call the uh February 12th meeting of the school committee to order. Uh let me take a run through the agenda and then we will jump in. Uh we'll start with public comment for anything that's not on the agenda tonight. We'll move through our consent agenda. We'll have uh liaison and subcommittee reports. And
then new business, we've got our annual SRO update and we have uh a whole crew from from the RPD here tonight for that. Um we'll take the Q2 financial report. Um our update on FY27 kindergarten enrollment and then um we're going to have a quick discussion on the the
composition of the Kllum School building committee and in particular our design for that for that uh committee. And then in all business, um I've got a couple of updates and you know, one sort of discussion topic, no votes, but one discussion topic for the superintendent search process. And that will wrap our business for tonight. Um so it should be
relatively short and sweet here. Um so let us start with public comment for anybody who wants >> to do a roll call for the >> Oh, I'm sorry. Great catch. I do need to do a roll call to order. Thank you. Uh let's start with uh Sarah.
Sarah, we're just doing a roll call to order. Are >> you guys here? Right. Yes. >> Again. Y >> Yeah, I'm here. >> Sarah's here. Laura >> here. >> Tom >> here. >> Aaron >> here. >> And Sean is here. And I'll announce for Olivia's purposes when others join. Um Okay. So, let's go to public comment. Thank you, Phil. For anything that is uh
not on the agenda this evening, anybody from the public would like to speak? Looking at you. All right. All right. Uh let's move to the consent agenda. And um anybody want to make a motion? >> Move to approve the consent agenda. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Aaron. Any discussion on the
consent agenda? >> Okay. Sarah, >> yes. >> Laura, >> yes. >> Tom, >> yes. >> Aaron, >> yes. >> And Sean, yes. Um, okay. Let's move then to liaison and subcommittee reports. And uh I may come back to this for Carla because I suspect she'll have things to
share around killum, but we'll start with this group. Uh Laura, anything on your end? >> No report. >> Tom, >> no report. Aaron, >> no report. >> Okay. Um I have maybe not a report so much as a plug. Um there's a uh substitute open house. So Debbie
Hatterie is is in this role of of um substitute uh coordinator I think is the title. Um she's hosting an open house on February 26th. So it's two weeks um I guess two weeks from tonight from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the RPL. They'll have experienced subs on hand to answer questions. This is really intended for
people who are considering serving as a substitute in the schools, which is always always a need that we have um to find qualified subs. So, folks there to help answer questions about what life is like as a substitute. Um they've got a variety of resources and handouts and whatnot to help candidates better understand what the day in a life looks
like. Um and uh even uh Andrew from the HR team will be there to help anybody who wants to initiate the hiring process. So really, um great opportunity for anybody who's been thinking about being being a sub in the uh Reading Public Schools. So that is my plug. Um Carla, we were just doing liaison reports. Do you want
a minute to gather yourself and we'll come back to you or >> do you want you ready for me? >> I'm ready for you. Yeah. >> Carla's like I can rattle this off this week. >> Exactly. Um we for Kllum we had our 90% um design
was submitted to the MSBA on Tuesday. Um we are tracking at $10 million under budget. Um we had a sit a furniture sit test where we went in and um tried out all the
furniture options today all day. That was exciting. Um >> did you have kids testing too or was it adults sitting >> sitting in the tiny chairs? We had adults sitting in tiny chairs, but we brought in a kid
>> and then decided, "Hey, we need different levels of chairs, more than just two levels of chairs." >> Right. Right. Cuz we got like >> pre >> because when his feet hit the floor properly, he's like, I like this chair. I'm like, so um so and we had a meeting
on Monday night. >> Thank you. >> Perfect. Um any reports on your end, Dr. Jesi before we uh >> someone just mentioned the fitness center. How incredible it was. >> Oh uh no that's a great report. Go for it. Yeah. >> Great. So a few of us probably came in
late like myself. We were down at the uh kind of the grand reveal of the brand new fitness center and athletic training room as we've shared. Claudia Mixon uh LM and community member made an incredibly generous donation and gift that uh totally transformed the space.
So we probably had what 50 maybe 75 plus the football team >> plus or minus with students, former Hall of Famers, community members to thank Claudia for her incredible generosity. Then also two to see the brand new spaces. So people are still down there celebrating if anyone's here and wants to come say thank you to Claudia. Uh but
again super excited what this means for our student athletes now and for decades to come. >> Perfect. Uh all right. So I think that takes us through updates or uh through leazison reports. So, we will move to new business in our annual SRO update. Um, chief, deputy chief, I don't know
where we're going here. So, um, you can come join us here at the table. We can spread out some extra microphones and you can take it away. >> Carlos, you can slide yours in the middle. >> Yeah. Am
I talking into both or is it one or the other or it doesn't matter? >> Doesn't matter. Okay. Talk normal. They'll take care. >> They serve different purposes. Both. >> He doesn't need any microphone. >> I really want to hear you. Trying to have I'm trying to work on talking like I'm not yelling. So I talk too soft. Please let me know. >> My voice. Is that what you're saying?
>> Yep. indoor voice uh which I I never had before. Um first of all, thank you for having us. Um any chance we get to get in front of the school committee uh we're more than welcome to take it. Um Reading has been very fortunate to have such a great relationship between the Reading Public
Schools and the police department and I'm glad this continued. Um I'm still going to put you your last name, Tom, even though you have to go on. I'm just going to continue to call you Dr. Tom. Um we're very sorry to see you leave. um you've been a tremendous asset working with us the police department and just to continue that relationship and
wherever the new superintendent is, we hope that the exact same relationship continues with us and that's what we're looking forward to. Um I unfortunately cannot participate in the process. Neither can deputy chief Aandola. So Lieutenant Detective Abat who's sitting way in the back um is going to be participating. For those in the public
that don't know, uh, Lieutenant Detective Abadi was the town of Reading's very first school resource officer and now was in charge of the school resource officers. So, he's still very active in it, very continued, and uh, we're very lucky to have him and he was more than willing to participate. Uh, but the deputy chief and I had too
many conflicts to kind of make it worth um, going and we don't want the inconsistency. Uh, but I just wanted to um, thank everybody for their time and as you know, we've had some changes um, as people move up in the police department. Uh the school resource officer is a great place to start out, but sometimes people want to move up on
the department. Uh lieutenant detective body is now in charge of the detectives division, started as our first SRO. Cory Santaskki is our administrative sergeant was another one. Uh Mike Mulo was an SRO, he's now a detective with us. Brian Lewis got promoted to detectives and now
we have Mike Davis with us now. And uh Batch has always been the solid rock for us with Rusty. And u just again, thank you for any chance to get in front of you. and we're very happy to continue the collaboration with you. >> Um just to echo the same words the chief has everything um between police and
school is always a two-way conversation and that's what's so amazing because of the school committee and all the staff at the school especially Dr. Tom. Um, we really pride oursel in having such amazing SRO's, which you're all involved in, and just always doing what the least coercive thing for our juveniles can be
and try to keep everything settled inhouse in the school and uh, conflict resolution that way. So, I just want to say thank you for always making it a two-way street for us. Um, and always looking for our advice and input at the end of the day. So, um, I'm sure these guys are doing nothing but making us
proud every day. And so they represent us very well and they've brought some um information on what they've done in the past year for >> Thank you, Deputy. Appreciate it. Uh welcome. Thanks for having us. Uh Dr. Milichesky, just want to say thank you
for, you know, your time here and all your support and collaboration with us. You've been a uh a very big supporter of us and advocate for us in the schools and uh we appreciate that very much. Uh these are just some updates from last
year, some achievements to date this year, and some priorities that we have upcoming in the school year. Uh so uh we myself and officer Davis have received our state reertification as SRO's and as soon as they roll out the
new format for the uh school resource officer inservice training which I believe is going to be online instead of in person this year. Uh we'll get that done at the end of the year. Uh as the chief mentioned SRO Lewis has left us and is now working as detective.
