WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=jiJbAMVVTKQ

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: jiJbAMVVTKQ):
- 00:00:21: Meeting Kickoff: Chatting About Baseball Before Official Start
- 00:05:31: Katrina Joins, Showing Off Adorable New Baby!
- 00:07:36: Official Meeting Start: Welcoming New Member Megan
- 00:10:06: Reorganization Begins: Nominating and Electing Committee Positions
- 00:14:08: Union 28 Representative Nominations and Responsibilities
- 00:17:43: Budget and Personnel Subcommittee and Regional Representatives
- 00:21:56: Planning/Building Liaison, Policy Committee, Warrant Signer Positions
- 00:29:12: Collaborative Educational Services (CES) Representative Discussion
- 00:33:06: Negotiations Subcommittee and Alternate Warrant Signer Selection
- 00:36:08: CPAC Discussion and Moving On To Public Comment
- 00:37:12: Reviewing Agenda, Perpetual Calendar and Action Items
- 00:40:20: Warrants Approval and Approval of April Minutes
- 00:42:12: Capital Project Updates and Status Discussion
- 00:47:16: Site Visit Updates: Ground Source Heat Pump Project
- 00:51:30: Heat Pump Timeline, Financial Planning, Grants, and Funding
- 00:57:26: Clarifying Funding and Discussing Involving Committees
- 01:04:37: Special Education Reserve Fund Creation Discussion and Vote
- 01:16:19: Superintendent Report: Budget, Meetings, Legislative Updates
- 01:25:30: Concerns on Professional Development, Union Structure, Autonomy
- 01:34:04: Data and Reading Curricula Clarifications with Union Interaction
- 01:35:27: Director of Finance and Operations Budget Report Overview
- 01:38:14: Principal's Report: Strings, Field Trips, Student Success
- 01:46:08: Future Data Presentation Discussion and Needs
- 01:52:12: Amherst-Pelham Representatives Report and Regional Agreements
- 02:07:34: Joint Supervisory Committee, Policy Review, and Closing


Part: 1

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Hi Ann. >> Evening. How are you? >> I'm well, thank you. >> Perfect. Good. Good. >> Yeah. >> Oh. Ready for some fun? >> What? Ready for some what? Some fun. >> Ready for now? I'm trying to figure this

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all out. I'm I think I'm supposed to run this meeting. >> Well, you're recording, so that's always good. >> Well, there. >> Awesome. >> Step in the right direction. I'm trying to pull up my agenda as well. >> Okay.

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>> Run this thing. So, excuse me while I figured >> you're doing great. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. How are you, Ann? How's everything? >> All well, all's well. It's wild. This

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May is whipping by. Holy moly. >> My son's a junior and he um he's making it to the playoffs. So, he had a game tonight in Charleston that they just won. >> Yeah, it's so exciting. But >> I know I didn't know one thing about

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baseball and now now I'm now I'm like one of those crazy moms on the side just, you know, >> freaking out. freaking out. Freaking out. It makes me so nervous and just ridiculous. He does He does a great job. And I just I'm afraid that one day they're gonna say, "All right, all those parents that are yapping out there.

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>> Now you have to play." That's my biggest >> on the field. Get on the field. >> Get on the field. >> Yeah. >> You thought it was so easy to run with all that gear on. All right, you do it. >> You'd probably be a good umpire. I think you could probably

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>> Yeah. >> I don't even I don't even think I have to do the thumb. I think I just give him the look like, >> yeah, >> we'll see. I'll work on it. I'll work on it. I don't know. I always feel so bad like whenever whenever um kids on the opposing team catch a ball that he's hit

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or whatever, I'm like, "Drop it. >> Drop it. >> Drop it." >> A wing better. >> Yeah. Oh, I do that. >> We want a pitcher, not a belly. You got to >> And they have this one kid on the team that um I he must be I think he's a

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senior this year and he does this whole bit and he he screams like he's been in um been on a fishing boat for a hundred years and he has this like real gravel to his voice >> and he just starts with this whole

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story. So he likes to get like distract the other team. So he'll start with story >> and it starts like at the beginning of the game and then he'll go through second date and the other team like cannot figure him out. >> So funny.

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>> And he's like the other team's like what what are you doing? And he's just like no it's great because then the like we're all waiting. >> We're like dude it's third inning. Where >> did he buy HER FLOWERS YET? BOUGHT HER FLOWERS. >> YEAH. That is so crazy.

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>> It's like he gets it. He's like, "I'm in high school. I'm never doing this out of high school." You know what? We're gonna have some laughs while we're while we're here tonight. So, >> I'm a fan. I'm a fan. I'm all for it. >> He'll be a comedy writer. >> Oh, it's gonna be something. It's got to be something. Those kids are just so

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fun. >> And then the other team will start to like negatively like be like kind of obnoxious and swearing or whatever. >> Yeah. >> NOT NOT OUR TEAM. CHAPTER FIVE. I just it cracks me up. So he gets in

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there though. >> Yeah. >> No, it's just us. Maybe maybe it'll be a quick meeting. >> That's good. >> Give you my report. It's kind of short. It's uh >> Yeah, I'll be on all the subcommittees as you know. It's like like as if I >> Yeah,

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that's thing. It's so hard to keep on top of all of the pieces because it's just >> there's so much and it's it's exciting and then at the same time like replacing the basketball hoops. >> Yeah, >> Matt and I were just talking about that

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yesterday. We're Matt made a really good point. They're really you have to have them professionally installed. They're in the concrete. We can't do it until the other stuff gets done. So, >> he said to he said to Haley, "Keep 10 grand aside because when they go to do that and rip it all out, like it's gonna

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you could replace it then, but um just all the like there's that. Then there's the water and the drainage report and how they're going to do that and what's going on with the tank. Like is that gonna live another day?" And >> I know I know

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>> I don't know that stuff. >> I know. And we were in town. We were at that post office uh protest. >> I mean, it's just like constant like constant like this is falling apart. This is >> Oh my god.

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>> Why are we fighting? Oh, it's autoframing my video. That's why it just zoomed in on me. Let's not do that. >> What was going on there? Like, >> oh my gosh. Well, I'm on a movie. >> Yeah, >> it's so crazy. But um good evening. >> Hi Katrina.

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can't see you or hear you, but that's fine. >> There she is. >> Hi. >> He's not happy right now. >> Oh my god. >> Little people. >> You want to holler?

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>> Oh my gosh. >> I know. He's a little nug. He's not He's not pleased right now because I'm not giving him my full undivided attention. >> I mean, he's just the sweetest. What does the shirt say? >> It says little bro.

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>> Oh, little brother. Oh my goodness. >> Oh my gosh. He's Look how alert he is. >> I know. >> Quiet. So maybe he wants to be another member. >> That's probably what it is. He's like, "When's the voting?" >> Yes. He's like, "I'm here to be a delegate.

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>> I'm gonna yay everything." So it's all good. >> Oh my goodness. >> Is that the noise? Yay. >> Yes. It's perfect. Yay. Oh, >> so sweet. >> Le and Susie, there's some tough competition for cuteness tonight. So, I

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I >> I'll be pretty tough to meet. >> Congratulations again, Katrina. >> Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. >> Oh my goodness. So exciting.

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Never gets old. No, >> just a little peepod. Seriously magical. >> I know. So little. Oh, just so sweet. He's like, "Mom, no voting tonight." A so sweet.

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>> Hello. >> How's everyone? I was just in a Google meet with our new member just to welcome her and introduce myself and all that. So, oh, I was going to say she should be joining momentarily. >> Good evening. Welcome.

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>> Yay. >> Hi, Megan. >> Hello, everyone. Welcome. Thank you very much. >> All right. So, it's 7:01. We have uh I saw Anna Herd at the center

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of town. She should be here as well. We can give her just a couple minutes to show up. But welcome everyone to our May reorganization meeting. Um I think we have enough to start a

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quorum. So we could just start it now since it's since we're here. So I hereby start the meeting uh for May 21 >> 21

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>> 21 at 7:01 p.m. for the Shootsberry Elementary School Scoop Committee. And I'd like to welcome our new member, Megan Lennon. Thank you for volunteering

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to be a writing. >> I was glad the ballot came out. I was like, "Here's your test ballot." I was like, "Oh, I can I didn't know there was an empty speech." So, I'm very glad. It's great. >> Thank you. Um, tonight on our agenda, um, call a

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meeting and, uh, welcome new members and reorganization of the committee and we should discuss this. Um this is uh the positions are for chair, vice

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chair, uh union 28 representative um for the joint supervisory committee, budget personnel subcommittee, uh the Amherst regional representative, and uh the

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capital planning and building um committee liaison, building liaison, uh the warrant signer and CES representative. Um this is the representative that attends board meetings for the

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collective of the educational services and represents the committee at these meetings. Um so I I don't Here's Anna now just admit her.

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So she is joining as well. Anna, thanks for chiming in. We were just discussing the I just was announcing the positions um for reorganization.

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Um, now, uh, you I assume you guys looked over the agenda and looked at those descriptions for those, uh, different positions. Um, so I think what we can do is we

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could just jump in and start nominating each other for the subcommittees. agree. >> Um, does anyone want to begin or have anything they'd like to say? >> Are we just nominating subcommittees or

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are we nominating positions? >> We're nominating positions. We're going to start with the chair. >> Yeah. >> All right. I nominate Leah for chair. >> I second that for chair. What do you think, Leah?

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Um, I guess I'll do it if else wants to or can do it. >> That is a ringing endorsement, Leah. That is >> congratulations. >> Of excitement is it's very high.

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Leah, >> we're all behind you. Any other nominations? >> I think Katrina would be I mean, I think Leah would be fantastic. I'm sorry, Katrina. >> I would I would be more interested with more bandwidth currently, but

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going going on mute a lot is not helpful for being chair, but Leah, I'm I'm totally willing to step in next year, so you don't have to worry about being there >> full time. But I think those in favor, >> yeah, >> take a vote. >> Say, I believe these are three this a

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three-year position or is this a one year? So you reorganize every year and Leah could volunteer to stay again and you could do that, but you are not necessarily committed to these particular roles for the duration of

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your term. Um, but you you can reorganize every year. >> Great. Thank you for that. So all in favor of nominating Leah Jack for >> all in favor of choosing

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as chair appointing >> sorry thank you >> I >> long >> cop I she caught on right off you're going to fit in just fine Megan Perfect.

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So awesome. Leah is now our chair. >> Now she gets to run the meeting. >> Okay. I will run the meeting. All right. So any uh nominations for vice chair.

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>> I nominate Nate. >> I second. >> Nate Anna. >> Nate Lancco. Yeah. >> Okay. And that was the second. Katrina. >> Yes. Yes, I second. >> All right. So, uh I guess let's do a

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vote, right? >> There any discussion? >> Nate, I assume you're willing. >> I'd be happy to do it. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Bird eye. >> Cut eye. >> Jack eye.

