call the meeting of the Whittier Regional Vocational School Committee to order. Please call the vote. Mr. Early here. Miss Sullivan here. Mr. Rossy here. Miss Carpenter. Yes. Mr. Lee here. Mr. Fitzgerald
present. Mr. Pegley here. Mr. Murphy here. Miss LOL. Mr. B here. Miss TR here. Miss Okconor here. Mr. Sloki and chair here. Please join us for the pledge of
allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Those attending tonight's meeting should
be aware that the meeting is being audio and video recorded by Woodyard Tech. Any audience member who wishes to record any part of the meeting must inform the chairperson who will announce the recording. This is to comply with the mass wiretap statute. First item on the agenda is public
comment. Is there anyone here for public comment? Anyone for public comment? Did we receive any emails for public comment? We did not. All right. See none. Next item on the agenda. Approval of minutes August 13, 2025 minutes of the regular school
committee meeting. Is there a motion? Motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Murphy, seconded by Mr. Fitzgerald. Any discussion? Seeing none, please call the RO. Mr. Early, yes. Miss Sullivan, yes. Mr. Rossy, yes. Miss Carpenter, yes. Mr. Dele,
yes. Mr. Fitzgerald, yes. Mr. Paggley, yes. Mr. Murphy, yes. Mr. Bow, yes. Miss TR, yes. Miss O' Conor, yes. And the chair? Yes. Passes. Next item. August 13, 2025, minutes of the executive session. Is there a
motion? So moved. Second. Motion by Miss Okconor, seconded by Miss Cuffinger. Uh, any discussion? Seeing none, please call the Mr. Early. Yes. Miss Sullivan, yes.
Mr. Rossy, uh, state on that one. Miss Carpenter, yes. Mr. Lie, yes. Mr. Fitzgerald, yes. Mr. Pagley, yes. Mr. Murphy, yes. Mr. Bow, yes. Miss TR, yes. Miss Okconor, yes. The chair,
yes. Passes. Next item on the agenda is the treasures report for August. Is there a motion? Motion to approve. Motion by Miss TR. Second by Mr. Fitzgerald. Any discussion? Seeing none, call the RO. Mr. Early, yes. Miss Sullivan,
yes. Mr. Rossy, yes. Miss Carpenter, yes. Mai, yes. Mr. Fitzgerald, yes. Mr. Paglia, yes. Mr. Murphy, yes. Mr. Bow, yes. Miss TR, yes. Miss Okconor, yes. And the chair, yes. Passes. Next item on the agenda,
communication student representative report. Richard Dico. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, Superintendent Lynch, and all other members of the school committee. We're very excited to kick off this year's clubs and sports. Our annual club fair is taking place this week, and all the
many clubs we offer are looking forward to students signing up and participating. Now, getting into sports, the football program is off to a great start. Both the varsity and JV teams won their week one games. The freshman team will play their first game next week and varsity has D1 Lawrence coming here
tonight tomorrow night. Overall, the program is showing strong numbers and a bright future. The boys and girls cross country teams have strong participation to the start of the season with all of their top runners returning from last year. The teams recently competed in the Clippers
relay in Newreport for the first time in program history. Their first home meet was scheduled for today against Shasheen. The girls volleyball program had record numbers this year with over 85 student attending triyouts. The JV and varsity teams played two preseason scrimmages against Salem High School
High. Their first season game was last Thursday against Greater LOL. It was a competitive match, but both teams came up short starting the season with zero and one records. Exciting match ups are coming. The boys soccer team is gradually building into the season with a very young roster. They currently hold
in z a zero and two record but are working to rebound quickly despite the early setbacks. The outlook remains optimistic. The team is focused on improving the small details that will make a big difference as the season progresses. This week they host Lawrence and Mystic Valley at home on Tuesday and
Wednesday. The girls varsity soccer team features a young roster as well. The season began with two losses, but the team earned its first win on Saturday. That victory has boosted morale and the players are practicing with renewed energy. The team is optimistic and anticipates a successful season ahead
and the cheer team has been working hard and is looking forward to performing this Thursday at the football home opener. That's the student rep. Thank you very much. Nice job. Nice job. Next item on the agenda is going to be
new staff introductions. Mr. Legatus. Good evening, Mr. chairman, Superintendent Lynch, rest of the school committee members. Um Ricky, that's a radio voice. That's a pretty good voice by I was like, whoa, how am I going to follow that? Anyway, uh I'm I'm lucky enough to come up here every year and
introduce our new staff uh to the Whittier family, and that's what I have here. So, we'll start with Jennifer Herald, our school nurse. Come on up, Jennifer. All right, just you can stand right here. We'll get everybody. Timothy Lane, electrical instructor.
Judicus Light. Did I say that right? I hope. Judicis. Judicas Light. Spanish instructor. Tyler Mabbury, maintenance mechanic. Tara McDonald, Cosmo instructor, and Paul Pierre, electrical maintenance department.
And I'd like to introduce you to the school committee. And welcome to our Whittier family, everyone. Thank you. Welcome. Any speeches? Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you all. Congratulations. Welcome aboard.
Next item on the agenda is going to be Mass Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools presentation on the process for amending regional agreement. Madam Superintendent, do you want us to introduce him? Good afternoon. Um this is um Steve from
the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools. Steve, can you hear us? Yes, I can. All right. So, I passed out a PowerPoint that Steve is going to go through with us today just uh so that the school committee can have an understanding of of the work that needs to happen um as
we move forward. So, Steve, I'm handing off to you. Thank you, Superintendent. Uh I'm Steve H with Association Regional School Mars. I believe you are members of Mars. Um I have we put together a PowerPoint on how
many you just briefly myself, I was superintendent central mass at Naragan Regional School District. I retired in a way and I started working with became executive director for Mars and did that until 15. Then I went back to my own district as an interim superintendent
and back again Mars. We founded a Mars consulting group 2012 and we worked with regional districts in some towns on projects for updating regional agreements even forming new regions. So we have quite a bit of experience that
area. Go next slide please. Next hit it things are going to come up. So one of the things okay stop right there please stop going further brief. Well one of the things when you're going to advent your agreement there's a process that we've developed and we work
with the department of education on a recommendation to you in the process. So one of the first things is you review your current regional agreement for procedures for amending. We're going to talk about review state laws concerning regions. Uh we suggest you form a region
amendment committee a subcommittee called rack interesting name and what they looking at to update the regional agreement. Uh develop community relations process get the information out. What are you doing? Next please. One of the things if you suggest
amendments to the current regional agreement you would come up you review it and then you take a look and see where do you need to make updates of your regional agreement. Next when submitting an amendment all parts of regional agreement must be compliance
with state laws and regulations. The Department of Education will not approve regional agreement amended regional agreement unless it complies with all state class and regulations. Next, you then produce an amended agreement.
