Uh okay, good evening everyone. Thank you for um adjusting. We are meeting remotely this evening fully remote due to weather. Um we will have an executive session um now. So we'll be opening the
meeting and then re going into executive session right away and then returning to open session at 7. Uh okay. And also today is May 22nd. Uh, as chair of this meeting, I need to confirm that all members and persons anticipated on the agenda are present and can hear me.
Members, when I call your name, please respond in the affirmative. Mara Hogan, I thought I saw Maro. Yes, she's just muted. Okay. Mary, yes. Hillary, yes. Maro, yes. Sorry about that. Oh, that's
okay. And um Alexis is is not yet joining us, right? Looks like she's not here yet. Yeah. Okay. All right. Staff, when I call your name, please respond in the affirmative. Colleen Andrad. Yes. Y Brian Hos. Yes. Okay. And then I
did see that we have Wayne. Wayne, can you hear us? Um and I know that we will have other people joining uh later. I do see Chuck. Chuck, yay. We get to see you one more time. Chuck, you're you're wonderful.
Um, yes, you too. Okay. And then I'll um circle back to the rest of the staff when uh we get to seven pursuant to uh bill H62203 signed into law by Governor Healey on March 28th, 2025 pursu uh
suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law. Cities and towns can hold remote or hybrid meetings until March 31st, 2027. This meeting of the Maynard school committee is being conducted remotely via Zoom as posted. While an option for remote attendance or participation is
being provided as a courtesy to the public, this meeting will uh not be suspended or terminated if technological problems interrupt the virtual broadcast to remote attendees unless it also impacts the school committee um unless
otherwise required by law. Please note that this meeting is being recorded accordingly. Be aware that other folks may be able to see you and take care not to screen share your computer. Anything that you broadcast may be captured by the recording which is audible to and viewable by the public. If you plan to record broadcast this meeting, please
use the raise your hand function now to notify the chair as required by law. Okay. And Alexis has joined just so that you know that. Oh, great. Wonderful. Thank you. Um Alexis, can you hear? She's muted. All right, she's muted. Oh,
don't worry. I'll have to open the meeting in a minute. So, I'll get to her. Um, so along with uh the agenda, most of tonight's meeting materials are available on the Maynard public school website in the folder 2024 2025 agendas under the tab school committee. The public is encouraged to follow along
using the posted agenda and documents unless the chair notes otherwise. Um, I will read the public comment information when we return to our open session. So, I'm going to um go ahead and call the
meeting to order via email. Um Mary, yes. Maro, yes. Um Alexis, yes. Hillary, yes. And Natasha, yes. All right. So, we are
now call the meeting to order at 6:36. And we are going to now move into an executive session under MGL chapter 30A section 21A3 to discuss strategy with respect to litigation between Asphet Valley Collaborative and Vanpool.
Since an open meeting will have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair Senator Claire's, which I do, the school committee will return to an open session at 7. So I'm going to go ahead and um enter into executive session via
roll call. Mary, yes. Maro, yes. Alexis, yes. Uh, Natasha, yes. Hillary, yes. Okay, we are. And so, Colleen, why I almost I almost keep
adding people in and then I realize that Hello, we are back. Um, so I think everyone, Colleen, everyone is in. Yes. In or we're in, I guess. Okay. Wonderful. Um so now we are
returning from executive session. I'm just going to go ahead and return to the spiel about the public comments. Um this public comment um the public comment agenda item is devoted time for the school committee to hear from the public. As such it structure primarily supports unidirectional recording of
public comments rather than a birectional conversation. Here are the general rules for any form of public comment. Any person wishing to speak and make a comment during a virtual meeting may do so by signing up and speaking in advance on the link provided on the agenda. Please have your Zoom name
matched so that we'll be able to unmute you to speak. [Music] Um, all public comments are limited to three minutes to ensure everyone who wishes to comment has the opportunity to be heard. No person may comment more than once without permission from the
chair. As time allows, a chair may um may consider allowing a person to comment a second time, especially if it relates to a topic that has not been previously discussed. Any person wishing to submit a written comment may do so by
emailing comments for SC meeting. The subject line should state public comments. Please include your first and last name and your town to ensure your comments are read. Comments will only be read for 3 minutes. If the submitted comments are longer, they'll be suspended at the 3minut mark. To
ensure all comments can be read in their entirety, it is suggested that you keep them to approximately 350 words. However, submitted comments longer than 350 words will be included in the public record in their entirety. Uh, anyone wishing to submit a comment for the
record after the public comment agenda item has passed can still email comments for SE meeting ator.k12.us us up until the end of the meeting stating that their desire to have these comments included. Um few ground rules. I'll introduce each speaker on the
agenda after they conclude their remarks. Uh I will ask each member if they have any comments, questions or motions. I will go through the um the members for additional comments, questions if time allows. Please allow
um please all speak until your name is called and um try not to everyone speak at once. And every vote tonight will be taken via roll call since we are uh remote. Okay. And so now we
will move on to the third item on the agenda which is public comments. Colleen, I didn't see anything that came into our folder. Um, nothing came into
the Um, Nope. All right, we are back. Um, okay. So, we had a momentary pause, but it sounds like we don't have anyone for public comments. So, then we will now uh move on to uh urgent
business. Superintendent Pos, I don't believe we have any urgent business, but let me know. Not tonight. Nope. Wonderful. Uh, okay. And then we will now move on to the student representative report. And do we have
Kaylee joining us or do we have Let's see here. Um, who do we have? They're joining. They have not joined yet. I was going to say is ATR are they one of the students? The
only one I don't recognize. I don't believe so. Okay. Yeah, I'm not sure either. So, okay. So, if without objection from the school committee, we'll go ahead and skip the student representative report for now because it's just 701 and they they might join
after um the superintendent report um if that's okay. All right. So Brian, then I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to you for the superintendent report. Okay, great. Glad to be here. Look at all those faces on there. Well, some
faces, some names, but it looks good. I appreciate the school committee being sensitive to the travel that staff have to do and the weather and the impending the predicted flooding. So, thank you very much for tonight. I think it's appreciated.
um the superintendent's report just I just want to reiterate what a great Special Olympics that we hosted LA I think it it might have been two weeks ago now instead of just a week ago but when I did the report it was a week ago and I felt like it was
yesterday and it was just such such a great event um for our students for the Harvard students for the Littleton students I mean one of the and I won't spend a long time on this because we've already done it once But it's worth noting that we have a very high
percentage of kids that volunteered and they were fabulous at volunteering and our WAVM which most schools don't have that level of um an audiovisisual program TV radio etc. Um what a great job they did which they were able to share a lot of their resources.
Principal Kenny was there who in his next life will clearly be a photographer. um took lots and lots of pictures which I think I shared with you the case um newsletter um which also they did a nice job of showing the
special Olympics. So just really a a thumbs up to Maynard to our new director of student support Heather Newman who really did the yman's amount of work. It's a team effort. There were people from all three districts and many programs in all three districts, but she
really was lead on this and deserves credit for that that it was such a great success. Thank you. So, thank you. I know she signed on. Um, she's there. She's spoke about it at the CPAC meeting before. So, very excited. Lots of great
feedback. Lots of great feedback. Yeah. I've heard great things from parents and kids. Yeah. Yeah. So, looking forward to next year. Um, happy to say that at the town meeting, we had roughly 600 people show up for the first night.
Um, and at the beginning of the meeting, it was interesting who was in the room. It was hard to read the room in terms of where one thought the vote might go. Um, but the vote, um, when it got to us, article 10, um, I was able to present the budget that the
group, the leadership team, the school committee, again, it's a team sport. We have all put a lot of time and energy into the budget and the presentation to be able to share a relatively complicated budget in terms that everybody can understand and even more
so for an override vote which hasn't happened in Mayard in 25 years um an operational override for the schools and it it got approved to move to the special election. So we're halfway there. I will send out a reminder
tomorrow to the families. I will have another one scheduled to go on Monday as a reminder to the families that we need them to make one stop, one quick pit stop on Tuesday at the fowler school sometime between 7 and 8, 7:00 in the morning and 8:00 in the evening. Um, but
really just proud of the community for both supporting the seniors and their needs and the schools for their for our needs because I look at that as that community is sort of from birth from the beginning to the end and all in between. So that was just that was good. Um Ryan,
can I just make a comment just because I did hear from Yes. a number of people it was the the marketing for people that have kids in the school system. You'd have to live under a rock not to know all this stuff. But but to we really and I know every year we talk about this. We
have to figure out a way to get everything out to the general public because there's, you know, when you think about how few families there are that have kids in the school system and there's the whole rest of the population. Um so really if we could if we could focus on that somehow next
year, I think it would it would behoove us. Um, what used to happen, um, I think it was two superintendents ago, they, um, when the super when the superintendent sent out a newsletter, people in the general public could actually sign on to receive it. So,
every time one went out um to the parents and the the, you know, um, um, the kids, then I'm open to that if there's a way to do that. We did ask and you know this when we went to the senior center we did ask for the addresses of that list and they don't have them yet.
Yeah. So I guess the question is and I'll ask to this group if they don't have the emails how do their newsletters go out? Yeah. Yeah. They go to everybody in the town. Yeah. They go I would be happy to send mine to everybody in the town. Action unlimited. Yeah. But I don't know how to I don't know if I have
access to that. I mean, we could post it on the Facebook like superintendent like as a Friday thing and then they could be linked in to that minimally because then they have access to Facebook clearly because that's where they're all at. Right. But I do know that the
town before town meeting on Friday and even that Monday before sent out a reverse reverse 911 and it gave the information about the babysitting um in there. So I I I you know it's I think it
maybe needs to be in writing too like it needs to be No, it's more what's going on in the schools. It's more it's that it's not just reminding them of meetings and that it's really all-encompassing of you know the flyer that that Maro so eloquently put together. It's that kind
of thing to show you know everything that that we're doing in the schools and then oh by the way if we need an override or things like that more of an explanation is is where I'm going. Absolutely. Good point. and I'll work with Bob McCarthy who does the Maynard advantage and I'll see if there are some
other avenues for us to spread the word. Very good point. We'll work on that. I would like to also if it's on the Facebook then we it allows us to individually share that also to other groups. So that's like and then we can say share it to the senior group or whatever that might be. So maybe just
kind of think I know at one point some of the the s'mores and stuff used to get put on like when they would get circulated to families it would go to like the news posting like as whatever a feed it would go to email and it would go to social media Facebook. So maybe we
can think about going we can review and see how that works. We can do that this summer. It could even it could even be something um as simple as not your whole you know your whole newsletter but just an excerpt like a paragraph and then to see more go on the link to the
superintendent's letter or something like that. So because sometimes we all know that some of these emails can get so lengthy that people glaze over and they don't even look at them. So but anyway we'll work on some options. I'd be happy to help with that. All right.
We'll work on some options. Right. Okay. Yeah. older folks I know who have asked for more info on the school, they are all on Facebook and they go to the school like the Maynor public school Facebook page and so I think that's sort of a way to meet them where they're at cuz you know we can do that. Sounds
good. Thank you. I I wanted to say something about the town meeting. Um wait, we're going to talk about it later though, I think. Um Yeah. Yeah. So we have that on the agenda as a as an agenda item. Okay. I'll go through my report. It's it can be brief and then um just to give
Maynard Education Foundation um props for their work last Sunday in terms of the taste of Maynard and raising funds to which we all know come right back circle back to supporting our students and our staff. So thank you to them.
Green Meadow Elementary School building project still on moving forward on time on budget. We have new meetings coming up in terms of summer plans and if there's anything that changes we will um update you on that. Um some of the upcoming topics are finalizing the
playground shifting and we're starting the finance subcommittee um and toward the end of June. Other than that it's going well. Uh, prom, I'm happy to say was principal
York is there and prom was a great success. Prom is a nerve-wracking time for every high school principal in the world in the country and every superintendent and every school employee. Um, but it went well. It was wonderfully attended. No issues, I am
happy to say. Um, on a very positive note, um, we, uh, let's see, uh, Maynard Maynard High School business and finance pathway has
been recognized by the state. So, we've been approved, which Liz can talk more about um, at some point, but just so you know, it's been in the memo. I've updated you on that already, but I figured this is a good opportunity. It's the our new career pathway in business and finance. Um, and it joins some of
our other career pathways that are already in existence. The computer science, the chapter 74 radio and television production program, the global scholars program, and of course, our state recognized senior project capstone program. So, for a small
school, we are mighty. just end with um Fowler had their cultural night and their fine arts night in the last couple of weeks. Both incredibly successful. Lots of kids, lots of parents. Um and it's great to see them come and just look at the artwork. They buy the
artwork, bring it home. It's just a great community event. Um it's a lot of fun. If you haven't seen one, I would highly recommend you stop by next year. um Green Meadow if you're not doing anything tomorrow morning, they are going to have an amazing concert with a lot of little kids at about 9:00 in the
morning. Um but if you get there at 9:00, you will be standing in the lobby. So, you need to get there a little early cuz it is a sellout show. Um and it's always a ton of fun. The kids are adorable. So, we are rocking it from the high school with all these pathways and
prom and global scholars and the Fowler um with their events and the music is starting at Green Meadow. So, good things happening across the board in our little but mighty district. I'm going to let you continue on your agenda because there's a lot on there.
