Welcome finally uh to the Monday, March 2nd, 2026 meeting of the Dennis Sharmath Regional School Committee. Please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. Well, thank you. I hope everyone enjoyed their twoe vacation. Uh we will uh start with our student representative port who's recovering
from her twoe vacation. Uh so we will move down to uh the FY27 budget update. Thank you. All right. Um so we're going to provide a couple of
updates since the committee's last uh presentation. Um and the committee also has um in addition in your packet right after the copy of the presentation you
have uh the line item detail. Right. So we've been providing as we've gotten a little bit deeper and deeper into the budget presentations we have uh and as the budgets got more and more finalized excuse me um providing more and more
detail. So, uh, you had it at the item level at the last meeting. This is all the way down to the detail level. So, this is every single line. Um, except actually Dr. Gillson went through the through the exercise of just taking out any of the lines that actually just have nothing in them just to try to quite
frankly just to shorten the document for you a little bit. Um, so there actually are even more lines than this in the budget, but they just are they have zero zero dollars in them. So just to uh for an exercise and saving paper and saving your weary eyes um she did go through
the exercise of taking all those lines out but these are all the lines currently um in the budget so that you have it all the way down to the detail level. But we're getting back we're going to go through a summary. We trim down the presentation at this point. You know we've been going through a lot of
the same information uh through several presentations. So we've trimmed trimmed the deck down quite a bit. uh just to sort of update you with some of the newest information. Uh doesn't mean any of the previous information doesn't apply, but um but
anyways, we're off off to the races. Okay, so this remains because we do believe especially in in these difficult uh budget times that it's important to remember what's driving our decision-m. So again the strategic plan trying to continue to move that work forward and
our three three uh strategic objectives and then during difficult times using our uh core values to help us in our decision making. So here we are uh in the budget timeline. So we sit between the public
hearing and the committee's final budget adoption uh which is scheduled for next Monday. Okay, so a week from today, um technically if you all need some more time, you can schedule another meeting during next week because the last
possible date that you have to adopt based upon the regional agreement is March 13th, excuse me. Um again, we've gone over this slide with some great um consistency here, but these are the factors that have been driving the budget all throughout the
process. There's been some consistent predictable ones in the lefth hand side and some of the ones that have been unpredictable. A lot some of these things have been resolved like the health insurance. Um uh but some other some of the other ones remain uh unpredictable things that we are making
some estimates about and we won't really know until things play out over the even over the course of next year. Some of them will play out over the remaining part of this year. Um and we were definitely um surprised by the low state aid um that we received this year.
Okay. So, I want to provide the committee with some updated information. One is uh um just some data relative to per pupil expenditure. So, I've been showing this slide for a while um and where we rank
on the cape for pup per pupil expenditure. This data comes from I actually show you a screenshot of where it comes from on the next slide, but it comes from I downloaded this data on the 18th of December in preparing for the the
initial slide deck that uh was given to the committee in early January. And it was actually the Truro superintendent who emailed me um sort of with the sticker shock on the number on
the top and she's um so she actually asked me was asking some questions about that number and so I went back to the website and found that the um department of or that Desi had updated the data set
on the 9th of January. So I redownloaded the data set and when I reloaded redownloaded the data set a lot of the numbers had moved not only for Truro but they had moved for all the districts on the Cape. So I'm not sure what um and
when I compared the two spreadsheets they were different numbers. Um so um this is the updated list um for full transparency for both our friends in Turo and for DY um that and this is more in line with where we've sat for the
last couple years um at least when I've present I've looked this number this information up that DY is right behind Barnsible on per pupil expenditure on the Cape just really showing again a very affordable product um for uh per
pupil expenditure on the Cape And uh but again, it's just sort of updating where this where this information falls based upon I don't know, maybe they had something wrong with their formulas or something. I I there's no explanation
just other than they updated the data as of January 9th. Um so this is showing the most accurate information. Um and then this is I know Mr. is not a big fan of this graph, but it did also change this graph um on where we stack here um
moving us more to the right um on this one as well. All right. Um so then moving on to some of the proposed reductions. Some of this information is going to be the same as what you've seen and then there is some
updated information in here as well. So first this slide is has remains unchanged. This is just showing the recommendations that were uh provided to the committee on the 9th. So the list of
uh recommended cuts that came out of the finance subcommittee sometime it would have been the week prior. Um I don't remember the date off the top of my head. Um but these are the recommendations that came out of that and what the potential impacts for those
uh reductions would be and then the total savings that came from those reductions which is roughly 1.4 million from those reductions. And then this next slide again is not a new slide. This just shows okay so for
each of those potential reductions what is the impact of the percentage of the reduction relative to that group right so some some of these uh positions are in a bargaining unit some of these are non-affiliated
so what is the percentage of the reduction relative to the larger group uh so the reduction of teachers you know it's four overall teaching positions That brings it from 356 teaching positions down to 352 teaching
positions, which is a 1.123% reduction. Um, and you can see that math done for each. You know, in a couple of cases, you'll see two different numbers up there. And that is just depending upon how you look at the group. So for the central office administrators, if
you look at them as just the non-affiliated leadership contracts, uh non-affffiliated meaning they're not part of a bargaining unit, then that's 21 people. So then that's u reduction of one out of 21 is a 4.7% reduction. Or if
you look at it as part of the entire leadership team, which does include the DYAA, which is our assistant principles, um then it's a 3% reduction. Um and then again you can sort of carry that down um the rest of the chart. Then some additional information based
upon our conversation on um at the last meeting. So this is just looking at this a little bit differently uh looking at another way to look at the change uh and what are what is the impact on some of the ratios. Again,
each group has different uh interacts with the school community in a different way. So, um the reduction of the central office position, I was just saying to the finance subcommittee that, you know, a superintendent, my job is largely not
working with children anymore. I left the classroom several years ago and and while I see students, my I don't work directly with students anymore. Um my job is to work largely actually I don't even work directly with teachers that much anymore. Um that was more my work
as a principal. Now my work is largely with leaders. Um and so just sort of thinking about how best to represent this stuff. So when you when we cut a central office administrator position this particular one most of that work is with other
teachers. So just sort of looking at the leader toteer ratio. when we cut with a reorganization, we're going to go from three people doing that special education work to 1.2 people doing that work. So that's that shows you the leader to teacher ratio. Um and then we
know we're going to be losing four teaching positions. So the um I did did all the math there to show that the ratio will change from 1 to 117 to 1 to 293. And then again those positions don't do a lot of direct work with
students but just to show the shift in the student to teacher the leader to student ratio. Um and then each of the four teaching positions the studenttoteer ratio is the same change is the same for all of them because I applied the change of the reduction of
four teachers equally across all of them. So reduce reduction of four teachers our studenttoteer ratio again this all unit A positions so that includes school counselors includes everybody who's in that that
bargaining unit will go from one to eight to eight one unit A person to 8.3 students to 1 to 8.4 for and I provided you with some additional information because each of these
changes has a unique impact based upon where the change is happening. So you see at grade four the class sizes by not um adding that fourth grade teacher are going to go from 19.75 to 21.5. Then you
can see down in the history department what the impact is going to be there, what the impact of not hiring the PE teacher um and the reduction of the third grade teacher. So again, I wanted to show you the overall change, but then what the specific impact would be going
back up to the third line, third row down, the pair educators, PAR educators, not all most the vast majority are hired to work with special education students. So looking at the PAR educator to
students on IEP ratio um is currently at 139 PAR educators. It's 1 to 4.4. So with the reduction of 10 that would change the ratio to 1 to 4.7.
Um and then the last is the leader or the assistant principal rather at the bottom. So the leader to teacher ratio. Um there's a typo there. It should say ratio not ratio. um is 1 to 25 for evaluations. Assistant principles do do evaluations. Um that
would increase it to 1 to 34. And then assistant principles are obviously involved in um working with students largely on sort of the discipline end of things, but they do do other um things as well with students. So that would shift one to 178 to 1 to 223.
