this government meeting is brought to you by eastw works and our local cable subscribers uh we are going to call to order our regular session meeting for tonight February 11th 2025 uh we will roll call in Ben hery
here Eric Eric here Megan Megan Harvey here Laura Scott present uh we may be joined by a few more of our members as the evening progresses but just so the public is aware this constitutes a quum so we're going to move forward um and get through we'll start with
announcements which is me correspondence um so I have no real correspondence to report but I did get um emails from many of the parents caregivers from the students who were here last meeting um including Jackie and Diane um and those
might have been the only two via email but I spoke to more of them when I saw them around town um and just really lovely notes from the parents about how proud they are of their children and I was able to express to the parents how amazed we are um at them and let them
know that we will'll have an update later about playround stuff what do you want to speak really yeah why don't you do that now cuz we don't have anything dedicated CU we have been getting a lot lot of interest and this this is in regards to the playgrounds at Mountain View particularly on the elementary side
and the lack of accessible ID equipment um and so Megan is really taken I'm so excited I'm so excited these kids were amazing they came they had prepared statements some of their parents sent their prepared statements so I could see
like what they had planned in advance um and so I immediately reached out and asked if I could come observe a recess so I went on Friday um I think I went to the third grade recess and the fourth graders got to come down or maybe I went to fourth grade recess and the either way I got to see everybody and they got to like walk
around and show me the whole situation and like it was really wonderful it there's a very clear need um and so we have moved forward with I I think announced tonight officially that we'll have an ad hoc committee yep we've decided that's how we're going to progress with this we're going to form an ad hoc committee that gives us the
opportunity to invite stakeholders from the community parents teachers um any other sort of experts and I'm reaching out to Bert who was one of our Architects uh for the school building but he unfortunately was not involved in the exterior design but he has done a lot of that work in the past so we'd love to pick his brain and we are
looking to create a design then we're going to call for quotes we've already identified funding streams ideally in a perfect world if everything fits with this then we want to see it up and running by August or September of this year that is our goal and we will certainly keep the public updated at our
um and we'll be sending letters home to let everybody know about the joint the adop committee do you have a date for your first meeting yes so I just heard back about room reservations um so these agendas are not posted yet but we'll do a meeting on Monday uh March 17th at 5:30 uh right here in the conference
room behind me and that will be um a chance and of course the students and their caregivers and any of their peers who want to come we would love to hear from you again then and that will be sort of a first planning session and then we'll have a followup on the 31st Monday the 31st also at 5:30
and then a month later Monday April 28th at 5:30 and those three are planned and we're hoping that that will allow us to move through some yet to be determined request for proposals official things that we have to ask questions but the mayor's not she
I don't know what all the business is but we're also going to yeah we have to look into the process for rfps to send things out to bid um all but if really what we're focused on initially is the design everything else can move quickly but we really need to identify by Design because that could take about that much of time and nothing else can proceed
till that happens um and so in that vein we're also going to work on a survey we think to try to S home to all families and then also just maybe share if you don't necessarily have kids in the district but we could share that widely we're just looking to gather as much inut as possible and I think that would be in advance of the first meeting so we
just have some ideas to start talking about and the other thing that we're going to discuss at that first meeting is a stop Gap um idea for you know there's a I think one cornhole set and it's in a shed kind of like across the yard which if there's if they're short
on supervision it's like really hard to go be able to get that for like a 20 minute recess um so what kind of a situation like a locked box like one of those pool bins or something just something we can do for a stop gap for the rest of the school the rest of the school year so great lot questions about
that as well I'm so excited just a comment yes M um so just from the design um there is depending on how much that is what not there there's a section chapter 149 for 146 for design work so
if you can check in with the do that the procurement officer Mike Owens um you know just to to look at how the Design's going to happen uh berd is extremely familiar with that too so I'm really hoping to lean on guid you know of
course we'll facilitate a you know a quick posting for design RFP as we get it together right and so that's that's a great point there so to clarify for the public we want to hear from the community what they want to absolutely see before just blindly submitting and
