is 6:31 and I'm going to call to order the regular meeting of the nooba regional school committee on today March 12th at 6:31 p.m. please join me in standing for the pledge of the Pledge of Allegiance if you care to I pledge Al to the flag of the United
States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with libery and justice for all hi everybody so the first item on the agenda is public comment and I see no one in the gallery so we're going to
keep moving past that onto uh the consent well there are a couple friends in the no comment no public commenters in the gallery sorry guys um so let's move on to the next item here and that is the
consent agenda and I'll turn to Amy for on the Fly motion I move to approve the consent agenda of March 12th 2025 and I'll second that is there any discussion on the consent agenda seeing n all those in
favor any opposed all right everyone um moving on thank you for that school committee chairperson update is next and I have nothing beyond the regular agenda so we'll keep going on to our student representative report and Ryan mro is here with us hello so so our third
annual nishoba International Fest is going to be held on Saturday April 5th from 12: to 3: at MOBA so it's a district event that celebrates the cultural diversity of the district's students families and Community um there's going to be a budy
ball which is coming up soon which is a foundation for um special needs Athletics for the Youth um spring starts spring sports are starting um as well as Junior College meetings so they're kind work juniors are already starting to map
out their plans for post High School um a lot of kids especially in my class are making we on their portfolio that we work on in home room like their digital Learners portfolio which is cool and then seal of by literacy tests are also happening this week for students should
do that that's all I got for you guys any question awesome thanks Ryan any questions for our student represent I actually have one um Ryan I talked with Dr Boon last week um and uh need you and AA to get
together with her because we have to schedule our third and fourth meeting with the advisory team got it um we got good feedback on the lawn Block doing that during the lawn block last time would you agree yes so I I will point to you and Aid to get those two dates
scheduled with Dr Boon and she'll make sure they're on my calendar perfect I'll talk to her with that excellent any other questions all right well thanks Ryan and good luck with spring Sports I know that's coming around the FR yeah I got another 15 minutes so so I got to head
out so I'll hang around to have you uh so we're going to move on next to the superintendent report I'll give it to Kirk thank you madam chair and I think Ryan is picking the perfect night to stay to the conclusion of the school committee meeting as as I think we're going to be
set setting records tonight in terms of of duration um so thank you madam chair I just I want to take this moment to acknowledge that we are voting on the budget tonight and it has been uh quite a a long and arduous process this year
uh where we have done tremendous betting around the school system around our communities with our community leaders um receiving information from our our families in the district uh just in the past two weeks I've been doing hosting office hours with all the schools giving
any employee in our district an opportunity to sit down and discuss with me whether it's General concerns or specific personal concerns um so I think we're at an important point tonight with that budget and and I just want to thank everyone that put all their hard work and energy
into that and acknowledge that work um as as we move forward and with that I want to turn it over to Mr Ming to to update you did you want to update on the piece yeah absolutely so um not to repeat superintendent
downing's words but this has been a unique uh budget season for us and while tonight doesn't finish it this is the work within the school committee uh as of this evening uh and then we start uh moving on to the uh Town meetings in May
uh so just a couple of things there's the budget that's part of the meeting materials It's the final budget it's what you reviewed last week There's been no changes um other than the header uh I would also remind the committee and the public watching uh either tonight or on video later uh that the budget
development page that we've set up specifically for this year is right on the home homepage for the district as well as they can get into the finance and operation Center if they want to educate themselves further on the budget process the regional agreement or other factors that we have uh that play into
the budget process and in my office in particular um to sort of put a just tag on it we want to thank the school committee for their engagement budget and warrant subcommittee as well along with the town administrators the select boards the fincom uh and just the general public and certainly our
employees out in the district uh for their engagement and I think there's just been a shared goal overall of you know we always have finite resources uh but this year's just been a little bit more of a challenge uh and in complexity but there's certainly been a shared uh
willingness in want to do our very best for the educational program and for each and every student in the district uh within within this season so thank you and that's that's a wrap I think on what I have to say about budget for FY 26 within the confines of the school committee um
I did share with the committee that last Thursday I said it that I would have it but last th Thursday I did have a chance to meet with our legislative contingency all five of them accepted the invitation to meet with me so assistant superintendent Fran Mr Mo Karen joined
me um two of our reps quite literally left the joint lanes and means committee meeting to come take our information and they are advocating the group uh some increase in chapter 78
this year let's hope it comes through so there could be more funding coming through Chapter 70 the house budget is estimated to come out right before April vacation so as I expressed um uh concerns that have been brought forward
