This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers. Good evening, East Hampton. Welcome to regular session of the East Hampton Public School Committee on October 7th, 2025. We are going to call to order uh
Megan Harvey >> uh here. >> Sam Hunter >> here, >> Linda Marque >> here, >> Eric Gette >> here, >> Tim St. John >> present. >> Uh Mayor Derby >> here, >> and Chair Laura Scott present. Uh announcements. >> I have no correspondence to report.
>> Okay. Um, I do have a gift that I think is this the gift that we acknowledged last meeting. >> No, no, it's a different one. Okay, wonderful. Um, so it we have a motion to accept the donation from Sher Lant, Jennifer Patnot. I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing these.
>> Patnau. >> Patnau and Alexis Alisia. >> Did you do you know that one? >> Okay, French. I don't know. >> My ap my apologies if I've mispronounced. um for the delicious lunchin they donated for the entire staff at Mountain View School in early September.
>> Wonderful. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Sam. All those in favor? >> I opposed extensions. Thank you so much for that. Um we're so appreciative, Sherry, Jennifer, and Alexis. Um that's wonderful. We're going to move to our
favorite part of the evening, which is recognizing our two student representatives. Uh tonight we are joined by uh Master Henry Lagana. >> Yes. Is that how we say it? Excellent. Henry's an eighth grader at Mountain View. >> Mhm.
>> Henry's going to observe tonight >> and we're just going to make little little smiles and winks of encouragement. We're so glad you're here. And >> have something to say. Feel free to >> He explicitly declined ahead of the meeting, >> but if you ever want to weigh in, >> that's what you're here for. Also
joining us tonight from the Eastampton High School Student Council, Jess Barber. >> Hello. Thank you. Thank you for coming. >> Do you have an update you care to share with us? >> Yes, I have a little thing prepared. >> Of course you do. >> Um so I am filling in for Walter Baker
um who is the usual EHS student rep. Um so over the past few weeks, um the entire student council has been hard at work preparing and running our pretty much biggest event of the year, the homecoming dance. Um, this year our theme was a night in Paris. We had about
250 in attendance on the day of and a huge council presence during our setup time the day before. Um, I would say it went very successfully. Um, and the council executive board also thanks Dr. Balch for attending. Um, >> and who who was spinning the hot tunes at homecoming?
>> Uh, Mr. Dementoto. >> Mr. Dementoto. That's right, everybody. >> English teacher at EHS. >> Um, along with homecoming, we had a spirit week with different themes for each day. For example, last Wednesday the theme was to wear pink. And we also decided to move our pep rally to October
31st. Um, >> bold choice. >> Yeah. On Halloween, we're going to have some fun Halloween themed games. >> Great. Wild. >> Um, looking towards the future, on the 17th, we will be hosting our first kids night out of the year, which in summary is parents drop off their kids at the
high school at 6:00. They play games in the gym, eat some pizza, and watch a movie until 9:00. These events in the past have been incredibly successful, so we hope the same applies to this year. Um, and then after this, there is the Massachusetts Association of Student
Councils Officer Shop. This event will be hosted at uh Worcester Technical High School on the 25th. All student council officers, if they can, will attend along with some other highly motivated student council members. This is a dayong event that consists of different speakers, workshops, and presentations from
various people. Um, and then looking more into the future, this is kind of the next big thing, um, that Walter Baker will tell you more about in the next school committee meeting, um, is EHS's hosting of the fall Western Massachusetts Association of Student Councils conference. Um, so now that
homecoming is over, the student council officers are going to be heavily focused on this. Um it will take place on November 6th and will consist of multiple workshops, a keynote speaker and speeches from Walter um the Wasc
executive board. Um and I don't have the exact number of people in attendance, but I estimate it to be anywhere from 250 to 350 people. >> And we would also like to invite Laura Scott to be a speaker at the event. >> I believe for the record I invited
myself at our last meeting. Thank you, Jess. But I am an alum of the Western Massachusetts Association. >> Invitation accepted. >> Invitation. >> That's right. >> Yeah. And then lastly, um I believe next week I'll be giving the presentation on
student feedback for the AI policy. >> And my one question about that is will this be like an agenda item or will it be during like the public speak time? >> So we are discussing the AI policy this evening. >> Do you have your notes with you guys? >> I do not. >> That's all right.
We can do I'd rather >> Do you want to table it for the 21st? >> Let's table it for the and do it on the 21st. >> It will be an agenda item on the 21st and we can call you to the podium when we get to that agenda item. >> All right. Cool. Right. >> And people can certainly come like to speak about it if they want to. >> Sure. >> Um but yeah,
>> sure. Sure. >> That would be great. >> Great. As a stakeholder though, I think we can invite Jess to speak during the >> Oh, yeah. Definitely. Okay, great. >> I have a question. Yes. >> Jess, could you tell me the date again for the parents drop in night? I couldn't get to that one.
>> Yes. Um that is on the 17th. >> October. >> October 17. October >> 6 to 9. >> 6 to 9. Yes. >> Thank you very much. Uh we at this time are going to open the floor for public comment. If there's anyone here in the room with us tonight or anyone joining
us remotely who would like an opportunity to share their thoughts, we would ask that you raise your virtual hand or step to the podium. Seeing none, we are going to close public comment, move on to our presentations for this evening. Um would we like to start with
the student showcase? I would love to. So tonight we have um East Hampton High School is our first presentation for school committee. We're very excited to welcome the drama club and we have Ravi here and Jess to talk about the drama
club. So head on over to the podium. Um, we decided to do this to encourage, you know, to celebrate the great things that are happening in the school. Um, to highlight the great work of the students and and faculty in our schools. Um, and
really just demonstrating again the the effort that students are putting in every day. >> Excellent. So, thank you very much. >> Yes. >> So, Robbie and Jess. >> Okay. Great. Thank you for coming. >> So, yeah. Hello. Thank you for having
us. So I my name is Robbie Price. I have been so I am currently the treasurer for Drama Club, the former vice president of technology and I'm also the current stage manager. I've been with Drama Club for three and a half years now. Um and we are currently Jess. Do you want
>> Oh, sorry. Um I'm Jess. I am the current VP of tech and it is now my second year being the head of sound operations. So, we're currently in rehearsal right now for Almost Maine, which is a comedy by John Kerani. Performances will be
from Thursday, November 13th to uh Sunday, November 16th with a matinea performance at 2 p.m. on that day. Um the play is made up of nine scenes uh where the connections between contemporary regular people living in rural northern Maine are touched by a
moment of magical interwoven of magic interwoven with the northern lights. >> And in the spring we'll be producing the musical Annie and we are excited to be inviting the middle school students from Mountain View to participate as some of the chorus members in various of the musical various musical numbers in the
show. Those performances are going to occur in early April. In addition to these uh fully produced productions, we are planning several trips to see professional theater. The first one is coming up this month. We are hoping to see the suspenseful play Rope at Harford Stage. This of course is
as long as you approve our out of state field trip request. >> Well, well played. Well played. >> That the drama club has also been interested in doing this year is additional fundraisers. So, one of the first fundraisers that we have planned is um with Cottage Street Businesses.
They've reached us to us about partnering with them for themed events where drama club members are in costume or playing characters. And the first one occurs on Saturday, October 25th. And the theme is wicked stroll. So the whole idea is that we will have various drama
club members in Halloween themed costumes advertising cottage street businesses and they'll help fund raise our program. So we're interested to see how that will occur and transpire. >> Yeah. Some of our other projects include collaborating with the class of 2028 on
a talent show happening in December. And last year, we were awarded a $5,000 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to support our production of Little Shop of Horrors. We built the Audrey 2 puppets from scratch. The production was super fun and a huge success. >> Thank you so much for your support and
letting us come and share some of our projects with you. We hope to see you at Almost Mine in November. Oh, >> incredible. Can I ask quickly r off the top of your head, how many kids do you think you have in drama club? >> I would say I take attendance. I should
know this. Like a little less than 30. >> Wow. That's great. >> Great. >> Incredible. >> And then the musical always draws >> more people. >> Amazing. Thank you both. That was incredible. >> Question. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I just so I am who reached out to
you for the um Cottage Street Association member and we're really excited about the fact that you're going to be on the street. All the other businesses have been chatting on the Slack channel to me about it and um so I will touch base with you about that
later. And could you repeat what musical you're doing again? >> Oh, we were doing Annie. >> Very exciting. >> So see you in the shop. >> Henry had a question. Oh, so I saw the little shop of horrors play and I like
loved the Audrey the second thing that looked really cool. It >> really did >> and that was so we built that over the course of so we have um weekend set constructions where we would go in for 4 hours every weekend and we would work on building the set and one of the first
things we did was make the like frame for Audrey too. like the top jaw and the bottom jaw are two separate pieces that were like um connected. And the whole idea was that we built out the frame first and then gradually over the course of the different set constructions we would add all these different um fabric
patterns to it and we added we cut like pool noodles to make like the vines uh to give it this sort of like monstrous appearance. It was a lot of fun. >> I loved how in like every scene it would like change like shape like you would like get it out and then that was just really cool.
>> Thank you. We're glad you enjoyed it. Yeah. >> Where's Audrey 2 today? >> Audrey 2 today is disassembled in you have the front jaw is like this and the back jaw is like this and they are currently resting against the wall backstage. So who knows
to be used in a play 10 years from now. >> Put a new spin on Annie who's >> miss her. >> Excellent. Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you again. That was great so much.
>> Thank you. Great job. Awesome. >> You heard that and MVS students may be invited to participate in Annie. >> Yeah. >> Do some coral rolls. There you go. >> Um, all right. We are going to move on to not only are we showcasing student activities that we're so thrilled to
amplify and lift up, but we are also going to be inviting a series of community groups. These are generally small groups run by a small group of parents that dedicate an enormous amount of time and effort. We're kicking off tonight with Kelly Fe Brown who is here
to present on behalf of Kand Do. Kand do is our special education pack. >> Yeah. Parent advisory committee. >> Yes. >> I'm just going to try and figure out how to hook this up. >> Yes. >> That's many many people. >> Kelly was incredibly well prepared. sent us slides for this presentation in advance and it now relies on our ability
to make the tech work and I don't know honestly how it will work from the podium but I have it ready to share from this side >> so we can also just tag team like you're looking at yours and >> yeah that's totally fine whatever works >> okay >> look at that I knowing
>> I came early so that that would work >> hey look it's working >> thank you good luck charm Kelly all right whenever you're ready >> Yep I just have to start it from Okay, it worked. Okay, >> let's see. I just want to make sure that I can see
my notes. So, not Yep, I knew that was going to happen. >> If you can't, you can just unplug. >> It's fine. I know. I I just had to do this when I was teaching earlier, too. >> Say, Kelly is a real professional when it comes to um hybrid presentations.
>> We must make her feel intensely uncomfortable then. So, >> good. I was just teaching a bunch of undergrads. So, um, nothing can stop that. >> Sorry for the changes. All right, this should work now.
>> You have a very cool background on your computer. >> Um, I change it every month to a different Taylor Swift coat. >> Topical timely. You're killing it. Don't get me started on that. >> Don't get me started on Taylor. Anyway, um well, thank you very much for letting
me come this evening. Um again, my name is Kelly Brown. I am, um the chair of East Hampton can do, um which is the caregiver advisory network for disability opportunities. Um and I just have a few slides to share. I'm going to
talk a little bit about what can do is for those of you that may not know. um talk about what we've been doing, what our current plans are, and then also I'm going to touch a little bit on the barriers that we're kind of facing because I think that's also important to share.
