okay at 7:05 we will call the meeting to order um do we have any public hearings okay not hearing anything we will move on um to review of the agenda calendar I don't necessarily have anything does anybody okay um so warrant Kaitlyn do you happen to have the warrants in front of you I apologize but I just realized that the two that I signed last week are not here which is what I was doing frantically looking around for them while my camera was off but I believe they're downstairs I can run and grab them if you don't have I I do have them in front of me um I but I don't know which one you left off on last meeting so um do you want to read the ones have and I'll fill in the blanks or I can read them all I might overlap a little bit with last month okay you don't mind just going for it that would be awesome thank you no problem so for payroll warrants does anyone know that the meeting date last month I March 21st March 21st okay so I had one on March 19th so I'll skip that one and uh four I I Caitlyn I see that there's one from the draft minutes last time there's one for 319 3021 and then there's one for 4224 3022 a payroll warrant from 42 is April 2nd for $ 87,4 35 batch or it's a batch number 320 320 and the other payroll one I have is [Music] from 416 usually I don't go ahead from the present but um just that we have all of the information that we can kind of tease out if we need to um to not include that one batch 321 or voucher number 321 from April 16th 2024 for 86,2 7439 those are the two payroll warrants for accounts payable warrants oh yeah I see 3022 for payroll so we have 3023 from April 16th 2024 for 19 , 367721+ no no gifts or grants that's just for you Jen just for you I won't hear it after next month w w um can I have a motion to approve the minutes for March 21st if there are no changes or edits I approve I I moved to approve the minutes uh from Mar 21st seconded all those in favor Martel Taylor I Rose I I perfect um next on the agenda is just our review of um any capital projects or building processes are there any updates from last meeting or is everything still status quo and everything is what it was I do know that there's been people walking around to look at the siding and uh all of that fun stuff and so the school's going to look really nice for the start of next school year which will be really awesome nice nice okay new business we have several items um the first item uh we had on here was the discussion of the ammer school committee debate on sixth graders moving to the middle school and I believe at our last meeting it was the request was made to kind of put your thoughts together that so that we could give them to Anna so she could bring those to the next ammer school committee meeting but Anna is not here so does anybody have any any thoughts they want to add to put on record for Anna to bring or different than our last discussion go ahead Jen since Anna is not here if um people want to send their thoughts I was going to say to the chair but there could be change if people want to send their thoughts to me singularly then there's no discussion there's no appearance of discussion and I can forward them to Anna so does that sound good for committee members perfect okay yeah that sounds perfect to me great let's do that then okay Steve did you have a comment I do the regional school committee doesn't actually decide if the sixth grade goes to or when it goes to the middle school the only thing the region decides as a whole is how much we're going to charge them and because they have to have their own principle and their own Wing so it really isn't a decision that the regional school committee makes correct and we had that discussion at our last meeting um this was just bringing as Jen said bringing concerns um and putting those in writing so we have those for Anna Jeremy go ahead yeah I think just to add on to that like we were just the two concerns that were brought up at the last meeting where the idea of if we were to open the regional compact what that would mean for us um and just generally how we as a committee felt about you know opening up the compact or you know discussing the sixth grade and I just was curious Jen maybe you know if we all send our our thoughts on it to you to give to Anna or to 78 that doesn't get around the open meeting law that's not like a discuss I mean I know it's not a discussion but it's not that's not a problem all of us sending in our opinions right no because you wouldn't CC any other Committee Member um so it would be directly communicating with the superintendent which you can outside of a meeting and then I can forward those to Anna and I when I forward them to Anna I will say this is informational not for discussion great thank you so Anna I see that you just joined so I will bring up to date um we are going to individually send our thoughts um Pros cons concerns what you will um about the sixth grade um to Jen um we will do that individually and then Jen will email those to you Anna so you will have that for the next um ammer school committee meeting um I don't go to the ammer school committee meeting are they discussing it at the regional school committee a regional school committee yet yes okay I haven't noticed that on our agenda yet so I think we were just as of last sorry as of last meeting as as of last meeting we were just trying to get out ahead of it that was our discussion point from last meeting and we put it on this meeting and I think we were supposed to come with ideas to give to you so we could just be out ahead of any discussion when it does occur okay was how we left it last last meeting yeah nobody really wants to talk about it yet um there I think amoris needs to figure out themselves right now and um I think the the feeling is that none of the towns are interested in sending their kids to the m the Middle School in sixth grade yet um so if there's a strong feeling from shutesbury otherwise that would be very good to know um but right now I think the plan is that amist is trying to work out uh a way to get ammer kids to the Middle School um and see if there's some kind of a regionalization agreement that could occur to allow them not to recreate the entire administrative structure for a separate sort of like sixth grade within the same building but not part of the region so that might might come up but if every if the smaller towns decide that they do want to send their kids to the middle school then everything changes Steve did you have a comment I do so I I participated in two years or maybe it was even three years of these discussions at the region and the two big things that come up for the three small towns or their worries are if um the sixth grade in amoris will allow school choice of the three smaller towns into their sixth grade and the other one was are they G if they allow the sixth graders to participate in sports that that may cause a drain on the three smaller towns too but those were just the two big worries from the small towns in the discussions that I was part of thank you thank you Steve that's good to know okay all right so we'll get our we'll email Jen individually who will um pass everything along to Anna so we're out ahead of it and at least prepared um our next item is we need a discussion and vote on one school Committee Member to be part of the principal search team um so Julie and I are not options um so do we have volunteers do we have a sense of how often they're planning on meeting um we would have um initial interviews and then we would have finalist interviews so depending on how many candidates I would say maybe three to five or four to six initial meetings and then we would Whittle it down to probably two or three finalists so another round of meetings and then if you wanted to participate in either the visit to shutesbury Elementary or when we had the come meet the principal candidate so not as extensive I don't think as the superintendent search but there there is a time commitment um but we're really organized and super fun so we would make it worth your while um oh boy okay and then there I'm just trying to think like in terms of timing too when when do they typically meet do you know so that was part of my um my what am I trying to say thank Jen that was part of my um principal my superintendent's report but we are um going to um conduct interviews um in May the weeks of the 6th and the 13th and then the week of the 20th we'd select finalists and schedule visits um and they're going to be evening meetings it wouldn't be during the day because of um the commitment of um staff teaching staff and administrative staff so they would be in the evenings are they um I was thinking about in person um we could do the first round um virtual but it would definitely I think um hopefully be in person for the the finalist part because I'm GNA be away a lot in May that's why I'm asking so I could do them remotely potentially if need be but it would be tough especially that first one I'm away the whole first week of May um so for the sixth I definitely wouldn't be able to be there in person something we could discuss but if there's anybody else that's able to do it that would be amazing but I know everybody's spread so thin right now it's a lot to ask um we we also will have new people on after the 27th um I know school committee meeting your next school committee meeting is May 16th and at that meeting on May 16th unless there's enough notice and we do you guys do another meeting prior May 16th is too late to another option could be to join at the finalist stage I don't know if that's helpful or not um I I can do it I will I will say I can do it um unless anybody else wants to step forward uh and I think I will then um just be in touch with you personally Jen and we we'll iron it out I'll figure out what that sounds good thanks so much well thank you so much and we will make it work with your schedule Anna do you have a question Anna if you're speaking you're on mute I wanted to say thank you Jen but then I also wanted to ask um is the new superintendent also involved in the interview process or is she coming in after the person is selected so so I'm next after and that's part of my princip my I don't want to be a principal part of my superintendence report so if you hold on to that and if I forget you remind me but I will that's part of my report tonight but thank you for bringing that up sure okay so do I have a motion to nominate um Jen as the school committee member for the principal search Team all nomin as the uh representative for the principal search team second all those in favor marel I Taylor I okay Rose I okay next on the agenda is the negotiations subcommittee um alternate member I put this on the agenda because current currently Jeremy and I are the negotiation subcommittee um working with um the shsb teachers um my last day according to um Grace at Town Hall is May 9th the way negotiations not that they've been bad it's just timing of the negotiations I highly doubt it will be ironed out by May 9th so that means that somebody needs to take my place on the subcommittee even if it's just for a couple of weeks until somebody else can take it on right I mean that's the reality of it I guess yes it doesn't have to be a long-term commitment when we reorganize somebody else could take it yeah so at this point it's between Jen and Anna and Anna right I was gonna say rock paper scissors Anna oh my goodness that's also but that's also why I'm just saying like just to be you know to be optimistic about it hopefully if you're you know over committed then within a week or two of you know by May 16th we should probably be able to find somebody else who could do that or or lighten your load one or the other so do you do we know so we're going to elect a new Committee Member on the 27th two two two two so theoretically they could get sworn in and come to the May 16th meeting they should they should be at that May 16 yeah so it may just be the and then so when's the next negot negotiating committee meeting April 22nd and then the one after that we do we have one we don't have one scheduled for after that I think that's yeah I think that's the last one we have scheduled there might be another one that Bethany could attend before that last one so it seems [Applause] possible I just don't want to have a meeting before it's POS the I'll I'll take the yeah sorry I'll do it um until we have our next meeting thank you Anna thank you thank you thank you I think the the thing that also I think we've just realized is like this last week's meeting um the union asked if we could meet at 4 and what happens is if we get squeezed out it would be good to have even just in general like going forward it'd be good to have an alternate so that we can kind of like if somebody can't attend don't have to cancel a meeting um that kind of stinks because this is a slow process already and not having an alternate is just going to make it slower okay thank you Anna um I am available and will continue on until May 9th everybody of that um but do I have a nomination for or a motion for Anna to be on the negotiation subcommittee alternate member for negotiation I move to nominate Anna as our alternate member for the subcommittee on negotiations seconded all those in favor Martel I Taylor I Rose ey May ey heard ey okay thank you can I just make one request yep um can either Bethany or Jeremy email me a summary um from the next meeting and sort of like a overall summary of like where things stand or what so that I or or just call me and talk to me we we'll just I think we can just send you um we can send you what's most current which is our response to the union and then you'll have an idea of where it all stands right now excellent okay continuing on to reports the superintendence report so um I have created a superintendent transition planning guide for incoming superintendent Cleveland and it's an electronic compilation of many documents that will be helpful to her these items include but are not limited to our District strategic plan our road map for continuous Improvement for student Support Services the operational efficiency study from the colins center our district curriculum accommodation plan the draft of our new Union 28 staff handbook um an oper our recently submitted student Opportunity Act plan which runs from 24 to 27 there's a link to school Improvement plans for all schools a school committee contact list which will be updated as we go through town meetings Town Administration contact lists as they get approved fy2 budgets any grants that we currently have and are applying for links to all of our bargaining contracts principal contracts central office staff contracts all of um our Union 28 policy manuals across all four District districts and the most important the emergency information School closure protocol um I have met once and will continue to meet with incoming superintendent Cleveland over the next few one months as we work towards a really smooth transition for Union 28 the other thing I know you're thinking about is the W superint um principal search so I sent out um a while ago the timeline so we posted the job back on March 25th the deadline for applications is April 30th the first week of May I'll be notifying the interview team members that they are part of the team and who else is on the team and at that point our confidentiality agreement goes out and is signed and returned we will conduct interviews the weeks of May 6 and 13 we will select the finalists um May 20th through the 24th and schedule visits to shuberry elementary school and we should have the principal selected by the end of May um all dates are approximate and subject to change but that's the basic timeline um I did reach out to um the Seesaw Union president and um mentioned that it would be helpful and I would appreciate um what staff is looking for in a principal and any questions they might want to ask that we could put into the interview document I will be resending an email to all staff again um just to reminder that we're looking for that I'm also asking if you have any questions as school committee members regarding um what we might want to ask the principal or what you are looking for please individually send them to me and they can become part of our interview process um Shannon Cleveland who is our new superintendent has graciously agreed to be part of the process um I certainly will do all of the behind the scenes work I will sit in as much as possible but I feel that it is um really Shannon who is going to be cre and working with this leadership team so her input is much more important than mine um so she is going to make time in her busy schedule and I think the evenings will work well for her to be part of that um committee and um Kelly Sullivan who's the principal of Swift River School along with our wonderful Director of Finance and operations Caitlyn Sheridan have agreed to be the co-chairs of the sech committee again any work that I can do behind the scenes for them I will do but they will be co-chairing um the search committee so I am appreciative of um Kelly Sullivan and Caitlyn Sheridan for doing that and this week I received a resignation from our director of student Support Services I did send an email out to the Joint supervisory committee members this um afternoon um she is leaving um June 30th so at the end of her contract year she is going over to Gil montigue Karina came with us to us with um a middle school high school background and this will be a prek through 12 position so it gives her some growth opportunities um so I wish her the best we are thankful for all of