##VIDEO ID:q4JYqruvFJM## [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's the holidays at Wayfair y' it's a gift swap you got [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good evening the school committee business session of December 9 2024 will now come to order this meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing on the methan public schools website secretary would you please call the role member dolio here member denovan here member Keegan here member Maxwell member Maxwell member shilia here member wette yeah mayor boride here so all members are technically present member Maxwell is joining us remotely via Zoom although she wasn't able to respond for the roll call I see that she is uh present so any okay thank you member Maxwell any votes that we take tonight we'll have to do uh through a roll call so at this point uh we need a motion and a second to accept the agenda for December 9th 2024 as presented second motion from Member there's no discussion we'll vote roll call member dolio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell yes member shilia yes wette yes mayor Bor yes so the agenda has been accepted superintendent would you please introduce our student for tonight's flag salute I'd love to so I'd like to call up Rebecca Gordon principal of the Marsh Grammar School and Connor keing it's nice and because you know Miss Gordon's so tall all right just move over just a little stand here I'm gonna okay okay okay I am proud to present tonight's Marsh star student Connor keading to the flag salute and very special because I don't usually get to present these but today I do the has to say about Connor he is the first to come to mind to nominate for the flag salute he always stands for the pledge takes off his hat as he recites The Pledge he even comments to others that they may want to take off their hats as a sign of respect Miss L also noticed that he showed the same respect at the beginning of our booster fund run when they played the national anthem and recited the Pledge of Allegiance Connor is an excellent well-rounded student he is a hard worker and shows kindness to his classmates every single day he goes out of his way to be kind caring empathetic to his pairs Connor has earned a number of points in class for being cash in their points for various Awards and use these points to buy and he uses these points to buy prizes for others I am nominating Connor for his respect that he shows every single day during the pledge his responsibility that he shows in the classroom and his kindness that he spreads to his classmates Conor's mom has this to say whether he is at home or out in the community Connor is kind loving helpful caring for his siblings Jameson and Riley Connor has been on skates since he was three years old but he has been part of a hockey team for the past four years he is a great hockey player and spends a lot of time in the rank this past year he played flag football for the first time which he really enjoyed he loves to read learn about history and keep up with current times he definitely has a math brain and is quick to pick up a new math concepts his new hobby is coin collecting he also enjoys collecting hockey cards with his brother Connor is a good friend he could talk for hours hours and will talk to anyone that will listen is a star student he always has a SM has a smile with a greeting in the morning and whenever anybody passes him throughout the day to help a classmate and adults he works hard to do well and helps others to do their best whether in school at home or at the hockey rank Connor is an impressive young man exemplifying safety respect and responsibility you're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance so everyone's I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all your you're welcome you did a good job thank you thank you oh no there's more Lisa did at this point I'll invite the superintendent to introduce our SAR award student yes I'd like to call up Roger lenfest our department head for social studies and I would also like to call up Crystal Castro our S award winner for tonight and let me correct that it's history and social sciences I'm not sure why I said social studies for record I had Mr lenfest I think sophomore year oh well did and he's still 31 I have the honor and extremely proud to announce Crystal Castro as our Sor award recipient crystal is a leader in and out of the classroom during her four years at mwan high school Crystal excels in the classroom maintaining a 4.88 GPA in her history and social science courses and earning High qualif ing scores in advanced placement United States history and advanced placement United States government and politics her teachers often speak of the kindness and caring she has for other students as much as they Rave about her performance in their classroom crystal is committed to our community and challenges us to be better through her advocacy for equity and student rights crystal is dedicated helping out in the M mamography Department was so happy I said that correctly as a senior leader for our bipo student group Crystal has led educational and informative meetings for her peers and our staff as well as worked with the Asian cultural awareness Club the adopt the grandparent club and methu Ada Dei coordinator to organize community events such as the L lunch and learn on African-Americans and the art for the black History Month held at methan City Hall crystal is the editor and chief for our school newspaper the blue and white president of the science National Honor Society historian for our National Honor Society and for the second year our delegate to the Northeast Regional student advisory Council Crystal has participated in student government day serving in the House of Representatives at the ma Massachusetts state house and participated in the law Day speech contest hosted by the Lawrence Bar Association her passion for biology and politics has inspired her to choose biology in Premed as a major in political science as a minor when she intends College she's interested in pursuing the intersection between social justice and biology specifically how to better address disparities in our health care System crystal is currently working with desie and other students from Regional Council to address some of the root causes for chronic absenteeism in schools [Applause] hi um thank you I'd like to first thank my parents for always supporting me and encouraging me to take challenging history courses and I'd also like to thank all of my history teachers Miss garlic Mr Crips Mr Martelli and Mr scammon for making history a lot of fun and very engaging and I'd lastly like to thank Mr lenfest for always to engage in my community thank you [Applause] thank you again nice job yes of course and now we're on to the introduction of the Patriots pen competitive Award winners uh Rebecca Gordon to the podium we have some guests with us today um and we have that are here tonight we have three winners and all three actually came from the Marsh Grammar School unfortunately one couldn't be with us but we'll have Miss Gordon speak we'll have our guests speak and then we'll introduce the students and and take some pictures with them as well oh that's I'm sorry I thought you were sorry oh okay that works good evening everyone uh Mr Mayor school committee uh thank you for allowing us here tonight we only took up a few minutes of your time uh basically we're here for uh more of a informational type thing um the VFW across the country holds two essay um contests I guess you could call we obligated to um present these to uh students um from our post in mowan um by the way my name is Guy Curtis I'm the commander of the VFW of methan uh with me is Bonita Lori she also John S he's the house committee uh chairman um anyways the uh the two the two um contest uh Patriot pen which is for grammar school kids and the uh essay this year the title uh which we asked them to write about was my voice in American democracy we had I believe eight essays that were turned into US seven were from the Tanny Middle School and four were from the Marsh Grammar School all three winners were chosen um by a committee of three uh uh the three winners were all from the mar School uh first and third from Mr bait's class the second winner from Christina Conlin's class uh their names are the first winner first place was Quinn min coochie the second was Bradley [Music] Jean this right tuwanda Tuma was a third place winner um we will be having an award ceremony at the VFW this coming Thursday uh we'd like to uh present a formal invitation to the school committee uh the teachers from the schools and their parents and whom says and we'll