All right. Well, I will go ahead and move on. Next item, Hillary, is just an ATM recap. Um, and then just FY26 budget update. Um, so one I just wanted to, you
know, thank everyone for their staff, students for their work and really getting and fellow um, school committee members, Brian, everyone just getting the information out. WAVM did a a fantastic job. Um, the town Kyle helping
setting up. I think they did a really great job. Um it was a aside from a couple of comments that um were a bit hard to hear about paraprofessionals and just about um
servicing students. Uh, I think all in all the community uh, turned out nicely and had some good questions for us. And by the look of the vote, it it appears that we did have a good a good uh, sense of um, you know, seniors who did
participate and vote in favor of the uh, the school override as well. So, for everyone who came out, whether they voted for the schools or not, I'm glad the participation was there. Everyone who helped with babysitting as well. Um just a reminder we have the other part
the election. So it needs to make sure that everyone turns up and votes at the election which is next uh Tuesday. So if you have want to turn in an absentee ballot, you can do so up until tomorrow as well. So residents, if anyone's
listening, if you're going to be away for Memorial weekend, you can go to town hall and do an absentee ballot tomorrow. um and you know consider that done. Um so very pleased with the outcome, very
relieved and Brian, I thought you did a really fantastic job presenting and um you know handling you know some of those harder questions that came up. I I do appreciate the collaborative work with the select board and really you know for
one sponsoring um the article for putting in the work. Um Jeff Swanberg wasn't at the select board meeting last night, but just all the select board members who really there was a lot of work that went into this. And I have to say from being on the school committee for several years, even before that, I
don't know of many times that it has felt very collaborative amongst all of the boards at at one point. And so I do take that with much appreciation and thought and consideration that everyone is really prioritizing what's happening in the schools as well along with all the other things that are happening in
town. So um so just a lot of thanks to go around and you know we're almost there. Um but Brian, thanks thanks so much for for kind of leading us there. Um, I just want to go around to the school committee members just to see if anyone else has any um questions,
comments, suggestions. Um, we'll be meeting uh we're meeting for a recap on June 2nd. I think it was like a post um Dick has a uh with the moderator. So Dick likes to meet after the
um after the town meeting to to gather feedback. So be curious to hear what some school committee members have to say. Um, Hillary, I'll start with you since I know you had something I don't um to share about ATM. Um, I just want to say Brian, I really appreciate how
you did the initial part of the presentation in terms of balancing the tone and the amount of information. I think it's hard to like appeal to the people who have investigated a lot and the people who know have not paid any attention up until that moment. And I
think you balance that really well. And then I'm also really appreciative of how you handled some of the comments um and questions from the crowd. I I really loved how you have no question or doubt about what the school's um perspective
and answer was, but also did it without being antagonistic. And um I heard from parents how happy they were with how immediate your answer was about how we're going to educate all kids. Um, but I really love that you did that without like letting the conversation derail or
anything like that. Like you were perfect and how in terms of how you handled that. Um, then just because you said that you were having feedback meeting with Dick, who's at that meeting? Cuz I have some feedback unrelated to the school committee, but about town meeting, who who um I I go
and Brian um will be there. I think we're both invited. Um Dick. Um Jeff from the select board like the chair. It's usually the chairs. Okay. So um Greg. Yeah. So I don't know if you
want to email the the select board or or if you want to email me and whatever you I don't know what the feedback is, but just those are the kind of it's usually the chairs and uh the department heads. Okay. It's more about the inclusivity in terms of cutting off comment like um
speaking over people who weren't able to speak super clearly and you know last year telling people that if they weren't standing in line they couldn't speak um just comments about inclusivity at meeting town meeting. So not school committee related. Yeah. But if it's feedback that you have that's coming from a I'm sure Dick will want to hear
it. So like if it's um so feel free to share it and then I'll make sure that I you know include that in any comments that I have. And and just for for clarity sake, um because I know that um there was a lot of questions about per people's spending that came up and some
information that was accurateish, not quite. Um and then I at the end I tried to clarify because I it was like the fourth or fifth person who had asked and Dick, you know, cut me off. Understandably, we'd been out there an hour. Um but he did, you know, the next
day just kind of come over, make sure I was okay. And so it was no um and I did tell him we were going to, you know, speak about it um a little bit because I did have a lot of people reach out and ask about like what were you going to say? Um and it is something that has you
know some peak interest. So but that that is one that's feedback that you know I'm sure that they they've heard or they will hear or he will hear. Um anything else Hillary about town meeting? Thank you for for joining. I know you had a lot of balancing. Yeah. I
apologize for not being No, no, no. That's okay. That's okay. I'm glad I'm glad we were able to to to join. Um so, thank you so much. And yeah, so just send me along anything um you can think of within the next week. I think the meeting is June 2nd. I do think at some
point it's worth talking about how inaccessible town meeting is as a whole and how many parents with kids wanted to be there, cared about what we were voting on, and it's just such an inaccessible system for the people who are most impacted by the decisions being
made. Um, but that's not a school committee thing either. That's well so just because I was on the charter review committee which happens once every 10 years um I brought that up because there are certain things like the time of the year that the town meeting has is
written into the charter. So um I wanted to change that um or I wanted to open the discussion for entertaining you know like a little because we had just come off of this is a feedback we get every time like um that's a really hard day to
do like is a weekend day better you know just just to have a conversation um I was in the minority at the time so the conversation did not happen so we're stuck with the the the day um for another until the charter review, but the format
um I know looking at there's there are certain things there's very little flexibility in in town meeting which is really that's a state thing which is really terrible but I know I hear but I think it goes back to the same thing that people who are on the charter review committee are people who are able to make it routinely to evening
appointments without children or work or health interferences and so it's sort of like not surprising that they think that it's not a problem as a Yeah, there were years when we actually had conversations, this goes back to
Mike Gianetti Giannetis. Um, years ago, years ago and um about how different communities do it on a Saturday. Um, you know, Boxboro does it, Westford does it. That's what what that's what I had said like maybe we should think about then you're dealing with parents that have kids in all the activities and stuff
like that. No real good time. But it was interesting that while we were in CO and we had that outside meeting in the parking lot um on a Saturday at 1:00, how many people showed? There was quite a number of people that showed up. So, but anyway, to your point, Natasha, I think we're stuck for until the next
chatter review. Yeah. And that was tough because it was hard to hear and but like with technology constantly improving if people had you know handheld devices to be able to hear and vote um you know it could be a lot more efficient and then you could have your kids in the car with you and Right. Well I don't I don't say
we go back to that. I'm just saying Saturday back to that parking lot. It was awful. Again, not this is not going to happen for another while, but Hillary, I think to the point was at least maybe we can take it out of the charter or make it vague enough that we can it can be more flexible that we
don't have to wait every 10 years to, you know, or something to that effect. I think that can be at least a step in that direction. But, um, so whoever's on the school committee in 10 years, remember that. Um, all right. Yeah. So, Hillary, send anything that you have over and um, you
know, before June 2nd and I'll pass it along. Okay. Thank you. All right, Mary, while you were speaking, did you have anything? Oh, yeah. No, sorry. Um I um just kudos again, Brian. Thank you so much for being so on point with the support of the kids and the staff and
that and not having any ambiguity at all when you were posed with um not easy questions and just it's just it really it was great. So, thank you very much for that. Mhm. Alexis, any thoughts, comments, feedback,
suggestions? I'm just happy there won't be an override next year. Uh shh, don't jinx. I know, I know, I know. Uh hey, I jinxed Tuesday night when I said this should go quickly and then we had an hourlong conversation on shoveling snow.
Uh so um so I don't have any I really don't have any comments about it but Brian thank you so much um you know for saying what you did about the schools and that every child
is educated in Maynard. Um and I think that potentially might have changed a few minds in that room um as to how they were possibly going to vote. um when it came to the schools because
our vote was pretty close to what the senior center was um and it was getting up there number by number. So um I actually think that one that one comment um might have actually changed a lot in
that room. Um so thank you very much. Great. Um Marorrow, did you have any anything any questions or um comments about I I don't have any questions. Um just reiterating, you know, that Brian
did a great job. Um you know, throughout this whole process, um has been really great. Um same, you know, everybody that's, you know, had their hands in all of that what we've been doing um this year. um knowing, you know, how
difficult it's been and all the all the conversations that we've had about our budget for the coming year. So, I you know, thank you to everybody that um is involved in that. Um and that's it. Thank you.
Um and I think did I get everybody? Yeah. Um I think so. Um and also just uh Lois Riley, I know she um yeah was really fantastic and and and spoke up on behalf
of the Paris. It was just really um unfortunate how the work that paras do um at some point felt like it was minimal or that any volunteer could um could do that. And I speak from personal experience and know that that is
certainly not the case. So, I I just want to, you know, just really applaud all of our pair professionals who turned out um who, you know, who really are um you know, who uh Lois who who spoke up and who have been with the district so
long and so many years. um we know it's really because of your heart that you've been able to do it and um your work um is really um uh very much appreciated for all the years and dedication you do for for what you do for our students.
So, thank you so much. And I I also to the this the class was it the 11th grade class? Brian, can you um or can you send me like the name of what class that was that was doing? That was Jeff Pno's class. Okay. I sent I actually did. I
sent them letters. Nice. Great. Um Yeah, cuz that was just really amazing. I was, you know, so appreciative because growing up, I know that we don't uh generally have seen youth be so energized about the democratic process. They kind of, you know, maybe I've taken
when I grew up, I took kind of for granted until I got into my what 20s or so. And so it's really great to see how the youth of the generations that are coming up now are just so engaged right away and so in tuned and so active in
getting their voice. So that's very hopeful for our future. Um and along the lines of you know what everyone else has said you know I um on a professional level I work someplace where um there's a lot of contention around um
individuals who are foreign and um you know their access to education and our ability to to continue to educate them. And so I think without question, I don't think anyone in May mayor or beyond is going to find a friend on this school
committee who um would believe that education should be exclusive um or in inaccessible to any resident or any any child who deserves it. So, um I think that's um pretty clear that um you
know that that just would not that would be a a hard a hard pill to swallow to even consider. Um so Brian, yeah, thank you for kind of holding us true to to that as well. Um I think if without any objection, I'm going to I know we have
principles and stuff and we have the policies for the handbook. So I was going to actually take the next agenda item at a turn if that's okay. and we can talk about the per people spending after we do the policies. Um, is that all right for the rest of the school
committee? Absolutely. Yep. Yeah, that's fine. I'm wondering whether or not you want to do the um student report before we do that. Oh, did somebody did they um Did we No, but I wasn't sure how you wanted to to I'll do it after because I would just I'll just read it into the
record if they um aren't Yeah, they're not uh here. So, I'll I'll take that after. Um, I'll read it before my my um chair report if they're not here by then. So, all right. So, Maro, then I'm going to,
if that's okay, I'm going to turn it over to you for the school policies and you can kind of take it from here if that's okay. Okay. [Music] Um, school handbooks, first read.
Um, does anybody I guess we can start with whether or not anybody has um would it be helpful if you highlighted some of the the main um and you had I thought I saw it somewhere there was
a like what were the themes of updates that were happening for across or that recommendations that were done. I think the green metal one you mentioned before was one that had been looked at earlier.
Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Maro can go. Um yeah, the the order of um Green Meadow was great. Um and we we'd like to see that happen with all of them. I'm I think the um the high school one is
pretty close to that. Um the only one um I think it just is a lot of work to have to reorganize. So we're um we'd like that to happen for next year um so that they're all, you know, basically
the same. Um our our biggest um kind of um stuff that we sent back to the leadership was for policy. Um a lot of the policies that were in there were
old um or you know there were even um mentions of ones from years and years and years ago. So um all of that has been updated. Um, and then you know just some some
other kind of minor things. Um, so I don't know if anybody has um any other if to say anything about their um Yeah, Hillary, let me see if Hillary, you were going to say something and then
I'll I'll pivot over to uh Karen if she has some um Is that okay, Maro? Yep. Okay. Um, so last year Karen had talked about rearranging the order to not start with discipline and have it be a little bit more welcoming. And that really made a big difference reading through that
one. It did feel very different than um previous versions. Like that that made a huge difference I think in terms of a new family reading it. Um the only like I have a couple of like little things for a couple of them still. Um and it's it's really more of like a school
committee side of things is that um the high school handbook talks about has um a a portion is from the school committee's bullying policy. And the school committee's um bullying policy
basically says that there's going to be um hang on let me see where it is. Um it says like annual written notice of the relevant sections of the bullying prevention and intervention plan will be provided. The actual bullying prevention
and intervention plan was written um by parents and staff and kids who are very passionate about passionate about it like 10 years ago but I don't know that it it's pretty out of date and so I wasn't sure if that is like our policy
is saying that the bullying plan will be provided. The handbook is saying the bullying plan will be provided. I wasn't sure if the bullying plan is actually being provided. Um it's also kind of out of date, so I didn't know if um the principles were happy with it if they
were providing it. Um because it is written by all people who are no longer here. Um, and then whether or not moving forward it would be if we're required to provide aspects of the plan if it would be better to put those actual aspects of
the plan in the handbook instead of the policy that says we'll provide the plan. Um, and then I still have some things for the athletic and coaches handbook that I um feel strongly about, but otherwise I really like all the changes that were made for all three um school
handbooks. So, if I'm just understanding, uh, the bullying reference, is it only in the high school handbook? No, I because I do see something in Green Meadow. I'm looking at right now. It's on page 40 45
and it talks about bullying or 46 talks about bullying and retaliation. And there's like it t it it cites MGL and just, you know, what that is. Yeah. Um,
so is is is this I I I don't recall is this if this is the same or something like this in the other handbooks cuz the high
school is this high school handbook has um the school committee bullying policy copied and pasted there. The school committee policy basically says the schools are going to create a plan about bullying and the plan will be provided to families. And so um that's wonder
where that plan is. I'm guessing is that what Well, the plan exists and it's on the school committee um in the part of the website with the um policies and regulations. But if our policy is saying we're going to provide portions of the plan, I was thinking the handbook could
be a good place of doing that. Um, also if we're saying in our policy we're going to provide portions of the plan and we're saying in the handbook we're going to provide portions of the plan, but we're not doing that. I'd rather us say it in fewer places. Um, and then
also I'm not sure how much people like the plan and want to be providing it as it is anyway. Um, so I don't necessarily think that it needs to be addressed right now. Like I think we want to get the handbooks done, but I think moving forward we probably want to have people
who are actually involved in dealing with bullying at this stage to be involved in writing the bullying plan. And then maybe next year instead of including the bullying policy in the handbooks, include the actual bullying plan that's current.