Um so what is CAD do? I know many of you sitting up here know. Um but can do is the special education parent advisory council for the Eastampton public school district. Um we are a volunteer group. Um, and I would also like to clarify that when I say we, it's the royal we
because it is just me right now. Um, but we are a volunteer group um, of caregivers in the district who have children with disabilities. Um, and we are here to support fellow caregivers as
we all kind of go through this process of understanding the special education system in East Hampton, understanding um, programming, the laws that relate to special education, and just generally being a support as someone who knows what it's like to be going through the
school system with a child who has a disability. Um in addition to supporting families, we also um can advise the administrators of schools and also the school committee um by providing information and supporting the district in making decisions related to special
education. Um any other related topics to special education. Um can do is a I'm sorry, the CPAC is a required organization for every district in Massachusetts. Um so we are very
grateful that East Hampton has a special ed parent advisory council. Um and the reason just as a quick little aside that we call ourselves can do versus specialed parent advisory council is we found that um parent can be um an
isolating term sometimes. We have a lot of people that are in our district that are caring for students with disabilities that are not necessarily parents. Um, so we changed it to be more of a caregiver organization just to make sure that we're using inclusive terminology. Um, and this little bubble
to the right in blue, which I will not read to all of you, is um, section 3 of chapter 41B, um, which is the Massachusetts special education law that describes why CPACs are required. And also feel free to ask questions. Sometimes I get on a roll and I don't
stop. >> Henry, >> absolutely. Last year there was like a neurodeiversity month like celebration thing and uh a person I know in my grade he was like he got to do like the pledge every day >> and that was really cool and then you
had like a wall of like celebrities with disabilities >> that was great. >> Yeah I think so can do I can't take credit for last year's celebration of neurodeiversity month but this year we have plans to definitely support the high school's neurodiversity club. I
think the middle school is working towards um establishing one, having one as well. Um so we will be doing a lot more of that. So good to know you liked that and I might tap into students to see what they'd be interested in having in the community as well. So thank you.
Um so this is our can do mission statement just so you have a general sense of what our actual mission is. Um, so we want to work for the understanding of, respect for, and support of all children with disabilities in the community in accordance with the requirements of the federal and state
special education laws. Um, personally, as the chair of Kand Do, um, my mission is to help create an fully inclusive experience throughout the East Hampton School District. So, an inclusive experience involves having teachers that
are trained and that understand what it is to be engaging with a variety of disabilities on an everyday basis. Supporting parent educators, supporting the special the special teachers, the librarian, the music teacher, art
teacher, um being mindful of the language that is being used in the school district. Um and also being aware of certain um flyers that get sent home and things that are posted up in classrooms and on hallways. Um so just kind of being in constant communication
with administrators and educators to make sure that we are using inclusive language um because that's an incredibly important part of a child's school experience to make sure that they feel safe and comfortable while they're learning. Um so
who does can do support? obviously the East Hampton School District. Um, while a lot of work gets done in the Mountain View school side, um, primarily because that's where my kids all go and I should have explained that as well. So, I do
have three children in the East Hampton public schools. They all go to Mountain View School. I have a fourth grader and two second graders. Um, so a lot of work kind of happens there just organically because that's where I am. We do support middle school families and high school
families as well. Um in addition to out of district placements. So families who have students with disabilities that are getting their services out of district, we are also a resource for them as well because their home district is East Hampton.
Um we can support any caregiver of a student with an IEP, a 504 plan. That's kind of the obvious, but we can also answer questions about the special education process. So, if families are wondering if their child might have a disability or might benefit from
accommodations or modifications to their school day, we can be kind of a touch point for them to ask questions about what that might look like, who they should go to for evaluations, what the legal process is for all of that. Um, oh, and Antiggony, our special
education director, was lovely enough to share with me that currently in the East Hampton School District, we have 113 K through 12 students on 504 plans and we have 392 preK to 12 graders on IEPs. So,
it's a pretty big population that we're talking about. >> I think it's about 36% of our overall school population. >> Yeah. >> Higher than the state average. Um, all right. So, I'm going to switch gears a little bit into kind of what we've been doing. Um, so the heart of
Cand Do is really about ongoing support opportunities for families. So, this year we have our entire schedule all set to go for the whole school year. Um, it was very easy to schedule when there was only
>> it made it very simple. Um, so what we are doing this school year, um, is every other month we are alternating between an in-person coffee chat at Tandem Bagel. Um, so I was there this morning and, um, we meet from 9:30 to 11:00 once
a uh, once every other month. And that's just an opportunity for parents to just come and sit and have coffee, have bagels, and just talk about successes, questions, concerns, um, and just kind of share in a, you know, shared experience. Um, and then on the opposite
months, we are having our community conversations and those are going to be held virtually. Um, those meetings will also be an hour and a half. I can't remember the time off the top of my head. I think it's 7 to 8:30. Mhm. >> I think it's 7:00 to 8:30, but it's on our website, so check. Um, and in those
meetings for the last half an hour, we will be joined by Dr. Balsh and Antiggony Lively, our special ed director. So, um, this allows families to get face to face with the administrators who are making the decisions about our children, about our
students. Um, it can be really challenging to sometimes catch those people um, daytoday because they are super busy. Um although I will say that both Dr. Balch and Antsigny are incredible about reaching out to people and following up with people which is great. Um but this is a nice way to kind
of bring them to us. So we will still have that first hour for again community building connections and conversations and then we'll have that last half an hour joined. Um and then every month until it's too cold for me to be outside we will be doing playground meetups at
Natuck Park and those are on Saturdays. They're roughly the last Saturday morning of every month. Um, and starting, I believe, at our next one, families won't have to pay to get in, which is nice. Um, and we just hang out at the park and our kids get to play and
meet other kids, um, potentially who have disabilities, so they can, as they get older, share that experience with other kids, and parents can just kind of hang out in a nice space. So, those are our consistently scheduled opportunities for communication and
collaboration. Um, so we've had a really strong start this year. It's been really exciting. In August, I was able to attend two of the three kindergarten playdates and pass out a lot of our information and answer a lot of questions. Kindergarten parents
um are sort of brand new to the whole experience, so special education is just another thing that they get to learn about. Um, and I was able to talk to quite a few families. Um, and then in September we had a back to school playground kickoff where we had phase
painting by mask makers. Um, we also had snacks and we played at the playground which was really fun. We had our first actual playground meetup. Um, I hosted two information sessions. One was in person at Mountain View School and the
other one was virtually. And then I also was able to attend the East Hampton High School and the Mountain View School open houses, both the elementary and middle school. So, we've had a pretty big presence for the first month of school, which I'm super excited about.
And ongoing more excitement to follow. Um, in October, um, Kandu will have a trunk at the trunk or treat. And the goal of this trunk is going to be sort of a reset spot. So, we will have a tent with three sides. We're going to have a
spinny chair, some bean bag chairs, squishy chairs. We will be passing out fidgets instead of candy. Um, and the theme is inside out, so you can come and feel all your feels cuz that's okay to do. Um, which I'm really happy about.
Um, and then we'll have our second playground meet up at the end of October. in November. Um, we are very excited excited to be hosting our own listening session with Dr. Balsh and Antiggony. This is actually something that sprang from the brains of some
families during one of our coffee chats over the course of last year. So, we're going to be inviting them to come to the middle school on November 5th. Um, we will be starting off with meals. So, we'll have some pizza, maybe some salad, details to follow. Um and then we will
host a hybrid meeting where families can come and just share their successes, their concerns, ask questions um in a way that is comfortable and casual. Um we are hoping that we will be able to provide child care. Um I've actually
reached out to Bill and some of the high school students um that have previously provided child care for events and I'm hoping they'll be able to do the same. But we are offering a virtual option as well. We will be hosting in November our first community chat and another playground
meetup again if it's not too cold. We'll see what happens. Um so we're really excited. We've got a really great year planned. Um there's in the works to have sort of a how to organize yourself event where parents can share things. So we're
ready. So, we did want to add um just a little bit about some of the barriers that we're facing um because we can't do without other people helping us. Um so, we do have some vacant board seats,
board members a lot. Um but the goal actually is going to be moving more towards a leadership team versus having strict board roles. Um we recognize that families, especially families of children with disabilities, are taxed
time is an incredibly valuable resource. So, it is hard to commit to something as structured as being a board member. Um, and for some people that the connotation of being a board member just is scary. Um, we're not scary. I I don't think it was scary. Um, so we're hoping to build
our leadership team over the course of this year so we can have other family members that are giving their input on events and helping to support us in that way. Um, engagement has been a little tricky. So, we are having lots of events, but they're not very well
attended. Um, so I'm hoping to actually send out a survey to families in the district and ask, do they know what can do is, have they attended events, and if not, what are the barriers? Um, if they are barriers that we can work together to solve, then that will be a goal for
us. Um, but again, I recognize that people are busy. So, we're trying to host as many events in as many way as possible so that we can get the most attendance. And then lastly, funding,
which I know is tricky. Um, but we are working towards either establishing can do as a nonprofit, um, which is a long process and I have to figure out how to do that. um or we're hoping that folks um may be willing to help us establish like a friends of can do account because
as of right now we can't technically do any um fundraising without one of those options. So it limits what we can purchase, what we can rent, what we can have available to folks. Um
there is some language that I um have from the Federation of Children with Special Needs that oversees Mass Parent Education Councils that has said we can u make requests to local community groups and local school groups. Um but I
know budgets and funding are tight kind of across the board. So we're hoping to really lean into fundraising over the course of the next year. Um and that's what I have today. So, we have our contact information here. Um, our website is a work in progress, so
bear with me as I update that. Um, but you can follow us on Parent Square. We also have our website. We're on Facebook and Instagram. >> Um, so yeah. Um, any questions? Questions?
>> Yes. Yeah. Um what is the way that so different school districts kind of do this differently as you know like is there a way that the school committee can be more supportive um of can do because I think that this is a like and just for disclosure I was involved in it
until this year um I I think um this is something that has that like you've put a whole lot of like your own work and effort into this and it's like a a huge amount of work that you've been doing um I just want like make sure that we're um getting like this should be something
that families are able to access really easily like that we've got um teachers and administrators who are also able to kind of refer families to CAM do and some school committees will have like an appointed school committee liaison to CAM do who like also attends the
meetings um and so if that would be helpful at all I just want to put it out there that um >> we're we're happy to partner with you >> that you're volunteering >> I'm volunteering well >> just kidding obviously but but yeah like I mean I'm whatever whatever you guys or you think would be
>> having a leaison would be fantastic would love that. Um I think other ways that the school committee can be supportive is again encouraging administrators to be sharing our information. Um so we are hoping I did pass out um I think this was last year I
need to update them but flyers that should be going home be going home with every family who has an IEP or 504 meeting. So, making sure that that is happening. Um, I think that's really kind of the biggest Yeah. >> the biggest component is just helping us get the word out.
>> We did I did the the year that my child attended a different school district. Um, their CPAC had like a bookmark and a water bottle sticker that got sent home with the IEP and it was like really um people really like stickers it turns out. Um, like I saw those stickers like
all over the place. And so it's kind of like if we can get the right the the right kind of outreach to families that's really going to catch their attention and then it'll stick with them. Um, >> didn't do it didn't do it on purpose. >> No, I have um I have purchased a few
things in like with my own finances that we can pass out to families. Um the challenge with that is just funding. >> Is the funding. Yeah, exactly. Um it did say that we could ask the school committee to consider looking at the budget and seeing if there's money that can be allocated to can do because it is
a required organization. Um so I would just throw that out as well thinking about budgets. >> Um so yeah I mean that's there too. Did you have questions that well Sam always asks questions which is like good
>> because I was living but what I really was wondering all along was how do parents find out about it? I think >> so you said administrators pass out information and then do you do other types of how you know I guess that's my main thing.
