[Music] right good evening everybody uh thank you for joining us tonight um I would like to open the meeting with a roll call to go into executive session for reason number two to conduct strategy with respect to
non-union negotiations or to conduct collective bargaining sessions with non-union Personnel specifically contract for an interim superintendent and 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 John Burke here will is not Jen Blum Bob Clark Steve Sylvia yeah Carolina Hernandez crystal in here
Courtney Brightman here thank you all right everyone kindly join me in executive session all the thank you everybody for coming out tonight the committee has been exe in an
executive session and is now returning to open session uh in addition I'd like to note Miss Terry Fleming Mr Jack Higgins and M Kelly steel are presid um I see Lake cam is here um aside from that is there anybody here tonight that's recording the
meeting all right seeing none I'll invite 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 thank you everyone I'll entertain a motion to accept Open session meeting minutes from February 24th of this year we move second have a meeting in a second any
discussion they're for L yeah they they're for Lake Camp apologize everyone we I'll speak a little louder they wanted you to turn the mic the mic the microphones don't broadcast out they're just they're not
speakers they just record audio to Facebook for us we'll use our teacher voices okay I have a motion and a second for acceptance of minutes from February 24th uh all in favor I
opposed abstain thank you I'll entertain a motion for the Open session meeting minutes for February 26 moved second I have a motion and a second any discussion all in
favor I opposed abstained meain uh Steve Sylvia abstained thank you I'll entertain a motion to accept executive session minutes from February 26th of this year
move second I have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor I opposed abstain Steve Sylvia also thank
you um our high school student reps good evening everyone I'm Karina Ivanov and I am Grace Johnston a lot of exciting things have happened at our school this this past month one such thing was course selection day we met with our teachers and planned out our
schedules for next year another equally exciting event is the upcoming sophomore semi-formal sophomores have purchased tickets for the St and are looking forward to the night they will spend Dancing With Friends a volleyball tournament will be taking place tomorrow in which students
will compete against each other in volleyball games a film festival is also coming up giving students the opportunity to create movies of their own and share them with the school next week is dog be nice week a week involving school spirit days and fun activities such as Barn babies and
therapy dogs coming to the school at the end of the week is a school event called a picon in which students will get together to play games and eat pizza it will be a great opportunity for students to spend time with their friends and show school spirit physics Olympics is also coming up in which students from
Aon AIT will compete in physics competitions against students from other schools also the Aon quit theater production will be performing Chicago in the beginning of April thank you for your attention have a good evening thank you very much guys okay our presentations for this
evening do we have um anyone from CPAC presid if Don Mel would you do you have an up I can speak to CAC so we had a meeting um last Tuesday night at 6:30 and it went actually a little bit over um Dr Carol McCarney presented on
bullying and kind of how bullying you know what the criteria is for bullying the investigations and then other measures and I kind of jumped in on school-based measures um as we spoke through uh The Bullying we had about a dozen people that came um we are talking districtwide about kind of doing that
again more through the district level um and hope to get a bigger audience maybe doing that virtually so that people can more people can join because it's tough to get here at night um but I think when the people that came it it seemed well received um we have a meeting coming up the first Tuesday in April of setting up
um special needs trusts and they have a lawyer coming to talk about that so that'll be a nice bless you a nice um presentation there Danielle Johansson will be there as well representing Administration and then we have two more meetings one in May and one in June so that's kind of what CPAC has going on they have they were approved um so they
can start doing fundraising and things like that so they just got that um all settled so they're excited to be able to move forward now um and do more fundraising and collect more money for CPAC so that's kind of where CPAC is currently um so the first of April if you're interested come on join us right
here in the library at 6:30 thank you any questions for Miss steal thank you Kelly okay thank you and I believe we have a presentation from our friends at Freetown Elementary School
so good evening everyone and as always thank you for this unique opportunity to Spotlight one of the many many Fantastic programs that take place daily at Freetown Elementary School and tonight
we're going to focus on the library SL media center and perhaps you think of the library as a place of a quiet place with books and study and research and yes that is true but it has expanded far
more than that and I can certainly say of you have heard me speak over the several years I've been here so you don't really want to hear me speak this evening so I'd like to introduce Mrs Jenifer laosy who is the library media specialist with several special Freetown
Fox friends so with that Mrs lovsky all good evening tonight we will hear from these third grade students who will present an overview of the library program at preown elementary school we have Adan a Cory BR Kay Elizabeth Emma
Abigail the library program focuses on the areas of reading technology skills coding research skills stem and digital citizenship skills we work with the Massachusetts digital literacy and computer science standards and the IST
International Society for technology and education standards I will now turn this presentation over to the third grade students there is a big emphasis on reading in the library classroom when we have a
library class for specials we bring in we bring back books that we borrowed and then take new books out there are approximately 11,500 books in the library we can choose from a wide range of books to read when we visit the
library which include picture books fiction non-fiction and graphic novels in this side in this students are reading a book with a partner for read class America day on February 5th we celebrated our
read aloud day five authors gave virtual presentations and read and read their books alow to the students at Freetown Elementary School we learned about how they became authors what it was like for
them to write a book and and so much more we got a chance to talk to them and ask them questions one of our authors Carrie AR even sent us a Rubik's Cube that went along with her
book we also practice our typing skills in the library we use the typing program type tastic we start out in kindergarten learning about where the keys are located on the keyboard and then by the time we are in third grade we learn how to type
we have always used this used the typing program type tastic but this year the new part is that we have our own accounts the accounts let us track our progress and follow the typing
activities in a specific order so we can see how much progress we have made the image on the left shows the activity name and after we have completed a level within the activity the circle will
become green and then we will know that we've accomp accomplished the image on to the right shows the names of the units that we work on throughout our time at FES
Elementary School in the library we learn about digital citizenship a big part of digital citizenship is learning how to be respectful responsible and safe online this year we use digital
citizenship activities on tastic to learn about topics such as net equip which means using Ed equate on the internet how to choose a strong
password how to stay safe online and how to best balance our time between online and offline activities the poster to the right shows
some questions that we might ask ourselves around the topic of digital citizenship all of these topics are part of digital citizenship we also spend time learning about how to code in the libr
coding means we learn how to build a sequence of steps or directions that a computer program can follow in this slide students are working with Dash and Dot robots during the hour of code week in December we can program the dash and
Dash robot to move all around the room we can program both types of robots to say words make sounds and change their light patterns we also use other coding program programs such as scratch Jor and kindergarten in first grade scratch in
second and third grade and code.org where we have been learning how the coding language python works we typically have Library once a week but if we have Library class on Monday and FL Friday then we'll do a
stem activity on one of those days in these pictures we have focusing on the engineering aspect of stem and designing a school after reading the story if I built a school by Christian van D we
designed a and built a twostory structure made from straws and tape and also designed a twostory FL plan to go with it kindergarten and first grade students also worked on the stem
activities based on the book snowflake Bentley by jackn Briggs Martin they choose a specific number of popsicle s and try to design a snowflake within the perimeter of the number of pop pople
sticks second grade students also used the Makey Makey which is a makeshift keyboard it also Tak a certain amount of keys on the keyboard students substituted pumpkins for the arrow keys
on the keyboard and use the program scratchy to create a code when students tapped on the pumpkin their code scratch would work what is a flexible app a flexible
app means that students have flexibility to respond to an assignment in several different ways this gives students choices of for how they can show what what they learned two examples of flexible
apps here on the pl padlet and SE so on both of these platforms students can work on assignments by showing what they learn through writing drawings speaking talk
Talking taking a picture or a video this year we we have been introduced to a few AI tools too in the P pad assignment to the last students were asked to explain about their favorite part of the story
mango a blow en Me by Meg matina in addition to this third gr students written response this stud this student also included a AI general image of their favorite part of the story
throughout the library we have access to several research databases our library is a member of Massachusetts library ass a cified library media
speciations speciales special specials is required for a school to become a member of the ass Association we learn about how to research topics using
bronica britanica fundamentals br br wait what branica branica school elementary Gil and context Elementary and Pebble go some of
the topics Rel to related to research that we learn about include searching for topics using keywords how to determine if resource is
reliable and what copyright means in one research project example kindergarten students learned about the Sho store which is an IND dangered species that lives in Africa students first learned about it through an ed
puzzle video and then participated in a live virtual field trip with a guest speaker who worked with Sho STS in Zambia Africa students learned more about these beds through through the V
field to presentation and they were able to ask the guest speaker questions about the shoe B St afterwards students collaborated on a green screen video about the shoe B Store and made a short
book on the book creator app here is a video clip how that I have sound up was there sound I play one more time the sounds up um are very beautiful I really like
them it's heavy as a bucket of apples as a pumpin this year this school year the library received five green screens throughout a grant we have four green screen boxes and one large green screen back jop the third grade used the green
screen boxes to ril several different FK tail and fairy tales that are shown here on this slide we worked in small groups and chose a folk tail or fairy tale to read then we wrote a script using a graphic
organizer we made the characters and props by drawing them and then we film the stories in a green screen box box boxes we used to what is it do in do in
at to put the video together with a background using canvia canv can a i image Janu Janu I can't say we will end this presentation by watching One groups
video which is retailing of the little red head H wanted to make a pizza she but she needed a piz piz a p so she asked cat and dog
and she needed some ingredients so she went to a vak to get ingredients then when she he got to the house he didn't have any flowers then she DED her
head out the window and said who will go to the stool and get me some flow said the cat said the the do
I little head out the window good evening would anyone like some pizza they all said yes then the little
red eat them all a slice of pizza little red and then ask who will help do the dishes yes [Music] hen wanted to make a
pizza so everyone thank you for that I know it was a little soft spoken so hopefully you were here it up this end uh but as you can see the library is booked still but just this last project with green screens and students
recreating a folk tale with um their own type of audience their own type of characters and what it's going to be and they share that they do that collaboratively just think of the efforts that takes as third graders to do that so that uh certainly highlights one of the many things so I don't know
if any of you have any question for our students I did share with them when we were rehearsing today that you may ask a question or two uh so we certainly will open that for you if you have are there any questions I won't ask a question but
just a a comment Bravo great job um just thank you and Mr Ward and M lovsky did I say that correctly you should be so proud and and clearly from you sharing the writing and and Gigi right the math and and all the other things you've shared
over the years and and now media with digital literacy and dig digital citizen Citizenship it's it's so important and I see Dr Sullivan saying I can't wait to get my hands on this cuz they're already prepared uh but but you certainly have a
a you should be proud of of your school great job and Bravo thank you so much great job you did a beautiful job thank you everyone I want to throw a question at them I I can throw a question at you guys you guys know me uh so the dash and dots right those are great robotics we don't have a lot of those
right how many what size groups do you have to work with the dash and dots on probably about two or three two or three in a group what would be ideal to work with the the the most and would be
four but the the most way to accomplish it would be three cuz then everyone would get like more than one turn maybe to um figure out and then they if they get it another turn they'll be able to know and do it even better than before
so we like the groups of three if we had more robotics would that be good probably a little more not too [Music] many thank you miss laas you do a great job in there thank you so much you guys did fantastic thanks guys thank you
everyone [Applause] [Music] Bravo all right and I can't help but realize we have a good amount of of the community here to to see our meeting tonight so I would like to entertain a
motion to move our public participation section um up in the agenda and I would like to hear from everybody now so move second I have a motion in a second all in favor I I I
opposed stained right I really cannot hear you at all we're moving public participation up I mov to public participation up in the meeting for right now we're giving you the
mic um our public participation shall be in accordance with our policy each speaker will be permitted a maximum of three minutes during which time they can speak about topics listed on the school committee agenda for this evening the section is not a discussion debate or
dialogue between or among citizens and the school committee rather it is intended to offer citizens an opportunity to express their opinion on issues of school committee business um I'll ask anybody that's here for public participation um also to print your name
