good evening everyone calling the April 8th school committee meeting to order i'll start with reading our mission statement the Northfor public schools offers a safe joyful and challenging learning environment that meets the needs of our diverse students through school family and community partnerships
we provide an education that inspires lifelong learners and cultivates caring and productive citizens of our ever changing world have a roll call please sheldon and it looks like we have one public comment tonight um we always welcome
public comment for the community to come up and share their thoughts if there is just four or fewer people speaking you have a total of three minutes to speak so you can come on up um grab your chair i'm Mary Kate Puler i live at N Thomas
and Circle and um first thank you of course all of you for the work that you do for our school community i'm here to speak you to you tonight to celebrate the incredible work being done at HOD by Mrs sharon Levali and to advocate for increased support in the HOD library
library is many of our kids favorite special of the week mrs lavali runs five classes a day in which she promotes our public library delivers a creatively crafted highly relevant lesson and orchestrates time to check out books additionally she procures and curates
timely collections to share with students and staff supports teachers in their classroom needs organizes enriching author visits maintains the catalog the physical books and shelves and any relevant accounting including the administrative challenges that accompany the increase in transient
students this year and the list goes on and on this year Mrs lavali is running the library without the support of an aid and thanks to Nikki Mccay who volunteers herself one whole day a week and has uh coordinated and trained a small group of us who volunteer one hour
each week we're able to reduce some of the workload but it is not enough and I believe it is not sustainable the work is specialized enough that volunteers need to understand the workflow software recordkeeping and a bit about how sales operates and volunteered health needs to
be routine as Mrs levlli depends on it facing another difficult year the.5 FTE aid in library on the list of budget items to be restored but if this restoration is not in the near future then I urge you to find a more sustainable solution the work being done
in the library is so critical as it affects every child in the building providing them the chance to joyfully apply the literacy work they do in their classrooms they work every day learning to read and with Mrs levali they learn to love to read so please prioritize
that thank you for that if there's no further public comment we are moving to the correspondence which we have none moving on to the chair report we have a gifts to approve yet
again from our PTO um for a grant for $2,474.99 to HOD and $727 for Freeman Kennedy for a total of $3,21.99 on the back you can see that at
Freeman Kennedy um the grants went towards jumbo magnetic fraction bars headphones classroom headphones um pencil grips sneaker lace tying materials and bouncy bands and then HOD cause and effect toys tabletop
activities sensory supports speech therapy articulation trinkets we thinkers book bundle um balance beam blocks for kids to create their own path structures Aperture tier 2 intervention package and grade 2 math facts lab so I
would be looking for a motion to approve the PTO grants as listed so moved second any further discussion big thank you thank you again to the PTO all those in favor next in your packet I have a resolution
the last time at the school committee meeting we talked about how chapter 70 funding as it's currently calculated is not meeting the needs of districts and the governor's at budget actually included an increase of about 6% for
education but there are 232 school districts like ours who are not seeing the benefit from that and Dr if you remember the chart that she showed of districts like ours who are falling below the state average at an increasing
rate um the there was a Ways and Means Committee meeting about two weeks ago where this topic was brought up and discussed and so the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools the Massachusetts Association of Superintendent and the Massachusetts
Association of School Business Officials and the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the American Federation of Teachers collaborated to develop a comprehensive K through2 funding proposal really aimed at circuit breaker reimbursements regional school
transportation and the recalculation of the chapter 70 formula which would de directly benefit us so we are not cutting things like library like we just heard and you know I've you've been on the budget more than I have and every
year is just a hard budget year because the way um chapter 7 is calculated is just not keeping pace of what we need there was another ways and means hearing today and I talked to Representative Vaughn if you remember I invited him to this meeting but there was a meeting in
Boston today and he said there were just hours of testimony from people from communities like ours advocating to the state that what is happening is not working um I also in response to your suggestion called masks and spoke with
Glenn and said "What the school committee is doing is there some centralized advocacy we could be doing he said "Not really but there is a resolution which is what you have going around that is saying we support these
funding initiatives because all the pressure right now is being put being put on the municipalities and towns like ours with don't have a huge commercial tax base and the residents are feeling it and the schools aren't getting what they need so the resolution in front of
you just says that we as a school committee support these initiatives for like I said the circuit breaker reimbursements regional transportation inflation of chapter 70 um which would directly benefit us so I wanted to put this in front of you all to see if there
was interest in going forward and doing a formal vote to support this we would then send the resolution in to the governor's office again to our reps um Mass did say the best way we can advocate is by talking to our reps which we're already doing um but I think just
having it formalized and in writing and just continuing the conversation and adding to the long list of schools and towns that are saying this is a problem would be beneficial so I would be looking to aim for a motion to vote to
approve this re resolution and a show of support for what they're asking for i move to as a committee support the resolution that is listed as exhibit two
i'll um I appreciate you know all the time that's gone into um everybody on this committee who's been involved with it Lisa and you know our representatives in state government whatever we can do to advocate you know what we need it's
been painful um you thanks for mentioning what Rep Bond had to say meeting today did I know you reached out to Senator Rous as well has she had perspective or
she also has two bills on the table forming a committee to re-examine this um I only spoke to representative because I think he was at the meeting today so live update um both of them said that hearing from school committees
