This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers. All right, we're ready to get started. Um, Qu is present. Jen, Dylan, and Kim for the committee. Margaret and John are
not here. Superintendent Peron, Principal Plut, I like the alliteration shame. We have one member of staff here. Welcome. Um, so here's the scoop. Don is going to be joining us, the business administrator. She called me today and
asked to be pushed to the top of the agenda because she has another meeting she has to get to. So when she gets here, we will jump to her and then we'll go back. But I think we might be able to knock something out before she gets here. Um, the amendments are in the packet. They were also in the drive.
Does anybody have any anything to say about those? >> Move that we approve the minutes of September 10th, 2025. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Is there any discussion?
I just spelled your name completely wrong. Oh, >> hearing none. All in favor of approving the minutes from September 10th. >> I I >> I Okay, done. Public comment. Did you have something you wanted to talk to us about? Okay. Um Warren, we're doing
electronically. I don't have any announcements or correspondence. Do you veto? >> I do not. >> Alisa >> principal's report. >> No, I don't have any. >> Okay. Um yeah. So again, we will interrupt your report though if Don gets here. So >> I don't think it'll be that long. >> Okay, carry on.
>> I think when it was put in the packet, you only have the first page. When I looked at it online, >> the Oh, you did have front. Yep. >> So our enrollment for October at this point is 478 students, which is three more than last month. We did get um two
new students in fourth grade um from out of town who who moved into town and are now living here in Southampton and one other student I cannot remember what grade level it was. Um some of the things that are happening in the in the building um we had curriculum night for
grade 6 held on Thursday September 18th. Our open house for grade six uh I'm sorry for prek to 5 um was on Thursday September 25th. It was very well attended. It seemed like everybody and their grandparents and their aunt and uncles and everybody was there. It was
fantastic. >> Um September 24th was a half day for professional development. Teachers and staff from Norris had the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from around the district. You might hear more about that um in the coming months when we talk about our overall PD plan. We had
our FastBridge testing conducted um in grades 1 through six. We will be testing kindergarten in a couple weeks and so far um the fastbridge results look pretty good. We had less regression this summer than we've had in the last 5 years. Kids are retaining more
information which is fantastic. U Mrs. Lucasitz has shown bullying videos to all students in grades four through six. So, this is something that she um continued doing when she came to Norris, but she has updated the videos, so they're a little more current and
different in grades four, five, and six. Um and and after the students are watching the videos, they do have a discussion about, you know, what does bullying look like? What do you do if you feel like you're bullying, getting bullied, or if you see someone else um teasing or bullying somebody? Um and
that they can go to her, they can go to me, or seek out a staff member. So, it's really good to open that door for everyone. Under staff news, um Joe Gentile has been hired as a one-to-one PAR in our neurodeiversity program. This is a one-year only position. You will hear more about it during budget time um
in other places in the agenda. This was um through the tuition agreement with West Hampton for a student that is coming to Norris. So, it's just for this year. Um schoolwide news, we conducted bus evacuation for all students on Friday, September 12th. Uh, grade 1 visited Fletcher Farm on Tuesday,
October 7th, and walk to school day has been postponed until tomorrow, October 9th, 2025. Thank you. If anybody has questions for Le, I'm going to ask you to hold them because Dawn has arrived and she's under a time crunch. So, I'm going to move to her and then if you have questions for Le, we'll go back to
that next. >> Thank you. [Music] Okay. So, um we can start let's see what does it say budget finance team update
and um we can start with um the let's see it would be several pages in the one that says Southampton Elementary Norris FY25 year end actuals general fund and so
um what I want to say is that I've been or I and my team have been working with Bradley the town accountant to reconcile ILE FY25. And so in terms of the largest buckets, these are all reconciled. And what I mean by that is um the bottom
line, if you just jump to the bottom of the page, the actuals that were spent were in line with the budget. Exactly. Um and and that's no coincidence. Um and I'll walk you through that. Okay. So starting up
at the top, the budget that was approved by the school committee was 6 million 5624399 and um the actuals were 6,44562311 as booked into our general ledger. And I
want you to take note of this because this will become important in what I'm going to propose we do for FY26. The way these are loaded into our system, they don't take into account the offsets
that the school committee votes and therefore the budget is really a little inflated. It's just a little too high in terms of what Alisa really has to spend from the general fund. So, we've got the general
fund and then we have all of these special revenue funds and and I'll come back to that and I'll have it illustrated in a template that will make it clearer. But just going through this, if you were to just look at the reports that we produce and just look at what's
in it, because these top lines are at one point what the report said, it would look like Alisa was 116,860 under her budget. But that's not quite right. Then you go
to the next column on the left and you see that there are budget offsets. So you take out those budget offsets on the budget side. And now it looks like Elisa is 814,000 over budget. But you're not done yet. What you have
to do is say, "Oh, well, Southampton has an unusual way of accommodating and accounting for transportation. All of the other schools, the transportation is within the school budget, but for Southampton, the transportation budget is on the municipal side, but we process
the invoices. So, we have to take these processed invoices away and then it looks like, oh, well, that's a little better. If you compare the 5631 to the 6058, we're about 426,000 over
budget. That is not true. It just looks that way. So then you have to keep going and you have to do what the school committee voted which was to charge certain expenses that are on your general fund to these special revenue
accounts. So you had identified rural aid as an amount, you had identified circuit breaker as an amount, school choice, etc. And then the select board added $60,000 to our funds available um from free
cash, I'll say. I'm not quite sure where it came from, but we had identified that we were going to be nip and tuck with the budget. And so they advanced some additional funds. So the budget went from 5631 to 5691 once you add those um
the additional funds. And then once you subtract the offsets, you end up at the um you end up right where we want to be. One other thing that I want to um distribute just because it will refresh your memory in terms of what you
actually voted and it will show the various um special revenue funds. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Sorry. >> We have an extra packet. Do you want to pack stuff >> or is it just going to cross your eyes?
>> The math will >> So here you are. This is what I was talking about. >> Thank you. >> Perfect. Thank you. So then you'll see that for 25 you voted the
um the full budget being 5665 I mean 6562602 and then you said all right we're going to have revenue of 931,000 and that 931 is distributed below below the last light yellow line and it shows
school tuition in 309 foundation reserve grant preschool revolving, etc., etc. And so that's how you had identified the special revenue accounts that were going
to offset the total budget, bringing the total budget, which was the 6562, and it brought it down to this 5631. Um, and then we added the 60,000. So we had 5691.
Is that is are we all up to with me on that? Okay. So that's the first thing that I want to say about that. And if you then and we're not going to go over it tonight in detail, but I will another time come go
over it in detail and provide an analysis. But if you look at the next pages, this comes right off our system. And if you go to page six and you see some handwriting there. Unfortunately, some of it got cut off,
but you'll see what we you'll see the 6562 and then we're going to subtract the 931, add the 60, and what got cut off on there is this where we ended up on that cover sheet, the the 5691
387. So, I just wanted to take you from what our offline >> what our um system says, what the general ledger says and um then if you look at the year-to- date actuals and you take the
6078 and you subtract the 387 um then the part that got cut off is um you can do that math and you'll see it's 5691 38739. So that's what got charged to the general fund.
Now there's one other thing I want to mention about that and that is um what I'd like you to be able to do is um just to
understand that you had identified in that sheet I just submitted or distributed, you identified how much we should be taking out of each account. And in fact, we took out and if you have a pen or pencil to jot this down because
I didn't make copies because our toner stopped and I couldn't find another toner. >> Are we looking at fiscal 25 right now? >> Five right now. 25. >> So if you will look at um I'm going to start with um I'm going to start at the bottom with circuit breaker.
Circuit breaker. It said take 183. And if you start here >> y >> 183 >> um 081 was it 183 011 and that is exactly what we took.
That's what we applied from circuit breaker. Then um then it says title 4 a 10,000. That's exactly what we that's not exactly what we took. Um so it said 10,000. Title 4 came in a little
bit higher. So, we took 11,218. So, Elisa, we're on um title 4A, if you're on here. And this shows how much was authorized to be taken. >> Mhm. >> The 10,000 for FY25. Does that say 25 or 26? 25. 25.
