we're looking for a BNC cable in one of these pads over here all right we're live again on YouTube okay thank you schedule just a note if that happens again with
the tririccaster and you want to and you want to bring the stream back up to YouTube and when you uh click on you know the internet just restore your pages and then it's the same stream code and the same URL so all you have to do is just repress this button
okay so and it'll ask you to probably restore your pages because of the unexpected turn off okay so that should be pretty easy for uh over which one of you guys are running this go ahead and turn can you check that back for audio
audio is in here i should see it i would rather not make anyone angry give him the choice i like to play there in this box good evening i'd like to welcome our newly elected members of the school
committee Melinda Richards and Timothy can we please have a call to open today's region committee meeting for April 9th 2025 i'd like to entertain a motion to go into executive session for reason number
three strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting might have a detrimental effect collective bargaining may also be conducted via MTA negotiations need a motion so move a motion do I have a second thank you very
much any discussion yes uh I feel it would only be appropriate to move our reorganization of the school committee ahead of breaking out into executive sessions uh so that everyone's on the same page and then we break out
the right that we do the rearation as the first step with our newly elected members and what have you yeah i I have to say I'm not familiar with that process right what was what we communicated to
the community via the agenda was that we were going to go to executive session first and then subsequent to executive session we would be voting those i'm certainly not trying to be oppositional in any way i just I wouldn't like to I don't want to violate any uh any meeting
law or anything given that that's how the agenda was laid out of course we do have the ability to move items ahead of others if we were to vote on it so I'm I'm suggesting I'm not sure why we're uh going into executive session without the
reorganization with two new members uh maybe somebody can clarify but that would be my hesitation with breaking out into executive session uh first would you have a chair i would just say that it would
be best practice i think we've always done that first for the update on the negotiations piece and given the agenda states it um it does I mean I I could see your point but I think given the agenda is is pretty straightforward we
move things recently even to accommodate folks so I just thought it would seem fair and reasonable to do the reorganization ahead of any other business because that would be step one given the recent election but I don't want to make waves day one
but I also don't want to start the process with what doesn't make sense if you want to make the motion make the motion the motion's already been seconded though on the table so it has to be voted on no in order for me to make a new motion to move that correct so
we So I made the motion who seconded it bob Clark so can we table it until after we do the reorganization it would it would be voting no you'd have to vote the motion down and then there would have to be a new motion no I would I can withdraw my second okay that can also
happen mr clark are you going to withdraw your second you withdraw your second okay okay so protocol dictates we'd look for a new motion i make a motion to move our reorganization of our brand new school committee board ahead of any business
including the executive session for this evening your motion has been heard is there a second second there is a second to that motion is there discussion hearing no discussion I'll call for a vote i believe it has to be a roll call vote
[Music] i'm not sure if it has to be roll because it get Okay i wasn't sure cuz we weren't actually doing anything um Jen Blum no
steve Sylvia yes crystal yes courtney Raymond yes uh Melinda Richards
yes timothy Emory yes bob Clark i believe the motion I believe the motion carries okay moving forward on the agenda then taking things out of order i am looking for
sorry we will begin at this time with the Freetown Lakeville Regional School Committee reorganization i will now entertain a motion to elect a new Freetown Lakeville Regional School Committee chair
morning Jen Blum second i have a nomination for Jen Blum i have a second for Jen Blum any discussion hearing no discussion i would like to move to a vote i believe it has to be a roll call vote
um yes steve Sylvia yes carolina oh she's absent sorry crystal Ling yes courtney Breman yes melinda Richards yes timothy Emery yes bob yes congratulations to Jen
Blum the new chair of the Freetown Lakeville Regional School Committee thank you take it from here okay i'd just like to thank the committee and from here I am going to entertain a nomination for vice chair
you nominate Steve Sylvia second okay we have a nomination we have a second any discussion roll call vote please hearing no discussion roll call vote jen Blum yes steve Sylvia yes crystaling yes courtney
Barton yes melinda Richards yes timothy Emory yes bob Clark yes okay I'm now going to make a motion um to nominate Crystal for the position of secretary
second or so you have a nomination second so you can ask for discussion okay that was that okay any discussion on that crystal yes her secretary okay
can I jump in here yes sir current position as treasurer uh there's quite a bit of process in order to bring in a new treasurer and be aware that that Right so yeah that's what um I forgot what her name is my predecessor yes your
predecessor we'll put it that way there is there's a lot of signing over and everything so it's up to you okay motion's on the table i mean I'd like to move to vote if you're good with it yes you're in discussion you have a motion you have a second and you're in
discussion right now so is there a way um to run down the list of who our nominating people are and then make one motion to accept secretary treasurer recording se uh excuse me um
district clerk all at at one motion that way we're not one by one and then like I'm I don't know i don't know if he's going to be nominated for treasurer yet either so if if we nominate Crystal for secretary that moves her out of that treasurer role is
it a surprise to somebody to take that this is day two on the job for me so I just want to make sure that I mean it's a nomination you're able to say no sure so if someone is if someone is nominated for a position and they do not wish to take it they can say no yep and if we decide that we personally don't want
someone to take that position you can vote no but typically going through how it's been for years we do these first and then we go into our subcommittees gotcha no no disrespect yep how it's been done for years though has been a
point of contention for a lot of folks so I just want to make sure we're doing it what makes sense for everybody involved and and just through the chair I think procedurally it's an interesting concept you'd be doing essentially doing a slate so there would be one motion to slot all
the different positions and then the vote would be on every single position um there's sort of like an executive board and then subcommittee positions mhm i mean I would be maybe perhaps we separate those two um yes and and we
could handle it that way i mean we can certainly clump the subcommittees together because looking at the subcommittees there are folks that are on them now that may want to stay on those committees and then we'll kind of backfill the rest of that sure and and just through the chair it would be an efficient way to do it i I mean I'm not
opposed to that if we could do a slate but we handle the top half as one motion and the subcommittees as as a second motion yes okay so given that we have an outstanding motion on the table that we'd have to take back the second or
take back the second or vote it down and probably I'm sorry through the chair we'd probably have to undo the secretary you guys are saying sorry we can hear a word back we'll do our best thank you so we would have to
undo the secretary if we're going to handle that as a slate or just take that out of order we're getting against the efficiency argument at some point 100% i have to defer to the chair okay i mean I would I would like to continue on the
way we were continuing on so you have a motion you have a second and you're in the middle of discussion yep so do a roll call vote that's what you would like to take it out of order right isn't that Well the motion is the motion secretary
oh yes so just one more discussion point why don't we handle the top half as individual slots and then we can bundle the subcommittees yes as one motion and then we meet in the middle all right so this motion's on the table to nominate Crystal we have a second we've had
discussion is there any more discussion we just want to say and Jack brought up a good point i obviously you guys have already thought about who you're going to nominate for what but it is going to be a hassle to
have me taken off of treasure i just want you to know that ahead of time there's a lot of things to sign there's a lot of things to do and like I said his predecessor had said that there were a lot of different things to do so I just want you to keep that in mind okay
i I guess procedural clarification you can decline the nomination yes you can decline a nomination if you'd like to declined okay problem solved there you go so I'd like to
entertain another nomination for secretary [Music] i'm the secretary right now and I have no problem volunteering to stay on as secretary that makes it easier so make a motion that Courtney stays on
as secretary do I have a second second any discussion okay moving forward our call oh sorry roll call sorry sorry sorry jen Blum yes steve Sylvia yes carolina Hernandez yes crystal Ling Courtney yes melinda
Richards yes timothy Emery yes bob Clark yes so district clerk okay so I would like to entertain a motion for a nomination for district clerk i'll nominate uh Tim
so I have a second second any discussion what does a district clerk do um so you know when all your numbers got tallied up yes so I was district clerk so that's what you'll do so it's once a year pretty much i don't
think I did much else as long as there's some direction that's cute starting from day three okay yeah you'll work with um the towns you'll work with Cheryl from the towns yeah and she's very helpful got it i've
been there Tim okay so is that all we have for discussion roll call vote please jen Blum yes steve Sylvia yes arlina Hernandez yes crystaline yes courtney Breitman yes melinda Richards yes emory yes
okay so I'm going to make a motion to keep Crystal as treasurer moving forward second okay nomination second any discussion
