Good evening, Hollist, and uh welcome to It's March 12th. Welcome to the Hollist School Committee meeting. Um I will call things to order and uh I think we'll get started with the consent agenda.
I guess at this time I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> All in favor? That passes. We have no students in here tonight. So,
we will move on to um move on to uh school committee individual comments. [snorts] Frank, >> uh for me, >> nothing for me.
>> Probably I'll just go with the crowd. Nothing for me. Oh, well, I'll say something. [laughter] Um, I just wanted to say thank you to Ann King and uh the team of educators in the um soar and lift classrooms. Um I
was invited to be the mystery chef last week and we had a great afternoon with a wonderful bunch of students making pancakes. So that was a lot of fun and it was really a pleasure to be welcomed into work with all of them. They were they were really fun to work with. So thank you. Um, I also wanted to say a
huge congratulations to the senior class for putting together a very entertaining senior showcase last night. It was really um, a lot of fun. Um, a lot of great performances. There was storytelling, a challenging game of Jeopardy. Uh, huge thank you to Mr. List
um, who was a hugely wonderful sport in the game of Jeopardy which did include a runin with a pie in his face. um or singing and great musicians, really great dancers. Um also special thank you
to the patience and grace that the per performers displayed as they worked through some technical difficulties. Um so any it was just a really fun night and um want to say congratulations and a great way to celebrate the class of 2026.
That's all I have. Um, do we have anyone here for public comment? No. No. Okay. And I don't think there's anyone on the Zoom.
So, I think we can move right on to um is Dan here? [laughter] Dan >> Dan >> Dan Mloud >> back there in the corner. >> He was just here.
>> No, they're back there house. Do you want to go or >> So we have a presentation uh on that's okay technology and the um AI steering committee. Yes. I have our awesome student Jackson
Couton joining for the presentation. He was part [clears throat] of our steering committee so I'll let him um he has a piece in this presentation so he'll be sharing shortly. So yeah, thanks for having me. Uh let me get started here.
Uh can someone give me sharing please? Cool. I think we're ready to go. Okay. So, uh tonight's uh technology presentation, happy to be here again in front of you, um is going to be strictly focused on AI. A lot of
times I talk about cyber security and infrastructure, but this one we have a lot to talk about, right Jackson? So, >> Oh, yes. >> Uh we're going to dive right in. So, as you know, I think in the fall when I uh spoke, we were planning to launch the AI steering committee. Dr. Manar was part
of the steering committee. Uh we had four 90-minute meetings and our initial work is complete. So, uh that's what the topic of this presentation is mostly what um the committee came up with, next steps, recommendations, things like
that. So, uh, the goal here was, um, we're very happy we, um, a big part of the presentation is also we were able to launch a professional development survey related strictly to AI and we had an incredible number of responses. So, I'll
be sharing that as well. All right, let's head in here. All right. So, last August, Desi released guidance uh for districts. So, we wanted to be sure the committee aligned uh its work with the Desi guidance. So, all of the work you'll see from the committee had the Desi guidance
in mind. Uh we want to make sure the professional development we deliver um actually has impact. So, um you're going to hear some recommendations for PD from the committee. And finally, um, we had 23
members on the committee, a lot of parents, students, four sixth graders like Jackson, incredible. And then we had two juniors. So, uh, we had an sixth grade, for whatever reason, is very interested in AI. So,
um, anyway, it was a great group of stakeholders. Um, it was a group of 23. Dan Halford, you mentioned that's a big group to corral, and it was. So, uh, we didn't have 23 every single time. So, good prediction there, but we had a
steady number of 13 on average show up for each of the four meetings. All right. And naturally, this presentation has a little um AI infusion to it. So, you're going to see some phrases that were uh, you know, a enhanced with AI. So, uh,
I put the, uh, sort of the committee's recommendations into AI and AI came out with this phrase and I looked at it and I said, "Hm, blockade? That's a little that's a little aggressive." Um, but really that's that's what we're doing in Hollist. We are blocking AI from
students. I mean, I'm just going to be real about it. Except for the high school uh, where they use Notebook LM. Other than that, there's really no um we never had a good plan and that's where the committee comes into this uh for,
you know, maybe eventually turning on AI for students. There's a lot of reasons not to turn on AI for students. Yet, as you'll see shortly, 60% of students at the high school level are using AI anyway. So, it's it's a
little bit of a struggle for us. So blockade to blueprint is is we're coming from that blockade era into hopefully a blueprint for success. It's been two years since uh chat GPP or actually our work started in Hollist.
So you're going to see that shortly. So here's our timeline. I'm not going to read all of this but uh just some general milestones. Our first steering committee was actually in November 2023. And so the second steering committee
which Jackson was part of uh was November 2025. So a full two years later we had to reconvene the steering committee a different one. this one. The good news is uh the the committee convened in
um November 2025, but prior to that, September 2025, we actually launched our first formal AIPD session at Miller Elementary. And we saw some impacts from that session as far as staff and their use of AI.
And then January 2026, so these things were already happening in Hollist before the committee. >> [snorts] >> um thanks to Joanie and her curriculum folks tech integration. So we launched another session at Robert Adams Middle. So those were two highlights I wanted to
point out. The September 25 January 26 were formal PD sessions devoted to AI. The other two schools again class and TNOs we we want teachers to become more efficient with AI. A lot of them in this
survey reported that their efficiency saving hours per week is definitely a reason to use AI teachers. I'm talking about not students. So, um we're working on developing plans for the other two buildings. And then finally, March 2026, this came
out of the committee which you'll hear about shortly. Uh we need to give a survey for for staff to find out where they are with AI. All right. So, that brings us to the steering committee. And so, um I'll have Jackson speak about
this shortly, but um basically it was 23 members, um three subcommittees, curriculum, student literacy, staff literacy, and PD, and then guidance and AI cons concerns. Uh the environmental impact of AI is a
huge concern in Hollist. And there there's some places that sort of addressed it like University of Maine put out a tool where um they compared an hour of Netflix to typing in a chatbot. And the hour of Netflix uses way more
energy than typing in a chatbot. But that's just there's a lot of push and pull with the environmental impacts. Um but I actually posed that to a junior here at the high school. I said, "You watch Netflix?" study because he was he was adamant, you know, not using AI
because of the environmental impact and I just showed him that it's Netflix is way more. So anyway, those were the stakeholders, 23 folks. We did build a website and it has all
the members linked up linked up here. But I want to swing right into the role of uh our Jackson who's joining me tonight. So just a little bit about Jackson. Um he was like a rock in the committee. He was there for all four
meetings. He was there early, stayed late even with his other commitments. Uh thanks to his mom and dad who brought him to the meetings. Uh just very committed. So super impressed with that. He also had noticed I I wasn't part of the subcommittees. I was sort of
facilitating and he was actually sort of the leader of this guidance and AI concerns committee. He had his Chromebook out was typing on the slide deck taking notes. Um so I wanted him to have a moment couple minutes to share um
sort of his experiences on the committee and talk about why you joined the committee first of all. >> So first introduce yourself sir. >> Um I'm Jackson Katone. I'm in sixth grade and I'm only 11 and I've had a lot
of experience with AI before. So, and I know how it can impact the environment and you >> Yes. So, um can you talk a little bit about what your group the sorts of
discussions they had the guidance and AI concerns? Okay. So, we were mo we were mostly focused on um the concerns. We were worried about first of all the the environmental impacts
um the student grade impact and how they would respond to other things in life like their creativity. um for the guidance we
we didn't want um students cheating on tests or assignments using AI. Um though it could help teachers a lot and it would help students to make such
stuff such as flashcards to study for their test. So we focus on that stuff a lot. Okay, >> that's great. So, yes, most of it was we're at this point where it's really be helping teachers and even we had an
administrator meeting yesterday helping teachers and administrators become more efficient. But [clears throat] the survey really shocked us because uh we haven't done a ton of PD as you as you've seen, but teachers have sort of latched on to AI as this is a tool
that's going to save me hours per week. So, um, they don't necessarily need the some of them don't need the formal PD. They And you've seen the chat bots, right? They're they're pretty straightforward as far as what they can do. >> So, you're going to stay with me, right?
