##VIDEO ID:r1qOY8LtpVM## all right good evening and uh welcome to the uh November 14th uh 2024 meeting of the hollon school committee uh we do have one member who is uh participating remotely so I'm going to read the uh the uh Governor's uh sort of statement uh preserve the governor's July 16th 2022 act relative to extending certain covid-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law uh mgl c3a paragraph 20 the hon school committee will be using remote participation for this meeting the audio of this meeting is being recorded will be posted to the town's website as soon as possible in accordance with keeping the public informa of actions during the meeting uh this time I will take a roll call of attendance uh Frank here Joe here Hillary here Sarah here Don PR uh Cynthia yes and I Dan am here as well so we are now call to order in session um we will first up take up the consent agenda does anyone have any uh questions comments that includes uh some gifts are in your packet and we thank the PTO for all those gifts so I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda so move second by Dawn okay that requires a roll call vote because we are meeting as we were meeting Frank yes Joe yes Hillary yes Sarah yes Don yes cythia yes and I Dan am also a yes um moving on to our report from our student Representatives so NHS is hosting a senior citizen dinner um where theater will put on their um musical carry for them um and this is happening next Wednesday so the 20th um unified basketball is having a game versus the varsity basketball teams and this is also happening next Wednesday on the 20th um yesterday hollison hosted the unified basketball jamere in the gym where seven teams from the tvl came to participate um the cross country girls are going to States um opening night for Carrie is next Thursday which is the musical the Thanksgiving pep rally is coming up um the class of 2025 Crispy Cream and flag football fundraisers both went very well and I think a lot of people had fun um the in School Mock election happened where a Republican representative came to speak and give information on the ballot questions for new voters there was a Veterans Day assembly which went well and local veterans came in and spoke of their experiences and how they got involved and there's like a new youth Council the skoka youth Council where two students Roy Holmes and Lucy Harington were chosen especially by the social studies Department to uh participating okay yeah great thank you um we will uh then move on to our school Comm individual comment um only thing to bring up obviously the national elections are over not just National um can't rate the importance of not letting that get to this uh you know sticking together being Community we've accomplished it done let's not further divide um we'll see how it goes okay Jo I have no comment no comments um I just want to say congratulations to all of the Fall athletes um there have been pretty amazing performances all around from cross country to soccer to field hockey volleyball football so I just it's impressive and great to watch all the kids out there so a lot of fun thank you um just a quick update from hmap the November fund Drive um is is going on through November 30th um November's hm's grants Drive month and their goal is $2,500 to continue funding um the incredible Arts initiatives um available uh at hollon Public Schools uh so please go to their website to consider a donation there's a citrus fundraiser through November 30th also details are on the hmap website um and as the student repres representative stated the musical carry starts next Thursday evening at 7:30 and runs through uh performances Thursday Friday and Saturday evenings um at 7:30 on December 10th the high school and Rams chorus concert is at 7 p.m. at the high school and on December um 17th the high school and Rams band concert concert is at 7: p.m. at the high school okay and I do not have anything Cynthia um so now we'll move on to public comment we did have a few a couple people signed for public comment then I also understand uh that our that our principles are here to talk about the start times I don't because the start times are so far down on the agenda um if anybody was coming to that want to sort of be here for that I don't want to necessarily move it all forward so what I'd like to do is I'll I'll invite to start our our principls up to make any comments that they have about the um h I'm just trying to because be talking about something that we haven't actually presented yet so now I'm just trying to sort figure out so there's another presentation I one okay you um early night let me just give a high level and what the uh the committee recommended and then we can get back into the conversation later okay not I think people necessarily going to show up later but just in case okay sure um uh the the bus school start times committee met four times um across four consecutive weeks um Lively discussions very often we ended at 6 because that was the time we agreed to end as opposed to ending the discussion um we we KN knew we also knew we had a deadline so the discussions had to end so at the last meeting um Dr Jordan took copious notes and um on the criteria that's it's actually in your packet um from him and you know the the things that we looked at is basically non-starters and how to kind of wedge ourselves in both time wise and function wise the uh committee the committee uh voted to um do with two bus runs to put the uh placentino and middle schools on a bus together and the Miller school and the high school on a bus together as two runs um you know with with uh no firm start times just kind of ballp Parky kind of am versus PM type thing so um so that was the uh the uh the results of the committee we adjourned and that was it was a recommendation on which grouping went first or second the the the first grouping was the placentino and and Rams another high school yes PLO Rams just to specify nobody's going to school at p.m like we're not starting at p.m. when you said am p.m get me nervous a bit I'm sorry the it say High School Miller in the first high school high school Miller as the first run and classentino Rams is the second that is right you're right okay that's what the people just speak up C she's having problems hearing where that where's that disc we had do you still have that disc oh yeah we usually have the [Music] um sure that' be great um so before I I will uh all are all of you looking to speak or just someone okay I hoping to speak in if you had questions while they were here sure um so I'll probably in bre in this later when we have the sort of the fullsome discussion but um I listen to all the meetings uh that uh that the sub committee uh had it was a lot of really spirited uh good good uh debate and discussion back and forth I think if anyone um takes the time they're on the website I would encourage people to take that time to see how truly complex this issue is is uh is maddeningly complex uh given the constraints that that we have and um I know that we're what I'm certainly planning on doing and trying to work towards and I'm confident the rest of the committee is doing that as well is find the best solution for the most sort of people and really with an eye towards improving the instructional time and the the how the the the schedule is working for for our kids um it's going to be really challenging and I and I hope that we can can do it in a way that uh you know people appreciate and uh can are are not everyone's going to like what the final solution is okay um but hopefully we can we can minimize that and do what is best um for for the district so um with that uh Jamie or rogy or um just over here yeah all going up who whoever would like to to hi everyone um thank you so much for the opportunity for us to speak um I think we all want to say thank you and appreciate the complexity of this issue and we know that this committee worked really hard within the constraints that they were given um for people who do in all the time we understand what variables look like and how you have to make difficult decisions um Dan you mentioned or Keith you mentioned in the memo that was given to you there were a set of variables that they took into consideration and the one thing that wasn't um written down I'm sure it was SP of but wasn't written down was around student safety um as the principle of our prek to two school when I heard this recommendation I have to say my breath kind of got take it away a little bit um as one of the four people who deal um on a daily basis with bus behavior and different situations that happen on a bus um it's truly something I would like you to consider to reconsider this recommendation first thinking about the difference of um the develop developmental differences in behavior and maturity between these two age groups specifically I'm talking about our youngest students with the middle school students you're putting five six and seven year olds with 11 to 14 year olds from our youngest to oldest that is an 8ye age Gap um our middle school students I have in my home middle school students um Karen and I talk talk often about how we love this age group that being said developmentally they're at a time where they're increasing their independence their um social expiration and their testing boundaries it's important thing for them to be able to do that that's how they develop their frontal lobe that's how they learn decision making it's our job to give them a place that they can make mistakes in a safe environment and putting them on a bus with young students who are now going to be exposed to these conversations these behaviors um discussion about relationships social dynamics digital content this is going to be confusing and distressing for our younger elementary students our younger elementary students are going to learn vocabulary that they've never been exposed to they're going to go home and talk about topics they should not be exposed to um our younger students require a different structure the way that um we handle our PBIS cons compared to the Middle School of what we're teaching our youngest students remember this is the first time they haven't been in a fourpoint harness in the back seat of their car they're put on a bus they're learning how to sit they're learning expected behaviors think about the difference of what that looks like between a 5-year-old and a 14-year-old I heard from the committee I I did get to listen a bit about how what we're hoping is to have Middle School leaders I think there are lots of Middle School leaders I think it's unfair to put that on the back of a middle school student to be able to handle what happens on the bus we're at risk for so many inappropriate interactions middle schoolers are more prone to taking risks they're developing impulse control and they do not have a full understanding their consequences common behaviors like recording videos making jokes using language that seems harmless to each other they're in a new situation when we put that in the context of younger students I already have parents who um are concerned at times about behaviors between kindergarteners and second graders I think I've had two instances this year that before we were able to speak to a parent they talked about going to the Holliston Police once we were able to talk to them and really put into the context of age appropriate behavior we were able to talk about how this is a time where students are learning that they are um taking their they're engaging in things that they don't know about yet I won't be able to say it's age appropriate if I put a child in the situation with an older child 13 14 with now a 5-year-old when we talk about safety and supervision challenges I've heard about well we could put monitors on buses we are already have trouble um attaining enough monitors for our mandated monitor situations Additionally you have to understand 50 to 60 students on a bus with a bus driver and one other adult who by law has to sit will not be able to monitor those behaviors I've heard about cameras on buses that is then reactionary instead of um being able to proactively put this my biggest fear as the pre2 um principal is actually for our middle schoolers because we are putting really unfair expectations on our middle school students we're expecting them to modify their natural behaviors and accommodations to accommodate much younger children and that's just unfair this could lead to situations and disciplinary situations that have far-reaching consequences than every before I'm talking about unintentionally them overstepping boundaries that are going to lead to things like Title 9 investigations or Worse other legal pieces they have phones in their hands and you have to imagine a child who has impulse um control just by their brain is still developing thinking it's funny to have a younger student do something I don't want to put them in those situations I think it's unsafe to put all of our students in those situations and I ask you to just think about that before you make this decision thank you any else I think Jamie said it well uh if you go to the Miller age Gap to the high school age Gap you could go from 8 to 19 uh as as seniors on a bus so you're looking at an 11year Gap with some of those students I do think high school kids are a little more self-controlled but I do worry about the same things that uh Dr slany um shared with the committee can I ask a question yeah uh thank you Dr slany um do you think it's more appropriate they're completely separate or a situation where they're with Miller is more acceptable well there's lots of school systems that have K through five bus routes it's actually a norm our school system is um more of a rarity that we're split up the way that we are most school systems are K through five and you know when you think of a Kinder in a fifth grader we wouldn't have them sitting near each other but if we had a bus of K1 and two the next group is sixth graders if you had a bus of 3 four and five the next group is ninth graders so there's that developmental Continuum on a k through 5 bus that isn't there with the age Gap splits okay thank you very much you're welcome to to stay if you want to thank you appreciate it um um Barbera did you want to thanks hi good evening Barbara Ryan 14 Urban ples um I at first I always like to acknowledge the leadership thank you Dr kuska Dr manard Dr Jordan Mr Beday um and all the principles that are here who really take our children um and young adults and and help them learn and be their best every day so thank you for that um second I am part of the Holliston drug and alcohol um awareness Coalition and I just wanted to say kudos to the high school um this is something that has always been wanted that there'd be a cohort of students in the high school interested in this subject and about substance misuse and all that and there are at least 9 to 12 students that are actively participating which is no small feet when there was Z Z last year at the same time and the middle school also has a a budding cohort interested in um choosing um better behaviors than not U around substance use and so I just really wanted to say thank you for the support on that from that committee that I sit on um just a little PTO snapshot I am the President of the PTO and I just again want to thank the school committee for always accepting um reviewing and accepting the gifts from our generous community um currently our prek through five schools uh it's not it's they are gifts that are within all the boundaries of the law but we've almost had $5,000 um towards teachers requests and and building in that all again within the confines of the law and uh almost similar to middle and high that we high school we have contributed so just want to say thank you for supporting that um also want to say thank you to Mr list we recently had a landscaping company has two children in our school system they cleared out all the Poison Ivy from one of the courtyards and I think Mr Liss just said there are more students there recently than he's ever seen and so we're continuing to work on these spaces um at the invitation um of Mr list and I know we've done things at placentino Mr kind you're not forgotten we're coming in the spring and we did just put in a sixth grade kind of with in conjunct with the science teachers a learning area so again thank you for accepting those donations um through our art Learning Alliance and and it's just again a lot of strength in this community um as far as generosity and and time material um and money I had I as a uh I will transition to a parent in the community I have a uh freshman a first year in high school and he walks to school or home or I am his Transportation however um I did attend all of the subcommittee meetings as a community member and I do appreciate all the work that was done and all the voices that were heard and crudas to the subcommittee members who went out into their Community uh uh and asked every asked bus drivers asked fellow parents and caregivers their opinions so I know there was a lot um a lot of opinions that came through my own opinion is the preservation of tween and te um um times later start times um there is so much data out there to support the brain health stading rhythms Etc so uh I will just um say that's my professional opinion as a pediatric nurse practitioner and have done that work but also as a mom I see the difference that my son gets to sleep um a little bit later and I thank you for considering that and uh my pediatric hat um what you said made so much sense to me from a developmental standpoint so um I guess I was looking through the lenses as a mom and not uh at the total scope um but wow that made a lot of sense so good luck with your decision I know hopefully the majority um the majority of um