Um and then again, we had a a long discussion around pair educators at the last meeting. So just wanted to provide the committee with some of the research around a summary around some of the things that we were talking about and and I want to stress that this is not an argument for
getting rid of PAR educators. Par educators are very valuable to the work that we do here in the district. Um what we're talking about is an over reliance and overdependence on oneto ones in some cases. Um, and some of the work that
we've been doing is looking and it's not students who are assigned a onetoone. So where their IEP calls for a onetoone, we're not talking about removing that. We're talking about situations where we have de facto onetoone where a student with a an IEP that's calling for
supervision that is not onetoone um because we have the available staffing is being um assigned only one pair educator to work with or the or the pair educator is only being assigned one student to work with in a classroom
setting out in the general ed setting. Again, this we're not talking about any reductions in our subseppparate classrooms at our most needy spaces. Um, and as opposed to grouping students with similar needs with a pair educator, two,
three students together, what we're we're seeing as we look across the entire district, it's multiple examples where this is not happening. And this research points to the negative effect that that can have on students when a student doesn't need that level of
support. Um when you know a couple of students could be working and getting the support from a pair educator then these are the negative effects that can happen um when they're an adult is over assigned um to
a student. Again, it's want to be clear. There's a clear distinction between a student whose IEP calls for a one-on-one, who's in a sub- separate program, or even there are some students in general ed who have a call specifically on their IEP for one-on-one. We're not talking about that. We're talking about students who don't have that call, but by
practice are being or having one, and I'm happy to elaborate more on that, but I hope that was clear. Um, and then these were some additional savings. um that we presented on the 9th which are at the time we didn't know
where the Cape Cod healthcare vote was going to come in. So we had originally budgeted for a 15% increase in health insurance. We were getting some indications that it might not come in at 15%. So we reduced
uh the estimate to 10%. So these were the two savings for both active accounts and retiree accounts. And then um additionally we have other people that have signaled to us that they're going to retire. So when we look
at replacing those people with uh less senior staff, we made some estimates on what the savings can be for sort of replacing the staff um at a lower um rate. So those savings were calculated
and then additionally we have some new information to present tonight. So this is brand new which is that the Cape Cod Municipal Health Group did meet on the 10th and they confirmed an 8% rate increase. So that's an additional 2%. So
yes, the 10% that you saw on the previous slide plus an additional 2%. So, we've applied that to our active um healthc care um number. So, that creates anotherund just under $106,000 in savings, but we're not applying that
additional 2% to our retiree number. And the logic for that is that we do have several people who've signaled to us that they're retiring this year. So, what we're going to see is an increase in the number of people who are moving over to the retirement roles. So, we
anticipate we're going to see, well, we will, we're going to see an increase in the number of people who are now using retirement um insurance and that cost is going to go up. So, that extra 2% we're holding um as a as a to for that cost.
And then um in doing some closer looking at the FICA um costs for the district uh we did some recalculation in there in the salary costs and found there was another $34,000 in savings there. So
total for another $49,000. Um, which brings us to the bottom line, which by line, um, you have we're sitting at a, as of today, sitting at an 83,
um, million877,000 um, operating budget, which you may remember, I just wrote this down on my other packet. Um we uh at when we met this last time we were that number was at 868. Yeah, it's a roughly a two $2.5 million
difference from where we were in um the 9th of Feb or no the 2nd of February. Um, so it's come down significantly um to where we're now at a 4.3 just under a 4.4%
um budget incre operating budget increase. Um and then you can see how that flows out now through the to get to the assessments. You may recall uh on the that first meeting in February, we were looking at
a just over an 8% increase to the assessment for Dennis and just over a 10% assessment increase to the town of Yarmouth. Um and we've been able to get that number down to a 4.4 um for Dennis and a 3 point I mean
excuse me a 6 point just under a 6.2 um for Yarmouth. debt hasn't changed. Debt service is just this building remaining. Um, and that's at the 6535 split as per the regional agreement. And then I think the last thing just to
stress is, you know, this is we're sort of hovering somewhere between stable funding and limited funding and we're we will see the impact of that, right? We're going to see some increased class sizes in uh 8 through 12. We're
going to see some reduction in the electives that we can offer uh specifically in the history department next year. Um, and this is the conversation that, you know, we had a um a meeting with the town representatives
from each of the towns this morning to provide some of this information as they as we get closer and closer to town meeting. And but as we start to look out further and further into the future, this
problem will continue to compound itself if we don't um uh find another way for funding. Um because the reality of stable funding really is as a school district looking like it's going to be more around the 5% range for
us and we're you know we're at a 4.3%. Um, and that's a challenge and and we we discussed it around the table today. It's a it's a structural challenge uh for us as a school district, for them as towns uh and we have to sort of figure
out some path uh forward because this will continue to to compound and uh if if we don't figure out some some other way forward and and everything that the committee just saw, you know, Darmouth is still looking at
roughly a 1.5 million potential override and Dennis is looking at an I don't know the exact number, but maybe $400,000 in override on the Dennis side. Um, so either way, we're looking at overrides in both towns in order to get a budget that we've already cut two and a half
million dollars out of since we started about a month ago. Uh, so there's there's a long way to uh or we've done we've done a lot of work here. Um and I I feel like we can still move things forward. There are definitely some
impacts. Um but I would worry about going much and then next steps, you know, we'll continue to work with you all. It's obviously your budget. We'll take our direction from you all as a committee. Um and we'll make any adjust adjustments
that come out of this meeting between now and your uh meeting on Monday. So you can take your final vote. Uh and then we are scheduled to meet we've already met with the finance committee in Yarmouth. We are scheduled to meet with the select we're going to the
budget hearing for the select board on in Yarmouth on Tuesday the 10th and then Wednesday the Thursday the 12th. Thank you. Um, we're going in a joint meeting with the Dennis Select Board and
through the chair. We will take any questions. Any questions? Miss Landers. Uh, sorry I was not here on the February 9th, so I'm catching up a little bit, but um
the assistant director of pupil services that was a new position or there was a reorganization in that department recently. So does this go would this go back to the previous Can you explain that to me before I
>> So I can't speak before me. So it Yeah. So what we are planning to do um is to reorganize pupil services and well
we're taking this assistant superintendent out of um so we've gone from having two assistant superintendents last year to one assistant superintendent this year. Right. Um, and so I need my assistant
superintendent to not also be in charge of special education because it's a huge um ask. So the the at when we started this budget process, the idea was to reorganize special education and have a director of people p people services and an assistant director of pupil services.
um and pulled the assistant superintendent out of the responsibility of people services where we found ourselves in this difficult position um and some conversation with um internal staff. we're going to go the
route of just a director of people services and there will be some impact. Um, and I'm sure Maria will still provide support as assistant superintendent, but the goal is to still try to keep the assistant superintendent not as the leader of the special
education department, create uh essentially promote somebody into the um director of pupil services um and then not have an assistant director of people services as a cost savings. But yes, I do believe there was some reorganization prior to my arrival which
created the assistant director or director's positions, but I don't know where they came from. I I could get you that history. >> No, that's what you're talking about now was what I thought was the reorganization. So, that makes sense. Thank you. >> Any other questions,
Mr. Mark? Okay, I said a lot last meeting. Um, I don't want to to beat a dead horse. I still am not pleased at all about the fact that we're, you know, uh, that we're looking
to eliminate 10 pareducator positions. Um, I have looked through the articles that you cited um, and I found my own articles that said exactly the opposite. So, regardless of where you look, you'll find articles to to to, you know, uh,
substantiate your your views. So, I don't I don't believe that I I still don't believe that this is right. I don't believe that this falls within our um our own core values, you
know, to be able to, you know, under well, under the equity part, you know, um to provide equal opportunities for all, to remove barriers that impact achievement. We have people that we have paras, you know, and you say that
they're that they are in one inadvertently placed as as an unofficial one-on-one because the children are not grouped based upon their um based upon their individual needs. um
why not, you know, what what were the circumstances that prevented, you know, having the children grouped together so that they could be, you know, better served or, you know, and not have an inadvertent one-on-one. Um,
I've not bringing myself into it, but I mean, I've, you know, my, you know, I'm a special needs dad, you know, and this is the hill I will die on. You know I you know my daughter has directly benefited from paraprofessionals. My youngest
daughter has directly benefited from paraprofessionals. I want to know as far as if we if we eliminate 10 para educator positions. Um what happens when a child is, you know, is physically or
verbally disruptive and uh the classroom has to be cleared out and all the kids have to move into the next classroom while the teacher sits there and has to, you know, has to try to rein this child in while they're calling over the radio for a level. And it takes time for people to get there to respond. And
that's classroom time that's wasted. And that's classroom time that's gone from the children that didn't have a hand in it in the first place. And it's happened to my youngest daughter a number of times as she's gone through. She's now in high school. Hopefully it just won't happen again. But, you know, we've had,
you know, in her classes, you know, coming up through the years, we've had children, you know, throwing desks, throwing fbombs, throwing just in just the general disruption. And then obviously when the kids come back into the class after it's been diffused, then it takes time to get those kids, you
know, rain down and all of that. I mean, that's a that's a wasted class, you know, having I I I fail to see and I Yeah. And I I've looked at, you know, I've looked at the the arguments here, the key findings on the negative
impact, you know, and it's I fail to see how it is a how it is a bad thing to have staff available and you know, even if they're you know and and in support of the teachers, we have
more children coming in with high needs. we have more children coming in uh with you know be it trauma or a disability or you know poverty or you know uh uh whatever you know they have DSS involved
or or what or DCF DS yeah whatever the you know what I mean um but we have we have children who are more and more children that are coming through our district that have unique needs they have unique you know uh situations that
they're coming from and they need the support. Data is great. Numbers are great. Research is great. Research doesn't tell you about the human element. It doesn't tell you about the person that's going to sit there face to face with the child
tears streaming down their face and and trying to get that child to calm down. You know, a research study doesn't do that. You know, Mr. Gian Greco who has a thousand different you know thousand different articles that he's published you know doesn't talk about that you
know it's not a you know it's not a book it's not a set of bleachers it's not a new helmet it's not you know it's not a a you know floor cleaning equipment that's going to that's going to diffuse these situations you know for me it's always people above
product it's not you know we can have the best, you know, the best programs in the world, but if you don't have people that are staffed to implement these these uh these programs, then it means nothing and the children are underserved
anyway. So there has to be I mean there has to be something you know I mean you I the only thing different that I see on these slides is the fact that you know you plugged in slides for the you know for the research you know and that you know
in the past you have always come with option A option B and we don't have that we have the same option that we had last week and you know I feel like I you know talked myself blue in the face for nothing you know but this, you know, I
will not I I will not I can't, you know, sit here and, you know, pretend that, you know, this is this is okay. And I won't and, you know, I don't I don't like I said last time. I mean, I don't
that big of a chunk doesn't need to come from one from one area. You know, I understand, you know, we're not going to replace this person who retired. We're not going to replace this that retired. We're going to reduce one here. But it's one here, one here, one here, one here. 10. And that's crazy to me. You know,
taking 10 of anybody, taking 10, you know, parers, 10 teachers, 10, you know, custodial staff, 10, you know, people, you know, working food service, 10 anything is going to cause a bigger disruption than if you took two two one
two, you know, you got to spread the wealth some. And I don't feel like this is doing that. You know, I don't I just, you know, I I feel like every time and we keep beating this horse. Every time we come around to where there has to be,
you know, uh uh reductions of some significance to a budget, it's always the paras that suffer, you know. And you know what? We still have those 23 par positions on the website open, open until filled. One of them's been there since 2024.
