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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=IID5VixH1tU

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I'd like to call this meeting of the Minuteman Regional School District School Committee to order. Would you all please rise for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one

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nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. As a reminder, this meeting is being live-streamed and recorded and it's available to watch on YouTube. Um, and getting started with our official uh

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business, um, we do have those um, very short, very long um, meeting minutes um, from May 7th, 2026. So, I'd entertain a motion to approve those minutes minutes as read. >> So moved. >> Motion by Hank. >> Second.

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>> Seconded by Heather. Any questions or comments about those minutes? And before we go further, I said this last time, but for your sake, you do not have to abstain from approving minutes um, just because you were not at the meeting. Oh, the only time you need to

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abstain is really if you're having conflict of interest. Um, so so just making sure that you know that that is not an expectation. I'm sure you're still working through all of the different trainings you need to take. So, um, that will be the journey. Um so, any questions or comments about

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this? Seeing none, all in favor? >> Aye. >> Opposed? Abstains? And I say yes, so that is unanimous. Um further, we do have some bills and payroll. Um so, I would entertain a

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motion to accept the bills and payroll warrants as presented. Motion by me. Second? >> Second by Heather. >> Any questions or comments about the bills and payroll? Seeing none, all in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye.

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>> Opposed? Abstained? And I say yes, so that is unanimous. Unanimous. Um we do not have our student representative here, but we do have um public input. Um and so, if you'd like to give public

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input but this evening, um now would be the time. And I know we've met, um but if you could again say your name and the town you're from uh before you um speak. Um Thank you. >> Good evening, everyone. Uh John Valentine, uh Templeton, Mass.

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>> [snorts] >> So, I know I have 3 minutes. >> [clears throat] >> Uh so, basically broken record. Um you know, fiscal year 26 roughly 8.7 million was the budget. Fiscal year 27 approved

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uh 9.9 for Templeton. So, that's 1.1 million increase roughly for 12% increase. What I always state is that just to remind folks here that we're a low moderate income community, rural community, and that we should

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really stay within our budgets and level standing. To me uh an obvious in this whole process is last year 8.7 million 26 fiscal year 27 8.7.

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To me, that's level spending. Um but feel free to educate me in the process as well as the rest of the town. So, that's pretty much it. Thank you for all that you do. I know this is a very complex scenario and it's rough on everyone, but um the more people get

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involved, the better off everyone will be. And um okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, we we deeply appreciate people taking an interest regardless of what you is um it's good to hear from folks from the community. So, thank you for that.

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Okay. Um we were expecting some student speakers this evening, but they were unable to make it. Um as was NDEA. Um so, we will go we will go into FY 26 and FY 27 budget update. Um and so, I Emery's not here, so I'm going to assume

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we don't have much of an FY 26. I do know so she's um we're expecting to have her back next time. Um I know that she's still doing some recovery from um some uh some personal things. Um and so, we were excited to have her back. I also know

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that she I did get an email from her today that she's working on the new year um how to transfer money so for those. So, what the school committee controls is um the school committee's version of a line item budget is like the administration 1000s and the

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um instructional curriculum 2000s and so on and so forth. And so, we approve at that level. So, Emery can move money within each of those categories of budget um independently with, you know, Dr. C's

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involvement, etc., but she cannot move it between the 1000s to the 2000s, for example, without approval from the committee. So, as she is reconciling the budget, they then come back to the committee to say, "Here's how we balanced the budget. Do you approve

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that? And here's where we recommend moving some dollars to close out the budget spending for FY26 and make sure everything balanced at the end. Um FY27 budget. Um so, I know that Dr. C has some

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additional materials to share. Um but I'll take a stab at some light updates as to what is happening. Um so, so first of all, the school committee made a recommendation of what the budget should be. Um and

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what [clears throat] school committee usually starts with is what's called level service. Level service means that we preserve all of the services from one fiscal year to the next.

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Um and so, naturally, unfortunately, um the cost to maintain those services does not stay flat year to year. The costs for those services increase from one fiscal year to another. Um and so, we start with this is what

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the budget would be if we were to maintain um if we were to maintain level service across the board. We then look at that budget to say, is there anything that we don't need anymore? Um is there anything that can be eliminated? And immediately, we did

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eliminate about $300,000. After that, we went into a process of working towards a level of collaboration with the town to say, what do things look like for you this year? What do we need to understand? What should we be planning for the

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budget? Um and so, the original budget we certified was that level service less less $300,000. Um [clears throat] now, those of you who have followed things, um there were a number of exercises that we underwent with the town to look at

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different scenarios. Um one of those exercises was level service less $1.3 million. And then we did also look at level funded and a 2.5% increase over FY26. To be clear, a 2.5% increase over FY26 is something like $200,000. Okay? So in total we looked at level funded, so FY26 and FY27 the same. We also looked at FY27 being 2.5% higher than FY26, which was about $200,000 $200,000 additional

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dollars. We then looked at and I was showing you the opposite math of this, but just bear with me. We then looked at level service less $1.3 million. Um and we also looked at level service less $300,000. So there were like four different budget scenarios in play at any one time and we were looking across all of those. Ultimately, the budget that the school committee certified was level service less $1.3 million. There were a couple of reasons that we felt that that was the most um financially and school responsible budget to pass. It is because that is the budget that

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ensures we maintain our extracurricular activities for our students because we know that a school experience is not just coming in, completing your classes, and leaving at the end of the day. And especially in if you know a set of small towns like ours, the opportunities for students to >> towns like ours, the opportunity for students to um participate in extracurriculars is

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extremely limited when the student is in Um and we know that those are important for health. We know that those are important for growth, leadership skills, and a number of other things. Additionally, um the level service less $1.3 million

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saved a program called um >> MVP. >> MVP. Thank you. Um that MVP program is a program that allows students to essentially um be uh co-um enrolled in both uh Monty Tech

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programs. I'm going with a real basic explanation here. They're co-enrolled in Monty Tech courses related to electrical and woodworking, um as well as um academics here at the school.

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Um and allows them to work towards those trade skills as well as getting their academics. This year, there's also We're also working towards adding a plumbing The addition of a plumbing um track. Um so now there will be electrical,

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plumbing, and woodworking. Um this is important because the systems through which students are selected for um vocational schools is not as equitable as one would wish. >> Is getting better?

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>> It is getting better. We've seen improvements to it. Um but we have There There are still some things um that I know that the state and the vocational schools are looking at. Um and so this gives our students additional opportunities for access to those, and it does it without the cost

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of a regional school district bringing those full programs into the school. Like we all can remember days when there was woodworking within the schools, for example. But the cost of those programs today are extremely prohibitive. So it leverages all the all the great

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things that vocational schools bring, while also balancing between between the vocational school district. There are some grant covered pieces of this, but it is not fully grant funded. And so it does impact the general fund,

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which is what ultimately gets reimbursed. And it also protected the Thrive program as well, which is a program designed to help keep students who may have needed outside services here within the school

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district. So these were There are So there are other things, including teaching positions, etc., especially at the elementary school, that were preserved as part of this budget. And so really, in listening to the community that showed up to speak up

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about what was important to them, this was the budget. That was then validated at the Templeton town meeting, where Templeton community members voted that budget and made it active for the town of

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Templeton. Now, here's where here's where we really If you thought that was confusing, let's make this more fun. Okay. So at the time that Phillipston held their town meeting, um

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we had still the budget voted by the school committee was still the level service budget. And so on their on the floor of their town meeting, they put forth um the

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FY26 plus 2.5% version of the budget. So, they did not read the warrant as it was originally written with um the original budget that was proposed. They didn't read to to a different budget. Um they did with the motion of voting.

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And that budget is voted in at Phillipston. Okay. So, that's FY16 plus 2.5%. So, because School Committee and the town of Templeton voted in this different budget,

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Phillipston has the opportunity to reconsider the budget that they voted on. And so, what they have done is opened up a new warrant article and scheduled a special town meeting on June 10th

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um to reconsider the budget, which they have made the school the passing of that budget contingent upon an override. In the situation where a budget is contingent upon an override,

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um they then have to have a ballot initiative to vote on that, which is scheduled for June 13th. Okay. Now, let's keep going

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because the fun continues. There is something called a 1/12 budget. A 1/12 budget automatically is activated when a school budget is not confirmed by June 30th.

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So, we are essentially right now prepping to be in 1/12 because although Phillipston's meetings all meeting and vote all take place within the given time frame, because of our reporting requirements, the state we

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essentially have to report 1/12 to them because we won't have the the ballot results back from them. Okay? So, there's a couple scenarios of what could happen. Um if if Phillipston votes the same all the

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way through in both their meetings, essentially, once that goes through, we'll go back to the state and say, This is Now, here's where I I was hoping I get this right, because I'm with the call I got today was very confusing. If both votes go through, we

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will be able to go back to the state of July and say we have a final budget. Like, School Committee has voted, the town of Templeton has voted, the town of Phillipston has both at their town a a special town meeting, and the ballot vote,

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and we have a final budget if it passes in all of those places. But, that is not the only scenario of what could happen. Okay? So, if Phillipston does not pass the the budget

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in um the their special town meeting, then on our meeting on the 18th, we will then have an opportunity to reconsider and revote a budget.

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Okay? And then that would activate the district-wide meeting scenario, where both towns come together to vote on a budget. That would ultimately be sometime during the month of July, just based on the timing of all the things.

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Um then if they pass the school budget, but they don't pass the override, then then we're the the school budget is still okay, but Phillipston would then

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have to pull those monies from others. other other departments. I think I got all of that correct. Um I think Dr. Seed had a whole plan to go through that but I want to make sure we stick with the agenda and this is

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where we usually talk about things but if you were wondering if if regional budgeting is confusing, the answer is yes. Yes, it is. Um because there are all these different scenarios but ultimately what I would say is that right now

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you you arrived uh just in time for me to finish talking through the mess that we talked about earlier. >> Well, that's great for me. Oh, my god. >> So, I think I got it right. Um >> You did. >> So, I did. That's what I thought.

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Um I said I'm very confident. Thank you. So, so I I walked you through what we talked about earlier which is like here are the different scenarios but walk it out with the Yes. So, I think think we're we're good. Um but ultimately, you know, if the both

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school committee has spoken and said this is the budget that we need and the town of Templeton has spoken and said even if there is not an override in this town, this is the school budget that we want. We want to preserve these programs for our students. And so, now Templeton

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has the opportunity to consider this question as well and as you can tell there's a variety of scenarios that can happen but ultimately ultimately a loss in Phillipston at this point. Um temp- the school committee would not take another action on the budget

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unless or until we have the results from Phillipston. There are no further actions from school committee until we determine what Phillipston should do. Okay. I will pause for any questions from the school committee. Um I'm sure you followed all of that but it's entirely

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clear. You don't need to know flow charts whatsoever to understand this. >> So, I've tested multiple shows. >> Yeah. >> You did understand it. >> Okay. So, it's a Yeah. >> It's a lot. >> Yeah, it's a lot. >> So, all of them is in there. >> Okay. >> [clears throat] >> All right.

