WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: https://vimeo.com/1193433082

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: https://vimeo.com/1193433082):
- 00:01:51: Meeting Called to Order, Pledge, Public Participation
- 00:03:18: Approval of Minutes, Special Education Report Introduction
- 00:04:09: Special Education Report: Inclusion Practices Review
- 00:07:52: Special Education Report: Staffing Practices, Development
- 00:13:34: Special Education Report: Multi-Year Recommendations
- 00:19:31: Public Comment on Special Education Report, Staffing
- 00:23:11: Public Comment: Special Ed, State Funding Issues
- 00:25:43: Trip Approvals: High School Art, Costa Rica, SkillsUSA
- 00:27:57: School Choice Fund Expenditure Discussion and Vote
- 00:35:49: Approval of Duprey Law Services Retainer Agreement
- 00:39:52: Policy Revisions: Tobacco, Gifts, Negotiation Goals
- 00:47:25: Policy Revisions: Foster Care, Hazing, Immunization
- 00:51:19: Policy Revisions: Community Use of Facilities
- 00:52:45: Policy Revisions: Animals in Schools, Service Animals
- 00:54:46: Policy Revisions: Library Material, Visitors, Final
- 00:58:05: Budget Transfers: Irrigation Shed, Utilities, Subs
- 01:01:14: Budget Transfers: Personnel Adjustments, Paper Mill
- 01:05:51: Acceptance of Financial Statements as Presented
- 01:08:32: Donation Acceptance, Superintendent's Report
- 01:17:53: School Committee Update, Finance Subcommittee, Tech
- 01:19:58: City Council Joint Meetings, Thanks to Veterans
- 01:22:31: Meeting Adjournment


Part: 1

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Yeah. You come right on through next week. Next week. So, next week? Next week, maybe? Something like that. Maybe. Will you shout it out? All right. Sure. Okay. Good evening everybody, and welcome to the school committee on May 18th at 7:00, right here at City Hall. It is 7:00? It is. It is. Jeffrey Godwin. Here. Jeff Carter. Here. Kathleen Hellman. Here. Bill Sullivan here. Rick Sullivan. Here. Mike Torale. Here. Chairman McCain. Here. I'll rise for the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the

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Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. At this point, I'd like to open up the floor to public participation. We have it open for about 30 minutes. Anybody who would like to address the school committee on a matter of their choosing, please step up to the podium. You have three minutes to deliver your message. Crickets. Seeing none. Moving on to the technical academy student representative, and for good reason, all right. I got this now. Come on now. And for good reason, our rep is not here today because she's representing the

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Tech Academy in the playoffs for softball. So good for them. Woo. Item five, approval of the minutes of May 4th. Somebody want to make a motion? I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes of May 4th, 2026. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion on the minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Executive summary report of special ed. Either that or that. I think this one. You warming up, Kathy? You warming up? Yeah, between her- Good evening, everyone. This is a long report. So, we participated in a special education department

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review through Academic Discoveries. If you remember back in August, there was a presentation just in regards to some of the Department of Ed findings around our MCAS scores and some of the other data there around academic achievement for students with an IEP. So our goal as the leadership team was really to do a deep dive into this, and what we wanted to do was couple our own review, our own observations and findings with Academic Discoveries.

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So there was a lengthy process about finding the right people to do this, which we already went over, so I won't go too far into that. So we're going to dive into this. So what this included. So there was a statewide reporting of staff and achievement. There were classroom observations. We had focus groups, individual interviews, and survey responses. These focus groups were with parents, were with staff, whether they were paraprofessionals, RVTs. They were with teachers. Some of the individual interviews were with administration, parents, and some of the staff.

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There was also a survey that was sent for those individuals that weren't able to be part of the interviews or the group sessions to get their feedback as wellAll right. So they had four focus areas. The first focus area was inclusion practices. So they first looked at what was good, what was there as a promise, they called it. There was a philosophical commitment to inclusion, meaning that everyone that they talked to really wanted to make sure students with special education needs were being included, that

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it was philosophically in the bones of the staff and the parents. So that's always a great thing. There was already an established multi-tiered system of foundational structures. That's the general education tiered supports for students. So whether a student has difficulty in reading, math, maybe some social and emotional concerns, there was general education tiered support first before looking at special education services, which was an area of promise. That's just a kudos to all the great work that the curriculum team

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has done in the past years. So that was already in place. There were pockets of effective co-teaching and instructional collaboration. So when we say pockets, it's not throughout the entire district. There were some areas in some grades or some content areas where effective co-teaching were observed, which is always a positive that we're not starting from scratch. Now we're going to look at what we can grow in. So we're looking at more of a consistent district-wide inclusion model. We had a gap between access and effectiveness.

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So, students with the special education requirements or needs, getting access to special education services in the inclusion setting, and if they are effective. So they could be going there, but it might not be as effective as possible. Structural barriers to effective implementation, that comes down to scheduling and some of the subtle nuances of a building. Inconsistent and insufficient professional development. So we're looking at staff specific professional development to help support strategies in the classroom, and

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inconsistent instructional practices at the classroom level. So, not all of the classrooms were engaging in all the rich and robust inclusion practices. Focus area number two kind of talks a little bit about what we just talked about. We have a commitment to inclusion, a shared clarity on system needs. So, there is a unified thought of what is needed within our district. Established structures with emerging effective and responsive practices.

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So there are structures in place that we are seeing some effectiveness in response to special education practices. Again, areas of growth, that lack of district-wide structure would lead to inequities in service delivery and access to inclusion. We're looking at insufficient conditions and support for effective implementation, and in some locations or in some pockets, unclear roles or fragmented collaboration with weak structures.

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So the third focus area is equitable staffing practices. Again, we're looking at some great areas of promise, clear role definition and alignment to state requirements, making sure that all of our special education staff are appropriately credentialed. Culture and collaboration and resource sharing, so we have staff throughout the district who are sharing with one another. Shared understanding and alignment across stakeholders. Use of data and awareness of student needs, so that means what our service delivery grids look like and making sure that

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we're staffing it appropriately. And baseline system for compliance and credentialing. Again, that comes back to ensuring that all of our staff are appropriately licensed. Again, that's some kudos to our HR department. They put a lot of hard work into that and making sure we're in the right spot moving forward. Some areas of growth is staffing capacity and stability. We know that there has been some turnover in our special education staffing this year. That's not something that we weren't aware of. We're consistently trying to fill some

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positions. Equity in staffing distribution and access to expertise, making sure that all buildings and all programs and inclusion settings have equitable staffing. So that could be some of our social emotional mental health providers, or it could be a BCBA, so on and so forth. Professional learning, training, and role preparation. One of the big components is that professional development, making sure staff are prepared when they walk into their classroom on the

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first day. Communication and family engagement, ensuring that if there is that staff turnover, if we're hiring new staff, that family engagement is there and that the communication is going out. Focus area number four is professional development, kind of ties into that last slide. Right now the areas of promise is consistent recognition and value of professional development. Our staff want this. They want to be better and want to keep developing their practices, which is an area that is of great promise. Openness to more structured and sustained professional development system.

