good evening and welcome this is the March 10th 2025 meeting of the school committee call the meeting to order five o'clock this meeting is being both audio and video video recorded I would ask that everyone please rise for the Pledge of
Allegiance I pledge alance to the the United States of America and to Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all okay roll call Emanuel if you can start us please
Garcia Benta William Strather Gregory Thompson Gordon Smith superintendent of schools Sarah trulo P Blair assistant yes samas secretary okay thank you all we have some
meetings approval take a motion please make a motion to approve the February 24th 2025 executive session meeting minutes second motion made by Amy second by William any other discussion all in favor say I I I those oppose nay that
carries forward a zero thank you to approve the feary 24th 2025 regular session meeting minutes made by Amy second by William any all in favor say I I I those aose nay that carries four to zero Samantha
thank you very much okay committee and SubCom Communications Emanuel would you like to start us out this past weekend was spart tanam it was a lot of fun I I was sound booth the whole night but I also performed there was a lot of fun you got a great turnout
um we also have the senior class is doing a pasta fundraiser for all the senior parents and all the staff that would too um it's $15 and that is happening on the 25th from 5 to 7 pm.
and then final thing I have is that also this month is the music in our school's concert so the middle school and high school all the different music groups are going to be performing there's two concerts um one of them is the 22nd and the others the 29th and they're both at
700 p.m. Manny is the pasta dinner here at the High school they don't here nice are you cooking better off not right Amy please I don't have any um anything from a subcommittee but I did just want to share that I was able to visit Miss
parzi's class at at Mountain View for re Across America day um they it was a great environment the students were wonderful there was a lot going on a lot of um celebrations going on in the school that week for read across America I just thought I'd share a great group
of kids they did an awesome awesome job so fun yeah really fun see the prometheum board in action no I didn't that's pretty cool we had a couple um elaf grants last year uh beum boards which is the next
Generation up I guess from um it's not a Smartboard it's not the same brand but uh anyway it's pretty great uh what they can do with those they just get them this year they just got them this year yeah have yet last year um cuz that that was
an award this year I thought no but I think it was awarded uh they were actually gave them to approved in June but you're right the for the ban the recognition at the banquet took place in February but they try to do is Grant applications come in during the late
spring if they can approve them by the end of June then they might be able to actually get the money out so that we can purchase in um July and August so that there's a fighting chance that whatever put in can be used the next yeah I set up the individual grants over
the summer okay uh Gordon gives me the list I set up each each one as an individual account numbers and then I email those account numbers out to the teacher who got the award along with the principal and you CC Gordon so everybody knows here's your account number so you can start purchasing and yeah yeah once
once I make sure we have the check of course cool anything else Samy no that's great thank you no no news right now no Sarah uh we had the collaborative meeting two weeks ago um we finalized the details
for the educator support Personnel award criteria which will be a way of um acknowledging the hard work of um some of the PA Professionals in the district and I think that was the main takeaway from that
session okay uh we have had two School building committees in the last two weeks uh we are on Pace and on budget uh we actually got an opportunity to tour uh the new building uh and you'll see that on alcat coming up soon because Jamie was there with us so look for that
because it's pretty exciting also Pam and I went in to read to Mrs M's class together we had a great time yes we too really had fun yeah we didn't want to leave no I L it K it was great I hope anybody is back again okay thank you all
for that we will move on opportunity for visitors to address the committee seeing none moving right along to 5.2.1 fiscal year 25 fiscal update packets so just to remind
everyone and anybody who's listening out there typically because of the sitation this year we've been do monitoring and be as transparent as we can to everyone out there and I always want you to know where I see things so um C is your
report and just as a reminder um this is designed as a financial update for fy2 school budget as of February 28th 20125 the report also includes your grants and revolving accounts and if you go right to page six that's where you'll see I always give a write up to you
but so on the top section of the spreadsheet is the salary s and if you look from top down um not in any specific order this was just the way they come out when I run reports so see your Athletics has a a healthy balance there no concerns nurses and medical
staff no concerns clerical custodial all that seems um right on target you will see that I highlighted a PA professional line we have about 60,000 as of right now that I'm projecting will be a balance and that's due all of these are due to just changes that happen throughout the year we've had uh
vacancies so when we have a vacancy for a couple of weeks or a month and you know they start adding up and then we get someone in there but then somebody else we' a lot of that has been happening um in the line where Kota SLP new needs tutors retirement so it's a it's a little hodge podge there I I
