e e e [Music] good evening everybody Welcome to the regular session of the swans Scot school committee today is Thursday September 12th um at 6 o'clock we're at swamp High School um my name is Glenn Pastor I call
this meeting to order uh if you are able please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance plge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and
justice for all okay thank you um we will start with For the Love of learning and we have some presentations tonight um our love of learning is either highlighting um some Pathways or special programs that go on in our
district or that we make presentations and honor some people and tonight I have the privilege of doing that um I do know that our elementary folks have a curriculum night tonight so I'm going to go through this not really quickly but I do want to honor the following folks
they have attained professional status as Educators in our district and it is not something we hand out lightly the state says it takes 3 years it takes 3 years here in order to retain your professional status which means that you
have um developed your skills to a level that um gives you that upper tier of professional status and so tonight what I'd like to do they were honored at the convocation uh in front of their peers which was wonderful and tonight we have
a little gift that we'd like to give them and I would love for you to stay down here so we can get a photo opportunity but I'm going to be I'm going to read everybody's name whether they're here or not so tonight um we're going to start with a Clark Elementary School teacher I'm going to read their
positions from last year because we did have three elementary schools and a teacher in special education Kayla [Applause] ois see I gave directions first this time I stay down here
how about we go over there perfect thank you so much thank you swans scad High School World language forign language teacher Jane [Applause]
Barrett Middle School student services teacher teach Caitlyn [Applause] Bowen I'll make sure that gets to her uh swans Scott Middle School special
education teacher Elena [Applause] burn Clark Elementary School student services special education reading specialist Wendy chaik conrat Swan Scott Middle School guidance
counselor Aaron [Applause] curtain swans Scott Middle School special education teacher Katie forer
[Applause] swamp Scott Middle School math teacher eighth grade Matt [Applause] Moran I should add very popular eighth
[Laughter] grade congratulations o which one did I give you mat this one sorry sorry clearance labeled uh swans Scott Middle School
grade five teacher Rachel a [Applause] ro yes I know my alphabet sorry we thank you so much swamp squadt High School Advanced
manufacturing teacher Brenan [Applause] Natoli Clark Elementary School special education teacher Erica [Applause]
Roth Clark School student services team chair uh Elementary School Shannon row it seems very odd saying Clark now that we're Sate Elementary congratulations Clark Elementary School
reading teacher Anne Smith [Applause] congratulations swans Scot High School Wellness Health teacher Hadley Woodin and Stanley Elementary School special speech and language therapist
Sarah Zion congratulations to all of you well earned welld deserved and our students and the district are very lucky to have you [Applause] [Applause] all guys we're going to get a picture of
it [Music] [Laughter] my wait can you get Matt's head there awesome thank thank you you congratulations
again can I just say what an absolute thrill it is that we had uh that we have such a great group of teachers who have earned professional status but I want to note that I feeling particularly old that it was only a few short years ago
that one of these teachers was standing before us advocating as a student and now to see uh Matt Moran having earned professional status as a as a beloved math teacher is really exciting to see one of our own come back to us yay ma'
congratulations uh I went when I went to speak at the new teacher induction program um they had their little work their several day workshop um and it was very interesting that two of our new hires were in my last fifth grade
class so um really anyway wow can you say their names Olivia Chavez and Alison lanti our new library media specialist so yes great news it made me feel incredibly old um I'll move it Joe if
you want as soon as we okay um so committee comments do you or not do you have um another presentation well it starts with my superintendent okay got you okay great um committee
comment uh let's start with k um I don't think I have anything formal um I just want to say that you know school started and there's a big bus stop like right down the street from my house and it was pretty cool to see all those happy families out there
waiting for the bus that first day so I don't know if it's going well but it looked like everybody was happy so that's all great thank you John I got two quick things if can me so way first one first one is a good thing
it's it's a cross country fundraiser it's car wash on Saturday at the DPW starting at 10: uh it's a great team this year with uh both boys and girls a lot of new Runners and a lot of the existing students who are coming back
have been training all summer so they've actually had one meet and they've gotten off to a really very strong start so I encourage everyone to get to the DPW at 10: a.m. on Saturday this Saturday 14th and support them um another thing I just
I found out about this today and just if you can indulge me for just a moment good um evidently at the high school today there was a um parking pass distribution for some Junior students and I guess there were eight passes
available 24 kids showed up I guess starting at like 2:30 or 3: in the morning queuing up so they could first come for first served and from again from everything from everything I heard it was everyone was terrific everyone
was well behaved uh no issues whatsoever it just kind of you know it made me uncomfortable um thinking there were kids out there at 3:00 in the morning and is is this really the best way to distribute the eight passes that were
available you know maybe I'm just throwing it out there um you know maybe next year you know there could be a lottery or something like that again it was just it was just something that you know I heard today and I I did want to mention it just because um you know it
it kind of left me uncomfortable just hearing about it so well I can speak a little bit to that because as I pulled up at 6:40 in the morning and saw a gaggle of kids outside that usually are moping in a little bit late I thought we were at Fenway Park with their beach chairs and sitting outside so I didn't
know if they were locked out of the facility and so I will Echo the fact that they were happy they were polite they were respectful um they were nine slots available um they I was incredibly uncomfortable to hear that some had come
at 2:30 and 3:30 in the morning and as a parent of a child who has grown up like that I wonder I would never let my child out of my house and maybe adults didn't know which made me even more concerned uh and then m
uh cohat and Miss Finn came in and immediately we said next year there'd be a lottery there's not we're not going to have that happen again they were great kids they were jovial and there is consideration for even a lottery for a few Slots of senior privileges for
lunches as because they were so well behaved and there were no issues out there so um I think every one of us pulled up and was like hey what so um but then when and you know thankfully Mr Arrington gets here early and there were bathroom breaks because that could have
been a disaster too but um yeah so that is accurate information there were nine slots and we will be doing it differently next year that's very concerning to me okay I just want to go on record and say I hope we're not shaming the parents who did let their kids go no because I would have totally
let mine go it's I I I would have was so impressive my daughter went what was so impressive was how well behaved they were they were very well they were so appropriate when the adults showed up to say like we've been here since 2:30 3:00 in the morning and um it it was kind of
like a senior Sunrise just a little bit earlier um so anyway I was so impressed with them and they were so personable and so well behaved but yeah there's a better way so I do think that it was like a really odd case where a lot of the Juniors were like old enough to
drive and have their licenses um cuz like my junior year there were only there was like the spots available but there was no um nobody could yeah obviously like there were so little kids in the grade who who did have their license were driving at the time yeah so I wouldn't blame you know the administration or anyone about that um
and then hopefully next it's true because it there must have been 25 or moreid I mean they couldn't have anticipated that obviously and I thought they depends on how big the class is exactly right yeah CCE didn't have to um there was no issue last year came in I don't even think I would got I put my
slip in the day that it like started opening I think I did it a daily and I still got a spots but I think the takeaway is that they were so well behaved they were so they were probably sleeping in class by the time they got in they were so tired but they were so appropriate they just were a really good group of kids which was impressive good
all right and Glenn can I ask um one more course more thing so and this this is actually directed to the superintendent and again I ask your Indulgence because I prefer to surface these things so you're aware
I I don't like surprise I don't think this is a surprise but I just with that c OD so I had read last week about you know right around the beginning of school at the elementary that there was inadvertently there was a child who got put on a bus and sent home where he
should have been put on a bus and sent to the Y and the I'm just wondering what what followup enhancements reviews anything like that or if you can speak to that again I I I don't I don't want to put
you on the spot but again I read that last on the spot because I didn't have the heads up about it I My All Bus issues were handled that was not one of those newsworthy stories that um you know a student was left on a bus for
inordinate amount of time what the system that has set up at the elementary school and certainly I'll speak to that in my opening of schools report um the students needed to know a number parents weren't coaching the kids on the numbers so the number of the bus that they get
on and so the wrong bus the student got on the wrong bus immediately followed up the principal was involved everything was handled um immediately what it was is the first day glitches of students parents not practicing their bus numbers with their kids and the kids being
confused on where to go so it wasn't a situation that we've seen on the news where students have been left on buses for hours there's now four buses keep in mind we're not a busing District we've never been a busing District so this is all new to them it was one day it was the first day um and the princi ible and
the SRO were on it immediately all right and and again I I appreciate that and um is has there been any follow up with the why just on their end just you know if a kid doesn't show up that they somehow notify the school um the Y is in our school so I'm
not the the extended day program so what I what I had read that the the people at the Y didn't say hey we were supposed to get you know an extra kid and he never showed up again that was their first day right they're all over the building you know um as we've said all along there
will be I think the hiccups we had were minimal considering we were consolidating three schools you know procedures are being put in place um after that first day and I had shared with um Mr Pastor first day pickup was a
disaster I'll be the first to admit it first day pickup was oh my gosh we do not have this right not to mention we couldn't use the field we couldn't use the community playground um and I will say that calling those early release days on the first two days of school for
the elementary school was invaluable because immediately Miss Sanborn and her team and from what I understand her entire staff stepped in to figure out how to do it better the next day and I know that there were phone calls to our office
that said the second day was 500 times better than the first day so you know don't know what you know till you go through it um I I personally I guess was misled in that I'm more concerned with drop off than I was with pickup because
of the 200 plus students that are in extended day the PTO programs are starting in October um there's a lot of Walkers so I would just say that as Miss Sanborn has communicated proactively so well with the parents we need a little
Grace the those first couple days of school and the fact that everybody got together immediately came up with a new plan and the next day went so much better and I was going to do this in my opening of schools report but um I cannot say and neither can miss sanbor
we can not thank the swamps Scot Police Department anymore I mean they officer' um officer Wilson have been absolutely invaluable um the support from the chief chief cassada they are
all in on this and really um really holding the resident sticker parking only um firm uh listening to people trying to improve things I was at a board meeting the other day and some of my colleagues you know there's 20
superintendents around the table said they have never heard so little about the opening of a new school and consolidating three schools that you know kudos to us on time on bud yes there were going to be blips but do
did everybody know where every child was even if the child got on the wrong bus yes um even to this day um Miss sandborne has Communications we were having a conversation today about a parent saying you know I didn't get my child till 240 and miss sandborne calling that parents said actually you
got the child at 220 because I walked back in the building at 221 after I handled handed the child off to you so you know if people came into this expecting it to go perfectly I think um you could ask Middle School and High School those things probably didn't go
perfectly either and we've done a pretty darn good job so right I'm I'm proud of the team but I'm internally grateful to this community and to the police department for all their help and support so also pretended I think we have to be cognizant that there might be
another glitch too like we haven't had a single bad oh we're well aware of that The Field's open it's short of rain now so ex but I just like and I have to help snow meeting snow Yeah but rain and snow too like cuz are you sorry are you done
no I was just I was actually just going to thank the superintendent again apologies for um you know asking here um but uh I do appreciate especially the part about you know the follow-ups that sound like you and your team did so I do appreciate hearing that as well so thank
you know if I could say there's a lot of things I could say about Miss sandborn but she is an expert Communicator she I don't know if you've seen her new tagline on her signature sure it's committed to kids and she lives and breathes that and um what you know she brought together three different
teaching communities and you walk in that building and you don't know a teacher from Clark from a teacher from Stanley from a teacher from Hadley and the emails she's received that I have put in her personnel file about how she runs a tight ship how she knows those kids how she knows their families she
