Good evening. Um, it's Monday, September 15, 2025. I'm Christy Budro, chair of the Hatfield School Committee, and I'd like to welcome you all to our September business meeting as we call to order. Um, we are available to take public comment at this time to kick off our
meeting. Is there anyone online that is joining us this evening that would like to make a public comment? Is there anybody in the Zoom? Oh, no one in Zoom. Okay. So, there's no one with us this evening and there's no one by Zoom. So, we'll move on. Um we
can close out the Zoom account. Um and um go on to mission moments. And as this is our first meeting since school has kicked off, I just bet there probably some mission moments. Would anyone like to start? Um, one of the things that we have done
is every year we have all school meetings once a month. Um, but I have found that it's an awfully long time for kids to come together in such a wide range of space. So, I have begun doing weekly meetings um internally with kids um and we're doing one floor at a time.
So I had my first meeting this past week with kindergarten first and second about just expectations and getting together and I did my what's fair is not always equal speech to them. So and that was some of their first all school meetings. Yes, that's exciting.
Yeah. Um I particularly like the all school meeting in that I'm just watch kids progress in their ability to be in front of large groups and present and that growth is really fantastic. It's one of those things that we get to offer as a
small district that not everyone can. So, it's fun to take advantage of. Other mission moments? Sure, I'll go. Um I uh just something that that struck me. Uh there's been a lot of great things that have happened over the first couple of weeks. Uh but I
was in lunch with the middle school, the new sixth and seventh grade. They eat together. Um which is great. Uh, and uh, we had a group of students who had been with us for a while. Um, and we had a they recognized that there was someone
who was kind of new to the new to the school and new to their community. Um, they saw him sitting by himself and so they just kind of as one looked over there. They all kind of stood up because there there were no spaces by them and they walked over to the table where he was sitting by himself and they all sat
down there together. Um, and it was great. It was really nice to see that and it was not the only time that I saw something like that happen at the beginning of the year where our students were really welcoming um welcoming their peers even they they might not know them which is great.
That's awesome. Anyone else want to share a mission moment? Mr. S, anything you want to actually just one thing and I kind of mentioned it in the the report a little bit. uh one of our students with a severe level of autism, new staff
working with with them and uh they were doing some role playinging and the the roles had reversed to where the student was actually controlling the behavior of the the staff. It was actually delightful to see and I was really uh really glad that to be there at that moment to see it and just in
communicating with staff they said they were really learning a lot about the the student and hopefully uh them about the teachers. Awesome. Um I I will share that I've just been delighted as a parent this year at the
level of communication I have seen from the classroom that has been proactive and positive and engaging and it gives me like a really nice boost of confidence that my kid is like in really good hands. So kudos to the fifth grade
uh to the fifth grade teachers. I think they're doing it. That was it's been awesome. Um and really delightful to see. I also want to share my congratulations and appreciation with administration for the level of staffing
that we started the school year with cannot be underappreciated because I just hearing from other school districts and the kind of position that they're in still looking to fill gaps here and there and we're
so close to being fully staffed to what our kids need and that's an awesome way to start the school So, thank you. I know that doesn't happen by accident. Appreciate that. Um, next up, is there anybody else something catch you in the spirit here?
No. Okay. So, there's a consent agenda. There's meeting minutes for the 18th and the 29th of August. Is there a motion to approve those? So, move. Is there a second? Seconded. All in favor? I I
Five. Okay. and then we'll move on to our um our feature presentation of the evening is going to be an enrollment update and conversation. So, Dr. Driscoll, Sure. Um and can you see the
presentation now on the Yes. And we're good on the Okay, great. Um, so we're talking today about enrollment data from this year kind of as it compares to previous years uh and and
trends that we've been seeing over time. Um, so I'm going to start right off with our current enrollment uh which is 304 districtwide. Uh, so at HS we have 169 this year. Uh, at Smith Academy we have 135 students. kind of doing an apples to
apples comparison to last year where we did not have six rate in in Smith Academy. Our preK through six enrollment is 189 and our 7 through 12 enrollment is uh 115. Can you compare that to last year? I sure can. And I'm going to do that
right here on this next slide. Okay. Um so here is kind of uh a breakdown of the comparison. So if you look um can you see my cursor on that screen as well? Yeah, good. That's helpful. So, here is last year 2425 and here's this year 25 26.
So, you can see uh what the enrollment was in each grade level as we go down. Here are grade levels on the side. And the total enrollment uh preK through six enrollment as well as 7 through 12 enrollment. So, you can see that districtwide we're down seven students. Um which is unfortunate. I was hoping
that this would be the the first year in a number of years that we could talk about district enrollment um going up. uh to to clarify is the 311 where we ended the year or is that where we were in September? That's where we ended the year and we did have number of students join
midyear. Um and so we we were starting more similarly than that but I wanted to compare end of year to where we're starting right now. Um so total prek through six enrollment last year which was at the elementary school was 200 uh and then this year
it's 189. So, at the elementary school, um, we're down 11 students total. Well, at pre-K through 6 and then 7 through 12th grade, uh, last year our total enrollment was 111. This year is 115. So, we are actually up slightly at Smith
Academy, which is nice. Um, and when you add the sixth grade into the mix, um, you know, we feel more full than we have in years past. So, it's nice to see at least that um we have we we we've started to swing up a little bit at Smith Academy. Uh if you
look here where the apples to apples comparison um what this does, this column is takes uh for example last year's the 2425 kindergarten and then this year's first grade uh which is um which would kind of be the same kind of
group of students that same cohort of students. So, it's almost it's a diagonal sort of move. Um so if we do that um you can see where we are in this column uh where we gained students and where we lost students. Uh this is after
school choice school choice totals in. So we're you know the total was up we were up a few students uh in in first and second grade. Um even in third grade uh we're down a few students fourth grade up three students in fifth grade.
down five students in sixth grade. Um, which is significant. Um, down two students in seventh grade, which is, you know, we we were hoping to to be the other go the other direction there. Up a student, one student in eighth grade,
down five students in ninth grade, which, you know, that's a a a fairly significant number of students. That being said, historically we have lost more students in nth grade um because that's when we lose students to Smith. It would not be uncommon, am I
correct, that that would be twice that number some years? At least. Yeah. Some years we've lost, you know, 15 students to Smith Oak. Um, you know, 10 nine nine and 10 seems to be kind of like like the common um, you know, average. Um, 10th grade we're down three
students. Um, uh, 11th grade we're we're up and 12th grade we're up one student. So, we received a student in each of those those grades. Um this this column here is a grade level comparison which compares it's not an apples to apples comparison. Uh but
it shows you know what this year's first grade to uh or last year's first grade to this year's first grade is. Um again that's not an applesto apples comparison. Uh over here we have um school choice
numbers. So this is uh the total number of school choice students in each grade level last year and the total number of school choice students in each grade level this year. So you can see in total school choice students we are up um
about 10. So we have about 10 more students who are school choice this year than we did last year. So even though we are uh you know in total down seven students we are up 10 school choice um 10 school choice students and we can see
in this column here the new school choice um these are these are new in each uh in each grade level. So you have 32 new school choice students who have joined us this year. Um
and uh this is the total number of applications we received in each grade level. Committee, do you have questions before we leave this particular data bridge? Um
the fifth to sixth grade drop, so minus five in that drop. We touched on this in subcommittee, but since we're more public tonight, um what was the feedback on um exit surveys on those? So, we'll we have a we'll go into exit
surveys more in depth later. Okay. Um my we what we I'll start with what we didn't get. We didn't get anyone overtly saying I left the district uh because sixth grade is now at the middle school. That was not not something that we heard
on the exit survey. That being said, um I I think we can kind of read between the lines and maybe, you know, maybe folks comfort level was was higher at an ele in an elementary setting than a middle school setting for some of those students, but again, it was not
something that was overtly overtly stated in the exit survey. Did they choose programs that were going to continue to keep them in small districts or did they choose programs that were going to if not this year, next year, put them into bigger ponds?
They they typically chose districts that were that sixth grade would be in an elementary level this year um and in a larger larger school next year. Frontier specifically. Um, we did lose
I think one or maybe two students in that grade level to JFK, uh, which is I mean that's a middle school model as well. Looking at this chart, it it feels and please tell me if I'm wrong, like we're doing a better job of retaining choice
students than residents. um or at least we lost more residents than we lost choice students. Might be a clear way of wording this. Yes. And and I I have a slide in um in in a little bit. I have a slide that I think will speak more
Okay, we can more to that. Okay. Um specifically, you know, this year and then historically as well when we get we get to that. Okay. Before we leave this, can we talk about the NA and the apples to apples on kindergarten?
I get that preschool is not the same as kinder garden in enrollment and how it works because of tuition, but my memory is last year's preschool only had one student that wasn't local. Correct.
So if we had what what's not clear from this is of the 20 kids that were in preschool last year, we know one wasn't local. So that's 19. Of that 19, how many of those
kids were age appropriate to move into kindergarten? Because that's two that 20 represents two ages. So what's do we know what that split is? I don't have that. Um, I don't have that
right now right in front of me. Um, we may be able to pull some historical data and get that. I can tell you that we had uh, well, when we talk about kindergarten in a little bit, I can tell you that we had um, 18 students who we had originally uh, had originally signed
up for kindergarten. Um, but I did not I I did not pull the the split within preschool of who is kindergarten age. I have a note from last spring.
Looks like maybe nine would be eligible. That does that drive? That sounds that sounds like it would it would fit. Yeah. gotten a drop from um we had 20 prek students last year, but only 12
in kindergarten. That's what we're saying. It's two grades. Yeah. And it's probably only nine. It's probably around nine of those 20. Only nine were eligible eligible to take kindergarten. The others are still in preschool because preschool goes from three years
old to three, four, and five. Okay. Yeah, I have a question about the total school choice applications. It says 62 and our new school of choice was 32. So
that's 30 applicants that that applied and didn't didn't chose to go elsewhere. Correct. Um were there any that weren't accepted because No. So they were all accepted but they didn't choose to come.