see about 300,000 as of right now that certainly can change because those that will change because there's hourly uh people in there but I do anticipate that that's going to be a line item that will have a balance in uh the teachers line item I'm seeing $83,000 there again those are those leave of absences and
any kind of change that happens in the year so that is um I just want to remind folks like when you're talking about a $21 million line item 83,000 is very minimal for there um so those are the three line items that I see on the salary side that we will most definitely
have uh balances remaining there um does anyone have any specific questions on the salary side no on the bottom side is your expense side of the budget um and again you'll see the equipment maintenance that's fine the copiers nothing has been really expended there yet because we
have a new vendor and I think um Ryan is overseeing that transition and I think we're trying to iron some things out before any payment goes to the vendor so you will see that line change there we could possibly have some savings there but I don't know that yet um contracted Services uh we're doing okay there at
47,000 um you'll see that I did highlight in green the educational supply line and that has $29,000 again that will change a little bit um each each month as as we bring this forward because as a reminder we do have a budget freeze on the supply lines um and we're only processing essential
purchases right now is that school-based budget Pam yes that's Collective combined that's that's correct yep um so the blue I highlighted is your a of District tuitions which at this time February 28th when I ran the reports I'm showing a deficit of
3,734 uh dollar so I anticipate that those green line items will be able to cover that here and again we'll keep looking at this from month to month um I am cautiously optimistic that that will um you know be able to cover the out of District um tuitions I do want you to
know I mean I I know I always tell you things change dayto day just today I I had two emails um where uh special ed out of District no special ed testing special testing had to be done and it's over and above what we already have encumbered and that's going to be that
was an an additional um $7,500 just today so that's not reflected here but again things are always you know going off and coming on and so I'll just continue to um show you that picture as a reminder our budget is 35 mil 99512 six we have expended 20,5
61241 we have incumbered 14, 36258 and that leaves an available balance of 1,715 26 on February 28th on the operational side of the budget any other questions there before we we going to want to make the a of
District tuition soon I I thought because it's just February I really kind of wanted to wait another month month or two so we could really see I I can bring yeah but it it I thought I would wait another month or two and bring the transfers forward and I felt a little more confident with the um the actual
budget lines so the next page are your grants um what do I want to bring to your attention here so I've highlighted uh two in green you know they're all being extended down I don't see any uh concerns except one that I'm going to mention to you uh where I've highlighted
the FY 25 title 2A Grant there was a $382 increase that we just found out about um a week or two ago so that new Grant amount is 38,1 187 uh the other grant that I want to bring to your attention is a brand new Grant which we did have last year it was the um
specialed program Improvement Grant but this is a new new fiscal year so but so this is a new Grant um that you're being notified about tonight that I do want you to approve except that's $220,000 and that gives us assistance with the new IEP system
um else do I want to bring to your attention um I didn't realize this when I printed this or I would have highlighted this as well but under the private grants the FY 25 CLE elap Grant I was just notified um from Heather Brown um because she does oversee that and partners with them this grant was
terminated effective uh February 10th 2025 and that's due to the misalignment with the new United States Department of Education priorities so I believe that they're going to try to fight back on that a little bit so could change but as of right now no expenditures pass the
February 10th date so Heather's uh working on that and I'll bring you more news next month when I'm sure we'll have more and um just to add to that CLE had operated on a Federal grant the last two years and so put in a number of Massachusetts districts into the elap
program we were one of those Massachusetts districts they had Rhode Island districts um and I believe they have some of the other New England States involved in this um with changes going on um they were notified that their Federal grant
funding is is now halted right we have yes we have not um you know we're hearing little rumors but nothing is um come to fruition yet uh on what exactly the new Administration or any new changes might be regarding the other grants we have such as Title One or idea
um so if I hear anything Gordon hears anything we'll certainly bring that to your attention but as of right now we not those are your grants uh the remaining is for the playground the 26 is that's correct yes open today say
that again I don't know if it today I know it was 56 degrees I heard 6 this week can we I I can reach out to miss Loi yes over yeah I want to go try it out we're crying out loud things good point so yes um soon that
play will be completed as soon as we really know that Winter's over for good any other questions on the grants before we do go over okay uh page eight is your um revolving accounts um as a reminder these revolving accounts roll over from
