Welcome to the Monday, March 9th, 2026 meeting of the Dennis Shamouth 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, to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Uh we will start with our student representative report and I'm happy to introduce Miss Adriana Heath who will be representative of the student council today.
>> Good afternoon everyone. I just have a small summary on what has been going on between last week and this week at the high school. To begin, the the theater, the DY theater went to the one act play on Saturday, March 7th, and
although we didn't move forward, three students received acting awards and the administration has been busy rescheduling from the storm. But we've had a very successful food festival, a student showcase for the seventh graders
who were supposed to come for eighth grade, and a successful junior parent breakfast. Also, DUI was a shelter during the storm, but everything was in order for school reopening on Monday. There were no like
Yeah. For this week, the seventh graders are supposed to come to DY on Wednesday. We're also prepping for spring sports and any spring events. Um, also, Miss Williams would like to let everyone know that the civics day is on
March 19th, and she's kindly asking if you could all attend. It runs from 7:45 to 10:45 a.m. If you're unable to stay for the whole duration, a shorter visit would be greatly appreciated, and she's kindly asking if you could let her know via email if you would be able to
attend. Lastly, I am aware that there will be budget cuts, but I'm a little unsure as to what that means. So, I would like to know that whole process. Thank you. >> That's a great question, Adriana, and we we appreciate your update. Um, what
we're going to have next is our what we call a our budget presentation. And then tonight, we've had we've had several meetings that are will be ti outlined shortly, but uh tonight is the day we will actually vote. We have not voted on a a number. We're required to vote on a
number and we will make a vote tonight on a number. That number from today until next July 1st can never go up. That's the number that will be uh used, but it can go down if we're able to find savings after today. So uh I look forward to hearing our next presentation. So we'll move to Dr. Smith
in the FY27 budget. >> All right, thank you. Um, so, uh, we're going to we've got a fair amount to cover going to are going to sort of go back and cover some ground that we have previously covered just to provide some
full context. So, as um, as we have each time just to remind sort of what is at the at the very top, I guess for lack of a better analogy, what is driving the work? um what is you know every budget should be grounded in something it isn't
just a set of numbers should drive a particular purpose and so our purpose for the last couple of years has been the strategic plan to try to move that work forward we have three main uh objectives in our strategic plan uh you know we've had separate presentations on
the strategic plan but those are the three big objectives in the plan to eliminate disparities in achievement and access for every student to establish consistent district-wide systems for support and organizational effectiveness and then to address the district's short and long-term facilities and capital
needs. And then as we find ourselves in difficult times having to make difficult decisions, it's always important to ground yourself in your decision- making. And the district adopted last year uh five core values uh of equity, dignity, excellence, community, and
integrity. So try to use those to help us in our decision- making. um always say um the time you need core values the most is when you have to make difficult decisions. So this is our calendar uh for key dates in the bud budget timeline. This is
where the committee finds themselves today. Uh March 9th is your final budget adoption and and just not necessarily for the committee but just for the public at large. This is driven by the regional agreement. The regional
agreement sets the timelines for the budget adoption process. And I think I'm about to stroke out um with the flashing there. Um but it's uh the this current timeline is driven by uh the uh can't
the budget adoption has to happen no less than 45 days before the first town meeting, which for us is the set by the town of Yarmouth. All right. Um we've been talking about the process here and what has been
driving uh the FY27 so next year's school budget and that has been a set of predictable factors things that we knew um what the rate increases were going to be um and those are all on the left hand side there and then there's been a series of things that throughout the
budgeting process have been unpredictable some of them have become predictable so for example health insurance we didn't know at the beginning of this process where what it was going to be um but that number has come in. Uh and then there are other things that we are continue to be volatile and then so we have to make
estimates based upon them being volatile and some things that will remain unsettled. For example, we still have uh unsettled collective of bargaining agreements with two bargaining units. Um and those will remain unsettled until they're settled. Um but um we have to
continue to move forward in the budgeting process regardless. And uh you know as the committee is well aware we um were surprised by low much lower than anticipated state aid this this year. All right. And there's a lot uh that
informs our decision-m and informs the budget building process. This again the committee seen this slide many times but this is the staffing uh over the last 10 plus years. Um just showing uh the total number of staffing plus how it's
distributed against our excuse me distributed amongst our major uh groups and I lost uh slides. Rhode Island neither a road nor an
island. Discuss amongst yourselves. Yeah. The next the next slide, it should you be able to see it. Um just shows again how we compare to the other school uh our DART districts, which is a comparison tool for um that the
Department of Ed uses that you can compare yourselves to districts that have similarities. Um I happen to have chose similar similar districts by demographics. Um and the graph is meant to show that DY in some areas um we are
um of uh you know have slightly more staff when you look at a ratio of FTE per 100 students and in some areas we have slightly less um but we're not you know we don't stand out one way or another um drastically one way or
another. Um you can see DY is identified there with a green star. So you're easy to find DY on the on each of those charts. It means it's just by um staffing group is how it's organized. And this isn't a DY created chart. This is a publicly available uh chart off the
Department of Ed. It's off the radar report. Um and then student enrollment um is something that we do watch each year. This is the October one numbers. And as I've talked about before, you know, we've se we were seeing so precoid, you know, there's a steady decline, actually a pretty rapid decline
heading right after COVID. And then we've been seeing this steady increase in enrollment for the last five years. And then this year we saw a dip in enrollment um and which matches what is seen all across the state. There's about 15,000 less students in the state of
Massachusetts this year than there were last year and it's reflected in the enrollment data here in DY as well. And again, these are um you know uh very commonly or these are the kids who are actually walking in the door, right?
So just because sometimes this gets confused with foundation enrollment which is two different numbers. foundation enrollment comes up when we talk about the assessment, but these are the kids who are actually coming into the DY schools, sitting in our seats and getting educated in DY. Oh, actually and
technically it does include our some of our out of district students, but the students that are part of the DY system as opposed to foundation enrollment, which is the students in the community for which the towns are responsible for educating or even if they go to um and
happen to get their schooling in other schools but are residents of the community. So those are two different enrollment numbers. Um and then look breaking that down by populations, you know, DY has seen a steady increase in what the department
of ed uh qual or um identifies as high needs. High needs is then further broken down into four categories. Um students and students can be in more than one of these categories. Um but students that are socioeconomically disadvantaged,
that's that top line. And you can see that number has grown over the last decade plus and then sort of uh stabilized at around 55%. Uh students who are English language learners, that number has steadily increased over the last 15 years. Students whose first language is not English, that number has steadily
increased over the last 15 years. And then special education students, that number has been pretty stable for the last 15 years with a with an increase just in this last year. Um and then another driver for our district is is specifically regarding
special education costs for outof district education um special education. So students who um need specialized instruction that we cannot provide inside the district. So there's three data points on here. The green is the number of students and this is again
over time. The blue is the cost of tuition to those um uh placements and then the orange is the cost of transportation. So getting students to and from those locations. And you can see it's a continuously escalating cost for the district. um and rapidly
escalating cost. Um and one that we spend a lot of time discussing and and um a lot of time trying to figure out largely by trying to build some programs inside the district, retain more students, and maybe potentially bring some students back to try to drive this number down because this number um is
starting to become a very large percentage of the district's budget. Uh and then how do we sort of shake out across the district and per pupil expenditure? So when you take the total amount of money you spend and divide it by the number of kids that come to your district, that's a sort of rough way of
looking at it, but basically that's what per pupil expenditures are. That's how you get your per pupil costs. So stacking us up up against the cape, um this is where we fall. So again, the DY continues to provide a very affordable
um education program for the taxpayers in our region. Regionalization continues to be a very affordable um decision that this community made a very long time ago. Um continues to provide for a very affordable educational program especially when you stack us up against
the region. This is where we fall. Same just looking at us across the entire state. All right. And then so going all the way back to the beginning of this process, we started with some prioritized requests. We we you know started
presenting to the committee in January, but Dr. Gillson and I and the entire leadership team started this process all the way back in October on uh looking at the budget and forecasting out to next year. And it started by working with each of the department leads uh to
determine what requests would they have to build next year's budget. Uh then we use a a prioritization process for ranking each of those requests. And so we had four items that were ranked as
number four. Uh these were recommended originally by the finance subcommittee to be part of the budget. Um since then some things have changed. Um we've uh removed the addition of the fourth grade teacher. Uh and then each of those other
items that were facilities helping move that strategic objective number three forward in the general budget, the committee uh through our previous conversations and the finance subcommittee meeting again at a different time has recommended to move
uh those into END and you'll see that come up later in uh you'll see it come up later. Stop there. Um the finance subcommittee def determined um and that again the committee here has talked about either deferring all of these
items. Essentially all these items are deferred. The top two you know we're going to look to try to pursue a grant. There's no guarantees that we'll get that federal grant but everything else on this list were were priority three items that the determination was to defer these.
And then uh this is again we've spent some time discussing this is to outfit the high school the rest of the high school where we would normally do a slow roll up of the Chromebooks at the high school our transition to Chromebooks at the high school is begun. So instead of
uh having a instructional mismatch at the high school with especially once ninth graders start to get um Chromebooks and they start to mix with 10th and 11th graders in the building. Um to outfit the entire high school next year with Chromebooks and a one-time purchase is $249,000
and some change. Um so again the recommendation was to fund that one-time purchase um out of uh excessive efficiency and then similarly uh you've got you've had some presentations on the ELA
curriculum. We've worked on six to eight roll out this year. Next year would be expanding to K to 5 curriculum that um and we have a couple of funding sources for that. One is an old literacy revolving account um that has a a sum of
just about $150,000 in it and then the rest would be through END. Um we'll also apply for a Prism grant. Um but no guarantees we'll get that grant. So we'd ask the committee to fund the full amount through END and then should we
get the Prism grant then it would reduce the amount of END that needs to be applied. And then there were a small number of items um that were put into the budget uh at this point in time um that were a priority three items. And then these
were all priority two items that were deferred and not put into the budget which got us to uh summary here which essentially there was $74,000 put into the operating budget. the and then everything else was either deferred or
um would be funded out of END. So we've $1.3 million funded out of END. Uh the we just had END certified on March 3rd. So there's currently just under 2.8 million in END. So the committee has an
understanding of um how much because you'll see a motion later on utilizing END. So, you know what you're going to be potentially uh voting to approve in expenditure and what your current balance is. All right. So then uh at that time when
all of this came through again minus some of the removal of largely the removal of those three items for facilities for END at the time at your February 2nd meeting you were looking at a 7.4 4 um percent budget increase um
with corresponding um assessments to the two towns of just over 8% to Dennis and just over 10% assessment increase to Yarmouth. So since then uh we've presented with to
you some uh ways to reduce that. So these are the again reductions that you've seen already. So, um, reduction of a central office administrator, uh, not adding that fourth grade position,
again, I've already mentioned this, but moving that those that facilities projects out of the general fund and into an END, reduce reduction of 10 PAR educators, which I know we've had a lot of conversation around, not replacing a couple of retirements, uh, reduction of
a third grade classroom at Ezra Baker, and reduction of one assistant principal that totaled 1 point just under $1.4 million. Then at the time we were waiting, so this is at the February 9th meeting. We
were waiting to hear where the health insurance vote was going to come in. We had gotten some indication that it wasn't going to be as high as the 15%. So we had reduced it to 10% in the budget and those were the savings that were going to come from that. Plus, we knew we had certain number of people
that were retiring and um anticipating hiring folks at lower um step and lane, etc. than what the people that were going out at. We also calculated some additional savings. And then on your next meeting, um we knew exactly where
the health care costs were. That gave us some additional savings plus we did a FICO recalculation which brought us some additional savings. So by the March 2nd meeting which was just last Monday um there was an additional 2 point so all that added up to a a total of 2 just
over 2.4 million in reductions or utilization of END to lower the oper uh operating budget. Uh and this was in addition to the over 2.2 million that was in deferred projects that never made it into the original operating budget.
So this is just sort of I think I think it was the chair who had asked to sort of see this um visually at the last meeting. So this is just sort of a way to visually see the change over time. So starting on the very left you see the operating budget in 26. Um and then you
see the February 2nd meeting where we sat. So you see the operating budget was at 86,38,000 and some change which was a 7.4 four um% increase. And then you can see as you move down that resulted in an assessment
to the two towns of 68.6 million um which was a 9.49% increase in the assessment. And the the difference in the budget increase and the assessment increase is two factors. One, the committee may remember we're
coming off a multi-year step down of END, right? So, when you um are no longer applying END, you have to make up that difference. So, we're making up a $250,000 difference from coming off an END step down. And we have a net less
state aid. Um so, state aid is the first thing that comes off between the operating budget and the assessment. And the reason we have net less state state aid is because we're getting charged more in charter out and in um school
choice out. Um we did get more chapter 70, but it didn't make up the difference on what the assessments were. So when you net all that out, the net aid is down. Um and then again then you just sort of play out the rest of the assessment formula. Both towns have a minimum
required contribution. Um that doesn't change from iteration to iteration. So Dennis's this year is 14.5 million. Yarmouth's is 30 million. Um you can see how much the increase is the increase for this year was more for Yarmouth. So
that affects the formula as well. Um and then the rest is applied to uh the remaining amount is distributed using the 5-year rolling average which for this year um for Dennis is 30.453%
and Yarmouth is 69.547%. So you can see um as we went from February 2nd that number went from 86 million and 8 and 10 uh% assessments to the two towns respectively to 84.2
million and five and almost 7% to um 83.8 million which was a 4.3933% budget increase and the assessments to the two towns were 4.4 four and 6.1. So,
a lot of work to get um where we are today. The This is the debt service. Debt service hasn't moved. The debt service is the debt service. All that's left is this building. Um and the the split is 65% for Yarma, 35% for Dennis, and
that's based um on uh the regional agreement. you know, and I've been talking about this for a little while, um, which is, you know, in order for us as a district to maintain progress, we really need to be unfortunately
closer to that 5% number. And so what we're seeing is lesser um lesser than that funding. Uh that's not even proper English, but um and as a result um we're seeing some of the impacts of that in F we're going to potentially see some of
the impacts in that in FY27 um and where we're going to see some increased class sizes specifically at 8 to 12, some reduction in electives. And the point of this slide is if we don't figure out a way to address this in the long term, this problem is going to
compound itself um over time. Uh and because the base doesn't build. Um so the base is going to continue to um if the base is smaller then we're going just going to continue to run into these problems next year and the year after
and the year after. All right. So um the committee has asked for different options. I know I've sent the committee got a memo um with this information to consider over the weekend. So based upon the committee's feedback and the discussions that have happened over the last couple of
meetings, uh Dr. Gillson and I put together some options for the committee to discuss uh and for your final vote here. So, as we sent to you in the memo, so in addition to everything that was up
there, uh there are an additional just over $200,000 um that uh come from further FICA adjustment calculation savings. Right? So, in addition to everything that has just been shown, there's an additional
just over $200,000 in FICA savings. And there's been a request by some of the school committee members to provide alternative options to the then to the par educator reductions. Uh and there's also the the pressure to lower the impact uh of the possible override in
both towns. Um you know, we've discussed here at the table and that both towns are likely looking at uh an override in order to fund the budget because we're still over two and a half% uh assessment increase in both communities. and both communities are dealing with other
pressures as well. Uh so, you know, when you bring all that together, you know, you're looking at uh likely definitely an override in one town and I I'm I n again, nothing's been set, but we're looking at potential overrides in both communities.