Yep. What are we doing about I mean that's half of the applicants. How are we going after the 30 that didn't come to try to get them to come? What's our plan there? Yeah, I think we need to do um a better
job of outreach to those students and those families when they've accepted. Um you know, we did bring them in for shadow days. we did bring them in for um new student orientations. Um so we we we did we were successful in getting them
into the schools. Um I think we need to do a better job of following up. Um there were a number that we we and I say that we did we followed up pretty regularly. You know, we called when we hadn't heard back um from folks. We called
at least every other week um to say, "Hey, you know, you've been accepted. we're just, you know, wanted to follow up and see where, you know, where you stand on this. Um, a lot of those folks, they had applied to put just kind of to put feelers out in case their student wanted to go elsewhere and a number of
them decided not to. Um, but I think, you know, I think we can do uh, you know, as we go forward, I think that's when um, kind of that welcoming community that I was speaking about in the mission moment, that's when it should start. Um, so how as soon as
someone is acce accepted in school choice, how are we making them, how are we making their families feel like, okay, this is the this is a place that's going to embrace me. Um, and that should start, you know, with with that acceptance letter, that acceptance packet, um, with maybe more information.
Um, you know, we'll we'll we'll take a much closer look at that. Uh, who makes those phone calls? Uh, typically those come from the from the central office. Okay. Mhm. from our office. I don't know if it's addressed later in
your slides. Um, but regarding the ad campaign and the promise they made to us about numbers and yeah, how does that all play into this? So, we it's it's hard to tell what we
would have got without them, right? Because we use them. Um, historically, uh, this is it's pretty much exactly what we got the previous year. I think we got 30 or 31, uh, new school choice with about 61 applications from the previous year.
Well, we did advertise as well. We we advertised. We just used it we we advertised differently. Um, so we we had pretty similar results last year as we had to the year before. Um, and both those years were slightly more than the the previous year and the year before
that. Um, so it it's hard to hard to say, uh, oh, we didn't, you know, they didn't deliver because there's really no telling what, you know, what the return would have been if we hadn't used them, if we had gone with someone else. Um, and it's really impossible to know. Um,
I think they've given you a number that they they gave us they gave us a number of impressions in in applications and and they hit the they hit that number. Um, so they they hit and and far exceeded that number. I thought they gave a projection of the
new students that you would get from their advertisement. They they did. They said they they thought we would get 25 new new school choice students. Um, but it it wasn't clear that if that was 25 on top of the historical 30 or if that was just, you
know, 25 new next year. But given that we gave up the previous ad efforts for their effort like right it's kind of a wash on
with the previous ad it was just instead of correct it replaced the old ad. So had we not done anything then maybe get nothing the pre-AD era was not 3262 the pre-AD era was significantly down that. Yep.
Uh and then the last piece of information I wanted to show because people always ask is about kind of the it's on the the bottom here. Uh the the percentage of students who are attending Hatfield public schools who are school choice students. So last year it was 31
just over 31%. Um and this year it's just over 35%. Um so that's the the total number of students who are coming from uh other towns to Hapfield. Um the next the next couple slides just show a little bit of information. Um
this is what's available on Desi too. Um so this uh you can see school year 1819 1920. Uh this is the total population of our district. Um and you can see that kind of steadily declining over the the
number of years. So from 1819 when we had 436 students districtwide to to this year where we are projecting 304 to start with. Um and again you can see that in in both both schools as well kind of how that looks. Uh these numbers
here whoopsy daisy. These numbers here 189 and 115 for 2526. Those are a little skewed um because because those represent um oh no I'm I'm sorry I did switch that. Those are the apples to apples. That's that's uh 7
through 12. Uh and then uh K prek through six here. Um and then down here you can see the number of students uh districtwide that we lost per year. So there's a couple years that we have, you know, real
significant losses. So 20 21 22 23 um 23 24 we had a lot of students who chose uh you know to go elsewhere. Um you know and this this year we'd like to see more numbers like the uh well actually we'd
like to see numbers going that direction altogether. Um but but you can see this year is more on on target with some of those smaller years where we've we've lots fewer students. Um, and then at the bottom you can see a year-to-year percent decline um that we've that we've
had. If we took that though, and I think if we mapped that against the population of Hatfield, the fact that we're down 2%
is I believe less that like the drop of the population is greater to the drop that we're seeing except for those Yeah. sort of off those three years are yes significant issues. Yeah, but the five six kind of numbers
is more it's it's actually less significant than the population drop. Yeah, we have um I'm going to skip ahead two slides because I I I accidentally reordered them and I put them in the wrong to be clear the n the number of decline
is both school of choice and haptford residents leaving. It's not just total enrolled moving out. It's everything, right? Yes. Um and then so I'm going to skip two slides ahead then I'll go back but this is just a graph of that information that and this is similar graph that we've
seen before of the decline um total population over years. Uh and this is kind of a quote to speak that speaks to what you were saying at and it's from the um Massachusetts housing data portal analysis. We can thank um Bill Fogle for finding finding some information on that
today. uh that the average age of residents in Hatfield has significantly increased over time. So uh in 2020 uh from 43 in 2020 to 53.7 in 2023. So over three years the average age of a resident of Hatfield had increased 10
years. So that kind of that that's a a pretty significant statistic in terms of the the the age of the population. Um and um yeah, that's just just something something to keep in mind. I know
something that the town in their 20 2040 plan has has looked at as well. The resident population shift from 03 to 22 was down 32%. So last year I have like good data on so total population
the residential population of student school age children is down 32% is down 32% from 2003 to 22 from 03 to 22 but we lost 30% in from 19 to 26 or 19 to now
well let me see if I have 19 to now already factored I can't I can't find it. But Adam, it's going to be it's going to be pretty significant. Let's see. From 19 to now, it's I mean, I did the math quickly. It was like 30 point change.
Okay, there were 381 residents in 19 and the last year I have data on it was a preliminary in 2024 was 312. So
type that in right. Did you already do the math? I just I did the Desi data chart. So the 436 to 304 that's 30%. It's yeah, it's on the 20 28. It's on the other slide, but that's not necessarily
residents. No. Yeah. Just in eight years, we lost 30% of our student population, right? In schools. Okay. So, I'm going to go back a slide now. And this uh this speaks to that that statistic too. This this is from last
year's uh number which is this is looking at this pulling from desi data for comparison sake. Um so you can see how we compare from 2019 to 2025 in terms of um population uh you know school enrollment
population decline uh compared to other districts. So, um, you know, you see you see a percent drop across the board. Uh, some larger than others, but but ours is is pretty significant there.
The Pioneer number is surprising. Is that only their secondary? That's their Yeah. Only the secondary school. Yep. Um what I didn't do and what what might be worthwhile to do uh because this does include all those
years is look at the decline um after the 2022 23 school year. Um but I want to give you know a more of broad comparison here. So we we h have um you know we've we've
experienced some and it's no surprise that we've experienced some some decline over the past several years. Um so then the question is who are we losing who you know who are the students and families who are opting to go
elsewhere. Um so this slide this is this represents year-to-year com comparison um of of just students who we we lost um and it you know it doesn't include new
students in um and so you can you can take a look here uh 1819 to 1920 Hatfield Elementary resident student loss. We lost 10 resident students from Hatfield Elementary, 14 from school choice from Hatfield
Elementary, 11 residents from Smith Academy, seven uh school choice students from Smith Academy. So for a total loss of 21 district residents and 21 uh school choice residents, um
this data is is as as accurate as we can make it to the best of our ability using the um using the backups from our student information switchover that we we did over the summer. Um so we tried to reduce
redundancies you know we went through student by student. Um so so uh I forget who said before but it looked like we were uh doing a better someone said it looked like we were doing a better job of retaining uh school choice students than resident students. And this sort of
speaks to that as a you know both school and districtwide. um you can compare um as a district year-toear who we lost. So there are some years where we lost more residents than school choice
students or residents and school choice students here. Uh and then there are some years where it's either even or slightly slightly inverted. Um this year we lost more residents and
school choice students. Um this here I will say uh the these statistics are a little little skewed because this does include uh upcoming sixth graders in the Smith Academy um Smith Academy logs as well.
And it also includes VO. It does. These also include VO. Yep. I I pulled Desi data on some of our neighboring ing districts in the last 6 months looking at their residential loss versus
choice like what we could tell out of that and my sort of preliminary review was sort of like I think there is a strong sense of the grass is always greener and I couldn't help but notice that the rate of students that left that
were residents for Frontiers districts elementary and and secondary combined mind were leaving at a greater rate than Hatfield students, which surprised me because that's not what we hear. Mhm.
Um but they have a lot of students that want to go somewhere else, too. Mhm. Yeah. And it's not it's not uncommon for this area for that to be the case. Um people, I think more now than they have ever before, they shop around. um they you know they look at
what makes the most sense for their students and their families um and they they make decisions accordingly. Uh and you know if we were having this conversation 15 years ago uh many districts were not open to school choice. Um more you're seeing more and
more districts opening opening school choice up. I actually don't know many that are not. Is there anyone in our area that isn't not in this area? There's plenty out east in the eastern part of the state that are that don't but West Springfield still doesn't I think they don't last any I knew they were like one of the the holdouts
have a few they don't have I don't think they take choice in okay I'm happy to be wrong on that but last night I their numbers are really low I remember from looking at them a couple years back but I that could explain why
right school choice started it could come back people looked at it as more of a permanent move from this school to this school. And it really feels like as the years have
gone by, as you said, grass is greener. Um I feel like more people are like, "Ah, let's try a year here, and if that doesn't, yeah, that doesn't fit, let's try over there." Yeah. Yeah. And I think we're starting to see, similar to what we did when we revised our policy about rolling school
choice, um we're starting to see more districts do that too because they're experiencing the same challenges that we had. Um you know, when when we were going through um the list today, there were there were times we were confused because it was, you know, we we found
that there were students who came partway through the year and then left, you know, in that same year. Um you know, there just more there's just more more movement around trans transitions. Yeah. Um and then so then the next question this is pulled from um the
school attending children's department. Where are they going? Where are our students who are leaving? Where do they go? Um we have 41 students uh these are our residents because that's who we that pulls from. uh who are attending nonHPS
public schools, 8 to 12, 23 attending vocational schools, 16 attending charter schools, 11 who are homeschooled, 12 attending private schools, and then 193 attending um Hatfield public schools. Uh and we do have every year we have a
couple of students who move out or who move in. Um they do occur, but they're not they don't occur in a way that hugely affects us. Uh we also have students move in similarly. Some years we get one or two students. Um other
years we get none. Um but it wasn't it didn't it it didn't make a a a real significant impact. Um students either moving in or moving out. Are you saying on this slide
I'm confused because you said 41 are not going to Hatfield public schools. That isn't a breakdown of the 41. No, that's like just other public schools that don't have Yeah. So, this is through school choice. 41 students are attending school choice
to another um they're still they're still in public school. Just not ours. Just not ours. That's about 14%. Yeah. and and of of this group, I think the ones that that we really need to continue to target um and and to
continue to try to retain are those 41. Um those are the those are the folks that are opting for a um what I would say is pos probably a pretty similar experience at maybe a larger school. Um
you know, we're not going to compete with VO and we shouldn't compete with Voke. It's not, you know, that that's not um, you know, not not what we do. Um, but those 41, we can if we can get them to stay, it will help.
