Good evening everyone. Seeing 6 pm on February 4th, 2026, I would like to call to order this meeting of the Freetown Lakeville Regional School Committee. >> Roll call. >> Renee. >> Jen Blum >> here. >> Steve Sylvia
>> here. Bob Clark, >> Belinda Richards >> here. >> Tim Emory >> here. >> Rebecca Kushing >> here. >> You could all join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> 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. Before we move on, I'd like to introduce others at the table. Joining us tonight
is Director of Student Services, Kelly Steel, Director of Curriculum Terry Fleming, Director of Finance Jack Higgins, interimm superintendent Barbara Starky. At this time, I'd like to ask if anyone besides Lake Cam, who again we are very
appreciative is here recording every week, is recording this meeting. Seeing none, uh, at this time I'm going to ask because Mr. Planka, you arrived just in time. My apologies. I did not intend for um public input to be high on
the agenda. So, at this time, I would like to make a motion, please, if we could move public input to the end of reports and presentations. So, anyone that has any questions about the budget can ask at that time. So, move. >> So, move second. >> Okay. Hearing a motion and a second. Any
discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. >> Any abstensions? Any objections? Seeing none. Okay, moving on. Reports and presentations. Chairman's report. Um, I don't have
anything this evening, so we're going right over to ARHS student representatives. >> All right. Good evening, everyone. >> Good evening. Thank you. >> Here at Aonoquit,
we were just over halfway through the school year and the class of 2026 is counting down the days until graduation. Two weeks ago, just before the blizzard hit upon a quit, we had a fantastic turnout for the career day where students listened and conversed with
industry professionals, including military service members, healthc care professionals, and portfolio managers. We thank everyone who participated and helped our students gauge a better understanding of their career options. This past Friday, on January 30th, eight
members of the senior class, myself included, attended the academic honor bowl at Old Rochester Regional High School. This trivia- based competition consisted of 10 teams from the SEC. Questions ranged anywhere from advanced
physics to Russian literature, Chinese history, pop culture, and even professional and collegiate athletics. Wish I could say I helped the team, but Sir, you are awesome. >> The Laker team, led by senior Owen Banks and advised by Miss Bonnie Ferrer, took
home first place in their bracket. This victory qualified the team to continue with the honorable competition later on this school year with a date and time to be determined. As we look out into the future, students and teachers have February break coming up in two weeks.
When students return in the beginning of March, the 94 Lakers that qualified for DECA states will be heading to Boston where they will compete at the Massachusetts States DECA conference from Thursday, March 12th to Saturday,
March 14th at the Weston Seapport Hotel. >> Hi. Uh to continue, I'd like to take this opportunity to give you all updates on senior happenings. Um, recently, like Cam said, we just started semester 2, which allowed for schedule changes, updates in GPA and class rank. And
again, as Cam said, a lot more counting down the days until graduation. Um, another exciting event we have coming up is our Laker Choice Awards occurring next Friday, February 13th, during G period during the school day. Um, this event allows seniors to be nominated and then awarded different superlatives. To
name a few categories, we have most likely become president, which Kim and I were both nominated for, but could never be president. Um, most likely to brighten my day, most athletic, and a handful more similar categories. To go with this, the class of 2026's student government has been hard at work
decorating the awards for this event. Um, the awards given out are physical A's decorated based on category. So, we look forward to that next Friday. Also, as of now, seniors have paid their senior dues as well as chosen their diploma presenter for graduation. Paying senior dues helps fund our senior
banquet at the end of the year. Another upcoming event for both seniors and juniors is prom. Uh prom this year will be held at Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston on May 2nd, and this will take place from 6:00 to 10 p.m. Lastly, some goals we have for this year are to hopefully create another senior field
trip in addition to our senior lockin. So, we will keep updating you all on the progress of that. Thank you guys so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to our intern superintendence report. >> All right, we are really pleased to welcome uh Principal Ward and Mrs.
Jillian Laru and some very special kindness ambassadors from FES. Oh, that is so cute. I know, right? So, good evening everyone. As always, thank you for this opportunity uh to spotlight um either a program or
students from Freetown Elementary School. Over the past couple of years, we've had Mrs. D. Maderas come in uh for St. Math and Gigi. We've also had Mrs. Stage for uh science week. We've had Mrs. Leovsky for digital literacy, STEM,
uh, coding, and tonight it is with great pride and pleasure I welcome Mrs. Laroo, who is our physical education, uh, teacher, and she is the proud facilitator of the kindness ambassadors. Mrs. Laru,
>> thank you very much, Mr. Ward. I appreciate that. Thank you to the student leaders, to our school committee as well as central office for inviting us here today. Um, this is something I'm very excited about in our school. It's a brand new club, brand new program that I
had brought forward, um, to the appendix C committee, um, hoping for approval, and I we were given a a one-year trial basis, which is fantastic. Um, called the kindness ambassadors. Now, before we start, the children asked me if we could share with you something we do every
single day at the beginning of the school day, the Freetown Fox pledge. Ready? I'm a Freetown Fox in each and every way. Kind things I do, kind things I say. I show respect, responsibility to
keep all safe in our community. And one of the thing that's great about the Freetown Fox pledge is it talks right off the bat about kindness. And one of the things I had envisioned with this club when I brought it before the the appendix C committee was to have uh second and third graders be offered a
free after-school program where they would work on civic engagement through school and community service projects. Um and my goal really was that this was teacherdirected studentled. I would do all the background work. I talked to all
the different people in town. I bring forward things to them. They voted on everything tonight. I asked them questions. These are all their words, things that they wanted you to know about our club and about how we um have outreach from our school to the community. We have three sessions. A
fall session which we've already had that um these guys are returning from the fall session and they're also in the winter session. The winter session now and then a spring session. And overall in the fall session, we had 22 students and I had to shut off enrollment because
they were still coming in. I had said 15, but I can't say no to these kids and because they want to be active in our community. I think that's amazing. The winter session had 21 students and I had to shut it off really quick before it got too full with nine new students for
our winter session and 12 returning students. So already the program is just amazing in my eyes and I think in theirs as well. Um, so to my right we have seven of our returning members. We have um Victoria
who's going to be our paper passer, help pass things out to you. Um, and I asked them, the first question I asked them is obviously explain who you are, introduce yourself. But then I asked them, kindness club, kindness ambassadors, what is it you'd like to tell the school
committee and the members of our of of our district? What does kindness mean to you? Go ahead, Ara. >> Hello, my name is Arya. Kindness is when you Hello, my name is Jayce. Kindness is helping someone else feel good with things we say and be kind to everybody.
>> Hello, my name is Emma. Kindness is spreading happiness, even through small gestures, and giving thanks. Hello, my name is Emma S. Kindness is being nice to people and spreading love to everybody. Hello, my name is Grace. Kindness is love and happiness. Hello,
my name is Olivia. Kindness means helping others, being a good friend, and including everyone. >> I think that's wonderful. Um, in our fall session, we I gave the children different ideas of different places in town that they might want to engage in
in a civic um engagement through community service. and they picked to work with the Freetown Historical Society who on November 15th were honoring the veterans in town, especially the Vietnam veterans in celebration of the 50th anniversary of
the ending of the Vietnam War. The students uh came up with some different ideas. They said we would like like to give something. Number one, they wanted to give cards and um some other things that they made that they will tell you about and are also in the slideshow. We also practiced some mock conversations.
