I would like to call this meeting of the Narro Dancet Regional School District School Committee to order. If you could all please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one
nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. I would like to welcome our two new members and remind everyone that this meeting is being livereamed and recorded um on YouTube and Facebook. Our two new
members are Bill on my right and Peter on my left, which of course is opposite folks on the screen. Um so because we've just had elections, the first thing we need to do um in this
space is to reorganize the committee which means that we're revoting for various positions um with you know that are filled either by folks in central office or by folks sitting here at the table. Um, so as our first point of business, um, would anyone like to
nominate a chair for the Naransa Regional School District School Committee? Jennifer, would you like this? Of course. I will I will nominate Jennifer as the chair as for the Narans Regional School District Committee. Then I would
entertain a motion. Um, do I need to second? There we go. Second. Um, any questions or comments about that nomination? Congratulations. Thank you. All in favor? I opposed, abstained. And
I say yes. So that is unanimous. For vice chair, is there anyone who would like to volunteer or nominate someone? Sure. I will nominate as vice chair and there he is a regional school district school committee.
Get a second. Second by Hank. Any questions or comments about that nomination? Seeing none, all in favor? Thank you. Opposed? Obstain. And I say yes. So that is also unanimous.
All right. Uh the next few are a little easier because our lucky folks in central office are uh unanimable to taking on these roles. So I would entertain a motion to appoint Dr. Christopher Civan as the secretary of the Naragansa Regional School District
School Committee. Second, second by or motion. So moved. Motion by Sean. Second. Second by Heather. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, all in favor? Opposed? Abstained. And I say yes. So
that is unanimous. I would entertain a motion to appoint Susan Barney as the assistant secretary of the Merrick Ganset Regional School District School Committee. So second motion by Sean, second by Heather. Any questions or comments?
Seeing none, all in favor? Opposed? Abstained. And I say yes. So that is unanimous. Okay. So caps and keystone. Uh I'm sorry I used to go ask this. Caps and Keystone. Caps and Keystone are two
collectives um that the Naragansa Regional School District is a member of. Collectives help us to gain access to supports particularly in relation to special education. Um and as members of that collective, um either a member of
the school committee or Dr. pass band needs to sit in their roughly quarterly meetings um and also be present should they vote to make any changes to um historically Dr. Caspant has been
willing to fill that position. However, I do always open it up um so that if there's someone who's particularly passionate about special education and really wants to have this as a role, these are not the only roles available to school committee members. Um Dr.
Tasman is happy to continue filling that role should we wish him to. Um but I did want to make sure everyone had an explanation as to what that is so that if there was someone who was like oo me pick me that they would have an opportunity to speak up.
Absent that, I would entertain a motion to appoint Dr. Chris Cavan as the FY uh 20 Oh, I wait a minute. FY26, apologies. CAPS district representative.
Second motion by Sean, second by Heather. Any questions or comments? I don't even need to get a vote. He doesn't get a vote anyway. All in favor? um opposed abstain and I'd say yes. So that
is unanimous. Um and I would similarly I swear to you I updated these to say FY26 and it didn't take boards. Um I would entertain a motion to appoint Dr. Chris
Cassine as the FY26 Keystone Educational Collaborative District Representative. So move. Sorry. Motion by Sean, second by Heather. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, all in favor opposed, abstained. And I say yes.
So that is unanimous. All right. Um so this next appointment, this is a this is a task that I've been taking on. I am happy to continue doing it. Um essentially, uh about
every week, every two weeks, um someone needs to go to central office and review bills and pay the school is sending out. They need to get that approval in order to actually pay those bills to pay um you
know, send out those payubs. Um people really like being paid. Um so so really what this person does is they go in, review those materials, um ensure that nothing seems out of place, ask
questions about anything that is using u to look at. Um so again, happy for that to be me. Um if that makes sense. I do have a schedule that's flexible enough. So, I recognize that I can run over during my lunch or something. Uh where
that might be prohibitive for someone who to go into work every day. Um but if there's anyone who would like to volunteer themselves, um otherwise I'm happy to continue to do this. I make a motion to appoint Jennifer to be the designated member of school to sign payroll and account payable
warrants for FY26. Second. So we do. Sure. Well, he made a motion. You can be the second. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, all in favor?