and town on the on the um sheet at the podium does this go in order no some people already signed up so that okay as long as your name is whole list yeah as long as long as your name is on there okay we're happy all right I'll start C's behind me um do you
want to give you some information about the pool um it opened several years ago decades ago um from a grant we had a local girl sorry could you just say your name in town Christen Moro Lakeville thank you so much um a young girl um drowned um there was a grant written and
the pool was open so uh the whole Community could have access to the pool to learn how to swim uh Through The Years there been many people who've run the pool one of which is Sue cattigan who's standing behind me um I met Sue cadigan in 1987 um I was working at a program at
another town working with folks who had uh brain injuries one of the young men was a student um here at uh in Lakeville um who then we came here with them and we did some handicap swim programs there um uh I took over the swim programs in
1992 the both swim teams the the high school team and the warrior swim team uh Warrior team we had about 115 kids on the team um I'd like to highlight two swimmers one girl is named jod she was 8 years old when she joined the team um I was sitting with her mom and her mom
said gez I'd love her to do something but she can't run Skip Hop or jump she had Spin ofid and I said great let's join have her join the swim team um we put bubbles on her her mother kind of like this all the way during like swim team practice you know nervous but um
she stayed with us until she was 13 and her last meat that she was with us she swam without a bubble I've also had the other end of the spectrum where we had a young girl who went to the um two Olympic trials um so I'm just saying that we've had from all the spectrum of
Ages um we had an amazing uh parent support So we had 115 kids on the swim team and the parents did an unbelievable job of of helping out 2001 I left I had a son who had some medical needs I came back those several years later as the Aquatic director the quatic when I came
back as the quatic Director we had three major progr programs that were happening in Lakeville we had a w programs that were going on Lisa um had all of her programs before and after going on and we had an entire swim program those were three money-making things once the
director left the rec director left all the programs or many of the programs for w went downhill and obviously after I left no swim programs in the morning we started out with lessons from they we had half day kindergarten the people in the after the kids in the afternoon
program came in the morning they had morning swim lessons all morning at noon time I had an adult senior swim lap swim at 1:00 I had homeschoolers in that pool at 2:00 in the fall I had high school girls and in the winter time I had high school boys at 5:00 the warrior swim
team came in after that in a couple nights that we didn't have Warrior swim team because we didn't have it every night we had open swims and lap swims on the weekends we were filled with some lessons but mostly Splash parties movie Drive-In um movie Nights we had um
birthday parties in the summer that pool was packed every morning every afternoon and every evening all of the wreck programs that ran all the clinics I don't know if any of you guys remember this but we had ba baseball basketball
field hockey we even had swim clinics that went on and they rotated in the pool they had like their little half an hour like theyd come in and then go back to wherever we had um and we ran a a a unbelievable special needs program out of Freetown Elementary on that program
we had kids in there who didn't speak at all and when they got on that water they were yelling and screaming and laughing and it was amazing to hear vocalization come out of kids who never spoke at all um I'm here to tell you I'm going to tell you about all the programs we had
fizzed classes at Triathlon we had homeschoolers we had age group some teams we had parent child classes run by an adult open swim Splash parties birthday parties outside agencies came in uh we had scuba they were our biggest Money Maker um we had lifeguard classes
we would between 20 and 30 lifeguard um kids got their lifeguard certification then went on to work at like uh where's that place in leville P Clare Pond or other places um Scouts um we had Scouts we had special needs we had adult swims
open swim lap swim at one point um we even had a before school the teachers here would come in and swim before they went to school and we had moving night I could list more I just can't remember them all but I could probably if I had time um I think what we need to do is I
think you guys need to seriously hire a part-time aquatic director I think it needs to be the right person it needs to be somebody who's committed to this community it needs to be somebody who's got a swim background or who went to some of these programs it just can't be somebody's nephew who thinks that
they're good um it needs to be someone who's experience and that who will treat this as a community we need to use that pool it's the only thing at all of this Community besides the police and fire that everyone can participate in it's not a specialty program it's a program
for the entire Community I I think you guys should make sure that you become the community that says we want we want to provide opportunities for the entire Community to learn how to swim and to be safe in swimming we live all around all
these ponds um to be proud that you're going to make a connection with this entire Community with one program thank you very much I'm going to give my three minutes to Kristen again she's going to speak I
started I was hired in 86 to reopen the pool and start the age group for the kids from 5 through 8 to swim in fed class and I taught all the rest of the fizzed staff they all got certified to be lifeguard s to be able to teach their
own classes there was six fizzed teachers in ' 86 so we all had and everybody in those days learn how to swim so it it's very important and you get the pool and I know it's going to cost something but
it's worth it okay rest of my time thank you uh can we let I'm sorry can we let every Everybody y everybody speak first that that has come for it um oliv Souza town I grew up in this District I had the privilege of going growing up going
to that pool I spent my high school there I was on the swim team I was able to get my lifeguard training through that pool and then get my first summer job so we should have the pool thank you thank you I the rest minut go ahead hi um is this my
microphone or is this my microphone right there right there so I've got a little bit of a unique situation here I have a seven-year-old at home she's watching um she could not attend till I recorded it this is about the pool and this is for her my hope is that at least you guys can hear it we may not get it
here but you can watch it later um I'm Tara Vega I'm from East Freetown my daughter is seven she's from Freetown as well and she's at Freetown Elementary School is there any way that I can get playback to let me know if this is actually working can you guys you guys can't hear
once I start if it's actually projecting all right so we'll start just put it Clos to my name is kades hold on I well I'm I'm real tech savvy you can tell right okay let's try it hello my
name is Kaden F Jones I go to fella Elementary School I am in second grade I have been at FBS since I was in prek I
I have attended kids Cafe since I was 4 years old I am now seven I am here because I want to see the Poo be
fix if kids don't know how to swim they can learn at camp at Camp teachers help me swim so I could be like my friends who know how to
swim at the pool is a fun activity for campers I was able to swim on my vacation in South Carolina because I learned at Camp I wonder if the town could help
raise money as you can see it is really good to keep the pool open last let me ask you what would you do without the
pool for you um last last let me ask you what would you do with a empty pool if it gets clothes that is all
I that is all I have for today thank you you for your time Kaden figer Jones fetel Elementary School bye-bye anyway thank you um that's my I'd say two and a half minutes um I can
leave my extra half a minute to miss Maro I hope that it recorded I'm going to check with my husband if not I'm going to ask to actually read it for her um she worked really hard on this and it matters to her thank you we thank her very much thank you maybe I should ask though do you guys have questions for
her that I can bring home to she gave us some very good things to think about we we appreciate it thank you thank you good evening my name is Joselyn carvalo I'm from East Freetown I'm here tonight to also briefly share why I believe fixing the Great pool is crucial
for our community I graduated here in 2023 and I went to the schools in this District since kindergarten I used the pool in many different ways throughout my childhood I started with swim lessons at the pool I swam for the Warriors club swim team from elementary through middle school and I swam on the high school
team for four years swimming has always been my favorite sport and having a pool within a short distance from home was very important to me I also attended kids Cafe from kindergarten through Middle School where we had about half an hour every day to swim in the pool and most days we had swim lessons the pool is an incredibly important aspect of the
summer camp program and without it the enrollment for program could drop and the jobs provided to students surrounding the pool wouldn't be as available speaking of the jobs I also worked as a lifeguard for kids Cafe open swim and I did assistant coaching for younger swimmers as well these were
wonderful opportunities for me to make money during high school and it was great to have a positive influence on the younger students the grace pool is extremely important for our community it provides location for swim teams to practice great job opport for students and it also allows children to learn how to swim through the lessons and the summer
camp thank you for your time thank you hello everyone my name is Char cavaro and I'm from East Freetown I've been an active member of our community for the majority of my life and I'm here to speak about the pool I currently swim on the high school swim team and I've worked as a lifeguard and a coach up
until the pool closed I participated in kids Cafe for many Summers where the pool was the most enjoyable activity and benefited many kids I grew up with the water and learned how to swim from a very young age and this is this is essential for children to learn the gra pool provides that not only do the outside activities provide this
education enjoyment for children but others but and others but the pool system is a part of the Intermediate School physical education curriculum as far as I knew I'm not sure if it is anymore but it was very important to me in which now they are deprived of that due to the fact that I grew up with the
water I have been on the swim team since I was 5 years old although the aonic swim team has been my favorite it pains me to know that that my sport of 12 Years could be put on the back burner this past swim season during the winter I had to drive 30 minutes to the other pool we were using every night there and
back all the other Freetown kids had the same fate this is unacceptable to me because if you put it in the situation in the perspective of of another sport the results would be extremely diff different if this high school if this was high school football the football field and the football field needed
maintenance excuse me I truth truthfully believe that it would be done in a heartbeat I wanted to become a lifeguard ever since I was little and I've been for the last 2 years and even more so I've been a swim instructor for 5 years I've single-handedly experienced how the swim Community Values the pool and how vital it is to all the people involved
I've made connections with countless number of families and I've been I've made so many friends from the pool I've taught so many children to swim and I've seen them grow and flourish in the water as well as the previous girl Cadence I taught her how to swim the pool the pool is more place where water is stored it's
a key element of the Freetown Le bille school school district and Community people at free toown leag B deserve to have a place where they can learn to swim recreate exercise and have a place where they feel they belong thank you thank [Applause]
you hi my name is Lil and Wells and I'm from prown I attend kids Cafe ever since I was going into first grade and up until fifth grade and I
know that I've always looked forward to the pool every day but on Fridays we had the water slide and it wasn't enjoyable everyone everyone liked the pool way better than the water slide it got to
the point where people would like stop bringing their baby suits on Friday and they just start bringing like a deck of cards and sorry um oh when I was in fourth grade last year we were told that we were going to
be using the pool in fifth grade and now I'm in fifth grade and we're the the pool's closed and we can't use it and I know that a lot of my friends were looking forward to that and now no one gets to use it and I just hope that the
future fifth graders can use the pool thank you for your time thank [Applause] you should I write it first or first or or or after it's okay um hi my name is Matthew shinny I'm a
Lakeville resident um I was a student at the school district all throughout growing up and I now work at the after Care Program throughout my college Years I worked at the kids Cafe summer camp I
also went to the kids Cafe summer camp from age six up until they said I until Lisa Pico said I was too old to go she said mom take him back um funny how things always Circle wre
around but um with the summer camp program the the pool time is always my favorite part of the day because I get to put responsibility to the lifeguards for 30 minutes or so but it was definitely the
kids favorite part of the day growing up to me it was a favorite part of the day Not only was it a chance to meet friends play different games that you weren't allowed to play because you didn't have a pool throughout the rest of the day but um growing up my mom got
sick uh at a young age um she was always teaching me she loved to teach me how to swim and she was no longer able to teach me how to swim and it was hard for her and I remember from a young age there's a few
things that like stick with you I told her don't worry Mom they can teach me how to swim at kids Cafe and that might not mean a lot to a lot of people but it meant a lot to my mom in that moment and I think that moment
could happen for a lot of kids going forward if we get the pool the pool going again thank you for your time thank you [Applause] [Music]
hello I approached tonight with a vast array of histo history and knowledge as a school Committee Member a selectman a building committee chair member and the extended year program director 26 years later I'm still here fighting for these
communities each fall I stand before you to review the accomplishments and the difficulties from the prior year you are gracious you are kind and you are great ful I could not do this alone I have an incredible staff dedicated to ensuring
campers have safe engaged and having fun but 3 weeks in and 3 weeks to go we lost the pool bad behavior was high morale was low campers were hot and staff were on the brink of losing their
cool kids Cafe has approximately 220 campers per day in the pool that's over 5,000 campers service throughout the summer these kids are learning how to swim cheering each other on building confidence and having fun that one and a
a half hour Block it's now not a half hour it's 45 minutes so we're good there that one and a half hour block of swim time promotes good behavior campers are calm they're cool they're collected and they're ready for more activities and
projects if I'm being honest if it weren't for the pool there would be no kids Cafe we are fortunate to live in a state surrounded by ponds lakes and oceans water safety is key the pool has so much to offer it
has been underutilized for years and this has been part of the challenge according to Mass General law funds paid for services like the extended programs must go into a revolving account which carries over
until the next fiscal year these These funds according to Mass General law can only be used for program expenses since 2013 extended programs has brought in $657,000 386
$657,000 has a school committee at any time voted to move These funds to help maintain the pool or cover any other cost associated with extended programs budget season is very difficult especially in times of uncertainty I've
