All right, good evening. Uh it is Monday, June 8th, 2026. It is 7:05 p.m. This is our June uh school committee meeting for the Hatfield Public Schools, and it's a reorganization meeting. So, I'll call it to order right now. Our first item on the agenda is
reorganization. Um so, at this point, uh we'll start with with school committee chair. I would take a uh motion to nominate someone for a school committee chair. >> I nominate Christy Budro to continue as our chair. Um
she's done such an excellent job. I would support that. >> Okay. Second. >> I will second. >> All right. I have >> nomination. >> I have a motion and a second. Um any discussion? All in favor? >> I.
>> All right. and I will turn it over to you, Chairperson Bedro. >> Thank you. Thank you, Kathy. Um, I'm not sure if that was a compliment or a a sentencing. It's like, >> it's how you choose it. >> It's how I want to see it. Okay, we'll see. It all is good stuff. So, the next
thing up is to elect a vice chair. And, um, I would like to make a nomination for vice chair to have Kathy Inglehart continue in that role. Um, not only is she more than capable of stepping up, she's been the school committee chair for
a long a long long tenure service. Well, we won't call it out many years. >> Um, and so I think if anyone would be ready to step in at a moment's notice, for sure she would. And that is one of the primary needs. So I would make a motion for Kathy. Is there a second?
>> Second. >> All in favor? Is there any discussion? Anybody want to arm wrestle for the role? No. >> No. Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you for your willingness. And I'm just making notes so we know who seconded and all of that so we can put it in our minutes. And with that, we can move on to public comment. There's no one with us in person this evening, but we will open it up if there's anyone on
Zoom that would like to join us and make a public comment about our meeting tonight. Don't see anyone here. >> No one on Zoom. >> See no one on Zoom. So, we will close public comment for this evening. Um, and move on to mission moments, which is always one of the highlights of any
meeting. So this is an opportunity for the school committee and administration to sort of give a shout out to any kind of news that is talks about how Hatfield public schools are meeting our mission. It's an often a good spot for some good news to share and it's kind of a nice
way to start the meeting and I normally I pass it off to admin first but I want to kick off by just acknowledging my excitement and appreciation for our two new school committee members. So, >> so excited to have you >> two new first-time members who are both
well-versed in our schools in different ways and I want to give you guys an opportunity to introduce yourselves. Nancy, do you want to >> I'll go first. Sure. Um, so my name is Nancy and I am a longtime Hatfield resident about 14 or so years. Um, my husband is Mr. Haggera who teaches fifth
grade and he's been a longtime teacher over 20 years in the Hatfield Elementary School in fifth grade. And um I've had children who attended and children who still attend um Smith Academy and at the elementary school. So I'm very happy to
be a part of the community and and help in this way um and be on this board and I love the schools. I think the schools are awesome and um yeah and help just to support what you guys do here and make Hatfield schools
continue to be as amazing as they are. >> Thank you. Thank you. when you're not serving as a parent and a school committee member, what do you spend your time doing? >> So, I am a nurse practitioner, pulmonary specialist in the Birkers. Um, and I've
been doing that for seven years and I've been an ER nurse for 10 years before that. >> Um, and then prior to that, I was a actually I love to garden. I have a community garden plot. So you'll see me over there um a lot of times for many hours on the weekends um just building
structures and having a good time. >> I see your name around a lot because you show up at games and take photos. >> Yes. >> And I do take a lot of pictures which I love to do too. >> Really a generous donation of time to our kids. >> Thank you. >> So no I love taking pictures of the
girls and the boys. They um I like to see them see themselves um how we see them like just achieving these amazing It's hard to play basketball. It's hard to play any sports and like to go out on a stage and and perform like that. I like to to show them what they look like.
>> Awesome. >> Awesome. Beautiful. >> Thank you for joining us. >> Thank you. >> I'm Tanya Mens. I'm a new member here. I've been in Hatfield for I think we're going five to six years. I have next year I will have four children in the
Hatfield school system um when I'm not being a chauffeur. I'm a family doc in Hadley and there's no Hatfield office for me. Um and avoiding gardening that my husband tries to rope me into is my
other hobby. >> You John avoids it too. >> Yeah. >> I love the schools. I love that my kids are all here. I love that when I have my youngest in the office, people recognize that she's a men's because they know all my other kids and that every grade knows
them. >> It's beautiful. >> So, welcome. Thank you. Other mission moments. >> Yes. Um, this past week on Monday, we were able to have Heidi Stumple come in.
All of our students are offered to submit um pieces of writing for them to read and award and we had I think 20 >> 21 winners um that Heidi acknowledged um
which was fantastic. It was the first time since I can remember in history that Jane Yolan was not able to attend. However, Heidi did assure me and the school that she will continue to do this um for a very long time. So thrilled to have this continue as a tradition
because it has been so since we're thinking at least 35 40 years. Um and the kids do look forward to it. So it was great. >> Um well we had a momentous occasion on Friday. We graduated 21 seniors and sent them off into the world from Smith
Academy. Um it was incredible. It was a beautiful night. Uh huge props to um Dr. Bole for putting it on. She's our graduation coordinator. Um we heard a beautiful rendition of the na national anthem from a student. Uh it was just beautifully done start to finish. It was
a great night for them. Um a couple things I mentioned that I think are just worth noting here is uh from our 21 students, we had over 75 college acceptances from everywhere from Florida all the way up to Northeastern to um WPI. We have kids going everywhere. It's
great. Uh, and as a group they logged, I think it was 727 hours of community service. >> Wow. >> Um, to the town and to the the just their their wider community, which is pretty uh pretty incredible for that group. So, a fantastic group of kids,
adults, group of young adults that are moving off into the world now. Um, and we're we're sad to see them go, but excited to see all the things that they'll they'll do. >> Awesome. If I could piggy back on that, um, I was honored to be representing the
school committee on the stage and, uh, it was really such a beautiful, intimate and moving graduation. Um, the three student speakers
really shared exactly what we have felt. uh our schools represent um but they captured the feeling, the emotions, the community, the family that
is Smith Academy and Hatfield Schools. Um one thing that you left out, Connor, was that all 21 graduates were Promeido. >> True.
>> Um which is a 3.0 or higher. And I thought that was really such a great and noteworthy accomplishment that every student uh got what they needed and was able to
succeed in our schools and it was only an hour and 15 minutes. Not that you're timing it though. >> Hey, I wasn't the one. I was so glad you're there. It was Dr. L Grand that said, "Holy cow, that's awesome."
Any other mission moments? Okay, I'm tableabling the consent agenda and the student representative report and we're going to move on and talk about fall co-ops. >> Sure. Um, so we have three to approve uh hopefully approve for the fall for our students. Um, we'd like to host a
varsity soccer uh co-op with the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, uh, PBCICS. Uh, we've worked with them in the past for their sports. Um, they have a few uh, kids, I I believe primarily um, girls, although they might have have some boys too, who are
interested in um, playing soccer, but they won't have enough to field a full team. Um, and so that would give us um hopefully it would give us some numbers to to have a a fairly competitive varsity team. Um, as well as allow some of our younger students if they if they
would like to develop more with the middle school team um before pushing them up to up to varsity. So, we have the room um and it would I think would be a nice thing to do. Uh we have some of our students who are interested in playing football. We don't offer a football program, but um have worked together um a co-op with Northampton.
So, we'd like to be able to send some of our students who are interested in playing football there. Um, and we would like to host a field hockey co-op. Again, we've done this in the past. We did it this year with Smick Voke and with Hopkins, uh, where we're the host school. So, they can send students to play with us.
