and how the state police or the commonwealth of Massachusetts can use this type of technology. Um, two of the highlights that I can give you from that is number one, they would need a warrant, which I believe is very important, and secondly, it would be held in a centralized location where the
Massachusetts State Police would have a trained um officer or or trooper that would be an expert in the the person that uses um the facial surveillance technology. In other words, not every police officer will have the right to use it or the ability to use it. Similar
to what we did back in the in the 80s with DNA. Um, you know, we we can't have every officer testing DNA on the field. Right. Right. You have to be an expert and you got to go to the expert to use it. So, it's the same thing with facial surveillance technology. Um, so again, so my amended bill is and the one that
was passed in back in 2022 is regulation which essentially codifies the recommendations of that commission into law. So right now anybody can use this if they have the the software and that type of thing. They are using it. Uh the DMV uses uh
facial surveillance technology. Um and there really isn't any regulation. Uh we try to get answers as to how and when they use it, for what purpose. um and and we haven't been able to. So, do you see it being uh a privacy issue, a legal rights issue? That's
it's definitely a privacy issue. Um it's is and the concern in addition to that is the fact that it it misidentifies a lot of people. This technology is not ready for prime time. There are studies that have shown that the technology is
um can be helpful in some situations but in a lot of studies it's something like um you know 70% accurate or 80% accurate. Uh in fact some most studies have shown that facial surveillance technology is 35% more likely to to
misidentify people with darker skin skin tone. Um and so that puts people of color in danger, right? And so, you know, that that's a concern. You know, we can't have technologies that that's going to be misidentifying people. Um, especially when you're you're talking about their
interaction with law enforcement, that can be very dangerous. And there have been multiple situations across the country where uh facial surveillance technology has misidentified a person of color and put them in a bad situation where they're handcuffed in front of their families. Um, you know, that's not
acceptable. But we got to be more accountable and we have to make sure that we have technology that's going to be accurate and that the people that are using it are trained as to how to use it. Indeed. Um so
I live in Maple Ice Six Corners and I have to say, knock on wood, this has been a relatively quiet summer when it comes to another one of your issues, dirt bikes illegal. It has been much more quiet in my neighborhood.
Uh although we got some guy with an ATV who likes going up and down the street Sunday morning as loud as he possibly can. But I haven't seen as much of the illegal dirt bike activity and for a while it was really bad in this city. Uh I know that you have been very active
about trying to do something about that situation. Uh where does that stand at this point? Well, uh, the dirt bike issue again is like you said, it's something that it's not just a Springfield problem. It's a regional problem. It's actually a national problem a lot of big cities and midsize
cities have been dealing with. Um, we have been able to make a lot of changes. When I was on the city council, we passed three pieces of legislation. One was, uh, we we we created, um, municipal fines for the illegal operation of offhighway vehicles. The second
ordinance was a home rule petition that allowed police officers to confiscate and destroy um the dirt bikes. And the third piece of legislation that I passed on the city council was a prohibition for gas stations to sell gasoline to these dirt bikes. Thankfully, a lot of
uh I think one or two other um surrounding towns did the same thing and that has led to a decrease in the amount of dirt bikes that you see on the road um and the amount of incidents involving illegal dirt bikes. Right. So, but we have to do more and we
have to continue to be vigilant. Um, the home rule petition unfortunately hasn't passed through the legislature. I have had conversations with the city of Springfield about refiling that. Uh, but because of the time span, the city council will have to vote on it once again in order for me to refile it at
the state level. So, that's where we stand right now. um waiting on the city council to pass a home rule petition that will allow police officers to confiscate and destroy these dirt bikes once they catch them because otherwise as it stands right now if they if they
get an illegal dirt bike um they they have to auction it off. They have to send this to the auction which means that it ends up back in circulation. Right. And some of these people they some of these riders they actually buy their dirt bike back at the auction. Sure. So you know what are we doing here?
We're just spinning our wheels. So, um I think that it's an important piece of legislation and I'm hopeful that the city council will move on it so that I can revalidate the house. Well, this is certainly nothing nothing new for our city or other cities. Um I I remember covering a press
conference when police chief Paulra was in office. Um she wanted to have legislation that would allow not just the confiscation but then actually to bring it to an autoard and have them crushed. right? Like a junk car.
Um just to physically take them out of circulation. Um so this isn't a new problem for us. But I I will say now I'll go home tonight and there'll be streets will be filled with them. But um I've seen far less
activity in my neighborhood and which is a good thing. It's a public safety issue. Absolutely. Um so um looking at this legislative session knowing that one of the axes hanging over our head is
the um clawback of federal money and how we're going to deal with that. Um are there new issues that you've identified and your constituents identified that you would like to file bills about? You'd like to develop? Are there things that are new that have been brought to
you that you say, "Yeah, we got to do something about that." Um, yeah. I mean, I think, uh, there there are several issues that I that I am exploring. Um, you know, some of them will will take some time and
they'll take multiple meetings with uh with with council. Um, you know, I have a lot of ideas about how we can improve our city, but uh at the end of the day, the the the legislation that we file um we got to
make sure that it's not contradictive to um the constitution or or or to any other existing laws. So, it's a process. It's a little bit of a process. Um right now, I have 27 bills pending in the house. Um it's the most that I filed in
any session. Um, but each one is very important. Each one has uh the potential to change people's lives, the potential to change the the uh the perception of the city of Springfield. Um, and at the end of the day, that's my that's my goal as a legislature is to to help improve
people's lives. Well, I think that we're in a very very challenging time now. Um, I I think we're always in a challenging times. There's always challenges, but I think right now a relationship with the federal government um creates a great deal of pressure for states and great deal of pressure for a
state like Massachusetts. Um we were we were talking about ties and I think I I really want people to know what you're doing about this. Um and and just so you know, I was born in New Mexico and on my birth certificate
it says I'm allowed to wear western wear. Okay. just before anyone questions this. Um, and we were talking about ties and you're doing something that I think is incredibly needed and also incredibly cool. Can you tell us about that? It's called uh ties to success. It's a
new initiative that I created uh earlier this year uh with the goal in mind of u teaching young people how to tie a tie because it's a it's a I I think uh underappreciated and uh task and skill that a lot of people just don't realize.
