all right good evening with uh good evening it's 7 o'clock and I'd like to call together the March 13 2025 school committee meeting you would please rise and join me to Pledge Allegiance Pledge Al
States stand na indivisible liy Justice all you this evening we have our consent agenda posted which contains the minutes from the February 27th 2025 meeting as
well as the O payroll have a chance to take a look at those good is there a motion to accept I move that we accept the consent agenda by El second second by Janine all
those in favor keep saying I I hi perfect uh this is a special meeting this evening this is our fiscal year 26 uh public pget uh Public public budget public hearing better clean this up
before it for um so what I would like to do is invite uh Kelly to the podium who will kick off the presentation uh with some slides about um school year accomplishments and the
various programming um that we have that goes into the budgetary process and then I'll take over and walk us through the request for fiscal year 2026 we'll open it up for public comment and then we'll look to close uh based upon discussion among school committee
members s like a plan sure great all right I I'll read standard three will you prepare so that's at the top of page one so uh alignment of District strategic plan standard three Community engagement communication preserve and enhanced communication strategies
between the school district and constituents the essential question this evening is how does our financial planning relay to the district's core values Mission and beliefs we're welcome thank you you move
the SL deck forward so every agenda that we've had that you've been on the school committee has our mission statement it's very important statement uh our mission statement really is a measure of whether or not we're doing our jobs or not and we have
to be able to accomplish our mission very essence of our existence so our mission is to Foster community of Learners strive for excellence and prepare each student to be a successful contributing citizen within a global Society as a district we commit to evolve
together as a diverse community Through education accountability and compassion four core values that we live by every day within our district respect responsibility integrity and accountability
so I'm happy to report that our proposed budget this year allows us to continue to actualize our mission and our strategic plan and I think that's important because when we develop budgets our our strategic plan is is at
the top of our list of priorities it's our road map and we take that Ro that very seriously scho committee does as well have H elment to our strategic plan at each meeting we go over in the summertime we have copies of it and it
really does help to ensure that we are not only actualizing the Strategic plan but we're pursuing our mission for the district well the ackn the acknowledgements not
acknowledgements accomplishments sorry are uh aligned to the Strategic plan we have five standards in the Strategic plan we've combined our elementary school so Shaker and Russell Street are in alignment which is really nice and uh because of the length of tonight's
agenda I'm going to focus on two or three highlights for for each accomplish group so we'll begin with uh the elementary schools hian and Russell Street first uh standard in our strategic plan is curriculum instruction and
assessment and the uh first uh item I'd like to bring attention to we're in the process of updating our Curriculum maps in each subject area this is not only happening in our elementary schools it's happening in our
entire District we've done this before but as you know we have a curriculum review cycle every six years uh we are using new programs with with the Google Classroom now we can do a lot with Google Classroom so we're transferring those program or transferring Bo I'm
tripping over words right now too yeah shake my head B here we're transferring the frecking plans over to Google Docs and also updated what that does it allows us to have horizontal and vertical alignments in all subject areas
now I'm back in so the uh next accomplishment this is the third year of implementation of in math in grades K to five this year we're focusing on assessment strategies and design we're still using uh the leadership team and the consultants and it's made a world of
difference we're focusing on assessment because that's a super important component of evaluation of how well program is doing as you all know from the data that you are given every year there are a number of online assessments and we needed to have a a thorough
discussion about how do we use online assessments and make sure that the students are learning step-by-step process for example of solving problems so uh we we're we're moving forward and and our staff are are in line with what we're doing and that's really important
because there was a bit of trapid when they started doing online assessment you think of a a grade one student for example doing an online assessment that's a real change in in what we've been doing in the past it's our third year so it's not new to us but when we do anything new we need to evaluate it
and reflect on what we're doing so this is what we're doing our third year uh and all of you know we're working on a districtwide portrait of a learner that's going very well we uh have identified six competency areas which I will list effective communicator
critical thinker skillful collaboration health and wellness mindful learner and engaged citizen we all also have what we call a parking lot in case we want to add another competency but at this point in time there's been no desire to but we want to keep you know keep this as an
option just in case there something does come up prior to the time when we finalize this plan we uh the last meeting we we actually looked at different areas to identify for each competency area and we
just did that on Tuesday and we're in fairly close alignment the next exercise is for the schools to transform the language into language that their students will understand then the next step after that is developing I can statements which I love by the way I can
statements are incredibly important professional development we continue to focus on Universal Design for Learning uh this has been a districtwide initiative through I think it's our fourth year now uh this is also the first year of implementation of wit and
wisdom uh we have an implementation team and a consultant uh and as you've heard me say before the implementation process is going really well it is a heavy lift for for educators so we want to be cautious that we're not moving too fast
and and we want to be aware that they can only do so much at one point in time this is all new materials this is a new mindset our Educators have have really had to unlearn some of the things that they were doing in the past and learn something new so it is a lot of work but
we're already seeing the benefits one of the uh powerful things about this curriculum is it uses an interdisciplinary approach uh it introduces social studies uh Art and Science so students are not only
learning how to write and read they're learning about different subject areas which is what it should be if you dare to think back many years ago when we had self-contained classrooms and some of you probably weren't even educated in a classroom but they did exist at one time
that was standard practice back then and we as we specialized we seem to get away from that more and more as the curriculum BEC more robust it forced us even further away from that interdisciplinary approach there are five content stages
of what wisdom Wonder organize reveal distill and known and when you think of that sequence pretty powerful sequence for students to to follow I need to be involved in this or the next Steve no I think he's fine now oh
okay culture and climate we hosted the second annual culture Fair uh it was nice to see Russell Street School join in in the cultural Fair this year uh I think this is a was a wonderful move by our district to make sure that that all
families feel welcomed and and and share their culture with us what a great experience for for the community and our students so I look forward to many more years of of the cultural Affair we also have uh monthly classroom diversity readings topics include
gender physical other disabilities race autism Quality Acceptance Finance so we've been doing that I think this is our third year now and uh it's certainly been a valuable stategy to use community and communication next
slide please our grade one and two uh new buddy program has been a great way for families to get to know each other and students to get to know each other when you move into a new community doesn't matter whether it's small or large there
are social groups that already formed for that and and children so by doing this we have an opportunity to to welcome our new families and students in a in a more productive way and and and a way that they're going to get to know families a lot faster and that's so
important when integrate into any Community we continue offering shaki's virtual Story Time night I love that story time night what a great way to connect with families you hundreds of families together reading a story it's wonderful
uh I do a third one here my apologies before I say it uh working with our school Community to improve student attendance to our K to2 student initiative we've seen some positive results we we want to be cautious and
cognizant that we have different cultures in our community that travel to other countries we also have students that need to be away for various reasons and we need to have support systems in place for these students so our intent is not to have a 100% attendance rate
but to help every student come to school every day when they're able to do so and we see some positive strides with the initiatives that've done this year technology continued with our trimester based K to5 stem project fully
implemented our interactive TV panels This is a great addition which has increased the opportunity for student engagement in in all classrooms within our district but especially in our K5 classrooms as well Middle