Uh, Officer Davis is now fully trained and working in the role of SRO at the high school. Uh, he finished his Sea Stag certifications and he has joined uh alongside me uh on the NEML STARS team. Uh, if you're not familiar with the Neml Stars team, it is a team of uh police,
firefighters, school administrators, counselors, licensed clinicians, uh, all come together to respond to school threats if necessary or school crisis. uh usually uh death of a staff member or a student. Uh there's also probably a
dozen comfort dogs on that team as well. >> Awesome. Uh good evening everyone. Uh just to echo the chief deputy and uh officer Vatcher, thank you guys for having us and continuing the collaboration that we have and the relationship that we have um with the Reading School uh system. Dr. Tom, I'm a little upset that you're leaving. I
thought we were going to uh commute from Beverly uh in the near future, but it's okay. I'll forgive you for that. Um just to touch on uh school safety and crisis response. Um Matt and I have assisted with Alice drills at both the high school and the middle schools. Um we've led pro professional development classes
for Alice for the elementary school staff. Uh worked with schools to assess the threatening behavior using the comprehensive school threat assessment guidelines other known as sestag um on an as needed basis. Um, we've continued to work closely with the reading
coalition for prevention and support to provide resources for students and families that are in need. Uh, we continue to be a part of the district crisis team along with Dr. Sty and the Reading uh, RMHS core crisis team addressing safety issues and concerns as they arise. Um, and we will
continue to work with Reading Police Civil Service rights officer and the director of the Office of Equity and Social Justice to address uh any hate-based incidents uh as they show come up. >> Just to add on to the school safety portion, um we did uh I still have a few
elementary schools to touch on uh for the Alice uh PD, but I've also had some interest in the middle school level since they just have the drills. I've had some teachers say it would be nice to have some like a professional development refresh just like the elementary schools do. Uh so I'm going
to be trying to set that up for both middle schools too. Uh as far as school and community engagement, uh as you all saw, Rusty is still working alongside me uh happily and hungrily. Cooper has retired and he is now working
with Detective Lewis at the police station in an environment more his speed. Uh the SRO's alongside with the Reading Coalition and the Rockets leaders in action at the high school collaborated on a food drive over the holidays
supporting the Reading Food Pantry. Uh we're actually told the Reading Food Pantry was too full at some point uh at one point of our food drive. Uh hopefully they took the rest of the food. Uh, I'm going to be scheduling the internet and social media safety for
fifth grade students districtwide as I usually done the past couple years. And, uh, SRO Davis has worked with the Reading Coalition and Prevention of Support to assist youth mental health first aid training for the junior uh, juniors at the high school during health
class. And we will be working with the coalition again to teach choose to refuse uh, to the health classes in the spring. And then just to continue uh on the school and community engagement, Esro Vatcher presented two coolage seventh grade health classes uh last semester
and will present to Parker uh this coming semester. Uh we joined other members of the Reading Police to serve elementary school lunches at uh two elementary schools and three more to come. Uh Reading Police, we provided uh two cruiser ride to schools uh for students and anticipate many more um
before the school ends. Uh SRO Vatcher will participate in evening reading events with both Barrows and Birch Meadow Elementary Schools. SRO Vatcher continued uh his work as a member of the Reading Children's Chen's cabinet. Excuse me.
>> Oh, sorry. Put children's children >> along with along uh with Dr. Sty. Uh and we uh are helping to organize the second reading youth police academy uh this summer for middle school age students. Uh, youth academy will probably run between August 2nd through the 7th.
>> Rich, you got anything to add? Are you good, Lieutenant? >> That's our annual update. >> Can I ask a question? >> Yeah, please. >> C, can you um explain what your like online training or whatever it is, what you offer the students like? What does
it look like >> because >> for the fifth for the fifth grade students? >> Sure. Uh let's see there I touch on uh let's see the princ I work with the principles so whatever they see as a problem in the school uh a lot of it is uh like
device related group chats uh a lot of younger kids on social media uh we touch on bullying uh just ways to keep safe and what not what to do and what not to do when you're online. That's pretty much it. It's pretty kind of basic for the younger kids. And then when they get to
middle school, sometimes we reach out to uh Department of Homeland Security and the Attorney General and they come and do a uh no, sorry, the US attorney and they come to do a presentation that's more like middle school appropriate.
>> Do do we do any more like do we do that in health? And >> yes. >> Yeah. I I did some uh some bullying stuff in the seventh grade health classes this year at Coolage and I'm going to do it at Parker and >> because with all this Epstein files
coming out and all this online like online stuff like we got to we got to write kick this up. I feel like, you know, it's just it's they're just they're I've been watching
too many things and it's just it we need to kick it up. It seems like >> in addition to sort of the work that you heard about with our SRO, I'd say the two other spaces where you hear about this uh sort of most frequently be one in P health and wellness classes sort of all the way from kindergarten through grade 12 which is in our you know
Massachusetts st you know standards as well but also I'd say now with our guidance counselors as well and school counselors there's a lot more tier one instruction meaning it's like for all students around health safety uh both on the mental health side and the physical safety side and we totally
agree with you increasingly important that we do this with what we just see in the world out there. So, appreciate you raising that and we are doing a lot and we think we also need to continue to do more >> because we used to have decisions, you know, years back we used to have decisions classes at the high school. I don't know if it touched on it as much
but it just it just >> I think people have been thinking about it a lot and I think parents are talking about it a lot >> at least in the middle schools. They also have um the digital ethics >> class and the information literacy class. And so I know my daughter at least had told me that they touched on some of those topics in those classes as
well. >> But in eighth grade they do. >> So can I >> Yeah. >> So I guess >> may have I ever said no to >> um I agree with you, but I I think it's
sort of twofold. Like I I wonder if I know there's a fine line between telling parents what to do and not telling parents how to raise their kids, but I wonder if there there shouldn't be more education for parents on the
dangers of social media and, you know, if if you're giving a kid a cell phone, what are you loading on that phone and what are you monitoring? Um, but then on top of that, it's like knowing that most teens have one, they have access to just
a wealth of information and and so that whole idea of digital literacy and media literacy and knowing how to tell like fact from fiction and and you know where you're getting your information. I mean, it's it's insane what they are like is
thrown at them and what they're absorbing at such a young age. But thank you. We appreciate you guys and being in the school and um the the collaboration and the appreciation just from I mean my kids just with the you
know having the dogs in the school is it's hu it's huge, you know. So >> if there is something you're looking for I know our DA's office does have more of a par parental class and I believe Erica has even had a couple of them. We don't always get a ton of participants but we can always try again. So, if there's any
classes you're looking for, either geared more towards parents or students, we can definitely put it together and see where we get it. You know, >> I think I've seen stuff at the library as well. >> Yeah, I think that's was hosted. The last one I'm thinking of was hosted at the library. >> Was there we had one at >> Koolage,
but the US attorney's office does uh uh Zooms. I just uh forwarded one to the middle school principles probably within the last month and had them put it out there to their communities uh just to it's it basically it's a class for parents. >> Yeah.