knows everything about everyone um is really impressive so I I think that everybody especially the committee should feel safe with um Miss Sanborn Miss Powers and Mr nolles at the helm of that building um they're doing really a phenomenal job but you're right and Suzanne I don't know if you heard me
that um I do intend in the next few weeks to have a pre- snow meeting because that's going to be that's going to be a challenge and I need to know that we have the DPW on hand what is the time frame and all honesty I'm going to say right now I've said it to the internal team it may end up that I have
to cancel Elementary School school but middle and high school go because those are contracted and they might be clean but the elementary school might not get done till later and so we have to discuss all of these things yeah and also the clearing of the of the easement right so um there's there you know every
day is a new day but we have talked about this beautiful weather and the fact that there has not been any rain and everybody's walking and the first day it rains we're going to have a lot more cars so we'll have that next as what did Miss Sor say today our my next Everest is
so um can you just clarify that comment about uh contracted versus not contracted so middle and high school are contracted out for snow plowing Elementary School's been plowed by our internal people with our little white trucks and our little white and our little pop plows and then DPW ends up
helping us in terms of the sidewalks and things um but there's anybody that knows the site there's not a lot of space to put it so we're going to need bucket trucks if we're going to put this on well don't forget we did leave a space for snow for snow piles depending on how
much snow we get we did yes but we did we did we thanks to one of the residents in the neighborhood Who Made Us think about that we have a snow if it's 5 in or 12 in it's going to be a different plan so that's all I'm saying but it is and it's going to be challenging in that
you know there's a lot of curbing there so we you know the facilities department wants to get together and meet before this becomes a thing right so there is a snow pile Zone absolutely and Mr Mr Cresta was part of the conversation too so I just worry if we get you know it hasn't snowed at all in the last couple
of years we get a blizzard this year like I want to be prepared what's plan C well I think it's great that you want to be prepared um before I move on I'm sorry to my our two student reps who are returning for their second Year yay um Noel how are you I'm well how are you
I'm great thank you what's going on at the high school um so as you know like high school started and then I think we're off to a great start um today we had a colle seminar where all our guidance counselors walked us through the process they answered all our questions which I think was super helpful because I know I had a lot of questions and it was super easy you just
like raised your hand they took care of it um and they also like have a set of individual meetings for people who have like different paths and then my other thing is the band is hosting a coffee house I think it's October 3rd but I have to check um to try to raise money for our Disney trip um so if you'd like
to come you get to see all of us play and some of us play like different instruments so you you get to see other talents so it's going to be really fun awesome I have Sam welcome back senior glad to be here um how's everything it's good it's good um yeah it's exciting
start a school I have much prepared but I guess to talk about football again they play tomorrow um at man field they play L English so I encourage anyone who is interested to go see his play um that's it all right well to both
of you guys welcome to senior year thank you all right Suzanne um um like Karen said it was exciting to see so many kids it was really sad I lived by Hadley and it was sad not to see those kids but then I walked up for a s with my dog and it was like I was
walking in a parade I mean I've never seen and and the cutest thing where the third and fourth graders walking like way ahead of their parents or whoever they were supposed to be walking like like like they were practicing walking by themselves it was so awesome um so that was great um I think um Amy I saw
an email from you that you went to the luncheon about public comment yeah and I was there too oh good so there was some things I saw that you had some comments too but there's things that um um I learned I learned about too and I think that we need to um think about our
public like looking at our public comment policy um because there was some recommended changes um to make to them about um not putting people's address on the signup sheet but instead putting their relationship to the district like if they're a parent of a student that
goes here a family member or student or work in the district or are a resident of Swampscott like putting those kind of things like your your your role in The District um and I think they were doing that a lot to prevent um some of the things that are happening at other Schoolboard committee meetings where
where Outsiders are coming in and and um advocating for things that we don't necessarily want um so that was interesting Georgia calling in yeah um and I also learned that when we have public comment and we we limit everyone
to three minutes or depending on how many I mean that's what our limit is right you can't seed your time to someone else right like so someone can't say stand up and say I want to seed my three minutes to that person so they can talk for six but the work around of that is is whatever the whole speech is is
just broken into 3 minute segments and you know 10 different people speak right but but you can't seed minutes and I thought that was really interesting because we've always allowed people to do that so um that was something and then and then the other thing that um made me a
little um nervous was the the discussions about um um our our social media our personal social media accounts and um you know we all know that we can't um have discussions with each other on social media or we can't all we
can't all post if someone someone says something about the school we can't all post because that that's like a discussion kind of but it's also um you can't block people on your personal social media so if you ever use your social media to announce something about the school or to talk about the school
in any way and and they used an example of someone's talking about a CO covid protocol in school or something on their personal one and and having a constituent email and say you know this is bogus and then keep complaining and complaining about it and they block that person well you're not allowed to do
that because because it's public it's like a public domain unless um not unless anything but you they were recommending that on your personal page you add something that says this is the personal page of Suzanne Wright and um anything expressed
on this page is is strictly my own opinion or or something like that but I think it's also not unlike um you know ensuring that you use your um you don't use your personal account to respond to anything because once you because once
you open that door it becomes public domain yeah so I think sometimes we get like sloppy with the personal ones because we just like we um amplify a a school message right and that just like opens us up to that kind of stuff but so
I just thought those were interesting points that they brought up that um and I you had something else too but that was um that was given by Liz Valerio who um I know our district interviewed years ago she's really talented she she was whizzing through that stuff but we have
the I I have the present we both got the presentation right happy to share it that was great and happy to say that both of us going to that and sharing was part of our protocol goals that we bring other things to members absolutely that's great um we'll we'll add that to a future meeting so we can I think like
I mean John and I can take a stab at the policy too like just beforehand and then I think the other thing I wanted to talk about was the Community Life Center Fe ability task force but I see it's on your things no feel free please I just I got um I got an email today from um Bob
Powell who's who's heading up this um task force and they're looking for they they need they really really strongly want a school committee volunteer to work on this this task force that um is
going to look at inter multigenerational Comm building a multigenerational community life center in town and um so they want you know well- red inclusive process for Resident input input into this so they really want volunteers to join the task force like Town volunteers
of all ages but they really want someone from the school committee so that um they can work with with this younger generation as well so um I know the I know the description is in in our drive so I think everyone should take a look at it and we should figure out who's
who's interested in in being on that okay all right that's all I had that's not what you were talking oh no it's another one I'm going to talk about to oh uh I don't have okay um really the only thing I have is um kudos
to you and your team on opening a new school and getting it ready and and to the building committee and um you I heard the same thing that you know day one was a little bit of a challenge and um but after that it's been great and uh
I know we have a a big event coming up then I'll let you talk about that but other than that I don't have anything about kudos to you're talking about that that was that was actually the first announcement I was going to make no go ahead go ahead go the school building committee um and the superintendent and
the school district invite everyone to come to a ribbon cutting slash dedication of the new School ceremony on Sunday this Sunday it's Sunday morning from 10: to 1200 we plan to have um some speakers for a little while and then invite everyone into the cafetorium that's beautiful for some light
refreshments and some music and um some some guided tours of the building so we're excited very excited about that so rain or shine that's happening from 10: to 12 weather looks great on and also if you're if you need to drive there um there's not a lot of parking and there's
not a lot of parking on street the street either now that um the select board has has made n Road no NE no non-resident parking so if you want to park at the middle school it's just a really short walk down forest AV and and Through The UU Church easement you can
just follow it right onto the school that way so I just want to make sure people know that so at um as an butter to Hadley was that ever a No Parking zone for for non-residents like could people park in front of your
house uh I don't I could park during the day 7 to three no parking yeah only on on blay on blay you could park on on um Readington yeah cuz you not right in front of the school but as right or down the hill you had to go run it's an
interesting there was really no parking we're not going we're not getting toate right now that the residents of that neighborhood have have gotten quite a few accommodations because of you know just more traffic going through there but okay yeah I just want to add party planner event planner
to my um resume at for this Sunday and and if it goes well kudos to me if it doesn't I great all right um I think that's it for committee comment super great I'm going to move on to a highlight of our night tonight um I have the pleasure we were
just saying probably 12 to 15 years ago of meeting Sandy cross when I was principal of Stanley school and she spoke to me back then about a beloved teacher of the Stanley School named Clara Waterman and fast forward now
we've connected and she comes before you tonight asking um explaining claraa Waterman's Legacy with a beautiful Gull and um looking for a space for it within the elementary school and before the
committee you know has anything to say we have beautiful glass cases within that building and I I do know you know there should be process with things but I think you need to hear the story and look at all the people that are here
tonight to um honor this this teacher this very special teacher and I for one am very supportive there's so many glass cases within that building to find a place to put claraa Waterman's things in so I'll turn it over to Sandy thank you
uh Sandy just before you start just as a reminder to everybody um any presentation in front of the school committee we try to keep it to about 10 minutes if you could I'm going to be very quick I have two at least two people who want to say something and they are going to be very quick great
thank you okay anyway I'm Sandy cross I happen to have been one of M Waterman's fifth graders my class was the Class of 55 so I'm older than dirt she was a teacher at Stanley from 1931 to
71 and then she went to the pbd Essex Museum and created their education program she would drive from her home in North Haven Maine and spend the school year at her apartment on Humphrey Street near block field which I think I was thinking about it and I think it's closer to where where the police
department is now but anyway um she didn't need to cook often because most of the students parents had her over for dinner and she would fre frequently teach us how to eat lobster properly because we as people down here didn't
know in the summer students who missed her dearly would make their parents drive up to Maine to visit her because this was a big deal evidently it was an island that she lived on and when the kids arrived The Maniacs would say oh my
God it's the fifth graders from the Stanley school anyway when I was in her class she got a grant to attend an education program at the Museum of Science to learn about birds I remember her returning with a large board that had a myriad of bird pictures and there was something
underneath each bird that allowed one wire to touch a button and a second wire that would go to the name of the bird uh once we mastered all the bird Birds we were awarded a pack of uh cards presenting all representing all the
birds another thing in our curriculum was to be named an Explorer we had to research um them on our own mine happened to be if you can believe it remember how old I am Sir Francis Drake and I've had a number of people tell me who theirs were so I thought that was
interesting she was special along with the birds and the Explorer she was fascinated by monic butterflies among other things I'm giving you you a book on monik butterflies which you have in which she is highlighted we also do have a fifth
grader who is willing to give um some um you know what it is because you and I talk miled excuse me milked milked so that you can have more monic butterflies because you evidently have a teacher who
is very big in demonic butterflies uh when she retired from pbds she spent time at the Waterman Community Center teaching young Maniacs all the things she uh taught us her fifth graders continued to visit her and for her 100th birthday they fundraised and gave her an
ocean Gulf similar to our friend here um they were created by the renowned sculptress Beverly seamons who is now deceased along with the gull in the the uh book I'm presenting you with copies of Articles written by one of her fifth graders David shriman I don't know if
you know David but he's a pulit a prize winner and he is also a syndicated columnist and his things are in the Lin item I think Salem News Etc one of those articles was read by President George Bush who sent a personal note and a copy
of that is in front of you so you can see a copy of his note the niece actually sent me the note and thought I should keep it and I said you don't know what you have um there is also a message