School under curriculum instruction and assessment we shared this a few meetings ago we were nominated by desie our Middle School to uh apply to be considered for a Blue Ribbon School status that was such an honorable status
to to have uh we were one of seven schools in Massachusetts that were invited to reply we will submit the application within the next couple weeks and we'll keep our fingers crossed that make the cut so to speak this does not happen very often in
the school district so it is something to really celebrate the fact that we're even invited is huge continued emphasis on creating opportunities to enhance relationship building between students and staff tailored to increase investment and
engagement relationships are powerful and despite the age group of student students need to feel a sense of belonging people care about them and and that uh there there is something besides having to go to school and go to science
or math there's a connection and those connections are so important for student learning professional development the Middle School partnered with Dr Alex Herber for professional development focused on increasing staff
capacity to engage Learners developing classroom structures that create positive learning climats within all classrooms I changed that one up around a bit uh it's not all about student Behavior it's about creating an environment
brings the best out of our students there are a lot of ways you can do that one way you can do that is have them engaged within the classroom and having consistent expectations I can't tell you how important that is you can't expect students to follow uh the the
rules of a school unless they know what rules they need to follow and every single teacher every single staff member in that building needs to be following those expectations and also modeling the behaviors as well so partnership a continued focus on
culturally responsive instruction social and emotional learning integrated within each classroom think we've got a wonderful job in our district of that but we still have a ways to go we can't we can't say we're done I don't think we're ever done in in teaching skills
social emotional R and our staff need to model those skills as well they're do a good job of doing that culture and climate continue implementing Universal uh mental health screening for the seventh and eighth grades and SOS which
are signs of suicide for the sixth grade past three years we've been doing a lot more assessing of our students in the middle school and the high school and it it allows us to really uh connect with students and it's really important as we all
know Community communication posted the annual cookout for families to connect with staff and families before the start of the school year nice way to bring people together before the year begins uh only wish I have is we find a better area so we're not swarmed with L
we're cooking murders so a little distracting the state adopted uh School status communication platform streamline communication with families it's the K to2 initiative I hope you're seeing a difference in that platform we're starting to use it more and more and uh
we're training more people we trained our uh secretaries and our schools as well we want to be cautious so that we don't put too much on there so there needs to be some type of filtering or this just we're just going to be inundated with too many posts and the posts for the district are on the web
page now so we don't have pictures back again which I'm super excited about technology work with the ELA Department to implement Ai and writing in other subject areas we've talked about that before our district has embraced uh the fact that AI is here to
stay and we need to learn how to use it properly with our students and and use it through example as well continue to use a past program uh to track s breaks duration schedule appointments counselor Nursing Office visits it's our second year of
implementation and uh principal everheart uh tells me it's going very well it's kind of nice to know where your students are when they're not in class especially at the middle school level high school curriculum assessment and
instruction continued incorporating udl practices and inclusive teaching in all classrooms K to2 initiative as well uh look got three three basic areas of udl multiple means of Engagement multiple means of representation multiple means
of action and expression we uh still have a ways to go it depends on what school you're in but we're we're making progress and and teachers will never all be at the same spot and implementing something was huge but I'm really happy to say that we're
doing we're moving forward we're doing a good job and and uh we'll keep uh noticing differences every year as we continue to implement udl it's the second year of implementation of the seal curriculum at the high school called character strong which uh occurs
during their advisory periods as you know that's one of my goals that you'll be uh seeing about my evaluation be able to see evidence and what's happening I'm uh much happier this year with the implementation than I was last year there was much more student input
into the lessons and teachers have a little more flexibility and developing lessons to tailor the students needs that are inredible in the first year we had to be cautious we wanted people doing the same thing because we wanted we wanted to make sure that the
curriculum was implemented with Fidelity but it wasn't working as well as it could so we had to change our our approach it's working much better professional development reviewed the six competency areas of the portrait of a learner identified skills in each area already talked about those six
competency areas partic iate in professional development with nas about how to assess student skills in those six competency areas our Nas re accreditation is going to happen in May 2026 so it's not that far on it is an re accreditation process so
we have always been accredited and we will always be accredited but there's a lot of work involved in in being successful at them so kudos to the high school Administration staff for uh doing what they need to do to make sure uh they're doing everything that's expected
of them for reaccreditation climate and culture continue to participate in the great kindness challenge uh that is such a great idea for for high school kids love it uh we've been doing this I think four years now uh the high school is kindness
certified and so is the district I don't think you'll find many high schools that are kind of certified state and another exciting accomplishment we continue to offer unified basketball bowling and track and field so three different areas the high school
our size that's incredible and uh you know special thanks to uh the staff that that continue to make this happen Community communication LHS uh student ambassadors have helped facilitate a workshop for middle school students by participating
in the Playbook initiative which we all know about second year is of doing this and this initiative is sponsored by the Boston Celtics high school was recognized by Boston magazine again this year we ranked seven in in the high schools in
the Boston area it's another nice Accolade to have technology continued to coordinate and facilitate with tiger Tech Team our tiger Tech team consists of a number of students that are incredible at taking apart computers and fixing them it's fascinating to watch
them do this and and they're they're just selfstarter they come into the room they grab grab the Chromebooks or or Macs and they just start taking them apart figureing out what's wrong with them they also uh provide uh help to our senior members of our community as
well as I get older I I keep changing that crazeology also launch launch the sisters and Tech Team students providing staff training in the use of canva which is a presentation uh software to produce posters Etc some of the presentations we
do here uh are d c this was not action going on that's and that brings me to the end of the of accomplishments and now we can go on to
priorities a lot of the accomplishments that I talked about are also embedded in the priorities for next year which is a good thing you you shouldn't find that your accomplishments are are totally separated from your priorities because these are things that should continue and they should continue to evolve
throughout time but I'm going to I'm not going to go through all of them go through a few first one continue to meet the learning needs of all students that's Paramount why we're all here continue emphasis on student staff wellness and enhance learning
experiences heavy on student and staff if our staff are not healthy that will affect how well we teach in the classroom and we all know that the pandemic has been some After Effects and and this may not be directly to co but
directly to illness and stress Etc and our district is not exempt from that so wanted to to point that out uh you know something that we're monitoring very closely as we move forward develop instructional practices that
integrates seal and wellness support inclusion Equity diversity cultural cultural belonging cultivate belonging as well Advanced growth mindset strategies that business we're in that's something that we always need to do to advance our growth mindset strategies
develop and enhance executive function functioning skills reflect shelter English immersion best practices been doing a lot in in SEI and uh as our demographic ex change we have more students that fall into that category provide continued professional
development to support multi-tiered systems of support and we're we're really focusing on tier two and tier three supports now we want to make sure that everybody has a good idea of how to provide those support tier three supports are more specialized tier two supports can be
provided in the classroom but at times provided out of the classroom tier one all in the classroom as we become better at at implementing multi-tiered systems of support we should actually see hoping that our number of students on IEPs will
