welcome everybody to the Holio school committee meeting this February 24th 2025 and it is 604 roll call Miss Feliciano here present
present here here here present old rise for the Pledge of Allegiance i al to the flag of the United States of America and to the
Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all on March 29 2023 Governor hilly signed into law an act relative to extending certain state of emergency accommodations which among other things
extends the expiration of the provisions pertaining to the open meeting law to March 31st 2025 specifically this extension allows public bodies to continue holding meetings remotely without a quorum of the public body physically present at a meeting location
and to provide adequate alternative access to remote meetings the ACT does not make any new changes to the open meeting law other than extending the expiration date of the temporary Provisions regarding remote meetings from March 31st 2023 to March 31st
2025 pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 30A 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 live streamed and run live on the Ci's Community TV
channel welcome everybody miss Feliciano do we have any public comment welcome major Garcia do we have our student reps no right so then we're going really fast
through this meeting already let's go on to superintendent report yeah and I'm not sure if uh Sean is in the waiting room but if he is could bring him in as a panelist but I
did include if not I can run through the presentation I did include um you know a high level overview of where we're at in the budget development process um as many of you are aware you know we we end
up uh we're we're so heavily reliant on the state funding that we we typically wait for the Governor's budget to come out to then um decide what our budget development process is going to look
like um right now we're looking at about a uh 6.63 million or 5 a half% increase in our net School spending requirement and that's primarily driven by the
implementation of the student Opportunity Act so we uh this is year five of a six-year implementation we'll have one more year uh in 2027 of another uh year of implementation of the student
Opportunity Act and then what we'll see is revenue start to uh tap like flatten out a little bit and and it'll be more dependent on what the inflation rate is and more dependent on what your enrollment is but for now we're we're
seeing you know for the past four years um we've seen uh increases like this um you know one thing you'll notice in there as well is our other contribution
and right now I'm on page two of that presentation uh you'll you'll notice a a pretty significant increase in the city admin uh net School spending item so that's an agreement that we have
with and people at home see the presentation that Mr sto's talking about or just see him we can only see him I can we get it so people can see it at home let me um if I can can I forward it to you or
just give me just give me one minute to find the actual presentation because what I did was pasted pictures of it in in the packet and that's what I was using so Irene I'm G I'm going to share it with you right now you should see it in your
inbox got it so I am on page one one back so yeah if you notice right under where it says uh required net School spending you see a pretty big increase of the amount of money that we're giving to the city out of our net School spending
requirement it it went up by about uh 547 th000 to uh 696 and what that represents is uh we made a commitment 3 years ago that if uh if we were able to get the uh
the Middle School built that we would Pro we would provide um a a $500,000 contribution to uh to the city to help support that and that that that's why you see it going
from 148,000 to 697 th000 so it went up by so this year in fact our contributions to towards that is going to be uh 5 47,000 towards that Bond payment um it's not a direct you know payment it's
just a reduction in our appropriation um and then you you have your normal Charter uh tuition reimbursement which is uh is part of our adjusted um net School spending and then one one thing that you know we'll
probably have some significant discussions about uh especially and city council chambers is around the transportation so uh we saw a significant increase in transportation not necessarily based on uh an increase
in in riders or anything like that but um we did you know spring our our mckin vento transportation ends up being cost shared with um the district that we're send
either sending a kid to or uh picking up a kid from and uh the the the major part of this increase is the fact that um Springfield's rate for this Transportation doubled and we have a
significant amount of kids that you know either live in hoolio and go to Springfield or live in Springfield and come to Hool Oak but they have mckin vento status um the this is going to be an important conversation
um especially at city council but it's it's also important to note that the majority of mckin vento transportation is reimbursed currently so right now you know we're getting close to 100%
reimbursement so although this number is going up the revenue that the city is going to be getting for mckin vental transportation is also going up we are still you know we expected to see like a 5% increase because the rates are going
up by 5% um but the reason it it's so high is because of that mckin vento Transportation uh you know that that one rate with one town that we happen to have a lot of kids um there Mr
fa Mr Shen so is the rate for us to transport a student from Holio to Springfield the same rate as it is transport from Springfield to hoio no we have two different contracts our contract is a lower rate their contract
is a higher rate okay is it different providers same providers just two different contracts what are the rates so the rate went from um I think we were paying like 122 last year in which direction
from Springfield to Holy o or no from Holio to Springfield because they they coordinate that Transportation so kids that um go to school in Springfield but are temporarily placed in holyo and are
getting Bust or vaned to Springfield um that rate that rate went up to 250 and we're paying half of that so from H Springfield it was what it was one like it was like 122 last year okay and last year you mean in FY
24 okay and it went up to 250 in FY 25 yep and we cost share that 5050 and then the Springfield to hoio rate it's about
135 right currently currently and what was it last year um 5% less I went up okay yeah so we have a contract that is um continuing they entered into a new contract is my understanding so we had one that was
already negotiated right yeah we had we have a five-year contract with them that was negotiated last year and Springfield negotiated their new contract for this year okay so we could anticipate also a large increase in the
future oh yeah okay so then what does it I mean what's the rate for other what's our next largest community that we're transporting to a lot of the new rates are in the 200 range you had mayor Garcia can you I mean maybe
I'm looking at this or not understanding it correctly but what what is what's the anticipated increase on the local budget separate from the state yeah so it's 700,000 from the Holy Oak required local
contribution uh that's the second line and then it's the transportation line of 1.1 but again the the what I want to reiterate is that you know we're
hoping so so like your your revenue for mckenny vento train transportation is also going up so the the net impact related to the mcken vento portion of it is not that 1 million so yeah you still got a budget for it you got a budget for
it but you also got to increase your revenue on the revenue side but I we do anticipate like it being at least 5% because the rates that we negotiated in our contract our five-year contract had a schedule to to
go up 5% per year and if you guys remember correctly we went out to bid we were looking at like an 18% increase and uh you know or something ridic it was it was a very very large increase and in
order to save the city money we actually rejected that bid redid some of the specs which meant like you know so just so that everybody you know understands and for anybody that's
watching at home for all that I hear about tax going up this current year fiscal year budget the driver of that budget was the city share portion and I'm not arguing is a terrible thing I'm just want the public to know what's driving these increases in
our overall budget so the the increase to our share for the U going local contribution the local contribution for the student opportun act for year four now here's another increase for year five and have another
one more then it was the transportation costs all that coupled with health insurance that was like the3 billion doll increase to the budget difference for this year comparatively to last year's budget and
so here we are now yet again there's there's there's this this is going to be a tough uh you know it's going to be a tough budget um but just know that this is what's driving it's not overspending in any other department or any department for that matter it's
costs beyond our control that we have to pay in order to balance the budget that's driving these increases people's taxes this is where it is mostly schools yeah and I think everybody fought really hard for the student
Opportunity Act and rightfully so right um um and I think that you know the the city's local contribution towards those increases is you know it's something that I had anticipated we we had
like discussed at length when we were fighting and pushing for the student Opportunity Act but it's also something that we you know you know an unintended you know consequence on the local budget Miss
Le roughly how many students are are the mckin vento we have about n it's okay I sorry um we have about 90 routes there's more students than that but we pay for sort of the runs so we can get you an exact number but we pay for about 90 to 100
