Okay. Uh, good evening, Hollist. Sorry, we had technical difficulties for just a couple of minutes, but welcome to the September 11th um Hollist school committee meeting. Uh we do have uh Don is participating remotely
for the very beginning. So I'm going to read the remote meeting statement. Uh pursuant to the governor's March 31st, 2025 act relative to extending certain CO 19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law GLC
38A paragraph 20. The Hollist 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 web page as soon as possible in accordance with keeping the public informed of actions during this meeting. At this
time, a roll call attendance vote will be taken. Uh Joe here, Frank here, Hillary here, Tracy here, Dan here. I'm here. And um Don here.
Okay, so we are all here. Um wanted to start um just to acknowledge this is September 11th. Um, and something kind of really nice happened here this morning at the high school. Um,
um, yeah. Okay. Um, so we wanted to just play a video of that um, to start off this meeting just to kind of level set our our minds here.
Go to Zoom. Go to Zoom. You got to share. Just go ahead and share. Just click on the share button. Okay. Here. Yeah. Is that share sound?
Sorry. Yep. Click that check box. Share. There you go. Okay. Come back to this. That way. That should be Yeah. Okay. Sure. Okay.
[Music] Turn up the volume. [Music] [Music] 9775 moment. [Music] [Music]
[Music] [Music] Thank you. Thank you. Remembering my love is never easy. However, remembering my respond
let's continue the rest of our days with remembrance and perspective. Thank you. [Music] There's a burn
on the ground and rain is falling down church. I can hear the song, but the keep my seed
[Music] trees like windows, the empty streets.
My brothers down on his knees. I see your way. I see your rise up. Oh, rise up. Oh, rise up. Oh, rise up.
Rise up. Oh, rise. [Music]
And the tears of my darling and you my heart [Music] without [Music] my soul is lost
Don't tell me who I am. My s my [Music] hands.
With these hands. With these hands. With these hands. down with his hand. Down in his hand, rise up. Come on, rise up. Come on, rise
up. Come on, rise up. Come on, rise up. [Music] Stop sharing the register.
Okay. All right. So, thank you everyone. Um, and I wanted to especially thank um, Sean Biladone and Dan Rice who are the Paliston High School faculty that helped with that. And then um, our high school musicians, Minley Lee, Ali Forbes, and
Cyrus So. So, really nice job. Appreciate um, that performance. Okay, get back to Dan is our new music uh, I know she's right. Yes. Excellent.
Okay, so getting back to the agenda. Okay, so we do have um just a couple things on the consent agenda. Um minutes from the August 28th meeting and grants um just a couple grants from uh the PTO, I believe.
Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. Uh roll call vote. Joe, yes. Frank, yes. Hillary, yes. Tracy, yes. Dan, what? Don. Don.
Sarah, are you miked up? We can't hear you. Oh, I'll just Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Don. Um, yes. Okay. And then Sarah is Yes. So, the mics are for the television. Yeah. I'll just try and speak louder. Sorry. This This is the microphone you all need
to project to. Okay. I might. Okay. Okay. So, at this time, um, we would love to hear from our student representatives.
Um, so going at high school this week. Um, auditions for the fall musical into the woods are this week and rehearsals will start next week. All sports are also going very well. The varsity football team had their first regular season game in Cleveland last
week and took home to victory. The Red Sea, our student section had a pack was packed at our game. So, lots of schools on display. Um certain clubs have kicked off their meetings. For example, um Circle of Hope had a bake sale which
raised over $200 um for the less fortunate areas around Boston. and investment club uh which could be used in the UN school investment competition has begun competition. We have a few notable student athletes from the last few few weeks including
seniors Austin Renheiser on the football team, Julia Galo on the field hockey team and Cla Fitzgerald on the soccer team. Additionally, we have Karen McCarron a sophomore on the soccer team and they were all recognized by the Metro West.
Um, last Friday there was the first captain's meeting of the year to set the tone of leadership and sportsmanship for the year ahead. For another meeting, guidance counselors held a gradewide meeting for seniors about college applications. It was very wellreceived and colleges have begun
sessions in school counseling offices every day as well. respective colleges. Um, at the football game tomorrow, the youth action team for Hack will be holding a fundraiser from 58 p.m. selling items to benefit the great work
of the organization. Um, a note from our organization, the student advisory council. Um, we've begun gathering information regarding student body opinions on the new battle schedule, busing, and school start and end times. Um, more information coming. And the
high school club fair is next Thursday, September 18th. All student led clubs and organizations will be on display for the student body to explore possible interest. And then a lot of these same clubs and organizations will be attending Celebrate Hollist on Saturday the 20th
for community outreach and fun. [Music] Thank you. Thank you so much. Um we'll move on to school committee individual comments. Is that Joe? Yeah. So, as was just mentioned, 24th
anniversary, September 11th, um, and I just remember the days after that attack, uh, we were so united. I was just so inspired by all the kindness of our fellow Americans. And, um, I hope that in memory of the
victims that we can strive to become more empathetic and kinder nation. Um, obviously, everyone's seen what's been going on. news the past couple days. Um, you know, things are so polarized and and heated and I just hope that we can
bring the temperature down and treat each other with respect. [Music] echo what Joe said, you know, 911 never forget and you know time goes on few generations come in most not all
students don't even know what they have yeah um and you know [Music] past years everything you know I think we should go back and remember like to be kind and humble and empathetic.
[Music] No other I had the opportunity to in a different district hear from a couple of seventh graders who had written some songs about 911 um and shared those today and it was interesting to hear their perspective
because they were not born they were born well after um 9/11 but to hear them talk about what it's like to grow up in a 911 world as they put it um and their message of coming together as community thinks what is
certainly echo the sentiments um prior to me um and you know there's a lot to sort of process even still 24 years later um I could just shift a little bit um to the positive um I had the ability or privilege I guess the ability to
attend a tech meeting um with our parents advisory council on Tuesday this week and I got to see Dr. Calo's presentation and I was also really impressed with the number of teachers and staff that were in attendance um just to support our um all of our students and I was I was very impressed
by that. So um so celebrate Hollist is is coming up on uh the 20th of September and they just announced the the new latest citizens of the year Jane Gilvoy and and John Cronin. I just want to congratulate both of them. Uh Jane's been a long time uh volunteer in town with the food
pantry historical society and until recently celebrate Hollison and then John has been a longtime elected official and is current member of the sewer commission. So we got our a lot of giving back to to the town. So um congratulations to both of them and uh hope everyone shows up for field day.
Yep. And I will just echo what everyone else has said. I think you all did a good job so I won't elaborate more. Um, do we have I believe we do have Can't hear about Don. Oh, Don, do you have anything?
No, no additional comment. Thanks, Sarah. Okay, sorry. I believe we do have some public comment. Um, Jess, do you want to come up to the microphone? [Music]
Should I go here? It doesn't matter which. That's fine. [Music] 115 street. I had originally planned to speak today about how the musical start time
from our children struggling with sleep and edge regularly to the challenges of simply eating dinner together as a family. But something more urgent has come. This morning, my children's school bus was involved in an accident. This is the second accident, bus accident my
8-year-old has experienced since January. Let that sink in. Two bus accidents in under a year. Most students go through their entire school careers without experiencing even one. That's not just concerning, it's unacceptable. After speaking with other parents, I've
learned that our experience is not unique. More and more families are coming forward with stories of unsafe driving, accidents, and ongoing concerns. I completed 12 years of education without a single bus incident. Yet, my third grader has already endured too. Something is clearly wrong. While
last year's bus eight incident was what was weather related and to my knowledge, not the fault of the driver, I have far more serious concerns about bus sightings this year. We personally went into speeding, stopping abruptly, and accelerating too quickly. My children have told me they're thrown forward at
every stop and two of them have come home nauseous from the ride. Today's accident only adds to that growing concern. Several bus drivers have privately shared that they feel pressured to stick to unrealistic route schedules. If that's true, it points to a much bigger issue, not just with our
transportation department, but with the decisions being made at the administrative level. I understand that the administration made a commitment to certain timelines in order to support the municipal start times, but no commitment, no policy, no schedule should ever come to get sense of student
safety ever. So I have to ask, when will administration acknowledge the miscalculations and plans of these bus routes? When I raised concerns about this month months ago to Dr. Jordan and members of the school committee, I was dismissed. In fact, I was told once the Woodland Street Bridge reopened, we
would shorten our bus routes. But the opposite has occurred. We've actually added time to the morning routes, pushing pickups even earlier. This is a direct result of poor planning by the school committee, poor calculations from administration, and an overarching theme of dismissing anyone who questioned the
map or methodology. Now, my children have been put in harm's way, and I'm asking for accountability. What steps will the administration take starting now to ensure our transportation system is safe? And what will the school committee do to hold leadership accountable for meeting basic safety
standards? Thank you. Thank you, Megan. [Music] [Music] Do I just call my address? I'm Megan Schwarz. I'm 84 Cheryl. Um, first of
all, I want to thank I'm going to read from my That's fine. I want to thank all of you guys for your hard work um school starting this year. I know it was a major undertaking that required countless hours of planning and especially want to thank Dr. Slaney and Mr. Kind for their leadership throughout
this transition. Their communication has been incredible. That said, I'm here because I'm deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of my children on bus six. My children's Liam and fourth grade of Jackson and first grade have repeatedly complained reports. The buses are consistently overcrowded with three
students to a seat, even the older kids, which leads to the question, how are they going to safely transport band instruments and snowier come winter? The driver on bus 6 has been speeding, breaking hard, and pulling away before younger seats are students are seated, causing them to fall in the aisle and
feel sick after each ride. My children come home every day feeling sick. At our Sher Lane stop, while the students were still waiting to board on uh September 2nd, the bus rolled backwards several feet as my neighbor was about to get on the bus. It almost
knocked her over and would have surely run her over if she was knocked down. This is a serious issue. My fourth grader has also been told that his personal basketball was to be stored in the trash can at the front of the bus and came home in tears one day because
the trash was so disgusting. What does this say about how we're treating our telling our students we're going to treat their things if we want them to treat our school and the school things respectfully. Yesterday he was yelled at by the bus driver after sitting on his truck. He
didn't know where else to put it after leaving school because the seats next to him were full. So being a 9-year-old, he tried to problem solve, albeit not well, and decided sitting on the case was the best option. The bus driver yelled at
him to sit down. Being confused because he thought he was sitting, he hesitated and the bus driver yelled, "Are you deaf?" at my 9-year-old in front of my 5-year-old on the bus. Earlier today, the situation escalated
further. This morning, I emailed at 10:30 that I felt that I was struggling to feel safe putting my children on this bus. Little did I know they had been in a bus accident earlier that morning. I didn't know because we didn't get notified until 11:57.
