Start with the pledge of allegiance. Stand algiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible,
justice for all. Hey, public hearing on greater New Bedford vocational technical high school district operating and capital cost budget for fiscal year commencing July
1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027. We're going to open public hearing. >> That's it. We're good. You're going to be >> Okay. Yeah, I got it. Okay. as required
under chapter 71 of the general laws as amended in 1972 by the addition of section 38N. The school committee of each city, town, or regional school district shall hold a
public hearing on its proposed annual budget after publication of a notice thereof in a newspaper having general circulation in such city, town, or district to which such hearing may from
time to time be adjourned. All interested persons shall be given the opportunity to be heard for or against the whole any part of the proposed budget. Therefore, in accordance with Massachusetts general laws and as
advertised in the standard times on April 20th, 2026. This is a public hearing of the proposed Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School District operating cost
budget for fiscal year commencing July 1st, 2026 and ended June 30th, 2027. Does that Yeah. Does any interested party wish to be heard for or against
the whole on any part of the proposed budget? Yeah. Okay. Hearing that. All right. Close. >> I'll make motion to close. >> Okay. >> The public hearing of the budget.
>> Second. >> No. >> Roll call vote. >> Mission. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kitchen. Mr. Olivea. Mr. Shay. Yes, >> Miss Pimento. >> Yes. Okay.
Okay. We're going to public hearing on school choice for fiscal year commencing July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027. We're going to open the second public
hearing. As required under the Massachusetts School Choice Law contained in the Education Reform Act of 1993, the school committee of each city, town,
or regional school district shall hold a public hearing on school choice after publication of a notice thereof in a newspaper having general circulation in such city, town, or district to which
such hearing may from time to time be adjourned. All interested persons shall be given the opportunity to be heard for or against school choice. Therefore, in accordance with Massachusetts school laws and as
advertised in the standard times on April 20th, 2026. This is a public hearing on school choice for fiscal year commencing July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027.
Does any interested party wish to be heard for or against school choice? Hearing none. >> Make a motion to close the public hearing.
>> Second. All those in favor. >> Opposed abstensions hearing that move on. Okay. Okay. A regular meeting of the Greater New
Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School will be held on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026 at 6 PM in the student forum. Okay. Public comment. Comments are welcome
during the public comment segment. Please forward comments to the recording secretary at maria.ffordgvt.edu no later than 3:00 p.m. on Monday, April 27th. There's no or any public comments, Madam
Secretary. Thank you. Okay. Reports freshman exploratory presentation. >> She herea business out of order and if she came out here, I'll take that report. >> Okay, we have to take a vote, right? Oh,
no vote. We don't have to vote. >> I don't need a vote on that. I'll return to the reports if if not. Yeah. >> All right. Adoption of Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School District operating and capital cost budget for fiscal year
commencing July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027. Are we going to >> just continue? Yeah. >> Okay. Motion to be made. Um, I move that
the grain of effort regional vocational technical high school school district committee adopts the final operating capital cost budget commencing July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 in the amount of 58,292,985.
Please note that this amount includes $400,000 from the END and in voting approval of the budget, you are voting to authorize transfer of that amount into the FY27
capital renovations line. >> Okay. >> Second. >> Who made the first? >> I made a Oh, yes, you did. All right. All those in favor roll call. >> Oh, read is on. Roll call. Okay. Roll
call vote. >> Yes. Chin. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Roberto. >> Ribero. >> Dr. Marlin. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shay. >> Yes. >> Miss Pimento. Yes. >> Next.
>> I move to approve the treasur certification on April 28th, 2026 of assessments. >> Sorry, I have to blow it up. levied in accord with provision of section 8 of chapter 428 acts of 1971 as amended by
chapter 769 acts of 1972 upon the city of New Bedford and the towns of Dartmouth and Fair Haven for 12 month operating in capital cost budget from July 1, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 for the greater New Bedford regional vocational technical high school
districts as follows. Dartmouth 6,4897 Fair Haven 2,928534 and New Bedford 6,93689. >> Roll call vote. >> Encourt. Yes. Mr. Kitchen. Mr. Olivivera. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivero.
