uh good evening everyone it is March 27 at 6:34 um we are going to um have an open executive session first we'll go ahead and start open the meeting for for those purposes and then
we will be returning at 7 so I'll do the half of the script and return of first so as the chair of this meeting I need to confirm that all members and persons anticipated on the agenda are present school committee members when I call your name please respond affirmative
laura Hogan yes mary Brownley yes fishb is not able to make it this evening staff needs Yes h yes and is anybody else joining us for executive session no okay
um we will go back to the student um this meeting of the school committee is being conducted as a remote meeting as allowed by chapter 2 of the act of 2020 sign by W on March 29 oh that sign the act continues to exempt
certain provisions under law regarding remote meetings and public access until March 31st pass already this or uh this committee is meeting via zoom and in person as posted on the district website option for a remote meeting and
our participation is being provided as currency to the public this meeting or not suspended or terminated in public I'm sorry technological problems interrupt the virtual broadcast um to promote attendees unless otherwise by law for speaking recorded accordingly
be aware that other folks may not share your computer broadcasting um with the agenda of tonight's meeting materials are posted um in the folder 2023 2024 school committee and um before we move on to
the first agenda I'm going to call the meeting to order um since we are all in person we do not have to have all um to open the meeting but we will actually open the exam session so uh we are opening the public meeting or the open
meeting um at 6:36 and then Now let me uh go ahead and move on to the first item of the agenda which is
um the exe so um we will now move to the executive session uh under MTL chapter 3A section 21A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collaborative bargaining with the MSA professional unions open meeting
will have a detrimental um effect on the bargaining position of public body their chairs school committee will return to open meeting and such so now we will um roll call to enter into executive session with Mary Grammy yes yes yes
natasha yes okay we are now returning from our executive session and so um and I'm go ahead and just um pick up where we left off from
the script information so I did see Kaylee you'll be good to see you you'll be here for our student record uh Wayne awesome wayne can you hear yes I can hear you wonderful and then I I see we have a couple of other staff um and
Keith and and Liz as well and hi Carol to see you um and then I think that might be it for our staff all right so um public comments uh item on the agenda
is a demoted time for the school committee to hear from the public as such it structure primarily supports a unidirectional reporting of public comments represented by directional conversation there are other general rules for any public member wishing to speak um if make a comment during the virtual
meeting may do so by speak by signing up in advance on the link provided on the agenda please have your Zoom name match so we'll be able to speak all public comments are limited to three minutes to ensure that everyone who wishes to
comment has the opportunity to be heard no person may comment more than once without the permission of the chair as time allows the chair consider allowing person to comment a second time especially if it's related to a topic that has not yet been brought up any person wishing to submit a comment in
writing with the chair may do so by emailing comments in advance meeting ma us include public comment in the subject line um and your first and last name and your town to make sure
that up to all the top comments only be read up to three minutes and they'll be suspended at the three minute mark but comments and times will be limited it is suggested that you keep your comments to 350 words um and then I think that's it before we
move on to the now second items of the agenda um just a couple of ground rules i'll introduce each speaker after each speaker um uh finishes I will go to each member and ask if anyone has any comments questions or questions please
hold speaking with your name is Paul if members wish to engage other members please do so chair finally vote tonight uh and this meeting will be conducted um um just as without roll call because we are all in person and now we will go
ahead and move on to the third item actually on the agenda is public comments and I don't know if you have any public comments i can't [Music] agree um it might be just being a
general um yeah it might be just through general comments um but no it's not part of school committee's um agenda interesting other I guess indicated but okay but we we have there have been people who have been um
communicating with the superintendent and their team about that so it is an ongoing um matter if you do have any comments you wish to make on the matter you're certainly welcome to be just responding Yeah I was coming oh yeah i don't know how it does say
Thursday March 27th at 7 p.m so I don't know just as a reference but that agenda items right um all right so um Brian um it looks like we don't have any other public
comments or emails so do you want to do Oh yes sorry yep it looks like I No business right hi Kaylee welcome um for highlights we have March Madness
the week and the schoolwide competition both went very well um we did run out of time at the end of our pep rally because we were struggling to find volunteers for all the activities um which set us back a little bit and on timeline so we did have to kind of do a shortened version of tugofwar but I think it all
worked out um Miss Learner and the ninth graders were prepared with volunteers for every game costumes for everything theme watching the freshman made it really fun the seniors also did very well and they won um the English MCAST took place this
week students were encouraged to do their best as it counts for scholarships the sealed by literacy etc but for the first year not for graduation um international dinner/ international week uh international
dinner took place um tonight and it was incredibly successful um the posters for international week are being judged by the staff tomorrow i believe all the language classes um made some
um pyramid concert band and chorus concert between the high school Fowler and Green Meadow is also taking place right now uh hopefully that's going well spring store spring sports started um and are all going well softball had a
scrimmage yesterday and did great 120 to9 I believe um a fire drill and Alice were both held both were scenario-based and the students had to listen and think about what to do uh WAVM the application
process for next year's CEOs headte crew and head hosts have begun and WAVM is planning the end of year banquet they're also having a field trip to Kimble Farms um so lunch the menu is finally on the
TV screen that there's three TVs hanging um above the lunch line and we finally found a way to get the menu um displayed there um upcoming the MEF 25th spring celebration is um this
weekend on Saturday I believe Sunday maybe um the winter sports awards is uh on March 31st um and term three ends on April 4th which is next Friday um and
prom tickets will go on sale on April 7th on April 16th um the CDMAC spring conference at Oakmont junior Kaylee Donahghue is running for CDMAC president um senior projects hannah Peters had a
leadership workshop and a guest speaker in March uh this already took place and it was very successful um the freshman and sophomores both participated in the workshop I believe um Chris Wilkins has an ab workout on May 1st it's an hourong
ab class so sounds challenging um Jeppi Molinario is having a cleanup on Earth Day so while we're all doing our Earth Day celebrations um with the whole thing we do every year um there'll
be a cleanup going on as his senior project um Shannon Kelly is creating an app um and Jenny Smith is making a website with resources for financial literacy after graduation oh thank you very much there's a lot
happening great to see you i know we haven't seen you in a while um I'm going to go around and see if anyone else has any questions or comments uh Merritt no thank you Jamie um I I love to see how creative everybody is with their senior projects i'm really loving Jenny Smith's