have a a little presentation so you are all welcome for uh 6 PM this Thursday at the VFW we also had uh just to make mention um a voice of democracy uh which is for high school seniors um we didn't receive any from the town of methan or city of methan sorry um I don't know if it was made available or there just wasn't any interest uh so for in the future we'd like to try to have a maybe a designated person we could go to to make sure it gets onto the uh the high school U computers so that they're it's available to them um also because in uh April or May we um what we've done is we started giving two $1,000 scholarships to high so we definitely would like to have we'll be putting those applications out in January that's something that we're doing not the VFW uh nationally um so when we can we'd like to you know speak to someone about making sure we can get those uh into the school system um I believe that's all I like I say I hope to see you uh at the uh at the presentation on Thursday uh it should be very good um and we have cake and coffee so everybody once's Welcome Jo want anything okay thank you very much for your time [Applause] so we're not going to read our essays tonight we're going to save that for Thursday but we would like to formally recognize um our third place Wier Tunda come on up for your [Applause] award don't go and our second place winner Bradley Johnny jeene is not here tonight um but our first place winner overall is Quinn minakuchi [Applause] e e next on the agenda is the update from our student representative do we have any updates I believe we have Representatives here from student council hello everyone my name hello every hello everyone okay hello everyone my name is jela vanga and I'm a sophomore high school I'm Kaden win I'm a we're here to talk to you about some recent events that happened at missu High School uh November 27th we had a pep rally the pepper rally took place in the gymnasium and the student body Representatives gathered to decorate the area and corresponding to each grade level each grade completed in a series of events and games some of the activities were a balloon pop race tug-of war turkey toss and a halfcourt shot and the seniors were the winners November 25th the Powerpuff competition came on it was the Freshman went against the sophomores and the Freshman won the Juniors went against the seniors and the seniors won and all teams had lots of fun and wore their team colors many students went on to cheer them starting last so we have hockey track and field and Winter Guard are aware of these Sports and are uh participating and then we had our Santa parade November 23rd and many MHS clubs and activities have participated and students volunteer th in Scholarship Foundation ban Color Guard sad and NHS are just some of the MHS clubs that were represented it went very well even though it was cold but MHS students loved it and and lastly we had a key club and peer leaders food drive started in uh November 7th and ended November 26th where where both schools School clubs peer leaders and Key Club held food drives to collect canned food and non perishable items for people in need during the holiday season and each group had placed labeled cardboard boxes inside of their designated areas or permitted classrooms the outcome was a success as many students and teach teachers participated in getting many Goods thank you for the update next on the agenda is public participation we'll begin with the folks who signed up and then we'll open it up to anyone else in the room who is interested in speaking we'll begin with Nicole Pereira I'm sorry mayor may we just have tab actually um just he does have something he wants to sh I apologize I know we flipped those by I'm sorry excuse me I think it's worth mentioning that on December 11th and December 12th all Deca members will be traveling to Danvers for the district competition um me and my partner Thim behind the cameras were working diligently actually before this meeting so wish us some luck on December 12th um hopefully we'll be placing for that um additionally I've been working diligently with Mr CET to exploring the feasibility of various uh sustainability projects here at MHS for example recently we kind of surveyed the exterior of MHS and and we're thinking of possibly a greenhouse depending on the amount of student buying um and teacher buying so looking forward to that thank you that's great thank you for the update and I apologize Nicole Pereira for public participation here we go hi everybody um my name is Nicole Pereira um I am speaking here again I'm a mom of three boys that attend the marsh and I do want to preface this with saying that my children have have and do love their experience at the marsh we love our PTO our teachers and um there just are still some things that I'm concerned about and want to just touch B with um I know that we had um somebody come in uh over Thanksgiving that checked several rooms for mold um and in doing so I believe that there were some air quality tests that were done but I just went on the Massachusetts governor's website as well as the CDC website and I just wanted to share some information that I learned that maybe we are not all familiar with um so I just wanted to put out there that the National Institute of occupational safety and health does not recommend routine air sampling for mold and damp Camp building evaluations because air concentrations of molds or spores cannot be interpreted with regard to health risk and they are highly variable over time instead the National Institute of occupational safety and health encourages detection by thorough visual inspections and dete and detection via musty or moldy odors um I also wanted to share that they also state that um although inspections include an assessment for mold the Department of Public Health does not test for mold and does not recommend mold testing as part of routine water damage remediation so I just know that there has been some moisture concerns at our schools um I don't feel after reading the information that I read on the governor's website and the CDC that only doing air testing or observing certain classrooms is really enough to make me feel comfortable sending my child to school and knowing that there is no mold exposure I feel like what would make me feel comfortable is after reading what the state says as their protocol is having a visual inspection of our school and just making sure that there's literally a checklist on what this inspection is supposed to um look at in terms of you know those humidity levels should be made available to us parents as well when that information um and Report does come in and I like I said I just want to just make it a point to say that I would like to see a an inspection of the school not just certain classrooms and not just of the air because if we open a window that can change literally the quality of air testing I also wanted to just put out there that I am also the member of the methan CAC and right now I'm currently the only member so if anyone is watching I just wanted to share that over at the marsh we are working very closely with our PTO um in terms of fostering inclus inclusivity um at all of our events and activities and so if this is something that anyone listening wants to be a part of or learn more about or um create that that type of um situation happening at your school and with your PTO uh please contact me at methu and CPAC gmail.com and and that's it thank you so much thank you Carol black sorry thank you says that in 2022 there was a 4.2 million allocated to our schools recently in 2024 it dropped to 13 million that is shameful to us as Educators and as our students to not be fairly treated even though we are the largest Department inable funded and we are losing the fight to keep and retain veteran staff and we will not continue continue to hire qualified teachers if we continue with this pattern even today the what was already published that only happened 10 minutes ago for negotiations that Mr shabia knows from our other discussion with Ryan Hamilton is that we are losing teachers to $20,000 over what we are paying our teachers now and the district's proposal now there a 4-year not even three-year plan equable to retire to retain our staff it is not okay to keep on fracturing us and not designed to help us not for an excuse to pad free cash funds over an abundant of how the city funds their departments we have taken time over time hit after hit we lost 41 members of our staff while other City departments either kept their Staffing or gained Staffing that is not okay so we are looking to you while our ma Valley and you what you've given us is still going to make us that