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Um so, so it is a lot for our community to understand. I will briefly be posting to Facebook again to let folks and folks to know that you know, special town meeting is coming up. The ballot date is coming up. It'll

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be factual information only. I I don't encourage folks to vote one way or another. I say, "We want you to come. We want you to show up and vote the way that you feel is right. Here's your opportunity." Um and just it's a way to help folks know what's happening. Um cuz

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right now that information is only posted on the folks in town website. I've seen a couple of town groups post information on Facebook. It has a little newsletter. It's in our newsletter, too. Excellent. >> Mhm. >> [clears throat]

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>> So. All right. We will skip our business manager's report cuz our business manager is not here unless Dr. C she gave you any assignments. >> But she did not cuz I just came off the road. So, um >> It's possible she didn't give you a

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response. Okay. Um so, next we will talk about um Dr. C's uh formative evaluation. Um so, um lucky for all of you, uh we put

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together a handy guide last year as to what the superintendent evaluation is, what the formative assessment is, what the summative assessment is, and then for information we can go a little bit. Um so, essentially um the goals for the district are set every 2 years, and um

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the superintendent is evaluated every year. In the first year of those two-year goals, we do what's called the formative assessment that takes a look at what happened within first year, so how are they progressing against those goals? And then in the second year, we look at

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what's called the summative, um which says, "Okay, you have now completed a goal cycle. How did you do against completing your goals?" So around this time of the year, um the doctor C, um and Molly will will pull

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together for each of these. So if you open up if you open up the document to look at, uh you will see that um there I I think you have to log You're not logged in if you can't see it. So I'll have to log in.

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Um so it will go through a student's student learning goal. You'll have information about what that goal is, and then you will have evidence that's been submitted against that goal to say, "Here's the activities that have been completed to date against these goals."

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Um so, you know, like it's a little bit confusing for folks when they are new is that there's like references between the goals that were set and and there's like basically a rubric for these um superintendent evaluations. And

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so it'll reference things like 1A and 2C and etc. And so what we do is when the district sets goals, it maps them to that rubric. It says, "This goal is aligned with this rubric. Um and here are the standards for this

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goal with this rubric." Okay? Um so, then with these overall performance goals, um each school committee member is responsible for reviewing the evidence

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submitted and then determining whether, you know, what considering that it is your one-year progress, is there some progress towards goals? Um was it not met? Are you seeing some progress? Are you

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seeing significant progress? Is it met or is it exceeded? And you're rating that based on where he is in his cycle. So, like if you're like, "Wow, you have done a ton of work and you've very nearly met this goal. You have exceeded expectations for where we are in the

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evaluation cycle." Then you could give them that exceeded. Um just because we have not yet met the goal does not mean you don't pick did not meet on every single one. So, just making sure that that's clear because if you have done one of these in

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corporate life, this process is quite a bit different. Not to mention that it's done publicly. You will literally be reading it out loud to the doctor senior at our next meeting. So, it's a it's an interesting process to learn. Um So, so you go through and rate each of

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those. There I will be sending out a document for each one of you to fill in. It will be interactive. You'll have opportunities to include comments as well. So, if you that is something I definitely encourage you to do, especially if, you know, so

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if you if you select uh you know, exceeded or met, not so much a concern for a ton of commentary there, although you certainly always want to state why you rated that. Uh but if you were to say, "I've only seen some."

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For example, you would want to put some commentary within the overall evaluation that helps folks that helps Dr. Seed to understand why they received that rating. There's like any good feedback cycle, you want to include not only what you rated, but also why you rated that.

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>> I know. >> Yes, please. I'll just speak to new members. Everything that's written here, you have access to, but you do have to be logged into your NUSD email address. There are some internal documents, there's data, there's information that's financial. So, if you click on the link here and

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you can't see this, make sure you're logged into your district email. >> Oops. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Things that are public are public, things that are not. >> You have to have be logged into your state account. Thank you. >> Um so, then

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then you go down and then there are different standards for performance. We've highlighted the ones, or I should say uh Molly has highlighted the ones um that are connected to these goals, you know exactly which ones to rate. So, anything that is not highlighted, don't touch it.

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Anything that is highlighted, that's where you have to uh give a rating. Um and so, you'll see there's the rubric of U N P E. Um and so,

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U N I P N E, sorry. Uh And I'm trying to remember what those mean and I'm failing. >> Unsatisfactory, needs improvement, proficient, exemplary. Thank you. >> Um so, once again, if you're

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unsatisfactory, needs improvement, you should absolutely include some direction on that. Um you know, proficient is, you know, like you're doing everything we need you we think you should be doing. Exemplary, you again you should probably include something about why you consider it to

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be exemplary. >> What from the evidence that you've seen that says it's exemplary? >> Um now, for our newest members, this is not an easy activity as you might imagine because you've not had as much time and exposure to this.

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What I strongly encourage you to do is to read the evidence. We do have a waiver allowed for our first-year folks to say basically, go in and say I do not have enough experience yet to rate.

