Please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all. Can we have a roll call vote, please? here. >> Here. >> Yes. >> Yes. Thank you.
>> To notify you that a regular meeting of the Greater New Beford Regional Vocational Technical High Schools District Committee we held on Tuesday, March 10th, 2026, 11:21 Ashley Boulevard in Beford,
Massachusetts at 6 PM the student forum. Do we have any public comments for tonight? >> There were none submitted. >> Okay. Next on the agenda will be the uh reading of the substance of the minutes. We have to have two votes, one for the regular and one for the executive
session. Do I have a motion for the regular minutes? >> So second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I roll call. >> Roll call. I have big
>> roll call, please. >> Yep. Miss Benton Court. Yes. >> Mr. Kitchen. >> Yes. Mr. Olivera, >> yes. >> Miss Treup, >> yes. >> Dr. Marlin, >> yes. >> Mr. Mento, >> yes. >> Mr. Shay, >> yes. >> All right. For executive session, we
have a motion. And executive session vote will be taken but hold the minutes of the executive session until the matter is complete. >> Motion to approve. >> A motion. Second. >> Second. >> If not, can we have a roll call vote, please?
>> Miss Benton Court. Yes, >> Mr. Kitchen. >> Yes, >> Mr. Olivera. >> Yes, >> Miss Treup. >> Yes, >> Dr. Marlin. >> Yes, >> Miss Pimento. >> Yes, >> Mr. Shay. >> Yes, >> reports. Uh, we have a auditor's report. Pam, I want to pass this on to you. Want
to speak on it? We have Robert Russell here from Safari to present the fiscal year. Welcome. Hello everyone. Good evening. I'll do my best to keep this as uh complete but as concise as possible as I know there's a
lot of business to attend to. Uh as Pam mentioned, my name is Robert Russell. I'm part of the audit team that performed fiscal year 2025 financial statement audit for the district. And I'd like to briefly go over these audited financial statements and briefly also go over the single audit which is
the federal fund compliance audit for the fiscal year end of June 30th, 2025. To start, it should be mentioned that the district received a clean or unmodified opinion on the financial statements which are presented in accordance with US generally accepted
accounting principles and any pronouncements issued by the governmental accounting standards board. Now on page five starts the management's discussion and analysis section. I'd like to highlight some important figures for both the governmentwide financial statements and the governmental fund
financial statements. The difference between these two formats is the focus of transactions that are captured. Governmentwide captures all long-term assets and liabilities, whereas governmental fund financial statements are built with more of a short-term focus on near-term inflows of spendable
resources as well as the balances of those spendable resources available at the end of the fiscal year. Now, this information is arguably more useful in evaluating near-term financing requirements. Please refer to pages six through seven for more information on these two presentations.
Now the largest differences shown on the governmentwide statements that are not shown on the governmental fund financial statements are typically the changes in the net pension liability of the district, the changes in the net other post-employment benefits or oped liability and any capital assets and associated depreciation expense of the
district. Additionally, the district presents fiduciary funds separately which are comprised of scholarship funds, the OPE trust fund and student activity funds. Fiduciary funds are excluded from the governmentwide financial statements because the district cannot use assets
from these funds to finance its operations. On the governmentwide basis, the general revenues of the district accounted for 50.9 million in revenue or about 78% of all revenues. Program specific revenues in the form of charges for services
operating and capital grants and contributions accounted for 10.8 8 million or 22% of the total revenues of roughly 61.7 million. General revenues increased over the prior year by 2.9 million or
approximately 4.4% primarily due to increases in chapter 70 school aid. The district had 61.7 million in expenses. 10.8 million of these expenses were offset by program specific charges for services, grants, and contributions.
general revenues which were primarily member assessments and state aid were adequate to provide for the remaining expenses. >> However, on the governmental fund basis among the major funds, the general fund had 58.4 million in revenues, 58.6
billion in expenditures. general funds fund equity >> roughly 405,000 during fiscal year 2025 state aid and town assessments of 42.9 million and 14.9 million respectively with a major portion of general fund
revenue to highlight some additional figures in this section of the MDNA going to move to page nine the total net position of the district increased by roughly 3.9 million on a governmentwide basis during fiscal year 2025 and I'd I'd like to
highlight the f uh the material changes. Capital outlay exceeded depreciation expense by roughly 2.4 million during the year. There was also about a 537,000 increase in the district's share of total pension expense and related
deferred outflows and inflows of resources pertaining to the new Bedford retirement system. For more information on the net pension liability, see the notes of the financial statements. The district's net op liability or NO increased roughly 1.8 million over the prior year and this is
due to plan experience and assumption changes related to the actuarial estimate of future increases in healthcare costs. During the prior year, the annual had increased roughly 1.1 million. For more information regarding this netub obligation, please see the financial
statements as well. Now moving on to page 12 to discuss some general fund budgetary highlights. While the district adopted a balanced budget for the general fund utilizing 400,000 for excess and deficiency, the actual results for the fiscal year showed a positive turnback of 769,000 before
utilization of END. Actual revenues were 817,000 more than expected during the year. This favorable variance was a result of chapter 71 regional transportation receipts being about 263,000 higher than budgeted and unbudgeted
other revenue with the actual receipts being roughly 165,000. These other revenues consisted primarily of retirey drug subsidies and school-based Medicaid revenues. Actual expenditures were about 49,000 more than
expected during the fiscal year and the district is carrying forward encumbered goods and services totaling 3.2 million at fiscal year 25 25 year end into 2026. I'd like to also briefly discuss the capital assets and debt administration and during the fiscal year the district
had invested in a broad range of capital assets. Total depreciation expense for the year was roughly 5 million which increased about 275,000 over the prior year. Note five in the financial statements contains more detail on the capital asset schedule.