we are looking for more cooperation and collaboration with the district to make our district better well free cash and stabilization funds are the essence of making a sound City it is not okay to Pat it for 20 million $18 million or more some of that money can be used students buying a laminator and a pencil sharpener and tissues um and the um but we do that do I have to no I don't um I'm teaching about the rainforest and I'm putting up birds and flowers and all these things I don't have to but I want them to feel it and live it as much as they can because they're worth it and they deserve it but if I can't keep up I can't keep up so you know to invest in me invests in them and we have to do that we have to do that um and I can only imagine if we all stopped all of us educated stopped putting in that investment what would it be like um and that is kind of how it feels the city has kind of stopped they're doing just enough not putting in that extra and again I put in that extra because the kids are worth it they deserve it don't but I find a way to make it happen I do the hard things um so again while the students needs have increased the city has really gone stagnant in supporting those needs um they need you the students need you to invest in them Educators need you to invest in them uh no more business as usual be the Champions that we need that these kids need um fight for the educ to invest in our future for later um so I just ask you to do the hard things that I've been doing personally in my own budget um because support without investment just doesn't go far enough thank you thank you would anybody else in the audience like to speak uh even if you haven't signed up previously if not at this point we'll close public participation if you can't make a future meeting in person for public particip ation you can send an email to Martha s at and I'll pause briefly in a moment but I'll just State for the record m a s i ruin. k12.us before 3 P.M on the day before a school committee meeting at this point I'll entertain a motion to uh recess for uh we'll say uh maybe two minutes so moved second motion from Member we'll let the second from member shabila to recess for two minutes all those in favor actually you know we have to take a roll call vote member dolio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell member Maxwell member shilia yeah she said yes mayor Boran yes we'll recess for two minutes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all right we're back from our recess we were alerted about some issues with the audio during public participation uh believe that's being taken care of in the back room by our student volunteers uh but nevertheless this meeting will be posted online uh so um ultimately uh it's important of course for everybody to be heard and uh the intent is for that to be the case especially once it's uh posted at this point we move on to approval approve the minutes from November 12th 2024 so move second motion from Member shilia the second from Vice chair Keegan any discussion we'll move on to the vote roll call member daglio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell she nodding yes I can't see the TV member Maxwell member shabila yes member wette yeah those minutes are approved we need a motion in a second to approve the minutes from November 25th 2024 so moved second motion from the vice chair second for members shilia discussion no discussion we'll vote with a roll call member daglio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell member shabila yes member wette yes mayor boride yes minutes have been approved for November 25th 2024 we'll move on to staff reports superintendent any updates for the committee I do not have any tonight this committee have any questions about the assistant superintendent of Student Services report member Willet thank you um in terms of the outstanding cases from the summer are those resolved or are they still outstanding nope those are all resolved that's reflective in the numbers so there was only seven that are unresolved from October okay excellent and then is it unusual to have 17 at this late Junction of new arrivals for review no there the 17 is anything that came in new from November forward is that a common practice to have at this late stage they're not necessarily new in the system it's the residency concerns have been brought up about about a student for a variety of reasons whether it's returned mail somebody's reported it um or something's been said at school and it's been reported to us okay and then that that Universe yes so that that would fall um if there's anything relative to potential homeless situations um that comes to my office okay and then the the Supreme Judicial Court decision talking about uh not needing to any of those issues no okay no all right I just want to make sure on that okay I appreciate uh the vigilance of the office uh we are whittling down the list um and I know if we can just do have a window of 60 days uh Max on it and I I appreciate that the thank you you're welcome any uh at this point does the committee have any questions regarding the Director of Human Resources report there's no questions we'll move on ities report member wette thank you Mr chairman um I definitely appreciate the comprehensive nature of the report I want to applaud the mayor for sending in the inspection services um I also want to encourage any residents to read the facilities report because Beyond testing um actions were taken and actions are ongoing um we will work through these issues issues I'm a big person about prom resolution I've always been an advocate for prom resolution as an elected official I'm in favor of openness and transparency and accountability and we're seeing that um I applaud the custodial staff and the central office and again I would encourage anyone that had remaining concerns to reach out to me the teachers that I've had a good rapport with I've updated them on a personal basis some of the issues will require uh Capital Improvement and they've been aware of it um but the dialogue still has to be encouraged um from our constituents to the school committee and working through the central office I know that the superintendent and Mr golin have been working through the ticket system and working in conjunction with the principles um I also want to give a shout out to Mr stellar um for having um the facilities report it's 1 two three four pages long it's online and I would encourage anyone to review it to check if there's any erronous issues anything that they want to counteract and I have an open door policy I will protect protect confidentiality and I know that the mayor is working on the front lines of this um and again it's something that in relationship with the municipality and inspectional Services I like the gho approach that we're doing I I I appreciate the central office and what they're doing and like I said one of my mandates was to have the quarterly facilities report and we've been doing that um but feel free to reach out to me anytime thank you any other questions m zugo y uh thank you so I've been reading the report in a lot of the issues that have been brought up I've brought to the attention after I was receiving phone calls um I realized there was a health inspection report done on 124 which I am happy with the acting mayor continuously doing inspections but I would I would like a copy of that I saw other members receiving it um but I would I would like to make sure I received that as well especially I've been an active member in participating in this in future meetings ones that were waiting for updates so now that I see that I would expect that I can be able to respond to them especially with the report um especially with the timney um as well um I was one of the members that well only member that tore the timy after what we received a report on um so I would like to receive these uh constituents and invitations for future meetings as well thank you clarification member daglio with mayor borgard myself and member Donovan any more people added to that meeting would be a quorum issue so poter then that's this meeting no I would like if there was a future meeting where there is a report especially when I've been an active member of getting reports to the mayor I would like to have a future report or meeting with with someone that's that's all I'm asking and just for clarification the inspection reports are public records so we'll make sure that you get the copy and I think actually we could probably even put it online so um any other questions a member uh Vice chair Keegan um I noticed in the facilities report that a lot of things say um funding sources need to be found um so that