All right. Calling calling this meeting to order at 603. Roll call. Miss Feliciano. >> Mayor Garcia >> here. >> Dr. Ralone >> present. >> Mr. present. >> Miss Lefave, >> Miss LeBron Martinez,
Mr. Isaza, >> Miss Tenzy Williams >> here. >> Uh, Mr. Michaelelsson >> here. >> And Miss Lubo >> here. >> And Miss Solina >> here. >> Please rise for the pledge of
allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America. >> To the flag of the United States of America, >> one nation >> and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all. On March 29, 2025, Governor Mora Healey signed into laws the form of the bill entitled an act relative to extending certain CO 19 measures adopted during the state of
emergency act of interest to all governmental public bodies. >> Hey guys, the meeting is just now starting. Come on in. Have a seat. >> The meeting is already in progress. progress. >> You have to remain silent.
Thank you. >> Did you have the signin sheet already, Madam Chair? >> I have it. >> Okay, good. Make sure everybody signed up. >> Yep. >> The act extends until June 2027 the authority for meetings for of multiple member bodies to be held on entirely
remote or hybrid format. 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 also provided. Pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 38 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 and run live on the city's community TV channel. Next, student showcase. We don't have one today. Is that correct, Miss Feliciano?
>> Great. Correct. >> All right. Going forward to public comment. And before I open public comment, I would like to remind speakers that the school committee will not hear comments regarding specific personnel matters or
individual employees. Personnel issues are handled through appropriate administrative and legal processes and are not appropriate subjects for public comment. Any speaker who attempts to discuss personal matters may be ruled out of order and asked to conclude their
remarks. Each person has two minutes to make their remarks. And the first person on the list is Nick Cream. State your name and address. >> Uh Nick Cream, 7 Warner Street South
Hadley. I'm an ethnic studies teacher at Dean Tech and president of the Holio Teachers Association. Uh I'm going to read a statement from our union um regarding some recent decisions made by the district. Um dear school committee HBS leadership team the teachers association leadership are aware of an
incident at Holio High School in which an active member organizer had their contract non-renewed and then was told by Holio High administration to cease organization on his own behalf. We want to be clear that this is an explicit violation of protected union activity under Massachusetts General Law 150E.
This member, Bob Williams, is a very active union member who attended 17 bargaining sessions as a silent rep and has served his school as a building rep and building action team member. Like so many other teachers in Holio, Bob was in his first three years teaching in the district. Teachers without professional
teacher status or PTS represent an incredibly strong and active part of our union and city and they have lifted their voices to make our schools better for the young people of Holio. Bob's non renewal risks producing a chilling effect, making union members uh more fearful to face similar retaliation for
participating in protected union activities. The HTA will challenge all cases of retaliation against any and all members exercising their protected rights as workers. HTL HTA leadership will file unfair labor practice charges against Holio Public Schools and its agents for their actions. We encourage
any members who believe they have been targeted for organizing at work to get in touch with their union to challenge such actions. HPS must cease and desist in all acts of union interference and retaliation against employees exercising the rights under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 15e and in this CA case
reinstate Bob Williams immediately. Thank you. [applause] >> Please everybody please refrain from using names of actual employees as we have to protect their identities and in their personnel matters.
Moving next, Saskia Fabricant. >> Um, good evening. Saskia Fabricant, 8 Lord Street in East Hampton. Um, I'm standing before you having just completed my seventh year in the Holio Public Schools. In that time, I have served as an ELD teacher, expert teacher, and department chair at Holio
High School North. I come to you today with a concern. A week before school ended, I learned that a colleague of mine and fellow Holio Teachers Association member was non-renewed. This member received proficient ratings on his evaluations and has never had a
disciplinary meeting. I would know I'm a Union Building representative and would have been invited had such a meeting been occurred. So, this begs the question, why was this person not renewed? For the past two and a half years, this person has been one of the most active union members, beginning by
helping reinvigorate the union by helping run a slate of candidates who were elected two years ago. They have fought for increased resources from the Massachusetts Teachers Association, coordinated and attended trainings for members, served as a building representative supporting and defending
co-workers, helped form the building action team structure for the union, served as a political action leader for HTA, was elected to the MTA board of directors representing Holio and Chapi, and has been a visible participant in bargaining sessions, standouts, and
other union events. In other words, if the Holio Teachers Association is doing something, this member is involved. It is not hard to draw a straight line from their non-renewal to their union activity. Therefore, I am calling on the Holio Public Schools to cease and desist
all acts of union interference and retaliation against employees exercising their rights under Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 150E, and reinstate this member and of the community at Holio High School North immediately. Thank you
for your time. Next up, Kyle Chambers. Hi there, Kyle Chambers, 85 Lincoln Street. I'm here to speak in defense of Holio High School history teacher, He who shall not be named, uh, who was tendered a letter of non-renewal by the
HPS administration last week. In my time as an HPS parent, I have advocated proudly for the needs of our students in a number of ways. I served on the board of the PTO at White. I've worked with our community to push for the Yes on Two campaign that eliminated the MCCAST graduation requirement for our schools.
And I've worked alongside other parents and educators to push for the collective bargaining agreement that our community needed coming out of state receiverhip. At every step of the way, he who shall not be named was a guiding voice. Given that he's worked for three years
with a spotless disciplinary record and proficient teaching evaluations, I cannot help but think that this is retaliation for protected concerted union activity. What this says to our hard hardworking educators and our students is a horrible message that if
you stand up for what you believe in, if you advocate for your students and demand more from your district, you'll be shown the door. As a parent, that is not messaging that I'm comfortable with our school's teaching. I want my son to see that it's not only
okay to stand up for what's right, but it's a responsibility to stand up for what's right. And if that doesn't interest our budget-minded folks in here tonight, this will. Just like in bargaining, you'll be wasting more of our taxpayer dollars on legal fees and attorneys at the DLR trying to
figure out how this isn't a clear violation of Mass General Law Chapter 15e. And just like with bargaining, all this trouble can be avoided by just investing that time and money into doing better for our students and educators and following the law. Don't make the same mistake twice. Reinstate he who
shall not be said. Follow the law and stop retaliating retaliating against protected concerted activity. Thank you. >> Next, we have Maddie Alton on Zoom. Hello. Are you able to hear me?
>> Yes. >> Please state your name and address. >> Sorry, I'm um My name is Maddie Alton. I'm a teacher at Holio North School. Uh I will not be stating my address due to safety concerns. Um this teacher and I joined
Holio Public Schools together three years ago. Yeah, that's great. Thank you. Uh and since he has become one of the most if not the most visible union members in our building, he has constantly been there to help
advocate for anyone who needs it and make sure that you are being supported. Not only is he a wonderful advocate, but he is also a licensed teacher who has gotten exemplary in evaluations and is willing to work with students and hold them to high
standards, raising the bar for educational expectations. As a teacher who has yet to receive an exemplary on my evaluation and is currently working towards my license in math as I switched subjects, uh, but I'm part of the executive board in the union, I was terrified waiting to see if I was going
to be non-renewed. How others comforted me when waiting is that I am not as outspoken or visible in organizing as this teacher. All of these facts combined makes this teacher's non-renewal feel nothing short of retaliation against the union organizing
and the only remedy is reinstating him into the building. He has become foundational on. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Next up, Jacob [applause] Bilski. Hi, Jacob.
Hi, Jacob Ilski, 142 Nassau Drive, Springfield. I'm an educator at Peek Middle School. Um, I would first like to echo what has been said about the retaliatory retaliatory non-renewal at the high school. Uh, but also raise broader concerns about non-renewals here
in Holio. Uh throughout the bargaining process, Holio public schools tried to make or continuously claimed that they were trying to do what's best for students to retain licensed educators and help our educators get lensure and at least one non-renewal that recently
happened in addition to that one at PEC while not rising to the level of retali a retaliatory action. Um, the non-renewal I have in mind was essentially an example of the administration and the district and
human resources allowing one of our members to slip through the cracks. a highly qualified uh passionate educator who has made a huge impact on students in our building uh essentially being
uh non-renewed due to a lensure issue despite his position being uh mostly vocational in nature. Um, and so I would just make an appeal to the school committee on the one hand to end retaliatory actions against our members
for union organizing, but also to be taking a um to actually live up to the lofty goals that were set up in the preamble to our contract negotiations and our uh current the current iteration of our
contract and actually do the work to support our students, ensuring that passionate educators who are wellliked by the students making good impacts in our hallways are being retained here and not uh allowed to slip through the cracks and uh be non-renewed. So yeah,
that's all I have. Thank you. >> You next we have [applause] Anthony Zeroli. >> Hi Anthony Zeroli 122 Chestnut Springfield. I am a history teacher up at Holio North. I am here today also to speak on behalf
of a particular colleague of mine who was non-renewed this year for what echoing what has been said here multiple times. It's clearly a retaliatory measure against his union activity. This particular colleague so so that
you've heard a lot about the retal retaliation. So, I'm going to speak to this colleague's character. This individual has been in Holio North as a full-time teacher one year longer than I have, but through his experience with, I believe it's the Westfield
Promise, he's been there for quite a while. His colleagues that work directly with him love having him in the department. He's always ready to support his fellow teachers. He's always ready to provide resources. He's always ready
to help workshop ideas and come up with better ideas and methods for reaching our students. Our students love him. He is every student I've talked to
that has gone through his classroom has enjoyed the experience of that classroom, not just of what they've learned. I think it is needless to say that this
teacher holds them to high standards and helps them achieve those standards. But additionally, every student that goes through his classroom feels comfortable. They enjoy being around him. He makes them enjoy coming to
school. something for anyone who has actually spent time teaching in our district knows is not a universal characteristic. Additionally, not only does this send Thank you very much.
