##VIDEO ID:WqeAxMIp82Y## e e e e e e e e e call the December 16th meeting to uh order if everyone will join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands One Nation God indivisible liy and jusice for all thank you and Mr Bano is going to read Our Land acknowledgement today all right we acknowledge that we are meeting on the unseated ancestral homeland of indigenous people whose enduring presence we humbly recognize we honor the woak people as the original stewards and the Herring Pond woak as a surviving tribe indigenous to these lands and our commitment to lifelong learning we acknowledge historical injustices to the native people of this land and vow to educate ourselves our community and our students on the first peoples and the hardships they endured we offer this as a small but essential step towards building a culture of respect truth and accountability thank you and before we start our meeting we're going to take uh a moment of silence to honor Cynthia Cindy Silva um she's a cherished member of our community and a dedicated educator Cindy passed away peacefully on November 28th surrounded by her family born on August 27th 19 1952 in Plymouth Cindy was a graduate of Plymouth Carver High School and earned her Master's in education from Salem State College Cindy committed to educ commitment to education Spann nearly four decades during which she positively impacted the lives of countless students families and colleagues she served as principal at Nathaniel Morton Elementary and West Elementary School leaving a lasting mark on the Plymouth school system after retiring in 2013 her influence and dedication to education continued to be felt throughout the community as we take this moment of silence let us remember Cindy's unwavering passion for learning her kindness and the profound impact she had on all those fortunate enough to know her her Legacy will live on in the hearts of all of those she touched please join me in a moment of silence thank you all right and then we will start our move our our meeting with our update from our students so Quinn if you will share what's happening at North with us all right uh thank you um for the December 16th 2024 School commit meeting the ply North notes are for the vpa join us on Tuesday January 17th at 700 p.m. for the annual uh Plymouth North High School winter acapella uh winter Coral concert um guidance Plymouth High School's local scholarship application the local scholarship is now available through navian the deadline for application is January 31st 2025 and no late applications will be accepted the only supporting documents that can be passed in later would be financial aid award letters and those must be submitted no later than March 21st Deca Plymouth North High School's Deca program will be traveling to Boston with 149 students to compete in the DECA district one conference the students will compete in a variety of role play events and top on topics ranging from entrepreneurship Personal Finance Restaurant service management and marketing for various Industries tech expo eighth graders and parents are invited to our TCH Expo and program studies on Thursday January 9th from 5:00 P pm to 6:30 p.m at Plum North High School we uh while there you will learn about great programs and opportunities your perspective students will be offered to apply for Ina club and National Honor Society the ply North interact club and NHS are teaming up with sustainable Plymouth for a school supplies and electronics recycling drive if you have items to contribute see the posters around the school for the items that can be recycled and sort items in the the donation boxes that are located in the main office lobby the interact Club is helping the Rotary Club uh for the winter coach rrive feel free to donate any new or gently used coats in the donation box right outside the cafeteria this drive will right will run into mid January for the class of 2025 seniors need to purchase their cap and gown by December 20th information is posted on the Google Classroom please see Miss Walcott in room 330 331 with any questions and blue to forms are also due by December 20th um holiday break holiday break will begin Monday December 23rd through uh Wednesday January 1st uh January 1st through January 2 holiday break um will end January second vpa finally uh and then that's just the coral concert and Wednesday December 18th at 7 pm the Plymouth northplymouth South orchestra concert thank you awesome thank you any questions for Quinn thank you so much for that information always so much going on so thank you for sharing that with us and then do we have anybody here who has would like to speak in public comment all right seeing none we will skip that and I'll open our budget hearing um for the fy2 six operational budget anybody here to speak on it yes just one update that like before if there's anyone who wants to speak to it we got an update from the town which is actually um Advent aous so I'm going to turn it over to Dr blell to talk about that that recent update perfect um when you look at electronic School Board you'll notice that the budget reports that are there are a little different than last times last school committee meetings and that's because what we are what happened was um after we had our last school committee meeting our work budget work shop um the town received some information from the from the county retirement and at that time the assessment they recalculated the pension assessment and so it actually worked out in our favor um so it what it does is it's actually increasing the monies available to to school department it's decreasing on the town side but increasing on the school Side by $ 94,6 which basically at that point in time our new budget for FY 26 upon your approval would be 1227 m229 274 which is $94 ,650 more than what was presented two weeks ago um so when we spoke the last time the original reduction we were looking at for FY 26 was just over 616,000 now with this increase the new reduction would be $521,500 that new number is in that cost center with one of the line item details thank you thank you for the update is there anybody from the public that W wishes to speak on the budget no all right then we'll close our public hearing for the budget that was fast um all right and the next thing we have is the proposed FY 26 operational budget Dr Campbell I mean you kind of already did talk about it yes so um our recommendation is I'm looking for that in so the recommended budget in the amount of 1227 m229 $274 for fiscal year 2026 thank you all right this is the um School committee's opportunity to have a motion on how they feel about the proposed budget so we need to if we're okay we're going to pass it we just need a motion from anybody yes Mrs Jackson I move that we uh approve the proposed budget for FY 26 we have a motion do we have a second second Mr bazano thank you does anybody have any question question on the motion just on a point would you please uh and have them repeat it I'd like to have that number in the motion please the number in the motion the recommendations uh the budget in the amount of 17,22 19,273 thank you any other questions on the motion nobody has any questions we should be able to vote that motion passes for the endorsement from the school committee for the $127 million budget so thank you for all your work that you've done on it and everybody was here this evening um and was here on was that December 1st second second second um to uh answer all of our questions and really all the hard work that you put into the budget I know it wasn't easy and I know we asked a lot of you um to really kind of get into the the weeds and I know there's not a lot to cut but we really appreciate all the hard work that you put into it so on behalf of the school committee I just wanted to thank everybody for for their work on that yes Dr Campbell So speaking of appreciation before we um actually dismiss our folks we want to show our appreciation for you this is Michelle Badger's last meeting as a school committee representative and chair I just want to thank you