You know, what are we doing? Are we looking? I mean, are we hiring or are we not or are we reducing or are we not? We're sending a mixed message here. We're not being very transparent, you know, as far as that's concerned. We're not supporting, you know, I mean, our our existing, you don't think that our
existing uh employees are, you know, sweating for their jobs and, you know, and, you know, waiting for the hammer to fall. This is not supporting our staff. you know, at any point we could just be like, "Oh, well, we're going to reduce this, you know, and then somebody's out of a job." You know, this is not this is
not right. I, you know, morally, I don't feel like this is a good thing. I don't feel like it goes along with our core values that we just adopted, you know, and we're, you know, and as soon as the money stops flowing, then we're going to go against it. So, this this is
this is um this is not something I'm going to vote positively for. So, that's um that plus ditto from last week and that's kind of what I have to say because it feels like it's not going very far. Thank you.
I'll just respond to one of those things um because we discussed it in our finance and and we have discussed it previously. of, you know, the unexpected one to one. So, so what it seems that the practice is is that the six of us
are in fifth grade. Beg's in one classroom, John's in one classroom, Glenn's in one classroom, Jenny's in one classroom, Marilyn's in one classroom, and I'm in one classroom. We all have what they call close supervision, which means it's not one to one. Well, we're not it's not being looked at when
they're doing class assignments. So all six of us are put into six separate classes because someone is not looking at IEPs or anything. Then the teacher or administrator gets the classroom list
and says Nick has an IEP, John has an IEP. Well, they need a paraprofessional >> and they're putting placed in a room. So it's but being done after the fact rather than looking at the class list of, you know, we're all young, right? fifth grade class list of fifth grade
saying, "Okay, Meg has close supervision and John has close supervision." Okay, those two will be in one class. They have one par professional. >> Glenn and Jenny have close supervision, they have one par profofessional. >> Marilyn Chamas have close, they have one par profofessional.
>> So rather than six paraprofessionals, >> we now have three, >> right? And then this happens from K to 8 times four schools. So it's not necessarily the idea of eliminating
again subsparate. We've talked about having them in kindergarten. We talked about now eliminating people who have uh specific one to ones and then those who could be I don't know what the the word is could be destructive. Um, you know, it was more looking at
what our current number of students is. I think it was 602 that have IEPs and then what does the IEP say and what is the grade levels they're going into? What is the makeup? And could we be more
uh could we look at it ahead of time instead of reacting to what they are in a classroom and then putting a body there because then you know we're not going to move the kid mid year and say okay you know it's um November we realize we could save
money if we move you to a different classroom because you're not going to disrupt it. It's more of look what the task was to Maria and the and the special education team was to look at why have we not done done this in the past. how can we make it better and how
can we ensure that we are still filling the needs and requirements that we do need for um IEPs and for those onetoone subset you know um and again uh to your point it based on those open positions
it and based on um you know number of people that do leave the the district uh in those roles for a variety of different reasons and I know it's probably the most stressful position in the entire school. I I I'm in the school all the time for uh PTO things, for book
fairs, and I see those parents and I see, you know, the that it's it's probably the most stressful job that's in the school. Um because, you know, that individuality is it's hard um and you know what what what what they have to go through. So, you know, I
understand it. But um so those positions aren't you know when we look at it are are probably not people we have that the 23 positions you know will probably you know be less than that and some of those positions those 23 positions are actual positions that we've contracted to third
party companies. Um so there's I think there were six positions that are a third party company is currently filling in speech and other areas in a par role that we want to eliminate a third party company and fill with our actual
employees. So again and those speech specifically has been something that has been several um you know and the discussion and I go not to go too much detail was that you know speech pathologists needed to do uh shadowing and with covid they couldn't do any of
that and people just stopped going into that field but again I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong and I and I know how important it is uh for that role but just wanted to give a little more context to discussions we had in our finance and
discussions we've had prior. >> No, and >> I'm not looking to change your mind and I'm just looking to to kind of give other examples of of what we're looking at. >> No, and that you know and that's and that's fine and I appreciate the you
know I appreciate you elaborating. Um my my thought as you're as you're speaking was you know I mean if we have if we have third party people that are filling these parro roles and we have paras that we're looking to eliminate and you want to eliminate the third
party people from the parah roles then it seems like we have a solution if if they were certified for the specific role it would be. Yeah. in a in a perfect world. Yes. You anything I overstepped or
misinterpreted? >> Yeah. So, I mean there's there's two different buckets there. So, one, the speech and language pathologist is accurate and it's in a different bargaining unit. So, that's actually in the teacher bargaining unit and is a need that we've had to fill that way.
And um the six positions that you're referencing is is in the DY RSAA bargaining unit and that is for um so this year we were able to set uh come to an MOA with the um PAR educator
bargaining unit around our um reclassifying uh PAR educators who work in our substantially separate programs to classify them as PAR educator twos which is a higher pay rate and what are some of the responsibilities that come with
those? Because essentially the PAR educator that was working um in the general ed setting and that didn't have um some of the risk and responsibility that was coming with work in the sub separate was having the same same pay
rate and we were having a quite frankly a really hard time not only rec recruiting people into the sub separate but also retaining people in the sub separate classrooms. So um so working with the association we were able to uh
create an MOA which created uh which uh reclassified a group of people u which is what some of the new postings are is trying to recruit people into those other jobs and we have to clean it up because now you have some postings that are in both the old job and then the new job.
