##VIDEO ID:bxeW7rO5sI0## good evening and welcome to the Tuesday February 4th 2025 meeting of the long meow school committee School committees and other public bodies may continue to hold remote meetings through March 31st 2025 under legislation enacted on March 29th 2023 the statute chapter 2 of the acts of 2023 extends quum reductions for remote meetings all votes while there is remote participation must be made by roll call vote this meeting is being recorded in live on lctv we'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance Ali the flag the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all we will begin with correspondence the following correspondence will be recorded an email from Miss Kayla Worland dated January 28th 2025 regarding students accepted to participate in the All State chorus band and Orchestra an email from Miss Caleb Worland dated January 29 2025 regarding an invitation for the long medal High School lyrics group to perform at the Massachusetts music educators Association conference thank you and a congratulations to the music department and all of the students participating in those events um moving on to approval of minutes we have a recommended motion I move that the school committee approve the minutes to the January 28th 2025 school committee meeting as presented we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion seeing none we'll move to a vote Michaela yes Jamie yes Estelle yes and yes for me as well could I note excuse me um there was one additional correspondence it's not noted on your annotated agenda so you wouldn't have seen it um it is in your meeting packet an email from Mr Kurt Freeman on the lack noreast gas pipeline capacity so that's in your packet as well perfect thank you all right we're moving on to public speak we do not have anybody here or at home school committee announcements and recognitions any from anyone I did I thing I wanted to say um we just wrapped up the Long Meadow aquatic club swim season um I was until I got a little sick was helping out with the team and I just wanted to give a shout out to all the high school kids that come and help out with the coaches especially um over at Kylie middle school and just all the kids it's so so cool to see kids from first grade all the way to high school together and it was really fun nice that's awesome thank you any others all right we're headed into business with guests which brings us to our public hearing on the FY 26 budget um the public hearing for the FY 26 budget is officially open and we'll begin with an opportunity for um the public to ask any questions or provide impressions of the current FY 26 budget presentation as shared last week and I think maybe had a person someone did Jo okay there's nobody else here so if the person who's at home would like to have the opportunity to speak or ask questions hello uh z i the person you're referring you are just called No Worries okay yes you were the person I was referring to perfect hi Julie as well all right um I'm gonna give us a couple of minutes we'll we'll return in the off chance that somebody arrives in the interim um we'll just do a quick um reminder of a couple of the um calendar events related to the budget um the initial budget recommendation happened last week on January 28th today is our public hearing related to the budget we will deliberate and vote on the completed budget next week February 11th um still here same time and place um and then March 3rd we will present our voted budget to the select board at a joint meeting the town manager then presents the FY 26 budget as a complete budget to the select board on March 17th and the select board votes on the budget on April 7th um that gives time for some adjustments to happen at the State House and Senate level leading us toward our uh annual town meeting on May 13th which is where we will vote on um budget line items and ultimately get to June and July when the state reconciles and presents their own final version of the state budget Dr did you have anything to add related to the budget Andor any adjustments nothing related to the timeline happy to take us through the uh the slide Deck with a few uh um additional slides from uh last week yep uh so as Nicole mentioned our budget calendar is uh is here for you this slide deck uh will be available on our website and has been distributed to families uh it's a long road and we are at the early stages of the development of the FY 26 budget the budget that uh the administrative team uh is pleased to present and recommend to the school committee uh is one that reflects our district strategic goals I'm grateful to the administrators for their input into this process I'm grateful to Tom Maza for doing the hard work behind the scenes on uh managing at very granular levels the uh budget that I'll present to you at a high level tonight also appreciative of the U efforts of the Town manager and the town finance director to keep us apprised of the challenges and opportunities uh in turn of that on the town side of things so at at a very high level the F this summarizes the FY 26 budget recommendation that was made last week you'll note that it includes a proposal to increase funding from the general fund by [Music] 1,287 56 over fy2 we're anticipating that special revenues and grants will increase as well over FY 25 in the amount of $1 141,142 to uh bring us to to a total budget which is 1,428 ,200 over FY 25 so this is A4 44.8 million total budget