Okay. So, uh, anyone intending to make an audio or video recording of this meeting should notify the vice chair at this time. Um, I'll call the meeting to order. July 7th at 6:01 p.m. and then I think we do a roll call. Guinea Coleman
here. Gilon here. Jesse Keith here. Trisha Aretta, I'm here. Um and Megan's to join us. So the first thing on the agenda is um to hear any
visitors or is there anybody here that needs to be would like to be heard? Okay, seeing none, um we'll move to the next item, which is the uh KFE donation and possible vote. Is there somebody here from the Kingston
Foundation for Education that uh would like to be heard? Hi, I'm Allison Brown. Hi, Alison. KFE. Um there's a couple of us KFERS on here. Um, I know we we've been
normally presenting the check a little bit later, but um, there's a couple things I know the schools want to um, start finish paying for or start progress for, so we're just going to give the check a little earlier so they have the funds available. Um,
well, we're happy to have you here. Thank you. Um, yeah, I don't have like a speech or anything prepared, but um, we had a great year. Um, we kicked off the beginning of the year with the the playground fundraiser. Raised a bunch of money there. Uh, Trisha, thanks for
organizing that. Um, we had a couple other great events and um I'm going to let um Chrissy Armstrong and Aaron Brett um present the donation. This is their last year on KF. Um really sad they're
leaving, but they have sixth graders, so they're moving on. and they've been they've both been very instrumental in this whole program. So, they will be missed dearly. Um I will miss them mostly the most. Uh so yeah, Chrissy and Erin, if you guys want to tell them what
our donation is this year, that would be great. Thanks, Alison. Thank you. I think just to echo what Alison said, it was an amazing year. Um you know, the kids did amazing at the fun run. Um, and
I have the check here and I can drop it off tomorrow. Is it just at the the Main Street address? Does anyone at um your office, Jill? Central office to um Sarah Hickey, our
director of finance and operations. Sarah Hickey. Okay. Thank you. Yep. And we have it here. We're going to donate 70,000. on behalf of KFE and we'll drop that off tomorrow.
Well, that is amazing and um everybody obviously appreciates all of your guys' efforts throughout the whole entire year. I know this year in particular, you guys pulled out all the stops for a couple of other events. So, just want to shout out to those things that um the schools really couldn't do what we do
without you guys. So, we really appreciate all that you guys do. and Chrissy and Aaron, you guys moving on. Um, years of dedicated service. Thank you so much. Thank you. We appreciate it. Yeah. And the schools are wonderful to
work with. KISS and K is in a great in great hands and um it's just nice when we work well together for the kids and and and hopefully they're benefiting from this, which it sounds like it is why we're here a little bit earlier to move forward with some of the projects. So, thank you to all you guys and what
you do as well. Um, does anybody else on the board have anything that they'd like to say to the KF or I just want to say thank you. First, I want to apologize. I'm so sorry that I'm late. Um, technical difficulties. My
Chromebook did not want to let me sign in for anything. So, I am sorry for that. But, thank you so much, KF. That's amazing. I know you guys put in a lot of time and effort into all of your events. So, I just want to also say thank you. Thanks. Yes. Thank you. And thank you also for
all of you um all of your posts that you make on the class pages and stuff. I know that those aren't run by the schools or anything, but it's very helpful when the word gets out to the community and it's not the same group of you doing the work and hopefully you have some volunteers that can step forward and um fill in for those huge
roles that Aaron and um Chrissy have taken on. So, we appreciate everything you've done for all of us. Thank you. Not all of us really. The kids. The kids. Thanks, Terry. I see your hand up.
