He was sitting inside the hut that his parents made him to wait for the bus. >> Right here. >> Don't get the bus. >> Oops. >> All right, you guys ready? >> Ready. >> All hands in. >> All right. Good evening. I call to order the meeting of the Hamilton Regional
School Committee on Thursday, September 4th, 2025 at 700 PM. Um, we are going to start off this evening with the opportunity for citizens comments. It does not appear that there are any citizens comments in
the room. Um, Eric, do we have anyone on Zoom? >> We didn't, but let me just double check. just crashed it. Sorry. >> No worries. We'll take a second. >> Yeah. Yeah. My laptop's really
>> two. >> Do we want to give it a minute, Eric? >> No. All right. Right this second. Not joined. Nobody. >> Okay. >> No one in the Zoom room. >> There's no one in the Zoom room. So, is there somebody popping in right now? >> Nope. That's just telling me I'm
>> muted. Couldn't read it from here. Um All right. Um given seeing no comments, I will forego all the um rules and regulations about comments and we will close citizen comment and move on. Um,
next up we have a review of a portion of our school committee protocols. Um, Julia, if you're willing. >> Sure. >> As elected members of the Hamilton Regional School Committee, we including the superintendent accept the high honor
and trust that has been placed in us to ensure that the students of the district receive the best education possible. To that end, we hereby commit to the following in the conduct of our business. The superintendent and the school committee represent the needs and
interests of all students in the district and place the students interests above all others in their decisions while remaining within the limitations of a voter approved budget. >> Thank you. Uh David Pledo, would you be willing to
read a portion of the mission statement? >> Sure. The Hamilton Regional School District School Committee's mission is to ensure our schools create graduates with a passion for lifelong learning together with the critical skills needed to maximize their potential. The Hamilton
Winnham Regional School Committee will lead and inspire a district that empowers administrators to seek innovation, responsiveness, and creativity in all aspects of district operations. >> Thank you.
Um, next up is the consent agenda. Does anyone have any items that they would like to hold from the consent agenda? All right. Seeing none, David. Uh, I move that the Hamilton Regional School Committee uh accept tonight's consent agenda as
written in tonight's um meeting agenda. >> Second. Second by Amy Kberger. Um all those in favor that is unanimous and the motion passes.
Okay, moving right along. All right. Uh new business to you, Mr. Tracy, to talk about the um proposed 2025 2026 district goals. >> Thank you. Um just wanted to bring this back around as we worked through this at
the workshop a few weeks back. uh we've taken this and broken it out into some deliverables and tried to organize it in different segments of the school year so that things kind of flowed along the school year. Um the first goal forming
and launching an AI policy and pilot initiative. This is something I think we talked about last year but we we never really got off the ground. So this this gives us an opportunity to put together an advisory group to review the new DESIE guidance that came out. There's a lot of guidance that just recently came out two weeks within the two weeks
before school. Um and then excuse me draft up some district guidelines um and and finalize them eventually identify some classrooms to do some pilots. We suspect that will be high school middle school high school is very interested in in being pilots. So then
we'll implement those pilots and do an evaluation and report of the pilot results at the end of that and then that's where the final draft will come into play. improving teaching and learning. This has been now we're going into year five for MTSS. >> Eric, I'm just going to interrupt briefly. Um, does the committee want to
do do you want to do one goal at a time or do you want to have Eric go through all of them and then ask questions and >> I'm sorry that I sorry that I just wanted to like I >> I think we could do questions and then if we think of something at the end do
general >> you want to do questions as we on each goal. I think we could the only person that spoke up and you know there >> it is >> and then we could do you know if if I think of something at the end. >> Okay. Yeah. Um I'm sorry. I just wanted to give the people the opportunity if um All right. Do you have a question on
this? >> I do not listen on this one. >> Um All right. Well, I do a little I have a little bit of a question on this. I just wanted to get um I guess I know you don't know yet because you haven't devised the or have
you devised what like what a potential pilot would look like or is that something that hasn't yet been designed? >> Hasn't yet been designed. That would be part of this process. >> I guess my that was my understanding of this, but I guess my I mean maybe it's just it'll just be
interesting to hear how it's going along the way. Like I it's hard for me to judge like how long would we need to do a pilot. I mean >> I think it's great that I'm thrilled that it has pilots, not just sitting around and making a >> policy. I think that's great.
>> Um >> and I I guess I'm just sort of trying to imagine like how long does the pilot last and then because the idea is that by June we have a written pol or a proposed policy. We kind of envision it as doing the initial work in the first four months
through December. >> Um the natural breaks in the school year help us. So we target like the third quarter for um say high school kids middle school and high school very close. So you could say which is right around February and use the third
quarter as a basis and then your during your fourth quarter you can do your reporting. That's kind of what we were trying to lay out so that we had enough time to get everything settled and done. And I think in in a lot of ways there are a number of classrooms already doing some of this work and
there are a number of people who have led the charge. So we're hoping to pull them in and learn a little bit from them before we do these pilots because they we do have a number of people at the high school at least who have been um taking advantage of AI as much as possible.
um kind of our they're kind of our explorers, if you will. >> Thank you. Anybody else have any questions on this one? >> And again, to Julie's point, certainly we can come back to things at the end. >> Um I actually did have one for this one. For the pilot classrooms, are they all
going to have access to the same tech in class? Um that I think that would be kind of the the idea of the pilot like okay if you had something like an iPad, a Chromebook and a lot of kids at the high school have MacBooks. >> What that looks like? How does that
function? Part of the pilot will be learning what kids can and can't access. So I think you'd probably see different classrooms with different results. Like the younger kids would probably use a different uh device than than the older kids. the older kids generally tend to
all use MacBooks or some type of laptop. So, it'll be a good comparative >> just to see what what works and what can't. We also have to work with our tech staff because some of these things are naturally blocked out by our soft by our software. Yeah. So, we have to work
with them to figure out ways to release that so that things can be used in the way that they're meant to be used. >> All right. All right, I do have another question just which maybe is a question for later I guess as the goal as the policy is being developed but in other
words obviously you're using desi guide you're getting guidance from desi guidance from you know are there is as part of this advisory group or is part of the process looking to like surrounding communities about what they're learning in their own pilot studies.