Um, questions before I jump to the next. Um so kindergarten the story in kindergarten what happened in kindergarten because I know that everyone's heard a bit about that. So we had 18 students signed up uh into August. So um
that was you know we had had hoped hoped to get up into the you know mid20s um but 18 uh are who we had kind of registered accepted school choice had told us that they had accepted our invitation for school choice or had
registered as residents. Um uh and on August 15th we started to see some of those 18 uh move. So all of our hiring had been um done. we had been completed and this is right before you know two weeks before the start of the school year. Um
we uh between August 15th and 25th we had six of those 18 families opt to send their kindergarten students elsewhere leaving 12 students in total in the kindergarten. Um of those four were school choice and two were resident students.
Um, so we uh we Melissa, I say we like I had anything to do with it. Melissa called all of those families and either heard back or left messages and didn't hear back from them um just to kind of see what you know what what the deal was that went into that decision. Um when we
heard back from um they chose a school that accepts a voucher program for the after school program and that was a deciding factor for them. Uh, one was late acceptance to Pioneer Valley Charter uh, Chinese immersion charter
school. Uh, and and several had friends that decided kind of together that they were going to go elsewhere. Um, how many in that cluster that decided to stick together? Do we know? Four. Yeah. So that's and and those are those
are our school choice um or what I would think were um our school choice families. So that's so we adjusted based on that. I mean that's um you know when you when you that's tough to hear the week before school starts. Um as I said
we did hired accordingly looking for the two classrooms. Um, and it's really I you know I'm it it doesn't doesn't seem uh like how we want to do business and if to tell someone the week before
school starts, hey actually you don't have a job um after they they have planned for that and we've you know we've on boarded them and everything else. So we adjusted elsewhere. Um we uh reassigned you know typically in kindergarten we have a classroom teacher
and we also have a a nonsp specialed paraprofessional in that classroom to work with that teacher. That's excuse me in addition to any um pair of professionals who might be assigned through IEPs. Um so we merge the classes
and have a co-taught kindergarten class with two educators which allows for some pretty uh pretty great differentiation within that group. Um as you know with kindergarten you have kids who are coming in reading early chapter books
and coming in and not knowing what a letter is and everything in between. Um and so it really it's helpful to have um those two two educators in that class. Uh it also allowed us to reassign th those ESPs um to serve special education
needs elsewhere. Um and so that you know that helped uh limit the impact of having one class on our on our overall budget. Um which which was helpful. Um but yeah, the the the long and the short of it is that it we it was um it was a a
a late game, late change in the game um right before right before school started for kindergarten. Um and then I I wanted to dive in a little bit here to the exit survey data. Uh so we did send exit surveys out as we do to um any student who leaves uh
leaves the district. Um we had 24 respondents which which was a fairly robust um um response rate which was which was good. Uh so I pulled some of the common themes. Uh I don't think anything on here um will be a surprise
to people. Uh we've talked about most of these themes previously. Um a big one was more opportunities. We hear this all the time, more opportunities for sports specifically. Um just, you know, we don't have volleyball, we don't have um lacrosse, we don't have football. Um you
know, students who want to play those and want to go to the school where those teams are housed. Um that's you know, we we heard from that uh more opportunities for academics or or uh enrichment. The enrichment specifically um gets to that
second point here about uh looking at academic rigor. opportunities for students who are more advanced. Um that was a key a theme that came up quite quite often um both at at the elementary level but also at the at the high school middle high school level too. Uh what are we offering for our students who are
who need that that push? Um and that's something we're that we're looking at. Um a big theme theme that was that that was tough to hear was that you know students not feeling like they belonged. Um, and some families mentioned that about uh the schools, but also about
kind of the just just wider um wider community. So, I think that that begs a question of how are we really pushing that um you know AC across our schools uh and and and making an effort to make sure that students who who come and join
us feel like they feel like they have a place. those that didn't feel like they belonged. Is that across a broad spectrum of of students? Is it It seems to be students that are all of a like is there a group of students in particular that
are feeling like they don't belong versus just incidental pock. It seemed pretty spread out. Um it wasn't, you know, like we had uh you know, these four families all with the
same kind of, you know, demographic profile all felt like they didn't belong. Um it it did seem pretty pretty pretty spread out. Um uh and kind of stemming from that folks or families feeling that they wanted
their kids to have just a bigger bigger pool of friends. Um you know, we've talked about this before that, you know, there there is such a thing as too small. And when you get to that point, you can kind of develop more of a siblingesque relationship than a of a
peer group relationship. Um, and so some families wanted wanted that option for their students. Um there there seemed to be a trend uh in a a perception that as a district we were catering specifically to school choice students um and and uh
catering to their needs at the expense of uh Hatfield resident needs um which is not something we've we've looked into that um previously and we'll continue to do so but it's it's not something that necessarily that the data uh supports in
terms of um uh in terms of of of discipline incidents in terms of of IEP uh needs or rates. Um so it's it's I I think that is a an issue of of primarily of perception. Um
but you know perception impacts people's decisions. Could it be a communication issue more than anything? I mean, and like it could it could be on us on the committee like we're we're actively promoting trying to get school choice kids and maybe it should be more like you know we're working to make the best experience for our own residents and the choice will
follow as opposed to trying to get the choice. It could be. I you know I I think that's a you know that that's a good observation is that we spend a lot of time talking about okay how are we going to how are we going to bring students in how are we going to increase enrollment um how are we going to advertise for school choice um and and
we you know part of the part of the ad campaign that we did last year um which I think we should do more of this year regardless of how how we how we go about it um is really just getting the information out there about what we
offer and what we do in our schools for everyone. Um because like you said, it's you know, we do a lot of really really great stuff. Um and having having uh kids and families recognize that who are current students regardless of where
they're from. Um I think that's you know that that's the first step in in in um in retaining because you know that if that information is not out there, you're right, they're not going to you know they're not going to make that they're not going to make that decision. So, we have to get it out there.
Um, another another uh piece that was mentioned was special education challenges. So, we had talked about last year um specifically the turnover in staff that was mentioned several times um and some of the delays that we had had talked about um with uh hitting timelines and getting those. So, I think
we're we have a plan to address that and we're we're implementing that plan. Um on that is it mostly like uh families pulled out because their kids weren't being well serviced or were is it because other kids in a class weren't being well serviced and it was
impacting the other kids. So that it was so that that's a great question. So those it was primarily uh families who felt that their their kids were not um getting the services that they that they needed um or that their you know that that there had been so many interruption starts and stops with their
with with their their teachers over the couple years um specifically their special ed teachers that it was it was challenging. Um and then the last you know big thing that we hear is that my kid wanted to learn a trade so they they opt to go to Smith which is entirely
appropriate. Um so stuff you know when you um when you send this survey you hear about what's not going well right um you're not going to get and I say this we did have several people who sent back we
really love we really loved Hatfield public schools um you know we we had a great experience and my kid just wanted to learn a trade or we wish that our you know child didn't want to go to a different school because her friends are going, but we're going to do what they
want because we love Hatfield Hatfield Schools. We heard some of that. But typically, when you send a survey like this out, you hear about the things that are not going well. You hear about the things that that uh people are upset about. You hear about the things that are um causing people to make a pretty big decision for their family to to up
and and leave and to to move their child to a different school. Um you don't hear about all the things that are going well. You don't hear about the, you know, the the kids welcoming each other into the lunchroom. You don't hear about the um college courses being offered in
house. You don't hear about the clubs. You don't hear about the um the Western Mass Championships or the um the the the Falcon's Nest 2.0 that's being developed. Um you don't feel hear about the changes that are being made made in
special ed. fact that that we're fully staffed, one of the few districts that were fully staffed starting on day one this year. Um, you're not going to hear about that stuff with this exit survey data because it's by the nature of it. You're here you're surveying people have who have already made that decision to
um to step out and we got to figure out how to help them not make that decision. So, one of the groups I don't know that I've ever heard us purposely talk to is local residents who are happy here. We talk to choice families who are
happy. What do you like about us? Because that's one of the really big things that we can help promote elsewhere, but I I don't know that we do that for residents. And that might be insightful to learn.
Yeah. And to Adam's point of like we're not talking about how to keep residents. Part of how you keep any group is you learn what's going well for people who are happy to help spread that. I'm not saying you don't have to fix that too.
No. And we do have some information we hear from few less from families but more from students um through their vocal data and through the the spiffy surveys that we send out. Um, but I would love to hear more from them specifically about what you know, what
do you love about your experience here and what do you want? What else would help it be better? Um, yeah. And that's I mean that's something that we can we can do with our student councils with our um you know as we as we increase student
voice in both schools. Um, one last question on the survey specifically for elementary students. Is there a sense of how much of that is driven by the student versus the family?