decrease because we're providing that support prior to them put on that's not going to hold for all students but we do have some students that are on IEPs with a few accommodations and I really believe that if we have a strong mpss system there'll be no need for that as
we move forward and become better at doing this obviously the actualization of our district strategic plan is Paramount in our success and uh I've already talked about those others so I'll move on i' talked
about the curriculum review Cycles we have a six-year review cycle now and it doesn't always mean that there's a lot of money injected unless we're redoing our resources sometimes we'll do a curriculum review and just tweak a few things and it's really inexpensive but it's the process it's so
valuable of reflection and looking at what we're currently doing but making sure that we can't buy resources or use strategies that were not that that aren't as good as we're that are better more correctly thaning now continue to highlight civic
education which is really important always been important and I'll finish with our shaker Lane building project we are thrilled to be in the uh design phase of of the project and we
are actually getting a better idea of what this school may look like on the outside and inside I can't hardly wait that we have enough information to share that with the committee and the community and with that I'm going to turn it over to our chair
thanks Kelly nice job um so we'll dive into the uh the numbers here but before we get there we just have a quick reminder of the description of cop centers um or here leave this to on the next page so um just so that everyone can refresh okay
eight Sor okay I corrected me um Regular Ed special ed uh students staff support and other instruction and then we've got system administration School administration transportation of buses facilities and maintenance um there the following
slides tie out to some of these uh categories here in case we're wondering where we're coming up with that so I'd like to start by just reviewing the timeline um and all the work that went into this presentation so this work started back in October um as a budet subcommittee sat with the superintendent
and business manager to identify um some initial Bridge of priorities of course a lot of work goes into this other than just the four of us it's the entire leadership team um the administration at the schools all the way up from the staff figure out um how
we what we need to do to get better and then in January we had an initial uh joint meeting with the um select board and finance committee back in February there was theary budget we're looking to finalize the budget this evening and then this will go to
the town in May for the town vote right so this is the c version of uh of where we are um our initial budget request back in December 24 we're looking at a uh 3.55% increase over the fiscal year 2025
which totals out to 94,6 51 um there was a lot of hard work and uh some massaging of the numbers as I'll walk you through here to get this at the 3.55% increase as we been talking um
over the last couple of years with some of the projects that are going on in town and where the tax revenue is associated with some of those projects the town needed to operate um as lean as possible or as level funded as possible so I'm I'm I'm happy that we're
presenting a budget of 3.55 it's a number that I believe um that I know works for the select board and the finance committee and we're certainly hoping it worked for the town in May um so if we I'll walk you through this slide here we've got the approved budget for fiscal year
2025 and then we've got the um change in salary increase total here at the bottom of [Music] $74,200 the School of Choice amount of 250,000 so we're fortunate enough to be a u a district that attracts and retains
uh some school choice seats re uh seats we've received Revenue um from those from those towns that wish to from those to send their students here from participating towns um so we're continuing with that tradition we're uh
applying at $250,000 figure to that and then this is new this year where we're basically looking at um for lack to a better term like buying down some of this um contractual increases by throwing
$200,000 worth of federal grants at that and uh when we look at the prek tuition received there's a need um that program obviously has costs associated with it some of that is Staff of course we're throwing $100,000 at that so the total
offset's 550 so at the end of the day the net net increase uh last year versus the current year versus next year is actually only 42523 for which is a great place to start um and then we looked at what changes we would like um or we feel that
we need as the district has grown and um and uh our needs have changed so the first one here is athletic director position we are budgeting uh for an athletic director um we have one he's great we know that at some point um that
individual may look to retire and uh the individual that we have is unique in the fact that he's not only an athletic director he has classroom responsibilities as well um upon that individual's retirement we would look to hire just a pure
ad see the price tag for that position up there um we're uh we're asking for that money in the event that we need it we have communicated to the select board and the U finance committee that should we not need to go out and hire a
replacement athletic director that $80,000 line item will um not be spent obviously and it'll fall to the bottom line and that will end up in a u Capital project or be directed towards the Shaker Lane building committee or Shen
Lane project the uh second Lem here is bcba Staff 995,000 it's obviously a highly trained individual um the there's there's a there's a need for that um it's something that's well documented
within our schools there's just greater um greater elements of our population requiring of services uh $65,000 technical support staff spend we have a wonderful uh tech department the technology as we're all aware is
increasing uh each and every year the amount of devices that those folks manage the amount of networks the amount of systems um that we have simply our our Tech has simply outgrown the staff and they're keeping up the very best they possibly can but it was time to go
ahead and ask to add someone and that's a $65,000 spend we believe and then as we discussed a few meetings ago and we're happy to announce we now have a second school-based uh resource officer on the campuses of uh middle school and Russell Street and um that was something
that we put in place and this line item here is the line item that allows us to continue to fund that going so this the staff ads are 315 and totals up to 74 234 I just a quick question you may um the 200,000 federal grants is
that money that we've already received or so that's that's money that we've that we typically receive and we we intend to continue to receive it and that money was spent in other places you know as it related to other educational
needs and as we work were asked to be you know level funded as possible um we're taking some portion of the Federal grant money and applying it the regular salaries to knock that number down in terms of the request for fiscal year
26 so we don't we don't believe that it's a line item that it's gone um obviously I don't want to get into politics tonight but right obviously you turn on the news there's um talks every of cuts and the like so
um that's uh that's some some of our sorry some of our federal money is paid in the prior year so we use it the next year that's what I thought that's why I was so th this money was uh we
already have it for next year I think the question is are we gonna need to scramble if if something happens so there's slight of risk with budget planning of course um this is not a as we described it to the select board and finance committee this isn't a
one-year um dog and pony show so the numbers that are presented this evening believe uh to the best of our knowledge and sustainable all right and then now we're going to go through the operational costs um some of these should look pretty familiar so um the debus contract
the annual cost of living adjustment is estimated to be 4,287 um then we've got this line item here of 89,000 that was the uh ease in uh to the appropriated amount so when we
went from the three tier system to the two tier system and bought the extra buses or hired the extra buses and uh reduce or push the start times back it was uh obviously we thought it too much for the town to um swallow that all in one year so we're we're easing this in
this is year two of three uh which the town has seen and has agreed select board and finance committee have agreed to this $889,000 increase um the third item here is the 30230 which is additional support
service contracts um HB contract uh other other needs as it relates to uh operational spends where we've gone ahead and evaluated um the amount of money that we anticipate spending and determined that we just aren't
carrying enough on that line item uh so the total operational increases for chisa year 26 boil down to no pun dependent later with the boiler project uh 164 42 417 um so the grand total for the
appropriated request from the taxpayer is $26 m393 uh sorry 393,000 579 which represents 3.55% over the previous current Year's budget pretty close to the rate of
inflation right depending what you're looking at um so the next slide here is just our anticipated um expenses from revolving funds for Fally year 26 thought it' be
worth well to walk through these so the big one here is School of Choice uh 8 $150,000 so these are the anticipated spend Downs out of um some of our revolving funds uh as we already alluded there's um salary offset that we're using
250,000 we plan on uh using $450,000 worth of school choice revolving funds for capital projects that the school department plans on um sell funding which is tied to a strategy that we'll present next and then there's
