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e e e e welcome to the Monday March 17th 2025 meeting of the Dennis shth Regional school committee please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the
flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you uh first we'll start with our reports and discussions and we'll start with the superintendent academic
Excellence award thank you very much so this is uh there few opportunities throughout the course of the year that uh a superintendent get to do some well let me phrase that differently there's lots of opportunities throughout the course of the year a superintendent gets to do some things that are lots of fun but
this um this is one of those excellent opportunities as the superintendent uh in a public meeting um they get to give away an award uh so the super massach Massachusetts Association of school superintendents uh has an award award um that comes through our association uh
it's called the academic excellent award superintendent academic excellence awards um and so I'm just going to read a little bit about the criteria first so the Massachusetts Association and school superintendent has designed an award for academic Excellence um and the award is given to high school students who have
distinguished themselves in pursuit of Excellence dur during their High School careers um and then there's some criteria that uh have to the students have to minimally meet this criteria they have based upon their three-year cumulative average their rank in their class then the selections personally
personally made by the uh superintendant um and then the students have to be within the top 5% of their um class and so I'd like to um talk a little bit about this year's uh
recipient um so this year's recipient on the superintendent's uh Excellence award is Miss Lilia katchmar um who's in in uh in the audience with us and I'm going to have her come up in uh receive the word in just a minute but I personally have had the privilege of knowing Lilia for
uh the past almost two years here in Dy our journey started together when I mispronounced her name um and at award ceremony recognizing her for her academic uh prowess uh it was later that summer uh when Lilia was working at the cultural center of Cape Cod uh that I
learned in my faux paw uh our leadership team was utilizing the cultural center uh as a location for our summer Leadership meetings and Lilia was part of the team that took excellent care of us while we were there and it was through a conversation with her supervisor um that I learned that I'd
messed up her name during that award ceremony and it was in my conversations with her uh those few days in July that I learned Lilia to be uh as our guidance counselor describes her articulate strong-minded and decisive she knows who
she is and knows what she wants and is not afraid to speak up for herself end quote these are admirable qualities that will serve her serve her well wherever uh her life takes her as I've gotten to know Lilia more both seeing for myself
uh and reading what others have to say about her I've learned that Lily is determined and creative young adult with a flare for storytelling I've been I've been witnessed to some of her amazing three-dimensional artwork on display not only in our Dy Community but receiving National recognitions as well over the
past three years her strong work ethic and articulate communication have shown L Lilia is an articulate strong-minded and decisive individual who acts with purpose simultaneously she's open to feedback and willing to adapt her approach and try new strategies in order
to improve these all combine in lilia's strong Devotion to using her words and actions to make a positive impact in our world oops and if the superintendent Could Turn the Page appropriately uh she's selled in nine AP courses uh notably in
writing and science her motivation is also evident in her success with virtual High School classes she has an insatiable appetite for Learning and enjoys pursuing learning on her own terms for her own game and on her own time this pursuit of learning through
independent choices and inspiration have led Lilia to discover passions in art especially 3D design as I've mentioned as well as environmental Sciences Beyond her academics Lilia is a three an athlete and Senior Captain for all three teams promoting a supportive environment
among all those on the respective teams I've had the privilege of taking in a few cross country and track meets this year and lilia's hard work dedication and perseverance P perseverance are all infectious these attributes combined with her unwavering support for her
fellow athletes underscore the fact that she was an obvious choice as a senior Captain her roles as vice president of the French National Honor Society and president pres of the M math National Honor Society showcase her leadership as well her summer work at the cultural center of Cape Cod provide hands-on
experience and event planning and as the cultural center director of sales and partnership stated throughout her internship at the center she took on increasingly varied tasks uh and has even become one of our regular servers of the cultural center events she works
alongside staff members who are much more experienced and holds her own with confidence and ease the cultural center director the cultural director went went on to say about Lilia the moment Lilia walked into the cultural center of Cape Cod I knew she was a remarkable individual her intelligence Poise and
commitment to the task at hand no matter the challenge quickly became invaluable participation in girls State sparked lilia's social and political Consciousness gaining inspiration from both presenters at this EV event as well as from her interactions with other
young women from across the state with varied backgrounds and experiences Lilia developed a deep understanding for participatory citizenship and resolved to be more act be a more active citizen within our community Lilia through her connection with a cultural center of Cape Cod also became involved with a
fundraising project where individuals rode their bikes across Cape Cod to raise funds for local charities Lilia not having ridden a bicycle in years hopped on a bike and rode 35 miles and raised three $3,000 happen to see lilan and provin down at the end of that event and you
would never have known that she fell on the during the ride had ridden a bike in years and struggled to get over the hills we had a lovely conversation and she was our normal articulate Pleasant engaging self what I had learned later in a conversation from sucher Cultural
Center Director uh of sales and Partnerships with the cultural center was that quote at the start of the race we realized we were missing the person who was supposed to sing the national anthem to kick off the race I turned to lilyia and asked do you sing she replied
um that she did and without hesitation stepped up to the mic and St the star Spang spangle Banner to over 100 riters asiro followed up she is fearless she gets the job done I'm so proud of lilia's hard work and I can't wait to see what this talented young woman will
accomplish in the future with an eager and friendly character Lilia is ready to make a positive impact in her community she's excited to take on the goal of pursuing a double major in English environmental science studies and a minor in science communication and I am pleased
very pleased to award Lilia gashmeer with the uh superintendent's certificate of academic excellence [Applause]
so um and then tomorrow there's a she's double booked there's a dinner um tomorrow night at the um Cape Cod Tech hosts a dinner with all the cape um award PR uh recipients um so Lilia and her family will join us uh tomorrow night as well at Cape Tech where um
we'll uh she gets also gets another little little token as well um to uh acknowledge her accomplishment excellent congratulations Leah we're very proud of all that you've done and as Dr Smith said we look forward to you