>> Yeah that's a great question. So we do have a very active Facebook page. It I think it's active. Um I'm working on being more active on Instagram. Um, but we are also on Parent Square. So, families can um in they can sign up to get all of our information through
parent square. So, we had in past years been sending out like actual paper flyers. Um, but paper costs money and it's kind of scarce at times. Um, and it also just takes out resources again from the schools. So, we are trying to do as
much as we can digitally. Um, for some of our larger events, for instance, the listening session, I do hope to send out like an actual paper in backpacks in folders. Everyone has their yellow folders at Mountain View Schools. Um, so sending home an actual paper with that.
Um, and then I've just been trying to be as active as I can on social media and in the community. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Do I mean, yeah, go ahead. Do you feel like you're getting repeat people that come and not so much diverse of different people showing up?
>> Yeah, so this year engagement has been pretty low, but we are just getting into the swing of things and September's busy. But yes, I think the same families that come or families that come again and again. So it feels like once a family comes and kind of sees what can do is all about, they're excited about
it and they want to be part of it. Um it's just getting more folks interested in it. Yeah. Any other I have a question. If you were going to ballpark something like an annual stipen, what amount of money is something that like what type what what
ballpark do you use in person? >> Stickers cost >> a sticker budget, please. Um, can I get back to you on that? >> Y, >> I would love to get back to you on that. I'd love to like actually look into what would be really beneficial. I think at this point it would be merchandise to get out to families. Um, but also things
like supporting us attending Cultural Chaos and having the booth there. So, things like that where we can be in the community a bit more. Um, but I would I would probably defer and if I could get back to you. >> Absolutely. Okay, great. Thank you. Yes, Sam. >> I have one more thing to say along those
lines too. I I think as far as like I think when the CPACs were kind of originally envisioned, it was a time where technology was really different and so it was a lot of like people going to meetings and getting support in person and like physically sharing books
and materials and things with each other. And now I think more for groups like this, it's having a presence at things like Cultural Chaos and the open houses and stuff, having swag to give out and being available for kind of like quick questions and being able to like point people in the right direction. I
at least in my experience, that's kind of more of what people are looking for is like a lighter touch that happens more often. >> Um, which is why I think those one-off events are actually really like really important and I'm really glad that you guys are there, you know. >> Yeah. Um >> I think the other avenue that I would
like to go to and I don't I don't want to take up too much more time but another avenue that I would like to go to is just um directly supporting administration in the schools. Um so one of my goals for this year is to develop a disabilities checklist so that when
teachers are planning events when principles are planning events they can sort of go through this list and say okay have I considered visual disabilities? if I considered um the hearing and uh deaf and heart of hearing community. So what do we look for when we're planning events? Um so
coordinating, you know, when PTO does events, can we make this a sensory friendly event? Um so my goal is also to kind of shift into that a little bit more. Um because I think that would also just be beneficial to families in the long run. >> A couple of questions.
>> Okay. Um, one thought that occurred to me is I don't know how much you've been able to connect with the PT. Well, first I should say this is an amazing like group and opportunity that we have in East Hampton. I have been to can do events. It's been incredibly helpful.
Like this is a oneperson show right now, which is more than we can ask of somebody. And we're incredibly lucky that you do this. And I'm really hoping that we get a robust group that this carries on and your work is not, you know, as just stays with us. Um, so one
question I had is how close of a connection have you had before? Like could I don't know if we can just connect people to people, but like with the PTO, >> yeah, >> I am pretty well connected with PTO. Um, they actually reached out about trunk or treat this year, which is awesome. Um, yeah. So, and I see them at all the
events and I know most of them just because their kids and my kids are in the same classes. So, yeah, I'm definitely connected with PTO. Um, and then I do plan on connecting again with the adviser of the neurodiversity club. Um, so I know her as well. So, I'm planning on connecting there as well.
>> Yeah, that's awesome. >> And any is it useful to make any sort of introductions between you and the EA, particularly their special education support staff, maybe like an annual meeting? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Okay. Um, the other thing that popped into my
mind as a parent who has uh sent emails inquiring into like how do I go about setting up a 504 or an IEP? Maybe this already happens. I just overlooked it, but in that response that comes back about the whole process getting started. I wondered if that's a place where we can put just like and also there's this
group here's a link to it. There another resource for you that way the school is sending it back in like a 504. >> That would be great for sponsoring. I don't know if that's possible. >> Well, Kelly has built all of the infrastructure so now it's just I will say your website too is really good. >> I'm working on it. >> It has it has a lot of good info on it.
>> So yeah, the website is eventually going to be a place where families can go and get sort of a um a not legalized version of how do you request an eval? What is an IEP? What's the difference between IEP and 504? Um again, I'm working on
developing it. currently it has a glossery of really important terms and um so but yeah I mean any communication that comes from administration that has our information in it um I will say that Antiggony has added our website to her
email signature which is where I got the idea >> yeah so that's really helpful um and I also think that anywhere that our parent square QR code can be linked I actually the QR code that I shared tonight is actually a virtual business card so it actually gives you our website, our
email, all of that information, our parent square number, all together in one. So, >> that's great. >> Does anyone else have any questions? >> Yes. At trunkle at trunk or treat, will you pass out stickers with your fidgets? >> I can. I have some fidget stickers,
>> Kelly. I have a bunch of stickers >> from last October. >> I have tons of stickers for >> You love it. I do have some fidget stickers, which are like the bumpy textured stickers. >> I love those. Every time I bring them, the parents take them. >> Everyone likes stickers.
>> Yeah, you were just >> That's a great idea. >> Anyone else? >> Do you want to leave? >> Um, I'm going to ask. First of all, I led off by saying we're trying to amplify and lift up these groups and I said they're often run by a small group of people. This is incredible. People
have already alluded to the fact that we ask too much of you. I think I'm sure there will be a spontaneous round of applause, but we're just so deeply grateful. I'm serious. This is an incredible amount of work. That was a beautiful, thoughtful presentation that you put together in a short period of
time. You do all of this for 0 and you're spending your own money to support it. >> Yeah, >> there's nothing more I can We're just enormously grateful. >> Just thank you very much. and many of your [Applause]
>> and now we have a list and um you'll follow up with me about a stipen amount and we'll see see what we can do in any way to support them. >> That would be great. Thank you so much. >> Great. Thank you very much, Kelly. >> Anyone out there watching? >> Don't leave Kelly out there alone,
y'all. Don't leave Kelly out there alone. >> She can do the royal. Yes, she can do. Um, okay. Too many feelings. All right. We are going to move on to student superintendent update. >> All right. Excellent. That's the first.
Okay. So, in your packet, you have a couple things. We have um October one enrollment. Is that the first item on the agenda? October one enrollment. Okay. Um we are we have since I uh gave you the preliminary numbers in
September, we're up 13 students since the September numbers. So that's good. And um actually this week we are welcoming another seven students that are fully enrolled. So um we've been busy. >> Um can we have a sense of grade levels
for those students? >> Um the biggest increases we saw were in grades four, in grade eight. Um the seven students that are coming in uh run from uh 1st to 10th grade. So um we've
we're the door is open and we're welcoming students. So it's great to see um continuous enrollment in the district. Um I think as a whole we see declining enrollment across you know sort of districts in Western Mass in particular, right? Um, but it's nice to
see us sort of creeping back to prepandemic levels. And >> no new sixth graders, >> no no new high schoolers at this point. And okay. Um, >> I'm just looking at like class sizes and stuff. It looks like I don't want us to get to that precipice for any
>> uh we are pretty close in K to be honest and grade in grade six and K are big numbers, but we're keeping a a very watchful eye on those numbers. All right. Next item on the agenda.
>> And next was the 2627 school committee meeting calendar. >> Yes. So I have proposed you have two versions in front of you because I don't know >> all different kinds of learning. >> You like to see I know I like to see what it looks like on a monthly level and then I need a list. So here's your
list and here's what it looks like on monthto month. So we alternate between uh two two meetings. Actually, January 26, there'll be three meetings that in the month um between two and one meetings per month. I've mapped them out
for 2026 in 2027 for your approval. Um I did check with uh Julia to make sure that those the hear around the budget um hearing. So those dates can kind of co they coincide. >> We're thinking the 24thish
>> of March >> for budget >> for budget for public hearing. Is it early? >> Is it that you're not picking up the psychic connection from the back of the room, Julia? All right. That's >> So, we should say we've not done this before with two years,
>> correct? >> But we are bumping into issues with trying to schedule things for just the remainder of this school year. We recognize we're about to elect a new board. The historically we've always had meetings Tuesday nights at 6 p.m. So, we
just are going to roll the dice. >> Yeah. I think from a scheduling perspective and sort of a community engagement perspective, having the meetings um consistent and published well in advance can give people time to plan and prepare and I think the regular
cadence would be nice that you assume that okay on Tuesdays we have school committee. >> That's right. >> Okay. This is great. >> So that does require a vote, >> right? Does anyone else have any questions before I would entertain a motion to approve the 26 27 um adopted
as one calendar for as a term calendar >> term calendar >> right >> and then I would propose that we would encourage future committees when we when whatever committee sits here in January to build u practices right they should
look in October of every year in that October meeting set your next two-year term calendar okay Um, any other questions? Or I would entertain a motion to approve the 26 27. >> I guess just the January the the one on Friday. That's >> so that's the reorganization right after
you're sworn in. We would all meet. It would be very brief. >> I just made sure it was >> you get sworn in, you sit down, you elect a chair and the chair can decide to make committee assignments then or to do it in future. But yeah, that's just your really brief >> Yeah, I didn't go last time that work.
But >> Right. I I think as long as there's a and it doesn't we don't have a time set for that just the day. We'll put you later >> because you just need to empower somebody to be chair. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Cool. >> Um
motion to approve. Thank you. The school committee meeting schedule for 2026 and 2027. >> Thank you. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Sam. Um any other questions or discussion before we vote? >> Okay. All those in favor? opposed
sentence. Okay, excellent. Check that off the organization list. Thank you so much. And the next item is the superintendent goal proposal. >> We're going to do we're going to do the tech twice tonight on >> We're dancing with fire tonight
at work. >> Not from here. Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. Would it be helpful if I share these or are you going to be plugged in and
>> I can share any? >> Yeah, I know. >> Kelly made it look so easy here. >> Does it help if we all look at you? >> Yeah. Don't >> look away. He's got it.
