Welcome to the Monday, February 9th, 2026 meeting of the Dennis Jamorth Regional School Committee. Please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. >> Miss Mun, >> I'd like to change the agenda for tonight's meeting by amending um as much
as I know everybody would like to hear our budget presentation. Um, I'm going to suggest we change it that the John and Abigail Adam Scholarship and AP Scholars Recognition be placed first on the agenda.
We have Okay, we have a motion and a second and we have applause in the crowd. Um, and and for any discussion so with that, this event has been moved. Uh, this will be the third time that we've tried to do this event. So, um I
think it'd be a great idea to move it so that we can officially have it, you know, due to weather and a few other cancellations of meetings. Um so, uh we will take a vote. All those in favor to amend the agenda to move the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship AB scholar
recognition to first say I. >> Any opposed? Any abstain? So moved. Uh so we will uh move to our uh first item under report to discussions the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship and AP Scholar Recognition.
>> Good evening everyone. Yeah, round of applause for our awardees tonight. >> I just want to thank everybody. Um this scene is incredible. I come to school committee meetings uh you know often regularly maybe not as much as I want
possibly but um this is just an amazing turnout. I'm so happy to see all of your faces. Like Tomas said we rescheduled this a number of times when getting out of my car in the parking lot. I was like, "Oh my gosh, I hope people come out. It's so freezing tonight." So I want to thank all of you so much for coming out to recognize your students.
This is so important to us. Um, so tonight I have a few descriptions of the John and Abigail Adams scholarships and AP scholars that we are recognizing tonight. So to meet the criteria to be awarded the John and Abigail Adams scholarship, a student must score in the
advanced category in one of three high school state assessment tests in English language arts, mathematics, or um, biology, chemistry, introductory to physics, or technology and engineering. score in the proficient or advanced category on the remaining two high
school state assessment tests and have a combined MCCAST score on these assessments that ranks in the top 25% in their school. So, our awardees tonight have all accomplished what is described to earn the John and Abigail Adams
Scholarship. We are also recognizing those students who have earned the advanced placement AP scholar award. Again, the criteria there are three. To be named an AP scholar, a student has received a score of three or higher on three or more AP
exams. So, to put this in context, AP exams are scored from one to five. So, these students have scored a three or higher, which earns them college credit on three or more AP exams. To be named an AP Scholar with honor, a student has received an average score of at least
3.25 on all AP exams taken and scored a three or higher on four or more of these exams. And to be named an AP Scholar with distinction, a student has received an average score of at least 3.5 on all
AP exams taken and scored a three or higher on five or more of these exams. So, we have students here tonight who have earned the AP Scholar, AP Scholar with Honors, and AP Scholar with Distinction. and a benefit of having to reschedu this
meeting a number of times um during the first and third effort. DY has also earned the silver recognition on the 2025 AP scholar sorry AP school honor role. So again we have the gold criteria
and you can see um the progress summary is DY on the side. So, we expanded our school's college culture by enabling 65% of our class of 2026 to experience one AP course before graduating. We assist
with college affordability by enabling 35% of our class of 2026 to earn college credit by earning an AP exam uh score of three. And we optimize students college readiness by creating opportunities for
10% of our class of 2026 to take a total of five APs across their high school years with at least one taken in 9th or 10th grade. So you'll see for DY we earn silver in college culture with 61% that
is very close to 65%. We earned gold in college credit with 35%. And we earned gold in college optimization earning 13% just over the 10% requirement. So we are really proud of our students and our student body
that have earned the school as a whole the silver in the AP school honor roll. Thank you guys so much. So congratulations to all of you. And without further ado, I'd like to introduce Superintendent Smith and Mr. Tolantino to give you your awards.
>> I just want to take two brief seconds just to say congratulations again to everybody. There are many things here in DY that we get to celebrate. Uh and this is one of those great accomplishments. I don't need to repeat all the great things that you've done, but there are a lot of things that we're proud of uh
here in DY. And today is a great opportunity for us to celebrate um you as Dolphins and you make us very proud. So this is a great opportunity for us to celebrate and uh Miss Bennett's going to call you up one at a time. We're going to ask you to come up, shake shake some hands, and then we're going to ask you to if you can just to come up, watch
yourselves over the cords, please. No trips and falls. Um and our insurance is up to date, but please no trips and falls. Um and so we're going to take a group photo um before everybody goes and sit sits back down. But thank you uh and congratulations. So, uh, Miss B.
>> So, again, just for pacing, some students may or may not be here. So, as you hear your name come up, feel free to applause. Um, and I'll keep running the names for the recipients to join us at the podium. Naobi Abb, Arabella Alexander,
Teddy Angelo, Abigail Bagar, Desani Hey, Baker, Craig Bloom, Tristan Bray, Rosa Cay, Anaha, Naharo, Jeremiah Cay, Alana Carnegie, Nadia Squa,
Liam Clarity, Ryan Clark, Ka Kogan, Ariana Corso, Ava Deo, Gabriel Duza Logan Darrenthal, Gavin Desley, Oliver Dodo
Griffin Andress, Kamoya Ferguson, Aubrey Fleming, Olivia Gdritus, Matteas Generoso, Anukica Graham, Avery Harvey, Michael Hinckley, Nalia Hicks,
Marcy Joshua, Dwayne Jarry, Alana Hannah Manuel. I didn't say it right. Sorry, Malik Morgan. Zara Norris, Kayla Okonnell,
Michael O'Reilly, Emma, Reo, Jonas, Roacha, Maya Rose Maximus Ross. RKY Sat, Javanni Smith, Sarah Sorz, Dwayne Jarry,
Gabriella Torres Maline Turner, Aiden Valentine, Brooke Woodward. All right, here we have our John and Abigail Adams recipients. Okay. Yeah. So I might save the
and that's not it. We have the be scholars now. So, College Board also recognizes some students if they are first generation taking an AP exam. So, our first generation recognition award goes to Kayla Okonnell
and these are all first generation recognition. Ava Deo, Desanie Baker. For the school recognition award, we have Zara Norris. Ava Deo, Desani Baker, Kayla Okonnell,
And now for our AP scholars, Desani Baker, Kea Kogan, Griffin, Andress, Maya Ferguson. Sorry. Nalia Hicks, Felix Lou,
Zoe Logan, Jonas Roachcha, Brook Woodward. Now begins our AP scholars with honor. Teddy Angelo, Annaise Brown, and our AP scholars with distinction, Ava Deo.
Michael Hinckley, Zara Norris, Kayla O'Connell Michael O'Reilly and Maximus Ross. Let's have another round of applause for our AP scholars and all of our recipients tonight. Thank
you. Congratulations to all of our recipients tonight. Um, appreciate all of your hard work. Um, it for all of us on the board, we work very hard to make sure you guys have opportunities and seeing and hearing all those names and all the
awards you did make our work easy and worth doing every day. Um, and with that, we get into uh the most important part of our school committee business is our budget hearing. So, I know you all want to stay, but I I feel the cold breeze already from the
door opening. Um, tonight we will present the Dennis Yarmouth Regional School District's FY27 budget. Following completion of the presentation by Dr. Smith and Dr. Gillson. I will take comments first from the public and then the school
committee. When discussion of the budget is complete, I will close the pledge public hearing and proceed with the regular meeting. So I will officially open uh the public hearing at 6:54 uh and we will start with the
presentation of the FY 2027 budget. >> Thank you. Uh just before getting started, I just want to say as as the students are leaving, it is uh a great these celebrations are just a great great privilege and honor uh superintendent.
There are a lot of great things to celebrate about DY and tonight is a tonight is another key example. Um okay, so for the sake of the committee, uh I apologize a little bit in advance. The beginning part of the slide deck you're going to have seen multiple times. Um,
but given that this is a budget hearing and that there may be people in the audience that haven't seen some of this or may be watching tonight that haven't seen any of this information before, I uh Dr. Gilson and I really felt it was important for us to provide as much of the same information, the background
information as possible so that everybody was working from the same uh sort of position of information. We did trim some of the front matter out u but a lot of the uh factual information that drove the budget presentation that you
all saw last week is is there and then ultimately we'll get down to since the last meeting on the 2nd there's been a finance subcommittee meeting um which gave some directionality to uh Dr. Gillson and I around some um some
potential reductions for the committee to consider to try to reduce the overall budget uh and ultimately the overall assessments to the two towns. The committee is not required to take any votes tonight. You're you know your last vote uh is uh scheduled for March 9th,
but so it's an opportunity for you all to consider. Um but these are just sort of trying and again just trying to move the process along a little bit here. um based upon recommendations from the finance subcommittee, but we'll get to that in a little bit. Several slides in.
All right. So um as we have um said several times there's we just want to start with the the what I believe is the most important stuff up front which is the two really things that are guiding our work each day and that should be at the front of our uh budget because our
budget is really a reflection of your of your values and your and your direction. So there are two things that are really driving us. One is our strategic plan and there are three major objectives that we've been working as part of our five-year plan. We are in year two of that five-year plan and it has three
major objectives uh to eliminate disparities and achievement and access for every student to establish consistent district-wide systems to support organizational effectiveness and then to address the district's short and long-term facilities and capital needs. And then uh at the end of last year, a
uh steering committee that took input from across the entire school uh community worked together collaboratively to create the district's uh revamped, revitalized uh core values. Those core values are reflected in our
new logo there on the left um for equity, dignity, excellence, community and integrity. Um which are further defined on our website each of those five values. But as I said at our last meeting, you know, values are most important when you have to make
difficult decisions. These are that you're grounded in something and and the budget is one of those key times to have to make difficult decisions. As far as the timeline goes, this is where we find ourselves uh at at the bud budget hearing and as we continue to
march through the process. The committee will have another meeting in February um before you're scheduled to make your final budget adoption on the 9th. However, technically you have until Friday the 13th um to make uh any final
decisions. Um that's the last possible date date based upon the regional agreement. So as we've discussed there are the the factors that are driving next year's school budget. They're sort of fall into
two buckets. The predictable factors ones that we um well we're able to predict uh hence the term. Uh but those have been the implementation of our strategic priorities, things that we've been working on over the last couple of years
and we predict to have to be working on over the years into the future. We have settled vendor contracts like things like our regular day trans bus transportation. Um that's in a multi-year contract. We know what the increases are for that. Same for our custodial services. Um and then uh we
have some of our our collective bargaining agreements are settled. Um, and so we know again what those increases are as we work on building out salaries. On the other side of the equation are some unpredictable factors. We've discussed here in these meetings multiple times. Health insurance is a a
rapid escalator. We're currently holding 15% in the uh budget for health insurance costs, which is um um what we've been instructed based upon the Cape Cod Municipal Health Group and some of the meetings there as a
conservative estimate. Um out of district tuition costs for students who are our responsibility but need specialized education. uh those uh the tuition costs for those students and then transportation that isn't our regular day transportation so out of
district so the the cost to get the students to those out of district placements as well as Mckin Vinto which is uh transportation for students who are unhoused um those costs have really escalated rather rapidly and then we do have a couple of unsettled collective bargaining contracts both for our u
major bargaining unit which is our uh teachers bargaining unit which is the DEA and then we have a smaller bargaining unit uh which largely is made up of our assistant principles. Um a couple of other positions are in there, but um that both those contracts uh end at the end of this year. So next year's
budget is influenced by um where those contracts settle. And then a new one this at the last meeting was we got much lower than anticipated state aid. Um we've been bolstered the last several years by um strong state aid coming out
of the student opportunity act. Um and this year's state aid was much lower than anticipated for a couple of reasons. Um one on the aid side and then two on the assessment side and I'll show you a little bit more about the assessment side in a second.
So some important data that does drive all of our um finance decisions. So enrollment, staffing and some of the other cost factors. So enrollment I mean staffing rather staffing has remained largely stable over the last decade
plus. Um some ups some downs. Um we did have a dip in staffing um after the 23 24 year coming off the ESR funding. Um and then we last year we added a couple positions as part of our strategic priorities. Um so it has come back up a
little bit um since uh that postcoid dip. Uh and then where we relatively compare to our dart districts and dart is a tool used on from the desi website which allows us to compare ourselves to other
school districts by based upon different factors. This is based upon school districts across the state with similar de demographics. Um, and so this just allows you to look at based upon a similar uh
factor. So this is based upon staffing per 100 students because some of these school districts are bigger than us, some of them are smaller than us. So it just gives you a a common metric to look at data around. And again, you can see here that in some cases we have more staff in a particular area per 100. In
some cases we have less per 100, but we're in the ballpark um in most of these cases. Um and again, in some areas we have more, some areas that we have a little bit less, but we're not uh we don't stick out like a sore thumb in really in any one area when you look at
us compared across all these areas. Student enrollment is another factor. We've had a five-year trend heading in one direction where we've been increasing the number of students. These are students who show up in D. So there's often a uh um
two enrollment numbers get confused. Um one is this number which is student enrollment. These are the students who show up butts and seats for lack of a better phrase, right? The kids who are actually showing up in DY every single day. So these are the October one
enrollment numbers for the last 20 or yeah last 10 12 years um of kids who've been showing up coming to DY every day on October one. That's different than foundation enrollment which we're going to talk about in a couple of slides. Um
foundation enrollment is the students for whom Dennis and Yarmouth are responsible. So basically resident students. Um so they might choose to go to other school districts. They might choose um to go to charter school, but they live within the community. Those are that's your foundation enrollment.
Um those are students again who live in the communities that some come to DY and some go to other places, but they're all resident students. That is um your foundation enrollment and then versus the student enrollment is the kids who actually show up inside any one of our
DY schools. Um and that number took a dip this year. Um, and I've mentioned here before across the state and foundation enrollment is also down this year by about the same number of students. But the um this is reflective of what's been seen across the state.
There's about 15,000 less students um in public schools in the state of Massachusetts, largely over represented by English language learners and students whose first language is not English. And we've seen similar trends here in DUI.
This is looking at it's a little bit there's a lot on this graph but or on this table but it's looking at enrollment from last year to this year and then trying to project a little bit um on what it might look like next year. So the first column is the grades from K
to 12. Second column is how many kids were in those grades last year in FY25. Next column is how many kids are in those grades this year, this current uh year at the time that I took the snapshot, which was back in January,
early January. And then the next column is change in class. So how many kids um in the graduating class um what's the difference? So the easiest way to look at it is from if you look at kindergarten and you move from left to
right in FY25. So last year there were 215 kids in that group. That group is now in the first grade. There's 198 kids in that same group of kids, right? They were kindergarteners last year. They're now in the first grade. So there's 17
less kids in that than that class in that graduating and and don't ask me what graduating class that is. That they're probably like 30. They're probably like class of 2040 or something. Too far out for me to wrap my head around. But whatever graduating class that is that that class has 17
less kids in it. Um but the next column is change in grade. If you look at kindergarten straight across kindergarten last year as a grade across DY had 215 kids in it. This year that grade has 245 kids in it. So the change in the grade is plus 30. Um and then the
last column is trying to project what will be the change in the grade next year. So, as that kindergarten class moves up next year, presuming everything stays the same, that 245 kids will move up and replace the 198 kids. So, you
have a change of plus 47. Um, so just again trying to look the one that you see highlighted in yellow is freshman, the freshman class. And the freshman class is is difficult to predict. That 53 is just moving the group of kids up. But in ninth grade, the kids have a lot
of choice between uh Cape Cod Tech, between uh some parochial choice, some private choice, charter school choice. So the that number is not a real number. That's why it's in yellow, um the nth grade. Um but it's not consistent the
number of kids who don't come to DY High School in the nth grade. So it's really a hard number to predict from year to year. Um and then when we look at the percentage of students so while the number of students has gone down in DY
the percentage of high needs students is a a desi term high needs has gone up. So we're seeing a slight uptick in the percentage of high needs students up to 69%. And that group is made up of these four
groups. So again, the the term high needs is a department of ed term uh and it's made up of students who fall into any one of these four categories and they might fall into more than one of these four categories. So a student who is uh socioeconomically disadvantaged
which is the top line. So in DY that's again from 2013 through present those are the percentages. Um the lowest was 34% back in 20145 up to we've been hovering around 55% for the last several years.