>> Yes. >> So, I can survive this. [laughter] Um, so feel free to jump in, Jackson. You're going to see some graphs. He'll be one of the first committee members to see the results. So, >> enjoy it. >> So, these are the three groups. um
and they they just naturally came out from the uh sub from the actual committee of 23. We just divided to [snorts] decided to divide into three groups just to uh make the groups more efficient and targeted.
This was a really cool recommendation that came out of uh the curriculum student literacy group and we have not implemented this at least districtwide but it's a system where and some districts use this where students are
given again if if it's an an assignment where they're allowed to use or assignments are given a label red yellow red yellow green excuse me um red means you you're not allowed to use AI
and yellow is certain parts of that like brainstorming and then green full AI encourage again we're not here yet in Austin but this is a potential tool we could roll out once a school is ready to adopt for students
all right here's uh some of the survey results and I will um have a the next slide will talk about the numbers I know that's hard to see, but basically um the teachers uh the top bar there, I probably should go right to the next
slide, but let me talk a little bit about the numbers. Uh we had 167 staff respondents out of 207 staff and that was an 81% clip. So thrilled about those results. Survey window was February, March 2026.
And uh the key things we looked at were the grade levels that folks were teaching, the AI tools in use, and then adoption patterns. All right, here's here are some of the numbers that came out of that survey. So 31% of the of the teachers that
responded um top need was practical tools. They want a you know 5 10 minutes 15 minutes whatever it takes. Show me this new tool and then let me explore with that tool.
And that's where the 22% comes in time for implementation. um dedicated PD days. That's going to be tricky to, you know, give a full day of AIPD and actually that's probably not the best practice, but little
chunks of AI seem to be the most effective as far as what teachers want. Uh 21% of teachers, no AI use whatsoever. That was interesting as well. Um so about 80% appear to be using and then there's 20 for whatever reasons
are not using it. There's definitely plagiarism concerns, AI detection tools, and then setting expectations for responsible student use. All right, this one surprised me
personally. Uh, chat GPT is clearly uh the leader in the clubhouse. Um, 80% of the teachers that responded are using chat GPT. And in Gemini, we've talked about is sort of Hollist's
AI tool that we're embracing because of privacy. But um you know, if teachers don't put PII in any of these tools, you know, it's it's not going to be I don't know. We're not we don't know.
We don't know what what they're doing with these tools. Um but Gemini has claimed it's our own environment. So, we're going to keep encouraging staff to use Gemini to keep all of the content within our environment. So, again, the this survey just came back. We high
school just finished Tuesday, I think. So, the results are very fresh and we haven't have not acted on these yet. [clears throat] All right. These were two things that came out of um I don't think this was your group, right? This was the um AI
concern group. These two frameworks, the CPU rule is uh basically we want to help students understand AI cannot do the thinking for you. Uh you need your brain to solve not just current problems but the future problems. So that's going to
be part of um this framework we're going to show students once we do introduce it. And then the other piece is, I'm sure you've heard in the news, the deep fakes and and how students are using this um in poor ways to um you know,
social media, deep fakes, all of that. So, we want to help students with all of that and not putting your full name, address, birthday, anything online. As a matter of fact, one student um on the committee, I believe they were they were talking about how they were
using chat in middle school and I was like it just didn't you know we we have to show students I I wouldn't show them chat. I would show them Gemini but how to use it properly. So that's where even showing middle school students.
I want to share one teacher success story. Um Jenny White is a uh first year teacher at Miller and she's absolutely um she was a leader on the um steering committee, one of the subgroups. I believe that was yours, right?
>> Yep. >> Um so the guidance concerns committee, but she is innovating with AI um every day. So I just threw in a a quote here um yesterday. She used it look look at her rubrics. It helped me visualize areas of
growth and pinpoint areas for targeted instruction. Such a great tool. So that's again an example of teachers using AI and actually her she has a whole workflow for
exporting deidentified student um work and then importing it into AI and then having the AI help you know determine targeted areas for growth saves hours. and she she and Ally Curley
are presenting this model at Medfield has a digital learning day which is for Massachusetts districts and so they were their proposal was accepted. So her Jenny and Ally are presenting um that as an exemplar.
So where do we go next? um scaling PD. One thing that came out of the committee was the ethics and classroom integration module. So whatever we do with PD, there has to be some ethics uh training surrounding it. We need to finalize our
AI toolbox. As you saw, chat was hugely popular. It's even popular with some administrators. So that's going to be definitely a targeted area. How do we handle the popularity of chat GPT? And then a tool like so gamma was the AI
tool used to help with this presentation. So adopt these other tools that we think will save folks time and put them in our toolbox. Guidance roll out. The committee came up with guidance which I I'll show some examples here shortly of how they want
to revise our current guidance. And then the measurement is going to be how we track um staff use. Again, continuing these surveys. And then what I'm a big believer in having dialogue with with teachers. You know, how are
they using these tools in the classroom like the example I gave with Jenny White. All right. So, uh district leadership, we met yesterday. One thing that we need to do, again, the survey is hot off the press, is review this survey data,
allocate PD as needed, and the district needs to revise the guidance. As you know, uh, four of our nine senior leadership positions are going to be turning over, you know, 26 27. So, it's we're in a tricky spot with, you know, you know, doing anything drastic right
now with that much um changing. So but but the data is now here that we can make decisions. Uh the district leadership also we're going to form a community of practice. We I'm going to launch we launched this yesterday and that's where what
administrators have told us is they they miss the PD sessions for example that Miller and Rams were delivering on AI. So the administrators are not getting the AIPD that they need. So we're going to form a community of practice. It's going to be an hour a month where
administrators can join optionally and we're going to share best practices, learn new AI tools like Gamma and then spend 30 minutes exploring that tool. All right, school committee where where can we use your help? Um,
basically the committee's recommendations, you know, we we need your endorsement, ask questions, whatever you need to do. We're going to take it back to the committee. Um, we're going to probably update the AI guidance. Again, we're waiting for sort of the change in senior
leadership and that will help signal your commitment to our work. And then ultimately the goal is um everybody staff and students um we have to be safe about AI. It's it's not
perfect. It needs human interaction. Um and then academic integrity is is the hump that we can't overcome right now. That's why it's very limited use for students even though we know students are using it outside of our uh school
district. questions. >> Thought it was very comprehensive. >> Thank you. Had a lot of help. [laughter] >> Can I ask Jackson a question? >> Sure. >> Jackson, can you tell me because I am not an AI user and I probably think I
could learn best from people your age since it's more natural for you. How did you get started on this and what do you use it the most for school work, homework, just things on your own? >> Um,
I first of all, I use AI mostly just for facts or stuff I'm wondering about at home. Um, or I use it when I'm practicing, say,
math to check my answers. I don't think I've really ever used it for any school assignments, projects, or tests before. >> So, I've only used it for educational purposes.
