Okay. Good evening. The uh finance and law subcommittee shall come to order. I'll start with roll call. Mrs. Shaves, >> present. >> Uh Mr. Vieiraa, >> present. >> Uh Dr. Dlo, present. Use of facilities, a C attached. Mrs. Monahan, good evening.
>> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. Good evening. Um as you can see in the use of facilities, there are multiple organizations that have requested the rental. Again, this is something that you normally see um as some of them have been waved while others uh um have some fees attached.
>> Okay. Wishes of the committee. >> Motion to receive and place on file. >> Seconded. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Next up, we have donations. See attached. Back to you, Mrs. Monahan. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. Um we have received multiple donations in the last few
weeks. Christine Lucero Lucero. She um presented a monetary donation to Pole Elementary School of $2,000. Hope and Comfort. They provided deodorant bottles, soap bars, toothbrushes, laundry detergent packs, toothpaste
bottles, and shampoo bottles. This was all brought to the family welcome center for all Taton public schools with a value of just over uh $4,000. Cradles of Crayon. They donated 1,920 coats, 400 toiletry packs, 500
backpacks, and six bundles of school supplies. Again, this went to the family welcome center for Taton Public Schools students. A value of over $13,600. G. Lopes donated 25 turkey baskets to
Lety Preschool with um a value of $750. Eman Brothers donated 25 turkey baskets for uh Ley preschool. Again, $750. Catches Law Firm donated 158 turkey baskets for Taton Public School families
valued at $4,740. Don Holmes and Bailey Morton. What they did is they take 10 um older bikes, they recycle them and bring them really like really nice uh bikes and they donated them to Taton Public School students at
value of $500. Johnson and Johnson uh donated 160 gift cards at $30 each valued to go to Bennett, East Taton, Mohei, and Gallagghan elementary schools. Johnson and Johnson donated 160
turkey baskets donated to Bennett East Taton Mohei and Gallagghan elementary schools a value at $4,800. All of those totals a donation of over $36,000. >> Very generous. >> Very generous. >> Absolutely. Mr. Ver,
>> thank you, Mr. Chairman. Do we do we need a motion to accept them or are they automatically accepted? Okay. And then also I would just like to note that uh a letter of appreciation is being sent to the >> Exactly. Right after this we do go ahead and process a thank you card. So thank
you. >> Awesome. Thank you so much. >> Absolutely. >> So a motion. >> Is there a motion? >> Motion to accept and uh request a letter of appreciation be sent to acknowledge the generosity of the donations and support of Ton Public Schools.
>> Seconded. and on discussion. I know that there are other community organizations that have come in as recently as today that would I'm sure we'll acknowledge at the next meeting, but uh it's the time of giving and we are very very thankful to all these community organizations and individuals that have donated thousands
and thousands of dollars. All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you. >> It's okay. Coaching for change. See attached. Back to you, Mrs. Monahan. >> Thank you. Um, we did a little bit different here. So, you could see that the memo now includes something similar
that we've been doing. Um, so the budgeted amount for coaching for change is uh just over $50,000 at 51,000. Uh, November 2025, the services that are currently in the warrant for this uh this week is $6,7716. Total charges for services rented
year-to- date $10,757.16 relieves a balance for the FY26 for coaching for change of just over $33,000. Right attached to that you will see their uh documentation what they have done at both Bennett and Freriedman
Middle School where they have three college mentors each serving 10 hours a week for three weeks um providing some generalized classroom support tier one and tier 2 in both the schools. Bless you. >> Thank you. >> Good wish from the committee.
>> Motion to uh receive and place on file. >> Seconded on discussion >> please. Mr. I just wanted to thank you for the form this way. It was much easier. I liked the columns and being able to go across and seeing, you know, the amount of the students. I like that
they gave us the percentages and gave us a an explanation. I think this is much more comprehensive than we've seen in the past, but easier to read. So, thank you. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Next up, we have the food services update. See attached. >> This is Monan.
>> You'll see the November year to date. uh meals and then also uh November uh excuse me November monthly meals and then uh year to date as you can see breakfast the um we have about 41% 41%
of our student population is participating and 71% is participating in lunch. You can see there, which I always think is very well noted, that we um our food services staff are serving nine over 9,000 meals just um a day. So
again, it's really amazing what the staff has done. And then at the bottom you will see that we as a district our team has gone ahead and and served over a half a million um meals to our students in just through um through the
year so far. And also what I've included there I thought that would be nice is I asked uh Mr. Mada to provide us with the menus. So you'll see the menus now they are of course available online but I thought it would been be nice for the committee to see as well. >> That was good. >> Excellent. Excellent.
>> Wish of the committee. >> Motion to accept the report. >> Seconded >> in place on file. All in favor? >> Opposed? Eyes have it. >> Next order of business, transportation bid timeline timeline. Mrs. Monahan, back to you.
>> Thank you. Again, we have contracted with Rich Lee, who is the senior associate in transportation at Alliance Education Associates to assist with the school bus transportation procurement um process. As you can see below, I'll just go over briefly the um the bid schedule.
So, the bid specifications, we have been going through them right now in December. Goods and service publications that will be um going ahead also with combis. The legal notice and the bid release will all be done on Monday at 11:00 a.m. The bid will be released. We
will have a biders meeting here at EOL on January 22nd at 11:00 a.m. And that is an optional one. That's not a mandatory thing. We will have our public bid opening at our school committee on February 4th at 5:45 at finance and law and then of course we will do our due
diligence and award the bid um after that by reviewing all the bids. >> Excellent. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Motion to receive and place on file will be in order. >> So moved. Second. >> All in favor? Opposed? Eyes have it. >> And next up we have the Deca field trip
chaperone C attached. >> Mrs. Monahan. >> Thank you. Yes. Um on January 8th and 9th we will have 160 students from Taton High School DECA chapter that will be um attending the regional DECA competition in Hyannis. And per our field trip
policy it requires one chaperone for every 10 students because of that number of 160 students we are needing 16 adult chaperones. So to minimize the day-to-day impact in the classroom Mr. McFale plans to bring five staff members from his department to serve as
chaperones. The remaining 11 chaperon slots will be filled by caregivers of students participating in the competition. Now, this is nothing new. We have done this in the past. However, we've never really had this many um of needing for chaperones. So, our current
field trip policy, which you will see there um listed, it does not explicitly address covering costs for caregiver chaperones. So, I am requesting that the finance and law subcommittee authorize the school department to cover hotel and meal costs for these caregivers from the
Taton High School CVTE budget. The estimated total cost of these accommodations is $2,000. And um again, this type of expense has been approved in the past, but it has not occurred at this state at this scale. It is important to notify the city auditor that this request and
payment will require the committee's authorization. And additionally, what I do recommend that our field trip policy be revised in the near future to address situations including um caregivers uh chaperones. Finally, please wish with me
wishing our students the best of luck. This competition will determine who advances to the state level and potentially to be in the national competition. We are proud of their efforts and are committed to supporting them on their journey. >> That's good. >> Wishes the committee. I would I I um if
I may Mr. Chairman through I would ask for your input being um you know somebody who specializes in in travel um your thoughts on the matter. >> Yeah I mean basically uh I I really enjoy the fact that we have so many students competing and the uh the ratio
of uh students to chaperrons is definitely a good ratio. So I have no problem approving this. I just don't think that we should um provide a blanket going forward. I think like like you even mentioned this is something that's uh kind of unusual uh with this
scale. So I don't want to create a policy that we this is automatic. I'd like it to come before the committee every time we have an overnight that requires chaperone. So uh for this particular instance, no problem at all approving it, but not a blanket. Uh because I I thought I read that here
somewhere. Um >> make a yeah make a comment about >> so additionally >> yeah re revise the in near future explicitly address situations involving care caregiver chaperones correct I mean we have the policy already in place right the ratio >> the ratio yes but we don't you we do not
have anything that is talking about caregivers being reimbursed um as chaper so right now we would if anything we should not per the policy we should not be paying for any chaperones that are not ours our exception to the rule. Yes. Correct. Right. And that's wonderful.
But going forward, it's still going to come before us for any future events >> if you are not. >> You want us to keep using this format? >> Absolutely. Yeah. One time. Yep. Good. >> Yes. Mrs. Shuffs. >> So, a couple of things. So, first off,
I'm I I really do applaud um um Hemp for um reaching some adult chap rooms because if if they did go out with all teachers, it does put a big strain on the high school trying to cover all those classes. So, I mean, even when you look at five teachers at a department, you think five teachers, the number of
classes that they teach, that's a lot of coverages. So, him trying to, you know, minimize the amount of disruption at the high school. My concern is are these shop runs vetted? So, do they do a background check on these? Especially where they're staying overnight. Absolutely. Everybody's being
>> Everybody's being cory. Okay. That's I just wanted to make sure of that. So, I'm fine with this. Thank you. >> So, a motion, Mr. Vera. >> Yes. Motion to approve as presented. >> Seconded. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you all. And last item we have uh
let's reverse order starting with FY25 in the amount of $157,3662. >> Motion to approve in the amount stated >> seconded on discussion. >> Mrs. Shves. >> Um I have a question on page three.
It's not for a lot. $386.66, but I didn't know the company. Base 10 Assets LLC. Are you talking about FY25 or FY26? >> We're doing FY25. >> Oh, you know what? May and are stuck together. Sorry. >> That's okay.
>> Y >> Okay. Motion was made and seconded. Um I on discussion if you all set, Mr. Sh? >> Yeah, I'm all set. Yep. On that one. Y >> So, as we're now 6 months into fiscal year 26, how do we look uh going forward? >> You just took the sail out of what the
wind out of my sail. I was going to say that we have no more incumbrances. So, we have gone ahead and met the auditor's request of having all FY25 bills paid by the end of the year. So, we have no more. So, we will not see FY25 anymore. >> Use it to my ear.
>> I knew that would make you very happy. >> Thank you so much. All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. And next up, we have FY26 bills payable in the amount of 1,419,76.17. Mrs. uh is there a motion? Motion to approve in the amount of 1,41976
17 cents. >> Second discussion. Okay. So I have a couple. So on page three that base 10 assets LLC. I just didn't know what that company was. It said instructional general supplies. >> It's for the robotics um team at the high school.
>> Robotics. Um page nine. Um, Dougmore and Duncan Maintenance Building Supplies for $20,8627. >> They are our key vendor um the key vendor. So, they are the ones that um we do um purchase all of our keys and
locks, but this one specifically is for the alternative high school's vestibial project. >> Yeah. >> Oh, okay. >> You will see them throughout the year, too. >> Yeah. Uh, page 22.
Um, it started on page 21. It was just, it just jumped out at me because it was Troopies. Instructional supplies coming from Troopies for $1,14.74. >> Usually the troopies, and I'm trying to find out, and you said, I'm sorry, what page? >> It starts on page 21 and finishes at the
top of page 22. So these are multiple items um for culinary. So what will happen is sometimes culinary will need something immediately and they we do have an open PO for trukies. >> Okay, that makes sense. And the last one I have is on page 25 for 81721.
Another company I wasn't aware of, Moving Minds. >> That is a considered to be um a it I believe is that one I forget exactly. Is that the seal? Is that Moving Minds? Moving minds. >> It's one of the seal. Yes. And that one
specifically is from Martin. For Martin. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Of course. Thank you, Dr. Dilla. >> Thank you, Mrs. Shaz. Mr. Vieira. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And uh three, Mr. Chairman. Uh page 16, professional development 2,900.
Just curious what >> 29. It is in regards to >> the that that Okay, I'm sorry. It is um educational assistance PD training um that happened on November 20th at Mohei
for ED assistance. >> Okay. And then on page 19, it's professional development in the amount of 1,250. That is another um so that is a coach that we have um consulted with for one
of our principles. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Absolutely. >> Good. All right. Uh motion was made and seconded. All in favor? >> I opposed. Eyes have it. And before we adjourn, if we could uh for the next financing law uh get an update on the
two Hamilton Street expenses. I know that we started that in January and I don't know when was the last time we had an update. Does anybody recall? >> It's been a while. Also, I'd like the update on >> So, one one second. So, so is that okay? Absolutely. >> Where we're stand with that. Okay. >> Of course.
>> And Mrs. Shuffs, >> can we include what's going on with the windows? >> Absolutely. I mean, there's really right now and I believe the superintendent has mentioned it is um right now in the pipeline of the MSBA. There has been some some information, but it has we are
in that pipeline and of course we're at the mercy of the MSBA, but it does go through a very tight time. But I will provide as we go along. Excellent. Thank you. >> Very we don't have anything. >> Nothing is >> nothing yet. Okay. So just that for the future and motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> All in favor?
>> I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you. We are journ. >> Thank you. >> All right. All right. Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us. I call the meeting to order. If you could please join us in the pledge of allegiance.
I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn early light what so proudly we held at the twilight
last gleaming who brought stripes and bright stars through the peril just fight. Or the ramparts
we watched were so gallently streaming and the rockets red glare. The bombs bursting
in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star spangled
then wave or the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Mrs. Fagen will lead the invocation. Lord, as we begin this session, let us acknowledge your goodness and mercy and ask your blessings on all our deliberations. We thank you for this opportunity to be of service to our community and to the young people entrusted to our care. And if you could
remain standing, we have some few people that we need to give a moment of silence to. First one is Mr. Daniel Laura, 71, of Taton, Massachusetts, who passed away peacefully on November 29th, 2025.