The next group is students with uh who are identified with um uh special education uh needs have a uh individualized education plan. So that's roughly hovered or in the 16 to 17% range but we've seen a jump in the last year. We now have 22% of our students
identified. And then the next line is uh students whose first language is not English, F LE. Um and that number has steadily increased from 12% back in 2013 to 29% in our current year. And then English
ELLL is English language learners. So students who are actively receiving English language learner instruction. Um and that number has moved from 8% in 2013 to 17% in the present school year. And then this number, this is school
choice enrollment trends. I know it's something that uh the committee and I have been working on and trying to reverse some of these trends. And you can see that we have been slowly working on changing the trend, right? The blue is the number of kids who choice in. The red is the number of kids who choice
out. So while we have been the trend line is that we have been decreasing the number of kids who are choicing out and the blue trend line the number of kids who are choicing in again those tread lines back starting back in like FY22 are heading in the right direction. Um
what you will notice is in FY25 the school choice uh sending number has gone up and there's a projection for FY26 that number has also gone up a little bit more as well. Um, so that's actually accounts for part of the lower
state aid number because the state aid is a combination of both aid money that comes but also what we get charged. Um, so you get a net number um of aid in and charges out. And so for school choice
out that number is up um which nets a uh a less amount of money that comes into the school district. Another driver for the district is our out of district tuition costs um which have been steadily increasing again
going all the way back to the 2019 school year. Um and projected tuition costs in particular are projected to go up next year by about $600,000. Um which is a big uh increase in our budget. Um while the number of students is largely staying the same, it has gone up over
the last couple years. Part of what we were hoping to do this year was to be able to create an um some programming, but um doesn't look feasible in our current um we don't have the capacity in the current budget to create any additional um programming this year. Um
but this is this co is a cost escalator that is really um troubling would be probably the word I would use. Um this just shows where do we sit um compared to the C other Cape districts
in per pupil expenditure. Uh I really like to show this because it does show that you know we do uh keep our costs manageable and reasonable um on a per people expenditure basis. This per pupil expenditure includes all the different funding sources. So it's not just the
street um assessment to the towns. It includes all of our expenditures from general fund sources, from our grants, from our revolving of funds, the total amount of money that we spend per student um in a given year. Um, and you can see the difference between us and,
you know, between sort of Monoy, DY, Falmouth, Upper Cape Tech, we're all basically within that same ballpark, a couple hundred dollars per student um difference. And then I know Mr. News is not a big fan of this particular slide. um because there's a lot on here. Um but this just
shows the same information but across the entire state of Massachusetts. That's every school district in the entire state of Massachusetts per pupil expenditure. Um just showing that again DY is not some exorbitant cost even when compared to the entire state um when you
look at the per pupil expenditure uh laid out from the most expensive to the least expensive. Okay. So uh heading into the last meeting uh we had worked with all the department heads worked with the finance subcommittee
two weeks ago three weeks ago to prioritize requests well we gotten all the requests from each of the departments the original presentation we had given to the school committee back in January didn't have any of the prioritized requests included in the budget uh so then we had worked with the finance subcommittee
to identify what of the prioritized requests should work their way into the budget. The finance committee had uh and this is our prioritize rubric. We do use a rubric to to prioritize four being the um sort of the highest score, one being
the lowest score. Uh to take all the requests that come from each of the department leads, department leads being principles, directors, etc., etc., um and to put some organization to those requests as they come from each
department. And working with the finance subcommittee, we had identified that the four items that had raised to priority four would make their way into the budget. And then some of the priority three items and then none of any items
priority two or lower would make their way into the budget. So, priority four items, these four items had made their way into the budget, including um the two, well, two of the priority three items. We had determined
that we would seek a different path um try to apply for a federal grant to um cover those two facility items. the security camera upgrade and the um Genitech security upgrade which is for this building >> um which would allows it gets all the
security systems on the same s on the same computer network and then the rest of the items were deferred um meaning that we will not address them this particular year uh on that list and then the other there was a couple other
priority three items one was replacing uh we've started a switch from iPads to Chromebooks in the district. The grades that we do the replacements is at fourth grade and at 8th grade. So, we started that process last year. I had a
different slide which I took out which shows the reasons for why we do the why we're doing the swap. One is for for educational reasons, but the second is it is less expensive for the district. It's about about $90,000 less expensive just um each year um to to work with
Chromebooks versus iPads. the cost of iPads has just continued to um skyrocket and but the challenge happens next year when those eighth graders take their Chromebooks up to the ninth grade. Eighth grade is largely self-contained,
but nth grade becomes integrated into the high school. So having multiple devices in a classroom, having some teachers have the same device as their kids and not the other device their kids, it's not going to educationally the best fit for the district. The recommendation was to purchase what was
needed to roll the entire high school over in one shot u or the rest of the high school over in one shot. And since the it would be a one-time um situation would not be part of our normal replacement cycle, the
recommendation from leadership and then also from the finance subcommittee would be to do that outside of the general budget. the portion that would be the outside of the normal replacement cycle, which is $249,385,
would do use would be to have the committee commit END um in order to make that one-time purchase, the additional Chromebooks needed to round out the high school. Additionally, uh the K5 ELA curriculum,
uh the which we're currently pioneering in certain grade or in all the grade levels in certain classrooms would be to fund that through a combination of funds outside of the general fund. So, one would be there's some money sitting in
an old literacy revolving account. So it would be to use some of those funds and then supplement the rest with END and potentially with a uh the last several years the department of ed has had a what's referred to as the prism grant which is to support curriculum
initiatives specifically in literacy. Um assuming that that grant comes becomes available again the district would apply for that grant. Uh so between the 150,000 the prism grant and then remaining amount in END to fund the ELA
curriculum. And then there were this total $74,000 in um smaller items that the fin the finance subcommittee uh recommended to be able to um move forward from priority three items. um an
F uh an FTE in the HR department, increasing the subpay, um reorganization in central office to create a director of people services, uh an ODD coordinator and after school coordinator position at Ezra Baker, a stipened
position or it's a stipend. Um, and then these are the items that were on the list that were priority two items that did not make it into the budget. So, another page of these.
And so, this is a summary of what again this was all from the last meeting. The last meeting there was four priority four items. Um it was that was the total of that in the operating budget was 467,00074,000
in operating budget costs um that were priority three items and then that $873,000 was to be funded through one-time um END purchase and those were all priority three items and then the total amount
deferred was two just over 2 million 2.2 2 million and that was all what the committee approved in your tentative budget last meeting which got us to this um
operating budget as of last meeting. So, at your last meeting, you approved an operating budget of 86,38,845, which was an increase, Whoops, I don't have that number here. Is an increase of 7.419%
over the previous year. I might be off by a percentage point. Um, or tenth of a percentage point. Um and it increased well then that got us next to um figuring out town assessment and this is
where we then got uh further challenged by the state aid uh uh the low state aid. So from our operating budget, we then
have to get from the operating budget to the the town assessment. So there's three steps in this dance. So we start with the operating budget before we calculate assessments to the two towns. Uh we first have to take off any state revenue, right? So operating budget is
was 86 million and change. any monies that are going to fund that revenue or going to fund that uh operating budget that are coming directly from the state we take off the top because we're not going to charge the towns for that money that's coming directly from the state.
The next step is then in based upon the regional agreement is we calculate well we don't calculate we apply what is called the minimum local contribution which comes to us each year. At the same time we get the chapter 70 money from the governor's budget each year. It
varies a little bit on which town's minimum required contribution goes up more than the others. This year's went up more than Dennis's did. So it has a larger impact in the town at Yarmouth. Then the remaining amount of money is split based upon a five-year rolling
average of the foundation enrollment. So looking at each of those three things, state funding, this is what state funding has looked like over the last several years. The light blue is the implementation of the student opportunity act. DY since the implementation of the student
opportunity act has seen great increases in state fund state aid and it's benefited our budget and largely also in benefited the assessment because whenever we're getting more money from the state it's less money that that the towns have to kick in in order to fund
the operating budget this year. You can see the net state aid actually went down. So that not only impacts our operating budget because part of it is in our operating budget is what we pay in assessments and that number went up.
So we had to apply that in the operating budget. And then when it comes to the revenue side when we talk about how much money we're getting from the state that number is not as big as it's been and the increases are not as big as what they've been. So then it impacts how
much ultimately gets uh assessed back to the towns. So what you see again this is what was approved on the second is we saw an operating budget in last year or the current year that we're current operate
currently operating in roughly 8 $80.3 million up to last Monday you approved $86.3 million which was a 7.4 four uh% budget
increase. The assessment went however because of the change in revenue, the assessment increase was a 9.4%
increase and that is due to the difference in the revenue because we're not taking in as much money. So therefore, between um chapter 70 and we've been in a three-year stepdown of END coming off of the last big budget
challenge that we had. So those two factors culminate in the assessment increase being larger for the two towns and that's the net for the two towns. Then it further breaks down when we get into thinking about the minimum required contribution. So the minimum required
contribution again is determined by the governor's office. It's based upon the the median income in the town and the values of the properties in the two towns and it changes from year to year. Some years one town the green is
Yarmouth and the blue is Dennis. Some years one town has a greater um increase. It's actually there has been one year where it's been a decrease but that doesn't happen very often at least not in this market. um one some years one town has a greater percentage
increase um and another year the other town has a the other town has a greater percentage increase. It's pretty much never equal and that affects because that's then the first sort of bill or portion of the bill that gets charged.
Um, and then we apply the last bit is applying the foundation enroll enrollment percentage and that's a 5-year rolling average. So this year that 5-year rolling average becomes for Dennis
30.453% and for D uh for Dennis 30.45% and for Yarmouth 69.547%. And you can see how it's been slowly creeping towards Yarmouth. And this is based again on foundation enrollment is
the kids who reside in the two towns. Um so how did that all play out from an assessment standpoint? This is what was approved on at at your last meeting is operating
budget was 86.3 million. total amount to be assessed when we take all those revenues out was 68.6 6 million then the first bit is the minimum required contribution. Again these numbers come from the state. So first minimum first
part for um Dennis is 14.5 million um has to get charged and Yarmouth 30 just over 30 million has to be charged. Now you can see the comparisons that percentage is the change from last year. So you can see the Yarmas increase was
almost actually it's more than twice than what Dennis's increase was. And so that's sort of the first part of the bill. So that already throws things a little bit out of whack for the two towns. Um or that's what throws things out of whack for the two towns. That's
where it happens because the rest is predictable. We know what the five-year rolling average is going to be. It doesn't change that much because it is a five-year rolling average. So shifts in enrollment don't greatly impact it because again it happens over a fiveyear cycle. So it's a slow shift. But then
the remaining amount after you take off those first two minimum require required contributions out of that 68 million you're left with just over 24 million. That 24 million gets um applied. Then you apply the five-year rolling
averages. So to the for Dennis it's 24 million times just over 30%. It gives you this 7.3 million and then for Yarmouth it's that 24 million times the 69.5% gives you the 16.7 million and then you
add it all up and that's where you get the total assessments to the two towns. So 14.5 million plus 7.3 million gives you that 21.8 8 million to be assessed to Dennis and the 30 million plus the 16.7 million gives you the 46.7 million
to be assessed to Yarmouth. And that's where then you see that if you go back a couple of slides, it was a 9.4 roughly% total assessment increase, but it doesn't shake out evenly to the two towns. And that's because of the min the ch the difference in the change in the
minimum required contribution. So, Dennis sees an 8.11% um assessment increase and Yarma sees a 10.12% assessment increase. Neither of those two numbers are friendly to the two towns, but they're worse for one than
the other. So, that was all where we left off on the 2nd of February, so a week ago today. Since then, uh, based upon, uh, our conversations at that meeting, uh, we
then scheduled a meeting with the finance subcommittee, met with the finance subcommittee on Wednesday. Does that sound right? Yes, Wednesday. Um, got brought some suggestions to the finance subcommittee. Um, and they got some direction from the finance
subcommittee. And so what we have based upon the recommendations from the finance subcommittee are some proposed reductions for the full committee to consider to help reduce that overall um operating budget increase and the
ultimate assessments. Uh the finance committee was looking for options that would have high impact in the sense that they would uh reduce the operating budget in
the quickest way possible. Uh and then the lowest impact in the sense that they would have the lowest impact on program. So with that in mind, these are the there's two slides worth or three slides to cover here. So, first
are looking at reductions in um uh either yeah looking at things that will affect um either staffing or programming or um
uh because the next slide is changing in our our assumptions. So here we're talking about some reductions in position. So starting at the top uh would be a reduction in the central office administrator position. So what we have in our budget proposal
is the create is reorganization at central office to create a director of pupil services position. The original plan was to create a director pupil services position so that we could um not have the assistant superintendent in charge of pupil services anymore.
There's currently assistant superintendent who oversees curriculum and pupil services and there then there are two assistant directors for pupil services underneath that position. So um
we the recommendation is to is to still reorganize and create a director of pupil services but not to have an assistant director of pupil services under that that position. There will be an impact. So,
try to, you know, identify what some of the potential impacts will be. You know, we're going to have to shift some work to some other places in the district. We're going to have to shift um some of the compliance work um back to some of our team chair positions. We're going to have to shift observations and
evaluations done by those by those two positions back to some building leadership. It's going to slow some of our initiative implementation. Um and then part of what those two jobs do is um there's a system through the Department of Ed um called the PRS
system, public resolution system, right? Yeah. Solutions. Um which is where essentially if somebody has a complaint around the district that they about the district, they can go to the department of ed and file a complaint and that's processed through those two roles. Um
and so it just will slow our ability to respond um to those and get resolutions as well as some of our other compliance responsiveness. Um there's a lot of that a lot of those roles are keeping up with compliance um issues with the department of ed and um
special education um and some of it even the ed. Um, next is the in the budget priority on item number four was to add a fourth grade teacher to
um DYI to this building based upon a transfer of an FTE from a different uh building where we're seeing an enrollment decrease. So the when we did a closer analysis of the number of kids
rolling up to the fourth grade um there are several kids that are in specializ going to be in specialized or are in specialized programs. So the total number of general ed students rolling up is 237 um which puts us at larger class sizes.
there would be class sizes of 21.5 if we ultimately did not add that teacher to that position or ultimately not add that teacher. Um, next is the committee or the budget includes the uh priority for facilities
items. There totaled $467,000 in uh facilities uh items that were the priority four items. It was the um fire panel at the high school, the burners at station a and the um bleachers and gym
floor at the high school. The idea for having them in the operating budget was so that each year the committee had operating uh the ability or had in their operating buddy budget um funds to address capital and fiscal and
facilities needs. Um however the recommendation was for this year to take it out of the operating budget and instead apply END funds or there was another suggestion potentially looking at capital stabilization but either way it would come out of the um operating
budget. um a reduction in looking at our uh the special education team has done a close look at assignments for PAR educators and by reorganizing across the
entire district going into next year on how we have staff assigned a belief that we can do a reduction in pair educators across the district. Um, next would be we have a couple of next
two are retirements that are already been announced in the district or and then be not to replace those positions. Um, and so again there are impacts on some fewer sections being able to be offered some larger class sizes.