The district also had general obligation bonds outstanding at the end of fiscal year 2025 in the amount of 1,345,000 as excuse me as a result of the school building addition. A payment of 365,000
is due in fiscal year 2026 with about 320,000 of that payment representing principal. Additional e economic factors that should be highlighted include the district's chapter 70 funding increasing by about 1.9 million, chapter 71 funding
decreasing by about 327,000 and member assessments increasing by a total of 958,000. This is due to the town of Dartmouth, town of Dartmouth's assessment increasing by 12, excuse me, 128,000, the town of Fair Haven increasing by
about 269,000, and the city of New Bedford increasing by about 562,000. The rest of the financial statements cover the basic financial statements, the notes of the financial statements which discuss the significant accounting policies of the district, member
assessments, cash and cash equivalents, capital asset details, notes on the pension plan and OPED, long-term debt schedules, budget versus actual information, and other required supplementary information as required by the Gatsby. And I'd also like to briefly mention
that the district's single audit went quite smoothly smoothly this year. And this is a federal compliance audit that's mandatory to be performed when any entity expends 750,000 or more in federal funds in any given fiscal year.
The total federal expenditures in fiscal year 2025 were about 4.7 million. And the programs that were selected for testing were the title one program and the co 19 esser grant. We're happy to report that there are no findings as a result of testing in either program and
the district appears to be managing its federally funded grants. Well, that summarizes my presentation for the 2025 audits of the district. Uh, thank you very much for your time and I'll take any questions now if anyone has any. the liability relationship
>> contribution that's made >> and what what is I guess our ultimate liability >> right now the district's fiduciary um fiduciary net position is it's fluctuated between 0.5 and 1% for the
past about five fiscal years I'd say um eventually those liabilities are going to become due Um, so we would recommend that the district increase its its uh contributions to the plan, but as of right now, that's a significant chunk of the long-term liabilities on the
governmentwide financial statements. >> Thank you very much for report. >> And I also like at this time to thank, you know, Pam Stewart and your staff for doing a fine job and uh keeping us going forward. So nice job. Thank you very much.
>> Next on the agenda is the year teaching plan new presenting that tonight. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Just let me log in here real quick. Okay. Thank you. Good evening folks. um
appreciate the opportunity here to speak to you regarding our midyear review with respect to our strategic plan. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Greg Haley. Um and I'm I'd like to preface this presentation quite frankly by publicly acknowledge acknowledging
all the hard work and the effort of our faculty and staff. It's been very evident to me in my conversations with them throughout this year as we do some trimester views and check-ins that they are they are on they are on task. They are committed. They're dedicated and um
they're working extremely hard to meet our initiatives and our strategic goals on behalf of our students and our and our our district and for the betterment of those students. So, uh thank you to them for all their hard work. It does not go unnoticed.
Okay. So without further excell. Yeah. Okay. First I'd like to talk about a couple of key metrics. I mean I don't want to discount all the work that everyone has done but I some of these things just really popped out at me. Okay. So some really some strong highlights around up this year is first
and foremost our applications are up again over a thousand. That's un that's just amazing. It's just it's just a strong uh a strong uh metric there that that shows that there's community trust in in what we do here. So, uh next is I'd like to highlight our marine
services area. Uh they were the first high school program in the country to be certified by the American Boat and Yacht Council. So, I think that's just tre tremendous to be the first in the nation anything is is fantastic. Uh, another big metric
that jump number that jumped out at me is uh the number of generations that we've been using through our magic school uh program. Uh 5 months into the school year, there was close to 10,000 uh uses and many of them, most of them, the majority of them are working on um
helping teachers to enhance their their their lessons to create differentiated instruction to uh implement tier one supports and decap strategies which have been implemented throughout all departments. Um
and again just to uh just to remind folks um I did spend a lot of time curating some examples um along those lines across all departments andmies that show some of our best practices across the building. Uh I hope you spent
some time reviewing that. It's an impressive work by all. I mean, this is by no means going to be a comprehensive um report with with respect to all the hard work that's being done, but but it is being done throughout the building and uh it's been very very impressive.
Next up, we'll move on to objective one. So as you know objective one is to provide highquality engaging and relevant learning experiences in a dynamic environment that promotes student growth builds a culture of
innovation and prepares all students to be productive global citizens. Uh the first initiative is initiative 1.1 which deals with revamping the exploratory model. those that work is
underway. Uh it's currently being the model's currently being uh is currently being assessed, excuse me, for uh uh for viability for a pre-exploratory program. Those discussions are underway. It's going to there's some conversations
of of whether or not we're going to move that to to uh not next year but the year after to in conjunction with this the school schedule redesign. Um but a lot of great discussions and a lot of hard work have been done by Kathy Rebello and her folks to create uh the framework for
a pre-exploratory model which will allow all of our students to experience the learning experiences for all their shop in each and every shop. Um next up we have Next up we have the curricul um sorry redesigning the
curriculum and accommodation for student success. So that is a an issue that's on track. Uh we have like as I mentioned in the previous slide we have had 100 100% of department submissions regarding uh tier one supports and updating around decap and universal design for learning.
