Okay, sorry. Good evening Holliston. It's 7:00 and it's April 30th and we are here for another Holliston School Committee meeting. We do have Dan Alfred participating
remotely so I'm going to start with the remote meeting statement. Pursuant to the governor's March 31st, 2025 Act relative extend to extending certain COVID-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the
open meeting law GLC 38 paragraph 20. The Holliston School Committee will be using remote participation for this meeting. The audio of this meeting is being recorded and will be posted to the town's webpage as soon as possible in accordance with keeping the public informed of
actions during this meeting. At this time a roll call attendance will be taken. Dan? I'm sorry. I didn't sort of appear to hear you but yes, I'm here. Oh, sorry. I am. Tracy?
Hillary? Frank? Here. Don? Yes. And I'm here. Okay. We will um go ahead and start with the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the
consent agenda? So moved. Seconded by Don. Okay. Roll call vote. Dan? Yes. Tracy? Yes. Hillary? Yes. Frank? >> Yes. Don? Yes. And I am a yes.
And it looks like we don't have students here so we'll start with School Committee individual comments. Tracy? Sure. I actually want to say a thank you to our budget sub committee and I believe Dr. Jordan, Dr. Dr. Kusky, you're all part of that. Don,
Frank and Dan as chair. Just so much of what's going on right now in surrounding districts and whatnot. It's you know, things are not perfect for sure but it's impressive where we're at right now. So thank you for all the hard work. I know there's a lot that goes into making sure our budgets are
working and with the MSBA coming up that's a really important place to be in. So thank you all for your hard work for that. Nothing for me. I'll add to that but extra layer for for Dr. Jordan. First full year, right? Yeah. First full
budget year? >> I mean I have a We're not done yet but Solo. Full full year solo. Full year solo. Yeah. Not done yet though. We got to close out the engine. But thank you Dr. Jordan. It was it is fantastic to look at. Not that I I think we should look at relatively but
relatively a lot of people a lot of districts are are struggling and this year we're we're we're looking good. So and even into next year. So thank you. Any individual comment? I just wanted to say
big congratulations to the Holliston High School had two let's see Josh Lawande and Vishal Ramanathan. Jacob Jacob or Josh? I had Josh. I know there's a Jacob as well. Okay. Damon got
his post wrong so Oh, then it's Jacob. Okay. Sorry. Taking second place at the DECA International Career Development Conference. There were just tons of competitors and it was really an honor to have a couple of Holliston High School kids do amazing
stuff there. So thank you to also Bob Chipman and Mark Freeman who are their advisors and I'm just really proud of that accomplishment. I also wanted to say a warm welcome to Dr. Karen Rondan Bourne who will be starting
July 1st as our new director of teaching and learning. We're just really thrilled to have her. She's going to be a great addition to the district. So thank you. Dan, did you have any? No, I did my public teaching during the budget.
Okay. Let's see and I think we do have we have at least one public comment here. Jess, would you like to come? Hi, Jess Omen 116 Locust Street. I just want to thank the School Committee for your unanimous vote of support to recommend me to fill Joe Pru's vacancy on the School Committee at
the April 9th meeting. I sincerely appreciate your recognition of my commitment to this role through my decision to run for office twice, my ongoing engagement, my regular attendance at School Committee meetings and my volunteer contributions to the community and our schools. I'm grateful for your support and
confidence in my ability to serve on this committee and I hope the Holliston community also recognizes the value I bring. Most importantly, I hope the community recognizes my dedication to ensuring the community's voice is heard which is why I I have to graciously decline your
offer for an appointment at this time. I've been nominated by the community to run for a full 3-year term whereas this appointment would limit my service to the remaining 1 year of Joe's term. As you stated after your last meeting, accepting the appointment would require me to pull my name from the ballot
preventing me from participating in the upcoming election. I firmly believe this decision should be made by the public at the ballot box and withdrawing my candidacy would remove that choice from voters in a way that is not consistent with my values. I'm grateful that the Select Board agreed to fill the appointment until
after the election. This allows myself and the other two candidates to run as planned with two being elected to full 3-year terms and the third having the opportunity to apply for the appointment. This approach feels most consistent with democratic principles as it ensures the community has a direct
voice in the outcome. Holliston is very fortunate to have so many candidates willing to serve and I'm very confident each of us will serve in some capacity next year whether it be a 3-year term or an appointment in a decision that rests with our community. In closing, I want to reiterate my
sincere appreciation for your confidence in me and for the opportunity to serve. My decision comes from a deep respect for the democratic process and a belief that the community's voice should guide this decision. I remain fully committed to serving Holliston with integrity, transparency and dedication and I look forward to
earning the trust and support of voters in the upcoming election and I want to wish my two opponents the best of luck. I think we're all in really good shape. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any public comment from people joining remotely?