for your 13 years it's been an absolute pleasure to work with you um you're a strong advocate for kids and teachers and for administration remember you bringing the desserts to South Middle School because of just the stress and turmoil that everyone was under so um you've always taken the time to really um you know get to know the people I think which is um is get going to do you amazing estate rep so I'm um happy for you sad to see you go but we do have a quite quite a heavy bag of things here for you but also a pla of your own I'm going to read it to you and then I'll hand this to you but uh the font is very small because we have a lot to say we could fit a lot more but in recognition of Michelle Badger for dedicated service to Plymouth Public Schools and our community Michelle Badger served 13 years on the Plymouth school committee including his chair providing invaluable leadership to support the educational growth and well-being for our students as she trans positions to serve as state representative for the first Plymouth District we celebrate her years of service and look forward to her continued advocacy for our community in recognition of her lasting impact we thank and honor Michelle Badger presented this December 16th 2024 thank you thank you so much you need to get a photo yes we need to the whole committee right whole comme we haven't done this I know right last picture Kristen can I bother you again pick the botle Stacy you can stay [Applause] well I was trying to hold oh wait we'll take a [Laughter] moment I don't know you your yeah I did I I was going to wait till the end but I'll do it now is it all right you never good so good yeah I think I'm going to wait for mine till the end Mike but I just want to thank you all for this I don't want to hold people up that are here for our field trips and things so I really appreciate this thank you so much it's been an honor to serve with all of you and we'll get through this meeting without a tear um sorry um all right so we've got our next piece of business is our out of town overnight international field trips so Dr Campbell yes um here this evening we have pouth North High School to talk about an international field trip proposed for April vacation of 2026 to Greece welcome hi good evening school committee members congratulations new position uh so we are here to propose our 2026 trip um as usual we try to propose these trips with way um many months in advance because that's just part of the whole process in getting not only the the students excited about the trip and planned for it and be able to pay for it as well with all the opportunities that we're going to be providing them uh so we chose Greece for different reasons one of them is because it was one of the students Top Choice in our post-trip survey from one of uh when we've returned from our most recent trip um and also for concerns with safety so we saw that it is definitely one of the lowest levels for concerns in Europe um and also for the amazing Hands-On opportunity our students would be having with these experience by visiting all the historical sites and um art they will be exposed and even from the math perspective one of the things that I I always loved was the golden ration that you can see from The Penton and um when you're in the acropol it's just fascinating how that all links and from all the the grief mathematicians I can think of so that's something that I was always very fascinated by from my subject matter um so yeah and we chose the time again because we think that April would be mild so we wouldn't have weather concerns it's not too hot because we've we've known that Europe sometimes unfortunately has um severe weather during the summer so that's one of the reasons we chose that time um and as far as some of the concerns that we've had in the past regarding making the trips affordable we've been doing I believe a great job with that um for example with the trip that we have coming up for Italy in April um not only we were able to raise um several few thousand dollars between the fundraisers but we were able to um actually make uh this trip completely cost free for a student who's coming with us by winning a scholarship and after a whole process and we were able to promote that opportunity and we're planning on doing the same thing this time around as well so all students will be applying regardless of whe or not they will be able to uh pay up front or not win the scholarship and then whoever wins will be notified and so we have a whole process so that way this is a unique opportunity that students might not have been able to have these not be presented for them aome thank you do you have additional statement sorry I didn't want to cut you off anybody uh have any questions Dr thoron I absolutely appreciate what you just said that that you you do everything in your power to make this possible for as many children as possible I appreciate that I'm glad you're doing it but I have to tell you what I told you last time with a $3,800 trip this is down to $3,600 we are offering programs for probably only 5% of the student body that could afford it now that that really concerns me this this is not studying abroad in college this is high school and I personally feel and no reflection on you we should be offering programs that a larger group of students can apply for when we're moving closer to to $4,000 we are Del limiting the amount of kids will even consider it even though I appreciate what you said about raising money if I had five students go I had five children go through this district one of them come home to me and said I need $44,000 I would say well you're in the wrong family buddy so that's my concerned I will not be able to support it because of the price ticket doc Dr Campbell yeah um so um I it is expensive I see that we have had trips that have been more expensive that have been approved in the past two I do think it it's going it's going to get harder and harder to find any trips that will go below this price tag to Europe for an extended period of time um I and I I I do think we offer a lot of trips for a lot there are some students that will take advantage of these trips there are some students um that will only do this um would never be able to do this with their family for example but they may be able to do it if we get support from through the schools we do support that you know to the point about fundraising but we also have um and I don't know if we talked about this the last time we got together but um we also have Student Activity accounts that the schools utilize to to bring bring those costs down even more for students um and our guidance councils have conversations with Administration have conversations with the teachers who are organizing these proposed trips so um that is done behind the scenes quite a bit we don't talk a lot about that but um there are a lot of for all the chips I mean from $1,500 $75 we to $3,800 we've we have um subsidized trips we have made Trips free um we have done everything and I and I know that Mr Parson could speak to a whole host of like a dozen dozens of examples at Plymouth North High School alone where we're doing that but I do I do feel that it's a kind of a larger conversation about international travel at this point that it's going to get very difficult for us um yes and we could have 30 plus students 20 plus students and there's only not every student's going to take advantage for a whole host of reasons I completely agree with that it could be Financial they could be hesitant about asking this is where we we come in and there are some students that just have no interest in that but I think what we try to do is provide a varied opportunities in excursions exchanges um you know local trips to try to give kids experiences outside of Plymouth so um I don't know if I'm really I'm rambling at this point but I saw some h on over here yes Mrs cha um and just I was looking through but the the price includes all accommodations while they're there food and travel and then entrance to any activities that they do so any museums any anything