--------- Okay, we should be good to go. Um, so the first item on our agenda this morning, Alicia is here um to do sort of a presentation for us on the role of the school committee in strategic planning for the district. Sure.
>> So, uh, essentially I did not prepare slides because I thought this was better as a more of a conversation. Um, I can tell you that and I'm going to share screen here. Oh, can you turn share screening on? Sharing screen.
>> More coffee or less? One of those things. Um so essentially the role of the school committee in strategic planning is that as the body that approves policy um that is in charge of the budget that
evaluates the superintendent, you have the um end authority on setting the goals for the district. That doesn't necessarily mean you start the strategic planning process. It means you are part of it and you approve the ultimate strategic plan that happens. So if we
look at um >> should be able to share. >> Yes, thank you. >> I just need to find the right one. I think it's going to be this one. We're going to share that. We're actually going to go to um
there we go. So when we look at our roles and responsibilities, that um highlighted line right there, when we're talking about governance, you as the school committee establish the goals and policies for the district. However, a strategic plan really starts with the
superintendent and the leadership team. So the superintendent will propose and initiate the process for long range and strategic planning that engages the community and the committee um hopefully ensuring success etc. So when we're
talking about what that means, that really means that much like the budget process, strategic planning originates with the administration. Um very often what happens is they take the previous strategic plan. They will look at the multiple um school improvement plans
which you also oversee but don't originate. Um you you have advisory um capacity on those. they will put together what they propose to be the strategic plan for the district. Generally, that does include maybe um
putting together a uh an advisory committee on the upcoming strategic plan. Um again, originating with the superintendent. There may or may not be a school committee member or two depending on how big I know you guys are a smaller school committee. Um so maybe
one or two members. Um then also the community will be engaged at a certain point but most of that is determined by the superintendent at that point. Once they start bringing the things that they're proposing forward to the school committee that's where the full committee really starts engaging. Um and
actually I'm going to stop sharing that and I will share um this is a document we have that we can share with you that talks about strategic planning. um considerations. This is not one of our documents. This is one of our um partner documents
>> from um other sources. Uh and it talks sort of just about the steps in strategic planning when you're thinking about um how to go through that process. Again, the school committee is not driving the initial process. You have approval at the end. And the reason you
have approval at the end is because the strategic plan should include goals for the district that you will then need to make sure you have the correct policy for the correct budget for um that you're evaluating the superintendent very often. The strategic plan will
include goals that are we don't recommend strategic plans of five years anymore. Now we recommend them three years at you know at the most. You can have a shorter one. Um, but there will very often be goals in there that will then translate into superintendent goals and you have um authority to oversee
those as well. So you want to make sure that the strategic plan goals that affect the superintendent goals are being overseen by you. So just a a highlevel um thought process on how strategic planning works. There are usually multiple steps. Um, and you can
see from this document that, you know, step one talks about the school committee and the it says board. Um, because we're the only state that calls them school committees. Everyone else calls them school boards. And they like to joke with us when we go to our our training with we meet with other states,
associations. They like to say, "We'll let you keep calling them committees because you were first." >> We were. Thank you very much. >> Very similar to RMV and DMV. >> Yes. Exactly. Exactly. So step one in strategic planning is generally that there's a discussion at the school
committee meeting of we're going to do an upcoming strategic plan. The superintendent is going to kick that off. Um you discuss what considerations you might may want to take into account for strategic planning. Who of your stakeholder groups is it that you want to engage? Who's going to be part of
that sort of leadership team? Do you want to do climate and culture surveys? Things like that. The direction of the strategic planning should be discussed by the committee, but the superintendent is going to drive it. So then the superintendent drives what actually
happens, putting together the group, what surveys are going to go out. Um you should have, you can see in step two that there's discussion about um the participants will review current district plans, district data, survey results. You should have had that conversation at the very beginning about
what data you want to see within the strategic plan. Um, and that's going to vary for every district. There will be times where your strategic plan will include a building project because that is what your district is currently doing. Not every district will have the same strategic plan. There will be times
when you have maybe a a major curriculum change happening. Um, couple years ago there was a in my town there was an overhaul of the elementary um report cards to go to a standardsbased report card. So that was part of the strategic plan, the roll out of that. So what
you're really doing is assessing what where the district is right now, what things you need to be looking at to move the district forward and make that very much about your town. >> It's not about a catchall, one-sizefits-all strategic plan.
>> Um, so again, going through the steps, these are suggested. Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Al. Alicia just one question I've had about this is you know how you know do things that should be in the strategic plan are kind
of a you know are not just evolutionary type change but more revolutionary type change right so that you know continuous improvement in curriculum instruction etc etc should that be part of the strategic plan that seems to be kind of something we expect in our day-to-day
culture and as you said the strategic plan within focus on, you know, buildings or some significant change in our curriculum board. >> Okay. I just want because I think that's important. >> The the strategic plan should be a combination of both. It should support
what's currently going on in the district. It should support continuous improvement. But your strategic plan really is a document that talks about where you want to be in the next three years. It should be that, you know, that goal setting milestone achievement of
the district. So, it's going to be both. It's not just going to be we want to keep improving scores. Um, when we talk about the strategic plan, you want to think about it in the terms of um our other advice on goal setting where you want to have smart goals. Um, and those
smart goals should all be tracked and timed and have, you know, checkpoints and things like that. We don't want your strategic plan to just be a smile and file document. Everyone's like, "Yay, this is great." And then it goes somewhere else. It is a living document. Much like reviewing your own goals and
the superintendent goals, your strategic plan should be something that gets reviewed periodically throughout the the time span of it to see where you are. So, it is it's a combination of both. It's continuous improvement and it's also we would like to make the leap to
you know really inspire our district to take on these bigger thought processes. So >> okay thank you. >> Absolutely. So the meetings that actually happen again that's because the superintendent and the leadership team will drive the initial part of this. The
meetings that actually happen this is just a suggested um how they can go about structuring their meetings. I know superintendents do get a lot of training on strategic planning too through MASS. So they may come to the table with their own ideas. But the idea here being that
um you'd think about your um your stakeholder groups, how you want to have input, what your check-ins will be. Um, as part of that initial discussion at the school committee meeting with the superintendent about undertaking a new strategic plan, you should talk about what you foresee as check-ins, what you
foresee as, you know, with the superintendent evaluation, there's the formative and the summitative assessments. You should talk about that. You should talk about, you know, when does the superintendent expect to start having these meetings? When does the superintendent expect to be bringing you information? Just so that you can
continue to be part of the discussion. um with an idea of we want to have an actual plan, a fully formed plan for the school committee to approve and hopefully you can in that initial discussion talk about when that's going to come back to you as a fully formed
plan. Like you'll get updates along the way, but you should approve the final strategic plan. Um, and then when we're talking about the review and the followup, um, you should review as part of the strategic plan the actual actions that are put forward in the goals.
Again, we go back to smart goal planning. Um, we want to make sure that we have structured, timed. We want to talk about what the evidence will be. We see that a lot. You guys are very familiar with that when you're talking about the superintendent goals. You want to talk about what the evidence for those goals
will be. um what the data is you're looking at now, what the data is that they will bring back to you throughout the actual implementation of the plan. And then like any other um goal process, there should be a an assessment of the
previous achievement in order to inform the next one. So it should be built into your strategic plan that you will assess the things that you have put forward in order to inform the next round. So that is a very highlevel here's how strategic planning works but I'm guessing you guys
have more questions. So please if there are questions by all means. >> I think Al if you don't mind if I kick off. >> No no go ahead Kate. Go ahead. >> So our district is we had a plan for success that was prepared and
has been >> there are a lot of criticisms and and whatnot. And so when John Robbo came in as superintendent, he started preparing a new district improvement plan, the timing is ending up sort of working out that the plan for success expires
in June. And so, you know, we will be we're slated to approve this new district improvement plan. And so I would love to talk about sort of forward looking. So like what what does the school committee do between now and June in the he's sort of in this stage of
like sharing it out with broader segments of the community to get feedback and so the school committee's role in sort of that finalizing and approving component of things and then sort of what do we what should we be
thinking about doing and and the slides you just went through I think were helpful in that sense of like over the next couple of years >> to put the district in a really good place for the next round of this. Um, and particularly making sure that the
school committee, I liked that analogy of like we set the direction and then the superintendent drives the process, but really sort of making sure that we are setting direction. >> Yes. So, here's what I would recommend
for any district when you're talking about your strategic plan. the end of your strategic plan should always include and we will come back and visit on you know sort of a time frame. So, what you're going to want to do when you talk about approving the strategic plan
in June is think about much like the superintendent evaluation, the formative at the midpoint and the summit of at the end. Think about some check-in points that you can discuss with the superintendent. And it may not be um sort of like a once every year. It may
be based on what the goals are in the strategic plan. Maybe there's checkpoints that are dictated by the specific goals that you would want to um say, you know, you have something coming up that would be um ending in I'm just
going to throw this out there ending in December 2027. Well, you would know that you would want to have a checkpoint somewhere at the halfway point. So, look at the what the goals are um and sort of structure that midpoint and final and then think about what it looks like towards the end of the strategic plan.