>> Dr. Marland. >> Yes. Mr. Sheay, >> yes. Mr. Mntal, >> yes. Okay. Vote for again school food school choice for the 2026/2027 school year. Changes in the school
choice law contained in the Education Reform Act of 1993 presumes that each school committee will admit non-resident students under the choice program unless there is a vote to
the contrary by June 1st of each year. The recommendation is that the district committee vote not to participate in school choice for the 2026/20 27 school year due to being overs
subscribed by students from within the district. >> Motion second. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Miss Bentaw. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kitchen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Olivera? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Barrow
>> Mr. Sheay. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Pmental. >> Yes. >> Vote to approve a proclamatory item for the construction craft laborers project. Included in your backup material copy is
the overview of the pro procurement laws regarding proprietary specifications. Request approval. >> Make the motion to approve. >> Second. >> Roll call vote.
>> Discussion. >> Oh, any discussion? Sorry. >> I just want to say that thought this was well presented, not knowing what how the steps were, but again, nice nice job because it was very, you know, easy to explain and why not go with something
that is going to save the district money in the long run. So, nice job. We did that. >> Okay. Any other discussion? Hearing none. Roll call vote. >> Miss Bentaw. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kitchen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Olivera?
>> Yes. >> Mrs. Ribero? >> Yes. >> Dr. Marlin? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheay? >> Yes. >> Miss Pimento? >> Yes. >> Okay. Now we'll have the freshman exploratory presentation. Kathy Rebello
will bring members up to date on the freshman exploratory. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> The same as I do every year. Same data is going to be presented. Um
Right. This first slide just shows the um we're an overview of the seats available for each one of our vocational programs as it stands this school year. Uh it also shows the overall um number of
students choosing or being placed by choice. So the number of first choice uh students who were placed was 415 out of the 528 students. >> This one just shows it a little in a little bit more detail.
Um, I've also included the 25 and 24 data to show you that we are increasing the number of first choices. And that in large part has to do with um a more steady consistent number of students choosing first choices across all
vocational programs. Um, in the past in FY24, I think we had it was maybe 111 kids who wanted electrical first choice. When that happens, it really skews the numbers. So, um, we've lowered that number of first choice. Not that that's
a good thing, but it's it's made things more even and so that allows us to place more first choice students. So, there were 39 students that were not placed at all. The shops that had seats available were Diesel, Computer, Info
Techch, and Engineering. Okay, >> we accepted 565 students. We have a total of 588 seats. So, we can accept more to fill every single seat available. And this this chart really just shows how many first, second,
third, fourth, fifth, and sixth choices were made after exploratory along with the available seats for each one of our vocational programs um across all programs. You guys are really quiet. Anybody have any questions so far? >> Information, but it's good.
>> It's a lot of information. Mr. Shake >> what between the major some shops that are being for other just you know the first 34 automotive 51 which is five 10 years ago that wasn't
the case and so I I know probably hot staff everything else but what do you see as two of the shops that really have improved themselves? I'm not looking at negative commerce. >> Yeah. shops that have really shown
improvement. I would say you're going to see a huge improvement in Hback this year. Um, and then the other one, MetalFab, has shown some really high numbers over the past two years, very consistent. The lower the lower number shops tend to be more the the um
computer-based programs. Um, and you know, things happen in waves. So, and engineering is another one that's that's shown some lower numbers, but yeah, I would say metal fab, HVAC, all of the construction trades, carpentry had really high numbers this year as well.