people will be satisfied um but it's I don't think it'll be easy so thank you for letting me speak uh address good evening um Tracy Fleer 96 Rolling Meadow Drive um thank you for letting me speak this evening and thank you for all you do for our children here in the community I'm a mother of five children in the halls and public school system my oldest is a freshman my youngest a kindergartener um speaking here tonight on behalf of not just myself but a number of families um in the community who are interested in opening up the conversation around the high school block schedule the current schedule is not in the best interest of our high school students as an educator myself for 20 years I have witnessed firsthand what gaps and instruction do for our students the nation talks about a summer slump when the kids go 10 weeks without direct instruction in one area of their uh education and our current setup is asking our high schoolers at times to go up to close to 10 months without instruction in a particular subject area although we're delivering instruction in quantity in that smaller amount of time we are missing the continuity and that the districts across the state have realized is beneficial for long-term learning and um reception of uh their knowledge how is it that the number of schools with this block schedule in the state of Massachusetts can be counted on one hand hollison is behind in this conversation of change what in what is in the best interest for our kids um we are not providing support for all of our students across areas as well um we as a town pride ourselves on our language development in particular um we have a renowned uh immersion program access to Early Education which is phenomenal and yet we get to the high school and that drops for some of our kids and the clubs that are offered are not the same as direct instruction from an educator if we look at our high achieving students we ask some of them to take course and finish the course material and then have a gap before they are actually take taking their AP advanced placement tests and without direct study in those areas regimen and study routines and um learning opportunities we are not allowing them to succeed in the way that they are capable of and we are being outperformed if we stop to examine our high needs students in this District how are we meeting the time on learning standards that are laid out in a standard IEP if we are not providing instruction on a daily basis for some of these students that need it we not the expectation that families can hire outside support in areas if a student is struggling because of these gaps that our current curriculum and current scheduling is offering ignores obvious Equity issues across the town I am here tonight to ask the school committee to require the union to open up this conversation around a new schedule not in what is only best for our teachers but particularly for our students my understanding is that the new contract that was signed over the summer included language that gave the ability to change the schedule or even start the conversation in the hands of the Union I can only assume that the language was approved on your end with a plan on how that would look moving forward when there were issues getting a conversation started I know how difficult it is to make change as an educator we have new mandates that are thrown at us pretty constantly from the state and different areas and we're being forced to change the way we teach in a sometimes daily basis it feels like I know that asking a teacher who currently has a 75 minute prep to change that down to potentially a 45ish minute prep is not appealing I know it's going to be frustrating I know that teachers who have taught one class perhaps their entire career who might now be asked to teach a second are not going to be happy that they have to now readapt and it's going to require a lot of work on their end and PD and whatnot to make sure that they are prepared to do that but I also know that there are many teachers who understand what is best for our children who understand and are willing to make those changes if they are given the chance to do so I am Pro Union and all the work they do to support our teachers but at the end of the day we owe all the children of Holliston a chance to have their learning needs met our current block schedule does not do that in a sufficient Manner and our continued fall and state R State rankings reiterates that point as well so I would like to request that the school committee puts appropriate pressure on our teachers union to look at the 300 plus other districts in the state for guidance on how to design a schedule that would support all of our students in their quest for an appropriate education thank you for your time thank you um it's it's it's interesting because as we went through that with with the contract you know we definitely um we willing to keep an open mind on the Block schedule but as we've gone for it and I've got into more research and stuff on it I mean I do I do definitely think that uh it's it's time to From the Block schedule so um I hope that um I know Mr L is doing a presentation later so I don't know if he's got an update for us but um I hope that uh you know he he takes that in mind uh and and everyone doesn't I don't know how the rest of the committee feels but you make a compelling indication thank you thank you no pressure Mr I'm sure he's got it all solved right um is there anyone on Zoom that that wanted to uh I just I could read a comment do you want me to read the comment then do they want I first off any anyone just use the raise hand function if you would like to to make a comment [Music] um sure uh I see if I can can you hear me we can hear yeah so just your name and uh address and okay great yeah thanks thank you so much for making this available on Zoom it's great to be here with my wife uh Grant gway 11 Lone Oak uh something so I have a a student who's a middle school student and uh also have a student at Miller and two students of classentino I just wanted to comment and just emphasize that I I we fully agree with Dr sl's comments about uh separating kids that are young in kindergarten on the bus from kids who are old in Middle School um I just knowing our kids and knowing uh what would happen I just feel like it would be a a very bad situation for the youngest kid to be with with the older kids so uh just grateful for Dr sl's comments and just fully fully agree and support those that's that's all I want to say great thank you very much that's yes it's the same great can can I just add one thing um I have to Echo my leaders um viewpoints tonight I'm I'm going to speak for my 15 years as an educator this is my 30th year in education I was a middle school special educator for 5 years and Elementary I taught first third and fourth for 10 years so I feel I can speak confidently about the the age groups that we're talking about in particular the little ones going on the buses with our middle school students and also having a young grandchild the thought of my grandchild in another year or two going on with the eighth grader I love all of those ages I enjoyed working with all of them but I would be petrified of my now three-year-old grandson in another year and a half or so riding a bus with an eighth grader because our six through eighth grade students are are meant to learn as Dr slany pointed out the social emotional learning skills that they acquire they're growing their developing their hormones are changing they would not intentionally hurt our younger students they would unintentionally say things and forget that our our students are there if you look at the heights of our buses the seats our little ones in the front those kindergarteners they won't even see that they're there and they will forget that so again I speak out of the love and joy of working with both middle school students and younger elementary students and I I just think that this is not in the best interest of our students and I know this committee was established and did the best they could with the limitations that we have but I hope we can explore some other options because I do think with our enrollment shifts and other potentials that have changed um I I think there could be some other options in place great thank you anyone else here for public comment uh okay so we'll we'll get more into that in a little bit um Keith and Dr Jordan if you don't mind I think we do have some students here for the Global Citizens update so maybe we'll uh we'll we'll take them now and allow them to then go home and and study if that works sounds good so if you all just quickly introduce yourselves you don't need to give your addresses though um but okay so my name is Caitlyn Mills and um thank you for letting us talk tonight and give you an update on our program um I'm one of the teachers at the high school I teach social studies and history um I'm also one of the teachers that created the Global Citizens program there's four of us um three of them couldn't be here tonight I've taken on the job of coordin the entire program and then the other three um through advisement help assist and Advising the students um and helping out with different um aspects of the program so we were here a couple of years ago um when the program was first launched and it's been some time and I know we have some new faces on the committee so we thought it would be a great time for us to come back um to give you a brief update on the progress of the program and then hear from um some of our students and the work that they're doing this year and have been doing over the past few years um so this is the third year of the program officially being launched and underway um each year we've had more and more students particularly the incoming freshman um joining the program and I'm excited to say that right now we have 87 students who are currently enrolled in the program um and that's grades 9 through 12 um these students are um involved in globally oriented coursework um there's two major courses are all required to take first one is the intro to global citizenship class that they take with um Miss Frost um and many of these students here they've taken that with her she has two um sections right now term two and then the second course is what students take with me as 10th graders and 11th graders and that's Service Learning which is a Project based course in which they're working essentially on their Capstone project so you'll hear a little bit more about some the projects that have been going on um in addition to those courses they do take um four additional um credits of globally oriented courses that are very um across the different disciplines so there's opportunities for students to take classes within the humanities within the Sciences the maths business language Etc um so it's a really um it's a program that attracts all kinds of different types of students and whatever their interests and passions are but again it brings us back back to that whole globally oriented work um in addition to the course work though the students also um participate in globally oriented activities we refer to them as passport activities um they very much are involved in leadership work we have a mentoring program um that our students are involved with just within the gcp and then we um this year have our first uh gcp trip that we're taking this spring in April um we're going and all of these students here are going we're very excited um we we just had a meeting and um we're going to be going to Northern Italy and Southern France there's 36 students um six adult chapons um and we're going to be doing a sustainable farming trip and we're just so so excited about it we can't wait um so I'm going to stop talking and I want to hear from the students so we have two different groups here so I've got um four 10th graders here some young men that are here to speak about their involvement in the program but mostly they are currently taking Service Learning with me um and they're starting essentially their Capstone project so I'm going to let them talk a little bit about that and then our second student you'll hear from is a current um 12th grader um ishika and ishika has been in the program now for a few years and you'll get to hear from her about um her Capstone and how that's evolved over time so why don't do you want to scoot over and they can come over here so um I'll off hi my name is Charlie Leno I am a sophomore at hollon high school and we are project energy so this is something that um this is the name that we've coined ourselves as and one thing that all of us have noticed we're all active in the sports allall sen High I'm in Lacrosse football track soccer one thing we notice when traveling to all these other schools is just the amount of like sustainable Just Energy ACC as that we see solar panels we see like sometimes charging stations it's just interesting and we notice that here we really don't have any of that so our goal is to establish a um electric vehicle charger in the hon high school parking lot and um we've already been working on this we started the um service plan class this semester and so far we've already talked with um local officials who have already installed local Chargers we've um scoped out areas we've tallied cars and um we've done a lot of other stuff so I'm GNA give it over to Wyatt who's going to tell us about the next part um for this project we were thinking to um for the charging station we met with James ke um uh he works with the town he put the charging station in for the one behind um superet and he like we met with him and he suggested like um just left of the hcat parking over there the like main energy source for the high school is on the grass um like across the well actually like a source of energy is across the grass on by the telephone pole so um he thinks that we could get the um charging station installed without interfering with bus traffic or um like uh digging up the road so also we obviously know a charg is like not free so we had a fundraiser um the weekend before Halloween at spooker Fest which is basically like a soccer event for young kids this is like lots of candy and prizes and we were able to raise a little over $250 which obviously an electric vehicle Charger station isn't going to cost $250 but Mr Kei during our meeting assured us that like um most of the money for the charger wouldn't come out of pocket but rather like um I forget the name of the company eversource eversource eversource recover most of and like government grants so the um what we ra while it's like small could be used to cover like the credit card company cost to like use where you'd pay for the energy or like the lines to paint the spot or like stuff for the sign and he assured us that was like a really good idea to do the fundraiser and it was fun doing it over there for like 7 hours at Marshall Street we sold baked goods and hot chocolate and red Krispy treats and brownies it was a lot of fun I'm very glad we did it so then we've already mentioned James key who's the facilities director in town but we met with him very recently and earlier this year and he kind of gave us an outline of like the grants and stuff that we would need to apply for in order to get the money for the charger um for the grants in Massachusetts if we got all enough grants we could get 100% of the charger money covered by the state so none of it would come out of our pockets and we've also met with Dr Jordan earlier in the year and we talked about like Logistics of the charger and like what it would look like and where it would be and stuff like that and one more thing to mention that I just want to say was um it's really just cool getting out there in the community and as a bunch of just 16-year-old boys I think it's really interesting to see how much like you can really accomplish like going to this class I really did not know what me and my group of friends were going to do who just goof around sometimes and really just we we just we're just boys but it's really cool to see us come together and really formulate something and it's just amazing how much we can really accomplish when we put our minds to something awesome thank you would we fun we get the from the people paying for so I have um Isa now can speak about her involvement in the program and her Capstone well uh first I would like to thank the school committee for offering their time to let us speak about our lovely program and what our coordinators have done and um so of course my name is ishika Gandhi I'm a senior and I have started this G this program since my freshman year I was I think in the early stages of this program and I was in the spring of my freshman year I had been offered an opportunity to work with Mrs Frost who is the English teacher here at the Holliston High School and she gave me this opportunity to co- te uh a class as My Capstone project and I was kind of a little confused at the time and like kind of teach kind of student co- te but Mrs Frost assured me that one thing about the gcp program in Holliston is that they give this opportunity for students to go outside of the box and really just um be leaders in this community and give back to students and so Mrs Frost assured me about this and I worked with her to create this class called fashion Through the Ages which I went to the admin and um the super intendent and the principles I had presented this in my sophomore year during the C and then after that the rest of all history junior year I taught and then this year uh first term senior year I had taught again with Mrs Frost and my class is based on not just like General fashion but it's actually more on sustainability so fashion fast fashion consumerism and we teach students on the marketing level and we also teach students on culture appropriation