Don't let the strategic plan just expire. As part of your initial discussion, talk about what year three looks like of the strategic plan because your next strategic plan should always be informed by this one, but don't let there be a gap in the middle where
there's, you know, we're scrambling for creating one out of whole cloth. You've got a great opportunity where your new superintendent has been developing this. >> Use that to create the next cycle. So I would say there should be within the strategic plan language about what
happens sort of in year three to start forming year one of the next one. >> Um so I don't remember all the steps and hopefully we can you can share those slides. >> Oh yes I will send you those. Yeah. But um like one thing I'm a little concerned
about is you know there is a draft district improvement plan and I believe John Kate please correct me if I'm wrong is started to solicit some input. What I'm a little >> what I'm a little concerned about is and I remember asking for this in a in a
school committee meeting is that should the school committee see that a little bit first because I would hate that we asked for some community involvement and then the school committee um you know maybe had something that the community didn't bring up. So to me it's almost like I want to make sure we get all the
input we can before we really start processing it in depth. and the school committee, I think, should have kind of a a first look at, you know, to just make sure that, you know, maybe not not something from our perspective is really missing before we go out and get community involvement because I'd want
to get community involvement on anything the school committee may add or edit >> to the draft plan. >> So, the the structure of how that happens, the timing of how that happens is really individual to the district. Um, there are school committees that, yes, they would see it beforehand. There
are school committees that would see it after the fact. Um the idea is more so you want to get input from everyone. So whether or not you see it before the community sees it, that's entirely up to you. It's sort of like that when we talk about um superintendent evaluation, you
talk about what the steps will be ahead of time so that you know what to expect. And I would say, you know, for this part, I know community involvement is already happening. you may want to structure that for next time where the school committee sees something before the community does, but it's not
necessarily that it has to happen in one direction or the other. Um, I would say that you are the final arbiter of this. You are the final approver of the district's goals. So, you get multiple bites at the apple to, you know, corner to turn a phrase, but it's not necessary
that you see it before the public sees it because again, this starts with the leadership and the leadership is driving it. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I guess I'm still just a little concerned around if you know we ask community involvement and then the school committee comes up with a whole separate goal or section
and then, you know, we publish it and then the the public says, "Well, wait a minute. This piece that's in here, I didn't even I didn't see this >> before it got to be part of the document." >> Yep. But I would say again, remember that the strategic plan, you have final approval of it, but it really does
originate with the district. So much like we say school committee goals are not a way to add superintendent goals, the strategic plan is not necessarily a way for the school committee to suddenly create something for the superintendent to do outside of what the leadership has determined. Now that doesn't mean you
have zero input because if say suddenly um we'll throw something wacky out there. The strategic plan says that we're never going to serve pizza ever again and you guys are like wait a minute the kids are going to revolt. Yes, you would have input on that, but it doesn't mean that you're necessarily
creating goals for the strategic plan outside of this process. So, you should be involved in the process. That's kind of why there should be check-ins along the way. You do have a unique situation where you're starting your strategic plan as your superintendent has their entry plan running. Um, so it's it's a
little wacky the first time around. It's sort of everyone's getting their bearings. Going forward, I would structure that a little more, but I don't think it's necessarily terrible that it's been done this way. Okay, thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Um,
so it sounds as though what sort of makes sense for us to look at as we're approving the plan, you know, first of all is trying to ensure there's a lot of specificity about the data that we're going to use to measure >> Yes. success
when we're going to get reports out on sort of where things stand. >> Yep. >> And then looking at a way to build into the third year of the plan. >> Yep. >> Seems like that should be the third year of the current this new plan should be
sort of an intensive year for the school committee in thinking about where things stand relative to those goals and thinking about where we want to ask the district ahead next is that
>> yes year three should always be a res a resolution of the original strategic plan with an eye to what the next strategic plan looks like. >> Okay. Okay. >> Absolutely. And um so when I send you the documents that we have um that are
some the highle strategic planning document considerations, I will also send you um our goal setting documents that talk about how you set smart goals and things like that. And I know we've had a couple of workshops with you on goal setting for the school committee. Think about it in the same way in that
you want to think about the goal setting that always informs there's always the self-evaluation that informs the next one. Um and there may well be things that overlap between superintendent goals, the strategic plan and your goals. So we want I will send you the documents on effective goal setting too.
>> Thank you. overlap is really where I'm hoping that this is headed. That, you know, a strong district improvement plan should sort of set us up to all be >> Yes. You know, putting in place goals that are moving us towards achieving
those objectives. >> Yes. So, if you guys remember from charting the course, the pyramid, the bottom level are those district goals and everything else should stack up above it and they should all be moving in the same direction towards student achievement and well-being. So, we want to make sure that your goals and the superintendent goals align with the
district goals. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Trying to think about how to best ask this. So, you know, there's a lot of shareholders, right, involved with this particular document that we've discussed. That's good. But I think it's
tough to write a document that is easily digestible by all those all those different shareholders, right? And I I'm a firm believer that, you know, we want to mobilize community stakeholders and resources to share responsibility for student success. So I'm just curious if
we're debating, you know, should it be more readable by the community versus the academics within our community or you you have to try to do both. But I'm just curious, would you prioritize one of those over the other? >> So I wouldn't prioritize one over the
other. I would think more about like your budget process. Your budget book speaks to the community. It tells the community what you're doing. It tells the community what you value. It tells the community where your budget is influencing student achievement and well-being. Similarly, your strategic
plan should inform the community and there should be processes that are not necessarily outlined in the strategic plan in that level of specificity. So think about when we talk about policy your policy says um you will have so
like the the digital use policy will say the district will develop a acceptable use agreement that includes these things and then the district develops the acep acceptable use agreement. Your strategic plan should say these are our goals.
this is as much specificity as we can put into it and then there will be other processes that the district has aligned probably in a separate document about you know these are these surveys we will do these are the data points and when they will come in etc so it not
necessarily thinking about it as one document think about it as one sort of initial document and then there will be other documentation that comes along with it >> okay >> yes accessible to the public is 100% one of the things you want to have for your
strategic plan because part of this because it involves goals and budget etc is yes you do need to have that stakeholder engagement. You do need to have that community support especially since um some of your strategic plan may have budgetary um implications that you
need to bring back to the public to approve um through your budget process. So you want to make sure it's accessible to them. So I would say start with a document that is accessible to as many people as possible but definitely the the extra will be there will be additional documents to go along with
it. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Mhm. >> Okay. Um I had a question not so much about the district improvement plan but just sort of
any wisdom you have about strategic planning if you will yearbyear. So, you know, we set the goals, we do all these different things, but best practices that we could think about putting in place so that the school
committee is really staying in its lane, >> sort of driving that like directional arrow, >> you know, on a year-to-year basis as opposed to just >> on a longer term plan. So, thing number one, um, have a year-long agenda.
>> Um, the year-long agenda is one of the best best practices that I recommend to my districts. And I know I've talked to you guys about this a little bit, but year-long agendas don't lock you into only talking about certain things, but it does sort of structure your year where you have put forward, this is the
time where we will check in on this, this is the time we will check in on this, and it lets you, you know, plug in other things along the way. I think having a year-long agenda that talks about regular check-ins on your goals, on the superintendent goals, and on the strategic plan,
>> that's one of the best best practices I can recommend because then it alerts everyone that that is what is going to be expected. And when agendas are being set, the people setting the agendas with the superintendent um input can look at that and say, "Okay, we're due for
another update on the strategic plan at this point in time." So, that is one of the best things I can recommend. And then this the second thing we've already talked about is not leaving time for there to be a gap. Always use that third year as the springboard to the next first year. So when you're thinking
about the strategic plan timing and checking in what year are you in? Make sure that when you start your year, start your school year, you know, okay, this is year three or this is year two and we know that year three is coming up. Um, which is, you know, more than a year-long agenda, but you know, have it
on your radar as well. And I would say for the school committee's goals, you may want to have something in there where you talk about amongst yourselves, um, your year-long agenda, your evaluative processes, so that you guys
can get on the same page as to what that looks like from the school committee's perspective. Um, and again, that will help you sort of stay in your lane and not overreach into administrative priorities. >> Okay, that's really helpful. Thank you.