asking firms to send a design we want to make sure that they're meeting our needs not vice versa so that's the idea of that whole plan so I will try to get that survey done at the end of the week so we can send it home oh next week is vacation so we look for the survey after vacation yeah it'll come okay that was
correspondence do we have any gifts I don't have any gifts to announce okay great no um and is student representative we heard from our student rep at our last meeting generally the students have very busy schedules so she's able to join us typically once a
month and I expect we'll see her again in March do we have any word yet on a Mountain View student rep no oh we said we wanted to continue to do that right yeah yeah okay all right maybe we should just call Piper and see how she's doing
fresh do such a great job right okay uh so we'll work on that too for the second half of the year um public comment if anyone is joining us remotely or here in person that would like to share their thoughts we ask that you keep it to 3 minutes and just identify yourself before you begin to speak we'll leave
the floor open for about a minute just to check and see if anybody is interested in participating tonight seeing none we going to close public speak and move on to our superintendent of St okay I think I'll do the virtual
one okay well first we have two guests tonight which are very happy are here uh first we have Julia sorry Franks uh Julia um has extensive experience in budgeting and business services she worked uh in West Springfield
Springfield and most recently Quin uh so we were lucky that juli was able to join us this year as you know know our a great business manager I moved on to another district and we're in the middle of budget season and it's so key that we
have her here so I'm going to introduce her to all of you and she starts tomorrow which I'm so excited about she already came got her office all set up so we're back in business uh stying tomorrow and I just would like uh Julia to say a few words about herself right
there at the microphone no pressure Julia in a gorgeous peacock Blazer um this is my 20th year in education um I'm excited um I started my year um my education career as a
classroom teacher um was a department chair a team leader um so I know a lot about school operations and I try to keep what I know in my base of students and teaching at the Forefront of decisions that I make and um what we we do to make sure that our students get
what they need and that our our staffs are supported um so I'm really excited to come here and join your community and I'm excited to work with all of you welcome we are also very soed so excited yeah thank you can I ask Julia what um what did you when you were a classroom teacher what
what did you teach uh High School social studies are you okay okay she's excited you'll talk later it was actually my experience with the We the People program in high school oh full body chills Julia welcome home that led me to
be a poly major in college and so it's full circle cuz I've heard that you guys have a fabulous We the People program and I'm really excited about that we want to do it at the on Middle School level as well we're working on it we're working on it excellent it's so exciting yep frosting thank you thank you thank
you go ahead Mar and we're very excited again uh all of you probably remember from the interviews for a superintendent that we're very lucky have Michelle bch here uh Michelle has over a 30-year career in education uh she spent her
career in the Springfield School System um I actually um had some communication uh with Michelle and the team there during covid uh we were all trying to decide what to do and shed documents and so um the team there would meet um when
uh Dan uh retired it was Michelle that took over as the inim there uh for a little while so you know we're excited that she's here unanimous request of their school committee I'm told that's right so we're very excited um Michelle
will start here June 1st uh the two of us will work together for a couple weeks and then um she'll be on her own starting on July July 1st uh everybody's excited that she is coming here and uh we are already collaborating sending documents back and forth and having
conversation weekly a couple of times a week sometimes uh so that um she's all set to come here when it's time for her to come and mean meanwhile she has a big job to finish up in Springfield uh many positions that she
does there and they're going to have to hire many people to be able to do all the work that she did be sure so um I think it's great also um um Michelle has four children just two that are still in school so um she understands education
and every day she's dealing with kids in school so it's important to have that parent you know aspect of what's happening in schools too so I don't know if you'd like to say a few words we're very excited thank
you good evening chair Scott members of the school committee colleagues community members students I'm honored to be selected as the next superintendent for eastampton public schools thank you so much I wanted to express my gratitude and for putting
your trust and partnership in me as we work together to ensure the success of every student it was such an incredible process I appreciate everyone who took the time to be part of the selection process those who wrote letters who came
to school committee to speak uh it was just so incredible to see everyone coming together and their engagement in the process and especially to the students who offered up their Insight in experiences in schools um to help really
