--------- Good evening everyone and welcome to the local control subcommittee meeting. It is Tuesday, May 27th. We're going to go ahead and begin the meeting at 5:02 p.m. This evening we have with us here Mr.
Deon Sheen in person and Mayor Garcia on Zoom as well as myself Mildred Lefave as a chair. If we could all please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God. Thank you. And I'm just going to read the same rules as always. On March 29th, 2023, Governor Healey signed into act and signed into law an act relative to extending certain state of emergency
accommodations, which among other things extends the expiration of the provisions pertaining to the open meeting law to March 31st, 2025. Specifically, this extension allows public bodies to continue holding meetings remotely without a quorum of the public body physically present at a
meeting location and to provide adequate alternative access to remote meetings. The act does not make any new changes to the open meeting law other than extending the expiration date of the temporary provisions regarding remote meetings from March 31st, 2023 to March
31st, 2025. Pursuant to Mass General Laws chapter 3A section 20, I am hereby informing all attendees that a video and audio recording is being made of the meeting and the meeting is being livereamed and run live on the city's
community TV channel. We're going to go ahead um to the first item on the agenda, new business discussion on exit asurances. We're happy to have Secretary and interim commissioner of education um Dr.
Tyler as well as Lauren Wu from Desi if they want to come on camera or not. Are they there? I just don't want to start anything yet without Mayor Garcia, can you come off of
um come back off of mute and come on video as well as um Secretary Tutweiler and Lauren Woo. Oh, hi. I was like, I know they're there.
No. Oh, just keep your eyes on the road. Sorry, mayor. I'm I'm like two minutes there. I'll be there in a short or five minutes. I will talk very slow. Okay. So, good evening. Um,
Secretary Tutweiler and Miss Woo, thank you for being here this evening. So, we're going over the first item of discussion on the agenda, which is the exit asurances. Uh this morning you probably received something from uh Jennifer Woo um one of the questions in
regards to the exit asurances um which hopefully you can answer this evening. But we're I'm going to go ahead and open discussion first and see um if our member Mr. Sheen has anything he'd like to ask um comment.
I don't. I'm just more curious and now what questions got sent in. I was the only one who sent in a question because I received um an email from Miss Woo, Jennifer Woo, uh requesting that if there are any questions ahead of time that the school
committee members would like to submit. Um that way we can already send them to the uh secretary slashinter commissioner. So, I did send out an email to um our vice chair asked that it please be sent
out to all members and if any questions please be sent over so that way we can send them over to them. I did not receive any, but again, we're open for discussion. So, if anyone has anything to ask or say, this would be the time.
Yeah, I'm just wondering um through the process that you took um either the commissioner or the uh deputy commissioner, what engagement um you had with the uh HTA and MTA and specifically
between the time period of um probably after our meeting with Dr. Johnson in the end of March um up to the meeting that we had when you presented them. Was that May? End of April. Early May. End of April. Yep. Yep.
Specifically what the engagement was. Yeah. Yeah. Um I I mean it it it probably bears mentioning the entire landscape of of engagement uh including that before I uh came in as commissioner. But um we
we'll kind of work in backward fashion. Um great. Uh since the meeting uh that we that we had in late April, uh I have had uh direct conversations with the statewide leadership of uh MTA around
the exit uh asurances. And I've also uh met directly with the uh hta uh president uh to uh hear concerns and answer questions about what was presented to you all formally uh at the
at the end of April. Um, prior to the uh the meeting where we formally pres presented the exit asurances, I had a highle conversation uh with the uh president of HTA, not about the specifics of exit asurances, but more
just sort of reflecting back on the engagement that happened uh as they were were being developed. Uh Lauren, I'll turn to you for the the pieces of engagement and collaboration prior prior to that. Sure. Um and then we had um
three meetings with the union, the um HTA leadership, the president um and vice president of the local leadership and then um their local MTA rep joined us. Um so the first meeting was in which they just expressed that they um you
know hoped that we would engage with them on these exit assurances since they were part of the conversation and and part of these regular meetings that um then acting commissioner Johnston and myself were joining. Um we then thought through that um and came back to them
and said yes we would like to engage with you in this process and would want to seek your feedback. Um and and actually gave them a little bit of homework where we said take a look through appendix A walk um you know what's in there but um you know just
just let's all refresh ourselves and let's come back to the next next meeting where we'll hear from you on each of the provisions of appendix A. We did that then in a subsequent meeting. So that was our third meeting together in which they provided us with their um feedback
on each of the provisions and we took a listening stance to that. And then we had a fourth meeting just with the local MTA rep um Martine Hernandez um myself then acting commissioner Johnston and um Martin where we um got specific
language. So, if you recall when the interim commissioner and I um came in person and we presented um albeit a slightly complicated PowerPoint and the the document, but in the PowerPoint that was presented to you
all, the highlighted language was language that we were incorporating based on the meeting um with the MTA rep um who was um you know providing us with information about
um well their feedback I should say. Um and so we then incorporated that into what you ultimately saw um in the in the final version. We also met with the full body of the school committee um in which
we provided information um and and had our executive session together um until we got to then the the full meeting and was that like be like end of March, early April that all of that occurred because I mean Dr. Johnson was here I
think March 28th or so around there. Yeah, it was all during March. So I think it I think the initial engagement began at the very end of February and then throughout March we met. Um, but we really did, you know, when when interim commissioner Tweiler joined us, it was
about really summarizing the substantive meetings that we had had about the exit assurances and really talking through how we would release them, how we would um, you know, engage with them once they were released to answer any questions that they might have, which um, as the
commissioner said, we we just did um, about two weeks ago or a week and a half ago. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Sorry, Mayor Garcia, do you have any questions? No, you're good. Okay. So I
know I have my question but now in regards to to the discussions that are happening here um for clarity purpose and basically some the understanding um the MTA rep
that you know you were receiving feedback from or what have you were they acting on behalf of the Holy Oak Teachers Association or as MTA TA our understanding I mean again we met
only once alone with that MTA rep. The other times the um MTA the hta president and vice president joined us. Um and so but our understanding of that meeting was that he was meeting on behalf of the
HTA because it was time-sensitive and needed to be done during the school day when our vice president and um president were teaching. So then out of curiosity, was that clarified and questioned when you did actually have the time to meet
with the HTA president and vice president or was it just the assumption that whatever the MTA rep said that that was that was it? Yeah, I mean we okay went with the on, you know, his word. Um
Okay. And so I just want to make sure I don't know if there's other information that's been gleaned. I've not been part of those conversations but you know certainly in the conversation it was we we went with the um with the trust that we had alto