>> That's one of the low on it. >> That's great that we have. >> Yes. >> And so, you know, it has a lot to do with how we share information with kids and with and with families, right? So the I know for a fact that in carpentry
there was a a lot more conversation around um being a construction supervisor, owning your own business, what does that look like? Um so there's was more of an emphasis on trades uh career pathways in that program. That's very very important and something I
really emphasize with all the teachers um that are exploratory teachers because it really does make a difference. Yeah. >> And a couple years ago, I know Brett and I went to the the advisory with all the advisory leaders. That was a huge focus of conversation was really using that
exploratory to really dig deep into what that shop is going to be. Not just the cute project, but really long term like explaining to kids what your opportunities are in that particular shop. And I think, you know, I think we're going to see this continue in that direction, which is >> Yep. And you know, and that's something
that I'm continuing to work on with folks. Like as I said, some some folks are doing it on their own, but >> more hands-on learning, >> um, project-based learning, and more information is always helpful for kids when they're making choices. This is a this is a career choice for the rest of
their life. >> You know, hopefully they're going to stay in whatever they choose. So, it's really important that we get this right. >> Okay, moving to the next slide. We have um our first this one just shows first choice on the the left hand column and
the right hand column shows first through third and you'll see the numbers there. So you'll see HVAC 189 or 159 first through third choices. That's a pretty big number. >> Um automotive
automotive is at one well automotive is third with 134. That's great. Carpentry, you'll see that that's a carpentry and plumbing are both high numbers this year. So again, it's the construction trade seem to be the ones that are rising up. Legal and protective is pretty consistent. Electrical is pretty
consistent. >> All right. Percentage choosing first to third by number explored. So now we're looking at something a little differently. We're looking at how many kids explored, how many seats are available, and how many chose first through third percentage-wise. We're looking at
percentages now, which is a really more equitable way of looking at it versus just top choice because now we're looking at, well, this many kids went through, this many picked first through third. It really defines better um how the programs are pulling kids into them
into their into their uh group. You'll see HVAC, plumbing, and legal and protective are the top percentage-wise for the number of kids who explored. You'll also notice anything with a star is a single cycle shop. So, you'll notice that the number of kids who are
exploring is less because it's a single cycle shop. So, it should be roughly half. And again, these numbers are a lot more consistent this year. This is something we've been looking at the past three years. Um because there is there is a correlation to how many kids go through
and how many kids pick. They can't pick if they don't go through. Right. >> All right. And this is just this is just a chart showing how many explored. It's it's a repeat of the other one, but it's just a little clearer, that's all. Um and again you can see you know the the
single cycle shops are roughly half of um the double cycle shops as far as how many kids explore. And this is the this is that chart showing available seats just a visual so you can kind of see it in a bar chart. Um
first through third is in red, available seats is in black and then the number explored is in green. So, it's just if you're a visual person, this just helps you a little bit see it visually. This is this one is a really important slide and I share this with all the vocational
exploratory teachers because it really helps to understand well what did kids want coming in the door versus what did they want after they went through exploratory. So, this is a very important piece of data for us to have. So when we look at let's look at HVAC is
number one here they had 120 kids who wanted that program one through six picking it one through six coming in the door 436 explored it not the not the highest number and after exploratory they gained 130 kids who wanted it one through six
so what does that tell us right versus on the bottom end of that what does that tell us it's important information for teachers to see Because if kids have an interest in something before they come in, the question is did did they not understand the program
before they came in or what happened between the interest they had coming in and if they lost interest >> after explosion? >> Any questions on that? >> Some of the shots that were shot so well.
>> It's interesting. It's it's interesting to really look at this. >> This is the last slide. This is just showing over time. This is I always end with this. It just shows you, you know, top three choices in in um FY20 versus FY26.
Um and then it also shows uh top choices, top three in FY14 over FY26. you can kind of see >> uh you know what's changed. >> Yes, >> this is great. Thank you. You know to do
this >> I have and maybe you can't do it but let's take one of the schools like Diamond near us. I know they I think the machine shop has been very good in the past years and other certain shops. Uh do you ever communicate with other large
cable schools on see how their numbers have been going to is one like school for example getting 80% of the first choice into a s shop and we're getting 10%. I'm just cur I mean that's kind of a way it out situation but is that down
and up very similar the shop area and other large schools. Does that make sense? >> Yes. >> Okay. It to it totally makes sense to answer your first question. We do look at other vocational schools particularly like if our numbers are low in a shop and we know someone else's are doing
better. That's something we want to explore. Want to find out what's going on there. For example, we've our engineering teachers have been to um Tri County three times. They have a very very successful engineering program there. We've brought them out three times. Every teacher has been there.