>> Excellent. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> He's doing it the right way. >> I have a question probably for Jackson, too. um how do we encourage I I'm big believer in AI when used in the right way any tool could be misused um and
that the computer is probably started that right like how we started using computers and we all found out ways to use it in different ways how do we encourage students like you to others to use it positively >> that's going to be tough
I know I know that some students have found a way around Delado, which is the blocking site that they use. But I s I think if it set like a guidelines that's
posted throughout the school and and that's maybe even on the website [sighs] and just for like how students misbehave. I wouldn't exactly call it a punishment,
but maybe like maybe someone should like remind them. >> General. >> Yeah, >> got it. Yeah, I think blocking it will [clears throat] cause more nefarious ways than allowing positive access and that enforcement governance is super
important with it. >> Awesome work, Jackson, by the way. >> Thank you. So again, all the committees uh we we actually launched the website tonight. So uh we'll be I'll probably put at the bottom of my email and things. So check it out. It's going to be on the main
technology page. You can see the work of the committee, all the recommendations, all the members, and then again, we'll wait for um sort of our leadership to to check check it out and see what we do next.
Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Jackson. Yeah, >> okay. Um so we can move on to the um updated superintendent budget. All right. So we have an updated
presentation for the FY27 proposed budget. So I was going to put the slides up. You'll see some of our previous, excuse me, previous slides that we've shared. And then you'll see that we have
updated some information to hopefully um be able to get to a point of voting for a budget that would go to town meeting. All right. So, the updates tonight will show this is the original. You'll see here January 8th. This was presented
after we presented uh mostly Dr. Jordan presented the three different parts to the um budget the salaries of the fixed costs and student services at January 8. At that point we were at a 4.98% and you can see the number at the
bottom. Uh that would get us to the 4.98% which is above what we can manage for this fiscal year. However, we really worked hard, Dr. Jordan in particular, and he's happy to answer questions about it, but we had an unusual year where we had some
retirements. We knew some of the retirements were going to be coming this end of the year, but at the same time, we had a number of retirements midyear that we weren't foreseen um in various departments and some resignations and other favorable payroll. So that actually was able to get him to a number
of reducing that to -483593. And again, so taking that into consideration, um Dr. Jordan then updated this information on the chart that he presented with us on February 9th and that brought our number down to
3.89%. And so getting closer to where we would like to be and obviously this is something that's been modeled as I shared in multiple meetings from the town. So I left that slide in. We know that we were asked at budget sub and also the town manager. You know money is
tight in all towns and certainly ours is no stranger to that. We're hearing lots of challenges in many districts. We're not in dire straits like many districts but at the same token we have needs for our students that we need to address. So the 3.25% 25% is a challenge to get to,
but if we stayed at the 3.89, we're still, you know, 64 off and that's about 286,000. So, we kept working to the number and as the closer we get to knowing real information about students, any tuition unforeseen costs and things
like that, as we get more out of district costs from districts, um, from collaborives and places, it helps us to get a better sense of what the real number is going to be as we move forward. However, at this point, the only way we can get to 3.25%
does require reduction of 3.0 FTEES. And we every year we do this, regardless of the budget, we look at enrollment shifts. And sometimes if it's a if we're not able to if we don't need a particular position anymore because of the enrollment, we've actually sometimes
switched it to something that we had more of a need of. But in this case, this retirement at elementary would be a 1.0 know come out of the budget to reduce that number and then we did this is all discussed with our leadership team um for me you know it's really
important that the people that are that are going to be here next year as Mr. Mloud alluded to have the voice in this. They've always had the voice in the process. We never do this in isolation. We always meet as a leadership team, but this came from the the leadership team coming together, principles and central
office and really hearing their voices as what we could manage for next year. So with that two secondary positions will be eliminated based on also we've had a lot of enrollment but we also didn't want to cut into the high school did not want to cut into the um
classroom positions for obvious reasons with the new schedule. So these particular positions would be positions that are not directly instructing kids in the same way as the classroom positions. However, you know, there's always some impact there. And because
this was not something that would be expected, the two individuals that would be potentially impacted by this were already notified that this was likely the direction that would be happening. And that those three positions would get us approximately that 286,000 number that would get us down to the 3.25%. So,
that was the challenge that we were up against. [clears throat] So, you can see um again, Dr. Jordan updated this for today's meeting and you can see where that changes the um salaries and gets us to the 3.25% again
[snorts] that does not still take into account any of the priority needs and if you recall when we presented in January prior to any discussion with all of you at the back of this library we met again multiple times we what what Dr. Jordan
and the central team Dr. Bernard. Um, we meet with each department as we go through the budget process and we then met with each principal and we really talked about what they needed to come in with. We knew it was going to be year that we were going to have a challenge to get to that 3.25%.