Al, did you have any other questions? >> Oh, I'm good. Thank you. >> Excellent. >> Thank you so much. >> Absolutely. I will send you guys the goal setting. I will send you the documents that um have the outline of the strategic planning. Um I'm also
going to see if I can pull we collect documents where where the field directors collect handbooks and operating protocols and strategic plans. So, I will see if I can find some um excellent strategic plans from other districts to send you so you can see what they look like. Um and I
think that'll be very helpful, too. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, that sounds great. >> Fantastic. Okay, after I send you those things, if you have any questions, let me know. >> Sounds good. >> All right. >> Thanks. >> Thanks. Bye. >> Bye. >> Bye, OSHA. >> All right. That was helpful.
>> Yes. Um, the next thing on our agenda is a discussion regarding the district improvement plan. Um, and I thought your question to her about sort of how accessible to the
public it should be is a good topic for that discussion. Um, because I do think the current draft is dense. Um, and I've been wondering, I'm not sure if it's like if it was something that you and I want to do or
if it would be more the communication subcommittee, but I thought it might be helpful if we generated a summary of the strategic plan that's maybe a little more like graphic, for lack of a better term.
um you know because I don't know how much engagement we're going to get you know in terms of like reading the full document. Um but I do think it's important to do what we can to help the public see
you know what the goals are and where where that document is slated to take us. Maybe that's a good idea, Kate, around, you know, we do have kind of a a presentation version of it that, you know, could be
tail tailored more to specific stakeholders as needed because it Yeah, I mean the district improvement plan as it is, it took me a while just to understand the framework a little bit. I think the word you use was dense. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but you know, it started with core value areas. Then there were six specific
goals that would be addressed throughout the plan. then objectives and then goal and core value areas again then objectives >> and then I think eventually what it gets specific to improvement strategies. Um, and it was just a lot to try to digest.
And then also our our improvement strategies below objectives or goals. You know, it was just a lot to and again I I and maybe it makes a lot of sense to the administration and that's good. But I do think that if we can kind of uh
maybe tailor it a little bit so you know so that it it's a little more readable depending upon whom you're who who's reading it. Um, So um ju just some of my early comments around the the plan as it stands. Yeah.
Now how do we want to address? >> Yeah. What's the process that we should use to suggest improvements or bring it back to the committee or just ask for the committee? Yeah, that's something I um I think I think we've been kind of tasked
as a subcommittee to do that. So the goal, yeah, the goal included um setting a deadline for the committee to give feedback to John. So I wonder if maybe what makes sense is to ask, you know,
he's collected feedback from staff at this point. I believe the time for staff to submit the feedback has has closed. Um, so it could be maybe an early March agenda item at a school committee
meeting to ask him to update the committee on the feedback he's received thus far where things stand and you know maybe it's at that point that the committee I don't
you know whether it's that we deliberate like have a discussion in a full school committee meeting with people offering their feedback on the plan as it currently stands or the whether it's just making sure that committee members have read the plan and if they have
you know sizable concerns or you know if they think that a goal is not the right goal or whatnot that they have you know given that feedback to John because I do agree with your concern that we don't want to
get to May looking to be approving this plan and have a committee member say, you know, I fundamentally disagree with this this aspect of it. Or >> now the I think it was when you sent the
the DIP to me, it looked like it was part of a survey that was that was sent out. John. >> Yes, that's the one that John sent to all users
in January. So, he included Google some sort of a Google form that went along with it for >> right >> staff to provide feedback on it. >> Was it just staff or was it community also when we said all users? >> That one just went to staff.
>> To staff. Okay. And then there will be >> that's I was just trying to understand I wasn't sure if that meant staff and community or just but just staff >> I think >> and so if I understand correctly his plan was to synthesize that feedback and then do a similar outreach to
>> community >> the community more broadly. >> Okay. >> All right. So, uh, perhaps in early March, ask John to update the committee, the full committee. >> Yeah. >> On the feedback received from staff. >> We could put that on an agenda for what,
you know, maybe that March 5th meeting depending on what else we have that that evening, but I think it would be worthwhile, you know, to do a an update. >> Okay.
Um, and then do we have anything else on the district improvement plan before we move on? >> So, um, >> so then >> not for me.
>> Okay, great. So, then the other goal is the educator voices goal. Um, and has kind of two components. one is, you know, trying to hold some forums for, you know, staff
to raise issues and just whether we do them sort of more broadly or just specific topics. And then the second component of that goal was to look at whether we want to consider adding other people to the table for school
committee. Um, and so I think that there's sort of a research project to do with respect to that second one. So I thought it would be useful to talk about how we want to go about doing that.
>> Okay. >> And I think I'm sorry. >> No, go ahead. >> You can go. >> I was gonna say I think a good one is, you know, that right in that document is just consult with Alicia or somebody else in MASC.
um which would be, you know, a good way. And then maybe um you know, doing some research on, you know, just some other school committee websites to see if they have any you perhaps maybe in our DART network or
surrounding communities. You know, we don't, you know, we don't certainly will look at the other 350 districts. Um, but maybe between that and and working with one of the, you know, MASC representative, that'd be a good way to address that. >> I think that's a good way to go about
it. There's also, um, an MASC list serve, so we could submit a question to that. Just ask. I don't know. I'm subscribed to the updates. It does not appear to be super active, but
you know, we could submit a question just asking if other districts have, you know, non- voting committee members and if so, who they are, just like what constituencies they represent and see if we get info from that.
Um cuz I think really what we should aim to do is be able to go back to the full committee later in the year with some concrete information about you know whether other
districts do something like this and if so what it looks like. >> Okay. Um I could certainly um ask it would be Alicia I guess we would start we would ask that I mean I have no problem reaching out to her and starting
to look at some websites. Um I am not posting on the lister I think is a great thing. Do you you have access already? >> Yeah I can do that. I can take that. >> Yeah. Can you do that one please? >> Yes. I will wait until after February
break because I think people are >> Yeah. That's that's fine >> checking out. >> Um but when we come back I can post something on there and see we get any >> okay >> um and I can do some poking around online too. We can just kind of maybe
each see what we find and then we can come back together and compare. >> All right, sounds good. >> Great. Um, so then the only other thing on this one is, you know, whether we want to try to
work with John to get a forum scheduled with staff and if so, you know, what that what we think that would look like. >> Okay. Wonder if we can just kind of throwing out ideas here. Maybe the next time we
meet with John, Sally, and Jonathan, would it make sense? Maybe that'd be a good forum to discuss this. Or do you want to have it just to be John? It doesn't I just thought it might be since we are talking about involving staff input. >> No, I think that's a good idea. Um
>> I don't Do we have another one of those scheduled, Kate? Do you know of >> I don't think we have anything on the calendar. Um I also think that because it's part of a this goal and we're the goals subcommittee, it would have to be
just one of us having that discussion so that we're not violating the open meeting law. >> Yeah, that makes Yeah. And I I have no problem if it's you or me. Yeah. But it should You're right. It needs to be one of us.
>> Yeah. Um, I can I'll uh I'll reach out to John to just see if another one of those meet I think he has them regularly scheduled but he just needs to kind of I forget which one it does it twice a month whether it was the first or second. >> Right. >> But I'll ask him.
>> Yeah, I think that'd be good. Maybe if you can go to an upcoming one and just talk about I think it would be good to get a sense of what topics
staff would like to come you know provide information because I've you know I've been trying to think about you know we could do one on the strategic plan or different things but it also seems right now that the budget is just such a looming
issue that It might be that, you know, for the remainder of this year, we're not going to have great luck getting people, you know, interested in engaging on things other than the budget because that's just, I think, going to be such a pressing
topic for a little while. So, I think it'd be good to get their input on what they think would be of interest and if they have any thoughts on um format, you know, um
are we should is this something that would be most effective if it was like for the staff of a specific school? um or you know just a more general open invitation to anyone. Maybe we can just kind of get that get
those thoughts and then go from there and try and get something scheduled for March. >> Okay. >> So you you would want to oh just scheduled not scheduled within March or have the meeting in March. I thought you wanted to have it a little bit after the budget. I just want to make sure I
understand. >> I mean, I was thinking in March, like have try and hold a forum in March, but >> Okay. >> Um, you know, if that doesn't seem doable, then >> Oh, no. Yeah.