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So the staff and the families are very open to this.A shared understanding of effective professional development. The staff know what they're looking for in professional development and what they need to help support their classroom. An agreement on priority instructional focus areas and professional development. Again, I think the universal understanding of the purpose of professional development and what would be effective and appropriate is there. So areas of growth. So there's a lack of strategic and aligned PD system.

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I think when we first talked about doing this was doing a multi-year approach, because professional development isn't just a one-and-done system. We have to continue to build this. So we're looking to do a better job at that strategic aligned PD system. Insufficient quality, relevance, and differentiation of professional development. This came out from staff that, some staff might be go-- all the staff might be going to one professional development where it doesn't really pertain to their practice. So could we look at another professional development for them to make it a

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little bit more effective? Limited job-embedded, sustained, and supported practice-based learning. That goes back to that last part of the professional development, and insufficient conditions for implementation, time, staffing, resources. Again, this comes down to it's not just a one and done. We want to continue the professional development over the course of the year and moving forward. So there were some recommendations. Again, we talked about a multi-year, which is in the executive summary report. For the purpose of this presentation, I'm focusing on the first 12 months, the first phase of this as we want to make sure that we're doing

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this right, and then we can move on to the additional work. So establish a coherent district-wide inclusion and service delivery framework. We want to define and publish a district-wide inclusion model aligned to a least restrictive environment expectations. This comes all the way down from kindergarten, pre-K, all the way up to our students at the high school level, where we're being least restrictive, meaning we're providing services in the inclusion setting as best as possible before we're looking at a special education setting. Clarify co-teaching expectations.

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So there are seven different models of co-teaching and, too often do we sometimes fall into a trap where there's one teaching and one assistant. There's some really robust and effective co-teaching practices that really help support inclusion, and being able to provide those depending on what skill's being delivered, the skill instruction. That kind of dictates what you do for those co-teaching practices. Standardized role definitions for general education, special education, paraprofessional, and related service providers.

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In those different strategies, special ed and general ed either are combining together and really doing a dual role or sometimes you're dividing out and then you're defining who has which students. And then develop written guidance for inclusion, service delivery, and differentiation. So having a-- and this was also that was part of this a policy and procedure manual that is robust. Also, guidance in that as to what is that service delivery grid that we should be looking for that's least restrictive, meaning is it an inclusion? Is it special education?

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Kind of delineate that and spell it out for everyone. Strengthen immediate collaboration and planning structures. So build protected co-planning time into schedules where feasible. Again, our schedules dictate our instruction, and being able to do some co-planning is really important during this time and being able to build in structures to help support that because time, we all know is a resource that we don't have enough of. Establish minimum collaboration expectation across roles. Create structured school-based collaboration routines.

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That's IEP, grade-level, and service team meetings. And then limit reliance on informal coordination by formalized team structures. So what happens a lot of times with that one is you do that hallway conversation. "Hey, we're going to be doing this today in this class." Just doing a brief talk five minutes beforehand, then you go in and deliver it. Where you're trying to limit that to being more cohesive and more pre-planned and having that structured time to be able to do it more effectively. So we're talking about launch instructional consistency and co-teaching

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foundations. Provide targeted professional development on co-teaching models, differentiation, and tiered instruction. Establish a baseline expectation for instructional practices, learning targets, differentiation, and accommodations, and identify a shared model inclusive classroom practices across the district. Models that I've worked in and models that I've seen be successful is islands of influence. Start very small. Start with very motivated, very engaged general education and special education staff. Target those individuals. As you see

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that they develop those practices, they are islands of influence with other teachers, and then that practice expands, and you can do professional development further out of where you start with a very targeted professional development plan with really engaged individuals.So, in improving communication, staffing, and service delivery, conduct a staffing and service delivery audit, ratios, vacancies, distribution, and qualifications. That should be done on a minimum yearly basis.

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That's how we make our recommendations for our budget and what we need for staffing a lot of times. Communicate current staffing structures and constraints to stakeholders. Develop initial staffing allocation principles based on student needs. Strengthen professional development relevance and immediate support. Redesign the professional development to include role-specific sessions, teachers, paraprofessionals, specialists. Prioritize high-impact topics such as inclusion, co-teaching, and behavior supports, and add follow-up expectations for implementation

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after PD sessions. Again, it's not just a one and done. There's going to be follow-up meetings or focus groups. Kind of went through that quickly, and I apologize. I wanted to get a lot of this out there for you. I'm sure there might be some questions. And the full report is roughly 365 pages. The executive summary was almost 30 pages. And you have both. And you have both. Yeah. And we'll be sharing both out. Executive summary, 30 pages. It was very in-depth and a robust review. Anybody have any questions? Dr. Gunther. Just thank you so much for this deep dive.

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And I have one question, one comment. Just a thing that I'm particularly looking forward to coming-- I would love for us as a group, as one of the stakeholders, to get a bit of a deep dive into the staffing and service delivery audit, whether that's full or curriculum and instruction subcommittee. I think it'd be a great place to do a deep dive there. Sure. Because it is very clear throughout the qualitative data and some of the survey data that that continues to be an area where I know we struggle with staffing and funding, hiring, all of

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that, and that clearly shows up. So it's an area I'm very excited, but that's on the short-term list. Mm-hmm. The question I had is, one of the things that jumped out to me in the data was the trajectory of students and the relatively low exit rates and relatively high rates of movement into substantially separate placements. And I'm wondering, is that making us think anything about the strategy that we're taking on this year with the new facility at Southampton Road, and how we're thinking about our substantially separate programs in light of that data