We asked them to not put needs on there that they couldn't come up with a solution. And you know, obviously if money weren't an object, there were definitely other needs, but they came up with their bare bones needs. And this is much less than we've probably seen in a long time that we put on this list because we were being very
um targeted with this. And that was 158,000. Again, it's not a large number, but it's above that 3.25. So, what do we do about that? So, again, um again from meetings with budget subcommittee and obviously knowing where we are with the with the fiscal
challenges, we all met as a team again multiple times. We meet with our principles in central office and they meet with their building based teams and we agreed as a team that the number one priority need if the is only one thing that could be filled is that 0.5 SSA out
of district coordinator which is about $60,000. Now for years those of you that have been here have heard every year this being presented this predates me even and um then Kelly Camp was here when I arrived. We really ultimately do need a 1.0 no assistant director role
and we were trying to hopefully get there. But knowing the challenges at least to have a half-time position that's fully dedicated to these out of district um positions because our our students that go out as we know can be very costly and right now we have our
SSAs, five of them at the different buildings. We have a halftime and four full-time as well as the student services director are literally all doing pieces of this. It's pulling them out of the building which will make them inefficient and could be costly at team meetings. When they go out to another meeting, they might be missing something
important that should be happening at the building level and unforeseen costs come out of that. And then just having it peace be able to it's been very challenging to try to get to these district meetings and being very strategic with the information we share there. And there have been some unforeseen costs that got away from us
because of the fact that obviously if we can find a placement of a h 100,000 rather than 200,000 but having too many kettles in the pot pots in the pots in the burner you're honestly costing us money this way and I this is something that all districts struggle with but
most districts have added these positions um long before this. So we're we're behind and we're trying to get some of these gaps met and certainly Dr. Katalo or Dr. Joe, I could speak to that as well. Oh, let me just go back. And that that number for just that one, 60,000 would
get us to 3.39%. For the request, what about the other needs? So, you can see those again, these are the barebones needs. We did not put any fluff in here. We put really the basics. And we do always try to be mindful of trying to
when there are enrollment shifts, if we can shift things over um to things that we need for the current or the upcoming year tied to our strategic plan, we've always done that. But if we put all of those needs forward, we're at 3.61% um for the um budget that we would be
requesting from the town at town meeting. And obviously that's, you know, above that number that we are, it's hoped that we would get to at the town level, but I really do think that these needs are really important and our
administrators were really not being um they were not looking for anything that is not directly needed to support students. And if you can see those needs, we're talking about our diverse learning population out of district that's directly servicing our most challenged students in many cases. And
then the tutors for ESL, again our students that are are students of color or multiple languages. And then again, literacy, we know how important that is. And as we learned this past year, we were able to add 1.0 math tutor at the
middle school. Our math is going up and it's really been phenomenal the amount of students that can be intervention get interventions between the full-time teacher and now the [snorts] um full-time math tutor. We don't have that model for reading. That is really critical if we want to get some of those
interventions in place. It's a gap for our students that are struggling. And then the campus supervisor, that's the role that would be very similar to what the high school has. We, you know, again, middle school kids need a little bit monitoring in different ways than our elementary kids. And it's very time
consuming to try to manage all that in the hallways. We have cameras, you know, that's we can prevent some things. the amount of time and this is at all that three of the buildings we're spending a ton of time in the lunchroom for administrators and that's taking away from all the other things they need to do evaluations um things do fall through
the cracks when they don't have enough time to manage things this is a long overdue position that's been requested and I'd say David many other ways um but some form of this so that although it's number three it's also a very critical need at the middle school as
Right now, our capital requests have not changed since the last time we met. If you look at um our initial request was at 3,335,000, but we went back and took a few things off of our u initial priority needs request with capital. We took 95,000
off. So, we're currently at the 3,240,000. However, that does include the MSB feas feasibility study which has already been voted on right now to at least um propose moving that forward at town meeting. So, uh at this point, you know,
we're looking for the difference from that which is the 740,000, right? Okay. If you can see the curriculum resources, you know, it's it's very hard to prioritize these, but the grant that Joanie got that she'd be happy to talk
about. Dr. Manard, we have that wonderful grant, 90,000, Joan, >> uh, No, it's over 200 >> Oh, right. Some of it was, >> resources, some of it was for training. So, part of the expectation is that they're piloting these resources and then we have to purchase them. So that's
directly tied to the grant at $275,000 which is critical because we already got that money and I don't know if they would take it back. I mean that would be what they would be expecting it back if we can't follow through and tell them what we spent on our own. >> Um and then another seriously critical
need really is that maintenance truck just because of the age and you know our maintenance person is highly visible, very active. He's been an incredible hire and he's driving around in probably something that's becoming unsafe, would you say, Dr. Jordan, at this point?
>> Um, publicly. Uh, yeah. [laughter] >> Well, we got to be honest, right? >> Yeah, that's true. >> So, that would be the request for capital. So, I, you know, I I do want to acknowledge the work that goes into
this. It doesn't seem like a lot, but we really, I mean, I don't know how many meetings Dr. Jordan, would you say we've had to get to this point? We we really take it seriously. We're not frivolous in any way. Um each year I feel like we've requested less and less priority-wise and we really have reduced
anytime we could strategically based on enrollment. We've aligned all of our PD, all of our budget process. We've aligned all of the work that we're doing to that fiveyear strategic plan. And we tell you what arches it's you see in my presentation the arches are there. So it's direct directly tied to the work
that we agreed to do for the five years. And then next year will be the last year of that. And as you develop a new strategic plan with the new leadership team, you will then want to kind of keep moving forward with kind of prioritizing based on your five year or three-year plan, whatever you decide at that time.
So here we're here to answer any questions. And actually doc um Mr. Mloud is here if there's anything technology wise that you had a question about as well. Oh, [snorts] he's still here. the positions that were cut um at the high school level, are you able to are
they like support positions? Are you able to give any more clarity on what type? I know they weren't classroom teachers, but they're still full-time educators. >> Are I at this time I'm >> okay. >> I I think I'd rather not just for their sake at the moment because it'd be very identifiable. >> Okay.
>> And I just want to give that respect to them if that's okay. But a little later in the process, we'd be discussing that. >> But just so everyone is clear and Dr. Chris said it, but I want to just reiterate so that no one is concerned. It the individuals have been there been
conversations with the individuals that will be impacted. So no one has talked to you that it's not you, >> right? If you have not had a conversation, >> I don't mean to laugh. I just mean >> to worry about at this point. We are obviously pending any other budgetary changes, right? There's always
unforeseen things that can happen, you know, but right now this is where we're looking. >> The other reason not is that, you know, for some reason we get tons of extra money. I mean, you know, but so it's unlikely. >> Money doesn't grow on trees.
>> It actually is trees, but [cough] >> and we're not hearing good news at the state level. We had our legislative breakfast. >> Was it just last week, Joy? And Dr. Jordan went, Sarah went, Dr. Manard and I and you know it's it's not it's not always a
fun meeting to regardless but this year it's just that much more uncertain with the changes happening at the federal level. There's an impact to the state level even more than ever. So, you know, we don't know the impact of that yet. But that's something we'll, you know, watch very closely as well. >> I think the challenging part with that
is they're not giving any information because they don't know and that's the challenging part. If like you know it's a bad situation, okay, then we can plan towards it or it's a positive situation. We can obviously celebrate a bit, but not knowing is kind of and then it's no fault to the state leaders and our local
leaders. They they don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. On Monday, Sarah Frank and I attended the select board meeting where Senate President Spila and uh Representative James Arosa uh presented to the select board. And I
I have not heard uh Senator Spoka be as sort of um concerned as as she she was about the state's budget and that concern and uncertainty obviously leads to to difficulties when when doing budgeting as we you know we know on a more micro
level here. So, um, in the past few years, the Senate and House has been able to get the town more money than the that was in the governor's budget for chapter 70 and then some additional, uh, circuit breaker. You know, that there certainly was no commitment. Not
that there ever would have been a commitment, but it was definitely like, you know, we're just trying to sort of keep our head above water as we deal with all these unknown costs. So, >> and I'd also like to add too, if you look back, obviously since I've been here six years, Dr. Mr. Jordan's been here forever.