Um so my goal is to teach every high school student in the Springfield public schools how to tie a tie. Uh this year we started with a small group. It was something like 30 students at Putham Voke and we had the help of uh a lot of
you know a lot of influential people in the city of Springfield. There were legislators, CEOs of uh companies here in the city, um doctors and lawyers and and that's part of my goal too is it's just not that it's not just teaching them how to tie a tie. It's also given
the given them the opportunity to spend a few minutes with someone who is a CEO to someone that is a positive role model here in the city of Springfield because you never know that person one day might be interviewing you for a job. Exactly. Right. So, um you know and and and you want you want to make those connections,
right? So, and I know that's some you know we're always looking for for new talent. So that's um I think an important uh piece to my initiative is it's not just the teaching of how to tie a tie, but it's the opportunity to be able to spend time with a positive role
model who lives right here or works right here at the city of Springfield. Um again, we started with 30 students this year. We got donations from the participants of uh the mentors I call them um that participated in that in that initiative and we're hopeful that
next year we're going to do it even bigger and better and again with the goal in mind that we're going to teach every student in the Springfield public schools uh graduating senior in the public schools how to tie a tie. Well, this sort of dovetales in the whole suitup Springfield program. You
know, it's it's one thing if you get um business clothes uh that you can use. It's another thing if you stare at that piece of cloth that's supposed to be tied around your neck going, "What am I supposed to do with this?"
And if you if you um you told me that you learned how to tie through YouTube, I did um you know, and uh thank God for YouTube and teach us a lot of things. But I think that this might sound like a small thing, but it's not a small thing.
It's it's a skill that young men are expected to know. And by wearing a tie, it signifies something that can aid them in the pursuit of a job or a career. Absolutely. And that's again one of the important parts is spending that time
with those people in the in the room. we were all able to share our stories about how we learned how to tie how to how we learned how to tie a tie and the importance and um you for example Sheriff Coochi was there and he talked about how people treated him differently when he wore a suit.
Um uh there was a a realtor uh Ed Nunes who was there and he talked about how it it changed the perception of how people looked at him at work. So you know it's it's an important skill, right? And it it does really change a person. Um it it makes it feel a little different when you're wearing a tie.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. State rep, you're always welcome here. Thanks for coming back. Um I understand we'll probably see you Wednesday at the sheriff's picnic. We'll probably grab you and talk to you a little bit more at the event. And folks, I want to thank you very much
for tuning in to another edition of Government Matters here on Focus Springfield. [Music] Rory, why is art important? I think art gives us a way to experience
beyond what we live in our day-to-day lives, but I also think it just gives us a chance to express and create, which are things that, you know, opportunities to do that are few and far between, especially as we all have
responsibilities. Um, but I think there's a lot that's important, but when I think about what I really love about getting to sit down and write, I love getting to make something that's beautiful. And I Well, I think it's beautiful anyway. And I think that's
something that's really worthwhile. So, yeah. Thank you, Sam, why is art important? Art is important because it's a key part of the human experience.
Without art, we wouldn't have the opportunity to share what it is that can't necessarily be spoken or expressed in other ways. It's a way that we're able to come together and share common
feelings that don't get expressed in other conventional ways. And I think that often times in our current world, we think that the only valuable art is what we can monetize. But art is valuable for its own reason
and its own existence. And everyone should feel welcome to create art in a way that brings them joy without worrying about what anyone else thinks. [Music] I was talking um with some friends the
other day about like how like it used to be like you were expect like if you had the snipples like you showed up and now if you get the snipples stay out of school get out of here. Can you hear me? I can hear you. Yes. Cool. Hello. Hey, Michaela.
We'll need another minute or two, though. Yeah. Um, just give me the thumbs up when you're ready. Okay. When you're ready. Yes, she's right away. No, I don't. stuck on
me. He's on his way. [Music] Sorry, tissues. [Music] We were just saying welcome back to the school year and everybody else.
[Music] Uh, Adam, we can hear you. Can you hear us? I'm not sure if you can yet. [Music]
Jamie just me and said he knows he's in a dead spot. He's I guess you guys Oh, all set. Yeah. Can you hear us? Yeah. You all set? Okay. Give them a thumbs up when you're ready. Yeah. All right. All set.