help me make my decision that this is the right fit for me and you know just them their them showing all that they know and how powerful their voice is it was just such an incredible opportunity um our schools are really
the heart of the community and I want you to know that I'm committed to not only academic Excellence but equity and inclusion in our schools making sure that every student feels seen heard and are really truly motivated to be
successful and to thrive not only in our classrooms but outside of our classrooms because our job doesn't end when they graduate we want to make sure that they have everything that they need to choose whatever their amazing future is going to be um a big thank you to
superintendent Benda who has been connecting with me reaching out I really appreciate it you're taking the time to make sure I have what I need to um enter this space and you're a wealth of knowledge congratulations to Julia sorry
Frank says the new business man uh Director of Business Services um congratulations and to all of you I am so honored and humbled to be standing here I cannot wait to start in June I am really looking forward to an amazing
experience here incredible thank you both of you thank you really incredible inspiring women leaders both of you and we're so thrilled and fortunate I we um
uh well what is it my C now never mind we're soed my m is channeling we're really thrilled to have you both joining us thank you super report sure okay yeah perfect okay so um every year there's
something called the uh enrollment restrictions that come from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts virtual school so there are two virtual schools right in the Commonwealth one is called the greater Commonwealth virtual school and that's K to 12 and there's
1,200 students that enroll in that that's there's a limit to the number of students that can enroll all right and then there's the tech connection Academy which is known as tekka and that's also a commonwealth virtual school so there is a a rule that every year uh district
has to decide uh whether that they wanted to make a rule that no more than 1% of the students can enroll in the virtual school so we met with the leadership team and you know discussed about um enrollment because um that
money does go with the students to to the virtual school it's a school choice and about trying to keep our enrollment up here so the um administrators all agreed um to give the school committee
their opinion that uh we should just vote for a 1% cap on that and that's pretty much what districts usually do they decide on a 1% cap so that um you don't lose a lot of students and we don't go over the 1% cap but you never
know and so because of a tight budget year I think it's a a great idea that we stick with the 1% cap on that and so and with our school population that's roughly 14 students a year yes m okay any um anybody have questions before we entertain a
motion Sam has a question Sam I probably have an after um can you guys hear me okay yeah was my question um my uh so if we C this at 1% and you said that was about 14
students if there is like a 15th student or you know if there are a couple other students who who want to participate for whatever reason is it the kind of thing that we can go back and retroactively change in certain circumstances or is it something that we have to set once oh through the chair it's something
that uh we have to stick with is is the 1% I think Sam I think it's similar to like choice in slots like you set them at the beginning of the year and then they're set yes okay any other questions yes maam yes so
this is just for high schoolers is that right that's correct okay um how many do we well actually no it's K to it's K to eight no wait a minute it's K it's not high school it's K to 12 okay K to 12 and do you know how many we have you know what year last time we looked we
had six okay do you know why like some of the reasons why students choose that like do we have information about what direction we have some anecdote some it's a it's a bit of a homeschooling alternative yeah so they have to like
you know for example um there are certain used to be that they stayed at home and did it but now there are days they have to also report uh to the the center like I think this one in Greenfield right that's where they have to report too uh so during covid there
were uh for example students that had school phobia um they found out that they do much they do much better in having this type of setting so some all all school districts were allowed to set up virtual schools if they wanted to um
however districts a lot of didn't because you have to provide teachers it's a very expensive option to do this so the state ended up with just by two schools and some kids just prefer to to do the work online they don't want to do
it's not a homeschooling application it's actually going to a public school so that's that's the choice that they make it it could be there could have been I know in my past it had been students that maybe felt like they were bullied school and so they wanted to have another option than homeschooling
there's a teacher you know that you meet with here a virtual teacher you do a lot of work on your own but there's a virtual teacher any other questions Sam Sam I'm so sorry um if
um so we only have about you said about somewhere around six students using it now I'm like a concern about that cap um if somebody were to move into the district and their children were um in the enrolled in the virtual school and they wanted to stick with that would that affect our um our number would or