hearing none roll call vote please jen Blum yes steve Sylvia yes arlene Hernandez yes chrystal Ling yes bernie Brightman yes melinda Richards yes timothy Emory yes bob Clark yes and as always Renee you can't get out of
this job we're going to make a motion you don't actually have to vote mine we don't it sounds fun though okay okay i want to vote you anyway Renee cuz you're awesome so there we go we don't have to vote on that one okay
so we're going to move into subcommittees at this point um warrant signing bob you're currently on warrant signing would you like to stay sure okay um Courtney you are also on warrant
signing would you like to stay sure okay do we have a nomination for one other person for warrant signing crystal is currently on there no no according to the list she is yeah I know
somebody else will take it okay so I think a question that we have here right and this is just a question um can we have four people on one thing or does that meet a quorum quorum would be five five exactly okay
so we're going to Crystal would you like to stay on that no someone else can do it okay so we need to probably somebody from Lakeville nominate two people lakeville person i'll nominate Karolina
Hernandez and um Steve or Mel Melinda okay so so Karolina and Melinda makes sense do we have a second second second uh any discussion [Music] may we have a real co vote please we're
gonna do all right um do you want to do them all together or do you want to separate them you want to do them all together it's from chaser okay let's do it all right policy subcommittee steve you're already on would you like to stay yes do I have a nomination for two
others for the policy subcommittee um Tim memory okay how about we nominate Karolina as well i define I have a question so Courtney is off the
policy or we put I'm currently on the policy subcommittee yes yes okay i don't mind come staying on it or if other people want to are interested in it I don't mind coming off that subcommittee as well
[Music] hearing none so just a point to I think the chair positions open for discussion when we meet for the members so we have myself Courtney and Tim and
Tim do you have a second carolina decline oh no we don't need to do that carolina decline correct okay collective bargaining i need a motion to nominate we just need to nominate somebody yeah
carolina do you want to stay um no okay so we need to nominate three is this a discussion point not a discussion point we're just doing a nomination right now three i'll nominate Melinda and Courtney
okay okay so Bob has nominated Melinda and Courtney so we need one more person am I able to stay on that one as chair you're as chair you're on i know but am I able to be Okay so I'm going to stay on that one myself okay cuz I I really
like So it'll be myself Melinda and Courtney for that so we need one more from Lakeville if there's two from No there's I believe there's only three and um yeah last time there were two free towns and one Lakeville so it's only
slaughtered for three so h moving on superintendent evaluated well no we don't vote until the end but I just I have a question about this now
in collective bargaining Lakeville does carry way more of the share of the money that goes in so I think if there's any town that's going to have two on there it should be Lakeville over Freetown well I've been on Collective Gardening
and I've been the only person there and I'm from Freetown and that's been besides two meetings so I understand what you're saying but I'm not sure that it holds much meat because Lakeville has not been present at all not my fault i
didn't say it was i'm just saying but like I said Lakeville carries the fair share so if there's any town that's going to have two it should be Lakeville over Freetown all right should we nominate you then i didn't say that but No would you would
you like to be part sure if Steve doesn't believe I would like to nominate Crystal [Music] so collective bargaining we're going to have Melinda Courtney and Crystal we have them and you then you I'm on all of
them anyway um superintendent's evaluation oh we need a second for that sorry for collective bargaining second what do we need a second for for the motion we make one motion at the
end once we Oh you're going to second them all all at the end no I didn't hear that we're going to go through fill it in and then we'll read them some of them will read them all make one motion and then we have one second then you can have a broader discussion okay so moving forward we're
doing a nomination for superintendent evaluation committee um Steve you're already on that would you like to stay yes i would like to nominate Bob and Melinda if you guys are both okay with that okay okay regional
fincom nomination for regional fincom okay hearing none i'm going to nominate did you want to do that i was going to nominate Melinda okay melinda from Lakeville and Courtney how about you for Freetown
you good with that yeah I'll stay on it nobody else wants to okay masc delegate do we have a nomination for that nominate uh Tim and Melinda as a as
a as a uh sub backup problem you guys okay with that i think I'd rather pass on that one okay what does it entail um you know basically actually it's really not a bad thing i mean it's
basically learning okay the laws and the rules of this so if you don't want to you can say no and that's okay i'll do okay so we have Tim and Melinda okay i'll entertain a nomination for the
wellness committee nominate um Tim Emory yes tim you are rocking it uh okay i'll entertain a motion for capital committee we need two
people nominate Crystal if she's interested sure so maybe Courtney you going to stay i think my hands are full yeah I think you're done uh let's nominate Bob over here
that gives each town representation that gives each town representation and last but not least um nominations for the pool committee crystal I would love to see you on that one me why uh I think you'd be good for
it is that an official one or no didn't we didn't we vote to form a full subcommittee when we had the broader discussion a few weeks ago we did we didn't nobody was appointed to it so we made the motion to form it with school
committee members and residents um but then we had the community reach out who was interested and that was forwarded and nobody was appointed yet so are we appointing people now i would like to appoint people now because it's already on the table and it was um
There was a motion for it previous okay by me actually so fine are you good with that i'm good okay so we have Who did we nominate crystal so we nominated Crystal we need one more person
tim Emory all right there you go okay so we've gotten through all the subcommittees um and now I am going to entertain a motion to accept all of these members on
the committees as we've stated do you want to go through that Renee sure so you have Warren Signing Bob Clark Carolina Hernandez Melinda Richards um Courtney did you want to say were you saying okay i didn't cross you off so I
wanted to make sure policy Subcommittee Steve Sylvia Courtney Breitman and Tim Emory collective bargaining Jen Blum Melinda Richards Courtney Breitman and Crystal Ing um superintendent evaluation Bob
Clark Melinda Richards Steve Sylvia regional finance Courtney Breitman and Melinda Richards the MASC November conference Tim Emory and Melinda Richards district Wellness Jen Blum Tim Emory capital
Subcommittee Crystal Ing Bob Clark and the pool subcommittee Crystal Ing Tim Emory okay motion is on the table do we have a second second any discussion could you repeat the
collective bargaining please jen Blum Melinda Richards Courtney Brightman Crystal Inc thank you can I email that to yes I will do this and email it to everybody okay thank you okay so we have a motion we
have a second do we have any discussion okay I would like to say um that now that we have reorganized and our subcommittees are all set we do have two new members you need to vote oh I can't discuss before vote
or do you want to vote first you can discuss you can discuss all right so sorry now that we have our subcommittees all set we have two new members i'd like to take a moment to remind everyone that we as elected officials have a commitment to represent our constituents and serve on these subcommittees with
the best interest of our students and staff in our role on these subcommittees we are expected to listen learn and be just as supportive as we are sitting here at this larger committee should any of us at any time engage in words actions or behaviors that do not align
with these expectations we as a committee will seek to remedy the circumstance through additional training censure and removal from [Music] subcommittees is that a policy or item um or in the
bylaws that's something that has to be made it's basically not it's just a reminder oh that's all it's just a reminder that we should act as elected officials representing this committee want to do a roll call vote
jen Blum yes steve Sylvia yes marina Hernandez yes crystal Ling yes courtney Breitman yes melinda Richards yes timothy Emory yes bob Clark yes so now executive session so now we're going into executive session so you have
to make a motion i'll entertain a motion to go into executive session second reason any discussion i'm going to abstain from executive session for Okay roll call vote please jen Blum yes
steve Sylvia yes carolina Hernandez yes crystal yes courtney Breman yes belinda Richards yes timothy thank you bob Clark yes [Music] into public session second
here okay we're going to open the meeting recognizing our administration Kelly Steel Mr jack Higgins Terry Fleming Dr bersaki lake Kim is here thank you so
much for always being here is there anybody else recording the meeting seeing none I'd like you all to join me in the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance 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 moving right along I'm going to entertain a motion to accept the
minutes from 3:26 25 so move Second hearing a second are there any is there any discussion i just want to clarify this is just the open session minute that is just the open session yes
okay no discussion okay i would like to then entertain a motion oh sorry go ahead and let's do a roll call vote sorry my first time we don't have to roll call minutes okay so all in
favor say I i i okay i abstain i wasn't here i also Okay so now are there any opposed are there any opposed again sorry okay seeing none any
abstensions steve Linda Tim everybody else say I okay moving along i will entertain a motion to approve and not release the executive session minutes from March 26 2025 until
collective bargaining is complete so move second we have a second any discussion any abstensions i guess all in favor say I i i okay