the work she did she stepped in during covid and um jumped in with both feets and she is efficient um makes my lists look tiny and small and disorganized she's really great at organization so she's bringing that great skill set we are um creating a plan to um find a new director of student Support Services there are some options prior to a search that we are working on um but I will have an update for everyone soon um and definitely by the um May joint supervisory committee and lastly not that I'm counting but um I might only have 65 days left and then I will be wearing my progressives and comfy clothes and slippers all day and that's my report for tonight well hopefully the weather will warm up and it won't be slippers you can do flipflops that's a much better yes yes thank you okay um Kaitlyn your report and it looks like we have another vote to amend the budget because we voted to amend the union 28 budget yes let me start with that because sometimes I get going with other things and I forgot that there was supposed to be a vote that happened so um let's start there I can give me just a second uh yes a joint supervisory committee met a couple weeks back to amend the union 28 budget to adjust to match the the salary amount for our new superintendent starting July 1st this is an overall across the the union decrease of $931 uh it would decrease shs Berry's Town assessment from 5.86% to 5.77% increase I can show you how that budget looks but there's only one line item change um and it just brings it down just a tiny little bit so if we would like to amend the budget to match the new um superintendent salary then you can vote to do so tonight Anna do you have a question no I was going to move to approve the amended budget oh all those in favor Mar I may Rose ey her ey okay so I will get the the new amended budget over to to Becky and for for town meeting um shortly uh town meeting happens to the second thing happens to be the same date as the lever town meeting uh we are kind of dividing up and I didn't see a time for shoots Berry is it 9:00 am I looked on the town website um but so 900 am it is n it is nine so they're same time different places um but Jackie and I have kind of figured it out how they'll be um one of us there um Leverage seems to to go quicker so I'm going to go to lever first and stay through our article and then head over to shsb after that um and we should be able to to cover enough enough time that there there'll be one of us there through the through the town meeting Jackie go ahead thank you I'm just jumping in to piggyback with Caitlyn right here so um I let Bethany know this but I'm going to let the rest of the committee know this I cannot stay past noon due to a prior commitment and it's a real hard cut off noon um and even that's stretching it so um I feel like the committee will want me to be there to be able to answer questions and such but um I asked Becky what article we were and we're Article 13 which seems really high like we're not going to maybe be there like I have to leave like no matter what even if we like just start Article 13 at noon like I will have to go so I'm worried that if I'm not there and Caitlyn's not there obviously the committee is going to have to step up and talk about any questions but what what Becky Becky forwarded an email to Paul um that's his name right and um and he said that somebody if needed could make a motion to on the floor to move up an article so we can kind of play it by ear and see if it's going to be fine the way it is but if it's like 10:30 10:45 and we're on article four then someone's going to maybe need to make a motion to to move up the article if you want me there if you if you feel like you can handle it I'm fine with that uh we don't need to move it up but if you're if you want me to be able to be there to support any discussion then it it needs to be um different no I think we'd love to have you there and definitely want you there um I so on the morning of the 27th I can't be there at 9: the earliest I can probably East Hampton it's going to be like 10:30 I'll be there okay I'll be there all right so between Anna and Jeremy I'll be there to registered voters you can make the motion on the floor to move the article up I will so make that motion and then and then Becky said something we don't need to discuss it like I'm not I'm not asking for a discussion on this I just wanted to say that she also mentioned something that like there's something big going down with the regional yes and so I I and and I know Anna might talk about this during her time I'm not trying to bring up a discussion but what I am going to say is I might have read the email wrong I was it was a little confusing there's a chance that they might not even vote on this part or like or school budget or school money or something I I think I'll just stop talking because I might be spreading wrong information but there's something going down with the with the regional thing that's going to make things tricky and so she didn't she just I think wanted to let us know that Susie go ahead so there's um the article two is how the assessment formula will be with the regional school because so much of the um numbers haven't been settled what we are the finance committee is Hope thinking um will'll pass over it and um and it may turn out that we hold the meeting open at the end of the day and come back when all the numbers have settled from the other towns because the fourtown meeting is on April 20th and the bu and the warrant has to be published so we don't we can't fix it right now maybe enough information will come in by the 27th probably not and so that article will simply be passed over and um hold the meeting open and it'll adjourn it the word isn't adjourn it'll stay open and then it'll have a meeting to settle that part it should be not so not our budget right so not so ours is not the issue no and in fact I think we'll be able to pass the article that's the budget which was 13 but there's plenty of ways to move that up it'll be the assessment um formula that won't be clear yet because the four towns all have to have some Shar position I just didn't quite understand that part um and I just wanted to just put that out there but thank you and uh thank you for moving it up if you want my assistance we've got you okay so um other things to report the N of year report the FY 23 n of year reports are getting audited through Markham we've begun that process and so it's just been kind of a lot of dumping of reports and other documents with them so they can review an audit and then I've already applied for a waiver for the next two years since we're a single School Municipal District we only have to get audited the end of year reports only have to get audited once every three years um so we've applied for a waiver for the next two which is nice because it it's not free to get it audited and um oh I had the pleasure of attending a conversation with Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro a couple weeks back put on the by the town of Irving there was representation from many local municipalities in Franklin County down to uh the chief procurement officer in Northampton um Senator Joe Comerford and representative Susanna whips were there and the conversation was about kind of the challenges with procurement and and bidding in our in our small rural areas and it was really interesting because they talked a lot about you know not just um School procurement but a lot of the town and the the price of concrete and steel and all of the challenges that all of the municipalities are are facing in our area so it was really good opportunity and finally I just got an email about 20 minutes ago half hour ago uh the the uh house Ways and Means Committee has come out with their budget uh which has updated some of the um the Chapter 70 money the school district doesn't see that money exactly but it goes to the town and it looks like there has been from the the preliminary proposed Governor's budget to the houseway means it looks like there has been a bit of an increase which should you know not a huge increase we all got burned a little bit on Chapter 70 but this looks like we there's a little softer increase for the town for Chapter 70 money for next year and that's my report any questions we okay thank you thanks uh Jackie principal report okay um so tomorrow tomorrow we finish up Ela mcast and lot of your children took it um and uh the the teachers report that the students were like super awesome during this testing period like really really dedicated and tried their all and um they were all very very impressed with them so that was great the third grade took it today for the first time and they do seem so little and um and uh Laura's daughter fell asleep Laura's daughter the Laura's in the office fell