##VIDEO ID:https://vimeo.com/1039846242## Evening everybody. I'd like to welcome everyone to the meeting with Westfield School Committee Monday, December 16th, 2024. Uh, roll call please. Jennifer Gunther. Here. Mike Carll. Here. Kathleen Hillman. Here. Jim O'Connor. Here. O Sullivan. Here. General MCC Cave is absent. Heather Sullivan. Absent, please Allegiance the United States of America for which stands on that nation under God in number two is public participation. We put some time aside, anybody in the public like to address the committee this evening. Other than that, uh, item number three. Fort Meadow Early Childhood Center update. Okay, great. I guess 'cause Stefan's not here, he asked if I could give an update. It is pretty quick. Do you wanna come, come here? Yeah. Yeah, sure. Nice. So, since we met here last, uh, we met one time, we met last week, and, um, our committee met altogether. And what we did was map out the timeline, um, from January through September, and each group thought about, so what are the logistics? And put that up, you know, on the months, what does, uh, student integration, staff integration and community, um, communication look like. So we put that out there and, um, we'll come back again this Thursday and look at that, um, and talk more about, so, you know, what did we miss? What did we wanna, because we had a few people that weren't able to attend, so they may wanna ask some things. Um, and just continue to discuss putting together a plan that we'll have ready to bring to the superintendent by the end of January. Any questions? Mr. Sullivan? Is there just a broad outline of have we gotten to, like who's going where, what students are going to, what school? I mean, I know we got Munger Hill we're talking about, we know what programs. Not even the students are going to either school. Well, we did, um, I mean, Deb's group looking at the student needs and everything, she did start to map it out in trying to think about, so if we want kids, students to be closer to their home schools mm-hmm. If we want, uh, thinking about student needs, also thinking about can we keep any of the groups, three-year-olds to four-year-olds together. Um, so we have some kind of, I don't know, initial thoughts, but nothing, um, concrete at this point. Any other questions? No. Thank you very much. Great. Item number four to approval of December 2nd, 2024 school committee meeting. I'd like to make a motion to approve the school committee meeting minutes of December 2nd, 2024 as please. Second. Motion made Ms. Sullivan seconded by Ms. Till Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. All this motion passes. Number five is a mass school building authority statement of interest. Mr. Re? Yeah. As, as stated, um, as part of the results of the last, uh, facility subcommittee meeting, um, we, we wanted to bring back the topic of a letter of interest to, uh, the, uh, MSBA regarding, uh, high school, uh, the building of a, a potential building of a new high school in town. Um, part of the part of that process was to have that on the agenda tonight so that we could, uh, have, uh, a conversation about it as a full committee. Obviously in subcommittee we can only talk about it amongst the, the members of that subcommittee. Uh, and Mr. Barnes, Matt Barnes has been good enough to come join us to answer, uh, some of the pre-submitted questions, uh, that we put in, uh, around bonding and, and logistics, uh, from a, from a financial standpoint. So thank you for being here. Yep. You're welcome. You wanna do yours? Uh, we can, um, You can start the, the only, the only one, and I've asked Matt this the last time, uh, we met at the subcommittee level was I've heard it has spoke committee itself could go out and bond on their own any school committee budget to pay off a bond for schools. Just for schools. Is that true? Not that I know of. City council has to approve all debts of the city, and there's the general fund budget as its own deadline for all the debts of the city. It's got all the prior school projects and, Okay. Um, Matt, when we talked in subcommittee last time, uh, one of the items that was brought up was the potential of, uh, 'cause we talked, we talked about, uh, bonding for the school. We talked about, uh, doing a, uh, a debt exclusion for the school, but then we also talked about possibility of there being a hybrid of that where the city takes on some of the, potentially some of the debt service for, uh, for a partial bond, and then we go to a debt exclusion to sort of lessen the blow of, uh, of a debt exclusion. Were you, were you able to figure anything out about whether or not that, I know that that was a question mark last time is, was, is that possible? Yeah, so I reached out to our bond council, um, division of local services. That's the state group that we work with, you know, as a city. Um, they don't recommend