Uh again those many of those examples are in your packet. Um I would say we're doing we're we're doing a a fine job in that area. Um right from the get-go this the beginning of the year they and started actually last year with some professional development around UDL and
DECAP that the the teachers have really done a great job throughout the building to to to continue to work and supporting our students and enhancing their learning experiences. And then initiative number three um deals with collaborative educator
development and integration. So I just wanted to highlight here with respect to some of the learning experiences for the students uh highlight the work that's being done by Henry Deg Grace and and Mrs. Methier in the in the co-op department. Uh as of the halfway point
of the school year 77% of our students uh Mr. Grace has met the almost threequarters of the goal halfway through the school year as far as increasing uh the number of folks that go out on on co-op and and he's 85% of
the way towards his goal to increase the number of partnerships with with uh employers throughout the region. All that work was done at the halfway point and I'm looking forward to getting an update at the end of this at the end of this week when we get to the trimester 2 reviews. Uh in addition to that there we
are done some baseline um baseline baseline credential information is in your packet regarding the different certifications and industry recognized credentials that the students are earning throughout this uh last year and we'll be continuing to to uh work on
throughout this year. So we'll have an update on that on um their progress obviously towards the end of the year when that information comes available. Most of these industry recognized credentials are consist of end of the year um exams.
Next we have Next we have objective two which is professional which deals with professional growth and cultivate cultivating a robust professional development environment that emphasizes inclusive and effective
instructional strategies to meet the diverse learning needs of all students. So again we spoke a little bit about the universal div design for learning the the lesson plan uh that have been reworked. there was some extensive uh professional development that was delivered last year and this year that
was very wellreceived. Uh the folks from from CAST um came have come in and worked with us throughout throughout the school year and again the work has been very well received and it's it's it's evident to me and to all to many the impact it's having on the students uh
making this implementing some of these these strategies that that our folks have been working on. In addition uh in addition we're looking to enhance uh inclusive and effective instructional strategies and inclusive and equitable
instructional strategies. So that work is continuing as well. Some of the examples uh in this in the special ed and English language learn learning space. We had some professional development from Jessica Minahan regarding uh disregulated students and supporting students uh with behavior
plans and modifications. And again just to highlight the magic school integration 65% of the uses right now uh throughout through halfway through the year were focused on enhancing instructional materials. Um and we saw a big jump in the the number
of usage that where they were spec specifically looking to differentiate lesson plans and activities for all students in their class wherever they may be. uh and interesting enough it's come that we're taking that AI and and
that to the next level where students are actually using the technology to generate practice quizzes for and and questions for themselves. Uh um so the students are are getting involved in in the magic school world as well. So it's it's an exciting time honestly and I
think it's it's it it's it's been very well received throughout the the building the extensive professional development that we the folks have received. Uh moving on to the next objective is objective three which is around safe and supportive environments. Right? We want to provide an education that's rigorous, relevant and meaningful
to each student and we want to keep them safe and secure. So some of the some of the highlights for initiative 31 is is we're looking at our grading review policies across the building. We're doing a three-year look back looking at how we grade folks. Is there consistency across departments? Is there consistency
across uh buildings? Um, is it is it equitable? Is it um is it comprehensive? Do we need to maybe make some changes around there? Um, we've also working on again the scheduling rescheduling to implement a what we're calling a wind block or what
I need block or a bear block for a schedule redesign is a big part of this uh coming on board. Uh not not this school year, not next school year, but the year after. there's been extensive conversations and meetings around that schedule and they will continue throughout this year. Um,
and I think that's really again another another way in which we can just ultimately support students uh more effectively, >> right? >> And then of course there's some basic some safety and security issues. Some of the highlights there's been a lot of things around this this area. Some of the highlights again as you know we're
implemented the yonder pouches. Um we have implemented stayput drills. We've implemented a live um alice training much like a fire drill but live unannounced. Uh there's been training on systems for the turnin in training.
There's been midyear trainings on you know from the health of from the nurses on on epien and seizure protocols. So the safety and security of of our students is clearly a primary focus and something we keep an eye on throughout the year and will continue to do so. Uh
in addition to to the safe and supportive environment, there's there's also some smart goals around uh reviewing our procedures and our policies and our protocols. Uh Miss Yolanda Dennis is working on that extensively. I had the opportunity to meet with her earlier in the year and
she had already had a a stack of of reviews that she had she had been working on. So, she's well we're well on track to create to providing that executive summary uh come May of 2026. And then lastly, I want to focus on some work that uh Rachel Maderas has done in
the guidance department. She has reworked our 504 eligibility workflow. work very closely with guidance counselors to sort of call out the information in the 504s that truly are tier one decap strategies and to remind teachers that these are tier one decap strategies uh that are in the 504. So uh
and then the workflow of how all that whole process works is she hit the ground running on that this earlier this year. It's been it's been quite impressive. Um so uh let's move on to last but not least. There we go.