So, is the bullying plan similar? Again, I'm just going back to Green Meadow and what Green Meadow has on the Natasha, if you go to page 47, it references um the MPS bullying prevention and intervention plan at least in two different places on
that page. Yeah, I Okay, I see that right underneath there. Yeah, it also shows up in on page 46, too. So, so Brian, I would I would want to, you know, I don't recall exactly what the
bullying plan is. So I guess my takeaway would probably be um has leadership, you know, are leadership confident that that is the best representation of what the bullying like, you know, have weighed in on that and should that be included as
it's currently or should that be amended? It was written like 10 years ago and it's like 20 pages long. Right. But I don't know what I'm asking is if Brian or the leadership team have looked at it and or like to what your one of your questions earlier was that
if they're confident that that is still a reflection of what um maybe is for one is it meet still mass general guidance um and two
um is that currently applicable I guess and how in use is that because if it's not in use, I'd rather not cite it. And no one knows what it is and we're telling parents to look at it and it's not an actual living document that is
being looked at or in in circulation for active use. Yeah, we can review it. We have bullying plans and bullying procedures and I feel like they're much more updated than 10 years ago. I feel like we've done them in the last couple years. I feel like they are too. That's why I'm just saying
that maybe for we can if each of the principles maybe or can look at that part of their um that section and um make sure it's the most current and Brian if you can you know kind of make sure there's
alignment on what you um with the policy or whatever the most current information that we have that'd be great. I would just have a link yeah I would put a link in a handbook. Yeah. Well, last last year. Go ahead, Brian. No, I say we can
find the most updated plan, which I don't believe is 10 years old because I think we've done it. We have since I've been here. Um, we've updated it, not the policy, but the plan. So, the procedural component has been updated within the last 10 years.
And we can go over that as a team, identify that, and link that to the handbooks. Mhm. So, okay. Um, last year we approved the mask
bullying policy which is JICFB, but I have a note in in our tracker basically saying that our previous policy 18 was more like a plan. And what we were hoping was that
leadership would go through 18 and compare it with what we have and making sure that it's basically, you know, that we're doing that we're following what we're what we actually do. Um, and what I would really like to happen for the
handbooks is anywhere that it's referencing a school committee policy that there's a link for the policy and that we don't actually type it all out, but we type out whatever the plan is
that is that the school is using as a procedure um in there instead. Yeah. And so basically we would give like a summary of what it is though, right? So like yeah, we could use a do a summary but you know if you've got like an
actual plan that you that you step by step you know this is these are the things that we do which is not a policy like a policy that we oversee. Um and so that's what I would really
like next year's to look like. Um and I know that's a lot of work. um you know, so obviously we're not going to do that for this coming year. Um I do think even though it's a lot of work though, it could be helpful because I know like
some of them include um portions of the sexual harassment and discrimination policies and we know those are going to we know that we're going to be required to change those shortly. And so um like some of these and and substantively to
be compliant with laws and so the fewer places that it has to be updated the better, right? Um I want to just go and um just because we're just starting with Karen. I know we originally were going to pivot to her um just so she can share
some of the updates that she provided in the Green Meadow um handbook. I don't Colleen, are you uh Oh, here we go. I can unmute you. I forgot. Hey. Hey Karen. Thank you. You look so bright and compared to the weather
outside, it's like wherever you are, there's a lot of light. Thank you. Well, first of all, I want to give a shout out to Colleen and Drade for helping with this editing process because I know that she worked really closely with the subcommittee. Um, and
so her being able to clarify comments and feedback and help us with updating policies was um, really made this process and job so much more streamlined and helpful. So, Colleen, thank you so much. Um, and I appreciate your
feedback. It was really helpful. Um, and I want to thank Keith because Keith taught me how to make our table of contents linked and much easier for our parents to be able to get right to the information that um, that they were needing in the moment. So, you know,
when you're talking about a 67page handbook um, and parents that have students that are ages three to nine, that can be a little daunting. And so, being able to provide the links was super helpful. Um, and actually thank you Maro because you notice things that
I never would have noticed. So thank you for your formatt and guidance, but you know also if you think back to not quite a year ago, the Green Meadow Handbook was, for lack of a better word, a disaster. So to be able to sit here
tonight and say that it is much more cleaned out, it's not perfect by any stretch, but progress. It's progress. It's yeah, it's looking a lot better than it was. So, I think we collectively feel really really good about that. Um, our handbook went through a process. Our
team leaders look through the handbook um and went through it section by section to help update different um different portions to match current practices and procedures. our school council went through the handbook um and we talked about it at a couple of
different meetings to be able to add their lens um and you know share parent insight and input and they were tremendously helpful with our revision process as well. And I think, you know, sort of the the gem in our handbook that
had been really overlooked um by our our staff and by our parent community, but never should have been, was our Green Meadow School mission, which when we really came back together and started unpacking what this mission was, everybody collectively was like, "Oh,
that's that's really good. That feels really good." And sort of defines the work that we're trying to do together. So, um, but it had been so buried in this handbook because it really wasn't in the front section. It was pages in in
the old version. So, that felt really good as well. And I think, you know, it's interesting that we're talking about the bullying section right now because that's one area that staff and school counsel had a lot of thought around. And I think the part that people
felt really good about was not so much about policy and it definitely wasn't about the plan. It was really around definitions of bullying. Yeah, I like that a lot. I love that. And that felt that felt really important to us because to be honest, we get a lot I get a lot
of emails. Kate Murray gets a lot of emails around like my child's being bullied. But when you dig into it, right, cuz the first thing we do is sort of investigate and unpack what what might be going on, it's a lot of developmentally appropriate behavior. And so to be able to reference the
handbook and clearly talk about the difference between rough play and fighting and what bullying would actually be is is really important because there just there aren't there are not a lot of cases of bullying
particularly with our preschoolers, our kindergarteners, our first graders, and our second graders. It's just it's so developmental for them. By third grade though, sometimes things can shift and so it is really nice to have this
handbook in the place that it is right now to be able to come back to and have those conversations with parents. So, um, you know, I think that's a piece that we would want to continue to keep in our handbook. Um, just to have that language to talk about. I say I really
love that. That's that was wonderful to read and see how it can help everybody get on the same page and avoid miscommunication and that was great. Yeah. And it's not new. It was there but it was so buried that I think it was really hard for people to decipher. Um
you know and I think we also feel really proud of the fact of the new order of our handbook. So thank you for recognizing that. I think um you know we just wanted to make sure that you weren't starting off your journey at Green Meadow being hit in the face with
suspension policies that it was really about how to navigate being the parent of an early elementary school student in Mayard and then you know all the other necessary stuff is there and at your fingertips but it was about the nitty-gritty of of being a Green Meadow
student. So again, I think um there's always going to be work to do, but we feel good about where we are right now. Great. Um I'm just going to go around to see if anyone has any other questions or um comments about the Green Meadow
Handbook. Um um Maro, I don't think I I'm gonna say you you're good. Um okay. Uh Alexis, so I don't know. I mean, it's sort of for all three, but I noticed it when I started reading through the Green Meadow
because there seems to be a little more in there. And I know this sounds funny, um, but how the schools operate. So, each school sort of has different things in there as to what happens during a delayed school
opening. So each school wrote something different about what happens for delayed school opening or what happens when the schools have to close early. Everybody's got something different even though there really is one policy
um that all of the schools follow. Um so I found that just a little strange reading through all of them. I think Karen's was most robust because she has a preschool. So um But it's everybody's first time journey, right? Like they our
parents are they may have never done this before, so you need to be a little more explicit. Absolutely. Um, you know, I always say you write a policy and a procedure to the person in the room who knows absolutely nothing and then
um people skip through what they already know. Um, and so I noticed that amongst the three of them. Um, so I was I was noticing those sort of things. And I'll be honest, I haven't had time this week to sort of sit with all three of them
and look at them um the way that I would want to. But these are just some of the things that I'm noticing. Um, sort of like every teacher and staff member is a mandated reporter and it shows in the
Green Meadow Handbook and it shows in the Fowler one, but I didn't see it in the high school one. So, I it could be somewhere that it's just buried in there and I I just didn't notice it. Um, and so I think those are some of the things as we're looking at,
you know, linking certain policies, these are some of the things that we're not going to link out to that are going to be in there. But it's how we present to the entire community that there should not be variance between the three schools that whatever happens at Green Meadow happens at Fowler that happens at
the high school. So, I just wanted to make sure of that. I didn't have anything really specific um for the Green Meadow Handbook, but I was just noticing that. Um so, it sounds like just the takeaway and I I don't know if this will be maybe a note for for next year as
we're talking about, you know, standardizing format. Um you know, that might be one of those areas that it falls into that bucket of um one of those areas that just do we want to make it uniform? Should it be uniform across? And I I think it would
be, but um maybe a note for um future revision. I don't know. Maro, is that do you have like an ongoing list that you're collecting for for next year? I guess of um of what to start thinking about. Maybe that might be a good one to
add. I think I do. Just look. I think to some extent it was a little bit hard to tell for us what should be consistent and what has different reasoning depending on what's going on in the schools and what like the developmental age. I know like we
noticed that the different schools um I think Green Meadow and the high school said that family vacations are not considered excused absences and then Fowler said it was sort of up to the principal whether or not they were excused absences. And when Maro and I were talking about it, we were like, well, is it not an issue at Fowler
because of like the age or it doesn't happen enough with that population for it to be need to like is there reasons in the daily life in the different schools that account for those differences or is it something that should just be consistent so a parent's
not saying well how comments excused for my you know eighth grader but not my ninth grader and so I think that was a little bit tricky from our perspective like you know the people who write the protocols the handbooks know so much more about it than we do. Um whether it's like something that
should be consistent or something that needs to be different. Um so again I would maybe I don't know if we're going to solve that for this versioning of it. I think yeah if you could Mara maybe take I put it in I put
it in our tracker um as a reminder for next year. All right. So, it sounds like the um the one thing that um was flagged and it doesn't sound like it's sub like it is substantive, but it doesn't seem like it's critical for the like the the high school handbook to getting that one
going is just about um the um mandatory reporter staff. So, that's a good takeaway for that. Um Alexis, you said you didn't have anything else, right? Not for the Green Meadow one. No. Okay. Um
I think Mary Mary Mary just That's okay. I was trying to find your screen. Oh, sorry. It's okay. So, just a couple of things. Um so, on page 21, it talks about the breakfast and lunch program. Are we sure that we're going to continue to get the funds to be able to provide
free breakfast and lunch with everything that's going on? Do we want to commit ourselves to that? Because if it does change, we're locked in here and it would mean money coming out of our budget. That's we can just we can update the handbook.
We can do that. Is that something that we would just change Mary if subject to um change? Yeah, just maybe or something like funding source, you know, subject or assuming no change to the funding source
or something like that. Just just something like that can get us into trouble. That would be terrific. And then um the next one was on page 29, the wellness policy, just because so much work was done in on the wellness policy. Can we maybe do a link to that policy? I know it's lengthy. It's like 11 pages,
so we don't want to put it in here, but it did it actually helped the schools to be able to regulate what can and cannot happen um with snacks and birthdays and all that kind of good stuff. It's kind of linked there. It It's
wishy-washy versus the policy. And it's just a link like I say it doesn't I don't need but it's just another another way to kind of protect you guys. And that was on page 29. And then page 33 with the homework. I thought we had up I know we did we updated our homework to
say that you know if if there's a holiday then you know there's no test the day after or or that kind of thing. And so do we want to put a link to that just again to keep things consistent? that was on page
33 just because we did a lot of work on that whole homework thing and just to say you know no test the day after or no homework the you know before a vacation that kind of thing I'm happy to do that I mean I think the
homework at Green Meadow is not right but test the day after could that be yeah I mean even that yes I can put that in here but that's the way our curriculum works is so different than the high school or the middle school
that it's it's not it's not really a factor. Um but I'm happy to link it just for consistency. Yeah, just to Yeah, that would be great. And again, it's just that consistency piece and that's it. Otherwise, it looks phenomenal. Really well done. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. And Hillary, did you have anything else for the Green Meadow? Nope. Handbook. Okay. No, I just appreciate like the humoring us with our changes and suggestions and all of our questions and comments and thoughts and Yeah.
Listen, I'm learning too, so it's all good. I'm like, wait, that page says this. This page says this. There was a lot of that in in our hand. There was a lot in the handbook. And even after so many multiple reads, we still missed things.
So, it all worked. I did I did have a I did have a question. Um, and this is actually pertaining to all of the handbooks. Um, was about the language. So, I know we have it in English and
um there's links or some parts of it like the messaging that might be translated into Spanish or Portuguese I I saw in in some of the handbooks. But um I know with
um cuz CPAC recently we were talking with Heather because they have the option of the website to look at they had some languages they wanted to make sure they're the most current replic you know of representation of the population and I think at some point I was
surprised that there's I think there was some um there was a lot more like Chinese and Russian um populations that of students for that are nonnative speakers. And I was wondering how
um are the handbooks going to be at some point translated into like the those like all of those prim like how does that how do those language determinations get used for what we're what we're offering um as compared to like the population
that we have of our students? Are we kind of doing that analysis of you know what maybe I don't know maybe we're seeing more of this one we should add another version in this language. Um has that been something that has been
thought about or can be thought about? I know at Green Meadow we look at what our home home languages are. We look at what languages are what we're getting for translator requests. Um, and at this point in time, I would
say primarily Portuguese and then Spanish and then, um, more recently Haitian Creole. Yeah. So, that was the other language that we added to the website to Yeah, a lot of our families um that may have another primary
language are not have not been requesting translation. Um, so at this point it seems as if we're meeting needs, but the other one would be the the Haitian and the Creole. Maybe that we can Okay. So that would be the only
thing is like afterwards after all is said and done if we can make sure that they're translated in those three major languages when we post them on our website and whatever the welcome letters that we have like from the principles and the superintendent if we can make
sure that you know it's also I think they all kind of have that Spanish and Portuguese but maybe add that other creole if that's the one you're getting feedback on that people are looking to get translations on. Yeah. And and you know again that's really recent that
you've seen. Um Oh yeah, exactly. I know. I just was thinking about it because it came up recently in a in a CPAC meeting and we you know the population is growing. So I just wanted to be thinking of that. Can Thank you so much. Can I just tack on to that for one quick second? ask Brian a question about
the translation only because in higher ed in Massachusetts, we're required under um regulation by the Department of Higher Ed to translate documents for students and families into the top three or five languages.