doing that split method. Um, so the recommended method is if you're going to do a debt exclusion, do it for the city share of the project, and then on an annual basis, you could decide if you're going to raise that portion of the debt service through the general fund budget or if you're gonna do it through the exclusion. But if you don't approve it at the beginning, can't do it later, You could do the debt service. You, you, you could buy, uh, sorry, you could do the exclusion, but then on a yearly basis you could make the decision to, to not charge the full amount or, you know, to, to the, to the household. Absolute. Um, my understanding, I just wanna confirm from the subcommittee meeting is that this is not a limit, the barrier that we're potentially working against. It's not a limit to the total amount that the city can bond, but instead by the amount that we can reasonably the amount of debt service that we can reasonably take on in our annual budget. Is that right? I think something along the lines of like the MSBA was outside of the cap that we use, just how do, can we basically service the debt within our annual budget facility? Is that the right understanding? Right. So there's two parts, there's that capacity. Yeah. And that is, that's where I said that if it's an MSBA approved project or outside the debt limit, so the capacity isn't become factor Irrelevant. Yeah. It becomes an ability to pay and you have two choices you can pay through the general fund, annual debt service, or you have to go out for a debt exclusion. And that would be for the life of project. And then my other question, it says the, with the projects that you see coming online at our current debt service, do you anticipate that the, the amount of annual debt service that the city has changes substantially over the next five to 10 years? Or does it stay fairly constant with projects rolling off and projects rolling on? Well, so there's always the projects coming on and off. Yeah. I think at the last meeting with the facilities meeting, we covered that the city share of a high school project, whether it's a comprehensive or just let's call a high school project, that debt service is big. It could be right, 10, 15 million depending on what the project is and what the city share is. That number alone is more than what the general fund debt service has been for years. Um, And so realistically, like the sit, the, the, I guess the point I'm trying to, the question from the question is, the debate that we're having today, or we're about to have when we have this debate, the picture for that doesn't change substantially next year, three years from now, likely other than cost continuing. Same from a, from a debt service perspective, we're not looking as a, you know, we're gonna free up a ton of capacity that this could fit in, so Are three years From now or something along those lines. Right. So the annual debt service has been around 7 million. Yeah. So if you're looking at a high school project that's at 10, 15 million, you're annual amount that they've used for years as a kind of their goal. Yeah. I think, um, Dr. Gun asked kind of that I I was, I had posed to you. And if, if we're not ready as a city this year, next year, when is it likely we could be in a much better position? That has to do with on, you know, ons and offs right. Over, over the next number of years. But realistically, um, when would we be in a better position by the city to be able to support a project like this in your opinion? I can't really answer that. You know, we don't know what the project is and how much it would cost. Um, I don't know if the, the budget is going to shift so that it covers adding in a 10 or $15 million annual debt service versus going for an exclusion. That's really Right. I can't really say, well, three years from now would be a great time to go apply because there's new projects coming on, there's some coming off, but we're always, we're always gonna have a baseline level of debt. Mm-hmm. As a city. Sorry, let me ask like a good question. I want, I think we're getting at the same point. I want to say it's a different way, is that we're not in a period now where our debt service is abnormally high or low. Right. For the, the city's recent history and not anticipating it being abnormally high or low in the next few years. Is that accurate? Yeah. Okay. I Think we've got, you know, I, I think this group has a, a lot of work to do with, with this issue. Um, and then we will be talking to the city council at at some point, but, um, I think we still have a place to go. Yeah. Fair to say. Yeah. Say in front of us. Yep. Any other questions? Well, thank you Mr. Barn. I was just gonna ask that we add this to the next, the next meeting agenda. I see for our purposes that we can involve the mayor. We will plan on putting this on the February 13th. February, uh, January 13th. There we go. Alright. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Item number six. Uh, I'd like to make a motion for the approval of homeschool applications number one 70 to 1 75 for the 20 24 20 25 school. Second. Motion made second by Ms. Settleman. Any further? Discussion? Questions? All in favor? Aye. Motion passed. I can make a motion for the approval of Westville High School School trip To Southington High School in Southington, Connecticut for February 1st, 2020 Second. Motion made second by any further discussion. This is for Astute athletes. Very good. The rest, rest. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. I'd like to make a motion for the approval of Westfield Technical Academy, trip to Beta Technologies in Burlington, Vermont on January 16th, 2025. Second motion made, seconded by Ms. Tillman. Any further discussion? Seeing none. All in favor? Aye. All this motion passes. Item number Allen, I'd like to make a motion to approve the Western custodian contract effective July 1st, 2022 to July 30th, 2025. And authorize the mayor to sign on behalf of the committee. Second Motion. May 2nd. Is that June 30th instead of July 30th? June 30th. It's June. Did I say July? Yeah. Oh, sorry. June 3rd Motion May to, uh, approve the custodian contract. Effective July 1st, 2023 through June 30th, 2025. Second I Mr. Sullivan, any further discussion? Any roll call? Jeffrey Gunther? Yes. Kathleen Hillman. Yes. O Sullivan? Yes. Mike ll Yes. Tim Ocon? Yes. Item number 10, I'd like to make a motion to move item 10, approval of memorandum of agreement with the Westfield Education Association Unit A teachers to our February 3rd meeting. Second. Motion made and seconded. Any further discussion? Uh, Rationale is just we are wrapping up the, um, we're intend to wrap up all the conversations around Fort Meadow and present a holistic plan with regards to logistics for Fort Meadow following January 31st. And so, um, want to have this conversation around the impacts of the Fort Meadow move on unit A staff after those plans are finalized. Any further discussion? Uh, rule, uh, motion to move Paul and Taylor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. 11th, Uh, signed warrants. November 29th. 2020. Uh, November 29th. 2024. 18. Batch of, so two, four. You got a two or a one. 4 81 or 4 82, Make sure. Four. Two Four. Four two. Great. 4 82. 4 82. So four $82,434 and 78 cents. December 6th, 2024 19. Mattress totaling $189,155 and 28 cents. That's it. Thank you. Make a motion to accept the special revenue accounts as presented. Second. Motion made, seconded. Further discussion Should be there. I just had one comment tonight. Um, and Susan, feel free to jump in. Um, the arts donation to that gift account of a hundred thousand dollars. Um, that money has, um, the has met and started to spend that funding, that first expenditure there. Almost $40,000 was for instruments for high school. Any, any questions, Mr. Sullivan? Yeah, the, uh, could you just go through, obviously the, the accounts for the elementary schools that are in flux right now, and Franklin and Abner, they each still have their own account. What is the plan for each of those accounts going forward? So, Franklin's gift account, they have spent all their funding Abners will be spent. They've been using that instead of their general fund money to use for expenses at each of the separate schools, um, for the first half of the year. So those accounts will then be closed once they have a zero balance, and we'll create a new gift account. Um, once everyone's moved into the new school and we receive our first gift for that school, um, Fort Meadows gift account, depending on where we ended up with that school, we would try to spend that before the end of the year. So the new school, Yes. Westfield River will have a zero balance in an account. So I would not create it until we actually got a gift that I would need to create an account for. Okay. Mm-hmm. Ms. Stone, Um, for the, uh, gift virtual school, Yes. There's $78 in there. And is that gonna be divided up between the two schools eventually or is it just gonna be a placeholder right Now? Um, I mean, it's a placeholder right now. At some point, I think, yes, we should spend it between the two virtual programs. Okay. Thank you. Anything else from the committee? See none. Uh, to a revenue account, to a roll call, please. Bo Sullivan? Yes. Mike pll? Yes. Jeffrey Gunther. Yes. Kathleen Hillman? Yes. General friend? Yes. Thank you. Item number 13. It's a superintendent's report reports and superintendent's update. Uh, the superintendent's not able to make it, uh, this evening, so he'll have to report double double that next week. Right. Item number 14, the mayor's update. This one's a little bit more interesting. The mayor's not able maker. So virtue I am the mayor this evening. Uh, we, we won't make any special holiday, you