that they do so that full that price they wouldn't have to bring much with them correct correct and I mean I just want to comment on the price I'm an avid traveler as you all know um I travel extensively on my own personally unfortunately there's nothing I can do about inflation this is happening everywhere and if we were to compare the prices of the first trip approved by this committee back in 2017 this is actually cheaper than that trip was so inflation exist is there our purchasing power has also increased to to deal with that as well and by allowing our students to travel with us they're going to be taking the opportunities that maybe when when they are out of school they wouldn't have the purchasing power to do because traveling group like this is actually more affordable than doing this on your own so these not only will they be traveling in a safe environment where they will be able to make the connections there with things they're learning in school and have those opportunities by denying that opportunity to them we are putting our students at DIS advantage where schools at around the districts and other places they will have those opportunities and by saying not to this we are basically saying why would we not want them to be allowing these opportunities as well and I and I I understand it is concerning and these are the types of Investments not maybe every family would want to be placing but this is the kind of thing that sometimes will come from the students themselves and they're going to see the value in these and that's what we actually even want we want them to Value those opportunities and be given that chance because yes maybe not every student's going to choose that but by by giv that opportunity they would some of them would choose and that is always there for them the two things I guess I'll say about the cost piece um well three things I guess the first is we we've heard you and have adjusted so they they have adjusted um I I think I mentioned last year I squirrel away a bunch of money I think we have like $30,000 and it's not even Student Activities cuz that's what they're doing uh but in our gift account alltown fresh for example did a whole uh fundraiser in September I haven't said anything about it because I'm trying to scroll the money away uh but it's for stuff like this it's for buses that aren't Student Activities um but they uh they gave free coffee to teachers in September and gave a portion of the uh proceeds of all coffee sales in September to North they gave us a check for $4,000 so I like squirel that away for specifically stuff like this like a kid who can't go to something um but I'll also say uh this particular type of trip unlike a service trip or an immersion trip uh in in you know a Spanish speaking school or a french- speaking school or something like that um this attracts a different type of kid who otherwise would not travel um and so like I I ran these trips as a teacher I know the the list of kids that they take um these are not the kids kids who go on these immersion trips they are kids who want to just travel with their friends and then go see the Acropolis or they go see uh the Coliseum this year um it's also the equivalent some of these same kids uh are paying more than this over the course of the same amount of time for their car insurance um so this amount of money that we're talking about some of the kids are going to pay for it themselves over the next 16 months that they've planned this trip for so while the the cost itself seems overwhelming some am I some of these kids are actually writing the checks every month uh working at Wendy's uh to try and pay for this so not only is it a an opportunity for them to pay towards an experience that they're investing in which is a great lesson for them um they're spending this money elsewhere um so it is not that unreasonable a thing I will also say the last point I guess I'll make is talking to every other principal on the Southshore these kids are their kids are going on these trips um they are taking 40 to 50 kids on these trips every vacation they're going on E trips they'll see them at Logan um and if our kids don't get that opportunity I agree with you it is it is a finite amount of kids who go um but we just sent the same number on the band trip to Hawaii we're going to send the same number to Deca in Orlando we're going to send the same number uh to Orlando for vpa uh later this year um and so trying to give kind of a unique group an opportunity to travel uh kids in Duxbury doing it kids in situ are doing it kids in Carver are doing it kids in Middleboro are doing it uh if we don't give them this opportunity there's going to be 40 kids at Plymouth North who never see Greece or may never get a passport sometimes many of these kids are getting their passport for the first time just to go on this trip so um so I I don't I don't think there's anything you're saying that is unreasonable I but I I want to say for those 40 that go it changes them uh and the amount is a lot but it is something that they kind of plan for over the course of 16 months and kind of chip away so I just want to add that perspective Mrs Jackson um I appreciate the work that you've done to try and consider what we've talked about I was also going to make the suggestion that maybe because this isn't a problem that's just Plymouth problem it's a problem like Nationwide schoolwide you know maybe in advocacy we can start to think outside the box of how you know look for Creative Solutions that other districts are using to make these trips more Equitable and accessible for students so that we can have more students that are eligible and that are able to apply Mrs Haywood um I just want to say actually you know thank you for at least being like intentional in terms of um you know attempting to uh decrease uh the amount um as it relates to these trips I I I look at this price and you know for eight days eight nine days with everything included though it appears astronomical here it it it isn't um just in terms of the the where you're going in terms of Greece and I I think of myself as a teenager with parents who are working at times more than one job and and having these opportunities um you there was a space for this there's it is 16 months it's not next um April thank you for that um you know I I remember having those opportunities to kind of raise money you know myself um whether what whatever you know um you know opportunities they gave us um to kind of raise money but still 15 16 you know all the all past um High School having the opportunity to go to another country and it does change you it does change you so um as was stated perhaps looking um you know out of the box some opport things that you've already done swirling away right you know um being having this ability to kind of attack this at all sides so we're all we are Equitable but I I will say this not to have the opportunity is is is is not a great thing as well you know I I you know I I I am I was one of those families and and yet I still had the opportunity to travel Central South America whichever so um I thank you for just um uh at least attempting you know and listening to us and and you know hearing us out um and and doing what you can can to still provide these trips Dr senson perhaps I didn't articulate it well enough I realized we spent some time talking about the value of the trip and the cost of the trip I think what I'm trying to say to you is we're creating an aristocracy the Hales versus the have knots and if you can say to me that the have knots have an opportunity to join the halves because we have money put aside for them we break down that barrier we should not build that barrier and that's what can happen in a case like this the families who are well off everybody knows they're well off I'm going to Greece the hav knots don't get to do that that's the point that bothers me the most so I'm glad to hear that maybe some people from this side can join that side I think that's and that would also be a concern of all of ours right we don't want to create situations and just that