is helpful though and the best way to advocate senator Rous said we could also submit testimony if we wanted to on her specific bills yeah um yeah i was just curious what what the comments were as well in terms I'm sure supportive
overall right hang on okay cool right so any further discussion on this all those in favor okay did you have any additional comments on that no I just think um as you said this funding proposal um um MASS the Mass
School of Business Association um Mars the regional school districts have been studying that issue for a long time and really trying to formulate what would be most impactful and I think this also strongly affects King as a regional school district the regional transportation has been a classic issue
um in terms of funding equitability uh as well as circuit breakers so I think this um uh voting in support of the recommendations of those groups that have studied this in depth would benefit not just but our partners as well as support
all right first up tonight we have a third quarter budget update so I'll turn it over to Mary Goodwin who will uh walk you through where we stand currently on budget sure good evening um I'll walk you through uh quarter three honestly there's not a whole lot of change from
quarter two and so I will go through pretty quickly and respond to any questions you might have um you can see on the first slide here's our original uh approved budget in the amount of 15,5650 um that amount was amended in
November with the town allocation to 15,734169 um going through district administration we are project I am projecting um an adjusted balance of $3,427 to be left at the end of June we will be reclassifying some expenses um
for administrative expenses to our stack account for the work that our office does to support this uh relative to instructional services in the 2000 series again some slight changes here uh looking at an
adjusted balance of uh 66,000 negative66,375 comments haven't changed same things apply as they did um back in December the curriculum adoption the the numbers include the curriculum adoption
the non-resident tuition which is a one-time funding only and the $108,000 uh the new grade one that we um received additional funding for from chapter 7 uh for 69,000 and change and then we have uh two additional EL paras that are
supporting our students uh in the 3000 series for um student services uh we're looking I'm looking at a deficit balance of 174,718 we added a plus for transportation there's additional
students special special education students that are being transported as well um and our cost sharing for transportation um has significantly increased for um transporting home students in operations and maintenance
that's where you'll see a balance of $126,870 uh we will also be reclassifying some custodial expenses to SAC school lunch for the amount of time that custodians support those programs the um fixed charges haven't changed at
all uh in terms of insurance and the contractual benefits so a slight slight balance left there in the amount of $3,180 uh and in our programs with other districts in the 9,000 series um we are
looking at a deficit of $120,217 um we had some additional uh expenses in that area this year um that were significant uh and will add that um we have applied for additional circuit breaker extraordinary relief which I'll
talk about in two slides or so um that hopefully will support uh this deficit um the anticipated year-end balance um is a little less negative uh than it was in December
so I'm anticipating a a year-end balance of $227,832 but as you'll see on the next slide I anticipate some additional sources of funding that will u bring that balance back into the black we don't have any final word on these sources yet but it's it's pretty likely
that we're going to get them i just don't have final numbers so we did apply for circuit break or extraordinary relief we won't know until the first two weeks of May we submitted the claim um I'm anticipating that we're going to get 75%
uh of what we submitted over the threshold which would be about $136,000 it's based on all of the claims that were submitted by districts within the state so they're looking at all of those claims right now to be able to identify a percentage that we're due
back as a reimbursement because of our extraordinary costs in um out of district tuition and this is just for tuition not for transportation for for students uh and then the emergency assistance um funds from the shelter
that's based on the $104 a day uh we anticipate a payment like any day now so we're hoping that that payment is going to approximate about $119,760 that's uh through the end of March we expect a second payment coming
in at the end of August which wouldn't be applicable to this fiscal year but um that funding is supposed to be um identified in a state grant line item that we can use for the purpose of um expenses to support students at the shelter so I anticipate that those two
things should come through keep them fingers crossed your knots might be slightly different but if in fact they come through as anticipated now we're looking at a year end balance of $28,364 which is pretty tight i'm giving you my biggest
uh in terms of revolving accounts um right now the balance in the revolving accounts that um that we have is um just over a million dollars we have budgeted to use $186,837 um in the previous slides uh so so we
will have some but some of those programs obviously are self- sustaining like the school lunch program and the staff program where the majority of those funds uh are they're used for supporting those programs ongoing in terms of special revenue grants you
can see the balance in our grant accounts at this point is uh about $241,000 that includes the two uh convention veto grant that we have um and the emergency homeless support grants that we got this year as well
and at this point we're expecting to fully expend all but 5,000 of Title One funds out of those grants yes yeah so uh our current Title One grant um for for FY25 has
$11,184 we're expecting that we'll have $5,000 of that left over because of math um employee that supports math in uh in and is charged to that grant was hired mid year uh and so there's some funding left over there that we can carry over
but the rest of them I do anticipate will be spent before the end of the year um when we get to circuit breaker and stabilization funds these are the balances that you see at this point um I will note as as you're aware um we're using
$125,000 out of this bed stabilization fund to to support this current fiscal year um we also have funding um from that which we'll get to to to support next fiscal year um and the circuit breaker amount that you see there also
we're going to be using the 89,898 in circuit breaker so that will come off of the balance there it's already applied here it's part of that $214,000 and then it a balance in our gift account uh $42,760 for for other programs for
proposed enhancements for scholarships for field trips and special events and other activities happy to answer questions that you might have try to warm up a little bit quick one um I don't it's probably an engineering question um
