All right, we are now recording. >> Wonderful. So, I will go ahead and call this meeting to order of the Mount Greylock Regional School District School Committee. It is Wednesday, June 10th. It's 6:01 p.m. Uh, and let's start with
a roll call and I will say Bowen I. Bowen here. >> Conry here. >> Constantine here. Belvin Bowen here. >> Green here. Mallaloy here. >> Miller here.
>> Excellent. Thank you everybody. Um we are going to start with the mission and for that uh Jose is going to read the mission for us. >> All right. At Mount Greelock Regional School District, our mission is to create a community of learners working together
in a safe and challenging learning environment that encourages restorative based processes, respect, inclusive diversity, courtesy, integrity, and responsibility through high expectations and cooperation resulting in lifelong
learning and personal growth. >> Thank you. Joe, next on our agenda is the MGRS student update. >> The student emailed me one minute ago and said that they were unfortunately
running late and they weren't sure when they were going to be able to log on. >> Okay. >> So, >> all right. Um, so when that student arrives, who's who is the student today? >> It should be Brena. >> Okay. when that student arrives. Um if
that's if it's all right with the group, we will have her give the um update at a later point. Uh and in now we will move to public comment. I don't
see anyone looking for public comment. We're just going to move through this agenda and go to approving the minutes. Uh the approval of our minutes from May 14th, 2026. Can I have a motion to approve those minutes, please? >> So moved.
>> Miller. >> Thank uh we have a motion from Curtis and a second from Miller. Any discussion about the minutes? Can you give me Can you give me just a sec um to pull up because I thought I
did but I haven't opened the document. All right. Sorry. I don't want to hold you up. Hold us up. So, I'm Yeah, I'll pass. Sorry.
>> Okay. Okay. Um, hearing no other comments, I'll move to a roll call vote uh to approve the minutes. And I will start with Bowen. I >> Conry I. >> Constantine abstain.
>> Elfenbine. I >> green I >> Mallaloy I >> Miller I >> Great. Thank you. Um we now can move to the FY27
budget adoption update um which I believe will largely be led by Joe who has now disappeared from my screen. Um >> I'm here.
>> Okay. All right. Um I and I at at some point I would love maybe I'll start. Can I start, Joe? >> Absolutely. >> Um I just want to Oh, >> Carrie. >> Yeah, Julia, definitely start, but I
just want to say that the finance subcommittee has a motion to recommend when we get there. >> Okay. Okay, great. Um, I I just want to start more at a high level with um deep gratitude to our communities uh for
approving our budget at both town meetings in Williamstown and Lanesboro and also doing so resoundingly. Um that is uh that is the the number of people who came out to support our budget uh is really significant and um I know I'm
deeply grateful. I see some heads nodding uh for the deep gratitude and the and the commitment and um uh to our district and the faith in our district to continue to serve our students. So, I want to I want to start by just saying there's I I feel such deep gratitude. Um
I I do uh we've you know had some side conversations about this. We do know that there are people for whom these increases are really hard and their voices aren't always the ones that are loudest in those rooms. Um and uh heard it behind
me last night in Lansboro. Um people who are concerned about being on fixed incomes and that is real. Uh and so I uh want to acknowledge and name we know that exists and I know as a committee we have always been thoughtful about that.
Um and so I I just want to make sure the public understands our my deep gratitude. I can only speak for me. my deep gratitude um and my continued awareness that we need to be responsible stewards of our community's funds um so
that all community members can continue to thrive in our communities. Um so huge gratitude um Joe to you. >> You you said it beautifully. I mean, the the the basic update is that now both of
our towns have approved and so technically we are have a fully approved budget for FY27. I I stuck around last night after the vote, not to vote myself because I'm not a Lansboro resident, but really just to
soak it all in and look around the room and see the trust that people have in us. Um, this was an extraordinary request. Um, and it was extraordinary for good reason. But like budget says,
numerical documents, they they don't adequately explain the emotional and the the the toll that what we do has on, you know, things outside of just lines and
numbers. Um, and so seeing the support within our community, the trust is something that it's it's a very real, very tangible, you could feel it type thing. Um, so I'm just really appreciative. Um, and I know the seriousness that, you know, they take it
and that we take it. Um, and being able to work on this for the next I I think it would be healthy to talk about this within our communities for the next year, you know, like what what can we do? How can we do it? um how can we have consensus
um going forward. So a lot of a lot of gratitude. >> Excellent. Is there is there anyone else uh we will continue to have this conversation as Carrie mentioned in the finance subcommittee but if anyone else had any thoughts coming out of the
budget adoption process um this could be a good time to share those thoughts. Go ahead, Jose. >> No, ju just wanna, you know, because uh I think you communicated that you you were a little bit unsure, Julie, if you were if you could speak for the rest of
us. You certainly your words uh speak for me. So So thank you for for sharing them and and just want to second all that you um all that you you you know shared with us and shared with our communities that immense gratitude for the support they have for our district
and for our students. Great. Okay. Um, if that is all, we can move then to the Williamstown Elementary School update uh for which we have uh Principal Torres. Welcome, Principal
Torres. >> You guys can call me Ben. Hi, everyone. >> Hello. >> All right. So, first and foremost, before we get started, I just want to I just want to share with you as a new principal at Williamstown Elementary
School. What what a what I I feel extremely lucky and privileged to have the opportunity to work in that school. I do see on a daily basis the commitment of our teachers, um, our families, the advocacy, just experiencing my first town meeting
and and just seeing the powerful voices advocating for our our students. Um, it it um it touched me. It it really did. It it was very impressive to see how well-connected the community is and how
much they care about the education of our students. So, I just want to say that not only I see that within the community, but I also see it at the district level as well as uh Lanesboro. I have um I've done a lot of collaboration with Nolan um and the
district office and just seeing you guys um I I I share this with Joe many many months ago and I explained to him that prior to me taking the job as the principal at Williamstown Elementary School. I spent a whole I I spent like a month and a half watching a a full year
worth of school committee meetings and just seeing the dedication, the advocacy, the struggle in in terms of budget and and priorities, it just it was it has been very evident to me that students are at the center of these discussions and it's the reason why I
accepted the position and more importantly um it is definitely something that have captured my attention as I uh start my work here at Williamstown Elementary School. With that, I I think that other things that I want to just highlight is
that um just witnessing a lot of the events that we have conducted such as the musical for sixth grade, the field trips um and the field day and having the families constantly volunteering. I we just I I just got home from the six
fl the Six Flags field trip and it was just phenomenal the the energy among the teachers, the students, it was just super powerful to to witness and and more importantly to be a part of that with that. Uh something that I am uh
very thankful about as well is that all of this work that we have done this year, it has been guided greatly by not only Joe and Joelle with their guidance and support, but also West school council. I'm not sure how other school
councils look like, but I do feel that our council is very vocal, uh, very energized, and they've been working with us to not only draft the updates on our student handbook, but also, uh, prioritize our school improvement plan
and identify areas where we believe we can definitely have a larger impact as we continue to do this work in a much more systematic way. So part of today's presentation is it's definitely um my opportunity to to continue to expand in
the math interventionist need that we have put forth and I want to let you all know that the the presentation that you're about to see it's based on MCCAST results um looking at all students performance as well as high need
students performance. Highne is a bucket where students with disability, English language learners and former English language learners as well as low-income students are accounted for within that uh student subgroup. And also we looked
at the I Ready data from kindergarten to grade six for the first year of implementation. And my goal today is to highlight the amazing growth that we've seen with our students and the amazing work that our teachers are doing in the classroom, but also highlight that there