>> And just to clarify, that football would be with Northampton High. I know >> Northampton High. Yes. >> Sometimes in past that's been with Smith Focus. >> It has. Yeah. So, it it it's all depends on numbers um of the of the school that you're partnering with. So, um a school
would never host a co-op if it meant that they would potentially have to cut their own students from a team. Y >> um and so if Northampton High may have more than enough players, Smith may need some players. So, >> okay.
>> We have any idea of numbers? Uh not not hard numbers yet. No. >> And for those that may not know, uh if we're hosting a co-op,
we receive the athletic fees >> from these students. They get transportation to our school, but then our >> they have to take care of their own transportation to us, >> right? But then once they're with us,
they travel with us to the games. >> Correct. >> And for us sending any students, uh, for example, for the football, our student would pay their athletic fee. >> Correct. >> At the receiving school.
>> Yes. I' I'd entertain a motion to take all of these in one swoop if there any other questions before we move on. >> I'll make a motion to approve the fall co-ops as presented.
>> Is there a second? >> I have one question. Can I ask question? >> If technically we get a second and then we'll open it back up for conversation. >> Sure. >> I'll second it. >> Okay. Okay. Any further discussion? If you do approve the co-op for the soccer team
with PV Pioneer Chinese School, with the Chinese immersion school, would that preclude you from opening up a co-op with a different school? Like would you not be able to if you didn't have enough kids from >> let's say you only get a few and then you still have a few? >> No. No.
>> Like would you be able to then open up the co-op with another school? >> Yeah, we we could like for example for field hockey we have a um a co-op with two schools for Smithville and Health. So you could do it again with the other. >> Yep. >> Okay. That was my question. >> Yep. >> But I guess you'll see if you get the numbers you need.
>> Yeah. >> You wouldn't want to >> do it and cut somebody. >> Right. >> Right. Because then if the school that you would like let's say Hopkins is you're thinking about co-oping with them if they have bigger numbers and then you're bringing in two groups now like
are you now a package deal? >> Yeah. So co-ops are really they're only for if um a school can't field their own enough >> their own team. So if a if another we'll use Hopkins as as an example. If they had enough numbers to field their own
team, they wouldn't seek a co-op. >> Okay. >> Um if they were if they needed more numbers, they might try to get a co-op with the town to pull in. Um but they wouldn't, you know, they wouldn't send, >> you know, unless they had unless they couldn't they couldn't feel the team.
>> Okay. Any additional questions? Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of approval. >> I Okay, 4. >> Um, and then we're going to move on and talk about school choice updates.
>> Sure. >> So, in January, we approved a headcount for every class. We opened up a number of seats. >> So, we're here for an update. >> Yeah. So, here. So I if you have um I
updated this today uh from uh based on current current numbers. So if you look right now >> not print this for you so it's online. >> Okay. >> Okay. Um >> can we put it up on this? >> Yes, we sure can. >> Put it on the screen. >> We sure can.
Maybe. >> Yeah. If you click district report. >> Yep. Okay. So, he if you look on this far right this other one in the middle, >> that's as far That's as close as they're going to get. >> You can pull that.
>> We'll get closer. >> Share monitors too. >> If you look on the on the far right column, you can see the number of spots that we approved. Um, so this is in January. So for example, we approved um three slots in kindergarten, six slots
in first grade, 11 in second grade, and so on and so forth. Um here you can see the number of applications per grade level that we've received. So 10 kindergarten applications, two first grade, uh one second grade, two fourth grade, one fifth grade, 12 sixth grade
applications, six seventh grade applications, uh four eighth and four n and two 10th grade applications. This next column here, the accepted column, means that they have accepted um that that they have accepted our offer to
bring them it. So, um we have three students in kindergarten who have accepted. We've said, "Yep, you're in." They said, "Yes, we'll take it. We're signed up or we've sent in the paperwork." Um so, we recommended three. We filled all those spots in kindergarten. We have
plenty more applications and we we know of at least two more families that have said that are the next two on the wait list have said we will definitely come if if you if you um would like to have us we're there. Um that's the only one
that we're we're over in the if you look down here for sixth grade we're getting close. So we approved six slots. We have four who have accepted but we have 12 applications that we've received. So, I'm anticipating that we will fill those
slots. Um, that's also a a pretty robust size class. So, we have uh 29 students in that class right now. So, um with >> which was 30 when we made the approval. >> Yes. Which was 30 when we made the approval. Um so, we we were looking at
um kind of trying to cap that class size at 36. Um so, we're down to 20 29. we could approve one more and still stay within kind of the the recommended class size for sixth grade. Ninth grade, um we
have uh we have we have 10 slots that we've approved. We've got four applications, so we're not really close there. Um but that is a year a year that we already know that we typically lose some students to Smith. We're anticipating losing um a fair
number. I think seven uh seven right now two that have have applied. >> So that's um you know we could open more there. I don't know that there's a a a really um high need to open more right there in that grade right now because we don't have as many applicants, but we
could do it just to make sure that we we have the slots in case we do get an an influx of of applications for nth grade. Um which happens. I mean sixth grade within the last two weeks we've seen that almost double. So two or three weeks we've seen we've we've seen that
that number of applications almost double. Um so other than that I don't think I would I I would recommend any other changes possibly to 9th grade possibly to sixth grade. Um right now we have 15 that we have um that we're
anticipating in kindergarten. We could uh we we could approve two more and bring that up to 17. Um that's a larger kindergarten class size for Hatfield. uh which is an important caveat. It's not not a larger class size generally. Um but but for Hatfield, it's it's larger
if we went up that that high. Um but again, we have heard from those two families who have who've called and kind of pleaded, hey, we would really we know we're number two on the weight list. Number one on the weight list. We'd really like to go. Um so that's that's kind of where we are with the choice.
>> Questions, thoughts? >> So we were looking at one kindergarten class. Yes. One kindergarten >> for next year. Will we still have the two kindergarten teachers in the same classroom? >> No, we'll be looking at a more traditional kindergarten model. So, a
teacher and a paraprofessional. >> So, when we had to make our staffing changes for budget cuts, that was one of the places where we lost a teacher. >> And we did that primarily based on projected enrollment. Um so with 15 students having one class as opposed to
two made more sense >> given the number that we expected this year that at the last minute didn't come. >> Mhm. it. I'm inclined to say add a couple more seats to kindergarten knowing that you
may not see them all show up provided you could if you would still be okay with 17 kids instead of 15 kids. Um, there is I'm not saying it isn't without a little risk, but I I worry
about having a class of 11 or 13 kindergart like I worry about not having a full class of kindergarteners, >> particularly when there's only one section of that grade as they go through the school. >> If that if we can't keep that fairly
robust, it's going to be a challenge down the road. So, >> I'd be open to that. >> I'm also inclined to um add the two more seats.
Um they've indicated that they would attend. >> So, it's not like, >> you know, we're just doing it. We're we're doing it to accept two families um that want to come to us. And
historically, we know that when we can get families in at the earliest ages, they tend to stay with us. And that has been our whole push and uh desire for several years
now. Um, I think if we can do the two seats, we should do the two seats and um, start that class off strong. >> I agree 100%. Oscar's class was the what? Very small class and and is the
still now the smallest class. >> I think there's eight or nine students. So, and his class was historically small from kindergarten on. I think they only ever had 11 or 12 and it was tough and we lost kids and we gained a couple kids
but it it hurt. So I think having 17 makes a lot more sense to me. >> Historically the bigger groups we tend to keep them >> when they're bigger cohorts and the little cohorts we lose a disproportionately large share along the
way because they're just >> you need to be a little bigger to stick. >> Yeah. And as that class goes up, the recommended class size increases as well. So we can always have room to add more school choice or
people moving into town >> comfort. So >> yeah, so that would be kindergarten. I would also suggest if we have such a big interest in sixth grade, it's likely that we're going to lose some like that's a transition year >> that again while we said we would take
six, is there harm in saying we would take eight? >> Have we heard anything from the families um if they're all intending to go into sixth the fifth grade
families? We've we've we haven't heard that they're not um typically >> kid gossip is >> they're staying to for Smith is what I'm hearing but >> I've heard that there's several that are going
>> I don't know >> we have a lot of gossip grade sitting at the table >> I know >> everyone at the table has an invested interest in that grade one way or another >> and you know I don't know any of it so >> no
um >> it would be a likely year to lose kid. I mean it's >> it's a big year in historically it's been a big year that like kids transition out because if you're going to get into Northampton you need to go to JFK at six. So like you do lose kids at six. So it's almost like a
kindergarten transition and now that we've moved the kids up to the high school it makes sense to make that a more robust group because you know you're going to lose kids to vogue um eventually anyway. And so if you make a bigger sixth grade class and then some peter out, you'll still have a nice 25
30, you know, kids that stay for graduation. So I I'm all about increasing the >> What is the recommended size for sixth grade classroom? Do we know? >> It's 18 each. >> Yeah, it was 18 each. So 36 total. So we
had 30 in the grade. We recommended six um to bring it up to 18 each class. Now we're down to 29. So we, you know, at the very least I would say we we could should consider um at least adding one slot. If we think we're going to lose
some students, we might might want to increase, you know, increase more. >> Could we go to 40? >> Is that >> 20 per room? >> Yeah. >> I don't I don't think we'd get it. We could open the slots for it, right? I mean, >> yeah.
might even push to do >> that much more >> since you have 12 applicants too. >> Yeah. I mean, >> and then once you get them in the school, they're going to love it. >> It's >> Are we following up with the applicants? I mean, if if six, no, four have accepted.
>> Mhm. >> Have we followed up with the other eight? >> We have. So, what we do is we give them two weeks and then if they say no, then we go to the next person on the on the wait list. Um and so if if two weeks have passed, we we say, "Hey, this is
it." Like, >> but some of these have just come in in the last >> Some of these. Yeah. So, sixth grade we have seen or in the last couple of weeks a big influx in applications specifically for that that class. >> Are they from one particular school system or it's just from a random?
>> No, there there I mean there are I live in East Hampton, so I know that we have an override vote for the schools coming up. So we have seen some come from there but we've seen others from Holio from Northampton from other other places as well. Um so it's not you know we're not looking at you know one I I don't think
this is a I I don't think we're seeing a lot of precautionary applications um you know people applying just just in case that you know the vote doesn't go their way or that they don't get in the class that they want or they don't like you know they don't have that kind of thing. So um I think we're seeing some some
genuine interest here. So, >> I'd love to see it increase. >> Okay. >> Um, support middle school sports and um, keep them. I'm all for an increase. I don't want to go too crazy because we
know we've got student needs we need to serve in the same time. So, if it gets too robust, we may be stretching other services thinner. just want to be mindful of that. >> Is there a way to have an assessment of
like who we think is going to be coming from fifth grade in the fall? >> We can historically the sixth grade teachers have often sort of had conversations with families over the course of the late into the year to kind of get a
sense of it. Um, so that may be happening and we just don't have insight from the fifth grade teachers yet who don't historically haven't had that role. >> It hasn't been their gig until this year.
>> Um, so we can always add more later, but it makes it if you've got to turn around and tell people that they have a slot, it's helpful to know at least some of that now. >> And we typically don't have a July meeting So we would have to have a special
>> workshop in July that would potentially not voting. Yeah. >> Um >> I I suspect we will probably need at least a very short late June meeting.
>> Um just just to like rectify the the last bit of the budget that we we don't have some late transfers. >> Um and we could we could do we could add more then. think I think it would it would make sense for us to approve at least some tonight. Um, and then if we
get a, you know, if we get an idea like, oh, actually, hey, we have a a fair number of students that we we are that are planning on leaving that we didn't know about, we could open more um then. But I would I would caution opening it wide open right now. Um,
just, you know, just because we don't want to find ourselves in a position where we need to add another class. Um, that's not what we not not really what we wanted. We don't have the space to do it first of all. >> So, would three or four more be too many? >> Right.
>> Well, what if we went to four more? >> So, if we if we went Yeah. >> If we went up to, let's see, 29 if we opened it up to 11 or or 10 or 11 tonight, that would, you know, that would get us close to a number of a possible number of 40 and then we could get a better idea for next meeting.
>> So, I think that would make sense. I'm game for 11 as a recommendation, which is adding two kids per room. Yeah. >> Which is >> not nothing. >> Not nothing. >> Is there any way we'd be able to have like a principal email just like
informally who's planning to >> Yeah, we could we could we could >> find out for like gradu their moving up ceremony. >> Yeah, we could we >> it might be nice to announce where they're going. >> Yeah, we could we could find something. We could find a way to do that. Absolutely. >> Good idea.
>> The um like be nice. >> So that can be that can cut both ways. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So if if it's like oh well it may open up conversations that aren't happening too, right? So that goes both. >> And the other piece is you know I just
I'm a little a little wary of prying too much into I mean it's family decisions. They you know families they need to make the best decision for their for their families. Obviously we want everyone to stay here. Um, but there are reasons why why people choose to go elsewhere. And I, you know, I think having those
individual conversations is is fine, but I don't want to I don't want to run the risk of prying too much into into family. >> Certainly parents can ask parents on the sports field and a great to step up. So we can ask
around. Um but it's the >> it it has been fairly common to have bad intel on this particular shift. >> So every year I have had someone call me up with like every kid is leaving, no one's going to Smith and they don't and
it doesn't quite pan out that way. So >> So us opening up to more wouldn't necessarily affect or impact the other kids. It would just if they did not come then it just opens up more places for other kids to come in or >> Yeah. >> So this is on top of what's already
>> open or already filled. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Do you want to add more seats to ninth grade? >> You know, I think I think we could. I think we can. You know, if we wanted to add um five more, we could. But,
you know, we may not get we may not get that, but it's another transition year. >> An opportunity. Okay. So, we're talking about plus two to kindergarten, which would make that five that would potentially be accepted. >> Plus five for sixth grade, which would
put that up to 11 that would be accepted. And plus five for 9th grade, which would put that up to 15 being accepted. Okay. Um, I'll make a motion to add the school choice slots as stated.
Kindergarten plus 2, sixth grade + 5, and 9th grade plus 5. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor say I. I.
>> I. Thank you. Okay, so next up we get to talk about field trips or one field trip. One big field trip. >> One big field trip. So this is the 2028 uh trip that um we are planning uh to
Europe. So a kind of a cultural trip with some language components. Um we are planning for it to be for uh 10th, 11th and 12th grade. So this year's current 8th, 9th, and 10th grade. Um, so not next school year, but the year after.
