I call the July 10th meeting of the school committee to order. Uh let me do a quick walk through the agenda and then we will jump in. Uh so we'll start tonight with public comment for anything that's not on the agenda. We'll have our focus on excellence. We've got a nice nice crowd here for that. Um we'll we'll take the consent agenda. Uh we'll move
into reports. We've got our two representatives to the ACE committee here. Oh, I'm hearing myself muted. There you go. Thank you, Tom. Um, we will uh we have our two representatives from the ACE committee here who will provide us with an update on what's going on there. Um, and then we'll
probably take I think we're going to take two of our financial items out of order. So, adult meal prices and the preQ4 financial update. Um, we'll move into a a quick update on the school year 2526 calendar. Um, review and approve both the RMHS student handbook as well
as the district-wide student handbook. Uh, we will vote to appoint the superintendent, well consider voting anyway, to appoint the superintendent to our uh, two collaborative boards. We will discuss and potentially review and adjust our liaison and subcommittee appointments. We will discuss and vote
on a letter to the select board regarding PEG services and then uh quick discussion on our continued MASC membership. That sounds like a lot. Most of those are relatively quick, I think. Uh and then we will adjourn to executive session um to discuss contract negotiations with the superintendent. We
will not return from executive session. So, uh that's our agenda for this evening. Um and we will start with public comment for anything that is not in the agenda. Is there anybody who'd like to speak tonight? The attendance. Okay. Uh, with that, we'll go to the focus on excellence. Dr. Milleski, do do
you want to um kind of tee us up here? Sure. Well, we are thrilled tonight that uh Benjamin Goldless is here with us tonight. Uh, for those of you who don't know Ben, Ben represents the absolute best of the best in our community at the high school. I think in terms of character, in terms of academic excellence, and also in terms of uh extracurricular activities, particularly
in the arts. uh uh Miss Kuno who just walked in as well uh recently shared that Ben had put together a documentary highlighting the impact of the uh the arts on both our current students and also our alumni. And given that we think one of the you know most important
things in our community and one of the things that makes our community special is our focus on uh things outside of the classroom, we thought it was fitting uh to allow Ben to showcase what he's put together uh so the community will be able to see it too. So, he's trimmed down the video, the documentary, which was close to 20 minutes down to around
10. So, we wanted to show that and then invite uh him up to be able to answer any questions or share anything else that he'd like to share as well. Ben, did you want to talk a little bit before we roll the video? Could you just join Laura up here at the uh table here, please? Also, nice shirt.
Seeing them next weekend or two weekends from now. I'll have one, too. Oh, there you go. All right. Are they playing? No, they're playing in Portland. Go ahead, Ben. So, my name is Ben Goldsteust. Um, I'm a I'll be a senior this September. Um, and I was inspired to create this
documentary titled The Show Must Go On because of the generational impact that the RMHS Drama Club has had on so many. I've always felt like there's so much work that gets put into the club and so much value in the experiences that students get from putting together a show or taking one of the theater
electives that can easily be overlooked. I wanted to paint a broader picture with this documentary of what RMHS drama truly has to offer that you might not see from the audience. I hope that RMHS can use this to show its pride in its arts programs and to promote future
participation and investment in these fundamental resources. Thank you. Thank you. In elementary school and middle school, I was never a particularly like successful kid. And honestly, it was
getting the opportunity to take on leadership roles and do challenging things that made me become a really ambitious and successful person. Armstrong Club, it really has been a sanctuary for a lot of students um like
who have been bullied, students who like don't fit into like the sport kind of stereotype of high school that's like so common. Um, and I don't know, I just think that people can really find a passion here and it's something that's really worth protecting. Everybody wants everyone else to do well
and it's I feel like in like sports sometimes it's like you're competing with people but it's like everyone's working together to like get the same thing done. I think we often take sports very seriously and um we see that as something that you practice very hard
for, but when you think of theater and drama, you don't think of that practice. you don't think of that discipline. I was much more resilient to my failures because I was really confident in my strengths. Um, and I think having that within our curricular day is so important. I think students need a place
in their day to to feel like they're mastering something or that they're they're embarking on their own interests. I think that they're with us. In the interest of uh securing our meeting, Tom just turned off screen sharing, so he's got he's got to let me
back in there. You're you're now host, so you should be able to do it. All right, let's try that again. Everything else should be correct now. There we go. Sorry about that. school or just want to try it out.
I've only taken one. I took technical theater as a start sophomore year and it was really interesting class. I learned about like set design and like how to paint sets and like all the different crew positions that exist in technical theater. And it was just a really interesting class and I was really happy
I took it because it was like just so different from any other class offered like that I took that year. You know, I think Huna designed the class really well in the fact that the different parts of the class people could relate to their own interests and sort of taking so like there's there was a speech unit of the class where everyone
had to like give a speech about something they're passionate about and some kid did like one about golf and then another kid did one about like electric vehicles and then you know other ones did something about like um you know civil rights and injustice and things like that. So, it would just this
this wide array of things that people are passionate about with people that I would probably never really interact with um or wouldn't have interacted with uh outside of class. So, I think some of those those classes cuz you get those people that are really interested in theater, but then also those people that
are just doing it maybe for a reason cuz they need a requirement or they just had an open slot. Um and I think that really like brings, you know, maybe uncommon groups of people together. I had two children that did the improv and to be able to respond
in the moment to a prompt and not know how someone else was going to respond to it. I saw them grow in their confidence, in their ability to laugh at themselves and at each other. I don't think people really understand like being part of improv really opened
up kind of how I interact with people even today. um just a lot of like communication techniques, stuff like that. Um and it's it's something I never would have had the chance to do without drama. It teaches empathy
and also in this age of AI technology developing so rapidly beyond a way that we're able to really legislate or or you know make rules around. I think skills in critical thinking and media literacy are more important now to
kids development than ever before. And drama club is something that teaches those skills. Theater is something that makes you think critically about the words that you're sharing and what you're looking at and determining what it means and where it comes from. You know, a lot of times when we would
get roles, you do a lot of character study looking into, you know, why does this character think this way or that way? Um, and so you you do a lot of introspection that I think has kind of carried forward for me as a as a as a doctor, especially cuz I want to go into audio
hardware and stuff like that with electrical engineering. Um, doing everything related to sound has definitely helped me with that. Um, and something I can use towards that. As a assistant stage manager, I have to be in charge of people backstage. So,
I've gotten better at being able to resolve conflicts and like be a authority figure. One, my youngest was a club officer, but the other two, while not officially officers, really uh learned how to be leaders, interact as a
peer leader uh with their with their friends, uh which can be difficult, but they they learned it's a great life skill, and learned how to interact um with the adults of the club um you know, and taking on more responsibility and learning how to recognize what needs to
be done without being told what needs to be done. the curtain is going to open. People are going to be sitting there and so our deadlines are real living breathing things that students have to adapt to, improvise to reach. Um, and that's not necessarily it's it's theoretical in other places. We hope
that students will be resilient. We hope that they'll rise to the challenge. Theater puts it to the test. It builds a lot of confidence. And I think it also teaches people to be patient and to trust a certain process or
um even to question a process. Sometimes you really learn how to work with people and like how to like make sure things don't all fall on one person because I'd been set on like a STEM career um in biomedical engineering since like first grade. So I was like,
"Oh, there's really no point in trying." But the drama club, it showed me that it makes people really well-rounded, and it's really important to be able to also have like a humanities perspective. The arts give back to the community in a sense of showing stories that need to be
heard, helping us express the emotions we're working through, um, bringing all sorts of people together. I was sort of the original PSST member and got to watch that group form and grow. Um, I've seen relationships that
were made then that are still in force now, decades later. Um, I've I had the experience of watching the kids succeed um, in small ways and in large ways. Um,
it was really very fulfilling as a parent, um, and as a community member because I've always felt that drama club and the theater experience that comes out of the high school is a gift to the community in many ways. It's not just
the performances. It's the kids themselves that go out and do volunteer work and community service and just, you know, incorporate what they learn in that program and bring it back to their community. A lot of people struggle
meeting new people and um like talking to their co-workers or talking to their boss cuz that can be like a really scary thing. But I think what drama club did was like break that outer shell. I'm friends with people from every grade now and I feel like I have a solid group of people that I talk to because of
drama club. I personally try to make as much of the work that is produced student driven and and student done and developed. You know, I I think that it's lost that people see a
table on stage and maybe it's on stage for 5 minutes in one scene. Um, but that table was nothing more than a couple of boards at one point and an idea that maybe the director had and then a student figured out how to design it and
then another student figured out how to build it and then another student did the actual construction um uh all for a table that could be on stage for 5 minutes. I think it's like one of the most important things that we can do as educators is to expose kids to
the arts and also give them the opportunity to to access them. So much of what writing writing is proud of of its students is its excellence, whether it's athletic excellence or academic excellence, but the arts reach and ask for that same level of excellence. I
would not have as much support as I do because the adviserss and my friends like are truly my family in this club. Still, a lot of the people involved in in those arts programs and stuff are sometimes the closest things people have to like coaches and mentors.