implies that we don't have the money in the budget to do that um what type of funding sources are we looking at and how quickly do we expect funding sources to magically appear so that we can do these repairs I I can help to answer that question so um personally speaking as the acting mayor uh not on behalf of the city council which would have to make any ultimate decisions as to whether to approve any such requests however uh I've made it clear that if there are any critical issues that need to be triaged immediately those would be one time in my view especially given the critical nature of some of the issues in emergency expenditure so I I would go to the city council with the request uh for uh withdrawal from free cash in the case of any one-time ex any particularly critical issues that need to be addressed now uh so in terms of that as a funding source I would imagine it's listed as being technically unknown simply because of the fact that it would require potentially city council approval and we haven't had any particular uh discussion at this time uh regarding uh doing that in particular for any uh specific projects however nevertheless that is an option that I'm willing to exercise if need be for the health and well-being of our children in their teachers thank you any other questions um so back at the Mars 2 I saw that there needs a replacement pox me for a playground is there any way we could talk to possibly with Steve Angelo um of possibly grants um because I know there are playground grants Statewide and federal as of right now um we we should be tapping into those resources as well because as the spring comes and we take that down those kids won't have a playground come the fall so now that we know that there is an issue we should be looking into possibly grants into that great idea we could certainly Loop in superintendent Angelo yeah yeah that'd be great any other questions member Donovan the member Willette yeah just really quickly um the ADA Compliant ramp at the um on Branch Street I can't remember there's a ramp there now right is that am I correct Jim sorry there's not there I mean there's a great a full ramp but okay yeah and is that making it difficult for for some of our students yeah to access okay but okay so I'm glad to see that this is being addressed thank you we can have a second round member Willet I just want to make sure like most of the the test are coming back or are negative is that correct because like you know I want to make sure that we're reported as a school committee as a whole but as as far that I've been identified that come back negative so regarding I'll just speak uh regarding the marsh um we did some air quality testing on Black Friday right after Thanksgiving and that report initially uh has shown their to be uh normal uh measures of uh various types of mold or air or exactly particulates in the air uh however uh we're going back to retest those spaces and we actually have a follow-up meeting scheduled for this Friday at 1:00 with the superintendent and the facilities manager uh to review that report and uh discuss next steps but those are uh underway still at this point this week and I think part of the compatibility of the the mold issue and the environmental controls was the temperature gauges that needed to be that team come back on that so that we're not too humid we're not uh doing anything that would be conducive to those outside elements coming into our school system um obviously air filters roof um I know you yourself are on the roof at the msh um you have the inspection team you you're working uh on a daily basis um so I just want to give the audience at home that this is not going to be something that I'm going to sweep under the the rug um the legitimate concerns and we're doing uh everything possible but also realize that a lot of these tests are coming back negative it's not to my knowledge widespread and anything that we see that is of concern we are removing no those elements um so we are being proactive Beyond just testing would that be an accurate description yes okay thank you and and we have heard concerns from parents from teachers regarding these issues uh to the extent that I think any uh normal or acceptable but you know anything that comes in with a industry determined uh safe standard uh given the reports that we've received in and the calls that the health department has gotten I I think it warrants the retest just to confirm and I and again I think this is a healthy uh thing of what we're doing to be proactive on this and also I know when when we go into the holiday break there's going to be remediation that were presented to our attention so the scope of the health and safety is Paramount to everyone on the school committee absolutely and actually the remediation piece is ongoing uh and uh at this point uh there have been uh extra efforts on the superintendent's part to bring in uh custodial staff on the weekends to go through the list that the inspectors prepared for us so uh we are proactively addressing not just the air quality issues but also the other General cleanliness issues that are on uh those lists with the janitorial staff as well and there's no member on this school committee at any time that has refused a meeting or an email or a conversation or a site visit and everyone I can speak to Mr daglio Mr shabila the vice chair yourself Mr chairman my other colleagues right I know for a fact we are active on a daily basis and we're getting these reports and we're work in conjunction with your office as well as the superintendent and Mr Goin who could not be here this evening Mr Stella um so this is an ongoing thing and I think again ultimately we will work through these issues as a community as we should thank you thank you any other questions student representative I mentioned previously that I used to coach at the marsh um and I exess I expressed concern of the state of the small gymnasium like the flooring was quite damaged um and I don't seem to see it on the facilities report I was wondering if the being addressed it's being addressed for during the holiday break cuz it has to be completely uh replaced so that's already on the plan I'm sorry that it's not here for you to see but it was already in in Works in in planning to fix that point of clarification superintendent but we ID yes yes so that was that was an isolated incident correct me from wrong with a flood or plugged up drain pipe yes and okay it was an unexpected water right event yes not something that's ongoing so member zag the member Willette uh I was just going to clarify that we are doing it over the winter break I just remember that from the last meeting absolutely remember Willet and again some teachers from the Tenny had approached me and they had some concerns about the roofing which I had brought back in January the issues were not pertinent to the roof it was masonry work and there's going to be a cost factor to that so I appreciate the mayor working if need be with the city council on an emergency package because the masonry work will cost us probably about $60,000 um but it has nothing to do with the membrane on the roof there were upgrades to the roof at the Tenny this has to deal with masonry work they did some windo work um and again they've been there on the weekends overnight um and there's other things that down the line we can discuss as a school committee of future courses of action um but again it was something that was brought to my attention I updated the people that submitted concerns to my attention and again I want to to say for the record I really appreciate the mayor stepping to the plate if need be with an emergency package thank you any other questions discussion if not we'll move on to the out of school suspensions and other disciplinary actions report any questions from the committee member wette in terms of like the repeat offenses at the high school are these like repeat repeat offenses or did they get one time and then they they committed it again and so it's a repeat offense these are not like multiple Defiance issues right because then that I think the pouch might be an option for those students um on a trial basis something to look at we had talked about that we weren't going to do it systemwide and I think that overall it's been really working and I think we've been ahead of the curve because the federal government is now encouraging school districts to adopt policies so I think we've been ahead of the curve on it but for these repeat it's coming from the high school um so maybe the pouch might be an option to explore down the line just on those individual cases but overall I've been really plays with the system M shil sure if there's