Now, I need to make clear in this case, you don't open a regional agreement. You amend that agreement. If you go through the amendment process and that doesn't get done, you still have that agreement. the original agreement you had would still be enforced until a new one and
we'll talk a bit the process how the new one gets approved. Next, see what you'll do is once you have produced an amended agreement and you come up and do what you want, how you want to add to it, change it. Uh, you'll see approval from the commission of
education, basically the department of education staff. They go through it. They also send it to their legal, make sure everything is up correct for the state laws and regulations. Then there if they something isn't, they'll send back your your agreement that you have
for them and they have to make the changes. So then you have to get their approval before you can go forward. Next then the amendment agreement is voted in each town uh and I think you have a city in your city. So each town city has to approve it by a majority at their town
meeting of their city council and it's by majority vote. Next final approval by the commissioner is done after you have the question done and you send in the agreement with the town that the town voted it and then you
never have a regional agreement. Now I'm going to go into some more details on it and some things that we're going to look at some of the things processes that you need to do that we recommend that you do. So next slide please.
You go to your agreement, you take a look the section on amendment. This is a general type of wording that has been used and I think it's similar to might be newest. Not this is what we when we do present presentations and say maybe agreement may be amended time to time in the manner he provided but no such
amendment shall be made which substantially impair the rights of holders of bonds and other deadness of the district and then the procedures then you take the court procedures on the amending process. So when you're going to start this that's one of the first things we'll look at in your
agreement and believe your agreement is 1967. Is that correct when you were started? Yes. 1967 on the agreement. I have the copy. So that's your agreement.
Yes. When you found it next, please. Okay. Yeah. The proposed by district or anybody not participating is what you have to do is they process that get sent out to the towns and they have you get
that on a on a warrant for city council for approval of that uh of the amended agreement. So there's a process you got to follow and take a look in your agreement how it states that generally this is very similar to what most agreements have. Next
state law and regional amendment agreements. Go ahead. Next. The regional agreement must address all sections outline chapter 71 section 14B. It's the rights and duties of a school committee and to run a regional school district.
Also, the department has put out a check off list that we use going through to make sure all the sections are in there and what they require to be in the in a regional agreement. Next review must be sure that all required sections are up to date and address. As
I said earlier, the department would not approve your agreement if their sections had not addressed laws or regulations. Next, governance and assessment. Go ahead. Okay. School committee composition, one
person, one vote. Chapter 71, section 14 outlines that. And I believe I looked at your agreement that the your members who are appointed by your select from your city council, your city, and that that is acceptable for one person, one vote.
That's a very important thing that the ESC looks at. The other thing is the assessment methodology. Regal agreements are required to have a statuto method and you can also have an alternate method and agreement method if you want to say statuto method is now
required. Next go ahead school members that section 714 but again you're in compiance with that in your current agreement.
There are five ways to choose members and be compliant. We redo this every other district on that how they do it. Um there again next I think you're actually you're okay with it but we said there are five ways to do it. Each region has
a little different but again you are in compiance as I see you're appointed by elected officials. Next assessments we talk about the statuto method again hit it please and the agreement method.
The statuto method is defined as you take the budget and you divide it into section called operating budget. You then transportation and capital and then you have to be a process that you then have to take when you start with your budget
minus your chapter 70 require minimum local contributions any other amount above normally that you don't have chapter 70 the minimum local contributions really don't provide you enough to amount above you have to have
a system by which that amount above that you would then assess that up you can have an agreement method which you can use um and and you could do that if you want to develop it I think right now you you use a sort of agreement
method on your population but you don't have a stat method in your agreement you would have to do if you're going to amend it I'm sure making statuto step so committee appoint me committee membership of the rack what
we suggested that would be members from the town you get 11 town so you'll leave 11 members but again you don't want to get a committee anywhere from 10 to uh not required but this is suggested that we go through and we suggested it's one of the things you have members of
the school committee and family recommended you might want to ask members from the community the next month. So what you might want to do is have members from the community and ask them to be on the committee so
they can go through it and they can work with you and what the towns might think and what they were looking for but also when you're going out to the towns and get it approved they could help you get it approved. So the rack writes amendments to the regional agreement. Next,
the Iraq reviews the regional agreement for compliance. Make sure that make sure everything's there. Produces a vended agreement. Now, remember, don't forget that the cover agreement is still in place. You're only doing producing a vendor agreement. Next,
the school committee approved or no approved. So, they go back to the school committee. The school committee can say, "Yeah, we agree with it." where they can make some changes, approve it, they can send it back. But again, the school committee gets involved in approving that that amended agreement. Next,
school votes to approve, not approve or change the amendment update agreement submitted by the RA. Next agreement sent to DESC for initial approval. And when they say initial approval, then they say, "Okay, we go through it. We take a look at it all
your sections." They also help you understanding maybe some sections you might not might want to change a little bit. They give you some suggestions and sometimes they'll give you requirements. the agreement the initial approval. Then after you get the initial
approval next after initial approval by DES then select place on the warrant and the next town meeting with city council to them voters approve amended agreement. So what happens then is
Governor Tom Warren voters received the page 12 13 14 pages a lot of times you'll have to be putting together summaries of what you've done and how you make changes uh so that they can vote on it. When it goes to the town
meetings of the city council it's an up or down vote they cannot change it. Everybody has the same thing. I believe currently your agreement calls for approval by all towns. That's not a requirement. You can change that. You could have uh you have 11. I believe you
could have nine have to approve it. That's in the agreement. Those can be changed. Uh but again, folks have to understand what you're trying to do. Next, if approved, sign agreement and certify both send to next.
Commissioner approves him agreement provides in comp. So then then when it comes back, you have an approved agreement. signs it then you can move forward with how you want to do certain things you might want to change then become effective. Next,
one of the things requires careful thought. Next, if you're developing your relations program, you need to let your communities know what's going on. That's why we suggest that you might have on your subcommittee. You might want to
have people from the communities involved with that because then they can help you get attached. they've agreed with it and they help you get it past that town meetings in the city council. So again, this can take up to a year or
more. Next recommendation have facilitators and legal assistance. Uh that's where we come in. If you want to hire us to work with you, we can also have employer district council again. be looking at it
uh dealing if you have facilitators again making sure it's in compliance. Also making sure you put something in there be legal but is it really what you want and what does it mean? So again that's why you want to make do it very carefully and make sure that there's
something that you thought you said but maybe not really interpreted that way. Okay. Now, uh what is on? Well, I had to check today to the uh show Griffin and your
agreement is on file and you have that have some amendments there that had taken place. One of the things is that your original amendment when he was done the fiscal year was the calendar year and then the state legislature 1970s changed it and then they passed a law
that allowed the committee to change it to a fiscal year of July to June which you're doing however agreement need to be updated in those dates and so forth and there are some updates that you've done. So again, some of the necessary
ones that haven't been done, but I looked briefly at some things you probably would need to address next. Has it been updated with the members that have been approved by the town? Yeah, I think so. I'm not sure how many times you g out, but at least there's
some things in there that have been updated. So the department has that next. And they do have all amendments that I was given your agreement by superintendent email and they do have those amendments on file. Um we've run
into other districts where not all the amendments got approved by the town but they didn't send it into the department to be approved by that all your up. So that's the good news. Next
opportunity update with all the amendments into one document that you can do and again updating some of those things that you are due and updating fiscal year. Next,
I'd be glad to answer any questions that you have and chairman and superintendent glad to answer any questions. Thank you. Questions? Mr. De, thank you.