all these different type of things through the lens of fashion so we try to bring that whole idea of the SG goals and bring that into the class and it's a Project based class so we have students really create their own projects be creative be leaders in the class and give that community and that space for students to be free and yeah that's pretty much how my class is so yeah thank you so um back to the uh the charging station what uh do you gentlemen uh what are your thoughts on next steps you got so wait when we talk to Mr ke unfortunately it's going to take a lot longer than the semester that we have for the class it's going to he said the process takes about a year government slow so um we're going to try to continue the project on the Capstone plus Trail which is um the Capstone project obviously if you finish in the service learning class you get the credit but if you continue it after the service learning class you get like a sort of bonus endorsement so we're hoping that we will be able to keep continue working on it for hopefully through our senior year to earn the cash Zone Plus credit and what are your thoughts on how to the the sort of the progression of the project um like a Next Step yeah so the next step would be we'd have to apply for the grants which we haven't done yet so the mass EV Grant through eversource is like the main one that will hopefully get up to 100% on and then there's other ones that we can apply for if we don't get 100% of the moneyy and after that we'd have to pick a location which would probably be right out here like why I mentioned earlier and then we would just have to figure out the logistics of getting installed who would be utilizing this this charging station is it anybody in the high school Community or yes oh yeah we did a like a survey almost and we found eight um electrical vehicle um vehicles in the parking lot to student I mean uh eight six of them were student drivers and then uh the other two were teachers so we were thinking we could like let these different kids like or teachers charge their vehicles during the school day and then after school hours people from the community could come and like um charge and would there be assigned days I mean there are more Vehicles than charging stations um there's there's like an app for the one behind super thre you can like sign up for days or like time that you need to charge so did you talk to the teacher who going to lose that parking spot yet have you uh considered discussing this also with the uh the selector because I know that they have um a revolving account for for charging stations in town the little one they have what's that that's problem it's not self-sustain I just don't own it yes they they're more than welcome to come to the I think that might be a great idea yes but but then keep us in the loop and you know some of this obviously you'll be able to uh work on with with Mr list and uh the other administrators but uh you know good work how does the revenue work from people that pay sorry want to go down that Ral right now no where I mean I was just wonder if you if you're listening to our our esteemed colleague of the select word there's not enough Revenue to cover the cost no no revenue from the charging station CU people pay for you Outsource to charge point or just some like that and they run a a program and they well if we can get that that would be worth it it's a revenue Source though did you I heard it's a good idea but I don't I don't think it be captured by the school like that um help fun [Music] buses it's not go there thank you thank you guys for feedback thank you so much thank you all right so I know it's only November um but we are going to start talking about the fiscal year 2026 budget and I will turn that over to uh Mr keyston Dr Jordan I'm containing your packets you're I I'm not even loed in what you [Music] control uh containing the packets is the part one of the budget process we usually do a budget process in three parts first is payroll second is non-payroll nonsp special education cost and the third is special education costs we'll do the other two in December and in January um we break we break the payroll down by by either bargaining unit or other functional areas um which starts with we we restate what the the 25 budget is there are payroll adjustments that happen um between the time we did the budget and when we do this um apply steps if they're appropriate apply Lanes if they're appropriate and that put the cola that's been either contracted for or what we project for people's uh raises for next year um with the putting all that together with with making an adjustment for vacancies and offsets offsets are basically where we uh revenues that we generate we offset payroll with in some instances and that's how much we do here um it leaves us with a a budget that has a $1.6 million $ 1.7 million increase um back in may just to kind of Jump Ahead back you know may gets kind of backwards behind um back in may we projected um a a number for what the override the second year of the override which is what fiscal year 26 would be and this is in line Keeps Us in line with with that number so um you know we we at this stage you know again we're we're holding to the idea that um we're not going to meet another override at least certainly not for payroll anyway so um did you really certainly not for payroll that's a completely true statement so um so yes uh I pay was a little droll I know so it's it's not a lot of excitement here but um any questions what's going to change what do you think can change obviously a lot between now in the end of the year but since this is payroll obviously what are the factors to think about as as we go as we go into the budget year I mean we're we're you know when when we did the the the projection based on the override um we we we modeled what had been modeled by the town for us going for which is a 3 and a qu% increase that would be the biggest thing that would possibly impact us the quickest um payroll will adjust um naturally through through uh uh through layoffs layoffs Jesus Christ um through retirements sorry there are no layoffs through retirements um and and and other potential adjustments um we can laid me off now okay I'm done thank you um let me know when you're on tag I um Kei I guess through this is this it can't go up from here right well yes it can because it it can from the standpoint of you know we get a v we have a vacancy Y and we have to replace that if the the best candidate that we can find is is a higher rate that would be a higher rate um you know so again it can go up in general it doesn't this is in general the high point for the budget process um also there are two there are two collective bargaining units who are I have an assumption in for because they're not completed yet so I have an assumption for theirs as well as the uh people who are on individual contracts I have an assumption in for those and the negotiated rates when they negotiate their their raises for next year maybe higher as well so there are places that it can go up in general it goes down okay I'll think keep mind just I mean this is as we do the new initiatives if if depending on where the final budget comes out if we do all the parts that could that could change this but that we would have to be making those decisions practically and our offsets could go down if we were impacted by school choice or athletic revolving went down I mean if right and and again in general we don't we don't um rely on 100% of the money from the the current the year in that we we usually work off some of the remaining balances so that it's never 100% kind of risk on that so any other questions for Dr Jordan just to confirm there are no layoffs make sure everyone's on the record we're not currently anticipating in November at Frank as you mentioned there Transportation can fluctuate significantly as far as the cost I was talking more payroll as being an offset as well reimbursement one one thing uh I did ask uh mrud to put together uh for me is a uh enumeration of what money we receive annually in in Grants um they're passed through grants they do come from the state but the the sort of ultimate funding source is the Department of Education and most of this goes to offsetting uh special education costs as well as some other smaller grants um but not so and so this is separate from the town appropriation for our budget so in 20 in fiscal year 2023 we receiv received $974,000 in fiscal year 2024 we received just over a million do and budgeted for this year is just under a million so we are currently um relying upon almost a million dollar from the federal government that comes mostly I think mostly are all from the Department of Education so as we all pay attention to what's going on um I would be cognizant of that and how things can change and they can seem far away um but have significant potential impacts on on us right here in BL Halls so um one $1 million is is about 2 and a half% of our budget so Our Town appropriated budget size of our override too the uh it's like Beetle Juice say one more time the other the other piece too Dan is is the the federal government also funds part of our lunch program our free lunch program free lunch and breakfast program so um while the state has made it free this the the federal still covers the free and reduced children so again while it's quad that one's quasi pass through it it but again well it doesn't impact directly you know what we do in our appropriation it does impact other areas of does that come from the Department of Education or Health and Human Services because also know there's nothing going on there that that the the the piece that comes from the the free and reduced the federal portion is Health and Human Services through the state but a direct as opposed to pass through for the for the grants which the state takes a portion of to manage that well HHS we find through that roughly towards the lunch program we have okay and and we don't need it's it's like 240 270 historically in that range um most of again most of our free lunch program is not free and reduced students it's students who in theory can pay okay okay any more questions about the the start of our budget process next steps are in January oh we get up de December on the override any you're excused um not really careful all right so uh we will um move along I will note that we are uh 25 minutes ahead of schedule um to we work backwards um to our central office uh updates um I just wanted to focus on a couple things Dr Jordan myself and principal Manning and um Tessa pad DOI went to Washington DC last week to collect our national Blue Ribbon award for our Middle School um it was quite exciting to be part of that process we wish we could have taken more people with us but there were limitations to that um but we were happy on behalf of the school to collect that award and then today um connected to the National Blue Ribbon award I received an email from us news best schools and it said that Robert Adams Middle School is now in the top 40% of middle schools in the state of Massachusetts making it one of the best middle schools so our rankings for our Middle School have also improved as a result of these changes so I mean it's all exciting and I'll get you more as we go into rankings later in the year again how these things impact but right now we're in a really solid place at the middle school and a sign of hopefully even greater things to come okay that's probably I I'll say that from now sure uh Dr yes can you pull up the presentation uh while Dr kusk is pulling up the presentation I just wanted to inform everybody that next Tuesday we have a very exciting evening plan for our multilingual learner families it's at placentino and Miller sheared cafetorium from 6:00 to 7:00 we will have food and we will have lots of different vendors here you see the police here tonight they're going to be there and represent and we have a lot of different groups that hopefully our families will be able um to find valuable for them and we'll have translators there this is just a very quick presentation on some of the things that we had during our last PD day um which happened on November 5th let scroll down um at the elementary schools we spent um the morning working on Eureka Math and the teachers had the opportunity to really kind of struggle with and process together what the student should be demon how the student should be demonstrating Mastery based on the lesson goal um and they also had a uh great discussion about how assessment was going to happen um you scroll down we also had Learners Network both at the middle school and high school and they really want over our menu planning with our teachers planning templates and going over those High leverage Concepts you can scroll down please I ready which is our diagnostic assessment tool and um and then actually creates Pathways for students to gain Mastery of Standards came and presented to both uh placentino and Miller how to really dig into their data and what next steps to take and scroll down please and then we had um Dr Pap has brought in a wide variety of presenters for our un ified arts and she actually had a lot of different districts come in to Holliston and also receive the PD and health and wellness we had two experts that um are desie presenters and they really went over Massachusetts law policy and Frameworks and best practices for health and wellness for our Visual Arts we had a gentleman named Scott Schuler and he went over about how we should assess our students on the Mastery of standards and visual Arts which is something that a lot of the the teachers are trying to process how we can do better and finally in World Language um the presenter went over how to address the diverse uh needs of all our world language teachers as well as designing and implementing commun communicative World Language tasks you can scroll down the other way thank you we had a wide variety of other um PD offerings and we really have targeted different groups to meet their needs um at the elementary school of placentino they were working on curriculum documents understanding by Design documents for our L teachers they worked on WEA modules our Librarians did some American Library Association training which you totally appreciated and we will continue doing that some of our special Educators um were able to work on the bloom method app which helps them process the new IEP safety care training we had the high school level we had utilizing data disciplinary literacy so really how all teachers are responsible to teach literacy in the content area um at the middle school we worked on performance-based Assessments in science and that's how the mcast test is going to be given this year um at the middle school and high school we had Camy training which is a AI tool that will enable um the teachers to do a enable a lot of supports for our students um at the middle school and and uh Miller they a 5 through eight writing Workshop as well as having alignment between the two schools we had additional trainings for other groups faes and network transition programming director Bey was able to work on argumentative alternative communication director V arranged for that too accept collaborative School refusal and then uh Jeri Al ver director Jerry ver was able to make a shared FY fs and HPS resource Fair which was wonderful for our consors and other people to realize what we have right in our backyard for services for our students and then finally our nurses went to Boston Children's Hospital Community Education initiative um we just had uh our meeting I'm sorry Karen was that yesterday thank you I'm trying to remember so PD council meeting yesterday which we really uh dive deep into the results and use that to make further plans as well as the principles do that with their leadership teams at their level as well as myself with the curriculum staff that we all kind of dive into that and say how can we improve what are people asking for what changes do we need to make going forward thank you okay any questions for okay I I guess in terms of so at the high school did we do we talk about the new math curriculum too was that yes all Learners Network okay but beyond all Learners Network like all Learners network was a day training okay for both the middle school and high school but they were separate but that's not just math that was just the math teachers yeah it was the implementation of the new curriculum so it was using all Learners Network to support students in implementing the new curriculum so they were given training and they worked um in their Department to um Implement what they learned in all Learners Network and bring that into their lessons to reveal so both at the middle school and high school they got to figure out how they were going to use reveal to use the strategies that Alm taught them okay so it was learning all Learners network but it wasn't really discussing reveal yet or how it's no they alln this network is really how they're going to differentiate and use the strategies that they employ to meet all Learners and then they use specifically the the resources that we have so they they address reveal within the model so allers networks facilitates discussions on how to differentiate using different curricular resources so they are talking specifically about reveal and then when they are doing training with their element schools there talking specifically about eure M Square okay okay uh any further update from our uh finance and operations team wanted to comment about uh the national Ren ceremony um it was just a incredible rewarding experience to be be there um not only just just to listen to uh the national uh teacher of the year uh but also to um the commissioner of Education um and just many kind of other Educators