your next steps and you know living the Dy dream right that's what we appreciate all the things that have have done here and uh what you will bring to the community you know growing up in that atmosphere so thank you uh next we have the student representative support and I
see Miss Powers thank you everybody uh real quick before we move on from Lilia because I have had the pleasure of knowing Lilia since I was 12 uh sth grade and I moved here from Ireland and I knew absolutely nobody and Lilia was my first friend and
she was the first person who ever looked out for me and I'm C I would not be sitting here today if it wasn't for my relationship with her I'm so grateful every day and as soon as I found out she was doing this I knew she was going to get a huge shout out for me because I
can't describe every single day I go into school she helps me in so many ways I can't even do her justice sitting here and talking about it because truly in the five years since I've known her she's the best person I know and I'm I'm so proud to call her my friend and I'm
so proud of her tonight okay moving on because I'm going to get emotional because I I have a very strong opinions on this but um I'll get get to some DIY news uh we have Zara Norris who just made State finals for poetry out loud which is so awesome
because it's 177,000 participants and she made top five so there was a lot of different rounds and once she got to finals it was 15 out of the 17,000 and she made it to top five which is like absolutely amazing um and then we also
had our spring sports starting today so this week's kind of like a try out week and then it's going to get a lot busier and more more games and stuff coming soon but everybody was really excited at school today as we were walking around because I think people were waiting the the stretch between winter and spring
Sports isn't actually that long but it always feels really long cuz it's like sort of dark and you can't really like do much in between yet uh besides that we had our food festival stepup day and Spring Showcase last week on Wednesday so it was absolutely slamed at UI I know I got to tour some seventh graders and
they were very very fun and then got to tour them during the day and at night and the food festival always is like so amazing I think we had over 400 participants this year and then so many parents and family members showed up to taste the food and it's always amazing
Mr Ross does a great job at that and then we have our Beatles Concert taking place on Wednesday uh next Wednesday or no this Wednesday I'm sorry this Wednesday at 700 in the upper gym so they do this every year it's usually like a different theme and it's it's always so so so amazing Mr Pendleton as
I'm sure you all know puts on one some of the best shows on Cape so excited for that one we also have our annual NHS flood drive on Friday so we have one in the spring and one in the fall and it's sort of like our juniors in NHS run that so everybody pray and we're getting signups every day this week and then
that's taking place on Friday and then looking ahead we just have our mcast next week for 10th graders it's the first time they've taken it they're taking it without like the graduation requirement so I know that's something that like teachers have really been pushing that like they're still important even if it's not depending on graduation and that's all we kind of
have for right now at T thank you so much um and I know it's it's still part of the Dy Community the Dennis jth middle school has their Shrek Junior the musical this week uh Thursday at 7 p.m.
Friday at 700 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. um it's $10 for adults $5 for students and children um again some of our great programs that we have uh throughout the district and you know students that we hope start in musicals
and into music and then go on to our high school um and continue it on so it's great to see that they're starting that young so some great things going on in our community Mr new thank you Mr chairman I just want to add that the high school winter percussion and winter Color Guard
programs are in the middle of their season at this point and uh the winter Color Guard was moved up into the world division which is the top top division uh they're struggling at this point because as you can understand uh they they've moved up and so they're having a
great show and they're working very hard to improve it winter percussion uh is having an excellent season as well uh they had a competition this past weekend where there were I believe seven or eight groups in their division and they ended up third so again both programs
are are going strong and uh wanted to highlight that and uh thank Dr Smith for including instruction in their budget Mr Glenn so I don't know if this is old news or really new news but I saw a post
that the uh indoor Scholastic uh championships were held in New York and Brianna BR Braham earned All-American honors with her third place finish in the 200 meters uh number one all time in
indoor track back in mass and her 300 meter time is number third all time in indoor track and her 400 time was number eight alltime indoor for mass and then freshman Carrie Clark plays fifth in the Freshman 400 meters earning freshman
allamerican or honors thank you there's we probably can go on all night and there's just so many great things um but it's good to see the variety right so we have the music the Arts we have our Sports uh um we've we' talked about so many things that that
are great in there so thank you um next we have our information on the Cape Cod collaborative I'll turn over to Dr Smith thank you very much so uh the committee has in their packet um the
articles of um agreement from the collaborative you had them last week as or not last week last meeting as well um and you have the letter from the collaboratives attorney or the memo from the collaboratives attorney as well um
as you may remember from the last meeting the discussion the large changes to the the articles of agreement are relative to Plymouth joining the capcog collaborative and you may remember the from the discussion from the last
meeting during this month uh each of in order for the so the collaborative board voted in the affirmative to allow Plymouth into the capcog collaborative and the next step in the process is that each of the school committees has to take a vote about whether or not to
affirm that decision or not to affirm that decision um and it has to all happen by April 1st if I'm correct um and so every school committee meeting um this should be on the agenda um hope uh hansam who's the new collaborative
director is on a merry girl round Whirlwind tour visiting all the school committee meetings um oftentimes more than one school committee meeting in a day um in order to get this done um and um and so again the committee has had the the all the Articles to review over
the last two weeks and hope is here tonight to answer the any of the committee's questions um but there is a motion in the packet um if the committee chooses to make that motion um and again hope is here to answer any questions
should the committee have any questions Mr Morris I move as printed in the warrant accept and approve the amended articles of agreement for Cape Cod collaborative as presented we have a motion do we have a
second second we have a motion in a second any discussion or questions seeing none do we need a I don't believe we need a roll call vote I think we can all all those in favor say I I any opposed any abstained so happily
uh pass that unanimously and then next we have information on the DMS Turf replacement bids all right so also in the packet the committee has uh a memo from uh PMA Consultants our OPM on this building
project uh and so more for the public less for the committee but uh as the committee is aware the we've been in the process of um working to get the fields um
redone the the fields that came that are part of the school building project are not um operating the way that they're supposed to be operating essentially they're not draining um and we have a separate process undergoing um to help us for uh remediating those costs but