>> Um and then but in the interim we did starting way back at the beginning of the year we were in a crisis. We had several of our especially at the um Baker School and at and the small we had um subsearate programs that were
understaffed um in the PAR educator position. that we contracted for behavior technicians uh which are similar to our parah educators. Um and so those are and yes ideally we want to replace them with
staff but we need staff who want to do that job. Um and so we're actively recruiting to try to get people to do that job and as soon as we have people that are in to do that job then we don't need the contracted service. And has that been discussed with our existing employees? has that been
something that's been like put out >> principles have regular Yeah, when we signed the MOA, it was put out to any staff who want to make that transfer into that job. Um, and then it, like I said, it's active posting and we're currently trying to bring people into
those jobs. But yeah, but it's, you know, it's a it's a high demand job, right? So, so people have to also want to do that specific work. Any other questions or comments, Miss Venus? >> So, the only thing that's going through
my head is the Rolling Stones right now. You can't always get what you want, but you hope sometime to get what you need. And it just keeps playing. Um, I think we got to understand that we have this tough balancing act between what can we
sell and promote being advocates for students and school systems, but a number that the towns will support and understand. Then we have to think about the whole system and then we have to think about the needs of all learners and sometimes
there's diverse learners. Um, and it's a balancing act. I I like the fact that under reduce 10 paris, I know that's hard to read, but to the right of it says reorganization of staffing. So I
guess where I am is thinking that if right from the beginning one of the first documents of updates of the budget is what is driving our work. Those three position uh eliminate disparities and achievement across and access for every
student. And then number two establish consistent district-wide systems to support organizational effectiveness. Sooner or later, maybe we just have to accept the fact that within our system and the administrators we hire from the
superintendent on down to implement this because the budget gets to us after every school has weighed in. There's been an administrative team principles looked at it. So, they've made tough decisions
and I do think we've got to at some point accept the fact that they know best how to implement educational policy and understand specifically what every student needs and whatever decisions they make is going to be well funded
well uh in terms of looking at all aspect and considering the needs of the students. Miss Landers, >> are those 10 potential reductions
spread across all of the schools? Right. So, we're talking about across five six schools. So, you know, I mean, you know, this is a
big this high school is big and so is this school. So, is it, you know, two at each of these schools and one at each of them? Like, truly, I don't know how that plays out, but listen, I hear everything you're saying, Glenn, and I I agree. You know, I would like to be adding things to this budget,
not taking things away. This is my perennial speech, right, about, you know, looking at that the chart you showed us showing what healthy funding looks like, right? I'd like to say it's
a 5% increase. That's it. That's what we need. 5%. Because we are trying to grow programs. We're trying to add supports. We're trying to increase opportunities and but you know, I hear everything Maryland
says and that's where we are, right? We're faced with limited state funding. We're faced with two towns and the pressures that are put on us by those two towns. And um you know we up here have to rely on
the experts to tell us what are the most educationally sound um policies and procedures um and budget practices. What are the best practices that are going to get our students everything they need while
still getting us a budget that passes in the town. So, you know, I hear you, Glenn. You know, and I don't want to to cut support for our students either. Um, you know, this is the a true rock in a
hard place. Um, and let's let's look at the other, you know, potential reductions here as well. None of these, I'm sure, make any of us happy, right? I mean that this is you
know simply reducing one grade three teacher at Ezra Baker takes the class size from 16 to 20. We've been working so hard for years to keep class size down to 18. This goes
back up to 20. That's, you know, this is none of these are, we don't want any of these, but we have to accept some of these in order to, you know, get funding or we end up in a in a place where
um, you know, we're battling with the towns and and then we end up with the with no agreement and this goes down a bad path. So, um, you know, I I think that what
from what Glenn has said and from looking at these, you know, we just have to ask you I have to ask you all to take one more and I know you are one more really good hard look at all of this this week and see, you know, is there another retirement somewhere that we
don't have to replace that could, you know, that could reduce the power reduction by two or is there you know you know are there things that we can look at for the future? We you know we spend a lot of money on outofd district
placements huge amount on out of district placements tuitions to other schools and transportation to other schools. Are there programs we can bring back in house that would solve some of these problems? um keep people on staff, keep programs
in house, keep students here, reduce out of district costs while creating or keeping or creating jobs. That that's not can't that's not going to happen for next year, but you know, your chart shows us through 29 or 30. And so, you know, let's brainstorm some long-term
strategies for keeping some of this money in house and being able to stick within that healthy uh the healthy funding. So, thanks. I can I can let you know that it was made clear to both towns that were
presented today to the people that were there that 2.5 is not is not reasonable is not achievable any year. It was made clear um they saw the same chart we saw
um you know it was said to them if they think education is important we can't be at the same box that everyone else is. And we explained you know You know, Dr. Smith has said this since day one he's been here. Um, you know, their operational budgets are different than
ours because they put stuff in other buckets or they put health insurance separate uh in in one of the towns. They don't include it in operational. So, even though they go up 8% in health insurance, it doesn't affect their operational line because it's not in the specific department. Well, we're not a
department. We're an entire district of, you know, 3,000 students and 600 employees and and our budget. We have one budget. We don't have anywhere else to put anything. It's all put in one number. 80 right now. 83,877,53.
That's where it's put. We don't have a, you know, extra revenue. We can't sell more golf passes. We can't uh you know we can't have extra money when the ambulance goes too many times. You know there there's other departments have extra funding. We we're limited on where
our funding is. And again if we have savings we have END. That's great. But we don't know what's going to happen yeartoear. Um and it was made clear and you know that the town said they're going to go by 2.5 every year. And we made it clear that every year we're not going to be at 2.5. It's not physically
possible. And you know, I know what I don't know what word we use this year, but the whole level funding and that Jenny's favorite word is when they say level funding. Um, nothing could be level funding because we want more for our students, right? Or we have more students that need more. So, we can't just use the same budget every year and
say here you go. Um, you know, and that that 311,000 um I that 83,877,53 is the current number we we've been looking at. If we put that 311,000 back in, we're at 84 million uh 1888,000.
Again, we're town of Yarmouth is a little over 1.5 million above what they um have budgeted. Town of Dennis is 400K. Uh the town of Yarmouth, again doesn't necessarily affect us, but it's it's an issue for them is that Cape Tech
is $700,000 over on their budget. So for the town of Yarmouth, they're $2.2 $2 million over in education. So they're asking for overrides in both of those areas. Um so obviously there's pressure on KEK, you know, there's pressure on
us. Um and it'd be it I I feel it would be hard if we increased our number and it it has been tested. Dr. Gillson has been working every day through the snowstorm because she had power. So unfortunate for her. uh
not to rub it in, but uh but she's been working diligently. We've had great partners, let's see, some on the left. We've had great partners from both towns who have looked at these, you know, GL codes and asked questions um about, you know, why the percentages were
different. Um the FICA was found through a conversation with our partners in the other towns. Um we had conversations with uh uh Dennis and Yarmouth finance people this morning and you know their people were asking questions. We we'll continue to look through this every day.
Fortunately, it's only 7 days before we vote a number um to look at where that there can be savings. But it was made clear to them that we're not going to ever be able to meet our goals or do the things we want if we're stuck to that
2.5. And even at the 4.43 43 we're at we're losing a lot of stuff that you know and to Jenny's point there's more yes the paras are on there but again the the administrator at the high school you know to have an extra 30 kids per administrator it's how many kids are
going to be missed and not recognized and overlooked um you know our one of our biggest issue is attendance in the high school and you know that's one of our goals is to to try to get people back in and it's just more things that we can't do and can't focus on as we
eliminate people and again the classroom size Ezra Baker was at 13 at some point then they got moved to 18 and now they're at 20 you know like the classrooms just keep getting bigger and bigger and um you know we we can't sustain it. We also took out capital out
of our operating. We wanted capital in here so that we can build and fix things. So now we're going to have to go through the process and we'll talk about capital later but now we don't have that in our operating. It's all this stuff that we took out. Um, and we continue to
take out stuff and uh, you know, it it's every year it it seems to be we have to take out more. Um, and every year we're going to have difficult conversations. Um, but but we do have to have confidence with our administration that they're going to make sure that they're
doing everything they can to meet the needs that we have. And we've we've tried hard to to make sure we do that. And then the other part is, okay, so we're asking for a $ 1.5 million override in Yarmouth. If they say no,
what's the next step? The next step is we're eliminating things that we need. And I'm not saying we don't need these things. These are things we can maybe do without. Now we're looking at things that we feel we can't do. We need we need every day. And then that's a lot
tougher conversation. And we had that conversation in the finance subcommittee and we had that conversation with the towns of, you know, if we don't get it passed, it's it's going to be a very sad thing for our district and our families. So, I I know we don't have any votes today,
but we we still need to give guidance of of where to go um for our vote for Monday. Not for necessarily looking for anything, but I know we do have feedback. Dr. with I would just say I can just at least echo back what I heard. So I already turned the page.
Just give me a second to go back to my notes. All right. So um so since the last meeting, Mr. Martin, I know you said like no options. You're right. We didn't give you options, but we did find there was like an additional $49,000
since the last meeting. Right. So, um, but so and then I heard from Miss Landers like sort of looking at potentially like another retirement or some other option that we might be able to sort of set against um PAR educators. So, we'll
go and take another look at that. Plus, I know Dr. Gillson is currently going back through every line one more time. So, we can come with some options and and again, it's going to
have to be like we're going to have to present you with multiple motions um because because you have to vote next week. So, we'll try to think that through and how to make it as clean as possible and give you some options and then give you the associated motions that would go with those options. Um, so
that you can get get to that and maybe if we can get it organized, maybe even be able to send the committee some of that information ahead of time so you can do some some at least some thinking and noodling on it before the meeting um before even like the Friday packet. soon
maybe maybe earlier in the week I don't but try not to overpromise under underd deliver but we'll we'll see what we can do over the next couple of days um to get get some things um to you um but anyways but that's at least what I've heard so far and then any other
direction thank you Mr. chairman. Uh I just wanted to give uh for those people watching uh my position on paraprofessionals. You know, we talk a lot about them, but we're not really defining what their role is other than providing something.
