welcome everyone to tonight's meeting of the North Middle Sex Regional School District It is February 6th 20125 It is 6:03 The meeting is being recorded The next regular meeting of the North Middle Sex Regional School
District will be Wednesday February 26 2025 in attendance tonight And I'll take a roll call vote We have Randy Roush here Lisa Bloom Uh Patrick McFillips I here
June McNeel here Tom Casey William Hackler here Uh and Jill Twig here William Berg He's here I didn't hear a here but
And myself He's here Sorry And then we also have Brad Morgan superintendent Nancy Haynes here Gary Reese Dr Reese
and Robin Ivy All right Tonight um we have two public hearings I'm going to explain first what the public hearing is The public hearing is an input of from a
or let's start that again to gather public input on a specific proposal before a decision is made by a governing body Tonight we will have two public hearings We will have one about school choice and we will have one about the
202526 North Middle Sex Regional School District budget The format will be Superintendent Morgan will do his presentation on the two proposals and all interesting interested parties shall be given the opportunity
to voice their concerns First we will start with comments from the committee members and town officials and then we will go to the public The public will start with the pre-registered citizens who pre-registered and then I will ask audience members if they would like to
speak and then we will follow up with the citizens that supplied written statements Questions are allowed during the public hearing but they are to gain clarification aspects of the proposal Votes pertaining to the
proposals will not be taken during public hearing I ask that everyone be respectful of each other's time and of each other Please also be patient with our technology as when we ask you to speak it may take some time for you to
be brought into the presentation All right Now I am going to take a motion to open the public hearing for school choice for the year 2025 2026 according to chapter 76 section B of the
Massachusetts general laws So moved That was Will Hackler Second And I have a second by June McNeel All right Randy Roush Yes Lisa
Bloom Yes June McNeel Will Hackler yes William Berg yes Patrick McFillips yes Tom Casey yes Bill
Twig yes And myself yes The public hearing is now open I will hand it over to Superintendent Morgan and he will give a presentation and an explanation of what
school choice is Okay can everyone hear me okay so school choice uh basically allows students from outside the district if there is space to come into the district and the district receives
$5,000 um from the sending district Um so if they reside outside of our three borders in the past couple years we have not um we have not um gone with school choice just because it really does not match up to the per pupil cost and it
has been used historically to fill classrooms where we're currently at a point where next year's budget is in flux I am recommending that we not have school choice next year The benefit of a no vote at this point is that we can change um at any point in the spring and
go back and allow for school choice A yes vote locks you in and you cannot change from yes to no but the no you can change to yes So at this point again where the budget is um still up in the air We're not sure of what direction
we're going in with regard to buildings We're not sure what class size is going to be like I am recommending to the committee that we not move forward with school choice at this point in time Any questions from anyone on the committee
randy um I completely understand and agree for next year Um I would like in the ne within the next year to have um an analysis done on the uh choice that we've had in the district to see whether it's actually worthwhile to think about
in the future should we have room Um we we definitely had choice in our district for many many years that we can pull some information just to see if uh getting that money actually helped us out or not It would be a very interesting thing to do that if we have some room and because we've had one you
know one space in this class one space in that class uh over the years and if we can bring in a few students and it actually benefits us financially um it'd be good to know that for the future Sure we can do that Anyone
else Patrick yeah I I understand that you said that it it you know $5,000 is clearly less than the cost per student I mean those costs cover the overhead you know and etc of every building Does does it actually cost if
we bring in a student another $5,000 more than I should say $5,000 for that student because I mean the teachers paid for the building's paid for what are what are the actual costs there versus like is there profit made or or does that help so it it it's really
totally dependent on on a couple of issues First and foremost and this is something that was happening previously um is that if you end up say with a class of um 28 students and a school
takes in an additional two historically the class has then been broken up into two classes and an additional teacher was hired Um so you have to make sure that if you are bringing school choice students in that it's going to pay for the additional staffing The other piece is is is that when students apply for
school choice um you don't get to pick and choose the students It's it is based essentially on first come first serve And what you don't know is whether or not that student is coming into the district with needs Okay Um so you could have a student with a district gets
$5,000 and you know in a year or two we may have to place the student out of district Um and that is going to cost uh far more than the $5,000 that the district is taking in But once it's school choice um the they they're part of the North Middle Sex community at
that point Okay Thank you Mhm Randy uh just a little known fact that I just learned this year um just so everyone knows is we get 5,000 per student If that student has an IEP um all of that information does get reported back to um
dees and there is an adder for if they have do have needs and they are covered just like any other student for out of district uh placements Um so the extra money we get for that does come in which is why I asked for uh an analysis uh to see whether it truly is covering our
costs um and whether it's worthwhile for the district We should have enough information um from the years that we can do that analysis now And unless I'm wrong Nancy correct me on this Um if the student does come with needs is that circuit breaker money that we would be
awarded uh we actually do have a sped increment um submission that we would submit for the students um like out of district costs or um other you know things that are
related to their IEP So we can request uh through the school choice process for those to be reimbursed And what about in district programming i think that's a little more difficult Um again usually it's you know I think I think you don't
capture all those costs when you're doing that but everything that you're able to capture um you can submit for reimbursement on them So I think the issue is whether you you tip over the the um number of students in a
classroom to that's a bigger issue right and and then that student stays with the district all the way through middle school to potentially high school right um so I think it may not happen the classroom they're in currently It's possible it happens when they get to say seventh grade or something like that
where the the number of students hit the threshold and require some additional teaching Right Any more questions from the committee all right And I see we do have one hand
raised from the audience Cassie I'm looking for you You're all set I I allowed them Oh you got it Okay Thank you All right Kathy just state your name and your um Can you hear me address please Yes Okay Uh Kathy
Bolis Ericson Road Ashby Um I have two questions First is if we prohibit students um opting to come into the district does that then also um mean that we can't that our students
can't opt out to go to other schools no It's not a reciprocal thing No Every district has it has the ability to opt in or out of school choice as a public school Okay Okay So our students could still go
elsewhere Yes Okay Um secondly um how would this impact how we use the school choice revolving fund we would not have money coming in other than the students that are currently in school choice right we would potentially
have to use some of that money um and spend it out if we had students leaving Correct Nancy do you want to explain how it works when as a student choices out how it's funded uh we don't The school
choice revolving fund is separate from what we're charged for our students that are choicing out of district So they're not in one bucket if that makes sense Okay We actually get an assessment for those students which is in the budget
It's right down towards the very end of the budget a school choice assessment Okay All right and the revolving the the money's coming in going to a revolving fund The school school committee can uh use those funds for you know educational
purposes for the school district related Yeah Okay Thank you Sure All right Um I have an em that has raised some
They should be all set Okay thank you Hi can you can you hear me yeah just state your name and your address please Hi my name's Aaron Miner 168 Warren Road in Towns End Um is there a cap to how many students like does the does the town
have any control over how many students can opt out you know when they're if they're applying for school choice which with the condition of the district I'm guessing is going to be a bigger concern at this point No we don't have any control over
students opting out for school choice Okay So if a large amount opted out would that still be covered by the budget line item for the kids that are going to be leaving nancy do you want to take that or do you want me to um so during the year if
students just if more students opt out than we're anticipating um or than what they were projecting right now actually that's part of the um the assessment um that those numbers can change They can be adjusted and it's usually based on the final actual enrollments in those
schools But the gating item for people opting to attend another school would be that there has to be room and they have to have an um school choice um hearing and allow school choice students come in if that makes sense It does Yeah And I
know like Swallow Union has a pretty high application rate already Um but other towns I is it correct that a town employee has um has some advantage when they go into another town so if say we had a somebody who didn't live in town
here in towns and and it was a town employees child do they get any preference coming into North Middle Sex are you are you speaking say of a teacher a teacher a firefighter a police officer or something like that so um
teachers we have in the past allowed students to come in if there is room Um again we're not putting ourselves in a situation where um where we're going to um have to hire another teacher or additional staff but if there is room we
have allowed for it in the past just because um the teaching profession has become so competitive and teachers are so hard to find that we do try to make it um possible for them Again if there is space the problem with that is is that if we do not take if we do not vote
school choice in that year the district does not receive the $5,000 Mhm Okay Okay Thank you Appreciate it You're welcome Thank you Anyone else from the audience
is it over what i have Pat What pat should be all set Okay thank you All right Pat just say your name and your address please
Not unmuted yet Okay there we go My question is pretty basic Once they opt out to go to community choice meaning to another can they come back in the middle of the school year and then we have to put more money out or do we still have to fulfill that obligation to the other school district and still let them back
are they also allowed to stay come back the following year also so what you might have is you might have an individual that might have taken ch school choice to another location and then they didn't like the commute so they stayed back They came back But then we've already made an obligation to that of the school district And how do we
handle those funds cuz it's going to be this is going to be a flip-flop for a while until people get that under control Then the last thing is are they allowed to um do they have to stay in it the whole all the way up to the 12th grade once they make that school choice
that's it for me So Nancy I'm going to need help with with just a part of this question I believe uh school choice students can come back at any point Um the issue is that after October 1st the district is not that student is not counted when it
comes to um the per pupil cost So we don't get any credit for that student returning Um so Nancy I'm not sure what happens to the 5K Yep Yep So what happens is in April uh we sh up the numbers Essentially we report to this um
DESIE how many students are choicing into our district when they started choicing in by date and when they've left by date So that somebody could come in for the beginning of the year and then leave or come back That's that's fine And they don't have to stay through
um a certain grade or 12th grade So there is a shoring up process and then those numbers are adjusted at the end of the year Does that answer your questions Pat uh yes Thank you Thank you All right And there is another
Amy should be okay to talk All right Amy just state your name and your address please Hey it's Amy Kaday 172 Pierce Road Um question If you have a a student who's not yet registered in
North Middle Sex and you choose to have or you apply to school choice them out of district does the town still pay the 5,000 towards that other district even though they're not in the like registered yet
um I if they're not registered yet I I don't believe so Uh because they'd have to accept the student in through school choice I mean registered at North Middle Sex So they registered it Go ahead Yeah So
like if Go ahead Yeah So when you reg when the child registers in another district they would report that student Um and if they were a school choice student they would report it Um and then like I said in April if that student
came back we we would report it So it just depends on where the student is any given day up through April Basically that um would adjust those school choice funds coming in or going out
Okay Thank you Thank you Amy Um anyone else all right I see no one else I will take a motion to close our meeting our hearing our public hearing on school
choice So move Second And Randy is a second Randy yes June McNeel yes Will Hackler yes William
Berg yes Patrick McFillips yes Tom Casey yes Lisa Bloom yes And Jill is having difficulty I believe
we're trying to get her back on Hold on I'll see if I can see her I didn't I I can't see her Um Pat McI can I ask you to drop and join back in because I think I have you promoted
as a panelist I I can change it Can you change it okay Thank you Robin All right Now we are moving on to the public hearing for the FY26 proposed budget Do I have a motion to open the
public hearing for the FY226 proposed budget so moved Will Hackler second and second by June McNam All right Um I will allow Superintendent
Morgan Oh sorry Need to take a roll call Sorry I'm sorry Lisa I I was doing That's okay I have to take roll call I have to take roll call So we'll open I'm sorry I didn't hear the the motion
Are you taking a vote on to to opt out of school choice or are you closing we closed it You closed But now what's this motion are you voting on the school choice to opt out that's usually what we've done in the
past you have the vote um to opt out of um the district opt out of participation in the school choice program and not enroll in school choice students for the 2526 school year due to budget restraints and space ability availability as usually Chair I move
that we opt out of school choice for the 2025 2026 school year Second Thank you Okay Thank you So that was William Hackler and Patrick McFillips So this is to opt
out I jumped forward on my sheet Sorry everyone Teamwork All right Thank you This is to opt out of the school choice for 2025 2026 school choice Randy Roush Yes June
McNam Yes Will Hackler yes William Bird Yes Tom Casey Yes Lisa Bloom Yes
And myself Yes Is someone missing just Jill All right Now I have to go back to the motion that we had to open open the public hearing open the public hearing which I have a motion on the floor by
that was will and all right call Randy Rous yes June McNeel yes Will Hackler yes William Berg yes Tom Casey
Yes Lisa Bloom Yes Patrick McFillips Yes And myself Yes So now we are open to the public hearing on the proposed budget I am going to hand control over
to Brad and Nancy Thank you Just waiting for the uh slides to pop up Okay thank you I am going to read through the slides because I know we have several people that may just be listening via phone or on their computer So I will just read through them just to
clarify um so that if you're not watching you are able to see them But with regard to FY26 as with every year it's a superintendent's job to advance our mission with a budget that provides the people programs and appropriate facilities supports energize instruction
and engage learning pushes innovation in all aspects of the school experience and remains aligned with our core values The timeline for this budget was that we began meeting with town administration in August and we had follow-up meetings in October November
and December We requested budgets from our departments uh by November 15th The governor's budget proposal was released with MLC the minimum local contribution and the foundation enrollment on January 22nd Public hearing is tonight Uh school
committee budget adoption I believe has been scheduled for February 26th so in a few weeks And then finally the potential for special town meetings on March 10th Potential budget adjustments with regular and special education transportation with the potential of
buildings closing all transportation needs are being reviewed FY26 is in year two of the renewal contract for transportation services Unemployment cost increases uh those are pending final reductions that may be needed Retirey health insurance through the GIC
assessment is available and came in much higher than anticipated Uh staffing needs The district has some positions that we have been unable to hire for They've been filled with more expensive contracted services There are a number of positions that may be hired or
contracted In addition the number of students in each grades and the consolidation of Ashby and Townson grades may impact staffing Enrollments Our actual numbers are fluid Uh the projected K enrollment we never really know for sure until the first uh first
couple weeks of school That's a moving target homeschool returns Um home we did have several students return from homeschooling this year Um and then we have moveins uh over the course of this year and over the summer and uh department of children and family
placements in the district as well which could increase our numbers Special education tuition uh the increase in the number of referrals for evaluations and eligibility This is something that has um gone up over the course year Over the past year it's been
uh particularly at the lower levels It has gone up for students impacted by the interrupted and incomplete learning due to the pandemic That is something that all school districts are still dealing with and out of district tuition rates for FY26 are not available yet but as
you may have heard last year those did increase by 14% Our property and workers compensation insurance are estimated to increase by 10% Our elementary school enrollment levels especially the kindergarten again that's not something that we are um fully aware of until the
end of the summer and the legislature makes revenue changes uh for instance increases in transportation reimbursement chapter 70 or other funding ongoing staffing drivers that impact the budget new students federal and state
mandates the influx of prek students who are special education eligible the increase in special in our special education population out of district placement transportation and social emotional student needs and multilingual needs I have basically um had the
district responding by hiring additional counseling staff to support our students hiring English language teachers uh which is a desi mandate Those are the multil- language teachers that we have in the district Hiring additional special education teachers par profofessionals behavior techs and
service providers to support our students and maintain compliance with individualized education plans or IEPs The result is an increase in mandated staff which ultimately means that if the district does have to make cuts we are
making those cuts uh to general education content teachers as opposed to um other areas Cutting in special ed is not something that we can do Cutting in multilingual is not something that we can do per state and federal mandates If
you look at our per pupil costs we are still um below the state average by just over $1,500 per student Uh you look at some of the comparable districts um that North Middle Sex has been compared to in the past and that is how we measure up
with many of those districts Now state average is again just over 21,000 per student Initially the budget we were looking at to provide level services so not level funded I just want to be clear on that Our level service budget initially was
at 5.58% or a $1.6 million increase We have reduced that to 3.16 So we have made about $1.6 million in reductions Um it's an increase in over $2 million for
FY26 and it results in a reduction of 10.36 staff members over FY26 which means a total of 440.6 full-time equivalencies in the FY26 general fund budget The reduction
of one building is also included in this budget Nancy do you want to take this one yeah Am I Am I on mute still no you're good Okay great Uh so the as Brad mentioned the
3.16 budget increases in these following areas Um and on the left are increases to the budget and on the right are decreases that have happened uh for the projected FY26 budget Uh the vast uh majority of the increases relate to
either outofd district tuitions or salaries and benefits So 2.77 of a 3.16 increase our salary Out of district tuitions are 1.75 Uh transportation's going up uh uh
is 888% of the 316 supplies substitutes athletics classroom changes other lines are increasing 1.16 Our middle sex retirement assessment is increasing uh.16 And on the right hand side um
things that have been reduced from FY25 we reduced capital funds and our stabilization transfer So we reduced that as 29 We reduced curriculum and technology lines 30 We with the building closure um being
presented facilities and utilities reductions of.36 um an additional $400,000 due to the building consolidation of 61 Uh our debt service is lower um at minus.1 or83 and
our charter and choice assessments are lower also at negative.17 Thanks Nancy So in looking at the reductions how do we get from a 5.58% level service budget to 3.16 and I do just want to be clear that these numbers
have been rounded Um so just to make it easier to read Um so in some cases it may be a little more a little less And the total reductions made it's listed at 1.6 but it's really 1.5 and change Okay so we are just using round numbers here
Uh so generally speaking um we would be reducing our capital repair fund by $94,000 Capital repair would go into any type of upgrades that the building may need any of the buildings may need So we'd be cutting that by
$94,000 Reducing uh technology and curriculum lines that's $160,000 um eliminating our transfer to capital stabilization Again our ability to maintain buildings by um the $250,000 that we always target to put in we'd be
taking that out alto together Closing one building um would result in a $4 to $600,000 savings That's dependent on what building um ends up being closed as part of this um budget proposal In addition that closing of building would
lead to staff consolidation Again depending upon if it's a close to $400,000 building or $600,000 building that would determine um the staffing that we would need to reduce whether it be four or $600,000 So if we close a building that's $400,000 we would have
to cut staff by $600,000 through consolidation Vice versa if we close a building that's $600,000 we would have to cut staff by $400,000 Um we we have also seen um also a
savings there in um in homeless um retiree insurance debt service savings and choice and charter school assessment So in total this brings a savings to $1.6 million Again this is no longer a level service budget and the impact is that it would reduce and eliminate
funding required to support our lengthy lists of capital needs making our ability to stay current with technology more challenging and the loss of important supplemental curriculum and instruction and assessment programming So they are all cuts that the district
would feel Um and when you're looking at things such as class size it wouldn't necessarily have a large impact on class size At this point it would lead to more equitable class sizes across the district through the closure of a building but in some cases we already
have some high class sizes I just want to put that out there The impact of cuts to reduce again as I as I already went over the total reduction of $2.19 million would provide the towns
with a 3% excuse me I'm sorry I I jumped ahead Over the summer uh the towns had reached out and requested that we um that they not receive assessments north of 3% So a 3% increase
In order to make that happen we would actually have to have um a negative increase over this year's current budget um to so to get us to zero um or to get us to a 3% town assessment option one
would be to make budget reductions which would be 27 additional staff members reducing a second building or or reducing a second building in 23 staff So it would be 27 staff or closing a
second building in 23 staff The second option would be the hope that we get increased funding from the state increased funding from the town or increased funding from the taxpayers through a prop 2 and a half override So that that is the situation that we are
in in order to get to zero and um a budget that would satisfy what the towns had asked us for initially back in back in the summer or late spring We would be looking at making significant cuts Um
and quite frankly our our class sizes without option two if we we did have to follow through with option one our class sizes would go significantly um would become significantly high would be well north of 30 per class in K
to8 and we would likely see as we'll explain later some additional consequences of having to make those types of cuts but I will get into that a little later in the presentation Staffing changes for FY 2026 Um we have
had to add therapeutic and medical staff Um speech and language pathologists uh 1.6 staff members par professional staff 1.31 and again uh this would be for FY26 not this current year And then
reductions would be the potential of and this is closing a building uh quite honestly uh it would be a building that would be in the $600,000 range having to reduce um seven uh teaching positions um 1.37 um other teaching positions of
specialist adjustments and then 4.7 uh custodial or um other positions in the district as well as a loss of.2 2 FTE um nurses in the district So it would be a loss of 10.36 positions and that is again if a
building of $600,000 is closed If it's flipped to a um a building that's not as much the reduction would be higher Fair to say Nancy Um any questions at this point am I Am I being clear is everyone
Okay we can go on to historical enrollment projections Nancy go ahead So th this uh this chart um certainly you can just take a visual look from 2016 to 2026 what the district the top line is the district total enrollment changes
and the orange top line is PRO's enrollment The green is towns and the blue is Ashby down on the bottom the actual enrollment for 2026 uh decreased by 104 students Um that is uh
a reduction of.11% in the district for Ashb a44% increase for pepro and a.33% decrease for towns Um you can certainly see see the the overall
percentages Uh this leaves Ashb at a 13% of the district Um papil 48.6 68% and towns in at 38.32 for FY26 calculations Uh we're sharing um each year we do a report uh we send our
October numbers to NASDAQ which is an organization that can run this future and um different scenarios on our enrollment And this is just a chart that they provided us after giving them our enrollments this year this past October
Uh it goes from 2025 the fiscal year 25 all the way to fiscal year 35 is their projection So we can see that it's fairly flat Um it has uh the the actual reports are available on the district budget
website and they break out by town the enrollments and um it's kind of interesting to look at it that way if anyone has time and wants to dig into that data So the budget um has a number of sources of revenue Uh the the first one that we look at is the state aid which is has
three three areas that we um receive from the state Chapter 70 and chapter 71 which is our transportation reimbursement and our charter reimbursement charter school reimbursement Um this year the governor's proposal has a $75 per
student um increase for chapter 70 So that's a 1.06% increase over FY25 Um the chapter 71 transportation gets sometimes we see changes in that depending on um what the legislature does Uh that could change Um but this is
the proposed number that's in the budget right now And our um we had a year where we were in we had no increase in our transportation costs because it was our fifth year of the contract We had a 0% So it is based on
the cost of the transportation contract as we've spent it the prior year So that's partly why that is going down And then the between the charter and the transportation um the state aid section of the revenue is going up
0.48% Or less than 1% on the bottom half of this chart the district revenue We we use typically some END to help uh offset the budget and this and last year we ended up voting the entire END of
2,674 which is right um um in that green column um in the blue column 1 million87226 is what we were certified for for the result of our FY24 activity and that's what's available to use for the FY26 budget Uh so we see a reduction
of $800,000 from END just due to the fact that that changed our Medicaid um we're increasing slightly These are reimbursements we get for submission of services for students We're anticipating utilizing 450,000 in
school choice and increase and we increased our investment income as well But overall the revenue is down 754,874 The last component for the revenue sources are are what what are assessed to the member towns and that's
broken up into different areas um the state um allocates something called a minimum contribution minimum local contribution which is based on a number of factors and I can um I have another slide for that a little bit later but essentially they they give us those
numbers as part of the governor's proposal um and there's an above minimum contribution which is the portion of our district budget that is over the contribution minimum contribution and resulting in the total operating assessment this operating assessment
gets um combined with or usually usually the way looked at from the towns is it gets combined with the transportation assessment So I've just um if you take a look at transportation it's going up significantly and it's gone from um up
almost 20% 19.15 And that's partly due to um increases in cost in the contracts for the transportation but also due to ridership especially on the special education side And we're continuing to look at that because um those do those
those can change over time But but at this moment this is our safe um number And then we obviously subtract from our transportation costs the portion that the state gives us up that we mentioned in the very first uh revenue slide Um so
combined with the transportation and that operating calculation and it does get a little complicated but the lo total local revenue is um going up is is an increase for the member towns of an average of 9.13 and those um differences in
enrollment and differences in minimum local contribution are why those why that's not even between the two the three towns the 9.13 is showing that here Um and I think we already covered this on the prior slides but um to get to where we
the towns would have would prefer to have a a 3.0 assessment 3% assessment would be 2.19 million um or increased revenues Um so in the I don't know if how much detail I need to go in here but the
foundation budget that the state provides um has been changed over times um through the student opportunity act they do change um like the uh they look at our where we are located for wages sometimes wages could be higher in
certain areas of the state they apply an inflation percentage to the overall budget so that they accounting for the inflation it's 1.93% % for FY26 There's a number of there's a number of assumptions and calculations that are adders to our number and those
are the areas where the student opportunity act has um has added So for instance special education students is 3.97% Um or for our numbers 118 students but in actuality our number of students
that are in special education services 686 So you can see that that's making progress towards um assisting with those costs but not fully covering obviously um our out of district students um in the calculation for the foundation
budget is at a 1% calculation of our of students or 30 students for North Middle Sex and our out of districts are currently approximately 74 Um in addition to this the um foundation budget again the foundation
budget is sort of like the minimum um threshold of spending for stu for schools um we're we are obviously above that where most districts in the state are above that So it it becomes um sort of part portion of the calculation not the entire
calculation Um other things that contribute to um the chapter 70 calculation is the local contribution and they look at a town's property values um the income in the of the residents um and a municipal growth
factor So municipal growth factors are uh essentially the some of the local receipt changes So if a town has a lot of cars purchased that might impact their municipal growth factor and that's set by de um department of local
services Uh I mentioned earlier we were using excess and deficiency or END This is this is the essentially like free cash for our school district And this is a historical chart of what we've been certified for END and how much has been
used for the subsequent year's budget And uh you'll see the the last couple years we've been using 100% of the excess and deficiency to offset the budget Um I did include a slide that shows what we're projecting for 2026 enrollment
based on buildings and uh this particular budget proposal is is assum assuming a closure of one building which I we've represented with Spalding here Um and that uh kindergarten grade and grade 1 would be at Ashville Elementary
for 205 students Varnbrook would have be K through 4 as they are now 559 Author Brook would be 5 through 8 48 Nissatis um 5 through 8 at um 518 and
the high school 646 Um Squanuk would be Ashby Towns and um grades 2 through 4 plus prek so 452 Um and then I'm just listing out of districts and special
placements Brad I don't know if you want to weigh in at all on this slide or keep going I'm good right now Thank you So some of the challenges um is looking at we we try to look at the uh impact of
class size Um and right now until we're sure where everything's going to land it's hard to predict the class sizes at the elementary level Um but the middle school um these are average class sizes for Hawthorne Brook at the top Um grade five a 19.33 average class size for next
year Grade 6 a 17.83 Grade 7 28 grade 8 28.25 The statistic uh average class sizes grade five 28.4 grade 6
25.2 grade 7 21.17 and grade 8 20.5 high school enrollment We do usually look at the students in grade eight and then adjust because um every year a certain percentage of students um leave uh the district maybe they go to uh
vocational school or uh charter school or or something So we do encap we have incorporated that possibility in these numbers but the projected for next year for 2026 is 646 So overall the budget summary we're
we would be increasing from FY25 to FY26 3.16% or 68 million 176 for 23 um reduction of 10.36 FTEES over FY25 and then FY26 appropriation
categories the bulk of the cost of the district are instructional support which is teachers um anyone working instruction Um in addition to that if you add the 44% for instructional support you'll see insurance retirement at 18% And uh between the two you're
you're well over 60% of the budget is is staffing related We have 8% pupil services Pupil services are um transportation and nursing and um things associated with that We have operations and maintenance
at 7% debt service at 5% Our out of district placements and and the state assessments 15% Uh we can see the reduction from the stabilization fund going that it's just under it's under 1% for other post-employment trust fund
transfer and then administration at 3% Thanks Nancy Uh so just in closing the FY2026 spending proposal for North Middle Sex represents our best e effort to continue and mind you it is with reductions a strong educational agenda
in a challenging fiscal environment Continued examination of our priorities and beliefs and at a time when we're conduct where where we are contending with costs of serving our students and families at a level that North Middle Sex Regional School District demands of its public school system And I talked
earlier about the potential impact of having to make reductions beyond what we've presented tonight We would be looking at large class sizes in K to8 making instruction and management extremely challenging with both the
number and diversity of learners the loss of experienced staff who during a national educator shortage will move to districts that do not face the challenges of a small regional district which will impact our ability to fill those vacant positions An increase in fees for
extracurriculars at the middle and high school level Continued loss of students who take advantage of better opportunities elsewhere the loss of key curriculum instruction and assessment programming which will impact student equitable access to essential highquality
instructional materials resources and supports The inability to keep up with our lengthy list of capital and technology needs and multiple building closures could handcuff the district if there is residential growth that does not line up with the NASDAQ projections
And again this is what could happen if we have to cut beyond the 3.15 So it it is not um certainly not a a good story or a good outlook And we can go to the last slide And it's on a positive note I can
say that as superintendent I am very proud of the committed and energetic staff we have here in NM our building and grounds office staff par professionals counselors teachers nurses and our building and central office administration I'm proud to be part of
such a fantastic group of individuals It's truly the best and most dedicated group I've ever been a part of It is this group that gave our most important assets our students the knowledge and skills to be successful both in and outside of our school walls What is
clear from both our school community and community is that everyone everyone on this call tonight everyone that's participating in the meeting is passionate and supportive of our schools Everyone wants what's best for our students but as we know there are different paths to achieve our goals
What is most important is that we work together to determine the best avenue forward Thank you Thank you Superintendent Morgan and Nancy Haynes I am going to ask if there are any town officials on the
call that want to join in at a joint meeting Would they please raise their hands i'm going to ask the others to lower their hands until we're done with the the towns Is that okay thank you
Yeah Just let me know who you want and I will Yep You can um we can promote them all there They all Mary should be all set Andrews should be all set Nelson and the Slugwood Chambers All
right I'm going to ask if any of them have to open their meeting because of who has joined the call Purple does not Okay Thank you Andrew Select board chambers
Um the fifth one open Um we can Yeah Um this is the Towns and Finance Committee Um calling the meeting to order at 6:58 p.m Um everybody is here in the room I don't
see anybody in our team online So uh we'll still do roll call attendance Carolyn Bazik is here Mary Jane Churchville here Carol Hoff is present Don Hayes present That is a quorum So we
are good to go So we we don't have any additions or deletions to our agenda And so we're having the the joint meeting with um North Middle Sex uh school committee and the select the towns and select
board We are called to order Thank you Mary did you have to call any boards to order um I can't see if any of all of my board members are here so I'd leave that to Dave Nato Okay Dave
Hi Thanks Lisa Can you hear me i can hear you I don't know if Mr Lee or Miss Kalen are on If you could tell me they're on then we would have to call it I think we're all at separate locations Jessica Ken is on Okay So we will have
to open the meeting So I open the board of slants meeting at 7 p.m with uh at least myself and Miss Ken present All right So we have their boards open and Pepper is okay All
right Any questions from the committee members or from the people of the different select boards that have been opened or finance committee from Townsen nelson you're having our hand up Yes Uh
we need to call um the Towns and Select Board U meeting to order Um Veronica and um Lori are you on the call i I think she has gone to the MRPC meeting Lori has gone to MRPC Uh this is
Veronica Cal I'm present but okay we don't have enough for a quorum then on so we don't have a qu correct okay but then your select board does not have to be called Nelson
we are good all right yep we're good thank you thank you Nelson um Andrew uh thank you Lisa I was a little confused by your instructions are you going to call us out to speak individually because the You said it I
thought everybody would start speaking at once Well I will call you out individually Okay You raise your hand All right But your hand is up Andrew My hand is up So are you ready for comment i You can go ahead and comment You're f You're the first hand up I appreciate
that Go ahead Um so first I want to say uh thank you to the uh superintendent and his staff uh for this presentation and I've been working closely with them for several years and in particular this year and I know it is a incredibly complex uh problem that we're trying to
solve together Um and uh I don't have any uh any real comments or or questions uh to add to this conversation And I just wanted the community to hear that uh at least on behalf of PEPL Um I am I
am happy with the effort that the school has put into uh keeping this budget as tight as possible Thank you Andrew Anyone else or any questions from the school committee
mary Dry if I'm going to say that right from Dory thank you Um uh I'd like to echo Andrews from Peril and I thank uh Superintendent Morgan for this presentation this evening Um Nancy Haynes the business manager and all the school committee Um I first off um I
know you dove into the numbers and and broke them out between Peral Towns and Ashby Um the only thing I wasn't clear on I didn't see the number for the debt service what that breakdown would be So I'm just looking for what the true cost would be to Ash because that assessment
and the transportation I think it's just missing that last debt service that would be assessed to the towns Nancy Yeah And the debt service is um on the we have that all the documents posted in their entirety including the
revenue sheet which has the debt service We're still waiting for the final um ban uh interest calculations Um this is our best guess right now but that might change slightly I know that you had
I'm sorry I know you had all the assessments broken out I was just curious as to why that wasn't maybe included in the slideshow Yeah just well because most of most of the time they're look the towns are usually looking for the um the not excluded the debt service is completely
excluded but yeah we can add it and um when we post the slides that's not a problem Yeah but it is posted So okay it's just not I just wanted you to be aware it might change So y and the and the budget numbers could change conceivably too until the school committee will adopt
their budget not until was it February 26th for the Yeah cuz you know as as the towns are facing the same increases and whatnot we're trying to iron out our budget as we have to present to our board and then to our people by May the first uh
Saturday in May So I appreciate that and again I appreciate all the efforts Thank you Thank you Mary Um Nelson hi Good evening I also would like to um you know um mirror what um Andrew and
Mary um you know um and thank the uh the school committee for all the work you've done um you know Superintendent Morgan as well as Nancy Haynes for all the hard work that you've done to create this budget So um my hats off to you guys
Thank you Nelson Uh the select board chambers Um this is I'm assuming this is you're asking us Um this is Veronica Cal Townson Select Board Um my question is given that the budget will not be
adopted until February 26th Um is the is is it possible that there's any change to the building that's being closed or is it solid that that Spalding is the school that's going to be closed how
definite is that is my first question Um nothing is definite on this budget until it is adopted Is that the way that I should phrase this randy you've been on the committee longer than I have been
Really wow Uh yes Um basically at this point this is uh the administration is putting forth the budget um that they feel that the school uh the school district needs and um asking basically asking for the
support of the school committee Um but the school committee has not voted and um I would say this year in particular um there are a lot of different different views about what needs to happen and we have not ironed that out
yet So nothing is definite until we vote All right Because there are other considerations that towns and has to um consider there are other considerations for towns and if in fact we have an empty building And so the sooner we
know what um what you guys are doing as far as the buildings go the sooner we can start to address things that we might need to con take into consideration in our general government budget given
uh what you're doing That is understood Miss Kels as we would all like to come to a consensus and give you a budget and move it forward as quickly as possible Any more questions from the select board chambers
any I I guess my next question is um has any consideration been given to a budget five years out for example or even one year out um so if we we did vote as I believe all the select boards in the
towns did to uh have a special town meeting regarding an override question on March 10th Um I I am hopeful that we are not in the pattern where every year
we are asking for an override in order to make the school budgets Um so I guess has any consideration been given or any projections been made going out further than you know March 10th or
whatever February 26th I'm going to hand this to Will Heckler as he is a finance chair Will I could probably help you with this great Thank you Unless you want to speak and they want to take it from you
We uh just from my perspective we do keep a five-year projection uh worksheet Um a lot of the numbers in there until I have 26 finalized I can't really roll it forward but we do project Um we need to look at some of those assumptions
um a little further but we do have that document ready to go with uh the review of you know whatever assumptions people would like to look at You know if we get E and D that's level what this is what it might look like If the towns have a 3% for the next 5 years what does that
look like so it's kind of like a what if um 5-year projection And again that takes um knowing where where we're going to settle I think first but we could look at a scenario based on this budget also for the finance committee Well that
would be helpful So you could provide those scenario budgets to us then Yeah And that and that won't tell you you know any particular town whether they're going to be able to afford the the budget in that year It just will give us
a way to look at the revenue sources and make some assumptions going forward Okay Thank you Any more questions from the select board chambers no that was questions
I don't think nothing else Thank you very much Thank you And I'm gonna just put you guys on mute And then Randy you have a question Yeah I I had a question for Nancy I'm sitting
here thinking about um going forward in the question of um will we need a an override every year um correct me if I'm wrong Um but part of the money this year uh that hit that's
going to hit the towns is $800,000 that we spent in END that we don't have this year because we had less in our END So um next year that's $800,000 that are not is not going to come right off the top for what we need That's $800,000 of
an increase that we actually can have for some of the things in our budget that usually go up and for uh things that we can spend for the students without having to increase the town assessment next year So like basically this year um our budget can go up really
small amount because we had to add that $800,000 in So that won't carry over Does that make any sense it does I think part of the issue is trying to figure out where we're going to end this year because that number for next year would be based on where 25
will end and as you think we're all aware the numbers are have been challenging this year with special education and out of district placements especially transportation So they're all running way over uh what we were expecting this year So I'm going to be
continuing to watch it uh hoping we can close out at least what we closed out this year to the million eight if that that happens But we'll be talking more about it as we go for sure Okay But again that's one example of an assumption You're making an assumption
that we're going to close out at least what we closed out last year carry forward the million8 then there'd be no loss of that revenue or uh excess and deficiency There'll be no loss of that next year So theoretically that would be
certainly would be a good thing That's obviously you can see the real issue with that when you look at that revenue page of of um a one-time money um infusion Thank you
Any other questions from board members or the joint boards that have joined all right June McNeel Uh not a question just a a very quick comment I just wanted to thank Brad and
Gary and the admin team for their creative work on the budget and trying to find solutions that are most equitable for all three towns Um it's it's difficult because in our position
our goal should always be to be looking at what we can do to improve things for the students And due to the budget crisis we're in our goal has been to have essentially the the least of the
worst impact on the students It it's a very tough situation when instead of trying to make things better for them we're trying to have make things like the least possible bit worse for them
because our only option is to keep taking from the students And it's not fun for anybody on the committee and it's certainly not fun for the admin team either Um and it's it's something
that we're just going to have to really keep working together I'm thinking of all students to move forward But my hope is that with the advocacy of the general public that's listening in right now and putting some more pressure on the state
maybe at one point we won't be in this position Um but I just want to thank everybody for doing the best that they can in the position that we're in Thank you June Um I am going Oh okay
Dave Nato dropped his hand Patrick McFillips did you have your hand i dropped my hand as well At this time I don't think the question I was going to ask is pertinent All right All right Is everyone satisfied in the committee right now and we can open
it up to the public okay I'm going to move to the public comments and questions We're going to start with the people that had pre-registered I have a Caitlyn Marco Carl
Marcos Caitlyn if you would raise your hand we will allow you to join the call Caitlyn go ahead Just state your name and your address please Hi can you hear me we can hear you Okay Hi I'm Caitlyn Marcos 27 High Street in
Pil Um I'm speaking to you as a high school graduate of North Middle Sex a community member a taxpayer and my favorite role a second grade teacher at Spalding At NM we pride ourselves by saying we are NM which means that all of
our students in Ashb Townsen and Pepil should receive the same educational experience and opportunities If we go with the option to close Spalding and move our K-1 students to Ashby and our two through four students to Squanook this poses
some inequities within the district My hope is to keep Spalding a K through4 school But if we can't my hope is that we can move our staff and students to Squanakook and still remain a K through four school
One thing about keeping us as a K through4 model is that the teachers have opportunities to collaborate and vertical plan across RA to discuss discuss curriculum excuse me identify common learning goals and coordinate
lesson plans to ensure smooth progression of concepts At the elementary level each school has an instructional support team We call it ISST We tap into the expertise of the teachers from each grade level in order
to develop goals and monitor student progress academically and socially The majority of these students that we bring up um our K1 and 2 students If we aren't in the same building this will impact our ability to communicate and ensure
consistency for the next steps As many of you know transitions can be very challenging to some of our youngest learners and can directly impact their social emotional and academic success It's possible Townsen and Ashby students
could attend preschool at Squanakook then go to kindergarten and first grade at Ashb and then go back to Squanakook and attend second third and fourth grade at Squanakook They could transition up to three times before attending middle
school Students could face a temporary setback as they adjust to new routines expectations and environments The anxiety and stress associated with such changes can lead to a decline in their academic um
performance focus and motivation This poses inequity with the model in Peril as opposed to the model in Townsen in Ashb PEL students will have five years to develop rapport with counselors teachers admin and other staff members
before transitioning to a new building I urge you to reconsider closing Spalding and taking the time to think through this pivotal decision that directly impacts our youngest learners I understand that closing Spalding would
be a recurring savings each year but have you thought about the one-time cost it will create for the district to move an elementary school to move our playground to make the school that we're moving into elementary
friendly I value class sizes more than anything As a teacher I know the importance of a smaller class size I also value the teachers I work with They are amazing I don't want any cuts I just don't think splitting up our school and
breaking up our school community is worth the minimal amount of savings Thank you Thank you Kaitlyn Next we will have uh Debbie McMasters or McMaster
She should be all set Awesome Thank you Just state your name and address Debbie Debbie you're still muted Debbie are you on mute i'll try There you go I done it Okay Debbie McMaster 77 Holl Street
Pil I was saying "Dear school committee members and superintendent Morgan I'm a district resident taxpayer mother of two NM grads and a teacher at Spalding I would like now to read a letter to you from the members of Spalding staff As
many of you know Spalding was gifted and dedicated to the town in 1932 from Huntley and Roland Spalding brothers who built this school as a tribute to their parents A parade adorned the road in celebration as the school doors open with anticipation hope for all the students who walked through that day and
ever since Over the years many renovations have occurred always keeping in mind the importance of preserving the historic features of the school There's even a small meeting room as you enter with the original doors and a vintage pine chalkboard hanging on the wall from
one of the very first classrooms Spalding is more than a building It is part of the history part of towns history But aside from the very personal connection we all have to Spalding we feel it's vital to keep it open as a K4 school for many educational and logistic
reasons A K4 configuration at Spalding provides many benefits that have been found to be an important part in creating a sense of belonging engagement and care within our school Spalding is an anchor in the town and has been a driving force for creating a strong
family school and community partnership The closer a student lives to their school the more access parents have to the resources at that school and the more involved they become We are fortunate Spalding to have such a high level of parent involvement This has
allowed parents to become more engaged in their child's education It allows them to stay connected to one building for a longer period of time It's difficult for parents with children in multiple schools to attend conferences performances PTO meetings and volunteer