runs okay now what is the average length of time in which a student falls under that transportation and when does it become a permanent residence so so at which point
because I'm sure that then after a certain time then they are relocated to a permanent residence but do they still fall under that yeah under the mcken vento law even if you like let's say one of these students get permanent residency in the
school year like let's say one of these students gets permanent residency next month um they're allowed to the go toward to their School of origin if it's decided that it's in the best interest for continuity
and then they would have to enroll in you know if if it's Springfield they'd have to enroll in Springfield next year if that's where their permanent residence is so the mckin vento protections allow the student to stay in their their school of origin um for the rest of the school
year right and then they change over and then they change over once they find permanent housing yes okay and how is that tracked you just wait for somebody to tell you like you the expectation is that the family will tell you we moved and this
is where we're going to be living or is there a way that you are notified besides the family notified our our transportation team and our uh mckin vento liaison is in close contact with these families and you know between both
the transportation team and the mckin vento liaison you know those you know that that you know that determination is made with they they they get that information yeah Miss Wilson so earlier you were um
you know we was talking about 122 moving up to 250 can you put that in actual terms 122 what 250 what is it$ 250 dollars per route dollars per route per day per day I'm just trying to
understand are we talking like 122,000 for the year or was it is it I'm just trying to better understand so it's it's per route per route per day so so it's two routes going there and coming back so that counts as two that's one route
so the way it works is if it's from Springfield to Holio high is one route and you could get up to six students on that one route right and then but if it's Springfield to
Lawrence that's a whole separate route that's just the way that the contract was structured um for for mcken vento right so yeah so the route is two and from one route is two and from yes that rate is
from so okay I'm just wanting to make sure I understood that in my mind thank you that's yes thank you isasa on the charter to tuition transportation is that transportation of
our students to the charter school and they fully reimbursable as well or not yeah it's um Sean you can speak to this yeah that portion is not reimbursable it's not re yeah and that's relatively new when I look at it like the last three or four years that's started um
and that cost grew about 10% from fy2 24 to fy2 um and that's something we can also expect to continue um each year and the biggest school is uh you know hoolio charter school so the way Holy Oak Charter School gets funded
is is they're included in this you know the the Chapter 70 Revenue comes to Holy Oak and then we just pass it through to them um and I think that was embedded in the charter tuition in the past and recently they started to break it out
because transportation is not eligible for net School spending so they they started to break that out separately for us thank you um I think we can go to the next slide mren so looking at the the
transportation budget yeah so at the 11.9 million for projected 2026 what is the breakdown for mckin V what is the mckin vinto cost for 2026 um so slide seven has a pie chart
that breaks that number down into the sort of the main categories of Transportation so that slice for mckin vento um and a small portion of it is for foster Transportation 1.6 million yep and that's a big increase from where it was okay and then one thing I've said
about Charter transportation for years is I don't understand why Our obligation is to provide transportation for the charter students under the state Our obligation isn't to pay
[Music] their bill for what they bid out we could take over their transportation and include them in our bid and have a more competitive bid and I don't understand why we don't do that and I've been saying that for 15 years that we should just take on
that as part of our bid and try to get better rates than just have them say here's our bill for transportation I mean that's our only requirement is to the way to get there it's not to pay the bill I I think we seriously need to look
when our bus contract is up seriously need to look into just taking over that transportation and seeing if that can be more cost effective for the city than letting them just bid out a smaller route and run their own
bid yeah that that's a good idea Devon and honesty that like Sean alluded to it like we we didn't even start seeing this Transportation until like last year or the year before um since I've been here in Holio it was always just Charter
tuition I didn't even know about the transportation piece but um that is definitely a good idea we could we could we could start reaching out to the state to see how that works um and what you know because we just get assess this
right on our cherry sheet it's not even you know and you know so could reach out to the state and see like what it would take if we wanted to plan for the future to do something like that because I'm just going to say those Stu legally they only need to be provided what the public
school students are being provided no more the only thing I don't know is that they have students in other towns that also get the ho Community Charter School I think is the charter only students Ino okay so that would be easy to add in okay that would be easy
to add in so like they only so we don't know I mean where are the checks and balances are they getting closer distances do we check that do we have someone check all the routes to see we we don't have any other route information I I think we need to start looking I mean if we are paying this bill we need to make sure that the
transportation that we are paying for is exactly the same as the transportation of a student in the H Public Schools so the the distances the all those types of things need to be exactly the same for one of our students uh and that goes for I'm not picking on the charter school if we had five charter schools in the city
I'd be saying the same thing but the responsibility is only exactly what public school what the HPS students got yeah that's how we did it in Springfield too yeah Miss Wilson my question was um you know building off of U Mr Sheen's comment was you know are they only
getting that one Transportation or is there a late bus you know some schools offer late buses so they can stay after to work with teachers I'm wondering if we're paying that additional cost for an extra route to be run and we don't know that so I would definitely um
you know go along with Mr Sheen about looking into you know what the roots are and ensuring that they're you know they're meeting the H yoke standards for transportation I'll look into it I also don't know like the way the assessment is calculated it may not actually be
based on actual costs it may be a uh Foundation budget like as average costs across the state type of figure so I'll I'll look into and get more information and then we can come up with a plan thank you Miss
leab and when we're talking about the route is it per stop no no okay I was just wondering because their stops tend to be every block and a half I was just wondering if that it's not per stop I mean the stops are you
know not just for the Vans I'm talking about big buses mini buses they're all based on where kids live um and if there's a concentration of kids that live in a certain area they'll add a stop there and they also look into like how long the run is going to be you know
we ran into issues with um the parochial schools because they wanted you know they wanted to stop on every corner but then that run becomes like an hour and 10 minutes long and then you get parents calling how come so we had to put some a
little bit of of bumpers in place to say like nope these kids could actually go to that bus stop they don't we don't have to include a stop um so we you know it's it's based on one route to the school it's not based on any stop but we
do try to keep our runs you know under 45 minutes um it's a little harder to do that with the with these you know out of district schools and stuff like that but um within our own District we you know we strive to kind of keep those those
routes under 45 minutes um the next slide is really just a a a picture of um our net School spending Trends um you can see that starting in
uh 2020 which was the first year that the student Opportunity Act was implemented a a pretty decent Spike compared to the previous years and that continues to go up and then when you see in yellow um it's kind of just
flattening out that's what we you know we're expecting that it to flatten out after year FY 27 um you know because that then at that point uh the student Opportunity Act would be fully
implemented and you know we'll start to see more fluctuations based on enrollment or based on inflation not b based on the implementation of this um student Opportunity Act this is just a a picture that you
know I thought captures nicely how much of our net School spending dollars are from local funds and how much are from uh State funds you can see it it's been pretty consistent right around 88% of our funds are uh State and then locally
and this doesn't include um you know Transportation this is just a required net School spending piece of it this Wilson so I'm wondering with these State funds um do we foresee any impact on our
state funds uh based upon uh what our City's seeing now and some of the funding that's being taken away by federal are we seeing are we foreseeing any significant impact with the state budget or with our budget I mean we've seen grants impacted