And it's kind of a nefarious uh it's out there, but we're not sure. Pair professionals really provide critical individualized support that the teachers can't deliver in the classroom. They assist with instruction. They
assist with behavioral management and specialed accommodations. They help ensure that each child, not just the ones on IEPs and not just the ones on 504s, that each child is receiving the attention that they need at that particular moment. It frees up
the teacher to focus more on the content that is being delivered to the students in the classroom by taking aside those children that need that attention. And you know, I understand the articles
that were written. We want the students to be independent. We want the students to be socially interactive with the rest of the class. We want the students to be self-reliant. That's the goal. That's the goal of a paraprofessional is through the course of kindergarten
through whatever point to develop a child that can work on their own because currently due to their assessment, they can't. And so that's what paraprofessionals do in our district. And when we say we're
just going to across the board cut 10, okay, we're going to cut two from Baker, we're gonna cut two from Emmy Small, we're gonna Station Avenue gets two. Uh the intermediate school and the middle school get two and the high school gets two. I don't think that's an appropriate way
to go around it. If we reach that point, which is not something I'm in favor of, there needs to be an assessment as to the needs in the individual school based upon the students that are there. And I'm also not in favor of grouping
all of the students that have needs in one classroom. So to say, okay, we're going to put four or five in this classroom, four or five in that classroom. Uh inclusion is a big word that I think is applicable We want these children not to be separated and set
apart from the general classroom. And that's what paras allow to happen, inclusion. So I understand Mary Ellen's point and Jenny's point that there's a need to to maintain a budget. There's a need to come in with a number that's going to
pass a town meeting. I get that. I am just encouraging over the next week we find other places to cut or come back with with something that isn't going to affect the pair of professionals in the number that there is.
Thank you. >> I prepared my statement. I just want to take a moment to address the concern that our district is over relying on pared educators. Some of the studies being cited to support that claim are outdated or taken out of context. They don't reflect
what's happening in today's classrooms where para educators are trained. They collaborate closely with teachers and they work within within intentional modern inclusion models. The reality is this. PAR educators are essential to meaningful inclusion. They provide
students with access to the curriculum, communication support, safety, and opportunities to fully participate in school. For many students, they are the reason that staying in general education classroom is possible. And that's not only the best practice, it's the law.
Concerns like learned helplessness or peer isolation only arise when para educators are misused, when they replace instruction or social connection, and that is not how our district operates. Our training emphasizes fading prompts, promoting
independence, and facilitating peer interactions. The idea that teachers disengage when a PAR educator is present isn't a reason to remove para educators. It is a reminder that we must set clear roles and expectations. When par when teachers and para
educators work as a team, students thrive. Given rising student needs in our district, behavioral and mental health challenges, and ongoing teacher shortages, reducing PARA educator support would not build independence. It
only reduces inclusion, safety, and access to learning. The answer is not to cut para educators. The answer to is to invest in them and give them the training, clarity, and support they need to continue being an essential part of a collaborative team. PAR educators are
not a sign of over reliance. They are a sign of our commitment to meeting every student where they are and making sure that every student has what they need to succeed. >> Thank you. Any other questions?
Perfect. I know we'll have speakers. >> So, as I standard, when we vote uh next week, we can only change it to go lower after the fact. We can't ch add anything back.
Correct. Great. Uh we will move next to the midcycle progress report. the superintendent evaluation process. All right. Thank you very much. 42 pages of line items. All right. So, uh, I did email the
committee a copy a link to this document so that you have links to all the um evidence um because I'm not going to click on every piece so that uh this meeting doesn't get too long in the tooth. Uh, but starting so this is you know
midcycle just uh evidence submission opportunity to check in on where the goals stand at this point. Um, as the committee may remember, you approved four goals for the superintendent uh back in August. With that, you approved focus indicators
for each of the goals uh indicators on the rubric that will be used to determine uh my evaluation and they're connected to each of the goals. And so I'm going, as I go through here, I'm going to talk about progress on the goal and then I'll follow that up with how
it's connected to each of the associated um focus indicators. So first communication uh so that you know the main purpose of this goal was to build on existing communication
structures and look for sort of some different ways to communicate plus also take a a learning go sort of back to a listening stance to try to now that you year three as superintendent you know first year was a lot of listening and then using that to help uh inform the
entry plan and then inform the strategic plan. So now after some things are starting to be put in place there's an opportunity to go back out and do some listening. So uh conducted this is the second year conducting a staff climate survey. So last year I just were sort of
reported out what I had found and then this year I'm out again reported out what I had found but now I'm in the process of going out and uh doing listening sessions at faculty meetings. So from the survey what were some of the key topics? really kind of two things
that bubbled up especially from year to year because I was able to look at last year's survey results and then this year's survey results and really drill into the things that we have things that we thought we did some work on as a leadership team that really didn't move. So I'm doing some focused um essentially
like focus group um questions with uh with the faculties at each of the schools and as an opportunity to dig a little bit deeper into those particular areas. Um then I'm working on setting up
sim similar but different um listening sessions with the larger school community. Um these will be on particular topics. I sent out a survey not too long ago around three main topics and had the community rank them on what where they would like these
sessions to be plus asking for um you know preferred times of day type like meeting formats in person, virtual etc. Um, and so I've used that data to set a couple of dates. Um, now I'm currently working with um, in the background to
set up like uh, interpretation services, make sure I have all the right staff in place for those dates. And then and one's going to be virtual and one's going to be in person. And then once I have that all established, then I'm going to put it out to the school community. So that should go out I'm
hoping well actually it should go out in my next superintendent newsletter which would be not this coming week but the week after. Um so in the next two weeks I should have everything firmed up for with for the th those first two me they'll be on the same topic but I'm going to offer one in person and one
virtually so that people have different and at two different sort of times so that people have an try to collect as much people as possible. And then I'm also trying to work on um for that um setting up an opportunity to record it so that for people who weren't there then they also have another different
way to not necessarily participate but at least get the information because they're they're both informational and then an opportunity for me to collect information as well. Um and as a way to put some more stuff on our channel channel 11 channel 13 8 what is our
education channel? I think it's 11. Okay. All right. Well, I'm I'm here. I live it. Um anyways, uh to get out on our education channel, um some content u and then
um we've uh started to work on uh adopted a new branding campaign. Uh I now have I don't didn't have it at the time, but I have a memo that I can uh link in here as well. Uh that just went out to the entire district about uh how
we're utilizing our logo. Um you may have noticed like everything that I now give you is branded. Um but that's a practice that we're starting to move across the entire district. And then um this fall myself um and the family
liaison went and conducted a a a information session session for families. Um and the idea was to sort of go where families meet. So we came actually here after one of the the uh church services and then in the spring
we're gonna we plan to go out to like sporting events, right? So that's will be another opportunity again kind of meet people where they're at. So like at community sporting events um to try to again get meet people where they're already gathering and um as opposed to
always making people come to us. So sort of the whole purpose of this goal was to um look for not expand upon existing uh communication meth methods. So um specifically connecting back to the focus indicators. So one of them was around u making sure we're meeting
people and communicating with people um in their um and and reducing barriers for communication. So the thought exchange allows not only for format I mean excuse me for input but allows people to uh do that in their native language. The family liaison have been
great in supporting interpretation for face toface meetings. Um, and so this uh supports helps me support or supports my regular cultural two-way uh communication with families. Um, and then as we move towards the listening sessions, again, we're working on
setting up on the Zoom sessions. There's a company that we used before that um is really adept at using Zoom's um interpretation. They have a like a system built in where you set up these channels where they live translate as
you're speaking. Um, and they it's it's really cool to see like where So, you know, if Tomas spoke spoke Portuguese and Marilyn spoke French and Jenny spoke Arabic and I spoke English and I'm the lead speaker, right? I speak in my
language and there's a translator in each of these separate rooms and so they get it translated what I'm saying into their room. But then if Jenny has something that she wants to contribute, she says it in Arabic and the Arabic translator puts it back into the room in English. So I get it as a
superintendent, but then it gets translated back, her Arabic comes into the room in English, but then goes back to French and back into Portuguese. So everybody's able to participate. It's really cool to see it happen. It's kind of hard to conceptualize the way I'm describing it, but it's really cool to watch it happen. And there's this
company that we've used before that does a really good job of managing it. So, I think we're going to use that same company for the Zoom sessions, and then we'll use our family leaison for the inerson sessions because they they um they're much more adept at that particular the face-toface uh stuff.