Objective four, partnerships and community. Two initiatives here in 41 and 42 and 43. So the parent advisory committee, we've uh had two meetings of the parent advisory committee. Um there was a one on January 15th. There's
one again scheduled for April, I believe, the last one. We've uh provided we've actively sought feedback and implemented some some feedback back into some of our policy creation or protocols. Uh there's been a three there's been as of the halfway point
there were three or four thought exchanges. We've done parent square training. So again uh increasing that commitment to to being keeping our communities involved, our parents involved, our stakeholders involved is uh is ongoing as well. And lastly, uh,
you know, we've committed in in initiative 4.4 to enhance our industry partnerships and community engagement. Um, there are we've done through a through a number of of avenues. We've accomplished that through our fall and general advisory meetings. We've hosted a legislative breakfast. We've met with
BCC. There's been extensive work along those lines. um uh down to the the to the community out to the community and down to the school level where school students are being invol are involved in school council and the superintendent council and so on and so forth. So happy
to happy to say that things are progressing very nicely across all objectives. Um moving on, we are at the end of trimester 2. So between that mean we well we'll hear some more updates later on this week on the trimester 2 initiatives and the progress and then
into trimester 3 just want to highlight where I feel like some of the things are going forward. So there's you know the key things for me is some calibration or continue to refine and uh what we're what we're doing uh continue to increase
uh the way we track our measures and the metrics that we track by implementing and onboarding some dashboards data dashboards uh including an MTSS dashboard uh enhancing some work that uh we're working with a company I'm working with a company arra on attendance and
some data on incoming freshmen continuing to work on our dashboards around um around exploratory and admissions data. Um we're also migrating some platforms. So we'll be under the direction of desi
there's an initiative called my cap my career my career and profession and planning. Uh we'll be transitioning into a new platform called me for pathways to support that work. We've put together a great a great committee to uh to plan
for the full implementation of the MYAP uh platform to begin next year. We're we're going to also be working on enhancing some of our work in frontline around it uh to adding a module that will assist us with professional
development delivery with professional development planning for the tracking of professional development points and in in and excuse me in IPIPS individual professional development plans. That work is is underway as of a few weeks ago. Um you know and again the district is out
is will be rolling out some enhanced software going forward for with respect to our asset tracking capabilities and upgrading uh our existing FMX system which is our system for technology and maintenance requests. So I mean across the board from the classroom to the
executive suite to the facilities to the IT department the the work is is ongoing and the commitment and is there and it's been very impre impressive to to to see the amount of work that is happening daily throughout this basis this this
building. Um so I'm going to f uh I'm going to finish up here. I'm here I'm available for questions either tonight or through uh directly through my phone number my email. I'll share out this this presentation with with all with you folks. Um certainly contact me if you
want uh more information or more resources. I would like to highlight one last thing. If you can bear with me some project that I've been working on project I've been working on at the direction of Mr. Watson and Mr. pious
where we are providing our stakeholder holders and our community members and yourselves uh a public facing website um to again to track our initiative. So this is a prototype. It's a work in
progress. It's it's a I'll be work continuing to work on this throughout the year, but the idea is this will be on our websites so anyone can come on in and track uh to see where we are relative to our strategic plan. relative to our strategic initiatives to our
smart goals whether they be student learning goals, professional practice goals. We're integrating some data, real life data around attendance. Uh you'll you'll see some more updates regarding those industry recognized credentials. You'll see um more information on the
co-op and placement data. So, um, it's just an effort to be more transparent and more more, uh, open about where we are and what we do here on a regular basis, on a day-to-day basis. So, I hope you spend some time reviewing that as well. Thank you so much for your time. If
there's any questions, I'm certainly know this, you know, all this work is happening. We've talked about all the different initiatives, all the things that we needed to look at. MTSS specifically, student supports specifically, but to see it kind of rolling and, you know, being embraced by
the staff is huge. We've been waiting a really long time for this. So, um, I really appreciate the the deep dive that you've done for us today. Thank you. >> Thank you. It's been my privilege. >> Also, I want to thank you and your faculty and staff for all the work. It's a lot of work that went into it. I know there's a lot more going. you just
probably hit the top of the iceberg from what they say. But >> again, very very appreciative. >> Anybody else questions? >> I could just add in uh Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Mr. Haley and the members of the team as well and I want to continue to belabor the work that staff
has done. They've done exemplary work in this and I want to highlight that this is really year two of our strategic plan and we are now hopefully what you see and I know there'll be more time to review is that we're in the implementation phase of a lot of this work and and one of the big pieces of the strategic administrator's role is to
make sure that we're dedicating district level staff to the follow through and consistent implementation of the work and that's where districts often lose track. I mean the fires that come from running a school district every day just keep coming. Um, and so as part of the reorganization, which you you supported
in last year's budget and Mr. Haley's presentation tonight, it's a focused individual who's literally met with every administrator focus groups in the administrative help uh to track and build the system. So when we we talk about some of the system designs like Aubrey implementation, our MTSS work and
our decap roll out uh and and getting Mr. Pas and Mr. Aruter on the track to be able to asset manage all the resources in the district. Mr. Haley's behind the scenes doing that stuff when we have the calls that are made. He's the designated administrator to make sure that the vendors and the products are being seamlessly connected and
intertwined into our work. And so, um, I appreciate the vision of the committee to back that in the budget last year. I appreciate the work that Mr. Haley has done to help launch that this year. Um, and this is the beginning of what we will see over the next several years of rolling data to support the work the
district is doing every single day on behalf of kids and our communities. I just want to reiterate that, you know, that was a discussion we all had about adding a position that was another administrative position, >> right? >> But to be able to have a dedicated individual that you're not pulling from classroom or pulling people from other
things and only being able to do things intermittently. This is you can see the level of acceleration we've had from talking about it to what was presented today when you have an individual who's focusing just on the strategic plan. So, I think it was a great move on your part.