one fiscal year to the next um so that's why I always show you the carryover into this year and and where we're at um the only two that I'm uh concerned about or need to I feel discuss are the circuit breaker account which is 3/4 of the way down
I just wanted to um tell you I am projecting an additional $863,000 uh in revenue and that is the third and fourth quarter which are each $431,500 that is that does include we had some
conversation earlier and again I always want to be very transparent we um the fourth quarter comes at the beginning of July typically it very seldom comes at the end of June it always so depending on how you account it does it go into FY 26 or does it so in talking with the
town finance director we are going to backdate that to June so it will be considered a roll over so I do project at this point in time that it will be $42,000 that will be rolling over but we didn't do that last year the fourth quarter went that's correct 25 that's
correct so we have five quarters that's right five which is why you have one left over yes why you're able to that gonna it's GNA burn us next year then right because we don't have the first quarter in oh yeah we will still have the roll over well 400
almost quarters and that's what I'm projecting out in anything I do and again I just always want to be very transparent on that fourth quarter because it can get a little tricky but um we are going to always acre it back to where it belongs where it was meant
to be if that makes sense okay um so the other one is your school choice account um I do anticipate that we have additional revenue of $35 coming in and that's the February to June payments each month $
28,32 so as of right now unless something were to change that I need to go into that account or come to you to uh ask permission to do that um I am projecting a $441,500 [Music] thank you any questions on any those
accounts looks like the um mobile tech insurance is on Pace because we took in 10.6 and we spent 11.4 so yeah so kind of we we kind of talked about that that it was topheavy at the beginning get all the revenue in everybody's buying into
this funded insurance program so nothing was happening right away but now things are happening and yes you see that level off there is exactly what Ryan said would happen okay any questions for Pam on the financial update I just would like you
to um approve the grant approve yeah accept it mentioned exactly the new Grant and also that additional that new Grant amount the $20,000 new Grant and the $382 increase in the title 2A the first highlighted green one and
the second highlighted oh the $382 I need to always bring that to your attention motion to approve the title 2A Grant increase of 382 for fiscal year 25 add it all together yeah we're just
going to accept oh instead of approved make a motion to Minor Detail sorry you can put them together and please um additionally to accept the spend Improvement the new grant for fiscal
year 25 in $220,000 or in the amount of $20,000 motion made by Amy second by William discussion all in favor say I I those oppos nay that carries okay moving on we have
discussion on the FY 26 budget start that again so um we will to continue our conversation and uh remind everybody of exactly where we're at um a majority of us did go to the uh the Town Council and school Comm joint meeting on
February 25th and uh Gordon and I and uh the school committee presented this one pager to the Town Council again always trying to be transparent and answer their questions and have them better understand a school department budget because we are very unique um to the
other departments I believe so um after updating the all the contracted obligations for FY 26 as well as increasing the special ed budget lines we wanted them to know a level Services budget was an increase of approximately $3 million or
8.57% increase we also acknowledge that the past three years the school department has requested on average a 3.93% increase for level services so we wanted to put it into the chart and give them a visual which I believe that they appreciate it um I think most of them
are visual people just like myself so you know I wanted to to point out some things our foundation enrollment um has gone down our number is 2468 I think 2,468 students I believe that's gone down 54 students is that correct Gordon
um our school budget request for the level Services would be 39,800 584 that would be that increase of3 I 85458 um Chapter 70 the in Chapter 70 Revenue coming to
the town for FY 26 is 15 million better put these glasses on uh 15 million 484836 that is the minimum state aid increase of $75 per pupil so they take that 75 times that 2468 and it's just an
increase this year over last year of $185,100 that's just a 1.2 % increase in the um Chapter 70 what does that mean for the town if we were to stay in this level Services budget request that's a
huge number for the town we recog it's not level Sur I'm sorry what no this is this would be the blue one's not I'm still no no thank you for making sure I'm saying it correctly I just wanted to be clear to the Town Council that our
need really was3 million really is $3 million and what would that do to the town we re recognize that that $2.9 million is not an attainable number for us to request from the town so what I also just would like to mention as I
always review these um Chapter 70 is not increasing the way it has in the past and I believe that has to do with this whole student Opportunity Act and them trying to um change many things in the formula and one of them is putting more onto the towns so you know when I
started to review in fy19 Chapter 70 increase was 6.2% then then covid came so nothing was normal about 20 21 or 22 um but in FY 23 it was a 7% increase in FY 24 15.4%
increase FY 25 1.7 FY 26 1.2 so our that percentage is coming is coming down and the towns percentage is coming up and so this is just part of that perfect storm behind the scenes that I always refer to