Born in Santa Maria the Azor to the late Manuel and Inis um Inus Laura, he carried with him a deep love for his roots and special adoration for his mother. His life was a violent tap the vibrant tapestry woven with strength, devotion, and
passion. A devoted father to his two daughters, Daniel was their unwavering protector. Though built like an ox, he melted in the presence of his girls, gentle and affectionate, always putting them first. His fierce loyalty and strength earned him the nickname Danbo,
a nod to his idol, Rambo. He embodied that warrior spirit while also being a source of warmth and comfort to those closest to him. His love for the martial arts defined much of his professional life. He took ownership of Lee's Ta t take taekwond do and went on to teach
martial arts for approximately 10 years holding a second degree back black belt. He instilled discipline and confidence in countless students throughout his the schools. Daniel would often play with with guitar with such fervor it seemed as though he
were part of the Hendricks band himself. His musical spirit added another layer to his multifaceted personality. In addition to his many pursuits, he also worked as a florist at Olsen's green houses, a role that revealed his gent gentler side and appreciation for beauty
and detail. He found meaning not only in faith but also in returning to the places that shaped him, traveling back and forth to the Azor whenever possible to reconnect with the land he loves so dearly. He is survived by his loving
daughter Kimberly Laura, his siblings John Laura, Dennis Laura, Angelo Laura, Louis Lure, member of the school committee, uh August Laura, Albert Laura, Mary Agnes Laura, and his twin sister Marie
Allen. He has also survived by his former spouse and dear friend Patty Cohen with whom he shared an unbreakable bond and several nieces and nephews. In additions to his parents, he was predesceased by his beloved daughter
Kelly Laura, his grandson grandson Caleb Laura, and his brothers Manny Laura, Tony Laura, and Joe Laura. And Louie, we're so sorry the committee for your loss. Um, on December 8th, we lost Ora
Plaza. She was 77, passed away surrounded by her loving family. She was the devoted wife of Robert Bergos, born in Puerto Rico on June 17th, 1948. She was the daughter of the late Rosa Plaza and
Edward Ve Eduardo Vega. May she made Taton her home for many years and was a faithful parishioner at Holy Family Parish in East Taton. She dedicated her career to serving the community as a teachers assistant for Taton public schools where she touched the lives of
countless students and colleagues with her kindness and commitment. She found great joy in traveling particularly to her native Puerto Rico. and she was passionate about teaching but above all she returned she treasured time spent with her beloved family. She will be
dearly missed by her family, friends and those all those lives she enriched. Her legacy of love, service and devotion will remain in the hearts of those who knew her. In addition to her beloved husband Roberto, she was survived by her son Roberto Xbergos and her daughters
Orya Iminez, Rosa I. Martinez, Patricia Vernal, Brenda El Bergos, and Lorraine Roman. She was a sister of Eduardo Deega, Angie Ro Rob Roles, Ramita Rowan, Roman and Deli of Dellayia Vega. She
also leaves behind 12 cherished grandchildren and four greatg grandandchildren. Next is Joanna L Paleo who died on December 10th, 2025.
She passed away at her residence on December 10th, 2025. She was the beloved wife of the late Roy S. Lo who passed away in 2019 after 37 years of marriage. She is survived by her loving children
Carrie Nicholas, his partner Amanda Wearing, and their son Benjamin Roy Laleo Wearing, who made her a grandmother in 2025, her greatest joy. She was a lifelong educator, spending the last 30 years in the taunt school
system as a middle school teachers aids. She touched many lives throughout her career and was deeply touched by the students she worked with along the way. She loved what she did and never saw it as just a job. It was something she was truly passionate about. She was fortunate to spend nearly 20 years at
the same school, Freiedman Middle, where she developed a close-knit family of co-workers whom she loved and respected. Outside of her career, she had a wide array of hobbies and interests, including gardening, traveling, shopping, and crafting.
The next one is Sally A. Laam who passed away on December 12th. She was the loving wife of the late David E. Laam. Sally was born in Taton, the daughter of the late George Pearson and Francis E. Hill Pierce Pearson. Sally was a
graduate of Taton High and attended business school in Boston where she was employed as a substitute cafeteria worker for the Taton public school, a waitress at many area restaurants, and when she retired, she was working as a teachers assistant for the Taton Public
Schools. She enjoyed taking many trips and going to the casinos as often as she could. She had a natural ability to organize and plan any function. Sally and Dave hosted a Christmas Eve open house in their home for over 20 years where they welcomed friends, family, and
neighbors. She was fond of participating in the many activities held in her over 55 community. She was a diehard Red Sox fan as a season ticket holder for most of the time for all for most of that time. Most of all, she enjoyed spending
time with her family and friends. And last but not least, Elellanena Gilbert. Uh she passed away peacefully at home while surrounded by her loving family on December 13th, 2025. Elellanena was the wife of Donald Gil
Gilbert, marrying in 1958 in England. She was born in New Bedford, the daughter of Albert Clement and Elellanena Hoy Clement. She was educated in Taton School and was a graduate of St. Mary's High School in Taton. She met her husband Donald at a high school
basketball game 67 years ago and have been together ever since. She stayed at home to raise her children when they were young and then finished her college education at Boston University, majoring in elementary education. She retired from Taton public schools following 31
years of teaching at the elementary level. Ellie had resided in Taton Rainham and England. She cherished her summers in Taon rain um I'm sorry at her family cottage in Matapoet with her families and friends.
She is survived by her daughters Barbara Smith and Deborah Ael grandmother of Matthew Smith and his wife Christine Michael Smith and Aaron Ael great grandmother of Cameron and Wesley Smith. Then the family is deeply grateful for the care she received from her grandson
Michael who was her family position. she had been a longtime teacher at Maxim School. So, those are the people there. And if we could also offer some prayers too for all the poor individuals that lost um their lives this weekend in real
tragic acts of violence. And can can we keep please keep all these families in our thoughts and in their prayers. So, a moment of silence, please. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. F. >> And if you're not sick of my voice yet,
it's time for me to do a roll call. >> Roll call, please. >> Um, I just want to see if you were there. Mr. Enis, I couldn't see you. Sorry. >> Mr. Enus, >> present. >> Mrs. Shav, >> present. >> Mr. Palowski, >> present.
>> Mrs. Fagan is present. Uh, Mr. Santos >> present. >> Mr. Vieiraa, >> present. >> Mr. Laura, >> present. >> Dr. Dlo, >> present. >> And Mayor Okonnell, >> present. >> Thank you, Mrs. Fagan. >> You're welcome. >> Next is approval of the minutes from
December 3rd, 2025. >> Motion to approve the minutes. >> Second. >> Motion and second to approve the minutes. All those in favor? >> Opposed? None opposed. So voted. Student Advisory Committee report by Isaiah Wendle, student representative. Thank
you for joining us tonight, Isaiah. >> Thank you, Mayor Okonnell. As Mayor Okonnell said, my name is Isaiah Wendle and I am part of the Taton High School student advisory committee. Some up a few updates from the high school. First, the student summit was held last Friday and it was a really
successful event. I personally attended and found it to be a great experience. The summit was run as a field trip and we left the high school at 7:30 a.m. We traveled to the Envision Hotel and Conference Center in Mansfield. The day
included a welcome session, a guest speaker, and multiple workshops focused on student voice, giving feedback, classroom experiences, and preparing students for life after high school. There was also time built in for discussion, reflection, and debriefing
at the end of the day. Overall, it was a well organized It was well organized and gave students a meaningful opportunity to share their perspectives and engage in thoughtful conversations. Additionally, progress reports progress
report grades will for term two closed last Friday. They will be available in the community portal this upcoming Friday before break for viewing for both students and families. Winter sports are also in full swing. Girls basketball played their first home
game of the season yesterday and the boys will play their first home game tomorrow. It has been great to see winter athletics underway and the school community coming out to support our teams. Lastly, as we approach winter break, I'd like to take a moment to wish you all a
happy holiday season and a happy new year. Please stay safe stay safe. Enjoy the time with family and friends and we look forward to seeing everyone in the new year. That concludes my student advisor report. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you Isaiah for the update.
Very informative as usual. Next we have public input. Dr. Dlo. >> Thank you mayor. Uh public input. In accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 39 section 23C. We kindly request that individuals wishing to provide public input sign up in advance.
A copy of the regulation guidelines will be provided upon sign up and individuals will be asked to state their name and address for the record. The amount of time each registered individual will have to speak will be determined by the number of people who sign the register and will be announced prior to the start of the public input portion of the
meeting. Mayor, tonight we have 10 uh citizens for public input. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Dlo. Uh so we would ask everyone uh so that everyone has an opportunity to speak and um equal time to please try to keep your comments to about three minutes. Uh and hopefully
everyone agrees that that's reasonable. Uh so and we'll just let you know when you're at about that marker. Okay. Thank you. >> First up, mayor, we have Sarah Lincoln. Miss Lincoln, good evening. >> Good evening. My name is Sarah Lincoln.
I'm here as a resident of Taton, a proud parent of a Taton High School student, an excellent and loving school secretary at Gallagghan Elementary School, and I am beyond honored to be here as the Tessa vice president representing our hardworking and dedicated assistants,
secretaries, security guards, and finance team. As you know, Tessa is currently at the bargaining table and we are asking school committee to bring proposals on Jan on our January 6th meeting that fairly compensate our members for their important work and
ensure safety of staff and students. I'd like to take a moment to thank Donna Shaves, Christine Fagan, and Melissa Santos for taking the time to visit some of our most challenging elementary schools. And although they were scheduled visits and escorted partly by our superintendent, Mr. Dr. Cabraw, I
trust that you realize that what you witnessed is not the norm. When you show up, we see you and see that you see us. And that is how meaningful change happens. But one visit isn't enough, is it? We ask that you come visit again. Come to our middle
schools, our high schools. We need you to see not only our lunch recess assistants, but our secretaries, security guards, our EAs, and library assistants. We need you to see what we see on a daily basis. There are a lot of great things
happening in our schools, but there is also a lot that can be improved. We need you to see our elementary secretaries while they let countless tardy students into the building, making sure they receive breakfast while answering phones and making copies for the teacher that is too short of a classroom set. And all
the time making sure no one else is entering the building that could be a threat. We need you to see our middle school secretaries while they monitor dis disregulated students during lunch because their behaviors are too disruptive in the cafeteria. All the while, these students are making fun of
the secretaries and calling them names while they are triaging phone calls. We need you to see our educational assistants that are escorting a classroom of students to another location as a result of a classroom evacuation, comforting them and keeping them engaged with curriculum at the same
time. We need you to see our security guards at the high school that deal with issues that the rest of us don't even want to think about and our finance team that works tirelessly with more work but no extra support in terms of staffing. We need you to see it all. So we ask
that you keep coming once a month once a term in the morning during lunch in the afternoon for the fun stuff and the down and dirty stuff that no one seems to want to talk about. Last meeting, someone mentioned the word legacy and that really hit home to me. I
know my legacy with Taton public schools. I know it by the hugs I get every single morning by my students. I know it by the parents call calls thanking me for the gift cards that put food in their fridge and the ones that call me Sarah instead of Mrs. Lincoln because of the personal personal
connection we have developed. I know it by the support staff that bring me snacks and fill my water bottle because they know leaving my office is difficult. I know it by the teachers, coaches, nurses, and guidance staff I work with who write me notes of gratitude and little gifts throughout
the year. The cafeteria staff and custodians who ask me how I'm doing each and every day. And I especially know it from my building admins who remind me every day of the me of the of the amazing team we have and why I do what I
do. That is my legacy and I'm proud of it. Yet every day I leave my school thinking, "What could I have done differently? What can we do better?" I'd like you to think about what your legacy will be as a school committee member. My legacy is about supporting our students
in the day in and day out. Your legacy could be about supporting us that do that work. I I urge our school committee to come to the negotiating table on January 6th with proposals that reflect the valuable work of our members that they do every day. Let's get this done
together and start making some meaningful change that is needed in our district. Thank you for your time. >> Next up, we have Tracy Accord, I believe. Welcome. >> Good evening. My name is Tracy Aord, 106
Amore Road, East Taton. Thank you for the opportunity to present some information to our committee this evening. I'll be reading a collaboration from myself and another administrative assistant secretary. Um, worker bees are
the essential component to maintaining the beehive. Our beehive is taught in public schools. Our secretaries are the worker bees that maintain that hive. Just like bees fly to extract the nectar from flowers, secretaries reach out to
people to extract information or relay information. Secretaries prepare and distribute information all day long through one-on-one communication with a parent who called, through a teacher who needs supplies, through the central
office who needs staff data, through a student who just needs a smile and a warm hello. Every task and effort that a secretary takes moves forward the goals of our school district. They are the bees that find the nectar and bring it
back to the hive. The secretaries accomplish this through such actions as prepare, schedule, email, update, maintain, deliver, track, order, monitor, collect, arrange, and interact.
All these actions comprise of multiple steps and the majority of them are interacting with people and software, multiple software such as word documents, spreadsheets, databases, school brains, neutral links, soft and
I'm sure I'm missing a few secretaries many times need to adapt. Confronted with deadlines, an angry parent, short staffed, the computer system goes down, they adapt, they prioritize, they multitask to accomplish what needs to be
done. Not long ago, the entire country was hit with the COVID pandemic. This threw everything into disarray. Again, our secretaries pulled out their tool their tool boxes and got things done.
sorry skills and got things done. The school district hummed along and a few months ago the stool school district was hit with another virus. All computer systems down, data lost. Again, worker bees, the secretaries who communicate
and move information along buzzed as best that they could to maintain the flow of our school district. They are not easy tasks. Our secretaries are the keepers of vast information and data. If you need to answer um if you need an
answer to a question, there is a secretary that knows the answer. When was East Hatton Elementary School built? Who was the principal of the old e pole when it closed? How many foster children are in our district? How do we spend how much do we spend on bath tissue and
supplies? It is our login and passwords that maintain this vast information. A person once asked me, why do you do all those extra tasks during your day? My response was simple. Sometimes your day
is a Pandora's box. You cannot just walk away from a student or a staff member that needs support. Our administrative job descriptions go way beyond what's currently on paper. We deserve our worth to be recognized
as the Taton public schools cannot function and accomplish the goals of the administration or the school committee without the work of the secretaries. Our secretaries also deserve a living
wage and nothing less. Thank you. Next up, we have Ashley uh Patnode. Welcome. Good evening. My name is Ashley Patnod. I live at 51 William Street and I'm a kindergarten educational assistant here in Taton. I'm here today to tell you a
few different experiences I've had regarding student behavior and violence. That's right. I work in kindergarten with five and six-year-olds and I have plenty of personal anecdotes to share. For the sake of time, I have limited that list to only two stories that I'll share with you tonight. My first story
takes place a few years back in the kindergarten class next to my there was a 5-year-old student who had extreme violent behaviors. They often threw things, hit, kicked, and screamed. Because of this, that class had to evacuate into my classroom many times throughout the year. All of those
students were led to the back of my classroom while this one student completely destroyed their room, throwing bins of toys, tipping and throwing chairs, screaming all the while. As the year went on, this student began to target one child in the class. And oftentimes, when the student became escalated, the teachers would have that
one targeted child evacuate into my classroom to help this dangerous student deescalate. Eventually, this targeted six-year-old child would come into my room on their own, hiding behind toy shelves, telling me that they had to run away. To this day, three years later,
every time this student sees me in passing, the first thing they say to me is, "Do you remember when I used to run and hide in your class?" At nearly 9 years old, this trauma is still their first thought when they see me. My next story takes place the following year.