I don't think I would have known that I wanted to be a teacher so quickly, but I I feel like I wanted to share with some of my students like the same things that I had shared with the teachers and the the mentors that I had
had in drama. And that was so inspirational to me that I went into college like knowing I wanted to pursue that career. And I don't think I would have gone to TUS where I went for college if I didn't do theater. I wouldn't have continued to do theater in college if it wasn't for
how great of an experience I had in high school. Um and then I probably maybe I wouldn't have got into medical school if I if I didn't do theater. So I I really do attribute a lot of importance to my participation in it. What word or phrase comes to mind when
you think of the RV chest drum club? Community, opportunity, effort, inclusive. Be yourself or play someone else? Connection, sanctuary, family, childhood, inspiring, multiaceted, and teamwork. Fun.
Any [Applause] [Music] questions for Ben or comments? It's amazing. How can we see the whole thing? Um, the full version is available at
rmhsdrama.org. It's on the on the homepage. Awesome. I think it was also linked in one of the emails we got this week. Okay, that's fantastic. Um, one thing I really liked about it is, um, the way you highlighted the different things that people in different roles in
theater took out of it, you know, not just onstage roles. Um, thought that was really, really good. Um, anything else from the committee? Oh, yeah. Ben, incredible job. Really, really well done and I think Natalie nailed it with what a a high bar of excellence in the program and I think that's reflected here in what you showcased. Uh, my
question for you is I know you're entering senior year, uh, thinking probably a lot about future plans. I'd be interested to hear how has theater for you personally impacted your journey thus far and also how is it impacting what you see as sort of what's happening for you in the future uh both college and beyond.
Well, I feel like um in general it's it's given me so many skills that aren't even directly theater related such as me being able to speak before you um with I feel like theater has given me a lot of confidence and public speaking skills.
Um, I think it's taught me how to, um, think about telling a story. Um, I'm planning, right now, my plan is to, um, apply for film school. And so, that's definitely going to be helpful. Um, I've
gotten to meet so many so many wonderful people, so many like lifelong friends. I feel like I'm gonna continue to have after high school. Awesome. All right. So, uh, we don't let anybody off the hook after being the subject of Focus on Excellence without taking a
photo with us. We have to embarrass you for just a minute and then we'll let you go. You can just join us at the front of the You don't like it either, Ben. Just speak for yourself. Yes, but it's a lot. I hate having my picture taken.
center stage doing that. Awesome. Those notebooks, do you? Yeah. Do you keep the old ones? I do stash. I usually go back. So, okay. I like code by date, too. So,
okay. So, we will move on next to the consent agenda. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve the consent agenda. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Lara. All in favor? Sorry. Could you come up to the thing so people
at home can hear you? Dr. Cor. Jeffrey Cormra. the completely trivial thing, but in the minutes the minutes from last meeting, it was Carla Nazar was nominated for uh vice chair. Uh actually wasn't her. We were nominating somebody else entirely. So
it's a good catch. We'll Yeah, we'll uh we'll make that edit. Thank you. Thank you. Um so with that edit, uh any other comments? All in favor? All opposed? Consent agenda passes. Uh we will move to reports. Um Dr. Nichesky. Great. Uh
good evening everyone. Happy summer. We just like to give one thank you and that's to our state uh leg local state legislators uh Senator Jason Lewis uh rep state representatives Brad Jones Rich Hagerty uh who helped secure $225,000 in state earmarks uh for the Reading Public Schools which is
incredibly exciting. As you may know over the last couple of years their earmarks have helped purchase digital Nord keyboards in our digital music pathway uh and also the recently the autopsy table. The $225,000 will go to a couple of things. first uh $75,000 was
allocated towards a a van for our 18 to 22 year old lift program which will allow our students to be able to get integrated into the community for uh job and career opportunities more frequently. Uh and also then the other $150,000 for capital improvements sort of in any way that we see to improve our
community. So more conversations to be had with the committee and the committee on that $150,000. uh those funds uh while they've been are in the F state FY26 budget the the funds have not yet been released uh they're sort of being held given some financial uncertainty but we feel confident that
those funds will come sometime during this fiscal year so I would just like to thank uh those legislators for their advocacy at the state level for what will be some pretty impactful uh infrastructure for the writing public schools thank you and then Lee is on reports we'll start with Laura probably don't
have any yet not yet yeah maybe we'll figure that out Can I change? Um Sarah, uh no report, no real report. RCTV board met. There was just kind of updates, general updates as well. I know we're talking about that later as well. Y Tom, no reports. Carla,
I I forgot about reports. Um so Kllum is moving right along. We have a um Kllum School Building Committee meeting on Monday. Um in the next few weeks we're going to be doing a geothermal test well
which will help us to determine what our um the the geothermal test the geothermal wells are going to be used for our HVAC system. So it will help us determine how the size and depth and everything of our wells. So we'll be doing that over the next um couple of
weeks or so. It was supposed to happen this week, but there was a problem with the drill rig. Um, at our meeting, we'll get a further update on the external design of the building, which it looks really beautiful. Um, and the internal design,
too. It really is like coming together and looking really nice. So, just we've just been having a ton of meetings, but it's been great. Erin, no reports. and no report from me. Uh so I promise 720 on the money. Here we go.