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>> Long cop eye. >> Lennon eye. >> Awesome. >> Congratulations. >> Woohoo. Okay. Um, now on to the union 28 representative.

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Um, so this position is or there are three folks that are going to represent the Shootsbury School Committee at the Union 28 um joint supervisory council.

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And um folks will attend meetings. I think they have uh like four or five meetings a year, right Shannon? >> Five meetings a year, I believe. That's right, Caitlyn. Right. Five meetings. Yep.

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>> Um and uh they're virtual as of now. Um and so yeah. Um and they're in the evenings. Uh so anyone wanting to nominate themselves or others for joint supervisory

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committee service? >> I will nominate myself to continue. >> I second that and I nominate myself to continue. I think it's a pretty interesting committee to be on. Um it feels like you kind of stay in the loop.

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Uh it's like just a Monday, one Monday a month and it just seems like a an interesting committee. >> So Megan, just FYI, um this is the committee that hires and supervises the superintendent

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and that's pretty much and and takes care of sort of like the superintendency union's budget, but that's about all. and the business managers hired by that. Um, and the director of pupil services. >> We approve it. You You approve it, but

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you don't >> It's based on the superintendent's recommendation. >> Actually, the it is, but it is a direct hire from the school committee for those positions. They're the only ones that and a um there's a health one, too, but

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we don't have that in our union. So, it is based on our recommendation, but it's actually has to be signed off by this by the school committee. >> But Leah, I did want to point out you have to be the third member because you're the chair. >> Yeah. >> That keeps going to say that. Yeah.

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After Nate and Katrina volunteered, I was like, "Yep, I have to be on there." >> Well, congratulations all. That's amazing. >> It's kind of thing. you get to stay connected with the other schools in the union and hear about what's going on there too and it's it's pretty

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informative. So, >> you can always attend even if you don't vote though, Megan, if you're interested in just listening in, you're always welcome to attend and lots of committee members do. >> Okay. >> And if one of the three can't go,

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you can go >> um >> as an alternate, >> right? So if one of them can't go, they can say, I'm going to send an alternate and see which alternate wants to go. So we are automatically alternates um for

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the union 28. >> Great. >> And then Trevor, >> yeah, just a procedural thing. So Katrina nominated herself. Nate nominated himself. Nate seconded Katrina's motion. Somebody has to second Nate's motion.

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>> I will second Nate's motion. And you've I've kind of combined these both, but somebody else has to second it and then you also have to vote on this. >> Okay. >> Um so okay, all those in favor of uh

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having Nate and Katrina as well as myself as members of the union 28 joint supervisory committee. I >> sorry. That's perfect. >> Okay.

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Um All right. The next is um a um vote on the folks who will be on the budget and personnel subcommittee. So, I believe we just have um one member um as a

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representative for Shootsberry on the budget and personnel subcommittee and they have to be a member of the joint supervisory um voting members for Shootsberry. Right. >> Correct.

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>> Okay. Um >> that committee is the subcommittee of the JSC, not this group. It's not your budget. It's the JSC budget that you pay a portion of. I mean, of the um Union 28 budget that you

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pay a portion of. >> I was on that committee last year. I don't mind continuing uh being on that committee if that makes it easier for everyone. >> I would second that. >> Okay. So, um, let's all vote. A roll

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call vote. Um, uh, let's start with Katrina. >> Uh, Catalano. I >> Her eye. >> Jack. I >> Lennon. I go by.

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>> Awesome. Um, and then Ammeris Pelum Regional Representative. So this person represents Shootsberry at the regional school committee for Ammerst Pelum. Um in the past they've had quite a few

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meetings. Um Anna can share a little bit more about um what this uh commitment is like if you don't mind Anna. >> Yeah. So, we meet twice a month um for at least three hours if not

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5 or um the last two meetings have gone till almost midnight. Yay. >> We start at 6:30. Um this seems to be a particularly busy

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season. Um but yeah, it is a rare day that we get out before 9:30. Um I will say uh very very rare. Um and then you know during certain

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certain times um we call special additional meetings because we can't get all the stuff done in the time that we're supposed to. And um right now we've been adding a few extra meetings to have joint

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um regional Ammerst and Pelum school committee meetings or joint regional and union six meetings. So every once in a while it gets a little busier but we set

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policy and um look over the middle school and high school. So, and yes, I will volunteer to stay on the regional school committee. >> You volunteer as tribute, Anna.

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>> Round of applause. I second. >> Yeah. >> Thanks, Katrina. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> Take one for the team. >> That's the idea. >> But you know what that means is I take very few other subcommittees.

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>> Yes. Fair. Yeah. All right. Um, all those in favor? >> Catalano. I >> heard I >> Jack I.

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>> Um, all right. So, the planning and building liaison. So Nate, yes, I I will let you provide a description of that. >> Yeah, it's insane. It's totally It's like the It's like the regional school committee. Uh

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>> right now it is for sure. >> It's pretty intense. Um I don't mind uh continuing being on it. I feel like I've uh have a nice rapport with uh the buildings committee and um trying to deal with the uh town

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administration and uh everything. So, um I don't mind staying on it. It's uh a bunch of meetings. We meet once a month and then it gets pretty intense around February, March um where we're having several meetings a week to try to really

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sh up uh the projects, capital projects and then uh present. I presented a few warrants at um town meeting this year and you know just kind of wear thick skin and

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yeah, you know, >> so >> I would support um having Nate continue on that subcommittee because he's a little bit involved in our project to try to um get ground source heat pumps

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for the school and um since he's so enscconced in it right now, it would be nice to have some consistency. So, I will second that nomination. >> All right. Um all in favor of Nate as the planning

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and building liazison for shoots school committee. >> I heard I >> Jack I long I >> Great.

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All right. So for the policy committee um essentially discuss policies as they come out from MASC um and then we review them and bring them to a school committee for full vote

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and approval. Um they go through typically um I think it's like they come to the m committee three the full school committee three times. Um the first time is first read, then there's a second read, and then there's like a final vote in approval. I got that right. Right.

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Okay. So, you'll get to see things a few times, um on the policy committee and then even as a member of the school committee. Um so, uh I am happy to continue on the policy committee. Um,

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and then we would just need a second person um, who might be willing. >> And that I'm just going to add that meets before the school committee in a virtual meeting right before. So it's the same night. Um, typically it's a half hour before and

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you have a separate agenda and then we jump into this meeting just for Megan who might not know what that structure looks like. >> Thank you. >> Thanks Shannon. So, I'm happy to nominate myself, but I don't want to jump in if that's something you're more interested in,

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Megan, than the next opportunity. But either way, I'm happy to join if we need another person. >> I'll do whatever. I really don't. It doesn't all of them sound great. So, whatever is needed. So, it's something you're interested in, totally, you know. >> Yeah, sure. I mean, I'll I'll hop on the

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on the policy subcommittee. I was about to say sub policy committee. Policy subcommittee. >> Second. Awesome. Oh, and then I guess um we also You're seconding both, Anna, or just Katrina?

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>> I'm seconding both. >> Okay, awesome. All right. Um, so all in favor of myself and Katrina serving on the uh Shootsberry School

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Committee Policy Committee >> Adalo I third I >> Jack I. >> Awesome. All right. Um, warrant signer. Um, so this person is responsible for

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reviewing the um, warrants for Shootsberry uh, elementary school. Um, they typically come out every couple of weeks and it's not too bad. Um, I currently get them digitally, but you

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can also get them in hard copy paper if you prefer. though I think we all I think uh Caitlyn you might prefer getting them getting them digitally. I don't Do you have a preference? >> Uh it it doesn't really matter to us. So what we do is

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>> how we're doing it right now is we send it through docyign. Um it gets reviewed, signed, we print it out, we bring it to town hall. What happened previously is we would bring them to town hall and then someone would show the warrant signer would show up to town hall and sign them. So it is entirely up to the

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preference of the warrant signer because it it doesn't matter to us. >> Okay. Um and my preference was to uh get them virtually so I didn't have to make the >> I mean

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yeah it's a long trick but um it's nice to be able to like review it at night like early in the morning when I have time. So >> yeah. >> Um so yeah. So, anyone want to take on warrant signer? I don't

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>> I don't I don't mind. Yeah, I'll do it. I literally do whatever. So, it's fine. It's all an interest, so I don't mind. >> Okay, cool. I And I find it interesting like looking to see what we're paying what we're paying for. Um, so it's like an interesting way to learn about

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essentially our our our um our districts, our schools uh priorities. Uh, go ahead, Caitlyn. >> Yes. So, Megan, would you uh prefer if we sent you a docu sign or would you like to go to town hall every other

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week? >> No sign. >> All right. So, I'll I'll let um Emily, our accounts payable, know she's going to run the next warrant on probably Tuesday. And so, you'll get a docu sign sent to your email and um you'll be

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you'll be ready to go. Um and usually like we we it's great if you can turn it around in a couple days. We have a few more days after that, but um yeah, you can you can take some time. It's not like an immediate thing. Are

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you Lennon M at sheetsbury school.org? >> Yes, that is me. >> I second Megan's um >> yeah nomination. >> All right. All in favor?

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>> Alan I. >> Her eye. >> Jack I >> L I Longco. >> Okay, great. Um and then uh CES uh representative so collaborative for educational services

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representatives. So this is a huge um uh organization. Um it they're essentially there's representation from pretty much all of the districts in Franklin County and I think is it Hampshire?

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>> Hampshire is definitely Yes. >> Yeah. um and then maybe even some counties out west as well. Um and they get together. I think it's also five times a year um to um meet on the

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finances of the collaborative if there's a change in um leadership. So the executive director, we um we are the ones that hire the executive director. Um, and then in general there's uh there's also like a budget subcommittee

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that you can be a part of if you're um a representative there. Um, the the folks are really great. Um, they no longer do food at the meetings. I mean, it makes sense for budgetary purposes. Um, but it

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is still like a really nice uh community of folks, I think. Um, and there there is a new executive director starting in the summer. Um, so it's it's likely going to be another a year of building. Um, especially given that there's like

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some financial uh work that the organization is doing. So um any volunteers for that? I am also happy to continue if um folks feel like they're kind of full up with their assignments,

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but um happy to >> see that. >> Is that only in person? >> No. No, they also have a virtual option. >> Okay. Are they is it on schedule with the JSC? Like is it alternating with that

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>> by monthly? >> No, I don't think so. The next meeting that we have is May 27th. Um I forget like the cadence, but it is typically towards the like I think it's like the last

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Wednesday of the month, but I'd have to confirm. Okay. >> I mean, if you want to continue, that's totally fine. But if you want to have something off your plate now that you're chair, then I'm happy to to to do it.

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Um, yeah, let uh I don't know if I like I'm not really sure what being chair will entail. So it might be like reasonable enough to continue. Um

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can and and we don't have alternates either. Uh yeah Katrina if you if you don't mind that would be great if um yeah if you like so I nominate Katrina Katrina for CES representative. Second

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>> Alano I >> her eye. >> Jack I >> I co I >> Who seconded? >> Anna. >> Anna. Thank you.