My children told me that they were not evaluated until lunchtime after they had been in a bus accident. The lack of communication is unacceptable. Parents should never be left in the dark when it comes to their children's safety at this point. These are not isolated incidents. They form a
clear pattern of unsafe practices, poor communication, and in some cases, inappropriate treatment. Parents were assured last year that when the tax override was passed, the student safety and reliable transportation were priorities. Yet, families are experiencing do not reflect that
commitment. I'm asking for a full investigation into these issues. Sorry to immediate corrective action to address overcrowding and driver contact and clear communication protocols so parents are informed right away when an incident
occurs. The safety of our children must be unnegotiable. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I can speak to some if that's all right. Um, so, uh, working backwards 10:30. Um, that is
also when the schools became aware of the accident as well. um and as quickly as we can as far as putting together like the specific students impacted and assessing those students during that period of time happened between 10:30 and the point at which the um
communication went out. So that's that's part of it. um as it stand that we're aware of um although that's under investigation right now um with of traffic the Holl police is concerning this accident on bus 6 um is that the
driver was not aware that they had had uh touched the car hit the car uh during that period of time I think it was reported at a later point in time by a citizen potentially I don't have the full details but um I do know that that's the point at which we became where as a school as a school system and
I can speak to Dr. Slaney and Mr. Akim um immediately and quickly getting those communication and information out to us at central office and our ability to get that communication out to families uh immediately at that point. Um uh our bus six specifically speaking to to bus 6 um
that is something that we're you know I'm not going to speak to to personnel or what we're we're doing with that situation there but it is something that we're we're looking into this afternoon. Um uh Mr. or Mr. Holmes who who runs the bus company drove our bus 6:00 in the
afternoon uh and is looking into this issue along with um the Hollist police to kind of assess um what those next steps might be concerning the accident. Uh but we're still gathering information as it relates to to the to the accident. Um I do have um you know a presentation
to talk about some of the time the times to kind of speak to some of um some of the disparities as far as last year's times, the length of those routes. uh and where we are with that. Um I can wait to that that point in time. But um
you know we our buses uh while we do have some buses that are crowded um are not um are not by state rigs overcrowded. Uh the short kind of preview to the presentation that we have um are on our buses they they can run up
to 77 students on those buses. um when we do our routing and why we reach out to families far in advance um and set deadlines for when families can can respond that they need transportation is because we set those routes. They take several weeks for us to build those
routes uh efficiently. Um that said, uh we do have families that uh a lot of families that then are put on weight lists and and very much want to be put on buses. Um, so as long as we're especially at the beginning of the year not hitting those like limit points, we
do add students to buses and then as we get into the year and we start we start having settling, we'll try to transition six, seven students to different sites um different bus routes. We do up into situations where we do have pretty full
buses for the for the year. um the the locations where we would typically try to it takes a couple weeks that like we have what our actual wrership will be in the morning or in the afternoon so that we understand like how many students we can put on a bus. But um that's kind of
where we are with kind of our ridership. But it is our in our plan especially some of our very very full buses is to lessen that ridership and find that balance in kind of some of the adjoining um bus runs that that run next to that.
confirms aboutility driving will not be driving tomorrow. I mean I think the I we the investigation is underway and anytime an investigation is underway
then we will I I assume Mr. Holmes will have somebody else in but I really can't confirm anything specific to personnel but I will note that Dr. Jordan and Mr. homes have worked and have taken this very seriously and I think we can
resolve this matter pretty quickly. Is it reasonable to could we possibly get an update out to those families either tomorrow or Monday at the latest? School tomorrow. So that gives you a little little time to work through that.
Yeah, we we are still awaiting details to understand like the nature of of the accident um and kind of where we can go from from there concerning the accident. Thank you. Anybody
else on? [Music] Is there anyone on Zoom who wanted to I don't see anything. Public comment. If you're looking for public comment on Zoom, if you could use the raise your hand feature.
I don't see anyone. Okay. Thank you. Um Okay. Shall we move on to we've got a num three policies that we were going to review and hopefully vote on. So there's a hand up. Oh, went up. Oh, sorry.
Let me go back. Okay. We have one public comment from Lisa Willis. Lisa Willis. [Music] I apologize if my reception is foggy. I am not in town at the moment. I appreciate everyone gathering and I
would like to speak on behalf of my other fellow families on six. Um the current safety concerns are extremely disheartening and concerning and I do appreciate the urgent attention that has
been brought to this situation after today's accident. However, I don't feel as though an actual bus crash on the way to school should be what it takes to address the safety concerns that have been raised for the last 2 weeks. I live
at 76 Chevrolet Lane next to Megan Schwarz who I observed the bus roll back accident and it was my child who was about to board the bus when it was not in a parked position and it rolled back
before she ordered it. It was extremely concerning, disheartening and it is completely unacceptable. I am asking the school code with my fellow families on bus six to
please investigate this, take action. We do not want a disaster or someone to get injured and we don't want something bad to happen other than what's happened today. I
understand trying to get to school um you know with this whole uh My school felt times as stressful. From the start of school on August 26th, it has felt every day as this bus has been
rushing to get to school to meet a start time. And they have put our children's safety last and it is unacceptable. Change has to happen now. And I want to make sure that that is understood by
this lead. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Just want to reiterate uh Mr. Holmes does take this incredibly seriously. Um he he rode this but not just the accident but um some of the other issues that have ra been raised um over the
last couple weeks. Part of the reason why he's riding the bus or driving the bus currently is just to assess one the the crowding um some of the questions about instruments and balls and and some of the other things as far as taking an assessment of uh that route relative to
other routes to see what adjustments may need to be made. Uh and for for him uh one of the best strategies to do that is just ride the route in the drive the route in the morning and the afternoon and assess the the pickup locations and um what changes may need to be be made.
[Music] Okay. Okay. Um why don't we move on to um policy? Uh the first one was IMGA which had to do with service animals in school.
Yep. This is um a change to an existing policy. We reviewed this uh this week in our policy subcommittee meeting um with some additional language that was provided to the uh recommended
to the district. Um you can see here some of the track changes. Um so in the first paragraph there are there's some minor tweaks in language and then an additional paragraph about it. Um do you need to read through read the whole thing?
Do I need to read the whole thing or you you're not unless it's a you have to read the changes when it's amendment. Um, so in the first paragraph, uh, the new language would say, "The district will comply with Massachusetts and federal laws concerning the rights of
individuals with disabilities with service animals on school practices and on school transportation." And then adding a third paragraph, which states, "When an animal is brought to school, the district staff may ask only two specific questions to determine
whether the animal qualifies as a service animal. One, is a dog a service animal required because of a disability? and two, what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Staff are not allowed to request any documentation for the dog, require the dog demonstrate his
task, or inquire about the nature of the person's disability. Proof that the animal has been certified, trained, or licensed as a service animal is not required. and then um new language on the second page. The
service animal may be excluded if the school principal or authorized design determines that a service animal is not housebroken or if the animal is out of control and the animal's handler does not take effective act action to control it. If a service animal is excluded, the person with a disability will have the
opportunity to participate in the service program or activity without the service animal. And then finally, uh, new language at the bottom of the page. If any student or staff member is allergic to dogs or suffers an allergic reaction, then the school will work to accommodate both the
individual, the service animal, and the individual who experienced an allergic reaction. An alternative plan will be developed by the building principal and district staff, which may include reassignment to a different classroom. [Music]
Is that a Yes. So I'm clear and anyone watching at home is clear. This is a a separate policy from a therapy dog. Correct. This is just if you have a service animal for yourself. Yes. Um okay. Does anyone have questions about
now the the um advice you got to update this is that is that legal reference the 28 CFR part 35 you was that incorporated there? Yes, we actually had um a situation it's about two years ago but these things take time to go through. So, this was
some language that we worked through with the Office for Civil Rights and they let recommended this language to us. And some of it, you can see even though there's some strict language, it's not all new because they actually just took some of our old language and just tweaked a little bit. So, there's even less changes than it looks like.
the big the the change that I think is the most important is that piece with um the third paragraph is where the really new piece is because it's the language about when someone says they have a service animal we're not looking for verification is really the most
important part and I don't think that that happened. It's more just um when we have animals on campus we always want to make sure other children don't feel unsafe. So, we do take things very seriously and this will just clarify this language for staff once it's revised.
Um, do you have editing privileges or anything? Yes. Just third paragraph from the bottom. Six line down. Just fix the spelling of principle so we don't publish it. So, I'd make a motion to approve the
amendment to policy. Um as in further amendment to fix this as well. Can we do it? All in favor? That passes. Okay. The next one is gifts to um
gifts to and solicitations by staff. This um Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I changed that just at the very bottom. If you scroll to the last page, there is some new language
which is um added through recommendation by MASC um around raffles and games of chance to align with state regulations. Um, so the new language added at the bottom is by state law and regulation, raffles and games of chance may not be organized by
schools as a sponsoring organization. Employees are thus barred from participating in such activities unless doing so as a member of a sponsoring organization such as a caring or booster organization as defined by state law and regulation. All gifts and donations to the district must be accepted by a local
school committee. Any [Music] questions? Yeah. Do you want to just add of the Hallston school committee there? I just realized that. Make a motion to approve the updated
amendments uh to GBPC uh gifts to and solicitations by staff as amended uh to include housing. Second in favor that passes. 70.