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Uh, so that is allowed. We have allowed that every year since I've been chair and even before that um because you haven't been sitting in the stable you don't have as much exposure. Um, now if you have something that you

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would would still like the superintendent to know, um like I know um in one person's first year they talked a lot about um oh this would be me. Um they wanted um the communication to be mobile accessible because they read a whole uh there's a communication thing.

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And I wanted I as a parent I watched read that communication on my phone and I said, "Hey, I would love this if more of the communication from the elementary school I could read on a mobile phone because at that time I was turning and zooming in and out and like

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I couldn't interact with the information as well. Um and there are lots of families that don't have a desktop computer these days. So I had said, "Hey, here's something that I see as a new school committee member that I would love to have." And yet also remember that you know,

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when you're filling this out you're filling it out based on your personal experience with Dr. C only you're you're filling it out representing the community. And so you want to make sure that if you do decide to give that sort of feedback that it is indeed something that is going to be representative

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that's something that helps the entire school community not just your family specifically. Um so and you'd think I don't need to say that but I do. It's so So yeah, um so I will be getting this out roughly

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um I will give you through next weekend to fill it out. But then I need a couple of days to pull it all into one document. Um and essentially what I do is I take everybody's ratings and just take the

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average rating, so um between the different pieces. Um and then I include everybody's comments in one document, and then that is the document that we review together at this meeting. That gets voted upon, and then that gets actually submitted to the state.

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So, how did I do? Am I missing anything? >> You've got it. >> Um any questions about that? Makes sense. Anything unclear? >> Okay. >> All right. So, moving right along. Um so, I

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had So, so during last the May 21st meeting, it's like we had two last month. May 21st meeting, um we did the reorganization of committee, which is something we are obligated to do within 10 days of the elections every year. Um there are a few positions in that

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that don't have to be done at that meeting. Um and so I wanted to bring them back up for reconsideration during this meeting um to give folks a little bit of time to review those. Um I emailed them out, um but I know um

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I I I don't know who had their computer to find an actual of those. So, I could suspend these next ones for our next meeting if that is easier. So, did everyone actually receive that email, have a chance to look at it that described the MASC delegate, the legislative

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representative, etc.? So, cuz if you didn't receive it, I want to make sure you have time to look at it and review it. >> Okay. >> All right. >> I received it, but I looked. >> I did not. [snorts] >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> So, so I'm fine with pushing these to our next meeting. There's there's no

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rush to get these done at the end of the year Um because really they're setting us up for the FY27. Um What I What I know is I will resend it if I'm not sure you got it on. If I sent it to the distribution list for school

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committee, I'm not sure you got it on. You got it on. I know this time I sent it so I will make sure it ends up in your inbox. What I'm asking is that everybody review it. So essentially in addition to this main school committee meeting, our school committee members have two other

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group core responsibilities. One is to sign up as a liaison or representative at at least one of these, you know, other capacities is generally what the ask is so that you know, not one person on the committee is taking on all the work.

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>> [laughter] >> Um And then also there are subcommittee assignments. Subcommittee assignments will take care of over the course of the summer. The subcommittees are the finance and facility subcommittee.

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There is the um Remember district operations? District operations largely handles things like um policy, insurance, transportation updates, like different things that central office has to deal with

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that, you know, this this committee can help with or has a has a voice in. Um and then there is um I'm team work environment. So it's it's So it's it's a work environment It's a combination of work environment committee and the

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the the committee that meets with the NDEA. So it's essentially a committee I can't remember the name of it right now. >> Labor management. >> Thank you. Labor management committee. I could have scrolled down. Yes. >> I think I scrolled down for you, Jim. >> Thank you. Um labor management committee. I mean, come on. My brain is remembering a lot

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of information so far tonight so we're going to give going to get >> You want to push it to the very limits. >> Um so the so the so it's the finest facilities, it's the district operations, and it's the labor management committee. The labor management committee meets

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off cycle with folks when we're not, you know, negotiating a contract to to just cover little things that come up, like little indulgences that come up that can be resolved outside of long term.

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Uh and then it also is responsible in a contract renewal year to represent school committee in the contract renewal negotiation. Um so Um so those assignments come in later.

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Um most of those meet once a month. Um and then the liaisons are the representatives um for for the liaisons like CPAC and PTO, it's really just staying in touch with the head of CPAC and the head of PTO and

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just reporting back what's happening to the school committee. Um they can attend meetings if they want to. It is not an obligation. Um and then the legislative representative is just in charge of updating folks at the table to state and federal updates that happen. And the

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MASC delegate is probably going to say the heaviest lift but only during a very specific time of the year in the sense that they help the committee to review the legislative priorities set out by the Massachusetts

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Association of School Committees. Um and then we as a committee vote on what how we feel near the answer should be represented in that vote, you know, vote. Do we say what priorities does near answer have? They were going to

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advocate for at MASC. And then they attend the meeting to then advocate for what MASC feels is important to them um during that meeting. It is an excellent way to learn more about school committees and everything that is

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happening um at state level in terms of education and what MASC is advocating for um but being transparent, it is also during like October and November. Has it ever been but it is only during October and November and the rest of the year

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no other responsibilities. >> Um and you wouldn't need to travel to the MASC um uh conference. >> Like it's this in November. I don't know if they >> They did it's actually in May again this year. >> Absolutely no problem.