together that this was a meeting that we were all everyone was aware of and everybody was you know okay with it proceeding in that in that fashion. So I just have a few more. Um, so ever since the meeting where the exit
asurances were presented, has DESIE received feedback or anything from stakeholders um from Holio in regards to the exit asurances um what have those what has
that feedback been? Yeah. And Commissioner, you want to take that? I mean, we we did meet with Yeah. Yes. um did receive feedback directly from uh the HTA leadership. Um there was
uh in the spirit of full disclosure, first a concern that um the the meeting uh they were they were told that there would be a special meeting uh at which we would show up uh in person and present these. uh and the meeting that
uh took place when we presented uh they did not think was a special meeting. They thought it was in the normal sort of rhythm of meetings and so they were uh concerned and upset about that. Uh and then uh they are concerned about the
um the meaning behind um the word consultation uh versus bargain. Uh that was the direct feedback that we got. Okay. Okay. And now going to the question that I had sent which is was in regards to
the calendar and the school hours. When I look through here a lot of what it says is that the superintendent will be the one that'll be approving. Now for me to understand the level of local control that we will be assuming
um the hopes July 1st what would be the role of the school committee at that point with that type of decision in the areas where we have under these exit assurances that it's a superintendent
approving re really good question uh and what I uh draw your attention to is the language at the top of the document uh which says very clearly that these exit asurances will be uh you know sort of uh
carried out in consultation with the school committee. So as you uh reference the question around uh school calendar, it says in consultation with the school committee, I would remind you that um upon exit from receiverhip, you know,
you restore uh supervision supervisory and evaluative um sort of uh rights uh with the superintendent. And so uh consultation can mean what you define it to mean. you can
say to the superintendent uh we would like for you to collect broad stakeholder uh feedback in preparation for your uh presentation of the school calendar. I would say additionally um in the reduction in
force uh category you you can say to the superintendent uh we as a school committee would like for you to uh share with us your thinking around how you intend to uh proceed uh with this uh and get our feedback before you uh establish
your plan. And so, uh, that relationship shift after the exit from, um, from, uh, being in receiverhip, uh, does give you, uh, wide latitude to ask the
superintendent to, um, you know, sort of partner with you on these, uh, you know, pretty significant pieces of the school. Okay. experience because I just want to have a full understanding that you know
consultation isn't that the word that you guys were just saying a minute ago that everybody's having an issue with. So, but for us it's more so, okay, we are obviously we would be working alongside with the superintendent, but I just want to make sure that at the
end of the day, if it becomes the superintendent doing a unilateral decision that the school committee still has the power to say, we're not approving, so it's not approved. Go back to the drawing board and redo. or would it be falling under
because it's still under the turnaround plan exit assurance that although we do not agree with the decision of the superintendent that it still stands? Do you understand? It's I do I do and thank you for the question. It it is the
latter. Uh but what I would say is um you also uh regain supervisory and evaluative um powers over the superintendent. So you can set expectations around what you would like to see happen as it relates
to the development of the calendar or any of the other pieces of the um uh exit asurances. And uh if those sort of expectations aren't met, then you have uh within your
authority the the the power to reflect that in your in your evaluation. Lauren, I'm not sure if you want to add anything to that. Yeah, I think I I do think that's right. I mean, I think it's um worthwhile and and we talked about
this um sort of relationship and the and the school committee's role with the supervision of the superintendent in past conversations. Um but sort of setting expectations around process and being really clear about that upfront. Um, and then working with the
superintendent to make sure that those elements of the process that the school committee has predefined are actually met throughout the throughout the year. I know Superintendent Sto had a question or comment. Yeah, I just I wanted to name for you as
well that I have full intentions at, you know, collaborating with the school committee and in scenarios like that, getting a getting the school committee to vote on whether it be the school calendar. I know that you guys are going to have the authority to sign the
contract port, the collective bargaining agreement post July 1, which incorporates some of this stuff that's in the exit asurances. So, in many ways, the school committee does have, you know, the the authority to vote on that. If we're doing a reduction in force, like the school committee votes on the
budget, and if you guys aren't aligned with, you know, the plans around the reduction in force, then that would be an opportunity to vote against the budget or something like that. But, um, I can tell you that from my perspective that, you know, I have full intentions
on in it's more than a consultation with the school committee. it, you know, we like I've always have I've leaned heavily on on you guys and your your feedback is has has really driven a lot of the decision- making. You know, when we're whenever we have to make tough
decisions, I would never make a decision uh if I felt like the entire school committee was was against it. But, uh, as far as the exit assurances go, I I I I hope we're not in a position where where there there is a disagreement
between what the superintendent wants to do and what the school committee wishes. Like, um, I know that as long as I'm in this seat that my approach is going to be to to lean on you all heavily and what you all feel is the right thing for Holio Public Schools and then carry out,
you know, carry that out in in the decisions that I'm I have to make. Thank you, superintendent. The reason why I ask is because these exit asurances, this is not for one year. This is for two years. Um, and then after the two-year uh reevaluation, it could be
extended if if need be by the commissioner. Correct. But needs to be extended. That is correct. And the thing is that we are now getting a new commissioner who has no idea about Holio. Uh doesn't know um anything about
our city. And I'm sure that they I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, doesn't really understand because it's very new to everybody what it is to to go from receiverhip back to local control. So, we got to make sure as school committee members that we're assured that we have
our rights, our responsibilities, and our d for us to do our due diligence and servicing serving our community because people put us in these seats for a reason. And we got to make sure that we can um uh what do
you act out our powers or however you want to call it. Yeah. Our responsibilities. Yeah. So, but but thank you. Um you're welcome. And if I can disrespectfully uh um uh add this
thought, I think there were um some of the same concerns with me coming into this role and with uh acting commissioner Johnson leaving. You know, this is a transition. What's going to happen? Something's going to get lost in translation. Uh and uh I I want to
commend my colleague uh Dr. Woo uh who uh ensured that that that no such thing happened. And uh in as much as a new commissioner will be coming on, uh neither one of us, neither Lauren nor I uh will will be leaving. And so um we
are committed to ensuring that Holio is supported and that transitions are smooth and that the new commissioner is fully uh updated on uh all of the processes. Uh I'm sure he'll want to come visit and spend time in the
community as well. And so, um, I am committing to you that, uh, we we will sort of stay the course here. Sounds great. Thank you so much. Mayor Garcia, do you have anything to share now or are we good? Okay. All good.