activities Having siblings in the same grade range attending the same school is so crucial It allows for easier transportation for children It also fosters social emotional support especially for our little ones It provides a sense of security and
predictability Kindergarten is a giant transition and often children will experience some separation anxiety from their family Having an older sibling in the same building offers comfort and encouragement during those challenging situations This year we had a little one
having a very hard time the first month of school missing his family quite a bit It was tough for him but we arranged for him to be able to see his sister in second grade for a few minutes every day It made a big difference and gave him confidence to get through the rest of
the day Spalding truly has a feeling of family where older students serve as role models for the younger ones All our younger students in kindergarten and grade 1 are paired with learning buddies from the upper grades creating a positive powerful experience for all
students Staying in one school from kindergarten through fourth grade allows students to build stronger relationships with teachers counselors support staff who better understand their needs and can provide a more consistent and supportive environment Finally if
keeping Spalding op open is not an option we really plead with the committee that you reconsider the option that would allow the grades K through four in Towns and to relocate to Squan Cookook altogether as a community school This would keep equity and consistency
in the district with the K4 school and all our three member towns Peril Ashby and Townsen Thank you very much Thank you Debbie All right next we have Roberta
Lashman Robera if you can raise your hand I do not June do you know Roberta it says she's from Ashby Uh yes I do know Roberta
Um I don't see her on the list Okay maybe circle back Okay we'll come back and see if she joins me Pat McI should be all set to talk All right So
just state your state your name and your address please uh Heywood we're in this again this year and we're talking about closing whether it's Balding or whether it's um Ashby Elementary or whether it's another school in the district What is
the guarantee you're not going to do it next year to us also i mean you're asking for us to sacrifice this year down to two grades What are you going to give us for a guarantee there is not a guarantee Pat We don't know where this budget lands
this year We certainly will not know where next year's budget or budgets will land But there's got to be a percentage because you we're always on the block with you guys A percentage There's got to be something that you got
to say because every year you're putting us on the block and you're causing these reaction by three towns And so you got to figure out something that's going to stop this Yes And a lot of it would help if the
state would fix the funding formula So Okay All right I just had to ask for at least a commitment and when that's that's all I wanted Thank you Okay Thank you Pat The next person on our list is Carrie Batters better slide Carrie if you would please raise
your hand No All right go ahead Carrie Please state your name and your address Hi this is Carrie Batterdsby I live at 391 Frost Road Ashby Thank you for letting me speak I
just wanted to touch on how grateful I was to hear that there were new proposals put out there by Brad Thank you Brad Morgan um that would keep Ashb Elementary open even if it's not K through 4 I mean obviously I would like things to stay the same but I obviously
understand that we are in a financial crisis Um with that being said I also want to touch on the fact that by keep by having those proposals put out there it made me breathe a little bit of a sigh of relief because as you all know Ashby is the only school
we have in our town Closing that school would devastate this community Um it is the hub of our community Um a lot of parents volunteer as you know I'm sure a lot of parents volunteer in both in all three towns Um but it would ruin property values Families would not move
here And I understand that we are a small community especially compared to towns in Peril and I understand that But I was really grateful to hear that we could possibly keep that school open Um I I have two kids I have one in
Hawthorne Brook sixth grade I have another one that is in first grade at Ashb Elementary I like the fact of keeping Townsen and Ashby together at an earlier age as it was a rough transition for my daughter going from K through 4 Ashb into Hawthorne Brook with Towns and
Kids I'm sure you know that that age group is can be a little rough and you know combining those two towns can be a little rough It was a little bit easier for my daughter because we do have Towns and Ashby sports but not every kid plays sports or does any of that kind of extracurricular activity So I liked the
fact that there would be some cohesion between Townsen and Ashby as we are already kind of intertwined with other things as well like Towns and Sport Towns and Ashb sports So with that being said I really just wanted to say how grateful I am and appreciative of all
the hard work that you guys are all putting into this Um and that is my piece Thank you very much Thank you Patrick Do you have a question sorry that was for um the last Pat that was on Just to say that until the state
fixes their funding formula for regional schools and until we do a better job in house with um all of our costs and transportation especially this this is going to be an issue every year We said this last year that it was going to be worse and it's going to be worse next year unless something changes So
regardless of what happens this is going to happen again next year without a major change All right on to our next community member It
is Selena A Okay You're adding them right Robin yes Yep Uh she should be all set to talk Just state your name and address please
I assume it's Vincent Aroni Are you on mute no they're not We can't hear you Are you able to message oh there we go There you go All right Now we can hear you All right Sorry about that Had to get off the
earbuds Hi my name is Vincent Arr Um that was my wife's name Kaylee Lana Arone that you called She's here with me We live on 84 Mason Road in West Townsen Um I'll try to be as succinct as possible First off I want to say that I 100% agree with everything that Mrs
Marco said with uh urging you guys not to consider closing Spalding Um and I have a number of reasons First off I understand the need for a balanced budget I understand the need to cut costs but by closing one of the biggest buildings in the center of town the
amount of revenue this town is going to lose because I guarantee you families will move out and families will not move in Um you also mentioned in your presentation Brad that um you will reduce cost by emptying the building I don't believe that for a second The
building will still need heat It will still need landscaping it will still need facility repair and upkeep unless you guys plan on boarding it up and allowing it to fall down Um which would also cause people to leave this town The other thing I wanted to bring up was that um you know you guys mentioned all
the children all the numbers but let's take it away from numbers right we're talking about busing five and sixyear-old children most likely over an hour by themselves with nobody but a bus driver Um I personally do not feel comfortable
with that As well as the fact that in the event of an emergency the ability for us to be able to get to our child is so much more you know increased and made more difficult Um one of the main reasons we came to this town three years ago was because of the proximity to the
schools and the community that surrounded it Spalding school is a part of this community The Memorial Day parades it's in the commons It's it is a a very visible permanent part of this town Um in terms of the students
transitioning I feel like having Ashby kids come to Townsen for K through four is a lot less of a of an impact than having our kids go to Ashby for two years then coming back here to a different school for a couple years And
then um like was mentioned before we're going to be moving kids three times in their first 5 years of schooling Um I don't know if you guys remember as far back as when you were that little but it is a very scary and trying time for these children and now we're adding more
unnecessary you know fear and uncertainty um to their day-to-day So with that said I feel like we can't blame this all on the state right i feel like we have a lot to say in this we have a lot to uh a lot of accountability has to be taken not only by the
community but by this council Um this is this is absurd that we're talking about closing a school like like Spalding Like I can't even wrap my head around it at this point Um so yeah with that said I I I will strongly be one of the families considering leaving this town if
Spalding closes because I will not put my children I have a child at Squanakook and I have a child at Spalding My my child that's at Squanakook is over the moon excited to be able to go to school with his brother next year They want to be on the bus together His brother has
paved the way and will be able to help him transition into this new part of his life this new phase of his life Um and I'm sorry without that that there's the the appeal of Townsen as a whole is drastically dropping for me and my
family Um so with that said I that's that's basically all I had to say Anything you have to say you said everything I said it all Okay that's it from us Thank you I do have to correct one thing that you did state the
school district does not own Spalding The building would be released back to the town of Townsen And then what would be done with it i didn't see that in your proposal We would close it and then what that would be up to Townson to decide That would not because
it is not a school district building Okay Well I have a I have a follow-up question The Okay The proposal I don't understand We've already closed the senior center at Squanakook There's room over there for these children to go and consolidate them in one building which
sounds like what is your your goal here is to combine and reduce you know costs then I don't understand why that isn't part of the proposal and I didn't see any other proposals for any other schools You did
mention that it's not definite it's not final that it is spalding but I'm sorry your slide deck in your presentation did not mention any other school and factor that into the budgets I'd like to see what is the cost savings with closing ashy What's the cost savings with
closing Squanic Cookook where are all these numbers as opposed to just let's close Spalding and save some arbitrary number of dollars Will I'm going to hand this to you So uh just to answer that question we
did have a public meeting on it We had did display options on closing multiple buildings I believe it's up Correct me if I'm wrong Brad but it's on the budget FAQ that's on the site those different options that we had gone over before Is that correct i believe it is
You we did look at uh the cost of operating uh several buildings Okay So then I would I would urge you to come to us as a community with the truth where there is no other school being considered at this point than Spalding Correct if you've already assessed the
others and you've already looked into all those numbers this is a this proposal is to close Spalding Period Am I correct or incorrect in that assumption This budget includes closing Spalding This as Randy discussed earlier the
school committee still needs to vote on a final number and a final decision that will you know part of this discussion will come later Part of it will you know come at the end of the month Will will may I speak to this as a school committee member
lisa you're muted Lisa I'm sorry Go ahead Patrick I was saying go ahead Okay Vincent So so your question about all the other schools we we did look at that We had we had six options available to us We had a we had a big open meeting where where all the towns came and asked a lot of questions Uh we voted option
four Option four would have closed uh Ashb as well as Spalding uh it would have kept towns and students in Squanakook through K through one and then they would have gone to Hawthorne Brook 2 through five Um since then at the last meeting there was a rescinion
vote while all the members weren't present to bring put Ashby back on the table So this does impact towns but that just to answer your question is we have looked at all these numbers Um we did have a vote in place Um those are all available online You can take a look at that
No I appreciate that But that but the the first person asked the question and the answer was you didn't know that it was still a proposal still to be voted on But I just want an honest I want us all to be honest here Right You looked at those schools Great You assessed them
Okay But this meeting this topic is about closing Spalding Correct It's not about anything else at this point And I feel like you guys are had misled the first community member that spoke up who asked you point blank if it was going to be Spalding and you danced around the
answer So I appreciate that Patrick and Will for finally giving us an honest answer and treating us like adults That's definitely appreciated Um but I don't understand if you just what you just mentioned Patrick is is to me moving children from K from first grade
to second grade across the street as opposed to down to a different town is much less impactful than what you guys are proposing right like I don't understand how we wrap our heads around So but that's it I don't want to keep going I am against That's fine And it's
a two-parter because I understand why you're fighting for your town the same way I understand why Ashb is fighting to keep their school open They don't want to send their young children to towns And I understand that busing is a large concern It's something that would definitely have to be looked into But there was there was a large open meeting
where we did vote to close Spalding um a few months ago So So it is yes currently the building that is being discussed Um I believe why Lisa was a little vague earlier is we're still f numbers could change some to state something could happen I highly doubt it but it's not
finalized until the vote and we're not there yet So I think that's why there was a just a reprieve of yes it's definitely happening but it's not looking great You mentioned last thing you mentioned that you you guys had originally proposed closing Ashby and Spalding and
then there was a vote where all of the committee members were not present and then Ashby was taken off the table Is that is that what I heard that that is correct Okay So how how is anybody allowed to take a vote without everybody present
did you have absentee voting members that weren't there we had a quorum We had a quorum and that is how that works When you have a quorum you can take a vote It was generally held practice to make such an important vote without members present but they it was they had
quorum It was what they did was legal Yes Just to correct Vinc I'm sorry to cut you off Legal is one thing doesn't make it right Go ahead Vincent Um it was not all members were not there with the um statement of rep pepper reps
representatives were not present We had six of nine Three of the pepper rep um representatives that were elected from PPEL happened not to be able to make that meeting So there were six members of the full school committee and which is quorum and so to have
quorum we needed five members to help hold a school committee meeting Understood All I can do is urge this committee to consider all of the impacts not just financially but the impacts to families to children to the community Like this is the ripples that are going
to come from this are overwhelming and ugly at this point I understand Yep I think we all understand the impacts Vincent and I thank you for sharing your comments with the committee Thank you Thank you
Moving on we have Sandra Lord Sandra Lord I do not see her raising her hand I'm going to move on to Kathy has her hand raised and then I'm just going to move down the list
Lisa um just we can do these but we don't want to forget about the statements that people submitted Yep Or do we want to read the statements now or do we want to wait until all public comment is done yeah Why don't you take Why don't you take the public comment the people that are here waiting and
then we'll read the statements after if that's okay Yep that works for me Okay All right Um Robin can you Kathy exit the exit the people yep
Okay And then let Kathy enter Yes Thank you everyone for your patience Kathy you should be all set Okay Kathy just state your name and your address please Yeah you got me Yep Okay Uh Kathy
Bolores Ericson Road Ashby Um as a member of the finance committee um I want to make a few points regarding the FY26 budget Uh first and foremost um I want to extend my gratitude to Superintendent Morgan and his team for conducting a deeper dive into the budget
um and building closure options compared to those that were presented on December 3rd The vote that occurred on December 3rd was presented with no opportunity for the committee to research the details A vote in my opinion never should have been taken and certainly an
option should never have been approved by any member The options presented on January 16th provided a greater opportunity to best utilize the available funding and have allowed the school committee three weeks
to review these options up until today and specifically the K to one Ashby Elementary option recommended by Mr Morgan over the previously approved options I asked the committee and the community
to note the inclusion of the K1 option was approved by the finance subcommittee to be presented to this entire school committee by a vote of 4 to one Um I'm not going to get into uh the names um
but the fact remains that four of the five members did approve this I now want to take a moment to clarify some statements regarding the repairs needed at Ashb Elementary And I'll ask June McNeel to jump in if I'm incorrect
in anything but I don't believe I am Um a lot of these misconceptions are out in the public domain Um and I must emphasize that AES does not require any major cafeteria repairs and most of the cafeterias in the district requires
require repairs of some sort Currently mobile refrigeration units are being utilized which is a common practice in food service and not an indication of any significant issue Using equipment from other buildings that will not be needed can be used to decrease the
overall expense Additionally the oven at Ashb Elementary um simply needs a new thermostat and that's a standard repair that is not excessively costly or uncommon In early December I took a tour of Ashb
Elementary During the visit I was both surprised and impressed by the condition of the school The areas visible to the public were well-maintained and even the areas behind the scenes were in good condition This firsthand experience reassured me of the school's current
state and the practical measures being taken to maintain it I want you to think about the fact that um someone mentioned earlier about a collaboration between um grades uh
would be better And if Ashby and Townsand in K and one were together that's an even better collaboration If you look at the students overall um keeping them separate um for the sake of a
collaboration within one building to me just I don't know does doesn't it didn't quite seem consistent Um and although buildings may change towns and kids will then be together uh K to 12 So I mean it's it it is a more
consistent way of of keeping the kids together even if you change the buildings The other thing you need to consider is that the MBTA housing mandate that's coming through from the state will likely um was likely not
taken into account by the NZDC study by not doing that Um if if you close any school but certainly if you close the only school in a town you're not going
to be able to reopen that when the kids when the population starts increasing again once you close the school You don't just re you know give somebody the key and say "Okay let's go open it back up." That's not how it works
Um also in terms of um other cuts please do keep in mind that Randy Roo has suggested um that other cuts can be added back in um when funding allows and those would be the probably most sensitive and
appropriate cuts to try to make So certain programs that can be cut but when finally the state funding eventually gets fixed uh be able to um to add them back in again It's not something that's that goes away forever
Whereas when you close a building it goes away forever Um lastly I don't I don't know how else to say this but school committee members are elected by their town of residents or in the case of our at large members
by all three towns The fact remains that those elected are charged with representing the entire district not their town of residents That's only onethird of what they represent There is no Ashb Townsend or Peril School
Committee There is a North Middle Sex School Committee And I believe that each of you that I'm looking at here on my computer screen should take very seriously the suggestion that you're
supposed to be representing the entire district You don't represent just your town It's anything else any other kind of behavior I believe diminishes the ethical impact that you have on the district and it should be
discouraged So in conclusion I believe that with the proposed budget and the prudent measure measures being presented we are well positioned to ensure the efficient use of all our available resources It's important to dispel any misconceptions and focus only on the
factual conditions and the practical solutions that benefit all of our communities communities and students Thank you Thank you Patrick do you have uh just some
follow-up questions for Kathy um have you in all of your research on Ashby Elementary have you have you read the um the HAB have it right here the Habib and Associates architects faculty condition assessment
Is that part of the college study it's its own It's its own study It's about 66 page It goes into great detail on everything in the building I've looked at I I took my own person in person tour Do
you have Yeah background Do you have a Robin or Patrick i'm gonna stop you for a second Okay The Collins report and the Habib study is available online Yeah And
that's what I that's what I'm going to ask people to look at Those were studies that were done The Collins report covered all of our towns and looked at all of our schools right hhabib was a report that was
done how many years ago Brad or Randy do you remember done in 2020 Yeah 2020 Five years ago Five years ago All right So before So that was so that
was done June before we started a lot of the repairs in the building committee was assembled Correct The Habib study was done before prior to that Yeah And an estimated $5 million in repairs That's if you did everything to
make it look like a brand new school No Yeah Yeah Patrick you haven't read the study yet I'm going to I'm going to stop Kathy we do have Can I ask I I have two follow on questions for Kathy and that they are different and relevant important Can um Lisa can I ask a
question was I supposed to put my hand on the Bible before I started talking i feel like I'm I feel like I'm being intimidated here No Kathy All right Can you ask one follow on question just wait What is your question Kathy
i was done Okay I was done but I didn't think I attacked I these are I'm using an indoor voice and asking very legitimate questions Okay Patrick question is if if we do not close any more schools where does the
money come from do you expect there to be an override because I know in the past you're very passionate about no overrides I was passionate about no overrides based upon the original numbers that were put forth I felt that there were some cuts that could happen
without closing buildings and without the total override that was originally put forth There's a difference If you were at the Ashbytown meeting when the override did pass you would know that I
stood up and I said this was an honest effort to decrease and Lisa was there In fact she came up to me afterwards Um this was an honest um uh piece of work to decrease the amount decrease the
override ask and I encouraged people to vote for it Okay Thank you Kathy Okay Patrick you're finished as well Okay we're moving on to our
next citizen member Jen Arette Arsen she is our next Thank you Jen Jen should be ready to go All right Thank you You're on mute Jen Hear me yes we can Okay
Um first I would like to say uh much like Vincent from Townsend I was disappointed by the recent meeting that was held to undo the vote that was taken back in December when I was one of many parents and residents who made sure they
had child care to go and sit through a meeting and look at everything that was presented and walked away feeling as though at last after listening to this be pingponged back and forth for a very long time a plan was at least in place Um I know that just because you can
doesn't mean that you should I don't think that taking a vote without all of the Pepper representatives being there was the right move I think that it's only fair that every town if you want to be quote unquote NM every town should
have a voice in the room And I don't think that votes should be taken or undone without all those voices present Uh that being said I would like to know if everyone wants to talk about equity and they want to talk about what they
want for their town and what's right for them and we're all supposed to respect each other's needs and how different these towns have grown Is there any type of process in which we could formally request that the district not renew the current school district agreement and
instead conduct research into K through 8 for each town separately and then possibly keep just a high school regionalization agreement as other towns do And consider the fact that everyone could keep their schools and the way they want things to be in
their town and we could all come together for high school And maybe everybody would be better off if we could all just focus our energies and our overrides into the town's schools themselves and know where our money is
going It seems as though these overrides are becoming a more constant thing Um the plan doesn't ever seem to be something anybody can agree on And regardless of what Kathy just said looking at all these members and and you know taking people you know and saying
"Well you're not supporting everybody in the district." It seems as though it's because some people want you to only support what their agenda is And that's not fair either And if that is the case maybe it's time to say "Hey it's been a long time And these towns are vastly different
from when this agreement was put into place And I know there are people on my street even that have moved into Peril and are questioning what we're getting for our money when you're buying a house that's over $900,000 It's really frustrating to feel like a district can't get it together
and have a school system where I even want to keep my kid and I don't So I can understand where towns and people would be disappointed feeling as though they're investing in a property and they're looking for the feeling of a town and they're talking about kids being bust all over the place We have a
lot of issues that don't seem to be something that are resolved can be resolved or that the state even cares to resolve because they don't have a formula that favors regionalization like this And if that's the case why are we continuing to play into it just because
something has always been a certain way doesn't mean that's the way it has to stay So maybe it's time everybody say equity is standing up for your town individually Maybe Ashby would thrive on their own Maybe you get some funds from the state Fix your building Bring more
people into your town Have a little bit more energy focused just solely on your town and then everybody has two high schools to choose from You've got NM and you've got a vocational school And those are two really great options but I don't think towns want to see kids leaving
because they feel as though they're lost And I'm telling you cutting buildings I understand the need because numbers don't lie And if we need money we got to get it from somewhere I don't want to see teachers go away Teachers are a valuable asset And if you ask me they
put way more into kids than any building ever could And I know as a as a parent who has a child who is on a 529 plan he's not getting as much attention as I would like for him to get And if class sizes get bigger he's just going to be another
kid that gets lost in the shuffle And I don't want that for him And I'm doing my very best He's got two applications right now to get into private school And I hate to leave the district because I moved here thinking this is a great neighborhood and everything's going to be great here But you know what i don't want to see class sizes go up So if it
