this naming opportunity on behalf of Alex and his family thank you all so very much for listening thank you for your time and consideration Paul what stre marhe Mr kulovich and who will always be
Mr kulovich and my husband Steve who were C referred to Mr kovich as coach kovich is the reason why 25 years ago I said we it and it all goes back to the fact that I took a class called state
and local government and he required it was a Civic class and he required that we all attended Tom meeting at and we sat on the stage in
the P at that time there was no high school where we sit right now and there was an older member in the community who stood up if whose name
won't be mentioned but the F will be and stood up and said we will never have a new High School in this town because it was to have Balon sandwiches at the old high school it's good enough we don't
need a new one first school committee meeting that I attended as an elected official I said that same scenario and I said it's time we have an
opportunity and this building was filled but that's not about Mr kulovich that class exemplified what he taught he taught about Community
responsibility and privilege to live in this town and those are the three key words to everything I have done in my life and I turned to my husband on that stage and I said if I ever had the
opportunity and the privilege to live in this town as an adult I am going to run this school committee and that is the reason did it and that's because of B words
Community responsibility of every member of this town and a privilege to be in this town and I strongly urge you to give that recogition to Mr page thank you thank
you Jim is there anyone else who going to speak all right well thank you very much very for first of all for for coming forward with the request um I won't add on to the accolades which I could I can stand here have known Mr fich my whole life
and through the school through the church and um I really appreciate you coming forward and and and asking for this and making this request um I did share the um policy with the school committee um we do have a policy just so everyone knows it's our policy FF which
is the naming of new facilities and spaces it does talk about naming existing facilities it's a bit of a page here but I will say um I'm G to read a couple things here um it says that the submission of a name for a school space may be made by any Resident or by the
superintendent um in writing is should be made to the school committee chairperson um the written request should specify the intent of the requestor and the reasons why this particular name would fit the facility which I think we we certainly um heard here um and then it says at the end following the submission of a naming
request the school committee chairperson will specify a consideration period that allows for public climate following which the committee will deliberate and vote on the May so I think what makes sense we had the request which we really appreciate and um I'm going to ask that
we consider um voting this um at a future meeting I'm going to suggest our next meeting um if that is the will of committee we can think about that I think in the meantime we would invite invite anybody from the community that wants to email us call what have you um
we're you know certainly open to you know hearing obviously from the committee I have a feeling we will get some folks um reaching out to us and then we will entertain this uh vote at the likely at the next meeting so I'll be back in in touch with okay there should be um I think samples of of what
the suggested lettering would look like in the plaque everyone should have that um press you guys should should get copies of that so that maybe that can go with the press as well and we'll talk about the next steps so we appreciate that we appreciate you coming forward
thank you thank you and also thanks to Mrs can't forget her um thanks everyone um okay so I'm going to move us on in our agenda to um the public hearing so I think I need to take a motion to close
our Open Session no motion to open the hearing to open the hearing for the budget here so don't so I'm sorry for was Sarah Sarah was first and seconded okay I'll do a roll call L in
favor um Ryan Sarah Fox in favor Alison in favor in favor thank you all for coming thanks everyone have a good night go ahead um five zero so we're going to now open our budget hearing so um just for
the folks that are here and online um uh our last school committee meeting we had a budget Workshop uh where we had initial presentation of our proposed school budget from the superintendent everything okay yeah I'm just gonna have to
put we had a presentation um for his superintend initial proposal having worked through that with budget subcommittee um we had some good discussion there's been some uh discussion with individual members and the superintendent since then and tonight is an opportunity for the
superintendent to present proposed budget um as it is as it were and for the community to provide feedback um on this on this proposal so that's what really what this hearing is for um so we will go forward with the presentation I
don't know how many slides there are many like seven or eight number slides and then uh we will uh welcome anyone from the public to come in come up and speak comments ask questions um talk about know what you think you like what
you don't like um and also for folks online as well um what I would probably do is go back and depending on how many folks we have I tend to try to go back and forth so we give a handful of folks here in person and then we'll go to online and then back and forth so not one group is favored over another um so
with that I would like to turn it over to superintendent Rabon thank you Mr shaer I appreciate that um so good evening uh we're here to um hear the budget superintendent 20 FY 26 proposed budget um on February 13th we presented
a proposed uh FY 26 School District budget we shared the overarching goals of the budget the requested funding and how we arrived at the numbers it's been posted online since that since that night uh for Republic consumption um it was a collaborative process for which I'm extremely proud especially given the
fact that 60% of our administrative team were not employed in Marblehead prior July 1 um after presenting our budget I did some reflection and I felt that there were several areas for which I could have presented information in a clearer fashion which is that's what I'm going to do tonight in tonight's brief
presentation I believe that I've encapsulated the uh areas for which I may have fallen a bit short on the 13th and I'm confident that as I go through the slides that the process we followed and how we arrived at a level service budget come into sharper Focus so thank you Frank the first first slide just uh
you know uh myself like L jul fisa Maro who were instrumental in creating the budget we can go to the next slide Frank that' be great can I interrupt for one second joh I'm sorry I wanted to mention I know there was someone brought to my attention was looking for the close caption so I actually went with the live
stream which I had been live streamed the live stream got shut off so we recorded but I moved to live stream so we're now live stream and I did enable close caption so I'm not able to respond in the um answer I I can't take care that oh you can okay so I think it's
she'll answer B um that she's able to see it I did she may need to view it on the live stream platform versus this platform the close cap to come through which I think you would go live stream on the YouTube channel YouTube channel so if you go to the YouTube channel it
be on live and she can also watch okay so right right now you're saying she should be on live screen on and I should have been able so if you can talk to her if it's not there tell her come back and I I'll try to figure it out I think I I think I've got it close caption in English so sorry about that just want to
make sure everyone has accessibility sorry that's okay than next slide please um so our fiscal year FY 26 proposed budget we've requested what I consider a fiscally responsible budget which is level Services of
49,1 1201 12,285 this represents an increase of 2, 361,662 5.05% over our current operational budget of 46 m75
n,1 these are the same numbers that we um discussed last meeting I how i' share them again uh next slide FR um so our FY 26 budget operational goals uh this these are some of things I felt
I needed to enhance a little bit so I wanted to share these next few slides I think they're they're important to share we develop a fiscally responsible level Services budget incorporating feedback input from administrative stakeholders providing a clear understanding of what is required to educate Marvel head
students we ensure all students have appropriate Staffing and resources in place to meet the needs of all Learners we utilize individual School Improvement plans to align fiscally and operationally with the uh what we currently have in place which is the
district plan for Success um I'm in the process of uh creating the future District Improvement plans that we'll talk more about that um that plan is going to be much more robust than it currently sits but all our school school Improvement plans fiscally and operationally will align with the current District plan for success I
thought that was important to share uh we collaborate and clearly communicate our goals with staff parents and Community stakeholders provide a budget based upon data informed decisions that focuses on academic rigor and High student achievement next slide
please um 26 budget process collecting and reviewing data which informs util utilization of Staff this data will be used to determine efficiencies as we move through 2526 school year into the 26 27 school year we there's a review of
our vacant positions to ensure we are working diligently to fill with permanent employees and or to determine the need for reallocation or discontinuation of positions we currently have this's one position that's open um outside of all all the um
esy the extend school year positions and the coaching positions that are currently posted and that's for an HR Director all the other positions have are filled at this this moment um addition of Staff within this level Services budget requires reduction of other Staffing for zero Net game so for
instance if we if we were looking for um a position or two positions we made sure the principal said well where are you going to get that position from so that we can make that happen so we weren't adding staff to this budget um so that's where the zero net gain comes from we move the custodial positions um they
were all outlined in the central Administration line item so it looked like it was very um escalated in that area of the budget uh and mik P did a nice job of moving those to the schools within which they work so it did spread the uh those that actually line item um to where they needed to be uh we work to
maximize Staffing and resources to ensure rigor and student achievement are are our priority within the backdrop of social emotional learning slide please our budget assumptions for FY 26 during the FY 26 budget development the
following assumptions were made with regard to salaries supplies contracted Services utilities curriculum and special education on of District obligations we increase all salary steps Lanes as indicated by our settled collective bargaining agreements for FY
26 which is the class school year 2526 we increase all non-represented employees by 2% cost of living adjustment increase Supply and contracted lines and contracted Services line by 2% plus they're otherwise specified so there was a little bit of adjustment but we what we did was we
made sure the principles directors and department heads were permitted to increase or decrease individual lines as long as they did not exceed the 2% come of their overall allocation we increase utilities by 4% knowing what we know about the high cost of all the utilities
electric gas Etc we in indicated that a $200,000 investment in curriculum refresh cycle wasn't necessary so we added that and then increase special education out of district tuitions and transportation to align with the known expenses and Desy approved increases for