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point? Yeah. So, that was a great data point, that we're often making the referrals to a more restrictive setting, and we're not seeing the movement back out. Right. Where what we're looking to do in our programs is build a skill very specific in a setting that is better suited for that, but then to generalize that in inclusion. So not just for inclusion practices, for co-teaching inclusion practices for some of our sub-separate programs as well. We've already started working on a professional development plan for our programs. The March PD day, we

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did a soft opening, I would call it- Mm-hmm ... in what it looks like for the structure of the programs in non-negotiables such as, this is skills that will be worked on every day, whether it's an SEL block as a morning meeting with an afternoon checkout, or if it is an appropriate communication component with some of our students with more of a cognitive impairment. So, that's already in the works. This summer, we're going to be doing a deep dive into rolling out a professional development plan based a lot on the

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recommendations and what we saw this year. It's going to tie both into... They kind of go similar to hand-in-hand with one another as inclusion practices. So you have your co-teaching as well as other inclusion practices, and the structure of our programs as well, which goes back to your question about the 390 program. Right. We want to make sure that we've exhausted all options before we even make a referral there. So we got to make sure that we are really doing a robust individual education program per

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that child, and if everything, all else fails, that's when that referral goes there. We're going to have very strict entrance criteria there, and you got to make sure you've met all that criteria. Right. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor. Sorry, I'm working on another piece here. Are there any other questions? Should I? Yeah. Thank you for the presentation. I know there's a lot, but I would just like the overall view of what you thought of this report, and what we've been doing and how we go forward. PD is a great thing, and I agree with you. I think everybody wants it.

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So we need PD, and I'm going to go back to a point Dr. Gunther makes on the regular, is we don't have enough time for the PD that we need in our system. Right. And so, what we do with the time that we have, I think, is really awesome. We have our curriculum summit in the summer. We do so many good things with professional development. I think what affects that, you can have all the PD that you want, but if you have regular turnover in special education teachers, then it's Groundhog Day all over again- Right ... when the new staff member comes in. And it's not just our district. It is many districts. So what's interesting, I'm going to answer your question

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because June 8th, we are having the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, as I forwarded that to you recently, is coming out to do a review as well. And I had a conversation with the person who's leading that report Friday morning, and I asked some several key questions, and I said soI said, "I know you guys are coming out, and I'm telling you right now, we are severely underfunded. Our budget is going up $1.9 million in special education costs alone next year. Westfield, along with the state, has seen a 5% increase in special education population since COVID.

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What is the state going to do to help fund that gap? Because they're not doing anything." To which I didn't receive a response. And I said, "I'm bringing that up because you're going to come here, and I'm telling you what you're going to find. But it is financial." And I said, "And the other piece is, with a lack of special education teachers across the commonwealth, or people going into the special education field in general, what is the state going to do to either incentivize people to go into that field? Because right now, we're short-staffed, we're short-funded,

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and we don't have enough time for PD." And short-spaced. And short-spaced. How can we create success with those barriers? So that's my answer on how I felt about the report. I think it spelled out a lot of things that we felt, we knew that were in place, but how we rectify it, I'm not certain. And until DESE fixes the funding mechanism, that's a problem. So then we get short-staffed in a position that we might pay someone $80,000 for, we have to go to contract, and now we're paying $140,000 for that person. So that has budget implications as well. I don't want to be quoted on this ever, but the system is broken. Well, you don't have to be quoted on it. So we're moving along.

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Is there any- No, but the system's broken It very clearly is. I'm going to get to it on my report. Okay. Anybody else? Thank you very much, doctor. Yeah, thanks. Item seven. Make a motion to approve the Westfield High School trip to University of Hartford Art School located in Hartford, Connecticut on May 29th, 2026. Second. Motion has been made and seconded by Kathleen Hillman. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Make a motion to approve the Westfield Technical Academy trip to Costa Rica in February 10th through 20th of

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Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? This is Costa Rica, right? Yeah. Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I make a motion to approve the Westfield Technical Academy trip to Atlanta, Georgia on June 1st through the 6th of 2026 for students to participate in the SkillsUSA National Conference. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? In this case, yes. Good luck. And good luck. Yes. I see the numbers. Cost to trip, 10,800. Estimated cost per student, 3,450.

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Funding source for trip, fundraisers, and then City of Westfield's funding assistance. What's expected there? I mean this in all honesty. Yeah, I don't know. We have real difficulties. I don't know what the expectation is. I'm sorry. Expectation in terms of? What does City of Westfield funding assistance mean? So we're covering the gap that the kids... They fundraised over 2,000, and we're funding the rest. So Westfield Public Schools as opposed to the City of Westfield. Yes. Got it. Perfect. I'm happy, guys. Well, we are one big family. I just get nervous. We're one big family. I'm looking at... I realize we're all big family, when it's convenient.

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No, I'm just kidding. Just joking. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Who's got item nine? You want me to do it, Mike? You got it? Anybody want to do item nine? I thought we were- How about eight? I'll do eight. Do eight. Sorry. You want me to make it? I'd like to make a motion to approve the school choice fund expenditure in the amount of $1.76 million to be used for the fiscal '27 school budget. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? As we discussed at finance committee, which Bo

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can report more out on, I've made an advocacy that we increase our school choice fund expenditure from 1.76 from 1.61 million this year. This is building off of a point that I made last meeting when we approved the full budget to consider a larger draw to supplement the budget to make up for the decrease relative to net school spending that we're going to experience in the budget we approved last month, or last week. Go on. So

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like Dr. Gunther said, we had the finance subcommittee meeting before this meeting to talk about this because he brought up some valid points, I thought, in the last full school board meeting that we had. So Dr. Gunther, Vice Chair Terrell, and myself sat earlier tonight and talked about school choice funding. And although it comes out as a negative two to one vote in the finance committee, it came out that way because this budget is already where it is. This budget has already been approved by us and submitted by the mayor to the city

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councilBut having said that, Dr. Gunther brings out a great point with school choice. Historically, school choice has been used for specific purchases. The examples I keep using is we bought a grand piano for the music department up at Westfield High. The infested band uniforms that both Mayor McCabe and myself wore back in the '80s were infested and needed new ones. That's what that money was always intended for. Times change. There has been more and more in recent years, in the last five or six years at

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least that I've been here, that we have been using school choice money to balance a budget and to keep positions in the school system. That's the conversation that needs to be had moving forward. We started that tonight. We're not ready to increase what we're doing with school choice money for this coming fiscal year. But having said that, a full conversation needs to be had with everybody on this committee to tell us and voice your opinion how you think school choice money should be spent,

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and I think, if I remember correctly, or I'm not putting words in Dr. Gunther's mouth, what that level should be carried over year to year in the school choice fund in the revenue accounts. Yeah. So I think the conversation started tonight. It came out negative, but to be continued. Mike Terrell? Yeah. We talked through this in the subcommittee. And sort of going off of what Mr. Sullivan said, there probably is a conversation there to be had about what philosophically we should be doing with that school choice funding.