>> Well, now you're taking over cuz Mr. Mday is gone and um Mr. Kim will be gone. You're one of the longest tenure. Um but with that, we've been very fiscally conservative here. I mean, you're you're not hearing the doom and gloom that we're hearing in many, many, many towns. Um, you know, just meeting
with my colleagues, um, the other day at the legislative meetings and other meetings I've been at, there's districts making significant cuts and they will continue um, enhance and I could name dozens of districts right now that are really struggling. So, we've been very
careful. We didn't over plan positions that we needed during COVID with all those funds that we got, the onetime funds. We use that to free up to get free time um, the kindergarten full day paid. um and then was it getting into the budget. So that's why you're not
seeing us with a significant number of reductions because we knew that that money would run out. So you know again I don't want to be all doom and gloom because honestly we're not in dire straits but we do have to be very conservative continue to be that and mindful of you know the needs of the
district because we want to still continue to be a strong performing district. Yeah, I've been I've been, you know, in the duration that I've been here. Um, and just kind of reiterating what Dr. Kuscuit said is is Hollist does have a a strong history of of running
conservative budgets just as a a town as a town. Uh, but as a as a school system, um, where, you know, your your highs aren't too highs, your lows aren't too lows. And, you know, that's that's kind of where we are. And as Dr. Kuska said we're, you know, we're not looking at the massive cuts that you're seeing at
some of our neighboring communities um and some of the other funds. We we have the the space and the ability to kind of stay flexible as as others are in more inflexible positions in there. So, >> so I don't know how you want to handle
it. If we we have three recommendations from budget sub, we can do it where is on the agenda. We can do it now. We're talking We can do it now. >> Sure. >> Yeah. >> Um so I guess just first of all most not most importantly but one of the
important things you know when we did the override two years ago uh we made a pledge to the community that we would you know meet the the 3 and a/4% each year uh for for level services. And so this this budget does that. Um while the
specifics of how we got here, you know, were not sort of the exact were not planned obviously sort of the the need for changes in in needs in the district. You know, we're certainly anticipated in and with enrollment shifts. So, uh nothing here is sort of a
was overly different than sort of what I was thinking it would end up being how we would get to the 3 and 1/4%. Um that said at budget sub we did support the 3.61% budget um including inclusive of the the the priority needs. Uh we
discussed potentially just doing one or two of them but we think that you know we were really conservative or the administration was really conservative what they asked for. So um we are going to go forward with the 3.61% um as a recommendation and we'll see where we get with the town and see if
there's any favorability there. I know the town manager was able to um balance the budget. Um and that's before any potential increases in chapter 70, any potential increases in in in circuit break or some favorability here or there and a few unknown numbers could shake
loose a few extra dollars that we could uh you know try to uh request. So, um, with the permission of the chair, our budget recommendation is $45,972,162. Um, and if you would,
we could debate it or or if people are comfortable with that, but that is 3.61% but in a 3.25% uh level service. Sorry, >> we should vote on that to adopt that as our entertain motion to adopt
the 3.61%. I'm probably not going to get the words right. >> 45,972,62 as the school committee's uh requested budget. So, so moved. >> Second. >> All in favor?
That passes. Then um we also voted uh Dr. Jordan had done a lot of work um on the MSPA feasibility study cost in conjunction with uh discussions with uh the town manager and um uh James Kee our
our facility director and their sort of joint con consensus um is that we should request $2.5 million for the feasibility study. It's uh well Zach can talk more about it, but I guess you know the MSBA is not they help you sort of look for
comps but don't really guide you into what they think it should cost. And so you're not you're trying to sort of guesstimate it based on where other people are coming in. And we're starting to even see some districts that are even higher than this for buildings that are
roughly similar cost. So um there was at one point thought that might be it would be even lower though. I remember like 10 years ago people were talking about a million dollars for these things. So, um I don't if you want to go into any more detail, but
>> yeah, I mean uh we even even since we um learned that we had been accepted into uh the eligibility period. Um the comps that we had received were about were about a year old on the comps that were receiving for feasibility studies and we
saw anywhere from 1.7 to 2.5 million. Um now uh we're starting to see the the kind of October, November, December those feasibility study numbers start to come in the current ones and you're seeing two 2.53
uh million dollars uh for those comp comps for similar sized buildings. So, um I I I still we still feel very confident about the $2.5 million. Um but I I do think that um you know, it's the
belief of James and I that now is the the time I think to to really push and make the feasibility uh study start because I think that we're already seeing already noticing that uh these costs are are exponentially growing uh every six months.
And so I've I've talked with the the chair of the finance committee uh you know about having having uh the uh the resources for this and uh you know while obviously a firm commitment wasn't made he he did imply that he thought the number was achievable and he thought that this was a reasonable number uh
when we when we talked earlier uh this evening um he did say no to $3 million but uh uh and then so and then we're also right now anyway May uh they really haven't started the the capital process for May.
Um but right now we also voted to support the $740,000 for other um capital requests uh recognizing that the 275,000 for K through 5 ELA is a priority because it is sort of tied to that that grant. Um it's the grant does
not impact the 275 directly but it it kind of comes partial. So, um, we voted to recommend the 2.5 million for the MSBA feasibility study and $740,000 for the capital request as, uh, laid out in the, uh, presentation.
>> Do we need a vote on that as well? >> I would do two votes. >> Two votes. So, one for the feasibility study. >> Yep. So, I'd make a motion to uh, request $2.5 million as part of the our warrant article for the uh, MSBA
feasibility study. Second. All >> in favor? That passes. >> And I would just say for anyone watching, um, you know, it's going to be very important, uh, to show up at time meeting to support this, assuming you support it. If you don't support it,
stay home. Um, but, um, it is important. I mean, the M, you know, the MSBA does watch to see sort of the support from the town. So, the more more people to show up and and, uh, you know, voice their support for this is very important. So, we'll communicate more, I think, with the >> Yeah. uh with with the uh with the
district to the community um as we go forward, but um May 11th is town meeting. Um and so we encourage everybody who who supports this to to to show up. >> And this all kind of blurs, but more information will be shared out. We'll share it during the MSBA update, but
more information will be shared on what fees bills study is so people understand it um can get comfortable with it so everyone will know where to >> Dr. Jordan is working on on a presentation for >> Yeah. Well, a presentation too. No, but I'm just saying like it's it's a ton of money for like a visa for a study and so
what what are we buying? Yeah. >> And um >> Yeah. So next I I am in the early stages of a of preparing a presentation for next school community meeting March 26th also for the budget hearing um of what a
community facing presentation of like what a feasibility study study is uh for for you all. >> That's awesome. And these are you can search online. I mean these are things that are >> hundreds of pages long. I mean one I found was even 2,000 pages long. Granted there's some attachments and stuff but
these are >> a lot a lot of work goes into them. >> It's an opportunity to use AI to [laughter] >> think that will probably just make it cheaper for them but the same cost for us. Dan Mloud is over there and I his slides
are looking familiar to mine. I wonder what resource I just used. [laughter] >> I'm assuming we don't pay for gamma. That's why it has the move by gamma tag on each slide >> right now. Yeah. [snorts] So, and then entertain a motion for the
>> 740 uh >> 40,000 >> 40,000 capital request >> for everything else. >> Everything else? Yes. So, moved. >> Okay. Second. >> All in favor? That passes as well. >> Great.