>> It says 25. >> Yeah, 25. 25. I think it said still still says 10,000. >> Yeah. And what actually was taken was 11,218 because Title 4 came in a little higher. Um, and we needed to use all of that in
order to balance the budget. >> That was everything that was in it, right? >> That was um that was everything that was available to be spent. Um then on title two
we said 6,500 and what we took was 10,589 and that's because there were some funds left over from the previous year. Those grants are federal grants. They go on a 27-month cycle and so we had some money
left over and we were able to use that. How we knew we had money left over is because we worked with Bradley to say what are the balances because Bradley really is the accountant of record for the town. Um since he gets all of the
revenues in, he gets he he validates the expenses that we give him out. And so we knew we had some more and we knew we needed some more in that account in order to um come in where we needed to. Now, title one and also if I can say
generally speaking that in 2024 and veto you can check me on this but in 2024 most of the grants that were available to be spent were not spent. You remember
that was quite a transition year and um that's okay. That was a transition year and not everything went off um without a hitch. So um what we said we were going
to spend the 35,000 we spent 74272 and what that did is it used up the previous year that had been unspent and it used up the amount that we had for this year. I know it's I know it's confusing but I'm giving you as much as I have here in terms of what we used.
important to understand that the the reason we were able to do that is because we had the forensic work and we were looking back, >> right, >> and finding unexpended grant dollars that were soon to be sent back. We didn't draw them.
>> So, it was either spend them or have to give it back. >> It's use it or lose it. Yeah, that's a good point, Veto. I should have said that to begin with. We we have a certain period to spend these these amounts. And we were we were just I've said it before, but we were just so lucky to have um Carrie Sheen whom Veto brought
on board to help us reconcile the grants. So he went back down he went back to 2017. He went 2017, 18, 19, 20 all the way through to 24 to find what did we really have to spend and and at some points and I don't know that
Southampton I'll have to look at that but at some points we there were some schools who had to turn money back that we got which was just a sad thing. So, um, then on sped 262, um, we said we were going to take 7,500
and we only took 1,172 >> because that's all we had or because that's all we needed to >> that's all we needed. That's and and when these grants are written, they're written for very specific purposes. And so if we didn't have expenditures within those purposes, then we couldn't we couldn't use it.
>> What was that amount one more time? um 1172 1,172 and then for sped 240 and what did we say we were going to spend? We said 130 and what we actually spent was 141221 and the bulk of that amount was
definitely FY24 grant money. So we you can use your 25 expenses to use up your 24 grant and that's what we did. So that we now have money available in 26 to use. >> So would you say that for the most part
now the grants are like current >> as being what needed to be spent spent and now we're starting like from square one with everything in line and going forward. >> Yes. >> There's there's a caveat to that that I'll ask at the end >> information first then I have questions.
>> Okay. All right. Then we'll go to the reap grant. Let's see. I may need to use a You keep telling me you're going to give me an abacus, but until then, I'm using my phone. Um, the next one is the REAp
grant. The REAp grant is a federal grant, and when we say 24 and 25, it's it's what avail what is available to be spent in those years. Um the federal fiscal year goes on a different cycle,
so it's a little confusing, but suffice it to say that we said we were going to spend 56,500 from the 25 grant, and we spent 45959 >> 4595 >> 959. Okay. >> But then we didn't say we were going to spend anything from the 24 grant, but we
we found that there was money there and we spent it. so we wouldn't lose it. And that was 38,315. >> Yeah. And part of the challenge we had with REAp was unfortunately um in years past actually the last year
they allowed our administrative rights to lapse for REAP. So we had to go through the process with the state and the DoD and everybody to our side not not state the feds to get our administrative access again. Once we did we were able to then
use 24 and 25 which was available >> right and so then rural did somebody have a question? No. Okay. rural aid. Um, we said we were going to use 117963 and we used 1977 797
>> 197 >> 797 >> so because we had some left from a prior year. I don't understand rural aid is not allowed to be used in that way. It's not a revolving grant. You're supposed to
>> We've talked about that >> and but we got permission. We we've been having weekly meeting uh excuse me, monthly meetings with Jay Sullivan and his team. He uh gave us permission to use it with the understanding that as we move forward, we're going to use it appropriately.
>> Yeah. because so much wasn't done in 24, we had the funds and and um Veto was able to to negotiate with Desi and they said we could spend that >> or beg, however you >> or beg >> the 85 that we were that we said we're
using for fiscal 26. We still have that to use in fiscal 26. >> I would say that is not a yes. that we're going to have to talk about because rural aid is one of those accounts that the state cut. So I do not think that's
going to be available. >> Okay. >> And you'll see that some percentage of it will be but not the full amount and you'll see that in the next documents that I'm going to distribute. >> So that's the letter I sent advocating for if the supple if there was a supplemental budget. Um
>> yes. Then if we go up to preschool revolving, we said we were going to use 50,000 and we used 92503. Now, I don't know if anybody remembers the foundation reserve grant, but we said we were going to use 25,000. And in
the middle of the year when we started like in the winter when we started to talk about the budget for next year the direction from the school committee was please don't use that this year we need the whole thing for next year and the
whole thing being 120,000. So we use zero from the foundation reserve grant. And then school choice, we said we were going to use 309622 uh 309,622
and we use 367 351. So what the school committee had advanced or approved was the use of 931,096. And you see that on this sheet here with
the with this total on the bottom. And what we actually used so far um to balance the budget was 1,16348. So that was an increase of $232,312. So and that was primarily because we had money from 24 that hadn't been used.
>> Can you say that 1 million number one more time? >> Yes. So we used 1,16348 and um that is an increase of about 232,000 >> and most of that 232 came from money from 24 that had to be used. Okay. So,
all right. So, if all of that stuff is current and we needed all of that to balance fiscal 25. So, if everything is now current, does that mean that we now don't have >> Yes. >> before get there? >> Mhm.
>> Where's that on that? >> Where is what? >> This 931 >> on that. No. 1 million 16348. If we add up the actuals here and we add up the approved amount from the general fund here, those numbers do not match. >> All right, that that's a good that's a
good question, Dylan. You don't nothing gets by you. Um, but we're not trying to put anything by you, so that's a good news that the monies that you see listed here are journal entries.
So during the year, a lot of expenses were direct charged to those accounts. So at the end of the year we looked at it and we said okay what that what hasn't been what hasn't been allocated like the for example the best example is
circuit breaker nothing had been charged to circuit breaker at all direct charged so we had that whole 183 to apply but in um if we look at um for example preschool revolving where I said we
spent 92503 and you look at um you this other piece of paper, you'll notice that um what was the other piece of paper you were looking at? This one. You'll notice that preschool revolving isn't on here.
>> Mhm. >> Okay. Because everything had been direct charged. So, we didn't have to subtract anymore. We didn't have to sub we didn't have to subtract any more from the amounts that had been that from the actuals because they had
been direct charged. It is confusing but this is I love your question because it's a setup for the next phase of what I'm going to be talking about which is in 26 this is very confusing and I don't want to have to do it again. I don't want have to
present it to you. I don't want to have to walk through it again. So we have a way to my recommendation of how we can record things so that it is more streamlined. It's easier for Alisa or any other stakeholder to see what has been spent. I have a proposal. I've reviewed that
proposal with our auditors. Um and the auditors are for the regionals, but they say it is a better way to do it. Some have said that it's how it was done many years ago. And so right now I hear your frustration, Dylan, and I'm just as
frustrated because it takes so much time to reconcile all of this stuff. So let's go back to that page that you have that says where we are, the summary. And I want to point something out,
something else out. So you'll notice that it says and what I said to begin with and I'm just going to reiterate the general fund has been reconciled with Bradley. So we know what the budget was. We know that we have we
know what we've spent in actuals. And now the part and you'll see it at the bottom. Recon reconciliations are continuing with the special revenue funds between the town accountant and the central office. And so what that means is I've asked Bradley to look at
all of the balances in the account so that the next time I come to the school committee I can say okay remember I told you we used 197,000 of rural aid this is what's well that's not a good one to pick but 97 in rural
aid this is how much we have available in rural aid now so we need to reconcile the balances precisely with Bradley in order to ensure that what we've put in the budget for 26, we have the funds
available to do so. I've looked at most of them. Most of them are okay. Um the ones there are a few that need some deeper dive into looking at them and I'll tell you which ones those are. um the sped 240, sped 262, all of the sped
grants, and I may have mentioned this last time to somebody, but all of the sped grants are federal grants. Um and they need to be identified separately on your books and they haven't been they have not been segregated. And so we
have to go in and work with Bradley to segregate those funds and to find out how much is in each of those funds. But that is a definite requirement and it's not the only it's not the only town who had that issue. West Hampton also
didn't have those segregated and the accountant said, "Well, we just keep track of it, you know, in one big account." And I said, "You can't do that. You are required to track what funds you received for every grant and what you've spent for every grant and then at the end of a certain period, we
have to report back to the feds on that through the state. So, that's something that still is ongoing. Um, but um I think what I'm going to do is is move forward which I think will get to Dylan's. It's almost like Dylan was
an audience to plant really. So, I'm going to I'm going to pass this out. >> So, for you because I know you have someplace else you have to be. It's like 628 just so you are aware. >> 628. Okay. So that's why I'm going to move forward on this because this I think will be so much easier for
everybody to understand next year. Well, actually this year because now we're in 26. And so, so if you go back to this sheet, which summarizes what the school committee did for 25 and 26, this this letter size
sheet, you'll see that the budget that was approved was 6,622719. And on this long legal sized paper, you'll see in the in the first column of numbers to the left, which has a blue uh a blue color on it, it says approved
FY2026 budget. So you see those are the same numbers. Then what you're going to see across all of the lavender color are special revenue funds. They're all of the funds we've just been talking about. They're your grants, your revolving accounts. Um
your reimbursement accounts like circuit breaker is neither a grant really nor a it's it's money that we apply for and we we get. Um and so the light purple or the lavender are the individual funds and
the purple which um sort of obscures the title is the total of the special revenue funds. So what you'll see is in the general fund budget is 5,859582. And you will see that that ties right
out to the town contribution for FY26. When you look at this small sheet and you look at FY26 and you look down here >> Mhm. >> that's the same number. >> Yep. >> And so that's the number we need to
track. So, um, if we load into our general ledger, you know, that all of those pages of line after line, if we load that budget into the general ledger, then when Alisa is looking at it, when Veto's looking at it, when the
school committee is looking at it, when I'm looking at it, we'll see exactly where we stand with the general fund and with the town contribution. And you we don't have to do a thousand uh I want to say ciphering but you know a thousand calculations in order to
figure that out. So that's what we would load into the general fund budget and we would also load into to the special revenue funds these amounts that you have up here um on that just below the the lavender line. Those are the offsets
that were voted. The 18038, the 120, the 85. So those were the offsets. Now, let's just look at rural aid because if you look at rural aid, when we built the budget back in the in the spring, winter and spring,
we said we were going to use 85,000 because that's roughly what we had used the year before. And that's what roughly what we had figured was available. But if you look at the line just below that and it says 646, that's our estimate of what we might
receive. We haven't we haven't that hasn't been communicated by the state yet. So we don't know, but they said we're at least going to get a 25% haircut. And so that's what we think we'll be getting is 64600. So that means
right off the bat we're going to be $21,000 shy. >> I I I'm sorry to go backwards. That's okay. >> You didn't really answer my question. >> Oh, no. Which was your question? Try it again. >> Fiscal year 25 because this this matters
for fiscal year 2016. >> That's correct. >> I understand we're charging directly against accounts, but when we establish a budget and if we look at this the budget, imagine the rest of the budget was attached to this page. >> Yes. >> It would have laid out all our expenditures. Yes.
>> Which would be what I would consider to be actuals. I understand maybe the accounting term isn't actuals, but I look at what was actually spent when we say we approve a budget. Yes. >> Right. >> So, we really spent in fiscal year 25 not the approved budget of 6562602,
but that plus approximately $232,000. >> Yes. And let me Okay. Yes. >> Hang on a second. >> That's right. So, does that affect is our fiscal year 26 budget by its very nature now going to be approximately $232,000 in the whole
because we have our expenses were based upon fiscal year 25's budget, >> right? >> And how does that go forward into 26 and 27? And where is that accounted for in the actuals? Like where was I understand you're saying money was being charged against? >> Absolutely. I can I can give you an
example that will help. Um trying to think which line code it was. Was it contracted services? Sped contracted services >> was budgeted at $8,000. >> You'll all remember that the school
committee budgeted $8,000. >> It wasund >> and it was several hundred,000, not a hundred. Okay. >> Over $200,000. Right. >> So right there off the top. So that's that that is a variance to budget. that
is man-made. Okay. And so that 200,000 or the difference there um is when we went ahead and and and did the budget for 26, we said, "Well, 8,000 was
ridiculous. What's it really going to be?" And we budgeted what we really thought it was going to be. >> For other items, did we base our 26 projection on what we thought 25 was? um we looked at 25 and then we
said,"Well, it's got to be it's going to be higher than that." And then when we put that budget together, that was not approved. And so then it we had to go down to a 4.05% budget, which was approved. And what this will do is it
will keep us in line with that budget. When I say this, I mean this this right here. It'll keep us in line with that because we have now said this amount is all that can be spent out of the general fund and then all of these other amounts
are are where the funds are coming from and with the exception of that rural aid which we found out after the fact is going to be too short. Um, as Alisa is going through her budget, she'll just have to stick to the numbers and she'll be able to see what this is or she'll
have to come to the school committee to get a line item transfer. Let's say one line's going higher, the other one's going lower. She'll have to come back to the school committee, get a line item transfer, and um move forward. So, it's a it's an excellent question. It is one
that um I believe we can control through managing what gets charged to the budget, which hasn't which wasn't happening last year. So >> partly because nobody had any figures that they could rely on.
>> So you're going to be regularly charging things that should be coming from the special revenue funds. You're going to this way you're going to charge it to those things instead of taking it from the general fund and then trying to move stuff around. And then the other thing, Dylan, that we're going to do and Jen
and Kimberly is we are going to do it on a prospective basis rather than a retrospective basis. The what I'm just telling you in terms of what we spent and where we took things from that was done after the fact. It was just done in the last
couple of months, the last few weeks, the last month. And what we should be doing is saying we have 180,000 from school choice. We're going to identify where that's coming from. We're going to identify what lines that's
going to come from. Um now >> line it's going to cover which which lines are going to pull from it. >> Yes. Which lines from the budget are going to be offset by that special that by that one. Let's go to the title two
grant because that let me just see let's go to I want to see some let's go to circuit breaker circuit breaker so it's almost to the end three lavenders from the end it's 155,599 at the very top that's how much the school committee had said we needed to
put towards the budget so what we're going to do is we're going to follow that down and we're going to go over to the line code and it's going to say I I think it should, if I follow it over correctly, it should be programs out of
district. So, we are only going to charge that amount to that grant and we'll be able to every month you'll get a report that will say not only will you get a report for the general fund, but you'll get a report for all of these
other accounts and you'll see where you are. So, as Alisa is looking at it and she's going to say, "We don't have the funds for that. We're getting too close. We're six We're four months through the year and we've already spent eight months worth of of um
expenses and so we're going to have to cut back. That is how you would be able to manage your better manage your budget. Now, I want to say one other thing
because Dylan, you pointed out and as did Kim, the the reality of what was spent in 25. It was significantly more than what had been approved. And some of it was because what had been approved
was was inadvertently short on the sped side. And those expenses had to be incurred no matter what was budgeted because we had to spend sped as I understand it by law. Veto. Correct. >> What's that? >> Sorry. Spend spend.
>> Yeah. We have to spend sped. We couldn't say, "Oh, only 8,000 was budgeted, so you can only spend 8,000." >> Oh, right, right, right. >> You have to spend whatever the IEPs generate. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, um yeah, I hate to add um fuel to the
fire, but once we get done looking at the special revenue accounts, we'll find that there were additional amounts. So, for example, not reflected on your authorization was ARPA money. So, ARPA
money went to underwrite some of the budget as well. $33,000. So that's an additional $33,000 that was spent that's not going to be reflected on your general fund because it was charged to the municipal because it was
funded by the municipal ARPA covered by municipal ARPA. You follow me on that? >> I understand it. I follow you on it. I think my frustration lies with a couple things. I'm not pointing this at you. I just understanding these documents of if I look at this and I want to say how
much money did the school spend? Yes. >> Period. >> Yep. >> Right. >> That number I can't find. >> Yes, you can. You can find it. >> You can find it. It's just um it what we're reporting on is the general fund. Y
>> if you want to find it. So you saw down here it says fund 10,000. That's the general fund. >> Now all of these others are special revenue funds. They all have their own little page, their own little summary. >> Yeah. >> Now, you keep going. You keep going. And at the very end,
cuz Veto and I did this last night. >> We did. >> So, because we had the same question, what page? >> It's not like that. It's not like that was a, you know, snuck by us, right? >> Okay. >> Um, here's the total. I'm on page 45 and it says grand total. Okay.