Okay. I thought you were like getting ready to say something because when you do that shift in your chair, you're like, "Oh, good." And it it looks like you're gonna say something. Well, I thank you both so much for coming here this evening. will schedule another meeting in June. Um the local control subcommittee will continue even um after
the transition back again. So as we are going to be uh going through these accident asurances and this sort of turnaround plan continuum but thank you again for coming. Our pleasure. Have a great great
evening. I was going to say great even thank you. So, we're going to go ahead and move to um second item on the agenda, which is the district transition plan. Um Mr. Sheen, I know that um there was
some I don't know maybe you can give a better explanation as to this this part of the Yeah, I'm just wondering either now or at a in the June meeting if we can have kind of an overview from the superintendent on what is going on in his office and with the district to
transition back and how he is training his staff on different things that where there's reporting authorities that change and governance models that change what that process looks like and how that's going to look for July 1. Like I said, either now I mean it's
obviously a topic now, so it can be in the June meeting, but just something to have that like overview of what's being done to prep people. Do we want to see that more as a full school committee um topic or more so we take it from here
and and bring it back? I think it's all part of this transition. So I think it's in the purview of the committee. Superintendent Sto. Yeah. So um my thought I've been thinking a lot about this actually and
um what what I want to put together is actually like a you know a typical project plan like we do like we have for all of our benchmarks. So we go through set our benchmarks and then for every benchmark there's a there's an entire
project plan that has dates who's assigned to it and all that. Um and I think the the driver in all of this is going to be the school committee policies. So my plan is really to do a thorough review of all the policies. Um,
and I'm going to work with Aaron Lynville as well to do a thorough review of all the policies and depending on what you know for the the student policies for example like Mr. Moguel who kind of leads the charge on the student
handbook he'll be reviewing all of those sections. um the uh the personnel ones. Beth will be reviewing all of those policies in detail and our plan is to come together and where where there is
school committee approval or involvement required. Um we want to just name what and reference what policy uh this the this action item speaks to and literally put together in chronological order. um
based on our review of the policies, all the things that have to happen and then use that as a guide to, you know, uh update staff that need to be updated. Um so I'm thinking that with Beth's review of the personnel and my review of the personnel and Aaron's review of
personnel and then with Moguel's review of the student policies, um with uh Mr. Mongano's review of all the finance policies and mine and errands that we're all going to collectively come up with like a project plan of like the you know on July 1, you
have to make sure that the school committee approves XYZ based on policy BDA. um on August 1st. You have to make sure and then there will be some that aren't specifically dated, you know, um that
we'll have to create a separate section for. Uh but right now, that's that's really what I'm thinking and obviously engaging the school committee and in what we end up coming up with over over the summer. Mr. Sheen, do you have anything else to
share? We're good. Yeah. And I think it's also at least in the as people get acclimated to this though is also understanding the that the approval process on things changes a lot too with different things
and that just with that your support staff is fully like July one things change and like we have two more meetings before July one and then we potentially only have one meeting in July, one meeting in August. There's a lot of planning with this that wouldn't normally have to occur because it would
be a normal course of business for places. So, I just think like I don't want a bunch of stuff to come into your office on July 1 and it have to sit until July 21st, I think, is when our meeting is scheduled because it things change. So, I just think like governance
and authority wise just that those some of those things are being dealt with now. So, there's preparation either things are getting approved ahead of time or whatever it may be. But I just think there'll be a different there's going to be a shift in I think efficiency for a period of time um that goes on and I think that's also going to
be it will impact not only the school department but also the city because like I know that someone reviews all the warrants but right now it's not required that every warrant be signed. I know that's our practice, but it's not a requirement. Like now everything's going to be signed and bills won't be paid. Like there's just different things and I
think it's going to have a a trickle down effect that we just need to be ready for so we don't have then vendors calling up saying where's the money and there's warrant sitting because someone's on vacation. Like I think there's just a lot to happen um in a short amount of time now. And I just
think around that process. So, whatever that plan is, I mean, I I know what you said sounds good, but I think there's some things in the very short term, too, just to prep. Um, and hopefully your staff is reading all those policies now, because the policies that are in play are in play until they're changed. Um,
so even what's out there, if there's certain powers in those policies, like that's the rules to follow until we vote to change those policies because I mean, I know they're still reviewing them, but there could be old policies and those are still in effect, even if they're old, right? And so, um, let's use, for
instance, you talked about the student handbook. So, that's something that the school committee approves annually. Um, we're supposed to, but any changes, what's the process, right? It's not something that you just do and and because we haven't done that in the 10
years I we have not approved that kind of stuff. So yes, everything changes as of July 1. So it's kind of the process and I'm making sure that it's everything's done in a timely manner from there. Yeah. And I So like there's
there's this there's now, right, and then there's post July one. And I think there's going to be some areas where we're, you know, so I I guess the school improvement plans is a is an example of that, right? There's there's language in
in one of the policies that talks about school improvement plans and uh the school committee and and superintendent you know the superintendent you know in collaboration with the school committee getting uh you
know approval of the school improvement plans. So you know for this year and it says something by by July 1, right? So, I have them on the agenda. You know, the and and in our current practice, which
is what we're going to do this year, we have um our our we don't have school improvement plans finalized until June 27th. So, like our my plan for this year is to email them to you. you know, once
we get those plans and they're reviewed by academics, we have a June leader retreat where the principles are going to get together and um we want to create four cycles of improvement because what has happened in the past is school oper school improvement plans are created at
the beginning of the year and then um depending on our quarterly SIP reviews, the the focus tends to change a little bit based on what's going on in that particular school in that quarter that's concerning that might shift their focus a little bit. All aligned to the
strategic plan, but it might mean that other things that they initially plan to provide give like detailed attention to has to shift based on, you know, attendance can be one of them, right? Maybe they didn't set at the beginning of the year uh an improvement goal
around attendance, but like attendance is really concerning. So we have to shift our focus in the second quarter to to do that. Um we want to create those those three cy four cycles of improvement every every time we have a SIP review. Principles are going to be
creating that first cycle of improvement and finalizing it on June 27th. But it makes me think that next year that timeline doesn't work. Next year, we actually have to get principles to probably uh work on that first cycle of
improvement for the upcoming year, which they then need to get our annual district goals set by then because that's what they're waiting for. We're finalizing our district goals for next year, uh all aligned to the strategic plan so that then they can, you know,
action plan and create their school improvement plans. But for next year, I like I said, I don't think that that timeline would work. If if the school committee wants a little more dialogue back and forth with these school improvement plans, June 27th just isn't
going to cut it, right? We need we probably need to have that done ahead of time in, you know, in May and and move the whole timeline up. So, there's going to be scenarios like that where you know what we do for this year, um, we got to adjust our timeline for next year so
that we can make sure to incorporate the the school committee's feedback a lot sooner and approval. Mr. Sheen, and I'll actually say the policy actually states that school improvement plans need to be approved by the school committee by February 1.
Yeah. So, that is the earlier time and that is far too early, I think, anyways. But I'm just saying like that was created to give that buffer in the law for February 1st approval by the school committee to be enacted by July 1.