Uh so the uh ad hoc commemoration establishment committee was established in November I believe. Um we have joining us tonight Ryan Johnstone and London Stith Nichols. You could just sit at the table there. Yep. Um who are our uh delegate and our our student representative respectively um to that
committee to share an update on what the committee's been working on. So take it away. Uh yeah, thank you for letting us come here tonight. Um, so just a reminder to everybody and especially anybody listening at home, my name is Ryan Johnstone. I am the school committee's designate on that ACE committee.
Uh, my name is London S. Nichols and I'm the student representative for the school committee. Um, so since I gave you guys the update last time and London I know gave hers also. Um, we attended the friends and family day and we also attended Junth. Uh, so we got an opportunity to get a
table set up and actually get out there in the community. Uh, which was great. So friends and family day was our first uh event out there and uh as you know mostly attended by local reading residents not a lot sort of outside of the community and um one of the themes
was very few people were aware we a lot of people coming to our table very few of whom were aware of Bill Russell and his history um not even aware he even lived in this town and of them uh I don't think anybody knew that we existed as a committee or what our charge was. So it was really great uh to start
getting the ball rolling in that community engagement. It is one of the uh direct charges for us as the committee. Um and then we rolled that into Junth. I think London has some stuff she wants to talk about that. Um the Junth event was a great experience. Um there's a lot of we had a
lot of community members show up. Um I didn't I was I was planning to work the table at the at the ACE table. Um, but I ended up do working at a different table. But I had uh I had like a very good view of the ACE table and from what
I saw um there was there was like there was sorry there was uh a lot of um there I saw there Oh my gosh. Sorry. I'm nervous. I'm nervous. Um there was a lot of uh we had Sorry. I'm just sorry.
Deep breath. We don't promise. You got it, London. Um there was a lot of there was a great turnout and um I noticed there was a lot of adults and kids going up to the table and everyone seemed very interested and engaged and
similar to what Ryan said there a lot of hearing feedback from other community members a lot of people didn't seem didn't seem to know who Bill Russell was and even people who knew him at who maybe know him as like a ba a basketball
player or an amazing athlete they didn't know about his work being an activist and working in social justice. Um so that's one of the things that I hope that we can work on um and we can help change um especially with the students
here in the school system and finding ways to like engage more with the students there. Yeah. And it was um one of the cool things for me about Junth was it it was attended by um a lot more regional community members. So, from a lot of towns over too, who were very interested
in hearing that Reading was doing this, that Reading was trying to to honor Bill Russell and address our history. Um, and so we did get a number a lot of names on a mailing list that we do plan on doing that I know London will talk about in a second. Uh, but to wrap up Junth really quick, so we also we gave a statement at
Junth. Um I today only a few hours ago so I understand if no one read it. I was able to give a copy over to Sean uh to circulate you know just generically I wanted you guys to get eyes on what we did say. Um I can also say RCTV has the Junth video up now. Um and we our
statement is actually at the very beginning of it. So as you press play you can hear our statement be made uh by Taylor Gregory who is the chair of the committee. Um I just want to highlight some of the themes really quick. Um so basically we started off just um really
addressing that what reading is doing to just be generically bring more awareness and inclusivity into the town. Right. The ACE committee um as I was putting some of my thoughts into that statement and thinking more about the town and especially about Mechco and and similar
programs I I came to realize, you know, ACE committee really is an extension of what the town and the community's been doing now for years. Um it's not a new thing. It's not a one-off. Uh so we wanted to really highlight that to everybody that was listening also that like you know this is what the town is really doing and really focusing on this
is not a a one-off just to kind of get it out of the way or check a box. Uh so we highlighted that up front. Um talked a little bit about Bill Russell and the background. Um but we didn't want to focus on that too much because we didn't want to make it a statement about Bill Russell. We wanted to make it about our committee really quick. Um, so we did
talk a little bit about his experience here in town just so people understood why we were created and what our purpose was and then really wrapped it up with our community outreach, right? Um, we said point blank in there, we want the community to start coming to our meetings to start giving us feedback.
And so towards that end at friends and family day and Junth, we got about 15 or 20 names to sign up for a mailing list. Um, and so at our last meeting, we talked about what we're gonna do with that and London raised her hand to help out with that. So, you want to talk about the mailing list we're gonna be
doing? Yeah. Um, I'm going to help with managing the mailing list. And we're hoping we can use it as a tool to help connect with the community more. Um, and help maybe like, you know, reach um, if we have events happening in town, we can
reach out to them or let them know like get more engagement because we really want um to let people know like know who we are and um, let people know who we are and also if know that they could participate and share any ideas they have. and if they have any questions or
if they just want to learn more about Bill Russell. Yeah. And especially any feedback. I think we'll be pushing on that like you know anybody on emailing us to email us with your thoughts on things that we can do. Right. It's it is part of the charge of the committee to try and get that feedback from the community and find
ways to to field it. Um and then the other thing so that that's one of the big things we're rolling out um over the next few weeks or so as we get that set up. Uh, another thing the committee is really working on right now is trying to find uh, standing funding in town. So, we at our last meeting, we as a
committee really looked back at our charge again. Now that we're got our couple events out of the way now, okay, what are we going to spend the next six, seven months doing? Um, and with that, what we really identified is there's a couple things that us as the ad hoc committee have to get done. Um, but then
we are making recommendations to the select board for an on for a long-standing program. And so over the next few weeks or so, we're going to be next couple meetings, I should say. We're trying to find funding sources in town for what we're going to be doing as a committee, which is very limited because we're not a standing committee.