back of course I love yours too but uh Jenny Smith had there's so much conversation about financial literacy and that so I just um yeah that I'll do a great job see you broadcast thank
you first good luck on the election uh second I'm just being nosy where's the prom this year the prom is being held at the Choxa Inn in Sterling uh it's May 9th wow wow it's actually this it's we
didn't know when we booked but it's actually the sister venue or like the sister hotel of the place it was held last year in gardener so very nice very very nice so far um just congratulations on um going for
the running for the MD mass president hope you do well that's so awesome um I almost want to take that ab workout my ab started like I know i know
imagine how that challenging how sorry you'd be takes after sad what's that thanks Kayleie yes um and then uh thank you very much i actually did have one question you mentioned about the menus and I know um we had we
talked a little bit about um the food service earlier in the year and we um mentioned about getting the menus up has the has has the service or the options in your your view um
improved at all or what is your um experience in how things have um been resolved or responsive and in having food options available oh I will say as to like food quality I can't really speak on because I don't
eat the school lunches um I've been taking advantage of my junior privilege and going home for lunch but um what I do know is that they've changed the setup a little bit so they now have um a permanent like Mexican section where similar to how we have
like the Ruby's Grill for like sand like burgers and sandwiches and um there's the sandwich bar and the pizza bar now there's like every day there's going to be like a different whether it's nachos or burritos or tacos um in addition to
the main which I think is hopefully will help because I know a lot of kids felt that like it was like Mexican food like very often like they were eating nachos all the time and they felt like it was getting very repetitive so I feel like that will definitely open it up a little bit so there always will be an
alternative to that um and yeah so there's now the menu displayed on the screens um so you can see anytime before lunch like from when you walk in um what's for lunch that day which is definitely helpful resource so I think
in general I have heard less complaints and I'd say like I'd have to assume but I'd say the general consensus is that it's definitely improved and is the um even though you're not eating there is have you heard feedback
as far as um the frequency of things running out during lunch so whether that be um to main or that the Mexican bar um is that anything that you can speak of or just certain options I know
like have people who have no sort of dietary restrictions has that improved as well so I'm not entirely sure um I know that the running out of food has been an issue in the past i've sort of experienced that especially with the uh Ruby's Grill section like the chicken
patties and mozzarella sticks run out pretty quick um but otherwise I I don't really have much feedback on that unfortunately that's okay i know uh we asked um last meeting as well i just wanted to get your take because we hadn't seen you in
a while um you had any other um information to share so thank you very much also good luck uh hopefully you can get an update uh on on the outcome of the election so take care and see you yeah good to see you yes too
you're always also welcome to stay on uh we'll talk a little bit about budget stuff and I think that well actually I'll just share very high level so you can decide i said the school committee will for your awareness we'll be having um April 16th we'll be having um our
budget hearing and we will be talking about what school is going to be uh or what we're putting forward as our recommendation uh for our budget to the community and um part of that conversation will uh actually this year
is going to have two different numbers so we're going to be presenting the number that we feel the town which is what we uh we know the town needs or what our schools need for serving our students and our staff um but we also
have a different number that the um town administrator and the town have proposed which would uh underfund what we are able to provide so this is kind of um a big year for um you know our community
and our our anyone who wants to listen and get close information on it i would say that every meeting we're going to be talking about we have talked about it but we continue to be talking about numbers and how we're going to be going to town meeting um as well to to speak on it so please you know discuss you
know if there's any questions that anyone sack has about it um one thing that we are looking to we continue to include in our budget request is an athletic trainer um this has been a couple of years and you know being
discussed and you we uh gotten a little bit of push back on it uh as far as it feeling like a nice to have and not a need to have so I you know again really welcome any anyone to just you know
provide feedback to us on how on on how that might work but also just to participate and ask questions on anything that anyone would like to know more about yeah so this is actually um I did know a little bit bit about this as um my history class this year we're
doing our civics action project and we've been working with Mr pause and um we actually came to the decision as our civics action action project um to help raise awareness for the budget override and so if there's anything you guys any
recommendations you have anything you'd like to use us for um please reach out and let us know um I just want to add yes absolutely well so I think um let me I don't you know I'll certainly want to make sure it's supportive of what you're doing in
your class and you know however ever so um maybe if there's some options of what um you're thinking or what is part of that process maybe that can be communicated through uh and so that we can kind of you know plan strategically on how we can incorporate that to fit
the needs of what you're working on you know and overall but I'm sure we'll find some some effort as well i'm I'm also very hopeful that um you know 18 you know people who are eligible to vote um you know go register and now that would
be the first thing I would say is that this will be the first election for maybe some people who are turned 18 and so make sure you register to vote and make sure that um you know whether that's online or sending in um but that would be the first step is just being
eligible to vote when we can so um but we can connect more maybe on some options and I'll see actually when I have a future sack meeting u that able to go to we can also speak with area although I just it was on that um voting getting people getting the kids to vote
i know um there have been a couple of times in the past where I reached out to the town clerk to see if maybe we could have somebody at the cafeteria when the kids are coming in just to see you know get get you to register to vote and I was
told both times that there is a proactive um condition at the high school that the you know as soon as the kids do turn 18 maybe mentioned it or but um any help that we I'm happy to go sit with
registration forms and they can do it online they can do it online so I got somebody to to register to vote so that they sign my nomination papers okay but but that you need to take action and just like show up and yeah so thank you
thank you for explaining that is actually I'm so glad we brought it up and talked about it so we can actually come to come with my ideas and see what we can do that works uh within the parameters of what um is allowable and what supports uh your class project okay
thank you thank you back great thank you okay terrific so now um on to the superintendent report okay uh we celebrated neurodiversity week last week from 17th to the
23rd did have a donation which you'll need to take a vote on uh the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club graciously reached out to see if the followers school would be interested in accepting a piano donation it's the director's piano she hopes that follow
will be of the piano in addition the main music association moving bus it is an upright piano in terrific condition and will be a perfect addition to our music program very excited to this excellent upgrade to the