Stand by. In 5 4 3 2 1. Welcome to the Monday, September 8th, 2025 meeting of the Long Meadow School Committee. Mass General Law allows for remote remote participation at public
meetings until July 30th, 2027. All votes while there is remote participation must be made by roll call vote. This meeting is being recorded and aired live on LCTV. School committee members, when I call your name, please say here for the
record. Nicole Schwaner here. Kate Bean here. Emily Hansen here. Adam Rosenlub here. Zach Faraday here. And Jamie Hench is coming later. Oh, I think he
Oh, Jamie. I think he got in f again. Yeah. All right. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Okay. Next is correspondence. The following correspondence was received. An email dated August 17th, 2025 titled Protecting Kids at School
sent by Jen Falconee. An email dated August 19th, 2025 titled Stop the Bleed Campaign by Ariel Laudermith. An email dated August 19th, 2025 titled Support Stop the Bleed Training for Educators sent by Caitlyn Mlette. An email dated
August 25th, 2025 titled Letter to the Respectable School Committee sent by Car Downey. And an email dated August 27th, 2025 titled Unfortunate Events, sent by Jeffrey Clots. Thank you. And now for the approval of minutes. We have meeting minutes from
August 19th that are ready for approval. Mr. I move that the school committee approve the minutes to the August 19th, 2025 school committee meeting as presented. Have a motion. We have a second. Second. Second. Any comments or questions?
See none. Emily, yes. Zach, yes. Nicole, yes. Kate, yes. Adam, Jamie. Jamie, can you hear us? And it's a yes for me, too.
Yes. Sorry. Oh, no problem. We knew you were you're you're in a dead zone, so glad you're here. Thank you. All right. Next is public speak. It doesn't look like we have anyone here for public speak tonight. Do we have
anyone? Seeing none remotely. Okay. Um, we're going to move on. So, I'm just going to go to the school committee announcements and recognitions because we're waiting on our business with
guests that I think got tied at the meeting. On route. Our guest our guest is on route. Yeah. Perfect. So, all right. I'll start with my um chair report. It looks like it's been a great
beginning of the 2025 2026 school year. I've seen a lot of happy fields and sidewalks that are filled with students from the youngest ages to the oldest. This weekend there was another amazing Pride festival um hosted by the Long Meadow Pride. And
even despite the weather, there was a great turnout and the vibe was awesome. It was so good to see the whole community engaged and and so many kids and LPS students out running about and finding their new classmates and connecting.
So, it was a really good time. Uh, tomorrow night is a very big night in Long Meadow for anyone who's not aware. Uh, we have our town meeting and it's a really big one. Uh, I hope that everybody who is
invested in the LPS students and families show up tomorrow night. I know it's hard. It's hard for me. I have two little kids. They come a lot to town meetings and they're they're both coming tomorrow night. I know the little voters filled up, which is awesome. And I know we'll continue to try to do other things
to engage more families in our de direct democracy, which is fun for all of us. and it helps us all make sure we have the best thing. So, I just wanted to offer a little bit of advice in case anybody needed any. I know we might be passing out coloring sheets and I'm sure
Rebecca has some more information on it later, but I was like thinking about it at church the other day and looking around and everybody has like these little bags full of things like little figurines, poppets,
beads, whatever you need. But it takes a village and we'll all be there. Um, I'd rather go viral holding a little baby or sitting someone on my lap than to go viral to not get something important we've been working on to pass. So, I hope everybody shows up tomorrow
night. September 9th, the doors open at 5. I'll be here. I'm sure many of us will. And it's going to be a great time. That's it. All right. Oh,
next is other school committee member announcements or recognitions. Anybody? Okay. So, we have our reports next. Lieutenant report. Sure. Uh, a few items. Uh, sent the committee a written report over the
weekend. Um, I'll I'll headline with our uh receipt of a $35,000 elementary department uh department of elementary and secondary education hate crimes prevention act grant. Uh Nilda Irizari pursued this competitive grant and we're excited to receive that. Uh we
got noticed last week um it will help us expand our partnership with the ADL uh provide for some professional development and also targeted towards um our no place for hate initiative. So we're really excited about that and thankful that uh Nilda pursued that
grant. Um it it is reflective of our commitments in this important area as as the committee knows. It is uh part of our strategic plan is to kind of bolster our efforts to address hate and bias um as it appears. Um we had a great uh to
echo what Michaela said, we had a great opening uh professional development day was very successful. We had um a day that was sort of one of the days was for educators by educators. So we had about 30 uh LPS um educators provided some professional development workshops. I
had an opportunity to present a couple myself. It was a lot of fun to kind of get back in teaching mode. Um so that was a great way to kick off the year. uh Beth Nelson um just to kind of set um a few directional things perhaps for the curriculum subcommittee at a future date
uh is looking at a social studies review uh for this year uh in science and then also we will need to get back to the to Desi on um a definition of our competency determination. So Desi expects a policy and a plan uh by
December 31st. So probably we'll need to pull the policy subcommittee together or the curriculum subcommittee depends on where we want to direct that uh at some point. Uh but we're starting to meet internally to think about how we can uh meet that new requirement to define the
competency determination and this is necessary uh because the MCCAST test went away with last year's ballot initiative. Um we have um the close community. I shared with the the committee um a series of webinars and
community engagement events by the close community coalition. Uh they're doing some exciting work this year. Um I know the committee at one point had mentioned in the area technology had mentioned uh inviting our technology director Nick George to a future meeting. Uh so Nick
uh and his team have been very very active. I know our town moderator will talk about the the technical challenge, the technical opportunity of uh town meeting tomorrow night. Um they've done an amazing job planning with Rebecca and town officials to uh get that town
meeting set and make sure all the technology cooperates. But aside from that, uh new Chromebook rollouts, new camera rollouts, um a manage detection and response uh cyber security system uh has been rolled out as well. So, um,
kudos to Nick George, our technology director, for leading that, but I know that the committee will want to hear more about that probably at a future meeting. Um, I had a neat opportunity on Friday to meet uh, Pedro Martinez, the new commissioner of education, and he was really engaging. He met with the
Connecticut Valley Superintendent Round Table. Uh, and, uh, what jumped out at us, I think, was his focus on early childhood education. uh but also sort of that grade 12 to grade 13 transition. He's very interested in uh early college
and career pathways for our older students. So, it was a it was a great opportunity. So, uh more to come. Uh we'll be looking to pull together a policy subcommittee meeting. I know that comes up later on our agenda, but we so we can talk about it then. But, um happy to answer any questions anyone might
have on any of those items. Thank you, Dr. O'Shea. I like the idea of 13th grade. It sounds better than a gap year. Does anyone have any comments or questions about the superintendent? Well, I just had one question. When you said that they're getting ready to look at science and social studies, what grades?