Whoops. Uh so, we provided you with four options to consider. And as I said in um the email and the memo that this is ultimately your budget. So if you need us to consider and calculate a
fifth option then we're prepared to do that. We will just need uh you know like some piano music and for the public while we sit over here and do the calculations. Um but we've tried to set up a spreadsheet in order to in order to do that but we know obviously want to
get it right. Um but so the first three options uh just to sort of level set here or try to give just some to make sure everybody's looking at this the same way. The first three options apply the 205 or 204,000
to lowering the budget. Right? So the would be to lower the operating budget and then give the committee different ways of different um reductions that are
in the same ballpark of that $310,000 for the that we were saving from the pair of educators. And so then you see the overall so if you look at the bottom line the overall
um operating budget goes down from so you got to keep in your sort of head that number on the right. So 83877 is where we sat the other day. So you know you see 8368
83663 83680. So in each one of those scenarios we're bringing down the operating budget and as a result bringing down the assessments to the two towns. In the scenario all the way to the
right, we are not applying the savings to the lowering the uh overall operating budget. Instead, we're applying the savings to keeping pair of positions.
And so therefore, you don't get the savings in the operating budget. And you see the net change is actually I think I have to I didn't hold the number in my own head. 83. Yeah. So yeah. So you're you're
you're seeing a slight savings but you're not seeing that you're seeing a call it a 50 or $30,000 savings in the overall net change from uh where we were the other day. And
I will before I think sort of pause here and I think I'll leave the next slide just says questions. So I think I'll just leave it on this slide so you all can can see it visually. None of these choices are good choices. Um, and I I there's a um a meme that I
look at um regularly as a leader that um it's I'm deciding. Yeah, I'll share it anyways. It's because it's maybe not the best meme, but it's I think it's appropriate for the situation that I
find myself in. It's a it's it's a runner who's clearly needs to go to the bathroom and they're standing in front of poor four porto johns and each one of them has a terrible choice and on labeled on it it's like maneing piranhas like flesheating disease and essentially
the idea is that you have to make a choice even though each one of the four choices is terrible choices. And that's often times what we find ourselves in in leadership faced with, right, is nothing but terrible choices and you still have
to make one. Um, so I wish that we had found like some great like, oh, this is the easy one. Like this is the obvious easy choice. Um, but unfortunately that's not what we had for you all today. Um, and
I think that's where I'll stop and through the chair we'll take any questions. We'll do whatever whatever the committee needs. But >> um this is I think and then you know then there is a separate we've prepared motions for all four of these but again if we need to prepare a diff different
motion we can do that and then there is a separate motion around the E and D when you're ready to get there. >> I'm just going to make a couple comments and then I'm going to invite our student if she has questions ask questions then I'll move to the committee. Um if she doesn't have questions that's
okay as well. Um, I know there's several people in the audience who have sent emails. Um, I know that there's been a lot of discussion since our last meeting. Um, you know, um, we we don't have public comment for uh, this. Um, I think that's something maybe we look
into next year is adding a public portion comment before the day of vote on the day of the vote. Again, that's not up to me. But, um, as Dr. Smith said, none of these options are good. um having to cut what we cut
it it doesn't help us with our strategic plan. Um and I think we all know that and I know we're all passionate and I know uh all the reductions that we had to do whenever we use the word reductions it's getting rid of things that we want and need. Um so that's all I'm going to I'm going to say there.
There's opportunities that uh this budget can go down from today. It can never go up. Um and I know that Dr. Smith and Dr. Gillson and their team are going to work to to find solutions that maybe stuff can get back in. Um but it's our duty to give a number to the two
towns today uh based on our regional agreement and then um they have plenty of work to see what we can do from there. Um and we hope there's savings that are found between now and July 1st that we can work on discussing other options. So um I'll allow uh Adriana if
you have any questions about the budget or what we did. I know it's a lot of information. We've done this now six times, so all of us are up to date, but I'd be happy to answer anything or have Dr. Smith answer. >> I think I'm following pretty well. I have no questions.