assuming we do have funds left over in the amount of $28,000 at the close of the school year understanding that we cannot put those in a piggy bank um what's the plan can we can we talk about putting some small modum of money back into the sp can we repurchase some
curriculum materials yeah I think we would probably come back to the school committee with recommendations on that so remember when we developed the budget we cut out all of the capital um items so technology for teacher laptop replacement proper placement that are have due they'll be seven years old um
so we talk about doing um some capital purchasing before the end of the year uh we could also consider prepaying some special education outpatient tuitions with whatever money is left which could draw down what we were projecting to use instead of stabilization next year okay
um so yeah I think the committee could make this decision so you're right if we don't spend that money by June 30th it goes back to the town for free cash um so typically transparently we talk with the town about the we could also prepay some of the math tuition uh and math curriculum program uh but we talked to
the town in years like this about preunding some costs that we weren't able to include in the budget great so question on the balance in the 3000 series are we in does that include expected McKini Vento reimbursements or
not yeah um it does not yet include expected continu reimbursements okay do those those usually come in July August well so we got a payment in March but we didn't actually we we acrewed a
payment in March but we we got the grant money up front on the um emergency homelessness grant and so anything that we got towards the teachers um we already got up front so that so that gets deducted so our $104 a day gets calculated based on the number of days
but then the amount got deducted because we got the money up front but is that transportation oh for for transportation like the cost sharing to other districts right so that money is going to come in at $104 a day no the she's talking about
the reimbursement for the um transportation that was not included in the $104 a day so the state has emergency funds for reimbursing for homeless transportation we um yeah so the emergency access to those funds was
originally set only for students that are placed in hotels um and they could get immediate reimbursement for their cost otherwise it was uh um you submitted the claim at the end of the year and we received it the following May we've been advocating because we
have a large number of students being transported now um that they can reconsider that and they've said that they are willing to look at um emergency re reimbursement for those funds so I think you projected out about $45,000 by the end of from now until the end of the
school year we're probably going to spend an additional $45,000 we've already spent probably close to that um and the money that comes in if they do reverse us if it if it comes in after the school year and we've been talking
with the town to have that money appropriated back to the school great um so next for my report we have so at our last school committee meeting we had the public hearing of the budget we presented to the school committee uh a budget request of
4.59% increase over fiscal 2025 we talked through extensively at that time the original level service budget for the North schools was over 10% a 10% increase uh the town does not have that kind of revenue available um they had us
budgeted 4% that was over a million dollars of reductions that the subcommittee has worked through to bring the budget down to a reasonable number um we presented the 4.59% request to the advisory board again the town budget was not balanced at that they have uh sign
the had a significant shortfall they have been trying to work to address some of the difference between our proposed budget when the town has um and they can get to about 4.3 they've asked us to collaboratively work to try to bring our ass down um so that we can go into town
with a balanced budget um so the budget subcommittee met yesterday what that impact would be for us would be about another close to $90,000 of reductions that we have to make um we worked really hard on trying to identify additional
reductions that would not directly impact classroom teaching and instruction um as well as um curriculum materials so we we identified another series of reductions that would bring the budget in alignment with what the county had budgeted which is sort of
splitting the difference between our 4.6 and their 4.0 to try to get to 4.3 um if we if the school committee votes those changes and we're at 4.3 the town will be u presenting a balanced budget on the town meeting floor uh the
recommendations that we work through as a budget subcommittee is um summarized in the budget sheet but I'm just going to highlight we as Marian mentioned we have about $5,000 we're projecting remaining in the title one uh grant we'd
like to roll that over to next year to offset part of the cost of one of our pair professional staffs that supports mathematics that's what it was originally budgeted for uh but it will lower that salary as for us next year we're reducing the professional development line by about $5,000 we're
intending to do more in district professional development next year um and we have fewer new hires so some of that funding goes to support the mentor program we have fewer people receiving high level mentoring or year one mentoring so reducing the professional
development by 5,000 um I'm sorry reducing committee stipens we had looked to increase that line um because we've been overspending that line of the last couple of years with the curriculum committees that we've had um but next year we will be in year two of the ELA
program we will be adopting the math curriculum um and we think we can we have fewer mentors so we can reduce that so we're going to try to level fund that instead of increasing it by the 20,000 so that's $20,000 um we also are going to look to reduce
another point4 non-professional positions we originally had 0.2 we're looking to bring that down to uh a total of6 non-professional position reductions uh as well as another.3 paraprofessional we are also recommending uh accessing or
applying another 25,000 from special ed stabilization which as Madora pointed out if we end with money this year we may not need to do um or uh if we have another payment in August we may be able to pay and not draw down that money um
but at this point we're recommending budgeting that would be 50,000 in the stabilization account um with those reductions we are balanced at 4.3% um and it leaves us a little room because we still have to negotiate your
um reasonable adjustment there um so that is what we are presenting to you to consider the vote tonight um I think we are trying really hard to work with the town i think it's in our best interest to collaborate and go in with a a balanced budget and I do think they they
had to make some other position redu reductions to get to 4.3 um it's a tough it's a tough financial year for everybody um but I think that's uh that's the best that we can do we really can't get below that with
with really reduced everywhere we can without impacting class sizes further or instructional core positions happy to take questions i have a question um kind of a holistic question about both this year this year
last year and next year we have now two years in a row substantial funding from a one-time revenue source to balance our budget in such a fashion that it's not a level services budget so we are the water level is going up and our
resources are also being depleted at a rate that can't ever be replenished i I I think that it is very reasonable to want to work the tone and I think that in my now seven eight budget cycles
um we've always been forthright as a committee whatever the makeup is about trying to do that i think that it would just be remiss of us as a committee not to publicly articulate that we cannot do this again next year there is no more
money in the sp stabilization fund to bring a balanced budget forward without it would be classroom I mean it would be significant educational impact um next year without these available resources
so going into that with our eyes wide open you know I mean I I guess what you know what sort of from a perspective budgeting going into next year because I know that's always at the forefront of what you're thinking about yeah and it is difficult and we were very
transparent about that last year that we were utilizing onetime funds and that is a stop gap solution that leaves you with a double dust the following year um and so the town was well aware of that the the town completely has a revenue problem and they're well aware of that they um it isn't sustainable going into
the future i think the advocacy on the state side to try to increase chapter 70 funding and some other sources of revenue is is important i think the town also is actively looking at how to bring additional revenue in um that's not an immediate solution and I know there has
been some discussion about not just our budget but KP budget tri county um all town budgets not being able to to sustain because everyone's absorbing cuts so um if the revenue picture doesn't change if chapter 70 and and educational funding doesn't increase and
we don't see um additional revenue in the town there's going to have to be other considerations um I know there's been discussion nobody wants to hear the word override um operational override but I know that's been discussed with the advisory board um you know hopefully it doesn't get to that and other solutions come forward but it isn't
sustainable um we are talking in this budget proposal about $75,000 of stabilization um just to balance after a million dollars of cuts so um yeah I think we we it's important to have that conversation for the community and the
public to know that this is going to be the second year where onetime revenue was used to balance and and that pool swindling it's not it's not a long-term solution and this would leave 50,000 in the stabilization fund 50,000 which is not enough to cover the cost of a tuition yeah I know it defeats the
purpose of having a fund except for it leaves it open which might allow us to put revenue here um if we have additional money or um if funding comes in from the state in August not to because we're appropriating or we're approving the lease but we're not
actually taking it out until we get to the point we're paying the bill okay so you can see money in the stabilization 125 we haven't drawn that down yet um we're planning to but if the situation changed we may not need to apply that at 75 sure yeah i mean I think my goal is
just to make sure we as a committee are discussing the fact that yes our local schools budget is one of the largest budgets if not the largest budget you know in town a education is inherently expensive it is a very large proportion of what the town is
spending it is appropriate relative to the size of our school district i mean and that it it can be a very challenging conversation to have in my opinion you know I mean I I'm happy to work with the town i am sorry to see continued use of
one-time funds i'm sorry to see reductions in positions and in professional development and in things that don't impact immediately classroom instruction but do have a long-term cumulative effect on the quality of the education that we're providing in the
school district so I I just think that it's important for everyone both on the committee and and in the community at large whatever your relationship to the the school system is whether you're like me and next year you won't have any kids in the school system whether you have kids who might be starting in a few years whether
you've lived here for 40 years it's important to understand the value that the district does provide to the community and that it can't sustain quality educational services if we continue to start chipping away because there's there's no
there's no more room to cut until you start cutting really significant I think substantially important educational aspects of the budget just and I appreciate you saying this because or what you just said just because like you said apart from just
using the one times funds there's only so many positions you can cut and those positions are incredibly valuable but like next budget cycle if we're faced with the same situation we're really going to get into the nitty gritty of like cutting positions that have immediate impact whereas like the ones
that we have been cutting yes they're incredibly important but it might not be felt for a year or two and then you really start to kind of you know cut out the the what makes a quality education what makes our our schools you know desirable and and what we're proud of um
so it's a shame um I I don't have a solution obviously i think everybody does um I think I think the budget subcommittee worked really hard to try to identify a reasonable strategy to balance the budget for this year knowing that it's
this is a one-year strategy um following another really difficult year and and I'm glad you brought that up because I think it's really critical that we're transparent and open with the community and people don't think this is a budget that is that is a level service budget we're we're over a million dollars away
from a level service budget and yeah piggybacking off of that what we had with like um the meeting with the advisory council where we kind of reiterated last about how last year um just remembering that we utilize the onetime funds when in reality we're
looking at a 4.3 it's in reality what a one 2.2 two I think Mary right something like that just bas and plus using another one time but really probably closer to 0% so yeah that's a good point when we're
talking about a 4.59% increase that we presented at that last meeting it's actually only 2.2% 2% over what we spent this year because that one time the onetime funds are not in the bottom line of our budget so um and we've talked before about it's cost on average 3% to
go from one year to one year so we're actually below again which is why you're seeing and last year we did reiterate to you know the advisory council just remember we're utilizing the onetime funds so next year when we come in higher we need to be mindful of it but
yeah there's only so much everyone can do yeah and I do I appreciate so much the work that the budget subcommittee did um I having experienced that in years past in challenging times during the early days of co we can have no
