and live 4 3 2 1. >> Welcome to the Tuesday, February 24th, 20126 meeting of the Long Meadow School Committee. Mass general law allows for remote participation at public meetings
until June 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. Kate
>> here. >> Emily >> here. >> Zach >> here. >> Jamie >> here. >> And I am here too. So now we'll do the pledge of allegiance. Ice to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for it stands under indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, next we have correspondence. >> Um, in correspondence we have an email from Don Striker dated February 8th,
2026. email with petition from Shelley Warren submitted on behalf of LHS peer leadership dated February 12th, 2026. We have three emails from Christine Kronage dated February 12th, 2026.
And we have two emails from Christine Crownage dated February 13, 2026. >> Thank you, Zach. Next, we have our approval of minutes from the February 3rd meeting, and we
have a recommended motion. >> I move that the school committee approve the minutes to February 3rd, 2026 school committee meetings as presented. >> We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. So, we'll vote. Kate, >> yes. >> Emily,
>> yes. >> Jamie, >> yes. >> Zach, >> yes. >> And a yes for me, too. Um, next is public speak. Do we have anyone here or at home for public speak tonight? >> None that I see. No.
>> And then so next we have business with guests. >> All right. We're excited to introduce to the school committee and to the community uh Dr. Arty Tamasian and a couple of talented uh LHS students. So you guys kind of make your way up here. Uh Dr. Tamasian is the uh uh chair of
the LHS music department. um coordinates a music mentor program and um it's yet another way that we try to make connections from between high school students and middle school students. That seems to be a bit of a running theme for us this year. So um they have
a presentation for us tonight and uh happy to bring the committee up to speed on an exciting music mentor program that already has been leading for a number of years now. So I'll uh I'll share your your slide deck and we'll be off and running. Great. So, thanks for having us. My name
is Arthur Tamasi. I'm the chair of the music department at the high school as well as I teach band the bands at the high school and orchestra. And we have um some students with us tonight. Um this program is run by four students and two of them are going to talk about the
the program tonight. The program is run by senior Koko Wescott, senior clarinetus Mia Ranovix, senior oist Aul Agarwal, and junior floutist Rosa Wen. And I'm going to kick it off to these guys who are going to tell you about our
music mentor program. >> Yep. So, just for some context about uh music mentors, for those of you who might not know what it is, music mentors is a program here at the high school where um some musicians um at the high school um are paired with elementary
school or middle school students um that play the same instrument and they just get together for lessons uh just to play duets together and just to have a good time. So this program was initially started by um student David Miller in 2005 who was part of the LHS class of
2007. And back then it was much more of a buddy system where in addition to meeting for these lessons and these just get togethers they would also attend each other's concerts and performances to sort of support them in that aspect.
So, here are stats for 2025 music mentor. We have we have 64 middle schoolers and elementary students paired up with 75 high school students in the most recent years and 13 repeated pairs.
Our largest numbers are in cellos, trumpets, and violin signups. And on the screen, we have our stats from our surveys. So just sort of talking about the benefits for both the mentees and the mentors. For the mentee benefits, one of
the largest is that it provides an opportunity to improve skills um on the instrument with a older student that's often more experienced that can provide some insight and guidance onto the instrument, especially if they're a newer um if they just picked up the
instrument. Um it also allows them to become more familiarized with the high school's music program because often um the sessions are done just in practice rooms at the high school and even um during our formal events we try to bring them to the high school and that just
allows them to get to see the high school music program a lot earlier on um when they're still in middle school so that they can kind of know what they're building up to. And I think also another one is just building being able to build a connection with um a mentor and just being able to form that strong
friendship. And I think speaking for myself and the benefits for a mentor, I think being able to work with a younger student, it builds up a lot of communication and critical thinking skills because it really forces me to approach the instrument from a different
angle where I'm not just playing it, but I'm also thinking about how do I teach it, which I think also helps me just get better at the instrument in general. So we hosted a kickoff event to welcome another year of music mentor.