They got to ask me about my childhood which I thought was interesting. They may not have but that's okay. I think they did. And so that way when they sat with the veterans they would be able to engage and converse with them which they you would be so proud of them. They did an amazing job. So I asked them what
they would like to tell you about the event and this is what they said. >> We made crafts and we talked to the veterans. It was really fun. We made the veterans gifts. One was a flying magnet. We painted the popsicle sticks red, white, and blue. Added glitter for stars.
>> We made we made cards and red, white, and blue fidget spinners for the veterans. We saw a demonstration of two veterans folding the flag and the meaning of each fold. We learned a lot of interesting things about the veterans. We made cards, fidget spinners, and flag
magnets with popsicle sticks for the veterans. I met some of the veterans and we had a nice talk together. We made magnet flags, black pin wheels, and fidget spinners. We spoke to the veterans and saw items from the past in the museum.
>> My favorite activity with the kindness ambassadors was seeing and learning about the flaging ceremony and talking with the veterans. I even got to meet Miss Bonnie's dad who received a purple heart. for me. Um, and in I believe it's one of
the next few slides, you'll see that we received a thank you note from the Freetown Historical Society, >> but also and what was most touching to me was that I personally in out in in
town have just had veterans come up to me. Sorry, I get a little tripped up. I've had veterans come up to me and say how honored they felt that somebody thought so much of them and how wonderful the children were. They represented our school district with honor, pride, and you should be very
proud of them. Um, and I think, and I think these kids agree, it was just a rewarding experience for all both the veterans, the people at the Freetown Historic Society, as well as the kindness ambassadors. And what's kind of neat is we we had 22 kindness ambassadors. We didn't have that many
veterans. So we had extra flags, we had extra cards. So what ended up happening is one of the projects, another community service project we do is we work with the Tuesday Club of Sonet being one of the collection centers. Thank you. Sorry. One of the collection centers for their annual stocking drive
where they put together uh personal items and things for the stock for veterans in the veterans hospital and whatnot. So, I was able to give them extra flag magnets and extra um extra cards so that way they could be added to
their their stockings as well. Okay. Then I asked the children um what they might want you to know beyond the event that we had about the kindness ambassadors. It could be what we've done in the school. It could be um
projects they hope that we do in the future because believe me, they've come up with a lot of ideas. we just can't keep up with all of them or anything they want you to know about the kindness ambassadors. And here's what they said. >> We've been cleaning classrooms, helping others, and celebrating veterans. I like
helping teachers clean their classrooms. >> We have also helped teachers in our school by cleaning tables and chairs in our in their classrooms. >> Our club is about helping people in the community because they do so much for
us. I am hoping we will honor the police and firefighters as one of our future projects and make cards for them. We help some of the teachers clean their classrooms and organize their books. I hope we can help some third grader third grade teachers this time. In the future,
we may invite some people to our school for cookies, hot chocolate, and tea. Our club shows kindness in and out of school by making cards, helping other teachers, and by being role models. Mrs. Gloo
helps us to make our ideas possible. >> And I'm proud of each and every one of them. They are amazing, and they really do represent our school and our district very well. Um, and I you heard Grace say she was hoping that one of the projects would be um getting together with some
people in town. They actually voted last Thursday to have a hot chocolate tea cookies and conversation with the senior citizens in Freetown in collaboration with the Council on Aging. So that is our next project in March. Um and they wanted to know if you had any questions
for them, anything that they might you might want to know about our club. >> I I would just say I'm pretty sure I speak for the whole committee. You certainly made us proud. Thank you so much. It's a great message, Miss Laru. Thank you for taking more students because the message is great. What a
great club. So, and great job. >> Great job. >> So confident, proud, and kindness. I love it. >> Thank you so much. >> Well, thank you so much again for having us. We do have some things the children have made for you and if I take this a moment to pass them out because they
some of them have their names. Now, the thank you cards. We have 21 students and there aren't 21 of you. So, some of you will be getting extras. Please don't be upset if you do, but I want to make sure that all of our kindness ambassadors because the ones who couldn't be here today still made some things for you. So, Arya, if you are a school committee
member to help out our children, could you just raise your hand for me? Thanks. And then you can go. I have Emma S. >> Give it to Olivia. >> Thank you so much. >> And Grace M.
Emma M. We have some more school committee members. I know you have your own. Okay. Can you bring it to one of the people? >> I know. >> How many more do we have?
>> All right. I do have extras that I'll just kind of pass out around in the back of you. And we also have for our student leaders as well as our central office staff um and administration. Jace, >> can you guys raise your hand for me?
>> Thank you. >> That's one. There you go. >> Thank you. >> You're kind. >> Yes, you too. Thank you. >> That's so great. >> So cute.
>> Beautiful. >> Thank you. >> Let's display it. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Fantastic. We have one more thing for you and the kids are super proud of these. All right, you ready? Just go right right down the road. These are
another project we're thinking of doing. >> It's a kindness quiz. >> Thank you. where we thank you so much for your kindness of having us here today. And if you find someone that makes you smile >> or makes you just feel really good that you can pass it on to them
>> and then maybe they'll pass it on to somebody else and so on and so on >> just to make sure that everybody has a little happy and kindness in their lives. >> And as I tell the kids too, if you need to keep it to make sure that you have your kindness, that's okay with us too. >> There's no stipulation behind this.
>> It's okay. Thank you very much. >> Have enough. >> Fingers crossed. Adorable. >> Did everybody get one? >> So cute. >> Fabulous. All right, I'll take that. Thank you so much. >> So, thank you again. What do we say, boys and girls? Thank you so much for having me.
>> Sorry, you have to follow up after. >> That is a That is a tough act to do really. And voting on a school calendar, right? Right. Make some people happy and some people not, right? Uh but we we bring to you tonight uh once again the proposed SY 2627 school calendar
choices. Uh as we might recall we have an option A for after Labor Day and an option B for before Labor Day. Um we have reviewed uh those two different models and at your request we sent a survey out to the staff across the
district. What you see before you on the next slide is the results of that survey. This survey uh was sent out via email. Staff members had uh one week to respond. They were basically asked three simple questions. Uh you know, identify the building you're in, select your
role, and then take a pick from option A or option B. The reason we asked about role in school is just in case we had some kind of tie or something close and we wanted to look at that data in a different way, at least we collected it all at once and didn't have to go back and do it again. Uh drum roll please.
survey says 80 say 83.6% >> uh would prefer if you're looking at what the staff has uh put in has would prefer the before Labor Day start. That's how I read that pie chart at the bottom there.
>> Go ahead, Steve. >> I was leaning in this direction anyway. Motion to approve option B. >> Second. >> Hearing a motion and a second. Do we have any discussion? I just want to say thank you for taking the extra time to do the survey. Uh I
feel more comfortable making this decision on behalf of the community knowing these results. >> Any other questions? >> I think that help us to understand the ex scenario and where the uh school
community was leading on. So thank you for that. Any other questions? >> Okay, seeing none, all in favor say I. >> I. >> Any objections? Seeing none, any abstensions? Seeing none, motion passes.
>> Thank you very much. We >> Motion passes to for B to start before >> B for before Labor Day. Thank you very much for that. And we will begin planning uh in particular professional development for the next school year. That's very helpful to us. uh and we will make sure the community gets that
calendar as soon as possible so that families can begin uh their planning as well. Thank you. Thank you very much for that. And then I am going to turn things over to Terry Fleming who's going to talk to you all about writing across the grade levels here in our district.
>> So in the folder you have my director's report which refers to um our IMR civil rights review report out and that information is in there. Um, Kelly Seal is going to elaborate more on that process. And then there's also um, not
really a great update, but just an update on grants. If you want to read through that and have any questions, um, please let me know. But more exciting is we've been tackling writing in the district for a couple of years now, and we are excited to continue that process. Um, so in September and October, staff
reviewed all the essays that came in from MCCAST. They were released. I shared that with you um, in the fall. Um, these are used for classrooms to help students see and discuss and revise responses to um, sample products from
our own district. So, uh, it's fun to see the kids like rewrite things and and decide where they could improve their writing. Um, and that happens from grades three up. Um, including our high school teachers use it for their current classes. Um, from there the staff create
and use released prompt items that align with the rigor and coherence of the frameworks. They use them in their classrooms for benchmarks and they also embed them in uh common assessments throughout the units that they're working on. Each grade level, in addition to regular and routine writing, they have three
benchmark prompts that guide comparison discussions um within and across our grade levels. Uh in the classrooms you'll see whole group and small group instruction and practice that scaffolds uh writing and provides feedback to students right there in the immediate um
both peer feedback, self-reflection and teacherto student feedback. Uh additionally we have individual written work uh that's done on paper. We have it done uh teachers are really moving back to making that connection between the writing with their hands and
the and the synopsis firing off in their brains. So we do love that. However, we are trying to balance the exposure to computers because when it comes to MCCAST testing, they are taking it on the computer. So typing is still important. Um and we are still focusing on providing them the opportunity to
type. But I love going into classrooms and actually seeing the pencil and paper out. Um we had our CL meeting yesterday, our curriculum leader meeting yesterday, and the team spoke very highly of that transition back to paper and pencil um more regularly for students. works on
penmanship and and works on um just again that fi that transfer of learning opportunity. Um in the elementary schools and through high school again we use an acronym called race um which
stands for restate the question, answer the question, site evidence. Um, third grade students are expected to write an essay with three pieces of cited evidence from a from a reading passage and the reading passage can be quite extensive as parents that have come to
um, MCCAST night have seen how long those are. And then E stands for explain your reasoning. I mean, even Kristen Lipincot at the high school was talking about the fact that even though they don't call it an acronym at the high school that still that methodology of reating the questions and citing
evidence is is played out in the classes for um students and it follows along with our CERS for science which are claims, evidence and reasoning um for our science students as well. Uh during common planning time, grade level teams bring rubrics and papers um together and
they discuss levels of proficiency and what needs to be done to keep kids students moving forward. Uh this week we had one of our three um vertical curriculum leader meetings and we actually revisited writing compared to how students did last year on MCCast,
how they did on their beginning of year benchmark and how they've done on their midyear um benchmark. And those data meetings are happening in the buildings across the board this week and next week as well as we continue to look for ways to develop our writers. We are um
working on uh testing out some new material um and writing s uh writing routines through being a writer. And I was in Miss Flutier's class today. Uh, and her kids, one of the kids, unprompted, although I think there might
have been some some some possible scripting, said, "We love our new writing program." And it's not a new program, but um, I then sat there and watched them participate in this uh, practice of turning and talking and then drawing a picture and engaging in the writing task before they actually sat
down to write. Um and it was really in um encouraging as they had smiles on their faces. Maybe you know it helped that they were performing for me. Uh but they were doing a really good job. And so we have in two classrooms at AES, two classrooms at FES and discussions with
our fourth and fifth grade teachers um about having it in their classrooms as well this opportunity to build a fluent writing practice. Um and and that's going really well and you'll continue to hear more about that as the year progresses.
>> Thank you. >> That's it. Question. >> Great job. >> No, just uh we love our writing program. Testimonial I think I've ever heard. >> I was having snack also. I'm just going to say there was food out there and it had nothing to do with writing at the moment. So I think it was it might have
been pretty genuine. The the little guy that shared it was quite enthusiastic about it. But they had good reasonings, right? They liked the fact that they got to talk to their partners first. They liked that they had some choices. So, the program is about choice uh writing options. Um so, they did state some very
valid reasons for enjoying what they're doing right now. Um >> they should have written them. >> I I asked if I could quote them and they said yes. >> Great job. >> Yeah, great job. >> And those pictures that I could have filled several slides with pictures of things that are happening. Our our
teachers and our students both are working really hard on on their writing. There are no questions. No questions. >> Okay, we will move right along. Uh next is uh Mr. Higgins with the budget update. Uh before he begins, I I'll just kind of remind us of where we are in
terms of the budget uh back at the beginning of January. Uh our first school committee meeting relative to budget, we had two presentations. One was a primer that kind of brought us all up to speed on terminology and and school finance. And that same night, we had a very general overview of the
proposed budget. Uh and then fast forward to the second meeting that we had in January. We had a more detailed presentation about the same budget. Uh and included in that presentation was uh information kind of in two forms. Information uh that matched exactly what
is in your budget book and then that same information just in a different format so we can start thinking about uh school-based or sitebased budgeting for the years to follow. So tonight we are we're back making another budget presentation to you and this was a direct result of your request at the
last meeting to see if we could find some other ways to mitigate uh the cost to the town in this recommended budget. So, uh, our first slide just reminds us who we all are here sitting at the table, our school committee members. And if you recall, those were our students
who sang to you at the last meeting. And, uh, I'd like to always bring us back to the the idea that this budget specifically ensures that the daily academic, social, civic, and athletic experiences of our students will remain consistent with what they had this year
moving forward. Uh, just to focus us on that. And with that, I'm going to turn things over to Mr. Higgins, who's going to talk to you a little bit uh around chapter 70, something we talked about in that primer, uh something that came up at a recent regional fincom meeting uh
where there was a request to have some talk points so that we could all be better advocates to increase chapter 70 funding and change the way that formula uh is calculated so that the pressure of increasing expenses around education
don't fall solely on the taxpayers. So, Mr. Higgins is going to walk you through that, talk to you about some of the talk points, and then uh bring you some of those ideas about how we could mitigate this budget. >> Thank you. So, uh last week we received the governor's budget um and we were
able to uh fill in the missing data for our town assessment sheet, at least the initial town assessment sheet. As you know, uh, those of you who have participated in this in last year, we we go through several iterations of this. As we get more information from the state and as each step along the budget
process, these numbers can get updated. Um, with that being said, we did have a chapter 70 increase um, from the previous year of just about a little under 2% from last year's chap chapter 70, which was at 12,333,000
and change. And in you can see in your assessment sheets which are in your uh folder this year it's 12,528,000. So a little over 200,000 um uh dollars. Uh so it's a small increase in terms of
chapter 70. It's important to to recognize that because while chapter 70 is increasing, it's only increasing at a very small scale. Um and so as a result each year it's going to take a smaller piece of the pie. Um there's a slide
that I that I'll show you later on that kind of demonstrates that um and it comparing the each one of the towns as well as to chapter 70 over multiple years in the assessment. In addition to that we had a slight decrease in our regional transportation uh funding for
the current year at least under the governor's budget that number could also be adjusted. Uh we also found that our state our state assessment numbers so each year the town I mean sorry excuse me each year the state identifies those items that are um that they're going to
assess back to us. We don't actually send them a check. What that does is it just reduces the amount of funding that we'll receive in the year. So we we predict what that number will be from prior years and then make a projection from each year. Our projection this year
was uh increased from 783,000 assessment to 800,000. In fact, what the governor's budget has is 865,000. So, we are we we need to watch that closely, that 65,000 where we could potentially be making that up. In one in
some cases, that number could be coming down as they're continuing to look at the budget and how they're funding certain um areas throughout the state. But in addition to that, uh we are expecting our health insurance increase numbers within a week or so. Um there is hope that we're going to come in a
little lower given some of the steps that Blue Cross Blue Shield has taken relative to prescription drugs. Um if that's the case, certainly we would be able to provide some relief to the towns. We'd also be able to make up some of those differences that we were um we came in a little under relative to what
the state predicted or what the state has come through with for us. We also are, as I mentioned before, we're out to market uh for our property and casualty insurance. That one is a little bit long longer in terms of a timeline stretching out where we would be able to get the numbers for that. Probably a little
closer to the end of March. Quite honestly, the savings aren't going to be as great as well. But it's something to move in the right direction so we could find some savings there as well. Uh we continue to monitor our contractual obligations and we're in the midst of negotiations with our teachers,
paraprofessionals and secretaries also balancing all of these things potential savings and health insurance um you know potentially going through the negotiation piece. So we'll watch all these things and I will continue to give you updates on where we are for all those as we go through the process.