Yeah. Yeah. So there's things like that that we, you know, right now I can approve them on, you know, but like we, you know, we got to really think about next year what the timeline is going to be for for those uh processes and we also have to wait until we get the
policies all they all don't get approved come July 1st, they don't become effective, all the ones that they've reviewed and because they haven't come to the committee yet. um all of them, but as they come, I guess it's really looking
back. So, these are the most recent. This is what's changing. This is where we're at. So, we just got to keep an eye out for that. Mayor Garcia, did you have any questions or comment? You're all good. All righty. Oh, Mr.
Shan, just because we're talking about school improvement plans, I mean, just so you're aware, I mean, an act relative to school to school improvement plans actually didn't require that school committees approve them. They require that the superintendent consult with the school committee. Yeah. Consultation and there's nothing in there about approval.
Um so I'm just I mean it's the school committee policy that actually um is stronger and requires approval. So I'm just making that point that we are above what the law says and an act relative to school improvement plans doesn't require um school committee
approval but more consultation. Yep. Thank you. All right. Going on to um agenda item number three which is the meeting minutes. Uh we have two dates. We have February 19th and March 21st. Make a motion to approve the meeting minutes of February 19th and March 24th.
Is there a second? Second. Second by Mayor Garcia. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstain? Motion passes unanimously. Well, that's the end of our um move to adjurnn. Move to adjourn.
Great. Part: 2
Good evening. I'm going to call the uh budget hearing of the Hoyok school committee to order at 6:00 on May 27th, 2025. Roll call, please. here. Here
present. Yes. Pledge of allegiance, please. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
On March 29th, 2023, Governor Haley signed into law a supplemental budget bill which among other Oh, this is the wrong write up. On March 29th, 2025, Governor Moore Healey signed into law uh H62 is amended by uh Senate 256 which
contains the final form of the bill entitled an act relative to extending certain CO 19 measures adopted during the state of emergency uh interest to all government public bodies in Massachusetts. an act until June 30th, 2027. The authority for meetings of multiple member bodies to be held in entirely remote or hybrid format. All
public bodies may hold remote or hybrid meetings without physical presence of a quorum of the public body as long as adequate alternative means of public access is provided. Uh pursuant to MGL38 section 20, I'm hereby informing all attendees that a video and audio recording is being made of the meeting
and the meeting is being livereamed on run on the city's community TV channel. So the I will also entertain a motion at this time to appoint me interim vice chair for this meeting and the beginning of the next meeting. I second that. So
moved. Moved and moved by Miss Williams, seconded by um Miss Wilson. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. Post say nay. Motion passes. Purpose of this meeting is for a hearing on the FY26 uh budget of the school department
budget. Are there any members of the public wishing to give comment regarding the uh FY26 budget? Anyone online? Seeing that there is no comment from the public during the public hearing of the budget, I will entertain
a motion from the school committee to adjourn the public hearing of the FY26 budget. I'd like to Okay. Move moved by Mr. Wellahan, seconded by Mr. Zaza. Uh any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say nay. The public hearing
of the FY26 budget will stand adjourned at 603. Going to call to order the May 27th meeting of the Hoyok school committee at 6:15 p.m. Roll call, please. Mayor Garcia. Here.
present present Martinez here a key Mr. here. Here present. Pledge of allegiance to the flag United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One
nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Just want to take a moment of silence too just to reflect on Memorial Day yesterday and to uh reflect on all those
that are lost and um honor families who and people who are there defending us and our democracy. Thank you to read this again. March 29th, 2025, Governor Healey
signed into law bodies to H62 and S2506 entitled act relative to extending certain CO 19 measures adopting adopted during the state of emergency of interest to all governmental bodies in Massachusetts. act extends until June 30th, 2027 the authority for meetings of
multiple member bodies to be held in an entirely remote or hybrid format and all public bodies may hold fully remote or hybrid meetings without the physical presence of a quorum of the public body as long as adequate alternative means of public access is provided. Notice is hereby given in accordance with chapter
28 of the acts of 2009 section 17 through 20 of the Massachusetts general laws that a regular meeting of the hook school committee will be held on May 27th 2025 and hereby informing all attendees that a video and audio recording is being made of the meeting and the meeting is being livereamed and run live on the city's community TV
channel. We have no student uh showcase. Uh Miss Lefave, was there any public comment signed up? No. Okay. Communication reports. Point of order. That's Miss Feliciano. Oh, right. I don't know why I said Miss Lefay. Well, you know what I meant. Yeah.
And she answers. Well, maybe I was asking you. Uh, we have no student reports. I don't think any of them online. No. Okay. Moving on to superintendence report. Mr. Sodto. Yep. Miss Wilson. Sorry. You know, for
the students, we haven't had um anyone for dean for a while since the the shift. And I'm wondering is there anyone I know it's the end of the year um and all but um you know I have always enjoyed uh learning from our students
about what's happening in our schools and I find it disappointing when they're not here. So, I'm just going to stress the point that um you know, they are missed and they are a a a good part of this um committee and I just want to let
it be known that you know hopefully we can start the year off next year and have people who are committed to attending these meetings. Thank you, Mr. Sto. Yeah, included in your packet is is
a bunch of FYIs really, but we wanted to uh make sure that you saw what the timeline was for developing our school operating plans and our SIP plans. Um you can see that uh the the principles
right now are in the process of collecting some feedback from um all the staff. um they've been doing that since May 13th all the way through uh May 30th. I have met with the HTA leadership
and just reminded them of that and and provided them with the opportunity to give feedback. We are looking to get feedback all in one place. So, we created a form that allows us to collect this feedback and the feedback is going to be due back to um Jackie Gusheen by
June 2nd and then we hope to finalize the school operating plans based on that feedback and send them back to schools on June 9th so that they can be uh finals can be distributed uh June 10th. And then for our school
improvement plans, we've laid out a similar timeline. This one's a little bit trickier in that normal school improvement plans um are written for the entire year. And what we are uh what we have uh noticed
in practice is that when we visit schools and do our quarterly SIP reviews uh depending on what is going on in that quarter, what student data they're collecting, what issues are going on in a particular given school, their their
focus and their problem of practice tends to shift every quarter. Um sometimes it doesn't, but sometimes it does. and we've been able to uh you know those meetings I I'm really proud of how much more effective they are now than
they were in the past. Um our team goes there, sits down with the principles and their leadership team and it's almost like a consultancy where they they're able to share some highlights around their data, share some concerns around
their data and then share a focus area or a problem of practice um that they're considering for the upcoming quarter. and we have our district team there to support them to brainstorm ideas and uh to basically name like here's what the
schools are going to do this quarter as it relates to this problem of practice here's how the district is going to support it and then through the edo visits there it's regularly monitored and and we make sure that we do that so I say that it's unique in that we want to create four cycles of
um four uh cycles of learning or uh that that we we will periodically we'll quarterly get uh feedback from both school councils and we'll share as part of our regular updates um so that
uh you guys are all brought up to speed and the school councils have an opportunity to to weigh in on the the cycle of improvement. Um, so as opposed to like I know we have our annual plans and our district benchmarks and our district goals and all the project plans
that go along with that. Uh, schools in in June, our leaders get together uh as part of their the June retreat um kind of recap the year, start planning for the next year. They're going to take some time during that retreat to start
their first cycle of improvement for next year. and uh you guys will get a copy of that prior to July 1, please. So when you talk about school councils, are you talking about the school
improvement councils? Um where it's members of the community, a staff, a student school councils. Yeah. So um I I you know some schools have been really good about and and have had some attendance
there and then other schools have struggled with attendance. Our goal is we do have a goal in the upcoming year and we want to share with the school committee like these are this is these were the guidelines that were given the principles on who should be in their
school councils on their school councils and uh so that you know like what process schools are going through to get people on this school council. It could be teachers, it could be parents, could be students. uh but um we want to share
all those details once the schools have an opportunity to uh to create them for next year. Miss Wilson. So I need to understand again what's edsil. I I just I I find it
challenging that I'm not always aware of the acronyms that are not are that are being used and it really as in any good common practice we should define the term before we use it in an acronym and I would ask that we respectfully do that
going forward. Um so what does EDSU stand for? It's an executive director of school leadership and happy to answer any clarifying questions when when they come up. I would prefer not to have clarifying questions. I'd prefer to have
the acronyms spelled out initially when you pre present information to us rather than me having to create a sheet, a cheat sheet so I understand what's being informed to me. I just think it's straightforward and common
when you're writing that you typically define a term before you use it in an acronym. So, it's the executive director of school leadership. So, currently that's Jackie Gasheen and uh Mrs.