federal grants impacted sorry I hear myself yeah um but there hasn't been any conversations in any of you know we we've had the mass budget office come
and do a presentation at the Connecticut Valley Round Table Sean's a part of masbo and the state has been pretty consistent in saying they they fully intend on on fully funding the student Opportunity Act and they're on schedule
um there was an interesting presentation that they did on where all this new revenue is and what the state picture looks like I I can tell you right now Health it health insurance is the biggest piece of the the state's budget challenges right now they they they have
uh a pretty solid plan to make sure that they're going to implement the student Opportunity Act now that's just my opinion and what I'm hearing from other superintendents what I'm hearing from other CFOs um and uh that but like who knows a lot has been changing very very fast
over the last couple of months so thank you Mr wahan thank you yeah this you know this is just a good um uh visual basically
just you know it's been uh traditionally know pretty pretty solid that the um amount of local local taxation just pays for you know between 10 10 and
12% of the school budget you know so I mean this this pie chart if we took this pie chart and you know some some of the wealthier wealthier tals Newton obam this would be F fly different camers Brook line I can go on
um so okay thank you so Sean I'll do this next slide and then I'll let you take over I just sure and I was coming from another meeting I wasn't intentionally late I apologize so just I know you guys went really quick I was like there's no way they'd be there in 10
minutes so this next slide just you know we're gonna add columns to this as we go through the budget development process um it it Compares what our budget was last year you can see we closed you know we were we didn't have a deficit this current year um initially before the
governor's budget came out we did some real highlevel projections you know Sean and his team did a really good job just you know we didn't want to wait for the B the governor to release their budget to get a sense of like what next year looks like um as we're making decisions
throughout the year on on potentially investing in some things that we might have to cut later um then the governor budget was released and it was better than anticipated they used a different inflation Factor than
we had and they actually we you know the enrollment that we were using was uh was slightly lower am I right Sean yep um so we went from you know just simply our initial projection to the governor's budget we were looking at a 4 million
deficit and now we're looking at a $2 million deficit which we plan on solving throughout the budget development process Miss wison so since I'm looking at the salaries and I see the percent change is um 4.9% I'm wondering how
um we anticipate um contract negotiations when we're doing these projected budgeted but budges budgets sorry long day back from vacation so there are um placeholders
for increases for all staff in that number um because we're still in negotiations I'm not going to share what that placeholder is but but there is a placeholder that is in there we don't know where where the ball will land at the end of the day but um there is an
estimate and that's for all units whether the if the contract settled then we've used the the actual contractual increase but if it's an unsettled contract then we've made a an estimate thank you Mr wellan thank you yeah I mean if you followed um
um follow just a local school budgets throughout um western Mass they're they're dealing with the same budget uh budget increases and we are um transportation that's going up
throughout the district um I'm actually surprised that the um health insurance is only going 5% I'm I'm hearing some some towns are going up 10 or 15 that's actually a plus for us thank
you yeah so this is an estimated increase in health insurance um it's not not final um but I did just come from the health insurance trust meeting so I don't think the final number will be drastically different from that um in terms of the what the premiums go up but
it's it's not going to be exactly that and we we think that in our current appropriation that it was a little higher than than what we're you know than what we're actually paying so we estimate but we don't manage the health insurance like the city has a benefits
department and when we do our report of actual expenses at the end of the year that's when we actually get okay we budgeted this much and this is what we actually spent so um you know initially we were thinking we were going to just level fund this but um right now where
we're at in the budget development phase um we wanted to put a placeholder in there those are some of the key next steps is to look at those big items and see if there's any way we can chip away at those to to get at this 2 million doll
deficit Miss Wilson so my last question is the retired teachers Health assessment what is that that's um so for any this is actually an assessment that we get right on the cherry sheet for
health insurance for retired teachers so it's that's like an actual number that's not going to change like right on the cherry sheet it's it's it's basically the health insurance portion of of teachers when when they retire can you
clarify what the cherry sheet is for those at home who may not be under understanding because you've mentioned it a couple times yeah sorry um the cherry sheet is it's common uh it's the name of essentially all of our assessments which which are like
expenses that the state says we have to pay for you know that's where you'll see your Charter tuition your school choice your retired teacher health insurance and then it also has uh on a separate tab what your receipts are um which you'll see your Charter reimbursement
and other other like revenues it's it's essentially like the state tells you what what you need to pay for these expenses okay it used to be printed on Cherry colored paper or cherry I figured it was something WR with that or it's just because it's always red that's what
I was thinking I don't know Mr Sheen and I think just for people watching at home just more of the explanation with the retired teachers health insurance is that when you're currently working and you're employee of the city you're taking on the city health insurance but
you don't pay into the city retirement you're paying into the Massachusetts teachers retirement if you're a licensed educator so when you retire you leave off the roles of the city health insurance and you're absorbed into the state retirement plan or state retirement insurance so that's the big
difference so the city carries no licensed educator as a retired insured person after their retirement they go on to the state so that's why we have to pay so if if they didn't go to the state we would still be picking up retirement costs through our retirement but the
state since it's a different state managed retirement plan carries them so that's the big difference with it every other retired employee of the city remains on the city books for health insurance except people that are part of mtrs you may have heard of the GIC or the group this is the assessment from
that yep you want me keep going take it away um next slide uh so we already talked about salaries and uh related expenses so we're projecting a 4.9% increase this includes contractual salary increases um
estimates for unsettled contracts and it also includes an estimate for staff turn turnover um vacancy savings things like that um right now uh the directive is for a level service budget for our department so supplies and services are
staying flat um other than contractual adjustments that get made through the budget process we're we're just starting that um non-discretionary expenses so we're estimating 5% for health insurance we talked about that we're the 10.5% for retired teacher health insurance was in the governor's Budget on the cherry
sheet um so that number doesn't typically change after um after it's released uh charter school and school choice assessments at 5.7% that could change a little bit based on our data um out of District tuition so this one's a
little bit unique this year so I'll spend some time to explain it so we're projecting a 42% increase but I want to caution we do not have a 42% increase um in fy2 we use carryover funds from FY 24 to support the budget and the most
straightforward way of doing that is to use it to support out of District tuition um just one line that you can keep track of very easily um so we used about $3 million of carryover funds to support the fy2 budget um when we project out to FY 26 right now we're not
assuming any carryover funds at some point through the process throughout the process we may um depending on how this year is going and at what point we feel like confident that we will have uh some funding there uh but right now there's nothing there so that's why it's such a large increase because $3 million was added right back in that was funded from
a different source for upway 25 can I just ask a question Miss wson so the ad of District tuition um that includes uh special education out of District students going to vocational school out of this District what other pieces does
that include yeah so the major pieces are special ed out of District tuition um The Vocational tuition we have a little bit of um special education but it's a public school setting um but those are really the three major buckets what was the last one again it's
like a if we have a special education uh if there's a special education program in a public school sometimes students are placed there thank you m fa does that also include um some of the other types of programs that we are
collaborating with like Lighthouse or is that something separate no Lighthouse would not be included there um these are this is primarily special education and and Vocational so this would be your Center School your