been around the block long enough to know if you're talking about maintaining classroom sizes while fixing a pool it's a losing battle perhaps in months to come after the budget is voted and we can move forward the conversation won't
be we can't afford it it would be how can we afford it and perhaps the motto wouldn't be close the pool it would be Save the Pool we need time to comprehend how we went from hiring a parttime pool
director to a major project repairs to Renovations which I have not been included at all and I've asked I'm asking the school committee to form a a pool subcommittee of interested parties to review research and recommend
a plan for the pool given the importance and the years of dedication by each of these communities and school committees before you it is so much more valuable than filling it in with concrete to be used for storage or a maintenance area
thank you thank you thank Lisa can I I have a question Lisa can you come back so I can ask a question please sorry
$657,000 is a lot of money we don't know where that has been that's only from 2013 to fiscal year 2024 so I don't have any of the figures from 1999 up until that point in time I can't tell you what what those figures
are evolving so why have we not used that money to make repairs over the years then I wasn't here over the years I'm not I I know I know for you in 2016 there was a major repair made to the structure not to the pool itself that
was the um Deb exclusion that took place and we'll be paying out the last bit of it next year uh but that was no work done on the pool structure that was or the pool itself it was just the building that had that was in disrepair as a result of the there was a ineffective
hbac System since the since the beginning so the a new HVAC system and then a repair of the structure made the building viable again um then getting into details of the the maintenance of
the pool I know it has been maintained um but then there was two years ago the YMCA diverter valve which is part of the um um the process that's necessary for the water to be go through its uh cleaning s site or system and
again apologize I don't have all of the language here but uh this was two years ago the cast iron YMCA dver valve like some of the other pieces of cast iron that are over 50 years old
um fell basically fell apart disengaged from the walls not able to be returned to the wall because we're talking about cast iron that was connecting it in the first place the problem there was then that it took 3 days for the water to go through a full cycle of clean so for the
last couple of years the pool has been closed for 3 days out of every seven that's why for example kids Cafe wasn't able to go in on Fridays because of those four days Monday through Thursday and then on Friday Saturday Sunday it had to go through the cleaning phase uh in order to bring the pool back it would
be necessary for that surge tank and all of those pieces to be repaired and replaced okay but answering your question Jen I don't that's what we're going to get to we don't have a number yet but we have to do an engineering study to find that find that out I mean I would like to I'd like to figure out
where that revolving fund is and what it's going to we know where it is it's it's it's the rolling fund that they use continually over the years but it's the money the 657 over 20 years if you divide 600,000 by 20 you're talking each
year they've had some of that money to to invest back into the camps and the program it's not quite 20 years but I start off at zero every year I bring money in every year that's okay that's all I was thank you thank you
sorry can I take the last one minute and a half from the yep if if there's nobody else to speak you're more than welcome to go ahe I think the young ladies and the young man did a great job but um I wanted to um go back on I never got to talk about
funding so as well as their money coming in there was also money coming in from all the the pool programs I don't have those numbers but I know that Meg does and she's worked for that I think she still works in the central office um I also want to say if someone's on that committee and you're doing a pool um
study I'd like to be on it like to volunteer to be on it I don't you have just like people but if there was a grant and they could figure out how to do a whole pool back in what year it was in the 70s in
the 70s I'm pretty sure we could figure out someone to do some funding for the pool again if for for some of the cost for that big YMCA um or whatever that's called thing against the wall thank you thank you thank you
I I see the pool update is on the agenda do we do we want to have a discussion on that at this point and take it out of order just given um Jack if you're okay with giving that update now I'll sure um I would so just for clarification I don't think a
determination has been made I think we have a pending engineering study speak up please okay um I sure um I lost my train of thought I we took out of order there's a pool discussion on the agenda we're going to take that out of order
and have the discussion now as a courtesy to to everyone that came out tonight thank you on a personal level I've been on that pool deck for countless hours my daughter learned how to swim in that pool um she's taught kids out of swim in that pool I think Lisa she worked for you she competed on
the high school swim team the the Warriors so I certainly understand the water safety aspect of that and the value of swimming in fact she still swims not on the team but she still swims on a stressful day when she's in college so in its lifelong friend so I
absolutely get it the other point I made is I don't believe a determination has been made to to close the pool at this point in time so that narrative is certainly not accurate it was my understanding we were doing our due diligence to get an engineering study
which is still pending which perhaps that's where Jack you can chime in and see if there's an update but I don't think that that's been completed yet correct so we uh engage with the be Associates for them to put together a proposal for a full engineering study of the pool uh that will be presented at
the next school committee meeting in addition to that uh we're in we're reaching out to some other neighboring communities whove had similar issues relative to pool work and what kind of projects they were able to do or what they needed to do in order to bring their pools up to code or and and to be
used again right specifically New Bedford for one example which is a pool that was similar in age and was brought uh back to use about 5 years ago great and and and given the budget conversations and the reality of that
combined with the pool there will be a decision at some point but I think we'll make an informed decision based on obviously community support and and conversations within the the committee or any subcommittees we come from there that would be my thoughts on that thank
you for the update do you think it's too early to make a motion to form a subcommittee for the pool to get the community some staff central office all involved to start researching and coming up with different I I truly believe that
as a community that people can do a lot of things um I don't have a child in the system that went to the pool but I do have a son that worked for Lisa at kids Cafe and I do remember to Lillian's comment uh when the pool was down and
they were doing the water slide he was not a happy camper coming home and he was working there um so I do understand how important the pool is um I just I think that if we're going to do a subcommittee which I think that we should that it should evolve all
parties not just some parties so I don't know if it's too early to make a motion to get that started but I would like to if you're all cool with it in my opinion it's not too early okay if I hear a lot of about talking about
the budget and fixing the pool which is obviously something you have to do in order to fix it you need a budget but then moving forward there could be so many activities to bring in Revenue so the revenue brought in will be for the town and further maintenance
I feel like we're missing a lot of different opportunities it's been mismanaged there's no question about that obviously because years ago there were a lot of programs that brought in a lot of money and now there aren't so right so it's like we should definitely fix it and then bring back all the
activities and that's so much revenue for the town like it's kind of a no-brainer right I think it's a no-brainer I don't understand why there's even a question I personally feel like it should have been kept up with facilities that or other
facilities that we have basketball court football fields like it's it's been part of this community for a very long time we have a swim team so I mean obviously you can all tell where I stand on it I also believe that you guys as a community putting all your heads
together with central office and some of us can possibly come up with something that maybe it's not going to affect our budget as much and so I would like to make a motion to put a pool subcommittee together that consists very much of like we did for the superintendent subcommittee because we had a great
group of diverse folks that all got together and that worked out really well so I'd like to make a motion through the chair can I just uh yes go ahead for the last two months I have taken it upon myself
to look for Grants it's no easy feat um a lot of things we haven't qualified for because we're not considered a rural community because we have both towns and that adds to it but I work for a
nonprofit and I have been looking through all the grants another thing I came up with I know the pool is not ADA Compliant but there are grants out there but it's it's like 10,000
15,000 it's not really enough would it help absolutely because I had thought that maybe I mean my son my oldest son used to go to have aquatherapy there um and that was fantastic but Steve and I were
talking about the pool deck the pool deck was about this wide so there's no way that that's 8 compliant so we'd also have to put that in in a lift but I could also see that as bringing in money from different therapies so like I said I'm trying I'm
working I've been asking other people if they can help me find grants um you saying it need to be $10,000 to no it just just grants to bring money in just small amounts of money to help to cover okay I was going
to say let's what is the annual operation cost I have no idea yeah I get I get that number yeah that could be a topic for the SubCom I I think the reality is we have no idea of the cost until the study comes back so well you mean for the for repair do we have no idea right
well repairs then it's operating correct so you've you've operated for a number of years how much does it cost to operate well here's the thing about operating for several years though it hasn't operated at capacity right so we can't even go by those numbers because
really there should have been a lot more programs going through that pool than have been right we might not be in this position had there been more programs going through that pool for the last 10 years right very I I think it's certainly an
important topic I I like we do have a motion on the table so I have a motion in a second um is there any further discussion all right um um I have a motion in a second to establish a Grace
pool subcommittee consisting of uh various stakeholders to be determined I would say communities some of us staff members some people from Central I think we need it from everybody y's and nays so we can really
tackle this and figure out what can be done or not be done because no matter what whether we fill the pool with water or we fill the pool in money has to come from somewhere so we've got to figure it out regardless it doesn't matter which way it goes we still need money to be able to do either one of those things we
cannot just leave an empty pool sitting there right all in favor of formation of a subcommittee i i i opposed abstained okay um I will ask I'll I'll
put something in writing but um if folks have interest in participating on something like that um give an email to school committee or reach out to someone that will you know we'll forward it our way and we will we'll put something together
I don't know if we'll be able to include everyone that's interested because i' got a lot of interest already but we will start that process for sure thank you everybody and thank you Jack for the
update um I will entertain a motion to move up um new business uh next on the agenda for this evening have a motion and a second I miss I'm sorry to move new business are
we not doing new director's reports um I would just like to move new business um ahead of that okay [Music] oh accept a motion for that I didn't even hear what you said I have a motion I would like a
second just to move new business up second ahead okay all in favor [Music] okay okay thank you everybody for coming
tonight no thank you guys thank you thanks thank you thank you Mr wood by go ahead I would proceed good night Mr Ward go ahead John um I'll entertain a motion for approval
of current uh payroll warrants so move second Motion in a second um any discussion all in favor I I opposed abstained thank
you um interim superintendent contract M to approve um second okay um the committee and executive session approved the contract to employ Dr Barbara
starky um the contract provides for do Dr Barbara starky I apologize to serve as interim superintendent effective April 1st to June 30th of 2026 and pending summi of evaluation
results to continue forward as superintendent from July 1st of 2026 through June 30th of 2029 I will entertain a motion to ratify the contract and to have the chair and
vice chair of the school committee sign the contract on behalf of the committee still mov or you I have a motion second second I have a motion and a second uh could I have a a roll call vote for that kindly
Rene John Burke yes Jen Blum yes Bob Clark yes Steve silia yes Carolina Hernandez Obin Courtney Courtney Brightman yes yes crystal in yes all right thank you
everybody um fmls cultural Grant award uh Jackie Francisco the Middle School e e dve supp [Music]
so I just gave those list of those few things and would like they Andy community service out of that company I think that's report uh we the list of proposed surplus vehicle uh Vehicles is in your
packet there are four vehicles that are no longer operational two of the vehicles were donated by the town of Lakeville in approximately 2018 uh as they were no longer roadworthy but we could be utilizing them on the campus um no both are no longer in operation or in
service due to their age and condition uh the pickup truck was donated in approximately 2018 by our director this is the third vehicle this a pickup truck was donated approximately 2018 by our director of fa ities to be utilized by on the campus also not no longer roadworthy but could be utilized for
things like plowing snow moving equipment uh and on the campus that is true that too is no longer in service uh the van uh had been originally voted Surplus by the school committee um as a former special education van uh the
facilities group took that actually I'm sorry Food Service uh adopted the use of that van for the transport of food across the campus uh however now that van has uh no longer is in operation and would need to be um surplused those are
the four vehicles you have in front of you I apologize thank you John okay to approve of vehicles the circles second Motion in a second any discussion what do we do with them uh we have a that we're actually able to
um get a company to come and take them and they'll actually give us money for the scrap I have a motion and a second all in favor I opposed stained SCB
okay um have a a discussion Point um our correct me on my terminology please Jack um our auditing firm Lynch Marini and Associates um is able at a at a future
meeting to come in and present our fy4 financial audit um and answer questions um um we can consider this a basically a first reading um not looking
for a vote tonight but just wanted to make um explain it offer it to the whole committee that they are uh willing for a nominal cost to come in present their findings and answer questions um this was this came up as
part of the Regional Finance committee's most recent meeting um in a conversation about a thirdparty financial audit um so the thought was the come
this company that did this audit can come in present their findings answer questions um if this committee feels after that presentation that a a third-party audit might be something we're looking
for then those those discussions can happen anything to to add to that anybody Jeff so they have volunteered or volunteered they are able to come on May 7th to the May 7th meeting and through the chair is this the