all of our budget assumptions as for creating the a level Services budget made possible so based upon ongoing collaboration the uh the town accountant the Town Administrator finance committee and select board have indicated the town
will provide funding increase of 2,361 se4 which will allow the district to ensure provision of an appropriate of appropriate Staffing and resources to meet our students need or provide High Caliber education for the 2526 school
year within a level Services budget I know that that had been in question and I thought it would be helpful to kind of further explain that um how we were able to um create a level Services budget it was through a lot of collaboration communication conversations with the
town um and what they're able to do to help us get to where we needed to uh the FY 27 and 28 budget consideration so I mentioned the CBA the settled contract a moment ago and so the contractual
obligations for the FY 27 and 28 are outlined here by the FY 27 there will be a 3% increase in salaries and FY 28 there's a 3.5% increase which will drive much of this discussion as we move
forward um and will likely result in staff reductions Andor the need for propos two and a half override in order to meet those fiscal year obligations so I just want to repeat that again FY 27 3% increase based upon contractual obligations FY 28 is a 3 and a half%
increase based upon contractual obligations and when we get to those discussions we're going to have to look long and hard at Staffing going to look long and hard at with the town in the collaboration and and determine early on whether or not that's there will be a proposition to an override necessary so
those are conversations will continue to have um we continue to review and revision um and revisioning of special education programming to assist with Staffing efficiencies resource allocation and reduction in the need for out addition programming for students so Lisa maren and Victoria Ryan have done a
really nice job of really looking at where our special needs students are what the programming needs are what Staffing uh reallocations and resource reallocations we can do to make sure that the Staffing is necessary to provide um students the uh what they
need to meet the individual um educational social emotional needs and what we're hoping is as we move forward and start Shoring up some of that special programming it will allow us to start bringing some of our out of District students back into programs in District where we can be educated with
our like H peers which is always the um you know what we want to do in any school district and especially here in Marvel head I think be very important it's my philosophy to try to educate all students with their like HP when and where um applicable and where we were able to do that so that's that's a
really big um push that we're doing across the district and I thought it's was helpful to share that information that's really one of our biggest budget drivers in consideration if we move forward um and then the last slide is our Capital Improvement requests we shared we shared uh this last time we
broke it down a little bit um so the the top one two three four five are were the priority items so um lover cafeteria HV whoever playground proling the pack seating and painting the Back special education 70 van which is a Rolling Stock you can see the numbers on the
side um those those are what requested from town for the warrant and then we talked a little bit about a feasibility study um you know we're looking at potentially seeing if it's feasible for us to operate a operate an Early Childhood Center and or other use for Ev
school um you know obviously we just you know we talked about the coffing school recently and we want to make sure that Deva school um if it's feasible for for us to utilize in another way for the school district we want to make sure we're we're looking at that now so we can plan for the future that
125,000 um is an estimated cost we we have to do our due diligence in securing that number but I feel pretty confident that we'll land all right and then the final thing is the debt exclusion for the uh the roof project here of the high school which um has been um we we've talked
about this at length another form but it's 8,610 62 um in addition to the current uh what's it 5.3 um million that was already allocated for the roof project and that roof project um is to make sure that any of the areas of the roof that are
leaking it all has to be replaced inclusive of the hvx system we've had this conversation many times had it that um facil sub commmittee meetings and and some school committee meetings and that's uh that's something that it's just it's on the dock needs to get done um so we're hope been able to move
forward that regard um I think that's all there will the copy of the actual Budget on L it was posted the day after the last meeting yes so if anybody wants to actually take a look at the actual budget um that is on yeah so the whole
the whole PowerPoint um that we did in conjunction with the principles on there and the whole budget for book is also it's been on there since the supposed on Valentine's Day I believe y so this might I'd like to open it up to the public if anyone would like to make an
comments or questions or else going to start with folks here in person are you coming up to or as a president both okay so sit here yeah
name um so I'm interested to hear uh superintendent Rob to talk about starting to look ahead at the um FY 27 budget and a potential override and you're saying start to look at that sooner than later when do you think
those discussions will begin and do you have any sense at this point of what kind of an override the amounts so what I would say is um my priority right now is to get this budget voted on and passed and through town meeting and then probably the day after the town meeting we'll have those start
having those conversations in Earnest to be honest with you I mean we have to start planning appropriately um and and start looking at what is because we know that we know what the obligations are right it's outline of the contract 3% so we can start looking at those kinds of things we start looking at Staffing
ratios have a better idea from Lisa Marie Ando and the student services office where we'll be at that point in terms of all the things I talked about special education wise um I don't have that information right now I I don't want to speculate I don't iers or
whatever I mean work this diligent as we can um to create as many efficiencies as we can um to move forward so we can engine our students primary so just to confirm the whatever override you asked for an FY 27 would be in addition to the
E dollar year for 15 years Capital um debt exclusion that you're asking for this so what I would say is um we're not there yet so I don't I that's why I said um um that's that's I I wouldn't be asking for the override that's a conversation the committee and the
public um and we don't know that we're there yet so we may be able manage this budget with efficiencies and not need an override we may need in the efficiencies it's it's to be determined we're very far we're in February right now so um it's a little too early to make those
speculations I I think I would be remiss in doing that great and there were no changes from the budget from the last meeting good with work yes the only thing I've mentioned to Le just this is good for everyone to know which um you know inside baseball here we're kind of
understand kind of the Cadence of this but from a from a uh sort of scheduling or calendar timeline we as we get into budget season which we're in right now you know one of the things we're dependent on is on the town side between
the you know the finance director and the finance department the finance committee who work in conjunction with them to determine what the projective revenues would be so we would be you know we can't we we work for forward on our FY 27 budget as we get into next
school year but we also work with the town and they have to do their projections um and that's usually right around January February that's where you found out this year I wanted to point that out that um until we had that state of the town
we didn't know that there was $2 million of um additional funding available by by just well no the additional additional money is available simply by the treasurer moving our
accounts out of the existing Bank in in getting a higher yield on the interest so what we we were told at the projections was it December 11th I want to say um the December 11th projection I I don't know if I'm getting that date
right but there there were projections that were given the first round at the select board meeting they they uh greatly improved by the state of the Town well yes answer that there was essentially $2 million that was not
planned on being available for the FY 26 budget that's okay that was all that was yes yes but that's a big deal we didn't get an additional 2 million on top of what they origin talked about thank you thank you um I is there
anyone else in here okay welcome and then Erin I'll get to you right after I got Diane gor and then I'll jum to you Diane 24 Nicholson Street and also a Glover teacher um this question is for the superintendent I saw there was
120,000 requested for a new structure for the playground at Glover um do you know what that structure would be um Mike do you have any further information this is one of those things where it needs to be replaced and we
started that um started looking at that but might may have a little B better information say our structure right now needs to be replaced so in in the capital approval from last year there was uh a rubber surface yes that was
funded um and it was also understood that there was a need for a replacement playground I understand you have two playgrounds over there uh I'm I'm not familiar enough familiar enough to know exactly which one but we did price out a playground structure that was more uh
appropriate for the each level of the students that are there and um that number came in a little lower than 120 but we know we need to have it installed and we felt why would you pour rubber surface rip out the playground that's there to put a new one in after you just put in a rubber surface so almost like
why would you put a roof on a building and then rip you know the AC off and put AC back on we're trying to get ahead of it right now so um the idea is if we would if that it's it's bundled with with the all of the town meeting warrants uh or Capital plans it's not an individual debt exclusion it's just part
of the town's Capital plan uh if that gets approved as a bundle then we would do a structure and the Port Port surface uh in conjunction at the same time but there yeah there's more discussions to be had again this is you know kind of get the funding in place and then we'll um sure we'll have meetings with the
community with the school um the staff principal to identify um what features of a playground are most appropriate for that that school age okay um I just want to give you a little history um I was on the U Glover School building committee
and um the first time we went to the town for the override it did not pass for uh $29 million we had to cut another 5 million Deb out of that so we actually did not have enough money to build a proper place
so um I'm not sure if a piece needs to be replaced but are in need of additional structure something um and I highly recommend that you um consult with the teachers that work there um
before you make the final decision I appreciate that certainly thank you I'm GNA move to Erin n and Erin's uh Zoom Erin you should be able to speak now hi thank you hey good evening
members of the school committee and our superintendent uh robao um my name is Erin Nunan I'm the parent of three students in The District Two of whom have diagnosed uh language-based dyslexia learning disabilities my comments relate to the funding and next
year's level funded budget for our language-based programming and the hope that the student services director Miss iolo's intention to overhaul and improve in this area is accounted for as well as superintendent robo's district Improvement plan and special education