Uh, elementary. Yeah. Okay. Elementary. Yeah. But it it may expand beyond that. I probably will need to defer to uh Dr. Nelson on that. Yeah. Any other questions or comments? Right. LPVEC. Yes.
So, I think one of the um more interesting things that uh came out of the first meeting that I attended is that um they're rolling out 35 EV buses and Long Meadow will be allocated five. So, they're still working on routes for that. But, um it's kind of exciting.
Yeah, they're they're up and running. Tom is our our transportation guy. He's he's he's been tuned into this. At least three of the routes so far have easy buses. So, we did send out communication to parents letting them know about the electric vehicles and so yes, I know they're very excited about
this opportunity to have those vehicles out there. Yeah, that's great. Awesome. Um, my group has not met yet. We're meeting the 17th. Oh, that's exciting. Yeah. Okay, great. Look forward to hearing about it. SEAL. Um, so in September we
have our first SEAL meeting. It's a meet and greet back to school bullying night and it's September 28th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 pm at Shaker Bowl in East Long Meadow. Um it's a great opportunity to meet other parents that have children
with 504s and IEPs, lots of advice. Usually a lot of administrators from the district attend the SEAL events also. So it's really a great time to make connections. So hopefully we'll have a good turnout.
Energy and sustainability. Um I don't really have an update. I looked at the minutes from the meeting that I missed. There wasn't really anything that was really applicable to the schools. Um the next meeting that we have is this Thursday. So I'll have another report too. So a busy week for you, Emily. Thank you. Yeah.
Okay. So now we're going to move to business with guests because we have our guest here who is the Long Meadow Town moderator, Rebecca Townsen. Good evening and I really appreciate it of you as the
chair for inviting me and to you all for your service on the committee and to the town. I am very excited about our meeting tomorrow. Uh if you hear I'm a little bit horsearo so kindly forgive that. If there's anything that you
cannot hear, ask and I will do my best. I just came from a training of additional volunteers. We have had several volunteer trainings to make sure that all the personnel who are going to assist in town meeting help the
residents and the voters do the business that they need to do. And I wanted to take this opportunity to share a little bit especially for those voters who are new to town or who are not in the habit of coming to town meeting. There are going to be some things that
are different and some things that are the same. I want to start off with the things that are the same. We listen to each other. We weigh advantages and disadvantages of a proposal.
And we're respectful in our communications. That's in our laws. It's in our traditions. It's the rules that I enforce. But I usually don't have to work that hard at it because Long Meadow citizens
when they're at town meeting, they know that this is a place to come and do their civic obligation of listening to proposals, making some choices, and then coming to a vote on those. So that doesn't change.
What does change is the size because we're expecting quite a lot. We're expecting about 3,000 voters and we're preparing for that. We're preparing for plans to handle that to ensure that people are comfortable, as comfortable as possible while they wait
and during the meeting itself. And so I wanted to assure folks that when they walk into the pool entrance instead of the main entrance, when they walk into the pool entrance, they will be greeted and told if they're ready to go and get their voter credentials to
head to the right toward the library where they're going to be checked in by double the amount of staffers from the clerks. If they have a mobility challenge, there will be a speed pass for those
folks. We have wheelchairs available and people to push those wheelchairs and we will get you checked in. If you have little ones to drop off at the little voters's lounge, you can go to do that first and then get into line.
For those, especially those parents who have said, "Well, I have a stroller. Is that okay?" Of course, it's okay. It's a mobility device. So, you strollers will be welcome. People with walkers will be welcome. People with wheelchairs will be
welcome. If there's any concern that I haven't mentioned with regard to disability, contact me. For those folks who are using strollers, we I mean we ask that everyone when they fill the seats in the gym to try to leave the very end of the aisle seats on the floor
for those folks who may have strollers or who may have a walker or may have a wheelchair. Uh we do anticipate the gym filling up. It seats 1,250 people. Once the gym is filled up, we will have people start to move into the
auditorium. You will be directed where to go by friendly ushers and they will tell you, "Please proceed to the auditorium." We have an assistant moderator for each of the overflow rooms. And so depending on when someone
arrives, they may be in the gym or in the auditorium or in the cafeteria or in the building, the business technology center or in a classroom. And there are people staffing each one
of those rooms. There is a closed Zoom connection connecting all of those rooms. So, everyone will be able to see, hear, and speak from each one of those rooms. I'd like to share that if someone needs
to get up and tend to family matters, let's say uh someone's nursing an infant and they would like to have a quiet place to go, I'm uh very thankful to uh Principal Landers for making the nurse's room off of the main office in that
hallway to making that available for family care needs. There are two bathrooms in there as well, but it's a quiet place to go if you just need that quiet place to go. You may also go in the hallway. That's perfectly fine.
Before any vote, I will be calling for anyone in the hallway who'd like to vote to please come in the vote, the room that they were assigned. There is no switching rooms. So, if you were assigned to the BTC and you are in the nurses area, you've
got to go back to the BTC. You can't vote in another room. The devices won't communicate in the same way. Similarly, if you are waiting for a friend to arrive, wait outside and check in together because there's no saving
seats. We'll hear presentations. The floor will be open for discussion. Uh if there's uh any kind of a motion to amend, I will handle that immediately. If there is a time where we feel that
discussion is getting repetitive, I will make mention of that and ask people to share new information or ask questions that it's new. At some point, we've got to come to a vote, a vote. The typical way that we
come to a vote, there's two ways. people stop talking and we come right to a vote or someone can make a motion that we call the question and that's a two-step process.
We have to decide, we have to vote on whether or not we're going to end discussion. That's one vote. Then we come to the vote and I will be very clear about what
we are voting on when there are assistant moderators in each room. I can answer questions as well. To ensure that everybody in all of those overflow rooms get to participate equally, we're going to rotate the speaking.
So we'll start in the gym and that's the virtual line. It starts in the gym. We'll have somebody have a chance to ask a question. Somebody who wants to speak in opposition to the motion. Somebody who wants to speak in favor of the
motion. Then we'll go to the auditorium. I will if there's somebody waiting to speak in question opposed in favor then we'll go to the cafeteria. As long
as there's somebody who wants to speak, we will recognize that room. If there's only two people who want to speak, there's only two people who want to speak and we'll move to the next room. But if there's nobody who is seeking recognition,
then we're going to be ready to come to a vote. So, I may ask that. And if you're ready to come to a vote and even if you've said yes, I do want to speak but you changed your mind, it's okay to change your mind.
But if we do call the question, we call the question. People will speak in if they're in an overflow room, they will speak into the Zoom laptop that into the laptop that is provided that has Zoom and will connect everyone.
Um, speeches from the floor are about two minutes. Questions are about one minute. There's no follow-up questions. If you have three questions, ask all your questions at once.
And then I will direct them to the person who will answer them. Again, there's no follow-up questions. So if somebody doesn't answer the question that you think they should have, you can weigh that into your decision- making.
Um I think I've addressed kind of the main questions. I I do want to note that questions that people have given to me. Uh, I want to note that if we if somebody is in one of the contingency classrooms,
they will be voting by a there are capped at 40 people each and they will have people counting those votes in that room and sharing the results with me. So, when you all see the results on the screen, that's not the final result. We
need to tally in the business technology center. We need to tally in all of those contingency rooms. So voting won't take 20 seconds and we're done. It'll take sufficient time to get all those votes in. So I'll allow about 3
minutes for the the receiver to receive the electronic votes and then we'll have time for the contingency rooms to finish counting. Press your clicker. If you have an electronic voting device, just press it once. If it says a number, one for yes,
two for no, and the word okay, your vote has been received. Pressing it more than one time actually does not help. It harms the situation. The more often you press it, it's really it's it's better just to press it once.
I'd like to take any questions you may have. If citizens have asked you questions and they, you know, they're questions that you have as well, uh, I want to offer that opportunity. Does anyone have any questions?
Thanks. Just a note to say thank you so much. I know that you and other um, town officials have put a lot of work into tomorrow, so we really appreciate it. Thank you. curious what's the procedure if there's a long line waiting to check in still at
7 o'clock how would that be handled so people can come right at 7 um we will start with an invocation with the pledge of allegiance and housekeeping rules I'll be sharing with folks how this is going to work
then we have a 10-minute presentation in favor we'll have board recommendations we'll have a 10-minute presentation in opposition. So those two are just 20 minutes. If I talk 5 minutes,
that's 25 minutes. So I'm hopeful that the line will clear by 7:25, 7:30. However, if we get to 7:30 and we have kind of a a moderate line
and there's something that we have to vote on, we're going to pause the check-in at that point so that those who have checked in can vote on whatever we're voting on. It could be to call the question, could be an amendment, it
could be a number of different things, but I will announce what that is and give some time. Now, if if at 7:00 we don't have any overflow rooms filled, we're going to keep things moving.
Um, but I I do urge folks to try to get there before seven if possible, knowing that there are these, you know, quiet spaces if you need some quiet spaces. Um, I recognize, however, that some people can't get there until
say 7:15. We're likely not going to be voting on anything at 7:15. I have one question. Um, when you said that rotating speakers and you said you were going to rotate through for question against and through the rooms,
do you mean you're going to go one at a time to each room? So, each has like three or you're going to take one room at a time, one room at a time, three speakers. So, one room at a time, three speakers. Three speakers from that. Okay. Assuming there are three speakers who want to speak, there are going to be I'm
imagining some rooms where people, no, I'm not going to speak. That's fair. We'll just go to the next room. Um, so start with the gym question. No, yes. Somebody who's in favor and somebody who's opposed. Then
we'll go to the auditorium. If there's somebody seeking to speak there, they have to inform the assistant moderator in that room that they and the assistant moderator will ask, "Is there anyone who wants to speak on this motion?"