>> Great. Uh, now we will move to the committee. Miss Landers, >> um can you tell me in these options about the reduction of a unit A position counselor? Um what that looks like,
please. >> So without getting too specific because I there's a limited number of people in those positions, right? Um so when looking at options
um try to approach it with the same um approach that took holistically from the very beginning. Right? trying to look at the
the decision that would have the impact that that would from try to look at it from like an equity standpoint, right? So, first started to think about like intervention positions, but then there was no way to
do that without impacting just one school and not the other schools like at the elementary level, right? I couldn't just go to Ezra Baker and then then it it doesn't impact the other then it's like an inequity between the three K to3s, right? Um and try to look at
places where we've recently added or made some adjustments. Um tried to look at school enrollment trends where we've maybe lost some students at a higher rate than at other places. Um, again, I'm not necessarily a fan of that
particular option um based upon the um needs of our students. Um, but uh again trying to look at some of the other options were less I thought were less um beneficial. We've already
cut at intervention going to last round of cuts. Um, and I I felt like we've already impacted the general ed classrooms with some of the other reductions that we've made. Um, and
>> do you know how many counselors we have in each school or how many counselors we have district? Uh, so it each again it kind of depends upon who you put in the counselor bucket but um >> the at the
off the top of my head at the high yeah I don't I know the high school has the most and then the inter intermediate middle school between the two of them have um the next amount and then at the elementary school this again depending upon who you put in the counselor bucket
like if you count the psychologists in there then there's two at the elementary schools, but they kind of have a unique role, the psychologist. So then then there's like a social worker or school counselor at each of the elementary schools. >> And my follow-up question is just under
this reduction in the technology budget of $15,000, what what would fall into that category? Just not upgrading certain >> Yeah. So it's like looking at some Yeah. not purchasing some small hardware
purchases. It was really hard to look at anything of substance because it's, you know, do we not pay for the software that you use for the budgeting? Do we not pay for light licensing? Like there's so much that runs the district at this point that is all in the tech
technology budget that it's really, you know, from every wireless adapter to every to the security system like all of it is on the technology. It sits in the technology budget, the district by technology budget, but so there were small items that we
felt like we could trim back, but that's why you don't see like a big number. Anyone else with questions, Mr. Martin? >> All right. So, if I'm if I'm understanding the um the options, we're looking we're
looking at everything that is on the February 9th recommendations with the but the options kind of adjust they adjust the amount of PAR educators resulting in cuts from other places. Correct. Is that so just want to kind of
tie these two together to understand what's going on here. >> Yeah. So if I understood things correctly and I apologize if I didn't, the biggest area of concernation for the committee was the 10 par educator cuts. >> So this is trying to figure out that
it's roughly $310,000 like we're options for addressing that 300. Again, we found an additional $24,000. So there's that plus how to address that roughly $310,000 and um and giving the committee other options to
address I do I think there was even some con some conversation around that like >> you know how else could we right so this is looking at other ways um to potentially arrive at that same you know it's not exact but around that same number >> okay so I just wanted to understand how
the how the two pages kind of >> work together >> yeah so it's in everything else and And it's it's that that essentially addressing that one line. Yeah. >> Okay. So, how much are we accounting for as far as the unit A position counselor in these two options? Option two and option three.
>> How? >> Yeah. It's about 80 85,000 because you have to think about bumping and it's so it's a where we've averaged when we did all the other pieces what we average for >> um somebody at the lower end nonPTS.
So if so if >> if we were to if we were to consider not including the the counselor position in either option two or option three then essentially that would go up by about$84 $85,000. >> Correct.
>> Mr. N. >> Thank you Mr. Chairman, have we added counselors to the district over the past seven years? >> Seven years, I don't know. >> Three years. >> In the last three years, we have
I know we've reallocated one FTE um at the middle school. I think that's the only that's the one that first the only one that's coming to mind. It was it was a reallocation of an FTE. So So yesish,
right? So it wasn't a an ad as much as it was a So yes, we've added a counselor. It wasn't an additional FTE in the budget. So I know I'm kind of answering out of both sides of my mouth, but that's what we did.
>> Okay. And um in the past three years uh has the enrollment in the high school stayed stable or has it decreased? >> In the high school it's gone down. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions?
you know the the option five would have been to keep what we had last time. So I'm thinking based on my conversations we we are looking at something else but again nothing is good. Um and sorry just for context the we
have a school um where so uh so under option one the the administrative assistant position is at a school where we've seen a decline in enrollment as well and this that
actually wouldn't be a reduction in a um we have like somebody who's uh notified us that they're leaving. So like it would be an attrition position as well. Just if that helps, just for your information,
>> Mr. Martin. All right. So for option two and option three, um the counselor position accounts for $85,000. If we remove them and added back in the $85,000 to those two numbers that are
sitting there, they would both option two, if my public education math is correct, it would come to 83,748,974 and option three would come to 83,76510. I did not go into further math for doing the percentages or whatever, but both of
those numbers would come in below the current 83877503 and they would definitely come in under the under the what would end up being option four. So, uh I would ask and float out there whether or not we needed to actually include the counselor
position in to those two options. um we would still reduce the number of PAR educators that get um that get reduced um and we'd be able to keep our counselors for our highnee students. The only thing I would note is the 83
million877503 we still have to subtract the 204 55 545 for savings but the percentages >> Yeah, but sorry. >> Go ahead. I was just saying so I if I'm
following his logic train appropriately he's saying you're taking the counselor out so you just have to add the 85 back to the >> to the the net change number at the bottom there >> so
I step yeah that's correct that's where I'm going >> Mr. knew I saw your hand. Did you still have a question? >> Yes, I do. Uh had a question uh from a week ago. I was wondering has there been uh uh any information that was gleaned
about the number of of positions that are open on the website and the accuracy to that? >> Yes, we had a meeting the next day. Um, and so if they haven't, they should have already been cleared, most of them, cuz most of them went back a long ways. Um,
the only ones that are active and open are a handful of the PE2 jobs, which are for the subsparate programs. Um, and then I think there's one or two uh PE1A jobs, but the majority of the open jobs
because we and we do have we have some contractors filling the PE2 jobs. That's definitely still an area of need is the PE2 U jobs which are are subseparate programs, >> right? So, so the number is >> I don't I don't know the exact number. Okay.
>> But is substantially less than what was listed? >> Yeah. And part of our what we discussed with the HR director is a change in practice too is so when we post we post by every school post and then they post
multiple times and they refresh their posting by posting again and so changing our pract so it looks like we have 24 openings when really it's the same posting that's been refreshed a couple different times at a school and instead if we need a PE1 one hosting for a PE1
for the district and then the schools drawing from the same pool. Um because where we're running into this problem is we're not then curating our postings, right? So it's not, you know, if I'm a principal and I put up a posting and then I haven't got anybody say, you
know, it's been a while, so I'm going to request another posting, but I'm not taking down the old, you know, not requesting to take the old one down. And we have I think somebody noted you've got ones up there since 24 and 23. And so it makes it look like yeah there's a bunch of openings that aren't really I
mean aren't really there. There aren't 24 openings. >> And then um follow-up question the council position. Do we have anybody that is retiring or leaving that we know about? >> Okay. Thank you
Miss Beis. So I'm I'm sort of following that last comment. So either through attrition or reorganization, could the number of actual reductions be less when it all pans out or these are
current employed individuals under PAR educators? >> So are we let me ask a clarifying question to your question. Do you mean people who
are going to lose a position or do you mean positions? Yes. So people um it will most likely be zero based upon our last experience with this because that
um job has turnover. Um and so between unfilled positions LA so last time we had um even actually even with the DEA last time we went through these
layoffs there was very few um people who actually got a letter that said you are no longer employed to the district by the time we got to the end of the year or some got them and then we rescended them because
somebody else resigned, somebody else moved on to a different, you know, opportunity. And so then we sent them another letter saying, you know, we're sending that um that letter and if you want to continue with us, you can stay with us. And um so by the time we get to the end of the year in I know for a fact
in the DY RSA um we got to that last one where that last person got the letter and we ended up hiring at the end of the year because more people resigned than um we needed to lay off. Does that answer your question?
So is it still people still doing that? Yep. So I guess I guess the question was I don't know if it's possible to do the math of option two and three with um putting back in the um counselor. So
we're we understand where we are if we if we went down to six or five and then what the and then all the way through we would need to know what the uh assessments the assessments would be to the towns because it's important for us again to remember you know our responsibility to both towns to know
what the percentage would be uh to each town from where we started and where we possibly would vote to end. make sure your microphone's on. >> Um, if you add or um if you take out the
the counselor position, you're adding 85,000 back in. So that's 320 344 + 85 um,000 and that number comes out to be 405 344 if somebody wants it does the math
with me. Um, and yeah, and you want to subtract it. Well, anyway, in my formula subtracts it from the overall operating budget. Um so um the operating budget ends up being 8357
wait have to go up. >> Oh from that got it sorry good thanks so all right >> did you have a question? Yeah, sure.