>> So I think there'll be another one too in the spring. So when I get that I'll I'll forward it to everybody. >> I do agree though. Getting getting parents to actually show up to it is a whole other conversation. >> Everybody in so many directions >> until it happens to them and then they want to know how to handle it or what
the laws are. But I know I believe and we can look into this and we can pass the information on that our district attorney's office in Middle Sex has some information on that for parents. >> Yeah, thank you. >> So I'll just uh echo all the thanks for the collaboration and the the transition to Officer Davis has been seamless, you
know, as far as I can tell. So u so thank you for that. Um I did have one question. Um it's been maybe five years now since we got rid of the Alice drills at the elementary school level and went to this PD model. Um, nobody's certainly asking for it to come back as far as I can tell. But are you all comfortable
that this is the right model and you know we're getting what we need um at the elementary level from a safety perspective? >> I think it is. Okay. Uh because at that level the kids are listening to the uh to the teacher anyway, right? They everything they when you get older they
tend to venture off on their own path. Uh, but when they're all same room and especially if they have doors to the outside, they all listen to the teacher and whatever teacher says goes and >> I think it's good. >> Great. >> I have one more question. >> Go ahead. >> Do you want me to surprise nobody else
asked this question? >> I know you're ask. >> We're waiting for the second. >> I was going to ask, >> right? Have we had any updates on on our other comfort dog coming in, >> Chief? Um, so I >> And is it going to be the right color?
Like, is it going to be redhaired as well? >> I I am trying to take over the department with red heads. Um, uh, no. We, um, I know that Cooper is a multiple time daddy. Does a plan that they work with the breeders that they
have out for this? I know we're on the list um, that it's become so successful. We were by no means the first department, but we were well ahead of the curve for the departments getting comfort dogs. Um, again, thanks for the support of the school committee. Um, but
it's um I know we're on the I believe we're on the list um for one of the letters coming through that we'll have a pick. Uh but knowing Cooper's family genetic line, uh they all seem to be very darkhaired. We're trying to have it match. Um but we can but maybe I don't know down the road
if there's plans for Rusty to um become a dad. So if that's the case we >> can always diet >> he's still a baby. He can't do that. >> Cooper Cooper is just I know I don't know. >> But yeah it's it's it's definitely the
work. It's definitely something we want to do. Um we've known how successful it is to the fact that we even like um we joke that Cooper's retired because he he's a teenager. He's lazy. Um but he his role now has been really great with like um if an elderly person gets
scammed um if the domestic abuse relationships, anything like that, he's been we've been able to transition him toward an important role with the detectives. So that's great for us to kind of keep going with that, but the goal has been to get another dog in. I know he and his family are excited to have it. So I think it's it's more of a question of
>> when, right? It's not if, it's just when. >> Yeah. And I think the timing last time was perfect because we got to bring the dogs in, get everybody used to them and then give the dogs a summer to go to like um dis uh obedience training um and get kind of familiar and grow up and mature a little bit and that when they came back in the fall they're a little bit better. So I think ideally hopefully
springtime, but if they call us and say they have a litter, I think we're we're going to jump on it. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. >> You guys are awesome. We appreciate you so much. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Just like to echo a couple of the pieces here, too. A few people have mentioned collaboration. that doesn't happen by accident and that's certainly
not the norm in many communities. So I think just like to start the leadership of the department too, Chief Clark, Deputy Chief Amadola, Lieutenant Abati, just all of you have been instrumental in maintaining that partnership. Uh I think the community needs to know that those are leaders who deeply care about our schools. When we're usually
collaborating, it doesn't always mean that those are easy issues to work through, but we trust their competence. We trust their level of collaboration. We trust that they're all in for our students. So with anytime we call and need to work through something, it's, you know, a ton of trust on both ends and we, you know, that means a ton to our students, our staff and our
families. So just thank you for your work in maintaining the partnership and obviously, you know, to Mike and Matt do an incredible job every day. I think two things stick out when you talk to students about your work. Uh, one being that you are everywhere. I think that on
when I go to schools as K through eight schools, it's more likely I see Officer Vatcher than I don't. It feels like there's clones of Officer Vasher around uh multiple times. I've gone to multiple schools in a row and he's been at those schools. I just think that's a testament to sort of how he sees his work as being present in school, building positive
relationships with students and staff and being everywhere. And Mike, I think, has stepped in uh seamlessly for uh for Brian Lewis. Brian, right? Was teasing. I'm teasing Brian. We we moved on to Mike. I'm just kidding. Teasing Brian. Mike's done an incredible job where you find Mike every day, every morning and
afternoons in front of the the main entrance greeting students every single day, right? I think that just means so much to students. Having your face greeting them uh and communicating with them, I think it just sets the tone for sort of how you want the relationships to go with the school. Uh second thing as you uh Matt mentioned like talking to
principles to build you know programming they both work really well with the leadership teams and with the staff and I think they're part of the leadership teams in our school communities which is so important. So uh I think that makes programming seamless. I think that helps them resolve issues effectively and I think that just makes us stronger
community. So thank you for your presence and thank you for being true members of our leadership teams. You're integral to the success of our students, our staff and our families. So, uh, huge thanks to the RPD and I hope the community realizes that what you do each day for our schools. >> Thank you very much. >> May just again the collaboration when we
met to discuss that we were going to be promoting Brian uh we worked out a transition plan together >> and kind of laid out what was best for the department, what was best for the schools and worked out and again with us you don't see this in every town and um well obviously we're vested. We have
kids. We have I my kids went through the public school system. Lieutenant Technob's kids went through public school. Most of my offices have live in Reading and have kids in the school system. So, the collaboration has been great and it's working together. But even just working out the transition plan together and we came up with a mutual plan for everybody made it work
and then be able to present that to you and you signing off on has made it really just it's it's it's great to have. We still see it. >> Absolutely. Awesome. Well, thank you all for being here. >> Appreciate you very much. Thank you. >> All right, let's move to the uh Q2
financial report. I can share here. >> Oh, good. Thank you. >> Um but Phil, feel free to if you want to. >> Well, you know, I I would like to say the officers that during budget season, could you bring one of the dogs around central office? >> All right. As soon as we get it up. Um >> y
>> so my introductory remarks are Q2 is pretty much following along with the theme of the fiscal year 27 budget which is steady as we go. Um there's no surprises. We are financially doing well. Um as I noted in the memo that I sent along with the presentation at this
point we're anticipating having about a million dollars at year end to for prepay of uh special ed tuition as well as um IT refresh. I've been working with Julie and try to identify some other funding sources for the IT refresh. So
maybe we could not have to use quite so much of our year-end funds to do that. Excuse me. Um the I I think the question that some might have is why is that number where it is? Um turnover for this year hasn't been what it was in previous
years in terms of some of the savings. So that's uh part of the drive in terms of what we're going to have left at year end. Um, as we go through the cost centers, um, there's nothing really, um, that stands out. Special ed, you know, the reason why special ed looks out of
line with general ed is because we do a lot of the, um, we've opened up all of the POS for all of the, um, students who are out of district. So, that money's already been encumbered. Excuse me. Um, the other one I point out is athletics looks high at 76%. Well,
that's because we have not started to um charge uh any expenses to the athletic revolving account yet. That's part of our work that we do between now and the end of the year in terms of our true-ups and trying to balance out what we need to take out of the revolving accounts or what we're going to take out of the
general fund. Um other than that, um there's nothing else that I see on the uh the general fund. Any questions on the general fund? Okay. Uh the next one's grants. Um I've highlighted in blue uh additions to the
grant schedule from last time. Um so you can see that we've got a couple of innovation uh pathway grants that we got in Q2, another myap grant, and then our earmarks from the uh fiscal year 26 budget. Um again, I'd like to thank our
legislators for uh doing that for us. Um so the uh airmark for technology equipment uh Julian's got his plans for that. Um the high school is already uh working on using up their equipment earmark in I for left me. Superintendent can't remember what the skills capital
tech was for >> skills capitals for uh for innovation pathways related uh capital infrastructure. >> Thank you. Um, you can also see that in terms of prior year grants, there's no fiscal year 24 funds left to be uh
spent, nor fiscal year 25. So, that's good. That's all been cleaned out. Uh, we do anticipate on some of our entitlement grants to have money left over at the end of the year. And as you all probably know, we have 27 months for to use up the entitlement grants money. So, we always do try, especially in
terms of the idea grant to have money that's left over. You know, title one just keeps shrinking. it's, you know, almost impossible now to carry over any title one money. So, that's where we are with the grants. Any questions on the grants?
Okay. Uh, revolving accounts. Um, the good news is they're all positive, which is where, uh, you know, we want them to be. I just want to point out a couple of them. Uh, one is the extended day program. Unlike last year, the extended day program is doing very well. um it's
u expenses are down and they've changed program up so that um revenue is more than covering the expenses of the program so far a year to date. Um and I'm going to point out the other one before the questions come which is a school lunch program. Um
you know it looks like you know we started at July 1st of 800,000 and then suddenly at the end of Q2 we're down to 280,000. It all has to do with timing. When you look at Q2, what's in munis right now does not include our reimbursements for November or December,
which is close to $400,000. So that's not in there. And so if you look at, you know, that drop off a little over 500,000, that's 400,000 of that. We've also spent about 105,000 in capital expenses in the food service program. We bought new ovens for the um
Parker Middle School. And if you haven't been over to Parker to see them, they are rather uh really cool ovens. I mean, they both cook and wash themselves. >> Oh, wow. >> So, that was something I found out today. I did not realize that. So, uh we've got those ovens in three of the
schools now. And, you know, eventually as you know, as we need to, we'll continue to swap out those capital items. But, I think in terms of capital expenses, you know, right now we got the van though that was a fiscal year uh 25 funded item. We the van finally got
delivered in the fall and we also did the ovens. So um as of right now we don't have any other large capital expenditures on the horizon. So um and go >> Bill real quick. Um I think what you
said about you know pending repayments is critical right it's really important to understand. Is it is it does it impact other accounts besides that one in terms of refunds or is that the only one that we're expecting? >> Food service is the unusual one because it has revenue. >> Yeah.
>> And so one of the things >> Yeah. They all they all some of them have revenue but that it has reimbursement revenue to a degree. >> This is the really big one. >> Yeah. And what I would really would like to do, and I have not had a chance to talk to Sharon about this, is try to get this on a true acral basis so that we have an accounts receivable account so
that we're booking the revenue because we know a week after the end of the month what we're expecting to get back, but it doesn't get booked in munus until the check shows up and you know checks for the state are not exactly always timely. You know, for example, we got
our final reimbured for June in January. And so right now that's sitting in fiscal year 26 U balances. It really belongs to 25. So that's one of the things that I've been doing is going through and manually
making those tweaks so I can get a better sense as to how the operation is looking so that I'm I know looking at the numbers exactly where we are. was earlier in the year I thought we were really off track but then once I went in
and fixed all the timing of the issues you know it it was coming out looking a whole lot better and so >> so all that makes sense to me I think um it's unfortunate the state is so far behind in repayments but is it is it possible I guess where I'm going with this is it possible for us to add a column to this that says pending
reimbursements or something like that so we see a forecasted >> this this is the one that I will for Q3 fix it so that it actually is accurate based on what we know, not what we've actually booked into Munis. >> I think both are probably appropriate. Right.
>> But I I I like that idea because otherwise I'm going to be explaining this every time I'm here about why that number looks so bad. >> Right. Okay. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Um other than that, um school transportation, we brought in 53,000. We've already spent the 53 and I don't
really have any other comments in terms of the revolving accounts. If not, um gift donations. >> I have one more question. >> Oh, sorry. >> Sorry. Use of school property is that is our that is our rental. >> That's your rental account. Yes.
>> Okay. So, so far and that that is actually net profit then. >> Yes. So far >> about 100,000 net profit in this use of school property. Yes. But again, that's another one where as we get into the fourth quarter, as we start doing our true upups, we may take some of our um
salary expense and move it over there. >> Yeah. >> Okay. That's that kind of what like forecasted potential expenses per the budget would also be good to say that haven't been pulled out of this as part of that update. >> That's what you're going to see when we come in for for Q3. >> Okay, perfect. >> I'm just trying to get more comfortable.
I, you know, made a couple mistakes last year. They don't want to repeat this year in terms of trying to, you know, forecast. >> Understood. Appreciate it. >> Okay. Um, gift donations. The only thing I point out here is, uh, we've put on
the, um, donation fund for the fitness and athletic room. And because this is as of the end of December, you'll see it's got a big balance because the, uh, the invoices hadn't been paid yet. At this point, that account's down to right now it's about 50,000 left in it. So, we've pretty much gotten all the
invoices and paid them all. Um, and that's about it on that. Oh, I'm sorry. I need to back up back up to revolving accounts. Um, on the memo that I sent you folks, I put on some language
at the very bottom so that we can close out the Coolage extracurricular revolving account that I went and looked at it. It was opened in 2010 and it had no activity from 2014 to 2023 where they did one expense in 2023. So
nothing since then. So what I um have put into the motion that we'd like to do is close this account and transfer the $2,6986 um over to the coolage uh student activities account. So that's what's on the memo at the end if you
>> So we we didn't notice a vote on this tonight. So, we'll have to include it on our next agenda. Okay. >> Um, but we can Yeah, we can do that. >> All right. Thank you. >> Um, does anybody have any questions about it while we're on the topic before we >> No, it makes logical sense to me. It's
one of those ones is like, what is that for? Why has it been there? And >> nobody knows active for so long. >> Exactly. >> Catch. >> Trying to do a little more cleanup and, you know, eliminate those questions. >> Right. Yeah. We'll put that on the next agenda. >> Okay. um already do the gift donation.