while we're working on that process we need to fix the problem and uh the committee voted uh several meetings ago to go out to open bid um and this is the completion of that open bid process the memo outlines the process that we've
gone here Mitch uh is here from um PMA to answer any questions but again it's outlined the process in all the bids we did we got several bids um as well as the recommendation from uh the bid team
uh to go with the the the contractor in the um in in the in the memo uh which is rad um uh and uh and the bid pricing that is associated with that we have again have
the motion in the warrant for you to go with to accept Brad Sports um and you know just as a commentary if you remember one of the reasons why we went out to bid was some of the pricing that we got back when we were looking to do
it through existing um through our existing contractor as we're we're seeing the financials Now versus the financials what we seeing then it is um a good substantial savings which I think will be helpful to us as we move through that
other remediation process that we've gone we have gone through a thorough process and we've shown that we're being prudent so when we do seek damages that we we've gone through a thorough process we've been prudent and that we've gotten a fair market Price again PMA is here to
answer Mitch is here to answer any questions um if the committee has them before you take any action Mr Glenn do does he want to speak first or or we just asking I mean Mark's putting me out of a job here that was a good
good update so I'll take questions yeah so um I I just see a huge difference in in these bids and I noticed that one of the biders was involved with the project
originally and so I don't know if that's an indication if they know what it entails or um so that bidder uh rbo also priced this job when we ask Commodore to price it too and one of the reasons we're here tonight is because we thought
those prices from our opinion were too extreme and too high so we weren't seeing the numbers that we wanted to see and that's why we wanted to be competitive with it and went out to bid so I I wouldn't make that assumption between those two and this is a question that I asked uh previously to you coming
here but when we were in discussions about it the the question to you is is there such a thing as a warranty it in other words what can we I I my fear is that we're going to go through
this again it could be another problem so I mean it it's it's too early to say I mean the warranty right so we're in the situation because of what we think was the specified material right so now we have a new engineer on board we have a third party who had done an investigation on
the material so we don't think we'll be back at that State right now with these drainage issues um so I I don't think that's would ever come around no that's great I just had to ask a question Mr
new thank you Mr chairman um in your opinion the bottom three bids the quality of work for those uh companies is it is it equal is there one better than the other and did you do any
comparisons with fields that they've built that are now 5 10 years old yeah so part of the qualification process for the bid was to provide projects you've done with similar project experience I.E price uh Synthetic Turf Fields drainage base Stone and so they all qualified
that way and they all have great references with similar project experience but to further answer your questions we didn't go back necessarily five 10 years to see how those fields are going but both all these companies rad Green Acres and lawren lych both have significant tur field projects even
when you go all the way up heick has it too um dig it didn't have so much Argus had some and rbo had some thank you Martin did you have any other questions we have a
motion I move to accept rad Sports as the responsible and responsive bidder with the lowest bid price for the Dennis y with Intermediate Middle School CHF replacement project this recommendation includes the acceptance of alternate number one second we a motion and a
second uh any other comments or questions Mr Morris one thing the one thing I have noticed in the course of the building committee was that one person consistently gave detailed
answers to questions of to us unknown uh quality of what's how the things are going thank you I really have gained an enthusiasm for the project in spite of the difficulty we had because
you've come up with good answers and good suggestions thank you it's a it's a team effort so thanks all all the team here okay then we had motion to Second and questions all those in favor say I I any opposed any abstained okay so that
passes than thank you so much thank you all happy St Patrick's Day I think there's couple Irish in the crowd looks like we're voting a lot today uh next we'll have information uh regarding the msba and Station Avenue Elementary School all right so you may
be a little confused but so uh this is actually tied to the me small um statement of Interest so and the fact that we're in the well actually just about we've got about two more weeks till we enter the eligibility period for
em small uh elementary school so as the committee may remember and the public may remember uh late in the statement of Interest process for the Emy small Elementary School in working both with
the committee and the Yarmouth select board we submitted a joint letter both both the committee and the select board voted to consider consolidation during the feasibility
study um as one of the potential options uh so in order to for the for that to be part of the overall study when we get to the feasibility study phase which is still far down the
road an msba requirement is that we have to have an S SOI on file for the school that would be considered as part of potentially consolidating so this is is essentially me putting all the ducks in a row is the right metaphor right yeah
um so um so we need to submit uh a statement of interest for S um for Station Avenue Elementary School um because we're going to study a potential option for consolidation as part of all
of our options when we get to studying for um me small and it's due by the second week in April um make sure we stay all of our timelines I need the the board the committee rather to take some action on it tonight uh in order to get everything
buttoned up and it's pretty much John and I have been going over it um I think we're pretty much at the final draft I have to do some may some final copy editing but this is pretty much the final version of it um in order to submit to the um to msba and then the
last couple steps would be once you all vote um then I'll have to send some signatures around I have to sign Tomas has to sign and then we submit so again this isn't saying that we're going to combine the schools and that's the only option this just states
that when we do the feasibility study consolidation is an option again the feas when the feasibility happens um it'll be up to the voters and the people and of where they decide the money and the is going to go um if approved so do
you have a question Mr Glenn yeah so um do do they have a general timeline of when the the feasibility study normally happens uh yes is so it can't start
until the eligibility period is over so our eligibility period is 270 days long from April 1st so if I remember correctly that's like December 26th or something like that um so that and and then at that point we do and the several
things that we have to do during the eligibility period if we do all those things correctly um follow all the appropriate timelines then we essentially then get invited into that next phase by msba um so then you would um go out and find
somebody to help you in that next process um because a feasibility study gets done by another organization right you hire somebody to do that work and so so we'd have a similar you know you as a committee would approve a bid for