now and what's happening so what did we do at that point um we have uh strategized on how to reduce the level Services budget request um with items listed below which um Mr Smith is going to take you through he's the speaker to talk on those items so these are items
that um all of you have seen and we've worked not only with all of you but we worked with the leadership team and um have also worked with our um teachers union to put this together uh
and so the top part is looking at how do we free up Revenue in next year's budget and and you've heard me go through these before but just so that um people may not have seen this know what um what we've looked at so far taking the
rollover um of school choice money that Mr Blair talked about just a few moments ago taking 350,000 of that and using it as um sort of a starting point if you will for FY 26 for the FY 26 budget taking
our curriculum renewal cycle which has been in our operational budget now for a number of years um and when a department or departments that are in that cycle get to the purchasing year after they've done their study and discussion and
identified materials um which they want to purchase uh we have $80,000 allocated um in the operational budget each year for that next year not this fiscal year but next fiscal year we would freeze
that freeze curriculum renewal we have two um memoranda of understanding with um Ela one around contractual individual professional development money which um would
freezing that brings about looking specifically at um extra days worked by um counselors and so if you reduce the days work by half that brings about $26,000 then it's looking at um software
lure which um as we go forward into the future seems to ever be increasing and um seeing where we can cut down there that's about $10,000 uh last meeting I believe the school committee voted to expand school
choice for next year by 20 seats so this would be new uh school choice enrollment at the sixth grade level and the ninth grade level and that would introduce an additional
100,000 um as well as uh utilizing some of the rollover um or existing money that would have come in for um school choice based on the thir 38 students currently enrolled so that's another 100,000 and then looking at athletic
fees and for the first time in over at least 22 years raising it from $149 to $199 that's $30,000 so all told that's redirecting or um figuring out how to
raise $822,500 then unfortunately we get to uh the reduction part of this exercise and we do have a series of retirements not as many as we've had in years ped and so
three of those retirement positions would go unfilled and then we have three positions currently that um due to lack of enrollment or um other reasons we should be able to reduce without too
much impact to teaching and learning overall the the goal of all of this is to reduce impact of teaching and learning as much as possible um and so six positions total would be reduced and that's another $224,999
million um which we feel is pretty significant uh and I do I think that it was well received by the Town Council when we presented all of this back on the it's worth noting that the first five of the one through eight we will not have
available next year so that's about 575,000 that we're going to have to find somewhere else fund some other way and um there's a lot of free cash so hopefully they can fund the whole budget it's
worth fighting for it hopefully well so at the the bottom of that spreadsheet is where I that same um chart and plugged in what the request is of the school committee again having a visual so they could really see so our school budget
would be 37789 815 that's an increase of 1,794 689 which is really I said 4.99% so a 5% increase um again what does that do to the town that would be a local contribution increase of 1.6 million um
over prior year that we would on this um Town Council and I think Mr Blair put at your an updated chart in the packet we had a chart that was not as um and so it might be out of order but I think given we just mentioned that
our budget level one budget request that has been presented to both Town manager and at least discussed a little bit at the Town Council level um so these are districts that have responded to I think it's on the list serve a survey on the list serve for uh School business
managers and uh we redid the chart Mrs Blair redid the chart to reflect sort of the highest requests that are coming from districts so as you can see the highest request is 10.25% so certainly as you go down and you see where we fall we fall somewhere
in the middle um with 27 districts whove responded to this you have more than 27 districts obviously in the Commonwealth more than 51 who have responded but we fall right in the middle with that 5% so it's certainly not out of the norm what school districts are
requesting and need and um unfortunately I think many districts across the Commonwealth are in reduction scenarios as we are but those initial requests in comparison to what was approved 75% of those were cut in half correct yeah no I
think they're in reduction it's just it's similar to the idea of you know we need at 8.57% state level Services right now we're 5% so you could put ourselves to hasn't been approved
yet but where does the difference between budget percent increase at almost 5% and local contribution request increase at almost 8% Chapter 70 is 1.2% if that kept pace with the 4.9 it
would far right yes then how come up here we were talking earlier it was 14% because we still have the additional .9 million one and a half million right but I thought we were just saying if it's 5% how can it also be eight% it's 5% increase through our budget but because
Chapter 70 has not kept pace with five if if Chapter 70 was 5% also and the town contribution would be five right because Chapter 70 is only 1.2 and keep Pace that cranks up the town's portion that's what I'm saying so we're not really asking for five we're really