You can raise your hand. No. No, okay. Let's see. One more thing we're done we're done with presentations tonight so we will go right into superintendent update. Okay. So I would like to share a couple of
updates. One of these I just happened upon today and I wanted to acknowledge [laughter] our rising Dr. McCloud has a little bit more time for his dissertation but he's been actively working with my former
advisor and also Dan's Chris Unger and he's presenting next weekend. I'm sorry. No, June. Is it June? I thought it was May. Oh, yeah. Why does it say June 8th to 11th there? That's what Oh, that's an old Anyhow, it is next Saturday. It wasn't correct. It just doesn't have the right
date on it. But I was pleasantly surprised and wanted to acknowledge his hard work with all the artificial intelligence and really has put a lot of work in the school district around that as well. So good luck Dan next weekend. And then in addition I just
Barbara Cataldo attended the Special Olympics along with myself and Dr. Jordan, Mr. McCloud and Dr. Bernard was there and many other people. So I did want to take a minute. I know if she were here she'd want to share some of that with you. So we'd like to present some of the pictures
from that day cuz it's always an amazing opportunity and as you know well received by the children, the community and I have a strong passion for it having started my career as a special educator. So I'm going to share a few slides that I have
put together tonight. All right. So we had the Special Olympics on Tuesday and the five towns that we participate with including us is Ashland, Medfield, Medway and Millis and ourselves and this has been a long standing practice.
Sadly but fortunately Holliston will be doing the Special Olympics next year. So I'll be sad that I don't get to help plan that but I will happy to hear that it's going to be in Holliston next year. video
coming into the day. See everybody was very excited. And then I tried to organize by school but there was so much overlap so you can see that I I tried to get Miller and then Rands but you'll see some overlap in the slides so I gave up after that. But you can see the happy faces and all
the different activities the kids were doing. If you see the bottom right corner that's all of our Miller students made signs when they were leaving the building. So it was really a fun day. And I was happy to be able to give out awards with some of the other superintendents. Some more pictures and some of the
staff. And this is some of the Rams kids, but I think again there's some overlap in there, you can see. On the bottom left is myself and um Dr. Perez from Medway, and you know, he was there presenting with me and the SROs gave out awards, and of course that's always a highlight to be able to
enjoy the kids that way. And there's a few more pictures. You can see myself and our SROs giving out the um awards at the end of the event. Our high school kids in the upper corner there. High school kids seem to have a lot of
pictures in there, so that's why I was trying to pick a variety, but I I see Emma down on the bottom left there. I ended up taking a picture of Emma, but as everyone that knows Emma, she's sort of our ambassador at the high school, I would say, and well-known in the in the community, and I just thought that captured her personality quite well, so
I picked that one in the end. So, great day, great event, and as always um well enjoyed. We were also lucky that the weather was amazing compared to what we had in the other times. So, um and then just one more quick announcement announcement, I
also want to acknowledge that Dr. Jerry Elverdane will be graduating this weekend. He does still have to finish a little bit more work on his dissertation, but by the end of the summer he will officially be Dr. Jerry Elverdane and acknowledgement of all of
his hard work. And so, we'll have, you know, there's going to be still many doctors in the district. Some of the few of us are exiting and more coming in. So, I think you'll find a very well-educated, dedicated team of leadership in the district. And that's it for me tonight.