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I could probably even be talked into sort of planning to just spend what comes in. What comes in, goes out, spending it on students and student education. At a point here this year where we're already behind, we're already expending 1.6 something, when we're taking in 1.3, I feel like that's a bad trajectory for us to be on. So I'm a no on this vote, but I'm open to further conversation about it. I'd like to hear from any... Just so the public knows, this matter was of relative importance to every single person that's here on the

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committee. Even though the finance committee is made up of Dr. Gunther, Mike Terrell, and Bo Sullivan, every member of the school committee was present. Don't worry, there were no open meeting law violations. Everything was handled terrifically by the chair. I would like to offer a possible solution for a later conversation. I'm looking over at Cindy. I really think that school choice funding should be based off of a specific percentage. It shouldn't be a number that somebody just kind of picks out of the sky. And interestingly enough,

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if I do my math correctly, Shannon, you can correct me, if you have a $78 million budget and use 2%, that would get you to 1.56 or so, right? Which is kind of right around- Yep ... where we currently sit. I just think that the conversations in the middle of May rather than, and I appreciate it, I really do appreciate it, the middle of May should actually happen sometime in January of an upcoming budget process, so we can kind of get a feel and then

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directly set a policy for it as school committee policy, which is what our charge to do is. So that would be something that I would look forward to. I would be a no on it as well. I appreciate the work that you did, Dr. Gunther, but that's kind of where I stand. Any other non-voting? Kathleen. I just want to say, we are getting the school choice money, but what money is coming out of our budget to go to other places? Some of our students do go to other places, and they opt in for school choice in another district. What is the offset there? That's what I'd like to know.

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Dr. Gunther. I can tell you it's about the same amount. Shannon maybe knows it better than I do, but it's about 1.3 million comes out of our Chapter 70 before we get it to account for that. But not necessarily all the time, because I've seen other years where it has been the towns that are receiving our students are getting more money, and it's a lot of money. So I think we really need to have a discussion and facts in front of us to see what is going in and coming out, because we do have students leaving our district to go

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other places. Well, since we are in the midpoint of our election cycle, maybe that's something that we charge our finance committee to do, start taking a look under the hood in December, and then maybe coming out with a report that's comfortable with the finance committee that can be explained in English. Some of the stuff is a little deep for us, but we'll get through it. Is there any other discussion? Mr. Sullivan, can you call the roll? Do you want to restate the motion? The motion is for a full $1.76 million to come out of school choice as an expenditure in the FY27

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school budget. Mr. Sullivan? Jeff Goslin. No. Jeff Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman. No. Bo Sullivan, no. Kick Sullivan. No. Mike Terrell. No. Chairman McCabe. No. Motion defeated. Defeated. OkayAnd again, thank you for your work, doctor. Yeah. Item nine. Let's make a motion to approve the retainer agreement between the Westfield Public Schools and Duprey Law Services effective July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027. Yes. Motion been made. Second. Is there a second? Mr. Sullivan is the second. Is there further discussion? Yes, once again. If you look down the report and you get to

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item number seven on the document. So if you're looking at the retainer agreement by and between the Westfield Public Schools, the Duprey Law Offices PC, and then you scroll down to item number seven, I will read it in case you don't have it in front of you. "The Westfield School Committee agrees to designate the attorneys at the Duprey Law Offices as special municipal employees." Now, I am sure that this is something that's in every one of these contracts that we approve over time. What exactly does that entitle the attorneys,

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however many that is, and I'm not being disrespectful, I know there's Russ and Adam and Kim, to? What does being a special employee of the City of Westfield entitle you to? So it gives, for example, they are able to sit at the table and negotiate contracts with us, as opposed, if they weren't in that role, we would have to-- So they'd be outside, tell us what to say, and walk back inside. So it gives them the right to be in the room when we're negotiating, for example. Is that the only thing it gives? Does it give them healthcare benefits? No. Does it give them exceptions under- No. None of that. And the retainer is the retainer, but it allows them to be in a

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room, which in reality, when you're negotiating, is a confidential meeting, as a representative of the city/school committee to be at the table. I don't know if they could be there without it. We can certainly ask more about that, if you want. I just wonder because there- But it's been there for years ... it's a special designation. It's not without legal codification behind it. So if you're designated a special municipal employee in the state of Massachusetts, that comes with some entitlements to it, and I'm just curious as to what those entitlements are. I don't think it's so they could just sit at the table. Back in my days in negotiation in

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my previous capacities at the police department, we didn't have to do that, and they would've had the same type of- So before Duprey did negotiations for us, we actually used the city solicitor's office, and so they were already a city employee, so we wouldn't have had to have that clause. But we can look into it certainly more. There's no rush to approve it tonight. We can have an answer for you back on June 1st. Is anybody else-- I just think it's odd language. The only context that I can think of is that I know special municipal employees have specific conflict of interest obligations.

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And hours worked and yeah. No, I agree. And so I don't know what that implication would be. I'd be curious to learn more. I'm not balking on it. I'd just like to know what it is. All right. It has been there since every- Yeah. I'm sure it has been. I just happened to- Glad you caught it ... caught it now three or five years into this process. I'm not willing to set it aside if nobody else has a concern or shares my concern. I guess we could do that with a roll call vote, right? Yes, we can. There you go. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan. Yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes.

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Chairman McCabe? I think I'm going to be a no for exactly the same reason Dr. Gunther was a no on the last one. Okay. Going to be one of those nights? How could he not support his own motion? Of course he's going to. Are you ready, Kathleen? You betcha. God bless you. Okay. I'm right on next 10, and I have the rest of the policies here. Okay. The policy group met on April 21st. Present were Jeff Goslin and Mike Terrell. We reviewed all the policies, and also in the room was Cindy and Kick Sullivan.