>> Okay. Any other questions on budget? I will send the PDF to um acting town manager Cheryl Hull and town manager Frank. >> Great. >> So that they have those numbers and they obviously you'll follow up with them as well.
>> Okay, I think we can move on to policy. >> Uh so we're revisiting JLCA which is the physical examination of students. We looked at this in January not too long ago. Um we looked in January just as a reminder because um there were some
updated recommendations from the Department of Health. Um but since then we've had an opportunity to meet with um Kim Marsden who had some additional um recommendations to make sure this aligns with um our district practices as well.
So the changes here are more um removing some language. Um so in the first paragraph just to for a little more clarity we changed um in the law and regulation to by the department of public health.
Um in the second paragraph we added that a record of all examinations and recommendations will be kept in each school's health office. Um in the next paragraph we added some language about physicals. So it says every candidate for a school athletic
team will present the signed consent of their parent or guardian to participate on a squad and will with the signed consent of a parent or guardian be thoroughly examined to determine physical fitness by a physician and will provide a copy of an annual physical or sports physical.
And then the subsequent language there around school physician, we're removing um because the district doesn't like most districts does not have a school physician. So even though that's department of health recommended
language for a policy um like most districts, we're [snorts] going with the annual physi physical as uh proof of or ability to participate. Um,
and then in the next there's some language, minor changes to language. Whenever the school nurse finds a child suffering from any medical problem, the situation will be reported to the parent or guardian by phone or in writing at the nurse's discretion.
Um, the school nurse will make a monthly report to the state and available to the superintendent. And that is those are the changes. >> Any questions? >> Good. >> Do we need to vote to approve the changes?
>> I think so. >> I always get confused about this. So, >> yes, you can move those changes. >> Okay. I'll entertain a motion to approve the changes as outlined by Hillary. All in >> favor. Oh, sorry. Second. Sorry, Tracy
will second it and we'll say all in favor that passes. >> Great. Sorry about that. Um, okay. We can move on to central office updates. Susie. >> Um, yes. I think Mr. Mloud already mentioned that we had our full admin
meeting, our monthly check-in yesterday, and we did start talking with them about this um gamma Gamma >> gamma that was one of the presentations that was done yesterday. We are all trying to lean in to AI in the positive
ways and but making it our own and also making sure that we're using it appropriately as administrators and um you know it's a it's it's an interesting place to be in time but it's you know it can be exciting and it has become a very useful tool if we're using as
administrators. We're really putting our own input in there. I mean, you can take um a PDF that you've done of something and pop it in there and say, "Please make this whatever." And it will pop up, you know. So, the amount of to Mr. Mloud's point, I think as a leadership
team, we're really trying to also get a little more proficient at this because and keeping up with it is is is a lot. So, um you know, remains to be seen how many of us get more proficient with that. And I know that um the changes we're we've talked about with the PD
day. So we we definitely are um we took the March 10th day. Obviously that was a day for students and staff and then the April 3rd day will be the full day PD for staff uh for teachers not for paras. We may have a few paras coming in that
day but it's primarily the teacher PD day going into that weekend for um Easter. And I don't think we have any other changes. I know you're going to be discussing the calendar further, but at least um knowing that those changes have happened and hopefully I didn't I did
not look at student attendance on Tuesday, so I'm not really sure how that went and hopefully it was well attended for the day. >> I was happy to attend the legislative breakfast with Chair Fitzgerald, superintendent, and assistant
superintendent. Um, I wanted to thank all our local reps for supporting Holliston. Um, and fighting the good fight to get us more funds. Um, Mata Palooa was a phenomenal event. We had, I know, over 600. I did not get the final
count, but it was over 600 that night, that first count. A huge shout out to Ashley Buchard and Kristen Marino who really organized all of that. wanted to thank all of the staff that volunteered in the stations as well as we had a lot of high school volunteers, a lot of LEO
volunteers um as well as our book fair volunteers and I had the pleasure of running the penny polish station. So I smelled like ketchup and vinegar for quite a few days which is all good. Um as Dr. Kusca
talked about, we are in the throws of planning or I should say replanning our professional development day. I attended the leadership meetings for both Clantino and Miller today. So plans are um on the way and we continue our
curriculum reviews. I invited director Mloud to come up. He and I had the pleasure of co-f facilitating the Miller principal search, but I thought he could give an update on that. >> Sure. >> And I know Tracy was on the committee. Um so we spent a lot of time. So just a quick update, we have been sharing the
uh survey data with Dr. Carter and the survey just closed yesterday at noon for staff students not not students but staff in the community. So that's been shared with Dr. Carter. He acknowledged receipt of that and I'm sure is going
through that data and then the um he requested reference checks on the two finalists and so we've delivered that data to Dr. Carter as well. So I we expect a decision you know in the coming days is is about all I can all I can
share. So very soon. >> So when the decision was made will it be just emailed to the community? >> Uh Dr. Manard and I were talking about that today. So >> I'm sorry I couldn't hear your question. >> How will it be communicated? >> I would I think they probably want to ask >> that's a Dr. Carter
>> Carter question. he might want to write it and get sent out by >> so usually when we are charged with facilitating a search committee we become out of the mix when it gets to this point because the charge is to
bring forth candidates for a superintendent to review and select. So that would be a Dr. Carter call on that. >> Yes, we fully expect to send out via Bright Arrow which obviously he has not been trained on bright arrows. So I fully expect some sort of message to
come from him. >> Yeah. We're not waiting for the next school committee meeting other sort of thing. We're just >> like I said I expect it very shortly based on everything that we've provided. So >> can I add one thing before Dr. Jody goes
I did want to mention um something new hot off the presses that we found out about today. Jody Renee Harrington um went to a training yesterday. I'm not going to remember the name if you remember it. Education something >> education reader
>> education hub. Um so literally she took the training with the department of education yesterday. It was a free training. We didn't I didn't even know about this. So today we happen to be having our central office data meeting and we try to talk about any data that we want to bring forward and we've kind
of put her on the spot and asked her to present some of that. what it looks like. What I think you'll all be excited about is this is a tool that can be used by the public. You know how we've talked about trying to have something for you. So, it's the same data in some cases that's already in Desi, but you probably
heard about it, right? So, um Hillary, I know you probably be you probably could teach us how to use it already. No, not yet. Not yet. >> So, it's obviously very new, but um we did play with it today. Jody was showing it to us. I think you'll find it very useful as the community members about all the different graphs and things you
can make to you know understand that data yourselves. But if you'd like if and when Mr. Mloud and Jody Renee do feel more comfortable you know we'd be happy to do a presentation in lie of our regular data presentation that might be one that we could actually do some u
practicing and showing you what we can do here. So let me know if that's something you want to go and put on another agenda. Great. >> Thank you. uh in your folder um is kind of a more truncated truncated summary version of what uh we share with the budget sub uh
which is kind of a a budget uh memo budget summary um up to to March. Um we are kind of a total budget utilization at about 62% uh of our total budget used. Um and then kind of where we are
in the year, we're about 69% um through the year. So, uh kind of reading into that is our budget's in a good spot um where we where we should be. Um as I talked about as far as our grant use, um grants uh are typically reimburse
expenses that you've already acred. So like we need to you spend pretty much the majority of the year um eating those expenses into your appropriated budget. uh and then you start accessing and drawing down uh the grant funds from gyms which is the state system uh and
those start to hit our accounts. So we do have um you see in italics if you're in there there's a um we use about a $5.5 million uh are set aside for uh as an offset um you know which uh Dr. Catalo