We the objectives of this event were to foster connections between parents, guardians, mentors and mentees. Um and also just familiarize everyone with the program whether they're new or a um
returning person. We provided pizza, ice breakers, and we encouraged people to have conversations, establish when they want to meet, how often they want to meet, preferences, and overall just furthering
or creating that bond between mentee, mentor, and parents and guardians. And at the end, we also gave them a tour of our music department in hopes that our mentees will come join us in the future planting that seed for our music
department. So we will have interested and happy musicians in future years. >> So um my me my mentee is his name is Shya and even though he's not able to be here today, I still wanted to talk about some things that he's mentioned um that
were especially beneficial to him. So, I think one of the first things that he mentioned was just being able to supplement what I'm able to provide with his formal private lessons. Um, which just sort of amplifies what he's able to uh learn from and how he's able to
develop on the instrument, which is really valuable. And also him being able to see the LHS music department, it's very valuable to him to see what he can kind of work towards. just seeing um the resources that are available here and some of the pieces that he's that we
play um I think it pushes him to sort of start exploring that and um kind of pushing himself to become better on the instrument. And addition in addition to what I've already mentioned um in terms of benefits for uh mentors, one especially gratifying thing for me is
just the fact that I'm able to really support um the LHS uh music department long after I'm gone by just planting that seed in a much younger student earlier on. Um just to kind of pass that um on long after I graduated.
Um, I'm gonna speak on behalf of my younger sister BSA Wen and her mentor Eric's son, my classmate, and something that their relationship and the whole music mentor program for them. Belsa
always talks about how Eric gives him so much gives her so much insight into performing and what it's like performing in an orchestra, what it's like performing in front of an audience. And considering that she's not as experienced as Eric is, she's younger,
she hasn't played viola for as long as he has, this is extremely valuable. And I definitely see this within their rehearsals, their performances, and it's just lovely. I love their relationship. This Christmas, actually, they gifted each other gifts. We
couldn't go by swing by his house. So I actually gave him a gift from Belsa, bag of chocolates, Christmas card, and gave him to gave it to him in Spanish class. And Belsa actually got a gift back from Eric, which is really sweet. I really
love their relationship. And this is just what our program thrives to do. We just want to further and connect people within the music department, regardless of age, regardless of school. So, so we obviously want to continue
improving and making innovations to this program to continuously make it better in future years. So, one thing that we talked about at the start of this year that we want to start doing is check-ins with mentors and mentees throughout the year just to sort of see how things are
going. Um, and just check in if any if any issue arises, just sort of addressing those. and some things that we want to sort of implement in future years. Um, if you remember at the start of this presentation when I talked about um what this program was initially, we
talked about it as sort of a buddy system where in addition to meeting um both the mentors and the mentees would go to each other's concerts and support them. And we sort of want to try to encourage that once again just because I think it's a very valuable not just um
from the instructional perspective but also just supporting each other in that way. And we've also we also want to have an end of the year recital um for all the mentors and mentees where they're able to just sort of perform a piece and just show how much they've improved
throughout the year which I think would be a really valuable way to just sort of end the year. Thank you for listening. Well done. >> Thank you. Um I loved hearing about the program um and what it is and how you
benefited from it and also my favorite part was hearing about the voices from the younger students who are being mentored. So thank you so much for sharing. Does anybody else have anything? >> I have a question. Yeah. Um, did you guys participate as mentees at all at
when you were in elementary school or middle school? >> Um, I actually didn't go to elementary or middle school here. So, I was a little bit late to that, but I know a lot of my friends have. So, >> so people have grown in through the program, become mentees to mentors.
>> It's cool. And actually someone in our section, um, Kelly, she actually grew up in our program and she is a wonderful floutus and she also plays piccolo. >> Cool. Thank you. >> May I
>> Nicole, you mentioned um that it's made you a better musician. Can you talk a little bit about that? How how it's improved? >> Yes. >> Your skills? >> So, I think when I'm playing the obo, I'm often just thinking about the very intricate details about what I'm
playing, right? that's often um the tricky fingerings or the tricky notes. And I think in that um mindset, you kind of forget the basic fundamentals that you want to keep always reminding yourself of. And I think when I'm teaching the obo to a much younger
student, um I always have to reiterate those fundamentals. And that kind of reminds me um to make sure that I'm always doing that whenever I'm playing, which they're very easy to forget, but I think constantly reminding myself of that really um just enforces those basic
principles that really ground obo playing. And I think just being able to think about it from the perspective of teaching allows me to sort of realize some habits that I might have built in my own playing that I didn't realize before that I can then fix. So
>> excellent. Thank you. >> I know that Dr. Tamasian often reminds me that you know the strength of our music program that one level scaffolds on the previous level. And so this is a really important part of the strength of the music program really not the
relationships that are built, the excitement that elementary and middle school students um receive when when they're part of the program. So and it all scaffolds up to the the performances that we see at the high school. So, it's really impressive. So, um I want to thank you Arty for for leading this
program for so many years and as a good um as a good conductor, you're letting the musicians take center stage here as you're sort of sitting back, but I know this is a lot of work for you. So, thank you for all your your efforts on this as well. No problem. >> Yeah, >> thanks for having us. >> Yeah, thank you very much. Because just
one more thing, I think it also shows that there's such a culture behind the music program, too. It's positive and enriching one. So, thank you for sharing. Well done. Thank you so much. All right. Appreciate it. >> Okay. Next, we have our student
representative report. >> All right. So, it's a pretty short report this time since we just came back from break. Um but one thing that's coming up is the student council MASC which is the field trip where the um some people from our student council get
to go to Cape Cod and meet with other student councils in Massachusetts and we do uh a lot of bonding activities and uh we hear from speakers. So uh one part of that is that we do a like a dance lip
sync. So we've been having a lot of rehearsals for that. Um, and we're also, uh, working on the workshop because our student council is also hosting a workshop for the other student councils there. So, that's one thing that's been going on. Um, and then the MMA Mia
senior class play is in about 2 weeks. Um, it's March 12th and 13th at 700 p.m. and then March 14th at 100 p.m. So, anyone who wants to come, it would be greatly appreciated. Uh, it's going along really well. We're very committed
to rehearsals. It's been every day for the next few weeks until the play. Um, and it's a lot of fun. It's definitely coming along well. And that's about it. >> Thank you so much, Danica. Um, I hope I get to make it this even. >> Danica, whoever is charge of the
marketing, if they have a flyer or something that they want us to push out to the elementary schools and the middle schools, if you think it's appropriate and and >> Oh, yeah. We do have a flyer. So, I can definitely send that. be happy to send that out for you guys. Yeah, >> I missed the name of the fly. What do you think? >> Mama Mia. >> Oh, Mama Mia. Oh, absolutely. Great.
>> It's a fun fly. >> Yeah. >> Well done. >> Thank you. Um I also don't have very much of a report since the last time we met since it was vacation. And I hope that everybody had a really restful break. And I also really hope that we
have a nice uninterrupted stretch of learning time and routine. Please. Um, congrats to all the winter sports teams that made the playoffs. There's a a lot of them, I think. Um,
basketball, hockey, indoor track, >> wrestling. >> Wrestling. Yes. Um, so thanks to all the student athletes for all their hard work and that's all I have. >> Uh, just a couple is it may have just a
couple items. Um, yeah, coming off a uh vacation week because it was quiet last week obviously, but another uh shout out to DPW custodial staff for uh working tirelessly to prepare the campus and to clear the roads and the sidewalks and
everything. It was um another significant storm for us. So, um although I hear that there might be a little bit more snow coming in tomorrow morning. So, hoping that we can get a a regular uh scheduled day in tomorrow, but we'll stay tuned on that. Um couple
items. Uh we are um uh our partnership with Bay Path University on universal design for uh teaching and learning is continues. Um the Bay Path team was here at the high school and they were visiting some classrooms with Beth Nelson, our curriculum director. Um that
same team from Bay Path is going to engage our administrative team in uh some um professional development uh in April and they're also preparing some professional development for staff on our March 13th uh professional
development day. March 6th is conference day. This is our first year of having a full day at conferences. So, um we're hoping that goes well and and uh looking forward to gathering feedback from staff and from parents on on how that works
for teaching and learning. Um exploration studio that you heard last week, I think a couple weeks ago, you heard from the center school team. Um exploration studio is off and running at Wolf Swamp and then next year we'll have it up and running at Blueberry Hill as
well. So, um, lots going on. Um, but, uh, looking forward to the professional development day and the, uh, conference day in the weeks ahead. >> Thank you, Dr. Osh. >> Um, does anybody have any questions or comments for the superintendent report?