classroom donation to improve is um what is the cost of like tuning is that like the on um it'll need to be tuned because it'll get moved but we'll pay for that we don't have to pay for it and we don't have to pay to move it we can hand over to Okay we do that once a
year for all the Okay that's why you were supposed to be here um okay so then uh on this particular measure we're just um we're just moving to what go ahead and do it yes okay so I'll go ahead and move that
we accept the piano donation to fer uh to include um that also includes moving expenses second okay um borrow all right borrow a second all right so all in
favor oh wait discussion sorry okay all of you all agree all right the motion carries okay we are having our students and parents complete our annual ECP survey
um to gain information about um just all sorts of things how they feel how they feel included uh whether the curriculum makes them feel included if they have an adult we going in year three um and year two with
our parents so we're excited to start to collect that data it's a it's a it's a labor of love elementary school just getting a lot of tiny ones everybody else is pretty it's smoothly to try and get on the road to stay for
everybody and parents will have a week to do it but so that uh there's a little bit more information regarding immigration and a flyer that be shared Massachusetts it really wasn't
new information they're just they keep clarifying things um in terms of what information parents need to provide or don't need to provide for schools so we make sure we share that with all the
secretary formed as early as possible uh the Green Meadow Elementary School building project um right it's going well on track on time we have our weekly meetings things are going as as expected
um prog last week in budget communication was really good April 15th we're having that I literally got that email at um that MSBA confirmed that they will be
here so their executive director Jack anyway they'll be we'll invite all the invited uh once we get the specific if you can come if you haven't been to one it's a new experience the whole building uh committee gets gets
invited it's a public event it's outside anybody can come we have a meeting next week we'll definitely see if we screen it just depends on internet access at the location where they want it but it's super exciting it's kind of the that the
mark of we're all in and it starts we've already started but it's very exciting and after that point it's where the MSP will give us a big out the rendition of Yeah they want that yeah they want they want their name on it yeah so they're working on that as
well so that's really that's actually super exciting um we already talked about the international dinner uh community broadcast meet was last week uh the band is having a spring
fling tomorrow um at Fowler they had Bean Rose Junior last week which was a huge success um that's a tough one um middle school plays are awesome a lot of work pull that together put that together hold it
together and perform it kudos to them um Nature's Classroom for the seventh grade students is April 7th to the 11th so it's coming up green Meadow had their bingo for books which was a huge success and today because it just happened today
that wasn't in the report that we that I submitted earlier I got to spend lunch at the College of Holy Cross with the with Prince York and two seniors Josh Curtain and Emoy
Chow who are high achieving seniors and it's a it's the Worcester County Superintendent Association Scholars it's every year it's at Holy Cross and it's just a fabulous event where you're in a room with a whole lot of high very
successful high school seniors um they get a bag goodies if you will um certificate and they get recognized um so the superintendent the principles a wide some other people are there but it's really a special event
cuz you know how often do you get to take like a couple hours out of your day and just celebrate a couple hundred really strong kids also like many like the whole all your education was so so exciting was just beautiful day
beautiful event so at the end of junior year it's typically you're in your top 5% you need to be in the about F5 of the administration superintendent choose sometimes that shifts like because
you're choosing in your junior year so things often shift by like you could think you're the validictorian got chosen but in many places those numbers are hund you know point that could shift so it's not
always but high achieving kids it's just remarkable to hear all the things that they've done strongly certifications from dual enrollment classes to running clubs to AP exams just wide wide variety
from small big urban you know rural just a wide variety of great event very very special I know just first the um that um Emily has done work with women women in
science um Jean Garc um from you know that middle school but yeah um I actually just wanted to my apologies I was remissed but without saying thank you for the donation so I
wanted to actually try to priority thank you So I just want to make sure we thank the executive director for such a gracious
donation and I I hope that we are worthy of taking care of it i'm sure it has a lot of memories associated with it so some new ones but very very very excited and very appreciative of such a gracious gift so yes please send a thank
you um all right so now we are moving on to the school choice seats yep for um next year and
um um so we have the do you want to speak to the recommendations and a little bit of just context questions typically those are few seats for moveins at our grade level you can see we don't have a lot of open seats at the primary grades
because class sizes already at that cusp and a few kids have been in the mid20s right kids in a class possible you can see by middle school we have a little bit of room in there um so there's three and three for
six and seven which is reasonable and can absorb that and there is actually just because of enrollment there's bigger numbers at 9 and 10th grade and people that choose to join us
um so I know normally I me personally I would be like open let's just welcome but I I'm very worried about next year and um what the numbers are what they are yeah yeah so I you know just want to recognize that um because we don't
necessarily know how many blocks of um classes are going to be um it's really hard to decide now not it's really it sounds like we just need to be more conservative um that for this year but
um Colleen just from a procedural perspective if for some reason you know things change like during the year it could revisit our school choice policy to post it in June to state we have to give our numbers to testing okay but there's at no point is our discretion so
like if something were like you know to work out where our funding uh so the next year didn't um I did actually pose that question to legal this year yeah um if we had to stick with Jessie and there's no real it's kind of gray it's a little gray area and he said that it's
best to stick with you okay because that's supposed to go right right yeah I see those okay um does anybody want to hear more about um so with the Spanish
emer kids you know it's decreasing and I just wanted to understand why that is because in the past you've had you know like 27 or something 26 in kind and so you know even if they filter trade out
still have like 20 in fifth grade only ever it doesn't get down to 16 right there were a tough class I think
They were they were Yeah so sometimes it depends because they're not my lottery it's you have a year where you have a lot of special education kids or something it might be that some of them right
here might need more supports and you know because it's not you know not based on you know splitting across all three like all the you know so I think that's what I've seen sometimes out um so we shouldn't try to up that speed margin
such a popular program 22 i I'm just curious why it's that's because we had that higher in prior years and um because we also had like a parah in there so I would
just be wondering where why would be 20 because that is Spanish immersion it's a standalone i'm not sure why Karen hit 20 but it go up to 25 and it doesn't affect school choice right okay so I think that Yeah I would so that that wouldn't