is a small portion of our student that have not are not closing their gaps quickly enough to be prepared to to be successful at the at the upcoming grade level. This is why the school council we we have been advocating not just only
for an interventionist but also for a much more systematic uh approach when it comes to interventions monitoring those intervention and I've been using a lot of the work that the reading specialists have done um at le
the the the the first year that I have witnessed the work that they've done I want I I've talked to them and we want to definitely take what they're doing and expanding it in a much more broader way where we're not just looking specifically at reading um and reading
interventions, but rather our students reading skills, writing skills, and math uh skills as well. So, with that, I'm going to go ahead and try to share my presentation. Bear with me because I'm not a Google person. So, I'm gonna
although I'm getting much better now, I think. Let me see if I could do this. Okay. Can you guys see the present? I think so. Right. Yes. Okay. All right. So, um I'm going to get us started with the the
the one of the first pieces of information that I had the opportunity to study prior to me accepting the job was to look at MCCAST performance. Um, as a former charter school uh leader, um, student performance was definitely a very drive a big driving force for the
work that we did in our school. And I was very interested in seeing how our students uh are current were currently performing at the school prior to me accepting the job just to understand better what what kind of needs are going to be um uh on the ground and and how do
I see myself with my background potentially supporting some of these uh particular needs. And what I do want to acknowledge is that our students um for the past uh one two three four five six seven years at least where I looked at
the data our students have always outperformed the state and you can see the the west all student purple line um we had about 67% of students meeting and exceeding expectation in mathematics in
year 2019 and you can see that we have been uh above the state for for quite some time which is again uh worth recognizing and and pointing out. However, um one of the things that captured my attention is that the gap
between us and the state um has reduced um by at least uh 10 points um we went from having a gap of 18 points back in 2019 to having a 10point gap in 2025.
One of the things that I've always um considered when looking at MCCAST data, it's the hidden story behind the data, right? The the it it sometimes it's easy for us to see how the the all the students are doing in terms of their performance. But when we start drilling
down and looking at the different subgroups, I think that there is a second story that gets highlighted. And one of the subgroups that um we paid very close attention as part of our S SOA plan at the district office as well
as um uh um the district goals in terms of attendance and and different uh academic goals that have been presented is that the high need student which is again a collection of those students with students with disability uh
language learner former uh language learners as well as lowincome students This is where we see the disparity in in terms of our students performance. So if you look at the dark black and the dark purple, these are all the students in the state and all the students at west.
But when you look at the bottom two lines where we see the lighter uh purple and the lighter gray, we do see definitely a discrepancy in terms of how that group of student is performing in mathematics specifically. And it's one
of the reasons why the school council in um in collaboration with the teachers when when we um asked them to complete a survey to let us know what what were the priorities that we needed to consider uh the math interventionist was definitely
a um a big topic of discussion. So a couple things that I want to point out. Obviously um uh high perfor um high need students performance is substantially lower than the overall west performance. And obviously that's that that's obvious
in this graph. And in 2025, 23% of West Highne students met and exceeded the expectation in comparison to the rest of the students or older students accounting for high needs as well was uh 51. West High needs performance have
declined from 33% in 2019 to uh excuse me 33% in 2019 to 23% in 2025. And then these results have also fluctuated due to the impact of COVID and remote learning. I'm not sure how that was um
done obviously at west um um at that time but I do remember that remote remote learning and and the hybrid learning did uh had a significant impact on students performance. So when the school council started drilling into the
data, um the the main message that we wanted to to um share with the school committee is that even though there is a lot of stuff that we are very proud of and we definitely want to celebrate, there are definitely other areas where
we're looking into uh addressing before they become uh more problematic as we continue to move forward because the trend continue to show that students are declining uh in terms of their MCCAST performance.
Now um one of the things that we have started working with is that we um are looking at what the reading specialists are doing. I think that they have a very pretty good and robust systematic
approach of analyzing the data and then talking about interventions. And if we are lucky enough to have a math interventionist, my goal is to try to combine uh both group of interventionists to create a much more robust uh intervention process that it's
aligned to the multi-ter systems of support that the department of education have provided some guidance in terms of how we can stren strengthen tier one instruction but also provide targeted support through tier 2 um and more intensive tier three support for
students that are in uh in more specific uh needs or significantly well below where they need to be. Now, obviously, MCCAST data is just one assessment a year. So, I don't think that we do get a lot of information from just one
assessment, but definitely does let us see the cumulative impact that our teachers are having in the classroom. But when we look at I Ready, we're also seeing a lot of really good progress with the implementation of our program. I do know that um e every new curriculum
that it's implemented always experience some sort of bumps throughout the implementation process, but I think that the way that our teachers collaborate in our building has been phenomenal. They are definitely utilizing the people that piloted the program before. Um the
professional development that our district have put in place uh as part of the implementation uh process has been outstanding and because of that we definitely see a significant reduction of students that are behind or below the
grade level and this table basically highlights some of these uh patterns. So for example, at the beginning of the year, we had kindergarten about 79.5% of students scoring below grade level and by the spring we only had 25% of
students. So we we are seeing very clearly the impact that our teachers and the programs are having in in terms of our student performance. Uh and you see that across the board as well. Um we do see for example grade one which was
probably the strongest uh of all the grade level in reducing that achievement gap. We went from having 80 87% of students below grade level uh through the I Ready assessment and it has dropped down to 10.9%.
So there's definitely a lot of good stuff for us to celebrate. But I think that when we take a look at the next slide, uh, we get to see visually what is the percentage of students that were scoring
below grade level at the beginning of the year, which is the fall assessment highlighted in blue versus the winter assessment highlighted in yellow, and then the green assessment, which is the one that we just took in May. So you see in every grade level the reduction of
students that are um are as um the reduction of students that are scoring below grade level. Um but what is also evident here is that there is a significant number of students that are still struggling within the classroom. And then one of the things that captured
my attention after looking at this data uh in preparation for this presentation is that we do see a significant decrease in students uh performance in K to three but then in in grades four, five and six, it's when we see that reduction
kind of slowing down a bit. And it is um our belief or at least the conversations that I've had with multiple grade level coordinators and teachers that there is a significant gap that students have been carrying and then having to perform uh more complex math like in grade six
ratios and proportion that if you have not fully mastered your multiplication table your your multiplication and division uh skills definitely you'll see th that gap just kind of having that impact. So, we do see again the reduction, but it does slow down as
students get older within our uh school setting. >> Ben, >> yes. >> Can uh this is super helpful and I really appreciate seeing this um broken down over time and that these are matched students. So, I assume it's the
same group of students. If they transferred in or out, they're like if they weren't in all three assessments, they're not in this graph. Is that >> That is correct. If the students were not part of the three assessment uh throughout the year, they were not included in the calculation.