about 150 ,000 worth of other spends throughout the budget that we're going to uh use our school choice funds this is the only line item um where we will likely take in less than $850,000 it's the only line item presented here where
we're going to likely take in less and spend more um the other ones I'll go through of course but just wanted to highlight that so probably not going to take in 850 of uh school choice money for fiscal year 26 but we plan to spend 850 and that's because our school choice
funds are at a level that currently exceed 10% of our total budget and we're um we've agreed with the finance committee and select board that we should maintain a healthy balance and that balance should be around 10% so an $850,000 spend here gets us a little
closer back to that 10% number um the circuit breaker funds it's $950,000 um that we will receive based upon current year uh special education spend will have that money to spend first it
be likely the first $50,000 that we spend as it relates to special education costs um you know this is I think some of these things are kind of interesting so this is the $200,000 worth of U bus revenue from the um the bus fees that
the families pay for those that he rides to school um so we'll obviously receive that money spent it and uh we jump back and slide you'll see how much uh what appropriation we need to afford the fedal contract but we'll receive about
200,000 and spended um PRK tuition fees um there'll be about $160,000 coming out of that 100 of it went towards the uh the offset Balan 60 Grand and then other revolving
funds we'll cycle through about $525,000 it relates to Tiger stand $950,000 which is I'll highlight it's a Massachusetts uh free lunch program a lot of talk at Federal level about uh
some changes taking place with lunch programs but uh that's in Massachusetts anyways lunch the plan for lunch next year is for to continue to be a free lunch offering we anticipate receiving about $950,000 for that need we'll spend
that down by exactly that amount um the athletic fees uh about a buck 25 coming in obviously much more than that gets spent on our athletic programs but that'll be the uh the usage out of the revolving
funds High School auditorium rental fees $120,000 U spend coming out of there some of that's going into um reserves um associated with major Replacements associated with the auditorium but a lot of that's also when
someone rents the auditorium there's Sound and Lighting that gets with that so that's kind of the we might receive a buck 20 but uh there's a lot of expenses associated with hosting those uh hosting that programming as well and then other
miscellaneous resolving funds athletic fees non-rent tuition technology fees building rentals gate receipts bucket and then we've got the federal 240 Title One 262 so the other funds
on top of appropriated um that we plan that we plan to spend to achieve all of the wonderful things that superintend Cluny just brought us through what our initiatives are this New Year 26 um on top of the appropriate it's about another 4.67
million all right this slide here basically just breaks down this will year 25 versus this for year 26 and the differences and percentages so you'll see salaries expenses and totals um want want you to keep in mind that the salaries uh that's
740 um that's uh contractual steps Lanes cost of living 3.9% expenses are going out that's level fund that if be possible again at uh
2.5% and U we total at a 3.55% increase uh so here are the cost CS for you folks um so this is just another way to slice and dice sort of that same information um if you cheat your eyes over to the right hand column you can look to see where we've level funded for
the most part to the best of our ability and then there's a couple uh line items that stand out um so we'll we've gone ahead and in parentheses there um listed a contributing factor to some of those percentages so you can see under student
staff support um that line item contains the new school resource officer position the line below that other instruction that's the um anticipated need for a full-time only athletic director at some point in the near future under system
administration that's sing tchort uh Tech staff and the transportations the uh cost of living and the U cost of living adjustment Cola for that contract as well as um that $889,000
slide from our school choice spending over the appropriated here is the uh summary for you folks of town appropriated and revolving so um this year
2025 uh approved budget and revolving um fund spending as approved by us last year was 30, 155,156 the breakdown as presented so far um the ask is for your support of
26,39 3,579 in addition to that revolving fund anticipated usage of 4,676 45 for a grand total of 31,1
224 uh the appropriated piece as I mentioned earlier was 3.55 um the grand total with revolving usage is just an increase of 2.8% this just level fund that is thank you for showing it to different
welcome um it is I appreciate the comment that it is level funded because that was that was the ask but um the good news is is that we already had a great school system to start with um um so we were as
I when I talked with members of the select board and finance committee who presented a 3.55% budget increase and they were pleased with that um you know I shared with Kelly Kelly was there I shared you know we we would be asking for a heck of a lot more than that if we
feel if we felt like we had significant strides and I'm not saying that we don't have strides to make we we did we got to dig in next year and get better um but we're fortunate that the town has um supported the school district and realizes the importance of quality
education in town it's the pulse of the town and we're in a good spot we're just looking to get better and through some creative Finance we uh were able to present 3.55 which is great however there are some major concerns moving
forward right um and some of these have been the uh the same year-over year um depending upon what night you're watching the news and which station you're watching probably have uh some new ones here but obviously inflation is a factor right so the cost of everything's going way up and who knows
where it's possibly going to go um we certainly take that into consideration we're working off of numbers that we have and um and estimating conservatively where we think they might go but we're not you know raising the Hyster alarms by any
stretch of imagination um we're also obviously concerned about um where the cost of busing and Building Maintenance could go although we are fortunate to uh just kind of locked in want locked in the
busing with that cost opening adjustment in the strategy so we're in the early stages of that um I alluded to this earlier what one could be concerned about the town's appropriation support but again it's Littleton and uh the
value of education is um top of Mind here so as long as we continue to do a good job job I think the town will continue to support us uh future collecting collective bargaining um
negotiations got some coming up in a year or two um you see that on the news um from time to time with lockouts or demands and things like that so we like to we'd like to continue a a nice working
relationship with our um areas collective bargaining um units sit down talk about what their needs are talk about what our resources are and um have a win-win best we possibly can and then a big one here is
the ability to maintain school choice seats and Associated Revenue we've been fortunate um really a lot of this work was done before all of us got here to get in the situation that we're in we're stewards of the budget we need to um make sure that we spend each each dollar
wisely and there was a major emphasis on building this school choice uh account up and it was used to put the full day kindergarten program in place it's used it's been used for the uh the change in start times we're using it to uh fund
our own capital projects for the next couple of years for the Shaker Lane project um so we would like to continue to have School of Choice seats so we can continue to receive that revenue and reinvest those dollars back into our district obviously housings I um could have an
impact although I will share that um you know the the overall trend is that uh enrollment is down um sort of across I'll say this I'll say the state for the most part um so if you
don't have new housing coming into your town um you might end up in a situation where your enrollment Trends down people they they move to Littleton for a number of reasons the schools being one of them they fall in love with the town their kids go through the school system and
they stay and um we we do need new housing to bring enrollment uh into town because we have programming for this particular enrollment and if enrollment varies widely changes need to be made
and change is hard and if we can uh continue to sort of have level enrollment in town um makes the budget process a little bit easier um Capital funding concerns over the next 10e plan there are some big ticket items um which are listed below
I'll exclude the shake of Lane one but uh hbcf grades rooftop units uh roof projects the high school middle school Russell Street Big boiler replacement project at the high school the uh fance committee's asked for sort of a 10-year rolling plan on these line items um to
highlight what potential needs could be we have uh formally agreed to self fund some smaller projects to the tune of 400 $450,000 over the next two fiscal years which is going to help that shap the
lane project immensely um for the larger ticket items such as uh rooftops boilers if if we can if there is an msba program for these types of plans um we've committed to applying for those
projects uh in the event that we were to be accepted for additional um State funding which is an offset right they they they assist that I believe that the town is in position to fund those projects of unacceptance so I initially had a
concern well if we apply and we get in too early or we kind of caught without um the town having the fund set aside and the town's done some tremendous work in planning to make sure that if and when we get into some of these programs to help offset some of these big item