comes down to a choice between a building and a teacher I'm going to vote for teachers But I do understand the plea for towns wanting to keep their buildings I do understand your concern for your property values I do understand all the things you want for your community but that's everyone standing
up separately saying "I want for my town I want for my town I want for my town We don't even agree on the overrides Why can't we look at separating K through8 and keep your town make your town more vibrant Put more into it Raise it up
Have people be proud to be there and let's have we RNM be something we can come together for a high school that we're all on the hook for anyway financially So let's let's stick with that But if it's not working it's time to
re-evaluate That's all I have to say Thank you Jen Randy So I will just simply address uh the question about leaving the district That is not something that is the district's responsibility or that the district will ever spend any money on on looking to
separate That is something that a town can look into And there is a provision in the regional agreement for a town to pull out that um that provision typically has uh a town will need to settle up any debt that it owes for buildings that it's not keeping Um and
then there are other agreements to separate I will tell you that just about every district single districts and regional uh districts are experiencing um huge budget crisis This is not something that's exclusive to a regional agreement as far as the money that you
get from the state and the money that you need to put in Um so just going on your own uh may not be economical but uh you should feel free to have your town uh have town pepper or a group of citizens take a look into what that
would cost regional agreement Regional school districts usually came together for the economy of scale uh for such things as the central office and um other um shared uh resources between the three towns Um but there is a process to
leave if you choose but it is not something that the district will be paying for or looking into Thank you All right Anything else all right moving on Jerry Bear is next
Yes Hi Can you hear me yes Just state your name and your Yeah this is Gary Bear Willer Road in Ashb Um I think if you take a step back um a lot of us remember the discussion
when the high school was proposed to be built and there were graphs shown about declining enrollment a lot of extra buildings and structural costs going up faster than inflation and
the Prop 2 and a half So the flags were on the wall decades ago right and somewhere along the line and I don't think it's any one person's fault we've end up in a situation where we're pitting town against
town Um there are some trueisms We know the state is not going to give us more money we're going to get less as a regional system So if you do strategic budgets and you've run multi-million dollar things you can see what's coming We know there's cuts coming from the
federal level We know based on the presentation in Ashby last year that the negotiated contracts that we're negotiating for salary for busing and everything are going up way faster than the town two and a half prop So we've
ended up in a place where many people that I've talked to in towns in anal have lost confidence in that there's any kind of strategic plan We're just doing Groundhog Day and neighbors are digging in I'm not saying that
closing one or two schools is the right or wrong thing I'm saying strategically when you go to town meeting there is no belief from the people I've talked to that any one-year override is going to do anything but piss in the wind So the
problem we have this year is now we've got neighbor against neighbor People are talking willfully that some state rep somewhere is going to convince the state house to do something Um we all call BS on that We know the federal is going to cut us like no tomorrow And we know the
towns Ashby when I first moved here was at 30 some odd% of our budget This year we're at 47% We've thrown pretty much everything overboard we can Right And I'm not saying this from an Ashby voter I'm saying from a person approaching 40
years here So strategically if you want to get the voters that I've talked to on town there has to be a plan that say realistically here's what we got to do to write the ship And if we do this back to an earlier comment that Nancy said we
have a three or five year projection This will write the ship because anybody that's been through this know if it's not Squan Cookook this year it'll be Squan Cookook next year If it's not AES this year it'll be AES next year And that's why the voters have said no mas you know we're done So the problem you
have is a political problem because there is no credibility that the current options are going to do anything but plug a hole in a sinking ship So if I go back to first principles that I've had to do when I've cut big budgets You say
okay first principles are we all know that neighborhood schools are good for young kids and bringing kids together at some point in a centralized school makes sense Great We all know that unfunded mandates should get the attention they deserve Unfunded means we don't do it We
know when we negotiate contracts that are more than 2.5% The school committee has got to take ownership for cutting so that the overall budgets back in the 2.5% envelope So those are trueisms that the
voters are looking at and saying if we have a plan that meets those strategic things Yeah we don't want to cough up more money but we will But right now I got to tell you I've looked at all the options and again no disrespect for the committee I know you guys are putting a
lot of hard work but none of the options say we're going to be back here fighting harder against our neighbor next year That's what it's telling us So that's why I'm saying even if you put a plan together you're going to come to town meeting and you're going to get cut down by a buzzsaw So until we solve that
problem you're not going to solve this year budget problem And a lot of us have talked to people in the three towns and the common sense voter I'm not talking about the people that are give the kids everything or the other people that are saying burn the schools down You know
you discount those people But in the middle what we have here is not a plan what we have is groundhog day and we're all tired of being in Bill Murray So again I appreciate the work but I think strategically you have to take a step
back and come with a strategic plan that this budget fits in and say if there are three more schools closing and if we're going to lay off 20% of the plan the staff we don't like it but this is the reality So over the next 5 years here's the strategic plan Here's where it fits
in here Um you don't have to like it but numbers don't lie So and again thank you for all your hard work but you know this is we're all taking a tough pill right now And I think the way forward is together because as the old saying goes
we will all hang separately if the three towns don't figure out how to hang together So again thank you for your work and appreciate you taking my comment Thank you Gary All right comments from Randy or Patrick Which one was up
first i'll just be fast Gary can you send me a a a private email through my um school account it's available on the website It's p mcfillipsmrs.org Just send me a private email I'd like to talk to you some more if that's okay Sure Most people know how
to find me especially the people I owe $5 to Thanks I'll I'll reach out to you Randy Um first I'd like to say thank you Gary Um one I really appreciate your calm
demeanor um and how you present everything Uh it is a very welcome uh change to some of the stuff uh that I have heard Uh so thank you for that Uh one thing I would like to just kind of add in it always seems to kind of get
lost is um yearover-year if you take a look at the last 10 15 years the school comm uh the school district has presented a budget somewhere in the range of an average of
3% We do fairly good at after you know doing manipulations in the cost efficiencies uh some cutting here and there getting our budgets to within 2 and a half to 3% on average over the years The problem is the state go back
15 years and Nancy you can correct me if I'm wrong here if I my memory is wrong If you go back 15 years when I first came on to this committee the state actually um was giving us 60% of our budget Year-over-year we have gotten
less than 1% of an increase in 60% of our budget And so the towns end up making up more We could be at 2 and a half% but the towns end up paying more to cover what the state is not for that Um we are currently now at 40% of what
the state gives us in our budget because of that attrition and what the towns have picked up over the years Honestly as far as a year-over-year um you know um increase the towns would be so much better off if we already had
the entire budget in their base and all we had to worry about was oh the school budget went up 2 and a half% the town budgets go up 2 and a.5% and things would work a lot better But we con constantly are on in trying to make up for what the state is not giving us
Eventually we'll get there but uh that is one of the huge problems that we have And I I appreciate your comments and I fully agree with you Um but the reality is the state ain't going to make up the money They're just going to cut us
deeper Right The town is required by law to stay within 2 and 12% If a school is owned by the town like several of my friends live in yeah you all meet and you come together with the selectman voted When it's a regional you have this
kabuki dance that's like a circular firing squad right so the problem is you have to start from basics We know the towns have to live in two and a half% full stop We know we have unfanded unfunded mandates full stop We know a lot of the contracts that were presented
last way are way over two and a half percent Right and we know we have more buildings We've known that for a while Then we have people and enrollments declining Right so given those the hard facts you're going to square that circle And none of us like it But we just don't
want to be back here next year right so if I saw a plan that says if you give me X and over the next four years right this is what's going to happen We don't like it either But we don't predict any of this stuff's going to change right and we know inflation's not under
control So all that being said this is going to be tough and it's going to be tough for 5 years The voters appreciate honesty They appreciate a strategic plan even if it's 3 to 5 years And we might not like it but we're all living that reality We just want the North Middle
Sex proposal to have the same thing We all have a budget for what's going to happen the next couple of years We have a budget for oh this year right so again I appreciate all the work but I think that's politically where we are at town meetings this year The voters are
in no mood to say "Yeah here's 3 million 2.5 million and oh by the way no guarantees we're back here next year." Right that's going to go down in flames So I don't have the answers I just know what the constraints are and having run
you know multi-million dollar budgets um this is the time where those constraints are going to hit us in the side of the head and nobody's going to like it I don't think anybody in any of the towns are going to like it but and again thank you very much for all the work you're doing I appreciate it
Thank you Gary And I may have to reference your your saying about Kabuki dance to this budget So and thank you for the conversation Thank you All right Em you are next
EM is all set They'll just need to unmute Hi thanks Yeah so it's Aaron Miner Warren Roadtowns in Massachusetts Um a lot of my points Vinnie uh earlier on the call actually brought up um and I appreciate it Um so I do want to sort of
reinforce that Um I have significant concerns about our our children personally um going to school in Ashby For us it's not feasible Um already our son if he were to take the bus here in Townsend um it would he would not get
home until 4:05 p.m Um and there's no bus monitors on the buses um for safety reasons we could not feasibly send our kids even further away Um we have one child who's in Spalding and one child who would have been coming into Spalding
um or or maybe if we're able to keep Spalding open um for us for personal reasons we we could not send safely send our child to Ashby um for reasons I won't go into here Um so I guess sort of
the big comment that I want to make here is um it's been brought up that we had the public meeting lots of folks somebody else had mentioned you know you have young kids you get child care for your young kids you go the vote happened lots of the the public you know made
comments we came out of that meeting thinking that we were going to be closing AES and Spalding and the children were going to be going the youngest children were going to be going to Squanica Not ideal Ideally we would love to keep Spalding open of course but at least
that was something that I know for for our family we could wrap our head around and logistically we could make it work Again we have multiple kids We're thinking about school pickup school drop off volunteering I volunteer usually at least once a month at Spalding Um it
wouldn't be an option if they were out of town Um and certainly if my kids were further apart Um and I guess my my big grievance is we had that meeting we left it thinking that we had a certain plan
and then I know that you had a quorum I don't agree with the fact that a number of folks from the school board were missing It was not the big public meeting that we had already had and the the script kind of flipped and suddenly it was Ashb is staying open Spalding is
still closing They're sending the towns and kids out of town Again as other people have said is it legal yes Do I think it was the right thing to do no Um and I just want to express that that I do not think it was the right thing to do We have the
complete school board here tonight Um and I do hope that that there's some consideration to revote on that Um and I think that's why a lot of folks are here tonight Um and I know that that myself and I I personally know many other people who sent emails to the school school board over the past few days as
we began to find out about this Um because again we left that public meeting thinking that we were on one page and were shocked to find out about this new vote and that then they were talking about sending our kids to a different town at 5 six years old Um so
again I would just urge you to to consider revoting on that tonight um consider keeping Spalding open But if nothing else um I certainly want to express um that I strongly object to sending five and six-year-olds from Townsend out to Ashby um for
kindergarten and first grade Thanks Thank you All right moving on to Tara Smith All right Tara just can you hear me yes just Tara Smiths I live on the whip
switch road in Ash and I apologize uh for my voice Um I appreciate all the information that you've provided and I appreciate um that this has been a much more um I feel like dignified meeting than the last one I
attended Um looking at the actual financial statements that you have audited and presented on your website I'm seeing every year year-over-year for the last five years um there being a negative net
position of $7 million or coming up to $7 million So um that's year-over-year We're short $7 million in the North Middle Sex district um financial not statement of financial
position What difference is $600,000 going to do to that and it's not going to be a lasting change right i'm and I'm I'm from Ashby so I'm thrilled that currently the school that my two boys are going to start going to
school to shortly um is still going to be there next year but are you going to exit the next year for a 1% change in the negative net position you have every year like this is again a band-aid right
like this is not solving the problem that we have here And so my question so I actually have a question Sorry guys Is there some kind of like law that says you have to have a balanced budget in
order to go to the next year like is there something that says you like is the state going to instantly not give us funding next year that's what I want to know like we're sitting here and we're going to permanently close a building
that clearly those in towns are you know really passionate about and I feel for no lasting ef you know change Is is there something that's stopping us from just moving forward and maybe putting more of our effort towards getting the
state to give us equitable funding that's my question Patrick you raised your hand Uh I just wanted to take a second and say that I agree with that statement that this is a bandaid on a very long-term solution And just to answer something that I'm going to bring up later on in the school
committee meeting is cutting transportation costs by not listening to the state and not having seats for for every single student because there are so many empty seats It's it's a waste of money It's something I'm bringing up tonight So I am thinking of ways forward that may irk the state And I know I've
discussed it in the past and Brad has said it's it's not an option cuz the state says no you will have a seat for every student But maybe it's time we just say you know what state we've had enough If you're not going to fund it we're not going to do it And that just seems like the least impactful way to kind of fight back It's
not impacting special ed services It's not impacting anything of that nature Just empty seats It's just logical All right Anyone else all right Moving on to the select board chambers Select board chambers from
Townsen Oh okay Yes Um Mary Jane Churchfell um from main uh Main Street towns and I I was just going to uh question you if there were plans to decentralize but that's already been discussed so you can
ignore my presence Thank you Okay we are going on to Brad Han Brad hi Are you able to hear me uh I can't speak up again Are you able to hear me yes Uh so my name is Brad Han I'm from uh one Brown Road in Townsen Um
you know you guys definitely took an ethical hit by reputation by uh you know going ahead and doing an underhanded move by making a vote after we've already voted on something So I applaud that Great job Thank you Um with that being said I'd like to make a motion
that we take it to a revote if possible You can't make a motion as you're not a member of the board Okay So I would like You can make a comment I'd like to someone from the board to do that I'd also like to thank everybody at Spalding Um it's really unfair to them to be
honest with you Such a great staff Um I'll be honest with you I don't know why you guys stick around but I'm really thankful you guys have for this long Um so thank you And then the uh last question that I I really have is you know kind of the same thing that everybody else is saying What next but
more importantly what's going on with the asbestous in Ashb and the reason I asked that is because if you're asking me to send my kid there and he comes down with something as simple as asthma you know just as adamantly as some of the Ashby people have talked about going to litigation there I would be just as
adamant to do the same So I'd like to understand some of that as well We have a facilities question June Um regarding the asbestous um the tunnels were just abaded So the
tunnels um and the hallway had pipes for plumbing and heating Um and one of the the big questions was what condition were those pipes in and we would not be able to access them if they were not
abated So the town of Ashby did just pay um a few months ago to have all of that abated And so we could get in there And it was actually good news when when we got in there because the pipes were in better condition than um than anyone
realized cuz no one had been down there before So that was that's all set Um if you're referring to the asbestous and the old wing the old wing is sealed off Um students haven't been in there for
many years now The town of Ashby has expressed interest in repurposing that wing at some point So no decisions have been made by the town as far as whether um they want to take down the wing or
repurpose the wing yet at this time but that is not a part of the school that that students are in And Ashby Elementary is one of I believe three schools in the district with known
asbestous And at no point would students be in the building if it wasn't safe Um and Brad Morgan can probably speak to that a little bit more Um but I will just say to regarding the last vote
um it it's kind of clear who listened to the meeting and who didn't listen to the meeting because what happened is the superintendent brought two new options that were not presented at the December
meeting Um both options which did include keeping Ashby Elementary open He said he recommended that option over the previous option So the committee having a
quorum removed well rescended the previous vote Another piece of that discussion was the vote did not make sense um timewise because the wording of it was to proceed with option four as
plan B if the override didn't pass And the the reason it was pushed to to hurry up and try to decide this vote is the state would have to be informed by March 1st There is no possible way to know by
March 1st if an override would pass or not pass So the actual wording of the vote did not even make sense So by rescending the vote we did not make any new decisions We just took a step back
and said there are more options on the table We asked a lot of questions such as um is the possibility of Squanook closing rather than Spalding being explored more um and personally that
would be my hope because if we could sell a district building then there would be revenue from that sale Um the problem is or as of 3 weeks ago uh we didn't really know where that money would go from the sale Um and then
there's special legislation required The building is also tied to Hawthon Brooks So there was a lot of information to find out Um which we were told we would not have that information for at least 3 weeks Um so there's still a lot of
factors at play By rescending the vote it was not voting that we would close Spalding It was not voting that we would not close Ashby And it was not voting that we would not close Ashby or not close Spalding It wasn't any of those It
was taking back that vote to put the options back on the table to get further information based on the recommendation from the admin team who has been working tirelessly on the side trying to figure out the
feasibility of these options and the added costs of these options So at this point it is not set in stone in any one way or another The finance subcommittee did have a meeting um about
a week ago where four of the five members of that voted to proceed with recommending the budget as presented tonight for Superintendent
Morgan to present Um with that is the approximately $600 of excuse me $600,000 from the one school closure balding and
$400,000 of a reconfiguration which was the option that the admin team recommended but again the school committee has not yet chosen um and not voted on So With with all that being said why wouldn't we move
everybody from Spalding over to Squan Cookook and then leave Ashby as is as it stands today well I actually just sent an email Unfortunately it was a little close in time before the meeting because I was
trying to get more information about that same thing And um ideally it it it sounds good So and and just before you answer that if if we're going to close a school why would we close one that's in pristine condition like Spalding is
especially when you're telling me that there's a wing of Ashb that does have asbestous and we're all in the same boat with this MB MBTA community If you think that's not going to drive more families with kids here and we need room for expan expansion you're sadly mistaken
And then again we're going to be back in the same boat with piss poor planning Okay let me answer your question First of all I don't want to close any building So let let's start there Closing buildings is not a good option We're not in a good situation right now
Every building in the district could use 5 million in renovations There is not necessarily one that's in much worse condition than another Hawthon Burke has a great need right now Um Ashby we did address any of the safety concerns with
the asbestous in the hallway Um under the hallway excuse me where the tunnels were and with the boiler redundancy Um but there aren't any other major there's no safety concerns at Ashley at this time And there's as far
as the amount of money for the building every single building has a a wish list like that So going back for just a second to your idea before and I'm looking to the side because I was just trying to pull up the email where I said this but I really would like to explore
a different option that we hadn't talked about um an explore uh let me see additional exploration of sending west town only to Ashby um K through four So let me tell you why
because it would help with the class size balancing which is one of the the perks of ha of the configuration that they were talking about the K through one and then two through four Um part of the issue is with Ashb you may end up
with classes with 16 students um based on say maybe two classes of or a class of like say 32 in a grade that were broken up So you might have some really really low classes at Ashby right
now or you might have those maxed out classes like 30 say in a class where towns and having you know being able to spread it over five um five classes or so per grade can keep a more balanced
say you know 23 what they it can be more balanced where we don't have that option in a right now So the potential to to just add some more students in there can help balance that Um but let me just see
uh so with that balance is the staff reduction So that's where that 400,000 comes out of the budget that was presented today because um balancing the classes could reduce some staff kind of organically that way
without overflowing the classes Um and with that option bus times would stay in check We wouldn't have people on the far side like the Shirley end of Townsen coming all the way to Ashby We wouldn't have people on the Asherham
side of Ashb going you know all the way to Townsen or worse Pepil which was what the option was um voted on in December before Um so I really would be
interested in the savings of that option as well So it's something that we can discuss typically during the hearing that we're in right now That's the opportunity for everybody to give feedback and then for us to kind of the
school committee to whittle down what our options really are is based on discussions in our regular meetings So I believe later tonight we'll be discussing some of the pros and cons and
we may not vote on any of that tonight because we're still gathering more information and we might have more questions for the admin team Um June I I appreciate it I just want to say thank you It sounds like there are some more options that we can explore So maybe it
was a little bit uh premature to put up on a slide that Spalding's going to be the one that's closing like we did today So I really appreciate that and and that there are some other options Um I would really urge you you know as people have talked you know you want to go far you go together You want to uh go fast you
go alone Uh we've created a lot of great synergies within that that staff over there at Spalding And I think it's imperative to find a way to keep that staff together Um so if that's moving them over to another school in Townsen then fantastic And then last thing I'll I'll say is uh you know to Mr Brad
Morgan I really appreciate everything you do I appreciate all the effort that you put into this and uh good luck my friend Thank you I thank you I am going to remind the committee that we do have another meeting after this a regular
meeting Um and so I'm going to remind the public too we do want to hear all of the comments but we do need to consider time All right Next on the list is Michael Kelly
Hi Kelly Kelly 5 Tour Lane and Townsen First of all I just want to say thank you to everyone I know this is a thankless job and that you've been hearing from all sides of our community and whatever decision you make is not going to be the correct one um in some
people's eyes Um I did have a question Um first of all a comment that I will always stand by my belief that teachers do have to come over buildings and whatever we can do to
mitigate as much of the loss of teachers and staff as possible is the route that in my opinion has has to be done because we can't teach these kids if we don't have teachers and buildings are great and buildings are wonderful but we need teachers
So that is my comment My question is as a towns and resident and I had sent this by email as well under the proposed plan of sending towns and over to Ashby schools that would mean that Tanza would assume 75 to