asleep on a stack of papers on the the office chairs uh at the end of the day today she just seems so little you know um and she was just exhausted from giving it her all but uh when I spoke to them all today at lunch they told me that it wasn't as bad as they were thinking so um as always is usually the case and they also really like the amount of chocolate that they get throughout the the testing time um so our because of the snow day our last day for students is June 18th and the last day for staff is June 20th um and so I'm just putting those dates out there we will have a sixth grade graduation that I will let you know about the date for um there's a sixth grade trip that happens and they're doing a special sixth grade ice cream parlor thing and um we're having a uh full School Musical most likely on June 6 that date we're trying to really hammer down but we're pretty sure it's going to be June 6th the auction is May 3d which the PTO especially Melissa Warwick spends an incredible incredible amount of time on and also it gets so much money they have been funding a lot of our buses for our field trips this year because the the the amount of money that a bus costs on a local field trip is astronomical um and it is so valuable the PTO support um on some of that transportation um I already talked to you about town meeting and okay so the next part is a plea a a parting plea from me um and I'm not this is not me trying to like Pat my own back but I was when I came here I was the principal that got everything in motion for us to have a school mascot as you know so I had a student council that led the process of doing the moose and then we invented Coco and then we invented the t-shirt logo and then we got everyone t-shirts and that all happened in 2015 2014 um when I came on board and what I really would love to do and I usually come to you at the end of the year anyway asking for this but I I especially want it this year I we usually try to get Field Day shirts or some kind of shirt for the school Community um at the end of the year and I would really like to do one again this year particularly cuz it's my last year it would feel really nice to give everyone another shirtt that is in their size um currently and is really fun um and the the teachers wear them I don't know if you've ever been to the building on a Friday but the entire staff entire staff wears the Moose gear on Fridays and the kids wear their stuff constantly constantly the the amount of tie dye shirts from last year that we I I mean at least five a day a kid has it on they really wear them um and like it's we have a very healthy school culture around some of that and um it's really appreciated I think by the community as a whole that everyone is able to have one and everyone has one that fits them um and feels part of the community so I would like to ask the committee if I could use some school choice money I want to say probably I don't know if I have to give a number um I work with soundscape who is uh the man who owns scanscape is Brian who lives on West pum Road um and uh he's great um and I know everything costs more so I used to be able to budget 12 to $13 a shirt and now I'm feeling like I need to budget $18 a shirt um just to see but I'm not sure so I don't know if I have to give a money Mark but I would say up to $3,000 it'll probably be less than that if you just say the up to part I think that should be okay right yeah yeah so my request is to be able to get moose mascot t-shirts probably for f with a field day Focus for our entire School Community up to $3,000 I move to approve second all those in favor tayl myi her eye Rose ey awesome thank you though so I will that order form will go out soon to families um so thank you really thanks a lot I think it'll be a really fun thing for the end of the year I might even have them wear them for the musical so I'm thinking about that too I think you should in indelible marker sign everyone's shirt so when they wear it they think of moose really sweet something that's really really sweet that's been happening is kids have been asking me for my autograph it's it's like I get like two or three a day they see each other doing it so then the next day the the other one does it so it's been pretty do you want a budget for some head shot that you could get done and sign off like because we could do that too that would be perfect oh my God that would be so perfect wait one more time Jackie and that's the end of my report that's perfect okay um next on the agenda is the amoris pelum representatives report ah so well so the good news is um we are interviewing finalists for the superintendent um we had our first interview on Wednesday um so um Susan gillson uh was one of the finalists she was also a finalist for the U Middle School principal position and so that was a little I don't know awkward Maybe but um she clearly has a preference for the superintendent job if offered um so we'll just have to see how the other two candidates go they're coming in the week after Spring Break um Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday I think it's either Monday Tuesday it might be Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday anyway but they're coming in the next week no it's Wednesday Thursday um and then we're going to have deliberations on I think Monday um we have a very very full schedule of meetings so we have um interviews on Tuesday and Thursday and we have um deliberations on Monday we have a budget committee a budget discussion on the I want to say 18th to get ready for the four towns meeting on the 20th and then we have another budget meeting I think on the Wednesday in between the two meeting to interviews to um fix whatever happens at for town meeting in the budget and um then we are you know hoping to have language for the shutesbury town meeting on the 27th to make sure that uh we can fix anything in the or make small amendments to the warrant if possible um so that it could possibly be passed at town meeting if depending on how dramatic the T fourtown meeting goes so we'll see um as Jackie was hinting at um because the school committee voted to approve a budget that far exceeded what the four towns sort of had agreed on or not agreed on necessarily but um accepted that they could afford in the previous um fourtown meeting um we now have to have another fourtown meeting to sort of figure out if that's possible and if not like how what we do instead um and so that affects both the actual budget as well as the budget allocation um or the allocation of the funding for this Regional District and so um we have to address both of them [Music] um we also have a call oh sorry Jeremy do you have a question about budget yeah so I'm just want to make sure so when were at the last four town meeting and we all talked about the finances and the issues that we had with them and how much we could all afford basically that's gone out and now we're being asked to like double the conservative amount that they were trying the first time is that right double the increase okay not the amount right so we were at Double the increase we were actually at like a it's almost triple for shutesbury because of right you were at like two what was it Susie 2.57 yeah um increase um every other town was at 4% guard rails um so shsb just because of our lower our our decreasing population I think it is um no just we just have a smaller contribution are are the smaller part is both population but it's also eqv the per capita relative per capita income per town we are the least wealthy town of the four so is it possible that we could see ourselves rising to that 4 per number as well if we were to go with the numbers if we so if we go with the new numbers we will have to revise that to 8.2% um I think there's been a lot of I mean Susie can probably talk to this too but there's been a little bit of push back on the 88.2% um so it's a it's a very large increase I think everybody recognizes that I think you know we're still trying to get together with amoris college to discuss potential contributions to our budget and we realize that it's not necessarily a long-term fix amest has been apparently hesitant to commit to multi-year um uh agreements so uh we just have to the the people who have volunteered to talk with amest haven't really been able to find time to meet together to plan um how to approach ammer and so we're hoping to get that done as soon as possible um and it would be nice if we could get it done the problem is even if we meet with them it's not like we're going to have a signed agreement in time for fourtown meeting or in time for even shutesbury town meeting probably so is there can the other question I just have is there a sense like this increase that we being asked the 8.2 I mean this isn't a one time I I've been trying to read