>> Thank you. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you, folks. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate your continued support. >> Next on the agenda is the approval of bills including the back of material is a copy of warrants 26-07
and 26-08. The amounts of $549,10048 and 511,82680. Looking for a motion to accept. >> Second >> second. Uh any discussion? One question. So
>> I have to look into the notes provided me on John Deere. I know it's something for facilities based on the GL code, but I'll have to look exactly because I can't log into the financial system outside of the office. >> Right. >> I will respond tomorrow morning. >> Kind of an odd time of year. Unless he's
unless he's getting ready. I will respond tomorrow morning with one. >> Not that it's not that pressing. >> Any other questions? If not, can we have a roll call vote, please? >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Yep. Next is student represent representative report. Okay. Amelia will bring members up to date on the events taking place
amongst us to embody. It's all yours. >> Hello. >> Hello. >> All enjoyed your break. >> We have had a lot going on since then. We have set in stone our three most important activities of the year. Our spirit days,
our prep rally, and our senior week. So, our spirit days are May 6th and 7th for cycle 26 and May 13th and 14th for cycle 27th. We are doing two brand new days, which I'm going to be honest with you, a little tough, but it's okay. We're going to get through it. We're doing Mathlete
versus athlete, which is dress nerdy or dress like an athlete, and royalty day. So, dress like a king, a queen, a prince, or a princess. It's been tough getting people to accept that we're doing something new, but I'll live. I'll survive. And next we are doing our pep
rally on May 15th uh outside on the football field. We are doing colors which we tried to do that in the fall with homecoming, but it was it was a little tough. So we decided to do it again so we could actually do it cuz it's one of the themes that everybody likes to do. Everybody asks every year
to do it. So it's going to be like it normally is. Seniors wear black, juniors wear gold, sophomores wear green, and freshman wear white. That's everybody likes it and I like to keep people happy. So, for our pep rally, Mr. Rivera and I talked about doing a student
versus staff flag football game. And the students who won the junior or the students will be the juniors who won the powderpuff game in the fall. So, that would be another incentive to doing the powderpuff game, which is a senior class fundraiser that if you win the powderpuff game, you get to play against
teachers in the spring. So, Mr. Rivera came up with the idea. I thought it was a very good idea and I thought it would be harder getting like teachers and staff to be involved but every single like teacher I've been like you should do this. They're like when they want to do it which is very exciting. I thought it was going to be really hard to be like yeah play against a bunch of high
schoolers in a flag football game but they want to do it which is exciting. And then senior week which is cycle 28. It's our last week here before prom and then graduation. On May 18th is senior citizen day. So, we all get to dress like senior
citizens. On May 19th is teacher student swap day. So, you go up to a teacher a couple weeks in advance and ask them to swap outfits with you. So, they would dress how you normally dress and you would dress how they normally dress. Now, I
have to go out and buy a suit cuz of you. And then May 20th is anything but a backpack with restrictions. we've talked about because last year we had quite a few problems with kayaks and canoes. So, it's anything but a backpack if you can
fit it through the front door in one singular door, not like having all of them open. And then May 21st, which is our last day, which is senior signout day, is committed/trade day. So, you just dress comfortably. It's our last day. We're just going to drop things off, pick things up. So, you just wear
the sweatshirt or shirt that represents what school you're going to or what trade you're going into. And that's all I have for you. >> Thank you. >> Liked it. And I heard you're doing well on where you're going next year.
>> Yes. I got into Princeton. >> Oh, thank you. I got into Princeton. I got a presidential scholarship, so I'm going to go for four years. And >> yeah, good for you. Thank you. >> You have all the tools necessary to be successful.
>> Exactly. I got them all here. >> Oh, you are good. >> Thank you. >> Checks in the mail. >> Yeah, that again. Thank you very much for your report. Awesome. >> Thank you. >> Uh, next few superintendent watch yours. So, let's start with the superintendent
shout out, please. Thank you, Mr. Jay. Uh, >> so it's going to be difficult not to celebrate the work of everyone, but I have to mention the snow crew for the facility team who just did exemplary work last month uh to clear the facility really in in 72 hours or so am missid
probably the worst blizzard in most of our lifetimes. So, um you know, I'm really appreciative of those guys. It was not easy for them to get here. Uh, and the work that they did, uh, literally for hours and hours and hours to help get the lot cleaned, um, is
nothing short of amazing. So, my deep appreciation to Zeb and the team, uh, for their work and being able to clear the lot uh, very quickly. >> Just tell my kids and grandkids of, you know, I'm 78, you know, the SA 78. Now, that's second place.
>> Yeah. Now these kids are going to talk about 2026 and I think maybe I'm recommending if you could send out something to all the people that did that work and from the school committee >> we'll do >> tell them that we are very pleased, very happy, very supportive and you know is
above and beyond. So if you could send that out from us I think it would be important. >> We absolutely will do that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? If not the artisan report. the artisan report. Uh obviously Mr. Williams extends his apologies. He's at
a professional development event today and uh tomorrow. The artisan report is embedded within your packets. There are updates in just about all of our programs and academic areas uh consistent with a lot of the work and highlights some of the great student successes that have happened across the program programs as well as a lot of the
anticipated uh assessments and things that are coming up for students. Uh so you're welcome to peruse that uh at your availability. And next would be the parent communications. >> Embedded in uh the packets are the poss reports for the last two weeks uh for
all four grades, grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. Again, all of these are uh funneled through Miss Dennis's office. Uh Maria Dlo works to return every one of the comments and phone numbers that parents leave um you know, comments or information about as well as direct those comments to the appropriate
administrator and staff members for follow through. All right. And the last one in your category are superintendent weekly updates. >> So you have a lot of them there because we were unable to meet in February, but there's the last six or so weekly newsletters. Uh again, those are sent to
the staff every Monday morning just to kind of advise them on the work the district is undertaking in that particular week as well as highlight some of the successes and things that we've accomplished as a school district. >> Before we go new business, any questions of the old business you want to ask?