I guess secondary is probably very student driven. Do we know? I I didn't get a sense from, you know, from elementary. I I I I didn't I didn't have that lens looking looking at just you know the um my my
knee-jerk thought is that it tended to be more family driven more more parent driven at the elementary level um but I I'm not able to say you know this this percentage of students all right so then what's next um you know we have uh you know obviously
talking about kindergarten and and talking about about budgeting planning you know we're we'll continue to review processes so that information is shared in real time about enrollment. Um, especially when it impact it could impact staffing levels. Um, like we
said, kindergarten that that happened really late in the game and I would not have been really comfortable making a change at that point. Uh, because it would really have I think it would hurt. Um, and we've done this with our school
choice process as well. you know, we've made changes to make sure that we have have uh better data going in that we ask for acceptances that we we ask for commitments. Um so, and I think we, you know, by and large we we have made good changes in in that front. Um but we can
continue to refine um as we as we go forward. Um well, we can continue to advocate to fill those school choice seats. We heard from today, this was not included in this because it happened after, but we have one student who we know of who's coming back this week um who opted to go uh school choice
elsewhere and is now saying, "Hey, we're going to come back because we um that grass is not greener." Um and and we, you know, we have um you know, our school choice enrollment is open until uh you know, till October 1st and then it opens again for you know, for mid
year and we can we can continue to advocate for those. Um, and then, you know, we may have to have some conversations about if our enrollment continues to decline, um, you know, educational models, structures that best serve our students within our budget, what that's going to look like. Um, and
that's going to have implications for, um, you know, for for school choice votes in in coming years and and and those kinds of things. Um, and then to really I mean I really want to hit number four hard uh because this is we do it well and we can continue to do it
well is to continue to in innovate with what we offer um and how we offer it within our means. I think we have some great stuff that has been started that's that's ongoing right now. Um, you know, we have uh we have three college courses
with students enrolled in 11th and 12th grade that kids are getting credit for right now at Smith, which is wonderful and not and people are now are just starting to talk about it for next year. We're already doing it, which is great. Um we are looking at, you know, with the the
sixth grade up at uh Smith Academy, we're looking at how we can how we can utilize um uh the schedule at the elementary school to to support a enrichment and um kind of gifted and talented program for
for students. Um we we are doing a lot of stuff that we can continue to work on and improve. Um, and then when we have uh when we have good ideas about what we can what we can add to it, we can continue to do that within our means. Um, and I think we're we're we're able
to do that. Anything from the committee? I I think the data is hard to like we're all digesting this today. This is not something the committee's had um before this evening. So um I also don't think this is the last conversation we'll have
this fall about enrollment. Obviously we're going to hear more on enrollment next month because that's when the numbers that matter for budgeting purposes come in. And so if there's one student coming back, does that mean that our number is only off by six instead of
seven? Yes. All right. So, we got we got a few to catch up, but maybe maybe the the rest of the month will fall our way. Is that one student in elementary or No, they're in uh middle school.
Okay. Uh and for the classes that are so like I see fourth grade has 20 kids in it, right? Is that two classes? It currently, yes. Yep. Okay. And it I mean
tutin for budget purposes is this something where that is a conversation that is actively happening in school finance. Okay. Okay. And I just don't think that there's anything ready for the committee for us to share yet. No, no problem. I just wanted
that is a very active conversation. Okay. And it's active across all grades. Particularly when we look at third and fourth kindergarten and third and next year's first grade and next year's kindergarten because those two particular classes are um
populationwise really small. Yeah. Not just in Hatfield everywhere. It's it's co era. It's they're small um in numbers. 20 kids having two teachers for 20 kids is But
also what we don't see when we look at those numbers is the makeup of those 20 students. So yes, your point's well made, but sometimes things come down to how student services are met too. So I was going to say depending on the
exact constellation of that class, a 20 person classroom is totally possible, but it might require two teachers. Correct. It might not be a budget savings, right? Depending on just depending on the need. depending on the need of the group. I completely agree though. I think that
you know that is something that we will continue to we're not going to have a choice, right? Yeah. Yeah. We I mean we have it's not going to be whether we want to or don't want to. It's like financially we're not going to have a choice but to look at all of that, right? Doesn't it and it and there may be
solutions that are different than those 20 kids in one classroom. There may be lots of different solutions. And I think that's the question of structure of how do we structure and how do we innovate right so that we're first and foremost providing what students need.
Yeah. I mean, we don't always give them what they want, but we could pay have a hybrid program at least so those kids are not in like two classes that are with such low numbers even like I'm not even talking about
um not having two teachers, but also how do we teach in a way that makes those numbers not be so low in each class? M I know that like from the only thing I know from my kids class is like fourth
grade is doing the model from science I think in social studies but like what how do we combine a little better but I will wait until I I think there's more coming. Is that fair? Yeah.
Dr. Dr. I have a question about the high school just kind of piggybacking on Aman's discussion about they have a bunch of school with small classes but in the high school we have grade 10 and grade 11 where they're rather small. Mhm. Um so obviously understate it. Great. Yeah. Um I I would presume we do not
have two 10th grade English sections or 11th grade English sections or two chemistry sections or what we have done is we've um we've restructured so not in every class but in some classes like uh we've restructured how we do math for example. So it typically it's been you know 9th
grade is geometry, 10th grade's algebra 1, 11th grade is uh algebra 2 or something else you know it depend depends. So we've restructured so that um 9th and 10th grade and then up into 11th grade they have an option uh of where you know what the what their their
needs are. Um so so even though 10th grade has seven students um they may be combined you know half that class might be with ninth grade um because the nth grade half the nth grade might be taking geometry half might be taking algebra 1
half might be with 11th grade um taking um pre-calc or something yeah pre-calc or yeah or algebra 2 um so that we've we've broken it up a little bit so that they're not uh they're not seven students with each and only each other all day all day long,
right? And and it actually has allowed us to serve their needs better, too. Um because it gives it gives them more more of what you know what what they need. And our staff aren't having more idle time. That was my next question. No, they're not. No. So that has allowed us to do things
like offer those VSU courses. um if there's you know if someone has a a gap in their schedule um we you know we've said well um you could be 08 or it could be you know you could offer this course and um we've had robust enrollment in
those courses which has been good regarding those courses and that whole innovative pathways we've talked a lot about it here but I don't feel like it's on the agenda. Yeah. That it's
Yeah. generally known like let's do a newspaper article about it or or something like we really got to get that out there and not wait until we talk about marketing for school choice. Yep. Is there a way to like really get it out there? Like we'll see like gazette articles like you know East
Hampton Elementary School signs gets a grant for a reading program. Like why can't we get a gazette article that says like you know Yeah. Dr. Driscoll's Innovation Pathways. Yeah, we can. We absolutely can. and we and and we have um not necessarily for that, but we have, you know, we've had
some pretty good press in the past. So, um yeah, we can absolutely be in touch with them. Scott say Scott's your man. Okay. Um next on our agenda, thank you for the enrollment update and we'll look
forward to the update in October. Um, next up is um a review of the professional development calendar. This is looking at our policies and looking at state guidance for school committees.
This is something that is within our lane to review and approve. It has not necessarily been something we have traditionally taken a look at. Um, this is an area though as we looked at the previous district improvement plan that
we spent a lot of time talking about was professional development for our staff because we have a great staff and we would like to invest in them and professional development is our opportunity to do that. And so um next year when we see this calendar it will
be in the spring of this year for next year and it will be coming from a broad community of of input which I understand is completely filled um and it has representation from like
all facets of teachers. So um various grades and and focuses which I I think we ought to celebrate. Yes. has never happened. I mean, we've we've always struggled to fill um the PD PD committee roles and I think it's great
that we have staff that are willing to be that involved, which is fantastic. Yeah. How many are on this committee? Oh, great question, but it's a lot. It's more than it's ever been, too. Yeah. I didn't expect that much, but yeah, because great because it's so rep. It's like one from
early ed, one from like every couple of grades at the elementary school, and then there's specialists. So, sort of everybody and if they weren't represented, they had the option of finding someone that could be their voice. So, um
can I talk about this a little bit? Okay. Um because there's a lot of X's and M's on here. Um and we can we'll we can clarify this as as we go along, too. Um but basically the the the goal of this year's PD is to
really provide a menu of options for folks. Um we want you know we we we have some things that we can mandate. Um we we are limited contractually as an administrative team to you know what we can say you have to do on certain days.
Um but what we can offer is things that we've heard from teachers that they want to do and will they feel will improve their practice. So, we have a lot of different things that the the hope is that they can turn into um it's called
professional learning communities, which basically it's a very fancy way of saying um folks that have, you know, they they receive training and that training kind of occurs not just once, but it but it it it goes on, you know, a couple different times. and then they
can put that training into practice in their classrooms and then spend some time reflecting on it and honing it and trying it again and reflecting on it and sort of get you get into that cycle of learning and application and refinement. Um that really research has proven is is
far more effective than a okay we're all going to sit together you know prek through 12th grade teachers in one room and get uh talked at for three hours and uh then that's it. like the one and done trainings really really have have been proven not to not to be very effective.
Um so here that's you know you can see the dates uh here are when our our PD occurs. Um and what you know what's going to happen when um so for example inclusion training happened uh you know it's it'll be it'll be happening in
September. Uh there'll be follow-ups in December, January and and March. um restorative practices is going to be happening uh in September for Smith Academy and then throughout the year. Um throughout the both schools to you know
to to really kind of zero in on how do we use restorative practices not just uh as a school level but also in the classroom. I mean how do we start how do we set up structures to really promote that um strategies for neurodeiverse learners. So we have we're fortunate that we have a lot of and not just in
this case but across the the spectrum here we're fortunate that we have a lot of um expertise on staff. We we and we have folks that are willing to share that expertise with each other and and help to to coach each other and and and train
each other. Um so strategies that work for neurodiverse learners. Um we have some some trainings scheduled for that. Uh, and guess what? Those strategies also work for everyone. Um, which is fantastic. And so we, you know, we've
had a lot of experience where where, oh, hey, I'm doing this, uh, because it's mandated on IEP, but it works really well for Connor over here who, um, you know, may not have that on a plan, but can benefit from that accommodation,
which is great. Um, we'll be looking at the science of reading of reading and having some trainings that go along with that. Um, I think that's also going to going to go along with um some time where folks look at uh curricula. We're going to continue that conversation at the elementary school. Um,
trauma-informed teaching. This goes really well and pairs really well and very nicely with restorative practices. Um, those two are kind of like, you know, um, not even two sides to one coin. like, you know, the the head and the date on the same side of one coin.