Um, and we're planning it now to give families plenty of time to plan to budget, um, to fund raise, um, and to prepare. Um, I have some details for the committee. So the dates we're looking at
are March 18th to the 26th. Um, so it's a looking like a an 8-day trip. It's we we chose those dates specifically because it's sort of the bridge season between uh between sports. So, you need a certain number of practices before you
can play in a game or spring sports. Um and in the event that we go all the way in basketball, we want to make sure that we are not like saying, "Hey, you got to choose between this Europe trip you've been planning on for two years and going to state tournament." Um so this this is
our window. That's it. That's the window to do it. Um the right now we have 18 students and families who have expressed interest um who said, "Hey, yeah, I I really want to go." Um I don't suspect we'll have all 18. Um but that's that's the number
we're at right now. Um with that number, the cost including everything, airfare, lodging, everything is it's significant. It's $4,514 per student. Um which is, you know, it it's It's a fair chunk of change. Um,
but again, we're doing this two years in advance to give um give families and and students a chance to plan out some really good fundraises and budget and and do everything they need to. If that number drops below 15 students, if all of a sudden we say, "Okay, we're, you
know, we're down to to 14 or 13 students," the price does go up by $460 per student if it goes down that. So, they would have to know that, you know, going into it ahead of time. Um we we would like to put provisions in
place um where you know with with any big trip like this we we'd want to you know put things in place where um you know the you know you can't miss a certain number of school days. You can't you know to you know you're going to miss six day you know more five days six
days of school anyway. Um so if you've missed 25 days of school that school year that's you know it doesn't make sense. We'd like to put attendance provisions in place, behavioral provisions in place. You know, if you've been suspended for behavior infractions, then you know, you're you're ineligible. Um, so we would need families to to sign
off. And at a certain at a certain point, um, and this would come from the company what those dates dates are that the tour company that we're going with. Um, there would be, um, deposits would be non-refundable. So, and we would need we would communicate that to families well ahead of time. you know, by this
point, you know, if if you've deposited X amount, you can only get this much this much back should you decide not to go or should something happen where you are ineligible to go. >> What about grades? >> Yep. I would I would include that as well. Yeah, grades, attendance,
behavior. >> And uh and there'll be a cuto off point of signing up. So any potential new students that we get in the next school year could still sign up.
>> Yeah, we would I would need to talk to the um the teachers who are running it and yeah, I think I think we could they would just need to know that they I mean the goal is to have to put up a payment put together a payment plan that lasts two full years so it's not you know not
a not overwhelming every month. Um, in the case that someone joins not this coming school year, but the following school year and really wants to go, if they're able to, uh, if it doesn't push us over the the threshold of needing, you know, a different kind of transportation or or hotels or whatever,
um, you know, we'd have to clear that with with the company and the the families who join would need to know that they're um they're required, you know, they have to have have to pay for it. um and that they wouldn't you know if you know the part of it is that two
years is a long time to fund raise too and there'll be multiple efforts. Um so I would feel you know I would feel a little bad if some someone joined not next school year but the following school year um if they benefited from fundraising efforts that weren't that they weren't part of necessarily that
they didn't have a hand in but they could definitely take part in the ones that you know that they could do after. So I I think there's, you know, there's definitely opportunities there. >> Okay. >> So by our policy, the school committee
approves any trip that is out of state or overnight. So we review all of those. Um >> are there other field trips happening that year or we don't know? One of the reasons we wanted to not do it next year
is because we are up again next year for the Washington DC trip. >> So next year >> so we we've gone kind of in our four-year cycle. Um and so we are looking for a Washington DC trip again next year for uh ninth uh eth 9th 10th and 11th grade students. Um so that's
that's kind of our when when we do that it gives seniors the chance to do their senior trip um and they've already had the experience of DC or had the opportunity to go there. Um, so that's going to be probably a 4-day trip next year, which will again, it'll be a pretty um I mean, not nearly the same
cost as this one, but but it's it's a a fairly large trip. So, that's part of the reason we didn't want to overwhelm with with both of them. I think there's a there may be an overnight band trip next year, too, because they tend to do every other year, and they didn't go overnight this year. >> And it's not going to be the same year as a trip to South America for Spanish
language. >> No. >> Is that next year? I don't think they're doing one next year. Um >> the year after. >> No. No. They're This will count as that trip. Okay. >> Yeah. So, they wanted to give two years of of um kind of lead time for this one.
>> They did one this year. They did they did a trip this year. >> So, we're looking at this far ahead because of the cost implications. Right. >> So, are there other questions?
I've been happy with um the way our field trips, extended trips have been run. Um especially with Angie Baronowski. Um she's well-versed in
all these travel things with students. Um so I don't really have any concerns. Um, I mean, do do you know what the general plan is for housing? Like, are they staying >> They're going to camp.
Sorry. Uh, no, they're they'll be staying in hotels. >> Becca's not here for that one. >> Yeah. Uh, they'll be staying in hotels primarily. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Well, because hosts are a thing and this is a very different trip. >> It's a very different trip and I think it it um
>> it's hard to chaperon. great for them when they're in college >> and we'll have adequate chaperones. So, yeah. Um, if you want a motion, I willain that. >> Um, I will approve the 2028 Europe trip.
Okay, Kathy's made a motion. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> We're taking turns, >> guys. >> Yeah. >> See how that works out. Okay. All in favor of approving the field trip for 2028 to Europe, say I. >> I. >> I.
Look forward to hearing about that one. >> Um, next up, um, we try to have sort of one bigger conversation that kind of dives in a little deeper. Um, every month this month we're going to talk about curriculum updates and I think it's we'll let administration specify
which >> correct. So, we're we're two kind of um conversations. First is an update around the ELA curriculum that the uh committee at the elementary school has reviewed and gone through a pretty robust process that has engaged a lot of teachers um to
recommend a a program for consideration to the committee. Um and this would be um to be purchased um assuming that we can we can purchase it this year this summer uh trained next year and implemented next year. Um, and it's a program that the um, well, I'll let
Melissa talk talk about that and then just kind of an update about where we are with I Ready and Math um, and kind of what what our process looks like going forward um, for that curriculum, too. So, yeah, I'll turn it over to Loza. >> So, this past year, we put together an
ELA committee that rep had representation of myself. Um I had um a first grade teacher, a third grade teacher and a fourth grade teacher and a reading interventionist. Part of the time our e teacher also participated and what we did is we went
on to um knowing full well that I also couldn't be applying for a grant. Um the department of special uh department of education and secondary education um puts together a site called curate which is a curriculum ratings by teachers and
on that it goes through and they vet any and all highquality core instruction materials um and rate them in all different areas but particularly we're looking for things that have like full circles. So if it doesn't have a full blue circle it doesn't have met all of
the criteria. it's not considered really strong in that particular one area. Um and we ended up bringing in four vendors. We asked for samples um from looking specifically and solely at the curate for K to5 elementary um core
instruction and we had Wit and Wisdom as one of them um CKLA EL learning and wonders. So, those were the four that were on curate through the Department of Ed through Massachusetts um or at least had these in
Massachusetts. And after looking at all of them and hearing from the vendors, we and you know asking all of our questions, we narrowed it down to two and eventually ended up picking CKLA. So, CKLA is um let me get the acronym because I
know people are going to be like, what does CKLA stand for? It is. Of course, I'm on the Hang on. Curriculum. Curriculum. No, sorry. Cool. Kids love, >> right?