that uh share in what we do here in Holliston as well um I was just incredibly proud as the former principal of the Middle School of some of the work that our teachers do um there in Holliston as a whole uh but you know uh at the middle school um and what I heard over and over was just this um push for this deep love and compassion for each other and your neighbor and for your students in your community um followed with a deep understanding of high expectations for others not only uh for your students but for yourself um and for the community um combined with like a significant focus on Equity equity and the diverse needs of students um and it was nice to see the kind of a lot of alignment to the intervention structures literacy work um that we did at the middle school um along with um some of the prek through 12 alignment that we're working to do here uh here in uh in Holliston so it was fantastic um I left rejuvenated and ready to rock and roll so great um moving on we have a a job description I Keith or who's going to [Music] pulling it to pull it up or I can talk to it or pull it up what's what's I don't know if we need pull it up yeah um so uh maintenance director is a position that um we've always had um the this is a going to be a midyear retirement um that is opening up um what we don't have is um we don't have kind of a a job description uh to work off of um so this is just kind of a a description that describes uh our current maintenance director's work um and is consistent with uh what we are looking for but also what uh what we've always always had um so if there are any questions about you know that the maintenance director's roles and responsibilities what they do um for our district um the you know the oversight that they have over the the buildings uh I'm I'm open for questions so this is what there there's no added respon posibilities from what they're currently doing okay questions cynia do you have any questions yeah I was just going to ask I couldn't hear David whether he said that the current maintenance director is retiring is that what you said yes okay thank you all right so uh with that I a motion to approve the job description for the maintenance director vot by John second by Frank okay all those in roll call vote Frank yes go yes Harry yes Sarah yes Don yes Cynthia yes and I am a yes as well yes yes got got it twice 80 80 um okay great thank you all right uh reports from our subcommittees Communications nothing right Happ okay policy um we have our next subcommittee meeting this Wednesday the 20th at 4:15 for policy okay and you want to just do superintendent EV since you're off me yeah so um the subcommittee is going to convene on November 26th at 4:15 in central office to review over um Dr Kusa goals and you know take a take a deeper dive look at that and the rubric an evaluation tools that we'll be using to evaluate her this year great thank you budget yep and budget had a meeting this evening at 6 p.m. um and we went over budget part one that um was presented today asked some questions about that um went over any updates on capital projects um and the FY 25 operating budget and we're I mean I think we deflect until the next meeting and the FY 26 capital budget and the beginning of that discussion so we anticipate we'll have another meeting in advance of our next general school committee meeting because we want to review part two before it's presented to you great um we to Old business and uh Mr list if you want to come talk about the high school international trip as well as the uh any update we have on the high school state uh just so the international trip is was so popular that we had to create a second bus to Japan uh so so uh the expectation was like 20 to 25 students and there were 70 who wanted to go um so that was surprising but awesome at the same time um and uh so that trip um we are waiting on the final itinerary from it because the buses are running at the so the buses are running at the same it's the same trip but they're running differently uh so we have to wait to get you guys the full itinerary just because of this this the addition of the second trip because it's the it's not the same but it's the same uh trip so um so we'll get that piece out um in terms of the schedule um we had a meeting this past week um to to look at um a a schedule that was brought forward um and we're going to meet again next week um sort of look at the notes here um to uh continue to to review some schedules that um address the concerns U that have been laid out over the past year and a half um at this point what we really need to do is is do a sort of uh pros and cons of each of these schedules that have been laid out um as a committee uh there are all different types of schedules some are like hybrid versions of schedules uh some are pretty standard what you would consider like a rotation a drop and rotation um but we really need to now get those out in front of our committee and then um be able to share those um structures out with students staff families to then uh get feedback uh from them so um hopefully we can make some some some movement forward on those and come together and uh and and have one that stands out um right now we don't have one that necessarily is like this is the one we're all going with um but but hopefully from another couple of meetings we can uh get there so do you anticipate putting a survey out to families and students now so we yeah we did talk about um in our next meeting we do have some information that we need additionally from from staff from students and from families um so one of the agenda items for our next meeting I'm just sort of look into my notes here um is that we we need to uh draft that um because again that's going to impact once we have all the structures because we have to create structures um that speak to that answer the the contract uh that meet the needs of students um and so there's those pieces and then once we have all of that we now need to then share that out to get feedback from from folks but again we don't have um necessarily one that's sort of we're looking at we still have uh ways to go um to get down to to narrow it down okay and obviously as per the contract uh January 1 is is a Ming deadline it is yep it's coming um yeah um we thought we were closer on the bus start times I don't I don't get me um so well thank you that uh I I um I hope you know I think everyone is working hard and I I hope that we can come up with a solution that addresses you know many concerns as we talked about about 15% of kids right now can't fully even access dsb because of the different uh um either IEPs and pull out services that they have or they're in bander chorus and um all the other different inequities that there are in our in our current uh schedule so um just encourage everyone to to keep working thank you so we meet though December 12th next we going to talk about that it may be sooner okay yeah I'll be here why not thank you thank you all right um it's on three times but get get getting into the the uh the start time so we've gotten the update um is there anything else that we want for an update or who is it sort of does it make sense I mean I know Keith gave the the high well read the bullets essentially should we read through the recommendation is that something that if you'd like to was that not the recommendation I mean it was it's it's going to be somewhat repetitive but I think there there are pieces in there that I I think a number of folks met for a total of eight hours or more on it I think it makes sense to look through it sure go want me to it Keith share Dr clerk just Vice dear hollon school committee thank you for trusting the school bus start times committee with the task of studying the impact of additional instructional times to the school day on transportation and start end times for schools within the district the complexity of the variables involved Prov proved to be a challenging and attempting to find consensus on a single schedule for the district that said the group reached agreement on many factors that they recommend the school committee consider in their decision it is a recommendation of the school bus start times committee that the school that the hollon school committee take into account the following considerations and priorities in their decision connected to the school start times and bus runs for the 25 26 school year this list includes one the district day is not to start before 7:30 a.m. nor end after 400 p.m. two the scheduling of schools should be thoughtful around student sleep at hollon high school and Robert Adams Middle School limit the impact on teacher retention and limit the impact on after school activities including but not limited to sports clubs extracurriculars and after school jobs three hon high school and Robert Adams Middle School should not start should start no earlier than 7:50 a.m. while many of the variables that impact transportation and school start times may be outside of the purview of the school bus start times committee and the following scenario may not be possible based on variables outside of the school committee in administration the school committee the committee recommends the following schedule for future consideration busing so two runs paring the high school and Miller in the first run and then placentino and Robert Adams Middle School in the second run 8:00 a.m. start for the first school give or take 10 minutes and 3:43 in time for the last school the committee recognizes and supports changes to Holliston school committee policy and infrastructure within the school property and in the community to reduce the length of bus runs including but not limited to limited to consolidating hollon high school ridership and pickup locations in efforts to end the district day before 3:43 p.m. the committee encourages the school committee to engage in the Engage The select board and Town Administrator for traffic assistance potentially police or traffic guards sidewalks and additional infrastructure supports that will assist in getting students safely and quickly to campus by walking or biking lastly create a bus schedule and school-based procedures that limit idling buses full of students in in the morning thank you for your consideration of this recommendation school bus start times committee great and just as a recap we had parent volunteers we had a number of teacher representatives and then a select board member um Dr Jordan and Mr B you were Representatives on behalf of the administrators okay and I know the teachers did some like a a survey um of as they' went this process with the four uh meetings and I'm sure you've talked to administrators as we went through this as well okay the the survey we wer I provided an oral summary of the data it wasn't it wasn't passed okay was did the committee vote on this recommendation did yes and so was that was it unanimous no what was the final vote uh 12 um 1 and one 12 uh for one against and one sustain uh abstain um so what I think i' like to announce first I'd like to dissolve the committee put that put that to bed um and then move on I I know there was a little bit of confusion there there is you know uh a note here for a potential vote um I think I meant that more as far as the next steps go um I don't is this big voting on us on a decision tonight I don't know that that is shared by everyone else but I think that that would be premature um but um giving and everything like that just wanted to have it on there um so as to to leave our options open but um here it seems like there's not going to be the interest in the committee which I agree with to make a vote so we have a lot of work to do I think um so first I will entertain a motion to uh dissolve the bus uh start times advisory comme thank them for their work and um all and again as I as I stated at the beginning of the meeting I would I would strongly encourage people uh to to listen to those Mee it is it is long um sometimes you have to play the volume because Keith is very loud and he was he a microphone um uh so um but you can hear them and then the last one was actually a good setup but unfortunately was a little bit of technical difficulties but the final conversation um yeah we got second half in there yeah but there there is uh a lot of that go into this and one that I forgot to mention obviously earlier was the the the the commitments and the the things that we discussed during the override and that you know 65.5% of the town sorry 65.5% of the voters almost 40% of the Town came out to support um the override and and you know support the teachers support the schools but also the support that's work and and the commitments that we made so trying to keep within those commitments as well I think is is incredibly important so anyway this a motion to uh dissolve the uh the committee The Advisory commit so second of V friend okay Frank yes Joe yes Hillary yes Sarah yes joh yes Cynthia yes and Dan I yes as well so thank you very much to all those who served uh we appreciate it uh you can now go back to discussing amongst yourselves um so um thoughts lots of things through um never was easy um Dr schlaining what she said tonight was profound um I think we have to continue I think we have confines we still are working within in terms of what when when we want to start and when we want to end now who goes when I think is going to be the big answer and I think some of the combination you need to think about need to be outside the box this was easy decision then we would have made it already I know we only have 6 weeks left though really less than that I know but can I just make I'm one comment you know when I started here in July of 2020 during Co meeting nobody but by zoom and in 3 weeks we put together with this leadership team an amazing product to get our children back to school and that seemed insurmountable at the time we were one of very few schools that have had our children here prek to 3 5 days a week on campus if they chose to be here which was the majority and every student had a teacher in front of them whether by hybrid or in person we were very uncommon at the Times most schools were only open four days a week and the fourth fifth day was a a prep day for teachers but almost no schools had opportunities for the majority of prek to 3 to be in person every single day and the reason Reon I say that is I walked in not knowing anything about this community not having met anybody and in a short time I had to trust the leaders in front of me we made a very difficult decision and it was the right decision because we relied on the expertise of the people that know the children the best I'm concerned that some of the voices were not in the room from some of us that are experts in education and some of the leaders that should have been present for some of these conversations because I really firmly believe that we may not have turned over every possibility we have had some changes in The Last 5 Years due to enrollment um we have decreased enrollment considerably at placentino right now we're seeing Trends upcoming so I'm not convinced that because I I wasn't in the room I've watched some of those meetings um certainly Dr slany and um Mr K were not in the room who were the most impacted by these decisions and I'm not convinced that we have overturned every possibility logistically because I do think some of the parameters have changed and I believe the Educators and the leaders in this District could come up with a solution that is better than maybe any of the solutions that have been discussed here so I hope you reconsider before you do vote that maybe there are some other options that weren't explored um I'm very concerned with the option that have been proposed whether this one or some of the others that I've heard about was there discussion among the administrators in like the six weeks that the meetings were going I mean there was a representative and I know the teachers took the time to do a survey um and then their representatives expressed um the results of that but did the administrators collaborate so I the administrators and I have talked and all of us have talked and they do believe there are some other options that may not have been discussed you know during process during this process there were four different meetings and we were brought in the committee 14 different people over 8 hours for different meetings I'm just wondering I I guess I'll let them do feel like your voices were heard during this process Dr saney and Mr K well when we put this when we put this um committee together we had we did have a conversation about having another another voice there and I think it was agreed upon by by everyone that Dr Jordan having just left the role of principal and having the con connections with with the uh with the other principles that that he he does um was there and was sort of a repres representative of [Music] them I I I don't want to speak for the principles all I can say is that they have discussed some other ideas recently that they're willing to explore further um that I don't think we entertained in those conversations the one thing is want the recommendation is the final recommendation the committee put forward but I remember in those eight hours we talked about I think every scenario and back and forth on a bunch of them I do know a couple of them are still let say viable um but there were a lot that were excluded because of constraints that we had specifically what what were some of the constraints well it's mainly we we talked extensively over a number of the meetings about having high school and middle school together or high school and Miller together and the different age groups um you know that was you know I know in the recommendation it wasn't called out but that was a topic of conversation like what we would do in that situation um ultimately we said and may not be the right decision but we can separate them and it'll be fine was kind of how we left it um that consideration around sports with the high school if the high school can't start earlier well they can only start later if they start later what does that look like for sports that need to get out um starting the elementary schools together there's logistical challenges there um we walk through was only four schools so there's only so many permutations but I think through that process we've talked through all of them and there were some that were just like off the table like we can't start the high school at 9:00 a.m. flat flat out what were some of the logistical challenges of starting classentino and Miller together me and getting the parent like the buses and teachers are fine I think we squared that away I don't think that was a concern it was more around parents and drop off because it's the same campus so I think we had an initial plan there I don't know if it was ever talked with Chief Cassidy about um but there was concerns around safety and where cars would be dropping off and picking up and then also was mentioned by the teachers and I don't know if it was ever confirmed the cafetorium can't hold both schools at the same time let's just let's just take a St back here for a second because for 5 years the community has been hearing that FR and Miller cannot go together so let's just let's just start it because I think well that's what we're saying I'm saying but I think there were some conversations I'm not sure that they were Happ if they having that your committee or or if it was just convers I had about finding ways and with the fact that we have an additional 15 minutes so now there is the potential but there's still a lot of potential to putting them together but we have a lot of work to be done and I don't know because the issue there would be obviously that would more than likely be that those two schools would start first correct ideally yes so then you'd have the high school and and RAM starting second and so there's the impact on on Sports and jobs I think Sports and and activities and jobs and everything permutation with look at Dr Jordan I Believe what if the high school went first with Rams I would say one of the one of the scenarios was presented in the in the uh with the school bus start times committee um along with the Miller and the high school and then the um placentino and Rams we did the alternative to as far as high school and placentino um together as the as the first run and then um uh Miller and Rams as the second run um that was discussed I think to your point as far as some of the earlier time um you know combining um the elementary schools um you know that's that's one that would Pro that would need to be deeply involved the placentino and Miller principles uh and administration and and this committee at looking at what it would take to do that type of work um to get to that point um but we did look at the you know a viable option as far as being the high school placentino at the earlier time um but also like okay what would it what would it take to um get the the elementary schools together um because that seemed to be an area that there was interest within that committee do we know have we talked with the director about when the what the latest end time of the high school could be that would not have a d you know significant impact on after school activities and and sports especially freshman and and JB Sports I I I did get um some information from from from Matt on on what the impacts could be um and he went through and he did it season by season sport by sport um and I'm not going to read everyone just because they'll they'll be here for quite a while the the the gist of it is that you know the the for subv Varsity Sports um the expectation would be there would be less events because of either us not being able to get to to districts that may not have lights on their baseball field in time you know things of that nature or just not the availability of of districts to get to us on time and the lack of lighting here um we have we do have three illuminated Fields with the the big baseball diamond at Adams the the small diamond at the softball Diamond at damella and obviously comidian but again that doesn't cover every sport it's not you know again we're not going to play till midnight so from that um you know there there there will be reductions in the amount of events for um for uh uh uh sub Varsity Sports um for Varsity Sports I mean the gist of it is that some things will be either later you know obviously that practices especially will occur later um he broke one thing down for example in the in the spring where you know currently kind of track goes tracks on the on the turf or on the turf area from 3:00 to 4:30 girls is from girls across 4:30 to 6:30 boys across 6:30 to 8:30 well again you start sliding that back every time you're getting now practices that may be run until 9:00 at night or 9:30 at night on a school night so those are the types of things that again are the challenges with Shifting the high school back you know I mean any we start of high school at the same time it's going to get shifted back by 15 minutes so that's in there that's baked in as as a thing so if we go back any further saying we start the high school at 8:20 or 8:30 now you're picking up additional time um the the uh athletic events again certain ones are usually on a turf field anyway and every team in the Tri Valley now I believe has lighting um so that's less impactful there but again you're still talking about practice is going to happen to a certain time and certain sports do have three um you know they do have freshman JV and varsity so that will push again it's all about lateness now what's going to happen is that these events will get pushed later but the the sub Varsity ones that'll be will be the Major Impact um with regards to them being able to have matches or games our our later schools in the tri valy um Medfield got the pro proposed vote I think it's actually it might be tonight or um as far as the 310 in time for the high school um Bellingham is 35 15 Dober sh run is 310 then you get to like Westwood uh 255 Norwood 250 uh and then it drops to Ashlin 245 and then drops from there and what if the high school started at 840 what would the end time be let me I can pull I can pull my 45 minutes later than it is now yeah 35 wait what time did you say 30 minutes plus the 1584 oh 8:40 okay I have so yeah so be 40 43 328 great we 3:30 think it's the latest by 15 minutes yeah I I guess my concern with that is also the Lost instruction time so for sports that have like over 100 kids like our spr track program they were dismissed early seven times last spring so then they're being dismissed even you know a good 45 or out 60 minutes earlier times 100 kids per of those events so there is there is an impact I think that we have to weigh with decreased instructional time right and and that is because those events you're traveling for them you're you know connected to those other tribe alleys they run them you know whether they're running them at Reggie Lewis or they're running them in Boston um and if they start at 4:00 then you know if your school it's out at 3:30 and the bus is leaving here at 1:30 that's some we have a loss of instructional time um it's also the sports too that we don't control the the the playing venues like hicking and swimming and things of that nature we have our times that we get assigned which we don't have yet and obviously if we get what would be typically a good time which would be earlier in the day may now become a conflict you also just to put it out there too it's not just the sports we have things going on like the musical and Fields and all that this CU we already here until 8 9 10:00 at night especially this time right before so now you're probably talking about an extra hour hour and a half some time just in terms of getting it all set up and moving just with that at the time gets later and later and I respect that the committee was mindful about this component the component of after school jobs for some students I mean we received a lot of letters through the school start time I kind of jumped on right after that vote in the spring of 2019 although we did revote it again and we had a community Forum but one of the letters that has always stood out was talking about a student that really needed this after school job and the impact it would have on them right so I do think that's something we have to be mindful of um they may not have that job if we push time back but that said looking again at the placentino and Miller at the same time what does that mean logistically um for running those buses through that campus and running you know drop off lines um pick up lines what does that look like do who wants to speak to them I mean again we have to prioritize getting buses and staff in right um that has to be a priority um you know we we've had discussions about ideas on what to do with parents at drop off and pickup um you know it's it's something we're still talking through yeah I think the biggest change that we hadn't had an opportunity to discuss in the past because we have the enrollment bubble of the 220 kindergarten is going in that now in 30 grade and we've been shifting staff up as a result of that we're at 139 kindergart this year so we had not when we were talking about Logistics in the past we were looking at a lot more cars on campus as well and then the potential of there's always the potential when you com if you combined um both schools that you would then have um the same amount of cars or less cars because you know they're driving their keep at the same time so it's not it's not double the cars and cuz you might have kids in um placentin and M now going at the same time so there's less cars that way as well you know not that I want to put the cart before the horse on any of this but you know I would want to to to answer the question I'd want to lean on Dr sany as far as what we've done there um and some of the past experiences we learned even at the middle school as far as like how we brought C cars onto campus um during Co um as well um and that said you know having more if if that's something we're pursuing and and looking at as far as the feasibility of it um you know we would need a plan a plan B plan C um as we go into the start of the year but that's that is how we we pivoted during Co is we the first I think was was talking to uh Mr K call Dr K it's the new haircut ha um about you know I with a big shift like that it's it's going to be Rocky for a couple a couple weeks um and and trying to trying to navigate that as best we can so so Dr s and Mr K so we have had some conversations about looking at this now right so you want do you want to talk about sort what what the the thought would be potentially about being able to combine the start times for your two schools I mean I think they can talk in generalism one of the things that they can speak to is that in the past this this extra 15 minutes on the day also you know we had inflexibility with our we unified art staff of both buildings and with this extra time change it wouldn't necessarily mean adding staff whereas that was a concern before of fitting all that in and may be having add staff and things like that too so yeah Mr Alfred I I hear you when you said for the past 5 years we've been saying we we you know five years ago no this was more just Frank sort of started talking about to say it publicly like we said no this can happen there have been variables that were game changers that there's a possibility and you know part of it was our unified Arch schedule um that we wouldn't have been able to fit them in because of our our two times with the adding 15 minutes to the day um actually we're able to do it we are able to fit that in additionally because of decreasing enrollment and looking at the census and going forward it doesn't look like we're going to be going back up anytime soon um reducing by 100 Kids is a lot um I talked to Mr muday in the beginning of the year when I did dismissal for the first time I was like what just happened there like it happened so quickly also before the pandemic we did dismissal very differently we learned a lot of efficiencies of how to use technology to be able to get parents through without them getting out of their cars which we didn't do before before they parked their cars they came into the cafeteria they got their kids they left the thought of having both Miller and placentino do that at the same time with that system no that wouldn't be feasible but with our new efficiencies of how we do it we are you know I I I lean heavily on Mr G and his knowledge of this and I think that we now can think about um as Dr Jordan said some of the things that we learned from the pandemic of um not being so linear and how we think about moving our cars through the campus of having them use the same entrance off of Woodland Street but the possibility of going in through a different route um and then still making sure that we're following um the the fire Lanes in that piece we think there's lots of work to be done um Dr Jordan and Mr bedet you know posed to us what are the challenges of this and we went together and looked at the challenges and we think that there's Solutions we would want to work with Mr Bay and Dr Jordan as a team to go through um I do know on the committee there were things that were mentioned like that the cafeteria wouldn't work all due respect we do schedules run Lunes we can do that um and I agree we' got we've got to focus on the buses the teachers being able to get out parents are going to maybe have to have a little bit of patience uh coming in but the new system since Co that we both have in place really works and it really works well that we can get cars in and out of there um I think you then wouldn't have the bridge program between uh Miller and placentino which is about 90 minutes that parents have to pay for while their kids are waiting for the placentino students to get out if you know um if we ended up early we might not even need the early morning extended day because we're already there uh and so that we're just loading them into the school and getting kids ready for the breakfast program we we'd love the opportunity to do uh a full kind of presentation for you with us working with Mr B and and Dr Jordan to be able to take you know all of your questions and thoughts and be able to present it so that you're able to make a decision in this and I think no matter what direction obviously what ultimately the school committee decides um as administrators we just we look for what is the best decision based on the limitations we have right and I think school safety is a huge concern um you know just where more students get older students get pushed off verses if we go with a scenario that we described tonight I think there's just so many layers to that that I don't think anything that we could come up with no matter how diligent Dr slain and Mr Kaa there certainly would be limitations to any model we put forward but I think coming down to what's the best model with the limitations that we can do for our kids and for our community is really what we have I also want you to think about what Dr slangy said at the very beginning you know those 5-year-olds with middle schoolers or our 10 year olds with 19y olds you know it is about the safety of our kids uh and not to say anything anybody's going to try and be malicious but at the same time there we it makes us nervous can I ask when you're talking about this like how do we break up and put kids on buses is it is it having gaps between like a younger age group with a much older age group or is it just just middle school children who are tough to put with anyone is that what you're saying or like no I I I I don't think I don't think that's I think potentially gaps is is concerning Miller and Rams together objectionable I guess was really my it would be less objectionable as far as the age probably but I don't think they would have the pantino students riding with the high school kids because about being separate right would that be cuman you put pleno in high school at the same start they were separate yeah um have we talked to Chief Cassidy about any changes in the access road so we we already know that we cannot use the go behind but right now like and this is where we don't want we didn't want them to go too far into this because we don't know if you're even going to let us move in this dire to consider it but right now the preschool population goes through that back through the Woodland campus I mean through the Rams campus and that road by the um preschool playground so that might be the access road that goes between Umi we run that by Chief G yes I that's a significant he would want he would want more signage there with regards to no parking signs and things of that nature because he struggles already with people parking on there during athletic events at the high school baseball games and softball games but again but whereas he was opposed to the other plan he's aable he's not unopposed man already I think the difference is when if we had a fire situation coming around the back of the building there was nowhere for all of these cars to go to get out of the way in this short distance they could get out of the way I think that's really why he feels that they would be able to manage that I truthfully think if it comes down to signs we shouldn't let signs start stop a good decision I hate signs we're talking about do you envision a rolling um drop off pickup or you over envisioning something where parents have to park and go no parking drop off we could not have them Park what would they do for drop off would it