There's only so much we can do and so much access. Um, but then more importantly, where can we find those pockets in town for funding for any long-standing program that we want to recommend? The charge specifically tells us to find town funding for it. Um, so
that's what we're going to be digging in on. Um, I plan on trying to talk with Sharon Instrom to try and get an idea of where we're at and and get thoughts on that. Um, but I I think like I'd mentioned last time also, the idea of doing something in the long-standing program within the school system has
been brought up over and over and over again, uh, as well as some of the the ad hoc recommendations that we got at friends and family in Junth from the community was like, "Oh, you can do it education programs in the school." And I was like, "Yes, yes, we can." Um, so I I think I would guess prepare. I think at
some point, I don't even know how to mechanically roll this out, but I think we will want to try to engage with with you all about, hey, is there something even within the school budget that could be allocated towards a program in certain parts? And I don't know where that would be, if it could or not, but uh as well as just pick your brains as
more seasoned individuals in town that understand how we could do some of that. Um, so I'm hoping by August, September, we have more concrete ideas on what we want to do with our programs and uh we can put together a more comprehensive presentation and a read ahead about what
we plan on doing. Um, and then hopefully get some feedback from you guys on thoughts on that and ways that we can execute it. Anything else? London. Great questions from the committee. Tom, um, first of all, thank you both
for the update. Uh despite the nervousness, you did a great job. So thank you. Um don't worry about that at all. Um can you remind us like what the sunset date is? Like how much time do you have left to figure this out? Um so we can think about where it fits on any schedule that may come if you want to come ask about any budget stuff. And our
budget season kicks off in no late November December. So just want to see where what alignment there might be. So my understanding I need to get uh I want to get some clarification on that from the town. Um because uh Sean, like you said, it was so that the the the
committee got passed in Junth, a year ago, is when the select board created it, but they didn't open it for volunteers until November. That's when they got around to interviewing us. And we didn't really have a quorum appointed and sworn in until January. Um so I
don't exactly know when our sunset is. My understanding is, uh it's November at the earliest because that's when they posted it for even volunteers. Um, but I do think it's January because that's when we actually had a quorum. But I do want to talk to town about that. Um, I
will say it is it it can be extended. That's our sunset date that can always be pushed out. Um, we have spoken about that as a committee last time as we again looked back at everything we need to try and get done over the next, you know, six months or so. Um, so I I
anticipate that we may end up requesting an extension of that at some point. Um, but it really depends on how far we go we over there. So, yeah. So, to answer your question, I don't know exactly, but I think somewhere in that November, January range is what we we are looking at right now is the on paper date. So, I just answered my own question. You
probably did, too. Yeah, it looks like it's already expired. Technically, you should Yeah, you should probably check in with the select board sooner rather than later. In in the charge, it says accordingly, the committee shall sunset 12 months from vote date. Um yeah, I mean technically your sunset, but I
don't think that's fair necessarily to your point, right? So, but definitely the two chairs or the co-chairs or whatever talk with them and get it a request that it be extended appropriately. Yeah. No, I I appreciate seeing that. Yeah. Thank you. Maybe related question. So as you think
about transitioning from an ad hoc committee to more of a standing standing committee, you know, it's probably early to answer this, but any preliminary thoughts on how the charge of the committee sort of evolves? So our the rec
charged with making recommendations to the select board for long-standing programs and what we what we as a committee spoke about last time was that recommendation could be potentially transitioning this from an ad hoc to a standing committee. Um but we but that's
not official yet. We're not sure what kind of that program will be. Um it it could be trying to asking Office of Equity and Social Justice to pick this up. Like there's a lot of options for that. And the only thing I think we really got out
of the last meeting towards that end was realizing there's a lot of different ways that we as a committee are also individually interpreting the charge of a long-standing program. And I think that really came out as we started talking about it. So, um, hopefully it
it's on our agenda in for the upcoming, uh, meeting in July to talk to start talking about that long-standing program in more concrete terms. Um, and hopefully by August or September, we'll have a better understanding. And then in in which case, if it is a recommendation about a standing committee, I'll be able
to answer that question a little better about how that charge would look like. Great. Anyone else? Laura? Yeah. I just wanted to say that um from that long-term perspective, I think that it is a fantastic idea to incorporate something more formalized into the
school curriculum. Uh I think that that has the potential to have the dual benefit of introducing kids at a really young age to some of these important issues that oftentimes people aren't eager to talk about with young children. Um but I also think that it would have
the benefit of educating upwards. So you both mentioned that at the events that you did recently, you encountered a lot of people who had either no familiarity with Bill Russell in general or no familiarity with his uh association and experiences in reading. And um you know I think that if we if we have a
situation where we can create um around the dinner table a conversation where we say what did you do at school today and the kids are able to say well we learned this about Bill Russell and we learned it you know about the context of that. I think that's a really amazing opportunity to um to reach people at
older ages as well. So yeah, um I I definitely am interested in participating in in figuring out some curricular kind of ideas for that. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that. Uh one of the individuals, I think it was at the Junth deal, they all kind of blur into one. Uh was a preschool teacher
though in the area who said the exact same thing. It's like, oh, you know, we should be able to get some curriculum even at the preschool age to start teaching us. So yeah, couldn't agree more. Great. Thank you both very much. Thank you. Okay. Um we are going to actually let's
move to the calendar update. That'll be quick and then we'll take our two financial pieces um out of order. Uh so Dr. Milleski, do you want to tee up this next agenda item? Yeah. So tonight we are seeking a vote from the committee to approve an amendment to the SY 2526 calendar school
calendar to uh update what is the early release day on September 26 from 1:05 p.m. uh to 12:30 p.m. at the high school. That is to accommodate a joint PD session between our high school and middle school staff around AI. So, as you can imagine, this is a topic that is
very much in the, uh, front of all of our radars, and we think it's really important that the staff is together for what is some joint learning and collaboration. So, uh, and this is again only a vote to change the high school early release time, that date. Okay. Take a motion first and then I'm going to amend my motion because it
says half hour. um move to amend the SY 2526 calendar to reflect um early release time change on Friday, September 26th. Second. Okay,
we have a second. Any discussion before we just specify it's a single early release time change every day release. Um okay, any discussion? Okay. All in favor? All opposed? That carries six to zero. Um, thank you. Uh,
okay. And then Carla, can we um have an impromptu motion here to take E5 and E6 out of order, please? Move to take out of order E5 and E6. Is there a second? Seconded by Tom. Um, no discussion on this one. All in favor? All opposed? Okay. Uh, Phil, we will go
to you and we can start with meal prices. Thank you very much for doing that. I appreciate it. Um, the first one is the memo looking for your approval of to raise the price of adult meals that are served in the cafeteria from $5 to 5.25. As I outlined in the memo, that is to
get us in compliance with the uh requirements of the USDA food and um nutrition program. You know, essentially they we're not allowed to subsidize adult meals with funding that's being provided for student meals. And so
there's a little um workbook. It's not even a workbook. There's an Excel spreadsheet they give you to calculate what the price should be. And for this past year, it should have been 502. We were at $5. So 525 should keep us covered, I'd hope for, for at least the next three years. So we don't have to
commit every year and change the price. Phil, it's currently 502, right? No, right now it's currently five. Okay. The requirement was 502. Gotcha. But that's a minimum, not a exact
requirement. Yep. Okay. Um, is there a motion? Move to increase the adult meal price from $5 to $5.25. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Tom. Any discussion? All in favor? All opposed? And it
carries. Thank you very much. And uh, Phil, we can go to the preQ4 updated. So, the next thing in your packet, which does not require any votes tonight, this is moreformational as to where we are in terms of the fiscal year 25 close. Um, we are at this point have um will be
able to prepay 1.2 million in special ed tuition um set aside. We've also uh ordered 350,000 as part of the IT refresh and we will be transferring 225 to the U special ed
reserve fund. Um that will be done as well and we are still anticipating that we will be returning approximately 75,000 back to the town when all is said and done. Um you know the the year on closed takes a while because we still got a lot of outstanding invoices to
come in to be paid. We've got POS that need to be closed. So some you know the numbers are at a bit of a state of flux but overall nothing is materially going to change. And if you look at I did provide you you know the interim reports and again these are all subject to
change. Um and I know at the next meeting I will come in with the official requests for the transfers that will need to be done to close out the books but you know it hasn't changed much from what we've been showing for the last couple of quarters. Uh we did add the
last one. Uh we put together a list of the scholarship funds that are under the uh not the control but the the town oversees those and they're not on the school department's books. And that's the that's the sixth page of the reports
that I provided to you. Um there's no surprises, no real changes. Um I I'm happy to report that for the after for the extended year program we were able to uh get that to uh it'll be slightly above break even for the year which is where you know we want it to be and so
and they've got a good plan in place for next year in terms of um how they're going to be uh running the program. So I think we we've I think at least I've got my understanding of that one in pretty good condition right now. So other than that that's what we have.
Great. Uh, any questions? And when is our next meeting? August 20. It's the Thursday. I Okay, it's a Thursday. In the 20s. I don't remember. 21st or 28th. Yeah, I think I think it's 21st. Yeah.
Okay. And I do just want to say again, I appreciate all the help I've gotten from everyone in the district. Uh, especially uh Kate, my assistant business manager, but the, you know, the the whole staff in general. Um I I tend to do things a little bit differently like I am now threatening to close POS for people
because they still have some open but um it's been working well. All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Uh we will return to our regularly scheduled programming here. Um and we've got Miss Kalan on the Zoom as well. Dr.
Moses, anything from you on the student handbook before we hand Miss Ken? Yeah, I'll give a quick intro. uh just like in your packet you'll find both a uh you know the handbook for the districtwide handbook and also the RHS handbook. Uh both have also gone through a close look and review from legal counsel at this point as well. Uh so I
guess we can start with the high school handbook. Uh I'll let Jess share whatever she'd like to share, but I would like to give her a thank you. I think uh something I know that has been a priority for the committee is ensuring the role of the school council in developing the handbook. And I'd like to say that I think uh over the last couple of years, Principal Kalan has done uh a
really a really nice job in partnering closely with the school council at the high school to have a product that I think reflects both the viewpoints of all of those uh involved. So I think true partnership on that. Um Jess did a good job also outlining all the changes uh that are highlighted there. But Jess, I don't know if there's anything that
you want to share in terms of the handbook or if you just wanted to open up for questions or thoughts. Um thank you Dr. Machepky. Thanks for listening to me tonight. Everybody on school opening there. I obviously can take any questions that people may have.
What I did this year was um I sorry I retyped the entire uh handbook because there were a lot of formatting issues. Uh we added the translation piece in the beginning uh of the handbook to align it with the other handbooks of of all the other schools.
Uh and what I tried to do which is something I know Mr. wise had been uh looking for us to do is go through the district policies, the school committee policies and the district handbook and anywhere where I could take out wording
uh that was either duplicate duplicative or or incorrect, I did that and replaced it with links for the from the district uh handbook or the school committee policies. And so you'll see a lot of links in there and I did that
intentionally. Um well with working with my school council to make sure that there's nothing in conflict um you know in the high school handbook that or included that doesn't need to be included because it's already a policy published by the school committee or the
district. Okay. Any questions? Question just a point. Thank you. Um, so Jess, thank you um for the work that you've continued to do over the last couple years and the partnership that's there. Uh, it's clear in looking through
it. The links are are straightforward. They work. Um, so thank you for that as well. There's a couple points in here that it just says appendix underbar. It's not like filled in yet. Maybe you have that finalized in your version. Um, and Mr. W, is that what you said?
Yeah, it it says it says refer to appendix and then there's an underbar. doesn't have A, B, C, D, or E. It's just a blank that you're probably waiting to fill in based on something else coming in. Um, but yeah, I I noticed that this evening, and both of them, both those areas should both say appendix C, which I will make
sure is updated um before it's published on the website. Okay. Okay. And there's one other point. I can find exactly what page it is or send it to you later, but it says move to a different section, which I think you're implying you're going to move it to a different section or you were thinking about doing it. Um, but you hadn't
finished it yet or maybe I'm missing misunderstanding that that text where it says move to a different section. You know what page it's on? Um, in our packet it's on, of course, I'm not seeing it now. So, hold on a second. uh page 35, the top of
page 35 of your your your document. Yes, it's right above the quick guide for RPS attendance policies. It's the student leadership section about how you're supposed how they're supposed to be held accountable to a higher standard.
Basically, no problem. I know it's a it's a long document. It's shorter now than it used to be, though. It is now. haven't successfully made it a little bit shorter. It's at the top of page 35. Oh, yeah. Um,
none of these none of these are improving at all. This is just like minor things and you guys have done a great job so far. I just wanted to see if there's like minor minor cleanups at the end there that can be done. And I actually had a typo in there. It said RMJS, which we're not a junior school, so it
should say HS. Uh, yes. I will get back to you on that. I think I might have already moved it um to somewhere else or I but I I can follow up with you on that. Um some of it was redundant and I was trying to get rid of the redundancies as
well because it was just confusing. Yeah. Uh but I'll I can look in look at that again and see where I intended to move that. Great. Thank you. Great. Thank you. As I said, it's much cleaner. It's the formatting is much better. The links are phenomenal. you can see the the feedback
of the school council already. So, I just again I want to thank you overall for all the work and effort that's been that's been put into it. Thank you. And I do want to say my school council was amazing. We did this faster than I anticipated and they just did a great job and had great input. Um
all of them. So, thank you, Laura. Uh I just wanted to point out another edit uh on page 15 in the report card grade scale. Um, F goes from 0 to 59 and D goes from 63 to 66. So, there's just a
couple numbers missing in there. And I know from experience that students will use any loophole uh available to them to argue about the relationship between numbers and grades. So, uh you may just want to fill that gap. I will fire that. We don't want any
numbers left out. That's for sure. It's missing the D minus. It's missing the D minus. Yep. Okay. Okay. Um, and then I'm sure you're already on top of this, but given that we appro approved a minor updates to the school
calendar tonight, I don't know if the one that's currently in here is the one we just approved or the prior iteration. So, yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah. Mr. Brown. Oh, yeah. Dr. Corm, you have a question
in the audience here. Jeffrey Quum Ridge Road. I noticed a number of things as I was going through um particularly in the highlighted section you we would need Tom's Grammarly here that it says the GPA used will be either the highest weight either the weightest or the unweighted
whichever is highest but since you're comparing two things it should be whichever is higher um also in that section um there's a link for a national honor society it says insert link to NH website so that link is missing um there are a couple
places where it says says there must be a there are hyphens that are not needed between like a minimum of four dash graded. It should be just four space graded and somewhere there's a 12 dash or 40 dash hours and tw 12-cal month
which should be 12 calendar months with a space and not a hyphen. Um I also noticed the um the part about validictorian and saludiatoran. There's a highlighted part that says this is encouraged but not mandatory. It would be, I think, an improvement to the
policy if it said that students shall be given the opportunity but not required to give a speech. So that it it's clear that when it says encouraged, is it is encouraged that the school district is encouraged to give the validictorian and saludiatoran policy or are you
encouraging the saludiatoran and validictorian to make those speeches and they will always be given the opportunity. Do you see what I'm saying there? You look a little puzzled in it. No, I I I Well, I don't know who you looking.
Yeah, you're you're not at a mic. I think she can hear unfortunately, but I think we'll catch it and and figure out how to make sure we adjust for for the feedback. Joe, I did the last portion about the validictorian solar and that what was included in there was um
a consensus by the school council uh and so that was why we rewarded it in that in that manner, but I didn't hear the other portions of what um was brought up. So, I apologize. Well, I yeah, I wanted to be sure that when you say encouraged that you would
definitely give the solidarian and validictorian the opportunity to make that right here. The wording isn't clear that the validictorian and saludiatoran would definitely have the opportunity. It seems like you're encouraging the
principal to give them that opportunity, but it's not required, right? It's not mandatory. So, is it I mean, that is correct. It's not mandatory for them to speak at graduation, which is I think your question. No, no, that's not my question. It's a question of the intent of the of
the um the encouragement. Is the intent to say is the intent to say that the students have the option not to give a speech or is the intent to say that the school has the option not to allow the students to speak? The the intent is Mr. grant that the
students do not have to speak if they don't want to speak because it the way it was previously worded it implied that they had to speak and so the school council wanted to change it to give them the option to speak and Dr.'s Cor's point is that by using
the word this, it could be read as the the students being given the opportunity to speak is what is is what is optional. Meaning the school has the option not to present that opportunity. It could be read that way. I can read the intent is that they have
the option to decline speaking if they don't if they don't feel comfortable. But I want to be sure that they are definitely given the opportunity. Yes. Right. That's not clear from the wording that's here. Um, also it says in the event of a GPA
tie, the uh validictorian saludiatoran will be determined out to the 100th decimal place of the GPA. That doesn't actually say what to do in the fact of a tie if they're actually tied out to the hundth place. That's legacy.