review that he just spoke of um according to NIH dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities affect 15 to 20% of the population this is a widely accept this is widely accepted as the rate of prevalence of Dyslexia in fact
dyslexia is the most common neurocognitive disorder and children with dyslexia make up 80% of of all of those with learning disabilities what this means is that one in five students struggle with some degree of language-based learning difficulties if you think about a class
of 20 students that's four students you could also think about the 188 students that are currently enrolled in marblehead's second grade therefore we can assume that roughly 38 students in second grade could be struggling with dyslexia and related language-based
learning difficulties it would be interesting to know if Marblehead public schools is catching and recognizing students to this degree of what we know is the rate of prevalence are we recognizing somewhere between 380 and 500 students
which is 15 to 20% with of our total population as requiring differentiated instruction this would be a nice place to start to look at the problem especially when you consider we fall 11% below the state average for student growth in ela according to the recent
desie report card that was sent out um to me by the high school principal and I was encouraged to read in the newsletter from student services director Missy PLO that the district is undertaking a comprehensive revamp of its revamp of its language-based
programming including enhancements to the curriculum and professional development on behalf of the one in five students affected I applaud this effort it is widely acknowledged that our language-based programming has room for improvement when you grasp the prevalence of reading disabilities among
the student population it is a worthy investment of time energy and funding these approximately 20% of students require a differentiated different instructional approach compared to their peers due to their difficulty processing phenomic sounds and relating them to
letters on the page they need an Orton Gillingham meod of explicit phonic instruction multisensory Learning System systematic and highly structured approach and frequent repetition and practice and sometimes assisted Tech assist of
Technology a standard Masters in Education Program generally does not cover specific knowledge or training related to dyslexia how many teachers do we have with specialized training in Orton Gillingham and dyslexia related methods I believe it's not enough and my
question and hope is that the funding to address these deficiencies in our language based programs is reflected in this fy2 budget and furthermore I believe that it would be valuable for our student services director to have the opportunity to speak about her
efforts in the plan changes at a future school committee meeting thank you I can thank you so I can just say thank you for that uh input I think um a lot of the conversations I've had witho
in regards to language based classroom um and language based programming for all the reasons you just you just mentioned Mr new so I I'm very confident that that's one of the areas of of of focus along with our therapeutic programs and our ABA programs um all of which are very important I think you
know as far as uh Staffing and training for staff that's also a priority uh that's something that misso and I have uh discussed at length uh going into next school Year's budget and the following School Year's budget that's those all those areas are priorities in
language based program being one of them I think uh it's my understanding that previously our language based programs are really robust here in in Marblehead they became less robust and a lot of students ended up um going uh to um programming outside of the district and
I want to work as hard as I can with the student services office to bring those students back again like I said at the beginning uh to be educated with their like HPS and we will do that when we know that our programming program is robust and is um appropriate to bring
those students back which I'm hoping is within you know it's a planful year and a half kind of um process so it's going to take a little bit of time but because we want to do it right we want to do it appropriately for all we as you just mentioned M students so thank you bless you thank you I appreciate that
thoughtful answer and I I do feel that you know we have it appears what appears to me a team an Administration in place now that with our finance director our student service director and superintendent that just may be up to
the task of taking this on thank just um Lisa Marie is on is online I don't know Lisa do you want to speak to that at all or just you have an opportunity hang on yes she yes she's on yeah there we go can you hear
me yes okay uh first of all um Miss Nunan thank you very much for those kind words uh for myself and my department uh we've been working extremely hard um since we started in July with our staff and our team chairs throughout the
district i' be more than happy um to do a presentation but I also want to let our community know that as we're enhancing uh the various programs uh the language-based therapeutic and our ABA program we're going to be having parent
open houses uh where we're going to be inviting parents in so we can like dig right in in the learning space um to talk about you know the changes that have been made the things that stayed the same that are consistent and great and highlighting uh the amazing staff
that we have um in terms of professional development there are six of us actually starting uh Orton Gillingham training next week um on top of um I don't have the number off the top of my head because I'm not at my desk on top of
those that are already uh certified uh Orton Gillingham or Wilson uh trained staff so we'll continue to grow that capacity um as like you said it is important to have the right curriculum tools and the right Staffing in those um different
program environments Thank you Lisa thank you Lisa Mar you're welcome I do believe what we had talked about having um later in the spring kind of a robust presentation plan that's been a major Focus I the plan is once once we know
kind of more specifically while program enhancements Mar her team will come sh um okay I do not see any other hands up online if somebody online on Zoom would like to make a comment or speak you should have a small icon at the bottom
that says raise hand which you can click on that we give us a little hand there knowing that you would like to speak so hopefully you can see that and you do that is there anyone here uh at the library that would like to speak from the public still one
clarification no one else is yeah no I don't see anybody El okay well thanks so Mike I just wanted to make sure you in this slide it says that you found2 2.3 million the town found this money and not found it but it's from the the um
Investments um and do the schools get the 2.3 or you guys get half of that so I'm going to go back to like no M time frame when we had original conversations with um Town Administrator thater um keer I'm sorry keer um originally I
think the town's revenues and I I'm just going to put numbers out there were somewhere around 2.4 million which would be split equally between the town and the school so the the schools were expecting to get about 1.2 million um I think when they closed out free cash they realized that the school
department had returned approximately $1 million at the end of fiscal year 23 that actually got pushed into 24 and got certified at the end of fiscal year 24 and I believe this some other funds that became available so they said you know we can take that money that was
returned and I I don't know all the ins and outs of it but it it waed to about an additional $2 million two two and a half million doll and then they further split that between the town and the school so the town the school we were expecting at 1.2 we're actually getting
2.3 uh the town was probably expect get 1.2 my assumption is that they're probably getting 2.3 also but I can't speak to the townsite schs yes there is there is yes and I just want to follow on one Qui thing you just said so there was a million dollars
left over in the fy2 school budget that you gave back to the town is that what you said um I from what I understand there were encumbrances that were made and um when Miss Benjamin arrived in town she said those incumbrances are not
acceptable to move into the next year so with the school department had anticipated to spend at the end of fiscal year 23 in June of 23 um those purchases I believe were made but they were not made through the encumbered funds from FY 23 they were made with fy2
24 funds I wasn't here but I've heard um but that that money at the end of 23 ended up in free cash and was recently certified so that's where that money recently became and just for theate people uh what's incumber mean so incum means we put it on a purchase order we
send a purchase order to a vendor or multiple vendors and we say we intend to purchase this you ship it we will pay when it arrives by mass law we cannot pay in advance okay so we have to put it on a purchase order which is a binding obligation putting it on a purchase order is another word for
encumbering and last question is for you John need for um um the when you're talking about building these Lo based special ed programs that will keep F ofv our kids in the district where I think eron kind
of hint out what percent increase of the budget is going to building that program in6 so so initially and again I can't speak specifically to that yet because we need to look at the numbers we need to look at how many kids are still out distri how many kids could recently come back um but what I what we look to do is
it's not necessarily all sorts of addition stuff it's it's what do we have in District right now how do we initially how to we consolidate those programs so for instance if there's three language based classrooms in one school and we can make that two language based classrooms and reallocate the
staff um and make sure they have the resources there then that's how you can build better capacity right so those are things we look at first and foremost and then then we then we look at the you know the numbers how many kiddos in a certain cash area might be out of District when do it make it when's it
appropriate to come back a that's a a process right we have to have conversations with parents have to conversation with the schools that they're in um with that program that you have when's it appropriate what points of the school year do you come back you usually a natural break so it's not just just decide on October 12th they coming
back it's like a you know holiday break or beginning school year so there's all those conversations so um I won't I won't have those actual numbers until we do that exercise after we get into the next scen thank
you I just want to point out too that when we were if you look back back to when we were going through the hiring process last year for the superintendent and um Lis marieo some primary things we looked at was their track record and their ability
where they were with bringing students that were out a district improving their in District programs and allowing those those students to come back um because that it's always better for our students but that brings the funding with them as well that you can then bring invest so
you might not be seeing an increase in the special education allocation but instead of saying sending $70,000 to an outplacement you're now investing in your staff inhouse and when we went through that hiring process that was something we talked about in public meetings that was um what they made
these two candidates very attractive they had a proven track record with this if we look at a a presentation we did about a month so ago um about how m past results did um with students in this
risk group um Miss bito past District was the top of the chart so these were all things that we looked at and now we're seeing those benefits read Marvel thank you for saying I appreciate that myself in the background stuff like that I appreciate you sharing that because it
it is important to know I have a very large background special you know that's that's part of why so I'm I'm actually really excited okay um again anyone online oh Paul um go ahead
Paul you should be able to speak now you should be unmuted now good yeah go ahead great okay Paul Baker Overlook Road Marblehead um thanks for doing this appreciate it um my question um is regarding the everth
um Mr robero mentioned that in 27 and 28 we're looking at 3 million plus uh for an override I think to cover the teacher contracts where do you envision money coming from to turn the everth into an Early Learning Center
so I'm sorry is that your only question well yeah where where's that money going to come from given that everth is deemed um not not usable as a school anymore the much the money to um make that into a into a you know a
worthy setting for for teaching is going to be in the millions so we must be talking in know more of an override than three million per year to cover that yeah so um first firstly I didn't say we had three I said we had a 3% increase so that's that that doesn't necessarily
mean $3 million 3% increase in FY 27 for the contractual obligations and 3.5% increase for contractual obligations in 2028 I just want make I'm clear on that the the the discussion about evth and what what it may be used for potentially
in early um Childhood Center is is the reason for requesting the feasibility study money so what has to happen first and foremost before any kind of major project renovation building thing you have to do a feasibility study to make sure that it's feasible right so they
could we you have to spend some money up front to determine what can and can't be done and then at that point feasibility study would say this is what can be done uh you know you know refurbish of the building the rent of the building uh knock it down a new buil that's why we
do a feasibility study so then that gives us accurate information so then we can then start having conversations about next next steps that's that's not a in this fiscal budget um discussion this is this is we're planning for this so that we can plan down the road um as
we've seen with a lot of other um building projects um you know you have to to go through you know the uh feasibility studies you have to go through the bid process you have to get vendors in place it's any kind of major project is is a several generally a SE several year um process so we want to
start that now so we don't have to wait you know three four five years before we start the process but I don't if that helps clarify I maybe I didn't wasn't clear when I mentioned it earlier no okay that's great thanks a lot sure again a couple people that walked in I
don't know if anybody else yeah so I just going to say anyone um here in the library would like to come forward and again or anyone online you just need to press your raised hand button at the bottom of your screen
okay on all right so I'm gonna make take a motion to close the public hearing so Sarah and I'll do a roll call um Al Williams in favor SARS in favoris Taylor
in favor Jen shaer in favor five to close the budget hearing thank you everyone thanks for your participation great questions appreciate it thank you John for the presentation M Marie and Julia who's out there um okay so let's move on to uh opening business continued
um commendations um I just want to congratulate the bo hockey team they won last night and they're moving on um tomorrow night I believe 28 at 7:00 p.m. the S State Alena I know normally our student representative would talk about
these things so I just thought i' mention that but also uh the St Lambert's hockey tournament I think um it's the 60th year and kiddos from Marblehead went up there um in the giant snowstorm not this past week again
before um so I think it was the first weekend of February break if you will um and you know had an amazing time some unprecedented weather I'm told and and terrible driving conditions um but everybody had a wonderful time and made
it back safe which is important um and our Village School is putting on the play of Ayan King Jr next weekend um so March 6th 7th and 8th are the dates
the 6 is brot down the times the 6 at 6 PM Friday at 6 PM Saturday at 2m and Saturday at 6 PM I just want to wish them all really good luck um tonight I think we're going
John any I just I just take it up no um there's one tonight at the high at the high school on that Ella our St representative um I I wanted to make accommodation to our custodial sta um and our meance FRS during the last few
hellish weeks of weather that we've had uh particularly the day where everything melted and then froze anywhere you drove in town people's sidewalks their driveways everything was a complete sheet of ice as you know thick enough to take on except for our buildings um I
have to say our buildings were super clear our sidewalks were super clear they glowed with whatever the blue material um but they did a really really good job about making sure um their fellow colleagues in the staff side and
the students could get in and out of the building safely so I just want to commend them for everything they did because it's not great weather to be out work again and they did a wonderful journe one nomation real quick um I'd like to commend Christen Mell assistant Finance director um she won't she won't
take credit but she's been super um important and super helpful you know through the budget process but since the budget process um for those that don't know we technically don't have an HR department right now um and she's really stepped up in a huge way um helping uh
our assistant um executive assistant Lis de with all things that are HR right now and she's been really doing a super job of that she's been uh help helping to train our new payroll coordinator uh she's she's being like a little bit of everything she's working really well with the folks upstairs in the town side
she's working well Mike um and I just want to take a moment to thank her because you know um it's sometimes it's a thaner job and want to make public spectacle of that thank you and she does it with a really positive en I'm telling you not have
gotten his budget pulled together without she took care of everything else on the back bur not on the front bur everything that was burning on the other side of the house she he that but I was focused on this so she she just held us up and we're in the middle of a munice implementation so she has been
Hands-On 100% invested in that she's just a rockar um and I just want to say um thank you to the folks who turned out last night for a community Forum we had a forum last night here at the library um for with the policy subcommittee um
and we had a great turnout of folks um here and and online and um had some great and robust discussion um there were students here um should be very proud of themselves um as should our their parents and our and our staff and
teachers um because they they spoke very well and spoke from my heart and we appreciate that um and so I want to you know I want to say thank you um I do think there were you know there were a couple of bumps along the road there I think we're we're all trying to work real hard on um
discourse and um I think it was a good example of it as we go forward predominantly um that we can talk through our differences and work through our differences and recognize um people people can be heard um all voices can be heard and then um the decision will be
made after that and I so I appreciate that I think also that you your words your words and your actions um matter and I think we there's some improvement that we can see from yeah we really appreciate it um okay um any okay uh
let's move on to uh public comment so un likee the budget Maring this is just our regular run-ofthe-mill public comment La would like to urge you to um approve
the request for meeting the um athletic complex and at the Marblehead high school after Alis pich um I've been teaching in um Marblehead for over 30 years and uh he was the athletic director um very successful I um read
all the articles about him and the team team that um he helped um also I had the um privilege of working with um several of his grandchildren and knowing um Tom
um who was the father of the the children that I worked with and his children um I can attest to Alex's character because of the character of Tom and his children um they couldn't be
more kind giving um helpful hardworking um 100% effort and I know that that has to come down from to so I hope you do rightest thank anyone else here okay let me see
anybody online again just need to click your raised hand button at the bottom and I can call on you anybody online good I don't see anybody all right I'm gonna move on then
to District update John hi forget about it sorry formal me again um thank you uh so I have few things so I'll try to be quick but um um Sarah stole a little bit of my thunder but I'm going to say it again because it's worth repeating um I need to once again thank our maintenance
and fili department for the snow removal and cleanup over the past few weeks most of the snowfall has occurred over the weekends and our crews have worked tirelessly to make sure that our schools are cleared and ready to receive staff and students that's not always an easy task and I want to recognize their efforts now I do want to also recognize
I know um we we do a really good job of clearing everything else there's always some spots here and there there have been a couple of folks that you know have slipped a little bit so obviously even though the weather's 44 50 degrees out we have to be diligent about the the
IC spots for on all sides so anyway um February's been a trying month for all flu Co and other illnesses are running rampant here and elsewhere which creates extra challenges in educating our students consistently I am hopeful as the weather gets warmer and we can start opening Windows and getting outside more frequently we'll see decline in the
illnesses that have playing us probably not the best choice inward so um there have been uh there have been uh there have been questions as to the expectations that were in place for both staff and students over the week that was originally February break so I'm going to take a minute just to kind of share
that had a lot of uh input from uh parents and staff and stuff so for staff unless there were extraordinary circumstances for which time was requested for me directly the expectation was to be in school any absence that was granted was unpaid unless staff had personal day or days
available um there were I reported this out I think it was in the curent at some point there were 15 teachers who had who had extraordinary circumstances ranged from medical procedures weddings specific unavoidable situations that I granted um permission uh given the A4
mentioned illnesses there were that um sorry there were staff that ended up being incapacitate capacitated in unplanned ways that created more unavoidable absences that were anticipated work with Megan a lot on some there been a lot of notifications and stuff going out about
um you know how to be how do we address some of those illnesses as for the expectations for students the school committee absolved absences from the school for those students who parents called them out this was discussed at length at an earlier school committee meeting it was determined that student absences would not count against them
for the 10 makeup days due to strike the expectation while in school was to continue with academics while not having any major assessments or new topics being presented so that students not in attendance wouldn't get too far behind the teaching and learning that occurred uh was in alignment with our curriculum
and allow for some extra um attention for students given the reduction overall student attendance I saw this firsthand I saw I was in many of the schools over the February break um I saw kids that were engaged with um with smaller numbers in the classroom I saw from high school all the way down the club some
good teaching and learning going on so um I just want to share that last week in the days um over the original April break R right typical and we are doing our best to balance academics and adherence to the curriculum while knowing that many students would and will we not an attendance I wanted to be
clear that none of this is ideal it is a direct result of the strike and will among other things cause Marvel heads accountability with the state to be adversely affected however we will continue to work towards finishing the school year as strong as possible and work to ensure that the next school year and subsequent school years are focused
on increased academic rigor and expected attendance in school by both Educators and students so that we can get back to being the strong District R um our pre just few things I want to share our prek enrollment is currently down a little bit than what it has been in the previous year so I want to
mention that the registration process is outlined on our District web page and you go on there and look it says prek registration screenings it had a different title that maybe was confusing the folks so we we switch that a little bit um any questions you may have we directed our Student Services office and
I'm confident that we will see a numbers Rise um but I felt it important to mention that uh we did have msba the M School building authority um in District last fr Friday in this past Monday they were here for two separate reasons two separate crues of folks um so one group
um came through all the buildings on Friday and Monday they looked at every single School building um Mike Mike walked through along with our stings and stuff um and they what they're trying to do is look at all the um my understand they're looking at all the schools in the in the Commonwealth trying to create a database of facilities so they can
have a better understanding what needs are I think that's overarching thing but they came through and and you know everything was looked at from Super nuts in all the buildings um the second group was at Brown all day on Monday um I met with the team virtually prior to the visit to
outline the day whose purpose was a post occupancy evaluation so anytime we build a school once it's built it's closed out we we're using it msba will come and do an evalu they came and observed drop off pickup lunch changeovers they looked at classrooms and other learning environments and went through the
facilities like the voilet mechanics Etc and inquired as to ways we use Brown in conjunction with our community this is a typical Endeavor after build you building is built and has been in use for a period of time a report will be forthcoming is my understanding uh thanks to Mary Maxville and sta staff
along with Mike piffling and ensuring the visit went well uh Mr Roa had asked where I am in the process of updating the district's plan for Success um I will be doing an update my evaluation goals at our next meeting which will Encompass the process that I have embarked upon regarding migrating District plan for Success into a much
more robust District Improvement plan I can share that it's multi-step process and I have completed an initial task of expanding the plan for success but I would like to take unnecessary time at the next meeting the whole process that's okay I think this makes more sense that's okay Mr order um W and
wisdom guided observation took place uh yesterday the 26th no I'm the 26 yeah um at Village blover and brown partaking the day where our assistant who teaching and learning um Julia Ferrera our principal Scott Williams Frank wowski and Mary Maxfield our assistant principal Jenny em Conrad along with our
instructional coaches Andy Graziano Rebecca bran Emily Perez and Mary leblan we received Stellar feedback on the visit where Whitten wisdom staff came and observed the program in action they were highly impressed with our teachers engagement of students and our administrative teams kudos to julot all
involved this is positive student programming and action we've heard a lot about W wisdom and uh we get some really good feedback so I'll share that uh we talked about the boys hockey but I'm going to say it again they won over Blackstone Valley Tech with seconds to spare last night so a three 3-2 win and
they go to round 16 of the division playoffs um tomorrow versus drink it teamorrow congrats to the Boys Hockey I didn't get a full athletic update I know a lot of times the student rep does that so I apologize I celebrate the hockey and finally I
fine I've been asked a few times to share my overarching leadership philosophy as a backdrop to how I operate as an educational leader and how I intend to lead the district moving forward this is important to share as people are getting to know me and where my focus lies as we move forward in the process
towards hopefully more permanent superintendency My Philosophy is simple to ensure that all students staff and Community Partners are treated with dignity respect and have a sense of belonging as a part of our educational Community I strive to be a collaborative
leader who reflective and allows stakeholders to have a voice at the table as it's important to running the district successfully this does not mean that every voice will get what they want it means that when collaborative decisions need to be made I try to ensure that pertinent stakeholders have
input and are able to provide feedback in the decision-making process another important aspect of a collaborative leadership approach is establishing relational trust with students staff Community Partners and with the school committee this takes time but is based on active listening having an open door
policy establishing clear communication and ensuring ongoing collaboration is in place part of establishing relational trust also includes empowering our administrators to take risks make decisions that are in line with our overarching district Vision all of these values and beliefs encapsulate who I am
as an educational leader and how I will strive to operate as superintendent here Marblehead so that our students can be successful in all areas of their education thank you nice little all right um any comments and any
questions from Super okay I'm gonna move on to our consent agenda and sorry sorry um do you have an update on when the special education review as well as the um
anti-Semitism yes investigation I was hoping and I need to talk to to shaer about this I was hoping to have both of them for next school committee um both ran into some slight snags I talked to Allison Kirker yesterday again she will have she's working on the um on the full
report and she has to finish up on the um the executive summary which is what's going to get shared so she wants to make sure that her diligence is done properly that's that's the piece it's going to get shared so um I don't know that it's going to be at the next meeting I'm hoping it is if not I'll definitely be at the following meeting um academic
discoveries has been it's giv me a headache thinking about they've been um Lisa Marie and her team have been giving them piles and piles and piles of information and documentation over and over and over again state exception of this um asked
the same question when can we get the report we're looking this we want at ASAP um their response was we still are waiting on XY andz which Lisa Marie has given them thousand times so I don't want to speak for Lisa Marie but I know she's way more frustrated than she's
been living it um but again hoping if it's not here for the 6 me 6 it won be here one way the other I'm just for the ker pageant investigation she's deleted her report and her her full report and now is
working on I I can't say certain with the whole thing everything but what she told me yesterday was she's developing the full report and then she's doing and then she also has to F need finish up or compl thetive summary so she wants to make
sure that this again there's a couple things some of the staff that left they had lawyers there's been a lot of legal stuff going back public exacerbated High one in addition to not being able to start staff 47 days before a strike so those
three weeks were kind of lost we're all frustrated by it but the scope if I recall the scope of the um contract she'll she'll provide both corre correct but but the problem is that what I mean by the full report full
report is information that can't be shared with the public it's gonna have it's gonna have very specific personal so um the executive summary is what share something you be be shared at the speed form we have to run to just make sure
whatever is shared is to be shared so you do public records request the full of the full thing they're not going to get anything except for maybe it's going like the water G they're actually request because what be so it's useless time waste of money to do that
just I to say that out loud just in case I yeah I have questions on that um that I'm happy to dis okay thanks thanks that answer your question I'm sorry yes okay I'm so we're going to
move on to the consent action and agenda items we have two items here which are our scheduled bills and our meeting minutes of January 9th 2025 and January 23rd 2025 um and I is this is consent agenda um item I can take this as a
motion to approve both at the same time so I'm going to ask for a motion to approve the consented action and agenda items by Sarah a second second second by Al Williams I do roll call Al Williams in favor ran Oda favor fox in favor
Alison Taylor in favor favor 520 um school committee commit communication discussion items um the next um item on the agenda is the Marlet High School program of studies for the school year 25 20 2025 2026 and I don't
know if Dr here the bathroom welcome thank you um we were supposed to do this a few weeks ago and we had a snow day so here we are again uh we are entering our scheduling uh
season and our uh elective window will open up tomorrow 3:30 for students prep so um I had sent a memo with kind of a summary of the changes for the program of studies and I just want to go
over them any questions um the first one is we are looking to add an additional graduation requir of financial literacy to the students starting with the incoming Freshman Class we've already started doing College in for of planers
um with the current students and so this would be effective for the class of 2029 uh we will not be um adding any any additional credits required as we have a a bucket of St credits available for
electives that this uh will be a on semester course we have identified currently three courses that we have been running for uh years um Banking and personal finance entrepreneurship and Real World skills which kind of gives
some tiers of um regor in those courses that will meet this requirement um I do know that in the future I believe it's two years out um AP is actually looking to bring in a business and person Finance for so we
will continue to look at what's out there and what we can add to um offer students with this but um we feel that this is um going to be a nice ad for students to really equip them for College and Career Readiness when we
lead us um we removing the SX Tech after dark program from the programing studies this was something that was um eliminated last year due to budget cuts and this current graduating class is the final class to get through that
program we um are looking to remove grammar and nature writing courses from an English elective just for the reason that is never ever run since we put it in we have not had um enrollment in there for the interest to do
it um we are also looking as part of a multi-year roll out to remove cp2 level for Algebra 1 in physics general education course um this is the third year of the elimination of that in those
departments we have already eliminated CP General Ed forces from um The English Department previously and social stud also does not um the fifth is we're looking to
change the prerequisite for Arc Studio 3 currently it's three MERS of art to go into that we're looking to change that to two this should increase access and remove potential barriers for students that want to upper level art
fors and the final one is to add AP photography um this will expand our AP course offerings it will provide U upper level elective options for students that are interested in expanding or photography skills and