[applause] >> Next, Stephen Burke. Hi, Stephen Burke, Hoyokai, teacher, uh, 244 Greystone A, West Springfield. I'm reading this on behalf of Carolyn Montivero, who is also a teacher at Hoyokai. I'm
submitting this statement in support of our colleague regarding the decision not to renew his employment with Hoyok public schools. Believe this decision should be considered. He has completed three years of service at Hoyok High School and has not received negative performance evaluations that would
suggest he is unfit to continue serving the students or of this district. He is qualified history teacher, a dedicated educator and a committed advocate for the students and staff of Hoyok. Throughout his time in his district, Bob is Mr. Williams ah sorry he has
demonstrated a willingness to speak up and ask difficult questions advocate for both educational quality and quality working conditions he's been actively involved in the Hoya teachers association and has worked diligently to support his colleagues everyone may not
agree with every position he's taken but participation in union activities and expression of professional concern should never place an educator's career at risk the timing of the circumstance of his non-renewal raised serious concerns. An educator with satisfactory
performance and a strong commitment to students and active role in unorganizing is dismissed without clear documented justification. It creates the appearance of retaliation. Whether indeed intended or not, that's the perception is
damaging to trust in our schools and throughout the community. Hook's struggles with public perception of advancement opportunities are determined by personal relationships rather than merit. The decision reinforces that perception. Our students, educators, and community deserve a system that values
professionalism, transparency, and fairness above politics or personal connections. He embodies many of the qualities we should want in educators. He is thoughtful, engaging, and willing to challenge assumptions. He does not simply follow directions without
question. >> Thank you. [applause] Next, we have Micah Simone. Hi, Micah Simone or Chaffron, 11 Allen Place, Northampton. I'm here today to urge you to reinstate the teacher we've all been talking about to his position
as a history teacher at Holioai. Everyone who has spoken before me has laid out the case, an exemplary teacher who is involved in union activities, which are protected under Mass General Law 15e nearly every day of his career. His non-renewal is unlawful and
retaliatory. It's also cowardly. The message I want to leave with you is one about leadership. As a leader in HTA, I can tell you that Bob is someone who is never afraid to advocate. Sorry, that the person we're talking about is someone who is never afraid to advocate
for fellow students and for fellow staff and students. Whether you disagree with him or agree with him, you need to recognize that people like this teacher enrich our community and push us forward as leaders. They make us better. But by non-renewing him, you are silencing him.
In turn, you are silencing all of us. Now, every union member, every teacher in the district is wondering, "Am I next? Will I be non-renewed if I lift up my voice?" We all want what's best for students. That's what we're here to do. We need teachers to feel like they can
speak up when something is not right. We can't do that if this non-renewal stands. Superintendent Clasheen has said that we need a we need to heal following a different a difficult contract negotiation. Is this healing?
Is this unity? Is this huntos pmos? [applause] >> Next we have Katie Bick. Hi, I'm Katie Boolick, 285 Brainard Street South Hadley, and I'm here to speak on behalf of Pek Middle School or many educators of Peek Middle School, including a few who are in this room
tonight. Um, as many of you know, I do teach seventh grade science at Pek. And I am asking the school committee and the district leadership to reconsider the non-renewal of a consumer science teacher at our school. This non-renewal was not a result of misconduct, poor
performance, or disciplinary concerns. In fact, he has been a valuable member of our school community. He stepped into a brand new program without an established curriculum with limited resources and help build something meaningful for our students from the ground up. This educator brought years
of world culinary exper real world culinary experience into the classroom. He taught students practical life skills such as food preparation, kitchen safety, sanitation, teamwork, time management, and responsibility. He connected students to career pathways and made learning relevant and engaging.
He had me eating chicken alfredo made by students at 9:30 a.m. which is I can say something was I never envisioned for myself. But as my students uh confidence grew, so did mine. As an experienced educator with advanced degrees and lenture, I can certainly say that his
expertise and effectiveness are not solely measured by credentials. He possesses knowledge and skills that many traditional teachers simply do not have, including myself, even with all my degrees and certifications. Finding a pathway to keep this teacher with a teacher salary is in the best interest of PE middle school students
and its staff. When I spoke with him about the situation, he told me he loves this job. This has just hit me in the heart and I usually follow my heart because it has never failed me. Our students deserve educators who feel this way about teaching. Our district should do everything possible to retain people
who bring that level of dedication, expertise, and care to their work. Offering to hire this teacher back as a long-term subre to do the same work that he did last year as a teacher is not only insulting but unsustainable in an economic time such as this. I have shared to your emails a petition signed
by the teachers from Pek. Thank you. Thank you. Last, we have Allison Noise. [applause] Hello, my name is Allison Noise and I'm a teacher at Holio High School North. This year I was a co-teer with the teacher that we've been discussing in the history department in Eblock world
history class supporting multilingual students in the class. And I am shocked that a teacher could be submiss dismissed after receiving no supervisory critique or warning about a need to change their practice. Teachers at Holioai are frequently observed by the principal, vice principal, teaching and
learning team. Teachers and and visitors. Teachers and supervisors meet about how the teachers are doing. Teachers need to trust that these evaluations are truthful. This teacher has an extraordinary respect for his students capabilities and potential for growth. He arranged to spend time with
me thinking about how to prepare students to do advanced work um starting from where they are and where they enter his class. He was receptive to collaborating and trying new things with me as we considered multilingual students um doing very serious history
work. If this teacher's non-renewal was prompted by a performance-based concern, then his feedback and evaluations should have conveyed those concerns. The school committee must restore this teacher to his position if known warnings were given. All teachers are entitled to due process. If this was not a
performance-based dismissal, but a reprisal of some kind for outside the classroom activity, the committee needs to take equally swift action to restore this teacher to his position. Teachers need to be able to trust the evaluation process to trust Holio. Thank you.
[applause] That concludes our public comment. Just as a reminder for new members of the board and the public, public comment is not a conversation and we must stick to the items that are on the agenda. Thank you everybody for coming tonight.
Next we have communication and reports. It's vacation time. Are there any student reports, Miss Feliciano? I wouldn't think so. [laughter] And we also don't have a superintendent report. So, moving on to new business, out of state travel
recommendation that the school committee vote to approve and authorize out of state travel for MC career chief of people's services to attend the Massachusetts Urban Special Education Director Conference in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Do we have a motion? >> So, moved.
>> Motion made by Mr. Michaelelsson, seconded by Mr. Isasa. Second [clears throat] discussion seeing none. >> Roll call vote please. Miss Feliciano. >> Mayor Garcia. >> Yes.
>> Dr. Cologne. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Yes. >> Miss Lefave. Miss Lefave speaking. >> Who is it? Me? >> Yes. Say yes. I [clears throat] can't hear you. >> You said yes, right? Okay, perfect. Miss
Tensy Williams. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Isaza, >> yes. >> Mr. Michaelelsson, >> yes. >> Miss Dubo, >> yes. >> And Miss Molina, >> yes. Next up, [clears throat] may I have a motion that the school committee vote to approve and authorize out of state
travel for students for Holio High School basketball team to attend the mini hoop hall invitational tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico, December 3rd through December 7th, 2026. >> So, motion made by Mr.
>> Seconded by Miss Tensley Williams. Discussion. >> Okay, >> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Yeah. So, I I was reading about this program or this event. I thought it was super super awesome. And then I was looking at the list of attendees and I saw Central High School was going to be
there. And I know that there was an issue last year and I know there was an issue in 2020. Same thing. And that brought some concern to me because they're going to be going to Puerto Rico as like kind of in a diplomat status for the city of Holio, right? And to go there, that
brings some concern for me. >> Mr. Ooto. >> Yeah. Um, so this is a invite only tournament and um just like when the HooPaw Classic in Springfield came up um at first and before it was built up it
was a smaller amount of teams. Um there there will be two there, you know, their vision is that they're going to be there's going to be two teams from Puerto Rico and then uh one from Holio and one from Springfield being Holioai and Central given their you know high
concentration of of Puerto Rican population and then there'll be four teams um internationally. Um, I understand your point. Um, and we've had conversations with, you know, our athletic director, who I believe is
online. So, uh, Irene, if you can, uh, her, Lori, and and maybe Juan Maldonado might be online, um, to speak to this and and answer questions. But we actually think it's an opportunity. Yes, there was a an issue and there has been a history there, but we think this is a
good opportunity to uh finally put that to bed and and build some relationships between both of the schools. Um, you know, they're going to be traveling uh in the same area in the same hotel and and playing in this uh friendly
competition competition. And we just think it's a uh it it the concern you raise is a legitimate legitimate concern, but we think that this is actually going to help that. >> Mr. Sheen.
>> Yes. So, I know that it says that they want to start making reservations soon, but So, considering tryyouts don't happen till the fall, how is that process occur? Like I mean we don't you don't even know who's going to be on the
basketball team in June. >> Yeah. So we had a conversation about this. You don't see her online. >> No Martin. >> Oh Mar Martin. Okay. Yeah. >> Yeah. Um so this is going to be this isn't going to be everybody that makes the varsity team. So, if we get a brand
new student that comes in, um let's say a a senior transfer, junior transfer, and we don't find out about it until September, then, you know, that that student unfortunately wouldn't go. Um, but the what the high school uh athletic
director is thinking is that it's going to be returning players who were on varsity and then those JV players that we know might be on varsity next year um that already have the, you know, the talent and have displayed the talent to be able to uh play in this competition.