somebody to do that process so now you're talking about some time after that date um when it would actually get underway and then they would come back and Report out to the community and then the community is making some type of decisions based upon that information yeah we're not eligible to
re be reimbursed for any money spent prior to that so anything that we would spend between now and December 26th we would not be reimbursed um and that was discussion that had with the town of Yarmouth you know if we did a visibility study next month um we could do it we
would just have to the cost would have to come from somewhere um so nothing can be nothing will be reimbursed prior to December 26th is the discussion that was had with the msba per their policy so no one so like in for this school I think
yarma did have to pick up some part of the feasibility study now now no one tennis or yarm wouldn't pay anything so they'll to be clear yeah it'll be a percentage right so our
feasibility and I have an email if you give me a minute I'll tell you I did get confirmation from msba what our base um reimbursement rate is currently as we get deeper into the process there's like ways to earn additional points um so
it's somewhere in the again I don't want to I I'll dig it up in a second so I can confirm exactly what it is um but uh whatever the P so it's going to be a percentage of reimbursement so let's say it I'm just throwing a random
number out let's say it was you know 40% then we would get reimbursed on 40% of the cost of the feasibility um but if we do it prior to 100% of the cost is on us
perfect so do we have any more discussion or we a motion on that Mr new thank you Mr chairman so the SOI is that just uh following procedures or protocols that the state would like sorry more than like it's a
requirement it's a requirement and so in your opinion what is the percentage of uh chance that they will ask for us to include that building in with the uh new building as I understand consolidating
yeah sorry as I understand it by based on every conversation I've had with msba it will ultimately be our decision as a school district and in partnership with the town armouth thank you and those were the similar conversations that we had at at an msba meeting um is that
they can't tell us how to spend the money they would like us to look at the option um they like as Marcus said Dr Smith said in the past they like bigger projects they like you know bigger money tickets um not necessarily Our Town
likes bigger money tickets right so we want our job is to make sure that it's economical and smart but what what fits the need so that's why by doing the feasibility study um you know and then sharing the results through many public meetings and and then obviously then go
into public vote on what the decisions are what's what's your feeling uh as far as your meetings with the town officials are is this something that they're entertaining or is this something that they're just going to leave up to us um there they're aware of everything that's going on um you
know they is not always happy when there's more tax burden you know because obviously just like us they're concerned about you know additional costs um you know we we understand the need and it will be our job to explain the need um when time comes if we're approved for
everything so that the taxpayers are informed just like with anything else uh when we're asking for stuff we need to make sure they know why um so a lot of the conversation is making you know them letting us know it's our responsibility to make sure that people know why we're doing this um you know we already have a
shiny new building in Yarmouth and the question is why do we need another one so it'll be our job to explain that and So currently our position is that we're just going to pursue replacing me small uh that's not no our we're going to look at the options whether it's a renovation a replacement or combination that's you
know typically the options that could be um there's a variety of different ways we can go and that's what the the feasibility study will tell us you know can we take over a property that's already in Yarmouth can we build a new school can we renovate the feasibility study will look at more than you know
three four five options that's what that company's an expert at looking at what's in the town and what's available and then you know sharing that information and then it's you know the the town's job to decide where it's best spent you know obviously with our guidance and
what we decide that you know from the information that we feel we'll have our recommendation but just like a lot of other things when it comes to the price tag that high it's up to the the voters themselves and everything I said was correct you're okay with
that so it's my understanding I um you know we're doing the feasibility which one of the scenarios could be consolidating the two schools but um supposing that isn't sort of advanced at
some point that means any anything we need for station a we get it pro fory small does that mean we're out of the loop for a long period of time and doing applying for anything for a station a a renovation an
addition um so it depends on um the scope of what it is that we're talking about so if if you're talking about like a full Renault Edition yeah
probably um so the original application for me small uh the way I wrote that application was to consider overcrowding at Station Avenue as part of a larger
need in Yarmouth and so that when we built an me small school we would consider the needs at Station Avenue as well as part of a larger um uh Yarmouth need and build a slightly larger uh emys
small Elementary School and think about how to redistrict Yarmouth in a way that would ease the the needs at Station Avenue by moving some you know over time you wouldn't just I don't believe in hey you know your second grade here at Station Avenue now your third grade is
going to be at em small but you can start it with incoming kindergarten classrooms and new kids who register right you can start to move move populations and over a couple years you can shift the population over but that's you know know now I'm I'm putting the cart way in front of the horse here um it's another metaphor we're going to
start keeping tracks um but uh so the so that would be that was sort of the original application uh so that would still be a potential option uh another option would
be consolidating one larger Elementary School another option as Tomas mentioned would be to look at existing spaces a select board member has mentioned that as part of the conversation um but to get to your original question so if you end up with just focused on
not consolidating an em small space there are other ways to address um facilities needs through msba that aren't renovation or uh rebuild or new building they have an accelerated repair
program which you can also parallel apply for and that's a as part of our capital program those are things that we should probably be thinking about as a district um it's conversations to be having we're having a Yarmouth Focus conversation tonight but it's one we
should probably be having with Dennis and thinking about for Ezra Baker again that's a different conversation for a different night about you know what's the plan for that building um but that could be a a path for and so they have programs for roofs for um heating
systems and for Windows specifically they call it accelerated repair program and that's a different path that's separate from hey we need a whole new school okay and we're looking for a motion on this one and I would say you don't need to read
it I uh move the article as printed in the agenda second we have a motion in a second any more discussion or questions and does not say a roll call vote on this one either so uh all all
those in favor say I I any opposed any abstained looks like that passes unanimously as well thank you for that and I will sign this certificate um all the way on page two already uh
subcommittee Representatives liaison report school committee liazon to the select board anything from the town of Yarmouth Mr Glenn no report anything from the town of Dennis okay next we have our policy subcommittee of second reading and vote anyone from the policy committee