interests so those are our proos changes and have to answer any questions question can you explain a little when I say this a little bit more about the I love that we're going to do um personal
finance because I I I think that's um something that be very beneficial to students um it looks like it primarily is going to happen through the national Grand Bank in the office downstairs no okay no Banking and personal finance the
kids go down to there um a few times during the semester but they're they're predominantly in the classroom and then there'll be a couple kids that will go down and work so this would not this would be a separate um kind of unit or
with on that we run in there about okay there could be some supplements that the bank that they see in the bag you know if they're talking about credit stores and things like that you know okay so when they go down there would they be they would be the
customer learning no they could they could be the customer and they could be working behind because I thought the idea was kind of to teach these kids H how to manage their finances H it is it is so just can I just make a quick
comment so this um idea I don't I take credit for it but I had asked about this um and felt strongly that um just I I requested the administration to consider this as a requirement um because I too agree that this is as much as you know
writing and and reading comprehension and math skills are important science Welling history and social stud um having a working knowledge of of the basics of Finance um in this complex world that we're in is really important for high school graduate and so I
appreciate this I do feel and I was going to make this comment that um this is great that we're doing this but I do think that there as we go forward there may be some room for increased rigor um or it could even be two semesters well
but um a year of course or even if it's one semester a more rigorous focus on and there are plenty of curcums out there um that we can take a look at um that involve you know personal finance debt credit borrowing tax doing your
basically your you know adulting of uh Finance because I think that's important so I don't know if that helps but I think the that's what I wanted to I'm super excited to see it starting to evolve but I I wanted to make sure that our end goal is that these kids leave
this course with the skill of you know what does it mean to run up a credit card what does it mean to take out a car loan what does it mean to take on this debt and how much what was that student loans student loans like all of this that they understand the E and flow of
finance and how that can affect them um because I me when we look at you know a lot of the the kids that that have come out in the last 10 to 15 years um I'm not sure the adults I mean back in the day those of
us in the olden days you know had used to be called M believe it or not but one of the things we used to do was like you made a budget and you figured out a household budget I mean you know it sounds it was whatever but it there was value to that you know that you had to
recognize how to sort of manage you know your your life in that respect and so that I think is purpose of this and I think Sor not not to jump in but you we talked a little bit about that Michelle I started talking about that too like within those course where I I would agree we need to say like what's the
rigor how we we talked about other supplemental curriculums that we could add in that we then will enhance what's going on those classrooms I love the idea adding in the AP business financial literacy that's great um that uper level um for the need that
but yeah I think as we evolve this discussing look at that regular teachers course is part what we need to do yeah I would agree if it's a semester course now maybe we say hey we're still not seeing so this is why we do program studies every year so this is something
we need to change and move shift and I think Julia would be also for ER is would be parcel working on this I mean it's everything Financial scams I it's so with the technology everything is just
so complex that was my I would assume this would be a business teacher or someone of that that's what would be teaching us yes okay thank you yeah all right um think there's no other
questions I need to this is a vote right I need yes okay so I need a motion to approve the maret high school program of studies for school year 2526 the had a second second I'm going do a what callx inis Taylor in faor
FA thank you than um moving on to school year calendar school year 2526 calendar should have been in your Google Drive yes I placed in there so um we had this we had the calendar was um put uh put up
for discussion and me I believe uh and based upon further discussion you know further input and further discussion from parents um that received um input from parents both in favor of the before Labor Day start and some in favor of
afterday Labor Day start um and what I just want to share further is um one most school districts start before Labor Day for multitude reasons not polia witches so they don't end up going to school until the end of June two um it's my understanding until fairly recently
Mar also did before before libation this is not new three um Labor Day is is the 1 of September this coming year but it's going to be believe the 7th the following year so I'm looking to hopefully establish a pattern of getting back to the before the Labor Day because
what's going to happen is we start after Labor Day this year we start after Labor Day next year then we're start until the 8th or people going say oh now we need to start before Labor Day so I'd rather get some consistency here because I think it's one of those important things to say here's we know we're going to start here people can plan accordingly
the point is not lost on me in any way shape or form that this year is a typical year between the April and February breaks and and the one snor we had that on everything else where the end of this school year and the beginning of the start of the next school year is a little shrunk down but
I would contend that um starting in this manner allows us to get the PD days in in the front end which is very important because we need to do staff training a lot of specializ training that we talked about has to happen something hasn't been able to happen and then those two days where kids start um it's I've been
doing this for a long time and it's it makes sense to have that soft start um especially for kids that are in the transition years you know when they're coming into a new school kindergarten or whatever uh uh seventh grade 10 uh nth grade um it's really good for students
to be able to come in and say okay what's the land of land where am you know where am I what's the School look like um without the really um um huge expectations all I got to get a whole week of school to kind of figure stuff out as a soft start it allows um teachers to really do the Get to Know
You activities in a way that um they can get those Get to Know You activities get to understand the kids in front of them so that when they come back from Labor Day they can hit the ground running and and go forward I know you know it is a starting a stop it's a little bit choppy with some of the other you know the with the holidays that we have in the in the
um calendar uh I feel strongly administratively this is uh all of our administrators feel strongly this is way to go um that's why I'm proposing it uh and I think um I would like the committee to to uh support this calendar I think it's it
puts us in a good place starting next year and it sets the stage for the following thank you I had some questions CH y um I went back to the first draft you gave us on January 8th um and that first draft you gave us
had students starting on the 2nd and it only extended the school year by one day so they still finished before the juneth holiday um and the only thing at the end of that meeting that I thought we were looking at was that November um H PD day
to see if you originally you proposed that it would be an election day and then um we went back and talked about that changing so um it seems like and you know at our last meeting we kind of took a bit of a shift from your first
proposal yes to to Starting Fire um and then we solicited some feedback um if you I wish I had had a chance for you to share some of the feedback you received that we didn't because the only formal feedback that
weed from school committee was parents um asking it for after Labor Day we received one from a special education parent asking um that it start after and she talked about how that start stop start stop with big gaps is really hard on special education students which was
one of the driving forces to why we stopped doing it this way and moved to a different format a few years ago um and then we heard from another parent this week um didn't give a reason just said they preferred um the after after Labor
Day and then you know additionally to that just anecdotally about town I've I've heard from people too I'm sure others have on varing things I just haven't received any of that formalized Outreach to the school committee at all asking um but the other thing I would
say I I sh those so discussion but um the thing I don't have the other calendar front of me but I want to say that part of the conversation was that Friday the 2nd during uh the winter break was was uh come back to school day which we know the horrible attendance um
both staff and students I would think there was another there was a similar I can't remember the day but start end of the school year it was a similar conversation so you know in my humble opinion gaining those two days um so that we start after Labor date is not
it's not cost um cost cost Effectiveness in the fact that we've had horrible student attendance this year based upon all the things we talked about earlier and we're setting it up for certain days that like it's know kids are going to meet here that's that's not has an
educator I can't support so that's that was part of the reason why I shifted as well so I don't really have anything more to say than that just reintegrated my stance I had last time I think I STI I stick by that reason but again it's something SC me guys
to those are My reasonings I don't really have a question um I just I don't disagree with a lot of what you said I I just can't get this being
the year to do it our students are going to be in school probably till the end of June with having had zero break not everybody understand um and I guess they just can't support I know it's two days or whatever
or three days whatever it is um I just feel like these children have been through so so so so so so much and then this the year for it but
again I apprciate but I understand everything it wasn't this year if we hadn't just gone through you know three weeks of a strike and losing all these vacations as a result of that I would I I understand the rest of here and I would be able support it I just I
want to make sure that's clear very very yeah I mean I I personally prefer former where we started after and only lost a day now there were some concerns John there's going to be concerns with all the options I believe at this point I guess where I'm you know but I don't
know if that's sta you know I've only heard from a few people that's not statistically representative of the Town um so I guess where I have to land is trust as you said you know it's you and your Administration your staff putting this together you feel this is the best
for the students and the staff that's what I'll support I as do I so I'm going to call for V to approve the 26 20 2526 school year calendar so move by right and
second second yeah I'm G to call for a vote eliam in favor B in favor s Fox opposed J not in favor J sha uh in favor so two thank you
um we're going to move on to the FY 26 budget timeline um I just wanted to so have a conversation with the bud subcommittee um folks as well as mik and John as to where we are so we' completed our budget