May Institute your you know Wily Willie Ross school for the uh de those schools like that it does include collaboratives like Lower pioner Valley um Y where where
would the partnership all into that would be in um that wouldn't be under Charter School school choice would it so you're talking about that would be supplies and services yeah oh okay yeah
and then the last area here utilities projecting 10.3% increase and the primary driver there is um the opening of a new Middle School um anticipating that the utility bills will go up especially if we maintain metf in some capacity this was the breakdown of uh
Transportation because we know that's a going to be a big item for this budget process um so overall HPS Transportation going uh the initial projection is a 10.3% increase um of that related to that Charter transportation is about a
10% increase um and then the breakdown below of the sort of our regular Transportation you can see the different slices um the majority of our transportation is for special education at this point um that includes many buses and vans so there's a combination
of types of vehicles in there um but that is the most most significant slice of our transportation right now yeah can I I just want to add like we are being really aggressive with trying to find Savings in the budget so I am asking for
support from this body support from the city council support from our families like as the mayor alluded like this this is a challenging budget year so um you know we we need to make sure that we're being fiscally responsible and sometimes
that comes at like collapsing routes you know having more kids on buses or you know we we have some bus monitors for example um that like might not be required in the IEP but like you know it might be keeping the that particular
route to that particular School safe but it's not necessarily a requirement we actually have to have these like difficult conversations about whether or not we can continue and whenever you know a service is eliminated or reduced like you're going to hear from your
constituents that you know they're not happy with that you know we ran into that for example at the with the Kelly school and the linan Terrace and like you know uh it it it's like when you look at this our transportation budget
is bigger than the fire department's budget in the city right so we have to be like thorough and think about all the different ways that we can uh that we can find savings um because you know
when the the more money we spend here it it makes it difficult for the mayor to provide other city services it it has an impact on their budget right so I just wanted to name that like we're not just accepting these increases we're we're letting you know that these this is what
we think it's going to be and we're going to work really hard to try to get this down but getting this down means you know it could mean like an impact on service Mr well Ahad thank you yeah I mean it's just an
overwhelming number 65% I mean it just doesn't make doesn't make sense um is there like a task force you anticipate putting together to you know check some balance of these things dot the eyes and tees and yeah where we going with this we do have a we we so we've been
monitoring the bills every month as they come in and like questioning why is this going up we do plan this year on bringing in a consultant which um to help just kind of look have a a fresh set of eyes and maybe find some things
I'm confident that like we're we've done like everything we could we've re rebid the contract we've collapsed routes we've you know there was one particular school that we were sending you know 11 Vans to and and like that made no sense
but you know the school felt like hey hey these kids can't ride together on on buses like they have to be split up and without somebody there watching and saying no we can't do that we ended up with in a scenario where we had 11 Vans
bringing 17 kids to a particular school right so we have to say like nope we can't do that anymore let's instead of having 11 Vans let's put let's have three mini buses and maybe add uh a bus monitor to for for safety um we're we're
thinking of creative ways like that to do and then the families are not happy with that right because with a van you know it was just a yeah icor on that is you know the families in the city okay they're not happy with this okay and the
mayor you know the mayor has to has to fund his budget with these numbers and he has families that that call him too you it's a team okay okay that's that's my point Miss tensley Williams Mr SoDo we know
that romance without finances dead um is there any is there any way we could do maybe donations or something because you're saying you're looking for us to maybe give you ideas or you know we yeah I don't know
that donations are a sustainable approach to solving this issue but um you know we're always open to donations I don't you know um usually when I think of donations I'm thinking of like creating cool experiences for kids like
field trips and like stuff like that I'm I'm not thinking of you know our legal obligation to provide transportation to and from school uh because that's not sustainable you can't rely on that every year we got to figure out a way we just
need to make sure that we are like crossing our te's dotting our eyes and like we've we're uncover in any types of efficiencies and I can tell you from experience having having like overseen the transportation department in my previous role that we went through
different phases of that you know there was one year where we were that where we were doing away with mini buses and proposing to save the city a million dollars a year in perpetuity um and you know that that
became a political Fiasco at the time because the drive the you know the driver Union was not on board with that and the city decided to not go with that plan but we did have a plan to save a significant amount of money at that time
um things have changed now like that was when the Vans were you know 125 bucks you can see now that they're they're actually more and and that might not be a feasible approach but it was at the time so we've gone we've gone everywhere
over the years to try and we just got a continue to do that Mr fave I may use a word that'll tell that everybody might be like it's not a curse word though the word is equity right so when we're
talking about these students that may require this Transportation specialized Transportation um when we talk about Equity it's whatever each student needs in order to be able
either get to school be successful in school right so here we are talking and worried about what others are thinking I hope that nobody ever has to go through what a parent with children with special needs has to go through that is the hardest thing and when we constantly are
talking and blaming that our students in special education are taking up all that money let's all stop for a minute and think did this child ever ask to be in the position that they're in they were not in the womb saying I want to come out deformed or I want to come out with
some sort of impairment or I want to come out with a chemical imbalance in my brain that doesn't let me function properly or either behaviorally or where it's not accepted by by Society really stop and think how we how
we say these things and how we address it I get it about the budget my kid was one of the all of my kids were one of the ones that required that specialized education the little yellow bus you know and for them itself it was embarrassing
because everybody knew what that little yellow bus meant or the van but this is what they needed in order to be able to go to school and be successful in school not all families have the ability if it was for me to bring them they wouldn't even make it they probably jump out of
my car so obviously there was a reason why this Transportation was available and as for the monitors on them when it comes to the behavioral aspect I think that is the most important thing because it's not only to keep that student safe
it's to keep the driver safe and all the other students safe because you never know when an episode can occur that's all I have to sayk you Miss Wilson so I'd like to
understand what percentage of our special education population does this 65% represent so we're all looking at this large number saying 65% of transportation is special education but how many students is that really what
percentage of our students on it who have let's be an IEP because that's what gives you the special specialized Transportation how many students do we have and out of that H out of those students how many of them
are participating in this 65% of our um transportation cost that's what I would like to find out to better understand is it the cost is it the placement of the students like where they live I I'd like to better understand where that number
comes from rather than just going to because I'm telling you I look at it I goes 65% is unreasonable and I'm and I'm not I'm not blaming anyone I'm not saying that students don't deserve specialized Transportation if it's required but I'm
telling you I as a former employee of hoo public schools and a former person who ran meetings I saw students who had transportation that did not meet the criteria for specialized transportation and I know that's
discussed at every IEP meeting every year it's it should be part of that discussion to see if the student qualifies and I know there guidelines for that um as part of special you know um and that you know sometimes it even requires a a safety assessment to be
done if they're concerned if families teachers educators are concerned about safety there should be a a safety assessment done so that it's not just because I'm looking at this and I'm thinking all right we have this many you know smaller buses what does that mean
for a field trip if a student goes on a regular bus with their school for a field trip why can't they go on a regular bus to school every day or are we giving or for those students are they also getting that small bus transportation to field