[Music] And then yeah, the last one, the last one is also um a change to an existing policy. This is visitors to the schools. Um we already have an existing policy about um
visitors to the school. The only language we're adding is in the second paragraph where we say requests should be made at least 40 8 hours in advance to allow the proper arrangements to be made. Any [Music] questions on that one?
Was this a recom can you just tell me about what prompted that change? Yeah, so this is another recommendation by MSC. Um, our existing policy just did not have any um specification around uh how visitors are going to uh when
visitors need to notify the school that would like to come in to visit the school. not just to come to pick up your child or um but come into the building to visit. So um MASC recommended that we request 48 hours to make arrangements.
So I'll make a motion to approve uh policy KI visitors to schools as amended. [Music] Second. All in favor? I I just had a couple questions.
Sorry. Yep. Well, it wasn't quite done, but um I was just thinking about it. How how does this play out with say a child's IEP meeting? You're a visitor to the school, right? Um, are you then
putting the the burden on the parent to request that they can be a visitor for their child's meeting? And does that have to be in writing? Is it a phone call? What's sufficient? Yeah. No, this really is for if um someone wanted to come in and visit the classroom and observe. We do sometimes
get consultants that, you know, request dur during an IP meeting sometimes to come in and do an observation from a private consultant coming in. So that would be a setting where we would want to make sure that they give 48 hours notice and they would go through the SSA and the SS director as well.
No expectation if you've invited parents in for a meeting that they have to make a request to with 40. Okay. No, this is for just to go into the classroom piece and the meetings themselves. If they were done in the classroom, it wouldn't be when kids were there. So that would not be considered the classroom. You just don't want to slow things down too. If a teacher wants to meet with a
parent, we shouldn't have to kick it off two days because of this. And when we say requests, do you are you is your expectation a written request or can people call in and request and and I think both, right? They they can call anything. We usually have to sign a release because obviously
they are privy to hearing confidential information in the classroom. So we want to respect all students in a classroom setting um to your concern about if a parent came in for a meeting. It's not uncommon in any other place they've worked as well as I'm sure here a parent automatically is going to come into the
building. There's not an issue. And then sometimes we invite parents to go to the classroom after the meeting. Sometimes it's not appropriate because the student gets distracted and we work with parents on those issues, but they wouldn't have to sign anything at that point. But we're really more concerned for a parent
that uh might want to go in and do an observation of their child. Okay. And I'd say they're very few and far between that we get these types of requests. I'm ready to vote. Okay. Do we do it again or second?
Okay. All in favor? Great. That passes as well. Um, okay. Moving on to central office updates. And I think it's been a very um busy opening to the school year, but we've um had a
lot of good successes as well. I just was happy the last couple of days I was able to visit. I did my check-in with Principal Manning yesterday and we visited classrooms at at the middle school and then today Mr. Liss and I were able to get to some classrooms. Also, I was invited to be a mystery
reader. Thank you, Miss Nam, for inviting me in early in the year. I don't usually do that till later in the year. So that was fun to be able to read with some fourth grade students at Miller. So I'll be starting roundts again soon. This is the best part of the job when you get to meet with kids. So um it was nice to be able to interact
and see some students the last few days as well. That's about it for me. Okay. Uh we had our first new teacher orientation meeting of the year which went really well. Um they learned a lot about our district curriculum accommodation plan which is going to be
revised this year. We had um I ran mentor training for new mentors in the district um starting tonight and we have our first full full PD day tomorrow which I'll report out at the next school committee meeting. [Music]
That's it. Thank you. Uh I participated in the site visit for the 40B um housing development uh over on Land um and walked that facility with um all the local
authorities uh and the size and the potential impact it could have on not just the community but the school system um as well. It is a 250 uh unit uh complex that that would have uh two entrances off of uh Land. Um there are
some interesting things and you know there might be an a a time as that pro project moves further along that uh the schools and school committee kind of involve themselves as far as what that conversation would be uh and what that pro how that project should evolve uh in
the future. um the the um I that that project, but also just with the kind of our transportation plan and some of our our start of the year. I've been just very impressed with um uh Frank, our new uh town manager, um and also Chief
Stone, Chief Cassidy, um uh Mark Frank's um and Robert Walker as we kind of approach the uh capital at the start of the year uh and some of that collaboration that's occurred over the over the start of the school year. Can I add one more thing before
transportation um because this will probably come up at another date. There has been some concerns on and every year this comes up. Mark Tree Lane, right? Is it lane or um the street adjacent to the fields has
been a problem with traffic and parking, people running late and things like that. So, there is going to be some more work and we're meeting tomorrow with Chief Stone and the town manager and Dr. Jordan and I are meeting to discuss how to try to help with that matter. Um the
parking is not going to be allowed. The cars will be towed. I do believe Mr. List has communicated some of this as well, but you know, the implementation of that is challenging and it does fall on the police department as well. Um, and all we really can do is help support and communicate that that change is
taking place. Quick update on that. I think the going into the select board meeting um I believe um there was the I think they were thinking a swifter vote of and they were thinking more like the high school and the
parking that's there. I think there are a lot of questions around well can some have access and not so we're looking we're going to be meeting to discuss like what would be would there be certain times that people would be able to park because residents would don't want no act that don't want to not have
any access to be able to park on the in front of their house at certain times. So figuring out what some of those nuance situations were uh and then moving to kind of the next next time there's a select board meeting as far as that. Are we looking at all at our own high school parking lot to see if there's any
creative solutions like additional parking behind the building that we might be able to set up and allocate to staff to create more parking. Um I mean it the problem stems from a need for more parking. So unless we're willing to put parking on Holl Street where the
sidewalks were recently done and have parallel parking there, I can't imagine how else we could create more parking in the area. Yeah. And I think the tricky part, just like we did with the other buildings, is we do have the service road behind the building. So we have to avoid any parking near that. And so I I don't know
what we would do if we had to add parking. I don't know that that would be an option back there. I mean, we we've definitely like as far as like where people can park, that's something we've engaged with Chief Cassidy, Dr. and I, Dr. discuss before I I was um as far as
as she discussed not just Miller Plastantino but the high school as far as where especially if you go by central office and you move back there as far as what you're able most of it's covered by grass as far as like what you're able to park on um and and not um I think if we
if we were looking at additional parking we'd be looking at some type of yeah project to expand um the pavement um as well as some of the grass areas Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Catalo. I don't have you on here, but do you have any updates? You're welcome to.
I will just share that I've started going into buildings and touring all the classrooms and trying to put the names to the faces of the students. I've uh met a number of the students in our transition program here at the high school and was blessed with a beautiful piece of artwork on my desk when I came
back today. And tomorrow will be our professional development day and I'll be doing a three-hour presentation, interactive presentation in the afternoon for the Paris. So, I'm very excited about that. Um, and just continuing to get to know people and see how I can make positive contributions,
but there's a lot of positive things going on in the district. Thank you. Um, Mr. List, I I just realized we can move you up if you would like to. Um, I was going to ask Yeah, I meant I I wasn't really thinking earlier, but plenty of emails off parking to answer.
So, yeah, if you would like to shift gears into something that I think people might like better. Um, you were here to talk about an update to the handbook.
Yes. So, I um you should all have copies of the um the the proposed pilot um for um our seniors to be able to leave campus when they have substitutes um by the end of last year. Um when we're
looking at at the data, 75% of seniors were being dismissed um when they had a substitute. Um that is very overwhelming to our office staff. Um we also are very limited on the amount of subs that we have to even cover classes. So this
allows frees up some uh some resources for us there as well. Um you know in the document we talked about it as a privilege not not a right um and something that students had to uh treat properly. Um one of the uh concerns that
we were trying to answer with this is how do we know which students are on campus and not on campus? Uh Mr. Mloud um was able to uh work out a system where students have to come to the office and can um put in their um ID numbers and that marks them on on the
attendance in our school um to let us know that they're not on campus. So if there's ever an emergency, we know that they're not on campus um and obviously they have to uh come back on time and and uh be where they're supposed to be. Um, so that's that's the I'm happy to answer any questions about it, but
that's the uh the gist of the uh the pilot we'd like to try here. Questions? Whatever you want. What uh should we describe in here? This
will be in the handbook. What is tends to mean that they can make good choices? We don't even put the dictionary. So I I will be I will use language sometimes to give us a little bit of leeway situations. Uh just be completely
transparent. Um but uh it uh it tends to be that the students are making good decisions. Um you know we don't tie it to it's not tied to you know it's good standing isn't necessarily a grades not thing.