Uh in the next slide you can see the the three let's call them the three primary revenue sources that we have in the district. The town of Lakeville, the town of Freetown, and then Chapter 70. Um I my apologies, it's probably not quite large enough for you to see. You can see it on your computers probably
more a little more clearly, but you can see over the 5-year period that what has happened is is that uh Chapter 70 has taken a percent and a a point and a half less um of a of a piece of the pie over that time. That doesn't seem like a lot, but
when you're talking about millions of dollars, it does in fact affect and it can be pretty substantial. So what we're what we're looking at is what's happening as that chapter 70 continues to raise at a very small rate and ultimately therefore putting a greater
onus on the towns. A reminder of the key factors influencing the budget. We um there was $700,000 voted in last year's excess and deficiency fund that is being moved into the general fund. In the current year,
we have $300,000 of $290,000 of school choice that is moving into the general fund budget and circuit breaker about 50,000. Our health insurance has currently budgeted at 716. Our fingers are crossed. That's going to come in um under that number. Our staffing, we have
an estimate of 1.2 million. Where does that come from? That comes from what we've what we are estimating for negotiations. as well as uh we have each year the teachers have the opportunity to move lanes if they uh receive another degree or additional credits. So we've
calculated that as well. Uh and then for technology as we've discussed and uh Ryan Blanchard reviewed a month ago now um the items that in the technology budget uh that have caused an increase in the technology budget over what it typically is and that is a result of we
are in the cycle to replace Chromebooks and we have a need for replacing and um essentially replacing the switches that allow us to have technology access in in the district. and then phase two of the
um fire suppression project here on the campus which is $198,000. The the overall budget uh recommended budget is 53,619,217. That is an increase of 3.734234 uh million from the prior year. That
includes uh federal grants. When we look at the general fund budget, we see that the bid the budget is 49,842,654, which is a mill 3,754,915 greater than the um 26 budget, an 8.15% increase.
The um FY27 town assessments, this is new information as a result of the uh information we've received from the governor. So you can see there that the increase in the assessment to Freetown is $1,743,88 and the increase to Lakeville is
$2,490,540 which is a corresponding 13% and 14.01% respectively. We have u currently in the budget uh we're currently $2.159 million in excess and deficiency. This is a reduction from
last year of 2.211 211 million in FY25. >> I'm just going to jump in, Jack. Sure. >> On the following slides, we're going to present to you tonight three options >> for use of END to mitigate the budget. The first option is solely physical
one-time expenses. The second option are one-time expenses with the addition of a subscription that if we pay this year for that subscription, it it covers the payment for three years. And the third option you're going to see tonight is everything in the first option.
Everything in the second option with the addition of some expenses related to annual subscriptions that we would pay out of END for this year but will return in next year's budget. So you're going to see three, we'll explain them all in
detail, but you're going to see three options. A A+ because it's A plus something and A++ because it is A plus one thing plus another. They're colorcoded for you that that
hopefully is going to help you. And then won't we after we present what they are, we can show you the impact to the towns in each scenario if you decide to pay for that from END. Steve >> um just sorry for some perspective if you could remind me on
>> I guess this is the health of the END account what percentage of the budget is allowable or what's the number the >> theap the END is at capped at 5% of the current year budget each year when they uh calculate when we get it uh certified
the the current year so our budget this year 5% is the cap >> okay >> we are not at the cap are we closer. >> Uh we're at about $200,000 short of the cap. >> Okay. >> Just thank you. That's your perspective.
>> Okay. Okay. Uh so this is a again response to the request from the meeting on January 21st utilizing END for one-time expenses. You can see we've broken this down into the elements. Mo many of these things we've spoken about. Many of them are technology related. Uh
$200,000 for the network switch project. understanding that the network switch project is actually significantly more, but we're able to utilize -ate grant funding to cover 60% of the but of that project. This is the 40% remaining that would be responsibility of the town
responsibility of the school district. The um the there is um security camera replacements uh in each of the buildings uh two in in I believe it's two cameras in each and then the corresponding cabling. Those replacements uh amount to
19,923. That's for all the buildings who were replacing. Quite honestly, these are these are situations where these are cameras that are in need of replacement. We've had cameras in the district for about 10 years. They're they're reaching the point where they're starting to to
fail. Um we have docking stations. This is in an effort to move away from the desktop model, desktop and Chromebook model for teachers. as we have discussed prior in in a prior meeting that uh will be $5,764.
The uh there's several servers that need to be replaced and upgraded. So, one of which is a virtual server. Uh this is $68,687. Uh there's a tech controller. I I could certainly call on Ryan Blanchard to give a little more detail on this. My apology I don't have the details on but this is
a onetime expense of 5351. We have textbook purchases um in two place uh sorry we have textbook purchases um for history textbooks at the high school. These are actually hard copy books that when we receive we won't
be purchasing again. So that's $48,200. >> They're world language textbooks in there as well. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. There's also some replacement world language textbooks as well. uh PE equipment uh of 1,250. This equipment would be is not consumable. It's stuff that would be
used go for years going down the road. The uh writing program that uh Terry Plleming mentioned uh in prior meetings at 56,750. But again, this is a program that's not a subscription. It's a purchase of of materials and hard copy materials that
would we be able to carry over from year over year. The fire suppression phase two, as mentioned before, is $200,000. And then we have floor cleaning equipment. This is in the form of uh vacuums, as several of our vacuums over the past year have broken down. And then
some uh hard floor cleaning equipment that needs replacing at 33,305. That's across all the buildings. >> Also on that list, uh the third one down is replacement Chromebooks because we talked about getting into that cycle of replacing Chromebooks. So this would be the beginning of that cycle. So I would
like to point out the total 95,184. So if we add all those items up and you would like to purchase those items out of END, that's that's the total. When you see something that says replacement textbooks, I just I just want to be clear that those are replacing textbooks
this year. When we build a budget for next year, we're going to ask you to replace some other textbooks. >> These are history and world language in particular at the high school. Perhaps next year it's uh we're language books at the middle school. Right? So I I don't want you to
see replacement textbook and think you're never going to see that again. It says replacement textbook just to identify that that particular set that we're replacing. So I say that and I in the same vein we're talking about Chromebooks. So we need to replace Chromebooks on a cycle. So next year
when we build a budget we'll be coming back and saying we need more Chromebooks. Well certainly not to replace the ones we're just buying. It's to replace the next set. that's aging out. So, I just don't want anyone to, you know, to be confused next year when we're sitting here and we're saying we need more Chromebooks or we have other books we'd like to replace. So, these
are one-time purchases of items currently built into this budget. Any questions about that slide? >> About any of those items? Go ahead. >> I just want to be sure. Sorry, thank you. Um,
for example, the docking stations line item for 5764. Is that the total cost or that's the END portion that goes toward that replacement? >> That's the total cost that we have built into the budget to ask for this year. That is not a docking station for every
teacher in the district. >> Sure. Okay. >> Okay. I thought for some reason I thought that number was bigger last presentation. It was not. >> It was a part of a number of tech elements that were included in that. Yeah. Thank you, >> Courtney. Go ahead.