intentionality right like how do we ensure that we're reaching out to students so we know that this may be their only chance to get a passport and to give them that opportunity as Miss Heywood said uh and and be intentional about that and work as a school to make sure that that takes place and that's important with with all of these trips whether it's $500 or $3500 anybody else have I just wanted to say that's that's how I got my first passport I went to Spain and that's how I got my first and my parents actually both lost their job the year that I went to Spain and we had um they both work for Bradley so and Bradley went out of business so did they and so like we had opportunities to fundraise and that's what kind of I already had a passion for travel as my parents had brought me you know in this country but um being able to see and know that you can explore and really you know you can kind of know the language or not know it at all and still get by and it just really opens your up to that ability that you you know you can do it and it is just a you do grow you change and you you you know and now I when never given the opportunity I'm like how many samps can I get in my passport uh but so thank you like everybody here for providing that opportunity but yeah costs are sky roting everywhere and it's just unfortunately a reality that we have to look at but I do wonder and this is something that maybe can go back to advocacy is is it possible if we were to get with Duxbury and Carver and these places around here if we have more does that would that lower our prices if we go in with you know six school districts and we have 400 kids I don't know if that would make a difference uh so to answer your question we actually have been so fortunate that the interest at our school alone at PL ofth North has been so high that we've been reaching for this past few trips the maximum capacity where we have even students not because of the means but because we have reached capacity have not been able to join us um and and we again we're filling them in the order where it's fair everyone signs up regardless of they're how they're paying or if they're getting a scholarship so with on a first come first serve basis we make it affordable advertise it to all the students and we are able to meet the lowest price possible so I think that's all part of the whole planning process to be able to really give them that opportunity thank you as a district through advocacy perhaps like there could be some promotional things where we talk about the power of service and see if we could get like a sponsorship is a lack of for lack of a better word within the community like to to focus on this and again for our gift accounts and that sort of thing and to because we have because we've also have that money available as well and for some recent trips we've given some money for scholarships as well um I know that EF Tours is the largest purchaser of airline tickets so they have they do have purchasing power themselves already um but I think really just being intentional about the the actions we take as a school district and perhaps collaborating with some others um if that would help um to always look at how we can bring our cost down how we can certainly curb the cost to the students and to support those and the Outreach which the schools do for individual kids thank you yes I just have one more question so I just want to clarify too because I think this is what you said that you also do know the students who would want to go on this trip who are not able to afford it and you are pulling them aside ahead of time to say don't worry about the you know don't we like we can help with this so I don't want that to be a hindrance so you're already selecting those students to say correct what we do is we advertise the trip to all these students and we ask them to come to our meeting so they can learn just if that's something they even interested regardless of the price because they might not want to travelroad they might be to AF freid to leave home or whatever it might be but maybe after the trip they might get inspired and apply and so what we all have them all do regardless of if they're getting a scholarship or they're paying for it themselves they should all apply for the process because we are selective as well in the sense not only all students are going to be scrutinized regarding their behavior conduct or whatever it might be because now our numbers are so high and then for those students who need the financial support they will be able to apply after that as well I'm just thinking about what Dr Sorenson said about not creating the barriers so like I know when I went to high school I knew my parents couldn't afford those trips so I actually chose my high school based on the fact that they weren't advertising trips because I knew I wouldn't be one of the people going so if we're acknowledging students ahead of time because some of those students won't even go to the meeting you know what I mean so if you know that there are students available you're looking for those no so in all the promoting material we have very clear saying that we have opportunities for scholarships and fundraisers so they are aware those exist and they can ask us and but we do promote so if we know someone who would be interested but we suspect that they might not have the means to make that we definitely would pull them aside and tell them to still come I can tell you like and it's not just these International trips but even like field trips to like when they went to Ry or they you know they do something like chess club or something like that teachers will come to me and suggest like hey I have this kid that I want to tell to go is there money for this kid to be able to go and we have and it has hasn't just been since we've been talking about this it's been as long as I've been principal like we've written checks for a kid to go out of that little squirrel fund um for a kid to go to like a leadership camp or a kid to go to Rd for a an art field trip so like it's it's not brought like I think we talked about this last year too it's not brought right it's super quiet but like we have a pretty good system nor should it be of right but we have a pretty good system of of teachers who like know some of these kids in these difficult situations and will say something um and like and these two kind of have two different cross-sections of the building anyway yeah so they're able to kind of see a a a mixture of of different types of kids that want to go and I think the list that they bring reflects that some the list that they bring is kind of a wide swath of kids that end up going think oh yeah yeah and I felt like that's the conversation we had before but I also felt like Dr Sorenson's point about not creating the barriers to begin with was also an important one he's right like that's we all of our stuff I worry about that with everything I worry about that with leadership stuff I worry about that with sports that's a huge thing kids are doing club stuff and all that stuff I worry about that all the time so I think it's definitely in the Forefront to their minds but it's I think it's in the Forefront of a lot of the stuff we're doing like we're we're looking at that we want to make sure that every kid has the opportunity to reach so and I would like to look at it on our side too to see if there's a way that we can maybe think of something like Community Partnerships or Mr Morgan I just want to make a motion to approve the 2026 trip to Greece we have a motion do we have a second thank you Mrs Shaw um we have a motion and a second does anybody have any questions on the motion to make comment that I will vote in favor of it based on this dialogue all right then we may Vote or you should be able to all right the vote passes 6 to one so have a wonderful time and and thank you so much for you know your thought and helping our students thank you guys thank you congratulations all right our next is pcis out of town field trip toak Road Island this is cell happy to do this this is a we didn't think