know, concessions, but, uh, yeah. Um, item, item number 15 is a school committee update. Item number 16 are items for referral to subcommittees, items to refer. Item 17 is old business. Can I say something? Yep. I'll do it under old business, but it probably should have been on the school committee. Um, the Cory Bruno and her choir, again on the breakfast, the, uh, uh, holiday breakfast up at Eastmont Country Club last Friday. Every single time they do it, uh, it's, it's amazing. The kids are so talented. But one thing that did come up is that they have trips coming up. They're not sure where yet if they're going to, I think it was either Virginia or Hershey, Pennsylvania. Again, not they, they don't know yet, but there's fundraising to be done. Um, so I, we'll put it out there. If anybody in town or anybody here wants to help that group go to competitions outside the state, uh, they're looking for upwards of $30,000. Um, there may be a couple fundraisers that are being put together. Uh, you'll be hearing more about it, trust me, because I was asked. I'll put it together. So, um, it's just such a talented group. I think they should be able to do what we can help 'em do. So just keep that in the back of your mind or for part of your mind. It'll be, uh, sometime in March where they, they travel I believe in April, so they gotta start paying the bills in March. That's what Thank, Um, I just wanna commend the food pantry of Westfield here. There are two women who run the food pantry and there has been over the past couple of weeks a team giving and it earmarks 73 students who are homeless in our city here. And they are at the high school, at the tech school and at the Pathways. And, um, they are looking for donations because they earmarked the guidance has earmarked students and they filled out a form and they said that they needed shoes to go on their tech experience. So these two women who run the food pantry, um, earmarked, earmarked these kids for their whatever they want. They, they were needs and not wants. And so they go out and they buy the shoes with the exact size for those students. Um, over the past week at the winter walk, um, I ran a booth and we collected 350, $200. And then the women's club at the, um, women's club donated 500. And then there was a Venmo piece on, on my flyer and people donated to the Venmo. So these are students who really need our help. So I just wanna showcase that so we can make sure these students get what they need. Thank you. Anyone else? I think, um, we're fortunate. You know, there's a lot of generosity in, in the city, uh, with different groups and especially time around the holidays is, it's quite impactful. So thank you for everybody for, for doing what we do. Uh, there is 18 subcommittee, reports, recommendations, instruction, curriculum, subcommittee. Yeah. So the instruction curriculum subcommittee met earlier tonight. Um, we covered a few meaty topics. Um, talked about, um, with the change in MAS, uh, requirements as a result of question two, passing, uh, administration shared the work they're doing to go through and evaluating course-based competency for the 2025 class, uh, to make sure that all students are on track for, uh, have clear graduation requirements. Um, we did talk about the policy implications we're need to come back to around, um, addressing the MCAS requirement in our graduation policy. Um, previewed some, uh, recommendations from the administration around addressing the course requirements for graduation, um, to better align with the mass core. Um, that will also bring back to the, the broader committee. And then finally talk about, um, the physical education opt out policy, how it started, how it's evolved, and, um, how it aligns or does not align to our understanding of the, the state requirements. And so bringing that back up for revisiting if the broader committee In the future. So we covered, Sounds like we have more work to do on that, but thank you that, uh, at b is, uh, minutes from Facilities Capital Planning subcommittee. I'd like to make a motion to approve Facilities and Capital Planning subcommittee, uh, meeting minutes of December 2nd, 2024. Second Motion made, seconded. Any further discussion? Seeing none. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. I do nine 19. Has any other items Not recently anticipated 48 hours prior to the meeting. I guess I could say it at the end, but I'll, I'll say it now. On behalf of the Westfield School, we wanna wish everybody a happy holiday season, safe, healthy, uh, and happy and relaxing the students. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, the students and staff gets involved. Time off coming off soon, so. Alright, our next regular school committee meeting is January 13th, 2025. Any other motions? Motion to adjourn. Second. Motion made is seconded. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed?