceptional learners ers all the way to Boston, you know, organize an event like that in an un unusual learning space, right? And get them all
the way back, right? And and she did. She took on that task and and you know, as I said to her, she created a memory for a group of students and their families um that didn't h couldn't have happened any other way, right? She and she made that
happen and she deserves all the credit she um she could possibly get for creating that experience. >> Yeah. And he was well he was there. >> He was on the court. >> He was on the court. >> Let us uh I went as a representative
from the robotics club and uh we and my friends at the robotics lab in the library. We collaborated to create a kind of like robotic arm that would go on uh Mave Tierney, a student in a wheelchair. It would attach to her wheelchair and the ball would be placed
on her lap and it would push it off of her lap mimicking like a passing motion which would include her. We named it the includer. Uh it would include her into the game, right? And allow her to kind of collaborate with her teammates, of course. Uh and I went there, I hooked it
up, and it worked like a charm. Yeah, it was great. amazing. Uh super rewarding to see. And then of course um you know the roar from the crowd when he made the last shot 41 to 44 won the game. He was
such a privilege to go to great congratulations on that. And as we which we talked about all of our amazing students and how it's hard to always be here for meetings. We appreciate it all the hard work and you know we hearing stuff like that makes it easier for us
to vote on trips and things and I know all of us at some way have helped out on a fundraiser for a variety of different things whether we gotten our car washed or uh made a made a cash donation or bought a raffle ticket or a square or something. So we appreciate all the hard work for that
and congratulations to our unified basketball team on a great win. Uh that will continue on Sunday for the Patriots and then uh the Bruins and then the Celtics. We started it and then they'll all finish it. So thank uh next we'll move to school committee
business policy subcommittee. I know that they have a meeting coming up. >> So Meg Marshall and I uh serve on this committee and we decided that we won't make any presentations to you until after the budget is done.
Okay. And then the finance subcommittee um as I said did meet and we will meet again on Wednesday evening when we had a backup plan for today. And Gladius, I'm sorry we did not have a snow day today. I know Dr. Smith is happy that he could go to bed at a regular time Sunday night
knowing that there wasn't much of anything. Um and then as discussed earlier, as we discussed um when uh Mr. Foucher was here discussing increasing our fees and actually adding the turf fields to our fees. Um there was a
discussion of creating a uh preservation fund as Dr. Gillson said earlier um so that that funds go into an account um so that in I know she said 15 I think we looked at 10 years but regardless that there was money to replace the carpet.
Carpet's the green part of it. um possibly in 10 years to have the money for that rather than having to look at either capital money or asking a town uh either town for money for that. So, we're looking for a motion uh to create. Um, I'd like to make a motion to
establish the turf field capital preservation fund effective February 2nd, 2026 in accordance with Mass General Law Chapter 40 subsection 3 and Mass General Law Chapter 71 subsection 16R for the purpose of receiving rental
fees from district-owned turf surfaces with such funds to be expended by the school committee for the upkeep, repair, or replacement of said surfaces. So we have a motion and a second and a second. Any discussion?
Okay. Uh all those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Any abstain? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you for that and that will help. And and we specifically said, you know, turf surfaces, who knows in the next couple years if there'll be more. Um and then we have our consent
agenda which we had numerous items that we discussed. the donations uh for the middle school about $8,000 the donations for a variety of things at the golf. Anyone will move the consent and the minutes of December 1st, 2025. Anyone
want to move the consent agenda as presented? We have a motion. Do we have a second? All those in favor say I. Any opposed? Did we have any discussion? Yes, Miss Landers.
>> I noticed on the minutes that um when it says on December 1st we went into executive session um for uh negotiation, it doesn't say for which bargaining unit. And I looked back at the agenda
and it doesn't say it on the agenda either. I believe best practice is to include both on the agenda and the minutes when we go into executive session for negotiating we say which bargaining unit in case there were ever a question. So
if we could just add that in that'd be great. >> So a motion to approve with the amendment of adding the the unit that was discussed on that day. Yes. all those.
>> So, um I make a motion to So, I'll make a motion to amend the second. >> Okay, we have a motion. We have a second to amend. Any discussion?
All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Any abstain? So with that with the consent agenda to approve the items as well as the amended uh December 1st meeting >> so that was raised.
>> Yeah. >> Any discussion on further session? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Any perfect. Thank you. Calendars uh school committee topics. Um I know on Wednesday we have
an early release uh for all schools. Um whatever the timing is an hour, but we have early release this Wednesday. Uh all the time hour and a half hour early release all the times are on the website. Uh there's a policy
subcommittee on Wednesday at 5 o'clock and then there is a finance subcommittee at six o'clock. Um our next meeting will be on Monday the 9th which will public hearing. So the difference between a public hearing um is that we
will have the public will have the opportunity to speak about the budget um and there'll be responses from people. So other than our our normal public comment where is at the end of the meeting and people have the right to speak we do not engage in a uh a hearing
people can ask questions and if we have the answers whether it's one of us Dr. Nelson or Dr. um on his lopes. Um he will respond. Um so that is the big difference. So this will be the opportunity and one of the only opportunities for the community to
speak um in regards to the budget obviously after meetings during public comment or people email us directly but this is the um major opportunity to discuss the the budget. Um and then the following week uh is President's Day and
February vacation. So there'll be no school. And then school committee meeting again three this month uh on the 23rd. So many pieces of paper public comment. Is there anyone looking to speak during public comment?
Yes. You got to hit the green button and say your name. >> Just to thank you for the detailed explanations. Um I think it really helps to have the capital plan. I I love the graphics for it. Um, and I think uh, if
I understood correctly, the uh, the select board meeting in Yarmouth tomorrow night will be taking up the ME small plan, but not the budget. I think that's a great idea. Okay, thank you very much. I appreciate all the work you do.
>> Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing make the final motion. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. Any oppose? Any abstain? Thank you everyone for your time.