a question in there but I don't think so there wasn't right Mak something the actual like those 16 events to see what kind of repeated are they right to see if there's if they're repeated yeah I think what it is the the grammar schools are very isolated I think there's been a like a little bit of a spike with the high school and if it's beyond if it's the you know one you make a mistake and then you make another mistake so that's a repeat offender yeah if you're being defiant and then maybe you get the pouch to Target those individuals but you know so far you only get 16 out of that universe is pretty good it is four months 16 out of 2000 is a pretty good statistic right now so we'll take it but yes I understand excellent thank you y remember shilia so I had received a inquiry on The Vaping says number of out of school suspension count nine nine out of school suspensions or is that nine days no so um an incident when a teacher administrator writes up an incident they could tag more than one student in it so it might have been one situation that involved more than one student okay thank you Vice chair um I'm particularly concerned about the criminal weapons infractions especially at the grammar schools um I'm seeing it on the CGS um in particular and I don't really know what my question is other than how are weapons getting into the elementary schools and um what kind of weapons are we talking about are we talking about somebody brought a butter knife in and we're calling that a a weapon or are we saying somebody is you know bringing something more serious in right like what what does that look like it could be either or both uh and things that are serious weapons are likely no longer with us okay thank you however they have to be defined a certain way for our uh discipline purposes uh so that runs the gamut I guess I would say but uh I could I can tell you that the kids who are bringing in things that you are thinking on the ladder uh again are likely no longer with us okay thank you parent asked me about weapons too and they said could it be defined like a squirt gun because the way it looks or something like that could be considered a weapon used and be put on as a weapon um yes I'm not sure that we would Define something that actually appears to be a weapon as a weapon um but but that does happen right so if it was appears to look like something that is dangerous and was acted out as it was supposed to be dangerous but we found out it's not uh it's a pretend something uh there could still be consequences for that student thank you of how is used yep any other questions comments member Willet thank you Mr chairman um with those removals from the school system are we still Bound by chapter 222 of the acts of 2012 I have 100% educate them until they are able to get a diploma okay so I think a student in terms of Public Safety that's something that again we were talking about then prior meetings I know the mayor as a city council at the time and coming to the school committee as the chairman we were talking about public safety issues and that was one of the things that if we make a decision on that it's again it's a very serious decision by back up the administration but the fact that the school system and the taxpayers have to pay for those kids to be still educated it's an unfunded mandate so that might be a separate letter to the legislative delegation down the line um that a you have to go through uh Hoops to uh designate these students I don't think that uh to the safety of the general population and B we're going to be paying for these students education for a long period of time especially if they're grammar students and I don't think that's fair to the system unless the state's going to intervene with the financial assistance Beyond and that's not happening um so I know I mentioned in Prior meetings and I know we have a letter on the agenda tonight that's separate and I purposely did it separately but I think we have to focus as a school committee on public safety items that pertain to unfunded mandates with the state and obligations that we have to do to continue the education of some of these kids because someone who a environment and we should not be burden of with the taxpayers of funding the education of these kids that are removed from for egregious matters and criminal matters and I've said that repeatedly and that's the state not us thank you any other questions or comments if not we will move [Music] on in a second to remove from the table policy regarding the bully prevention and Inter prevention and intervention plan so moved second motion from Member shabila the second is from Member wette any discussion member shabila uh on page four uh obligations to notify others section a notice to parents and Guardians um I'd like to propose a friendly Amendment uh in green at the end of that first paragraph uh it says process including contact information for the appropriate points of contact um I want to just kind of briefly revisit the intent of that section when I think the subcommittee Met um along with Miss boac and I think the superintendent was there I I don't remember this was so long I don't remember anymore um the intent of that language is to ensure that when a parent reports bullying they are made aware of the process available to them to file a complaint and have the district do a formal investigation this language as proposed I think is a bit vague and allows for too much ambiguity and creativity uh so my proposal would be to remove what is in green and replace it with process for reporting to the district to prompt a full investigation this information shall include name email and phone number to report The Bullying complaint to the appropriate party so that's going to be a motion to amend uh member shilia just uh mention that we have roll calls for everything do you have any other amendments that you want to couple with that that'll be the one so do we have a second second motion uh to amend from shilia second is from member doaga we can entertain discussion regarding the proposed amendment we'll vote with a roll call on the proposed amendment yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell member Maxwell member shabila yes member wette yes may have Bard yes the amendment has uh passed we now need a motion to uh approve this item as amended so moved second motion from Member shabila second from the vice chair to uh adopt as amended any further discussion regarding the main item uh member wette just just a commentary I I I appreciate the changes that I recommended to the subcommittee and during prior meetings were Incorporated and the final product I appreciate we need to really finalize it tonight to go forward um I know the superintendent gave us assurances that I believe during our January meeting we're going to be focused on bullying uh as a body um and then I know uh every six months we will be going in depth with um this policy um what is working what is not working so um I appreciate appreciate the uh incorporation of what I recommended for prior meetings thank you any further discussion if not hello can you hear me yes we can member Maxwell I'm I don't know what's happening I'm really sorry I'm trying to say yes every time that I am roll calleded um but for some reason my it's either my zoom and I can't hear you guys so I have to take my camera off so I can listen to you so I'm sorry I'm out of town my apologies that's fine and just for clarification member uh Maxwell we're on the item uh regarding uh this is the second read uh approval for uh the policy relative to bully prevention and uh intervention plan yes I yes great just want to clarify uh if there's no other discussion we will take the vote member dolio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell yes member sh IA yes member moulette yes mayor borgard yes the measure has been approved as amended uh we now need a motion in a second to approve the policy oh you know what here's uh something that I think might be an error on the agenda uh it's listed twice can you confirm that uh that is the only version here of course I believe that is however I just want to make I if we did a motion to remove from the table did we do that yeah it's a motion to remove then a motion to approve so here's the thing uh we have motion to approve I apologize so uh procedurally uh I made an mistake just now uh and I own that I apologize uh so the item uh was tabled and uh we had to remove it from the table first before we take the vote we can retrace our stuff I'm going to do a motion to remove from the table Mr chairman let's do that that okay second we have the motion to remove from the table from Member wette and the second is from