um hearing tonight um I imagine that the next step is we need to vote um we're going to votee our budget and the finance committee needs to vote the budget as well um and you would want to probably do it in that order right so we want to have a
school committee um vote before finance committee do you do you know when you're 31st we're slated um to be fincom slated to vote us for on March 31st is what Al told me
okay okay March 31st is G Monday so um that would give us the in theory the 6th or the 20th um to to vote our budget does anyone have any thought on that we had the hearing tonight so we obviously want to have time for folks I would say
the 20 we actually haven't had our we haven't had our bencom liaison meeting um it was supposed to be on Monday the the town website got launched um in a fun way so it's going to be tomorrow morning so I would just like to have
that meeting bring back any feedback from them next week um I I don't anticipate their being bumps um think it you know the thing to celebrate here is we were able to um fund all the
positions that we uh current we're not laying off anybody we don't have staff reductions um and we're able to meet the needs at a level service um with what the town was able to provide so I think that's something to celebrate um with
have a lot of work ahead of us for the next year and so um but I do want to make sure that the are able to have that fincom yon's meeting tomorrow and then bring back that um information on the six um so well and also time for the
public so I mean there time for the public to um hear the hear it tonight obviously respond by email um there's also public comment at our next meeting um so do we think maybe the March 20th school committee meeting makes sense thank I just want to throw in my past
experiences I I've cut it close before between the school committee vote and the fenom vote and you get a snow day we would we be prepared to add an additional meeting on the 26th just to or 27th just to approve the budget in
case as long as that's good yeah if there's a snow day um he also there also is a safety backup day after that for fincom but we're hoping not to use that safety day we' like to use the day no saf I think you know if we if we had a
regular school committee to me we we're meeting it next week so initi was like oh next but it's a little bit tight so I would concur that put on the 20th probably makes sense than so we'll shoot for the 20th for approving our budget that's great then finom and the will
approve our budget on March 31st and then it's just the March toown meeting I think there's any there um the more hearing but that's the 31st no oh that's different okay
April okay on7 and do we need are we involved in that or no that's just well we might be if with the um okay all right so that's the next thing so this so there's our we vote our
budget fincom votes the budget then there's a warrant heing and then there's to okay we're missing no okay all right so that makes sense all right so that's great so that's it for FY 26 budget very exciting that done
um so the next item we're going to talk about is the superintendent um scheduling for the superintendent evaluation planning workshop so John quite eloquent talked about his philosophy on leadership earlier um appreciate that and we had talked about moving forward with consideration for
moving into permanent status or permanent contract with um superintendent robu so we talked about doing um a formative assessment um sometime this spring leading into that um so in order to do that assessment we had decided we would we would do a
workshop with our representative from best association of school committees who is prepared to do that with us so I just I know we don't normally like to do the scheduling but we've had some schedule of snafu so I just thought can we talk about when would make sense to do this I don't think it would make sense in a regular business meeting I
think it would be a separate Workshop um and so I wanted to just get some dates or thoughts um from school commun members and what you'll be looking for I imagine I haven't talked to Alicia because I didn't get hear back to her but um I think we probably want to schedule two hours for
that is that when they do the workshop for this that's just a workshop school that's not open discussion I mean I know there a workshop it's when it's a true Workshop meeting no it be um are you thinking um along the lines of what we did Alis and what we did in
that when we did it all together where we red that's what I would want yeah yeah so we all did our own and then came together to yeah and we worked kind of like made the sausage if you will and it was it was a really
positive did you work ahead of it or you did we had work to do we were all supposed to come with our we were all what we all did is an individual evaluation and then we came to the workshop and then we went through line item by line item and it it was time consuming but
what it did was it reflected everyone's voices in the summative which was very helpful because we tried other iterations of it and and it just all people's voices were never included so it was actually I'll say this too it was
a great um team building exercise too because you really had you know very very civil very civil discourse if someone I I have to say it was it by the but it was a wonderful experience with
people talking about things they noticed offering evidence yeah I'm confused Rob my plan for this this Workshop was to us to decide what we were going to do for the formative assessment and then
come back and do that assessment in over meeting this was not that at least that was what I how what my takeaway was in our last discussion maybe I would fall I thought we agreed that we were going to do it the same way done last year but in our our last Workshop that
we had but we're not doing a summative assessment doing a form is a lot less involved full rle Breck and all that right I mean I don't know I guess we still can do it in somewhat of the same the process yeah but okay so then what
you're saying is that that will be the evaluation I thought we were going to do a planning session and then come out of that say okay everyone go to your corners and do your homework and then to an open meeting and do the evaluation the plan for
Workshop come up with criteria fill it out again and then go for okay yeah so we aren't so when you say the criteria we're not using the desing rubric at any point I don't it's my understanding be sure is going to let you guys know like what what do
generally involve the formative assessment how how in depth is it what does it technically look like it's vast and different than the summative the sum is is those pages of pages of everything form is generally something less than that but it's more just like hey where are you where you you close to meeting
goes I mean I'm going to try to do a goals update um at the next meeting anyway so you guys have an understanding of kind of where I stand which would be good for when we do the do the full formative um but generally the formative isn't the same it's not the I do think we will need somewhat of a
robust assessment that we can bring forth to the community if we are going to take con that STS okay so then maybe that but that could be part of our discussion evaluation does do use for evaluating superintendent formative and
summative they use those words yes okay because usually reverse to Student Learning right when you use these terms you when when the school for summatively evaluates me as a superintendent similar to how we evaluate the administrators and the teachers you go through the
whole rubric get R of you know obviously and then um you know then you go from there right then uh but the formative isn't isn't is form one is that in terms of you not you're not turning my understand you're not turning it into Des or like that just just hey John how are you doing are you are you meeting's
expectations are you meeting whoever's at the public are you meeting all the expectations how far are you along in your goals what does that look like like um so yeah it's leading towards assuma but it's the same thing as when we evaluate teachers like in the formative like here's here's your goals I see that
you've done this you here's all the stuff that you're doing and here's some feedback like hey John I think you need to do a little bit better in this area so that we get to go assitive hopefully I've done some horse correction that's that's more what the form is about so we're not going to do a sum before we make the decision that's what I
think no we can't there's not enough time to be able to SU what see I look at this as this is a performance it is right so okay so and and so to me that's we're getting confusing on the name and I think that's
the problem right and I think this is really we're going to evaluate John and and assess whether his performance to this point makes sense for a permanent position now is that too simple but that's how I that's I we need to do but yeah but I also I also I'm thinking that
and I don't know this is just spitballing this that it may be also a Step Beyond just the sub formative where we say okay and then what are some things that we want to do to help us make that decision it might mean doing some community outreach or or asking for Community input or you know whatever I
don't know if it's a survey what you know what there may be some other things that we want to do to help us make this decision I don't mind if we do both right but again formative is helping John improve right talking about how we want and that needs to be done right but
the summative part is evaluating what he's done and I think that's the the important piece for making the decision we're thinking of making I think we're getting stuck on on the the terms right now and I so I'm just GNA ask up the table terms for a second well let's do it this evaluation Workshop that was my
goal I that was my goal I don't in this Workshop was to help say will make it very clear so we want a performance valuation and then we can talk about this as we work through this process more but I personally um and I hope we all feel this way that
we want to solicit that community that from our Educators from stud from students as a as appropriate agewise um in our community I that will be an important so I think there may we may need to do some homework as we thoughted
out that hopefully Alicia Al would help us understand what that may look like you know so what um uh so sometime in the month of March is what I was thinking would make sense if anybody has any do you have Alicia's availability because that's going to be the
definitive no I don't I was actually going to throw give her dates because she seems to be very open to be honest with you okay she really does and everyone's here so I want to get dates from you so um are we talking a day workshop a morning workshop I think daytime but I don't know what I can make
myself available in Tuesday or Wednesday morning okay so we could do it um we could do it an off week like we could do it the week week of March 10th or the week of the 24th okay sorry um that
could we of the I'm out the 19 are you out that day or you're out okay what about the week of the 24th I know that's good AV I can't do
the you're not back I'll be back I'm GNA ask a question that may be stup and I apologize in the past our superintendents have not um attended work I'm fine with that too so I'm not I don't want to keep you out but I don't
know if if that is typical if that that could be atypical could be another I home I'll do whatever you guys want want me there I'll be there if you don't want be there that's fine I think you probably have a more I don't want little robust but
robust discussion when I'm not there potentially so I mean I don't I would not let's put this way I won't take offense if you say we to do without without job I think mostly coming from Back to the S potential potential week yeah yeah that would be good see 11th
for propos yeah I will be on Zoom but that's okay you you're don't no I'm I'm not here until the 14th Friday um I'll what about I I can the 14th work if
that work is what looks right um zooming is not above okay really well I'm not I am out no I I'm saying different things so we can all just so you know I'm out a lot I'm not that I don't basically if I don't do it on the 14th I'm not back until um but