>> So, one of the actually when I was viewing reviewing this earlier, one of the questions I had was what would it leave left in END if we went with option A? So, I did the math. It was if we went with option A, it would be 1,254 753 left in that balance. But my
understanding it does not add any sort of added pressure next year. There's no it's not going to increase any structural deficits >> for nothing in this in this case. Correct. >> Okay. And then we just quickly take you to the next slide so that you can see if you choose this option what that does
for the assessment for the towns. So it drops Freetown to 10.08 and Lakeville to 11.12. And if you if you just take yourself back up to slide nine, you can see where we were. So it was 13 for Freetown and 1401 for Lakeville.
>> If you determine to do this this evening, we go from 13 and 14 to 10.08 and 11.12. So that's option A. Any questions before we move on? Okay.
Option A+. >> Uh so A+ uh includes all of the items we just re reviewed. And then there is a um this is a backup. This is also a techrelated item. The we are at the end of a third a three-year subscription for
what is known as the Barracuda backup. Um, this is the backup server for this for the district, but it is a subscription or a um an outsourced tool. Uh, and the 25,000 will cover a three-year uh subscription. So, it would
it will reappear in the budget, but it will reappear in the budget >> in three years. >> And the total on that is 930,184 because you can see the increase of the 25,000. And taking you to the next slide, you can see what that does to the
assessments. So we go down in Freetown to 10 even and in Lakeville to 11.04. Questions regarding A+ and then we move to your third option which is A++. So this this option all of the items
from the very first one replacement of network switches all the way down to that barracuda subscription you've now seen because we've done A and we've done A+ what you see at the bottom are one-year curriculum subscriptions one-year admin subscriptions and by admin I don't mean I don't mean
administrator I mean administration of the district for example um Aspen which is our student information system that's used across the district uh one-year tech subscriptions, some of which I'm sure that uh Mr. Blanch could talk to you in more detail about, but they're
technology subscriptions for things that we renew annually here in the district. Um, those are one-year subscriptions. So, if you decide to pay for those out of END this year, they will come back into the budget for next year. They will be built into the budget for next year.
So, I just want to make that clear. The difference there you can see at the bottom is 336781. The total at the top if you were to select A++ 1,266,965 would be coming off the assessments and taken from END.
>> Courtney maybe has done the math on that one. All right. I I don't want to steal your thunder, Courtney. I'm just I'll go to the next slide and then uh to let you know what that does to the assessment. The assessment for Freetown comes down to 8.91 and the assessment for Lakeville comes down to 9.97.
Just taking you back to where we started. Uh the original town assessment for Freetown was 13. The original assessment for Lakeville was 14. So you have before you tonight three options. Courtney's going to talk to you about the difference differences. Uh
>> okay. With option A+ that would leave 1,229753 in END. A++ leaves 892,972. My concern with A++ is that it's adding that 33 336 781 recurring
expense as a structural deficit. >> That's my opinion. I don't know if anyone feels >> That's a good point, Courtney. Go ahead, Steve. >> It the subscriptions make me a little nervous. Is is there
a way to identify savings with maybe these like barracuda is threeyear, Aspen is one year. >> So we can >> can you negotiate a three-year potentially serve? >> Yes, we can do that. So we could we could reach out to the companies price
quotes for threeear subscriptions. In doing so, it might it'll bring your overall cost of the three years down. But what we would likely have to do is go back and change our very top number in the budget because really we'd be asking for more. >> All of it right from the start. >> All of it right from the start. Right.
So, we can do that. It will just change the number at the top. So, then we're changing what we were originally asking for for the budget in order to, I guess, empower you uh to take more money out of END to pay those now so that you don't see them again for three years.
We can do that now or we could do that for next year's budgeting if that's going to be the directive from the school committee when we're looking to build next year's budget. We could simply get estimates on three-year subscriptions for everything. Just understanding what that would do to the top number in order to be able to access
the money EMD to pay that out. That makes sense. And of course, if you're asking us to do that now, we can do that. In fact, Terry Fleming has reached out to uh some of the vendors that we use to get those those three-year uh quotes. >> Yeah. I mean, I that would really
diminish the END account, but if there is a a cost savings benefit to a longer term contract, maybe a future budget, it may be worth looking at. Um but it's worth the research. I I I
personally think >> yeah I I think this table I I think everybody here agrees with you. I'm not sure if this is the budget you want to do. >> Yes. The the timing isn't doesn't seem appropriate. >> So I'm sure you'd like to discuss those options. We'll just take you through the last few slides here in the
presentation. Uh just a reminder to everyone that supporting the recommended budget affords programmatic continuity throughout the district. Last time when we were together, we presented a the principles presented a slide on each school which really defined what that programmatic continuity is for you. We
consolidated those. So we're not looking at all the slides again. Uh but this this is the uh consolid represent consolidated representation of the programmatic continuity that would continue at fees, AES and grace when when uh the recommended budget is
funded. Uh the next slide does the same thing. It encap encapsulates FLMS and ARHS just for you so you have reference if you'd like to go back and then also for the tech and facilities department here in the district.
And then next steps for us uh will certainly be to take action on any of the school committee decisions. We'd like to continue to gather relevant information as Jack had indicated before when that becomes available and share it with you. We're going to continue to update budget binders and presentations.
