to order the regular meeting of the Nishova Regional School Committee on October 22nd, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. Uh so our first matter is a pledge of allegiance. So if you would like to join
me, please rise and recite with me. I pledge allegiance to the flag for the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
All right. Hi everybody. So, we have citizens comments next, but I have not received any people looking to comment. So, we're going to move ahead to the consent agenda. And I wonder if Amy has made it yet.
Maybe not. So, I will make the motion for the consent agenda. I move to accept the cons Oh, hold on one second, guys. My computer just flaked. Sorry y'all.
>> Consent agenda of October 22nd. >> Yeah. Okay. It just loaded. I don't know what happened. All right. I'll move to approve the consent agenda of October 22nd, 2025. Do I have a second? >> Second. Thanks, Jackie. So, we'll go around the room. I vote yes. Jackie,
>> yes. >> Scott, >> yes. >> Robin, >> yes. >> Sharon, >> yes. >> Shandor, >> yes. >> Thanks, Shander. John, >> yes. >> Jillian,
>> yes. Lindsay, >> yes. >> I think I got everybody who's here. All right, everybody. So, that consent agenda has passed. Let's move on now uh to our school committee chairperson update. I have nothing new to share with you all. So, then we're going to move to
our next item. Moving right along. And that is our student representative report. I do see Ryan. Hi, Ryan. >> Hello. I can see Maria like clicking the link on our document right now to to get in here. So I can I can start off and
hopefully she's able to pop in there. Um so we have our first superintendent and principal student advisory council meeting tomorrow which um Marie and I will both be attending. So definitely looking forward to that. Um senior
sunrise is on Friday as well as the homecoming game and then homecoming on the Saturday to follow. We're kind of in the middle of spirit week. Today was jersey themed. Tomorrow is students dress like teachers, teachers dress like students, which
should be a fun one. Um Q1 is ending on the 31st. Different um athletics have been holding their senior nights in pink games for breast cancer awareness.
Um and Maria and I just this Saturday went to the Massachusetts Association of Student Representatives delegate assembly from um and there was it was it was a good attendance. I think there was 40 um student representatives from
across the state um which was awesome. I ran a workshop there on like sort of the different practices of being a student representative. So like um specifically interacting with comm your community um
and then sharing that information with the administrators um and then eventually with the school committee. I I ran for election for the executive board which I got. So now I'm on the executive board for master association
student representatives which should be cool. And I got um chosen as the chairperson for that board. There's like five other people on it, which is awesome. Um, I don't want to speak for Maria if you're still joining in here, but I know she's told me she had a good time and she was thinking about running
for a director position similar to what I did last year as a junior, which is cool. Um, give her another second. But yeah, it was it was cool. Um, she
>> Ryan, can you tell us can you tell us a little bit more about like maybe other workshops that you went to at that conference? >> Yeah, I I'll I can walk you through the whole day. It was So, we got there in the morning um and there was like kind of a check-in. I had known some people from the last delegate assembly, which
is cool to um kind of check up with them from last year. Um, and we started off the chief, like the chief of staff gave a sort of a presentation on what the association was. And for those who don't
know, basically it's um a group of student representatives across Massachusetts um who organize different legislative um efforts for the the
state. So, at that same meeting um this weekend, the organization chose three bills to focus on that are in the state house right now. Um and so the one that we're going to be prioritizing for the next um until the next assembly, which
is like another five months or so, um is a bill that requires financial literacy curriculum um across all the high schools and it gives funding and um there just some funding for that. So that was the most popular across um the
organization which they voted. Um and then the next one we were this one um we voted to do more research in as into as an organization which is the cell which was one of the cell phone policies. So
we're going to further look into that and see what um like our stances as an organization on it. Um and then the the final one on that has been like kind of a uh um I think it has gotten shut down
the last few years. Um but the organization is working with um the group a group of scholars at Harvard University who like advocate for the different bills and it's the student representatives voting rights on school
committee. Um that's the bill. So, they still want to try to keep that one alive and keep pushing for that, which would um kind of make a uniform process for getting students onto the school committee um across the state and then
giving them each a vote. Um so, we did talked about that was a big chunk of the day. Um and then the other workshops were from my other the other directors in the association. So, there's one on diversity, equity, and inclusion and how you can kind of go
about carrying that on as a student representative. Um, there's like kind of a basic financial literacy so everyone can kind of understand the budgeting process and all of that. Um, and there's my workshop which I already talked a little bit about. >> That sounds like an amazing day. Thanks
for that, >> Of course. And I'm happy to answer any questions or comments. >> Yeah, I do see that Maria has arrived. Hi, Maria. I'm so sorry that we raced to your report and we probably took you off guard a little bit. >> Sorry.
>> I was just telling them about the assembly. You want to like tell them a little bit about what you thought of it? >> I mean, as my first time, it was an amazing experience. I met so many people. I saw so many points of views from other schools and other places in Massachusetts. It was amazing. It was a
really good experience. >> And then you said you might look a little into the legislative director one. Yeah, I was looking at you. It sounded really fun. >> Superintendent Downy's got a little hand emoji over there. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> I Ryan, I can wait until if if you and
Marie are done with your report. >> Well, yeah, we're good. >> Um I I just I wanted to express to the committee. Uh Ryan and I have been trading some emails this week. Um, and when he uh informed me that he was elected chairman of the executive board,
we Ryan, we we can't be more proud of you to watch you come on to the committee last year as a junior, how you have matured uh to be the leader that you are. You participate in the superintendent advisory with Maria. Uh we'll see you guys tomorrow. I know we're working on we're gonna work on the
time capsule for the new high school tomorrow. Um, and uh, so I I just I wanted to applaud uh, Ryan's work and have a chance to celebrate him and honor him because Ryan, I think you could be quite humble about those things and we just want to let you know you're doing a
great job. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. >> And Maria, let's get Paul. So, I'm glad to hear you that you're looking at at the legislative arm. That's the committee I participate on with my network, so we can swap notes. >> Yeah, it was really interesting. I
sounded really interesting. I was uh I sent an email to Claire to talk about I had some questions so I just sent her an email. >> That's great. >> Awesome. Does the committee have any questions about uh the goings on? >> All right. So, uh I hope you guys have a
great homecoming this weekend >> and thanks for being here and bringing us all this great information. And congrats to both of you for being um statewide leaders and representing the show. We appreciate it. Of course. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> All right, guys. Uh, so as always, you're free to stay, but you can also do what you need to do. I'm sure you got lots to do. Uh, we're going to move the agenda now to the next item, which is the superintendent's report, and I'll turn it over to you, Kirk. >> Yeah, Madame Chair, I ask you to consider without objection. We have an
item to add to that's not on the agenda that happened this afternoon, and I would turn it over to Mr. McCarron for a brief update on center school. So, Mr. Mularen. Yeah. And and if I could just remind the community and the committee that um this is something that is um
spur of the moment, we wouldn't have had the ability to anticipate putting it on the agenda. This is something that open meeting law does make um an exception for. So even though this isn't on the agenda per se, it's going to get tucked into the superintendent report and Ross can share with us what's going on