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>> Absolutely no problem. >> Okay. >> Tada. There's a water park attached. >> Okay, that's very >> [laughter] >> I know I And I think it's like two days in November. >> Yes. Uh-huh. 4th and 5th and 6th is what

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it says here. 4th and 5th and 6th. >> Um I was going to say a different >> So um so so that's what you need to know. Um so we'll suspend those so everybody can spend some time have a minute to think about what you might like to do. Um

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Shawn did volunteer to do PTO um but we can vote him in next time he's present rather than Oh, just since he's here to go through the laws. So. All right. Um school committee meeting calendar um

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I did connect with Susan on those. Um you were good with everything except for August. Is that correct? >> Yes. We wanted to see we needed to approve Molly maybe speak to it. >> I'll just talk. >> Sure. Um so the challenge with that that puts us in

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if we don't have anything until August 20th is um being the family and student handbook for the next school year. That doesn't give us enough time to honestly to update it and get the parent portal ready to go and the mandatory

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trainings for staff is also part of our mandatory trainings for staff. And so the handbook is currently in our attorney's hands. He's going to be reviewing it the first week in July and giving it back to us. He is rewriting a section to support the change in law that goes to effect in August on

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timeout and seclusion for additional so the law changes August so the handbook will will have that in place. So long story short, we would be looking to ideally have the school committee review and approve the handbook either the end of July or early August. That would give

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us enough time to update our portals and get the new handbook ready to go family review and staff review. But August 20th is a little too tight turnaround and honestly probably a realistic turnaround for our tech team to be able to do that because we also have to

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create different language versions of that so that it's accessible to all families that doesn't give us enough time to translate it as well. >> Back to you. >> I'm wondering Susan if like I don't want to ask folks to like run through their vacation but like vacations are always

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hard for us to to juggle to figure out a state. But maybe Susan what we could do is send out um Where where are those little >> Doodle poll. >> Doodle yes. If we could send out a doodle If you're not quickly look at >> Okay. >> the like right after this meeting you can look at what Thursday's

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we put out to committee will vote on the Thursdays that we're not too concerned about staying on schedule like I I don't it doesn't as long as we post it in advance we don't always have to stick to the first and third Thursday. That is what we try to do to be consistent for the community

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but with juggling vacation schedules between central office folks and school committee members I would want to be a little bit more flexible there. So, if we can send out that Doodle get the votes, we can figure out when our going to say our summer meeting needs to be in order to get those pieces of work done.

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I'm going to move my long down. How's that sound to everyone? >> Um curriculum and instruction update, I know you said you didn't have any of your data yet, but any general updates you wanted to give us today? >> Sure. I can tell you that we've just closed this week our end of year

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benchmark assessment windows. So, our Dibels data, our STAR data, and our Bi-weekly data. If you're sitting there and thinking, "What are all of these things?" Two of them are academic screening assessment tools that we give three times a year to kind of take the temperature on students and say, "You

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know, how are they doing in relation to performance and growth?" And then the third tool, our Bi-weekly is our social emotional screener to see if there are students who are missing any need for additional social emotional supports that we can provide in district. And so, we just finished collecting that data.

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We'll be starting to analyze it in the next week or two. So, hopefully at the next school committee meeting we'll have that to present to you. But, that's that's just wrapped up, just closed. And other than that, we are in the throes of the last final weeks of the school year. There's a lot of field

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trips going on. There's a lot of kind of wrapping up programs, finalizing our last few MCAS tests. Cool. Um which which we may be just in the rearview mirror of now. We may have a few We were just working on makeups. So, I think we're pretty close if not there,

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but gosh, to do that at the end of the school year is a lot. So, yeah. Our teachers have been doing a nice job, you know, really keeping a focus on collecting that data though and really keeping sure that all students have accurate scores and assessment data to be utilized. So, more to come next meeting, but no

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worries. >> I know my son celebrated being all of us all of us freaking out. >> [laughter] >> I think our teachers did too. >> That was a moment of excitement. >> Although I did have one email me yesterday asking me if they could log in jail. >> Oh, just for the >> have students for

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>> Funsies? >> Sure. >> [laughter] >> Perfect. Um so we do have some surplus items this evening. Um so Susan, I'm going to let you explain surplus items because everyone has heard my voice for a very long time.

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>> Yeah. So these are just items that every year at the end of the school year our IT department goes through all of their different items to see which ones are still on the running and usable for the the next year. We have a company that we uh contract with that recycles all of it

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for us for no charge. And this is this year's list of things that are no longer usable but we distribute. Quite a list. >> It [clears throat] is quite a list. I will not I promise not to read them all out. Motion. Uh so so therefore I would entertain a

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motion to accept the attached list of items from the IT department to be recycled. >> So moved. >> Motion by Seconded Seconded by Heather. Any questions or comments about any of those items? We're going to listen to them. Seeing none. All in favor?

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>> Aye. >> Opposed? Abstained? And I say yes, so that is unanimous. And so now we come to our our spot where we remind folks that we uh are still down um Phillipston a a Phillipston

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school committee member. And so if you have friends in Phillipston or family in Phillipston or know of someone who'd be a great match with Phillipston you think our Phillipston member who has uh come in and stood up and joined us

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um but we are still down Phillipston members and you know it is we do want to make sure our towns are fully represented. So there's five votes that represent Templeton and there's three votes that represent Phillipston when we are full committee. We also want to make

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sure that we can get important votes done and through. You have to have a two-thirds standard for example. So if you know of anyone, please let them know. I'd be more than happy to chat with somebody and let them know what does it look like to be a school committee member? We've also sent out a

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guide book on several occasions to give a sense of like what the committee does. Um at the MCAS conference we did just talk about that. Um I have not they do have a few of the featured

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speakers up here. I have not spent a ton of time looking to see if they have the agenda yet. But we can send out a note for those. So so we do have to like think about budget as we do it every year but particularly

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in the sub coming year because even with even with that increase things will still be quite tight next year just based on the increases especially fixed costs. Um that said the conference is a

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you know every new school committee member does have to complete a day of training. And the conference is one way to accomplish that. So if for example you want to do choose sign up to be the delegate, you could also do your training at the conference as an

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example. You can have your full first year of being a school committee member to complete that training. Um typically otherwise it's on a Saturday. Susan would work with you to sign up for the right training. And some of them are are pretty close to that. Um Thank you.