I just I really can't hear. Yeah, it's not coming through, but Is it better if I speak here? Are you hearing it better? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, in the section right above it, it says, "In the event of a GPA tie, the
validictorian and saludiatoran will be determined out to the 100th decimal place of the GPA." So, the wording is a little funny. I mean the validictorian is determined out to the it's like but but also you're not actually saying what happens in the case that they tie to the
100th place of the GPA right if they had exactly the same grades yeah which actually happened two years ago with the saludiatorans and there were two and both of them spoke at graduation so
the wording there is is not clear and and obviously does not encompass the situation that you had two years ago. So it would be improvement if you could figure out the a better wording. Well, previously Dr. Farmer, there was there was no specification as to what
happened and so that actually was added last year so that it was clearer. Um that happened in my previous school district. We had ties several times. And so it's really important to be specific about to what decimal point you're going out to. Um, and so if there was a
statistical tie to the 100th, uh, you know, to the decimal that it's described in the handbook, then there would be two validictorians. And if there was a tie for a saludiatoran, there would be two saludiatorans or three if that happened. But I can I can look at the wording. Um,
again, the school council and I did words smmith this um, quite intensively, but I can look at it again and try to clean it up. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Anything else on the RMHS
handbook? All right. Uh do we have a motion? Um move to approve the 2025 2026 RMHS student handbook. Is there a second? Second. I think Tom just beat you to the punch.
Minor friendly amendment. Sure. as as mentioned and agreed to be amended. Sure. Yes. Yep. Um I assume you accept that as a friendly amendment. Yes. Okay. Um any further discussion?
All in favor? All opposed? And it carries six to zero. Thank you, Miss Kalin. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Dr. Milteski, do we want to say anything about the districtwide hand? Great. This should be pretty straightforward, too. So, I think the
biggest updates you'll see around the correct definition of sexual harassment, uh, general formatting, cleanup, and then also some updated links to the revised Title 9 grievance procedure. So, other than that, it's pretty uh pretty consistent with what we've had uh this past year. So,
okay. Um, can we take a motion and then we'll see if there's any discussion? Move to approve the 2025 2026 district-wide student handbook. Second. Second. Seconded by I'm going to give that one to Sarah. Um, any discussion on this
one? Okay. All in favor? All opposed? And it carries six to zero. Thank you very much. I've lost track of what's next because I'm 600 pages into the packet right now. Let me scroll back up. Collaborative.
Oh, collaborative boards. Um, so I uh I should have included a memo in this one, you know, maybe for Laura's benefit if nothing else. Um so we belong to two collaboratives where uh the school committee is responsible for appointing a designate to the board of the collaborative. Um the options I think in
both cases are either a committee member or the superintendent. I think in the case of both schools or both collaboratives um it's all superintendent. I don't think there's any instance where there's a school committee member. So we historically have have appointed Dr. Milichesky. Um, so I guess what I'll do is I'll open it
up for discussion if anybody has a different perspective on how to approach these collaborative boards and and if there's none, I'll I'll take a motion, a couple of motions from Carla. I told Tom I was jokingly going to nominate myself or or Jen St.
see if anybody's your nomination, but you're welcome to try. I have no interest in get them in there. Uh, okay. Um, Carla, is there a motion? Vote to appoint the superintendent to the Seam Collaborative Board. Second. Seconded by Tom. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor?
All opposed? It carries six to zero. Carla, one more motion, please. Vote to appoint the superintendent to the Northshore Educational Education Consortium Board. Second. Any further discussion? All in favor? All opposed? It carries six to zero.
Thank you. Okay. Uh, so review and adjust leaison and subcommittee appointments is our next item. And I need to scroll very far down in the packet once again. 167 167. Thank you. That's helpful. This is one of our longest packets in a while. Probably since the last time we did handbooks.
Do handbooks. It was probably this long last time we did handbooks and not since then. Um okay. So uh you know annually postreorg we you know we take a look at our um liaison and subcommittee assignment. Sometimes we actually do this prior to
reorg but after after elections but we haven't haven't gotten to it yet. Um we will certainly need to do some uh some adjustments or some reappoint some appointments here because we've got a several vacant slots that um are actually critical that we we fill. Um we also have a new member and then this is
obviously an opportunity for us as well to kind of rebalance and think about um you know uh appointments that we'd like to move in or out of. Um so on 167 and 168 in your package is is my best understanding of sort of our current
cohort of assignments. um if there's anything missing, you know, please let me know. Um we currently have three positions by my count that are vacant, so that we'll need to find somebody for and then again any additional shuffling we might do. Um the recreation
committee, which was filled by Chuck. The recreation committee is one of the active I'll say one of the active designations where you're a full committee member and you're a voting member of that committee. It's not a liaison sort of keep up with what's going on type of role. Um the policy subcommittee also has an active an
active seat that meets regularly and and the charter review committee as well as a you know full voting member uh of that committee. Um so maybe what I'll do is open it up if anybody has preferences for anything that they'd like to switch out of if they have an interest in any
of those committees. Laura, if you have any perspective on your interest in any of those three or anything else that you see on the menu here. Uh I'd be happy to step in for the recreation committee. Okay. at least in terms of the vacancies.
Um I forgot to transition to you that there's a request that we refill an open position that we have on the celebration committee. Celebration committee. There's apparently a limited amount of money left and the celebration committee
is looking to see if some grant requests coming out of the schools could be used for some of that. Um so they had hit us right around town meeting or something. I we couldn't fill at that point in time what was going on. Um maybe a little bit
later sometime in May, but we should put the celebration committee back on our list. I think Erin, you were our last design at one point in time, but they didn't have they have meetings like literally once or twice a year. I was going to say I don't even think it's very limit very limited. Um so but
it is generally to approve a grant of some sort. It was originally, I think, formed for the 375 or 350 celebration and it sort of transitioned its uh its use a little bit from there. Um, but we had a request like right before we
transitioned positions. So, I should have notified you of that. I apologize. Okay. So, that's one more one more vacancy to consider. Um, and go ahead. Sorry. Where was the grant coming from? It's leftover money from whatever celebr however the celebration money was given
it and it can be given, you know, as a as a charitable donation. It can the grant fund can grow year-over-year if somebody decides to give to it. Um, but it's it's just a leftover amount of money from the previous thing. I think it's like $8,000 or something like that if I off the top of my head. I could be
wrong, but top of my head. Um, the other thing I was going to say is, uh, while I love being student advisory committee, um, with my travel schedule right now, would be great if somebody else who can actually come and meet with them and meet with Jess is able to take that role. Um, I'm just not around enough.