trips because that's my understanding when you say small bus transportation or specialized Transportation it affects every Transportation a student would encounter in the school day whether it be um an grader coming to look at deanan
or going to look at hoo Kai they should get a small bus because they had that to begin with OR uh Sports Athletics if they have a small bus transportation are they getting a small bus for athletics as well so these are the pieces that I
would like to see looked at from a systemic point of view go looking into that further thank you happy to put something together that captures some of that information Mr Sheen yeah I just want to say as we kind
of embark on this budget process for FY 26 and recognizing all the work that's already been done it's just mindful that like this budget and this creation is really the the first big thing that takes over on July 1st is that
transition occurs so with that being said it's also so important and or members of this committee to have the full knowledge of what's in the budget and also being able to dispel those
rumors in the community so when people are saying well all of your tax dollars are going to pay for buses or all of this is going for those kids or all like it's it's important the community that people are willing to and able to defend that and also the fact that being able
to defend the fact that we're not taking this money and like giving exorbitant salaries or putting golden water fountains in every school building that that this operating budget that we work
with is even with all of the money from the student Opportunity Act that's increased is still just kind of just doing it there for Holio and and for every community that it's that it is not
the above and beyond um that we that we really need so that really important and it's really important that this whole committee is there when um superintendent and business manager and vice chair need to go to the city council meeting and discuss this budget
and are supportive and being there it's just it's it's so important this is like the first piece for for all of us and I just think knowing the ins and outs of of the budget and understanding it and being able to talk about it is going to
be so key to our future um so we so we can defend some of those things and know the answers to some of those things um and it doesn't have to be a discussion every meeting with a 100 questions I mean if you see something kind of a question you can email the superintendent and say hey what what is
that tell me more about this maybe it's a discussion with whole committee or maybe something you just missed at a meeting that didn't click when it was going through so just I mean it's really important that everyone is well versed on this because you all know what it's like going through the budget process um with the city and how
um the tribunal that occurs um with some of these things so thank you and you know I you know we are going to be meeting with the finance and operations subcommittee there I'm hoping to have
more Rich discussion like you know uh you know get an understanding of how much more detailed you know we you we've even had a school Committee Member sit in on one of our budget hearings with you know with the high school budget hearing like we're willing you know um
what I try to do with budgets is especially outward facing budgets is not just put a bunch of numbers out there and have people sift through it I try to tell the story of what our our values and what are we investing in and what are our challenges and you know um
sometimes that's like hey that's a little too high level and we want to see more details and that's fine like I you know we're willing to uh get as detailed as possible but but want to make sure that you know the budget is not just a a a collection of numbers but it's it's
really a representation of what you all value and what your priorities are um you know through our strategic planning process and all that so um all that to say is um um uh you know the the meeting on Thursday and the throughout the
entire budget development process the finance and operation subcommittee will be involved D and you'll see that at the end we we are looking to put a a uh budget advisory committee together with uh a school Committee Member a city
counselor uh the teachers union president uh per Union president uh to also keep them in the loop as to like hey here's our budgets and here's the challenges we're facing and here's how we're approaching tackling these
challenges and kind of let them see the different phases of the budget development process and how we're able to get to a balanced budget um the the next slide I'm going to try to go through these a little quicker and if you need me to stop um just let me know
but I know we got a a meeting after this meeting and some people waiting um so I want to make sure that we you know we we get through the presentation next slide is just the state budget process many communities are already done with their budget because they don't care about the state budget and they have enough local
Revenue to just say hey this is what we want in the schools and then they either get it or don't get it uh but we're so closely tied to the B the state budget as mentioned 88% of our budget so we closely follow what's going on at the state level and what impact that has on
our local budget and this is just a a picture of the different phases of the state budget process we don't really know the final final final Final number until June 30th but we have a really really strong sense of what those numbers are going to be um by the time it hits uh late May and in the Senate
budget as it goes through the different phases on the next slide um you know it's just giving you a quick timeline of where you know where we're at um you know we're meeting with Chiefs now with our department heads Chiefs is not
necessarily the the right word but anyone who's managing a budget that is not part of the schools School based budget um we're meeting with them right now reviewing the level service budgets asking them to propose you know 10% cuts
and that you know what is it that you need to keep the same level of service this year and if you had to cut anything we want to we want to get to a 10% number and see what impact that would have is this a easy cut to make is this a difficult cut to make but like doable
or if in worst case scenario is this a cut that like if we had to do it it would actually have an impact on on you know uh student learning or anything like that so we're going through that process now in February in March and then we'll go through that same process
with uh spring with Prince principles um where we'll give them their staff allocations and their uh discretionary funds and they build the spending plan and then they have an opportunity to present their spending plans uh to us and then you know uh obviously keeping
the school committee in the loop throughout that entire process and getting a final budget voted on in in June with the city council and you know going through making sure we're doing our school committee budget hearing and
going through the uh the public uh viewing of the budget and making sure we're hitting all those those key Milestones so um and then uh the next slide just uh you know is an initial timeline line of the school
committee's uh timeline or or involvement in the timeline again the this the finance and operations subcommittee playing a huge role in in getting regular updates uh but looking to in June have a public
hearing and uh getting a a school committee uh vote to recommend the FY 26 budget which I know historically the school committee has hasn't actually voted they just voted to receive um but um not sure if that's going to change
this year it is in the capacity building plan to to actually I think the vote to recommend yeah okay um and then lastly that last page for for all of you that you have in your packet just kind of summarizes everything that we just
talked about um and I already mentioned the formation of the budget Advisory Group again you know giving giving key stakeholders a look at what our our financial picture the process and everything that is involved in in
getting to a balanced budget so right right now we we're looking to have the HTA pres president the polio pair of professionals Union president one school committee one school one city counselor and two principles to sit on this smaller group probably have like three
meetings go through this presentation that we just did with with uh you do that with them and and again keep them regularly updated throughout the process and sometimes they they may have some ideas on on ways we can you know close
this $2 million gap but that concludes just a a high level overview of where we're at in the budget process right now and I look forward to working with you guys uh to get a balanced budget in place by by hopefully May
1 thank you so much Mr willan thank you for the presentation thanks Sean too um can I make a motion to forward this um document to the um finance
committee so discussion all those in favor I any oppos motion passes unanimously Miss Le really quick um on the formation of your
budget Advisory Group there a reason why you wouldn't include any of the other departments like a representative what are you like what other departments work in your schools so you would have
like diary you would have yeah I mean they're involved in developing their budget so the the department heads every department head is involved and gets a real good picture of their budget but this is the group of stakeholders that we wanted to help
understand our issues like if we had to make Cuts like they get a good understanding of why or if if there's particular Investments we want to make they're able to I mean I'm not opposed to including more people I this is just
the group of people that I've typically used when we were in positions like we were in the past we haven't had this Advisory Group over the last three years because we've been able to balance the B budget