>> Okay. Other reports, >> there hasn't been a meeting since our last >> um, board of governors. Emily, >> we don't meet again until March 18th. >> Okay, great. Thanks. The seal, we just had a meeting, right? We had a
presentation right before vacation. Um, and so the next one coming up is the 11th. Is that the one the budget one? >> Yes, I will be attending the next one. >> So I there's a confusion. I feel like there's two different things listed for
the March 11th meeting. I noticed. at the so the March 11th meeting is the special ed budget meeting. >> Um yeah, I do give an overview but sometimes they have other presenters or topics on the agenda. So >> okay. Yeah, it's listed as the 8th.
>> Yeah, I'm not sure on the date. I did get an invite though. >> I think it >> I think at the last meeting they said it was in March >> so maybe they switched it. I'm going to double check. I'll get back to you. That's it. energy and sustainability.
>> Um we met on February 12th. Um uh the committee is hosting a screening of that documentary plastic people um tomorrow at the high school. Um the key club is offering child care. There's a QR code on the flyer that's been circulating. If anybody needs that, I'm happy to provide that link. Um they're
currently the C committee is currently working on a campaign to promote awareness of a specialized opt-in stretch energy code. This allows towns to adopt stricter energy requirements for new construction. It's focused on enhanced energy efficiency, renewable
energy, um, and steps towards fully electrifying new buildings. Um, this is something the town would have to vote to approve um, at a town meeting. Um, if we can demonstrate that the town is making progress towards adopting the code, it opens this up for other like funding and
grant opportunities. we can apply to be considered a climate leader um in Massachusetts and these things also help us to access different funds and resources including organizations that can help us draft and adopt like a climate action plan. So it's a cascading
effect. Um stores library is looking at uh renovations for the first time I think in 35 years if I heard correctly. They're looking at making some improvements to the HVAC system for example. So if if we are designated as a climate leader, there are grants that we
can access for this project as well. So uh lots of movement towards um getting funding and um accessing those as as much as possible. Um I also heard from the town energy manager Amir that the new um Wolf Swamp chiller will be
installed once the snow and ice finally melts and there'll be a traffic plan implemented to ensure safety around the construction area and some more details forthcoming, I'm sure. Um and then we meet again uh March 12th. >> Thank you, Emily.
Um so subcommittee reports. I don't we don't have any reports this evening. Um so now we'll move on to new business. >> The budget >> budget. Okay. Um all right. So, we had um a couple opportunities for the school
committee and the community to review the administrative recommendation for the FY27 budget. Uh so that was at your February 3rd and February 10th meetings. Um and that's information that has been publicly posted and shared with the
community. And uh wanted to bring it forward to the committee again tonight for uh a possible vote. And were that to happen, we would forward uh the school committee's voted recommended FY27 budget to the town manager's office. Uh
we have an upcoming meeting at the select board to present your budget to that board. And then uh from there uh hopefully it would be included in the town manager budget and be considered at town meeting in May. So, uh, just, um,
I'll share at sort of the high level the, um, I know Mr. Hench would love for me to go through the 30 slides again, but, we'll, uh, we'll spare him that, uh, and just bring up the, the overall summary.