Um student activity accounts again um they're all running fine. You know, the high school, as we said, ended the year with a big balance and they're building up their balances because they're getting all the money in now for all the senior night activities that will be coming in and doing all of that. Um
other than that, there's not much else that I could say that is going on. I mean, they're all positive, which is where we want them to be. Where's the where's the class of 2026 account? Is that inside the high school activities account? >> It's all inside fund 8950.
So 8950 is the one student activity fund and then within that we segregate out by each of the various student activities. Um and then finally we have the scholarships and we just have the uh revenue. I believe Kate told me this is
the interest through November or December at this point in terms of what's been posted for the revenues. So that brings me to the other question I had is why is the Libby scholarship
listed as a donation fund with no revenue versus the scholarships that are in the scholarship set? It's the way it was initially set up and as we had said before because of the way the Libby scholarship
fund is set up we it does not get credit for any interest because those funds are sitting in the general account whereas the other ones are legally segregated out from the money that's in the general
fund. It's the way it got set up. >> Can I build on that too? So I have the email open here. We've been going back and forth on this cuz I've been pushing to figure out how do we get this into an interestbearing account for us. >> It needs to make money. Yes. >> So, here the the the line from the town uh treasurer, our assistant town
treasurer reads, "This gift was from an estate and there were no conditions on the gift which deemed it an unrestricted gift. By statute, all interest on an unrestricted gift reverts to the town/general fund. It's only when the intent of the gift is to be held in perpetuity does the gift earn interest
and remain with the gift." The town was fortunate enough to receive such a generous gift with no restrictions. With this, with that said, if it were a gift from a living donor, you could reach out to them to have a conversation. However, since the donor is deceased, you would have to go through a legal process to change the intent, which is a pretty
complex process. I hope this provides clarification. So, I reached out to Col's office to try to figure out sort of how do we go through this? Unfortunately, she says no one in her office has the expertise around estates. We tried to contact the name of the attorney was on the initial gift and we
can't find them. So now we are it was actually a recommendation of of Kobe to reach out to uh a former committee member Chuck Robinson to see if he had any connections or ideas on someone who may understand uh state law who could help us to try to go through that process. So this is actually this has
been moving over the last couple of weeks because I've been trying to make sure that we can gain some interest on this and keep this gift moving. I might have somebody for you >> if anyone if you have someone or you know if you know someone in the community and they hear the dilemma here uh we would just obviously the challenge
is it was not written in the intent of the gift and since the donor is deceased it's going to be complex to figure that out but if someone knows how to do it we would love that support. >> So so in the absence of that this scholarship has probably 12 years of runway left >> correct >> um >> maybe less because Yeah.
>> Well 88,000 a year it's >> Well we have already done I mean 88,000's already taken I'm including this. Yeah, it was including this year. Yeah. So, so 12. Yeah, exactly. Um, but even if it gets into an interest bearing account, it's not going to generate, you know, 8 and a half% interest it would have to be to be
self-sustaining. So, it probably has a limited lifespan, I think, is the point here. >> Unless we I mean, we've made up the we've arbitrarily assigned the amount taken from the gift each year. So, we could change sort of what we've done the last couple years to make sure it's uh self it's self- sustaining as well. >> Okay.
>> Is it truly arbitrary? I thought thought it was prescribed. >> Uh I believe the language in the scholar I have it here. I believe it is uh to deserving.
Let's see. Let's find it right here. Yeah, it doesn't give an amount. Ready? Do you mind if I go some legal legal boring language? Right. The gift agreement is to confirm the terms and conditions relative to the bequest of David B. Libby. Let me just fast forward.
Um, to be used for deserving underprivileged students residing in Reading, Mass and graduating from Reading Memorial High School, the gift, the terms of the gift are as follows. The school committee shall award the scholarship determining the criteria for eligibility, provided that the funds are used with the criteria I just described.
Two, the town shall manage the funds in accordance uh and it gives sort of the spot where it's in accordance with. And three, the school committee may expend the principal on the fund. That's it. >> So we could extend the life by reducing the award. >> We could.
>> It is probably the single highest scholarship award that's given. >> It is >> at awards night. >> And there's 20 of them. >> 22 of them. >> 22 of them. Yeah. >> And the attorney listed Sheila Riker. We have not been able to contact. >> Okay. >> Riker
>> Ghost. >> We know that name. >> There's a real estate firm called Riker. Is that what you're thinking about? >> No, there is a former Reading resident named Riker. >> No >> that moved relatively recently.
>> So any Yes. So we'd love some thought partnership support on that too. If anyone can help us >> Okay. move this forward in a positive way for our students. That'll be great. >> So, I think we I think first step is to figure out the estate. >> I'm friends with her on Facebook.
>> You may be able to help us. >> I remember when this was rewarded. I was going back and forth there, right? I have to. Yeah. >> All right. So, if we can figure out the estate piece, then there's probably a conversation around what do we want the criteria and the number of awards and the value of the awards to be on a go forward basis. Yeah,
>> you know, is the is the effort perpetual is the intent perpetual sustainability or is it, you know, just slow down the pace at which we expended or what does that look like? So, can come back to that. Um, >> yep. Yep. >> Once you get in touch with your Facebook friend there and the last line says, "Thank you very much for honoring Mr.
Libbyy's wishes." So, obviously just a quick thanks to that. This is an incredibly generous gift to the community too and to our students. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Great. Little did I know that rabbit hole would be what we >> Great though it may be productive. Thanks, Phil.
>> All right, I'm also you're done. Thank you. >> Thank you, Phil. Thank you. >> I'm going to fly the >> C kindergarten update. Is that what's next in the >> Do we have to approve that Q2? >> Yeah. >> I don't think >> we had an A next to it, didn't we? >> Did we? >> Yeah. >> I don't know what the vote is. >> I know. I
>> Oh, it was on Phil. Do we have I thought we had an A for Phil. >> Oh, was it because of the recommendation? >> Correct. >> Yeah, but so we should vote. It's notified. I don't know that I don't know that this is sufficiently informative about what we were going to vote on. Um I'd rather hold it for next time.