the news and keep a breast of all of it but like it's not this isn't probably GNA be a one-time thing I mean this is not like a oneye issue this is probably something that's going to go on longer correct you want to respond or do you want me to yeah no you could I I have some information to put in from the this year's budget but if you want to continue what you you're hearing at Region yeah so Doug is going to come to the fourtown meeting with a three-year projection okay so based on so there's a couple of things that play one of them is that the recent um contract negotiation with the apaa um has obviously dramatically affected the budget just simply because salary is such a huge portion of a school budget not just the regional school budget but any school budget salary is just a huge portion of that and so because that contract um negotiation went the way it did um that increased our cost cost substantially how did that go I'm sorry I'm just it went on for over a year as far as I and the you know according to the negotiating committee members you know they they very specifically said things like you know we don't have the money in the budget and if you insist on these concessions then you know you know you might get paid a little bit more but you're probably going to lose some teaching positions and they still pushed for them and so I guess there was some awareness of the consequences of pushing really hard for these increases but at the end of the day um after months and months and months of negotiations um this is what happened so now we have a budget that's about I think it's like two is it only it can't just be $2 million more than last year but it feels like it's $2 million more than last year I don't I don't know if it was 34 or May so anyway it's gone up considerably over last year um when we tried to make uh a a 4% increased budget um that still meant cutting about 17 million out of the budget from a level Services budget um and that meant about 15 teaching positions uh FTE um as well as cuts to uh cafeteria workers and um custodial services and central office staff and other things and so um you know it it meant destroying the world languages program it meant cut uh you know severely affecting the music program it meant um and this is I incomprehensible to me taking the tiered the tier 2 Services down from 12 blocks to two blocks which doesn't make any sense to me at all like how you could do that to the kids who are like waivering between um full inclusion and special ed and just destroy destroy all of the services for them um it just wasn't um palatable to anybody um and so the school committee uh wanted to at least restore the student facing the most student facing I I mean I think we there's a recognition that every every position interacts with students and every position is important for students but that you know the teaching positions and this the ones that are really direct directly in line with um Educational Services for the students we wanted to restore at least those and so we voted to approve a budget that put about a million dollars back in the budget I guess it was more like 700,000 back in the budget oh no it's closer to a million so um that kind of blew out the budget agreements that we had had at the fourtown meeting [Music] um sort of as a a way to soften the blow we took out all of the capital budget items that weren't safety concerns um and saved another like $300,000 um so that the full we still ended up cutting about a million dollars out of the level Services budget um but it was just um sort of uh as you know it's just looking at what would happen if we had to make all of those cuts was just so disastrous that we just couldn't stomach it and so we're really hoping that the towns can dig deep and um find some money that and so if we go forward with the 8.2 increase to the budget from last year that would reset the Baseline for future budgets so we'd be working from a slightly higher position and so any increase in the budget going forward hopefully will be definitely smaller than 88.2% that's not to say that budgets won't increase in the in the future years but hopefully not as much as this year whereas the other option was to fund the budget as it was agreed on in the fourtown meeting with the 4% guard rails and then do like a one-time increase to close the gap for just this year but then what that H what that does is that just pushes the mess down the road another year so that next year we're still going to have this gigantic Gap if we don't address some of the the the find some money and increase our income dramatically it's we're still going to have that AP 8.2 or greater increase in following years can can I ask one more follow-up question I'm sorry to keep belaboring this I just really want to make sure I understand like when I think about our budgets here in shutesbury from what I understand from my almost one year on the committee here like I know Caitlyn's done a really good job of making sure that we weren't spending like Sr funds and funds that were not reliable in positions is that any part of what's been going on in amist as well or is this really just a matter of like you know a perfect storm of things coming together and this new contract or is this also just kind of poor planning throughout I think some of it is related to Esser funding um and I I thank you Caitlyn for being so careful with our Sr funing funding as so as not to put us in that kind of a position I think that like shutesbury um the district used Esser funding to fund things that were supposed to be related to um covid like adding additional counselors um and then just because they're bigger that has a bigger impact because there's just more of them but I do think that some of the money got spent on reg things that that would generally be taken into the regular budget and so I don't know I can't remember exactly how much of the budget is Sesser fundings but I do think there's like a $500,000 and and I don't know exactly where all that $500,000 had been used but I think it's about $500 $500,000 of Sr funding that we won't have next year more budget questions Caitlyn thank you um yes I would love to take credit for it but Jackie has um has a really good handle on the budget every year and so really she should she's amazing and I'm gonna miss her so we'll need to add that into the list of things we need from the next principal okay but also um Chapter 70 with hit a many Regional School Districts hard um because there was such a a dependence on we get this much of an increase every year and we're just not seeing it for next year so I imagine that factored into a lot of the struggles you know for municipal districts like shutesbury Elementary uh we don't necessarily see the increase on the the school level um so it's not budgeted in but the town has also has felt more of the um the lack of increase in Chapter 70 funds Susie um so the finance committee has set up a budget it's posted in the warrant the warrant is going to come out um after a lot of discussion of how to Target another number that we would not only put in the budget we would bring it to the fourtown meeting we ended up with the rationale that shoots berri's statutory assessment with a rolling five-year average would be 6% for the budget that's been proposed and so we voted to put in the 6% in our budget um that's not 8.2 and we don't expect necessarily the other towns will be able to do this because using that formula as we had agreed to in the last couple years after 10 years of struggling to get it to 100% statutory um if we use that formula Amis would be at 7.33% increase Leverett would be at 12% increase and pelum would be at 16% increase so we don't imagine that it's all going to work in that direction but Shy's committed to to following the formula and putting in their 6% um we will need some excess Levy capacity so our taxes will not only go up the 2.5% Levy increase that's allowed we'll also use some of the levy capacity that we didn't use in previous years but it's sitting there and it can be used and that will be taking 13,000 out of there and all of that is to meet a seven 10, 22,8 se8 budget um we are not have we are not using um cash reserves to do this we are using some cash reserves to help meet the local budget because some of that budget will not continue forever because of special placement um and we're using cash reserves for many other things but when you read the paper right now all towns that aren't benefiting from the student opportunity actor trying to figure out how to crack this nut and some are planning to use cash reserves which means that in the following year they have a a bigger hole to meet um it's interesting to watch the paper and see sort of every town come to wrestle with these things and pick out a path for them but I feel