the town's ready uh to contribute their portion so it's a been a really great partnership with the select board and the finance committee on some of these topics um and then I want to close with just a major thank you to all folks involved and the uh the support that we
get from all of our Community Partners and I will open it up for questions comments criticism criticism the the transparency of this is stunning well you're on the committee
so somebody else didn't have to say that but I I do appreciate the comment and it's really Steve you know it's great to work with Stephen Kelly and I also I I I do wish to acknowledge the so board in the finance committee I think
it's really been a u relegate stool effort this year we look forward to continuing to work well together if we if we do go to the msba for some of these other projects what would the timeline be like for that
so say go ahead I I'm gonna say jump in so the the window to submit the SOI I think is open till I think April sometime this year so we'll get that in in the next couple of weeks we'll have to go to Bard of slakman get
their approval and school committee to get their approval to to submit the SOI um msba takes three to four months to to go through all the applications and decide who gets accepted in and then you get accepted in it's similar to the
timelines that we've seen with shaine school you have to go through studies and you have to get the engineering involved and you have to hire the project manager and things like that so it's a year or year and a half process probably because before any actual construction project actually starts
because you have to do all this other um pre-planning paperwork engineering studies before that happens so does that timing line up to when we need the work to be completed uh it would yes um hopefully
hopefully yeah we hope to get in as we as we need to work I mean the the projects identified we know um that we're going to need new Roots we know we know we're going to need new boiler we know we need new hbac units we're limping that stuff along year by year in
hopes that um we're fortunate enough to get into one of the programs and then that would be the year in which we proceed because we'd have hopefully a bit of a a major offset to the cost it would be picked unfortunate it be picked up by the state yeah we're trying to address the projects be before they
become a big issue so address the roof put a new roof on it before you we start having leaks all over the place that we can't manage it replace the boilers before they actually crash things like that so we're trying to be proactive we feel this year is the the
first year we can actually do it not hopeful of being accepted very sary you accepted the first round of the application but we we feel that the roofs and the boilers are at that life expectancy where we have a better shot
of being considered we would have applied two years ago they would even put down us and so our our consideration is independent of what's happening with Shaker Lane they're not going to look at independent it is independent but Shaker
Lane could have some Advantage when we take a look at boiler replacement because we have we're looking at energy efficient ways of of uh eating Shaka cooling Shaka and and who knows
whatever we decide to go with we may replicate that model when when the high school and the middle school your boilers depends on the cause well thanks for being so on top of it I can
uh speak we spoke before the meeting started so I that's something we could I can bring up the the recent cuts that that you heard about in terms of food service program really
affect for for schools the we all know what Farm to Table means it's Farm to school so it's the contracts that school districts including ourselves have with with Community with farms in our community uh for us at this point in time and who knows if we're losing I
mean there there's so much unknown at this point in time the state uh like like anybody in a in a situation where they don't have the money they think they have is going to do some reflecting and determine where their their priorities need to be so it may not even
be something for us but if it is we're talking about $10,000 and and we have a great relationship with with our farms in town and and with Leah at the helm of of Food Services I'm sure we can we can come up
with something to to continue our partnership we may have to spend some money but we we do have a good balance in our food services account so as a superintendent I'm not worried I'm more worried about the fact that a cut has
happened than than what's what this cut would bring to us if it actually goes through I hope that helps and because I'm sure it's on people's minds as they they see what's happening so essentially we
would continue and stay committed to that program we think most have okay that's that's a really great message because I know there's been some questions post of how this impact and our Farmers when they're
already planning what they're going to to plan so they they're they're keeping that volume of of what we use uh in their planning process so it' be very unfair to them as well to all of a sudden have to go to them and say I'm sorry we can't do
this as long as the state and the governor support the Massachusetts free lunch meals for all students that's something different we're fine but uh and we can continue with buying the local fresh vegetables from local
farmers that we do that's actually something I wanted to mention during your presentation is that kind of given the political climate that we not only like maintain and continue to develop a lot of these things that are changing but to almost double down
on them on some of the things that are being taken away or changed in regards to diversity and Equity it's really important to double down for the students that if the world seems chaotic I really want to make sure that the schools feel like they're safe space and
that we're not just kind of evolving with those changes so I think that's something that's really important with the 2020 five 2026 goals is to really dig our heels into that stuff make sure that we continue to represent all the students
it'll always be important as I've said before good school districts schols have been doing this way before the label of Deb and something we believe in as part of our value system so we'll we'll continue and and uh our schools should
should be safe for for everyone we're not willing to to move the needle on GL you brought that St yes I was very granular great big grand scheme of all of the work that you have done I would recommend
um not for next year but reevaluating the ad salary um only because keep in mind that we have our ad in a full transparency he's my brother-in-law so I know the depths of which he is committed to this community he's had kid he's had
kids in the school system um but he's a top tier ad and if we want to maintain the Athletics that we have in our community um average for ads is higher than 80 so I just think the level of applicants that we get to
replace those big shoes let us explain that okay the the number in the budget is to replace somebody coming and teach full-time we we already have a number would be
ad so it's just a matter of well hire an ad we already have the salary but we have to make up for for those classes that won't be taught so that's the difference salar yes not the salaries okay thank you for pointing that out and
my baby's coming in through too and as much as I've tried to convince them to stay on for another 10 years I would like to maintain the level so that's that thank you for sure front porch of the school system right I said it's the front porch of the
school system yes that's right um so I'll I'll note that there's like seven additional slides in the packet that uh gr your detail of the the budget so for those folks that are listening or watching later and they want to um find
a way to get to sleep tonight they can look at that information we're noton that that definitely put you to sleep yeah yep so if you're looking for more detail there's there's some in the packet um if there aren't any other questions I'll ask for a motion to approve the fiscal
year 2026 school department budget typically ask for the total budget budget with the appropriated amount as well motion move to approve the F 2026 Town appropriation request of 26
m393 579 with a total School spending authorization of 31 m1220 motion made by B second second by Elaine all those in favor indicate by saying I I I unanimous support thank you
very much thank you than you I'm gonna hang here um this we got public comments so I'll pause to see if there's any public comment that's wishes to take place as
result of the budget not seeing none hearing none or close public comment um and then I need a motion to close the fiscal year 26 public uh budget
hearing I move that we close the FY 26 public hearing of the budget motion made by El second second by C all those in favor to keep by saying Ian support we are closed the fiscal year 26
budget public he all right so the next item on the agenda I think I'll just do from here anyways um that's all right with you guys e for me to see um it's the discussion of the draft Deb exclusion override management plan we're
calling it um so this it's not easier for me to see uh this is a you know I was G to say two or three page document um that was prepared by the uh select board finance committee and school
committee chairs um as it relates to uh how should the town or how should these future boards look to continue to fund um the named two projects in this so um I will I will walk you through
this and we can talk about it and if we're in support of it we can uh can have a motion to accept it or we can so there um essentially what we're looking to do
here is just uh you know have a working document shared among all three boards um the purpose of this is that boards change over each May with election these are uh long-term projects the finance committee and the select board put a