recommendation before the school committee this evening one of the things that I thought might be uh helpful to uh to the community and to uh town finance committee and to the select board and town manager is just a just to take a look at the building blocks of a a school budget uh there are essentially three uh or four components of a of a school budget across the state of Massachusetts uh at the base is uh chapter 78 this is the main uh source of Aid that the state makes available to fund public education in the state of Massachusetts on top of that each Community is assigned a minimum local contribution and together those two uh uh equate to the required net School spending the amount that cities and towns are minimally required to spend to provide an adequate education uh across the Commonwealth you'll note that there is an above minimum local contribution we're really fortunate that here in Long Meadow that we are funded well above uh what is minimally required and that's that's true in many uh communities across the Commonwealth so we always grateful for the support uh that uh the residents um provide us with and on top of that our both competitive and entitlement grants and together uh these become the building blocks of a school budget the uh what's bracketed here you'll see is required net School spending more or less that equates to uh what the state calls the foundation budget and I just want to spend a little bit of time on that tonight uh it is again it's the amount that the state would say is minimally required to fund public education in a community um there is a uh chapter 78 is is an important component of that uh Foundation budget chapter 78 is is calculated by uh reviewing communities enrollment their their program their demographics uh and that helps Define the foundation budget and then uh a local contribution is determined basically based on a community's ability to pay and from that uh the necessary state aid is calculated so um I want to just sort of paint the picture if if anyone really wanted to get into the mechanics of uh of the foundation budget and how chapter 7 a is calculated one could go to uh the department of Elementary and secondary Education website and you would find this Foundation Chapter 70 Foundation budget formula and it provides allocations based on our enrollment in a number of different categories what I have uh wanted to call um folks attention to is the uh incremental costs that we receive above our base in particular the number of of lowincome students that we serve here in Long Meadow has grown in recent years and so uh that comes with it some additional costs it comes with it some uh we would hope that it would come with some additional funding but as you'll see chapter 78 uh across the um forong Meadow has been relatively stagnant so this probably uh does the best job of I think depicting the the systemic challenge that we face and you'll see that that Foundation budget which I refer to as the cost of doing business uh that uh has been increasing rapidly in recent years and we can talk about some of the pressures that that cause that Foundation budget formula to increase but uh again the cost of doing business is increasing what Long Meadow is minimally expected to contribute has increased in a corresponding way but I think what should jump off the page here is that chapter 78 has been relatively flat and so the gap between uh the amount of chapter 78 that we are supplied with and the cost of of providing uh not just adequate education but but the excellent education that we provide here in Long Meadow has grown in recent years and so I think that Gap tells a story it tells a story of the sort of the systemic challenges uh that we Face here in Long Meadow so what what has created that fiscal pressure um I think in recent years it has been um for Long Meadow and and communities everywhere responding to uh the different needs of students um students today are different than they were uh 10 years ago uh we could spend some time talking about why that is but the reality is that the students we're trying to serve have different needs they require different types of supports this community this the school committee has been um incredibly supportive in trying to help us secure the funding and the supports and the Personnel we need to serve students in 2025 so uh that is although that comes with some some fiscal pressure on on our budgets each year the increasing use of Technology the rising cost of Technology Rising costs of providing special education supports to students and uh Transportation which I know has been a topic of conversation uh here with the school committee in recent years and so I wanted to illustrate what that uh what that looks like for us uh locally um and thank Mr Maza for pulling this information together for us uh you'll see that um when we stack regular and Vocational Transportation on top of the rising cost of transporting uh students who require specialized transportation to access education you'll see that our transportation costs have grown significantly in recent years and this is just one of the sort of pressure points that we have experienced uh here in Long Meadow it's one of the pressure points that many communities have experience so th this this chart would probably mirror the experience of just about every Community I would say in the Commonwealth so Rising Transportation costs last year this time we were talking about Rising utility costs um and