recommendation of the finance committee this was the result of a conversation within Regional Finance within the regional finance committee there wasn't a recom necessarily recommendation as much as it was part of the discussion okay and just from my own head we're looking at FY 24 and we're
having a budget discussion on FY 26 can I please um can I interject here so I think the topic of having having Lynch Marini come in and present to us came up actually months ago and I think it was at this table when um questions
about the audit originally came up so this is separate and aside from the third-party audit the regional finance committee was discussing so I think one of the discussion points at the last regional finance committee meeting was perhaps using the results of this audit
might help us dire the scope of that other audit um because there were still questions surrounding the scope and nobody could pin it down so we thought having them come present to the public and present to this committee would help with that task so my plan was the next time we
meet to have this as an item and to vote as to whether or not this committee wants us to bring in Lynch bini and Associates to talk about this this audit and fy2 24 is the most recent Financial audit we have available because we're
still in fy2 so you can't audit that yet all we have is FY 24 okay and then this will put this to bed correct Y and when are they available may may may
7 that's five okay okay all right um changing directions to our director's reports for the evening Mr Higgins sure so um we've already covered two of the items that
were on my uh report one was the grace pool update relative to the engineering study that will be um The Proposal which will be presented uh at the next school committee meeting uh in addition to that there was a description of the surplus vehicles in which case then you would have the vote on that later in the
meeting but we've already done that part um this is an update regarding the FES controls and campus HVAC deficiencies project that we um embarked on at the beginning of this uh school year the project to install hbac controls at FES as well as to address the number of
deficiency deficiencies identified at the campus schools is nearing completion the project was a change order to the original Energy Management project that the district has been engaged in for the last several years um and we are expecting that both of these items will
will additionally provide us um Energy savings going forward as those deficiencies there therefore are starting to be more we're creating more efficiencies within the system in the case of it as as I've mentioned to you and talked about before
at FPS that's a having the control system at FPS is is an um a movement back to where it had been probably more than 10 years ago when you control the entire system and schedule the heating and um the heating
system within the building which enables you to be more efficient when the control system went down again about a decade ago um essentially it was just a switch you turned it on you had heat on in the building you turned it off when you didn't have heat in the building and so you can as as everybody knows you
have a the smarter you have as a thermostat in your house the better efficiency you get in heating your house and that's what essentially this is it's a very smart very smart thermostat any questions for Mr Higgins thank you for the update U Miss
Fleming okay I want to um start my time with the fun stuff and that is just a little continuation of a glimpse at Freetown Elementary School uh they are doing amazing things in the building and here is their Journey with GG bulletin board where they are traveling around
the world and using the number of puzzles they have to um document locations that they could make it around the world so those are all little postage stamps with some highlights around the countries that they um are visiting as they knock the puzzle Journey out of the park lots of students
that um both FES and AES that are at 100% of their journey and working on bonus and challenge puzzles so great great times with Gigi I was showing off earlier when I G I was trying to get a reaction yeah those kids and a lot of
those kids that you just saw are probably at the 100% Mark too um just uh you have in your packet the more formalized data documents and that would be cohort to cohort for mcast and I data I did want to just show you
that um the middle of the Year assessment for I has been done so if you are looking at this document the lighter color color is the fall and the brighter color is the middle of the Year assessment what we're seeing is we are seeing that um that really wide yellow
line at the um beginning of the year where we had 102 students one grade level below our is now very very um small and limited it has so we have increased our percentages from 32% students that are on or above grade
level to 62% that are on or above grade level for ELA and and um the 11% of students that were uh two grade levels are more be behind below are is now at 4% so we're seeing um wonderful growth in ela uh at that building and then
below that is the math and again the lighter color is the fall assessment and the brighter color is the middle of the Year assessment where we are seeing we were seeing only 17% of our students honor above grade level we are now seeing um 51% of our students at at or
above grade level in math and then we have um decreased again that 11% of students two grade levels below or more to 1% so uh both math and Ela are showing good growth uh in the building and we
tend to see the best growth in this middle of the year so I'm looking forward to seeing if they continue to make the progress at the end of the year what's in your packet is mcast data compared to I ready data cohort to cohort so that would be your
well the third graders and then how they did as fourth graders we don't have second grade mcast so you don't see quite the same as if I were showing you gra when we had gra packet FS packet this is a glimpse of the early bird literacy which is our dyslexia
screener that is being used again one of the highlights to this program is the drilling into the phonic um phic awareness fency vocabulary into finite categories like non-word reading non-word spelling word reading and letter not just simply overarching
um overarching categories uh we are as a as a team struggling with the next step on this so I'm reaching out to the company to go what now we have this information and we're not finding um some of those application pieces that we want I did show you that there are some
lessons that are built into the program so we are kind of analyzing uh we've never had this much data available to us and so the teachers are um really trying to figure out how early bird supports the growth in these areas um
and so if you are talking with teachers they're going to we're having that moment of okay we have some good data now what are we doing with it those are good conversations in this program they use a dark blue light blue instead of the red and yellow uh it's a it's a not
a lot more soft uh looking as far as not so blaring with the red light green light type of look to it um I wanted to show you that the teachers are able to listen to the students they're recorded the students record their voice and so this teacher
can take this recording and listen to it over over again so even if the Rand scoring which is done by the teachers as they listen they can go back and listen to a student again it's one of the benefits um one of the disadvantages is the Rand scoring assessment is only given at the beginning of the year and the end of the year so we don't have a
middle of the Year test on this and this is what we drilled down to right if someone is struggling with their uh rapid autom automized naming then we can go into subtest and work around it for our tier 2 interventionists which would be like our our staff that come in uh a couple times
a week and work with small small groups um and there's rgg uh at fds they are doing math week and so Mr Ward uh um is usually measured and an estimation day and so this year Gigi was honored and is
now the I'm giving something away I won't tell the answer but the FES students will be measuring and estimating Gigi's height versus Mr Ward's height because they kind of all know now what Mr Ward's height is so they get those estimations really correct so so Gigi was able to visit and
have some kids work with Gigi on estimation uh Sarah D Maduros has done a really nice job every year of setting up the math week and this is their schedule and then here's some wonderful pictures of our students as we work to engage students in implied learning we
need them off the books and off the papers and off the screens and doing things um so the 100th day of stem uh there was some tower building and some challenges for students to um build towers out of uh paper cups and then in the middle there you see our science
unit on light using um what types of materials light will go through so refraction and reflection and then on the right I wanted to highlight that technology is being used in the classrooms and you can't it's a little bit of a blurry picture but if you look
all the way to the right you can see um the teacher is actually one of the students so the student is leading this conversation with the the classmates and using the prometheum board um during the lesson and the teacher is actually not
even close to the prometheum board right now so we continue to focus on writing across the content and so here are some writing samples of our students uh in both math and language arts there's a little red hen that U
Miss lovsky added to the green screen shadow boxes and just another shout out for Senator Rodricks and the funding that they provided for those um both the elementary buildings are using those shadow boxes frequently with the students and um gray and the middle school have
started to brainstorm how they're going to embed those um in some lessons next year so very excited for the big screen big green screens too which our high school one is in that back room we could all go make a video
together uh those are some of my highlights from fbes I do love showing off all the hard work that is going on and our students have um a great voice uh in make choices in their building I also wanted to just uh give a shout
out to our High School athletics as those seasons are wrapping up uh Mr kabio has given some updates and our girls ice hockey players are um headed to the final round they made made it through some rounds they weren't expected to and so kudos to them and we
want to wish them well as they face methin um in the state semifinal uh this weekend our high school students also had uh art and played jazz music at the Lakeville Arts uh Li Library little side area there and
um we just have some amazing talented students so if you go to the high school website there's some pictures of some of the students in their work that was chosen they had to submit their work and and have it uh chosen by the lake bille Library Council and so that was a a very
nice event um that Mara Irwin uh kind of heads up and and helps to facilitate so those are shout outs that the I didn't get to hear from our high school Representatives today so I wanted to make sure to give those uh now for some hot topics in the district we'll go from the fun to a little bit different stuff
competency determination is still on the table so the state has had some special meetings um I've attended those meetings and what we're now hearing is they are really going to um hold districts accountable for two parts they want the
satisfactory completion of coursework and they want the showing the Mastery so they're not going to um allow for competency determination to simply be passing math class passing English class paing passing science class so that will
be part of it that's the coursework part of it um but they are also going to be requiring that districts submit that second piece of showing Mastery and that could be uh portfolios or that could be performance tasks or that could be um Capstone projects um because we
participate and hold our students to master core we are sitting in a much better position than students that don't because some of those pieces fall into place we've started to talk with the curriculum leaders about what a Capstone project could look like and when that might fit into a schedule um there's
going to be kind of an intermediate step for our 2026 graduates the state says they are going to come out with more guidelines um they're about a half a step behind our deadlines unfortunately so this information came out after their initial deadline that we had voted on for our competency determination for
2025 we are completely within compliance for that um however 2026 may need a a adjustment which would mean an amendment to our uh program of studies for 2026 graduates and I will keep everyone posted as that starts to unfold
definitely changes for our 2027 and 2028 group uh the board of Elementary and secondary education is seeking public comment so I encourage all of our community members to go on and give their opinion on competency determination that link has been in the
Sunday message for two weeks and it will continue to be there um through the open um uh public comment term and they have it in English Spanish and Portuguese and I thought that was um nice as well to include the other Hot
Topic I want to make sure that sta uh that um our community hears about and Ryan Blanchard is here tonight to uh back me up or correct me as as we have worked really hard on some of this uh at the beginning of February uh Ryan came
into my office and said hey guess what uh Google is putting some restrictions on their additional resources so we had about a month to turn around uh some decis decision- making on the use of additional services so Google has their
um Google education for workspace which is our Google forms and our Google documents and our um class what Google Classroom Google Classroom uh and and the typical things that we're using in the in the classroom for um
instruction what they are now deeming as additional services are Google Bookmarks Google Earth Google Groups Google Maps Google my maps Google photos Google translate and YouTube now these are um applications that if you sign in to
these and you use these as an account they are considered an additional service they are not providing the data privacy agreement um with the schools for these and they are requiring parent consent forms be signed for each of these individual apps that are being
used um so Ryan and I went through the process of reaching out to staff with a Google form as to which of these platforms they felt were absolutely necessary for kids to free roam on and I'm going to use the term like surfing right like that your students how many
of you are giving your students free reign on YouTube how many of you are giving your students free reign on maps and photos and so forth and we tried to explain that it is a difficult concept but um because sometimes we use a link to YouTube that is not giving our students access to YouTube as a open
platform it is giving them that video that we've watched and letting them see it um and so we accumulate acquired all this information and then we set times for going out and talking with staff of course this is with sandwiching February
Breakin so we were really uh it was a little stressful um so we went out and we talked to staff members about again just what are you using it for what are you looking to use it for and then talking about this need for a signature page from parents and how that would
look we decided at that time that the information would come best from the teacher so if I am the high school earth science teacher and I use Google Maps for my instruction then it would that information would come best for me as a as a earth science teacher um and so we
provided forms the consent forms to the teachers that um requested this parent consent form and those were sent out the middle school did decide to send them out universally I think that um and hindsight they
probably would send it out differently now because every teacher in the building doesn't allow for these uh additional service access points uh the middle school did communicate with parents um either through Aspen or M a form home requesting parents to determine whether
they would like to consent to their student using specific additional Services we have had so many good conversations including with um prior school committee members and we want to assure that the the community that our concern is about student data privacy
and that the reason this is out is so that you are aware that you that this is an option for you um if teachers are using those platforms we are working to show them how to use them safely that would be embedding A Link versus is just saying hey kids go to YouTube right we
