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e e e e e e 2 1 good evening everybody um sorry for the delay we had to find a new laptop to attach thank you for your patience we'll
call the meeting to order Wednesday March 19th for the Milton school committee 7:11 p.m. and we'll begin with 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 with liy and justice for all thank you so um as we look to approve our agenda for tonight um I know of one change is I would like
to um pull from the chair's report the interim superintendent process topic for discussion um to come after public comment um we have some guests Jo joining us this evening for that portion so we'd like to let them um travel home sooner
rather than later so we'll move that up ahead of the superintendent's report and then return to the rest of the chair's report after that um other changes I know that um Anna we have the calendar piece under the
chair's report but that's really connected to the policy subcommittee so we can yeah maybe just tag team that part or does that work okay and then um I know that under
the fy2 budget update for finance we will not be doing the capital request revision um that's something we did previously and we can share an update in the course of that discussion are there any other changes people
have okay uh so then with that we'll just move into public comment uh portion of our meeting that we set aside to up to 15 minutes here from members of the community who would like to share their perspectives with us for up to three
minutes a piece um is anyone in the audience here for public comment this evening I don't believe so but just making sure okay is anyone online hoping to join for public comment this evening if so can you please raise your hand at
this time okay I don't see any hands raised but we'll just give people another few seconds if you'd like to participate in public comment please raise your hand all right you there are no hands raised
right okay so um thank you everybody with that we can move on um to our first item for this evening uh next item rather is a discussion of the interim superintendent
process um I'd like to invite our two guests and thank you so much for joining us tonight um this is our um friends from masc the Massachusetts Association of school committees executive director Glenn coocher and field director Shan
Castello thank you both so much for taking the time to be with us um they are here to share some guidance recommendations um for us to consider in the process of identifying um the leader
for Milton Public Schools beginning July 1st and um this is something you have great expertise in so we really appreciate your advice and and support with this process um thank you so much maybe if
you could just sort of provide like an overview of recommendations for how we are proceeding um and we'll then kind of open up the discussion so that we all have the
opportunity to be on the same page thank you is this these are on okay yes thank you for the opportunity to speak with you I'm Glenn coocher I'm the executive director of masc Sean Costello is our field director both of us have been
involved in superintendent searches over the years Sean is a former school committee is current school committee chair in uh Marshfield and back in the Nixon Administration I was on the Cambridge
school committee for 12 years uh let me be uh and be a little GLI for a moment but you have extraord Ary flexibility over what to do about a vacancy in the superintendency
because you've indicated that you'll be talking about the superintendency tonight it would be perfectly legal for you to just appoint me right now now an active political malpractice but that's how much flexibility you have and
in the case of an interim superintendency most districts need to act expedi ly because there aren't a lot of people out there who will will fill in for a year usually they are retired
superintendents uh there are superintendents who are not retired who would accept an interim superintendency but there's a risk inherent in that uh because they may or may not be able to stay afterwards you may am not wish to
continue them so uh we frequently assist school districts in going through an interim process which is an expedited process there's a lot of diligence involved but it's an expedited process the first thing you definitely want to
do and uh We've begun this already is to let the universe of potential candidates know that you're looking for an interim superintendency now I say that because under certain circumstances retirees can come back out
of retirement and work in a district without forfeiting their pension income uh but there are certain things the school committee needs to do in order to uh be eligible for that kind of a a waiver to to conduct uh a search
that gets you that kind of a retiree those are usually the best candidates though because they're experienced and I will tell you that one real advantage that interim superintendents have uh is that everybody's on their best behavior during an interim superintendency
everybody wants to make sure that the interim superintendent passes on to the next superintendent just how terrific uh The Faculty is and and who in particular is more terrific than others whatever might be so it's very important that uh
uh the interim be able to do that and they are able to do that uh quite well you uh we are posting your position now the superintend Association will be posting it also those are among the conditions that the state looks for
before they Grant a waiver did you really make a decent effort to try to find an interim superintendent because it's an interim superintendency we we you would want to expedite the process now when I say we
uh our association provides the technical assistance that districts need for interim superintendencies that's the Fe it's not a fee based service it's part of your membership so you've been paying us dues for 75 years this is one of the things that you that we will do
for you uh we are pretty diligent about how we do it we take the applications we scan them we uh make them available to uh the uh school committee as soon as they
are uh into US you may be getting some dire directly to you if you use School spring uh at the end of the application period which in your case is March 3 first uh the school committee can meet
review what's come in and um select someone that they might like to interview it would be public uh so you don't have to worry about the the issues around executive
session and uh after you do your due diligence of interviewing a candidate or candidates you're not required to uh interview any you can interview all
you can make a decision about who you would like to engage as your interim superintendent and um an interim superintendent is simply a superintendent with a shorter contract
whether it's an interim a temporary a provisional whatever they all have the authority of the superintendent so you're appointing someone who will have the full legal ability to administer the school district and take care of
business and you can then uh execute a contract and work with that superintendent until uh you're ready to conduct a full search and engage more of the community in that
process so um we are here to explain we're not here trying to sell anybody any services but at some point uh you will need to cast in that to see uh who you would like to help you with the process uh in the past you mean for
the permanent superintend super next year there are there are districts that uh will conduct that process themselves and if uh some of you may have been part of that process uh last time but if you do elect to conduct the process yourself
uh we can provide you with extensive technical assistance Services as well for which there's no fee that's the general picture now this document uh and this is not specific to
Milton it's it's generic to our school districts this is a public document this is not not confidential uh it's sort of called the oh my God handout because many districts find out a very short notice that they'll be looking for a
superintendent and they want to think about what potential candidates think before they apply uh what the criteria might be as you get ready for a provisional or permanent search uh I think if you review this uh process you
might find it helpful going forward uh there there is also you know an expedited timeline so you're going to need to take more time that in candidates in a full search then you would the fewer number of candidates
that will happen in an interim search and you could be done within within a month uh a lot of these things take longer depending upon on how much
process you have if the school committee is handling this process any interviews that you have with candidates any discussions that the body has uh will will be in public the executive session option is not available to the school
committee but you won't need it because the candidates will know and there's less risk to a candidate to apply for an interim superintendency because most of them are retired uh most of your candidates for your full
superintendency will be working somewhere and may not want to disclose that they're seeking a job before it becomes uh appropriately later in the process uh Sean's been through this
process I've been through this process we'd be delighted if you have further questions that you that you'd like to oppose to us yeah and I can just add really quickly again Glenn Glenn has done this 100 times correct you you've been involved with superintendent searches um I just wrapped up my third
so he's got a little bit more on me than this but um I can tell you just having done it recently in Marshfield I understand it's a daunting process I understand as a member of the school committee going into this can be nerve-wracking and deciding who's going to be leading your District even just for one year as an interim or beyond
that is a really uh daunting process that's what we're here for we are always here to answer your questions you can call us anytime email us anytime time um let us know uh any questions you may have we'd be happy to answer questions now or if anything pops up in the future please always feel free to reach out to
us as a resource thank you so much I'll just say um as chair on behalf of the committee having had the opportunity to reach out get your advice also be in touch with the um Tom Scott at the mass
Massachusetts Association of school superintendent as well I feel very fortunate to have access to um such a wealth of experience and knowledge and um it's based on that that we've taken the preliminary steps that
we've been able to do so far and um I think knowing that our goal is to really maintain stability for the district to regain stability um I think it's very reassuring to have your guidance and
support and um I don't know what other questions people might have I know that you've laid out that there's really there is a spectrum of sort of approaches that we will take with the pool once we see like
what it consist of right um and we'll kind of go from there based upon um you know how clear the sort of paper screening as you called it um how how clearly that sort of presents a
direction um and we need to sort of see see that part in order to understand what comes next but um yeah what anybody have questions I've had the benefit of Glenn's uh you can you can contact
us at any time if you have a question yes okay I have I have a couple question first is that today is already March 19th yes and our deadline for the interim superintendent application is the end of March March 31st that's only
10 days from now that's not unusual that's not unusual for an interim It's Not Unusual and we have distributed the notice of vacancy to about 1,400 uh aspiring superintendents current superintendents uh schools that trained
superintendant and usually people who are looking for a superintendency m know to look at the websites of the state school boards associations and the superintendent Association superintendant get a million
hits a year but they post everything we generally only post superintendencies and uh interim superintendencies and at this time of the year this is when the interim superintendent demand heats up because the this is when
the candidates excuse when the superintendant are announcing their retirements uh I see and things come up late so I would say for an interim superintendency this is not likely to be a problem okay if this were a full
superintendency for the long term you'd certainly want about four weeks or five weeks of recruiting also it is not unusual if you are aware of someone that you'd like to be made aware of the
vacancy mhm to let us know or to contact that individual it it's not inappropriate to to to reach out and say uh Hey so and so uh you know I've known you for a long time I think you'd be good why don't you apply just don't make any promises you
can't keep that's got it and and if there are any questions uh you can refer them to the chair uh if there are technical questions uh if you're you are getting ready to develop questions for your
interviews we have an extraordinarily large question Bank we have model interviews that are suited to vocational schools interim superintendencies permanent superintendencies and they're all available to you uh we can send them
to you electronically and uh you can come up with and we revise it every year with some of the new things that emerge as you can imagine this year's uh crop of new superintendents will be dealing with a a very
perilous uh long-term financial situation because we don't know what the future will bring uh an incredibly complex regulatory environment with the state looking at graduation requirements and and the federal government uh uh making
headlines several times a day much of which affects us all yeah but for when we are looking for a permanent superintendent usually the search starts in February March or which month the best time to begin a search
for a superintendent is to spend next summer getting your criteria your decision criteria your job description in order and then getting it out blasting it out during the month of September keeping it open through maybe
to the beginning of October getting the interviews done by the screening committee prior to the end of October and then uh having a decision made before the other districts start picking off the best candidates I
see thank you typically in your experience how large is a pool I like for these types of um positions not the permanent the the interim you mean the interim po yeah exactly I would hope
that there might be I don't know four or five candidates who you would you might want to consider seriously okay possibly uh some I mean there are always really good very appropriate
candidates who want to do this and they and they stand out very quickly when you're looking for your permanent superintendent the average search depends on the district a lot of the time but a district this size
probably anywhere from 15 to 25 and that 25 being on the much higher side but but of that 15 to 25 you should be able to find in the first round at least 8 to 10 candidates who would Merit first tier
consideration especially if you're beginning your search in September and and interviewing eight candidates in a semi-final round is typical okay I have kind of an odd question but um why would somebody come out of retirement to do it why would somebody
come out of retirement to oh that's easy just if you get a waiver yeah you are allowed to come out of retirement and work as a super intendent M and get paid and not give up your pension gotta
so I I will tell you without the critical shortage waivers we wouldn't be able to find anybody willing to do this okay with the waivers it won't it doesn't cost you anymore you need a superintendent you will have to pay for a
superintendent superintendent is retired that superintendent is getting a pension from the state it won't cost the State anymore so we think it's good public policy to allow the waiver process because you have the right incentives to get some I
mean someone wants to pay you double for a year yeah it's like Christmas all year Al and is it a is the year is a year the the the a retired superintendent is allowed to earn in
retirement the difference between what their success in their previous job earned I'll give you an example let's say somebody made $200,000 a year and retired at a pension of $1 170,000 because they're cutting the
spouse in so that person can earn the difference between the 220 that the person who's now the superintendent is making all right they can earn that 20,000 and they can earn 30,000 to bring them up to2 200 ,000 they can earn the
difference between the pension and their old salary plus the difference between what that candidate is making now Plus $155,000 in a calendar year okay so for a lot of retired superintendents without a
waiver they can make 60 or $70,000 between July and December and then another 60 or 70,000 between January and July with the waiver they
could earn much more okay and if you're a superintendent who retired early or you're retired from another state and you just want to come in uh that can be a a really good deal the the the OD of State people
generally uh want to come here because as they say to us I figure I'll go to Milton do a year how hard could it be and they they think they can phone it in and of course you know they can't but there are people who you know I always wanted to be near Cape Cod I think I'll
apply to Milton because if you're from Muny Indiana you don't know where Cape Cod is relative to mil so you know you when you're questioning the candidates you should uh be asking them why us why
now and when you're interviewing the real candidates for a full-time you really want to look them in the eye and say yeah you know why Milton why now I think in in this interim expedit
interim search um we're we're prioritizing in our criteria length of experience as a superintendent in Massachusetts um because one thing nothing against people
from other places but for us for right now we really need somebody who's brings a demonstrated track record of confronting some of the challenges that we're facing here in Milton so along
with that you know we are able to like to know about you know the extent to which an individual H what what challenges have they faced what success have they had in similar you know situations to the ones we Face here and
Milton and we're able to draw on the network essentially of masc and Mas who can sort of help us vouch for certain candidates based upon the work that they have already done as superintendent so I think you know for us for right now
that's a really important feature and why we're kind of really looking at that profile for um a person to come in and this and do this this is a complicated State at a very complicated at time so you don't want to have to educate your
inter room superintendent about Chapter 70 about the importance of the circuit breaker about uh the regulatory nightmare that is the Department of Elementary and secondary education's Book of Rules and
policies uh it's tough so usually an experienced veteran candidate uh is good and and our pools are now that that uh things have have changed for for individuals uh we now have a very
balanced pool of who those candidates might be so I say I hope you'll have some good choices I expect thank you so much for thank you sharing this information and um we will
stay in touch and really appreciate it and yeah if anybody thinks of other questions that you want to share we I I can give your emails to the members here and then people can also reach out yep um so
thank you very much and you can share our cell phone numbers yes please with the members uh our members meet at night so we get called at night and our members worry about things over weekends so they call us on weekends and that's okay thanks thank you so much you thank
you very much appreciate it all right so thanks everybody for letting them come in front and great um it feels like every update is about the budget and all the work
we're doing on the budget because that feels like it's taking up 95% of our work right now um I guess the one thing to share and I know budget's coming here um and we'll have a lot to share on both fi25 and 26 um last week we had our first grade
information night and one thing I just wanted to kind of flag and and kind of share is one of the things that we're balancing and thank you to Karen mcdavin and the entire admin team and and directors all the people people that were part of that um as we're waiting
for the override to determine kind of what next year looks like um I think on a lot of things we're we're having to talk about well if the override passes this what this is what it's going to look like if the override doesn't pass you can expect this and um you know as
you all probably realize there's a lot of work to do if the override didn't pass to to make decisions around how systems function with without all of those really critical essent positions so um that was a big topic of conversation leading up to the first
grade information night u a smaller team of the larger presentation group met to talk about how how should we navigate this um and I just kind of wanted to flag that it's something that we are working on on a lot of different things as we kind of move forward to April 29th
and and town meeting so any questions on that or anything else cuz I was going to introduce our our two visitors here all right so uh we we have talked
over um I think the last two years about doing kind of deeper learning here around teaching and learning and we at the beginning of the year had had built in our quarterly reports and have had some other presentations site Council
presentations uh we had a special ed presentation as well uh What uh what we're going to hear tonight is information on our diagnostic assessments which Brian s and Catos you guys can come on
up um who are exceptional at the work that they do um I think this this information is really really helpful for the school committee to understand it and I think moving forward to to have these every
quarter to have a conversation here about how are we doing this is one of the main ways that we assess how our students are doing it's it's information that we're using in the classroom um formatively to make changes to instruction uh so as as you all think
about and kind of in the future um I think this would be a a strong thing to continue to to have a a a focus on the quarterly report and not just kind of looking at at what's happening at the end of the year but but kind of bringing
this into the conversation of how we are stewarding um the strongest instructional Vision that we can he everyone thanks for having us um I'm Kat D Ro I'm the literacy director here in Milton for uh kindergarten through 8th grade and I'm Brian celing
the math director for the district um want to apologize right away for some changes that we made to the slide deck kind of right up until the start of the meeting to try to not necessarily change any of the information that was presented there but just to make sure it was clear um and maybe sequence in a way