moving along we have our ARHS student reps Katarina and Grace how are you guys tonight i'm good how are you good take it away good evening everyone my name is Katina and I'm Grace Johnson some very exciting things have been happening at
our school the Apotheit Drama Club just performed Chicago the show took place last week on Thursday Friday and Saturday our school also hosted physics Olympics where students from many different schools came together to participate in science related activities also two students Ryan
O'Connor and Nora Mccluren participated in the annual Massachusetts Student Government Day at the Massachusetts State House the students acted as representatives and debated and voted on a bill titled an act promoting safe technology use and distract
distraction-free education for youth they voted it down they were also treated to a tour and speeches by senators judges and the Massachusetts Secretary of State massachusetts Senator Michael Rodriguez invited the student council eboard to the state house on
Monday for a tour it was a great educational opportunity tomorrow Apono is offering the SAT to all of our junior students and 106 students will be taking it there will also be parent teacher conferences from 5 to 7 thank you and have a great night
thank you thank you thank you for your presentation [Applause] tonight we have a presentation from the fees walkway project introduce the GPI group presentation
good evening and thanks for having me my name is Jim Noise i work for Green uh we met back in January with the facilities manager and the highway department uh highway surveyor to go over some of the uh the problems with the walkways at the uh Retown Elementary
School um I'm sure if you're familiar with that there's a brick walkway at the main entrance and um it's becoming a maintenance nightmare or the bricks are pushing up they're broken uh they become a tripping hazard uh to the the children going into the school uh another problem
out there is if you're familiar with it there's two walls that line that walkway and they come around one of the walls is is coming in again i guess it's had problems before um and then some of the uh in addition to the brick walkways a lot of the concrete walkways are doing
the same thing they're they're settling at different rates and becoming a tripping hazard uh we met out there like I said in January we took a look around the walls themselves um you know they've been repaired once from what I understand but um it's probably going to be a waste of money to repair them again
um two things are happening out there i think the roots of the trees are pushing the walls so roots are finally those big trees and they're finally coming out and pushing those walls um and the other thing is too is I don't think those walls are deep enough so what's happening even if you repair it you're going to be going out there in four or
five years um and it's not a cheap fix to repair walls so after looking at it and also some of the other um problems that the the school has had the trees have been um I'm not quite sure exactly but the trees have been affected i want to say the air conditioning or or what
have you um uh you know just just going out there we looked at it and we said you know something probably be more useful area if the trees were taken down the walls were taken down that area was leveled out and then sometime in the future you
know the school can use that for whatever they wanted to have an outdoor class session um in the spring and the fall when the weather's warm and the you know um which isn't part of this part of this proposal but it was something that we were thinking of is to level all that out and then repair all the walkways
with new cement concrete so um the handouts that you have everything in yellow would be the new cement concrete you'll see a pattern there in the middle that's just the that's just to show where the existing brick is just to give you a frame of reference um and the green area would be the area the two
mounds they're mounted up probably two or three feet right now those like I said those would be level uh Freetown Highway Department's already agreed to go out there they're going to be removing the trees so they'll level that area they'll take all the brick out and then um the the rest of the work would
be uh um bid out to a um you know qualified it's mostly cement work so it's you know a qualified concrete contractor and there's also four wheelchair ramps that aren't ADA compliant so those would all be made ADA
compliant at the time um we're looking to bid at the end of this month and have all the bids in by the end of May so that a contractor's on board in June and they could start work right after school's out and probably most likely go through July and uh early August to
finish it so we'll have those restrictions there too so that the work's got to begin after school's out and it has to end before school starts if I may um this has been spearheaded by the town of Freetown as the the the building is a capital
project that they would be supporting and funding and we appreciate the town of Freetown for this process as well do you have any questions i do um I see here the uh three
patterns choices that you have in the back do they have a texture like you um the first one doesn't yeah and I I skipped over that i apologize um the last three pages are are samples of what you could look at for the concrete work um the first one does not have a texture
the middle one there with the spores that has both a broom finish and then they also do the sides i've seen that on a couple of um subdivisions it looks really nice out of the three i don't want to sway the committee if if you're looking at something else but that you
know be my preference for the look on the on the concrete thank you yeah what's the approximate uh square footage of this um it's funny i did an estimate yesterday and I did it on them
uh it's approximately 12,700 ft that's of the that's the cement work right yeah and the cost right now we conservatively estimated at 15 155,000 i think that's high myself but I was again I was just trying to do do
something quickly the plans themselves are still stamp draft we've got another couple of weeks to pull them together and we'll get an estimate a final estimate but the real estimate is what you know what the low bidder comes in at um looking at the uh the diagram here
the yellow is the proposed concrete that's the proposed concrete so there's a a pretty decent sized section from the new uh the new ramp that would be put further out toward the entrance um and
the start of it which is over by that second door what's going to happen to the concrete that's in between is it going to not match what we do yeah that that was to remain it's in it's in really good shape we were trying to limit the costs and and try to uh you
know evaluate but that was one of the sections that the uh facilities manager said "Yeah we don't don't do that." I had recommended though that the wheelchair ranch if you're going to do that you want to get them all ADA compliant thank you good
thank you very much thank you Mr thank you for your presentation okay moving on to old business substitute pay discussion you'll notice in your um report there uh you had uh the school committee had
asked for additional information relative to the substitute pay rates for teachers for pair professionals and for nurses so uh doing some um investigatory work with some local districts with Borne Dartmouth Taton Middleboro and Old
Rochester you have the those numbers uh which include the substitute pair professional rates the nurse rates and uh teacher rates for those those districts um and then from those um we have you had asked
for a um a recommendation um for an if there was a recommendation for an adjustment um as we had shared before for teacher subs um all the districts that we had been in contact with had two tiers for their teacher subs one being
for certified teachers people who are substitutes who held a certification those with uh and then a different tier for those who do not hold a certification um and then for pair professionals and for nurses and so those rates um are shared with you in that uh on that form as well in terms of
what those recommendate recommended rates are pair professional $90 a day teachers for certified teachers $125 a day non-certified uh substitutes $15 a day and for nurses $160 you can see what the current rates are
as well thank you Jack anyone have any questions go ahead Bob yeah when you say certified do they have to be certified in that specific area or just certification in uh Good question we would likely allow
certification in general uh a certification a certification any other questions okay when are we going to vote on that i mean we've just been tableing it for years i'm just wondering
when it's when it's going to be something we vote on when should we have Would you like us to place this on the next agenda yes yeah i I would suggest that now that you have this information you have some time to think about it and and and consider it before making a vote right
now so I'll entertain a motion to put this on the next agenda do you want me to say that cuz I'm moving this path too um yeah you can entertain a motion to put um substitute pay for do I have to say paras nurses
teachers on the next agenda okay hearing a motion and a second any discussion do we need a roll call vote okay all in favor say I i post anyone opposed any abstensions
motion carries okay motion carries um next let's talk about bus safety and railroad crossing this is an update to information that Mr higgins shared with you at the last meeting uh subsequent to a bus incident that happened uh on March
25th subsequent to the report that Mr higgins had already uh presented to you I'd just like to add uh that we were uh part of an investigation conducted by the Federal Railroad Administration came down interviewed uh parties involved we
also reviewed the video footage from the bus and video footage that was provided uh from the MBTA uh regarding what had happened that day uh we had a meeting with Keelios Commuter Services that's the group that trains our bus drivers and then we had what I would consider a
culminating meeting uh with our first student representative Ken Rosendi's uh with the town managers with Ryan Coholen the chief operating officer uh from the MBTA Seth Dlo the director of commuter rail and ferry safety for MBTA Timothy
Lasniak the chief safety officer for MBTA and Jean Fox uh from MASDOT also present at that meeting uh was Mr higgins and Terry Fleming uh at that meeting we had a a discussion kind of recapping the event and talking about like the com different components of the
investigation that had occurred uh and at the conclusion of the meeting it was found that the MBTA and railroad systems functioned as expected in in accordance with federal regulations and that uh you know our bus driver here had made the best possible decision in order to keep
all of our students safe during that event so I'm I'm pleased to share those two components with you and just to let you know uh our next steps we are continuing to monitor the situation as Mr higgins shared with you at the last meeting we're receiving a daily call at the end of the day from Kenraendis at
First Student to let us know how all the how all the bus runs went for the day uh we are adding some additional training for our first student drivers with Keelios the company that I mentioned before we have now forged a partnership with the MBTA uh between the district
and MBTA and first student for some additional training uh our central office administration we've committed to periodically riding the buses in particular since the trains are now coming through town and that's new that's to offer some support for our drivers uh and to remind our students
about good rider safety uh and certainly to keep our eyes on what's happening and the district is seeking some assistance from the town and property owners in clearing areas uh especially around those crossings so that we make sure our drivers can see every possible thing that they that they would need to see to
keep our students safe great thank you for that update you're welcome can I ask a question yes i thought that the MBTA was responsible for making sure the line of sight was appropriate at the crossings so we did we did brooach that at the meeting and the the response we got they do have a a
portion that they're required to and and in this circumstance everything that they're required to keep clear was clear uh it's an it happens to be a spot with a bend and it it would certainly be nice if some of the folks who are property owners or business owners that abut that
are are cognizant and clearing that area so the at this juncture to the best of our knowledge and to the best of what we know the MBTA has been meeting that responsibility any other questions go ahead u Dr the MBTA aside I know that it was a big
deal that the federal rail folks came in town on a whim from my understanding um they separate from the Massachusetts folks agreed that everything was functioning as it should
and the the striping lines everything was good then to the best of my knowledge okay what what I would call it um I I came I started after the event occurred right so I started April 1st this event had occurred on March 25th
and a good amount of this including the reaction and the responsiveness from the Federal Railroad Administration occurred before I had even got here so I would say they were very responsive thank you any other questions
okay moving on to bus routes with an update and a presentation um at our last meeting um I stated that we would be reaching out to first student to drill down on some of the efficiency of stops and possibilities of
um changes to stops to um provide uh more efficient route times so first student did provide that analysis and they came up with um three areas that they could improve um our time uh our time from start to
finish on bus routes the ride time on 18 routes could be improved uh the mileage would be improved and the stop count would be improved so the number of stops when we got that data and were able to look at it um from the uh
computerenerated view this is the results and when we actually started to look at those stops and what some of those changes would be to our students and families we noted that there needs to be this layer of the of the human touch right we need to look at these
stops closely so that we can identify what changes are happening what weather conditions we see in the area and whether they make a realist even though they are the most efficient time-wise they might not be the most effective for our families and students that are
walking um so we uh Dr starky uh Kenzendez Elaine uh Robbie um and Mr higgins and myself met with to look over these and kind of look at them from the Google maps like looking at stops and identifying some of the changes and we
feel like there is not the possibility um to to make specific changes right now and we asked them to focus more closely on at that time what we had identified from data from our our buildings uh as routes 2 7 10 13 15 and 19 uh which were
having the most delays at that at uh at that time from when we had started to collect data at the buildings and um until then as of today you know we're seeing different routes numbers we're see you know uh grays had like five
routes that were altered or that were affected today uh fees had six so unfortunately 2710 13,15 and 19 were the immediates that we asked them to drill down even farther on and to to look at more closely with us um but we are seeing some um some other routes
cropping up as as potential um delays again like I stated last time driver shortages substitute drivers coming in so a lot of um people that have been out uh sub so substitute drivers take over that it that takes time and then um our
start times of our schools have all been factors that delay arrivals and then the addition of trains and the need for additional safety have also like risen to just keep on people's awareness plates
crystal is there an app that we can get for and my daughter came home i thought her and my husband were playing outside because they were gone for so long and I was on a work call and they came downstairs at 4:35 now that's late he called the
school mrs aruda was very nice um but you know I had heart palpitations one day when she wasn't home she got home at like quarter of 5 that's a lot from ads it is a lot because if it's not me it's
the other parents who are on down the same road on Bedford Street it is a lot and I they turn around so if there could just be some type of app that we could know that somebody could send out instead of having to call the office i'm
sure they're very busy and I'm sure Bethany is tired of hearing from me and Rob saying "Where's Shay we don't know where Sheay is." Yeah i I recognize and I hear you and I recognize the hardship this is creating for our students for our families uh for
our staff in particular both at the elementary school um it was my understanding that the principles were commun communicating out regularly uh when the buses were not going to be on time so I'm happy to follow up on that with our in particular our elementary principles so I'm happy to do that for
you i can tell you that we are continuing to monitor this situation daily uh you know as Terry said it seems to be like this amorphous thing it's changing every day now and certainly since we've added the trains uh you know and we're we're waiting safely at crossings we're now adding some more
time to our routes um and then moving forward what I'd really like us to do is is develop a means obviously to avoid this right and maybe take some type of census about our ridership before we're designing our routes so that we're designing our roots perhaps a little bit
more purposeful uh and just to support something that Terry had shared um we'd all like to make a change that's going to relieve this hardship from everybody right now uh but it just it doesn't seem you know it doesn't seem possible given everything else that's happening and especially where we're really
emphasizing with our drivers you know around safety and around the crossing of the trains so I'm I'm just looking for um I don't even want to call it more patience cuz I understand uh you know exactly what you're saying but for us right now we're thinking
about if we were making a change like this for just for one example we looked at the elimination of a stop it would it would add a half mile to a 3/4 mile walk to 6th through 12th grade students right now who haven't been making that walk right now and you know on a on a nice
day like today that would be great but on an inclement day when it's not something that's been routine here in the district we don't want to make a change like that you know that and that's just one of many you know there was a route where we were looking at you know upwards of making changes to 10 to
15 different stops for 10 to different 10 to 15 different families that would have impacts as great as that so I mean I get it and I certainly don't blame the bus drivers and I know in the morning when we have a substitute bus driver it's like "I'm so sorry to late." I'm like "I got it it's you know in the afternoon it's the same thing i
understand." It's just that I would like to know being a mom where my kids are i I hear you and I will I will make sure that tomorrow morning we're following up to make sure that that communication is happening and I actually think to your point there is an app because I think
somewhere else where parents like can go on this app and see Yeah there is where their child is there is an app and uh I I don't want to get in the weeds over saying things that I'm not that I'm not sure of but I can tell you we we piloted an app some people might remember that
i'm getting some head nods i'm not the only person we we did it we did pilot an app here in the district so it's not something that's unfamiliar territory and we're happy to look into that and get back to you in the time being we'll use the mechanisms that we have and we
will make sure that you know our principles are communicating out so that you're aware thank you you're welcome and it's not just me okay no understood it's not just me i'm sure the office knows it's not just I'm sure they're getting lots of comments understood yeah i mean I I can
concur with Crystal my kids are at FES and I get Mr ward's emails every day like clockwork um that's not um you know there's only so much we can do and I'm looking at the list driver shortage subdrivers start times add trains one of
them is in our control right start times right so what would it I mean what do we need to do if we thought about adjusting that i believe start times are part of the collective bargaining agreement okay okay and then my second question is I do we have an SLA in this contract
how do we hold them accountable for you know how do we hold the bus company accountable i'm going to defer to Mr higgins who who oversees transportation but I I I can hear where you're going with that um and again being here in a very short period
of time I don't believe this is um any type of issue of you know of someone sherking their responsibility or or not um you know doing the route in a timely fashion i haven't gotten that sense yet uh but I'll defer to Mr higgins regarding that
so um you you may recall that 5 years ago there was an adjustment made to the the the manner with which the buses and the times that the schools were starting as a result of co um the main issue is the times that that were starting we the
the high school for example used to have a 7:13 start um that time is now 7:35 I believe so there's a 20 minute change there right that that we are looking at not necessarily that big of a difference but we are looking at making