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>> There's actually a training course >> Oh, sorry. >> in Fitchburg this this Saturday. >> Having having I to do it at the first conference I went to. >> Was that tough for you? >> I hated it. >> Okay. No, that's good. >> Um I ended up going for funsies. Um I finished it there, but

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I went to an actual charting the course. Uh I forget what school it was even at because it was Worcester. That was much calmer. >> Okay. >> And it was at the That's how I got it. >> Yeah, your recommendation. >> I'd be Thank you. >> Take the charting the course as a separate course. Um on their website, if

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you go under events, there's a link for that. Um so they just say Fitchburg on in on Saturday, but um June 20th, so it's a hall, though, but down in Sturbridge. So, you know, you could make a day of it and go to Sturbridge Village, too. Um but it's like 8:00 to 4:00. Um so,

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you know, it is a good good full day. But I would say that was a lot easier because you're you're running around the conference trying to keep track of even where you're going next and trying to get the signatures for the courses and this was like a one

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and done. Um and it's nice even, you know, if anybody needs a uh a free talking road trip buddy. Um I would say it's not a bad for existing members to retake every once in a while.

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Um What I will I don't I'm not seeing that they've posted an agenda yet. So, being transparent, there were I've been a few different years. I have been in years where it was an excellent conference. I learned a ton. I was able to network with other school

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committee members. We were able to hear what was happening in other school districts. It can be an excellent opportunity. The last year I went, which was in 2024, I would not have recommended that year

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to anyone. Heather was there with me. That year was not great. It was highly politically charged content. Um leaning in only one direction. Um, and so it did not effectively represent

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all, you know, the different schools of thought. And it felt more like folks were navigating a political quagmire. It was immediately after the election. It was the day after. And so it was even more charged for that

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reason. And so I it was not a a set of great content choices in consideration of the timing. Um, and yet I would say the two years prior to that were amazing. Um, it was an excellent conference. I learned so

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much and they met so many people. Um, I got to spend time with my fellow school company members. Um, I I would have without doubt recommend it prior to that. So we can put some consideration to what we can afford for this year, um, because it is a good opportunity. Um,

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but you know, maybe try course elsewhere basically if there's competition. Um, do we know is there early bird sign up? I was just trying to sign up as it used to be. Do you know that? They extended it. Usually it's in July but it says if you sign up on or before September 5th,

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you get the early bird discount. >> Okay, so we have some time this year. >> Yes, so we have a little bit of >> All right, so we can figure that we can look with a marine see what we what we can do. Um, all right. And then Dr. C, it's your turn to speak. I guess

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you can take a break. >> Thank you very much and I apologize for being tardy but couldn't be helped and there was traffic up here too. So we've we've actually had a well, we've had a very busy couple weeks but

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um, with graduation and all of that, you know, graduation we did fantastic events. It did not rain. It was sprinkled a few times. It got us nervous a couple times but we we made it. And so that was fantastic. You know, with the award ceremony, the senior banquet,

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which is always fun. Awards athletic awards. And you know, every year this is that was my 10th 10th graduation here and I just don't know how I pulled it off. And because it's such

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it's such a it's such a task, but class advisor Jamie Sherer and Jess McLaughlin do a fantastic job. Um they were the senior class advisors and just trying to you know, herd cats. And that's what really that is in the last

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few weeks. They did a fantastic job with that. Junior class advisors who set up the um all of the decorations and you know, make everything happen. Um Ann Lyons and Lori Reed

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you know, again wrangling juniors now to uh make the place beautiful um and to lift chairs. It was just It just really needs to watch it and really they really do have down to a science. Um and it was a fantastic um event. If you've never been

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um or you haven't been in a while, it is a party. Uh it is not a formal affair at all. It's cowbells and there's air and air horns and there's volley balls and there's confetti and just it's >> People in the stands are dancing.

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>> It's so it's so neat. It really really is and has been every year that I've been to shows. It's really kind of neat. It brings a lot of And when we have it outside, there were over 1,300 people easily because the stands hold a thousand and that was completely full. And on the sides, there were folks in

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lawn chairs and you know, just just to come out and watch the graduates. So it's fantastic. Um >> [clears throat] >> So TES has been busy. It's the field trip, you know, um end of the year. Yeah, I think it was I think it was today, actually. They went to the

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Eco-Tarium, and Davis Farmland. Everybody made it back. It was No goat bites or anything to that effect in Farmland. Our warrior I'm so I'm sorry. Is that a chicken chicken attack? In fact, you know, we've had a couple

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close calls, but yes, we we made it all back. I didn't know So, our warrior robotics team We're very good. So, we are. No, I I'm just telling you this is the second time.