would like to do that one so it's a second reading uh so we're looking for a motion on that one I move that we adopt policy jfbb school choice as revised and presented to the committee we have a motion in a second
any questions comments discussion all those in favor say I I any opposed any abstained seeing none that passes unanimously moving to page three uh superintendent
report there not enough water for me to drink tonight all right um going to go to this pile all righty so starting with
donations so first uh want to start and recogn uh recognize a couple donations uh first want to thank uh MIT for a Jon a jous donation a generous donation of
$3,000 uh which uh is we have an ongoing relationship uh as part of a the pace Grant um it's a computer science education grant and so sort of as an offshoot of that MIT has donated additional two or $3,000 to support um
ongoing programs at the high school to increase representation in our high school computer science program so a very generous $3,000 donation to support that programming so we want to thank MIT for that donation and then we also want to thank uh Jill Albright and the Cap
Cod Bright Lights um for a $250 in donations for personal care items from the uh to the high school rather uh and then a couple recognitions uh two one is to uh Tristan
Catz uh a seventh grade middle school student Tristan uh photo of a beautiful photo of a wish I had it to present but a beautiful photo of a uh butterfly I just got it today on a on a flower was an honorable mention um in the young
photographers contest uh so again just sort of going back to the earlier conversation just all the different ways that our students are shine and Excel in the district so that is a um again just a recognition of one of our students doing doing another great thing and
another great space and then the third recognition I just want to recognize both the uh the high school students and the middle school students who came together the 15 high school students who came down last week uh German students
who came down to promote the German program to all the sixth and seventh graders so there's about 300 six and7th graders in the auditorium um and both Miss Horn uh FR horn and the uh German students who came over um and put on uh a whole bunch of
different groups for the students in the auditorium uh to learn about the German program as they're making their decision about what they want to do for language programming as they move on to the high school um and Gally I was able to go to the World Language National Honor Society uh
induction last week yeah Thursday thank you um that was again just another um acknowledgement of there was probably I should have counted but there must have been close to 50 students between the three languages that were
inducted into National Honor Society for for the three different languages for German for French and for uh Spanish so again just another um recognition of just different ways that our students can um Excel within
Dy um all right so then that that's the end of the recognitions moving on to the next item field project update so uh you all awarded the bid tonight so I just wanted to give you a sense on what happens next so with the wi with the bid being awarded
tonight um apparently I've spoken way too much tonight um with the bid Heaven bed award tonight uh uh the process is really going to kick into high gear now uh we already have a press release pretty much in the can um I'll take uh
Leela's got Leela's been working and had everything pretty much all ready to go just needed tonight's vote to sort of finalize things so in the next day or two the press release will go out with all the details uh and it'll get finalized and then um pre a lot of
pre-work has already been done a lot of internal Communications uh the planning for spring Sports has already been made and adjusted along with some some initial traffic adjustments that need to happen because construction uh in the bid is set to
start on May 15th so some a good chunk of the Spring sport season will be underway but there'll be some in or over rather but some impact will happen um based upon the uh start of May 15th and then the way the bid is constructed is substantial completion for the project
has to be done by August 15th I mean excuse me by August 1st with full completion done by August 15th so the pro the project will be all buttoned up in a fairly short order um and so the and the as I think I mentioned before
but the the construction pathway will come in through the like the way the trucks will come in and out when they have to because as Mitch mentioned the big issue is the material so all the old material has to come out and new material has to go in is the big bulk of
the work um plus any other s related site work but that's the big I forget how many truck loads they told me but it's a lot of truckloads of material have to come out and then a same amount of truckloads and material have to go back in um so that those
truckloads instead of them fencing off as they did when they built all that fencing off the road that goes behind Station Avenue and wraps round to the to this school which is what we use for parent drop off and pickup for the intermediate middle school and for
Station Avenue Elementary School uh the road will the construction Crews will come in uh down the side of the math wi at the high school back by the maintenance shed and then there's a dirt road that accesses back behind the maintenance and along the athletic field
so there will be some disruption but that we ultimately determine that that is the minimal amount of disruption to all of the school operations um and that's where sort of some internal communication's already begun um and and then press release will again highlight all of this and that's
where the trucks will move in and in and out and we set up a staging area which does affect some Athletics but it'll all be contained there as opposed to coming out to where it all occurred when it was first done um and then when the turf
field needs to come in they need to use some of the parking that's in front of that but by then we should be into the summer when traffic when school's out and we don't need to have traffic flowing anymore so again I can't take any credit for it this has all been done by planning teams that you know I just
said yeah that's a great idea to keep moving forward um so a lot of planning has gone into it and we're ready to roll sorry through the chair Mr new thank you is the field going to be uh
duplicate or a replica exact of the previous field or uh has there been any consideration to maybe improving some of the aspects of it yeah so some
uh uh opportunities have been used to make some uh changes to the lining of the fields we um made some opportunities like raise the fencing um change some of the gating because we've run into just some basic like now you know' had the
field there right so district has also made some opportunities to make have a little more control over the space um um and and then we've changed some um some of the lining on the field now what
we want to ultimately use the field for um as far as like lacrosse lining and I can't remember oh we're going to a we're able to line in a softball diamond in the lower field um because that fits more with the Middle School curriculum
than um what was originally lined in down there um and I think we made one other change uh but the the yeah just and it doesn't change the structure of anything it's just like what's sewn into the carp and then we can always paint in
anything else but uh we simplified a couple of things because it a couple things were too busy and oh and then we changed like one of the logos facing the wrong way if I remember correctly so we fixed that too so the logo is facing the right direction um so again a couple the
