every turn into lazy There she is. >> Here we are again. Good evening everyone. Everybody ready up there? All right. I'm going to call this meeting to order. And I just ask if
you are able if you could please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. >> Thank you. Under open meeting law, I am informing the public that this meeting is being recorded by Middleboro Educational Television, hence the scroll over my head. If everyone anyone in the audience is taping the meeting, either audio or
video, please inform us of such at this time. All right, I will now open on open the public comment portion of our agenda. We do ask that you state your name for the record and all your comments through me, the chair. We also ask that your
comments relate to items within the purview of the school committee. Please note that personal complaints regarding personnel or students should be directed to the appropriate administrator outside of this meeting. The committee will not engage in discussion with the speaker or take action on any matters not on the
agenda tonight. We allow three minutes per speaker. Please be mindful of the time. >> Alex Cook, East Main Street. Um, I'm sure our student representative will speak on this, but I just wanted to give a shout out to our amazing speech and theater kids, uh, who hosted the
Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild competition this weekend. Uh, words cannot express the pride I have in our students. Not only did they tech for seven schools, including their own, in one day, they also hosted their festival
competition here in M at Middbor High School. Um, again, words cannot express my level of pride in them with the uh professionalism, hospitality, and overall amazingness of our students. Um,
and I want to give a big thank you to all of our parents and community me community members who came out to support our students this weekend. Um, and I hope and encourage uh everybody comes back for their show, The Play That Goes Wrong. I don't remember the exact
dates. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? All right. Hi, Bridget Karns. Um, I just wanted to talk a minute about the um meeting that we had a couple weeks ago. We heard a
lot of feedback from the teachers regarding the new ELA curriculum. Um, as a parent, I don't have a lot of skin in the game on this ELA curriculum. my kid's going to be a senior. I don't think any implementation is going to touch his education. Um, but what I did hear was a ton of feedback from teachers
saying that they piloted this program and they didn't like the program. Um, and that that feedback didn't get presented to this committee. Um, and that was really troubling to hear, particularly when we I don't know the curriculum. I I'm not an educator. Um,
and I couldn't tell you if it was good, better, and different. So, the people I need to hear from are those educators, the ones that are piloting it, the ones that are um facing the students and seeing what's happening when they're piloting the program. Um, and something really unique happened during that
meeting. Um, Mr. Benson actually asked took a motion to revisit that vote. Um, and that was the probably the first time I've seen this committee in all the years I've come here to actually take feedback from the community in real time
and take a moment and say, "Hey, we hear you, but not just tell us we hear you, but let's say you actually did something." There was actually action on the feedback that the community gave. And so I really hope that this committee starts kind of operating a little bit
more that way, like actually not just saying we hear you, but actually um doing more actionable things like that. So I just wanted to say that. And I I don't really understand if we're looking at a $2.5 million budget deficit where a half a million dollars um towards a
curriculum is going. And I heard teachers say they don't need a new curriculum. They have materials. They can teach ELA. Is this the time to purchase a new curriculum? I don't know. Thank you. Hi, Jessica Hilton, 31 Pearl Street. Um,
I am a teacher that piloted SAVES, so that's why I'm coming up now. Um, as I know you are all aware that you did not receive complete information when the presentation was made. Um and my first grade colleagues and I were disappointed
that the committee was informed that first grade had no concerns about SAVIS. Um I read an article where one of you was quoted as saying that this information that this program was going to be transformational. Um I was wondering what data you were provided
with that gave you that impression. Did any of you go visit primary classrooms to see what the program really is like for students? Um, I asked a representative from SAVIS for data that showed this program helped improve student reading. I have yet to receive
any evidence from SAVIS regarding how this program performs. Um, I understand the need for common resource and I know that no program is perfect. However, the decision regarding an uh adoption of a comprehensive curriculum that will cost
the district over $400,000 at a time when we have a budget crisis is a critical decision. We can't afford to make a mistake. I don't know if you're aware that the Mass PTA sent um information to their members um letting
us know that the Senate passed a new bill that would change um and introduce new literacy requirements K through three and that there was grant money available to um purchase curricula. So that might be helpful to us. And you
really didn't hear what our concerns were. So here they are. We agree with kindergarten that the skills are not developmentally appropriate um for first grade. SAVIS is teacher centered and not student centered, thus not engaging for students. There is no differentiation or
support provided for special education students. Anchor texts are not individual books that can be used to model print. Students and teachers will be reading from a computer screen or large workbook. It is important for our primary learners to engage with real
authentic texts. A big concern is there is no time in this program to actually teach students how to read which is which should be our focus. Um many of the texts are manufactured for SAIS or excerpts
excerpts from authentic texts. Our students deserve authentic full text not manufactured excerpts. It is not developmentally appropriate for a first grade student to independently navigate a complex text to think about a question, task, or assignment, flip
through multiple pages in a massive workbook, all while thinking about how to answer a question, and then write their thoughts down. Assessments provided are not developmentally appropriate. This program also assumes that students have a certain level of
background knowledge that most students do not have. I will leave you with this. After the announcement was made that Savas had been selected, those that piloted Savvice received a pencil case with various items included. One of the items included was a crocheted pickle
that said, "Deal with it." How does our district choose a program and company that disrespects our teachers in such a manner? Is this the message we want to send to our teachers, students, and families? Thank you. Thank you.