don't really want students going to YouTube I don't even let my own high school students go to YouTube there's parental controls but as a district we can't set parental controls we either give them access or we don't um so we have had many parents respond and and we have those students now that have um
open access to the additional Services we are putting a a team together to look at um the future of this this is a short-term response for us we want to make sure that we're looking at this from the whole standpoint of educational access and What do teachers really need
for this so we are um putting a team together including staff and admin and I would love for some parents to email me and say they'd like to you know be a part of that conversation and um by September we'll have made some further adjustments to to the access to the
additional um Services what I miss Ryan yeah no come on nothing we've been practicing for a month right I know we have uh Ryan has been bending uh twisting pretzeling himself to make sure
that we are checking with districts um he has been on his Network email and finding out what other districts are doing um we really believe that we took both sound and exceptionally High expectation steps to um ensure that our parents were notified were given a full
picture of what was happening um I can speak that there are other other districts that are providing very little information to their parents and just saying hey sign this paper um and that's really not what we're looking for we're looking for transparency and knowledge and um the K to five buildings were
happy to like have things tightened up and not have to worry about kids being on sites that they didn't really use for educational purposes so any of those questions can certainly come through me um or the building principal and we're happy to answer those for the community
school committee parents and then the last thing I have is mcast is around the corner I said this when uh after the November vote mcast is not going away we still are required to take it uh parents will be receiving a formal letter from me that really covers the why we're still taking
it um I know each of our billing principles will send out the more congenial letters that are the reminders to get good sleep and eat good breakfast before amcast and encourage your students to do their best because it really is providing has information about how our instruction is going and
what we can do to improve focus areas um and drives a lot of our decision-making when it comes to um shifting interventions and so forth so I am encouraging families to continue to um take it seriously Freetown Lakeville has always done really well and I am
anticipating no change for us there because we're just good students thank you thank you ter thank you any questions for Miss fing Terry thank you yeah I I got a question oh sorry who's going to evaluate the uh this competency data
that's a great question so I was on a call and uh Rob curtain is uh the person at the state that I have the most conversations with and I asked him the same question um that's putting a lot of workload on the state to look at districts and determine whether there is
consistency um um without using mcast mcast was the way that the state looked for consistency across districts and now um with that boat we are now having to find task districts with finding their own way to determine competency and then the state is now going to have to
determine if that's Equitable um and accessible across the state so they will have a um group in his if you look at the flow chart there he has a whole column of people and departments and it will fall in his Department to figure that out he is a numbers guy but I'm I'm
I'm afraid this is going to be a task that's pretty heavy for the state to be cynical I mean it seems like they a FY F that mcast is out as far as as far as that is concerned so they they're introducing this to as an alternate
pathway that will be easier to do I mean I don't know if that's accurate or not I I don't know that's easier Bob um I'm going to say that it the vote came as it as it came and their respond to it I think it would be easier for them to evaluate competency
if they continue to use the mcast right however the vote took that away I know but this this is trying to this is an end around if there ever was so we've always had competency determination that's always been a part of it but mcast has been linked to it and now because mcast is removed from it the
states just have to I mean the districts just have to say this is now what our competency determination means and when I talked about Mass core if you think about competency determination being here grade 10 Mass core actually takes us through grade 12 and so we are in a good place to say we are doing these
pieces and we're going to make that our competency determination and that Capstone project really my cap those types of things are a part of that I'm going to look forward to seeing who's going to do this competency U well you should just join my little like group
should be interesting do some research with me oh that's just what I want to do all right Terry thank you you're welcome M steal all right I also focused on FBS um kind of wrapping up our school tour uh this year so looking at the
numbers you'll see there it's our smallest school so the numbers are are a bit smaller in special ed um our prek students in special ed are 30 um and then kind of running K through three it's 12 14 15 19 these are all students on IEPs so it's a total of 90 students
currently um three three students that if they weren't out of District would be connected to fs and we have three students that are either homeschooled or privately placed so 90 in building uh 96 total and I just listed the staff staff are similar across the district so I kind of won't get into it you'll just
notice that we have um preschool teachers included here and not in any other building because that's where our preschool is located um so total number of students at FBS is 378 um 90 INB building students so that gives us a 23.81% of students um on IEP
that seems high it is high but you have to think with prek prek is there a lot of it is mostly for our specialed students so it kind of skew the numbers a little bit if you took the prek out it's right where all the other schools would be um There are 16 students on 504
plans um so that's about a little over 4% of the population over at FBS so I won't go through grade byg grade placement by placement but overwhelmingly our prek kids are in integrated preschool um with seven in sub separate and then kindergarten kids
um you can see too we have five sub separate and then we go down the line um our full inclusion numbers are definitely bigger and kind of as a reminder full inclusion is 80% or more time spent in the general and classroom being serviced um partial inclusion is between that 60 80% and um anything over
60% outside of the room is sub separate so you'll see our numbers there um I'm feeling good about where we land especially with our tiered Focus monitoring coming up with the state next year um in March we have our big review and so part of the um kind of determination indicators they look at is
what is our level of partial inclusion full inclusion and sub separate and we are exactly where we should be so I feel good about that um and then we do have some kiddos that get only related services so just speech Just OT just PT um and then I just listed again my private and out of District kids there
so that's kind of how they fall placement wise um Dr nevs is the 504 coordinator at FBS she has 16 students currently and um it starts always lower and it usually gradually goes up over time so kindergarten right now we don't have any students on 504s grade three is
one I mean grade one is three grade 2 is six and grade three is seven um and then I just listed power professionals and kind of where their place and located within the building um so you know the prek level a lot of that is to sport special ed and then we have grade level powers and then we have some power
professionals that share between students as outlined in their IEPs and we have five um Power professionals who are oneto ones um important to note that sometimes leans more into our sub separates um than it does out into the main um inclusion setting not always but
it leans more into the sub separate setting and then total initial evaluations so far this year we have 25 um at this building re-evaluations which means kids that are coming up on three years to be re-evaluated we have 11 and then additional testing where we could say we want to dig deeper in a certain
area we've got four um so out of that 10 students that were out of 11 that were re-evaluated continued to qualify and 14 out of 25 students that were initially evaluated which had means they hadn't been previously evaluated um qualified um and then we have my did not qualify
underneath um and then so totally completed our 40 evaluations we have 29 pending pending means consents have gone out and they've either been signed or not signed but they're also in the middle of testing so those have not been completed yet so I would anticipate um we're going to hit more after that I
have numbers for that too um I'll dive into to that in a second CPAC our next meeting is coming up um the 1st of April for our meeting with a lawyer president as I spoke earlier um to talk about setting up a special meets trust for students so that'll be a really good
conversation and good information for anyone that can join it's right here in the library at 6:30 and then we have a May and June meeting I can't believe we're talking about our ending meetings of CPAC already this year but we are um I did share out some information about um to the CPAC chairs about a job fair
not a job fair but like a resource Fair rather um that Foxboro is doing to kind of give them some information I did that when I was in Mansfield and joined Fox borrow and we had a huge turnout so I sent that to them so they could kind of take a look at that and um maybe get some ideas if they want us to kind of work on that here in our district it
might be something we could do um vacancies we have two par professionals um at FES and a long-term special education teacher substitute we need to start um April till the end of the year we are working on a backup plan so if we
can't find someone we're going to be covered and and services will be delivered but ideally we would have liked a substitute um it's hard to get a licensed substitute for two and a half months in special ed so we're still beating that drum but um we have backup plans we're meeting on that tomorrow morning at 7:45 just to talk about other
ways we can support that um and then professional development we have one one part left in April um we've had a successful three sessions and we've got our last one coming up just to note I didn't put this in my report but was just looking at numbers so I just wanted to give an update um I did predict at the beginning of the year
where we would be in June which is a really hard thing to do in special education with you don't know who's going to qualify who's going to move in and move out but in in District prediction was 567 students um at the end of the year and right now I'm on track for 568 so I feel that my number
is accurate and I'm thinking we'll be right in the ballpark when we get to the end of the year um that being said we still have if I look at numbers last year we'd probably have about 47 more avows to do so then I did the math on that added it to my bottom line and that's how I got
to that number and all along we've been hitting the number I thought so I think it is safe to say in June but right before graduation we should be at 567 special Edge students if you add our kids that went to other high schools that number would have been 581 so that's the number I had totally
predicted for the year um I will say at fbes U Meredith Foy she's my only admin that's in one building but it's important to note she covers preschool as well so she's doing the preschool and she's doing K through3 FES um with all my admins it's been great I'm meeting with them every other week in their
buildings I tour the buildings I walk the buildings and then every other meeting the principal joins us and we meet and then we meet as a special at admin Team every other week on the opposite week so I feel like we've been in good communication and I wanted to just talk about I know budget's coming up but I wanted just to talk about my school
psychologist that we added this year I say my she's not mine but um what's cool about this that I looked into my numbers last year we had to contract out a good amount of money $48,000 we had to contract out to get psycho vals done because we couldn't get them done
with the stat that we had um we also had to use six extra read slots I was able to reduce this year so that cost us an extra about $2,650 so total it would have been over $60,000 um that we were spending on out of District um resources
and this year we have not spent $1 in out of District resources so we are actually in the plus by bringing on a school psych so I know it sounded like adding staff is costing money but we're actually saving a little bit and that person is now coming out and doing
meetings out of district and able to test our out of District kids so I don't have to pay for those slots too so I think that was a win for us um so that's kind of where we are right now in Special Ed I don't know if anybody has any questions I have a question yeah the one to one par professional at FES to replace their
retirement I think we've been seeing this on here yep we have for a while is it does it normally take is this like normal for how long it should take to replace so we have done interviews we had got somebody through they were supposed they came actually they were supposed to come out um a few days ago
to meet with Terry and Mr Ward and they didn't show up and so Meredith followed up and she was like oh I totally forgot but I'm going to go in a different direction and that was that so we're having a lot of interest in the beginning and then as we move down the
line they fall off so we have it covered with with subs and it is covered it's just we're really struggling to get that person hired and then last week another power at FES resigned so now we're trying to hire two so that's where we're kind of at but it is it is covered we haven't moved long story short we had a
retirement somewhere else in in the inclusion setting so we have a power that's a one to one that's going to be moving into that but they can't move into that until we hire so we're subbing out the inclusion power the Great LEL par and that person is staying with the one to one until we can get it all
figured out so and we're trying we're be in the we keep reposting and it's hard this time of year to hire power professionals it's really It's Tricky but um I think Meredith was working on another person that they had also interviewed and was trying to move that person now forward so I'm hoping that it
happens what does the paraprofessional subpool look like is it I mean it's not great but we do have a couple people that do want to come in and be par professional um and then we also sometimes will access um our lunch and recess monitors they might want to sub and then we can kind of shift around there too and um I'll be
honest Mer's been great she's been jumping into classrooms and helping out and when if she's not in meetings she's in a classroom helping to sub so um we're definitely having covered but it's it's like it takes a village kind of approach um to cover it yeah any other questions from
M thank you K thank you um moving in um to Old business lrsd car calendar um for next calendar year
our second read uh you'll notice the only change I believe we had from last time to this time is the uh I had mentioned that we were going to bump the professional development days back so um you'll see those professional half days in January
and March instead of February and April which removes them from any testing windows and also doesn't um put them in the same month that we already have a break um so it's a half day breather in those in the long month of March okay do we have any questions on
the school calendar I don't have so much a question just um I noticed the town election for free Town impacts FBS obviously because that's our polling location is on the 6th but we don't have the half day or anything we have the full day but that was because of mcast
was it or so we did have the um voting day a half day this year um however with uh SRO MOS there and the path that people would take uh we agreed that we could that we