80% of the upkeep and the repairs to Ashby Elementary June just mentioned that all of the buildings could potentially need about $5 million worth of work Townsen knows that Hawthorne needs work As it stands right now we're responsible
for two buildings Spalding and Hawthorne In the new reconfiguration as proposed we would be responsible for 80% of Ashby 80% of Hawthorne and 80% of Squanakook Have the towns and reps considered the financial
implications this would have on the towns and budget because those debt exclusions would massively impact towns where we are now would be responsible of taking on the repairs of yet another building the lion share the vast majority and so I caution the towns and
reps to be very very cautious about how much we're willing to take on in terms of repairs of other buildings and really consider that impact that it will have on Townsen's budget Thank you
Thank you Um was there a question Kelly sorry um primarily just a a a comment um and whether or not the towns and reps have really looked into the reports and have an
understanding of what towns would be assuming if we went through with sending towns and k1 over to ashby how much of a financial stake they would be putting towns into if we are going to be assuming that building are we looking at
also now taking on if we're using June's $5 million $4 million unexpectedly of building repairs for Ashby Elementary in addition to $4 million for Hawthornebrook and 4 million for Squan Cookook Um I I know that's broad numbers
and I'm going to assume hopefully that Squanook doesn't need $5 million but again if we are responsible for 80% of now three buildings that will affect the finances of towns in long term So I'm just asking I guess the towns and reps
have you considered that anyone want to answer that from towns and Randy i I am an atlarge member So I am from all three elected from all but I do live in Townsend and we all do represent
every single town Uh yes uh that has been taken into consideration Um there are a number of different options we can take a look at to do that As I understand it right now um all the buildings are safe to operate
All the buildings are aging Um all the buildings due to that natural aging will have things that come up that either um should be on a list uh because they could break Some things are maintenance are uh keeping um repaired but uh parts
because of the age of some of these things may need uh to be upgraded because they can't find parts anymore And that is for every single building in the district uh bar the high school as far as aging um and not finding components because that was just
recently built Um so uh given that those repairs are not something that is anything that we have to do right now it's something to be cognizant about because when you get to a certain
point having a coordinated project is easier to uh get some of these things completed Um but there is nothing on the horizon that absolutely has to be done right now Um I know Hawthon Brook is one that the district
is uh very much looking forward to I believe that's the next one on our uh radar that needs some major renovations and that will be shared uh by uh Townsen and Ashb because those are the uh students that go there Um Ashby also is
a smaller building than uh either Spalding or Squanook Um and they will be joining and taking on about 25% of those costs Um is it one for one hard to say because we never know what's going to be done Uh but there is some comparison
there as well as Ashley has been paying for Hawthon Brookke uh for decades now Um and they've uh any of the um roof repair I believe was in 2005 they voted
and um paid for that They've also had repairs on their own building in 2012 They did a roof and windows uh project that they paid for Uh Towns and paid for Spalding Uh it kind of washes out I can certainly take a look into it and we can
also take a look at um you know possibly having a five-year reprieve that Ashby doesn't pay for Squan Cookook or Spalding wherever their students wind up and Towns and doesn't pay for Ashby for the next five years for any capital projects There are ways to work this out
I I think it really kind of washes out in the end um with the size of the buildings U but we can certainly take a look at that Okay just as a a Townson taxpayer in my head I was prepared for Hawthorne Um everyone in towns kind of
knows it it's due for some upgrades and to now also realize that we could be sitting at town meeting voting for substantial repairs to Hawthorne at the same time as voting for substantial repairs to Ashby is kind of hard as a taxpayer And while
I agree that Ashby has been paying into Hawthorne they've been attending Hawthorne for four decades So the building has aged as their students have attended So it makes sense Whereas we're kind of being picked up in the
middle here and now being responsible for repairers that have accumulated over the last 40 years where our kids haven't been attending So I do understand your point where that hopefully there's ways of balancing this but as a towns and taxpayer it's it's a little concerning
that it also is um just as likely that you're voting on Hawthon Brook and voting on Squanook for repairs We don't know what's going to end up happening Squanakook um needs has repairs that can be done and has things that are aging and that will need to be done at some
point as well Um there is nothing on the horizon right now We're not doing any studies at Ashby um to find out uh costs to go forward with any projects We're not looking at Squanuk at the moment as far as I know for any studies to go
forward with any projects And it's a very long process usually because we have to get a feasibility study Then we usually try to go to the MSBA for money um which could take a couple of years and then it comes to a bigger study and
then uh votes So there there's nothing that's going to be coming anytime soon Well we might not be planning on it but I think we all know these buildings need repair So just because I might not be
looking at the roof doesn't mean that the roof that we all ju just because we're not acknowledging that repairs on paper need to happen I I think it'd be foolish of us not to realize that repairs are going to need to happen to to these buildings and for towns and you
know right now we're responsible outside of the high school for two buildings and this new plan makes us responsible for the lion share of three buildings of repair So I just want to make sure the towns and reps were aware of that and what you're voting on and the financial implications that you're voting on
because yes while as a representative you should be thinking of the entire district and all the kids and all of that but the individual reps too also answer to their taxpayers of their specific communities And that's why each
community also has reps specific to you know I don't fault June for advocating for Ashb She's a phenomenal rep for Ashb and she is advocating for Ashby And I just want to the towns reps also need to remember that by and large they are elected not not talking about the
atlarge reps but the towns reps were elected by the towns and taxpayers to represent their interests That's it Thank you Uh Patrick I I I was just curious about how Randy said it would be a wash just based
on the numbers Ashb is 13% of the the population of of schools So if if Townsen takes over Ashby as well the buildings may be a washing cost but that's still an excess cost for Townsen isn't it it's a 2575 split When you're
talking about Ashb and Towns and in the same school over at Hawthon Brook the the 13% is of the full district We do capital projects per enrollment in the school What uh Kelly was talking about is the enrollment in the schools that
Townsen and Ashby are occupying or will occupy depending on the um building or the configuration that we vote Okay Can I interject in here can we take our discussion of between committee members
to our meeting and allow the public to vote if everybody on the committee is okay with that fine with me Okay Thank you Kelly is done Um we're moving on to Andrew D
Yep Can you hear me just state Yep Just state your name and your address please Of course My name is Andrew D Roger I'm on JW Hill in Ashb Um I just want to take a few moments just to address a few things that I've heard today Um and the best
way I can kind of address these is tonedeafness Um now you know I've heard things about I don't want to send my kids over to Ashby from Townsend because somehow it it's going to add an hour to your commute while negating or missing
the entire point that we would be also sending Ashby to Townsend Um going uphill doesn't make things automatically more time than going downhill It's the same distance either way Um when also looking at all of this you
know we're we're talking about integration You know we are North Middle Sex apparently So you know integration is great in terms of trying to get all the kids together as early as possible between Townsen and Ashby You know I know Pepper is a part of it as well Love
to have Pepper roll a part but to be honest sending Ashby to Pero and I'm sure the parents of Pero are not going to run around and send their kids to Ashby You know I get that one But trying to integrate everyone early is great for the community and for the students And
bringing some kids over to Ashby kind of gives them an awareness of where Ashby is what Ashby is about and trying to integrate them early on Um you know I've heard a few things as well about you know what's you know worrying about closing one school in
Townsen whereas currently Towns and sends all of their kids for all grades in towns and for the whole duration of their schooling Whereas Ashb has AES and then we send over to Townsen from then on And to be honest the way the current
state of things are between the grades you don't have a fuss from Ashb But what we're asking for and what what I'm hearing is sending just for two grades to make sure that AES stays alive Other things that I've heard today is you know the teachers in Ashby from the school
that is being or the the teachers in towns in that the school is currently being proposed to close is somehow you know I'm sure they are great but from what I have heard is negating the fact that you would also be dismissing teachers from
Ashby And you know I have a daughter who's currently in first grade and we've had great experiences going through the AES system You do not need to worry towns for missing teachers in towns and for Ashby or I'm hoping that there'll be
integration between the two towns when consolidation comes Um also going in sorry I made a laundry list here as I was kind of hearing things down and I just jotted things down and I've reordered things time and time again Um
so you know I've heard a few things about the vote and how things were kind of upended June you did a great job you know summarizing that and you know letting that go through I really do appreciate that Um and what I've heard is that the pepper representatives were
not there However the decision here even though I I value the pepper's opinion the decision is going to be impacting the two towns the most will be from Ashb and Townsend So that vote is very reflective of the decision between the
two towns where this impacts the most And then lastly I just want to make one comment about uh well I guess I have two more comments I I apologize um because I did hear one other comment too about blaming Ashley for not putting uh all
the oomph and volunteerism and trying to make our town vibrant and going in I just want to make a note that you have great volunteers here in Ashb You have great community Uh you know we have the bonfire We have you know weekly concerts
much like you know towns and goes and we're not going to say pull your game together towns and because you were talking about closing one school that that's not what this is That that was a ridiculous pitting between two towns Lastly and I I do say lastly in this
case is that the best deal in negotiation or compromise is when both sides of the party are not happy And like I said my daughter's going to first grade I currently go in annually to teach meteorology to the kindergarten class You know so I I'm well aware of
what AES is Um you know both sides are not happy with this decision I can guarantee you that I don't want to have to send my kid over to to towns in his second grade However this decision here that you guys are eventually going to vote on and make
is a great compromise and I I do applaud you know Brad I I know you and I had you know comments back and forth on email you know having some discussion You know this this plan this this way that you guys laid it out makes it so no one really wins And you know it's what's
needed in order to make a community regional district work Not one town wins Everyone kind of works in the benefit of everyone else trying to integrate everyone in early So I just want to say thank you Um and just want
to leave it there Thank you All right we're moving on to Caitlyn Caitlyn should be ready to go Okay Kaitlyn Caitlyn Okay there
Whoops We're on to Tyler Tyler good evening How you guys doing good Caitlyn disappeared so it's your turn Tyler Point blank I want to say we got to show up for our kids and with this override vote that's the first that's the first
thing that needs to happen Um I understand that's not the popular opinion but um we're talking numbers here and and that's and that's what needs to happen Um in terms of school Tyler can I ask you a question what town are you from
and or what is your address um it's Townsen Yeah Okay I guess when it comes down to um decisions that need to be Well the other thing I want to talk about is the three members that didn't show up to the last
meeting I'm not sure who they were but like that seems that seems shady I'd like to know who were the three that that didn't show up to the last meeting for the vote
It was Tom Casey Patrick McFillips and Jill Twig Okay So essentially um you know when we have important meetings like this to discuss um decisions that impact all three towns
you know I just think it's it's a priority to show up Um anyways um end of the day I just want to know what makes the most sense to close um
Ashby versus cuz cuz that's what it seems like it's at It's like it's like town versus town It's like Ashby versus Townsen and like Prol's not on the block right now So what is the cost associated with closing towns and and what is the
cost associated with closing Ashby Tyler those are um disclosed in the options that were presented earlier in different meetings and those numbers are continuing to be developed as Brad and
his team are working on them Um Randy or Patrick which one would Randy you can go first I just wanted to um just address as far as three members not being able to attend the meeting Um
life comes up You know we're volunteers Um I don't hold anything against anybody who can't make a meeting Um and votes were not necessarily on the agenda to be done We were talking about things Um so
unfortunately things came up and it seemed like an important thing to vote on at that moment to open up the options because the administration needed some direction just like they needed a direction in December on what to start looking at They needed direction from the school committee about whether they
can go down the new uh recommendations that they had be due to uh things that they found out and more information that they had the vote happened um not with their knowledge that they were going to be missing a vote That said by law
committees like these and lots of other committees um have the right to uh conduct their business when there's a quorum present and that is what we did Thank you uh Patrick Yeah I'm sure just like a lot of other
people in here um finances aren't the the greatest thing I mean not only for the school district but for all of us personally as well I picked up a second job So I work most Thursday nights I had to get coverage tonight to be here Um if you go look at my track record I've been at a large number of the meetings if not
close to all Um I did check the agenda I called ahead and spoke to Lisa There was nothing there was nothing of that on there Um it was brought up through old business which I get it It came up That's on me Uh this is a volunteer position It does not pay Uh
trying my best I've spent well over a couple hundred hours just researching every every budget every every meeting between reading the policy stuff that this is this is a lot And and like everyone in here nobody wants to close schools I I I want to be
voting on who gets the next playground upgrade We have no funding there There's no money left Um that's what I've walked into for two years in a row now So uh Tyler I'm sorry I wasn't there Um I had I known that that vote was going to
happen I would have taken work off and been there Um and that would have made the difference but that that's my answer So you know as a Towns and resident uh in both in both decisions Townsen was
voted to be closed Um it's just that um you [Music] know it's it's uh this is this is just pressing on so many parents and families and trying to figure out what's best for
their kids and um to take a vote in the interest of saving the most and and doing the best for our district and then a couple members don't show up and then there's another vote You know what I mean it's just a
um it seems like there was mal intent but I understand life comes up and we're all here to talk about it Um like I said I think we have to as citizens like as for this region like we we got to show up for our kids We got to vote and and
and we got to um we got to fund our school And you guys are tasked um to come up with a backup plan essentially um doesn't look good in in either direction but
um I just uh I don't know I just I just really hope we can we can figure out something that works for the majority of the students in this district and not necessarily based on geography
Thank you Tyler All right moving on Craig Hansen I believe that is you coming in next Am I correct Craig does it not say my name it just says Craig H Oh okay Okay As long as So just state your name
Craig Hansen I'm from Pepil Um I'll make this quick Just a few comments So first I I do want to thank Superintendent Morgan Miss Haynes the rest of the admin team and the school committee for your your diligence during this um difficult process to put it mildly I know it's an
iterative process I appreciate you continuing to explore options and ensuring we get the uh the best bad option Um there there are no good ones but I appreciate you continuing to look at uh other ways coming at from different angles Um just a couple observations I I
I strongly hope and urge the committee to to as been talked about tonight formulate a long-term strategic facilities plan and and marry that up with enrollment projections so you know where investments are needed versus not There there may be some buildings that
need work today but um if we may not need that building four years from now based on projections then then maybe we forego some things uh and and put that investment elsewhere So I think having a strategic approach while Nancy spoke right that we may not know exactly what
budgets are going to look like I think we can uh we can have a good idea on on that with the facilities plan and enrollment projections and and come up with uh with a more strategic approach to things Um may also help shift our mindset in terms of what buildings our
kids are in They are NM buildings Um a lot of talk of this Ashby building this townsman building etc But we've got to look at this as as NM Um and and if we send uh people that live in a certain area to an NM building that happens to
be far west of where I live so be it Um but it shouldn't be an Ashb building just for Ashby students The towns are building just for Towns and students They're they're all NM buildings We're all NM students Um and I think that mindset needs to shift
um our communities are are really looking to all of you as the experts Um you're in the fortunate or unfortunate position of needing to make the tough decision Um not going to please everybody obviously Um but I do ask for a little greater transparency and advocacy um for what you as a group
collectively feel is in the best interest of students Um I don't want to pay more in taxes Um but it feels like an override right now is critical to keeping our district focused on serving our students Without it as we talked about the state funding
issues I mean something has to give And I'm I'm I'm concerned that there are no even close to good options right now Um we've talked about this fiscal cliff for many years Here we are It shouldn't be a surprise to anybody um but we're
out of runway and and and a drastic cuts or changes in how we operate or both um need to be made without additional revenues and I think that's that's the piece um we're focused on what building is closing but but the override is an important piece to prevent that and if
that's seen as an option or the best option um I think there needs to be more advocacy for that um because without it a building will have to close uh it sounds like so um I I think that just needs to be a little more clear Um and I
guess lastly just from what I've seen tonight maybe um um it'd be good for Miss McNeel Miss Rush Mr Mc Phillips put your heads together The three of you have had a lot of input a lot of good ideas tonight I think a lot of varying opinions Um and
maybe there's a um again a middle ground a collaborative approach to respectfully find a a path forward that uh that is agreeable across the board and and again unite behind that and and have uh have the committee provide a a united front
rather than a divided front because the divided front it it pushes itself into our communities and is dividing our communities We're looking to you again as the experts and if if you're united and and you unite behind a
recommendation I I think you'll you'll get some folks from all three communities to be behind you So I thank you for all you do I I've I've been on that side of the table for years so I know it's not easy Um your efforts are appreciated Um keep fighting the fight
for our kids and uh again I appreciate it Thanks Good night Thank you Craig Thanks Craig All right Um we are no more hands raised We are going to the public statements that Miss
IB is going to read We have four of them The first one is by Jen Silva of Townsen Are you ready Robin uh yeah Let me just Okay find which one I'm just going to read them in in a
row that I have them so you know Okay And it's late so forgive me if I make a mistake Uh this one here is from Jen Silva president of Townsen Dear members of the school committee I'm writing as a parent who is deeply invested in the well-being and education
of my children I want to express my concern about the impact school closures and reallocations may have both academically and socially for our children I am the mother of two girls a second grader and a fifth grader Both of my daughters have been lucky enough to attend Spalding Memorial School They
have developed meaningful connections with their teachers and peers The teachers at Spalding provide a safe nurturing environment that makes children want to come to school I would hate to see such wonderful community of teachers and students be broken up Additionally my fifth grader
has had a wonderful experience beginning middle school off on Brook Her teachers go above and beyond to teach with enthusiasm and passion often using project-based learning and real life experiences As a teacher in another district I cannot say the same about
other schools and communities While I understand that difficult decisions need to be made we must consider how displacing these students from the nurturing environment they've built could hinder their progress and cause unnecessary anxiety These school closures would result in long bus rides
separation of peer communities and large class sizes It will force children into schools that are not built for their ages It is not fair to send young children to a school with no program I ask that you carefully consider these factors as you weigh your options Thank you for your time and consideration I
trust that you will take the necessary steps to ensure the best interests of all students are kept at the forefront Sincerely Jen Silva Uh the next is um from Lori
Kingston Good afternoon This is Lori Kingston 65 West Street in Pil I would like to submit a comment in support of the North Middle Sex Regional School District budget for fiscal year 2526 I would prefer if the total amount was smaller but I know the board has done a
tremendous amount of work to maintain level services within budget constraints Those budget constraints are not going away It was extremely difficult to pass a town budget override in 2024 and downright impossible in Ashb The school committee should do everything in its
power including closing facilities and consolidating resources to provide the best education possible for our kids while living within a very tight budget I fully believe we will not pass a district-wide tax override vote again in 2025 We continue to need more funding
from the state which I know is in progress Thank you for your time The next is from uh Kyla Mcleman Uh hello First I would like to thank you for being part of our school committee and for doing what's best for our community I would like to express my
opinion about the rescended vote about keeping Ashby open and shuttling our towns and students kindergarten through first grade to Ashby I grew up in Townsen my whole life and decided to buy a house and start my family in Townsen I have two children one will be a
kindergarten next year I would like for him to go to school in the town that we live in My expectation was when I bought this house that my children would be going to school in towns and from kindergarten to 12th grade I understand that residents of Ashby still want a school open which I get because I have a
young child who I would not want to shuttle to another town but logistically uh shuttling all the towns and kids up to Ashby doesn't seem to make sense It seems like there would be more blessing costs associated with this option Thank you for your time The last is from
Caitlyn Russell Hello I am unsure if I will be able to log in at the meeting Uh it's smack in the middle of dinner and bath time at our house but I wanted to share my frustration at the proposed closure of Spalding My son is kindergarten student at Spalding My husband and I
both grew up in Townsen and graduated from NM To say we are disappointed in this community and its continued refusal to fund our schools is an understatement Spalding is a sweet elementary school with exemplary teachers administrators and a cozy safe atmosphere My son loves
going there every day We live approximately 10 minutes from the school but Finn doesn't get home from school on the bus until between 3:45 and 4 p.m We are worried that sending him to Ashby would double the length of his bus ride considering it's double the distance from our house We are actively looking
for other options such as school choice or neighboring districts Not only are we upset at the prospect of our six-year-old having an hour plus bus ride every day we are horrified at the thought of a first grade class having 30 plus kids in it This is an impossible
situation for our teachers and students And the only solution is to pass a measure to adequ adequately fund our schools Likely people with no no students currently in the district won't log into this meeting because they feel as if this matter doesn't concern them But it concerns all of us If our schools
suffer we all suffer Our property values will decrease People won't want to move into town and we won't get the revitalization that we desperately need Thank you for listening and for the work you do to support our schools As a high school teacher in a neighboring district I know that being on school committee is
a thankless job and I appreciate your effort and your time PS Have you ever considered a later start time at the high school our school starts at 8:15 a.m and it has been life-changing for all of us and contrary to popular belief sports are fine Thank you Caitlyn
Russell Thank you everyone that submitted Um I do have one more hand raised over in the audience Ann hi Yes thank you Um can you guys hear me
yes Uh first of all um I wanted to say thank you And and can I have you state where you live i live in Ashbury And your address um 420 South Road Okay
Thank you Um first of all I want to say thank you for allowing me uh to speak up tonight Um I have children in more than one school in this district Um some of my other kiddos go to a different town
Um so I'm definitely well aware of how long a commute is uh from Ashb to other towns Um so I want I also wanted to say that um I feel like the fact that um Mr
Mr Um Brad Morgan has um sorry I'm a little bit uh on the edge right now A little bit nervous Um it's okay It's okay You're doing fine You're doing So I I wanted to say that I appreciate the fact that um he u
mentioned the option of keeping um of of keeping Ashby Elementary open and bringing the our towns and kiddos over uh because I feel like that actually makes us feel like we belong to this district uh that we are part of this