So, like, you know, let's say a freshman comes in um and makes the varsity team be um that that student wouldn't wouldn't be attending because of all the planning and stuff that has to happen ahead of time. What they're looking for at this point is permission to, you
know, begin the fundraising process and and hopefully make this possible for for our students. And Mel is here. Mel, I don't I don't know if you want to add to anything that I just said. Uh but Mel Martin, why? >> Yeah, I mean you you've basically you've
basically stated what we've talked about. It would be returning 10 varsity players. Um possibly some of the kids that were swing players last year. Um we have just recently met with Springfield's principal, athletic director, and coaches and our coaches um
as well to continue our talks about how we move forward from the incident and it doesn't happen again. Um, we're still waiting for some communication from the MIAA. Um, we're not sure that this can work. Granted that it's um within the first week of
tryyouts. Um, but also the first playable date is scheduled for December 10th. So, we're looking to see if the MIA rules we could work our way in with the scrimmage or anything like that. But I know they're approaching the Hall of Fame, reaching out to Greg Portino to
get more answers um than I had when I met with the MIA to make sure that it's something that we can do and without violating their rules. >> Miss Level, >> um I don't have a question anymore because Mel just answered it.
>> Thank you, Mr. Sheen. So, can you share with us um either the superintendent or you can delegate to Ms. Martin the conversations you've had with MIAA regarding that because I'm I'm concerned by saying go ahead and start fundraising
if we don't even know if this can happen yet. And can someone also say has Springfield already gone through the process and fully approved this and have they started fun like has their school committee done the same thing we've done so far? I know um we met with their principal um
just the week last week of school um and they were going to their school committee also for approval. Um I don't know if they've spoken with the MIAA. I have spoken with um the two people from the MIAA um and voiced concerns just um you know where it would fit. Would it be
fit into a scrimmage? Um it may not because the Hall of Fame is going to be charging admission uh to this event and that violates the scrimmage rule. Um, but he wanted to, one of the guys down there, Keith Boyard, wanted to get more information from uh the hoopal and what
they were thinking. You know, had this been a few another week out, it wouldn't uh maybe be an issue. It could be a real game. Um, but I don't know that the MIA is going to approve it, and I would caution any fundraising prior to getting that approval. Um, but knowing this was
your last meeting, we wanted to see if there was approval from this committee for them to travel. And obviously everything else will be on hold until the MIAA um gives us their approval or denies the approval. >> Mr. Sheen,
>> Mayor Garcia, >> thank you, Madam Chair, and everybody. So, and Mel, thank you. Thank you so much. Um this I'm glad to know that, you know, you guys have been working with MIAA, working together with Springfield. Um I
I I I do want to um say thank you to some of the legislators that were um intentional in these conversations to include these two uh communities for the reasons that were described and also uh to help build um some uh strengthen the
relationships between the between the two communities. And it's certain that something that absolutely great opportunity um to to unite around this for Western Massachusetts and for Hoyok and Springfield. Um, and when we do vote, considering that this is we're
going into the summer, there's a lot of planning, necessary conversations that need to happen uh before you officially go out there and start um fundraising. I'm hoping that we can um certainly stand behind this and support this effort um uh to
help you know obviously not only for the opportunity but to achieve um uh the greater bond between these two communities in the sport that's so widely um recognized but um uh those conversations with MIAA have been
ongoing continue to be including with the leadership in Springfield um you know obviously Mel and the administration you you guys know um where the concerns stand, but also that we're as adults, you know, being intentional as possible to to help um uh
build some um uh some unity and some uh to help bring these folks together and and and and represent our communities um in a in a positive manner. Um, so I don't know how the vote's going to take place, but I'm hoping that per the result of the
conversation can lead to a decision made being made today in lie of, you know, obviously making sure that the um uh the necessary um um I don't know how you'd want to describe it, the necessary decisions are made, you know, um in le
of our vote. So, uh let's sure. >> Thank you, Mr. Sheen. >> Yeah. Mel, have you been given a time frame? Like, so ple can you explain to me what the what conversations you've had with the MIA? Have you put in have
you emailed and made this? Like what steps have been taken to actually put in this request to be able to do this so far? >> Yes, Mr. Sheen. Um, basically I sent them exactly what the Hall of Fame sent for us with the event date, the
location, the format, um, the projected format that we could use for games or exhibition or scrimmage. Um, and again, that is all depending on the MIA. So, we sent everything over to them. Um, and they're just looking into uh, what the hoopal they wanted more detail from the
hoopal than I had. Um, so they are going to reach out to the hoopal. know um people from the hoopal are in uh Puerto Rico now for their site visit. Um but I know that the MIA reps were going to try to reach out to them and get more information on what they were looking at
and how to how they would run this and whether or not that would fit within the guidelines and rules that we have to follow for the MIAA. >> Miss Lubalt, >> what is the the time frame that we're bumping up up against in in terms of a deadline? Because my concern is if we
don't know that we have total approval from an MIA perspective and we have people going out and advertising to or to fund raise for this event like what what are the parameters there around
you know like let's say I don't want to I'm knocking on wood but if it doesn't happen like what is what's the what are the par what what what's the protocol for for them when they've raised money for this trip and then the trip doesn't happen because of MIAA. Yeah,
>> I think Mel could probably speak to the process of like letting the hoop know that we're we can't participate, but um this this has happened in a situation like you described has happened in the past where we wanted the dual language
uh program to go to Puerto Rico and for um you know for fundraising reasons and other reasons uh what happens in uh the the trip just didn't happen and and they they delayed it for, you know, for a future date and returned all the money
to the people that had donated um you know uh that that had donated for the cause. It was mainly it was a lot of families of of of the students. So in that scenario, you know, we would have to keep really good rec records on who's
donating the money. Um the you know the I spoke to Mel and the and Lori and the high school basketball coach and they all expressed like you know they they they feel really confident that they're going to be able to raise the money and make this happen for the students. But
in the event that something happens and we have to cancel the the money would just be returned. >> Thank you Mr. >> Again we need to um >> No, sorry I was going to answer that the question as well. We need to let the hoopal they're looking for an answer um
by the end of June. So um obviously I would again caution that we don't start fundraising until we know that we have MIA approval and that we could go >> Mr. Sheen. >> So I I also want to make clear too that the documents that we received says the
fundraising is being done by the booster which isn't under our purview. >> So like I understand what you're saying that they have to keep records. Yeah. Like those aren't records that the district's gonna be keeping. It's an independent group. >> Correct. >> Not associated with us that's doing the fundraising, keeping I just >> anyone listening at home or anything
there. I don't want people to think that the Hoy public schools or Mel or anyone like that aren't going to be responsible for this. This is an independent booster club that is fundraising. So, it will be their responsibility in all of that to keep those records and correct such. I'm
going to make a motion to amend this to include the caveat uh pending MIA approval with an update to the school committee at our July 13th meeting. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Mayor Garcia.
Discussion on the amendment. >> All right. Roll call vote. Miss Feliciano on the amendment. >> Mayor Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Colon. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yes, >> Miss Lefave. >> Sorry. Yes,
>> M. Williams. >> Yes. >> Uh, Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Yes. >> Move. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> As amended with the inclusion of pending MI um approval. Roll call vote. Miss
Pisiano. Yes, >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. And before we move to our next part of business, which is the orders, I wanted
to make sure that I presented to our departing but not very far super interim superintendent, Mr. Sodto for all the work that you have done as in
your role since being receiver and then being interim superintendent and dealing with a transition that nobody else had done before. And I just want on behalf of our Holy School
Committee, I just want to say thank you. And here you have a plaque to commemorate this awesome moment. >> [applause] [applause] >> Yeah, I just >> I just want to say thank you. Um
uh it's been an amazing experience to you know I never I always envisioned coming to Holio uh as soon as I started my educational career in Springfield public schools. I always envisioned that
I would end in Holio. came a lot sooner than than I expected, but it was, you know, as soon as I started in this career, like Holio was the place I wanted to be. And I just want to thank each and every one of you for um your support, your guidance, your
encouragement, and and everything um that allowed me to uh to you know uh take my talents and and and serve the community that I love so much. And you know, I'm
very much uh happy that I'm going to continue to uh stay in Holio. I know there's plenty of places that I could be, but there's no place that I'd rather be than Holio. And I look forward to uh transitioning to a a really great
leader. um that that you know um any hesitation about me staying in Holio was uh squashed the minute that I found out that Jackie Glashene was going to be the superintendent. And I look forward to supporting her and continuing to move
in the right direction on behalf of the students and and staff and families of Holio Public Schools. >> Thank you, Mr. Soda. Okay. Next order filed by school committee
member Sheen that the administr administration studies the benefits and challenges of returning Holoca North and Holocaine campus and opportunity academy as three separate independent schools. The report should be completed and
presented by January 2027. The motion would be that the school committee refer the order to the leadership and accountability subcommittee. Moved by Mr. Isasa. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Mley Williams.
>> Discussion. Miss Lubalt. >> Um can you share a little bit more about that just from the background? I I I know there was a change made but I just it would be helpful to understand. It's more it's more that as we go
through transitions I think we need to take a look at our makeup and I think that something [clears throat] that there's various there's strengths and weaknesses to being one campus or multiple campuses and I just think we need to take a look at that and be thoughtful about it.
>> Thank you. >> Seeing no further discussion roll call vote. Miss Feliciano. >> Mayor Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Ralone. >> Yes. M. Fave. >> Yes. >> Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. Isaza.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Michael. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Miss Molina. >> Yes. >> Next order. filed by school committee member Him that the superintendent develop a pres and present a budget and implementation plan to ensure the FIFA
room is equipped with appropriate technology and to identify any additional technology or facility upgrades needed to support the district operations. The motion that the school committee refer the order to the finance and operations subcommittee. So moved.
>> Moved by Mr. Michaelelsson, seconded by Miss Lubald. discussion. >> Mr. Michaelelsson, >> are we missing something in here? Like, is there something specific we're looking for? >> Mr. Sheen, >> we've had multiple meetings that we
haven't been able to broadcast live. I mean, there's this is funded through different stuff through PEG access. And I just think we the ability for the public not to be able to see us and it's at no fault of any of the staff. It's just that there's technology limitations and we need to make sure that we can
actually broadcast on public access. We also don't know how long we'll be have access to Zoom capabilities for public meetings in the future. Like I mean we'll always have Zoom but like if it'll be allowed in past 2027. >> Thank you.
>> Seeing no further discussion. Roll call vote. >> Mayor Garcia. >> Yep. >> Dr. Colon. Yes. >> Yes. >> Fave. >> Yes. >> Miss Tenzy Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. Michaelelsson.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Zaza. Sorry. >> Yes. [laughter] >> Miss Lubo. >> Yes. >> And Miss Molina. >> Yes. >> Next we have approval of meeting minutes. May I have a motion that the school committee vote to accept and approve the
meeting minutes of the June 8th budget hearing? >> So moved. >> So moved. >> Moved by Miss Tensley Williams, seconded by Mr. Michaelelsson. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please.
>> Garcia, >> yes. Dr. Cologne, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Miss Tenzy Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. Isaza. >> Yes. >> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Yes. >> Mauo.
>> Yes. >> Miss Molina. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Going to make a motion to approve the minutes of the 127 policy committee meeting, the 325 policy committee meeting, and the 48 policy committee meeting. >> Second. >> Seconded by Mr. Michaelelsson.
Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote. >> Uh, Mayor Garcia, >> yes. >> Dr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen, >> yes. >> Mr. Fave, >> yes. >> Williams,
>> yes. >> Maza, >> yes. >> Mr. Mos, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Miss Molina, >> yes. Thank you. Next up, updates of committees, policy and governance subcommittee. We have a recommendation that the school committee vote to
approve the FMLA child bonding leave 2026 as amended in the document presented on the agenda by the policy and governance subcommittee. May I have a motion? >> So move >> moved by Mr. Michaelelsson, seconded by
Miss Densley Williams. Discussion, Mr. is this looks the text of this looks different than earlier today. I don't know if anyone has a printed version or not. Did something change in
the body of this? Thank you, Miss Molina. >> Yeah, the the red language, >> Mr. Sodto. The red language was a proposal that was made in the subcommittee meeting to add that language.
So it was added that same day um which is why it's in red. So in in the subcommittee meeting there was a motion made I believe by Mr. Michaelelsson to add this language and and that's what
was added in and that's been there since the since the last >> but it's not it's not here now. >> Oh um so earlier today all I did was update the per permissions so that it's view only not comment only. So maybe because
that's um I don't I don't know why that red is not there but that's that that has been there since the policy meeting where it was brought up.
It seems to be a >> it's probably a suggested >> a format a format issue because it since it's not an accepted edit there it doesn't show up >> yes >> in ours.
So like if I click this check to accept that language which was the language that was agreed to in the policy meeting then it'll show up for anybody that has uh view only access >> right >> that make sense
>> Mr. So did the policy committee what was the policy committee's recommendation? We we should be seeing whatever the policy committee recommended to the committee. >> The pol Okay. Go ahead, James. >> Mr. Mikeson. >> So the the red line. So I looked at this
I saw it a couple days ago. I saw the the version you just saw in paper, right? that that comment that comment was an addition to this and that was what the recommendation on the subcommittee was was to provide that
comment which uh addressed frontloading. I believe it was sick time >> Mr. Zoto. >> Yeah. So the what happened at the subcommittee was exactly what you guys see in front of you. And the motion was
to recommend this to get approved by the full committee and add this language which reads for purposes of child bonding leave under this provision. The district may advance up to 10 days of sick leave that the employees expected to acrue during the remainder of the
applicable school year. Any advanced sick leave shall be deducted from future sick leave acrruels as they are earned. If the employee separates from employment before earning back all advanced sick leave, the value of the unearned advanced leave shall be repaid
to the district through the pay through payroll deduction from any amounts owed to the employee at separation to the extent permitted by law or otherwise reimbursed by the employee. So the motion was made to recommend this to be
approved by the full committee and amended to include include this language. >> Miss Lefave, >> I'm not seeing that in my link. So that's I'm like going back and forth trying to find it. Um,
so how do I access what we had recommended to add? >> I I mean I'll click accept right now and you should be able to see it. Um, but
the minutes should reflect that it was moved to the full committee and what I just read was read in that in that policy meeting and approved by the policy subcommittee. It was a way for us to track
um what the policy subcommittee um read in the meeting and what the recommended edit was to what was in front of them. So I think in you know my personal opinion is in the future when something
like this happens we probably need to have like instead of a suggested edit we have to have like you know like literally type out ad um >> or not a suggested edit but whenever we want to recommend ad that we actually do
it in the text and say recommended recommended ad by the policy subcommittee. We used the feature that exists in Google Docs that is really for a reviewer where you can suggest an edit but the somebody has to approve it for
it to appear um in you know um for it to appear to anybody that doesn't have that um that edit access to the document. >> Mr. Fab, are you is this a new hand or is it still the same? >> Yeah. So I'm sorry. Is it okay Dr.
Rivera? >> Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. >> Okay. Yeah. So, I Yeah, I was hoping that this would come in red um because typically that's what we also do um even for the policies when we're going to add stuff. So, you see what's original then
what the recommendations are in red or struck out and then you see the cleaner version of what it would look like. Um, so it was kind of hard to really um figure out what it was and try to recall
[clears throat] what it was that we had approved or recommended for the full board to consider. But I would also had some other questions if permitted. Absolutely.
>> Go ahead, Miss >> Okay. So, um thank you. Um Mr. Sodto, in regards to um paid leave, um that staff can access. What are the
various types of leave that they can access that can also be used if it's for pregnancy, child bonding, whatever the case is or are we saying that it can only be sick leave?
Uh people can use their personal time. So like vacation and personal if they have um if they have that in their acrual bank. >> What's the most that a person can roll
over and have in a given year to utilize towards that? >> For vacation it's 10 days. For personal those don't those do not roll over. So the max anybody technically would get for a fiscal year school year is
basically up to 30. The answer that I just provided you was for vacation only. So um sick time does roll over every year. So if a person has more than you know if a person has 90
days what we're saying is that um for purposes of of FMLA that they're allowed to use up to 30 days of acred sick leave in connection with
you know the birth uh adoption or placement of a child >> before going into unpaid status, but they could still have more acred time in their books. Correct. >> Yeah. So, in that scenario, let's say the employee exhausted their 10 vacation
days that they had for the year, um their three personal days that they had for the year, they could use up to 30 uh sick days. And in the scenario that I just described, a person having 90 sick days in their bank, they would still
have 60 sick days in their bank, but they wouldn't be able to use them during that FMLA. Um, but they would, you know, they they would still be there. Currently, um, and we had this discussion in the policy subcommittee,
currently the the sick leave policy only allows you to use three sick days to care for another family member. So this this particular change um is is very beneficial and and is responsive to
a lot of the feedback that we have and the discussions that we had uh during the teacher the collective bargaining process. they would get, you know, seven um child bonding days in addition to whatever they use with sick. And instead
of only being allowed to use three days, they would be able to use up to 30 of sick time if if it if they have it in their bank. >> So technically, they can go up to 40
um days total if you're looking at the 10 it. Yeah, it all depends on how much they have in their acred leave. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Leave. Mr. Rasheen,
>> one comment just so people if anyone's listening, this only applies to people not covered by a collective bargaining agreement or or other contract. Just so so it's your your collective bargain agreement dictates everything else. So just to be
clear, a person under this policy could access 30 days of acred sick leave. They could use 7 days of bonding and then whatever is in their earned vacation time
for their leave, which would in could include 10 days carried over from the year prior and then whatever they're currently earning in the current year. >> Correct. until until they start tapping into unpaid time. >> Okay.
So, why don't we mention in here that they can that they can use their sick and personal time? >> This does talk about the sick um >> or their sorry their vacation and personal time.
Um because there's nothing preventing people from using their their vacation and personal time already in the there's there's a whole separate vacation section in the um in the handbook and that and that's not changing. There's
nothing preventing them from using that. Um, but the the FMLA or the child bonding leave section, which was newly added, just addresses the sick language that was in that section before.
But, um, you know, if if if you guys think that if the members think that we should include that here, um, you know, that I don't see the problem with with amending the language that's in
here. Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Um, so just to just to clarify, my understanding through this is what Mr. Sheen's asking you is is 30 days a hard cap of what you could spend your sick time on and why not be explicit about
the rest of the other vacation and other other leave mechanisms that you could get to get up to your 12 weeks, which would be the entire FMLA period. Is that is that correct? Like how do you fill in the blank? >> Yes. Or I'm just Oh, sorry. >> Mr. Sheen.