to me particularly around the removal of the Deans from our budget if we're able to receive some additional Chapter 70 uh funding that's where we'll begin in reinstatement of of the deductions that we've made thus far so that moving on um a little bit of
a building project update um it is uh I connected a link to a video that was in the common last week and the Steel's beginning to rise I think Ryan has had a chance to see it straight out of the library yep right right through the window it's coming together oh it's quite exciting we had our weekly uh oper
uh architector owners meeting today um had a chance to stand out in the middle of what's going to be uh our future Commons and take the perspective the gymnasium the office suite the auditorium um we continue to be on
schedule uh while we've had as you would expect you're going to have a little bit of delay in the winter months as you're putting foundations in they have to put heating blankets on and things like that uh that time is going to be made up as they wreck the steel so all those things are coming I know we'll have more
thorough of an update uh Mr gleon at our school building committee next week uh we will have some more detail that I encourage everybody to watch that drone video um the Drone video is already almost irrelevant and that's how fast the the the steel goes up um they put up
the Cross Beam of the gymnasium 35 tons I think it was that was raised up just yesterday so just exciting stuff um we did make a decision today we'll could be put an announcement out in Comm this Friday about the uh topping off moment
of the steel and we're going to have on a Saturday I believe it's uh May 17th from 10:00 to noon uh we're going to have an opportunity for community members who would like to come in and write their signature on the beam they'll have that opportunity to do that uh so more information will come out in
the comment about that and then the last piece is we have an mcast update to offer and I'll turn it over to assistant superintendent friend um so this is is really just a reiteration of a component that we had
included in last Friday's common uh and just a message to our families and we imagine that our our building principles will follow up with messaging to their families as well to reinforce the message just around the importance of students continued participation with
mcast as we move forward into uh mcast testing which will begin at the end of this month and continue through the end of the school year so as we know passing mcast is no longer required for competency determination in
Massachusetts or included in our graduation requirements here at nishoba state regulations do mandate and require participation for students in grades three through 8 and grade 10 who are educated with Massachusetts Public funds
so um it is a continued requirement for participation for our students in those areas uh as well um it's important to note that and we included it here in the update that the results and the ratings
are directly tied to our accountability ratings both for participation for our proficiency performance and for growth those are all tied into our district accountability ratings and the data does provide us
with important information systemically about curriculum instruction alignment with standards and growth over time at grade levels and and even at the student level so we do value the information that we glean from mcast results so
participation for us is it's just not a check the box kind of thing it does give us valuable information to support teaching and learning within the district also important to note that students performance on mass may open up scholarship opportunities for our
students as well as the state seal of biliteracy which we do not include in the common but that is a component of the state seal of biliteracy requirements to earn the state seal so we thank our families for supporting
their students as we engage in the testing season and and just ask our students to do the best that they can do okay that in the report all right thank you guys uh do we have any questions on the superintendent report the confidency determination is
something that we are going to consider through the policy subcommittee well we did that in the removal of the encast requirement at the last meeting when that policy was voted in and so now what we're doing is we're waiting for the Governor's task force on confidence and determination and they've begun
soliciting constituents for that I know they've reached out to MSA mass for their reps and our executive director is bringing superintendents into that group so that work's going to begin it's estimated to be about a 2-year process oh boy
okay um all right guys so onward and upward here with our agenda so let's now move we have no new business so we're going to head over to the business and operations section of the agenda and I wonder if there's anything else that our superintendent would like to share beyond what has
already been shared I think uh we have shared we intended to share okay um so Amy you had appoint a order perhaps on the motion I have clarified it for myself but if you want me to yeah my point can I make it please okay so when I looked at this number I just wanted to
clarify that the amount that we're going to be voting in is just the operational budget for the school district it doesn't include the debt for that okay R if I could yeah um so the figure that you have should include the operational
budget and The Debt Service the reason why the debt service needs to be in there is because our Ser our assessment to the town need to include that and also through the general fund we do pay those so it's a function of of the budgeting process so that 73 million
that you should have 76 excuse me 76 that you have is inclusive of The Debt Service I checked our motion from last year that's the same process okay so Amy com is going to make a motion for us
then we can open it up for discussion certainly um I move to approve the NOA Regional School District FY 26 budget in the amount of76 m646 320 I'll second