Okay, real quickly, I just wanted to share with the School Committee that our update for our Student Opportunity Act was accepted by DESE. Um remember, I think it was 2 years ago that I come to you and presented, and you had to approve the original
submission. And just to remind you that we decided collectively as a district to focus on effective student support system and inclusive curriculum adoption process. That was There were choices from DESE, and those are the two that we decided to um concentrate on. And I
really focused on our middle of the year report that all the principals in Central did to upload all the stats. You guys can see the details in there, but I'm I was really proud of our school district of the work that we've done. So, an effective student support system,
we've done MTSS logic model and site calibration, DESE implementation team partnership. We've been working with DESE for years now. Um and extra work. Data-driven problems of practice, chronic absenteeism, tier three protocols, PBIS ruler alignment.
And in inclusive curriculum adoption process, we have been looking working on the Prism Grant and School Kid Partnership, which we hope that continues. I submitted that application. Vertical language and instructional vision, inclusion of diverse learners,
aligned professional development, and vision of a graduate. So, please look at that, and if you have any questions, just give me a shout. Thank you. See, under a minute for once. Uh pretty uh brief for me. Um the next School Committee meeting on the
14th, we uh will also be discussing kind of our school choice numbers. I've been meeting with principals um over the last couple weeks as far as looking at our current enrollment, uh but also as far as what availability we do have on seats, kind of on a preliminary conversation I would have
uh with Jamie Slaney on our kindergarten um is that we're we're looking really good uh for just our current enrollment with our Holliston students for kindergarten for French immersion um and Montessori. Um I would consider both of those full programs um to start the
year, so we would be part of the conversation where we'd be really focusing on our true school choice seats for traditional, uh but we are in a good a good space for French immersion and Montessori um for our K K numbers at the moment. So, um all in all,
um you know, I'll reserve some thunder for for uh the School Committee meeting to kind of talk about those school choice numbers, but we are uh immersed in that. Um and then um I I've been working with Mr. List on um you know, Marc Tree and
some of the the parking that's been uh occurring over there. Um over the April vacation, we uh painted um some I would say uh that our maintenance staff painted some additional parking um behind the field house, the spaces that
are between space that's between the field house and the baseball field. versus having students go back there, which can be a little little bit of wonder. That's where uh Mr. List kind of really wanted to talk about. Uh we will
be moving cafeteria staff and some additional maintenance staff as far as those parking parking spots back to those those spaces, which will open up more front-facing, safer spots um in the front for students um so that we can work to kind of relieve some of the the
pressure that any of the community is feeling over on on Marc Tree. Um you know, which we've been uh Dr. Costa myself and they and Mr. List have been transparent with uh with the Holliston Police um and um the town is
uh this will relieve some of the pressure, but I think students there will still be students who will just choose to not want to park um on campus, but we do have the opportunity uh will be provided with the spaces that we've increased this spring. Could I just add one thing I forgot to
mention? Can I just got the email in the yesterday today. Um it's preliminary, but I will be soon able to give you a press release related to the Pathways Grant. But hopefully I'll I'll be the first to break the news on that, but that will be some exciting news. As you know, we've been working hard on those Pathways at
the high school. That's great. Um okay. Moving [clears throat] right along. Um reports from subcommittee, so communications? Yep. So, um as part of the head of town meeting and
working with the MSBA working group with Tina, um we we had this Wednesday uh at the center. Uh met with a bunch of folks there to walk through what the MSBA feasibility study is, what that future looks like. A lot of questions about high school design and if there's actually mention
of this, but maybe one day it'll happen, the swimming pool that has yet to be decided. Um at this point it's an ongoing Well, we'll see. Uh School Building Committee will be the ones to decide that, and obviously the town once we vote. Um but um feel very confident heading into
uh town meeting we'll be hosting this Saturday. It'll be an email that Dan drafts coming tonight after we review. Um tomorrow to the community um on one what the feasibility study is, why we should support it, um and uh we'll be hosting office hours at Rushford at 2:00 p.m.