anyone else. Okay. Oh, hi Tony Cupy, uh, middle of our high school teacher, 2000 alumni. Um, when I started thinking about the purchasing of the Savage curriculum, I thought, well,
any good school needs good curriculum. And I don't think that we can argue with that. However, after talking with teachers, the feeling that I got was that this was not the right curriculum for us because it did did not offer
comprehensive specialed component or did it provide additional texts that accompanied the curriculum and that those would be an additional cost. Now I also thought if we were in a
moment too that the leadership team or school committee was coming and saying we you know we need a new curriculum and we had a balanced budget and we weren't talking about reconfiguration and we said we got a lot of input from the
teachers and we really feel like this is a great curriculum then I think that we might have some buy in but that's just not what I heard. Further, if we are looking what we're looking at is for more technology to be
able to solve our educational deficits, I think we must caution ourselves very carefully. If anyone has dove into recent data, it all points to the fact that since 2012 and the mass implementation of personal devices
within schools, students have actually performed less well than their predecessors. This should be very concerning. this. Maybe we should be taking a look at the widespread use of these devices in our classrooms and not trying to buy
expensive curriculum that will continue to have students stuck to a device. Many forwardthinking countries in the world have realized the detriment of giving students individualized devices. And in fact, we should what in fact what we should be doing is figuring out ways
to increase teacherto student ratios and build meaningful connections that we know help students succeed. Honestly, with the rapid advance of IIA a AI, the ability to create quality curriculum
uh in line with most advanced countries is just a prompt away. But what it really comes down to is the connection between students and the teachers and educational support personnel in front of them. It comes down to not being
distracted by a device and it and listening to a teacher read to them and have a discussion around text. We must help students activate their imagination through fun activities and work together to problem solve and
question things. These are the types of things that are going to increase literacy and math reasoning. It is not expensive curriculum and it is especially not the time when we are faced with teacher layoffs. Thank you. >> Thank you.
All right, seeing no one else, I thank everyone for speaking tonight and we will move on to our discussion items starting with a report from uh Mason as our student representative. >> Okay, bear with me today. This is a little disorganized. I'll do my best.
So, first we want to welcome everyone back from a very long February break and a thank you to all the plows and all the custodial teams at all the schools for helping us get back without losing a whole month of school. Uh we want to remind everyone that there's an early
release day coming up. I believe it's professional development on the 13th. Please check your school schedule for the dismissal times so you know when your kid is leaving. So for the mech, the kindergarten registration has opened
for the 2020 for the 2026 27 school year and family teacher conferences are the week of March 16th. There is I did not get any individual things for the MKG, but for both the MKG and HBB, grades will now close on March
24th and report cards will be issued on April 6th through Aspen and will be sent home with students the following day. For the HBB, March 10th through 12th is the third grade musical performance and
March 2nd through March 6th is parent teacher conferences. Just a note for the MECH and the HBB families will soon receive their child's DIY 8 family report. This report provides a snapshot of your child's reading development and progress. If you
have any questions after reviewing the report, please reach out to your child's teacher. I believe the MKG sent theirs out before February break. For the NMS, the NMS STEM fair took place after school yesterday, March 4th. Students presented their projects to a team of
teachers and high school students who judged their projects. Students could choose to do a research project, a controlled experiment, an engineering design process project, or a math research project. As a judge of the science fair, I saw a lot of impressive projects and I was very impressed with
the products the students made. And I'm going to ask Mr. Mclofflin who won because I couldn't find out who won. Oh, did the person who did How to Train a Human win anything? >> Good. >> Perfect for the high school. Again, just
as public stated, congratulations to the speech and theater workshop for competing and hosting in the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild with a day of wonderful theater. After the snow days, SCW ended up throwing everything together in the span of two days, staying over 14 hours on both days
to load in six wonderful shows plus our own. And we competed in the drama festival with our production of tracks and many students won MEG All-Star awards for their work on the show. The performance was outstanding. So, job well done to the cast, crew, and
everyone who helped out. Congratulations to the boys and girls basketball team for outstanding seasons. And congratulations to the hockey team and our cheerleading team who were all part of our winter sports. And we want to wish good luck to Matt Patterson and Ken
Meny who will compete in the all state wrestling meet this week. Uh good luck to Lexi Boyd as she runs for MASC vice president this week. Lexi has done an outstanding job over the last few months preparing her leadership garden and I'm sure you'll do an amazing job. There will be a message from her at
the end of the report. The class of 2027 will host the second annual Battle of the Badges on Friday, March 6th, 2026 at 6 p.m. in the gym. It is a police versus fire department basketball game. So, please mark your calendar. You do not
want to miss out. For the senior class, the scholarship program is up and running. The scholarship book is available in the counseling uh suite or the school website and seniors can pick up their updated unofficial transcript in the school
counseling office and there's a form to request your official transcript which can only be done in person. The section one and section 2 scholarship deadline was just extended. It used to be March 13th. The new deadline is March 20th. Section 3 has their own deadlines, none
of which have been changed. There are success blocks set up for students to help them apply to these scholarships. And MHS will launch the 202627 program of studiescourse selection for all students grades 9 through 11 on
March 16th. Teachers have recommended you for courses with the core content areas throughout the school. You'll see the recommendations when you log into Aspen to select your courses. The recommendations are based off of your overall performance in your current classes. The portal will open on Monday,
March 16th at 400 p.m. and will remain open through Monday, March 23rd. Quarter 3 parent teacher conferences will be held on Wednesday, March 11th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for all staff. Be on the lookout for an email through Parent Square this week from your teachers to
make appointments. And now I have a message from Lexi Boyd, who is running for um MASC vice president. Lexi Boyd is currently attending a conference in for the Massachusetts Association of Student Council, also known as MASC. This
conference is a chance for student councils all over Massachusetts to come together and share their ideas. During this 3-day retreat, students experience lectures from guest speakers, inspiration through student led workshops, and they will vote on this year's upcoming MASC executive board.