>> I just wanted to clarify. So, the number of people impacted is theoretically quite low because of openings, but just so I understand, the number of positions is based on need. Is that
correct? I mean, how did we ever get to the number of positions? I assume that was based on need. She s uh if I'm listening to me correctly, she's the question is about originally where did the number of 10 paras come from? Um
>> no or where we where we are now in positions in general. Correct. >> Yeah. I mean how many par professionals does the district need? I understand that the impact to people may be low because
we have open positions. But the number of positions is based on need. Correct. And the need hasn't necessarily gone away. That's what I'm asking. >> Yeah. And the discussions that we had
over the last couple of meetings again information that we've been given is that um the number of positions that we had opened didn't necessarily uh was felt that it was covering more need than we was required. again that
that's just the information that you know based on last year versus this year. Um obviously needs change. Um and then on top of that there'll be little impact to people whether it's 865 or three based on attrition and us
eliminating um some of the open positions. Um but I I I know regardless the expectation that is if there's a need actual need that there's a person assigned to that. I'm sure that's all of our expectations that that was put into
play when we were given the number of 10 based on the discussion that Maria and Dr. Smith you know gave to us and Dr. Smith based on your discussions I believe that's correct. >> Yeah. So, not to rehash all of our
previous conversations too much, but if I if I'm understanding your question correctly, the the the leadership team feels that the reduction of 10 positions is appropriate based upon what we're
trying to do. Um and and at this point, we feel based upon, you know, again, trying to understand it my recommendation would be would be option one because now we've found two other ways to reduce that by two right we
believed we could do eight I mean we believed we could do 10 now we're at eight but regardless that the um that we found a way to um or that when we look at the needs of our students the way
we're currently assigning pair educators and that there. I think I think I use the phrase de facto, but that we're creating situations where students have a higher level of adult presence with them in some situations. There's there are situations where students need a
onetoone. There are subsparate programs. There are other students who are assigned onetoone where that's fully appropriate. And as we've analyzed, there are other situations where students are assigned that level of adult supervision that don't need that level of adult supervision. And when you do that enough times throughout the
district, you can save staffing. Um, and quite frankly, it's not appropriate for the student to have that level of adult supervision when they don't need it. It's a violation of FAPE. Um, it's it's not the least restrictive environment, it's not appropriate for the kids. Um, so again, we feel like not only is the
best interest of the students, but it's also a way to save money in this situation where we find ourselves. Serves both purposes. that was the impetus for us to have it as one of the options or one of the original cuts for to be considered. >> And then on top of that, you know, the
expectations again to be fiscally responsible to the two towns is not to just absorb that 320,000 that we have budgeted to take out. that we still needed to have something near that amount that we were adjusting our
budget to rather than, you know, taking the number that we had last week, adding the 10 positions in and adding and going up. Um, so the options presented still have a savings of about 310,000. Obviously, some are less, some are more.
So that we're still fiscally responsible and it's not like the town saying, "Okay, we came to a number and now we're just going to add 310 back because of this." We we still have to look at options of that amount of savings. Um even though we found 204,000, again,
we're still way above what the towns are uh expecting. Again, town of Yarmouth was 1.5 over and town of Dennis was a little over 400 something thousand over. Um you know, this gets us a little less based on the split with that 200k, but
not a lot. Miss Landers. >> So, you know, I like where Glenn was going with the numbers about the counselor and, you know, I'm they're hard at work over there doing the math on that. But I think it's important to note that
you know the needs of our students based on what I know about the needs of our students reducing a counselor would be you know I don't want to we don't want to reduce any positions but I think you know the the category of counselor which includes psychologists and social
workers and guidance c like it's huge um for our students and their social emotional learning. So, um, you know, I'm in favor of adding back in the counselor, um, to option two. I think that's, you
know, what Glenn was looking at some numbers on. Um, you know, reducing six PAR educators. you know, I you know, we've done some resizing in the past um based on you
know, some organic growth that happened over the years in certain positions. And if if we can group our students in the right ways that everybody can have their needs met and
with a reduced number of PAR educators um you know to get this budget down slightly. I mean, we're This all feels a little crazy and I'll be honest, you know, we're arguing over Look at these percentages.
Dennis 4.124, Dennis 4.090, Dennis 4.114, Dennis 4.3. Like, we're arguing over, you know, ten of percentages. not not arguing, but we're, you know, we're considering cutting services,
important services to our children based on ten of percentages here. It it feels a little insane. So, this is going to be a tough year, uh, no matter how you look at it. So, I'd like to see the numbers on option two, adding
back in the counselor, reducing using the 204 for savings, um reducing by six and the admin and and adding back in the counselor. I think that is a really reasonable option right now.
I see some nods. So, I'd be curious if others we, you know, we need to have a number tonight. So >> yeah, I don't I don't you know going down another half a point and then on top of that losing technology where techn is so important. So I I'll let Mr. New speak and then see
if we at least have an option for two if that's looking to see where someone's looking to make a motion. Mr. New given our preferences I would prefer option four and add the counselor into that. I'm amendable to option three adding in the counselor there going with five para
educators uh and I would leave the technology budget in at 15,000 and ask to find another 16,000 in the supply budget or other areas in which to offset that extra pair of professional that we're adding back
in. He was just stating he was he was in favor of option four >> but could go with option three with certain changes. Correct. >> But >> do we have the numbers for option two? >> All right. So
if we So just for clarity we're talking about take with it taking the counselor out. Correct. >> Okay. So um the operating option two operating budget and you double check me as I speak all this right. All right. So it would be the operating budget would
then be 83,748,973 which would be a 4.233% budget increase over last year. The assessment to Dennis would be 21,116,2 I wrote 61 because I wrote across a line makes it
hard to read. And that would be a 4.218% budget increase. The assessment to Yarmouth would be 45 million 20,623 for a 5.987%
increase. Do you want option three or no? Okay. That's option two. So, seeing none, do we do we have any motions on the floor, >> Miss Landers? >> I make a motion to accept option number
two or do I just do you just need the >> We're going to need to create a motion for you then. If that's if you So, you >> this and adjust the >> We can directionally I can type it up if you just give me a minute. But >> well, >> we'll just add I just need the debt
service. We've got the operating of addition. >> If you give me if you give us a minute, I can type you up a new motion. Just >> Nope. We're going to get it right. Don't you worry. and Adriiana, I'll talk to you while you're here. So, we want to make sure
you feel involved. Um, again, we're not involved. Uh, there there's a lot of discussion. Um and our the the thing that is the hardest thing in our job is the budget because it involves people and
you know we use words like FTE or counselors or paras and you know the biggest thing that it ties to is that there's a person associated with that. Um and everyone in our district are people that work so hard every day for
our students and our families. Um, you know, and it may sound like, you know, it's that it's just an aside, but at the end of the day, the one of the number one's roles school committee is to make sure that we approve a budget that's fiscally responsible to the two
towns that we represent. Um, you know, I talked about 2 and a half%. The the towns give us whatever our budget was last year, and they put a placeholder in for two and a half% more. Um and the percentages that you know Dr. Smith has
talked about right now Yarmouth would be at about a 5.987% and Dennis would be at a 4.218%. So double what we've you know Yarmouth is expected is is listed for them and a
little less than double for um Dennis. So we've had several meetings with the two towns and again it puts them in a situation you know they expected to have a number and we're twice that. So it puts you know where where do they have
to pull from as well. Um so it it it becomes a difficult thing and when I'm in the classroom next with you guys I'll I'll explain it further. Um but at the end of the day as we said
we're when we're talking about people makes it harder and when we talk about um programs too. So you know part of that one of the history teachers is retiring. Um so the classes may be bigger in some electives. Um also they
may not offer the electives every term because uh of not replacing that person. And then in the classrooms with not replacing a fourth grade teacher, you know, we we like an average of 18 kids in the class. It's going to put 22 and a
half as the average. Um, you know, two to three kids doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a lot for the teacher, right? That's three more you you're a student, you know, three more personalities, three more different learning levels. Um, it is a lot. Um, so everything we've
done has an impact on our families, on the students, on our our teachers, on our parsers, and nothing we do during any of this process any year is easy. Um, and none of us like anytime we have to use the word
reduce. Um, but Dr. Smith talked about state aid. The state gives us a certain amount of money every year. Um, and we projected a certain amount based on the last couple of years. They've been giving us, you know, a higher percentage
every year. So, we were expecting a percentage and it was a little more than a million less this year. So, that's also affects them. I'm just trying to fill in time as they're typing numbers.