So, whoever would like to join me, uh I'll be there. You'll be there? I'll be there. Okay. Would anyone else like to put their name in for two? I can do two. I have a question mark on my calendar
right now. Like it's penciled in, but I'm going to try and make it. Okay. It's all right, Don. Um and then we will tentatively we'll plan based on interest uh we see on Saturday and any feedback we get from the community, uh we will tentatively likely have or could have one on
Wednesday evening via Zoom. So. And then obviously encourage everyone to attend town meeting on May 11th at 7:00 p.m. So, 7:00 p.m. here at Holliston High School. Yeah. Did anyone have questions on the email? I don't know if you want to go through
it or >> a different agenda, cuz that's the same. Yeah, I guess it is technically yeah. And you can combine them. Or yeah. It's communication about the MSBA, so I don't know if we want to So, we did link uh and and thank you to the future
Dr. Cloud, uh our upcoming, and Dr. Jordan for putting together the the wonderful website to have the information. Um it's a great highlight of of what the MSBA feasibility study is, what it means for the town, why it's important now, and why it isn't necessarily solely on a
new high school. And I saw the the link is now live on the town website, where you can apply to be part of the School Building Committee uh committee. >> Great. We don't loop everything into one. We'll loop it all into one. The on Monday
uh the town opened up the applications for the open seats for the appointments for the School Building Committee. Um so, everyone can see the designation there. It's not quite broken up, and nor does it really matter, but um from the School Committee side we will have two open seats in addition to
a School Committee member, um and we'll be looking for a parent and/or educator with um preferred MSBA experience. And just to be clear, cuz it wasn't really in there, past, present, or future parent, uh does not need to be a parent in the district uh at this moment. Um
and just call on the educator side just because these will be voting members, the educators cannot be town employees, which would include uh employees of our district, so. And that's all listed in the
check boxes of do you fit this criteria? >> [snorts] >> And I think I knew I I had received early on some interest. So I I'll respond to them to say Yeah. Please follow the process, you know. So Well, what come just to give an insight of what's coming next. So we met with
Tina last week. Once we get all the applications, which will go through election day just to give enough time one for for now and then obviously town meeting we're going to do a recruitment and at the ballot box on election day. Shortly after election day, I believe
that Friday we're going to close it. And yeah, Friday the 23rd the applications will close. We will quickly start reviewing. And as close to the beginning of June as possible, we may have candidates and appointments. So Sounds good.
Just a quick question on that. I see the school building committee volunteer form that you were referring to on the town website. It includes four spots. Is that any of our school committee spots on there? It It almost looks like resident with knowledge of education, resident 65 year
older, resident with legal background, resident with architecture. I don't see the school spots on the form. I do not know there. Maybe we Would you want to reach out and see if we can add that? Oh, absolutely. And probably was Yeah. Well, make sure we add that. I think that might have been direction given and
then they did it for the select board side. Right. But we're just doing one. We're doing one. Yeah, we're not having two processes. Would it be possible to also link to that in our communication that goes out? Okay. On Friday, you mean? Yes. But you can
get the form. I was actually doing what Do we want to keep it those separate for town meeting and then data I don't want to bug you again, but send out a separate email for the school building committee interest. That's up to the committee. I I thought we could combine the Oh, like I I almost
feel like putting it out more than once because sometimes people miss it. >> Totally fine. Um I I would almost want to link it in this email and then get a separate one out later. What is the deadline? Uh May 23rd. May 23rd. So Why don't we So we'll send it for you guys Friday so we can
get office hours out. So 9:00 a.m. around we're going to get the first one. We're not having a subsequent town meeting. Basically resend next Friday. They'll be able to fix it by then and we can put the update for the school building committee in the second email.
Okay. So that would be the eighth. Yeah, so plan to send tomorrow and the eighth ahead of town meeting. But totally agree. And then what we might want to do is after town meeting, we're going to gauge We'll We'll get a a weekly update from Cheryl on how many
have applied or have put in letters of interest so we can send out communications as that. So Cheryl, the one that goes out on the eighth, is that going to come That won't go out via school committee because we won't have committee to get to approve it. We We just blast from the town. That's fair. So
think we'll be We should vote on tonight is the communication and with the on the eighth edition, it'll be the same except the addition of the link for the school building committee. Okay. Yeah. We'll call that done. So if everyone's okay with that on the communication side, we can make that
update. Yeah. But everything else will stay the same. The message won't change. Sounds good. Okay. I'm good with the text of this. Can we just make the office hours stand out a little bit more? It's kind of like very at the
bottom. Yeah, okay. I might even put it at the top than the bottom cuz it will get more That's a good idea. Okay. Are you reviewing the letter now? We are, Dana. Yes. Okay. Um couple of things.