that we need it um right now um Mr Paladino is actually in a performance so he would have come here for this um so he is participating in a performance but this is a a very small cost um request the students are uh School excuse me is requesting to do an out of field out of state field trip to rhod Island to attend the Diary of Anne Frank show anybody have any questions anybody have any feelings or motion Mr Bano I would move to uh approve this field trip to wak Ro Island to attend the diary van Frank all right we have a motion do we have a second Mrs Shaw thank you for the second uh any questions on the motion no questions we should be able that vote all right that passes unanimously thank you all right now we have the job descriptions I'm assuming Mr Toopy well I'm actually going to turn this over to our current Transportation director Bo um thank you very much lucky um so I think when this job was originally created um we were really limited on our scope in regards to Transportation um over the past few years our scope for transportation has expanded significantly um we provide basically all of our athletic Transportation all of our field trip transportation we provide um five routes um two to Harbor three to map um in addition we have purchased um several um Vans for special education Transportation so we are doing more and more um with Transportation as such the title of school athletic department bus driver coordinator really doesn't fit anymore um so what we're looking to do is delete the athletic department bus driver get a school transportation coordinator um at this time with the increasing needs there may be needs in the future to expand um and have more than one role um because the needs are significant um we are providing a lot I mean one week there were well over 58 trips not talking Roots 58 trips in addition that was Athletics and so forth so this really now tries to incorporate working with outside vendors it it you'll see that it includes Vans now it doesn't it's not just necessarily buses um the reporting to the this person already reports to me um they don't necessarily report to the athletic directors anymore um because it's not that's not the sole function of their job anymore um so we tried to look at the job goal and change it so it's it's a little bit more encompassing in regards to education as a whole um when you look at general statement of duting it is duties on the second page it is missing a few words um after school bus coordinator it should say We'll develop and maintain an efficient effective student transportation program um we caught that after it went in um but again it kind of looks at it the person's in charge of the fleet like they're in charge of making sure the maintenance get done gets done on these vehicles um we really want to try and make sure that they're coordinating with outside vendors as well um when we can't provide transportation um more in the special education Realm than the the regular education realm but um so it's really looking at this job more encompassing um Beyond just Athletics um anybody have any questions Mr pan not question well one's a question one's a comment uh where' It Go [Music] On on the top of the second page where it's like a general statement of Duties use the title School Bus uh coordinator but up top it's transportation coordinator so just consistency I think you wanted Transportation there yes bu um and then uh item number where's it called uh nine it says Identify perform Andor schedule general maintenance repair needs would we ever actually see them performing it I I understand the identifying and scheduling and getting into repair facilities but would perform seems like something you would normally have somebody in this Ro doing I supp that should be deleted I mean guess suppose it could be something super minor in general I would think we're not requiring people to to be maintenance people as well that one should be deleted yes so identify and their facilit y That's all anybody else Dr just a quick question um the interface between this position and and first student is minimal minimal it's very minimal it's our Fleet um and this person would if again we're probably going to need to look at another person in the future to be honest with you this person would probably have a little bit more coordination with vanpool who performs who deals more with special education Transportation um because that is a constantly evolving more students are added so there needs to be a contact to make sure that that can happen if we can't provide it um right now what we we do a lot of times is if vanpool can't provide the transportation in the past what we've done is we've reached out to a a private vendor and those are those vendors that were paying somewhere between $600 and $900 a day um so this person would do we've had ad an assistant in the special education department deal with that in the past this person would probably take on that role um to coordinate and look for prices or or try to incorporate into a route that we could do V pool could do so it's really this person is is seeing what's the most efficient and cost effective way to do it before we go out for a private vendor too anybody else have any questions I have a couple um number 14 um where it says invoices for services provided I'm guessing we want to say invoice for services provided um ATT track invoices individual student cost as necessary I could be reading it incorrectly but that's oh serly invo invoice it's like an action yeah action yeah so it should be invoice invoice no inves um and then 15 where it says coordinates transportation for students with outside vendors as needed that the district is not able to provide I just thought we might be able to um shoot where is it um coordinate Transportation uh oh coordinate transportation for students with outside vendors when the district is not able toide provide the service because it kind of is a little choppy um you say what you want to say before you say it if that makes sense say coordinates sorry coordinates transportation for students with outside vendors when the district is unable to provide services Services yep I mean something along those lines uh just because I think what we're saying is it's not needed and then District not able to provide or as needed when that's clear yeah I don't know but that's my thought anybody have any additional that all I have okay um anybody have a motion on the thank you Mr Morgan yes I'd like to make a motion to approve the do uh job description as amended thank you do have a second second thank you Mr Bano do have any questions on the motion question we should be able to vote that passes unanimously so good luck thank you thank you for putting that together and updating it all right now we have superintendent report Dr Campbell thank you a few things to report um our budget media series continues we continue to try to get the word out in as many different formats um we have recently recorded Dr blaz and I recorded six short videos with EDTV they actually can all be seen on the business service page um and we're working with our coordinator Communications to to promote that um in their entirety but we've did um six short videos we did one on just the whole development of budget development process we did one explaining the shortfall with contracts last year uh we did one on how we're how we promote transparency and engagement in the budget process uh the changing demographic and how that affects costs and services uh and then most recently uh one on transportation and the importance of routine maintenance so those can be seen on the business service page now we'll continue to promote those over the course of the next few months as we approach April particularly um and also um done a lot of radio spots too I want to thank Miss Badger Miss Jackson for um their constant presence on that uh I think we did three more since the last time we were together um we did one right at the Thanksgiving break on um facilities um it was so it was such a good conversation we we continued that conversation recently