>> That's fine. >> That's fine. >> I I didn't I I should have noticed this. That's that's on me. But um we don't typically take a vote on the financial report. We're taking a vote on closing us closing a fund. So I want I just want to be a little bit more >> clear with what we're what we're actioning. >> Sorry about that. Um all right, let's go
to the kindergarten enrollment update. and let me scroll to it. >> Great. While you're pulling it up, I will pull up the headlines, which should be uh pretty brief. Uh one, we um know that we had set a priority deadline of February 4th for families to register
for kindergarten if they wanted to be guaranteed uh placement in their home school. So in the packet you'll see the uh registration information as of February 4th broken down by school was a total of it's like just the bottom of that memo 246 students have registered
and you see it broken down by school. So what does this mean for us? One uh we do not at this point anticipate having to add a kindergarten teacher which is sort of the best case scenario. Uh two, any students who now register, we can sort of work around sort of which school
makes most sense, which school has space. And you can see on here, some schools have more space than others. Three, uh a few committee members have asked, well, how many more students do we anticipate registering? It's tough to look. Historically, last year was the first year that we set the priority
deadline and we noticed that we had uh 20 students who are not school choice or Boston resident students enroll from uh the date of the priority deadline all the way through our October 1st data. So that 20 number we think is probably
about what we will find between now and then uh October 1st. And if we decide to add school choice seats or or uh seats for Boston resident students, those numbers may go up. But I think you could see on here how we could pretty pretty easily absorb 20 students. Again, that's based off of only one year of data, so
tough to know. Um, I think Olivia and the team have done a great job trying to track down families and students who may be out there. So, I think we feel pretty confident we haven't missed families who are sort of included in the census data. Um, so I think we feel pretty confident that given where we are, we'll not need to add another teacher and that we'll
have some wiggle room here with the other students who may be out there. But happy to pause for questions or feedback. Have we um have we looked at the census data in future years? And I don't even know if it tells us this, but um is this a trend at Woodend? You know, it feels
like over the I mean, there I know I mean, I know the class sizes at Wooden pretty well. So, there certainly are some years that are bigger than others, but over time it feels like it's generally trended down. I mean, it wasn't that long ago we had three sections in two grades, I think, at Wood End. So, and now we have two across the board. Um I'm wondering if this is a
trend and You know, I mean, maybe it's attached to the opening of Kllum, but we need to think about, you know, drawing our district lines differently. >> Yeah, I think there's a move potentially between Kum and Wooden that needs to be addressed. Yes. >> And there's no, you know,
>> it's absolutely a trend. >> It's a one pocket of town with no new development going on. It's probably an aging population based on the average age of the homes there, even more so than the rest of town at large. So, um, I suspect it may continue for another, you know, decade or more until you get
some generational turnover. >> Sean, if you look at the McKibben study that was published back in 2022, I can reshare that with the committee. Uh, there there's some interesting trends in there that I think the challenge is those trends are becoming less and less accurate sort of over the years here,
too. But, I will send that to the I'll forward that again to the committee right now. So, if you want to give that a look and see if there's any trends, I'll give that another look, too. Part of those trends were probably based on um typical real estate turnover trends which it's we're not in a typical
real estate turnover time at all. >> Yeah. I I think off the top of my head I think we have one grade at Kilum right or at Wooden right now that's sort of approaching our you know our our classroom size guidance. My neighbors would hate for me to say this, but you
know, we we we we gotta, you know, we probably should find more balance the next time we have an opportunity to think about what that looks like in terms of district maps. >> So, >> yeah, I mean, that's a it's a very different kindergarten experience, right? Having 21 in your class versus having 11 in your class. it'll get
bigger and you know kids will sign up who might be assigned to kill them otherwise but they'll have to you know kill them or birch and they'll end up going to woodend you know so it'll work itself out but um and and I'm sure the class will end up being 15 or 16 in each section but um it's still quite small you know relative to what our average
class sizes typically are >> birch isn't far off either if you look at it right >> very small is very small as well >> yeah but birch may have to flex to absorb from eaten or you know so um >> or also kill them >> yeah So, >> okay,
>> Sean, I'm looking at the It's interesting. I'm looking >> I like you. >> It's not they got the sideways. It's look at the project. It's interesting. The projected enrollment in the McKibben study for 2627 for Wooden was 44 kindergarteners, >> right?
>> Where'd they go? >> And I don't think that's based on anything specific to the Wooden neighborhood. I think that's just based on, you know, the the it was based on it's based on things like the average age of the home and like the last transfer of ownership and things like
that, right? So, >> um, you know, Wood End neighborhood looks different than a lot of other neighborhoods, you know, for a bunch of reasons. And so, >> um, it doesn't surprise me that we see a different pattern in terms of housing turnover and things like that in Wood End. So,
okay. But overall, it seems like we're in good shape to absorb whatever kids may come out of the woodworks over the next few months. So, it's good. >> What did our internal forecasting number sit at before? Was it like 285, 295? >> We're down 40. Yeah, we're off 40. >> Yeah.
>> So, and remember last year we closed that gap a little bit with school choice and with, you know, forecast as well. Pretty significant. >> Yep. Okay.
Anything else on enrollment? >> I guess one other question. Do you get are you getting any feedback from Olivia for the people not responding where they're sending their kids to private private kindergartens? >> Yes. I'd say we've had we've had very few come back confirm private or
Catholic. We had had some come back and say homeschool. So we've had some who we take a note of who say we're going to wait a year to enroll. Um, and then we've had a few who have come back to say this, you know, this address no longer, you know, is this family? Uh,
things like that. Uh, but we, uh, it's been under one hand that we've had under for, uh, parochial or for private at this point. >> Okay. All right. Um, let's move to let me just double check that this is the next thing
in the agenda. >> KSBC, right? >> KSBC. Yeah. Okay. Um, so we uh briefly alluded to this at our last meeting when Carla um announced her intent not to run again. Um, but one of the things, you know, we
just Carla and I have been kind of discussing this and we had some emails back and forth with Mike Carol from um from Collier as well just to kind of get some clarity and some guidance. Um but um wanted to sort of get the committee's take on on the Kllum school building
committee composition going forward. Um as Carla mentioned or maybe as I mentioned and Carla confirmed, you know, she's she's volunteered to continue to serve in a role in the on the Kllum committee. Um I'm personally of the opinion that that continuity would be really valuable to us. Um there's a ton of, you know, institutional knowledge
that comes with uh that comes with Carla at this point um given the the depth of her involvement there. Um there's a couple memos in the packet. You know, we don't have to go through them in detail, but the the long and short of it is that the MSBA requirement is only for there to be one school committee member on the committee. Um and we we made the choice
when we formulated the school building committee to have um two school committee members or to you know to have school committee member school committee designate two members of the committee I should say. Um, and it it it turns out or has been the case since the school building committee was formed that that was to school committee members. Based
on everything that we've been able to turn up based on the guidance that we got from from Mike um my carol at Collier, I you know, I think we're pretty comfortable um you know, we're pretty comfortable that the the all the sort of current language, the MSBA
guidance, etc. um would allow us to move forward with Carla as as a design in that spot without even having to sort of notice that we're making a change to the composition of the committee. Um so, you know, all this is a long way to say I don't think there's anything for us to do, but we wanted to sort of surface it
with the committee to make sure folks are comfortable and don't have any heartburn about that, you know, about that and and don't have a different view of how we should how we should move forward on this. Um otherwise our intent would be to sort of let it ride until we have to make any other adjustments to the committee composition. You know for instance um you know when we have a new
superintendent in place um we'll have to we'll have to appoint that person to the committee. When we do that we'll we'll probably not you know notify the MSBA that there's there's a minor change here to Carla's role as a school committee design versus a school committee member. Um but from the MSBA's perspective we're
already in compliance with their requirements by having me on the committee as well. Um, so let me pause there. That was the the spiel or the intro and just wanted to open the floor for any questions or thoughts folks have about that. >> This is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. No, I mean I'm Carla, you've
done a phenomenal job in your role on the committee. I think um not just because of your dedication. I I I genuinely think this has been a wonderful fit for you um with your background and um
it's so much work. I I just I thank you for all that you've done and for wanting to continue to see the project through and um I I wouldn't even hesitate to endorse this. >> Thank you.