Is it the save dongle? >> There we go. >> All right. >> All right. >> Good evening everybody. I am here to present my goals to you this evening. Um I in the past um and at convocation I
shared my superintendent priorities. So I just wanted to go through those priorities first and sort of describe what the difference is between priorities and goal setting is. Um so the superintendent priorities that I outlined at the beginning of the year uh
the first priority was um to increase communication and that looked like implementation of parent squareo hosting my superintendent listening sessions and doing those student showcases which we had this evening. Um the second priority
which I um decided at the beginning of the year was kind of going to be the focus was looking at data. And what do we mean by looking at data? Well, we're looking at sort of things like chronic absenteeism. We're looking at assessment data. We're looking at um accountability
data and doing some action planning with administrators around that. And then the third priority that I spoke about was student transitions. And during that, we talked I talked a little bit about data. Um I talked about the Bright program and I talked about family and student
engagement. And that was going to be done a large part through the listening sessions, gathering feedback and um surveys that we are going to launch. So those were sort of the priorities that I outlined. And what this um sort of leads to is I took those priorities and I
said, "All right, if this is what the work that we're going to be doing as an entire district and the work we're all going to be collectively moving towards, how do I leverage um my own goals for my evaluations to get there? and what can I
create in sort of my own student learning goals and professional practice goals and this is how you will evaluate me as the superintendent um and to make sure that they align both with those priorities um and again that there's evidence that I'm going to be collecting towards those. So there is an
overlap um and you'll see that when I talk about them. But again, these are really meant for us to um and for me to be measuring, you know, how I'm doing as your new superintendent over the course of the year. And when you conduct your final evaluation on me, you're going to
be looking at what I identified as my goals and the progress that I've made towards those. So just the timeline of this, um I'm on a one-year cycle as the new superintendent. So it starts with a self assessment. Um and that's just basically
me going through and saying what are the priorities that we have for the year and what am I going to determine are my strengths and what do we have to work on as a district. Um the we have to have three meetings that are ve you know pretty public. This is the first one.
This is where I propose my goals to you and I say this is what I think and you know we can refine those. We can work on those. Um or you can say all right those seem like a good set of goals for you to follow for the year. Um and then again
whatever we decide on as our goals it's really important that we engage in those conversations both you know um in these meetings and that I am regularly communicating to you how I'm doing and what data I'm collecting around these goals. Um I'm required to produce
anywhere between three to six goals. I have I've identified three um I really want to get really good at three things this year. Um so I didn't want to sort of expand it. I think the goals that I chose were um they're very I'll use
somebody else's word robust. Um and they'll be a good collection and picture of the work that I plan on doing over the course of the year. I'm also required to identify indicators um up to I think it's six indicate six six to eight indicators um for the evaluation.
So again the cycle starts with the self assessment and reflection and then it goes into goal setting. It's where I say to you here are my goals and that's how you're going to be monitoring progress and I'm going to be reporting out the plan implementation is sort of everything that happens ongoing. um I'm
required to produce evidence for my evaluation um which I'm happy to do and share. And then midcycle is what we call a formative assessment. It's a it's sort of a dipstick where you say, "All right, here's how things are going." Um, and here's some areas that we can all work
to improve on or as the superintendent maybe you can work on this before we get to the summitive which happens um at the end of the year and it is my final performance rating um from the school committee. Dr. Boss, can I interrupt you? I'm sensing the queasiness of this
group. So to be clear, we are scheduling professional trainings for the committee to perform the evaluative process. It is pretty in-depth and detailed. So everybody here will receive training >> and everybody who's elected, >> correct? >> In January.
>> Yeah. I actually um requested a session with MASB Liz Leond um to do some of that training. I I had the opportunity to go to the charting I went to the charting the course training, the full day training. So I got to see what you all learn about as the onboarding super
um school committee members as the superintendent. So that was a very unique experience for me. Um >> you call that school committee camp. >> Yes, I went to school committee camp. >> It was Ericson. Sorry. >> So um that is sort of the the the five
steps I kind of just talked about and today we're here to talk about the goals. >> So again this is a goal proposal. These are not set in stone. I'm happy to receive any feedback on my goals as well. Uh the three goals that I created, the first one is centered around looking
at data to inform decisions. I think it's a huge part of the work that we have to do. We have to be looking at our data. We have to know it inside out and backwards. Um we have to be doing gap analysis. What is the gaps in our data? Where are we seeing disproportionalities because that's when um we see inequities
appear. So doing that work, doing that work with leadership team. I'm excited to engage in that work. My second goal is around my participation in the new superintendent induction program. And I will say that's probably it looks like the most simple goal but is the mo most
complex goal that I have. And it includes, you know, my entry plan. It includes like the listening sessions, the coding of the data that happens during those listening sessions, the report out, the survey analysis. All of that is going to kind of go into there because that is going to drive our
district strategic plan. And then the third goal is around the successful launch and refinement of parent square. I would say the launch is off to a really good start. But it also we have to create the systems and structures for that. You know how how and when do we
post? What do post looks like? What do post looks like? And you know sort of really getting down to the sort of communication um flowchart of Parent Square. So here are the three goals sort of
fleshed out for you. Um and if you so first you'll see the goal. You'll see the standard which that goal aligns to. So my first goal is around instructional leadership which is the first rubric area. It is a big part of the work of the superintendent being an
instructional leader. And then you'll see the two um one C assessment and one E is the data informed decisionm. those are the indicators that I've identified that align to that standard to that
goal. So goal one is really around looking at data and um anal analysis of data with leader district leadership team. The second goal is um standard four professional culture and the indicators for that are commitment to
high standards and the shared vision and that will be done through the NISP new superintendent induction program work. And the third goal there is around family and community engagement. It's a really big part of the job and um refining our engagement, our communication and addressing family
concerns um are a part of that. So those are the standards and the indicators that I have aligned those goals to. So just taking a look at sort of breaking down what that goal looks like and what are the benchmarks and the
evidence that I can produce as um I make progress towards that goal. So um data informed decisionm again um looking at our monthly data meetings and we're working out that process right now. I'm going to jump ahead a little bit. We're
tracking this data with administrators. We created this tracking sheet and we had our first meeting where we looked at some of this data we are making. It's sort of like an a very iter iterative process because we looked at office referrals and we're like oh wait we
might need categories of office referrals. So taking a look at the data and the data telling us a story. So, um, this was our initial sort of data tracking sheet that we created, um, and that we're using with administrators,
but we anticipate refining that month to month. But my expectation is that every principal is completing this. We're looking at students that are um, office referrals. We're looking at MCCAST data. We're looking at our STAR assessment
data. How are students performing? We're looking at our math data and these um this data that we identified was also selected as part of our student opportunity act data in our school improvement plan data. So there is alignment. We didn't you know these
areas of focus were identified because we saw gaps in the data. So we're tracking and monitoring. We're having these discussions monthly. Um we had our first monthly session where we really took a look at this and it was a great opportunity to um sort of see where the
administrators were in looking at the data and where we can modify this to really meet our needs. All right. Our my professional practice goal is around again like I said the um NISP induction program. So creating that
listen um creating my entry plan, doing the listening sessions, creating a report of those findings. I meet with my NIT sub coach monthly. This morning again I was in Margaro as at a training talking about um presenting goals to the
school committee like I got that later. So um and then again presenting the information as a final portfolio at the end of the year which will be the start of our strategic plan. Right? So that will be produced by the end of the year. Um I'm really excited to do that work. I
think from the listening sessions and our data analysis and all of those things are going to, you know, come as a culmination to our district strategic plan. >> Michelle, can you remind me where are we at in the strategic plan? When does it expire? >> Oh, it expired already. >> 2023.
>> 2023. >> So >> just a little bit. >> We are working on it. We are building on the foundation. >> This is one of those postcoavid slump things. We had some things going on in the system. >> Just wanted to get it out there for the public. That's all. >> So, um, anyway. Oh, was that you and Eli
the eagle? >> It was. Look at that. You >> good eye. Good eye. >> Okay, we're going to the people on the Zoom can see, too. >> Like an eagle eye. >> You know his name, Henry? >> Yeah. Eli. >> Yes, he met him in Kendall.
>> I didn't even know that. >> You taught us all something. This is why Henry's here. >> Yep. on point. >> All right. And the the final goal that I I wanted to highlight was that the district improvement goal of um the implementation of parent square and
getting at least 75% of the families um actively connected and engaged using parent square um and doing trainings and making sure that we have communication plans and that we have um that we're monitoring usage and metrics and
identifying barriers to access and things that we need to do. Um we it it's been fantastic so far, but I do think that we need sort of a blueprint for how, who, what, and when to communicate. So, we're doing that. >> Do we have a sense like a back of the envelope sense of a percentage of
parents that have signed up or have any level engagement? >> Last I checked, I think we were around 64% of people that had the app on their phone >> um and it >> had signed in to the school so that you can see that they have Right. So they've connect they put the app on and they've
connected it to the school. >> Yeah. I think in January um Jean Libby will come do a presentation to you all on >> to whomever is here. Yeah. >> Yes. All of you. >> Okay.
Okay. Um, and then again, so these are my goals. And what you'll do at the end of the evaluation cycle is you're going to monitor and assess my progress at the end of the one-year cycle. And you will give me a rating of did not meet some
progress, significant progress, met or exceeded on those goals. Um, and I will be um updating you um pretty frequently on my progress towards my goal. What I'm going to do is as part of the superintendent report, um when I'm not
presenting to you, I will be doing a piece on where we are on each of those goals and providing evidence along the way um as sort of a portfolio of the work. So, you're not getting it all at once at the end of the year, but you're getting little snippets and um little
insight onto the working and to what is happening during the school year. Um, and again, that is just a piece. Goals are just a piece of the puzzle for the superintendent's evaluation. They'll also be rating me on the four standards. And those four standards are
instructional leadership, management and operations, family and community engagement, and professional culture. But there is some overlap between the goals that I identified and the evidence that I'm going to be produced that align to those standards. So, um, if you have any questions about the evaluation cycle
as well, I'm I'm happy to answer those. >> Michelle, we would do perform the summitive in July or after July? >> It usually happens late summer. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Will you remind me? So, in your first three years, do we do this each of the
years? And then >> I think year one and year three, right? So, you should a superintendent is required to be evaluated every year. So I Okay, so I asked because first of all, this is like I've seen this form before and we've done this and this is
so much clearer of like how to figure out what the goals and the indicators are. So first of all, thank you for let's figure out what the indicators are. I haven't seen that particular level of organization before. Um which I know is a low bar, but um it's great. It's super helpful. And the other I just
didn't know how often we're supposed to be doing this. I think we were off for a variety of reasons over, you know, I've been doing this four years. >> We declined. We had interim too that we felt it. Right. Yeah. Right. >> Yeah. So, it's just it's really lovely to see
>> like a schedule for like what goals are and how we're going to keep track of that all together. That feels more like shared goals versus I don't know evaluation. I just feels much more like shared goals. It feels that way to me too because I I mean I like feedback and
I like to know how I'm doing and if you know I'm >> sending out things. It's nice to just get you know a quick little dip in. Oh, okay. Thanks for updating on that. >> Great. Great. Anybody else have questions? Do we have more to go?
>> No, I'm I'm good to go. >> Excellent. That was really that was really great. And it is a lot. Now we do this summitive process. So we don't it used to be you have like every category and it was and I think with annual evaluations I like that we're just kind of highlighting enough that people can
actually wrap their brains around. >> Um because otherwise it just used to be like 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 555 you know >> and so training people on how to really judge the not just the score but the comments and the feedback >> I think would make these more useful and
less of just a button pushing exercise. >> You like that? All right. Uh, thank you so much. >> I do have another question. I just want to Yeah. >> Do we I realize this is not this year, but do we have an idea of like when the strategic plan might come into play? Like when would that be on our agenda?
>> So I hopefully by the end of this year we're going to have um a 3 to 5 year draft strategic plan. >> That sounds amazing. >> For consideration for the next committee. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Correct. Cool. >> Okay. That was one second. >> Yep. No, that's a very valid question.