>> and you'll understand why. So Mr. Mulan, go ahead. >> And I'm happy to be brief uh given the rest of the agenda. So, uh, simply put, we experienced an issue with the water supply at center school this afternoon. Uh, our technicians have assessed the situation and repairs will occur over
the next few days in anticipation of, uh, full, uh, return to normal operations on Monday. Uh in the meantime, while the bathroom fixtures are online, uh we'll be doing any necessary cooking at Hail and bottled water will be supplied to staff and
students as needed as well as uh encouragement for them to bring their own water bottles. Uh a notice went out approximately 30 minutes ago to the school community and staff u making aware of what I just shared with you. So hats off to Mr. Freezewick and the facilities team for responding quickly
um and we were able to identify the issue and not interrupt school operations uh tomorrow. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Mo Karen. Um Madam Chair, this may be the least you hear from me in a meeting this year actually. Um in
your packet, uh there's an updated enrollment report. There's no new information based on uh the update I gave you all last month u last meeting but I did re receive a request from the community around breaking it down by uh
town at Nshoba Regional High School. So that's just simply been added to the report and it's included in the meeting materials. Um and next I will uh turn it over to um Mr. Mo Karen uh to talk about the FY26
budget adjustment. >> Uh yeah, so thank you again. Um this is my planned uh portion of evening. Uh so the following is being shared in preparation for the chapter 70 FY26 budgeted adjustment uh that you'll see
in your agenda under unfinished business this evening. So, as you'll recall last month, we presented the updated chapter 70 funding that was approved through the state budget process that culminates in the summer. Uh, we also shared with you the subsequent guidance that we received
from DESIE on prescribed options that regional districts may take on that additional funding. Uh, in order to address the options available to the school committee, you'll recall that recommendations were presented in my memo uh to this body as well. So, as we
requested, uh, the budget warrant subcommittee stated their preference at their meeting last week, and that is reflected in the NRSD FY26, chapter 70 amended revenue 10225 document that's posted within this evening's materials. Uh, and the revenue
source is on page 22, and we can certainly go to that page uh, as part of the review later on. The chapter 70 funding line has been increased by an additional $225,375 uh which was approved by the state budget and the excess and deficiency
appropriation for FY26 has been reduced by the same $225,375 to uh 1 uh excuse me $1,174,625 down from 1.4 million. Again, approval by vote of the committee this evening would only adjust the revenue sources and leave the operating expenses
untouched. Uh there is no impact on member town assessments previously approved by this committee and each of the member towns at their annual town meetings last spring. We would be notifying the towns of the amendment should it pass. However, it is simply an FYI. There's no statutory consideration
by the member towns to vote on the budget again. Uh so we will be coming to that later in the agenda as well, Miss Vivivero. Um and so at this point, it's time to come into our updates on strategic work and I
would like to uh bring forward our assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, Laura Friend. Uh our feature tonight is our MCCAST presentation. And I don't want anyone to be alarmed by the large number of slides that are in the presentation. They're mostly for your
information only to look through a support information. And Laura is ready for a good tight 10 on on presenting this year's uh MCCAST data. So, uh, Assistant Superintendent, take it away. >> Thank you, Superintendent Downing. Truth be told, Superintendent Downing has me
on a stopwatch, so I'm sweating over here. Um, but I'm going to uh do my very best to keep it tight and just present to the committee uh an overview of analysis and some important takeaways. I think we'll that
will very much be just a review of what the committee is already aware of but reinforces our work. So, I'm going to ask Alita to drive the car and I think she's going to present for me. go as Alita is teeing that up. Thank you, Alita. I just wanted to thank the
committee for allowing me a bit of time tonight to present our 2025 um Nishoba MCCAST results. We look to MCCAST to really help uh support our continual improvement efforts and we are using the information from MCCAST to help inform
our next steps as we support our students learning and growth. Of note, as Superintendent Downing had mentioned, there are multiple components and facets of MCCAST data. uh work at the school-based level is is happening right now and has been happening drilling down
with these data both with a curriculum lens and a student growth lens. Tonight's presentation really is intended to provide a macro picture of our district data and a highlevel overview of our results and our next steps. We've included a pretty dense presentation and a hardy appendix which
we provide to the committee and our community for a me more detailed information as a means of reference. So next slide. The next slide shows how the presentation is structured. Again uh not
my intention to go through each slide in detail but we will spend a bit of time on the highlights and the takeaways. Next slide, Alita. This slide here provides uh a reference to accountability information. The
Massachusetts accountability system is designed to measure how a school and a district is doing and what kind of support a district may need. Nishoba's classification is been identified as making moderate progress towards targets
and not requiring assistance. And I provided a hyperlink um within the slide deck for more detailed information about specifics relative to accountability for the committee. Let's see. The next slide provides an
overview of our statewide performance against our district performance um structured by ELA and math and science. In all areas, the district performance outpaced the state performance in grades 3 through eight. um we exceeded the state performance by
at least 15% and in grade 10 um 12%. Major takeaways here with performance in in grades 3 through 8. The state performance increased in the percentage of students meeting and exceeding proficiency for ELA and remain steady
for math and science. again in 3 through8. As a district, we increased in both ELA and math and we actually saw a decline in science and that decline in science in 3 through 8 is attributed to grade five. We actually saw a bit of an
increase in grade 8. At the high school level, both the state and our district saw a decrease or a decline in all areas. Next slide. This chart shows the number of students
falling within each proficiency category for each assessed area and that is math, ELA, science, and this year the addition of civics in grade 8. Notable here in grades 3 through six,
it's one sentence. Thanks, Alita. In grades 3 through six, math proficiency outpaced ELA proficiency. And in grades seven, 8, and 10, ELA proficiency outpaced math. Next slide.
The next three two slides, if you move on, Alita, provide information about cohort performance. These are cohort graphs which show performance for our students in the same grade level or group over the course of time with us at
Nishoba. These are helpful graphs for us to understand and take a look at as we are working for continual improvement for each of our grade level groups. With that said, I would just like to address a note of caution to our community to
exercise caution when looking and comparing scores from the spring of 2020 2021 administration 21. 2021 was the year I know I remember very well. That was the year that we had just come out of hybrid
learning and students in grades three through eight actually had a truncated MCCast assessment. So a note of caution there as well. These cohort graphs we pulled from our open architect dashboards which have been incredibly
helpful for our district. There are some small discrepancies with the percentages noted in some small areas here. no more than one or two percentages, but I just wanted to make a note to the committee that um there there are some uh small
discrepancies there. Nonetheless, these graphs are helpful for us to monitor growth over time for our students. A word of note here, and we see it again in math, you can stay here, Alita. Thank you. We're seeing the most visible
cohort gains in our upper grades, particularly at our middle level this past school year. Um, and we are paying particular attention to last year's fifth graders, this year's sixth graders where we saw um a decline in performance
for that cohort. And so we're paying particular attention to them this year with our building principles and our school-based teams. The next series of slides provides information about ELA, MCCAST performance, math, science, and civics.