Next uh tier tier one uh improve tier one student excuse me tier one instruction for every student. My particular piece on this is uh the committee uh ratified
your half or or I guess worked in conjunction with the DEA to ratify u some modified language for their the observation and evaluation process for uh for teachers in the district. So this year then I've
been working from my role as superintendent to work with all the the leaders who are responsible for supervision and evaluation on largely what's called calibration which is like so if you know Maria who's an who's an
observer and evaluator and Tim Blake who's one of our observers and evaluators were going to the same room are they going to largely report to that teacher the same thing right are we giving feedback in the same way there's some new tools tools that were adopted as part of this process. So, really making sure that we're all using the
tools in the same way. Um that we're that we're focusing all of our um our practices and our feedback in the same way. And I'm doing that in a couple different ways. One, we have a large meeting once a month with the entire leadership team. So, I'm using some of that time and then I'm also working with
the principles. I meet with the principles once a month and we're using some of that time to dig deeper and then also to prep them for how they bring that work back to their assistant principles. And then I also um I'm on a
a regular schedule where I rotate building walks with the principles and the focus of those walks is to go in in classrooms and then debrief. Okay, so if you were to give that person feedback, what would it look like? Um, so that that's one-on-one between myself and the
principal. Um, and we grounded it in a consistent text that we're all using. Um, and so again, those have been u some of the specific things I have links to some of the both either the um agenda items that from some of the meetings and
the schedule, my regular visits with the principles, etc. And this ties back to uh what my role the the focus indicators my role as superintendent is uh to ensure that
again I don't provide I provide evaluation to um central office staff and to the principles but part of what the rubric says my job is to ensure that there are consistent observation evaluation processes going on across the
district. So my job is to oversee the implementation of an effective observation and evaluation practice across the district. So this is my active role in doing that this year um and leading this professional
development work with the leaders and the calibration work with the leaders. Um and then um you know it's also important to make just the s the simple basics to make sure that we're staying on our timelines that we're following the contract. There
were some shifts in that. Um so it's really just making sure um that we're living by the contract and then we're sticking with the sort of the spirit of what uh observation evaluation is which is this. It's meant to be this
continuous improvement cycle. Um next is observation I mean excuse me organizational effectiveness and planning. So uh this is centered around human resources in the business department and
um onboarding or on bringing on board um some new technologies to help streamline business processes. Um I provided you all with a a memo back in uh February, not too long ago. Uh well actually no sorry that the treasur's report the
treasurer came and presented to you in February which outlined some of the things that have been happening on that side. Um, so we've been working, uh, Susan's presented with you with a bunch of stuff that's happened on the this side of the ledger, um, on
presenting information to you all differently, getting all the accounts lined up, and then on the treasur side on the the cash side, you got that presentation on the 9th, uh, development of a five-year capital plan. Um, that was presented to you all on the 2nd of
February. Um and then we're currently working towards um determining the best vendor um that will meet our uh actually we did already determine the vendor. Um, so then it's working on an implementation plan for what's called
time and attendance, which is I think I've mentioned this before, but if you want to um track the hours that you work in the district or if you need to take a day off in the district, it's all done on piece of paper. Um, which is completely inefficient process. Um and
so moving to digital processes which a are more efficient and b um you never eliminate human error but let's just say reduce human error. Um and and then we've also piloted the implementation of
what's called employee access which is which is the system through which um people can get simple things like just get their paycheck but it's also a way to put in for leave like that central office. So now if Dr. Gilson wants to take a vacation day or a sick
day, she can actually digitally submit it. Um, and I can approve it as her direct supervisor where again in the past she had to fill out a piece of paper and then it had to go across the hall and then it had to go all the way down to the payroll person, right? And
the payroll person gets a stack of them this big as opposed to it just going to me and getting approved and then getting logged into the system. um which is you know the way most people do it in 2026. Um and um and then but employee access will
allow once we get it fully established, fully up and running, it opens the door to a whole bunch of different things like you know every time somebody gets um hired to be a coach in the district, we send them a paper letter. Superintendent signs all of those
letters. Well, employee access eventually can manage distribution of those letters. It can manage um I can manage all sorts of stuff. We can set up workflows for um you know if people need to request um exceptions to
the contract like for use of a personal day to extend a vacation, all that stuff gets passed by email and we create letters and generate. There's all sorts of stuff we can do once we eventually get all these systems fully set up. Um, now that's a little bit further down the road because we got other stuff to do
between now and then, but as far as um other access pieces, but but the potential for employee access is through the roof. Um, and then I and it was in December that I gave you all a memo um outlining some of the progress that have been done.
Um, so this ties directly to um a couple or to the um indicators. one which is once we get some of these systems spec specifically for human resources up and running um it'll allow some more
efficiency for that um department which will allow them then to actually for right now they're just buried in the paperwork um once we get some of these other systems set up what will actually allow us to do some more things like to actually get out to like recruitment fairs and like things that actually will
help us bring people into the district and work on setting some of like Dr. Campl and I have conversations about that stuff all the time, but there's just because we're still doing things so inefficiently, there's no people time
power people power. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. But trying to be person hours. Thank you. Thank you. In order to do those things. Um and then the rest is really just around continue and we probably have this conversation at least once a once a week. you know, there's
just just a lot of things like from a fiscal management side. It's not Dr. Gillson's it's not a knock on her. It's about the system and the way we have everything set up that, you know, I would argue and she might argue harder
that spends more time like unpacking and unraveling something or trying to figure something out um because just we have all these efficiencies layered into our system. And so we're continuing to unpack them from the budget side and
from the cash flow side, right? And every I don't want to say every day, every week, every month, maybe we take a step forward and get them things a little bit more efficient. Um, but they still we still have a lot lot of ways to go to make things even more effective
and more efficient. And then last is school safety and planning. Um so this is the third year of this goal. This goal is sort of iterated um as we've got a little bit further and this year is focused on reunification. So we first it was
establishing a consistent team. Then it was establishing um a the SRP the standard response protocol and the technology to support it. That was last year's iteration of it. And then this year it is okay. So, if we safely get every or when we safely get everybody
out of the building and we can't go back in the building, how do we put the kids back together with their parents? That's essentially in a nutshell what reunification is. And so, couple things that have been done so far. So, I've established a lead for the reunification planning because um the training that we went to this summer said it can't be the
superintendent. So, I had to designate somebody else to be the lead because I will have other responsibilities in a major um event that somebody else needs to be responsible for that. So established who that was and then that person and I have mapped out uh the
planning for reunification. Um and then we then worked that person is part of the joint safety team. So we then brought it back to the joint safety team. Um and made sure that it's a consistent part of that agenda. And so we've set some uh training date for full
reunification training. It's kind of the central office has to is the way the the I love you guys foundation recommends is is you don't have your schools be part of the team because they're going to be
impacted that it should be your central office. It's really your reunification folks. So we're going to um train the central office to be the reunification team. Um, and that that'll happen right after school is out. The date we had set
might just have gotten plowed over by 6 days of snow. So, we have to reestablish that date. Um, we did have established an MOA um for one off-site location. Um, and then I uh I um I don't know if it's
official, but whether I'm the chair or not. I think they tried to give me a title the other day, but I'm I'm I set the agenda for the Cape Island superintendent meetings and so we have a sub group that's working on regional
safety because we several of us already use I love you guys and we've been talking about, you know, if we were to have some type of a major event, reality is we'd all benefit from working together and and supporting each other. Like if if Barnes had to do
reunification on one of their schools, the high school, it's probably going to overwhelm their staff and and Barnesville happens to be trained in the same thing we are. So why couldn't I send them a dozen administrators who've been trained in this that could go support their reunification effort and
vice versa. So we are starting to have those conversations around what other this and other things could we, you know, train around regionally. um god forbid we have this type of a scenario. So um it's one of the things where um some of the regional things
that I'm involved in um will benefit DY and then this again this the this whole um goal is wholly centered on school safety and creating a school safe environment for the school for the students the staff. Um and uh so we
again we've begun a training. Some of us went this summer and got the I love you guys training and then the rest will be supported by uh Raptor who's the one who provides us our technology system and is and is matched to the I love you guys protocol. Um again they'll do that for
us this June and we'll run a drill and then we'll be off and running. And I think that's it. Any questions for the chair? Any questions for Dr. Smith in regard regarding his midcycle? Miss Beis, >> uh mine is an ask not a question. Under
uh goal number one uh communication. I'd like to know and uh sometime near the end of the year um how the new channels of communication are working. uh whether there's more active input uh accessing the website, whether all the new systems
for students or parents to get information. there's an increase or what have you noticed or what changes you might make and whether you're considering any new upgrades or changes to say the ways we're promoting and
encouraging people to find out about DY finish writing this thought and Mr. I saw it. >> Thank you. Um the staff survey was very interesting and uh reading it I noticed
that there was a general consensus among the staff as to discipline and how it's meed out uh if at some point in the future uh you could uh give me some information as to how you plan on addressing it because it was
overwhelming uh the response in those areas those categories. So yeah and that was so we had two areas that didn't move as far as from last year to this year right and that was one of them and we had done what we had
thought was some concerted work around that last year principles and I had some conversations around that they went back and did some work with their faculties um and yeah there was essentially within the statistical margin of error there
was no no movement so that is actually one of my followup specific follow-up questions with the fac with each of the faculty meetings as I go around to try to better understand and then once I bring that information back then I'll go back and have some conversation
it's incomplete at this point in time because I've I've met with two I was supposed to meet with a group I think last week I'm meeting with another group this week so I'm still incomplete my my my data set is largely incomplete this time because I I haven't I haven't asked a lot of and actually I met with one
school and We I have two main buckets of conversations and and one of them I didn't even get to the the behavior. I have to go back to the behavior. I have to go back to them. So I really don't have a a lot of addition because it's like the survey says what tells me sort
of what people see as the challenge, right? It's limited. So then I'm I've asked follow-up questions to better understand and I don't have I don't have that yet. >> Great. uh anything you do in that area, I think, is going to be beneficial to the district and and retaining uh
students here. You know, because it's it's obvious by the results of the survey that this is an area that that people have deemed a major issue and potentially could be causing some people to leave the district because they feel they're not being best served uh in that particular area. So, I'd appreciate any
information as as to what you're going to develop in the future. looking down. Thank you. And I know we're in March. March and uh the evaluations are typically done before the elections.