be different than pick I think we've got to we've got to get down into the nitty-gritty with it if you want us to get down into it we will we're just not there yet we've got ideas but you got you get some some some thinking and as you said to Mr L you know one one same same deadline different problem um we we have a lot listen we have a lot of ideas Dave and I have two different ideas of how um like of how pickup or or drop off a drop off could occur they're both feasible what we would like to do next is meet with Mr bedet meet with Dr Jordan bring in Chief Cassidy bring in officer Woods talk to all through be able to do a presentation for you you to have a school committee representative as part of that too is that something people are open to I for what purpose because we may have lot we may have questions that the committee would have before I guess time is the issue it's really not January 1st I think our last day of school is December 20th so we we are now up against a wall with you know about 4 and 1/2 weeks and and you know a good part of that is also um we're very limited time we would be able to do a presentation for the next school committee meeting okay would you be able to do a presentation by December 5th yeah yeah that's not the next just we may not get the information to you a week ahead of time but we'd be able to present on December 5th I think because it's so important to this leadership team to try to find the best solution possible that they're willing to do thank you and I appreciate that but I will say the commity will hear a presentation on December 5th and then what would it be Our intention that we would have to vote by December 12th or are we also opening ourselves up to a meeting on the 19th as well are we giving the community one week or two weeks after they hear the presentation to give feedback um my concern is just you know the committee met for several weeks this memo was put together and then we've heard feedback tonight we probably will then have feedback from the community that might we might need to absorb and respond to with just more than just one week I think what we should mention goad I think what I mean let's talk about the option they're going to explore so the community can digest it starting tonight can we hear some of the ideas for pickup and drop off then that before before we get into that though I do because I do I don't I want I want to hear that I think that there um one of the things we haven't done yet which I think is important is to communicate some of this to the community some form there is sort of a dir of information vacuum information is sort of plugged in regardless so I guess what are the if is there consensus that uh while we respect the work of the the committee the sub commmittee um we do not are we are we comfortable just sort of saying that given the the sort of the feedback we we've heard from uh from the principles that that probably just well may work in some sort of theory as they were trying to work within the some of the parameters that they had in reality just is not a I'm not ready to toss what the committee of 14 put together over multiple meetings as representatives of teachers of Representatives of parents as representatives of administration um I'm not ready to completely toss that out without hearing something viable and being able to ask the questions and make sure we have feedback from the community and I don't know that a week's feedback is is that fair but speaking from the now disolved committee as one individual on it and and on the school committee I think we and Dr Jordan Mr bday um Cynthia and Joe also part of it we were not married to the groupings we felt a need to provide the groupings I think it's more important we look at the recomend the other recommendations to make sure whatever subsequent recommend in terms of groupings we stick somewhat within that and I think what's being discussed right now mostly Falls within that if not entirely except for the fact that it goes against the groupings that were provided I I think we we chatted actually groupings the least more around the confines of what you know we can start at and an end at as an example so I I don't think it's exactly throwing it away but I I think it still provides a framework that you're trying to meet and I I do think you guys spoke to many of the concerns that but you were kind of coming up with the best case scenario working with the information you had but if you can put up a better plan I would love to see it okay and then can I can I request that the athletic director and maybe some representatives from from the Arts and other other high school programs uh at least be consulted and be involved in sort of as as because as you work on the um um Elementary School piece there's a whole it's sort of like you can still that that can still be a piece but it can be the elementary school is going first the elementary school is going second and then there's it is there any appetite for trying to have this meeting on the 21st next week that's a little can I I just I just want to just go back to one thing you're were saying though Dan is that um the the impact to uh the arch or Athletics is going to be felt in both secondary schools MH so if they're together you know it it's a question of whether they would be whether the school committee would entertain doing them as the first one versus the second the the the question the question is again going back to structure um is is the structure of this putting the two elementaries together and the two secondaries together right well what I mean the do do you know what I'm saying no no I do and and the I I think that you know I don't want to ignore the fact that the the the most push back heard at the committee meetings was from Miller teachers you know that had um significant um concerns about moving Miller later so and I think that that could be a potential that you would put if there were this move forward that the two elementary schools could be the first because we also have tons of research to show that our younger children should be going earlier because they go to bed much earlier and the Sleep patterns and similarly with our older students it's all I mean that is the reason even though that predates me and I arrived with this change that we were implementing at that time it my understanding was it was specifically because we wanted our older students to go later correct but I think in that situation though if we're in my view I think we're dealing with an earlier start time of 7:50 I think we we have heard for four plus years from many many members of the community a strong a significant concern um with uh the 7:30 start time especially what that means for pickups for for the younger kids now the sort of I would say that if the if you put the high school first could you go a little earlier because these are are are bigger indiv you know these are taller they have maybe you know they're they're they're want little kids waiting up for the bus in the dark so F at the same time then you're going against the Sleep work that was done you know uh 5 years ago so um if you take the 750 as the first time start time and that gets you to at best and I know Keith you don't 50 minutes is still is still a tough tough slog but at best an 8:40 start time for the for the second uh set of schools which then would put the high school at a 3:30ish um release time which would be the latest so I mean these are the trade-offs that we're Dan let me ask you in in the recommendation provided the high school we wouldn't move it up it would stay at 810 I believe give or take 10 minutes it says um and with Miller and then classentino Rams would go basically 50 minutes later right 40 55 so so so all we're doing is putting rams here so 9:00 start time we have a 9:00 start time in this recommendation understand but so at a 9:00 start time you start time what is the end time for for classing to so 835 335 4 isn't it 45 10 minutes one of the things we also talk what was moving you know was during the during the the override um was you know moving the the the end time of of of placentino up and now I think that we've heard less concerns about that but if you had a 345 340 345 end time you will have kids getting off the bus at 4:30 or later or later has that what that the current recommendation has that has what placentino on the second run where they would go later no no no I understand it does that but my my point is I'm talking about the the downsides conc is you're going to have our smallest you know students getting off the bus at 4:30 when it's pitch black dark in the in the middle of winter which has been the concern of a lot of parents about pickups I think that's the issue 7:30 it's St and 4:30 it's St you know so I mean depends is climate change going to change that Dr Jordan Mr in terms of the bus time um is it if you had plotino and Miller together would you expect that would take 50 minutes or would you expect it to take longer than a middle school high school run we probably look at hit an hour right go ahead I'm I'm just I'm pausing just go I'm I just I'm trying to put together that was ready of that question um I mean 15 minutes would probably be the best that we could look at because the problem is not the early run you know the morning one the problem for for the 1550 minutes is in the later run because it's it the the the challenge is is that you you the the start of school and you push for the breakfast so you're actually going to be a little early so you get that run started but at the end of the day you dismiss and you go and then you got to try to get back for the next dismissal and if if placentino Miller is the second one the that's going to require us to have staff stay around later and we've already extended the teachers day to the very end of the day already so you know they may not be participating if the high school middle school is the second run of the day um and the buses were showing up 5 minutes later than the dismissal time that's something that I think is much more manageable just because the age of the children and you know developmental level of them um many don't we School anyway even if they have a bus so they find their own ways home so it's it's you know I if we try to squeeze the times I I think it really behooves us to make sure that to my recommendation would be that the element if we're putting the elear together secondar together um that the elementaries are first just because if if we're wrong on this if you know if I say 50 minutes and it's really 57 um at the elementary it's a big impact okay I also would say that um you know if if we are looking to squeeze the time I mean we projected this at 55 minutes just to account for the issues we had at the beginning of the year with uh with buses um do we think maybe through conversation of some different constraints or things we can put into place to kind of pinch that a little bit sure that that wasn't you know as Frank knows was we we were very Keith and I were very open to that that was n the purview of that group just because that might involve school committee decision on policy um on Transportation potential you know things that need might need to happen within the community so that was what made its way into the recommendation is just that that the school committee consider those factors so that we can pinch that time a little bit okay so my my question was actually more and I think I think this was a long the lines somewhere in the last four years um talking about the different bus runs the placentino room tends to take longer which as parents we probably all understand getting our kindergarten into the car or our second grader in um it just takes longer right they drop stuff they're not paying attention they wait for them themselves to sit down all of those things versus like in middle school or high school so I'm just trying to get an assessment of your assessment B on your experience of how long each of those runs takes again what I'd say though was that I go back to my previous statement that if we're trying to pinch time having the elementaries go first because again the shorter run would potentially be the the the second run in the morning because I'm picking up high school middle schoolers okay so high school middle school run would take less time than placentino I would say get kids well no the high school no no the numbers are the numbers are our two small schools our high school and pl Ando our two large schools are are middle and Miller Middle and Miller so it's about equal number of kids on the buses the the the the the children go on the bus faster they just do and so the older children so the the in the mornings the runs would be again we we have a better chance of trying to do a little pinching at the mornings the afternoons again um the kids in the afternoon again if they took longer to get off I still again if it's a few more minutes we can afford that time at the back end at the at the secondary level more than we can at the Elementary level the students need less supervision I would also I would also add kind of what I was getting at as far as on this we there are a lot of stops involved um in the the radius at which we run our bus runs and when we think about um the length of time that bus runs are done and things that can make them faster um you know one is conversation by the school committee for potential policy as far as like about the number of stops that we we do do or what are some of the parameters around that um also what is the radius at which um bus busing does start uh within the district and potentially those who are within a certain radius need to potentially walk or F find alternative means in one of the situations you looked at where you have class Ando in the high school at the same time but on different buses you realize some time savings because you were no longer Crossing Washington Street is that correct there's no question that one of the downsides of putting the secondaries together is I'm I'm having children who on buses across Washington Street as part of their route right and that there are challenges getting across Washington Street you know and and um you know it's it's something that we've been fighting since we put these buses together in 2002 or three so so I think we need to consider how we want to get feedback from the community how or what well both um I think they're on what though Dam right what's that on what are they giving feedback on correct yeah um because given the time constraints as the the the more work is done on on this and and just to be clear you know a lot of this is sort of were those constraints that we had for 5 years that see as conversations have happen have loosened up this was not something that was sort of withheld from I think the the sub commmittee it was just that when the SubCom really started its work and was doing its work this was not something thought that that was thought it was feasible it's the 15 minutes that really is the scheduling piece that allows us to get the unified arts in right but also with then further conversations with Chief cassid um and and that was also one of the impediments was that we you know the and and it's just just to add the you know we still have the whole Woodland Street Bridge thing that you know really needs to be fixed uh Mr s um which I also think longer term would help the situation too then that could tighten up later um Mr Sparrow said does have an update on it okay good um we'll get that from him in just a minute but do so do what what how do we want to do we want to have some sort of for do do I mean I I I surveys are tough I think for these type of things Espen because we have to kind of somehow convey all of these different issues and then come up with a with a sort of a set of differ we did a survey we're just among the 14 so it's not a science I'm super concerned about the timing we're we're asking to survey on something that we're still waiting for details on so is it are we doing a survey on December 6th or 7th could we ask for details by next Thursday and do a survey from like the 22nd keep it open 10 days have feedback by early December I don't know would you I don't would you be able to get something I I'm just wondering know what parents would give feedback on I mean from the the user perspective they would be driving their car close to the building and dropping their child off much like they do now I don't they don't like the feedback on what Loop they go in or what direction they go in I'm not sure it's a reparent anyways and I think that what we can commit to um in this idea is that you're not going to be dropped off away from the the building that we can have a drop off piece that won't interfere with buses I I think that someone I'd like to hear more more feedback on I mean you know what is you know it's 7 is 7:50 the the earliest could you go earlyer or 750 too early as it as it is um oh nothing from you your perspective from from I'm up it's fine I'm here 6 by the way the research studies do show that our kids are up much earlier Y is is the drop off for platino Miller at Rams is that what we're talking about no okay no they would be pulling up to our building okay which part of your building the again so I would want to vet this more with um our two assistant superintendant that being said the idea is to come up by lyen Street know our preschool drop off is on the side of the building have you done that yes there so been exiting out of the Miller placentino parking lot so then they go straight through never go into the loop and they'd be able to go out but it's one thing to to do that at the end of the day without impacting things because you wait for all the buses to leave and then you send the the the cars onto onto campus and you don't impact any of these buses have already