relatively um easy given the the all the the infusion of Esser dollars that we've had but if you have recommendations on anybody that you think would add value to being on this group um I we're open
to it you know we're not and we do have a a cabinet that reviews that has all the department heads that also reviews all this and we talk we work through the budget so that includes people services and Technology human resources and all the the Cabinet
departments um so I think all right I thought that was discussion sorry all right the next next thing in the packet is the me one second I would like to make a motion to appoint Mr wahan to the Budgy Advisory Group
second second then thank you Sean discussion all those in favor can you oppose so move thank you so much Mr willan for your willingness to serve now you can continue yeah so this next
uh the next thing in your packet is essentially we put this meaf working group together to evaluate the space of meaf and what we could use it for um in that in that we we just gave you some background information actually this is
a memo that was written to me recommending how we use meaf next year um we had uh we had a different members look at different options and you can see that those options in your packet and I think in
summary what this group is recommending is that we keep metf as a school next year and move our opportunity acmy program over there in addition to an alternative uh program that we're
looking to launch next year that isn't for overaged under accredited student students like opportunity or like the Success Center is at Opportunity acmy so um they you know part of that process was looking at spaces understanding the
programs and the recommendation that's being made right now is that that's what we use meaf for um and I'm definitely in support of that recommendation right now we're leasing space um on Maple Street and uh you know it costs us about
$50,000 a year in lease space and we could and and that program has expressed to us that they're you know they're limited on Space the kids you know they don't have access to a gym a regular cafeteria um and you know it's kind of
tight there in the the space that that we're using so um you know that's the biggest takeaway from from the recommendations in addition they that you know part of the conversation that came up was whether or not the transitions program should be moving
moving to Dean um we definitely got a lot of feedback from staff and from families and the recommendation that is being provided to me is that right now we don't move the transitions program that we keep it where it is uh our the lease for that space that's currently
being rented is up in November so we'll have to have a conversation with the um with the owner of that space to renew that lease for at least renew that lease for at least the remainder of next school year while we you know put
together you know we want to hire a consultant um to help us evaluate two things like whether or not you know what would it look like at Dean if we were to build out space for the transitions program um and so that we can actually
share that with families if that's what you know if that's the direction that we want to go for that program and to evaluate uh you know I we got into a pretty deep discussion at the joint city council school committee meeting about what's going on with central
office you know um definitely a little frustrating because you know there was a a comment made that we've been talking about this for 40 years and I can tell you from my experience I got here in 2016 and eight months later we had
already formed a team evaluated options laid it on the table and and created options it didn't take me 40 years to do that I did that in one year I gave some options and there was no action taken so and and in the meantime we actually
Consolidated central office we were renting four floors and Consolidated to two floors a lot of people were upset at at you know at that decision because um things are tight you know I know they call central office the Taj Mahal in the past and all that but anybody who goes
there will will tell you that it's not the Mahal and uh please don't say that to any of our staff cuz not you might I I can't protect you from I know it's not from their reaction um but anyways uh
the long story short on that conversation the city council did Express heavily to me that they would like central office to be in a a building that's owned by the city um so we are looking to hire a consultant
again like we did in 2016 and work through options on what that could be and you know it could be similar to what we did in 16 where we looked at Central Supply we look at Dean we look at the annex we look at City Hall we look at
all these different spaces or we look at the building that we're in and and recommend that the city buy that and then it's a city- owned building um but you know you know I'm hoping that all that work results in like you know we're
not sitting here 40 years from from from now talking about it again so like uh that that's that was part I know that wasn't part of the that is part of the recommendation in here but there was a long a long conversation with the city council around
this Miss Wilson so it's the second time this evening you've mentioned um consultant so where does the fund for Consultants come from supplies and services supplies and services okay and or if we have a like you know if we have
a revolving account that we could use like we're you know what that that's a charge that they put on us now we got to figure out you know how much it's going to cost and where could we fund it right I mean what how much are we talking about for a consultant to redo work that was done in
2016 um in 2016 we didn't pay a ton it was like let me rephrase that that thank you so in 2016 I believe we paid like $9,000 I think that like to do a
thorough analysis it may be more than that um but um we haven't gone down the route to see what something like that would cost um and so that consultation would be for central office relocation central office
and the recommendation here is to to also have that Designer or that uh consultant map out if we were if we wanted to move the transitions program to Dean like what because remember we got like 300 kids or or less than 300
kids that are going to be leaving the dean campus um in stem right because stem stem middle school is going to the peek the new peek building so there's definitely some space there that we can look at um and make sure we're we're
utilizing uh this building to the best of but I I can tell you from like right now definitely the families um that are in part of the transitions program have have spoken up about not wanting to be back in a school but the the
recommendation is like like let's let's look at a design and and maybe maybe if they saw the possibilities um that could be a reason to change their mind because that program has also expressed that it's tight and there's not enough space like
to be able to uh support the program so you know one thing that I didn't think was an option is looking at renting a bigger space and then a follow-up question um on the um alternative program for 7th to 12th grade when you talk Alternative
Program what are you thinking about for that because there's a lot of different options when you use the term Alternative Program yeah so um that is definitely something that I do want to bring to the school committee we put a team together to take a look at
designing a pro right now our we have a program that's designed for kids that are overaged and under crreddy is not an option and we're looking to start a program next year um for ninth
and 10th graders to help support them getting on track and in a different setting you know a smaller setting not this big 1,000 student school um and make sure that they're getting the the support that they need early on so that
they don't end up overaged and under credited um but that is definitely something that I want to share with the school committee at a future meeting or a subcommittee um but we do have a a a program design that we're thinking for
next year so it's not a behavioral program I mean student a student that is struggling right but I'm just saying it's not it's it's it's not for students who are just having uh like social emotional behavioral needs in because
I'm the reason I'm going in this direction is because finding staff would be challenging so I'm just thinking about the idea of creating this program for these nth and 10th graders for whatever reason to get back on track you
know I'm I'm concerned about you know Staffing it if we can't staff our traditional special education teachers our severe special education teachers or just our regular teachers how are we going to now hire this group in order to
work with these students and where and then what does that impact do as you're always wondering what's the the then the trickle down effect in those classes with pulling those teachers from those students how is that going to impact it so I just I'm just very um concerned
because it's listed here you're talking about it and and there is really no information at this time yeah I'd love to share that information and the the impact of not doing something is kids end up dropping out kids end up out of
you know like not getting the support they need and like this is something that I I believe is a gap in holy o Public Schools um we held off on designing something during the rezoning process and we're waiting to for space
to free up to actually be able to implement something uh but this is something that I believe is is is needed you have other communities that that have this option right now the option is you know in in some cases they end up
going out aition District or you know uh just not getting the support they need so um love to have this this conversation and we'll we'll provide you with the information and and then we whatever subcommittee is going to take it up we'll Mr