Okay. So, we're have 60 days. They'll be here before we know it. Uh great. Next, we'll move to subcommittee representatives leaison report. School committee liaison to the select board. Again, we had a meeting with uh the the tri county tri group meeting this
morning. Um be presenting Tuesday to the town of Yarmouth select board. Uh they already met with the town of Yarmouth finance committee subcom finance committee and then on the 12th which is next Thursday meet with the town of Dennis uh select board and finance
committee. Uh Dennis does have a select board meeting on Wednesday on Tuesday the 10th as well. But um they don't have a full board so that they're not able to meet that day. That's why we have that additional meeting on the 12th. Um superintendent sport recognition of
donations and acknowledgements. >> All right. Thank you. Uh no donations. Uh correct. Right. Um so just really just want to start with uh uh just a recognition. Um
uh folks saw my superintendent's message. Um it's it largely just is going to be a repeat of what I'm about to uh acknowledge. And I'm not and I'm not going to go through and um name every single person or we'd be here um till the end of the tomorrow. But, um,
you know, DY as a district, um, did something that I was very, very proud of, um, last week. Um, and it wasn't canceling school for a week. Um, but, um, part of the reason why we weren't able to come back to school at
least for Friday, maybe even for Thursday and Friday, was that, you know, our high school did open as a shelter. Um, and quite frankly, I didn't know what to expect. I'd never really participated in anything like that. Definitely hadn't participated in it here and and we hadn't h as far as I
sort of could understand from some of the people that had participated before, it's been a while since that shelter has opened. People thought at least maybe 10 years since the last time the high school had really been activated as a shelter. And um but what I saw from the
you know and it was a joint effort, right? So YPD, YFD, um there's a a bunch of community organizations that supported that um that keeping the shelter open. But in particular, what I saw from the the
several different DY staff um in order to make those operations come together that it isn't their primary mission. So, I could argue that, you know, the fire department, their their mission is to is to be part of public safety, right? But,
um, you know, the food service department in DY, their job is not to open a shelter and feed people three meals a day. Um, and yet from our food service director down to a vast number
of our food service employees came in throughout that whole week to open the kitchen and feed three meals a day um to people from all across the Cape um because the shelter in down in the lower Cape got closed. So we had people from
Truro all the way to um you know Barnes well Barnesville had their own shelter open. pretty much up through DY. Um we had at at its peak somewhere between 260 and 275 people in that shelter. Um and
and then you know on Wednesday afternoon when I went to the food service director and said, "Hey, we're going to be out of school for the rest of the week. Can you also put lunches and um breakfast together for the kids
to pick up?" and they were like, "Yeah, sure." Um, so, you know, just a I I shouldn't be surprised at this point, but it still it still is um, you know, it's just a great testament to the to
the community that's here and and the people and their dedication to to serving others. And then the same with the the the the sheltering system is sent up largely on volunteers, right? And so the the medical needs of the people that were in the shelter were
pretty high and we had some county level nurses originally when the shelter opened, but they that that support ran out pretty quick. And so when I called our nursing director and said, um, hey, is there any way you can be here? In 30
minutes, she was there. I brought another nurse from the district and set up a rotation. Then they covered 109 hours. Um, and they were there overnights. Um, and so, you know, again,
within 30 minutes of me saying, "Yes, we're about to lose nursing coverage. Is there any way you can help?" And they did. Um, and then our facilities and grounds team and from even before the storm started, they were phenomenal. Had
the entire building up and running. Um, kept it clear the entire time. any time anybody needed anything from the Americanore volunteers to the Red Cross people to um anybody they they made it happen. Um again sleeping there camping
out there um just great people um great support the entire time um and working to make sure that we were fully open and operational today as well. And then, you know, we're supported by great SRO's in the district. And I just saw a whole
different side of them during the operations as well. Um they weren't doing their normal job, but they were there every single day. Um whether it was, you know, Alex and John I saw multiple times, you know, helping somebody figure out if their power was
on or um organizing a ride for them to get away from and back to the shelter because a lot of people didn't go home for multiple days, right? Um or just, you know, chatting somebody up in a friendly conversation because they needed somebody to talk to because they were stuck at a shelter for three days.
Um, and then the the shelter leader of the whole thing was Officer Pascarosa. And from just I don't know enough enough positive things can't be said about the way he organized that whole show from
all the different volunteers to all the different people who came and went. Uh, he just did a phenomenal job just as managing that entire thing. my, you know, I said multiple times all I did was, you know, asked him if he needed anything and if there was a problem I
could solve, I I solved it. But other than that, he ran the entire show the entire time. And then when it came to closing the shelter, we had um you know, it was important to me because I wanted to make sure we could get the the building the shelter closed.
And then we needed to get you know, there's somewhere between 200 and 250 CS, all the blankets, like there was a lot that needed to be cleaned up. And you've had volunteers there for anywhere from 3 to 5 days, depending upon how long each
individual volunteer had been there. they were cooked and exhausted. Um, so to pack up all of that would have taken a real long time. Get it all back into the ConX box that it came out of. Um, so I on at like 4:30, 5:00 at night, I put out an email to
district staff and then the high school principal put it out to some of the students said, you know, hey, this is Thursday night. We're going to potentially need some volunteers to help break down the shelter. I got 32 people signed up right away. All but I think
two of or three of them because I had shift at the time. I originally thought it was going to be later in the day. It ended up being early in the not like late morning and so a couple people had some conflicts but other than that everybody showed up and in less than an hour they broke the whole place down um
and got it ready so then the cleaning crews can come in and that school was able to be able to be open today. So just the whole thing, you know, Kitten Kaboodle was just a great example of a community coming together to support a larger community. So just kudos to
everybody. Um, and again, there's a long list of names, individual names in there that I put in my superintendent report and hopefully I didn't miss anybody. Um, but I just wanted to I identify those people. And then the the one other thing non recognition wise is or I guess
recognition partially is um principal of the Emmy small school Carol Mahadei announced um her retirement. So um separately uh you know we will miss Carol she's been a long time dedicated
employee um in the state I mean not in the state well she has worked the state but here specifically in DY uh has been a long dedicated employee in DY um has worked in several different schools well known well loved in the district's been a great leader in Emmy small um for the
last several years um I actually got to know Carol even before coming uh to DY uh and through a class that I teach and I could see then um that she she was a great leader before even coming to work in DY. She's a great thinker um somebody
that I enjoyed having conversations with uh when she was taking that class and she will be missed and we need to start a search process. So, we are um already have got the posting out. Um as typically uh I like to have
Maria run the first round of the process as the chair, but you'll see there's in your packet is the the a timeline of the process. Um it doesn't have a specific name, so you get a sense of the positions that will be on the committee. And then the timeline um that we're
hoping to stick stick to all the applicants get a copy of this timeline so they know what to expect when they participate. Um this is very similar timeline and process that we've used for we used for the station app principle we used for the Ezra Baker principle um
that we used for some of the central office hirings. Personally, I believe in a robust process when you're looking for um these positions that uh that you really should vet uh and that ultimately you're looking for the best most qualified
candidate. Um and I think our processes have brought us strong candidates and uh strong leaders into our district and so we'll continue to use these processes maybe with some you know we make some minor tweaks um as we go. But um I think
you're I know our schedule will get thrown out of whack a little bit. I think you're scheduled to go over Oh, we're still on this because you're going to meet with the staff, right? Yeah. Still on schedule. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, it included going to meet with the staff
and sort of understand what they're looking for in their next leader, etc., etc. All which informs the process um as we go forward. And I think that is it for me. Any questions for the chair? So nice when I could see you all lots in the corner.
I won't say in times I've ignored the corner. Just kidding. No. Um school committee business uh finance subcommittee again we we talked about um all the things we talked about tonight.