strategy in place um that they believe is the very best for the town's long-term finances as well as the uh the taxpayers burden as it relates to not only the Shaker Lane school but the potential I shouldn't say potential but
the need for a DPW facility um so we while we can't bind our successors um it's laying out a road map for the funding of these project so that as new committee members come on
they realize that there's a plan in place um they shouldn't look to BU the trend um for the plan unless extenda circumstances pop up and then of course all the boards got to get back together and reconvene and try to figure out how try to figure this out um but we've gone
ahead and identified two projects obviously Shaker Lanes uh first and foremost um in our minds and our hearts and we're saying that this project is an estimated cost of $1 104 million. two um we plan to present this at the
fiscal year 26 fall town meeting with the Deb exclusion um and a ballot vote soon thereafter uh the Project's currently estimated to be completed November 2028 fisal year 2029 um bonding of the project would
likely occur in the spring of 29 with first bonding stus for year 30 um and then kind of kind of to my my surprise because I'm not in the know on everything but there's a uh a need for a
DPW facility in town in the near future and uh feasibility study spent perform and approximate uh anticipated spend on that might be as much as $45 million we're disclosing that no time
frame um that's currently set on this project I believe $45 million spend includes actually finding a parcel and purchasing a parcel for a new BPW facility so just to give you a frame of reference we've got our site picked out
we're moving to schematic design we know when we're going to the town ask for money ppw select board finance committee they were an agreement that there's a need but we don't yet and and what it could possibly cost but don't even have
um a place for the new project just yet um the um Justin just so you're you're aware there's a mistake in the document on page
one where right under commitment Shaker Lane we are going to the fall town meeting in fy2 FY 26 the fiscal year 26 is that why in no spring meeting was in the fall
of 2025 so maybe fy2 which which line are you on right under Shaker Lan construction says during the FY 26 fall special town meeting uh I guess we could
say it's 2526 budget just want to make sure everybody knows that that it's actually 2025 and all right yeah which is within FY 26 it is
yeah if we're it can be misleading I think it could be misleading yeah I mean I understand it but I'm just not sure whether presented for funding at the fiscal year 26 all special town
meeting is that statement not accurate it is but I think putting 2025 fall 2025 okay but that's just a suggestion I yeah I mean you could just add in November November 2025
parentheses um think about it yeah good good suggestion I I think as long as the three boards know what that means we're fine um certainly a public document all three boards have discussed it and shared it publicly at an open meeting
but um you could add that uh so let's see here so in terms of the commitments we're g to talk about the commitments um so as outlined um funding of the
school stabilization fund to support the Shaker land project began in fiscal year 2025 and will continue through 2028 um and then the bonds start Bond payments start in 2029 the plan here is to get uh $6
million into um this fund prior to the issuance of the bond need for Bond repayment um these funds will be applied towards a construction cost reducing the amount of debt needed and in return reducing the overall impact of the debt
exclusion uh funding is going to come from essentially the town's um undesignated fund balance ufb or currently known as free cash so the good news out there is that
the town anticipates revenues in excessive expenses they'll have some savings they're going to take that savings and apply it towards this account as well some others but this account and then we plan to uh to
borrow less than the full amount of the project use our six million bucks this is going to be accomplished uh in part by the school committee school department um self-funding its smaller
School capital projects approximately $400,000 we had committed uh publicly to to a $400,000 spend without asking for anything more this for year 26 27 um the document
reads 400,000 on average per year um and that uh the funding commitment will be dependent in future years on maintaining sustained level of school choice funds for the this uh financial management policy which reflects that 10% Benchmark
so we had some discussion um prior to presenting this know is it necessary that we that we list out that you know hey at our point at this point in time our commitments are only for fiscal year 2627 um I was assured that they
understand that and the The Hope here is that we would continue to fund the smaller stuff until we got um in a situation where we were at 10% of budget which is the
um uh the recommended um balance that we be keep in our in our funds there so this leaves it open-ended Che on that a little bit um if we do that then uh the good news
is is that beginning in fiscal year 29 funding from free cash will shift to the debt exclusive stabilization account uh this accounts used to partially offset the excluded Debt Service so um as as the bond comes due the town's going
to assist with some payments of the bond and then obviously pass some on to the uh to the taxpayer through an offset the uh the town's looking to fund half a million bucks per year beginning fiscal year 29 through fiscal year
46 big long-term commitment um School commits the school committee commits to funding its capital projects as long as available funding exists so what we've said you know some of the smaller stuff as our school choice account is pretty
healthy we're comfortable spending that down to 10% um we shouldn't go back to them in future years and ask for capital projects money if we have a balance in excess of 10% which which seems fair which just shows you how important those
school choice suits are right um the three boards agree that the funding for this towns noral Capital plan will not be adversely impacted by deposits to dis stabilization accounts Town's Capital plan maintains priority
usage over the town's free cash position they plan to do the same thing for the DPW project so they're going to commit $500,000 uh for that project this the year 29 through 43 I had asked them you know well what
happens if so what what they're really doing is they're committing you to wait a million dollars um and if this if the school was in need of the money and the DPW project lagged you know would all million dollars go to the school could
um or would I should say um but then once the DPW station gets built and there's a need for that it's just going to stretch that timeline as well so you know the finance committee and select board chairs didn't seem to think um
you know slicing and dicing the million bucks they just said it's they're gonna find a half a million dollars for each project um other commitments that we're being asked of or that we're wishing to agree to which is the school committee shall prepare a contingency plan that
details the cost to be incurred both one time and ongoing if the debt exclusion vote were to fail um 2025 this contingency plan will presented to the select board and finance committee September 1st
25 um they're actually asking us to present it sooner if we have the ability to do so but as as stay in the documents by September 1st 2025 so this information will be incredibly useful because when we go to ask for that
exclusion you know we're talking about a brand new school and what that could cost the taxpayer we're asking for a yes vote uh a no vote doesn't mean it's a zero spent because we currently have a Shaker Lane School that's Antiquated and
updated and we um so if we if we if it were to fail what is the cost of a noo and that's what we um are being asked to detail so that we can present that to select board finance committee they can
chew on it Buy in on it and hopefully cast the same opinion that um a noo doesn't mean zero spend it means we're stuck with a Shaker Lane building and it's going to cost us X and Main that building or to bring trailers in um all
that Stu update the systems without any state assistance uh the select board and finance committee shall update it strateg uh strategy for funding the 10-year Capital plan each year moving forward adjusting the balance has
described as necessary Finance director in town treasur shall monetary provide annual estimates covering a 10year period for free cash Capital stabilization Deb exclusion Capital Deb exclusion capitalization etc
etc the financial plan does not preclude the town from Ved in pursuing other capital projects or debt exclusion so these are the two that are identified not the only two that could pop up in the next 20 years I I'll share with you that you
know when I first got when I first received this got the first sort of invited to participate conversation I I did feel that um I didn't know a lot about the DPW need and uh my initial reaction was it kind of feels like
you're piggybacking on top of us um and we had a conversation about transparency and I think everyone in the room would agree that the citizens the taxpayers deserve ultimate transparency so um you know ultimately I'm in agreement that we
can't walk the Shaker Lane project front of the town and not have the citizens aware of a potential need for a DPW station of $45 million I think the timing is unfortunate that we're looking to you know March the approval through
and break around at some point in the near future and then there's this looming $45,000 spend that might be necessary but it just it is what it is did they say why it couldn't be part of any the DPW
um it's a garage uh structure oh yeah it's a massive it's a massive like block sheet metal building um I don't again I'm I'm naive on the topic I don't have a lot of details I I have been told that you know I would imagine that as the town has