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So we're going to start off with policy. I'd like to make a motion to approve a first reading by title only of policy file ADC, Tobacco Products on School Premises Prohibited. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? We're just eliminating two words and, and we're adding MAS C 2022 to the policy. That's it. Okay. So if I read this correctly, can I just follow up with you, Kathleen? Sure. If you look at file ADC, mine is yellow and

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then black out or I assume it was trying to be red. So the new line should be red, "Pipe tobacco, snuff, electronic cigarettes, electronic cigars." Let me grab this because I have all these. I'm hoping there's some commas that are just missing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, just commas missing. Okay. So essentially what we're doing is adding the term snuff. Snuff. I even know what snuff is. I got it. I'm old enough. Don't want any. Yeah. What's that? Chewing tobacco? Yeah. Yeah, that's what I said. Actually, I think snuff was already there. We're just taking the ands out. Taking out the ands. Okay. The ands are gone, and we're going to put commas there instead of the ands, right?

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Yep. Okay. Anybody have any questions? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carried B. I'd like to make a motion to approve a first reading by title only of policy file GBEBC, Gifts To And Solicitations By Staff. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Catherine- Okay ... can you give us just a synopsis of the theory of change from the reformed policy to the new policy? Was there a thread involved? It's a cl- I know it's a complete revision, but they revised it ... complete revision of the policy. And I think they tried to clarify all of the

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written information. Okay. Anybody have any questions on the first reading? Mr. Sullivan. Oh, how about all those in favor. Aye. That's one. Aye. That's one. Okay. Next. Next. It's there. It's there. Okay. I'd like to make a motion to approve a first reading by title only of policy file GBED, Tobacco Use On School Property By Staff Members Prohibited. And again, we have the two ands. Ands not- Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes.

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I see you there. The next one is, I'd like to make a motion to approve a first reading by title only of policy file HA, Negotiation Goals. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? This is just an update to agree with MASC policies. Can I... Yeah. Just to make sure I'm tracking, is the highlighted text new? Changed. Like the- It's updated ... just the two, the old and the new look the same, but one of them has highlighted text on it, and I just don't know how to interpret that.

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Oh, it is the same, huh? Okay. Is this a reference update only? Oh, no, even the reference is the same. Negotiation goals. Oh, the source is different. I think they've just reviewed it, and they wanted to update it just to say it was still okay. MASC said it's still a viable policy. Okay. Can I ask another question then? Okay. Easy question. Okay. I hope so. Who's the highlighting? Who's highlighting? Cindy? Cindy, did you provide the highlight? Yes. On these? Yes. Can I just ask another question? Sure. Listen, Siri's listening in and actually yelling at me, so I'm shutting... She's just yelling at me. Is the purpose of the highlighting to show changes?

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Yes. And the cross-outs also from MASC. So do you see a change? I hate to put you on the spot. Do you see any change on file HA- No. I'm not- ... between the negotiation goal and then the new negotiation goals? Because I don't see it. I'm going to check back at the HR subcommittee meeting that was held, and I'm going to answer then, because I could've made a mistake. No, it's okay. I'm not- No. No ... trying to point out a mistake. I'm just trying to get a handle on the highlighting. How about we do this? Is there any further discussion? I'm going to be a no on the all those in favor.

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I'm just going to tell you that right now, and then we'll just send it back to get the appropriate answer. How about that? What was the only change? I don't have the big one. The legal reference is updated. Just the legal reference is updated. Okay. MGL 150- You have it. Wait, Mike may have it. I might. Mike may have it. I didn't bring the big packet that we had on the 21st. It's all down to Barry Fast. I see it, but- It's going to take me a couple of minutes ... shows the same one. I should have brought that big packet. So is it just the source that's changed? Yeah, the- Yes ... legal reference source. Yes. Yeah, the legal reference also. I think it was the source. The source. All right. I'm a yes.

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Source. Okay. It is the source. It went from 2017 to '22, but with all the highlights referenced, we may never know. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Cindy. Sorry to put you on the spot. Thank you, Cindy. Sorry to put you on the spot. Yeah. And I should have brought that big packet, but I didn't. I'd like to make a motion to approve the first reading by title only of policy file HB, Negotiations Legal Status. Second. Motion has been made and seconded by Mr. Goslin chiming in. Woo-hoo. Any questions here? Seeing none. All those in favor? Aye.

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Opposed? Motion carried. I'd like to make a motion to approve a first reading by title only of policy file JFABF, Educational Opportunities For Children In Foster Care. Second. Motion has been made and seconded by Mr. Goslin. Any further questions to this? Seeing none. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Oh, I see the genuine withdrawal. I withdraw this. Okay. I'd like to make a motion to approve a first reading by title only of policy file JICFA, Prohibit, Prohibitate, Prohibi-- No.

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Pro-Prohibition of hazing. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Primary change here is it removes just the superintendent of schools and adds the principals as the primary disciplinarian, which is a good thing, by the way. Mm-hmm. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay, in this next one, I'd like to make a motion to approve a first reading by title only of policy file JLCD, Immunization of Students. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any further discussion? I would just like to say that this was looked at by Fawn St.

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Pierre, and she reviewed it, and she approved it. Just one exceptionally minor. There's a comma in the first sentence that doesn't belong there. They will accept that. Thank you. We'll have that cleared up by second reading. It'll be perfect. A little humor. By the way, I'm working off a manual that's 1993, so I'll accept anything. Yeah, these are a lot. Any further questions? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I would like to make a motion to approve a first reading by title only of policy file JLCD, Administrating Medicine

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to Students. And again, this was reviewed by MASC- Second. And by Fawn. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? We're giving out herbs now? Yeah. Okay. It's a new day. All right. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Motion carried. Oh, sorry. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. JRA. I'd like to make a motion to approve a first reading by title only of policy file JRA, Student Records. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion?

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Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay, I'd like to make a motion to approve first reading by title only of policy file KBBA, Noncustodial Parents. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion for a first reading by title only of policy file KF-R, Community Use of School Facilities. This-- Go ahead. Second. Discussion? Motion's been made and seconded. Okay. This is- Further discussion ... a new policy by MASC.

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Number eight had a provision about you be able to use alcohol on school property, but on the city property, there's no alcohol allowed for any function. Yeah, there's actually some confusion as to whether or not nonprofits have the ability to have it, and the answer is no. If you are on public property, the answer's still going to be no. Oh. You don't get a carte blanche issue, so. Whoa. Yeah, it's a problem. I'll leave it at that, Kathleen. Oh, yeah, because I- It's going to be a problem, so.

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Yeah, I did that, so. I'm going to counsel that they walk before they run. I'll just leave it at that. I'll get back to you. Yeah, please do, because I'm not- I understand totally. Okay. It just- And this one came up here, and I'm like, "Okay. You can't." Okay. We're good. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Okie dokie. Number 11. I'd like a motion to approve a second and final reading by title only of policy file IMG, Animals in Schools. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Hold on.

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I'm flipping too slowly. So currently right now, we have a policy in City Hall that prohibits animals from being in City Hall unless they're specifically designated a rescue therapy animal. This seems to be much broader than that. Is that the intention, Dr. Gothard? I would argue that there are sometimes educational purposes where bringing

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a non-service animal into the building may make sense. I agree. Like Read to Rover, for example. Read to Rover. How about also a STEM program? Like maybe somebody brings a penguin into their building. Okay, I'd like to see that. So I'm going to be- I get it. That's why- I'm going to be facetious. Okay. Or a principal who wants to bring the two dogs into school because he feels like it, or a superintendent that wants to have a dog sitting in their lobby. Yeah. Let's be honest. Yeah. What are we doing? I think that's why use of animals to achieve specific curriculum objectives may be allowed. Right. Okay.

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And that wasn't me. I'm just- It was not you. Okay. It was not you. Clarify that. Okay. Any further comments? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'd like to make a motion to approve a second and final reading by title only of policy file IMGA, Service Animals in Schools. Second. Motion's been made and secondedAll those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. I'd like to make a motion and a second and final reading by title only of policy IJL, Library Material

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Selection and Adoption. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there further discussions? Seeing none. What's the difference between the old and the new? Of C and D? The old policy that was- Oh, okay ... revised in 2014 and the new policy going into effect now on a second reading, if that's what happened. What's the difference between the two? It's the initial purchase. Da, da, da, da. It says right- IJLA? Yep. Yep. No, IJL. IJL. IJL. It does appear to be in the initial purchase, though. Is this a more inclusive purchase? Is that what this is about? Get everybody part of the process of book purchases.

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The only difference that I see is that there doesn't seem to be anything around gifts or specifically gifts. Gifts. Yeah. In the old policy. All right, then. I'll ponder that later. Anybody else? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Let's see. I'd like to make a motion to approve a second and final reading by title only of policy file IJLA. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. On a little side note, did you know it's a felony not to return your library book? Felony.

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To do what? Felony, not to return your library book. How many you got in your house? Felony. How many you got in your house? I'm not telling anybody. You got it. Send Mr. Hook in to your book. Sweatin' the library police. Do you want me now? Go ahead, Kathleen. Okay, I'd like to make a motion to approve a second and final reading by title only of policy file KI, Visitors to the Schools. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Then the final one. Motion to approve a second and final reading by title only of policy file AF, Community Use of School Facilities.

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Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Woo-hoo. Thank you very much, Kathleen Hillman, for all your work and your esteemed colleagues. Esteemed colleagues. Yes, very definitely. Item 12. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of a budget transfer of $35,910.71 from account 56523910-532001, Tuition in State, to account 50082710-580000,

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Land and Buildings Capital Projects. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Mrs. Barry, how are you today? Great. How are you? So this is part of the... Well, it's to tear down the existing irrigation shed and to put a new structure there. It is not part of the field project, so it's something we are responsible for paying for. This is, I'm sorry, the high school? At the high school. Yes. Yes. Oh, is that what WHS stands for? You're catching on. I got that. You got it. You got it. 86 him? I'd like to throw softballs every now and then.

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Oh, that's fine. I do have one other question on here. Sure. Tuition in state. That line, and I know you're going to go through it in about five minutes. Yep. But that's a pretty hefty line item right now in the budget still, correct? On the expenses. It is. So there was the money from the circuit breaker- Circuit breaker ... extraordinary relief that we have. And then I've already done the transfers to have funds there to cover the prepays that we'll do for FY '27. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Any questions? Mr. Sullivan? Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan?

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Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McKay? Yes. Well done, by the way. Yes. I'd like to make a motion for a budget transfer in the amount of $25,000 from account 50083413-521001, Utilities Electricity. And also, I'm going to do them both, all right? Because it's going to the same account. Yeah, yeah. And also, a budget transfer in the amount of $100,000 from account 50083412-521101, Heating Fuel Natural Gas, both those into account 50067239-511400,

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System Substitutes. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Mrs. Barry. So, we do need additional funding. This is our short-term substitute line. We always have to do, the past few years, we've had to do a transfer at the end of the year. We do have people that are out with leave without pay, so I could do small transfers from a million different lines to move money to the sub-account, but I'm just doing larger amounts where we have funding just to make it easier. Nice. Makes perfect sense to me. Mr. Sullivan? And we're good with all the fuel and electricity and everything? You're good to go on that item? Yes. So in the expense lines, I've actually reduced those purchase

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orders by those amounts. Actually, the electricity I reduced by $50,000. We just got estimates from the G&E, and they're showing that we're running low on all those bills this year. Yeah. Good. Actually. Oh, Mr. Sullivan. Voting on both of these, correct? Yes. Okay. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. I'd like to make a motion for a budget transfer in the amount of $23,000 from account 52623232-5111100,

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Paper Mill teacher, other special education full-time hourly employees, to account 52623271-511300, Paper Mill adjustment counselor, full-time school professionals. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? So just to summarize the need for this transfer and the following five after, as you know, throughout the year, people move to different positions. We hire different people than we originally planned in the budget. We've had to hire paraprofessionals that were unplanned. So this is really just catch up to make the lines where they're supposed to be

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based on the actual personnel and positions. Thank you. Any further discussion for Mrs. Barry, or any of us for that matter? Mr. Sullivan. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. I'd like to make a motion to approve a budget transfer in the amount of $22,000 from account 52623233-5111100, Paper Mill teacher, other special education full-time hourly employees, to account 52701233-5111100,

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Southampton Road para aides, full-time hourly employees. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Seeing none. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. And I'd like to make a motion for a budget transfer in the amount of $23,000 from account 55614234-511300, Westfield River Elementary School library paraprofessional, full-time school professionals, to account 53430211-511100,

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curriculum development full-time hourly employees. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion here? Seeing none. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. Oh, there's another one. Oh, there's a couple more. Couple more. Sorry. I'd like to make a motion for a budget transfer in the amount of $31,937 from account 54020230-511200, Westfield Technical Academy science professor, professional full-time teacher, to account

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53484330-511000, pupil transportation professional staff full-time salary employees. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Wow. My name's on here twice. I feel special. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? You deserve two. Yes. Not at the expense of Jeff. Oh, there you go. Which Jeff? Goslin. I'd like to make a motion for a budget transfer in the amount of $34,556

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from account 55601230-511200, Westfield River Elementary School classroom teacher, full-time teachers, to account 55623271-511300, Westfield River adjustment counselor, full-time school professionals. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Any further discussion? We got to do something. Any further discussion? Seeing none. Mr. Sullivan. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes.