Thanks, Megan. I just want to say thank you guys. I know um how much work has gone into it because we communicate all year long and you're amazing at the back and forth and we appreciate it so much. And I always say like Kingston is the best. They're the best community and our kids are lucky to be able to have this extra funding source. I had no idea the
amount that you were going to present actually. So that's incredible. Also, thank you guys. Chill. I mean, I'll just chime in that I have high schoolers who are graduating and did not have the KF when they had
started and um now I have first grader who who's getting the the riches of it. And I know how hard it is and uh the years we didn't have it and how much we rely on it now for the technology and how much hard work goes into it. And um you know, $70,000 is no easy feat. when
there are 75,000 other things that everybody is trying to uh get the money from as well. So, um thank you so much um for all this hard work and I I know how hard it is and we're super excited um to be using this again this year. So,
we appreciate it greatly. Trisha, I just want to say one other thing before before this uh love session ends is that just working with you guys a little bit on the playground, just to see how your team operates and how you guys all pick up the ball and run with
it and are so organized and so much of a collaborative team was really um humbling to see how you guys really do work well together and everybody just has their area of expertise. Allison is her area of expertise that she just
shines and it's just it's it's amazing. So, thank you. Appreciate it. We love what we do. Um there's a lot of us on, you know, that are behind the scenes. So, yeah, I see a couple people on the call, Caitlyn and
um Sarah. So, yeah, I'm glad there's a couple of us to hear to to hear the love. Um, we'll let you guys um continue on. Um, yeah. And then Chrissy will drop the check off tomorrow.
Thank you. Before you do that, with that, I would really happily make a motion that we approve the $70,000 KF donation for this year. I'll second that. Okay. All in favor? Oh, no. Roll call because we're remote. Just kidding. Trisha Aretta,
yes. Genie Coleman, yes. Jesse Keith. Yes. Chilivon, yes. And I am a Yes. All right. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amazing. Thanks, guys. Have a great summer. Yeah, you too.
Summer. Bye. Bye. Okay. Uh, next up we have the Kes Playground dedication. Carrie, I will turn that over to you. Thank you. Um so we recently as you guys
know because we had that quick meeting um a couple weeks ago now um regarding Sean who's a Kingston um parent who passed away recently he had him and his organization donated $10,400 and so we thought and we know it's a
town obviously it's a the the land belongs to the town but we wanted to talk to you guys about it first um thought maybe an idea about is dedicating the playground towards in his name and putting up a plaque so I don't know what you guys were think what your thoughts are on that. We just thought that'd be a nice way to kind of
celebrate his life for the family. Dr. P, I would just note that if any votes taken tonight would be a vote towards supporting and that it would have to ultimately be approved by the town since
um this is a a townowned facility and property. Thank you. Thank you, Jeanie. Thank you. So, I just want to apologize that I missed that meeting a couple weeks ago. I'm fully in support of um
everything that um you all voted on that day to um support his family and if this is something that we vote on tonight. Um again, just that is contingent on the town support. But I think it's a very nice idea and especially where he was so instrumental in getting that playground
um fixed. So, that's appreciated and that'd be a nice memory as well for his children, I believe. I agree. Um, are there any other questions, comments, or would anybody like to make a motion that we
support this to ask the selectmen if we can name? I I can make the motion. Yeah, I'll make a motion that we support the dedication um of the playground um in John's name um uh with pending uh the selectman's
vote. And if and if we can know when the selectman are going to vote on it, I'd be happy to attend. Gary, I just want to Sheila, it's I don't know if I I could be here wrong. I thought you said John. It's Sean. No, I'm sorry. Yeah, my my Massachusetts accent is really killing
and I'm from New York, so I don't say Rs and S's and T's and you know, does anybody want to second Shayla's motion? I will second. Okay, we'll do Thank you. Roll call vote. Trisha Aretta, yes. Jeannie Coleman, yes. Jesse Keith.
Yes. Sheila Vaughn. Yes. And I'm a Yes. All right. Thank you, Carrie, for bringing that to us. And I think this electron will be on board with that. All right. Um, next up, school zone
light sign discussion. And we have um Jake from Yeah. Hi everyone. Hello. Um, so I'm here to present information related to um Carrie and I were looking to implement school zone signs and flashers to improve pedestrian and
school safety. Um, so Carrie kind of pitched this idea to me maybe three weeks ago. So, I met with um KPD and Keith Hickeyi and some other uh town officials to kind of assess the the um
property and um we all ultimately came to the consensus that this is um a good idea. It's definitely needed. There isn't actually even speed limit an uh a general speed limit sign posted. Um but
uh much like the high school middle school has um where the school zone sign flashes during school hours to prompt people to um slow down. Um but there'd also be additional signs just indicating
a school zone. Um, so we did, uh, Sean Turner, who's the acting, uh, parks and wreck superintendent for the town, was able to get a quote and, um, KPD actually has funds available and the
chief agreed that this is an appropriate use of the funds that they have um, based on the quote, so they would be able to fund it um, which which is beneficial for us. Um, so really I just wanted to kind of go over the logistics
of this um, and the purpose of it and then kind of answer any questions um, as best I could. That's great. Where would the sign go? Yeah, so there'd be two So it's going to basically bookend the property. So it'll
also um, help KIS as well. So, uh, the schools the regular school zone signs that just say school zone, those are 500 ft out from the property. So, um, I I don't know if I can share my screen, but I have a map that can show it to you if
you'd like to see that, but I'm not sure I have the ability to share my screen. Uh, let me see. Yep, I have it. All right, let's see. So, all right. Can Can you see my screen?