The next would be uh currently at state uh Ezra Baker there are four sections of fourth grade no excuse me four sections of second grade five sections of third grade
um and looking at the number of students in that second grade section that are in general ed classrooms again we could move that four classrooms also go up into third grade. Um and then the
last recommendation was made by the finance subcommittee to reduce a assistant principal. Um then I what I wanted to show is sort of where do these fall in because I think it's important just to sort of have a
sense of um or the committee to be able to have all this as much information as possible. I'm happy to give you any other information that you want as well. What is the percentage of the reduction relative to the size of the group? Um
whoops. So what you're looking at is again just those position those reductions on the lefth hand side the total number of staff in each of those groups. Um so like you'll see the END for facilities obviously that doesn't involve any reduction in staff. So
that's just dashed there. But um the the so for the first one the reduction in central off staff central off central office staff or admin rather there are 21 um staff that are in leadership
non-affiliated positions 33 if you add because the the assistant principles are in a bargaining unit. So it's kind of just depends upon how you split that um atom. Um so you'll see both at the top and at the bottom. I gave you different
ways of looking at it. So if you look at it entirely as all leadership positions, then it's 33. If you want to split it out and look at it as people that are in leadership positions that are unaffiliated, right? So like I'm in an unaffiliated position. I'm not in a bargaining unit. Um I'm on a standalone
contract. There's 21 of those of us that are in leadership positions that are standalone contracts. Or if you want to look at it from a from your perspective as a school committee member is these are leadership positions. There's 33 of us totally in leadership positions. So
either way, it's uh that one cut is 4.7% of um the 21 or it's 3% of the 33. Just want to sort of orient you to what you're looking at. And then the rest is the same. again that when you look at the pair of educators that whole
bargaining unit has a has 162 people in it but only 139 of those um are just par educators. So just when you're looking at it if you want to have a sense of however you want to look at that for from your own perspective. I wanted to make sure you had as much information as
possible and I'm happy to provide you with additional information as you as you as we move forward. And then the last was so that I think I had it on the slide. So that slide there for those reductions that totals um one
point just under 1.4 million in savings. And then this slide is um the bottom one is is is easy um easy because I didn't do the math. Um Dr. Gillson did the math but is applying retirement savings. So
outside of those ones that are um not replaced. So these are additional retirements being replaced by more junior staff, right? So applying those savings based upon the current information that we have by people who've notified us that they're retiring. But then the two above them
are if we assume retirement the excuse me the health insurance costs are going to come in at less because we're currently holding 15% increase. If it comes in at 10% those will be the savings. Um, and we'll get the Cape Cod
Municipal Health uh group vote. I think it's this week. I think it's Wednesday this week. So, by your next meeting, we'll know. So, either that'll be a real number. Um, it won't be a real number or
hopefully it won't go the other direction. Uh, that's that's my worst case scenario. It's going to go the other direction. Um but if and there's some indications that it might go the less than 15% route. So um but that that
would be the total savings if all of those things came true. And then so then if all of those things came true um is it just over total of $2 million? I thought I had that in a slide but I think I have in a spreadsheet somewhere else. Um, so between the
second where you were sitting as a as a committee was 8.3 or $86.3 million. This if you if again it's a big if, if you were to accept all those reductions, you'd be sitting at 84.2 million. So
instead of a 7.419% 419% increase. Um, you'd be at a 4 point I just realized a two errors in my slides because I had different percentage increase on the last slide. Um, but you'd have a you'd be at a 4.9 just over a 4.9% increase
which reduces the total assessment to a 6 uh.2 74% increase. And then when you play that out through all the math that we did before and all the math um there was a word I was looking for but when you run it through all the
calculations all this apply all the same calculations because the minimum required contribution doesn't change for the two towns. So that number still stays the same. Um but now you're applying a smaller number to the five-year rolling average. Um, and what you ultimately end up with is a five
point just over a 5% um, assessment increase for Dennis and a just under seven 6.8 almost a 6.9% um, assessment increase for Y.
And I think I'm getting towards the end because I'm starting to run out of oxygen. Um, so then last couple of things, this hasn't changed since the last slide because they assessed the debt is the debt. The debt is down from last year because we uh paid off the high school
debt service last year. So all that's left over the last couple years, Baker's been paid off, the high school's been paid off. So now all that's left is the debt service on this building. That's the breakdown. The debt service on this building by the regional agreement is at a 6535 split. So that is um that is
that. And then you know the started to sort of think about working with the towns as we go forward and really thinking about what do we need in order to maintain u our progress
as a district. And you know, strong strong funding for us right now with all these a lot of these cost increases that are outside of our control really is probably close to 6% and that would allow us to continue to
address all the things that we want to address address. Stable funding is somewhere between five and 5 and a half% and that would allow us all of those things, right? To keep we wouldn't have to likely keep or have any of these reductions in there. and we're somewhere
between stable funding and limiting limited funding with what I have out um you know with what you've what you're looking at today. Um and the challenge is is sort of and what I I I realized I
forgot to add them to the slide deck or or I think actually they might be off cut off the bottom but this is sort of looking out over years, right? So you would sort of look at the first column as being next year, the next column being the year after that, the third third column being the year after that,
the because the longer we go not being able to fully fund, the the larger the impacts are um the further we go out in time. Um and and I again I I I've had this conversation, I'll talk a little bit about it during my superintendence
report. Part of our challenge is the same challenge that the towns are having. You know, we're all in the same boat. I get it. We're all trying to maintain staffing and that puts upward pressure on on the budget. Um we're all dealing with the challenges of health
insurance costs. So, it it all ultimately comes out of the same bucket. Um and this is our reality. Uh so I think uh just next steps is we'll by the next school committee meeting we'll have
the actual um number for the health insurance rates. We'll incorporate that and then we'll continue to work with you all as a committee and take direction from you around um where you want us to land the the final number, get you
whatever information you need and help you to make that deci that decision and that determination. Um, and then we'll continue to meet with both towns. I know we're meeting with the Yarmouth Finance Committee next week. Um, I've been contacted from the select boards to
start to meet with those groups. Um, and Oh, you're miss Wednesday. Yeah, sure. It's not next week because I'll be on vacation next week. So, it's not next week. It's this week. >> Perfect. I know a lot of information. I
know that finance subcommittee worked very hard to look at some options to um bring the total number down in a very quick time. I know we're still waiting on health insurance and I'm still waiting on a few other items. Um so
there is opportunities uh we hope to have savings in other areas. Um but this is the the one time of the year of very few times if not few times that uh the public has the opportunity to speak um
and get responses in person. Um that's what a public hearing is. Um typically at the end of our meetings we have public comment where people have the opportunity to um voice an opinion or um have any feedback towards anything but there is no response back. Um we hope
we'll be able to answer any questions that you have. Um if you if anyone does have any questions for the committee or our executive team, we ask that you come up to the podium um push the push button, the green light will come on and then say your name um and we will go
from there. So do we have anyone from the uh looking to speak for public hearing? I see Miff fall first. >> Good evening. My name is Megan McFall. I am a Yarmouth resident, a parent in the
district, a teacher at Station Avenue Elementary, and a vice president for the DEA. I'm speaking tonight as a classroom teacher, and a parent. I am and have frequently been a teacher in an inclusion classroom. I want to focus my comments this evening on the role of
paraprofessionals and why they are so critical to the success of all students, not just those with identified with needs. PAR professionals work directly with students every day. They support early literacy and numeracy, help students regulate behavior, provide
small groupoup instruction, and ensure that children with diverse needs can successfully and fully access the classroom. Their work is deeply connected to student progress, classroom stability, and school culture. This matters even more when we consider who
our students are right now. Many of our kindergarten students enter school without prior preschool experience. They are still learning how to navigate a classroom, build social relationships with peers, and develop independence with routines that many assume a
5-year-old has already understood. One might assume, for example, that kindergarteners can find and use the bathroom independently. This is not always the case. Without paraprofessional support, this and other
situations of the like can become a safety concern for our students. When paraprofessionals are reduced, the impact is not isolated to individual students. It is felt across the entire regular ed classroom. Teachers must divide their attention more thinly.
Small group instruction becomes harder to sustain. Students who need extra help wait longer for it. And students who are ready to move ahead receive fewer enrichment opportunities. As a teacher, I can tell you that prof paraprofessionals are often the reason
instruction continues smoothly when a classroom includes a wide range of needs. A bloody nose, a bathroom accident, task refusal, or a student in crisis can be addressed without stopping instruction for everyone else. They help
maintain moment momentum, safety, and focus. Without them, even well-planned lessons are harder to deliver effectively. As a parent, this is personal. Families want classrooms where children are supported, known, and able to learn without constant disruption.
Paraprofessionals help make that possible. Not just for some students, but for every student in the room and for the teacher. Paraprofessionals are not an add-on or luxury. They're a foundational part of how regular education classrooms function in today's
schools. Protecting these positions, I'm sorry, protecting these positions protects instructional quality, teacher effectiveness, and student outcomes. I urge the committee to consider further reductions to administration staff instead of reducing the staff that
encourages, teaches, and keeps our students safe every day. Thank you. Anyone else to look on? Sorry. Start over. Uh my name is Michelle Dunn and I'm a fifth grade teacher here at DYI and president of the
dentist educators association. I would also like to speak to the elimination of paraprofessionals. For some of you who were on this committee two years ago when I think it was 18 parap positions that we eliminated I spoke at that time about my experience working with
paraprofessionals and you know I've been in the district for a very long time. So I've worked with a wide variety of students that depend on support from empowered professionals. Sometimes it is students that are significantly below their peers cognitively and I have seen paras make
it possible for those students to be included in the regular ed classroom. I have had students that have had physical needs that depended on a par to help. I spoke two years ago about the year that I went to Seashore with a student who used a wheelchair and that student was
able to take part in every single activity that we did and slept in the dorm um and was fully included because of a tag team of two paraprofessionals. Um, I've also worked with students who have had support for behavioral issues
and one of the people who work in our building, pardon me, this year, um, we worked closely together a couple of times, um, with students with those particular needs. And I have been able to see those students years later as
adults working, people who have families. I'm that old at this point that those kids now have families. But those are students who, you know, people are thinking this is a kid who's going to end up in a collaborative setting. This is a kid who's not going to graduate. And those kids have been able
to turn themselves around and get themselves on track because of paraprofessionals. So I, you know, we've also seen impacts, and this is, you know, kind of going down a a rabbit hole that will take too long to explain, but we've seen real
impacts on the ability of teachers to actually um teach and get prep time and get lunchtime when we've been short pair of professionals. So I think that it is an an incredibly important role and that we should do as much as we possibly can to protect it. But I think we're also
very concerned in this district about narrowing gaps when we're looking at MCCAST scores and other data. And I think that those pair of professionals are essential to narrowing the achievement gaps between the general ed population and those students who receive support. I don't envy your job.
I I'm not standing here with an answer, but I strongly encourage you to think of an answer other than cutting pair professionals. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else with comments or questions regarding the budget? Seeing none, we will move to comments or
questions from the school committee. We start with Mr. Martin. >> Well, the first thing that I saw when I looked at the proposed reductions obviously was the um was the 10 paraprofessional uh positions that were looking to be
reduced. Um out of all of the recommendations, I mean, we're looking at, you know, one uh central office admin. We're looking at one history teacher not being replaced because of retirement, one uh retirement
of a PE teacher that's now what going to be replaced, one assistant principal, and then it's 10 paraprofessionals. I feel like par profofessionals um that category is not something to reach in and take a handful maybe
whenever we need to cut the budget. I think it is um it's you know if we reach a hand in the cookie jar and take a handful of cookies eventually we're going to be left with crumbs. And I think that the ripple effect of eliminating uh people who are
in the classroom supporting our teachers um hurting cats most of the time. Um we have an increase in students with high needs. We have an increase in uh special education enrollment. Um
ultimately we have an increase in out of district transport and tuition. uh uh an increase in school choice. We are never going to get anybody back if we don't have the resources to be able to support them to draw them back. Um par
professionals are not bottom of the barrel, bottom rung, untrained individuals. They support the teachers. They make it possible for the teachers to do their job and do it effectively. Um they do allow the
teachers to have some prep time. They do allow the teachers to pull kids for individual testing. Let their, you know, they deal with behavioral issues. They deal with, you know, um
they deal with the nitty-gritty of having a room full of small children. And it's it would be doing a great disservice to cut pareducators
especially tenum. Um now I know that and I'm you know I know I know what they do. I know how important they are. I know how much they support the teachers. I know how um the teachers can work hand in hand. they if
if two of them are clicking together, then they they got it locked down, you know, and they can get, you know, they can get stuff done. If it's just a teacher in there and somebody has a meltdown and throws a desk or, you know, starts being belligerent, doesn't want
to cooperate or has an out a meltdown, then everything has to stop, you know, in order to address this, you know, this particular student. Um, I don't agree with it. I think that there has to be other places to be able
to find uh nuts and bolts and pieces to be able to reduce. Um I think that 10 par professionals are an extremely high price to pay for what we're you know what we're trying to do here. Um especially since we have 25 job postings
on our website equivalent to 40 positions that are looking to be filled for professionals throughout the district. That seems ridiculous to me. Um, why do we have all these job postings? We're obviously understaffed. We're
obviously behind the eightball as far as being able to provide the level of support that we need for our students. We have all these job postings out there looking for people, but we're looking to cut 10 more. That seems ridiculous to me. I don't agree with it, and I'm not
going to support these reductions. >> I'm just going to step in before we have more comments. So there could be some you know further discussion about the paraprofessionals. Um when we had the finance subcommittee this discussion was
about it was it wasn't necessarily eliminating similar to some of the open positions and not filling as well as uh repositioning them. The subsparate groups were groups that we discussed that would not be touched. Um it would just really looking at what students are
in what classrooms and making sure that um we utilize PAR professionals in in the settings that are allowed based on um you know programs or designated uh things that are set up. So um you know
it wasn't a discussion of just you know we don't need 10 of the 139 we'll just get rid of them. It was looking at where they're placed throughout the district, um what their current requirements based on, what the current plans are set, and
then what grades they would be in and how they could be repositioned throughout the district, the current ones we have. And I'll let Dr. Smith maybe elaborate a little more and then we can we can take another question. And I just wanted to, you know, give some feedback and discussion about it, you
know, before we all go in a rabbit hole about a specific item and that we have all the information about it. >> Yeah. So, you know, there's and I can get the committee specific numbers. I don't have them right here because it's in a different spreadsheet which and I
don't bring my spreadsheets to the meetings but the we have seen since um I know Miss Dunn referenced the um layoffs after the coming into the 25
no 24 25 school year. Um so we've we're we're not starting from that base. So we need to start there. We've added paraprofessionals since then. >> Um, and as we me discussed in the finance
subcommittee meeting, part of the work is looking closely and doing an audit because we believe we're also responsible for taxpayer funds. And I don't disagree with anything that's said tonight. And at the same time,
while everybody worked in classrooms, I can come up with a thousand examples of difficult children, one-on-one needs, high complex medical students, all of those things. And we're not talking about removing pair educators in those situations. What we're talking about is looking at the
situations where where perhaps uh student is assigned a one-on-one where they shouldn't be assigned a one-on-one, where it really should be a one-on-ree situation. And we've got multiple situations where there are one-on- ones assigned and situations where the IEP does not call for a one-on-one. Um, but
I used to be a principal and whenever I had extra bodies in my class, nature abhores a vacuum. I will always use the extra bodies in my space. And we have a responsibility to look carefully at every single IEP, which is what the special education team has done, and
project forward to next year and determine, do we need, if we fully staff our programs and if we fully meet the needs of all the IPS, do we need every single one of the PAR educators that we have? Because what happens often is you assign a student a one-on-one, then you
know, mention was made for a student going out to the collaborative. Some students leave us, as you've seen on the slides here. We don't have a great track record of then if somebody was hired as a one-on-one for a student and then that student goes out of district of then we don't need that employee anymore but we don't release that employee. We have
several examples where that's happened over the last couple of years and we need to do a better job of staying on top of that because that person was hired to be a one-on-one with a student who's no longer with us. That's not responsible to the taxpayer dollar.