would we have still have to stay within 1% I I believe that they would be allowed to stay because they they they got as a March 1 it's where you are March 1 so I would assume I don't know but I would assume you'd be able to stay
um in that area because you transferred and I would assume you'd be able to stay and it wouldn't even be our district paying for that unless it's after March that it's right usually after April it's the same thing with the school choice your sending District pays the
choice to if you move in but after that following after you were here for the next vote the next year you would then have to be picked up by this District right if after the year goes by and you're still in school and you want
to stay there we would then have to pick that up you don't you you don't always have to stay with the sending District right is this a one year one year you do it every year you have to do by March 1 we've done this before I have no recollection of ever having voted for
this huh where have I been okay just doing a lot of stuff is what been anyone else have question did we really vote on this last year every year it's okay anybody else have questions okay who too busy with the eels love those eels coming way too big for
thect T they are yes okay we're listen we're not the eels right now get together do can I entertain a motion to approve a 1% cap per student population on an annual basis for enrollment in
Virtual School I make a motion for a 1% so moved so moved excellent can I get a second second thank you Ben all those in favor hi I I hi I guess I opposed I I'm going to do it Sam are you
opposed no he no I said I for favor okay thank you opposed extensions motion carries thank you very much um anything else under the superintendent update or does that wrap things up for you okay we're going to move on to the business update will that
be you again Mor or do we have or do we we don't have a um fin answer personal update right so we don't have right again these are something that we typically see once a month I would expect that we would probably have those prepared for our
next regular meeting um um March 11th M um okay so moving beyond the business update to school committee discuss uh policy subcommittee updates Sam we haven't met we were supposed to
meet this upcoming Thursday but I have just had a personal thing come up so I'm going to be uh reaching out to the committee and picking another date okay a personal thing noted okay uh so keep us posted on that and finance subcommittee update okay so um I have
just heard back with confirmation for room booking for all four of these dates but after this meeting I'm going to run them by our director of business services and make sure they match up over there so these agendas are also not posted but tentatively we have a meeting on uh Tuesday February 25th Friday
February 28th I'm sorry for making a Friday meeting there there is truly no other rooms available ever um Tuesday March 4th and Tuesday nope that's yep March 4th my goodness and Tuesday March
11th but I'll run those by and so Monday the 24th is off the table because there were no rooms available correct no Monday the yes Monday the 24th was not ail is that February 24th is it texed me I think it was Tuesday the
25th oh boy hold one second I think it's Tuesday is it I think I texted you wrong it's the 24th that was the problem okay so the 25th the 28th March 4th March 11th tentatively um was way better said than
I said it yeah those are the ones and we will confirm and then as soon as we get confirmation those will be posted so you will be able to find them in the agenda Center um and Megan you did schedule all those for televised room correct those are all televised so those follow from
home joined via Google meets which Megan took great PS to do last year as well which we found really helpful um there is a small but really dedicated group of parents who like to follow the budget process and we really want to honor their um their commitment to it and not have them drag themselves out in February just sit here in person okay
great watch them later too and just see the fun nothing nothing more fun yeah okay great um CES update Sam yeah so I've got a bit of a update C so we had a meeting a couple weeks ago
now um and just so that everybody's aware a CES stands for the collaborative for Educational Services um in our state uh when you have a small District that maybe can't provide all of the um Services uh that are needed particularly special education services um a lot of
times they will come together and form collaboratives with other districts um so our the collaborative that we are a member of is the center for Educational Services in Northampton and there's 36 other school or 35 other school districts that are also members so each School District sends a uh a school
Committee Member to be on the board and that makes up the board of the organization so it's a like very very large Board of school committee members um the CES uh finances this year are so there's been a massive Revenue deficit
um of about two $2 million although it's kind of looking you know depending on how they um finagle things it could be it could end up being more this year um the collaborative provides a lot of other services other than just um the
services that we uh that we um collaborate with them on um so they also provide a whole lot of professional development and of course like you know with Esser going away professional development um opportunities are being funded less frequently by other districts um they also compete for uh