money forever um you know I it it's it's really challenging and it can become um it's it's a tense conversation across all the municipal departments we have in town um and it's a challenge for the select board it's a challenge for the advisory committee it's a challenge for us it's a challenge for DBW it's a
challenge for KP um you know and I appreciate the the wrapped up a month ago and here here you all are um continuing to work on it so I certainly appreciate the time yeah i mean we had some creative ideas for generating more revenue that didn't work
out so that was um that was too bad so we had to go back to the drawing board i think that a couple times several rounds and it's not a question of if next year I mean it is this is what we face next year so
things change at the state level we can hope a lot of things happening in you know in tandem um did you say that the original was to get to four but the the.3 was a compromise with the town
yeah the town originally had its budget at a 4% increase and even at that there was a shortfall uh pretty significant on the town side so all departments went back made further reductions um and they compromised with us they tried to find you know split the difference and try to
find some additional revenue and access to meet halfway halfway yes so the it will be a balanced budget it will be a balanced budget with my understanding yes i'm just hoping all that accuracy hearing around the Commonwealth i did
dial into some of that meeting today and this is the story happening throughout the state everywhere and overrides around towns are failing and it's not because people don't believe in education or they only care about kids it's just people can't afford it because the system supporting the schools right
now is broken and so we're kind of this product of this broken formula and broken system that needs to be addressed and fixed but I was impressed with the comments I heard today during that meeting um hearing that various school committees are submitting similar things
and that the the schools are really trying to make themselves you heard the Massachusetts uh association of superintendents also association testifying so a lot of people are kind of joining forces to highlight this so I'm really hoping that something comes
of it and I mean it is it's a bigger story as you said educational costs have been rising much more rapidly so you're looking at private non um public tuition going up 10 14% we're looking at 2% 3% increases so that's that's part of the
um transportation costs have gone up significantly so all of those factors the costs are rising faster than the funding so one other thing I just wanted to point in uh out on the budget summary because we didn't discuss it in depth at the last time um is just the the cola
budgeted for our power professional and all other um staff members so again the teachers uh COLA is governed by the collective bargaining agreement school committee uh approves the COLA for all other staff what we have done in the past we've had typically a 2% cola increase for non-union staff we've tried
to align more closely with the town uh the town is budgeting a 1.5% cola for all of their um uh all of their support staff um however the town salary schedules have a lot more steps than ours do so what we tried to do is
balance that out um most people in the town that are getting a step and a cola increase so we budgeted the 1.5 for um non-professional staffs that are on salary tricks and then a higher cola increase for people at top step because they're not getting step increase so
that's 3.25 which is similar to what the teachers are uh receiving so we wanted to highlight that i know we didn't talk in depth but the school committee has said that as well so we're looking for a vote to approve the revised um budget reductions and to move forward with the
4.3 budget ask with reflecting these changes to town meeting on May the Wednesday so moved second all those in favor hi hi uh next thing happened is the quarterly
bullying report by policy I provide the committee with an update on a number of bullying reports and investigations that have been conducted each quarter um last quarter at Kennedy there was one report received of alleged bullying which was fully investigated in accordance with
the district bullying prevention and intervention plan and policies um this particular instance was not uh did not meet the criteria for bullying and we followed the disciplinary policy and code of conduct and appropriate measures were taken um there were no reports bullying at the Holiday School and
obviously we continue to provide um comprehensive instruction and bullying through second step and through open circle these numbers continue to trend down they did spike after COVID so we are seeing um some positives some posit positive changes in the amount of
discipline and billing reports we've received happy to take any questions that people might have skipped skipped what sorry that was not a touchstone um I'll go back to the BICO budget so we are a member of the BICO collaborative that is
a special education collaborative there are 17 member districts um the programs are housed primarily in public schools although we do have a couple of programs that are in private settings um as a member district when we outside students
if they go to the collaborative we get a discounted tuition as a member district um and per law we are required to provide the school committee with the federal budget um annually the bud the budget has um been certified at our last board meeting and is balanced for fiscal
2026 so meaning what we anticipate to to take in through tuitions will offset the operating costs so that's just information happy to take any questions uh next on the agenda so current again state law school committee
is responsible for appointing certain positions within the district um business manager superintendent special education director and school nurses and we uh our current special education director Dr anna Tupper uh her contract
expires June 30th um Anna is looking to uh retire in a year so I am recommending to the committee that we engage in a one-year contract with Dr anna Tucker um as the special education director she does an outstanding job she's very
committed she's done a great job building and strengthening the indist programs we have um which has been huge in terms of providing strong services to students as well as um managing um educational costs the uh recommended
salary increase is consistent with non-union staff per the um school committee discussion so at three and a quarter what we are recommending is reducing the number of days of her contract this is one of the areas that we initially um generated some savings
in um so from 220 to 205 so reducing the length of contract and the perdm rate accordingly um we will have to shift some summer responsibilities for summer programs um and some other things within the administrative team um so I am all
the other terms are the same as they have been in the past they're pretty standard um as far as sick names personalization none of that has changed so I am recommending school committee uh vote to appoint Dr copper for a one-year position as the director of