>> You know, before we get into all the busyiness of the April and May are going to be hect hectic for everyone, I'm sure. So, >> yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. Excellent. >> Sounds good. >> Right. Um, I can kind of going back
on the district improvement plan. Um, I'll give some thought to what like a summary document might look like. >> Oh. >> And then we can go from there. Whether we want to come back and discuss that or whether it's sort of something that we want to hand off to, you know, the
communications subcommittee has done a good job with putting together, you know, like that budget roadmap and whatnot. So, they might be able to just kind of run with that, too. I can talk to Melissa about, you know, what she thinks makes the most sense.
>> Okay. >> All right. Anything else while we're on or? >> Nope. I think that's Yeah. Covered everything I thought we would. >> All right. Sounds good. You want to make a motion to adjurnn? >> I would like to make a motion to
adjurnn. I will second. Can do um a roll call vote. Al >> favor. >> Eight in favor. Motion carries two to zero and we are adjourned at 10:43. >> All right. Thanks, Kate. >> You I'll talk to you later.
>> All right. Part: 2
five. >> How are you, Jen? >> Mike, how are you doing? >> Oh, wonderful. >> What's new? >> Just trying to get payroll set up. Well, that would be good. >> All the little intricacies.
>> Yes, I'm sure. >> All right. I believe we are live streaming and recording and we can call this meeting to order at 3:34 p.m.
Uh, and we'll start with public comment. We have one attendee. If you want, if you could raise your hand if you have public comment, I can unmute you. Okay. So, we will move on to our uh
discussion items. The first of which is an update on the MHS roof project. Um, Mike, I'll just start this one by saying we there has been some chatter among the roof subcommittee
and so we are going to schedule a meeting um probably the week after next for just to review uh just to meet again and and I know you had some updates on
situ let me see if I can pull up that email Um, all right. So, Mike, this was the update that you shared with me after you met with the contractors on February 5th. Um, so
you you've been meeting bi-weekly with them. >> Yes. >> And, um, looks like we're going to have pre-unctional testing scheduled the week of >> well, next week. >> Yeah. So that is that is really what
they do up. They go up there on the rooftop and they they look at all the systems that are up there, all the HVAC systems, any venting, make sure everything's functioning at least to their not make a list of what's working and what's not working. That way anything that does go back on the roof, not that there's going to be much um
that's not being replaced. If it goes back on and it's not working, then it's on the contractor. If it wasn't working before it was taken off, then it's on us. So that's really just to make that's it's like a a checks and balances to make sure that you know a we don't say hey you broke something when taking it
off the roof and they don't say hey this was already broken. >> Got it. Um and then looks like the long lead time mechanical equipment has been released and is currently expected to be delivered sometime in June.
>> So yeah, we're we're still waiting for the list of what the long lead items are. I know that was that was requested of us a list them >> uh I have not received it yet >> but as they said that everything has been ordered and is released um for
manufacturing or shipping. So uh they said everything looks like it's in order to arrive um probably prior to the start of the the actual start of the the main project. And and again, the my thought all alongs on the HVAC units was that they are probably not going to go on the
roof until mid to late July at the earliest. So, uh even though the project's going to start in June, mid to late June, um you know, we had at least 30 days lead time between when the project started and when the when the units were actually going to even considered to be needed to go on the
roof. So, uh knowing that they're going to come in in June is is, you know, what we expected, but it's good news. Good. Um, and then I I guess going back to your bi-weekly meeting, they they are produc
producing these minutes. >> They are. And I in full transparency, I did not attend the meeting last week. I was tied up with something else. Uh, by the time I jumped on, it was it had been a quick meeting cuz by the time I got jumped on about 15 minutes late, they had all wrapped up. They were still uh
left field was still in the meeting room. So they gave me a quick brief update, but I did miss the majority of I missed any of the contractor discussion. So I had to rely on the >> which it looks like Homer is producing the the uh >> Yeah, I'm sorry. Homer, right? Homer did
produce that list of um things. I I can't that's why I can't find it because it wasn't from Leaner, >> right? Yeah, it's it's from Yeah. So that'll be good. We can review those if we need to. It'll be a good record of of what's been going on. And then the only other thing that I had was that you were
thinking about I don't know if you've made any more plans about April or if you've heard anything about that or is it just dependent on weather to to do some of the smaller sections? >> Yeah, I think they were talking about doing two or maybe two possibly three
small sections of the roof. Uh these are roof areas that don't have um primary HVAC units on them. They're smaller sections and they felt like they could certainly uh tackle those with with 5 days of nobody in school. Um you
know, I was talking to them about cranes and things like that and they said that they uh the roofers themselves will use what they call lulls l I believe luls uh to lift materials up under the roof. So they actually don't need a crane. The crane is going to be primarily for removing and reinstalling HVAC uh
equipment. >> Okay. Um so that's sort of the end of those updates that you sent me. Jen, do you have any questions? >> Um that was for the um that was for the high school roof. >> High school roof. Yeah.
>> Um nope. I think I think that was good. It doesn't Yeah. So I You guys haven't met, right? No, we're gonna Well, I'm I'm away next week, so we're going to meet the week after that uh with the >> to sort of
spin that back up. >> Okay. Okay. >> Yeah, I um I don't have an updated budget right now, but I can what I what I can tell you is that um the budget
there have been no change orders. So everything on the budget should still be as as as planned. Um and I will get a budget update from Lena >> in the near future and share it at our next meeting. >> Great.
>> I I asked for it as facilities. It doesn't seem that the school committee seems to have an interest in it. So I don't I assume if you just update the subcommittee that should be fine. >> Yeah. And I think that really from a budget standpoint, the only update should be if there's something that's not that wasn't already proposed and
approved, you know, any changes to any changes to the to the existing uh plan. >> Okay. >> Or budget or budget or or proposals or, you know, bids. >> Okay,
>> good. Well, if we're ready to move on to the vets roof. Sure. Uh so just an update on the vets roof. Um we are in conversations with the contractor, the general contractor. Um you know, as it was built to me, this
was supposed to be a pretty small project. We did not hire an OPM because it was under the million-doll threshold. Um we put the bid out and um a contractor was awarded the bid based on low bid. Uh he subbed out the pro the
project, which is typical. And um the contractor that performed the work uh looks like they missed a critical step when they were putting on the new roof. There was a lot of things that were done great. Uh just some things that weren't. And one of them is um it's two sections of roof, an upper section and a lower
section. The upper section um has I'm going to call them for for lack of a they've got um channels that run down. So the water runs off the upper section down to the lower section uh through what they call weepholes in the brick. And the contractor uh who was doing
this, the subcontractor wrapped the new roofing up over those weepholes and that caused the moisture or the the rain or anything primarily rain precipitation uh instead of running onto the roof to
the drains ran behind the or under the roofing material, the new roofing material and um actually provided quite a bit of damage to that section of the building. Uh, fortunately for us, there's only one or two classrooms in that section of the building. Um, and
they were easily relocated. Uh, however, MHTV is does occupy a good portion of that section of the building. So, uh, I'm not even sure. I don't think they're back in the building yet. >> They're not. >> Yeah, not yet. So, um, we're we're having discussions with the contractor
on the way to make this right. Um, they've made a proposal. We don't necessarily agree with all facts of all points of their proposal. We're we're having a meeting with them scheduled. Hopefully, it's for next week or or shortly the week after. Uh you know, certainly with the amount of snow we have, nothing's going to happen with the
roof right now until springtime, but we want to make sure that when we're ready to get up on the roof, we have a plan that everybody agrees on. Uh, I've also included um Steve Cummings from the town's
uh facility department and um Mark Leeman has been assisting us in these conversations and expectations of the contractor. So, uh it's good because I I mean I while I have general roof knowledge, I don't have specific roof knowledge on how things should happen.
I've never replaced a rubber roof in my life. Uh, and for those who know me, I'm not one to get up on the roof too often cuz I just don't like it up there. Um, anyway, so, um, I should have a more of an update probably two to four weeks. Um, you know,
certainly by the by the middle of March, we should have some type of an update as far as what the plan is. I can tell you that we have paid zero dollars uh to this contractor and they started this project in
late August, early September. So, they are out material costs, labor costs, anything that they've put into this, they have not received a dime from us. So, uh and I don't plan on releasing any payments until we've got um some significant progress made towards a resolution. >> But it it is I mean this has been a long
time. Yeah, we're going on what I guess probably just about five, six months now. Uh it's all I think I think we experienced the issues in October. So all of November, all of December, all of January is full, three full months. Um it happened, you know, middle of October
and now we're into middle of February. So we're probably four full months, four full months into this uh since we've known of a problem. And like I said, it started the project started probably a month before that. So we're we're at least five months into this project. And uh like I said, no payments have been
made to the contractor and at this point we have no intention of making payments to the contract. >> Yeah. But we need to get the roof fixed. >> Yeah. Oh, of course. Right. And that that is our first priority. Uh just unfortunately right now there's nothing we're going to be able to do while this roof with a snow on the roof. So our our action plan right now is to identify the
issues. Well, we've already identified the issues. Identify the resolution plan that's acceptable to both the county and the contractor. um you know without getting into too much publicly because you never know where this could end up um I believe that we do have the
leverage because we have not paid anything and they have not provided the service that we contracted with them. So if >> but once I mean once the spring comes don't we I mean don't we want to get going with another contractor?