that what do they like to comment or question and so let it be known that this does include the debt service for the bonds that we have taken out which is really just the first round that's included the first two first two the
first two okay approximately 2/3 of the total debt correct service has been taken out and is in there correct so here just um clarification the percentages though that we were looking at is 2% 2 points on for stone
and 7 points on for Lancaster I forget two for bolt those are inclusive of the debt piece as well they are not they are not those are operational dollars that is just the operational dollars okay
right and the and the town administrators the select boards the fincom and the advisory committee are aware yes of that I provided a Debt Service memo to the Tas uh for distribution for within their offices or
within their boards uh last Monday okay any other questions all right everybody uh all those in favor of the budget raise your hand any
opposed all right that is unanimous thank you everyone for all of your hard work we really appreciate everything that you do for um this process to go smoothly so I will say that uh this is not over um now the superintendent will certify the school
committee's vote to the three town by the deadline uh that's correct and then um it will go on the three town warrants that's correct and I will say that May 17th is also the date of the Stow election so if people want to vote
for the brand new school and then come sign the steel they can so so it's the 17th yeah initially it was the 10th that's been shifted to the 1 well I think the town meeting is the 10th and the election is the 17 the election is the 17th yes yes yes yes
okay so that'll be exciting uh we can go from one to the other so everybody um there's no unfinished business but there is um an opportunity for any subcommittees to share out or advisories anything that you want to share with anyone okay seeing none uh any items for
NE for the next agenda Alita do you want to bring up the planning calendar just to make sure that we're all you know this is obviously a big hurdle that we get over every single year and then the agenda needs to kind of refocused on the on the academic instructional mission of
the school and so our next meeting as you guys can see from Alita projecting 26 March 26 March the month that just keeps on going um
there it's actually a very light um order here we have a food service update we have a policy first reading I don't know we're meeting on the 24th it's unlikely it will probably be the next one after that we still have a a small round of stuff that we're finishing up
but we're at the tail end yeah um but I don't know we won't be able to turn around for the 26 that sounds right why even try um so I am going to move that and I'll take the second reading off all right so now we have a food
service update we also have the operating budget report um from finance and operations and that's all we really have on the agenda but I'm sure Kirk will find lots to add so yeah yeah I'd have something I'd like us to consider whether it's the next meeting or something thereafter but I think we
should be looking at the capacities of our schools with respect to the student populations in our district and whether we're properly utilizing our facilities and what the future might look like and what you know if there might be an opport somewhere down the line to use
our facilities differently more optimally maybe with the goal of saving some money so like I say this is just a colonel M I think we should discuss what it looks like some more and get other members feedbacks but it's something I'd like us to start thinking about maybe
commonly referred to as a space study sure okay and um that could actually sync up with the enrollment analysis or not enrollment enrollment when we do um so um forgive me I don't have my glasses on I didn't hear school choice we are
scheduled on for second meeting in May is when excuse me in April is when we typically do that when are we showing that's the hearing meeting first meeting oh the presentation and the the hear right uh the presentation will be the first meeting the hearing will be the
second meeting annually I bring up the enrollment reports of that so so I can fold into that um um well so again this isn't an agenda item I'd like to talk about it when it's an agenda item and then we can get other people's input on it so yeah but just trying to figure out
where I could plug in um so I have it in the parking lot that's F and that will um that will give Kirk and I the reminder to place it appropriately yeah I'll work with Mr monar on that as
operations right anything else you guys want to see in the parking lot or in a future agenda the communication subcommittee is going to be meeting to um develop a survey um and since it's already March I
think I was looking at the calendar trying to figure out how we would be able to what that was one of our goals is to develop a survey sended out revie it so is that something that we need to on the school committee agenda to get
approved by the committee or is that maybe that's a maybe you and I you as the chair can speak with me um about how to best facilitate that it's about school committee communication right um it's about the school
committee's website and how it's being accessed and how it can be improved really great okay so we're going to me and talk about what it's actually about so we also have a nask update that is upcoming that Kirk and I are going to
find SP for um a potential School profile U presentation um that our guidance y director can tackle things of that sort anything else you guys want on the planning calendar all right if anything comes to
mind just let me know and I will put it on here and then Kirk and I will use it to plan we will um work on that a cabinet on Monday and then I can bring you some recommendations of our weekly planning meeting next Wednesday okay
all right everyone if there's nothing else I am going to move to a journ second good Joby Cohen all those in favor wonderful any opposed all right nobody wants us St good night everybody