>> Yes. I'm just wondering if you can use other time when you apply for this late. That's more Yes. Whether it fills in a gap or if you can just if you can say I'm going to use my vacation days first, my 10 that I carried over and I've earned eight more because I've been an
employee from September to December or whatever. Okay, that makes sense. And then one more thing is I was looking at the policy GCC. Uh it gives a married couple with both both parents married by the district. Uh
you get 60 you get 60 days. And I was just thinking about this. I didn't know why it might be different for a married couple versus one individual getting the same amount of time. So, I from from the 30-day thing, I understand
that that was that was a step to getting to the 60, but I also don't see a reason to hold it back from 60 if you have a an ability in that policy to make it go to 60 for a family, but you only get 30 for
an individual. Miss Lefave. >> Yeah. So, we keep talking about this one as as a policy, but um if I wasn't mistaken, I was told that this was part of the handbook and that we needed to update the handbook. That policy that
everyone's talking about has not come forth to the full board, not even for a first reading. So, this is stuff that we're going to have to bring back at our July meeting to really discuss to bring to refer to the policy subcommittee for
all of the updates um that we plan on doing. But now that I had asked in regards to can somebody exceed right could be 40 days. When I'm reading this, I'm wondering if people are thinking that you're kind of stuck at only up to
30 days that they can take off when in reality, some may even go 40 um if they're actually using their vacation, their personal um the sick and
plus whatever is being given towards the child family bonding leave. Um, so [snorts] why couldn't we then put in there that employees may use up to 60
days of acred overall time? Um, and be explicit as to what time they can use. >> Mr. Zodto, >> I think what's being recommended right now is is specifically speaking to the
30 days of sick time. it it doesn't address. So, there's the what what's newly added is the seven days of child bonding and then increasing what you could use your sick time on from three
to 30. cuz currently what exists in the handbook for 12-month employees non-bargaining um is that there's a there's a um you know the the sick
allowable sick use policy in the handbook currently only allows you to use 3 days to care for another family member. This would be increasing it to 30. it this you know this doesn't necessarily address that you can use
your vacation time and your PT your um you know your personal days which employees are already entitled to do that miss >> I personally think this is all very confusing because it seems that something's going to be found in a
different policy and they can look at that other policy and this policy. If we're just talking about family child bonding leave, why isn't everything just in that one thing then? Um, that's just my personal opinion.
>> Right. >> So, Mr. So I guess I'm just wondering where did the what was the rationale around the number 30 rather than 60 which would be the full amount if it's the person sick leave like what's the rationale around using 30?
>> Yeah the the rationale is um we thought that that was an appropriate increase from three um if you know if if you know there's nothing >> Yeah. And yeah, I mean, we we just thought it was a reasonable amount to
add. Um, you know, adding more does does come at an additional, you know, cost. So, we we thought this is a good place to start. Um, and moving in the right direction. >> Mr. Sheen,
>> I guess I'm just concerned that we are separate from also the city's policy on it. like the city lets you use your paid leave first and you can use all of your paid leave from I'm reading the city policy right now uh for leave uh for this type of stuff because they follow
exactly what's FMLA so I guess I'm why the deviation from I mean I we always have to do exactly what the city does but what was the thought process if there's a cost on the schools is there not a cost for the city like what's the thought process on that
>> and yeah I mean there's that impact >> we're I mean, we differ in a lot of cases with the city's policies, right? Like, so this proposal also adds child bonding days. I'm not sure if the city has child bonding days, but considering the process that we just went through
with the collective bargaining agreement, um, this was one, you know, what we thought was one step in the right direction to do um to adjust our current for non-bargaining um in in the same direction. So, you know, I don't
have a a clear answer with numbers or anything like that, but this was our starting point. And I, you know, admittedly, we didn't look at, you know, the the city's policy. We looked at where we're at right now and
what our current policy and practice has been for the last um, you know, 10 years or so with the with the employee handbook. Um, and and work from there. Miss Lefave. >> All right. I'm sorry. Um but now that
everything's coming to my mind right now. Um so let's even talk about um the individual that's actually having the child, right? So alone right there, postpartum care is up to six weeks. technically six weeks um because that's when they get their first follow-up
appointment. Um that's 42 days. Well, if you look at it by 5 days, that's 30 days right there. But then could kick in whatever else they take, you know, that they have
accumulated. So if you're looking at 30 sick days for that alone, um that's just for that aspect of having a child. but then they may have the vacation. So that's why I it's just having so many different
policies or saying, "Well, we don't have vacation time included in here. That'll be somewhere else." Or they don't have the personal time included in here. That's somewhere else. That's too much to be trying to navigate to really know
what they have available for the use. >> Yeah. I mean, the change we're making is specifically about how you can use your sick time. We're not making any changes about how you can use your vacation or your personal days. The the what's being
recommended is specifically about your sick time. And in the scenario that you described where you know um the individ the individual that is having a baby, they usually have a medical reason for not being able to return to work with a
doctor's note. And like there's nothing in the current employee handbook that that you know there's no for for those individuals, they're not capped at 3 days. um you know they they whatever they have in their sick bank they they
use throughout the FMLA if they have the acred time. The sick language that we have in there now specifically talking about caring for another sick individual um caps that time at three and we're
just trying to increase it to 30 and add the seven child bonding days. I do see your point. Um, and I think that, you know, when we do bring forward, you know, I know it was recommended to go to the policy, we'll be able to see the
entire um, employee handbook, which you'll see, you know, language in there for vacation and personal and holidays and all of that language will be in there. The reason why this was isolated and separate because it represents a
substantive change to the existing um policy and we wanted to get uh the conversation going early, but I know we're we're going to be um discussing the employee handbook and student handbook at a future meeting and that's where all of that is. Um any individual
that is in this scenario, I can guarantee you, Miss Lefave, uh that they do reach out to human resources that that you know uh well in advance and um if they have any questions about like
how long their leave could be, what they can use, what they cannot use. our human resources department um if they are struggling to to understand what benefits are available to them. I think it is clear once you reading the the employee handbook in its totality
um and and you're in that scenario our our human resources department works with them when they have to when they submit their paperwork and and goes through all of their options. >> Thank you. nightmare.
>> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Yeah, I think I'll I'll finish up the the last concern I have. I I think there was a consideration of the the FMLA period being 60 days and if this was 30 days of it, right, then you could potentially enter the unpaid status
before actually exhausting your FMLA. I think the the general sense what I'm getting from you is exhaust everything you have within that 60-day time period. This 30 days is only for the sick time. Correct. You can use the rest of your leave how you see fit and that that
satisfies me. Thank you. >> Seeing no further discussion, roll call vote. Mr. mic. >> So, are we voting on the order as it was written in the agenda before we had it
updated or are we voting on the amended >> as amended in the document presented on the agenda >> and it is now amended. I see. Thank you. >> Yes, >> Mr. Sheen. >> I ju I just need to get back to the
whole cost part of it. So what is the like explain to me what the cost of the district is in these types of positions that are non-bargaining positions that are governed under separate people like how many people in the district does
this policy apply to? >> Um I wish I had the number on the top of my head but I can give you an example of like where we would incur cost. >> Okay, >> if that helps. So if we have, you know,
if we have an individual who works in our transportation department, right? Um and they're responsible for routing our buses, um we would have to go out and hire a consultant to do that routing for us during that period that they're not
there. um in in other cases where there um you know we've had to I you know we've had to bring on consultants to help support some of the work. You know, if it's peak season and human resources and we need some additional hands on
deck to help with or or the enrollment office to help with the enrollment season, we would we would either have to incur cost through overtime or incur cost through hiring part-time help to support the work. That's just one example, but
>> Mr. machine. >> And for the child bonding leave, where did did the number seven come from? >> Um, I believe that was the same number that we had in the collective bargaining agreement. Is that right, Jackie? Yeah.
>> So, I understand that, but like and that's for a group of 180day employees. The employees that this covers, are they mostly 12-month employees? Are they 10-month employees? Are they 180day, 240
or what? >> Mostly 12 month. >> Okay. I'd like to make a motion to amend um the number from 7 to 10. Do we have a second? >> Second. Second.
>> So move. >> Any discussion on the amendment? Mr. Sheen. >> So I I bring the fact to bring it from 7 to 10 because that is a full two weeks. And I think when you think about a work week, I mean, we give um with vacation
time, we give them out in full weeks. you get 10 weeks or 10 days vacation, 15 days vacation. I mean, to get 10 to get seven, you'd get Monday through Friday and then Monday and Tuesday. And like depending on how you break this up and you could use other time. So, I think
that the 10 would at least bring it that you'd have that full two weeks of that bonding time, which really get more time when you think weekends um to add that. And I think when you're talking about year- round employees, I mean, it's it's a little bit different. makes sense to me
>> and that'd be reflective in the two areas with the seven 10 in the >> document. >> Yeah, in the document. >> Any further discussion? Miss Lubald. So, I'm just there's just a lot of numbers.