could provide the voting the and not have them um be in the same space as kids because um MOS would be right there and the kids don't have to be in the gym voting and we've added and we've added the external door right right so
the access for voters is free and clear of any student interactions um and we now have the SRO which is you know something we didn't have before so we'll have SRO madus there and I think they're required to have an officer there anyway for the election okay so there'll be two
officers yes and this was um the union um leaders didn't look at this as well we had no other they were actually appreciative of the bump of PD um with the caveat that we have safe buildings what are the poll
hour 12 to8 12 to8 just the SRO and the the the detail for dismissal time I would imagine parking and um I I'm sure there's a plan because we've done it before but so the
conversation I mean we don't know exactly how it's going to look but the conversation was a lot of times the voter park at the little thway parking and then walk across to vote um and the parents park in the parking lot and pick up their kids um so we anticipate there are more
bodies but there will we'll make sure there's more adults as well um and that is the parent pickup side versus buses or you know the kids are not they're actually not out of the building until their parent is right there so thank
you any additional questions on the calendar all right I will entertain a motion to accept the 2025 2026 school calendar as presented second
second okay have a motion in a second uh all in favor I I I opposed abstained calendar voted in fi 26 budget
discussion um we if you would mind you could open up your budget books we're going to discuss um and provide any answers to any questions you may have about the central office section the region section and the facility section um prior to this we have discussed the
facilities special ed as well as salaries for all buildings um so the which is the Lion Share of all the school buildings in terms of regarding the what what was in the budget and what was um of of note so in um section five
is the section that includes both central office and region um as we go through you I just want to point out a couple of uh items on the first page you notice that we have a a final lease payment uh for the copier lease for the central office uh within this school
year um if you go down you can see there was an underfunded in the salary for HR and Personnel benefits this is because in the current year it did not include the longevity payments for those employees um when you turn to the next
page you'll see gby 75 this is a by annual expense that we um that we have a um an outside firm uh review our post employment benefits uh other than pensions this essentially is
our health insurance uh requirement for our post employment um in a in in public uh entities there is an expectation though no requirement that there is a fund matching the post employment
benefits for all of your employees our former employees uh it's very difficult for a school system to maintain that level of uh funding um but the gby 75 reviews what that what that expectation would be and then makes recommendations
every other year to the school district for that if you go to the next page you we're moving into the region section um you'll notice in the third line down it says salary teachers longevity buyout this is a an element
that exists within the teachers contract where uh teachers have the ability to receive a buyout of their longevity over a three-year period uh depending on the number of years that they are where I should say where they are in their
longevity brackets they can see um larger or smaller amounts to that buyout um the idea uh once they receive that buyout they will no longer receive longevity payments past that point and they have the opportunity to elect that option um at any time when they're
receiving longevity uh the in this current year you can see there's quite a significant increase of 32% and quite in each year there's a required date that they have to put in for their longevity buyout so
that we can then budget for it and this in this particular year we have uh quite a few teachers who've put in for the buyout um for this year and that's that's why that number increased um you can also see that um that we have uh for our uh English language Learners we
actually we added as you know from last year we added a part-time elll teacher in order to uh make sure that we were in compliance that that additional part-time teachers salary does come through school choice at this time um and then if you go down a little further
you'll see that there was a uh there's a very seemingly very large increase in unemployment compensation um so it and and quite honestly I think that in 25 I think that there was an error for there to be 7,000
uh there's never been a year where we've had unemployment compensation of 7,000 or near 7,000 so bringing it back up to the pr similar to the previous two years you can see in 23 and 24 the the actual value expended was 25,700 and then
26,900 23 and 24 and we're proposing a budget with 28 000 for 20 for 26 that's why the increase exists is because the number was low in 25 uh you can also see a reduction uh in Insurance district for district Vehicles you'll
see a reduction of 30% this is because of a reduction of two vehicles that we're not insuring any longer um down at the debt I believe I mentioned this when when I first presented to the budget uh when the that budget was created it didn't include
both of the payments I've made the repairs in terms of the expenditure but when you have to then put it in you can see it's increasing it from zero from the previous year the final payment for that debt will be in the upcoming year and that will be a total of
$191,900 split between the two towns in accordance with the foundation enrollment any questions on central office or region yes um is the longevity bio is that bargain that uh what do you mean by that
think is that part of the the collective bargaining so it is in the contract currently and so every 3 years it is certainly part of the collective bargaining relative to the the agreement right um and and I believe it has been
in the contract for 10 12 years I mean it would have to be 12 9 or 12 years because it's a three-year contract but it it has existed in the contract for some length of time and what would any speculation on what the increase was to
32% like more teachers more teachers opted in so they have they have a date by which they have to request for their longevity buyout yeah so that's in November so once they do that we have that list and we can then include it in the budget in the next in next year uh
when they receive that longevity buyo it gets paid out over 3 years okay so some of this is people who are in their second year some people are putting in for their first year some of people are in their in their third year U but but clearly this increase is a result of a number of teachers getting close to
retirement looking to get their longevity buy at near the end all right so that's why there's a bum okay the original for a little history lesson the original process or idea as I understand it was that it was meant to be a little
bit of a boost for retirement put in for your longevity buyout in the last three years you'll get a bump in your salary over those last three years you'll see that increase over the rest of your your retirement years nprs identified that
that was not pensionable and so therefore it still exists as a benefit but it is not for its original pensionable purpose thank you sure any other questions Jack if
Vehicles just exist on the campus m u do those still need to be insured in the same no those are not insured so those are the these are two vehicles this reduction of two vehicles is vehicles that we're not we're no longer utilizing and that we've taken out of service okay thank you
MH any other questions on this piece if anyone in the audience has questions on this specific part of the budget feel free to jump in with us thank you John um Margaret French free
Finance you mentioned Jack mentioned earlier that this is the last payment on the pool I thought it was on the renovation of Grace I thought we paid the pool up it's the building construction around the pool not the pool itself it's my understanding I I I
can get back to you on that I I may have misunderstood what I was told this is I have been explained to me this is the grace maybe I assumed it had to do with the pool uh structure renovation and in fact it was something else but it is the
final payment on the grace debt and and that's the final payment for everything to do with Grace the renovation the the work no otherb after this payment there's no other debt awesome that's wonderful um and all of there's there's quite a
few things here that was omitted in the FY 25 budget M um is that part of the things that got moved around to cover yes oh no that's not why they're omitted they were so for
example um we go to the salary curriculum leaders yes right so that was not corrected last year in the correction of the budget it wasn't a funded it was just at a zero but we do have in fact a person who we is our
nurse curriculum leader that is paid out of that line so we are restoring that to his corrector line number okay okay and there's money in the budget to cover it in FY 25 yes there
there it well that's paid out it's for this year it's paid out of a grant okay yeah okay that makes sense okay thank you y okay we're moving to uh number 13 tab 13 facilities [Applause]
okay uh you'll see in some of these places elements that were underfunded in fi25 um this is after an analysis of um of the of the previous year's actual payments so if you look at expense for
contracted rubbish removal we had um expense of 10,000 or about 11,000 in 23 and 19,000 in 24 the 25 budget was a little bit under what it should have been um and we're moving it back to 18,000 which is if we look at our
current uh amount of expense and incumbrance is um is is appropriate for that what is expected for that and that's true for also for the hazardous waste removal as well as you can see that number from 23 the cost was 6,000
24 the cost was 155,000 25 it's I'm sorry I'm looking at the wrong pardon me my eyesight is um custodial maintenance I'm sorry custodial maintenance thank you so it was 15,000 15,000 25 was um 18 but in
fact it is higher than that and and we've always been running in a deficit on that so I wanted to make sure that we were properly funding that um you'll notice at uh about a quarter of the way down there's in the notes it talks about
the summer Junior custodial salaries this is what we uh this is the line that we use to um engage the students that work over the summer to help our buildings get up and running um and they are a valuable resource and um we that is where that um comes from if you go
down farther you can see this is also an sort of indication of as I went through this budget I think it important for us to be identifying where the money should actually specifically should have be coming from so that it uh connects to
the correct location if you look at the third line from the bottom you can see um I'm sorry the second line line from the bottom you can see that this is for the high school that salary custodial
Subs ah AHS that for 23 and 24 the expenditures were 71,000 and 62,000 what I believe had happened was that when we we first started the junior custodial program they were only being utilized here at the high school and so
they were being uh expensed out of that line as the program grew and we eventually had Junior custodians on the other two buildings in the campus it was never updated to include new lines for those other buildings so they ran
deficit in those lines over those years you can see that the budget request is now $122,000 right which is significantly less but does match the cost of what the junior custodians for the high school will be in the coming year and then when you look at the middle
school um the S same line for the middle school which is a halfway down on the next page you can see $99,000 for that which is an increase from the previous year but that's because in the previous years it had not been utilized we are
now in 25 expensing it out of the correct lines and now we're budgeting also in those correct lines as well you can see that for the other campus buildings as well but this is evidence I I believe some evidence of that this budget was started at zero and we went each one of
the lines to identify what is the expense for each one of these lines turn to the next page you can see that um about a fourth of the way down where it says Energy Management um this these are the um
expenditures for train in the um the work that's necessary in order to keep them the equipment that we purchased 5 years ago and installed 5 years ago to keep it up and and operating at its maximum efficiency though in 23 and 24 it had zero uh actual expenditure that
wasn't what the budgeted amount but there was the actual expenditure and that was because in those years it was um paid through Esser funding okay overall facilities has an increase of about 1% in the coming year any
questions any questions on facilities favor anybody from the audience okay we can move on chck okay I'm going to be handing out to you a hard copy of the assessment that I sent uh out last week
to the committee members um thank you my apologies I have several papers here here we go so you received um this draft of the assessment last last week it represents
a reduction of $1,561 180 from the original level Services budget presented on February 5th 2025 this amounts to a 2 2.2% increase from last year's budget as the original
level Services budget had been a 5.5% increase as you may remember uh we discussed approximately $500,000 of this reduction was presented and we discussed it on February 26th at the most recent Meeting those thing those items were
identified out of uh additional information that we received for example um as we uh further information regarding um health insurance is one example um some additional information we received from out of District tuition would be another example again things
we've already discussed the additional uh 1, 75,000 in change will be need will be need to be made through staff reductions 16 total positions have been identified attempting in this in this manner we have attempted to minimize the
effect on Services the reason for these uh reductions and the reduction of the $175,000 in change is because this budget represents the assessment amount that the towns have stated that they are able to support at this time for those 16 total positions as I
stated the enrollment numbers within the buildings were used as our primary influence to identify which positions or where those positions could be uh reduced at arhs this would be a reduction of six positions at the middle school it would be a reduction of two
positions at the Intermediate School it would be reduction of one position at the asaam elementary school it would be reduction of two positions at Freetown Elementary it would be a reduction of three positions and there would be two positions that are regionals or multiple buildings not one loc just a single
location I also share with you that as teacher par professional and secretary negotiations are currently ared and continue to be ongoing there may be necessary for additional reductions depending on how those negotiations go I'm sharing with you
now uh State funding proposals that I have received from the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools who is a lobbying group and information uh professional group that uh m Regional Schools uh participate with we do as
well um you had re I believe you had received this in the in the mail as well um this is the proposal that the that that Mars Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools is presenting to the state for
the current year for fy2 not for next year's budget but for the current year with the understanding that the state is required to spend a certain amount amount of the sir tax funds that have been raised through the Millionaire's tax on on education and on
Transportation so um chapter 233 of the acts of 2014 allows Regional School Districts to establish a regional transportation reimbursement fund and deposit State Regional Transportation reimbursements into that fund starting in
fy15 once deposited the Regional School District is permitted to carry forward any funds that are not expended in the fiscal year in which they are received any funds that are carried forward must be expended in that subsequent fiscal year we have established that fund the school committee some of you who are
sitting in this room established that fund for the district in June uh June 16th 2021 to date though we've had no opportunity to utilize this processes each year we are when we receive our regional transportation it is