They've seen it. Um today we had a conversation about um uh uh machine tech and we know that Diamond has really high numbers at their school. So I I've asked that our teachers get to they reach out to find out what Diamond's doing
different because we have a fantastic program. We have wonderful equipment in that program. There is no reason why we aren't getting more picks. Um it's a shop that's turning around. I just don't know. I I think part of it has to do with parents not understanding that
there's a lot of jobs in manufacturing and kids not really understanding you know what career pathways are available to them. The teachers are doing a great job in there. They really really are. >> Yeah. Car was not to address indeed just that some schools have always been
here program talk about skills USA BPA and then what are they doing you know uh but it's great to see the comparison and it's great to see collaboration because if they do something or they have a program that might be attracting more
kids then why not so >> correct >> I appreciate that >> thank you and and I also have to add that a lot of the computer-based programs in other schools are also bringing low numbers. Um, you know, that was I want to say 15 20 years ago the
numbers were higher in those programs. Today it's a little lower because we use them every day. It's not a novelty anymore. >> So Kathy had a question. Do you ever have like local people in the industry come into Exploratory and address the programs? I look at machine tech only.
My brother's a machinist. There's a very large employer in this city who is offering ex pretty nice paycheck to be a machinist, >> right? >> And I think about having somebody from that location come in and address, you
know, kids here to say this is what it looks like and this is the need right now in the in the New Bedford community for that particular trade and they're having a hard time finding people. >> That's correct. The pay rate is crazy right now for that. >> That's correct. There's a lot of manufacturing um industry in this area
and there's no reason why we can't do that. Um as as well as having kids go out and and go to different I know there's an engineering company I'm not sure the name of it. Wally had gone with um >> I think Jeff went with you that time. What's the name of that company?
>> The engineering place. >> No there's a place So that's a place you would think engineering, right? Yeah, >> there's machinists there, too. Titalist. There's a lot of companies around the area that we need to really start to embrace more, >> get them more involved in our shops to
um help bolster those numbers. >> Thank you. Very nice. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate your time. >> Thank you. report on personal appointments, retirements or resignations to be replaced received and placed on
file. >> Make the motion to receive and place on file. >> Have a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Nope. Roll call vote? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kitchen? >> Yes. >> Mr. Olivera? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rivero?
>> Dr. Marlin? Yes, >> Mr. Sheay. >> Yes, >> Miss Pimento. >> Yes. >> Okay, moving on. Donation from our sister school. >> Call vote.
>> Miss Benton Court. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kitchen. Mr. Olivera. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Roberto. >> Yes. >> Dr. Marlin. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheay, yes. Miss Pimento. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Any committee discussion?
>> This is for de will be putting together the evaluation materials for me. Um I'm in year two of a year of two uh summit of evaluation. It's run through the chair. Carol um possibly maybe u Mr. Kitchen or Miss Bettton Court or someone can assist with that. But Mrs. Fdet will
be putting the materials together. you will get a binder of materials. I'll I'll try to keep it tighter. I know you you saw last year's already. I could give it to you uh because really last year's also counts in this year because the two-year thing, but I'll try to narrow it down specifically around the goals for the two things. We will
deliver those to you within the next two to three weeks. By the first week of June, you'll have to just uh each individually respond either to the chair or through Maria so the chair can be prepared for the June meeting. So, I want to make sure I get you that stuff within the next two to three weeks. So you have ample time to review it.
>> The truffle. >> Well, we'll we'll cut it back a little. We can we can we can do a little bit of that. >> We'll cut it back a little bit. Second thing I wanted to note um I think given the aviation conversation that we had last month, we did receive a donation uh
from Chris Cunningham for an airplane. Um which is wonderful except I have absolutely no place to put an airplane today. So, I wanted to kind of advise the committee that I will very nicely >> uh respond and decline on our behalf that, you know, possibly in the future as we get this program,
>> no pun intended, off the ground if that's where we end up, uh we can revisit the airplane. But at at the moment, I don't have any place to store an aircraft. So, >> any other committee discussion hearing that?
>> Yes. Motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second. >> Yes. >> Barrett. >> Yes. >> Dr. Marlin. Yes. >> Mr. Sheay. Yes. M. Pimento.
>> Yes. >> Meeting adjourned.