>> Can can you just just because I'm having a hard time doing it quickly on my own, but could you give us a sense of how many students this represents? >> Yes. Once we move to the uh question section,
I can pull I ready. >> Great. Great. Thank you. Thank you. That's great. The numbers the numbers are a lot obviously our grade level enrollment is it's very low. We have about six 50 to 60
to 50 no somewhere between 45 to 60 students. 60 I think it's a little too much. Um so yes that the raw number I can definitely get you that information. Julia, were you asking how many students
are in the high needs group? >> Um I I know that as a um elementary school that's at 30.5% which is roughly 120 students. So I could I could get to that number quickly. I'm wondering how many grade by grade we're talking about. >> Yeah, I can get you that. I can get you
that number. Um if we move to a conversation, I'll try to pull up uh I ready uh very quickly to get you the the actual count of the numbers. Okay. So um so yeah, so like like I'm saying, we we're definitely seeing a
significant impact in the in the new curriculum and and for the most part teachers um there there's definitely some challenges that we have. uh the curriculum is um one of the things that I hear very often is very wordy and sometimes our students might struggle with that uh with the language of the
curriculum but I think that as we continue to implement the program with fidelity I think we're going to help the students just start moving towards that direction so I think that this is just part of the implementation especially coming from a curriculum that was some
quite some years old uh just moving to this newer one there there's definitely a learning curve that it's happening as well uh with the implementation. But speaking more in detail in terms of what we will hope to do with this new math intervention is it's a couple of
things that I do want to highlight. I'm not going to read them all verbatim. I want to speak a little bit about this. Uh but one of the things that I started working with is I in one of my first set of observations as a new principal at West is that I noticed that there was a
lot of students that were getting pulled out of core instruction due to either instrumental music or interventions themselves for reading. And one of the things that I I did with uh with all the grade levels is that I organized a
listening session in terms of the schedule and the teachers just like me did share that they were very concerned with how many students were getting pulled out of core instruction to either be part of the instrumental music as
well as reading interventions. So one of the things that I did is that um when I organized these listening sessions, I asked the teachers what were the most important things that they wanted to preserved within the schedule because I definitely wanted to have the
opportunity to tweak the schedule to ensure that we are being very respectful of the core instruction and not pulling students out of that setting. And one of the things that um I did in my previous uh school is that we developed a block
called the win block. Win stands for what I need. And basically the goal is to try to tailor an opportunity within the schedule that it's not interfering with core instruction where students can receive either enrichment opportunities,
opportunities to close gaps within the I Ready program and then opportunities for students to pull to to to get pulled but not or or outside of core instruction to receive a much more targeted support. I
um drafted the schedule um based on that input and I think that I was able to figure it out how to make it all work. Um uh it was a puzzle but it was definitely fun and this is actually one thing that I'm very um passionate about
building school schedules. But one of the things that we tried to do within this within the schedule is to ensure that students were not getting pulled out of core instruction. Now, it was a little bit challenging for our teachers in grades K to two because they do have
a lot more to cover than uh in the upper level, especially because they do have foundational skills that are not necessarily being taught in older grade levels. So for those great levels, we decided not to create a wind block for this year and give us the opportunity to
start a wind block for the next academic year with half of the school where we have the opportunity to refine it and improve it and then move that um potentially expand it to grade two, grade one, and eventually kindergarten.
But our goal will be to try to use the math interventionist as much as possible as a pushin support in K to2 and as a pull out and push in support in grades three through six. And again based on
the schedule that that that I have drafted so far I think that we're going to be able to make it uh work. I haven't presented the schedule yet to the teachers. I just finalized that I want to say like two days ago. I was just running it by the union to ensure that
there was no oversight on my end that um that I didn't miss any particular issue. I did sit with Joe and Joel as well to make sure that I received some historical context uh from uh from the work that Wes have done before and uh
and again I utilize a lot of the work that the reading specialists have been doing in our classrooms uh with our teachers and try to replicate some of that. So, one of the things that we did is that we drafted a job description and
a kind of a job expectation for what this position will will look like at West. And what we did was I drafted that position with what I did back in my previous school. And then I align that
work with the MTSS blueprint that the Department of Education provide as a guiding document for intervention purposes. And then last but not least, I asked a group of teachers to help me take a look at what was drafted and
ensure that the historical practices of WS were accounted for as part of this process. So, we had about four or five different math teachers that um supported me with the development of that job description. And what we
highlighted is the following. This is again, this is a summary of of that document. Um, I know Joe and Joelle probably will be tweaking that document a little bit further uh and and probably share with the school committee. But in
terms of giving you a summary, what we're hoping to do is a couple of things. Uh, number one, we want to be very intentional with reviewing data in our school. We want to be taking a look and making decisions uh based on what
the data is telling us explicitly for all students but also taking a look at the uh subgroups as well including high need students. Right now I ready doesn't or at least not that I was able to find
doesn't connect the highne students uh demographics. Um, but I am planning to officially submit a request to the IT department to see if we can connect that information to I Ready. So that way as we are analyzing the data, we're also
looking at this group of students that are struggling uh within our uh within our school. And um what we want to do uh not only just being a lot more intentional about the data, we want to be able to examine
trends at the school at the at a grade level and classroom and students specifically. We just don't want to be looking at how the school is performing as a whole, but we want to be able to drill in as much as possible where we
can talk about classroom but also student performance as well. Um, and our goal is to kind of replicate a lot of the work that our reading specialists are doing, but in a much more systematic way where the reading specialists, every time that we uh
administer the assessment or the diagnostic assessment, they organize a meeting with grade level teachers to go over the data. We do that very quickly. We do that in about 40 minutes. My goal is to expand it a little bit more so that way we can not just look at the
data but also have the opportunity to review and study uh work sample as well. So that way we can see what is the actual production that it's leading to this type of performance and then based on that information uh um definitely
consider tier one adjustment uh tier 2 interventions and then tier three intervention and eventually I'm hoping that we get to a place where we can have enrichment opportunities and uh opportunities to challenge our high
performing students because we do have a number of students which are not part of the discussion constantly that are scoring two or three grade levels above where they should be and I think that there are opportunities for us to also
try to tailor more opportunities for those students as well and then with that we want to be very intentional about the tier 2 and tier three support where we're providing an intervention within a time frame 6 to 8 weeks and
Then for students that are in tier 2 intervention, every two week we will conduct a progress monitoring to assess whether students are moving. And then for tier three, we will do it probably on a weekly basis depending on what we can accomplish uh with the schedule and
then monitor those tier intervention and that progress uh data meetings to ensure that um we're we're we're able to see that students are moving. The goal is not to keep students separated from the core program because obviously tier one
instruction is extremely important. But the goal is to pull students to receive that intensive support and work and then within six to eight weeks return them back to the class and continue to uh target what the data is telling us as we
continue to move uh forward. And um we want to be a little bit more intentional about documenting goals, the grouping, the frequency, the schedule, and what the next steps are. And one thing that I heard from the school council, especially from the parents side, is that they also want to be part of these
conversations when we're having this uh data conversation, and it's kind of starting because of a new law that was passed. Well, I I say new, but it's not that new, which is the early literacy law that requires us to assess students
reading um uh skills in early literacy for students in grades K to three. And by law, any student that score well below benchmark, we are required to send a letter. And then that letter b basically invite families to participate in a meeting.