underfunded from the 100% and so we utilize all of it in the current year however there is some indication from the from the conversations that I've had with Mars that the state will be utilizing funds from the millionaire sir tax to supplement fy2 regional
transportation funding if received the funds could be used to could be used to offset next year's Transportation assessments by utilizing the regional transportation fund there is a potential for a 15 to 20% increase in our regional
transportation which would amount to being anywhere between 300 to $325,000 that we could then be utilizing into next year in addition to that the state is also considering an increase in FY 26 in Chapter 70 funding from $75 per
student to $104 per student which would provide an additional increase of about $75,000 the combination of which would be could be a to total possible increase from the state that we could utilize for next year of
$400,000 okay the state will not make this either decision prior to March 26 when you're scheduled to vote the budget under our current rules the budget number that you vote cannot be increased though it can be decreased thus should you vote the number on the assessment draft that I've
just re you've just received and the state eventually provides that additional funding but before we get to town meeting we would not be able to utilize it to save some of those positions that I've outlined for you today instead the additional funds would be included in the assessments to the
towns would be decreased as well thus I'm making a proposal that will provide the district additional time to benefit from the possibility of potential funding I say that again the proposal I'm pres presenting to you is to provide us some additional time time
between the date that you vote the budget and when the town meeting takes place with the with the hope and expectation that additional funds could be received by the by the town sorry by the district from the state
that you're receiving an alternate assessment to take a look at this Al uh optional assessment identifies a way for us to hold a placeholder of that potential additional money utilizing District funds but without
adjusting or changing the town's assessment I'm making the proposal that we provide the district additional Time by increasing the use of school choice which you'll see about a third of the way down or about halfway down I should say you can see that the fund balance for school choice has been increased
from 550 to 950 it is not my proposal to actually utilize that for $400,000 but instead to use it as a placeholder so that after your vote we still have some time to bring that state money
in this will increase the total amount of the budget by that same amount 400,000 but will not increase the assessment to either of the towns okay so there's four scenarios that could eventually come from this scenario
one would be we are we get to the middle of May the state says to us there's no money coming we would I would make we would meet as a school committee and you would
simply vote draft a we would pull the $400,000 out of school choice as the additional usage and we would be required to make the 16 staff Cuts necessary to make that number okay that's that's scenario one state provides no additional funding
between your vote next two weeks from now and sort of the deadline before we get to town meeting that's worst case worst case option two uh state provides all of the additional funding that's not even the best case Okay state provides
all the addition identified additional funding the school committee would vote at that point to reduce the school choice by the $400,000 therefore pulling it back out and we would in make up the difference with that money that would be coming in from the state the budget number would stay at that draft B that
you see there would be no change to the assessment to the towns option three I didn't put these in in order Steve in terms of best wor option three or I shouldn't say option this is scenario three the state provides some
of the identified funding for example $200,000 the school choice uh the school committee then would vote to remove the $400,000 from the from that that had been at the placeholder for school choice and vote a new budget number at
$200,000 less than option b or or draft B and we would be able to utilize that to reduce some of the C uh some of the cuts fewer of those reduction I'm sorry we would be able to reduce the number of reductions but not
the same amount that we'd be able to if we got the full $400,000 okay option or scenario four and this is the best case scenario in this case and this could be the situation the state could provide funding greater than the identified $400,000 we would still have not voted
that $400,000 number though so what would happen at the end of that c scenario is we would you would meet you would vote to reduce the school choice you would pull that out again $400,000 would go into the state budg uh in for State
money but now the additional money would also be included to bring the assessments down for the towns as well so both would be able to benefit from that scenario those are the four possible scenarios that we could see in the time
between March 26th and the middle of May when we would have to make that decision but if we don't make this we don't do this this step there's no option we are in draft a should the state come
back with more money there's no opportunity to uh to to save some of those positions uh by Friday um I will share I will have um created two line item
budgets for you uh one with option draft a the at that number what that would look like and then also I will have one for draft b as well in a line item it'll be a digital form I don't think it's necessary to print them all out shared
out with all the school committee members and then shared with the community as well uh as they've had receive those things through uh Google form uh Google folders um with that said um I will share with you that the
formatting that is that goes into creating it to look like this is very time intensive it is not my intent to give it to you to have you look at it exactly like this in this in 48 hours but what I will promise you is that the all of the same lines for each one of
these sections will be the same so you can compare apples to apples though they're not going to be broken down by State uh code in the same way in addition to that I'll also uh there will be one for each one
of the sections here and then there will be a page that will have you a breakdown in terms of what the school choice expenditures will look like as well as what the um circuit breaker expenditures will look like that way it cleans this up a little bit in that you won't see a
school choice offset in these lines you'll say this is exactly what this that that's exactly what's in the budget for that teacher salary line and then you can go over open look at school choice and say ah I see where those additional teachers are being paid for the phys from from that particular
school okay thank you thank you Jack any questions St uh comment and sort of a question it's it's clear you started from zero and and the whole team thank you for that and the communication has
been great so I appreciate that um I love the the option scenario it's it's it's a nice positive uh way to look at this um and I agree this fair share or the use of the fair share is obviously a great opportunity for the
state to come in here how much though just a separate question with retirements is offset in those 16 potential positions three three three of those 16 are retirements right and then thinking about the khabib presentation
with enrollment the it was trending our enrollment was going down yep so the impact on class sizes so there was there would have been the need or the recommendation for I shouldn't say need but there would have been a recommendation for some of these
reductions to exist as a result of enrollment through the Habib presentation correct and through our own numbers okay I mean through our own um those reductions would have been um primarily at the lowest level and the
highest level high school and Elementary okay all the way through that's helpful too thank you any additional questions for Jack I have a question about the timing on the calendar please so we have March 26th
down as the public hearing on the FY 26 budget and then April 9th is the vote on the budget according to this calendar can we do the hearing and the vote on the same day no I'm sorry I but but even if the April 9th you're right April 9th is the vote but even then we're still
looking at from that time till we won't hear from the state by April 9th my apologies that's okay from this point in time until the end of May do you anticipate hearing any
news any updates or any so what I would think what I would I have to admit that part of this is my hopefulness okay so it's clouding some of my analysis of it but I would expect if there was going to
be movement it would be in this fy2 Regional Transportation not necessarily the in the FY 26 but in the regional transportation for fy2 last year if you may recall I think I mentioned to the
school committee at the very end of the year and as I took over in June there was um some conversation about additional funding that we received last year so last year here similarly but for different reasons there was additional funds at the state for
um uh special education out of District uh tuitions it was um what's the word extraordinary relief thank you uh so the so the state reached out to all the school districts and identified the amount of additional relief that we
would be able to receive and it was outside of what we had already been receiving and calculated and they essentially told us you take this money uh you can this is yours take it use it for for tuitions in this current year these were additional funds that the
state state identified for the districts my hopeful expectation would be it would be something similar to that for Regional Transportation but because we have that Regional Transportation stabilization fund it would then be utilized in the next year
okay can we get about 95 last year uh they last year I believe it was 90 but close it was getting there yeah and the current year we are at about uh 78 80% is there any uh ongoing litigation with regard to Regional
Transportation in the 100% that that's supposed to be giving us um no and I tell you why because at the end of that um piece of legislation it says subject to appropriation tricky but
um the massachusett association association of Regional Schools uh they are excellent advocates for the for our needs um Regional Schools are obviously more common out in in Western Massachusetts um and so they spend more
of their time and energy helping those rural districts in in western Mass but the the same issues that exist there we find here um and um so they they are consistently look and tell telling us
reach out reach out to your local Representatives they will listen but only if we talk so Chapter 70 funding we saw an increase of less than 2% in a in some towns that's sustainable
in in our in our community that's very makes it very challenging for the towns thank you anyone else I have another question um so I know you said three of the 16 are retired retirements yes do you know how many do you have a forecast how many retirements we're
expecting next year I have I have forecasted five to six uh but understanding that the sixth one is a retirement that was going to happen this year that got pushed the next year so that could also change again all right any question questions
from the public Jack I thank you for the the update moving on to discussion on substitute pay rates you have a um substitute pay rate uh breakdown of some reg uh local communities local school systems and how
they have determined how they were paying their daily subs um I discovered in this process that uh nearly all of the nearby communities use a two-tiered system where they are paying certified
Subs a rate higher than non-certified Subs um as we look through it I can certainly say that that would be something that I I would consider to be a good path for this district U identifying what that number would be at this time is probably a little bit early
but it's a helpful piece of information for us to consider as we move forward on on this project if you don't mind me asking Jack what how do you certify a sub no I'm sorry they're teacher certified they're certified teachers yes no we put him through a
boot camp yeah y yep um Steve go ahead is what is the the method that is there a subscription for a subf finding Serv is there like a portal that you
post and like how do we advertise the need for a sub we sometimes you'll utilize School spring um and then we can also use local advertising we put it out newsletters as well like just like the bus drivers we've put it out on our Sunday message that longterm subs or and
oh no for Just Subs the district is looking for Subs daily subs social media is another way that districts have done it we don't cily have a social media because I do believe there is services that you just put in and then if people are registered on that for a cost yes
but a cost to get the word out true uh we have a l of signed up it's just that they are also signed up in other districts and therefore they have choices as to how much money they make that day right right well that's the competition piece
I think if if the job was posted you may pick right well and also they're going to get calls or they're going to get but it's not calls like in the old days it was a call at 4:30 in the morning at your house now it's through a through a text in the website right right a a
question a long-term sub is that like do they do is it a daily rate or is it like a like a they make a contct our current our current rate is $150 $90 for our daily subs and $150 for our long-term Subs okay I I can't say that for every
one of these that it is the case but for um two of them when I asked about long-term Subs they stated that after a certain number of days they put them at step one one on the pay scale okay thank you
my any additional questions any discussion well I think we definitely have to do something if we're at 90 and all the competition is lowest is 130 right so I think we definitely have to do something about this um
these um uh for the for the audience we're we're looking at numbers for for Bourne Dartmouth Taunton middleb and old Rochester and they're all higher than ours
um if if you know Jack how how do there steps for their contract contracted teachers compared to ours in these districts I don't know I've not done that analysis I know two of them are are higher contracts um I can tell you that
for sure um one one I know is more equivalent to ours I not looked at Old Rochester myself sure so I I'm addressing those three in the middle yeah but I look at middle borrow at a you know a 50% increase right next door
I mean that's significant and that's a subpool that would sign up for us and sign up for Middleport MD talking the same people and and similar classrooms and sizes and
sure thoughts from the table is there is there a recommendation not at this time so no vote so no vote what else going on okay I would say we need to
definitely compete with middleb right and old Rochester so I would say I mean I'm not saying take a vote on it but just my opinion at least 140 that's I would agree except I I also have
a make adjustments to Y I know so why can't we make a motion though because it says vote requested mhm okay do we have do we have an opinion do we have a number that we would be comfortable with at least
starting with maybe with I guess something behind it uh my my initial thought would be um if and when we bump our substitute rate to be more competitive with some of our neighbors
um how would that impact some of our other sub rates you mean like for par professionals and for everybody else y like our nurse seate as well y because I would I would just assume not even seeing the numbers
we would we be looking at similar Trends MH from what I hear from Subs just I think one in general components today was to bring it up knowing that there's disparity and there's the need for some sort of movement um we could probably add some of those pieces to the next
meeting yeah I I didn't it was not my expectation for a vote my apologies for that being so um but I do think it's probably I would suggest that if we're going to be if you're going to be making a vote that it would be for
26 um and and therefore you have some time to to talk about it and then I could you know we I'll happily give you a recommendation I I like that we talked about this for so long I I agree with all of this I I would like to see though