Martin, do you have a followup? >> Would you like to rebut? Um, >> I hear what you're saying. Um, but people are hired as paraprofessionals. They're not necessarily hired as a
one-on-one. They're assigned that task when they're hired. PAR professionals can be reassigned, can be pulled from one place to another. I understand that you know your your point was that you are that we was looking to
kind of reorganize and reuse different you know um you put you different roles the roles that they're in. Do they need them in this role? Can they put them in that role? Kind of re reorganizing the the pareducators but somehow we're going
to be uh somehow we're going to be minus 10 pareducators. Two years ago, we got rid of 18 PAR educators, but we also got rid of 15 teachers because we were pulled. We didn't, you know, we were poor. You
know, we had to get, you know, we had to eliminate, you know, we had to eliminate those positions. We hired back 16 teachers the following year and then 14 pair of professionals. Did we just do that because we wanted to? No. It's because we had the need. It's because we
had the enrollments. We had the students that needed these educators and par educators in place. And I would argue that the need hasn't diminished. I mean, we're not we're not looking to eliminate teachers. We're looking to not
replace retirements. These people were going to leave us anyway. But I don't see any pareducators retiring. I see 10 people who are going to came here and
I don't see any disciplinary records. I don't see any, you know, I don't see any neg negative reviews. I see, oh, we just don't need you anymore because the child went to another district. Well, why did they go to another district? Were they not supported? Did they go to the
collaborative? Were they behavioral? would do that's really not their fault, is it? I I feel like there are places to put the pair of professionals. Yes, there are children that are probably
have a one-on-one that is not in the IEP, but you know what? Maybe it should be because it is obvious that the child needs a one-on-one. Maybe the IEP needs to be revised. Isn't that part of what we do also is to
reassess these children and adjust their needs because needs don't stay static? I mean, in the medical field, we reassess our patients all the time. Why? Because chronic positions continue to deteriorate people and their
needs change. As children grow and try to learn how to function in our world, some kids need more support than others. you know that I don't have to tell anybody that. Especially our two educators here who also happen to be on the sub finance subcommittee. I greatly
I'm kind of appalled that we're even considering reducing you know double digit of any category. I feel like instead of taking away 10 pareducators at the most you know take one out of
each building and that's it. But I wouldn't even recommend that. I feel like the para educators need need to be with the teachers. The teachers need their paras. If the teachers don't have their paras, then they don't have enough prep time.
Then they don't have the ability to take the kids aside to do proper testing. They can't def they can't focus on what they need to focus on. That's my two cents. Actually, it's probably about four and a half cents right now. But you know what? I I stole. I mean, there's nothing here that's
convincing me that this is a worthwhile thing. And you can't tell me that out of 7,000 sheets of by lines, we can't find something else or take a bit from each or take a bit from a few different things.
Why do we have to replace the bleachers? That's 300 grand. Those aren't people. The bleachers don't support our kids. >> We already took the bleachers out of the budget. I understand that it was included in the budget and now we're doing now we're doing e I almost said I
andd to you know to to fund that. So that's not in the budget anymore. But you know what I feel we came up with a solution for that. So the bleaches are going to get fixed. So rah rah.
Why are we why are we sending people why are we sending people away? We're never going to get them back. They're going to leave. They're going to get different jobs. We already can't fill the positions that we have listed on the website and now we're going to let people more people go. I think it's ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous.
So, just >> but I'm not going to go in a circle. So, I'm pretty much done. >> Thank you. So just for the record when we laid off the well when we had 18 positions that we didn't fill at the end of the last year it was all done through
attrition because par educators is the highest uh turnover position that we have. I get at least one resignation probably every week. Um it is an hourly position that doesn't pay a lot. It is not a position that people tend to stay
in. Well, I shouldn't say it that way. We have plenty of people who've been here a long time and we it's a job that has a fair amount of turnover. I anticipate it will be the same way this year between unfilled positions and between people resigning between now and the end of the year. It will not
actually be people that will be told you are no longer working with us. It will be filled through attrition. The jobs would be if that's the ultimately the direction the committee decides to go. Um, we were lucky that that was the way it was done last year and I anticipate
based unless we get some dramatic change in in employment in that group that it would be through attrition and that's their decision. That's their decision to to leave and go find some another job to resign to, you know, go and do what's
best for them. That's their decision. But it's not it shouldn't be as a result of budget cuts that we're even considering this. I mean it there's no real detail here. It just says reduce 10 par you know educators whether that's people who leave and we don't replace
them. But I would really you know I mean we we have all this data about all this stuff you know we can figure out how big of an impact these power educators make on our classrooms and know how important they are. and I
just I see this list and I see um I see the lowhanging fruit is what I see. So, thank you for your time. The only other comment that I'll make in response uh is that
in essence, we're in charge of this business. Um and and if we have we can't employ people just because we like them or they're at it. We have a fiscal responsibility to two towns. >> Um and a huge uh deficit in money that
was expected. Um so you know the job of the superintendent and the and the central office is to ensure that all of our needs are met are met. Um and the recommendation came from that office that you know again the 139 is what
power educators and that's not necessarily 139 people. Those are 139 positions within a district that um are either have people or posted positions. So in essence what they're saying there's 129 positions they feel could be
the number. And unfortunately even if we were at that 129 we still could have 20 positions open. So, um I I think that number again, we're not necessarily talking about people, we're talking about total positions, but it is important. I I know the how important
that role is. Um and to to your point and to the point that we had two years ago, uh I would not want to be the person to give someone a pink pink slip on March 1st and say, "Hey, you've done a great job. Everyone loves you, but we don't need you anymore." Um, and I'm glad that
we're not at a point where currently that we have to have the number of FTEEs that we had to reduce the last time. Um, but we are at a difficult point in our budget. Um, so I see both sides of it and I hear you.
But I would also add to your t uh to your comments that we are responsible for the fiscal side of this district. But are we not also responsible for putting into place the supports for our children? And that should come first and
we should figure out a way to get that done because ultimately these are the kids that we're going to be putting out in the world. These are the kids that we're going to be advancing from one grade to another to another. And if we don't have the supports in place at the early grades, then we're not going to have the supports in place for the
higher grades. and bad habits and all this stuff is going to be in place and we're not going to be able to, you know, we're not going to be able to support them. We need we need our teachers. We need our paras. We need our staff. If somebody's retiring and we're not
replacing them, that's one thing. If they resign and we're not replacing them, that's one thing. But we have a hell of a time trying to find pair of professionals. He just said it. We have a hell of a time trying to find them. So why are we even, you know, so why are we
considering a reduction in that workforce is all >> M. Marshall, any questions or comments? We'll just go down the line for the rest of everyone. >> Yeah, I just want to echo what Mr. Martin said. Um,
I was very surprised to see such a high number of 7.2% 2% of PAR educators. Um I mean I I think Mr. Martin summed up my uh my feelings and I would also echo that
our responsibility is to the students. >> Thank you Mr. N. >> Thank you Mr. Chairman. Uh some information please. 162 versus 139. What does that represent?
>> Uh 162 is the total members in the bargaining unit. 139 is the number of pair of professionals specifically. >> So the other 23 people, they're in the bargaining unit, but do they work with children?
>> Uh define working with children. So administrative assistance, >> that's their role. Their administrative assistance. >> That's largely what makes up the rest of that bargaining unit. Yes. >> Okay. So what are you looking at as far as the 10 cuts? Are you looking at just pared educators or are you looking at
administrative assistance as well? >> Not looking at administrative assistance at this time. >> So this district has never really spent money frivously in my 40 years of being here. >> Sorry. >> Never spent money what frivolously. Um and so the increase in pair of
professionals between uh the cuts in 24 to where we are today. Uh those were done frivolously is what you're saying. We didn't need them, but we hired them. What I'm saying is that
when there's extra staff, principles use extra staff, >> right? I'm understanding that. But there had to be a request for them, right? We don't increase staff without a request coming in. And the request has to be based on a need.
So what I will say is one of our strategic objectives is to ensure that we have better systems and processes in place. One of the places that we need better systems and processes is a tracking, monitoring and maintaining uh our staff database, processes for
onboarding, processes for ensuring that we have uh what's called position control like all those systems are not at the place that I would like them to be where I can have a clean system for saying this building has this number of staff assigned to it and that there's a
hard lock on on that. That is not the way things have been done in DY pri prior to my arrival. We've tightened things up a little bit, but there are still loopholes in the system and we are Dr. Gillson and I are working towards tightening them again for next year, but
there has been um some creep. I don't think that a 7.19% decrease or reduction in PAR educators is warranted. Uh if we do need to make the cuts and I
understand being fiscally responsible to the towns. I also know that par educators have six hours out of the six and a half hours in a school day par profofessionals are in contact with students six of those hours. They receive a 30-minut break for lunch and that's it. uh they're responsible for
those children, the other six hours of the day in one way or another, either the whole class or their individual students that they're assigned to. I think they provide an incredible service to the classroom teachers. And I I'm not understanding
the premise, and that's what I believe it to be. The premise is is that this was mission creep that we added all these pair of professionals over the past two years because uh we weren't uh identifying appropriately the
students that have needs and that uh we're just throwing bodies because no one was requesting them. But hey, we have a few extra dollars. Let's hire another pair of professional. I'm not understanding
the explanation well enough for me to say, "Wow, we're going to we're going to cut 7.1% a pair of professionals, but we're only going to cut any other area 1.1%." Or 4.7 or 3%.
Uh it seems it's heavy-handed in that area. Uh I would like to find some other area to cut to equal it all out because uh my knowledge of the situation is that the
pair of professionals do a great job. Uh they're appreciated by the faculty and the administration at the buildings that they work in and uh they're needed. So, as I said at the FinCom meeting that day, I'm
really not that in favor of that large of a cut. Thank you, >> Miss Beus. >> I am a member of the uh finance subcommittee and I am a former educator. Um,
so I'm not going to repeat what was said or even sort of this certainly isn't a statement that I I want to debate, but um I do think as a member of the finance subcommittee,
we met for a long time. It is a painful reality of, you know, where we have to move the budget. Um and we looked at areas that were not considered before or in the initial version of the budget
there are some additions. Um I think if there's any direction to be held uh perhaps this all of us need more information uh about the role of paras how they're
utilized and what's involved um before we make any sort of conclusions of sort of staffing. Um perhaps there are places you know I you
know K3 um yes you need great interventionists for many different people that's what you want that's what you need that's what kids need but then you look as they move up the grades is
there sort of the best use of resources to continue that model and at what point and how do to make sure that every student is successful and is growing and achieving. Um so just something to think
about how staffing is allocated. The other thing is um my background is in special ed but most of the time I was an English teacher and I taught at the middle school level and sometimes at the
high school level. So I just want to invite my colleagues to think about the fact that when we cut a teacher because someone's retiring, it does change the complexion of a department.
It changes class size. It changes electives. It changes opportunities. It changes interaction. I'm also uh perhaps need a reminder at this point. You know, what are we looking at? our grade three and grade
four population. I and I need a refresher. Uh Dr. Smith, a couple years ago when we had to make these tough decisions, we looked at a threshold of what a K3 classroom could look at and what a K I mean a four five classroom.
So I'm interested in knowing that. I'm also, you know, public education, we are always going to strive to do the best for every kid, but it fiscally responsible to communities. It
can't be necessarily ideal. We may want to even begin to as we have this discussion of appropriate use of support staff, let's look at other models. Let's look at other school systems. uh as opposed to perhaps thinking along the
lines this is the way it is and this is the way it should be. So that's all I'm going to say. If you could answer my question I'd appreciate that. Uh so related to the class size uh the models that we use or the class size
ranges that we use um are 18 plus or - 2 K to 3 20 plus or minus 2 4 through uh six 4 through 7 no 4 through 4
through 5 and then 21 uh to 22 plus or minus two up through the rest of the district. So with this reconfiguration we are reaching the top of our threshold. >> Yes. >> And if we have a change in population it would go beyond that.
>> Yes. >> Yeah. And I just a couple of other just thoughts for the committee to consider. Right. So the the the vast majority of the PAR educators are
funded from our special education budget and that is because PAR educators are by and large not all. We have a couple that are served like kindergarten assistants were identified as one particular we we staff each of our kindergarten
classrooms with a PAR educator like regardless of whether or not there are identified students in there or not but and that's an example. There are a couple of other small examples but generally speaking pareducators are assigned to a student because of a
identified need based upon um the team meeting process. We don't get to make that decision. That's comes through um testing and through uh process that comes up through the IEP team process.
And but we have to also make sure that we're providing the student a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment which means that an and an adult is not the least restrictive
environment. Um, and part of our responsibility is make sure that we're building independence with kids. And putting too many adults with a kid or too much time with a kid or not having having a one-on-one when there shouldn't be a one-on-one is not the least restrictive environment. It might feel
good, but it's not legally the right thing to do. It's not okay and it's against the law and it violates the kids civil rights. And if we look at it from a perspective of pair of educators to educators, right now there are 139 pair educators,
356 staff. That is one pair educator for every 2.62 educators. And if we were to make this reduction, all the reductions on this page, we would go to one pair educator for every 2.72 educators. It's not making a significant
difference in the staffing model. And I think the question that or on top of layered on top of all of that is we committee leadership have made some
decisions that we're feeling the impact of. We've decided, the committee decided for a generous contract for the pair of educators, which boosted their their pay rates, which means every pair of educator is much more expensive than they were three days, three years ago,
which has a larger impact on the budget. It used to be you could have lots of pair educators because quite frankly, they were cheap labor. They're not cheap labor anymore. Not they're cheaper labor by comparison, but they're not cheap labor. And then additionally, we've made
spe another understanding the needs of specific programs. We've also made an additional adjustment in order to have specific staff get paid an additionally higher rate because they're working in our specialized program which also makes PAR educators some some PAR
educators even more expensive because again they're doing specialized work and they should be compensated that way. But then that puts additional pressure on the budget and ensuring that we're making very deliberate choices.
So it's just again total consideration for the and I'm happy to provide the committee after tonight wants whatever information you want I'll give you for you to make your decision decision you know for your decision making.