grants as uh state grants in particular and there was um just a uh a new some new legislation that um kind of prioritizes vendors with smaller budgets to get those grants so there were a number of grants that usually CES um was
getting every year that they're no longer able to get anymore um and then the other problem is that there's been a reduction in the allowable administrative and direct rate on Desi grants uh from 8% to 2.7% so that's the amount of money that's paid kind of for every dollar that um desie pays them for
these grants uh they get eight they get eight cents to go towards that their backend stuff their administrative um HR benefits um things like that for their employees um these were all kind of things I mean we've all been talking about Esser going away these are like not new challenges these are all things
that we had been talking about at CES and so it was I was a little bit surprised to be honest and I think I I was not the only one who was a little bit surprised to see kind of the there was reporting in The Gazette um a few weeks ago um they had to L they actually ended up closing their lure program and
um uh moving either there some staff have been La off some staff have been moved or moved down to part-time um so I I'm pretty concerned to be honest just kind of about um the the fiscal picture going forward um so at the meeting that
we had the um executive director Todd gazda came and kind of went through you kind of what's happened over the past year and kind of what they're working on that at the collaborative to address it there was a lot of um really good public speak from employees at the collaborative as well which was really nice because you know we don't usually
hear from them um so it was kind of good to hear from their perspective too um and I sent you guys all of the documents that um that we've been given and I guess um I have a I have set up a time to talk with Julian Le because one of
the things that came up um little so people know who Julianne is yeah jul is a director of curriculum and so she also um kind of a lot of the questions that I have about our relationship ship of the collaborative Julian will be able to answer and then also like she has a lot
more of the historical information and can kind of help us help me sort of see um kind of what the best the best way for me to represent East Hampton in this I guess is what I'm saying it's a odd position to be like on the board of a nonprofit but like I'm elected by the people of East Hampton to represent East
Hampton on that nonprofit so it's like a kind of an odd weird position to be in um I you know I I am I would like to just get good handle on like what we work with the collaborative on and if you know we might be I mean there's a
lot of changes right now that are happening not just because of Esser going away Al that's definitely part of it just the the landscape of Education financing and funding has really changed um and it might it this might be a time when we kind of sit down and look at like what we're getting from the
collaborative what we're getting from lower Pioneer Valley education collaborative um where some of our other students uh receive services and and and we're providing in District and kind of I I would like to just kind of get a better handle on that so I'm a little more prepared for these conversations
because I honestly sometimes when I'm there I don't necessarily know how this how what we're talking about necessarily affects East Hampton and a lot of what they what we talk about is their desie grants that don't actually have anything to do with our district or their um you know their um uh dys contracts which
don't have anything to do with our district so it's just kind of an odd position for me to be in um and I'm just trying to kind of find find a way to better represent eastampton um so I wanted to give you guys a chance to see this and I'm going to um I'm going to send you guys when I get like agendas
and I they write a really good report every time we have a meeting the next meeting's in March um so I'm going to make sure to send to start sending that to you guys you know so you can kind of follow along with that as well um but you know I wanted to know if anybody had any questions um or suggestions or like
you know if there's anything that you want me to bring back um I'm I am very concerned kind of about what what the next few years are going to look like um I want to make sure I know what I'm doing so to kind of Button Hole this
for the public um 6inc does not Sam's Sam is extremely thorough and we appreciate that sorry but no no no that's great um but I just want to make sure that people are picking up what you're putting down so our there's a lot of concern around the financial viability around a lot of this
Educational Funding and the resources that we are getting some of our services from so when Sam is saying they're going to go have a meeting with Julian L that's kind of step one of probably 10 steps to a identify what is our district getting from the collaborative currently and that allows us to start the
brainstorming process of okay if the collaborative gets hit by a truck figuratively um what are the other resources we can um identify to replace those services and what would that cost us and what would the big and maybe there is a more feasible alternative