district that we are North Middle Sex um slogan um and um I wanted to say that I've heard everyone tonight and every time I hear something that I I trigger me a little bit is that I heard some of our
neighbors from towns and saying "Oh sending our five and sixyear-old little kiddos to Ashby is going to be triggering It's going to be scary for them." But how about the kiddos that live in Ashb they go basically to Townson uh their entire career cuz
they're only in town from K to 4 and then we will be sending there to Townson like kiddos from the very far end near Ashraham Five and six year old kiddos their commute also matters Their fears they also matter
And um as I was trying to express uh when I first started talking the commute time I am very well aware of how far it is um from Ashb to other towns So um if
they're concerned about about an hour ride in the bus imagine those kiddos that live like near Ashraham Um that's something that I really feel like everyone should think about I don't even live that far into Ashby but I'm
thinking about those kiddos because I feel like we all should think about the kiddos in the district Um and I've heard people talk about property values in their town Um but yeah they they have other schools We only have one one
center Um just wanted to leave this out here Thank you very much and have a good night Thank you Then there is one more person on the list Um it's a Zoom user Can they please send their name to
my email address because I do not want to admit them Oh whoops Robin did admit that Sorry I thought you That's okay [Music] So Zoom
user can you state your name are you on mute no they're not on mute Can you hear me i can hear you Can you state your name please yep I'm Terry Gardner from Turnpike Road in Townsen Okay thank you
So I'll be quick I know it's been late or it's getting late Um you know I just paid my second mortgage payment here in Towns and we just moved to town We just uh we we settled on Towns and I don't mean to say settled but we we were lucky
to find Towns and a nice house with a nice piece of property that we wanted to raise our family at and being on Turnpike Road one of the main selling points is being right down the road from the the school that you know our children are going to soon be attending hopefully Um looking online and I know
Facebook isn't real life but looking online and some of the comments that are being made about people in the same boat as us young families that are feeling like they kind of are having the rug pulled out from underneath them after making a major life decision a major
purchase um that they're not really getting everything they bargain for here And I know it's you know it's nobody's fault but uh I would just um I don't know it's just concerning cuz now I I think the ramifications go beyond I know we're all
here thinking about the kids but the ramifications go beyond um the the just the kids but the health of the entire town If you have an complete exodus of every young family in town um that's going to make the issue it's going to exponentially make the issue worse year
after year after year Um that's all I have I one thing I would just like to to say Patrick's idea about kind of um not doing the busing I don't know how much money that would save but if we are paying for empty bus seats right now because the state says we have to but
the state's also not willing to meet us you know where we need to be to keep the schools open then I I'm totally in support of his idea of starting to just not follow their mandates if it helps the budget situation at all Thank you
Thank you All right Patrick make it quick So quick Um just in case anyone's not making it to the next thing project 211 Lisa you're involved in it We have a lot of local people involved in it If you are mad about this and mad at the state pay attention look for updates for that That is what we're doing to try to
get the state to update and change our funding formula So if you are unaware of it just keep your eyes out for that Um Robin take a minute of that last one in the notes because I don't think anyone's ever said anything nice about me in one of these meetings So take that All right
Okay I'm going to take a motion quickly before anyone else raises their hand Not that it's getting late and move forward What's the motion Lisa you got to tell me what the motion to close out to close out the public hearing I Lisa the chair I would like to make a motion
to close the public hearing Thank you Will do I have a second back in Oh who was the second oh okay William is sorry All right I'm going to take the vote Patrick
McFillips yes Randy Roush yes Tom Casey yes June McNeel yes Will Hackler yes Uh William Berg yes Bill Twig
yes Uh Lisa Bloom yes And myself yes The public is public hearing is closed And I thank everyone for their comments and their questions All right Now we're moving on to the regular meeting
Um I am going to ask that we remove the minutes from the consent agenda We will bring those back at another meeting I am going to not do a chairman's report Superintendent Morgan do you have a report to do i do not Do we need to vote
on the rest of the consent agenda yes please All right Teamwork I know Oh I was trying to make it fast here All right so let's vote on the uh consent agenda minus the minutes from 12 3204 and
116205 as well Do I have a motion okay so that's Randy and Will Do you want a second yes Yes Okay Uh Randy yes Tom Casey
he's saying yes Okay McNeel yes Will Hackler yes Patrick McFillips yes William Berg William I think he said yes Yes I did say Okay Lisa Bloom Yes
And Jill Twig Yes And myself Yes All right So there's a consent agenda Moving to the new business Can I ask I just want Whoops I'm sorry Lisa I just wanted you to know that the Valley Collaborative FY26 budget and tuition
rates was just put there so that the committee um knows that it's there and they can access it It's just for review It's really not for any discussion Okay So I am going to ask the committee if we can bypass the new business because it
is getting late um and bring the school committee norms back to the next meeting and the valley collaborative as it is just a placeholder for you guys to review Would that be okay with everyone
yes All right All right Now we are going down to the sub subcommittee reports Um finance will hackler with the budget You have it We haven't discussed the budget Well we have discussed the
budget We need to give Nick steps for the budget and how to proceed All right So uh finance committee meeting last week we voted or we were discussing the 3.16 budget that
was proposed by superintendent today in his message Um obviously recommended to bring that to the committee to discuss that and put that out there So I guess that's our starting point for right now
Um I have lots of thoughts but um June McNeel So um we have been receiving a lot of feedback um from multiple towns both in favor and not in favor of the new configuration Um and I spoke to it
briefly earlier um that I had another idea that we hadn't talked about but I think um it's we it's smart of the committee to kind of entertain every idea and look at
every option and gather as much information as we can um to try to find a solution that essentially works for everyone Um again this is not one town against another Um we really need to
find a a solution that we can work together to move forward Um so I did have an idea and again it's not perfect and we would need a lot more information from the admin team if we were to
explore a whole different idea But it my idea was to take um the west towns and students which is approximately 60 give or take give or
take 60 to to 70 even um students to add to Ashby Elementary um K through4 model and then keep towns in K through4 for model in one school or
another Um I know there there's probably not enough room in Squanakook for a full K through four Um so we might need to get creative for potentially moving central office moving the preschool Um
I'm not really sure if it would work but my idea is would help still help balance the class sizes which may still allow for that class reduction It would still keep um reasonable bus rides
um possibly even shorter bus rides for some students um we wouldn't have people come from far side of one town to go to a far side of another town Um it would still include one building closure
Um and I I just think it it's worth discussion and I I really hope you know whether whether it's this idea or any other idea because anything's kind of on the table at this point But I really hope that we can have some discussion about the pros and cons of different
options Um and that if there is more information needed that we can allow the admin team the time to to look at that and not necessarily have to take a vote today Um the budget has already been presented to the towns at this point at
a certain number So we would want to hold it to within that number or you know bringing it down further is favorable for the towns as well Um but I think everything should still be kind of everything should still be fluid while
we're gathering information Um so anyway I just wanted to throw out that new idea because it does check some of the boxes It might open up a new can of worms it might open up more issues that we haven't considered But
um I I just want to put it out there for people's thoughts Um again we still see that savings from the closure and we may see some saving staff reduction savings from a consolidation
um in that manner So I just want to start by just putting that out there All right Others others wanting to make comments Tom Casey Thanks Um so Brad it's uh more for
you Um so it's February 6th now Um we initially voted kind of two months ago on you know kind of moving forward And I I know you were looking for a decision you know pretty quickly in December 2 months later you still don't have it Um
definitely want to consider all the options if if there's things out there but like where where are we at because I know from last meeting there was discussion about you know notifying MSBCA uh MSBA and like logistically what do
you need for a decision timelinewise to move [Music] forward So um I I think the timeline is is important to make a decision sooner rather than later um really on a few different fronts is that first and
foremost we we absolutely want to give families an idea as to what next year is going to look like for them because uh families will need to plan Secondly we want to give our staff um the ability to
plan as well if in fact this consolidation is going to lead to to any staffing reductions to make sure uh that we don't leave people in a situation where it's where it's too late to start looking for a job because jobs are being posted now Um and thirdly I I
think um the other piece that we have to consider is that um MSBA does does ask for or does require a six-month notice prior to closing a building where a project or any project work has been done Um so
again all of those types of things are are I I think to me are more pressing I think uh the option that that um June brought forth is something that we could probably plan in short order Um it really it's thing it's something that has been discussed
um you know previously as far as redistricting Um and that's something that the school committee can certainly it's within the committee's purview as as as I understand it But at this point I I do think that we we do need to start planning for any any building closure is
going to involve some planning I don't see any anything we've discussed up to this point We have not um seen anything significant from the busing company with regard to increased costs Um we have not seen that The one the questions that are out there realistically as far as cost
is what is the cost going to be for a move um if we do have to move a playground Those discussions have been had with our own buildings and grounds department but we have not put out um an RFP for a move or anything along those
lines at this point because quite honestly we're just not sure of the direction So I think once we get the direction we can start taking action if and if and when you know the whatever the decision is requires it
So I would like to see a decision made soon I would like to see a decision made um in advance of our budget adoption meeting if at all possible I do know that I've got a lot of staff that that are questioning um their future And that's even that's with this
3.16 budget passing if that that budget doesn't pass um and you know and it's not adopted and an override is not successful that that's the route that's chosen by um by the three towns then I'm I'm going to have a lot more questions
to answer in a very uneasy uh faculty and staff Patrick McFillips uh I'll defer to Randy first if that's okay okay Randy Sure Um one I just uh as
far as uh the busing um you asked about the closing the two schools and busing over to um Peril for all three towns that did not increase uh any transportation issues and what were the times for that and are times going to be
over an hour for any of the options oh time Um so it's our understanding that it's not going to increase cost other than potentially one additional bus Um but so so that would be an additional cost Um just based on the
ridership as far as rides being over an hour Um both options that the school committee has in front of them Now there are going to be rides that are over an hour Both uh there are eight options um unless we just take a look at the option
four that was voted and then two new ones then that would bring it down to three But so the the only options I'm talking about at this point are the initial option that was voted that uh option that closed two buildings and the option that was discussed at the last meeting um that that um that seemed to
be the one that would would at least balance the class sizes out uh to the best of our ability There's um DBUS feels very strongly that the students that live in uh on the Shirley side of town would be looking at
minimum a 70 to 75 minute bus ride The K1 students So I I think um many of these options are are are over an hour already Okay But Ashby doesn't have over an hour going to Nissatis for middle school Oh
they they would they would have over an hour Yes All right And do we know how many buses it would be to get everybody under an hour i don't think it's possible to get everybody under an hour ju just with stops I mean there are certain things
that the bus company has to consider Right now um you know for kindergarten they do you put few enough kids on a bus and you can get there under an hour Um that's usually how it works is you just add another bus you have less kids on there there's less stops they can make it there quicker
Yeah that's that's not something I don't I don't honestly believe that would even be affordable for the school district to be adding that number of buses Okay So that's not something that's been explored because quite honestly we're trying not to add buses and add tiers
because that's going to come at a cost and it's going to make closing buildings a moot point over time Randy can I jump in with you on this one here as a Mhm team player I agree that a bus ride for Asheville or Townson students of that length is
unacceptable Would what I was discussing earlier maybe shifting some buses around that if if you're not using seats like I understand it's a state guideline currently it's not working It's it's it's it's a cost It's
it's a wasted cost We're talking about closing schools when we have buses with empty seats because we have to have a spots for every kid I mean if the state's not going to pay attention to us maybe they will if we break a rule I don't know what else to do at this point So I I I really think as a school
committee it's something we consider Um and I know it's not going to be a fun popular option but I like it's a common sense option Like logically why why do we have seats for kids that aren't taking the bus i mean the high school alone how many cars are in the parking lot every one of those cars has a spot
on a bus That's two or three buses right there That'll help Towns in Ashby kids all day Just just my two cents on that Thank you Um Jim McNeel Um yes I was wondering if there was any
additional information yet about the potential sale of Squanuk rather than closing Spalding because again I know there's special legislature required Um we were kind of unclear as to where the
money would go Um I'm also curious the value of that building and potential revenue from a sale Um do we have any additional answers since the last meeting on that front i reached out to
our legislators Um also reached out to the MSBA and and I know that our legislators are looking into it on our behalf Um I don't have an answer at this point in time but I I did I did do the outreach and reached out to MSBA as well
Um did you find out any additional information about um disconnecting the lines i remember I know that's a concern too as far as um electricity water whatnot Um yeah So or if it would have
to be disconnected to sell or how that would work So it's my understanding that um that the lines cannot be disconnected It it is a it is a shared line but it would not be something that would prohibit um like if we're talking about Squan
Cookook Squan Cookook being used for another purpose and and figuring and and then drawing up some type of language around usage Um so it's not something that would be that would prohibit um you know the sale of the building potentially or the or the leasing of the
building That's my understanding Um I did um reach out to a couple people on that Um and it does not appear as though that would be an obstacle Okay Thank you for that Um and I mean I guess do we have any sense of a time
frame as to when we might hear back regarding the legislature piece we don't Okay I can certainly reach out again Um but I I I know that they've they've reached out in our behalf and I just don't have an answer at this point Mhm I
mean cuz overall if a solution again that would be favorable for for everybody for all three towns would to be to close a building that's it's I don't want to say not being used but it would be likely easier to shift central
office to perhaps the high school and shift prek to maybe each of their own towns again or um or the high school with some kind of cool co-op program where the high school kids could have
some you know hands-on with the little kids something like that Um and then essentially Ashby could stay in Ashb Spalding could stay at Spalding It it's just I I really want to find a solution
that can work for everyone So I don't want to leave that untapped And again the the bonus to selling a district building would be the the revenue Again only one-time revenue but we would not have that expense of the building
anymore And then bring in the revenue from the sale And that might be enough to to help us through a little bit of time anyway if if again if the money could come back to the district or if it
was going you know to all three towns somehow and they could use it to help offset some of the the district costs something like that Um so I it would really be great if we could get more answers and I know you
know trying to get answers from the state what that's like but but that would be so helpful to find out We can reach out again All right Patrick I don't want to be negative off of that but we we we have meetings sometimes
where we talk for two hours and plan to vote at the next meeting on a thing How many years do you think it would tell us take us to actually sell a school building i I just don't see it being a possibility even in the next two years Yeah Actually I know there's been
multiple offers um for that building for uh at least made uh inquir in inquiries made to the town towns and senior center um for that building for Squanuk for a um I think it was uh uh el not elderly but the assisted
living senior housing Yeah Yeah Senior housing There has been multiple over the years I'm sure there'd be lots of suitors for it but how long would it take to vote for it get the towns to vote for it they get it I'm sure approved at the legislative level I assume that's not something that happens
before we need this budget approved That's awesome It's unlikely we're going to have uh the documentation that we need to sell a building before um before the budget moves forward Um but it is my understanding that um
that that property there is some interest in it as far as housing goes due to its proximity to um the police department uh the library and the senior center Yeah And and in the short term we we get exactly what we're going to get out of
closing uh Spalding uh if we have to wait a little bit to to get the money from the building We have the reduction in the operating costs like we're counting on for Spalding just with potential of having money Do do we have
like a resale value on that building i I I'm not aware the building's worth So how how do we find that out [Music] um by actually paying for an assessment or is there another way to determine the
value of that building i would imagine that there's an assessed value at the town hall Um Okay But I I'd have to look into it We can certainly do that I mean I think it would be worthwhile I think it is an option that again could
bring some money back to the district we could take that building offline and I I don't think anybody from any of the towns would be overly upset about it Um it's an idea but but I I'm glad this
dialogue is happening and that we can you know kind of bounce off different ideas and really try to come to a solution All right Anyone else well yeah I mean I think you're just you're wishing and hoping for a solution
that that could be years away here Um from the comments that I've heard from the logistics of this piece of it I I can't vote as a towns and resident a town you know representative for this
for the option that keeps Ashby open and sending towns and students to Ashby when for years kick the can down the road on capital projects that need to be done and haven't been done And now you're
going to populate that school with towns and kids And now because of the regional agreement you're towns and is going to become responsible for sending money to fix the Ashb school because Ashb hasn't done it for all these years
for let me finish Let me finish June please Hey June what I'm saying to you everyone's going to speak one at a time One at a time That being known I cannot keep I cannot vote for a situation that keeps Ashby open and sends towns and
kids there because now because of that regional agreement the towns and residents are going to have to spend money to for capital projects that may or may not come up whatever but that have been kicked down the road for years when we know what's happened Craig made
the point about talking about strategic planning Well Lisa and I and others were on the building committee We were trying to put strategic plans together years ago that got all blown up because we have no
money for capital We So it's not worth doing a strategic plan for capital situations when we don't have the money So I'm just letting you know I'm not voting for an option that keeps Ashby
open and sending towns and kids there Randy I'd like to dispel the myth that Ashby won't pay for their school Um the towns the schools are in charge
of the towns The towns uh we bring capital projects to the towns The towns don't come to us and say "Hey I know you've been on in our building for 20 years." We're we want to go ahead and do a big project We don't know what needs to get done we're not in those schools every day Um so it is up to the district
to bring capital projects to the towns for the different schools That being said the in the last 15 years I know of and probably maybe before then
okay there hasn't been a capital project that a town has turned down with the exception of adding the turf to the high school uh project That being said Ashb was we we brought a capital project to them in
2012 for new roof and windows and doors They approved it We brought a um project to Squanakook which was for all three towns in 2018 for roof and windows All three towns approved and are
paying for it Spalding uh we brought a um capital project to Spalding for a roof in 2012 They approved it Uh it for Varnbrook just recently in 2019 We brought a capital project to them for roof and windows They approved it
Hawthon Brook has been a little bit longer but in 2005 Ashbian Townsen approved a new roof In 2018 approved windows and doors and HVAC Nissatis was built in 2002 Peril approved that
capital project Okay So to say that Ashb is not keeping up their school is a lie If we don't bring the capital projects to them they don't have an opportunity to put money towards it Okay if anything it says something
about the district not bringing it to them Okay we have not told them or they have not told us we won't invest in the school They recently were going to put $300,000 towards a feasibility study and we talked them out of it And so they
were doing projects to bring the safety up to get another boiler and do some of the asbestous on the pipes and a few other projects They are willing to spend money We have not brought these projects to them As far as towns and paying for it
fine Go with my idea Let's talk with the two towns and see if we can get five years six years that towns and won't be responsible for any capital projects that come up If that is all that is keeping you from sending uh towns and students there we
can solve that issue But don't put it on the town that they are the only one that's not approving and improving their schools Every town has accepted and taken on the costs when we've brought them to them Hey I do have to correct you on one
thing Randy and it's when we went to them three Ashb three years ago we asked them to do a feasibility study Ashb said no we can't afford the feasibility study
or their selectman and um who was the chief at the time the fire chief I think he was the acting admin said no we can't afford it please we will give you the ARPA money and move forward with that
and that's when the building committee was created in Ashb to move forward with those projects So we have talked the district has talked to Ashby saying they do have you need to take care of this
wing We need you to look at it The wing has been shut down for how many years 12 Several years That wing has come up in discussions with facilities Ever since I have been on the board that
wing has been brought up This district has put money into the wing to keep it from falling apart They've replaced the roof or helped patch up the roof We've put the siding or the windows which I
know was paid out through Ashb putting the um the plywood on the windows So the district has done things in Ashb and Ashb when we asked them to do a
study three years ago they said no that they did not need a study Then they became reliant on Nancy Haynes and Dave Amari to be project managers which has taken away from the
rest of our district because we have had seven buildings to be responsible for Nancy and Dave are great and will do anything for the district but they are not project managers that can control
one huge building project So I don't like to hear that the district has not paid attention to buildings because we have and we have asked people and they have turned around and said
no So I'm going to clear that up from that and you can go back and you can look at the recordings and even the big presentation that Ashby came to with to us and said "We will give you this ARPA money if you don't do a study on our
building." All right That being said I'm going to June McNeel Okay That's not exactly um what happened but the the the building committee did recommend a feasibility study It was
going to go before the town the acting town administrator at the time and a select board member perhaps select board chair at the time met with Superintendent Morgan and discussed you
know what what are the biggest concerns right now discussed the safety concerns and essentially came to an agreement that if that ashby could supply ARPA funds to
address the safety concerns and that it was something that they mutually agreed on to bring before the committee to present to the committee The committee um was in agreement with that but again
the town's people never had a chance to vote on it It was not that the town said "No we don't want to do a feasibility study." Because the town's people did not have that opportunity It was town leadership
saying "Hey why don't we address any concerns for the students now and make a plan to go forward in the future?" And it it was something that everybody was in agreement with with at that time but we
still have not gone back to the town and said "Okay we've addressed these concerns Let's do a feasibility stud." It's never ever come before the town to vote on Anyhow that wasn't why I put my hand up in the first place Um I put my
hand up because at the last meeting um Brad made a or brought forth the two new options And at that meeting I asked "Do you recommend this option over the option that was previously voted on?"