Um, beginning with ELA, from this bar graph here, you can see the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations for each grade level. This information outside of grade three is is similar, if not the same, to the cohort
graph that we just saw. And so that is ELA and I provided just a bit of an analysis here again at the macro level on this slide. While we know and we see that NSO's performance outpaced state averages at
all grade level, there's definitely room for us to improve Nashar prid itself on continual improvement and um we are we are committed to that goal. Of note here, um in 2024, last year,
reading and language were identified as key areas for improvement where writing we saw was a relative area of strength. This year 2025, we saw meaningful progress in reading across grade levels in grades 3 through 8 when we pulled
apart um instructional analysis from the assessment particularly with students ability to integrate ideas and information which we see as an as very strong transferable and important skill for our students. And I I think we're
beginning to see the connection with our um newly adopted high-quality instructional materials there. Language and writing um remains an ongoing area of focus and really is reflective of the synthesis of skills that are required
for students to write and this will um become and remain a continued focus for us this year in terms of subgroup performance. And um the district has been committed to monitoring growth for for our subgroups. We provided that
information in the appendix. But um there's some areas here to celebrate for our subgroups that we have made improvement and and a closed working to close the achievement gap for all but two of our subgroups in ELA which is something to celebrate and that includes
our students with disabilities and our high need high need students. The gap for our lowincome students continues to close and for our black students, it is now nearly eliminated. However, work is to be done for our Hispanic students. That subgroup
performance declined. Um, and our English learners, language learners subgroup continues to experience the greatest need and challenge with the widest and still increasing gap. And this is going to carry over into
math performance as well. we see similar patterns. So, moving on to slide 13, Alita, and moving into ELA, I mean, it's a math, sorry. Um, the the bar graph um that preceded
this um slide um shows again shows the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations for each grade. Again, we're seeing relative similarity um as we're we we're seeing some some growth towards the upper grades, but we're really seeing some nice
progression of growth in math across the grades. And um we we are working to attribute this to the high quality instructional materials that we've implemented in K to 5 and seeing progress there.
um in in grade five um are we have you know this year's sixth graders we are watching them um and uh noting that um we need to make sure that we're monitoring their progress of note here we do see that
they um increased in an important domain and that is number uh numbers and operations fractions which we know is a really critical skill for algebra for one readiness. So that is a shimmer of light there. Grade six saw the most
notable gains both for the grade level and for the cohort growth. Um and we have provided some other areas um of note here that we thought noteworthy including areas in need of improvement for four and five and as I as I had
mentioned in ELA the note of um improvement areas for our subgroups. So moving on to science I'm going to catch up with Alita lost track there. If you move on to the next slide, we're going to review
science. Again, um as I had mentioned earlier, this bar graph shows the performance at each grade level and um in how we performed over time. Again, I had mentioned that we had seen a slight
increase in grade 8 and a decline in grade five and 10, which we'll talk about on the next slide. Uh in terms of an analysis here, um while the district performance outpaces the state averages at all grade levels,
we did see performance decline in grades five and 10. Um fifth grade results decrease in all domains except for technology and engineering. And I'll talk about how we're addressing this in the next steps further on in the presentation. As a
committee will remember um this year will mark the first full year of implementation for highquality instructional materials at the middle level and that's open sed which we're very excited about to have full implementation there. We are seeing
early signs of um improvement there with our uh middle level improvements in science practices which are critical and will help our students as they enter and experience high school science and and that's suggesting positive momentum from our new curriculum.
An area of note and this connects with social studies. We are seeing probably uh no surprise to um our community and to myself and maybe to the committee but our students perform better on multiple choice types of questions than selected
or than constructed response questions. And so um making sure that our students are presenting their ideas in writing across domains and having opportunity for explicit instruction and practice to explain their reasoning and using
evidence and writing across the content areas we'll see as the next step. Okay, next slide. Civics um MCCAST performance. We have one data point because the assessment was new to our eighth graders last year.
Um on this slide here I have provided what the test measured. The test measured student understanding across several domains. I've listed those for the committee here as well as civics's practices also listed here. Nishoba's
performance exceeded the state across all domains and practices. But similar to science, constructed response, those are the ones that required writing in respon in response to text presented the greatest opportunity for growth for our students. Um, indicating a continued
need to strengthen our students ability to explain their reasoning and support claims with evidence, which we know is an is a hard skill and an important life skill. All right, moving on to next steps. And I've divided this up into literacy,
math, social studies, and civics. Um, and as you can see, we have quite a few uh next steps listed here. But many of these action steps um that I've shared with you here have also been shared with a committee and with our community through teaching and learning reports
over the past school year. We've just brought them together here to highlight how they connect directly to our areas of strength and our uh opportunities and our continued commitment um for continual improvement on behalf of our students. Our next steps in terms
of literacy really focus on three key areas. First, strengthening foundational literacy instruction for our students in K to2 by ensuring consistent use of evidence-based instructional materials,
ensuring access to the core literacy domains, phonics, phmic awareness, and those foundational literacy skills as well as leveraging all of the resources and support fiscal and otherwise as a prison one district.
Second, emphasizing early identification of students in need at the earliest moment possible, K to2 and beyond, and timely response by using our screening measures, our classroom data, our PLC work, our win time, and our early
literacy tutors um that we're fortunate to be able to add as a means of support this year. And third, continuing to strengthen writing, language, and conventions through the implementation of instruction materials. This year, we are implementing additional language and
literacy block in grades 3 through five. that's part of our ELEL curriculum but is implementing for the first time this year patterns of power in grades 3 through six which supports grammar usage mechanics sentence conventions and just helps support
students writing fluency and work began last spring um with our 6 through 12 writing working group to even further strengthen analytical writing skills grades 6 through 12 with a vertical lens and that work will um continue. In fact,
our 6 through 12 group is meeting this Friday together during the early release for math. Our math next steps focus on continuing to maintain and strengthen coherence and consistency in instruction K to 12.
Again, we've provided the committee with updates throughout last year and this year. At the elementary level, we are continuing to support our bridges in mathematics. That's our K to 5 curriculum including the intervention and enrichment components and we are p
piloting the third edition of bridges in grade 2 this year. Our K to2 and our 3 through 5 math coaches are working directly with teachers to support and strengthen instruction and provide guidance around targeted instruction and
intervention for our students who who need a bit more in middle grades. Uh, as the committee is aware, um, with Miss McBry presenting at the last committee meeting, we're steadfastly supporting our implementation of our new materials in 608, supported by coaching and
professional learning. And we will be using at the middle level common assessments, collaborative planning and professional learning, and on the job on the spot coaching to monitor student learning and support our teachers. And at the high school level, um the
curriculum review process is underway um and and pointing to a focus on algebra 2 and geometry while continuing to monitor monitor and support implementation of algebra 1. Next slide. Science.
Um at the elementary level, um we are looking to see um the updated 2025 2026 K to 5 master schedule. now reflecting highlighted dedicated and consistent time for science and social studies.