>> What was spent for the grand total is 7,442. Is that $232,000 over the >> No, it's more than that. >> Yes, it is. >> It's more than that. Um, so I didn't distribute this. I I want to show you
what I was reading from. I didn't distribute this because I didn't want you to think these were final numbers. And I thought you would forget that this says uh we still have to reconcile with the town accountant. All right. But I wanted to point out that very fact that
you have spent at least 232,000 over what we had allocated for offsets. In addition, and and here's another thing that is an is a standard way of treating it. But if you're trying to
capture all of the costs to run your school, there's something missing here, and that's the cafeteria. The cafeteria has a revolving fund. The cafeteria dollars don't show up either on do not show up in the budget. So,
they're not an offset per se because they're not budgeted for. They're kind of off in this nebulous area. And I would recommend that we budget for those and then offset for them. So that if you're trying to capture what it
costs the school, what it costs to run the school, it would be all of your salaries, all of your sped expenses, all of your building maintenance, all of your supplies and your food services and your custodial, all of that. And then you would have offsets. So in the past
in every school the the um custo uh cafeteria revolving fund has never the expenses haven't been put into the budget per se and and when they get charged they go directly to that revolving account. So the expenses go
in, the revenue goes in, and that there's a surplus. And that um so when I say that you were 232,000 over what you had allocated, then
there's another 115,000 that came from um the cafeteria revolving fund. But that's that 115 was never in your budget. But it is it is another expense that if you asked me what does it cost because you just did what does it cost to run the
school then I'm going to tell you the practice here has not been to do that the practice has been to capture as much as they can and for those things that are supported through revolving funds that typically isn't budgeted and
that's how it is in many in many schools >> but there's also like the difference between so there's that but there's also I think like how much town meeting approved versus what we ended up spending on the things that we said we were going to spend money on. >> Yes.
>> You know what I'm saying, >> right? No, no, I understand. And I and I the question wasn't entirely fair and I get that. I mean, you know, I've always view cafeteria very much as >> it owns it. It's selfunding. It's it's it the the the amount coming out of it should match the amount coming into it.
That's all balanced. So, I don't really worry about that number because the number, you know, that's that's not it's really more the >> when we're looking at setting a number >> for the budgets and we're looking and maybe this is a perfect segway into letting you finish and I apologize for keep cutting you off, but
>> no, I want you to understand it and get your >> moving forward into 26, where does that leave us? And looking forward to 27, where does that leave us? >> Well, I do I think that I can't quite answer that question. I do believe that
we have cut a lot out of the budget from what it had been. And so now um we are going to have to live within that and and we do have these revenue funds available with the exception of so we're
not going to be able to put 200. We're not going to be able to use 24 again. That was a oneshot deal that we, you know, that grants for 24 that that we took 25 expenses and we used them against the 24 grants. That's not going
to happen again. So, we are going to have to adjust our spending accordingly. And furthermore, when Michael Fet writes the grants for he writes the title ones, writes the sped 40, he writes them for specific
things. In the past, those have augmented the budget. Now, in order to balance the budget, we have used those funds. So, as I've said to Alisa, and Elisa understands, you can't go and use those funds for something that's not in
your budget, which has been the practice because in the past, the budget wasn't necessarily balanced using all of these special revenue funds. But as things have gotten tighter, as expenses have grown, people
are using these grants to offset the budget. And so if something goes away, it's a problem. Just like ESSER, for people who had been balancing their budget using ESSER and ESSER went away, yes, that's going to have an impact. You're going to
have to increase your budget by that amount year, right? >> Or cut your expenses. >> I hear you. I I just I'm being respectful of you. I know you have other places to be. Just trying to understand when we set fiscal year 26 which is an approved budget that we have done. >> You know if I look at 25 and I look at
the actuals I can see variances on the right hand side of that page of what was over the biggest one being sped sped services contracted sped services which hadund 174 >> but we also knew that was wrong. So for fiscal 26 >> we corrected that we understand that. So
I'm when we look at this you're saying you know we need that we have less money. I understand that. >> What actually is there other expenses from 25 that were not captured in the 26 budgets that we now need to be looking
at reductions under 26 that were not accounted for when we established the 26? >> And I think what I need to do is look at that. I'm not going to answer that tonight. I'm going to look at that thoughtfully and do an analysis of it. >> Okay. And I'm going to say >> so I guess just to to your point though
here >> when you said we're looking at reductions are you saying we are looking at further reductions or the reductions that we made >> the reductions that you made the reductions that you made and and trying to capture the budget appropriately so you won't falsely be over budget.
>> I think that's the key right now is on this page >> right you're looking at what was approved 6622719. >> Yep. and then 5859582. That's what's going to be loaded. And
that's the difference between what has been happening and what will be current practice moving forward. >> That's because Go ahead. >> Because these lavender lines are special revenue funds that overinflate what
Alisa has seen in the past. So, she doesn't quite understand exactly how much money she has when she gets a report because those numbers were added to the 589. Oh, excuse me. 5859582, >> right? Except that if we have these
special revenues, then those are available to be spent. >> Yes. And they are going to be loaded into the budget just like when you get in the back there and you see those special revenues, you'll notice the budgets are zero. Nobody loaded those last year. >> Okay. which was done in 24 just to be
clear. So in 24 the people who were here did not load their special revenue accounts in there. So there was no way to track what you were doing. And this is going to take those out so we can track what has been designated an offset
in those special revenue accounts and not include them in what Alisa sees in her general fund. >> Right. She she but she will see in addition to seeing the general fund she will see each one of these other reports and she'll be able to monitor well where
am I on these now the other thing and I know I don't have time to go into it in detail but I do want to come back and go into it if you'll invite me back and that is >> happy to have you >> and that is >> um if you if you come back if you want
>> I do want to come back I want to come back because I want you to I want you to understand And trust me, I'm just as frustrated at times on this. But what I want to be able to say is, okay, let's go to page one up here. It's a good example. It's a
very good example. Um, you go to page one and you see preschool teacher. >> Yeah, >> there was a budget. There was the actual and it looks like what what on earth did Elisa do to the preschool teacher that she underspent it by 66,000.
>> Good work. We'll say that out loud. >> And what she actually did is that was charged to the preschool revolving fund. >> Okay? >> And and you can't quite see that. Next year, what we're going to do is we're going to identify up front how much is
going to preschool revolving. So when we put the budget in, it's only going to be the amount charged to the general fund. And the preschool revolving account will have I think we charge we charge 92,000 >> there. And that empty that account. Pardon me. Did that empty that account?
Oh, it emptied it. It emptied it. And um and what I want to say about that is we need to look at preschool a little carefully because when I'm working with Bradley most recently, it looked like there was a small deficit balance in there. So, we have to make sure I that
we are charging appropriately and uh covering our costs if that's what you want to do. If you don't want to cover your costs, then more of it's going to go in the general fund. >> Wow. Is that an option? Just kidding. >> No, but what I'm saying is if you don't want to cover it through your revolving,
>> I understand what you're saying. >> It will have it more of it would have to go into the into the general. >> So, I think you have to go but >> only because you have someplace else to be. But I think that is part of the reason this has been the way it's been is because there was this
whole thing about you've got all these other funds and you're spending them and you're not telling us what they are. So, I think that if we can do a combination of showing what our offsets are. >> Yes. >> But then having the books that you're keeping, have them separated out, but not hide the fact that we Yeah. We have
these special revenue funds and we're going to use them. >> Yes. >> I think that's the that was the piece that had been missing for a while. >> Yeah. >> So, yeah, it's in our budget. >> It's just >> some of it's covered by general fund and some of it's from special revenue. So, I think we can like keep everybody
informed appropriately if we do it that way. >> Yes. And and the key is getting reports so you can see it, >> right? >> Historically, and I don't know how long it's been, you haven't been receiving reports. >> It's been at least 3 years, possibly four, right?
>> That is going to be So that's my challenge is is next month >> month to come with the reports for FY26 where this budget is loaded. I just wanted to make sure that the school committee understood how the budget was going to be loaded and and generally
agreed to do that. Um I didn't want to go ahead and load the budget without really bringing it in front of you first. And I've been doing that with every school. every school so far we've talked with Williamsburg, Chesterfield, Hampshire Regional and and now you has agreed to do that and then we meet with
West Hampton next week and um so if we can do that then we can load the budgets then we can start producing the reports on a regular basis and then we will see how are we looking in 26 and where are there some problems I know one area
where there may be a problem already and that because we've been told by the state that we're going to get get a reduction. We're not going to get the same amount that we had in rural aid before. So, what we what we said we were going to do for an offset, we're not going to be able to do if all comes
through that way. But I do appreciate the questions for many reasons because it's clear that you understand the implications of all of this and in the end that's all what we're trying to do is I want to give you information that you can actually use to make good
decisions and make difficult decisions because there will be difficult decision decisions as we go forward because that it's getting tighter and tighter. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That was a lot of fun though. >> Yeah. I got I got four twice.
>> I know you do. Good luck. Hope you >> I think we need to give her a dictionary. >> It's not the school committee. It's not the school. >> Oh, it's the select board. >> Oh, say hi to Scott. >> Or is the thing?