from uh Secretary of Education Elliot Richardson congratulating her on her retirement and a note from her fifth grade another fifth grader Leslie stall of 60 Minutes who as you know to somebody special evidently she was a
speaker at Salem State and ran into Clara when you see the thing in your packet you there is a note there and that is I've given you both sides of her ticket where it shows um a number of
fifth graders are here today and uh one of her student teachers is here from the class of 67 and she'd like to say a few words but uh I need I need to read you something first well no excuse me we have somebody here who has a meeting at
7 o'clock so if we could have her speak and then I will read you something from Edie coan's Baker I don't know you know edting okay good even everyone the microphone [Music]
here good evening everyone I'm ha now that I am a proud Stanley school graduate cley Junior High graduate swamp Scott high school graduate and I still am I think my town is still swamp Scott
um um I want to congratulate you on the beautiful school that you've just opened I was coming home uh this past week before school opened the week before school opened and I just had to drive by and stop and take some pictures so I have the pictures on my phone with no
cars in the driveway and the building looking magnificent so it was wonderful job that you've done and thank you so much for it and I'm sorry to interrupt but um Sandy has asked me to speak and I want to thank her for reaching all of us
and for um raising the money this money has been raised by Sandy from many of us and others that that uh have um enjoyed uh the education that we got from Clara Waterman um she's a beloved teacher uh
and she was really she was devoted to her students to the town and to the school I remember walking home from Hadley School and seeing her uh at her house on Humphrey Street just across in the beram and uh she was getting out of
her car as I was walking home we always had a little chat so she remembered her students and she was a great woman so I hope that uh you would re uh I'd like to respectfully ask you to accept this from
us and I would like to support all those who have asked you to do that the sculpture is beautiful it will remind people of a wonderful teacher and it'll educate the youngsters that don't know her didn't know her uh that will show
how much a a very beloved teacher is remembered and uh I think that uh just have to tell you how dedicated she was and how much we would appreciate it if you put that in your school I'm sorry to interrupt but I have to move on thank
you thank you very much um I want you to know that the people who donated to this were Sandy and Dave cross Ed and Bob Baker art brenzy who spent a lot of time going up to Maine to be with Clara um and
actually bought a house up there Elaine Hazlet Paul Sherry Peter Gross Rick and ly breed Martha and Fran Mayo laori craft Peter Roose David pearlstein Roslin Cohen Beverly finlin Jim Smith
Francis Marshall Ross Riley Kim McKenna Betty Lester David shriman and Julie glossin now you have to understand one thing this is not a seagull we would all go to hell in her class if we called it
a seagull this is a turn or a an ocean Gull or a gull now you all know Edie Baker and Edie happens to be in London at the moment and so she was very sorry that she couldn't be here but she had a um
she wrote me something and you have in your packet some uh emails from some of the students that they gave us stuff um you have in that um a picture of Bush's note to her um you have the thing from
Leslie stall you have something from Secretary of Education Elliot Richardson on her um retirement and um you have a few other things there so obviously you're not going to read the now but three of the
articles that David shriman wrote and that will tell you how fantastic she was okay so from Edy hello swampit school committee I'm very enthusiastic about supporting the efforts of my Stanley school students to remember one of our
outstanding teachers using her personal Adventures claraa grabbed a students imagination daily she f fostered a culture in her classroom for a lifelong love of learning a thirst of knowledge about the world now more than 50 years later her students remember her not only
with the affection afforded a beloved fifth grade teacher But realize in their maturity that they having a fifth grade uh class teacher made a difference in their lives as an Engaged School Committee Member I know you appreciate a crucial role an elementary teacher plays
in the life of a child here is an opportunity for the town of swamps and the whole educational community at Ana clar well-placed this handsome piece of art can Inspire and motivate other Educators it also serves as a clear reminder to students that their families and their families that long after they
have left the school the imprint on their life uh by great teachers is something to cherish thank you for welcoming this heartfelt inent Endeavor and for choosing a relevant site within the school now I also would like to
introduce you to and this to me is absolutely fantastic Clara's student teacher okay which is franc and from a million years ago so I'll just go fast like as I've gotten older
I've kept a list of like people that have changed my life in a really significant way that I wouldn't have expected and sent me in a different direction and she was one of those people um in 1967 I was a senior at
Northeastern University and I got aign to student teaching the fifth grade science class at Stanley school and I didn't even know where it was and I was nervous and it was pretty and you could see that there were
privileged families there I was totally intimidated and the first day the kids just burst through the door headed for Clara they're all tucking at once I saw a bird I saw a rock I went to the beach
I saw her an a bug and I thought what is she going to do and she smiled and she just looked at all of them like the world had stopped and they were the best thing in it and I was so blown away
there was no sit down and take your turn and just so and she read them a chapter of a beautiful nature book and it was just a happy productive classroom she knew what she was doing and they loved it
and I did not know what I was doing at North Eastern I really excelled and when I got in her classroom I had no idea how to do what she did it was not like class work at Northeastern and um I
accidentally taught them to hate electricity I made the test too hard and they were upset and then I tried again and I was like stumbling all over the place and she just let me do it and I was really nervous because I was a
senior and teaching was what everything was going towards and I'm like bombing it and afterward she said why don't you tell me how you think you're doing thank God I'm like I don't know how to do it I don't know what I'm doing
I I'm very nervous and Claris said and I said I think I'm in the wrong place I think I can't do this but I've just spent 5 years preparing to do this and now I'm really stuck and I can't so I'm
upset and um she I said I think I'm just going to skip it and go home go back to North Eastern and see what I have to do about it and probably not teach and she said well the only thing is if you do
that you're going to look at yourself as a failure and you're going to carry it with you and then next thing is going to be more of a problem to you whatever that is and she said how about like we just scrap it you can even tell the kids
I'm just trying to learn how to do this and we'll give it another try and I'll help you a little bit and it was like thank you God for Clara I I learned to do it and I brought everything she taught
me to Lynn and I did that for 34 years yes and and I took a philosophy of education course first one at Salem State when I started my graduate degree and he writes on the board I am loving and capable and I thought thank you
Clara a [Applause] wonderful wonderful I don't think I have anybody else wants to say anything think it speaks volumes that you're all here you don't have to say anything the fact that all these fifth
graders are here it's like so awesome so I do want to say that um Sandy filled out a donation grants and Gifts form and I know we typically do this later but the value of the skull is $1,800 and so we would want um a vote
for the school committee to formally accept it and then you know I I can take it from there um could we put that to a vote now absolutely um does anyone have any comments before we we do this I I was G to I was going to comment
that um what a privilege you guys had and I can't even imagine having that kind of impact on all these lives it's just she sounded so amazing it's a it's a it's to me it's a perfect kind of first gift to go into that building and
um I would love it to be accompanied by um a photo you know and some sort of and some sort of all of these I'm going to take care of there will be you did you see a packet yeah no I see the packet but you know just to make sure we have a photo and maybe like a
little a little yep I mean I love your story just like no I'm going to take it from here I've got I've read it a couple no I just I just don't want I just don't want the go the G to be on a shelf really does need to with the book the mon butterfly book with with her inside
it um I've got it covered yeah I know it feels important and it feels really great that we have a butterfly garden could I say one thing one of the students um I don't know if you recognize the last name of Salter but Salters are from Swamp got
obviously there are at least three of them and Marjorie Salter was so enamored with claraa she bought Clara's house in Maine wow it's like crazy can you imagine being that teacher that this like how great that your students want
to come and visit you I now off yeah any any other comment I'll just add to it um superintendent to your point about process there was a significant process as part of this um Miss cross was very uh set the wheels in motion for this two
years ago probably it wasn't quite that long ago maybe about a year but it was a while and uh there have been a lot of conversations about it so you know all the teas are crossed and I thoughted um anything else John thank you for sharing your stories it was perfect you have no
idea how lucky we were great I I also will um will thank you um I'll make a motion to accept Okay um Can someone second then I will read it second that all right so um today's date uh Miss
Sandra C Lane cross um of Marblehead is donating um a statue to be put at the new elementary school um in dedication of all M Waterman's years of teaching in
swamp Scott um the value is is $1,800 and the just the description Beverly Seaman bronze Gull statue and we'll leave the um specifics in your capable hands um we've had a motion we've had a second
all those in favor of the motion it will pass unanimously thank you very much thank you thank you all for coming it's really fantastic and Bo do I remember my student teaching days where I walked in and thought wait it didn't say to do that in the book right
I know thank you than you for and they're not sitting and being quiet right no all right um continue on okay um the next item on the agenda is the opening of schools report um interestingly enough I've been watching
enrollment this is I I did uh attach link a report to the agenda later uh this afternoon or earlier this afternoon but one of the things that I was concerned about during the summer was watching um the enrollment because uh we
had a very large um eighth grade class last year it was 199 students and so they left the middle school and the fifth grade that come in was 137 so the first time in many many many many years that I can remember our uh
Middle School enrollment is under 600 we have 593 students at the Middle School uh that was concerning to me but interest interestingly enough today um we pulled the data from 6 from June 30th 2024 and as of today we our enrollment
has increased by 18 students overall so just um some numbers um and obviously in October I do the after the October one I do the full report for you but this was interesting in June we had 68 um
preschool students right now we have 62 um last year in June we had 723 elementary students we have 734 uh we had 627 students at the middle school we now have
593 um that number was actually lower and they were coming in by the droves this summer um we had 658 students at the high school we now have 705 um and I think it's notable I'm sorry can you repeat that yep we had 658
students at the high school last year on June we have 705 now that was a large class that came in but interestingly that e8th grade class that came up was going to be 199 students and Mr kishman and I were tracking how many of those students did we think were going to go
private and um we thought about 15 we you know the fact that kudos to swams gotot public schools that we've kept 188 of those 199 students within the district I think that says something for us so those numbers at the high school have increased and so as of June last
year we had 276 students in District and we have 294 obviously this this will change by October 1 can you say that total number again 27 uh 2076 now we have 2094 so we are even though that
enrollment is down at the middle school we are up by 18 students so I think that is is notable and um you know things continue to change in the early weeks of September and um but I was very we were
both thinking wow we have under 600 but it's creeping up so um I gave you about five pages of an opening schools report it is uh linked to the agenda I'm going to highlight a few things um the
integrated preschool is I wish everyone was running to school the way those preschoolers run into school they can't wait to get in there and obviously at this time of year their learning routines and classroom rules and relationships with their peers and
teachers um social groups shapes colors brown there Brown there what do you see um and it is the happiest place to be just listening to their voices in the morning looking at little outfits that are on both you know all of the students is is really and the backpacks are
bigger than the kids is just so much fun from my office at the Middle School uh Elementary School we've talked a lot about and I and I would say that that first day dismissal was a disaster I know Miss Stella was over there helping out and she came back and then Mr uh
officer Wilson I like there wasn't a good Mr Casper everybody was like ah it did not go well but I am very impressed and it it's nothing less than I expected that they would regroup and the fact that the entire staff got together to help and figure it out and it would they
had a written plan by 2:00 that afternoon that was sent out to the parents and now at the field open as of today all of the family Walkers will be on the field until it snows or rains but that's for now um and so things are getting Tighter and Tighter um over
there and as I said what I would would say is that what's most impressive is the fact that um even on day one you couldn't tell what staff or students are from what school this really did bring the community together um my
understanding that the spaces are being used by the teachers during their common planning time to plan their units um and so it it's just a very happy place to be for those of you that don't know and those people that were um concerned that
our new tag our new branding doesn't have big blue the big blue lobster is their mascot over there um lots of big blue lobster t-shirts and stickers and and magnets being handed out and then of course academics they're um introducing
the new new inter reading program and the I ready assessments for the fall are already underway uh the PTO has been um you know Monumental in their efforts and helping in any way that the leadership
team over there needs and um also miss Sanborn wanted to shut out the swans police department they just have been phenomenal um the Middle School Lots going on there as well um um I am going
to read a bit of this uh let's see the opening of the 2024 25 school year it's best start they can remember the positive mindset has swept across all levels uh we kicked off the school year with our annual welcome to swamp Scot Middle School event and invited all new
students and families the entire fifth grade new met Co students and all new students to the district one of the things that Mr kishman and Miss Z started and Mr kishman is incredibly dedicated to this is during the summer he spends time calling every single
incoming fifth grade family and all new students to the district and makes that first positive point of connection so that later in the year when maybe a not so great call has to be made he's already made that connection that is one of our the district's top priorities for
family engagement and really um connecting with the families and and that is something incredibly admirable there's also um it's really great if any body has come up to the school when these events are going on because the National Junior Honor Society students
and the High School National Honor Society students um and students who have earned the big blue Pride award are helping with these events giving tours handing out flyers they're proud of their school um and you know respect at
middle school is demanded and for the most part is really something that the kids and staff buy into um you know Middle School is probably the toughest age and Mr kalishman just has to give a
certain tone of his voice or a look and these kids step in line which is fantastic one of the things that Mr kishman and Miss Z do that is very impressive and they've already done um the first one is a safety and respect talk they review the protocols with the
students and the expectations at the middle school they also talk about um the permanence of online activity and online actions and texting and so it's something that they do three times a year and that has already been done
um for the fall they've already done that with every grade level um they've included some focus on the core practices and some multi-tiered systems of support with social emotional learning and then the family and Community Partnerships that really um
connect to the district strategy I've also o included some pictures they're much better in color if you look at them on your computer of the Get to Know You activities that are going on and some specials classes that are going on um we
did have Miss Z we are members of the rotary the local swamp Scott rotary and instead of me trying to make their weekly meetings I do a rotating schedule and the leadership team signs up and everybody goes either once or twice and talks about you know swamp public
schools from their perspective yesterday Miss zoto went and um we were waiting for her to come back because I think she was like razzled dazzling them about everything that's going on the school and actually we got an email about wow she was phenomenal so um so it's really
nice for Kelly wolf to go for the metco directors to go um and so we rotate through I just can't get away every Wednesday for a lunch as much as I'd like to and she picked a good one because it's usually mission on the bay so they had a nice lunch Wednesday um
but anyway it's really nice for the rotarians to meet the entire leadership team and hear about our district from their perspective so that was that was great uh swamp Scot High School um they uh I do want to mention what happens at
swamp Scott High School on the first day of school they do the senior Sunrise which is fine and I do want to just speak a little bit to the car parade because I did hear a lot about that um a lot of feedback from the community uh that is not a
sanctioned School event and I know it's a tradition and I just I'm not asking for an answer I'm not judging anything but I am saying that when I became a superintendent I thought okay then let's make it safe let's get the police
department involved let's get our SRO involved and we had our SRO involved and we had patrol cars involved and it was still unmanageable and I'll never forget if you all remember Amanda Mali a former occupational health nurse um it was the
first day of school and the PTO was out in the Hadley playground and I was visiting the school and the parade of seniors came down Readington and they were hanging out of the cars that I was in a dress and I was chasing them down the street to get in the cars and that
was Amanda's first meeting of me she's like who is that but so it it always scares me and um the police department has they couldn't control it when they were were escorting them and um I just
ask that the kids you know I know the kids are going to do it but just be safe I don't want the first day of school to result in a tragedy I don't know how to do it better I think we need to talk about it more we can't just ignore that it's going to happen we have to figure out a way way to keep our kids safe and
quite frankly the entire police department was at swans Scot Elementary School the first day of school this year that's not an excuse I just want the community to know I'm well aware of it and we have to do better we have to somehow find a way to support it it's going to happen anyway and maybe it's
having a conversation with the seniors before they go out that maybe you know we meet them at senior sunrise and say you know you got to do it right and there has there used to be we we drew a route the route that they would go with and and the police would follow them one would be at the front one would be at
the back and they were still pulling cars over because kids were hanging out of the car so I I'm just saying it to the committee and the community that we're aware of the issues with it and that we have to find a way to do better I you know I'm not that old that I don't
remember senior year it's very exciting but it's I don't want a tragedy to occur for kids to wake up and think oh we have to do this better and for us to say we have to do it better but they do come into the high school and run the Halls um to the tune of
shipping up to Boston so um that is their moment in this in the sun I don't know if Sam and Noelle want to say anything about it um but anyway I then certainly I don't want to put you on the spot because you are seniors it's a fun year um they continue to focus on the big
blue bees um and then they also were talking with the students about attendance attendance is a big Focus of our entire District K through 12 um and we have plans to address it with families and just get ahead of it and
remind the families and the kids that we want them here that they need to be here and this the committee is aware that chronic absenteeism is something that the entire state is dealing with but it is a focus of our high school our Middle School our elementary schools and we're
all going to really reach out and try to connect early on when a you know when you hit a certain amount of absences not wait till there's 15 20 absences um and then in the envis in the learning community at the high school they are their September theme is belonging
because belonging is another one of our big initiatives um I had Miss Mackie noes in insert something for the technology department because as you can imagine the technology at the new elementary school it's the most current technology there is which means there
are the most glitch is that you would ever imagine she sent um an email the other morning with a very very funny picture in it it was like a Boston off-ramp and it was talking about the internet traffic in the morning at the elementary school and there's a toll
booth at the middle school and the high school that's clogging everything up and so they were going to try to bypass the toll booths to get everything running um and so she is keeping very very busy in the new school um definitely
uh mitigating issues and um and keeping everything up and running the lose system the interactive whiteboard in the gymnasium is as popular as ever um the kids are enjoying that and using that and I would just say that um I had a
meeting with Miss sandborn this morning and there is nothing better than driving up to that school and seeing kids on the field gym classes on the basketball court um breaks on the playground there were kids everywhere and just happiness
and joy and everybody doing their own thing it was really exciting can I say something you posted um or the school posted on social media that aial photo the other day MH and to the both of you I just have to say I was really dumb
struck by how much space there was particularly after sitting through a lot of meetings here hearing a lot of complaints about how there was going to be no s space there well I mean and there's less but it's being used in an
unbelievably efficient way it's it's really fantastic and I know that there were little pieces of me deep down that were worried about it and I am it was really mindboggling I wish I could have estimated how many students were out at once this morning and it was 9:00 in the
morning so there were PE classes there could have been two PE classes out on the basketball court um and there was a first grade having a breakout on the field and the teachers were so thrilled that they were on the field today and um there were just there must have been
three or four classes out there and you probably didn't even see the kindergarteners behind I didn't see anybody be this was just at the front of the building and the fact that they have that chain link that comes across so that you can't go down that area speaking of which um I did have an oversight with the ribbon cutting and I
spoke to the Past P at The UU church and we're hiring a detail because their services begin at 10:00 on Sunday morning and so I have a detail officer going to be there from 9: to 1 and um uh Mr Casper told me the gates are going up
so we won't need saw hoses saw horses there from I know so um anyway all those little details are handled but uh just even thinking about that chain link there was no way I was going near that
crosswalk and it was great it's really a safe around a fence around the grass so that there aren't gonna there won't be dog poo well I mean there's signs saying there won't be dogs on there but you know how it is well it's nice to have it well once it's open to the community and
the community is using a lot too it will be it will be used more but just pure joy I pulled up and I just thought pure joy and Miss Sheen was out there and Mrs kti was substituting so the three of us got a selfie that like did we ever think when we all started together that this
is where we'd be and so um anyway it's wonderful it was a great opening to The Year yes there are bumps yes there are particular student issues but that's our business and that's what we do and we know how that's not anything we can't manage so wonderful I don't know if the
committee has any questions or uh anybody comment comment so uh superintendent thank you for that very detailed report it's very informative um and I appreciate many of your points um just on on the student
parade that you mentioned uh you said you know everyone's going to be putting their heads together which is great um you know I think everyone in this committee has heard me say this many times before but you know one suggestion would be to see what other communities are doing as well just not just here in
swans but you know what what are other towns doing to you know maybe they had the similar issue and how did they solve the problem so sounds good absolutely um you know we can't just put our heads down and ignore it is where where I'm at right now I'm glad to hear you're on top of it I really do
appreciate that thank you thank you uh and the next item and final item on my agenda is the district handbook it is just you know um there is not a vote from the school committee as a reminder this is just for you to um for your
knowledge and I wish Miss Raymond were here but she's away Miss Raymond Mrs Raymond and and Mr Harris are responsible for the document that here is here before you and we alluded to it with the bullying um handbook that we uh
that Miss Mrs Raymond presented last at the last meeting I think um what they did is they really got it down to um I think 19 pages and if you flip through
this there's no longer you know 50 pages which we all know people are not going to read you want do you want me to pull it up for you would that helpful if you'd like to that would be great what what is the biggest change is that these what it is down to in the
19 pages is The District handbook within the handbook are links to what you need so if you go to the second page you'll see school hours and school handbooks within this
these District procedures there are handbooks specific for the integrated preschool for swamp Scott Elementary School for swamp Scott Middle School and for swamp Scott high school so instead of those being in one document they're all links and So within those other
handbooks and within those links are the specifics to that grade that level school which is a huge change from having a 50-page document where all those pages were in here and if you only have an elementary child why do you need a 50-page document so this is something
that they they really really streamlined you can just take a look at the table of contents and you can click on the title within the table of contents on page three Mr jantis that you can jump right to those sections the metco program special education multi-lingual Learners
so all of those are active links that will take you to the section within that we have our vision statement we have our core values we have our District programs um and so I I just bring it to you and
that the format is incredibly incredibly efficient now and it I think Mrs Raymond said it the last meaning that this is one of what she's she's really proud of this and she should be it just makes it easier for everyone involved if any changes are made to these documents it
will um say that on the website you know revised version because we are posting this obviously at the beginning of the year now um but if any revisions are made throughout the year it will be noted on the website on the addition that's on the website so I bring it to
you um just as information the chain of communication is here one of the things we worked on last year is adding in the metco directors and the metco coordinator within the the the chain of communication that was something that was missing so when we talk about our
core work is and being Equitable for everyone did we have that department fully articulated within our our uh handbook so I just bring it to you for your knowledge um I do believe it's a great document it's much more user friendly and it makes much more sense so
it's beautiful thank you okay that concludes my report Director of Finance thank you um so I'm here just to let the committee know how we closed out fiscal year
24 um we talked a lot about this very early on in the fiscal year so I don't think any of this information is really going to be a surprise to you um I think the one thing I do want to say is we knew it was going to be a difficult budget year very early on in probably
October and it took I just want to interrupt you for a seconding um I think all of us have read um various issues around the state regarding budget I want to say personally and I speak for everybody is that um your ability to let
us know very early last year last school year that we uh potentially had an issue that we all had to deal with and I don't mean just we all I mean the town as a whole is very much appreciated um and so I
personally thank you for that thank you um so we knew it was going to be a difficult year I do want to thank the entire leadership team they're truly really helpful in ensuring that we close this year on budget um
I think we should all be really proud of that and proud of the fact that you know going into this budget year um the fiscal 24 budget the 14% tuition increase was still in flux and we were really hoping that that wouldn't come to
fruition and it did and that was something that was not a standard increase and very difficult for us to manage and it really did literally take everybody um to to get this budget
um to the place that we got it to so I'm happy to report that we did use a special education Reserve fund but we only had to use 109,000 of that um there is still a substantial balance in that fund available to us um as we go into
future fiscal years um as you all know we also utilize the nant revolving fund to offset our budget uh this year we expended about 1.7 million out of the nahat revolving
fund and we have a balance currently of 144,000 in that fund um as we talk about the cost centers and and where they ended the year Administration um ended the year slightly under budget about
$53,000 we knew we were going to have high unemployment costs this year uh but those came in slightly lower than anticipated we also have um some great work done with our grants and our grant
managers and we were able to shift some districtwide salaries over to our grants which helped ease some of the uh appropriate budget burden was that Dr bacon who helped with that yes yeah she she she's talented very talented very
creative um and really kind of even if it's a few thousand dollars she's always looking for ways to help you know support the appropriate budget with with grant funding we've already met the three of us Dr bacon Mell and myself for
fy2 to do the same thing good and so we're ahead of the game wow okay our district ride programs finished under budget by about $75,000 um a lot of that was due to the budget free and office supplies lines
coming in uh far under budget as well as um this was our final year with S 3 and some of our expenditures we were able to expend out of sr3 so that helped the districtwide programs cost center general education we are under a budget
by $102,000 I'm sure as the committee knows there's kind of an a different type of leadership at the blay School this year than a typical principal at the helm um and so that we had cost savings with that as well as our homeless
Transportation which is incredibly hard to predict uh year over-year ended up coming in under budget as well our school facilities came in under budget by um 58,000 uh we did have some vacancies so
we did have some salary savings as we were trying to hire some custodial staff um and then some Building Maintenance expenses just weren't quite as high as they sometimes are and that's really just that's just typical you know wear and tear
um and then as we all know special education was the cost center that was over budget uh by $289,000 it was a combination of that 14% um increase as well as you know we knew in the fall there were some
unexpected AO District tuitions that we incurred so overall when you look at what we did spend for aod district tuitions this year compared to last year uh our expenditures increased by
737,000 and it's an 18.4% increase over FY 24 our circuit breaker um we utilize quite a bit of circuit breaker as well um this year we used 2.3 million which I think is the most that the school
district has used what percentage was that what percent of the balance yeah um so it brought the balance Stone to 415,000 wow um which we knew we had to bring down in order to use the special
education Reserve fund it's just stunning to see those numbers that's all I mean it's been a decade since it's been that low I will say that our special education Reserve fund at this
point um we we have a fourth quarter Medicaid uh payment that should be coming under this month beginning of October of 23,000 and at that point the balance will be 443,000 in there so between the two so how much is that how much is
expected to come in um $23,995 hundred, I I just want to make make sure that we um you know get to work in and I say this not so much to you but to our committee get to work in educating the finance committee and the um select
board about how that has changed over the last few years and that even though the last payments preco were pretty high that were that um that is a thing of the past um and
won't you know we won't reach those levels unless there's a significant change in um in our population so um it's it's not that we've given up on that money it's just that it's diff it's wildly different now what we can
um uh claim correct and you know even things like um so screenings the screenings that nurses do right we can claim those and we can get Medicaid reimbursement however we also get a nurses Grant and we can cover the
screens by the nurses Grant and finan it makes more sense for us to follow to cover the full cost with the grant versus paying for it and getting a small Medicaid reimbursement and so if you cover it with a grant you can't obviously submit it for medic so there's
some of that as well too right um that comes into play so um later on or the Committees will there is a a vote requested just to um do the budget transfers as standard practice between the cost centers um to close out the
year but I'm happy to answer any questions um you had mentioned the Nahant fund and pulling uh the 1.7 from there I think it was that's standard though isn't that yes okay yes yeah it's very okay I think
because we haven't heard that reported that way before it's it's it's a it's the standard of we always take the money from that account to to pay for our services um my second question is the process for getting the uh dollars from the special
ed Reserve fund was that um how would you describe that process was it seamless was it virous I would say the pro the process itself was relatively simple okay um it just took a little
longer than I would have anticipated how long did it take out of curi I I I don't recall but well over well over a month okay you mean to have the actual funds moved for to actually
cor those bills right okay but was the was the process of giving the information to them easily accepted or did you have to like jump through hoop no that was that was incredibly easy and simple good um and were there any things in here since you know we had some
really difficult conversations pre uh uh town meeting last year so pretty late in the year was there anything um when you were uh coming down to these final numbers that was a surprise to you or that we uh that was unexpected because you
you know you painted a pretty consistent picture for us no not really anything that was surprising I think maybe the fact that unemployment was a little bit less than I had anticipated I was a little bit surprised that we actually had some
money left in that line but I mean that wasn't even that whole lot lot I just I I fully anticipated that being fully spent this year and we did have some left there but outside of that there really wasn't anything that was surprising okay not really a budget
question um how many if any open positions do we have right now in District we were talking with um Lisa ksar director of HR the other day and it's like two and they're not teaching positions when you look um on the news
of how many positions are open in other District that's why I asked we are down to I believe like esps or tutors we're not sign we're not teaching positions we're in very good shape says a lot about the district so do you want to take the votes on these caners do that
down okay sure um where am I here so you need to vote on just read I'm sorry I um it's on the last page of the memo from Mella do you do it as one Comm vote request I think they do it by C Center pass that down oh thank you all right so
we have to do each individual c Center yes okay so um Can someone please make a motion to approve the budget transfer of and correct me if I'm wrong here
53292 from the administration cost Center cost center to to special education special education I'm sorry I'll make the motion second all in favor I it passes
unanimously um may have a motion please to move $75,400 12382 from the Gen Ed uh cost center line to the special education cost Center Line I'll make a motion a second all in
favor I any opposed no it passes unanimously and um lastly can someone please make a motion to transfer $58,900 is unanimously okay so that's approximately
$300,000 that we have taken from other line items to pay for special education Necessities yeah correct correct yeah I mean I you know I I know that I'm beating a dead horse at this point um but you know I think this is
going to have to speak a lot to what happens with our budget this year um you know I'm not comfortable with taking 100 $1,000 out of General ad to and and not because I am
against uh like I want to pay for that special ed but it it the fact that it had to be cut from someplace um at all is troubling to me rather than having the the Monies to fund it is that a cut or a [Music]
leftover we didn't cut per say anything from but we didn't fund things well she was we we didn't Staffing at blay school and the homeless Transportation was down well the Staffing at the blay school was Administration no it's in the
general education the principles fall under the general education cost center okay and homeless uh Transportation comes out of same thing General okay okay great I mean it's still wrong
right absolutely like your point you're right I mean like that's luck that we didn't have it's luck it's not luck that we didn't that we did have the we had the cost savings and that was intentional with the uh the leadership at blay school but that was luck that we didn't have that Homeless
Transportation yes same thing with so where would we have found you know it's a hypothetical that you don't have to answer but like where would we have found that extra we would have went to the special education Reserve fund for more you know more than the
109 which is not a great thing either right it's just a problem all right thank you very much you're welcome all right um I have a few things to to chat about um in addition to the Community Life Center feasibility task force which
was mentioned earlier um I also received an email from uh select board member Danielle Leonard I'm not going in order here I apologize um a committee is being set up uh called Art placement policy committee and
that's to put various art donations Etc um on public grounds including school public grounds and um Miss Leonard um is actually was very vocal with her with the committee about having
a member of the school committee uh or the superintendent or your designate Beyond that committee um I think it's a really great idea um I don't know if anyone here or yourself superintendent want to um
volunteer for that or something you can think about and we can all think about um someone who's interested in doing that um but I I really appreciate um Miss Leonard reaching out to us so if you guys could um on top of the the other committee that um we already spoke
about Miss Wright spoke about earlier we could I'll consider that and then um maybe I'll bring it back to the next meeting and we can see who wants to so auor my hat in the ring for the um the one uh
that Danielle has brought up community life for the art one no that's the art one the art one oh I'm sorry the art one and I appreciate the fact that um we would be included in that okay um particularly yeah I I appreciate that we
would be included in that um if unless if somebody else would like it let's talk um I would say I don't think it should fall with our superintendent um you know that I think that this is a townwide decision it's a school committee decision too about this is
sort of like accepting a gift or right or renaming a a baseball field that we didn't know about Yes again I I was really pleased it was really nice of Miss Leonard to yeah to contact us and I I appreciate you volunteering thank you very much all right um for the fall for
this um Community feasibility task force obviously this is really early in the game because there are no def definitions around this but it was very interesting to me that this came up um at town meeting and that one of the
things that the director of um Recreation Recreation said when she when she brought this up was that she doesn't have space to work with and that while the schools have been very helpful in working with her
that it it becomes cost prohibitive um because they have to pay for um janitors janitors and it's stunning to me that the solution when something is cost prohibitive is to build another building
or take over a building that's vacated like which which will need a janitor so either way you're paying for a janitor so it seems like a very peculiar way to to solve problems in a town that
um is uh doesn't have cashed and does not have a lot of land per okay that's my two cents all right I appreciate that um if it's okay with the board I'm going to scratch the JCC event discussion um
that's fine um can I can I I'm not sure what that JCC discussion was but I will say that the JCC has invited all of us yes is that that I was going to talk about there there is an an issue about without really getting into the whole thing about no this is a breakfast that
I was talking about so there's two events okay there's that the breakfast that I'm sure you and I are going to attend we were both invited we were I think everybody was invited okay so does everybody did everybody receive an invitation about from The JCC no no no
um so there's two EVS there's the breakfast that you and I were invited to okay okay sorry and and then there's a uh I don't want to talk about and the there's another event that um we will
all be invited to but there's a question about open meeting issues and so the we're trying to get some guidance on that all right okay so we're not deliberating school business I know that but this this this speaker is such that it it it calls for
deliberations okay so we're just I'll have I'll be sending an email about that and just it's just again Crossing it crossing the teas dot in the eyes to make sure you know perhaps we could put set that up then as a um uh we just post that we're going yeah yeah Workshop
that's Workshop right okay um all right because we've certainly gone to all sorts of things exactly exactly um I just want to quickly talk about uh our survey um that we're uh in the midst of without getting into any specifics um
but I do want to say that um if you could send that out one more time that would be great um when is the deadline I thought the deadline so the deadline is Sunday but I am um on the advice of um Mr coocher we're going to just keep it
open for a couple more days but just to to quickly um I sent some of this information to the board and um you know again we'll we'll get it together for the public but uh thus far we've had 147 respondents this was this
afternoon uh majority of the respondents about 81% uh again this is self-reported by the way um majority were parents of current students um appreciate that uh a lot of really interesting comments so can I
make a couple of suggestions you can make any suggestion you'd like I suggest that our reps send it out to the high school students I would be curious to hear from from them yeah there's not very many student respondents um and uh
has the town sent it out so I going to have a phone call tomorrow okay and has it gone out on social media yes okay it did um which is a really interesting back to the earlier conversation about social media because I sent it out you know myself and swamps times I think it
was um I didn't obviously block her you know didn't actually didn't even be the comments for very specific reason but I will um if you could just send me some of those notes because as one of the things you mentioned was you know like putting it on top this is from Glen Pastor as a personal thing um or I'm
going to just ask someone else to post I would say especially um I know that like Steve ianac exact very interested in helping out and and he was nice to to post it the you know help me post it so I think that's a really good idea given what you guys were you know I just think in general the the less that we
participate at in uh social media because we don't have there was talk a few years ago of actually setting up a school committee Facebook page for example you know where you could put information out but not receive
information so that there wasn't an issue of open meeting law um you know I think if it's coming from somebody just the less you do the less possibility there is for infractions and you know there's been a lot of uh public
servant uh infractions on social media lately and I exactly don't want that to be us okay um thank you for that um and then just lastly um I will be reaching out uh next week we had talked about superintend you about a TR share meeting
yes with bringing uh the stakeholders um on the budget side and I'll be getting that out next week okay so the the last thing and probably the most important thing I'm going to bring up and I'll ask everybody I'm actually going to read this so I apologize in advance for that
um uh it's listed on here as superintendent position timeline so um and I just remind everyone if I misspeak please stop me okay um in June superintendent angelakis announced her
intention to retire at the end of this school year 2425 um we really do appreciate this long lead time as it gives the district ample time to plan uh hiring a lasting superintendent in Massachusetts over the last 10 years has proven difficult for
for many communities um our committee here met with Glenn coocher um he's executive director of the Massachusetts Association of school committees um and I could not remember the date if anyone can remember that July I think might have been July I apologize for not
remembering the date um you will recall that this strong recommendation to identify his strong recommendation excuse me um let me start again you will recall that is strong recommendation to identify an internal candidate if one
exists as opposed to a broad search is um a really great thing to do there are many reasons for this um as we've talked in Open Session before um there's candidate shortages um the desire to not be a stepping stone for a career Builder
uh and there's a lot of open positions Etc um on the positive side homegrown Talent holds the unique experience of knowing our district our culture and we are known as one that has avoided many of the issues negatively impacting other
the districts across the Commonwealth um following this several members of the school committee met with uh met individually with various staff members that the superintendent recommend amended um chatted with them and um with that I've asked the
superintendent to report on who um she would recommend uh one just last note uh often districts hire interim superintendents and I know we've done that in the past swamp Scott and look to them for their recommendations we are
incredibly lucky um that not only again you stay on um but we're in the fortunate position of having you help us with this and so we um I personally am looking for your
recommendation um all right a lot to say and some I will repeat from my retirement um announcement words you all had wonderful things to say and it was very emotional but one of
the things that stuck out the most to me was something that you said Suzanne about you know you pushed me a lot in the beginning a lot and you pushed me to do better and you said that when people ask you about
what is a lead an important lead leadership quality it's the ability to adapt the ability to change without changing who you are and that has really really stuck with me um there is
no I think anybody that hits our age you know you think about retirement and it's not an overnight decision you know it's not something I decided in the last six months so certainly in my seat for the last 10 and
a half years I've been looking inward I I feel like as I said you know you took a chance on me I took a chance on you and I don't know if it's accurate to say I'm the longest sitting superintendent in swamp Scott but I think
it probably true and so knowing that that formula worked you know through my tenure I I've been looking at my leadership team I've been I evaluate them I um like to see I like to think I
build on their strengths um I test their strengths I test their abilities I watch their skills uh this job is so heavily weed in interpersonal skills whether it's with students or
families or parents or the community you have to have the ability to adapt on the fly every single day and so in analyzing my leadership team um particularly in the last couple of years
there is one person who has risen to the top that I think would be incredibly well suited for this position um they are dedicated to this community um I'd like to thank this person bleeds
blue um and I will go on about why as soon as I name Jason kalishman as who I think would be the appropriate choice and my recommendation to the committee um as the next superintendent there are some first of
all he does Bleed Blue secondly I have watched Jason in the last 13 years um probably exactly 13 because I was assistant superintendent at the time from assistant principal at the middle school for four years to the last nine
years as principal changed that middle school I wouldn't go back to middle school if you paid me a million dollars and yet he Embraces it um I've talked a lot about how the culture at the middle school and Mr Moran would say it it is
just the middle school is our Flagship and and and it it is our Flagship because of Mr kishman's leadership he um is the Tasmanian devil extremely visible around in every classroom two times if not
three times a day um he has had an exemplary rating on his evaluation for the last several years um he took over as acting High School principal for a few months when Mr kohad had to step away he has three children in the
district he has um he cares about the entire District right now he cares about the elementary level he cares about the high school level not even knowing this is a potential recommendation he's always pushing
me with ideas for the high school and for the elementary school as well as his school um he worries and cares about the entire District I think he's inquisitive I saw last year and the last couple of years in particular since Miss Stella
came on board really wanting to understand the budget process and the finances and um that prompted me to have Mella give a lesson in budgeting to the entire leadership team which I have never done we have never done and her
open to Open Door approachable policy has led to several conversations with Mr kalishman he attacked the fy20 5 budget in August with a plan knowing that we're already tight and he's already gone line
by line and then run it by Miss Stella they're already working in tandem about ways to um be fiscally responsible so I see this drive and this intelligence and this dedication in him that I think will
easily transition into this leadership position what is most exciting is that I would ask the committee you know to figure this out because that would give us eight months together and so you know what's most important I think for
whoever comes into this position it's that they be part of every Tri chair meeting every fincom conversation every conversation that has to do around budget because that is the learning curve and with the revolving door I had with directors of Finance it took me
much longer to learn than it would take um Mr kalishman to learn I would also say that Mr kishman is far less green than I was when you entrusted me with the district um i' like to think my
office being in the middle school has prompted questions that has have helped him to be less green but I I am fully confident that he is the right person for this position and the right person to lead the district and maintain our
prior prorities and maintain our core and District strategy without changing course that is one of the benefits we haven't changed priorities in the last 10 years they're all the same and that's what I said at the convocation like we keep moving forward we just go deeper
and to have somebody internal take over would maintain that stability and stability means a lot I think we've demonstrated that great thank you superintendent um um comments from the
committee Karen I mean I think it's interesting that you ended on that point um because if I were if I were to talk about the main reason to look within the district it would be for that it would be to
maintain stability I think uh looking back the reason I ran for school committee um and the reason people came to me to you know to ask me to do that was because there had been no stability
there had been a revolving door of superintendence and Leadership and what people told me was that you could make no progress even with great superintendant who had good intentions if someone when some they're
always going to come in with their own outside ideas and want to change course and want to do it a different way and sometimes that's good sometimes it's not but I think that we feel like we have done something really important and
special over the last 13 years and I think we're at a place where um we think we're on the right path and we know what we're doing and we know why we're doing it um and so I would defend all day long looking to the
talent that we have to keep that going as opposed to taking a chance on something completely unknown known um that could have any kind of different effects but you know this is probably the most important job that a school
committee does probably the the number one the number one thing um luckily we have not had to do it as many times as other District right exactly um and there's a reason you know and there's a reason that we're in the good shape that we're in and that is because we have had
one person at the helm this whole time and um and having somebody that understands your district is dedicated to your District I don't think you can put a price on that I don't think you can I
don't think you can interview anyone from anywhere in the world and know that you're going to get that right um so you know I am in favor of staying in the district and obviously I think there's lots of talent in the district but you also need somebody who wants the
role and is um prepared for the role and um and so if that's the case I mean I think there's obviously more that has to be done there needs to be more discussions and more um and more looking into it but I would definitely be in
favor of staying within the district thank you uh Amy I I just um I I just I wrote so much probably more down on this paper than I I have in a lot of good so tell me what I
said happy um I would say that this comes as no surprise to me um and I'm happy to hear it um and I I I don't like I feel very
awkward right now I almost don't know what to say I think I'm I'm very happy to hear your recommendation um because uh it's uh it's not a surprise to me as I've sat in the seat for you know as as long as I have uh and
to see you develop the Ben strength of your team has been really gratifying um so I'm I'm glad to hear that there is somebody internally that you believe fits the bill and I love the fact that you say that um he was less
green than you were um it's hard to remember it's hard to remember um so you having that very personal experience I think is really helpful to know um I was talking about this with Glenn just about this
whole process and it took me a little while to remember that um when we elected when we voted uh to off you know to offer you the job that it all took us a little bit by surprise that um Gary
Murphy was is our um sitting interim sorry our sitting interim superintendent uh and he made the recommendation that we hire you and we as a committee um struggled and I think that
was because at least for me it's it's really the bulk of what our job is so it's the most important thing and as we were sitting in a meeting like this I know it wasn't even in this room that
Karen said why why do we keep why do we keep running around this and made the motion uh to offer you the job then we found out afterwards that we didn't follow protocol and we had to revote it because were green because we were green
too um so it was I you know I I reminded um Glenn about really how valuable it is to have that expertise of you know there are very few people who've done your job um and very few people who have done
your job with the longevity that you have done your job so I really um I really value your opinion thank you thank you CH thanks Glen and I think uh Karen and Amy have probably addressed a lot of things so
I'll be brief but superintendent I do appreciate um you know a lot of the criteria you laid out on why you arrived at your recommendation um I think for me one of the one of the things that's most attractive is the opportunity to kind of
work side by side with you and the other the other District leaders um during that period and uh to be able to hit the ground running um later on I think that is a really great opportunity and um you know I also you know and I'll just add
on to what Karen said about you know the internal um having an internal person that knows the district um understands um the community I think is also really important and uh you know just just
being able to transition in and not and and again I don't like talking about problems in other communities but um you know we don't have to do that and you know and I think the way you you
outlined it um you know perfectly summed it up why you know you know why you arrived at that recommendation so I'll stop there than Susan I mean guys you guys have pretty much um said everything
I appreciate um your recommendations so much because you know better than we even know what kind of talent you have within your leadership team I mean the fact that you have three assistant um superintendents that have diverse
and uh immeasurable talent and and this is the person you're recommending says so much and is so important and especially just knowing that that you have have the potential to have sort of the strong leadership team from the
GetGo that you didn't have is is fantastic it sounds great and I think the one thing I struggle with is is that um going with the single recommendation is sort of is sort of
scary not that I don't have 100% confidence in in your choice for sure but I also think that um we need to give the community an opportunity to sort of um ask some questions and have you know I mean I think we are all sort of
feeling maybe the same way that it's it's a good idea you know and and we want to explore the idea for sure I mean we all know Mr kishman he's been at like every single school committee meeting without needing to be for quite a long time so that's pretty impressive but but we know him and we know when he comes
here and he talks about his kids he's practically jumping out of his chair like and those kinds of things are totally what we want but I think we need to share him with a community that doesn't know him like the elementary school parents that haven't had him yet and the and the high school parents that
you know came in after um middle school so I think it's really important that that's going to be part of our job to sort of figure out how how we have a how we have um some meet and greets or some get to know the candidate to to make sure we're all making the right decision
which I I'm just you know and and I think that um it's it feels awkward to like have one great candidate and say like yes let's go but your recommendation is huge it's like 99%
maybe 95% of of our decision I think CU because we value your input and you've done so well and youve and you've groomed your leadership team to be as strong as they are so so there's just like this one little tiny part that I think we just have to be careful to make sure that we include the stakeholders in
this decision as well abut so I mean I just want to I mean just want to say I I I'm sure everyone will I mean there's going to be people that have problems and there's going to be people that don't but but I think everyone has has a say and I think it's really important
for us to reach out directly to to PTO to elicit feedback into um the sea for sure um your other leadership team members residents stakeholders I just just going
to leave it at that but I think I mean sad to see you go but but it's nice that it's nice to think about how strong the team is and how how the person you've recommended sort of is is going to be like 2.0 not exactly
no I I as I said I feel like I'm hand handing over a well oiled machine and that it's it's I'm sorry I no no go please no that that's all I was just going to say I think that what's exciting is that um your the your whole
leadership team is so welldeveloped um as opposed to when you came in and you were really like it took a long time to build that team and there were a lot of um not a lot there were some m starts um there were a
lot but but there were some you know they were all learning opportunities yeah I mean and um so the so I think that's where we're in a different place because whoever you know the your your whoever takes your
spot um will come in with a really strong team of right uh I just want to Echo everything um I value your recommendation I value your professional friendship I value your friendship a lot
so I do appreciate that um Mr kishman and I met back when my twin boys were in sixth grade and a very awkward phone call to me and uh I nearly jumped through the phone and the boy's mom and I nearly ran to the middle school and
going to not be happy with two twin boys Mr kalishman told us all right take a deep breath it's going to happen so they survived and uh I am very pleased with the recommendation um we look forward to
um moving everything forward with uh various things so uh before we I have a couple more comments but um unless there's any objection from anybody um I would like to invite Mr kalishman to be formally interviewed publicly um in the
next short term we will work on specific dating as this comes up um in the next few you know week or so just to you get everything together timing um a week or so for the for the yeah I'm going to
for the interview or set the date to set the date okay set the date so the date is not for the interview is not set right not as right not as not as yet um it's not going to be very long but we have to just make sure everyone's schedules are are such um so I am just actually G to ask for a
formal um vote actually on bringing Mr kalishman in for uh an interview so if someone would and I know I don't have to but I think I'd like to it feels strange to vote feels it feels strange to take a vote and and we don't have anything on the agenda to take a vote on this but I
think but because this is like sort of okay I didn't even realize we'd get to that said project timeline it's like fun to get further along but I think think that um I think I think we can take a consensus that we all okay next steps so
so what I'll say um unless there is any objections I am going to invite Mr kishman in date to be determined um by the committee in the meantime and this is really important and Suzanne you you brought this up um if
anyone Out There community staff anyone has any thoughts any questions we'd like to ask of Mr kalishman please email us and we and if if any one of us receives a question I
would ask that we send that to everybody on the committee so this is a you know an open process and then um over the next week or so I'm going to try to formal actually I will formalize a structure to that meeting so it's it's
handled in a way that we gain the most information possible and I know I I'm excited for the to formalize the interview process to continue down the road and to uh see where that leads us in the coming
weeks all right could I say one final thing absolutely it's a little out of order at this point but it's funny the theme that I continued to hear school committee members say was you know somebody that knows our community
um and to me it's somebody we know because all you have to do is pick up the paper and see you know behaviors of leaders within districts and so I think it's mutually important that we know the character of this person and um I think
it goes without saying but I just felt the need to say it out loud absolutely absolutely I appreciate that can I um can I say something of course can I can I ask you to make a to make a an official or to to to make an official Outreach to um the sea and our other
unions for for um questions or concerns or comments and also maybe use parent Square to um to talk to the um make the same sort of request of our parents sure I think um and maybe superintendent you
could forward that request to your leadership team too like I I just feel like I feel like we should definitely make sure we hit the the the stakeholders that we're not just waiting for questions to come out what what Mr pastor's done in the past is crafted the parents square that he wants to go out
and who it wants to go out to gives it to Nancy and it will go out that way I think rather than me asking my leadership team I think yeah I just like I didn't know if you could like yeah you could send I mean I guess you can pick the people you sent it to so so is it um can we maybe start a
uh a shared Drive yeah Google doc that we can start um uh assembling questions too yes that we can absolutely do that I think that's a good idea whether there are own questions of the ones that come in and we can just have one big document
that ultimately becomes okay sure I think all these are great suggestions it's 803 my student reps you're welcome to go they're like thank you guys not like welcome back oh I do happy
excited to hear what happens for this year with guys yes all right um thank you for all those great uh comments everybody all right subcommittees bar any bargaining updates from anybody no the only thing I would say is
I've shared with the chair that um I met with uh Becca buckin over several issues just you know what we do proactively and mentioned interest based bargaining again and I think they're on the same page and an interest in that I haven't pursued it Beyond there but it's just we
did approach it and so I I hope that would be great great thank you um anything from the school building Committee just the building's open bu building is open I am done just kidding don't forget
dedication ring cutting 10 to 12 on Sunday is there like an official unwinding of that committee or oh yeah you know what the committee the committee will be together for a little bit for a while anyway there's a lot of bills to pay there's a lot of there's a lot of sort of uh you know there's
there's some more Dots Dots okay yeah thank you anything on the policy side so we had we had the cell phone right policy that um that we were going to talk about um so what I want you to
do is I can bring this thing up is just we talked about some some possible tweaks I I think there were a couple things that were mentioned at the last meeting after the meeting some additional suggestions came in um so I wanted to walk through those for the
committee and at that point we can decide you know if we're comfortable voting or if we want to wait Mr cohat was unavailable to come here tonight um I can speak to some of the feedback that he provided okay uh but if we decide we want to hear from him directly we could
certainly do that sounds like someone's doing some work outside could be the musical instruments going back something acoss the field earlier go ahead J
okay sorry glad I'm just going to share document I think it was in everyone's folder as well all right so if everyone can see that so just just for just for readability in this top
section anything above the blue anything in yellow is things that were updated from the last meeting uh I'll just go in the order that these changes were made please please stop me can we make that bigger
yeah let's see I don't know how to do that you just go to the bottom where it says 130% now I think you just make the page itself bigger try that now we can just Ste a little bit of
time there you go is that better yeah yeah thank you okay so again stop me anytime along the way here uh this first suggestion right here this was um Miss Raymond uh she felt that
having this referencing here was unnecessary just given that if uh student had particular accommodations that they would be articulated in 504 and IEP anyways so it
would be duplicative to have it here so um that that change was made here skipping down to the next paragraph the next big paragraph um this was a suggestion from
Mr kohad he his suggestion was to basically separate out um unwired and wired headphone use um his I think his thinking was that unwired you know
basically uh wireless bluetooth headphones would still be an issue so those should be not utilized during class time and and but there were some instances where having wired headphones
attached to a school laptop would be needed so those should be brought back in so that's that's how this has been um split out here um can I can I say something John that any form of unwired
headphones will be removed I just think it should say any any headphones will be removed because you know beats or whatever else the kids are using want to remove those anyway prior to the start of class unless the teacher is allowing them okay so I think we should just take out just say any headphones and then and
then he said did he say kids could use the airpods to listen to music well those are wiress yeah I know I'm just saying I didn't I don't believe he did okay then then the rest of it sounds I mean I'm definitely going with what he says
because he knows best that population okay so I will make that change uh right at the end the last sentence talking about smart watches this came in from Mr kishman um to change it from do not
disturb to school mode um so that change was made as well and the so can I can I ask about that Mr kishman what do are kids um do they have instructions on how to set up that school mode I mean I know they know
how but like one person's idea of what school mode is and another person's idea of what school mode is could be very different yeah it it has a really I mean families can set it up like I set it up for my voice say like it just automatically goes off yeah at 3 kids
can get in there but basically it's really just way if I catch them doing something other than looking at their yeah time time it's kind of VI I guess the other thing about that is too that that's very specific to Apple that I
think so what if we said School mode or do not disturb would that cover it that message is still coming in I guess we're trying to get not to text message their kids during the day which is really the goal so maybe it has to be more specific
that it's on a setting that you know well we could say that the school as long as they are on a setting that that prevents prevents notific or messes notifications I will say it's not it has not been a like a huge deal so far I we don't have
a ton of violations I would say historically speaking bet it's pretty different at the high school maybe okay and the part I highlighted here in blue so Mr Co had had a number of comments on this one I've left it in
here for discussion purposes uh Mr cooh recommendation was to remove this so there would be no use during the school day of of devices and again he's not here to add any
additional context but that was his that was his recommendation so I don't know if there's any so it sounds like his his advice is to just not even mention lunch like not to say you can't use it all day but just to not have something that says
you can use it during lunch I I can he doesn't want it during lunch and I and I he doesn't want it and I can tell you um I've gotten out into the cafeteria on my days at the high school and I was so impressed that there wasn't a cell phone
out at the lunchtime the tables I visited and the lunches I visited I'm not poly Anish knowing that but I literally said to a group of girls like I'm so proud of you and they're like it's in my backpack I said no I said I'm proud of you you don't don't have phones out conversations happening so he
doesn't want them okay not even because what they learned from Yonder and I think he said in his comment I read it earlier is that what they learned is it has to be all or nothing you can't give them a little not give them a little if they know it goes away when they are in the building then they're going to stick
with it and I saw that in action in the two lunches I went into and with the kids I engaged with there's a lot of laughing and and conversation going on it was really nice it I know it's early like don't look at me like I'm but it it just and I said to them no
look you don't have a pouch and you don't have your phones out and they were very Smiley so I know he doesn't want them I mean this can't read like it reads anyway because it's like for the middle school too just this policy but so we'd have to change it to just be high school if we're going to allow it in the
cafeteria so I think it is I think it it is just for the high school but we can we can clarify on that it it doesn't actually say oh well yeah because we're talking about the high school I mean I I 100% agree with Mr cohat so as as a school committee member
who actually still has someone in the school system I just would like to provide some context on that as well um from what I heard from from my student and and her friends was that um
this would not be disruptive to have it during lunch um it would actually be helpful to be able to know all right I can have a touch point with my parents I can have a touch point with my after school job uh things things of that nature um with the understanding that
after lunch it's gone and it doesn't come back out um I also did some research uh just to see what what some other districts were doing just you know kind of post Yonder just just to see what you know what what some other
communities were doing and two that I saw were one was Arlington one was was lol they adopted it was actually a more liberal approach than this they allowed it during lunch and in the hallways during in between classes with all due
respect you asked for the feedback from the administrators not from students in other districts you know I I I'm just pointing out that I wanted to come to this discussion with some additional context this doesn't go as far
as allowing cell phones in between classes this is just at one designated period during the day during lunch so but I thought he took I thought he wanted that out as well yes yes yeah he he wants to stick with the Yonder The
Yonder approach no phones right the Yonder approach without the poaches and I think what we I know what I argued last year when I was against the Yonder was that like I get I I understand the no phones and I don't think we're here to to sort
of argue that um that that was the decision that he made yes so since they don't have Yonder it doesn't mean they they have phones they it's just that we're not paying $25,000 for a bag that is really more
about learning than about jail I think um I you know I I I appreciate all the work going in I think and please everybody chime in here i' I'd like to add to wait for um Mr cohut
to come in person okay I I think that there are very specific questions that are at the high school level versus the Middle School level and do we even have to worry about the elementary school level I guess we do as a matter of fact I I don't think so I I I don't think so but I I know uh
I did see Mr janis's um question whether Mr coh and he said he had another commitment so if you want I can ask to come on the 26 to answer these is that okay with everybody I know I I definitely have a couple questions about the lunch thing and the the ear pods and
um is that okay with everybody I'd like to do that fine with me so um you know John you can continue or else we can just you know really redo this the next meeting that was that was really the bulk of the changes the the
rest of this is we talked about the last time just not having the the detailed uh consequences listed right it would be determined at the school level so we already talked about that so we've we've covered we've covered what the
changes are okay um yeah if you could ask Mr to my notes thank you John Mr kishman you don't phones aren't allowed even at lunch or any anytime at school so we we just said at the elementary school Middle School levels the use of
personal digital device digital devices in the classroom is prohibited we should say in school I mean we should in that in that um 1 two 3 four five fifth paragraph down we should just not just say in the
classroom like should say in school and Mr Cow you said watches don't seem to be a big deal at your level we have their watches but we don't have many violations and Miss Auto and I are everywhere right tracking and and and the teachers as well so okay
so we'll um we'll revisit this next next week or two where are these things online I'm sorry I I I don't think that's acceptable where where are they online where are they I I I can't find I can't yeah it's there's been a lot of
problem with this um um I was actually just back to Mr kishman you know just you know one thing that impressed me today I was looking for Nancy Kelly because she couldn't find it it was in the drive and he picked up the phone at the school and uh got got me where I
needed to be but um yeah we'll work we'll work we'll work on that but you had said at the beginning of the meeting that you saw these in our in our folder and I I'm just trying to find it's folder I think it's l is it linked to the agenda no it's not linked because Nancy
couldn't find it in the drive which I can see it uh I couldn't see Dennis's comments the other day either so that was a problem as well you know what I've learned you have to convert Google to a Word document and then all the comments come up mhm or you can print them in a
Word document the comments will come out on the side so what I'll do is I I I have it in a Word document I'll send it around once we we make these upates talked about I'm laughing because Glenn sent me something to edit that was in a Word document and I don't even have word
because now I'm just in all Google stuff so I was like can you dump this into a Google doc and Russell is working from home today so I to give I had to give Russell the phone I really don't use Google Docs at all so long to get rid of get rid of word that like I was so proud
of myself that like our district I'm a yeah that's your laughing about yeah that's not a good thing I don't get rid of anything for a reason I I will send it around and I great I I just want to ask a clarifying question because um you're right a lot of work has gone into
this but you know and I and again I appreciate you know everything that's been said about you know Mr kohut's view the superintendent view on this thing you know I guess I want to clarify what our role here is as a school committee because you know if I'm certainly not
going to sit here and be a rubber stamp for what Mr cooh wants to do I'm going to provide feedback that I would appreciate being taken in so I just want to make that clear that just because Mr coha thinks no phones I think we need to have the discussion absolutely so so in
creating a policy I just want to be clear here in creating a policy the committee is willing to go back on a structure and a procedure that our high school principal implemented last year and change that to create a
policy that goes against is that what I'm hearing though what I'm saying is I am not rubber stamping something just because Mr CAD says that's what he wants and and again we can debate whether we think that's the right call or not that's why we're
we're talking about this um but I think we should have the discussion and just because I say you know this is what some other districts are doing I'm I'm throwing that out there because I want to consider as part of the discussion not to be not to be shot down and said well that's not how we do it here I'm
throwing it out so we can have a reasonable discussion among professionals and adults I think what what what blurs the lines for me is when committee members own children are being brought into the discussion you know the
committee is here to make a decision for the district and not because of their children if I'm I and it's not being disrespectful John I'm just saying I get it I you know I I know I mean I have a daughter I know that she would fight me on this I know that she didn't want us
to go this way and we had a huge fight about it and she's not even in this District so um I I I just caution and and certainly policy is one of the areas that school committee does it but can can I interrupt you yeah sure I just
you no because this is where I mean you and I have had some great discussions about the line is this a procedure or a policy I was just going to say that this is a policy that is very no this is this is I 100% this is a
policy because we can say I I mean the policy can be like you you know the the principals can set their own guidelines for the schools or something like this but we're but we're we're
giving the principles um a backup to say to parents and to say to kids the school committee said that we're not allowed to have school phones in schools what right but we're getting down into the nitty-gritty of like wired unwired like the do you know what I mean
like maybe we shouldn't be getting that detail we are saying you can't use headphones at school at all unless the teacher allows you is what we're saying right and then and then the teachers prefer to have wired I mean we don't have to say wired or unwired we could
just say no headphones like your headphones you have to take your headphones so then is the answer to say we uh that there's no techn that there is no personal technology devices in school unless
otherwise instructed by the principles I I don't because because what if what if Mr roie says you can take out your phones and tune your instruments yes that teachers are completely allowed I mean teachers we have given the
teachers complete autonomy to say use it or at the end of the class they're done with their last you guys can play on your phones for a little while or or we said if it's if it's relevant to the curriculum take it out cu I want you to search something I mean they all have laptops that they can they can
communicate and get text on or they I mean they can get text on their school yeah related to so I guess I guess my point is we've strived to make our policies very very broad overarching this is pretty I mean yeah if we're talking about versus but our policy set
a rule like we have a policy no dogs on school property be half an hour before school and a half an hour after school right like we set rules so like I agree I just I'm just saying should it be much simpler much just a one paragraph actually very Broad compared to what other districts have
done that some of them are extremely prescriptive right and like I don't want to go that route can I just bring it back to a question actually for you superintendent um again you and I SP spend a lot of time you know not never
having us the committee blur the line are we getting close to blurring the line and and I I don't know that's why asking I don't know either I don't I I just I feel like so much this is coming from a place where so much work was done last year and they they they they had
some great takeaways from it and their good intentions are to continue with those good takeaways and so I I guess I'm borderline like oh we I saw some great opening this door again right so it it's just and this is this is I I
don't know I don't know the answer and I understand you know looking at other districts I it feels like we've always talked for the procedures versus um policy so I don't know I think we bring it back I think we get Mr kohad in here I'd like to hear if
Mr cman has any opinion on this what do what are you thinking I mean it's obviously you know different from every level so for for as much as I say it's not an issue with the middle school I can totally see how it's an issue with the high school I think that no matter what is
decided if there is a rule it has to be enforced so whether it's decided where lunch is okay I don't I don't know the because I'm not up here every day I would have but you're saying middle school kids don't have them at lunch well if they did they'd get detention right so or lunch
detention or after school detention so and I I just came off a high of oh my gosh kids were talking to each other and they were laughing and they were giggling seems it seems like we as a committee have have worked to make
our our policies Broad and brought that that they're broad enough but it like it seems like if we're sitting here talking about Wireless versus non-wireless earphones or lunch versus no lunch that that really what it
comes down to is that we don't think that there should be phones but it is at the discretion of the building leader how like what what happens and what the details are around that
because Mr roie may be letting his kid with so so those are the procedures you're talking about so I would argue that this doesn't this this document has no procedures in it but we're talking about wiress head we just changed it to say any headphones yeah but what about the lunch thing like so like that should
all be every single thing says unless instructed otherwise by a teacher yeah unless unless related to unless you know I apologize because I don't have it in front of me I know I'm sorry I just but I but just say
that in the elementary and middle school we say no digital devices in the classroom we should say we should say no personal devices in the school um or to be used in school and they have to be
remain in backpacks their lockers and powered off but there will be times when a teacher may ask or allow students to use person personal devices and they will have ample Advanced warnings so students or families can plan accordingly like we don't have any policies in here we just say at the teacher discretion so at the Middle
School Mr kishman can say say okay my policy is you can use phones at the teachers discretion as long as it's related to curriculum it's not going to just you know be for Subs when there's nothing else going on like or or Mr
kohot can say it's spirit week we can use phones every day in the in the in the lunchroom or you earned that's what that's what I those are those are all procedures like how you're going to what you're going to tell your teachers and then how how they're allowed to
consequences are sort of how they're allowed to use the phones and what the consequences are of phone use like detention those are those are procedures this is policy for us to say for us to let parents know and for kids to know and for teachers to have the have the um
backup that no no phones are allowed in school like we don't have to say why we're saying that don't so then that's all it needs to say yeah it just needs to say that no phones are allowed in school they can have them in their backpacks and and at the teacher discretion they may be used and at
elementary middle school you have to give parents a warning if personal devices are going to be used so they can make sure their kids have them on them that day or something I mean we know they have yeah they have but but I'm just saying it's like it's like but you can you
can you make the you make the procedures how it happens in your school with your teachers and and the punishments your students get like we're not saying that we're just giving teachers we're just giving teachers ability tool to say no I
mean and and and to Mr coad's point when he was here last time he just said they can get emails on on the Chromebooks I mean they're they devices you know they can communicate on their devices all day long if they want to we're not I mean they're not supposed to be and hopefully someone's monitoring that in class but
they can pull them up the cafeteria and yeah what I mean I'm just it's not I I I totally get your point John and my kids would just be kicking the crap out of school and again just just to be
clear I'm I am certainly not advocating on behalf of one student and I I really hope that that's not how that was perceived because you know I hav to have a child who's still in the school system so obviously I'm going to hear things
that will inform what I bring to this committee and you know so I certainly hope that's that's not how it came across but it certainly wasn't what I intended and superintendent I'm you know I know you know you're I'm not I'm still not 100%
sure what you meant by your comment but um I I'll take it as you know I'm not here advocating for one person because I don't think that's what you said um because that certainly wasn't the case I I just again
just it's again it's 2024 you know we we can have Dennis in here we can talk about this a little bit more um I don't know that we need to now that we I feel like maybe one more draft and we pair it way down to just the No No devices other
than I think what Suzanne just said made sense in terms of that's I mean and you draft but why does it have to say at the high school and all this paragraph it has to say it has to it can't be it can't be like it was before which was like four sentences right so
can't it can't be that what I'm hearing you say guys is that it can't be to it can't be Universal because every school is a little bit different age wise except I'm hearing everyone the board say that it can't be too um specific or
Draconian because then it we we get d dangerously close to that line mhm it doesn't give any flexibility to the buildings to change course or try something flexibility to changing technology right you know this like this is a this is so in the moment and two
years two years from now it's going to be different right so so then I would agree with you superintendent that I think if you know we can if you if we can have just some revisions to that we can probably put this to bed next week um next meeting that's fine if that's the consensus that I'm hearing I will draft
it accordingly we can move on it great right any other thoughts comments about that thank you for great conversations everybody all right so um lastly the consent agenda the consent agenda is designed to expedite the handling of routine and miscellaneous business of
the district the school committee May adopt the entire consent agenda with one motion at the request of any Committee Member or members any item or items may be removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda for discussion for tonight there's only one
item that's the regular session meetings of um August 22nd 2024 can someone please make a motion to accept second anybody second all right all in favor say I all right and then
with that uh can someone please make a motion to adjourn I'll make the motion a uh can have a vote please all in favor we are done thank you thank you for