Um, and so we'll be we'll be having those kind of run in in conjunction with each other. Um, federal and sped updates, those were uh, you know, things we have to do every year. Um, SRSD is the writing program, making sure that we are continuing to to
work on that and and um, uh, and and train for that because we have new staff and it's a great program. Um, I ready math again training for teachers who are are new or and or returning um and using that goal book is um special ed related
for writing our IEP goals uh and aligning them to the standards. Um threat assessment is a is a training um for a small group of people. if you if you're uh concerned about a student
or students in terms of being either, you know, a threat to themselves or others, how to recognize that, how to help support that, how to get those students help if they need it. Um, and then mental health first aid um for folks who have not have it. This is a great training and it and it it it kind
of goes along with the the threat assessment training, but it's it's distinct about hey um you know recognizing someone who you know might be just going through some you know a tough time. We don't know maybe they lost a loved one, maybe they're went
through a breakup, maybe something's going on at home. um and you know recognizing signs that uh that some more intervention may be necessary uh to help support that student and what kind of interventions um can can help support.
Um so we have a a full docket. Um obviously not everyone is going to take every single one of these trainings. That's the kind of the um the purpose of of a menu is they can choose uh they can choose what they think is going to be most effective and beneficial for them.
In many cases, some are mand are going to be mandated. Um and and we can also help them choose, you know, if we have someone who is, you know, really struggling in a certain area, we might coach them to be like, hey, you know, this this I think you could really benefit from that and I'd like to see it
in your practice. Um and in and I think the the biggest benefit here is that you see a lot of trainings that are not just you know there in fact I don't think there's any that just okay we're going to do this on this date and be done with it. Um there's followup there's you know
you get into that you allows you to get into that cycle of learning practicing revising uh and implementing again. So, how many of these would a typical
teacher or ESP take for the year? Because I don't know if the follow-ups are like, oh, it's a brand new group. Yeah, that's a great that's a great point. Um, so, so I would
say probably two or three. Um, usually these are, you know, there there is going to be trainings in cohorts. So someone that takes the inclusion in September um you know they may take it again in January but during that in those intermediate times when we have
meetings that that that PLC meeting time that's that time that they can spend together reflecting on that um and and and working on hey I implemented this it worked really well or I implement this it completely bombed I got to go back to square one and rebuild um and then you
know come back together as a whole group further down the line to to do more of that in in deeper learning. Um so so these it's not you know you might not have the same group four times you probably would want to have the same group four times that meets um but they
would meet throughout the year in a in a different way. The ones that are labeled as mandatory restorative practices uh sped updates and SRST mandatory as per state or mandatory as per administration. Uh yeah from us.
Okay. Yep. Um, so like SRSD for example, we want all all elementary school teachers um to be implementing that program. Um, and so we can leverage that time to to be um best utilized there. We may not have
I would say that the special ed updates are mandatory from the state. Yeah, that's true. legally and science of reading. The does is that is the the PD on that is it part is it integrated or part of our current curriculum like is it is it bolstering
like Lexia or is it an additional thing that the PD on that it would be additional um we already have training on Lexia if teachers still wanted to do that but this is more about just trying to again review the five pillars of reading and if there's certain areas that teachers are feeling
like they could use more help and support and fluency practice um or reading comprehension those are the kinds of things that we would like to try to target for that. Um, we still are in the process. We had a PD committee that was looking or an elementary committee that was looking at wanting to
pilot some things. I have a whole bunch of teachers who are interested in in doing just that. When I went out and reached out to the companies, the only thing they would do is send me one block or like one unit which is like 300 and something pages long and it's all online. So, teachers can do that. It's
free, but they don't give them any supplies or materials, which is very different than what they used to do. So, we might be back at the drawing board or we might actually try to figure out if there are certain people who actually want to say, "Okay, we're going to try to pilot this one particular program and
then come back and give some feedback." I guess I would assume that the administration would have the flexibility to make some tweaks within this as they need to for scheduling purposes. Um, but from a holistic look at the calendar and the subjects, does
the committee, is there anything here that you want to discuss more? I would entertain a motion to approve the calendar if that's the case. Uh I'll make a motion to approve the calendar as presented. Is there a second? I'll second it.
All in favor? I. Any opposed? Thank you. Thank you for sharing your plans on that. Sure. Okay. and we'll get into
some updates. I think we have one more vote later on, but otherwise we got a lot of updates to to hear. So, you get to unless you want Melissa to go first, you get to start again. All right, I'll go. I'll keep talking. Okay. Um
Um the You have my the written report, the administration report. Um, did the committee receive the year- end nursing report? We actually tabled the I would like to table the the year-end nursing report as
um, nurse Jane would I think like to be with us and wasn't able to be with us tonight. It was packet, right? It was not in the packet. That's correct. Did I miss it? I know. I didn't see it. That's why I like would had a tabled. Um, are there any questions coming off
of Dr. Driscoll's admin report? Yes. Great. Can we just do you want to just jump there? Sure. Is that okay? Yes, please. Can you just clarify the status of our capital projects? The design is out to bid. Yep. What's the time frame looking like? Yes. I really want to get that parking lot
done. Yeah. So, the roof then the parking lot. Yeah. Couple updates. So, uh rugs are in. So, that's great. Yeah. That thrilled. So, we we're just waiting to I think the Christmas break, holiday break to do the front office. Um but they look great.
the um the roof project in the boiler project. Um we had we there were a couple steps that I was not aware of that that needed to occur for projects of that size. The first is to hire an off uh an owner's project manager. Um so
you have someone who knows what they're doing uh in charge of managing the project. Um so that piece needs to go out to bid. Um same the OPM the OPM piece needs to go out to bid. So that happened. We have an owner's project manager that takes you know that
chunk of time. There is a design process um that is you know the owner the project manager has recommended that we do a design bid. So that is now out to bid. Um once we get the design the the the the bid and the design in then it
will go out to roofing companies to bid on the actual um implementation. And so the OPM doesn't have the design. That is in fact the correct emotional response. Sorry. I'm just so transparent. Yes. I'm just so with you. So yeah, so it's
dragging um and it's it's dragging because of um the kind of the internal steps that I I was not aware of that that need to occur with for a project of this size. Um I think we're Was it your responsibility to know the
steps that were involved or is there somebody else that would have been noing you and saying hey this is how we do this? It also happened to all come in when there was not someone in that job. I was just going to say we Okay, so it just kind of hit in a weird
spot in the town, but but things are things are rolling now. So we have the the design is out to bid. We're expecting th that to close. You're asking someone to make us the design. Yes. And then after and those bids have come in. And those bids have come in. So once we
have a choice on that and we get that design um which will hopefully be we'll get the construction then then the company will bid on who's going to do the construction. They can start um you know depending on the design they can start pretty soon. There are portions of the roof um you know
they're not going to be pounding shingles in while kids are in session in the class. But if they can get the new new membrane on top and it's quiet to do that they can they can do that and that would be great. You're assuming that the designer is going to have another membrane on the left. I that you know what we know what they
say about assume assuming I um so so in terms of like even like how much of this are we going to be able to do over winter? We have to just wait and see. We will know more once we get the design and once we get the the construction bids.
Um and that's that's the hold up for those of you who who who may be tuning in. That's the hold up on the parking lots, too. Um, the wise advice, I think, was not to do the parking lots before we brought heavy equipment and cranes in to
lift all the roofing materials onto the roof because ruin the parking lot. However, can we like get the OPM and get the designer and get the can we do the bidding process for the parking lot now? I don't think that part's going to be
the hiccup. I'm just No, I'm just wondering because if it does still take like a couple of weeks I mean maybe not the second but like we can be doing all that so that as soon as the roof is done and the weather's good enough. My guess and I don't know this for sure
but my guess is there is a window on when that can be concurrent, right? Because you those bids are only good for so long. Got it. That's what I wanted to know. So the other question I I had an opportunity to ask this evening because the town manager I just don't want to like finish the
roof and then start those need to be there and and we will and an OPM project man shouldn't right yeah and I don't and I think the just because of the scope of the project and and I I don't think the lots will be as
involved um you know I think we have right folks in in town who can oversee Yeah, just for public airing, how much control did the schools have over the projects? Um, just so just so it's please tell us. Yeah, not not much. Okay. Um, we we get
to see the bids and we get to weigh in on the bids. Um, but you really, you know, once you hire an OPM, they are, you know, they they they're the ones who kind of they know what they're doing. I have no business looking at a roof design. Um but I I will um
the OPM grant the bid to or does the select board select the winner select board has final approval on them. Yep. As capital projects. So I had an opportunity to see the town manager for a moment today by chance. This is Dr. Driscoll. And one question
was when we first put in the cost that we would need to replace the roofs, the estimates that generated the warrant, right? It didn't include a owner's project manager or a design firm, right?
But I understand that town is not concerned about the total being insufficient. So, um, I did help express that the five of us had a strong sense of urgency, right,
to complete these projects. Particularly cuz none of us want to go back into a town meeting my school bucks not done every month to be like, when's that parking lot getting paid? Right. It just it looks like we're
shephering tax dollars well, but there's Yeah, there's no I get it. I point there's only so much we can do 100%. Thank you for explaining where we're at. So that's where we're at on the roof. What about the boiler? When is that expected to be done?
So the the OPM is um has has that out as well. Same opium. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. So, I uh I don't have a I don't have a expected time, but last, but the timing on that isn't contingent
on the roof or parking lot or anything else. They can plug them in. I would think that would just be for the winter. Yes, we need it for heating season. Yeah, absolutely. They have committed to that. Correct. that like it will
fully installed and functioning before we need heat has been the promise um however the HS doors are still not in no we have on there the doors like doors story yeah but we uh we continue to hear that
it it's next on the list for the contractor who's going to be doing it. Um okay I have no no reason to doubt that the front entryway is done. Front entryway is done. Yep. It's no longer sagging. It's no longer held up by 2x4. Um, so that's good. Incredible.