>> All right. >> Good luck. >> Thank you. >> We're much nicer than >> I know. But you can see how it is. people wanted to do the right thing and >> it'll be okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um, I appreciate all the hard
work. Really good. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, John, this was a lot of effort. I appreciate that you were able to be here for this. Thank you. >> And I think you're really happy that you didn't have to be the one trying to explain all this. >> Well, we we went over it last night. I was like, I got this. Then she said today, I think I'm going to come to the
meeting. That's good. It's probably a good call. >> The next part is revolving. Yeah, I'll I'll deal with we'll deal with that. I understand that. Okay. Um, so if anybody can remember that Alisa made a report a while ago. Um, did anyone have any questions for Alisa on the principal's report?
>> Okay. >> And the only thing I wanted to say from my report >> is that um I was invited to uh to Arlington and 63 districts were being recognized. Three of those districts
were in R5 and one of them was Southampton. Y >> and it was around math results and our students um uh hitting outcomes. Yes. Back before >> COVID 2019 and that's one of the goals
that the state has set. Um it's a it's a starting point for us to really show that we're gaining traction and moving forward in a positive way. Uh, and uh, I just wanted to, you know, congratulate Alisa and her team for for those results
and especially the kids and the work that they're doing. So that that anybody else has any other questions, I'm glad to answer them, but that's really all I really wanted to focus on. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any questions for veto? >> Okay, chair's report. That's me. Um, so
the five chairs met with veto on September 12th. Um, as you know, because you'll be getting the emails about it, we've been trying to get a five committees meeting together to do a couple of things, including um, voting on a job description for the financial an analyst accountant position that is
in the budget, but it's unfilled because we don't have an approved job description. As of this morning, when I checked, there's still no date set for this meeting. >> So, yeah, Vito, I have a thought about that that I will talk to you about another time. >> Awesome. >> Um, so then on September 18th, Margaret
Which committee is the problem? >> I think I know, but I don't want to throw anyone under the bus. Um, so it's not us. >> Okay. So, on September 18th, Veto and Margaret and I met with the town administrator to um discuss the
health insurance situation to learn more about it and to get some clarity around the expectations for what we have to do for our fiscal 27 budget presentation because it was a little foggy last month. I wasn't there was a couple things I wasn't sure on. So, um the select board is actually meeting. They
may be done. I don't know. But they were meeting tonight on Zoom to um to take a vote on enacting whatever the the chapter is that you have to enact to um move forward with changing health insurance plans with the town unions because they have to work with the
unions in the town to decide some things. Um so, they were working on that tonight. Um, and then I asked him to clarify like what he wants us to prepare for fiscal 27. And he said that the two budget scenarios that he'd like us to prepare
are a level service budget and then a budget that he referred to as a progress budget. But I call it a restoration budget because it's not progress. It's a level service plus adding back >> all the stuff we lost. >> Either all or some of the things that we lost when the override failed in the spring. um doesn't
>> he did indicate that either one of these is still probably going to require an override >> because our anticipated um 2 and a half% increase in tax revenues isn't going to cover >> and if that's across the town it's not
going to cover that. So that's where we are with that and that's all I have on the chair's report unless you have any questions. All right, Jen, do you have a uh Hampshire report? >> Mhm. So we got that presentation but an hour
and a half almost two hours worth of it. Uh basically the same kind of stuff. Um the Hampshire regional enjoyment. You get to hear everything. >> Yep. At least that wasn't good this time. >> And you know what? We've been there and done that. So we feel you. We feel you.
>> So right >> the Hampshire. >> I literally keep telling people that. I was like I'm the only one that hadn't done it. So here's my charm. It wasn't hazy, I swear. Um, the teachers union up there uh talked about their concerns for
health insurance and that they've met and are >> correct me if I'm wrong in saying this, but that they want us to leave the trust. >> They Yeah. >> Yeah. Right. >> And that that the um MTA has >> Yes.
>> Uh suggested provided guidance around those things. Correct. So that is the problem only that we have that um we have with that is timeline like that has to be done by December 1st. Right. Um they found that
the same payroll issue we had encumbered through the audit uh not our audit but they're doing the Hampshire regional audit at the moment um that we hadn't encumbered the funds for payroll also happened in FY23 at Hampshire regional. And I asked Don if that was like a
happened in a lot of districts, if it just happened in our two schools, if there's like a common thread and why this happened, let us know. Um, their school choice fund is not where they thought it was supposed to be.
Just basically a lot of sad budget stuff that >> Yay. >> All right. I think >> we all heard. >> It's important to understand that the audit presentation is October 20th. and the auditors will talk about >> yes
>> those challenges that were faced in 23 that we're still um >> dealing with >> dealing with yeah >> cuz those like this problem will carry through the years coming
>> sorry I could be more cheery >> well okay >> that's good >> um PTO met last night they're heavy into planning for the um holiday bizar formerly known as the Apple Pie Festival. Never was >> say it every time. >> I will say it every time. Um so they're heavily into that. They have, you know,
they've been continuing to fund um faculty requests for, you know, for different things. They're doing the Scholastic book fair and they'll do the teacher wish lists again and stuff. >> Oh, for um conferences. >> Yeah. And they're also um trunk or treat is coming up and if anyone wants to make
candy donations, they're a little light on the candy donations right now. So >> Oh, yes. if anybody's interested. >> They're really light on trunks, too. Like, I was shocked when I saw that. >> They had as of last night, they had 31 sold >> out of the 32 that they were planning. So,
>> I think the candy will come in. >> Yeah. But, you know, >> this week and next. Yeah. >> So, so that's it for that. Um Margaret's not here to talk about school counsel. Is there anything to report on school counsel? >> No. I did put out a plea to the teachers because I need a representative or two for the school council and I will be reaching out to the parents soon to see
if we can get a couple people to start in November. >> Okay. >> Um Dylan, is there anything from the collaborative? >> Uh met two weeks ago uh as far as meeting business went, elected new officers. Um and the I chose
a search firm for the purposes of finding a new executive director after a lengthy discussion about that. Um that that's really the only substantive things that happen during the meeting. If anyone wants, I'm happy to forward the executive director notes um from the
meetings that kind of cover the behind thescenes work that's going on. I don't typically do that, but I can absolutely share them. They're public documents. >> Okay. Well, you can do that or you can Oh, actually you can send them to me and I can put them in the drive if you want and then we won't talk about them. We won't print them. I'll make that clear
that that's not a printed thing, but if people want to read them, they can. The good news is the budget, their budget seems to be >> leveling out after laying off substantial numbers of people. So, >> so that's a mixed bag of good news because the way they had to do it wasn't
so fabulous. Okay. >> All right. And, um, John's not here, so there's no select board update. Um, we just had John Don do the Bance can't talk the budget and finance team update, but the paper I just I distributed because I knew this wouldn't be in the
packet, the tuition agreement revolving account. So, here's the scoop on this. Um, we have a student that um there's a special education agreement in place for a student from West Hampton to come to Southampton to the neurodeiversity program. There are payment there's payment for
the service. there is the um the tuition and then a bunch of uh specialized instruction that comes to a total of $66,973.88. West Hampton will be paying all of those costs. And so in order for again for the
budget to not look like it's out of whack, what we have to do is we have to set up a revolving account that will take all of the payments from West Hampton, put them in the revolving account, and then all of the expenses associated with that student will be charged to the revolving account. So
it'll never hit Alisa's budget that will then be out of whack. And this does not require um it doesn't require a vote of town meeting or anything like that. we're allowed to do this. Um, do you guys have any questions about it? >> Is this like a one-time thing or it will
stay? >> Which includes that paraprofessional position that I I don't want people to think that that was a new position after. >> Right. So, you've got the one-on-one power that you talked about. That's that's part of it, right? And you did say that in your report. >> And this is one year only. >> The position is one year only.
>> The agreement >> Well, agreement is one year only >> for the student is well, it doesn't say one year only, but it's only one year. And I mean if it had to extend or whatever then we deal with it when the time comes but that's for this year. So um >> um can I ask a question? >> You can.