And we had the opportunity this year to to start those meetings and it it was great. Um I thought that the families um were going to be surprised with the letters but to the contrary there was definitely very powerful conversations
happening in those meetings and uh the classroom teachers were able to provide additional evidence in terms of what the data was not necessarily showing. And those conversations open up my eyes to a couple things. number one that our community is extremely involved. Uh
which is great. Uh it's definitely a uh a good thing to have. Um and and we want to within the school council there has been conversations about how we can expand this conversation not just to the students that are performing below
benchmark but also students that are performing at benchmark and above benchmark when possible. Again, these are long-term goals. We're not necessarily talking about um in the near future, but it's it's these conversations are starting to happen
happen uh within the school council. And then um the last piece that I will say is that um uh we continue to hear really good feedback from the teachers in terms of where the curriculum might um have some challenges uh in meeting uh
students needs specifically for those that have uh significant academic gaps. And I do have a couple of notes in terms of uh my reflection on the first year of implementation for the I Ready curriculum and the things that I've heard from teachers during my monthly
meetings with them that I'm planning to discuss with both Joe and Joelle to um expand or tailored next year's professional development to address some of those areas that um we have been in discussion uh with our our teaching
staff. So, uh, I promised Joelle that I was going to try to keep this meeting under two hours. So, I hope that I did a good job. >> All right. Any question? I'm gonna be I'm gonna I'm gonna multitask. I'm going
to try to pull up the red data. >> Oh, >> Ben Ben, don't I I can do that some of that data analysis on my own and I and we do have a full agenda, so I don't need you to do that one right now. Um I do want to name how this is phenomenal.
Uh this is uh you're you're like this is music at least to my ears. Um the the systems that you are creating to ensure that students get what they need when they need it. Um so I just want to say thank you. I do want to ask if there are any quick questions from other school
committee members knowing that um we've probably gone a little bit longer in this part of our agenda, but this was all really good information. Uh, so I don't mean that in any critical way. Um, Ben, but I do want to just ask committee members if there's anything else they want to ask.
Go ahead, Jose. >> Ben, just, you know, so grateful for your leadership, you know, uh, grateful that you're here with our community, supporting our students, supporting our families. I think um you know continuing on from from what we just heard from Julia, I think in this presentation that
you shared with us, it is clear how careful and thoughtful your team is and kind of thinking about ways that the ways that we can better support our students in student learning. Um so I I I it's powerful and really a privilege
to to have have kind of witnessed and learned from in the presentation that you shared with us. Um, I was at a a meeting with superintendent across uh the northern burgkures a while ago. We were we were missing Joe. Joe, this is the Mstead Home Mstead lunch month. We
missed you. But at that meeting, uh, Ben, what a question was asked of superintendent. And I'm just curious about, you know, your your sense of um continuing and sort of legacy impacts of COVID. What came up in that conversation with uh the superintendent is that um
you know they were noticing at the prek kindergarten levels remaining impacts of of of co really particularly on like social emotional development literacy the like and I don't know if we're picking up or you're noticing that or
conversations are being shared with you from from our teachers about you know those challenges that that still remain. just just curious about whether you've seen them and and whether we need to be um thinking differently about how to support that that cohort of students.
>> Yeah, I I can speak to that um in a much more broader way. I don't I don't think that I have a really good handle on the details of our community and our student as a whole within my first year here. But one, we did experience this as well
uh in my previous building. And one of the things that we started collecting was the preschool experience of our students and we started analyzing the preschool experience and the students performance through the universal screeners. And one of the things that
captured my attention when when working in my previous district in this particular task is that a lot of families are maybe because of the cost of uh daycare and and and all of this. We're moving more towards having
uh watch over their kids and having a less structure um setting in terms of um an educational setting for the students. and it was something that was very interesting in um analyzing in my previous building. Having said that, I I
don't feel comfortable making that stretch or or or just generalizing my observations at west. But what I can say is that um in my conversations with kindergarten teacher that is one of the things that they have mentioned is that
students are now coming in with uh significant not gaps but um uh uh lack of basic knowledge whether it is letter recognition, sounds recognition, numbers, basing counting skills. Um it
appears based on my conversation with the kindergarten teacher that they're seeing a change especially for those that have been at West for quite some time. >> Yeah, that's that's powerful to hear. Then I don't know Joe if you want to follow up if you were at that you know if you were able to be at that lunch if
you were kind of second what you were what I heard from other superintendents just no >> yeah we adding to what Ben has said social emotional behavioral challenges definitely greater now than they were
five and 10 years ago. It's difficult to know the impact of COVID versus just societal change. Um, but we are we are definitely doing a whole lot more work in in all of those areas than I think
people thought a school is needing to do 10 or 15 years ago. >> Yeah. So, if if these are children coming into kindergarten now, I mean, CO happened several years ago.
I'm not going to say that these kids weren't impacted at all, but we I would have expected to see a lessening of the impact of COVID. So, has something just shifted in the way families are,
you know, addressing basic learning needs of students based on their experiences with COVID. I mean, I would love to hear more about what we think might be going on and how we can address that. If we're seeing kinder kindergarteners
coming in now with who who might have had the opportunity to go to preschool um not remotely but in person. Yeah. our our students and their families need
more support now than we recognize them needing five and 10 years ago. Um that there is no doubt about that. Um and so all of the efforts that our that our teaching
staff, that our administrative staff, that our district office um has in play now to provide better systems of support um within all of those realms definitely needed. Um figuring out why I I I think is a bigger it's a bigger challenge, a
bigger question. Priscilla. >> Hey. Um, Ben and I just wanted to say I'm a Lansboro resident of the school committee, so I haven't had a chance to meet you, but um really impressive presentation and I I really appreciate it. So, thank you. Great job.
>> Thank you all. I I I really appreciate the the nice comments, but all the work that you do to to get us here because obviously there's a lot of work that that it's happening uh on your end to uh facilitate a lot of this work that we're doing within the building.
>> It's a team effort. A full team effort. Thank you. Thank you. >> I was gonna say, Julie, there's no I in team, but there's an I and I ready. There's an I and I ready. >> Oh gosh. bad school committee jokes. Here, here we are.