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>> All right. So that uh concludes our reorganization portion of the agenda. Thank you all. >> Do wait. Do we need >> do we have any um negotiations coming up this year?

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>> Oh, good question. >> So, um we will be they have one more year left on their contract. So, I do think it's a good thing to think about because truly they should invite us to begin negotiation sometime in the early

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winter because really you wrapped up well before it expires. So, um you will want two reps to be on a negotiations um committee.

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>> All right. So, let's um vote on that. >> I nominate Megan. >> I'm in. >> Thanks, Seth. That's fine. That's a good one because you have some time to get used to being on the committee before

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>> before that. >> Who else wants to do it? >> Um, I can do that one. Yeah. >> Second. >> I second I second me. Or did you already second it Anna?

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>> I did. I'm seconding yours, too. >> Okay. Awesome. Okay, >> that's good. >> Um, all right. So, all in favor I

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>> heard I >> Jack I >> L I Cop I >> Awesome. Um, and then I also just remembered that we should have a an alternate warrant signer just in case um

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is unable. Uh oh, did we miss something, Trevor? >> No, I missed something. I missed the position that you were voting on. Sorry. >> Oh, we were voting on negotiation subcommittee. >> Negotiation subcommittee. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. And so that was Megan.

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>> Megan and Leah. Thank you. >> Thanks, Trevor. All right. >> All right. And then um the uh so in terms of a an alternate warrant signer

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um I'm happy to provide a backup for that. Um so uh can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thanks Anna. >> I'm really good at seconding. Um all those in favor

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I >> heard I >> Jack I >> long cop pie. >> All right. Awesome. Anything else folks can think of in terms of uh positions or coverage may

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want to make sure we >> CPAC. Oh, CPAC. >> There has not been a school committee rep on CPAC that I know of. >> Nope. It's been um led by U. Amy Langden

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and had has had several parents that have attended. >> I mean, it's an open meeting. You certainly can go, but I don't I I don't know of any of the union schools that have a school committee rep on CPAC. That

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the region does. So that's why I asked um I think is that I think I can't think of any other things we need to vote on. All right, sounds good. Uh, so moving on

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to public comment. I don't think I see any. >> Okay. >> No public. >> Um, review of agenda and perpetual calendar. Okay. Um, so on the agenda

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today, we'll go through approval of the minutes. Um there is always unfinished business for capital projects and building process. Um new business discussion um is regarding identification of school

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choice seats and special education reserve fund. Um there will be a discussion and vote. Go ahead Shannon. >> Um we already made took the vote on the school choice seats at the last school committee meeting. I think that that just got left on and I didn't catch it

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to tell Robin. So that's already been done at the last meeting. >> Okay, great. Um and then uh we'll have the reports for the superintendent um director of finance and operations principal report, Ammerst Pelum joint

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supervisory committee and CES. Um and then we'll review policy and discuss future business. Um, so I did find the perpetual calendar. Um, let me see if I can just search it really

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quickly again here. All right. And um I'll need to make a new one for um the upcoming school year, but in general in May um we're reorganizing the committee. Um we have our town meeting, our school choice

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vote, um town meeting coordination, superintendent evaluation, if it's an on cycle year will be done, um review of the school improvement plan for next school year, which I think last

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year we did maybe a little bit later. I guess we'll have to talk about um what makes sense going forward for where that where that should really live on the perpetual calendar. Um and then for Ammerst regional there's the superintendent evaluation that's

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happening slash to be done and then um the union 28 uh superintendent evaluation um to be done. So, I mean that's kind of a duplicate of the other one, but so in general, that's what's up for May. And then for June, we have

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approving um end of year budget adjustments, which we might even be talking about today. Maybe Caitlyn, I think you would alluded to it. No, >> no, I think so. Yeah, next next month I'm going to have kind of all of our revolving accounts, all the

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recommendations for transfers. Um, but I'm gonna give it a couple more weeks before so we've got more information before I do that. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> All right, so u moving on with the

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agenda. Um, warrants. Um, I will hand it over to Caitlyn to walk us through that and any grants. >> Okay, so I have four warrants. two from accounts payable. um warrant number 3024 from May

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12 for $4,8224 and 3025 from May 26 for $56,487.76 and then two payroll from uh 322 from April 27th for $97,790.96 and 323 from May 11th for $88,8991. one cent. I do not have any gifts or

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grants tonight. >> All right. Thanks, Kaitlyn. All right. Um, next item, approval of minutes um from April 16, 2026. Can I

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please uh have a motion? >> I move to approve the minutes. >> I second. >> All right. Um all in or any discussion. Oh no.

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Is something wrong, Anna? >> Nope. It's fine. I just accidentally closed my agenda. It's okay. >> Okay. Um All right. All in favor? >> I >> Jack I.

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All right, great. Um, so now over to Nate for uh capital projects and process updates. >> Uh, okay. So, we, uh, got all our warrants, uh, approved at town meeting, which was kind of a big deal. Um, we got

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the survey, um, approved for the parking lot. Um, I have been in contact with Carlos Neto from the Birkshshire Design Group and he is going to be uh organizing that um

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initial survey with Haley Bolton, our town administrator. Um, we got the snow blowers approved as well as the divider for um the gymnasium which all seemed to have a

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lot of discussion in the meeting but um eventually passed with the thanks to uh an and uh members of the finance committees. Thank you Susie for chiming in and helping us out um in the meeting. Um,

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other than that, we um we do have a few things. I contacted um Scott Barlo. We have a um quote for the patching and the fixing of the sidewalk that came his

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quote came to I think 39,000. Um Haley has um because it's so high, Haley has to do the three bid um project. Um, so she's looking at different a few other two other um bids

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for that and we're going to have to take a closer look at that quote um and see where we can kind of cut and um yeah figure out what's going to happen there. Um

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there is um there's a uh Frank McInn sent me something that the building committee is going to tackle and that is Ann might know a little bit more about it. It is the

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uh CTC um building automation system. So that's something that the uh buildings committee is going to look into. um and getting a I believe it's a

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contractor to come out and kind of uh implement electronic system to uh monitor all of our um equipment and u i.e. um boiler and

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um HVAC systems and stuff like that. I believe that's what that's for. >> Um >> we do have several things going on. We have that and we also have the um the solar the they were looking into the solar project as well and they they did some drilling and I assume they were

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just drilling into soil. No, no, no. They brought in gigantic drills and we're drilling during this whole day. So, I learned an important lesson in making sure I know exactly the extent of the work that's going to be done during this whole day. So, it's um there's a there's a lot of irons in the fire

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presently at you know for shoot. >> That was a solar project. I thought that was the bore holes for the >> That was the bore holes. >> Okay, >> that was the the two separate things. >> Oh my gosh. Yeah, so much going on. Yeah, it's hard to keep up. Um there's a

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lot of moving parts with the um you know, with the driveway. It's pretty wild to think about. >> And bravo, Nate, because you've really learned a lot and done a lot to really help support the school. For sure. So, thank you. >> You're welcome. Uh I appreciate that. So

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yeah, we're just gonna keep on trucking with that and um do our best to kind of keep the budget down. It's obviously going to be expensive. I did like um Anna might speak to this more about the

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train and um quote about this um potential ground source heat pump, which is interesting. and in that, you know, they want to drill like 30 um holes into, you know, bore holes down and they want to do it in the parking lot. So,

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it's really kind of fascinating to think about all this kind of happening at the same time and like and that there would be money, you know, to patch the driveway after these bore holes would be done. So, it it's just kind of fascinating to think about um if we're

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really able to get um the town administration to really take this seriously, take all these moving parts and look at it and and and make some really smart decisions for the town and the school. I mean, it could be it's kind of fascinating to think about. So,

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I do think that this survey is kind of that first step. Getting um Berkshire Design Group to come out here and take a good look at what we have um and where what we're what we can do with it uh is a great first step. So, yeah. >> Is now when you want me to talk a little

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bit about the site visits or >> it can be good segue for that, right? >> This is part of like Yeah. So I was able to be present for the site visits from train and brightcore I think their name

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is. Um so train came out with a like a team of four people. Um they are a soup to nuts uh group. They will do all of the design

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all of the implementation of the entire project. Um they have uh pre-clarance so you don't need to do multiple bids if you choose to select train. Um they

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also are um a HVAC manufacturer. So they would probably install train um heat pumps. Uh which makes sense. Um

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I think both organizations looked at the system that's currently installed. Um there's just trying to they have to do some background work to figure out the size of the needed system and balancing

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heating and cooling capacities for the systems. Um, it does seem like most of the forced air system can be repurposed to accommodate the the newer system. They may have to do some retrofitting on

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the coils a little bit. Um, everybody was very happy to see the blower system. Um, I feel like the the train group had one sort of like focus

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and the bright core group had a slightly more like technical focus than the train group. Um, I think that the bright core group filled in some gaps for some of the people who are there really doing a

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little bit more in-depth explanation of how heat source, sorry, ground source heat pumps work. Um, so I think that was helpful. Um, there's some incentives that like some tax

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incentives to consider. we can get some tax credits for um the whole project. Um and then if we replace the driveway as part of the project of installing heat pumps. So like basically if the heat pumps if the

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wells go into the driveway and then you have to repave afterwards. Um part of that project can be recouped as tax credits. Um because it's like what do you say 80%

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or 60% some percentage of the total project costs um can be reimbursed with the tax credit. So um this is another incentive for us to do everything all together and not do little pieces one at

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a time. Um I don't just from my listening in I don't have a strong preference of one group over the other. I think the biggest advantage that train has is the soup to nuts capacity to be able to do

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everything in-house and do it all themselves. Um the bright core group would um hire a bunch of subcontractors to help them complete the project. Um, but uh they both seemed fully capable.

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Any questions? Okay. >> Um, for that tax credit, so like it's going to be around for a while. It's not getting cancelled. Do you know of >> uh I would hurry up and try to get it

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done this year. Okay. >> All right. Go ahead, Susie. >> Um, so I did want to try to understand the timeline because there's no money appropriated for this. Um, so it would

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be a process if the town has to um do some of the um initial appropriations. Um, the next special town meeting um will be in the fall. We don't have a date yet. Um but it al you know planning

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financial planning takes a bit. So are you >> and is this tied at all to any of the um green grants that are coming through? >> Yes. Yes. So they're they're applying for a

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climate leaders grant which would cover like $150,000 of technical assistance. Um, and then there's like an a million dollar grant that's available for implementation of the project. And then

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there's the MSBA grant which will open up. Um, that one it's not 100% clear whether the timing in is going to work well. Um, but there's a carveout in that

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program just for heat pumps. So, um it's not like the roof quite but yeah, I think um Nate is in touch with Frank and the crowd and

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Michael de Kiara is heavily involved. Nate, my husband, is also working with the group to work to figure out the grants and the um pushing it through all of the relevant places. Um so

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they are in touch with finance. Um I think I will encourage him to maybe get you on the email list so that you you can be a part of that as well. Um,

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and then, uh, I talked to Tim Walton just today at the Save Shoots post office event and, um, he seemed kind of interested. So, >> do you have a person on the select board

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who might be um, wanting to hear a little bit more? >> Yeah, he's the newly elected me uh, member of the select board. >> Yeah, Jim. Jim. Jim Walden. >> Did I say something else? >> I think you said Tim. I heard Tim.