that we thought the presentation might go more smoothly so I just added the copy to the folder you want what the copy version yeah so there were two goals really if we're to think about um the slides that
you have in front of you and the first or one um is to look at midyear data um as a district both in literacy and in math um but what I think is the bigger uh purpose of this presentation is to
really go over the different types of Assessments that exist in education in an educational landscape um and for what purpose they're used and so um we're going to start there because I think even though the data that is Ed is is
very very important um teachers administrators and District Personnel have been using this since January and it's almost April so I in a way this data is somewhat um outdated um because we've collected other data um in
informal ways that um is new and updated so just putting that caveat that while this data is alive and real um it has changed since January and it should change um that quickly so we'll kind of start by looking at um these are all
probably words that we've all heard um in the educational space and also outside of it um but they often get used in an interchangeable way and so for the purpose of our discussion and discussions going forward um I'm just going to level set a little bit about
what these words mean um and then on a subse subsequent slide go over what they mean in Milton so we have summative assessments and formative assessments and one way of thinking about these is summative
assessments assess our assessments of learning so those are very summative obviously um they're done at the end of a year or at the end of a unit um they're standardized they might be the report card these are all examples of
what summi of assessments are formative our assessment for learning so a teacher would use a summative assessment to see what the students learned they use formative assessments to see what they need to teach next now those may they are very related but they're adjacent so
it really this is more informing as a teacher what is it that my students need next so those types of assessments are far more vast so those are screeners Diagnostics um progress monitoring um and informal assessments like
observations and anecdotal information now this is where the real magic happens I think um that's where teachers do their craft of teaching and um kind of tune into what what their students need so I won't go through this entire all
these boxes but I will on the next slide kind of explain overarching what this looks like here in Milton so um and this is not exhaustive this was just to give you an idea these are terms you've probably heard about so for our Summit of Assessments those are things like
mcast your report card unit or module assessments and then formative assessments so screening different from diagnostic those are normed so that's like a nationally normed uh evidence Criterion based screener so that's like Dibbles or ecbm it's Lexia what we used
to use here in literacy and then for Diagnostic you'll hear Brian talk about I ready we use I ready at the middle school as well that makes more sense for our older Learners progress monitoring is used in all with all students in all classrooms
but a lot of um all of our interventionist Ed progress monitoring to make sure that on a four to six week cycle we're making the gains we need to see within certain domains um dible subtests word list skills checks things like that and then
informal assessments are things like Running Records um we used to use a benchmark assessment system which is a just another form of running record kind of tells you how a student is doing in their reading with certain behaviors in the moment but it changes very frequently um and things like exit
tickets so if I taught a lesson on um multiplying fractions I might give everybody a Post-It note before they went to lunch see if they know one example of what we did today they stick it on the door I kind of look at it during lunch and recess to see all right these three kids I need to pull them tomorrow because they didn't quite grasp
the concept and we move on so that's an overarching sort of level set of understanding of what we're talking about when we talk about things like screeners and Diagnostics and those are the two categories that Brian and I are going to talk about today thanks cat so I'm going to speak
um about I ready math uh the diagnostic data collected in the winter window for grades K through five uh but first I want to kind of acclimate everyone to uh more about that assessment um so it's administered to all elementary students three times a year we say in the fall
winter and spring um in reality for grades 1 through five it's it's early in the first couple of weeks of the school year um um uh in the winter uh shortly after we get back from the holiday vacation in January and then the spring is close to the end of the year to try
to allow sort of the maximum amount of learning before we assess for the final time heading into the summer um we stagger the first two windows slightly for kindergarten just in recognition of the fact that they're new to school and new to technology and new to just about
everything so um their fall and winter windows are uh sort of staggered compared to to the rest of the elementary school uh at Pierce for middle school students we assess every student in the fall and the spring Windows um and then only certain uh
groups of students um who we have uh greater reason for concern and the sort of built-in ability within the Pierce uh bell schedule to assess one of the biggest challenges we've run into with I ready at the middle school um and this
remains true year after year um is the amount of time it takes for students to complete the diagnostic and how that infringes on instructional time which is so precious uh which is why we eliminated the winter window um a couple of years ago um and we also struggle
sometimes with the validity of data uh with middle school students um who whose buyin um tends to be a little bit harder to uh to acquire uh I ready is taken on a Chromebook by students during the school day uh the lower the grade the less time it takes um kindergarten first
up to second grade can be done in as short amount of time as 30 to 40 minutes we still encourage teachers to spread that out over multiple days and not just one sitting uh Upper Elementary closer to an hour and as I sort of alluded to at the middle school um potentially over
an hour and as I describ kind of how the test Works it'll probably make more sense uh the way I ready is designed is uh to adapt to the responses that students give with each question so with multiple correct consecutive answers the questions get harder with the intent of
essentially getting a point at which they no longer recognize or understand the content of the question that they're seeing uh conversely as students answer questions incorrectly the uh subsequent items um go uh younger in in grade level
alignment and easier theoretically to what the student should um be able to answer um and so you end up with sort of this toggle back and forth between questions that are um initially potentially way too hard to questions that are uh pathetically easy uh and
then sort of back and forth until uh the system has identified kind of that sweet spot um the uh data reports that we rely most heavily on um in our work uh among leadership teams and uh classroom
teachers um and other service providers is the uh results after each diagnostic which provide the over overall scaled score um and grade level placement along with uh grade level placement in each of four standard aligned domain areas number and operations algebra and
algebraic thinking those two are considered to be priority um as well as measurement and data and geometry um and some version of the results are shared now with all families um after each Administration and certainly readily available and reviewed by both teachers
and school and District leaders uh once we get to the winter and spring windows we also get growth data uh some of which we'll see today uh which offers a comparison to the fall overall scaled score relative to the amount of typical growth uh that I ready
expects each student to gain from the beginning to the end of the school year and those growth reports are again a source of analysis for uh work with classroom teachers service providers and District administrators once a student completes
the diagnostic uh on I ready they're prescribed a pathway of interactive lessons based on R their uh performance in each domain area that um sort of has them navigate through um a series of lessons um uh known in the students uh
to the students as my path um and begins in the area uh the domain area of highest need uh and the goal is for each student really K through five um to complete approximately two to three lessons in a normal week and spend um
somewhere between 40 and 60 Minutes doing so um so that gives some context about kind of where this data comes from and I think um where I'll sort of wrap up after we look at the data is to acknowledge that there are some limitations that we have to keep in mind
um as we look at any data source but particularly with I ready um so if you can advance to the next slide here um this is one of a few slides that focus on overall placement for our elementary students um at the top um from the fall
Administration and at the bottom from the winter Administration um and you can see sort of the color coding uh the point that I want to try to um make clear about this slide is that when we're talking about at the beginning of the year um we
consider students that are placing one grade level below to not have necessarily any gaps we sort of expect that placement Because by the time at the time they're taking it early in the school year they haven't received much if any grade level instruction so we
wouldn't expect any demonstration of proficiency on the chronologic grade that they've just begun as we move to the winter um obviously not just the red but also um sort of the the placement into one grade level below now draws um
more of our concern and attention and so this breaks down um you know the the the placement into each category and also the number number of students spanning grades K through 5 that fall into each of these five
placement categories uh I thought it might be helpful on the next slide to kind of see where our winter data from this year compares to previous years uh and so I I um pulled that from uh last year and the
year prior and um it's remarkably consistent um um we see um a sign I mean that's just the best word I can use to describe it the data from each of the past three winter diagnostic Windows is
remarkably consistent and similar the next slide gives a chance to try to um acclimate you to how growth is reported on in I um so there's actually three different visuals sort of uh embedded in this one
slide um the um part I want to address first is sort of during in the bottom half of this slide um so one of the valuable uh lenses through which to look at I ready growth data whether it be in the middle of the year or um after the
spring administration at the end of the year is to see um which students grew the most based on where they started and so this breaks down from for us um the um
growth for each group of students based on their fall placement and I just have to step back uh to explain what these percentages uh refer to and and that's really regardless of whether we're looking at uh any of the sort of three embedded
images here um so I I mentioned earlier that in uh that I ready through analysis of data for its um millions of students that use the uh diagnostic assessment platform across the country um
prescribes a certain number of overall scaled points that it expects a student to grow from when they take it for the first time in the fall to when they take it for the last time in the spring and it assigns the name for that as typical
growth an annual reminds us that it's for the whole year not just from the fall to the winter or the winter to the spring so the hope and expectation is that every student attain their projected typical growth from Fall to
Spring and then it also assigns a stretch growth which is intended specifically for students who are starting at the beginning of the year further below grade level and therefore have more room that they would need to grow in order to get closer to uh the
the goal of of being on grade level by the end of the year um but it's sufficient I think for our purposes to focus on the typical growth uh information um and so uh when we talk about mid-year growth we're basically saying that we would like to see
whichever individual student or groups of students we look at to have attained at least 50% of their typical growth that sort of feels reassuring that they're on tracker on Pace and what we're seeing in the bottom half of this slide is that that's
true uh the average student in um who placed one grade level Below in the fall it's um Beyond true for students who place two or three or more grade levels below um in the fall but it's not quite
true of the average student who placed early on grade level or even mid or above grade level at the start of the year um and I wouldn't um expect it to be um the case of for students who are already placing on grade level nor would I be as concerned if students who are
already testing on grade level in the fall and continue to do so in the winter may not necessarily be growing um by half of the number of points that they're projected to get over the course of the year uh those students we usually see as we'll look at uh the data from
last year tend to sort of make up for that growth by the spring um so this gives you a chance to kind of dig a little bit deeper into not not just um how did our students grow but which ones grew more than others uh there's one
other data point I I know we're kind of in the weeds a little bit here that I just want to draw your attention to and try to do my best to explain and that is in the bottom row of this slide where it says 45% of students who are three or
more grade levels below in the fall have already met the expected growth by winter that they would have uh been expected to attain over the whole year so there is some definite um uh Improvement happening among what
we would consider to be our at least as far as I ready is concerned our um most concerning population of students now it's only 48 44 of whom we have this data from both the fall and the winter so it's not you know we're
talking over a th000 close to 2,000 students alt together so I I don't want to dwell there but I'm hopefully in the process explaining a little bit about what you're looking at if we move to the top half of the screen um the the information gets a little bit less Vivid
um what I can tell you about the graphic in the upper left is that if we take all of the K5 students who have a score from the fall and the winter about a quarter of them grew less than 20% toward their typical growth and another 21% already
exceeded their typical growth so we kind have this skewed on either end midyear data um that um again in looking at last year will'll have some reassurance I think that that will write itself between now and the end of the year in
the spring Administration and then the image on here that I debated about including it all because it's sort of so um unhelpful is that the median student um attained 53% toward their typical growth if we Lin up those 2,000
kindergarten through fifth graders from least to most growth so uh On Target but hardly um you know real insightful uh if we move to the next slide because I'm tired of talking about that one um we see um kind of a full
Year's worth of data obviously not this year because we're not um we're only in March but uh looking back uh if you advance this slide um oh I'm sorry Mark I moved you back moved you to too far forward uh the next slide I'm sorry is a
comparison to 2023 2024 so I spent a lot of time talking about this slide um and then the one that comes maybe before it instead of after it is the um comparison to last year so that you can uh in the winter so it's meant to be an Apples to
Apples comparison um and I I'm hesitant to bog down um in that data sorry which slide is it I have it as slide 8 I have it as slide eight this one right here that's it right there yeah sorry
no too much time on my hands I guess um so but it still looks pretty consistent yes to this year exactly um there's a couple different like if we were if we were in last year and we were looking at this data I'd point out a couple of things that stood out to me but um that
was my purpose for including it is to show that we're pretty consistent uh we already said in terms of performance from this winter to the previous two Winters I think in growth as well um and if we look now at the next slide slide
uh nine this is performance at each of the three administrations last year uh part of my goal today is to try to um use our time together to anticipate or project what the future likely holds and because
we have such consistency in our fall performance data from this year to last year and in our winter performance data from this year to last year it stands to reason that our spring data will also be consistent and when we look at last year's spring data we see um that 62% of
our kindergarten through fifth grade students placed overall mid or above grade level um which is an impressive jump from the middle of the year to the end of the year and another 19% whose overall placement was early on grade
level so the visual itself is um aesthetically pleasing to see such a large chunk of dark green and um light green um which isn't to in any way dismiss the fact that last year 341
students um placed overall one grade level below and another you know combined um 60 students just about um finished um more than that so um but we're here just kind of look a little
bit big picture and that's a reassuring um data point as is the next slide which shows those same Graphics but with regard to the growth last year from the fall fall of 2023 to the spring of
2024 where we see every data point showing uh growth in excess of the anticipated and 64% of our students going beyond the projected
data or the projected growth I'm sorry I chose the wrong word there all right um so one of the reasons that the slide deck has changed since it was originally shared with you is it was decided that
to keep all of the subgroup um data slides embedded in this portion um had the potential to kind of draw this presentation out longer than it was intended for um so those slides have been migrated to the the end of the
slide deck um and I'm using this side to summarize uh my interpretation of them um and with reference to slide numbers um for your for your reference um so we continue to see our uh special education
students and El students perform um below their peers that story is told on sides 28 and 29 um um but as you advance to slides 30 through 33 um I would say that there is some I use the word phrase modestly
encouraging um comparison measures um from last year to this year uh a trend that I hope to see continue uh when that analysis is conducted at the end of the year um by contrast the the there's um
not unfortunately um and I wish there was a stronger word could use um much in the way of encouraging Trends with respect to our black African-American I ready data um it remains deeply troubling and
concerning um and that story is told in slides 34 through 37 for your reference so each time we administer ready um there's a um analysis performed uh excuse me there's an analysis of the
results or the performance data along with in the case of the Fall excuse me the winter and the spring the growth data um with leadership teams in uh each of the elementary schools as well as the Middle School uh just not in the winter
um uh I'm often invited around that time to attend common planning time with grade level teams to review uh the teacher level data and recommend action steps to ensure that um students are getting the most return on investment for the time that they're spending on my
path lessons in between diagnostic Windows um and then with respect to our um math intervention team uh we look specifically at What's called the instructional grouping report which shows um placement not overall which is the data lens through which we've been
looking but in two of the priority domain areas um the number and operations in algebra and algebraic thinking so that work happens in between these uh presentations and after each
Administration um to summarize uh this years overall performance and growth is consistent as we've said with each of the past two years um there are uh as has been noted and and not meant to be in any way uh
overlooked uh students um who are demonstrating significant gaps um uh and placing uh below grade level um and it's important I think in this uh group to acknowledge
the limitations of a classroom teacher in being able to provide the level of intensive and targeted support that students in that um reality need um their responsibility first and foremost is to attending to to grade level
content um which isn't to say classroom teachers aren't armed with uh expertise and knowledge when it comes to helping to address small gaps among some students but large gaps um are are it's
that's not a realistic solution which is why I add the importance of continuing to develop a Romo a robust mtss model uh that includes greater access to math intervention services and then I'll conclude by uh in my last
slide here just um acknowledging the reality of the limitations in I ready data period it is just one data point we talked about the experience that students have while they're taking it on a
Chromebook um and this um sort of toggling back and forth between questions that are intention too difficult and ones that are intentionally too easy um is a otherwise pretty unnatural one for them um and one
that requires a high level of attentiveness and perseverance um and intentionality in order to ensure that the results are valid um in order for any I ready data to sort
of be conclusive and actionable at the at the learning level um we have to go much deeper than the overall performance and growth data that we've looked at today and then lastly um it's important to note that particularly
within our into maath curriculum in grades 1 through five um grade level instruction is concentrated in certain areas it's not um for those who are familiar with our uh its predecessor Everyday Math which was sort of a
spiraling curriculum uh into math is very sort of concentrated in in certain topics uh throughout the year um and that as a result um hinders some of the growth data at the midyear point because
students have to that point only received some grade level instruction and only in certain areas which may be reflected in growth only in certain domains and with that I'll uh turn it over to cat