Each week, curriculum units have been developed and teaching and learning will be working with school teams to monitor pacing and the effectiveness of the newly developed units that are aligned with our frameworks to support implementation, consistent implementation and support for our
teachers throughout the year. As I had mentioned at the middle level, we will have completed full implementation of open sed uh and this year uh at the middle level in our science work. Our teachers are
engaging in professional learning to support um something called SCAPE, which is an acronym which really is designed to provide um accommodated materials that reflect high expectations and levels of rigor for each and every
student, but to support our diverse learners and to deepen their understanding of assessments and performance tasks. And at the high school level, our c curriculum work continues to align biology, chemistry, and physics with the NGSS emphasizing crosscutting concepts
and science practices. And we'll come back around with the committee um with the chair's permission to provide an update on how that is going at a later date. And with this being the first year of the civics assessment in grade 8, we're just monitoring and supporting our
teachers. again they too are coming together during an early release professional development time this year sharing best practices but we're continuing to monitor um the work there and then finally
um the last slide is um these are just the systemic structures that the committee and our community aware of that we put in place to support our teachers in supporting the learning of and for our students um and just serve as a reminder of the
work that we are engaging in at the systemwide level to support the work at our schoolbased and our grade level. And then finally, a note of the appendix. Um the appendix includes more specific information about
accountability, achievement, achievement by subgroup, cohort graphs by grade level, and then school-based data. And I would just reinforce um and you can kind of go back to the question slide if if you will, Alita. Um
that our schools, our principles are working with their school councils to unpack these data with their school counsels and to talk with them and with their school-based teams about next steps and what the data means at the schoolbased level.
Okay, that concludes the very quick um paced presentation. Um and thank you for your patience. There's a lot of information and uh I appreciate the committee's patience with me and with moving through so much that
really is so important to teaching and learning and I know to our teachers and to our families and our students. But that's the sense at the macro level of what it's looking like for us right now. Uh thanks so much for that, Laura. It
was uh spot on. Uh so I wonder if the committee if anybody has any questions for Laura, anything you want clarification on or I know it was a lot to take in, but I'm sure you guys looked this over before.
Um, I I guess one question I have for you, Laura, and you did touch upon it, but I just wanted to point it out again, is that I am concerned about the performance. Okay. Okay. So, let me let me put a caveat on my statement and say
that um in last November, the state of Massachusetts voted to no longer make the MCCAST a graduation requirement. That was by ballot initiative. And so you can assume and I think we can assume
that some of the decline in the performance is due to you know kids understanding that the test is no longer mandatory to pass. Um, but if you put that aside,
I am finding that the performance of our students with disabilities is still remarkably high or um the the failing grades, the not meeting expectations is really high. Do you agree with and I'm
just looking at 10th grade because I think that um that's the one that I've always considered to be the most important. Um, what do you think about this, Laura? What do you make of it? >> Well, um, I I always take on all
questions, but we have Mr. De Manch here who may be a more appropriate respondent. We work very closely together. Um and um so I if if I may with the chair and the superintendent's permission and I don't want to put Miss De Manch on the spot, but I know she's
been working very hard um at the high school level to support um our students with disabilities because the intention, and I'll just preface this if I may, the intention of highquality instructional materials, which you've heard me say kind of probably now adnauseium, is to
really um lift and provide high expectations for each and every student with high levels of support so that each and every student can achieve at high levels. And so that is our intention with getting the high
quality instruction materials in our teachers hands that includes like illustrative math at the at um at the nth grade level um for math baked into the cake is high quality differentiated supports within the
curriculum. So that that question in part is a reason why we are working so steadfastly to make sure that our teachers have high quality instructional materials from tier one at the core. And I'm going to turn it over to Miss Deanch to to um complete my answer about what's
going on. >> Yes. >> Rowan, before you uh jump in, I wonder if we could just clarify. When we say students with disabilities, this includes all students on IEPs and 504s >> or just IEPs? >> IEEPs. >> Just IEPs. Yeah.
>> Yep. >> Okay. >> Yep. And it includes all students that are um in all our programming or out of district as well. So, it includes all the scores, but as Laura said, it's a continuum. And so, it's really a tiered
system. And part of what the student service uh department is focusing on is um really creating a clearer uh through line from the access to the general ed environment to very clear tiered
instruction with the appropriate data uh collection. And so Laura and I have been working really closely especially with literacy um and trying to create that through line. And as you saw in mathematics, we still have um quite a
gap to go, but we have a plan in place around the specialized instruction and looking at the data and really trying to have high expectations for our students because the closest access to the core instruction is really going to um
improve a lot of um just the knowledge for all our students. So we do have work to do. We our teams continue to um do look at that data and um make those improvements.
Okay. So I appreciate that. I think that's more or less a general response. So I think not to we're not going to get into the weeds tonight. Obviously I'm glad that you guys are aware and targeting it and recognize it as a problem.
Um, I think that my biggest concern is that as this test potentially starts to fall away, I wonder how we're going to collect this data in an objective way if this data becomes less and less
reliable. How will we be able to know that our special education students and and all students really, but especially our subgroups who are not performing at the highest levels right now, continue to perform or rather are making progress. Um, so I just wanted to put
that out there and and say that it's a concern for me and um and yeah, that's all I'd say about that. I'll go to Jackie. I really appreciate the conversation. Um, I know that we've talked about it
before and I just want to reiterate for any community members who are listening for the first time like education is beautiful and wonderful and very complex and when you're laying in special education in particular um that you're talking about some of our most vulnerable learners, but those are
students who are identified with disabilities that require specially designed instruction through their specialized education plan. And so when we talk about kids with disabilities, we have students who have 504s and accommodation plans. We
have students who don't require um accommodations in the classroom who have identified disabilities. And so when we look at that data, I think it's really important that not just looking at MCCAST, but all of the ways in which
we're identifying specific performance. And a lot of that, especially for students on IEPs, that comes um in looking at their IEPs and the growth that they make for their specific goals. Um I think it's an it's important that, you know, we kind of just reiterate that
for anyone who doesn't really kind of understand some of the complexities and that's a super basic way to describe it, but I do think um it's a it's certainly a piece of it. And another way that we can measure how kids are doing comparing their own progress to themselves, not to
a state standard. >> Oh, Jillian, go right ahead. >> I just had a quick clarifying question. Um, you said, so if we have Nishoba 10th graders who are outplaced and are um maybe going to a different school, their MCCAST scores, did you say those are
still captured in our district data? No, I had no idea. >> Yes, that is correct. >> Okay, thank you. Any other questions on the MCAST presentation? All right, everyone. Uh, seeing none,
we're going to move the agenda then. And I will just thank Laura and her entire extended team for that presentation. It was very insightful as always. Laura, >> thank you for the opportunity. >> All right, Kirk. I think that wraps up the superintendent's report.
>> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> So, we're going to move on now to new business. Uh we have one item here and that is the always popular DECA field trip travel requests and I can see that
um we have Mr. A and Miss Norton um are here with us. Kirk, would you like to cue this up? >> You bet. Usually I I send this honor to Dr. Boon, but she'll be coming to the next meeting with us. Um, but yes, I want to introduce to our committee two uh outstanding teachers at Nishoba
Regional High School, Mr. Sos Andreopoulos and Miss Kate Norton. They lead our DECA program and I will turn over them for their annual request for travel for the national DECA competition. So, uh, take it away either
one of you. >> Yeah, thanks for having us. Uh, like, um, Mr. said, u Kate and I are have been uh running the DECA program. I've been in there for this is my 16th year and Kate's uh fourth or fifth year. Fifth year. >> Okay.