Um, excellent. Thank you so much, Principal Torres, Ben. Um, thank you for being in our district. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you for sharing that and all the work you've done. Um, to also really think about what this position can do. Just I assume in the last bit of time where it was
clear this position would exist. I mean, I know there's some pre-working pre-work that had to gone into it, but it's a lot of work. Um, thank you, Carrie. >> So, I just want to say um the position didn't exist from the vote. I mean, the
vote was for $120,000. So, I you know, and obviously the intent was to establish this position, but that that's not technically what happened at
town meetings. So my question is were any other options discussed considered for the use of the additional 120,000 to the west budget? >> Yes. So we um I have a draft of the
school improvement plan um that we worked on uh with the school council and there is definitely a lot of other areas that we can definitely uh work on like just one of the things that come to mind right away is the challenge that we have
experienced when it comes to writing right in the uh new schedule that I created for the next academic year. One of the things that I heard from teachers is that when we regionalize, I guess that I I don't know the details, so I'm just repeating what I was told. I guess
that prior to the regionalization, there was a Wednesday half a day or early dismissal that Williamstown used to have and that was such an important opportunity for teachers to collaborate with one another from different grade levels. And by having that particular
meeting space disappearing, one of the things that I um was a little bit more intentional about the new schedule is that I found opportunities for teachers from um let's say third grade teachers to be able to collaborate at the bare
minimum once a week with teachers in the second grade level as well as teachers in the fourth grade level. So, I was able to kind of map things out, different opportunities for collaboration within the schedule that we we have and um I obviously there are
certain things that we have to give up in order for us to accomplish that. I'm going to be introducing this to the teachers uh within the next few days. I'm just finalizing just minor details um that that that are in the works. But
um to answer your question specifically uh definitely more opportunity for professional learning community where teachers can come together to analyze uh writing samples from MCCAST as well as from the uh widen wisdom uh curriculum
and then having a deep dive in terms of how we can bake make better connections potentially using the writing revolution uh which is a a book that that we have um started um to to study a little bit within smaller groups in our district
office and make that much more systematic across the board. Having said that, um it it is my opinion that we do have a lot more space with our current structure and the potential new schedule where we can address the writing in a
much more um uh tangible way without requiring a lot of funding unless it's utilized for professional development purposes to realign our expectations in writing from kindergarten all the way to the to grade
six. Uh but where I see the biggest leverage in terms of our moving the needle for our students is definitely the the math. Like just to give you one example, early literacy diagnostic for K to three.
There was only one student that score in the red or well below benchmark. Only one student. That's not the case for my math subject. Definitely math. It's where we see just because of the nature of the subject, right? It's building
blocks. So in third grade, you learn how to multiply and divide. In fourth grade, you start getting introduced to fractions and and decimals. Fifth grade, you expand on that. You're adding, division, multiplication. And then by the time that you get to sixth grade, you're now working with ratios and
proportion. But you you get promoted every year. But if you're not closing those gap, your your backpack it's getting heavier and heavier with with the gaps. While in reading, there is a lot of opportunity that if students are not getting one particular skill set
from the story that we're reading today, most likely they'll get it in the next one that we're going to read uh or the next one or the next grade level. And basically what we see is that in reading the complexity of the text increases as
students get uh older. Um so I'm not saying that it it it that um that we haven't necessarily looked at other areas of needs, but I think that if if we want to leverage the area that has the biggest impact in moving the needle,
I will say probably math. It's where um not only myself, but but I'm speaking for the school council. I think that's where we see the biggest um opportunity for for our students. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> And and thank you Carrie for that
clarification and reminder that um the town does not choose how we spend our budget. Um but our professionals uh are are leading that work. Um Ursula, I see you have a hand raised. Thumbs up. Okay. Um
>> I'm sorry. It was a thumbs up hand raised mute button thing and no nothing's raised. Let me figure out how to put it down. >> Excellent. Excellent. All right. Um again, thank you uh Ben for being here this evening. Carrie, that seems like a really good segue into the finance
subcommittee um report. Uh so can we hand this over to you? >> Sure. So, we learned um or were reminded in the finance subcommittee that when Williamstown
town meeting voted an amendment budget, they essentially rejected the budget that we all originally voted. So, we now need to vote a new budget um and send new letters to the towns uh so that
everybody has the same budget and we're all in compliance. We at the finance subcommittee did um make a motion to recommend the budget adoption language that is in the
packet. Julie, I don't know if you want me to read it or if you feel people have read it. It's a lot of numbers, but essentially um it's voting it. The motion was to recommend to the school committee that we approve the budget
numbers that include the $120,000 from uh Williamstown annual town meeting amendment that passed um in the budget for FY27. >> I I if if it is all right with all I
think we can skip reading all of the dollars and cents. Um that is the the gist of the motion and it is in our packets. So >> Okay. Um so do you want to call the vote? Do you want me to do that? >> So you have a motion and do we need a
second on from this floor? >> Yes we do. >> Thank you Curtis. We got a second from Curtis. Any discussion about this? >> The only thing that I want to make very clear is that this does not impact Lansboro's assessment at all. So, the
successful vote last night that holds. There is no need to have any concern about about that. >> Thank you, Joe. All right. Um, I'm going to move us to a roll call vote and I'm going to have Christina kick us off.
>> So, Julia, I'm thinking at least maybe we should have for the record, uh, we should have the numbers in the vote. Sorry, I know I gave you the option, but I feel like we should read it. >> Oh,
>> okay. Great. Great. Do you want to read that? >> Yeah. Um, okay. So, the recommendation is a motion to approve the Mount Greylock Regional School District budget for the fiscal year starting July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027.
A gross operating budget of $ 31,26,041. a general fund operating budget of 29,74,541 and a capital budget of 1,719,075. So then it goes on to give the assessments for Lanesboro in um which
are the same that were vote as was voted last night in both operating in capital and then Williamstown's budget assessment is um including the 120,000. So but those are the those are our
budget numbers. >> Great. Um, thank you. So, we have a motion from the finance committee, a second from Curtis. We're gonna move to a roll call vote and then I'm gonna um ask I I think
different ones of us our background noise makes more noise than others. So, if we could all make sure we are on mute unless we are uh voting or speaking that would be great. So I am going to move to roll call vote but starting with Christina >> Conry I
>> Constantine I >> Elen by I. >> Green I >> Mallaloy I >> yellow I >> Owen I. So that passes unanimously. Um
and Carrie there's you have more on your agenda correct from the uh finance subcommittee. Yep. Um, so I just need to pull up the school committee agenda to see if there's anything specifically listed.
Um, finance subcommittee. Okay. >> Um, so chapter 70. Yeah, got it now. So, um we have an additional um 80,000 in chapter 70 funds that came in um
that in increase what we have available in our budget for this fiscal year, the one that we're currently in. So, FY26. Um, so this is, you know, obviously these came in after we voted our budget last spring and we
have, um, options of what to do with these funds. One option would be to roll them into END for certification in the fall. Another option would be to use them this year um which would then um
hopefully decrease the amount that we pull from choice and tuition funds um barring any unforeseen um you know circumstances before the end of the year. So, uh, the finance
subcommittee, uh, uh, voted to recommend to the school committee the latter, um, that we use the 80,000 in funds from chapter 70 in this current fiscal year, thereby hoping to increase what we have
available in reserve funds uh, in the coming year. So that motion um was passed and needs a second on the from the school committee. >> Second. >> Thank you, Curtis. Any discussion about
this motion? >> One one quick point just because the the auditor will will uh count each individual dollar. Uh this would be a motion to utilize the additional chapter 70 funds in FY26 within our general fund
and it's a the amount is $80,554. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um we have a motion from the finance committee, a second from Curtis. Uh hearing no more discussion. Jose, you're going to kick us off with a roll call vote.