specialization student services so moved any discussion i only said that it's for one year i know we were lucky to keep her for one more year so that's a good thing
all those in favor hi next I just wanted to update the committee on where we are with our uh comprehensive health and physical education curriculum review um as we talked about at our last meeting we are working on um this as a regional team
with our uh uh partner districts and plain as well as King Phillip the health standards are written in grade level bands so the six uh we feed the middle school the sixth to 8th standards obviously we have to make sure there's vertical continuity in what we're
teaching at sixth grade so that all of the kids entering seventh and eth um have continuity of programming so as a first step it's it's our typical review process what we've done is to take all the new comprehensive um health frameworks and we've had three meetings
so far with the health educators um the director of wellness and administrators from all three districts and what we've been doing is what we call the gap analysis anytime new frameworks come out we start with the the revised frameworks and we go through to see what are we
currently teaching now where is it being taught um what materials are we using to teach that and then we identify where the gaps are so what things do we not have currently as part of our curriculum and what stands out the next thing that we do is we go through and identify what are the prior priority standards so
obviously in any framework ELA math every standard doesn't have the same weight some standards are critical for for building upon in the future um essential skills others are more minor so we go through um after we did the gap analysis we went through by uh
practicers uh um by section of the new health frameworks and identified what are the priory things that essential skills need to know um and be able to do as they exit um each grade level so we've gotten that far we're really focused right now on the um nutrition
and balanced eating physical activity and fitness physical health and hygiene and some standards under personal safety primarily um health and water safety bike safety um those kinds of safety standards and what we have what we are
going to be recommending and will come to the school committee with more detailed um recommendations probably in June we expect that at each grade level K through six there'll be about 10 to 12 health lessons that's similar to what we've done in the past it's about one
per month that would be taught within the physical education wellness program um again those lessons will focus on nutrition health personal safety um uh as we talked about earlier like the bike and uh water safety bike safety what the
um health educator uh our physical education staff is now doing is looking at those priority standards identifying which 12 lessons would be long in kindergarten what would be long in grade one what would it and how that would look um vertically going through grade six they're looking at the current
program that we have and they're also comparing it to newly curated resources from the department of ed um uh health smart is one of the curriculums that we're looking at and they're looking to see which standards are better um which resources better present those standards and are are better developed and more
current what we will come back to the school committee within June is a recommended curriculum so you'll see which standards we're focusing on by grade level what the lessons would be and what materials we recommend using and we'd come to the committee with a recommendation for adopting those um
after that we'll move into looking at some of the other practices and standards which talk more about um um the the drug awareness which we want to involve our DARE officer a lot of that education falls within DARE as well as some of the um mental health and wellness standards um and other personal
safety standards so we'll work on that through probably the fall and expect to come with recommendations to the committee on those standards probably by December so that's where we are right now the team's been great they put a lot of work in um I think they're excited about looking at some new material there
are some things that we have good content and that they really like so um I think it might end up being a recommendation of different resources for different standards um but we will have a full full uh recommendation for you to consider in June so it's not something anticipated to roll out until
I guess fall of 26 kind of uh I think we would roll out the nutrition and and all of these standards the physical fitness and wellness in the fall so we'll recommend the resources to the committee in in June if we approve and adopt them we're going to have to look for some grant funding we don't have a budget
line item for the health curriculum um but we would implement those those standards immediately we would re make a recommendation in uh probably December for the other content and once approved we would continue to implement the rest of the the frameworks okay the current but it would it will come to the
committee like all adoptions to review and approve and they'll be available for for parents as well okay the current um health standards as they're taught how many lessons are those usually so what we when we did the last review we had said about 20% or one or two lessons um
every eight out of every eight so it's pretty it's proportionally about what we're doing now i didn't know if we were restructuring the whole physical education no we're really getting back to like during COVID um that practice shifted a little bit because we were doing some virtual instruction and so we
had staff changes i'm sure you probably experienced that so uh we were less consistent because also the frameworks were changing about dedicating those one to two lessons out of every aid to health um so we're going back to the practice that we had um with a more
sequenced curriculum and and hopefully stronger resources some of like like I said some of what we have is really good some of the um nutrition information is dated and we need better resources for that vicki you want to add anything because Vicki's been working on this
hard with the I think like you kind of mentioned I think one of the nice things is that the standards are a lot more richer than they were before last time they were written was 1999 a lot of the updates that needed to happen like really because a lot of information was so not relevant to how we do view
nutrition nowadays and how how we kind of view like health and safety you know what I mean so I think that that has been a really nice shift i think the collaboration between the four districts has also been a great opportunity for our PE um 10 um teachers and and the
health teacher for them to kind of talk and unpack like what do the standards really mean how they look like in the first grade versus the second grade versus the fourth grade you know and to really look at that spiraling component because our goal was ultimately to make sure that we do have that alight alignment so when our kids leave sixth