asking for seven that's the effect on the town yes 5% increase but that result in the town is 1.6 million yes yes absolutely fa good point yeah why we went to the chart that
you're seeing the last few years I think at least five years discussing yeah no I was just clarifying that's all yeah and we try to never correlate it to Chapter 70 because if we did this is the year we'd get burned right so if you can say if well we got the two years ago we got
that huge $2 million well we should get it all well then that would mean this year we should only get 185 we actually took a reduction that year right didn't need because we didn't yeah was a reduction in the town's contribution right we should emphasize that again too that's happened uh
historically a few times if you look at the 10year chart chapter 70s over where Chapter 70 has been a significant increase and then that therefore reduced the towns uh from the previous year if not reduced you know under 1% right but if we chased Chapter 70 all the time
we'd be cutting and adding and cutting and adding every year should be ridiculous right it' be very very difficult forart that's why we can't correlate it and that's why you're hearing more and more about these all the different professional groups coming together because it seems there's a lot
of change that needs to happen both with Chapter 70 formula as well as um special ed with circuit breaker reimbursement there are more and more um um of these I've been in three webinars in the last week where they're looking for people's feedback and to get
together and come together to send this message to the leg legislation because um we can't no District we're not alone there's more of us than there's that are not dealing with this we cannot sustain what's happening here so there's got to be change somewhere and we also talked
about you know looking internally um we know that we need to do um business a little bit different as well our our children children are different the challenges are different we're looking at special ed on how we can do things differently but it's going to take some time um but those conversations are happening which I think is really
important um so what I wanted to tell you is I did put that into munus and this is out of order as well but I should have put page four next this is how it it it is in unit the budget that you asked me to bring forward your level one budget so I wanted you to see the
different um categories this is typically how the town manager submits it to the Town Council so I wanted to show you that so it would be very um familiar to you I do want to say that um on contracted Services the 10.6% increase that the bulk of that um is
transportation behind the scenes from that 3.7 million 1.9 million is transportation costs alone and then you see a reduction in the supplies and materials of 60% reduction well that's because I had to take that $550,000
of school choice for next year and reduce down my operating budget lines so I had to do that on all the supply line so that's why you see that huge reduction there it's because of that 550,000 that we just just went through
and explained um and lastly the other expenses uh that's 3.1 million that's a 32% increase and behind the scenes that's 2.8 million of that 3.1 million is out of District tuitions so wow 2.8
million yeah is yes um so the budget we have presented is 37 million 789 815 the other thing I just want to mention when the town brings it Forward um in their budget packet you can also then see a line that says school committee stien so
they usually add that on and that's the 10 you know the total 10,650 I believe is the number so I just wanted to make mention if you see a different number at the bottom that's why that hasn't changed in that's correct that has not changed in many yep here um the 2.8
million for out of District placement is it possible to get then a list of programs and the services that those programs are providing schools is that what you mean so when you say the program on what they're provid if there if there's an add of District placement
for should say three students at one particular program Y what is the name of the program how much ises that program cost and what are the students receiving there that they cannot receive I need some help special
ed and I rattled off these are Bas Center Valley View Willie Rock White Oak de Mary Valley West Hill Crest Eagle Hill lpvec and some ENC conversing I don't know if I got that right the creative child uh thank you uh Perkins
and Jenis those are so yes I can certainly tell you oh and I I I have a listing and it's right on the os's website um but be more than happy to print it off for everyone and share that it's of all OSD has to every year uh
approve the annual amount for tuition so it's right there on their website so there's different where it gets tricky for me um I don't know the program so well so you know they might have four different programs so I would just see them I so I'll need a little help there
um so yes I can certainly do that um your point if we're trying to think about things differently if there's central theme underlying why all these students going out of District that some of them are you know um disabilities that they have that they need
specialized Services um but we can certainly um talk about that very broadly I never want to identify and no you know but just just an overview and some of these um like a ma Center might be at like 75,000 others 156,000 but then there's a
transportation component on top of that and that's where over you this year it's it's been it's been escalating yes um and then not having the user funding again it's just that perfect storm inflation out of District costs IEP