and that has been a pressure point for us as well the you know we're always eager to serve uh students who require specialized support uh and and so um The Challenge has been that the costs that are uh offset by the circuit breaker account um are growing and you'll see that you know the the reimburse costs that we're we have budgeted for in fy2 and now and looking ahead to FY 26 have remained relatively flat and and I thought maybe Tom could probably explain this in in Greater detail than I if if that's okay yeah so the circuit breaker program is a reimbursement program that uh provides communities with funding um for costs associated with students um in terms of their special education services specifically for us it is primarily tuitions for students placed in out of District placements in Associated Transportation cost so the district would be responsible for um a dollar amount an FY 25 about $552,000 and then is reimbursed at a percentage of about 75% of every dollar spent above that um and again the associated transportation in FY 25 is being re reimbursed I believe at 44% so um the more you spend the more you get reimbursed but it most certainly is uh a line item or area within the budget that has been increasingly U increasing significantly over the The Last 5 Years and again it's a reimbursement so it's a it's a year after we incur those costs but um it's most certainly an area that's been something that we've been monitoring and been um identified as an area where additional funding has been applied each budget cycle for the last three years if our if our legislators were in front of us I think this would be something that we would would want to point out the the rising costs associated with with um having sort of flat circuit breaker eligible costs and then the rising cost of transportation again just creating some some pressure points for for Long Meadow and and so many other communities um additionally and this is something that we had shared last week you'll see that the the percentage of students that are uh deemed to be high needs or economically uh disadvantaged has has grown for us in recent years and so again different students different needs requiring different supports and so I just you know share these few slides with you to illustrate some of the some of the fiscal challenges that are before us as we try to uh develop a budget for FY 26 and so to put this in in you know to put a finer point on this when we look at the Foundation budget again that the minimum amount amount needed to provide an adequate education you'll see that by the state's accounting um that amount has increased from fy2 to FY 26 by $1.3 million and I think it's a notable figure that 1.3 million because when you stack it up against the uh the request or the that we're making as part of this recommendation the request that would potentially go to the to the town I think it needs to be considered in in against the rising costs associated with doing business the the what's reflected in this Slide the the increase in in in the foundation budget and so that would be well and good if it wouldn't create pressure for the town of Long Meadow if chapter 78 sort of rose in a corresponding way the the problem is that you know here we're seeing that that chapter 78 we are are once again expecting to be expected to be held harmless that the governor's budget that was released a couple weeks ago would um increase chapter 78 by only $24,600 really doesn't keep Pace with the rising costs In fairness to the to the state budget chapter 78 generally has grown across the Commonwealth and there has been an increased effort at the state level but uh that increased efforts simply hasn't kept pace with Rising costs so that $24,000 increase is on a a $7.5 million f fund and so it's a it's a it's a very modest minimal increase when you consider how Reliant um we are on chapter 78 and frankly long meow is less riant on chapter 78 than most other communities um longm has a there's a higher level of expectation on our on our minimum local contribution so again sort of similar information presented a different way you'll see that at chapter 7 Aid where the governor's budget would increase it by 2.77% meanwhile what's minimally expected and what's articulated in the foundation budget are increasing uh four or almost 5% in the case of the minimum local contribution so really a systemic challenge um that is in front of us as we as we think about how we can you know keep our commitment to providing that that outstanding excellent level education that that we are known for here in Long [Music] meow so to get well let me pause there that's sort of the systemic look at the budget and before I transition to uh the figures associated with our budget recommendation um the revenue and the costs applied to the FY 26 budget I thought maybe I could pause there to see if the committee had any feedback or questions uh or thoughts on on the first few slides [Applause] here um I'm wondering about just curious about the circuit breaker is that that's a state thing not a federal thing yeah correct it's state funding that um is approved through the state budget each year other questions yeah just on the um the if you go back to the one slide the reimbursement slide y special ed so so am I reading this right I think I followed you is so this year we're projecting to spend 4 million and we're going to get back 1.5 is we're going to get that back the following year because you're always