How often is it? So, when we were, and it's unfortunate that Jess dropped off, but when we first kicked it off, um, we were trying to meet with them once a month during flex block here in school.
the last year or two it's you know just meets with them but my involvement has waned for the reasons I just mentioned they then whoever the liaison is for that role will work with them to understand the role of the student advisory committee and what the role of the student advisory committee is in bringing things
to us and fitting the three criteria of policy budget goals um and then helping Jess and them to tailor what should be four times a year visits to us with us um to talk through issues of importance for the students.
I'd be happy to do that. So, yeah. And it's important that when you do it, it's like, let's make sure we talk about things that we can control, not something that the administration should do for you, but it's what's in the realm of of policy or budget goals.
Sometimes that takes massaging. Sorry, go ahead. Um, I I would also be happy you do that only because I'm struggling with all the evening commitments um and how much it's crossing with my particular job. Um, so
if there are things that are perhaps during the day that might actually be better suited for me to be able to attend. So I don't um I don't I have I was gonna say I didn't you might be interested in like pair or CPAD.
I mean there's a lot of things that I feel comfortable stepping into. So if that scheduling wise if that's a big bonus for you then absolutely. It's not that there's something I don't want to do to be clear to any of these groups. It's just that I'm I'm definitely struggling with attendance more in the evening things. So like I'm
happy to stay on policy subcommittee because you know we've always been like adaptive to to when we meet but um so any anything that's more during the day is probably better suited. I cannot do rec committee. That's the only cannot do recommend. When does recommend
meet offic but I can't. I don't think so. So we already we already got Laura on reccomy so we're good there. Laura, do you um so CPAC and pair are probably the two that you probably want to swap out of one of those? Yeah. I mean, yeah. Wouldn't want to, but need for
scheduling conflict reasons. Yeah. Do you have a of the two I would probably lean toward pair just because I have no very limited to no experience with CPAC on a personal level and so I'm just not as familiar with the that sphere.
I' I'd be willing to try and figure out how to pick up CPAC. Um it's been a while that I wanted to try and work with them on policy stuff for CPAC as well. So it could be a good overlap between policy and CPAC. How do you feel about that? That's fine with Yeah, I I
carry guilt for what I miss. So um Okay. So what I have here is uh Laura stepping into rec committee and pair Tom stepping into CPAC, Aaron to student advisory committee. Um, that leaves us
with what is what is when does charter review meet or what? Charter review has got to be approaching it should be approaching sunset. Yeah, I I I mean I was going to just because it's approaching sunset. I was going to volunteer for that one unless anybody feels strongly about it. Who was on that?
Uh Chuck was Chuck was on it. Chuck was on it for us. Yeah, Chris is the is the chair of it. Yeah. Um I that one's got to be approaching the finish line. Okay. Two years in at this point and it's supposed to be kind of a one-off. Most of the most if you most of what
they they've already voted on most of it they said at town meeting. So yeah. Um so most of feel strongly I'll I'll throw my name on for charter review committee. Um so that leaves uh if we need a third
member on the policy subcommittee which I don't think we technically we don't have to have a third. So that's an option unless the other other thing is by definition of of subcommittees the chair of the committee the super committee us is could be de facto a
third member if we needed a third member if we come to a point and Aaron and I are like you know what yes no and it doesn't move we can say Sean we need to come to a meeting and discuss the pros and cons to vote a third member you and me going back and forth on policy all day long it for me
Yeah. Um, okay. Anybody anybody dying to get on to policy subcommittee otherwise? All right. Why don't we plan to progress with two? I'll I'll be happy to, you know, get involved if we need to, uh, at any point. Um, or proactively if there's something that we think would benefit
from, you know, more, you know, more folks getting involved, whatever. Um, we'll stick with two there. Recreation committees addressed. Uh, charter review committee is addressed. Um I think we've got so celebration
you can if you want me to throw my name if it's really limited you can throw my name on it. I mean the permanent building committee anything school related has all been kilum so I don't really it's I go to the permanent building committee meetings anyways right we don't need two you can just
we put originally we had the two on there because was coming out stuff and so previously had been one okay um my take would be let's make sure we're committed to student advisory committee so maybe we'll maybe we'll throw Sarah
on celebration committee if that's Okay. All right. I think All right. Let me just recap that one more time. Um Laura will step in for indirect committee and pair. Tom will take over Aaron's seat on CPAC. Sarah on celebration committee. Aaron moves to the student advisory
committee. I will take charter review and be an as needed member on uh policy. Good. Everybody else good sort of good where they are. And Carla will meet on Kllum 17 times a week for the rest of her life. Uh okay.
All right. Good. Thanks everyone. That's a little We figured out the foyer today. Hey, there you go. Right, Tom? We did. Took a little while, but we got there. Here we go. All right. Best as it were. The vest. The vest of you. All right. Thank you everyone. That that has the potential to be a little bit
messy, but that was relatively painless. Uh All right. All right. So, the next item is um the letter to the select board regarding PEG services. A little bit of context for how this came about. I won't give the big context because I think you all know the big context. Context for how we decided to put this on the agenda was um Carla and I felt it was important or agreed that it was
important to articulate to the school or to the select board um the importance of the of the E in PEG and the educational services that RCTV has provided. We did want to acknowledge that RCTV has been a great partner, but it's also very much about the importance of the e services
sort of at large um and ensuring that the select board knows that um you know whatever path they sort of choose to go down, you know, and we respect that it's in their purview, but whatever path they choose to go down um sort of pulling the plug on the services that we're currently getting from RCTV would be
very very disruptive um at this at this at any point in time for us, but certainly at this point in time. And so, um, we crafted a letter, uh, that we both, you know, contributed to and reviewed and and iterated on, um, that I think we both feel good about and we're hoping the committee, um, will endorse
it and we can ship it off to the select board. Carla, anything, Carla or Dr. Milowki, anything you'd add from our discussion? No, we just we wanted to stay out of the fray. We wanted to um you know just be very appreciative of what uh we have
gotten right now from um RCTV and from um the PEG services and from Anaquavas and all that and um and just show the importance of of how it's impacted students and how it's impacted job opportunities and how it fits right in
with our um with our our educational tracks and Um, and next year we're going to be at Ul. Yes, 10 classes, dual enrollment class, UMass LOL. Yeah. So, um, it it's just it's we've
seen it, right? We've all seen it and and and students moving into these fields and, you know, living in LA and and doing stuff like that. So, it's been um really impactful. So, we just wanted to continue. So, uh, maybe we can start with a motion
and then we'll see if there's any discussion. Um, vote to send the proposed letter regarding PEG services to RPS to the select board. And is there a second? Second. Okay. Any discussion?