Mr. Martin Okay. So, yeah, I'm still not having it. The the the the pareducators. Yeah. Okay. So, you're providing s you too much adult is not the way to go. Um we're violating
the child's civil rights. We're doing this, you know, we're but yet it's already in place. kids are already getting one-on- ones that you are telling me that don't need it or don't have it in their IEP. Um, why did a a parent just attach
themselves to the child or did somebody put them there? Did somebody assign them to that child? Who assigned them to that child? Who's that person that's violating that child's civil rights? Or are we going to have that child not have a one-on-one and have them causing disruptions and hurting another child or
throwing, you know, throwing a chair or being, you know, out of control because they're not being supervised the way that they need to be? Who's assessing the child? Who missed it? Is it out? Is it outside of the Don't touch the button
yet. Is it outside of the district? Is it is it the part of their the fact that they haven't been diagnosed yet? Is it the part of the mother or father who doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that their child might have a disability and need extra help? Is it the part is it you know it I have every faith and
confidence in the people in this district in the teachers that are assessing in the our special education staff in you know I have every faith and confidence that you guys are looking at these children. You're assessing these children. You're being with these children day in and day out and you know what these children need and you're
making the recommendations but it's probably not being heard. So, we are having our hands tied. I'm not blaming the district. What I'm doing is I want I I want to look somewhere else because I don't think this is warranted.
I don't think this is right. I'm not seeing What am I What am I seeing here? The proposed reductions. What? This is all staff. It's all staff. There's got to be something else.
There's got to be our entire budget. A lot of our budget goes to payroll. Yes. A lot of our budget goes to uh benefits. Yes. What else we got? There's got to be another place where we can shave a little here, shave a little there. I am
concerned about the lump sum that's coming from one place. And we're losing we're I mean we're losing 10 positions that may or may not be filled at the moment that may this blah blah blah blah
whatever but it's but we're losing 10 paraprofessional positions you know and the paraprofessionals that are in our district right now are not standing around with their thumbs up their butt. They're actually dealing with children. They're working with children. They're making sure these children go home safely. They're making
sure these children don't escape the school because they have a tendency to alope. They're making sure that these children don't hurt themselves or somebody else. They're making sure that these children are being able to focus on what they're supposed to be doing while they're sitting at the table trying to color a picture, trying to
match things, trying to work on their fine motor skills. They're reinforcing what the teacher is trying to do. that one teacher can't handle 20 kids, especially when there's behavioral issues and there's certain kids that need extra attention and all that. It
just can't happen. And I'm and it and it sucks. Yeah. Nature pours a vacuum. Why does this suck so bad? This is ridiculous. I I don't agree with this at all. This is awful. There has to be someplace else that we can pull a
little here, a little there to make up for this because this is going to be more damaging, I believe, than than the alternative. I see one option here. Where are the other options? That's what I want to know.
Smith. So, as I'm I'm happy to show it. We don't we've in the past we've shown a breakdown on where the where the district's budget lies, but it's in the ballpark of 70 to 75% of the the budget
is people. So if you need to make any cuts of any size, it's people. So if you don't like those people, that's fine. But it's we're going to have to come back to you with other people because I can't turn the heat off. I
can't, you know, not plow the streets. we there's there's we can't not pay the health insurance like there there's stuff that we have to do that are going to be fixed costs. I can't not pay the out of district tuitions. Um there's at the end of the day there's it's going to be it's going to be people and that's
that there is no and and the other things don't add up fast enough. It ultimately ends up being salaries salaries and benefits. Just going to make a couple comments. one one we're we're not voting on anything. We're not voting on these
recommendations. Um this is just a public hearing to talk about solutions. Um and obviously there's one solution that we've heard from the public. Um and we've heard from the committee that we we don't like, right? So there's opportunities for us
to remove it. Uh we're not voting for a month. Um the finance subcommittee will meet again before that so that we have a strong recommendation prior to voting. Um and we'll have to make a decision on on you know is there a way to recuperate
that 311,000. Um and some of the things that we looked at as we talked about in in the finance subcommittee is if you think about 10 grades so there's say there's four classes in each grade and there's a par profofessional in each classroom. Okay.
So in first grade there's four classes and four each class has a parapr professional but one of class you know two of the classes the person doesn't have a one to one they could have up to three so rather than having one paraprofessional in each classroom in
one of the classrooms there's one par profofessional with two students and then that other classroom doesn't have a par profofessional and then if you do that as the grades go up you know that's kind of how we were discussing when we were looking how So the administration was looking at it. So it wasn't just,
you know, taking away everyone's paraprofessional. It was looking at is there classrooms where there's a paraprofessional that can have up to three students or a student that can have doesn't have a onetoone and do we have that multiple times in the district. And that's kind of the the way
that it was looked at. It wasn't looked at we're just going to just take every pair of professional out or just pull 10 people and disperse it. It was looking at again we've had a drop in enrollment over 100 students. We've had an increase uh we have had some school choice out
some of that to the collaborative other ways. It was looking at the population for next year versus this year and seeing how it how it could be different. Again, we're not voting today. Um I know Mr. New is very passionate as
well as in Maryland and myself about this. Um, we want to do everything we can not to affect people. But again, as Dr. Smith said, as I as I was going to say is that 75% of our budget is people. Um, we're hoping we hear great news on
Wednesday from health insurance and that number is at 10%, so we have a greater savings. Obviously, be better if it was below that. Um, and we have an opportunity obviously, you know, Dr. Smith. Uh what I what I'll ask on behalf of the committee is to put some more information about the 139 positions and
how they're spread out throughout the district so we have a better understanding. Um but those are some of the things that we're looking at of you know if there's a one to one uh someone could do more than one you just you know putting them in the same class versus spreading them
you know but obviously we never want to lose a person. We have people in every employee that we have here works very hard. Um, you know, I've been in the PTO since my kids's been in school and I've worked very closely with them on a variety of different projects and
they're passionate and they do so much and volunteer their time. You know, I say volunteer because they're there at PTO meetings at night. They're there on a Saturday for an event. um people on all levels and you know I feel lucky to be part of this district because of the
people that make it up. So I know how hard it is to talk about you know and when two years ago when we said FTEES we said FTEES you know full-time equivalents we were talking about people right and there was people who on whatever date it was in March we had to go to and tell them that their contract
was not being renewed at the end of the year. probably the hardest thing that this district did in a very long time and that's not where we want to be. Um so our goal will be to look at other options um and have some solutions and
hopefully have better news over the next couple weeks that we can bring to the committee and discuss um and and come out with a final number. Um so I can ensure everyone here that we are going to look at this and we are going to discuss this in further detail in our
finance subcommittee about that 311,000 and if there's another way um whether we reduce it to five or whether we reduce it to zero and find another way I don't know um you know I have no promises that we can we're going to find another 311,000 but I I can promise you that we're going
to discuss it and we're going to continue to look at options and that's what Dr. Gilson does every day as does Dr. Smith and the rest of the directors of what we did and you know we looked at the people and we talked about why do we always hold what we call what
people consider the low hanging fruit and that's why the discussion was of you know looking at how many assistant principles are on the district and that's something that wasn't originally on the list that we brought up um and we will continue to look at that and and that's what we've tked Dr. Gillson and Dr. with and their team to do is to find
them. um every week we're coming down a little more and then if we get to a point where nothing changes between now and March 9th and this committee is passionate about um keeping the pars then whatever we submit to the town includes that 311,000
right because that's our that's what it's up to us right we have the we have the right to decide that again will be harder possibly for the towns to approve that during an override yes but it's it's our responsibility to communicate why that number is the number um and why
that number is important to us. Um and as as we discussed prior um and I'm surprised Mr. and you didn't mention it. If our budget was just not including the things that we have no control over, you know, was almost 2.75% increase on
health insurance, on contracts, on transportation, things we have no control over. And then things all the things that we want to do, but we really can't do them this year. And unfortunately, every time we sit here, we say we can't do it this year. And it's it's a hard thing to hear, right?
It's a hard thing to say. We can't do it again. Um, so I'm happy that we're creating this capital stabilization plan. How we have a a five-year capital plan, how we're finally looking at the future so our buildings don't deteriorate and we get into situations where buildings continue have to be
closed. Um, we want to take care of this building and all the buildings we have and by creating that capital plan um, and putting money in it uh, is important. We wanted to put it in operating so that that money was there that we can continue to use every year.
But again, we're in a situation where we couldn't do that. So, we're pick pulling from END. And those who don't know what END, END is excess of efficiency. Um, it's basically overages and what a town would call free cash. Um, so it's money that wasn't expected. That money is not
always going to be there. Um, we're not always going to have that every year. So, um, it's hard to continue to do a capital plan and then continue to eat away when it's not getting increased. Um, but I appreciate everyone's uh
passion, their their hard work. You know, we're all uh have been parents or educators or people who just care about our communities. Um, you know, and we're we're in another year that's hard.
Um, and it's it's it's sad that every year we have to cut some. Um, it'd be perfect world. we would not have to be reducing anything that would be able to do the budget from January 1st or October 1st to March 9th it's the same number that's not the
case so uh that that question is where else does it come from just as a member of the finance subcommittee I mean if you don't it comes from programs and services we provide to many kids would
you imagine cutting the rich offerings we have in music and art and athletics. Could you imagine making that very difficult for all kids? That's that that is the tough realization
because everything else is beyond our control. So, I just want to throw that out there. And you know, as a member of the finance subcommittee, and I'm sure we're going to meet again before we meet as a committee at large, um I'm curious and would love to hear from other
members of this committee who have suggestions or areas, but that that is something to think about. >> Perfect. So, I appreciate everyone's time. Um, I appreciate the public that made comments and I appreciate uh the
other members of the SC finance subcommittee and look forward uh to continuing our role in in trying to get to um you know a final number and then again it's going to be a lot of discussions with both towns, but they're well aware. They know where we started.
they know where we're going and that uh you know, we're going to be sitting in the room next door um fighting for this budget for the district and looking for the town's approvals. So, I'll officially uh close public hearing at 8:39 p.m. um and continue on
with our regular meeting. Um, student representative report. I know Minister Grao had to step away. Um, so we will move past that. Um, but we are going to have a presentation. We had a discussion um about the we've already voted on the
2027 calendar. Um, so we're going to have a discussion about moving the FY27 graduation date. you. Do you mind being the controller? Okay. There's it's a few short slides. Um so if you take a look at the school
calendar, um graduation is set for and again this is 2027. Graduation 2027. Um it's set for Saturday, June 5th. In the state of Massachusetts, seniors have to be in school 168 days. The 168th day for
seniors would be June 4th. So if you can look on the school calendar, June 4th, graduation would be the next day, leaving no time for a senior week. Typically students finish finals and then that following week is uh senior
week in graduation practice. So if you go to the next slide, is there another slide? Oh, good. Okay. So the last um I am asking to move graduation to Saturday, June 12th for 2027.
>> And then I I I had the opportunity to have a discussion with the student advisory council. Um you know just again it's just a few members um but to kind of discuss this and I was going to ask Mr. but unfortunately she had to leave. Um you know from the seniors graduating
this year of what their feeling was um and they felt really passionate about it being important to have senior week um you know your last opportunity to be with seniors um in a fun setting. and they do a variety of different events.
Um, but they do it together. Um, and you know, the seniors in that room felt passionate about being excited. It's something they're looking forward to. And then the few juniors in the room as well as underassmen also, you know, have heard about it. It's tradition. Um, and
again, they have to do school work until the fourth anyway. So, um, not having to, you know, do actual school work after that and be able to do the senior awards night and the graduation practice and all the other things that happen
won't be squished in their their their week. So, um, you know, there was some discussion with the student body um and it it from what we gathered um they were for extending it a week. Um, so graduation would be on the the 13th, I
believe. 12th. I'm on the wrong month. I'm looking now. The 12th. And they would have that, you know, extra week to do the activities. And they know that not 100% of the kids are going to do the activities and not 100%, but it seemed like majority of them were in favor of
that. >> Um, I would say we do need a motion because we are making a change today. >> All right. Then um I would like to make a motion uh to move the 2027 graduation date from Saturday, June 5th
to Saturday, June 12th, 2027. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Miss Marshall second. Any questions? Seems pretty straightforward. It seems like the student body is in for is for it. Um it would just mean a slight
change to the calendar and then it will just be another red approved date. Um so all those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Any abstent? So congratulations. We will try to update the class of 2027 parents
and families of the change. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh next we'll have a strategic plan progress report. All right, it's getting late, so I'm gonna go through this quickly, but please feel free to stop me at any time.
Uh so in September uh maybe it was August I provided the committee with uh the year two action plan or I think I first did a year one sort of summary on where we ended the
year one or year one action plan and then provided a an update on the year two um action plan and presented the committee with the year two action plan. This is just a midyear progress report
on where we are with our year two uh action plan. So just as quick high level with the strategic plan, we have three major objectives that we're working on. Again, I I know we just went over this with the budget. So I'm not going to take um too much time on this slide, but
uh those are the three objectives that have all the detail associated with the objectives. Each objective has then initiatives under each objective. Um and then we take starting this year we took each initiative and then sort of broke it into okay what's a little bit more
descriptive lack um language on what is the actual action we're going to take this year and then broke those action further down into what are the deliberate steps we're going to take in order to accomplish that year one action. So, um, I'm going to use a simple key, uh, color-coded key. Uh, the
green is met or accomplished. Yellow is in progress, orange is behind schedule, and red is not started. Um, and so red, a lot of you will see some red on here, and that's part of that's um, okay, because some of these things were not
yet meant to have been started because their timelines were, you know, in May or a or April and we have not yet gotten there. Um but behind schedule would mean that that it should have been started and has not yet started.
Um okay so uh the first one is uh we're looking at uh two specific actions underneath this um initiative. So one was developing a lit developing lit data literacy among
key instructional leaders and the second was to devise and implement a plan to ensure PLC's are used throughout the district. So I'm going to show you both of those uh one after the other. So first uh is the data literacy. So uh we
are either in progress or um have accomplished a couple things. We have a team that's working on uh the large piece was implementing our open architects platform which is a a place where all or not all but a lot of our
data or district data is now in one location. So we can look at things from achievement data to student attendance like uh I know that we had the AP students here, AP scores, SAT scores. We need to really start to look at things from a district level, school level, and then the next phase starting next year
will be then rolling it out at the teacher level. We have uh district school and district leader training coming soon on really how do you dig into this tool and analyze it. But for the first step was really just getting this tool set up so that now um you can really start to integrate
My one of my big pushes is I wanted all this stuff in one place. We had it in all these different places, but you couldn't go and get um you know, if I wanted to see MCCAST trends for multiple years and then compare that to okay, well then, you know, is there a relationship between MCCAST trends and attendance trends, is there a
relationship between um our grades at the high school and AP scores? um like I couldn't do that before unless I like downloaded from about six different places and made my own Excel spreadsheets. Now we have a tool that allows us to do that. It's all centered
around student um ID numbers um and allows us to really start to dig into data in ways that we haven't been able to before. Um and so uh from here then we'll start to build out protocols both at the district and building level and then
eventually into next year. The next step of this will be um to uh work at the classroom level with teachers and this connects you'll see some of the last ones is starting to connect with the PLC group because PLC's effectively use data. So if I transition to the PLC
group the PLC group has um revised uh the PLC handbook um started to establish uh a schedule at each of the buildings. um they've created an assessment calendar um and now they're actually
starting in our next meetings these two groups are going to integrate because the uh the data from the data group and the work that the PLC group is doing and what are going to be the protocols um they need to start to work together um
and get um on the same page and actually start to join their efforts together so that we um are planning paying for what are what what data are we going to look at? When are we going to look at it? What's going to be the necessary what are going to be our intended outcomes
from the data? What are the protocols that we're going to use? Because it's great to have data, but if we're not doing anything meaningful with it, then it's just a waste. Um, so this is uh an important next step to bring these two groups together.