and we'll restate the motion. If they don't want to speak, we'll move to the cafeteria. But if they do want to speak, we will direct the Zoom uh staffer to indicate the raise hand feature. We'll see that in the gym, and I will only go to an overflow room with
that raised hand feature. Yes. Will that Zoom be broadcast in the auditorium or will that be something that only you can see? So it will be
it'll be a webinar uh Zoom. It's not a traditional Zoom. Yeah. A Zoom meeting. So if and we have backup communications as well. So I trained the assistant
moderators to to say if there's anybody who wants to speak on this motion, indicate so. and we have a speaker log and they will write down the speaker's name, address, and whether they're speaking in favor, opposed, or have a question. And as soon as there's at least one person, the assistant
moderator will direct the Zoom operator to raise hand. And then I will go to the auditorium. I'll ask for a person uh offering a question. I'll direct it to somebody who can answer it.
Then we'll stay in the auditorium for the speaker who's speaking against the motion. Then we'll stay in the auditorium and hear the speaker who's in favor of the motion. After three people from the auditorium
have spoken, we're going to the cafeteria. Rinse and repeat. Three there, three in the BTC, three in each other subsequent classroom. back to the gym.
So, will everyone in all the rooms be able to see and hear whoever's at the mic, for lack of a better term, at the moment, um, in whatever room they're in? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Um, Rebecca, I think you mentioned that
you assume that a a question will take one minute and um, an opinion might take two. Are there limited times for people to speak? I am creating those time frames. Okay. Um many moderators throughout the state
have similar kinds of time frames. But there's a there's a balance between giving someone free reign to talk and that right infringing upon somebody else's time to talk because we have limited time. So you will cut someone off if they go
beyond two minutes approximately. So, if you've noticed, what I've done is I will give somebody a warning. You've got 10 seconds. And I'll do it kind of quietly, but I will inform them. And the assistant moderator in each room will do the same.
But ultimately at two minutes, if they're not done their sentence and they sound like they've got another paragraph to go, I or the assistant moderator will start talking and say thank you for
your speech. Okay. So, am I correct to think about each room almost like a Zoom participant? So, Adam is zooming in to our meeting right now and it would be like that room has logged in and they can hear the same way
that Adam can hear us right now. Mhm. Are there any other questions? I can I can I can say I mean just only because I I've seen you know the correspondence going back and forth the amount of time that Rebecca and her team have put into planning this it's it's a
logistical feat and they've tested it many times you guys were here over the weekend even um and so thank you for that and also I know you teach at the university level but you explain things so clearly that if you ever need a teaching job in learn you're hired
or or to come to a preschool classroom the classroom routines and procedures so calm and thorough and clear. Yes, I agree. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. And I I I know this isn't easy. I know that. And for a lot of folks, there may
be some anxiety that's involved in this. The folks who are running this are calm and confident. And we want you to recognize that we are creating an environment where you can do the business you need to do and make the
decisions that are going to shape Long Meadow's future. It's a it's a incredible responsibility and we hold that very dear and appreciate those who want to take part and want to make sure that that participation is as easy as
possible given the laws and the constraints of time. Thank you for your time and I encourage anyone who's listening to please contact me with any questions they may have. Take care everybody. Thank you so much. Looking forward to tomorrow night.
Y. So now we'll go to our student representative report from Miss Diana. Welcome. Hi. Thank you. So, Long Meadow's been really busy these past few weeks with the start of school on August 26th. Everyone's been getting back into the
groove of school. Um, like meeting their new teachers, getting into the homework and studying. We're about 2 weeks in and sports are happening. It's still early on in the season, but a few teams have already had their first games and everyone is practicing and working
really hard. Um, athletic back to school night was August 28th and um, sports expectations were talked about and then the different sports teams split up and went to their different rooms um, so each team could like have that
conversation about like expectations and what the season will be like. And then like academic back to school night was last Thursday, September 4th. and teachers got to talk with parents and answer their questions and inform them
about their class and what's the year is going to be like. Um, and then on September 19th will be the Lancer Way where all of the clubs of Long Meadow are going to have stands so new students can walk around, see what they might be
interested in, and learn about the different opportunities that Long Meadow has. and then they can sign up for different clubs and that it's a good way for a lot of students to figure out what they're interested in. And anyone who attends or participates in Milancer Way
will get a free ticket to the first football game which is that night um versus Noba. Thank you so much. I love that the answer. That's great. I hope you get a lot of people joining all the clubs. Thank you.
Okay, now we're on to subcommittee reports. Finance subcommittee. Uh I can kick us off. Uh finance subcommittee met on August 27th. There are a number of documents in your
packet tonight. Uh some are informational, some will um seek some action by the school committee. Uh first item tonight is FY25 budget reports. So there are two FY25 year budget reports
in your packet. Um agenda item 101A is our general fund report from FY25. So it shows the um how we spent the funds allocated from the town uh just the
general fund. Um the 10.1B report is all funds. So it would reflect grants and any special revenues that are budgeted and how our spending um went through the year. So our general fund, we spent out
all of the funds that were appropriated to us. It it was um not a surprise. We were tracking it and it was close all year. So we are able to close out the fiscal year with um without any major issues in regards to the funding from
the town. In terms of grants, some of the grants carry over. So we are still spending out some of our title grants. They actually are allowed to carry them into the subsequent fiscal year. So we will continue to spend out any of those entitlement grants that weren't
completely spent out in FY25. Um and so we most certainly will continue to track that. I would say these will be the final FY25 reports as the town will be closing the books probably sometime next week on fiscal
year 25. Um the next budget item related to FY25 is our revolving account report. Um this document shows activity for funds that aren't necessarily budgeted in our um budget every year but have
activity that we track and both revenue and expenditures throughout the course of the year. Um, and I would say things progressed as we expected with ending balances all the way to the right column uh on the top section and in the middle
of the page on the lower area of the report. Um, as I mentioned at finance sub, there really nothing s no surprises in terms of revolving accounts. We we monitor them again closely just to ensure that revenue is tracking where we expect and
that we're not um overspending in any of those funds. So these documents areformational. There is no action required related to FY25 but uh like to bring the final report so that committee is aware of you know how the fiscal year
ended and can see where we ended up spending all of our funds. The next item on your agenda are um documents related to the FY26 grant. Um both items tonight uh request uh consideration from the school committee.