Opposed? Abstained. And I say yes. So that is unanimous. MASC delegate. So this position every every year um MASC members put put out a set of I'm
going to call them initiatives or legislative initiatives where um the school committees of individual districts they review what what MASC is proposing to legislate for. Um, so what
are the initiatives that we feel as a body are important and the districts get to give feedback on them and it might be yes we accept it or no we don't or it can get um more in depth where it's okay I want to see these changes to how we're
legis how we are legislating for these pieces um has for the last three years heather has done it um I know enough of the work that goes into it that she would be very happy to share that
responsibility with someone else. I will let her speak to whether or not she's willing to do it again. Um, it does the actual voting takes place at the MS ASZ conference in November.
Um, so that did I miss anything? Uh the only thing is just in case it intimidates anyone the u you do not need to stay for the whole conference uh you can go as just a delegate for that particular day that there's voting. Um and yeah I'm happy to continue but if
there's someone who's interested I'm also happy to hand the time off. I would entertain a motion to appoint Heather Nezura as the MASC delegate to represent the Narrogens at Regional School District School Committee at the
MASC 2025 delegate summit. Uh what do you mean 20? No, this one's 2025 because it's 2025 currently. See, I told you I updated some. So motion by Sean, second by Bill. Um any questions or comments? Seeing none,
all in favor? I opposed abstained and I say yes. Legislative representative. So this rule this role um it is who whichever school committee
member takes this on is committing to stay up to date with what is happening at a legislative level in the state. um and to bring those updates to the committee so that we can stay up to date with what's happening. Um historically
Danielle has taken that on because it also happens to be a part of her day job um to keep up to date with those matters. Um I know that her day job has now shifted slightly. So I don't know if that's continuing to be part of your responsibilities. opportunity as many as possible.
Uh but if there's someone who This is great for someone who's particularly passionate about staying up to date with what's happening in education at the state and at the federal level. Um so if there's anyone who would like to take that on, feel free to speak up. Otherwise, I'm sure this is something
that's within your purview of things you're staying up to date on. So to nominate this second uh any questions or comments about that
nomination seeing none all in favor oppose abstained and I say yes so that is unanimous. Now, here's where I am going to need some volunteers. Um, so there's one that
didn't make it on here. Um, but I will make sure that being on here for the next meeting. Um, so we need a liazison to CPAC, which is our special education um committee. Um, that includes parents and
uh our and staff, parents, staff and school committee. Um, so someone needs so this can be as much of a commitment as committing to attending those meetings and coming back and sharing those results with the committee or it
can be as light as committing to staying in touch with whoever is leading up that committee, chair of the committee such that we can get their notes and share those notes at this meeting. So it is a more flexible commitment. Um I will go
through all of those positions and I forgot to put one of them on the agenda so we will do that one next time but I will cover it now. Um the other one is a leazison to NRSD PTO. Um so that again very similar to CPAC in that um this
committee member commits to staying in touch with the PTO. Um it can be as much of a commitment as to attend those meetings and coming back with that information. It can be as light as committing to I will stay in touch with
PTO and bring those notes to the main school committee and share what's going on with PTO. The final one is liaison to student advisory council. Um so this one involves interfacing with students. Um
and that is often done um through the principal of a high school. Um and this position um essentially brings so we have a student friend who sits at the table but this position is a little bit
different in that they're trying to get the voice of students more holistically. Um so not just what that student rep is bringing but what student council is a larger body is bringing. Um and it also presents opportunities such that if
student council um is curious to know more information about uh I gave a session on how does a school budget what what does a school budget how does a school budget get voted in? Um and you know it helps to bring some
uh small doses of education about um our comm community responsibilities. Um and so those are the three positions. So what I'll do is for right now we're only going to vote on CPAC and
student advisory council. Um so if anyone would like to volunteer for those positions then we can do a motion and put that in. Can we ask questions? Yes, what we are the C
back on Mondays. Yeah, I guess and one more time the CGC is which one's with the the parents Jennifer? I'm sorry. So PT the le PTO is the one with the parent teacher uh or organization
DES. Yeah, DS. And then the CPAC is the um special education is for parents, the parent advisory council for special education. Thank you. I will volunteer for the PTO. Okay. So, I will wait. That's Thank you. No, I appreciate that.