It's a um about the behaviors that are being exhibited. Um where is that? It's in the third rules eligibility. What's the check in system? So I mean they could so the attendance checks. So because um Mr. Mloud was able
to tie it into powers school it allows us the the actual attendance checks them back in. So when they're come to their next class that means they're back in in the building. If they come earlier they have to check in just like any student who's out uh doctor's appointment and
things like that. come back in. So, um, but, uh, yeah, I don't know how he did it, but he was certainly able to do it. So, that part I don't understand. Um, but, uh, he was able to make it so that that it all happened. So, a parent would even know. You could look in Power School and see that your child left. Um,
the other piece is like any of these any of this that we have. Um, and we'll have to do this is send an opt in for parents to do this like that of any of the the privileges that they have. specifically for this or it'll well I mean it's it's in the the
um the annual verification that's like where it normally lives but that already happens. This will be a separate document that parents will have to opt in. How how do you monitor it for like kids that are not eligible? Their parents
haven't opted in um but they're checking out is that that's the fun part. No, no, I mean it's it that's what we I mean that's part of this if we're we're piloting this, right? So we have um some aspects of it where we have to do some
cross referencing now to make sure it's it's happening and happening appropriately and then if students can handle it then it's something we see is working and if they can't then we you know go back to what it is now. But yes, there is a little bit of extra work in sort of cross referencing checking out
each day. Um it go another part of it going back into power school allows um our attendant secretary to and she runs like for example she runs reports at the end of every day um for students who are skipping class um and so we're able to
see uh that so this would look the same in the same way if there was in class and weren't she'd be able to see that I make a recommendation to change eligibility just slightly different so only seniors in good standing
uh may in good standing um may participate at the sole or the at the determination of the administration. So essentially you're just defining it is your determination. Yeah, you're determining it. Sure. And then it just says this this uh may
be removed this privilege may be removed uh for the class or an individual student something like that. So Dr. C is already doing it. I'm I'm putting the suggestions, but I didn't get the second part. Oh, it's just to basically so it's not
duplicative to say administration may determine to remove is just basically saying this can be removed at any time. Okay. Um basically just saying so if someone challenges what what's good to stand like you know what I mean? Yeah. I mean every student is different. Every student has different challenges of the building. So it really it you
know a lot of the discipline now works based on this the the needs of the student and and was having some of the stuff is fairly straightforward but in these kind of situations you know it it um we need a little bit of flexibility in working with kids. Well, I'm suggesting
I'm just simply suggesting being clear that it is your um determination. The entire classes of students leaving the building at the same time. Uh how are we ensuring security at the door? Is that
propped open for quite some time? The school resource office could be monitoring it or so I mean because of this they all have to go to the front door. So that door that's actually one of the doors we don't have any issue with getting
propped open. Um but I mean theory I guess while someone's going out going in but um that's we have the front office staff right there with the camera there's officer's office is like right there at that door. Um so that's I mean
again that's all part of the monitoring process of what you have just what you see how it plays out. Well, you already have 75% of the students leaving to come back, right? Well, I mean of the seniors. Yeah, we have seniors. Not all. This is all students. They have cars on campus, so
they leave. Yeah. So, are you using the same check-in checkout system with students have who have other privileges outside of the substitute? So, we we haven't previously, but we will start using it for internships, um senior projects, things like that. Um now that we now that this figure out how
to make it work that way. So even like lunch they'd have to if they were leaving lunch yeah lunch would be a big mess right now. We tried to pull that off but we yes I don't have a good answer for that. We tried we were trying to play with some systems for that. Um they do have a QR code they're supposed to
they're supposed to um use. Um but that is uh one area that we do struggle with. Get changed to pay. Someone someone needs to mute what someone needs. Okay. diaper.
Where is it? So, that is that is accurate. Lunch has been a challenge. I mean, I I actually in putting this in place, we're not new doing this. Schools struggle with substitutes and so um I was actually at the football game talking to the the Whan principal. We
were talking about this and they have like no open campus um from like 10 through 12. Um, and so they they have, you know, their their systems are they have like uh key cards now that they can scan and things like that that they've
had to put in place. Um, what's the process for parents to update privilege? Is there a process or is it like they begin at any time? The parent anytime they can reach out to
we'll send something out. They need to bring but they already the other optin happened at the beginning of the year. So yeah, normally this would so this would live in future years this would live in the annual annual verification documents. So and we're hoping to to with the cleaning
on campus, you know that you'll hopefully slow down because we have speed bumps being put. That's the thing. That's why I thought you safely care. Knock the doors to the parking lot. But [Music] they're 1 to 5 mph speed bumps. So, please go slow over
speed bumps out there not really speed. What? The ones in the lottery. They're No, I'm saying But the ones that we're putting in are Yeah. Go slow. Okay. Um
Any other questions? Are you ready to continue? Motion to approve the uh proposed senior pilot for privilege for off campus during teacher absences part of the handbook. Yeah, the handbook. Yeah, part of the high school handbook. Second. All in
favor? That passes. Thank you. All right. Dr. Yeah, I got Sorry, we're kind of jumping around here. Apologize, but we'll go back to Dr. Jordan now. Just go right to the side. So, um, last
last year, uh, and not just last year, but kind of leading up to, um, the year, uh, the school committee, um, one made some policy changes to improve transportation. Um, made some commitment
of funding, uh, in addition to assist with transportation. Uh and was it and put together a um a transportation subcommittee uh that uh you know Frank uh who's there had the privilege to be a Joe did too. Joe Joe and Frank as far as
having the privilege to be a part of. Um you know while it had uh its tough moments, it was a way for us to really vet out um the things that the community valued and wanted to see in any improvements that we wanted to make to transportation. uh that included some
challenging sacrifices that they needed to be made as well. Uh the outcome of or the recommendation um out of that committee um was to one uh that the district day is not to start before 7:30 a.m. nor end uh after 4 p.m. Two uh the
scheduling of school should be thoughtful around students sleep at for high school and middle school students. limit the impact on teacher retention and limit the impact on afterchool activities including but not limited to sports clubs, extracurriculars and and after school clubs. Um that the Hollist
High School and Robert Adams Middle School should not start at any earlier than 7:50 a.m. and buses would run uh that was the recommendation based off our analysis is that bus runs uh would need to be 50 minutes long uh per run um
the year before prior to that. So for the 2425 school year, uh bus runs were 45 45 minutes. Um for that, um I feel like we far exceeded that. Uh so if we can kind of talk that to this the
year-to-year comparison while we've absolutely had um had some trials and tribulations this year and they're definitely some um significant individual uh challenges that we've had for for certain individuals as we try to figure this out and certain runs that
we've had. Um our in 2425 our average bus length for the 15 buses that we ran was 45 minutes. Uh and we did have several buses that ran up to 60 minutes um in those bus runs. Um this year our average bus run time is 30 minutes. Uh
we have zero buses that run at 45 minutes um in length. Uh, our earliest pick time pickup time, meaning the earliest that we had a student at a bus stop last year was 6:30 a.m. Uh, this year, the earliest pickup time that we have for a student at the moment is 6:52
um a.m. The percentage of bus uh bus pickups before 6:45 a.m. Uh, so last year was 32% of pickups. the 34 32% of students that were being picked up or on that route um were picked up before 6:45 a.m. Uh this year 0% um are picked up by
that point in time. percent of of pickups after say 7 am. So the maximum sleep time that we're aiming for. Last year only 32% of students were picked up after 7 a.m. Uh this year 88% uh of students are picked up after uh 7:30 or
after 7 a.m. Um last year by week 2 uh into the year uh we had buses that were running um greater than 20 minutes um late to school. Um this year we by the two week mark we had um we only had buses that were up to and over one
minute. Uh and we are on a on a streak at the moment of no buses late to to school uh that we're hoping to stick to. Uh that isn't to say that you know traffic different things are outside of our control um can get in the way. Um that happened last week with a water
mane break right outside of um the uh the Dunkin Donuts. uh that significantly delayed um our our runs. But I I just wanted to say that that, you know, speaks to our drivers and their resiliency uh in adjusting not only to
our woodland uh bridge project um over the last couple years and what they've had to do to kind of adjust to that uh but also just being able to pivot very quickly as certain parameters or different things kind of have uh presented themselves. So if we can go on to the next slide.
So factors leading to some improved transportation and again um and I'll talk a little bit about some of the areas of improvement that we need to still really much kind of tackle and get ahead of. Um one the the walk zone policy uh that was put into place by the school committee uh that you know we we
came in a little bit ahead on some things. One is the walk zone. What that did for us, um, not only did that reduce some of our ridership, but, um, it limited the the in town traffic that our buses are, especially to our elementary campus, are trying to get there through. So, we had a lot of pickup points within
town, which as they're picking up start and backup traffic and creates gridlock and access to our elementary school. So, not just for parents that are driving in, but also for our buses. Uh so that has created not only greater flow for the buses to move into the Woodland campus, but it's also created greater
flow for families to move in um through downtown. Um two, funding for additional buses. Uh we did have an increase in 200,000 to $200,000 added to the appropriations budget um that we uh did use that money to to bring into
additional uh bring in additional buses into uh our routes for this school year. Um the one uh within just community feedback, community feedback that the school committee received uh but also the Hollson school community transportation subcommittee that we were able to kind of really assess and
understand what what were the musthaves like uh no deal types of top things that we did as we really try to look at how we could do this uh these types of improvements. um to that one. Um se number four uh hardworking staff uh in kind of implementing this this change,
the teachers uh pair professionals who help with kind of arrival um has been incredibly powerful. Uh creative creative thinking between the H hall public schools transportation homes transportation principles and local authorities. um you know the our ability
to move buses down Woodland Street without backup other than when we're further into the downtown or not being able to kind of get in uh to the Woodland campus, get into the elementary schools and then get out and get back onto our routes um has led to significant improvement. So, we've
appreciated that creativity. Uh but also our ability to use the the Lynen access road as a way to move um hundreds of cars off of the street clogging traffic downtown. not just for those who are trying to get to the schools, but those who are trying to commute to work um as
well as kind of free that up as well. Um uh Kim Sexton has been kind of a dynamo at continual communication as as emails come in um as special requests come in and we try to make those adjustments as fast as we possibly can or we see uh
major concerns that um that we need to and making those adjustments as fast as we can. Um the community patience and flexibility. Uh yeah, we we aimed really big as far as um some of our time constraints that we were because we wanted students to be able to sleep as
late as we can. So we started the year with all of our runs uh starting um after 7:00 a.m. uh was the target. Uh we didn't hit that target. So that's why we we moved back time. So that's where we saw some we tried to within the first two days we not noticed some immediate
concerns and we immediately moved to about four buses by 10 minutes um because we knew that no no amount of adjustment would would lead to those those times being uh uh improving. Um and then we added uh for most just five
five more minutes. Uh but those who were part of the the four they received an entirety of 15 minutes. Uh but still the the earliest pickup time is the 652. um at that point. And then lastly, just um our drivers. I can't tell you how many different routes or different
adjustments or changes that we've had to kind of give to them uh to kind of make this entirely new process work. Um to make this entirely new process of our our two elementary schools coming together. Um entirely new uh routes that they're running and not the historical
routes that we've had. Um and just, you know, being able to make that happen uh very well. Last one. Um things to improve definitely as we s heard uh concerning bus 6. Uh bus six is not one of our is not the only you know one of our crowded
buses at this moment. Um we have some challenges within bus 10 and bus 4 and some other ones as far as size. Um most of this um is one some of these runs are larger runs to start. Uh but the predominant cause is our late
registrations. Uh the which we want to be able to accommodate families. I think the historical practice is to continually accept and always accept people all the way up as you can. And when you do those late additions when your routes are already built around the assumption of say 40 kids that you're
going to have on a bus and you add 20 more uh in the second week of August, um you you end up you have to you have to add them to existing routes. you cannot reroute the district in order to add them in. So you have some buses that are up at like 62 and then you have some
buses that are pretty low, but our entire ridership is actually down uh from the prior year. Uh and we have more and we have some more buses um too. So that just kind of adds to kind of those strengths. So our hope is to now now that we're at kind of this point, we can
start to balance some of our riderships that are at our really crowded buses across some of our other routes that we have. Um, uh, you know, we have some new schedule growing pains that we need to, this is not only just a new busing route, but it's also just kind of a new rival plan at our elementary school and
a complete shift there. Um, and then, uh, while busing or transportation software is very valuable and, you know, I feel like I do, I feel like Tim Holmes and I feel like a lot of our drivers have a very strong understanding of uh, of drop points and different bus stops.
Um we're continuing to try to look at how we can kind of collect feedback and understand um you know when the when the software spits out where it thinks that some a student should be dropped is kind of validating that or checking that across our drivers across our families to understand like what adjustments need
to be made before we start the school year. So is that Yep. So, I just want to congratulate the whole administrative team and and and everyone. I don't want to name names only because I probably missed somebody and I I don't want to do that. Um, this
is this is really phenomenal. Obviously, there are some things to work on. Bus six uh is is sounds like a situation that definitely is is unacceptable and that we need to to work on and make sure that we uh we fix. If you could go back to the to the data
slide, um you know, a number of years ago, there was a there was a a fairly large group of of parents who were who were concerned about early pickups especially. Um they there was a citizens petition at at town meeting to basically wasn't allowed, but to limit the schools
from from doing pickups before simply around 7:00 some sunrise, I think. And so if you look at where we are now, uh last year only 32% of pickups were up were after 7:00 and now we're at we're at 88%. So we while we haven't exactly achieved the goal of that competition,
we're we're very very close. We're you know almost right on it. And for just a 10-minute um move in in in the start time from 7:30 to 7:40 for Miller, you know, we've we've moved the earliest pickup 22 minutes. I mean that is just a
a huge uh you know benefit to to to students for for sleep for uh you know lighter lighter pickups um and cutting that average bus run down from 45 to 30 minutes is is also um you
know great. I think also the 22 minutes I just want to say yes I mean obviously we've got quicker bus runs but I think it demonstrates that we're not just pushing to get kids to school faster because we could have just you know done
you know 640 is the earliest pickup and have the same thing. So, it's it's very we are you've done just you and your whole team have done you know just a great job really working with what we have and and making some tweaks to you know improve this and and
I I will admit I was a little dubious of of the the plan at first um but um so far it seems like you know while while there's some work to do in certain areas it's going really well I think to pointing out some of the gains as well really I mean to be able
to have our prek cater to two in three to five students that are siblings was a big deal to have them all going together. I mean it's really streamlined schedules for parents which was a concern of mine and the gain here was obviously instructional time 10 extra minutes for placentantino and 15 minutes
for the other schools and so to get all of that we also don't want to lose that time on learning by having kids getting late to school and that's where Dr. Jordan's done a great job trying to make those adjustments and he's worked so closely with the principles to have those conversations well. So, nothing is ever perfect, but I think overall the
gains and um you know in instructional time, the gains in students and schedules and parents to be able to have more um flexibility with their students, the benefits seem to be really substantial right now. And yes, that doesn't mean we're not aware of any safety that we still will have to
address and we will continue to address as the year goes on as well. updates for a week. So they super I mean to your point we get more knowledgeable about the roots it should only get better at least stay
backwards but at the same time what that efficiency what else could we do without you know sacrificing any sort of student that is we need to lengthen that yeah I think I think you know this is
this is there are areas that we still can show improvement. I think that, you know, I know there's some concerns about some of the moving back 10 minutes, 5 minutes and and kind of moving in that that direction. I mean, now we have the
template, the framework. It ju it it more or less the template rolls over year over year and you're just kind of tweaking it based off of the new writers that you have, but the route um is now kind of the framework is built. Uh but uh the hardest work and I and I want to
say to that give credit to um Heather from home uh from Heather Yates from from homes transportation and then Kim Stton as far as like putting a lot of the the countless hours that they put in as far as putting these routes out together um over the summer um I think will just pay off year after year for us
as we do this. And I think that we we learned a lot about some of our pickup points points that we want to safe locations and where we want to make some adjustments. we were able to do some of that on the fly. And I think some of the hard part of making those adjustments on the fly is when when you make one move, it's like a a pin that you pull. It then
impacts the other people. So, you know, every move you're going to make is going to frustrate five people down the road as you do it. So, some of them you had to swallow that pill and we have to make that move cuz that's a safe choice that you have to make and know that I'm going to have to deal with a handful of like upset emails because we have to make
this safety decision knowing that it's going to impact the the time for some others. But just to be clear, these statistics are after the fiveminute push back. All the the Yeah. This is what we are for the year. Yeah. [Music]
That includes the five minutes. Yeah. This is our current plan. Question transportation for a moment. [Music]
Um, we public comments. Sorry, bus drivers. Out of Um, I don't think anybody should disagree that safety of the children is
paramount. Given that and given how we drive buses and so on, why as a budget item and I don't know anything about budgets and by the way, thank you very much for I know you work very hard. Um,
why do we not have a bus aid on the buses especially? I don't know if you realize this, but when a bus is driving 30 mph, it's driving about 40 ft per second. One or two seconds to tell Johnny to sit
down and be traveling. One light bulb to the next can happen one or two seconds. Why your doctor's primary concern is the safety of the children. Do we not have the bus on each bus to make sure the bus
driver is not distracted? It's a question. The uh second thing is my little emotional about that. I I will speak for myself as a bus driver. My
first and primary job from point A to point B safety. I'm not there to monitor their social behaviors, their mom, their dad, me, the priest, or anything else. I just want to get them to school safely. And when I'm distracted, and it's happened many
times, any of the others, it's because my eyes are on the mirror looking back. So again, I phrase my question. If our paramount concern is for the safety of the children, why is there not a budget
item to make sure there's something on the bus to make sure the bus driver Thank you. I I just want to say I appreciate that that feedback. I think it's something that, you know, is always in conversation as far as school business administrators and those who oversee
transportation, not just at like the company level of like homes transportation and and Connelly and some of the other area transportation companies. Uh, but it is a a group conversation that we have as as business administrators. It's like what our area districts are doing and what, you know,
what strategies that we're thinking about uh to always to kind of improve the the integrity and the safety of our our buses. [Music] Okay, thank you. Can I David, I know I feel like this
year you you worked really hard to or I think as an administrative team I saw emails come out I think earlier than usual trying to get bus passes together. Um anything I guess we could think about over the course of the next year of how to avoid some of these late
registrations that seem to really throw things off? I and I appreciated that some of that first information came out while we were still in school. Sometimes people are tuning out by the beginning of June, but if there's even a way where the cost increase if you wait until the
last minute aside from moveins, right? I can be very sympathetic if someone moves in there isn't. But we need to set up some sort of system where you can't end up with 60 or 70 surprised kids a week before school starts. One of the things we talked about is
tricky. So for some students the transportation is free. So then you can't impose a late fee for that student and if I know that I don't have to pay I might some might just not really worry about getting a slot because they know
they'll have a slot. So that's that's the group I think that could be challenging. Um, but I we could consider maybe a fee for I would say numbers, but Kim Saxon and I uh had that same conversation and idea of kind of like
it's kind of those things like cats out of the bag and you're it's already too late. You can't all of a sudden implement the fees. You're like, "Ah, darn it. All right, next year we're going to do this." It's I think that you're right and I think where districts have had success um making sure that they have the predominance of their routes kind of set far in advance is
that they have an escalating late fee. Yeah. Um leading up to just a an allout like no just it's a white weight list. You may never get on a bus past this point. Uh but for the most part as you escalate the rate um that's that's I think some
districts have had success doing that. So that's it's not been our practice. Um so I think it I think it's a good idea. I think it's the type of thing I would start communicating in the spring that we're going to start doing this and like I would say it at a school committee
meeting. I would you know everybody's like, "Yep, we're all doing this." And then start sending communication. So it's really no surprise that like all right, you hit July 15th, it's going up $10. You hit August 1st, it's going up another $10. And you know, whatever that rate is, that works. But we would do
some research on that. Yeah. Okay. I apologize. Public comment is at is at the beginning of the meeting. Hold on. Really? That's that's really not fair.
You all of you could have spoken during public comment. That's what it's for. So, we typically come in and have a piece of paper where people sign up. I think a number of ladies here. You have four people. I didn't want to hear our point of view.
I was driving a school bus which is why I came late so I was not able to sign. But if people can raise their hand at home, why can we not raise our hand? The time for that was was when people were raising their hand that I I apologize that's just how this works.
We don't feel that that's acceptable. I think that you could give us a few minutes about how we have a few things to say too. I wish you had Pardon me. I I you've been here this whole time. I wish you had spoken after just
wait until you got transportation and then we will have another meeting with additional public comment in about two weeks. In addition to that, there's other ways to come in and and address this either through email.
It's not public. We're actually kind of staffed because we're school bus drivers. So, I just don't understand the difference. Mr. Jordan, what do you think? It's not my It's not my call to
It's the school committee's meeting. Oh, okay. So, then why do you want people here? Yeah. I I think that you could give us a few minutes. I'm sure that the people that are watching would be interested here will be up to we are the people
that were heavily impacted by this. I'm sorry. You're welcome to come. Our next meeting is on our start doing budget. Um so we had a budget meeting um what was it Tuesday
um and where we discussed our capital request for the October town meeting. Um Dr. Jordan, do you have the list of of capital items that we Yeah. Um it's in the folder up here.