>> Does it make sense if this maybe seems like something >> we would be doing in the future as well? Um, since we have the neurodiversity program, are we setting it at just up as just the neurodeiversity like revolving account so it's not tied specifically to
this one student so we don't have to keep doing it again and again or is it just set up for this one student? >> Well, it's because it's part it's tied to the tuition agreement for this student. So, we I don't know how many times you'd have to do it. Maybe, but it's not a hard thing to do either. So, what I will say is if one of you is
going to make a motion, there is a typo on this where it says if motion if made by member, it's MGL um it's under mass journal law. It's section 71F. It's it's chapter 71. >> Yeah. >> I make a motion to authorize a tuition
agreement revolving account pursuant to mass general laws chapter 71 section 71F. >> All right. Second. >> All right. So, Dylan and Jen, is there any other discussion on this? >> All in favor? I >> I Okay, good. That's set. All right. So,
now we are going on to second reading on policy KCD, the gift to public schools. Um, one of the questions that we had last month was whether we should include um any kind of language about um anonymous
gifts, about like trying to let people make anonymous gifts, that kind of thing. But anyway, I checked with council and she said that basically adding any language about anonymity doesn't actually guarantee anonymity
because there's always a paper trail with a donation of any kind. So, she thought it would be muddying the waters to try to be guaranteeing something that we can't guarantee. So, she recommended leaving it as is. So, that's for that. So, there's really
not much to this. I don't know if anybody wants to make a motion on this. >> Just at all the policies, was Margaret directly involved in drafting these >> not in KCD. KCD came directly from um MASC.
>> So then I'll move that we approve policy KCD publicist to school. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I Okay. So then school admissions. This is another one that really the only
change from last this is a second read as well. The only change between this and what we did what we had was in the second paragraph it says will take place in the spring. Our our policy had said it will take place in April. I think that was like the biggest change. Everything else is pretty much what we
already have. >> And this this is good. This is covers us. >> Yeah. >> So I'll move that we approve policy JF school admissions. >> Is there a second? Second. All right. Any other discussion? All in favor?
>> I. >> I. Okay. Motion carries unanimously. Okay. So, now we have a first read on policy EF. It's a civil rights complaint policy for child nutrition programs. And this goes back to it's a reference to some other
policy that we approved already about charging meals and and all that, how the cafeteria handles things. So Margaret did do this and um this also came from MASC. The only change to it is putting that it's the superintendent will and that's
in green just that language. The superintendent will private provide assistance to individuals etc etc. But this is also just a first read. >> We need motions on first read. >> I don't think we do. We keep saying we accept it as a first read but I don't think we need to. So there's that one.
And then the other first read we have is policy JQ, which is student fees, fines, and charges. And again, this goes back to the c the other cafeteria policy that we had um already approved. This was also referred.
So, um and all of the work on here was done by Margaret. So, if you have any questions, I I probably can't answer them, but it's mostly she also went and, you know, looked at um she went and looked at like updated policy from like MASC
and I think some of this just doesn't apply anymore because of how we do things. >> Why is there a reference to the Hampshire Regional School District in the final? >> I saw that too, >> right? Oh, any of you that do the Hampshire Regional That is not Oh, that should say the Southampton public schools, right? I feel like the
Hampshire >> I think the strikethrough is just in the wrong spot maybe. >> No, because it's got the new It's >> Oh, school district. Well, it is. Well, >> well, we're not in the We're not in the Hampshire regional schools. >> We're all in district. >> So, since John's not here, if we regionalized >> Stop. >> There you go.
>> That one's for you, buddy. All right. So, it should say Southampton Public Schools, right? Don't >> I don't know. I don't know why Margaret's here. >> Okay. So, all right. So, we'll question that because this is only a first read. So this is a question. >> I wonder >> if we say that it assumes that if
someone's in sixth grade and then they go to seventh going with them and I don't think >> it doesn't. No, >> it can't. >> And then above that, you know, gradu graduation exercises, >> right? So I think we need to >> we got to talk about this whole policy. This to me reads policy >> and and that's fine and we can and we'll
that'll be on next month. So the so um EF and JQ will be on next month as well. So then the next um what I put here, the last thing under policy was suggestions for future policy discussions. And that is because after our last meeting, we
got an email from a member of the public um requesting um that we start that we do some work on policy around um student use of personal electronic devices in school >> and about um social media platforms that
are used in instruction and that kind of stuff. And I apologize. I simply did not have time in the interim to to do a deep dive on any of this. And I think it's also important for the administration to have a chance to look at the things. What I did do, and I'll put I will send this to you guys, but I was like
literally I was doing this this afternoon trying to just have some. I did look through our policy manual to see what we do have and what we maybe need to work on. Um, and so what I have found was there's there's a bunch of
policies that are um that are in like they're in our manual, but that like they'll show like the use of technology and instruction policy. Our manual shows a first draft from 1999 and that's all it says. So whether anything was ever
adopted, who knows? Um, access to digital resources. Um there's a version of it in our policy manual, but again there's nothing to show that it was ever adopted. Policy on social media. Um again, our
policy doesn't our manual doesn't show that there was anything about that that was ever adopted. And then the student use of technology in schools. There's nothing in our policy manual about that. So, what I have is I went through I looked at the MASC suggested policies and I have links to all of those
documents in this thing that I made that you guys don't have. This was just for my notes because with the other things that I have going on as chair, I don't know how much time I have to devote to this and I'm wondering if anybody wants to I kind of thought you might want to. So, I'm I
will send you what I have. >> I've done research on it. I looked I've actually before I was on the committee, right? >> I had gone through and done stuff and like gone and looked at other schools policies and see what in the area and what they had. So yeah. >> So I thought that might be in your
wheelhouse but I didn't want to assume because you know I asked a lot of favors of you tonight. >> I'll take this one too. >> All right. So I will send you what I have done and you can go from there. But I think if you want to present anything at our next meeting, two things. I'm going to need to know ahead of time so I
can get it posted with the agenda. >> But second, I think it's probably a good idea to have for you to have conversation with Alisa or Veto as well. Possibly check what might be in the um student handbook because there may be some stuff in the handbook that just we
don't have policies. I don't know if there are because it's been a long time since I had a student at Norris. So I haven't looked at the handbook recently. But so, so anyway, those would be my suggestions. Um, and then if you have any further questions, Veto has a question. >> Uh, more of a a statement. Today I was
at the uh safe school summit in Greenfield and this topic was the topic of the day. Uh, and one of the things they talked about was uh especially around cell phones and personal electronic use in the schools was MGL
that is in motion around that. Yeah. >> Um and >> bell to bell. >> Yeah. The belt to bell. Exactly. And and the different >> modes that schools are uh assuming around that. So I think we could
probably inform some of the work with what is in uh process at at that level. And I have some things to share that you might be interested in that were shared today. >> Yes. >> Great. Um so that was my suggestion. It
was based on um citizen request and so we're going to work on that. Um did anybody else have you saw I might have seen it on the agenda. Did anyone else have anything they wanted to put forward in possible future stuff? You don't have to answer me right now, but if you saw it and had it in your
head, I just wanted to give you an opportunity. >> No, I did not. Cameras and facial recognition software. >> Okay, Peter. Um, thanks. >> All right. So, the next thing, um, is an ADC review and discussion. Now, so
here's the scoop. When ADC, so that's the all districts committee for our audience members. Two members from each of the five school committees serve on the all districts committee. And it has it was created not only like three or four years ago. I think this well, okay, Williamsburg, Chesterfield, go here. So,
this is year four of it because I'm counting how many chairs we've had. Um this is year >> year four. >> Yeah, it was created for reasons which we'll get into in a minute. But um part of the agreement says that we have we're supposed to do a periodic review of if
it's working, if it's not, what should we be doing? So part of what we're trying to do with that five committees meeting that may never actually happen is um talking about it there. And the the thought was if we talked about it at our individual meetings first, then we don't have to like hash it out with all
37 people, we can talk together and sort of like present a summary of our thinking at the the larger meeting. So Vita also sent a um a survey to everybody. I don't know if everyone had a chance to complete that. >> I did.
>> I got it in under the wire this afternoon. >> Oh, was it due today? >> No, it wasn't necessarily due today. I did it today just because but it also helped me just think about it. So does anybody have anything that you I mean some of the guy well I can't remember I don't remember the guiding questions anymore. >> Do you have anything you want to say
about it? >> I literally have no idea what they do. It is like a phantom like ghost entity that you guys all get together. I don't know what you decide. I don't know what you talk about. I have no idea. No idea. >> And the Google form that I shared that was one of the question
>> has a link in it that has the agreement. So people can see >> the agreement's in your packets too. >> And it's in the packet that's right. Yeah. >> But you can see what the sections of the uh all districts agreement >> is are and um it can guide some of the
responses as uh as necessary throughout the survey. I would say from my limited knowledge of attending these meetings as a public member and as now on the committee itself, it doesn't seem to be
very um helpful like >> good at getting anything done producing anything that is useful to anyone. >> Okay, >> just >> no that's fine. I mean, this is why
we're talking. That's fine. All right. Dylan, did you have any >> thoughts? All right. So, Jen, you know what your thought was? You going to take a little note maybe on Dylan's thoughts cuz >> Oh, you need to be able to present a summary. >> Hey, I don't think this I don't think this entire agreement was ever fully
finalized or ratified. There was a long and still ongoing discussion the last time this agreement came out about voting weight and whether or not there should be a representative vote or should whether there's a Senate style vote if you will meaning two two votes for this and additionally in practice
every time any sort of matter has come forward that said we need to make a decision on something I think that that has come down now that the ADC is merely an advisory body that can make recommendations but ultimately any policy decisions any hiring decisions,
any disciplinary actions, any approval and even a superintendent's evaluation which was the entire creation of this is ultimately relies with the individual committees because those are elected positions. So we have a committee >> and the law requires >> and the law requires. So we have I mean I understand the purpose of it. I get it
from the perspective of, you know, we want to try and not deal with what we're doing right now, which is trying to get all five committees to agree to a date and have an advisory body who can get some of the kind of preliminary work out of the way. But when you have a committee that has
absolutely zero teeth, I mean really zero teeth, which is not properly reflected in this document, but in practice, I I I don't really understand the purpose of it to be honest with you.