>> Wow. Time flies. But uh we have a really great program and we're excited to do um our overnight trips like we always do every year. So, uh we have two for approval tonight. Um our states trip is a 3-day, two night trip to Boston. Um we
don't know where we're staying just yet. The lottery is usually conducted um as we get closer to the competition sometime in December. Uh but it will be in the Seapport area of Boston again as it was last year. Um we're working with Mass Da to to work on the final details
of that. Um our nationals trip is scheduled for the end of April. Um Kate, you want to help me with the exact dates because >> So just to recap, um March 12th to the 14th will be our district, our states competition rather at the seapport. Um
like Starro said, we'll get the lottery options. We are hoping for the Omni if everyone can send us positive vibes that way. Um it'll most likely be towards the end of January looking at when registration is due. And then following the states will go to nationals down in Atlanta, Georgia from the dates of April
25th through April 30th. >> Yeah. So, we're still working on the details for that one as well. Uh I think the lottery is being conducted any day now and I think we might be hearing officially from DECA what our hotel will be in Atlanta very soon as well. Um, but I know time is of the essence,
especially with booking travel and uh I appreciate the opportunity to come uh you know in front of you guys all tonight um to get the ball rolling in this process. I'd love to hear any questions if you guys have any questions about the trip or um any any DECA
related questions really. >> Thanks Davos. Y >> uh so you guys may or may not know this but Nishoba has one of the most prolific DECA programs in maybe the entire world but they do a great job and many many kids benefit from this program. It is
completely overenrolled and we so appreciate you guys getting it there. So um this is also one of our innovation pathways like a lot of this stuff plugs into one of those in to our business innovation path pathways. So lots of great stuff happening there. Um, Kirk, we're looking to vote on this
at the next meeting. Is that right? >> Yeah, we'll place this in the consent agenda next month, but if there's any questions from the committee, we can solicit them. >> Excellent. All right, Shondor, go ahead. >> I can't find that mute button today. It saved my life. Sorry about that.
>> Um, I'm a little It's more about sort of this travel form generally. This only for overnight trips, correct? >> That's right. Okay. Um, so, um, I was
curious, are we going to, I think this Friday there's a DECA conference in at the DCU center. Are they, uh, going to be there? >> We are not going to be at the fall state leadership conference this year. Um unfortunately with our seniors activity
and senior sunrise generally we take our officers to the conference so that they can mingle with other officers because it's a limit to I believe 14 students each um per school. So we kind of asked around and they had decided that their senior activities were more important
for the time being and with the half day in PD it would be difficult to bring other students with us with the time straight. Mhm. >> No, that makes a lot of sense and it's an amazing program. So, I'm glad you guys uh are are uh proposing these trips. >> Thank you.
>> Any other questions? >> Madam Chair, if I may jump in for a moment, >> please. >> I am um going to plug our program and uh let the committee know that annually uh Mr. Andrews and Miss Norton host a mock
competition at Nshoba Regional High School. Uh I've been able to participate three of the four years I've been superintendent. Well, there was one year I had a conflict. If you remember, Mr. A, uh it's something that I know uh assistant superintendent friend attends. She even brought her spouse to be a
judge uh for the competition. We encourage any school committee members um that can be a part of that team to to go through the mock competition to join us. And Mr. A, you'll be sending I know you send invitations out annually, but I I really want to encourage our our
school committee if uh your time affords it to participate because it really is outstanding. >> Thank you. I was going to I was going to conclude with with that. So, you uh read my mind. I appreciate >> Didn't mean to take your thunder there. That's great. try to give you
>> you guys will be hearing from me for sure. >> Yeah. >> All right. I think we are all set with questions. So, we'll put that in the consent agenda for the next meeting. And we thank you guys for being here and uh keeping the program rolling. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you.
>> Bye, guys. All right guys, moving on to finance and operations. Uh Ross, what can you tell us? >> Good evening again. Uh so now is the time of year that we are finalizing the previous fiscal year, living the current
fiscal year and planning for the next fiscal year. So my first report this evening is regarding the close of fiscal year 25. Uh and within your meeting materials this evening that is called sorry about that I just closed my my
window. It should say FY25 final operating budget report. Uh so you'll note uh that for school committee this evening uh that this report encompasses both the expense and revenue sides from FY25. Uh the reason
I've chosen to uh include both expenses and revenue on one report is to provide the full fiscal picture of FY25. Uh in the green section at the top of the report, you'll see the FY25 operating budget or expense side. Uh the
expenses last year resulted in an overall surplus of $410, uh $397. Cost centers of our budget that came in over budget have been annotated with footnotes that I'll quickly walk through with the committee. Uh the systemwide
budget uh came in over budget for three major reasons. Uh, one, as the committee is aware, specialized transportation, which uh, includes McKini Vento Act transportation services that are paid from the systemwide account. Uh, and this cost center saw major increases
largely due to the number of students. But, uh, when transportation goes up and we need more, um, coverage for more students that fall under that protection, uh, it increases the the expenses. Um also uh within this uh we
saw the uh increase on uh school choice tuition out uh over budget and our charter school tuition out um that we pay as our students may choose to participate in charter schools. Uh you'll see some inverse on that in the
revenue report. Um, also I want to point out uh the substitute cost center came in over budget as we increased that budget for FY26 in response to what we saw last year during budget planning. Uh we've made an adjustment there. Lastly, our special education budget. Uh as
you're all aware, um through the fiscal 26 planning um we saw uh increases uh that we've accounted for moving forward. However, um uh notably that while this cost center is still over budget, it did take a million dollars of additional
circuit breaker um to bring that to this level. So, next month when next month when I present the revolving accounts, which include circuit breaker, I'll be noting to the school committee that account balance expectations for FY26 that I believe will substantially
replenish our circuit breaker fund for future needs. Um the building based surpluses that you see are largely due to salary differentials as staff left the district most often for retirement and new staff were hired. Uh at the bottom half of the page um you'll note
that the revenue came in at $959,98 over expectations. Um I don't want to gloss over the town assessments. that obviously came in as expected um as we really appreciate the show of support for our students and our
mission. Um and so again, we thank our member towns for their contributions. Regional transportation, chapter 78, and charter school revenue. Uh as I sort of talked about the cost of charter school, we also saw a larger reimbursement on on
the revenue side. All came in over expectations. Ironically, the state did not provide guidance on chapter 7 adjustment last year um that we're talking about this evening. Um but you'll um you'll note that we're doing that now. Uh earnings on investments uh
continues to perform well. That's the interest that we earn on funds as they await expenditure through the warrant process. So whether it's uh chapter 70 or our town assessments, the accounts in the um bank accounts rather that those sit in uh earn uh interest and have really performed well over the last
several years. So that's that's a benefit noted. So within miscellaneous revenue, we also saw a large boost from a very delayed reimbursement on COVID expenses that were filed under FEMA by all districts. Our office staff along with facilities did an excellent job in
the FEMA filing and approximately half of that revenue over expectations due to that work. Um at the very bottom of the report, you'll see an unodudited snapshot of the district's budget fiscal health at the end of FY25. This is essentially what we expect to be returned to the excess and deficiency
fund balance once our auditors complete their work with us and we submit our balance sheet to the department of revenue uh at the end of this month. So at that point I will pause um in case there's any questions or uh clarity sought. >> Any questions anyone?