That was done for the first day of school. Yeah. As planned. Okay, so shifting on to Smith Academy. Um, so I have the report here. Uh, I can
kind of um zero in on the uh the two items here, the new programs update. So we have three courses right now being offered at Smith Academy uh college level course through VSU. So we have uh psychology which is wonderful. Uh we
have food science which is really um excellent and exciting. And we have um oh my goodness what's the third one? Uh pre-al with applications. Sorry took me took me a second there. Um, so those are all
uh courses that have been um have been or in the final stages of being approved by VSU. Um, so our students who are taking them will be able to enroll because of because we are on a full year schedule and they're on a semester schedule. They'll they'll enroll in the
the spring semester at BSU and they'll be able to get credit for those for those courses because this is the first year and we're starting it up for next year. Will they be able to do fall classes and
spring classes or is it always only going to be spring? Because we offer them we are on a full year schedule. Um so the way we run we don't run a semester base. So all of our courses Oh, so these classes still they'll take the whole So these classes take the Yeah, they
they take the whole year. So it's a um even though at VSU they'd be taking them over the course of the fall or the course of the spring. Um we just stretch out the content throughout the whole year. Um so it gives our you know it gives it students a chance to to still do that but on our schedule.
So they would start it in the spring and finish it in the fall. No, they start start in the fall. They've already started on a regular schedule. They I thought you said they would be starting in the spring. No, they enroll in the spring. So they they've already started. They they go through the paperwork. Thank you. I was like
they go through the paperwork at VSU in the spring um so that they get credit when they finish the course. Yeah. Because if they if they enrolled in VSU right now, VSU would expect them to finish on their schedule, not on our schedule.
Um so they wouldn't get, you know, if they hadn't finished. They're high school students for a semester and they're college students the second semester sort of. Sure. We'll go with that. Um, how many students enrolled? That is a great question and I do not have the I don't have the answer at the tip of my fingers and I should have um
a whole part but is it several most of most of the most of the junior class is in at least one of those courses if not multiple. Um, and we are also offering the same number of AP courses that we've we've always had to. Um, and so those, you know, the really
these are AP level, introductory, uh, college level courses are the same additive. It's those additive they've not replaced anything else. So like just again ballpark if a student like really wanted to lean into the academic rigor
they're junior or senior how many of their classes could be AP or college level like every class that they take all day long. Yep. Could be at the college level. Yep. If a student wanted to do that. Yep. Crush. And the schedule would allow for that.
Yes. Nice. Yep. Because that I don't think is Yeah. Sometimes that's wonky. And what about the requirements of um graduation or the state or Yeah, those those merge together.
They're they're not um preventative. So, especially once you're junior and senior, you know, the mass core requirements, which is really what kind of guides us. Um you know, there there are four levels of English. If you take a college level English class, that counts as one of
your you know, that Yeah. Yep. Can we work with I love that VSSU is doing it with this with us. Can we work with UMass or work with Lindsay or Joe to try to get UMass or GCC or something
to open up an instate option for this? I I would love to. Um and I've been meaning to reach out to um mean like credit classes happening in Smith Academy but for but for math schools. Yeah. Yeah. And and we can you know there was a more guarantee of actually earning college credit than transfers. One of
the um you the reason I went with VSU is because they were already doing it. You know, they had this model already in place. It was already something that existed. They're more centralized uh body than the Massachusetts state schools. I mean, if you get certified
for, you know, any of the VSU campuses, it's, you know, you're good at all, but it's a little different here. Um, but yeah, I mean, think about places like um like MCLA would would be a I think a great place to start because I think
they're experiencing similar pressures that may have led BSU to open this option, which is declining enrollment, smaller rural setting. Um, you know, similar similar pressures to what what we're facing, too. Um, but yeah, I I think that would be fantastic. UMass
Ammeris is right down the road if they're interested in doing it. Um, I did speak with someone there and they they were not quite as interested as I would have maybe thought, but um, and that may also change. We do have options for our students to
attend community college classes, but those happen at the community college, right? Yes, those are. Yep. Yeah. So, the difference here is that we have our teachers teaching college level courses on our schedule. So, you know, the commute to college is across the hall rather than down 91.
One of the biggest complaints these days is college affordability. If we can knock off, you know, Yeah. nine credits over the course of your high school career, that's several thousand dollar. Wasn't it about Did we do it early a semester's worth of credits if they really wanted to get
Yep. If they really wanted to go crazy, they could go crazy. Awesome. Mhm. Oh, awesome. Um, how is the sports season off too? sports season has started. Great. So, we have um 63 student athletes this fall, which is a
large percentage. I was looking at that and thinking about the population. Yeah. So, um it's um Yeah, it's great. It it's you know, it's we we host uh a couple of co-ops. Um so, it's not necessarily all 63 are Smith
Academy students, but they're all Smith Academy athletes. Um, but we have um we have 17 field hockey players this year, which is great. That number has is more robust than it's been in years, which is fantastic. Um,
we have uh 20 20 guys on our boys soccer team and 20 girls in the girls soccer team or no, sorry, 14 girls in the girls soccer team. Um, both which give us a little bit of cushion there. Um, and then we have a middle school co-ed team which is uh has 12 students as well
which is fantastic. Um, so we have varsity field hockey, varsity, boys soccer, varsity girls soccer and middle school. Correct. There's no middle school or JB um field hockey or there is not. No.
Awesome. Any other questions? Okay, moving along. Principal Petra, any highlights you want to bring off of your report? Um, well, we welcomed our kindergarten preschool students. It's always adorable
to see them come in and the smiling faces of the parents when they're like, "Bye, see you." And the crying faces of the children as their parents leave, but they have definitely settled down. Um it's just so I I walked into um both the kindergarten and preschool classrooms
today and it was just amazing to see kids were already in routines. They knew how it where to be sitting on their spot. They were already going through like the calendar and doing the weather. I mean the jobs I mean they were just it was awesome. um also that I'm just excited that you know we have had a fair
amount of staff that have been new and one of the things that was really um asked of me was to really bring back um the consultants to do the to work with the SRSD. So, uh, we have been able to release, um, and through part of our our
one of our title grants, um, have all of our teachers released for two days, K to 5 to actually have all day training in SRSD. And then we're going to be doing some of that follow-up in those half days for teachers to to collaborate more on the writing process. And we're also including not only the special education
teachers because they are also so new, but also um the interventionists as well. So the whole school basically that's in teaching is getting trained and the writer's work releasing writer's workbook um there have been some um updates to it. So we have received the
new books and that's what the teachers are getting trained on. So the teachers get pulled out and subbed in to work on this. Yes. So right now we have subs going in for the full day and the teachers are in the library participating in um an all day training. Okay. That that that explains my
confusion from the other day. My mom came home and said, "I don't know. Miss Swanson wasn't there, but she was there and she was just like writing in a notebook." Yep. So, the teachers all started the training starts at 8:30 and goes until 3. So, basically, teachers were like, "I'm here. I'll be checking in on you, but I'm right down the hall getting
doing some some of my own learning that I can then come back and help you with your learning of of the writing process." So, yes, there's um a full day training for each grade. October um is mean kindergarten is a little different. They have one training in October and another one in January. But all the
other staff there's a full day training in September and then there's another follow-up either in September or beginning of October. So that same thing will happen to him another day. He'll be like, "Hi, Miss Swanson. Bye Miss Swanson. I'll see you down the hallway." The kids have Miss Hannah. They all love Miss Hannah. Yes.
Any new info on band? Yep. From what you told us last month? Yes. band is starting. She's in the process of having letters go out to our fifth grade families. She is going to be looking at wanting to do one of two options. She is open to the idea of
doing it earlier starting at 7:30 if families are interested. Understands that some folks are coming in on buses. So, if that's not an option, she'll do it the first part of the morning. Um, but yes, band will be getting started sooner than later, but only for the fifth grade. currently for just fifth grade. Yes, we are
looking at possibly doing that differently for the next year, but yes, we will try to think about opening it up. Historically, it's always been fifth and sixth. So, we will but we are open to the opt and she is open to the option of incorporating fourth grade next year as well. One quick thing, I missed the last
meeting. Did we discuss I don't remember when the last meeting was. Did we discuss the school bus smash derby at the last meeting? Um, we were before that. Okay. Yeah. No. um that happened and we I was excited to say that there were some families that came out um to support the
painting of it. Um we were told that that cow box was going to be a great little bus to have and every student was like, "Don't get another one of those ever again." Yeah, we we didn't do too well in that bus demolition journey. It was I went and um several families
went with us and I didn't know what to expect and we were all in stitches and our bus got crushed. Oh yeah, it did. Oh my god. I was there watching the whole thing going, "Oh my gosh." Yeah. No. Um ours at least ran. That other bus didn't even one hit quit. Yeah. So which bus was yours? There's
that. Well, that's true. But yeah, that Oh, yeah. No, we'll we'll we'll definitely get a regular school bus next time. No, no more. Will we say yes to the cow bus? It was fun. I think our bus was entertaining. It was hysterical. Yes. And it definitely took on a lot of abuse.
Do you get to choose which bus? No. Well, no, not generally. we get when we show up. But when because we were the first ones to actually sign up and actually go, they were like, "Oh, we have this really great bus for you. It's a cow bus. It's small. It's fast." We're like, "Okay, woohoo. That's maybe we'll
win again." Yeah. Know, we were the second bus out. So, but it was fun to cheer, but yeah, it didn't do as well as we were hoping. I mean, it was an entertainment factor. There's that. And it didn't catch on fire this year because that was a few years ago, too.
We made the front page of the paper. We uh arena of championship at Smith Academy. Take it back. You won next year. No, we didn't. No, you didn't either. No, we won the last two years, but not this year. There's always next year.