This story specifically highlights the real duties of a recess assistant and the clear reason why we need more staff present during all recess and lunch periods. As a kindergarten ed assistant, I was tasked with both recess and lunch duty along with the two other kindergarten ed assistants. That year,
we had a total of 68 kindergarteners with us. Many of those students exhibited physically violent behaviors towards their teachers and other students. There were 10 students known to consistently physically harm their teachers and peers, four students who could easily wander out of the recess area, and two students with medical
needs and developmental delays. The three assistants were tasked with somehow keeping an extremely close eye on not only 10 violent students, but also closely monitoring the monkey bars due to a broken arm earlier that year, and closely monitoring the field and
pavement areas. That's right. Three sets of eyes somehow always glued to 16 plus situations at all times, not even taking into consideration the other 52 kindergarteners out at recess with us. To be clear, it is physically impossible
for three sets of eyes to solely watch any more than three individual students. If there are 10 violent students who are supposed to be watched at all times in hopes of preventing harm to others, there has to be at least 10 sets of eyes in order to do this. Of course, I would never expect us to have 10 staff members
out at recess, but this situation clearly shows that we definitely need more than just three if we want to ensure the safety of our students. Members of the Taton School Committee, in my five and a half years thus far working as an ED assistant in the Tom Public Schools, I have submitted seven
incident reports regarding myself getting injured by means of a student's violence. That's more than once per year. I have been smacked, punched, and stomped on, swung at with a broomstick, closed inside a doorway, and hit over the head with hard objects. I have been
spat at, grabbed, pushed, and had chairs and scissors thrown at me. I don't work in a specialized program like RISE or TLC. I don't work in an outofd district facility with high needs individuals. I'm not a secret uh security guard, SRO officer, corrections officer, or
bodyguard. I am an educational assistant in a general education kindergarten classroom and I am being physically harmed. Mr. Gro, you say, and I quote, that th these situations are not the norm. But that's exactly what they are. Staff members and students alike are
physically harmed at our schools every single day. Something has to change. We need more support. We need more staff. We need to keep our children safe. And we cannot do it without you. So, please help us create a smaller, safer recess,
lunch, staffto student ratio. Pay our staff members the compensation that they deserve for all that they give to their job and our students. And please help us keep every student and every staff member safe in our schools. I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you,
Laura Patnode. Welcome. >> Good evening. My name is Laura Patnod, 51 William Street, Taton. I would like to speak tonight about the multiple roles at Taton Public School secretary plays. Whether we work in the high school, middle school, or at the
elementary level, our days are full of challenge. Our days are full of everchanging challenges and tasks. We may not all see the same challenges or do exactly the same tasks, but our roles are all equally vital to the running of our buildings. We are phone answerers,
peacekeepers, security guards, morale boosters, problem solvers, nurse triagers, payroll coverage and enrollment filers, expert multitaskers, and so much more. We field calls from staff to get them the support they may need in classrooms while paying
attention to the general vibe in the building so that we are able to assist with help as needed at a moment's notice. We are the central hub of the building and can be found doing more than one task at a time, like attempting to make attendance calls when the door keeps ringing to let in late students
and offer them breakfast, which includes making sure they do not have food allergies or restrictions. also while consoling an upset student waiting for the nurse. As just one example, my most important job of all is being the frontline security of the building.
I am responsible for every person who rings the bell to enter our school. Before allowing a person to enter, I give the same welcome greeting, but while I am doing this, I am analyzing their demeanor before admitting them into the building. Do they seem calm,
agitated, or angry? Are they trying to hide something they do not want me to see? Is there someone else near them beyond the camera range trying to get in? Also, all these observations are happening at the same time of the greeting and sometimes while there is a
student crying at the nurse, a disregulated student yelling in the principal's office, or a student that just won a prize and also wants my attention. I need to be able to block out the noise to make sure that the person is as safe as possible before they enter the building. This is a huge
responsibility and to be honest, the most difficult part of my job. This is but a brief glimpse into one part of the many hundreds that make up my days. When they are on paper, they do not seem like a lot, but I am busy the entire day and don't stop.
My point to all of this is that while some secretaries are more hands-on with students while others have more tests that are behind the scenes and our days may look different, we all deserve to be paid equally and fairly with a salary that reflects the hard work, commitment,
dedication, and heart that we give to our schools each and every day. In closing, I asked the negotiation team to consider these remarks when meeting in January and to make the decision to pay all the Taton public schools secretaries and equal pay for the essential jobs
that we do every day. I thank you for your time this evening. >> Teresa Raphael, welcome. Good evening. My name is Teresa Raphael. I am a Taton resident, a Taton Public
Schools employee, and a member of the negotiation team for the Taton Educational Secretaries and Assistance Association. On January 5th, I will complete 21 years of service with the school department. I was initially hired as the guidance secretary at Barnum Preschool. A year
later, I became the school secretary and remained in that role until July of 2010 when I transferred to the finance office on the same day as Mr. Cabraw. While at Barnum, my responsibilities as the guidance secretary may have differed
differed from those of the school secretary. However, the core secretarial skills required for both positions remain the same. These skills include organization, computer and technology proficiency, communication, problem
solving and critical thinking, attention to detail, flexibility and adaptability, as well as time management and multitasking. Despite these consistent skill requirements, the compensation was not equitable.
There are seven collective bargaining units within the school department. There's TEA, TAA, MNA, TTAa, Tessa, the custodians, and cafeteria. The teachers, administrators, nurses,
and therapeutic assistants are compensated based on their educational degree. In contrast, custodians, cafeteria staff, and TESSA secretaries are not required to have any higher education. The only requirement that our
secretaries have is passing the word processing test. All regular all regular custodians regardless of whether they work in the smallest school or at the high school are paid on the same payline. Similarly,
all cafeteria helpers earn the same hourly rate whether they work two hours, three hours or seven hours per day. Secretarial staff, however, are placed on eight different pay lines and can
start anywhere from $2044 to 2801 per hour with a pay difference of $8.71 per hour on the highest step depending on depending on their assigned role.
Despite all positions requiring the same essential secretarial skill set, we are simply asking for the same equity that is already afforded to our custodial and cafeteria staff. I ask you, how can we
promote equity and fairness within our district if we do not practice it ourselves? Thank you for your time and consideration. Laura Keys. Laura Keys. Welcome.
>> Thank you. Good evening. Um, my name is Laura Keys and I am the Parker Middle School secretary. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today. I am here to represent the hardworking secretaries who play an
invaluable role in keeping our schools running smoothly. We are the backbone of daily operations and it's time that our efforts and contributions are recognized not just in words but in action.
Let me start out by saying the undeniable truth. We run the school. As secretaries, we are often the first face parents, students, and visitors see when they walk through the door. But what they don't always see is the immense
amount of responsibility that lies behind that welcoming smile. Every single day, we manage countless tasks tasks from answering phone calls, emails, and correspondence to organizing
schedules, managing student records, and handling sensitive information. Many of us also troubleshoot technology issues and often serve as emotional support for staff, students, and
families alike. We also serve as first line of security, responsible for controlling building access, checking identification, and monitoring who enters our building. In today's climate marked by the very real threat of school
shootings and other acts of violence, this role carries significant responsibilities and risks. We are expected to remain vigilant, make quick judgment calls, and enforce safety protocols.
But here's the kicker. We do all of this for a paycheck that does not reflect the level of work and responsibility we carry. In fact, many of us make far less than we deserve, especially given the
multiple roles we fill. I myself have had to work multiple jobs to supplement my income. Yet, an assistant who has worked here for less than a year is making a dollar and change, less than I
am, less than I do, and I have been here for 21 years. We are not just secretaries. We are administrators, counselors, mediators, technicians, etc. We juggle tasks, switch hats numerous times a day, and
yet we are compensated as if we are doing a fraction of what we actually do. Secretaries are a critical point of contact for every part of the school community from students and parents to
teachers and staff. Without us, the school wouldn't function. And yet, our paychecks don't reflect that value. However, this isn't just about a paycheck. This is about creating a school environment that truly reflects the
value we place on all of the people who make it work. A school can only be as strong as the support system behind it and that includes secretaries who ensure everything is running smoothly behind the scenes. So I ask the committee to
take a good long hard look at the responsibility of school secretaries and ask yourself how much would the school truly function without us. The reality is our compensation does not reflect the
level of work we do. We deserve more. We deserve fair pay for the multitude of roles we take on each day to ensure the success of the school. In conclusion, I we ask for your support. Support for
compensation that matches the extensive duties we perform. Support for acknowledging the tireless work of secretaries who wear so many hats to keep our school running day in and day out. Thank you for your time and
consideration and the essential role that we secretaries play in the success of our school community. >> Karen Mera, >> welcome. >> Good evening. My name is Corine Wera. I'm the
president of Tessa. I stand before you tonight to say that I was encouraged to hear that some of you have been in our school buildings observing how operations runs day daily. I appreciate that effort and I sincerely hope that it continues. As a voter and a commun a
community member, I tell you this is exactly what people want. They want decision makers engaged in what is truly happening in schools dayto-day. They want transparency. However, after speaking with the workers across our buildings, I need to be clear
that while you may have seen how the system works or doesn't work, schools know when you're present, they know when you're coming. People are on their toes. And when people know they're being watched, things change, they look
better. This is not the everyday reality that our staff and students experience. I recently met with Mr. Cabra and Miss Turner to discuss conditions in our several of our buildings. I thank you both for taking the time to meet with me
and I truly hope that these continue conversations f focused on addressing issues and solidifying clear procedures and protocols for what's happening in our schools. For a district this large, we should be proactive. Yet far too long, we've been reactive, responding to
problems only after they reach a breaking point. I will say during this meeting when we discussed scheduling our next conversation I was surprised Mr. when you said to me that you I could reach out to you to schedule that you
did not have any issues that needed to be discussed and I said to you my issues are our issues here. There's a disconnect with what we need to work on. The people standing here tonight did not
come here because they have nothing better to do. They're here because change is needed and it's wanted. I want to address the statement that our schools are fully staffed. While this may be true on paper, the reality tells a different story.
Before you, this is a records request that I asked for central office for coverages for Tessa members from August of this year through December 5th. That is 65 days. That is this. I was floored
to see this. I don't even think that I thought that we covered this much. This shows how often our staff is pulled from classrooms that they're assigned to be in only to be placed elsewhere, often with little or no support. This disrupts
learning, increases burnout, and places unnecessary strain on an already stretched workplace. This is a serious problem and cannot be ignored. Lastly, I do not want these operational issues to overshadow the importance of a living wage for our members. There is
roughly an $8 wage gap among secretary positions in our unit. The top step for school-based secretaries is $15 more and $15 less an hour than secretaries in the central office.
These are workers who interact daily with our families that we serve. Providing a living wage promotes stability, reduces turnover, ensures experienced, knowledge employees that are available to support our our schools. Our lunch and recess staff do not learn
earn a living wage. For years, our members have accepted what has been offered to them. That accept acceptance should not be mistaken for fairness. We look forward to what is brought to us when we negotiate on January 6. Our
members deserve solutions, accountability, and respect for the essential work that they do every day. I would like to thank MTA representatives who are here tonight, Max, Deb, and Greg, for your support. And I would like
to thank you for your time. Lauren Bassi, >> welcome. >> Good evening. My name is Lauren Dossi. Surrounding me are several of my fellow lunch and recess assistants.
I have been a resident of East Totten for the past 28 years. I am the parent of three daughters who have all attended and graduated from Taton public schools. And I have been a lunch recess assistant for the past seven years at Mohei Elementary School.
I have a bachelor's degree in psychology and I was a counselor for victims of domestic violence before I left to be a full-time stay-at-home parent when my first child was born. Three daughters and 20 years later in
2019, I decided I wanted to get back in the workforce. My youngest daughter was 11 at the time and still needed me around before and after school, nights, weekends, school vacations, and summers. So, the obvious choice was to find something in the
schools, which I did, and it was a perfect fit. Fast forward seven years, my daughters are all grown adults, and it is still the perfect fit for me. Even though I'm qualified to get a
higher paying job in or out of the district, I choose my job as lunch recess assistant because I actually love it and because not to toot my own horn, but I'm really good at it, too.
The best part of my job is getting to work with every grade level. I know just about all of them by name, and they know mine. I hear about their family, their friends, their pets, their triumphs and their disappointments. They trust me and they confide in me. I am a constant in
their lives year after year. I get to watch them grow from the time they arrive in kindergarten until they leave us in the fourth grade. The lunch recess assistant position is an essential position within the elementary schools, and it would be nearly impossible to get
through the school day without us. We were completely forgotten about in our last contract. And for this one, it's time for us to get what we deserve. We work just as hard as all other assistants in this district, even though we only work part-time.
Now is the time to show us you recognize that. We make between 18 and $22 an hour, depending on our years of service. Many are at the lower end of the pay scale because the turnover rate is so high. New employees decide what they
have to deal with every day is not worth what they get paid, so they leave. We are the lowest paid employees in our bargaining unit, and it's probably safe to say in the entire district, which really feels like a slap in the face. The administration at Mohei tells us all
the time how great of a job we do and how important we are. But they have no say in what we get paid. That's all up to you. I hope you are really listening to all that is being said. Now is the time for change. Now is the time to recognize our importance.
Now is the time to give us what we so what we so deserve. I want to give a shout out to school committee member Melissa Santos who spent several hours working side by side with us at lunch and recess last week. I think it was an eye-opening experience for her and I
hope she was able to share her experience with all of you. Thank you. Myra engardola. >> Myra engola. >> Welcome. >> Good evening. My name is Myraiola. I
live at 98 Liberty Street, East Hatton. Greetings to the school committee, Superintendent John Cabraw, Assistant Superintendent Chris Barata, and the honorary Shauna Okonnell. Thank you for being here. Having stood before this committee back in the fall concerning
the implementation of Totten School's Yonder No Phone Belltobell initiative, you all had listened intently to our need to imple implement such a program to have a greater success rate in the classroom at Totten High School. And I
personally thank you all for your admirable favor to allow this to go forward. Tonight I stand before you once again seeking favor that only you can provide. As a secretary, I am respectfully advocating
for something as equally important. as I hope the same favor that was deemed important for success and support for staff at Taton High School will once again be shown upon the secretaries at this very crossroad in time. Having been
an employee of this great Taton school district for over 20 years, I started at East Taton Elementary School as a lunch recess assistant. I became a classroom assistant in the preschool autism classroom and moved up to the high school working with the older students
with autism and disabilities. It was a tough and strenuous job, but I gave it my all. That had been my greatest joy to work with these students. Now, as a guidance secretary for the past four years, I am
still filled with joy to work with such wonderful students, colleagues, as we are the backbone of the guidance director, Mr. Gay, and the hardworking guidance counselors. As secretaries, we are on the front lines of all the students that come into
our office minute by minute, all day until the final bell at the end of the day. It's a balancing act that we do willingly. We guide, direct, provide a snack to a hungry student, and offer a listening
ear. We utilize our tough love with compassion and understanding. We soothe frustrated students who just need someone to hear them out. We put out fires because we have built a bridge of trust and honesty with the students that
come into our office. We also feel calls from parents who are at their wits end concerning their child. We often have to talk them off the cliff and tell them it's going to be okay. There's always hope for your child. With all of that,
we never lack in the everyday duties. As said secretaries, our job is to provide support to the counselors as well as the students and staff. We communicate with parents, educators, as well as support staff. We treat every single person that
enters our office with the utmost respect and dignity. We do all of this with humility, compassionate hearts, because that is what the students need. We are on the front lines of every issue, every
concern, every heartbreaking moment because we are the heartbeat of all of these schools. that secretaries work at building bridges of trust and hope for the students and the staff that relate to the students is vitally important to
us. We don't take it lightly. We serve to the best of our ability and then some. We never waver or grow weary or faint. We are faced with something that concerns our everyday lives, a fair and decent wage.