>> Totally. Um, >> yeah, I'm on the site, but it's not telling me what it means. um core knowledge language arts. So basically the core it's based on the science of reading. Um we had some training of what that was cool. Yeah
you're yeah I like your acronym your acronym as well. Um so basically this is it had the highest rating. That was one of the things that was a draw. The other thing that was a draw is that we currently in our dibbles when we're um
assessing students, we use a company called Amplify, which this actually is part of the CKLA. Um so this will be a nice me kind of like a melding of now having core instruction which our
teachers have been begging for. um as well as having this assessment and screening tool that both kind of align and meld really well together. Um what's exciting about this is it's going to also it's going to give us our foundational skills and phonics and
phmic awareness. Um it's very much rich print um and background knowledge, a lot of great mentor texts that are going to build vocabulary, reading comprehension and it embeds writing. Um, we have consulted with our we've been using SRSD
for our writing program and it sounds like there are a lot of other different um area schools that also are doing CKLA for their core reading instruction for ELA and have not given like the tossed out the baby with a bathwater. So, they're embedding a lot of the graphic
organizers, the C-space and the TAI that our students are used to using embedded in that as well. So, we're excited for our new ELA curriculum. It will be um done in fidelity with fidelity in grades K to five. Um again, part of the reason
why we moved our sixth grade up to the middle because it didn't cover sixth grade. So K to five core reading instruction. Um teachers are really excited about it and we'll be scheduling some um training for staff on the implementation of this.
And that will give us a jumping off point too as we do this review with middle school and high school to see um okay where you know if this is the the the K is it pre-K5 or K5 >> K to five >> K if this is the K5 curriculum um what you know what are the recommendations in
terms of any core curriculara for middle school that we might want to we might want to look at as we as we we think about review there too um and what are the practices that are embedded that we can can kind of uh have follow them up through. Um, on a side note, this is my
my daughter's school uses this and she comes home with her, "Hey, Dad, I'm going to read you this tonight." It's it's great. Um, so she so from from a her perspective um it's engaging um and and she likes it. Um, so yeah.
>> So, as we're learning more and more about kids on screens, >> how does this curriculas worksheets, screen time? >> Yeah, that's a great question and I know that we've been having this kind of conversation at our school council meetings as well. Um, so one of the
things that we that staff are going to learn tomorrow, um, we're going to implement this with fidelity. So at this point, we are not going to be asking kids to get online to do lexia for their reading. So CKLA does have a component online because similar to what our math
program is, there's recommended amount of time to be on screen to do your own individualized program. We are hoping and anticipating that that's also equally the same for I Ready as it is going to be for CKLA, which is 15 minutes for each. So, there should only
be a total of a half an hour of time that kids really should be on screens. We've been hearing this from our school council and some of the parents. Um, even when I've been doing to school tours, parents have been asking that question about screens. Um, and our teachers have voiced concerns about it
as well. So, I think it's very much on people's minds that we don't know how much and we don't have control over what kids are doing outside of the purview of a school day. However, we definitely want to minimize the amount of time that they are on screens with the
conversation of possibly having, you know, do we have part of our steam classes again going back to doing more of that digital citizenship kind of role where Mr. April will do more around that technology teaching um aspect and then
just trying to give kids more of an opportunity to do more of the paper pencil types of tasks in the classroom. You mentioned a grant. Yes. Um you're applying for a grant to purchase this. >> So I applied for a Prism grant which was
um this fell into that. So as long as and I had read about the grant ahead of time. I would not have been able to apply for the grant if we weren't using something based off of the Desi curate. So, if I was making a recommendation and wanted to purchase an ELA curriculum
that wasn't listed on here, then I would not have been they probably would have passed me for the grant. But the fact that I have um gives us a better chance. They are only willing to fund 50% of the K to3 um materials for the grant. We did
not um meet qualifications for the four to six. They had for whatever reason the Prism grant was broken into those two categories. So we should have approximately I should be getting approximately 15,000 that includes both the purchase of the materials as well as professional development for the for the
um first year well when we're buying all of this. >> And so that's actually my next question is what's the total cost for this that's unfunded for the moment? >> Um good question. Um rough about let me think am I doing the
math in the head my in my head quickly? Yeah, the total is 55 minus the 15. And because I'm not going to be doing a license for Lexia, I'm not repurchasing any of the consumable material materials
for foundations because it embeds that they have a phonics program. There should be cost savings within the lines that I currently have um that I'm not using to help also offset this cost. Have we done the math?
>> We have not. No. Um I I'm hopeful that when we do that and when we look at what we have in our um some of our our grant rollovers that we're going to have that we'll be able to we'll be able to to fund it. >> Okay. Are are we going to be in a
position to wait to make the call on the committee could say yes to this tonight and we wouldn't necessarily have to pull the trigger on ordering it. >> Correct. until we know we have the grant. >> Correct. Yeah. We would >> and we have the other funds. >> We wouldn't order it unless we knew we could pay for it. >> Yes.
>> Um but we we certainly won't order it unless it's approved by the committee. Um >> good. I I guess what is the timeline? I'm just looking at where things the gating factors here. What's the timeline for
knowing your grant funds that are going to roll over and compared to when you need to put an order in to get it in on time? >> So, the prison grant that I applied to said that they understand and know that most school districts financial fiscal
year starts July 1. So, it's I should hear something. I'm hoping within this week, if not next, but clearly before the end of the month, I will know whether or not they've approved if we're approved for that grant. um after that books aren't for the other part of it aren't going to be July one
>> close. >> We should we should be we should be pretty darn close by end of June. >> Okay. >> That's part of the reason I I'm hopeful that we can have a a late June um late June meeting with with at least a quorum. Okay. >> So we can approve any transfers we need to.
>> If you don't get the grant, is it not feasible to purchase? Well, we can purchase in uhs. So, we can do we can look at K through three and we could possibly do the you know the upper grades next year. Um we could you know
so we could we could look at and I'm sure whoever um our rep is at at Amplify would be able to work with us and and figure out a plan to do that. So, we wouldn't need to do the entire ne thing necess necessarily at once.
Ideally, that would be the case. We would we would be able to kind of rip the band-aid off is probably not the best metaphor, but we'd be able to to make the shift all at once. Um, in my experience, we I've done it a couple times where you have um you either make the change all at once or you say, "Hey,
we're going to start this year in first grade, this next year in second grade, then third grade." Um and the challenge with that is then you get one cohort of kids that is for the teacher they have a brand new teacher to this curriculum every single year through and it's it's not really great. >> Yeah.
>> So even in the training because it's a K to 5 they recommend even when I'm scheduling the professional development for this to do it as K to2 and 3 to 5. So, it would make more sense if we had to to purchase this for grades K to two
first because then they could get the training and then the following year we could do 3 to five and then that might make a a easier transition as far as purchase. >> So, if memory serves me correctly, if we don't have the funds left over from this
year's grants, >> we don't have funds. >> We don't have the funds. Correct. >> Just to get the grant, we don't have >> Yep. And you said you were we were saving some money because of Alexa. Uh >> yeah. So basically in the year-to-year
budget, I have a textbook line and um a sub a subscriptions line. A lot of those online components that we ask kids to engage with come out of those line out of my that budget line. So yes, um I I've already begun looking. already been
soliciting me to say, "Please, let's we're anticipating that you're going to renew this next year." So, I've been stockpiling all of those so that I can be like, "Here's" and I can share that with Connor tomorrow. Here's my pile of things that I'm not needing to purchase next year because we're going to have
this embedded in our new ELA curriculum. >> But if you only switch part, but you don't switch all, does that change what subscriptions you have to do, too? >> Because if you you may still need them for >> Yes and no. Some of the grades. >> Yeah. That's something to think about too. >> Yeah, we'd need fewer of them.
>> Okay. So, it's not like greed. >> Correct. >> But you have less half the savings, whatever. Right. >> Other questions? >> Do you want a vote tonight so that you can continue and then we'll know for sure? >> If we know we're coming back in June, we
could push this to June if people wanted to have more time. But if you don't think you need more time, I would just assume give them our feedback. Now, if there's cons >> um well, if the motion is that
if the funding is there to go ahead, >> that would I mean that would be how we would do that. But I think there's also not been any opportunity for the committee to look at the curriculum if that's something the committee is interested in doing. This is
our purview is not really about curriculum. Um it's about meeting goals and this is one of those areas that we largely do trust administration. We approve it. We know that it's going through. We for sure make sure that we have the money to do it. um and that it
seems sound, but we don't often get involved at the point of weeding through which curricula is the best what we hired them >> and they had uh a committee, right, >> to been well vetted. >> Yeah. To vet the four options and
narrowed it down to two and then chose one and that sounds like a >> Was the committee unanimous? >> Yes, they were. And then we also invited all the other staff who were in different grades to come down and look at the two samples before we made a final decision and everyone agreed they
like the CQLA. >> That's that's what I was going to say is that the process involved I mean the the real experts who are the class who are the ones implementing it. >> Yeah. >> Are the classroom teachers eager to kind of move on from what's currently in place? >> Yes. Because there isn't really anything
that you can have your hang your hat on. Um, so >> as a parent, >> they're very much >> eager to move on from Lexia. >> They're very much open to this >> and to have some science of reading. >> Yes. >> Because it's more, it sounds more papery versus digital.
>> It's it's both. I mean, any and all of the um curriculum materials that we looked at had the same um you know, and you still can pull back more on the screen if you didn't want to do as many, but all of them offered both a print version and a digital version. So that's
any and all of them. That's just kind of the the the way that we're moving in our society, in our world. But I'm also hearing too many people saying that we got to slow down the amount of screen time, which we definitely can do. >> And is there a cost difference if we say didn't take the electronic digital
version, we only went print? >> I'd have to go back and look at that because again, I don't know if some of that practice like with an I Ready like the diagnostic, I don't know if some of the assessments are tied to that or not. that I'd have to go back and research a little bit more about what a print only
versus a print and digital means. I would be curious if we need to have uh digital version for some students who
might need that accommodation. I guess it's it's different materials, but that's a good question. >> Yeah. If we didn't have any digital version, are we excluding any students who may need a digital version for
their needs? John, does that >> So Kathy raised the question about if we didn't have digital versions of our ELA curriculum, are there student needs that are there kids that we would not be
meeting their needs because there wasn't a digital version >> that they might need an accommodation to do things digital? >> We don't have a lot of kids, but there are probably a couple that have accommodations for paper versions of things. Um, >> are there accommodations for people who
only need digital? Goes the other way. >> I can't say that I know of any. >> The the only accommodations I can think of related to like MCCAST or testing are um like text to speech, that kind of that kind of thing where there's there's
workarounds for that. But typically the the the bigger as John mentioned that the bigger accommodation is um not having a screen is is having a a provision for paperbased um as opposed to um as opposed to computer based.
>> So just looking at the quote there's um the teacher license then there's also student license. So I don't know if that's the digital version of that because everything else then becomes consumable and those that consumable is all paper pencil. So those are the workbooks. So students would have workbooks
>> but there must clearly be some online component in which they are engaging and then a lot of the other materials are both yes there's like flashc cards and different things that the teacher can have that's you know again consumable like they're holding versus putting
everything up on a screen deck and projecting it for students. >> I like it. I'm in >> question. thoughts. Other thoughts? >> Um, so for not voting tonight,
I'm just looking at the calendar uh because there's only two more full weeks of >> Yeah, let's not worry about that tonight. >> Well, I I'm I would just assume we go if folks are generally engaged with the
idea of shifting the curriculum, >> I would entertain a vote tonight and we can we can set it up. provided the funds are available that are rolling over from this year's grants and it's not coming out of what been
budgeted for FY27. I I mean I think we we held a little bit of money, >> not a lot. We didn't hold 55,000. >> Nope. >> So, all right. Um >> I guess I'm I I'm seeing two nods. I'm I'm just checking to see if we're all if
there are four nods. And if they're not, we can have more conversation. >> I don't want to rush into it. >> I'll make a motion to approve the CKLA curriculum for fiscal year 27 providing
uh that the funds are available to support the purchase. It's my turn. A second. Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Okay. Um, with that, we're going to move
on to administrative reports. >> And with new members, we didn't all have an opportunity to read district reports. So, if you guys would give highlights, that would be lovely. >> Highlights from um >> Well, I'll start >> top 10. >> Top 10. All right. I'll stop start with
the district report. So, um we're we're in the process. We met this afternoon as an ad administrative team. Uh and we're in the process um right now of securing uh professional development for next year in keeping with our PD plans. So, we're excited to be to be doing that. Um
uh one thing that I wanted to highlight that that I've been working on um is just trying to be more present, you know, based on some of the feedback I have received at the elementary school. So, I've been down there u more lately than um I I have before and it's been great. I was able to see a fourth grade
showcase this afternoon of um docahedron docagon >> geometric shapes that uh were related to a book report which was great. Um, in terms of management and operations, um, oh, one more thing that I think is kind
of cool for next year. Um, as as part of the shift that we, you know, I try to find the silver lining in things. And, um, no one likes downsizing, right? Right sizing, whatever you want to call it. Um, cutting people. That's, you know, we're talking about people who might be losing their job, are losing
their job. Um, one of the opportunities it has given us at Smith, which I think is is pretty unique, um, is to kind of build on the success of the middle school model. I think that are the the teamed approach that the middle school has is a is a fantastic model with how to do things. Um, meeting very regularly
about kids, um, about what's working, about what's not working, about what you need to do as a as a team to kind of drive similar points home across different subjects subject areas. Um, and next year we're looking to to kind of extend that to 9th grade as well. Uh,
we really we'd love to do it 9th through 10th grade when the schedule allows it, but trying to find that time for the nth grade team to say, "Okay, it's a transition year going from middle school to high school. We're all going to um meet they they do meet, but more regularly than they currently do. um you
know to develop common uh graphic organizers that they might use, common ways to approach non-fiction text, common you know things that if you're having the same kids use the bathroom for the same 10 minutes every class, um different you know health care plans
that might support those needs. Um so things things like that that um you know you really can't do by yourself um but when you have the time to do as a team um will be will be helpful and I'm excited for that. I think that'll be great. And um and kudos to the nth grade
teachers who are the ones that have have come and said, "Hey, how about this with the schedule? Like, can we tweak it this way? Can we utilize this time to make this work um in things that I wouldn't have thought of." So, it's been been a nice process.
Um terms of management operations, we talked about school choice, so I'll skip that update. Um we are interviewing currently for the school nurse positions plural. Um we have both of our nurses retiring. We have nurse Jean as well as nur nurse Martha. Um the goal is to to
secure our nurse manager first and then include the nurse manager as part of the hiring committee for our um our nurse at Smith Academy. Uh we've recently welcomed Daryl Bowier who started at Smith Academy as a custodian. He's been doing a great job um which is fantastic.