I was thinking like that's what I was thinking. Yeah. So, I'm wondering if there's also the same rule for K12. I will double check. It's translatable. So, like on the website it's posted, they can translate. No, we had to we have to have actual
physical translations. Um, and I know one school I worked at, we got tagged because we only had documents translated into Spanish. Um, yeah, we have we have them in like five languages. Yeah. So, um,
that's why I'm curious if K12 has I'll double check if it's changed. Yep, I can follow up. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Yeah, so that was really my feedback across the board for all of them, whatever final version is that we make sure that they're accessible in those um primary languages that we have
in our population. Um since we do teach those languages as well. All right. Um I think that's it for the green meadow. I don't know if Maro, did you have any other feedback or suggestions or
anything? Not that one. No. Okay. So, yeah, Karen, thank you so much for your work on this and um and also Colleen, it sounds like um the woman always behind the scenes helping to move things along. Always Colleen.
Okay, so now we're going to go ahead and move on to the Fowler handbook. Yep. Hi everybody. How are you? Hi, Keith. Thank you for joining. No problem. So, I I you know, off Karen's heels, I do want to reiterate the thanks to everybody um across the board, everybody on the
screen really. Um you know, when you live this document every day, it becomes part of you and you don't see some of that writing that's right in front of you and the errors and the mistakes and um you know, the formatting issues and you know, even the clarity. Um it makes
sense in our heads, but maybe not in a paper to an outside person reading it. So that feedback is always really welcomed and very critical to have and and I appreciate that. Um from you know from a middle school perspective for us um you know the vision of our handbook
it can get a little bit cloudy with an upper elementary school and a middle school in the same building. So you're trying to cater to two, you know, ultimately very different populations of students, whether that's the classroom structure and the structure of their days, um to, you know, as a bigger kids,
bigger problems. And so we try to find all of that mix. Um so some of the things that we focused on this year was um you know, really making sure we updated all of our policies and made them all linkable within our handbook. Um, and again, a shout out to Colleen for for sitting with me and doing that
and even doing more beyond our our uh face toface meetings. Um, you know, editing and um, making sure that our formatting was all set and that our linkable table of contents was up todate and accurate. You know, sometimes when you have just the wrong heading, it
doesn't link correctly. Um, so just fixing all of those things was very important. Um, also while you know we were talking about or listening about U Green Meadows handbook, um, Hillary, you made a really great point about the vacations, you know, we certainly want the same message going across all of our
schools to make sure that we're consistent on those things. And sometimes as principles, we can live and and assistant principles, we live in our isolated bubbles a little bit, right? Um, and this is our kind of our our our rules that we follow every day. So,
thank you for that. Um, one thing that I I even while you were all talking and we were talking about the bullying policy, um, something that I certainly would like feedback on is that particularly. Um, again, because when I sit there and look at it, it
feels like everything that needs to be there is there. Um, and so I appreciate the feedback going back and looking at the school committee policy and making sure that we're consistent in that as well. Um, but one thing that I really want to focus on here is that I just kind of picked up that um I wouldn't have necessarily picked up because I
know them in my head, but is our 37H, 37H and a half, and 37H and 3/4. Make sure we're referencing those um specifically because all all of those are um in the eyes of the state suspensions, but they all have very different meanings to them and different
procedures. So, I think I want to get that in there. Um, so I I would like to kind of provide you guys with a uh an update memo um post this meeting to get that in there for your approval. Um that's really where we stand right
now. Um I'm here to answer any questions and I I think I've expressed that but certainly want to welcome any feedback to make this, you know, more inclusive and welcoming document. Um my my only feedback was just again the same to reiterate about the language and it
sounds like Brian's also going to look into that as well, but um just to make sure that the they're available in languages fully um aside from English. I know that there's parts of it that are
um that have messaging from Spanish and Portuguese, but um you know that they're reflective of the population that you're that are there as well. and we're looking at that. Um that would be great. And then I'll go through um everyone else. Um Mara, I
don't know if you had anything you wanted to highlight in particular on the Fowler handbook and I'll pivot to you Hillary after as well. No, I don't have anything. Um you know, I think that you know, we've kind of
covered covered everything. Um at least from from my point of view. um okay you know about you know the things that we'd like still like to have changed not and not that they're you know necessarily going to have to or this year but you
know as a goal for next year that that we'd like to have you know so you know we either need we need to start much earlier or you know working throughout throughout the year um on well I mean it sounds like you can probably get a draft of like starting now or whenever we're
finished like the beginning of the or just get a a rough draft like a shared document that probably could just start putting together basic stuff like like you'll put in the calendar later and that kind of thing but like the text and the format I can't see why that couldn't be you know looked at earlier on right
um so it's great is there anything um particular with the Fowler one that would um was format is it formatting as well so looking at the most of the formatting was was was fine. Um the the biggest
thing for Hillary and I was the order. The order. Oh, got it. That's right. Um yeah, because that I think that that one um let me just go back to it. Um I think it starts, you know,
pretty, you know, there's there's a welcome section, but it goes, you know, kind of right into like conduct and attendance and stuff. And it just um I don't know it it didn't feel like it didn't have the same like kind of
welcoming feeling um as Green Meadow. I think that both Hillary and I um looked at Green Meadows first and then we when we went to Fowler we were like oh wait
whoa. So um you know so that was the only thing and if that's not you know um able to be done this year then we'll just do it for next year. So okay I think that specifically is sort of less important with Fowler because
it's not their first introduction to school right um the way it was for Green Meadow. Um but otherwise I Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Um, Alexis, did you have any feedback on the Fowler
handbook? I did. I had a question. So, under potential disciplinary consequences on page 18 for academic dishonesty, um, you talk about such as but not limited to cheating on exams and
forgery. Um, I have a question about AI and whether or not that needs to be specifically called out. um in this day and age. Um I noticed that the high school one has called it out specifically, but I think it might
not be as large of an issue for fourth and fifth grade, but as the kids get older in seventh and eighth grade, um they know what AI is, they know what chat GPT is, they know how to use them quite effectively. Uh fifth graders do
too. Um, I'm wondering if it needs to be called out specifically in terms of academic dishonesty because I don't think kids or sometimes even parents don't understand
because they're using it at work. Um, and they don't understand that it actually is academic dishonesty. Um, and I'm only thinking that way because school districts are starting to get sued um by parents who are calling out
the the students for using it um and taking disciplinary action. So, um I'm just wondering if that should be called out a And there was actually a a thing just to add to that. there was a student who
sued to get their tuition back um because their professor actually used AI for notes. So yeah, it is I don't know if that maybe is a larger question about should we have an AI policy um in
general and that might be I don't know if that might be a better approach and that could be cited. I think that's a good idea actually. Yeah. Well, I wonder if there's even one an AI policy out there at this point because I would like
to have something. Yeah. Yeah. I can I can ask whether or not they're maybe that might be have one or they're planning on putting one together. I think it's it's I think it's really tricky right now because um you know
there there's so much out there and people are using it all the time and um and even you know for instance um my son was taking a you know college level English class and one of the assignments
was use chat GPT to write this, you know, um this paper. And my son was like, I'm not doing that cuz that's not that's not writing. And so he took a zero to because he was
not going to do it. But you know, there are lots of people that are still doing that. And so where's I guess my question is where is the line that is being drawn and how do we you know especially you
know once these kids they're not if they're not being allowed to do this or being taught how to use it correctly then they get out into the real world where a lot of people are using it y and
doing it. And so, similar to like, you know, how we're looking at the cell phone policy, we need to to maybe teach them the right way to do this. So, um, just food for thought for, you know,
over the next couple years. Yeah. So to to kind of address the higher level of it, yes, I think Alexis absolutely AI should be included into into that sentence and then you know whatever the the committee decides for a potential
policy. Absolutely. Um and Mara, you know, you are right there there there's so much to learn and everything that we learn about AI changes tomorrow just like every every level of level of technology. But we are starting as a school to have these conversations with
our students. The hard part is also getting our staff comfortable with knowing what AI is and and how to use it appropriately because no matter where you look, there's all different versions of AI and and what's better, what's real, what's not. So that is something that we uh we are starting to talk
about. It is it's slower than I would like it to be. Um but it certainly is starting to happen. So so thank you for that feedback. Yeah, I think it also is worthwhile mentioning, you know, um um just because I um that as far as
what what we use it for because you you know, like not putting personal information in there like that kind of stuff, you know, and that's comes with the education piece of when when we are informing. I do wish we would have a policy first um that we could reference
because then it feels very um ad hoc and I'd want to get town or school council also um on it because there have there was a you know a recent judicial case a judicial ruling um and from Massachusetts about about that
um and and the family did did not win but so you suggested don't put AI in under the academic I I I'm I would like to think about that just a little bit more thoughtful because it then um I I don't know maybe it's more of a policy um and that we can
impact and it it kind of have a more broader approach in the district. I don't think we're going to get the right answer for the time the handbooks are going to get completed. Um and I don't think I've given enough thought that I'd feel comfortable to put something without really having a little bit more thought about AI. What about something
like may include, you know, uses of AI, like something to basically allow the administration to handle it with the backup of the handbook um without tunneling into
specifics cuz I think there's a lot of gray area, but then there's also like obvious black and white like inappropriate behavior with with the AI. I think it's larger than the what we're going to decide tonight. That's the problem is I'm just thinking about time
and getting the handbooks finalized to what we to making it feel like a thoughtful conversation that you know we can kind of look at. And so that that's that's my hesitation. I do I do would like something in there.
I'm just not myself at a place to say what that right thing that should be. um you know given that there was a recent also judicial ruling and I can't remember I don't have it all like handy and how that would you know play a role or should play a role in how it's
worded. Um, my only concern with not my concern with it not being in there at all is that should a teacher discover that a student has used it to plagiarize a
paper or something that should the parent actually read through the what is in the handbook, then Keith and Dave might not necessarily have a leg to stand on here.
Um, if we create a policy that applies to the whole district before I mean, but I'm just saying in we need I I think we need sort of like something in the middle at the moment to get us to the point of the policy that's vague enough that gives the teachers and the
administration the ability to sort of say, "Yeah, we include this as a part of academic dishonesty." uh while you don't think we would be able to get something before the school year starts while we work through what
the policy actually is. It's already in the high school handbook. So I don't know that if we you know were you planning on asking the high school to remove that section, Natasha? No, no, no. I just before we I don't know if it what was going to be
added was going to be similar to what I don't recall what was in the high school handbook per se. So, um, and then I I think it was just more talking about like policy as as a whole. So, um, I wonder if you're comfortable with if you were comfortable with how it was in the
high school if um, Fowler would be comfortable using the same wording for the meantime before we generate a policy. Yeah. I think as opposed to us because we looked at that last year so and we're looking at it now. So, I would say as
long as we're not kind of making each our own. Yeah, I would like some consistency. I think that would make me feel more comfortable. Let me um look to see what it's fairly broad like talking about using it ethically and responsibly.
Um, and I just looked it up and there are um there are templates that we could actually use that are pretty that um not it says don't get too specific um but just have a general guideline so we can definitely do something. I'll give a big shout out to Dave because Dave just
messaged me. So we mentioned academic dishonesty right there and that's where Alexis mentioned potentially putting AI but when you go back to page I think it's I have it on 37 but potentially you guys have it on 38. Um, under under the tab of AC academic dishonesty,
plagiarism is outlined there. Uh, okay. Because that's where Hillary I think was saying it was at the high school, right, Hillary? Um, it was about ac I think you were talking about like plagiarism. It's under technology. The high school handbook has it under technology, but Okay. So, you
have it under student conduct. Oh, no. Sorry. Fowler. So, look at like page 36 probably for you guys or maybe 38. Yeah. plagiarism. Yeah, I see that on 37. It is. But I I I don't know. I feel like the
word I feel like a student could easily say, "Well, I'm not plagiarizing. AI gave me the information." So that's not what plagiarism I I I I can just sort of like hear it. Yeah. I
actually also like that in the with it not being attached to plagiarism in the high school one and it's talking about ethically and responsibly. I think that can cover things other than plagiarizing assignments like people getting creative with their use of it to do, you know,
non-academic creative inappropriate endeavors. Well, at the end of the day, I'm I'm happy to do whatever you guys suggest. Um, oh, I see. Under Okay, so it's on page 41 to 42. Looking at the high school one, it's under technology
expectations. Principal York, was this effective this past year, the way you had it in here? Like, were you happy with that? And there were there any issues with the way you guys had it. So I believe it has been for two years and we have been able to work with
families very well with the way it's written and it allows teachers to have leeway to teach how to use AI tools appropriately for academics. It's particularly helpful in
outlining and many teachers allow students or even encourage them to use AI in the outlining process. Um so um Keith I'm going to read you what the the language in the high school is. So I think under the if
I like under academic honesty I mean you might have you could maybe just put like you know I don't know if you you have a technology section but that's the way it's listed under the high school and what it says
is under AI students are expected to use AI tools and resources ethically and responsibly. This includes ensuring that any AI content is appropriately cited. Additionally, any AI generated content that is shared with others should be clearly labeled as such to avoid
misrepresentation. So, that kind of does fall into like that plagiarism, you know, like you're you're citing it as AI material. Um, but maybe some language along that might suffice for now until we get a more like official policy. Um,
so if you flip if you flip over to the next page, Natasha, for I think it's page 40, we have the the computer section. Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. I could probably just grab grab right from Liz's handbook and put it right under there. What do you think? Yeah. Yeah, that that would actually I think that may be good. Yeah, like under
the computer and and just put that um Yeah, because you talked about like software. So, yeah, that might be a good place for it. Um until until you know, you know, we figure out what else to do. Yeah. No, that's great. Okay, Alexis, thanks for bringing that up and um and
Keith, thanks for um your flexibility and and and adding that. Absolutely. Um Alexa, did you have any other questions about followers? I did only because I um it's been in the news lately under where is it? Uh general school
information. Um you talk about computers, which is great. um and how students are supposed to care for computers and use them and that they get a username um to use school computers. Um I don't
know if we're talking about um are we talking about the Chromebooks that the students are given or are we talking about the computers in the classroom? Um, do you mind just telling me the page that you see in that on
Alexa? Sure. Uh, page 40. Thank you. Um, it's the same paragraph, Keith, that you were going to put the AI information in. I got you. Um, and that's the only thing because I I God help me. I watch how my children treat their Chromebook
and I hope and pray that there are days they don't break it. Um, and I'm sure I'm not the only parent that feels that way. Um, yep. But I I don't know in this paragraph if we're specifically talking
about how students are treating desktops that might be in classrooms um or other computer equipment or technology equipment that's in the school or if this is also encompassing the Chromebooks that the students are
taking back and forth to school. Yeah, that's a good good point. Um, so to me this is talking about Chromebooks. Um, very few of our classrooms have desk uh desktop sets on them. Um, so
I was so instead of saying computers, would you suggest saying personal Chromebooks or or school issued Chromebooks? school issued Chromebooks or computers in the classroom and and and Chrome person and school issued
Chromebooks. Sure. Yeah, I'll do it. And then I have one more thing. Keith is going to hate me. It's only because my kids are moving up to sixth grade, so I noticed it. Yeah, you're good. You're good. What's the
next one? I got got my notes on that one. the grading scale that's in here. So, you talk about the grading scale, the A, A+, but that's not what kids in fourth and fifth grade are great, how they're graded. Yeah, they're standing.