So, I'm just my head is um so some people have seven days of child bonding but now others would have 10 days of child bonding. Is that am I misunderstanding that >> Mr. >> Right now HTA gets seven
>> and everyone else gets zero >> zero. >> Okay. Okay, >> this policy would have still leave HTA with seven and all non-bargaining year-round employees would get 10 >> and >> no other unit, no other collective
bargaining agreement has child bonding. >> Okay. So, so we So, but why wouldn't we do seven and seven? I I'm I'm asking I I'm just I'm trying to understand. I I get your point about the two weeks, but we just told a group of people that seven days for child bonding. Now we're
going to tell another group of people that they can get more. >> Yeah, >> Mr. >> I did because the work schedule is different. I mean, you work 185 days or you work 12 month like it's a different work
schedule with it. So, >> these are employees that work year round, not just 185 days. >> Well, I understand that, but I'm just I'm thinking child bonding is child bonding when you have a child. That's all I'm just thinking about that from
different constituencies. >> May I make a statement? >> Miss Dansley Williams, go ahead. >> Um, I totally agree with Devin. Um because three more days really is not going to hurt and um I think the three
more days would work. Seven is is okay. Seven is a number of completion but three more days would help. So I think I agree with him as far as uh 10 days. That's just my thoughts. >> Thank you, Mr. Enley Williams. Mr. Sheen
>> and Mr. Superintendent, correct me if I'm wrong. I also think in the teachers contract that they can utilize all of their paid time first and not capped. So like these people can only use 30 sick days and then they go to unpaid whereas in the HDA contract you can use 100% of
your paid time and not go to unpaid until you use it. So we're limiting >> agree >> limiting on this that you can't correct. Yes, >> Miss Lubald. >> I just want to say thank you for that
clarification. That was helpful. >> Any further discussion on the amendment? >> Seeing none, roll call vote. >> Yes. >> Dr. Yes. >> Yes. F. >> Yes.
Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mson. >> Yes. >> Move. >> Yes. >> And Molina. >> Yes. >> As amended. Roll call vote. >> Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Ricolone.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Yes. Mr. Fave. >> The fave. >> She's not on. She left. All right. Um, Miss Tenzy Williams.
>> Yes. >> Maza. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mason. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Just want to make one comment just as the superintendent pointed out, we're
getting the entire um employee policy again in a couple weeks, but this will be updated. I mean, if there's any tweaks, this could also be reviewed and changed again. So, I don't want people to think like it's not final until it's final in July. So, just
don't start planning life until it's final in July. Like that. That's the big point. Like, we're getting this back again. >> Thank you for that, Mr. Sheen. >> Which includes this next thing, wellness policy.
Motion that the school committee votes to approve the wellness policy of 2026 of the Holio public schools as listed. >> So moved. >> Moved by Mr. Michaelelsson, seconded by Mr. Isasa. Discussion. Miss Louisville.
>> Thank you. Um so great policy, awesome information in terms of helping um have our kids have healthy food and healthy minds. Um the correlation there is great and I love to see the district um putting that in a
policy like it's really terrific. Um I did have some questions at subcommittee um that I wasn't able to talk about so I'm going to ask them here. Um, one is I did have an opportunity to uh ask a question of superintendent be before the
subcommittee meeting and I appreciate your response. Um, and my [clears throat] questions are more of a followup to to that. Um it it was said back to me my question was more around I had gotten some coni constituent complaints about um food
quality but also um teachers um with concerns about the the makeup of the food being served on MCCAST day. So high stake testing day and whether there was protein and so on and so forth. And so that was the basis
of my question. Um and um the answer uh that I got back. So I have I have just four follow-ups. So it's it's was stated in the policy and also in in your uh letter back to me that the that
the food the quality is inspected regularly. So I'm what is regularly from a compliance perspective? Is that like three days? Is it? >> Yeah, there I mean we have uh Sedexo has a couple of employees that
are out there. They're not at every school every day, but they're at a school every single day. >> Right. So, I guess what I'm what I'm what I'm It's just not it's not a finite number. Like are are they being inspected every week? Is it every other
week? Or like what like every day? Okay. It just might like it's not every single school every day, but our you know, uh the Sedexo manager and their compliance um staff member
there are at at at least one school every day. So they might go to Sullivan one day, the next day they'll be at Dunahue, the next day they'll be at Ian White. Um and when they do visit, those are things that they're looking for. They're looking for at quality control. >> Okay. Yeah.
>> Okay. And then in ter specific to the the piece about the MCCAST and the high stakes testing, um the closing of the of the answer was around um that some principles ask for brown bag lunches
during that day and that that is and this is a you know from a quote perspective like we know that that's less appealing to consumers. So when I read the policy, I see like the the the nursing team, the nutrition team that they're all providing that and but then in this particular instance, it points
to the principles making a decision that we're going to go with a brown bag lunch on the high stakes testing even though the consumers don't like it. So like I just I don't understand why that is happening. >> Yeah. I mean the the bag lunches are
still compliant. Um they're just, you know, it's not a hot lunch that sometimes, you know, obviously a student if you had to choose from a bag lunch or a slice of pizza and a fruit um and and your normal lunch, it it's not as
appealing. But um principles you know uh in in depending on the schedule of M MCCAST you know um you know some some students are based on the schedule basically the principal can reach out
and request to the food service department that they want to do a bag lunch because it would help with that particular day. >> Okay. um >> even >> so there's nothing we don't tell them they can't do that you know if it if it works because of the schedule like
>> um it's not something that we've ever stepped in and said no even if it's a half day or a modified schedule for MCCAST you have to have a hot lunch we've never done that before >> but it would fit it would fit with the the compliance of the what what's
written in the policy >> the bag lunch would fit yeah whatever it is it would still have to have the same components that are required ired for a reimburseable meal. >> Okay. Okay. And this was just a question because I I it wasn't clear from the policy the
subcommittee policy, but like did we already pick the the school community health council? Do we already pick the people that are on that or is that something that's going to happen? >> Uh they've they've met. I don't I don't know. I don't have a list of the who's on there right now, but uh Cynthia Carboni, our health and wellness
director, works to um works with that group regularly. >> Okay. And then I know that it's a trienal assessment. This is my last question by the way, but trienal assessment. Um are there other milestones? And the reason I'm asking this question just for people watching
and in those in the room, I this is a it's a really voluminous policy. It's very uh rigorous on nutrition. There's a lot of words that say encourage and and and so on and so forth, but I I don't see um the the compliance end of it,
right? Like then that's kind of why I'm asking that because I I I would love to see all of this implemented and I think it's awesome. But my thing is how how are we you know if it's every 3 years and then we don't get a report card about how it's doing like what are the other milestones that are along the way
that we can make sure that the kids are getting in exactly what this policy says. Our meals have to be compliant with the federal nutrition programs and our menus
on a weekly basis are run through a software program that analyzes the menus and and spits out whether or not the meal is compliant. In terms of quality control, what usually happens is if
there is a concern, it's raised to the food service department and myself and we go out and investigate it and make sure it happens. Or as an example, there's some, you know, like if if there's
if we are out of compliance in any way, either the nurse is going to reach out and let Cynthia know, and Cynthia is going to let the superintendent and myself know, um, or the food service
provider is going to elevate those concerns to Cynthia and myself and say, "Hey, this school is, you know, selling XYZ, you know, uh, on a regular basis every single day during lunch. They
would elevate that concern and we would talk to the principal and let them know they're out of compliance with the wellness policy and that they should they they can't do that. Um, so it's not a, you know, I don't have like a a regular schedule of it, but I can tell
you from experience, our nurses don't play [laughter] and our food service department doesn't play. Whenever there's violations to this policy, they elevate those concerns and we address them immediately with the principal.
>> Okay. Thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Mayor Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Cologne. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Sorry. Mr. Faith. >> Yes. >> Miss Tenzy Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. Isaza. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mixon. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes.
>> Next, we have um the motion that the school committee vote to approve the middle school CT pathway exploration policy as listed on the agenda. >> So, motion >> moved by Mr. Michaelelsson. Do we have a second? Seconded by Mr.
Discussion. Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Yeah. Uh there was one thing that I saw in here. The uh page three. Um, it said it gets submitted to Desi by November 1st, 2025. So, I'd like to do I need to
make a motion to amend that. Is this our document? >> This was already uh like we had to submit it to Desi. We reviewed this in September, but um we uh uh we let Desi know that it's pend it
was pending school committee approval. So, so this hasn't been submitted yet. >> It was, but they they are aware that the school committee hasn't approved it yet. And once we get school committee approval, we'll let them know that it it was approved by school committee.
>> Okay. Thank you, >> Miss Lubalt. >> Um, I love the concept of reaching out to the middle school um community. My question is around how does this work with the limited
spots that we have at Dean if we're when we're talking to kids and we're getting them excited and I know reading one of the other agenda items that there is a a measure of that. But I just was curious just thinking about middle school kids and being excited about this pathway and
not maybe being able to have that opportunity. Yeah, it's it's definitely an unfortunate reality of, you know, limited seats in CTE here. Um, this is essentially a template that the state is
requiring all districts to have. They're requiring you to have an updated CTE admissions policy and then a policy around uh middle school pathways. The language is pretty much identical to the template provided. In fact, um you know,
the since September, there's a there's a whole section in here that's really relevant to uh regional vocational districts that, you know, um that I'm hoping we we can revise either in policy
or here. Um but you know it's this this is new legislation that came out um in the summertime and part of that process was you have to update your policies to reflect this new guidance. Um
so the reality is is we're required to do that outreach but honestly we were already doing it. So like in Holio even prior to this, all eighth graders would visit the north campus and all eighth
graders would vis would visit uh Dean um prior to them making their selections and we would organize those tours um every single eighth grader that obviously was present that day. And if they happen to be absent, they you know there's always uh an opportunity for
them to schedule a separate tour of the facility. But this is this is no different. Um you know last year and the year before um there were students that you know got to visit Dean and were interested in it applied for it and through the lottery process didn't get
in. >> Mr. Sheen >> make a motion to strike section six records and data sharing. Motion made by Mr. Sheen. Do we have a second? >> Second.