She's running to be the MASSC vice president, and her campaign theme is leadership garden. The whole idea of her theme is that leadership does not grow overnight. It takes a lot of nurturing and even may face setbacks like weeds. If someone does not support your ideas as the keeper of your leadership garden,
it is important to pick those weeds and carry on with tending your plants. Another big idea within our theme is that each stage of a garden represents key parts of leadership. Example of this is how service events act as flower leaves. leaves hold the majority of a plant's nutrients and provide for the
community just like volunteers do the nation. She thanks you all for listening and allowing her to share her ideas. >> Thank you, Mason. >> All right, moving on. Uh the next item is the
superintendence report. >> Thank you. Uh, regarding the new ELA program, I am uh requesting uh that the committee allow um me to
create a small uh committee to take another month, month and a half to uh review uh all the comments that we heard earlier and to uh come back to the committee with a recommendation. I'd like to have
uh the principles uh the teachers who piloted both programs um Terry Marculitis, myself, and hopefully two school committee members to be on that committee or subcommittee. Um I think we need uh a good month,
month and a half to review um everything that we heard, go over all the data. I don't want to start from scratch but just go and review everything thoroughly uh so that we can come back with uh a recommendation
uh from uh fully represented by everybody involved. Um I want to uh say that we still have uh the item uh budgeted uh currently. Uh obviously that
can change but that is still in the proposal. Uh I just think we need uh a good month, month and a half to uh thoroughly look at this further. >> So move >> second. >> Any comments?
>> Um I heard from a bunch of teachers from kindergarten and first grade. Um I heard from teachers outside of this district who have that same program. I think a second look is absolutely warranted. Uh,
sorry. No, you first. >> I always talk. >> You first. You go. >> Okay. Uh, I would like to follow up with a couple comments that uh are related to some of the other themes that we've been hearing about uh whether or not we're listening
uh and and what we do with what we we hear. Uh first of all, I was the person that said that I thought that a uh a science of reading curriculum would be transformational for our district. And I
still believe that uh and I thought that um given the input that we were given that adopting this would be something that would be very good for our district. And I still believe that. However, um given the comments that were made, I thought that it was important
that I go and do my due diligence about the feedback that was given. And as a result, I went back to the presentation and I went back and looked into the curate um forms that you filled out and I actually asked permission from
some of the uh teachers to be allowed in. And when I did, I did see that there was a significant discrepancy between what I saw in that feedback and what was presented at the meeting. I then passed
that information along to both Jess and Mike, uh, letting them know my concerns. And I do believe that that's my responsibility as a school committee member. And I do want you to know that we do follow up on these things. >> Chris
So, shortly after we voted to accept it, I was very enthusiastic. Um, it doesn't run in my in the school that I work at, but I've heard good things from colleagues. Uh, none of them work in Middleboro and I
always say Middleboro is exceptional. Uh when I first ran for school committee in my first term, I was asked what the strength was and my the answer came right off the bat was the mech. Um I think you guys do a great job building
that foundation and to have your views not represented. I really think that did us a disservice. So after being so enthusiastic to approve the vote and not getting the full picture, um that really
stung me. And so I like the fact that we're able to go back and review and I I I'm looking forward to hearing from all parties, all stakeholders um how this is either going to benefit or not and making the choice from there.
So thank you all for sharing your voices. Mike, I just want to say I appreciate that the the principles had this discussion with you and came up with a plan al together to take a step back, take another look. Um,
I fully support all of the teachers who piloted the program being involved so that you can hear from them directly um and that we can make sure that we have um all of the information before we take another vote to move forward. Um, so with that being said, we have a motion
and a second. Any other discussion? >> I just have one question, Mike, and that that is if in this month or month and a half that you, you know, take your time to review it, if the decision comes that we decide not to move forward, what does that look like from a budget perspective, where does that money kind
of get earmarked for? >> Well, go back to the subcommittee, >> uh, and then we'll figure out where we want to reappropriate it. >> Okay? And most likely we'll go back into the budget cuts that we're talking about
and and prioritize there. >> Anyone else? All right. So, I have a motion in a second. All those in favor of the >> Can we restate what the motion is so I'm clear of what what we're voting on? >> Yes. All those in favor of uh approving
a subcommittee to meet with the principles and the piloting teachers and the director of curriculum and to revisit the two curriculums that were presented. All those in favor? >> I I
>> motion passes unanimous. >> Talk about school committee member. So that was the next step is we've just agreed to have a subcommittee to meet with everyone. So are there any volunteers to be on the subcommittee? If we um
can get moving on it rather quickly, I think that would be important. >> I'm a little predisposed. >> I understand. Um I'm happy to do it. I just need to I will be away for a week from April 15th to the 22nd. >> Okay. We could work around a week. Okay.