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>> I definitely meant Jim, but >> if I said Tim, it's possible. My brain's 100%. >> Yeah. >> And Haley is the center of the hub. I mean, really, this is a lot of >> She's very involved. She's super involved. Well, she

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there needs to I'm asking for a header that includes all the people because stuff is happening and the fin's not informed. So, um so that's AJ is the chair. Um and I think he'll stay the chair. We'll make him stay the chair.

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So, um so there so the coordinator needs to have a really appropriate header >> so it all goes all the time. otherwise it's going to get some snags. Um, and kind of like a followup to Suz's

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uh question about timeline is what are the next steps for this? Nate, do you >> I from what I gathered, uh they were doing these um

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assessments the other day uh for to get this paperwork done so that they could start applying, Michael could start applying for these grants. Um, and then once these grant possibly come through, then we can start moving

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forward and making some decisions. That's what I gathered. Um, like I said, we're trying to get this survey um, done as soon as possible as well, so we can include that into any grant proposals. Um, so that's moving forward hopefully

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rather quickly. Um, yeah. So, and again, Susie, should I uh that interaction with Carlos? Should I include AJ in that? Haley is

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communicating. I'm just kind of like poking and proddding to make sure that this is moving. >> So, I did see that, but um I did see Carlos's inquiry. Um and and because I'm

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not I'm not the chair and it wasn't on our meetings. We haven't talked about it. So I mean I didn't understand um where the funding is coming because what was approved at town meetings not open till July 1. So I I didn't I don't know

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how and and that's that's the kind of coordination that Haley can provide. So, um, and she probably needs to be, um, instructed about or or the questions

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need to go to her so she can understand what pieces are are need to be clarified. >> Right. >> Great. >> So, who is paying Carlos right now? >> Yeah. Well, that's a good uh that's a good question. I think he's just

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submitting something now. Um, I can forward you that uh correspondence. uh and we can uh mention I'll mention to her that that funding doesn't open up until July 1st >> or somebody else might have a plan. It's

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just like I don't know anything about it in terms of the finance committee and just um knowing that the um the article was approved at town meeting but maybe somebody else has an understanding of this and and that's what needs to be

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clarified. >> Great. Am I hearing that maybe it'd make sense for us to spend some time uh at the June meeting talking with a few folks? Like I don't know if it makes sense to invite

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uh Decier since he's he's applying for the grant. Um and I'm not sure about like Carlos is Carlos the train representative or >> Carlos is the um Berkshire Design Group rep. So, he's going to be like doing the

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survey of the um parking lot and driveway. And I believe that there is grant money available from an a an ADA grant for assessing um the school as well. And I believe

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that uh Haley is going to see that's part of um Berkshire Design Group's uh analysis as well. So, I think we're going to try to um couch those things together. Um

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so, um >> okay, >> we uh Ann McGill and I have coordinated a meeting on June 10th with Haley and we're going to sit down and we're going to talk about this stuff and try, you know, we're going to talk about the

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boiler. We're going to talk about what has gone on this past year and try to get, you know, all on the same page and hopefully Ann and I will have more information. We will do our best to invite um Haley maybe to our our June

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meeting and I'll reach out to Michael as well and he can explain the the heat pump. Um, >> that's right before the meeting started, Nate and I were just talking about how there's so many moving pieces that we don't know all the details of and then we'll get emails from different places.

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We're not sure how it's all connected. So, it's so important that we get the big picture piece because everything has to do with everything, right? The buried oil tank, the um the different grants and all the different parts and it's all great stuff. It's just really tricky to

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kind of figure out what's happening. And if one thing doesn't happen, it affects everything else. And um with it being grant money, I can see why people might not have thought to think of, oh, FINCOM should know about this because if this is something that's recommended with the ADA report, then we're going to need to address certain things. There's So yeah,

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we're definitely hoping to give you a much clearer picture because again, we don't know all the pieces either. Every time we know something, we let you know. So, um hopefully that meeting with Haley is going to really help. And if anybody wants to join us, you feel free. Let us know. And it sounds like you have a lot of committees going on, but we're happy to have you. We'll let you know. We'll

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let you more when it comes up. >> I think we schedu for 9:00 on June 10th, I believe. Ann, >> that's right. >> If anybody wants to come, I can reach out. Susie, uh, you know, I can reach out to someone from the Fincom. If

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you're available on June 10th at 9:00 a.m. to join us, uh, you're absolutely welcome to do that if that's helpful. Hey, is that meeting at the town hall because either Caitlyn or I should be there to make, you know, Ann is so

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helpful and so involved with the facility running, but that takes a lot of her attention out of running the building and I'd like to keep, you know, be able to support her and being in the loop and and I say that knowing that I'm probably going to defer most facility things to Caitlyn because facility

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things cost money and she's a better partner for that. So, um, one of us will join. Um, that would be great. >> It was at Shootsburg. >> We can be helpful just, you know, so we can be helpful about how that goes >> and not add too much to Ann's plate

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because we want to we want to keep her there for a long time and I don't want to overwhelm her. And Nate, I think um if you can also help ensure that FINCOM, probably AJ is looped in on all of the email

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communication going forward. I think that and you know, if it's appropriate, Susie can get looped in as well. But if it's I feel like because this is a school thing that it might be helpful to have both AJ and Susie on it. >> Yeah, sounds like a great idea.

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Awesome. And then my only other question regarding this was like Anna, I know you mentioned that your husband is also going to be like playing a part and >> so he's on ECAC with Michael. >> Okay. Okay. >> Yeah. So that's why he's and he he has

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been really pushing this uh I mean he and Michael have been working very closely together on this uh ground source heat pump idea. Both he and Michael and I think one of the other um building committee members have ground

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source heat pumps um at their houses at our houses I guess. Um and so we've already seen the benefits of these heat pumps. Um so they're they're pretty big proponents.

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At the same time, like ECAC is obviously very motivated to get rid of the oil tanks um if that's feasible. Um, and you know, obviously if we can't get rid of the oil altogether,

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um, we won't, they won't, but the I think the, you know, the leaking oil tank is nobody's favorite. So,

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it'd be really nice if we could get off oil altogether, but, you know. >> Yeah. So, I um I guess I'll just uh throw in that if you think it makes sense for your husband to also come to

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the school committee meeting on >> I think Michael can do it. If if you invite Michael, he can tell Nate and then if Nate decides that he wants to attend, he he can attend. But otherwise, Michael can probably take it. >> Sounds good. All right. Um any other

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questions for Nate or Anna? on capital projects and the building process. All right. Um so on to new business. Um we will not need to discuss uh school choice um since we had the vote last

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month. But I am hoping that we can just get a reminder on the grades or maybe I saw that in your principal report. Ann, >> are you gonna touch on it? Oh, sorry. It's in the minutes that we approved, too.

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>> Yeah. Okay. Yes. Yeah, that's maybe where I saw it. >> All right. >> Grades one, four, and six. >> Yeah. Okay, awesome. Um, the next item then, special education

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reserve fund. So, I think this was an item from Caitlyn. Yes, from me and from Susie. And Susie, you can chime in any anytime you want to. So the state of Massachusetts um had developed a special education reserve

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fund where uh regional schools and municipal districts could have a reserve fund for spe um extra special education costs uh held by for municipal districts

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at the town that we can create um put into up to I think 2% of our operating operating budget which is about $55,000. So we have to keep it under a certain limit and but it would be available for

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us especially as a small school that one out of district placement can be very disruptive. Uh we can have a little bit of a pocket of money in in good years where we're able to transfer into that fund and we can grow it and to to get to

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the maximum and we can use it in times that we need it. So, Shoots Bear is a pretty perfect community for this sort of fund. Uh, but there are some hoops we have to go through and that is a vote by the school committee to um to do the

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fund and then a vote at a town meeting and we would do the special town meeting in the fall. Susie, is that right? Um, and the town would approve it and then we could start uh putting money into the special education reserve fund

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held by the town. And it does it's not a fund that is accessible to us at any time. We can't just use it like circuit breaker or school choice. It would also have to go through a process to be able to use those funds. Um and it it would

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be in a case of like an unexpected big expense in special education. >> Would would we have to use like town meeting to appropriate those funds or do is it just a school committee? >> I believe is a school committee and a select board

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>> would also have to so there is a a town and school component >> and the maximum is 55,000. Did you say >> it's 2% of your operating budget, which right now I think is about 55,000. So,

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um, yeah, 55152. So, we can't uh we can't keep putting money into it and and kind of bloat it. It has to stay within a certain amount, but that amount would cover a fair amount of tuition and transportation if

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we had something unexpected. And on top of the state uh circuit breaker extraordinary relief and then circuit breaker it would kind of be a bandage between what the state can't help us out with in the first year

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and to what the state can help us out with. and we'd only uh put into it funds that go through the operating budget that we would put a line into the budget to transfer some funds little by little um

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into the fund to to create and hopefully get to the maximum. >> What's little by little? What what do you have an idea of what dollar amount? >> Uh it kind of depends on the budget outlook. So, for next year, if uh if I

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could put a budget line of 10 or $15,000, then we could at the end of the year transfer that amount. If it looks like we can transfer more than that amount, that would be good, too. It kind of you're It depends on what the budget will look like. And with negotiations

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coming up, that's a little bit trickier, but at least it would get the the account established. And we would budget for it and we can start the process of kind of building it up and then we might have a great year one

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year and be able to transfer more and um and get closer to it faster than we think. >> Go ahead, Anna. is do you transfer money from END or do you budget to put money into the fund and

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>> so we don't have END as a municipal district >> excess and deficiency oh >> yep so we only we everything that we end the year with goes back to the town so instead of if we have if we know that we

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budgeted for let's just say three million and we only spent 2.9 million in we have um and we have a line that we can transfer some money into the special education resation fund then reserve fund then we

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would do that with that money. >> Okay. So it is but so what I'm saying is you put the line in there with no money in it and then at the end of the year if there is money then you put it into that line. >> Well we budget for there to be money in

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that line. Um I I mean I can't predict but like yeah >> so we would we would budget a small amount so that it's there the lines there were able to transfer um >> and go from there.