>> Constantine. I >> Elfin by an I. >> Green eye. >> I think we might have lost. >> I think we lost Ursula. >> Okay. I was just waiting. Noah I Ow. I
>> Conry I. >> All right, that motion passes. >> Thank you. >> So then the other item of business we discussed at the finance subcommittee uh meeting was um a potential change or
increase to athletic and co-curricular fees that our families um are asked to pay. Um you have uh some comparisons with peer schools in Western Mass and as well as some from across the state which
are a bit older. You also have a copy of the waiver um which is based on the free and reduced lunch forms that are submitted by families. So students from families that qualify for free and
reduced lunch um are qualif can qualify for a waiver of these fees. Um we did not take a vote on this. Our discussion leaned toward addressing this issue in the coming fiscal year and uh
potentially voting to increase uh these fees for athletic and co-curricular participation in um the next budget cycle. It seemed too uh close to fall participation. Families need to be able
to plan. We also need input from our families. um in terms of how this might affect them and whether it's something that they uh would be able to manage. We currently bring in about $90,000
in these fees which are tiered, right? So, we've got um $120 per student um for participation in varsity sports and uh well, high school
sports I should say and um performance, stage performance, um those kinds of things. Uh $95 for middle school, same kind of participation. We have a fee for unified sports
participation and we have a fee for um like backstage and technical assistance. So those are in order 120, 95, 60 and 35. So we can think about increasing each of
those or some of them. Um what was discussed is the possibility of setting a number as a goal if we're currently bringing in $90,000 toward supporting athletics and uh
performance. And one of the highest costs in those areas of, you know, school participation is transportation, right? And transportation costs are just going to be going up. um fuel costs are
through the roof already. So we need to think um both creatively and um I I think personally we we need to think in terms of our full division of uh
particularly for sports like how do we reduce transportation time on buses and the cost of transportation. Are there ways that we can at least if not next year, in future years, um bring those
numbers down? Um and then what is the targeted amount for what we hope to um reach for the the amount that we bring in. Um and so this is going to involve
uh the finance the finance this will be the a topic for discussion in the finance committee in this coming fiscal year and um you know it will involve conversations with the director of athletics and co-curriculars as well as
other administrators and obviously the superintendent. So, something to think about and we want to get the word out to parents. So, I'm thinking it might be nice to announce that we're going to be considering this topic um in the fall when students come
in for sports and um and uh theater and other kinds of activities. So, that was our conversation, but would love to hear your thoughts as well. Carrie, do you want those thoughts now
or do you mean will be part of the ongoing conversation as you >> Well, that's totally up to you. It's uh >> schedule. So, >> yeah. Um yeah, so we are and we missed it. We may
come back. I don't know if we ever come back to student update, but um yeah, if anyone Carrie has thoughts, anyone want to weigh in now, not on the not on whether or not we should have the fees, but on what Carrie has shared.
Go ahead, Jose. >> Yeah, Carrie, I just grateful for you and the in the subcommittee for well for all of the work, but particularly on this topic. I think the um all the considerations that you all had and that you're asking us to have, you
know, resonate with me and and and looking forward to, you know, these conversations that that we that we plan in the future for this. So, thank you. >> Yeah. And the one number I didn't mention is that we do cap the fees at 500 per family. And you'll notice that
um at some of the other schools they range from zero fees, which used to be the case at Mount Grey Lock long time ago, um to fees much higher than than what we are asking. So there's a whole range um something some good things to
consider. First slide. >> Quick question, Carrie. I apologize because I missed the meeting earlier and I just got kicked out for a minute and I missed this five minutes of discussion. What were we talking about going to for a number? >> Oh, we don't have a number that we're um aiming to achieve.
>> Okay. >> So, that's been going to be part of the discussion. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> I think that's it for me, Julia. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you, finance committee. That sounds like a robust meeting. A super robust meeting. Um,
thank you. All right. Uh we're going to move to the super uh intendant evaluation. Um what I thought I might do, you've all received the summary. Um and so what I thought I might do is just explain the
process uh that we use for everybody to hear. um and read the o overall summary um you know the highest level of summary um and then uh any additional discussion and we'll take a vote um because that is
something we vote on. So so first I just want to say thank you to everybody who uh contributed which is everybody. Um so we uh I really appreciated being able to take into account every school committee member's um perspective.
I I appreciate you using the form that the state form um with the competencies and the um or the all the all the ED jargon for this evaluation. Um what I did to develop the summary of our seven
um voices was to effectively and I I can show you I just this is still at my desk but like take a tally by by area to see how many said proficient um exceeds you know the the various words. And so what
what we have in the summary is effectively a vote. Um and what I would say is we are all pretty aligned. Um and so there were no there were no real outliers. Often there was a line between meets and exceeds like there was maybe
three to four or four to three. Um same with proficient and I can't an exemplary um like there was you know a thin line there. Um but what we have here is a is effectively a vote. Um so appreci I hope you see your your own perspective um
demonstrated in this in this evaluation. Um, I then took all of the com I read all the comments from everybody and then I um the most I I believe the most unbiased being if it's a being to help summarize
our comments bit by bit was to lean into um my claude subscription um so that I it's not my voice it is our collective voices in the comment section um and so that is that is what you will also see um one thing
that I, as I said to Joe, if there were, you know, often you don't put something into an evaluation unless multiple people say something. Um, so there are definitely things in here that one or two people, you know, may have or or even just one person may have experienced. And Joe is Joe and I had a
rich conversation about where he might um think and learn from those comments and and follow up and um etc. both good and um places where he might look to grow. Um but that is what is included in the summary. Um, and so with that said,
uh, f first of all, let me pause and say, does anyone have any questions about how the summary was created? >> I'll just say I I remember you had used um AI to do the evaluation last year and we had had an opportunity ahead of time
to know that. So, it I kind of assumed that's what you were doing again. And when I read the comments, it was kind of obvious that that's, >> you know, they they were clearly not your voice and not really our voices.
Um, but something more neutral. And I don't I don't really know how I feel about that because >> I I miss the actual quotes from people that um aren't just summaries of of what they said or com combining voices.
So, just putting it out there, but I do understand that it's it makes the task more doable >> and it does a >> fine job. Um, but it's uh it's I don't think it's ideal.
>> Yeah, I I appreciate that. And um I will definitely take that into account. I I actually did edit some of the I don't take it straight. I did edit but I do not have quotes from individual people. Um and so that can definitely be incorporated in the future. The the
dilemma I face is I don't want it to be biased for what I think. Um I want it to truly be the summary of our voices. Um so I appreciate that and I may um you know I will think about that as I do it going forward. And I also after I read
the summary for the public to hear this is a public you know um thing. Um I invite school committee members to share any particular comments um that they want to share with Joe directly. Um okay so what what we concluded as a group is
that >> can I ask you a quick question Julia? >> Yes. >> Our individual reports also go to Joe and our public records right? >> Yes. >> Yeah. So as long as that's the case I'm fine with this. I think it does a nice
efficient job and the core data is readily available. >> Great. Great. Um so in summary uh we collectively believed that Joe has um met the
progress towards his goals that we would have expected. um that he is proficient on the standards uh that he is expected to be proficient on instructional leadership, family and community engagement and professional culture and exemplary in management and operations.