Um plan. All right. Our director of business services, Julia. Sorry, Frank. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> I forgot how to spell
strateg. >> All right. Uh good evening everyone. Um I have an update on the FY25 end of year financial report. Uh the update is that it has not been completed yet. Um last month I told you that the deadline was September 30th. >> We have not been able to complete that
report because the city has not closed the books for FY25. So we can't generate the reports that we need in order to complete that report. Uh we have asked for an extension from Desi. Um and I will be having a conversation with Jay Svin about that actually on Thursday. Um I have every reason to believe that they
will grant that extension and things will be fine. If they don't, what's the recourse or what's the punishment? >> I've Well, technically speaking, under MGL, if we do not have our end of year report submitted by December 31st, they
can withhold the chapter 70 portion of our local aid payment starting in January. >> Perfect. >> Right. But we we have every intention of having it completed before that time. >> Before that. >> So, this is Are we sitting like in our grace period? like we're like between the 15th and the 30th on your mortgage right now.
>> Put it into terms we can understand. >> I can understand, >> right? Yeah. Okay. So, while it is not done and we have not met the deadline, I am not concerned about it and uh it will happen and I will continue to update you on progress on that. >> Great. >> Um so, moving on to FY26. Um, as has
been customary, um, in these reports, I give you a percentage of how much of our, um, current year budget is spent up to the whenever I create this report. >> Um, I guess I want to know from the committee if you think that number is helpful and to continue providing this
or if you want me to do do something else. >> I really like it. Okay. I'm not on finance. So >> yeah, it's tricky because some things are like lump some up front. So it can be it can mislead a little bit. Well, I think we should talk about before the
end of the year have a meeting to just level. I like the encumbrance number, but we might need a little more color for people who don't sit on finance to get a sense of what and that's something we could discuss. I'm hoping we can just roll out some fresher templates for the next term. >> Sure. Uh so at at this time and at that
time I um because I was prepping this right at the end of quarter 1. So in your packet there is the quarter 1 report that shows um expenditures for July, August, September. Right? >> So you see year-to- date actual encumbered year-to- date total. Um there is an asterric on this because
>> I don't think that made it in the packet. >> It didn't. >> I don't see it. >> No, I don't see you. >> You could just shoot it to us anytime this week. Okay, take a look. >> Uh, yep. I can send that out. >> Interesting. Um, caveat with that, and I
think I have the note on there, is that as of when I pulled that data, this September payroll information had not yet been posted to our expenditure account. So, we process payroll in Harper's and then the city auditors department takes that information from Harpers and has to post it into KBS. And
so that September report shows that we've spent 18%, but I know that that is not correct because it does not include any September payroll, >> right? >> So just a a caveat for that. >> And what percentage of this the fiscal year are we even in like relative, >> but you can't even really use that
because of the way it gets spent. So that was sort of what I was going to say. >> It's a circle in a circle. >> You could put in like what amount we've spent versus what amount we've expect we expect to spend by now. Like that could be the comparison, >> but it's it's not as simple as like divide by 12. Yeah, >> correct. >> And and it is the end of the first
fiscal quarter, so if it worked that way, you know, 25% is what you'd expect. Although, I mean, lots of our annual expendit, >> right? Um payroll is one thing that we don't encumber, right? Um I know when looking through payroll pro reports, I know that we've had three out of 26 pay
periods at this point. And so I can approximate the percentage that I expect to see expended from those payroll accounts. >> Right? other expenditure accounts, it's going to be higher because we may have encumbered out of district tuition for the students full year. At this point, >> I think what I look for in that number,
and this is this is very close to like what I do all day at work, so it feels like natural to me in a way that maybe it doesn't for other people, but what I look for is like, is that number much higher than expected? So like if this said 40%. I would be like, hey, like
that that's probably bad. Like if it was 10%. I'm not like I'm not as concerned because we've got, you know, >> it's a data point from which to ask a question. >> Exactly. It's it's not necessarily like I'm not expecting it to be like we're 25% through the year, so it should be at 25%. I wouldn't expect it to be, you
know, there. But >> I'm excited to hear that we're under 25% and a quarter through the year. >> Yeah. No, I mean, no, that's good. That's what it's supposed to be. But like, >> you know, I'm not um what I'm saying is I I find it to be helpful, but um but it's it might not be.
>> I think it's good. I think we might want to add one more layer to it. >> Yeah, >> cuz what does the public get from that? >> That's true. That's a good point. It's not just us. >> Yeah. Anyway, okay. Work in progress. >> All right. Uh >> thank you for asking. >> You're welcome. >> I appreciate that.
>> Yeah. Uh uh last month's meeting, uh you asked for some additional information about the summer food program. Um Right. So, I did compile some number for you, some information for you. >> Um, so typically speaking, right, at least since this program has been in operation, we have operated at a loss
every year. >> Um, so in summer of 2023, the loss for the program was 21,25. Um, that was serving 1,240 meals. In 24, the loss was 21510 serving 2857
meals. Right? So almost double the meals but very similar loss because of economies of scale. >> Um and then this year the loss was less right 17428 serving 281 meals. Um one thing that I would like to
point out is that in the two prior years um Neri was part of our food service program and we were operating at that site. So the meals that we served in um 23 and 24 included meals served to Neri students. This year, these were just meals served to students at our two
buildings coming to R. So it even though in that number it looks like we serve fewer meals, I think we actually served more of our students. >> Yeah. Um, so just as a reminder that the food service program is able to absorb the costs of those losses from the summer
food program because of what they uh the revenues that they're able to bring in during the school year because of the state and federal reimbursements from the national school lunch program and universal free meals. So, as long as our program continues to be run sort of efficiently and soundly, then we're able
to um sort of afford those losses to provide that service to the community. >> We're going to once again remind the public that all of this food spending, this is sequestered spending. You can't spend that money on other stuff. Has to be for direct food service. >> Correct. Yes.
Uh next item on my business report is the declaration of surplus equipment. Um, the East Hampton High School is requesting that four television sets that are um on old uh rolling carts be declared a surplus equipment. >> This is a personal attack, Julia, on my entire childhood.
>> Are we donating it to a museum? >> How are they? No one is going to be a sub. >> Yeah, exactly. >> Rolling cart. >> Everybody give Did we all get it out of our >> We all respond. We can be Yes. Hi. It's It's that the rolling cart with the 8
millimeter film projector that I remember from elementary school. So, there's that. >> Savage. Yes. So, uh these items um the the high school would really appreciate being able to use the additional storage space that would be freed up by declaring these as surplus equipment. Um
they are obviously outdated. They've been replaced by other equipment and the classrooms have other screens and televisions in them so they don't really need them. And um under um city guidelines, any item that is valued at under $500 can be disposed of after a vote. Um so you will see further on in
the agenda in action items, there is a spot for you guys to take a vote on that. >> Do we have do we know when when we surplus it, assuming that we do, are we able to like who's going to control like they're not just going to go in the land? Is there something that can be done with these or recycle them up? Like I don't know. The city has an
electronics recycling bin that items like that can be put in and then as part of the city's green initiatives, they're recycled. >> Great. Good to know. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, next item on my report is the personnel report um for the month of September. Right. August and July are
usually our busiest months in terms of hiring. You'll see that the uh report is much smaller for September. Um, last month we talked about the substitute custodian vacancy. that position is still vacant. Um you'll see that we had a special ed coordinator
leave the district, but we have replaced that position by transferring another employee. So that position is not vacant. Um we do have a vacant special education teacher as of this report at MVS, but we have a new staff person who is on boarding and is starting next
week. So that position shows as vacant as of the date of the September report, but that position will be filled. >> That's the that's the MVS special education feature. >> Correct. Yes. Okay. Um, any questions about the personnel report? >> Anyone? Okay. No, great. Last item on my
report is uh new co-curriculars. Um, as part of a joint labor management committee over the past couple of years um the EA and um school administration and the union and the school committee has worked on a rubric for establishing stipens for the adviserss for
co-curricular clubs and activities. Um so there was a rule that was created and anou was signed between the union and the committee to establish criteria for establishing um stipens. So there are two new clubs that have completed the process. Um in your packets there should
be um a new curricular club proposal form as well as the stipen rubric for two new clubs. the we the people club that they're proposing a stipen amount of $2,500 for the adviser of that club and the neurodiversity club at EHS with a stipen amount of $1,000. So I'm
requesting that the committee discuss these. Um you'll see again in the agenda that in the action items there is a proposal to take a vote on the addition of those clubs. >> Do you have any information on we the people? I mean clearly we know that we the people has been flourishing for a number of years. I wonder what has
changed or what has prompted this kind of reorganization and the request for us for the club and the stipen. Do we know? >> Um I don't know, but I if I were to guess, if I could pull out my crystal ball and look backwards, I'm guessing it probably came out of the group work of
that committee, the joint labor management committee that met to review the rubric. And I think they first started by looking at the clubs that were already listed in the appendix in the contract. >> And now we're looking at other clubs that are existing but weren't listed in that.
>> Who from the school side was the member of that? J what is it a JLMC >> too many acronyms who >> it all happened before my existence here >> what it wait wasn't it a product of the of the contract negotiation we just
completed last year >> no so the the rubric was approved in 2022 >> oh >> um and the list um should have been incorporated in the contract it wasn't um >> yep >> okay >> but
>> okay thank you >> I I can do some digging. >> Yeah, we I mean we'll take it up at action items and see what happens if people have questions. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. We're going to move on to
school committee discussion. Um the policy subcommittee update and we've already as we said pushed off that AI policy second reading till next week, but do you have an update from your most recent meeting? >> Um yes, we had a meeting yesterday. Um
it was it was good. Um MASC had well so DESIE is requiring that we uh pass a uh competency determination policy um to replace the MCCAST essentially which used to be the competency um determination.
>> We did that over the summer. >> We did the temporary one for just those school year. >> Yeah. So this will be the permanent one. This will be like our school's policy. Okay. >> Um so we worked on that. Um I I think we're mostly ready to pass it out of
committee. We just needed to add a couple more details to it. >> Um but we're it'll we'll definitely have it by our next meeting, I would say. >> Great. >> So, but yeah, and we talked about and the graduation requirements we also needed to relook at those I think were good. I >> might as well.
>> Well, it was one of those things where you know how sometimes when you look at something and you're like, "Oh, wow." You know, here's all these other things we could change. We just >> like a rubric for >> Yes. Yes, we had a moment where we were like, well, we could pull all this other stuff out and then um so we're we're going to have the um the admin team is
going to look at it and >> okay >> um give us some feedback. Um but yeah, so we would like to talk about I mean we we didn't discuss this necessarily in the policy meeting, but this was this is policy related. We would like to um at some point like look into having um
NASC's policy services do a review of our policies. Can I make a second to ask of you that maybe you could pull it out by the end of the year >> for a calendar year? >> Um, just to get us a number of policies that require review and or updating. Just a number.
>> I would say most of them, but >> a number. >> That way we can set a schedule to say the goal is 10 policies a month, whatever it is. >> No, but but MASC will do well. >> I just want to have a sense of where we're at like >> Yeah. No, we're >> before we pull them in. you know, it's
um it it's it's challenging in that I mean, they're all in PDFs. They're all like saved to the SharePoint. Um you know, it's just they're not they're not like indexed. I mean, they're they're indexed, but they're not like um what's it called? Rich, not rich text that um that thing where you can search in the
PDF. >> You're asking me that question. Um what I'm saying is that it's um there's a lot of work to be done and I think it would be >> the the rate that MASC um charges is very reasonable. Uh in my
opinion >> we've been hammering through them and we are still >> yeah if I didn't have a day job maybe this could be my whole life. I would probably I would enjoy it, but I also wouldn't have any money and then I wouldn't be able to
>> fill out a rubric to get so I think I would I I think it would probably be wise to engage the professionals on this and we can um we'll get I'll get >> you'll get me a number. >> I'll get you all sorts I'll get you anything you want. >> I just Can you get me a number by the October 21 meeting? >> Of course. >> Thank you. >> Finance.