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Is that my last one? No, I got one more, don't I? I'd like to make a motion for a budget transfer in the amount of $80,000 from account 52923280-511300, Westfield Middle School psych special ed professor, full-time school professionals, to account 56523280-511300, psychologist full-time school professionals. Second. Motion been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman?

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Yes. Mike Terrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. I'm done. Thank you very much. Woo. Well done, too. I think. I don't know. I don't know how you got through the two three, two three, two three, two threes. He's so good. No, I'm not. I'd like to make a motion for the acceptance of the Westfield Public Schools financial statements as presented. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion on that? So we covered all the things I had highlighted. I do just want to point out one thing on page 31, a transfer that will be happening. So you'll see the special education professional line, we have about $36,000 left there.

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That is our steppingstones contract line. We are able to reduce the total contracted amount there. We're actually going to need that in our other contracted services line for special education tutoring. That's right. We've seen a real increase in the need for special education tutoring this year, so I'm going to need $40,000 to be moved to that line. But that was all I had for tonight. Is there any questions of Mrs. Barry on any part of this? Just a general, they look really good. I got to tell you, going through them Friday and today, they look really good and up to date. Mm-hmm. And things are spent where they should be spent.

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And besides the business office expenses, everything looks good. It's a little low. Got to keep some for emergencies. It's a little low. If we're not going to spend it, I know where we can. Oh, jeez. Anybody else? I think you do an exceptional job- Yeah ... to be quite honest with you. And I kind of chuckle when I hear things going back and forth, and then I subtly remind people that moving through this budget is $75 million. And to have it this detailed and this correctly presented is a credit to you and your team, so thank you for doing that. Next up. Jeff Gunther? Yes.

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Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Mike Tirrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe? Yes. Saved you. Thank you. Report of the weekly signed warrants. May 1st, 2026, 21 batches totaling $1,073,118.89. May 8th, 2026, 20 batches totaling $582,246.55. Thank you. Next up. Let's make a motion to accept

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a donation to the Credit for Life gift account from People's Bank in the amount of $1,000 to be used for the Credit for Life Fair. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Thank you, People's Bank. Thank you to People's Bank. Kick Sullivan? Yes. Jeff Goslin? Yes. Jeff Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. Bo Sullivan, yes. Mike Tirrell? Yes. Chairman McCabe. Yes. Mr. Superintendent. So just a couple of updates. So this Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., Otter Essentials is opening at Westfield River Elementary School, and that is the name of their food pantry. And we're going to have a grand opening

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ceremony. Folks from Stop & Shop will be there. Of course, you're all invited to attend. And it's being emceed by our very own Bo Sullivan. And today, I spoke with George Delisle from Kiwanis, who reached out to Bill Parks, who went to Home Depot, and Kiwanis has purchased a refrigerator for the pantry. And it will be delivered by our maintenance crew, who are going to pick it up tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., and it will be delivered there as well. So we will have perishable and non-perishable food items. And this, of course, goes along with the $7,500 worth of gift cards that

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Stop & Shop donated to Westfield River Elementary School. Wow. Also this week, on Thursday at 9:00, Westfield Middle School will have their annual Memorial Day ceremony at 9:00, and I'm excited to attend that. For some clarity, graduations will be at Bolles Field at 7:00 p.m. on June 4th for Westfield Technical Academy, and June 5th at Westfield High School. And Mayor, I want you to know, I looked at the long-range forecast, and it's sunny both days. Oh! It's sunny both days. You've got to be kidding me. So let's keep that going. You just didn't say anything. He did. He came right out with it. You say it, but we wouldn't-

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God. He's not going. He can't go. And then, because other folks have asked this one, too, the last day of school is actually Monday, June 22nd, so it's after a long weekend. We expect everybody in full attendance that day. It's a half day. And it's a half day. So I do have a question on that, because I don't know the protocol. So I'm just going to ask it. If anybody can help me out and fill in the blanks, I'd appreciate it if you would. As you know, well, most of you know, my daughter is due on graduation day for the Tech Academy. And who knows, right? Who knows? If I wasn't there, who would I then give it

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off to? Would I just skip that piece? Or should I- So in the past, if the mayor hasn't been able to give the diplomas, I would do that. But of course- You would do it, or maybe the vice chair would do it? Even the vice chair, absolutely. Is that something that you could avail yourself to? I will- It could be last minute, though. I won't know. I really won't know. Yeah. We'll figure it out. You don't even have to do a speech. Oh, I like that. Oh, yes, he does. Oh, yeah. Listen to the man. The only time they want to listen to me. So I really don't know what the protocol is, so I'm going to give it off to the vice chair of the school committee- Sure ... and find out. Fair enough? Mike, so I can put you down for a speech at both graduations. We're in?

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Yeah, yeah. Okay. You heard it. That's a cheap way of getting out of the weather, I just want you to know. Yeah. But if he's not there, it'll all rain. That's why he doesn't want to give the speech. I don't know if you noticed, but we had an event. The city held an event on Saturday. It was bright sunshine the whole time. So maybe we've gotten past it. Did you? And your Easter egg hunt this year- Of course I went ... it wasn't pouring rain anymore. And it wasn't pouring rain at the Easter egg hunt, so maybe the gods are finally with us in one way or another. Amy Tozer. Huh? Amy Tozer. Amy Tozer. Go ahead. Yeah, that's all I have. Last day of school for you. So I have a bunch of stuff. Fort Meadow. Believe it or not, the paperwork has been submitted to city council to have Fort

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Meadow turned back over to the city. It was originally, obviously, part of the city in 1916. So Fort Meadow is now going back to the city council to vote whether or not they're going to take it. I don't know how that exactly works. They're getting it, so. Okay. Chris Rogers is going to be a happy guy. Yes. I do want to mention training for school committee. Charting the CourseTraining for school committee, charting the course. Did you know, I bet you didn't, and if you didn't, I'm going to tell you, that upon one year of being a school committee member, you must, by Chapter 71, Section

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36A, attend a school committee orientation training. What if you- Some of us have been around for a while, and have never even heard of it. What if you've done it already? Then you're good. I'm good. Then you're good. But if you haven't done it, you got to do it. According to state law, there is a June 6th in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, sorry about that, and June 20th in Sturbridge. They say that they're going to host more in the spring and fall. I didn't even know that there's a whole packet for school committee chair people.