Yes. Okay. So, here's the Do you see the school zone map? Yes. Okay. So, the yellow triangle, it's small here. This is the um coming down the hill from Cancun. Um, the yellow
triangle would be the 500 ft mark where it would just say school zone. And then this red triangle would be the 250 mark coming up that little hill towards the front of KES. That would have the flashers that would also say the 20 mile
hour school zone. Um, the flashers would be set to the school time, the start and end times. Um, so those would be activated during school hours. And then on the other end past KIS, it would be the same thing. 500 feet out
would be like right where that bend is coming up towards the KISS driveway. And then the red would be closer at 250 would be the flashers. Awesome. I think that's a great idea. I mean, we've heard from parents a number of times about concerns with safety with
the traffic. Um. Yeah. Yeah. And then just for pedestrian safety, for school safety, and then just for public safety outside of school hours um because it is public spaces as well. I did also just want to show the quote here just so you know like um
I I don't speak numbers but some people might. Um so the total you know it's basically two sets of everything for each egg. um the the signs, the flashers, the postings,
um all the fittings and labor as well. So, I think they Detective Scava was going to be on the call. I'm not sure if he is or not. Um but I think they had like 50 grand in that quote in that um grant that they still had funds left in. So,
they they were equally as happy to allocate the funds to this project as well because it obviously helps their um their line of work as well. You know, that's awesome. Um, looks like Trisha and Jeie have some questions, so we'll go in that order. Okay.
Um, I just the question I had is as a matter of process, does this go before the town of King, you know, the selectmen or review for residential um, you know, the flashers seem. Yeah. So, in talking to um, KPD and uh,
the town administrator, it has to go through school committee and then to select men. Okay. Yeah. Does it have to have a um like a residential review? Like I'm just thinking of the you know the flashers. Is that intrusive in the neighborhoods? But maybe that's not even a question for
the school committee. It's more like the town's going to ask those questions. Yeah. I imagine I don't know the answer to that. But the flashers aren't like it's not like a strobe or it's it's not even at night also. So, you know, it's really pretty localized to like right
where that car would be at that sign. Yeah. Um I I don't see any projected like invasion on uh the residents, but that's that I'm sure that question will come up. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, Genie.
Uh thank you, Trisha. I had actually had some similar concerns. I know that the one down in front of the admin building, um I don't know if it's maybe programmed incorrectly, but it goes off at all hours of the day. Sometimes you could be driving by there at night and it's still going off like it's still flashing or it's saying too fast. So, I just want to
make sure that that that if this is supported by us, that the town is the one that's responsible for it. That people aren't going to be calling the school asking us to turn off a sign. Not us, but the school to turn off. That it is the responsibility of the town once they put it in. And also, um I'm glad
you mentioned the grant because I was going to ask why we were talking about funding. I thought that would be something that would be specific to the highway department and would have nothing to do with our budget. But if it's being covered by a police department grant, then that would be something that I guess they would have
to work with the highway department on funding and putting it in. Yeah. Correct. So, I'm just kind of proposing the um the plan just because it is relative to the school, but yeah, all funding will be taken through the the KPD. Um and then Sean Turner uh did say that um you can automate it for
school hours and then adjust it for daylight savings times. Um the one across the middle school high school. Yeah, I'm not sure what's up with that, but that is there is residential areas right across the street and there's no real like we have a lot of wooded area coverage.