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And is that a wise choice? Like given last year where we had to like ask for money from the town for like radiator fluid or a $34,000 jamro bill. Like is

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this the time to be thinking about putting $16,000 a year aside? Just a question. >> Go ahead, Susie. So, there's a lot of um

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there's things like there may be some rural aid coming to make up for the fact that they cut it and it won't come here till till the year's almost over. So, there's revenues that come in that are unanticipated

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or um this the budget got around dealing with it. That was one of the reasons I spoke to the finance committee about um transferring from the FINCOM reserve to not put the pressure for the $8,000 I think it was I can't even remember now

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from Jamro on the school this year. Um if late money comes in from rural aid then that allows the school to maybe in that case put some money into the special ed um fund. And because this is

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the kind of state um process we're dealing with, this particular account allows to hold the money in um the local budget in the local school budget so that it can meet things. Um so it's also

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a reflection of how revenue is not um been clear and and we haven't been able to count on it. But when it comes in and you weren't counting on it, this has a this is a place that it could go to. It also can draw interest.

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>> Thank you, Susie. Shannon, go ahead. Yeah, I just I sort of want to echo around that like um Anna had referenced END which is excess and deficiency where regional um districts can when they have money that you know they come under

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budget a little bit that that money can go into a reserve that they control. So when something comes up you're not going back to a town in a special town meaning that you have some of that. Municipalities don't have that option. And in a small district like

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Shootsberry, an unanticipated, let's say out of district placement is a significant hit on our budget. Um, transportation alone, I we have a one of the other union schools, transportation

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alone in a year is over $50,000. That's not including the tuition that is being paid for the student to go elsewhere, right? And so we do get some money back. Um but we're obligated to make sure that student gets the services they need. So finding a way to pay for

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it becomes a municipal problem because it's our obligation. Um and so I think if we could have a little fund, it would actually my opinion and this is a decision for for you to make as a school committee and for the municipality to consider. I think it's probably a

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fiscally responsible thing to do to try to budget a little bit so when those unintended costs come to us, which are going to happen at some point, right? And we just know that that we're in a little bit better position to get to the point where we've incurred the first

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year's costs and now maybe we're going to get circuit breaker or extraordinary relief. But it would at some point we're going to need that money, right? We don't know when. could be two years, could be, you know, next year, but it just might be a way to be better prepared for when that happens. Um,

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obviously that's a a decision for this committee, but that's just my my thoughts on it. >> Yeah, that seems seems like a very smart thing to do. I mean, I think that we did, you know, I mean, we did have one out of district placement and it was

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what, $116,000. So you have to expect that that's going to happen again to be able to weather that. And so that money would be a set set aside. We wouldn't be able to touch it for any other purpose. So I don't know. Yeah, seems like a

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smart >> we wouldn't be able to touch it without select board and school committee approval. Uh, and I do have language for a vote that kind of sounds official because it does go into the Mass General law um that I can read to you or

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>> That sounds good. Thanks. >> Okay. >> Um, a motion to accept the provisions of chapter 40, section 13E of the Massachusetts General Laws to establish a special education reserve fund.

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>> So moved. Trevor, I can write that to you if you want to. >> Can I get a second? >> Yeah. >> Okay, great. Anna moved and Nate seconded. All those in favor? >> Catalano Idard I. >> Jack I.

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>> Lennon I. >> Long eye. >> Okay. Awesome. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh the next item is the report section of the agenda. So, we'll start with Shannon for her

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superintendent report. >> Much anticipated report, right? That was one of the things I did preface Megan. I'm like, Ann is always fun and it talks about things going on and mine is very dry. Um, so living up to that billing, um, I would like to start by extending our sincere thanks to the voters of

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Shootsberry for their support with our fiscal year 2627 school budget. in a fiscal climate that continues to present challenges to municipalities. We deeply appreciate the community's commitment to investing in the students and children of Shootsberry.

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Um I recently held um some meetings with Seesaw, which is the actual acronym for your union um in Shootsberry. Um and I had some great conversations. I met with a smaller group um from the union and then um we decided at the outcome of

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that meeting that to just sort of have an afterchool roundt tell me you know a little bit of chatting about um things that um they're really excited about things they have questions about um in a little bit more of a informal atmosphere

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um would be the route to go. So, we had that meeting. It was productive. Um, the staff was they're very, I'm sure you know because you work with them, they're very passionate about their school. Um, and you know, they've had a lot of changes there. They've had a new superintendent. They've had a new

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principal. And so to some to get that time to talk about things that are really dear to them. um and and to have a conversation about, you know, some things that um might be, you know, we've sort of um tried to, you know, for

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example, we had some conversation around PD and explaining the the bigger picture and hearing from them and it was a really great dialogue and I just wanted to keep this group updated um that that had happened. Um Ann will have all the other fun things to say that are going

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on in the school. So, I'll go on to Union 28 updates. Um, director of curriculum and instruction Lindseay Rodriguez is leading a crossd district team of educators from across all the Union 28 schools to review um and um

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consider our report cards. Our report cards are different in each of the school although there's some commonalities. Um but we've been looking at them um to ensure vertical alignment across grade level standards to make sure that we're assessing what the state says we are assessing. um making sure

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it's strength-based and the real driving force behind this review was looking at making sure it aligns with um ADA compliance and best practices um uh ADA there's a lot of things in the school that are um being reviewed how we

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do newsletters parent communication um because ADA compliance issues are um uh our thing and as a small school we were exempt from that for a while. And um the idea was you would be exempt, but

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it was coming and districts would be working to adj uh make sure you're up to where you need to be. That work wasn't um some of that foundational work had not been done. Um so Lindsay um one of the things is report cards and so

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Lindsay is trying to to work on that with um representatives from each of the union schools. Um, I was able Oh, I missed one. The Union 28 CPAC, we were just talking about that will not hold formal meetings in May. Instead, the director of student

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support is going to partner with school principles to attend an upcoming May or June uh parent teacher organization meeting. Um the sessions are a opportunity for her to share with a wider range of parents what the role of

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CPAC is um things that they offer and try to um just build a common understanding and and maybe get some more participation. So um Amy Langden will be um working with principles in May and June to hold those meetings. I

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joined area superintendent at a meeting hosted by the collaborative um with the new Massachusetts education secretary Steven Shrek. Dr. Shrek listened to our collective concerns about issues that are facing our public schools. Uh and he heard a lot about the unique challenges

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that are facing rural schools and schools with small enrollment. Um he was joined by several people um including a a governor Healey as well as um people from the personnel offices around finance and um uh school initiatives.

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>> Uh you may recognize his name. He was the receiver um when Holio was um taken by the state. He was the receiver. So he is familiar with Western Mass. Um but right, Holy Oak's issues are different than Shoots and so um he was very

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attentive and asked good questions and and was candid and um the area superintendent who are very good advocates um is what I will say. Um legislative updates. Uh, Massachusetts is experiencing several significant

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shifts in educational policy, reflecting in an increased emphasis on academic outcomes, student well-being, and equity alongside greater responsibility at the local level for implementation. Um, as noted in April's report, the

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state legislator legislature continues to advance literacy reform initiatives centered around the implementation of curriculum aligned with the science of reading. That sounds very, very wordy to that. They are looking across the nations and the

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Commonwealth. Reading scores are not where we want them to be, right? Massachusetts is still performing better than the rest of the nation, but that's a pretty low benchmark. Um and so it's something that Massachusetts is and as well as other states across the country

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are looking at. Um we have a curriculum aligned with the science of reading. So that mandate is not going to be anything earthshattering for our operation. Um but for some districts that are um using curriculum that are are near and dear to them but may not be grounded in the

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science of reading that's not going to be allowed anymore. Um, potential statewide implications include curriculum adjustments, required professional development for educators, um, and an increased focus on early literacy outcomes. Again, this is just

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to keep you updated. It does not change our practice here in Shootsbury. We are doing those things um without the state mandate or um, law around that, but just to keep you updated. Um, additionally, there have been updated regulations um,

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related to special education that address restraint, timeout practices, and broader student safety protocols. Again, at Chesbury, we don't have a secluded timeout room that some districts have or anything like that. Um, but just to keep you updated.

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Um, the budget is currently under review in the Senate Ways and Means. I have not gotten an update today, but I know that they've been working on amendments. There are several that could impact um school funding including um as Susie mentioned an adjustment to rural aid

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which includes some back payment of what they already cut. Um there is um information there's amendments around special education um uh circuit breaker um regional transportation and

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interchool transportation. So, there are a lot of pieces that are still in flux. The challenges with this budget, and I know I'm always sending to chairs, Leah, you're about to get these now. Um, you know, I need your advocacy efforts on this. I need your advocacy efforts

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because they have to know our voice. The challenges with school funding is that it besides that it's not necessarily equitable for small districts is that it's not timely. Um, we get the money and we've already made decisions. Um,

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and then when you have a cut to $4 million in what you thought you were going to get in rural aid for small communities, it it is really um can be a real budget buster. And so um I will say that uh we have a lot of great

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representation um in our local uh legislative leaders who really are um they're responsive. They're checking in with superintendent um and they're really good advocates. So, um I will always share when they ask us for that because I think they've been really

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great partners for us. Um and that is my report for this evening. Nothing fun. >> Thank you, Shannon. Any questions for Shannon? No, but I did hear that uh if

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Massachusetts became its own country, it would be the sixth largest economy in the world. So, we have the money to fund these things. So, advocate. >> That's right.

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>> Go ahead, Megan. Um Shannon, just real quickly, you had mentioned there was some concerns from the teachers and staff about professional development and maybe it's my newness. So I I just wanted to clarify around um professional development. So um as part of the union structure,

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right, it's really unique that we have individual districts um right small schools that really want their autonomy, right? And I think that it's important to our communities that they have autonomy. If you were looking, you'd be regionalized and not a union, right? But

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the economic realities are that there are some things we have to share because no school can provide what is required independently. And sometimes that means compromise. Um, and I'll be very upfront. Um, Shootsberry had to bear some of that

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compromise this year because we got a lot of funding um through a prism grant that Shootsberry did not get. the and the only reason they didn't get it, they have a different curriculum than the other three schools who applied as a consortium, right? And so we got a lot

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of money for professional development. Um, and it was around best practice. Um, and it was outside consultants and the PD was great. But I think in fairness, the Shootsbury people felt like, well, yeah, it is great practice, but they keep referencing this other curriculum

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as examples because three of the four schools are using it. And um in retrospect like we were thinking oh it's we talk to them it's going to be around best practice but of course the presenters are focusing they know 75% of the people in there right are using one

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curriculum that's where their examples came from and that didn't feel really great um and I wanted to provide val like I get it here's the reason we did it right we have to provide professional development and I think we talked about you know we don't have any plans in

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making everyone do the same thing But sometimes there are realities of we have to bundle the resources we have. Um but it was good for me to hear their feelings about that. It was not it was a very collaborative meeting. It was filled with lots of cander. Um but there

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are some realities when you are a union about we want autonomy but we can't really in some places afford autonomy individually because we have to share what there's one superintendent. There was one director of curriculum. there's

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one special ed coordinator and sometimes that that means some compromise. It was good for me though because I need to be aware of that and be thinking about what does this look like in the other end because although there's a reality about it being more cognizant of that. So it

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was a great meeting. We talked about a lot of other things. We talked about things that they were really loving about their school and and um things they want to hold on to. So it was it was a great meeting. I hope that answers. >> Yeah, I thought there was just some concern about lack of or how maybe there wasn't

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>> No, no, no, no. We talked about we offer PD and it is one of the things that um you know in a lot of larger districts there's a lot of opportunity because there's just more money um for teachers to go to sign up for PD and we do have

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some of that but it's limited. So, we need to look at what PD can we offer so that teachers can get PDPS that they need for continuing ed, how can we offer it? And there are some limits to to what that looks like.