>> Yes. Okay. Okay. >> So, um I had invited our members who could not be here tonight to share with me their thoughts so I could get them into the record as well. um so that at least for our summary their thoughts
could be um shared. One did, one didn't. So Margaret sent me an email and I said that I would read it. Um Margaret was also I think pretty involved in helping with the creation of ADC. So she has some perspective that I want to share with you and I told her I would read
verbatim what she wrote. So um ADC was created to solve some thorny issues faced by the Hampshire Regional School District. Number one, how can non-public information regarding the superintendent be shared between school committees? Um,
for example, if one committee has a serious problem with the superintendent that is only shared in executive session with that school committee, is there an appropriate venue to share that information so every school committee me every school committee is on the same page? This was an actual scenario in
which one school committee had a complaint leading to a possible termination or no confidence vote for the superintendent, but none of the other school committees could get that information. Um, note legally this is just dicey all the way around, but the ADC was an attempt to open the
conversation. Additionally, what if there is a complaint about the superintendent conduct that crosses school committees? What is the venue for dealing with that? Number two, how does central office equitably inform the entire district
about upcoming budget and hiring needs? In the past, central office would come to each school committee individually at budget or hiring time. Thus, one committee at a time heard the information and voted on it, possibly without understanding ramifications to
the other towns. By the time the information got to the last school committee, it had already been approved, even if those school committees had outstanding questions. Further, because most committees were focused on the bottom line as it related to their own expenditures, some
systemwide anomalies went unnoticed. Number three, how do we equitably involve all schools in selecting and evaluating a superintendent? How do we agree on who should be part of the interview team, what questions should be
part of the evaluation process, and what information should be public? Each school committee chair can decide how to handle the evaluation process and what information to make public. For example, one committee can choose to release the overall rankings. Another can choose to
release rankings with specifics at each sub level and another can choose to release comments attached to those rankings. For all practical purposes, the ADC is a recommending body and not a decision-making body. It can't supplant the decisions made by individual school
committees, but it can serve as a clearing house of information so all committees are on the same page. In practice, that's the next section of the email. Because the ADC is not part of any greater charter or agreement, it is not recognized by DESIE as a
decision-making body. Further, because the chair rotates from year to year, the activities in adherence to the intent may vary wildly and then her thought about going forward. The question remains, does ADC fulfill its mission? If not, is there
another way to achieve its goal of creating commonality in Hampshire Regional School District regarding superintendent hiring, evaluation, and complaints as well as the central office budget and hiring process and approvals? Going back to the way it was is not
sustainable. So, that was Margaret's statement on the um on the topic. Um, I will say that I think I've been on ADC like three out of the four years and what she says is true. Like depending on
who's running it >> results, you know, what the work you get done and how it how efficiently it's done, it does vary greatly. And I think one of the other challenges we have is that because there are so many
duties listed in the agreement that they're supposedly ADC jobs, they are legally required to be done by all five committees. And so the school committees rightfully there are members who jump up and down and say ADC can't do anything
about that. And there are people who don't even want ADC making recommendations. I mean that happened when when um s the central office put a tremendous amount of time and effort into a budget presentation for the ADC and then
okay thank you very much and that was it because like we had people like yelling at us that you can't even make a recommendation this isn't your job you're not allowed to do this like it was so there's not I guess my what this is a long way of saying there are a lot of committee members who don't buy into
the role of ADC they don't buy into its job and they they're not will they're not okay with ADC trying to do the job as listed in the agreement. Right or wrong? I'm just saying like that's a thing like >> Margaret's point of view to it makes
like it to me not reading that more sense of why it was created and >> you need this con you need the function it should >> be providing or doing but clearly >> like you said depending on who's in
charge is not >> right well and the other thing too is I mean so there could be other ways of handling things but we really in my opinion we do need a way for the five districts to be able to handle complaints against the superintendent >> whether it's ADC or some other
mechanism. >> Are the five chairs not allowed to get together and do it. >> But if there's going if there's going to be a disciplinary issue with a superintendent the whole all five committees would have to do it. If there was going to be a termination of a superintendent, all five committees, but I just mean for likeformational
purposes, like could the five chairs get together, voice the concerns, and then you bring them back? >> Well, see, the problem is that when the comp when a complaint comes, >> I'm just curious. >> Well, there's legal things about how you can discuss them, and sometimes you have to discuss them in executive session,
>> depending on what the complaint is. And the person being complained about also has legal rights about representation and about being there. There's a whole bunch of stuff. discussion >> and I mean I know there have been situations where one committee got the complaint, nobody else got the complaint
and you couldn't talk about it >> with the other, you know, the other people. So, so eventually that was eventually >> the way I know about that is because eventually we could because there was a legal way to do it. But like there's just a lot. So I think that that's important. And the other thing too with
like the superintendent hiring process and this is what I said in my survey answers that I think it's largely untested about whether ADC can handle it or not because this year well last year when we the first time we had to use it. We didn't get off to a time we did not
start the superintendent search in a timely manner. It was not done when it should have been done and the result of that was we were behind the eightball through the whole thing. So the process wasn't followed. So it's possible that it's a very good procedure, but the
person in charge has to actually do it. >> Right. Right. >> And so that and when I say the person in charge, I mean whoever the current chair of the >> Why does the chair change every year? Just because >> it's just in the agreement. That's part of the agreement that it would change. >> And so what the agreement actually says
is that the it so it started it's an alphabetical thing. So the first year the chair was from Williamsburg. So that meant it was Williamsburg first and then the next one was Chesterfield, Goan, then Hampshire. This year it's Southampton's turn and then next year it's William Westampton's turn. So what
happens is this year the chair will be from Southampton and the vice chair is supposed to be from West Hampton because that's the next town coming up to to do it. That's the that's how it's set up. Um >> so are you chair of the EDC too? >> Am I? No. Well, we haven't had a meeting yet. >> Oh, okay.
>> Um so it could be Margaret or me. There's nothing in the it has past practice has been that it's the chair of the school committee, but the agreement doesn't say that. It just has to be one of the two from the town. So once we actually have a meeting, there'll be a vote. Um so right now theoretically
Tom's still the chair because we haven't had a vote a meeting to change it. I >> I'd really like for Margaret and John to be here for this conversation too. So maybe we can continue it next meeting because I think there's a lot of issues. I think and I agree with what Margaret says in what >> theory
>> well in the in the very having can't my vocabulary is is really bad in the in the in the lightmost in the sense if everyone came to this with good intentions and the in the way that this is you know could potentially be
and I understand the problems you're trying to solve but the reality is I think it's a misunderstanding and slightly a misfring not intentionally of how we actually function and what we actually are legally as far as organizations go. Um you know to kind of
work backwards from what was talked about we start talking about the superintendent search. >> No nothing going on here Dr. Peron but it you know this the committee very much felt usurped by one or two members who brought in the specific search team that
they wanted to use and said basically we don't even want to do a hire this year. we want to wait 18 months for that to happen. And it was pushing for a very delayed process, a very slow process about interims and long searches. And every time I think a
conversation was brought up of push this forward, the consultant that was brought in said, "Oh, no, we can't possibly do it this quickly." And then it was shut down by the by the committee at that time. It was was incredibly frustrating.