affect our numbers yeah I would say looking at the number but I guess what it is is because I know people want I don't know how many on the wait list have been in here so maybe that would be helpful to understand as well put that in here um but I just say just to give the opportunity and then if they trickle
down then still a high number by the time they get to the fifth grade that's we'll follow okay yeah when Yeah just follow on a general like Spanish version like when the lottery is and if there's an opportunity is coming up soon May um
and notice the reasoning where that number has because I it used to be with several years 25 because of that there was attrition where it would kind of fall fall down and it would go but at least would be like I know the upper they end up being like
um somewhere on there 16 is pretty low it's the high school people like in the sixth grade you're lower she may be going off for interest how do we vote on this so I doesn't affect school choice oh all right oh all right yeah so we're just
voting on school choice um right regardless so um I'll go ahead and um make a motion that Oh anybody else in boxes have any questions tomorrow no okay and um All right so I will go ahead and make a motion that we um approve the
recommended projected enrollment for school choice seats for um and this is going to be for school year 26 to 27 right 25 26 next
year oh gosh sorry oh I'm gonna go get budget calendars okay so sorry to 2526 which is next right here yeah okay thank you very much um any any second mary second any further
discussion okay um all in favor all right motion carries unanimous so now we have um school committee budget hearing plan so um we had we had our accept meeting
and um and so this will probably be a big time for the school committee just to um kind of understand like how we want to convey the information to to the public on that so the budget hearing is really going to be what the intent is to
share what we're recommending and it will be then at a subsequent meeting after that we'll be voting on the allocation so it' be like okay this is how they're you know waiting for Brian align we vote on that and that number is
going to be the $1.1 million that we'll be doing uh and that is um building in $100,000 that will go into um reserve or using $100,000 of the reserve for operational costs as well as opposed to
kind of bringing that number down what will be bigger so that's going to be the the the budget that we're recommending that we'll be voting on however separately Brian is um preparing um and
he's already you know pretty much it will be running probably um later on next week for like school committee or just the next committee as we finalize it but um a budget that um what looks like if the override doesn't pass and
because that would be at 2.5% and so uh what that would be is again similar like what the allocation would be um there's fees that would be impacted um staff that would be impacted so that
will be available for people to uh process again that it's not going to be that we're advocating at the budget hearing either way it's information sharing on what uh would happen if the override passes what happens if we will
only be voting on um an assumption of the override passes but if in the event it does not pass because everything is contingent on the appropriation at town meeting if it does not pass then you have to come back god bless you um we'll have to come back we have a we game to
vote on the alternative budget um allocating to those cost centers and whatnot afterwards so um a lot of this is a little different than how we proceeded in prior years because we really only had that one number um but
just wanted to kind of clear up i know Brian has really been working hard with the team about putting together the story and you know we're working with him on that so we can you know it's hard because everyone people want to pick how
much is too or might write enough information not too much bring in the story of how we got here so um so Colleen's already posted the notice and so that will be on uh April 16th and that's a Wednesday and then we will you
know open it up please encourage the public to uh sign up for public comments please ask questions i I would say usually the years are very very slim if
we get participants so I actually would really love the public so talk to your neighbors please attend the school's public hearing on our budget to ask us questions to you know get information as
much as you can to understand the impact of what FY26 budget would look like and what we are recommending and why so um mayor I don't know if there's anything no I think I'm so proud of part of the conversation that we had today was based
on that brian and I went to speak with CN news citizens on Friday they actually gave us some you know some good feedback you know telling the story and um you know we realize that we talk up here sometimes because we're in the thick of it and you know so we need to really um
speak to the audience for education there first yeah that's the that's the trick right because you know um you know we talk about like the technicalities right like even with colon reserve fin like no it's resolver so it's like get can get caught up in the technicalities
and then uh and then sometimes the messaging like the the meat of the the issue can almost be overwhelming to understand because they're learning to you know as they're trying to understand so we're trying to you know balance that approach of providing information but
then not overwhelming with um all the details but really um and and this is kind of leading up to also the the forum that we're going to have as well on April 8th that going to be joining this board at the library for um Brian will
be leaving that um presentation to the public and will um you know work on FAQ uh some basic things so that could be like a lot of appendices you know so people who don't need to you know get
all that don't lose all the the details in the presentation but you know like what is an awareness um it's more about how how did we get here right how do we get here and and what we're and what we've been doing to it why now right why now um I do want
to say because I've got this question from many people already um that there's two things just to remember for and I say this just for the public because we know this but I I want to clarify for anyone who's listening or might listen later um one the school committee does
not have insight to know when taxes relating to the new school are going to hit tax bills um when the assessor works with the town administrator to calculate those things so I know that's a question that comes up but unfortunately we won't
be able to answer that that's outside of what our our purview is in this you can speak to the operational aspects but how the tax bill um for the new school which is a separate effort it's just it's capital it has nothing to do with
operations at this point um that's something that really involves the town they don't always bond for the full amount every time they make these decisions based on interest rates and it can get a little little deep so I just wanted to make sure that's clear um not that we don't want to answer questions about that but I don't want to speak to
something that's totally outside of you know what I'm comfortable saying on that um however we can talk about you know what the override the information we have for the override for that and then we um
so I think that's pretty much the thing is that both of those meetings are going to be hybrid so yes yeah they don't actually have to do Yes hybrid um hybrid meetings now um I know we talked
yesterday about a couple of things do we um do we want to do a separate school oh and Brian this is where I think um we might need to uh connect the school committee wants to do like a separate
school like form um after April 8 so we pick a date i think there was some type for a weekend date um for some parents or I don't know that might be so we could just look at some options um I know I know we can talk offline but I
just wanted to throw it out there was um some uh uh options so people can can't make April a for whatever reason have difficulty making evening meetings uh what we can do as an alternative I don't I don't have an answer to that yet but
something we can do to build in and then um was it May think we Not necessarily always presentation but yeah just a few just a Q&A but I