>> I I will I will say that um you know if you go through Tom's like really informative, a lot of work to do this. >> I say that was a great memo. We wrote that memo. >> You'll note I didn't bother to write another one. We
>> um for you know, Mass General law is the um the MSBA actually has a lot of um a lot of leeway with their committee. Um and they kind of give you guidelines and they they you know um >> some minimums you know put a lot of ley
on that >> and and mass general law was the the strictest but it also says um a member of the school committee or designate so it doesn't even actually >> require that. Yeah. Um I mean I I could
be I could technically be put under category but I just think this is a like non-issue as well. So that's it. >> Any thoughts? >> No objection. >> Sarah, any thoughts?
>> No, I just Carla, you've just been so critical to this whole process, your background, your commitment to all it, just being in the weeds, and I'm so grateful that you're willing to continue on and just wholeheartedly support your continued participation. >> Thank you. I just want to echo when like
Sarah says in the weeds. I mean Carla is deeply deeply involved at >> she's sitting on the tiny she's sitting on tiny >> the the the the amount of meetings and the amount of like you know coll the collaboration she's done the amount of time she's put in is is absolutely
incredible. So, I think uh just I'm deeply appreciative of what you know you've done for the project and I just wanted the community to know it's way more than anyone would probably think or see. You are it's it's a huge bur. It's more than a full-time job. So, I just appreciate everything you're doing for
the project. And um if someone wants that seat, I would say there's probably a lot that they're not seeing behind the scenes that you're you're doing. You're at every meeting uh contributing. So, thank you. Huge thank you. >> Welcome. I am not afraid to say no as I
did in a memo today. >> All right. So I think we have a plan to move forward there. Um so with that we'll move to our um old business item which is um superintendent search process updates. Couple things um just you know following up from our
discussion last time we did fill out the screening committee. Dilly Wilson from the CPAC board is able to join. Um and then Lieutenant Abati as you heard from uh from the chief tonight is is joining as well. I know the chief his initial thought was he or the deputy chief but
uh just you know they they had trainings and other things that um were sort of unavoidable conflicts with some of the nights that we have the uh screening interviews. So um you will work with Lieutenant on his availability and and make that work which you know given that he leads the SRO program felt like a good fit as well. So and obviously a
parent in town and all that. So, um, uh, Alicia Malin, our new MASC rep, is is going to facilitate the orientation meeting that we're having on February 24th. So, that's one of the sort of free technical assistance things that they offer. So, um, we are getting some support there. Um, I've had the chance
to talk to a few candidates who, you know, you know, really just wanted to learn more about the district and the position. Um, already pretty excited about some of the folks. So, I'm, you know, uh, optimistic that we're going to have some good candidates and some some good options. you, you know, you only need one. Um, and I'm I I think we're going to certainly have more than one
that we should feel excited about. So, um, you know, starting to feel a little bit more optimistic, uh, about our prospects here. Um, and as I noted last time, we are ahead of the timeline for, um, the other the other search that MASC is supporting. So, that certainly works in our favor.
>> Good job, Sean. >> Yeah. Yeah. There you go. You've been a rockar. >> I'm sure it's I'm sure it's driving her crazy that we managed to circumvent her timeline. Um so uh so the the one thing I did want to discuss this evening and get you know get some feedback from the committee on
um is our plan you know and sort of the level of intensity we want around our site visits to the uh you know to the sending districts if you will and also the finalist visits to our district. Um so you know maybe Laura and Sarah for your benefit you know not having been
through this before after the screening committee comes back with their recommendations for finalists. Oh, that's one other thing I want to discuss. Don't let me lose that. Um, but after the screening committee comes back with their disc their recommendations for finalists, um, we'll have a meeting on March 19th. I think everybody saw that email from Olivia that we're
shuffling our schedule a little bit. We'll have a meeting on March 19th to formally sort of accept those candidates as finalists. And then, you know, from there in the following couple of weeks, we'll go into site visits and finalist uh finalist interviews. Um, there are two versions of site visit. So one is
the candidates come here to reading and they spend an afternoon or maybe you know close to a whole day uh meeting with folks here in reading you know essentially interviewing with various stakeholder groups. Um we would set up kind of a survey monkey to allow those stakeholder groups to weigh in on what do they like not like about certain
candidates and and you know give us some feedback that would then be shared with the school committee as part of our evaluation process. Um the other version of the site visit is you know and historically like in the way back precoid days these would be typically in person. The other version of the site
visit is we would actually you know travel and visit um with principles, community members, staff members, you know that whoever their supervisors might be in their sending district. Um and um for both flavors of those when we
did our search in 2021, when was that? 2021. Yeah. when we did our search in 2021, um we there were seven types of visit for each candidate. Um so in the uh the
um when when we did our site visits, we met with a group of central office members, a group of principles, a group of teachers, a group of their peers in whatever the role they were in, a group of students, the school committee there, and then municipal officials in in that town that they might work with. So we had seven different groups that we met
with. Similarly, when they came to reading, when the candidates came to reading, they met separately with principles, the central office, reps from the RTA, the community at large, teachers who are not reps for the RTA, um a selected group of students, and then the and then uh the town manager as
well. Um you know, I I do think that those sessions were really valuable for everyone. Um, but I also think seven might be able to be something we can consolidate a little bit for um, scheduling simplicity and and just to be able to get this on the accelerated timeline that we're working on. Um, so
my, you know, my intent would be here to uh, convene our site visits to the candidate sites or consolidate those I should say to consolidate those to maybe three groups or so. Um we'd we'd talk to staff including their peers and reports um kind of a community member bucket and
then um you know town officials uh town officials andor their you know uh school committee um or you know whatever their supervisory sort of function is there. Um so we'd keep that at you know more like three visits to each site but essentially including the same
cross-section um cross-section of uh stakeholders to weigh in. So, let me start with that one and then we'll talk about when they come to reading. >> Are we talking virtual or in person? >> Yeah, ver virtual. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we'll do we'll you know I mean we can
certainly do all these virtually in >> Okay, good. I was going to say I >> when they come to reading it, it'll be in person, but >> No, but I I I actually thought we benefited from those being virtual in some way. Like I I was talking to Tom today. I'm like in in his case, we were able to talk to people from Medford and
Salem, right? Which we couldn't have done if we were >> doing a site visit. I'm not sure we would have gotten the Salem insight that we got. Um >> but so sorry, you're saying staff. >> My proposal would be um yeah, staff
including both peers and reports of the you know of the candidate. Um a second one for sort of a sort of a catch-all bucket of community members. So maybe this should be the last one. And then a third one which is you know if it's a superintendent or an assistant superintendent um we're probably
including the school committee. Uh and then maybe some t you know some town officials that they face off with regularly as well in that in that um third category. >> As long as we think I was going to say as long as we think mixing that staff group will get honest.