Uh this is now article 25. Okay. The uh curveball from maximum cost uh that was thrown in with the select board and the community that we did with that article chooses an override of all other articles. So that is now a check that's
not a proposal. That should be final. And then the article 26 is throughout that end. Got it. And then the only other thing that I would add somewhere is just that we we will touch your room presenting a comprehensive uh presentation on the
feasibility study at town meeting for for those of us who have no questions to want to do that then. Two to one. Two. Three years is an article 26 that I see. Okay. Well, Dana, we'll make that change
across the communication. Or if you just want to type it in now, that's fine, Dana. >> right now. Um question. The paragraph that says participation in MSBA process also positions Holliston to receive significant state reimbursement. Do we want to talk about percentages
here? I think the challenge there is the percentage will be based on the final building decision. So if we get Basically we already know if we accept whatever MSBA assigns us and
including septic. Dana, you had the exact number Dr. Jordan like 42% will be will be covered. I'd say 50-ish I mean percentage, but Can we say it? You will have [clears throat] a letter that will be signed that will go through a calculation and we will agree on the
the reimbursement amount. Yeah. Um but then again it's also just the reimbursement amount of the reimbursement of expenses. So there's a a gross reimbursement number and then there's the the net reimbursement number for things that are done that are not reimbursed. Yeah. So like there's the amount that is
approved by MSBA that's within their >> [clears throat] >> reim Yeah, what they can cover is 50% but the total building may differ based on what we decide to add. And again we throw a swimming pool We will correct it once we get into the eligibility period.
We will go through a whole process where they calculate it down. They determine what we will do and we sign an agreement with them on the reimburse percentage. I think early and often to get that message out. I'm okay if it doesn't go into this community email, but I think
we should during presentation on feasibility Talk about that, yeah. Talk about that. Be ready to talk about percentages. I I we can we can say approximate and explain it in detail, but I I think it's important for the community to know. Yeah, we'll say
in the communication that I done at the school committee in the communication that's on the website, it is saying approximately 50%. Um and that's that's what it's saying. That's if we completely follow MSBA process like our town I think it's I think it's
like I think it might be more like 48%. We won't know the exact, but it's it we are I the way I wrote it is the little squiggly line approximately 50%. >> I'm okay with that in the summary you did. I I was going to That's fair. It did come up even at the at the center
yesterday. It just didn't kind of rough numbers just Yeah, I think I think understanding that if we get there are any add-ons or things we do, if we do anything with the auditorium, the field house, if we like you know, whatever that would be that would that would that would change that.
Yeah. I I I will say though what we were told when we they did the site visit a couple of years ago, they indicated that because the field house is actually attached and has classes in it that likely that would be part of it cuz originally Keith did not
believe it would be, but they And so when we when I rewrote the SOI that year, it that was kind of the that is we made there as well cuz you know, it wasn't clear. But one of the biggest drivers of the of the delta sewer commission is also going to be the whatever we decide with the septic or
sewer or whatever. That that's a huge cost that's not part of that will not be part of the reimbursement. Right. Um but we can lump it into the overall project. So that will Yeah. That will probably be probably will drive the the biggest delta. As long as we're consistent >> we try to say approximately 50% of
reimbursement of all the expenses or something like that. The message is if we need a new high school, we should go through this process because of the reimbursement. Otherwise we're footing the entire The town will be footing the entire bill. Okay. I couldn't hear you, but just to
confirm, we won't know what the the net reimbursed cost will be until the end of the project. So like >> [clears throat] >> even when we get that letter, that letter is So we're just a gross percentage. Yep. Okay. Any other changes? Appreciate it. Okay. Thank you for writing that. >> I'll totally I'll close up the draft
tonight. Um Dana will actually get it to you tonight. You've been very expedient. Thank you. I will send tomorrow morning. Sure. I have a quick question. Do you want to link to our website which has the town embedded into it or do you want to do separate links? We'll do two separate links. So
one will Well, actually the second one's going to have the school building committee interest cuz we have to add our positions. So we're not going to include that to tomorrow's. The eighth I'll send you a subsequent draft with the second link for the SBC application or interest form.