proud of the finance committee for coming up with the the money to meet a six um% increase it's like 93 93,000 I think for us to meet that part um but we know that the fourtown meeting will probably end up with some other plan especially for Leverett and pelum and and Amis I doubt that Amis will go to 7.33% increase so that is why having a fourtown meeting is so important and we're hoping that this struggle sh Berry can survive using the 100% statutory with a five-year rolling average formula because it took a long time to get here and we're trying to meet we are going to meet it but other towns may get ticked off about how the burden is falling on them because they have different wealth factors than we do and in that same picture shs berry got the 86,000 for Rural aid but Leverett didn't get rural Aid this time because their eqv has risen too high so they not only didn't get that support they lost the support they had and it's a tough year all around so I'm happy that this committee was able to vote to support using the rural a number it made our final numbers um easier to work with um our budget was passed five well initially at the fincom meeting it was passed unanimously but then when we came to approving the warrant it got the budget was passed five yes and two abstain so we can tell that people politically are really anxious about this politically and fiscally are really anxious about this and I have no idea what's going to happen when the four towns get together there is going to be a caucus period and um I'm sort of feeling like since we've voted this budget we should start sharing it with the other towns so they're a little prepared for what the heck's going to happen on the 20th um but I'm not the um decider so uh I don't know what will happen as far as information but you have the information now and I think um I I think there'll be support for this budget it's like kind of always the fincom worked hard to make it work and and I believe that that's the best we can do right now and so how do we how do we we aren't nobody this plan will not reach the full budget that the um school committee passed because I know the other towns are not going to go for those higher percentages so what I will say is that Leverett did or the I guess the finance committee at least um passed the 4% budget and then also passed a one-time amount to reach the 8.2% budget so it they did actually fully fund the 8.2 budget they just didn't fund it in the same way and that's going to also be slightly problematic because of the allocation method um has to get approved my understanding is the allocation method has to be approved by all four towns and the budget has to be approved by three of the four towns and so um because they didn't do the allocation in the same way that's going to create issues for the approval process ultimately so um but they you know they do seem to have some willingness to fund the budget so we'll see but if they just chose to increase up to 8.2 but didn't follow that what Susie's talking about that statutory 100% with the fiveyear rolling average then that's really not they're not actually voting to fund their percentage they're just gonna they're voting to do a one-time payment like as if it was split equally yes no they're they're they've voted to approve the original 4% increased budget and then they voted to add to that amount in a one-time payment to meet the total amount of the budget that would have been allocated under the 88.2% the difference is that if they approved a budget for the 8.2% increase then that amount is set as the new base for next year's allocations and increases so the 4% guard rails would go based on the 88.2% increase of this year and not the 4% increase of this year is that it's a little confusing but does that make sense so they're basically rejecting the base for next year okay because this see I mean what I heard I just I think where I'm confused and this is not why I'm not good at the budget stuff but like that lever would have to be would be a 12% inrease to get up to to pay their share and I'm just wondering if that's what they've agreed to for one year or if they've agreed to 4% going forward and up to the 88.2% amount but not 88.2% just the total amount for one year not this 12% okay and and that was you know that's all before this up upcoming for town meeting when everything could change again so um I think I'm going to ask does I know Steve you're not really part of the committee but I think we're allowing you to speak anyway well thank you so I Jeremy I can give you a quick thing and then I'll get out of here so you guys can keep going what happened was three years ago the school Regional school committee started talking about how this Cliff was coming and and so was the former superintendent but with the big turnover of the school committee and the turnover of the administration that just left Doug as about the the interim superintendent is the only one that was really aware of this coming and yes it was the Sesser funds that carried us last year because last year would have been these Cuts but we were able to avoid those and so here they are now thank you Ste thank you suie and the other thing is Jeremy this is not about um not being good with numbers these four towns this Administration these School committees in the regional school committee have never been here before and these are you can read across the valley even with places that don't have Administration turnovers or school committee turnovers the whole damn Val is in flames right now and so unfortunately our process involves the fourtown meeting process and we were trusting that to be the process now that it's been that's been turned upside down we don't know how it will go and what's going to happen is four towns are going to come to it with different solutions and on a good day we could work it out we could all figure out something but it will definitely result I believe it will definitely result in Some Cuts to the proposed um school committee budget yeah I appreciate that Susan I'm glad you're going to be there and I just want to understand like I feel like especially with I mean I guess Bethany will be there too and but like I feel like as we're heading out I'm feeling this very the sense of we're about to turn over on the school committee again so that the majority of us have been spending we've been here less than a year and so knowing what I'm heading into on like understanding a little bit of this heading in to that fourtown meeting feels really important right now so I appreciate all of that thank you guys I'm sorry to take so long of it Jen thanks um I am first of all just wondering how badly do you need us there at the fourtown meeting Susie or just in general how much um do you need our representation because I will clear my schedule if I have to but I have to acknowledge I actually am not going to be there which is really hard for me um but you have an amazingi finance committee everybody else will be there and I believe that it's not so much representing a position it's learning how this goes and I feel like it's certainly understandable that people didn't know what the what was going on but the way you'll know is by going and you'll go and you'll feel like you're swimming in a pool that's way too deep and and frothy that's okay you're not going to get it on the first time this is my I don't know what year in fincom and it's a process we have a seven member team and I find that to be really good but I think what happened is the two meetings December and February 17th it was too soon for the school committee members that were new to be there and they didn't see how the process went and and that process can change it's going to change so here we go we're all holding on hands here and um paddling part of the issue with the four towns meeting this year was that it hadn't been clearly laid out what cuts would be necessary and I think you know there was a hint or a suggestion that there would be cuts and that would include some teaching positions but the the actual actual teaching positions that were going to be cut were not named yet and it wasn't until they specified which positions were going to get cut that everybody took a step back and said this is not acceptable and so that really threw a huge wrench in all of the agreements that had already been made and you know as a as a newer School Committee Member I think in you know moving forward you can't go to a fourtown meeting understanding that there's going to be Cuts but not knowing which cuts are going to be made you have to have that information before you say okay yes we're okay with taking this to fourtown meeting um because I don't think you know the school committee approved or was ready for that particular budget um to go to fourtown meeting I also just think