Okay. Anyone else? >> If it ensures the voices of the kids, the people who are with our kids are heard, I will volunteer to be on it. >> All right. Wonderful. Thank you both. That's the subcommittee of two. So, I appreciate it and uh I look forward to hearing back from you all. Um and uh
hearing more about the next steps in this process. So, thank you both. >> All right. >> See you. >> All right. Good evening. Uh, so Mason threw me for a little curveball there. So I do have our our STEM fair award winners if you would indulge me uh one
minute just to um recognize them. >> Uh, in our um controlled experiment category, in third place, sixth grader Arabel Ramirez. In second place, um, sixth graders Olivia Caswell and Avery Trot. And f and in
first place, eighth grader Scotty Brogna with her how to train your human experiment was fantastic. In our engineering design um category, in third place, seventh grader Grant Tibo. In second place, sixth graders Timothy and Benjamin Loose. And in first place,
eighth graders Arya Gentiel and Victoria Miller. And let me just scroll down here. In our environmental project category, in third place, uh sixth graders Kaye Parker and Marley Ruthwitz. Second uh place was
seventh graders Clover Henstat and Natalie Powers. And first place was seventh graders Jay Nadler and Tristan Logan. And last but certainly oh sorry there's two more categories. Uh research project no last sorry last category was um research project category. In third
place was sixth graders Luca Terrasi and SJ Murphy. In second place was sixth grader Mac Oway. And in first place was sixth grader Graham Stack. Um they all did an amazing job. We had over 30 um projects and a special kudos to Miss
Bowley, our our um science um coordinator who put all of this together. It was a ton of work and it was super impressive. >> Wonderful. Congratulations to all those students. And and Tim, just to to stay there for just one second, if any of those
students are interested in uh coming to a future meeting and showing us their presentation, we would love to invite them to join us. >> I can guarantee that. And I'll be putting I love it. All right. >> Thank you. >> So, the reason I'm here before you tonight is I would like to bring a proposal to the committee um some of a
program that I'd like to begin um rolling out at Nichols um as I stated in the fall, one of my main focuses is improving the student experience at Nichols um and making for positive student um engagement, positive student programming. And something that I've
always um kind of looked at Nicholls and thought it was unfortunate that we didn't offer our kids that a lot of middle schools do is an endofthe-year eighth grade experience for kids. Something kind of a capstone experience for their time at the school. Something to bond as a group. Something to feel
proud about. Something that they'll remember for for years um thereafter. Um, and so I'm bringing before your proposal to begin um with our current seventh graders, eighth graders next year to bring a end of the year trip to Washington DC um for all students who
are interested um for a 4-day three-ight um trip to our nation's capital. Um I've spent spent expense extensive time this winter um vetting vendors and having meetings with other local uh middle schools. I went to three different schools that run trips to pick their
brains on, you know, landmines that I should be aware of and um their process and kind of talking about how they they they they run their trips. U met with several different tour operators to get quotes and kind of look at the flexibility. Um I've approached two of my eighth grade civics teachers, Miss
Colleen Russell and Miss Kate Stack, with the idea of kind of helping me push this trip in the right direction. I I asked them given that they're civics teachers and this is a civics heavy trip um and they're more than happy to be a part of it. We did end up um deciding
that the proposal we were going to bring forward to you would be um offered through EF tours. Now I want to preface what I'm going to say by by mentioning that um I want to recognize that um six years ago when COVID hit our town there was a high school trip um that was run
through EF that was canceled and our families were kind of left high and dry. um they didn't get anything back. Um I I don't need to tell the community they were they went through it. Um and my first question when I met with our vendors was that's not going to happen
again. I won't be able to get the town to support this. We can't operate like that. What are you going to do about it? They were very um very open and honest that mistakes were made as a company um when the pandemic hit. That they did a lot of um reflective um reworking of
their business model. They actually have language now in their contracts. Um they they call it their peace of mind um peace of mind program guarantee where basically they're offering a variety of options for schools that have um forces
that have um trips canceled for forces outside of their control that include rescheduling trip vouchers or a refund um of the trip costs minus like a $100 administrative fee um for for whatever it is the families pay. So, you know, they laid out for me um in black and
white what their process is. If it's more than 60 days out, it's basically for whatever reason the trip would be cancelled for, it's they'll take care of it. Um if it's less than 60 days, if it's a Department of State travel advisory level four or above, a a travel
ban because of a quarantine or um civil unrest or an urgent safety issue that prevents the tour from operating in that area, um they will offer the same thing as as outside those 60 days. So, um, EF does appear to have language now in their in their, um, in their offerings
that would protect our families in the event we were to go out of the state or if something were to happen, um, during that time period. >> That was me. Sorry. So um in front of you you have um you know uh literature from um from EF and I think one of the things that we liked
amongst the many proposals is that the proposal in front of you would allow our students to um meet on a Monday morning um early 5:30 6 a.m. at Nichols Middle School and travel by charter bus to the Providence um train station and travel
to Washington DC via train. Um, I love that option for um speed of trip, for safety of having the kids in their own chartered um train cabins um with their own bathrooms. We don't have to worry about traffic. We don't have to worry about buses breaking down. We don't have to worry about um anything that could
come up at uh many of the various rest stops that we would have to hit. It's get on the train and we'll see you in DC. Um I'm also a train nerd, so I get really excited about that. um they would arrive by lunch or shortly thereafter lunch on their first day in DC and EF doesn't waste any time. They