They're graded the same way they are at um Green Meadow, the 1 2 3 4 scale. Um so, I'm wondering if that needs to be updated to include um the difference between the fourth and fifth grade and then what it looks like for sixth
through 8th. Yep. Yeah, good catch. Because I I'll be honest, I was surprised when the girls went to fourth grade that they were still on a one, two, three, four scale. I was waiting for those grades because it's technically still elementary. I think that's that's that's why. Yeah. Um so,
um but just seeing the differentiation I think would probably help a parent. Yeah. No, not everyone realizes that like it's technically still Yeah. because it's in the same building with middle school, right? So that that is a very can be confusing. Yeah, absolutely.
And I think that was it. Okay. Mary, did you have questions, feedback, comments? You ready, Keith? Keith writing. I just got I've got two small ones. So the first one is page 39, the cafeteria. The same one that I said
for Karen. Not to lock us into the free meals. um put something in there as you know as long as we're getting it from you know getting the approval from the state. And then the other one was I got that noted already from Karen. Perfect. Perfect. I figured you probably did but I just wanted Yeah. Okay. So, here we
go. And then um the only other one was um under it was on my page 42 that it talked about um it and thank you for putting the wellness policy in there. Appreciate that. Saw that. Did you just add that?
Just teasing because I brought it up with Karen. Just teasing you. Anyway, the extracurricular activities and athletics. Um, can we put something in there to say that? Is that where I wanted [Music]
it? Um, something to say, you know, about the activity fee that if the kids can't afford the activity fee to have there be a link to a form or something like that. I think we've talked about that in the past. I know. I know parents are sent home that form when the kids,
you know, go um to the the meeting or something about um um I think even to register, Mary, when you it's on the thing that it doesn't hurt to put it on in here too, just so that because I know we want to keep keep everybody aware that we do have the ability
for that. Yeah, I know that that's that I'm pretty positive that's in the um the high school one. High school. I figured that probably. Yeah. So, those are my only the only two notes. Do you mind if I ask a suggestion for that just because
Absolutely. So, our middle school athletics have the activity fees, but our middle school clubs and activities don't have um activity to them. Right. Right. I got to re differentiate that um
Yep. And pretty clearly, right? So just say for um athletics cuz it's the athletic fee um that you know that there's a form something to the effect of you know there is um financial assistance if needed for the athletic
fee. So 43 where it says athletics would you suggest I put it right under with that? Yeah that's what I would I figured that that's where that's where I'd seen it. Great. Could you add under the student activities about the activities not having a fee? Because I actually didn't know that. And so people who hear about
the activities fees in general, it might be good to know that they that all like when you talk about the activities in Fowler that they there is not a fee. Yep. Yeah. So, um like WABM though does, right? But they don't if they do that
earlier, they they have a fee. I thought they may. I'm not sure to be honest with you. Yeah, just just as long as there's something in there to say that there's financial assistance with any anything that any of those activity fee um or that that that would be great. Thank
you. Oh, I wonder if it could be its own section that lays out like in general like everything is meant to be inclusive, you know, WAVM, sports, field trips, whatever it is. If if f there are financial barriers to participation, please contact the administration like
as a generic statement. Yeah. Yeah. Because we had that conversation that people are just a they just don't want to ask. So this gives them permission to ask. So So right right under my uh number nine, extracurricular activities and athletics, I can also uh well in lie
of enter that paragraph from the high school right under that before it even starts breaking things down. Perfect. Wherever it works for you. Thank you. Yep. Sure. Thank you, Keith. I didn't actually see WAVM listed under the activities, so I don't know if that's something that you um That's right.
Yeah. Can add in there or if it's in a different section. I don't know. No, no, it's not. Because I think, you know, we we definitely should have it in there because that's a great program for for the kids to start in sixth grade. Um and having their own
radio show, that type of stuff is fantastic. Absolutely. I'll get that in there. Thank you. Okay, Mary, did you have anything else on the follow? That was it. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. And um Hillary, did you have anything else on
the follow? Um the only thing and it's not really necessarily for now but I know that throughout last year and this year you know and probably other times as well it seems to be the age that there starts to be um issues with racism and anti-semitism and stuff and they're
not specifically mentioned in the handbook and I didn't know if you guys thought that it would be helpful in terms of your strategy for addressing those to have a section about um like the culture and what's permitted and the
you know I didn't I didn't I don't have suggestions for what specifically to add but I didn't know if that was something that you'd want to think about moving forward including in the handbook both in terms of trying to be preventative but also I know I hear from parents saying like what are the school doing
about this and um for people who aren't involved and aren't given details if there's something to refer back to like the handbook says it's dealt with in this way maybe that would help with some of those questions after the um fact, but that's sort of a bigger thing than
to do right now. Yeah. Um a very important topic. Uh I would like to kind of flush out where that might go in here and what that can fall under in terms of our our document. Um
that's something that I would it would take time to really flush that language out. So I'd like to be veryful and careful and and accurate with it. I maybe I don't want it to be rushed at all. More thinking just like as you you know strategize for dealing with
incidents as they come up um to consider whether or not a handbook the handbook might be a helpful strategy to use. Yeah. What I'll what I'll do too is um from you know this point until perhaps next year when we may may consider including something like that. I'll do
some research in some other districts handbooks to see if I can find anything referenced in theirs, you know. And Maro, maybe you can put that add that to the list of takeaways just, you know, about um just something to think explore for uniformity for all the handbooks. Yeah.
Yeah, sure. For next year. Yeah. I think the one is like the trickier one to figure out developmentally with that age group. Well, but it's also the one that probably needs it the most because they're the have more more impulse like less impulse control and you know
they're getting more exposure to social media and all these things. So, you know, there's No, definitely. I just mean in terms of being consistent across the schools. I think that probably there's examples of what high schools would put in handbooks. There's pro and you know it's it's probably
varies greatly between the different ages and the different schools in terms of how it would be addressed. Yep. Might have some. Yeah, I think that would be great. Thanks, Keith. Thank you. Just a quick time check. We've already hit an hour on this agenda item.
Yep. We're all right. We're we're good. Okay. Um now we're moving on to the high school. And so, um Maro, did you want to highlight anything in particular in the high school
um before just pivot over to Liz? [Music] Um the the one that's in here right now um is that is that the most upto-date one? Yes, it is. Okay. Because I'm I'm
still seeing like um some highlighted sections. Is that changing? The highlighted sections indicate that that section has not yet been updated. Okay. Often because it's done by a committee that has not yet met. Okay.
This is gen the handbook just for background reference is generally an after the seniors leave into the summer task at the high school level. It's not something that we do before now. So Oh, I wish we knew that because
we didn't need to be doing it right now. I think we were trying to do it right now to be helpful. Um, we certainly could have waited. Sorry. I I will still have um two items I think that I need to bring to you. Okay. Okay. Well, then yeah,
that's maybe we should just wait then. Well, the format is greatly improved by the close reading that you folks did. That was very helpful and I loved putting it in the new friendlier order. I think that's an improvement. There's
one thing I can bring to you tonight if you want please. Which page 43 we've added metal detector. What's the plan for that in general? So the plan is um first of all I don't know
if you know that the police can no longer breathalyze or metal detect minors. Mhm. So, at my U principal's meeting this year, we've been talking about that very much. Most schools have
now bought a an inexpensive breathalyzer, including us. And we also talked about the fact that metal detectors are now about $50, ones that actually work. And you know, there are times in a high school
where we will get a report that someone says they have a weapon. It's generally a knife, someone will say. And we don't touch our students. We ask them to turn out their pockets and let us look in
their backpacks. and being able when there is that report or we have a suspicion to just very easily wave a metal detector wand would put everyone's minds at ease and
is becoming very standard practice in all local schools for principles to have that that makes a lot more sense and is totally different than what I was picturing. I was picturing you walk through Yeah.
No, it's because they're so low low cost and easy to access and just add such mind. Yeah. Clear school bag, but I did not want to start using a metal detector before talking to everyone. Yeah. Um,
for the breathalyzer, um, what Hillary and everybody, I'm just giving you guys a heads up. My my power just flashed a bit. I did, too. So, we may be shortening this meeting. Okay. So, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. Um, so yeah. All right. We're on the same side of the town. Yeah. Y
Mary's out. I'm out. What kind of breathalyzer instrument is it? And is that mostly for um like at prom if there's a suspicion or if there's an issue or is it for more common use? Yep. It's um a a tiny handheld breathalyzer
with um we have hundreds of mouth pieces that came with it. So you just if the student blows into it, then you get a new one. The um so yes, it's only ever used if
there's a suspicion. We never line the kids up and breathalyze them all. Um, does it have passive mode where you can I just want to real quick I want to pivot to the handbooks because I know that uh is there anything on the handbooks particular that we can cut through because I I'm just worried about
power going out. Um, did you have any feedback on the handbooks? Um, just I really appreciate the changes. Um, the the only pieces I had real questions left were about the metal detector and the breathalyzer. Okay. Did you want to add more information about the breathalyzer in in the handbook? Is that what you were
thinking? Um, so the brethalizer can sometimes be used in two different ways. And so depending on if it was if it were to be used in the alternative way that it can be used, I was thinking about whether or not we'd want to mention that as its own
thing. But um, basically so we the handbook says students refusing to take the breathalyzer will be presumed to be under the influence of alcohol. The breathalyzers can also be used depending on the model without a student participating like um by testing drinks
and so um it can't do that. No, it it's like a straw. Yeah. You you put a disposable straw and and the person has to blow hard into it. There's no stick or
Yeah. Some of them can The person has to consent and really blow hard. Okay. Okay. Did you have any other questions, Hillilary, about or are you are you are you still uncertain about the language or Nope. That was if it was if if if
they had the option of using it if that was an option, I thought we should address it because it is a different thing. Uh but it's only Yeah, but it's only the one type. Okay, got it. Uh Mara, did you have anything else on that? You you already you were good. I think I see your comments that you put
in there. Yeah, I have some I have some more comments just mainly um formatting stuff with bullets. Um okay. And um if Liz, if you could um uh link the table of contents once you have the final um
contents. I don't know. You know, if you um I thought I fixed all the bullets. I've been working very hard going through them all. I know it. I'm telling you, word bullets are horrible to work with. Horrible. So, I totally get it.
It's such a pain. Just keep if you're if you have the time to keep looking, I have the time to keep fixing. Okay. Tomorrow will catch everyone. Just so you know. I mean, take on a life of their own. Yeah. I literally have seen things in that handbook that I have
never seen before. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yep. And I wrote a lot of it. Um Okay. So, uh Mary, I'm going to just Yeah. Just I I had a couple of things in the first one. Um thank you. On page 16, the top of it is the wellness program
with the um policy ADF in the parenthesis. And this is for Keith and for Karen. You could I'd be it'd be great for you just to use the summary that Liz used because it really highlights what the policy is. And then you've got the link to the whole 11 pages. But if to going back to Karen and
and Keith, if you want to use page 16 of what Liz did at the high school for the wellness program, that is pretty much does the job. So um and then the other thing is um Liz, I know with the cell phone policy that you would put out a survey with parents and all that after
the first year, it pretty it's stay in pretty much as we iterated it um at the beginning of the school year. Correct. any changes to that policy or to your We have not heard from all constituents yet. Okay. So, I'm not willing to say
that that is in its final format. Okay. If there are significant changes, I will ask Mr. H to set up a chance for me to talk to you about it. Great. Yeah, because I mentioned it to Brian a couple of meetings ago and that's when we were talking about the, you know, the um
handbook. So, yeah, if you could come back with that, that would be great. Yeah, I mentioned I think that there are two things I may have to come back with. Okay, that is one and the other is our schedule may be make there may be a tiny change in our schedule. We may be
piloting a um flex block where the teachers can do vision of the graduate activities with the students. That's something that's been in the works all year and that would change two different pages. And again, that's something I
would let you know about before I published. That was my other um comment because were we supposed to get back to NIASK at the end of the year now that you've got a vision of the graduate? Yes, we did. Oh, you did. So, they've got that piece. So, they're they're
happy. Okay. Well, they have it'll be six months before we hear if they're happy. Well, that's true. But at least we unofficially I'm friendly with them. And unofficially, yes, they're perfect. The important thing is we're doing our end. So yeah, now it's in their in their hands. Great. Thank you very much.
That's it for right now. Lexus, I don't have anything. Nothing. Okay. Um I'll find stuff. Believe. It's okay. That's okay. I will find stuff. I just haven't fully gotten to that one. So I will find
things. The only thing that I um again I'm I trust other people going through this the fine tooth comb as well. So, but I was just the languages that um that same feedback for Green Meadow and Fowler is just making sure that they're
um any final version that we have them translated into um you know languages that are more common accessible for. So, it's I don't know if the high school u population has the same
um you know, Spanish, Portuguese, uh Creole, you know, or Russian, other languages, but just to make sure that they're accessible in a translated version of the the ones that students most need or their families most need. Um including any welcome letters, that
would be really really great. Um as well. So, I think that's it for the handbooks then. Um, anything else? Liz, thank you so much. Did I get everybody? I think I got everybody right. Um, Liz, thank you so
much for your work on that. And so, Mara, what does this mean for that? We'll um they'll they're going to come back and we'll have to do a final for an approval. So, yeah, I guess I I'll look to you to let us know when that when that might be. Yeah. For scheduling.
Okay. We just want to make sure not to hold them up point. They send it out. But from what Liz is saying, it's it's not the we thought. Okay. Yeah. I mean, we could, you know, I think last um Yeah, we have we have July, you know, we
could do it um as well. we have fifth, then we have the 18th, and then it goes into the the next um fiscal term because I know that there's also the the offerings that the curriculum or the what is it called? That is another thing that we get
um we get a look at every year as well. Catalog. Yeah, it's called something else, but I the pro program of studies. Yeah. Yeah. Are you talking that at the high school? Yeah. Yeah. We usually get a view of that every year, I think, when it gets updated as well. So, I didn't know if
that was maybe ask all three principles right now if the July meeting that we have is going to be give them sufficient time. I'll let Maro just you know work with because I think she's the one who's going to get the Yeah, she can I'll just take her lead on whenever they don't want to hold them up. Yeah. Yeah.
Exactly. So, thank you very much everybody. Um and I I think policies. Yeah, we have the athletic. We still have the other two athletic and the coaches. Um, can we like sort of table those and
Yeah, I don't think he's here, right? I mean, wouldn't we want Yeah. So, I I would want to do that when um when Mike's here with us. I'm also not comfortable with either of those as they currently are. Okay. Okay. Well, yeah, then I wouldn't want to put them as a
first read. and then maybe we maybe um maybe you guys can regroup on those and Hillary flush out some of the things that you're concerned with. Um cuz I would I would want the handbooks to come to us after they've had your first like the
sub subcommittee's like first level of scrutiny, right? like we've well we've gone through them a couple of times but there's like they drastically conflict with school committee policy um in one area that I'm not comfortable so when Mike Yeah. Yeah. I think that
would be great to have Mike here then we can talk about what that is and the reasoning um and call that out and have a more um expansive conversation. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that without him you know maybe Hillary maybe we should um actually meet with Mike.
Yeah, that would work. I love that. That'd be great. Yeah, that might be great to meet behind the scenes first and yeah, so far it's all just been comments on the word document and that hasn't worked well. All right, so then we will uh table
discussion on the athletic um and the coach's handbooks. Um and then we'll move on to the other um policies um tomorrow just so I can make sure. I know that we have to
um maybe we do the rescending ones because those are pretty easy, right? We're just rescending the flag because we already adopted the flag policy and then we're rescending um the other one 5191 and we're
recottifying to that to JJ, right? Yes. Yeah, those three we could take care of. Did you did you want to push off the other two? Um no, I just I think those we can maybe get those done quick and then we can start chipping away at the
other one. Um I think immigration I don't know if that's gonna I don't know if any of them are going to take any longer but I'd rather the immigration one um actually isn't um let me just look at it while you're doing that I'll go ahead
and make a motion that we resend policy 721 flag display I can second or did you want to do all of them together. No, I think there because the other one is going to be like a recodifying. Um, and and just for
context, we already approved a flag policy. We just forgot to resend the the other one that was there. So, this is where this additional action is. Um, any further discussion? Okay. Uh, roll call. Mary,
yes. Maro, yes. Hillary, yes. Alexis, yes. Natasha, yes. Okay. So, we have rescended 721 and then the I'll go ahead and make a motion that we rescend
519.1 and recodify 519 to student scholarships for JJ. I can second. Okay. Um, any further discussion? All right. Uh, roll call.
Mary. Yes. Maro, yes. Alexis, yes. Hillary, yes. Natasha, yes. All right. Um, Mara, what do you got for immigration? All right, let me just um
Okay, AC is just uh pretty straightforward. Um, we had we had a couple questions about um the the bus section um which
um we checked in with um D bus [Music] and actually yeah this is what I'm confused by because I thought we had asked Colleen to find out what DE's plan
was and D had said basically they bring the kids back to school um instead of following this. So we had updated it to say instead of these steps which is what Melrose had the bus would bring the students back to school but then Colleen deleted that. So I'm not really sure it
is right. Colleen, what you have any input on on You're muted. You're muted. I did not mean to delete that. I'm not sure what happened. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. I was really concerned about that
because I feel like these steps are an awful lot of steps for one bus driver to do while having responsibility over a couple dozen kids. And I really liked what the that de brings the bus back to the school where there's multiple adults
who can supervise and support that. I like that. Okay, then what we can do is um I just restored it. Oh, okay. I did like that language. Yeah, I can't imagine being alone on a
bus trying to like make sure it's the right type of warrant and calling lawyers and keeping track of all the Oh my gosh, there's no way. Yeah, there's just no way. Um, so this is just a first read, right, for
everybody. So, um you know, if you if you can take a look at this and then um you know, since this is obviously new, so um and then if you have any if you have any
comments or questions, just let me know. Um and then Hillary and I can um the only thing that I had and this is more [Music] um not for policy per se but for
um for I guess leadership um and Brian I had mentioned this to Brian already but for school committee um is that um I would like to make sure that we are not in any way over documenting or over
capturing um any immigration information about families in anything that's more than um legally required for reporting purposes. And and what I mean is just like even if it's just ad hoc that it might be
helpful somewhere. Um I just know from current administration it's very much um if we if if we have it it's you know it's um it's subject to um subpoena. And so I just want to make
sure that as a practice that we're just really thinking about you know any of that information that could um you know how how we're using it and just because it's just um a terrible environment that we find ourselves in right now to even
really think about. So the only thing the schools really have is the home language survey which is required for the e um teachers and reporting. Yeah. So then I guess from that like you know no like um I guess an Aspen or anything
else like those type of things. I would just want to make sure that it's not even though it might be helpful for something, I would rather be on the more um cautious side and not capture it in any place that unless it's absolutely
necessary for compliance purposes even if it's helpful to have because then it becomes subject to um you know a subpoena or scrutiny. Um, we're working on addressing that. There were a lot of edits that I made um
suggestions for in the handbooks um about things. Go see Gigi. Um about removing uh like it listed that it was required to have the place of birth as directory information. Um and so that was removed from all three handbooks and
there's a policy we can remove that from. the Attorney General's office in Massachusetts sent out suggestions for ways to accomplish some of those things. It also um specifically for registering new students. Typically, you have to
have a birth certificate. Um I believe the Green Meadow Handbook um had listed that and I I believe it was there. It could have been a different policy. I was reading. Yeah, I did see like information that you needed. Yeah, it was a hand. Um but it also gives the exceptions and that like um it's also in
a policy we're updating that an exception hang on baby an exception can be other alternatives like an affidavit or some other information like from the pediatrician that has the age so that we're not providing um birth certificates with home countries. Yeah.
I mean I would guess even as a practice to think about you know um how much we really genuinely need birth certificates as a like I know that's a you know I would be really like that's how um and I again I only only because this is
something that happened in my my work when we were dealing with undocumented individuals a couple of years ago and um and it's just an area that I know can it's you know wherever it is if we don't have to ask for people's um countries or
citizenship or anything like that. I'd rather us find another solution that would not have a family stand out. We do have to ask for city of birth. that is a reported uh element for Desi and I actually contacted my contact at Desi
and they said that yet that we can't have that field and that's what I'm saying like if we have but I haven't seen anything in Aspen then we don't we don't absolutely need and I just want everyone to kind of get their feelers up right like as we like we probably have done so many things that we've just not you know past practice or whatever but
as we're moving forward just to kind of challenge ourselves like do I need it collected this way is this something that could potentially you know, be used against a family in some other way to identify them or whatever that might be. And um sad that we have to think about it, but that's kind of the the the
mindset that I would really like us to look at going forward is is there an alternative way um so that people aren't, you know, people are protected um and have their access to education and they don't have to worry about um you know, being denied that at any point
and that we are supporting families. So, that would be um whether that's in their policies or handbooks or whatever, that's just an overall theme I'd really like to make sure that we're we're considering. Um and that's really all that I had um
on that. So, for handbooks, we'll um um or immigration policy. So, we'll this is just a first read tomorrow. So, uh, anything along those lines will, um, I only looked over it once and I didn't
actually, uh, I'll look at it again. I'll put some comments on it for you guys. Um, so the next time it comes up, it'll be for a second read. Um, okay, great. And then, um, the school admission, that's the
other one that that's a first read as well, right? Yes. So, um, hold on. Let me see. I'm I'm thinking that I thought that I that I sent you a
message basically saying we don't even we don't need to do this at all. Yeah, we had pulled this one to address the birth certificate issue, but it had already said in there or equivalent proof of age and so we decided that that covered. I had about listing like the
affidavit or what other equivalents there were, but um we decided it was okay as is. Right. So, actually, I don't think that we need to to deal with this at all because it's not um I should have deleted out of the folder once I
realized that. Um so okay we don't so we don't have to have this one as a policy no we have already approved this. Oh I see. So basically what was happening was um we were addressing the birth certificate
section on this because of everything that was going on and um but because we don't need to change it now. It's it's still it's okay. We're not making any changes to it. So we don't need to address it. I think it's probably
something that needs to it's already accounted for in the policy. It may need to be promagated more in terms of practice so that like when parents are actually registering their kids, they're not being asked for the birth certificate. They're being told about the alternatives and stuff like that, but it's already in the policy.
Got it. And I think that's what I was kind of mentioning is like as as we're looking at our past practice and our our procedures that we normally do that we just kind of challenge ourselves to think about um alternative ways and and um for that purpose. Exactly. I think
the only other thing was possibly that once AC is um approved that we might want to add that as a um a cross reference um to the school admissions. I don't
know. Yeah. Just out of curiosity, what would be an equivalent proof of age other than the birth certificate? Apparently, it's things like having a member of the clergy or social worker write a letter. Um or the pediatrician write a letter. Um you can also have a
baptismal. Um okay. You use a passport because some foreign countries have date of birth listed on a passport. Legally you could, but the goal is to get away from them having Yeah, that's having foreign documentation for Okay. Just curious.
Yeah. But sometimes they have that that that is their only form of documentation. Yeah. When they're not when they're in an undocu status. Yeah. And that would be fine. I thought I was pretty surprised when I was learning about this that like the pediatrician writing a
letter saying they're like about five years old. Yeah. Pediatricians will have Yeah. They have immunization records and they they will provide like a health record that has um that has that information on there. Um so okay
um any anything else on that? Okay. So what we'll So we don't actually have to do anything with this one then the admission. So we're just it's we already did it and we're
not changing it and so we're good. Right. Okay. All right. Um All right. So now we're going to go ahead and move on. I don't think the I don't think we had our students. So um to all the principles, thank you
very very very much um for your work and helping um with this. I so certainly appreciate and I know everyone else does um and I feel very happy that we're making progress and that's really the goal is that each day we're just moving forward in the right direction. So thank
you all so much. Um we don't have any students uh joining us. Would anyone be want to read the student report? I'm um I'm feeling a little uh froggy. I don't know if anyone is
Let's Well, maybe not Hillary. I can read it if you want me to. Yeah. Would you please? Okay. Let's see the highlights. So this is the Maynard High School student report to school committee May 22nd 2025
highlights. Mr. Paterner's classes civics action project save our schools has used posters, social media and their passionate advocacy to show student support for an override at Maynard. They're demonstrating the potential of a civics action project to have a real
impact on a town. Senior panel presentations took place on Friday, May 16th. They went very well and every guest in the building was impressed by our program. On Monday, May 19th, the leaders of change held an ice cream social during the school day. It was a chance for students to talk to people
outside of their usual friends group and to enhance their feelings of connection and belonging. It was inspired by our start with hello assembly from Sandy Hook Promise. More friendship events are planned for next year. AP testing. We set a new record this year with 254
tests taken. 41% of our students took an AP test this year. Prom was very successful and very snazzy this year. Um Chuck was there. He was the honorary king. That's great.
Girls softball became league championships this week. They are ranked third in Massachusetts. Izzy Burks at two new school records this week as our track and field team moves into their league and state meets. The Special Olympics was a huge success on May 8th. It was our first time hosting and it
went very well with many MHS and Fowler volunteers. Student concerns. When an opposing team's baseball player broke his leg, it was a situation where having an athletic trainer would have made a huge difference. A parent called 911 and a student EMT helped out. But as a host
site, an athletic trainer would have been wonderful at the time. Some teachers are racing through the end of their curriculum. They are rushing too many concepts at a fast pace. Miss York will talk with the teachers about this concern and we'll remind them in the fall upcoming sports award night May
26th, field day, uh, tomorrow or next Wednesday. So depending on when this was written might be tomorrow or next week. Uh senior trifold night May
28th and that is it. Okay. Um, so I guess we don't have any any other comments on for them here today, but um I I would say just about the the
athletic trainer because I've I've heard this a couple of times and just for because we're recorded because I know one we don't have a lot of people on except for school folks, but the school committee really really went to bat to try to keep this position in the FY26
budget. Um, I think no one no one denies the importance of the safety of this position. I've heard extensively that feedback right there. Earlier in the year, there was a student um on another team got hit in the head, a girl from
softball. Like I I hear every year there was someone a boy soccer in the fall and the other opposing teams get really mad at Maynard. Um and so I I feel bad for our coaches. I feel bad for our parents. I feel bad for our students. Um and also I want to make sure that we're not
viewed as a town who doesn't value the safety of our programs and our students. So um in order for us and this really just changed in April, okay? in order for us to
gain approval for our override from a consensus. Um, we needed to remove it for the FY26 budget. Now, it doesn't mean it's never going to be looked at.
It just means that um for the greater good to ensure that we could proceed with the override and get the recommendations from all the other boards and community um on there. This was a very hard decision to do. It was
not something that I mean this is many we couple of years we've been trying to get this position. So the school committee in no way does not value this position. Um we will certainly be taking it up again next year. Um, and I certainly will make a point of
of that as well, but I just wanted to explain um for anyone who listens to this later uh the reason why that athletic trainer position um came out at the very last minute and um and it was not an easy thing to do, but um in
weighing against all the other cuts and getting an override moving forward um it was something that felt necessary in the moment, but nothing that we are abandoning. So, um, and I'm sorry for all other teams who come to Maynard and,
you know, feel like they're not getting this the adequate support as a visiting team because that's not what we would want in any in any case. So, we're still it's still a priority. Um, and thank you for sharing the feedback. Okay. Um, moving on then. I'm gonna just
go into the Oh, can we just say how amazing the students were that came and spoke um at town meeting that Mr. Pno's class is awesome. Um Oh, yeah. Yeah, I had mentioned it earlier when we were talking about the town the Yeah, the ATM. But yeah, they they done a great and Brian I think actually said he sent
a a notice um for for them. Yes. Um you know um Yeah. and Ka if Kaylee was here. Um yeah, I especially thinking she would be here to tell her. She was awesome. Yeah. You know, I just thought it was so amazing um that, you know, she was very
vulnerable and sharing a story about, you know, her own experience and that's not something that's easy to do. Um, and especially in that, you know, that environment where there was a lot of critique about that and and so I, you know, I I did mention to her mom
privately, but also I just applaud her for being willing to share her own personal experience about her education and um, being on an IEP and um, and the value that she's had from our par profofessionals and assistants in Mayor
High School to improve and and have her be more confident and and um and as a student. So, I'm I'm glad. But I also wanted to Yeah, I think Hillary, thank you for um she she did a really great job and I think she also swayed a lot of people as
well with her her experience. So, um I do have student feedback, but it's not necessarily high school feedback, but it is food related. And um since we're going to be going into I guess a
chair report, I'll bring it up. So the um there's I've been hearing a lot still about food running out and um and this is at Fowler, so I don't necessarily know if the same thing is happening at the high school, but it's more at
Fowler. Um the what I'm hearing is that they like if you have a particular grade they rotate like what tables go up to the line but then by the time it gets to like the last table getting called and they rotate it they don't have a lot of
food left. So I guess yesterday or maybe the other day they had um smoothie was the main meal which is a horrible main meal. Okay, I'm just going to put it out on the record that's a beverage that is not a main meal. I know maybe from a caloric or a dietary nutritional value
it probably represent but it's not a main meal um in actuality and and so because a lot of students did not like the smoothie they went to the pizza or they had the tacos but by the time the rest of certain grades went up because
they only make a certain amount there were no pizzas left or the tacos had beans only. So, I just would implore um that we do some type of tally in the morning. I don't know what the right
solution is, but like they do it in other school districts like if you're getting a meal, let's like the home room teacher, who's getting a hot meal or whatever. And so, they can give them a count of how much they need to prepare for that day because it is becoming a little bit exhausting to hear how
they're running out of food um all the time. Like I hear this comment in the past couple weeks a lot more and I don't know why it is the way it is but I just wanted to convey that was some feedback that I've heard from several people this week. Do you meadow
kids order in the morning? The handbook said that but I don't remember. You know I I don't know what that Karen Karen's on still. I don't know if she can I remember Karen I remember Karen saying that that they do because they have to order it.
Yeah. So, I wonder though if that works. So, our our preschool, our kindergarten and our first graders order in the morning. Our second and third graders do not. They go um but we don't typically
run out of food. They there's plenty. Yeah. And I So, I don't know what it where the the disconnect is. It seems like it's I've heard it mostly at Fowler maybe sometimes. times. I don't know at the high school, but really Fowler. Um, I hear Keith. Keith has his hand up. Oh,
Keith, sorry. I don't I don't see everybody in my view. Yes. Please, if you have something to add, I'd love to hear it. Oh, he's muted. Muted. Oh, thank you. I got it now. Can you hear me? Yeah. Yes. Awesome. So, um, Natasha, thank you for
bringing that to my attention. Um, I'll be honest with you, I This is the first I've heard of it. Not one student or staff member came to me all week. Um Dave Snder, you're on here. Did anybody mention anything to you at all this week? Could just nod.
I uh I have not heard anything. Okay. And and so Natasha, Dave and I are typically in and out of the lunchrooms every day. I will um address this with Sue immediately tomorrow. Yeah. This is this is important. I I this is something I take very seriously and Dave and I
talk about this all the time. Um we had some issues earlier in the year. Yeah. And we we can't it seems to be the smoothie. Yeah, it seems to be the I've heard it a lot about the smoothie when the smoothie is like the main meal. I've heard this one reoccurring. So, if I had to give feedback about like justify
that. I I don't know. But like I would just say that that would be the feedback I've heard it like when that comes up in the cycle like that maybe needs to be looked at. And then I also have heard um just speaking on a personal level when I've speak spoken to the nurse um for
other reasons that uh sometimes she gets an uptick of people visiting to get snacks and she um often believes it's a correlation for like kids who may not have um maybe eaten or something um or
whatever or maybe missed a meal or something to that effect or they didn't like what was there. I I don't know that exact thing, but that there seemed to be a correlation in her view when she gets certain visitors that come over. Um, earlier this year, I did I did have a conversation with Sue, um, or a
correspondence with Sue via email. I don't want to say a conversation about the idea of doing a lunch count in the morning. Um, at that time, uh, it she felt it wasn't necessary that she was going to up the amount of food to see if that had worked.
Um I will I will address this first thing in the morning. Um I do know that often there is a smoothie. Uh not often but when there is a smoothie there are other main meals that are provided. Um there's never that they're running out though like that because that smoothie I guess they're making in the larger like
assuming that's the main meal and then the pizza and the taco maybe are like the with the grill or whatever that is. So they're not making those in the same abundance like as the main meal. So, you know, um by the time you have two last two or three tables or whatever, they're left with beans for
tacos or the smoothie. Um yeah, what I'm going to suggest to Sue that um that smoothies be very limited. Uh maybe offer on the days that they're going to do them. I would rather run out of smoothies. Have to choose something else then. Smoothies aren't cheap either. I mean,
smoothies are like expensive, too. Like, it's it's a pain. They're they're they're fruit and it's expensive and so yeah, throw out more pizzas. I want a kid I don't want kids having, you know, have no hot food from lunch. That's just crazy to me. Whatever. I I'm again I just the idea of
students who not who leaving because they don't have a warm meal is is bothering. Um and again, I I only bring it up because it is a bit frustrating. I know we we feel like we've talked about food a lot and I I think they're capable of doing it, but I am disappointed that
we we weren't able to have a competitive bid process. So, we're kind of um for lack of better words stuck with them um for another three years. And for um you know, I really don't want to have to put like a task force together next year that talks about food service because
we've gotten so much feedback on it. It's really not I I don't think the school committee needs to really get that involved in it. I hope not. So, I'm really hoping that we can do a better job of of prepping for the needs of the students. Um, absolutely. I will tell you this. I have not heard anything and
and I promise you if you hear something, I would strongly encourage anybody to reach out to me right away. I'll work with Wayne. I'll work with Sue. Sue is a very responsive and receptive person. Um, takes feedback. She totally to I probably was out with public and you know this week a lot with town meeting
and stuff. So that's probably why I happen to be around and people, you know, maybe mentioned to me a little bit more. So, um, but yeah, just please encourage them to reach out to me. I I'm I'm happy every day if I need to. I will. I will do that. I thank you so
much for your responsiveness and I appreciate um the work that you guys are doing to try to figure out a solution. Um, thank you. Okay. Thanks. All right. So, um, chair report, I just want to move on to the superintendent report and then, um,
we still need to do the, um, Oh, yes. Yeah. Let me go about the superintendent report and then, um, or the superintendent just a quick evaluation because I want to make sure we're all on the same page with um with those steps. So, Maro, thank you for sending out the
email. Um, everyone should have the latest um, template. Brian in our folder today. Brian has the um, when I actually moved it over, but all of Brian's information is provided. So the next steps for the
school committee are to make a copy of the template that Maro had sent for your own on your own drive and complete the rubric um based on what your your own individual view of um evaluating Brian
um by the 28th which is in six days. So not a lot of time. Oh dear. That's not easy. I know. 28. Wednesday by the by the end of the day. Yes. Have all day Wednesday, too. If tomorrow is like maybe really
nice, she might say the 29th, but I'm just not I can't speak for tomorrow, but she's the compiler. I'm just throwing it out there. I'm going to be spending the weekend doing the scholarship stuff, so I may be too late. I'm spending the weekend potty training. Yeah, there you go. Well, okay. I don't I think that's
TMI. I'm just gonna um so the re Okay, if we're working backwards, so this is where we we need to approve Brian's by the 18th, his evaluation. Okay, that's our last meeting for the year and that's when we need a vote. The meeting before that is
June 5th. Okay, so June 5th is when we need to actually do that first read and we need to Maro has had to have completed it and it needs to be posted for the public by June 3rd. Okay, the compiled version. So, this is the the
timeline we're working with. So, by June 3rd, this is where Maro needs time to actually take our individual evaluations and compile them. And so, I would say um everyone, please give it your best effort, myself included, because I'm
usually pretty crappy at this stuff of, you know, meeting the deadline there. I'm like, but I just wanted to make sure that we're just putting it on as awareness as a it needs to be the 28th. I would say the latest the 29th
tomorrow, I'm sorry, but um because that gives a full week that everyone should be able to look over the evaluation and provide, you know, fill out every section. Um and Maro, I think you put that in the instructions, right? Because there were some things last time that some sections that didn't get filled
out. So, we got to fill out every section. Um, and then there was you have to rate you have to rate every single thing in the rubric. Even because I remember, you know, many years ago, I think probably the probably the first or second year
that I was doing it, um, we only rated what the goals were. Yeah. But the rubric in the rubric. Yeah. The standards. And Right. But you have to to rate every single section. Yes. And then
um and then the comments you know were you know are great to add but they're a requirement if it is below standard that you're giving a rating for or exceeding you have to put a comment like what why your justification is for that. If it's
just like meeting or I forget what the um proficient then then a a comment necessarily isn't required but it's nice to include because of you know to justify but just from a requirement versus not requirement that's the part
that and then Marorrow um for Lexus because I know this is your first time with us doing this Maro what she'll do is she'll take it all and she'll um compile it she keeps like you know she puts it in like captures everyone's and then um when it comes to the ratings, it's more like an average that she'll
take um to get, you know, to the final ratings. Um and then when we meet with Brian on the 5th, you know, or he'll get it the same time probably we all get the compiled one that June 3rd and Brian will only get the compiled one. He doesn't get the individual ones. Um he
just gets the compiled version and that's when it goes out to the public as well. Um, and we will go over it and, you know, Brian has some time to look over it for a couple days and then, you know, we can go over each section. Um, if there's things that people need more information on or whatever, that's when
we kind of go through it. And then if there's edits afterwards, um, that Maro might need to do, we make a decision like during June 5th, like, okay, you know, maybe, you know, we understood something differently or we interpreted data wrong or whatever. Then we might something might get tweaked or maybe we
want to add a comment or tweak a comment. Um then that happens after between then and and the June 18th meeting. And then June 18th is when we would vote on it. And then we would also vote on um Brian's annual increase at
that meeting. And the other um other staff that are non bargaining um will be voted on at the June 5th meeting. So just wanted to highlight those. Mara, anything else to highlight
to you? The only thing don't only share it with Maro as well. So when you have your individual one, um, it's yours. You give it to Mara. Maro is going to compile it. When she compiles it, then she's only going to give it to Colleen and then Colleen is going to be the one
who disperses it and then, you know, lets us know it's in the folder. Then we can go, you know, get the compiled one from the folder. Sorry, Mara. That's okay. Um the the other thing is um if if any of you have suggestions on what you
think what you'd like to see Brian either do something different or something that you want him to do for next year or whatever. I what I did last year was I compiled those into its own little section at the at the you know in
the front in the first couple pages there's a comment section and I you know I did kind of overview of things that we liked but then I also had things to work on and then we we use that to create his
goals for the for the next for that next year. So just keep that in mind that you know if you have specific things you know to I you know to write those in the comments and I will pull them out and put them um all together
as best I can. Yeah, I really like that at the bottom that you had like the next you know things the takeaways after that really helped us for this year to create the goals. Um so um anybody have any questions? I'm
sorry about that, but I just um if anyone's really really struggling um reach out tomorrow. Um just keep her looped in. Um I that's what I would suggest is um you know let her know what you know
and she can you know she was gracious enough to be volunteering to do this. Yep. We'll do our best. Yeah. Um, anything else on that? No. Okay. Um,
the other thing about um for um chair report I wanted to mention was the um the warrant. So, um, I put it everyone on on a reminder on the on your calendars, but because of the holiday next Monday and Jane is going to be
going on vacation, if everyone can approve the warrant that she just sent out today by noon tomorrow. I already did it this week. Noon. Before noon tomorrow. Yes. Before noon tomorrow because they close at noon, right? Yeah. So, but by 11. Yeah.
So, I do it right after we leave the meeting tonight and then you're golden. Yes. Yes. Mary probably already have two. No, I haven't. I started to read, but yeah. No, I pulled it up so I've got it open. I'll do it right after. Right. Yeah. So, Mary, I know Mary does that.
And um and anyway, here. Can we make the new ones go to the left tab of the Excel of the Google sheet so I can open them on my phone? Oh, because I can't open. Yeah, that's true.
Open. Yeah, we can. Yeah, we can figure something like that out. Um I want to say you can because I think we talked about this before. I know. And you got it to open once, but I keep trying. I It doesn't work. You have to look at that little hamburger all the way to the right. It's like Okay. I know
it's not It definitely isn't easy. So, I will say that. I'm just saying if we have them go to the left, I'll do them every single week. Yeah. So just add a row in it. We have a bigger problem. Yeah. No, I hear you.
Um okay. So any other anything else there? No. All right. So, um I just wanted to kind of go over just
um um the per people spending um and I won't go into too much detail um on that, but I'm going to share my screen just some slides of like how it's calculated. And
um let's see. Natasha, the thing that you put in our folder um a lot of the stuff on the right got cut off. Oh, it did. Okay. Well, you know what? It'll be on the on that that that email. Darn. Yeah, it was just an email. So Wayne had
done a really um so just for some background um a lot of this came about because we were looking at the administrative costs for uh per pupil spending and and Mary myself when we talked about it in budget
subcommittee we had seen them go really high but there's really been no change um at the school for the administration um that would support such a substantial increase in that particular line for
calculating per pupil spending. And so, uh, Wayne reached out to and this was looking at the FY24, um, number. So, basically, Desi posts like a year later, right? Um, so the information for the end of the year gets sent over and then they like a year
later they post the um what all the the calculations are for the per people spending and and and such. Um and so what we came to realize was that um there are certain costs that are attributed to the the schools that the
town has that had gone um up in some sense or um were being added to that um instruction line um and and and probably maybe either shouldn't be or um anyway it was
questionable. So, um, after looking, um, I'm going to share my screen. See if I can pull this up.
Uh, oh, great. My Excel just crashed. Um, let's see if I can move it over to one second. All right, let me open this up on Google Slides. the same one that you just added to our
file. Yeah. Yeah. So, we can look at it that way, too. Yeah. All right. Um, so Oh, my lord. or if I'm sharing my computer. So these are all the positions for which we are
being we're giving 25% of the town's budget because they're using their services to help the school department. Correct. Yes, that's correct. This uh this is not
the latest. We have 24, but it's the same thing, right? Um that for example, it's saying of you know the treasurer's salary, treasurer the accountant's salary,
uh and those types of things. um they're attributing that we should have 25% of the cost that the support that they give us. Um also if you look
they're charging us for PEG salary and PEG expenses. Well that seems to be a double charge because that's paid for through the PEG grant. So why are we being
uh charged for it to so to speak here on on and that I'm sure has a big impact on why our administrative cost because on my end of year report this report comes to me the what you see here I get this from the town because on the end ofear
report it asks for all spending that is done either on the school's behalf or by the school and So on the school's behalf is the town which are these things that I entered and then the other part it
says school committee spending which is you. So there under administration then there's this part and then the school committee part which is very small but this is what skews things. Uh this 482
[Music] um let's see school allocation is 482,000 for what year is it 23 and for 24 it's even higher. That's almost double of what if
you just look what the school committee does. And so that really skews us and makes us look like we're out of sync with the other districts. I know one of the ones that Natasha brought up too, sorry, was the facility salaries because now we have our own
facilities director, so we shouldn't have any of that cost. Correct. Correct. So, yeah. So, how do we get this fixed? Right. So, I don't know if Brian wants to speak to this. He's he's been the spearhead in terms of
identifying. We have a meeting set up already with Greg and Kevin and Wayne and myself to go over this. I think we have it set for next week. Okay. We just needed to get through town meeting this week. Y um so we have a meeting to go over this and we've actually and actually this topic is kind of common
right now. It was actually showed up on the list serve for superintendent and so we got a couple of examples from a couple of different towns. So, this is a common um issue that towns and schools have in terms of the percentages and
what's an accurate percentage and what's not and how it impacts end of year reporting. Um so, we're not alone in this. So, we should have an update soon. I know we're I don't know exactly what day next week, but it's already on the schedule. Excellent. Excellent. And we don't know how many years this has been
going on, right? This is not new. Well, I know when I first came when Guzo was still here, he and I were going to sit down um and go over these because they had been reviewed and then, you know, Guzo
left and then there was an interim and then Lori Plord was here, you know, for a short period of time. So, been a bit. It's been a while. Yeah. Yeah. So, can these be um updated
retroactively? No. No, that's too bad. Probably not. Once it gets filed with Desi, um you know, it's pretty much in concrete. At least going forward, it will definitely help because I after the town
meeting, I had a number of people asking about that per student um expenditure. So yeah. Hey, can I Okay, sorry. I was talking and I couldn't even I think I was muted the whole time. So sorry.
Um so yes, Mary or Maro, you were asking the question about like going back. So these numbers impact per people spending. they get calculated into that um into that bucket what the town and so like
for these would be considered um non-discretionary like what the town can spend on behalf of the school um that do not require school committee approval. They would be um administrative services that they could fall into there. Um
employee benefits that would fall into there. What cannot fall into there would be town council. We have our own counsel. So, um so we would need to look at um make sure that we're not being charged for um legal legal services. Um
we can be charged for um operational maintenance of of things if that would be it. Um there's library or health services, but these things require school committee approval. So that's the part that I want to make sure that we
are considerate of. So on that report that Wayne we were like just looking over um anything that's related to operation maintenance that should not just be automatically transferred over without school committee
approval. So if there's a certain amount that's being expensed we should have awareness of it and we should have um you know some ability to approve it. Now, Desi does have guidance that they do recommend um like having agreements, you know, in place, which I think is
probably the best um from a long-term position. So maybe as a goal for next year is having some type of memorandum of understanding between us and the town that says these are the like defines the positions and that we will you know these are the costs that we agree on um
so that there is no surprise you know each year because what has happened is as they add staff we've been getting tacked you know 25% for certain things and I don't know what everyone does and I'm sure everyone does an important role but um it would be you know I don't know
if everyone is doing 20% of their job on behalf of the school. Um, and that because that seems like quite a bit for every administrative role that they would have there to do. Um, and so that's the part that looking
at F. So FY25 is going to be one year that it'll go it'll I I'm hoping and Brian with the work that you'll be doing. Um, and when are you meeting about this? Next week. Do is Brian on or He's muted. Oh. Uh oh.
I'm looking at the calendar. Okay. Are you meeting with just Greg or or how is this meeting? No, that's a meeting with Greg, Kevin, Wayne, and myself next Thursday. Perfect.
Okay. I'd like to be there if I can or optional. Well, that will mean that then Jeff needs to be there and it might be better for the four of us to sort of hash it out first. Yeah, I think that would not be a bad thing. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
Well, I want to make sure that there's going to be like the agreement. So then the takeaway is that we will have a memorandum of understanding at some point. So, as long as that's the position that the direction of the conversations will be going in, um, then that would
be, you know, that would be what I'd want to emphasize as well. Yeah, I don't think they'll be have a problem ending with anou. I mean, that just takes a little more time because you'll, as a committee, you'll need to see that and then vote on that and the select board will need to see that and approve that as well. But I don't see I
I think we can steer that conversation and take it in that direction. Okay. And then would you after you guys meet, would you be bringing that to the the subcommittee for updating so that we've we've got a meeting next week, I think.
Um budget subcommittee. Yeah, it's next um next Wednesday. Oh, it's Wednesday. Oh, you guys are meeting on Thursday, you said. Oh, okay. Correct. Yeah. Well, well, the school committee is meeting. We may have a tenative meeting on on Friday or Thursday. It's dependent. It's override
dependent or vote dependent. So, all right. Yeah. Um maybe just give us an update in your end of the week report and then you and I can talk on the following following day on Monday. Okay. Absolutely. Um so uh one of the
areas that we will see moving forward in FY26 come down so health benefits that is one of the areas that with the changes that the select board and the town um did that those those charges um that do get attributed on behalf of
the schools those numbers will come down that get that get impacted the per pupil spending as well and then so we should see I'm hoping um some changes effective FY25 that are in this bucket right now
or that have been generally going to administrative costs that are either eliminated or spread out to other buckets. Um and then for FY26 moving forward we would see a change reduction in employee benefits. So um those are
the areas that I think we will you know have the most but I think for public awareness um it is important for everyone to understand that the administrative services when we when you when they when the when you see like um clear gov or whatever and it looks at admin that is not solely the school
administration. I think Wayne when you had sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh share that. So like we were the school administration was like 280 something thousand or whatever and then the town was um attributing 490,000 that and that number
that the town was attributing was higher than like any other neighboring town including the most affluent towns in larger way larger towns like Marorrow Hudson. Um so there's definitely room for improvement there. Um but that's
That's the gist of it. Um, but they are entitled to to attribute some automatically without our discretion. And then there are ones that they have to or that should have school committee approval um on that. But did anyone have any other questions on on just that information? And I just wanted to make
sure because there was these questions that came up at the public uh meeting that they were just kind of discussed. So that number 24,000 that was referenced that is the number for Mayor that is very high um but it is an
overinflated number that is not necessarily just the school and so that's what we're trying to work on to correct moving forward. So, I think when people look at that in in the history, the back history from maybe 24 back, I
almost wish you had an asterk there that, you know, lets everyone know that includes a certain amount of town services in that administrative cost that we're um looking to recorrect. So, just I just had a
question for Wayne. Um Wayne, are we in a position to be able to redistribute for FY25? Will we be able? Like Brian said, we have a meeting next week and it's a
matter of getting these numbers changed and approved before I start the end of year report which right will be coming up very quickly. So sort of by the end of June, you have to we have to redistribute. We don't have to have
anou, but we just have to make any agreement for the percentages by the end of June. No, it's not even by the end of June because the end of the year report is is due in September. So, it just I just wasn't sure if Yeah. if how that worked, whether we had to have it in place by the end of June, even though
knowing that you do the report later, but we've got some we've got a little time is what I guess I'm getting to. There's I think there's more time for like FY26 and forward, right? because that's where I would imagine theou would come into play. Like I don't think theou would be happening for to impact this
year that's going to be closing. I think that's where it's like a two-prong approach, right? How do we address what we can for the year that is coming to a close? Yeah. And then secondly, how do we codify um what we think should be in place um
moving forward on a regular like routine basis? Initially, I'd like to I'd like us to at least have the right percentages for toy 2025 so that we stop and then we can work on theou. That's where I'm getting to. That's Yeah. And
that's exactly I think the priority is one of the time time frame for FY25 is is more pressing which is where that that was um needing to happen now. I didn't want it to wait till exactly that point like August, September when Wayne is closing and then
um this is you know kind of what I mentioned at at our prior meeting and in our subcommittees is specifically for that reason. So um so that was really it on on that. Um and I I can upload the just the
slides that I put in um for anyone else to read. Um there was a a link that looks like the s of course their maintenance is down um right now. So I was going to put like they actually have DOE guidance um I just had copied it
previously before but um that I can also circulate. So I think that was it. Um any questions on that? Oh, and I do think that again we we started looking at the per pup people spending in our budget subcommittee that
is going to be I think a regular exercise every year anyway is we want to make sure one does it look right from what we sent over um and two if there's going up let's you know let's try to pinpoint what areas and does it make sense um to what you know what we expected as
well so all right now we are moving on to uh subcomm committee reports. Um, Maro, I don't have anything. Alrighty. Uh, Mary, no, nothing. Um, I
did want to just make a comment about how the um the senior presentations went though on the 19th May. So much fun. Oh my gosh. Anybody, if you haven't done it, you really should cuz it's just, you know, you everybody gets three students and they're just amazing. Our kids are
just amazing. So, I encourage anybody next year because I know they're always looking for more people. So, but that's it. Thank you. Um Hillary, sorry. Um I don't have any for the subcommittee, but I just wanted to say
um for the new superintendent report that I figure won't be covered with the next meeting. Um I really love that the number of kids on IEPs that have taken the AP tests have gone up. I think that's really awesome. Um, but thank you
to everybody for um all the work that's been done recently in these last few weeks. It feels like it's been a lot um like Brian for town meeting presentation and um all the budget stuff and all the handbook work and just thank you for
everything that's been done. Great. Um Alexis, nope, I don't have anything else. Okay. Um, who else am I miss? Mary. Did I say Mary? Yeah, you already did. Yep. Who I miss? Oh, myself. I No, I think I got
everybody. All right. So, um All right. So, then we'll go ahead and um move on to um warrants. Is that right? The next thing we have minutes and warrants. Okay. Oh, minutes. Yeah. So, we do have those
three sets of minutes um for uh April 4th, April 10th, and March 27th. I saw Mara, you had some um comments, Mary, as well. They're grammatical.
[Music] Um, and so I think anybody I I'll say without objection, I'll move that we approve minutes from March 27th, 25, April 4th 25, and April 10:25 with
edits. All right, minutes approve. No objections. And then for um the warrants I have um that objection I move that we accept
approved warrants 2560 2561 and 2562. All right hearing none. Those accepted war those approved warrants are accepted. Um, and then just another plug
for voting people, make sure we're voting uh on next Tuesday. Um, and then for the school committee, um, I had there's a meeting, a tentative meeting for the school committee next
Thursday. Um, that's only intended to be if the override does not pass at the ballot. um to pull us together to discuss uh plan B and what that means for any immediate budgetary or financial
decisions that we might need to um do right away. Okay. Um so I just wanted to let everyone know that that meeting on the 29th um may get cancelled if the ballot
measure passes on the 27th. Okay. was good. Yep. All right. All right. Okay. Um All right. So, I'll make a motion that we adjourn. Second. Okay. All in favor? Mary? Yay. Maro, yes.
Alexis, yes. Hillary, yes. Natasha, yes. All right, everyone. Good night. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good night. Bye. Bye. Good night. Night.