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>> So, I hope that clarified it for you, Megan. >> Thanks, Shannon. Go ahead, Anna. >> So, I have a question about the reading curriculum. Mhm. >> Um, >> so why did the rest of Union 26 choose

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this other reading curriculum? And I know that I think you know Jackie and her team spent a and I'm I'm guessing here, but I'm pretty sure that Jackie and her team selected the reading curriculum that Shootsbury is currently

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using. Um, >> so is there a reason that the rest of the schools decided to use a different curriculum or were those decisions made sort of simultaneously and all the other schools chose this other curriculum and Jackie chose this other? So I can't

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speak to the history of that folks right in your new just as new >> right um but I can those decisions were made independently but they were a couple of the other schools were looking for a new curriculum um and one of the

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so the state always says like here are the curriculums that we deem as you know highquality curriculums and they rate them. All of our curriculums are great. um they address different needs and have different strengths, but all all of them

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are aligned with what the state says. Some of them were looking to implement new curriculum. And so when Lindsay as our director of curriculum said, "Hey, we're looking for this review. There's a grant. Who will pay? And you're on a cycle to review a new curriculum. Are

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you interested in this? Here's the curriculum that goes with it. We can apply as a group." Um, Shootsberry wanted to hold on to the curriculum that they've been successful with, they feel comfortable with, they love, and so

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valuing that autonomy that comes with the union, we said, "Okay, you can keep that. You just won't be able to get this grant funding that is going to pay for updated things." Um, which is it was a decision they made. I fully support it. I think it's part of the autonomy and

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passion of teaching that teachers want, right? I had curriculum I loved when I was a teacher and they didn't were not interested in changing their curriculum which was fine but we wanted so they the other groups applied as a consortium because none of them meant the benchmark

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of applying independently because that's how these grants work. you have to be able to apply for so many people, which is one of those inequities that happen with rural schools, right? We'd love to say that, oh, you only have 130 kids, you can still apply for this grant.

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That's not how it works. They say you have to have 300 and something kids to apply for the grant. So, it was put out to all of the schools. Every school met with their print with their um teams and gave the pros and cons. Were they interested? and

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when they we had enough to apply, but they all made those decisions independently. Um, and so Shootsbury wanted to stay with their curriculum that they're very passionate about. Um, and they've had a lot of success, so we honored that. Um, so I hope that answers

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your question of why they didn't. I don't think there was any big reason other than it was just a cycle and um Lindsay brought the opportunity and they decided to take advantage of it in the other schools because they were looking at having to get new curriculum and this was one of their choices that they were

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okay with. Shootsbury wasn't really looking to look for a new curriculum. They liked what they have. >> Question. >> Yeah. Uh, I was wondering more about that u meeting that you had with the union um folks and I was just wondering

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if that had anything to do with I believe it was Viva who came in uh to our meeting once recently and asked about the data and did that get has that gotten >> so what happened when they came and they talked about a number of things they wanted to be mindful in the budget of

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par wages there was a host of things >> and so that's when I reached out and said so I would love to meet with you. That's the process, right? Like you meet with your building principal and your superintendent. Um and so we started there and I thought it was I was like, well, I don't know if this is going to

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be a little bit formal or whatever. And the outcome of that is listen, we don't really need a formal meeting. What we need to do is just like have a conversation. And so we met in the library um and just had a conversation. So it did that's sort of what got the

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ball rolling um about that. And you know, I have ongoing meetings with some of the other schools. Um, they're called labor management. Sounds much more formal than they are. Um, you know, I'm actually going to be going to Irving in a couple weeks and we meet over coffee

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first thing in the morning. Um, and so I extended that to Shootsberry. Um, and so we'll see where that goes. It doesn't have to be a formal thing. It can be, um, but it doesn't have to be. And that was the precipice of it. Um, but it

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really evolved. We met once and then I said, "Well, this what we really need is just to sit and and chat." So, I went over after school. We sat in in the library, which was the only cool room in the whole building. Um, and and chatted um and so they they gave they gave me

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some, you know, a lot of things to think about because I think um everybody needs feedback. Um, one of the things we started at the beginning of the school year, we sat and and talked with everybody um about one of our themes this year was everybody gets feedback.

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Um, because for a long time in not necessarily every union school, but in some teacher evaluation hadn't been done in a long time. That was not the case in Shootsberry. But um, so we just sort of talked about that and I was very upfront that I need feedback. Your principles

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need feedback. And so this was a natural continuation of that framing that we started at the beginning of the year. And I truly believe it. I do think everybody needs feedback and and sometimes the feedback's warm and toasty and sometimes it's cool and that's okay,

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too. >> Did that answer your question, Nate? >> Yes. Thank you so much. >> Perfect. >> All right, let's move on to the director of finance and operations report, Caitlyn. All right. So, I don't have much because

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a lot of it we've already talked about the warrants and the expenditure report. It's uh 10 days old now because I posted it when the meeting got posted and um but the our budget is looking very good for this

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year. So, we're able to comfortably come in without any of the stresses we had last year of unexpected expenses. So, this is turning out to be a good year and I'll have a more of a uh complete budget overlook for you next year uh

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next meeting at the the June meeting and with that at the June June meeting uh we're going to talk about budget transfers and I'll give you an update on all the revolving accounts. So, food service, uh, after school,

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um, student activities, any of those revolving accounts we have outside of our operating budget, you'll have numbers on what we spent month over month and what we had for revenues.

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Um, and then the Yes. So, the town meeting went great. We had all three of our capital projects passed in the budget and with the budget being passed now it's

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been created and the budget's been put into to I visions so the school administrative assistant nan know that they can put in purchase requisitions for next year so everything's all set up

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And I'm in a a good spot of done with all of those phases of the budget happening since September. And for Shootsberry, it is finalized and complete. And uh we can take a a month

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off until we talk about the revolving revolving accounts and transfers. And then the next time I see you, I'll start talking about budgets again. >> Never ends. Dope

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>> questions for Caitlyn. >> Thank you so much, Caitlyn, for all your hard work this year. >> Thanks. >> Oh, for doing >> Thank you. And like you were so valuable at the town meeting. It was really great to have someone that could speak to all

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the things on behalf of the school committee and as a resident. And thank you. >> Thank you. and as a parent too. It's great. >> Thanks. >> All right. Um, next item is principal

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report with Ann. >> Thank you. I would love to let um Shannon share in the fun part of of the world because you went to a very cool thing yesterday. Do you want to share out where you what you got to see at Shootsbury? Listen, I almost put that in

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my I almost put that in my report, but I thought Ann is gonna talk about this. So, I went to the Strings concert. I actually before we go to bed tonight, I got to post some of those on Facebook because I had a couple of people ask me, "Are those gonna go?" I'm like, "I'm going to work on it." Um, but what a

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great time that was. I was able to stop by um and um join the the strings um concert and it was just great. And I know I saw that the matinea performance. I know there was an evening performance, but uh it was great. It was great. And

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every time I do something like that, I'm like, "Oh gosh, I really miss the building level." But it was a lot of fun. The kids were so excited and attentive and and watching all of the other students be able to see their peers was great. >> It really is. Thanks for letting

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>> me. >> Was that Yeah. See, was that great? >> Was so fun. Um, so it was it's it's such an incredible uh opportunity for students. We have the strings program um grades three to six and this year we've

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um we've had in the past a band program but um Mr. Cortina's leading it up and the students have really been able to learn how to read music in conjunction with performing. So they'll have their first concert uh coming up in a in a week or so and then um it's very sweet

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how they do it at Shootsbury. They'll do a performance during the day for the whole school and parents that can attend during the day and then they'll do an afternoon performance f about 5 or 5:30 where um families that aren't able to attend during the day can go. And the lessons it's amazing because it starts

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at the beginning of the year with, you know, the squeaks and the cracks and then all of a sudden it starts to be December and I'm thinking, wait, I think I know that's a song. I think I know that song. That sounds great. And then it gets to the end of the year and it's these performances. It's just incredible. We hate to let our sixth graders go because we're like, "Wait a

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minute, that's our awesome cello player. You got to come back and we need that trombone." But, um, luckily every year the cycle continues and then we get new performers the next year. But, it's amazing how much the students practice on their own and how dedicated they are. Um, Nate has also given us um performers

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as well, which is nice. Um they've we've also started a chorus this year and been really intentional about having a lot of practices and a lot of opportunities for students that aren't as interested in playing an instrument but are interested in performing with a musical with performing with singing. So it's very

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exciting. Um so again I just want to echo Shannon. Thank you so much the town meeting. Um that was amazing. It was great to have our fourth grade students as part of um learning civics and in what in our program in EL they spend a lot of time in fourth grade on the voting process. So, how perfect was that

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to be able to have students who are very passionate about speaking about voting and their rights? And um they created that uh statement that they said at the four town meeting to encourage people to be kind to each other and to be grateful for the fact that they can vote because

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they can't vote and that to keep people's um people on that thought that they're representing everyone. So, u was exciting. I think it really helps set the stage for the community support and collaboration and all of our things passed. So, yay. So, we'll keep using

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our kids. Um, we're excited about the amount of field trips we've had. It's just been absolutely incredible. Um, one this year that was different, the Quabin trip in the past. It it has had happened some years and not some other years and was the younger students, but this year

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with a generous donation from Mr. Zeb, we went and took the whole school. So, with the exception of preK because it was um just they it was just really tricky with their schedule to to make that work. But we brainstormed different activities that students could do. Students were helping to plan this

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because ideally it's good to have um multi-age groups of small groups of children to actually launch the fish in the quabin. So, we were able to have the students that are paired throughout the year as book buddies or um just they do different activities together. So sixes

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matched with K and one and they kind of all mix up and for them to be able to enjoy their counterparts was really great at the at the quabin. There was parachute activities um just u they were doing watercolor paintings by the by the quabin. Mr.