grown the need for our equipment um has expanded it's probably outgrown that I was told the the current Staffing level of DPW doesn't actually even the locker rooms aren't big enough like people don't have a place to change put
their stuff store their stuffs are there know where they were behind little light oh okay yeah the timing is unfortunate timing is unfortunate yeah so
when are they worried that going to town meeting with the request for Shaker Lane like is there any concern that adding the PW request on top of that may be the straw that breaks the Campbell's back
put the Shaker Lane project at R they're gonna the plan is to talk about it be transparent about it it's not um I don't believe that uh that the debt exclusion it's not you know it's not yes or no like we're getting both or we're getting
none it's not you got to pick one of these two it's let's have an independent conversation about Shaker Lane and a vote and when the time comes let's have an independent conversation about DPW station and have an independent vote you know could we end up with both yes could
we end up with neither suppose one or the other sure so it's not necessarily going to be at the same town meeting correct the only the only place where they're actually tied together right now is in this document and this is just how we're all going to work together correct
it's it's there's charts and tables in here that will that you'll see yeah and that that's just the math on how we get to where we need to be and trying not to surprise everybody right I mean we're all in agreement that
it would be not fair to the citizen to say Hey you know by the way yeah like oh you know great we got enough yes votes and then a year later or whatever it is 18 months later we're looking for for more money um for the needs of the DPW station so it's part of the conversation
but it's not part of the vote okay so the vote is you're voting yes or no on Shaker Lane and there may be this thing correct and oh by the way that that that maybe thing we have a plan for it that's the point of this is
we have a plan for both okay can I just add something for this I think it's just generally speaking about the Shaker Lane project is that um 100 we know that 104.2 million is a really big number for people to bite off so really have to
take in um I think the fact that MSP is reimbursing us and that's act the net cost to the town is actually less sometimes gets lost and a lot of the conversation and a lot of the documents so as much as possible we can put forward that it's
104.2 budgeted with this amount reimbursed and just lock those in together because everyone's just going to pick up that 104 when that's not the actual number um so just even in this document the paragraph that says the
estimated cost of 104.2 million for anyone to read that they don't read the line by line they don't see those just sure good yeah a good point and that's a
good point for Optics correct and you know $104 million School looks like a bargain you know in my opinion4 million station right so those numbers put together you can the DW folks are gonna have the
counter opinion but um well a $75 million School compared to 45 million yeah exactly SP 45 million exactly exactly so so when we were at the MSB for for our approval our project was the
the smallest in terms of money so it kind of for me it really kind of put things in perspective what other communities are that's really important information I would say because initially it's sticker shock nobody understands cost it's like
nowhere near housing cost oh is it that's reference at all that important like no one has any until I saw some other school that spent so so the numbers are in the document and if you look on the page on the screen it does show the projected cost with the MSA MSP
reimbursement yeah some say I saw that but it gets lost okay so you're saying maybe in that in the verb in the paragraph just even if it's in parentheses just so that number gets Associated to people know that there's we're getting something reimbursed it's not
just 104 out of our pockets every time it says 10us the msba reimbursement yeah I mean can we talk about the net town we can't talk about the net because we have to pay the money up front correct we have to have the money up
front num a lot of good points and those are points that should be shared with public certainly at the time meeting the upcoming one we plan to have the sh Lane talk and certainly let me go for the debt exclusion this what's presented here
tonight is a document that we're being asked to sign select Bo has already signed a finance committee PL to sign the other way around um it's public in the fact that it's been discussed the meeting but it's not it's not the uh it's not the marketing
piece for for the project it's it's a working document that relates to hey this is this is how we plan to raise the capital to fund these projects um we feel strongly that we want to reward it totally fine I don't think they have any
issues but no I wouldn't go back and have everyone reassign I just think going forward if just oh yeah going forward the language yeah the conversation should be it's $104 million School within you know a net bond amount
63 million bucks what a deal that's that's a big difference nowadays yeah nowhere near yeah yeah so if you bring that slide back up you have it
see look at the deposits of the school building stabilization was the number out of Lexington like several hundred million SC scroll down a bit um which this gives you the fiscal year 25
through fiscal year 49 these are the um additions going in year by year um what the commitments have been and then as outline in the document there's that first $6 million usage
fiscally year 29 and the corresponding balance with that spend down and you can see the $500,000 continuous contribution the thereabouts um so this is the projected usage of
that stabilization account you go on to the next page total Deb stabilization net stabilization Peg gear here we go so the following page this is I think I think this is
great um information here so when we first started talking about how to pay for $14 million fullo which actually is only net 63 63 to us you go um the number was much larger than it is today
right so what we're talking about um the tax impacts here as as planned there's still a lot of variables I'll assure you that some of these are you know Still Still conservative however as as we look at it
we fine tune it we're probably zeroing in on uh a pretty accurate estimate here so if we were to assume on the far right hand column U the estimated tax impact on a split tax rate where commercial is different than residential which is
where we are today um it's $995 annually to the average average value home in Littleton is in a $670,000 house between 600 $700,000 house yeah
the to get up below a thousand right yeah which is way better than you know 1,600 or 1,800 which is initially shared if you scroll down if you go all the way down to the bottom keep going that's the DPW project
in this um here we go so here's the DPW impact so you know we were at 965 and the D dpws at 655 so we get pretty close to 1,600 bucks
annually um this is such a bad timing think of it as a two for one our kids don't go into the DPW they need they need roads we got need roads to get to school we make them like promised to do field
trips and have kids come with trucks and I'm looking forward to the DPW tour yeah f um so this is where we are I mean there's been a lot of work a lot of man hours um that have gone into this plan
I'm very appreciative of the work that's been done by the finance committee and select board to think about this uh put a road map up out there so that as boards turn over um people know that there was a plan in place when we go to
the town and ask for the money um we can say hey look you know we've had a lot of needs we've cre you know it's been a lot of new buildings in town the library the senior center uh we just finished paying off some other buildings this is how we plan to do it this is the the ask of the
taxpayer this is what the town plans to do out of free cash um I think it's well thought out and uh I'm in support of it so if you uh uh you folks have any questions or concerns or if you want to
propose any edits Now's the Time if we're good with it you can move to accept it and again I'll emphasize it's a working document so um numbers there's legislative risk in all of this so things change everybody
acknowledge that [Music] um once we once we start sh project we have to finish it um we hope it comes in under budget and on time but um things can change with the
towns U finances so change with our need other capital projects brief out we everybody's just got to continue to uh work together and work hard to keep a keep an eye on U the needs and where we how we think we're going to pay for all
this any edits I really appreciate the planning but also the collaboration because it's not a competition it all affects the citizens and the taxpayers and really doing it in
this collaborative so my major concern was the the commitment to the $400,000 spend capital projects because obviously that's not sustainable for us um where we're going to sell fund our own project to a level of 400 Grand um the way that the other
boards understand that is of course you know you need to you know as outlined in that Financial policies working group document you need to you know you should maintain a um a healthy balance 10% of your total budget once you approach that threshold then you start to come back to
us and ask for um capital projects money and certainly things like hbac units roof spoilers that all exceeds 400 Grand anyways and pl use the asba programs for that and as I said the town in in
addition to this the town has free cash plan for those projects as well makes it all the more impressive no motion you may motion to approve the debt exclusion override management plan for 2025 plan for the DPW and the sh
building projects made by Stacy second seconded by Elaine all those in favor the keep by saying I I to say thank you very much folks will be very happy um we'll roll through our