needs um transportation just all of it together um so yes I will I get something together to show you how that all plays together you're welcome with no so I wanted you to see that and
I guess in the other Pages oh and then the next page after that page five I figured you might just be curious um because I can run reports differently in munus I thought oh location they might be interested how much money are we spend at Meadow brick and Maple Shade and Mountain View and so I just thought
that you as the committee would just be interested it's the same budget number it's just run a different way and that's with the six less employees yes that's is why the high school is in a negative that's correct two position yes that's correct so I went into each of the
individual budget lines to reduce down each of those line items that um have already been discussed that close to $1.3 million and we also made that very clear to Town Council and I think they were extremely respectful of what the committee had already done knowing that
that alone is already a huge impact on us um so we'll see where these conversations um go we're certainly cautiously optimistic um you know I wanted to remind everybody they're still moving pieces I'm sure the town side they still have moving pieces as well
which is why sometimes until we get closer to year end there's just some things we just won't know one of them just as a reminder is the circuit breaker reimbursement um you know I put down the bottom of the page will we qualify for Extraordinary relief this fiscal year we won't know for until
sometime in April a few years back we got a $343,000 che prr wonderful that would so help us this year which would roll into helping us next year but I don't know that because there's certain formulas behind the scene and it's not something I know a time I've tried to do some
research but there's formulas and and eligible expenses and that goes above that threshold that we've talked about specifically apply for that oh yes and we will oh yes when does that all take place now March is when they
uh getting everything organized relief and then regular circuit Breer and so the regular circuit breaker we won't know that amount until that that claim is done after the year ends so that's July so so what I've done now is I've just speculated that we're going I'm using
the same exact number but we actually do CLA during this school year or I thought the claim is done in July I believe I believe they let us know in July um what the because you have to have all the amount would be I think they do it in June I'll check on that I thought it was
July so I very well could be incorrect on that um let you know that information um so I don't know what that exact number is and because we won't know till later um I'm using the same number as this year that seem safe to me seemed
conservative and the right way to go um and again that is 431,500multifamily you know I also project that in fi 26 the rolling over of approximately $450,000 just trying to use what I information I have now to project out so
I wanted to remind you of that the other thing was the school choice history um we do have the um 20 students coming in and that's the 100,000 that Gordon spoke about um I wanted you to know in the spreadsheet here um adding 20 students
in FY 26 using the I use the minimum amount because that's $5,000 per student and that's another area just saying that has not been increased in I don't even know how many years I don't know I feel like it's been that way for 15 plus years clearly it
takes um more so that might be a one of one of these coalitions might talk about as well but so $5,000 times the total that I see right now of our current 37 students plus the 20 the 57 students is why I said $285,000 just as a reminder there is a
speci special ed um component increment behind the scenes depending on the services there could be um special ed Revenue that comes in there as well with the school choice but I Feel Again being conservative that at our lowest amount that we will get will be the $285,000 that very well could end up
being you know over 300,000 low low 300 so that's another area that has a little bit of moving so that's where we're at right now um I don't know if I missed anything Gordon or um if anybody has any questions um I did look again the Town
Council has a level one Budget on their agenda tomorrow night so I will go and see what they say I don't know if they're going to talk much about it but it is on the agenda I thought it was due for the Town Council at April 1 so maybe this is I think they're doing level one
discussions with all the Departments the town manager is this week um so maybe they're discussing it's under financial matters uh subject number one level one FY 26 draft budget we'll
see then we're waiting after that yeah we'll see I I think we should be close because there's over $2 million over the minimum or the what they like to keep in free cash and there's all kinds of money everywhere so I think
it's worth fighting for it because out on the line but yeah we'll wait and see what they say any other questions for Pam okay thank you Pam very thorough okay next up we have the superintendent's midcycle formative self
assessment and evidence report so um continuing basically the discussion last week about all the midcycle presentations uh in the shared folder uh
I had put um other examples of evidence but then obviously this is a comprehensive document um which captures both the smart goals but also then individual goals and um where we stand at the midcycle if you will happy to
answer additional questions um highlight anywhere that uh people would like more highlighting on it's poor sentence I apologize you've been busy Gordon busy's been busy
yeah the uh msba work takes up a good that I don't think you know I I don't necessarily realize it until I sit down and do this yeah um so you have the project which is you know significant and going really well but we