you're going to attend on right yeah right April 8th can't was I'm away I mean I'm I'm not I'll be out of okay can't we do it on yeah I'll change my on 14 the best we
do can all together why you don't why can't we do on the 11 Brian feels it I I don't I thinkig zoom I I I don't want to push it from the why don't so the 10th is is a possibility the 11th
and the 14th is everyone great so a little from okay the 11th or the 14th ficia that's is all based on Alicia yeah she may be on Zoom for all I know too so I doubt it but um okay okay I will be back to you
hopefully the next day or so thank you appreciate that uh subcommittee leaz on uh um leaz on updates Ahad we redid the fact page was in the drop box that's not the most updated one that
I had formatted for you though no I formatted Alan i w we took care of that okay there then there will definitely be a lot of that should be changed on it just from a
visual look at pers because I thought that was what I was tasked with doing so I okay so did you you did a formatting and you sent it over and I used the same one that was sent to me so it's the same Google doc yeah well Al and I put
together the last couple minutes yeah if it was sent I I didn't see it you know it a Google doc so you go to the same Google doc that you created in the first place that you shared with me because we had reviewed the FAQ as a group together and they
were formatting and just like making it pretty big things that and some wording changes that I had been tasked with do everybody's looking at me like I'm crazy is that am I the only one that heard that no I don't know did you not did you see the I said it as an attachment I
know that and then I no yeah I'm not sure that if Alison if you could just send me the link to the Google why don't do drop box yeah I just didn't know no no problem thank you okay the newsletter did go out yes right the February
February and now as far as January went we had 1,100 viewers just on the school side I have no idea what happened with the current but you know as far as our distribution we were to 1100 people
which is pretty good you figure it biggest M we've ever had maybe 30 or 40 people so yeah a lot more people read did we just sent the febr one up yesterday so I haven't seen the numbers um I'm wondering if you know obviously
not in our meeting but after this if you can follow up with the media sources that you place it with and I don't know if they can give you the demographics on it but it would it would be great to hear you know if if you guys see how many people are seeing it on your end as well too just to know how what last if
she could look into that you have it as a link or how you same I C it from and then put it in on our web page no so it's on their web page so they they may have yeah I have we should be direct so
maybe we can work with okay it's in both yeah okay um thank you thank you thanks so newsletter and oh and the website the website it was also a form of things we want to just Frank you want
to pop that one up the website that Al also draw yeah these are really just more clarification straighten it out piing it up like subcommittee or curriculum we took that we decided not to do that couple years ago and still in there so
we take and then we corrected to make sure everybody's titles will correct on the subcommittees what else we do have the operating protocols F and my name is your name is wrong said one L add school
goals as well used to at one point yeah the school committee operating protocols has this odd F yeah and I can't change it I don't know what looks like you're yelling at read it's that hard look to it I like to
make little less uh yelling at you for our yeah I mean that's the old style one yelling look PDF on there so we'll convert the PDF right said he can
send it to you then you can fix it okay I mean I I have Adobe but keeps asking me forister his approval I bought it myself so I'm like I I don't get it yeah also Al noticed that our school
committe mission and the one with the district are one and the same and we were beginning to question whether we should look at that and have any seate one school you know it should always be in lock step with what the district is but the school committee has different
responsibilities yeah and I think that the vision should be the but you know something we figured let's get through the budget get through the budget and then we we're analyzing just not the look and typos but just more of the content and just you know better representing what we do what we don't do
and you know things that are the no it's if you look at the web page we did have a different one y and nope um the previous com combination
of school committee um took the vote to unify it make so that's something we can work yet after maybe after after the bu we decided but I just want to give you heads up want want to look at that
that's great Frank can you just roll down for a bit that was okay just from uh you're done there is on um get my date here
correct um on March 20th uh there's a Meco advocacy day 2025 it is at the state house um and it's from 9 to 1:30 so if you're interested in attending please let me
know and I'll send you details thank you for scre all right I I do have one other question on the there's a on the school committee part of the website there's a um it called resources
Tab and forg on um school committee page is a resources tab resources link on the left hand side that says to visit the Community page for some things and then has other
resources and some of them are duplicative I think that that might be a place to put them all in one place um and then probably don't have that resources section just in the the home
page of the school committee note that you know resources can be found in the community link and then have all of those resources in in the community L and maybe hopefully find a wello for the Vets on the high
school just ugly box right now they must have one or just use the No No Yeah I've never been to that Community page before so no me neither and the resources PID brings you there right but then it has some additional resour look at it so
okay we can look at that thank you all right uh um um so budget has been explained um facilities we haven't met against Ser meeting two weeks ago so there's not an
update there um there was an sa meeting at Brown this week um we had a presentation during that on um I ready results I had some I wanted to bring up under um school committee requests that on an agenda on that um groups are doing
there their student council I I guests are something to present to us at some point in March super exciting yeah so lover is the next meeting is on the six down there so we have one someone all five schools yeah so um I can't wait to
see what the other schools are doing because I get to see a glimpse at it through the sa at Brown what they're doing that student voice there and it's um really exciting for those students I think a one thing to celebrate was the students actually help on on that student voice group help to write a
grant for the friends of Marvel head public school so there would be a grant request coming from um our elementary students which is also really exciting um so lots of lots of stuff going on there um and then policy we talked about um during combinations we had our Forum
last night we two weeks ago we had a forum with students last night we had a community Forum um I'm trying to schedule us um for next week hopefully Wednesday I'm just waiting to hear again from Alicia M and from Ma because we have to review the protocols with her so
hopefully I'll get that worked out tomorrow that will get posted for next week um report that um we probably will be coming back at the next SCH Comm meeting hopefully with a draft FL policy um that's the bow so
you that's it for subties right uh new business um I have something I wanted to request on your agenda I would like a um keep using the word robus um
presentation on um the I ready scores we just did I know what midyear assessment that's what was presented at the sa um I'd like to see them presented you know at each School level um I believe do them right now at four of our schools
one of the things that um I I noticed while we were going through the school level once were um 50% roughly of our students are one grade level or more below um and so I
think it's a little more nuanced than that and so I think it' be really helpful especially as these reports go home to families in the next week for us to get a uh presentation on that from Julia she can explain that more um because it it isn't my understanding it
isn't necessarily as simplistic as those four headings but I do think it's really important for the the committee as a whole to get that view so that we can see where we where we are achiev in what
areas may be um as a district one I think even if understanding even that not necessarily as black and white is that 50% hour it's still an alarming no is that other committee members interested in having that as a
presentation y so I scores to her they um all talk to Julia to to see any other things that she feels add already and or wants to to
share her from her group and then again it's to the will of the committee but one thing I was hoping to see when we see that presentation is hopefully to see Lisa maray and Julia and how that special education and general education really weave together um because when
when I at first glance and you see that number of 50% you start to ask because statistically we have a higher percentage of students on IEPs in Marble Head and the state average are those two things tied together um and how are
those two departments working to because they do work together how are they working together to use not just this testing but other testing sources to get ahead of things and maybe um hopefully we cance the need of to for
yeah I think I think you know the 52% not I'm not sure that but that definitely be clarified in our you know shared out that's an accurate thing or this yeah and I think the overlap special is
always meaningful needed so reason make that happen okay any other new business and any plans to improve you know what are what are we going to be doing with that how are we going to be using that data to you know net for for next year or for
planning for the curriculum managing like I don't even know all of the areas obviously I think that that's a big piece of this that I want to know about but I'm sure the community does as well because that's an alarm I mean well and also it it is what
was explained to me is it is much more Nuance like they may be testing things now that our math curriculum doesn't teach till later in the year was what it was explained to me right it is more Nuance but I would like from the committee standpoint to have this presentation to see where our students
because this is nationally normed um where we are in and any potential um areas of growth and areas to celebrate and even how that you know sometimes I feel like that's a little I have to be honest like that that that respon not from you I mean
just saying that it's nuanced or we're not teaching it till later is you know you see with our mcast scores it kind of is the same we're not you know getting the best there either we have a lot of students that are below
average there and that's those two things together are concerned so yeah so I I I think reporting out on that data will be be accurate data you know I mean a lot of times people I'm not saying this is the case here even for all
numers that don't accurate G of oh correct so I think we need to be um so I think you know those are the kind of things be careful of so I'd rather make sure that we have the conversation with the actual numbers
what that and if it's true 50% are grade number below that is concerning is that accurate yes or no what are the what are the how we address that what address that it's all Val thank
you okay anything else yeah right um I'm gonna call I'm just you want to talk about next week oh or you want do that offline do that offline okay I'm going to Jo us at 8 13 time
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