that tiered like if you're a long-term sub if you're with us for 25 days at the regular rate and then you get a bump and and it sort of shows commitment some structure like that would be great I would also be curious to see what that online service would cost because I do
think if we advertise that in the region and our our our you know we have a competitive number we may pick up more people it's not a perfect program but I would be curious to get the word out to see if we could pick up more people sure
I'll also make sure that we have our our current pool numbers available to you as well so that you know how many people have yeah what the pool is right I thought this I've signed a lot of substitutes in the last we have a lot we do we have a lot I have a memory of I
thought we did have an online service where staff actually put in their own well we do for for for the days that they're out yes so teachers put in their abs and then the substitute teachers in our pool go in and pick those absences up so we do
have an advertisement for an advertising for getting new ones so if you post a vacancy oh yes those can be picked up but it just can't be picked up by anybody it'll have to be somebody that we've already vetted okay and is all has been agreed to be I thought you were talking like a temp service type no yes
so we do have that no one's calling no one's calling from the office at 4:30 in the morning yeah I didn't know what we doing if we I used to I used to get those calls no it's electronic we have that okay thank
you would it be um unreasonable to ask uh for further discussion at our next meeting maybe some additional information I know it's two weeks away I didn't want to there's also other items going on question but I think no
are we going to have to vote on the other um substitutes at the same time or are we going to take them all at different times we can set up a basically a table that would say here are the substitute rates currently and here here are the numbers for other
districts and here would be a proposal okay um with potentially the impact on the budget yeah okay please and thank you so we could do nurses and Paras and just and longterm those would be the
categories right so yeah nurses parz teachers and longterm okay well I feel bad now because I know last meeting Mr Higgins presented a decrease in the substitute line but now it might yeah yep
sorry it's all right option one as a whole at all levels it is challenging to to fill the vacancies yes correct I I do need to temper our
expectations and and understanding there's not a there's not a army of substitute teachers out there there's despite people coming in and signing up it's not uncommon for them to sign up and then never pick up a job for sure
because it's often a a great option for someone who's in between positions they do that they start the process and then they get another position but they don't call us and say you can take me off the list we also have a lot of college students so
we have a lot of Subs from May yes 18th through June yes yeah okay and spring break and their spring break or their winter break so in light of that would that make this less of a pressing situation for
the next couple of months and more more likely something we could address better over the summer not necessarily I think we should be talking about it and and I don't think it's going to take a long time but I I think we it's on the docket now let's
keep it there yeah because we would have to have you add it to ver right someone's going to have to remember that we're doing it in July and I I think it's better it's on our topic of conversation it's something of of of Interest let's keep it going and finish it move on
next okay um just with the agenda I will um I'll accept a motion to table a vote for this so moved Motion in a second all in favor
Iain thank you um we had uh pool discussion uh bus RS so I have the other Hot Topic uh conversation we uh in October late October we had a
presentation from first students around um an analysis of our our bus routs and times and um so forth we did nothing and so therefore nothing has been solved um the bus company also has uh in the
meantime has lost one of the bus drivers not like lost and found but one of the bus drivers is one of the routes is now being covered constantly by a sub which they are also short Subs um and so um the it has
been exponentially um more disturbing and um painful for families this last few weeks as we have had buses that have even had to meet in a parking lot at the memor at the um Historical Museum in
Freetown and switch kids from one bus to another uh so I I've talked to several parents I think each of us have taken calls from parents on this there are emails going out every day bus 10 15 18 FES these are the things that are happening right um AES still has buses
that are not getting there until 340 350 so this um and and if we had had any public comment on it we all would have been sitting here going yes there is a problem and we have not done anything to move forward to to um fix the situation
to our uh capacity so this page is a summary of the findings from the presentation and October it has the some of the um recommendations from first student did did it make it all the way down I I brought it I just passed it
down I'm sorry so uh group stopping um they had recommended at the time to assign group stops for high school middle school and Grays um I am Crossing off we are crossing off Grace and saying that um group stops for high
school and middle school um that meet in one location what this allows for is if there's a CAC that has several stops on it and some of them have up to eight stops on a Col toac uh the route time is roughly increased by
10 minutes uh so if we can eliminate the stops on some of the caacs um on the high school and middle school routes it can save us up to and um I had communication with Rob Goen who was the person that presented from per
student and he said um please note that every stop says 45 to 45 seconds to 1 minute so if we have CT Stacks even with three to four stops um we'd be seeing three to four minute savings and that would equate to about a 10% overall timing on the
route that is one piece of the of the puzzle bell times is another thing uh since um we had changed the times and I I'm afraid I don't know the year that we changed 2020 that the release times became closer together therefore not
even providing enough time for bus routes to get through their stops and get to the get to grads and get to the elementary schools and therefore what has happened is um it's they're already starting with a 10 minute to 20 minute
expectation of being late to those buildings um so a part of the conversation about bell times would be a part of next year's um calendar just so that we all note that that is a part of conversations
currently um the elementary rout uh reduction decreasing the amount of Elementary buses at least three to four to provide more support to Grays um we did not investigate this further at this time and then the writer application process I'm in the I know that we have
to provide a seat for every student but I'm trying to find out if there's a caveat that allows us to get RSVPs so to speak you sign up for the bus and then we have a some sort of percent carryover in case someone needed to to ride the bus um because we do have buses that are
not filled to capacity um leaving the middle school and high school um especially and if we could alter that um then some our buses could get to gra sooner and then be to the elementary
sooner um but what I want to focus on tonight is the discussion around the groups stops so what um first student is doing right now is identifying those specific stops and which houses and which families would be affected by that
um and we would like to propose try um attempting to alter the stops following spring break April Break um that would give us the May and June because April break start ends the 28th so we really would see some um data from May and the
middle of to the middle of June the end of the school year that would allow us to identify how much time did we save there and then if we look at the next layer of bell times which is within our control pushing pushing them around massaging them so that we have some
additional time again um to allow for buses to get to graze sooner so they can get to the elementary sooner and this is um where we're seeing the problems they're not at drop off they're at pickup right so it is in the afternoon
when our kids are sitting in the buildings waiting for 35 to 45 minutes and it is the time on the bus and the TR I'm we're really disturbed by the transition of students from one bus to another um Ken is working really hard to get that bus position filled so anyone
in the community that wants to be a bus driver um this is the time right they pay 34 something an hour um it's better than Duncan pay right you go get trained um so those pieces like if we can talk about the stops and and ask any
questions now or hear from um Community I've heard from families myself about you know the benefits of having their child dropped off at their door um but we also have to look at the the the whole picture and dropping kids off at your door and having a stop at every
house on a culac is not um providing timely transportation for all of our students so as in as convenient as it is to live on that street with the double yellow line where we have to do
stops um there is a convenience to living on a cold saac and having the safety of that street to walk to walk down yeah yeah you're not talking about main roads oh no no this is only caacs where so we're required to stop on the
on the main thorough Affairs um and uh and that's not going to change it would simply be ctox where we currently have three to eight stops and and the just the and some of the cold sacks uh ba Robert um had said that you
know it's really difficult for the buses to even make some of those CTO saacs and so they they newer bus drivers might be doing the three-point turn at the end the three-point maneuvering at the end of the cack so um eliminating that is a a huge time
save wasn't a sidewalks enters into that too doesn't it uh sidewalks do not enter into ctox no but I mean pickup you can't have one kid walk into another stop if there's no sidewalk no but for this wouldn't affect
the C this is only on drop offs just called the this is just in the afternoon and drop and misunderstood yeah and and I know the presentation when they did it everything was really small it was hard to see um but basically there are the roads that you know the bus comes down and we sit behind them right like we
know where some of those stops are and you the bus stops on the right side and then there's a place where they kind of find a a loop around they pick up two more they come back and they stop on the on the other side the left side if you were you know facing them and then there's a culac and if they have to turn down that culto saac that is adding time
whereas the the high school and middle school students could be at the end of the Cold sack be picked up and save a lot of time you got to remember when I went to school it was all dirt road uphill in the snow and you walk hes the horses came by and picked you up
exactly so we we going to try this after the April break that's what we're proposing but I do want to you know provide time to have those that conversation we are working on communication that would go out to those families first student is identifying where those stops are um and who they
would affect right again I just want to reiterate it is high school and middle school students because that would then get the buses de gr sooner we're not trying to alter this you know the safety and walking distance of our um k
students PRK to five okay question dropped off at how Road anded half a mile home mdle scho school they don't do that now like my kids they're supposed to be like eight kids and they're supposed to be out the side street next to my house and they're
supposed to walk over there not going to indivual that stops the [Music] could you guys come up to the podium just so Lake cam can hear you I also don't know [Music]
talking I'm just going to start cuz I cut R you guys so Heather Ashley East Freetown so driving in the morning to work here I know you guys are talking about how your kids have to walk but I see there's three houses that are as close
as me to her that the kids are getting picked up so the bus is stopping each time for those three kids that are just one house right here right here why can't why aren't we combining that when they're telling us that their kids are well so this is SCH we believe that
there already is some of this group pickup going that ex that currently exists this would be an increase to that there are some places that they that they've identified where they could be more efficient okay cuz you talked about the CAC and I was like well wait a minute these three this is a main road
however well on a main road but there but there are so close together I appreciate that there are some requirements on Main Road so we're not going to like no one wants the even though the neighbors were they're right here this kid stands here and this kid stands here that's just I'm only
obviously the safety is more important I just didn't know you know as families like you say so the groupings doesn't exist everywhere in the district and those are the places that they're trying to find efficiencies and then you know one of the things that we can do with the bus company is go on the routes
right we can go on the bus routes and go what about this stop what about this stop um if we don't if we aren't seeing CH but that's what that may to June time will provide us some time to see what about these tweaks that make sense what can what can come of that I just wanted to clarify because those do doors stop
stop after some for most of them unless they're on a main road but like like I said my daughter gets off she walks a half a mile home and she's at the middle school that doesn't happen at middle school and high school yeah I'm on a main road Melissa Goen Lakeville I live on Holland and so my kids are are on a
main road and up through graze they got picked up at our the end of my driveway once they went into middle school they're supposed to go over to the side street next to my house and get picked up with all the kids that are in within that Rocky woods and that area that's where they're supposed to get picked up
and do they they do well they're the only ones that get on the bus in my my so it doesn't matter anyway so they do Tech technically pick them up at the end of my driveway but they're supposed to get picked up on the side that's possibly one of the buses that we're talking about that are under seated yeah and um so but yes middle school and high
school students have the capacity to and I get for the little ones like obviously you don't want them walk but there are places that it's not the group stop is not happening and could and that's what we're going to identify and I they they couldn't have the list for me tonight but I should have the list by our 26th
meeting and quite honestly we are paring the information that we've receiv received in the bus company oh yeah sure so yeah I'm sure we appreciate that thank you but but thank you for picking this issue up again and trying to impact some
positive change here I have no objections to to what you're trying to do um after the April break I would be curious though to learn more about not now um the application process because I do think I'm Regional we're right we have some again there are some places that our hands are completely tied um
the basics of the of the requirements is providing a seat for every student so I'm trying to find some little loophole nook and cranny that allows us to go hey if we could just get some rsps and then bump it up a little bit so that there's a possibility um but we have buses um from the middle school and
high school that that can go out with as few as 13 kids on them and I like when you touched on having a couple of seats set aside just for special circumstances or things like that so it's not as if you would never
be able to jump on one if you needed it yeah one of eight but you you you have my full support and whatever is needed to you know get this in a better place we actually have some families
that are doing some great debt spreadsheets and they've shared those with with us about drop off time so we would love to get moving on this okay thank thank you all right moving on to our subcommittee updates John for the sake
of time it's it's now 9:30 can can I make a motion to table this second I have a motion in in a second any discussion no all right all in favor I I
opposed obained right any other business second I have a motion to adjourn in a second all in favor I thank you everybody for the long meeting e