in a rears is what you said well it's really what we have Bud budgeted in FY 25 and it's based on expenses incurred in FY 24 so the amount we're receiving in FY 25 is about 1.4 almost 1.5 million and we're going to we have budgeted over 4 million for those particular costs those lines that would make up we don't know a 26 amount we have budgeted amounts but we won't know that until we submit our CL clim which is usually beginning of July that will then inform the actual reimbursement amount that will'll get an FY 26 okay so we basically have to cover the 2.5 million yes essentially is what we're doing right and it was 500 Grand four years ago five years ago 600 Grand yeah a little high right I'd say around there and Tom the the the the percentage of eligible costs that will be reimbursed by the state in that circuit breaker category we we don't know that yet or we projections historically they've been funding it around 75% the last few years I think there were maybe some years earlier on in the program that wasn't receiving the 75% I believe that's the max in the in the legislation up to 75 is the highest they would go I do think the legislature has has recognized how much schools rely on this funding as a way to help support their budget and and balance their budget with costs um Associated to these uh placements so they've been funding it if you recall we did receive some additional funding in FY 24 we did some extraordinary relief submission requests and were approved for additional funding um that helped a little bit also on FY 24 got it and then the slide before this one the transp so we're projecting to be 200 Grand ahead of close to 200 Grand ahead on Transportation Services 171 maybe above where we are this year increased cost a good portion of that well about 45,000 are vocational program that brings students to lpv EC um for the AM and PM session we have been sharing a bus with Isam meta the enrollment has increased significantly to the point where we there's not there's too many students to share bus and so in FY 26 both communities now will be paying for the full cost of a bus instead of sharing it splitting it 50/50 each now picking up that full cost so we're both incurring an additional increase of about 45,000 or so specific to vocational Transportation got it special ed I I want to say don't call me on the numbers 50 something around 50 55,000 increase and FY 26 and regular red had a smaller incremental increase but part of that orange increase is that vocational increase we're seeing in 26 so but combined it's about 170,000 increase in transportation included in the FY 26 budget I guess my only thing on that is what I I would recommend we doing I know it's not a short-term plan but us writing and I know we've done this in the past where we've written a letter to the legislators kind of asking and kind of you know articulating our thoughts around this I mean it makes me as a taxpayer sit back going where are we spending the $60 billion they're taking from our paychecks so how isn't some of this coming back to the kids who need it more I mean we've done that before where we've kind of thrown out and said hey you know and I think a lot of people we got a lot of money the last few years but it doesn't make any sense that we're not getting more like where is all the money going I I don't understand it they're going up faster than they're funding these programs so I mean I think we should at least voice our opinion they may completely ignore us but we've done we've written a letter before I think to at least show that we're going like what is going on that's ridiculous I mean if that goes up again that's just going to be a major problem cyclewise and I think as superintendent indicated we're not alone I think this is a pretty experience in throughout Massachusetts in both categories both transportation and uh special ed cost I think you know we're all kind of experiencing the same growth and the cost associated with these Services I think last time I think you reached around to some other districts and we sent a letter yeah I mean they they may ignore us but at least say something I I I actually think it it matters I think when when when they hear from school committees um this is the time when they are on their listening tours um and and working towards shaping the FY 26 budget at the state level so right now is the time to communicate to our legislators if I think we should at least say hey this is because I didn't realize it was that I thought we were going to be like flat I don't remember seeing maybe I was blanking out last so but I didn't realize it was that much of a significant Gap I would also add on the next slide Mar that the circuit breaker one you may recall FY 24 experienced the 14% increase the FY 24 budget was the year we had that significant increase in the tuitions and I think some of the state's response to that was trying to provide additional circuit breaker relief for districts that were experiencing a significant an increase in cost so um I mean there was a slight bump in you know in 23 to 24 in the amount of circuit breaker we received and again from 24 to 25 there was again a small increase again but the the blue box is growing at a higher I mean you were just getting outpaced by the BL exactly yeah yeah wow it hasn't quite got up to the 14% increase yet never mind the other costes yeah two questions the my first question is the transportation services thing does that include the Athletics