get off the train and they are off and running in DC walking tours in the afternoon um an evening dinner. They don't check into their hotel until 8:00 p.m. on that first day. Um the and the itinerary is really robust. Um if any of you have been to DC, you know there's a
lot to see and it's there's you could go for 10 days and still have plenty to do for the kids. and they fit about eight days of activities in in a in an 80h hour period. So the kids are going to sleep well um and they're going to do a lot of different things. Um I'm excited by, you know, the opportunities to to
tour the National Mall to go to Arlington National Cemetery. Um I I as a veteran, I think it's incredibly important that our kids get an opportunity to be humbled at at uh Arlington Cemetery. Um they actually offer um a opportunity for us to lay a
middle bar wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier as a group. Uh I can't think of anything more uh uh impressive to to show our kids the value of sacrifice in our country and what our military means for them. Um stop at the Pentagon memorial. Um we actually have opportunity to take a half day trip to
Mount Vernon which I think is fantastic. I've been to DC a half dozen times. I've never gone to Mount Vernon. So um I think that would be really exciting. uh visit to the US capital, they will enter us into a lottery for an opportunity to get a tour of the White House. That's not guaranteed by any means. Those tickets are very um hard to come by, but
they do try they enter every group that comes in for the opportunity to try to get that. Um but they also will offer us if we contact our state our our um our legislators for visits, photo ops, um private tours, whatever they'll offer, they'll help accommodate that. So, I'll
make it a point to reach out to our senators and reps before we go there to see if they're available. Um, and then the many Smithsonian museums, um, which is fantastic. And then Thursday after lunch, they're back on the train. I'm sure they'll sleep the entire way home. Um, and they get back up to, um, they
get back to Middlebar around 9 9:30 um on Thursday night. Um, the the opportunity, so there's a couple things to love about EF. Um they would allow us for every 10 students that sign up for the trip, one free chaperon. Um so we would have more than
adequate staffing on the trip for safety purposes. Um they provide security within the hotels, one security guard per floor. So once it's lights out time, there's a person at the elevators in a chair um watching making sure that no one's coming out of the rooms and more importantly that no one is accessing the
floor that shouldn't be. Um and uh so security is is something that they really take seriously at the hotels. The hotels are not in downtown DC proper. They're in the suburbs. So there is more of a safety um component um to being in Alexandria or one of the other suburbs
versus downtown DC. Um and they also offer us um scholarship opportunities. They'll credit us um $50 for every student that signs up to pull an award um on a need-based um ability at our discretion. Um, so if we have families that are struggling a little bit to help
uh to to cross the finish line on the trip, um we can help them um get there. Um and so the quote that they gave us um and this was, you know, we got several different quotes. This was right in the middle in terms of um the financials,
but they gave us um for $14.49 for four days and three nights. That's all inclusive. that is every single cost um on the trip including meal vouchers for the kids while they're out and about during the day. Um so, you know, there was an option for flying down which was like $100 more. Sounds like a nightmare
going through TSA with 150 middle school kids. Um there was the bus option that was slightly less. Um but I've having children that have gone on this trip, I've seen bus snafoos really follow up the trip and if we only have a couple days, I'd kind of like to get there and
get rolling with the trip. Um, so there's a process to this. We've never done anything like this at Nichols before, so it's surely going to be filling out this process as, you know, the year goes on. My desire would be to um, if you um, approve and are are willing to to um, go along with this is
that I would like to um, schedule a parent information night later this month for seventh grade parents. We're already a little bit behind the ball on this. Ideally, we would have put this out to seventh grade parents around the holidays. Um, because if they do sign up, if there's a monthly payment plan,
it gives them lower payments per month and an opportunity to make it more affordable for those families. So, really, we'd like to be doing it about 18 months prior to the trip to help um lower the monthly costs. I can't go back in time, so here we are. Um, but I would like to offer um a parent information
night and and a sign up opportunity. Um and we would close the door on signups in sometime in October or November so that we would have a firm list of who's going and be able to plan rooms, plan out um the logistics of how many buses we need, work with EF to to fine-tune
those things and equally as importantly plan out what school is going to look like for the kids who aren't a part of that trip. I'm really conscious of that we're not just going to go off on this cool thing and say see you later to the to the children that choose not to be a part of this. It's the end of the year. We have capstone experiences. We're
going to plan capstone experiences for the kids that are still back at Nichols for that week as well. So, um, by closing the door on the sign up, um, you know, before the holidays, it lets us plan for both groups and make sure that there's a a really, um, enjoyable
opportunity for both of them. So, I've just said a whole lot. I'm open to any questions you may have. >> So, thank you for taking the the extra step to double check the insurance and all of that. That was absolutely one of the questions that I had. Um I did
wonder if they offered additional insurance that parents could purchase for things like sudden illness or um you know things that came up last minute. >> They do. They offer us a a different a travel protection plan. It's an extra $300 for students. So it isn't cheap,
but it allows you to cancel for any reason up until I think it's 72 hours before the trip um to cancel and get a full refund. >> All right. So that's an option that'll be presented to the parents. Thank you. um as a parent who would be affected by this next year. Um so my question is I
noticed on the chapron form that you put all of the school administration uh potential chaperones. >> Correct. >> So obviously as a parent a little concerned if my student doesn't go is who's overseeing. >> Sure. So I put all in terms of who might go. Um so our our goal was really that
one of our three administrators would go every single year. I very much wanted to be a part of the first uh trip. My oldest son is graduating high school the same week as the first trip theoretically would go off. So um unfortunately both Miss Noon and myself will have graduating seniors that week.
Uh Mr. Pru very graciously volunteered to be um the first administrator, God bless him, to go uh on the trip. Um and I would go in year two and we'd rotate from there would always be an administrator on the trip and two staying back at the school. >> Okay. I was just curious and then as far as chaperones go too, are you looking
for parents who are probably Corey checked to be chaperrons as well? How are you looking to meet maintain mostly teachers? >> I think at least to start off, we'd like to maintain it as our staff. Um I I think there's I mean there's certainly ways to to address parents that want to volunteer, but it does create questions of equity and fairness. Uh if we have
room for 10 chaperones and 21 parents want to go, how do you you know who gets to go, who doesn't? Um I've also heard from the both the schools actually that I met with emphasized that they found that having parents be chaperrons on the trip, it was difficult um for a couple
of reasons. One is that um parents innately spend more time focusing on their own child and what their children are up to and and and it kind of detracted from the experience of the group when they were subdivided up in activities. Um and honestly, when we're talking about the kids experience as a
as a school, there's a little part of me that thinks they deserve to have fun with their friends without mom being 10t away. You know, it's kind of a right right of passage trip if >> I'm not looking to go. >> Yeah. No, sorry. No, I I just um you know, if we do this and we decide going forward like, hey, it would have been
been beneficial to have half a dozen parent chaperones on the trip, that's certainly something I'm open to. Um I just the guidance I'm hearing from other schools and even from EF was kind of saying like you're really better off starting off with just your staff um being a part of it. Makes
>> sense. Any other questions? >> Uh first, thank you for putting this together. I have grandchildren in other towns that have done this in the eighth grade and it's it is a wonderful experience. >> Uh will there be any fundraising for uh families that might not have the
resources to send their child? >> Yes, for sure. And and I I recognize $1,400 is a lot of money, you know, and it doesn't come easy for for most wouldn't for me. Um, so I fully anticipate, I don't have specific concrete plans for you today, but I
fully anticipate coming back to you, um, either this later this spring or at the beginning of the school year with some ideas for fundraisers, um, that would be an ongoing thing we would do for these kids. I want to give them at least two opportunities to do things that will defay the cost of this trip.
>> Wonderful. Thank you. >> All right. Anything else? >> That's all I have. I'm really excited about this opportunity. I love that it's going to be by train as well. >> Y >> uh so the chair will entertain a motion to approve this outofstate field trip to
Washington DC. >> So moved. >> Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I I >> passes unanimously. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. So, the next item on the agenda is the five-star bus
transportation contract and a one-year renewal. >> Yes. So, we have the >> item chair, I'm going to recuse myself. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Um, so we have the uh fifth year of the contract. It's the uh last and final
one-year renewal. Um, and then next year we will be going out to bid. Uh the cost for the transportation is broken down into three parts. The obviously the big
yellow bus uh is $2,391,96. The lake buses are $26,466 and the uh Bristol Noralk Aggie runs is 192,573. And the total contract for the fifth and final year is 2,610,945.
Mike, if I am correct that this line item is that separate transportation line item. >> Yes, this is the town has uh our transportation in a separate fund. >> Any questions? All right. >> Uh I do of course. Uh is this something
that there is a subcommittee for transportation? Correct. I don't think >> Well, Chris has a a I don't think it's necessarily contractual. It's more to manage transportation questions. How's that? >> Yeah.
>> Okay. Got it. Um and my second question is, is this a uh the option for renewal? Is it an automatic unless there are significant issues or is this something that uh can be stopped? And I'm just curious. So, the the original contract
is a three-year contract with the option of two year two one-year renewals. This is the last of those. So, for the five, yes, you could have at uh the end of last year, we could have gone out to bid. >> Okay.
>> Um but I I assumed everything's been running pretty well. Uh and I they've done a wonderful job during this winter. Um, and the the uh start of the last two years, the two years I've been here, uh, it was just it
was amazing the first the kids were on time for like there was not even it didn't even seem like the first day of school. >> Great. Thank you. >> I just want to second that, Mike. And also, in your experience, when you go out to bid financially, the cost goes up, right?
>> I'm not looking forward to it, >> but that's a next year problem. We'll talk about that in October. >> I don't know if we were able to comment on this or >> Yeah, as long as everybody on the school committee has uh had a chance. Yes, please go ahead.
>> Hi, I'm Leslie Lemieux. Um I happen to be a resident and a first grade teacher at Brooklyn. Um and uh respectfully, the buses are never on time. Um ever. I don't even think once. Um, so I don't
have hard data to um support. Well, I have three days of hard data actually. Um, this week um the buses were called for dismissal. Um, on Tuesday it was at 3:29. Um, on Wednesday it was at 3:26
and today it was 3:27. Um, contractually my day ends at 3:20 at dismissal. um if you take those minutes up and even if you average five minutes late a day, we're talking 15 hours by the end of the school year that we are missing out on
prep time. Like that is my time at the end of the day to prepare and reset my classroom for the next day. Um it's not an insignificant amount of time. And of course, any given day, a couple of minutes here and there. We're all reasonable people. Um, a couple minutes here and there, icy days, bad weather.
Sure, we expect things to be a little bit slower. September, we all expect it. Um, in September, there were days it was maybe 10, 15, even 20 minutes late that we're dismissing. Um, it's a significant amount of time. Um, I don't know if this
is a five-star issue or if this is just busing in general, um, but it's it's significant. Um, and um, I thought it was important that that was brought to your attention. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, I do appreciate that it
it uh isn't uh always ideal for sure. Um, but at this point, um, I will entertain a motion to renew the last year of the five-star bus renewal contract for a one-year extension with
the knowledge that next year we go out to bid for a new bus company. >> In in the meantime, Mike, is there a way we can follow up on that and find out? Absolutely. There seems to be a communication gap there. >> Yeah, I know this week. Yeah, this >> has been very difficult because of the
road conditions and the you know the banks are very high and the visibility. Uh but I'll look into you know the daily if it's daily. >> Okay. So there's a a call for a motion.
Do I hear um anyone? >> Second. >> Make a motion. >> Oh uh I move that we >> I made the motion. You just have to say so moved. >> So moved. Second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> I thank you. And one recused. So, it's
uh four in favor and one recused. >> Alan, you're allowed back at the table >> with the notation that Mike, if you get back to us about what what you find out around that. >> Constant improvement is always good.
All right. So, the next item is the Massachusetts School Building Authority uh MSBA and the John T. Nichols Middle School roof project schematic design. That's fun to say. >> Yes. And I look forward you reading the
motion. Um so, uh we uh applied for a new roof uh through the MSBA uh project at the state for the Nicholls uh roof. one of the uh requirements in
order to be approved. We are we are officially approved uh our application and then there's some more steps that go on before it's finally uh given the final approval to uh get the funding uh matching funding uh to do the project.
One of them is that we must set aside um uh at least $100,000 to u have a a schematic design done of the roof prior to um and so we were
given um the uh language for the uh article in motion to do that. This will come from our uh facility rental account. This is a perfect uh use of that funds because
it's a one-time account uh onetime funding. Um so once they uh once you approve this, we send that up. They will um send us a couple of different uh consultants that do the work. they will
come in and do the scheme uh schematic design of the roof. Uh and then after that uh if we are approved again and we move along the uh town has agreed to do the project uh and they we will be
reimbursed about 55% of the total cost of the roof. Uh but that will be done at town meeting and that at the town will have to appropriate that. this piece we agreed with the town if they did the roof we would pay for the school district would pay for the schematic
design >> and there's a long >> motion that motion >> madam chair has to read now >> um before we get to the motion my understanding is because we've been approved through MSBA for this project if we don't move forward we lose out on
a lot of assistance in making the roof happen >> all of it >> all of Yeah. >> Any other questions before I get to the fawn motion? >> Roof's about 20 years old. >> Yeah, 27. >> Got a couple extra years out of it.
>> I don't think it's going to last come with a couple years. >> All right. So, the chair will entertain a motion that the town of Middbor hereby appropriates the amount of $100,000 for the purpose of paying feasibility study and
schematic design costs related to a potential accelerated repair project at the John T. Nichols Junior Middle School, 112 Tiger Drive, Middleboro, Massachusetts, to replace the asphalt shingled portions of the roof, including payment of all costs incidental or
related thereto. Which proposed repair project would materially extend the useful life of the school and preserve an asset that otherwise is capable of supporting the required educational program and for which the town has applied for a school construction grant
from the Massachusetts School Building Authority MSBA set amount to be expended under the direction of the school committee. To meet this appropriation, the treasurer with the approval of the select board is authorized to borrow set amount under MGL chapter 44,
chapter 70B, or any other enabling authority. The town acknowledges that the MSBA's grant program is a non-entitlement discretionary program based on need as determined by the MSBA. And if the MSBA's board of directors votes to invite the town to collaborate
with the MSBA on this proposed repair project, any project costs the town incurs in excess of any grant that may be approved by and received from the MSBA shall be the sole responsibility of the town and that if invited to collaborate with the MSBA on the
proposed repair project, the amount of borrowing authorized pursuant to this vote shall be reduced by any grant amount set forth in the project funding agreement that may be executed between the town and the MSBA. >> So moved. >> I'm glad we don't have to repeat that
one. >> I have a motion. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> I >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Sorry about that. Uh next is the uh this is justformational. It's the Reeds
quarterly report overview because we are members of Reeds collaborative. Uh they send out on a quarterly basis uh their um report and that is to be shared with
uh the committee and I I've reviewed it. There's nothing uh new or any major changes. So, if you have any questions, I'll take them late and I'll get back to you because it it is uh but it isformational.
>> Any questions? No. Seems they're doing rather well in their new school. So, their new building. >> That's wonderful to hear. >> All right. >> Okay. Last for me. I I'm hoping this is good news.