Thank you, Steve. Mary July here. Um I think I heard you say that the existing agreement stays in place until a new one amended one comes forward. So therefore uh based on the current agreement all cities and towns would have to pass it
each one right because the old rules would apply. Have a little hard time hearing but the answer is the current agreement would stay in place until the new one is then voted by the towns and signed by the commissioner. Right. So all towns would have to adopt
this in order for it to prevail. It have to be unanimous. Under the current agreement through a new agreement, you could change that if you wanted to. Right. But that new that new agreement wouldn't that new agreement wouldn't go into effect until
it was voted. So So it would then the old rules would apply. So all towns and cities would have to approve this. That is correct. And then but in the new agreement we're seeing many towns are saying like three4 of the towns or six
towns you have to have four out of the six have to approve it. That would be the new agreement and then going forward. Thank you. Anything else? That's it. Mr. Early Sure. Mr. Rossi.
Hi. Uh Mike Rossi. The um question I have is where are the last few places that you're aware of that have done a regional agreement amendment change? Uh well we've done several different uh we've done a list of them but the uh
it's very common to update your regional agreement. One of the things I was we worked very closely central mass with the uh dispensary bookfield district they updated their agreement. uh we've worked out and uh I don't have the list
right in front of me but I can produce that list for you where we work on updating your regional agreements. We work closely with the department to make sure and what we do is we set up if you form the rack and then you hire us to work with you then we set up at least
every month and we take one section at a time or two sections at each meeting updating that. We get input from the committee input from your superintendent and so forth or what do you need to change in that agreement and we also go through it and we look at it and say
these sections really need to address these look at them. Um, also I think I don't know what happens is I'm going to explain to you that you take your current agreement and I'm not sure it's been on is it on Microsoft Word? I hope
if not it's going to have to be. And what happens is the department says we take that agreement in Microsoft Word. Then we go through and make changes on that track changes so they can see what has changed and then we then we keep the track changes. Then we hit the button
and say okay make it a clean copy and that is what has to go to the department. It would take your current agreement the track change where the changes took place and then a clean copy. So very specific on how you get their approval what you have to do but
what's good about doing the track changes you can see and explain to people where the changes what you're making and why. Thank you. And on that on the regional um committee the rack generally what is it what's the general
composition of that school committee members town members finance board members what does that look like? Yeah, you choose how many. The problem I guess is if it gets too wide, too big, it gets very difficult, you know, to get business done to get your quum because
you're subject to the open meeting law. And so we estimate anywhere from five of 10 to 15 and you want to at least have each town covered. Now you get school committee can do the rack if you want, but generally you have the subcommittee
do it. Then you get a second look at at it and see if it's okay to do. Now you probably want at least five members from the committee, maybe six. Are there 11 members in the committee or more? 14. 14.
14. You would have to choose how many you want the committee. Remember that's the meeting for people. So make sure that they want to do it. Um and that you would then choose how many maybe half of that and then maybe you might get from
the other town somebody another seven maybe up to 14 and ask those that are interested to help you uh and also get the flavor from the communities as you're doing it. That's public relations and then again form of public relations. So you're sending out to your
communities to select city council so they know what you're doing. So it's not a surprise when it comes forward. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Early. Yeah. Dick Early Jr. Haver
representative one of two. You said on the recommended steps and amending school committee appoints the regional is it the Whittier school committee or the town school committees? No. The re the Whittier school committee
is in charge of the school the vocational. they would appoint members to that that subcommittee to proceed with updating the regional agreement. Okay. So the appointing authority for that. Okay. You would ask the towns if they have
somebody they would like to have and then please send the name and then they could be appointed by the school committee. Okay. Then it also said school committee votes to approve not approve or change the amendment and updates. This school committee does.
Yes. your school committee. You take a second look at the comm at the agreement. Everything's what you expect and wanted and you can vote it. Uh you can say, "Okay, we like everything but section 5. We want to have that look at again." You
can either send it back to the rack or you can make the changes. But the case is that you have the other committee that will send that out to the town for their review and proposal and and town meeting to approve it. You said that the habil uh the there's
been some changes and amendments to the existing one. Now how many and when I'm sorry you said that I'm trying to understand the question. I have a hard time hearing you said that the existing agreement has
had some amendments the current existing agreement. Is that true? the way you you allowed to take the agreement and you're allowed to amend it. No. Have we had a little while ago you said it's we've
had an amendment before on our existing? Yes, there were amendments that were done a number of years ago that you did uh that you did on your agreement um that uh that you came in for some like
one of the things Marramac I think joined and then you change the um the dates of your assessments and then in 74 uh you change the things I'm looking through the budget section how you would
do that. So you have a from 72 73 74 those were amendments that were there. Also you show in the agreement that the state passed the law that you could that the committee could amend the agreement for the fiscal year. All right. Those are the only ones you
have anything since I have given since 74. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? None. Thank you. No other questions. I hope this I hope this has been helpful
to you. Uh we try to provide information how to go about this in a larger way. Um, if you want to talk to any people that we've worked with before, superintend that we've done work with them on updating their agreement. So, be glad to
do anything with you and give you any assistance. Thank you very much for your help. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. You would have to if you ever wanted to hire us, you'd have to produce a request for request for services. Gotcha. Thank you very much.
Okay. Okay, good night everybody. Good night. Thank you. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is principal assistant superintendent, Mr. Leanus. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, Superintendent Lynch, rest of the school committee members. Um, I have my report
and it's all about the school opening if you can believe it. I think we've been we've had nine days of actual class time uh and and shop time. So, uh, it's been an amazing start. So, I'll give you a little run rundown. On August 19th, we held a successful freshman and new
student parent student orientation from 6:00 to 7:30 in the cafeteria uh which filled with parents and guardians. Uh the session covered key topics, school safety, student discipline and expectations, student services, internet
use, parent portals, parent involvement, sports, athletics, extracurricular clubs, and the booster club information. We also introduced our student freshman orientation days and offered tours of the building. Additionally, which was absolutely amazing, uh incoming students
enjoyed a movie up in the auditorium when the parents were downstairs. And we also had um students that came a few days earlier, our uh student government kids, about 50 of them uh in there showcasing uh Whittier Tech. And it was
an it was an amazing night. On Monday the 25th, our entire staff gathered uh in the cafeteria and Superintendent Lynch welcomed everybody back to Whittier along with the newest members of our Whittier family. Uh this year's theme focuses on positive culture uh
that we've built over the years, highlighting strength of the positive relationships, kindness, gratitude, and teamwork. We all know that we're at our best when we come together the benefit of children. That includes everyone here. Uh after lunch, our staff
participated in a carousel. Uh and the PD is is usually done by us and we found that very successful. Um us meaning our staff members and ourselves and the admin. Um our staff participated in carousel breakout sessions, business
office HR information, special ed updates, civil rights 504, title 9, student records, hazing and bullying. Uh McKini Vento guidance information. McKini Vento uh is the homelessness act if anybody wants to know that uh
technology changes and updates uh opening of school information uh school culture discipline and the AP's office assistant principal's office information and then we tried something different of sort of a scavenger hunt for the staff and they absolutely and I know uh
superintendent Lynch can speak to this but they had a blast and what what they what we did is we put them into teams at Wildcat Shop, stops and showdown, one campus, all shops, no limits. And basically they they were set into teams
and they had taskers like scavenger hunts and it was all about the shops and questions about shops. And the first team that won uh came back into the cafeteria. Uh they ended up winning certificates to the poets in for the for uh the cafe and and some breakfast. So,
it was like a competition and they really really got involved and they had a blast sort of easing their way into uh the year and back into the teaching. On Tuesday, August 26th, our freshman and new students uh were introduced to Whittier and had they had the chance to
navigate their daily schedules. Uh we're very fortunate, like I said, to have 50 student leaders guiding them through the day. And that's amazing. It's powerful, you know, when we have our students leading the show and they all had the same t-shirts on as student leaders and
it's great with all the incoming new freshmen and some of the new students. Um it's it's good to see that our kids are are just running strong over the course of uh three days August 27th, 28th and September 2nd sort of we still have some orientation for our freshmen.