Health insurance rates have jumped to a staggering well over 12% as of July 2025 and we face an uncertain future that it could in continue to increase. Grocery
prices are astronomical. Filling a tank of gas to get to and from work has been taxing on so many secretaries weekly earnings. I choose to work 36 weeks a school year because it worked when I had my child at home.
Higher health insurance deductions to offset not working July and August depletes the earnings during our school year because our wages are that low. The majority of secretaries have to work two jobs as well as work an extra hour every
morning to make make ends meet. For those who are looking at the horizon of retirement, that horizon has all but failed, faded away. Working well into an employes late60s is all but certain. The
secretaries that work 36 weeks out of the school year are faced with nearly 12 weeks without pay. It takes an entire school year to set aside funds to sustain us through the
many weeks off. again with no pay. This Christmas break, we are faced with two full weeks off with no pay. There are challenges to make ends meet. We secretaries work as hard and
diligently as the full year secretaries. If it didn't matter to us, we wouldn't be here every day. But we are to support you by serving the students and staff with dignity. We respectfully implore you to
reconsider what has been placed on the table. That which has been deemed acceptable with no compromise as it does not meet the needs and the well-being of those of us that give well above 100 110% day in and day out.
What is being offered is not equitable to put food on our tables, have good health insurance, and provide what is needed to keep us strong and healthy so we can show up every day to keep the district running smoothly and
with strength so our districts can other districts can see how strong we are united as you, the administrators, and us the employees. We consider it our duty to give you an honest day's work without complaining, not withholding an
ounce of ourselves to keep you all shining like the noonday sun. We give our all every single day. It is our privilege to serve this school community with our gifts and talents. All we ask,
all we seek is an honest and decent fair wage. As secretaries, it is our time to be compensated to a higher standard of pay. Having worked for over 20 years, my hourly wage has barely increased. I have
not much to offer in retirement. I had to tell my husband, I have little I have little to give when I when I retire. This should not be. This district can do better. May this district continue to be
a shining beacon that all want to be a part of. Thank you. >> April Funes. >> Good evening. April Funch's 45 school street is our business address for the Taton Diversity Network. And I
want to start by saying that um the Taunt Diversity Network stands with every one of you all that are here today making comments and and sharing your stories. I absolutely adore Myra and all the uh secretaries that work in the
guidance office at Taton High School. They are my backbone whenever I need a uh information at the high school. They do everything they can and I see the hard work that they put in every single day. So, I just wanted to give them a special shout out. But that's not the reason why I'm here tonight. Um I found
out earlier today and let me give a little bit of a back. I am a a parent of a student here in Taton Public Schools as well as a community advocate um through the Taton Diversity Network. And I was floored to find out today that
Taton public school has chosen to sever their relationship with the Taton area school to careers uh program which has been in place for over 30 years was put in place by the late great Dr. Gerald Croto and
this program serves many vulnerable students. It serves many uh students who come from lowincome families and households, helping them with job skills training, helping them with internships. I know that a lot of
folks benefit their business from having these interns, these paid interns through task. And they don't just do that kind of thing. They do more than just that. So to hear that Tata Public Schools is no longer willing to work with them or going to work with them, I
find that very disheartening and it upset me, which is why I'm here. Uh I think this needs to be revisited and re-evaluated. I don't feel I feel very strongly that it's not a great decision for Taton public schools. task does a whole lot for the students in this
community and it's going to really hurt Taton public school students if they don't have this program in place. Maybe you have ideas for something different. I'm not exactly sure. But I'm a fan of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if it is broken, try to find a way or a solution to keep it going in the
schools. Maybe making some adjustments if need be. But this program is very valuable to Taton public schools and Taton High School students and just students across the school system in general. And I really think it needs to be revisited and re-evaluated. Thank
you. Madame Mayor, I believe a uh fivem minute recess would be in order for personal privilege, please. >> All right, we'll be in a brief recess. A motion to come back into the regular order. Business will be in order. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Next up on the agenda, we have the
evaluation of the superintendent. Uh Secretary Fagan, please join me here. And um the order of business. Secretary Fagan, do you want to lead the conversation or >> um
I don't know what regard. I just um wanted to say a couple of things that this evaluation if you paid, you know, when you were paying looking at it and having the the thing that Mr. Cabraw gave us, this is for July 2024
to July 2025. So that's what that that's it's it's a it's um what do you call it the fiscal year right Mr. Cabell not the >> correct >> fiscal school year not the calendar year. >> So it's everything up to that point just so that for for so that you realize
that. So um as a customary order of business we can start uh around the room if you'd like to uh go down the different um uh rubrics and grade that way. Uh if you
have a a statement you want to read, if you want to just send something to the secretary, uh it's up to you. So I'll just open it up to the floor. How about I start? Uh Mr. Shabs, you have a question. >> I have a statement. >> A statement? Sure.
>> Well, are we going to go around? >> Well, that's what I mean. I >> You want to go around and then as you get each member? >> I have a statement before. >> Oh, sure. Yeah, you have the floor, Mr. Sh. >> Okay. Thank you. I just want to clear up this uh evaluation on on how the
evaluation is done because I think there's a lot of misunderstanding out in the community about how an evaluation is done. So in Massachusetts, all educators, including teachers, administrators, and superintendent follow the same five-step evaluation cycle. So this is not something that
we've developed. This comes down from DESIE. So there's a self- assessment, there's a goal setting and plan development, there's plan implementation, a formative assessment, and a summitative assessment. So all educators must rate their own performance as a core part of the state
educator evaluation framework. So we select exemplary, proficient, needs improvement or unsatisfactory of themselves. So this is all educators in Massachusetts. Then they are evaluated by their immediate supervisors. So whether it's a curriculum director or a curriculum supervisor, assistant
principal, principal and superintendent. So superintendent are evaluated by the school committee which involves public discussion and votes by the school committee due to open meeting laws. So how we do our evaluation follows what DESI is telling us. So there's been a
lot of comments about um Superintendent Con um evaluating himself. The evaluation process is done that way. That is how educators do it. There's a self-evaluation and now we will evaluate him based on what is given to us. And I
just want to make sure that I've been stopped in many locations talking about the upcoming evaluation and I want everybody to know that we follow what DESIE has given us as the evaluation process. This isn't something that Taton has made up. This is the process that is done in all school districts across the
state. >> Thank you, Mr. Sh. Yeah. And also um we have a rubric and uh we don't have to follow that rubric if you don't want to follow that rubric as far as I'm concerned because we are a school committee member elected by the people to represent our students. So this is
just a guideline. Uh but you're welcome to follow it. So I'll open up to Mr. Enus if you'd like to discuss your evaluation publicly. >> Sure. Um I don't know if you want to go section by section. >> Yeah. Let's do first off we'll start with the instructional leadership section first. Mr. Enus. Thank you.
>> Okay. Um I have um superintendent proficient in every section there. Super instructional leadership has grown in a very positive way over the last few years and continues to be a cornerstone of the TPS. So thank you proficient.
>> Thank you Mr. Enus. Mr. Shav's instructional leadership. >> I have um proficient for A, proficient for B, proficient for C, proficient for D, exemplary for E, and proficient for F. And just a few recommendations.
Um, I think Superintendent Cabral is encouraged to continue maintaining a strong focus on his data driven decisions, placing curriculum, instruction, assessment, and evaluation st student learning at the core of his instructional leadership. It's also recommended that Superintendent Cabral
provide strategic leadership in guiding the district's transition in response to the Massachusetts recent revision for the high school graduation requirements. I know there's going to be a big change. This move shifts from relying on the high stakes MCCAST towards a more
comprehensive model that emphasizes the demonstration of skills through portfolios, capstone projects and in of course assessments. So I think proactively aligning the district's practice with this framework early um is something that I would recommend for next year. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. Psyki before I go on
to you. So for the folks at home, uh as we're rating instructional leadership, the uh categories are expectations are within curriculum, instruction, assessment, evaluation, data informed decision-making, and student learning.
So that's when you hear the 1A through 1F, those are the categories that align with the um um ratings. Back to you, Miss Bolski. Thank you. >> Uh thank you, Dr. Dlo. Um for uh uh for this section my my overall rating is
proficient. Um I think we um we have clear evidence of systems building. Um we've got a strong tier one vision uh professional development plan uh data protocols uh alignment with curriculum. Um we've got active leadership in
analysis of the MCCAST coaching of the principles um and in evaluations as uh uh thank you Mrs. shops for explaining that to everybody. I appreciate that. Um, we've got a limenic with the rubric expectations around structures, supervision, and data use. Um, my I I
guess my overall uh suggestion or or or hope or or wonder I guess is um can we objectively define a more demonstrated impact on student learning? So I student learning section F was the one place where I put needs improvement and it's
simply because it reads demonstrates expected impact on student learning based on multiple measures. So when I consider the fact that a lot of the measures we use is like MCCAST and MCCAST is no longer a graduation requirement. How much state can we put in that as actually demonstrating the
impact on student uh student learning? Um, I wonder can we get postgraduate results? You know, our our goal here from preK all the way to senior year is to develop students and prepare them for their post-graduate pursuits. I would
love to start getting feedback on where our students are going and how they're they're succeeding. I think that would be a very strong objective measure of our our student learning. So, uh, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Kowalsski. Mr. Windell, are you participating now? You want to wait?
go on to Miss Santos. Yes, we'll come back to you. >> Okay, Miss Santos. >> Uh, thank you, Dr. Dlo. Um, so I will, uh, be honest. I didn't answer 1 C and 1D because I didn't feel like I had enough means or examples or experience to be able to rate them. Uh, I do not
know how principles and administrators are assessed, and I don't understand how they are evaluated either. So, I just didn't really feel comfortable doing that. Um, as far as 1A, uh, 1B and 1 F, I actually put, uh, needs improvement in proficient for data informed
decisionmaking. Um, my reasons for, uh, the needs improvement is one what Mr. Palowski just said. I think there really needs to be other ways of um tracking progress other than MCCAST, but it seems like every school improvement
plan, it it seems to be that's the only measure of any kind of achievement is MCCAST. And I I find that really problematic um as somebody who doesn't really believe in standardized testing for assessment anyway. So, um there's obviously some issues with the lack of
real progress on MKS scores. Something that's come up a lot is literacy issues. Uh students just aren't reading. Um as well too. And this is again things that have come up continually through school improvement plans. Um as well too as far as curriculum. Um and this is just
anecdotal from people that I have talked to. Um that I think there needs to be more collaboration with teachers when it comes to curriculum development versus just curriculum leadership. Um I I have heard that not all um teachers feel comfortable or uh actually enjoy some of
the curriculum choices that have been made. So I think there definitely needs to be more collaboration as far as that goes. Um and I also want to um highlight something that came up and this was a while ago and hopefully it falls in because honestly I didn't know it was
from 2024 till 2025. Um but this was from if you remember the Taton public schools professional learning plan um there was this assessment that was done and this is um John Hopkins School of Education 2019. It became abundantly
clear that the district lacked internal coherence in several key curricular areas. Uh it went on to say outdated standards were being identified for instruction or standards were being addressed and assessed in a manner that was misaligned with current state grade level ex expectations. Uh so that was
one of the other reasons that led me to um to do that. So I I I definitely think that given if we look at different assessments which I think is really important like really looking at different assessments real valuable assessments that look at school students
in a holistic way versus just how well did you do on an MCCAST test you know I didn't test well um but I graduated with a 4.0 you know, GPA, like my GRE test was awful, awful when I went into graduate school. Um, and so I I come
from that as well, too. Um, and I see this in higher ed, and I see the impacts of MA, uh, MECAST on higher ed. I teach first year writing. Uh, it's really hard not to see the impact of that. Uh, so I would really like to see like a concerted move away from that. Um, but I
really think as far as curriculum instruction, you all know I'm the chair of the curriculum instruction subcommittee. It's something that's very near and dear to my heart. Um, and I really do think that there's there's room um, and I'm I'm sure you're open for this. You've shown that you're open for this for more collaboration because as a teacher, I know how important it is
for me to have a say in curriculum choices and I really the teachers that I have talked to, they kind of say similar things. So, I think that's something that we could work on hopefully. Thank you. You're welcome. >> Thank you, Miss Santos. Mr. Laura, >> thank you, Mr. Chairman. are on
instructional leadership curriculum proficient instruction proficient assessment proficient evaluation proficient data informed decision making proficient
student learning proficient and overall proficient. The superintendent demonstrates and promotes the learning and growth of all students and the success of all staff by cultivating a shared vision that makes powerful teaching and learning a central
focus of schooling. And that is my category one. >> Thank you, Mr. Laura. Secretary Fagan >> on on these pages here. 1 a curriculum I put proficient uh instruction proficient
assessment proficient evaluation uh that's ensures in effective and timely supervision and evaluation of all staff in alignment with state regulations and contact track provisions I gave that um ex exemplary
I know there was a lot of things to do there and what we're forgetting in a lot of this And I I know I appreciate what others people are saying, but the state mandates a lot of this stuff. Frankly, I wish the state would step back out of some of this stuff. When we were talking
about disciplining kids, we got a whole litany of things we had to follow. And he's he's at the mercy of that. I I think the state wants everybody they think that everybody every school district's the same and if you teach the same way, everybody will get it. And
that's the way I feel about it. But I know that when he was doing the uh staff's this stuff here, he did all this stuff on time, the way they wanted it. So, he deserved that for that. But it's just there's a lot of stuff on top of everything else you have to do that I
think makes this a difficult thing. I at one point did call Mr. Cabraw and say, I really don't like this format at all >> because it's the same thing. We're all sitting. It's like I I don't know the word I want to use
for this, but this is like a fairy tale, you know what? And and you you're reading all the word. They throw a lot of big words at you, but it's like what do they really mean? And I sit there and I I look up definitions of words to make sure I got them right. Got them right. And uh I struggle with that. But data
informed decision making, who's using the data? Who decides what really is the right thing? I I don't know where any of those answers are from, but the last three were all proficient and the overall was proficient. >> Thank you, Secretary Fagan. So, for
myself, uh from 1 A to 1F, uh proficient right down the board. Uh I I think uh I'm I'm going back to the description of the entire summary here, which is the teaching and learning being the central focus of schooling. And uh I'm one of
those that uh have seen many many thousands of dollars spent on curriculum and I don't think we still have the right fit. So uh I'm one of those that we keep trying till we find the right fit. And the teaching and learning piece is essential because if you don't have a teacher that's comfortable with the
curriculum and able to elaborate and explain the curriculum, then the students not going to learn. So I think it's very very critical that we continue uh trying to find that fix. I know there's been many creative solutions uh throughout the district uh open sad and
other programs that are out there. Uh I I'm just one of those that you know it's it's not my my forte curriculum. Uh but um I see a need that um I don't think we have the magic wand to solve the the the one right piece of curriculum to fit
every student in these 8,300 students that we serve. So anyway, the overall for this category for instructional leadership is proficient. Thank you. Next up, uh, we're going I'm I'm sorry, Miss Window. Mr. Window,
please. I said I'd come back to you. I'm sorry. Um, so in all the categories, um, I think that Mr. Mr. Laura said it best out of everybody who spoke. Um, Mr.