that you know Doug's been double tasking his entire year and um it things took a little bit longer for him to get ready um and you know it's just like there's been a Confluence of storms that made this a really messy year as well okay I have a couple more updates really fast okay so we have also um a director of student services um process uh we're hiring a new director of student services because F Brady is retiring um and so we um interviewed um darene uh Reed who's currently at the middle school for the position and also um Matthew Holloway I think this is public knowledge right the finalists yeah they were they because they were meet and greet so um for the position and I think Doug should be making a decision on that relatively soon as well um and uh Debbie West Morland is also retiring this year she's the assistant to Doug or to the superintendent um and the director of communications and so I'm sure that they will be filling that position shortly as well um um I think that's it that's okay yeah that's plenty yeah um okay next on the agenda is the union 28 report we don't have anything to report we haven't met well we did meet but it was to um approve the new budget with the adjusted superintendent line item um Jeremy do you you have anything for CES report I mean I'll say something I'm always kind of curious what I'm doing down there um so there's not a lot of stuff that necessarily relates to us directly so I'll just give you the two things that seemed kind of interesting to me one was that there was a Civic Summit that was held that I meant to go to and didn't get a chance to about whether or not to keep or remove the mcast uh that was reported on as a remove the mcast as a graduation requirement I should say um it was really great that it seems like there was a good representation of people kind of making Arguments for both sides of that um it wasn't kind of homogeneous which I really would have loved to have been part of um but it's the first and what'll probably be a bunch uh more sort of meetings like that and they also talked about their summer programs uh they have a couple of programs that they're running um with the Mount Tom summer program and the beacon summer program and they're not necessarily credit recovery but the students who are in those programs which I think is Greenfield and holy o um they want to keep working through the summer and administrations of the local area schools are in support of that so they're going to continue those programs through the summer and I think at least with Mount Tom that's a um that's a new thing and then I sent you guys all out the newsletter and uh reports so you can delve more deeply into it if you wish but those are the two top things I saw perfect thank you Jen sorry uh just couple quick things one is just so you know where ammer dids at prior to any budget changes uh they just cut the school play which amethyst was supposed to be a part of with the drama club um and made it it's going to be over the loud that loudspeaker for the students rather than being a play so all the kids that have been doing Tech all this time aren't really gonna have jobs anymore it's all insane happening was that due to B was that due to budget what was that is what that's what the Drama teacher evidently said is that it's due to budget that they weren't able to make it happen um it's all insane all the time in Emer right now um but the other thing I just wanted to let everybody know is that I have joined that rural um school committee that just formed they put out an email to us about they really needed members to join um so I'll be part of that if you want reports on that I'm happy to add that into the agenda for next year all right perfect um next on the agenda so this is um policy review these are just first readings on um several policies again it's first reading so we don't have we're not taking a vote tonight but if anybody has questions or edits that they want to discuss in any of the policies now would be the time okay I will take that as a no um we do not have to go into executive session um our next negotiations meeting is the 22nd so we will go from there um moving on to Future business I'll just list out the meeting so has as everybody has said we have the fourtown meeting on April 20th I believe that is in person it is not a remote meeting so just keep that in mind um that's correct yes town meeting is the 27th we've got our people in place to push the warrant up on the agenda if needed um then on May 16th that is our next school committee meeting um it does have a policy committee meeting listed for May 16th but you're not going to have a policy committee but we just did many many policies so we did so I think we'll cancel the May policy and then by the May meeting we'll have our people in place and then June can be a policy meeting unless people think we've done a okay so let's cancel May for now okay can I make a suggestion for just the supplement material for the next meeting so that before the May 16th meeting I I feel like there's a description of all the subcommittees and I would suggest that that be part of the prep materials before the meeting so that the new members can at least like I don't know review what the sub committees are and I will make a note to send to let Pam know we want the reorganization list of subcommittees um as soon as possible prior to the yes I know provided that last June when we did the reorganization so it definitely exists and that kind of like I'm I always have the question too like what committees does the chair have to be part of versus right because there's certain ones the chair has to be part of budget and personnel and Joint supervisory I or joint supervisory at least I know off the top of my you think oh sorry if we could just include in there to um like general meeting schedule how often they meet just so that they have an idea of what what it's gonna look like I think that's a great idea but I also think that was a total lie this year for Union 28 it just was it just was I was told the school committee only met once a month me too be honest just be actually honest if there's a then no one would join no one would join any of those committees oh um okay so school committee May 16th you'll have your reorganization and then joint supervisory the next meeting is May 20th um so that'll be have some reorganization too because you'll need new people on joint supervisory so I'm GNA interrupt the chair and say thank you so much to Bethany and Julie thank you for being part of my policy committee we're super organized and efficient and I have so liked being on the committee with the two of you thank you thank you thank you and on behalf of the school-based team you two are dream and not only are you parents with kids in the school which is really helpful to have on this committee you're just like really awesome humans and can see a bigger perspective Ive and so um I I really like like I said before I really feel like the principal can only do the job well if they're given the autonomy and support they need and that is very much the case so thank you we will miss you all but we will not necessarily miss these meetings don't know how we're going to do it without you guys but we will figure it out I guess and if you ever need us to rally the troops though to to come to any sort of public support kind of meetings you do contact us and we will rally our you know parents from our class years and things so yeah for the first few meetings you guys will still be here in the background though right like you'll just be down in the bottom and we can call on you as we need I don't think we're allowed to comment unless we comment on the public the public hearing Steve come on you guys can do it please it's like phone a friend [Laughter] no be here silent and you can call on us yes yes no you will be wonderful you will be wonderful this has been one of the most Pleasant School committees to work for I'm really truly going to miss you both well I G I'm going to miss all of you but Beth and I Beth and I did joke about how we're going to have to have like a coffee night or a barn night in replacement of these school committee meetings so yeah yeah you can come too I can come there was talk of Treehouse if anybody's up for that I don't make it the school committee meeting night any other [Laughter] night we I suppose yes it is that time um okay so we will do I have a motion to adjourn at 8:32 I move toour at 8:32 oh us say good night second that but oh I am gonna miss all of you so much I can't believe this is like the last meeting with this crew this is so Jen we'll be around bis Pond all summer it's fine bye guys well good night all and and thank you thank you good night everyone good night night --------- we're good we will we will call our meeting to order at 6:37 