And they said yes they would recommend not closing two schools So at this point I would like to turn it to Brad and to Gary to elaborate on the options before us They've been exploring the
feasibility of these options and I want to hear more about why it was recommended the plan that was presented to the finance subcommittee that again the finance subcommittee approved to
bring forward for this presentation Um so Brad if you could kind of run through the options again and the benefits pros and cons for them so that um everybody on the committee can have a
full kind of glimpse of this not and everybody who is on the call still please Sure So um I was asked by um a few school committee members to
come up with an option that um that kept Ashby Elementary School open So I I met with a small group from central office and we started looking at some potential options and the option I just have to
change my screen here so I can go back to it We were looking at two potential options Um the first of which would be um keeping Ashb open using it it being a
K to1 Ashb Townson uh model Uh both uh again all of Ashby all of Townson Squanakook would remain open with a prek being districtwide in grades 2 to four Ashb and Townson And then Hawthorne Brook would be 5 to 8 Ashby and Townson
as it is now Uh there would be a potential savings in staff as we talked about Um there would have to be a staggered start time uh with the shared campus of Squan Cookook and Hawthorne Brook but it would be a singular bus run uh grades 2 to 8 Um
again keeping that prek centrally located is is pretty important in that um it allows us to ensure that we have uh typical students and our prek programs They max out at 13 you have to have seven um typical students or
students that are not on individualized education plans and six students that are on individualized education plans in order for it to be considered a an approved integrated uh program by deesc Um again another potential positive
would be merging students early would create more of an community between Ashb and Townson Um there would be no changes in the structure at Hawthorne and Brook it may help eliminate the annual question around closing Ashb Um the other option
that that we presented was the uh keeping Ashb K to 5 Again that really does not um eliminate um the issues around equity Um when you look at Ashby and compare it to
um both Spalding Memorial and Varnbrook uh keeping Swan Cookook prek district-wide and then K3 Townsend and then Hawthorne Brook would be four to five towns and six to eight Ashby Townsend um and again this would uh you
know increase Ashby's enrollment much like the first model but not not by as much you'd be short about 20 students a potential savings of four staff as opposed to seven in the first model Um keeps Ashb open but little changes
and less savings And then Ashb and students will be entering Hawthorne and Brook at different grade levels in that model Uh because again Ashb would be K to five Uh all Ashb Uh so uh Ashb students would not enter Hawthorne Brook until grade six and Townson students
would enter Hawthorne Brookbrook in grade four So those are the two um things that were presented Part of that was um you know certainly still concerns around the Ashby Elementary lease um with regard to um the water
supply um having to be tested which is which comes at a a pretty significant cost to the district and then the vacated wing um still being on the lease as well as other parts of the property that the district does not use um school committee would have to take
action on policy JCA student assignment to schools uh in redistricting in um at least in option one and again uh option the first option I shared provides more equity with regard to balancing class size the second option really doesn't it
just adds another grade level moving west town would likely again Um it it it certainly uh would would fill Ashby Elementary but I think it's um moving West Towns and it's not an
exact science every year I think we'd have to look at it from one year to the next to make sure that we're not putting ourselves in a situation where we're going from Ashb can really only handle uh if you're going K to 4 sections at each grade level Um it would leave them
with one extra classroom I believe So that if you get to a point where a third classroom is needed at more than one grade level it it would not be doable Um so that could create issues um with moving West Townsen So we may have to
look at the um the map and how West Townsen is defined on an annual basis based on space and Ashby from one year to the next If that makes sense Patrick McFillips What what concerns me most about what
Brad said is that we had already voted on this um and then other members have just decided that Brad should give us more options I mean I I feel like we had to pull off a band-aid that was a for lack of better words a
decision It was what we voted Um and just to have to do it again now is just very frustrating to have to have this talk again when this is such a small part of the budget when we have millions of dollars that we have to find for for teachers and staff and cuts
to it Like I'm just annoyed that we're back here Can I just say something real quick just as a point of clarification um I I I'm often asked um and have been asked by multiple school committee members on multiple occasions through this process
to look at various models Um so in looking at this model it was no different really than any of the other models Um you know that have come up in conversation Um you know I I'll get emails here and there consider this and
and we consider all options So I I do think in this particular case um you know in coming up with two new options it was no different than anything else Um I've been asked to look at options and if a school committee member quite honestly asked me to look at an option
I'm going to look at an option Um I feel is it's my job to do that and to exhaust all options Um and that's really how we came up with um all of the other options of people sharing ideas and opinions Uh so I do want to clarify that um the
coming up with these other two options was no different than any of the other options we've come up with I'm asked to explore something and I ask um I asked the team to work with me on it and explore it Okay And I just want to make sure um June said that you you personally prefer this new option over
the old option four or you think it makes more sense So I I what I would like to do is find a way and again I don't think there's any exact science in doing it is find a way so that we can balance class sizes across the district Um I think that that's very very
important and right now that's not something that we have Is is K1 the best answer i don't know Could 34 be a better option possibly Is moving West Townsend into Ashby another option to consider
yes but it does create potentially an issue if you need a third section at a particular grade level But I do think what's very important is that when when you have three elementary schools it's very hard um when some when some schools
have classes of 27 25 24 and then others have class sizes of 16 and 17 That's a significant difference in an elementary school classroom Not that it's not at the middle and high school level as well but at the elementary level it it's
significant Um so and it's always been something quite quite honestly that has come up from um from town leaders um when we present the budget um to them as well So just trying to find a way to best balance
um balance class sizes but also recognize the fact that all three communities want to maintain a school in their community as well which I fully understand I get I would want the same thing Um if I was a member of any one of the three communities to maintain a
school in the community which I lived especially at the elementary age Thank you All right Um Randy were you I think it was you or June
June is okay if I speak Um one of the jobs of the school committee and it is in our policies is that we must look at the long range educational plan for
students Okay Um it certainly is a tough job especially when there are immediate budget issues and immediate needs Um but it is our task and our task alone to make sure that the long-term feasibility of quality
education can occur 5 10 years from now With that said you know what um with that said we need to take a look at that So uh my two other comments after this um basically pertain to that
is one in December we had very little information on um even having time to sit down and take a look at what the capacities in the district were We were given a document but even to be able to sit there and
look at what that meant for the future we didn't have much time There's been two months since then The administration has been able to look into a lot of different things as they go down on how they can make that feasible Uh committee members have time
had time to look down to kind of come up with some other ideas and look at and uh put things together and process everything that's been happening We've had a lot of time to sit uh listen to the community members and hear a lot of different things to sit back and say we
made a decision in December We must stick to it no matter what information we get We must stick to it no matter what else comes up It is irresponsible for this committee looking to keep the quality of education as high
as we possibly can There is nothing that a committee can do worse or a group can do worse than to ignore new information when it comes up and better information when it comes to us Um I have had the opportunity to sit
and create a table on what the configurations and the um and what the enrollments at each school would be for each configuration If I'm allowed to share my screen I will share it with everybody so everyone can see a visual
Okay See all right I believe everybody can see that Is it big enough for everybody okay This first box has our current configuration A is Ashb T is towns and P is Pil Um so Ashby K to Ford at Ashb
Elementary has 152 students Uh Squanuk currently just has the preK with 89 Spalding has Towns and K to 4 with 413 Hawtham brook has Ashbanian Townsen 5 to through 8 at
449 Varnbrook is peril K to 4 60 students Nissatis um is parallel 5 to8 with 494 This second box here is the option for configuration that was voted in December
um that closed Ashb and closed Spalding What it would create is Ashb and Townsen K to one with the preK at Swanakook would increase the enrollment to 295 Hawthon Brook for Ashb and Townsend
would uh convert down to an elementary school um 2 to five with 498 Peril in Varnenbrook would have K to 5 instead of K to 4 increasing their enrollment by 80 to
684 and a district-wide 6 to8 at Nissatis would increase their enrollment by 200 up to 702 All of these uh enrollments keep all of the special education programs that are there now And Natissistic will be
getting a new LEAP program middle school LEAP program starting next year All I hear from the um community members and even some of the uh school committee members is Varnbrook and Nissitet are overflowing They are full to
capacity So that's fine Um our numbers from the administration say that they can fit in these schools but it is adding 80 students to Varnbrook and 200 to Nissit over what they currently have Um which means a lot more buses Um and
we'll ignore all the other uh issues that we've already talked about as far as busing Ashbs and things like that Looking at option one of the two uh new ones keeping Ashb open um Pepil and of Zar Barner Brook and
Natiss in both of these cases remains exactly as they are now K to 4 5 to 8 uh with the special education programs um with the same enrollment uh it's 548 and 484 because that's what the predicted um for 2026 it goes down a little bit in
all the towns um Ashb and towns in K to 1 in Ashb the enrollment goes up to 204 Ashby towns in 2 to four and the prek at Swan Cookook and it goes up to 466 This
um model also could work going at Spalding whereas Spalding and Swan Cookook are basically the same size Um but the current option has Spalding closing Um Hawthon Brook would remain the same with Ashb and Townsen 5 to8
477 Uh the last one is Ashb K to 5 at Ashb with 186 Townsen K to3 and the preK at Swan Cookook for 423 Um Hawthon Brook would have Townsen
4 to 5 Ashby Towns and 6 to8 um for an enrollment of 538 Um and like I said the the PEL schools remain the same All right Uh my concern with closing two
schools is the capacity issues If we uh have expanded um students in our in district um special education programs do we actually have rooms available to
create another special education class do we have rooms in the district to bring in new special education um programs that can reduce the budget for the schools okay that's a budget reduction um year overyear Uh that is
sustainable if we can bring programs in That's why we have these programs inhouse now They have saved us money from out of district costs Do we have room for uh any increases in population in any of the three towns due to uh the
MBTA due to just an expansion due to um you know PEL had a 100 unit um uh uh complex that was not approved but doesn't mean that it won't come back and get approved in another year or two or three Do we have the room for those
students for any kind of expansion in the next 5 to 10 years and I would argue that we don't Um and I think it's irresponsible from the long range planning that we need to do for quality education to sit here and take our our um space capacity to the
point that we cannot um handle anything new or any cost reductions in the special education um arena Um that is my concern with closing two schools Do we have excess capacity
in the district yes we actually have excess capacity in just about every school including the uh PEPL schools because and that's why we have the special education classes there because they had the room If you take general education most of the schools are 50 to
60% full So do we have excess capacity yes Special education does take up a a different type of space which we need to take into consideration So some of that excess space for general education is being used for cost reductions in the
district right now and I think we need to that two schools cuts it down too far and that is my concern with the two Thank you Randy Any more all right Um I am going to let Jill Twig Where did she
go jill Um she's not able to raise her hand and so I'm going to allow her to speak here Thank you Lisa Can you guys hear me okay It's a little loud Ryan Yes Yeah So one thing I wanted to say about special education as a special education
advocate and a special education parent One of the things in Ashb that the steps program had was Kay was in a classroom by itself one and two was in a classroom by itself and grades three and four were in a classroom by themselves which only took up three classrooms It allowed for
less transitions for the kids uh less teachers for the kids more paraprofessionals and therefore would add a ton of extra space in a school that you're saying is way too crowded You know now you're freeing up three extra classrooms which are super large
anyway as you know if you go ahead and look in the Barn & Brook schools it can more than capacity hold two different grades So you know that's my two cents about special education you know we can definitely start pairing them up save with you know teachers ad pair
professionals and safe space so that there is extra room say for grade five advant um Patrick McFillips you're on mute yeah sorry question back for Randy when when you did that that spreadsheet did you work with Brad and his team to go over those numbers cuz I know when they came up with these
options they looked at all of that And my just concern going through your first two options quick is the sums don't even total the same amount I don't believe So I'm just I'm just like I I have more faith in Brad's numbers that that the option works than those numbers were straight from uh
projected enrollments from uh Nancy Okay It's just strange me that they change Yeah the current configuration is FY25 numbers The other ones are FY26 projected Okay that makes sense As far as expansion as far as expansion for PEP
if PEP gains more students H that having Ash open doesn't help us at all with that because Ashp only has room for like three more class classrooms If it's already at you know four or five classes they'd be going to towns And so if it comes to growth capacity expansion
I just assume keep spalding open and then close Ashb Like that that just makes more if if growth is truly your concern There's not much space in Ashb And and just my last question just based on I know I asked Kathy earlier do you
like have have you read the Bean Associates report like I know you keep saying that there's nothing wrong with the building but I mean that that that seems like a pretty I' I've read the whole thing several times now and it it just it just appears that like I feel like what what is being said that the building doesn't need work
versus what a third party you know engineer report says are completely different answers And I acknowledge the other buildings also probably need work and repairs but if they hold more students it just makes more sense
Uh I'm sorry Was that for for me yeah Did I I guess I I I have read through that as well And um there's a couple couple of caveats in that is it was a preliminary study um and it said so that it uh did a walk
that they people did a walk through and then re uh read had documents as far as the age of things and they had interviews with people in the district um and then the maintenance So that wasn't a full going through and um doing a full study That was a preliminary
study Two um they had three different scopes Scope one was um needed but not imminent Okay Um there were only one or two safety actual safety issues on there and those have all been addressed and
there's some others that are being addressed Um so all the rest of them are staying in there as needed not imminent which pretty much all of our buildings are in that state Once you get up to scope two and three um you start getting into more
um would be nice um things to have or to change or to enhance So uh yes there was a lot of things in there as well as scope one on what is needed was only $2
million Okay And then you had the others on would be nic So yeah I have it open here It's yeah scope one was necessary not yet critical Scope two is recommended and scope 3 is does not meet current code So scope two is 2 million scope the current and the
current code was in there because uh when you hit a certain threshold in renovations over a three-year period you have to bring things up to code Yeah So those are all grandfathered in There's nothing wrong with those things unless we hit that threshold in that last column But the code exists for a reason So I
mean yes you don't it's grandfathered in You don't ne Can I ask when your house was built uh it's I'm in a fairly new build so that's not going to work I I understand what you're saying and I understand how that works But some of those things that are code that we we are grandfathered in on could still be a safety issue If they were a safety issue
they would have been called out as a safety issue Well this report's still you know 5 years old now and postco construction's up 40% So these numbers are are are larger now than they were then Like okay it's just a risky building and I feel all the all the
buildings have those things in them You have um I believe uh Varnbrook just had a major uh um renovation and they still weren't able to address the front of the building Yep And that may be coming up
for another um study on more money to put into that building because that couldn't be done Pepper tends to vote yes for their buildings Uh gee they wouldn't have an opportunity if we don't put it in front of them Hi Okay we're going to stop You've been
here for 15 years What we're going to stop Yep We're going to stop right there Um we do it is getting to It's 10:15 Um we need a plan to how this committee is going to move forward because the clock is ticking and
our families and our teachers and our especially our students need a decision on what this committee is going to move forward with That being said I'm going to hand it back to Will
That's what a chair person does is they hand it back to whomever they feel is the best for suited to help with this situation like me to do chair Well I'll start I feel like
we can we need to come up with a contingency plan of If we're not handing this to the towns and if they're not going for the overrides things of that nature where do we go next
i think I think buses we should talk about that again and just vote on that of yes we should cut those seats if anyone has no problem with that That's an easy one that's not going to give everyone too much heartburn And then I think we have to
talk about Ashby again We have a a budget that was put together by the uh superintendent for um Ashb and Townsend uh at AES for K to one option We know that budget um will reduce
$1.6 million down to a $3.15% increase We don't have um the only thing we have as far as the option for is the uh that a possible $900,000 uh reduction I don't know what that would be Uh kind of hard to compare
apples to apples as far as if you're just going to look at dollar signs I would argue um that when you're looking at education um dollar signs cannot be the very first thing at the top that you look at because you're going to end up
um just cutting off your nose to des to spite your face Um you're looking just at the immediate for the money Um I think there's other places that we can cut and that we should look at cutting that we can actually uh easily get back if we get more money uh versus uh things
that are permanent and that impede us in the future Okay Uh June you have your hand raised Um yes at this point um we did put some
more questions um to the administration It's nearly 10:30 Um I don't know about you guys I have been sitting in front of the screen for gosh over 15 hours at this point Um I think
we need to get any other answers that we've asked for um and stick with our standard process which is the hearing night It's kind of put out there and
presented We have this discussion or the continuation of this discussion um when it's not very late and we've haven't already been talking for four and a half hours um whether it is at
another meeting prior to the adoption meeting or whether it is at the adoption meeting Um for the adoption the committee has to vote by a
twothirds majority Correct Yes So um as of the last option we were kind of split almost 50/50 you know a five four split Um regarding the options my
guess is if the the option remains the same that's kind of where we land with the budget which would not pass the budget which would mean it would not go forward to the towns Um and then we're really kind of
spinning our wheels a lot more So what I would recommend is we kind of all just step back again get any other information have an additional meeting either before then or
we just you know know that our next meeting may be just as long as this one and we'll have more discussion Um but as it stands I think if we're trying to again force some sort of vote tonight it
we're we're not going to move forward in any direction Um and if we don't have a budget that we agree on for the towns then we're not even going to be giving them an opportunity to vote on an
override um until we do have one that we agree on So I recommend that we do kind of just step back and give ourselves a chance to sleep on this and open the discussion again
um on a fresh day We can schedule another meeting No no we just did this for four hours We can't leave with no more results I mean we need to have other discussions But Randy we've been having other discussions since November We haven't
been We've been having the same discussion over more information more more this Exactly We have just been having the same It's the same conversation Have conversations on other cuts Uh we need to have conversations on what
the number uh for the override is going to be We need to have discussions on um lots of other things in this budget other than just the buildings You I understand I understand what you're doing and I respect it Randy is there any scenario where you close Ashb or or
is this just the hill you die on because I don't understand You you said we all need to work together and that looks best like ripping the band-aid off this again pushing this till when till it's too late to do anything this year to like no one's even
talked about the 2.1 we're still looking for right no one's concerned about because no one's concerned about all the teachers we're letting go No one's talked about the staff at all It's been Ashby for five months now Can you stop it and it's not just that's all you spoke about is not the only way we can