If if not, we'll move on. The next one on first one on the new business is the creation of the budget subcommittee meeting dates for March and April 2026. And there are some suggested dates that are there. And I believe it's
Mrs. Roberto, Miss Treup, Dr. Marlin, and Mr. Kitchen serve on the budget subcommittee. So, it's not something we need to vote on, but most to see if that works for you so that Mr. Watson can move to the next step. Is any questions
on that from the people that are on the committee? >> Are those dates acceptable to members of the committee? Is there um we we proposed March 16th, March 30th, and April 6th? Those are Mondays and we can be flexible on the time really depending
on what makes sense for you guys. Um and I don't want to put you on the spot. We can certainly follow up on that uh later in the week. just we will need to post those meetings, you know, 72 hours in advance to make sure we satisfy the local requirements, but definitely within 48. Um, and our plan is to do
what we launched a few years ago, which is to have three budget subcommittee meetings. First one where we present uh the district's proposal. Um, it'll be a short informational meeting really for for members of the public that are interested, but also for the members of the subcommittee, and then really dive deeper into that budget proposal over
the two subsequent meetings. And that way we'll be in a position uh where hopefully the members of the subcommittee feel confident in the budget that we'll bring before the full school committee on April 15th. And keep in mind next month's meeting is April it's uh Wednesday April 15th um because
some members will be traveling back from the conference on the 14th. >> All right. >> So we we haven't settled on time. We certainly can do them during the day or in the afternoon really at the pleasure of the subcommittee and based upon the
schedules that you folks have. And if you want, we can have uh Mrs. Fidet reach out. Um you know, tomorrow or Thursday. Um next Monday is our first tenative one if that works. We don't have to do it that day. We could push it to the 23rd, but I I just want, you
know, if we do, we do need to post it by Thursday if we're going to do it on Monday. So Mrs. for debt will reach out to those members and we'll we'll get a schedule together tomorrow. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh we proposed March 16th, March 30th,
and April 6th. Um we could switch the 16th if that's too tight to the 23rd. Um and do three Mondays in a row, but that's up to you guys. And you know,
the time can be really flexible. >> Well, we have all through it. They're aware of it. I know Mrs. B here, but we can get the message to her. >> Yep. >> Um on the admissions policy update, um you want to bring the committee up to where we are. >> Yes. Thank you, uh Mr. Chairman. Uh so
the admissions policy of course was approved by the school committee uh in the fall. Um since then, you've learned of course the part B application was submitted for the new program for construction craft labor on March 6th. Um we are expanding our business and tech program which is now moved into the shop side. Uh what I am asking the
committee tonight is to uh open the admissions policy and authorize the district to take up to 625 students assuming the program has the programs are approved. So I want to make sure that we're in a position to act in the fall in the spring without having to
come back uh after we run the initial lottery on April 15th. Keep in mind that generally speaking over the last several years about 80 to 90% of kids uh accept admission and some decline. So I feel very confident even if we wanted to land
at a number like 600, we could take 625 and and we will get to 600 by that point. I mean it's it's not happened yet in my 5 years where 100% of the kids accept uh application. It's generally around 80 to 90% kind of in the middle of that that space. So, um I just want
to make sure that we're able to notify as many students as possible uh at the time of the draw drawing on April 15th, in which case we'll have a much better idea of where programs are moving through DESIE. Um but that's our next meeting and I don't I don't want to have to schedule an additional meeting with
the committee. I'd rather ask for the authorization to take the students now. >> Grant, >> the information on the grant is embargoed. Um but uh yes, I have heard and I'm happy to speak. So we're just waiting on the certification, right? >> Yeah. So this it's two pathways, right?
So the the grant application is going through the executive office uh which includes funding for the construction of additional space uh which will not be needed in September, right? The current space in the in the where outside construction has been placed uh for carpentry is the initial space for construction craft labor. This would be
more for the sophomore year and beyond. Uh and then there's the pathway for the the program approval which is going through the department of elementary and secondary education. We just submitted the part B application on Friday. Uh there'll be a site visit scheduled at some point later this spring. Um but
again, we feel pretty confident that all of the steps have been taken. Uh we've worked with the department at every step of the process. We are applying for a skills capital grant as well specifically for construction craft labor to deal with some of the equipment purchases that will be needed uh in the lab modernization. Uh that's due a in
early April. Um, so all of those pieces are kind of are kind of moving and I'm happy to advise the committee individually um on the progress of where the grants are and other avenues that we are also pursuing that I highlighted. >> What questions by committee members?
All right. Now, just an update. So, we'll move on to >> Well, I would take a Yeah, I would take a motion on the uh ability to grant the superintendent the ability to accept up to 625 students. >> Where are we now? We're at we take 575.
We're a little under 575 right now. Um the plan is to take 32 students for construction craft labor and 18 uh in business technology. So that's the 50. Um we would likely start around 625. Some would weed uh over the course of April to May and then we would be in a
better position to kind of reassess how many more we take at that point. But it would also pretty much guarantee that we' we'd be able to reach close to 700 of the thousand applicants would get a letter of acceptance, which I know this amanks with the entire lottery process as well. And so I'm trying to soften uh
the need to put people through twoe windows as we build the full I we're going to have a full class. There's a thousand students that have applied. Uh the question is when um and you know how how we have to work through that with families and our staff. >> Do you have a plan for the academic side? We do the additional 50. So there
the two rooms that are vacated. We are good. We are good. The two rooms that were vacated for business tech are now um are now there are now open. We're going to put two classrooms up there as well. Um we are redoing some schedule pieces that are going to create additional spaces. Uh and again when we're talking about the number of kids
that will be extra next year. >> Uh it's very manageable in the existing flow. Uh it does become an academic issue as we bring 50 kids in right 200 kids over four years which is why we're calibrating a lot of the spaces now. Other
questions? And not so we need a motion to approve to give the superintendent Watson the leeway to move up to numbers >> to 625. >> 625. >> We have a motion. >> Motion. >> Have a motion.