Some minor minor stuff. Um, if you have it there to edit, Sean, I do. Let me um see if I can share. Really really minor. You don't even have to edit it, right? Just there's an that extra space that leads Thank you for consideration in the last paragraph. And then I think we should specifically and
we have done in the past list all of our names, not just writing school committee and and signing even though they're at the top. Yes. We So you you list them and then under Sean's name it'll chair and under Carla vice chair, the rest of us will say member, but we should all have a a
signature spot there and then work with Olivia to get a signature wet or otherwise. I'll consult the style guide on the extra space because that was intentional, the salutation. um blocked off from the paragraphs, but I'll double check I'll check an MLA or something for that. Um but yeah, that's a that's we
could take that sort of as a friendly amendment. We'll um we'll have Olivia print a version that has each of our names on it and we can all get to the office to sign it. That'd be great. I appreciate you guys doing this. You know, something that's um everything
that's reflected there directly impacted my RMHS graduate. So I, you know, I really I really appreciate you that you guys work together to do that. Sarah, um I wonder if we can amend the sentence and I'm toggling between two tabs here,
but um around to put be a little more data driven in the impact every year. So for examp I know Tom, you had we had pulled together some stats previously around kind of annually what happens. So you know that there's 10 courses that are taught every year at by the RCTV
staff. um at the high school um engaging 200 students every year which is about 20% of the total RMHS student population that's 10 it's like 10 sections it's not 10 to three semester classes okay
um so something to add some more data behind that I think there's a sentence that says let me go back to that hundreds over the years when it's actually every hundreds of students annually
and so like 10 course sections or something. Yeah. Let me see if I can uh I don't know. Tom may have to give me permission to share here. But are you on it yourself? Yeah, you are. Hold on a second. I'll send a request. It should It's going to ask for one of us if I can give You got it. I gave it to you already.
Where is it allowing me to share? I said yes. Yeah, I don't know what's happening. Let me see if I can make you uh No, I got booted out of the meeting. Oh, no. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. No, I'm still there.
Machines are uprising. You two need to stop fighting right now. Jeez Louise. I'm also doing this on a brand new computer. So, my security settings my own security settings are currently blocking me from sharing sharing my
screen over Zoom. Um, let let me let me read what I'm let me read what I'm proposing here. So, um, that that sentence that previously said that have engaged hundreds of students over the years, I think we can revise that to say hundreds of students annually. Yep.
Is that does that fit the bill? Sure. Okay. All right. Any further um discussion on this one? Okay. So, we will um we will have it printed with those edits. Um and uh
Olivia can give everybody a heads up when it's available to come to the office and sign. Did we vote? We do not vote yet. No. Okay. Um so, we'll move to the vote. Uh all in favor of the motion which was about sending this to the flood board and all opposed. It carries six to zero.
Awesome. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Okay. And then um our final uh open session here was um discussing continued MASC membership. Um I realize, you know, sort of with uh relatively vague
description that it may have, you know, implied something that I didn't intend to imply. Um we we chose to put this on the on the agenda u just because at least since I've been on the school committee I don't know that it's ever come up that we have optionality about whether or not to be MASC members. It's
uh you know you see the the the cost for FY26 there is $7,71 and it's been you know less than that in prior years. Um so it's not been something that we've had an active conversation about. I didn't put this on here because I I have any frankly any expectation that we're going to choose not to continue with the
MSC. We just sort of thought it was appropriate that we before we commit to spending 7,000, you know, spending this money, we, you know, kind of take a pulse to the committee. Doesn't require a formal vote. Um, but we'll just kind of take a pulse to the committee. Um, as you see in the memo, I outlined some of the services that they provide to us.
Um, many of which we take advantage of, some of which we probably haven't taken advantage of as much as we we could or should. Um, but field services being a big one. Um, where we have a field director who's assigned to us that can be available to help us, you know, with anything we might be struggling with or or or trying to work through as a
committee. Um, maybe it's a reflection of the fact that we've been very functional, that we're not terribly familiar with our field director. Um, which is if you're retired, this is a good we have a new we have a new one. Yeah. Um, and then uh and then the other, you know, big bucket is policy services where we do leverage the
policy manual and the model policies that MASC provides. they are respons not responsible for but they provide the service of keeping policies up to date with changes in MGL and so forth um which is a really valuable uh a valuable service that we certainly take advantage of. Um Laura's probably somewhere in the
midst of charting the course um which is you know one of the many trainings and workshops they they have available to us as well. Um by virtue of being members we can participate in the annual conferences and things. So lots of opportunities there. Um as I said we're probably not
taking advantage of all of them. Um but uh you know certainly lots of opportunity for value out of that $7,000. So again, no um formal vote, but I'll just open it up if anybody has any thoughts or perspectives one way or the other.
Somebody else Go ahead. You want to say something? I mean, I would vote that we Yeah, the absence of commentary I'll take as a scent and we'll we'll move forward. Yeah, I mean I was going to say I mean I didn't want to just dominate necessarily, but I think um well first
of all the policy stuff is free. We we can anybody can download it. There's no log in the website so there's nothing we really get from them in that regard just to full disclosure. We have used them in the past. Um I think I might have been the only member of the board at that point in time when I was causing some
dysfunction in the board and other members of the board decided that we wanted like how to execute as a board which was interesting at the time. So, we have used them for that. We used them when we searched for Tom as a superintendent uh as well. And that was, you know, however, our fee did not cover
those things. Yeah. I didn't include that because that's a buyup and that's something we could choose to do even if we weren't members of the MASC. Yeah. Um I think the charting the course one is the one that is uh important. Um did we ever find out if it's a different fee for members versus non-members? It's uh only open to members.
It's only open to members. So So that's a that's a de facto given. we have no choice um type thing whenever we have a new member uh of the body. Theoretically, if we don't have a new member next year, which may or may not be the case, we wouldn't need it. Um but every time we have a new member, we do
need to pay this essentially fee assortion because there's no other way to comply with the MGL law that requires this this sort of course. Interesting. So, they have a monopoly. My my initial reaction was, you know,
do we why do we have to pay it? That's why there's no other option. We could technically pay for the charting the course class. They don't offer it to be paid for by anybody be a member. So it's a $7,000 course for one member
for us this year essentially if you want to look at it that way. So expensive. I have pricey tastes. Sorry. But but it's 7,000 plus whatever fee we have to pay for Laura because it's not free either for an even member. So, um,
yeah. Okay. I'm hearing we're moving forward with some some reluctance and some irritation maybe, but we're moving forward. Irritation. That's a good word. Okay. All right. That's all we needed on that
one. So, thank you everyone. Um, and that brings us to, I believe, our adjournment from open session. Unless I missed something. Jeffrey. Yep. Dr. Cororm, please. Sorry, I'm out of I'm out of I'm out of practice. Jeffrey Cororm, Ridge Road. I apologize. Um, I didn't get far enough through the
packet to get to the school comm the RPS handbook. And I had one comment that I wanted to bring up now or if you've moved on, I can send it in by email. Uh, why don't you do that? That would be helpful. Okay. Yep. Thank you.
Um, okay. Do we have a motion? um move to enter into executive session in preparation for negotiations with non-UN personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-UN
personnel the superintendent and will not be returning to open sessions. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Sarah and we Tom, you're contemplating I don't have to declare it for non-UN personnel. I only have to declare it for CVA if that's what you
were thinking about. I was wondering about returning. Are we assuming we're not going to finish the negotiations tonight? We're not We're definitely not going to finish. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. We're not intending to attempt to finish tonight. That's what I just want to make sure of. Yeah. No. Good. Good call out. Um Okay,
good. Uh we need a roll call on this one. Did we get a second? We got a second from Sarah. Okay. And we need a roll call on this one. Laura, yes. Sarah, yes. Tom, yes. Carla, yes. Aaron, yes. And Sean, yes. We are adjourned to executive session. Night.