>> Yeah. So one of the things that I think everybody knows I'm a member of the Northshore superintendent round table. Um, so we do compare notes quite often, especially because all the schools are in this area, so they're all the local schools for the most part and we we compare notes and I think we may be
leading the way on this. Um, there are a couple of schools who have talked about it, but I haven't heard any definite plans that are similar to ours that are saying, "Yeah, we're going to forge ahead and start moving forward." So, we may be leading the way in part of this
Okay. >> All right. Goal two is the the MTSS goal of multi-tered systems of support which we did the uh presentation Jen Clifford had done the presentation during uh the the workshop and this is really the continuation and this gets harder and harder to write your goal because your
goal is really evolving into continuing to build and grow the process and prune the process along the way. So I think a lot of the opportunities that we've tried to get involved with have been connected to the to Desi. Um we we've
got an opportunity to get into two more the tiered math support uh to help us with the the uh implementation continued implementation of Eureka squared at the elementary level. Um and then the community of practice for CQLA which helps us to now push grade level writing
in which wasn't our initial focus but as you know if you go back four years ago we talked about this being probably a seven-year goal along the way. So this really helps us to continue to connect the dots uh broken out by each of the schools and some are at different
levels. Elementary has really um forged the way if you will in in lay you know curriculum implementation getting their PLC's up and running having their data meetings now much more efficient and then we've been been able to kind of weed the garden if you will and take out some of the things like we started using
panorama a few years back and we decided to get away from it because it doesn't give us the the information that we need and we don't want teachers to spend time digging through spreadsheets trying to figure out what the issue issues are. So, um we're working with a different company that we have used all along for
our MCCAST stuff. They um have kind of moved into this zone. So, we're going to work with them. They're a third of the cost and uh seem to be delivering a better product so far. Um and then we'll just continue through with the high school. We're trying to really figure
out ways to buttress tier 2 at the high school. it's a little bit harder um at the high school level where kids don't stay with the same teachers all day. They're moving around so much. So, we really want to target the ELA and math supports and continue to see um kind of
how that best practices work in relation to our focal point, which is really looking at the gap between special ed students and regular ed students. And that's that's the leadership team instructional focus is related to
uh making sure that all kids all kids in this district have access to grade level tier one curriculum um and and and um supports. The bigger piece of it for us now is we're starting to focus more specifically on gaps that
we see between special ed and regular ed. So, you'll see a lot more of that come into play through this process. And part of that process goes all the way back to the student uh the S SOA uh plan. And that plan that gets submitted
to the state consistently identified special ed for three years in a row. So, we're like, okay, we're not making enough gains to kind of let this go. So our focus, instructional focus for all administrators this year is specific to figuring out ways to improve instruction
to close those gaps related to kind of the the special ed group versus all the peers. Um those those gaps have stayed consistent over time, which is is a little bit troublesome for us. So we're trying to just figure out the best way
to attack that. So you'll see more focus in that direction through our MTSS program. questions. >> Um, >> anybody have a question? >> Just had a comment. I really like how you laid it out by school. Uh, I think
when the public and even sometimes myself included think about MTSS, we tend to think about it just in terms of elementary school. So, I really appreciated you incorporating everything you that we had talked about sort of our concerns and then
>> um splitting it up into the the three schools. >> So, it's really all children will benefit from it, >> right? And the three levels are in different places. Elementary has definitely led the way. They're probably two full years ahead of everybody. And that's really where the the foundational work started. So, we've been able to
take some of that foundational work, move it to the middle and high school, which has moved them along a little more quickly than if they started from scratch. >> Um, so I I just this is this is very in the very nitpicky I think, but for me, the goal to be for the middle school,
um, I actually am happy with the deliverables. I I I think to your point, Eric, it's difficult when you're building this um to come up with a goal like I the goal when I first read the very first, you know, it just says middle school will
build upon earlier MTSS work by doing the following like I s thought to myself, well that's like a pretty sort of vague as a goal. >> Um I think that the deliverables are not super vague and that they're, you know,
so So, I guess I'm not concerned about it, but I I that was what struck me >> when I first read it. I'm not sure it needs to get fixed. I just >> Yeah, >> Julia's point about like I don't know how much the public is reading these or
looking at these, but >> we can go back and fine-tune it too related to the work that they did last year. It's not I mean, we've documented pretty deeply at >> Well, are you worried it's not me it's not measurable? Yeah, I mean I think that the Yeah, like I I I think that the the answer to my question was
immediately answered when I read the deliverables, >> but it was a question when I read the goal. I just thought to myself, well, what does that really mean? Build upon earlier. Doesn't give me a ton of >> um >> Yeah. >> But again, I
>> I guess my Well, we can go we'll we can continue. That was just a little feedback on that. >> Yeah, I appreciate it. >> A question. Is there some kind of looking how how you'll know whether you've improved. Is there some aggregate score that can be compared
a to the past and b to peer schools in the state for example? >> So you you can in a lot of ways we have um MCCAST has always been our baseline. Problem we're running into with MCCAST is a concern that because it's not required people won't take it seriously
which makes it difficult to use as a measure now. Um, but we do have things like Dibbles that we can compare to other schools that are using Dibbles. There's a a comparative across uh the country actually. So Dibbles 8, for example, was was that you had aggregates
that came in from any other district in the country that was using Dibbles. So we do have um that type of data. It's it's a little bit different when you look at CKLA and and um Eureka Squared because not every district uses the same