Um additionally, just while he's bringing that up, so so last night, I think it was CPC met to discuss the flag field project. Um there was some confusion about the availability of of how much how much funds they have. That's been cleared up today. Uh so they didn't officially vote to support the
flag project uh and fund it, but they sort of voted in in in concept to support it. And they'll be having another meeting later that meeting. And um so we want to thank them for for that support and that is important because of the um
the the flag road which the schools are are requesting as part of that project. Um so this is our our um our recommendation for the uh capital request. Dr. Do you want to go through some of the items? Yeah. Uh so kind of starting from the t
top and working our way down. uh the Placentino Miller roof. Um the request is for 1.35 million. Uh this is approximately half of the total cost that needs to be done for the Miller and Plastantino roof. Um we are waiting on
the uh MSBA uh rule on our accelerated repair uh program on the their accelerated repair program. we they vote on that um in I think it's October 29th. Um I'm hoping that you know might there
might be some information we can kind of get access to ahead of time a little bit leading up to that uh that meeting to kind of understand where that lies. Uh but it isn't the type of thing that will put us in any kind of like actionable area uh to use that knowledge by uh town
meeting. Um the tech replacement uh this is our reoccurring fall capital technology uh request that we have. Um these are our musts. Um this is kind of our heavy technology replacement that we we do that doesn't live within
appropriations. Um I do have if uh Susan down the the bottom tabs if you to click on tech detail. So uh this Dan uh Mr. Mloud put this together. This is kind of what um what
is kind of being covered within our our tech capital that reaches our our 243,000 uh 250. So, we went back to the summary uh the flag uh flag road um or the access road or the lynen access road,
whatever we want to kind of name it uh when we finally make it a a a viable um significant road. Uh this is 135,910. Um this is meant to link with the CPC
project which is for the uh flag uh the flag project which is looking at kind of some crushed gravel uh tracks and basketball courts um a pavilion and just kind of really redoing that and specifying that area. um kind of looping that in is is the road that is on that
is on the pro as on the school property um how do we make that more of a legitimate uh road that has space for parking and folks to kind of really move their way down and through that road. Um if we were if that project were to not move forward and we were just thinking
like well what do we want to do with that road my recommendation would be an overlay. Um so Susan if you were to click on uh the flag road detail um the overlay or the top course uh would go for roughly 46,795.
I've spoken about the number of roughly being $50,000 to do that. Um that would just kind of the structural purpose of the way the current road is and we would just lay the asphalt over the top of it. Um since we are doing a substantive project uh for the flag road and we are
wanting families to really use that whether it's for youth sports or for arrival dismissal or for whatever kind of their own personal purposes on the weekends or evenings for it. We want to make it a more viable road. This would mean you would need to kind of reclaim the road uh and really chew the entire
road up down to the gravel. Reggravel it and put that kind of that gravel binder course down. And that's the $18,000 to the $70,000 to kind of regrade re redo that road. And then you put your asphalt um over the top, which is the 50,000. So
that's where that 135,000 comes from. Um in the $750,000 CPC um uh amount uh is about $25,000 for parking that they're building in to loop in. So the entirety of the road work is roughly about 160
$170,000, but we're quoting about like 160,000. So, we went to the summary. There's then the the which has been on the capital improvement plan for several years. Um, and is something that we need to kind of continue to to have to keep
an eye on is the the sidewalks on the Miller and Plastantino campus. Uh, they were put in and the parking lot for that matter were put put in in 1998. Now granted, there's been patching work and different things that have been done at that point, but if you uh have young children or even your children made your
way on to middle school, it's probably you have noticed the the Plastentino Miller uh sidewalks have some good sizable chunks um out of it. Uh and it was looked far in advance several years ago to do some repair work on the
sidewalks. uh but also since um the the uh the parking lot uh was done around the same time is to kind of do an overlay of the parking lot, do some significant patching of the sidewalk and realign the parking lot. So that is
comes to the amount of $270,000 $175,000 for the parking lot and then about then $100,000 for sidewalk repair um to get that into good shape. Finally, um is the HVAC rooftop uh unit. Uh this is the um
kind of emergency fund that we have um for failure. This was um I think it was I'm bl I'm I'm blanking on the exact year that the the warrant went in uh for when the HVAC rooftop um fund was was created, but $500,000 would put it was
put in that account account. That was meant to cover uh in an emergency uh the large what would be roughly the co the cost of the largest rooftop unit that we have. Um that fund was put into use last year uh for the rooftop unit uh above
the the uh auditorium at the middle school. Um if we go into HVAC detail, the cost of that unit, just the actual unit was uh $39,000. $39,450.
Um, that's just for the unit. The electrical, the electrical, the duct work that needed to be done, some of the roof restoration of where that was put in, and some of the different um IT tech work that we're using to kind of advance what technology is uh led to kind of
that more sizable hit to the $500,000 account. Now, yet we we do have about $121,000 still in that account at that account, but that is not enough to cover um what would be our next biggest or even some of our smaller units at that point. So, what I'm requesting is that
we replenish that account so that we are prepared for any emergency that were to present itself. Our to note, our rooftop units are all about the same age as far as follow the the age of the building uh that they're there. So um they're not they're not following nec necessarily
all are not in great roughly are not in great shape. We just have some that were absolutely failing. So we are going to be in a series of likely replacement over the next 10 to 15 years. Um we don't want to replace them proactively. We want I mean we as they fail we want
to get ahead of it if we can. Uh but some still have some are showing still some good life but others are are limping along. So um October 2021 uh was when the town meeting approved the initial 500,000 um and just you know given the
limitations obviously of town government and how money spent uh the 350,000 which I think was the largest unit is larger than the town sort of reserve fund uh that it has. I mean it's 250 or 275. Um so it was put in place to be allowed for
for that. Um we're now below um where our next most expensive one is and so we're looking to replenish it. Um one just as an aside as far as the uh the plastino Miller sidewalks and parking as a as a little bit of an anecdote last year. I took away a big punk sidewalk
from a uh from a child who was nicely throwing it in front of him as as he and a friend walked and there were a few other kids in front of him. So that was it's definitely crumbling section of it. Um
that said, uh the town's capital, um sort of the money that they expected to be for for capital, uh spending is is very tight this year. And so, um this is our list of needs. Um but there's going
to be some more work to be done uh to to come up with a with a full plan. That was also why it was so important though that uh we get a little bit of a an idea of where CPC was going to be to know if we were going to need want to ask for the full amount to do the project sort of the long-term right way or or to do
it for a temporary kind of patch. Um so a few things that uh we'll need to to vote on tonight. Uh but before we get to other ones, are there any questions about these um projects? Just so the community is aware, I mean,
if this becomes obtainable, we have a list of priorities that should happen now versus [Music] correct. So we Well, well, this is for October, but we may so we may come back
um with a recommendation of prioritization later, but we're not prioritizing at this point. That said, there's that big sort of elephant at the top that um depending on sort of whether we get into the, you know, MSBA rent
program or not could impact timing. Um and then, you know, there'll be a kind of a conversation about if we delay it a year, what does that mean for, you know, as we were talking about the the the ram's roof there, um Mr. Keys was very concerned about sort of the longer you
wait, the more damage you could in theory do and then you end up having to go to the more expensive option. Um it seems like that it seems like plastic steel for Miller is in better shape flat portion uh than the Ramof was, but um it it still needs to be done.
Yeah, it still leaks. Yeah, it still leaks there. It rains in there. We have tunnels inside that building. Um, that should tell you how bad it was for the middle school. Like at that point, that was that woman was in rough shape.
[Music] Okay. Okay. So, um, how do you how do you want to vote on that? Many things we need to vote on um, budget wise. So, the first is going to be just to, you know, further our
support for for the CBC flag project. Just we've already kind of supported it, but now as we continue to go forward, I think that it would be good to um re reopen what's reaffirm our support for the project. Uh the
second is the the capital requests and then what we haven't talked about is the solar class of Tino and Rams. So, um, I had a number of meetings with our, uh, sustainability coordinator, a consultant that we have, uh, for, uh, solar. Um,
Donald was, we had, we had in a budget two times ago. Um, and, uh, looked at a whole bunch of different options. I think you mentioned it a little bit last week. Uh, ultimately, if we're going to proceed now with the town's capital where it is, um, there's really no
option to buy. Additionally, the cost savings, while we still need to work on getting the numbers uh a little bit more firm, um the cost savings don't seem to be as significant as they initially did. But the risk I would say of operating
the system if you own it would put a significant additional burden on on Jordan really to make sure that it was up and up and running um constantly and that if anything, you know, broke, we were replacing it. So, um, we're really looking for for a
lease, just rough ballpark. No one hold me to this, but it looks like probably combined doing the lease option uh which will have no upfront cost or minimum upfront cost actually because there there will be a a connect um
some number of connect um charge um of about 100,000 will be ballpark 75 to 100,000 in savings a year once turned on and if it hits all the the the the um
assumptions that we do that. So this is as much a um a commentary or a sort of a [Music] to a sustainability sort of uh you know project as it is really a cost savings.
you know, certainly probably have something to do with budgeting into our our budget for the cost saving, but it does sort of groove us towards, you know, our goal of of being, you know, more envir environmentally friendly, helping uh out where we where we can,
moving toward towards uh other sustainable uh energy. And you said this last name, why now? Oh, well, because the the uh our partner uh Select is able to safe harbor or in some way sort of get us into the program
before uh the uh the federal government sunset kicks in from the one big beautiful bill. So if we wait here, the cost could go up or the saving potential savings we're talking about right now could go down because it will
cost more to to lease cuz the safe harbor is the the credit or tax deduction is going to reduce the cost for some what you pass on. Correct. It's something like 25%. It's it's not completely known because
Massachusetts is also doing something. So there's some moving parts, but the I mean was it 600,000 on like 1.8 million or something like it was some pull up the exact numbers. Yeah. But I just wanted to be clear like we're
not focus because you know we're interested in right now. It's more like there is things that are on the time bound that we may lose if we don't consider it now. Yes. Yes. But but at the same time, we have talked about solar uh sort of off and on in the past and the issue had always been we have old roofs and we
don't want to put new solar panels on old roofs. So So now we're putting on new roofs. So and and the Plazantino solar um would be on the uh new shingle section, not the flat roof portion. And um we may revisit
at some point, but there was a study um a number of years ago for on the Miller side that that said that that roof was not capable of of handling the increased load of solar panels. So that's why that's not included as part of this. [Music]
And so the um the town manager has asked that the school committee sponsor the the Warren article. Um I think that they will come in with uh maybe 1750 and the seniors or the center. I don't there was there was there were two town sites much
smaller um pieces. Yeah. 7 1750. Um hold on. I've got this. Give me a second. I can tell you anybody right where parks and wreck is I thought it was a center but I thought it I
the senior center is that you said I'm I'm playing what the other site was but there were there were two other sites but much smaller array so yes um so we so I think we will eventually vote on the actual warrant article itself but that hasn't been written council needs
to review it and to be clear and Don has made this point uh very well is that this is just to authorize a to seek town meeting approval to authorize us to enter into a lease agreement. The lease agreement itself still needs to be written and reviewed by council. A lot
of work needs to be done afterward, but because a lease is in theory long-term debt, uh you you need a affirmative vote by by the town. Okay. Um so do we want to vote on these three things separately? Yeah.