an adjustment so that we can in the coming year have an opportunity where we're not asking our uh high school and middle school students to wake up you know so early but yet still be able to to execute transportation in a timely
manner go ahead i taken an additional bus wouldn't uh wouldn't solve the problem there's not enough There's not enough bus drivers correct okay so just for clarification because I was sent a million messages today about
social media buzz we are not starting this after April vacation we are not starting this at all now correct i just want to make sure this is clear cuz Okay there will be no changes at this time okay and we we will provide a report at
our next meeting okay thank you okay any other questions no i just have one more question if you're going to change the bus if it's not going to be a Freetown Lakeville bus can you let me know cuz like sometimes Old Colony buses stop at my house and I'm like I don't
know you um and I hate being that person but of course I am like who are you and like where you go when you go in a a It would just be nice to know certainly yeah and like I did you know the last bus driver said like I'm sorry but I just have to ask because you're not a regular
bus driver and you have a completely different bus all right we good we're good okay everyone's good moving on to the Graze Pool engineering study update thank you so uh at the last meeting I believe we mentioned that there was we had received the um this the cost of the engineering
study uh which was $12,000 and I shared with you that there was the possibility of an external uh funding source we have had conversations with Senator Rodrig's office about an earmark for this um we are only in the preliminary conversations but if you'll recall we the school district received earmark uh
funding for the AES playground last year as well as for security upgrades so this is a practice that we've had in the district uh and we're certainly looking forward uh to the opportunity to be able to receive that funding for that study should we receive it we'll be moving forward if we if they ultimately tell us
that we don't I will be here to talk to you about the possibility of that coming from the school committee okay that's great any questions on that so just to be clear he's funding the study not fixing the pool yes correct yes the earmark does not offer a funding
of the the pool we don't know what the pool would cost you You don't have a preliminary estimate that is correct that is exactly what the engineering study is purpose is it's a old pool that needs a a specific eye to look at it and
determine what the cost would be time matches matches on i mean we should be getting an estimate so that if we can work on it we can work on it during the summer agreed steve do you have something i just had a a timeline question i mean obviously we
have to turn that around pretty quick and I know there was a lot of interest from the summer group obviously that's probably not likely but it would be a good time to do the anything that needed to be done but it was just sort of a timeline question
so in in some ways we're stuck on that timeline because of the the earmark but I would suggest that that um that is happening a little bit more quickly uh and we're we're happy to hear it okay that's great that's great thank you J any more
questions okay moving on to the budget FY26 vote based on the conversation at the FY26 budget hearing as well as the recommendation of the regional finance subcommittee i'm presenting a total uh FY26 budget of 4 budget of 47,97533
this budget was developed in response to the assessment values that the two towns could support in FY26 freetown's assessment being 13,4646393 and Lakeville being 17,781,479 the U chapter 70 funding that we will be receiving from the state is
12,136,839 okay this is going to require a vote so we're going to break this actually into two sections cuz Tim has um partner that is employed so we're going to do two so I'm going to first look for a motion to
adopt the salary portion of the budget as presented [Music] so moved second okay we have a motion and a second do we have any discussion
yeah yeah uh go ahead just a couple of points um you know obviously budgets are difficult times um and Jack I want to applaud you and the team and through Dr starky we've watched you build a budget from basically zero um through the
process so thank you for the way you've gone through every line so it's always been my understanding that a budget is based on students and and teachers and and also facts um and and I think the facts in this case where you talk about the assessments and it's a process so at
this point in the process it's difficult to change that ceiling number um and and and that's a difficult conversations but the other piece is there's all these assumptions because the timelines never line up in in my years on this committee
so there's chaos obviously at the federal level there's there's state budgets that are happening where a lot of these assumptions could deliver monies to to districts regional school districts so I I've always been
concerned about the assumptions and how we can raise the ceiling a little bit um in a respectful way without doing anything so is the E and D first I'd love for you to give me some examples of what assumptions are but when we look at E and D is there a way to use that as a
tool to possibly raise the assumptions to give us a little bit of wiggle room to be more supportive to students and teachers wouldn't be possible tonight it would have to be a budget amendment in in discussions that you would take further down the road but um the D could be utilized um in that manner as a
budget amendment um to your point about the um some of the other um to your term the assumptions these are these are movements in the budget relative to the funding that the state u as we've already discussed and is the reason why there's the additional $400,000 in this
budget that we're placeholding with school choice there are also uh that $400,000 is a conservative estimate of additional funding that we could be receiving from the state in fact we just received a uh notification that the Ways and Means Committee has proposed a
supplemental budget that would increase the transportation um circuit breaker funding from the current rate of 44% to 75% in the current year that would be something that would support us this year but would actually be able to carry over into next year because of the nature of the circuit breaker being able
to carry it over from one year to the next excuse me so there's an example of that where um as a as an estimate if we were to increase our transportation funding in the current year by that from 44% to 75% it would be uh over $200,000
of additional funding that we would receive from the state in the current year that we could then be also helping support next year as well so that is the case that we are um there are multiple moving parts here and the conversations I I can only assume that the
conversations that are happening at the state house are affected by the conversations that are happening in Washington DC um but but there are um there's a lot of uh civic action relative to speaking to the states about
their chapter 70 formula and how they're supporting school districts um I'll share with you just one piece of information here that um in the governor's budget there's an uh projected increase of chapter 7 funding of 420 million or 6.7 6.17% increase in
chapter 7 10 districts will receive 58% of that money 20 districts will receive 73% of that money uh district such as ours we're one of the 232 who only receive um the receive the minimum student aid increase which is what we
currently have at the as the minimum student aid so it is the districts like ourselves that are falling that the the formula is failing and that is what the communities are we're asking all of our all our communities to be reaching out to their representatives to um to remedy
chapter 7 as we discussed at the last meeting Bob this is something they've been discussing for a long time but I think there's some real grassroots movement towards um a correction that would be assisting districts like our own as I mentioned in a previous meeting we had a we had a um chapter 70 increase
in this current year is less than 2% that's obviously not on par with u inflation so you make the formula's failing but the timeline's also failing so is is it possible then and I I guess the answer
is yes but maybe we can study for a meeting in the near future where we can use E and D to create um you know sort of a a positive tool to to support um if some of these assumptions come to help us out yes and as I said they
would it would require a budget amendment in the future okay okay and we could do that before this fiscal year ends you would if you were going to be using END you would have to do it before this fiscal year ends um because the END
won't be after June 30th we'll be into a new year and uh END won't be certified until late in the summer okay but you can vote the END in from the this 20 FY25 END can be voted as a into the
budget and operations 426 and thank you for simplify i mean we've been over the years building END but given the circumstances and the difficult times this may be a good opportunity to entertain that as a committee it's our rainy day fund
so I don't know that that requires any motion i think it's just if we could study that and maybe we can entertain a If I may you're in discussion for a vote oh yeah yes so I have to stop talking [Music]
trying to be helpful is there any other discussion seeing none we have to take a vote um does it have to be a roll call vote okay so go for a roll call vote jen Blum yes steve Sylvia yes carlina Hernandez yes
christing no courtney Brightman yes melinda Richards yes timothy Emory abstain bob Clark I have I have to abstain as well i mean
we have the lowest pupil per pupil expenditure in the state almost and yet our gradings of the schools are high uh I've been through what these people have been through before offering offered a
011% increase uh I'm I'm supposed to be for the for the students and this is going to have a negative impact if we don't get more uh more money so whether it's through an override or some other method that you that you
just described at the same time I go by every every Monday and Friday with this the food bank that got lined out the door and you have I'm torn for those people too but my job is to look out for the
students i I have to abstain on that motion carries okay for the second part of our vote looking for a motion to adopt the non salary portion of the
budget as presented now sh with a possible amendment no you're you're voting you're looking for a motion to vote that and then we could potentially come back to you with an amendment in the future okay so the