shot put area no that that cuz that's not part of this um scope of the work so that is a a thing that'll have to get addressed at some point in the future that's not that's beyond the scope of the area that's being fixed got it thank you but it was part of our discussion
but it it this is not tied to what's not working Mr Glen is there um like a standard hours like is there a way that we can negotiate like off hours and weekends or
is it just like this is when the construction companies do their work and and that's it to a certain degree you know we're going to try to minimize traffic at arrival and dismissal at the high school but to a certain extent the longer we the more restrictions we put
it causes two problems and they all come back to the same problem which is cost right so it's either going to make the project longer or it's going to make the project more expensive because we're gonna have them working off like
weekends and to your point right so either way it's going to ultimately make the project more expensive Mr Martin um what can you what can you tell us about um any
contingencies that we have um if the deadlines aren't met um the uh mostly complet by August 1st definitely full complete by August 15th if they go long if they start infringing on the the next school year what can you tell us about
how we've protected ourselves that way yeah so we've we've been fortunate in that we've got good partners in the town of Yarmouth which is helping us in the spring Sports season and that we've already the this was all pre-planned so again I I can only take credit for
putting the right people together in the right room um but like our facilities team already gone over to mes already set up all the fields over there um got them all up back sort of brought them back to life for our baseball teams to be able to use that they're going to
line the there's the field that's right next to my office which is just grass but it can be turned into largely anything right so it can be turned into a softball field for the middle school which will happen this spring and then it can be turned into a soccer field for the fall if it needs to be a soccer
field in the fall so we have other spaces that we can use when we need to including Yarmouth over at MES in particular has been a great partner for us in should we need that space in the fall we can go back there in the fall and what about um what about the
financial aspect of it is it um is there anything in place to you know um any uh incentives any uh any dings against them or against the if if they don't uh come
at least close to this timeline that I'd have to go back and read the exact contract but the the the bid like as far as it costing us more the bid price is the bid price um and I have to go back and read the exact language about the final like the finishing on time
cost but again it's to to Mitch's earlier Point like this particular group it's you know they're in the ballpark of five to 10 of these fields a year like this is this is what they do right it is where or not getting somebody that
doesn't have experience doing this work and 20 plus years of experience in this specific um Arena great on our next topic yeah moving on all right so uh treasure treasure
assistant treasur so as the um so hopefully not giving you information or I don't know this is both for the public and for the school committee so the the as the committee is aware the this committee operates um with a a Treasurer
who sits on the school committee who is a school committee member um and then has an assistant Treasurer uh who is a school district uh paid position and that uh assistant Treasurer does most of
the duties uh the monetary duties right moves the money um cuzz by Statute the uh School business manager um Finance director whatever that title is in a in a district can't be the person who
manages the district's money um so they can approve purchase orders they can do all the budget presentations all the things that you see here but they can't actually go to the bank and say you know move money from point A to point B they can't actually pay the bills it has to be a separation of Duties and if you
think think about it it it makes sense to ensure that they're not you know moving the money from the school district's bank account into their own personal bank account um so uh in in uh Dy the assistant treasur
has been the person who's done those um done those duties up largely up until this point well I I don't know this that's the system I came into I don't know how long that's been in place I quite frankly I didn't do that that that day um it is not uh and and so our assistant
Treasurer is retiring at the end of May um and it's not required that um by Statute that a school committee member has to be the treasurer um the school committee can appoint uh a Treasurer
that is somebody not from the uh school committee the statute says the treasurer shall receive and take charge of all money belonging to the district and shall pay any bill of the district which shall be approved by the committee um and what I'd like as we move forward
what I'd like the school committee to consider is a reorganization I'd like the committee to consider a uh getting rid of the assistant Treasurer role and creating a full-time or not a full-time but creating a Treasurer role that is a part-time treasur it's a paid
position um we'd use the funds from the assistant Treasurer to pay the treasur position um and then that person would be it's often times so from the other regions that I've worked with or been associated with this is how it operates it's how cap cot Tech operates it's how
nset operates it's how monoy operates and often times that position again it's a part-time individual oftentimes it's a retired business official you know somebody who's been either a business administrator been a Treasurer in like a town office that's now doing this
function and having somebody with that level of background not only do you have somebody who can just push the button and move the money from place to place but now you have somebody who can provide you Bond Council you have somebody who can invest the funds for the district um you have somebody who
can consolidate accounts when accounts should be Consolidated you have somebody with a stronger Financial background and is actually managing the district's funds as opposed to just moving the district funds when it's payroll time or
when it's time to pay the bills um because that person has the background in the you all still have to sign off on all the warrants you still all have that person can't move money until you all have approved it um but
that person can then make decisions uh or and make recommendations to the committee to say Hey you know you have you know x amount of cash flow and then as we move forward if we're fortunate enough to get into the place where um we get another school building
project that's going to come with certain amount of bonding options Banning options and having somebody else a Treasurer saying hey you know if we get this Bond at this rate um we could invest the money for this period of time because you're not going to need to spend it until this period of time and
then you're actually going to earn this amount of interest on that money that you're holding for this period of time and be able to make those recommendations to you as a committee on how you can better manage your money um that somebody without that level of background can and I'm not asking you to make any decisions today I'm just giving
you something to think about because I wouldn't right now we are going to have a structure to get us through um between um where your current Treasurer is Miss Landers and she's going to U be able to do some of the money transfer functions that we need to get done to get us
through this period where we are right now where we uh don't have assistant Treasurer to do those functions but by July 1 I'd like the committee to consider making the change um and get to a different structure um and I'm happy to have I got it all from our attorney