elsewhere or maybe there is just some additional support we can lend to the collaborative but Sam and I have spoken at length about this we both agree that that proactive approach um seems most appropriate at this point and um we look forward to dragging
sorry uh we we lost a program um that was funded by the collaborative that was actually like very um popular in eastampton there was a childcare program um an after after school program that was funded by one of the 21st century GR and we actually had a parent reach out to us saying that she'd really like to
apply for that Grant again now I don't it's hard to tell kind of what a status of any of that is going to be which is one of the things that I want to go over with Julianne just to make sure that like when we're talking to the public about like what happened to this after school program that everybody likes that we clearly need in eastampton uh I want
to make sure that we like have the actual information because people do want to help we've had people from the community say that they want to help I want to um figure out what it is uh that that would be the most Moren has Moren has some thoughts on that go ahead through the chair yeah I
actually met with them uh the people that were in charge of the 21st century program on that is this can we clarify which program is this Marsha's program yeah it was one that was at the high school for after tiny for after no no no no no no no no it's not tiny TTS it's not tiny no no it was the one that was
at the high school for uh makeup during the summer for the kids that need to get credit recovery is that the program that it was Mar no this is Marsha ley's after school program Marsha ley's after school program originally at Maple school for
years and years and years yeah but did it is that the particular Grant the collaborative had that went to the high school and it was paid for under Century 21 is that the same Grant don't know cuz that was I I
don't know this is one of the things I want to clarify um yeah because that Grant um that particular Grant went because uh the state wanted it to focus in on elementary and middle school kids so there's a new grant that we're
supposed to be working on for next year if those funds stay okay uh in in that account to be eligible if there's any funds available to apply for so I think the the takeaway from this is we don't have the answers yet a lot of this is rapidly changing especially when state
and federal funding come into play if the grants are originating there um I think we just want the public to know we are aware and we're really actively chasing down as much information as possible so that the experience of our students and our staff day-to-day um is
impacted as little as possible I have a question I'm also one second Sam go ahead Megan Sam I have a question that I don't expect you know the answer to now but a question that maybe you could ask them so this um and the key factors that are contributing to the deficit and the the changes to the indirect was that a
change that was made for last year year and does that vary year to year so again this is a question I'm not expecting you to necessarily know but like is that indirect really variable or my understanding is that indirect is not variable and that this was a
surprise um but I will look into that more yeah that's that one had to it's a huge gut sorry go ahead um no I mean and and I I just know like from my my work experience in in you know kind of funding and and getting
money from the state sometimes things change in a really big kind of unexpected way like that um but that was not we did not you know when we were looking at the budget for last year that was not something that that was expected now I don't know if it wasn't expected because we weren't looking at the right
thing or because you know or if it was just like something that that you know Jessie was doing to uh try to make something else balance um so yeah I don't know but I'll look into it yeah thank you I'm much more concerned if that's something that we know they
knew was variable and they weren't sort of prepared to deal with it but if they went from a set in eight to under three I mean that explains the entire situation that's a huge it's a huge it's huge and also they've been year over year they've had to get Tighter and Tighter and Tighter and that just pushed
them yeah off the cliff so if that's if it's a one time really sudden drop I mean I'm curious to hear the answers to all these questions but I would expect to hear like how they're going to adjust and then sort of a new model moving forward but yeah so I'm curious about what you can find out about like how that indirect my bounce around if it
ever does and interested in finding out um like is this something that like we can put some pressure on legislators to deal with you know what I mean like is there something that we can do as school committee to support the work of collaboratives in general because this is something this is something that our
this is unique to our well it's not unique to our state but our state is one of the states that does it this way and you know we've decided to do it this way and I I feel like it should be um should be viable the whole point was that it was supposed to save us money on services that are really expensive and specialized and hard to find in small
districts and if it's if it's we're at the point where those Services also aren't viable to be when done by the collaboratives you know that's problematic so yeah mam chair yeah course um so the first one I already forgot I don't have