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Cortina did play his guitar with his student teacher and they made up songs for the kids to sing along to uh some some well-known tunes which was really fun. They got to write stories about the fish and it was awesome to see the older students collaborate with the younger students in writing stories about fish

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that were in these in these buckets. Um, but it was great. It culminated with the younger students heading back to school midday and the older students went on to the tower at Quabin and then did a hike and really kind of all again mixed together and worked together to make

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sure um everybody got through that hike alive which it was a little steeper and a little trickier than we thought but the um the Shootsbury kids did not disappoint and we we had an awesome day. So um that's an incredible thing we hope to keep keep up every single year. It

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was a great experience for all students. Then, um, like I said, I just I listed all of the places that the kids have have been able to go. It's been absolutely incredible. Fifth and sixth grade got to go to the Northfield Mountain Recreation Environmental Center. The kindergarten and first grade went to the Beninsky Museum and um,

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Amherst College. They uh, they were that was an awesome trip for them as well. the uh Sylvio Okanti Wildlife Refuge in Hadley if if you haven't gone. U several of our students got to go and they the kids had an awesome time. We have um

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some more trips coming up to the um that excuse me that we just had the East Lever at Meadow and Brooke with the UMass Environmental Con conservation labs were um that had happened with the fifth grade students. that goes along with their the units of study for science and third and fourth went to are

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going to the Smith College Museum of Art in the botanical gardens which they're really looking forward to. We've had several celebrations shoot style. We had a pollinator picnic that also um community members were able to go to too and they encouraged people that have um

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non-invasive species of plants in their growing in their yards in Shootsbury if they have extras they have been splitting them and bringing them in. So, we got to plant those and I'll tell you that garden is booming. It looks really amazing. So, um that was great. We also

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had a visit from several several authors that uh that have come. A lot of the MCBA award-winning authors have been virtually meeting with our students and zooming in. It's been such such an incredible uh value plus to really encouraging our students to read and how

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important it is. We've um we also had a birds of prey expert come and meet with our first grade students and their fifth grade buddies. And while he was there, he actually had people that had um found a wounded a wounded um a wounded owl

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that I actually got to hang on to in a box while he was finishing his presentation. So, it was pretty pretty amazing. It was great that he kind of worked out of our school so we got to really see what that work is like. You know, he gets birds, he has no idea what's going on with them. He brought in vultures. He brought in birds of prey.

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And it was just it was an awesome experience. So it is um you're right Shannon, I do get the benefit of the best stuff to share. It's so incredible. Um so Shootsbury continues to just be such an incredible place to be. So and there's any questions or

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Go ahead, Anna. I don't know when this is appropriate. Um, but I was just wondering when in the cycle we'll get a data presentation. Is that like and I I think we had one earlier, but um

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I'm I was just wondering how I know Shootsbury has made a lot of progress in uh English or math especially. It's beenvember. >> Well, we we're actually one of the schools that were celebrated for being

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at um being able to surpass our pre-COVID MCAT scores. So, we did the MCCAST presentation. Is that what you mean? >> Yeah. But I what I was talking about is sort of like overall how is our school doing um like equity-wise and h are are

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there subgroups that are are there big gaps within our subgroups? Are they closing? Are they is is the gaps between like special ed kids or lowincome kids and all the others um sort of like a a

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sustained gap that just persists over time or is it getting bigger or smaller? >> So we we typically do that Anna in the fall when we get the most recent data. Um I can send you the data from last year. I'm I'm sure I have that report somewhere, but

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>> No, I'm just I was just curious, but next fall sounds great. Yeah, it's it's probably not September because that's our first meeting and um but we'll start working on that work um becomes you know available in small batches starting after January and and Ann and I will

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look at it and we'll look at all those things like what's the overall picture but are there groups of students who aren't making the progress that we hope and we'll share that out probably at the October meeting >> and I know that I mean Shootsbury is tricky because it's really small there's

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only so many subgroups that you can present on because if they're like less than 10 kids, you can't >> disagregate. So, I get that and and it's not helpful to like combine them with another town and be like, well, if we add all of the kids in the union together, then we can look at this. It

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doesn't help for Shootsbury. So um as much detail as you can provide understanding that you have >> that is a real thing like sometimes we don't have reportable subgroups from the state level but we know what those groups are but we are mindful and I

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appreciate you mentioning that of because we are so small we don't want to identify too like this subgroup at grade five right because it's a small town every like well I know who that is >> yeah right and that's not fair to fair to

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students families. Um so we will disagregate as much as we can but recognize I'm sure you're going to get a lot more detail at the Ammeris level because the cohort is so big that for all the right reasons we just can't share it as >> and just you know just so you know the

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the gaps in the regional school district are like shocking just absolutely shocking and disappoint that's across the Commonwealth. I mean, what what we know is that our, you know, Massachusetts and and I know Nate was

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just talking about, you know, Massachusetts, we have money, too. We're actually do very well overall, but if you look at Massachusetts and we're, well, we're one of the best in the nation. Well, that's true overall, but when you look at our students of poverty, students of color, students

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with um learning um challenges, >> we're not we those are not um factored in when we say we're the best ever, right? And so, we're not closing the gaps there. And so, we can talk about that at Shootsbury, but Ammerst is not alone in in that. The region is not

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alone in that. That's a a problem across the Commonwealth, which I think is the reason behind DESIE really pushing some of that partnership with the legislature to say schools have to do this because although we're doing it in Shootsberry,

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>> communities that aren't doing it for a plethora of reasons, right? Yeah. >> Um but it's to try to make some of that a mandate. >> Yeah. Susie, >> I just wanted to um echo Ann's um take on the fact that the fourth graders

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presentation truly did set the stage and the finance committee met to do sort of afteraction review of the town meeting and they noted that that um was a significant tone setter. It was not only

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fun and pleasing to see 10-year-olds stand up um for themselves and for the rest of us and give us a message that was delivered well. Um and so we hope that that kind of thinking continues and

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um I did write a letter to thank or a card to thank um James class for doing that part because we felt the meeting went better starting off with that reminder. >> Well, that's wonderful. I'll definitely share that with them. And I know um it's

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always blows my mind when you see the students when the exact using the first sto like the firsthand material to learn from and then really apply it right away to themselves. So it was it was incredible. And Nate, I know you can speak to this because your daughter was

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one of our champions who spoke. Yes, that's what I was going to say that she I told her afterwards that she helped me uh get the courage to go and stand up there at that same microphone that she spoke at and to talk about all the work

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that we've done and the warrants. So, it was a big deal for for me for sure and it's so sweet to hear that Susie and from everyone. Thank you. Um all right so let's move on to the

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Amoris Pelum representatives report. >> So a lot has happened. Um we are sort of like closing up the the year. So we're like pushing through about 50 policies. So that's always fun.

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Um uh we've done a lot of reviews. Um so one of the big biggest things that's happening in the region right now is that they're moving the Ammerst sixth graders into the middle school.

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And that's it's been a huge uh it's a huge project. There's a lot of stress on the sixth grade side. There's a lot of stress on the middle school side and there's a lot of people with

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big feelings and so it's just been um a lot of discussion. Um but uh I think we're nearing a point where everything is starting to settle into place. Um there was a discussion

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about changing the start times um to so what happened oh when was it two years ago there was a complaint filed um that flex block well no that guided study in

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the middle school shouldn't count as time on learning because it wasn't structured enough and therefore Um, we were short of our hours. Um, and uh, I guess it's Desi, I think,

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wherever the wherever the complaint goes, agreed that that was true. And so Dr. Z just to make sure that we didn't have this happen again. Um had them review the flex block at the high

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school as well, which also seemed like it was not adequate. And so we had to revamp both guided study and flex block to make them more structured. Um, at the end of the day, I think they basically

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removed guided study out of the middle school and changed the schedule from a seven drop one to a six class schedule. Um, in my personal opinion, uh, this is really hard on special ed kids because

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the guided study, um, period was a really good time for pullout services and now they get pulled out of classes. Um, so I'm not sure that this was an actual benefit for special ed kids. Um, at the high school, the flex block has

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turned into something called extended block, and it is now a basically a repeat of one of the classes they had during the day. And it rotates depending on the day. And the kids don't no longer have a choice of which class or thing to

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seek help on or to do more work in. They just have to do the one that they've been assigned to. And this has um I don't think it's really worked out for anybody in the high school. Nobody I don't think there's a favorable review of extended block in the entire high

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school. But um it is something that is coming down from the state and we don't have a lot of control over. But one of the ideas was to move the start time a little earlier so that we could recover some of the benefits of flex block in sort of an afterchool space. Um, but the

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problem with moving the start time is that that it has knock-on effects for everybody else. And so if you move the start time for the middle school and the high school, now you're affecting the start time for the elementary schools. And we can't do that because the

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elementary schools are already about as early as they could possibly get. Um, so the superintendent is putting that thought on pause for a little while because there's just it's just not feasible right now. the the transportation effects are just too

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great. And I think she wants to consider she wants to continue to look at how we could rearrange our transportation schedules and things without massively affecting everybody else. Um, they also

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have to I mean I actually think it's a terrible year to be considering this because now they are also trying to figure out how to rearrange the bus schedules to accommodate the the new school and having like twice as many buses go in and out of a a single school

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area. Um, so there's a big project just trying to figure out that transportation um area. Uh we are starting a conversation about updating the regional agreement. Um

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it is a huge project. It is apparently the responsibility of the school committee to initiate this discussion. Um and so we are trying to figure out what our next steps are. Um, I think

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we're going to come up with um a plan. I think part of it is going to probably involve an outside mediator to help with the discussion, but I think what we first want to do is get some feedback

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from the towns as to what we might be interested in updating. And my personal opinion is what we don't want to touch. So if there are things in the in the regional agreement that

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like the allocation method that we have worked very hard to get a satisfactory formula for um that we might want to say let's not put that on the table right now. Let us talk about all of these other things

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that just desperately need updating. And so I think um we're trying to get a little bit of feedback from the different towns as to what they feel really needs updating and what they don't feel want they want to put on the table for updating. There's a lot of

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language in the regional agreement that just needs to be brought up to speed with like the current status of all the towns. Um and then there's some other stuff that I think three out of the four towns would be happy to update and one of the four towns might not be happy to

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update. So, there's stuff like that, but we're on that. Um, we got a state of the district report from the superintendent that was all about data. Um, and I have to say it was somewhat shocking to see some of the

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disparities um between the different subgroups. um the uh MLE group, the multil- language um group, English language learners, whatever you

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want to call them. Uh they have some really really um disappointing trends. And there were like literally four years in a row where not a single one of those kids was uh meeting

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expectations on the English MCCAST. Um I don't know if it was like 10th grade or if it was a a specific grade. Um but four years in a row you have you've had four years to address this gigantic gap.