>> [snorts] >> Okay. Anything else for covering MSBA update and communications? All right, exciting stuff. Yeah, very good. Um policy? Um nothing this week. Oh, sorry. Do we want to vote to approve that
application? Yes, apologize. Um I'll entertain a motion to approve the um the May 1 uh MSBA uh feasibility study email um
including the couple of tweets we just discussed. Yep, and then in addition we'll add um for the SBC link one on the May 8th. Yep. Second. So we'll second. Roll call vote. Dan?
Uh I think we'll cover the budget items at the separate This is just a just a vote to um approve the communication. Oh, sorry. I thought you said to vote yes. JC? Yes. Hillary? Yes. Frank? Yes. Don?
Yes. And I'm a yes. Okay. Um policy, nothing this week. Yep. So Dan, do you want to do budget now? Um we can Or wait till Now we can do it
under the the orders of the chair. So we can see the the budget. Um Okay. We'll vote for that then. Yeah, we'll just do the quick solar project lease first and then go to budget, I guess. Um
the update on the solar leases we had voted to authorize the the budget sub committee to turn a little turn out to be a little different. I think we need to vote to authorize the superintendent Dr. Kuska to sign the the agreement. We reviewed it. I provided some comments on on what would happen if the if the
the company that we're working with had went into bankruptcy. I had forced to be a integrated process with the PPA of our purchase power agreement that the select board has already signed off on. And >> [clears throat] >> after review of council and and with our consultant they added a little language to more closely tie them. But by and
large uh everyone is comfortable with sort of the language. So there were no material changes. So I think we're we're we're we're going to get um and uh I think we should just go. Sure. I'm I'm I'm good to vote then.
Okay. So uh so the to be clear the the vote is to approve to have Dr. Kuska sign the agreement? It's to authorize Dr. Kuska to sign the agreement for the solar lease of the facilities of the
at the Adams um middle school and Vassalboro elementary. Okay. I'll make that motion. Second. Okay. Roll call vote. Dan? Yes. JC? Yes.
Hillary? Yes. Frank? Yes. Don? Yes. And I'm a yes. Okay. Uh so then um You want to do budget tonight? Yeah. Yep. Okay. So this is a presentation we don't need to
approve the budget. And then we'll vote tonight on the budget items. So I'm trying to get to the point. So um first I think that just a little bit of background. So a week and a half ago as I was monitoring the the uh house um
put out their budget uh which was which on an any any net basis including our certain charges uh increase dollars in some um uh local aid from the state by about $29,000. So uh each house and chair of the finance committee asked to put come discuss the
um our our priority needs especially our first priority need which would be 0.5 out of district coordinator and they and we we we provided this committee on uh Tuesday. Uh Sarah and I did meet with with Dr. Jordan and uh
uh Jeff to use as a to to join us and um explained them the reasons why we need the out of district coordinator was so so important and ultimately and and thankfully the the finance committee agreed to support our our request and increase our
our budget um recommendation down to $60,000. So this time um that's sort of where I updated my slides with. We we technically have two uh but the three out of one is going out to vote tonight. I mean we haven't
technically done got out of the out of the budget so we could do that before town meeting. Um but uh thank you all for seeing the time. Andrew would like to post our budget presentation on the town's website. So um that's why I prepared the update for tonight.
And the options that we have um are to go to change our budget request to having the finance committee report and essentially give up on our other priority needs um recognizing that it is extremely close to 0% likely that we will get any
more money. Um or we could maintain our current budget request and then vote to reduce it at our meeting for town meeting. Um my recommendation would be that we vote to reduce our budget request tonight uh to meet the finance committee
recommended budget to $60,000 to move out of our local service budget to to pay for the out of district coordinator position. Um and then we go to approve this um presentation uh so that uh uh Frank can post it on the town's website and we can also um
send it out in any in an email which I have not had a chance to to craft but I can do quickly pretty pretty gladly for me. Um and and approve while we do that and send it out from from the full school board
to to the committee. Um so we'll just I'll just look put my updates really but um >> [clears throat] >> uh let's So after the I had sent this out in sort of a long
chart adjusted to to to finally change the lot except I changed your the third box which is the the um we now choose 3.2 on the service budget but the 3.39 budget request of $60,000 for one priority need. Um
that was a change. Um and then I also thanked um Reverend Andrew uh in here for his work helping us get a higher chapter 70 number. Um I think that that will I think he's uh he's working with with
the insurance on this for the industry. Just to give you credit where credit is due. Um I kept all these the same like I had them This So this does include the uh governor's budget. But
it was a good morning. Um this I I wanted to take out of this because it's too too long. No material change in the in the picture. Um that's the same. That's the same. Same. Um so with this page
uh this is going through uh our overall um budget sort of process. So we can talk about the fact that we had a 3.61% initial um budget request uh including all the priority needs. Our running budget with local service budget was
3.25% and then that's where we'll go tonight. 2013 we voted to um amend that down to two 554 54 million. No, sorry. 45 million
897,162 um to get which includes uh the out of district coordinator. Uh and I added a another column here just to make sure that we have more columns. Um That's the same. And I added in here and
here and and in here um Don't feel like I mentioned your job to you but I've I've been trying to put it in the the admin the admin line. If you want me to move that I'll put it somewhere else but Hey Dan, I can you hear me?