Next is uh our team that is working on the implementation of uh our curriculum. Specifically for us in the district that's uh our wayfinder curriculum which is a K2 rollout. So we're in year one of a three-year
roll out of the wayfinder curriculum. So this is uh their they part of their plan part of their responsibility was to develop the three-year rollout. So, a lot of that red you see is actually years two and three. Um, so they've done
a lot uh from the pre-launch and the launch activities all the way back in the summer and the fall um to beginning to implement and track some of the data. We actually just had a training with um the school leaders earlier today where Wayfinder came back and start show them
how to look at some of the school level data. Um and we conducted a survey of the faculty or it was embedded in a climate survey but we at we started to ask some some implementation survey question or data and we brought that
back to the team that they're using to plan for their summer work. Um so again this this one is well underway. Um we've we started with a sort of a small 10 lesson roll out this year and then we'll uh consider next step implementation
this spring and into the summer for what it looks like for next year. But again, it's a three-year um implementation process. Uh next is um chronic absenteeism. I know I've talked to the committee a
little bit about this. Uh so working at creating opportunities. I know in this school has done a particularly nice job about creating some new opportunities um to create a sense of culture or community culture and belonging. Um but
each of the schools is um looking at different ways. I know the high school uh rebranded I guess for or maybe rebranded isn't the right word but they like redid their open house. They like rechanged the structure for their open house and then
they're collecting feedback from their parents about you know what is um you know do people like the way that they changed it or not but the the the purpose was to u increase engagement increase sense of community involved belonging in the school. Um the middle
school shifted their uh parent teacher conference model to a studentled conference again with this idea of building agency among the students. So each of the schools is taking a slightly different approach um uh to this process. Um and then uh we've worked on
a communication campaign. It started at the district level and then now in these spring months we're still working at the district level but we're now also targeting the school level um newsletters for uh repeated messaging around the importance of attendance on
the states doing like this power of presence. we're not using the power of presence, but sort of that same idea like why is it important to me in school? Um and just really like um hammering that message home. Um and then we have a couple of other tasks that we need to get done between now and the end
of the year. Um, next is, uh, as I've mentioned when we've been talking about our out of district, um, uh, what's the word for costs. One of the
multi-year ways we've been looking multi-year part of our multi-year plan to try to address those costs is looking at our existing substantially separate programming and are we um you know are
those programs tailored to meet our student needs? Is there anything that we need to be doing from a training standpoint, from a design standpoint, from an organizational standpoint, etc., etc., etc. And so this there's a group working specifically on that.
We're focusing preK3 now sort of trying to make it a bite-sized chunk that's manageable. And so that group is working in that space. Um, and this is the work that they've accomplished so far. Um, identifying common descriptions. You
know, we have two, three, four, five, six, seven star programs between um uh Emmy Small and um Ezra Baker. And so ensuring that we
have a common description for what those programs look like, a common understanding for how they should run. Um and then we've created last year created a new program, the harbor program over at Station A. So again, what does that program design look like?
what's the entry and exit criteria um etc. So that is in work um by uh pupil services and then um continuing to work on scheduling continuing to work on identifying
curriculum resources developing a a professional training module for staff including PAR educators and making sure that PAR educators have appropriate training and onboarding. Um, you know, we worked, as I mentioned earlier, on um
job descriptions and pay rate, tiered pay rate for people in the subsequent programs. Um, and trying to think what else? Uh, again, looking at making sure the pro the programs are appropriately um organized like with the appropriate
furniture, etc. to be able to run the programs in the way that they need to be run. Um next is uh moving into the second objective around um telling the DY story. We focused this year on core values. So core values were
adopted last year. So how do we really start to um campaign around those and build a branding campaign around those? A lot of work's been done in this area. Again, this team's done a lot to work on
just some initial steps around um like simple things like putting the core values. They're now like show up on letterhead. Schools are starting to put them into our agendas. Um, and then district messaging, whether it's um in
the superintendent's newsletter or whether it's on our uh social media pages, like starting to reference and and tie things back to the um the core values working on or no, we did adopt a you saw it in the budget slide and like an icon
and a visual for the core values. Uh and then we'll be working on like uh some like larger visuals like for posters for the um for the schools like for like common areas like lobbies etc etc. Um
and then we'll the group's working on like a midyear survey um to get some feedback from staff and actually from the whole school community not just from staff. Uh let's see next is uh working on as I
mentioned at some point during our last conversation need to continue to modernize and streamline both our business and human resource functions um things like payroll leave substitutes onboarding etc. So uh we're focused on a
couple of key systems uh time and attendance uh and uh onboarding. So those are the two uh major products that have been uh so time and attendance is so right now if you
need to take leave in DY Tomas can attest to this you fill out a piece of paper and then it gets passed around to multiple places to get signed and then ultimately ends up on one person's desk with a giant stack of paper and then that gets manually entered into a system. Um it's very very
inefficient. Um, and the same for people who work hourly. All the hourly people fill out manual time cards um on pieces of paper that have been xeroxed more times than they probably should have been. And that again gets passed ac
across the district and then just gets stacked up on one person's desk and then gets manually entered into a system. So working on a digital s digital system um that could all ultimately work to online like sub calling and whole bunch of other features but those are a little bit further down the road. Um and then
also looking at our onboard system so that when somebody get an employee gets onboarded that information digitally enters into a whole bunch of other systems that we operate right now again it's another manual entry you know your I9 information your W2 information all that stuff then gets manually entered
into another system where we need it to be. So instead making sure that those workflows are happening so that we're not double entering information. Um and then the last is the capital work. Um so the committee has most
recently seen this a lot of work Dr. Gillson and Steve Foscher have done around this. Um and then so getting uh getting a process established for prioritization, prioritizing um seeking some estimates um and then
developing a plan, bringing that in front of the committee and now at this point just waiting um for it to get through the process with the I believe meeting this week with the the uh subcommittee. Yeah. Um and so um just a couple more steps um involved with that
and I think that is all. Yep. >> Any questions about the procedure? >> Uh we'll be very happy to welcome back Mr. Ferris uh to our meetings. I know he missed them so much. I'm sure this was the perfect one for him to come back to
and hear about the budget. I'm sure he's glad he's not the one who's uh presenting it in front of us, but uh he's coming back uh to for a treasury report. Uh good evening. Um uh Jen, uh Meg, I'm John Ferris. I was the interim uh
business director last uh last spring from February into uh June. So, and and now I'm the treasurer. So, what I um and I guess I'm just pushing the plus sign or the enter sign to move this. Oh,
okay. So, the right arrow. Okay. So, I'm just gonna check. Okay, good, good, good. Yeah, great. Um, yeah. So, uh um um Mark asked me to give a brief overview of the treasury function to
everybody here today. So, um fortunately there's only a few slides, there's about 12 slides, but what I'd like to do is sort of give you an update on the progress we've made to date. um you know provide an overview of the Dennis Yarmouth bank account structure kind of
let you know you know how it is a lot of people think of the treasury function not sure exactly what it is but hopefully by the time I finish this presentation and I'll try to be brief you will get a good flavor for what's actually happening sort of um you know behind the screens or behind the you
know behind the scenes as you know we make payrolls and and um accounts payable and other types of transactions. So that's what I'll do. I'll explain all the functions and the accounts we need to make a district work from a treasurer's perspective. Um I'll comment
on the regular reg relative size of the accounts that we have. Okay? Because there's quite a few accounts and we'll get into the numbers. So I'll give you the high level numbers, but I'm not going to go into the details of the exact numbers into any of the accounts or anything like that. just want to kind
of give you a picture of what it's like and I'll explain the purpose and the relationship of all the accounts we have and explain bank activity as it relates to infinite visions which is our back office accounting system and then um you know I'll comment on some potential
changes since I've taken over the position um you know different areas uh my background mega I'm an accountant by trade you know so um and I've spent many years within the business office functions at other schools. I spent um I
retired back in 22. So I I had 11 and a half years in in Hangingham and four and a half years in Norwell. So you know I sort of know the business office aspects of of a district as well. So yeah and then so I'll comment on future potential
changes for uh for future considerations for the committee to think about. Um right. So, what's gone right so far? Uh, when I got into the position, DY did need some restructuring. Um, we were getting 10,000 deposits a year. We were
getting deposits for $20, sometimes deposits for dollars. It was it was just really extreme the number of deposits we've got. So, we've done a great job in reducing the number of deposits. Um the and we've uh we've also um the old
position sort of had the treasurer doing the recording, doing the deposits, sort of doing everything. So we've made some enhancements to segregation of duties as sort of checks and money come into the treasurer who's handling it, who's recording it, who sees it to sort of get
it the first time and then passes it along so that there's different people, you know, looking at the money. Um we've developed um some new process for recording food service deposits. Food service and in operations like this food service every single day they they go to
the bank to deposit cash and checks they may receive. They also receive a lot of online payments. Those are relatively simple because they show up in the account. But, you know, every day there could be 20 or $50 or maybe uh $75 or
$100 split between six schools and a deposit slip for each one of those schools. Okay? So, if you get a picture, you know, 20 days a month, right? You know, and in the old days, those deposits were made every single day, right? Recorded and recorded within the
accounting system. So you can just, you know, and and to put a deposit in. It takes a minute, two minutes sometimes, you know, to get the right account. There's all these different accounts in the account structure. So, you know, that's
just a lot of extra volume. So, what we've actually done is made those monthly and and actually the food service director is helping. They're doing the deposits, recording it all in a spreadsheet. At the end of the month, it's zipped into a pivot table.
last day of the month entry is made. So, you know, that's significantly been reduced. We've introduced a positive pay system to enhance security for the DY accounts. Um, there's a little typo there that I noticed as I was looking that says AL. It doesn't say AI, but it
should say is being so to to keep our checks from being altered. Okay. So what positive pay is every time we do a an accounts payable run or we do a payroll run. Now keep in mind most of the payroll is sort of electronic aes but
when we get new people on board a couple of cycles a cycle or one or two may go by where we're giving them a hard check. So, you know, what we do is every every time there's a I think AP run, which is basically weekly, or a payroll run,
which is um bi-weekly, we upload an electronic file into the bank that says, "Hey, here's the date, here's the check number, here's the amount, and here's who it's paid to." So, whenever anybody presents that bank, that check to the bank, it matches up against their
system. And if somebody's whitewashed a check, it'll get rejected. So, you know, that's a that's that's working um well. A number of people know how to put in manual exceptions. Like sometimes there's a a single check that
they'll have access to the bank to upload those positive pay files. So, um and then also we refinance uh refinanced the ban note that was due in 11 um 114 2025. That was the ban from last year
was 12.5 million. So, we refinanced that. We had the a mandatory principal payment of about 500,000. So the the refinance actually came in around 117. Okay, here's what the structure looks
like. Cape Cod 5 73 accounts, right? So where that that's what the school is 73 accounts and the uni bank that's at Cape Cod 5 and the unit bank is six accounts. the Cape Cod five banks
we have our business activity so that that lots of times that's depository that's where our sort of a lot of money comes in um assessments from the towns come directly into the via wire we have the accounts payable or a vendor payable
we call it AP vendor that's the vendor account and then we have payroll account in that and we have um Dennis Yarmouth's food service account and we have cafeteria account for s food service as well. We have investment in building
accounts. We have a middle school building account. We have one that holds um some six month CDs and we have one for money markets. And then we have nine student activity accounts. Uh we each of the middle school and the high middle
school and high school each have two. One's sort of an agency account which basically represents a savings account for them and then the other is a checkin account that the principal has signature power on the checks so that if student activities require some immediate
payments or so they can like they they can pay the invoice and get with a check from the principal right there. And then what they'll do is they put in replenishments on a periodic basement to say periodic
basis, excuse me, to say, "Hey, I spent this much out of my checking account. Can I get a transfer of funds from my savings account to my checking account to make up th those?" And they come in with invoices and receipts and they get
checked by the accounting department. and then that will get to me and I'll and I'll do the transfers. Scholarship accounts, 55 scholarship accounts. Some of those are interestbearing, some of those are not interestbearing. Um the total is about
$3 million. Uni Bank, there's six accounts. Uni Bank is it's just an or online customer portal. It's its only purpose really is to allow parents and and uh students or whoever to go into a
website, click a button, and be able to make online payments, right? And it's typically for the fees they may have to pay, which would be athletic fees or it be technology fees, iPad fees or BN fees or drama fees or some type of fees. Um
now, now parking fees is also up there too. um in the past why you know it seemed like every time there was a new fee they thought they needed a new account right but you know you don't need a new account all you need is the explanation of where that money should
go right because if you take all that so all of these accounts and they all go to different accounts within our accounting system which is infinite visions so you know you can look at each one of those individual accounts which sort of complicates meds Or you can take one
account, you can just download it from the system, zip it into a pivot table and know exactly what accounts it gets into and say, "Hey, I collected this money." And the accounting system says, "Oh, it belongs here, here, here, and here.
We only need one account. One has 17 cents. One of them is the money market. Probably two accounts. One to collect the fees. And the money market account is there because what happens is the individual accounts get transferred to money market and then the money market
is the link to Cape Cod 5. So you know future considerations and I'm going to get to those later too but one of them is we should eliminate some of these accounts or you shouldn't mind if I want to eliminate some of these accounts because we need two we have six. Um
let me go to the next one here. So, I know this is dense, right? But business activity counts and I'll try to talk quicker. You good, Glenn? Are you >> I'm just wondering if the 17 cents is interestbearing or
>> uh past few years it hasn't uh hasn't gone up. Okay. So, um so business activity counts whatever happens at the bank is recorded in our accounting system, Infinite Visions. Okay. Now there's accounts that receive funds and transfer out you know to pay
bills and to payroll depository that's the name of our account. It's a big one. Okay. So that depository all the assessments come in there right from the towns every month. Dennis and and Yarmath wire into that account. The state aid from vendor web that goes into
that account. We we do you know we you'd be amazed at the number of checks and cash that we actually receive in the in the organization. Okay. So, not only is it from um the the schools for the the iPad fees, the tech fees, the athletic
fees, you know, where students are coming in, okay, they're paying their fees here, they're paying here's a check for my AP classes that I want to take, or here's a key for the um the BN fees, here's a check for my athletic fees, or there's cash. Um and then also we have
other cash. So, you know, we do insurance for teachers, right? and teachers have to pay a certain amount of insurance or they're retired teachers and that money gets taken out by the retirement board and then you know they
give us the money that we're supposed to get because we're paying the whole bill, right? So they have to pay 50% or whatever the percentage is. So hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks and cash actually come in, okay, every month.