>> Um >> wait, do you have another meeting scheduled? Sorry. >> Uh not as of yet, but I will. >> Great. Finance. >> Okay. we did meet um and a few things I just want to make sure the public and the committee um at large is aware of um one of which of which is that we um as
always happens each year there's unanticipated expenses so we have no firm information about this the minutes are in your packet but um we have meetings set up for did we say uh November and December so we have those scheduled already November 10th and
December 8th those are Mondays at 3:30 I'm here and I will make every effort to make them hybrid um to talk about those unanticipated expenses among other things. So that's what's going on for this fiscal year. And then we talked a lot about our preparation for the
upcoming fiscal year. Um knowing that we have like everywhere else in the country, you know, a tough situation ahead of us. Um and so the committee is trying to work really hard to, you know, as soon as November comes around and the election happens and we know who our mayor will be. um like let's start
working closely with department heads and the mayor, you know, at that point >> early. >> Yeah. Um so just taking a really proactive approach to building next year's proposed budget. Um I also wanted to note that we talked a lot in committee about that summer meal program
and uh unanimously agreed that a loss of like $20,000 or $17,000 was an excellent price to pay for the number of kids who were served food over the summer. So, we thank all the people who were involved in getting that program set up and
functioning and thank you again. Um, other things that are on the horizon is just trying to get a more regular meeting schedule as we prepare for the uh fiscal year 27 budget, including things like regular maybe two times a year meetings with the city council
finance. Um, so those are things to look forward to as we move forward. But again, when that November election happens, there'll be two November and a December meeting. And so it'll be really interesting. We'll just kind of, you know, it's hard to predict what we'll talk about in November, but there'll be
potentially new member like we'll just we'll just see. But planning is underway to make sure that fiscal year 27, >> right, >> budgets will >> because the way this is going to be structured, this power handoff is a bit unique. So the mayor will be sworn in immediately following the election.
>> So it's our goal, but the school with the new school committee won't be neither will the city council until January. So what I think we had discussed was try to onboard the mayor with this school committee. Try to get some of that background work. um encourage a collaborative relationship,
encourage a mayor who is going to vote on finance, a mayor who is going to weigh in on the budget process so that the product that we deliver at the end of our budget session is something that the mayor is already invested in and agree. >> Surprise to no one. >> That would be wonderful. >> No surprises. >> Goals goals like goals.
>> So, it's an interesting time to be kind of having two upcoming transitions that happen at two different times. But it is actually kind of nice that there'll be the new mayor and the new school committee that gets seated will >> be on not the same day. We're trying to set everybody up for success as much as
we can in our last two months. >> So yeah, so stay tuned. This is the time of year when you know we encourage folks to come to these meetings and let us know what's on their mind about the budget. There's a lot of work that happens. We really just get a chance to talk about it in these meetings. The work is happening with our fantastic
administrators, >> business director. That's right. director of business services. Um, so just yeah, it's really please come to public speak and tell us what you're thinking about. That's what I got for you. >> Beautiful. >> Thank you. >> CES update. Sam, dare I ask you?
>> Uh, um I um trying to remember when was our last meeting? Was it before the last CES meeting? We had our reorg meeting at CES in September. Oh, I've already told you about it. I just haven't told the committee about it. >> Um, so >> that's not a violation of open meeting. Why two people doesn't make you?
>> No. Um I So we had our reorganization meeting which happens every year at at again the collaborative for educational services which is our education collaborative. Um and we work with we've we have a board made up of all the other member districts which there are 36 I
believe. So it's a large board. Um we uh had our reorg meeting um choosing a chair same chair as we had before. Um and uh they are moving we are moving ahead with searching using a search firm to look for um a new um director of
>> Nicole. I was going to say not a CEO. >> I wanted to say CEO. CEO is wrong. Director uh of the organization. So um we've engaged a search fir firm. I don't remember their name but they are actually based in Texas which was interesting. >> Um it um it they they did a really good
presentation. It'll be it'll be interesting to see um how this goes. Thanks, Laura, for that vote of confidence. >> I have family in Texas and I just hope it wasn't any of them. >> Um so, yeah, it was um so uh that's it's all been reorganized. We've got the
there is a a search committee that is made up of members of the board as well as members of um the staff and the uh community at CES. I uh may or may not. I was just asked if I would participate in it because they needed more Hampshire County representation. Um so I may be
participating in that. I haven't quite gotten the final word on that yet, but I'll let you know. >> Dated breath. Thank you. >> Um I'm going to skip and then come back to the fiscal crisis sign on letter last. Uh we're going to skip ahead to the wellness committee appointee.
Who wants to give us the TLDDR of what this is and what they'll do? >> I will. Excellent. Thank you so much. Um, we are required to have a district wellness committee. >> We are really showing our butt. >> Yeah. >> Look, it's been a difficult few years. Okay.
>> I'm excited. Um, I'm excited to um participate in this work. Uh, I actually was the chair of um the district wellness committee in my previous district. So, I'm excited to lead this work in um East Hampton as well. Um, and
we have the opportunity this year to sign on for some coaching um, for the wellness committee. So, we applied for a program um, and through the John Stalker Institute to get some coaching. They're going to take a look at our policy. They're going to make sure that it meets
um, federal, national, state level regulations and they're going to help us um, craft some goals for the district wellness committee. We've asked um Ken Leage, Amanda Jud so far has signed on to be part of the district wellness. >> Ken Leage is I know the name.
>> He is our um Chartwells >> Chartwell's director. >> Um so he is joining us. Um we have Amanda Jud who is our head nurse. Um so we're going to have good representation. We hope to have students on and we hope
to have um additional members of MVS and EHS staff as part of the wellness team and really taking a look at our policies um within our policy within the wellness committee and parts of that includes things like um what we're serving during
lunch fundraising recess what we're serving at lunchurriculum there is you know sort of the national PE standards are in there as well. Um we're look we'll be looking at you know sort of the requirements for credits for
PE. What are our beliefs around physical education in the classroom and um health and wellness programming? So those are all parts of both the policy and the practices. >> So we're going to be revamping our district wellness policy which is under the per purview of the school committee.
So, we're going to be working on that and refining that to present to you >> to align with our strategic plan >> to align with parts of our strategic plan. >> And we are required at a minimum to have quarterly meetings and a report out at the end of the year to the school
committee. So, >> okay, >> we need a representative. So, one of us >> committee >> we'll need somebody uh this we're going to nominate someone tonight with the understanding that that will expire in January and we will then look at the f
the new committee will look at the fresh batch. Um do we expect that that wellness committee will be meeting between now and the end of the year? Probably once October 20 something October is the first meeting October 26th maybe.
>> No. Okay. It's not the 23. >> Do we have any volunteers? >> That's a volunteer. >> Thank you so much. The idea of putting me out putting me or Laura on a wellness committee would >> I bring the Cheetos and the Twitter and
talk about how much I hate the gym class. I don't want me weighing in on that. >> I would have done it. >> Yeah, >> I know. But you can't. >> I can't because I've been on them before for years. Plus, that's my >> provide your input. Yeah, >> I can help for sure.
>> Well, I think it's really interesting. >> Does that light a fire for you there? >> I'm really excited about this because I came from a a time in place with PE was an everyday thing. There was a President Kennedy had a huge push to make um
things and it was a part of our everyday lives. >> The presidential thing, right? The >> test and um it was it was something that we took for granted in school that we that we would have a lot of that. we would have a lot of wellness education and I think that this is really important.
>> I do. >> I I mean >> maybe with a different focus than we had in 1963, but I hear what you're saying. >> Yeah. >> Or maybe with some of it. I mean, keep some of the good and you know, you keep the good and you move forward and you deal with what you have now. So, I think it's a really exciting thing. We have a
lot more obviously issues to deal with now, I will be honest, than we than we did before. Um, so, you know, I I'm really pleased that um we're having this. >> Yeah. >> October. You and Eric want to duke it
out. Are you also interested? >> I am willing to let Eric have it, but I was going to volunteer. Yeah. I'm extremely Well, you go for it, Eric. >> Let's talk. Let's talk it out. >> No, no, no. I'm not volunteering. Great. >> I'm not volunteering. I I am nominating
Eric. >> Well, that's useful, too. >> We need you a lot on finance, right? >> All right. So, we're entertaining a motion to nominate Eric Ayat to be our representative for the remainder of this term to the wellness committee. Can I move? >> Thank you so much. Can I get it? >> Thank you, Sam.
>> Yes. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Tim. >> Welcome. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Absent too late. Ah, Eric. >> Thank you. Congratulations. >> Welcome to the team. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Good for you guys. also Cheetos. Um, and Cheetos wellness everything in moderation. >> Everything in moderation. We don't know. >> Even moderation. >> Okay, I'm going to try to summarize this next item because I think it is important, but it's also kind of
detailed and um, okay, so we received a letter. This is in um, this is regarding the fiscal crisis signon letter. I received a letter uh from Sarah Woodard who is um the Senate District Coordinator for Hampshire and Hampton
districts. Uh she was making us aware of this um advocacy movement that um she sent us a link for a fiscal crisis sign letter. Um it reads, "The public school fiscal
crisis is impacting communities across Massachusetts. Today, we ask you to sign on to the letter below to publicly urge the governor and the legislature take decisive action to address it in the FY27 state budget. Um, and you there is also an email where we can get more
information. Essentially, I'm going to just read her bullet points. Specifically, we urge you to focus on advancing the following priorities that would provide relief to the school districts we collectively represent. One, strengthening the special education circuit breaker program. Two, fixing the
chapter 7B inflation cap. Three, fully reimbursing regional and non-regional school districts for student transportation costs. >> That would be great. Um, four, significantly increasing rural school aid. Five, further mitigating the
financial impact of charter schools on traditional public schools. And six, making targeted investments in the staffing and programs needed to best support student mental health. Um, and she closes by saying, "While addressing these issues will not solve the entirety
of the fiscal challenges in public education, doing so would bring urgently needed resources to Massachusetts districts." So, um, I had told her I I invited her to come and speak. She really was like, I mean, it speaks for
itself. Fair. Um, and I told her I would bring it to all of you to have a discussion. I'm not convinced it's appropriate for a vote or not. I'm interested to hear what all of you have to say. And it was in the packet, so hopefully everybody got a chance to check. >> Can you reread the last bullet point,
please? >> The last bullet point number six, making targeted investments in the staffing and programs needed to best support student mental health. So, I think that's probably like an
increased focus on SEAL, uh, things like the Bright program. I would assume things like that. Anybody have thoughts, comments, questions? What do you think, Kenny? [Music]
>> I Oh, go on. Sorry. Go ahead. >> Yeah, go ahead. Oh, who's who we got? >> Oh, were you about to say no? >> Great. >> Um, so I understood this to be something that we could sign on to individually. >> Correct. >> So, I did. Um, so I'm glad that I wasn't
wrong about that. Um I guess my question is like is it would it also be helpful for us to like vote to send this letter from our >> So this was kind of my point when somebody approaches me with something like this I mean sure I can sign it that does something not much we are in a
position of >> um some authority where we can share this message so like is this something that we could talk to other school committees could we talk to the teachers union >> there also I mean I got another email from her recently saying that they're specifically looking for city council
and uh like mun like municipalities as well or select board members >> as a body. >> Um no just like members like >> to sign individually. So one thing I thought we could do is maybe >> Oh it does. Yeah. So when you fill this out it does you can select right. Are
you a school committee member, a chair? Super. >> One thing I thought about was we could we could make a statement in an agreement with this essentially. me if I if I'm I'm going to interrupt that, but after your point, I'm sorry. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Um like I'm wondering if we could if if
we were because I I think I think as far as discussion goes, I think we're pretty much all in agreement with this ask. Um I don't know how effective or kind of if this is the right way to do it, but um we could potentially send something back saying that all of us are in agreement with it and also that we are sending it
to our city council and we could officially send it to city council and ask them to discuss it. This is all the stuff I This is why I purpose this discussion like what do we want to do with this now we have the ball. Go ahead Tim. I have >> two questions. >> This you we're not sure if we're voting
on this. >> I'm not sure if there will be something to vote on. So as Sam mentioned like everybody can certainly fill this out individually as a school committee member. We could also for example vote to say we support this as a body. There isn't a way to register that in this
form, but we could send a letter to them. >> Is there a need for our support? Is that like >> that's what they're asking for? >> Yeah. >> Okay. But okay. I just don't understand how we're supposed to give our support other than just asserting that we support. >> To be very fair, I don't either, which
is why I invited her to come here and kind of address that more specifically. The other question that I have, well, the other >> request that I would have is is more specificity >> and especially just on the one bullet point that I asked you to repeat. >> Just more specificity to what they're
intending, >> right, >> to like what kind of programs they're intending to to move funds towards or to >> I have a similar reaction to you. Yeah. Like >> and there's probably I didn't the other bullet points kind of went by, but that was the one that popped up as a flag to
me. There's probably other things. But anyways, those are the two things for me. Like I don't understand exactly what we're supposed to do to show our support. And I also don't I want to know more about the programs because it seems a little >> vague. >> Vague.