>> Second. >> I have a second here. Kim, any discussion? If not, can we have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss B. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Farah. >> Yes. >> Miss Treadup. Yes, Dr. Marlin. >> Yes, >> Miss Kimento. >> Yes,
>> yes, >> on the construction craft program update also, Mr. Watson. >> Yep. Pretty much have just given you kind of the rundown of where that stands. Um, design work is has been submitted out. We're waiting for official designs that are coming. So,
the the the process is well on its way. um both in anticipation of the Desi visit this spring but also the long-term planning uh that will be required. I I will also um you know talk about the the lunchroom which was a concern as we grew students as well. Uh but we have uh we
are making a change in lunch tables uh to the to the district something we learned from some of our colleagues and other vocational schools. So, uh, that process underway this year as well as a capital expense that are going to create more additional seats within the current space that's there that wouldn't require us to, uh, to go be beyond, uh, the
current locations. >> Right. Question tables. >> Changing the tables. >> Yes. That's a nice way to say it. With a nice design on top though, it'll look pretty cool. >> Any other questions for Superintendent?
>> All right. Um, that's an update. Don't really need a vote on that. >> No, I do not. >> Uh, okay. Next one. Under new business is the vote to approve the district treasurer job description in your backup. You have material for it. And at
this time here, if Pam, if you like to talk about it or answer any questions, it's all yours. >> So, this job description is the district treasure, which is for um the former Mr. Olive position. So, we did make a few updates to require a treasurer's license
that is um approved through the state of Massachusetts, which the former job description did not have. But anything else pretty much all stayed the same. >> Any questions? >> The only thing I didn't note on here was the salary. Is that going to be
determined at a later point or is that part of the process? So, we do have a range um that is on the nonUN salary chart. >> Yeah. >> So, it would be within that range. I did not list it on the job description, but we could put it on the job post. >> Put it on the job description, but
that's just >> Yeah, it would be on the job post already set up. Yes. To move forward. >> Yes. >> Any other questions? Um I think we have to approve approve that. So, I need a motion.
Second, second. Any questions? If not, roll call, please. >> Yes. >> Mr. Olivera, >> yes. >> Miss Treup, >> yes. >> Dr. Marlin, >> yes. >> Miss Pimemental, >> yes. >> Shay, >> here.
>> The next on it is Pam, I'm going back to you. Is a vote to approve the revolving fund procedures and purchasing recruitment procedures, including a backup of copies of of what has been asked to approve today. Um, do you want
to say anything on it or just go forward >> on the um, review of policies and procedures that Miss Dennis has been doing? And I realize that we didn't have anything set in stone for revolving funds. We have one for the student activities, but we didn't have one for
revolving funds. And we do have quite a few revolving funds based on 27 shops and after dark program. So I wanted it to be set in stone for everyone to have the same exact information instead of just doing as they feel that they should or want to do. Um so that's where the
revolving fund one came from. And then the procurement I created only because the chapter 30B chart for supplies and services. It's it's very vague which is fine to send out to our faculty and staff but some of them don't understand all of the
details in the bid process or why I asked for three quotes why we need to go in certain directions. So it just made it easier to just put it all down in one document. then it's also in part of the compliance process and everybody can have the same information at the same
time. >> Well, first make a motion. Do we have questions on any motion to approve? >> Motion's here. Second. Second discussion. Anybody like to ask question? >> You know, kitchen does it's money stuff.
>> I just I mean I I I saw the policy and the procedures for the procurement. Did do you have a form for the department heads to do the quote summary? >> Like so if I'm in Metalf Fab and I'm getting three quotes over 10,000, do I have a form that I can fill out?
>> No, they attach all three quotes to the PO. >> But do they put they don't put a cover sheet to it? >> No, it's just all three quotes. The the lowest one is on the top and then the other two are behind it and then the PO is to the lowest vendor. >> Yep. Okay. >> Less paper.
>> Any other questions? If not, we got a motion and a second. So, roll call, please. >> Kitchen. Miss Divera. Miss Treadup. Dr. Marlin. >> Yes. >> Miss Pimento. >> Yes. >> Shake.
>> Yes. >> Now it's your turn. >> Been hanging in waiting. >> It's been hanging in. Vote to approve outofcountry travel for the travel club. Travel Club is requesting approval to travel to Venice, Florence, and Rome
during the 2027 April vacation week. >> I'm going to take this one. >> Okay. >> So, Mr. Shay just mentioned to travel the committee's purview in this
obviously is to authorize any outofdist u travel. I would ask for one additional caveat to be placed before uh certainly won't let Mr. Gonzalez Magy go forth with the meeting uh garner student interest and find where we are but I would like before anything is suspended
final sign off by the superintendent on behalf of the committee to make sure that we have at least 12 paid registrants before we proceed uh to help avoid any potential issues that might come with chaperoning and supervision ahead of time. So, I'd ask the committee, should it wish to act favorably on this, to add a disclaimer
that uh it's its approval will be based on out of state travel pending the superintendent's approval of the trip based upon the number of students that have been enrolled. >> Have so I don't have to repeat it. >> No. >> So, we Let's get a motion up and if we
have a second to it, then we can discuss. Do I have a motion to approve? >> Okay. I have a motion. Do I have a second? I have a second. Now we open any discussion you have for Dave or Mr.
Superintendent Watson. Now it's time. >> All right. I have something. >> Go ahead. >> This is me off the record. Do you need any Do you need any chaperones? >> Pay the money. Yes. >> I got it.
>> We'll see how much interest there is. Mrs. Pomemet, >> one of your 12. >> All right. All right. >> Any other questions? >> Yes. >> So, um I wanted to know um students get travel insurance.
>> Yes, that's all part of the package. Correct. >> Okay. Okay. Sounds good. >> The same company we've gone with in the past. Correct. Yeah. >> And you've been happy with them? Um very Okay. >> My third. >> Very good. Other questions?
>> Thank you for doing this. >> Yeah, >> I know it's a >> I know >> cattle like you got a bunch of >> Sorry for Okay. >> All right. So, we have a motion. We have a second per discussion.