Laura's evaluation of Superintendent Cabraw really resonated with me. Um I agree with him besides um so in 1A curriculum I rated proficient one uh B instruction proficient assessments C
proficient evaluations proficient data informed decisionm exemplary and student learning exemplary um with an overall rating of proficient. >> Thank you. Next up we have management
and operations. In this uh rubric we have uh environment, human resources, management and development, scheduling and management information systems, law, ethics and policies and fiscal systems. And we'll start on this side of the room. Mr. Laura, please.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. on management and operations. Uh the category 2A environment proficient human resources management and development proficient scheduling and management information systems proficient law ethics and
policies proficient physical systems proficient overall proficient. Um, the superintendent in my estimation understands and complies with state and federal laws and mandates school committee policies,
collective bargaining agreements and ethical guidelines. That is my conclusion. >> Thank you, Mr. Laura, Miss Santos. >> Uh, thank you. So, uh, the overall um here is proficient. Um, I marked that
for 2B, 2 C, uh, 11 D and 11 E or 2E. I think that's supposed to be uh the only one I did uh need improvement was the first one and I think that's um based on obvious safety concerns that we've all been hearing about recently. So um obviously that one talks about
developing and executing effective plans a full range of safety, health and emotional and social needs and it just really seems that some of that really needs a lot of work. Um but obviously with budgeting especially thanks to Brenda Moahan obviously is always kind of on on point with all of that. You're
over there. I don't know why I was looking over there cuz you're over there. But Shannon Turner, obviously with HR, you've done a really great job as far as that goes. So, thank you. That's it. >> Thank you, Miss Santos. Mr. Window >> come back to you or
>> nothing. Okay. Uh, Secretary F. >> Okay. So, environment I put proficient human resources management development. um proficient scheduling and management information
systems, proficient law, ethics and policies. I gave him um an exemplary on that because he follows this stuff to the tea. And look, it this is what we're putting up with, right? Understands and complies with state and federal laws.
Those are all different mandates, school committee policies, collective bargaining agreements and ethical guidelines. There's a there's a lot of stuff there and you pay attention to all of it, Mr. Cavole. I I'll give I'll give you that and that's why I I gave you that score.
Fiscal systems. Yeah, you've done a great job with the budget because it's been very difficult and you're trying to get and like you said, there's certain places that you need more things to be allocated, but the budget comes out fine and that's that's also a tribute to your
your partner over there. And uh so that was that I gave that an um exemplary and overall uh ratings for the whole thing together, it comes out to proficient, but it's hovered in between that and exemplary. Thank you, Mrs. Fagan. Mr.
Powski. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. Um, for management and operations, my overall rating is proficient. Um, I think we've got clear compliance with fiscal management and net school spending. Um, we've got a
we've vastly improved our HR systems and the retention of our staff. Uh, we've got concrete indicators of this. 89.2% teacher retention across the district, I think, is is pretty impressive. uh considering all that we have to deal with. Um the report that you give uh
every meeting about the staffing of the physicians and nearly being fully staffed or you know full fully staffed is is quite impressive and a huge improvement that I've seen in going into my seventh year on the on the school committee. Um and most importantly
budget stability. So I I gave proficient in every category except for fiscal systems and environment. So in fiscal systems I I have to give you exemplary um I can tell you that uh uh school finance is far more complicated than
industrial finance that I deal with in my day job. Um I'm still in going into my seventh year trying to figure out exactly how net school spending uh works. But you and your staff, you guys get it. And I I've been so impressed with going through COVID, getting all of
the um the grant funding, federal funding to hire new positions that we need and thinking how are we possibly going to afford this when the funding goes away, but we work it all into the normal budget. And that's with planning and really understanding how it works. And when you look at neighboring systems
that are uh you know going bankrupt, having budget shortfalls, it's it's not by accident. It's with hard work and people knowing what they're doing and and learning from those who came before us. Uh Joe Martin who had the privilege of serving with you invented this stuff
and I know you learn from them and you keep it going. So that is exemplary. Um environment is where I put needs improvement and it's simply because uh safety, health, emotional and social needs it is always going to need improvement. Um, we've done a lot of
work. You know, we we we sit um on the elementary subcommittee and the high school subcommittee. We hear the school improvement plans. We know how much work the principles and staff are doing towards all this stuff. Reset rooms, restorative practices, hiring more more
folks uh to deal with guidance and whatnot. But we still need more. You know, when we have to listen to a story of a whole classroom having to be evacuated because a student is destroying the classroom, that's heartbreaking. And I it's heartbreaking to everybody involved. So,
we're I don't think we're ever going to be proficient or exemplary in that. It's always going to need improvement. We all have to work work together on that. Uh but I do appreciate that do appreciate the effort of everybody involved thus far. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Bolski. Mrs. Schoffs.
>> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. Um similarly I agree with my colleagues um I for environment did needs improvement um human resource management proficient scheduling and management proficient I agree with Mrs. Fagan law, ethics and policies exemplary
and fiscal systems exemplary. Um, so some of my recommendations while ton public school data indicates that our staff retention rates are stronger than neighboring districts, it remains essential to further investigate the factors contributing to staff departures and identify any commonalities and share
these findings with us. This un this understanding will enable us um the leadership team to develop targeted strategies that will offer necessary supports to retain our staff and cultivate a more positive work environment. Um I agree with staff and
student safety remains one of our foremost priorities in light of the current climate. It's imperative that we conduct a comprehensive investigation to fully understand the underlying issues contributing to these safety concerns. By thoroughly analyzing these factors,
we can develop and implement effective strategies and pro protocols designed to proactively address the potential risks and pre prevent incidents from escalating. Furthermore, I'd like the district to evaluate its specialized programs for students requiring enhanced
social emotional support, rehabilitation, or tailored learning environments to identify opportunities for improvement. So in particular, it's important to assess the need for a comprehensive alternative high school and to review the effectiveness of locating the TLC and the RISE programs
ac across multiple schools in the district. I think a review of these programs are in are important now to see what's going on. We want to ensure a safe learning environment for all students and staff remains our top priority. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mrs. Shaves. Mr. Reinus. Uh yes, thank you Dr. Dlo. Um based on the uh school year 2425, this is my evaluation of uh um superintendent Cabral in environment. I give him
exemplary human resources exemplary scheduling uh proficient law and ethics proficients fiscal systems um exemplary and overall rating of exemplary. Um, Superintendent Cabral has excelled at de
developing a district-wide goals while achieving it and always keeping his eye on the fiscal side of running a school system. If you look at our neighbors to the north and to the right, you you kind of wish you had a school system like Taton. So over the last fiscal year, I
think Superintendent Cabal has done a fine job for us. >> Thank you, Mr. Enus. uh on mine um from 2A to 2E. So 2A environment I have proficient 2B human resources management development is exemplary scheduling and
management information systems proficient law ethics and policies proficient fiscal systems exemplary overall I have a proficient with a little plus to the side of it uh I think what my colleagues have all shared tonight is is is the same feelings I
have uh first and foremost if you don't have your house in order you're not going to go forward as a school system and the house in is being sound fiscal management. And uh Superintendent Cabraw, not only as superintendent, but in his prior career as a business manager, I believe that was your title, superintendent.
>> Assistant, >> assistant superintendent of finance. Uh brought that to the level of of of where he is today. Uh and that that's also supported by a team around him. Uh he doesn't do it alone. I know he doesn't do it alone. So, Mrs. Monahan that's
here and everybody that's around you uh does support him in that. And of course, we have the school committee that's also on a watchful eye. If you watch school committee meetings, uh warrants are are gone through with a fine tooth comb. Right, Mr. Shavs? Mr. Vieira just left. So, uh we know that uh we have a good
watchful eye on it. So, there's no surprises for the taxpayers and for the community at large. So, to what Mr. Enis just said, uh a lot of school systems do envy us because it comes from a sound fiscal house. Uh, as far as the human
resources management and development, um, everybody knows when I first came on that was my pet peeve. Uh, we've come a long way. I think I've repeated this a couple years now, Mrs. Turner. I'm sorry to single you out. Uh, but, uh, retention is very, very critical to the
success of a district and those numbers prove themselves. And that's all again a team that surrounds Mrs. Turner and her folks that surround her. the um the fiscal systems I spoke about already. So that was an exemplary human
resources exemplary. Uh everything else law, ethics and policies um even though I gave it proficient uh you know there's some give and take in this uh and when we we sit around a table at bargaining sessions uh we we don't want to prolong
things that we don't need to prolong. Unfortunately sometimes it just doesn't work and we have to come to a happy medium. And I never forget when uh being on part of the TEA subcommittee with Mrs. Fagan as chair. Uh we first came into this room and there were tables on
one side, tables on the other and someone made a comment that you know that side of the table versus this side of the table. And my first remark was no, there's no two sides to the table. We're in this together. That the ultimate outcome of this negotiation process is for what's in the best
interest of our students. And uh some people looked at me like, "Oh, I never really thought of it that way." So I I think that's what at the end of the day, that's what we're all here for. So nothing's perfect, but uh uh the overall rating once again is a proficient with a
plus sign on that category. Thank you. Next up, we have family and community engagement. Uh the categories here expectations are engagement, sharing responsibility, communication, and family concerns. Mr. Reus, let's start with you, please. Okay, this one
straight down was proficient again. It's over the last fiscal year, I think. Um, how uh, Superintendent Kraal handles himself in public meetings, how he deals with the families. I know when we used to have that traveling road show, so to
speak, um, how he handled the um, questions and upset parents. And um, I think he's just he's proficient at it. He he has a very calm nature about him, which um, I applaud actually. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Enus. Mrs. Schoffs.
>> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. I agree with Mr. Enus. Um, I g a gain proficient for all of the categories. Also, a few of my recommendations is um with the development of the new district website. It's recommended to further strengthen the family and community engagement to
include the comprehensive up-to-date directory of all the programs and collaborations. We had talked about that before and they tried to work on it with this website, but it's been difficult to do. So, I think that would be important. This directory should clearly outline each program, what they serve, and
provide relevant contact information. Doing so will enhance family awareness, engagement, and support, and foster a more connected and supportive community. Um, I wrote this before your email this week, so I also recommended that Superintendent Cabraw continue his weekly newsletter. So he jumped ahead
and did it already which he proactively reinstated last week. So I think um he had discontinued it in January and I think these newsletters provide an effective and reliable means of keeping the school committee members informed about the district development. So I'm happy that you've reinstated that. And
finally due to the district size I'm recommending that you develop a shared calendar with the school committee. Um, I can't tell you the number of times we message each other about like what's going on, where is it, what time. So, if we could have a shared calendar that encompasses all the daily district
events, including school activities, after school events, and district meetings that the committee members may be interested in attending and providing them with easy access because there's a lot of comments of like, oh my god, I missed that activity because I didn't know it was there. And then they'll be like, how did you find out? And we're
like, well, we saw it on something else. So I think if we had one shared calendar that had all of it, it would make it much easier for us to attend more um school events. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Shuffs, Mr. Powolski. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. So for family and
community engagement, my overall uh rating is proficient. Um we've got strong evidence of uh a two-way communication system. Uh the parent square um program I think works very well. Um, I'm also glad to know that uh
we're planning to move in a direction of changing the website uh utilizing that same same service because uh to be to be uh I guess fair. The current website is is is not good. Not good. I've struggled with it for a long time. I know uh
parents do as well trying to find the information. So, I think the new direction we're moving in will be a lot better. Um, we've got strong multilingual engagement um, across the district, all the different schools. Again, in the SIP meetings, we hear a lot about this. I'm really really
impressed with the work that we're doing there. Um, strong partnerships with higher education, our dual enrollment program that we've started at uh, Taunt High School is really amazing. Um, and health providers such as Manet Health. So, we're doing really a lot of of strong community engagement. Um, I I
think we're I think we put forth our best effort to be responsive to family concerns and access issues. Um, however, in section D, family concerns, I do put that as needs improvement because again, I think we always need to improve. Um,
our family concerns are always the most important thing and and it sometimes we can't address all the concerns. I know we try, but we always have to try and we always have to do better. um uh communication like I said with the the new website I I I needs improvement
on that because this is a this is a judgment on 2024. So I think 2025 moving into 2026 I think our communication will be a lot better with a new uh new website. And I I guess my one other sort of recommendation similar to what I
spoke about before is how do we truly measure the effectiveness of our family and community engagement? Um, I think we're putting forth a lot of effort. Um, we're putting we're putting inputs, but how do we measure the outputs? Like, how
do we know that we're actually making strong family and community engagement? I know we're trying, we're doing it, but what's the feedback in that? I don't really know the answer to it. I'm hoping that's a thing that collaboratively we can work on, you know, perhaps in a uh a future school committee retreat or
something like that. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Paulsky. Mrs. Yes. Uh you talk about communication the two here. I think there was some poor communication in other areas too when they were saying thank you to who went
and yet you went for a while and so did Steve and those those two men you know I mean the other people work it's very difficult sometimes for us to get every place if I can bop into somewhere quick and I had appointments with doctors with
my family so I kind of jumped in between trying to get to things but um we can't all get there But we kind of have this thing that if somebody gets there, we feel better about it. That at least there was some school committee representation. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Uh engagement actively
ensures that all families are welcome. I think you've done a great job with that. You involve families with when we're we're looking for people, what is it you want and this that or the other thing. You do a good job of doing that. Some people choose not to come. I've been at meetings where people say, "Where are the rest of the people? You didn't
invite any other people." Yeah, you did. they didn't come. Some of us make an effort all the time to be places. So, but that was proficient sharing responsibility. I gave you a exemplary for that. I
really do believe that you try to engage as many people as you possibly can and I know that and sometimes I'm disappointed by the turnouts of people or I'm disappointed about so one of the stuff happens. But it doesn't mean that you you gave it the good old college try on
that one. Uh engages in regular two-way culturally proficient communication. I think all that stuff does that the square thing you use and having the different languages and stuff like that. And it's difficult. You know, I I say in the community when you're out when you're and I I said something to our
good friend over here, Isaiah. I said, you know, sometimes I ask people in the store where something is and I get no speaking of English, you know, and maybe they don't know what I'm talking about and they send me to another aisle and they think I'm talking about something else. They don't really know all the names, but they are trying hard and
they're doing a good job and you know, I I understand that. But you you you make the effort for them and the family concerns. Uh I think you do that in the same way. So I you had one uh exemplary in here in this and three proficients
with an overall proficient for me and thank you for all the hard work you put into this. >> Thank you Secretary Fagan. Mr. Windle. >> So for standard three family and community engagement um I rated proficient all the way down besides um
communication it was I I was stuck between exemplary and proficient. Um, I have to commend Superintendent Cabraw and his leadership team for the the work that they do to ensure that families receive information from the district. Um, I know other people have mentioned
the website and although that won't be part of this superintendent's evaluation, um, even the the push towards it, uh, I know Mrs. Fagan mentioned student square. um making sure that different communications are translated to different languages to
ensure that that's received by all families no matter what language they speak. So great job Mr. Cabraw. >> Thank you Mr. Windo. Uh Miss Santos, >> thank you. Um so for the first three I
have proficient for uh D I have needs improvement as well. Um I it's funny that you mentioned perhaps we could do this on a retreat because my recommendation is that I think there's going to be a discussion about doing a community outreach subcommittee. So I thought if we do that then that's
definitely something that we can use to work on kind of um better engagement um and addressing uh community and family concerns. Um another reason for my the the needs improvement rating is really kind of anecdotal evidence from FA families and staff. Um I think that um
there's probably um certain families in community that feel that all of their concerns are met, but I don't think that that's true for all families. Um and so I think uh there needs to be kind of um more consistency because you know again anecdotally I've heard that not all families feel feel seen or heard and
this really speaks to the issue of whether it's equitable or culturally proficient. That's it. >> Thank you Miss Santos. Mr. on uh engagement exemplary sharing responsibility prof uh proficient
communication exemplary uh family concerns proficient overall proficient uh the superintendent engages in a regular 2-way culturally proficient communication with families and community stakeholders about student
learning and performance. He further addresses family and community concerns in an equitable, effective, and efficient manner. Overall, proficient. >> Thank you, Mr. Lure. Uh for standard three, um engagement proficient, uh
sharing responsibility needs improvement, and I'll elaborate on that just a second. Communication proficient and family concerns proficient. Uh sharing responsibility and um it's more to do with community outreach. I I do
hope that the superintendent could get out more in the community. Uh and what I mean by that is outside your regular setting. Um different stuff that's going out going on throughout the day. Uh whether it's Boys, Girls, Boys and Girls Club, uh YMCA and so forth. I know that
you have a lot of responsibilities with your associations with DESIE and other activities that you do which take you into Boston or other school districts. I'd rather have you here in Taton public school district more so than offering your expertise and stealing your ideas
uh to better them which is helpful but we need you here and more out in the community but on that same category the uh outreach with families and so forth. I do need to give a proficient to Miss Stephanie Hoy who of course oversees all
that part of the district. Okay, which is part ultimately of John Cabraw's team. So I know that through the family welcome center and community outreach we do a tremendous job. I know that uh Mrs. Hoy's office is in inudated with
different variety of calls. I have many come to me that I of course refer to her. So uh it's not a a a needs improvement only. There is a proficient piece because of a team member that's also within the uh superintendent's um
authority. Uh everything else um is is proficient. Uh you know it all starts with our families and um you know and I a little bit more elaboration. Yes, I do see Superintendent Cabraw on the football field in the basketball court
and all that stuff. It's more so out in the community to um give you an example. So as Mrs. Fagan said, I had an opportunity to go to the mall K school and give out some red tickets. I had no idea what those tickets were all about, but most of the kids were asking me who
are you, you know, and uh these are elementary kids, you know, and I went out to tell them I'm a school committee member and they're looking at me, okay, what does that mean? You know, but you know, it's one of those things. you see somebody, you ask questions, you learn more about that person's responsibility and uh getting out there in the
community, I think is important to show the face and the in the uh the the community who the superintendent is and um overall would be a proficient for that category. Thank you. Next up, we have uh standard four professional
culture. Here we have commitment to high standards, cultural proficiency, communication, continuous learning, shared visions, and managing conflict. And we'll start with Mr. Laura this time. Yes, Mr. Laura. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On commitment
to high standards, proficient on cultural proficiency, exemplary communication, proficient continuous learning, proficient shared vision, exemplary, managing conflict,
proficient, overall proficient. Um, Superintendent Cabral ensures that policies and practices enable staff members and students to interact effectively in a culturally diverse environment in which students
backgrounds, identities, strengths, and challenges are respected and that is my overall proficient. >> Thank you, Mr. Lur. Miss Santos, >> thank you. Um, all right. So for A uh C
D and E I have proficient. Uh for B and F I have uh needs improvement. Uh so just a couple of uh reasons for that. Um with B that's cultural proficiency ensures that policies and practices enable staff members and students to interact effectively in a culturally diverse environment in which students
backgrounds, identities, strengths and challenges are respected. I think that we've seen that uh there obviously there's an increase in diversity. We saw that today with the school improvement plan, right? But there is not a diverse um teaching staff um at all in another uh recent school improvement plan. Um
one of the one of the the male students were uh asked about how they they felt and they felt that they didn't see that they were represented in the in the content of the curriculum. So that's an issue of representation as well too. Um
there's that. And then for um this was part of the strategic plan. So this was from June 2025. So I just wanted to highlight a couple of things and this is kind of still on B. Um the issue of uh black, Hispanic, and Latino students are just suspended disproportionately. This
is something that I asked you about when you actually did this presentation back in June. Um as far as why that is and how we can best um address that and I had mentioned maybe something like antibbias training. I honestly haven't heard anything about that since then in June. So I don't know what progress has
been made as far as uh the school improvement or this you know those what is it called the strategic planning um because I think I remember at the time you had said that you had wanted us to help collaborate and work on that. So I I definitely think that that's something hopefully we can continue doing because
obviously that's a huge issue um as far as suspensions um with students. And another thing that was on this report um says many stakeholders see a need to better and more intentionally support Taton's multilingual learners and special education students. Uh so obviously I see that under cultural
proficiency as well too. Uh so those were just kind of some of the things that um I had uh thought about and as far as f managing conflict I mean I know this is more recent but if we've learned anything recently we've had to make more concerted effort and not only resolving
real conflicts by but descent we need more collaboration between all stakeholders and that means teachers and unions and everyone involved. >> Thank you Miss Santos Mr. Window. So for standard four professional culture um for a commitment to high
standards I rate it exemplary. I think that superintendent demonstr superintendent cabal demonstrates a high commitment to um standards of service and teaching for all educators and students within the district. Um cultural proficiency I rated proficient
um communication I rate exemplary communication. Um, Superintendent Cabraw does demonstrate strong interpersonal skills and verbal communication skills. Um, seeing Mr. Cabraw in the buildings, like I've never, of course, all of these
ratings are from a student perspective, but I've never heard of a student say anything badly about Superintendent Cabraw when he's in the building. He always has a smile on his face. Hi, how are you? Talking to students, getting their opinions on things. And that is an amazing skill for any administrator to
have. nevertheless a superintendent. Um continuous learning I rate it exemplary. Um I believe that superintendent Cabraw is dedicated to to learning continuously like um there's always something more to know. You can
always learn something new and I strongly believe that Superintendent Cabraw um agrees with that philosophy. Um shared vision I graded proficient and managing conflict um also proficient with an overall rating it was 33 so I
went with exemplary um overall super in my opinion superintendent cabal is an exceptional leader um and a leader is only as good as his team and the people he surrounds himself with so I also applaud his administrative team and all
of the wonderful educators that work with him. >> Thank you Mr. window. Mr. Venus, I'll go to you now, please. >> Um, is again, this is for the last fiscal year, so keep that in mind. Um,
proficient all the way down. I think Superintendent Cabraw does a great job fostering a shared commitment for high standards of uh, educating us in uh, students in a continuous learning, the entire staff. So he doesn't I think the
the ability to offer curriculum not only to the students but also learning curriculum for the staff members important and I think he's done a great job over the last fiscal year. >> So >> thank you Mr. Enus Mr. Shavs.
>> Thank you Dr. Dlo. Um for commitment to high standards I did exemplary. For cultural proficiency I did exemplary communication I did proficient continuous learning I did exemplary shared vision proficient managing conflict proficient for an overall
rating of proficient. Um as a doctoral candidate at UMass Dartmouth I think superintendent cabraw exemplifies lifelong learning and professional growth. He's fostered a culture rooted in high expectations equity and continuous progress. The newly developed five-year strategic plan establishes a
clear priorities focused on rigorous instruction and inclusive student culture, talent development, and stakeholder engagement. This vision was shaped through broad stakeholder input gathered via community forums, multilingual family listening sessions,
surveys, student focus groups, and school-based planning meetings. And I agree with with what um Mrs. Fagan said that many times these are set up and the the amount of people that show up are is disappointing or as you know but they are planned and they are um advertised
out there for people to come and give input. So I think these inclusive structures amplify student voice reinforce the district's commitment to belonging and ensuring the plan is culturally responsive and reflective of Taton's diverse demographics. Um,
similar to um what um Melissa said, I think to further improve the district's outcome, it recommended that the superintendent provide additional conflict resolution training for administrators and union leaders and maybe other staff. This training would enhance enhance their skills in
effective communication and problem solving, helping to prevent conflicts from escalating and fostering a more collaborative and positive labor relation environment. But overall, I thought um he was proficient. I thought he's done a good job.
>> Thank you, Mrs. Sha. Mr. Powolski. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. Um, professional culture, my rating overall is proficient. So, I think uh Superintendent Cabraw and his staff and the district, they have a very clear investment in strategic planning,
continuous learning, cultural proficiency, and conflict management. Um I think uh you've got seven unions with which you are negotiating. I'm only on two of those uh unions negotiating. I
see how much work that is balancing fairness across the district. Every single one of those unions is very important to the success of of Taon Public Schools and I can I can see how much you care about it and it's not not an easy job doing that. So we do have
stable labor relations um in our system and I appreciate that struggles notwithstanding. Um cultural impact overall I think should be refra framed as developing rather than fully realized. So the the only spots here
where I give needs improvement is cultural proficiency in communication. Cultural proficiency simply because we will always need improvement. Um, we have so many different cultures, uh, within our district, uh, families. We
should always be striving to be culturally proficient. I don't think we'll ever be able to claim that we are proficient. It's it's just not that easy. We're all we're always working on it, always striving to be better. Um, and then communication, and it's similar what Mrs. Shave said in the in the last
section. Um, I I I'm requesting a shared Google calendar, which actually just before the meeting, Cynthia helped me with. Um, Superintendent Cabraw does a really good job communicating, trying to communicate in many different
ways. Uh, me personally, sometimes I feel like I'm drinking out of the fire hose. I get too many emails, too many texts, and I I miss critical things. So, a shared calendar, like Mrs. Shave suggested. I think it'll make it easier to make sure we have visibility with
everything going on given that we are al all so busy and not to beat a dead horse. I'm really excited the website's changing. I think that will improve things uh greatly. But yes, overall proficient. Thank you so much. >> So tell us how you feel about the website, Mr. F. I'm not a fan of the
website. >> Thank you. Uh Mrs. Fagan, Secretary Fagan. >> Yes, Dr. Dillo. So on this one here, commitment to high standards, I was the same as you. Um, Mrs. Shabs, I
I gave him exemplary for that because I know that's what he really commits to. I you know, the thing is that always bothers me though, you you he can have high expectations, but not all people achieve at the same rate. Some of them kind of they get into college and it all
clicks in for them and but to me as long as we give them a good you know a really good education and I think we work really hard at that. So I gave that uh uh exemplary cultural proficiency.
I think he does a good job. He he he he he's very understanding of backgrounds because of his families having been immigrants here and I think he relates to all that and he tells he tells people that all the time. Uh that was
proficient communication demonstrates strong interpersonal written and verbal communication skills. I've come into the schools and and you're out here talking to all the kids walking around. You know all their names. One one kid comes in to give you a hug. I mean, I know you're you're you're relating with those kids.
That was proficient. Continuous learning. I know you want them to learn as much as they can and I think you promote all that. That was proficient shared vision. I really think that you really do engage us all in becoming a
good citizen and a responsible citizen. I also gave that an exemplary managing conflict. I I really believe that you don't like to see conflict in here. And even when we dis we agree disagree, we agree to disagree, but we still respect
one another. And I think you've always wanted to do that. You never wanted to have a rift with any of us. And so the overall standard I have for um the rating for this standard comes out to even though there's a couple exemplaries, it comes out overall it's proficient.
>> So, >> excellent. Thank you, Secretary Fagan. >> So, uh I'll conclude by starting with commitment to high standards. um exemplary. Um I I I share that vision with uh the superintendent and people that surround him. In particular, Mr.