>> Oh go ahead Scott. >> I'd just like to thank Mr. McCarron again for sharing all that information with us and also commend him on the great job he's been doing over the last few years as far as bringing in the district um under budget and even by an
increasingly accurate amount. You know, our underbudget amounts been shrinking over the last few years which is both good as far as how demonstrating how well Mr. Well, Karen um understands our expenses and how much we're going to come in at, but it also is kind of a um a warning sign to the committee as far
as you know what gets put into the um excess and deficits every year. So, as Mr. Moaring gets very skilled at this, the amount of money we put into excess and deficits each year from coming in under budget is shrinking. So, I just want to bring that to everyone's attention as we look to have some
further discussions about excess and deficits a little bit later on in the meeting. >> Very good. Uh any other questions about the end of your report? Not seeing any. All right. So let's continue on.
>> Okay. Thank you. Uh so moving into the present moment. Um you'll see the operating budget report as of the end of September for FY26. Uh this is a very early projection as the end of September only accounts for 10% of the school year. uh even though
we're 3 months into the fiscal year, uh you all recognize that majority of our work really starts in September. Uh when it comes to expenses, so I'm going to draw my attention first to the obvious footnotes. Um as the committee will recall, we were able to
reestablish the dean of students positions by the decrease in our insurance premium that we were able to secure, excuse me, secure by participating in some pilot wellness programs through our provider. That surplus and insurance, simply put, will cover the expense of the deans that are
within the building based budgets at the high school and middle school levels. Also worthy of a footnote is the impact of the Prism early literacy grant. The grant allowed us to move a significant portion of our elementary school literacy coaches salaries to the grant which has allowed us to use that
differential to hire muchneeded literacy tutors. You'll see that the literacy tutors are being paid from the curriculum cost center, which is our teaching and learning budget and overseen by Mrs. Friend. Um, as September 30th is really too early to forecast many of our departments, we do expect to expend our
budgets and facilities substitute special education and technology at this point. You know, we always talk about the winter with facilities. We just don't know what it's going to bring. Um, we don't know what, you know, might need extra attention and certainly haven't, you know, had a full expect or full
understanding of who may be out on leave um under those long-term substitute needs uh that come up. So uh I will note that within the building budgets and this goes a little bit to what Mr. Powell was talking about we simply uh do not see the significant surplus that we
typically saw due to salary differentials in previous fiscal years from retirements to new hires. So during the budget planning process, it was necessary to make those bud those position reductions uh that you're all aware of and many of the retirements were filled with existing personnel thus
um eliminating the potential salary differential if retirements were filled with uh new personnel. So again at that point I will pause for questions or uh anyone seeking clarity on the report. >> Any questions on that last piece?
All right, let's keep it rolling. >> Could I just interrupt real one quick? And I didn't include this in my notes. I'll just point out to the committee now. Those footnotes will be in there throughout the the year. I won't explain them to the full extent uh in future months, but I just want to let you know that we'll continue to footnote those
for for you for your understanding, but also just public consumption. So, thank you for allowing me to add that in. >> Great. Thank you, Ross. We appreciate it. So, that is our finance and operations reporting. Now we're going to move over to unfinished business and we have a couple of things that are
expecting a vote from us. Thing number one is the middle school pathway exploration policy. This is going to act as our second reading. I know that policy has submitted in the meeting materials uh the final version of this
policy. And I wonder well I'm going to actually just go ahead and move the issue if that's okay with everyone. So I move to adopt policy if one middle school pathway exploration for career
and technical education as presented in the meeting materials. >> Second. >> Thanks Scott. Uh do we have any discussion on this policy? I know that it was pretty straightforward. Few adjustments needed to be made.
>> All right, seeing none, we can take the vote. I vote yes. Scott, >> yes. Jarren, >> yes. >> Lindsay, >> yes. >> Jillian, >> yes. >> Robin, >> yes. >> Matt, >> yes. >> John,
>> yes. >> Jackie, >> yes. And Shandor, >> yes. >> Excellent. So, that's good to go. Kirk, >> Madam Chair, if I may, >> please. >> Uh, just recall, thank you for taking that vote tonight. There's a I have to
do a certification process and I'll be submitting that tomorrow to Desessie. Um our future second readings will always live in the consent agenda. So just know that um uh if on second reading you have any questions, you would make a request
to pull it out of consent agenda. >> Very good. Uh the next matter in unfinished business is going ahead with the chapter 70 FY26 budget adjustment vote. And so, Ross, would it be prudent for me to make the motion?
>> Uh, yes, that would be great. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, so we'll start with the motion, everyone. I move to approve the FY26 amended revenue as presented to increase the chapter 70 education aid by $225,375
to 10,547,898 and reduce the FY26 excess and deficiency appropriation by the $225,375 to1,100. 74,625. And I know that that was a lot to hear.
So, what I'm going to do is put that in the chat for you guys. That's the motion. >> I second. >> Thanks, Scott. All right. So, um, Kirk, do would you like to say anything? Would you or your team Ross
like to say anything on this or would you just like to go to discussion? Yeah, I think Ross covered it in the super report today. >> Very good. Any further discussion on this matter and using this method to address the chapter 70 additional aid that we received.
All right, guys. So, we're going to go ahead for a vote. I vote yes. Scott, >> yes. >> Sharon, >> yes. >> Lindsay, >> yes. >> Jillian, >> yes. Robin, >> yes. >> Matt, >> yes. John,
>> yes. >> Jackie, >> yes. And Shandor, >> yes. >> Excellent. Thank you everyone. Um, so the last matter in unfinished business, which I leap frog, sorry about that, is uh the capital planning liaison's
announcement. So I did hear from two members of the committee who are willing to help uh act as liaison in this way with regard to capital planning and be a conduit of communication back to our select boards and um capital planning
committees in our towns. And so from Bolton it is going to be Robin. Thank you Robin. Uh from Lancaster it will be Jackie. Thank you Jackie. and from Stowe I will be the person who acts as the liaison. So Kirk as you see fit you can
um kind of deputize us to be that you know conduit of communication. Um how would you like to proceed? >> Well Mr. McCarron takes the lead on all the capital uh planning conversations with the towns. So as we get to the important benchmarks for those
conversations expect to see a communication direct from his office and we'll go from there. >> Okay. And because the capital planning requests need to be presented before January 1, I assume that any communication will probably be happening
in November, right? >> Yeah, Mr. Moar. >> Uh yeah, that's that is correct. Um so the two of the three town administrators that we were able to meet with this week are aware of the potential for the liaison. So this is great news. Um and
one of the first orders of business will be doing a facilities walkth through in each of the three towns with that liaison and potentially and hopefully members of the uh the town administration uh so that we can see the facilities and talk about the needs. So
that would be the first sort of reach out for me that they should expect to see. >> Fantastic. All right. Thank you for that. Thank you everybody for or to Jackie and Robin for volunteering. I appreciate it. Uh so the next item here is subcommittee
report outs and we're going to start with budget and warrant because they have developed in their subcommittee meetings an excess and deficiency recommendation for us and so I'm going to turn it to the chair and that is Scott. Scott, what is um what do we need to know here?