Um so that is I in the parliament of superintendent evaluations that is all high praise. um in the parliament of a of a regular citizen to say they met expectations, you know, it doesn't sound
as high of praise, but I think I I want to be clear that in how this tool is created, that is high praise. Um so what we collectively said, um the school committee is unified in its appreciation for Joe Berson's leadership during this
first full evaluation cycle with Joe as the permanent superintendent. Across all seven evaluations, members consistently highlight his steady, calm demeanor, exceptional work ethic, and ability to manage a significant operational workload, including budget negotiations,
HR, and staff staff transitions while maintaining a clear focus on student success. A defining strength noted by multiple members is Joe's ability to build collaborative culture across faculty, staff, families, and students, and his collaborative relationships with the district's two sending towns. His
communication is described as clear, concise, transparent, and datadriven, and his accessibility to any member of the community is valued. One member noted that quote quote um a call to him by anyone in the community leads to an
engaged conversation. Another observed that the district has not experienced a more stable period in recent memory with Joe fostering trust and creating conditions for educators and students to focus on their core work. Specific accomplishments recognized include the successful rollout and implementation of
I Ready diagnostic assessments, the launch of Panorama based surveys, the onboarding of a new principal and assistant principal at Wes, the collaborative Majia negotiations, and meaningful progress on community engagement goals. The mission vision process was noted as slightly behind
schedule, understandably so given the demands of all of the other priorities, especially the budget season. Areas identified for continued attention include strengthening academic rigor and outcomes and ensuring consistent responsiveness to family concerns at the high school level. One member wrote Joe
exemplary overall. The remaining six rated him proficient with several noting they anticipate growth heard exemplary as multi-year initiatives mature. There is no doubt that the district is positioned for growth even in difficult budget times due to Joe's steady leadership.
So uh I will I I hope I have shared my own personal perspective when I say that um while these words proficient and meats don't sound as um exemplary as I truly
believe Joe to be um they are the form and I do believe Joe is is um we are extremely fortunate as a district Joe to have you here leading us. Um so thank you. Thank you. And I certainly welcome
anyone else who wants to share um personal thoughts now or add to that um in this in this forum. I I'd just like to say in terms of the form, it's it's really its function is
to be able to flag areas of um less than proficient, you know, performance uh for superintendent that really need to work on some things. And we're we're really,
as you said, fortunate, blessed, um, you know, however you want to say it, that Joe is, you know, you've been with the district for quite a while now, and you really know this district. You're committed to it. You're here because you want to be here. You don't want to be a
superintendent necessaril, you know, you want to be a superintendent here. and it's like really obvious um and your personality the and your the way that
you've cultivated skills in your life leading up to this position um has just been a huge benefit to the communities that we serve and to our students. And um it's really been a
pleasure working with you uh both on the finance committee subcommittee and uh the full school committee um and the negotiation sessions that I've sat in on. You know that's I never would have dreamed
that we would be in a position to negotiate with Majia in such a collaborative fashion. Um and I know it it you have other people in the room from the administration and there's
school committee and Majia the representatives um show up at the table. But I think setting the tone and providing the data and providing the um you know the requests not demands but
requests as in partnership is um you know it's just something to be really proud of. So thank you. Does anyone else want to jump in and make Joe extremely uncomfortable with
this public praise? Jose, your turn. >> Yeah, I I'm not going to reiterate anything that that uh Carrie so perfectly shared and and and reflected. Um I I just want to comment on um Joe
how you've been a part of this district in in many different ways and in many different roles and you joining or or stepping into this role as as superintendent or even interim superintendent. You know, I want to acknowledge that that came at a time
when um you know, we were quite shaken by the dramatic departure of a widely beloved figure in Jake Mccandalas. And I think there was tremendous uncertainty and anxiety felt by many of us, certainly on this committee, but across
our communities. And and I don't think many of us, me included, knowing you and knowing how competent and capable and and wonderful you are, I I don't think many of us I'll speak from the eye. I I wasn't ready for um just how much we
needed your calm stewardship of our district. You know, you have led us with care and wisdom and and diligence. Um Carrie used the word blessed. Let's call
it serendipity, fate. I whatever we can appeal to, you know, just just just want to echo that gratitude that you just heard from Carrie. Um we are incredibly lucky to have you lead our district. So, thank you. I'm speechless. Very thankful. Very
thankful for the teamwork in every way that I have with all of you. And I think this budget season was definitely um >> yeah, >> it was the most wonderful test of something that could fray with all of the pressures, all of the
all of the challenges, all of the demands. Um but I do feel like we came out of it stronger with even more gratitude for each other, for our communities, for all the all the work um that happens. And the the district
office team, I mean, did Yeah. Joel, I'm like look pointing at the screen. Um, I couldn't I couldn't live a week with without all of the all of the ways that Joel is truly
the person that I lean on in every way and in every regard. Um, Noel within special education has carried those reigns in ways that are just really remarkable. um all of our principles,
assistant principles, I mean the the the teamwork that we have, the trust that we have in each other, um the opportunity in this coming year to continue stability because, you know, all of the planning, all of the long-term work, it only comes through stability and trust.
Um so all of those opportunities that we have ahead of us as a as a team working together, um just incredibly valuable to me and I'm really appreciative. So, thank you, >> Joe. Thank you for leading that team. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. We need a vote to formally uh we need a motion and a second to actually um approve this evaluation. So, if I could have a motion to approve the superintendent evaluation as written. >> As presented, I'll present.
>> Thank you, Carrie. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Curtis. Um, assuming no further discussion, we're going to start our roll call vote with you, Curtis, >> Elfenbine. I
>> Green I. >> Malloy. I >> Miller. I >> Owen. I >> Conry. I >> Constantine. I. >> Excellent. unanimous approval of that, Joe, and unanimous approval of you. So,
thank you so much. Um, next we have an update on the Northern Berkshire Collaborative uh conversations. Is that Joe? Is that Carrie? Is that >> Curtis? Do you want to take this one? >> Um, I missed the next to last meeting
since our last school committee meeting. I I I mean we've we've picked a contractor and are in communication with them to start the work that we've laid out that'll take place over the next year. Open parenthesis closed
parenthesis. Yes. >> Um there were a lot of lot of uh huge bids to go through and it was a pretty great process to be a part of. uh and interesting to see how on the very same page so many different people from so
many different districts and roles within those districts or adjacent to those districts could be on the evaluation of submissions uh for starting this very valuable uh and increasingly important work.