last Monday night I believe it was um and did a second part to that Dr bla and uh Mr derky joined us for that um and then we did one on special education and the importance of that the importance of the funding special education how we fund education what we try to do in District so look forward to to you know those were promoted those were live um um WD will be putting them into a podcast series eventually and once we have that information we'll share that with the public too but um that was a very positive um continue to try to again promote other things and uh today I well 3:30 this afternoon did the bu uh third episode recorded of Hometown voices podcast this one was on uh giving back in the community how we do it as schools some of our stories from our students so some great examples from students from North and South High School as well as West Elementary and pcis were represented by staff so uh again just you know this is the time where there's a lot of giving um in our schools and a lot of giving out to the community so um great look forward to that podcast being uh recorded or excuse me promoted in the near future um one thing I don't know if we talked about it recently but um Dr Rogers and I have been working with the committee on Volunteers in public schools so we've been working with fouth VIP program as well as the mass service Alliance we've had um three meetings so far I believe uh working to try to build the foundation how do we build capacity like I identifying roles and responsibilities um and then how do we recruit train and and manage volunteers so that we can provide support to them uh we have another meeting coming up that we're scheduling for January but really utilizing their expertise and their experience to try to create that foundation and structure so that we can get something substantial in the future the next thing we'll be looking at is how do we get funding for this sort of thing too and how can we get some um dedicated fin Financial Resources behind that um excuse me just realized I had some other notes here um mcast so there's a memo that has been shared Dr um excuse me Dr Rogers printed off for you should see it on your um this is from there's two things here there's a memo from long and Depetro Gonzales our attorney's office that also represents Mas um their guidance but also the memo from from desie regarding the change in competency determination so as you all know there was a recent ballad initiative that changed the way uh to earn a competency determination for graduation so mcass is no longer that um but so this information basically mcast is no longer uh required to earn compassing determination so instead students must demonstrate Mastery through coursework that's always been a condition of that but the mcast is no longer there this aw applies to the class of 25 and 2025 and Beyond who have not yet earned a competency determination all right so um it's now based again on completing course work such as Ela maths science Etc so many years of successful completion of courses students cannot earn ACC compassing determination via mcast after the November 2024 retake but all the students are participating in that now that um that's something we must we must continue to do for the students of this class um the district must certify that students have mastered the required skills via coursework moving forward so uh districts have to develop their own local requirements for earning a competency determination so the process has to be approved by school committee and shared with stakeholders so at the next meeting um our recommend our plan is to bring our current graduation requirements as they currently exist to have conversations around that publicly um so that we can have that um brought before the school committee um we're still required students are still required to take mcast um that did not go away with the ballot initiative um the we're still held accountable for their performance so that doesn't change um they just don't need to pass it to graduate um and mcast will still be used for other programs like scholarships um from the state so that we did get word on that as well um so again actions and this is all in the memble I'm kind of bullet pointing it uh we have to develop a process to determine if students have met the new competency determination based on cours workk uh must be shared publicly um and we will we will do that um locally um desie May provide addition guidance and models for developing new processes and there may be some legal and public relations concerns if districts continue to require mcast as a graduation requirement and that is explicitly stated in the legal guidance here given the fact that the Commonwealth voted on this um they're not they're they're highly recommending not to move in that direction as a school department um given what was voted on um so there's FAQs in there for your uh reading and again we'll put this on the January agenda um we'll put together sort of capture what our current graduation requirements are and have conversations about that but that would pretty much be um ours are higher than some districts in terms of the Demonic courses that they have to take but we can have some conversation and we'll do that publicly at the next the next meeting um so I wanted to go through that a in a little bit more detail um let's see a few other things that I have too much paper here tonight I don't know what's going on with all this paper excuse me I'm a hot mess today um one thing I'm excited to inform uh the community I know the school committee is aware of this that Massachusetts school building authority uh commonly known as msba has officially voted in favor of um our statement of Interest application so uh placing hedge Elementary into What's called the eligibility period which is very exciting so um just for for everyone's sake eligibility period in the context of msba is a 270-day time frame uh where the school district once we're invited in has to complete a series of preliminary requirements to demonstrate that we're ready to proceed with a school building construction okay so we have 270 days um to U manage uh and fund a capital project so the forming of a school building committee submitting an educational profile questionnaire certifying uh the understanding of Grant rules and if we meet all this criteria then we can proceed with the feasibility uh phase and we have the feasibility and schematic design actually in as an article at town meeting for April so we're confident that that will be supported um this study our feasibility study will include the potential consolidation of hedge and Cold Spring that's part of that application U as well as potential preschool space for the north Plymouth Community so that is something that was brought to our attention from msba said yes we would like to study that um I think that and this is all just anecdotal but I believe that our North Plymouth Community May participate Less in preschool this would be a great opportunity to have preschool in the north Plymouth and could give us an opportunity to kind of reconsider some other things regarding our elementary schools you know down the road in terms of configuration so very excited about that uh and then one last thing that I wanted to mention is that the next meeting uh will be a joint meeting with so we've invited the select board to come to the beginning of the next meeting uh applicants for uh m badges open seat are it's open until the 19th of December yes it so we still have a few days until the end of the week approximately um so we're waiting to see how many we have we have a few right now that we're aware of we will schedule that at the beginning of that meeting um I want to thank M Jackson for sharing uh this this came from you and I just tweaked it uh these were the questions that were asked by this committee the last time that we went through this process when Miss trelli moved um so just in in consideration for the applicants that come and I believe this was shared in advance with everyone who came if I'm not mistaken it was okay