Member shabila uh we will have a roll call vote on removing from the table member dolio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell yes member shabila yes member wette yes mayor borgon yes so the item is removed from the table and now what we'll do is and I apologize for this because it adds extra steps to our meeting Mee uh we're going to have a motion in a second uh to approve the bullying prevention policy however I will ultimately ask for a redo of the amendment just so we need a motion in a second to approve so moved second second motion from Member shilia II from the vice chair uh for discussion I'll invite member shabila to propose his Amendment a second time page four uh re motion to remove the language in green and replace with process for reporting to the district to prompt a full investigation this notification shall include the name email address and phone number to report the bulling complaint to the appropriate party we need a second second so the motion to amend is from Members shilia the second is from the vice chair we've discussed this we'll proceed to a vote on the amendment yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell member Shia yes member wette yes mayor borgard yes so the Amendments been approved we now need a motion and a second to adopt as amended so moved second motion from Member shabil the second from the vice chair discussion we'll take the vote to adopt as amended member daglio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell member mayor Bor yes it's been officially adopted we need a motion in a second to remove from the table The Whistleblower policy soov second second motion from Member shilia the second is from the vice chair any discussion no discussion we'll vote member dolio yes member Donovan yes member [Music] Maxwell Keegan yes member shilia yes member wette yes mayor borgard yes items been removed from the table we need a motion in a second to approve uh The Whistleblower policy so moved second motion from the vice chair second is from Member daglio discussion um when this was brought forward two weeks ago four weeks ago whatever it was there was uh a good amount of concern around the reporting procedure including the entire District uh admittedly was um a little hot out the gate but I didn't have a better solution until I was able to get it to you guys and we were to be able to have that conversation um that being said I would like to propose another friendly amendment in that reporting procedure with the following individuals the superintendent the HR Director the school committee chair mayor Vice chair and others to be deemed appropriate by the superintendent you have any other proposed amendments or is that it the superintendent HR Director school committee chair mayor the vice chair and others to be deemed appropriate by the superintendent is that the only amendment yes okay do we have a second I'll second it okay so we have the motion to amend from uh member shabil the second from the vice chair discussion regarding the amendment can I add color in context sure um so the the thought and fairy behind this is having the I I know the the the apprehension was having this full school committee on there because h issues however when you take a step back and you look at it as a legislative body and I hate to compare us to the clown college in DC but as a legislative body we have investigative rights not to say we're investigating anything because we certainly are not but to be included in those distributions as a safety net I have zero expectation that the mayor the chair mayor or vice chair will have any real involvement in any of these issues but they are a stop Gap to where if someone comes forward and says I brought x to the attention of my principal or my union rep or to the superintendent and all of a sudden I've been written up three times in the last two weeks I've been here 15 years I haven't been written up once it's it's that safety net because now someone outside of the proverbial bubble is involved and it and talking to people when this was in its infancy not to say that they don't already have compt from their Union as member daglio stated in the past or from any of the state agencies that member wette mentioned in his past comments about this but it provided what was felt like a security blanket and if we can give people just a little bit of comfort why not thank you remember will will thank you uh Mr chairman and again I appreciate the the thought process on this and the only thing I would add and we we had a separate conversation uh member shabila and myself I would like to also include the chairmen and the vice uh chairperson of the city council on the CC list so we can do that as a separate Amendment um and I can offer that but in the interest of Municipal cooperation we're going through the process of an audit um if there's something that emerges from the school department I believe as a co-equal branch of government the city council president and the the Vice President should be included as part of that process so I could offer that as a separate Amendment and go through the first amendment uh and do a roll call vote on that second amendment but that's my thought process on that I want to have them included as part of the the process in case something that emerges that um the mayor's office will be notified obviously the superintendent HR uh administrators from the school department but also the people that finally approved the budget um should be looped on any concerns of this nature that arise so I would love to have the that is either incorporate as a further amendment to members sh or seamlessly have it just offered as a second amendment I'm game for either but I think we should have additional safeguards and N thank you so at this rate what we'll do is this is in consideration of the proposed amendment from member shilia so we'll keep discussion the context of the proposed amendment and then when we vote on that assuming it passes perhaps we could entertain further discussion uh regarding the main motion do we have any further discussion regarding the proposed amendment my proposed amendment or the conjunction that would be a separate so member doag do you have a a comment about the proposed amendment yeah I I I'm in total agreement of that proposal um the thing about the slippery soap of the school Committee involved in those type of things um again as as the union reps it in the the example that you used when it was three written UPS in that period you would file a grievance with your union because you say Hey listen I got an administrat now attacking me after I was a whistleblower then eventually their grievance would get to us if it goes to the superintendent and the superintendent rejects it it would go to here for a grievance that's how it works the grievance process correct yeah so we that stating that you're right as a legislative body and you see like as the example in Washington when they're doing all those investigations and wasting n hours um at the end of the day we it does come here on those grievances so and we ask questions and do those we had a couple of grievances of the last five years come to us the process when it comes to that that's why I stated last time that we should have the union reps and Union presidents as a cc because eventually they would file a grievance if the that scenario was to happen thank you any other uh discussion regarding the amendment itself may I make a comment yes um so to member Dago's case I just want to be clear not all of our employees are represented by a union uh and all of the unions have different representatives for their members so there's not one president for all of the seven uh unions and it would be very challenging to have all of them involved in any kind of HR or potential issues so I just want to make that comment thank you any other discussion if not we'll vote on the amendment first member daglio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell yes member shabila yes yes member Willet yes mayor boride yesan the amendment's been approved we now need a motion to accept as amended so moved second motion from Member shilia the second is from Member daglio further discussion member Willette I was going to offer that further Amendment uh to have CC with the city council chairperson the city council Vice chairperson just any interest of Municipal cooperation um again uh the audit um what that we doing and Order transparency and accountability and openness this also would be because um so I would include that as a as an amendment is there a second hearing no second uh the uh Amendment uh can't go forward so we're still on discussion regarding the main motion any