think Yeah and then I have a question yeah I know we're not allowed to say certain things but send stuff out in his weekly scores at the fair like come to the budget hearing come to you know well
that the budget hearing is I mean go out to the community and say it will definitely the budget hearing is coming posted the presentation will be on our website so we can direct people to that is pretty
standard when it comes to the override um and that's where we get a little bit more dicey so I think what we need and then also it depends on the swim board haven't technically put it on article or set by the election it it's um that also
matters a little bit so I think what it sounded like is we also want to make sure our materials are are worded in a way that are informative um not advocating like here's the information so the public makes the decision or the legislative body um is really um making
sure that we understand the language that we you know need to adhere to um along that way and school committ school committees are allowed a little more flexibility in what we can do versus with staff and uh and
resources for uh for other purposes so that's what yeah so I think it'll be good to have like clarity on the do's and the right um and just some examples of things that we want to just kind of be aware of that so for the uh budget hearing we have on the 16th
and then the following meeting after that is who is it the 3rd april 3rd I mean May 3rd may 3rd so then on May 3rd No May 3rd it's May um May 8th right
okay so May 8th is when we will actually be voting so we would you know do the presentation um at the hearing listen to any feedback anyone has come back if we need to move it up earlier we can always do a special meeting just to vote because there's a large gap in between there because of
vacation so um so that would be the only thing that we would vote at on that based on feedback so that is
the budget hearing plan any anybody have any questions on on that okay so then it would just be um I think from like Wayne's primary takeaway will be like just having that sheet but has all the the lines of where we would
be voting um with the call centers that would be what we would be voting on for 1.1 um and that's where we have like I'll have to go back and look there every year that has all the line details of what we're intending to do what we would
build on the top centers um and then the monies that are going to go on the revolvers and then the separate one just for awareness of what one would look like if if it's two point for where how that would be allocated
and in that sense so again that would be voted on but for awareness this is where the cost sometimes might look like able to secure an override so all right anything else on that
hearing okay um I'm just looking at it but we do have a lot of time we do have a public forum saturday the 12 is probably the best start getting into that sunday and
Passover Saturday that's right passover consideration saturday is the best best day and then you sanation i mean we could have so school vacation
affects the school but in the community they'll go out town true so you know it could be like you know have anyone's around have multiple ones right right so it could be that we have one that is um you know so I think we just need to
think about what that looks like um and then Brian one of the things that we talked about yesterday was um was it May the high um power fine arts night fine arts night i
don't know fair and fine arts was on i'm wondering if there's an opportunity for us to just kind of um have like a table or something for school committee just to kind of like a you know like save the date kind of and have some handout by
then so you can you know we would be able to do that so there's a couple of dates i don't know if it would be better should we just keep on on that okay so Keith I know you're on we'll be reaching out to you
yes okay right okay awesome i heard a ting sorry i'm holding that back hope you Thank you thank you Keith um so that's that's fantastic and uh I know I I you know just kind of hit up some people at
the international night as well just to get you know start getting that on the radar um but maybe at the high school we can I mean you know we can figure out some other dates or what or if any of the leadership team has a particular event that they recommend um by all
means let you know pass that along because if there's a you know as opposed to us deciding if we have something already like hey this would really be a better time to do that please let us know um so that we can be there and do some outreach um whether it be a table
or just be available to answer questions for the community their families or staff family triple okay okay um Okay so now annual towers to go back
to so maybe if we could we could have a calendar of um everything that's going on between now and I talked about it last night and then we could volunteer toast up on the outreach i think I'm just gonna do like
I have the budget calendar budget related so I'm thinking budget adding like extension on that and all the different sign up so there's that um also actually it's um
yeah I'll circulate it all circulated vitals again so that's okay um All right so then that is that um very good y perfect that would be great no I do I have a couple of things
as well um so the annual town meeting well actually between now and then there are so we have April 8th is the um is the public forum um April 1st which is next week is
select order of meeting but they are um I don't believe they are expected to vote on um what the recommendation will be also the article or for the election I don't know if they I don't think they've set the date yet formally either
so once they set the date then it does change the dynamics and then it's considered the election and then the the way we informed um also a little bit more nice um but uh I think the feedback we got from the
seniors Mary and and was that we need to start like taking the lead like I I know that we absolutely are working with the select board to do this with the window of how we can educate really is is not our so um so you know I think the school
committee is taking a position that we will be uh moving forward um with the advocacy we are or under the with the understanding that we recommended 1.1 um to the select board and um having not
heard otherwise that's what we will be moving forward with um so that is that oh town meeting um I guess it's really not we'll talk a lot I think a lot more before town meeting but there's going to be so the
meeting is the town meeting is on the 19th of May um and then it looks like the special election is probably going to be for May 27 which is this the following week the the challenge of the the warrior was to book in day from
Memorial weekend but um this is where people can vote early or absentee either absentee voting or advance or whatever mail in vote so um so I'm hoping that that would be you know an opportunity can take care of or you know leverage
but that'll be part of the just to let people know that they're because the families are going to go away you know that um weekend rate that they don't worry they missed out and again you can only vote absentee how many you have to be in
person so don't have voting yeah they did like a couple of days ahead of time yes go in also absentee there was two options it was I think it was mailing early mailing voting but then you could
drop off your ballot but they also had days ahead of time for let me go back to you know I remember there was some option that was people do that because they're
afraid there yes yes absolutely um so I will put together in circulate this weekend just the timeline of all these things because it's a lot happening and there will be you know uh
one of the other things that we need to so the select board will be voting on the actual article for town meeting uh on the 5th 15th of April at their meeting and it goes to print the next day so like there's not room so we have
to have our comments together um no later than that Friday before um now this is where we might need to have a special meeting just to do some tips of that because there's that large uh
gap um because we are meeting on the 3 right and then the 16th so that week of um the week in between might since we're not having a I think we said um