I'm happy to have the attorney come and walk you through if you'd like or give you a memo outlining this I have it all in an email but I'm happy to if you you know get whatever documentation the committee would like um to make you all feel comfortable with the decision um but again something I'd like to have you
consider structurally I think it'd be better for the district you know prior to the assistant Treasurer reported to the business manager or the you know assistant superintendent for finance and operations so while technically they were separate duties I'm still not I'm
not sure it and it might have met the spirit of the law I'm not really sure when somebody's reporting to the person that's it's supposed to be a separation of Duties I'm not really sure it's still as clean as it should be right so I think I think we' be better if we had
two completely separate roles and then that you know again I've seen then the treasurer comes and the treasurer provides quarterly reports to the school committee um on what are the how are the district's finances where is the district's money etc etc um because the treasurer is appointed by the school
committee and reports to the school committee on this on the school committee's funds um because it's the district's money not the business manager money if that makes sense I'm happy to take any questions before I move on to
the last item or last two items Jenny so appointed by the school committee and reports to the school committee but who do they report to sort of on a day-to-day basis so you manage it's not another employee that the
school committee manages it's a staff member that you manage yeah just yeah because again the one of the major functions of the of the committee right three responsibilities budget hire and fire superintendent and um policy So
This falls under your budget um governance responsibility so then this person is managing your money um so they're giving you those updates on where is the money how is the money being managed etc etc uh second
question H have you looked at availability of sort of possibility of candidates for this position you know this can we really find someone to do this I happen to know somebody okay all right close at who interested in
becoming a treasur once his current function the district let's do it because I'm all set with this responsibility of wiring all this money so let's yeah let's Miss beus I guess my questions are more so I
can understand um it looks like some of the things that the business manager or the assistant superintendent for finance used to do was give us updates on where the money is and this would fall into this
treasurer's position or from time to time I I am not a financial person that's but I I know I heard reports of where our investments are and how secure I but they were coming
from not a Treasurer so I I I I guess for me what I need to do to start thinking about it um is if I could have a sample job description of what all the duties were so I could begin to think about what this new model would be and
and along that line I'm also wondering it seems that it's a bigger scope than what the assistant Treasurer did but this would be a part-time treasur so Is it feasible to
in a working model um and then the other thing and you know I happen to know that my person to my left and my person to the right uh either was the treasurer or is now the treasurer so uh I'd like to know from their perspective at whatever meeting we talk about it sort of the
pros and cons or what you see because this is all new to me and I'm just trying to understand more yeah I think we can explain that and I I think um since there is elections and there could be new people know what the board will
look like after both towns um that it should be decided prior to at least May 20th so that the first meeting where officers are elected if that position is eliminated it's not a position that's voted in um that would just be my only
recommendation is that uh we look at it in the late April meeting or early May and look into making a decision so that when we um do reorganize um we're not voting a position that won't exist
um and Marilyn the the treasure on the school committee has really been sort of I wouldn't say in name only but it has been like every once in a while as the treasur on the school committee you need to sign a form for the state that requires the treasurer signature it's
been very just sort of high level signing off when needed um the issue now obviously is with the out the assistant Treasurer I'm the only other person who was when I waso elected Treasurer I'm the only other person who was signed
off on all the banking stuff I so my name is on it I'm the one who's bonded um so without this assistant Treasurer I am now and it's not a big deal I'm happy to do it obviously it's a it's a bigger role than usual for this committee for
what we've done as Treasurer yeah and there are some to go back just a little a little bit so there's some duties that are assigned to the assistant Treasurer role that as John and I have been peeling it
apart that don't need to be assigned to a Treasurer by the statute right that those duties we can disperse among the central office um but the actual functions so again the treasurer shall receive and take charge of all money belonging to
the district and shall pay any bill that is what the statute speaks to that's the stuff that would stay with the treasurer and specifically just those functions and then they could could also manage you know manage the money but again that's essentially what what your
Treasurer doing is doing is is managing your money and that's again different than managing your budget yes because your your budget is being managed by your director Finance assistant superintendent Finance but what do you
actually have for Cas on hand is being managed by your Treasurer Mr Glenn I did have some of the same questions that Marilyn had because of your expertise and how you did it but I would thinking of Jenny uh particularly
because of the legal ease I always mix up like what shall means in in the Statue and and that stuff so I I'd be interested in that but there has to be a reason why these other distri districts you know I know you mentioned some that don't do it but there's a reason why
it's been a long time past practice I mean I don't think it it was just something that was overlooked over all this period of time in all of these other D districts um so that's my question is like maybe we need the the
the district council to come in uh to to break that down but I mean I don't necessarily need it if everybody else is comfortable with it but my that's just my concern is that um you know that there's a reason why it was in place and
so I don't know that I don't know what I don't know to ask the right questions but maybe the the council could tell me you know thank you next we have the station Avenue playground
update all right um so this particular project is in its final stages uh of approval so just last week um uh I don't know if she had anybody else with her but I know principal Kelly
um went uh in front of the community and economic development committee of Yarmouth U and was approved for 500 excuse me $50,000 um from that group and that's on top of uh she's already the PTO from
that group or from that school is is raised funny money towards the project plus they've already been uh gotten on the warrant for $200,000 from CPI plus $200,000 from CPA plus we have funds
from uh an Ida Grant uh is it 240 240 um so the project is as long as um you know the CPA and CPI are uh dependent or you know on Final approval at annual town meeting right so but all
the funding mechanisms are are now in place for uh the new playground uh we've got design the large part of the design is in place uh there's a committee at that school that is just working on some of the final details to get in place so as soon as the funding is finally in
place we'll be really ready to rock and roll with a a new playground if anybody's uh been over there there's you know it's essentially Fallen apart um kids we've had a couple injuries we've had to take parts of it away um because of the the playground in the state that