and that's a that's a battle going on at the state house as we speak. I was involved in it today >> um where the state's trying to make everybody kind of use the same thing all over. >> Um so it's hard it's hard to compare like Eureka Math to Beverly or Danvers if they're not using it. But there are
comparatives. There's there are a lot of schools using the curriculum that we've chosen because they are considered high quality instructional materials. So, we kind of fall under that that requirement of the state while also being able to integrate with with other school districts. They're just not probably not
all local. >> So, would it be helpful and meaningful to make one or more of those measures part of the goal setting? >> The comparison to do a comparison. >> Well, the absolutes and the comparison. Yeah, I think the the the the big focus
this year is really closing that gap between our own special ed and our regular ed, which for us, we've been watching now for three and a half years and in some cases haven't been able to get that to move at all. That's really where we focus. So, we could add something related to that in there,
which makes >> sense since every single instructional leader, that's their focus this year, >> right? >> All year long. So, we could Yeah. >> Thanks. Well, and I I mean I just to feed on that, I don't know if this is what
you're getting at, but for me like the presentation that Jen Clifford gave at um the workshop with all that data, like for me that was sort of that felt like what I was looking for. Um so I don't
know if you're saying if you're feeling like that was the right or if you're looking for something more comparing to outside or >> that was definitely historical. Yeah, it was historical definitely. It um so >> the nice thing is we have four years of data. It's not like it just started last
year. We're starting to now look at those trends across, >> you know, it's even we're even using that in our responses to the state when they say, "Hey, what do you think about us going in this direction?" Well, wait a minute. We've already done four years worth of work that's showing us now very clear trends that we want to focus on.
So, it's um but I think it makes sense to put in at least okay, we're focused on closing this gap and this is how we'll see it. >> Else. >> All right. >> All right. Number three is the evaluate and recommend school start time adjustments. Um
this we started we do have some data. We want to dig into it with a an advisory committee um to so use some of the data that we got last year and then some of the new newer data updated data with some of the new families that are in the in the school community now. Um we have
a couple of schools have have made the shift not not right in our backyard but close by so we can check in and see how those are going. Um, and then doing some impact analysis on transportation schedules, kids working after school, babysitting before, after school, like
all of those kind of pieces of the puzzle. Um, talking with caregivers, like the community house, how does this impact the community house? What does this look like? um going back and just doing another survey, updating the survey, then looking at a couple of different scenarios and bringing them
back to the group to discuss and figure out get it out to the public, get some feedback from them, bring it back here and say, "Okay, what does this look like?" And then make a final recommendation. >> We'll have questions. >> All right. Then the continuation of high quality state safe state-of-the-art
schools. Um we're looking at all kinds of avenues and a lot of it is dependent upon the election of course. Um so that's why I think one of these has a note. The first one has a note positive outcome pending a positive outcome at the townwide
election. Uh this goal would would end on September 15th because we do have a drop dead date from the state of September 24th. if we don't have our ducks in a row by September 24th, they're they're they're done. Um, and then it goes through that process of
gaining bond money, trying to figure out how to how to uh begin the financing process, going back with the AR architects, OPMS, uh, and continue to meet with them. We we met with them weekly during the first stages. We'll certainly meet with them probably more during the middle stages. It's a it's an
important part of the process and my past recollections are we met probably three times a week trying to figure out different things like what hinges go where and and all those other kind of little things. Um and then we want to continue the schematic design for the high school roof as you know we are involved in that. We did get our uh
reimbursement rate uh certification which is about 45%. Um it's it's again it's what they consider to be reimburseable, but it's a little bit different with a roof versus a building because it tends to have more reimburseability because you're not you
don't have as many products. You're dealing with adhesives and roof material and and labor. So, um, so we'll continue to work with our OPM and our designer and, uh, really making getting the
process to the point of requesting a debt exclusion at town meeting, um, to to complete the roof and get that work done. And then if it passes, we'll work with bond council, secure the first stage of bonds. And that work would be planned to kick off to kick off uh, just
after July 1 in the new fiscal year. and then statement of interest for other school related projects. This the window opens up every April. Um so we looking at the next thing I'm going to present the capital improvement process will
bring us a number of items that we can look at and say okay these things might need to be deferred or these things are on our top priority and then looking at what can be um reim um excuse me submitted for an S soi statement of interest or not. Uh some of the things
we're looking at, as we know, there was there's the the air handler unit on top of the high school library died last year. It's about a quarter million dollar fix. We're currently working with uh Vicky Mason, who does all the energy stuff for the two towns, trying to get some of
that reimbured by uh like Massaves and things like that. So, we're looking at different avenues to try and figure out how to how to secure those um the things that we need without continuously going back to the towns for more money.
>> Okay. All right. Questions? >> No, this is great. >> I love it. It's very organized. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um, so Eric,
are we looking for a vote on this tonight? >> Okay. Um, David, you want to start us off with a motion? >> Um, I move the Hamiltonum Regional School
Committee vote to approve the 2025 2026 district goals as presented in tonight's meeting agenda. Second >> second by Amy Kberger. Um all right. So discussion.
>> Okay. All right. Um, I guess my only discussion is that I I know that I did make that comment and I guess I will sort of just say I felt like I wanted to say it regarding the um middle school MTSS goal, but >> we'll clean it up.