So, this general contractor has already lined up another subcontractor, a separate a different subcontractor who is more familiar with commercial roofs or more of an expert on commercial roofs. Um, you know, they've demonstrated that with with some on-site visits to us that we feel confident with
their subcontractor. um if we can't come to resolution on there's some there's some sticking points on things that they'd like to do and things that we'd like certain ways that they think they should do things in certain ways that our our consultants
being uh you know like Steve Cummings and Mark Leeman Todd um they like to see things done a certain way and the contractor saying no that wasn't you know that wasn't our expectation so we're just going back and forth a little bit and again I don't want to get into too much details but you know just
because if this ever get ended up in litigation, I I don't want to have, you know, this recording or this meeting, the minutes from this meeting or the recording, you know, damage the the case for the town and and I'm hoping it doesn't get to there, you know, but just always cautious that we need to make
sure that we're not saying something publicly that um could come back to harm us in the future. >> Is the condition of the roof currently stable enough we're not getting any additional damage and water? >> Correct. Yep. So, the contractor did
come on site and and that's that's why we have faith in the in the contractor that they've introduced now. Uh because they did come in, they identified the areas, they quickly fixed them, they patched them. Uh and that really that was done within a week or two of the damage that occurred, but the damage
with especially to MHTV was so severe. um you know that we we and they haven't and there's a lot of insurance a lot of insurance going on and stuff like that that the that area has not been restored back to its normal the interior um space has not
been restored. Um you know and some of some of the things we're going back and forth on is whether insulation is wet or not. Um uh what that could mean to the roof deck if it is wet and it's not replaced. Um, you know, certainly we're trying to protect the town and saying that, you know, anything that's that
showed previous moisture needs to be replaced from the insulation standpoint. Even though you may think it's now dried out, we don't believe that insulation will ever fully dry um when it's covered with a rubber, you know, rubber roof. So, we're going back and forth. That's that's the stuff we're kind of going
back and forth on right now. >> All right. uh ready to move on to update on capital requests for FY27. >> Yep. >> Sure. I mean I uh I don't have any
update you know we provided our capital request to the town. We had it prioritized um cate you know kind of priority A b and c or one two and three and you know life safety always takes the top priority for us and then we also had two
additional categories beyond facilities. One is rolling stock and the other one is technology. Uh we've we presented it to the town. I have to say I based on the the conversations right now about the financial out outlook for the the town I don't foresee that there will be
a whole lot of money allocated to capital which is unfortunate because you know if we don't maintain our buildings and don't stay on top of things they will just continue or they they will begin to deteriorate. So, it's certainly one of those things that we want to stay on top of. But, uh,
as as the capital request was approved by the school committee for submission, that's what we submitted to the town. >> So, we have a place marker for um, you know, for uh, the ability to borrow
for capital needs. I believe we submitted as part of the warrant. So I mean if that's something that we want to we don't have to say that right now but prior to town meeting um would we want to present this to the committee to consider whe the committee wants to do
any borrowing? >> Um the committee whether the committee wants to move forward the warrant article for the town to borrow. I'm not sure. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. trying to show that >> because you know there's no there's no money in the budget to for the or the
school department budget for us to to go into some type of debt for with for this type of stuff. But you're right there is uh on the warrant articles I'm just bringing those up right now. Um there is a warrant number 14 on our list was uh to see if the town will
appropriate or transfer available funds for uh the purpose of um >> it should it say or borrow I think it should say >> yeah or borrow. Yeah bonds and or notes. I'm sure there's several in here. I just want to make sure I'm reading the right one. Let's see there was another. Yeah. uh
appropriate sum of money for the purchase making renovations and extraordinary repairs including all professional feasibility studies, design, architecture, blah blah blah to the five school buildings listed out individually and uh Eveless school is also in there and uh transfer of an
unused prior appropriation or borrowing authorities for such purposes. Uh debt for debt exclusion. Yeah. So there is uh that's article 12 that we not article I shouldn't say article because the >> the topic the article >> yeah we don't know what yeah >> our our our list was numbered so that we
could keep track of them that was number 12 number 13 was technology and number 14 is um additional for capital other other capital outside of facilities I believe um so yeah I think at some point I mean
I think it's I think it's important to make sure that people know what our capital needs are because we want to keep our facilities as um state-of-the-art as possible and as functioning and functioning as as well as possible. Um and my concern is that just the conversations I've heard
or or through the state of the town and other channels, the funding just probably isn't going to be there to fund capital. So, if we go >> they're not going to earmark any >> uh I can't say that. I have no idea. Um, yeah. I mean, yeah, I I know what I would do, but
that's I'm not upstairs for >> Well, I mean, I think if if this is something, we don't have to decide this right now, but I would think that it potentially could be something this subcommittee could bring forward for consideration to the school committee
to to do that, you know, in light of um you know, if this town is not going to go forward with the capital ask or it's going to be much smaller. smaller than we're looking for. >> Yeah, I think so. So, in my opinion, if the I think I think we have to wait a
couple more weeks and see what the town comes out with for a budget and a proposal for and see if there's any capital in there. If there's not, uh, it I think that the school department may choose to I think that the the committee should to consider whether they want to sponsor a debt exclusion for our portion
of the capital that we've submitted that we deem necessary for life and safety and uh to continue to have our buildings in peak performance uh so that we don't fall behind. So yeah, I guess my recommendation would be hopefully they
have a budget out soon and we know what is included in that budget for capital and once we know that we can move forward. >> Now we've got the placeholder on there. It's my understanding that we can add dollars to that at any time right up until town meeting. Correct. >> Yeah.
>> All right. We can um I think that at some point I don't know when we'll have to find out they you know they go to print on this they actually print the warrant and um if there's no dollar amount they it may get printed with
request to indefinitely postpone and so it's just you know it's just another hurdle you need to jump to explain on the floor town meeting you know we've changed our minds and we actually want to do it and we put in so if it's something we might be considering. We might want to do that,
you know, like in March um if we know anything and then we can submit to the town um or to the select board when they're preparing the documents what that amount is. >> Right. So, and I think we'll I mean we'll probably know by the warrant hearing. Correct. Uh what everybody's
budgets are. >> Yeah. Hopefully. We'll see. But I don't know what that means for capital. Like that's a separate thing. But hopefully, yeah, at the same time, they will put out what the capital um request will be.