it's in so this will be a um New Port in place uh structure with actually it has a really nice uh accessibility not only the whole structure but a deliberate accessibility play piece uh for a couple of particular students there um that
need that level accessibility Plus for the future um so it'll be a great space not only for station AB elementary school but for the community at at large on the off hours when station a is not uh in in session so that project is moving right along and um like again
it's been a lot of hard work for from others who've gotten it to where it is right now and it's really ready to um to get off uh you know we're this close I started that project six years ago oh that's awesome we we had $5,000 in our bank six
years ago and got the company to do the diagram and then it's taken many years of doing that and the PTO this year has done an amazing job um they've had six six fundraisers this year Alone um on top of their normal annual ones they had
specific ones for the playground but um it's it's great to see it coming to the finish line now I'm excited for them so thank you for that you're welcome all right so the last bit is really just um I try not to editorialize too often um
but the last couple weeks uh have been a little trying um quite frankly as a superintendent um and they've been really trying for a couple of reason reasons um first uh there's been a definitely been a I think for lack of a better word there's been a a heightened
sense of turmoil in the air um due to the political landscape uh at the federal level and whether people are 100% fully in support of every decision that's been made at the at the federal level or fully 100% like opposed to
every decision or somewhere in between um what's undeniable is that um those of us living in the schools every day um is this this feeling that we're like in a small boat in a confused SE um and so
that that's sort of like part number one and part number two is in the last couple weeks in particular um it's been really difficult and I can only speak here in Dy but for us to really get accurate
information um and in uh and to it's been really difficult to watch also others share inaccurate information about our district um and this has showed up in a couple of different ways it showed up as like well-intended
um caring anxious individuals looking to help others um but using hearsay information um to uh sometimes like actually completely inaccurate information to spurn action by the
district to um people who um yeah sure now my page won't turn um to people who've uh been really kind of ill intended um and mean-spirited and
sharing communication that appeared on its surface meant to harm um in other cases it's been individuals who didn't get the resolution that they were looking for um and um chose to tell a ver vers of their story that invited
sort of an angry discourse in a public space in other cases it's been a misunderstanding of either roles or responsibilities or functions of different agencies or officials or departments or laws um and that misunderstanding has led to a spread of inaccurate or incomplete information and
unfortunately this whole thing has been exacerbated by social media which has some of its positives um it's a great way to connect with humans and a great place to find support but it could also be a space for all this these things to be perpetuated in a negative way and I've received a
couple of emails even just two today from parents who are concerned about the reputation of our district um one for an incoming kindergartener or like who's who will have an incoming kindergarten next year and one of a current um family member are concerned about what they're
seeing about our district on social media and it's really hard for me as superintendent to like defend against things that just are flat out not accurate about us and and and there's no
value in me waiting into a space where I know misinformation is being spread and fighting against a tide of information that I know is false um and so I guess this is just like sort of a public plea and I already put out a
message out to the district around this but really just that in these times when I I know for whatever reason people are heightened and my my my position is not to tell people what to think about anything but understand that we are in a
heightened time and I just ask people to just be a little bit more Discerning just be a little bit more patient before J rushing to judgment before jumping to a conclusion understand that that perhaps you don't have all of the information or
whomever is saying something might not have all of the information and that if you have a complaint about the district we're not perfect we make mistakes 100% we will make mistakes because we are not perfect we are human we a and we have channels to
complain come talk to us we have a contact us page it's easy to find on our web page is web page it's right on the first banner and there's places to submit a complaint right on that page but if you don't come talk to us then we can't address the issue if you talk
about us in other spaces then there's nothing we can do about we are not going to go engage in those spaces so if you have something to say about us and you need us to do something come talk to us and that is the end of my editorial thank you I know there's been
a lot of conversation and I know you know for those few that are probably watching but we talk about all the great things the students the Athletics the robotics the Arts whatever it is we talk about so many great things and I know we've done a great job with you hiring a
new communications director and you know I see the the social media posts of from all different schools of all the things that they're doing things I never knew the schools did so there's so much more positive um and we're working so hard
towards our strategic goals and our district goals and our goals to have a better light of the Dy story um so it it I know for all all of us it's heartened and when we we see the negativity um we
can't control what people post online um and to your point it's not our job to you know comment or that we could just ask as as you said if there's a chain of command with everything right so if there's a problem with the teacher you address it with the teacher if it doesn't hear the teacher then you have
Administration in the school if the administration of school um doesn't give you the answer then there's the superintendent's office um I get emails I don't have anything to do with individual students none of us do um we are talked about the functions of the
school committee those are not any of the functions that that we have um when we hear stuff as individuals we you know I know that I will send something to Dr Smith or to appropriate principal as I would in in anything and you know that's what we can do but uh it's not our job
to do those things but it's important that like I said we continue to do what we're doing on our on our uh Avenues and that people know there is a there is a correct way to to get things addressed um and that you said we're not perfect um and things happen in our schools and
across the world that you know we wish didn't happen um but they got to happen anywhere but we we'll just do our best to do our best to kids keep people safe and try to minimize the things that do happen so thank you for
that um consent agenda we have the the motion for the $3,000 from MIT the donations of personal care items uh from Bright Lights uh the minutes for March 3rd 2025 a motion a second all those in
favor say I I any opposed any abstained perfect um bills requisitions and payrolls there's a small list today uh calendars the rest of March is empty look at that uh school committee will meet again
on Monday April 7th and then on Monday April 14th and April 18th is a half day for all schools and then April vacation starts on Monday the 21st uh public comment anyone looking to
speak for public comment seeing none we have a motion for adjournment do we have a second all those in favor say I any opposed and abstained thank you so much