Um vendor web payments. So those are for like grants for food service reimbursements. So the food service goes here. But you know lunch is free like there's there's a lot of free lunches. Okay. The federal government puts reimbursement in tax dollars per you know I don't know if it's I I don't know
what the rate is. I used to know but it made it four four bucks a lunch. The state puts lunch in for breakfasts and whatnot. All of that money actually flows through the DEESC and then flows into this vendor web which is a portal
and every month maybe couple times a month they actually make a deposit right into the depository account and those could be 300,000 350 state aid comes in at about a million or 870 somewhere in that
vicinity. So you could just see all the money coming in, right? And then you know, you think about this as a school system. When you think about a school system, a regional school system, think about it, it's just like a town, right? We just get our funding, they give us our money, and the town, we decide what
to do with the money. So this this function within a school system is very similar to a town treasurer. We're just a little town, right? We're not well 86 billion. 86 million is not a bad
figure here, you know. Um it may not be a hundred million but uh or a billion 100 billion or whatever the state is, but I mean it's very um very similar activities going on smaller accounts that we have. That's the uh Dennis
Regional School food service account. So I say smaller, right? It's still, you know, about a couple million dollars, right? And there's a little cafeteria account that gets the daily receipts and those daily deposits, and that's, you know, floating in around two $300,000.
And then there's the need account. The need is that uh the um agreement we have with Felmouth and Monoy where the fifth graders, I think it is, they actually pay a fee cheap like 30 30 bucks, I think, for a week or so. But every they
all get a week over in um where's it in Turo? In Toro sort of like and be able to observe all the uh the plants and I did a good hike there this year. It was it was an amazing hike. Um but there's payments for parents that
come in and then the funding is actually coming from Falmouth Monoy and um Dennis Yarmouth puts in their chair too. We handle all the accounting. business activity counts, zero balance accounts. That's the intent. Zero
balance accounts, right? So, ideally all the money just sits in depository and and in food service account and need account because those have their own accounts, but ideally all the money sits in in depository. And then every week if
we do a payable a vendor payable what we want to do is transfer just the right amount and it goes into AP vendor account and that's where all the checks sort of get generated and the checks go out into the into the world and they get
cashed but they're not cashing against the repository they pass cashing against the AP vendor because that's where we transfer the money. Okay. Payroll works the same way. The ideal thing is every time we do a payroll that we take just the amount of money that payroll is
going to require and you know payroll is complex right so we have teacher pay we have insurance payments we have uh the 401k payments we have all sorts of payments that are coming out of the
payroll so we see the payroll it's all those salaries and that total amount we take that transfer that into a payroll account and pay you Sometimes the paper checks maybe 10 12 paper checks or so. All that money goes into the payroll
account and then the those checks um different number are actually charged against the payroll account. the AC's which is really the electronic transmissions that we send out to the bank goes to the bank Cape Cod 5 Cape Cod to five disperses it to all those um
all the people's accounts right um we have to withhold taxes right so we withhold taxes federal state Medicare we have our own share of Medicare and then we so after we do those type and and
then we withhold MTRS we Barnip County. We got the 403bs, 457, the taxes, the Medicare premiums. Then we um elect some of those electronics. Some of those are are actually checks. The MTRS, I think we
send them checks. Barnesville County, we send uh electronic payments. 403b, 407s, they're kind of mixed depending on what the vendor is. Um, so the uh
in the AP the AP bender is really always paper checks. There's very little of electronic if any. Okay. But you know, and I say very little, but like bond payments. So we'll make bond payments for we got bonds from 21, bonds from 23.
So we'll make our interest and principal payments and those will come via wire. Okay. Um, and we make non-MTRs retirement contributions to the Barnstable County. So, like once a year we may make a wire to them for 1.7, 1.8,
whatever our bill might be um, for the upcoming year. And we typically pay it all at once instead of splitting it because we save a lot of money that way. Investments in student activity accounts. So, here's the investment accounts and these these rates that like
the 26 CD 26 uh week CD 3.729 that one just expired. The new one now is coming at 3.24 or so in that vicinity. Money markets um the uh at at the same thing the 3.44
but um the uh actually money markets dropped now to about 3.24 as well. these other ones, the rates of middle school building activity, um depository and um food service, those are all uh earning
about 3.44%. So, it's not like there's zero account checking accounts. When you get into the activity accounts, the high school and middle activities, now keep in mind there's not huge money in those accounts. I mean, high school, okay, 130, you know, somewhere in that
percent, 130, 140. Middle school is significantly significantly lower and the elementary it's very very low. Right? Elementary each one of the schools has sort of their own checking account for the principal to write that check if they should need it. But
there's only one savings account for all the elementaryaries. And I I think I'm hardressed to think that's got 6,000 bucks in. You know, there's there's some small stuff, but it still gives them the the ability to to do transactions should
they need. Here's a scholarship account. Scholarship counts is such a beer. I I've got to say it really is a beer, right? But there's 55 named accounts, 34 interestbearing, 21 a non-interest beer.
This was a 225. Did I say 2? It it could float anywhere like 2.8 million to 3 million. We're constantly sort of making payments out of it. Not always getting money in. It's typically a time of year when we start getting the money in or you know if if
the balance is low and we say hey we're not going to be able to give this award sometimes the counseling department will go out and say we can't not going to be able to give you a scholarship this year and then maybe the the donor will decide to make additional payments. Um the
interesting thing with the relationship so we see 55 named accounts but within our infinite vision software there's only 43 accounts um you know the uh why you know how that happened in
time I don't know I don't I don't know if there was ever one for one account or what what happened but then you know you look at the 43 accounts in 2025 when I did sort of a search on this only 28 Infinite Visions accounts were used.
Okay. And so I have a hunch that what we did was at one point we moved several of the name accounts, all the dollars that were in those into those um the the scholarships, the DY scholarship account. So even though they're named accounts, when we record that in
Infinite Visions, we're not hitting that named account anymore because it doesn't exist in Infinite Visions. What we're hitting is a DY scholarship account. Um, take a look. So, 15 accounts with a corpus of 15K to 1.2 million. You know,
not bad. That's, you know, a decent amount of money. Um, there's five named accounts with less than $100 balance. Nine accounts with less than $500 balances. And sometimes the awards, the
awards range from $50,000 to $10,000. And I'm I'm sort of throwing this stuff out to you because I I I want to, you know, in consideration of maybe we should sort of reduce these, maybe we should take a look at some of the details and say, "Hey, let's move these
accounts into this scholarship account and make those general, right? We'd have to look at the provisions of, you know, what each one of the terms are." But we've actually recently been talking to an investment firm to sort of take this money maybe out of Cape Cod 5 and put it
into an investment firm because we can earn better returns on this money legally within Massachusetts. You know, it's it's allowed. So we're was that Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, you know, sometimes
you think about government account, hey, you know, where your what are your investment? So, you know, that's a possibility. Um, but anyway, so the thought of like maybe reducing some of these accounts and moving them to general scholarships and, you know, getting the nuts and bolts down so that
we can like move move forward and sort of consolidate this very complicated area significantly. Um, yeah. So, here's a here's some examples like Reen Scholarship, four years at $10,000 per year. It's a great
scholarship and and I talked to Tom I talked to Tom um a few times and this year you know I asked him are you going to repeat it and he said yeah but he said four but then he called me Friday he says I'm going to give six so so so
those are four years so just imagine you have a six and six and six and six right this is this is a a a contribution hundreds of thousands of dollars every year the Dalo family scholarship ship. They've told counseling that they're going to do this scholarship every year
and that one um one of them could be 10,000 and then I think they wanted to give some additional thousand scholarships. Um but there's no corpus there. That's just you know annual donations. So we need to be aware of when the awards are and you know what
the monies might be. Zaro's donations those are annual. Freeman memorial those are uh annual. Gan Hamilton is through the Cape Cod Foundation and they've always given those out sort of on an annual basis. Interesting about Jean
Hamilton, you know how I said those accounts that aren't in? Well, that's one of them, right? That's in Zoros is one of them. Freeman is one of them. So there's some and I just know this because I'm looking for where these
things are booked and you know through the search that's how I found out the account that and they're all using the same account. Um and then there's a trust by Captain John Fear Bank and that's held by Bank of America and that's for our benefit. So, you know,
during the course of the year, it's like jeez, I think, you know, since I've sort of been either doing the pseudo treasury function when I was president director because the treasurer left or through this year. I think those are coming those are coming almost
I I don't want to say quarterly because I think they're more frequent than that. They might be every couple months and those could be eight 102,000. It depends on what that trust was earning in Bank of America and they send us off a check.
So, so there it is. The 2.8 to three million all the scholarship accounts potential for working with an investment firm to increase that um potential return. Um, and this firm, if we take this firm, it's it's Bartholomew, right? Bartholomew. They'll Here's what they
said. We'll check with them for sure, but here's what they said. I say, I've got these big file cabinets in there loaded with the scholarship stuff. And I certainly will never read all those documents because I don't have possibly the time. And um, they said we do that.
So what they would do is they would, you know, if we turned over our accounts to them, they would actually review all of those. They would look at the covenants that see, oh, how much do we have to keep here and how, you know, how are the payments are going to be this? And
they'd be able to summarize that for us. And that would take off a huge administrative burden and our um the in the execution of uh you know, giving out the scholarships. So that's something we've been talking to them actively and um you know we'll
have more um information on that in the future go language or whatever for the school committee to consider. Okay but here it is next steps. So consideration future action tighter cash flow management
the um doing the you know having having cash flow that would give us better opportunities to realize you know what do we have for free cash out what do we have that we could potentially have with you know an investment firm and you know
earn a better return of what we're earning there and you know those are like this these would be much much more conservative than the scholarships, right? Not that scholarships are totally risky. I mean, still a very balanced approach to it, but you know, some of this, you know, would would T bills be
better, you know, short-term T bills be better? Would, you know, um some other uh acceptable investments in Massachusetts? Like there's actually a a legal list and the legal list sometimes they have like here's some really secure
stocks that you could do. they pay good dividends and you know of course stocks would always fluctuate and you'd only put if you're going to put anything in there you only put like 10% right and everything else would be invested in government obligations or municipals or
something to that effect right versus if you're in the scholarship maybe you put a little bit more in and then you can also use mutual funds and and investments you know with with some of that money with what's available and you know over the long term that would
probably produce a better return than what it's getting. Um, yeah. So, yeah, I talked about it in the context of the other present, but many of the accounts have terms for the awards. Some are old. They may not survive the donors. I think, you know,
through this process, it would be good to sort of maybe consolidate those if if possible. It's like, well, let's just move them into a general DY account, you know? let's uh give it, you know, make it a little bit easier instead of trying
to manage 55 55 named accounts. And then um then you know another way I think Monoy uh Monoy actually uses another committee
for their scholarships, right? So they don't the the the the school doesn't do anything with the scholarships. All that is dealt with another foundation. So the money gets turned over to the foundation and they actually like start you know implement and make the awards do the
payments which takes off a huge administrative burden. And I think um correct me if I'm wrong but in our recent we just had a meeting with them last week with with the counseling department and there's one in DY too that does a lot of sort of like that
foundation activity. Not all of the scholarships that are given to our students come directly from, you know, from from the treasur's office or from my books. There's actually another organization out there that gives some of those uh so awards which is kind of a
great thing. And then you know more account consolidation with the UNIPE going back to the tighter cash flow management. Think about that, right? So here's your assessments coming in. Here's uh you know here's here's all the deposits that we sort of regularly get.
Here's you know here's history for vendor payments of 20 months or 40 you know 30 months or whatever. you know, what's it averaging out to be? And then, you know, projecting out some cash flows so that you can maintain better balances
or have some of that other money like let's just say, you know, depository at some points can be $20 million, right? But we don't necessarily need that all the time. So, what do you what are we going to need? Oh, we're going to need like 8 million next month. Okay? You
know, can we keep 10? let the two get the three four4 and do something with the other monies. Right? So I mean I think that's um that's a model that you know I'm hopeful we'll be creating very shortly so that
I can at least look at the picture of you know how the money is flowing um and you know where our needs are. Of course in a school system there we have times when the bills are very very high and the payroll is very very high and then times when it it's lower. Um I'm
not sure I understand all the fluctuations but stipens get paid different types of things get paid at different times of year. Um at the end of the year you know teachers get paid and some of them get lump sums some of them you know are thrown it out through
the other um months or so. So some of that throws a little complication into it and it will take a lot of uh you know digging into the data and some historical um data so we can kind of make accurate projections before we can use something
that confident and comfortable with. We don't want to Oh god, I got $4 million. Where to get the money? You know, yet because we have the bonds too, right? The bonds are coming. We have uh next November we'll
have to pay off that 117 million. Um so it's not all, you know, it's not all there, but um the money the money is with us. So um let's see what else we got. Yeah. So okay this is tell them uh so I
think I provided an update on progress they gave a perspective of the DY school treasury bank account structure I think I explained how the account structures intended to work and the bank accounts work within the accounted system and you know provided that was on 212 right you
know every time the Fed lowers interest rates these things might get tweaked a little bit right but provided some information on the uh rates of turn explained the scholarship accounts and sort of some of the nuances and um offered some ideas for future thought
and consideration. Thank you for your attention and I'd be happy to ask answer any questions. >> Any questions? Mr. Martin, he's going to ask you to make 311,000 in interest between now and March 9th.
>> Well, well, not now. No, I just um I I That's a lot. You know, there's a there's a lot going on there. A lot to unpack. But, um, I'm all for streamlining, consolidating, investing
where we can and where it's legal and all that stuff. That's why you're here. It's beyond my comprehension mostly. But I have I just had a question as far as um as far as like smaller
amounts that like like we we continuously get generous donations from the from the public, you know, we get $1,000 here, we get $500 here, we get this for, you know, that to be to be used for that. And we've gotten monies
for, you know, be to put towards the Hall of Fame. we've gotten monies to put towards school supplies and you know stuff like that. When that comes in, does that go to a specific account like the you know the money that's that's supposed to be earmarked for something specific? Does
that go into like the like the Hall of Fame for instance that the we've had a number of donations you know for to that specify the the going towards the Hall of Fame. Does that go into a separate account or is that kind of how is all that kind of absorbed? >> So that that's a good question. So, so
basically um a lot of money like a lot of the deposits I told you the hundreds of thousands of dollars of deposits a lot of that money goes directly into the depository account right but picture this when we put it into depository okay you know here is um you're right hall of
fame right that could be a few thousand dollar there's gifts coming in all the here's $500 gift here's $1,000 gift so that money will come in and we'll make that we'll we'll make that deposit and it's one chunk in the depository
account, but when it's recorded in Infinite Visions, we have specific accounts for all those. So, here's $500 a gift account for this. Here's the Hall of Fame money coming in. Here's scholarship scholarships goes into a scholarship account, but you know,
there's here's here's iPad user fees. Here's athletic fees. Here's drama fees. All of those sort of like get sunk into the depository account. One figure could be could be $50,000. But then we break it up. The accounting the accounting
departments breaks it up. You know, Emily does that. She likes it. Here's a check. This goes here. Here's a check. This goes here. Here's a check. This goes here. Right? Parking fees. Facility revolving. when we rent out these facilities and stuff, >> they all sort of get sunk into the
depositatory account and then within our accounting system is where they're getting into those specific accounts. Okay. >> So, at any given point in time, if if the question can be, hey, what do we have in this gift account? >> We look at the gift account. Gotcha. >> Here's what the money is. That's how uh
ho how Mark knew that the the money we had in the gift account, the $150,000 that he put up there in the budget was a 160. I forget it was someone in that vicinity. That money will be used to offset some of that literacy program because it was a gift account. Where are
we going to do with it? We have I mean here's another thing. I know that we have other gift accounts within the district that have small balances in it. you know, the few hundred dollars, you know, why it wasn't spent, how old it is, I don't know. Not really the
treasur. I mean, you know, that's not the treasurer's job, right? The treasur to make sure that the, you know, the because the money's really not in those accounts. The value is in the accounts. The money's in the bank. >> Sure. >> The treasur takes care of the money that's in the bank, right? But the
money's in those accounts. So, you know, that's an effort too that if we did an analysis of what all the accounts are, you know, we there's probably many accounts that we could say, yeah, we shouldn't do this anymore. You know, zero that one out and move it to some place better.