Transportation it does not I was purposeful making sure it was clear on what even more services were included so these are school day related Services okay wow and then my other question is are the circuit breaker eligible Transportation costs also reflected in the transportation SL okay so there's a little bit of overlap in there's some overlap in between these costs for sure okay not all circuit breaker Transportation or all special ed is eligible for reimbursement through the circuit breaker program okay but the but the ones they're reflected on both whatever is eligible is reflected in both sides okay yes all right Che not see than you anyone at home have any questions or anything to add all right keep going all right thank you I I I thought the committee might want to weigh in on some of those challenges so I appreciate the conversation uh so to begin uh the S the sources of revenue that uh we are projecting to serice in the FY 26 budget you'll again you'll see the general fund increase uh that this budget would recommend in the amount of 1, 287,000 $ 5564 uh and you'll see that we are largely reliant on that on the general fund uh projecting circuit breaker Metro Grant uh the application of school choice funds uh regular education grants special education grants is the uh Ida we are expecting a a slight decrease uh that uh major Federal Grant and then uh other special revenues uh that that serve us so um you'll see that I think it really shows us the Reliance on on the general fund and it it really tells us that you know as as Chapter 70 sort of flattens out it it puts even more pressure on on the general fund the request that is included in this recommendation you see how it Stacks up historically both in terms of the uh request for a general fund increase and then how it Stacks up in terms of the overall budget increase uh going back to fy15 so there might be years where the general fund increase uh is above the total budget increase because of uh the right column on the right the two columns on the right factor in all funds uh grants and special Revenue so the the request here it would say that it falls in line with uh requests that have been made in recent years in terms of what this uh how this affects services in FY 26 I would describe this as a level service budget uh not level funded because there are rising costs associated with contractual obligations and other things that that we have discussed but essentially this is a level service budget we would expect that it would not have any impact on programs or services this recommend ation uh would not result in the reduction of staff for budgetary reasons it would result in some reductions tied to decreased enrollment so let me start there the on the left hand side you'll see that this projects uh a reduction of one kindergarten section currently we run 10 across the three elementary schools given the uh enrollment patterns there are the registration uh the demographic information that we have we're expecting to uh that we can maintain uh great class size with nine sections next year instead of 10 it results in the reduction of two positions the class a classroom teaching position and a classroom teaching assistant the attrition reduction uh is relates to savings from employees who retire and who are replaced and rehired with folks who are lower on the pay scales uh the special education adjustments uh again really relate to changing enrollment patterns uh these services are no longer required based on the individual education plans of the students that we serve and so in a in a modest reduction in supplies and services tied to federal grants on the on the the additions that we have to account for um as is always the case we have to fulfill our contractual obligations uh we're eager to attract and retain continue to attract and retain uh great teachers great staff great administrators and so we're projecting that our contractual obligations will increase by $1.3 million uh transportation we we noted the um the increases there earlier uh won't spend any additional time on that out of District tuitions again making sure sure that we're serving the unique needs of all children uh that we're responsible for so we're expecting an increase in audit distric tuitions vocational tuitions uh this would be a tuition that tuitions that um are tied to students that participate in technical education programs either over at the collaborative uh through their ctech program or other outside vocational programs and other adjustments relating to computer software and services uh we are anticipating uh that we would need one fewer parent educator utilities uh not a huge swing uh that was a bigger Factor this time last year and then a few miscellaneous items so again um you know other than some of the enrollment related reductions we're expecting that this will be uh uh provide level Services compared to the current school year this chart helps us understand uh the total number of FTE the full-time equivalent positions uh that are uh employed here in L Meadow and you'll see that largely it maintains um Staffing levels that were budgeted in FY 25 so no major swings in terms of the uh number of employees that we are expecting to work with us next year you'll notice that in rment has uh uh declined steadily uh in recent years uh not not huge swings but even with that enrollment decline we're anticipating the U the employment picture to look the way you see here um this gives us