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We We are very good. And I would tell you that they went down to the to the tournament champions again. Went down to Oakmont tournament, and it literally was in the very end for the championship. It

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ended up being both Arab dancing teams facing off. It's four out of five of the schools. So, we've we've won the championship a couple times. And uh we do brag about it quite a bit. It is bragging rights certain of the superintendents. And

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I take great joy calling my good friend Tom, student of Ashworth, and of course Dr. I just let them know that we won again. Uh track and field that they that is another really big to do about the fact that they won the boys won the league championship for the

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first time in 13 years. Um all of that without a functional track. I just I have to say yes, the track still exists. It's down there, but it's such poor repair we really can't gauge with the competition. But it's the first time in

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13 years, so that was really fantastic job. We had several boys go on to like I believe it's regionals well past state. So, we've we've got a lot of And by the way, they weren't they weren't up to seniors they were some of our juniors and sophomores.

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Um MIA Women's Day in Sports, both Mia and Gianna Mager seniors, um both represented N R S D well. Um Uh T F did something very interesting and new. They decided to have or they

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decided to um name the teacher of the year. Now, sometimes that can go awry. Um and especially in a very small district, uh Mrs. Ross Wilson wouldn't hear no anyway

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because so many people came um to let her know that Jessica Smith is just first-grade teacher. She is phenomenal. She is She does it all. And uh the write-up I got off of Facebook, but um you know, people came to Marcy to just

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say, "We have to do something." She really has been She'd been at every budget uh select board meeting for three and four hours. Um >> She even asked me today, "Did I miss one?" And I said, "No." >> She was worried about actually, >> Good night.

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>> you know, missing one. So, um but that is a really neat thing and really it was most of her colleagues, so we wanted to make sure that uh that she get recognized. So, I thought that was fantastic. Um >> And being the humble human that she is, >> Oh, she didn't want to be.

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>> When I Yes, >> No, they got to be. >> She said she's like, "I'm just doing the bare minimum of my job." And I was like, "Okay." >> [laughter] >> So, she is She is a fantastic human being. Yeah.

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>> Um let's see. We had Well, we we we had the Commissioner of Education here um on the Friday, which meant that we had to And we had the high school and middle school Memorial Day program on the Friday, which was

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But on Monday, or Tuesday, the following week, we we had the Memorial Day program for TDS, and it was phenomenal. Um Uh two interns had to run the program.

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One of the music teachers at the elementary school because of the babies and she had to take care of And I have to say that, you know, when you do your student teaching, it's a nerve-wracking circuit when you do student teaching. So she did teaching children for the first time in her life.

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But we had a conference of about 1,200 parents um trying to get this get the elementary school to sing and of course the audio didn't work. Everything that could have happened could have happened, and they did a fantastic job

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of running sure that nothing that they do a shout-out to them. They did a fantastic job and people loved it. Um tomorrow night is the 7th and 8th grade semi-formal. Big goings-on there. Um and on June 16th, the 7th grade bridge

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ceremony, which is the step up from the middle school to the high school. So a lot going on. It's a very busy time. Last well, last academic three academic weeks. You know, every day every day is packed with it's got something. So we're

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coming in hot right up to the very end. Okay. They will be having How they have the um the visual thing. You didn't have this, Madam Chair, but I thought I was going to be here earlier.

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Um I we created a visual for the budget. >> Oh. >> Yes. And so I I apologize cuz we we really >> I'm here for it. >> Yeah. >> Please. I mean, a budget is my favorite topic of all time. >> [laughter] >> We're going to clean up a little bit,

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but um >> Biggest I can get it. >> Right. We better We better assume baby steps. Take this PNG and make it a whatever so but it ultimately if and we're going to this will go with a letter um kind of explaining to folks we've

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received so many phone calls about what's what is this next and what is this and what is that. But it really just it diagrams or outlines exactly what has taken place and where do we go from here? I don't know if you guys want to see it or not. >> Um >> But the it it will you know it kind of

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goes through the steps the next steps and what happens if the budget fails what happens there and if the budget passes, you know, what happens there. So um this will go out to the um >> I did it. >> I'm doing a fantastic job. Um but this will go out to the uh

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you know, we'll also we'll post it um of course to our Facebook page of course. But we're just I think we're going to send this with the letter cuz it's just So there's a lot of information and some of it has changed as of today. So uh as per speaking with the department head. So

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um >> We we are I want to I want to We are actively learning new things. Like the more the more complicated your budget situation, the more new things you learn about how the process works as various scenarios come together. So like, you know, if if we if

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if you ever find a point where we said something in meeting A and then you get to meeting B and you go, "Wait a minute, it was this time." It's like, "Okay, that's because between meeting A and meeting B, we have reached out to DESE, we you know, and we like it's just it This is an exceptionally complicated

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budget matter. So please bear with us because we are actively engaging with all kinds of folks across the state to make sure that we're getting the right information out and sometimes it takes a bit." >> And actually what's happening with the questions we've asked I've actually precedence that. You know, it's not

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that's those are not my words. That's from the Department of because some of these things that we think is needed to consider has never been considered before. So, we've done this a few times since the beginning. So, we do love hearing from us, that's what they say.

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But, they they really had to ponder a few things about this about this situation because none of it is none of it has ever been broached. So, yes. >> Carving new paths for the city of Massachusetts.

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>> Yes. Yet again. So, in any event, this will go out. I think this will help people people I hope it's just very simplistic boots. It's we got to less complicated as we can possibly make it. >> Okay.