They participate in orientation which including team building, activities in the gym uh such as Jenga, deserted island, musical chairs, tug of war, free throw and basketball, people bingo. Additionally, our vocational coordinators gave presentations on
important topics uh like worth work work ethic rules, shop dress, dress code, the wildcat speaker series that goes around uh and the athletic clubs including the half day of the PD and team building exercises. The goal was to get everybody
involved, all the new students and our freshman and the new students to our school. Uh a big thank you I have to say goes out to our vocational coordinators Amanda Crosby and Paul Muskovitz uh and the rest of the staff and the student leaders who made this event a real
success and it will it continued and hopefully uh it it works every year for our our new students that come to our building. On Wednesday, everybody showed up through the doors, reported to school, uh where the assistant principles and I met with them in the assemblies uh and to review the parent
teacher handbook uh and the code of conduct uh with particular emphasis on harassment bullying, our cell phone policy u which um you know we tweaked up a little bit and so far so good. Our cell phone policy including cell phone
locker policy. Uh, additionally, the guidance department, co-op coordinator, athletic director, associate principal, and class advisors gave grade level specific presentations as well. And then on Wednesday, um, you also northern
Essex uh, fall 2025 semester, 219 of our early college students began as well. 102 students went over to the campus during week one, while 117 went over during week two. And on those days um that they're not in the classroom,
they're professional. They are diligently working on their coursework and assigned study areas and they receive support from Whitty Techch and Northern Essex early college coordinators. I'm sure Ricky can talk about that. Um also another positive, we
have 384 students participating in fall sports. That's awesome. So get involved. another way to get involved. Our club fair is taking place uh this week and Katrina Jetson and Miss Fleming and I will meet the club advisors and discuss,
you know, more about the club fair and see how we're doing, see the kids signing up, but it's out there for everybody. So hopefully everybody's signing up. We have 20 plus or 20 extracurricular clubs for kids to get involved in Whitty Tech. And finally, uh
Whittier continues its commitment to safety. Uh we had our first fire drill that wasn't planned. The fire department, they usually come out right away and we're tweaking up our uh evacuation sites as well as we're going to start to get a schedule of the Alice
drills that we do. So that's what I have for you. It feels like we've been here for months. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Cell phone policy.
That's a touching everywhere. Have you had any resistance against it? Uh, you know, any problems? Yeah, it's a very good question because you hear that, you know, they want to eventually ban the state, but we've had a policy into place for a while and each year we're tweaking it up and and I
don't want to jinx it, but um, you know, and I'll explain the cell phone policy, but it's been working out very well. So, what we did this year was it wasn't an expectation that the cell phones when they get into their shop area um or they get into their classroom, we have the
cell phone lockers and it it's it's definitely they they have to put it we put it in the handbook that they have to put it in before they sit down for their academics or they go into their vocational area. Uh kids can use their phone on the bus when they come to the
cafeteria when in the morning for breakfast uh as well as in the in and then they go up to their home rooms then it's shut down then it's off to like work or off to their classrooms. Uh during lunches they can also use their cell phone but other than that that the
phones are locked up. They can't use them to go to the bathrooms or they they should be in the lockers. And so far so good in in talking with the assistant principles and again I don't I don't want to jinx it because we just started but um they said you know things are working out but we have to stay on it
today. We reminded the staff of the protocols, especially with the cell phone policy, that, you know, you just have to stay with that consistent, yep, nope, let's start the class, everybody. Put them in there. And we found, uh, especially with the vocational areas,
um, it it just rises the level of participation in what they're doing and their concentration is amazing. So, so far so good. And the reason why I asked that, and I talked to a lot of people, and it's tough. These kids, they're addicted
holding these phones. Yeah, we all are, right? Adults are addicted to the phones and kids are addicted to the phones. Yeah, I'd like to go back to one of those to be honest. But um but yeah, I mean it's it's part of life and we try to teach them and educate them in the
positive ways and the social media and how to use the phones because it's part of us now. correct. You know, for everybody, a great job for you and your staff, and I know you've been working on this for three or four years, and you are tweaking it from what I'm hearing. Yeah, we're definitely tweaking it. Um I
I know when the the state uh came out and they it was on the um you know, the TV and they were talking about completely banning, but if school systems had uh you know, really good positive protocols into place, then they said it would leave it up to the school
system. So, I'm hoping that will be the case for us because right now, um, it's working. It's working. So, thank you. We don't want to fix anything yet. Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you. Thank you, everyone.
Next item on the agenda, business manager, Miss Cosmos. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, Superintendent Lynch, members of the committee. Uh just a little update for you on um the Whittier Tech Educational Foundation. I like to update you on what we've been doing a couple of times
during the year. On August 11th, we had our eighth annual golf tournament. It was at Bradford Country Club. We had 129 golfers that teed off and we also had an additional 32 people who joined us for lunch. We received many many
sponsorships and donations for the the event and we netted over 15,500 in revenues for the foundation which as you know all of the revenues for that we earned for the foundation go to our students. So on behalf of the planning committee I wish to thank the staff at
Bradford Country Club all of the event attendees the sponsors the donors and all the volunteers who helped to make this event such a success. Our athletic director did come in first, but unfortunately Miss Lynch was not on his team this year, so she was disappointed.