some sense of what Elementary class size will look like uh as it's tied to this budget you'll see that uh it helps us maintain really favorable class sizes um from kindergarten through fifth grade the kindergarten estimated class sizes are not included because we don't have the final enrollment families continue to register they'll they'll continue to register through the spring and into the summer but we're anticipating that um kindergarten class size will uh sort of be consistent with pass patterns when I'm expecting any any swings there so that's that's good news as well so I think we're we're well positioned um in terms of the the average class sizes that are tied to this budget at the middle school these are averages so I would caution how we understand these uh these averages at the seventh and eth grade uh the class sizes might swing a little bit based on uh students choice in World languages or the math class that they are enrolled in but again numbers that uh kind of match where we have been historically uh our current enrollment we're not expecting uh beyond that at kindergarten we're not expecting uh the high school to see a overall net decline in enrollment the number of students that are going to graduate will more or less match the number of students who will head to high school next year so this is a little change because in recent years uh we have been able to make some uh Staffing adjustments at the high school uh due to declining enrollment at that level but we're expecting High School enrollment to be uh steady next year um so uh as we get to the end um I think it's always important to talk about some areas that could be considered uh for where additional investment were we in a position to do so these are some areas that we think we would benefit from or students and staff would benefit from we we continue to be interest interested in trying to find ways to invest in behavioral supports that are articulated in the mtss framework and that multi-tiered uh system of support framework which is very much um rooted in our district Improvement plan substitutes uh I think we're we need to sort of consider uh how we can continue to attract and retain qualified substitutes our uh subp pay rate is um lower than most communities in the area um and thinking about ways to to continue to attract and and and retain qualified substitutes we have quite a few um folks who are enrolled with us as substitutes who have been hired it's not necessarily a shortage but it's getting that cohort of substitutes to work with us you know regularly to take the jobs that are available to them uh fully funding Athletics this has been a focal point of Finance subcommittee is to sort of understand uh the rising costs associated with uh running the great Athletic program that that we have particularly in the area of Transportation uh but we have an athletic program that though the committee has made a you know sizable effort on an increasing effort on in recent years we're still uh very dependent on fees and the generosity of booster clubs and I know that's uh an area that the committee has asked us to examine and so we'll continue to do that uh supplies this this FY 26 budget um it it level funds Supply budgets across the district so um I suppose when you when you level fund supplies it it has the potential to uh decrease the availability of those supplies because of the the rising costs in that area support staff you know we we certainly I think if our principles uh they've reported that we would benefit from uh additional Tech staff additional clerical staff um these are these are areas that are uh increasingly important to the operation of our schools instructional coaching both on the regular and the special education side having Educators who who work alongside uh classroom teachers to uh promote great instruction to to support uh teacher needs to align units of study Etc etc etc that that's an area that we think we would benefit from if we were in a position to make some additional investments in uh fully funding curriculum renewal and adoption the committee had a great discussion with Dr Beth Nelson last week about what that would look like full day preschool uh we've had increasing number of families Express an interest in uh a full day option right now we only have a half day option uh at our preschool over at Wolf Swamp uh in District special education programing I think we it's important that we're always really Nimble and responsive and quick to adapt if we uh identify students whose needs can be served here in their home Community rather than being educated uh outside of the community so we always want to be responsive in that area so that's the left side the right side is really so many of the the unknowns uh the variables the things that uh have not not yet been pinned down places where uh costs are still being projected uh the town's fiscal position as Nicole mentioned earlier we will uh present the school committee's voted budget to the select board uh sometime in March uh collective bargaining agreements again reaching Fair settlements with all of our bargaining units is is incredibly important and so uh we want to make sure that we're creating favorable cbas shifting Federal priorities this is a bullet I've added in since last week um I think it's worth noting and perhaps talking about a little bit uh there has been an executive order uh from the new Administration that would potentially direct federal funds to uh students