Um seems to that seems that seems to make the most sense at this time. Yeah. No, agree. That's absolutely really appreciate that because they've been missing a missing a rep. that they'll be when are those days we actually I think that's Thursdays they may vary as well it's
Thursdays but you can also just stay in touch with them Thursdays by connecting with the church perfect thank you okay anyone for CPC for oh I would entertain a motion to appoint
Bill Cummings as the liaison to NRSDC motion by Danielle second by Sean on. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, all in favor? I opposed abstained and I say yes. So that
is unanimous. And how about student advisory council? I could do that. All right. Nobody else wants to. I would entertain a motion to appoint Peter Stanley as the leazison to the student advisory council. So second
motion by Heather seconded by Sean. Any questions or comments? Seeing none. All in favor? Opposed? And I say yes. So that is unanimous. Um all right. Just as a note
on those really at this year you would just be introducing yourself in that role. your the work really doesn't start until the next school year starts. Uh so you're welcome to get a summer off. Um but we can help you connect you with the
right folks. Susan K. So all right, this also should say FY26. Um so what I just wanted to introduce all of you to is um so in the last year we had started to
give some specific missions. So, so there are general topics that each subcommittee covers. Those general topics are outlined in white bold. So, finance and facilities covers annual budget, facilities, grow plans. District operations covers central office
staffing or contracts like transportation and insurance. Academics assessment and district communication and policy content updates. Then labor relations covers either um both the labor management committee with the NDEA, the work environment committee
with UFCW and SIGMAC. Now um one thing that worked really well last year is that district operations had a specific mission and their mission was to finish a new member handbook and we
did which we'll vote on later. Um and so that you know subcommittees are a great space where the work of the committee can get done because as you'll note this is a discussion space voting space. This is where things get voted in. Um actually you know sitting down and
figuring out okay what does a handbook need to say? Um and so and talking with Dr. C as well as within those committees. There were there are a couple pieces of work that are needed for this upcoming school year within financing facilities. Um there is
regionalization of services. Um so that was you know what that means is it's not further. It's not adding to our district. It means looking at services that our district needs and looking to see like which of those services would
be our best opportunity for reaching out to other school districts to see if we could I'm going to say co-contract or collaborate. Um I know that there are situations where like band has turned into something that is a across
districts as opposed to within a specific school as an example. uh there are instances where insurance is um collaboratively held and cost were done. So the question is are there good opportunities for us to pursue some
potential cost savings through regionalization of services? So that would be something financing facilities would be exploring district operations. So board docs as you can tell it's my favorite tool. Um we have a one-year extension on
our um agreement. Um they are actually were bought out by called divergent. Um divergent is very very expensive but is it not divergent? Diligent. Thank you. I right file wrong. Um diligent. Thank you
for correcting me. Good. You're welcome. and they're very very expensive. We really can't afford them. Um and so we need to start to figure out what options are there. Doesn't mean the door is
entirely closed if they can make their services accessible and affordable, but they are more than double. Um so what will that solution be and how will we go about
moving from old solution to new? Um, so we would need to identify that and finish that move by April of next year. Uh, and then finally, labor relations. It is contract time and it's the UFCW contract that's up for review this time. So, I share that with you not
for a vote. It's just information, but I did want to open it up to the committee for any discussion or questions about um those pieces. I am absolutely open to feedback or if someone feels that we're going in the wrong direction. Um you know these are this it is the will of
the chair what belongs to these committees as well as who serves on them. However, we are a committee as a whole and I do want everyone to feel like they have an opportunity for a voice. Um, so any questions or comments about
that? Not. Um, so I also did take an initial stab at our FY26. Got it right there. Um, meeting schedule. And, uh, Susan, did you have a chance to double check this? I did. I looked at it. There
was the one question that I talked about, Dr. Pavan. That's right. um um he hasn't confirmed but he thinks that it's okay. So we will wait on next one but I wanted to give both just a general idea. So what we'll do is we'll look to have this completely firmed up
um in time for our next meeting hopefully. Um that said, you know, we do aim for in in months where we have less business, we have one meeting on the third Thursday. In months where we have
more business, we have two meetings on the first and third Thursday. Now, of course, we try as much as we can to stick to the first or the third Thursday. However, school is now school vacations and sometimes those school vacation weeks fall on what would have
been first or third Thursday at which point we exercise flexibility and we can have more exercise of flexibility. Like for example, there have been years where the December meeting falls way too close to Christmas and so we have made
adjustments um where we need to. So certainly have I would also encourage everyone sitting at the table to have a quick look at these dates and let me know if there's any that they know immediately, you know, not right now, but follow up with me to let me know if there's any that are standing out as, oh, this one's definitely going to be