Um we did take a vote uh that was 2 to one for recommending the current recommendations um which did include the elimination of the 10 powers. Um again that was the that was the recommendation but it's a recommendation as Dr. Smith
said he will look to see different options for different motions based on what can happen between now and then. Um and then next Monday we'll make our final vote. Um so I don't believe we have any meetings between now and then but uh we we continue to have it and
then um we had discussion in the past. So next is policy subcommittee uh we have our capital improvement plan policy which is uh provided um and this is the first reading. Any additional information that need to provide Miss Beus or Miss Marshall?
Uh the only thing I would add as a member of the um policy subcommittee, I mean this is very good. It's clear. Uh I understand the purpose and what to consider, but I guess the question is are we voting tonight to officially put
it into our policy menu? No, we're just adopting >> this is the first reading. Yeah, we have to do a first reading and then we can vote on I mean, is that the intent of this to place it within our policy manual? >> It would be. >> So, if that's the intent, the only thing
I would add to it or hope we consider >> um is what is the role of the school committee? Uh I don't know its functions and duties on this committee. So, I would want to add uh not only the policy statement as written here, but perhaps
something else to our policy manual. So it was very clear what the role of are we forming a capital improvement plan subcommittee and it's going to be an ongoing standing committee or did that capital improvement committee meet once
and sort of unofficially or uh >> the capital improvement subcommittee is a committee that is part of our our uh subcommittees for the school plan. So we plan to continue to have it. What would be wonderful if we could perhaps have language that stated all of the standing
subcommittees and even put it on our website. That would be my only suggestion. But certainly I don't have anything to add to this language is written. >> Okay. I know we do have a list of all the subcommittees and the members of them and then we reorg them uh when Miss Marshall joins. So I'll just make sure
I'll make sure that we can make sure you have a update on the website but we can update that. Any questions on the first one? Not on the website, but it was it was distributed. Uh
we had discussion after our first meeting of in September and then we had some discussion because it was over people had too many uh obligations and then we revised uh the subcommittees and then we
did not fill uh after a departure and then we I resubmitted after Miss Marshall joined but we can make sure that an updated one is and we can make sure that our website is updated but any questions specifically on this on the first one.
I think it was clearly laid out and and uh it's great. Thank you. Uh the next is uh capital improvement subcommittee. M >> that's uh that's John and me. Uh we've met a couple times. We had
met once and then um we had some questions on the presentation back to the full committee. So, we've met again and um I personally owe Dr. Gillson some feedback on that. I don't know um if John's given his, but um we are we're
working on a plan. Looks good. Thanks, Dr. Gillson, for all the work. And uh >> we've Yeah. So, >> plan is awesome. >> We got a plan and we'll share it with you at some point. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> No, really. I mean, you saw the plan,
but um you know, we went back and did some fine-tuning in a recent meeting with Dr. Gillson and um Steve Foucher just trying to really understand, you know, are there creative solutions for
funding some of these um necessary repairs and replacements? and are there ways to move things up the priority line um based on you know what what John and I really see as um you know really um emergent needs in the
district and that was it was basically taking a look at things that were one-time expenditures that should not be part of the operating budget and developing a capital improvement plan to address those needs and then submit those to the various towns where it's necessary to fund those needs and um I I
totally agree with Jenny Uh I think we came up with a comprehensive list of improvements that the district needs to make uh and uh where to put them within the timeline. That's great. And the you know the feedback from the town was appreciative that we're looking that many years out
and that they could earier market and you know the discussions with the towns are if it's a specific school in a specific town you know to go to the towns and then look at other ways of funding stuff if it was you know a joint school. So again, we'll have further discussions as needed when we get to
that of, you know, how we use certain funds. But thank you. Um, next, the consent agenda. Consent agenda is the the minutes from December 15th, 2025 meeting. >> Move the consent agenda. >> Motion, we have a second. Any discussion? Seeing none. All those in
favor say I. I. All. Any opposed? Any abstained? Bills, requisitions, and payrolls, we do have those here that have been signed. Um, Miss Miller did send an email out with four PDFs uh to different than this. She sent them
this afternoon. Is it three or four? Three. I can't see that part. Three. Um, so please check your school email. We need at least four people to sign them uh electronically. Uh they were separate ones. So please make sure uh that you check that. Um I signed mine two minutes
after you sent them. So I'm complete. We need three more. um calendars, uh school committee topics. I don't even know what today is. We I think we have a vote next Monday. I think we have a FY27 budget vote,
final vote. Uh March 9th, uh and then March 23rd, we'll be doing the superintendent award of uh academic excellence. That's where a student in the high school is selected for that and then they go to a dinner. Um so we get announcing the award of that. Um, and
then the calendar. Uh, just looking at it today because, you know, why wouldn't we have more half days? Uh, we have a school committee meeting next Monday. And then, uh, half day at all schools for parent teacher conferences on Tuesday the 10th,
Thursday the 12th. Says all half day at all schools. The last time it's all schools, high school change. And then the polish subcommittee will meet on 18th. We have another school committee meeting on the 23rd. Um, the only thing I will note and I already
forgot the date. The current last day of school since we've used all the snow days is June 20. I was trying to look for your mouth. We've used them plus one. Yes. So June 25th is the current
last day. I don't have June in. So the superintendent report we'll say that we the the the school calendar shows the 24th because that was with five snow days. We use five snow days in one week plus we use one other
day previously. So the 25th is the current the last day of school um for the students and then uh public comment uh the our policy on public
participation in meetings can be found on the table at the agenda. Public's reminded that school committee meeting is a meeting of governmental body at which members of the body deliberate over public business. We welcome your attendance and appreciate your interest in viewing a school committee as we conduct a regular business meeting. The school committee believes that the school district community should have an
opportunity to comment to the committee on issues that affect the school district and are within the scope of the committee's responsibilities. Some questions you may have may not be within the scope of the committee's responsibilities. In that case, I would suggest that you send or give your question in writing to the appropriate person uh so that you can be given
proper consideration. Individuals may address topics on the agenda, items specific for public comment or items within the scope or responsibility of the school committee. This is your opportunity for individuals to address the topics on the agenda. Each citizen will be allowed to speak for no more than three minutes. Do we have anyone
interested in speaking to Yes. Uh we have several people in the crowd. We do have one person approaching. Do not pan to the empty seats. Good evening, chair to Tolantino, members of the Dennis school committee and superintendent Mark Smith. My name
is Pat Puzzinski and I'm president of the Dennis Yamath Regional Secretaries and Assistance Association. A resident of Dennis, a third grade closer supervision pareducator who supports who's assigned to three students but actually supports five to eight students
daily. Ezra Baker and a parent whose children attended and graduated from Danish schools. I am here tonight because I am deeply concerned about the possibility of eliminating more PAR educators from classrooms. PAR educators are not
optional. They are essential to student learning safety and success. Today's classrooms are more complex than ever. Teachers are expected to meet a wide range of academic and behavioral needs at the same time. Without PAR educator support, teachers are forced to
manage instruction, behavior, safety, and individual students simultaneously. That is not realistic and it is not sustainable. PAR educators make it possible for teachers to teach and for students to learn.
Eliminating PAR educators does not only disproportionately impact our most vulnerable students, it harms all students. In classrooms of without pareducator support, teachers are often forced to ignore or delay responding to
behaviors simply to keep instruction moving. That is not a teaching choice. It is a survival strategy. But students cannot learn in an environment where disruptions go unressed. When behaviors are not supported early, they escalate.
Instructional time is lost. Learning suffers for everyone in the room. Pared educators are often more consistent direct time with individual students than anyone else in the classroom, especially students with ongoing
academic and behavioral needs. Much of this work is preventative and relationship based that and happens continuously throughout a day. A five-minute classroom observation cannot capture the work that actually keeps
classrooms functioning. I have worked in subsearate programs in classroom settings in this district since 2006. Over that time, I have seen firsthand how reductions in PAR educator support directly impacts student success. When
parent educators are present, students are engaged, regulated, and they learn. When that support is reduced, students struggle more and behaviors ex escalate more quickly. This is not theoretically. It is a lived
experience. As a taxpayer, I am concerned how resources are prioritized. When are we when we are discussing cuts to pared educators, people who directly support students every day, how is that going to impact our students?
If we want better outcomes, the district must direct resources towards teacher and pareducator support, especially in the elementary grades where early intervention has the greatest impact. Once pareducated positions are eliminated, that support is directly is
that support is extremely difficult to rebuild. Yet the impact on students is immediate. If we want better outcomes for our students, we must invest where learning actually happens in classrooms with students every single day. Cutting par
educators moves us in the wrong direction. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much, Matt. Anyone else? >> Seeing none, any additional motions? Move to adjurnn. >> Have a motion. Do we have a second?
>> Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstain? Stay warm and thank you Rebel.