a pen um so round request for funding and it was in the the paper there's a new coal that's looking for different ways to fund or help um education funding uh Chapter 70 always is a a conversation da
but there is a movement that I think has a lot of makes good sense is one truly 100% uh funding for circuit breaker as well as what an amazing idea a circuit breaker program um that also covers
special education transport I just think about the fluidity of our school budget in most School budgets um that money shifting and it being variable truly um whether whoever wants
to say it they're wrong when they say it doesn't affect chapter 90 and this is not special ed versus regular Ed versus but the reality is you can say oh great you get $106 per kid but of that 106 it'd be great to break it down and find
out how much went to last minute Transportation or um an unexpected um out of District cost I ultimately love to see some fair share money go into a separate account line item that is
parceled out based on geography and IEP that will offset some of the cost for those residential and clinical placements but also something that doesn't incentivize let's say hypothetically an organization like vanpool that runs essentially a of business and the Commonwealth so I don't
think we should be forced to pay whatever it is some if if you're the only provider of a service in the state you shouldn't be able to set a price that then can explode I think we were paying 42% more this year for vanol than we were the year prior no I I agree I
mean I'm I'm hoping that the internal uh uh Inspector General takes a good look at that it's been mentioned by a lot of um a lot of Mayors the other thing I had oh collaborative um you know different collaboratives are organized different
ways they incorporate and whatnot um I think that the collaborative that we belong to it's mostly Hampshire County really was specialized in some um very specific Services I remember the cat Center um the services that we need I I
would be curious to see um if there are services that will be discontinued in the shrinkage of our collaborative if there's opportunity to pair for Direct Services or direct programming within the our school district and the
collaborative so kind of working with them I mean there's a little bit of funding left that goes directly to collaboratives it's not a lot western Mass collaboratives tend to really fight hard for that um but is there an opportunity for us to to assume a little
part of their budget and they bring the the employees to us and we can figure out some way to to increase any the tier 2 um uh interventions and programming when we've got a big hole in but I'm you know I'm thinking about um the cat Center
when they're working with technology for kids who are non-verbal or or stuff like that what are they doing that we can you know assume into our district even if it's a little bit I mean it's hard to get an SLP it's hard to get anop
with their C's it's hard to get an with their C's and um being uh looking at that alternative virtual communication so maybe there's there's a partnership or help there like a pseudo regionalization which is everything everybody's talking about Sam heck and
mountt Academy is that through CES yeah yes so those are two um those are two like out ofd District placements essentially and C C it's Mo most collaboratives are run more like this this is more of their programming but so CS is essentially like the school
placement or and and so Tom and Mount Tom is a little bit different because not those kids don't all have IEPs um but um for for HEC Academy that's like a um a a placement for students uh who have special education needs and they can't be served in our IND District
programs they need a smaller kind of more therapeutic space with more individualization um it's very Community Based um and very individualized those those to me are the hardest to replicate right those I mean I I would just entertain with our incoming
superintendent here and business um you know I think that there are a couple of interesting models some that have worked out very poorly um but uh that we have room in our high school yeah and and to support the
programming that is being cut by not quality but by money is there is there some way for us to grow internal programs um based on the situation with the collaborative and you know I don't know we take the life skills program and we just
interesting well and and you know we also have we also I'm so sorry my animals are fighting behind me that was the noise um we also have um uh uh we have students placed in other places too you know like we we also have students placed uh with the lower Pioneer Valley
educational collaborative we're just not we're not members there we don't and we don't um get a discount essentially as members so you know that's the other question I have is just like this was set up to kind of you know as members kind of pay in for a membership and then the services don't don't cost as much I
don't necessarily know how I've looked I remember when we looked at the membership rates and the fees last year it didn't really look to be I mean it wasn't a huge savings so um so yeah I'm curious about kind of getting into all of that as well okay all right my my goal is to try to go to at least like
one of the collaborative finance committee meetings um but they're at like 7:30 in the morning uh on on Mondays I think and uh I got to get my kid on F so little that explains all of their problems right there that's that's was I I I was going to sign up to