Mr. New, I'm sorry. I was I was trying to educate. >> You were doing a fine job. I appreciate that. Um, looking at the line items for the technology budget, uh, the increase from last year, uh, from this year to next year is $517,000.
Is there a way that we can glean any savings from those line items to allow us to put back that uh counselor's position and put back one of the PAR position positions? Well, right now we
have a we have a we have a we've had a motion. The exact wording of the motion uh is paused. Um, but what we're going to do is we'll take a motion and then if there's a second, there'll be discussion and then if it moves forward, we'll vote. If it does not pass and then we
can discuss other possible motions. Um, and I'm sure as as Dr. Smith said they have looked at, you know, in detail that number 15 and again what they took out, but I'm sure it's something if uh this does
not pass that we could discuss and look forward. I don't know how your reading is on the screen. Uh Miss Landers, >> I'll make it bigger. >> They're trying to make it as big as they can for you. Then you just do it as present view and then >> I know. I know. This ain't my first
rodeo, sir. Just taking out the fill in here. Yellow. >> All my little notes. >> They were quite prepared for motion option number five. They'll be ready for motion option number six. I'm glad our phones come with
calculators. We'll bold the actual numbers. So, we appreciate Dr. Smith and Dr. Gilson being prepared for this um so that we can and then Miss Landers I will allow you
to continue your motion with the correct numbers. We double checked and I think we're up to >> I know Mr. Simon has already did it in his head uh what the total numbers were. He looked good to to Mr. Simon. I know
he's done them in his head. He doesn't need a calculator like I do. Yep, we're good. At your leisure. >> So, they're comfortable with that number. I move that the school committee adopt
an FY2027 budget of 83,748,973 and a Dennis operating assessment of 21,16,261 in debt service of1,258,684 for a total Dennis assessment of 22,374,945 and a Yarmmouth operating assessment of 45,20,623.
$ and debt service of $2,337,555 for a total arm with assessment of $47,358,178. >> Have a motion. Second. Should I amend my motion? >> It was a second. So, if we can >> It Well, Marilyn did second it.
Um, but I would make a motion to amend to include the total debt assessment of 3,596,239. >> We have a motion and we have a second. Uh, all those in favor in approving the motion with the amended option,
>> second amendment. Say I. We're voting on not voting on the motion. We're voting on the amendment of the motion. >> So all those in favor of voting on the the amended >> on amending the motion. >> Correct. >> Okay.
>> To include dead service say I. >> I. I. >> Okay. >> Okay. Any opposed? Any Okay. Now we have a motion and a second. that is before us on the screen. Any discussion, Mr. New?
So, if we look at option three and we add back in the counselor, if my math is correct, the overall the the budget number at that point will be $83,765,110. Is my math correct?
How far off? Okay, thank you. You know, I'm a band director, so you know, meters, time signatures, things like that. But this math, uh, I think for an extra, what is the
difference? Uh, 48 versus 65, we're looking at a difference of 17,000, we can have an extra pair of professional. And as I mentioned earlier, there's $517,991 in the technology budget, supplies and such.
Is there a way to glean that $16,000 from that budget to allow us to add in a pair of professional? I I don't think we'll have an answer right now. I'm just saying we have to review
The budget for technology is $517,991 more this year, this upcoming year than it, I'm sorry, next year than the current year we were in. So I'm saying that is a rather large increase. And since there was already a $15,000
reduced technology budget savings in there, expand that to 31,000 and we have a person that's working with children. And I and I think Dr. Gillson, correct me if I'm wrong, that you had discussed the I know in meetings that
there was a large increase. However, some of it was appropriated in the correct GL code that it wasn't appropriated in that function code last year, right? We had stated that there was money in technology that was not
in the technology but spent last year. So that the I don't I'm not looking for an amount, but I just want to confirm that that there is a huge increase. However, some of that money was spent last year, just not under the same job, which
correct. Okay. Okay. So, we have we so we have a question about that. We don't have an answer to that for now. Any other questions about this motion? Seeing none, uh I I will take a roll call vote for this motion. Seeing no other questions. Um, Miss Marshall,
>> I don't feel like it we really considered the options. I don't feel great about this. Um, I'm going to say no. >> Mr. New, >> I would like to have had more discussion
on option number three with some of the uh addendums, recommendations that that I was asking. >> Yeah, >> it's fine. I vote no. Mr. Morris. >> I vote yes.
>> Mr. Martin, that's >> I vote yes. >> Miss Landers, >> I vote yes. >> Miss Beus, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. It looks like it passes 5 to two uh for the motion on the
screen. Just wanted to thank Dr. Smith, Dr. Gillson, the entire team. Um, I want to thank all of our committee members. I want to thank all of the people that reached out to us with questions through this process. Um, it was not an easy
year and it has not been the past couple. Uh, next we'll move uh to discuss END. So, we need a motion um about a transfer to END. Anyone looking to can make that motion that's presented? >> Yes, Miss Lis. Okay.