And it was a very, very, very hot day, but everybody seemed to have a great time. And I just wanted to let you know that the next event that we will be sponsoring will be our second athletic hall of fame celebration. And that's going to take place on Friday, October
24th. It will be at Havville Country Club. The tickets, I believe, are $85 each. and sponsorship information along with the listing of all of the honores can be found on the Witty Techch website under the foundation heading. Our last hall of fame did sell out and we expect
this one too. So if any of you would like to attend, I suggest you you reach out to us or get your tickets or contact the superintendent or Mr. Leanus or myself. And that's all I have for you. Thank you very much. Next item on the agenda is reports and
recommendations of the superintendent. Madam superintendent. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. The first part of my report is a little bit of a repeat of what Mr. Leana said, but um I'll go quickly. Um as you know, August 25th, our staff reported for the first day of
school. The administration did a phenomenal job. They were exhausted after it was all over. I think they did five or six small presentations, but we do feel like the smaller presentations are a better way of getting back and forth and participation and so that everybody's on the same page. Um, but
they did information sessions on school discipline, technology, special education, business and uh HR information, civil rights, 504, title N, bullying, school records, school culture, and opening school information. So, it was a very full day of a lot of
information, but then like Mr. said, "We had the scavenger hunt where teachers uh needed to know shop information or English information, math, and they, you know, had colors and they ran around the building and, you know, we got extra points for noise and
spirit." So, it was really a really fun little um event that we had. Um on August 26, all of our new students attended were allowed to be in school um without the other classes with them. So, the freshman and new students had the building to themselves. This is a great way to get them acclimated to the
transportation to the building and of course the Whittier Way. On August 27th, all of our students returned. It was great to have a full building again. When the students came in the week before school, sports had started. So, you know, I'd love to hear the noise. You know, I was like, "Okay, we're
getting ready." You know, that anxiety of the beginning of school kind of went away when I hear when I hear the kids. Um, athletics is in full swing. Our first home football game is Thursday night against Lawrence. Um, Woodier Tech night school starts on Monday, September 15th. We currently have 288 adult
students signed up for electrical, plumbing, and journeyman. We have 350 students enrolled in our enrichment courses. This year, we'll be having a focus on kindness and giving back to our community. And there's some really great ideas floating around and in the works, and once they materialize, I will be sure to share with you, but I think
you'll be very happy with some of the ideas. Our open house is set for November 3rd. We're looking for our theme um and how to ensure that our entire community is aware of the opportunities that are available to them here at Wu. Today there was a meeting with the municipal leaders. We discussed MSBA's
eligibility process, the concerns about the regional agreement and the desire to keep meeting monthly. Um I think it was a very productive meeting and I I will say um you know I I said do you want to keep meeting monthly and everyone at the table said yes the these meetings are
great. um they're very involved. They really have a desire to find a path forward for Whittier and I really couldn't be any more thankful and appreciative of them giving up the time that they have of their busy schedules to be a part of this along with Northern Essics um because this is really important to our Whittier Techch
community and so I'm so grateful for that time. Tonight you heard about the process of amending the regional agreement. Um, it's important to note that all amendments of the original regional agreement must be approved in order for us to move into schematic design which follows the feasibility
stage. So, it's really important that we start getting to work on this because as you hear it could take a year or more for us to um amend that regional agreement because then we also have to take it to all the town meetings and all the city councils. Um, it's definitely a process. Um, but at that point we should
know what the preferred option is. So building at Northern Essex Community College, which I think everyone is really excited about that opportunity, building here at Whittier Tech, renovating Whittier Tech or renovation in addition at Wood. So those are the things that we're going to be kind of moving through on the the next, but
really looking at the regional agreement while we're working through the MSBA process is really going to be important. So that is all I have for you tonight regarding that. All right. And then we have under the
superintendent's report uh the super question um you said the feasibility study before we move forward with that we have to have the regional agreement when roughly how long do we have that feasibility study so the feasibility study as I remember
and I'll have to double check that is generally about a year a year and a half to work through that feasibility study so we have a year a year and a half to to work through that. Yeah. Okay. Um do you want to go on to the next thing? Uh the goals.
Yes. Yes. Um so before you tonight are my goals for 2005 2006. As you can see um you know a lot of the student learning goals have to do with early college and um my cap and improving our CTE programs and
being a part of their professional learning community. Um my professional practice goal um goes along with the uh MSBA process which is a significant um opportunity for Whittier Tech. It's also a significant um amount of time that we
need to work through that process. And then uh my professional growth goals um is to continue to develop my leadership skills and using the strategic plan, school improvement plan to do that. All right. Any questions on the proper schools?
Just a quick question like early college. Do you know what percentage of students right now are participating in early college? And you know what what your goals are for that? Right. So this the principal just said
210 students right now. I think he said 210 students participating in early college. Last year I think it was in the 180 range. Um, I think the more students participate in early college, the more opportunities that they have as far as receiving college credit while they're at Whittier Tech and have the support
services. So, I I would love to see every senior participate in early college if that's what they choose to do or a junior and senior. So, you know, those are we're continuing to grow the program. We we want to make sure that while we can grow the program that we're providing the supports needed for
success in that program. M um just looking over the goals I had two questions and just can you explain my cap? I'm not sure what that is. Sure. Sure. My cap is a new initiative from Desi. Um it's really about career planning um starting in the middle
school moving forward for for students. So um you know the hope is that when students are in the seventh and eighth grade they understand what career technical education is. Um so that that you know pathway starts working through um at that grade. So, some of the things
that we're doing here is looking at um each of the CTE programs and looking at um what do those pathways look like? What courses should you be take? We've done a lot of this work already, but what what elective courses should you be taking? What science, what math, what courses you should be taking? And then looking at what articulation agreements
we already have in place, and then looking at what early college programs we could work, and then looking at pathways for, you know, community the community college, you know, if you want to be an LPN, you know, The NSX has an LPN program. If you want to be a dental hygienist, well, Middle Sex Community
College. So, looking at all those things and laying that out, but each student will have their own kind of plan put in place for that. That's great. And then just one question, but there's another one. Um, the history civic engagement project, how is that different from a junior
senior project? I didn't I didn't So, it's very It's the same. It's the same thing. Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. I'm good. Thanks. Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is there for the year? Is there a set amount of students that I can send to
NECO or is that like I'm I'm limited? I I don't feel feel like we've had a limit yet, right? So, I think that that's something that we'll continue to work on. I can tell you that I was at a meeting with the commissioner of education, the new commissioner of education, Pedro Martinez, and I will never forget that
name. um that he he really believes in early college and is really um supportive of early college and and getting as many students as we possibly can involved in early college. So, it's a great opportunity. If I could add on that, I mean, I I I've
heard policy people on the state level hope that the goal is at least 30% of high school students are participating. So based on that they are you know giving enough re they're trying to provide that kind of resource capacity.