problematic because we do have to make. All right, moving on to our regular business. Um, so before we um vote on this, you've got a general idea of how motions work and saying yes. Um,
everyone said yes so far. What I did want to cover before we get into this is lots of folks think that they need to abstain if they weren't mad at me. That is not the case. Abstension is really meant to be used when you cannot participate in the vote because there is
something prohibiting you from doing so like a conflict of interest. that is the core reason for abstaining. On occasion I see people abstaining because they don't want to vote no. Um but really you're supposed if if you're disagreeing and your answer is no, you're supposed
to vote no. Abstension is really supposed to be specifically because you have some core reason like a conflict of interest that would prevent you from voting. Like if we were voting on the UFCW contract and you had a spouse that
worked in the district who would benefit from that contract, you would abstain from voting on that contract because of your conflict of interest. Any questions about that? All right. So I would entertain a motion to approve
the meeting minutes of May 8th, 2025 as written. Motion by Sean, second by Heather. Any questions or comments about those minutes? Seeing none, all in favor? Opposed? Abstained. And I say yes. So that is
unanimous. Moving on to bills of payroll. I recommend a motion to accept the bills of payroll. Warrants as presented. So moved. Motion by Sean. Second by Heather. Any questions? Actually, there's no We do not have our student rep present
this evening because there are all kinds of senior events and she is hopefully out enjoying those. Um there is also no one from the public present tonight, so we will skip public input and the NEA is also not here. Um so Sean, you're
doing exactly what you love to do when we are flying. All right. FY25 and FY26 budget updates. Was there anything we needed to um pull out? I know Marie is enjoying wedding festivities. She is. There is no budget
update at this. Okay. At that point of the year, we're continuing to spend down grants. Although Templeton did vote in the budget last meeting and so that is the great news that now both towns have officially voted in the budget. So we officially have our FY26 budget. So I
will share that. We are very happy for Okay, wait. I can't wait. Um, so we'll skip the business manager's report. Um, I did had kept um superintendent goals on here, but that will actually be on our next agenda to
review. So, I did note that that is moving. Um, so we do have we had started review of the ADDA background checks policy. Um so as a reminder for folks um essentially what this does is extends
the ability of the district to um assess um backgrounds of individuals applying for employment um to go beyond um like help me out here to include also
the story and the BCF. Thank you. I knew you would say that much more articulately. All the applicants. Yes. So that was actually passed in first reading. Um and so at this point um we are completing the second reading of that policy. Um it wasn't passed unanimously for first reading. Um as
such I would entertain a motion to accept the following for second reading as presented. The ADA background checks policy. Second. Motion by Hank. Is that you? Motion by Hank. Second by Danielle. Uh any questions or comments about that
policy? Seeing none, all in favor? Opposed? Abstained. And I say yes. So that is unanimous. Okay. The superintendent evaluations. We're not actually doing the evaluation this evening. Um what I did want to call
everybody's attention to and everyone on the school committee um didn't receive an email in their inbox today. Um was that we need to now so in our last meeting Dr. talked through um some of his evidence related to the summit of evaluation. Um,
so for those of us who are new to this, um, because evaluations fall in a 2-year period, in I'm going to say the first year, we complete what's called a formative assessment. Says, how well are you making progress towards the goals
you set for this 2-year period? And then at the end of the 2-year period, we complete a summitative assessment, which says, how well did you um perform against those goals for the full 2-year period. Um so evidence is attached here. It is also um linked to on the form that
I distributed. I know that this is tight for dates but in order to give everyone equal opportunity to to read and complete um the summit of assessment wait for our new members to be president um in order to send this. Um, what I do
want to note for everyone is that it is not open season on feedback for Dr. Cassin. The way that superintendent feedback works is that we are judging him against the goals that
he set and whether or not the evidence he presented says that he met or exceeded um against those specific goals. So, it works maybe a little bit different than the assessments you may have received at
work. Work may work exactly the same for those of you who are in academia. Um, but I did want to make sure that everyone understood that you you really need to dig in to understand what was the goal that he had set and then what was the evidence that he gave against
that goal and how would you rate him accordingly. Now, if you do have feedback that goes beyond that, you certainly can include that in the written section, but your rating should really relate to that specific goal and whether or not the evidence how the
evidence presented um rates against them. Um so, any questions about that? Because I I do know it's a little bit of a different process and I'm even learning from year to year how to talk to folks about it because it is so different even from like my um my
assessment at work. All right, we'll keep going. All right, it's super shady curriculum and instruction update. A brief update um this evening. Um first and foremost, we're in the throws of our end of the year testing period for
kiddos. And so we have completed the majority of our ELA and math MCCAST tests, um which folks are very happy to have in the rearview mirror. Um we do have two remaining test sessions in early June for our high school biology sessions. Um and similarly we are working our way through our AP testing