subcommittee reports before we do that is there any other any other uh new business or topics school committee wish to discuss even regular SE um all right want to roll through the subcommittee top
subcommittee pmbc Sher Lane um the only update we have is just that we had the what was the last meeting that was justor sustainability meeting which was that so
it's not well attended so I fortunately wasn't able to go so I don't attend once um but than that I don't have any other updates and they they had their first sustainability meeting uh they started looking at scenarios and costs uh the
electric option all electric option and pretty enticing apparently pleas correctly if I don't have the whole story is that that is pretty well built into the the original numbers we have although they're not solid numbers yet uh we're
thinking that so that's a good thing it does get us to the the level that we need to be at for additional reimbursement with msba so now it's a matter of just you know making sure those numbers are accurate and making
sure nothing else was missed going forward so I would imagine that the shaking building Committee in the next probably have a vote on what uh what system we we should be moving
forward with that project I think the goal of of the sustainability committee was to ensure that we were as green as possible without costing us more money and and also meet the the standard to get greater
reinvestment correct if we meet the msba stand msba standard it's an additional 3% reimbursement for the the quality ified approved portion of the budget so additional 3%
so that's a good for the whole the whole project or just for the no it's the system just the system not just system it's additional 3% of the project of the entire project I believe so so committing to that as right subst I
think we need to check on that right but I think we need to check right but understand not like the the building portion itself is like 85 million whatever that number is of the 85 million I'm going to use 85 million for the total building project not all
of that is completely 100% reimbursable from msba it's very complicated with NBA there was also a a um Communications meeting today Michelle shared a meeting with um myself and a couple of staff and
some community members talking about um first of all major kudos to the big uh electronic sign as you come into town I came home one night and went look this is awesome so it's very visible um so
and we talked about some of the other things that that had been done so far to to communicate the um the the project to the town um um other things Michelle does have 50 yard signs sitting uh ready
to get out um and minus like I think five that I'm going to get placed so um but but if you have a place where cars drive by you know someone who has a place that cars drive by a lot um I believe that she said the yard signs
have like a QR code that can lead you to more information so it's it's informational it's to get it out there um and she has a stack of Flyers that we talked about um perhaps using at the library um some of the things we talked
about were um looking into and thinking about um holding some kind of um visibility either a meeting at the library at least a poster or two um at the library that maybe we could
then advertise another event I I don't I've seen the town really like show up at the library you know and when when there's an event and and there have been some issues that have come up and once we hold some events at the library and
people show up everyone seems to feel like they've been better Ed but that's that's a gut feeling it's I don't have any data for you on that um and the other um I did bring up I have had a couple people offer to um
uh hold maybe hold a house meeting and I don't know the efficacy of that except that you know the someone who sat with some other people in a quiet situation and really talked it through might become an even more informed Ambassador within the town so those are
things were floating um as someone who asked me about it I I sent on to Michelle to discuss he's he offered he's a um people I met and U it's a pregnant couple in town who's very interested in this project um and and it would be you know
um a good host for the the area so um you know the the the other community members were very enthusiastic very excited about going down to the library on a Saturday morning and maybe handing out handing out postcards or flyers
or just really starting to talk to people and get and get people involved so um we um we are looking forward to the town meeting and the there's very strong suggestion that our town meeting
presentation um include two or three meetings like we did last time you know here's here we're giving you all this information we're going to answer a few questions and then and we have two or three um building
tours they're on these dates so you can come and get even more kind of thing so um but people yeah people are really interested and a whole variety um a young some young people grandfather you know it was so people
were getting interested it's good meeting good to hear that's nice said she met you you when's the uh miniature golfing at the library uh tomorrow night I think yeah I was I I saw that I'm like oh that would have been great to have a poster
or something can you get one of the yard signs there something um we can get you some posters what's that we can get you some post there you go could you bring I can take it down I can take it down yeah we have some run off don't we Dorthy work these
the posters yeah yeah so if you can stop by tomorrow we sure I'll go talk to the people at the library I'm sure they'll be happy to put them on maybe even bring some of the yard signs because there's a lot of people are going to cycle through the library yeah for that event yeah and if they've got um a piece of property on
a main you know main way then by all means take a sign absolutely yeah absolutely yeah so if you could reach out to Michelle absolutely yeah I meant to go by there tomorrow anyway so perfect well great idea yeah that's I
had the same I I didn't want to like make it everyone go crazy about it but you're right just like a quick yard sign just some little B of information in the Librarians you know you say this I'm sure they're going to be like put it right there sure yeah just encourage
people to take them yeah yeah um if we find the van up in the dumpster we'll know you know people Happ about the project forgetting sabotaged well recycle them yeah um and if people are interested in having these open hous I mean I don't there's like no such thing
as bad PR for this so jump at the opportunity and we can all hands on deck we can figure it out yeah get some information I just thought you know someone had a place and they wanted to invite four five or six of their neighbors in who were talking about it
in just a chat like I said it it gives people the opportunity to really become very informed ambassadors so if we think of it in terms of we're not just talking to four people we're talking to four people and all the people they're going to talk to
does anybody know what level of money was raised uh for the castle on the trees project anybody recall I'm sure we could find it I don't do do schools do anything like that do they look for
private fundraising naming rights on the library or anything like that um I mean I know that it's like kind of a drop in the bucket when it's a $104 million school but we we did sell bricks field
years ago I get it I used the bigger number on yeah J we did we did sell bricks yeah but it was through uh 501c3 so we'd have to we have to be
cautious but we could we could do something like that we obviously we're going to be using some bricks on the school we yeah similar kind of thing even though the financial contribution might not be know a huge impact like it's a sense of sort of community buyant
yeah yeah yeah Comm it's kind of a yes vote Bri brick um yeah we should look into stuff like that we still have some time I'll check with our to look into stuff like this we should do it think it makes sense yeah
it certainly doesn't hurt something tangible like like having your family name or your all of your family name names on our bre is is enticing because it's there a great time for all the Littleton philanthropic people to come out of the
Woodworks naming rights of the school but it also makes people feel like like they it it wasn't just their tax money like other people who had more money really invested in it I mean I think it just takes to stain out of it sometimes
to see that that kind of situation right uh budget subcommittee great job tonight budget subcommittee thanks uh policy subcommittee nothing new okay policy sub
committee rest sh Lane we're already all set on I do have uh couple of things that Lyn asked me to uh talk about this evening CPAC is it business correctly on May 6 at 700 p.m. Wilton fire station
they're going to be uh hosting uh an evening titled from struggles to success insights from young adults they're going to have a panel that includes graduates and grade 12 students something that we've been talking around the leadership table about doing for years and whoos to
C CPAC for doing this uh starting this project off for us so this is going to be an excellent event the information that can be uh gained from attending something like this uh certainly be helpful for
everyone and there's a CPAC parent meet up Tuesday March 18th 7M at taka Asian fusion bar area up in the point so want to go up for an evening and uh
socialize with CPAC uh members in the community a great opportunity so Foods really good there as well special thanks for our tomorrow we're doing Marathon conference school conference marathons tomorrow so appreciate it thank you everybody good luck with your parent
teacher conferences uh all set no other committee reports or this before school committee anything none I'll ask for a motion to adjourn motion made by V I second second by Janine all those in favor in the keep
by saying I I I we have jar 843