so uh my thinking would be that have my Administrative Assistant once we confirm everyone who has submitted their letter of in interest and their resume that we would share this with them we would put them on the agenda cons you know in sequentially to uh go before the Committees for consideration and that vote vote ultimately so I wanted to get just run this by you get your thoughts regarding these questions if you want them tweaked at all um and also any recommended considering anticipating I'd say five at most maybe six um how long you would like to Pro provide for each candidate or if you don't want to put a time frame on that I think sometimes I know internally when we do interviews we say we have so many minutes to go through these questions so we did 10 last time I believe and it was 10 minutes 10 minutes for each candidate and I think we were stuck pretty close to that because I think at that point too we also had like I don't know at least 10 or 12 candidates it was a ton yeah I knew it was a long time um I mean great that we had that conversation but also helped by the fact we were Zoom but we'll be in person I'm assuming yes um so whatever the whatever the um wish of the committee is Mr Pano I think it'd be I'd prefer if the committee had some time to review the questions think about if there's anything new and we' submit them obviously we can't have everybody asking 10 10 questions but there might be you know four years have gone by there might questions that are more or less relevant than what we looked at four years ago so yeah I think we I think everybody submitted their questions and then I think the I think the executive team kind of whittel it and found like there were themes that went through and I think that's how it was um if I remember correctly how it was put together yep so knowing that it was coming upon us I just wanted to kind of start the conversation yeah yeah anybody oh I'm want to cut off here oh Dr senson I want to go back something I want to go back to the uh certificate uh CD certificate of uh what is it CD c competency dety I want to go back to that and and I and I think it's really important that we have this as an agenda item and I think it's great that you're going to bring that to us what I I'd like you to also to bring in that conversation U let's take a full year costs the the determination of Competency would be the passing of that full year course the passing of that full year course is dependent upon four terms a midterm and a final I think I don't know if that's Universal four terms a midterm and a final for a full year cost what I'd like to know when you bring this before us of those five four of those six possible marks what percentage counts towards the FI towards the final grade oh yes we i' like to know that each of the coures I'm assuming it's Universal but it may not be it's is consistent across cont yeah it no the midterms and finals are yes okay so we can provide all that information yeah I think that should be part of the discussion so we will provide the amount of you know four years of English four years of math um all of that seniors actually it depends on you know some of them are semester based some of them are full year if they're taking AP classes so we can provide all that information credit attainment also as well as um the um the weight of exams in relation to their their overall grade yep provide all that yes you're welcome no Mrs Jackson in the same vein the other thought that I had when we were talking about this is um is there a framework that's already out there like standards that have been put out or if there are some available at that point seeing those standards and seeing how we compare against those standards or like a if there's not at a state level like maybe there's something at a national level that we can use to yes there is one it's not a so there the state promotes it's not a requirement the mass core uh which is four years of English four years of math three years of a lab science um there's some other of course health physical education um in addition to uh two years of the same foreign language and I may be missing something so there there is that and there are some exemptions to that for English Learners um vocational education exemptions so there's some language in there we can we can share all that as well I can also tell you we can also share the percentage of students that meet that currently yeah um because I think that that's something that I'd want to be cautious of changing yeah only because we do have students that don't take two years of foreign language and by do if we were to add that um that that would pose two two challenges I think we would have a number of students that would struggle meeting that requirement I also think we would struggle um Staffing that requirement um among some other things so but we can yep we can spell all that out yeah I'm sure stud do they have the same requirements yes in there is another there yes overwhelmingly yes yes English Math Science Social Studies there is um let go back and look at this one variance possible variance for for for uh CCT but I'm blanking what it is but it's not in the core Mr Pano you Dr C do we know how many students in the class 2025 currently have not achieve the compeny determination for the the coming class um I don't know off the top of my head if all of them have then this is M but you know we have time yeah they they all have not so that's yes last year also the Department of Education increased the threshold to the exam at the high school uh which we found out late um so you have a lot you had more students than than prior years across the state than did less well in terms of reaching that so there's a sense of urgency then we have some number of people that need to know how they're going to graduate okay thanks any other questions thank you is that have anything else here I don't want to cut you off your report okay perfect thank you don't want to move on without you being ready we have retirements Mr Trophy yes good evening I have three retirements to share with you uh Kevin Miller pouth South High School was a second shift custodian after working four years here in Plymouth uh crello special education teacher at Plymouth South Middle School after over 5 years she'll be retiring in February and then 30 years a service Cindy scanland uh was a guidance administrative assistant at Plymouth North High School and she'll be retiring at the end of this year Mr Pano on behalf of the committee and the community i' like to thank these three uh employees for their 39 plus years of service to the district thank you all right next thing we have is our um Committee Member reports does anybody have anything you'd like to share from yeah Mrs Jackson um so in addition to what Dr Campbell shared about the watd um I have also been to a couple diversity committee meetings and a couple safety committee meeting since the last time we talked and also I was able to go to a substance abuse panel that um Carolyn Reigns put on that was just phenomenal and she had did it with the support of uh I think it was Northeastern University and um she had six people speaking about their own personal impact and I felt like it was really you know it it was really something that was important um to be stated in the community you know because it is still a pervasive problem that we still need to be talking about um and it's something that you know we the more knowledge you have the less fear you have the more capable you are to handle those things so I really wanted to say thank you to Carolyn for putting that on because I'm sure it was a lot of work and it was very informative and I was happy I was able to be a part of it thank you for going I heard that it was great from a lot of people so any anybody else have anything um I just wanted to report that my trip to Hawaii uh just happened to kind of go over when our students were in Hawaii I swear it wasn't planned that way it just kind of looking at the calendar and I was like wait didn't we prove a field trip um and it was just really a nice