>> That's where my concern was going to be. >> I just worry like if you've got like you know like if you've got teachers and principles and the teachers don't want to be as vocal because you know >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah, there's a two in three chances that the person is going to return to their district at the end of
this, right? So that that's definitely a risk. So which is certainly one of the reasons we wanted to talk about it. >> I I mean I my I appreciate trying to trim it down, but at the same time I feel like we got so much feedback and different perspectives from the
different conversations, right? Um and I don't want to exclude the students as much as we can as well. I think that we actually got some really interesting feedback in the student spaces as well. Um, so while I know my schedule's going to be ridiculous in March as it is, I I think
it's important that we get the right feedback for this to make the right decision. And collapsing it too much >> gives me pause. >> Okay. >> Because it was so valuable. >> It was so valuable. I mean, and you know, we structured it, if I remember, it was like back toback. We would leave
one, go to the next, go to the next, go to the next, right? Um, and so they were they were somewhat time boxed, half hour or something in each case. Um, so it was like three and a half hours for seven sessions or whatever it was. But and even that felt rushed to a degree. And if we collapse it more, it might, you
know, feel like we're not getting the feedback we need to really make the right decision. >> I I particularly remember um enjoying the just school committee ones and the insight that the school
committee members had. So again, I just worry when you lump too many people together, are you watering down? Um I totally understand saving time. My schedule like I've also making things difficult in March. Um but I
I don't know. I walked out of those with like really really good insight um >> into the direction I wanted to go. So, um, yeah. So, I'm a little I'm a little torn.
>> I'm not torn. I'm pretty firm. I would like to keep it as as it was >> if possible. Obviously, if we want to vote on it, Sean, then that can go. >> No, I don't I I don't want to vote. Um, I kind of we'll just take the pulse, you know, take the pulse of the group here and we'll move forward. But, um, I just want to make sure everybody was sort of
aware, you know, just kind of >> the commitment's large, right? >> Signing knows what we're signing up for, right? Yeah. Um I I have the I had the same certainly the same hesitation. There's there's a risk that when you lump groups, you lose some of the um honesty, right? You know, because again,
if we interview three or four people, two or three of them are going to return to their district after and still have to work with these folks and they'll all know that. So um you know >> not that they're going to hear what we hear but >> no but I mean you know if you combine folks who work for somebody and folks
who are peers of that person then you know that that that creates some risk for the for the folks who report to that person in particular right so >> I just want to situate ourselves to have the most candid conversations possible because it's it's >> yeah we just have to >> different things from different cohorts. Yeah, we have to remember how we have to
structure that though too, right? Because it it is not a public meeting. It's not even an executive session. >> Yeah. We can't deliberate. >> We can't deliberate at all. It's just a It's just basically scripted questions that we take notes on and say thank you. >> That's right. >> Right. >> We can't talk about it. We don't talk
about it until we have our official everybody's out. Who am I choosing and why am I choosing it conversation. So >> that's right. >> That's a it's a tricky line for us to walk, but a very important one. >> Yeah. We'll we'll go into that with everybody knowing this is your question to ask. this is your question to ask and it'll be heavily scripted and and no
discussion on our end at all. So, all right. So, we're going to keep that pretty expansive everybody recognizing that um that means we're we're pretty busy that last couple weeks of March. Um and then um you know I think probably Dr. Milichesky will work with Michelle
and you know on the in town visits sort of if there are any opportunities to consolidate that make sense. Um that one's a little you know I think that one's a little bit different in that you're we're interviewing them you know so um you know I don't worry so much about sort of the transparency you know
when you maybe mix groups but we'll we'll still try to keep it a pretty broad set of stakeholders that obviously had the opportunity the opportunity to uh meet with the candidates. Can you remind me do do we have a role when they're visiting like schools and meeting with
>> we don't have a role. Um you know we were I don't know if you all did. I I attended the community sessions I think. Um I think probably most of us did >> and you know I think we all just sort of agreed we're not going to participate or ask questions so we didn't have to worry about posting and things like that. >> Um
>> um so no role but you know we're certainly welcome to attend the community you know the community forum and uh hear the discussion there. And then >> but otherwise we just get sort of after summary reports from the different stakeholder groups. >> Yeah. So we'll we'll we'll um we'll develop a you know relatively simple
sort of survey monkey you know kind of tool. Um and then all of that will get all the feedback that we get from the stakeholder groups will get consolidated and provided to us in advance of of uh our vote and our deliberation. >> But then we interview them in person.
>> We will interview them in person >> and the same night >> uh ideally. I mean >> yeah that's what we did last time. Uh, we had two on one night and >> Tom was Tom was first on one night, then we had two and then a second night. >> Yeah, >> I I wouldn't even have remembered that. >> Tom was Tom was the first in both cases. >> I would have said we did them all the
same night. Okay. >> Yeah. So, um, pending scheduling of the candidates, then, you know, we'll try to do them all in one. It'll be a long night because >> I think we slotted we scheduled an hour and 15 for each one last time. So, it's, you know, it'll be a long session, but if we can, we'll get them all on the
same night >> in person. And I saw that we were asked to hold >> a few nights just in case. Yeah. >> Unfortunately, you know, until we know who the candidates are and can confirm scheduling, we have to sort of hold a lot of time and you know, it'll it'll shrink down once we get >> stuff actually on the
>> I appreciate knowing what to hold. >> Exactly. >> Just march just >> um Okay. All right. So, that was uh that was one what was the thing I said not to let me forget to ask about? Number of candidates. >> Oh, number of candidates. Um, do we want
to provide any guidance to the screening committee? Um, Tom, I don't know if you remember, did we? We did. >> Did we say three to four? Is that what we asked? >> Five. We have five. >> Um, >> the committee came back with four and then one dropped out. >> Yeah. Um, I think five would probably be
really challenging logistically on the timeline we're on. Um, my preference would be to guide to more like three to four. Um, but, you know, I'm open to what others others think. I think we're going to have to go to three to four. Yeah. >> And I think three to four is still going to be plenty. >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Right. >> I mean, my hope would be that three to four emerge as standouts and that, you know, I mean, if you've genuinely had five that you were all endorsing, then I would probably want to know that. But
otherwise, I would hope you you're such a good The screening committee is a powerful group. It's it's a really good composition. Um, so I have faith that, you know, you'll bring us some good finalists. It >> work. It works. That process does. >> It was natural to get to the numbers we
got to that time. >> I agree. Yeah. As >> we even we even tried to get to five and we couldn't at the time, right? It was it was very natural to get to where we were we were getting to. >> Okay. >> Um, so three to four is probably more is probably plenty. >> Okay. Sarah, any uh any thoughts on any
of this on your end? I was trying to No, I think and this all sounds reasonable. I mean, you know, it's a two-way interview street. They're interviewing the house as much as we're interviewing them. So, I think I agree that everybody, you know, making sure they have access and we have access both ways to as many people as we feel like we need to talk to.
>> Great. All right. Uh that is our agenda for this evening. So, if there is nothing else, I will take a final motion. >> Motion to return. >> Second. >> Seconded by Tom. Sarah. >> Yes. >> Laura, >> yes. Tom, >> yes. >> Carla, >> yes. >> Aaron,
>> yes. >> Sean, yes. We're adjourned. Thanks, everyone.