We have a long way to go right it's always all about the money. Anyone else is there a motion to approve the goals? Motion to approve second by Mr. Murphy. Seconded by MR. Any
further discussion? Seeing none please call the role. Mr. Early. Yes. Miss Sullivan. Yes. Mr. Rossi. Yes. Miss Carpenter. Yes. Mr. DeLe, yes. Mr. Fitzgerald, yes. Mr. Pagley, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Bow, yes. Miss TR, yes. Miss Okconor,
yes. And the chair. Yes. Uh, strategic plan. So, the strategic plan, I know it's many pages long. Um, but I, you know, at Woodyear, we're committed to preparing every student for success in college and
career and in life. Most importantly, um, our 2526 strategic plan focuses on strengthening academic and technical excellence, supporting our students and staff, fostering a safe and supportive and inclusive environment, and building strong community partnerships, and
planning responsibly for the future. Um, if there's any individual questions I can answer regarding the plan, I'm happy to do that. Questions? Mr. L. Um, I guess it's not a question so much as a request, and I I didn't make ahead
of time. So maybe for future versions of this, I think it would be helpful kind of building on Mr. Bose's point, if there was an additional column that actually identified what metric or measurement you're going to use and what that outcome looks like. There's a lot
of activity goals in here. I realize that, but there are also some that I think lend themselves to actual measurement. Um, and I think that would just help us evaluate at the end of the year the progress towards the goals in the plan. Thank you.
Is there a motion to approve? Motion by Mr. Seconded by Sir Mr. Rossi. Further discussion? Say no. Please go. Mr. Early, yes. Miss Sullivan, yes. Mr. Rossi, yes. Miss Carpenter, yes. Mr. Deai, yes. Mr.
Fitzgerald, yes. Mr. Paggley, yes. Mr. Murphy, yes. Mr. Bow, yes. Miss TR, yes. Miss Okconor, yes. And the chair, yes. basketball out of state field trip request. Yes. So I have an out of state field trip request for our hospitality program. They'd like to go to the
Fairfield Inn in and suits and exit, New Hampshire. Um then go to Las Bulas Takaria for lunch. Um they will have eight students attending this field trip on October 29th. Is there a motion to approve?
So moved. Motion by Mr. Murphy. Seconded by Second Miss Copinger. Any discussion? I bet you I Nobody can guess the question, but go ahead, Mr. Early. We have the proper paperwork in in line. We will have the proper paperwork before
they go. Thank you. Any other questions? It's very important. Seeing none, Mr. Early, yes. Miss Sullivan, yes. Mr. Rossi, yes. Miss Carpenter, Mr. Lie, yes. Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Paglia, Mr. Murphy, yes.
Mr. Bo, yes. Miss TR. Yes. Miss O' Conor. Yes. And the chair. Yes. Thank you, Madam Secret. Old business. The MASC MASS conference delegates vote. I believe I did get two volunteers for it. Miss Sullivan and
Miss True. Am I remembering correctly? Yes. For admissions? No. No. This is the MASC registered. Yep. Okay. So, we have to um So, does the committee want to somebody want to make a motion to appoint Miss Sullivan and
Miss Troop as the uh which one of you is going to be the uh the rep and which one's going to be the alternate? You want to flip a coin? I'll be the alternate. Miss TR will be the rep. Sullivan will be the alternate. Somebody want to make that as a motion?
Anybody please? I move that Miss True be appointed the delegate to the MASC MASS joint and Miss Sullivan as the alternate. I'll second that. All right. Motion by Miss Dai, seconded by Mr. Early. Any discussion? Seeing
none, please go. Mr. Early, yes. Miss Sullivan, yes. Mr. Rossi, yes. Miss Copen, yes. Mr. Deai, yes. Mr. Fitzgerald, yes. Mr. Paglia, Mr. Murphy, yes. Mr. Bow, yes. Miss TR, Sure. Miss Okconor,
I'll chair. Yes. Pass. [Applause] Good luck. Look forward to hearing. So recap. Next item on the agenda is establish uh school building committee members.
Madam superintendent, do you want to take uh everybody should have got today a copy of the um proposed members? It was separate. was sent separately of the school building committee. Um
each city and town's uh chief executive officer um the school building authority asked that they uh sign off on a member in a uh recommend a member to us. So those are reflected in here um as well
as other designations that are reflected in here as well. Um so any questions let me know. So um by my count there are 23 members
um one from each of the cities and towns um with the exception of Habil appears to me has five and then there are six employees and two NECO representatives. I just would am interested in hearing the rationale for the it's not a
judgment but the disproportionate representation of people. Um I'm not sure that there was a at least when we looked at it I I wasn't really looking where people were from. I was looking at more of the talents that
they brought to the table and how they could help move the project forward versus their address. Yeah, if I could just follow up that if you look there's um you know everybody had one design that was placed in the appropriate box if you will to line up
to the different functions that MSBA provides but then for Havil there are three representatives and then uh you and Mr. Early are also appointed which makes five but you that aside because it
seems that Mr. Early is the only one that has actual construction experience. So certainly that's expertise we would see warranted for this committee. But I was just unclear why everybody else has one, but Hil has three other than the two of you.
So I think there was only two extras because the chairperson goes under one of the categories which is myself. Mr. Early was added under the construction and then there's only two other members that were added. And isn't the chair fluid?
Yes. For Averil, there is uh Mr. Mitchson, uh Mr. Rurak, and Miss O'Brien. Correct. So, there was two extras. One was appointed by the mayor. So I'm still unclear as to why there's
disproportionate representation. I think I answered the question. What was the answer? I looked at what people brought to the table. I didn't look at their address. I understand, but there's three from Habil other than yourself and Mr. Early
and there's two extras and one from there's three from Hel, right? Two and beyond. Yes. Yep. If I could also I have a followup, I guess, if I could somebody else have a question. Um I I'm I feel like this is
probably one of the most important decisions that certainly I will make in my tenure here on the school committee. Um three years from now whenever we get to the point of having to get a vote of the communities on a project scope and budget uh people are definitely going to
hold us accountable as school committee members for the decision that we make here today. So, I don't take it lightly at all. The decisions that this school building committee are going to make are who's going to be the OPM. They're going
to decide on the preferred schematic design for that comes out of feasibility study and everything that goes into the project scope and budget. If people ask me three years from now, did you do your due diligence um to appoint these
people? God forbid things don't go as well as possible. I think I would I would feel comfortable if I knew that there was a fair and transparent process that was outlined and was used by all communities in the same way. That there
were some clear guidelines for what led to the selection of the various candidates and that we as members of the committee doing the appointing had some understanding of the resumes uh and the qualifications of these candidates. Um,
but we have none of those things and we actually just received the list today. So, I feel like I'm being asked to buy a $3 million house site unseen. I feel a little uncomfortable. I know you're asking us to have complete faith in what
the community's put forward. But I do want to be very cognizant of the fact that that's not going to be an acceptable response three years from now if things don't go as planned or as well as planned about our decision here tonight and whether we made a truly
informed decision. So I just want to note that while I'm certainly I know the time is of the essence and we have to submit this list by September 30th, we're we started this process late and here we are tonight. Certainly don't want to obstructionist, but I do want to
note that and I'm I'm unclear at this moment that I can actually support this without better information on how these candidates will best represent us uh in this very important effort. Any other questions? Mr.
Yeah, I spoke with um some constituents and we felt comfortable with the Newbury representative. Thank you. Sorry, can you hear me? Sorry, I felt com um I spoke with some Newbury folks and they felt comfortable um with the recommendation. So, I felt comfortable
with that. Um I think that what other towns have put forth, I don't know that I am in any position to question what the other towns have, you know, have decided the people that they've decided um to represent them. I I don't know that I can question it. I can see some
information here. Um I don't know that I need their resumes. I know that sometimes this committee can be meeting for five years and people come and go from the committee. I've heard this from other people. So I feel comfortable now making this vote based on the information that we have.