>> I I but I I I'm just wanted to sort of say publicly like I am ready to vote on this even though >> I think we'll still clean it up. I think even David's suggestion of fine-tuning the special ed piece of it as a comparative makes sense as well. Um,
>> I think looking at the elementary description, kind of like picking that up, it just has more to it. >> Yeah. >> And then making it relevant from middle school. >> Sure. >> Maybe. But this is great. >> Okay.
Well, I I I'm okay. I'm not a lot of comments. Okay. All right. It looks like we're ready to vote. I think so. >> All right. >> There was one question. >> Okay. Go ahead. Now's the time. When I looked at the MSBA um procedures, rules, whatever um for
putting in submissions, there were some rules related to um for inance, if you could doing a roof or if you wanted heat pumps, uh if the roof was more than 15 years old, you um
then I guess you have to have windows replaced or windows that are up to date. you know, there there was some dependencies on there. And so, um, as we put in the MSBA submission for the roof, it may be too late. Um, is that a
time to tack on the heat pumps because without the roof, you can't do the heat pumps according to the >> Yeah, we can ask. I mean, they they essentially just accept an SOI and say this is what we'll cover. Um, one of the changes that they made this year that
hasn't been in play was uh making sure on any roof work that it's solar ready. >> Um, at least investigating it. Like they they'll do part of the expenditure for us will be now as a requirement by the state to make sure they investigate whether or not the roof can be solar
ready. Can can it take the the um the weight of solar panels on the roof, etc. So, that's one of the pieces, but I haven't seen anything related to adding something in because roofs are generally a single submission just like boilers,
windows. I don't know if they group things up. I mean, we can check. I'm just not 100% sure. >> Yeah, I saw a kind of a logic diagram they publish. >> Yeah. >> For expressions of interest that that tag these things together. >> Might be worth having a look at.
>> Yeah. Yep. Okay. Anybody else? All right. Look like we're ready to vote. >> Um, all those in favor? Right. And that is unanimous
and the motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Eric. And thank you to the leadership team for um a lot of work to create district goals. Thank you. I think that one reminder of district
goals is all the other things in the district get connected to them. So, um there'll be deeper work being done at each of the school level and you'll see those in October when we present our school improvement plans. Those will be connected just as we've kind of asked the all of the building leaders to
connect their goals to these as well. Um so you'll see you should see a lot of through lines. All right, the next one is uh capital improvement plan. Uh the first exhibit I put in there just so people it's a reminder. The second exhibit is I just
wanted to review this because there has been some confusion about how it works. >> Um >> full full disclosure. I actually said I'm a little confused. I >> I didn't want to throw you under the bus. >> Thank you. I said I need a refresher on this to make sure I fully understand
exactly how it's working. So Curtis Whiteitman is the the director of facilities operations, maintenance, transportation, and five other things. But he uh he manages this process. He sends out a a um form to the principles
in April and asking each budget stakeholder to give us information related on project project. So I'll use one example. Buer principal submitted the buer roof. It's leaking like a civ in a lot of places. So, that's one of the bigger projects. Um, and then April
through August, Curtis works with subcontractors. He's been trying to figure out different bid ranges that we're seeing for uh any of these projects that were uh submitted. They could be as big as the entire parking
lot at the high school to the roof to window replacements to heater replacements. So, um that list just gets compiled into one. He meets with a committee that's combined uh of district people and
um people that are in the two towns. So each town has asked at least a FinCon member and a select board member to be part of this commit each committee. Um they'll meet they'll go through and try to prioritize based on the information or input we're getting from the towns to
say we could probably afford to do this but not that. So uh then we'll come to the finance subcommittee um in October and kind of have them reconcile the list and say okay these are the things we can add into the budget uh for the November
December cycle of uh the budget building process and it could could be in different formats. We've in some years we have built some of our capital projects right into the budget and then other years we've gone and gotten a requested a significant capital request
a cap separate from the budget. So we'll we'll look at that during the budget process. That'll be a decision this group would have to make. And then um January will go through the usual votes and February it'll be in the finalized budget and then that whatever we move
forward will go uh on the warrant for town meeting for a request. >> Right. >> Currently they're in the stage of the committees coming together. That's September. or the committee will come together and uh kind of iron out what
makes sense for the communities, the two towns, and then they'll bring that forward to uh capital in October. >> And that that the committee that you said has a FINCO member and from both towns and then and that's our representative is Jen. Is that correct?
>> No, it was Trent. >> It was Trent. >> Oh, >> I don't know if we have on Monday and we'll pick another representative. >> Okay. Well, I'm glad I asked then. So, yeah. All right. Um, so that's something that the that capital finance will have to decide of, right? Because we need a representative there.
>> Correct. >> We'll put it on agenda. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And then capital finance will finalize it and decide what to send forward to the through the budget process. >> Okay.