>> Start with the 17 cent one. Noted. I can do that. Any other questions? Everyone awake? I see eyes. Okay, >> perfect. >> You mean I woke everybody up?
>> Mr. Ferris, we appreciate I know what we we changed the role. We took the treasur role out of the school committee and evolved what the office now is. Um for a variety of reasons, you know, to include how to do payroll and if someone was out
and have different checks and balances. and uh we appreciate uh with the restructuring all that you've done since your transition in July um from our business. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh next we will move to subcommittee
representatives leaison report school committee leison to the select board. Um we will start with the town of Dennis seeing none the town of Yarmouth. Uh we had two items one Dr. Smith will talk about in his superintendent report. And the other item um which is the word we
keep hearing about is a regional agreement. Um the town of Yarmouth did vote to send a letter at some point. I have not seen the letter um to the school board, the superintendent, and the town of Dennis uh requesting us to
uh reopen the uh regional agreement. I've not seen the letter as of yet. uh not heard from the town of Dennis but you know the discussion with them over years is there's been discussion that they want it open but you know we've asked for a formal you know a formal ask and town of garth is has voted to do
that um and we will see how the town of Dennis um follows um but I would expect sometime soon in the next couple meetings we will have an open discussion about the regional agreement um and you know because it hasn't been changed in
several years so um seems to be a want and a need. So, we'll discuss it as a group as a future agenda item. Uh, next we'll move to superintendent report. All right. Thank you. Um, so first under
um actually I'm not even really sure. I think maybe I can squeeze it in under acknowledgements. Um, I'm going to pass to the committee, but this just sort of came to my attention today. Uh, save the date for an MASC event. um a um a day of
advocacy on Monday the 30th of March um for um working with the state uh state leaders says join school committee members, superintendents, students, and education advocates from across Massachusetts for MASC Day on the hill
2026, a full day of learning, advocacy, engagement with state leaders and issues shaping the public and education. The link goes on. So, I'm going to pass this along to committee members. Anybody who might be interested, just let Sarah know. She can get you registered. But, um, again, it came uh to the office
today, so I thought I would pass it along to committee members for anybody who might be interested. Uh, next, I just want to take a couple of minutes. Um, you know, this winter has been particularly challenging for us weatherwise. Um, and I just really want
to take a minute to recognize the facilities and grounds crew uh for all their work. They've put in some really long days and nights. Uh, the storm pattern that we've been on largely has been weekends. So, while it hasn't really impacted our need to close the
schools, we've had, you know, one real snow day and one two-hour delay, but the storms have been here on the weekends. And so, that means the facilities and grounds crew has been here on the weekends. They've been working long days and nights to make sure that when the Monday came around, the the schools were
open, they've been here during the week, like especially with this last big storm and the fact that we've had this cold snap after just continuing to maintain clear walkways. Um, this last one was particularly hard. They ran into a problem too where like some of their
equipment broke. So they they well they got everything open then they had to maintain over the next couple days really trying to chew through once they got their equipment back chew through all that hard pack to get all the emergency walkways open. Um and like I don't know if people are aware but
there's like a rock salt shortage in the state of Massachusetts. So they're doing it with all with all that um as an extra layer. And then on top of that like just staying on top of the building checks. We had a pipe go in um Ezra Baker last weekend on a Sunday and by the time I
got over there like two hours later they had pretty much already got the whole thing all cleaned up like super responsive. They they pretty much had the whole place already dried out. We did lose a couple of classroom rugs but other than that they really um they were like so quick. So I showed up with some coffee and donuts and they were pretty
much eating it as they were leaving. They they cleaned the place up so fast. Um so really you know just a reflection that you know we talk as we should um about the importance you know we had a great conversation about parent educators earlier we talked about how important teachers are to the district
but there's also these other people right who make our district go um and just want to just take a take a minute and thank um thank those staff um today and then uh on the last item as uh the
chair mentioned on Tuesday of Last week on the 3rd, uh I was scheduled to go in front of the Yarmouth Select Board. Had a chance to meet with them to discuss the Emmy small feasibility study. Um and it was just an opportunity to stress a couple of points that I stressed uh in
front of the building committee. Um and those couple of points were one that the feasibility study is a partnership or the whole process really is a partnership with MSBA. uh no group including DY can get out ahead of the process that we really need
to make sure we follow MSBA's process um and so that we don't jeopardize any funding. It's going to be a long road. The current phase is going to be over 900 days, right? So that's a the next this next phase is a long is a long one. Um, and I really wanted to stress the
point that, you know, there's been some concern that, you know, we're railroading some type of a process, but, you know, I showed the language both to the building committee and to the and to the select board from MSBA's feasibility study guidelines that one of the early
steps in the process is that that uh the designer has to create a has to explore a wide variety of options, has to present those options with enough detail um in order for the building committee to make a u
informed decision. Thank you. On what is the appropriate uh path to follow. So it has to include information like you know potential costs um looking at the educational program. It has to really be provide enough detail. So it does have to study um a wide variety of options.
So it is it's really baked into the process and I know people are concerned that we're we're not going to study options but it really has to be a part of the process. MSBA doesn't want to have to doesn't want to build anything that they don't have to build because they are you know paying for a big chunk of this if we end up all the way down
this path you know and then I think the select board really did stress they want to make sure a some of the select board members uh really did stress they want to make they're very interested in making sure that a no build option is thoroughly considered. So I heard that point um loud and clear um at the
meeting and um I think and then the last thing as uh the chair mentioned after that you know I I mentioned the regional agreement because it was part of what had been discussed in the previous meeting but the then they had on the agenda for right after I was done a discussion of
the regional agreement and they did decide uh to send did vote to to send agree they did make a motion to agree to send a letter um to both Dennis, the town of Dennis and to uh the school
committee uh requesting uh the formation of a working group and to design a process for review of the uh yeah any take any questions from the chair. Any questions?
Seeing none school committee uh business we have a first reading of our for a polish subcommittee of our capital improvement plan policy and is miss marshall you volunteer her to read it or you going to read or was presented it's a first reading
>> I'm a little unsure as a member of the policy a member of the policy subcommittee um what this came from administration and I think it clearly clearly states the purpose of the capital improvement plan. It's a good
mission statement and a direction, but if it's going into our school committee policy manual, it doesn't state the role of the school committee in this
um is for example, I don't know if the capital improvement committee that uh meets on this or has met once this year um do They then make recommendations to the committee at
large. Are they a ongoing or standing committee or was it one fiveyear cycle and once every five years they're meet? Um so I I guess I I don't have any say or
recommendation other than I'm not sure how it would fit with our school committee policy manual as we've processed it. So the only thing I could suggest uh perhaps we
uh postpone this uh to another meeting that would give the opportunity to for the subcommittee the capital improvement plan subcommittee to think about what their charge is what's their role in duties
how they make recommendations. Then from there, the policy subcommittee could look at any revised language and and move it forward. So I'm only one member of the committee, but certainly welcome any feedback from the other
member of the committee. >> Any feedback, Miss? >> I think that's an excellent plan. >> And the what what what this is looking to do as it is a first reading. This was just to define what is capital cuz that
was kind of part of the discussion at our last meeting of when we looked at the capital plan and we made a decision not to approve it at that point was we we had to define what the word capital meant. Um and this is what this statement of purpose is. It's a would be
a policy in our um under the school committee on what is capital. Um and then from there um at some point policies would be determined on where the money would come from or how it would be determined money would be spent. Um but if the polish subcommittee
wants to postpone this um I'll take that motion from Miss Beis to postpone this uh item for the first read. I don't think I I'd like to postpone um the first read of this until such
point that the both subcommittees, the capital improvement subcommittee and the policy subcommittee has a chance to discuss it further. Have >> a motion and we have a second by Miss Marshall. Any questions or feedback
about that? And again, I don't believe the capital improvement committee has seen this. So again, I think if they look at it and makes sense and then they pass it on to uh the subcommittee to again bring it back up, we can look at that. Okay. So
all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstain? So we will postpone uh that first reading. Doesn't mean I know we've all read it ahead of time. We can read it again um in preparation of any possible changes.
Finance subcommittee. Um again all the recommendations from the finance subcommittee was presented tonight. Um based on recommendations finance subcommittee have it on the calendar but I will make sure we have it on the calendar before the March 9th vote so
that the three of us can continue to look at changes. >> Yeah. So I'm just thinking from scheduling standpoint. So, um, your next meeting is the 23rd, right? Right after vacation. So,
do you want to schedule a finance subcommittee meeting this week before the February meeting or I mean the 23rd meeting or after the 23rd meeting before the 9th?
I don't know if that is before or after with that swoop after. I would say after the the February 23rd meeting we all have subcommittee meetings this meeting and on top of things. So yes, so I would say we would do it after that. So again that that may mean we might not
have a lot of changes on our recommendations. We may have updated we will have updated members for health insurance and other things. Um, but then that will give us the as much information as we need for the finance subcommittee to look at those other options. And I
know it's not perfect because I know we meet with the town before March 9th, but um I think for time constraints it'll have to be after. >> Thank you. >> And we will have a a vote. So Dr. Smith talked about the feasibility study and
all the things that it encompasses. Part of the MSBA process is for us as the the body to agree that we're going to follow the feasibility study and allow the person uh whoever company it is to look
at all the options. Um so this is uh just a vote to authorize uh the district to it to be bound by the feasibility study and follow the MSB process. MSBA process. Mr. Mark,
um I would like to make a motion to move to authorize the district to enter into and be bound by the feasibility study agreement with the MSBA as presented and included in the packet. We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second,
>> Miss Beas, any questions? So again, as Dr. Smith said we're not bound by you know they're not going to tell us this is the one option they're going to give us variety of options so that's not saying that we're bound by doing whatever they decide we're just
bound by following the process of the study make sure people perfect so all those in favor say I I any oppose any perfect thank you uh the consent agenda which has the finance subcommittee
meetings of 1226 Six. Someone want to move the consent agenda? >> Move the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Second. >> Okay. Discussion seeing none. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Any abstain?
Those requisition payrolls. Mr. Ferris talked about the many pages that we signed. Once we sign those, they move that money. Um, calendar school committee meeting topics. Um, I don't even know where my pack of any of that is. Our next meeting
will be February 23rd. Um I'm glad I have tabs. Thank you for those school meeting committee topics. On the 23rd is uh the midcycle process. We'll be discussing the superintendent valuation process. Um which is some of you familiar with um Miss Marshall will be
new to you. It's uh one of our obviously one of the most important things is the budget and the other thing is the evaluation of the superintendent. So we'll discuss on how we evaluate the form we use and then the process for that. um calendars.
We have uh capital improvement subcommittee tomorrow. There is a uh building committee remy small meeting on Thursday. Um and then uh school vacation will start the week of the 16th to 20th
and then come right back to a school committee meeting. So, public comment. Um, is anyone in the public looking to speak? Miss Dun, >> do you figure I know the rules by now? You don't have to read them? >> Was I was going to read them to you?
>> I know you don't want it longer than three minutes, so I don't need to tell you. >> Wrap up. >> Hi, Michelle. Done. Thank you. Um, I believe Dr. Smith um included in your packet a flyer about the fiscal crisis team. Um so I just want to talk very briefly about that and um encourage you
to sign the letter. There's I believe a QR code on there. Um and um this uh letter comes from a group uh that the MTA is part of called Unite Our Future. Um it involves um various unions, the
AFT, the MTA, the FLCIO, as well as other organizations such as um the Association of School Superintendent, the PTA presidents, um uh see uh the Society for Prevention and Cruelty to Children. And basically what this does
is attempt to call on the governor and the legislators to deal with the public school funding crisis. And the beginning of the letter is we the undersigned right to on behalf of the thousands of students, educators, and community members who we collectively represent. We are writing to demand decisive state
action in the 2027 budget and using available fair share surplus funds to address the fiscal crisis facing our school uh public school district. So, one of the main points of the letter is that there is a fair share budget um surplus that there is money that you
know we're dipping into END here and the this organization wants to call on state to dip into that surplus. We think that that surplus is not as large as it needs to be. And then down below on the letter and I have copies of the letter afterwards if you would like a paper copy. It says specifically, "We urge you
to focus on advancing the following priorities um that would provide relief to the school districts we collectively represent." And it's a lot of the things that very much impact our district. There are a number of bills that MTA is working hard to pass, including fully um
funding the regional and non-regional transportation reimbursements, which they have underfunded for decades. um significantly um inclus uh increasing rural school aid, attempting to mitigate the financial impact of charter schools, strengthening the circuit breaker for
special education, and trying to get a real fix on the chapter 70 inflation cap. So, um we're seeking um as many signatures. We've had um well over a thousand people sign on to this and in this case sometimes we come to you and ask you as the committee to take a
position but in this case the ask is that individuals sign on as individuals and spread the word to others and it has a lot of support from people in your position as school committee members and administrators um business officers superintendent. So, I have copies of the
letter if you would like and the MTA website has a lot of information on it as well. And I can I I know you want to adjourn, but I'm I'm w I'm happy to hang out for questions if you have any. Thank you. >> Thank you so much.
>> Uh I don't have a question, Michelle. I have a comment. Uh this letter uh was circulated around last October um and through an outside source, not within this district. Somebody presented it to me and I understand the first letter was
signed by over a thousand uh community members, activists, uh superintendents, school councils, mayors, uh and I was one of the original signers, just so you know. Thank you. Um and what I really liked about it is
uh couple of things like for example in the governor's budget minimum aid per student is right now $75. This would mandated that the minimum aid per student would always be $150. Um the cap
on the chapter 70 the fact that it's less than we anticipated. Well, on those years that because it has a cap as I understand of an inflation is 4.5%. Well, what happens in a year when the
inflation rate is far be above that? How are they adjusting? Um, it would for the first time if enacted regional school transportation would be 100% reimbursement to think about what we would get back then. And the other thing
I liked about it is that it talked about uh the circuit the special ed circuit breaker that particularly the outer district transportation costs. Um and so part of the letter it talks about right now it's reimburse at about 60 to 75%
this would mandate it to 90%. So, those would all be things that we would get from the state if this letter was advanced through the legislative >> and process. >> And what they did without those first um a thousand plus signatures was met with
Governor Healey and presented all those to her. And so, yeah, I thank you. I really appreciate that you're one of the original signers. Um, and I I think that a lot of the things that this letter is fighting for are are things that just weigh on our district year after year.
So, if we could get movement on it, I think it would really help our situation as well as a lot of other districts. I shouldn't have run away from the mic. Any other comments or questions? No. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> I have a motion to adjurnn. We have a
motion. Do we have a second? >> Marshall second. Thank you. >> Uh any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Any obstain? Thank you. Seriously, thank you for all your for all your hard work and for your passion and what you do every
day. I appreciate it and I know all of our our residents do. So, thank you everyone for a great meeting.