Yes. So um the first one I'll entertain a motion for the fall capital requests. So we need to actually vote we need to vote the number the number of I don't have it open.
All right. So, um I make a motion uh to request three, I'm sorry, $2,372,569 for uh Toming for the school's capital request consisting of uh 1,350,000 for Plantia Miller roof repair to go with
the MSBA project. Uh 232,750 uh for technology replacement. $135,910 [Music] uh for the flag road, $275,000 for the Plastentina Miller sidewalk and parking, and 378,99
to replenish the HVAC rooftop um fund. Second by Don. All in favor? Carries. And there are some other potential funding sources for some of these things that uh I've been having conversations
with care about. um if depending on where sort of numbers come in. Okay. And then the second item to sponsor a warrant article for the lease of solar for Plantino and RS. Right. So I make a motion to that the
school committee support the sponsoring of a warrant article for the lease uh of solar at Plastentino and Ranch. Second by Don. All in favor? that passes and then finally just support for CP the
fly field. So move second by John. All in favor? Okay. Um I think that was everything we do with budget.
So you're done with budget? Yeah. Okay. Do you want to move on to communications? Yes. our communications subcommittee met on yesterday. Yesterday uh weeks ago uh we met yesterday uh
really focused around two things. So the first thing is how we can better communicate with the community um point of the communication subcommittee. Uh we discussed a few ideas uh including a newsletter uh that we can post out. Also
I will take uh fault for this. So, Hillary and Jo uh potentially doing short videos, but thinking where the world's moving, the newsletter could be verbose and we will produce one, but how do we create
also little snippets of updates? So, uh more to come on that we're going to discuss further in our next touch base. But the uh the other thing we discussed was with the already week three now um with the start times update
um that Dr. Jordan provided we really want to share with the community on a broader basis really the positive news that we're seeing and then that's not to take in light of the areas of opportunity we have uh we certainly have those we have specific opportunities with with X we've discussed um but
really let's focus on two like the holistic like we went through at Dr. ordinance. So in your packet is an update uh travel I did y um that I will we are proposing to share with the community um
open it up as we typically do make edits and the goal be to send it out [Music] um one would move the compar comparison
to to next year to be first and include the chart that Dr. Jordan provided. Okay. I think just starting off with sort of the I don't want to call negatives but the sort of the moving backwards is just let's you know start off the lead
with the the really good news. Um and then um the issues with charts is not easy. So I will do my best to to you. Thank you. Um,
[Music] I think that we need to highlight more the the hard work and um effort of the the central office administration as well as the, you know, especially the Miller um administrators and and just
even, you know, teachers and, you know, parents, bus drivers, we have to end up and and the hard work of the bus drivers. um adjusting to the new changes, being out there for the kids, helping across
Woodland. Um so we did put at the end I think it's a little premature to jump woodland just yet. I was not sure you were comfortable with that. No, I wasn't saying we talk about obviously the students crossing Woodland from the railroad. There there are um
staff out there helping the students cross the road. Yeah, you want to make edits while you're I I have to I would have to request access and that seems really difficult. So, none of us have access.
Oh, can I can you give us access, sir? Oh, that's right. I don't I I think to give me access, but you can use the church. We're going to vote on it tonight. [Music]
I think it's really I can put comments on you. I just gave him the You gave up. All right. I'm not doing it the right way. Okay. Good. I have a school committee group, so I just do it in one. Good. Thank you.
All right. [Music] The only thing I will say to him and everyone try to keep it short and sweet. Four pages update. Yeah, I agree. I agree with every
video. You're so perfect about your video. Your mug. You can do this. I got the first
[Music] [Music] Thank you for putting this together.
Mhm. [Music] You have two versions. I think the non background was better. Okay. I thought Dr.
He did. It's the same chuck though. Can you center the numbers in because that's my one do something between that. Wait, can you put the chart below the bullets? Do you need all of those bullets though?
Cuz they're kind of redundant. [Music] now and in the chart if it is that's fine probably [Music] more
kill the third bullet. Yes. I'm talking [Music] still reading. You do. Yes. Okay. I'm not sure how officially to do this, but can I make a motion to approve the school's part-time letter as written
or necessary as amended? Yes, sir. And just and give Frank uh permission to tweak any any minor nonsubstantive changes. Okay.
Second. Second. Yeah. nonsubstantial changes. Did you second that? Yes. Okay. All in favor? Sorry. That passes. All right. I'll get that today tomorrow morning. We will send it to
uh obviously anyone who's on the list is students included. Students for I get it. Okay. And then the community which I actually
the signups for the community updates are still ongoing. Always open. So I know that is a big win at the end of last school year still is going. So if you want to subscribe to our communications uh I don't have the link in front of me but you can for we
should probably send out an update at the beginning of the year. So I'll work with Dan tomorrow also to do that. We invite as many people to to sign up. Um, okay. I think that was all the communications. Great
policy. We kind of covered a bunch, but we're going to meet again in early October and we're going to set the date when we're done with budget. Superintendent Eva and then math advisory.
We met on Tuesday. Um we reviewed the um all the information that the group had collected in their research over the summer looking at different programs and surrounding districts looking at data in Hollston uh comparison with the state and comparison of different districts um
and we set our calendar for the rest of the year. So we'll get those meetings up on the calendar. Um we meet again in about two weeks. How many are in the group? It's about 10. I'd have to look, but
it's it's a nice representation of it's mostly middle school teachers, but we have elementary and high school representation. We have ad um uh administration from the middle school and we have parent representatives as well. Great. Great.
[Music] Then update on the superintendent search firm. Yes. So in your packet in the folder I apologize. Um was the we still have
not received uh I I don't think they're going to Yeah, I don't think so. Uh they're supposed to submit it Monday. I believe we have five firms that document uh that have submitted proposals
and uh I did update in the document some were mistransated but the overall ranking priority that we based on stood the same. Um and we what we did was we took
the proposals we also went through in detail and based on eight different criteria experience and track record. So previous performance and searches the approach and methodology community engagement which I know is going to be huge for this as we think through the
process. Uh diversity inclusion cost and value timeline schedule services and guarantees references and credentials. So those eight criteria is how we scored with one to five uh for each of the submissions and I correct myself we had four
submissions as um overall right now of the four [Music] HYA Hazard Young Paya Associates um has scored the highest next by McFerson and
Jacobson uh respectfully respectfully uh 35 5 was um HYA compared to 32.5 for James. The other two which were MASC
and teaching and learning alliance ranked lower. Um so all of these were based on and I really have to thank Hillary's leader. Um she was huge in terms of getting the outreach. Uh we talked about earlier meaning how challenging it was to to get firms to
apply once you know we reached out and we I think the ner the nervousness the complexity of the RFP may scares people and we said hey submitted a proposal they started covering it pretty quickly. Um so with that we ranked in there's there's comments for each one of why it
was ranked the way it was. Um obviously open to interpretation, open to updates right now. This is where we feel at uh we are at um Sarah and Dawn I do advise uh the next steps is if you guys want to bring in any of these firms uh in a
subsequent meeting to to walk through their proposal have them do a presentation. Okay. Is there a breakdown like of like so HYA for example 1,600 searches are plentiful but do we have any kind of breakdown of
how often they've worked in Massachusetts? So at the bottom I know that question came up uh just make sure it's in a couple Yes. in the bottom was a chart that had uh represented examples of their successful searches. So you'll see
for HYA uh specifically in this area was moving. Uh there's some in New York, Virginia. Um I am aware of Fington, Rhode Island. So that is another uh I I know there's
very success obviously not as close with Wisconsin or South Dakota. Um so all of them are listed there. um we can go through I think if we decide to invite them to bring case studies in terms of specific you know taking you as an example um to
walk through the process they took and why they believe they were successful in that search. Well obviously school development council and and MASC are you know sort of the most Massachusetts sort of centric. Yes. Um but at the same time I think that uh
HA has done significantly more searches they have worked in Massachusetts. Um I also you know liked uh their um their language around you know specifically looking to uh target recruiting um
channels for for diverse candidates. Um and if you just look at overall the year scoring which I assume was consistent across all the different ones they rated the highest amongst the most categories and the lowest where was obviously they are on the more costly side. Um but not
not crazy difference in cost. No, it was well within our expect like so well within what we expected but the most costly of the but they outscored pretty much everyone in almost every category except for for cost. Um,
you know, I we can I think we can certainly have them in, but I think it almost I I would be ready to move forward with Hi today and sort of authorize Don and Sarah to sort of enter negotiations over the contract and have them come in next week if possible to
start next time if possible to start the conversation to start the the process. If you look at their schedule, it starts in September and if we delay making a choice until next week, next time it won't start until late October. I would agree with that. I think
certainly if you want to get into Jacobson pretty good as well, but um I do want to make sure in for the community we start this process. I I could have missed it, but McFersonson didn't disclose a cost.