Graalin, Serita Gralin. Thank you. It's the executive director of school leadership. So the essentially the principal's supervisors, they're there. They meet with the principles on a weekly basis.
They support them with their school improvement plans. They support them uh with walking through classrooms and observing a lot of the instructional work and provide them with any guidance and support that they need along the way
throughout the entire school year. Miss Wilson, can um since Miss Clasheen is going to be transitioning to a new role, um is there a are you going to be looking to fill the edil position that she is vacating? No, that was one of the cuts that was made in the FY26 budget
that was presented. Clarify that. Thank you. And uh so moving on from the SOPs and SIPs, school improvement plans and school operational plans. Um we have in your packet just a summary of
of what we're offering for summer school. Again, justformational. We have uh summer school offerings at all grade levels and that's included in your packet. We do have registration open now. Believe it closes June 15th and there's contact information from anybody
in the public, any families that are interested in enrolling their students um in summer school. And we also have um an update to some capital requests that or not capital requests to some capital projects that came forward through the
finance and operations uh subcommittee and this full committee. Um we just provided a detailed update of a lot of the capital improvements that are currently ongoing right now. Included in your budget document, you actually have the full capital plan. The
only thing that was uh taken out was uh the actual forms that get sent to the city for the specific capital requests that go in. But um for the most part, the capital improvement plan uh is is included in your in the budget document
at the end. I think I believe it's the last section of the budget document. And um we wanted to just uh give you an update on the current improvement projects that we have going on. Any other questions for Mr. Sto?
Actually, I do have a question. I'm going to go back to the summer programming. Um, how is it determined [Music] um which schools get which programs? Because I'm seeing that there's a generation teach program at Sullivan.
There's this Beyond the Bell program at Morgan and then other programs seem to be that they're going to be developed by HPS employees because there's no um organization name beside those. So, I'm just wondering how does how is it
decided um that Generation Teach and then this other program at Morgan was uh put in place? Yes. So, the Gen Teach is for all middle school kids. It doesn't it's not necessarily Sullivan school. Um
that's just where where the program is going to be located, but that's open to all summer school kids that apply. Um the you know the rising K to2 is open to anybody in the district. Rising 3 to 5 open to anybody. Morgan did do uh you
know through a collaboration between uh Sam Garcia who who's our manager of extended learning and uh some some grants they wanted to uh start their own program there. So uh that's how that was lifted. It was through grant funds and
through uh a a school initiated request to support a program that they wanted to have um specific to their building. We haven't received similar requests from any other schools and generally speaking enrollment, you know, uh we're not
bursting at the seams. We're we're actually struggling to get uh students to come to summer school. So that's not why that's why we can't just have a program at every school, right? Because it would just be uh you know, fiscally irresponsible and not feasible. But I
mean, if we had a ton more students and families interested, we probably would be able to do something like that. Okay. So, I'm assuming, if I may come back, the summer the beyond the bell was [Music]
uh decided to be the program at Morgan School with the with the manager of extended learning as well as um the principal and others at Morgan School. That's who decided to use that program. Yes. And how is that program vetted?
It's vetted. You know, the principal works with the extended learning manager. The extended learning manager also collaborates with the academics team to make sure that uh everything is is you know aligned to the curriculum
and aligned programmatically to uh what we think a high quality summer school program is. And uh that that's just you know that that's ultimately how how we end up doing all of our summer programs really. Okay, thank you.
On just to note, um we are planning a meeting on July 21st. Um the vice chair put that in the agenda. Um just because it was thought that having the meeting at the end of June and not
one until late August is just not uh conducive to timing, especially as we transition. um through that. So July 21st, there will be a meeting. Um moving on to new business, out of state field trips. I'll entertain a motion that the
school committee vote to accept the out ofstate field trip to the University of Memphis, Tennessee on June 4th through the 7th. Moved by Mr. Zaza. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Lebron Martinez. Discussion. All those in favor say I.
Any oppose say nay. Motion passes. The school committee vote to approve the out of state field trip to Miss Aquarium on May 29th, 2025. Moved by Mrs. Leone Martinez. Is there a second? Seconded by Miss Tensley Williams.
Discussion. Already said it. It's already been said in previous meetings. The 29th of is two days away. It's going to be a a sharp I'm sorry. Do Go ahead. It's going to be a sharp learning curve for our district um
because these will not be approved next year if they come with this type of timing. It's just that simple. And I would hate our students to lose out. So, it's going to be a a significant re-education of our staff in order for them to understand the timelines that
are required for outofstate field trips. Mr. I think the I haven't received any feedback that like so the feedback that I received was incomplete forms. I think these are all complete and and the one thing that I'll
add and and I'm not trying to sound defensive, but I'm happy to work with you, Miss Wilson. Mr. Mangano reached out to you through email to sit down and to talk about how we could update the out of state field trip forms. and we
haven't heard back yet, but happy to sit down with you and create something that works for you and works for the committee so that we can make sure that we don't run into the issues that you're describing. Thank you. I think though the point is though too that
like it's also pushing the administration, the school committee is we either approve it if this if we were actually approving this, approve it today or kids aren't going in two days. I mean that's so what is a whole trip going to be cancelled? I mean I think
it's more timing that like this is an approval process to begin your process of booking stuff. So like things shouldn't be booked until you have approval. I think that's the the process with this that like money has probably been expended already right on the trip. Yeah, we've worked with a
travel agent. So so money's been expended and all of this. So, I think it's more the point that like those types of things are going to be the prior planning that yes, there are things that come up last minute like clearly the one that we approved to Memphis seems to be a very um well planned but it came more suddenly than a
normal trip to the Mystic Aquarium. Like schools plan out for months where they're going at the end of the year. And if they don't, then that's a problem too. Um, but I think that that's the point that like two days to approve something like and maybe you should be asking for these your office for approval because you and your leadership
teams have to vet them 90 days in advance. I mean maybe there should be something that if you don't have it 90 days in advance then it doesn't get approved. Um, so but that's some a safeguard that you may want to put in. It just it puts everyone in a very difficult situation when field trip requests come with two days and when if
the same thing when we start approving out of state staff travel. I mean we've not seen any of those. So I'm assuming no one's traveling this summer out of state. Um because the school committee hasn't seen any of those. So it's just it's it's that problem too. Like people are going to have to plan ahead on these
things. Mrs. Wilson. So the current policy says that the form is filled out 60 days in advance. So, it's not a change in policy I was asking for. I was asking and it said that uh once approved, the form must be sent to the superintendent's office and approved by the superintendent and the school
committee. So, 60 days in advance is definitely not being met. And so, I I have looked at it. I haven't looked at the form and I guess I'll be looking at clarifying the language of how far in advance it needs to be sent to the school committee. So, I can do that. Um that will definitely be done. Yeah.
Thank you. Happy to sit down. This is good discussion. We want to work with you and come up with something that's going to work. Miss Lefab, so again, we had talked about this in the local control subcommittee today in
regards to really understanding once we move forward on July 1st. Um, currently until all policies, only the ones that have been finally approved through the school committee to become effective July 1st. But if we're looking at student um travel in
JJH, um just so that everyone's aware, the school committee requires that final approval be sought no less than 30 days prior to the scheduled trip dates. This is just keeping in mind the minimum is is 30 days.
Yeah. Yeah. And I I mentioned to you um that we're we're going to put together a project plan reviewing all the policies. And these are some things that we're going to have to um once we have that project plan together, there's going to be some uh professional learning that we have to do with our principles and and
anybody that's impacted. So part of that is going to be educating them that they have to get, you know, these in advance so that we can get them to the school committee in time. Mr. I'm not sure if that's something that you are it's it's going to be like a
real changeover for for everyone. Um there is staff that has been here before receiverhip. So but at the same time it's been 10 years so you kind of forget oh my god what did we used to do 10 years ago right? Um is that something
that maybe you might want to bring up during your um the retreat? Yeah, your leadership retreat as well as even to to your staff during convocation, I believe it is, or I wouldn't do it at convocation, but I would however a welcome packet. I don't care what it is,
but people need to understand because at the end of the day, those that are setting up these field trips is not your leadership. It's not your principal. It's this teachers that are starting the process first. Yeah. We're not training every single staff member. We're going to train our principles and they're expected to, you know, make sure they
communicate with staff expectations on things that they, you know, could typically get away with a a shorter timeline. Okay, back to the motion at hand uh for the uh out of state field trip to Mystic Aquarium. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. I.
Any opposed say nay. Motion passes. uh that the approval of minutes the school committee vote to accept and approve the meeting minutes of the December 18th, 2024 policy and governance subcommittee meeting. Moved by Mrs. Le Oh, December 18th, 2024. Moved by Mrs. Lefay. Is
there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Zaza. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. The school committee vote to accept and approve the meeting minutes of the April 2nd, 2025 policy and governance meeting moved by Miss Lefave. Is there a second? Second
by Miss Tensley Williams. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. Motion passes. Updates of committees policy and governance. We're going to be meeting uh our next meeting is on June
11th. We'll be meeting um at SuffK Street. We're going to continue with J and move on from there. uh finance and operations. Thank you. Um the committee met on May 22nd. Um we um
see we approved two sets of minutes from March and April. So those will be on your packet probably at our next meeting. Uh there was three financial transfers that we approved. Those again will be on our next full
um meeting here. And um see the um the committee reviewer um 26 budget with miss with our um finance director. Uh we um reviewed
that. Um we had questions again just um the uh user questions involving um transportation costs that type of stuff. Um you know the um uncertain uncertainty in the federal funding moving forward
that was discussed. Um the committee um approved the uh the budget and we voted to recommend its um adoption and we fored that to um
tonight's meeting. Thank you. Uh joint city council school committee nothing report. Okay. Uh local control subcommittee. So we met this evening and we discussed the exit asurances. Um we
will need to re to schedule one for June as we have the community advisory team. Um they already held their two in-person um community meetings on May 19th and
the virtual on May 21st. Tomorrow they're going to be meeting to compile all the feedback that they have received to then present it to the to the local control and the school committee. That's it. And leadership accountability measurement. We're meeting tomorrow at 4
at central office. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Mrs. Le is one of these meetings are the ones that they're also meeting about superintendent. Um that's what it was about. Okay. Thank you. Ongoing business, the school committee
vote to accept and approve the FY26 budget. Is there a motion? So move. Moved by Mr. Lefave. Is there a second? Second by Mr. Wellahan. Discussion. Mr. Lefave. I'm going to go to Mr. Well, that's fine. No, no, no. Go ahead, Mr. Wellham, because you might answer my
question. Hopefully I might give you some more questions. Oh, no. Uh, thank you. Um, yeah. Um once again the budget was um discussed through the finance committee again um just for the public
to be aware that um you know for the budget um only 12% of the budget um comes from local funding. So the state makes up um
the difference um 88%. So that's um that's where we are in that that's been historically right um the fact um the budget is basically up about five 5% generally which is um
you know less than the rate of inflation. So again, I think it's a fair budget. Um it kind of meets our goals that we established last year um in terms of what our funding priorities should be. And I I just um want to um um
commend Mr. Sto, commend our um commend our finance director for um having a balanced budget. Um again a lot of towns are having overrides or having um budget
um issues, budget deficits. So again the budget is um fair and I think it meets our goals. Thank you. This is Lefave. So just a few things that I do appreciate um is really looking at how
the out of district uh tuition has gradually been increasing since um 2021 to where we are going to now in 2026 um and really where the funding is coming from and where we have to obtain
that other the rest just to account for the students needs and to pay for their out of district placement. I also like the fact of the dollar and how each if you're looking at the dollar how it's spent. So 63% is just in salaries and
benefits. It's I think it's for those that actually did have a chance to look through this from the public. It's really looking at the breakdown. People always ask, well, where's all this money going? you get so much and blah blah, but let's really look look at it, you
know, and when we're looking at uh health insurance and it's just rising for everyone. But here's my question. When I'm looking at the staffing um budget summaries and the school report card for each of the
schools, um I see what the plan is for 2026, but when I'm looking at the Can you reference a page on there just for everyone's Well, just looking at 103, but I mean it's going to be for every school 103 104.
And then I'm looking at the school report card and I see the student data, teacher data for one, the accountability targets. It looks like we're regressing in some areas when we're looking at 2024. I don't know what 2025 is yet, but
I see where you're at in staffing. Does that mean that this student da this teacher data of studenttoteer ratio is that what's going to happen for that current year? Is that what the what the finance is based off of or is this based
off of what was obtained during the we'll say it would be 2024 for the last summary. Where would we be at then now moving forward in 2026 if that wouldn't be this teacher to student or student
toteer ratio? Yeah, this that that the information on the report card is uh public information that anybody can go grab. Um it's it's actually what the last year that it was reported. So for for the information that's in the budget document, it's referencing last year.
It's not forwardlooking. Those aren't like projections or anything. The staffing, you can see that our staffing is actually a projection. So the staffing and the financial information is pro uh it gives you currently and what we're projecting for next year. But all the school report cards, uh, we just
pull them right off of the DESIE's website. And, um, that information is from 24. Can I have a Yeah, go ahead. So, with that being said, when I'm looking at the student teacher ratio, what we're looking at for the 20 24 ending or
whatever the information, it's 11.7 to1. Are we looking at a higher class size this year? are we looking at kind of maintaining because at the end of the day if we're looking at it where we were at here and if we're looking at the student growth that looks like smaller
class sizes on an average would be an average um but yet we're not meeting the growth um when it comes to to the students performance there could be a lot of factors involved in that I
understand that Um, so I just I was just looking to see where are we when it's in terms to class sizes. Are we looking at staying the same or would it be increasing? Yeah, we haven't we in in next year's
budget, we're not proposing any class size increases. That was one of the things that was very important um as we were getting feedback through the budget development process from from all the stakeholders that we get feedback from. Um we wanted to you know that that's
essentially uh Sean and his team and our leadership team are our our job during the budget development process is to try to keep when there's cuts and there there had to be cuts. you know, uh, this was a year where we were looking at, uh,
$2 million deficit, um, and and more when you factor in some some things that we had to add to the budget. Um, our our initial goal is like, how could we solve this budget deficit without actually impacting the classroom? And we got to
think creatively, um, make some tough decisions. But one thing we for sure stayed away from was um class sizes, which you can see those class size proposals on or kind of the the target ratios that we have on page 13 of the
budget document. Um the number that you see on on the uh report cards, it it factors all teaching positions. So um it it's not doesn't mean that in every classroom there's 11 kids. Um because we we do
have some teachers that pull kids out for instruction that you know for CGI services. We have other other uh you know counselors for example that might be in that teacher count according to the states uh you know how they
determine their um in their information system the class sizes. So that's literally how the state calculates what the class sizes are. But when we look at just core gened classrooms and when we look at our substantially separate
programs, you know, uh we we kind of set these target these target uh class sizes that we have. We didn't touch those. We didn't touch those. And in fact, we increase the amount of money that we give to principles to develop their discretionary budget by about 5%.
Just have one last. um when you're looking at the class sizes, I hope you're also taking into account the acuity level in the sense of the number of students um that may have high needs or may have
um would need more support. So be it on an IEP, you know, giving one class six on an IEP versus another class with one but not having the same. I think I'm hoping that that's also thought of when
you're looking at um not only just class size but ensuring that the mixture and the the level that the teacher is going to be receiving there's equity across the board. Yeah, we I mean our subsparate programs
are staffed separately and our gened classrooms often take into consideration how many students are actually pushing in for in in the inclusion setting. Um, so we definitely look at just generally
speaking, what's our class size even when those students are pushing in for inclusion and we try to stay within these ratios. And sometimes that means, you know, throughout the course of the year, sometimes what we'll have to do is
cap a particular grade at a school um because because they're tight and um you know that you know that that happens. It doesn't happen often, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. and and
we've we've run into situations like that where a student may be zoned for third grade at Lawrence, but there's just no space. So, we we they end up going to Morgan or something like that
with transportation, I take it. Yeah. Yeah. We wouldn't Yeah, Mr. Wellahan. Thank you again. Um yeah, the um the budget was presented to the full um city
council last week. I know Mr. Sodto and our finance director did a great job um explaining the budget um the pros and cons of it. I know there wasn't a lot of push back. I know we had questions on the transportation costs and I know we've had those same discussions in
here. Um trying to kind of solve that. We're going maybe thinking outside the box. Dr. um electric buses, having our own vans. Um I know we're having a consultant come in and review our our um
um programs and our routes. So again, we're trying to address that deficit. Um I know the state, you know, the funding formula is basically broke. You'll see towns, surrounding towns are all having budget deficits in their schools. You
know, the problem is Hoyok um just because of the makeup of the city, we have to have a budget that just meets the net school spending requirements. Other communities have the capacity to
to to t um present present a budget above that. Um then again, Northampton has a budget deficit. They were bailed up by Smith College. They made a substantial financial donation to the town. Ammerst
Ammerst College again made a substantial donation to the town of Ammerst to their school system doesn't have those resources, you know, and you know, again, um just because of the makeup of the city, we're doing the best we can
and I'm proud of our team. Thank you. Any other questions? I do have a question about Dunu school uh page 85. Looking at all of the schools staffing allocation and
budgets, they all all the personnel budgets even with staffing remaining flat or being reduced. The amounts the budgets went up for personal costs. How at Dunu did they go up by five additional staff members from 25 to 26
yet go down in their personnel allocation per budget. I'm going to ask Sean to come up if that's okay. Y good. Can you hear me? Um good question. Um so one change that was made um this
school year but you're seeing it for the first time in the FY26 budget is that paraprofessionals we have stopped um they used to be coded with a school account we're coding them with a district account going forward to manage the the overall number better. Um so
when you look at Danahue where it's going from 110 to 115 the reason why it's going up is if you look at the paraprofessional line it's going up by six but that cost isn't going up down below because we reflect the cost for paraprofessionals in the
pupil services budget. So really it's staffing is going down overall um and in the teaching uh FTS it's going down um but it's being offset by that increase in paras which is act the dollars associated with them are actually reflected somewhere else. So you'll see in the pupil services we have a large
account with all the district-wide paras uh to allow us to work with ETLs better education team leaders better around where the 101 needs are where the shared needs are. Um, so they're they're budgeted centrally and that's a change we made this year which is why that looks a little funny. Okay. I
So why is no other school experiencing that type of there's I mean there's a lot of changes up and down both ways. I think this school the reason is because it's going up because of the paras. Um and Donahghue is actually where we have the the most paras in the district.
Okay. The ABL program. Yeah. But I was looking at that same thing before preparing because I it is like optically it looks weird where the staffing would go up and the budget would go down. Um but that's the reason why and there's a couple again there's some teaching positions that um have gone away there because of
the staffing allocation um which is what's driving the the cost down there. But again just as a refresher all our allocations with staff they're driven by by our staffing allocation methodology um which covers a wide range of positions. it's enrollment based um at
different levels of enrollment whether it's special education enrollment or um just classroom size so on um but we really we've updated that document a lot of effort we review it every year with principles um and other department heads and get feedback uh and then we we roll
it out and I think that's something again we're happy to share with you all at some point if you'd like to look at it yeah and then what is the reduction they're going from four principles SL administrators to three. What is that? Uh so
in FY 25 there was let me just double check. Yeah, it's a dean of students position. So they um have given up a dean position because they have a strong assistant principal who's got some of that background. Um so they've given up
a dean position uh at for FY. They actually did it this year and they're doing it again next year in order to keep the the DMO de of management and ops. Yep. So do we so we have a staffing allocation based on um all that but do
we base we have the staffing allocation also based on administrators. So we have so in the methodology there is a administrator um allocation. It's not driven by students as much as it's more like one principal per school. If you're a small elementary school you get one assistant principal. if you're, you
know, a large high school, you get three assistant principles. So, it it's in the methodology. Um, but it's more just how many how big is the school versus like a direct enrollment ratio. So, how are things added like these dean positions? So, we have, you know, one of the things I've really loved about Holio is we have
a very collaborative budget building process with principles. Um, so we work with principles, we give them their baseline allocation methodology and then we meet uh we have a hearing with them. they bring their ideas and their thoughts to that hearing and sometimes it means this position was allocated to
you and they've got a good rationale for why they would like to do something different with it. Um and so Anthony will review those and decide whether or not to approve an adjustment like give up an allocated position like the dean in exchange for what we call um sort of a principal discretion position like the
D the dean of management operations. Um, and then they also get some per pupil funding, uh, as the superintendent mentioned, where they can actually add new positions or they can put it towards supplies or field trips, um, or whatever. Any other questions?
So on the motion and I actually want to clarify the motion that we took. So, it should be the motion should be and as long as the makers of the motion don't object, it's coming from this sheet that you all received. We're going to have
this sheet should be that the school committee adopt a general fund operating budget of 123,881,47100 for the Hoy public schools and appropriated by the cost center below. and Irene can actually insert
this whole thing into the minutes um that's from there. So, as long as none of the makers of the motion object to that, that's the motion that we're going to be voting on. So, and since it's the the budget, it does need to be a roll call and Mr. Wellahan's name was drawn
tonight to go first. So, he'll be starting with the roll call and then I will be turning things right over to my right. I'll vote yes. Miss Olson, yes. Garcia, yes.
Cologne, yes. Yes. Mave. Yes. Martinez. Yes. Miss, sorry, Miss Ty Williams. See, Mr. The motion passes and Oh,
Miss Wilson. So, the school calendar is on page 120 and I can't recall, was this brought before the school committee already? I just couldn't remember. Thank you. I thought it was, but I wasn't sure.
Mayor Garcia. So just resp a a very important uh moment. You just voted on your first budget and what how many years? Nine 10 years.
So congratulations. [Applause] Just so people know and for the public, there's some question whether or not we had the authority to vote on the budget because it wasn't a letter did not come from Desi giving that authority, but
since it was in the um transition plan, Desi looked at that as that was the granting authority for that. So, just if there's any questions on that, other things had letters, but this did not be that. Mr. Soda. Yeah, I just wanted to say
thank you to everybody and I wanted to just kind of give everyone a heads up that it's very typical uh in Holio for on July 1 the final budget to be released and for us to have to do an an
adjustment to the budget to align to the state's final budget. So, um I wouldn't be surprised when we come back um in July or in August to adjust the budget according to the final budget that
ultimately gets passed. Right now, what we have is the Senate's version of it. Um, but it goes through conference committee and then it gets it goes right to the governor and they either um they they either adopt there could be a veto in there
somewhere but um once we get those finalized numbers we will be coming back and just adjusting the budget accordingly. I don't anticipate any major changes. Um there usually never is. It's usually in the charter reimbursement and charter accounts that
we see some some uh changes that impact the overall appropriation. But thank you for your vote tonight. Um we appreciate it and I want to thank Sean. I want to thank all the leaders that had an input in developing this budget. As Sean
mentioned, it's not a, you know, me and Sean sitting behind a door just coming up with a budget. It's a very collaborative process. each department head um has an opportunity to develop their budget and uh state you know uh
impacts on you know what certain cuts would have. Every single principal comes in and presents their budget and gives us an indication of what challenges they might see. So um I really want to thank everybody that was involved in developing the budget and again uh thank
you for your approval. Mr. Sheen, and I don't think this has been mentioned at a meeting yet, and I don't want to steal the mayor's thunder, but since he didn't bring it up, I'll bring it up. Um, in April, uh, Senator Vis was actually able to secure about
120,000 for the public schools for renovating the high school auditorium. And that's still in conference committee, but we can feel pretty good and confident that we're going to be able to make those improvements between now and 2028. and to have that done and some significant funding for that auditorium and those upgrades. So, I
know that was because of the mayor's advocacy to uh Senator Vist that we were able to get that done through fair share money, which is really changing the way that we can operate here in the Commonwealth. Thank you, Deon. All right. Thank you, Devin, for
stepping into That was really good. Um, so we're down to the announcements and please do not forget we have um graduations coming up. So if you need any clarification or anything
just feel free to let me know and I can make sure you have what you need. So at this time not open to the public because of open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of public body for the purpose
of the holic teaching association contract calling um executive session. Second and we will not be returning to open meeting. Roll call, please. Roll call. Mayor
Garcia. Yes. No. Mr. Will. Sorry. Mr. Will. Yes. Miss Wilson. Yes. Mayor Garcia. Yes. Dr. Colon. Yes. Mr. Sheen. Yes. Miss Lefave. Yes. LeBron Martinez. Yes.
Williams C. And Mr. Zaza