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>> Thank you. >> Well, thank you for that. I always appreciate a good visual. Nice flow chart. I was I was actually saying earlier that I could use a flow chart. I like that. The poem I just pulled it out. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> I didn't know what the sub style was like but I was like I don't know what

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the story is. >> My suggestion is follow the process. This is It's probably in the book too. Yes, Susan. It means they think it's a process. >> [laughter] >> So, we did talk about the student This is the time of year that we

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usually look at the student family handbook. When it is a typical year, however, when we are accommodating new laws that requires additional layers of review by legal, which is the year we are now, so we'll look at those additional layers. >> Okay. >> [snorts] >> So, I would open it up for any school

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committee comments. And this is just a time when if there's something like sometimes folks use those tabs for future agenda items, sometimes they use it to share how wonderful an event was that they attended, sometimes they use it to

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celebrate something happening at the district. Um There's no pressure. If nobody else has I have a comment, but I always make two last. >> [laughter] >> Graduation was cool. That's all I got. >> Graduation was cool.

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Graduation was excellent. It is my my all-time favorite event of the year. It is It is the one that is entire I I do love what I do. Like this sitting at this table heavy heart, but I do love what I do. The event, however, that is joy from

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start to finish is graduation. And it's like my my my cumulative reward >> [laughter] >> for making it through the year to be there and to witness the joy of the students and the families.

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It is something very special. Indeed. >> So, the year some of the most dynamic student speakers I've ever heard give us. Yes. >> And I got the most hugs. >> Yes, that was all the year. >> All the hugs.

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>> I just can't. >> Sometimes I didn't know they were coming cuz I just wanted to give them a hug. I was there for the hugs. Um so, um so, a couple of comments for me. Um one being 12 Marine magnets. Thank you so much for your time, for your

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dedication. Please, I will give Make sure you both have my personal phone numbers before you leave tonight. If you haven't She was like more than happy to answer them. As things come up, just reach out. I I know that they will. I had a number

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Sean likes to text me and say, "I'm looking for 5 minutes." >> [laughter] >> And I will say, "You can have it at this time." He'll say, "Excellent." He'll call me and ask his question because and this is This is confusing. I will say it takes, you know, a full first

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term is 3 years. It probably took me that to get enough information to feel like I really had a clue what was going on. So, if you're feeling totally lost right now, that it you're in the right phase of school committee membership. Um the second thing I wanted to say is I

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believe that this is our last school committee meeting with Ms. Molly Sugar chain. Because um she is leaving the district at the end of the month for a new position. Um the assistant superintendent position

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was also one of the positions that was vacated. Um which Um brings with it a lot of um We're We're very We are incredibly sad to lose Molly because of everything she has brought to this district. I cannot

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emphasize enough the work that we have witnessed that she has done. She has brought more data to the table for us to look at in terms of um student progress and student outcomes. Um she has educated us on how

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to understand MCAS scores, which is no small feat, let me tell you. Um and how to understand what they mean to the district um and you know, what we do as a result. She's helped us to you know, really understand different policies that are impacting our schools

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and how to apply them. She has advocated for our school on to get grants. I know that I like she's our title nine um person, which comes with no small number of delights. Um so,

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you know, I just I I have had It's It's been such a pleasure to work with Molly um as the chair of the school committee. And she has always picked up the phone and answered my questions um or you know, been you know, seated

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around a table with me at negotiations or some other space that she has just she has brought so much to this district and she will be deeply, deeply missed. And so I just wanted to take a moment to say how much we value you and how much we will miss having you seated here with us. Thank

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And congratulations on your next position. I'd love to say that you're moving onward to bigger and better things. And it may be a bigger district. I'm not going to say that. Is that smaller? Slightly smaller. All right. Well, congratulations, but also

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>> Thank you. I just like to say I have not worked with more supportive committee members than you are. Always willing to talk to you during our school committee teachers. And it gets it's admirable what you do. And you don't get paid for the work that you do

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to support teachers and students. So, you know, I it's it's been a pleasure working with the committee and working with the district. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> You know, we're going to have quite a few assistant superintendents that >> We had a couple.

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>> There's none that I acknowledge in my 50 plus years. >> [clears throat] >> You thought of that. >> I can't beat that one. All right. On that, I don't believe any sub committee meeting any

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sub committees have met. I mean, this is the time of year when we have dials back, dials down. So, that's normal. We are still in UFCW negotiations. We have another one for Tuesday, but other than that, I can't really talk further about that. So, all that happens

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under executive session. Um, for our school committee members, not for not for the not for the UFCW members, but for school committee members. Um, so Hopefully hopefully we'll get that wrapped up shortly and then we will have

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a contract to vote on. Forgive me for the title of this, but Uh, James from Templeton will join us >> Yep. >> The yes. >> Yep. >> So, we can talk more about that when we get there. Um, we've had no correspondence. We do

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have our next meeting on Thursday, June 19th at 5:30 p.m. And they are going to recommend that we have executive session so we can get our new school committee members up to date on the situation. So, uh, I would entertain a motion to enter into

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executive session as per Mass. General Law chapter 30A section 21A for reason number three to discuss strategy with respect to litigation with the town of Templeton if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares. The meeting will not

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return into open session immediately following. >> So moved. >> Motion by Hank, second second by Heather and then we do a roll call vote which is consent on each of you one at a time to vote. Um, so, um, starting down with Hank.

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>> Aye. >> And >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Um, and I say yes, so that is unanimous. Um, and so we will adjourn on that note with executive session.