Barata I think uh is some sometimes the unsung hero that is always behind the scenes that the superintendent Cabraw can rely on. I know that he could be a superintendent anywhere in Commonwealth of Massachusetts or even Rhode Island. But it's important that the high
standards continue to be at the forefront and Superintendent Cabraw is exemplary in that category. as far as cultural proficiency, uh, proficient, uh, communication, uh, proficient, uh, and of course, uh, I was another pet
peeve of mine was the outsourcing of our communications, uh, districtwide. And, uh, Superintendent Cabraw finally, uh, you know, listened to us, I guess, as a school committee, and hired Miss Johnson, uh, who does a wonderful job. And
>> you guys, you guys supported the bucket. >> Yeah. Well, well, it was it was throwing money one way or throwing money the other way. And the the money we threw this way was much more of a return on our investment uh personally and systemwide. So anyway, I don't like naming folks, but it's worthy of naming
folks. So again, Superintendent Cabraw took the lead, made the decision, and and and has made the right decision. Uh continuous learning, uh proficient, shared vision, proficient, managing conflict, proficient. And you know again
part of his team um you know special education is one of those fields that uh is one of that I still don't completely understand. I have been to many meetings over the years and uh it it's it's it's it's a field. It's a it's it's something
that takes a lot of heart and dedication and I know Miss Miss Monahan, Amy Monahan does an excellent job trying to do the best she can uh to make sure that all our students have what they need to succeed and of course uh that comes under superintendent Cabaral's
leadership. So all in all uh the overall rating for C standard number four is proficient and I'll just conclude uh >> don't conclude yet. Nope. >> So I saved the best for last. Steve
Vieira Steve handed me his stuff and >> he has given Mr. Cabraw on every single standard that proficient and overall proficient. And he is not here. His
son's a senior. He's got a wrestling match. He came in for part of the meeting and that's where he went to that. But he was all set with everything. It's here and he's got the same thing for everybody. He's proficient on everything and overall proficient on anything. >> Great.
>> Okay. >> Now, may I conclude? >> You can conclude right now. Yeah, that's fine. >> Good. So, thank you. >> Except I want to know what we're going to do with this. Did Did um >> going to give them all to give them all to me? Yes. I thought >> Hold on one second. Hold on one second. Hold on one second. Hold on. Hold on.
Hold on. So anyway, in conclusion, thank you everyone for participating in this evaluation. Uh really appreciate your input and Secretary will uh uh accept the written uh testimony that you have or send it by email, whatever you'd
like. Okay, Superintendent Corell, any words? No, again I look at the evaluation u myself your evaluation as an evaluation of the school committee's work with me as well as our work as a school system. So you
also know I'm very competitive and I have very high expectations. So similar to what I did last year when there was a lot of uh positive feedback on how to improve communication, I will put together a a plan to address those concerns. I also feel I need to do a
better job as far as educating uh the entire board about all the different things that exist behind the curtains that maybe you don't see in a day-to-day basis such as the Dibbles data we use the I Ready data we use uh in addition to the MCAST data the Celus data the
castle data uh there's a lot of data but again when it comes to evaluating the school system uh DESIE evaluates us or rates our accountability based on MCCAST so that's there's a heavy emphasis of MCCAST in my evaluation but but in reality I need to do a better job of
educating uh the board and sharing the information and again I appreciate the suggestion because it was Mr. Palowski who suggested that we do the staffing report. So that goes into the packet uh on a week on a bi-weekly basis. So now the committee is educated on um all the different positions that that exist. So
again, I don't pay attention to the ease. I don't pay attention to the P's. I pay attention to the needs improvements and I will be addressing those. You have my word. >> Thank you, Superintendent Cabar. Moving on to administrative business and first up, staffing report.
Motion to accept and place on file. >> So the first sorry just the first staffing report just provides you with all the positions and all the movement in the district justformational purposes. >> Okay. Next up public school staffing
updates the closure. >> Yeah very proud to report that we are 99% staffed and we are sitting on three TEA positions to be filled. Uh there are three special education positions. I will be transparent. Uh finding qualified special educators this time of
year could be difficult, but I'm optimistic with the colleges graduating students first semester that we might see we might see a pool of candidates uh up here. >> Thank you. Any action on that? >> Same procedure. >> Receive place on file. All in favor? I have
>> voted on the last one though. Didn't we vote on the one before? I >> think you did. >> We didn't we didn't vote on that. No. >> No. >> Do you want to vote on the staffing report? >> I would like to. >> Mr. motion to >> Well, we made the motion. It was just the the call of the vote. >> I'm sorry I didn't hear it. >> It was just a procedure just motion to
place on file. >> Okay. I didn't hear the first one though for staffing report. So, same procedure. All in favor? >> Opposed? Eyes have it. Taton Public Schools December enrollment update. >> Again, I can't remember who the committee member was who made this suggestion, but we'll provide you with a
monthly enrollment report. You'll notice that we increased from October 29 when we submitted the October 1 report to December 10th from 8,256 students to 8,294 students. So, we continue to monitor students uh because the it does remain fluid.
>> Yes, Mrs. Shaves. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. My concern with looking at these is that um although the alternative high school went up 27 students, the TV the TPVA went down 16
and we had a decrease in 8th grade, 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, and 12th grade. So I'd like to know if we have a a decrease like that, like where are the students going? They didn't go back to the high school. So, did some of them go to the
alternative high school or did we lose them completely? >> So, what I'll do in future reports is I'll have some bullets that will explain those fluctuations. >> That would be good. Yeah. >> And I believe with TPVA some students did transition to Taton alternative. Some students returned to um Taton High School,
>> but we'll get we'll get the breakdown. >> Yeah. Because I because Taton High School's numbers went down, but they could have gone down further and then one of those kids came in. So, they're down, but not as down as they should have been. So, I was just concerned that we're we have kids dropping out. Thank you.
>> Very good. Okay. Um, any action on that? >> Received and placed on file. >> Second. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Next up, we have the formation of subcommittees to begin at the first regular meeting in January. Uh, A is chapter 74. B, space utilization. C,
community outreach. Family welcome. Um, you want me I can make a motion on that, but we can't. Can we work on that tonight? >> No, we're just making we're just going to admit them into the first regular meeting. >> Oh, all right. So moved. >> Second on that.
>> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. >> Next up, we have adjusted delivery date for January 7 meeting due to holidays. Superintendent, >> justformational purposes only. Uh, you'll receive the packet for the January 7th meeting on Monday, January 5th due to holiday break.
Thank you. Everybody okay with that? Uh next up we have January 7 organizational meeting informational only. That's contained in your packet. Any questions? If so before now and then please reach out to myself, Secretary Fagan or the
superintendent's office. Uh next item on the agenda we have subcommittee reports. First up we have the elementary school subcommittee chairman Laura. >> Thank you Mr. Chairman. The elementary subcommittee was held this afternoon. Uh present were myself,
M Miss Santos and Mr. Palowski along with Superintendent Cabraw and Mr. Barado. Presentation made by principal of the Gallagghan Elementary School, Tara Gagman. The meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m.
Principal Gag be began her presentation of the school improvement plan at Gallagghan school for 2426 starting that the school serves 289 students
145 males 144 female students with 17% 17.1% special education and 18.9 ELLL students. Gallagghan is a wonderful place for learning. It includes a diverse
population of learners supported by dedicated staff members including teachers, assistants, specialists, support staff, and members of the cafeteria and custodial teams. Every adult is committed to support every student, ensuring that each child is
seen, valued, and provided with the tools to thrive. The school is grounded in both purpose and possibility. Their work is anchored in the belief that academic excellence and emotional well-being go hand in hand. Principal Gang states, "When
students feel safe, connected, and known, they engage more deeply in their learning. And when instructional is intentional, and responsive, they grow. Teachers strive daily to create classrooms where students are active participants in their learning and where
belonging is not just a theme but a lived experience. The instructional focus for students in grades K to four centers in strong on strong foundational teaching in literacy and mathematics. They utilize
highquality research-based programs including foundations, vocal wonders, etc. to deliver explicit system instruction in phonics, phonics awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. In mathematics, they
utilize illustrative mathematics to help students build deep conceptual understanding and confidence as problem solvers. At Gallagghan, they also understand that learning goes beyond academics. Supporting students social emotional
growth remains a so schoolwide priority. Each classroom uses a mind-up curriculum to help students develop self-awareness, self regulation, and empathy. The leadership approach is grounded on collaboration,
trust, and a shared responsibility. Everyone plays an active role in decision making. Families and community partners are integral to their success. Their belief is that learning is strongest where there is alignment between home and
school through regular communication, family engagement events, and strong partnerships with local organizations. Galligan Elementary will continue to strengthen the home school connection that support every child's academic and
social success. accountability are also of high priority where student attendance and chronic absenteeism are closely monitored. There exists and continues daily the work on improving the school climate,
engagement, safety, and environments. Principal Gangner presented her school improvement program with much enthusiasm, dedication, and commitment to her position, detailing the plan, utilizing a multitude of resources and
techniques to ensure her goals and objectives are fully implemented. The meeting concluded at 5:32. This concludes my report. >> Thank you. Chairman Laura, wish of the committee. >> Motion to accept the report. >> Second. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it.
Uh next item on the subcommittee we have finance and law that's chaired by myself consisting of the committee is uh Mr. Shabs and Mr. Vieiraa. The first item was use of facilities. Memo was placed in our packet concerning the various uh
facilities that were used. Some were fee waved due to community service. Others uh paid full cost that was received and placed on file unanimously. The next item was donations received. Uh it's worthy of the mention once again of the
donations and who donated. First and foremost, we have a Christine Lero who donated $2,000 to the Pole Elementary School students. Hope and comfort to the family welcome center. Uh various items such as deodorant, soap, toothbrushes,
laundry, toothpaste bottles, and shampoo bottles. A value of $4,32. Cradles to Crayons. 1920 coats. 400 toiletry packs, 500 backpacks, six school supplies donated to the family
welcome center of a value of $13,640. Uh Gopes, 25 turkey baskets to the Lety School, value of $750. Eman Brothers, 25 turkey baskets to the Ley preschool in the amount of $750 value. Uh Kh's law
firm 158 turkey baskets to all TPS families value of $4,740. Dawn Holmes and Bailey Morton uh 10 recycled bikes to Taunt public school students valued at uh 500 $500. Johnson
and Johnson 160 $30 gift cards to the Bennett East Taunt and Malke and Gallagghan elementary schools value of 4,800. and Johnson and Johnson 160 turkey baskets to the Bennett East Malke and Gallagan elementary schools value of
$4,800 total value $36,012 outstanding contributions by our community partners that was voted on to accept uh the donations and to send a letter of thanks which I think was already been done by Mrs. Monahan and
her team um voting unanimously to accept the donations. The next item was coaching for change. There was a memo also in your packet. Just an update. Uh Mrs. Sha commented that the new format is something that's uh in line with what we had been asking for. So, thank you
for that. The report was accepted and voted unanimously. Uh the next item was a food service update. And briefly, if I may, one second. I apologize for my cough drop in my mouth. It's either that
or cough. Um the number of meals is just outstanding. Year to date, a total of 529,380 meals uh accounting for breakfasts and lunches uh for our total enrollment and
uh the Glen Mada director of food service was kind enough to share uh in your packet uh colorcoded u lunch menus and breakfast menus for the district throughout. So this is pretty cool. And of course, this is all on the TPS website. So, uh, if anybody at home
wants to check that out, of course, it's available and on the school brains, uh, is it called School Brains? What's it called? >> School Brains, right? Um, >> student square. >> Student square. Student square. >> Parent Square. >> Parents Square. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know where I get school brains from, but anyway. Uh, so that was received and
placed on file. The next up was transportation bid timeline and that was discussed that the bids are going out on Monday uh to combis and the bid release uh is at 11:00 a.m. Uh there
will be biders meetings throughout. There will be a public bid opening of February 4th, 2026 at 5:45 during the finance and law subcommittee and the awarded bid should be sometime in the February March u uh months of 2026 and
that was also received in place on file unanimously. And the next one was a DECA field trip chaperon uh request. Uh due to the amount of students, there's a ratio of adults to uh student participants. Uh the number of 16
was designated as adult chaperones to supervise uh these students at the DECA regional competition. And this is a very creative idea by Mr. McFale and his team uh to not take just teachers out of the classroom and involve community partners. uh caregivers. A question was
asked about if we vet these folks, and yes, we do. We do a Corey background check because, of course, they will be in the company of our students. Uh this was a one-time exception uh to approve this in the uh approximate amount of $2,000 to cover the estimated cost for
accommodations. Uh going forward, you know, since this is unique, we'll come back to the committee if something like this presents itself in the future. And again, that was voted on and accepted unanimously by the subcommittee. And the last two items was a FY25 warrant in the
amount of $157,3662. Uh that was voted to approve and pay unanimously by the subcommittee. And the best news was there is no more FY25 warrants coming. So, thank you, Mrs. Monahan. And the last item were bills payable for FY26 in the amount of
1,419,76.17. Uh various questions asked concerning the warrant. Uh and again voted unanimously to pay the warrant in the amount of $1,419,76.17. Voted unanimously to pay the warrant. And that concludes my subcommittee report.
>> Motion to accept the report. The recommendations of the committee. Second. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you, Paul. If if I may go out of the regular order of business, I forgot an administrative business item that hit us uh late. Uh this is concerning uh
District 8, Massachusetts DECA. Uh please uh um uh I'm sorry. The the rates were given to us, the final rates by the Emerald Resort, Cape Cod, Irish Village for the District 8 DECA conference, which is taking place January 8th to to the 9th. We had already preliminary
voted on this. This is just a um a sign off on the PO. Is that final approval? >> And and the absolute final approval. So again, I've reviewed this. There's nothing out of the ordinaries. Everything's in line with our policies and procedures. So a formal vote would
be necessary to uh approve this field trip for DECA 8 conference uh down in Cape Cod from January 8th to the 9th, 2026. Mo motion to approve. >> Second. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it.
Thank you all. >> Thank you everyone. >> Back to the regular order business. Uh new business. Uh schedule of school committee recognition night. We have a schedule of Wednesday, February 11, 2025 at 6 p.m. If there are any conflicts, I want to make sure we have a good uh a good showing. So, if there's any
conflicts, please let me know. Sorry, we missed the December. For some reason, the December got away from us. So, um we're looking at February 11th. There is there's an issue. Notify my office, please. Gil Gil, you're more than welcome to attend. >> Thank you.