for some Diles information thank you all right so Dibbles uh Dibbles is the screener that we use here in Milton along with thousands of other districts um it stands for dynamic indicators of basic
early learning skills um and the big sort of takeaways from this to to understand what that is is is it's a set of short meaning one minute literacy tasks um um that vary in how many subtests are given by grade and so we do
more subtests earlier because there's more to screen and to Monitor and fewer as students get older with the understanding and assumption that we identify any areas in need of intervention and support um and progress monitor only the students off of grade
level for those subtests um the purpose is to provide Educators with benchmarks for gauging the status and progress of all students um and another purpose is to monitor student progress so both for students that are in intervention and those that are not this can be used as a very short
quick measure um that doesn't need to be done in it in in completion um during those in between intervals you know if you have a student that you're wondering about a certain area or skill um you can pull them and a quick one minute progress monitoring and and keep it
moving so um that is a brief overview um another thing just to note is we do screen all students k to5 um though in kindergarten much like um I ready or any other data collection we don't um we
collect the data after the students have been here for a few weeks um and we use that as a baseline um but it's not really fair to to share that or or or widely use that to dig um to
really put our stake in the ground in those first few weeks of school knowing that students are getting used to being in a school environment so this is just a brief um overview of why we use screeners um they're easily aggregated for efficient analysis so unlike the I ready
assessment which is a diagnostic and goes over standards this is more skill driven and it's meant to be quick and efficient so that we can quickly um and generally aggregate students into certain groups and again not to keep them there but to then know who do we need to follow up with to dig deeper to
get more information um this is not used in isolation it is Then followed up with to get different assessments to ensure that we're giving intervention to students that require it and not um over indexing in that in that
area all right screening data is used um the goal is to be able to distinguish the unique struggler from the population um and understand and analyze that the struggling readers profile and context to drive more effective programming and support so if we see that universally
across the district um all students over the course of the year are not able to demonstrate master your understanding in a certain domain or skill um that would tell me it's a tier one problem um if it's very discret and there's a small population that's where we bring in the intervention so what Brian was talking
about with mtss um really layering on Intervention and not um in using data to drive any changes to instruction or intervention we want to be able to regularly answer what percentage or number of our students are at risk in each areas that we assess how do these
rates differ by grade level what are our instructional strengths and weaknesses and what are our priority issues so these are always questions we're asking ourselves especially um in the intervention um in the reading team in our group all right this next slide um kind
of gets into the actual data so this is an overview of the fall and winter composite scores for Dibbles uh this year so a composite score doesn't indicate one particular subtest it's um a com a combined score
for multiple Dibbles measures providing a comprehensive estimate of a student's overall early literacy skills and or reading proficiency so it is a general score um while use composite scores that is not the first score we look at when
looking at this data um while it does sort of give you an overall estimate of students reading success when we're thinking about how we're using the data which is to identify what students need we want to make sure that we're grouping like students and that we're taking into account the weight of different subtests
so in other words excuse me if a second grader um is doing great in everything but might not be grasping that compreh prehension just yet in September we'll say to ourselves okay they're doing great they're going to get second grade reading skills we're going to progress monitor them but if they're still
showing some deficiencies in say um letter sounds or word decoding we're going to say okay we're going to really get those foundational skills up to par so that we can see that progress in other areas that's just an example um but I say that just so that we don't put too too much stock in a composite score
but it is the best way to kind of look at trends when you're talking about such a big group of students so as we look um at these bar graphs um it shows that our kindergarten students as we would expect are making huge gains
um and in each of the other grades we see either an uptic or a pretty steady Plateau um and this is very consistent with previous year's um progress so you'll see that the blue are students that are um above Benchmark the green at
Benchmark yellow below and then red well below one other thing to note is that in grades four and five there are only two subtests so this brings in uh a potential reason why we see less shifting at those grades over the course
of a full year and that's because um they really just work with the comprehension assessment which is a it's called a maze assessment um and then an oral reading fluency so we we listen to students read and see how their pce and their rate is um and
accuracy okay we can move to the next all right this is just showing what last year's um winter scores were and this year's winter scores so I don't know that there's statistical
significance to any of the differences in these um bless you except for kindergarten I will say we see a bigger jump um and then in grade five we're seeing some more movement but generally speaking um it's pretty consistent I do
want to note um that the implementation of youly this year in grades K1 and two could account for some of that extra growth it's something that I wonder we'll certainly dig into it um but it's a positive change
nonetheless um all right so we can continue so this is the composite scores for the complete uh beginning middle and end of last year's data um again as we would
expect to see it goes we see the blue getting bigger we see the red getting smaller um in fifth grade you know we sometimes see that dip I do wonder if it has to do with um engagement in fifth grade
there's a lot going on I don't know that that that might not be it but um it's something you know that we consider when we look at when this is administered much like the I ready it's um September January and June though we have played
around with it and done late may but we don't want it to be too early so um we see that in eth grade as well with the I ready um they're often tested out after mcast and all that so I don't know could be a factor but something we look at right if we go to the next slide this
is um this is really where we spend most of our time both with teachers and with interventionists and building administrators is really looking at the subtests because again it's really specific to a grade level and the skills that are listed here
um contribute to a student's overall reading profile so um as I said there are fewer tests in the upper grades um we're no longer screening universally for foundational skills but when there is a flag or a
student who has been an intervention we continue progress monitoring them in those foundational skills to ensure that um the universal application of Mastery is being you know done on an ongoing basis so those first two um grades one
to five take the subtest of oral reading fluency um and grades 2 to five take the maze reading comprehension um and that shows what those grade levels are specifically how they're demonstrating competency in those areas and this is from the fall of
this year some of the more dramatic um shifts that you'll see between this slide and the next are on that bottom row of subtests uh letter sounds decoding and word fluency so those are very foundational skills um and you'll see
that I know it's a little weird but Mark if you could go to the next slide if you look at the shift in color if you just kind of go back and forth for a second you can see that there's been enormous growth when it comes to those foundational skills and that's very encouraging and really points to a strong implementation of the uly at a
tier one level um and you know I just want to take a moment to just shout out all those teachers who are implementing it with Fidelity and really sticking with it they're they're amazing and it's it's looking great in all the classrooms so well done all
right and then this slide though probably hard to see if you don't have a copy in front of you where you can zoom in um this is taking a look at subgroup uh growth from Fall of this year to Winter of this year
um it categorizes it as average growth so above average or below average growth from the fall to the winter um it shows the percentage of students in each of the growth categories determined by dble Norms each student group you can compare whether there's a high percentage of
students meeting average or above growth um you know we use this we use this data to make goals that we might want to see in the future so identifying if we want to see you know 50% of a certain subgroup um make average or above
average growth um this is um this is a new measurement that you know we we haven't used in the past in terms of using it as growth we've looked at performance data which um can be can be different uh but this is really showing
that um we have a pretty a pretty I don't know like a 5050 in a lot of cases averaging for our growth um it'll be interesting to see what this looks like in the spring to
see if we're seeing you know an increase in that um but it's um it's certainly an important data point as we look to increase growth from all subgroups um in the district sorry Cat by 5050 do you mean 50% above
and well above yeah and 50% average or below correct yeah sorry about that okay so similar to Brian I'll go through what we do after data is collected um and in a similar way uh we review the data with principles and
classroom teachers so we make Brian and I go together um it's helpful to do this together um we've worked hard this year to calibrate our approach to data analysis so it's more holistic as well as our intervention approach so that
it's a system rather than content specific and we found it to be um really effective so we review that growth and performance data with uh school-based administrators um and highlight the instructional groupings with supporting materials So within the amplify mclass
platform it will put students into instruction groupings it's not you know you can move them around it's not um you know rigid in that way but it then lists out some lessons some um you know analog lessons that you can print out to work with small groups or to have students do
in centers um we use consistent criteria across the district in Reading to identify students um that can be supported both in the classroom or with an interventionist so we determine as a reading team um immediately after the window closes we get together for about
three hours we sort the district spreadsheet into certain subtests that we know we're going to intervene with so that we know that consistently across the district with the Four elementary schools that we're identifying students that meet the same criteria so it's the
true definition of equity um it sometimes means that we need to shift interventionists to pick up a class at a different school but we try to do so maximizing their time with students um we've been able to do that consistently and then of course we communicate with
families both the results of the screener and Next Step so if your student is is scoring below or well below in a certain subtest we will identify you know either they're going to continue on their IEP with their service provider liaison or they're going to continue working with the El
teacher and or they're going to work with a reading interventionist at that um grade level um and similarly to math reading interventionists really not only work with students and and and um Target these skills uh they work with teachers
a lot of the time and talk about ways in which they can replicate those supports in a classro strengthening our our Approach at mtss and I think that it's um an invaluable skill and a really important part of our of our team here in Milton and then some conclusions so
keeping in mind that this going kind of hearkening back to the first slide about uh the very you know the varied ways in which we assess students this is really one way it's a screener it takes seven minutes um for each student it is meant to be
quick so we can um kind of have a way to uh one-on-one assess students in their literacy but also do so not at the detriment of their school day um but it is one part of their learner profile um but we do follow up with other
assessments to ensure that that was a true reflection of a student's abilities um it's used in combination with developmentally appropriate classroom assessments to triangulate the data and create a balanced learner profile and as I said earlier it's part of our robust
mtss process ever growing um and really complements a strong tier one um higher levels of growth and foundational skills yeah so that was something I wanted to highlight again um the ufly implementation we've seen just really really great growth and
excitement in students that are able to tackle some of those foundational skills in ways they weren't before um and students with disabilities English Learners and our black African-American data um remain to be areas of concern where we are looking to um ensure that
the growth and performance rates meet those of of the aggregate um data thus concludes our brief our very content light yeah
know we shortened it I I would just like to say thank you so much for all the work you put into this and I know that even as of today you were revising those slides trying to focus really in on answering as many questions as you had
and have having resources for the school committee members to look at um in the future and I'm happy to answer any questions um if they come up at a later Point too as our cat and Brian I have some questions yeah sure
because um the data we see is only focus on elementary schools do we have any data for middle and high school because even for deos we don't assess after middle after fifth grade right but for math right the I ready it seems like
middle school and at least for Middle School level we still do that assessment do we have data for for the Middle School grad so we do I ready both in reading and math at the middle school okay um the high school does not have a generalized assessment but we do use I
in certain with certain students to progress monitor um yeah more as an intervention tool I mean for a very small percentage of our high school students who are um showing um signs of
potentially being um significantly below grade level and helps sort of figure out and customize um the best way forward for them um this presentation if it were done at the end of the year would include some
of the same opportunities for comparison between fall and spring for our middle school students both in math math and reading but um to to include fall data at this point in time from sixth through e8th graders I think would have been too
outdated to feel like we were using your time well um I have a few other questions that I would like to have clarifications for my understanding like regarding the I remember you mentioned something about the first and the kindergarten and the
first grade they don't do the fall assess M because they need to know how to use those computers softwares um so you would do that staggering up with the winter assessment
so when when do the kindergartens and first graders do their assessments like which month would that be I'm glad you asked so to clarify it's just kindergarten that we do that with so so everyone else um first through 8th grade tests in um the month of September we
sort of offer uh I would say our elementary data is generally collected a little bit um earlier uh than in at the middle school but I'll just for the sake of of answering your questions say that happens in September uh kindergarten
doesn't test for the first time until uh just after like the beginning of November sort of that period of time uh before Thanksgiving got it and then uh the winter window for grades 1 through 5 opens shortly after uh we come back in
the new January um and for kindergarten it was the two weeks leading into February vacation so not that much different and all the data that you saw included kindergarten so the window was sort of that I grabbed those um the data
from was just widened to make sure that all K through five students were included got it um you also mentioned about the multiple day testing um instead of one sitting you did you recommend teachers to do it on mult multip days I also
noticed that some of the the testings actually for all the gray levels um is not 100% student participated is due to maybe some student might be abent on one of those testing days so the data is not
um rizing so usually we try to be flexible enough with the window to capture data for all students or as many as possible um in order to have growth data we need both a fall and winter within the window that the capture was
taken so um I mean there aren't as many students new to Milton public schools during the school year as are missing as far as data points but those are examples of students that might have come in um and been tested when they
came in but their data is not reflected um in what was taken there uh it does occasionally happen and less so at the elementary school because the day is a little bit more flexible where a student will begin um the
diagnostic at the normal expected time and then for extenda circumstances be unable to complete it during the 21-day window that they have to complete it at which point the diagnostic automatically resets and by that point they either the
the sort of choices either U made with with consultation to start over again which might mean that their data is not captured or depending on what the circumstances were maybe forgo that Administration and wait until the next chance to collect that data point um so
it's not we don't get everyone but we try to set it up in such a way that we're assessing as many students as possible in the intended time frame got it got it and you also mentioned about the new math curriculum is into math and
you say is more focused on specific areas of math and compared to the old curriculum we use is more spiral sequence um is a reason why we switch to this new curriculum that's the first question and second of all do you see the benefit of the new curriculum and or
or maybe the comparison of the new curriculum result with the old curriculum result which one is more effective and should we stay with the new curriculum so um we don't have I ready data that goes
far enough back to give us uh the ability to compare the everyday math that we were using um for many years before I came into my role and into this District which was um
2019 um I think it's okay to draw a comparison to where we were in math at that time with where I think we may be right now with Ela which is that we had um we had analysis of curriculum for
alignment is done both at the state um and the national level and um when that analysis was conducted of the curriculum that we were using at that time everyday math it was found to be um out of compliance is the wrong phrase it was
not rated well for its alignment to standards um to the Common Core State Standards which is essentially what the Massachusetts math Frameworks are based on um so I arrived at a point in time where it was it was widely uh understood that we would need to move um away from
everyday math and toward something different in a in a relatively timely manner um we were delayed by a year because of the pandemic we couldn't Implement a new curriculum in Fall of um 21 which was maybe what the original
timeline would have been if not for what those two school years preceding it ended up looking like um but there was it was very evident um at that time that we needed to undergo a thorough curriculum review and Analysis and had
the benefit of a number of newer more um I guess highly rated or or um better aligned um resources available and so we went through a a pretty thorough and
robust process to lead to um where we are now um which is at the elementary level actually with two two different uh core curricular resources in place uh bridges in mathematics and prek and K and then as I mentioned into math in
grade 1 through five um so we didn't replace Everyday Math because it happened to be spiral in its design we replaced it because it wasn't well aligned to standards I see and it so happens that what we replaced it with
um and this is not as true for Bridges and why I didn't mention it for kindergarten um where there is a more uh there is greater integration of topics throughout the school year and the and the design of the curriculum and into math um which uh holds true for the
curriculum that we use at both the middle and high school as well uh topics are pretty concentrated they're they're taught to Mastery um within the sort of units that it's it's organized in in that way I don't know if I'm describing it clearly enough like algebra is
algebra geometry is geometry yep yep so um exactly so um the the into math curriculum is designed in such a way that um they're called modules basically uh modules address a specific standard or topic um and then a few modules
combined together to make a unit that all has uh a similar theme targets similar and related and interconnected skills but um as an example uh in third grade A lot of the uh instruction that
happens in the from between the fall and the winter diagnostic is in um understanding multiplication and then division there are a lot of other topics that are taught during the second half of the year in third grade including the introduction of fractions and
understanding um what fractions are and how to work with them so students taking the I ready third graders taking the I ready in um the winter in in early January have not received any instruction on fractions but are very
likely to encounter questions on the diagnostic about fractions which we wouldn't expect them to answer but that would sort of hinder their ability to place very high within the domain that fractions fall into does that make sense yeah um I don't know that that would
have been any different with everyday math if if we would have seen some of those domain sub scores in the winter jump more I I wouldn't have been a reason to keep it but it's
possible how high can not sure if this a this is a question I love how you started how how are students are put into different math class in middle and high school like is it depends on like
at least from kindergarten to fifth grade we had these monitors and we we can see the track that they going on right we we know that by the end of this school year they should meet all these
benchmarks and and then but in middle and high school as you said like is is math is based on different area so what are the tracks for the math like how do student advance
from for example Algebra 1 to algebra to to Geometry or is that a different different way that you can take choose different math classes until the senior year you can get like
AP math or calculus classes um so I know just to so I just want to point out that that is a great question and I think it also kind of like goes a little bit beyond the scope
of this so I'm like because we could have a whole conversation about that um unto itself the place course placement and whatnot um so maybe just I I think I'll
do my best to answer it concisely I don't I don't think of what happens in math in 6th through 8th grade to be markedly different than what happens in K through 5 other than that they only have a teacher for that subject area and then when there's time
for literacy they go into a different room with a different teacher um but the same idea holds in Middle School of this sort of integration of topics um standard aligned instruction and home and heterogeneously group students all the way up through
8th grade um and then at the high school level um is where different opportunities for advancement of learning are first introduced both in terms of how um classes are coded as
Honors College Prep versus AP and it's really hard to kind of go much deeper than that without kind of sharing the gra the visual graphic that shows what math pathways are available to our Milton high school students which I'd be
happy to share I emailed you copy okay it's on the High School courses study page oh I I know that yeah no I have that file but how do you know that after you take algebra one in ninth grade you can take
Algebra 2 in 10th Grade and then like things like that like the different sequence that you can take all those classes like how do students know yeah the Oh okay that's ni and um last question okay cuz then I
want to make sure other people can ask questions and we have we have have to move on to the budget too my last question would be um how how do you know the students of English Learners is lacking the language skills
to read the promts of the math problem comparing to or or the English problem comparing to um having the math calculation skills that they are lacking so how do you know which one is it's a great question I'm glad you um
I'm glad you got that one in um we don't we don't we don't know I mean um I ready is only available for students to take in English um it's available for them regardless of what grade level they're in to hear the problems or the prompts
um read aloud through you know in the in the system um but for our El population and our students with disabilities um it's um impossible to decipher from their results what is the cost C of any
gaps that their results um imply I see which is why we ar shouldn't be particularly um surprised by what what we see in those results um for those two
subgroups thank you can I ask a related question so for the conclusions and it came out about data as well as the I ready excuse me um underperformance for students with
disabilities black and African American students and so the note is that data remains an area of concern and I guess the question is like what are we doing around that because I know that this is an ongoing concern
and um is there research being done is there a group is there like what are we I guess what are the real the ACT items around that yeah so it's a great question and one that is being asked on a national level and a local level and I
think I've been here for almost 15 years I think it's been pretty consistent um it's really complicated um and involves a lot of layers that have nothing to do with literacy and math um and I think it's something that you know we would
need to change a lot of things in order to to dig into like what that is and we we we we haven't done that um but it would be a great thing to to discuss I think at the um the district level I
don't know if you agree or see something different I I can add just a little too I mean I think we understand that and looking at our mcast data data we had the same issues identified and one of the things that
we're really working on um is developing um an mtss struct rure that addresses multiple areas of a students's development not just their academic performance but supporting them with social emotional and other needs that
they may present um and you know continuing to work on their tier 2 and tier three interventions um you know today's presentation was really focused on how are we looking at data for students at
the tier one level in our curriculum but designing specific instructional um um groups that look at students and I have to say cat and Brian having worked other places really work
to have some fluid groupings between students when we do different testing um we are using sort of what we would say state-of-the-art decision making in terms of the groupings of students so we need to look broader have a multidisciplinary team design
interventions to help and support them it it's as as cat said extraordinarily complicated um I guess I just and I appreciate that like and I appreciate your answer I just it's it's just the question comes up every year and the
data doesn't change and the answer is the same and so if there's information that we don't have or conversations that we're not having why aren't like what can we do to that because it just is really disheartening to not see anything
changing I think the work is amazing and I think like all of the diag you know the screeners having more earlier dyslexia screeners all of those things are important but if we're still not impacting a level that's consistantly been an issue I don't I don't know what
we're doing so I just think it's something that really needs greater attention and and like a concerted effort and a plan and I just I just don't feel like we have one yet and so I think just to piggyback on cat's
response that plan has got to be made with systems in mind um this is not a reflection of instruction in a classroom yeah um you know we can we can actually
look um more intentionally at our e and our uh special education subgroups and assess the design of instruction that's happening there but um it's a lot harder
to do with you know our black African-American student population because um nowhere in any of our classrooms are teachers instructing differently based on the race of the student in front of them so it's we can't trace it to
curriculum or pedagogy so we have no choice if we're really interested in fixing it but to look at something um outside of that um I can say I want to live to a 100 but
a lot of choices I'm making right now are not likely to make that reality if we're serious about changing this recurrence of stagnated data with this particular population we can't just keep talking
about it we have to change systems and I think there's you know some appetite around that so I think it would be a great this a great place to start that conversation and um pull in a group yeah thank
you yeah I mean I jump in here I can continue to agree with that statement and that like it's that is an urgently pressing issue kind of within our district of you know what are the I guess the
question I I'd say is like you know we if what is the new strategy in which like we have looked to implement in terms of how we are utilizing our um small group instruction things like that like we've the the breakdown of African-American students and others is really also a breakdown within our K5
schools right of Tucker and the other schools we know the demographic breakdown U across kind of those those school buildings and we know that Tucker has historically seen lower performance amongst its student population than at the other schools we are a small town we should be able to kind of direct
resources into the places that is most needed we know that is the place right now at least along amongst the k5s where that it's most needed from a school system perspective so I guess the question I have is what new strategies or resources have
we pushed into that facility or towards the those teaching staff to support them with the fact that they are receiving students who last year were behind grade level like we knew that last year or therefore like now behind grade level again we're seeing the data and that's
like a compounding a negative flywheel effect right of uh just compounding the impacts so like in my mind the only way to address underperformance academic underperformance is more time on instruction more intens of like supports
smaller group pullouts conferencing whatever it might be so I guess the question is like what new kind of strategies or resources have we pushed kind of towards that that site so I think to Brian's point you know
we our our systems and structures have remained the same so in that light there is not a new approach um in terms of curriculum and intervention as described we look at the district as a whole in
sort by need and so equitably they're getting more say per per number like the population is smaller but it's getting more support so the percentage is higher um but the like the approach
districtwide has not the system is still the same if that makes sense the the equitable distribution of support is there um so it's not like we're putting one member at each building we're
seeing who needs what where with the same metric so that the students who need the support get it um I just keep you know going back to that sort of definition of insanity of like doing the same thing and expecting different results so I think it just
points back to that point about maybe zooming out with a different at a different time with a different group um to ask some of those questions too I don't want to let an opportunity pass without recognizing the job that
principal hog has done so far in her first nine months in that role as principal at Tucker um I've been in that building um by her invitation to uh meet with teachers and try to combat the trends that we see um maybe more than in
the previous four or five years combined um and that's um kind of how this works is that that principles Drive instruction in their building um they um identify the areas that they want their
staff focused on and then they tap into people like cat and I to help make those actionable changes um but um she's inherited the staff that she has which is great but also has some inexperience in it and I think again if you're
looking for answers if that's the area of student need that's the greatest it seems that we should deploy our staff with the greatest skill level and experience to it so again we can sort of talk about what cat and I are doing um
and that might show itself and the margins um but that's an example of a system that has not really been to my knowledge explored or considered or done to really
prioritize mhm um that the population of students in that building I have some other questions by um just a quick question for you cat on a different what is the diag like what do the diagnostic assessment for ELA or do do we have one that is aligned to
kind of state standards to let us know where kids are that so we do have curriculum embedded assessments through reach for reading that are standards aligned that teachers use um it's not something we would report out on because unlike math those discrete skills look really different in Reading um it's
really very much similar standards every year just increasing with complexity in terms of where we're applying those to different texts um but we do use them yes they're part of a students um unit assessments are aligned to the standards which then are aligned to the report cards um so teachers use those gotcha do
we find those to be predictive of like performance on like those well enough aligned for kind of mcast performance CU I know for I ready math right the mid above is pretty well aligned with how kids will do on the mcast I would not say at this moment that they're
predictive okay MH um there a couple other one the middle school math we test in the fall we test in the spring what do we I guess what do you see as the benefit of like what we get out instructionally from the spring test given the kind of gap
between the two assessments and the fact that we have an uh a summit of assessment kind of at that same time I assume and in the end of the year and like what yeah what what's the thinking around those two benchmarks within the I ready and how does that inform kind of instruction between right within the
school year which essentially kind of the areas between yeah I would say um the jury still out I mean I think um there's um I feel very confident in saying that the the data and more importantly sort of
the platform itself provides a learning opportunity experience for our elementary students that is um extremely valuable um at the middle school level um a couple of things I mentioned
earlier including um sort of the um greater difficulty in getting student Buy in when taking the diagnostic uh the fact that the instructional side of the platform which I think as as I am uh hopefully
conveying clearly um offers a lot of value when it comes to particularly closing gaps in certain areas for our elementary students uh has not proven to have the same impact with middle school age students um and so the question
you're asking is essentially like is that even worth doing just once in the fall and once again in the spring um I don't know it may not be um I I'm I'm um hoping that the promises that I has been
making about gearing their product separately to middle school students um has some promise I'm also hoping that um sort of a similar design and style of assessment that embeds to
the Amplified Desmos curriculum that we're using might offer actually a better option at the middle school level an I ready that wouldn't moving to that wouldn't be without some reservation because there is something nice about
cohesiveness at least between the elementary and middle school levels but I think as far as our priority I think our priority should be on what drives instruction in the classroom and I'd be hard pressed to stand in front of you or sit in front of you and say that that's the case right now with I ready a pierce
so I think if there's something that would do that better that is uh um embedded into the tier one curriculum that we use that we should strongly consider moving to it um that's not yet available as the case but something what
we're looking very closely at for uh potentially as early as this fall yeah great yeah totally agree with the point of it's got to drive instruction otherwise but what are we doing here uh so great appreciate that uh I guess just one other question I appreciate it uh
let see I the annual typical growth um rates in things and the stretch growth rates um for IR already math where for the students who are two grade levels below or three plus grade levels below where would a if they get
to 100% of kind of typical growth within a year where does that get them and and then like I'd assume it doesn't get them to grade level so I assume the stretch grow goal is kind of the thing that gets you close to the grade level and I guess maybe it varies on the
kid and how far off they are but I guess the more question is like for those F kids in particular what we actually need them to grow at a faster rate than the other kids do we have goals around how much of the stretch grow goal they need to get on kind of an annual basis in order to help catch them up by
the end of fifth grade a great question uh there is some correlation available there uh the stretch growth um if typical growth gains you the expected year or so of of overall
placement the stretch growth doesn't do more than two but somewhere in between there um so you're right if you want to use um say a third grader as an example whose placement and again it's
um an overall placement that's at the kindergarten level likely means that that student is multiple grade levels below in each area um we put far less emphasis on gaps that show up on a diagnostic in measurement and data and
geometry or geometry um for a couple of reasons one is those don't tend to be gaps in that sort of specific either specific area that um are uh prohibitive of of accessing grade
level content uh the way it would in one of the other domains um but a student that far below overall is almost certainly at least a couple of grade levels below in each area so the intention of the um
additional um intervention is to really address the gaps as they exist in those priority domain areas um the other thing I'll say is that we you've seen sort of a loss in the validity of results when
you get to gaps that are that wide when you have students that are placing multiple grade levels below it's a little bit hard to have as much faith in those the the specifics of those results
um they're bringing some of that um uh like discouraged experience into the test itself which is harming their performance um which again isn't to dismiss it but but I already Sweet
Spot our students that are within at most two grade levels and better yet one grade level in any particular area those gaps can be closed pretty effectively just by attaining the typical growth um so what are we so the students that
we're talking about are often getting a heavily modified curriculum with a lot of um prerequisite reinforcement in a tier three setting um Often by a special educator less Often by a math
interventionist um the the measure of success for those students is not always tied to their I ready performance that that makes sense yeah that does okay um last thing is not a question but more comment first really appreciate you
coming in and letting us talk about instruction uh and not budget for as much as we're going to need to talk about budget really really appreciate that and uh I guess this is maybe more for you all but I still think we've talked we talked about this in the fall but for me having a sense of like what
are some Benchmark goals that we're actually looking at as it relates to these I ready like winter performance right we we have fairly consistent data over the past three years and so maybe we say this Benchmark is kind kind of what we're trying to hit cuz this will
get us to 70% mid or above grade level which means about 70% of our students will be meeting or exceeding expectation on mcast like that something like that is just I think goal setting for ourselves say this is where we're trying to get this is why this is what it means
for us as a district 70% would put us in the top 10% in the state in mcast like those those types of things to me would help drive the conversation and help help us like have a North star as we have the conversations I think that's a great point and like wondering if that's
something given sort of what we're preparing for here if that's work that could happen this spring um to sort of not wait to have that conversation not that it's you know just
to yeah I mean what we had have had been talking about I don't know where that stands right now but you know looking at Key performance indicators so I think it's kind of the same thing Mark that you're talking about in terms of looking at the work that we're engaged in the systems work that you
both are talking about um that we've articulated an implementation plan around instructional framework assessment system all those things right that we can't just keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect to put more Staffing in a place and that's just going to fix everything right um so
we had talked about developing this year for end of year uh a set of those key performance indicators to then have those be the benchmarks year after year so that those things don't change but they're also
tied to the work that we're doing so there's not a disconnect where we're looking at data here and then we're talking about all the work we're doing over here that those two things are aligned together and they're informing each other as we're as we're moving forward so that is work that that needs to
happen I think that there's a lot of pieces kind of on the table right now and I think honestly like the the conversation now in terms of kind of where we are and and in this transition right now is figuring out how to pick up some of those pieces on the table use them to the best effect
and then have next year not be a year of stasis but a year where we can kind of continue to develop some of these these systems pieces maybe not at the scale that we want to but um to to move that forward did thank you so much thank you have
other questions just email us thank you very much thank you good luck with the rest of I think that's it right so this is far more interesting I think it does I think and thank you all thank you for the great questions that that you asked
um I think it does sort of show how much this the committee benefits from having that opportunity to sort of really make connections and ask questions and get informed so um yeah the idea of having
this become a more routine like feature of the ongoing learning of the school committee in order to inform decisions I think makes a lot of sense so you want them back once a month well you know you can see we have
a it was it's really helpful and I just before thank you both so much and I want to we stand up too soon I know all I want to say before we before we do move on because we do have to get
to additional topics I want to just take the chance to shout out you Dr Watts because I think we all recognize that you've been in this role of assistant superintendent curriculum instruction in a parttime capacity but it seems like
you're always here when we're when I'm here so I just I think that um you've been doing a lot behind the scenes to keep things moving forward and um just want to appreciate you for that because
I I know that they're an amazing curriculum team they really are and um experts in their you know in their domain so I I appreciate working with them
um I really do yeah Happ to come back um all right so we do have whoever thought we were finishing at 9: I can't remember who that was that was not accurate
um I I would like to move efficiently through the remaining items and under the chair's report so that we spend the rest of the bulk of our time on the finance so we do have a couple of important topics to kind of update and move through but let's just try to stay pretty focused on these the first one is
straightforward because this is just an announcement essentially that will be shared with the community in the upcoming uh emails and whatnot and there will be more information shared but this is just to sort of announce that we've worked in the past this week to schedule
some of these um information sessions about the budget for the community um those are going to take place four of them March 26th so a week from tonight at 6:00 p.m. in the Pierce Library April 1st at 8:30 a.m. in the
cicott Cunningham library or actually the cafeteria over there MH April 1st 6 p.m. on Zoom April 7th 6:30 p.m. Milton High School library
um I acknowledge that with scheduling Logistics you know we haven't been able to build these around the availability of all school committee members so this is going to be the kind of thing that like if you can come to one two like
however many you can come to that will be great if you aren't able to come that's okay I think as long as we have a handful of school committee members present um and Mark and I are available to be present as well as Katie and Peter
who will drive like I think the format will just be a short presentation that will be so these will be the same session essentially repeated four times and the goal is to Simply um just really share the information about where we are as we're looking to FY 26 with the
budget uh short presentation these will be one hour um you know up to 1 hour with the opportunity to just provide clarification um to the information that is shared um and members of the
community should feel invited to come to which obviously we're not having them at every school building um so anybody is welcome to attend any of the uh date date and time that works for you regardless of what building you're uh you might be attending and then of
course the one on Zoom is intended to be for anybody um in the community so um does anyone have any questions on these we will be needing to get calendar invites hopefully maybe tomorrow so that if we're available we can attend
those um and more information is coming about that um on the let's see um next so we talked about already the um interim superintendent
search process the next item is the um school year 2526 calendar for next school year so this is where we kind um um and I don't know if you want to update on the policy subcommittee meeting discussion that we had but we are sort of moving toward being able to
share the approved calendar with the community which is something that we're wanting to do yes um I can definitely do you want to kind of set up how we sure got to like like I mean obviously the calendar is going to be published this
week hopefully yeah uh we had some some things that we needed to work through um I don't know if you wanted to share some of that yeah so as folks will recall we had a very lengthy involved Conversation Over many months regarding
um the calendar and we got input from the community we've um settled on an approach that would um set aside two days every Academic Year to acknowledge um
uh five identified religious and cultural holidays um sort of on a um rotational basis um it will become more clear when we're looking at the calendar itself but that's a decision that we came to a couple of months ago now
um and so One update is that um we we have sort of realized in taking the step back um and a assessing sort of timeline with our collective bargaining and whatnot which is impacted by the
budget override um conversation and there are many sort of factors um that we are going to for next year keep the two holidays that we have had currently and um historically in our calendar
that's Y kapor and Good Friday um we are going to continue with those to next year for sort of the first year of this new approach um and we will then in the subsequent years um begin to acknowledge the additional holidays that
have been identified for us um Eid devali and Lunar New Year um and so that explains sort of um how we are ending up with a calendar for next year that actually looks very similar to this year
um this is in having taken into account feedback from the community that was uh clearly letting us know we were not interested in lengthening the school year in order to accommodate additional days off um so we heard that feedback and that's how we ended up in this
situation as we were trying to also be more inclusive of um our community and people who celebrate holidays um observe different religions and um cultural observance is here so that's a summary
of how we got here and the calendar that we have here represents that and the part you can see added is what we sort of generated in the policy discussion um which kind of tries to capture the approach that we've adopted
as a school committee um so anything else no and I think in terms of also taking in like the feedback from like you know how many days off in a month and so on and so forth and just kind of spreading it out
uh and offering some consistency on when the half days fall and so on and so forth just so that families have there's less confusion in terms of like you know how it changes from month to month and just really just looking at that holistically to uh spread things out as
much as we can some there are obviously some limitations but um we did that and then obviously having just the same format as last year listing all the the the holidays we also um talked about um including what one of the other
districts that we looked at including you know more holidays May perhaps a description of what they what they mean just as you know as um conversation starter for families at home and so on and so forth um just to kind of talk about it uh just as a starting point we
also um you know we're going to continue to work to see like you know in in addition we talk about like what we could do commun um within the school Community to kind of recognize these different holidays and um you know
cultural days um and support our students and make sure that they feel seen um in our community in our district so it's a good conversation and U and we'll be working with Dr Shavers to develop some of
that um process and information that will be shared um um and we can continue to work on that sort of appendix I think of it um I know we had seen Franklin was one example that we found that we that was appealing so that can continue what
we need to do now is just publish this one pager of the actual calendar itself so that people are able to make plans around the dates um so yeah any questions or comments on this no I think it I mean it
it does address I know that we had talked about sort of the ambiguity or confusion for families around which holidays when and I think this calendar addresses that clearly that folks can look ahead uh beyond the present you
know year to sort of think about what holidays will be observed on the following so I think it's IT addresses that so it gives uh families the heads up M um so I think it's great and it does say anticipated there so it will
remain the case that each year the school committee look you know with the administration looks at the calendar and kind of confirms what the actual dates are going to be for the following year but we're trying to provide a guide a road map really for our colleagues in the future to sort of follow to um Stay
True to this Y and also develop a policy and procedure around how to go ahead addressing that or looking at it in the future just so there's some guidance yeah that's something that we talked about we'll keep working on yeah all right well thank you all um for
that um the last part under my report and thank you Anna for that um do we need a motion I think there's a motion you have a motion but yeah oh um yes oh to formally adopt op
this calendar with these changes okay sorry to skip over that I can make a motion to approve the Revis s um syy 2526 uh school year calendar as edited for FY 2526 religious holidays observed
will be yam kapor on Thursday October 2nd 2025 and Good Friday um Friday April 3rd 2026 second um all in favor thank
you um so the next topic is um about um revisiting this question of recording subcomittee meetings this has been sort of raised um by members of this committee as well as
um folks in the community um we did discuss this at length in the fall um and considered whether to um adopt a practice of recording our subcommittee meetings um we ultimately
chose not to do that um and this is in the context of the Town having chosen not to move forward with requiring subcommittees to be recorded in the same way that um elected boards and committees are recorded or
required to be recorded so um that was sort of the context of that conversation and then I think we all have recognized that um you know in particular with our finance subcommittee meetings and I'd just like to shout out our finance subcommittee um there have been a a lot
of meetings um excuse me and you know um it's it's good on all of our meetings are open meetings um and I think it's been brought back as a question for us to consider you know in light of um
where we are now and what we've learned through this process of this budget cycle do we want to reconsider the question of recording our subcommittee meetings um this is here as a as an overarching question of subcommittees in
general um you know even though I think what we've really been thinking about a lot is obviously our finance subcommittee meetings where there's a lot of important information um and so just I guess I'll
um open up the conversation about this well I'm I can go first since I brought I I had emailed you about adding this to our agenda um I know we've there have been a lot of concerns in the last
couple of months especially about having access to recorded meetings I know it's 8:00 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays is not ideal time for families with you know drop offs School drop offs and so on and so forth so um I also have to say I
really appreciate having the meetings crossposted and being able to attend because I do think really improving our checks and balances in our process on how we kind of look through and double check everything and make sure and ask
the questions and have the opportunity for all of our members and this is again why it's so great to have you know six of us on this board from different backgrounds to be able to ask those questions and kind of learn from each other you know uh a question that you
know Amanda might ask might you know I might have a followup on that oh this made me think of that so having that opportunity and I think you know when we get updates as detailed as Marx updates are sometimes like a lot of those conversations don't necessarily make it
to the table here you know and I think those conversations are really important and I you know I think um just even um just like our meetings from last week you know there were concerns over you know cutting Athletics and I think it's just important to kind of for the
community to see those discussions that we're learning and each of us bring different um um our our uh perspective on those and I think we kind of learned from that that how important you know something like that could impact the
district so I'm glad that we were finally came to that consensus um so uh and obviously we'll get that so I think just it's really really important I think um just the experience that we've gone through in the last couple
months um and just how to be better I think uh recording Finance I mean happy to record policy meetings but they're really not as engaging I mean they could be maybe uh but you know the finance ones is really really important
especially where we are you know majority of the town's budget so I think um I think I I think it's a great way to be transparent and upfront and you know having people have access to those and email us if they pick up on something that we were discussing and it really
just helps our process better and I think we can all be better so I I'm definitely for you know recording those meetings this any anyone else I mean I think um last week was a great
example as to why I mean uh at least the finance committee meeting um in particular you know I've changed sort of my perspective should be recorded um because I think if folks had been in the
room um they would have been able to or or had access to a recording to see the full com conversation because a piece of information was shared that then just spiraled um and not re recognizing that
you know it was a it was a very complex and hard conversation and we um were engaging in an exercise that we just needed to look at every consider every option um but we hadn't made a decision and I think um
you know the recording would have would have helped um someone you know they had the time to sit through uh the conversation so I would say that at least definitely the finance committee but I could argue that if we're going to do Finance we could also just do it
across the board um to just you know treat every committee um with the level of importance that we Merit for sure yeah I agree with that I think I you know I don't I still see the
reasons the reasons why I didn't report this um when it was a more abstract question or more I would say principled question in the fall um I I continue to you know just acknowledge
that us taking this decision inherently um I think raises a question about our colleagues on other boards in town um and as a citizen I would then Wonder well why would the you know
subcommittees of one of our elected boards be recorded and others are not so I I I think that's a fair question and I think I did hesitate to just sort of like step forward on that um with
without consultation or certainly like outside of the decisions of town meeting however for the reasons that you've shared I think the um my hesitations on that are outweighed by the
Practical benefits of of doing this um I do raise that you know it's particularly when we're talking about when we're talking about hybrid meetings or on or Zoom meetings it's much easier because the zoom is recording the meeting I do
want to just flag um the change in a a habit and a practice that it will require for inperson meetings to figure out the use of the owl we know already we you know Milton Access TV is does not have capacity to support us with
technology and reporting for our subcommittee meetings that was another Factor we B weighed last fall um and so this would be essentially up to us to like learn the technology and then do it
consistently um because if we've said that we're going to record these subcommittee meetings I almost I just sort of my mind flashes to a policy subcommittee meeting where we kind of just came in rushing from work and we sit down and we
just kind of call to order and start the meeting and then we realize oh no nobody remembered to hit the owl and all of a sudden we're out of compliance with our own decision so I I I think this is going it it's not just
like a flip to switch m necessar Al um and so I just acknowledge that and we can fig work it out as we go and I again I think the pros outweigh the cons but it's not just like totally easy and smooth per se
we'll just have to work at it um so that's that's kind of what I think could in the interim as we could we agree that I mean if this is where we're going that we're agreeing that we record the subcommittee meetings recognize right now
that Finance is the you know the one that's sort of top of mind for everybody is it possible to um have it always be hybrid so that we at least then people can participate by zoom and we recording it so that's sort of the default recording if you
think that works and then work through the process for the knowing that we're going to but work through the process for the other ones just I think it also just allows people to attend in the moment you attend the
meeting if they want to and just El am I making things harder Mark no we've already posted the next two Finance meetings are already posted for that exact reason hybrid because that's just the easiest way to record the meetings right folks can access it it's already going to be recorded to the cloud
automatically we can post it it's it is okay no challenge uh the only issue is like just remembering to screen share and that we get connected to the okay camera that gives within the recording a decent view of what's happening in audio and it's not just my computer like
there's that stuff but that's just connecting to the device okay um but otherwise it's all simple enough okay so at least that may kick it off start that way I mean those are our upcoming subcommittee meetings we will not have another you know policy meeting for some
time the evaluation subcommittee won't be meaning I don't know where this leaves advisory committees actually like I think for right now I would say this should apply to the the primary subcommittees of the school committee
because those are our um like that's our purview you know most directly and then perhaps we can like continue to think I don't what do you think about that so I'm all on board with recording Finance right I'm like glad you know brought
that up just in um just because the override not even counting the all the issues coming up with f 25 budget but is there a reason we feel pressure that we because again there's no townwide policy on this what is the pressure we feel to say it has to also be policy I think the
town cares about the finances because of again a the complexity of the current situation we are in but also B Just the school's finances are the biggest pot of finances within the town and so like that that is why at least I originally brought it up in the fall was like I
think there is particular interest within that I do not regularly attend your policy meetings uh so don't know what your viewership is but um yeah I guess I just wonder like why if it's our own internal policy we could just set it to say we're going to record Finance because that's
right now and we can test it out if it goes really well and then if there's like public sentiment to say we want to see policy too because there's like interesting conversations there then maybe we open that that conversation but I'm fine either way I just wanted to
flag yeah okay that's fine I mean I I see that as like a yeah a way to start immediately um with what we see right before us that we want to be able to do and then we can kind of like evolve from
there okay and are you guys still good with crossposting the finance meetings because I think that's really helpful to have and I I felt bad this morning that you couldn't you know join sor
hybrid also so I was like one last week but um um no I think that would be really really helpful I think I think just for all of us to kind of second set of eyes on everything um going forward I don't want to make it
too easy on you you got to get up you got to come in to those meetings with Katie you accept some of my policy meeting notices and didn't show up not quite as popular thanks for calling me out so in the interest of
moving along I will make a motion to record Finance subcommittee meetings second starting Monday second okay all in favor okay not I'm sorry prior recorded
meetings yeah that we have in the cloud from Monday is one I think that was hybrid for you last Wednesday was another so were hybrid should we post them couple people honestly within the public have already reached out requested that within a
public records request at least those last two meetings we could go ahead and release sure yeah yeah do we need a motion for that I don't know I my both think maybe not consensus I think that's consensus consistent with what we just
decided and okay okay so um with that sort of segue to finance right yep oh yeah is that me yeah yes uh all
right well it's really more a segue Peter here in a sec um but yeah we've had just update the public finances meeting twice a week every week for at least last month um we're carrying that forward at least into the next week uh so lots of work lots of things happening
um both under fy2 and FY 26 want to particularly shout out um Town staff who came out on Monday and talked to us that was helpful I think Daniel Wetmore who came today today's meeting and again those will now be a uh today's
meeting yes was it recorded no it was not um so Monday's meeting will be posted um and then also just special shout out to Lori Connelly and John cohane who are our proxy Representatives on the finance committee because they come to every single one even though
they cannot participate so appreciate them as well but um I will pass it over to Peter great great thank you um so yeah we're going to go through um FY 25 first and given overview we've been working on this on U every Monday
and Wednesday and all the time in between that and uh I think we're we've kind of pretty much looked at um everything within our our ability at this point um I will then go in to FY 26
and talk about the work we've done this is probably version four of our budget and um I will talk about the work that we did with our leadership team to address the um the select board's current
5.7 uh million dollar increase in our operating budget so Katie is going to um has put together the 25 sles so she's going to take us through some of that and then I'll pick up 26 so we are going to start tonight just
um in a general overview of the timeline of some of the historical information in some of the timing around uh fiscal year 24 as well as fiscal year 25 which is um
the budget for the current year the current school year and so um May of last year as you all remember the fiscal year 25 budget was approved and so the school department um at town meeting was
appropriated 67 m22520 so that was May and that is the appropriation starting July 1st of this year so July 1st 2024 which was Last Summer the fiscal year 25 budget began
and the budget lines were appropriated in accordance with the budget proposal that was um approved reviewed and approved uh in May of 24 so after fiscal year 25 after that
budget began and after the budget lines were appropriated the fiscal year 24 deficit was identified and it was also addressed so the school department prior year operating budget which was fiscal year
24 the deficit was identified in early July and the deficit was addressed by using um um a number of one-time funds and so um some of the funds that were utilized
were circuit breaker funding which is our special education reimbursement program and funding that we receed from the state some of the Medicaid reserves so we also receive Medicaid funding from the state
um for some of the medical needs that we um and expenses that we are responsible for paying for for the school district and through a number of chargebacks and what chargebacks are is that is um when
we charge expenses from the school operating budget to some of the revolving funds that we have and so the revolving funds would be at um assigned to accounts for our programs such as
Community Schools um and also um the school lunch program and so if we fast forward to this year in January of 2025 um the fiscal year 25 budget
projected deficit and so when we say projected deficit that is the balance that we are projecting to have of at the end of the fiscal year so June of 25 that um projected balance was
identified to be in a deficit position and so that was um detailed in the second quarter report that was shared with the school committee that report was shared in January um and the issues that
were um identified in the report and the issues that we have discussed throughout the course of uh meetings both Finance sub committee meetings and school committee meetings over the past seever several months are a
continuation of structural deficit Lines within the school budget so just a continuation of some of the issues that we saw in fiscal 24 being carried carried forward into fiscal year 20 so if you go to the next
slide and so when we talk about a structural deficit I just want to provide some more information around what a structural deficit is so a structural deficit means that there there are recurring
expenses that are that consistantly exceed recurring revenues so in our case for the school Department budget that is our budget appropriation or our operating budget and so some of the
examples of areas where we have identified a structural deficit are in accounts that cover expenses for our substitute teachers in our class coverage and also accounts that cover
expenses for utilities and that includes heat light and water for the school department and so you can see in these two um charts on the screen here we've just provided some detail around what the
historical budget was in each one of these categories what the total expenditure was and what the variance is and you can see here that there has been a variance in um a range of amounts but
there has been a consistent variance over the past several fiscal years and so how also looking at how does a structural deficit happen within a budget and the structural deficit can
occur for a number of reasons which include our budget or a budget line being based on past budget numbers and not being based on actual
expenses and then social deficits can also occur because of rising costs that were unanticipated and also demographic changes and so if we have a shift in demographic changes um because the budget is already
established we are not able to cover the um change or the increase in costs and so that important thing that I want to point out here is not necessarily tied to the fiscal year year 25 budget which is the deficit um that we're talking
about or that we're seeing for this year but I do want to call attention to the fiscal year 26 proposed budget and so as we went through the process of looking and projecting out the funding that we
would need for fiscal year 26 we did truly try to take a look at and account for previous year's expenditure ures the expenditures shown in these charts they're shown in italics because at this
point they are up projection for the end of the year and they are not actual so those numbers are subject to change and will change um but we will have that updated information for actuals for
fiscal year 25 this summer and then that actual number will be able to drive our information when we're creating the budget for fiscal year 27 and that process does start late summer early
fall so on the next slide just talking more specifically about fiscal year 25 budget and just as a reminder of some of the work that we've done since um we talked about that quarterly report um in
January so as of the quarter to report we had projected and again that was the projection for the end of the school year um a $2 million deficit at the end of the school year so in June of 25 and
so that number was based on known costs so costs that we've already incurred from the beginning of the year in July until the end of December projected expenses so that's for um our salary iies for our all of our staff which is
81% of our budget um known incumbrances and what an incumbrance is is it's essentially us recognizing that we will have an expense and memorializing what that expense will be in our accounting
system and then also based on known costs that aren't currently in the accounting system but we know that we will um recognize some sort of expense from this point in the year until the end of the
year as the budget or as the deficit was recognized we took a number of different action steps starting in early February in order to address the current year um deficit and so those steps include a
purchase order freeze and so what a purchase order is is that's essentially a department head or a principal make the request to move forward with a purchase and so they are
not supposed to spend any money purchase any materials purchase any Services until that purchase order is signed off on and so knowing that we were looking
at a deficit we said we are freezing any we're freeezing any um expenses in expenses or requests for purchasing from now until the end of the year knowing that we will have expenses that will
come up but truly trying to limit um the amount of money that we were spending on an um moving forward we also instituted a hiring free so any of our staff that may be um resigning or
um leaving the disc District we're currently filling those with some temporary staff or in some instances we're not hiring at all and some positions have gone unfilled we are doing an allocation um for a portion of
our custodial salaries to our food service account so the Food Service account is um a self- sustaining revolving account and that's separate from the operating budget and that's that is simply that is not moving any
staff that is not changing the salaries of any of our staff that's just an allocation of expenses to a different account based off of the number of hours that the custodial staff spends um doing
work for the food service department um with custodial services so cleaning kitchens and um are serving areas we also reduced a number of Consolidated
facilities purchase orders um and that totaled $78,000 we um there is potential funding from the state that we were made aware of in the governor's supplemental budget
um and that is an increase in the circuit breaker reimbursement for transportation and that could potentially be effective for this year um the amount that we're looking at
um that we're estimating could be the maximum reimbursement is $488,000 um but that is still not confirmed and so we need to uh verify that that will in fact pass at the state
level and that we will in fact be able to access those funds in this fiscal year um we're also looking at utilizing a number of um Revenue offsets um that we had talked
about we had used a number of those offsets in fiscal year 24 to balance the budget and we need to use a number of those offsets in fiscal year 25 also in order to balance the budget
and so those accounts include our community schools account uh the Medicare account that we talked about earlier and also our building use or facilities use account and so um when we have outside organizations come in and
utilize the buildings outside of the school day they pay in accordance to the building use fee schedule and so that Revenue we can use to offset some of the expenses in in the operating budget and then we also
considered um just modifying the way that we're allocating um our substitutes and the way that um we're currently doing class coverage and so there is an an amount assigned to that but with the
above actions um we have the new projected deficit is $883,000 $883 326 and so on the next slide just real quick
on Just for specificity the projected deficit in January for the Q2 report was actually 2.3 million right 2.96 2.2 96 2296 on the um quarter 2
report quarter 2 report and then when we ran as we continue to rerun um the reports and update those projections yep it's just over the $2 million and so we have in an effort to
address the current year deficit and reduce that number um we've considered a number of different uh programmatic updates or programmatic shifts for the current school year um and and they're
listed here and um a number of these items were considered but after conversation that took place during finance subcommittee and during our school committee meetings and just in thinking about what the impact would be
to our students and in some instances what the impact would be to our staff um we recognized that these although um they were items that we could consider
they aren't truly aren't possible we also um had considered potentially um looking at some of the capital funding requests for fiscal year
26 and instead of receiving um that funding in the upcoming year for some rooftop unit um modifications as well as um providing us the ability to purchase
Chromebooks in the upcoming fiscal year we had said we could potentially use that funding uh to help address the deficit for this year um but those um those items aren't available to us um
at the current time and so the the items listed at the bottom of this slide are items that we are still potentially looking at so we have had um an issue
with one of the water bills uh at the high school so there is potential that that will if there is a correction to that that that could create some cost savings um for the operating budget we
are also looking at taking some additional offsets from both our community schools and our transfer ation revolving accounts um and that would be $50,000 from each one of those accounts and then again looking at the large
group sub coverage so that was the reference in the previous slide talking about looking at the way that we um fund our substitute teachers and how we're doing sub coverage moving forward so
that is also on the list um for consideration and so the one thing I wanted to mention as well is um for using the funding from Community Schools and potentially using
some of the offset from transportation we are looking at um or just having to measure what the impact will be uh for fiscal year 26 and so if we are pulling money from Community Schools we will
have to consider a potentially large fee increase for our programs for the upcoming school year just to make sure that the those funds remain self- sustaining meaning we
have to make sure that our Revenue can cover our costs moving forward um and then the same can be said about transportation so at this point I feel like I'm sounding like a broken record talking about large subgroup coverage for the
last week or so and how I'm completely against it and I have to say the presentation tonight from both cat and uh Brian even you know offers like makes me
even more against it because of when they talk about the mtss support and and all the supports and the time on learning that these students and we're trying to close the achievement Gap within certain subgroups that are struggling I just completely disagree
with subgroup coverage I mean sub coverage because you know putting students I don't care how many in an auditorium where they are not learning and when you get into middle school and high school you know kids you can't monitor them to make sure they all have
phones they have social media like all of that stuff a lot of things happen that one teacher cannot monitor I just don't think $24,000 and what that could mean in the future um in terms of expenses with
anxiety as Danielle mentioned this morning about anxiety and mental health and like getting uh more special ed evaluations done I just don't and the cost increases that come with all of that I just don't think trying to save
$24,000 you know with made many many references to cups of C coffee and whatever else I just don't think it's a big enough number and but the impact is going to be huge so I I am going to continue to Advocate to redline that one
and uh cross it off that list because it's really you know we're getting down to 683 I mean what 700 at that point so just my recommendation I agree I'm against large sub coverage as well and I also would be against not
having Chromebooks for our kids that we propose be against removing stiens that helps push instruction forward the thing I struggle with Anna is like we don't have the money so it feels like that's a decision with somebody else's money and
so I think what I I feel that same way about like why we have cut out the $1,800 even though it's $1,800 for the Cen committee work is like we don't have that $1800 we don't have it and
so you know to say I I just I personally just to finish that thought and I'd love to hear your thoughts I just personally would want to hear more clearly from the to and I think we're still waiting on kind of a final proposed number because I know this is just at Le the current
estimate and we have some other costs that we're projecting that might come in related to special education that are midye and not budgeted for and so it's more a matter of like what does the town and the select board think they are
willing to do in term based upon these numbers because if if they agree with you that like the 24,000 isn't that big a difference and they are willing to fund that then great because I think that has a negative
impact on students learning exactly what you're saying I I just struggle with us saying from our seats where we don't have the money and somebody else is actually going to have to be the one to bail us out from that 24,000 and that 1,800 and that other 1,800 um and so I I
look at it just from the standpoint of like we have to cut in in all the places we can which is why we even brought up the term even though people got mad about spring Sports and we we cut that because we said that was a bridge too far and maybe the subgroup coverage is a bridge too far too but it it to me does
feel like we're just kind of at a certain point playing with somebody else's money cuz we don't have funds for this I think we have to advocate for what we need because I think if we don't and we cut these and the impacts I mean we are still dealing with the effects of
decisions that were made over covid you know trying when families were trying to get students kids back in schools um in the classroom because it was interrupted learning and we're still dealing with that we're still dealing with uh trying to catch those students up so that's
where I'm like I'm of the belief that if we if we need that and if we strongly feel that it will negatively impact our kids I think we need to go advocate for it and it's just a you know then it's
it's our job to Advocate you know what happens next is a whole other issue but like it's our job to say we need this and uh you know at this point like if we keep pushing off these things and you know pulling uh FY 26 fees into FY 25
for transportation and so on and so forth there are still going to be holes next year that we will have to fill and I think we need to be upfront about the fact that we need to figure out a way with the town to close this deficit and then figure out how to live within our means in as much as we can and whether
that means drastic Cuts next year I don't know but I think we have to be honest about what we need um and Advocate because you know our job at this table is to make sure that the needs of every student is met and the time of learning time on learning is not
interrupted so anything that directly impacts students like that like spring Sports is something that I cannot be on board with you know so um I'm going to keep saying that and uh you know and hopefully hope for the best in terms of
but it's really just we need to figure out how to close this Gap and we're going to need help to close the gap I think that's where we're that's where I'm feeling like we are at I had a qu actually a question because when we were talking about large group
sub coverage I wasn't there that day but I thought was this something it wasn't necessarily and I don't know if we can even make this determination but it wasn't necessarily Core Curriculum classes the the thought was it was
for am I Mis interpreting that I thought the idea was that it's not necessarily for ELA and math that you're going to have large groups of kids in there that it would be maybe for places where it was more
electives like a one I just I'm think how would you manage what they're learning during that elective during that time I don't know I guess I'm just no is is about if that day on the building there are five teacher absent so whenever these teacher have this
group of student they will all go to the cafeteria uh the auditorium so that would that few substitute teacher will be there to monitor that large group of students regard regardless of what subject they would be but it's a maximum
of 50 students per teacher so it's not one teacher with any class that it's sub coverage it's just essentially like instead of a teacher over 25 let's say it's a teacher over 50 and and and I'm
not disagreeing with you that it's not ideal I don't know that I would NE necessarily equated to like long-term you know when kids were in large in the auditorium during you know
during covid times I think I I I understand the concern about it I don't love it I'm a little bit with Mark that's like I think we advocate for it but be I think we're at the part point
where there are things that we just have to leave on and if it's one you know if it ends up being that it's one day I don't I don't love it I mean I'm not if it was like somebody's out for a week and you have large group I mean then it doesn't make sense to me and I don't know that you can do that determination
and I agree that we need to fight for things but I'm also feeling like sort of where Mark was that how do we like we just don't have the money you know and well we have a it's not like we can close that if if you're talking about
$24,000 as what's keeping us from closing our Gap completely then that would that would make yes a stronger case we still have a huge balance we do so that's where I don't understand it and we're also you know we talk about overcrowded classrooms all the time to make a case for you know the new school
but here we are kind of doing something similar you know with larger groups of students and I just I I it does not sit right with me and I'm just going to be not an agreement of it you know if if the Gap was very low you know small and
we could actually close it then then it makes you know like okay well maybe we do this temporarily to close a gap but something like this where we still need to go ask the town for money you know and in this scenario um I just don't I I
just don't see the difference between 684 and you know 700 so that's all mhm just to in terms of where this part of the conversation is going it's my understanding that at Monday morning's
Finance meeting the purpose of that is to finalize I don't know who I'm directing this question to but s of what what comes next needs to be Clarity to the select
board in terms of what we are saying mhm is um what we need MH having exhausted the options having done these exercises
um and having you know and within the limitations that we have um I know that the the hrf staff reductions was is not yet represented here but we had a good important
discussion on that piece this morning which would be the only would have been the only sorry sorry I'm sorry would have been the only possible reductions we could have made I apologize um you know given where where we are
with the vast majority of our staff being contracted employees that are on a contract through the end of the year so the point being is that where we are Monday morning to identify a number for a formal request because I know the
select board is expecting sort of um The Clarity from us and you're right Anna like we've reached that we've reached that point so what else will we know by Monday sorry I'm just not
folling cuz I thought we the number but I thought we were ready to maybe we we have the information well we won't get any more information no more information more information right cuz we wouldn't have the clarity on the water bill issue next my Monday and we obviously won't know
about the state aid as either so we're not having any of that so this is kind of what we're working with I do agree in this morning's meeting you know asking for more than we need just to just so that we're not going back in at the end
of June and asking for more to close the books like uh like we did last year I I would think we ask for and then I suggest we ask for more than you know what we know like based on the information we have and what we might
need and then if state aid comes in and so on and so forth then return the portion back you know depending on what number that state aid comes in as too because that's a guesstimate right now right so I think and same thing with the water bill right like
just ask and then you know say hey we will return whatever unused portion it is we just need to be able to cover ourselves so we're not coming back to you in June and surprise you with a bigger ask recognizing there seem to be a
couple different ways we could go about requesting the funds in terms of so that's that's another piece that I think we need some final Clarity on just so they there is nothing more they need from us and then we are hoping for them
to work with us um but I also think there's a qu like the other question too is not only what are we getting like what's the reimbursement rate or what's the rate for these but I think there's still questions around special ed right
so they're they especially costs that have not come in yet yes so I think when we're talking about a buffer it's not that oh just in case it's that no we know that there are costs that haven't hit yet that are and
the right correct yeah so well that's the challenge of you know when we talked about this earlier that's the challenge of any kind of number right now where we like you said where we look at you know 880 and then we add 100 to it and then that's
set in stone um you know I think the the probably the best direction would be and of course we have like an override and non override reality that I know Mark you responded to to Nick about that in
terms of thinking through those two different scenarios uh in the in the override scenario having access to the special ed reserve for fy2 which is um currently at a million dollars would
be I I think in terms of where we stand right now would be a good place to a good recommendation to to the select court is there another way weren't we talking about there's another scenario
cuz in the sense of the special ed stabilization fund is very specific around what you can use it for and the timing of the invoices that come in correct so is it looking
at I always get the funds wrong but moving it from is there a stabilization fund or a general that that that isn't necessarily special at specific that wouldn't be tied to those things so we're not accessing next year's 20 we're not accessing the that fund we're asking
them to move move it to a fund where it still would be for special education but it's not specifically named that am I correct or incorrect um I thought the other option would potentially be to put it in kind of a town
like a reserve fund Reserve fund and then the town would do a further appropriation um I think rather than doing the special education stabilization fund I think that was the other option we talked
about only because I think that there I mean I think it's either way it's a it's coming from the town but just making sure that however it's worded it's it's it's accessible to reduce the amount of the special education stabilization fund yes that's built into the override
budget and to right um transfer that to the town's Reserve which would be a way to ensure that um you
know if things come out favorably for us and we didn't end up actually needing that much it would just remain whatever's left would remain in the town Reserve so I think
obviously how they would ultimately choose to do this would be something that the Town Administrator and select board would decide um I think though you know what we're in the position of demonstrating our process
which thank you for so clearly laying out sort of how we got to this point um and all of the work that has happened like week by week through this time and then um you know where that has brought us to
so I just think on the the idea of the reserve and I agree with you it's like the Town Administrator I'd defer a bit to on like what is the mechanism that works well but I think the another thing to name as it relates to the reserve account is that has oversight from both the select board and the warrant
committee to make sure the public is aware of that so down from that would then still require we'd have to get a vote of town meeting to allocate that funding to the reserve account and then we'd have to once we have the finalized number which is the thing that most interests me in this is like because as
you say we just don't have enough firm information so we're going to have to kind of pick a big number we then once we have that we can go back to the select board with that number to share with them again have their oversight still also have to go back to the warrant committee to share with them get
their approval oversight and so all those groups are involved in the process and I do think the mechanism of pulling it from what the select board has already allocated towards the schools for FY 26 through the special ed
stabilization fund um allocation is the way to go given that a that should not impact any of the long-term financial planning that the Town Administrator was trying to do around how we sustain this override through
fy3 so it shouldn't affect any of the funds that are used within those calculations for them and I think the second piece is that you know those funds were were identified through the select board's vote to help with the unexpected uh cost related special
education that the schools are incurring and that's exactly what they would be used to support it's just they'd be used to support that within the current year which is the year where we are significantly struggling with these I know you highlighted utilities and sub coverage within your examples
but obviously the other is Transportation uh special at transportation and other special ed services and I think that's the next slide if we want to jump to that just want to make sure we hit on that in terms of that that was the purpose of the allocation from the select board my
understanding given they put it towards special ed fund and that would be our intent of using it it just would be a year earlier given just is where we're having the the budget tightness right and now is when we need it y based on how you built the budget for FY 26 and
so that is something I really want to make sure is highlighted for people I think slide three was so important how you are reminding us what was built into FY 26 and again I know those were just two different examples but you brought that same approach across the board
right and so that is why we do not anticipate finding ourselves in EXA this exact position next year at this time we you know we are in this position now for reasons that are not rolling
forward into FY 26 and so that to me is a rationale to use the free cash funds now when we need them MH you know the idea is that we should not need them
in this same way going forward right and so specific to special ed so when we talk about the structural deficit that we've identified for 25 um we did in the slide three had um The
Substitute coverage and the utilities as examples but as you have mentioned special education specific to transportation for this year um but there were a number of lines I think in
previous years that had um been underfunded um but when we look at transportation we did try to for fiscal year 26 account for um the historical expenses instead
of going through the process of just rolling the prior Year's budget forward and so as we we have identified that we're currently looking at a deficit for fiscal year 25 and throughout that
process of looking at each one of the lines and each one of the areas to say how can we contain costs how can we cut costs how can we make every effort possible to balance a budget at the end of the year at the same time that we've
been doing that we've been looking at the lines for 26 and saying are these budget lines going to be appropriate and so for special education um in the FY 26 proposed
budget as I had said many of the budget lines that were historically underfunded have been adjusted but in some instances costs have continued to increase um and so we do have to make some
adjustments to account for those known expenses and so the way in which that we can do that for fiscal year 26 specific to special education is in the original budget we
had put um a proposed utilization of circuit breaker for $2 million in the hopes that we could potentially if we were allocated $2.7 million that we wouldn't have to use a portion of it and that we
could use $2 million to cover some of those expenses throughout the course of the year and the change that has happened since October as we have continued to see increased costs in
special education and as we continue to monitor the budget and as we continue to look at next year we will have to make an adjustment to the circuit breaker utilization in order to make sure that
the the budget is balanced and you can see in this exhibit this just gives an example of how the budget was originally proposed and projected um at the beginning of the year when we first presented the budget back in November
and that was based off of historical expenses and known costs now as of mid-march we know that some of those costs have increased and given those costs increase we don't
anticipate that those costs will be reduced significantly into next year and so we will have to utilize the full if if not the full amount the majority of the circuit breaker reimbursement that we will be
receiving in next year and so you can see the update originally we had tried we had built in $2 million and as a as of March as of right now looking at next year we will have to use 2.7
million we're projecting to make sure that the budget is balanced I just want to point out in this scenario that is a change to the circuit breaker reimbursement that we can make that will not impact the total number that we're
requesting for the operating budget from the town so that does not if you look in the budget column it is not changing the overall budget in the operating budget it's just updating the amount of the circuit breaker utilization that we're
using for next year so I think that's just an important point to make that we're recognizing that the expenses are increasing we um we are saying how we are going to offset that expense and the offset that
we're proposing is not an increase to the operating budget but rather it's just the full utilization of that circuit breaker reimbursement can I ask a question so is this CU I was trying to follow this when we were on the finance call the other day is this what you were
saying when when you were saying when they were talking about the difference of that 700 you're saying no it's actually the budget it's not that we're holding that money out it's actually it's actually expens it's known expenses now as opposed to hoping that we wouldn't
have to take advantage of the 2 million our cost of increase so now it's built in and now we will have to use it to balance and some of the changes were in transportation and then also in some of the contracted Services expenses
mhm so um turnning to did you have something no I just because it just everything clicked from the other that's the part I was that slide is the part I was missing so when we were talking about so now the budget is decreased by 700 cuz it's gone to the town assuming
we were using it as a reserve fund it's not a reserve fund so now our budget just reduced 700,000 yes got so transitioning to 26 we um after getting the number from the select board
um and the conversation we had at the finance subcommittee meeting to talk about how we were going to approach this um decrease from the $6.4 million level service increase that we um built our
budget on to bring it down to 5.7 million so we um on the next slide um our our main goal here was to both keep the things that that we knew were
important um in the the level service budget um one one goal one significant goal was not um not reducing sta Staffing significantly so you can see on this list here um we have
not really other than um nurse admin assist which is a a very um small portion of a position um we have not uh reduced any other positions here um through attrition we found three positions these are due to enrollment on
our current kindergarten enrollment is right now hovering a little bit over 280 um so that that is the for next year yeah we expect that number to increase a bit but that's significantly lower than
it was last year which was 365 um so we are finding two positions at the elementary um and one at the secondary level um the bus is the bus that we had added previously so would it be that
particular route that would be or how does it work no we would just um Reduce by one bus and then essentially redo the RO to include the kids that from East Milton that that us
supported so our capacity would potentially lower but because we are reducing um so the capacity would so so there is um we would go back to kind of that
prepandemic level of being able to support that number of students and the capacity issues um for the bus typically are at the secondary level mhm yeah for the middle school students yeah we go back to last year okay but you would
would okay so then so what happens to all the students that we added a bus for like are they just finding their own way to school mhm we would have to reestablish so we we had a weit list for this year so it's
just increasing the number of students on the weight list again so it would revert back to that okay mhm okay um we have General expenses just $10,000 um a family Leon position which has been
vacant or wouldn't rehire that um the program design is the the neck program and the and and kind of taking on the neck curriculum and and neck expertise but U running that
ourselves U I mentioned the nurse admin assist athletic fees this would be an increase to athletic fees you know just on that do you have a sense of what percent increase and I know there's the Capon athletic fees to per family but like do I assume we'll
talk about that in more detail at Finance but do you have a general sense of like what the percent increase would need to be in order to get to the 45 we when we looked at it I believe we raised it by $50 a sport okay so and I believe
we're still low right compared comparatively mhm in some um when we look at the the overall fee um is probably mid-range but I would say
for some specific Sports it's low that fee recharges well and then um 100,000 out of the circuit breaker brings us to the 996 um we did have to
alter the the needs so previously with that the needs-based um revision we had the ELA curriculum we had additional time and we had more elll support so we've reduced that to the curriculum
itself um we would be looking next year at using professional development time and our professional development funds to we we would be able to support some of that training as well just not quite as much and we could look at at FY 27 to
support more of that and then ell support would be adding 02 we have 2.8 positions those are four days a week point8 so that would make those two positions fulltime which with a kind of a
rescheduling of of need um we think we can we can meet the need and then again look to FY 27 to to continue continue looking at building that Staffing in El which will continue to be a
need a question on the ELA curriculum I know we had the 50,000 before for curriculum development so I'm curious if we're using now PD time which obviously we need to get all the other things that we do in alignment and making
sure that our staff has PL time together between schools to work work on things so that you know there's more uh uniformity across all six schools or at least the four and the the other two how do we like what's our how does that
affect the timeline for when the ELA curriculum gets implemented now does that is there like a delay now there wouldn't be a delay no it would be so the summer curriculum time which we've had historically every year we've we've paid teachers to do summer curriculum in
in in different ways so that would continue so you you would essentially be doing the same the the timeline would remain unchanged it would just be you know instead of having that $50,000 to support a lot of additional time you
would just have to be a little bit more targeted with that and then you'd be looking at early release days you'd be looking at grade level facilitation um so at the building level you know with in terms of of getting a a
kind of the practice of of understanding the new curriculum and having teams work on it together so there there are lots of different ways that teachers work together to both kind of learn calibrate and and assess and
um we would just be utilizing all those different ways I mean would the $50,000 be helpful yeah yeah I think that's what I was trying to understand because I know in the past one of the reasons that we've held off so much on the laa curriculum was like
you know we we had other curriculums that we implemented before and there was like you know the learning curve of the complexity of adding another one but it seems like without the support and we're asking teachers to kind of figure it out within the buildings on their own just
seems a little scary um and not that they can't do it it's just like but you know it's just like do they have the support they need to make sure it's given the Fidelity you know done the way it's meant to be given or is there going to be more of a learning curve and then
students won't benefit from it in its full capacity until like year two or three because we don't have the support I'm just I'm just trying to understand I mean I would say some some of that is related to what cat and Brian were talking about in terms of systems
and it it's less about bringing a committee together to talk about how how do we roll this out but it's it's actual the actual action of of doing that and and having collaborative time to work
together at the building level and then at the district level and planning that District level work in ways that then is going out to the building level so that there's not like too much development happening which I think is the history of Milton there's a lot of development
happening at the building level and not enough happening at the district level to then kind of feed back to the district level change it go back out like that that kind of symbiotic relationship which I think is again in in a in a well functioning system that's
like there's like a seamless kind of development that happens where you can that's how you that's how you improve yeah I totally agree with your line of questioning I think it's the right one it's just like are we are we confident that this
allocation supports the appropriate implementation of the LA curriculum next year and that we are again not just like shooting oursel at in the foot to save Nicholls not Nicholls obviously it's $50,000 but you know I I understand what you're saying of there's other time in
which you just would take need to take from that because you wouldn't have this um but totally agree I mean spending $250,000 on an Ela curriculum that's just going to sit in teachers cabinets and again maybe looking at you a little bit here too but just like yeah given we're not going to have another crack at
this for a year and we don't want to waste a year on this I think answer the right question you just want to make sure one more time I feel like you've already answered it but like are we certain that these are the resources and I know you won't be here Peter but that the district would need in order to
carry this out right right so it it would be more traditional to have a expanded including you know the the programs but you know cat has spoken um to us and does feel like next year the
whole the way the year will work roll out the first part of the Year will'll be exploring the curriculum the second year we can pick up the Steam on that piece it's I mean the first year is going to be a slower roll out anyway it that's why think it's okay yeah so that
yeah that definitely gives it context so then what is our I guess what I would like to understand and this is I first of all just to back up I appreciate that you know where we had to make reductions of $700,000 I appreciate that you did not
ruce that and that's still a priority I think again going in for an override it's really important to give families something like what are they what more are they getting for the increase that we're asking them to support um so I
appreciate that I um and and just understanding from a timing standpoint like what like when are we looking to roll this out where students will be using it yeah I think you've spoken most recently C about that timeline so it
next year would be development pilot um and then you know and what I was going to say um Mark is FY 27 will have you could put money into the summer for training as as we get
ready to really roll this out districtwide so that that's the place where that money will actually be more impactful is that summer leading up to full implementation okay and that's the beauty of having a line for curriculum within our operating budget which is
what you really were showing to us because that provides us some flexibility on a year when we're not adopting a full new curriculum that we can really do that so does that still apply though with this reduction
that we have to make mhm okay okay so that doesn't change going into next year we'll still have that 250 a big portion of the obviously the work next year looking at various curriculums and subgroup work so it won't be the
roll out staff um and training on that piece okay no I I appreciate that it's being prioritized as it's been it's Al I mean it's also very you know we are trying to be sensitive many cuts are being made across the board that I mean
as we all know it's devastating so this is a long-term goal of the Committees and the Departments the curriculum office so we appreciate the support but it's also incredibly sensitive um in terms of how we present
it yeah yeah I appreciate that so to that point can I so the program design is the neck program and I think um so it's already been communicated to people that this is the
program is going away and so I think it was it's not I mean it's going away is I think but I think but I I guess the way to explain it is I think there's a level of understanding that people have when they hear neck that they don't recognize that it's a consultative approach to a
program that we have right so we have the partners program as run or monitor consultant Whatever by neck I think if you're up here you get that but when you hear it's going away you're like wait what and
so um so I think that part is difficult but I also like the idea of this program redesign has been in the works or thought for for a little bit like in talking to Danielle and
so again sort of I think it's around the messaging it's not necessarily being removed or red the program isn't being redesigned from a but necessarily from a budget standpoint it happens to impact the budget but the idea was this is something that we could do and run and
and own and own this program it's evolving and so I just want to like again I think a lot of it is just really around the messaging but it's like this is something we have the experience we've been running the program for X number of years we have the staff and the facilities as opposed to it being positioned as we're changing it because
of the budget which and so I just want to be because like there like eene emails going around now that it's being cut because of the budget and that's not that's not the right message so I just think with all of these things as we're looking at it that there are some things
that are evolving because they just naturally evolve and there other things that we have to cut because we have to cut so so would it be fair to say that the timing shifted because of the budget so not necessarily if the thought was already
there right and we were going to bring it just fully in house and not rely on a third party yes that that's the direction we were headed but we were not we expedited right probably gave it fire that's accurate right so I think sort of speaking to it that way is important yes
yeah that that's all I just think with all of these things that it doesn't you know my understanding actually was that it was part of the Pierce plan very specifically at the elementary level it may have been moved more quickly right
and that's just something for us when we take a step back and look at our process and think about our work you know into next year forward like that I think it is about the messaging because that is exactly the
kind of thing that we want to be doing like we want to be looking for these efficiencies or savings that align with what makes sense operationally or instructionally that
that's sort of right the best case scenario right where something happens to make sense for our students and it also doesn't incur another cost it might save something and then we can and like what is our um I appreciate
this way of looking which I know we have done to adapt to a compromise but it is a good way for us to think about level service one year to the next next is that we don't just automatically on
autopilot like replicate exactly what we've done yes but rather we're we're making sure that our investments are really like strategically
meeting you know our needs and that um I think I really appreciate the care in this list to minimize impact on students families and staff negative impacts I think that's
extremely important especially in this moment um and I think it's just a good reminder that you know going forward we're always going to be looking for these tra like positive tradeoffs that we're going to be able to make that can
be hopefully like a win-win scenario so I appreciate having that energy my myself like to bring into next year as a school Committee Member like starting a fresh budget cycle I think
that will be um constructive and I think in the meantime I'm think I'm I'm relieved honestly that what this tells me so I will check my understanding with the rest of you but I think what this tells me is we are we
are really able to move forward like we've the select board and having um a approved you you know unanimously approved the 9.5 amount structured the way they structured it I believe they called it scenario b or option b um you
know that it was stated that we need to be able to get to the point of working together you know to go out and just sell that to the community
um and so this to me is like allows us to really know that we can we're able to do that like we're able to um to adapt to the compromise and move
forward um so I think that's that's a great step and hopefully if we can like bring the fy2 closure through you know the um and I don't I'm still not quite sure where we're ending up on that piece for tonight I'll send it to you on that
I guess but like knowing that that we're getting very close I believe to where we kind of need to end up to be able to move hopefully move forward um I mean do you all have a a
number that you were requesting at this point that we request or do you want another couple days on this to talk about on Monday not that you're going to have a whole lot of new information but just so
that you can you know yeah go through current expenditures and just feel a little bit more refined I mean I guess we we have talked about this a number of times um and we talked about it this morning
um the the I think the one question that is remaining is that 450 for a circuit breaker which 4888 yeah so you know I mean if we're looking at the full amount it's
1.4 or 1.3 I I mean yeah so I mean 1.3 then changes the math because it's over the 1 million that they've allocated for us which is why I I I think and and Katie
should weigh in here but I I I think it should be the 1 million and we work to to make all those other pieces fit you I agree I mean it's it's difficult so I
think the 1 million was the amount that was identified that the town has said um or the Town Administrator has said um that they are willing to put into the special education stabilization
fund and that was um the amount of money um from free cash that they were going to put in for next year and so um I think at this point in time um based off
of the the deficit balance that we should us for the 1 million just because of the variables for the circuit breaker funding um my only hesit ation with that is that if we don't receive the circuit
breaker funding we are at a deficit number that's higher than the 1 million um is there a chance we wouldn't receive this as a breaker fund so it's um the funding would be coming from a
supplemental budget for fiscal year 25 that hasn't been approved yet okay and that's at the state level so um there's chances that it could the amount could get modified like 488 y y that advocacy to our
representatives to stand up for that yes budget as proposed yes okay and then just I don't have a good sense of the um timing around that so at some points um the budget process at the state level can go into the
summer and so so after June 30th right so I just don't know if uh I'm not completely familiar with the supplemental budget process if that's more of an expedited process or if that would follow the same process as a
fiscal year 26 budget um so I'm I'm just not sure um and I've attended a number of meetings and been a part of different conversations with other business directors and other municipalities across the state and they just are not
providing um Clarity around that information we don't have any definitive answers at this point so I am hopeful that it is something that could potentially benefit us in many districts across the state it's just that it's not
final now and then if we were to you know use that the 1 million from next year for this year to close out the the
deficit and then we're requesting the 5.7 for us and then the 700 goes into a reserve of some sort right that we can draw from from what I understand the 700 is the would be an operating budget
stabilization at the Town level so that is completely separate from the school department and I think the intent with that stabilization it's essentially an operating budget stabilization fund on the town side with the hopes of creating
more sustainability um for the override that it will last us um as long till 2030 yes okay so then we should be okay to not so they can continue to build that so we don't have to borrow from
that from which account from the the stabilization the operation stabilization fund so I think the the town is looking at that account as um they may potentially have to take funding from that account in the
future to be able to and I don't want to speak for but from what I'm understanding as a part of the conversation they may potentially have to draw from that stabilization fund and the future in order to balance the budget but in the meantime I think
they're also looking at ways in which to continue to allocate funds to it so if there is free cash at the end of this fiscal year in next fiscal year it could potentially go into that operating budget stabilization fund with the
intent of helping to fund kind of the the budgets um on an ongoing basis in the future and to stretch out the the length between overrides over so that we don't need to go back for an override so if potentially like I mean worst case
scenario we end up with any sort of deficit it it could cover to help us if we need it and at the same time they will continue to like if I'm just asking like any worst case scenario expenses come in or anything like that like for next year
for F6 for next year um I don't I think that the stabilization fund from my understanding with the 700,000 the intent of that was more of the operating budget expenses I believe in the future okay so I don't know what
the mechanism would be for next year but I'm just very hopeful based off of and I don't even want to say hopeful I think for next year we did a lot of work to make sure
that the budget is reflective of our expenses and I just we will have to oper within that budget for next year okay so regardless of like I know we talked about when we built and I'm just trying to understand for clarity the when we
built the budget in November and since then we've had lots of you know special ed expenses come in so you're still hoping that like because those are mandated and we have to spend that you know we have to um spend money on that
like like I I guess I just needed some like reassurance from you that like with even those kind of unexpected expenses coming up we we're hopeful that we can stay within the our budget that we created instead of going over and if we
do then in the we will be operating within the budget appropriated to us in the future okay if we do not in the event that the supplemental budget is approved for this year and that we get some additional circuit breaker
reimbursement and if we don't have to use the whole million dollar that we're talking about potentially accessing um I'm hopeful that there could potentially still be a balance in the special education Reserve fund and then that
funding will be available to us in the future because there is a a possibility that we have some expenses that are unanticipated unbudgeted for next year and so um if we're able
to leave some money in that account then that is going to be the goal to leave it there and then use appropriately yeah okay great thank you sorry for all the questions I do want to name the the
negative impact of one of the other negative impacts of the fi25 budget is the impacts we are impacting fi 26 free cash which again we just discussed in the override scenario what the implications of that are it's already being allocated
to the schools we talked about within this million dollar special head Reserve what the Town Administrator emailed us I think us all about earlier um this week uh was to after our Monday meeting so sometime on Tuesday was to say that in a non override
scenario that same million dollars is not available to the schools within the special ed Reserve account right that does not exist that money is already allocated within the non override scenario to be able to allow for the
1.5% increase to town and school expenses M so in a situation where the override fails the million dollars of free cash
if we needed to use it and again I know we are saying the goal is to use as small portion of that as possible but that's I'm saying a million because that's what y'all are saying we are going to request the then the Town Administrator said the
schools would need to my understanding what he said is the schools who need to adjust our non override budget allocation proportionally to whatever we're pulling in t y25 so that is to say if we pulling in a million dollars in
defy 25 then we need to pull a million dollars out of FY 26 got it and so our Cuts in FY 26 be an additional million are going to be greater and we need to do that my understanding would be now through an
updated non override budget to say this is the amount we are expecting to need to use from free cash because we know we're going to have to need to use something maybe again we're not projecting a million within that scenario I'm I'm not sure but now sure
how exactly it's going to work CU we don't know 100% what the number is but I guess we'd have to assume a million and so they're additional Cuts beyond the 70.2 FTE and the other all the other terrible cuts that we've looked at and
had to vote on last week or a couple weeks ago that will need to be added on to so that in a non- override scenario we still have a balanced budget for FY 26 that reflects the less free
cash any questions on that so we'll probably continue to need if if this moves forward you know for Tuesday and at the select board if this moves forward with them
then that becomes work needing to happen over the next following week yeah that you will do and right y bring back to us and it just it just makes it that much
more important that um the community can be you know informed to understand the stakes of the override vat yeah if
that's you know where we are yeah any questions I guess I have just one other I think was thing about this recap like we this problem the FY 25 problem popped up in January and I think from that
moment my Approach in any like emergency is like you dive in you deal with what you need to and that's what it's felt like we've been we've been in kind of emergency action for the last 3 months at this point uh and I think all of you have and done what we need to to kind of get to this point where at least now it
seems like we have not good news but Clarity on where the fy2 situation at least is falling as it relates to the request from us and so I just wanted to take a second and pause here around
like kind of while that was needed like I I think we do need to reflect on the fact that this is and I'm somewhat directing this to you Peter but like two fiscal years in a row that we have failed to come in on
budget and that's just a reality of kind of the situation we are we find ourselves is now we're in a second year in which we are needing to go back to the town to ask for increased allocation of Revenue that was not given to us by town meeting we've gone over our budget
and I you know I know as well as anybody I think we all know here that a lot of that is mandated special education costs right those things are as Danielle said this morning uh predictably unpredictable and and difficult to control but at the end of the day that's the job right that's the job of the
superintendent that's the job we ask you to do is tell us what the budget you need manage the district to that budget and we have not had that happen in the last two years and I think it's
incredibly frustrating and Incredibly impactful and I think we've seen that as again we like take a I take a breath to like reflect we've seen that for the last two months of how impactful that has been that how impactful that is to our ongoing effort to get an override
right and the confusion and irritation that is the ongoing impact to our staff who have like on now even ongoing questions about their job given the fy2 implications for FY 26 now not to mention the HRS conversation which again is a terrible place to put staff into
who to the point Katie made like are not the reason we're over budget but those are the considerations we we had to make in terms of how do we get into budget the impact on students who you I talked to one of my uh kids in the neighborhood walking by and talked about how his
teacher is like buying the science supplies because they don't have the ability to buy them right and he knows that and he's dealing with that as a middle schooler should not be doing that have high schoolers who weren't sure if they were going to have sports for a little a couple days because that slide got released um you know we have
residents of the Town questioning our competency and Trust within the school department and within the town as a whole all while we were asking for the most possible trust because we need the override and and like so it's just all these things that I think of and I I say
that you know I think first like they need to acknowledge those things like that's real that's true can't shake the knowledge that if we had been informed about this project deficit sooner that we could have done more to close this
Gap because our impactful this FY 225 situation is ongoing and is now looking like it will be even into FY 26 especially if we don't have an override um and I'm just I'm very concerned based upon this new information with the town of administrator what the impact will be
next year because it's just a compounding impact um and we already I was already terrified about the 70 positions I I assume an extra million dollars is another I don't want to throw a number out there and and make people freak out so um I'll leave that to Future
conversation but um I guess the last piece is I assume at some point some of the select board members will watch this and so at a certain point we are like I made clear when this came out in in January like I do not want to go to the select board and ask for money I think I
said that at this meeting we're in a place where now I need to pull that back and I'm not above begging and like you know putting my own pride aside if it means the good for kids and right now that's what we're saying it is and so like I plead with the select board that we are in a situation we cannot help ourselves we
are going to need them and so I think it'll be on us to Advocate to the select board ask them uh for the support because otherwise I'm I'm not really sure what this means without their support what this means for kids and for staff between now and the end of the year and it's just a an atrocious
situation we find ourselves in um and so I I know now we need to take the step forward but I I just felt like that needed to be to be said um to kind of clear close that out before we can take that path forward so well I would I
agree with a lot of what you're saying Mark but I also have to say this is years of budgeting you know incorrectly right and it's just kind of happened like happened last year and
into this year but I don't think it's I think a lot of hands have touched that over the course of you know maybe even a decade of just you know so I don't necessarily feel that it's you know like
something that we did or didn't do I think at some point it was bound to happen and I think we have an opportunity now to really change our practices with Katie's guidance I think you know hopefully in her saying today hey next we have to live within our
means we cannot go over and you know and that is so important and I think just having that perspective is helpful now but I think it's it has been years of you know the the habits of going back to the town and asking for free cash and doing that I mean I've watched old
meetings enough to know that that has been kind of how we've always done things and I I don't think it can happen anymore and because at some point we're going to run out of money and unfortunately the board that it happened to and I know it's very frustrating and
I know if an override doesn't pass the impacts are you know horrific but at the same time it's like you know it's just it really just I think here's an opportunity for us to really say we can't let this happen again right we are
going to it's going to take us a long time to recover from this you know regardless of I mean depending on how the override goes they're going to be needs based um needs that we're not going to be able to meet and we'll have to look at within our internal budget to figure out where we can like the LA
curriculum you know and so on and so forth and make adjustments and sometimes those adjustments will have bigger impacts than others you know and so we're kind of looking at the lwh hanging fruit now but at some point we will have to make bigger bigger Cuts you know and
unfortunately this is again you know um as we make decisions as past memb and however over the last several years you know other boards have made these decisions and we advocated for an
override last year you know we wouldn't be in the situation now so again decisions boards make really impact not just for that year but for future years and this is a reflection of those decisions and I think we just have to be
mindful and be able to work within other Town boards to really say Hey listen we're in this together if we don't work together to resolve this going forward we're going to be in this mess again you know we're only as good as how well we can work with the other boards and them
to understand and that's where it's like if we need to advocate for that million dollars we have to figure it out and you know it just we have to figure out how to close these things and you know I'm really tired and rambling but um but I just you know this and I know
very frustrating and I do um you know and as especially being chair of finance and not not the year to be chair of finance and I appreciate you um you know doing all the work that you are and uh I know it is very frustrating but I really
hope that this is something that we all needed to kind of you know unfortunately had to go through to figure out a path forward so but I think also embedded in all that it's important to State and acknowledge not just as a
committee uh but as a town the costs have escalated so much and we haven't been able to keep up with the costs so while there is internal actions we're taking to be more on top of which is
great but there's also external pressures that are real and that are impacting districts across the state and so I think we need to just hold on to both it's yes and um and I think that's important for us to continue to message
that and and educate sort of folks who just don't realize that there are these external pressures that are there and we're going to try to mitigate them as much as possible by improving internal practices but to the point that was made earlier even now we're seeing sort of
these increases coming and it seems like they're just out of control and we can't quite keep a handle on them and that's a reality that we're going to a context that we're going to have to keep functioning but the other side of that is we're also going back to the community and asking to help us with
those and they're in the same boat because all their costs are going up too so just it's really hard and that's where we have to like you know I think just make a pack to like as much as you know our costs are going up like we we we're going to have to make some changes
unfortunately there's nothing we can do because we can going and asking for more money but at some point someone's going to say no and then we you know and just you know because it people can't afford it so I think there's only so much we can you
know and yeah it it's true it's like a lot of these things are out of our control and uh you know unfortunately um the times we live in but um yeah we're doing the you know but I appreciate that we are going through this exercise and kind of doing this and getting into the
habit of you know what can we do where can we you know make adjustments and we're developing a discipline that you know may have existed in the past on the school committee but I don't think it
existed in the recent past in quite this same way so yeah um I think you know yeah can I make the motion I I think this is I typed it into the motion chart I think that's the
motion we yall are asking us to make so I'll make it and then if there's a friendly Amendment please tell me I think it's a motion to request the select board move the million doll free cash allocation from the special education Reserve
account from the soon to be established proposed or they've already I think they've already anyway yeah from the proposed special education Reserve account to the Town Reserve account or other mechanism
that would allow that would make the funding available to the school committee within fy2 in order to draw down upon an amount to be determined at a future date to close the school Department's anticipated FY 25 fiscal
deficit that's I'm right so this seems F this seems right I'm not sure I mean yeah I mean I think clearly we have consensus here that this is what what we're asking for
um I don't know the if we if it would be worth like double-checking the wording of this if we're taking you I don't know um we can always revote it in the future I I assume this should give this s the intent that we need to enough Direction
yeah and as long it's clear for us okay so I'll make that motion is there a second second okay all in favor uh move on quickly uh we have two vendor warrants uh vendor warrant 35 and
vend warrant 36 so I'll go ahead and make one motion um motion is made to approve vendor warrant 35 payable on 31325 in the amount of 1,142 2.97 and to approve vendor warrant 36 payable
on 320 2025 in the amount of $695 53065 is there second second all in favor it's unanimous thank you okay are we able to defer the facilities okay we'll put that to next
time we already covered the policy subcommittee meeting basically um approval of minutes people ready to very quickly vote the minutes or does do people need a minute to look at the minutes yes if we're ready I think we can just take one quick vote on
both I think there are a couple of edits that have been um shared and so it's as as edited um okay so I will uh make a motion to approve the school committee minutes as edited with
for February 26th 2025 and March 5th 2025 is there a second second second all in favor okay um we don't need to talk about our next meeting I think it will
be lighter than this one uh we can just make a motion to adjourn second okay all in favor thanks everybody good night e e