Sheen I cannot sit here and go through another study and review of moving central office this is is like the nightmare that keeps coming back when I was a student
representative in 1996 the discussion of central office was on the docket when I joined the committee in 2010 all we did was talk about central office should it go to Lynch should it go here should it go to City Hall should
it go in the old police station should It Go Ju Just Keep naming it we have spent so much money and time we provided a full report to the city council and the city council has to appropriate the money the mayor has to
make the decision to move and they said let's stay where we are because they were upset the tax revenue would be lost if we moved out of the building we don't pay taxes the owner pays taxes I don't see an order coming from the city council that says we have to study this has anything come through an order you
said they asked for it has there been an order requesting um I I didn't see I didn't see an order okay so there's been no order unless the city is going to fund 100% of this study to waste the time of employees of the
hoog public schools in doing this I don't see why it's being done to say it's to look at programs moving it is not prudent when we were opening up a school this summer to do a study of where will move programs until that building is open so so just to do
something because someone wants it until 15 members of that city council and the mayor sign an order coming over here we don't have to do anything that they want done or spend a penny on a report that we have done multiple
times I I will name that I did see an order for me to provide an update on what's going on with central office and where we're going to be located ated and that's what that's what spurred this conversation but I haven't seen an order
that said you know hire a consultant and figure this out Mr Shan the city council also has no statutory authority to tell the superintendent to do anything that comes to the school committee so they don't file orders to tell you or direct you to
do anything they can request that from this committee but they do not get to overstep their Authority on the Constitutional requirements of of a school committee in the Commonwealth mayor Garcia I have to 150% agree with everything Devin just said um
so you're absolutely right um Anthony I just i' suggest if you don't mind just standing by for a moment let us figure out how I can bring yeah this he's absolutely right if this is something that council is pressuring you've done so much over the years there has been uh
action taken there's we'll get into it there was even a most recent action taken and certain counselors went and killed that um uh behind our backs so uh with that being said it should be something that should be funded on the city side and not the school side and
and really shouldn't be wasting your time unless you know you know it's something that we bring forward on the city Side to work with for you to work with us and we work with you to do but I think you've been more than accommodating um and
uh the resources that we just went over almost 30 minutes to an hour talking about regarding the budget you know resources are limited and need to stay within um within what you got to do to run to school so let's uh we'll continue to talk about it let's figure out how
to take on more responsibility on the city Side to try to figure this out and not put this this added pressure on you and trying to do things that's really you know above the the scope of what's really ask from you so Mr
colore I agree with what Kevin has said and what the mayor has said we've been going on with this for years and years and years but I've heard nothing about a long-term lease or
a shortterm lease on a building used for our students uh has any been thought to this at all you're you're talking moving him into
medca or Dean or or P but those are shortterm we we should be looking at long term here not not just Mickey Mouse this thing for for 40 years let's make a
decision from the city council decision from the city counc about where they wanted us to go and have it sent to us like Devin says
it's our responsibility to make this decision so let's make this decision as quickly as possible but I don't want a penny spent I think it can be done inhouse without any problem with a
recommendation on what we do here so let's get moving and get back with some recommendation right away thank you Mr cmer Miss LEF so I'm just gonna say that I did watch The Joint City Council school
committee meeting and it reminded me that it was now round two of what occurred with Dr reke and how Dr Reich was treated and the mere fact that also our superintendent was also interrogated on
immigration as well and how many students we have in the district and how that can impact our funds um so that was quite the meeting and I think we all need to start you know really standing up not only for to
protect our students but also stand up for our superintendent as well Mr well Ahad thank you um it's the back on topic here on the Meda working group I just want to thank everyone that participated
I know Mrs Williams was part of it want to thank her I know the recommendations were unanimous you know the consensus so that's good um I know just going back to the um um The Joint meeting where you
know know someone just says oh let's let's move the administration into a municipal building just like that have you looked at our municiple buildings around is there any building that we can move in flip a switch and move in no the
city of Atlantics needs work the city hall has vacant buildings because of issues in the condition of those offices this is the newest building in the city this building's 35 years old plus correct so we don't have an easy fix
just to move into a municipal building if we could that would have happened okay so it's going to need some um you know whatever if we do move to um municipal building it's going to need you know extensive extensive Renovations
retrofit in metf is not the answer for that in my opinion thank you Mr isasa that I was also present at that meeting and I was um very impressed by the uh kind of the moderation and
humility and expertise presented by the superintendent so I was very glad about it you Mr Sheen I will just stay a little bit calmer I tried to look through my email and can't find that report from 2016 so if you could just recirculate that uh it might be helpful
just for everyone to I I mean I looked for Liz I looked through different keywords but couldn't find the exact report but it would be helpful I'm sure we could just change be exact the same with inflation with inflation yeah with
inflation May yeah I was just going to respond to some of the things Jay just just mentioned and and you know I wouldn't totally rule out City Hall in Annex there is over 10 million dollars being invested in the annex currently and as well as City Hall um but you're
right like if if we were to do that move there are going to be initial costs for the retrofitting um which I think and and and and and Devon's right too like these aren't costs we shouldn't pick it up on the school side and get Consultants but
there will be a cost that that we should be incurring on the city Side to get the appropriate engineer to help kind of appro you know design and spec out the space and help advise how that fit would look how many employees are we talking
about the space if we were talking about the annex versus City Hall where how how does that fit or parking and then also determining the square footage cost or the retrofitting and all that so again hiring the consultant that when I hear consultant I'm not thinking of just
somebody to help put a narrative together but somebody that's going to really take a deep dive in how that that plan is going to look so that then we can say okay we know it's gonna X it's Fe it's we can make it fit number one I think that's the first
thing we need to figure out and then also number two if we do this move it'll cost I don't know just it's going to cost $1.4 million and now we have a number we can figure out make that that work and prepare for the move
but um so I I I I I I wouldn't rule out the Annex in City Hall I think that there is opportunity there except it is going to cost money and the city should be working up the bill to make to to since we're since the city is it's the city that's putting the pressure on the
school district then we should be certainly um uh you know putting the money forward to to figure that out so make a motion that we receive the medca working group report motion made by Miss Wilson
seconded by Mr isasa any discussion all those in favor any oppos so the last last thing in my report was the q1 update that I emailed back on
December 11th to the committee um we are currently working on our quarter 2 update so you'll get an update you should expect to get an update within the next couple of weeks um a very similar update that you know just explains how we how we uh review our
school Improvement plans how we meet with schools how we analyze data and and track our progress throughout the year um and it was requested that we include this in the packet and have the school committee uh receive the
report Miss Wilson so I I when I'm looking through it and I may have missed it so that's why I'm going to ask um and I emailed you about this special education reorganization plan when was that presented to the school committee
when we uh as part of the capacity building plan when we went through and analyzed what the benchmarks were for for the upcoming school year that was one of our benchmarks that um that was listed in that stoplight reporting portion of
the of the annual benchmarks that we set every year so could you resend that because I I couldn't find well we didn't we didn't actually present the whole plan like we just said I'm looking for the plan yes I can certainly okay um right now it's a project plan I don't