also accelerated repair roof project for Maple Shade and right now that's sitting in um basically a task completion step uh and all of that has been submitted as
of last week to must be so hopefully um we will now be moving forward into some type of Project funding agreement for schematic design and um feasibility study for the roof
project cool um Mrs sanella had asked me about the modular are we with that last um last I discussed it with Mr fenny we were hoping to be out to bid this month I've not got an update on that okay hopefully that gets going
questions comments on the mid uh there's nothing else I'd take a motion [Music] to I don't know what are we going to do accept that approve it fine yeah to accept the
superintendent of self assessment Evans made by Amy second by William any discussion say I I I those posos nay that carries four to zero good work Gordon my best thank
you okay next up we have revision to the 24 25 code of conduct so in your packets you have printouts if you will one that
looks like this with no red color in it uh is the current area within our code of condo um basically Pages 22 through page 26 uh and it deals with uh du process
the process itself rights and the expectations um the second of which is the proposed amendment um which is in Red so all areas in red have been
revised give you a background of this um crazy uh both the department of Elementary and secondary education and um our attorneys had reviewed our code of conduct um two years ago we went through um tiered
Focus monitoring and approved the original uh then in a situation that propped up uh that then um an inquiry went to Department of Elementary secondary education around due process
and most specifically around oral and written notice of the parents hearing um and ultimately all we needed to do was to um add in
that written notice and really all the scenarios that you see of the hearing needs to happen in addition to oral notes uh and in the original copy it is mentioned but it's not
mentioned specifically the area of due process on that very first page where it's capturing um number of the sections 37h 37h and half and then later goes into 37h and
three it seems like a lot but basically in working with the attorney what this does it does more than Desi asking for and so that we're not in any way taking any steps not being transparent with everything that needs to happen all we
did was we each section of 37h 37h itself 7 h and a half 37h and 3/4s put all the do process rights under each one so that's what the red is certainly look through you'll see a
number of times oral and written notice regarding um potential heing with regard to any type of short-term and certainly any type of long-term suspension so from the Department of Elementary and secondary education standpoint this
would be more than that's for but it seemed to make sense as we were discussing it with the attorney that rather than confuse anybody because it gets confusing when you start talking about 37h 37h and a half and 37h iners
um simply put 37h deal specifically with weapons sub substances um ban substances controlled substances and of salt 37h and a Half deals with anyone unfortunately who has been charged with
a felony and then 37h and 3/4 pretty much handles every other possible area that might be um end up in a suspension and it's really 378 reps that a few years ago um went under some
Vision with some new changes to the law uh and that's where you see things which we did actually have in our original um looking at different alternatives to suspensions especially short-term suspension as all of these um sections
talk about extremely severe that not only is a suspension possible but expulsion still possible which actually was a big change in when revisions happened a few years ago
um really expulsion was no longer talked about as much as it used to be I would say 10 years ago 15 years ago which I think is a good thing um so we're not necessarily in the business of separating ourselves from our students
however there are some really serious um situations that are highlighted in the different sections of this law that made sense it does we're going to kill a lot of trees but necessary I
suppose basically we we have to with your approval then message this out that a revision has happened to the code of conduct and then we'll post that on the website as well where is the language
around uh students with disabilities is it just that last so goes further in here okay and we did not get asked to change anything in there okay so like page 25 of the old policy that's where it actually that's
where these I was just curious because we went are there Parts on page 26 that are now embedded or did this or did the old policy just did you just provide us more information than what was actually updated so the old policy spread out the
information I think too much okay and so that's why we went with this and then um the department didn't see anything uh page in the current code of conduct um disciplinary action relative to students
with disabilities starts on page 24 25 okay and then um continues and in the review with the attorneys they didn't ask us to change anything and then there's just um inconsistencies in in
grammar before we approve there number on page 22 number six Department of Elementary and secondary education I would assume that should be capitalized yes it should it appears three times in that paragraph that's actually the lawyer bring uh number
seven I'm assuming that means the commissioner is like the commissioner of Education that should probably capitalized as well and then I think it's just inconsistent um seven you said that was a number seven to the far right thank you um if we are capitalizing superintendent and if we are