and as well um we are however in the middle of our end of the year benchmark assessment window. So students are taking um the stars reading assessment for reading and math and the primary grades uh dibbles for early literacy skills. Um and we our teachers are
starting to already unpack that data to compare um achievement and growth from beginning of the year, middle of the year, now to the end of the year. So we're in that process right now. Um one thing that's exciting to report out on is is because uh the state of Massachusetts has updated the MCAST
system this year. We actually just received this week early release data from our ELA um assessment already. So we are compiling that and um cannot distribute that to anyone. Um it is preliminary data is embargoed but it does give us an opportunity to um take a
look at that both for accuracy and discrepancy reporting in the summer but also to preliminarily see um you know how are our students doing and how are we as a system doing in the areas where they've released data. So we're excited about that. Um we also are in the process of um finalizing our next and
new district strategic improvement plan. So you know we love acronyms our DIP plan. Um we are in the last year of our three-year plan and so our team multiple teams have been in the process of doing um a couple of things to work towards de
designing our new plan. So we use DESI's planning for success process um which really lays out three major stages. The first in that is to um analyze our current context and assess how we've done towards the goals we set in our current plan. So, we've been we've been
doing just that, both hard data as well as anecdotal data from various stakeholders. Um, and we've been utilizing a process where we're looking at our strengths, our weaknesses, um, some opportunities and threats um, to help us sort of see where we're at currently. Um the next thing we're doing
is we're doing a map to the future protocol where we're really envisioning what do we see or want to see for our district um down the road and then using that process to backwards plan where we are currently where we want to be what the gaps and spaces between those. Um
and we have been doing that over the last few weeks with a variety of stakeholders. Um and our next step is to actually get our plan on paper which we should have ready to present to you at our next meeting. The reason I bring it up now is because, and I apologize, I don't believe our new members have received this yet. So, I will send that
to you tonight after our meeting, but I've sent out a um Google form with um a couple of questions where we are seeking feedback from school committee members as part of that process. So, that we really want to hear from you. What do you feel like we are doing well as a system? What are some strengths you see?
And where are some opportunities you think we really could lean into to strengthen what's already great about our district? Um, and so we really hopefully will get feedback from you that we can incorporate in that process as as well. Um, and if the survey I sent, you know, doesn't represent or you don't have a space to share something,
give me a call, reach out. We can talk and have a conversation if that doesn't any questions for 2025 2026 rate. Does anyone want to speak to All right, they can do that. Um, so our rate card
is um essentially outlines the rate of pay for various positions as you can see on the attached card, our substitute teacher rate for paras andor teachers, um, custodial costs, nurse costs and so forth. So basically hourly rates for
hourly employees. Um, and it is not changing for this coming fiscal year. All right. Accordingly, I would entertain a motion to accept the 2025 2026 rate card as presented. So, second
motion by H, second by Sean. Any questions or comments? I do. Yeah. No, I'm assuming this is competitive with everybody else in the room. Your problem. our substitute teacher rate is
fairly competitive with neighboring districts. Um um I can't I'll be honest I cannot speak to where we fall uh with our our other um rates our bus driver uh bus monitors or our custodial hourly
rate. I don't have a record that is the is the state minimum wage going up in January 26 to 1625 it was if it is we would readjust first
vaccinated follow up. You've been um have a followup on the next bit. Are any of those prohibitive to us voting this evening or are we feeling okay to vote and then we'll follow get some additional? Okay. Because we can always adjust later. All right. Any further
questions or comments then? Seeing none, all in favor? opposed abstained and I say yes. So that is unanimous. Um and we'll pend some further feedback on the next meeting. All right. So the new school
committee member handbook. So I am four years in and I'm the second most senior member in terms of experience. Um, and knowing that, you know, we have a lot of
relatively new membership as well as brand new members and knowing that that will continue to be the case in coming years, we really wanted to have a better a better way to welcome new members, help them know how to navigate this space. Um, because in case anyone
hasn't told you yet, the first year really feels like a fire hose of information. Um, and it's really not until after the third year we're like, "Oh, I feel like I know what I'm talking about, unless you have a back a background in this." And even then, there's a lot of new things that you
learn as you as you go along. Um, and so we really, like I said, wanted a better way to welcome folks, to give folks some guidance on where to start, you know, what questions to answer, and even more importantly, things like, hey, open meeting law applies, you know, what are
the resources that you need to access in order to get, you know, to understand how open meeting law works and make sure you don't accidentally violate it. Um, or to understand, you know, what does fall within the purview of a school committee member. um versus what doesn't