second part of it is looking for a motion to adopt the budget as is for the non-sary portion do we have a second second do we have a motion we didn't have a motion we didn't have a motion oh looking for the
motion first so do we have a motion so moved second discussion yep discussion so Bob you make good points but I I do really want to pursue that um research
amendment study to see if we can buy ourselves some flexibility um to potentially help um and give us the ability to change the facts because we can't move the ceiling it's always been my understanding at this point in the process but we potentially could go
a little bit higher with using END which I think it's time to try to do that so just to further and comment on your point Bob and to add to the discussion we hear you guys and we see you and we appreciate everything that
you continue to do um I for one recognize that voting this budget in voting this budget we have voted a number that may not meet our current needs however I am committed with fellow committee members to take
course of action that will not lead us to repeat a vote like this again so that being said do a roll call vote discussion oh sorry Tim did you so obviously I can't be part of the
salary discussion um I can however be part of the the the overall budget discussion and frankly I can see both sides of it right the town can only do so much but I feel
and again this is day two on the job right i feel as though we're rushing to do this vote tonight uh when the town vote still is still a ways off uh there's money that we're going to get from the state when the fiscal year rolls over in July that we
haven't seen yet so we don't know fully this is based on assumption right here with the budget we have there's going to be uh money from the federal government in October when that fiscal year rolls over again that we haven't seen yet but
we will so accepting a budget like this is is to me probably not our most responsible decision because it seems like we're rushing into it it seems like we want to put closure on it and and I
understand that that it's been ongoing but the fact of the matter is uh our school committee member or two who were part of the contract negotiations which I understand I'm not privy to they're not here now right uh so that's
not fair to the teachers that's not fair to the the town that they were so heavily invested in the fiscal budget and then all of a sudden two days ago they're not on the board anymore um so I I feel as a a
board we're being irresponsible to our town because that's who elected us it wasn't the teachers it wasn't the students the town elected us to to do this and I feel very strongly that it it would only be best if we brought our
best and right now I feel like we're just pushing this through to get it off our plate and hoping to move on and I think that's just going to kick us in the behind later and uh I don't want to we don't want to have a repeat vote like
this in the future obviously but I don't know that we have to stick with a vote like this now we're not stuck that we have time uh Melinda and I have been here and I'm not speaking for you Melinda but we've been here for literally a day and a half since I've been sworn in so this budget book is
brand new to me i had a little glimpse of it prior but the the reality that I can see is if we push this through tonight we're only going to create more problems for ourselves and our towns i don't know where the money's
coming from lakeville has a they're already tapped out no question right they're they've got four overrides deep already free town we are pretty tapped so I don't know where that money is coming from there's earmarked money for already other town items but the fact of
the matter is if we push this through we're just trying to take the the quick route out I feel and I think we're doing a disservice to not only ourselves as hopefully a team but to our teachers the administrators are going to have to have fallout from this too our towns who are
going to be up in arms over our vote to push this through so I I would I would suggest we we not vote this to pass tonight give ourselves some E and D time right buy us that extra
conversation that maybe maybe helps the solution or has that common ground but pushing it through tonight I I feel like it does a disservice to all parties involved can I ask a question don't we have a legal timeline that we have to follow it
has to be done 30 days or 45 days prior to town meeting which is June whatever yes i forgot june 9th for Freetown i don't know if Lakeville is the same wasn't it supposed to be done the end of March to have to get the the budget to the town by 45 days in advance which is
April 18th okay so we have to have our budget to the towns by April 18th yes so not really that much time to go back to the drawing board though right right um then my only thought is I I
wish I was here months ago to share that cuz it seems like it was pushed through and and bullied through to the teachers and to I I have to check to you saying I was bullied i mean I've been here for a long time nobody's bullying anything okay so we've had our discussion does
anyone else have anything to say we've had our discussion we have our motion on the table second discussion let's go to vote um yes no I just wanted to say I agree you know Bob I agree with everything that you said earlier um
we're having it seems like we're in just a fiscal storm we've lost pandemic funding has expired we um chapter 70 funding like Jack said is not keeping up with the rate of inflation um we have pressures from the town in Freetown there's a lot of unknowns we voted down
the MBTA zoning now we might lose grant money we don't know how much yet so there's a lot of unknowns in the town of Freetown as well i know you mentioned Lakeville's tapped out so it's a very unfortunate fiscal situation reality
that we're dealing with in this storm um I don't think anyone is necessarily happy we would love to do more my kids are at FES and I would love to do all that for them and I know yours are too um but we have a fiduciary
responsibility to our towns as well no and and students and teachers have have always been in the center but I do want to and and maybe this is I don't want to be the end of the discussion but the importance of an amendment in an upcoming meeting yes to give us
flexibility I agree okay I'm going to go jim Blum yes steve Silia yes carolina Hernandez yes crystal no courtney Breitman yes melinda Richards yes
tim memory no bob Clark yes motion passes motion [Music] passes moving on to new business the approval i'll make a motion to approve
the payroll vendor words for April 2nd 2025 second any discussion question so as new members do we vote on that or is that what's that like are we allowed to vote on that one or is that
um I'm going to say you would probably have seen because you weren't here okay [Music] appreciate your [Music] [Music] appate you have a motion you have a
second we have a second you have a motion we have a second you have discussion yep any discussion i was waiting is this a local vote okay do we have any
abstensions any anyone opposed to this no all in favor say I i i i can I ask a question getting back to the budget when it's
split now did both pass or just did the second part passed both passed both passed okay yeah i'm not sure if that's during public participation during public participation well I'm going to share it then i'm not sure if we have a pass i'm
sorry what right yeah i'm I have to share i don't sure we have a pass budget because it requires a 2/3 vote okay which was broken into two parts the second part was 68 I believe 62 i'm
sorry 6 out of eight sorry 62 and the first one was 53 52.2 yep so I [Music] That's No nope i don't think you get to
2/3 cuz you because you got a broken up vote so where do we go from here it seems to me you have one half the budget that passed one half budget did not pass so you could make a motion to go back to that part of
the agenda right you motion to go back to that part of the agenda you call for another perhaps another vote you have a discussion you need to do something with it okay so we're going to go back to the first one no okay so you're not moving to new business right no we're not
moving to new business we're going to go back to the budget and we're going to call for votes making a motion waiting motion okay go ahead y sorry i just did the read
okay move forward okay just for clarification we're voting on the first piece which we're voting on the first piece which is the salary so this is the one so this is the one that Tim obstains from
so I'm going to make a motion to adopt the salary portion of the budget as presented so moved second okay so we have a second so you have a motion we have a motion we have a second is there any discussion seeing no discussion what happen what
happens if it stays like that we get 112 right then we have to come back you have to come back but you're running out of time [Music] yeah where where are we like April 9th
so April 18th friday that's right okay so we have a motion go i have a question is the second part can be um amend like to the best of my knowledge we could present an amendment to the
entire budget at a subsequent meeting yeah so that's sorry that's a hope like understood right but if we made an amendment it can't go up right sure it can sure it can it can that has been a practice that it has not
but it could there's nothing in the in the agreement that says it couldn't go up essentially we're just trying to get it done now to meet the town meeting deadline and then we can go back and revisit the budget correct and make the
adjustment necessary correct so if more comes in then we can make an adjustment and we can go higher if that's a possibility and a hope so right now we vote on this and then if we're able to do an amendment because there's more
more money available then that's what we will do and then I I have a question Jack for you i remember last year um we did have uh the towns receive money back yes so
essentially the same will happen right in the event that we that we have money if we were to have money if we were to have I I don't project that to be the case this year because we didn't have the we don't have the federal money that we had last year but yes yeah okay
so so just for my confused head we have two courses of action we could amend the budget which changes the the assessment number to the towns which we'd be raising the ceiling on what we agreed upon with each town i would suggest that that's
scenario the second course of action is to entertain an amendment that uses END as a way to to as a tool to potentially offset the assumptions that will potentially come in correct without increasing the assessments of the towns