>> So, let's take a roll call vote, please, with the information that Wayne had put on. >> Okay. Miss Bettton Court, >> yes. >> Mr. Kitchen, Miss Divera, >> yes. >> Miss Treadup, >> yes. >> Dr. Marlin, >> yes. Miss Pimento. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shay.
>> Yes. >> Long night, but got it. >> All right. Next to you, we're getting down the wrong amendment. Here we have the uh school 2627 school calendar. And um Superintendent Watson, you want to talk about a little?
>> I do. Yes, I do. So, included in your packets uh is not only the school calendar, which includes 180 days uh of instruction for students uh beginning on the Monday before Labor Day, which is late this year. It's August 31st. I want folks to know there's a little bit of a longer a longer summer. Um all of the
professional development days that the district is uh contractually obligated with the GBU to provide it are outlined there as well as all the nonPTS days. I want to highlight before I send this out to the staff and make sure the committee is on board with this as part of the schedule. Two changes to the calendar that will come next year. First and
foremost, uh is a welcome back night for uh families. Um that is in the contract. Um so the provisions of the contract, just so we're clear, is the district has the right to schedule a welcome back night, which we're currently scheduling for Wednesday, September 16th. It will be a three-hour event in which parents
will be able to go rotate through their academic teacher schedules as well as meet with their uh um shop teachers, an exploratory process. Uh the trade-off on that is the half day in se in September will be cancelled and that stu staff will be dismissed 3 hours early on the
Friday that follows that day on September 18th. So that will be going out with uh with this information staff, you know, for planning purposes for the teachers and staff. uh tomorrow. The second uh trial for us is we are also going to uh eliminate the half day in
October uh which we currently use for professional development as well and schedule four 1-hour student delays. Uh the student day would start at 8:30 in the morning uh on four consecutive Wednesdays and the staff would engage in a 1-hour PD from 7:30 to 8:30. This is a
trial one month, one time only to assess the impact of professional development in the morning. What it will do is allow us to have a coordinated PLC time for our shop areas in particular which are not able to do that during the course of a regular structured schedule. Um this
would give us the opportunity to do that. It would also give us the opportunity for any implementation that has to happen with regards to our professional development and strategic plan. The details of those four hours is obviously not ready at this point. But it gives us some flexibility that we want to see what the impact would be of
a 1-hour student delay uh and allowing the staff to have that one hour in the morning. There is a lot of research around student start times anyway in high schools. Um, and as we think about developing a new school schedule uh for 27 and beyond, this gives us the opportunity to just test in a very
low-risk one-month platform. Uh, and it's something that the administration would like to try. >> There's no issue with transportation. We've spoken to the bus company. They again I think if we were this was longer term we might have a different conversation but they are more than willing to uh allow us to do this on
four consecutive Wednesdays in October. >> Check about the um welcome back night. >> Yep. >> That does not take the place of open house. Correct. It >> does not. >> So staff will still work open house in correct in the contract. It's one more opportunity to make sure that we're
engaging with the community. We don't know how well a back to school night will be attended by high school parents. I can tell you that it's less well attended in most high schools compared to their elementary and middle schools, but we do think it's important that there's outreach uh specifically for younger families, freshman and sophomore
families. Uh coming into a new school, being able to meet their teachers in a different environment. Uh and it's part of our strategic plan to have additional outreach to families. It's in the plan and listed for next year and this gives us the opportunity to test pilot it. Again, both of those initiatives are going to happen next year. They may or
may not continue in the future based upon the results that we see in the fall. >> Again, September, too. I think that's >> Yeah, exactly. I was just >> Yeah, I think earlier is better. >> Any other questions? Do we have to have approval? Do we take a motion here? No. Right.
>> Need a motion? Motion. Second. Second here. Discussion. No further discussion. Roll call. >> What? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kitchen? >> Yes. >> Mr. Olivera? >> Yes. >> Miss Treup?
>> Yes. >> Dr. Marlin? >> Yes. >> Pimento? >> Yes. >> Mr. Shay? >> Yes. >> All right. Next one on your list is vote to designate equipment as surplus. And
there's one thing, right? You want them. So, >> folding trailer. Folding trailer 4x8 equipment unknown eight and a half years old. Um do we have a motion to accept?
No move. Second discussion. No discussion. Ment do we need a vote for this or just a for file? >> Ne vote. All right. Roll call.
Mr. Kitchen, Mr. Olivera, Miss Treup, >> yes. >> Dr. Marlin, >> yes. >> Miss Pimental, >> yes. >> Mr. Sheay, >> yes. >> All right. And next eight of the report on personnel appointments, retirements
or resinations to be received and placed on file. I motion to receive. I have >> both A and B. Yeah. >> Both A and B. A and B. Do >> I have a second? Do I have a discussion?
If not, what do we uh we don't need a roll call board. We want to place on file. We say all in favor >> I >> I All right. Uhformational one through nine. I think most of you
probably have looked at it already. Talked about donations, communication wise. Advisory dinner is April 8th by you know, which is a very important date. Um any any more do them all together or
motion to receive place on file. Is there a second? >> Second. Any discussion on any of them? All right. So all same thing place on file. All in favor? >> I oppose.
Okay. Committee discussion. Anything up for this committee discussion? Carol, still want to go to Venice? >> No, that Yeah, why not? >> Okay, we'll mark that down. >> Thank you.
>> No other discussion. Any other business that may properly come before us? Executive session. Do we have none? Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion. Second. Roll call.
What? Yes. >> Mr. Kitchen. Mr. Olivero. >> Yes. >> Miss Treup. >> Yes. >> Dr. Marlin. >> Yes. >> Miss Pimemental. >> Yes. >> Mr. Shay. >> Yes. >> Mike, you try to beat my record.