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And I I understand there's some complications about this group because I think they graduate out of the group when they get to be a certain proficiency and then they're no longer considered um being a learner. And so then maybe it's just a sort of a definitional problem more than it is a

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progress problem. Um but just to see four years in a row where not a single kid was meeting expectations was quite disappointing for for me. Um and their math scores were also not not great either. Um but we're seeing like you

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know 50 percentage point gaps between the the white students and some of these other subgroups and uh it's just huge and we have to do better. So that's a little bit why I was asking about Shootsbury just to see how much if it's

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just, you know, something that's a societal problem or if it is um it's a little bit societal, but it's also very, you know, something that can improve if you try hard enough. And um maybe the region just needs to put a little bit

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more effort into really focusing on those gaps. Um so uh oh uh we got a new treasurer. It's very exciting. Um

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and uh yeah, we had a long discussion about the new Desi or MGL update on the use of restraint and seclusion because apparently it has been in some people's opinion

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highly overused at Fort River. And um Fort River, just a not to malign Fort River. Um but Fort River is where all of their focused special ed programs are

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taking place. So they're autism focused. They have something called AIM, something called Lyft, something called but it it's I think it's trauma related

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uh special needs. Um, so because all of these higher needs kids are at one school, it is not surprising perhaps that more of these are being used at that one school, but

439
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at the same time, it's still likely more use of those techniques than is desirable. Um and so there was an urgent need to address this policy um because the region is really where

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all of the policy work happens for Ammeris and Pelum and the region and we have now implemented a joint policy subcommittee that includes representatives from Ammerst and Pelum and uh the region. Um so now it's a

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little bit more shared but even in the past the region just set the policy and it applied to both Ammers fell on uh but so we've improved that but um because this was such a big thing even though most of the problem was at an

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Ammeris elementary school it still came to our regional sub uh policy subcommittee meeting um our joint sub policy subcommittee meeting um But just it is coming down the pike. Um and I do

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think that the Shootsbury School Committee should be on top of that our own policy on restraint and seclusion. And if we don't have one, we probably should create one or update it at the very least to make sure that it's compliant with the new state laws. the

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new state laws um are implementing are being implemented in August and so we need to have that policy sort of in place that matches the state law by August

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which I don't know if we can because uh I don't know how many policy committee meetings we have left but it's on the should be it should be on the >> some of the new on the radar. >> Some of the new changes though, Anna, we

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don't have the programming here that that impacts. So, I don't think we feel like we don't have a seclusion room. So, yes, we have to look at those policies. Um, but we don't have quite the same urge because we don't have those subsparate programs that Ammerst has

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that you just spoke about. So, we do need to, but we probably are not feeling >> But it's for the whole union, right? Or is it or do we have a separate Shootsbury policy committee is just for >> Shootsberry policy. Yeah. >> Okay. So, it's not

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what I would say is it's probably not a concern that we're violating that policy, but it would probably be good to >> Well, I don't know that we're violating the policy because the changes >> in don't impact some of the changes in

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the the requirements are about those programs, those rooms that we don't have. Does that make sense? >> Some of it is, but it's restraint and seclusion. >> And seclusion is definitely related to those rooms that we don't have, but restraint is not,

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>> right? But our restraint consistent is consistent. We don't we don't, but we have trained staff and all of that. So, yes, we should we will look at that, but it's not quite the timeline issue that it is if we had some of those um >> yeah,

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>> programs um that are directly impacted. Just so people know where that sort of stands. A lot of those are around um seclusion rooms and sub-sepparate programs and things like that and we just don't have them in in our facility.

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>> Yes. But we do have kids with special needs that have that can be more reactive and um we just need to make sure that um

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we have the training and our I mean I have not heard any problems. So yay. Congratulations an very good job. >> Well, we do a lot of training and deescalation. The staff is absolutely incredible and we do have a lot of of

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highly trained people and it's um we don't touch the kids like it's really it's really about their safety and we don't have like Shannon said we don't have the those program the programming right now that has students that are um at a at a risk to themselves or others

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that need to need physical management. So uh it's a total non-issue right now. But thank you so much for your for your contribution and for participating in in the um regional. It's good. Thank you try to I think that's

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the majority. I don't we had like a really really really long meeting last night and I just think it's just like it just takes a long time to get through everything. Definitely sounds like it. Thank you.

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Thank you, Anna, for keeping us updated on what's going on. Um, let's move now to the joint supervisory committee report. So, I I Nate, do you want to give the update on that?

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>> Sure. That was on Monday. Um, and we talked um we talked a lot we talked a lot about the um Shannon's uh review and that um

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process and uh how we can streamline that review process and the questionnaire. Um so that's going to be looked at. Um we um talked about a few things. We got a

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great report from Shannon and we heard from uh Amy Langden as well as the um curriculum. I'm sorry if I if I'm forgetting exactly what happened, but yeah, it was an

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interesting if you want to uh have anything that to add to that. >> I was really banking on you this time, Nate. I was not taking notes. >> I know. So much going on. My head is still spinning. >> I know. And I thought to myself, I'm going to remember that for Thursday. And

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I It's totally gone. >> I feel the same. >> Sorry everyone. >> I feel the same way. But it was a great It's a great It's a really interesting meeting. I I appreciate the perspectives and to hear um about what's going on in the other schools as I said earlier.

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>> Okay. One thing um to note just from what Shannon had said um in the JSC meeting was that there's the potential to maybe kind of shift around how policy subcommittees operate within the union. So right now I guess and correct me obviously if I'm wrong Shannon um right

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now it's every every meeting the 30 minutes before the school committee meeting is a policy subcommittee meeting and there's the potential to streamline that to be more efficient. So, um I think you know if we had any input on policy subcommittee timing that we feel

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really strongly about, it would be a good time to communicate that to Shannon and others. But um that was my that was my take from that. Robin is looking into um what are other models um for policy reviews that other school districts are

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using um to see if there's a more efficient and there might not be uh a more efficient model um than the 30 minute um aotment. So, um, Robin will will keep me updated on as she is, uh, canvasing all of, uh, you know, some

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other, um, nearby districts and and I will share that out. If there's a a better way to do it, we're certainly open to it. >> Cool. Thanks. >> Thank you, Katrina. >> Can I ask, is 30 minutes enough time to

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get work done? I actually do find that it's enough um because the the expectation we've had for ourselves is we're reviewing the policies ahead of the meeting so we can just discuss whether or not we agree or if we want to change anything. So and

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typically we'll end within like 15 20 minutes. And then the other thing is like I don't I I think I would recommend not going to a one hour every other school committee meeting model just because I

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think there's certain policies and certain things that need to happen just a little bit faster than that. And so I think by keeping it you know for the time the time just before the meeting I mean it could be any day really but it's kind of efficient to be able to do it right

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before the meeting. um at least then you have it when when you have school committee meetings so that if we need to vote on a policy and and move it forward um it's aligned with our meeting. So seems good. Um and then the only other

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couple things I'll regarding supervisory um committee were that um there was some discussion around the curriculum council um and folks working on that across uh

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the union um including Shberry where um Ann is representing us. Um and then Amy Langden had talked about uh um monitoring that's coming up from DESIE u regarding civil rights policies and

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procedures. Um so that was another thing that was highlighted there. Um okay. Um the next item is the CES report. We have not had a meeting since March. The next one is actually

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scheduled for next week, May uh 27th at 6 PM. Um so I can uh I can follow up to make sure um was it Katrina or Megan? This Katrina, right? Katrina, you're

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going to be the CES rep. So, I'll follow with you to with you and um with you and um our secretary, our our school committee secretary, Robin, to make sure you get the information uh to be able to attend

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that. Um all right, a policy review. So for first read we have I J L A I J N Dig J N

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D and J N DB. Um and for first read, we don't need a vote, but if anyone has any questions um or wants to um propose any amendments, um you can do so now. Just

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uh raise raise your comments to the group. All right, seeing no hands, no comments, um we'll move to second read, first vote for, um IGB and IHR.

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Uh can I please have a motion? >> So moved. A second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> No. Okay. All in favor? >> I

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heard I sorry Jack. I >> and I long. >> Thank you. Um so for future business, um the next Shootsbury policy committee meeting will right now it says TBD. It'll likely be in the fall, right

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Shannon? Um like I think September probably. >> Yes. um because um unless the committee wants to meet but we wouldn't that would leave policy sort of in this hiatus over the summer of not really in the pipeline

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to go to school committee. >> Yes. >> Um and then >> you've both been on it, right? You don't need any prep. You both you and and Katrina have served on it. So you don't um sometimes committees meet to sort of discuss what it looks like, but none of

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you are new to that committee. So, >> I am new actually, but that'll be fine. >> Yeah, I haven't done it. It was before it was Nate and Jeremy. >> It was Nate and Jeremy. Yeah, exactly. >> Well, if you want, we certainly can meet.

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>> That's okay. No, I think we'll be good. >> Okay. >> Just didn't want to misrepresent my expertise here. >> Any chance to see that baby. That's really That's what we're all here for. >> Thank you. Um, and then, uh, as I mentioned, we do

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also have the CES meeting coming up on May 27th. Um, so going forward, we'll make sure those get added as future business as well. Are there any uh, future agenda items that people um,

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would like to discuss in June? I have one. Um, I don't know if June is the right time, but I I know like planning is is already starting to happen for the new school year. So, was hoping we could talk about like the opportunity for learning walks and if

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that's something that folks would feel comfortable um hosting for a school committee next school year, we can add it and um in June and I can, you know, explain what it is, what it would look like, and then you can have

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that discussion and maybe we could schedule them in September if that's something that you want to do. Um, but I can certainly work with Ann to sort of discuss just what it is and and what that might look like for um, school committee members. We can certainly add

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that to June. >> That'd be great. >> Anything else? >> I just wanted to remind folks that there is the sixth grade. I believe it's June 3rd. The pro they're presenting their projects. >> The port Yep. The portfolios. Yeah,

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>> portfolios. So, I'm going to do my best to try to attend that. Um, and yeah, just throwing it out there. >> Thank you. That's that's awesome. >> Yeah, thanks for the reminder, Nate. Um, I should probably reach out, but I I

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think I'll likely have time to do that this year, too. It was really great. I went last year and it was such a nice um experience seeing the sixth graders share their like whole elementary a synopsis of their whole elementary experience. So, >> and they don't hold back.

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>> Yeah. >> Yeah. It was it was so great to have you and it was so awesome that for the kids to be able to see you in person and and be able to um like really appreciate your role. You know what how important it is to be on school committee and it is such it's so interesting. It's part

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of the the the ELA curriculum that we've they've been using now. A lot of the students that are going to be in sixth grade have used it for the whole almost the whole time that they've been at at Shootsbury. but it really goes over all of their highlights, the things that they've learned, how they've learned it, things they struggled with, who they are

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as a learner. It's really an incredible experience. So, thank you so much, Nate. That'll be great. And and Leah, if you can join, that'd be great. >> All right. If there's nothing else, I would like a motion to adjourn. >> I move to adjourn the meeting.

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>> I second. >> Awesome. I don't think we actually need to do a roll call vote, so I think we can just adjourn at 9:12. Thanks everybody. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Bye. Great job.

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Bye.