This is the FY27 budget uh, recommendation at a 30,000 ft view. It would require an increase in contribution from the general fund of uh $1,77,536 over FY26 and the total operational
budget would be1 million1,21 over FY26. Um in terms of uh percentages, uh if that's the way you think about these things, it's a 2.6% 6% increase from the general fund and the
operating budget would go up by 2.47%. I think this is a a reasonable manageable budget for the town. Um once again, gratitude to Tom Maza for all the leg work preparing the details behind this uh $46 million budget and to the
town manager and finance director for providing some guidance and parameters. I think we have a good understanding of the challenges that the town is facing. I think they have a good understanding of the challenges that uh we face as well as we head to FY27. So for your
final deliberation, discussion or potential vote, >> does anyone have any comments or questions? Y >> I just um I don't remember if we discussed this or not, but is that um percentage increase um similar to
previous years? we could show you sort of I think we had some um information showing how that in a historical context. Yeah. No, there's a lot of information to take a peek at. Let me just pull that up for you. Um so this is where we've been uh historically that uh
the increase in the general fund. So um it certainly falls in line with where we've been the last >> 10 to 15 years. >> Okay. So it's >> Yeah. And then another way of looking at it just in terms of the the general fund increase over the years and then the
total operating budget increase over the years. >> That's good to know. Thank you. >> So you'll see that this falls pretty much in line with where we've been. I know that you know I know one of the slides that has been important to the committee over the years is sort of to think about you know the Oops. um some
of the the additional considerations either things that are sort of still on the table because there's some uncertainty or you know areas for potential investment were we in a position to make those investments but I know this final slide has been an important part of the narrative as well
that we've tried to convey to the select board and the wider community. So >> has anything changed since we last met? I'd say nothing has become firmer or clearer on that list, although we will have a school choice and metco
recommendation for you tonight. But that really has a modest impact uh on the budget overall. >> Anybody else have any questions or comments for a recommended motion? >> No. Just thank you both. Obviously, it's a whole ton of work that ends in a quick
vote. Uh, I move that the school committee approve the FY2027 proposed school budget in the amount of 46 million72,395.79 with a general fund allocation of 42,481,69359
and submit this amount to the town manager for the inclusion at the annual town meeting on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026. >> We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. May 12th's also my birthday. I know this.
>> It's a good quite the party on >> full budget. >> Yeah. Totally not. >> So, now we can vote. Jamie, >> yes. >> Zach, >> yes. >> Kate, >> yes. >> Adam, >> Emily, >> yes. >> And a yes for me, too. So, next for new
business, we have school choice. You >> take that. >> Yeah, sure. So, um good evening. Tonight, we have um a request for both the medco program and school choice program for slots for next school year.
Um the school choice program allows the district to take students in from Springfield. um depending upon the number of applicants we receive based on the slots that are approved by school committee. If more interest then we have slots.
It's done through a lottery with um siblings of current school choice students receiving preference to slots in their particular grade first. So based on um current enrollment, our
recommendation would be to open up four grade one seats for the 26 27 school year. Based on our current um kindergarten enrollment, I believe we're at about 169 students, which is lower
than what we've seen, which has been around 180 185 to 200 for our elementary class size. So, we feel we have some capacity with that rising first grade for next school year. And just as a context, the state
reimbures or provides funding at uh $5,000 per school choice student. So, this would basically keep us about even I think it would be a net increase of two students based on um we have two that are graduating this year in June.
So we'd increase the overall number by two up to I believe 35 students it would give us next year in the program. >> Thank you. Mr. Maza, does anyone have any questions or comments? >> Yeah. Where I'm missing where the amounts are. What are we doing?
>> Um in terms of the recommendation. >> Yeah. Like which right here? Just grade one. >> Bottom. Yeah. Page two and top of page three. Okay. Just Okay. That's what I just want to >> and that's just school choice. >> That would be just school choice. Yes.
Then we can discuss medco. >> The the info that's projected here shows the capacity at wolf swamp at grade one. If you were wondering how that might got >> impact class size >> and we never do school choice in other
grades. >> No, we have we've taken them in historically. I would say we've looked at kind of the transition either sixth or ninth grade. >> Yeah. >> Um but in the past we also have had opportunity in some lower elementary
grades where we've opened them up. But right now based on the numbers we felt the rising first grade was had the most capacity for space. >> I would say that um this is the recommendation for this evening. Um, I
think it it's a, you know, sort of a a solid recommendation for you. We can always revisit it in the future. This isn't the only opportunity to add choice slots if it's something that you wanted to pursue further down the road.