do finance and then um and then they're like oh yeah we meet at you know 730 7:30 or 8:30 or something like every other Monday and I was oh well that is not that's not going to work B but I would like I'd like to jump in at least once so thank you Sam um yes more quick thing I didn't write it down mayor you
said there's a group that's currently doing advocacy for the circuit breaker funding and the special ed transp yeah that could be something we could do do like parent advocacy around like that could be something to channel you know who's really talented is that gent we had speaking to us a couple of weeks ago
is there already a group yeah there is it was in the paper today their name and who a lot of it had to do prise to invest that's it yeah okay another work session I just think that the the approach to to really look at that Transportation piece and out of district
and and circuit breaker truly 100% um we fixed it or we all go broke right and and Chapter 70 was going to take forever to I mean who really understands chapter 7 okay yeah let's connect great you show okay you do okay yeah well that's that's
great I feel way better about the whole situation good luck to her I hope one person in room understands chapter S I raised my hands I raised my also Julia did so we're good it was painful but I okay uh moving on to action items hi oh that's me again okay yeah um hold on let
me catch up okay motion to approve the school payroll dated 1:23 2025 the amounts of $63,800 May if you're opposed Co okay thank you so much
Sam oppos abstentions abstain thank you Eric motion carries go ahead motion to approve the accounts payable authorization for payment dated 123 2025 in the amount of 43671 153 all those in
favor I you uh Ben seconded sorry I was so focused on this all those in favor I I you're muted now Sam he already said I thank you it's okay opposed exensions
thank you go ahe uh motion to approve the school payroll dated uh 26 2025 in the amount of $628,000 second second thank you Ben all those in favor I I I I opposed exensions
abstain thank you Eric motion carries motion to approve the account's payable authorization for payment dated 26 2025 in the amount of $4,220 second thank you Ben all those in favor I I
I opposed extensions thank you Eric motion carries motion to approve the minutes of the January 7th 2025 Finance subcommittee meeting a second I'll second that thank you Ben all those in favor I I oppos extensions motion
carries motion to approve the minutes of the January 14th 2025 regular session meeting second thank you van all those in favor I post extensions motion carries motion to approve the minutes of the January 17th
2025 special meeting second thank you Ben all those in favor I oppose exensions motion carries motion to approve the minutes of the January 28th 2025 regular session meeting second thank you B all those in
favor I I I opposed extensions motion carries motion to approve the 2025 2026 school calendar draft number three that's that's on hold four okay
withdrawn withdraw thank you okay uh motion to approve the request to declare the old dishwasher Champion Industries model dhtv C70 from 2012 as
surus is there any discussion we need to have we need a second second sorry I just need to think for one more second okay second do we any background does there anything we need to know about this this is the new gu that I was talking about so this is the one we've replaced because we had that extra lunch money
money that we can't spend on anything else we can't use it to pay teachers so this is is the vote to put the old one away out to yeah do due to its um the evaluation or or the value of it currently if it's over a certain amount like 50 bucks or 500 it has to be declared Surplus did
the same thing with a PE building that thank you that it wasn't arbitrary okay Reon in that case all those in favor post exensions motion carries do I take that to mean the new gu has been
installed it's installed excellent and working great okay our next meeting dates we will be back back here again hopefully a little better rested and with protein in our systems on March 11th and um so many other ones too I mean these will be coming we'll Posta
cens be a lot of meetings um the March 25th meeting will not only be um a a public a regular public meeting but it will also be the public hearing on our proposed FY 26 budget my concern about
that again mhm is looking at your dates that's not in line it is so the the 11 325 yeah okay it's great that's perfect we just can't go beyond this is our last um yeah so just to clarify what we're talking about we have set up four
meetings hopefully we get this done for the finance subcommittee to meet about the budget hopefully get s in three meetings we have a fourth meeting just before our regular session on the March 11th and it will get voted out of subcommittee yep um so we have a lot of work to do between now and then which we
will do and we will stay tuned you'll all hear lots about it and then March 25th will be public hearing on our FY 26 proposed budget okay um executive session we will be moving into executive session we'll
be adjourning from that um so we will be about to say good night to all of you in the public um executive session pursuant to Mass General law C30 a 21A to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel
and contract negotiations with nonion Personnel Pur pursuant to mgl c30a s21a to conduct strategy with respect to collective bargaining with the EA Teachers Association and support unit oh because we have an Emily okay so that is all
that you will be seeing of us tonight we will see you again on March 11th uh good luck East Hampton all all right lights off e