All of this information is available on our school website. This presentation will be up tomorrow morning. We'd like to continue to engage with stakeholders and decision makers at meetings. We certainly encourage community members uh to come to all sorts of meetings so we can have a a robust discussion regarding
the school budget. We will prepare for the February 25th school committee meeting uh which is also the public hearing on the budget that will be taking place here 6 pm February 25th. And we are now preparing for a joint meeting of school committee and uh the boards in Lakeville and Freetown. It's
my understanding that's taking place on February 26th here in the library as well. And I believe at 6 p.m. 6 p.m. So that concludes what we have for you. certainly can answer any questions and
uh interested to see what the school committee would like to do with those options. >> I think for a start I' I'd like to see a vote on it. I think I think we have a decision to make around E and D at some point. Um Miss Breightman, if you could entertain me with what would be left
with option A and A+. >> Let me go back to that, please. With A we would have 1,254 753 A+ 1,229753. So
>> yeah, that's where we are. >> So I I guess just short of a motion, I'd like to ask the chair to put this on the agenda for the next meeting for a vote. >> Yep. Unless there's discussion against that. >> Well, we have to have the hearing. Don't
we vote after the hearing? >> I don't know. Procedurally, that's the right. >> I think we should wait for the selectment board meeting and then after that probably >> I want I just want to clarify what what
what vote are you moving? Are you are you talking about voting on the budget in totality or are you talking about voting on the choice you have tonight around END? >> I'd like to see the choice to use END. >> You'd like to see the choice to use END
on the agenda for the February 25th meeting here. Correct. Your meeting. >> Go ahead. >> I have a question. >> Yeah. wouldn't I'm thinking about the order of operations here like we don't have final numbers on chapter 70 what if it comes
in more than what we have here in our assessment sheets then that might change how much we need to use for END right >> so should we push it out further >> like wouldn't that's what I say um I
think it should be after the 26 um Just that way we have a clear picture on all the numbers and everything and we can see how really
everything is going to affect or or benefit one way or another. >> Go ahead. >> I I think it would only box us into option A. Um, I don't know the numbers would change
>> that >> drastically. I mean, it may force a decision to to only do the onetime cost option, which is A, and not A+ or A++. >> Is that accurate, Mr. Higgins? The option A is only a one-time thing. We
would not see it. >> Correct. >> Allet one-time items, but as Dr. You mentioned there will be Chromebooks that need to be purchased but will not be replacing the ones that we purchased in this. >> Correct. Right. >> As an example >> and then process would happen during the
next budget cycle when we >> correct correct >> it's really just philosophy if you want to use E and D to offset the cost for each of the towns. >> Right. I guess I'm just confused why we would vote to use the E and D now when
we haven't even approved the budget yet. You know what I mean? Like I haven't I haven't voted on the budget. It's not approved. So I don't know. That's the way I'm thinking about it. But I don't know if that's >> it's it's a good thought. >> It's a valid point. I think it's just
proactive that given the times we're being respectful of of the the towns and and the assessments, but the timeline I I hear your point. >> Go ahead. Could there be a motion
potentially to your point, Steve, um at a future meeting to have the option down the road based on how the budget comes back? >> Wait, I'm not >> to Courtney's point. Yeah. Could could we vote as a committee that we will
consider using EMD up to A+ or up to a A based on where the budget finalized happens the final number happens because we don't have to vote to use E and D now because if we put the cart before the
horse and use it and we didn't need to maybe based on chapter 70 but we could all be on the same page with a vote that it could be used and would and would be if necessary. >> If I if I may through the chair, I think
I think to kind of address everybody, I think waiting until your next meeting, although that is the 25th to continue the conversation. So, you've had an opportunity to think about it. We'll have an opportunity to bring back some other numbers for you on the 25th. And then that night you could decide to vote
to use END or you could uh as Carolina has suggested you could wait until after that meeting. You you don't have to take any action tonight. You've just been made aware of the three options we've been able to present to you at this time and and waiting until the 25th is probably prudent. So we can see what
else is happening with with the numbers that we we don't exactly know about yet. >> Okay. So let's do that. >> So we'll put the topic on the agenda for the 25th as a discussion point with a potential vote. That way there's no question and then you can just determine
not to take a vote. >> Perfect. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> If there are if there's nothing else about the budget >> and thank you for that. >> Yeah. >> Go ahead. >> What was the governor's number? >> Um so the chapter 70 number this year is
12,528,864. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Any other questions? So, just before we leave the budget, I'll just remind all the members that both in your folder and linked to this presentation that will be public tomorrow,
>> uh on slide four is a is a uh a link labeled slide four labeled talk points. And if you click on that, you can see some of those talk points about chapter 70. So, when you're speaking to your legislature or you're looking to write a letter on behalf of all of the
communities that are really feeling the pinch, those are some talk points for you uh for you to use. And again, we'll put this out so that the community has access to that, too. >> Thank you. Right. If there are no other questions about the budget in terms of my report, I turn things over to our
>> one thing. Oh, sorry. >> So, I have one more item here on the agenda. It's u just a matter of house cleaning. We have two um idle fund accounts as we keep going through. Um we've had these conversations before. This is for 9008 and 910. Currently um they are un they've been unused for
several years. 908 was the prior year lighting re revolving fund. Uh and the 910 was the prior year BCC tech energy improvements. Neither of which have been used for several years. uh we have a we have a um a need uh particularly in the
900s which we use the 900 um if you recall we were talking about the fund numbers um and what they designate in this case our 900s we identify them as our prior years. So we we match them up with a 200 from the current year. For
example, uh two um 253 which is title one 953 is a prior year title one. >> Questions for Mr. Hayden? >> That will require a vote. >> Yes, I can. >> Right. If there are no other questions
from Mr. Higgins or nothing from you about the budget, we'll move on to student services report from Kelly. Great. The bulk of my report is um our integrated monitoring review that we went through um the past year. It was about a nine-month process start to finish. So, in April of 2025, we were
informed um who our person from Hen um from Desi was, Henry, and he was the point person for us to communicate with and we had to start with the civil rights assessment that Terry completed. Um she had 18 elements um that she needed to complete and submit through
that section of things. And then October 13th, u online submissions were due for special education. There were 11 elements for special education. And then going through, I won't go date by date, but we had a meeting, Terry and I, um to prepare with Desi. Parent surveys were sent out in November. Um and they got
responses from parents asking different questions about special education um e things like that. And then we had um another meeting. We also had a meeting with our whole district leadership team with Jesse to talk about what the process looks like. Um they came they
had an interview with the CPAC co-chairs. They did that online virtually and then we were given any pre-finding corrections on December 9th of 2025. Anything that they felt they needed more information about or areas they thought we weren't quite meeting um for special education. It was one um
professional development area around transportation and giving um documentation to specialized transportation providers about student needs and making sure that we had emergency plans and things like that. Um, I'll go over that afterwards. And then December 10th, um, they came out and toured all of our schools. The tours
I felt went incredibly well. Um, we really didn't get, for lack of a better term, dinged on anything. Um, the only thing that was made note of is our areas. As you walk around, there should not be signage that is identifying special education specific areas in the building. So, it shouldn't say specialed
classroom or speech and language. It should say just who the provider's name might be. Um, so those were the only minor things that we had to fix, but they didn't want any follow-up on that other than our assurance that we adjusted that, which the principles did that day. It was done immediately. Um, and it was only a couple in a couple
schools. It really wasn't overwhelming. And then staff interviews were conducted December 15th. We had a mix of administrators including principles, um, Terry, myself, a special education teacher. Um, so those were conducted um, the morning all morning that day also
virtually. We had a debrief as a full district leadership team on January 9th with Desi. Um, our pre-finding corrections were due. So, what I did for a pre-finding correction was I met with all of our transportation providers. I created a new form for them to fill out um that the staff and the admin would
fill out for any students requiring specialed transportation. I trained the providers on the form. I told them what it was going to be used for. And then I also met with Fiser Bus Company. I trained them as well on the form and how we were going to use it. and I had everybody sign in and I submitted all of that to DESIE um before the the winter