um and how to engage with the public uh because um it can be really easy to do that well and it can be really easy to slip up on that. Um so this document covers a variety of cases um what I'm hoping is that um the you know should
the committee so decide um to vote this what it would become as an official document for our school committee um you know we could explore posting it on our website such that folks could also have public access to it so that they can
actually see um you know when fols reach out and ask what does it take to be a school committee member this would give some answers to that um and also give some education to the public. Um so we'll get a motion on the floor and then if people have questions
or comments I am very open to hearing them. Um so I would entertain a motion to approve the NRSD and school committee member handbook. So move motion by Heather second by Hank. So questions or
comments? I'm just I appreciate all the work that went into this. I know it was a lot and um it's I'm as I read over this I thought, man, I wish I had this three years ago. I don't know if the new members realize how lucky they are to
have a place to start and all these live links and places to dig in and feel a little more comfortable. So, I really appreciate the time that went into creating it. Anything else? Seeing none, all in favor? I
opposed abstained and I say yes. So that is unanimous. Thanks so much folks. And now we can now we can officially use this to help me according to my members. Uh I know you were given access as before it was voted because uh I mean we
we we understand folks just need a little bit of guidance on how to get started at this position. Um so now it's official. All right we are on to our superintendent report. Uh so Miss Superchi um we welcome any updates you would give on behalf of Dr. Caspant who
is enjoying senior night with his senior. I was just gonna say he apologizes for not being here, but he is in dad mode tonight and appropriately. So, um, so just to start off, I have just a few uh really exciting updates I wanted to share with you, especially
because our student rep just at last day yesterday, our seniors finished up um their last half day of school officially yesterday. Um and so first and foremost um we had an opportunity for students across our district um from kindergarten through
uh high school level participating in the Special Olympics. It was hosted this year uh by Gardener Public Schools and it is just one of the best events. It is just amazing staff participated and supported our students being able to participate. Um it was a beautiful day.
So many districts were represented. So much sportsmanship. so much pride. It was really a wonderful event. Um in addition to that, we've had a lot going on. Um the first pictures you'll see here in the top right hand corner are um from our senior citizen field day event,
which is the first year that we have hosted that event. We partnered with the Templeton um community and senior center this year and we had our senior students partner up with senior citizens to put on a field day and it was a blast. They did a variety of events. They uh they
used the parachute. Um they as you can see did some walking uh activities. U there were there were bowling. I can't even remember all the activities but um I think I don't know which group had more fun to be honest but it was a really wonderful event. Um then the two
pictures to the right of that at the top what you'll see here um is our competitions robotics team had competed u last week at Oakmont. Um and I am proud to say that of the 32 um 32 teams
that they took home the trophy basically they won. Um and so a big thank you to Mr. Gagnan for for all of his hard work designing and and putting on a really wonderful program for students and making sure that they have every opportunity to compete. Uh on the bottom what you'll
see is at tees we just held our scholastic books fair. So students had a chance to um I like to say take home books, but I know a lot of trinkets go home, which that's the case as well. But either way, to come a lot of hopefully ex you know things that will promote
reading and um and you know update their bookshelves as we go into summer. Um in addition to that, we recently had the Templeton Fire Department um bring their safe trailer which um promotes education
around how students can um get low, crawl, and get out in the event that there is a fire. So, it's part part of our fire safety and prevention um curriculum. This was a nice addition and support to that. Um and then on the last picture here, what you'll see um is that
our K3 students recently engaged in a program called the NED show. Um NED is an acronym for never give up, encourage others, and do your best, which is around character development um and academic achievement and motivation. And so that was a really well-received
program. There's a character that goes along with the messaging for that. And lastly, we held our tees art show. um last week which was very well attended. There were some incredibly beautiful and colorful art as you can see up here on the screen. Um this is
just a sampling of quite a few different um variations of some of the things students have done through the art curriculum over the course of the year. Um and a thank you to Mrs. Denver really showcasing students down. Um so in addition to the recent
events um we have a lot of upcoming events that I just want to make sure folks are aware of. Um we have a lot of field trips coming up um with the end of the year and a lot of that communication is coming from the schools to parents. So, we just encourage folks to make sure they're checking field trip permission slips, notifications, and things like
that. Um, our Templeton Light Company is going to be bringing a bucket truck to TDES. So, in addition to the fire department coming to do fire safety, um, we are also doing some work around um, electrical safety with students. Uh, with their support as well, we have a visit visiting author. We're very
excited about um Peter Reynolds, who is the brother of Paul Reynolds, um and the author of the book uh Going Places, is coming to TEES to put on an evening event for students and families on June 4th at 6 PM. That's funded through our Title One uh family engagement fund. So,