capitalizing principal it should be consistent throughout yes and 23 24 could it be cap either way we just we do both yeah 23 24 26 have it as capitalized whereas the
other Pages don't that's principal superintendent and then page 24 number two just very specific to parent should that be broader to say
family or Guardian yeah I would I would say Guardian probably that's just where it really stood out because parent is mentioned multiple times in that number I don't know if I missed it somewhere else yeah there is I right anywhere it says
parent Guardians so we can do a change everywhere yeah because I think the rest of the code of conduct does actually reference parents indor I was trying not to change
anything the attorneys gave us no that's but at this point this is certainly become something we all endorse and so need be made he feels they can improve and the old portion
has or capitalized in non capitalized that's for put my last name next Capital there you okay any other comments on that so I would entertain a motion to approve the change to the code of
conduct with the amend amendments after for mentioned motion made by William second by Amy any discussion all in favor say I I I those opposed
zero make those revisions and we will first send it to the Department of Elementary and secondary education and we'll make an announcement out to the entire District you're just going to email that out or yeah it'll be a uh we'll post it to the website once
Essie's received it yeah and then um we'll make an announcement uh in an email I'll a link as well as you can attach okay next order of business super exciting because it means summer's coming yay we have the rotary approval
of the 2025 Rotary Club summer concert series so this is um a reduction quite a reduction from this the amount of concerts they used to have here at the high school we know that obviously with the building project going on um there
unable to use their the fields as they used to so this is looking at Maple Shade um and it's looking to excuse me after the school year gets out a setup of equipment on the 21st and 22nd of June and then have two concerts June
25th with a rain date of the 26 and a second concert on July 3 with a rain date um of July actually no rain date on that one I apologize um just the laser light show would conclude that concert I think the laser light show is in place
of the fireworks um because we no longer have um something pleas shoot off fireworks uh checking with the Town recreation department there's no conflict with any activities they're
running in late June early July at Maple Shade generally they don't use Maple Shade um till the fall I'm sorry not even like the softball Fields uh this would be just a Maple Shade I think they use the softball fields at
birand younger ones normally use the Maple Shade field in the summer though probably not in the summer yeah yeah wouldn't re know that though say one more time wouldn't W know that I don't know I don't they yeah maybe they don't have their
yeah I think the younger like you8 even baseball might use that field I doubt they'll put it on the field itself because they put the um yeah it might not be yeah but if we check with Rec that's the best we can do really that's the best they can do and it's unfortunate it's only two concert
series but once the uh High School's done hopefully gets back up and running right to normal and the fireworks come back when this gets um submitted back to them for approval are we going to give them a copy of the advertising policy so that they're aware as well we could
certainly give them the advertis any group that wants to advertise still would have to come through yeah but we used like the Band Shell in and of itself we discussed how there was advertising embedded within the Band Shell yes yes so if that's going to be there then rather than have them we
should follow they haven't asked about any of that here they probably don't know right right because we haven't asked before so but if they're going to set the same band up and have I will send them the session STS and all of that then you know yeah they usually
have a bunch of precise M okay MH any other questions on the concert series if not I would take a motion to approve make a motion to approve the
2025 Rotary Club summer motion by William second by Amy discussion all in favor say I I those that boundary and get them the information on
that um the one other thing I wanted to bring up is all of this paper that we get every week I'm on a mission before the end of my chairmanship to cut down on that would folks be opposed to getting the package down to like a
12-page package and the rest getting digitally if we're able to do it so like the big stuff that we got today like say the change in this the change in the CL contuct we could get that electronically just as easy as in paper or is everybody stuck on
paper I prefer paper but that's just me I know I've just killed a lot of trees as I've been here over the years and it seems Antiquated and the reality is we look at a piece of paper for I don't know eight seconds and then we flip it and I just feel like we could do better
but if folks are against it then I'm fine with digital try it Sarah works yeah I willing to bring it you could print it that's true well everyone has a from off is that correct yes
sure all right so maybe we'll work on it next time around and see how it goes yes Sarah wants it printed why couldn't we do it for her and and then maybe I want to go back you know yeah
yeah Prett pretty lengthy I don't think you want I I mean this one's not like all the presentations them all like I like having them I like I like not saying is similar to what I don't mind I'll
keep okay not a big deal with that we have reached the end of our meeting if there's no other business I would a motion please motion made by Willam second second by amyp all in favor say I
I I those of f nay that carries for your