Um but there's nothing there uh on that main road. Um yeah. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Any other questions or comments? Or would anybody like to make a motion to
support the signage to put forth to selectman? I'll make I'll make a motion to support it. Uh just what signage for the um Yes, whatever it's called. The flashers
and the signage for um traffic from KPD. Yeah. All right. Is there a second? I'll second that. Okay. Uh we'll do a roll call vote. Trisha Aretta. Yes. Genie Coleman. Yes. Jesse Keith. Yes. Sheila Vaughn.
Yes. And I am a Yes. Um, thank you for doing all that work and getting the information. I think I think that will be really helpful. I hope. Sure. Yes. Thank you. So, I'll um I'll keep you up to date on the uh the next steps. That sounds good. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you so much. All right. Um, next up we have approval of minutes from June 9th and June 16th, 2025. Any comments on either of those or would anybody like to make a motion? Trisha,
I just had a small um I just was reading through it and there's just this like a transposition of of um Trisha Aretta on June 9th and H and safety just reverse the E and I.
Oh, table. So minor. I hate to even say it, but it's like I know. It's it's a docu. It's a it's a record. So, absolutely. All right. Um, I'll make a motion to accept the meeting minutes. Do you want to do them separately, Megan?
Can we do them separately just because I'm willing to abstain from the one the second one? Sorry. Thank you. Sure. That's totally fine. I'll make a motion to accept the meeting minutes from uh June 9th as they're presented with the minor
amendment on the safety and that correction of my name. I'll second that. Okay, roll call vote. Trisha Aretta, yes. Genie Coleman, yes. Jesse Keith, yes.
Sheila Von, yes. And I am a yes. And then do we have a motion for the 20? No, 16th. Sorry. I'll make a motion to accept the minutes as written um for June 16th.
Second. All right. Um roll call vote. Sorry. Trisha Aretta. Yes. Genie Coleman. Yes. And this isn't the one I needed to abstain from, so I will vote for this one. Yes. Okay. Jesse Keith. Yes. Sheila von
yes and I am yes. All right. Uh next up regionalization study update. Um we met a few weeks ago and with the Colin center from UMass Boston got a a lot of information about what what they
could do to find help with this information. So currently waiting on a proposal from them with exactly the scope of what they would be able to do and what the cost would be for that. So we can report back
next time. Jeanie, thank you. I just wanted to clarify. I know there was some um public speculation after the first um report in the Southore News went out. um it kind of didn't didn't quite capture the whole I guess purpose of the
committee and purpose of the study. And just to clarify to the public, we're not moving forward with anything. This is going to be a study that will view all of the um pros and the cons and all of the impacts of a potential full
regionalization. It's going to include um meetings with stakeholders including the unions, the administration, um students, even parents, um other community members. Um it's going to be a full we've we are asking the Colin Center to give us a very thorough
proposal. And based on that, whether or not we go with the Colin Center still would not mean that we're going to move forward with the proposal. it would just mean that we're now going to study the um total effects of a full regionalization for the district. So,
just just to answer some of those lingering questions, I received a couple of emails right after um the article went out and we are not at that point yet. So, this would be something that would need to be approved by all three school committees, Kingston, Halifax,
and Plimpmpton as well as I believe Silverlake, all three towns, Kingston, Halifax, and Plimpmpton. the select boards and then go to a town meeting warrant for all three towns before it's even something that would be considered. So, we're talking at least a year and a half out, if not two and a half years out um for the process if it's something
that the committee um determines to move forward with to propose the downs. So, there's there's quite a process there. So, Megan, I appreciate you putting that on the agenda as an update just and I think going forward we'll continue to update um the committees just so that everyone knows where where that
committee um is at in the process. So, thank you. Thank you. Yes, thank you for the clarification. I did hear some questions about, oh, you're going to have this answer before budget season this year. We will not, unfortunately. Okay. Um next up, uh we have Sarah
Hickey with some financials. Thank you, Madam Chair. In your folder, your I'm sorry, I'm traditional. It's a digital folder. In your digital folder, there are two documents. The line by line budget, the financial report, and
then the closeout document. There uh normally on a regular meeting, we would have that spreadsheet of all of the um grants and donations and awards that have come in. So the award that you the grant I'm sorry the donation that you accepted earlier will be on that sheet
um for our next meeting. Um the financial report normally I go through that and make notes and talk about specific things on it but at this point in time really the only thing that matters on the financial report is the row of numbers along the bottom of the
last page and I have those on the closeout document. So if it's okay with you, I will go straight to the closeout document. Sure. And share my screen. All right. Can everybody see that?