>> Any other questions or comments? Motion. I move that the school committee approve opening seats for the school choice students in the 2026 2027 school year in the following grades and number of seats per grade. Grade one number of seats
four. >> Thank you. We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Vote. Jamie. >> Yes. >> Zach. >> Yes. >> Kate, >> yes. >> Emily, >> yes. Adam.
>> Yay. >> And a yes for me, too. Next on our agenda is METCO. >> So, the METCO program um also allows us to receive students uh from Springfield. Um it is done through an application
process through the Springfield public schools in which um surrounding communities that participate in the Medco program approve slots in the grade levels again where they have capacity. Um we currently have 40 students who are
enrolled through the Medco program of which four of them will be graduating in June. Our recommendation for the 2627 school year is to add five slots. So it would be a net increase of one additional. So it would give us a total
of 41 students. Um historically we've tried to do it in pair so even numbers two or four so that there's a cohort with students. Um, so we are recommending for next school year to open up two kindergarten slots, two
grade one slots, and one grade two slot. The reason for the one grade two is because one of the students that we approved for this year backed out. So we only have one student in that cohort in grade two. So for next year, so we are
looking to add one. So that would give us a second one in that grade. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions or comments? >> One motion. >> I move on the recommendation of the finance subcommittee that the school
committee accepts students in the METCO program for the 2026 2027 school year in the following grade level and number of seats. Grade kindergarten number of seats two. Grade one number of seats
two. Grade two number of seats one. >> Thank you. We have a motion. >> You got it. >> Yeah. >> If we could just strike on the recommendation of finance sub. Finance sub did not have an opportunity to review the recommendation. >> Yeah. We end up having a glitch in the schedule. Yeah. Yeah.
>> During the budget >> development, but we did not review this recommendation >> as amended. We're good. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, so we have a second. So now we'll vote. Jamie, >> yes. >> Zack, >> yes. Kate, >> yes. >> Emily,
>> yes. Adam, >> yay. >> And a yes for me, too. So, next on our agenda, we have an a consent agenda for building use requests. >> So, there are four building use requests in your packet tonight. Um the first is
a request from Parks and Breck for use of the Blueberry Hill gym uh during the week of July 13th through July 17th for a field hockey clinic for grades 2 through 9. Second request also from the
park and recck department uh for use of the Blueberry Hill gym on June 29th through July 2nd for a girls lacrosse camp for grades 3 through 8. Third request again from Parks and Recreck is
for use of the Glen Brook gym from August 17 through August 21st for a co-ed basketball camp for grades 3 through 7. And the third one is submitted by the Glen Brook pack for use of the Glen Brook cafeteria and parking
lot for a 5K uh walk run on Sunday, May 3rd from 7 to 11 a.m. >> Thank you. So, um there's no discussion on the consent agenda unless you want to
vote out one of them or we can have a motion for all of those. I move that the school committee approve the consent agenda for the February 24, 2026 school committee as presented. >> We have a motion. Do we have a second?
>> Second. Second. >> Jamie, >> yes. >> Zach, >> yes. >> Kate, >> yes. >> Emily, >> yes. >> Adam, >> and a yes for me, too.