and and what I'm looking to do is have somebody actually make it in a much more presentable um you know it's it's a project plan with a bunch of tasks and I don't think you you deserve to look through all that like I want to
summarize it in a way that's digestible and understandable um because there's many portions to that right but if this is a reorganization plan I don't mind looking through all of it because I I feel like I should have
this information about a reorganization in you know that department I'm looking to get uh a summary of it and I'm happy to share the project plan with you as well thank you each one of these benchmarks has a separate project
plan a little ahead on that one may I have a motion to receive the quarter one report submitted by the receiver second right any further discussion all those in favor I any
oppose passes unanimously that's all from you my turn Byer report um in the link you actually have the commissioner communication that was read during our
last meeting and then we have a brand new one that was printed um it doesn't it just doesn't make the CLE for our agenda but I will um read the the part
pertaining to our new um information um that refers to that previous letter so consistent with and this is coming from acting commissioner Johnston consistent with my letter dated February 7 2025 the Holio school
committee voted to maintain the current collective bargaining team and labor Council as a result the bargaining team and labor Council are authorized two exchange proposals with the Holio Teachers Association and during the process of bargaining with the HCA over
tentative contract contract Provisions I expect receiver SoDo to regularly consult with the Poli school committee and then as a standard practice any agreement reached on contract proposals will be considered tentative until both the
union and the district bargaining teams ratify the tentative agreement with their respective constituencies if a tentative a agreement is ready to be reviewed for ratification by both parties prior to June 30th
2025 I would at the time consider any requests from the Holio school committee for additional Authority in order to vote on the tentative agreement agreement and then that's that's what's new from this letter and we all have a copy and there
would be a link to that for the public as well in our next agenda all right moving on to new business I'd like to make a motion to receive oh yes the February 21st letter thank you second In by Mr Shen any
discussion all those in favor any oppos so moved letter received all right so we have out of state field trips inter second any
discussion Mr willan thank you can I just get a a brief synopsis on just what the um what the trip entails yes I'll get that uh I'll get those details from the quer it's the the
it's our um cosmetology instructor um you know this would be this is the first step is just to you know uh they asked me for approval I provided the approval shared it with the school committee and then they'll work through more details but the um I I'd be
happy to provide that for sure thank you so much all those in favor I hi and you opposed so moved next up approval of minutes may I have a
motion motion to approve the minutes from January 13 2025 second by Miss Martinez any discussion all those in favor I any
opposed Ting minutes approved updates of committees starting with policy and governance subcommittee Miss Wilson so unfortunately due to um unforeseen circumstances we did not have our meeting um and the next meeting is
scheduled for March 6 it's a Thursday it's going to be at 5:30 um at suffk street thank you finance and operations subcommittee Mr wellan thank you um the finance
committee rule is scheduled to meet on um February 27th and at the uh T Mahal I couldn't resist um
5:30 um um I know we're looking forward to talking about the budget process thank you next up join city council school committee Mr thank you um the committee met on um
February 12 I know um Mr cmer was there we already talked about some of the topics that um came up um I know the um um Bea working group um they um provided a
report that was discussed and again that that led to the to the um uh school um offices whether to move them or keep them so that was a prolonged uh
discussion um this is um um Le F mentioned that we talked about the um immigration policies in the school know whether the children were whether there's more
um um this than the past I was concerned with the vetting process I was concerned about the number that are um that our staff really is really taking on the
burden of um fetting our students so um that was a um concern that I had thank Youk you next local control subcommittee Miss Le hi so the local control subcommittee did
meet via zoom on the 19th um there was the commissioner Lauren woo um Mr Sheen mayor Garcia and myself and um impressed with the work that we're doing and how we're keeping on track
with um what we have on the capacity building plan we highlighted some of the things that the finance uh subcommittee is doing as well as the overwhelming work that the policy uh subcommittee is
doing but we also did you know voice some of our concerns um and where we are kind of stuck and I still gave you many props Miss
Wilson um but we did um talk about the the process of the policies and them coming back to the committee and then being posted so although we voiced those
concerns um and how we're still working at it says don't worry about that that would never that would not impede us from getting our schools back on July 1st because he sees the amount of work that we're doing
already so the other thing that he did point out and hopefully it will come to the March 31st because that's our next meeting um is possibly bringing the exit reassurances that will be put in place um when we exit re um receivership and
it would be for two years I believe I I understood um could you repeat that I'm sorry exit reassurances um so those will hopefully be presented on March 31st and it's kind
of what they would like to see happen continue uh to make sure that we stay on track any questions in regards to local control Mr Shen I'm just say it's not what they'd like to see it's the parameters that we
must like that we must follow yeah it's not suggestion right it's a reassurance that we're going to do is Wilson so those are going to be given to us hopefully by March
31st hopefully March 31st they'll come with it I had asked for them in the meeting because yeah asked for them March 31st so we'd have time to ask question like it would give us April May and June and it's the powers that the receive that the commissioner in the law
could still hold back like I'm just going to throw this out they could say the school committee has everything but they are not allowed to negotiate a food service contract like so it could and that's just a easiest simple thing to say okay right but I did understand that
um the turnaround plan to maintain the current turnaround plan that's a must for for what's left of it I believe two more years okay next up leadership accountability and measurement subcommittee Mr Shen yep we are meeting
uh tomorrow Tuesday at 4 o'clock at Hoy High School in the um conference room right in the main office um we're meeting there because we are going to be meeting with some hoyo Kai staff to discuss the credit um proposal that came
to us back a few months ago um start our conversation on competency determination graduation and then just a brief conversation around the superintendent receiver evaluation cycle um so that's tomorrow at 4 at hooai thank you announcements have been posted
the community advisory team meeting has been postponed uh there's there's two things that I wanted to let the school committee know are happening this week um one of them is one of my favorite events of the year is we get to we've
Nom we've received nominations for the grinspoon award the Pioneer Valley excellence and teachers teaching award unfortunately we're only able to pick six teachers but more teachers get nominated it's probably double that that get nominated and we started this last
year felt really bad that people get nominations and then other people get the award and it's like it's it uh one of the things that we we implemented last year that we want to continue hopefully is we we host a dinner for them um and just you know it's an
opportunity for them to bring you know a uh a plus one and uh break bread have some dinner uh principles come and and share like why they nominated them um they get you know a goodie bag that they
take away but it's just a it's just an added layer of just being nominated it's it's it's something that you know I look forward to every year and I think that um you know that's happening uh Thursday and then on Friday we do have the governor in town uh for the United
States of reading uh kickoff we we you know we we were funded we got funding for for the United States of reading program which um allowed us to update many of our Elementary School uh libraries uh classroom libraries so kids
have an opportunity to pick books that they want to read that interest them um supplemental materials um and we're just excited to you know host the the governor she's going to be in town and and just celebrate that um that that
that funding and that initiative that's going to help um supplement what we're already are you know our literacy initiative that we have in place that still out 11 because they sent like an email that still at 11 yeah I'll be sure to email the
details once they're finalized so we're working with the governor's office I I believe it's 11 o'clock at Lawrence yeah yeah yes a lot I will make a motion that the school committee go into executive session
because a public session could have a detrimental effect on the public body for the purposes of collective bargaining in regards to the hoyo Teachers Association second all right we'll take a rollal vote and not to return to open
session the roll call we go into it yes because you're trying to Yes um Dr Rivera colog yes yes yes marz
yes C yes yes yes for for