Um I I think to the point of sharing complaint information and the problem that we have with that is well we'll go that budget issues the second piece of that but the issue that you have there is that we all want to act like we're
five families like we're one big family with five little you know we're all cousins. We're not in the sense not in the sense of relationships. When we talk about legal organizations, we are five separate and distinct organization with our own legal
charters, our own elections, our own representatives, our own budgets, everything. Five of us. >> But we share >> we share we have a superintendency agreement, >> right? But the reality is if the if the complaint against the superintendent is
directly impacting a single organization, I don't believe the other four organizations necessarily have a right to have that information. >> Just in the same sense if you were a customer, if we're all customers of Microsoft Office, right? We all just
just for an example and you have an issue with Microsoft Word, right? that has something you don't like. The rest of us, even though we all agree to use this one product and we all agree to work with under that license and that thing, do not have the right to access
your complaint against that information. I'm not saying that that's right or wrong. I'm not saying that we should necessarily follow it. But I think the idea that we all have a that we have a right to that information and that we are all one big family is not really accurate. accept that. But if there if
there's a if there's a complaint that is so egregious that it requires >> and and that needs that disciplinary action >> and that action can be brought before all five committees in that procedure by calling an all districts meeting. Not all districts committee but a five five districts meeting
>> but that's the thing like it didn't s again I wasn't there when this >> No I'm not I'm not arguing with you but again I think this is a problem and then and then and then it's the same thing with the budget issue. I mean, you know, we went we've made massive strides in how central office budget is created and presented from basically non-existent
buried in the New Hampshire regional budget that is that just appropriated down to everybody that was a black box that nobody knew about >> to now what I consider to be a very transparent budget that we can understand line by line exactly the money is getting spent yet there is
still really no vote. I mean what ends up happening with that whole thing is ABC gets it Hampshire regional votes on it more or less as part of their budget first and then the rest of us are stuck with it. >> But the year that I chaired Hampshire we actually did have a five committee meeting to vote on the H on the central
office budget because that's the thing like it's just like trying to approve this job description. It's getting so one of the things that I would say is you know what maybe ADC isn't maybe getting the five committees together actually has to be the way to
do it >> and >> if we can get people to do it >> if we do but I understand it's untenable but at the same time we are elected officials we all signed we all signed up for this job everyone in every one of these districts that we are going to represent the constituents and do what we need to do to support the schools hire and do the things that are in our
job descriptions and I'm not saying you know I The problem is you have a shortage of volunteers willing to do this work. But ultimately, if people aren't fulfilling the responsibilities of their elected position, they should be recalled and that's that's the end of it or they should not be running for office. And the s I think it's important
that you have elected officials in one or two or three towns who cannot find a single night in 3 months to meet. >> There is the gentleman in the audience would wonder if he
>> Okay. Sorry. Oh, did you have a question? I'm sorry. Thank you. I'm I'm like listening. >> I you know I do. >> Well, okay. So, since the dates for November are look looking like we're probably not doing that. Um, seriously.
>> Well, I don't know. >> Beat us like a deer in the headlights. He doesn't want to answer. But what I will say is our next meeting is November 12th. >> I will not be here. >> I know you won't be here, but we've heard >> Well, you said you might. You might. No, it's the 13th. You I don't know. No, actually we get back in the morning. I
should be here that night. >> So, but my point was that to the best of my knowledge, our members that aren't here tonight will be here for that meeting. And I think that meeting will probably happen before this five committee meeting comes together. So, so we can revisit this and we can um hear
from Margaret and John if they have anything for if Margaret wants to, you know, say any more about this or if John wants to, you know, share his. arrest warrants for people to be dragged in for failure to appear at scheduled meetings. >> I don't think that's how that works. >> Okay. Anyway, so that's the ADC
discussion. >> Uh superintendent evaluation veto. >> Way to follow that up. >> Good enough for the Texas legis. >> Understand that we were talking about a superintendent. We weren't talking about current superintendent. It was just it
had nothing to do right because there will be superintendent. There will be a successor to you at some point. Better not be long. >> It's inevitable. >> Inevitable. >> You're not allowed to retire. >> We said that about the last person. >> Okay. >> The John did on money accounts. What I really wanted to talk about was
just that the the the reason or not the reason I shouldn't say that the the premise of the work that that I do around goals is to really think about what the strategic objectives are for the the districts and then what uh through lines we can
find from them all the way down to individual educator goals including central office staff, myself, the principles, etc. And so we've had conversations about how we can find those vertical through lines from the
strategic plan to those individual goals, make those goals relevant and authentic to the work that we're doing so that the students, the teachers, and the schools benefit from the work that we do as professionals.
Um, based on last year's experience, it's obvious that the goals that I created need to continue because we aren't where we need to be with respect to the fiscal system, the central office, etc. So, uh, three
of the four goals that I put forward last year are going to remain intact. The one I am adding is what I really wanted to talk about and I feel that the focus of my attention as a superintendent last year was on that
20,000 ft level per force. It had to be because of the realities and the challenges and the things that I inherited and we inherited I should say. And so one of the things as an instructional leader that I really felt
I wasn't able to pay attention to was what was going on in the classroom around the instructional core. And when you think about what that really means, it's teachers, students, and curriculum in a classroom and what's happening in that classroom. How are students
receiving instruction? How are teachers delivering instruction? and is the curriculum fulfilling the purpose of it in the space. Uh so so those are the things as a leader that I really want to be part of but I wasn't able to be part
of in the past uh last year. And so we have talked about opportunities for uh us to work together around instructional leadership, get into classrooms, see what's going on and um really try and
move us forward in a positive way. Uh the the opportunity as we see it is um work was done by Michael Ferdet last year uh with 6 through 8 curricula in English language arts. And so a
curriculum committee was put together. Teachers were a part of it. Um and there was a decision made on a specific curriculum. That curriculum is now in place. There's been professional development uh horizontally across the sixth grade level, but also including
the seventh and eighth grade. That happened in September. It's going to continue in October. And as an instructional leader, what we want to do is see what's going on with respect to the instructional core and this new
curriculum in our schools. So really do the job that ideally we're hired to do is uh collaborate together, look at our educators in action with our kids with the curriculum. And so that's really the focus of the new goal from uh from uh
last year. So what is how does the goal read? Do you have it there? >> Uh I have a draft. Um uh throughout the 2526 school year, uh central office and sitebased leadership teams will organize and implement an instructional leadership team goal focusing on instructional core learning visits at
schools. So that's where it is right now. What going to happen is that that becomes planned activities and evidence and artifacts. So, we articulate that and I'm sure many of you have heard of smart goals. Um, that's really what
we're trying to look at. Again, uh, in my experience, the more authentic and relevant goals are, the more um, easily they're uh, able to be measured and uh, the more beneficial it is to not
only the the individual practitioner but to the school community. So will you be doing doing learning visits like with the principles if you're going into classes watching what's going on? Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> I must say maybe not from a specific educational like leadership point
>> but you were greatly noticed as being a more present figure in the schools in general. I >> I appreciate that and that was personally what I want to be is present. I want to be uh recognized, you know. So when students know who I am, um not necessarily what I do or anything like
that, but just that I'm I'm here for a reason, >> but even parents have said, I mean, I I know the kids see it because my one child could pick you out of a crowd, but >> parents have even said to me like when they've seen you, I know when you came to the sixth grade um
>> curriculum night, >> well, yes, but no, the sixth grade play that they did last year, the drama club, like lots of parents were like, "Oh, like who's that?" Like I was like, "Oh, it's a super new superintendent." Like, "Oh, like that was nice of him to show up." You know what I mean? Like, so like that is being seen,
>> right? >> And I know it's not the specific goal you're talking about, but just >> but but that's part of it, you know? That's all part of of being making connections, building relationships, and it's not just building relationships with school committee members who I sit
with three hours a night, you know, when we have meetings. >> Does not have to be three hours. >> It's I I'm with you. But it's with it's with with with teachers and educators and paraprofessionals and parents and students and that's what is gratifying about this job because the other stuff's not so fun. >> Yeah.
>> And so I I really appreciate you saying that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Alisa, I know it's not on the agenda, but you had a field trip you needed. >> Field trip request to go out of state. So grade four is requesting to go to the Connecticut Science Center on December
5th. um during the school day. It won't extend beyond the school day. So, they'll leave after everyone has arrived at school and they'll be back before dismissal. Um it's >> we only have to approve it because it's crossing state lines. >> Correct. >> Motion to approve the field trip to the
Connecticut Science Center for Grade. >> Fourth grade. >> Fourth grade. >> All right. So, that's Jen and Dylan seconded. Any other discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. All right. So that is it for the public portion of our meeting.
>> Oh, we have >> we are going to have a very short executive session. It will be very short, I promise. So um what we need is a motion to enter >> remember what day it was. Executive session according to Mass General Law Chapter 30A section 21A3
to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an opening meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares which I do. I do declare um this is Southampton Teachers Association. The motion further
should state that the superintendent and the principal are included in the executive session and we will not return to open session at the conclusion. >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second.
>> All right. So Dylan made the motion. Jen seconded. We need a roll call vote in. Jen >> Johnson I. >> Dylan Modsley I. >> And Shot I. All right. So we are in executive session and as soon as I see all that