So, now we have middle school building project. >> Sure. Um, so we had hit hit a another major milestone uh with the middle school building project and I'll just provide a quick overview for uh the committee this evening. So the milestone
that we hit was the submission to the Massachusetts School Building Authority of the 60% design development. So the design has been refined further and um was recently submitted to the MSBA. Uh
this slide here from last week's um or from the building committee meeting on February 11th overviews all the deliverables. Everything that was submitted as part of that package to the MSBA. So you'll see that um the full uh
project scope and budget was included. Um there was a cost estimate that was completed that was very favorable that I'll show you shortly. Uh so the cost estimates have been submitted to the MSBA. Um a revised um uh project scope
and budget. The space summary has been submitted. The floor plans have been reviewed and submitted. And now this entire package uh not only has it gone to the MSBA, but it has also gone to all the town departments for their review
and comment. So, police, fire, DPW, um even the tree warden, um the highway department have all had an opportunity to take a look at this design development and provide comment. Um our
athletic director would be involved, the food service director would be involved. So, uh, as many eyeballs as as possible, we'll take a look at the design as it currently stands to provide comments to the architects. Uh, and so as we as we
move along, things are getting more and more refined. The drawings are getting more and more refined. The space summaries more and more refined. Uh, and we're in a really great position. So, I'm really pleased that we hit this major milestone with the MSBA. the
building committee had an opportunity to review uh a cost estimate reconciliation. So you'll see that um originally we had projected that the construction costs were going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $119
million. This is just the construction costs, no soft costs included. The recent uh cost estimates have that at now $118,872623. again just for the the construction costs associated with the project. So I think we're we're really well
positioned. I think it tells us that um the architects, our project manager and Fontaine did their homework early on as part of this project because the estimates uh really seem to be falling in line with our earlier projections. So
that was good news. Uh that the the building committee had the full opportunity to review those cost estimates um and you know trade by trade by trade and division by division by division. So uh that's encouraging news
to us. The um building committee also had an opportunity to review and approve a series of proprietary items. These are services, software or equipment that would be prescribed by the district as
as preferred services or preferred equipment. So those systems that equipment was reviewed by the building committee uh and approved at the meeting on February 11th as well. So things are progressing. Um we're looking forward to
if the snow ever thaws uh to breaking ground officially in June. um really been pleased with the way the architects have been in touch especially with uh police and fire and DPW to ensure that they have a voice in this process and
that their concerns are being addressed at every single stage. So uh excited things are moving on another milestone in the rearview mirror for us. So >> thank you for the update and for the middle school building committee further
work. Is this still on um schedule timewise as well? >> Still on uh still hitting all the marks. Um the timelines look tight and um no reason to think that we'll fall behind at this point. So >> does anyone else have any questions or
comments? >> Can I ask one question? the not on this particular project, but the field all the space in June when we take all that up. Does the the the folks that be who use that have a plan? >> The folks that
>> all the athletic teams, do they do they have a plan? Does Barry know where we're going with all of these people? >> We we've been in touch with the town manager and and the recck department. I think there's some some uh areas here on the high school campus that we'll probably have to redirect some of the
some of the practices that have previously been held at on the Williams campus will probably make room for him here in the high school campus. >> Okay. >> But it will be it will be uh it'll be a challenge for a couple of years, no doubt, you know, but the the end result hopefully will provide more access with
the field that we have. So, >> do you feel like they have a good plan laid out that they're not going to ruin every other field that we've spent money on as a town? I think we have to figure out resting the fields and then even lighting of the field too, you know. So, is there going to be, you know, will they rely continue to rely on the
portable generators to to light the fields or is it some other options for >> particularly the fall squirts? >> Okay. But they're aware they're at least planning. >> I think more needs to be done. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Y got it. >> Mr. Naza, would you say
>> I think you hit it very well. >> Yeah. those fields are used at a level that is like it's phenomenal. Like it it actually it's amazing those fields look that good for as much as people beat them up and don't take care of them. So >> I just don't want all the other fields messed up just when you get this
situated and then we're all sitting here going, you know, why did we spend all this money on this? So >> yeah. And I know in the fall we had talked at one of our beginning of this school year meetings about recess. What's that going to look like? But I hadn't thought about your question and
>> Oh yeah, you got two years practices. So >> maybe too that's another way to think about um being creative about recess. >> Maybe not on a field >> some other you know not all the time. >> I think it's just going to be a recess. No doubt there'll be a little bit of
room on the back side of the building that we'll have to still have to get a handle on exactly how much room will be available back there back where the bike racks are and the hillside is and where the basketball courts are currently. But um so we still have to understand what that's going to look like, but no doubt recess is going to be curtailed. I'd say
>> PE also. >> Oh yeah, P. >> We talked about that. >> Yeah. So that's it. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments? We have one final um motion on our
agenda. I move that the school committee adjourn the February 24th, 2026 school committee meeting. >> We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Jamie, >> yes. >> Zach, >> yes.
>> Kate, >> yes. >> Emily, >> yes. >> Adam, >> and a yes for me, too. Have a great evening, everyone. >> Thank you. Good night.