left so they're moving mhm in the morning to get the parents to drop the kids off in time to to be there on time but also not be there while the buses are there well they wouldn't be interfering with the buses the buses would be in the center Loop by the cafeteria and in the placentino loop we're assuming that we would have we need both Loops so they would be those buses would be coming in the parents would not be coming in through the Woodland entrance they'd be coming in through the lynen street entrance so they would never be coming in the same parts we wouldn't want them on Woodland Street because they would be clogging up the buses and we need the buses to be able to come and go when the buses need to exit we simply have someone stop traffic and those buses go we we usually unload buses at the same time the staggered buses would be put in the center Loop so they'd be away from the Cars anyways and they'd be exiting from two different exits but I think that you could map all this out I think they're invested in trying to work out the solution so if that was the case then it would be placentino time that would change yes most likely and sh us slight shift but we need to we need to hear more from from the the high school on impact there and what what the way I mean we're going to be playing around with with ti but yeah I mean I'd want some sort of you know assurance that that would still be able to do what we're doing now and not have a detriment I mean we talk sports the easiest ones to sort of conceptualize but I think you Mr brought up a lot of great points about you know building sets and and the impact on on the Arts and just all the different clubs and activities that we do and then students of after school jobs I also know them and and just throw one more out there I know that during the St times debate of of 2019 um there were uh some parents who you know were concerned because they had high school students who they would use for for uh um child care and having the the students end after the the little kids was probably for them I don't know how how much that of an issue that is but that was definitely something that was raised by more than one um parent yeah I think that's the issue no matter what time we put there's a child care issue if they go early there's a child care issue at the end of the day if they go if the little ones go late there's a child care issue at the front of the day so and it's still kind of the same have com I would say that I think though it's probably less of an issue at the beginning of the day than sort of the middle of what could be the work day right um but extended a probably right now has about 4 5 to 50 kids that are bridge between bantino and Miller because we get out 90 minutes so parents don't want to come you know pick up one and then get the other so PL uh extended day has those kiddos they probably will not have a large group there so it will probably help parents that they won't need to have that care that they need right there in the middle I also think there's the beginning of the day if my five or six-year-old I don't have one anymore thank you but um if they started at you know 9:05 or that piece that would interrupt my beginning of the day I would be looking for child care at the beginning of the day I don't know many people who start work after that where older kids are able to be home by themselves in the beginning of the day you probably aren at the end of the day because it's at 5:00 by the time the kid gets home um um or get brought back to school cuz we are the only school that does does not drop off without a parent there so that's the other piece that you have to consider that we have our buses come back with kids so I would have to have staff for a good hour after that piece and actually it's longer I have kids picked up now at 5: um I I could not do me next Thursday you you guys could could be but it also sounds like that might be a fair quick thinks they need to talk with cuity as well um do we want to wait for that to to do do we have to wait till Thursday could we do Wednesday we could do a Tuesday it's Friday Friday tomorrow we going to meet Tuesday to put together presentation no I'm talk about in December oh okay [Music] I can probably do that I mean the Thanksgiving week is tight but if you had to do something earlier end you know Monday or Tuesday of that week Dan oh sind you're still here okay I existed over here I've been sitting on my hands for the last hour um Alis and Carly had a good idea which was what about we did a webinar to kind of go over those different ideas um as an alternative to try to do like some big form for people to kind of have to come out to um and that could be recorded and disseminated to folks that helps that was a good idea um it's not a bad one you could do a Q&A with with a um a zoom yeah it's hard to do an open-ended webinar but you could do a Q&A kind of thing where we've done those before and people try to submit questions ahead of time and or we take okay we need to get a presentation together there's a point of reference right y they would walk through whatever their presentation would look we've done that during we did that a lot during the webinar setup during you have a facilitator you have a presenter and a facilitator that brought the questions to the to the group and whoever's there I mean we all the principles have a lot of experience with that I guess you're suggesting instead of Thursday December 5th looking at Monday November 25th or Tuesday November 26th for that meeting to give more time I mean because we want to do the the Q&A webinar after that right right so that would then become the S the first week of December after we deated something and and and then Rush vot a week later on December 12th or come back again on December and still trying to get the attention of everybody over Thanksgiving yep um I like the 26th what's the 26 Tuesday Tuesday we could also send out the recording you know to the rest of the audience you see the four principles that are here and and spe that I think this I mean I'd like to do I think I I I think that doing some sort of Q&A rather than just a because we have thiss that everyone can can watch who if they're really um want punishment um but since I'd rather have have Q&A from from the public and somehow respond to it um I don't we want to limit it to pre um let's let's try to figure out we can we can figure that that there be a moderator yeah that's what I'm saying in the chat might not necessarily be I think people might need options ahead of time so that they know what they're asking questions about we should share the present some synopsis or like you know I like here's here's an option here's an option here are thoughts and then yeah us then it's not just options right because if you just throw out options people you know it's a I want this but you need to describe what the items on the buffet are in in pretty big detail and what the potential you know because you're talking you're really talking about there four times to each each thing that's important right it's the the first pick the first bus pickup time the start time the end time and the last the last you know Bus drop off time but one of the things I don't think we're going to have for you yet and but we will talk about it with Chief Cassidy is it planed for that drop off and that pickup that exact specific plan for those things because we know we can get those done but we could have the times and the and the schedules and the things like that yeah no no we we don't need those if as long as you're confident you look say we can figure that out by just making sure you're not looking for that I think I might be to know that we can use that route right because if you came back and told me up we only have 40 spots at Rams for people to park and parents with their kindergarten second grader in tow on the Rainy snowy day have to park at Rams walk these kids over or that we're dropping them off to be you don't need to know where are the details of it you need to know that they can come towards the B and then all the parties will sign up that I need to know what I'm voting on I think we need to know okay we need the signs the signs don't need to be up right now but my but my point is we also I want to understand the impact of if if we're going to look at doing the high school second what the impact of a 3:30 end time is of 320 end time and then you can work backward from there so that then when we do talk to the community we say look if we do 330 this impacts X Y and Z and has these negative impacts however we're able to the the start time of the of of M classentino is why but if we move the high school up you know so that way because I don't you know it's not to say that the only issue was the first pickup but the start time of M and and then if you ran them together that's what we've been hear because that's where the problem has been right that's where the other schools have been have been okay with that um but as soon as we start moving things around up the other problems are going to to perate right so we just need to sort of flashh out every single thing and the impact on instructional time though some of that I think also you know well yeah I think that that it's all sort of interconnected and so all right so what what are people's so the 126 we would be looking at a presentation we talking about um how do people feel about that but this is a Tuesday before Thanksgiving yeah that day we're going to stick to this topic only though right full agenda I I want to our principles do you feel like you can get this together I mean I think if we're going to be recording it potentially sending it out the right arrow for people to review and have another opportunity for feedback after that we this this would this would be recorded it would be a public meeting and everything this would not be the the Q&A okay theed and the feedback would be after that I'm not hearing any objections to it other than it's Thanksgiving week other than it's Thanksgiving week that Monday looks a lot better than the Tuesday Monday I can't do Monday can't do Monday so Dan are you saying that you want to have a meeting on Tuesday say the 26th want is a very strong word yes we're talking about a meeting on on the 26th yes it it sounds like we have a couple more we cannot do Monday so I can't I'll be on the plane can we move forward with Tuesday I can't do Monday okay Tuesday Tuesday it is okay and um just for the community we are trying to fit all this in before the end of the year we're not trying to bury something on that we could than excuse me yeah's I think that I would be amable to to to starting it earlier um 4:30 6 I would be as early as 5 at believe school is still in session so um yeah we just we have a meeting that's up 43 right 4:15 to 5 I have a meeting for superintendent right before from 4:15 to 5:30 so you on that day um so 5:30 5:30 okay we look for that and then leave the fifth open as well and then the 12th and then the 12th and and and lightly pencil in the 19th can you just take off January then no that's budet season keep going um can we do this to ourselves um all right so I think we have a we have a we have a plan of action um anything else uh about this I guess would be helpful to the principles sorry for if there are complications in what we talk if there complications in what we talked about today for the plan on the 20 just share that so that we don't meet to find that out um that would be helpful Keith will let us know thank you [Music] Keith all right [Music] um believe it or not we actually still ahead of schedule um all right thank you all all right I would like to now invite our um Ste colleague from select up to um he can give us an update every and then also discuss um you I think you created policy advisory committee yeah did so um we'll do it briefly yeah I um I'm Ben Sparrow I'm from the uh select board Vice chair um I won't I mean I can read my statement that I have about school times I mean my my position is a little different because I mean I'm a kindergartener so I have I have stake in this but it's not quite the same kind of a conversation that you have so I'll just start with that first real quickly um and you know the first thing I want to do is just say thank you for inviting me to be part of the process and to participate um I think it's uh important that we collaborate across these across our boards and things like that so uh with that in mind uh the select board is interested in partnering with the school committee to ensure our kids have safe and effective transportation to school with the upcoming movement on rben Street project uh we put it out to bid on Monday we have 15 interested parties so if that's good there's not we don't any bids yet but we're moving forward on that uh some challenges will disappear before the start of the next school year while Others May linger and develop uh the mot safe roots to schools program has numerous resources and staff available to assist HPS in these areas and some suggestions would be updating arrival and dismissal practices to promote walking and biking adding policies that promote walking and biking and providing pedestrian bicycle safety training to students uh the town hasve been working we've been trying to work together with things like the override and I think this is another opportunity for our boards to collaborate um we're committed to strategy that includes these kinds of programs like safe roots to schools and complete streets um ensures that kids have uh multiple means of uh reaching schools Beyond just buses and cars um further the town has a plan for sidewalk construction that started new ways on norol and Central Street actually had talked to parents personally who asked me about that on Central Street and that provides greater access to the Woodland Street campus just recently the hson DPW has prioritized sidewalk and crosswalk improvements for the benefit of HPS students including uh widen and repaired sidewalk in front of the Adams Middle School repaired sidewalks and improved crosswalk along Central between Blair square and Franklin Street pedestrian Crossing signals and improved crosswalks at several locations downtown along Washington Street and FY 25 we plan to improve rail trail access and crosswalks at Casey's to allow for winter access uh plans to add repair sidewalks along Church Street between Railroad and Central streets and uh with the debt exclusion for Norfolk Central and ging these projects will allow new sidewalks within the one mile radius of the Woodland Street campus um connecting dense residential neighborhoods to Safe roots to school and finally um also we have Blair square there's it's a beautiful Gathering point for kids to start um they do the walking school bus from places like like that um we recognize that many parents need to drive their children to school and the goal is to offer Alternatives such as the walking School Bus shifting Transportation modes to encourage greater number of students who walk bike and ride the bus may have benefits walking and biking are excellent ways to promote Health well-being and connected to the natural environment busing combined with walking and biking reduces congestion on local roads and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by removing passenger vehicles from school traffic and these goals align with many objectives with the town and uh hollon Public School strategic plan um we're looking also to try to find Opportunities to eliminate Reliance on adults for transportation to school and can positively impact attendance walking is no cost form of transportation and biking can be as well through programs that promote helmets and bicycles um these goals Al again also align with the strategic planning so um the select board we're asking you um uh the school committee um for any recommendation around busing to include comments to the select board on projects or ideas for how the municipal resources can support the schools with reducing traffic um and developing alternatives to motor vehicles for children to get to school promoting good health in our community and then also um working with the school committee longterm to discuss strategic planning for transportation and um I think at some point I know you're busy I'm not trying to say you're not but um finding a way to schedule some kind of opportunities um formally or informally between our boards to have these kinds of discussions whether it's the chairs whether it's subset whatever it happens to be but I think there's opportunities there because I think our our goals align and I think we need to be working together I mean you know we we're dealing with a lot of infrastructure projects we got a lot of things in the pipeline and um I think it's important that our goals and your goals coincide when it comes these kinds of projects um and um that's it with that any questions thank you Ben and I and I did note within the recommendations of the committee they talked about encouraging us to engage with you the select board for trafficing I actually no I did take note about the part with the traffic assistance and police or traffic guards because I do think one of the ongoing issues especially as we look at this and if we have if we do go with a plan that that runs that's running those buses across um Washington Street again is getting them over and and maybe having the the the um police officer and stopping traffic on 16 to move our buses across there right because it's certainly a Time loss um on both routes so is that something we can continue to engage you with and have discussions about I mean I I I'd be cautious about doing that from my perspective because I do not personally philosophically believe in tell talking about operations of an individual of a department that's under my purview I mean I don't feel it's appropriate that would be really a conversation to have with the chief I mean I certainly can talk to them and things like that but I just want to be careful prescribing how they should interact with those kinds of things but we certainly can have those kinds of conversations and you know I I I would like everything on the table to have these conversations it doesn't mean they're going to come to fruition that doesn't mean they're feasible in in any respect but it also means that we can have the conversation what more your help facilitating the conversation sure they are two school resource officers right so we're not we're not looking at posting a police officer outside for you know 2 hours in the morning to to direct traffic yeah you know we can we can work on that to see what kinds of uh what kinds of things that can be done uh if that's if that's feasible and certainly I can help with facilitating that conversation good and actually the bigger time is actually the afternoon because that's all bus I I said morning remember I'm saying it's it's all buses go in the afternoon in the morning summer in different directions and it would also be the second run of the day so or second run of the morning excuse me y know again they might be parking ever been caught in the traffic going past the hopkington schools um when they're releasing you see that there's a officer out there holding traffic to move their buses out of that facility I'm just we can explore some of those I think it's a little tricky because we're talking about trying to have a resource that's not I mean hackington hasn't right there you know within the uh within their campus and they have it it's able to be there whereas and and that's that meain Road there on 85 but here we have a little bit of a removal between where the schools are and where the uh the the the need is on Route 16 so we have to figure out if that's something that's even feasible to uh to accomplish and then just briefly on the uh the um policy advisory committee sure um I know we've gotten a request to yes provide some Representatives with yeah we um we we uh approved uh the creation uh based on the Strategic plan of a um a Dei advisory um committee um and um it's um intended to be a resource to help look at um the equitability and uh of uh policies and things like that within the town of Holliston um in seems to be lacking at this time because there was a lot of uh desire for that movement and um the way we've looked at um making up who is on that committee is based on um several committees providing um nominees for those uh positions and uh we had set aside two for the schools um the intention um is not necessarily that it's you folks it's it could certainly be someone else like for example Stacy rafy is your envisioning future hollison representative and she's no longer on the school committee so I think it's you know it's not it's not unreasonable to think it's it's it we don't really know how much work it would be um but at the same time you're certainly have plenty of work to do so I would say it would probably be somebody a representative that you would you would provide um one of the things we had explored is um trying to compile um uh potential nominees for this particular for for this particular group looking towards having a diverse makeup of of the uh of the committee um not necessarily want a homogeneous committee we want to be able to hi find people from different parts of the community who may be um who who may be under representative or potentially who have a better perspective than you know myself as a white male I have very little to offer in this sense because because of the experiences that I've had um so therefore you know looking to compile group of people so they would certainly be uh you know talking within within all the uh Committees of the these are the people who've expressed interest in participating in this committee and I hope that you would participate and be a part of it because I think having everybody from all sorts of sectors we have uh Council on Aging um we're putting um Youth and Family Services I think that's what we're still calling them and um uh certainly a couple from the select board and one from the town administrator's office hopefully with somebody with some legal experience in this in this space so I would hope you um would would participate in in in some capacity because I think you know you are major part of the community uh substantial part and I think it'd be important to have you as is part of this group so in some capacity thank you and I really appreciate you know being included um is there anyone first before we that on the committee that would like to to be part of uh this group I mean that you know it's we have a a a quite a voluminous uh set of policies already absolutely um and you know that's the statory responsibility of course of the school committee um I'm I'm not opposed to sort of having some Representatives I don't if it's not members of the school committee it's it might kind of it feels a little weird to have community members who don't know maybe aren't necessarily have to speak with our PA just so I'm just trying to sort of think about that um but at the same time as you've seen we have a lot of stuff going on right now uh on the committee though so um I don't thoughts from from from people and we don't need to necessarily decide names tonight unless they're members of the committee that would like to do it but since we would like to try to know who to make who would make up like who if you're willing to participate in the committee on some capacity so that way we can ensure that we're um moving forward we don't want to we don't want to hold up the the the process here we want to move ahead on the 26th um need to we need to Appo people uh I want I I think our committee needs to be part of this should be part of it but it sounds like it's somewhat the first time we're hearing about it so I think everybody needs to reflect and can you give us a better idea of when you're going to meet and how often you're going to meet so that we can make sure we haven't made it yet it hasn't been designed yet and I'm not going to be part of it so I can't really speak to that um I would say the intention is um within I'd say probably by January 1st let's pick on that date again um that it probably would be the if I had to say it would probably be having it seated and starting within the New Year think of it think of it as a resource as something that can can Aid you in your policymaking and another pair of eyes that can help you in this capacity is there an intention to meet monthly or quarterly they would be able to make up their own I I think there's enough work that they probably would want to meet at least initially a little more often because they're they're they got to figure out the size of the elephant they got to figure out how they're going to eat it so I don't know what that's going to look like um I would say probably more often at least the first and then once they kind of figure out how the process is going to work for them they might meet a little less often so I probably say monthly if I had to guess at least for the first year and then thereafter they would have be able to make that choice accordingly in evening meetings is that what is whatever they decide they get to decide Cynthia is our policy Guru any any any thoughts um yeah I mean I shared my thoughts with Travis about this um you know as as you mentioned uh policy is one of our statutory authorities so um I've been on policy for the going on 10 years uh of the school committee eight years as chair um we invite a lot of people to the table um as we revise and developed new policies um with a backdrop of always making sure that we are in line with state law and you know look toward MC which the massachusett association of school committees as um our guidance for our for our initial pass through with our guidance policies and then invite you know experts within the community um and within our administrators to come to those means to give us feedback um like um Jer Renee and jff be Danel Cloud it just depends on what aspect of policy we're looking at so I feel we have quite a bit of oversight I don't know how much that's cified necessarily in our process um but I we certainly welcome other people to come to the table we meet monthly um if that's something that they would want me to then cut forward to the committee for them to consider um in terms of what we have for policy I mean to me it's sort of like more you know eyes that look at something the better in in most cases so so you know I welcome their feedback so um if you're looking for me to join yet another that was not my I'm going to say I'm going to take a pass on that right at the moment um but I certainly wonder whether or not there are other people in the community who might be interested in kind of Dipping their toe in the water of you know seeing how things are are done in the district um and you know whether there's someone within our school commune that would be interested outside of a school committee members and I would also add to this too that the intention at least from our perspective is to towards residents and not necessarily voters um that was one of the things to make sure that people who are you know members of the community who may not necessarily have a uh uh be able to vote in in in um in in elections but still can participate and you know are part of this part of the Town absolutely so so why don't we do this since this is kind of new for everyone everyone want think about it um it doesn't sound like anyone has feels like they have the bandwidth necess from the committee but um I I'd encourage you what I was this this week's s with me you discussed it and created it so maybe see you watch that um think about it if you think it's a you good idea maybe if you know people talk to people see if gauge interest so we have some names I think sending out an email to to the entire School District looking for names might just be more it might not be might not be necessary and we can sort of see like we can gather interest you know from the town side and sort of share but come back and we'll have one more agenda item to to to that Tuesday meeting so they can try to get I in would would be quick and we can have a a follow conversation and um and I'm um I'm happy to answer any questions about it I'll make sure that you know if you don't already have it I'll make sure you get um the the scope and the uh all the the language that we've we've agreed to to to forming it there's anyone watching now from from the community that might have interest in serving on this you know feel free to send me an email or or you can contact the Town Administrator or contact the Town Administrator um uh but well again but we need to know it so we could make that appointment but yeah we would share we'll we'll collaborate on that okay uh thank you very much ben is that thank you for your time appreciate you you waiting uh Hey for all other stuff it's F on time actually I know I was hoping to get done before 10 um but we will um so the actually the last item on our on our public agenda is um the just start the disc question of the sort of the impact on graduation requirements since the prop not question two question two passed and and the mcast uh will no longer be a graduation requirement um I don't know if the administration's been thinking about that or if there's any uh no okay of course then we have questions about it um I do I do think um it it likely will not change how it's administered in any way we you know we've heard that it's going to still um be the same place format that it is right now potentially the similar schedule and all that really what it means is if our students cannot pass mcast however they can pass all of our competency determinations for that the district imposes which may or may not change moving forward related to this then you know that is really the the change so um I I think logistically we haven't had time to digest what and anything we'll do differently at the moment there's a hope that Des is going to give us more guidance as well and they have indicated they will too but it's I think it it kind of took people even though they saw it on the ballot it's it's not clear that people really digested it all before it you know here so I don't think they were people were really ready for it so I will get you more updates as they come in and I'm sure Hillary and your role you probably will be hearing more about it as well yeah I think the the initial guidance was hold and pause from the commissioner and and more guidance is coming mhm I didn't read close enough does it take effect this year or next year it's supposed to take effect this year December something DEC so I mean I think right now what I would say from the little bit I know is that we would say people should still encourage their kids to do their best on mcast because then they're done with the requirement cuz if the things change the competent determinations other requirements could be more challenging right so I think it's you know we would say try to get this out of the way regardless and and do the best you can on it as a we going to change those Dr yes and just to confirm we are still uh having and mcast still uh exists in all of the grades yes it's not I mean I heard from a number of people who thought that they were voting that mcast would no longer be administered in the schools correct and I said that is not at all what that is about I think that is a h wanture people that that is still happening it is still happening it's just not a requirement but that we have graduation ensure our students graduate successfully yes and it will regardless of whether if a child doesn't pass and can still graduate it also means that the schools are not held harmless here like we are still impacted by still go receivership right if students don't take it seriously obviously rankings if I mean that we've all talked about can be impacted as well so yes nothing else changes at this time students will still take it at the same grade levels and the district will be um held accountable for that as well in terms of our curriculum to essentially to graduate the requirements are we thinking about changing those mid year on students or waiting until next year we I think we really need to wait for a little more guidance CU that would I mean that's not I mind fair to the students but that isn't that how the question was posed they took away the requirement and now individual school districts have to come up with a requirement and it's effective for the graduated class of 25 yes but we could leave things as is we still have our required credits and the coursework and stuff like that that is right part of and districts could also say that in their District mcast still is required I'm not saying we would is there a way to in to stay incen uh students to take the the MC seriously so that we maintain sort of some Integrity of the data and the usability of it from from year to year this year we could choose to use it well or we could choose could we choose to do some sort of differentiation as far as you know the pl Plus or or some sort of you know this you sign with a red penate black pen sign such pain um I just I think this is sort of that's where the cup before the horse right that's the that's the concern that with us as Educators is that it would have been ideal to have had a plan in place M prior to eliminating that requirement that's always been the challenge and from the equity lens because we're also looking at all of the assessments that we do and give to give us data to inform our high needs populations are and we've showed you data this year showing that we have challenges with some Equity with some of our populations already so we do want that data to be as meaningful as possible for those reasons so that we can improve our programs at all times are we doing to educate parents families on still the importance of mcast cuz if if people are voted on this thing thinking it's going away and it's not we got to protect our ranking and our the Quant the data that we are collecting on this yeah we may want to consider doing some kind of thing once we have time to digest that a little later in the year I think the problem is will they come and hear that message too I don't know those types of presentations aren't usually well intended but it's more it's honestly it's not even a present it's more of like just getting messaging out consistently right time and time again because people don't read anything either all right so more to come on on this uh lot more to come on this um so uh we are uh accepting the uh the policies that per many meeting minutes of September 23rd um our next uh meeting date is not December 12th it is uh November 26th that is not a joke that is Tuesday before Thanksgiving um and um but with that uh we we have reached the end of our uh our public agenda and I will entertain a motion to adjourn into executive session from which we will not return for purposes of conducting strategy sessions and preparations for negotiations with nun Personnel or conduct collected bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-un Personnel to discuss uh strategy collective bargaining abating if an open meeting May uh have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or position of the public body and the chair City Affairs as well as uh to comply with her act um under the authority of any general or special law or Federal grant and aid requirements Some Mo somebody second second okay that does require a roll call vote regardless of how we moving so Frank yes Joe yes Hillary yes Sarah yes John yes uh siia yes D I'm yes and so we we stand adjourned thank you very much everyone