Uh I met uh on a uh webinar with the commissioner uh of ed education. The big question was after the blizzard and the five days that we are out most districts uh were questioning um whether we were going to have to go
into uh April vacation. Um we right now our last day of school is scheduled for June 30th. superintendents uh and the uh yeah, the MASS group wanted to petition that uh the
commissioner allow that the last day of school beh uh no later than June 26th on the Friday. Um which would allow us not to come back on Monday and Tuesday. So, uh what they stated there and you
have to um apply or uh apply for a waiver um on even if you meet f uh four right uh criteria in order to uh take advantage of and have your last day on
the 26th. And that is uh number one time on learning which is 990 hours for high school or secondary and 900 at the elementary level and we meet those. Uh you have to have used all five of
your days and I can confidently say we used all five. uh you have to repurpose all your PD or holidays uh which uh we don't have to worry about that and you have to be scheduled out to
June 30th and as I said we are uh so we meet all four uh we still have to apply for the waiver but we're we're confident that we will uh be granted that and our uh April vacation will not be affected
and Just sorry just to clarify when the the line item that said that you had to repurpose all PD and holidays that was full day PD and non-national nonappril vacation holidays. So if we had taken another day off that would have had to
been repurposed but Memorial Day Junth those don't get touched. Those are still days off and April vacation is kept intact. And we do have a PD, but it's a half day, so that counts. And so we're good there. Lastly, um the question came
up of whether we had to move graduation date. Um the the it's very ambiguous or oddly written on the graduation, but it says that it's you cannot the students can't graduate 12
days before the last day of school of but it says the last day of the originally scheduled last day of school. So that helped us because um we are still within 12 days of the last day
that we originally which was >> 17 >> 2017th. So we are safe and graduation is on the same day. We don't have to move that. So we kind of dodged a bullet here but good news. >> All right. So just to reiterate April vacation safe, Memorial Day safe. Junth
is safe. Half day PD can still happen. Graduation isn't moving. We are appealing the state to not have to go to school on the 30th and the 31st. >> No. Uh 29th, 30th. >> 29th and 30th. It's 30 days of September, April, June. Um 29th and
30th. So that our last day will be the 26th, but until we hear back from the appeal, we don't know that for sure, but the appeal is already in process. Correct. >> Correct. >> All right. So that's where we stand right now. And as soon as we know that it where the appeal goes, we will inform
everyone again. Did they say how long that would take? >> You're the 10th person to ask me that today. I don't I don't I don't know the answer. >> June 25th. >> Yeah. >> All right. But that is good news. Thank
you, Mike. Appreciate that. >> All right. That concludes the superintendent report. >> Yes. >> Um so we are now moving on to subcommittee updates, which is policy and protocols. These were rescheduled twice. now I think but hopefully we can
get through them tonight. So we are at second reads with a possible vote for a number. Yes, >> through the chair. Um these have been out there for so long. I didn't receive any feedback about any changes. I would
like to make a motion that for the ones that are listed here, we make a vote and approve them right now. >> Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the removal of one policy and the approval of the updates to four.
Motion and a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I >> I thank you. >> I made up for the MSBA reading. >> Yep. >> All right. So, the one last item then under the policy and protocols is the operating
uh protocols update. You'll notice that when it was posted in your folder when we first discussed, we had some questions about who we represented that first item. After the meeting, um Sue did her due diligence and came back to me with information from policy AB. I
had been looking at BA and BBA, um which are similar, but they don't say the same thing. Um, and so we uh worked together and uh Shannon helped as well for the subcommittee to say that we would like
to modify that first line from we represent the school committee to we represent the citizens of Middleware. Chair will entertain a motion to accept that modification to the operating protocols. >> So move.
>> Do I have here a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I >> I thank you for that and thank you Sue for reviewing the other ABBA policy. Um that brings us to the consent agenda.
There's only one item on the consent agenda to approve the meeting minutes of January 8th, 2026. I will entertain a motion to do so. >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I I >> All right. We've done our action items.
There's a fewformational items. Um, Memorial Early Childhood Center movie night March 12th. I believe they are playing the movie Cars, which even though I have seen it many a time, it's always a good watch. Um, the Middle High School class of 2026 will be presenting
Mr. MHS on March 27th. Middle High School Student Council is having a breakfast with the Easter Bunny on March 28th. And then other additional items is just to note that um the school committee budget will be presented to the select board uh this coming Monday,
March 9th at 7 PM. That presentation will be at the middle school, not at the select boardroom. And then the school committee meeting and our public hearing on the budget is Thursday, March 12th. The school committee meeting will start at 6:30. I believe the budget hearing is
slated to begin at 6:45. All right. With that, nothing on the back. The chair will entertain a motion to adjurnn. So move. >> So move. >> Do I hear a second? >> Can I just >> Yes. >> Quickly add two things. Um this week the
Middleboro or within the next couple weeks, the Middleboro Youth Basketball Association and the uh travel teams in Metro West going to their tournaments. They're all our kids. They rent our gyms for their programs. So I just want to wish them all good luck. >> Thank you, Chris. Appreciate that. All
right. Motion in a second. All those in favor? >> I. And we are adjourned. Thank you. >> Thank you.