The first is related to acceptance of our 26 grants, our FY26 grants. So in the packet is a memo kind of outlining all of the grants we have been awarded so far and the amount that has been approved for Long Meadow. And this year,
um, we are receiving $1.6 million in grant funds. As the superintendent indicated, we have the hate crime prevention grant, which is new for us in FY26 in the amount of $35,000.
All of the other grants are grants that we have uh been received on prior years um and continue to receive. So, their finance sub did review the list and u made a recommendation that the school committee accept the grants for FY26.
Thank you so much, Mr. Yes. Does anyone have any comments or questions about the finance subcommittee report? Any motions? I move on the recommendation of the finance subcommittee that the school committee
accept the FY26 grant awards as indicated on the memo dated August 27, 2025. We have a motion in the second. Second. Any further comments or discussion? Okay, we'll vote. Emily, yes.
Zach, yes. Nicole, yes. Kate, yes. Jamie, yes. Adam. Yay. And a yes for me, too. Um, just one other item. So, there is a request finance sub discussed a request
to allocate $35,000 for in the FY26 budget. Um, the funding would come from this school choice revolving account and the appropriation would be available to address any expenses we incur related to the middle school librarian personnel
matter. So, professional development, legal costs, uh the third party invest the investigative uh firm that's been hired to do the report. Um so, all those costs would be tracked against this appropriation. So, again, finance sub
discussed it and did recommend school committee authorizing that. Thank you. Um any questions about that or discussion or a motion? I move on the recommendation of the finance subcommittee that the school committee authorize an appropriation in the amount
of $35,000 funded by the school choice fund to cover the costs incurred related to the Glen Brook Middle School and Williams Middle School personnel related matter. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Any further discussion?
Okay, we'll move to a vote. Emily, yes. Zach, yes. Nicole, yes. Kate, yes. Adam, yes. Jamie, yes. And a yes for me, too. Okay. Um there's no reports for policy
subcommittee or curriculum subcommittee. So, we're going to move on to new business. And we have our school committee goals. Um there's no action tonight, but um there's just attached and in the in your folder or in the shared drive our school
committee goals from the 2024 2025 school year. Do you want to talk about that? Sure. Yeah. Um along with um the last year's superintendent uh annual plan. So it's that time of year then we'll probably need to sort of um get ourselves organized to uh pull together
a set of goals for the school committee. um and and Tammy and I can assist with that um uh to sort of uh shape those goals and then from that that usually will drive the the annual plan that I have to put together as well. Um so um
those items in your packet are justformational at this point for your review for an upcoming meeting upcoming discussions. What is the deadline for that about? No, no real deadline. Yeah, I mean timeline it would be, you know, if we
can do some u prep work in advance of your meeting on the 23rd. I mean, it sometimes it takes a couple of meetings. Um, sort of best case scenario would be for the committee to pin down a set of goals at your September 23rd meeting,
but we know sometimes it takes a couple of meetings to pull that off. But in, you know, as I see the school committee goals taking shape, I'll begin to formulate my annual plan, which is also tied to our district improvement plan.
Does anyone have any questions or comments about the school committee goals or the superintendent name? Yeah. Are we intending to still um do a an opportunity to sit with the admin in advance of our awesome
discussion? Yeah, we ought to. Yeah. Um maybe I could talk to chair about that. Uh scheduling maybe uh ahead of your meeting on the 23rd or perhaps a special meeting time to sit down with all of our administrators. It's always been really valuable for the
committee to hear from our administrators and from and for the uh administrators to hear from the committee. So um definitely should schedule that. Yeah. Thank you for that reminder. Thank you. We'll uh we'll make a note of that and that's something that Tammy and Michaela and I can talk about. Any other
comments? Okay, next on the agenda is the middle school building project. All right, so uh as um Kelly had mentioned, uh historic evening uh tomorrow night, opportunity for the town to consider, uh
funding um the design and construction of a new middle school for 665 students. a school that will be a 50-year plan really uh for this community. So, it truly is a historic night. Uh as a as a jumping off point for uh discussion by
the committee, I just wanted to share some information that we recently received from um from Fontaine, the construction managers for the project. So, give me one second. Um
so this is excuse me it so there has been uh some discussion recently around uh the success of statements of interest and what most of
us see as a lost opportunity if uh the vote is not successful tomorrow evening. And just a couple of slides here to sort of demonstrate essentially how difficult it is to get the attention of the
Massachusetts School Building Authority and how long communities often have to wait. And so, uh I know this has been a concern of the building committee and this school committee. So, uh, I'll enlarge this for us so it's a little
more readable. But, um, what you see here is the timeline for school communities to return to
a PSBA. PSBA stands for a project scope and budget agreement. And so you'll see that uh if communities have a failed local vote and if the MSBA doesn't give you an opportunity to
reconsider that vote, which in most cases they don't, it would take uh on average it takes about seven years to get back to where we are right now and then over eight years to get back get to a point where uh construction
could be initiated. So, um this next slide and and and I'll and then I'll sort of stop and let the committee sort of discuss the implications here. This next slide shows um the historic averages associated with
um core project statements of interest. And you'll see that historically um about one in five core SOIs are accepted by the MSBA.