cut There's more than two ways that we can cut money out of our budget It's not I know you called the END last year which kind of caused this even more so like Yeah No I get there's other ways but they're not good ways There are good ways Then then why
haven't you told them to us yet what are you waiting for because I'm waiting for the administration to put them together and give me an estimate on on some of what they were I I have suggested a uh insurance opt out again We did that a number twice in the last 10 years or so
Um which saved the district at least the first time and saved this significant amount of money Wasn't as popular the second time We're going to try that again to save several hundred,000 or actually rather I don't say I don't know if we're going through with it but it is was a suggestion Okay
we have to put our heads together We have to work together and not just sit back and say staff there's no other good ways $10,000 here $50,000 there h 100,000 won't do anything It saves staff Okay And it's worth the work to
save staff to find even if it's little things that add up but nobody wants to put the work in The easy things is buildings and staff We all had to sit down together and went through the line items We like we we have Brad we have Jeremy we have a
great team working on this budget Like you keep saying these things are going to appear When are they going to appear Randy and the answer is they're not going to And I'm sorry Well I need the administration to chime in on that because I can't say I can't talk for them They've done a great job
on all the budget They they have been doing a fantastic job I have no complaints They have been working tirelessly trying to find ways to save staff and save this budget and save education for the students So let's start with an easy one So for for for
next year for for 26 do we want to look into the option of foregoing the state and busing differently is that something we want to consider that is a that could be a big money saver We could we can consider it I'm not sure how much of a savings I would need to talk uh find out
from the administration because if there's no that means we don't get the reimbursement then that's going to be a bigger cost I agree But how's it going to look when the state's not funding and we're closing schools and that's what they're
going to pick a fight on again I I I'm willing to talk about it if I have the details I'm not going to go ahead and vote for something um as a purely uh thought first time thought up thing without having the details Okay that's that's all I need
Give me information is all I've been asking for here And then we base all our stuff on information I vote to reinstate option four as our way forward I second There is a motion on the floor to reinstate option
four which was to remove Spalding and Ashley are closed Okay And all those towns and parents who didn't want to send their kids to Ashby are now going to be sending their uh sixth seventh and eighth students over
to Nissatis I I want to make sure that all of the towns and residents understand that and I want to make sure that all of the PPO residents understand that you're getting uh about 280 or about you know 200 more students in your schools 200 at Nissitet and 80 more in
Varnbrook the 280 more students coming to your school for closing two buildings in the other towns and it won't do anything for the following budget Okay because next year we won't
have capacity Next year we won't have buildings to cut Next year um we're not going to have anything And the costs are still going to go up because the drivers are still in the budget
And we'll go and and if we vote this tonight the override won't save the two schools The override won't uh save anything that's being voted right now Have you talked to anybody in towns no one's voting for an override
That's fine I'm just letting there are some people who were willing to I don't know how many And it probably all depends on how it's marketed and what it's saving Teachers teachers over buildings And if you don't have the room for the teachers to
teach we're either going to end up getting having them in the hallways having them double up in classrooms eventually or having to go and get mobile classrooms We started the night with a plot projection Long range planning We started with a plot projection tonight of the last 10 years
of of growth in the schools and it's been a decrease that showed the next I think 15 years of growth potential and it was stagnant and we've been filling the space with bringing special education in district so that we can have them in the district
which is a benefit to them so we can save on um out of district costs We bring these programs in so that we can save money We're doing that currently We're bringing a a middle school LEAP program in Yes Bringing Yes It will be
here next year I understand that Okay Um you go back 15 years or 20 years we didn't have any of these programs or very few of these programs in district We have been bringing them in to save
money That's a smart long range planning Uh June whoops you're on mute June Sorry I lowered my hand and forgot the mute Um so with that option again we'd be
adding 300 kids to PEL schools almost including almost doubling up the students in the sped classrooms We would be taking a school away from Townsen
taking a school away from Ashevy We would be losing any support from Ashby for an override ever again we would be not doing any building
projects ever again because again all three towns need to pass a building project no matter which town it's in So PEPL will not have any improvements to their schools ever Towns in will not have any improvements to their schools
ever and again Ashb would have no school and essentially not be part of the district anymore Uh that that's what you just put on the table you're telling us So what you keep screaming is we are NM but it's you should be saying it's we are anm as
long as Ashby stays open As long as Ashby is included in and um yes and again they're still included Admin made a recommendation that they recommended above this plan So you don't want to go
with the admin recommendation Correct even though that was included in the budget hearing that was just presented to all the towns which sound you would have to add in add in that
million dollars back in which would be more teacher cuts I guess if the only two line items you're looking at are buildings and teachers out of all the possible line items Well we already made all the other cuts we can in that one point
Well it's funny you've been here for nine months Patrick and the process that we go through year after year You keep saying it it's so much dire more dire this year It's not This is the process that we go through to trim it
down We go back and forth We discuss ideas We realize maybe this one idea isn't the best idea We go back and explore another idea How many years have you been here June well in the district a long time but
um just about six Okay Well what you guys What you guys have been doing isn't working because I've been here for two years now and it's been a nightmare my two years here with cuts Well we haven't been hurting the students the way that this would propose we hurt the students
because you guys got to cut everything else And I was saying this last year when you used all the E and D I said it's going to be worse next year Nothing's changed and now you're saying the same things But now you're saying the same thing is hurting a student
That's just that's just that's an emotional attack without Yes Yes It students I understand that Excuse me I really thought I I had the floor for I've been cut off all night Um Superintendent Morgan
and Dr Reese could you speak more as to why you made the recommendation that you did lisa we have a vote on the floor that was seconded Yes we're going with the protocol of meetings That's Yeah there's allowed for
discussion which is what's happening All right everyone I know that it's late and I know that everyone this is an emotional topic I'm going to ask everybody to refrain from talking over one another Everyone has a valid point
to make So just be respectful to one another All right All right Superintendent Morgan do you have more information for the committee
i I I don't have more information other than other than what I've shared I I think the one thing that I would say um at this point um I I I reviewed the two options to keep Ashby open um in looking
at everything and having more time to to really look at the to really look at the numbers and look at the flexibility I I would not recommend closing two buildings Um I I do think that we could
end up in a really difficult spot if anything happens with regard to growth Um I I mean I I I look at PEPL If a housing unit goes in we could end up not only having to move the special ed
programs but potentially having to redistrict parts of PPL to Townsend um you know both Varnum and Nissatis are you know have a lot of students in them but I know that that 250 unit housing um
complex has been put on the table before and I know that that's potentially years down the road but we also don't want to be in a situation where we don't have any buildings in which to use which we could end up in that position which I I I would not want to recommend anything that happens in any
of the towns with um whether it be you know the MTA MBTA or any type of um any type of housing project that could put us in a situation where we don't have any flexibility at all Um I I
do think that we need to close a building What building that is is ultimately up to the school committee Um you know you know we've shared um some options with the committee Ultimately it is it is up to the committee to decide which building it happens to be I know
we heard from many parents tonight wanting to keep um Spalding open and I've heard the you know Squan Cookook put out there as well as something to consider Um I I would say that if we are going to close two buildings and that's something that the committee moves
towards we would probably want to look at Squan Cookook as opposed to Spalding being closed because Spalding I believe has five or six more classrooms than Squan Cookook does So would provide a little bit more flexibility
Um so we would want to look at or you would want to look at Squan Cookook I should say as opposed to Spalding if we were to close two buildings because Spalding just has that much more flexibility because it is it
is it is it is larger All right Patrick Oops you're on mute You're on If the only concern then we have is growth and it's still Ashb makes no sense because there's no room to grow there and it's not centralized So then I would assume we keep spalding open and close
Ashb Like like these are just basic logical things Like I I feel like I'm I'm either a crazy person or just like I don't know what's happening anymore Like this doesn't make sense Uh Randy
Um one just a a little uh kind of odd point of of uh uh point of order I guess it would be called Um the being that we have a proposed
budget that closes one school um having a motion to close two schools doesn't seem like the right motion It should be some kind of a change to the budget Again just technicality Um but wanted to bring that
up Um the other thing is um flexibility doesn't need to be centralized If we were looking at flexibility to be centralized uh then we'd be closing uh looking at closing
either an Ashb school or a PEL school because neither one of those are centralized Um so uh that logic kind of does not stand Um but I will stand by keeping Ashby open
because there are multiple reasons why you um why you do things Okay money is one thing education opportunities are another Um but the communities count
unless we are just lying to all the communities that the communities actually um you know are something that we want to preserve that we want to be part of that we want to encourage to grow that we want that all three communities are part of
something Um and when you're dealing with that you can't just go and ostracize one of the towns and say "Your community is very welcome in all the other in the other two towns um but we're never going to come there We're never going to do anything for you." Um
that does not create a welcoming um opportunity for that community It's ostracizing them Um so that needs to come into the considerations when we're looking at all of these things We're
looking at every child Are you really going to sit there and say um that Ashb you have to go and travel to get all of the opportunities we value like everybody else but you have to go and travel for all of your grades for everything to come to us because we're
bigger we're better and um you just don't have uh enough numbers to to make it a point for us to come over there which is what you're trying to say saying that it's a small school there's no room for growth There is room for growth If you take a look at the
percentage that you're talking about in each town they're a small town the percentage that the other towns were talking about the growth they can handle that with two classrooms or three classrooms Um so I don't take that argument very well There are many many
facets that we need to um consider and I hear all too often from people one maybe two of the facets being considered and uh the others discarded uh June Um and we would have a problem with this
because closing ASHB reduces the budget by 380,000 and the recommendation that was brought forth by the finance subcommittee and presented to the public tonight had a million in savings So that
leaves us over $600,000 short um from what we just told the public we were looking at So that is that more staff that we're looking at reducing Where would that be made
up cuz you're essentially asking to add money back into the budget now to for that closure Can I speak now i I don't know who that question is for Uh Brad do you want to answer first yeah
so the the budget um had again just using round numbers um accounted for either a closure of $400,000 or $600,000 Um and then the flip side would be a reduction in staff through
consolidation of if it was a $400,000 building $600,000 If it's a $600,000 building $400,000 Again we used um round numbers If if Ashby or Squan Cook were 380 390
we called it 400 And if um Spalding was I think 585 we called it 600 right so still the the the million dollars is still a combination of a building closure and staff reduction but the staff reduction was organic due to
the balancing class sizes and the reconfiguration It would wouldn't be just an additional cutting of people somewhere and adding uh making essentially bigger classes
I think any closure would account for a consolidation of staff Any any one of them would because it's a combination of um custodial and operational costs So the the custodial costs were um in there as well as some
other um as well as some other positions and then some teaching andor uh support staff were also included in that So the closure of any building would result in a reconfiguration or not a
reconfiguration but a consolidation of some sort Um that makes sense Patrick my goal would be to make as many cuts as we can and then try to get an override for like a million because that's
possible especially if it's to save teachers Um I don't know if I'm able to rescend the vote I requested just to make more sense based on the budget and based on Randy Sang's policy I vote that we change the closing building from Spalding to Ashb cuz that will alleviate
the growth concerns It allows us um to I know Townsen doesn't want to send kids to Asheville and they made that perfectly clear tonight So maybe they will vote yes for an override if that's if they're that passionate and strong about saving a school and saving
teachers That's that's my two cents on it I think we're squ we're wasting our time um on on the small beans when we need still need to figure out if an override will even pass or if we're just in trouble either way It really is damned
if you do damned if you don't So I vote we close Ashby instead of Spalding And Towns and Reps I really think you should listen to what your constituent said this evening All right Patrick Um I'm going to ask Tom Tom did you have something to
say you did raise your hand earlier You don't have anything to say I didn't but it's fine We've gone on long enough um June
So again closure of Asheville is the most minimal of savings of any of the options at that 380 and we are likely adding multiple
buses as far as the district-wide pep roll I mean I is that I'm not even sure how this would work now what the new option would be I mean are we still looking at district-wide pil are we looking at or ash
i think just closing a three I think that gives Brad so many options I think that gives them so many options We We'd have to come back with a plan I mean at this point it seems like it would be appropriate to table the discussion until admin comes back with a
plan Uh they made a plan for closing They made a plan for closing two schools They can make a plan for closing Ashby It's 150 students Sorry Like you could have also tabled a retinion vote and chose not to Like it's time It's time to vote
I'm sorry We're not kicking the can anymore We have bigger concerns than which school closes We still have to find $2.1 million Well you will not have Ashby's support of an override I never assumed we would
But well you would have before I mean this was on the table last year and they voted no handily No Voted yes Townsen lost by four and Ashby voted no handily and this was on the table last year So that's not true That's not
true Right They voted to pass the budget which had the money for the school in it Ashby voted approved the school budget It doesn't matter where the money came from whether you're asking them to
to pull it from the taxpayers or pull it from department They approved the budget and came through with the money All right Uh Lisa Bloom I just want to say um that Patrick I really feel that
you've been very disrespectful to a lot of school committee members tonight to public Um you're putting more division into our our district Ashb is part of the district It's a
three- town district Each town needs to have a school in it to be a community That's it So what would you recommend Lisa the new option one
So you didn't hear your towns and constituents tonight Okay No I'm in that large seat Patrick I represent all three towns My apologies And I always will Randy
as far as who we represent it is in our policies that we represent the students Um it is in multiple policies Um we have policy uh
BA school committee operational goals North Mil sex regional school committee is responsible to the students for whose benefit the school system has been established um uh in policy BCA school committee member ethics in the school committee
and uh their relationship to the community realize that his or her primary responsibility is to the children Okay I understand that we have to listen to the taxpayers Absolutely We need to talk listen to them But the very
first thing that needs to be on our agenda is the education of these children and looking at all of them to be equal We don't look at a small town and say their children can do whatever we need them to because the bigger towns
uh have different ideas Every child deserves to say I belong to NM and have the exact same reason why they are saying that and the exact same feeling of belonging Okay Having a school in each district helps
that Um I would be open to looking at Squan Cookook over Spalding What I heard tonight was there was a lot of um uh passion about Spalding Um but like uh that gentleman
had said any kind of a compromise which is what we have to do here looking at this budget is a compromise means that not everybody gets everything that they want So we can't look at one constituent and see and say "Oh you don't want that
Don't worry about it We won't give that to you." The other the other constituents will do all of the problem and all of the stuff All right By asking Townsen um not to change anything we're asking Ashby to change
everything Okay We need to come up with a compromise And I think that this comes up with a very good compromise that um maintains um educational quality maintains the long range planning that we need and the flexibility in the
district um and it solves a lot of problems that we have with the class sizes and other things So that is where I stand Uh June I know I said this already but if we
want to pass the budget by a 23 majority to be able to move it to the towns we're going to have to have something that is more agreeable on the committee Otherwise we're still going to
be on the same split and we're not going to move the budget forward I know everyone is going to hate this because it is getting late It's almost 11:00 and we've been here too long and everyone is getting tired and I
think everyone is starting to argue and I know that we need a budget My suggestion is that we reconvene for another meeting And I know that people are
shaking their heads I get it Patrick I get it I I I moved to I moved to vote at a second though so I don't understand Yeah but I'm considering everyone here Well where was that when they rescended the vote two weeks ago and I made that a
statement when a recent was made to I said we need to consider it But we held the vote and I can still hold the vote if everyone on the committee or somebody does not want to table it and get to
table it I think that would be the next step is to table it I know people don't want to do that but I do think that people are getting very tired I I will move to
table second Okay Now so there has to be a time that everyone can meet because the next vote on that We don't vote on that It's just a move in a second No we'll vote on it in a second But I do want to be aware that we do
need to have a time where everyone can get back and meet So do we want to schedule this next week sometime because sooner because we do need to answer before the adoption of
February 26th I mean we can vote down the table if everybody doesn't want to table it We need to vote for that cuz people can continue if we want to continue on the tableing and then we'll get So
nobody is raising their hand or saying anything so I regarding tableabling it I I I thought perfectly please No I know but we're going to vote on the table Okay Yes Thank you All right
Okay Lisa Bloom Yes Bill Berg Yes Tom Casey No Will Hackler
no June McNeel Yes Patrick McFillips No Randy Rous Yes Jill Twig
No I am going to vote no as well um because we do need a decision and our families do deserve a decision and I'm sorry that this meeting is going to go longer I move to vote we close Ashley instead
of swalling I second Okay A motion is on the floor It is to close Ashby and not Spalding It was motioned by Patrick and seconded by
Jill Twig All right I'm going to go down the list again Here we go Lisa Bloom No Bill Berg Bill I can't hear you Bill
Oh what [Music] uh should be able to hear me Yep I can hear you now No Did What did you say i said no No Okay Tom Casey
Yes William Hackler yes June McNeel no Patrick McFillips yes Randy Rous
No And I think we're sending an absolutely awful um having no discussion on this We're sending an awful message and and we will have trouble passing a budget Just because we vote this in
doesn't mean we have a budget Jill Twig can you repeat the options just for a second so I make sure that I'm voting correctly it's yes to close Ashby No to um and to keep
Spalding on the table So yes to close Yes Jill Yes Yes Sorry I guess Yes Yes Did you get that Lisa yes I did Okay great I do not
make this vote lightly and I do look out for the entire district Um my vote is yes It's a a five to four vote in favor of closure of Ashb
and to keep spalding next steps I think um Brad and his team need to go back and look at the proposal and the
budget and we bring it back to the committee I do recommend that we probably have another meeting as we do need to have a budget and we need to have a budget by February 26th to send to the
towns I know that this is an emotionally charged subject for everyone involved These are not like decisions that anyone makes But we simply do not have money to continue doing
this And the can is getting kicked down the road We need to find a solution to help us And I know that the state is not going to come in and help us at this time we may have to look at closing another
school as well So I want the public to know that that's a possibility as well Um does anyone else have anything to add all right I think
we are going to take a motion to adjourn Well I can't I can't make the motion but you can So moved Okay That's Will Hackler and Jill Twig All right We're going to go down the list Lisa
Bloom This is to close the meeting Yes Lisa Bloom Bill Berg Yes Tom Casey Yes Will Hackler yes June McNeel Yes Patrick
McFillips Patrick McFillips Yes Yes Randy Rous M Jill Twig Yes And myself is Yes
All right Good night everyone