Yeah. Can you speak about fundraising at the elementary school and give an update on what the plans are for fundraising? um what the fundraisers are, how they're selected, where the money goes from the PTA. Nope. From the school. If the school or
classroom fundraisers are happening that are not PTA fundraisers. You're talking about something I'm not 100% sure about. Is there somebody who's fundraising right now? So, we all get an email and the kids, you may have noticed some kids in the class in the school walking around with like stuffies.
Oh, yes. that sorry not the first year. This has been the third year. Yeah, right. Sorry if I remember. I thought there were individual classrooms. I was getting very confused for a moment, but yes, sorry. Yes, that is a schoolwide fundraiser that is
basically um teach the way it was explained to me this year was a bit different that now not only could they get classroom supplies and families can like you know support that, but there was also books that teachers could get to as well. So teacher I had put out to classroom teachers is this something you
want to continue do you want to do this do you not want to do this and everyone said yes. So so what does it actually who oversees it and what does it generate for this school? Can you help us understand? So basically, it generates funds that I
have access to that I can support teachers when they have things that they want for their classrooms that come out of my budget. And do you know how much in general these fundraisers tend to bring in?
Around $500 per classroom or just for the whole school? For the whole school per year. This one in particular is not beloved by families. Oh, okay. In fact, it's plagued families for years. Oh, interesting. It probably There is some speculation
that it makes its funds based on data mining. Oh, by the way it then we'll we'll stop personal information. Okay, we will not. And there's a lot of I'm sorry, you can chime in. It's been several years since we've dealt with it, but there's a lot
of peer pressure to participate because there's a toy given out in class. Yeah. And so the pressure and and equity issues if you have a family who has a would have a difficult time participating it puts them in a really big bind.
Are you hearing this from families too? Yes. Yes. refused to participate in this which you don't have to because well I do there's a lot of pressure from my kid and wanting because
your information is given to a third party and I did it the one year and then I kept getting all these emails over and over and over like to be to be clear like you don't actually have to give money for your kid to get the stuffy. You just have to give
like four email addresses or something information. So they're taking people's info. Okay. Yeah. So I Yeah, I had to like unsubscribe and yeah, I do think that this year it was like in the emails it was a little better explained like if you do choose
to give money through that where the money goes. So that was a positive but the overall model is collecting your information. This year oddly it didn't come home to my house. So like, but it used to it came. They came they had a postcard with a
thing that you scan. Perhaps it did not come to my house. I'm not denying it went out everywhere else. Didn't come. So here's another piece that's really important is that families are not telling me this.
They're not contacting me. I'm surprised they're not saying stuff to teachers. Yeah. That's why and that's surprising to me that teachers I didn't say anything. supposed to give out uh you like four email addresses of friends or family. And so, you know, it
says, "Dear Uncle John," and then you have Uncle John's email address. And so, poor Uncle John is getting spammed for a while, weekly, and then monthly. And then if you think it's over in fall, but suddenly in the spring, hey, remember that fundraiser
your kiddo is doing? And it just keeps going. Mhm. It'll be the last year of that fundraiser. Thank you for that information. And I I think there's got to be a more efficient way of doing it. And that's like if I can like from a parent perspective, what I would rather see is
like my my student my kids teacher put out just like an Amazon wish list or something. That would be okay. Got it. Because I totally don't trust this company at all. So I for sure have not given any money. But I did give them my information so my kid could get the toy.
to be the one without the toy. That's the thing. It's the pressure. Yes. Yeah, that's helpful to know. Thank you. And I will stop that for next year. And just I I think speaking from experience, I can't remember if it was at the elementary school when when this happened or previous one, fundraisers
like this usually are really handsoff for the school, which is wonderful. Um because the more you the less you have to do as a school and just receive the the funds, the better. Um but but if it's getting that through data mining
or through you know that's not that's not what we want. Yeah. We don't want to do that. So it's like anything, right? If you can't see where they're making money. Gotcha. You are the problem. Yep. Hearing my husband's voice in my head. It's really scary. So
nothing is free. Nothing is Yeah. So if they offer you something free, were they taken? And your strongest person got the stuff. Oh, we had one year we had the stuffy and then it was like I lasted longer than my child. That's
what it is. You forgot about it. But it's really cool. No, it's not. You think that cool? It's kind of It's not that cool. Dr. Salvartis, anything you want to highlight off of your report? Just a couple things. I know last school
committee meeting we had talked about getting out invites early. We had tried to set a September 1st date, but couldn't actually make that date for getting all the invites out. We did talk internally about what would be more reasonable, and we did talk about trying
to chunk it into like three month segments and see how the first one goes and then work from there. Other things just in the report um the the vendors and specialized services that we contract with or we've hired internally
uh for some of the specialized services like individual tutoring for students with severe medical issues. Uh also our reading tutor, our TVI contract is is set for the year. Our PT services are still set and it's the same person actually joining us back this year that
we were contracted with last year. So all those services are are in place at this point and some of them have been actually operating since the summertime. Um the other things that we've already mentioned about Goldbook and inclusion PD coming up this month. The only other
thing I would mention is just taking some time to get to know the new staff that have come on board with us and helping to orient them to things like Eastbed. Not every district uses Eastbed, so some staff are are new to it. Uh but um besides giving them
support in those areas, just also meeting with some of the staff with the late arrivals that we've had coming in uh just before the start of school and making sure that we're getting meetings set up to review their IEPs as a team and probably either amend or reddraft those documents before the end of the
month. Um can you just um clarify the initial date to get the meeting notices out was September 1st which turned out you know would it had to be re-evaluated but with
this new tracking tool are we currently on track with scheduling the meetings or are we behind? No we're on track. Yeah. Does that mean if you have a September meeting it's booked? Yes. What about October meetings? Um,
we're going to be close to that. Invites have to go out at least 10 days beforehand. And this is across the entire district. It is. Yeah. So, there are dates on the tracking form that actually dictate when the meeting invites have to go out.
Got it. Okay. So, we have a new plan to try to do them a little bit earlier, but we are not behind. We're not behind right now. Okay. How's the structure working at the elementary school? How's it working out with the three um sped teachers? We have a K1, a 23, and a four five.
I I think that um with the new staff on board, there's less of a sense of I can't manage the schedule relevant to the the amount of like the size of the case loads are not as much of a concern.
So folks have not been coming to me talking about I can't manage this and get this in here at the same time with only two staff. So I know that folks it seemed effortless relevant to putting their schedules together at the
elementary level uh and making sure that um students are getting services within the first week. Are the case loads fairly equitable between the you know spread across the six grades for Yes. We looked at essentially dividing things up into two great
chunks. Yeah. Uh and that seems to be working out well. How did um the first three days of school and familiarizing staff with IEPs go? That was a big thing for this year
that we were all encouraged about. Yeah. Some of that I blended into the presentation, the federal and state presentation because there are things in the TFM. Uh the uh TFM toolkit is it used to be called the the purple book
and the purple book is really about 59 different points. some of them with multiple sections to them, but one of them, I believe it's special ed number 18 that reviews the fact that general ed teachers and other staff that work with the student need to review the IEPs. So,
we also after that had a separate department meeting. We talked about how that should play out relevant to folks having access to either hard copies. If they have access to hard copies, they can actually take ownership of those copies and make sure that they're
actually secured uh in their rooms. But we also talked about in the future what we could do with that and talking about the new information management system for like student demographic information, attendance, grades, things like that. how we can possibly actually
download the IEPs and 504 plans into that system and talk about how we would use that to just really have teachers review the documents and then sign off on it. Not going to say that that's in progress at this point, but we did have that conversation about how we could
make the process easier for staff. So, just to loop back on that, how how do we know that all staff reviewed the IEPs as per the contract? And so we know that everybody signed off this year.
Yep. We and we also designated time not just for kind of the protocols but also for the actual sitting down with the IAPS and reviewing a lot of material that was part of the two-day coming back to school agenda. We had dedicated two
hours at each at each building to provide that for them. Even before that there is and I'm sure there's with new staff coming on board and things before the end of the year we actually have transition meetings with the staff that are going to be taking over the next year. So there is a meeting for
every student April, May, June in that time stretch to actually go over each individual case with the staff that are going to be picking up the the gauntlet for the next year. Is the number of IEPs that we're managing sameish compared to last year? Is there
any notable swing? Uh actually when I reviewed IEPs last year I came up with 107 active over the summer. Uh right now I believe our number is around 96. Thank you.
Helpful. Okay. Is there um do you have any updates on the district improvement plan? No, only that we are in the process of uh drafting up u you know a draft for the committee of our of our next edition
um the 2025 to 28 district improvement plan. So in our last workshop we talked about potentially having a September workshop. Um we are we still looking at having that ready for later this month or early next
month? Yep. So there's the potential for a meeting a workshop meeting in between now and our October business meeting. So I will work on scheduling offline.
Okay. that needs to heads up and I think key for that would be for the committee to have whatever administration wants to put in front of us for that. Absolutely. For a few days in advance of the meeting. Yes.
This is in September. October. I was going to say it's already the 15th. 15th. I I am indeed. Yeah. Yeah, but we kind of need to know that materials are going to be Yeah.
realistically it's just hard. Yeah. Oh. So, with that, um there is a lengthy uh school finance subcommittee update and I will take the blame for part of that. Um
we're going to the subcommittee is asking to table the budget transfer vote. We have shared in our committee notes a lot of detail about what that looks like. So you it won't be surprising news when it comes in in October. Um but that's not all. So Mr.