So I mean just really to understand everything. So we have 25 members on the committee um 14 or actually no I take that back 11 communities correct. So we have at least 11
theoretically we should have at least one person per community. Um, and then there are 14 that are, you know, I know they need to fit certain criteria, etc., etc., but at the end of the day, they're somewhat discretionary that you have you
have the ability to to look at. Um, and so I guess my first question, and I didn't really think of this, but I guess I I think the point is good that, you know, we really need to be conscientious
about, you know, our community's feelings, uh, taking into consideration, you know, the the previous vote, the previous for the new school. There is a great deal of questions,
apprehension, etc. And I think that as Mary had pointed out, all of the uh people are so wellqualified, particularly the former mayor of the payroll as I look at that.
But unfortunately or fortunately, whatever, I mean, we need to have the perception of a balanced committee. And if we don't have a perception of a balanced committee, I just think, you know, we we we need to land this 11
planes on the same aircraft carrier and we've got to do this flawlessly. And I do think from a from a from a perception point of view, we're missing this does not meet that criteria that I think we
you know, unless again, I noticed some were just down as residents. I don't know what Jesus and that and I hate to be you know community you know oriented and etc but we we've gone through in experience that we
in my four meetings that I've been to this is the first time it's been brought up at least you know so we've I'm cognizant of it and I think it's important that we have uh you know this is nothing to do with the people picked
they're high I'm sure they're highly qualified people including myself. Um, but I think from a perception point of view, we we I think needs to change. Last but not least, thank you. A lot of
moving parts here. This is a big commitment. It's probably five to sevenyear commitment here. It's a lot. the states involved which doesn't help a lot the way things are done. I wasn't
happy on on some of the things before, but the state's involved and you know they're number one they're involved big with money but to pick contractors or architects on a just over a
a conference call, however you want to do it. I'm not in favor of that. But we have no choice. They're holding the card. We're not. We tried before. We could have done a better job. We've got to forget about what happened
before. We got to go forward. I believe this is a very exciting thing for everybody, but like you said, there there's a lot of things we have to look for. I wouldn't want to be sitting in Scott's position having to put all this
together. All right. Somebody has to be responsible. And right now, the responsibility is going to be right up there in that chair person. All right. In the past, we didn't have a lot of strong chair persons sitting there delegating a lot of this stuff before
you just pick out of a hat. I don't know. We didn't know how a lot of those um things were done. But there's a lot of good questions here myself. I looked at it a lot of lot of credible people like you said, but sometimes there's a
lot of them. Actually, I've counted this three times. is 24 22 plus 20 22 plus Northern Essics. Okay. So, you know, let's just go forward, try to play the cards we have now, but this is a tough
thing. I don't care who's on it or it's tough and and when you have all these communities, you know, there's 11 communities plus April has two. The other two cities have two and makes it up to 14 with us. But last time we had
15 or 16. I thought that was a lot. Now we're up to 24. So a lot of good questions here. And uh I'm going to support this that they have right here the way it is. I mean there's a lot of thinking was in there not just by us by
a lot of these communities and cities and towns. I want to thank you. Thank you. Any other I heard from my selectman tonight prior to the meeting and he spoke about the school building committee and he mentioned that these people have been
together a little bit now with the other meetings regarding Northern Essics and everything else and his word to me was that they were working really well together. Things were meshing. Things were moving forward and he was very happy with what was put together. So on that account, my only question I really
have is I know we talked in the past regarding the Northern Essex, the two members. If as the process move forward, we find it's not beneficial to use Northern Essex building here or one of the other plans, will they still be on committee, will they be dropped off since they are no longer
I mean, I would assume that they would resign at that point. I mean, they wouldn't want to waste all of their time on a on a project that's not on their campus, right? I I too got a call from my board of selectman today. He came back from the
meeting and he was so excited. He said, "I went because the town manager wasn't available to go and I went and I'm going to go to all the rest of them." He was like, "It was really an interesting meeting and he was really excited about the project and I mean you're doing what we have to do. We have to reach out to
the communities. We've got to be like I said to him, I'll come make a presentation in front of the selectman. I mean that's you got to go in front of the select the finance committee and tell them what's happening so there no surprises but it was it was funny. I'm like I'm smart Charlie wants me to call
you like what's going on. So I was very pleased because I thought he might tell me you know have us leave the district. But so I think that it's it's it's good. Mr. I got two calls today. one from the superintendent, one from the mayor Habil. Both said the same thing that it
was probably the best meeting and that come from two different people. Best meeting they've had since this start or in a long time which is very encouraging that they're all working together. Mr.
I just want to clarify. I think you guys are talking about the municipal working group and I think it's wonderful and and I also just want to say that municipal working group is not who is being named here on there are some there may be some overlap but the school building committee is is not and that's not who's
going to be the school building committee. So I think that's important to distinguish. I also want to clarify I have no issues at all with the work that the chair has done. He's asked for names to be submitted from the towns and the cities and they have done that. My concern is we don't know anything about
these people. And it's not just I know I know Mr. Cousins. I do know the Newbury Port representative and I I did receive information from the mayor about why he selected Mr. Cousins. But my role is not to just pick my reprove my representative from Newbury Port. It's
to it's to uh vote on the entire body that is 23. I think that there's it's actually 23 because Moren is on there twice under two different categories. Um, but to basically vote on the whole body and there are many people on this list that I know nothing about and I I
don't believe that people in the future are going to accept the fact like I'm just accept I just accepted it because that's what was put forward without knowing anything about their qualifications for the role. It just makes me very uncomfortable. I assume there's a deadline to vote on
this. Yes, there is the end of September 30th. I have to turn this in. We were put into eligibility on August 1st. We've been working with the municipal group to send us information regarding who their nominee would be. Um, each city and town
did it differently. I mean, I I don't think I can tell the cities and towns how to go through that process of who they're going to how they're going to appoint nominees. Um, when I've read the list, it seems to me that the nominees bring a depth of experience um that will
be helpful through the project. Um, so I I will say that I saw Mr. Li's email earlier in the week about reviewing the candidates and I thought long and hard about Mr. ized um point and I was very cognizant that the
chairperson that sat here before B is probably no longer sitting here because of some of the things that happened under the prior chairmanship and the school building committee appointments and things like that. So I'm certainly cognizant that um of of those things in
the past. Um and as I thought through it where the this the school building authority specifically asked for um the cities and towns to provide one representative. I thought at that point some of them
appointed themselves at least one uh town manager appointed themselves. Um, I wasn't sure I I I understood Miss Deli's argument of uh or or point not argument. I I understood her point of
like I I know the Newberry board representative, but I might not know well in this case she knows West Newbury, but let's say she doesn't know the Amesberry representative. Um, so I I understood that point. But I was also concerned that if we went
back and told the chief executive officers that we didn't necessarily we we wanted to interview their candidates that first of all we'd have to interview literally a town manager um to see if he was qualifi I was worried about
the cooperation moving forward among the cities and towns the amount of trust that we have in each other moving forward whether that potentially would sour some relationship moving forward. Um whether a mayor would say, "Excuse me, you're you're not going to I'm the chief executive officer of my
city and you don't you don't trust that I am putting um a name forward." So I I was looking at it from a multitude of different ways and I just wasn't sure that that was the way to
that was best to create cohesiveness moving forward. Um, so I certainly respect and understand M. Deli's argument and I that was what I was balancing when I when I thought through it and um
and the potential of of the backlash from some of those town managers, mayors, and what that does with our cooperation moving forward um was was a concern to me. I just want to clarify really clear.