if you haven't yet seen, there's quite a bit of advertisement coming to EES for that event. um we will have um a handful of free books for um up to 100 students who attend that event and we will have an opportunity for students to have their book signed. They'll do the book signing at the end of the event. So
we're looking forward to that. Um as I mentioned earlier, our seniors last day was yesterday and so this upcoming week is senior week and so if you're not familiar with that, every day and evening we have a lot of events in place for our seniors. we really do a great job celebrating um and recognizing their
accomplishments this year. And so Tuesday evening is the senior awards and scholarship night. Um Wednesday evening is the uh service which will be held at Philipston Congregational this year. Um and then the senior banquet after that. Uh Thursday night is our senior barbecue
at the Otter River Sportsman's Club and then Friday evening is graduation. So, we are hoping that this week we got the rain and weather under the way and that next week brings a very different weather story so that our seniors can enjoy that. Um, with that in mind, we
have Memorial Day programs coming up tomorrow. Um, our middle school and high school combined Memorial Day observance program is at um 1:15 in the high school gymnasium and our tees memorial day observance program is 10 10:00 a.m. um
here on the middle school high school campus on the bleachers in the back. Uh we do recognize that there's been some um disappointment in some recent communication um around not having an opportunity should we need to cancel because of the rain to host the program
indoors and or have another opportunity. Uh unfortunately the last time we had this happen was in 2019 and our enrollment was a lot different than it is now and so we could fit all of the students at tees and all of the families
in the gym here. We have outgrown the capacity far to be able to do that. Um and so we we we recognize that. We apologize to families that that was a little bit of a disappointment. But in looking today at multiple weather radars, um we're happy to say right now
our program is not as planned. We do encourage students and families to dress warmly tomorrow as it will likely be um colder temperatures and a little bit um possibly drizzly, but it doesn't look like the rain will impact our ability to
uh we will be looking ahead next year to look at alternatives for how we could have a rain day plan should the weather um you know look like this again next year, but our hope is that doesn't happen. Has to. And lastly, I I'm excited to
share with the committee um that um we are able to reinstate one of the positions that we had to cut um due to our decrease in the budget. Um we will be reinstating the school psychologist position that this is there's no change
to the budget. That's important to know. Um the salary will be picked up by a series of uh really fortunate events for us. Um so we had quite a bit of cost savings with um folks retiring andor
changes in positions that allowed us to take a chunk of funding back towards um supporting this position. Uh we also received uh a grant that allows us to partially fund our early college career coordinator position and free up some funding in a local budget to also
support this. And then we as a district have really looked at our software line and to make up the additional funding needed can cut some software um that will have minimal impact um prioritizing need for us to have uh an additional
school cycle. I don't say additional the current staffing that we had on school psychologist um for next school year um there there was the savings that we potentially would have had the insurance to position um was actually already budgeted because there was an
anticipation it would be needed for um unemployment costs. So that is still in the budget. So there this won't change our school budget but will help us support the needs that we continue to have around um special education around assessment and testing. Um and just to
put that in perspective um last school year for the last three school years actually the tees um school psychology alone has done over 70 evaluations in one year. And so while we were planning on sharing those case
loads now between two, not just one um not just three, excuse me, school psychologist, we were looking ahead realizing we were going to need to contract out with contracted service providers to do some of that testing if we went to two because there was not there was no way our um two
psychologists could do all of that testing and provide services to students needed in IEPs. And so uh we this was a priority for us to bring back that we were able to do that and I report to the committee that we due to those cost-saving um scenarios were able to do
that. We're in the process of reinstating that position for next year. Any questions on any of those updates? Okay. So we do not have anything unanticipated for this evening. Any
school committee comments? Sean. Yep. I I I'm gonna piggyback. I also had the opportunity to go to the Ark show. Um all those kids draw better than me. Um and u true story. Shout out to Mrs. Hale. So I did have the opportunity to attend that event
and I went to all floors and all levels and the staff did wonderful. Um the books the book sale was wonderful. It was actually a very pleasant thing. just just so you were aware. Yeah, second that. It was it was great. It was fantastic. And I can I can piggy back on
that, too. Um I'm going to hit the bottom of that slide with all those pictures between the two of us. But um I have a little guy in first grade who participated in the book fair and I super appreciated that those little notes went home ahead of time that said, "Can they just buy books or if
I might not have been happy that I sent you books, but he came home with books." Um they were very lovely folks. Um and then he came home a couple of days ago having gone through that uh the safe the the fire department's trailer told me
what he did and then he said um and we're breaking the law because we don't have a place to do that if we have a fire in this and we and Jude is now the proud owner of a yo-yo after the TED um presentation because he said that he was going to