let me go back to look at my calendar the 10th right yeah so the 10th is when we will have a special um special election I think is that budget following Wednesday yeah
all right so Colleen we're going to have a special election special meeting on on the 10th of April we're not going to have um because the following week that's just a regular meeting there's
two back to back attempt to be added 7 p.m for the final comments for the warrant and then our budget hearing is on the next Wednesday yes the third we're at it doesn't matter those are the days so
whatever so three weeks yes got it yes thank you my phone where I couldn't remember i just Well we've been meeting to have workshops and in between so we're just not going to we're not like the week of the
um 16th like we're not having like we're just not going to So it would be just us voting on like um comments or you know there comments do you have April so we have April 3rd it's just a
regular school meeting right April 10th is special meeting with Lauren april 16th is a Wednesday it's the special budget hearing and then the
24th oh that's right so we're adding we're adding in the 10th because we were meeting on third and 16 and of May is when we get our regular meeting but it's to go on the school
committee that will be the second day we're doing the budget yes i know that's a lot so yes definitely science path um for us to see and then you know um see also you know with you know fairly students are doing
that's going to be an opportunity as well that we might be able to um you know pencil them there once we hear back like what are the really what are they what is the support of the school of what they're working on how we can um make sure that it's appropriate what
they're working their policy Um and I think this kind of and then the last thing we'll be figuring out is the um another form like what those are that
the X factor that we'll need to figure out i think we should take care of that sooner versus um so I guess Brian if there's a Saturday I know I don't would be really
just um sorry no that's okay so four it would be four town leaving so it would be for April I mean May 19th um and then anything after so between April 8th and May 19th the school want school
committee wants to maybe have two more sessions for the public like public forums whether that be Q&A just you know kind of listening sessions um I think we heard a lot of people asking you know maybe a Saturday might
be possible so I don't know if that would be you know morning from time or whatever that might be but I would look to your recommendation if there's a particular day or time that um okay yes okay yeah that's okay we can
talk more about it one day but I think that would be the where we would want to um you know the other couple of days that you have that we also recommend see can sign up for and then I'd have to posting as well so that um any other anything else that
you're hearing i know it's a lot going on that um questions or thoughts no okay okay all right um and um you know actually my notes um
So I just wanted to actually also mention because it's come up a couple of times and you know I don't keep up with our budget subcommittee meeting but when um just school finance is really different a little bit than municipal
finance and it can be a little confusing sometimes but ultimately when the school committee provides a recommendation put forward the town votes on a number and then the school based on the recommendation
superintendent is then uses those funds for supporting the staff now I know sometimes we absolutely get questions about the number of staff and um how we're using the monies and you know you know what kind of things that are um
kind of books and you know just random stuff that we understand the public has questions on the school committee and ourselves we don't even necessarily make those decisions at a regular or consider operational decisions and that that's where we work very closely with the
superintendent on that But um one thing that is very important just to understand is that um when money is being appropriated to the school um there is always an opportunity for any
board to provide a nonbinding monetary recommendation to the school about how they feel and what money should um mass general law does not allow that allocation that we receive
from town to be within limits for how the money is expensed and I just wanted to put clarity on that because it is sometimes it can be very confusing um but that's just how that's why it's $1 that's how that's just why the school is
different than how the town works the town has to you know they provide all these details and the board look at it but schools are just um finances a little bit different so I just wanted to kind of level set everyone's um understanding of of what that would be so if we're providing a number for what
um because our schools and again not not a um a nice to have or need to have that is what should be considered at town we think um and it and the cannot be contingent what whatever we get on how
we expense that so um I know there's just been education but that's really part of mass general law and I just want to you know make sure that we're all aware of of that when we get questions on you know that from either public or
boards of how what are what are within our areas of control and not control you can't tell um superintendent you know only hire this many this many pair of professionals right because outside of our operations um they have needs of
students so we we can't dictate how many exactly but there's a new program total budget that's where we give that approval so um anyway just a quick um budget or school finance moment there u
for anyone who's catching up along the way mary just to listen or you get to share i because I came from the pyramid concert at the high school and I wasn't out of time to get on
and I drive through place where the Buddhist traffic but I don't no you're our audience i mean it's a Catholic audience so people show up
um all right so I actually think All right uh so uh chairs report i think we've talked a little bit already about a whole bunch of stuff hey all
right this is what happens commercial all right so um transport uh goals and outreach i I think we talked in our our our workshop that really like the strategic planning like what we're doing is strategic so I think um obviously
there's been a lot of work on that you know it's going to be more school workshop but I just wanted to kind of you know as far as how we're looking at where our goals and our outreach are i think this year it feels very loose but it's I think we're achieving everything that we really want to so I just wanted to Yeah just take a moment like we could
outline and maybe that's what we do afterwards like this is all that we've done this year you know just so we can kind of like feel like you know we next year yeah we're documenting like but you know what we did for our outreach because we we talked about them but we just haven't had these measurements
because basic so much join here so I just wanted to kind of make that as a point reference as well um and that's it and then the other thing uh just that the finance committee will be voting at
uh on Monday for the Hback so that is just like that and um I do think at some point um and I'll I'll have tomorrow you know you know let me know I'll take
tomorrow's lead uh I think we need to um look at our subcommittee um participation and just what who's who's doing what in front so I just want to make sure that because you know since we're not the strategic planning kind of is stick in there if that frees up or
you know whatever but I want to make sure one of the areas like the policy one really has to keep moving forward um because there's a lot of catch up that can be done and I want to make sure that we're not um we don't so we need to do like some some shuffling or something there um you know and I know Hillary
hasn't been over here so I wanted to actually have a part of the conversation so um but just just for everyone's awareness and then um let's see how much we can kind away and make sure that we're just keep moving forward in that in that area as well so and then Brian
we did also talk that the superintendent evaluation um we're going to just under the personnel we're just going to take that under the person so we'll meet at our next personnel meeting we'll go over like the timeline steps the remaining stuff um because I know that was split before and it just made more sense just