So we we attached a presentation to the meeting materials to kind of give a highle overview of what um is involved in excess and deficiencies um in terms of its role in our budget and what how it can be used and what the
constraints are. So, you know, just in brief, um excess and deficiencies is is a it's a fund. It's it's a a balance that um the school committee has available to it. Um usually presumably it's an excess. When
we spend less than we budget for or we get more re revenue than we anticipated, then money goes into our excess balance. Um, if we ever overspent our budget or we got less revenue than expected, then we might have a deficiency and we would either need to draw from that excess
fund or we would need to find some other means of funding that deficiency. Um, so we feel it's important to maintain a balance there in that fund um as much as possible in case there is unexpected expenses in the district. Um, however,
there is a constraint on that. the uh state of Massachusetts has put a 5% cap on the amount of money that can be in that fund. So 5% of the operating budget. So for the district right now, we're our operating budget is in the low $70 million a year ballpark. So we would
cap out about $3.5 million in the excess and deficiencies. Um our current balance there is about 2.5 million. So over the last few years, we've come in pretty well under budget
and not used the fund so much that it's allowed us to build up to that $2.5 million balance. Um so the budget warrants committee at the direction of the full committee has been working for several months now to come up with a
recommendation of um how we should be approaching excess and deficiencies. And because we have because Mr. McCarron has gotten so skilled at coming in with budgets, the amount that we're contributing each year to the excess and deficiencies due to coming in under
budgets has been declining. Um like in 2023 we put almost 1.7 million into the excess and deficiencies budget bucket. Um whereas in fiscal 25 we only put 400,000 in. So
we we by and we've been using 1.2 million and even in fiscal 25 we used 1.4 million out of that bucket. So we're in a position where if we're not careful we could wind up depleting um that fund. So
the budget and warrants committee is recommending that the comm the full committee adopt a position that we start using less of that fund each year so we can build up for lack of a better term a rainy day fund um in case we ever do
find ourselves in a position where we have less revenue coming in and that will give us a a source to draw from from to you to to make up that difference without having to raise taxes as much. So, our proposal is that we
reduce our use of excess and deficiencies fund by $200,000 per year um for the foreseeable future with the goal of getting our use of it down to zero um so that it's not a regular
uh re regular source of funds in our budgets. And the upside is if we ever did get it down to zero and we our excess and efficiencies exceeded 5% then that money would just automatically go back to the towns in the next budget. So there's no downside to doing this and it
just gives us more flexibility going forward in our budgeting. Um this doesn't require a vote per se because we're not suggesting that we make it a policy. I think it would just be kind of a thumbs up thing from the committee so that the administration has the
committee's view on this as they're developing the next budget. >> Great. Thank you so much, Scott, for that. That was very easy to follow. Um, but I wonder if there are any questions or Kirk, you want to add too?
>> Yeah, I thought Mr. Pal did an excellent job explaining that. Um, another way that, um, if we were to reach the 5% threshold and our END certification came above 5%. The dollars over 5% can then be
appropriated into the next budget, thus lowering assessments to our towns. So whichever methodology is applied, reaching that 5% threshold is beneficial because then we were we will be able to to adjust assessments or give uh
paybacks to the towns. Uh uh you might remember last year Minute Man exceeded their thresholds and they just did they did that at town meetings last year. They were able to return dollars to member towns um while keeping their
tuitions at that rate. So um there there are various uh levers available to us uh if we can ma get to that 5% threshold and maintain it that are beneficial levers. >> Are there any questions about this
really complicated topic? >> So Ross, can you just clarify really quick? Um, this past year we were going to use I just gave the numbers 1 point >> 1.4 Y >> 1.4 >> Y
>> million from END. We were going to borrow against END 1.4 million. >> Yep. >> Because Chapter 70 gave us more money at the last minute there. We brought that down to 1.2. >> Yeah, just under 1.2. That's correct. And so, um, I think Scott, what you're
what you're recommending is that next year we would like to see the district use no more than 1 million. >> That's correct. In fiscal 27, we would encourage the district to max not use in more than $1 million from the END.
And just to be clear for anybody who's watching too, it's not that we are spending the END money. We're just using it until we can put it back at the end of the year when we realize that we haven't spent the money we borrowed from END, which has been that hamster wheel
that we're we've been on since for a decade more, I'm not sure. Um, okay. So, Ross, do you think that it's I mean, we we take the 1.2 because we need the 1.2. If we don't do 1.2, we would be asking
the towns for $200,000 more. >> Well, well, so I would look at it essentially the same way and just potentially say it different. Uh so by using the excess and deficiency fund as
an appropriation as a revenue source that lessens the need for revenue sources elsewhere or a reduction in expenses a reduction in budget. So if we were sort
of to rewind the clock back to uh the middle of March last year before the budget vote. So if you took that status where we were at 1.4 and decided to at that point remove 1.4 of the END as an appropriation, you would have to find
$1.4 million in the budget and reductions, increase assessments to the member towns by essentially that much. Um and andor a combination of both those things. So to what budget and warrant is
proposing, we're sort of in a little bit of a jump start here, which is a good position to be in. And I just want to clarify the hamster wheel. Um, so what I would say is we've benefited from being able to return essentially
the same amount into END and sometimes more. We can't guarantee that and that's that's the issue. That's more of the the concern. So, if for some reason we did not see uh the same revenue come in this
past year, let's say it was $500,000 over expectation and we had the $400,000 in operating surplus, we'd only be returning $900,000 to excess and deficiency essentially. So, you you'd be starting the
availability of appropriation $500,000 or half a million short for FY27. So, if that was the case, we'd be our balance would be around 2 million. And if you borrowed 1.4 to cover expenses or to cover revenue, you'd now have a
balance of 600,000. If that happened again, you wouldn't be able we'd be depleting our fund. So, to Mr. Powell and and the budget warrant subcommittee's point is that this is a a slippery slope to be on. And we've been we've been safe and we've been okay. You
know, we've done a good job of increasing our school choice. We've been really judicious and thoughtful about our circuit breaker over the past several years, which helped us for FY25. All those things happening together and working out is great. Um, but again, we can't make predictions always on what's
going to happen. So, this is really a fiscal protection by paying attention to this uh for the future because whether we start to back off of it now or we're forced into either budget reductions in the future to balance the budget or
increasing the uh member town's assessments at a higher sort of accelerated pit look one time um that that becomes the issue. This approach in my mind gives us time to sort of work
within this this notion and this proposal to slowly make these changes and do those things of like do we have potential on additional revenue? Do have do we have areas within the budget that we're building at that time in the
future to get this worked out. Um so I I think it's a combination of all these things and I think it's a good move. Okay, I see Kirk's hand. Yeah, just for clarity, and it may sound semantic, but I think it's an important
distinction, is that as we get into the budget workshop, it's the committee that makes this decision, and it's not necessarily the district office because what we're going to be doing in the budget process is
we're going to show you what we need to run a highly effective educational program in January, mid January before what we know what various cost centers are and what anticipated revenue streams are. So, I just I want that to be out
there because um I think this is why it's and this is why we talked about policy locks you into places that you can't get out of. So, having a recommendation is good because then as we bring forward the educational program, we're able to
present anticipated revenue along with uh uh expected costs. That's when it comes down to understanding well can we execute the recommendation. So that'll be all part of the budget process in January and February. >> All right. Thank you for that. Any other
questions? >> All right. And so um because we're on Zoom, I'm just going to kind of go around and ask you guys to say thumbs up, thumbs down just so that it's vocalized. Uh Scott, >> thumbs up. And let's see. Shandor,
>> thumbs up. >> Jackie, thumbs up. Robin, >> thumbs up. >> Matt, >> thumbs up. >> John, >> thumbs up. >> Jillian, thumbs up. Lindsay, >> what's up?