>> If it's not snowing, uh, thank thank you so much. So, please note that. Uh, next item, we have the unfinished business. I'm I'm sorry. Uh, new business. Sorry, Miss Santos. Thank you. This is right in front of me. So, sorry. Um so all of you I had provided
you with um three different um pieces from our online policy um regarding policy development um policy review and policy adoption. I'm not going to read through all of it uh for you but um this really came from it just
seems some issues of uh clarity regarding you know school visits and things like that. So, I I started reviewing the policies again and and I thought that just again started since we're starting a new um two-year term together and obviously we're going to have Mrs. Mullen as uh a
new member that uh I would like to make a motion that we could at least uh review uh the policies and then if anybody has any changes or uh anything that they want to develop themselves that we could bring that to possibly the January 7th meeting. Yeah, we we can't make a motion tonight, but we can
introduce it at the January >> refer to a committee to refer it. >> Yeah, you want to go to a subcommittee >> to the uh rules? >> Rules. >> Well, I'm not on that subcommittee. >> I mean, wishes of the committee.
>> I would say rules would be appropriate. >> I would rather it be on the agenda if possible. I'm not on the rule sub, >> but you're going to refer it to >> for discussion. So, a motion to >> to refer it to put it on an agenda for
the whatever meeting you pick. That's all you're doing. >> The seventh. So, can I just make a motion to place it on the agenda for January 7th? >> It might be soon. You may want to maybe do it the I'm not going to >> the 21st. >> You may want to, >> but wouldn't that go to the rules committee or would we assign it at that
time? >> One second, please. Superintendent, what's the best course of action? >> You need to do it a couple ways. You can refer it. You can put it on the agenda. Sorry. You can put it on the agenda so that you can discuss it and figure out what's the best way you want to pursue
it. Do you want to pursue it uh and refer it to a rules committee because it is a policy? That's your preview. You need five votes. If you want to put it on the agenda and have it discussed as a regular item on the agenda, that's also again that can be a motion seconded. You need five votes. You want to schedule it
as committee of the whole, you can schedule a committee of the whole. you want to refer it to the upcoming retreat on the 28th, you can refer it to the upcoming retreat. It's pretty much the perview of the committee. >> Not my decision. >> Okay. So, those are the options. >> It's not mine either. So, you guys
>> I know. Um I refer to the retreat. I think that makes sense. Yeah. So, refer to >> I think the first step would be to put it on the agenda. So, a motion to place uh poly policy development and review on
the agenda for January 7th. >> Second. >> All in favor? All right. I opposed. Eyes have it. >> Good. >> Okay. Yes. >> Good. Superintendent of the committee. >> No, you you you just read the you just heard the motion, right?
>> Yeah. Okay. Good. >> What the committee? >> Good. >> All right. So, we're all set. Miss Santos. >> Yes. Uh unfinished business action items update. Uh two Hamilton Street use vote. A relocate John F. Parker Middle School to two Hamilton Street and create an
eighth grade academy. B create a fourth middle school at two Hamilton Street. And if you have a CD EFG, you're welcome to bring introduce it tonight. Wishes of the committee. I'll make a motion that we use option A.
>> Second on discussion. >> Sure. So the motion is made by Mr. Enus for A to relocate to John F. Park and Middle School to two Hamilton Street and create an eighth grade academy. Second by Secretary Fagan. On discussion, Secretary Fagan,
>> I cannot see putting um a fourth middle school because of the it's not going to be cost effective to do that, right? It it's setting up a whole new school. Again, >> I think we've um I think I've shared with you the analysis. So, the committee
has the information. >> Um we we it would be substantially um it would be costly and especially with the student opportunity act expiring in a year, the economic outlook in Massachusetts not looking so great.
We're Our goal is always to and you heard during the school improvement plan presentation from Gallagghan today, principles, schools don't want to lose resources. So our ultimate goal is going to be to continue sustaining what we have in place and being strategic in how we add pieces here and there to improve or enhance the educational
>> but that does that mean it would be ready by the end of do you expect it to be ready by the end of the next year? The >> the only thing that's that's challenging right now, Mrs. Fagan is not knowing when the MSBA is actually going to stop the window project. >> Oh, okay. >> Okay. All right. >> Cuz that isn't that is an a herculean
task to replace all the windows and doors in that building. >> Great. So, the vote was uh motion was made and seconded. Uh >> question. >> Oh, yep. So, let's go. Mr. I think you were before Mr. uh Okay. Well, let me just I saw you first Mr. Lure, please.
>> Uh so, let's say the school's not ready in September of 2026. talking about the Hamilton Street School. Then what do we do? >> Then I come back to you with a couple scenarios, potential proposals as to when we could move the students over
>> and leave everything as is. >> And leave everything as is. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Powolski. Uh thank you, Dr. Melo. So, um I just want to say I do really appreciate all the effort that Superintendent and his staff put together to uh formulating all the
different options, all the community outreach. I mean, we heard quite a lot a lot about this. This is a very important decision for us to make. Um, I've always been a really strong advocate. I I would love to see four middle schools and the eighth grade back at the middle school because I do think long term that's the
best way of educating our students. However, when you break down the costs, the $6 million discrepancy, there's just no world in which we could cut $6 million out of the budget to do that. So, I do I I support um option A to
relocate John F. Parker Middle School to Hamilton Street. Uh the only caveat is I'm not a huge proponent of calling it an eighth grade academy. I'd prefer to see us just saying that the Parker Middle School building will be another
house of Taton High School and that Dr. Harrison and his staff will utilize that space um as they see fit in the in the best interest. I do like the ideas of it being like a home base for for eighth grade, but I I don't think you can physically fit the entire eighth grade
in that building. So, I I I've always struggled with that academy, but again, I trust Dr. Harris and his team to utilize it the best. Um, thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Paulski, Mrs. Sh, and Mr. Window. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. So, this is a big
decision, so I've spent a lot of time um considering this. So, I wanted to share my thoughts on this pivotal decision. Um like my colleagues, I've invested significant amount of time analyzing the survey data that is provided by um Mr. Carroll and evaluating the financial
imple implementations of both um both options. So some of the things I met with Mike Byron, I met with Dr. Harrison and Carolyn Bleno and consulted with the assistant and associate principles at Parker Taton High School about how each option would impact their students. Each
administrator offered a unique perspective and shared insight that I had not previously considered. I gathered personal input from students, from parents, from teachers and staff. Um, I reviewed the 2025 survey data showing students strongly favored keeping eighth graders at the high
school with an eighth grade academy while adding a fourth middle school ranked fourth out of six in their selections. Having worked at Taton High School and been involved in the eighth grade transition to Taton High School, I consistently supported returning the eighth graders back to the middle school and creating a new middle school. There
is limited research on eighth grademies and the studies that do exist consistently emphasize a need for a strong student support system. So a decision of this magnitude though must be grounded not in opinions but in careful analysis of financial implications and their impact on student
services ensuring that we prioritize both student well-being and fiscal responsibility for sustainable outcomes that benefit all students. This decision carries major educational and financial consequences. And while cost comparisons are important, it's essential to
acknowledge that establishing a forced middle school would require major budget reductions, resulting in a decrease support and resources for student districtwide, which is what Mr. Powski said. Our prior our priority must be to serve all students effectively. And
while a brand new middle school is appealing, our current middle schools can still absorb additional enrollment without reducing quality. Relocating Parker Middle School would free 95,583 square feet for Taton High School,
increasing its planned occupancy capacity by 554 seats and adding 245 middle school seats, representing a capacity increase of 19.7 and 10% respectively. Um, which better accommodates any
projected enrollment growth. That being said, I agree with Mr. Powski. I don't support an eighth grade academy that further isolates our eighth graders. If eighth graders remain at Taton High School, district leadership and administrators must take responsibility for developing a supportive program that
eases the transition, fosters a sense of belonging within the high school, and provides services tailored to students academic and social needs. I want to clarify that the eighth grade academy would not mean housing all eighth graders entirely in Parker Middle School as the building cannot accommodate them.
In my view, the eighth grade support staff, including the associate principal, guidance staff, adjustment counselors, and others, would be based in what I propose, similar to Mr. Palowski e- house. While most eighth grade classes would take place there, students would continue to attend
specialized classes throughout the building, including CTE, performing and visual arts, world languages, and more. Balancing fiscal responsibility, current needs, stakeholder input, and personal opinions is a challenging process that I approached with great care, as I know
everybody else on the school committee has done. After careful considering of all the information, it's clear that the best decision at this time is to relocate Parker. However, I want to emphasize that if circumstances within the city or the district change that the school committee would certainly revisit
further options in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Shaw. Mr. Window. >> So, with the initial proposal for the use of this building, was it not to make it part of Taton High School? From my
understanding, it was going to fall under Dr. Harrison either way. Like, it would be an extension of Taon High School. It would have its own like we currently have five associate principles. Um, which is a recent change due to the overwhelming case load that they have. Um, but wouldn't that just be
a matter of moving or hiring another associate principal, guidance counselor, support staff over in Parker? I I know we refer to it as an eighth grade academy, but it would still fall in Taon High School is like Mr. Pal Mr.
Powki and Mr. Shave mentioned like an e- house. Was that not the plan the whole time? >> Just a play on words, I believe. Uh, but I I'll go to Mr. Palski, please. >> Um, uh, and thank you, Isaiah. I really appreciate your insight on this because
it's especially important to hear from students who will be impacted. Um, I I guess my point is I'd rather not even use the language of 8th grade academy because I feel like that's too restrictive. You know, I don't want us as the school committee imposing that as
that is what must be done with John F. Parker. So, as long as we can phrase or perhaps amend the the uh motion to, you know, relocate John F. Parker Middle School to two Hamilton Street and then the John F. Parker Middle School building to be turned over to the
purview of Taton High School and that that leaves it open to um any and all options uh that that Dr. Harrison and his team would see fit. And I think that is what is in the best interest of our students overall. >> Superintendent. I I think once a
decision is made, so thank you for that very difficult vote. I know you I know that weighed heavy on many members. Now that the decision's been made, >> we haven't voted yet, superintendent. >> Once a decision is made and you guys vote, that's right, you need five. Once you once that vote is made, uh then obviously we'll we'll we'll start to
really ramp things up and talk about the best use of that space as it becomes incorporated into the high school footprint. And if it means having some eighth grade classes in there, majority of the eighth grade classes in there, but also allowing students to access all parts of the building, it's going to become part of the high school
footprint. >> All righty. So, Mrs. Santos, please. >> I'll make this short. Mr. Sham said everything very beautifully uh that I would have said and same thing with Nathan. I think I've been mulling this over for a really long time and I know
that if the world were perfect, I would vote for the fourth middle school. Absolutely. Um, as someone who attended, you know, this is going to age me, Cohan, from 5 to 8, uh, 8th grade was such a really pivotal year for me, um, like really pivotal year. Um, and I I
kind of I I I regret that our students don't have that experience anymore, but obviously decisions were made and here we are. So, there's only very little that we can do. And again, the money is it's really difficult because again to like Nathan's point, listening to the
SIPs and listening to all of these wonderfully hardworking teachers who really really need resources that if we were going to turn that we're taking directly from them and I don't think that that's the right thing to do, especially at this moment in time because we see that there is so many
other needs outside of this, right? So, it's kind of an unfortunate, hard, difficult vote. Um, I had my own concerns after going on the tour for Parker, not not knowing how it' be used, if there's going to be enough space
because I think the number was the occupancy was what was it? Five >> 554. >> 554. Thank you, Donna. um and you know possibly moving some rooms around. So that would increase occ uh you know occupancy but I was concerned because
that hadn't happened yet and we don't know how many more eighth graders because we don't have uh you know obviously we had been asking the city council for all of these numbers for a really long time and we haven't gotten them um either. So, I definitely make the the vote with reservations that I really
wish that this was kind of a different context in which we were making this vote, but obviously we have to consider more than just one thing. And I also just I don't want to like not pay attention to the real parent concerns that came out of that survey. I don't
want to just kind of swipe that to the side. I think those are really important concerns that we're obviously we're going to have to continue to address because of the discipline problems and so on and so forth. So hopefully having more space would kind of alleviate that. But I we can't ignore that that is a
very core problem for a lot of families too and teach the teachers as well too. So thank you. >> Thank you Miss Santos. So I have a little concern now. So the motion reads relocate John F. Parker Middle School to two Hamilton Street and create an eighth grade academy.
So we don't want to do an eighth grade academy. So does this motion >> as the maker of the motion? I will adjust my motion to to be a footprint of Totten High School grounds. >> Can we do that?
>> We can do that. >> Okay. Motion has been amended to >> become >> part of Tauntton High School >> footprint. >> And I would also say that the administration bring back proposals to the committee.
>> Yes. >> Is that >> Yeah. >> Part of the motion? >> I think that's a good idea. >> The high school administration. >> Gotcha. Okay. So, everybody understands the motion. This is Secretary Fig on roll call vote, please. >> Mr. Yes.
>> Mrs. Shabs, >> yes. >> Mr. Palowski, >> yes. >> Mrs. Fagan votes yes. >> Miss Santos, >> yes. >> Mr. Laura, >> yes. >> And Dr. Dlo, >> yes. Motion carries. Congratulations.
>> Good job. >> Next item, we have the action item update. Superintendent has a quick update for us. >> Actually, I have two quick updates. So, um, we'll amend, uh, 12722 to, uh, remind the board that, uh, we will be meeting with the newly elected
city council members in 2026. So, I need to update the status. And, uh, good news, I heard from Peter Buffington, who is the president of the Taton Girls Softball League. Uh, they are actually going to be receiving a donation for defibrillators uh, from South Coast Health. So, but,
uh, we'll keep it on the agenda item until he has them in hand. They're just waiting on the specific model and then receive. >> Great. Excellent. Uh next up we have press time. Press in the audience. Any questions? No. None. And before we sign off, uh happy holidays to our families,
our students at home, to all our members here at the uh table, go home, hug them, kiss them, and wish them all a good night. >> And one other thing, Dr. Dlo, yes. We're so thankful that any student that was a taught high school student or had a
parent there that was, you know, their children were there at Brown University. We are forever thankful that all our students were okay. >> And last but not least, uh we have a partying of our committee member, Mr.
Enus. >> We have we have two first class tickets to Florida for you. Okay. compliments to Superintendent Cabraw and his team and his team and uh we want to say thank you so much Mr. Reinus we wish you were
coming back uh but I know you have bigger and better plans. >> I do and I have enjoyed my time in the school committee for the last four years. What I will say is just remember one thing just be nice be respectful of everyone's opinion. This is not a fight
it's we work as a team. So that's my ending. >> Thank you Gail. Thank you Gail. Please have your phone on all the time just in case we need to call you. Okay. >> Anytime. >> Thank you so much. >> Photo for the road. >> Yes, we'll take a photo and uh uh motion to motion to adjourn. Be in order. Get
in the middle. You made a motion. Nate, >> I made a motion. >> All in favor? I Thank you. >> We are adjourned. Good night. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays.