So, we are calling to order. Uh, it is 5:05 p.m. on January 13, 2026. This is a meeting of the Central Elementary School Committee. Uh, this meeting is being recorded. Um, the first order on the the first item on the agenda is to review
and approve the minutes of October 21st, 2025. We have a motion to approve. >> I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. I will second the motion as the note taker takes the notes. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion of
those minutes? >> Yeah. Uh so we need to do a roll call vote because our committee members are um both online and in person. Um do you want to call it off Amanda? Um for the notes Megan? >> Yes. >> Joe?
>> Yes. >> Loi? >> Yes. >> Jessica? >> Yes. >> Amanda? Yes. Okay, they are approved by zero. Uh on to financial statements. >> All right. Um 32 warrants were signed
since the last meeting uh digitally totaling $225,9461. Um I sent you out the general fund expense report. If you looked at that and saw the teacher line has an overage, it's about $121,000 listed as an overage on that expense report. I have my payroll staff looking
into that. My hunch is that someone's on the wrong funding source, which just means that we need to move it internally and then I have the town reallocate it appropriately. Um, we definitely don't have not even one extra teacher and that would indicate possibly one and a half
extra teachers. There is some overage that I've talked about already from our placeholder and then the contract settlement was a little bit high, but it's certainly not to that degree. So, I am looking in that looking at that further on my end. Um, central office
benefits still need to be fully encumbered for the year. We've talked about the impact of health insurance primarily on our other towns and Frontier because Sunderland is with Maya and they did not have that October 1st mid-year increase on insurance, but
Sunderland does pay a portion of central office benefits um based on the cost share agreement. So, we're going to exceed that budgeted amount. So, if you look at that line right now, I believe it shows about 20,000 available. That's going to go over this year. Um, I'm
working with my team on what the amount to be encumbered is. So, hopefully we'll get that updated for next month. So, the reason I'm sort of talking about those two things is the bottom line budget shows 110,000 available. That's not really a true amount for us right now because of those two changes that need
to be made. So, um, 110,000 is a little bit low for this time of year. We still have a good 5 and 1/2 months to get through of purchases. On the positive side, salaries and wages are fully encumbered and with those
adjustments will recoup some of that. Um, the primary reason I'm telling you this is there's two pieces. One, we may be talking about the impact of this year's budget on next year and whether or not we need to look to capture any savings. Um, once you see next year's budget, you'll understand that a little
bit better. And then two, we have had um one new student enroll at the school. They're currently enrolled that does have uh some higher needs. We thought we were going to have to hire a onetoone IIA. Turns out that student is able to bring the BCBA that it is a BCBA, right,
that was working with them um a contracted service provider externally and we won't have to cover those costs. The students insurance is going to cover the cost of that BCBA. So there's no additional cost for us there. Um, but Bed did also learn recently that there
may be siblings moving into district from a neighboring town that will have an impact on our finances potentially and the number of IAS that we need. We're still talking about what that looks like if they're really coming because they're not officially enrolled yet. Correct.
>> Uh, paperwork has been collected. So >> um and then you know talking with Darius closely between Ben and Darius and and other staff on the ground here of can we cover those needs with exist existing staff. Are we going to need one new IIA versus two and what does that look like?
So that has an impact in the current year and next year assuming that those students stay in district. So there's a lot going on in Sunderland as usual. Um, not as pretty of a picture as some of the other schools, but you know, we're not
we're not negative funds in the general fund yet. So, we'll we'll keep monitoring it closely as we go through the next few months. So, >> can you tell us a little bit about what circuit breaker reimbursement might look like?
>> Um, regarding ones, >> I don't know. I don't want to give you wrong information, but sorry, I have a little bit of a cough from a lingering cold. Um, I just sent an email about this. So,
we will see about $55,000 for circuit breaker in the current year. Um, I don't think there's going to be any extraordinary relief, which we did see last year. If your expenses go up suddenly, even though we have these
changes in student enrollment and their needs, I don't think we're going to hit the threshold. We have to cover like the first, say it's $45,000 of expenses. Um, so we can potentially tap into circuit breaker to cover some of these needs uh
in the current year or talk about using that to help supplement next year because we can roll it over to the next year. So, Are there other questions for Shelley? >> Thank you, Shelly. >> Uh, principal's reports. >> Great. So, we have a um, you know, I'm
going back a couple months here since our last uh, school committee, Sunderland school committee was in October. Then there was the joint one in November and no meeting in December. So again, going back a couple of months, on Friday, November 7th, we held our annual
Veterans Day observance ceremony. Once again, we had participation from the local BFW, Post 3295 out of South Deerfield, and the color guard from UMass. Um, the guest speaker this year uh was Sunderland resident um and former
Sunderland Elementary School parent uh Lieutenant Colonel Steven Burgess. He's with the Ma Massachusetts Air National Guard at the 104th Fighter Wing um based at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield. Um he's had uh quite the
distinguished career. Um multiple deployments in support of different operations. Uh he also served our community as a state police officer for 23 years. Part of his career he worked in the K9 unit and um brought his dog here a few times to um interact with the
students. Um, winter concert was held in December, uh, the highlight year of celebrating our growth and successes. Um, it's really, um, incredible seeing the growth of our musicians from that first, uh,
lesson up until the concert in December, then even more so in the spring. Um, our music department is super dedicated and um, it's just it's noticed and felt every day. Led by a general music teacher, Sue Matsui, band teacher Megan
Carr, and strings teacher Mia Freriedman. So, they put on a wonderful winter concert for our families. Um, as we've talked about in the past, um, we hold monthly meetings, uh, all school meetings as a way to build community. Um the December meeting was held on
December 18th. That that was a Thursday hosted by grades three and four. So they co-led the meeting. Um they their focus was on bravery. We also introduced a different character trait of the month. Um December's character trait was
bravery. And um they highlighted youth uh throughout the world who um have demonstrated bravery by making significant impacts on um their own surrounding communities and extended
um upcoming events. We have our international night celebration scheduled for Thursday, January 22nd. This longstanding Sunderland tradition um is going from 5 to 7. starts off with a potluck meal, potluck dinner. Um,
families bring um food in that are important to their own cultural heritage. Um, the group performing this year is Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Schools, um, African and Drum, African
drum and dance troop, WOFA. Um, so they are going to perform a, uh, do a presentation on International Night and actually this Thursday they're coming to the school as well. and providing both um dance and drum workshops for students across all grade
levels, pre-K through six, and then a having an all school assembly at the end of the day on Thursday as well. We're also using this um the SOPA uh was created by um teacher and artist Alfa
Kabiscoco Cabba um also known as Bisco. He's a a teacher at PVPA. And so we're using this as an opportunity for extended learning opportunities um uh of West African culture and uh doing that a few
different ways. So say our cafeteria is actually um making a coconut rice pudding dish which is a popular dessert throughout the world um in many different cultures but um in West African uh countries as well. And then
our specials teachers are providing extended learning activities whether it's through stories, um art, music, games. Um earlier this week, our PE teacher, uh Christa Merrill was playing
Mamba Tag, um so snake tag and um she needed to make it clear that although the snake is poisonous, the tag game is not um for the kids. So, uh, yeah. So, lots of great things happening and, um, we're excited for the upcoming events.
>> Yeah. Any questions? >> Thanks, Ben. Do we have anybody for public comment? There is nobody in person, only members of the public online. Like a no. Uh, we have no unfinished business. We do have new business. um a
budget uh preview. >> Darius is going to share a screen. I'll send you out the slide deck tomorrow. That way you have it for your records. >> I sent it to Joe so that you have it >> just a minute ago. So it's probably in your inbox.
>> All right. Thank you. >> Yep. Sorry. Present. All right. So, first draft of our budget. Um, town meeting for Sunderland is in April. So, the timeline for Sunderland is a little bit more crunch than some of the other towns. But, um,
we'll take a deep dive at the first draft. Usually, this is sort of a quick little preview and then we get much more into it in February. But, there's a lot to talk about tonight. Um, so the first thing we're going to talk about is what the level service budget presents as. So, just as a reminder, and especially because we have so many folks online
that may not have heard the budget presentation before, uh, level service budget takes the existing staffing and existing programs from the current year, plops them into the new year, and then we develop the budget from there, including cost of living adjustments for
the contract and any other um non-wage expenditures that we know are going to have an increase. So the first pass at the budget considering all of those factors brings us in with level service at 7.67% just shy of $300,000 gross. The
categories on the screen are the categories that you see in your monthly expense reports. So those are set by DESIE and they dictate where um staff and expenditures fall within the budget. So instruction is primarily related to anyone exactly what it sounds like on
the ground in the building teachers IAS um principal any other school-based staff secretaries those kind of positions uh so there is a significant level of growth here that is primarily related or or solely related I should say to cost of living adjustments
whether it's for our contracted staff or non-contracted staff. Student services uh is your health office. So any nursing staff as well as transportation. There's some other minor expenses in there, but those are the two big drivers. Uh
operations and maintenance is exactly what it sounds like. Building and IT related. Administration is school committee, business office, and superintendent's office. Benefits and insurance is also self-explanatory, but I want to point out here and make clear
for everyone is that benefits only pertains to central office when it comes to Sunderland's budget. The town covers benefits for all school-based employees. So, when we're talking about benefits and insurance, we're only talking about Sunderland's portion of central office
costs for healthcare. Out of district placement, also self-explanatory. So, we're going to break this down in the next few slides of where that growth is coming from in the 7.67%. First piece we're going to talk about is our wage obligation. So, of the 7.67%,
5.02 is related to wage obligations, about $180,000. The left side of the screen outlines what we have in as placeholders for anyone who's non-union. Uh principal, uh assistant principal, secretary,
custodian, cafeteria, any other contracted staff for central office that Sunderland pays a portion of. That's all been taken into consideration in the level service budget. On the right hand side of the slide, you can see um the growth from the unit
A and the unit C contract. For unit A, the top step is receiving a 4% COLA. If you are stepping, you're going to receive 3% COLA plus the step averages about 3.22%. And then we do have four faculty who are advancing column. So they've furthered
their degree. They're moving up on the salary schedule as far as column placement. those staff depending on the column movement and the step they're in the total increase varies whether it's 6% or 9% there's some range in there some around 7% so it really just depends
on where you are in the salary schedule and then um there's minimal growth on unit C and it's not that unit C is not receiving wage increases all of our unit C employees will receive a 5 and a half%
because there's a 2 and a half% cola plus a 3% step. We added a new step. So, everyone is moving up. It really just depends on how those positions are funded and where we may have funded them from the prior year. It's always a moving target in this category.
And then we did increase summer stipens um by about $9,000 based on actual wages for the current year and the structure that we had in summer programs. were over budget slightly in that line item currently and the structure is going to remain the same moving forward. So of
the 7.67% the most significant component for Sunderland is wages. Um part of that I didn't mention this already in talking about uh primarily the unit pay wages. Part of that is in the current year like
I just mentioned we had a placeholder in for FY26 when we were doing our negotiations. We settled our contract after the budget was already set. So, we're making up for some portion of that in the new year because it wasn't budgeted. So, um all it's a little bit
deceiving of what those numbers look like, but it is an actual increase to cost. The next slide shows our non-wage obligations. There's two factors being attributed here. One is transportation which other than a minimal increase for
cola based on the contract the the growth in student services for transportation costs is primarily related to a funding source change. So in the current year we use rural aid to supplement the budget. Um I always back that out so that we can
have the conversation about how to use rural aid particularly this year. it could come into play if we actually do need multiple IAS where we have to use that to help fund the current year budget. Um I anticipate that at a minimum some portion even if it's
$20,000 of our rural aid allocation will go to help supplement the budget. So that growth will drop down slightly, but I want you to see what that funding source looks like should we not have those funds available. It is not a consistent guaranteed streamlined. We
saw that this year in where we were promised consistent growth and there was a reduction at the state level. So I just want us to be aware of that there is real growth under benefits and insurance for the central office portion of the health insurance that Sunderland
covers. Um similar theme we had a 101 increase of central office insurance benefits because they fall under Frontiers insurance plan which is through Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust. That 20% growth that came in on 101 is unbudgeted, so we're having to
cover that in our new budget. Plus, we're projecting a growth for central office health insurance benefits again in the new year of 20%. Um, I will say this that it again it does not cover school employees. I know I mentioned that already, but I just want to hone in
on that point because we're hearing rumors that Maya is going to have an increase of somewhere 15 20% as well, which means that the town costs are going to go up. Um, so it's a minimal hit here, but a larger hit to the town's overall budget.
Um, next couple slides, uh, we are going to look at grants and revolving funds and then total budget. So, grant and revolving funds, uh, there's a slight dip here. I didn't put in any circuit breaker allocation. Um, we can talk about what that looks like. As Jessica
asked, we have about $54,000 available, whether we have to use some of that in 26. We use it all in 27 or we carry over some of it to um the next year. We can add that fund those funds back in and then we can apply some rural aid should we choose to do that as well. So, we'll
continue that conversation as we go through the process, but that's primarily why there's a dip because I did not allocate for any rural aid. Um, expenditures otherwise are remaining relatively steady for revolving funds. Next slide shows the total budget uh
which comes in at about 4 and a half $4.4 million. Uh, you can see the total general fund plus the revolving funds there which is a growth um of a couple hundred thousand from the prior year. level service budget per student costs.
We're coming in at 175 students, almost the same as the prior year. This is based on 101 enrollment. So, when when Ben and Darius and I looked over the projections, those numbers have already changed since 101, whether we've had students come or go. Um, but the way
that the state handles uh chapter 70 reimbursement and any other kind of reimbursement, it's based on that October 1 deadline. Uh, so just shy of 25,500 per pupil per student. >> What's that?
>> Why do I Can I ask a quick question? So it's 25,000 center elementary school. What is it at Frontier per It's a lot lower, right? >> Um, no, it's not. >> It's about the same. It's still 25 27. >> Okay.
>> Secondary is usually higher. >> Okay. >> State funding is higher. >> Yeah. I didn't know it kind of is a scale like I >> thought I'm just making programs for secondary students. >> Okay. Next piece of our puzzle is going to be
to talk about principal's requests. And when I say principal's requests, um the next slide demonstrates it's principal's needs, not necessarily requests. uh because we are going to talk about the impact of those three students that are coming in uh potentially this year. Uh
so the next slide grows our budget by an additional $120,000 of which $105,000 is projected for um possible three new instructional assistants and that is based on IEP and student needs for new students uh that
are residents of Sunderland. The other requests are minimal, about $15,000, which is about half a percentage point. So, it does make a difference in the budget. Uh, but you can see it's minor to each of those lines. And this is really just based on cost of services,
our cost of goods. Um, building general repairs, I don't have to tell any of you, we have deferred maintenance on our building for years and years and years. We have grown that budget slightly over time. I don't think we did last year, but the year before. So, we're trying to
ease a little bit more money in there and the cost of repairs is going up. Contractors are costing more. Um, same with general supplies, contracted services, and then curriculum. We are talking with uh Laura Ramsey, our curriculum director, about uh the
possibility of covering the curriculum supplies or general supply increases with um a grant or another funding source. So, we can pull that money off of here. But if we could really have all of the needs, this would be what the true cost is. So, our level service uh
plus principal request, which I'll give that caveat again, it's not really request, it's me, because we're talking about meeting the needs of our students. We have an obligation to provide special education services where required per IEP. So, this is a little bit different than us saying, "We don't have a math
interventionist in Sunderland. We would really like a math interventionist." uh it's a different conversation when we're talking about our requirements for special education. So, we are looking at just shy of $400,000 or just over 11% with the level service plus the
principal's budget. Next slide shows uh general fund historical information. I did put some notes on here just as reminders, not even for myself but for all of us of why we had these couple of years that were um a little bit higher than the 3 three
and a half%. So in 2024 um we adjusted facilities expenditures some based on actuals but also to grow that maintenance budget a little bit and then we added a school adjustment counselor position at $60,000 which am I
remembering right that that position no that was the educational team lead that became your vice principal position so you still have this position um in the building and then uh last year we had or 2025 I'm Sorry, last year, not last year, 2025, we had an increase in the
transportation contract. That was due to our bid and our contract renewal. It was not actually increased services for transportation, just the growth in the contract. Last year, we did add one new IIA position. Um, what I will say here is,
nope, I'm going to speak and I'm going to be wrong. So, I'm going to take that back. I didn't say anything. I was thinking about the 22 that we didn't end up filming this year. Um, so we did add the one new IIA position last year. So we have 21 IAS in the budget. So you can
see historically Sunderland has fluctuated I think a little bit more than some of the other elementary schools, but we have advocated for some needs. If you remember with the school adjustment counselor, that was a multi-year conversation um where we really fought to add that position to
the building. Um, and then 2026, you know, even at 3.71 without adding a new position, that's not a terrible increase. Uh, projected enrollment is on the next slide. We're looking to be roughly the
same next year. Uh, kindergarten is always a point of conversation for us based on the census and what we know right now. We're looking at about 19 students in kindergarten. We don't expect that'll stay the same. It rarely does in Sunderland and there could be
conversation about needing a second classroom. So let's talk about that a little bit further. The current budget has 12 grade level teachers in it because we have two sections of kindergarten currently. In this model of
projection, you can see under K, there is only one section of kindergarten. The odds of us staying there are really low. we're going to need that um additional grade level teacher for kindergarten. However, I wanted to demonstrate based on the data that we have right now. So,
that could change by our February meeting where we're sliding that additional teacher back into kindergarten. Um, alternatively, you know, if nothing comes to fruition, we could essentially drop a teaching position. Um, which is always a little bit of a risk here in Sunderland and
part of our conversation because we have such a fluid community compared to some of the other elementary schools. So, at this point, the second K teacher is still in the budget. Um, I just wanted you to see enrollment wise what the numbers look like.
And finally, on the last slide, uh, just ongoing topics of conversation, thing that things that we're talking about internally as an administration and things that we will need your input on. We're not necessarily um looking for advice or decisions or or
um movement moving from this meeting, but next month there will be some more conversations for us to make some decisions. So, we're at about 11% increase for level service and principal budget. 1% budget growth is almost $36,000. So, to put that in perspective,
it's about an IIA position at 1%. Uh we have 27.5 unit A members in the building, 21 IAS at level service or 24 with the new request which is the 11% increase. I am concerned about early
childhood revenues. Uh if you remember, I think in September I shared that we ended the year with a negative balance in early childhood. We had to balance that out with school choice money because it's our only option for quote unquote free cash. Um I am expecting that we're going to
have to do some of that again this year. How much is still being determined and some of that uh comes to fruition if we have midyear you know students that turn age three that might be getting special education services through reach and are
now eligible to come into the building. So some of that is still a moving target for us. Um school choice revolving funds expenses are exceeding revenues. This is typical conversation in Sunderland. We talk a lot about school choice in the
budget process. However, with the school shrinking and some of the changes we've made, if you go back to the enrollment slide, not all of our enrollment has two sections anymore. It's very limited, which means our opportunities for growth in school
choice enrollments is minimal, which means our revenue growth is minimal. So, um, when we have outgoing sixth graders, that really creates our opportunity to bring in new students, um, potentially with the new class moving up. But if you
look even one year from now, the fifth grade will be at 21 with the existing or the sixth grade, I'm sorry, will be at 21 with the existing three school choice. There's not a lot of opportunity for growth there once those four current sixth graders go out. So, um, it really
is it it's a positive thing to right side our budget as our community changes, but it also limits the amount of school choice students that we can capture, which has an impact on us because then it means that we may not necessarily be able to cut the staffing
that's being paid from school choice. So, that's where the hardship comes in if we have to roll something onto budget. >> Well, it's really interesting. I need to go 14 217 19 27 >> switch that one.