correct which and maybe it was was me but that was my hope that we were going to give ourselves sort of a useful tool on an account and D that is sort of meant for this to help us offset what could
potentially be cuts or deficiencies in the budget i believe that seems to be an easier and cleaner course of action because it buys us time it doesn't raise the ceiling to the towns which we've
agreed upon so we just have to work on that amendment so we voting do we have to undo the vote on the salary piece or we just have a new motion to vote on the salary piece see how that falls and then
we there's an urgency now to for that amendment i wasn't sure if there was a question it's really it's just I'm looking for statement it's just two c like two paths two paths you have two courses of action right
and I suspect given the way this process has been really collaborative with the towns i I don't want to speak for the towns but I think we've done a good job building a budget from zero working with the towns that the efforts been good to raise that ceiling now in just a budget
vote would be difficult but the other option using END seems like a a fair compromise and a good use of that fund and it will bring some remedies if needed correct okay so we have a motion on the table we
have a second any more discussion okay we'll go to a roll call vote jen Blum yes steve Sylvia yes carolina Fernandez yes crystal Ling no
courtney Breman yes melinda Richards yes so it has to abain bob Clark why abstain is it It doesn't pass then right because it'll be the same as it was so it's not the 2/3
yes with the with the caveat that we're going to look for what was the word you used that an amendment an amendment an amend with a caveat that we uh have an amendment to
uh use and D funds use and D funds through the superintendent perhaps you could draft some language that we could entertain at an upcoming meeting at an upcoming meeting and maybe give us we could study different dollar amount um and and make a recommendation
um through your office on what you think would be sufficient based on what we think are the assumptions happy to do that happy to do it thank you okay so that motion passes correct we're going to the second one as well no you don't
have to pass okay okay so moving on we have an ARHS book donation yes so FLRSD and the Freetown VFW chapter 6643 have forged a relationship of more
than 35 years through Patriots PEN and the Voice of Democracy speech competitions and by attending our Veterans Day celebrations freetown VFW chapter 6643 has generously offered to donate 23 books about patriotism and history which would be available to our
students at Uponquit via the library such books will undoubtedly be helpful to our students when conducting research engaging in civics action projects and when preparing for the Patriots Pen and Voice of Democracy speech competition we're seeking uh your input regarding that donation a vote would have to be
taken to accept the donation from the most generous people at the Freetown BFW move to accept um second through the chair we have a We have a motion we have a second and we have a second do we have any discussion no just like to say thank you to the
Freetown VSW for their generosity thank you okay we need a roll call vote okay so does anyone um abstain anyone oppose all in favor say I motion carries we will make sure that
the high school sends a thank you to our friends over at the VFW we're very grateful to them okay we're moving on i will keep this brief this is an overview of uh my superintendent's interimm superintendent's entry plan i did share this plan with uh a number of
constituents uh in the district it just outlines uh my thinking around what I'll be doing for the next several months um first and foremost forging relationships around learning with all of our constituencies to that end I've been uh making visits to schools uh shaking
hands with everybody who will meet me and certainly setting up meetings with uh people all across town to talk about the schools and I did send out a communication uh indicating that I'd be holding some parent events after April vacation uh looking to dovetail those with existing events so that you know
parents aren't looking to come out an additional evening uh again I'm learning the practices protocols and procedures here of the district those uh that I wasn't familiar with or any that have been updated since my departure uh I'd like to respect the history and culture while assessing our contemporary needs
uh you know in the first seven days I've come to understand we have uh we have some pretty significant needs certainly around budget uh and this was a very healthy conversation tonight uh I' I'd like to work to strengthen the success and address the critical areas here in the district and certainly work to
develop a shared path forward so those are like the overarching goals certainly of the first three months of my work it's very common for someone coming in as a superintendent not necessarily an interim to write an entry plan that you know encompasses their first year of work uh but since I'm an interim superintendent I thought it would be
good to condense that to like the first three months so everything you're hearing right now I'm trying to get done between now and July 1st and I'm hoping somebody will dump some Gatorade over my head when I'm done u I'm conducting a number of interviews with people across the district uh all types of
constituencies uh just to hear different perspective uh different perspective different perspectives on what's happening here in the district i've engaged in some site visits i've been to each of the schools thus far and I'm hoping it's the first of many visits and I have to say thank you i've been
incredibly warmly received uh by our teachers by our students by our staff by my fellow central office administrators here who've been uh doing quite a bit of work in the absence of a superintendent and I do believe they need some public recognition for that uh so I've been
conducting those visits i'm also heading out into town to make some visits to the two town halls to uh you know our police offices because I do believe this role my responsibility here is to our students and our families but those are major components that support our students and our families so making my
presence known and making sure that we're all you know lock in step in what is important and that is our students i'm planning uh on I'm currently engaging in a document review you know looking at all of the salient documents here in the district so I've done some some significant reading uh in
particular about our safety plans our school improvement plans and whatnot uh I intend to engage in some shadow experiences with our students so I can share uh in their lived experience in my previous district I was able to spend uh one day at each grade level so I would
send an email out and say "Take kindergarten teachers I'm coming set me up for a day." uh and and give me give me some things to do with your students and I'm happy to you know be in charge of your class for a little while so I'm I'm looking to carve out some time to do that this is clearly a much bigger
district so I might have to approach that in a different manner but I'm looking forward to understanding the experience of our students through their through their perspective and working with them and then the last uh component is mentoring and being involved in different associations that a superintendent would be involved with
some of those I'm familiar with because as an assistant superintendent I did engage uh one really common thing for a newer superintendent to do is to engage in NISP the the new superintendent training program i have been invited to be a participant in that but I have to
let you know I've declined that uh I've declined it because it was an unanticipated cost for the district we don't need to spend money on that right now uh I believe I've forged significant relationships with local superintendents and assistant superintendents and I have a cadra of people I believe I can lean
on uh should I need any assistance so I wanted to share that information with you it's been a delight to be here for the past seven days i'm seven for seven on attendance uh we were joking in the office about a measure of success being being showing up for work uh which obviously is a very low bar and not what
we're setting um and I I engaged in some really awesome school events a round table over at Grace uh I was at the Freetown Elementary MCCAST assembly uh I did see our students perform in Chicago and uh things happening in the classroom
on the stages on the fields are wonderful in this district we are blessed we are blessed by a very supportive community uh and a teaching coaching and administrative staff that work very hard every day uh I I believed that before and I'm reliving that right
now and I want to say a very public thank you to everyone who's been incredibly welcoming with that I'll I'll turn things over to our next report uh which is Jack Higgins thank you can I just comment first i I want to welcome you so welcome we're very fortunate to
have you but I also appreciate that you publicly recognize Terry Jack and Kelly and the administrative team around the district and and for all the teachers you definitely did an outstanding job in in in the absence of that that period there and we appreciate I guess on
behalf of the committee new and old but thank you for all you did but thank you for recognizing them as well and welcome to you I was going to say thank you for the end of the director's reports but you guys really did a great job from January till now we appreciate you a lot
and welcome we're excited to have you Dr starky thank you go ahead Miss Courtney i'm just going to ditto to what Stephen K said I guess well I was going to say it too all right well thank you thank you so much i appreciate the support all right so moving on sure so um as you can
see in your report our revenue um and expenditures are aligned with our expectations uh for this time of year as we enter into the fourth quarter um we have had some recent unexpected costs related to domestic water systems in our pump um that needed to be uh repaired
and the pieces replaced but um those are the items that we're closely monitoring as we continue to go through the year obviously we're out of the coldest part of the school year which has been uh which is always a difficult time when you're you're determining costs relative to heating oil and and electricity so
after having been through that we are now um projecting out for the fourth quarter um with with um optimism no more snow that's right no more snow no more cold days that are freezing pipes um and uh the rest of the report
is fell under old business with the uh substitute pay raise and the race update great thank you Jack any questions for Jack we'll be on to great miss Fleming you're up okay um access testing has wrapped up and we anticipate having