opportunity to see our students just out and about doing they did a great job in the the parade like literally every band stopped directly in front of where I was except for our band I was like oh great this is perfect just keep walking but it's just the way the commercials or whatever it was I assume it was live and that's what was the the gaps but they did a really wonderful job and I was really just really happy that I could be there just to see them so that's all I have quite torrential rain I heard but I know I felt bad I was trying to get to the Missouri to see them but then it opened up the skies opened up and I was like well I'm going to guess they're not there either cuz I was I was at on the Arizona like getting trying to make my way over to in it I was like not sure this is going to work in the rain so I was glad to hear or not glad for them but glad to hear it was canceled and I didn't miss anything but I did I'm glad that they were able to still like perform you know perform a little bit and see it was I mean there's a people from all over the country are there I mean there were bands from Arizona and Ohio and um I mean I I was glad to see our students in short sleeves and a like shorts or pants whatever they chose to wear but some of the bands were in their fullon like from Ohio and I was like those kids have got to be hot like I just was impressed that they all seem to still be standing it was warm I was warming shorts and a t-shirt uh so I think it was the best move we made to not put our students in their band uniforms or their fall band Winter band uniforms yes it was really great nobody else has any anything else all right and just a reminder to apply I know we just mentioned it but applying for the position by the 19th all right uh Master planning Mr Morgan uh I'll cover building and master planning so I'll do building first uh we met um last week um the DPW administration building um the property is going to the Sal is going to go through next month so they're going to purchase that building and then uh look into the renovation so they can move into there uh Memorial Hall feasibility study has been awarded to a contract has been awarded it's the same company that did the feasibility study for the town hall um so they will see what needs to be done at the Memorial Hall to get it watertight and get it all up to speed um the school roof projects are pretty much closed out um and we had a rainstorm last week week as you know and according to our facilities director nothing leaked so that's that's uh awesome that's pretty good so okay um and on the fire stations um station five still behind looks like we be might be seeking some uh reimbursement from the contractor station two is pretty much um punch list stuff um but that's essentially done and nothing really new on station 4 and and that's it and then on a master planning they meeting tonight at West Elementary I've had two meetings that have been the same night at school committee so um unfortunately I've missed those but they're they're aware but there's a um there's a public event for for folks so again we still seek input and people participate and um uh roundtables and and whatnot so thank you for being our representative on on those committees so thank you for sharing um and then we have Personnel reports Mr Joy yes tonight I can share with you we had four certificated appointments six classified and then we also received five resignations thank you and now we have does anybody have anything for unfinished business anything for new business all right and um does anybody have anything they need taken out of the consent agenda I do I'd like to have the regular session meeting minutes from November 4th taken out of the consent agenda for now um um anybody have a motion on the consent agenda thank you Mr Mar I'll make a motion and approve the uh consent agenda do I have a second second oh sorry Mrs Haywood I was like slow motion uh so we have a motion in a second does anybody have any questions on the motion no okay then we should be able to vote on the consent agenda without items removed now I can all right that passed unanimously thank you and then the item removed so I just asked to have the I don't know where I am in my own agenda a here we go um items pulled so n 9.1 in the minutes just says Mr bladel there's no like action or anything that he so if we can just add that for the next meeting um and re visit it we yeah we'll repost it sure for the sixth or whatever whenever it gets posted he was speechless that night hm he was speechless that night yeah I mean I was like we'll find out what he said yeah I'm anxiously wait to see what you said I know I don't I don't remember it I was trying to like really rack my brain to help and I be like I can get this done and just me the edit but I couldn't sorry um that on the all right so then that brings us to the end of the meeting um but we're not done yet I just uh would like to to um read a little something or hopefully get through it but um as a point of per Personal Privilege right um I just wanted an opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to the people of Plymouth for this opportunity to serve you here and to continue to serve you as your next statee representative this is going to be hard sorry when I first joined the committee all those years ago I had no idea how much I would learn how many incredible people I would meet and just how much I would love serving and giving back to our community looking back I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to work alongside such dedicated passionate individuals both past and present committee members administrators teachers and staff all of whom have showed me time and time again what it means to put students first and what we stand for as a community it's been a pleasure to collaborate with each of you to learn from your unique perspectives and to share in the responsibility of making decisions that impact the future of our students whether we're navigating challenges celebrating successes or simply exchanging ideas I've always felt the shared commitment to a common goal of creating an environment where all of our students can succeed and Thrive I'll always cherish the countless moments of collaboration the har hot debates and the laughters and yet yes even the frustration of covid or working toward meaningful change but more than anything I'll treasure the relationships that we've all built um and the amazing opportunity I've had to travel to shama Plymouth England create new committees and create new initiatives and the opportunities for our students the friendships I formed during my time here are something I'll carry with me and I'll forever be grateful for the wisdom and insight each of you shared with me I look forward to continue to working with all of you we've accomplished so much together and we still have so much left to do I have no doubt that this next chapter of the school committee is going to be filled with great achievements and progress I look forward to watching all that you continue to do do to make the lives of our students teachers and families better I want to thank each of you for your hard work and your dedication and your belief in what we can accomplish together it has truly been a privilege to serve alongside you and to work with you and I'm proud of what we've done finally I want to say thank you to my mom and dad for always being supportive and going along with every crazy idea I've ever had like running for school committee or running for zra um and a big thank you to my family and friends for all the support during my time on the committee for all of your I your your your thoughts and for your your time during my campaign for State Rep I'm so lucky to have the support of all of you but I look forward to working with you all in my new role and it's truly been an amazing experience serving with all of you thank you for the flowers for the plaque for your time I really am appreciative so thank you all very much and now I've I will um bring my last meeting to a close at 8:14 thank you [Applause] all for