grade and enter KP Middle there is a vertical alignment and and all our districts are coming in with like pretty similar experience as all our kids you know so when they do reach seventh grade so that has been really great work to kind of be part of um and kind of echoing what you said I really want to
give kudos to our um PE teachers here they have really dove into it and have been such great partners in this work and they're very passionate about what they do of course you know so it it's been some really wonderful um recommendations and I'm really looking forward to rolling out with those parts of this um next fall i think it'll be
richer for our kids and as you said like the old frameworks are from 1999 so the digital safety is new you know online safety making sure kids have more physical activity and set physical fitness goals like all of those
things are are new to the the framework so I'm I'm trying to ring a bell isn't there aren't there some standards currently that are from pre2020 the the last time the framers were fully revised was well was there something I
think there was some updates in 2011 yeah there were like I thought 2019 there was some updates there might have been some updates but the full revision um the last time it was fully revised was 1999
um we talked about let's see for June to probably more applicable to December uh recommended curriculum and uh community input seeking community input feedback having Q&A things like that
where do you see that fitting in for the June and the December milestones i think once we get a little further with the standards all the materials that we bring in in terms of the physical fitness and the nutrition standards we'll we'll present to the school committee our goal is still to have
everything available and accessible to the public online we haven't heard much that's much concern over those standards um I do think that in every curriculum review we try to engage uh parental feedback we send parent surveys um we would do uh curriculum nights i imagine
even with the nutrition standards we'll probably host uh some sort of curriculum evening um for people to to learn more about the new framework um would love feedback from the public on the best way to organize those meetings because we don't have a high turnout for for some
of these so um uh our wellness director has been working really hard to bring in stewards for children for a parent um workshop night that's coming up i think it's on April 14th and we as of the other day only had two registrations so yeah I mean yeah we just we'll still
offer it yeah we want to offer it but I'm looking for input on whether there's a better format um that would work better for people to get some of the information so I'm sure that'll be part of the survey what's the best way for us to to get information and feedback okay so that'll be part of like pre before
I that'll be part of the kind of the curriculum development process right yeah okay cool i just had a question i know how sometimes you will address a social studies standard in ELA or a social
studies standard in SEAL do you envision keeping the health standards in health or addressing some of the standards in across so some of the standards within the frameworks are in different they're in different content so when we look at
anything like I just mentioned some of the health standards for um drug safety are in the DARE program they're not in in the health curriculum um but we envision having a map that will show people where standards are covered okay oh yeah there's a lot of interdicciplinary um opportunities like
uh there's there's a lot of standards around like media safety and we do that through our digital citizenship lessons which are already informed and we have a schedule so like we wouldn't necessarily duplicate like because we only have so many lessons you know what I mean so I feel like that would probably stay with
our digital curriculum you know so um so that was your question right yeah kind of all the topics mapping has been kind of just taking a look at what we already teaching and where it is you know and then kind of identifying because there's also some standards that are purely like
the nutritional ones mentioned that are really need like a standalone class and that need to have advice around nutrition that's not going to fit in or ELA you know what I mean um but there are many standards around um um personal
safety around um um regulating emotions setting goals that are actually part of the open circle or a second step so we would be sharing where those are i know there's concerns about um um sex education there is mass law around
parental notification um I do think that it looks like most of those standards are going to remain at the middle school although the changing bodies unit that we've always taught in fifth grade um will likely remain here but all of those um things are things that we also as a policy committee were discussing um so
parents will know what is being taught um and and where it's being taught and that would be available any other questions i just thought mention that so like I know we talked earlier I'm sorry about um in the curriculum website so I am like
continuing it's just it's not I haven't published it yet because I have but I've been uploading like our ELA scope and secret so I'm working on that so to have a hope release for September too just to have so parents can say like what are we teaching in that what are we teaching in ELA and music so I've been gathering
kind of trying to build that up too and I'll I'll share that once it's ready great i think that'll be so helpful for people because I know I it's been great this year including the ELA lessons um in Wednesday's words but then sometimes like a month go will go by and I won't
even remember like where it was um so just having it in that centralized place I think really would be so helpful to parents who are getting lots of emails about not only school but activities and everything just to know that there's one centralized supporting me with uh with building that so yeah but I did wanted
to let you know that like that feedback has been hard like been worth a lot that's great and then last for me tonight is an update on the shelter um so we currently have our current enrollment has gone down since the last I reported we're at
about 47 students um we also of the 47 we have many students that uh have approved leases and we are expecting significant movement um over the next couple of weeks i think there's almost 30 of those broker releases so we're
watching that closely um uh we have seen an increase in the Kin Vento transportation requests as Miriam said um we're projecting it'll probably be close to 80,000 by by the end of the year another 45,000 between now and and June um and we are advocating for that
emergency relief and and emergency reimbursement for that um I I've heard from Jesse that they are going to be reaching out with uh another opportunity to submit claims um so hopefully that's coming in the next few weeks um and then again at the end of the year so the
transportation cost and reimbursement is that solely based on um busing to and from the shelter or does that include students who have chosen to stay in district that were now that have moved out of the shelter that is a good question so it's it's actually neither