for the time um but we'll do that so just a little bit of a pivot there uh yeah we definitely to talk about the time like when we do when we get your final report
and who's doing with all this stuff going on in April and then beginning of May I don't know that we're really going to have a whole lot of time to really plan out who's doing what over to get it done before June about this past year
schedules we did but so if we could follow that one that would be Yeah but I'm just saying we need to start talking about now to make sure that we're Yeah we're just holding ourselves accountable in getting it there because I'm feeling now just kind of rush rush rush um no
totally agree and um so maybe that would be and then the other part too which we're also um looking to do earlier on is that the books as well that was my question yeah and that's why I was worried about
like I'm sure that's becoming but that that's why it's important that's why I want to make sure that that is that active so that that effort of that first review happens there is an established by um you
know Brian yeah we want to make sure that there actually is a subcommittee though that's sorry that's see what I'm trying to No i'm trying to unlock the I want to make sure that when you're ready to present them that there are people
actually able to take them and help them so it's kind of pulling the pieces together um so that's where I want to make sure we don't like momentum forever so thank you all i know
it's been very great to try this everyone together on this and I appreciate all the work that I've done to listening and All right so anything else i think that's really it the roles and outreach them talk about
um and I also will say that the school committee is very much been part and I want to echo this because we're going to have a lot of discussions and I know sometimes when it
comes to finance and kids very emotional uh you know I do believe and I want to just clarify that every board in town cares about I have no doubt That's what happens i know um many local nurse kids
have gone through here or are still here and know that we have staff that have kids here and I have no doubt that everyone's um you know concern about our schools exists i think we all sometimes maybe have a little bit of a deviation
on how we get to some places or you know minorities but I just want to recognize that I all the hard work that all the boards put into um working together collaboratively and I I hope that we continue to be able to do that because it really is truly in the best interest
of our our community our town so um so thanks for everybody now later on um when I'm screaming just thanks for that um as well so it's we all we all just care very much very deeply and I don't
think anyone puts in the hours that we all do um you know yeah for anybody any time so so much appreciated all right then sub reports tomorrow um we do
have a policy um meeting um for so that I don't know if that will include that handbooks was not on my list but if you want them if that's part
of it okay then that then Colleen can revise it revise that okay thank you um and then Dan Hill is Mark May
6 so I don't know if anybody wants to go to that so I also want to [Music] go Tuesday so I'm just also Is it the same day or is it like a different day
students do they have one students oh I don't know they didn't have with us but there have been kids that were there in fact we said we should bring kids when she was here i think there's one on the No I think they
do their own independent like Okay okay great all right alexa saying updates or nothing on reports but I did want and I raised it last night but wanted to raise it again tonight while Brian was here oh Brian I
think question for you yeah so I just wanted to ra I raised this last night in our workshop but I wanted to raise it tonight uh again because I know we had Vitson's here two weeks ago whenever it was okay one of our last two meetings um
and one of the missions that I had asked them was "What do you do with your food what do you do with electrical food?" And they said "There is none." Which I thought "Okay all right." But the more I thought about it because I viewed this as a parent and also as a school
committee member and knowing that and I dealt with it on the school level as a parent that there was not enough food for the kids and that my children uh because there was not enough for lunch uh and now I'm hearing again that
it's not just my children that there are other kids where there's not enough food uh for lunch that they only make a certain amount of food per grade and if kids have been told that's for the
next grade that they're not allowed to that so they have it paired uh and that they're not opening up the sandwich station on Monday so there isn't even an option if they run out of other things for the kids to have
sandwiches and I know the RFP is out uh for food service uh and I had the same concern last year and I was hearing the same things last year with and I thought oh you know food service they're just getting into their groove it'll get
better uh and I've been hearing a lot this year about it um and so I just wanted to raise it because I know other school districts do it differently um in terms of food where they actually ask the kids in the morning you know they
take a tally of what they might um for lunch and then they make based upon that knowing that kids are going to change their at 8:00 in the morning you might not want you know it might be different at noon um but that there's usually
plenty um yeah I heard that of food uh but I'm hearing it from my kids and others that there's just there does not appear to be enough to go around and knowing that Woodson has no food waste leads me to believe that there's
they're just not making enough on certain days uh I can answer and so I haven't seen that like I went to school the other day just for fun that wasn't Yeah issue yeah and I think maybe it's dependent on the grades uh you know
because I know they eat at different times and they make probably a certain amount of food for each of the grades uh and I know as the classes rotate through because they rotate to go in that usually the last
class to go in for lunch there's usually not much left um and they're and they're the most hungry uh and so I just want to make sure I know the state has provided and graciously in the budget provides
free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless which I think is an amazing thing for all children and so uh kids shouldn't be hungry in school there is no reason uh you know we provide supplements to our kids so they're now
going in with a backup lunch just in case but not every family can actually afford to send their kids with a backup lunch so that their kids are eating and we know there's additional learning cost when kids do not have a full
stomach honestly I will say that the bonus that we were hearing at the high school level early on here but then it seems to get lunch to your point there was very
little to choose from so I I kindergarten and they order in the morning our kindergarteners and our first graders order in the morning yeah and maybe that's what it is is that just that it
right it is yeah yeah so I just I know the RFP's out so I just wanted to Yeah yeah so I just wanted to put it out there i dealt with it as bids are due tomorrow
right tomorrow is when the bids are bid so far just one so that's tomorrow's deadline yeah because I know I know you only had two at the last time and and Vinc good question and I will I mean I
just you know I've resolved the best I could as parent because I very much keep parent and school committee completely separate so just generally though um I know that when the um this may be more of an alternative I don't want to just
go too deep in here but um there should be I'm guessing like a non uh meat option as well and the sandwich i just want to make sure like for people who like give my children a sandwich like a cheese sandwich or something you know i
just want to make sure that the options for um are available for people who are you know of different and you know milk and meat and sandwiches so and
it's almost a vegetarian so all right so we'll just that they rectify they did rectify that yep so okay without a doubt that they um
Yeah yeah no no I mean it's good that we all know yeah all for improvement yeah absolutely mary we talked about budget number of them so no we're good