>> Sharon, >> thumbs up. >> And myself, thumbs up. Thank you to the budget and warrant subcommittee for bringing this to us. We appreciate it. And thanks to Ross and Kirk for working with them to make it manageable.
Uh any other subcommittee report outs that you would like to get on the record? Kirk, do you want to share something about the building subcommittee? >> Yes, I do. Uh thank you, Madam Chair. Um we had a monumental meeting last week. It really was um one of those benchmark
moments in the process of constructing new school and that the guaranteed maximum price otherwise known as the GMP was voted on and approved by the school building committee and that it has been submitted to the MSBA uh according to what the project funding
agreement was. So that was a very exciting time for us. Um and so now we are really into the operational mode of uh constructing the building. So that's been very exciting. Uh we will be meeting again this November and taking
up the uh question of uh considering solar energy to augment uh the energy costs of the building. And then I'll remind the school committee that Miss Hanigan uh after that November meeting, we'll be sending an RSV RSVP out to
committee members only. We have to keep this to our school building committee and our school committee as government officials uh to participate in the building walk that we are planning for December. >> And that building I assume will be
winter tight. We will not be freezing. >> Yeah, we're we're getting there. Uh we're about three weeks out right now from the full slab on grade being completed. Um and we are about five weeks out from weathertight. Um, so it's
very very exciting. Uh, we have some sections of the building that are tight now and they're working their way all the way out to the most forward section. We affectionately call building A. Uh, so when that area is tight. Yes. And the and the heaters are coming, Madam Chair.
So it'll be warm inside there as well. >> Wonderful. Uh, so exciting. Uh, they showed us if you guys want to catch the YouTube recording of that subcommittee meeting, you can actually watch a virtual tour. Although you're going to have a front row seat if you can make it
to the actual tour of the building. Any other subcommittee shareouts? Yes, Jackie. Um, so based on our current timeline when we talk about items for the parking lot, we have a few shifts in our proposed first
and second readings that I'm happy to provide now or when you do the parking lot discussion. Uh, you can tell me now. I have the calendar up. >> Um, the policy subcommittee will be meeting with Superintendent Downing and
Assistant Superintendent Friend on Monday. Um, we will be reviewing the redline version of policy IKF. Um, which is graduation requirements. um we should be ready for a first reading um with the
stamp of approval from policy for the school committee's consideration on November 19th and then we'll subsequently be um meeting at a to be determined time to discuss um the competency requirements
for policy IKF. So that's uh to be determined, but uh we'll be looking at a first reading and a final second reading at the December 3rd and 17th. Okay. So I am just realizing that these
are two different things. So you have the graduation requirements IKE and you have the competency determination IKE. So, it's IKF is the graduation requirements and the first reading will occur on November 19th.
>> Okay, hold on one second. >> Sorry. Hold on. >> You're good. So, I have graduation requirements IKF first reading November 19th. Got it. >> Second reading and vote will be on December 3rd for IKF. Okay. And then a first reading for IKF,
which are related but different policies on December 3rd. Okay. And a second reading of that policy for the school committee on December 17th. Great. because the deadline is January uh
January 1st. Excellent. Okay, that's switched. Anything else for policy? Nope. Okay, thanks Jackie. Any other subcommittee reports? All right, not seeing any. Thank you everybody for that. Um, speaking of the
planning calendar, are there any other things that um you would like to see? I can actually Would it help if I uh shared it? Oh, Alita, you're so good. Uh, let's look at the November 5th. Um,
that's what we have planned. And um Kirk, the school improvement plans, can you just elaborate on that November 5th presentation? >> Yeah, this is our traditional presentation where all six principles would be appearing. Our K to8 principles will be showing uh the alignment of uh
across schools of their school improvement plans as well as the goals that are specific to their location and as well as the high school uh school improvement plan. uh for uh the committee's benefit um the approval of
the high school plan is memorialized in regulations. Uh we bring all the plans forward as a matter of course. Um and in presenting these plans to the chair, uh we have 30 days to vote the plans in
otherwise they're considered approved. >> And so should I have that in Oh, we can maybe just put that in the consent agenda on the 19th. Yeah, consent agenda on the 19th. >> Wonderful. Anything else anyone is
wondering about? >> Could I just ask that we take excess and deficiency off the fifth since we've already covered that this evening? >> Oh, weird. Yes. Um, in that district calendar presentation, Kirk, I expect that will then be voted on on the 19th.
>> Yeah, that'll go on consent agenda on the 19th. >> Okay. Uh, let's see. >> Oh, wait. Excuse me. Um, I have to come back. Miss Pac, uh, you're on that committee. I believe the committee is meeting next week. Is that correct?
>> Yes, on Monday. >> Uh, on Monday. So, what I will tell you, Madame Chair, is let's keep it there. It's possible we won't be presenting on that until the 19th. Um, we already had our first meeting as I explained before at the last meeting. Um, so this one
should go uh smoothly, but um if if we need to to move it back to the 19th, I just want to give you that heads up. >> Yeah. And I recognize that there's some complexity because of the high school construction project and all of that. So, it's not a usual
calendar. All right. Any other Did you guys notice that YouTube has a second tab up at the or not YouTube Zoom has like this new tab up top? So now I can see you all even when there's present uh presentation.
Do you guys have any questions about the next agenda stuff? All right, I'm not seeing any. And so our triumphant moment everybody I am going to move to adjourn. Well ahead of
schedule at 7:57 p.m. Do I have a second? >> Second. Thanks, Jackie. Uh, let's take the vote. I vote yes. Jackie, >> yes. >> Sharon, >> yes. >> Jillian, >> yes. Lindsay, >> yes.
>> Matt, >> yes. >> Robin, >> yes. >> Scott, >> yes. >> John, >> yes. >> And Shandor, >> yes.