of those so under the McKini Dentto law if a child is homeless they have a right right to remain in their school of origin and the the district where they're residing in the school of origin district share the cost of transportation what we're seeing happen at the shelter is we have a lot more
students coming in that are Massachusetts students coming from other towns or cities um so if a child is living in Fall River they're they're homeless they're here they have a right to stay in Fall River they never enrolled with us but we don't have the cost of transporting back to Fall River
okay okay so these are all we're talking about McKenna Vento transportation what we've seen is a rise in the number of students entering the shelter that are being trans um transported back to another town or city in Massachusetts that we are cost sharing um and that's
where we're advocating for emergency u immediate reimbursement for those costs because they're going to be close to $90,000 by the end of the year yeah um and again it was originally developed this emergency reimbursement uh to offset the cost for districts that were
hosting um hotels and and they were unbudgeted students so they put that in place it wasn't um extended to larger shelter sites so they are working with us to to make that available to to the town when do you expect to have kind of
a um what they they've agreed to do the funding we just haven't been able to submit a claim yet because the first claim went out in December we didn't have any yet and now we have a lot so um I think the next claim uh we'll be submitting in in the next few weeks okay and then probably again at the end of
the school year um the regular reimbursement from McKenna vendor is a year out so if we didn't have the emergency we would be able to file this but we would not receive the funds until the following May and is the emergency um reimbursement going to cover everything or is there like It's fully funded um it's just a matter of of the
time when we when we I didn't know if it was like a 75% sort of thing no it is fully funed that's all we have tonight policy um well I'm solo tonight but we have
um proposed policy JJ as exhibit number nine student fundraising activities back again um so after some feedback there's been some additional language i can see it you
very copy i can see it on my screen um trying to address some of the additional feedback we got changes in language to activities that publicly reward or recognize individuals classroom grades for performance are also not permitted which is an ad from the last iteration
of this that we saw and then in addition students should not be directly involved in the sale of products so I think that um phrasing it that way creates something that covers I think some of the specific issues that were raised in our last meeting including say
for example you shouldn't be rewarded for individually running a certain number of laps at the fund run or any other thing that I'm I'm losing with what the as my kids get older I'm not involved in all the fundraising so um I I think it it creates sort of a net
that covers a lot of the um areas of concern that have been raised up until this point around different fundraising activities and we changed the language it had said students should not be directly involved in monetary transactions um but we shifted that because we have events like the um book
fair where students might come in and buy books it was really intended that we weren't doing magazine fund drives where students were collecting money so we shifted that to not prohibit participation in a book fair or things like that um but the students would not be directly involved in selling or
marketing products so those are the only changes from last time so I need a motion to accept the student fund raising activities policy file JJ second
second any further discussion on it i am all set talking about this all right no I think it will address some of the issues we saw this year so thank you for putting the work into it all those in favor
i budget subcommittee we went through that that was building committee um the building committee continues to vote on the outcome of an application to
MSBA which was submitted Monday all digits crossed on all appendages so y has nothing really to report it was a very low-key meeting yesterday the National Honor Society came in and talked about some of the great work they've been doing they put on a fashion
show um to raise money and I thought the way you said it I thought you meant at the meeting it sounds much more show um they had a school film festival most exciting things happening
over at KP um leaison updates we've got um not I'll join in for um Nora Community League they have the bunny breakfast coming up but other than that
not I can do CPAC and ptl I went to their casino royale event um Saturday which was a lot of fun and they did a really good job um raising money for the schools doing good things they had like fake gambling set up so you could go and
cash and chips for all the tables and then put your winnings in for raffles and everyone had a really good time and um I think they did a great job um raising money for the schools and their plan was to raise $10,000 to build a scent sensory path um they haven't come out with the total amount raised yet but
there are lots of people buying more chips and putting in for raffle prizes the silent auction the silent auction right you won something right spent too much money on the silent um so I think it was a really successful event so thank you for them and their
support new items we have a school partnership agree um renewal from Norfol Recreation and we all know how much Northbook Recreation does for the community it has direct ties into the school um and they partner with us so
well on such a wide variety variety of activities and they do the outdoor program in the summer offer courses in school partnering with our teachers like my son's in a coding class right now so they are looking to renew their partnership with us so looking for a
motion to approve their renewal application so moved second any further discussion all those in favor i looking forward to continuing to partner with them similar we have a renewal
application from the King Phillip Music Association i'd like to continue partnering with us i think the love of music really starts at the elementary level at a very young age in our town and continues to grow and I know our
advanced fans on Yeah big Anthony right so um really contributing to students and their love of music so they are looking for an approval for their renewal application
some are move to a second further discussion all those in favor i should have two sets of meetings in front of you the first one we will do is the public hearing minutes from March 11th do you all have a chance to look
them over i'd be looking for a motion to approve the minutes for our public hearing so moved second further discussion all those in favor looking for a motion to approve minutes
from our March 11th school committee meeting some moved second discussion all those in favor i and then I have here that the next school committee meeting is scheduled for May
20th anyone have anything else they want to add anything else anyone wants to discuss looking for a motion for moved second all those in favor i