and I were meeting earlier today during our budget meeting. About four slightly over 4 million of that is circuit breaker and 240. Um and that's that is pretty much exclusively used for tuition. Um to offset tuition expenses that that we have. Um the remainder and
I was just signing off uh some updates are are kind of our entitlement grants um and then some of the other other grants that we uh have as a district. So um that will start to shift that number will start the offset number will start to you look a little different as we
start to kind of access and draw down um those expenses. Oh lastly is we did our uh bid walk through for the flag field project. Um so we have a record number of
um different companies interested in bidding uh on the flag field project. Uh we hope that that means that that will get some really competitive uh cost value uh bids uh for us um and that will really kind of be able to kind of
transform this that space. This bid um this is the project encompasses not only uh the revitalization or re envisioning of the flag field and where the flag school used to be but also the current access road that we're using and kind of
really turning that into a legitimate road for driving um on including some increased parking spaces um some sidewalk repair on the Placentino Miller campus and some additional paving of the parking lots on the on the Plantino Miller campus as
I never know which one to speak out into. Sorry. So uh I was away for a large chunk as you know. I back from New Zealand and uh ready to jump in. Today we had I had the good fortune being invited to uh work with the new teachers
institute with Dr. Menard. He had me come and speak with the brand new teachers who are not brand new anymore. It's now March and it was interesting to see them because I saw them back in September and and then to come and make a comparison. They were so much more relaxed and they were able to make jokes
and and really it was great to work with them. Uh my presentation today was working with paraprofessionals in your classroom. Uh we talked about the different needs that a paraprofessional might be invited into a classroom for. I gave them three articles to read. Uh we also talked about what's going on with
PAR professionals now and some of the experiences they've had. All really really positive opportunities uh across the district. So I I wanted to share that because that was great. And we sent everybody off to read their articles but but very boisterous, very chatty, which they weren't in September.
They were very subdued back then. So that was very nice. We're continuing to work on ESY. We're coming closer to our numbers. It does look like we will not have as many students attending, but I don't have a specific number yet. But we are working towards making sure we're
asking children to come who really will demonstrate regression. My true belief as a parent and as an educator is when school does break, we want children to be able to get out and see their peers and go to camp and do vacations and ride
their bike and swim in a pool or in a jump in a sprinkler. [clears throat] And so if if at all possible, we'd rather have the children out for the summer and having opportunities that are different from what they get at school. But we do have a cohort of students who require additional support to prevent
regression in the fall. And so now we're down to organizing more specifically what the children's needs are and who we need to hire. We've begun looking at those numbers and I'll be able to report back to you later. We had a CPAC meeting on Tuesday. I wasn't able to go. I know
Hillary, you weren't able to go. >> I was there. [laughter] >> You went. Okay. Could you report? Would you mind? >> It was a pretty brief meeting. Um I think one of the big questions was around excuse me [clears throat] the uh unified arts um not unified arts.
>> U yes the unified sports and um some of the personnel whether or not volunteers were able to run those roles um or if it had to be a staff member that was allowed if it was run like a club versus a team. And um then we they had looked at some of the the grant funding and some of their money what they've been
dealing with. Um but it was actually pretty brief meeting. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And and I know next month we'll be meeting again, but also next month on April 28th, right after we get back from the vacation. I know it's a ways off, but that is our Special Olympics in
Medway. And that will just be one year away from the Special Olympics being right here in Hollist. So, please be prepared if you want to come to Medway and have the opportunity to see what it looks like in the, you know, knowing they're coming back here. Um, I've
already notified just Bey that it's going to be here and we will catch up on that as well as uh we're beginning to catch up on some things for the transition. So, we've already begun that. And I believe that is it this week. Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Uh, okay. We can move on to reports from subcommittees. >> Communications. [clears throat] >> Communications has not met since, but I was working I text you guys. Uh we're going to set up a meeting with Chris Mayo and Dan uh to talk about the
website for the MSBA just process. Uh start with the feasibility study. This be the avenue to share information. Um it likely will be a town page. We were talking with Tina this week. Uh which makes sense, but link it back to the school page. um so that we get as much visibility as possible and and it's
saying the same thing. If we have two pages, it could get disconnected. Um so we'll have a meeting on that probably as guest speak uh guest attendees. So look for an email to come out about that before next uh school committee meeting. And otherwise there is the office hours
at March 21st. I'm going off the cuff here at 2 p.m. at Rushford. It's a Saturday, I believe. >> 22nd. Sorry. 22nd. >> 21st. Okay. >> 21st. >> Okay. Yes. 21st. Then uh at Rushford 2
p.m. >> Okay. Policy. >> Nothing else from policy. >> Yeah. >> Budget. >> We met a bunch of items, but we we updated you. >> Yes. And then superintendent. No, we're good. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. Um, so under old business, I had Miller principal search update, but I don't know if you just provided. I don't think there's anything else to add at this point. Um, MSBA update. Do you want to
>> It's on the closed warrant. >> It's on the closed warrant for the May town meeting. Um, Dan, Frank, and I were at the select board meeting. They talked a little bit about that. So, that was great. Um I know >> since last school committee, Hillary and
I met with Tina as part of the working group. Um that's where we came together aligned on May and the language and sharing that with them back with the MSBA which I think is in process now. Um the other we discussed we're starting to work through how we're going to think through the
process to set up the school building committee. Uh so I think that'll be a topic of discussion our next meeting this Tuesday, upcoming Tuesday. Um yeah know I think the working group has been working very productively thus far to get these things off the ground but obviously as community is aware this is
the say the foundation but the pillar in which as it leads into the school building committee once it's formed to take from here. So it's kind of an interimm period before that committee is built. Um, we are shooting for by the start of the MSBA feasibility study,
which is June 1st, to have school building committee at least partially up and running. And that what that means is there is some required roles uh that are on the committee. So take it Hillary, you probably know the roles specifically. >> I do not remember that off the top of my
head. is yeah there's um specific designated roles >> superintendent like yeah >> we won't go through all of them but we can provide those obviously um select board having a vote on those roles to start and then there are a number actually at our discretion a number of at large roles uh that we'll be
discussing as part of the working group this week so we should have more information by next school committee meeting on that um so I think things are moving forward positively in this process th this far >> it's important to note though that the uh the warrant article empowers the school building committee to essentially
spend the feasibility study money. So we need this >> school building committee. >> Our goal and again this needs to be a thoughtful process and make sure we we work collectively with the other organizations the town is to have the school building committee set up by the
feasibility start especially with the feedback from MSBA on having a head start there. I think was kind of a nudge to say let's get this ball rolling. We just want to think through it. Um, we want to think through it enough and someone said this week, we want to move fast. Uh, Damon actually, you know, move
fast but thoughtfully. I think that's the words and I align with that. >> Sooner the better. >> Sooner the better. Yes. >> Yeah. Especially with the c the people that are kind of already by definition need to be on it >> and that I mean that's no name. So some
vote from >> there can be phased in votes I would imagine. You know, >> we did ask these >> the select board to plan for a vote for those and I Tina had >> said that she was in support of that. I think it has to be brought to agenda
obviously and discussed but I don't think we'll have much >> said that possibly by he didn't want to do it on the 9th but possibly on the 23rd. So >> yeah, just to signal we're moving the process and I think by the 23rd our goal would be to have a perspective on how we're going to start thinking about the atlarge members. >> Okay.