Correct. Not exactly. And if you look across their scores, they're almost always lower than than HYA for your category. Did you get a sense of who I there's like 135 associates with HYA all over the country? Someone coming in to do
this? Are they trying to do a lot of this work remotely? Um who would be would they come here and run this live with the community, sit down and and speak with people or are they intending that is a phenomenal question. we need to think through questions that maybe
are not present in the proposal but specific to what we want them to do to make sure they can do it. So I'd be hesitant to vote until we have some of those questions answered. Right. Because while they might have a a very good track record, I'm not sure we want them running it from a computer screen
while people are sitting. Absolutely. Does it make sense then we bring if we feel confident that we bring them in? We all think through questions we may have specific that may not be a proposal and next meeting though I do agree with Dan if we keep pushing it then we'll get
into the holiday soon. No, it's a hard process to um Okay. I wonder if it would be worth talking to Newton to find out what their experience was with them. I can also reach out to beings and I have close ties there. So I do. Yeah.
I actually think that would be helpful to because that's I I think my only concern is I don't think they have done a lot in Massachusetts. Maybe Rhode Island is close enough, but um Newton is a great district. So, well, I think interesting this the
Newton church was was the one where the need superintendent was was hired. So, they didn't go too far. You didn't go to go too far. So, they they clearly um work within the community. Um I I just I think that they are so they're 42page sort of
documentation obviously prepared specific for us but it's incredibly comprehensive and um you know given their their timeline if you push it later it's going to push everything um back significantly and
this is already getting into you know February March of 2026 as the the the final and to not wait two weeks. Does it make sense to vote to move forward contingent
on specific questions? Sure. Well, I think we should move forward, but also be weary, not weary, but get our questions answered before we say yes, we're moving forward with this. I would be giving I would as well. Does the committee want to narrow it
down to two or three potential search committ How do you feel about that? And then you guys sort of take after you do more diligence. Yeah. Shouldn't the second one be confusion?
What did you like about them? Did you want to start? [Music] Um, similar track record. um pricing I think for all of these I mean we did also look outside of their proposal which did not include it to
kind of get a range of what we can expect. So what is listed in there is what others have said at least I don't know in reality so I think that's one example uh where we need more information um they were not clear on timeline schedule like
the the only thing would be doing NCC because they're obviously that gives you a choice between local versus national. Um, and what are the score differences between like two points? Okay. These I mean you look only done
one Massachusetts search too recently. That's a weighted total. It's not necessarily flip a coin. McFerson did score two and a half points lower than according to a weighted total but the others were respectively 26.5 and 29.5.
So you'd say Ferson over anyc despite the fact that they don't have the local I only thought was just you picking a local if you're if you want two would be to pick a local one or two that's two comparison many ways we can flavor this
but I'm but I'm as I said I'm comfortable tonight I think as a challenger Dan you're bringing important point like we would be comparing two likes for you know let's take a challenge that is different being local regardless of the score like they didn't score horribly like we
didn't get down to like a five. So I would I would support look at hya and um that's there you like you like that better. Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. MC is not
sorry chart, but MC also said um they were below all three special. [Music]
They're at 26. So, apologies for that. I think they just scored slightly below. I I guess I just struggle with I feel like we have the experience in Massachusetts, right? Many of many people that are working within it have
worked with those educators through the years and and also often know the districts well. So it's sometimes it's about a good match too. Yeah. Right. [Music] My perspective is HA is the uh
what we're looking at right now, but we can pull in a challenger. I I felt their their proposal was the strongest particularly in a couple of the areas that we were most interested in, you know, the Canadian patron piece, the diversity piece, but both NASDAQ and
MASC also got um good proposals. I definitely bring in uh having districts [Music] uh like doing the recent surgeon doing
internal. [Music] Um given the bread that may has I mean it makes sense to potentially have that too. But I do think we should limit it to one challenge or so. Yeah.
Yeah. And and you've done a you guys have done a tremendous amount of work on this and I trust your your judgment evaluation on this, but if we were to limit it to two, do you have a strong preference over MASC or Nest?
[Music] gut feeling. Um I think one challenge with MSC is that they didn't provide a breakdown of costs. Um NASDAQ did and it was under what we
expected. Um that's the only thing one more thing there was there was they had the sample contract didn't that had yeah that did have um
it's on page how was the challenger yeah right right they're all in the the packet I mean it's it's costwise They're pretty favorable. Oh, there they are. Yeah. Thank you.
So, are they similar to EST? They're similar to the Okay. And less than HY. Yes. [Music] [Music] [Music] in other areas their their proposals are
pretty similar. So I I don't have a strong between the two. [Music]
feel like MASC is they focus more just obviously just in Massachusetts but so I don't know if that's helpful or [Music]
Can we take the approach right fit? I don't know. Limiting geography if that is a a benefit or expense. Yeah. By having the local rules allows them to understand these art districts like districts.
[Music] And I feel like the three of you have spent some time looking through all of this. You probably don't have that many questions cuz you you would have pulled them out already, but I guess if you do, we have a little bit of time to reach
out on them. Um, and so is the idea that when we come back on Yeah. and that we will bring someone back to present or we will select already.
I think it might be helpful before we move forward to have them come in. But with good that like unless there's something that's completely not aligned with what we're trying to achieve like that is versus signing today and we're voting
today and saying we're going this. If something catch us off guard, then it's questions come up. We want to make sure we get all the questions answered. And you raised a good one like how are they going to conduct the search? I don't think any proposal said we're going to be boots on the ground or
remote. So, we want to have the certain questions. I feel like the lack of telling us that might be the just knowing that it's a nationwide. I just want to make sure I think it would be important people in the community may feel better heard if 20 people are here in a room they don't
expect someone to be on a screen across the country. Yes, they did have a line for expenses which included travel. So I'm assuming that you know that would hit that moment that not estimated. So again, where costs can
go up um but well within the range of course. [Music] I do know the chair of the school committee who recently used NASDAQ like I can reach out to them see what their experience is like.
[Music] Yeah, I think each of us go up there for me, but that makes most sense with the intention to come back and officially next.
Okay, that sounds good. Sarah, we can connect to I want to be prepared to any firm we asked to come in. So we want to discuss uh the next day or so extending an invite just so they're aware I hate to invite them to Yeah. Yeah. Right. And they invite they could join us
remotely. [Music] Okay. Do we need to vote on anything or just We want to vote off of here. No, but is what? Yeah. What is going to make a motion? I think to authorize Don and Sarah to
sort of make a decision. I'm hearing different things. I'm hearing decide tonight. Um, leave Sarah and Don to decide or or have someone come back, narrow it down and have them come back and make a presentation either
remote or live and then vote on the 25th. I'm cover making decisions and it does not seem like everyone is. So my sort of second alternative so that we can have a decision made by the comm the chosen group into to start the process and
through a discussion with us through to make presentation to us would be to authorize you guys to but they're presenting after we've selected them. Well, you would be talking you would maybe try to talk to them in the interim, right? But are you saying we've selected them and then we say and then come?
No, then they start then they come talk to us to start the process just like So are you saying that we vote on tonight on which one or that we vote to authorize Sarah and John to I would voting on which one tonight but if people are not then it would be that
would the Is it possible we send questions? I I agree with making this even a smaller group and having Sarah and Don lead it. But if we can send questions to both get clarified with that firm, whatever firm
it is and then you can authorize me to make the decision. I'm good. We can send questions to the chair. We will send questions to the chair that not just cuz that doesn't mean does that work for everyone? I mean, I think we are talking.
I am except that I think I have somewhat of a sense of where you guys look to this and I see your ranking system and we've now talked about this. I think I know sort of where you're leaning, but I guess trace to the extent like what are your thoughts on and the answer might be
you don't know yet because you still have more questions and that's fine. But I if you're authorizing Sarah and I to make a decision, I wanted to make sure we're hitting people's questions, that they felt like they've reviewed it, and that it's the committee's decision.
I don't fully know for sure. Um, your question about the in person, I think, is probably the biggest concern. Um, because I don't think it's fair to the community to ask them to do this all remotely. Um, and so I would feel comfortable with you both handling that, but I would not feel comfortable voting
today without answers to that question in particular. Okay. It sounds like we should need to vote on 25th then and we need to probably bring in one if not two. If there's still un if there's still things we're not clear about, we bring them in
for a presentation like maybe very first part of the meeting and and then we could probably vote by the end of the next meeting. I I think that makes the most and there's many ways you can get this right now. I think there's definitely a
sense of you know Hillary I went through this you guys have seen it but I think there's some questions comfortable that you know going versus Yeah. I mean, this is great work. You I agree with your metrics, your ranking system. That's, you know, you you did a
lot of work on these proposals and at least tonight we've accomplished, you know, kind of in narrowing down. Yeah. And I always have potential, but at the same time, this is we're discussing it. So, I think it's fair for everyone on the committee to take at least one more meeting and talk with the firm. We're
comfortable with that. I think Sarah, you and Don decide who we bring in. Um, okay. One, two, three. Um, and then we'll be prepared to be prepared for
bring them all. Um, and be prepared. Be here till 2:00 in the morning. It was good presentation. Yes. Right. You guys, you get 10 minutes to sell yourselves for that. Great. And then I I do suggest as you said earlier each of us go out and do
individual research as well to help discuss. So it's likely going to be HYA and then either MASC or okay I think that's sounds reasonable. Is it reasonable to say if you have additional questions? There's a lot of
information here. If you thought about it, you've got the perspective of other people with the rankings. maybe try and get the questions to us by Monday, Tuesday. And that would be any questions on the proposals there questions that are not
in their proposals that we should ask. [Music] Okay. So there no vote right now. [Music] What are we doing? I assume you would I'm I'm I'm fine.
Want to make sure everyone's comfortable. Okay. Okay. I think at this point we're ready to adjourn to executive session to executive session uh to discuss strategy with respect to collective
bargaining or litigation of if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigation litigating position of the public body. Chair so declares and for which we will not return. And from which we will not return. Absolutely. Second.
Did I do a call? Okay. Joe, yes. Frank, yes. Hillary, yes. Tracy, yes. Dan, yes. Yes. And I'm a Yes. So, good night, Alison.