Yes. Yes. Okay. So, the the Kingston operating budget for FY25 was $14,568,739.78. And the operating budget is divided up
into sections. So, if you take a look um where it says part A, there's regular education and special education. The regular education budget was $9,458,181.95. The special education budget was $4,860,15783.
So that's the that top row is the breakdown of those two portions of the budget. Underneath that are the expenditures. So you'll see that the regular day and the special ed budget equals the budget total over here on the left. The
expenditure regular day and the special ed expenditures equals this expenditure total. Um so overall out of the operating budget for regular day and special ed there was $38,533.13 remaining at uh the end of the fiscal
year which was June 30th. The next section of this document are the encumbrances. Encumbrances are for uh work that has been performed that we haven't been invoiced yet or for orders
that are have been placed or or um that we haven't received the orders yet. So the department of revenue allows us to carry over money into the next fiscal year. And so this list in two parts
again regular day in the middle column special education in the right hand column this is the list of outstanding um purchase orders that we will be paying with FY25 funds over the next two
months. So the total amount for the incumbrances is $116,12.73. So if you take a look at this section here in the middle of the page, our preclosing balance was $38,533.13.
There's inc there are encumbrances for $116,12.73 giving us a closeout balance for regular day and special ed of77,47960. Coming down to part two of this document, the vocational education
budget. There was $250,400 budgeted for the vocational uh that is the agricultural school uh tuitions and transportation. out of those um out of those budgeted funds, $146,761.13
was spent, leaving a balance of $13,638.87. So the subtotal for part uh part two is that $13,638.87. So, if you take a look at the very bottom of the page, the grand total closeout, the parts 1A and 1B, the
balance uh for regular ed and special ed minus the um incumbrances gave us the $77,479.60. there was a a surplus in vocational education of $103,6387
leaving a grand total of 26,15927. And again, it's recommended that the school department return this amount to the town of Kingston. Thank you, Genie. Sarah, is there a reason we have to
return that amount or can we um vote to move that into the stabilization fund and then at least have that 26,000 for next year? Um I would have to check with the town about what the process is for putting
money in the stabilization fund. Um I'm not sure of the language whether that requires a town meeting vote or whether the select board can do that. Nope. I believe um when we voted to
create it, it was a school committee vote, a board of selectman vote, and then a town meeting vote to create the stabilization account. But I believe to move the money in, it just required a favorable school committee vote. So, or at least I would be happy to make
a motion contingent on um approval from the town or legal if we need to, but I just don't want to give back $26,000 knowing how tight our budget is for next year. If there's a possibility that we can carry it forward. Understood. Thank you.
Completely agree with you, Jeie. If we we certainly have ways to spend it, I'm sure it will be needed if we can continue to have that available. I think that's advantageous. Do you want to make a motion, Genie, or
does anyone else have any questions or comments? Okay, I will make a motion that we move the 26,000. What was the I'm sorry. Um, what was the dollar?
15927. Thank you. 26,15927 to the stabilization fund contingent on the town approval. Second for legal approval. Thank you. Okay, we'll do roll call vote. Trisha Arietta, yes.
Jeannie Coleman, yes. Jesse Keith, yes. Sheila Vaughn, yes. And I am a yes. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. And that concludes my report.
All right. Great. Thank you very much. All right. Um, other items unforeseen at the time of posting. Does anybody have anything that we were not already aware of that they need to bring up to the committee? I don't see any. Okay. Um, otherwise, if
somebody wants to make a motion to adjourn into executive session, not to return into open session. Um, I'll make the motion to adjourn to executive session. uh in accordance with chapter 30 section 217
to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law to approve executive session meeting minutes May 5th, 2025 and June 9th, 2025. Second. Okay. Roll call vote. Trisha Aretta.
Yes. Jeannie Hullman. Yes. Jesse Ke. Yes. Sheila Vaughn. Yes. And I am a yes.