I would I would just say Abby kind of like talks to folks at the start by the start of the eligibility people period. Um, you may want at least the the the people that are are kind of required to be on there having kind of had some
preliminary conversations of what kind of examples so that whenever we're going into that first meeting um th those folks especially those who are kind of employed by the by the by the town of Hollist have things for the groups they can kind of hit that ball rolling.
>> Totally agree. That's our having those voted on, selected, and identified. Even though they are mandatory, they can start working together. >> Sounds good. Anything else? No. >> Okay. So, >> comment. >> Yes. Thank you.
>> You're welcome. >> Um, okay. So, moving on to the next item. 26 27 school calendar. Apologize to the community for taking our time with this one. It's been a
challenge. Um but we have a calendar drafted um that I think we can move forward with. >> Yeah. So, the calendar we're looking at is the one with the PD day moved from
September 11th to September 25th, which is after the first day uh for for teachers that we previously uh approved months ago, it feels like now. >> Yes. >> Um but and then retaining the half day um for for students um
>> on the 26th day. So, the first day of students would be the 26th, but it would remain a half day. Um, so I I'll I'll I'll make a motion to uh set the calendar with the PD day on the 25th of August and the first day of
students as being the 26th as a half day. >> So move second. Second >> is it only the chair made if I make the motion that's the motion. Can you second it? So joking. Sorry.
All in favor? Okay. Any other discussion on that? I I just think that we again I will commit and I I think we you know others can voice their their decisions but to to look at the calendar more
holistically for the following year I think you know over the next >> following years potentially >> baby steps let's get to but there are a lot of moving pieces to to and different ideas to look at and we
I don't think we've ever really pulled the community holistically on everything. We've done pieces and but not really looked at sort of trade-offs and people's preferences and things like that, but um I I I think that we it's worth a a
broader look. >> I think the challenge with those every year is unique like we're seeing next year. So it does get >> but our calendar tends to go longer than than most other districts. So, are there are there ways that we can sort of
>> mitigate that? And that's kind of the question. And um >> there are way too many thorny issues in there, but um you know, >> that's what we're here for. >> Okay.
>> Okay. Um moving on to new business. Um so in I think we all got an email from um a student here in Hollist. Um I forgive me if I've pronounced this wrong. Angage
Palai um who is part of Mass Audabon statewide youth climate leadership program. uh and they were contacting us to um they are looking for support for the climate
literacy education bill. Um and they have submitted a letter that they would like us to um send to our legislators in support of this bill that um would help bring um climate education
into the classroom. And I just wanted to hear anyone's thoughts and see if this is something we want to send off if we support the letter. The letter's in the folder as well. Um see where did I put
>> um [clears throat] so I had a chance to kind of peruse the House and Senate bills and it wasn't totally clear whether the the bills would replace or supplement existing courses. Uh will will this be integrated
with existing courses or will there be additional coursework that students will need to take? Do we know? >> I don't know. That's a great question. >> I mean, it might be a I don't know if Dr. Manard knows anything about this. >> I do not know. This is the first we're hearing, unfortunately.
>> Yeah, I haven't heard anything. So, I think I support this letter in in in in general and I think but I I would I unfortunately didn't get a chance to to to read. I think there's a few things that might might want to clean up a little bit and then I'd also kind of like to give the administration some an
opportunity to sort of >> Sure. >> get some more information about what the bill bill means. >> I would like I did not read the bill >> and then maybe we can vote on it next uh next meeting. >> Sure, that makes sense. >> Yeah. There's a fund that's going to be created as well, but it's not entirely clear if it's going to be fully funded
or if the district's going to have to put some money up as well. >> So, >> you might want to clarify with principal Liz the questions you asked because I we were not aware. So, >> okay. Okay. >> Yeah. >> I don't know what his plans are, >> but just that's not, you know, lack of
of of support for for this. It's just >> and then the logistics of how you'd get there would have to take >> Y. Okay. So we can put this on the agenda for next and um do a little more research and understanding on >> really appreciate students reaching out
different ideas or things that they're working on and stuff like that. So >> definitely encourage that. >> Okay, let's see. Okay. Um, so the next item under new business is to appoint liaison for
negotiations with the nurses. >> So I think Frank and Sarah would be great. >> Oh, Frank, you got to get in there. You know, >> I I'll throw my hat in. >> Okay, sounds good. >> At least you work better with you though, Dan.
>> Do I [laughter] Everyone works well with Sarah. >> I know. I'm saying can even work well with me. that that takes a lot >> that case I could be the good guy or not. >> You definitely will be the good guy with [laughter] that's what I'm saying. >> I don't know.
>> I'll get it. >> So anyway, I I I will make a motion to appoint Sarah and Frank as leons for for for nur the nurse unit negotiations. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor?
>> Yeah, that passes. And we've already done the vote for the budget. >> Yeah, we got everything covered. >> Just to remind people, so you'll go over when our next meeting is, but at our next meeting will be our budget hearing. >> Yep. >> So that is the opportunity for the
public to come ask questions, share >> concerns, things they love about the budget. Uh generally not, but um so generally it's poorly attended, but uh you know, please please come out and
>> the opportunities there. let us know. Um and then obviously before that is the uh the office hours. >> Yeah, the office hours obviously budget uh the MSBA process. It's an open office hours for any topics that you may have. And I will also ask for anyone to join
me u at rush hour if you're interested maybe. And then on 3:31 anyway 3:31 is the um um is our meeting with the finance committee to present the budget to them. Uh obviously the budget subcommittee
members will be there but um all committee members are invited if they would like. It's on Zoom. >> Um >> are we do you want to post? Are we posting? We could or or it it's already sort of
on their agenda that we're meeting with them, but >> Okay. Yeah. >> Okay. Anything else? >> No. Great. Okay. At this point, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Our next meeting is March 26th.
>> Our next meeting is March 26th. And I will >> Motion to adjurnn. Entertain a motion to adjurnn. All a roll call vote. Oh, all in favor. There we go. Good night, Palestin.