I move that the school committee transfer from END the sum of $1,34,160 toward the funding of onetime non-operational budget expenses. Those expenses include the K through 5 ELA curriculum, capital facilities improvements in the district, the
purchase of Chromebooks for DY school. >> We have a motion and a and a second. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, we'll take a roll call vote for this as well. Miss Marshall, >> yes. >> Mr. New, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris,
>> yes. >> Mr. Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Landers, >> yes. >> Miss Bemis, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. Thank you. Had an agenda somewhere. Uh, uh, subcommittee representatives leaison
report. Um, I did pass a letter. We did receive a letter of request from the town of Yarmouth. Um that was also addressed to the town of Dennis. Um requesting for us to look at the regional agreement. There's been discussion over several weeks. Um we'll
continue to look into that. Um and uh won't discuss it today because it's not on agenda, but it's possible we'll add it to an agenda to discuss as a group. Um if we do do that, um I would recommend we invite the towns as well the opportunity to speak. >> Anything else from the town of Dennis?
from the town of Dennis. Uh at the March 3rd select board meeting, uh select board member Jim PLA uh acknowledged and put on record uh praise to the Dennis Yarmouth Regional School System for its role during the shelter in place. And
according to Mr. PLA that Dennis Yarmouth absorbed most of the responsibility for feeding and housing individuals during that time and he wanted to recognize us. >> Yes, we're all grateful and I know that we'll have a debriefing shortly.
Next we'll move to superintendent report recognition of donations and acknowledgements. >> Thank you very much. Um so couple things start want to start with a couple there are no donations but I do want to start with a couple of uh acknowledgements. So
first uh this year um when everybody goes to vote in the town of Yarmouth um you may notice something a little bit different when you walk out um and get your little I voted sticker. Um, the town of Yarmouth started an I vote uh sticker cam uh
sticker what's the word I'm looking for like sticker design contest um and third graders in uh the DY school system participated specifically Yarmouth uh schools elementary schools participated in the design contest and uh it was led
by uh the town clerk Mary Meslowski and we have this year's winners of the sticker design contest were um Elbor Bora Waller, Naomi Schmidt, Joseph McI,
Luca Marcilio, Cecilia Rosendi and Ella Rivera. So each of their pictures, so the pictures were put up at town hall, people got to vote and then the winners will now be those pictures will be turned into stickers and those stickers will be handed out the I vote uh I voted
stickers at, you know, when people go to vote. Um, so it's yeah, it's great and they're they're going to do it as a annual uh process. So it was a great thing that got kicked off the ground this year and it was uh we were excited to participate and great way for our students to get a little uh sense of
civic engagement um as well as uh have a little bit of little bit of fame right as they're um um uh you know their stickers are worn uh by the community out um out and about. Next, uh I want to recognize um or last week I received an
email from the 18 uh foundation which identified that DY is going to be the recipient of a grant which will support the implementation of project lead the way um here at the intermediate school. Project Lead the Way is a STEMbased um curriculum program that provides
hands-on transformative learning experiences uh through coursework in uh computer science uh engineering and biomedical science has some other areas but those are the main three buckets. Uh and this grant uh we'll have a we'll do a little press release around it in uh
in the coming days. I just got the information to forward on to Leela, but um I just got the email the other day and I wanted to share it. And this grant was made possible by a team um that that did a bunch of the leg work and that team was led by uh Miss Clearary who's one of the assistant principles here um
at the intermediate school. Uh all right, transitioning to a couple of the items that uh were on the agenda. So MSBA uh board meeting, the blizzard and the aftermath did not slow down the MSBA um board. They still had the
meeting on on the 25th. Um and so uh the district was invited to uh into the feasibility study uh phase uh as the next step in the process during that meeting. I was able to attend via Zoom
um while um at the high school helping out with the the shelter. Um, and while I wasn't as prepared uh as I'd hoped to be uh due to the shelter operations, I was able to share with the board how thankful as a district we are to have been invited into the next phase um how
grateful we are to MSBA staff like you know we get a sort of a staff liaison. Her name's Claire. He's been very helpful throughout the process to me specifically as superintendent, answering my questions, been very responsive um to thankful to the board um for inviting us into this next phase in the
process. And then really an opportunity to thank uh our committee, our building committee that's been very um active already in the early stages of the process. And then to the town of Yarmouth who's been a great partner to us early on in this process and will continue to be because this you know as
everybody knows is a Yarmouth specific project because because Emmy Small is uh and the way the regional agreement set up is a Yarmouth school. So just really excited uh about the next steps. And then um the same day I uh participated
in a uh they had a the MSBA put on a training for what's called module two which is uh setting up your team your design team or your yeah uh I don't think I have the name of the module right but essentially it's how you go through the process of uh securing your
OPM uh which is your owner's product project manager and your your designer. This is a process. Everything in MS MSBA is a process. Everything has regulations. Everything has step-by-step process you have to go through. So, this was training on that process. How do you
procure one? How do you um what are the things that you have to do as a district? What are things you have to do with the MSBA? What are the steps you have to go through? Um so, over the next coming uh days and week or so, I'll be going back through those materials, starting to prepare stuff to get it in
front of our building committee. Some stuff will have to come back in front of you all eventually. Um so uh more to come on that but um we will be the next big piece will be securing an OPM and then an OPM will really help us through all the remaining phases of the process.
But the OPM is the next big um they're like our uh they work for the district and really help the district oversee the entire process for anybody who hasn't been through this before. And we still have an OPM on this project because we still haven't closed this project out. they've been a huge help um throughout
the entire uh entire process since I came on. They've been great. Um and then lastly, uh the as was mentioned the uh the I had a let's just call it an interesting experience um that I you
know in superintendent training academy it's no such thing. Um they don't teach you about sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh shelter operations. Um and um but we did have the first of what will likely be three debrief uh sessions
around the shelter. This one was with Red uh Red Cross. Uh Red Cross is a partner in our shelter here. Um and I think Yarmouth specifically the town of Yarmouth is planning on having a debrief session. And then we're part of a county
uh regional shelter network that the high school is. So they're the county is supposed to be having their own debrief um to discuss sort of what went well, what went what didn't go so great. Um so big picture uh I've gotten a lot of
feedback similar to what Miss Miss Beas shared that it it went really well, right? Um the you know people got fed, people were warm, people were well cared for. I enough things can't be said um about the
people who showed up, the people who took care, especially a lot of our DY staff who just, you know, came in, put in the extra time, energy, and effort to make people um do well. On the back side, there, you know, are some items that when I get to some of these debriefs, I've already started to share
and we'll cons continue to just want to talk through. again, a it was my first time going through it, but it's also had been about 10 years since this had happened. Um, and there's just some things to make sure we consider moving forward,
like the medical needs. Like I I don't think we really understood the medical needs that were going to be needed. And if we as a district hadn't provided some nursing care, there wouldn't have been nursing care in the district or nursing care to support the the shelter needs. So, well, I think we need to have a
better plan going forward because I can't count on the fact that I'm just going to call my nursing director in the middle of a blizzard when none of them need to be here and they're just going to show up, right? That that can't be the system that we have moving forward. Same with food. Can't just assume we're going to be able to call my food service
director and she's going to say, "Yeah, as long as you send me Steve Foser in the middle of a snow snowstorm and he can come pick me up at my house, then we'll get food up and running." Um, you know, pre-staging the volunteers. Red Cross did eventually get here, but they weren't here until a couple days into the storm, right? So, and I and some of
that might be about timing about when the shelter was, you know, again, there's stuff that I don't know because I've never run a shelter before and am I supposed to be the one running the shelter. These are also questions that I have to I have to sort of figure out. Um, and then like the ConX box, which has all the supplies in it, one of the
there was two ConX boxes that arrived. One of them the materials in it were all moldy. So, it's like who's responsible for cir circulating some of that stuff out. There's a bunch of stuff that just needs to um need to will be part of the debrief and just sort of figuring out again. I think a lot of it was because
it had been so long since really the last time the shelter system had really been activated. Um so this is a good opportunity to sort of think it through and and see how do we um make sure we don't find ourselves in the same same spot. But the the bigger piece here is
regardless of when things didn't weren't going peachy, um there were great people who stepped up, made it happen to make sure that people were cared for. Um which is just consistent with the experience that I've had in my entire time working in this district. So that's it for me. Take any questions for the
chair. >> Any questions? I had a random question. Um during the the course of the the week when the shelter was open, um I know we avoided it by being able to provide
food, but were did we have losses as far as like as far as food that were, you know, that that ended up costing the district in the end and what did those look like? So, no, no, at least not that Rooney reported to me like no real major loss of food because we didn't really lose
power in any of our schools. Um, so, um, we were already coming off of the vacation week, right? So, everything was kind of ramped down as far as food need was or food um, like storage was anyways. Um, and again, uh, like Baker
flickered a little bit on power. Same with, um, Emmy Small. There was a couple of periods of outage, but no sustained outage at either of those two schools. And Station A had, at least the section of Station A that our schools are on had power the entire time, like mainline
power. Um, so all those refrigeration units were able to stay on and then actually it became like a challenge like Rooney was the first day she was able to make food from what was available and then pilfering from the other schools.