>> Seconded by Miss Lub. Discussion. Mr. Sheen. >> This is just the section that's only applicable to regional vocational schools since there's no the data is already here. That's Yeah. Any
further discussion on the amendment? Seeing none, roll call vote. >> Garcia, >> yes. >> Dr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen, >> yes. >> Hey, Miss Lefave. >> Yes. >> Miss Tenzy Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bau. >> Yes. >> And Miss Molina? >> Yes. As amended roll call vote mayor Garcia >> yes >> Dr. Colom yes Mr. Sheen fave
Williams >> yes >> Mr. >> Yes >> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Yes. >> Mau. >> Yes. >> Miss Miss Molina, sorry. Excuse me. >> Yes. >> Finance and Operations Subcommittee
report. Anything to report, Mr. Sheen? >> No. >> Join city council and school committee. >> No report. Leadership accountability and measurement subcommittee. Miss Fab.
>> So you see a lot of reports here. Um a lot of evaluations but the first one I would like to ask Miss Lubold um as she was kind enough to do the modified version of the summitive report
and then I will speak on the long version of the report. So the the short evaluation summary is >> Can I can I stop you one second? Um let's just make the motion so that way when once we finish
>> Well, [laughter] not yet. >> I'll make a motion to uh approve the evaluation of the interim superintendent. >> Motion by Mr. Sheen, seconded seconded by Mr. Isasa, >> Miss Lald.
So um the short summary is a compilation of the work product that we did uh separately for the short the short version all of us as individual members um where we tried to hit on every
element um to the best of my ability and um and uh come up with a consensus uh summary basically um for everyone. on. >> Is there more you need me to say? I don't know.
[laughter] >> Thank you, M. >> Do you want me to read it, too? [laughter] >> No, please do not. Thank you. >> Okay, >> Miss Lef. >> All right. So the longer version is um there was some redundancy to it because
it kind of brought over what the modified version had but overall I could say that proficient um there is an area where you'll see where there was needing improvement and that was on family and community engagement. I did speak with
interim uh superintendent stood. We went through the evaluation last week and asked you know if some feedback um overall through the years um that he has served as the first receiver and then in
terms of superintendent he has been very involved um with family and community engagement and really out there even knowing the students and being highly involved. Um I thank him for the service that he's done for us. um exemplary as
you can see would be under finance and fiscal management but then again that's his strong background. Um he did pick in each um indicator or performance areas. Uh he
did pick and you'll see where they're checked off as their focus indicators that he chose um for a for section one two three and four. And then we did do like a summary of
overall um his performance and some feedback on how it can improve. But obviously how it can improve moving forward even with the new superintendent. Does anybody I don't know if anybody has any questions. I I think that was good.
>> Mr. Sheen. >> Yes. Uh thank you for compiling this. I know it's a challenging document at times. um on the performance for standard 3 community engagement.
So the rated items should have been the two focus indicator items 3A and 3C. So I'm just wondering why if both of those are proficient why it's a needs improvement overall. So although in those two areas that he
chose as the focus indicator came out as proficient, it's asking for an overall rating and it was kind of hard because you have two that are needing improvement and then two that are proficient. Um so it's like there's no in between. I would have loved to have
put the X right in between both lines. Um that's that's my only thing. Mr. Shamp, >> but I thought the process is is just to rate on the focus indicators, not on all. >> When I read through that, that's what I thought. You have to go through all, but
then you focus mainly on what the individual chooses. Like you still have to rate every indicator. Um, and then next to it where it says focus indicator, check if yes, then you would
check it if that was one of the focus areas. It made it much longer. Thank you, Miss Lef. Any further discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please.
>> Mayor Garcia, >> yep. >> Dr. Yes. >> Mr. Sheen, >> yes. >> Mr. Fave, >> yes. >> Teny Williams, >> yes. >> Mr. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Moving on to ongoing business. Motion that the school committee vote to accept and approve the Holio High School dean campus career technical education recruitment admission and retention policy of 2526. >> Second. >> Thank you. Mr. Sheen on the motion
seconded by >> He can have it. >> Okay. Mr. Saza discussion [snorts] seeing none roll call vote please >> yes >> Dr. Ron >> yes >> yes
>> Mr. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Moving on to policy updates. First read.
Motion that the school committee vote to approve first reading of policy DBJ. >> So moved. by by Mr. Sheen, seconded by M. Tensley Williams. Discussion. >> Seeing none, roll call vote, please.
>> Yes. >> Dr. Regalone. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Yes. >> Mr. F. >> Yes. Williams. >> M. Tenzy Williams. >> Yes. >> Um, Zaza. >> Yes. >> Michaelelsson. Yes.
>> Yes. Yes. Motion that the school committee vote to approve first reading for policy EB. >> So moved. >> Moved by Mr. Michaelelsson. Seconded by Mr. Sheen. Discussion.
Seeing none. Roll call vote please. May >> Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Ricolone. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Yes. Mr. Leave. >> Yes. >> Williams. Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Motion that the school committee vote to approve first reading of policy AC. >> So move. >> Moved by Mr. Michaelelsson. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Miss Ty Williams.
Discussion. >> See none. Roll call vote. >> Yes. >> Dr. Rol. >> Yes. Yes. >> Mr. Fave, >> yes. >> Williams, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. M. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mina,
>> yes. >> Motion that the school committee vote to approve first reading of policy JKA. >> So move. >> Moved by Mr. Sheen. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Mr. Michaelelsson. Discussion.
>> Seeing none, roll. >> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> Mr. Leave. >> Yes. >> Sensei Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Miss. >> Yes. >> Motion that the school committee vote to
approve first reading of policy JFB. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Mr. Sheen. Seconded by Miss Lubal. Discussion. Mr. Michaelelsson. I'm just going to throw some of some of the stuff that's in some of the removals is in this
bullying prevention, right? Some of like the harassment information, right? It gets covered in the the bullying prevention policy. So, if you're looking for something and wondering where it went in the other removals, that's where it's at. >> Thank you. Any further discussion?
Seeing none, roll call vote. Mayor Garcia, yes. Dr. Yes. Yes, >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Sheen >> like to make a motion the school committee vote to remove policies KBB AE KBB A R DKC R ACA ACAB and J IC >> second motion by Mr. Sheen and seconded
by Miss Fib. Any discussion? Miss Lubal, >> I just want to be clear that ACA, ACAB, and JICK are in the bullying prevention. Are they all because some of those some of the ones that Mr. Ian read the top
three have an explanation about what they are and where they go but the others did not to me and maybe I missed it but at least when I was looking at it last night >> um where where do those >> go miss
>> that's where you would have um policy AC which was fully developed um overall and JICF so in between those two is where you're going to find the reasons to remove JICK, ACAB and ACA because all of what's
in there is already described in those two policies. >> Yep. >> Just just for [clears throat] clarification, so just for the members of the public who are looking at this that we do have non-discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual harassment and
harassment of students covered in other policies. >> That's correct. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Any further discussion? >> Roll call. Mayor Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Rolon. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Fave.
>> Yes. >> Williams. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. [clears throat] >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Make a motion. School. Can we vote to approve a second and final reading of
DGA, DI, DIE, FA, KHB, and LBC? Second >> motion made by Mr. Sheen, seconded by Mr. Lefave. Discussion, >> Mr. Lef. >> Second and final reading. Correct. Oh, okay. Sorry. Just want to make sure
I do not want to bring this back, >> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> Yeah. So, some of those second reads are over a year. Like, we're a year past on that, right? And in for example in the DI we're going to be going to monthly
monthly financial statements. Um I think we're in monthly financial statements like is that what we want? Right? Like that was what the old committee wanted. Is that what the new I understand that it's like in a purgatory state, right?
But is that what we want? Um so that was thing one. And the other thing was uh with the audits. Um, would we be throwing ourselves into a non-compliance situation? I know that we're like I don't know. I couldn't find
any audit information available. So, I I just wanted to ask those two questions before approving either of them. >> Miss Lefib. >> So, I just want to make clear to everybody that we paid MASC $10,000 to >> Hold on, Miss Leave. >> Okay,
>> Mr. Sheen. So is as far as the questions that were asked around financial reports and the monthly >> ask the chair of the finance subcommittee that's it's just because he had the answer to the question miss >> we yes we already got them but there's
no way to get like books are closed out monthly that's why it's done in a monthly cycle and that's something that was never done before so that's why it was established as monthly in the policy like there it wouldn't be work productive to get weekly financial
statements because that's not how things are closed out. And we also might be getting financial reports that are a month be like you may not get the May report on June 1st. You may be getting like it's late. So that's why it's a monthly financial report. Um and with
the audits I'm not sure I fully understand the question because the city is audited and we provide everything to like through that process. But I guess I need more clarity on your question. We don't do an independent audit. I we meet
our ESSE audit requirements. We meet our audit requirements under the federal uh universal school lunch program. We meet our audit requirements the city and the state division of local services and all that. We submit that all to desi once a year. But I guess I need clarity on
>> Mitch Mike. >> So I went to Google. I was looking for audits, right? Right. And it says basically we're going to be audited as a a branch within the city. Right. That's that's my understanding of this policy. Right. >> And I was looking for information that
suggested that we had because I was curious what does what does an audit of this actually look [laughter] like? And I could not find one. So I I was concerned that I could not find one. And when I cannot find one, that means there either isn't one. And I'm not saying
this to be critical of anything. I'm saying this from a place of understanding, [cough] >> Mr. Shane. >> So, as far as the audits that the city does on it, I couldn't answer that for you. We could probably bring in the auditor to discuss that um if there's questions around it, but all of the
grant audits and the DESI audits are all available on the Desi website, I believe, and the superintendent can correct that. But, I mean, all of that is we are in compliance. like I I can't speak for the internal auditing of the city.