>> I just wanted to clarify Dana had expressed as she threw herself under the bus here had expressed some concern about not having a full understanding. So, I just want to make sure everybody understood how it's working. Um, it's hard because all of a sudden something goes, it doesn't go in the process like all of
a sudden in December you blow a boiler that suddenly takes precedence. So, you know, so we have to be prepared for those types of things as well. So >> well and I mean I guess I read this as this is you know the
capital improvement it's a capital improvement plan is things that we're planning for so that's very different than >> things we can't plan for >> right as something that's a you know um >> is it possible to to come up with some
kind of urgency rating for each of the items that would tell you this must within the next months or it's be nice if it happens in the next five years or you know whatever
>> I think the committee will do that so many years or you looking for more >> something a little bit more semiquantitive so that you can kind of stack them up >> they do an estimated time frame like when they want it replaced so I
assume whoever's doing the capital request form if they need it next year. They're going to say next year in that form. >> Are you talking about this? I'm glad we're having this conversation because are you talking about when like when the
initial request is because I guess I interpreted this that the when the com the CIP committee holds this meeting. I mean it says right that they will prioritize the list based on needs. So I are you saying before that you want
someone to be prioritizing or like >> is that what you're saying? >> Not so much making the priority decision but indicating is there some um quantifiable level of urgency that that's still not making the
decision but it's expressing what the situation is. >> Yeah. I think the if we roll this back to se September in here, they're going to take say there's 10 projects on the table. This committee is going to sort through and say these are the priority projects because remember we have to go
all the way to April to request the money and they won't start till July. >> So that's that's I understand what you're saying. It's harder to do that way because it even though we've approved a list say in in September, October that gets included in the
budget, we still have to go forward to the towns to get the money. Um but if a boiler breaks, we might have to lean on stabilization or something like that, you know. So that would suddenly jump to the >> Sure. >> Yeah. This is just really to help us in
the budget process >> um as we as we build our budget for the for each each year. So whatever we come up with and said, "Okay, these are the three priority items that we want to include in this budget." That's what we would try to tackle for that next school year >> starting on January f uh July 1st when
the when the monies would become available. >> But I I would think that time frame would be an important aspect. In other words, certainly there's even though I I that makes sense. We're not talking about something that needs that is going to be done in the next six weeks, but
there are certainly things that we could be saying, you know, this really needs to get done in the next five years versus something that like this needs to get done as soon as we possibly can get the money. I mean that seems like that's an important aspect I think >> just so you can have buckets of you know
this lot are in this bucket and that bucket's going to cost x million and the the not so urgent you know that sort of at least provide a feel for how many dollars are at stake just a big one
Um, all right. Other people have questions. >> No. Um, I'm Yes. Thank you very much. And I I'm really glad so I look forward to So when the um capital Finance meets next time, then in our next meeting,
then we'll find out who's the >> representative. That would be helpful. >> Okay. Um, anybody have anything else on that? Okay. Um, moving on to finance and operations.
Um, I just wanted to, um, Vinnie, you sent out some dates and I don't, um, for the, um, quintuple board, and I don't think they necessarily went out to the whole committee, so I wanted to make sure we got that out. >> Yep. Yep. >> Um, >> so I know you probably don't want to
hear about it now, but I'm already planning the 27 budget >> started yesterday. Excellent. >> Yep. And uh I plan on next meeting do the doing the full budget calendar but just so you have the dates on your
calendar. We are planning the two full quintuple board meetings. Uh the first one is the normal week which is the week before Thanksgiving. So this budget cycle it's Wednesday, November 19th.
And then the second full board quintuple board meeting is the usual week of MLK week. So, for this cycle, it's January 21st. Once I finalize all the dates, the next um school committee meeting, I'll give you the full budget calendar and
hopefully all five committees uh do commit to those two dates. So, last year there was some difficulty trying to coordinate all 50 people. So, I've tried to do it a little bit earlier this year. So hopefully people's calendars in November and January aren't.
>> Are we wedded to Wednesday nights? >> We're not. That's just the usual night that they always uh >> right and we do have so kind of because Monday is Hamilton select board. Tuesday is Wenham select board. Thursday is school committee meeting. >> So like
>> I I just teach in Boston so I'll only be able to make about half of the ones I should. >> Okay. Um well and I will say that there's only the two that you as the chair >> and those two I can can make. I already
checked my syllabi schedule. >> Um so and I just um for our new member Megan just I don't know how familiar you are but the quintuple board is um both select boards both fincoms school committee it's enormous. we meet in here
and it's an opportunity to have um Vinnie talk about the budget, have everyone have an opportunity to ask questions about the budget. They can present about what they know at that point about their budgets, what they're looking for. And I don't know Ben if you want to add anything else about
>> Yeah. The only difficulty with the full board meeting is they want it in November and it's almost like we're meeting and presenting with the Quintubo board before you guys have even chance to review it. So you don't see the full budget until the next night on the 20th.
>> So the 19th is really just me kind of introducing it to everyone. The one on the 21st is kind of more engaging with everyone in the town committees >> and the other we might actually have a Hamilton and Wum budget by that one.
>> Right. That's I was going to say that's the other thing is that in November they don't have their budget either. So it's kind of a challenge for everyone to try to present what they have. >> So they don't have Vinnie.
>> Huh? They don't have Vinnie. >> They don't have Vinnie and that's the problem. So, >> it can't happen. >> Um, I do have book club in November. I'm really disappointed to miss it. It's really getting in the way. We could do it here during the meeting.
>> Um, okay. Anybody else have any questions on those? >> Okay. You put it in your calendars. I'll exc Um we have a meeting on Monday at 1:30 the um >> this coming Monday.
>> Yeah. This September 8th. >> Yep. Great. Um policy >> policy. We're still trying to nail down a meeting time. I sent everyone another email today. I got your answer. Jen David, I don't know what your
availability is. >> Yeah, I saw that at the end of the day. Sorry. tomorrow. >> Just it would be awesome to meet next week. Everybody's things are drafted. I will compile them after we meet. Do we vote on it in here? >> Are you talking about the doc? Yeah. So
you Yes. You guys would be bringing You could vote >> in our meeting and then >> the vote at the meeting hypothetically would be vote to recommend it to the committee. Okay. >> Yeah. >> So we'll have that for next meeting. >> Okay. Great. Thank you.
um negotiations. Um we do not have anything. Um the one thing I will maybe I'll ask another is that at some point I do think we I don't know what the timing is, but at some point I'd like to have a meeting to talk
about um the regional agreement because we do have some >> uh some feedback um and we're from the lawyer looking at sort of all the proposals. So it would be >> yeah that and we are going to have to start getting together for the >> um PA contract.
>> So it would be good to get something on the get an agenda I mean a >> meeting on the books >> that would be good. >> Dan there was a request from the custodial union as well if you guys >> Okay. All right. So, it sounds like we
need to have we need to have a meeting then so we can talk about >> you'll have custodial union and an agreement for the um cafeteria workers as well because of the schedule changes. >> Okay. So, yeah. So, let's get that. Um
I'll let you work on that, David. >> Okay. Um do we have a secretary report? I I forgot I had a meeting tonight. >> You're here. >> I'm here. >> I came right from practice. >> Um
Okay. Well, so um Okay. Um I realize now it's not on here because you weren't here last time and we did briefly talk about um the role of secretary which you generously took on. Um, and there was a discussion
about sometimes we toss the new person onto that role. Um, so maybe we'll put that on the next agenda and have a conversation about whether that's something Megan's wanting to take on or not. Um, >> yeah, like I said, if
>> um, mostly we just talked about that many of us had done that as a new as a new person. >> It's a good way to pick up. >> Yeah. So something to think about. I will get that on an agenda. All right. Um,
right to you, Eric. Let's hear about the opening of school. >> Okay. Opening of school. Oh, my favorite day is always that first day of school and I get to clear my whole calendar and get out and about to all the schools and chatting with people and parents and teachers. which it's um it was a lot of
fun this year again just seeing all those little faces come back into our schools which is really the energy that drives I think all of us um if I reel back before the opening of school we had four days of training for our teachers professional development days before
kids come in we had over 120 offerings uh for teachers to choose from for different professional development opportunities for them to choose from um most of them run by our own staff. Some of them were just training for new things like the the shift to power school. Uh so it was a good opportunity
for everybody to get their ducks in a row before the kids all showed up and they all showed up on Tuesday and it looks like we're seeing uh enrollment increases in almost every single grade this year. Uh we've taken a number of uh private school kids back from private
schools both at the elementary and at the high school level. We've taken a number of homeschool kids back, probably about a half doz dozen or so, uh, back into the district. So, it's good to see kids coming back and families bringing their kids back into the district. Um, we're working with a lot of, uh, new
things. Our school student information system power school is new, so we're working through kinks with that, which are, you know, this is the third implementation of a student information system I've done in my career. And the same thing happens every every year. You can never start and go. you have to work out a few kinks and bugs. Teachers have
been great experimenting and trying to figure out the easiest way to do things and then sharing which with each other. Um the buses, the ebuses are online, which people were very excited about because they sneak right up on you and you don't know they're coming. Um but they uh they are up and running. We're
still working out kinks with our transfer busing um new some we have some new drivers and we have some um software glitches that we've worked out. This company is the first company to use an actual routing software. Uh we've been requesting it for years and the previous
company just didn't want to do it. These guys got the routing software, figured out how to use it and routed all of our kids uh with this software that uh really gets them to be able to hone in on uh excuse me, exact stops, but it also develops a list for the driver.
Each driver has a tablet built into their bus that is like a giant GPS and it just reads the route. Okay, you're going here. Take a right here. Pick up a kid here. Um the beauty of this is is also um down the road we plan to open this up so
that parents have access to the app that goes along with this and some of the other technologies, but the app will give them an opportunity to pop it on their phone and say, "Okay, my kid's going to be five minutes late." You can send messages instantly through there. You can they can see where the buses roughly are. It's not 100% real time,
but it's pretty cool. It's uh the company's done a really nice job getting things up to up to speed. Uh working out the kinks. They are all new to this these towns. So, you know, routing software looks at some of these long driveways into a horse barn as a street
>> and tried to route some of them. So, fortunately, we had our people be able to sit down with them and work out some of the kinks. We had some routes that went back and forth over one another, but we wor So, those are just things we're working through this week. Uh so they'll be they're getting better. People have reported that they're
getting better. And one of the things that um we'll continue to do is fine-tune it as we figure out our writership. We actually schedule uh every eligible kid to be picked up in the software and then as they're going around they start to get their numbers. It'll we'll hone that
down which will speed up the the route uh to get it back on to the its regular schedule. So that's been that's been kind of cool. and uh if you ever get a chance, go to the high school during lunch and listen to the conversation. Uh blew me away. I went there on uh
Wednesday. I said, I got to go up and see, you know, no cell phones. Let's see how it's going. Kids were having conversations. They were chatting with each other. Couple kids were playing Uno. So, it was a very different place uh than I've seen in the past at the high school. So, that was kind of fun to see as well where kids were just
chatting it up and doing, you know, doing their thing. Uh Wednesday we also did the book groups. There were 44 books offered by the staff for kids to read during the summer. And if you're not familiar, staff members offer a book in May and June. Kids sign up as their
summer reading, they sign up for a book. Um and then when they read the book through the summer, when school starts on this Wednesday, um I'll use myself as an example. I read the book The Woman. A bunch of kids signed up for it. We meet for an hour, discuss the book. Kids have
to create a project or write something about the book and some of the connections in the book um which which are interesting to read. Uh we even had one student do a playlist related to the book um in in he took songs from the 60s and 70s and associated them to songs
that he knew now and it was very cool. So uh it's a great opportunity for kids to connect with staff members they wouldn't otherwise. I mean, I had freshman and sophomores mostly in my group and they were like, "I can't believe the superintendent's doing a book group." But >> that's that's the cool thing about it. Everybody's involved um across across
the district. What's that >> heavy book? >> Yeah, it is heavy. Very heavy. >> But it was good. >> Um so it's it's that's really been kind of how the opening's going. We're we're just now fine-tuning things as we move forward. It's nice to have a 4 day week to start out with and then next week
we'll get into our first full week and I think things will continue to get better. So, so far so good. >> Thank you. Questions for superintendent? >> Oh, yeah. The the um email you sent about was that one of the ventilators in
the middle school went up in >> high school. Yeah. >> High school. >> Yeah. There was a high school ventilator close to the end of the school day of course uh that started smoking. >> So they were able to shut it off, stop the smoking, fire department came. They had to evacuate the buildings. That's a
that's a requirement. Smoke, fire out of the building. So they had to evacuate both buildings. When you evacuate the high school, the middle school has to go as well. So it threw a little monkey wrench into the end of the day. Uh but all all all the kids were able to get on their buses and and get home. ventilator unit is being uh it's a transformer
that's being replaced this weekend. So, >> well that >> Thank you. >> old the old goods were used in there >> catching up to us. >> Um do you want to tell us about things that are going on this weekend? >> Anything going on this weekend?
>> I was I was Yeah. So, this whole week this whole week has been uh if you haven't been at the high school this week there it's been packed. Uh, every night there's been a different game. Every afternoon or evening's been a different game. Soccer, field hockey, boys soccer, girls soccer. And tomorrow
night will be the first night football game. The first time we've had the lights on um in forever. It's never been lights here. So, um, that will be fun and exciting. People will be able to see uh the fields and get a taste of a Friday night lights game in Hamilton and
Wen for the first time. We're expecting a huge crowd. Um, you know, if you can carpool This is this is where we want you to get out the suburbans and fill them uh rather than bringing uh you know a whole bunch of cars. It parking will be tough. Uh police will be up there
working with us to to help with the parking. And then on Saturday night, we're hoping the weather will hold out for us here. There's the opening of the field, the official opening. That will be a fun event for the entire community to come uh see the tour uh excuse me,
see the fields and get a tour. The the um games and activities around each of the fields is set up so that people can kind of get a tour as they're hitting each of the events and activities across all the um all the new fields and
through the amenities building. There'll be food sold. There'll be um opportunities for kids to play games. There's lots of games that are out there. Um, there'll be some general swag being sold. We'll do a little intro in the beginning and then I'll let people free. And I I hear there might be some
surprise guests. We'll see. >> Okay. >> That's at 6, right? >> Starts at 6 o'clock. The game the game people have asked the football game is at 6:30 >> tomorrow. >> Tomorrow night. And then Saturday night
at 6:00 p.m. is the grand opening celebration and that's communitywide. Both of those events we expect to be packed. Um we are going to try to run a bus out of at least Winthrop to get people spaces to park so they're not
parked all over 1A. But it's it's uh this night this week if you've been near the high school, it's been packed for every single game. They had field hockey and it was the parking lot was filled. Um, and then girls soccer again today and then the game tomorrow. So, there's
a lot of excitement in the air and the weather is turning right on time. So, >> who are we playing on? >> Uh, Triton. >> Triton. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> We also have volleyball and golf going on as well. We can't leave them out because they don't have new fields, but they are still
>> part of our fall sports. Yeah, they the uh the volleyball team I think played I think they played today. I think they played um Georgetown today and then golf played Wednesday. So, lots of fun. It's It's nice to see all these things kind of ramp up in the in the beginning of the school year. For me, it's like here we go. Let's go.
>> Golf team had cuts for the first time in >> Yeah. >> decades. >> Wow. So much interesting. >> It's been a long time. >> Good and bad thing. >> I think I think it was like my third year as principal of the high school. So, that was >> 10 years ago that that they made cuts and they hadn't for a long time. It used
to be a really popular team. It's nice to see it back. >> Yeah, that is nice. >> Excellent. Um, all right. Anybody have anything else for Eric? Um, >> lanyard. >> Serious. I'll make my own.
>> You want a lanyard? >> I want a lanyard. I'll pay I'll pay for it. I'm not waiting in line. should sell season passes where people can the beginning of the year just buy a season pass to go to any game at the new fields that they want to.
>> Yeah, it's actually like a lot a lot of the events don't we don't charge for like this week these earlier events we don't charge for. football we charge for um some of the bigger like tournament games we charge for because we have to but most of the games um don't charge for until we get into the tournament
level because then we have to kick some of the money back to the MIA so >> there's a little bit of requirement so it's um yeah it's been a learning curve because now you're going from really kids all over the the district to
everybody's on site everybody's using a piece of the pie and then also just coordinating people coming in and out. Um because we're seeing numbers that we've never seen. That's that's been, you know, Craig Craig Genualdo's had lots of sleepless nights trying to figure out all the logistics of even
like, okay, where is the plug nearest plug located to do this or how do I use my cell phone app to get the scoreboard to work? So, there's been a lot of those logistical things. And I mean, one of the, this isn't funny, but one of the things we dealt with today was when we
flushed one of the toilets in the amenities building, it came up through the floor drain, you know. So, a look with the camera showed some stones in the uh pipes which were probably put in, you know, left in there when they did the initial install with the rough install because there was no building
there. It was just dirt and they were running pipes through the dirt. So, we're trying to get that cleaned out for tomorrow so we don't have to, uh, do anything unusual. But, uh, it's been a lot. It's been a learning curve. It's been it's been interesting to figure out even how the uh the cheese melting machine works in the concession stand.
So, >> well, now I'm intrigued. >> Now you got to come. Right. >> Nachos, pretzels. We have a hot dog machine, pizza machine, we have a pizza oven. >> So, what time the game starts at 6:30. What time does it open tomorrow? >> 5:30 usually. Usually about an hour
before. Yeah. >> Yeah. Megan wants to be front and center. >> Yeah. I think it's important for people. >> I have I'm going to bring my littles. They're going to fade really fast. So, >> it's all right. A lot of fun. >> Is there any arrangements for that would enable the public on under certain
circumstances to use the tennis courts, the pickle ball? >> Oh, yeah. Yep. Yep. So, right now everything's locked off because we haven't finalized the jobs. So, we have a um a beneficial use agreement with the contractor Argus to get our sports teams
on there because we're all associated high school. public's not it's not quite ready yet, but public for instance uh would be able to go play pickle ball on the weekends. U so right now everything's locked just because we're still under the contract with Argus uh
the the initial uh general contractor once we move forward get everything we're finalizing our punch list. Once the punch punch list gets finalized, then we'll release those and people will be able to use the track and come use the the um pickle ball court, softball
field, whatever. That stuff will be open and available. >> Um, you know, we we're doing some education, too. Like we have had an issue with kids bringing their bikes on the new track and rolling around the track on with bikes. So, we put some signage up. We have more signage coming.
Um, so there's a lot of little detail things there, but we will, yeah, we do plan to have it open. Uh, I even talked with a resident Monday I was here, um, putting the sign up to welcome kids back to school and resident stop and said, "Hey, the pickle ball courts at at Patton aren't open. Can we use the ones
at the high school?" But they just it's just not ready. But they they could eventually. I mean, this is a league of pickle ball. They have a hundred something people on an app that they schedule games and play. So they could actually start to integrate. There's eight courts at the high school now.
>> So, >> yeah, it'll be great. It'll be good for the whole community. >> Yeah. The only time we restrict it is when kids are in school >> because we have restrictions with Corey's and fingerprints and things like that. So, that's the only time we say, you know, we appreciate you not coming on when kids are out there during school
time. So, >> Brian Benagoni um said when we were doing the wait room, the whole redo that that would be made available to degree for the public, but I don't know how under what circumstances.
>> Yeah, it's it's hard during the school day because you just can't have people coming in and out. So, I'm not sure how to do that publicly. He has been able to do it with teachers. So, after school teachers can get to it, but I can ask him. It's it's the the the disadvantage is the gym's right there and every single kid is going through the gym
during the day. So, it's hard to manage who's in and who's out because the gym teachers use it for gym classes. Um, so I can ask >> sports teams all use it for training. >> Yeah, after school the sports teams they're generally the summer they were there all summer working out. So >> yeah, it's hard to figure out how to get
public in there when kids are not there because kids kids actually use the facilities quite often. >> Yeah. >> I would hope the outside though would be once it's all the outside is easier. >> Yeah. Oh, absolutely. like on a Saturday morning there probably there'll probably be I would guess uh say say a JB
football game and then some practices but people would be able to access some of the other stuff. >> Nice. >> There's a lot to do out there now. >> Yeah. Can't get on the zipline though because you have to you have to have license. >> Yeah, I've done that.
>> That would not be good. All right. could um >> scares >> have students bid on teachers to have them go down the zipline. >> I'll tell you there's a lot of teachers that wanted to. They were like, I want to do it. >> Excellent. All right. Anything else?
Um All right. So, my chair's report. Uh just a reminder that there is a an election on Monday, September 15th. Um from noon to 8:00 PM
um Hamilton voters will vote at the rec center. Wenham voters will vote at the Wenham Museum. Um the um uh if a person is not yet registered to
vote um they can register um up through tomorrow is the deadline for registering to vote if you're not already registered to vote. Um absentee ballots are available. An absentee ballot um is
appropriate if you are traveling, if you are away on September 15th. if you're not in town, if you have a religious belief that prevents you from voting on that day, or if you have a disability that prevents you from voting on that day. And absentee ballots can be requested by from the town clerk until
September 8th at the latest. Um, and I Does anyone have anything to add on that? >> I think you got it all. >> I tried my scribbled notes. >> We are going to send a flyer out. >> Yes. that has basically the information
I just said. >> It's identical to what Dana said, but it'll be just this is the time, this is the place, this is how you can do, you know, access. >> It's it's pretty limited. The office campaign finance doesn't allow us to put much other than time, place, location in there. So, we have that coming out. It
should go out on Monday. Just depends on each of the postal the post offices when they decide to get them out. So, >> yeah. And I I do just want to emphasize I know you all know but just to like make sure your you know neighbors and
people in the community are aware that what's you know from a voter point of view what's different is that the hours are noon to 8. Um >> so that's important for people to know >> and that's because of the the way the law >> that was yes. So the yes thank you for
that question. Yeah. So the um law um under which the we're holding this election um requires a minimum of 4 hours and a maximum of eight hours and they have to be consecutive and so this community committee decided
on new date. Um yeah. Um okay. Um the only other thing I wanted to say was um at our last meeting we talked about um having a agenda item that was um tenatively titled as a test
for in our inboxes. Um basically just to provide some feedback about what we're hearing from the community. Um I forgot to put it on the agenda. So it will be on the agenda next time. Um just let you know that was my error. Um and uh so
we'll get that. Um and Amy talked about that next. Then next time she's going to give a little sort of like a report, like a like a update on what we're hearing. Um, all right. Does anyone have topic for
future meeting? >> Said the budget calendar >> that's on next. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Um, okay. Um, anything else? Okay, looks like we're done.
>> Yep. >> Motion. >> A motion. I'll move a motion to adjourn. >> Excellent. Do I have second by Amy Kberger? All those in favor? >> 805. >> That looks unanimous. And we are adjourned at 804,
but you know, 805. >> 804.