So in terms of the process um one of the things that we this was round two of assessing applications um and we received how many this time we only received three the first time and I think there
were six or seven six that um made it into the um you know second round of evaluation and uh This time we were very careful to keep the uh dollar proposals separate
and only evaluate on the non you know the ones that didn't state what they were going to charge. Uh we also incorporated interviews into the second round of proposals so that we could do
an evaluation uh based on the written proposals and then um actually get a chance to part of the thinking around this was that a lot of the work in the beginning
is going to be community outreach and we really needed to know that the folks that we we're going to be working with were dedicated to community outreach and um had an understanding of what our nine
communities might actually be like. And in the end, um the vote was to give the contract to Burke 12, um which has been active in Berkshire
County for, you know, quite a long time. Um there was definitely robust discussion about you know the top three basically there were three or four that were neck and neck and um
I think it was good discussion about whether to you know bring in new voices but in fact most if not all of those top tiered uh proposals they had all done work in Bergkshire County um you know
whether it was for the North Adams uh educa special education collaborative or Berkshire County Education Task Force or you know some of the Clarksburg um regionalization with Stamford
um and so and Burke 12 is currently doing um a big project with Mohawk um trails their regionalization project so they're in the third phase of Mohawk and will bring everything to the table that they've learned through
that process. Um, so I don't know if they've signed a contract, but it's public knowledge that they were selected. So I don't I don't know where the process is in terms of finalizing uh that that contract, but that's that's
the idea. any other conversation on that. Um, >> so I I just want to add that, you know, we're talking about community outreach with this Northern Berkshire. We're talking about community outreach with um
our process of visioning um and strategic planning. And I know that um the the finance uh committee of the town is talking about doing outreach uh regarding town budgeting um in the
coming year. So, there's going to be a lot of outreach and I'm kind of hoping we can because like Joe and I are on all three of the in all three of these groups and I'm kind of hoping that we can somehow coordinate some of this
outreach or piggyback with each other. Um but in any case there there will be um you know many folks reaching out to folks in our community um to talk about
education which is a great thing. >> Terrific. Okay. Uh next is a reminder about the upcoming school committee election process. Um, Joe, were you gonna walk us through this?
>> The the the thing to note, and we're trying to get the word out as best we can, is uh nomination papers are available both at Williamstown Town Hall and um Lansboro asks us to hold on to them at at the district office. So, you can contact me, you can contact
Williamstown Hall, go pick up nomination papers. You need to get signatures. You need to get that back to the town hall that serves the residents >> for whom you requested signatures. And
they need to verify those signatures. And that needs to happen for 45 individual signatures. And that process needs to all be done by July 21st. So, if you're interested, hop on it soon so that you have the time to to get it all
done. Um, because July 21st is the date where things need to be verified by in order for you to then be on the ballot come November. So, there's a long lead time. Act now. >> And once again, there are two seats open
in Williamstown and at least one seat in Lansboro. that will be open for for running and two two seats. >> Okay. So, two seats for residents of
Lansboro serving the entire district and two seats for residents of Williamstown serving the entire district >> and and some of our current members will be running again potentially. So, it's
not Right. >> Right. Yeah. >> That's right. >> Okay. Um All right. Any other comments on that? All right. Uh Joe, I'm going to move to
you for item 12, districtwide recent and upcoming news and events. >> Um congratulations to our recent graduates. June 6, this past Saturday. Um it was a wonderful event just highlighting all of the hard work over
many years that our 67 graduating students um had done. Um it was a great send off for them to wherever they head next in life. Um and we've got uh as of today, I believe it's is it exactly?
Yeah. To two weeks from today is the last day of school. So meanwhile, we've got all kinds of other heading towards the end of school activities that are happening. Um for some that means finals. Uh for others that means field trips and and all kinds of excitement. For many it means both. So um a lot a
lot of enjoyment happening all around. Um sports I believe we're now all all done with state competitions, things like that. Um a lot of success as as usual. Um a lot to celebrate. So, um
that's the quick update. >> Thank you. I I will um just take a moment as somebody who got to witness graduation. Um and graduation really is the culmination of our work uh as a district um who got to witness it as the
as the chair at the front of the room, but also as a parent. Um I thought it was a beautiful ceremony. Uh, and I want to just express gratitude to you, Joe, uh, to to um, Principal Schutz, uh, to
all the people involved, and then certainly to our two students who gave speeches, um, and to, uh, Bridget Ballowander for organizing it, um, down to the level of having students stand up and sit down at exactly the same moment,
um, throughout. So, the the entire thing was just beautiful. And so thank you very much. Okay. Uh next um we need a motion uh to enter into executive session with the intent to return to open session for the
purpose of discussing strategy with respect to collective bargaining for all units as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares. Uh, so if I >> Thank you, Steve. Is there a second?
>> Second. >> Thank you, Curtis. Carrie, can you start our roll call vote to go into executive session? >> Green, I. >> Malloy, I. >> Noah, I. >> Bowen, I. >> Conry, I.
>> Constantine, I. >> Elvin B. I. >> Okay. Excellent. Um, with that, Joe, are you putting us into a room? All right. while we're waiting. You want to see
something cool? >> Jose doesn't want to see it. >> Wow. >> Yeah. This is a pie pan from a German bakery. Uh, it's a vent insert for a pie pan.
Uh, from a German bakery from the 1950s from a bakery called Elfbines. >> That's enough filler for me. >> I think it's cool. Curtis, >> sorry. I was having a whole conversation with myself. Um, welcome back to our
main session. Um, and coming out of our executive session, we do have a motion. Uh, or do we have a motion? Carrie. So I will move uh that the school committee authorize the chair to execute
the uh Majia which is the teachers uh collective bargaining agreement and the ESP collective bargaining agreement which covers custodians, pair professionals and cafeteria workers. um that the um chair be authorized to
execute those agreements upon ratification by their respective collective bargaining units. >> Second. >> Julia, you're muted somehow. >> I'm I keep trying to mute myself for background noise. Apologies. We have a motion from Carrie, a second from
Curtis. Uh any other discussion about that? Okay, rolling through. We are now starting with Steve. Steve >> Miller I. >> Thank you. Bowen I >> Conry I. >> Constantine I.
>> Elfenb I. >> Green eye. >> Malloy. I. >> Terrific. Thank you everybody. Um next I on our agenda is upcoming
meetings. Our next school committee meeting is going to be August 13th uh at 6 PM on Google Meet. Um as discussed, we may have a brief one at in early July, but that will be yet to
yet to be determined. That would be a one item agenda um if we do that. So our next full school committee meeting will be August 13th. >> Are there are we also doing a retreat? We are doing I think we announced that yeah it should be on the agenda
shouldn't it we announced that it will be August uh >> 22nd2 >> um so more to come on that but uh Saturday August 22nd um any uh other items Joe for discussion
that were not reasonably anticipated okay nor for me um any agenda request tests. Hearing none, I will look for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> So moved. I'll second.
>> Okay. A motion from Curtis, a second from Carrie, and I will vote first and say um Bowen I. >> Conry I. >> Constantine I. Elvin by an I. >> Green eye. >> Moy I.
Steve, >> I'm sure he agrees. >> Miller, >> thanks everyone. >> Bye guys. Have a good night >> everybody. Good night. >> Have a good night everyone.