further disc discussion I'm Ved against it then any other discussion if not we'll take the vote member daglio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell member Maxwell yes member shilia yes member wette no mayor boride yes the measure passes uh six yes uh one no uh we are now on to new business we need a motion in a second to approve uh the policy relative to public participation so moved second motion is from Member shabil the second is from Member daglio any disc Mia I think it's just worth noting so people are aware you won't have to say your address at the podium you will have to write it on the signin sheet and that signin sheet is is a public doc wanted to do a freedom of information request and receive that we would be obligated to hand it over so while you are not going to have to advertise it it is still going to be captured and I think I just want everyone to be aware so we can't be no one's accused of playing hide the address so I think I think this is a good step forward and it alleviate from a fair amount of people who are raising this Vice chair so it's important to know who's speaking and where they're coming from whether they're a parent whether they're a teacher whether they're how they're related to us um and I I think it's important to know that when they get up there and speak and so while I'm I guess I'm okay without with them not saying their address they need to say something to identify who they are and how they are affiliated with us whether they're just the general person from some other town or whether they're a parent of the school or whether they're a teacher like I just wanted I feel like it's important to know and so somehow I feel like we need to capture that that it has to they have to State how they're Affiliated to the schools um so that's that's just my feeling um any other questions or discussion I agree with member Keegan um you know in this age of we see what's been happening on Facebook with Anonymous posting um I understand some people may feel uncomfortable speaking but nonetheless they're here what they do speak there's other venues and I do believe with ability which member Keegan spoke about so eloquently so that said um I don't feel comfortable with this unless we have something a little more cleaner so we could and also I think it provides a better understanding for anyone watching about like hey there's someone lives in my neighborhood maybe that's something I could connect to so perhaps um some sort of amendment oh you have one you knew this okay thank you member shabil so with that being said I'd like to propose a friendly amendment to um item number two which reads currently any citizen wishing to speak before the committee shall identify him her him herself by name at the podium and and insert after they and identify their relationship to the district that would force a public participant to identify themselves as a parent a teacher a Community member press whatever do we have a second second and the address will still be provided on the list yes okay thank you any other discussion I apologize mayor I didn't hear who seconded mayor so it was a motion from the member shilia and the second was from the vice chair okay thank you member daglio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member [Music] Maxwell yes member shilia yes member Willette yes mayor borgard yes the amendment has uh been approved we now need a motion in a second to approve as amended so moved second motion from Member shabil the second is from member daglio any further discussion if not we'll vote member daglio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell yes member shabila yes member wette yes mayor boride yes measure passes we're on to finance and operations do we have uh any questions from the committee regarding the expenditure report next on the agenda is the revolving funds report any questions from the committee regarding the revolving funds report grants any questions from the committee regarding the grants report member shilia is it possible to flag the grants on hair that are federal doe versus State my concern being if things go as disappear yes very easy for us to flag awesome thank you we'll just add a column and put I mean just you put an aster next to them yeah we'll just put a call I think we've done it in the past just put like a federal or state next to yep thank you you're welcome questions move on to Student Activity accounts any questions regarding the Student Activity who member daglio um I'm sorry it go back to the the grants report or the revolving what is it Grant there's actually a grant here that says fy13 Marsh school PTO playground $677 89 I just skimmed through it what is that Grant so it's a great question um I do know that there has been uh there was something that happened previous to me come in a superintendent uh that was dedicated to specifically the March playground um but I will definitely look into that Ian would probably know perfect yeah there's a little bit of money left maybe for yeah maybe for a new slide what is it now two we're down to 229,000 64 $325 a go let's go yeah here we go so so just because fy13 happened to have been when my son was three that the whole front playground was being redone at that time um so it's probably that that whole playground was redone yeah good point and the fening I'll check with the I I I I think you're probably right that there was a project and I know the marsh PTO did a a ton of work to help us with with a project again I wasn't Superintendent at that time but I'll check with Ian to see if that's sort of a leftover amount from that actual project and see if we could buy a a step for the slide so next we're on to the Food Services report any questions regarding the Food Services report member Willet again just a common theme of um doing a survey with the students or having some type of interaction with the students is in terms of the menu um the the monthly report is fantastic I'm not uh challenging uh the food service director but at some point they are the customer base and I I'm hoping we can do some type of survey uh to the students it's been a common theme for months again we can work on it through the holidays it's not an urgent matter um and I think I've seen fantastic reports but I also want to um is interviewed in some fashion either through surveys or individual committee um or some type of interaction so that's what I would advocate for thank you Vice chair um I have a question about how they choose which allergies they care about um for instance this the the kits that they have the cooking kits that they've got um are for celiac disease but what about the kids who are allergic to dairy or um other things how how come they just pick gluten um and why if we're going to pick one why aren't we doing all of them and I know it's hard to do all of them but at the same token why are we picking one over another so I'm going to answer vaguely and then I'll check on that for you because I don't want to misspeak um but I do know that when we report out uh lunch menus we report on which ones are eggs or fish or shrimp or like we report on all of those to make sure that we have options for kids but not sure we could do a comprehensive list of every it's just some of these are becoming way more common right it is the dairy it's the eggs uh I know we and the gluten has become obviously more common um but I'll check with Mr fratty just to make sure that what I just said is closer to Accurate um and if there's a better answer that he could give I'll bring that to you next other questions or discussion if not we'll move on to contract approval we need a motion in a second to approve the snow plowing hauling services for fiscal year 25 contract awarded to Frank DeLucia and Suns Incorporated of plown New Hampshire so moved second motion from the vice chair second for member daglio discussion member shabila so I understand that snow plowing is exempt from 30b however 30b is meant to be the minimum not the standard I would like to see this at some point in the spring be bit out for next year because we don't know if we don't know how competitive our rates are we don't know what our options are we don't know what the market is I get that 30b says we don't have to but that doesn't mean we shouldn't just my thought thank you member shabil and member wette and also in terms of uh regionalization and aggregate efforts like if we're doing peace meal the school department has its own plowing service and then the municipality has its own plowing and then we subcontract out in the municipal side maybe look at um a common contract maybe maybe through um a higher threshold as opposed to doing a piece meal in