>> Mhm. Yeah. Strengthening the special education circuit breaker program. Fixing the chapter 70 inflation cap. Fully reimbursing. Well, that one's clear. Significantly increasing rural school aid. Further mitigating the financial impact of charter schools on traditional public schools. I mean, I don't know how you I don't know. Um,
anybody else have questions? Do you have a motion you want to try to keep forward? >> I have a question. >> Yeah. Um, so I'm just for consistency sake because we've had a number of things that have been brought before our committee that like our resolution territory and I just wanted to at least
put forward like the the topic of conversation like is this in resolution territory? Is this a resolution that has an action that goes with it that makes I just wanted to like bring up there's times that we have said, you know, we we just don't it's not within our purview to make resolutions. So, I just wanted
to throw that out there. >> Well, that's a subjective opinion. >> That's my opinion, >> but that's how we sort of operated in the past two years, the term that we are in. >> We sort of have declined to just make general statements. Um >> I think >> Yeah. >> My my um
>> throw that out there. >> Yeah. No. And I think I think it's important to keep that in mind. I think that like this is very very specifically a letter being written to the governor and members of the legislature >> sponsored by the MTA. >> Sponsored by the MTA. >> And if you sign it, your name will be
included in that letter. >> Yeah. Um and it's asking the asks that it it's asking to focus on advancing the following priorities. So it's not making a specific ask. It is making an ask though which I think is a little bit
different from some of the resolutions that we've talked about where it's mainly like this is what we believe as a body. This is more like this is to me anyway it is proposing action. It's very vague action and I am also like skeptical. >> It's not even action. I guess it's
prioritization. prioritization and I think like which is why I felt okay signing it on my own because I was like yeah sure I would love the governor ask >> if I may um >> is this even is this the place for this is is if this is an individualized
>> that's the question >> that's what we're trying to Yeah >> that's the goal I just wanted to open a conversation to see how people felt about it and see give them an opportunity to dissect it >> I like Sam read it and said yes and signed it but I don't what that I mean like like we're all saying fixing the
chapter 70 inflation cap is beyond my pay grade as far as how you approach that but if the idea is to bring these as priorities to the legislative body and let's talk having discussions and making change if this is the starting process I guess where we're at for for
the most part right yeah >> yeah but if I mean if there's things on there that aren't you know for the most part yeah it's great um and then there are parts that aren't >> or not yet understood to be great uh for by me.
>> So that but again the question for me is does this >> where else would this be communicated? Who else is asked to sign this? Is is this a presentation that's asked of the school committee? They so they send
these emails out to school committees >> and they ask school committees to act often ask school committees to act as a conduit to their city council or their city government to get their support as well. >> That was the that was the beginning and the end of the ask. Yeah. >> Yeah. From my understanding, this is
just giving weight to say we want these priorities. They're asking us to say, you know, we wouldn't prioritize education because we're in a fiscal potential fiscal crisis >> and that these are the priorities. So, it would be us simply saying
we see educa, you know, we see this as a priority. You know, we have this big pot of money out here in Massachusetts. Hello, governor. We want education. We want to strengthen these things. We want to look at this. We want to look That's how I see it. where this would go from
here would be I think it would either be that we voted I think the only way that we would have weight as a committee would be to pretty much you know support it completely if I may
>> or else individually >> that's a field opportunity >> huh >> that isn't that isn't an >> that isn't available to us >> well no it would be each one of us and then going forward and saying you know something like we've all done this or or or whatever. I mean, that would be the
the only way that we could do that. And then that just is giving more >> more weight to them. They're just asking to have more bodies behind them. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Tim and then Megan. >> I think the ask is what I'm gathering
the ask is if we if the school committee I think we might even have a motion to if the school committee chooses to. But I mean that's obviously going to happen if the school committee chooses to act as a conduit and to pass this on to the
rest of the city government. Like that seems to be the the ask as far as this is concerned. And I'm not sure what a motion would be. >> Uh authorize me to just forward this to the city council and mayor. >> Yeah.
>> Right. And so that doesn't the sign that's separate from whether or not we support it, whether or not we want to sign it. the the ask is whether or not >> implicit support like if you're in if you're authorizing me to send this along to the city council it would be like >> we having a higher level of expertise in
public education would be requ that would be I would assume I'm going to be honest I have an issue with this because it doesn't list >> the universal lunch programs and if you're going to start adding funding to these which are six important bullet points but I'll tell you one of the first things that's going to get cut is
this universal free lunch one of these other things >> what was the point you just made prior to to that. You said >> that um >> that it's implicit support, >> right? If you were voting >> Yeah. >> to tell to direct me to forward this to the city council, the city council is
going to view that as the school committee supports this and encourages you to do the same, >> right? >> The city council is going to see it that way. >> Sure. Well, I guess so. The the thing is is that if individual signatures are are required or they're asking for individual signatures and individual
support >> then I if it's it's not reasonable to have implicit support by us passing it on. If the job is to pass it on that's a different thing than stating support for the complete document.
>> It's up to y'all. I just didn't want to make the call myself. Megan. >> Yeah. So um a couple of points. First of all, as I was like getting into this discussion of like is this in resolution territory, I want to be clear that as someone who's been like involved in the finance budget part of school committee
for, you know, approaching four years, these are things that we absolutely need. Like there's nothing incorrect in this letter. We are absolutely in a fiscal crisis. I wholeheartedly will sign on to this as an individual, as the chair of finance. Like absolutely. Um, and I just I just want to give it its
due diligence. When I make remarks like I want to make sure this is a, you know, if we sign on to it and send our support and ask city council to also sign on to it, like I think that holds value. I wasn't trying to imply that we don't have there's no value to that. You know, we can just look back to um the lawsuit
that we submitted as a school committee. Like there is power in our expertise in looking at this and saying like these are truly crises. Um, one question I do have about and I don't know if you have background information is like where the
EA falls in the mass teacher.org. That is one piece of information I would love to if we're going to make like a a representation from our district as school committee members. I would really love to hear from the EA. >> I mean, this is sponsored by the MTA, so I would assume. Do I know if the EA has
voted on this specific thing? No, I didn't get any background information. Tim, >> I was just going to say I mean I have a tendency to get lost in the weeds sometimes when I like I start to get down to minutia like the things we're talking about. >> So the o the overarching
piece the over I absolutely find um useful >> and something we should support. Um, like I said, for me there's just some, you know, there's wording and those things are they matter and if and if
it's if we're putting our stamp on something that leaves an open door to be anything other than exactly what it's supposed to be that was, but I get lost in the weeds and it doesn't have to be that. We don't have to be so specific right now.
>> Let me propose this. We can I can go ahead and just forward this to the city council and just let them with no endorsement. Just FYI, >> just say we're passing this on. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That's that's to me that's the ask, >> you know, >> which I don't think requires a vote. I can just do that. Yeah.
>> I would love to take a stronger stance on it than that. And I'm not saying like I don't know if you have information also about the timeline. >> I literally I asked I got nothing else. >> Okay. So, >> which tells me this this thing is probably not super important to the cause. information on that. They have a
November 7th signature deadline. >> Okay. And we have a meeting before then. So like my >> they're trying to reach 500 signers. >> My suggestion would be that we do our due diligence and that we reach out to the EA and have an opportunity for folks to bring us information about their
opinions on this. I I think it's really important that we do show solidarity with the MTA, with EA and trying to secure the finances that we need. Um, if we don't feel like we're prepared to agree and sign on to that today and sort
of like send it as a letter with our endorsement to city council, I think that makes sense, too. >> Which again, I want to highlight was not a specific ask. >> No, but I'm saying I think it I'm I'm saying I think it should be. >> Yeah. I think it's important, right? Like our words I I totally agree with you like it is important that we
understand that we are not signing on endorsing something where we don't fully understand what they mean. You know, I just these are definitely issues like we are in the midst of this as a problem. >> So, >> yeah, I think that's what I was trying to say that if we understand this, I
think we need to be doing this as a group. >> You know, I understand we sign individually. I understand that. But we need to say, you know, this number of us signed or however we want to do it because that's where the power is going
to be. you know, one person over here signing it is going to say, "Oh, you know, but so I think I would like to see us discuss this at the next meeting myself. I would like to reach out, have some of our questions answered. If they have a November 7th signing date, we
have time to do that. We have time to discuss it at the next meeting." >> Okay. Yeah. I'm gonna re I'm gonna what I'm gonna do is reach out to the president of the EA because the person who submitted this to me from the district was not interested in presenting and felt and just wanted us to sign as individuals.
>> But there is also fields for city councilors. >> So um okay we will >> let's do revive that course on October 21. >> So no motion but just please put on the next agenda. Is that the request? It's the sense I'm getting.
>> Okay. And so and we're just going to you're going to go ahead and pass it on to >> I'm going to FYI it to the city council. >> Okay. >> And then we'll see on the 21st if people feel like >> Yeah. And I mean if in the interim the council wants to go, you know, and do whatever they want to do. If they all
want to sign off on it, that's >> I I just want to say we might be overthinking this. Yeah, >> we might be overthinking this. >> I don't know that we need to take it up at a second meeting, but somebody could certainly bring it up. >> Is this group overthinking something? >> I think it's important. I think there's power in our >> I think the topic they're talking about is important. I don't know that this is
a vehicle is going to be super effective. I'm dubious. >> I mean, and the same thing can be said for like >> should we sue the government, right? >> I thought that was a good >> Well, I'm just saying worlds apart. >> It's I'm just saying this kind of stuff matters and we're in the middle of a situation that's really tough and we can
take a stand on it or not. And I think if I'm going to list six priorities for preserving public education, they're probably not going to be those six priorities, >> right? >> I can't do public education without the funding for it. >> I think >> I agree. The chair of finance, I think, would say these are the priorities.