and families directly in a way that would promote uh greater school choice so it has the potential to shift uh um Ida funds Title One funds away from uh communities directly and potentially into into the hands of families to allow for to promote greater school choice and and if that um that's something we're still trying to understand what the impact of that executive order will be we haven't received much um guidance or information from Desi or from our professional associations but it's something that we really have to keep our eyes on uh I think it would be frankly damaging to to public education across the country if if some of these um school choice Provisions were were put in place I think it would really undermine um our ability to support uh special education students in particular um final state aid levels are unknown uh won't be known for some time we're hoping that uh Chapter 70 level of Aid will increase it it has a tendency to increase uh as the legislative season wears on uh last year it did uh this year we're hoping it will special education again uh the needs of students are individualized in this sense and so we have to be responsive to students individual needs uh sometimes those needs become known to us long after the budget is set kindergarten class size utilities less of a variable this year but something that you know in in a given year you could have a spike in your need for uh some of the utilities to keep our buildings lit and warm uh class signups Feebas Services spring and summer enrollment we have to watch those patterns to see if there's any uh enrollment changes that cause us to have to reallocate and then some decisions in front of us in terms of the number of school choice and metco students that we enroll next year so uh lots of known appreciate Tom's work and pinning down those known and helping us put together a recommendation for you but still many unknowns and still some areas that we know we would benefit from if we were in a position to make additional investment so um happy to go back to any of these slides answer any questions you might have and we'll make sure that we make this presentation available to the community and we to push out the lctv recording of this as well so perfect I'll open for questions looks thank you can I ask a question that's unrelated to what you I had since we were looking at the transportation side when do um what fiscal year do we start seeing like any additional costs that come from having the combined Middle School like addition bus rout or whatever FY 29 okay you know anticipate try to plan as best we can but upon opening with those roots and our capacity to accommodate the combined enrollment and um being now that the 2 mile radius is not covering as much as the community that one building I'm thinking probably prob at least one BS but again it'll all depend on you know where the Riders live and um how many sign up okay cool all right seeing no other questions at the moment um I will open for if there are any I think we might have one member of the public maybe it might still be Zach I'm not sure if there's a member of the public we have a phone number listed with any questions uh no it is me once again doing double duty so I went mobile thank you perfect okay um so um just encourage folks that next week we will be um hopefully voting on a finalized budget to bring to the town um and the select board so if folks here have any questions um reach out to Dr Shay or Mr Maza over the next week and Folks at home who are watching um emails phone calls to any of us um on the committee or in the administrative office um with any questions about this budget process all right we are ready to move forward then um we're headed into administrative reports um school committee chair report just to note that the town sent a message earlier today about the upcoming election in June um the town clerk has nomination papers um officially available now for anyone who's interested in those positions so the positions that will be on the ballot um scheduled for the June 3rd 2025 election are two seats here on the school committee two seats on the select board one on the planning board and one on the Housing Authority um you can still pick up um nomination papers by contacting the Town Clerk and making an appointment to do that um candidates who are interested in running need to obtain 50 um signatures and need to bring their papers back to the town clerk's office by no later than Tuesday April 15th so if anyone is interested in any of those positions reach out to the town clerk for more information I don't have anything else anything for you Dray for superintendent report all right we have no subcommittee reports no ongoing business no new business and that brings us to our final motion for an executive session I move at the school committee meet an executive session pursuing to Master on Law chapter 30A section 21A purpose am I reading the right one purpose to to conduct a strategy session in preparation with collective bargaining unit with units a b CDE e f and H and purpose seven consideration of release of executive session minutes of previous meetings not to reconvene into Open session we have a motion do we have a second second thank you any discussion see none we'll move to a vote Michaela yes Julie yes Jamie yes Zach yeah Estelle yes and yes for me as well that concludes this evening's um public portion of the meeting and we will see everyone next week February 11th