Um, and then it was like a matter of her like really leaning on her vendors to be like, "Hey, I need you to open up your store storage stores, you know, your stores, you know, other use of the word stores, um, in order to get me stuff that I need um, in order to u make stuff
happen. So, um, so no, we didn't we didn't really experience like loss um, from a food standpoint. Any other questions? Seeing none, we'll move to school committee business. Um, we have the
capital improvement plan policy. Uh, we had a reading last week, so this is a second reading and vote. Um, so I move to uh approve as presented. We have a second. >> I did.
>> Second. >> Move. I'm a member. We have a motion to second. Any discussion on the capital improvement plan policy? Seeing none, uh I don't believe we need a roll call vote for this one. We've
done enough of those already. So, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Perfect. Carries. Uh 70. Next is our adjustment to our current 2025 2026 school year calendar. Um, I'm
assuming based on the changes, the dates might have been off by a day here or there. I see a couple changes. So, >> yeah. So, I I it'll take me two seconds. So, basically, this is just adjusting the term dates. Um, this is a request from the schools. Um, it's actually
really just the trimesters. So, and it's really just giving a little bit more room 5 days for the for the week that we are out moving it back moving the the trimester date and then therefore the the date the the second trimester report card goes home. Moving both of those
back a week just to give a little bit more time to close out trimester 2 um and a little bit more time for that report card to go home. But it since it's on the calendar, it really needs to come back to you all to approve that. >> So, we're looking for a motion to approve that. Anyone want to make that
motion? Mr. Welcome back, Mr. Mars. He made his first motion back. Do we have a second? We miss Landers with a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstain? That also passes. 70
page I was on my agenda. Uh consent agenda. There is none. Uh bills, requisition, and payrolls. back to the good old days of signing. There was also an email sent today. Three warrants uh sent on your email. Those of you who can get access to your email, I
know Mr. Morris will help you. Um those of you who do have access to your email, please make sure that you go ahead and sign. We need at least three members to sign the online one. So, please take a look at those. Four. Four. Thank you. Um
school committee topics have tabs for a reason. um our all the way towards the bottom March 23rd we have our superintendent award of academic excellence um we'll be announcing the winner of that um and as
tradition that person will also be attending a capewide dinner um which is excellent for that one as well and then uh we'll be our annual vote uh if we want to decide we want to participate in school choice and then we'll have a
presentation from our MLL director and Then next we have public comment. Anyone looking to speak for public comment? Just a reminder, our our policy and public participation at meetings can be found on the table with the agenda.
Public is reminding that a school committee meeting is a meeting of a governmental body in which members of the body deliberate over public business. We welcome your attendance and appreciate your interest in viewing the school committee as we conduct our regular business meeting. School committee believes that school district communities 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 will suggest that you send or give your question in writing to the appropriate person so that your concern may be given proper consideration. Individuals may address topics on the agenda, items specified for public
comment or items within the scope of responsibility of the school committee. This is the opportunity for an individual to address the topics on the agenda. Each citizen will be allowed to speak for no more than three minutes. Mr. Simon. >> Good evening. My name is Richard Simon. I'm the chair of the finance committee
in Yarmouth. Uh I come tonight to um express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Smith and Dr. Gillson and all of the uh people who have been involved in the uh development of the budget process. Uh it
is been very difficult. Uh and for those of you I think Marilyn was one of them who viewed our uh meeting uh our focus has been very narrow narrow only on topics related to non-classroom
expenses. So things you know like the FICA that's an example um building utilities. Uh so it's benefits, building utilities, and um uh what was the last one?
Pro what? Buses and buses. So those were the three topics that we focused on because they're important topics and what we were looking for is variation in this step increases. we would not have been able to be as
collaborative and helpful uh without the district having posted key documents. So I don't know if anybody else is aware of this but the uh uh district has posted its end ofear reports for the last three
years plus its audit reports. They are one of the few districts in the state that has done that. That is huge. Yes. Thank you. um the materials that were uh shared with the committee as a
whole including the FY26 Q2 reports as well as the budget reports. Um as part of our process, we literally converted all those data tables into uh Excel spreadsheets which we were able to
filter, aggregate and compare. And with again without having that data made available by the staff, we could not have participated as fully as we did. We do believe that there are still some potential opportunities
uh and we look forward to continued collaboration uh with Dr. Smith and Dr. Gillson on those items. Um so and again the focus singularly is on things outside the classroom which do not
directly impact the students the teachers. So that is sort of a quick headline on that. We are looking forward to seeing Dr. Smith uh and I assume Dr. Gilson tomorrow at the uh Yarmouth
Select Board meeting which will be a public hearing on all of the budgets for the town and I believe that Dennis is having a similar event on December on March 12th. So Dr. Smith, Dr. Gilson once again are going to be very busy and
I encourage everybody on the school committee to uh be feel feel free to come in. Our critical date is March 24th. On March 24th, the final votes for the
warrant article and for the ballot have to be final because they have to go to the printers. Ms. need you to at the three minute mark. Your last point. >> Last point. Thank you for all that we are doing
together. Thank you. That was me, by the way. Anyone else in the public? Seeing none, anyone would like to make the final motion. >> Motion to adjourn. >> We have a motion. We have a second. Mr.
Morris running in with a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I any oppose? Any abstain? Again, thank you all for your dedication and your time tonight.