Um, we're looking to hire again for the administrative assistant position. Um, so we'll be looking at those applications soon. Um, roof and boiler, I wrote inspections. Um, I think I meant to write installations are coming right
along. Um, they need to be installed before they can be inspected. Um, so the they uh gave us a little excitement last week um with they uh they were using cutting oil on something and they were they did it directly below the clean air
intake um for the for the building. Um so um Melissa evacuated the building, got them outside, didn't know what the gas smell was, fire department came down, cleared it out. So thank we're thankful to them. Um but other than that, things seem to be going along pretty smoothly. They're they're working
right along. I think the roof is uh either at or slightly ahead of schedule, which is great. So, if they're ahead of schedule, it means they can start earlier on the >> driveway. Parks, um, which is great. >> Um, we're posting a position for
groundskeeper for the um, summer. Uh, so that position is going to help just maintain the weeds that grow everywhere and quickly um, and and help work to uh, just keep the fields look nice. Uh, it's a part-time position. Um, and the DPW
has, um, supplied, graciously supplied new equipment for us, a really big lawn mower. So, um, we're we're excited for that. Um, family and community engagement. We've had a lot of stuff happening, especially
at Smith Academy, um, for seniors. That culminated last week on Friday, um, with the graduation. We have exciting end of year stuff. uh fifth grade moving up ceremony, underclass awards at Smith, um all kinds of stuff going on. Uh and then
I continue to meet with the HDA leadership as we work collaboratively um to just kind of make sure everything is as it should be. Um oh, and later this week, we're going to be celebrating our nurses who are retiring too as a as a community. So, that would be good.
>> Uh from the school, I think most of my updates um from the school were in that update as well. I talked about graduation. I'm just really proud of those that the whole class. It's just a good class. Um they all are, but you know, it's they I
have a a special spot in my heart for all of them. And and this group was fantastic. Uh they had a trip last two weeks ago now um to Cape Cod, which was great despite hard case force winds and a little bit of illness that that plagued them throughout. Um, we had our
our softball team won the Tri County League champions uh champion. They they were crowned champions. Um, they were eliminated from the the tournament last week. I when I write these, it's all a week kind of like I wrote this last week, so it's says last week. It was really the week before.
>> Um, talked about Mr. Bomier. Um, and just a few things left toward the end of the year. We have field day, we have underclass awards, we have final exams, and we have summer vacation. Yeah, a lot of stuff
>> questions for Dr. Gasco. >> So, we have finally wrapped up MCCAST. We successfully did science and math and are all completely finished. Huge shout out to our students for persevering and doing their best during those required
>> state testing. Um, as you said, nurse interviews have begun. We're hoping I'm already in the process of calling references, so hope to make that decision and let people know who our final candidate that we're hiring um is this week. Uh John Halpin partnered with
Bardwell Farms to bring in some spinach. Um students were able to have that both in their salad at lunch and um uh our students, our student council took a field trip down to Bardwell Farm to actually see the whole growing process. The kids came back saying they got to pick spinach right off the off the and
eat put it in their mouth and eat it. They were so excited and thrilled with that. Um many of our students are in the process in the throws right now of attending our very generous PTA sponsored and funded um field trips. Um we've had many field trips last week. We had three. We got
two this coming week. Um, and right now, this past week, starting today, teachers are working with myself, the special education staff, math intervention, and reading interventionist to basically kind of review our end of the year data. Um, we've had all of our students complete this data. And now we look at
celebrating their huge growth and accomplishments, but also starting to think about looking already into next year about students that might need some intervention or support and how we might start that off right at the beginning of the school year. So, and again, upcoming events, we have our two fourth and fifth
grade field trips this week. We have our Sunday summer blastoff. Um, field day is the 16th. 18th is our step up for grade five. And then school is out. >> Question. >> Shocking. It's come so fast.
>> We're already planning for next year. >> I know. We are. We're already thinking about next year. >> Questions. Okay. Dr. Salvar. >> Sure. So, special ed usually end of the year means either tidying up things to make sure that they are done this year
or preparing for summer and then fall. So, one of the things that we actually gave ourselves for a goal this year was to try to get as many of the annuals and reav meetings done before the end of May. And we were close to that. Um and we did have about 20 meetings for this
month that we have to actually finish up. Uh 10 of those we actually had last week and some of those are carryovers partly because of evacuation procedures that uh meant that we had to kind of like stop mid meeting and then reschedu but we also end of the year and this is
pretty much true for me for all the districts that I've worked in. Usually after February break there's a lot of evaluations that come in a request for initial evaluations. So we get a quite a few initial evaluations between like February and now. And usually the
evaluation process takes about 45 days to complete the full process. So we're trying to get as many of those done now then have them sitting out there until next year. Uh now we will probably have like a handful that will still be in the
works as we go into the school year next year, but right now we're trying to get the majority of them done so that we can have a meeting, make a determination, and hopefully draft an IEP. So most of those meetings, some of them last week, some of them this week, and we've got a
couple that will be lingering for the remainder of the I think 10 days that we have left. Um but uh we we've actually made good progress that way. I'd like to say that I do think that there are things that we can do next year to continue to improve the the process. So,
first year here, this is my second year. So, I saw that we had actually quite a few problems with scheduling last year. I think we straightened quite a bit of that out, but I still think there's room for growth in those areas. One of the other things that we've been working on as well just besides the re-evaluations,
the annuals and the initial meetings have been transition meetings between fifth grade and sixth grade. Uh some of those meetings have been on an individual basis and some of them have been actually teams getting together kind of sitting and going through individual cases one after another. So
at this point we we have essentially reviewed all the transition meetings uh that we need to. One of the other things that we are kind of like planning for uh we have an ESY which is an extended school year program for special ed students. Uh that's a fourw week
program. It runs between July 7th and July 30th. It's three days a week, two hours a day. Uh we have actually set up uh the programs. We've essentially confirmed everyone to be in the program relevant to staff members. And over the
last week or starting the end of last week and we've started to get replies back from parents as of today, we're actually reaching out to the parents to find out who is actually attending. So ESY is more of a voluntary thing, but it is actually backed up by federal law.
It's considered a modification to the curriculum uh for students that are on IEPs. Uh so we do have two classrooms that'll be running at Smith Academy and two classrooms and a prek classroom that'll be running at HS. Uh one of the other things that we are doing is uh
Kathy just before the meeting had shared some information about CPAC and a regional group that's going on in the area. uh we recently made our notification known of interest relevant to joining a a regional CPAC with a
couple of other well actually more than a couple of other districts and I do imagine that that's going to start uh kind of like formally for us next fall. >> Can you spell out what that means? >> Especially parent advisory council. Thank you. Yeah. Uh so this is actually
kind of a mandated um uh process. I'm I guess I'm going to say or or advisory council uh by the state. The state would like to see every district actually have a parent advisory council. We do not have a formal one in place at this time. So there are kind of like waivers that
you need to apply for and part of the waivers suggests that we do things like provide at least three trainings a year and to put out notifications to try to get people to join a CPAC. We've not been successful with getting people to join, but we've done at least three
trainings this year, and we're offering a fourth one. Uh that'll be coming up on the 15th of this month. Uh that also um it it's virtual. It's through the Federation for Children with Special Needs. Um once I get the virtual link
for that, I'll actually be sending it out to parents that have students on on IEPs and they can join virtually on on that training on the 15th. And the last thing which really kind of like gears us up towards summer and this has been open
now for a few days uh circuit breaker claiming circuit breaker is a way for us to where we have like extraordinary spending relevant to individual students. We can get a portion of that that money back uh but not 100% of it.
and we have until essentially the end of the first week in July before we have to submit. Uh circuit breaker is a lot of data collection. It is essentially going into a state system and basically kind of copying in their system all the
services that are listed in a service delivery grid on an IEP for every active IEP that's actually taken place this year. So, if a student's on an on an IEP and their IEP is to run out, say let's say December 1st, that would be one
entry for that amount of time. And then we would do another entry for any IEP that's created after or for to start on December 1st and after that point and any amendments that might have actually occurred during during the year as well. So, it's actually quite time consuming.