results from our um English language learners uh towards the end of May um MCCAST is off the ground so thank you to our administrators our tech and our students for giving it 100% um on their English MCCAST assess MCCAST assessments
and then we wrapped up PD um our fourth session of our modules wrapped up and we had 100 we've so far had 185 of our staff provide um feedback with 75 almost 75% of them having stated that they can immediately apply what they have been learning um with an additional 13%
saying soon by the end of the year they can apply what they're learning i was happy to see that there was no green on our circle this year that was one of my goals um so the green is somewhere over the rainbow they can apply it right like they're not quite there on their learning so um that was exciting and in the rest of your report you'll see some
updates on data for progress monitoring that's going on in um I Ready and Ern thank you Terry any questions for Terry thank you okay Miss Kelly Steel all right so I'm not going to go um
number by number but just you have your um spreadsheets kind of here i have it um my information blinked there um just kind of an overview um we have increased every building which is what we expect except for um grades because the good news there is we had a couple of kiddos currently um that did no longer qualify
for special ed um and it kind of balanced out some of the kids that did um so overall um we've been increased in the district um by 36 students and ultimately um last August I projected we would be at 581 total including out of
district and other high school um and right now with the numbers leaning we're going to land at 580 so I'm about one off from where I projected in a in August um and then I just put in numbers as you can see through um kind of where my out of district numbers are falling
and then I kind of go from there into just an outline of our 504 plans and where we are 9% of our students in the district are on a 504 plan currently um and the rest is just more static information um basically move in and move outs that we've discussed
previously and what those numbers look like they're pretty even this year 22 in 22 out so it hasn't really impacted but I will say and I think I said in the fall that um some of our moveins were students that had a higher complex level of need so they have required more support than some of the students that had moved out so it it still has
impacted us more on the qualitative um and quantitative level but we've managed it fine with with what we have here as resource and then just our evaluations I break those down i won't go through number by number but our initials which are kids that have not been on IEPs that are being referred um our re-evaluations
which are kiddos that are due every three years to be re-evaluated and where they kind of land and what's qualified and what hasn't and then additional assessments which are just if we do additional testing to get clarity around um students needs to be able to provide updated support so those numbers are
there um and then after that it's just what we have in process so we still have 37 evaluations currently in process probably a bit more we'll get a few more referrals um through the end of the year and then the last part for me is just updates and announcements there's only two CPAC meetings left i feel like they
kind of flew by this year um we have them May 6th and June 3rd we always love people to come out for those they're here in the library um at 6:30 in person vacancies there have been some changes courtney I filled those two positions just so you know um so well I didn't let's be clear let's see them off the
list they're off the list um and we got actually two really great people to to come and take those positions but we are um kind of note is we are hiring a special education administrator um grade 6 through um age 22 danielle Johansson has um resigned as of June 30th she has
given us plenty of notice which is good as as for a district um we've got some amazing applicants and we've already been interviewing this week and I'm hoping the interviews are wrapped up by Friday and that we can take the next steps next week so I feel confident there um and then we've got um Special
Olympics coming up on May 16th held in Dartmouth the families have all been notified they've had forms to fill out to let us know if they're going to participate we'll be setting up transportation families are invited um to join that and um they haven't given a rain date yet but once they do I'm going to be sharing that out um as well so
that people know what the rain is so that's it for me do you have a deadline for the um for the permission slips i only ask because I know a lot of times we have nursing situations that we have i do and it's on the slip but I can't remember the deadline itself that's fine so just as a reminder that get those
permission slips in as soon as we can so we can make arrangements yes can I ask a question about vacancies and hiring in I guess it's not specific to student services but do we do exit interviews like do we have I can't speak for prior but we will now oh okay thank you thank
you Dr starky you're welcome okay any questions for Miss Steel seeing none we're going to move on to public participation shall be in accordance with policy BDH each speaker will be permitted a maximum of three minutes during which they can speak
about topics listed on the school committee agenda for this evening this section is not a discussion debate or dialogue between or among citizens in the school committee rather it is intended to offer citizens an opportunity to express their opinion on issues of the school committee business
i ask that anyone that's here for public participation to please um write your name on the paper state your name and where you're from please so Christopher Moro I'm from Lakeville um actually just down the road um I left the school
district decades ago i remember you and I remember you um I would before I get to what I wanted to say I just want to say that well I left this district i worked I've been working in another district we won't say where that is um and I've never seen something like
this i am so impressed with this school committee it is unbelievable i've never heard such passion from a superintendent um your focus for your students and for this school and for your teachers and stuff is just amazing the passion that you have and the passion that you've set
you've expressed and the passion that you've expressed here i never see that ever in my district and it's just amazing okay that's probably 45 welcome anytime it's It's so different i You know anyway we want to end with you anytime so the
last time I was here though you specifically but not as chairman said um you were thinking about doing a um committee for the pool subcommittee yes subcommittee um I was wondering if you were if you've decided on a subcommittee and if you'd welcome uh participants so
we actually did do that tonight we put together a pool subcommittee so moving forward anyone that I guess we will figure out how many people we should have on this committee meaning outside of our school committee itself um and yes we do have several people who have
already expressed interest so we will certainly have them in consideration and I'd like to be considered i just feel that the history that I email already i think I think you all got it right yes yeah okay we've gotten so many emails okay they all look the same so thank you
very much thank you thank you for your kind words we appreciate it thank you and welcome thank you so much hi Carolize Freetown um just want to bring up um something that's been going on um and you're probably aware uh but it's more on the technology side of the
house um where the city of Taton has experienced some internet outages and just today it was um published published that uh the city of Fall River their computers are actually down and it could cost them out of pocket um it they're
looking at a potential cyber attack um so I just wanted to bring it up um I don't want to rain on anyone's parade by bringing that up at the end of the meeting or anything but u just you know throwing it out there in case anyone didn't know about that thank you thank
you thank you yes it affected the MCCAST process thank you thank you thank you anyone else for public participation okay seeing none we are going to move on to our subcommittee
updates we'll start with the regional finance committee any update no no update superintendent's evaluation committee unless you may know but we will um wellness health committee
meeting is in June policy subcommittee no updates no updates capital committee no updates no updates okay moving on to other business that may properly become before the meeting I have two things I want to thank you guys all again because
I don't think you can get enough thanks for the jobs that you guys have done for the last four months we really do appreciate it you have made this a lot easier for all of us and I am very thankful for that go for it absolutely wow you get up right up to that mic and speak you want me to do that absolutely
yes yes i think we need a lot of positives so let's go sivan administrator at at Grace i just I want to publicly say they've been absolutely amazing there hasn't been one time since whatever the date was January 15th or something that it wasn't very easy to know which one to call for
whichever and the phone was answered and the question was answered and they were very helpful so we were in good hands until we were in amazing hands yeah we love that i mean came right from it was more than just phone calls like they were available all the time and we've
also heard from the towns that the collaboration is what they've never seen before so I think that is a big plus for us as well um before we end tonight I do want to thank two members that have been here that are not here anymore and that's John Burke i want to thank him
for his service and Will Senitz who was here for many many years i want to thank both of them for their service in the past um it's time to adjourn oh I got one okay uh just a reminder of senior breakfast
i know it says it's it's you should have uh signed up excuse me but but we can always take some more we have about 45 right now i'm sorry we have about 45 that's low you have to add five more because I was approaching Dunkin Donuts
today so uh we'll do but uh I'm I'm sure we can accommodate a few more at 8:30 at the middle school cafeteria they use the side entrance to uh to access the cafeteria what day Jeff Bob monday monday monday thank you and it's a hook
okay at this time I'd like to make a motion to adjurnn second all in favor say I i any opposed any opposed any obstensions
i don't have any