terms of like if you look at Health Care Systems um and the aggregate would be the GIC um if we're just doing focusing on the school department with plowing services and then municipality and a subcontract out from their end maybe pulling it and and putting out the bid that way um it's something I agree with member shilia that's something that we should be exploring same thing if we did with the transportation system in methan um something that we should it might come back it's it's it's something that we're limited in our options um but it's something to explore further thank you thank you member will let any further discussion if not we'll vote member daglio yes member Donovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell yes member shilia yes member wette yes mayor borgard yes unanimous contract is approved notific a of appointments and other Personnel matters we have none on the agenda other business from the committee members shilia we have the policy a subcommittee update uh so masc is waiting on unfortunately me at this point um Martha had sent me over I want to say 70% of the uh policies by letter I don't know if I got them all yet I you should have received them all I can check and see what I sent but I think it's m okay that that sounds right because I was waiting for n o p q and the rest of them and they never came so okay so great that that helps um they are all however in straight PDF so I need to OCR them and get them over to the masc rep who's going to start the review on those um uh my goal goal is to get that done hopefully by week's end I it'll it'll the delay will be on their end come Monday not my end thank you member shilia uh at this point we have uh you listed to give an update regarding the audit however I have information if you would like for me to pinch it for you yeah I defer to you uh so uh regarding the audit um just to preface what I'm about to say uh we have free cash uh City Methuen which is designated for onetime non-recurring expenditures and and a good example of that is uh the uh funds uh to pay for the operational piece of the methan public schools audit uh I along with the cafo uh proposed to the city council at the last regular meeting a resolution to withdraw the uh amount required to fund the contract from free cash pending the state certification of free cash which we expect in the coming week or so uh around the mid December uh time frame uh so that was approved on a first read the second read uh would be this coming Monday the 16th so upon approval of that resolution uh we have the funding source in place for uh the audit contract and also uh on the December 16th city council agenda I will presented to the council for their consideration so at this point uh we have uh we're halfway there to the funding source procedurally and we'll have the contract inside of uh the next week any further updates from you member shilia any questions discussion all right move on uh member will let uh we have the item here relative to the letter to the methan legislative delegation thank you Mr chairman and this is uh similar to a letter that we had submitted in the past and I always preface by saying that want to work in partnership with the legislative delegation uh they're part of a 200 member body if you combine the house Governor has the first crack at the budget um well what happens before we go into our budget cycle uh we usually have something almost uh predetermined with a consensus reading and I think the Massachusetts Association of school committees had very uh somber uh message that the inflationary rate was once again going to be below 2% uh which is outrageous uh below the cola for Social Security recipients below the current uh Consumer Price Index and below the cost factor for many many people in terms of their heating for if they use oil and natural gas um we in Prior years were at the threshold of 4.5% and two prior fiscal years and unfortunately it went down to 1.35% and that resulted in a Range of4 to5 million uh that were reduced in terms of expected Chapter 70 uh growth um that's not sustainable as a school system so to go ahead of the curve um and again the elections are resolved at the state house and we have the same Partners I also want to commend representative Ryan Hamilton and member shilia for doing a listening tour at the nans library I want this to be a positive Outreach to the legislative delegation but there's really three factors since I was sworn in in January one is um unfunded educational mandates um we're drowning in red tape and paperwork and unfunded mandates the secretaries are Max to the limit uh we have very limited uh administrators because of budget cutbacks and we need to take a deep dive into unfunded mandates that are being imposed upon local communities and School uh districts the other factor is we've had an influx of extraordinary cases with special education um there's a senator who served on um his community's school committee he served as the president of the association for the school committees and then he was a colleague of mine at the state house and and then subsequent to that he was elected as a senator outright and he is filing legislation and I know he'll fil it again it will increase a circuit breaker reimbursement rate from 7 5% to 90% which I think is key it should match the child um and also uh just again anything that we can do I know our colleague from the hail school committee wants to do a look back period of three to four years of having an inflation average to take into account that I think it was 2022 or 2023 we had a high Watermark of inflation of 9 .1% and we are making uh Headway uh in terms of that but if you look at the cumulative of the last four years we're well over 20% of inflation um and if you go into the next fiscal year at a rate of 1.35% uh we will be damaged as a school district unfortunately we had to increase we had the lowest threshold of a a student to teach a ratio ever in methan that was 20 students on average per teacher for the the regular education unfortunately because of the cutbacks from the governor we had to increase it by 25% we've been um constantly through the years we've it's been a a waiting game on the uh circuit breaker and then I think over time the paperwork Chase and the unfunded man Ates and drowning in red tape um all those factors are not sustainable so again I would encourage my colleagues if they had any questions about the letter but I think um it's a positive constructive informative letter and we have to be ahead of the curb because in January people will be co-sponsoring or filing legislation the governor soon after will be filing her budget based on maybe a consensus and we have to and I told everybody affiliated with the methon public schools whether it be a parent a teacher an employee uh elected officials we have to Marshall our resources to the state house again that was a godsent I appreciate that that helped us and it kept in with the spirit of the education Reform Act because back in 1993 there was a massive disparity between communities like uh methan and ha versus Andover and North Andover so the education Reform Act was uh increased the scores for the minority students uh we're number one in the nation um with the mcast testing unfortunately the voters made a decision on that but we're still ranked number one and then also I think going down the line the local level to reinforce the state that it's a balancing act uh and terms of funding um so I just want to offer that to the membership thank you thank you member wette uh next we have any other business from the committee and I'm going to exclude anything relative to the collective bargaining process what do we do with the letter it's not on well it's not on the agenda as an item for approval I have it down as uh a discussion point it's not under new business oh okay but perhaps I mean if it's something that we want to add to the next agenda under new business we certainly could do that I mean I I still think we have time in in January if anybody had any concerns but we'll put I mean whatever we want to do as a membership we could send a letter um or if we want to put it as a new business item it's up to the membership okay any other business from the Committee Member do Zago yeah thank you Mr uh chair I just want to uh wish my constituents that celebrate Hanukkah and Quanza happy holidays thank you any other business if not uh at this point I will entertain a motion to adjourn so moved second motion for member m daglio yes member denovan yes member Keegan yes member Maxwell yes member shilia yes member wette yes mayor boride yes the time is 7:43 p.m. and tonight's meeting is Merry Christmas M Thorne [Music]