p.m. the first item is approval of our minutes for March 21st do I have a motion who Moved second any edits additions amendments okay all in favor I Martella great so we have lots and lots of fun policies this evening the first one is policy e a e e AJ motor vehicle idling on school grounds and we did not have this oddly I think we just do it but we didn't have a policy any questions or comments about this particular one no I think it's good okay matches all the signs we have posted yes we just didn't have a policy to back up our signs in case anybody fussed I forget I think it was Karina or Lindsay when they first started has they have an automatic starter which I do too I just don't use and they started the car and the SEC one of the secretaries was like there's no idling on school grounds um policy GBA equal employment opportunity um we have one we did back in 23 and we did add the crown Act and we tied it to nrim I don't think there's a difference so but I'm I'm check one more time because we have to go through the first and second reading if it's no difference can we just stay with the one we have or we can just yes and we can say we looked at it tonight and say edit yeah reviewed and edited I'll add M I must have been on a roll and just kept going reviewed and edited for1 okay policy GB EBC gifts to and solicitations by staff we do not have this one or the uh crowdfunding policy so we should take a look at this do we have any other questions or comments and this really ties to the um now I'm drawing a blank we do something uh oh conflict of interest talks about a lot of this yeah yeah I'm fine with it okay yeah we'll put we'll put that one to the full committee and the next one is crowdfunding um and that's like donors choose and all of that I don't think we use it a lot but it it could come up it does come up so we should probably have a policy in place for that I agree okay we'll move that one forward okay oh I had a question about this next the next policy y the staff complaints and grievances yeah okay go so my question was in specificity because okay so ours sorry let me just look back and forth our said all District employees May appeal the ruling of the superintendent to the school committee and if we're adopting Mas that might this might be a moot point but I feel like it should say to the union 28 school committee but it can't because we are our own District in jberry so oh it in each district it would be the process would be the teacher appeals a ruling of the principal to me or Shannon to the superintendent and then they can appeal my ruling if they're a shoots spry employee oh I shoty school committee thank you thanks for talking that out no one really else you know no other school district probably has to know all that nonsense but we do I do think we have this at the union 28 level but that would be for any central office employee all right so we will do the masc version yep yeah y to the full committee and ever so timely we have the employment of principal policy so we have hours from 2015 it was reviewed and amended after a final vote and then we have um the masc version which they updated in 2022 I feel like was it our version that got specific to how we work as yes so we talk about our process yeah and it says the shury school committee endorses a 1995 Massachusetts doe we'd have to change that because they're desie um advisory that recommends consistent with the need for open Communications so talks about the advisory and that's still part of Mass General law um I think um it should be okay I'm just trying to see if it follows our process after initial I just didn't know if we wanted to edit ours because ours goes into you know detail that we have to have one person from the school committee and from the Elementary staff at least right um I wouldn't mind though oh no it says okay readen I thought it said A shutesbury Elementary student but it says parent guardian of Y um and that's not in the mass the M no so I'd like our more detail because I feel like it gives a better sense of what has been done historically yes so I think if we can just update anything that needs updating like the doe versus the destiny I think leaving the details helpful the only thing we don't so I'm gonna um we don't always do the interviews the way this says because until they become oh but oh I guess it's finalists the second round should be a public for the third round is the superintendent okay so that's my final interview so that's fine okay a single candidate you encourage discussion off salary and contract by the superintendent we do all the hiring paperwork is this still true that the director of the super the the last paragraph that says there's an April 1 deadline for educational go goals and school Improvement adhere to the policies no we submit our school Improvement plan fall and it's every three we we we do it over every three years but you review it every year right so annually let's get rid of before April 1st okay must submit the educational goals and school Improvement plan that's fine so if we get rid of before April first yeah the initial contract yep we can offer initially but no no one would do it because why would you take a job only in the first year of a employment May a principal get a one-year contract and it can't be more than three years and then it's the three to five range I'm not sure that statues right about the 60 days so what I'm going to I'll just say reviewed and edited okay but I'm not sure the step we have that failure of the superintendent to notify a propin of the proposed non-renewal at least 60 days I just want to check okay statute but if it's okay I'll just email you statue is okay okay and we'll put it forward as edited reviewed and edited on on 411 email policy oh but you won't be the policy committee no as Jackie would say what w oh I'll email the new policy committee then um but Jen we will all leave here together all right you know what I'm gonna do before town meeting I will email you too and say the statute is okay and then we'll just put it to the full committee all right oh I know we're all leaving together but it still makes me fussy that you're leaving I know I know I agree I was trying to think of a way to keep in touch with Jackie that would beate and I was like oh well maybe and then I was like I can't do Facebook because then that just opens the door for every I might just have to get an email I think she would I have her some but I told her I I said I'll be retired I'll be your cleaning lady and I'll organize she's like Jen really I'm like [Laughter] maybe oh okay policy GFC professional staff hiring we have hours which is very similar the only thing we have to add is the crown act because I don't think we did yes yeah yep so we'll just add the crown act so reviewed edited Crown Act 4 11 we have 10 minutes we are cranking okay I always do next is substitute professional staff hiring which we didn't have so there it's probably a good policy to have it does talk about getting the daily rate set by the school committee so we should probably do that one that sounds good okay I'm just I'm just taking my notes for Pam yeah she puts all my chicken scratch into very readable minutes M okay last three have to do with negotiations the first one is goals for negotiation masc changed it to negotiation goals otherwise it's very similar yeah can we yep reviewed and edited yeah mhm are we okay with just changing the title so it's the same sure yeah that's fine okay that way it matches in the file system um policy HB is negotiation legal status this is back from 07 I think they just didn't put the entire section two of the yeah Mass General law I'm fine either way I feel like we should actually just adopt masc in this case because if it's citing law like I don't want ours to be in any way out of sync with that I agree yeah I was going to recommend that too um M and lastly school committee negotiating agents so ours is from 07 and then the policy was recently reviewed um by masc and it says the school committee is the responsible party for negotiations um It also says you can hire a negotiator which is the dubber Law Firm um to assist we appoint um The Negotiator his fee your salary as part of the fee your salary we the um retainer we pay MH and then it just spells out the duties of the negotiator I feel like for this I also want to defer to masc me too okay that is it we have done all of our policies we have the time at 6:53 which gives us time to make a motion to adjourn and if we need a bio break we can do it so do I have a motion to adjourn at 6:54 so moved seconded all in favor I I this was an awesome last policy committee meeting with my policy peeps all right we will see you again in six minutes and I have time to get my new glasses to show them off at the next meeting Oh yay bye bye