>> Mr. Sto. >> Yeah. So, uh Mr. Sheen is absolutely correct. The one that we definitely do every year um or that we've done every year is the end of year financial compliance audit and we do do our own
internal audit of student activities. the the whole city audit and the and the um and the federal single act audit is tied into the city's process.
Um so I believe that um 23 was the >> it's done. >> It was done. Um but and they're working on 24. We we don't go out and get a separate audit from the city. So we're kind of tied to that process. And the
way it works is the external auditor works with the city auditor and um the city auditor generates an open request list and submits to several departments what they need. They gather whatever they need and they have a whole section for the school. Schools we need you to
provide XYZ. We provide it to them and then whatever management letter is issued to the city of Holio the schools is included in that. >> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> All right. So the final question would be if I looked at the existing policy
right now, the existing policy is very very very forgiving relative to to this proposed policy. Right? So if we go into an approved policy that says we're going to be doing these types of audits, I see that the bottom of this proposed policy which references the reports you were
talking about with the end ofear financial compliance report, right? That makes sense to me. But what I don't want to do is immediately say that we're going to I think that yeah so as a department city of Holio and audit of the school department shall be conducted annually
by external auditors within nine months of the close of the fiscal year right I don't want to prove that today if we don't have something for the last couple of years right I see that we're in compliance with the other stuff I just it doesn't make sense to me to approve
something that we then can't be in compliance of >> Miss Lefave. >> So I know that many that are here um were not part of this process of the policies um when we were going into our
transition. one of our um part of our getting out of receiverhip, we came up with a plan of what we were going to do. And one of them was to go through every single policy, update them to the most
current and as well as according to federal law, state laws, anything that was updated in the years. And also to be reflective of a district that's no longer in receiverhip because a lot of it said receiver or whatever.
So, we paid an outside agency to come in and to work with the policy subcommittee to do an overhaul of all of these policies. They have all been reviewed. So, what we're doing now is going back to every single meeting minute that ever
happened on these policies to then go to what was originally recommended at that time. So this is the time that if you are asking for a change, it's fine. If you want to do an
amendment on the second read, it will come back. No, it won't come back. It gets referred back. No, it's done. You can just say no. Your vote could be then a no. But the first read is basically if you want to add something
to it but then the second read um you can amend to what to this one >> you can amend during the second read it will become the final >> okay it'll become the final okay well if you want to amend and it gets approved on the amendment but just like this is all I'm saying this is not something
that we just came up with this is something that it's going back to every single meeting minute what was the discussion an MASC representative was there um for each meeting to go over every single policy and anything that's
current right now that's being published out by MASC for updates will also be brought forward for recommendations for change any further discussion >> well I haven't heard any amendments yet Mr. Michaelelsson.
>> So, I don't know what the the proper method to do this is, but I want to split DIE off of the rest of the package. >> So, there was a motion made and seconded. So, uh a motion to reconsider taking those as a package.
Okay. I make a motion to remove DIE from uh the package. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. Seconded. Seconded by Miss Lubal. Discussion. >> Roll call vote. >> Mayor Garcia. >> Yes.
>> Dr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. F. >> Yes. >> Miss Sy. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. So, any further discussion on the main
motion which includes all the other ones except the one that we just pulled out. All right. Roll call vote. Miss Fisiano Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Veron. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Yes. >> Mr. F. >> Yes.
>> Miss Tenzy Williams. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bo? >> Yes. >> Miss Molina? >> Yes. [clears throat] Okay, motion passes. Back to Die.
Discussion. >> Mr. Michaelelsson. >> We need We need to make a motion to approve DIE as a second and final read. >> Correct. Motion to approve DI as a second and final read. >> Second. >> Motion made by Mr. Sheen, seconded by
Miss Fave. Discussion. Mr. Michaelelsson. So, I I just want I'm not trying to be orary about this, but it just seems like something that I I don't I don't like the idea of being in a position where we
can't say we did it all right and we we're looking at it right now, right? That's that doesn't seem like good stewardship as somebody who's crafting the policy here, >> Mr. Soda. Yeah, I mean my personal opinion is that
it's a good policy. We should we should have our annual audit. Um there has been some challenges over the years. Everybody's aware of those challenges, but um it it you know there there shouldn't be any reason why moving forward that like you know the
expectation is that we're you know the city's doing their audits on an annual basis and um you know it's in It's unfortunate that we're in this situation, but um I don't my personal opinion is I don't think that it should
prevent us from from striving to to be in compliance with having those annual audits done despite some of it being out of our control on the school department. >> Mayor Garcia. >> Yeah. No, Sodto is absolutely right. So the policy
you know and as we are working together is to set the expectation of the environment or the expectations we want as far as the audit's concerned. I mean about two years ago we passed our municipal finance um uh policies manual that sets the
expectation of how we want our resources managed. And you know um there are areas of of uh where we are improving and we're meeting the standards set in that policy doesn't mean that we're hitting all of them and a lot of them has to do with a lot of the inadequate systematic
challenges that have created this current position that the city's in which has led to the municipal finance modernization acts that we're actively implementing as we speak. building the airplane as we fly it while also
catching up. So the catchup work as you heard earlier late last week the 23 audit what's done that's going to get sent to the council. I'll be sure it gets sent to the school committee 24 and 25 is actively being worked on by CLA um
together with our external auditor and internal auditors. We got three auditor auditing people looking at all of this um while we work with our friends at the DLS who have been extremely helpful in helping me overcome some of the systemic
barriers that existed that that that was keeping things bottlenecked politically. Um uh but I can tell you you know we are on a fast track at the moment and we hate to give dates because things come up and the the goalpost gets moved even
further but I can confidently say that 24 and 25 will be done um soon without giving dates. Um and so with all the systematic changes in the modern modernization act with all the
catch-up work being done, our policies manual expectations complete, our policies on the school side complete, you know, our goal is to hit that expectation of policy. So improving a policy, it won't hurt anything necessarily, but it's going to help
communicate the standard and expectation as we continue to improve and develop that, you know, we have a policy and this body is holding us accountable to meet that policy. So, we need to keep working toward that goal. You know what
I mean? So, it doesn't hurt anybody. um but instead it helps contribute our community standard as far as the school board's expectations are with um audits, annual audits and timely completions. >> Thank you, Mayor. No problem.
>> Miss Louisville, >> can I ask a clarifying question of Mr. Michaelelsson? So I just I was trying to understand are you are you concerned about not so much the policy itself but the compliance of
the of the policy? Is that is that what >> Mr. Michaelelsson? >> That is correct. >> Mr. Sheen. >> Yeah. I just I mean I think that we as a committee should be setting expectations and if
the city isn't meeting those expectations and we deal with that and I think I mean I think the mayor is and I think the city has just been steamrolled by some people over the past couple years and they're trying to get things fixed and on the right track um with some of that. But I also think that nine
months also align and I'm assuming I mean this is old um but I'm guessing that also was aligned because I think our federal audits are due 9 months after closing. Is that accurate? Yes. So the federal government requires at least for our federal grants and stuff. So that nine months is a and I know this
doesn't apply to that but as a universal type of n like due date type thing after the closing of the year. So I'm assuming that was part of where the nine months came from when this was developed. Um, and really like you should be expecting I mean we will soon get there as a city and you'd be expecting your audit
probably what by November is that like in theory? >> No, but in general like if we were all up to date like we'd be looking for audit to be done like >> if all was in in perfect it'd be around November time frame. >> Yeah, it would be before the tax rates set and all that like that's but they're
they're getting there. And just to let you know, like audits that have been complete before 23, they were never the cities have had a long time a long
time issue with um completing the audits timely. So that's number one. Number two, there's been 20 years of material deficiencies that, you know, I've been surprised that the state would even allow for um these
audits to close um to begin with. Um, so you know, there's there's a lot of things at play at the moment and and we're trying to be better in holding ourselves accountable to being serious in addressing those deficiencies and and
and catching up rather than let's just get this done quickly because we really need to um uh get our certification of free cash or we got to set the task rate. So, let's get this done. And so, you know, there's been a lot of political pressure from both state and
local to quickly get audits done and small uh which then would kick the can down the road. And so, we're untangling years of all of that. Um uh and I and um while we untangle that, I feel confident
that um with the with the new systems that we're adopting as far as you know um the CAFO, the consolidation of the treasure collector, bringing on board a comproller um uh uh expanding the role of the
auditor and other um um other of those systematic changes, moving things around internally like where certain things were being housed. We are confident that we'll be able to better adequately
manage the comp the the complexity behind um what it takes to get these audits done under the under the purview of the do department of revenue and DLS expectation. So it's uh not black and white. Um as long as I've been involved,
municipal finance always surprises me. Um uh but I I feel good about the direction we're heading. I don't know, Anthony, you want to share anything else? Cuz you know, we do have a a a regular finance team, um that meets regularly to to get the updates on these
changes, get feedback. Um so has been contributing to that conversation um which I've been very appreciative. Um and so soon we'll be in a better footing is the goal. >> [clears throat]
>> Thank you, Mayor Garcia. Any further discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote. >> Garcia, >> yes. >> Dr. >> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> William, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Michaelelsson.
>> Yes. >> Yes. Yes. We didn't have any announcements. So motion to enter executive session not open to the public because an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public
body for the purpose of collective bargaining of all units under negotiations. >> So moved. >> Moved by Mr. Michaelelsson, seconded by Miss Williams. Roll call vote. >> Mayor Garcia. >> Yes. >> Dr. Rick. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Yes, >> Mr. F. >> Yes, >> Mr. Williams. >> Yes, >> Mr. >> Yes, >> yes, >> Mr. >> Yes, >> Miss Molina. Yes.