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I didn't even know it existed. So I know it exists now. I'm five years in, and I'm trying to teach dogs new tricks here. I went to the mayor's meeting in... At the tape? Old dog, new tricks. It is what it is, right? Don't say it. I went to a mayor's meeting. There were 27 mayors in attendance. There were various members of the secretariat, if you will. Principally, the Secretary of Transportation, Phil Eng, and the Secretary of Economic Development, Mr. Eric Paley. Interestingly enough, they're both native New Yorkers- ... so it was kind of funny to listen to them.

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So we have some House problems. As a school committee, we have a House problem. Yes. And I would suggest that in order to get our house in order, we really do need to speak to the House and explain to them why Chapter 70 needs to be funded properly, but moreover, why unrestricted general government aid needs to be funded correctly. So, it is a big deal for us. We need to try to figure out how we're going to get or set the tone for 2028.

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Obviously, the ship has sailed on 2027. The budgets are being ratified as we speak. The city of Westfield received $206,000 over the governor's allotment of 2.5% on their formula. So we rose to 4.06%. I don't know how, because it was supposed to be capped at 4, so I'm not telling anybody that that happened. That's what happened. I can't see the light. So that happened. That was a little bit of good news. It is. There's other good news. We have Grinspoon Award winners. Oh. So, Dr. Shea and I, and several of the faculty

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and staff of the administration. Who was going to see Kerry Cipolletta? Who went to see Kerry? We went to see Kerry. So I inadvertently, when I made out her citation, had two Ls in it, so it was Cippolletta. It wasn't good. So I have her sign... Will you give this to her, if you would? Yes. Well, I So Grinspoon Awards are pretty cool stuff. Thank you. Goes to teachers who are doing really creative and cool things. And last but not least on my agenda, I had the ability, or I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Bella Ortiz.

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So Bella Ortiz is the seventh grade Paper Mill school student. Seven-year-old, sorry. Seven-year-old Paper Mill Road student, who is suffering from a cancer diagnosis. Oh. And today, I was at a ceremony. Like everybody in the room knows, I run for Cops for Kids with Cancer. The reason why we do that is so that we can provide financial support to families that are in need, because it's a very costly endeavor. Every one of us has probably gone through somebody with cancer. We realize how those bills can mount up.

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So to Taylor and Dan and Patty and Bella, we wish you nothing but the best. She has a terrific prognosis and hopes for a terrific future. So that's my report. It was fun today. So on we go. Next, we have the school committee update. John, you have something you'd like to share? Today, I attended the Attendance Task Force group, and we are doing awesome. I don't want to say awful, I want to say awesome. As a school system, our attendance is two thumbs up.

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Yeah. We're meeting our goal that we set out in September. August. So I brought out the other two things at the mayor's conference, about tech and their placement, their graduation rate, and most critically, their dropout rate. So whatever they're doing at Tech, I hope it gets copied and pasted and sent out to the rest of our schools, because when you have a 0% dropout rate at a secondary school, that's just- It's the place to be. It's just crazy. It really is crazy. It's very cool. Now, has that happened before, Mr. Sanders?

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One other time. And do you know who that was? Principal Zabrowski? I do. It would've been 2015. There you go. So congratulations to Tech, and good luck to them in their softball championships that we have going on today. Yeah. Sorry. Back to school committee notes. So can I just ask a quick- Sure. Is there a game here sometime? I don't know when the schedule is. Yeah. Okay. And I assume that's why Bruce and Dan are here. So Bruce is actually the acting official or whatever at the game. Principal Hastings, excuse me. I'm asking for a scoring update. Is it home? Do you know? I don't believe it is, no. Okay. Yeah. I didn't knowAnyway, Mr.

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Sullivan Finance subcommittee met earlier this evening to talk about a recommendation on increasing the school choice allotment to the FY27 budget. Dr. Gunther, Vice Chair Terrell, and myself met and actually voted two to one against increasing the school choice allotment. And the minutes will be at the next meeting. Thank you both. Is there anything else? Just in, WTA won 9 to 5. I'll let you know when the next game is and when- Nice. There you go. Congratulations. Woo. Very nice. So well worth missing our meeting. Oh my gosh. What a quick night. They can miss the next one too. Next.

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Well, I got one question for you because you mentioned it earlier. Yep. Are you guys in front of city council June 1st? We are. Where is that? We are in room 315 at 5:30. Okay. That's a finance council, right? Yes, it's a finance- So- Their subcommittee, but- Now let me-- I'm going to briefly kind of chat about that for a second. Dan Kannapic, former mayor, City of Westfield, former town manager of Yarmouth. So he's got, I don't know, 11 or so, I don't want to give him a number because then I'm going to get the wrong number, but I think it's about 11 or so years as the CEO of either a

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town or a municipality. And I have been working really in lockstep since about January about trying to figure out how to really move where we need to go in order to have a financially stable future. So what he has asked to do of each one of the department heads, obviously yourself included, is to give a three-year historical guidance on personnel and expenses year over year over year. And be prepared to speak at each one of these finance council meetings

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about what the pushes and pulls were that were causing these things and to see whether or not there could be something identified through the process that would make it better. So like I have the mayor's department, the building department, the facilities department. I might have another one. I don't remember, but I've got a report out on a bunch of them. Originally, it was seen as kind of why are we doing this? But once you really kind of take a look at what the purpose is, then what he's going to do with all this information is he's going to download it into a database and try to do some AI

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working with it to see if- Right ... to see if there's something that it's just not seen by us, but it gets captured somehow by AI. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't work, but I just want to say thank you to Dan, who he and I really have been working behind the scenes. So I don't think it's anything to worry about in terms of June 1st, but who knows? Might be. I don't know. Good? Mm-hmm. Anything else? Oh, I just want to say I'm from a military family myself, and I want to thank all the members of the military and all of our veterans as we get close to the Memorial Day holiday.

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Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anything else? I thank that the next regularly scheduled school committee meeting is on June 1, 2026, right here in this building at 7 o'clock sharp. Motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Motion to adjourn. And we got a Terrell second. How about that? I put two Xs next to you. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much for what you do.