I'm expecting somewhere around 60 entries, 60 student entries, and some of those may be doubled up like I just described. So, it can sometimes take two or three weeks to get the data in uh and then making sure that it's actually okay
uh and then submitting it. And usually the responses back from the state within a couple weeks, they like to try to certify things and they'll get back to us in case they have any questions about what we've actually submitted. and then that will let us know how much we'll we'll actually get back uh through
circuit breaker for the following year. So it is kind of something that we're doing in uh the rears more or less to get money for this. The money will come to us in the current year. >> John, are you hearing I I haven't checked in on it in a while to see what
did circuit breaker get fully funded in the budget. Have you seen >> as far as I know it's up at 75%. >> Okay. So, student services after you don't get anything for the first $52,000 you spend. I've got that
>> 50 just over 53 now. >> It's over 53. Oh, great. So, after the 53rd,11, you get about 75% back from the state. >> So, there's a lot of plans that like even if you had a oneto one, you wouldn't necessarily get anything back
from the state on that. Yeah, it seems to be most effective for those students that are out of district tuitions where this with the tuitions if they're over 50,000 then we we'd get well over 53 plus thousand then we'd get 75%
back over anything past that amount. >> And transportation isn't it is it is included. Okay. Well, it it has a separate formula for transportation and sometimes they fund one and they don't fund 100% of the other, >> but
>> and feelings is the circuit breaker money uh for those that don't understand all this that might be watching um it comes to the school department or it goes to the town. >> It comes back to the school department.
>> Yeah. Um, one thing that people don't understand about it, it's not like chapter 70 funding that's guaranteed from year to year. Uh, and that's why Chrissy's question about if they're funding it. Some years they actually don't actually reimburse us at 75%. It's
been a while, but I've seen it down in the low 60s. >> There was one year I saw it was like 43% was abysmal. That might have just been the transportation. it it's one of the places if we want to lobby the state that I would love before they fix chapter 70 I wish they would
fix circuit breaker everybody would benefit if circuit breaker funding was better >> I have a question um is so I'm from a medical world and we do coding and so you have to make sure you get you hit your points to get that funding back are
we pretty efficient in making sure we're catching all the >> So I'm kind of assuming you're talking about ICD1 or like any kind of like you just have to make sure you've like made your claim so that you can get the most reimbursement back. >> So there are so is there a
>> yes so that service delivery grid that I mentioned okay it dictates >> the staff member actually providing the position by title. >> It also asks for and this is something that we've improved over the last year. It asked are we providing it individually or a small group or in a
large group and that's something that when I came on board here we weren't identifying well that's individual services for certain staff uh versus somebody else. Uh so there are some times where uh services are split between a teacher or related service
provider and an assistant or an educational service uh personnel staff member. Uh so when that happens I have to basically put the entry in to the the lower uh salaried person. Um and and so
that'll affect so we've had conversation with staff like if if you're putting an entry in if you're the one as a teacher supplying the service make sure you don't add somebody else who's not providing the service as a safeguard because then I have to default to that that person. So I I I think we've you've
done well, but the problem is for our indist 53,000 foundation amount. So there's no reimbursement back for what we've spent on them. But we do claim whether it's like onetoone services, related service providers, our special ed teachers, and
the pair of professionals. There is a reimbursement rate for all those positions, but it is a state rate. They don't care what we're paying them. Um it's it's their rates that we're going by. >> All this is a pretty good transition into the school finance subcommittee
report >> which fun times. We um are our committee of two met this month. >> So that'll be updating later this summer. We'll add a third member onto that subcommittee. Um to really look at the very end of the year, it's all about
budget transfers. So every year we approve a budget. The budget has lots of lines. Um, what I've shared with you guys is just the roll up of all of that. So, underneath each one of those sort of lines, there's lots of individual budget
lines. And every now and then, we need to shift a little bit at the end of the year. And it looks like a lot, but it isn't actually a lot. Um, so there's two primary things that are about the shifting of funds this time. Um, we did
a lot of shifting in October because we had to update once we had new salaries. We hired several teachers. They didn't necessarily come in at the same salary level, the teachers that had gone who had left before them. So, we had adjustments to make on that front and we
did that. But, we did have one where we we budgeted out of one line and we paid them out of a different line. So that salary didn't cost us anymore. It isn't an actual change to the budget. It just got changed where paid. So now we need to shift things around. So that was the
primary um shift in the local budget. Um and then this in the choice budget, we needed an additional 57,000 in special education transportation. So there was new needs at the end of the year that we didn't account for in September, October
when we made other transfers. we found it within other things like we stopped spending money other places or had bits and pieces left over that could account for that. So, um you have in your school finance update which Connor can pull up
on screen um the list of these in the local budget. So local budget is the what's paid for by local tax funds. We that's kind of one account and within that account we're looking for transfers
that total up to $234,898, excuse me. Um, and you can see the account that it's coming out of and the account that it's going into. And that just balances all those lines out so that we aren't unable to pay a bill. Um, and then on
the second page of that document, you'll see the school choice budget, which is a revolving account, which means funds that are left over stay with us. Local tax dollars that are left over at the end of the year, if we don't spend them, they go back to town at the end of the year. But school choice funds are what's
called a revolving account. They stay with us. And so in the school choice, again, a little shifting around. Um, and that total of all those small changes is $162,288. So, I think Connor and I would be happy to
answer any questions you might have. Um, but this is paperwork shuffling largely. Um, do you want them separately or together? I think together would be fine. Okay. I'll make a motion to
approve uh the transfers of 234,98 from the local budget and 16288
from the choice budget as presented. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. Is there any conversation on this? We have had lots of conversation. So much conversation. Um, thank you. So,
there's a motion and a second. All in favor for the transfer say I. >> I. >> Okay. Um, that concludes our agenda for this evening. Can I make a request for uh if we do have another June meeting uh
to do the subcommittees? I was planning on putting that on the agenda for June. >> Okay. Um >> for if we have a second meeting. >> Yeah. Because there's some policy stuff that needs to be addressed and I don't want to put it off too long. >> So um we've had sort of initial like you
should be thinking about this. Um we'll make appointments. So, the chair makes appointments onto subcommittees and we'll we'll talk through the standing subcommittees and the school also has appointments onto other town committees um that aren't our subcommittees but
there and so I'll be reaching out to talk to you guys individually about interests and where you might want to serve that time and >> make eye contact >> and those are not on camera meetings there and then we
work to be really flexible around everybody's schedule. >> Um but the two primary ones are school finance and policy. >> Those always have something going. >> Yeah. >> So, but we can establish that. Yeah. So,
should we decide today because we've >> No, we can't because it's not on the agenda. >> And so, I'll put that out on the next agenda and make recommendations and then it's something that I make the recommendation and the committee still approves. >> Okay. So um and there are a few other
odds and ends to we need to settle out but we will do that and it the like if we have a second meeting in June which we probably will it will likely be by Zoom >> like later >> like at seven >> it could be later or earlier whichever
is whatever works for everyone. Okay >> and Zoom meetings tend to be very brief. >> Okay. So with that, is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> I'll second that just to throw you off. >> Oh,
you're on sync. All in favor? >> I thank you very much. Thank you, John.