break. So that was completed um prior to the January 12th deadline. Um January 30th, we received our final integrated monitoring review report and it is published on the DESI website. Um so quickly, I'm not going to I gave you a lot more information in the drive, but
I'm just going to go over the criteria really quick so you know what this means. Um the first criteria was childfind. How are we identifying students that have needs in our district? um that is through our MTSS um intervention program. The schools call it their BBST teams. The kids are referred different areas. It can be
academic, social, emotional, it could be even speech and language, fine motor, gross motor, and they receive intervention and they meet on a regular basis. We we had to submit a spreadsheet for every student last year that received intervention, which was well over um well over 300 students in one
way or another and the dates that they received intervention, the time they received it, if they were referred for a special education, and what the outcome was. So all of the principles had to submit that to me and we we sent that in. Um we also have to talk about um we
are responsible for outreach to professionals in the community. So, nursery schools, daycare facilities, um group homes, parent organizational health organizations, and we have to send out information to them about our child fine process, and we have to do that every year. So, we had to provide
all of that documentation. Um we had to give all of our information about our CPAC, our bylaws, our minutes, our meeting minutes, our meeting agendas, who our chairs are, who our board is, so that they could see that we have that up and running and that it's following all the procedures. Assist of technology. I had to submit um
a description of how we're decid deciding if students need assistive technology and what materials and equipment are in use within our district. Um IEP implementation monitoring that we're implementing IEPs the way that they're written. Um my lensure is a special education administrator. So I have to submit my
lensure to show that I am licensed in the proper area. So I submitted that lensure of a special ed director. I also have a superintendent's license. So I was able to submit all of that on the portal. Um, we also have to submit lensure for all of our special education teachers, all of our related service providers, and all of our contracted
service providers. They all have to be licensed. So, I submitted all of their lensure through the portal as well. Um, we have to show that we have interpreters for any students that require deaf or heart of hearing interpreting. We don't have any currently. We do use teachers of the deaf in the district and we use
aiologists, but we do not need interpreters. Those are different. Um, if we did, we use Reeds Collaborative and we contract because it's such a small faction of students, we don't have someone in house hired as a full-time person because the need is not that high. Um, and then we also have to have
all of our professional development. So, in working with Terry, we have to show that we are providing state and federal special education PD to general ed and special educators. Um, that we're accommodating diverse learning styles. we're providing that to the entire district and that we're collaborating
with our district to be able to support students with all different needs. And then that's also where the transportation um professional development fell under as well. Um two left we had to provide four floor plans for every school and what they look in the floor plans is to make sure that we're not clustering our special ed
programming in one part of the school. You don't want to have a school that feels isolated or non-inclusive. So they want to see that your programs are spread out across the building. Ours are very well spread out and I think strategically placed so that students are near their grade level peers. Their inclusion opportunities are right where they are learning if they are in a
subsparate or partial inclusion setting. And then the last is um evaluation reports. We have to have um outside providers come in and do evaluations of our special ed programming. So last year we did our integrated preschool. So that report um was completed by Dr. Dr. Caroline Mccernney and Donna Cranshaw
Gabriel and I submitted that back in the spring and so I just had to submit this on the portal for them to see that. So all of that being said um at the end of that everything submitted on January 30th we received a report which I uploaded in the portal. It's our full
report for you um that we met all of our standards and they were all fully implemented and we had no corrective action. So we are fully done no action plan. Terry's all of her IMR stuff and all of my stuff is and now we don't have one for three years. So,
>> great job. >> Great job. >> So, any questions about the IMR before I move on to my other topic? >> No, thank you for all your work. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> I will I will second the thank you and acknowledge Kelly, Terry, uh Justin Smith, Meredith Foy, Donna Hillary, Jen
Seabourg, Heather Ashley, and all of our special education teachers and PAR professionals. >> And Dr. Starky. >> Um, and then the last part, which is the fun part, um, is just a life sweet update. Um, we talked about getting this
up and running and off the ground over the summer and into the fall. So, just an update that we did open it up in September of 2026. I've been checking in in the program. Um, they are working on activities of daily living. They start it right in their morning. They work in working groups in the morning. So, they're working on things such as um,
making the bed and setting all of that up, changing out sheets and how to do laundry. They're doing um folding of clothes, sorting of clothes, um darks, lights, figuring out how that all works, setting a kitchen table. They're also have leisure activities, how to choose a leisure activity that they're engaged
in. Um they've got a little basketball hoop, so they'll take turns using the basketball hoop and kind of scoring and doing that. Um one student in it is safe, I promise, loves the dart board, so they're and nails it every single time, by the way. Um when I go in, he's always hitting the target. Um so they're
really active in that program. And I know um I have a couple pictures here, but there's one student on the left who's working on making like a smoothie um in that setting in the kitchen area of the setting. A couple students who they finished making the bed and now they're shooting basketball. So you'll see the little basketball up in the air
there. And then another student that's working on a leisure reading activity with it. Looks like a cup of coffee, but I'm sure it's not coffee in that cup. Um but they're really utilizing it and now they're moving into more cleaning and maintenance of the apartment. So they're shifting more of those daily getting ready tasks into the cleaning and the
maintenance. So that's the next part of their activity. So I just wanted to give an update since we just launched it this year. I felt like it was a good time. Any questions? >> No. That's awesome. >> Great. >> That's it for me. >> That concludes our portion of the
report. >> Okay. So as I promised earlier and we had a motion, we will now open it up to public input. Anyone who has anything that they would like to ask in regard to the budget. Um, please state your name,
your town, and your question. >> Hi everyone, Margaret French, Freetown Finance. Um, I'm going back to last meeting. I have a bunch of comments about the pool presentation, but we had public participation beforehand.
So, um, whole bunch of things actually. So there were two estimates that were brought forward, one from Aquatica, one from Fillian. And there was a lot of comments about the vastly different prices. Well,
they were vastly different estimates. One was to completely renovate the pool up to today's standards, safety, ADA, etc. The other one was to do the bare minimum,
just open it. So, everybody's concerned about that two-year deadline. That doesn't account for safety or ADA compliance.
So, safety, we only have one drain in that pool. State law 105 CMR 435.8 8 requires at least two main drains at least 3 ft apart for every pump that's
in the pool. We only have one. That's not uh maybe we can do it, maybe we can't. That's a requirement. It's not on Fillian's estimate. Procurement.
The pool is districtowned and housed in a district building. Therefore, the project falls under chapter 149, sorry, which requires that the project goes out for bid and is bound by prevailing wage.
Information on the inspector general's website says that a minimum of three sealed build bids are required for a project of this size if even only the 150,000 was considered.
If updates are being done gradually over time, where are those extra costs coming from? It was presented that the goal of this subcommittee was to have the pool bring in enough revenue to pay for itself.
Pools are typically not self-sufficient. So, who is paying the insurance on the pool? Who is paying the I said insurance, sorry. Um, how do you separate the electric and the other utilities for the school, for
Grace, and for the pool? Um, early 2000s, Bluefish, a swim team that at one point was swimming out of Rainham Athletic Club, they wanted to lease our pool. They did lease our pool for their swim lesson swim team.
They offered their instructors and lifeguards. At the time, the district required all Bluefish personnel to be hired by the district in order to be covered by the insurance. Is this going to be the same relationship with
Aquaafe? In 2018 2019 time, the district developmental swim team, the Warriors, became no longer district. it became a private swim club.
They were then paying a lease fee to use our pool. The district decided that or made the decision that because they were leasing the pool, no other programs could be run at the same time. So, there were no
community resident swim um whether it was open swim, lap swim, nothing. Is that going to be the same thing if Aqua Safe is going to come in and rent the pool?
So, does that mean there's no resident programming? Speaking of resident programming, unless I missed it, I did not hear any mention of any sort of resident or schoolbased use of that pool during the presentation
and I might have missed it. ADA the chairlift has been broken since 2019. I know people that have used it. There was a physical therapy group using the cool at the time. They couldn't use the
lift. There was anyone that came in in a wheelchair. First of all, the deck wasn't really big enough to safely wheel a wheelchair to the pool. So children and not little children, bigger
people had to be carried to the shallow end and handed into someone in the pool to the therapist and at the end had to be lifted out. So I saw the picture that
was in Aquatica's report that chair the cross bar is or the angle iron is completely corroded at the end that has to at minimum that has to be
replaced. So, not talking about locker rooms, the pool deck, they're also not ADA compliant. So, I think it's a little shortsighted to jump on that 150
and just say, "All right, go. There's a lot of things that have not been covered." Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Margaret. Good evening, Christopher Plunk, Lakeville Select Board, but I'm not speaking on behalf of the Lakeville
Select Board. I appreciate discussions tonight regarding reducing assessments by utilizing END funding, and I hope the school committee will strongly consider the options presented tonight. As I previously noted, END funds should be used only for one-time expenses and not
for recurring costs such as salaries. The discussions tonight are a step in the right direction. However, more work is required to develop a sustainable budget. As was noted in last night's select Lakeville select board meeting, Lakeville is working hard to minimize
budget deficit impacts, including possibly a hiring freeze for seven municipal employees. I look forward to continuing the discussions um with the next uh joint meeting with Freetown Tenant we schedule uh for
February 26. Thank you. >> Thank you Ma. >> Good evening Petty, town administrator, town free town. I want to thank you for moving public participation so that we have the ability to comment on what has happened during the current meeting and
I hope it remains where it is because it is difficult to talk about something that has happened in the prior meeting. So thank you for moving that. I want to applaud your efforts for trying to uh reduce the assessment to the towns. Um, we really do appreciate that and I hope
that you, you know, it continues to go down as some of the numbers come in and we have uh hopefully the insurance and whatnot brings the the assessment down. A 13% increase is detrimental to the town of Freetown's budget. So, it'll be very difficult and have impacts on the
town. Um my concern, my bigger concern, and I and I I've said this uh privately, is sustainability of the budget. Over the past 10 years, the school budget has increased 38% and as you all know, we can only increase taxation by 2.5%.
So the town has only been able to collect 25% and yet the school budget has increased 38%. I I will to that end continue to talk to representatives about the chapter 70 formula because I do think that's the bigger answer here is the state needs to
step up to the plate and start helping towns like ours and regional districts because eventually we're not going to be able to sustain the school budget. So my goal and and my message tonight is I want to be forward thinking. Where are we going to be in
five years? We're not going to be able to sustain this budget. I would I don't know I'm sure most of you know that I was born and raised here and educated here. I am a strong advocate for the school although you may not know that from my time at the podium but I believe
in the education here. I love the fact that we have a good school and good education and I would like it to remain that way for my grandchildren and for everybody to come after. So I but I do just want to say there is big concerns about sustainability and I I would like to start thinking about that and how we
how we get where we're going to be in five years. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Is there anyone else here for public input? >> I have a statement that I would like to read if that's okay. >> Can we just wait until we get through
the subcommittees and do that at number seven discussion item? Okay, perfect. No problem there. >> Okay, so moving on to the school committee subcommittee and district committee reports. Uh regional finance committee, >> the regional finance committee accounted
deans with um Dr. Starky and Mr. Higgins last week and we um talked over the um initial FY21 budget. We have another meeting scheduled for the 23rd, I think it is. Um and I'm sure we'll also
discuss the options presented tonight. um use the community as well. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um intern superintendent evaluation committee. >> We just have to the the committee met um two weeks ago, but we do have to put a
date on the March for one of the March meetings um where the subcommittee will share a date after the summit discussed publicly >> at a March meeting. So maybe we can get together and pick a date for that. >> Okay. >> If I may. Yes. I believe when we met as
a subcommittee, you were going to do that at the February 25th meeting because there are two meetings scheduled in March. One is optional unless you're committing to having both meetings. >> Okay. >> Yeah, we can discuss. >> We can figure that out. >> We just need to do that. >> Okay.
>> Okay. Wellness and health committee, there is no update at this time. >> Policy committee, >> no update. >> Capital committee, >> no update. >> Pool subcommittee. I just want to thank you uh school committee for voting last meeting to allow us to move forward uh
in further uh research in uh in options of how to proceed. Um we do have a meeting tomorrow scheduled um which as a reminder is open to the public and the agenda is posted on the site. Um, but we
did just receive answers yesterday after uh a handful of questions we had from last week's meeting. Um, so we just received answers yesterday that we'll be reviewing tomorrow. Um, and we'll have hopefully a way to proceed from there.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Carolina, you have something for discussion. >> Good evening. I stand before you today with a heavy but resolved heart for formally resigning from my position on the school
committee. I accept this role with a sincere commit commitment to serve our children, a strength academy, excellent support, support families and help cultivate moral responsibility,
patriotism and Christian grounding in our community. At this time, I no longer believe the direction and the recent advances of the district aligning with those core values.
Since I assume this was I assuming since I assume in this position, I have experienced persistent opposition, defamation of character, misrepresentation and endure more than just moment of
disrespect. that extend beyond healthy civil disagreement. Rather than collaboration and transparency, the environment has too often reflect hostility and the lack of professional
integrity. I have also encountered circumstances connected to prior decisions that expose me unnecessary on legal risks
and raise serious question on ethical concern. In addition, my role as a parent was used in a way that placed my family in the center of conflict. Rather than protecting a student
welfare, privacy and respectful processes, this atmosphere is not conducive to effective leadership. Healthy governments on or the well-being
of our students and family. Public service must be grounded. Grounded in truth and accountability, respect, trust, genuine care for the people we serve. When those
principle are compromised, it become impossible to serve with integrity. My resignation is not a withdrawal from the community of oxy. I continue to stand strong with academics, parental
voice, a student safety and volume and values values that unite rather than divide our community. I am grateful to all the residents who support me and
entrusted me with this responsibility has been an honor. My hope is that the district reflect honestly on this directions and restore transparency and recommit himself to
servicing the student with integrity and moral clarity. I respectfully submit this resignation, Carolina Hernandez. Thank you. Okay. Does anyone else have anything? >> Madam Chair,
>> that's for you. Thank you. >> Does anyone else have anything for discussion? >> Seeing none, we'll move on to our action items. Uh the first one we have already voted on.
Uh B. I will entertain a motion to vote to allow fund accounts 9008 9101 to be reassigned as needed. >> That's a typo. It's just 91 >> 91. Okay, that's what I thought. But entertain a motion to allow fund
accounts 908 and 910 to be reassigned as needed by the FLRSD business office. This is a majority vote. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Hearing a motion and a second. Do we have any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I.
>> I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Any abstensions? >> Just one abstain. Motion passes. Next, I will entertain a motion to vote to approve payroll vendor warrants from
12126. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Hearing a motion and a second. Any discussion on this? Seeing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Seeing none. Any abstensions?
>> Abstain. >> Just one abstension. Karolina. Motion passes. Last but not least, I will entertain a motion to approve regular session minutes from 12126. >> So move.
>> Second. >> Hearing a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any objections? >> Abstain. >> Any abstensions? >> I wasn't here. >> Yep. >> I will abstain. I wasn't here.
>> Okay. So, Becky and Karolina motion passes. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Okay. At this. >> Good job. >> Second. >> Um, >> I think that I think we do that. Isn't this not official until it goes to the
town clerk? >> Correct. >> So, that's what we'll have to do at the next meeting. >> Tomorrow. >> Yeah. >> So, it will have to go to >> She's going to bring it to tomorrow >> and then we'll address this at the next meeting. >> Okay.
>> I heard a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to a second. >> Motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Any abstension? I mean any objections? No abstensions. No. Motion carries.
>> Motion passes.