So again very difficult to get the attention of the MSBA. We waited uh a considerable amount of time in this community to get the attention of the MSBA to be invited into the core project to be to become eligible for this grant.
Uh, and I think we're we all share a concern that if the vote is not successful tomorrow evening, it will be a a significant lost opportunity for us and um will likely mean that we would have to reapply to the MSBA. So, I just
wanted to throw that out there for your review and consideration and and perhaps discussion or questions. Kate, Marty, is this information going to be shared tomorrow evening? We we are not this exact slide, but it will be part of
I know that this will be a key part of of the discussion that uh Nicole and Michaela will have with the community tomorrow evening that you know really what what does a what are the implications of a failed vote? What is the implications of a no vote tomorrow night? I just think these two slides are
are um so succinct, right, that um they wouldn't take up a lot of time and I think sometimes the visual graphics are much more um uh dynamic than than to just sort of talk numbers.
I so wanted to show this tomorrow night. Um sort of testing it in the in the gymnasium with the uh big TV monitors that are scattered around. worried that it wouldn't be as visible to the community as it is to us tonight. So, but we will the the point of this
certainly will be will be addressed. It if we do share it before we share it, could they fix the typo at the top of the Thank you. You picked up on that. I did point that out to our friends at Fontaine. Because I want I don't want I don't want
to lose any credibility like this by having something as like a typo that people fixate on, right? Um, so yeah, our slide deck had to be uh provided to the town moderator last week. So we we don't have an opportunity to amend the presentation for tomorrow night, but certainly this can be part of the
talking points, I think. Okay. And I definitely agree this is so visually propelling and um I think that's something that's been coming up a lot in conversation. So, it's nice that we're talking about it and viewing it tonight and hopefully
before tomorrow night, people will watch this meeting or take the content from this meeting and share it with others. My intention would be to share this with families tomorrow morning just so that they understand. Yeah, that's great. Mhm. I I found this chart um on this page to
be even more compelling to see the number of districts um that apply each year and the percentage that gets chosen. the number that gets chosen um is really sobering and a good reminder of the fact that we were selected for
Glen Brook Middle School because of serious issues that the MSBA agrees need to be addressed and that we were chosen out of a pool of 50 plus schools um who were all hoping for the opportunity to move forward with their projects um and
we were selected to be given the opportunity to move forward with ours um and I really hope that we're able to continue moving this project forward. It's been a decadesl long effort on behalf of town um members and I'm appreciate the work that they've all put in over these years and looking forward
to us continuing to move forward with the MSBA's support. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay, so we have one more thing on this topic. Um, we did the vice chair Nicole
and I drafted a statement of support because as you heard tonight from the moderator after the 10-minute um for presentation, they will be asking each board of the town for their
approval or disapproval or whatnot. So, I developed a statement with Nicole that's a draft for you to look at. It's in your folder and I'm just going to read it and if anyone wants to change anything or has anything to say, just
let me know. On behalf of the Long Meadow School Committee, we anonymously unanimously, sorry, support. A yes vote on the consolidated middle school project. A yes vote secures vital MSBA funding, delivers a safe and innovative school for all middle school students
within three years, and advances our educational goals. This is the most responsible financial choice for Long Meadow. Building one new school now avoids the higher costs of renovating two aging facilities and ensures a long-term investment in both our
students and our community. We respectfully ask for your support and your yes vote tonight. Yes. So, just a note that we voted already on support. Um, so we don't need to have any kind of motion or anything. It's more just an opportunity for people to
see what Michaela would like to be able to say and hear feedback from anyone there. Looks good. Everybody's in agreement on that. Yes. I think looks wonderful. Also, it's the bill. Just so you know, um, you know, Nicole
and I are part of the presentation that's been approved, but anybody on the school committee is more than welcome to go up and speak at any microphone at any time if you would need to. Yeah. This is something you would uh want the committee to vote on or is it uh just a
consensus? I don't think this I'm not sure that I'm not sure that we need to not required but just wanted to I think we've already voted and unanimously supported a yes vote on the project. I don't think we need to vote again. Okay,
makes sense. Okay. So, moving right along. The next thing on our agenda is our executive session. I move that the school committee meet in executive session pursuant to mass general law chapter 30A section 21A
purpose 2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for collective bargaining sessions with unit ADF and non-UN personnel and seven appro approval of minutes and not to reconvene into open session. We have a motion. Do we have a second?
Second. Second. Okay. Any comments or questions about going into executive session? No. Okay. Will I think she's seconded first. Emily, yes. Zach, yes.
Nicole, yes. Kate, yes. Jamie, yes. Adam, yay. And a yes for me, too. Thank you, Danica Shay, for coming to your first meeting. We'll see you next time. Yes. See everyone tomorrow night. See you tomorrow night, everybody, at
the town meeting. My