i'm good all right and I know we have groundbreaking i just want to highlight um that's and we got the final 15th on that um so that is but and uh one thing I
forgot to add is that we have um we'll have a student who um um Sienna has that be coming to a future school meeting to discuss her um
gold award the girl scouts and she will um she's she's working with um chief u so the fire chief to install a around town um primarily at
like outdoor locations or rockland but they are giving um donations that will be at people the fire department so Angel's actually project um and so they have I believe Greg um was already
involved I believe Olga is part of the conversations at high school and so she will be because we will ultimately from a procedural perspective vote to approve or allow use of you know them to install that
student property outdoors actually alumni so we're going to have one at alumni um possibly by the shack and I'm getting it I'll circulate it um she's gone around talked to the conservation committee on the boards so
uh probably is going to get an outdoor one by like Um so uh yeah I did tell that we did have questions more about like up you know aside from that that would be under you know batteries or monitoring stuff
so but more to come on that I just wanted to share that was something that today as well and then inside school i'm no because
I'm happy to give it inside the building we just have horrible ones grab and go yeah so these are going to be outdoor ones that um the fire department so they'll be notified so use
it um it'll be the fun alerted and that's what she's working with um she go I I know that we have them because I know they famous yes i think that's one of the like the coaches they bring us the games and whatnot and they're installed in
that we were going to have a lot going on that are on that yeah that building that's not to be built but now we will have one at 9 so I just wanted to share that as well
um and then now we're moving on to consent agenda policy uh information so these are policies that we've already um well just one no two there are two um
the flag one was the one that you guys saw last time we did policy and then this kha is great and can you talk a little bit more about the plan was kind of the one that we wanted to we had a little bit more
back and forth on so y that very first sentence in there um we added on the flag ps outside of school buildings to make it clear that that
those are where that's where flags like policy votes yes and then the rest is you know Okay do the flags come down every day they're not required to no they they bring them down like that like Well yeah
but I mean there are rules regarding buying the flag because I shouldn't actually cops but it says um shall be flown on the pills outside school buildings during school hours each school day so I wasn't sure if they were put up and down every day which
they do not have to be and they just have to make sure they're lit when they're supposed to be lit and brought down okay yeah okay and currently we don't have a school flag policy right so this is not correct
right we had so this be a new one it's not a um right or recodifying right um so all right so this is the this would
be technically when you when we approve this this yes this second and I know Hillary's not here but I'm just wonder agenda so
yeah I thought that we the last sense secondary objective questions so I thought that was it was sort of like kind of we're not going there it's like the the American play end of story because anything other than
that creates conversation but it's like a lesson right it puts us in gray um so do we is it is it that you're thinking that we would say the V public schools
does not approve that sentence like those only flag that's it that's it that's what I thought that was discussion we were having anything else yeah I think we didn't want the superintendent to be like and that's what the flag well it was a couple of pieces right the conversation was last
time that there were flags inside the school right and and that's people didn't want to be back and forth on on And I agree so that it sounds like that part has been removed and that just leave that to the education um folks on that but then this is just the outdoor
um flags the outdoor flag and so um public schools may approve that request the whole second aircraft is basically legal we legal put
that in and they it's it's for which is part of the reason why we added on the flag post outside of the school building that that's really the only place that is the we do not do anything but United
States flag and why inside we're leaving it to the discretion to of you know principles and or you know for different things so you know one of the things that Hillary was
talking about was like you know the flag right exactly so that kind of stuff will you know Oh yeah so the second paragraph really is more pertinent to the discretion of this individual school right and what and what is happening you
know in school or curriculum focuses that's what the second part is so I just I don't know if we're going to find a perfect wording on this i think it's just um it could be a point of contention i think not having a policy
is more risky than so I think this is sounds like this has been vetted tremendously but I hear your point Mary about um policy yeah you know and I guess by only I think what this says is that we reserve because it's codified in a
policy that we can make where not having a policy will use us open for um exposure because then we're then we're using our judgement that we don't have actually a policy that follow so I would I don't know i'm going
to make a motion that we approve um flag display policy IMDb as provided i can further discussion and Mary we can
revisit like like I don't I don't know i just want you just heard enough conversation out there with difficult decisions that supposedly don't know what somebody's
flag to make that decision versus just making it black and white just seems like so um you know what I'm gonna just Before Before we vote Brian um I just want to take a moment just to for our discussion purposes how do you
and the leadership team deal about like that aspect i just want to make sure that's for the record that everyone is comfortable with that work or is there is there a major concern where we would question
nobody's asked us yet okay yes and when they do anything other than that legal has a different wording and I that can't for so Mary it says we can approve there's nothing that uses to reject
every request okay so it just says we have judgment we could by by having policy just say we just protect health you know and so I think it's just it's the action policy we do so that maybe that I don't know if that's a better way to think about it nothing but I think
you're just trying to don't don't come with us with the request all right I hear you um any further discussion all right um all in favor all right um motion carries one um next policy agenda I guess we can
just um without objection do we want to go ahead and approve policy solicitation in schools or do we actually want to have a conversation i feel like this contentious all right so without that objection we'll go
ahead policy and um KHA public solicitation of the schools as oh all right must be watching yeah all right
all right let's just do that all right policy approved khn got done that yep objection all right there we go um minutes and warrants i know Colleen had been sent
[Music] over okay so uh without objection I will uh move that um accept approve warrants 2544 25 um 045 2546 2547
2548 049 2550 all right objection those are accepted are accepted and then um Colleen did as Mary says the gelman's
for getting us um caught up on us um a lot of our our units so uh I get edits on just the October 10th one explanations but nothing okay nothing substantial all right so then without
objection I approve meeting minutes for August 15 204 August August 15 2024 October 10th 2024 October 24th what
24 October October 25 then October 24 2024 November 21st 24 December 12th 24 December 17 2024 um February 6
2024 sorry all right and then February 27 2025 with uh edits all right those are all approved and then um now make a motion that we Oh happy spring everybody i'm
getting that u that we adjourn second all right all in favor all right our