Yep. Okay. I I see the budget notes you put up on the screen but the the one in >> I can't really speak too much here. Yeah. Okay. How about now? Um I see what you put up on what you're sharing right now but the presentation I
have in this drive has blank budget notes. So we have to make sure Yeah, it had the budget notes in it are blank. So just make sure when you send it it's the updated >> blank? Yes. What I'm looking at slide nine is blank. >> part of it is the drafting, Dan.
Meaning I think just save it down as a PDF of what you're seeing cuz what we see is blank. Yeah, slide two and slide nine in our in our drive is blank. Okay. Um Yeah, I will definitely uh PDF what we're sending you. Yeah, anyways I'll PDF information that they are in there.
Yeah, on >> it again should I put it back up? It Uh yeah, let's look at two again just once more. Please. Okay. And Dan, don't move where you're at but the MSBA article slide, do we want to
put in the exact language now that it's posted versus the draft? Can you hear me okay? Okay. >> [clears throat] >> I Don't need to give you credit to read that. I I can't. I can't read what's in front of me. I
can't read this, but I can read that. Um okay. What's that? Zoom on it? You want me to zoom? Huh? You zoom on this side? I'm okay, Dan. Does anybody want me to zoom? No. Looks good. Yeah.
Can I ask for one um footnote on slide four? If you go to four. I love that you footnoted the 10-year compound annual growth rate, right? CAGR is defined. And I know what FDK is, so
does everyone here, but some of the people receiving this may not know it's full-day kindergarten. Would you Would you footnote FDK, please? Yeah, yeah, it's going to make you a line or a picture. Do Can we just write full-day
>> the same line here. Well, can we just put full-day >> full-day kindergarten down there. Or full-day K or something. Full-day kindergarten boosts. Okay, thanks. Sorry. Do not write on I just say ADA says do not. Yes, right. Right. Okay, ADA ADA do not
acronym. Okay. And then maybe we just look at nine again. Slide nine. Okay. Thanks. It says FY26 It says FY27.
Agency initial FY27 Oh. Oh, yeah. The down on like the third bullet the third note. It says HSC initial FY26 budget request. Should be F
FY27? FY27? Yeah, Dr. Kuska. Got it. No, no, no. That is a 26. This is showing He's showing the increase. It's FY26 initial budget request, which was 2.58. Okay. Comparing. Okay, that was It's a little confusing
cuz it says the initial, so I didn't know what what Okay. I I can have this compared to Yeah. Yeah, use some the same compare so we know what we're looking at. Yeah. I'm I'm good with this. >> Yeah. Thank you. Can I ask a question about this? So, there's a lot of information
here. What is our plan for the 11th? Like are we doing all of this? There's a lot There's a lot of work. >> think we're mostly we're presenting it for presentation We're going to have a conversation about the budget presentation. Okay, so it won't be this. Our presentation predominantly um
this Yeah, we can So, either we either print out or go through with the book. Okay, so this is just so that the community has access to all of the data, but not necessarily what's going to be presented at town meeting. Correct. Yeah. Okay, so yeah. I think that if we keep it fluid, right? We have a much shorter, concise version, and if
people don't have questions, but if if they want more information, we're ready. Yeah, a lot of this is supporting the brief. Yeah, but yeah, good point cuz we could let people pass. Yes. Yes. In votes. [laughter] I just want to um
>> [snorts] >> Okay. So, do we need to approve this now or I think that was one of the options for us to discuss, right? Whether we want to approve this now, and and then if we have posting I mean, we can approve it
now, and if something changes by May 11th, >> [cough] >> we'll convene [clears throat] before town meeting, we can always make a change, but I think I I'd prefer to approve now. Yeah. Yeah. I think that sounds good. So, if we want to put something on the town's website, we
should approve it now. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I think it's important to get it out early. Okay, I will um entertain a motion to approve. First done. Yep. Sorry. Um first I would suggest that we vote to change our our budget request.