work And he can roll up the yoga by himself now. So all the things happening at tees. That is also impactful. Great. I can steal a moment for the older kids. Of course, our um high
school's production of the Little Mermaid um has another needs another chance for some support and good vibes sent to them because they are up for several Tammy nominations with the theater at the mouth and their red carpet event. Um, it's next to impossible to get tickets. I've been
told that they do live stream the event. It's Sunday, June 1st at 6 PM. And if you just if you just Google Tammy Awards Theater in the Mount, you can find a link because it's a specific link. It's not a YouTube, it's a Vignia link. Um, we have several students including our
wonderful Amanda who are up for some nominations. um along with things like costumes and I think the lighting because there's several categories that we um received nomination for. So we need everybody to extend your energy but uh that's
awesome. That's great. I'm so excited. It was such a good show. Such a good show. And just one more comment about thank you for the update on the memorial services. I have had people reach out to me about how that is an important event in a community and I really love that you highlighted that there will be
solutions going forward because people were asking and I said I'm sure that there will be. So I appreciate that you came right up and said that. We please know we recognize how hard because working practicing that that you know it's a disappointment both for students and for the community members who are
going to be in attendance and we we're trying hard. We'll be out there with leaf blowers tomorrow morning. It's just such a good uh it's a good community activity that a lot of people come and attend in the school. So, it's it's just it really shows support for us
in this area. So, highlights that. All right. Subcommittee reports. have some advancements and facilities reported out last time is our last meeting was on the same day as um our last school committee meeting
actually um so that I don't have anything additional district operations do we have anything additional or we already go through all that business we we mostly covered it we got a nice sneak peek at some of the work that's going to be going into
process yeah Um we did have our um not our LLC mini meeting but our WBC meeting with UFCW. Um not it's an executive session but not a
lot to report out. finding just continued. I what I will say is that folks really really appreciate those meetings as a because what they're used for for those who are new to us is there's the contract outlines the
majority of the relationship. But things come up that fall outside of the contract. And you know, we all do better when those things are talked about out loud with Dr. with school committee. So that we know like, hey,
you know, uh, middle school teachers at one point were like, we only have access to one bathroom during the school day because of just how things had gotten configured here. And nobody had realized it. And so those are easy quick things that there can be a fix for that way
nobody's you know no bad feelings or bad vibes are building up and so it really helps to um helps to keep things moving in a really positive direction space for having those conversations. Um we do not cover anything related to contract.
Should something come up, we immediately commit say that's a contract matter. Wait for um CPAC. Um there was no further update um Chrissy shared last time for her final meeting. Um I don't have any
update for PTO. Um I'm assuming we don't have any update for student advisory council. Is that safe? Yes. And then um legislative one thing. So, Jessie has released the new state competency
um guidelines and um two years of high school English, one year of both algebra and geometry courses or intermediate math, one or two, one year of biology, physics, chemistry, technology or engineering. And then starting with the class of
2027, they need one year. Are those significant changes or I mean we had as a district we had the school committee we had already voted in the district would be following and I would say ours is probably a little bit more it's very much aligned with this maybe a
little bit more willing to update our our policy to include the history course while it's outlined in our graduation requirements currently in the policy our handbook and program of studies is not outlined explicitly in our competency determination because that is a change.
Right. So I would say most districts are in that same thing. Correct. Correct. We're I would recommend that we on making any changes because there are some ongoing meetings and likely some additional changes potentially coming and it doesn't impact this year's graduating class. So we will be um
attending some of those sessions and looking at any district operations in the next school year then. Okay. Okay. Um No correspondence this evening. Our next meeting is Thursday, June 5th. The goal
is to get all of our final business for this school year done in that meeting such that we do not need the June 26th meeting. So, if there are things that you need covered before the end of the year, please try to get them in. Um what
that will mean is we do know that the handbook will not the student handbook correct will not be done by that point. No our attorney will um be getting it back to us by the end of June but needs a little bit more time to review still hold and we knew that we weren't sure
that it would be done by the June 26 meeting either. So that will be very important business to get done in that first August meeting. So we will that is an that is the main that I need to know sooner than later is just you know for me have a commitment of folks um because
that's that's an important piece of business um to work through together to get done before the start of the school year so it can be distributed parents can sign off you all know the deal. Um so please do reach out if there's any topics that you need on that agenda. We
do not need executive session this evening and so I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? Excellent. Thank you so much everyone.