>> Yeah. So there's fiveyear plan it's up and down. Up and down. >> Yeah. >> And those class those one classrooms for next year tight. You get 18 19 21. >> Yeah. >> Aside from our current fifth grade group
tight. And then in a few years, you know, when those cur when those fourth graders for 27 and 29 become sixth graders, we could have the conversation, do we do reduce the next grade level down to one, but then you have a larger
class coming up for second grade. So, it is a moving target. I think eventually we will end up with one section at each grade level, which really impacts the school choice further. So, we're going to have to look closely at staffing compared to enrollment and and
see what the impact is um to make some decisions moving forward. >> 3K, early educate, early childhood 27, but that's third and fourth the three and four, right? Third, four. So, it's hard to know what the breakdown probably three. And what's our retention using
prek? Do we keep mostly the ones that come to prek? They stay here. We usually keep the Sunderland residents, but our prek will bring in others from other towns. Yeah. >> Yeah. And of the current um anticipated
19 kindergarters, um it's looking like one is would be school choice uh sibling at this point. >> When does this committee vote on school choice for next year? >> Um next month.
>> Okay. Okay, let's flip back to the um info and ongoing topics. The last slide, please. serious. I think you know the only thing I want to say about school choice before we move that is some people one would question like why do we end up having
numbers like 27 when we could have reduced at that time and just there's these numbers change so much because of you know of the people coming and going from Sunderland and so there's a lot more um movement at
Sunderland than you know other elementary schools and so I just want to state that that that's not the number that started in first grade as for resident stuff. That's I know you folks probably know this, but for anybody listening like >> well this is next year's um
>> class and this that next year's um second grade started off as one class in kindergarten and we had you know a bunch of families move into town. >> Right. >> So, >> right. Yeah. There's a story behind those numbers because if you looked at it and say, well, why didn't you just, you know, why don't you just get rid of
seven and you could have one teacher here, right? It would make sense. But that's not how it evolved. There's a story behind those things because if someone looks at this alone, they would say this is proper poor management, you know, because you have two sections when you only have, you know, you shouldn't
have taken school choice. But it didn't evolve that way. I just want to say there's a story there because when I look at those numbers like what are we doing, you know, but then you remember that how we got there. >> Okay. Um rural aid, I did mention this already. uh we may have the potential to
use this 57,000 or 47,000. That is a drop. In the current year, we're using about 65,000. So, this is a decrease in rural aid for us. However, it would be 1.3% which makes a big difference. So, um we'll have to make that decision at
some point. I would I would like to sit on that and give us a little bit more time looking at um you know these potential new enrollments and what the impact for the current year is. Um but I would expect that we can use at least some of that money to help supplement
next year. Um sick buyback is minimal. Um and the retirement is happening midyear next year. So while we were notified and we have to pay it in fiscal year 27, it's not being paid in July and it's a
insignificant amount compared to what it has been in prior years when we've been paying out two or three teachers. So I wouldn't recommend right now that we put this anywhere in our budget. I would recommend that it's on our radar and we talk about it as we go through the next
school year. We could use next year's relay allocation even at 47,000 if we had to take 10 out of it for sick buyback. We would still have one percentage point to apply to the budget. We could also look at other funding sources. Um there may also be budget
savings next year from vacancies or personnel changes that we can capture that money from. Um, and we're fortunate this year that we're not having to go to the town to ask for an additional warrant article, which is what we have done in prior years to cover sick
buyback. So maybe that's beneficial for us because all in all, the school's portion of the town's budget, even if we're asking on a separate warrant, it's still for school funding. So maybe that'll help us fund this budget at a little bit higher percentage point. So
retire, someone's going to retire midway next year or we pay them midway. >> Um, they're retired mid year. >> So does that mean we have to replace midy year? >> Yes, that's already accounted for. >> Oh, that is accounted for. Okay, good. >> Um, and I threw this on here today. We don't have to talk about it immediately
unless we're feeling like we really have to make some decisions. But what would the midyear Darius is referring to it as a budget frost instead of a budget freeze? um meaning that we're not restricting all dollars of the current budget. If there really is a need,
someone would be able to go to Ben for approval of those things. However, we are looking at items um particularly instructional hardware. There may be $20,000 that we could recoup from that line. So, uh Darius is in conversation
with Scott Hall about what that would look like if we didn't buy the Chromebooks this year that we would normally buy. um what is that multi-year impact if we don't replace the existing lot. So, we're having those conversations internally as well to see
if there's anything that we can save from the current year to put into um school choice as our free cash and use to help supplement next year. Having said all of that, at 11% to get us anywhere near even say five, it's a
significant amount of money. So, if we could come up with, you know, 1% from the current budget, 1% from rural aid, um, if we use the circuit breaker money, you know, we're really looking at maybe we're down around 7%.
Which still is going to require some conversation, I think, of us and and how we proceed moving forward >> because last year we were 3.8, right? >> Uh, yeah. 3.7, I think. And that's after you went through the budget three times, right? three different drops. >> Yeah,
>> but it started not this high. It started more like at six down, right? >> It's pretty high this year compared to prior years. >> Why wouldn't we use the whole rule 1.3 and why just try to use some of it? >> So, I think we're going to have to continue to talk about the impact on this year a little bit from having
students come in. I mean, Darius and Ben had a conversation in our budget meeting the other day about how this really is an anomaly. Um, there was a student in the fall that came in. So, this makes it four students that became residents of Sunderland in one school year that had
special education needs that we were required to meet. So, um, those are challenges that we just have to work through. >> And have we looked at anywhere where the CES can help with any of that? like >> I don't know what
>> the >> the things could be one onone's written into their IEPs. >> So here in this building >> well they come to us with that in their IP and we have to honor the IEP until they can be written in. It's hard to remove those kind of supports once
they're in there. Um the other side to understand is that when you get up to the 11% the actual growth of the town of Sunderland I don't know the exact number but they were some somewhere under between
$400,000 and a half million dollars of growth as a town. If Sunderland's budget is 300,000, Sunderland will also be, you know, Frontier, we're working on what their assessment's going to be. Sunderland has a growth in student population at
Frontier, so I think they're going to get hit with a higher assessment. We're going to have to have conversations with the town about how much money does the town have, >> right? Let alone you know what portion do they does the town and this is this
is your your work ahead of you as well in the sense of what portion of the town wants to put of their increase in growth goes to education versus the other competitors you know all the other needs of the town so I'm just kind of saying the sense of their big growths and I don't know
you know as between now and our next meeting. We have to find out, you know, in conversations and we probably have to do a meeting earlier with do a joint select board finance committee once we understand Frontier's um general ask and that's been arranged.
frontier, you know, their committee right now is is waiting, you know, waiting for the assessments to come out and looking at red reductions to that budget, but how far do they have to go has to be determined, right, in reductions um and other ways of
supporting, you know, moving them different kind of money, using rural aid, looking at school choice money, you know, that kind of stuff. That all has to be played out. But my concern is the total dollar sign coming from education this year is going to be a tough for the town
and it's going to require conversations and maybe it's either town picks it up and says the other groups are going to get less within the town. Maybe you know all the other things you know that could apply to that. Um and I don't know what they have in reserves. I don't know what
they have for free cash. Those are kind of things that we'd have to go to the select board and finance committee to have a conversation about. Um there's also the concern that you know this the insurance thing is also hitting the town. So
if we we did some quick math in Deerfield that if we were to pick up the growth of the um insurance alone on teachers and staff there it was over two and a half%.
So that means they're if they're if they're going to budget similarly hold doing you know 20% holder that's with a 20% holder you know with the my insurance you know that's going to be several percentiles of our budget as well. So you can add that kind of on. So it's
probably going to be I'm doing some kind of rough numbers and percentage and you know shoot me down if you think I'm getting a little too crazy but you know they're going to have you know $80,000 increase on insurance alone from their budget. So if you add that to this, the growth of last year's town is going to
be pretty much absorbed just by the elementary school alone. We haven't even talked about where the other schools are coming in, where police and fire are coming in and so forth. And so is it screaming that they may have to do an override? You know, that's going to let them have that conversation. But there's
a lot of um conversations that you we're going to have with them because I don't know how this gets funded straight up. I agree. I think we started finance last night and we had the police and the highway. They were talking about 18%
estimated insurance impact. They were talking about colas. They all had some pretty important things they to take care and they're working as hard to keep their budget as low as possible. They understand, but we still got a lot of budgets to go over and I think as soon
the school gets in there and just says, "Listen, this is where we're at." um is really important. We we talked I talked last night about how well you guys did last year, you know, cutting it down, cutting them down, but I didn't see these numbers yet. So, >> sure. >> Um I I agree you should. We're having
we're actually having a South County meeting. So, Weightley, Deerfield, and Sunderland, but not Conway because it's about South County >> EMS. >> EMS and um in the senior center. Uh we talked about maybe trying to have all
four towns come together financing to hear Frontier and also hear um the text. So that may be an opportunity. So all those things we haven't done before, but we were talking about trying to it actually borrows something that we've been doing with joint meetings with
our our smaller towns like the Deerfield Sunderland joint meetings. So um to be more efficient but also to get everything out on the table. So yeah, I agree. you probably should give contact them. Yeah, I I think the we we're kind of I've had you know because I've been
talking with the town administrators like alluding to doing this but it really is until we have the assessment numbers it's a lot of spitballing and you know we can we know it's going to be we can guess where it's going to be um higher than others you know um but I
just don't just don't I don't know the numbers as we said we can I think a lot of it's going to get really busy after the 23rd And so we can figure out, you know, um I think there will be outreach to figure out do we do a joint meeting, we
certainly have to. There's going to be a lot of more meetings in the sense of um communicating with those those bodies about this is what it means, right? And so if we say we have to reduce budget, they have to understand what it means to do our with our programming and that
kind of stuff. And I don't know um what the you know semolin just has a the price per student as you brought up earlier is the highest but the needs are higher here um and it's just based on um the different populations that were we're serving here that isn't as high in
some of the some of the other schools and so um yeah it's that's the road ahead >> in terms of state funding. This is just assuming hold harmless. Yeah, I don't think there's definitely
not been enough growth in resident um enrollment to impact where >> I saw on the division of local services website that allegedly Sunderland's um per capita income made a huge jump this year, but we'll just
>> that'll impact Frontier. >> Okay, that was kind of what I was wondering. I was realizing that's not for this meeting. Yeah, it won't impact the elementary school, but it will impact how much the state says Sunderland can afford to pay for Frontier. >> Okay. >> Which is always the moving target.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> Um, it's always the moving target in the assessment. I mean, I could calculate what the rest of the local contribution is right now, but we don't know what the state says that each town can afford. >> Okay. And if it's a double hit where
enrollment went up for Frontier in Sunderland for for Sunderland residents that go to Frontier and the income grew and house values went up, like it could be multi- impact,
>> right? But Sunderland for Frontier has and I know Jessica knows because she's there, but has an enrollment increase in percentage where the other towns have come down even though it's only up a few. It's going to because the others went down as well. It's going to be a double hit on the assessment. >> Now,
what about again, we'll shift to the frontier, but I heard there's between 20 and 30 kids applying out. Is that accurate? >> Out to where? >> Out to private schools. And would that change? But you won't know that. >> Well, it it's not money going out. If they go to private schools, we don't
obviously there's no funding that follows them. Um but >> but the foundation enrollment would come down from those towns. >> But when do they calculate the following year, right? >> The following October one report. >> Oh, they do. Okay. So we wouldn't there would be into the
next year that would if that was the case >> and you know um we lose we can range for that many students you know that that do that go to private um between five and 13
depending on >> depending on the class depending on um >> 20 seems high though >> 22 seems high >> um and then als Also, some of those students may be choice students, >> right? >> Sometimes we you know, you know, they've been part of our community forever, though. We don't look at it that way. But,
>> you know, the same thing kind of happens when um you know the leaks you drop with tech students. Not many students who choice to us then go to tech. They usually choice to us and stay with us. >> Um but there are a few that you know sometimes do lose numbers that way. But
>> and the tech the students leave in our system and go to tech. Is that deter when is that determining? That's junior high kids, right? Mostly, right? >> Yeah. So, 8th grade, they start the application process now. Um,
we usually know in April. >> Okay. And how does that affect our funding? Just >> it doesn't affect Well, if we lose students on the overall, again, a foundation numbers go down. Um
but then you know then the bill comes from the new students going to tech and tech is is tough to regulate and we had this conversation today in another meeting because >> you know they have 13 or 18 communities I mean they serve it's it's a crazy
number and you know your cost goes up by a student or drops by a student one or two in most of our small towns >> um of not one or two students more but one or two whatever the average is like you have 10 going out, then you have nine going out, then you have 12 going
out. And the statement that they say at town meeting is, yeah, their budget keeps going up. They never talk about that. They just say, oh, you're you're thinking up is up this year due to increased enrollment. >> And there's never really a collective conversation about what the overall cost of the budget is. And so, um, there's
there's a little bit less accountability there. Um I would say within that I don't think that they've gone crazy with their increases but um it's just that's how it comes through and so I don't have no idea what the tech budget is or the VO budget.
>> Yeah. When we look I mean just maybe I should get back to something but when we look at it it's it's such a small amount compared to our budget for Frontier that it's kind of like just a rubber stamp like yeah that's doesn't seem like that much seems like a deal. All right, here we go. And he's going to the tech is
going to 18 19 different town meetings and and the ones that are the biggest are Falls and Greenfield. You know, they have they're the ones that have the big expenses, but not really us. So, we're really focused on Frontier and Sunderland.
>> Any further questions or discussion? I had um All right. So, what was it? Um the 20% placeholder that's just we're just assuming, right? That's based on what happened with the other insurance
company for the other towns and because we did 18 for our MI for MIA. >> Um >> so, the town may have some info from Maya already about the range that they're looking at. Yeah, >> we don't have that yet for Hampshire
County Group Insurance Trust for Frontier, which is where the central office benefits come from. >> Okay, that's why. >> Um, and I'm trying to be as most prepared as possible. So, the 20% could be a little bit high by a couple of percentage points, but I
certainly don't want to be on the other end where I only budgeted 15 and it comes in at 20. >> No, it's better to budget that one especially because you can, you know, if you don't make it, you can borrow, but you don't, you're right. you don't want to be under. And then the question for Ben, any any turnover anticipation
except for that person retiring next year >> of staffing. >> Yeah, >> we well we have our wonderful longtime English learner teacher Matthew Hell. He's um retiring in at the end of March of of this year.
>> Okay. Um we our plan is we've posted for a long-term sub uh to carry us through the end of the year but we will be um you know opening up a search position >> and that's not a position that could be built internally like an IIA moving out
no one is anyone qualified internally. >> Yeah we we definitely have some folks uh qualified internally for that position. Um you know there's just a lot of different moving parts. Yeah, >> but that's not going to be a reduction, >> right? Well, reduction higher on the
scale versus lower on scale >> which is already incorporated into the budget. So any retirements that I know of or anyone leaving for any reason that I know of at this point, I've already accounted for a reduction in where they've gone. >> And how do you do it? You account for
You don't go the lowest step. You count >> No, we go middle range. And actually, I go a little bit higher because our applicant pools have been so small. districtwide for any position, >> you know, and you know, right now we're
not anticipating any other faculty member changes um for instructional assistance. That, you know, historically has been a position that there is some fluctuation each year. >> Last week, you had the Frontier School Committee vote on a soft freeze. Do you
want any action from us this evening? Um we some of the biggest areas uh uh soft freeze is technology. Um and we reached out and I reached out
we had meetings with you know um Scott Paul our technology director to talk about what the impact of that is and what the musthaves he has. Um he kind of reported back that he absolutely needs about 10 rounding up slightly but at around $10,000 to redo the server.
Without it, we won't be protected going into the next year because it's it's uh falling out of warranty or something like whatever the story is. Is it the must? He talked about the Chromebook buys from this year being pushed to another year, but then they
would be musts next year. Um he kind of gave us a rundown of that. So when we do a frost, that would be one area where we would see the most gain. Um the daytoday, I don't know what you there's not a lot of day-to-day um needs
that they're coming across as wants. >> No, there's really not. Um, so the other piece at times is just our our general repairs, but like >> you know, we sometimes look forward to extra money at the end of the school
year for just the deferred maintenance. Um, but you know, a lot can happen between now and the end of the school year. So, but I guess by I guess I guess it would be good to do a vote on that because what you're saying is that you want the administration to prioritize saving money, not saving money for the
end of year to do some painting and do some whatever. But we are saving to offset next year's budget. And if we're going to start doing that, I think it should come from the top. And that that's what we want to do here. But I I want people to know when I say frosting the budget, we're going to stop we're
going to slow teacher spending and you know teach all the teachers online can say we're not spending a whole lot. You know what I mean? It's not like it's not like you know you know it's especially at this point of the year you've already got the basic classroom supplies but as I you know I explained I had a meeting with frontier teachers today to talk with them about
the frontier budget and and one of my definitions well sometimes you go and buy posters right you don't need to buy posters sure you know I mean it's a that's a that's a want not a need um if you need you know there are needs in your classroom where you have to get the manipulatives for the certain unit that
you're working on in order for it to be successful and and Ben becomes the gatekeeper of that and so um you know and it's also about cost and impact and number of students you know it's that kind of stuff that he can you know we we normally do but with a little bit more
um fidelity I guess and then >> and I I think there's plenty of lines where we can capture 1% of the budget without impacting um student you know needs and and teacher needs. You know, I I think people should be mindful of what they're
purchasing and make sure that you're getting it from a preferred vendor and at the cheapest price possible. And you know, when you would normally buy five dozen of a folder so you have some for next year, just buy what you need right now. But between the tech line, which
does have an impact in the long run, but if we can put it off for one year, that's a good position for us to look at or or account for us to look at. other things like superintendent's office. If Darius and I don't do our PD this year, that money automatically gets recouped.
You know, our association memberships are already paid for, but I don't have to go to the conference for my association in May this year. You know, those kind of things. Um, you didn't make it to MASC, so there's savings in those lines. Um, you know, the little
bits and pieces I think will help us add up. Um, while we can't, uh, freeze PD without negotiating as part of the contract, they're typically in Sunderland is some money left there. Um, normally I would say the substitute line, but that's you've you've had quite
a few subs in. So, I don't think that'll be an option, but I do think there's other places besides classroom supplies and materials and general supplies and materials. But just having that awareness, you know, I don't know if this happens here, but I know at Frontier if the custodian has the
opportunity to stock the closet in May of toilet paper and paper towels, he will do that if he has budget money available. But don't do that. Wait till July one and restock your closet. So just those sort of conscious um purchasing decisions I think will help
us save. And it is unfortunate because we we have benefited from several years now of being able to do some deferred maintenance. We painted the building last year um internally a bunch of of spaces and I just don't think those are going to be an option for us. But what
are our priorities? You know, repainting the classroom or saving a position that we need in the budget to meet the needs of our students. So, we're just sort of talking about prioritizing how we spend our money in a different way than we usually do.
If that ice >> now with PD you the cloud offers a lot of PD have we and we're paying for members pay four four bucks a person I think or 450 in looking ahead to next year can the
schedule utilize the collaborives PDS at a lower cost than will it outside be better without changing the value of the PD. You know, I despise something you and Laura have to work on. But that's just a thought. I know we, you know, I've just been getting more and more involved with this
collaborative. I'm just wondering where we can use it for Frontier and for Sunland. Um because it offers a lot um but a lot of it's special ed, but there are a lot of PD that they have. So, just a thought I can I'll dig deep into and
I'll talk to you more about what you mean. Great. I hope you get a lot of notes. I mean grants. >> Yeah. And when you talk about also about PD, so anything that's in a teacher's contract is contractually driven. So if
teachers are I forget I should know on top of my head and I don't but um what the proportion they get through the contract that for professional development isn't frozen. >> So we are contractually obligated. Um, the way around that is you you could
technically meet with the association and see if they would agree to freeze their professional development, but I don't think that's that's necessary that they could agree to you can always alter within the with within an >> tuition reimbursement.
>> For example, tuition reimbursement, whatever. I'm just talking about like you're not allowed to touch anything that's in the contract. So if we have tuition reimbursement or you know for their own personal PD and that kind of thing that's not affected by the freeze. However um if you ever if it was
something was >> more even more catastrophic you could meet negotiate with the association about limiting something within their contract. We're just talking about how it works >> and those listening we're not there yet but I just want it's important to understand when people say well I heard another district said they did that. Well, this is what you can do. Meaning
in the contract can be discussed, right? It's just we can't unilaterally do something without them. Thank you all for your hard and thoughtful work on this >> a difficult thing I >> say and articulation. I appreciate all
that you do to explain that for us. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> That was very informative. >> When is our next meeting? Let me know. I thought I found it. Um is the February 11th. his vacations the following week. >> Yeah.
>> I was just trying to think like >> as soon as we have the frontier numbers and such, we really do need to start reaching out and talking with town about what kind of conversation they want to have with us in February. >> And so I'm just saying that to kind of
close this conversation for next steps. one is that you know we're going to you know is opening of that conversation. So um I'm just looking at for thoughts on that. >> So we finance select board is talking
budget on the 9th. >> Okay. >> Now that possibly could be moved to 10th or the 11th if they're off or we can move ours but that's our next so we we're basically doing every two weeks from now until the end of time. But um
And I could I could look ahead to see what budget I can I can tell you. I mean, keep doing what you're doing, but I'll tell you what is actually scheduled for that budget. Right now, >> it might be the tech school. >> All right. I guess so. We'll we'll we
can talk more about that's you know, that's scheduling a meeting so that can actually talked about away from the meeting. We don't actually have to do that. We don't have to do that now. And that's something that can be discussed via email. scheduling of meetings can be. So, I just wanted that to be on people's radar that we really aren't going to put the whole thing on hold
until we see you again in February. We really once we get this information, we got to start reaching out, start talking to people so that um everybody knows what's going on and then we can have more constructive conversations. >> Great. Thank you. >> Moving on to the school improvement plan.
>> Great. Um our school council has um met a couple times so far this year. We have a couple staff members as part of our team. We have two caregivers and have been struggling to line up a community
member up until last week I met with someone who was going to be joining our group. So um good news on that front. Our school improvement plan uh flows down from the district's strategic plan. This year we have three overarching
goals with a lot of action steps under each of those goals. Uh the goals are ensuring a positive school climate. Um then goal two is based on curriculum and instruction where we're ensuring rigorous, accessible, and inclusive
educational experiences for all students. And then finally, goal three, school culture and community, where we're ensuring uh sustaining high community involvement through accessible, frequent, inclusive events and initiatives. Um the community
includes caregivers, students, staff, and uh community organizations. So we restructured the plan a little bit from previous years. Um one example is that we had previously had um
implementing responsive classroom protocols um and a responsive classroom as it as an individual goal that has since been moved to um an action step under goal one um ensuring a positive school
climate and um yeah so overall we're making really good progress at at this point. Um, one of the, you know, I guess somewhat exciting components of this, um, when it, uh, specifically involves
the school extended school community has been our farm-to-school initiative. Um, uh, Megan is on the committee for the district and we've already connected with local farms, um, at times this
school year and we've had a couple different field trips taking place. Um, our fifth and sixth graders went to Warner Farm. Um, we had students in grades one, uh, grade three, four, and grade six go
to Thomas Farm. Um, and then we've had donations from both Warner Farm and Smaroski Farm as as well. So, you know, I I sent this out. Um, we you'd received this in advance. Do you have any
specific questions about the school improvement plan at this point? >> I don't speak to everyone, but >> Well, yeah. Are you gonna say something? The only thing we talked about in the
council, similar to sharing the well, because we talked about our school council interacting with the other town school council, see what their their plans look like too, to see are they very similar, are they very different? And so we've been that's something that came up.
>> Correct. And and um we are waiting for those plans and I've already been in touch with the other principles. So, we're waiting for those plans to be finalized and then I'll bring them to our next our next meeting >> and also the work that you're doing with the other principles in your
>> learn your studies, right? >> Y um uh also for the past couple years we've used uh the school council as an opportunity to do a book study and we're once again uh doing that this year. We are reading What Happened to You um
which is a book co-written by Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Bruce Perry. Um the book uh focuses on how child one's childhood experiences whether from uh being in utero to the first few weeks, months um
of life uh then shape behavior later on. So, it's been a really interesting read up to this point. And um yeah, I think we're pretty pretty decent shape. >> And yeah, the key point is the common
question I've done it coaching teaching before like what's wrong with you, right? >> And not that comment and like you know what's happening you put me in this place. So, it's it's been really informative. I appreciated the book study when I was on Yes. school council. It was a really
good experience. >> I appreciate the uh school improvement plan that it's very clear and concrete. Familiar? >> Yes. >> Any more questions or discussion about the school improvement plan before we vote on it?
Right. We need a motion to approve the school improvement. A >> motion to approve. A second. Thank you. Any further discussion? And then do we do the roll call? >> Megan, >> yes. Blue eye.
>> Yes. >> Joe, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Amanda, yes. >> All right. The school improvement plan has been approved. 5-0. Moving on to appointing a member to the superintendent agreement subcommittee. Do you want to explain this? >> Sure. the a few years back we created a
superintendent agreement to kind of supplement the fact that we don't have a strong or 38 agreement. Um >> I'm just going all the town archives that >> no one's found it. If someone finds their attic, please bring it forward. Um
and part of that so in that plan basically um you know it gave some guidance on how to um hire dismiss the superintendent um and gave some some language in there. In there it says that we will review it every two years um and so we're due to
review it. At the same time, there's also talk about um should we start adding to it and adding some of the other things that we do collectively as a joint committee to just formalize it in language and structure so that the good practices that we're doing can
carry on and be formalized. And an example of that would be um let's say we went to approve the school calendar and um this committee was just diehard summer people and like we're not coming back to school till after Labor Day and
you know and the rest of the committee is like well we usually go back before Labor Day and they said nope we're voting to you know what that would have consequences if one group went road without having you know some sort of structure about how do we vote the school calendar but there's a lot of other things in there as too there we
can talk about but from how to evaluate the superintendent um how to you know some of the other kind of ins and out workings that we do um just so that we have a process that can outlive the the people in the room who have done it for so long you know what I mean because that's a lot of our and I think I had
this conversation maybe it was at it was at Frontier but there's no UN38 agreement but one did exist and the reason why I know that is that a lot of our practices look just like um Lake Silver Lake Regional
District >> which is was also is down in kind of southeastern Massachusetts. Um when you look at some of the practice they had they looked very similar to what we did as a regional group in how decisions were made and that kind of stuff. So there was institutional knowledge that
started from something. So there had to be a regional agreement somewhere. I don't think people say they can't find I really do think it existed. So, um I I think we slowly want to rebuild that. If we try to do it all, I think what happens is um there's a lot of like
really touchy subject about funding and that kind of stuff that we have set that you try to open that can of worms, you're not going to get be able to get the operations done. So, this is kind of like a kind of a sideway of doing um getting some of the stuff that we're already doing kind of functional and
then eventually if we ever have a regional discussion, it can be folded in easily and and like this works, you know, that kind of thing. That's the idea anyway. So, we want to get so all that to say, we want to get the subcommittee together and we need someone um appointed from this
committee. >> Amanda, you said you would be willing to serve on this committee. >> I'm happy to. Yeah. Thank you. >> I'm also interested because I helped write the original the document two years ago. So was on that committee. So I'm okay either way. I mean new blood is
good but knowing the history. >> Um I know Amanda's interested and I'm interested in spreading around the opportunities. So I I will appoint Amanda. >> Oh not voted on. Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. All right. Uh reports any committee
reports? I'm still working on rural aid. Um we might get a restoration of the cut for FY26. There is going to be a fair share supplemental budget. So there might still be some money coming there. And um uh the rural schools committee is trying to meet with a member of the governor's
team to try to get more in rural aid in the governor's budget very very soon. Any other committee updates? Capital updates. capital committee hasn't met, hasn't met. >> Okay. Uh collaborative update, Joe.
>> Yep. Tomorrow's a big day. We have three finalists. I can tell you there. They came out public yesterday. Some of you might have seen them >> for executive director. >> For executive director, we started with 40 something applications nationwide. We hired a company from uh Texas who's been
excellent um really knowledgeable and worked well with a really diverse team. We have 10 people on the executive uh search committee. Three staff the staff at the collaborative have felt they needed more
voice over the last two searches. So they add it this time uh the the we went from the 42 he narrowed it down to 19 and then we took the 19 and narrowed it down to five semi- finalists and now we have three finalists.
one five just in alphabetical order is um Porsche Bonner who's a superintendent Northampton right now and then we have um uh Thomas Deni who's actually
chair the exec director is retiring of a Connecticut ACES program uh very big $150 million budget there uh so about three times times the size of what we
do. Uh but so he's uh second um uh member of this finalist group. And then the third one is Andre Morgan who's actually he's done a bunch of different things. He's actually head of school at a school in Texas at one point. He's
from this area, not this area, but from New England. currently is the HR in Beverly for their school district which has had some interesting notary in the news. So those are the three. Uh it was interesting.
We we voted with a um point system 54321. We had won those finals and these three were 37 35 and 35. So it's going to be interesting when we sit down tomorrow. starts at five o'clock, you know, so turn it on TV if you want. It's
public hearing. >> Uh, but I think it's going to be a long each candidate will interview for 70 minutes and then we'll start deliberating around 8:30 or 9. >> Wow. >> And is the deliberation public? >> Uh, the deliberation goes into um
>> executive session. Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. So, all the interview questions. So there's we we created a set questions that the chair is going to read just for efficiency. >> Uh Kathy Inglehart will read each one and then there is a brief moment or time
for uh the rest of the board because the board's 37 people uh to ask questions but it's limited time limited. So those are already asked questions. We're not asking it. if other people have um extra and then there's time for the candidate to say their piece at the beginning and
at the end, but it will be it's going to be a long night I think. So, we'll see. But I'll let you all know when we after that the the chair and the vice chair will negotiate the rest of the contract. >> Yeah, I've learned I mean I've learned a
lot. Um one of the candidates that didn't quite make it was the CFO. You probably know her from um the Pioneer Valley, lower valley. Pioneer Valley. She helped she's been there 25 years and she helped negotiate the the lower
valley's transportation system for SEIS. So they have 250 vehicles that they help their all their member schools get supports. I mean started small. I asked her I said how do you do that like but what wouldn't that be great if we had it
with the collaborative here? So, um, it's just economy scale. I mean, they'll they'll pick up kids that are coming from, you know, they could go to Conway, Weightley, Sunderland, and then take them to Hec Academy or wherever you're going to take them. And it was pretty interesting to hear something we might
want to tap later down, you know, down the road is like, okay, how do we do that? You know, slow and build. You know, they talked about economy of scale and bidding with transportation companies that you're so much more powerful when you have more people to
bid, you know, to offer the bid to. So, you know, we know we we have just not a lot of people to ask the bid for, but that's some ideas that come out. Learned a lot about PD that the collaborative has. So, you know, in upcoming months, maybe I'll bring some more stuff that
the collaborative could help us with, especially with our budget issues. Thank you for serving on that committee. That sounds like that was a really big commitment. >> Last week it was uh we l luckily an ice storm so it went from instead of from 9 it went from 11:00 to 5:00 and then
Thursday was 9 to5. So there's a lot >> but it's interesting because all those it's just western Massachusetts and all the different >> um schools and the different needs and the different focus points and perspectives.
I I I watched the movie Angry Men from 1957 with Henry Bond just because it's feels a little like that sometimes you're in this room and you're deliberating. You start a little bit on one side and by the end it's changed um because people have voiced
worthwhile opinions. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for the update and a superintendent report. Um yeah, should be part of your packet. I included the statewide graduation council update. Um and it's in the handout with that. Um
just just so you know what's going it doesn't really affect the elementary, but you know what's happening at the at the at the in the end zone of of secondary and what's going on there. And I just give the outline to this that the the budget timeline for the state budget for a reminder about how that process
works because I kind of have to review it every year too because I forget how the the timeline. It's a long one and it's a lot of back and forth and a lot of discussions along the way. >> Well, thank you. There's no further business. We could take a motion to adjurnn.
>> A motion to adjourn. A second. >> All right. All in favor of adjournment, can you do a roll call? >> Megan, >> yes. Live, >> yes. >> Joe, >> yes. >> Jessica, >> yes. >> Amanda, yes. All right. And we are adjourned at 6:23 p.m. Thank you
everybody.