And I think we probably So, I I think it would make sense for this it it's an option for this subcommittee to bring this to the school committee to consider. Um and we probably would need to have a recommendation from you and
maybe you and John on >> what are those? Is it all those items? Is it some of those items? like, you know, that probably needs, you know, we probably need to sharpen our pencils on that one. >> Of course. Yep. And, you know, again, I just maybe wait a little bit for Thatcher and and Alicia to maybe give us
some guidances or give us some indication of where the town is thinking on a capital and and I think that will drive our discussion as to whether we go and sponsor that exclusion to cover our capital. >> Okay. Uh because I can't, you know, if if they have nothing in the budget, I can't imagine there's any money in the
town to do with this without borrowing. >> Right. Right. And then we would need if we decided to go forward with it, we would need their help in determining because you need to have information about >> like if we're going to we're looking if we're asking to consider borrowing I don't know you know a million dollars
or a million5 or $2 million what is that um you know translate into to the average home taxpayer price average house price median home price d what that means their tax bill >> right and I work with I would certainly
work with leisure on Uh so the warrant meeting town meeting warrant hearing is on April 6. So um obviously we can't wait that long because we do need school committee to kind of for the full committee to indicate their
desire on what they'd like to see happen. So I will I'll follow up with Alicia and just see what she's got planned for uh capital. Um yeah, and maybe what we try to do is possibly
shoot for the um >> like the first >> maybe the March 5th or the March 19th school committee meeting to present for their consideration which would be you know in advance of the April 6th meeting. And that way we would
because you know we we need we would want if we were to go forward with this we would um how do I want to say this? Um, hope to get FINCOM's, you know, support on this um, for their warrantying. And so we, in order to do
that, we would need to have an amount for that April 6th meeting. >> Yeah. I'm wondering now we had we had set up uh sort of a schedule for I'm trying to find it in my schedule for
for meetings of of this subcommittee and I think the next one was supposed to be March 3rd or something. I I I'll find it, but I'm wondering if we want to adjust that so that we can
focus on that warrant article and have, you know, make a decision before the school committee meeting to bring that before them. >> Well, the school committee meeting is March 5th. So, I mean, if we're going to meet meet March 3rd or before that, we
that that should be sufficient. >> Yeah. I'm wondering if if it makes sense to push it back to the to the March um to the second March school committee meeting um and meet sort of the week of that
meeting. It it's a I mean the only um uh >> I mean we could you know what we could we could meet and then if we need to meet again you know just to discuss that one item if we don't have the
information we need let's then we can do that. Yeah, I just um I don't want to if we're going to go forward with it and so I so I think um couple things. I think if we present this to the school
committee for their consideration um it it might not be something gets voted on right away like they you know there might be want they might the committee might want time to sort of think about it. So if we were shoot for March 5th then potentially on the March 19th we could vote it. I want to give the
finance committee, you know, time, you know, to have, you know, to either join us in this meeting or have conversations, um, you know, with the finance committee and maybe the budget subcommittee does that just to make sure they're comfortable with it because again, you're going to want their we're going to want their support and I don't
want to be anywhere near bumping up on April 6th because if we're, you know, if we're like, you know, if we're voting this on our April 2nd meeting, that's not going to give them enough time to for them to consider it. So they just will not support it if they don't have time to consider it. >> Makes sense. Yeah. So we we have
something scheduled for the 3rd, March 3rd or >> I think that would be fine. I mean we should know more then about the town budget. We meet on the third. We can talk about it there. I mean really just all we're doing is bringing it forward to the school committee to consider and and but at on the third we can have a
discussion potentially with Mike and John, right? on does do we want to do this and if we want to do it how what are we asking for >> right >> so I know I >> two days later >> just for number sakes number sake I
brought up the the priorities um high priority items for us total about 675 >> can you share your screen is that possible once >> Henry gives me the green light here. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Can you see me?
>> Yeah. Uh yeah. >> Okay. So, this this grouping right in here is our high priority. You'll see over on the right column. These are the high priority. This is what school committee and the superintendent um well, the superintendent recommended as high priority and the school committee, you know, I believe agreed with that. So
these items here on the high priority, $676,000. Um then the next grouping is moderate. These are the moderate priorities. It's another $476,000. And then we get into some low priority which um you know requests that were
made of us and you know I you know it's $126,000. Whether we you know want to move forward with that or not it's a question for the committee. You know then we get into the wireless access points. those are pretty critical to us are operational and um two new vehicles
for transportation of students. Um so all total the list comes in at 1.677 million and again if you break that up and you say you know we we only want to go for high and moderate and you know the the technology in one vehicle you
know maybe you're looking at 1.44 you add in that second vehicle it's 1.55. So, you know, >> technically the rolling stock I think is a separate warrant article on the town side, but that doesn't funding that either. >> Yeah. So, uh I do know from Alicia that
um at a minimum the capital request will be for existing rolling stock that that has leases on it. Uh I'm not sure that they will be adding anything additional to that rolling stock. >> Okay. >> Um so, >> but but ours but we're looking to
replace. we are looking to replace, but uh these are no longer on these have already rolled off the rolling stock. You know, it's not like, hey, this this lease is up. We're and we're not going to have $1,000 a month payment this anymore on this vehicle, so let's roll it into a new vehicle. This is a 2013
and a 2015. So, they're they're 11 years an 11y old school bus and a 13y old school bus, uh which certainly would have been awfully funded by now. >> Okay. So, >> okay. >> So, just to give you an idea, I mean, I'll all I'll all total all of our ask
came in at 1677. >> All right. Well, let's put that on as an agenda item. Mark that for an agenda item for the whatever you said March 3rd. >> And who would uh when you say let's you talking to?
>> Well, uh probably um Henry. >> Okay. I just want I just >> Yeah. >> Yes. if it's something I needed to do, I just wanted to make sure I I knew I had to do it. >> So, I'm on it. >> And what time are we meeting on the 3? >> Uh, we scheduled all of these for 10 a.m. >> 10 a.m. Okay.
>> Or that's what So, um, I'll send an invite, a Google invite just so that it's on our calendars. >> Okay. >> I have it on mine. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay, great. Back to the agenda here. So, as we feel comfortable with with with the update I
given I've given on capital. >> Yeah, I am. >> Yeah. All right. Next item is schedule walkthrough of all buildings for February and or March or >> Yeah. I mean, I I I do not that I've gotten too many of them in this year
just because everything that's going on. Um I do like to do building walks. like to get the principal, the head custodian, Todd, uh, you know, our facilities director and we walk the buildings once or twice a year. Um, you know, I did it right before school opened up and, you know, this probably
this time of year that we should be walking them again, uh, Todd and I, just to kind of set expectations for the summer and whatnot. Uh, if you guys want to join us on those, we can certainly start scheduling them. if you want to um schedule something outside of the
custodian and the and the lead custodian and the principal um you know certainly open to that also. >> Yeah. No, I think that would make sense. I mean it's just to yeah walk through and just see what the state is of the buildings.
>> Yep. Yeah. I'm available. >> Okay. So, um, how would you like to are you thinking like one a day once a week or you want to try and bang out five in one day? I I I think that's a lot. Um, >> um, I don't know that we can do five in a day, but I'd like to do it over maybe
like three or four days and just maybe do like two a day. >> Okay. Spread out over maybe two weeks or you trying to get everything in in one week? >> Um, >> I'm just trying to being selfish. Sorry. I know we've got I've got competing things also and not I don't not that I
necessarily have to be in every one but I think I should. >> Are you around next week, Henry? Are you on Are you on vacation? >> I am away. I'm away next week. >> Okay. Um >> I'm also probably going to be out the first part of the next week, too. There's some >> Okay.
>> So, the earliest we're looking at is maybe like the 25th >> of February. Well, that Yeah. >> Yeah. I think he said if he's going to be away. >> Are you back by then, Henry? >> Uh, let's see. So, out next week. Yeah, I I
probably the 26th. >> Okay. Do you want to do like the 26th? Maybe the 27th and maybe the We have a meeting on the 3rd. Maybe the second and the fourth or something. I'm I'm I'm
>> I think we could like if we schedule the Brown and Brown and uh Glover for one day, we can probably, you know, get those both done in a morning or an afternoon. Um I think the high school is a a full day by itself.
>> Yep. >> And then, you know, we might be able to to lump village and and pets together. >> I don't know. >> Yeah, I know. I I want I want you to see as much as a as possible. >> Village is a big school. It is >> and village is kind of a for me a bit of
a you know quagmire. I'd like to really scrutinize that a bit because I feel like there's been like a mission creep at village school. So >> So what if we did like the 26th
>> we start at the Brown School in the morning or Glover either way. Yeah. >> And then and then we jump over to um Glover or Brown, you know, flip it, whatever. And I think two hours two hours is probably enough.
>> Yeah. Each, >> right? Yes. I'm sorry. Y >> So So right now I've got Brown from 9 to 11 and I'll I'll send these on invites. Um >> and Glover like 11:30 to 1:30. Well, I do have a we have a have a high school
that's our bi-weekly meeting for for the high school roof. I just said I just I just said 9 to 11 and then 12 to two. >> Okay. >> On the 26th. >> Okay. >> And and I'll I'll send out invites. I've got them on my calendar right now, but I
want to make sure I include the principles, the head custodians, Todd, uh both of you obviously, and just make sure I I don't miss anybody when I send out the invites. So then that opens up to to Friday. Um, you know, do you want to try and tackle the high school or you do the high
school? >> So maybe block off 3 hours 9 to noon >> or prefer something 11 11 to 2. >> That would be better for me. 11 to two. >> I my guess is that we probably want to tour these when people are in the building so we can see, you know,
activities that are going on and and whatnot. So uh >> when passing between classes. >> Yeah. That works for me. >> Okay. >> So then we have village and >> we'll move on to the next week I'm assuming, right? >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. The second and the fourth. >> Yeah. I What I mean second I you know it would have to be after probably 11 for me. >> Okay. >> That's >> want to do village that day. Yeah, >> at 11 or do you need like 11:30?
>> What? Whatever works. I mean, it's just we have our central office meeting at at 9 each Monday morning. So, >> does it go two hours? >> Uh, sometimes. >> So, want to say 11:30? >> Yeah, let's do 11:30 >> at village.
>> Is that two hours or is that going to be >> uh let's let's block for two and a half maybe? Yeah. >> Okay. >> 11:30 to 2. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> It's a big building. >> Yeah. >> A lot going on up there.
>> Yeah. >> It's the best building in my I think it's the best one of the best buildings, but >> I don't disagree. >> I don't disagree. No, I mean all of our buildings have there there are certainly advantages to all of our buildings and
there were >> I love the buildings >> drawbacks to each of our buildings. That was the best bang for the buck. That was a repair project. >> Yeah. Renault addition. >> We renovated the entire school. >> Reno edition, right? They put this the second >> 12 million. Um, we entirely renovated
the school. That was that was a great project. >> So, that would leave us for the fourth uh wide open all day on the fourth. So, just kind of tell me what time works for you guys. That would be for bets. >> Want to do that at 9:00.
9 to 12. You said it be take some time. >> Um I don't know if it'll take I don't think the vets will take three hours. The vets isn't that big. >> Maybe two. >> I'll throw it on for 9 to 11:30. Finish up. >> Yeah. It's not that big a building >> there. You know, I'm sure you're going to want to see this the space that's
been affected by >> Yeah. And also the the the pack. All right. Great. We do not need to post for those >> right as and we just right >> don't deliberate. Yeah. >> Right.
>> Which brings us to update on building maintenance including budget. >> I'm sorry. Um >> are do you need a second to go? >> Yeah. No, I was just saying like where are like is there are there any updates you know in terms of just the the routine? You guys had a you know you have a pretty sort of
>> Yeah. So, I mean I can give you a few a few a few updates of what's going on. Um so we you know we you may know we uh replaced the HVAC rooftop units at Glover over the last summer. Um, we seem
to have a recurring issue where there's a breaker or something that is tripping uh in this tremendously cold weather streak that we've had. Um, we've asked for the contractor to come out on site along with the manufacturer. >> Is this a Glover?
>> This is a Glover. Yeah. >> Um, >> you know, the first time it happened, we didn't know what was going on. We had to wait for them to come on site. They said, "Oh my god, yeah, this is a it's a breaker on the roof that we're aware that this is potential tripping, you know, concern, tripping, meaning circuit breaker tripping, not tripping over your
feet." >> Um, they reset it and the heat came back on. Unfortunately, you know, our our staff and our students were in there and it was a Monday morning, of course, and it was a little chilly. So, um, and I won't sugarcoat it, it was cold. Uh, not a little chilly, it was cold. So, um,
and then it happened again the following Monday morning after the weekend. um you know, even though we have building checks on the weekends and whatnot. So, um it happened again. We got up on the roof. I guess we reset it pretty quickly or I say pretty quickly, we reset it
more quickly than it originally had had done the week before. Um so that at that point we requested the manufacturer and the uh installer to come on site. Uh this has been six months it's been installed. It should not be having these
types of exper experience this type of issues. So, that's the Glover update for um what's going on there. Um I I do have a brown update. Um we had a a a um an
aroma coming out of the HVAC system. Uh at first it was thought to be snow drifts on the roof that were causing some issues with filters and whatnot. Um, I think other people went over the building and said, "Yeah, I think it's more than that." So, we called the
contractor in. Uh, they identified that we have two motors in one of the heating units on the roof. One of the mo two of the motors within one unit have failed. This is at Brown School. Uh, it's just a motor. I'm going to say just a motor.
It's a fan warranty. >> It's a fan motor. I believe we're outside of warranty, but we're contacting Dacon because Dacon is the manufacturer. Um, so these are fan motors, so they they operate a fan. Uh, what happened is these these motors
failed and because they failed uh they were trying to, you know, the fans are trying to run and uh due I don't know if current and whatnot, but the the the the wires that are supplying that motor overheated to some extent. So they there was never a fire damage, but there was
um there was some melted wire was what was causing the scent in uh it was probably four or five classrooms. Um as soon as we shut the unit down, open the windows, uh the smell dissipated pretty quickly. Um and we have quite honestly,
we've not quite honestly um we've been watching the temperatures in those five rooms because there's no heat turned on to them right now. No primary heat, there's secondary heat. uh and they're all holding above uh between 68 and 72 degrees. So, uh you know, classroom doors are open, letting air flow through
um but no direct heat in those classrooms and they've been holding so far this week. So, we're at least not freezing the little guys out, little kiddos out. Um Todd did get a little update today about those fan motors. Um
seems like they are uh not readily available. So, we are going to remove the motors early next week and find somebody locally, you know, when I say locally within the United States, who can rebuild these
motors in quick quick um succession because I understand that these motors may not be inexpensive either. >> How do they I mean, it was only installed like four years ago, but whatever. >> Yeah. Well, >> crazy. >> Yeah. warranties on buildings aren't,
you know, we will certainly fully explore the warranty of the product, but um >> yeah, >> four years maybe beyond its its warranty. Those that's the two heating updates. Um >> sorry, Mike, I wonder if Brian Sarapin might be able to help with
>> find it because I know he's in HVAC and he's offered to help. So, >> that's great. So, we we might we will definitely reach out to Brian next week once we have the motors off of the roof. Um, and check in with him and see what you know what he might be able to advise. I mean, as you know, it's a fan motor. Um, you
know, to to do an exact replacement, those are the ones that have a long lead time. Um, usually there's something when you're talking about a motor that is interchangeable or some type of a substitute. So, maybe there's something that's more readily available and and possibly at a lower cost. Uh so we need
to look at that. >> Uh since we're on the heating issue, um vets had a heating issue. Also, there was a uh a rooftop unit there that um had a some type of a wheel uh a fan type
wheel that failed and uh cold air was pretty much I guess basically rushing into that classroom space. So, there were a couple of classrooms at vets that were cold for a few days and so we were able to get um the contractor on site to replace that wheel. Um I did call in a
consultant that I've used before. Uh well, they actually the consultant works for Left Field who is our roof OPM, but this particular consultant is uh MEP specific mechanical electrical plumbing. Uh he came on site, helped us quickly diagnose it that morning. I I c I texted
him at 7:30 in the morning and he was here in Marvel by 8:30 which was great. Um and I diagnosed the issue there and then we sent him over to Glover because it happened to be the same morning that Glover was experiencing their issues. >> Wow. >> So, uh vets is back online. Vets is all
set. That's running. Uh and I guess the good news is that I've not heard any heating issues at village or the high school. Um uh I won't say that at the high school, that big entrance area, the big foyer. Um it does get cold in the winter time. You know, it's it's a big
high ceiling. You know, it's twotory big open space. Um we're looking at a couple of different options. One would be to put a um a large fan. And I believe that there's a like a industry used term.
It's called big something fan, you know, big threeletter word fan. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Um Yeah. And so we're looking at how we can uh maybe put one or two of those up there just to kind of keep the air all that heat is just rising to the to the second floor. >> Yeah. >> How do we push it back down? Uh and the
other thing is um possibly consider installing a heat curtain uh on the entrance doors uh right there. We know where the where the students and uh come in >> like an actual curtain. >> It's no it's called a heat curtain. It actually blows hot air down on you when it's triggered when the door opens.
triggers um a blower to blow warm air or hot air down. Um it's called a heat curtain. Um so we're we're exploring those two options there. Um other than that, Michelle has not reported any heat issues at uh the high
school and and Scott hasn't reported anything at at Village. So >> So hey, three out of five buildings have heat problems. Uh, one of them resolved, one of them we know how to reset when there's an issue, but we're bringing the contractor on
site and the vendor to let us know why this continues to happen. And the third one, we have to replace those two motors. >> Okay. And then any other And then you have this sort of long list of maintenance items throughout the year. So
>> that's >> Yeah, I think I've been a little busy lately. I I say I I was meeting with Todd every other week and um generally that list is created by me doing my building walks with the principles and since I haven't done that since uh probably the summer late summer um we
haven't added many things to it. Things get added to it when somebody calls me and said and tells me they have a problem. But I usually identify more things when we're walking through the buildings talking to you know our staff, our teachers and our our you know cafeteria staff, our teachers, our custodians. uh they let us know what
what needs to be addressed. So, um I do have that running list. I just haven't added much to it this year uh to date. >> Go ahead. >> But I'm sure after our five building walks, it will uh get some additional items added to it.