>> Yeah. Okay. Go ahead. Um, >> I think it's important >> now without I may require you to read that that last bullet point again, but it sounds like the vagaries the issue that I have or the issue that that people I know would
have with those things is is u what kind of there there's a capacity to dictate moral structure and there's a capacity to dictate things that are not that are not in line with everybody's life
>> in the way that it works for everybody on the where not in line with everybody's life with everybody's thinking with everybody's religion with everybody's way of existing there are things and if those things can be put in if if that language is vague enough and
so we can have we can be endorsing dictated moralities is is I guess the easiest way to say that Um but and if that I mean that's what we're here for I thought is partly to keep an eye on what uh the community is endorsing and
looking at and supporting. >> Sure. >> Anybody else have thoughts on this? >> Yes. >> Go ahead. >> Well, I would say it can't hurt to, you know, send it to the city council and it can't this did not come across my desk.
Um, so and that means my desk is trifecta >> um of the mayor's office and city council and the school committee. So, and I I didn't see anything come up. >> So, I think it would just be helpful. And if and if they're looking for power and numbers, then obviously getting more eyes on it and saying, is this something
that we think is worthwhile to to, you know, rise up or lift up, I think is is definitely a reasonable ask. >> So, >> yeah. Do we need a motion just to let it go and pass it on? >> No, I'm just gonna forward it to the city council.
>> Thank you. >> We good. >> Democracy. >> Yes. >> All right. We're going to move on to action items. >> All right. >> I'm going to be super annoying and do these a little bit out of order. >> I'm going to start with the motion to
appoint Sam Hunter as delegate to represent East Hampton School Committee at the MASC MASS joint conference 2025. So, as always, this is a tricky timed conference because it you have to register in advance, but it takes place
like a week or two after our elections. >> So, we're trying to be fiscally responsible. So, we've got one attendee from the district and I think it's going to be the policy
chair. Sam? >> Yep. I'm down. anybody. Yeah. Yeah. I just, you know, because Laura, you know, I had expressed interest in attending this. >> Yeah. >> And so I just wanted to know if that was the determination because Sam is the policy chair.
>> Yeah. Pretty much. >> Yeah. Because, you know, I had really thought I was going to be attending that until we had a budget, you know, situation, >> right? Yeah. >> I mean, it's an extra hotel room, an extra attendance. And I will say I just I don't I don't I mean I have my
issues with how they run the conference and how they prioritize things and the money they spend, but nobody's perfect. Um can I get a motion or do we want to have we can always discuss after a motion? >> I think the thing is the I just want to the delegate in particular like what the
delegate actually means. >> This isn't about we're not voting to send Sam to the conference. We're voting to empower Sam >> as a delegate as a delegate representing these a voting delegate. >> A voting delegate in the >> because they do set a whole bunch of priorities moving forward and those are
all voted on. >> Um >> and it is even more laborious than us talking online. >> I can do like and it depends on I mean I was talking to other delegates when I was there last year and like they some of the things that some school committees are extremely prescriptive
about what their delegates can and can't do. Um, so some some like there were resolutions that we were voting on that would have amendments added to them and because amendments are added certain school certain delegates would step out because they were like I'm not allowed to vote on anything that has an amendment added because my school
committee has only empowered me to vote for the uh the original. So like we can get very very very technical about this if you want or you could or we don't have to. I don't care either way, but but I just want to make sure everybody knows what they're agreeing to, which is
to let me represent East Hampton at the conference, >> right? And also, there is a slight chance. >> Well, no, I guess it's fine. It's just we don't know the outcome of the election, so >> No, there's a chance that I don't win my election, in which case
>> it would be very silly for me to represent East Hampton. >> But they put us in these positions. They have it every November. They have it every November right after the election. So, it's it's tricky. >> You would still be >> I would still be a representative from the district though. >> Yeah. But I don't know if I lose my
school committee election. It's like pretty clear that maybe I shouldn't be representing the district. So, >> you're still elected. >> This was meant to be a 30 second motion. >> I make a motion to appoint Sam's delegate to represent East Hampton School Committee at the Masc Joint
Conference 2025. >> Second. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All those in favor? >> Opposions. Motion carries. >> Thanks. Okay. Next. Um motion to approve the outofstate field trip request from
East Hampton High School to Hartford. Why am I reading these? >> I don't know. >> It's going to do the money. >> You said you wanted to go out of order. >> Oh, that's what it was. Yes. Um from East Hampton High School to Hartford stage on October 23rd, 2025. This just is what you had referred to earlier.
>> Yeah. Well played. >> A stage production of rope in Hartford. Um, >> entertain a motion. >> Motion to approve the audit. >> Just say so moved if you want to say. So there you go. >> Seconded. >> Thank you, Eric. All right. All those in favor?
>> Opposed? Extensions. Motion carries. >> Great. >> Uh, the next is a motion to approve the out ofstate field trip request from East Hampton High School to Greece from April 15th to April 25th, 2027. Um, I really want my kid to go on this
trip, so I'm going to abstain. >> Uh, so moved. >> Thank you. >> Can we just ask this is a steep cost per student. Is there a plan for fundraising? Is that >> They fund raise every year. This is the world language club. Yeah. >> Perfect. So it wouldn't be >> right. But I know I know >> you know I just
>> it is. And the costs have gone up a lot since like last year. We're talking about >> my kids went for about three grand a piece recently and now they're they're >> just so you can see what we're talking about. It's it's a $4700 uh >> 4749 per student 4,7.
>> So I was just asking how >> we have a motion on the floor, y'all. And it is 755. So we have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed abstensions. >> Uh that was Eric was a second. Sam motioned. Eric seconded. I'm abstaining.
Um, here's where I'm going to skip a little out of order. Okay, there's another outofstate field trip request further down this list. Uh, motion to approve the out ofstate field trip request from Mountain View School, grade 8
>> to New York City >> on May 28th and 29th, 2025. Who wants to look Henry in the face? >> I didn't know who, but I knew that was happening. >> Okay, so moved. >> So moved. Thank you, Tim. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Linda.
>> My child will go on the trip. >> I do. Okay. And we have the votes. Okay. >> Uh, any discussion? >> Enjoy. >> Henry, have you been a very good student this year and you promise to behave and represent East Hampton?
>> Well, I'm sold. All right. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed obstaining. >> Thank Congratulations. You can report back to your classmates. You're a girl for New York. Tell me about
>> May 28th and 29th. This is 2025, but I'm going to guess it's >> probably 2026. >> Um, okay. Congratulations, Henry. That was totally worth it. Um, so now we've got these two stipen requests and then we'll circle back to the top, Megan, and
just run through the minutes and the payrolls. >> Okay. Uh the first is a motion to approve the new we the people club with a stipen amount of $2500. >> Uh so moved. >> Thank you. Can I have a second? Tim, thank you for the second. Okay. Do we
can we pause for a second? Does anybody have any questions about this rubric or this? Like >> this has been a club, correct? We're just making it official and giving a >> I don't think it's ever has been. >> It has been a club. It's just we're making it official and giving a second. >> Cool. >> It was not an official club.
>> It wasn't. No, it was a club and we're making it official. >> So, it was an official club, but >> it wasn't an official club. >> Tell me what happened. We We never awarded a statement for the club. >> It was a club. >> I see. >> With no statement. >> A proono club.
>> A proono club. That's clarification. >> Semantics and money. >> That makes all the sense in the world. >> Yeah. >> Uh did you have Do you have the motion? >> We have a motion in a second. >> Um this is just the discussion. I was just reading through. Yeah. So I'm ass okay my speculations about
what if this happens I think it makes sense. Anybody have questions, discussion, concerns? Yes, Henry. >> Uh so uh this is just a little off topic, but uh clubs >> and uh they're not really advertised well. Like I didn't even know that there
was a Spanish club until like they like started like talking about that. >> You know what else? I didn't know there was a Spanish club at Mountain View apparently. And then my sister just told me today that there's like a Dungeons and Dragons club. >> Glad I knew about it. >> I didn't know about that and I kind of
want to join. So, >> so I think that like >> we need a better roster club. >> I have no idea if there's clubs. >> Okay, >> I'm with you. >> I can DM for you if you get me into that D and D club. >> You can
motion on the floor. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. extensions. Congratulations, we the people. You're $2,500 for sure. Next, uh motion to approve the new neurodeiversity alliance club with a stipened amount of $1,000. And there was
also a write up and a rubric. >> So, it looks like they need two advisors. They're doing schoolwide events. And this is for snacks, supplies, materials. >> So, we had a motion from Sam >> and a second from Eric.
>> Any questions? All those in favor I >> I opposed extensions. Motion carries. >> Do you want to circle back to the TUD? Did I totally confused? >> No, I got I checked things. >> So just Okay, great. So you start with the regular session minutes. Cruise
through. All right. >> Okay. Uh motion to approve the minutes of the 992025 regular session minutes. >> So moved. >> Thank you. That was slick. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Eric. Uh all those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries.
>> Motion to approve the school payroll dated 942025 in the amount of 652,86246. >> Second. >> Can I get a motion to just say a so move? >> I thought she said so moved. >> I motioned. >> Oh my god. >> Second. >> Jesus. You're absolutely right, Linda. I
apologize. >> She just said it's 8 p.m. >> on the floor. >> I'm like She just motioned. >> All those in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. >> Thank you, Eric. >> Motion carries. >> Motion to approve the accounts payable
authorization for payment dated 942025 in the amount of 256,143.31. >> Second. >> Thank you, Linda. >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? >> Thank you, Eric. Motion to approve the school payroll
dated 918 2025 in the amount of $655,18453 cents. >> A second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Sam. >> Uh, all those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Thank you, Eric. >> Motion to approve the accounts payable
authorization for payment data 918 2022 in the amount of $43,85544. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Sam. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Extensions. >> Abstain. >> Thank you, Eric. >> I forgot to say I.
>> I'm in the I group. Okay. Motion to amend the previously approved accounts payable authorization for payment dated 872025 in the amount of $210,291.32. This is a correction of the date. Uh when we made the motion last time, we said 872025
and the correct date is 8212025. >> Right. So we're not correcting the amount, the date. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Sam. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstensions. >> Thank you, Eric. >> I have a motion on the table to declare four 20in picture tube television sets
as surplus. Second. >> Thank you, Linda. So quickly, >> do we have any comments or discussion on the TV? We've already we've already favor. >> Opposed extensions. Motion carries. >> Motion to approve the school payroll dated 10 to 2025 in the amount of
653,397.54. >> Second. >> Thank you, Linda. All those in favor? >> Opposed? >> Thank you, Eric. Motion to approve the accounts payable authorization for payment dated 10 to 2025 in the amount
of $224,23.95. >> Second. >> Thank you, Linda. All those in favor? >> I >> I >> opposed extensions. >> Thank you, Eric. >> That's it. All right, folks. Our next meeting dates, three more meetings this year with this committee. Uh October
21st, November 18th, and December 9th. Uh at this point we are going to be um moving into executive session. We will be adjourning the meeting from executive session hopefully before the sun comes up. So we will see all of you on October
21st. >> You need to read out that >> I do. Okay. Uh pursuant to Mass General law C30A S20A2 to conduct collective bargaining session with the EA teachers unit.
Can I get a move? >> So moved. Second. Okay. Uh Tim, >> we're roll calling in. >> Tim. Eric. >> I will be able to go twice. >> This is anou. >> It is anou. >> You can come in and then leave. >> Okay.
>> So I >> Megan. >> Hi. >> Um I'm sorry buddy. I'm going to skip you on this one. Linda. >> Hi. >> Sam. Hi. >> Mayor. Hi. >> Laura Scott. I >> Good night East T. Mics off everybody and then Exactly.