Sullivan, do you want to um beyond the lengthy transfer uh discussion which took up the bulk of our meeting, but um we talked obviously about enrollment and its impact for this year and for next year. any changes that
we will need to make in our budget for FY27 um for financial needs, for staffing needs. Um and Chrissy and I both kind of expressed a desire to get rolling on FY27 as quickly as possible. Um
uh we reviewed the grants that the committee needs to approve. Um so they are listed there in your notes. The school behavioral health grant um comprehensive school health grant titles one, two, and four. And then there's also a mass fresh grant um which we will not seek approval for tonight because
it's not yet granted but yeah. Okay. Um we had asked Dr. Driscoll last year for a staffing grid or I called it a lineup. Um and he graciously provided us with a draft of that. So um basically just listing every role in Hefield public
schools and who is in that role. So sometimes there's the same person listed in multiple roles, but it's just so that we as a committee or as a subcommittee can know that everything is staffed or that there's no surprises um that things are unstaffed. Last year there was a reading tutor I think the high school
that we didn't really know about being unstaffed until much later in the year was one that was like they kept they hired and then got ghosted like four times. Um, but we just we didn't know really about that until staffing information for us is usually has been historically by name and so it's very hard to see if there's
an opening. So, um, and the FY27 budget will actually be built off of the openings versus who's in them to start. So, as we reviewed that, we we learned that there were currently only two vacancies at the time, middle school
basketball and one ESP at the high school, which I assume is still the same. Still the same. Okay. Um and then um everything else was all about the transfers. So, um trying to sort out which accounts we can move money from, money to. Um, we also have
some pending new revenue from state and federal sources that we're fairly confident we're getting, but we have not yet received. So, we are planning the transfers not inclusive of those amounts because we don't have that money in hand. Um, but those sums are listed
there, listed there, a title one grant for 15,000. Um, state additional uh money that was dedicated uh $75,000. We're waiting to get that. um 240 grants for 51,000 and a reef grant for $10,000.
Um and then the rest is really about transfers. And if you have any questions about those, you're welcome to field them. Yeah, I think part of this is despite the fact that we're not putting that list in front of you tonight, just to
know that um there are new costs in special ed that are going to that there is no way to move forward without adding additional funds to the budget and the option we have for that is to pull from school choice
school choice revenue. So, um we're fortunate that it's available. Um and we looked to shift every spare possible dollar um everywhere else before we did that.
So, the reserves are still there. And the the the two main buckets for the the need for the transfers is one, all of our new hires came in with more experience than the people they replaced. So, which is great, but they were more costly. Um, and then we have eight students using out of district
placements. And we weren't planning for eight and we weren't planning for fully for we didn't budget for as much money as that's going to cost. We we budgeted for what we thought it was going to. We budgeted big and and to be fair, we budgeted Yeah. So last year's tuition budget for out of
district placements was 275,000. We budgeted for 401. Our anticipated projection right now is almost 680. And just to be clear for anyone who's watching, this is for students who are out of district placements because they
have needs beyond which the district and likely any district could m could meet. Correct. This isn't, you know, people choicing out or chartering out. This is special needs. So, um, one upside is that we could look at getting a fair amount of what we're
adding back from circuit breaker funds and school choice funds. um if it's an out of if it happens to be a student that isn't a resident, the sending town pays for all of that. So, we would get everything back next year. Um if it's a
local student, then circuit breaker pays 75% after we meet the threshold. So, so you have to spend 53,000 before the state comes in and pitches in with the asterisk being assuming circuit breaker is fully funded and that it says
is a particularly big asterisk right now because every district is facing skyrocketing special ed costs which I'm going to go back to Dr. Vul. This might just be something for you to have another chat with um again our state representation just highlight both what our out of district needs are, our
sped needs are. Yes, that's happening. um across multiple levels including state reps but also we had a meeting um with the um secretary of education, state secretary of education um and Desi commissioner uh
last week uh sorry the week before last um and this was was the the number one issue from all the superintendents in the Pioneer Valley about you know what the what the costs are and um really
what what can be done about it. Um they are they have they have earmarked funds within the budget to review the chapter 70 formula. Um which is a good first step. It's the first time they've actually taken the step to spend the
money to do the research into what's not working with chapter 70. Um so that will be good. Uh and I suspect there'll be recommendations that come out of that. Um because the biggest thing that's not working uh for the formula it tends to be special ed um just based on based on
what goes into it. But yeah, those conversations are happening. Um so I've also taken the liberty to give a heads up into the finance committee given that we're seeing this kind of escalation. It's we're covering
just so we could say to them like hey we're we're covering this. We're doing a transfer within our own funds. Um, but it the portfolio of students, they're not they're not graduating out in any year. So, we're looking at some
increased costs for a while. So, while we could get back a nice chunk of change from circuit breaker, it's more likely that we're going to need that next year to cover next year's needs. So, we've fronted it for now and
hopefully in time it will come back. So, um question about the transportation. The increase is 38,000. What is the total roughly? I can tell you. Um, I was wondering if
the total transportation costs for those eight students are just under $150,000. I'm wondering if there is a way can I can I just add something to that? Um, for students who are school choice
students who are being sent out of district, we don't pay the transportation costs for them. descending districts from the start. Correct. Yeah. Okay. But I'm wondering if there is a way to
collaborate with a neighboring district of hey, we have a student going to this place five days a week. Uh you already have a van going there. Can we
ride share something like I think that is there any individual cases where ourselves and the other district or another district have been at a meeting we've asked that question. So if there's a opportunity for a cost share, we try
to pursue that. Because say the placement is north. So we could check with you know Frontier or any of their elementary schools or you know things on the way in that direction
of any way to cut down on the transportation costs by car pooling. I mean we've kind of put that out there for school of choice families. So why not use that idea for ourselves if it's possible? Are other districts better at dealing
with special ed transportation inhouse? Don't think so. I don't I don't think anyone's particularly good at dealing with transportation right now. Okay. In the out of district transportations usually you have to look for a vendor
and there's either two different ways that they actually charge for it. They either charge you by the route, which they don't care about how many kids are on it, or they charge you uh by the student for the route. And if there's a cost share, usually they'll let you know
like Vanpool would let us know if one of our routes is a cost share. And if our route is only kind of like one student on the route and another district have the same kind of situation that you were just talking about, then they would let us know that and our price would drop
drop because it would be a cost share route. Yeah. And and just just to add to that once again, we're talking about um students with really significant needs who are are are placed out of diff district. So um often times with
students with with with many profiles like that it it's um you know the the vendor may say it's not safe to have multiple students together in the same banner. It's not you know not conducive to safe driving experience. So that's and we have to rely on them to be be the ones
that make that decision. My my assumption looking at the warrants is that there aren't a lot of vendors providing the service. it is not a particularly competitive market on their end because their prices keep going up.
So there's it it seems like there's a lot of demand and not a lot of supply. Um so if someone's looking for a side someone with a skill set is looking for a side gig, this is lucrative. Last year we primarily use Suite. This year we're using Vanpool.
Vanpool. Did Sweet bid? Not on. Not that they were less expensive seemingly, but actually when we did put out to who was available and there's one company that hasn't been able to pick up at all, suite was not able to pick up I think
one or two of our routes and so Vampool was. So we ended up really by default went with them. To be fair, it the transportation is getting close to the cost of the tuition. It's crazy.
I mean, it's what you got to do. But if someone were interested in providing that service, who would they talk to? If it was a new company, usually they would reach out to us. But I I do have to say the previous district I worked in, there was a company that did that. They were twice as much as what some of
the the other folks in the area were charging. So, it is I mean, it's a rising cost, but it's also very competitive. I I'm not saying you didn't get good bids. I'm just saying that that is a service that is there's not enough of it and so they don't
have to be particularly aggressive in their pricing. Same with school buses. Yes. Same with school bus. There's no competition. And you meet with the other superintendent through the collaborative. Well, special ed, right? That's what I meant. But um what you meant
it's late. Um, years ago there was discussion there about trying to figure out a way for the collaborative to assist in districts planning these similar routes. I I've only seen one collaborative over
the years actually take that mantle up and they did it on a limited basis only to provide transportation to their programs. But it it does come up. There is a state system. The woman's name is Colleen Kavanaaugh and every once in a while
I'll reach out to her to say, you know, are you aware of any other vendors and she does have like a website, but years ago she was kind of like tasked with doing what you were talking about earlier. Just this idea that there would be a pool where you could go to and find out if there were roots that were
traveling through your town so that you could just kind of like use that information to to go with it. There was a fee involved in that and a lot of districts didn't actually take that up. So, it didn't turn into what I think people were hoping it would. I've got to believe there's at least one
student going from the frontier district to White Oak, which would pass right through us on his way down to Westfield. Like, there you would think there's overlap somewhere, but whether or not it's actually viable to pair students up in the same vehicle. So, as far as out of district
transportation, our own indist fit into our schedule where we can do a couple of days a week of of taking on those routes instead of paying an outside vendor for the full five days a week. So, just an awareness.
Yeah, I'm just trying to think outside of the box here. I I hear you. I tell you, people that have the skill set might want to consider this as an opportunity for employment. I don't know what their licenses need to look like, but uh be worth finding out. Told my husband it's his retirement job.
I think it's a grand plan. He'd be great. So, you need a motion. We need a motion to approve the grants. Uh to approve the grants totaling 98,043 as presented.
I didn't do the math for you. Sorry. But that isn't that without Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yes. It's in the It's in the first line of the grants. Adam took care of that. Thank you.
Okay. All in favor? I I Any opposed? Awesome. So, the grants are approved. Um we had an executive session on on the docket in case we needed it. Um we do not need it this evening unless you have
different news. Uh and so with that I would take a motion for adjournment. Um before that um homecoming is the 20 is it that late. Well uh no 18th right 18th
October 18th and our next meeting is it's on your calendars if you have accepted the calendar update. I know you just sent all that out. through those emails yet, Christie? Yes, I know. Just all they were were little calendar
updates. The next meeting is the 20th. Okay. So, before our next meeting is homecoming homecoming, except for potential workshop meeting, which may come before. So, we'll have a a homecoming committee email coming up soon to vote for the award and all that. I was saying you're looking for a school
committee rep for that. Okay. Well, I will find you someone. And uh before we adjourn, happy birthday, Christie. your birthday. Happy birthday. Oh, happy birthday. Where else would I be for my birthday? Why are you here?
Our last school committee meeting was on my birthday. Whose birthday is up next? We can plan a meeting. Does any We'll uh look for that to be special. Yes. So, with that, so I hear Kathy's and I will second the motion to adjourn. All in favor? I.
Thank you very much. Thanks everyone.