Uh and then the presentation. Yeah. Okay. It's all in the motion to um amend the school committee budget request to um 45 million 874,162 dollars with special thanks to the
finance committee and our town administrator. We're just a number. Second by Dan. I will call vote. Dan? Yes. Tracy? Yes. Hillary? Yes. Frank? Yes. Dan? Yes. And I'm a yes.
Okay. It's in Now we can approve the budget presentation um with those tweaks. Yep. Absolutely. Uh
roll call vote. Oh, sorry. Need a second. Second. Uh Dan? Yes. Tracy? Yes. Hillary? Yes. Frank? Yes. Dan? Yes. And I'm a yes. Um Okay. Did you have any other updates,
Dan? For budget? Um I'm trying to think. Thank you. You know what? I I don't think so. I think that that I just talked to the people coming to town meeting May 11th, 7:00 p.m. That's what I'm doing with them. And Yeah, we have
uh uh um um the ones that we are requesting in uh in this FY24 budget including this this critical assistant coordinator position. Um which will do a lot for our um our special needs population as well as
just in general um as as we can keep our SSAs and SSD uh in the chief one. Yeah. Good. Thank you. Um the last real item on our agenda we um
since we've had Joe resign, he was on the communication subcommittee, and now we have just Hillary and Frank, and we were kind of thinking it might be good to put kind of a tentative person in there for the remainder of this um
session, I guess. Yeah, the especially awkward part is Hillary and I are in a work group with Tina, so Right. It could create some issues, so having a third to round it out for the remainder of the year >> Yeah, kind of to avoid quorum problems or anything like that. So, um
if anyone's interested. I'm happy to accept it. Sure. I have a Yeah. Great. Thank you. So, can we 5 hours >> [laughter] >> in person. Uh no. Yeah. Um great. So, I will entertain a motion to
appoint Tracy as uh a member of the communication subcommittee. Moved by Dan. Second. Roll call vote. Dan? Yes. Tracy? Can I vote for myself? Uh oops, sorry. Yeah, yeah, yes. [laughter]
Hillary? Yes. Frank? Yes. Dan? Yes. And I'm a yes. So, one thing that I forgot I mentioned but I didn't forget um could the people that vote to uh leave with Sarah uh uh brief budget presentation to Sarah and the um
presentation the budget presentation. Sure. Do you want to make a motion, Dan? So, I'll make a motion to uh allow Sarah and Dan to uh work on a brief I mean brief budget message uh to the committee and then attach the uh budget presentation
to no more than three pages. Only if Sarah [laughter] defines what brief is. Yeah. Yes, I'm better at brief. Yeah. Second. Okay, I I will agree to terms. >> [laughter] >> Okay, roll call vote. Dan? Yes. Tracy? Yes. Hillary? Yes. Frank?
>> Yes. Dan? Yes. And I'm a yes. So, I think we might have a record um at this point. >> more announcement. I should have known. What? Hillary, Tina, and I will be on with John Cronin for Just Thinking next Thursday. Thursday. Oh, okay. So Yeah.
It'll be fun. Great. So, it's incredibly exciting. Incredibly exciting. Yes. Um at this point, I will entertain a motion to where we are going to adjourn from open session and adjourn to executive session
uh to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigation litigating position of the public public Jeez. Public body and the chair chair so declares. Um we actually have two sessions, one
for the HFT and one for the superintendent. So, um Sorry. Uh so We motion Motion to adjourn into executive session from which we will not return. Vote by Dawn. Second.
Dan? Yes. Tracy? >> Yes. Hillary? >> Yes. Frank? >> Yes. Dawn? >> Yes. And I'm yes. Okay. Thank you, Halston, and good night. Good night.