>> Well, especially if we're going to have the custodians, Todd and the principal with us, right? that would that should cover you know I mean that doesn't cover individual teachers but you know we may hear from teachers too when we see them like in their classrooms but hopefully
they're sharing their stuff with um with their principal >> I agree. Yeah. >> Yeah. And is on that on those buildings walks do you is that when you're identifying sort of a punch list for the summer >> or do you do
Yeah. for me, you know, a lot of times for me it's a cleaning list, um, and a punch list. It's, you know, how do we get these things, you know, things that aren't capital, but things that are, you know, need do need to replace whether they're blinds or, you know, uh, maybe some tile or, you know, something,
whatever it happens to be. But for me, it's also how do we, you know, get these baseboards a little cleaner? How do we get you make sure we don't get wax on them when we're waxing the floors? and uh how do we make sure that we're we've got the tools and equipment needed to dust the high window sills that are in the corridors or the or the stairways
that are hard to reach? How do we make sure that Todd, you know, is is re working with his vendors, his his uh supply vendors to get us the tools that can make sure that our guys can our guys and ladies can um reach those areas
safely and you know without you know climbing high ladders and whatnot. Could we have a copy of that list? That sort of ongoing list for the building walkthroughs. >> Uh my running list. >> Yeah, >> I think we have it, but maybe an
updated. >> Yeah, it's Yeah, I I should probably give you an updated one. Uh yeah, absolutely. Of course. Um and it is broken up in I learned I learned I had to go back through and rename everything that I start everything with the building name that is so that I can it's sorted alphabetically.
>> Y >> uh so great. Yes, I can certainly share that. I will >> share the Todd I call it the Todd list. >> Yeah. >> Um Okay, good. Are we ready to move on to discussion of Everest site?
>> Yeah. >> All right. I think with without John here, we may not have a lot to hear. I don't know. Michael or Mike, are you are you um >> Have you had any conversations with John?
>> I have not. No, >> not I mean we have frequent conversations, but I'm not sure that. >> Yeah. And I don't remember I can't remember when the last time was we met or not if I had mentioned I might have um I had had a conversation with Dan Fox
and I think I did update everybody and the park and wreck um one of the board members and the I don't know what Jamie is. She's the head of wreck I guess. Um and they do
have an interest in um possibly a project in that building with us um because they are kind of outgrowing the community center in you know conjunction with the COA. They're both sort of um you know together have
outlived that that that size of that building. So there was some interest in that. So um that was just an initial discussion that I had sort of offline. Um and I did bring that to John. So I would
like to you know get some direction on where we want to go if anything to have a conversation with them. >> So >> I believe that what what we had decided was that we were going to make a clearer
proposal for what we would want to do with that site >> building. Yeah. you know, based on the the survey feedback we got, which was in it was enthusiastic, but the questions were a little vague, right? Because we didn't really say we're going
to be doing this. So, yeah. >> Yeah. So, maybe as I'm sitting there thinking about this that we should um we need to talk to John about this um which we can do March 3rd or or maybe one of us can speak to him about it separately offline.
um is you know do we want to do a joint survey with them just to see you know together what the interest would be because it would the idea would be if we're going to be looking possibly at this as a as a early education center or something to do with education they would be looking at you
know they have needs after school weekends vacation summertime so you know it would be you know programmatically what do we need what do they need um and then and then would we go forward say with the feasibility study uh possibly
together. Okay. Uh I'll I'll put it on the agenda for March 3rd. >> Okay. >> Again, um and I'll Okay. So, the only other thing I wanted to
mention, and I don't want to belabor because it wasn't on the agenda, but we should u probably put it on our March 3rd agenda, but I did let let Mike know uh yesterday. So, I was contacted by um the tree warden here in town, who I know
um and that's probably why he called me. Um but he is looking to um apply for a grant, a state grant for um uh funds. I think you said it was 75,000 to do a series of tree planting in at the high
school parking lot. Um there are several tiers of parking and then there's, you know, there's hardscape there that did at one point have trees or had some landscape that um or trees that have been removed and it really is um you know kind of like an asphalt jungle up
there. So um he's looking to to to apply for that. So, um I had suggested so I mentioned it to Mike um and John and one of the issues with this though is
that when we do plant new trees um they need to be watered to in order you know early on in the first like pretty aggressively I think in the first I don't know 6 months or whatever it is a year or so and so uh and there's no you know there's no irrigation up there so
his concern is you know would we be able to, you know, commit to, you know, be able to do that? And this has come up in the past. It came up at Glover and about, I think, about a year and a half or two years ago. And one of the
issues is that the there was a an issue with the bargaining the custodians bargaining unit that that's not part of their contract um to do that kind of work because that's probably who we would rely upon to do that. So, we need
to kind of look at that um a little closely and also just determine, you know, if not, you know, the custod staff like do we have the ability um to um to commit to taking care of those trees if they're going to get planted because he's not going to do it if we're not
going to be able to water them. And it's a good opportunity. So, we ought to we I mean, we ought to be able to solve this. >> Yeah. And like I I said, I think uh we certainly concerned about the the hot dry summer months, you know, July and August.
>> Um and you know, I think I need to have a conversation with um the head of the maintenance and custodial union just to understand what their objection was when when this happened two years ago. And maybe it was
sight specific or maybe it was um driven by other factors. Um, but you know, I think having conversations in advance can help alleviate future problems or or problems. >> You know, things don't need to become a problem. We can figure it out in advance. >> Y >> even if we need to, you know, do
something where, you know, we we volunt we have volunteers. >> Yeah. We might throughout the district go work with the custodians to make sure that, >> you know, that they can get the hoses out there or or get the buckets out there, whatever, and and move stuff and, you know, take some of the burden off of
the custodians. Again, I don't know if we're talking two trees or 200 trees. >> Uh, probably somewhere in between at 75,000 would be my guess. You know, probably 30 or 40 trees. I don't know, whatever. >> Right. >> Um, enough to, you know, fill a lot of that space, which would be great. I
mean, it really, you know, and these are, and the other thing I asked, I mean, we would have him come and, you know, obviously do a presentation to the to the entire committee, school committee. Um, but he did say these would be trees that would eventually be like 40 feet in height and they would really would give a canopy of protection
from, you know, sun, which is, you know, you that that's what you're trying to avoid is the heating up of the asphalt. Um, and I did, you know, I was concerned I, you know, again, I'm a, you know, I'm a lay person here when it comes to trees, but, um, you know, what does that
mean in terms of, you know, when you have big mature trees like that, do you end up having roots, you know, uprooting our, you know, parking lot stuff? and he said no, the way they the trees that they would buy and plant would not disrupt the asphalt or the hardscape, I guess. So, um that's good. Um so, yeah.
So, I thought >> Yeah. I mean, I think we'd have to look at a snow removal, but um you know, >> well, I don't know that you need to do snow removal. Well, you didn't need to do snow removal for the stairs, right, that goes in between the levels, but the but the planting, we don't remove snow from the planting.
>> No, I think we actually Right. We probably plow up onto the plantings, right? >> We probably do. Yes. >> So, >> yes. The other thing I would say, and we're getting way ahead of ourselves, but if we ever do get to this point, we might want to look at, you know, some of those stairs and those railings are bent. They're damaged. I don't know if
you've, you know, not all of them, but some of them are. So, it might be, you know, something we might want to look at as well. >> Yeah, I think that's the emmo. Uh in many of our buildings, including Mary Alley, um you know, snow removal sometimes takes a toll on um railings.
>> Yeah. >> So, yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Great. >> Not that I should not that I should not that we shouldn't be more careful. >> Well, you know, you're in it's 2 o'clock in the morning and you've got two feet of snow. What you know, you got to what are you going to do? >> Sometimes you back into something you shouldn't. >> Yeah, for sure. Um Henry, we didn't have
minutes at some point. Maybe >> I know I meant to put it on this one and I I but I it will be on the March 3rd meeting. I'll have all the minutes including this one. >> Did you want to include this tree discussion in the March 3rd meeting? >> Yeah, let's do that. Let's throw it on
there just so we have it. Um yeah. >> Okay, good. Yes. So I have uh for ne for the next meeting on March 3rd, I have minutes. I have capital requests uh discussion of Ealeth and the the tree warden and the grants. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay.
>> And in between we have a bunch of school visits. So, um, if we're all done, I will make a motion to adjourn. >> Uh, seconded. >> Okay. And we'll do a roll call. Jen >> in favor.
>> Henry in favor. And, um, the meeting is adjourned at 4:31. >> Great. Have a great weekend, guys. >> Thanks, guys. Have a good weekend. >> Thanks. Take care of.