It's not that I question the candidates that people have put forward. It's that I have zero information other than the current role they hold, like chair of a select board or former mayor of something. And if somebody were to ask
me three years from now, what basis did you use for approving that? I don't think that they're going to be thrilled with, well, that's what the people submitted, but I had zero information. So it would have just been helpful to have some a little bit of information as to why what was the rationale for selecting that person, what are the
qualifications that they bring to it so that we could feel good about saying this is this is a great committee and there's many people on here people here on the committee who I'm thrilled are going to be on it but there's many people who I don't know anything about and I'm being asked to just it would
have just been nice to have something to be able to sink my teeth into to say yep I've got I see why the qualification I see why this person was appointed and I agree in some cities I think sent a letter with some of the qualifications. Um, not everyone did.
Everybody followed whatever policy. I believe Rowley went to their board of selectmen and and got a vote. I don't believe that some of the mayors did that. I I I'm not sure that there was an open competitive process in those communities. They appointed who they whatever process they
internally used. I'm not sure. Um, and I know some I did see I I think I saw a letter from the mayor of Newbury Port on on his representative. Um, so I but not every community I don't believe supplied um those those things to us.
But I like I I applied to be honest and I had to even I had to send them a resume. They wanted to know. I think we have to realize that our towns care about Whittier hopefully and are wanting to put the best people possible on it. So I was kind of surprised that they
asked for my resume, but so I think that and I know how Rally went out. Rally had advertised in the paper and you know I think we have to give the towns some credit for doing their due diligence. Some didn't. What?
Some didn't. And she's right. Everybody did their own thing. Each individual town did their own thing. Mr. Murphy, correct? Each individual town did their own thing the way they wanted to interview how to select the person. Is that
correct? Yes. Okay. And on this list after each person's name, it gives a description of what their background is basically. Yes. So there was
they just didn't get thrown into a Correct. Yeah, they each city in town submitted like you know um you know Haveril said you know we're submitting a city counselor. Um Amesbury submitted a former school committee member and
school building committee member. Um two of our communities submitted representatives that sit on this board. Um other committees sent Groveland sent a finance board member. Um Newbury sent a select board member. Salsbury sent the chairman of their select board. Um, so
all of those are notated in there. I mean, all due respect, I don't think we really need to see resumes and read resumes from each of these people after the towns have already interviewed them or you know background check.
Thank you, Mr. I I will also say I was um also worried when I when I found out I was going to be voting on a school building committee. I didn't know anybody who was going to be on the committee. But after this list, I will say this um it does provide who these
people are. I wouldn't as far as support if I didn't know anything about them. But I've read every person on this list and I can say I have confidence that these people are qualified. Look, this is a this is a process, a long process, and we're now we're crunched on time.
This got pushed back and pushed back, and I would have started this earlier. I agree with Mary starting it earlier, but we didn't. So now we're crunched on time, we have till the 30th of September, and we have to go for it now. And I will say every individual that's
volunteered or agreed to to serve on this, it's a a tremendous responsibility. They're not getting paid. I'm not sure that they're getting much except the ability to try to help their communities, to help the region, and to do, you know, to help kids. Otherwise than that, I don't really see
a a pot at the of gold at the end of the rainbow for serving five or six years on a school building committee. I've served on can't remember, three or four of them now. And uh they're long, they're tedious, um and they're a lot of hard work. Um not exactly a lot of fun work.
It's it's hard work and and a lot of commitment. And I'd like to add to the complexity of getting all these people who meet certain criteria. It's not an easy thing to do when you have 11 communities, all these communities. Um so we should be grateful we've fulfilled all these
requirements. It's a hard thing to do and we have it now and I'd say that's the best path forward while we have these people who are willing to dedicate five, six years um towards this. Mr.
Mary, you said you talked to the mayor in Newport. I was surprised the mayor of New Report didn't appoint that gentleman right over there. Not because he's a member on this committee. He's a he's a builder, a very successful one. Been around a long time, gone down 50 feet, putting
piles in similar to the bad soils we have here. So, I was surprised the new report didn't do that. So is a contractor versus I believe he's a politician that Mrs. Mr. Liz
just I'll okay so I have served on six building school building committees and this is the first time this is the the least amount of information I've ever seen on school building committees. We do not have a great deal of information. We have their current role, the select
board member, uh, you know, town manager. That's all we have. We don't really know what their qualifications are for or the rationale for why they were selected. I'm not saying that I, uh, I'm not trying to disrespect it, but I have to be able to justify why I
approved this this slate of candidates, and I just am feeling like there's not a whole lot of information. And to your point, many districts, many, you said they went through a process. Many did not go through a process. Many had no interviews, no nothing. There were just
they picked somebody without any consultation with anybody at all. So, it's not fair to say that everybody did a process. How do you know that? How do you know that communities didn't go through a process? Because people have told me what the
process was in their communities that there's one person pointed themselves. Two people that appointed themselves. I know what the process was or wasn't in Newbury. Um I know what the process was. I know that in Ipsswitch and Rowley they
did have a process put it on the paper and I and I that makes me feel good that there was actually a process put in place that that that they actually cared enough to go through that type of effort and not all the towns did.
Mr. Mr. Chairman, I have a question both to Mary and Sandy through you. Yes. Um, are you guys I mean, how many names did your city's communities forward to be nominated?
Was it just Frank Cousins or Yes. Okay. So, he only he only forwarded one name, correct? Yes. Okay. I'm not aware. Yeah. And I guess Mr. chairman and and Mary at least and whoever else has been on a building committee. a separate question um you know obviously we want
participation and knowledge etc of of the wittier professional staff but what what's your experience in terms of the makeup of you know a building committee and I know that you know we got so many layers we got regional etc but a
building committee that's like 30%ish on on the you know professional staff level and you know, school committee and community. I mean, is that a good mix or is that what's your experience? I've never been on one.
I can tell you, I mean, I think that the representation by the staff, the staff appointments are outstanding and I have no issues. I know who these people are. I know them probably because I sit on the school committee. Um, it's the representative talent and it's also the lack of representation. There's nobody
on here representing the architectural engineering community. We have one construction professional, Mr. Early, thank goodness, but nobody. These are all, to his point, these are all elected officials, none of whom have architectural, engineering, school
construction experience, Mr. Cherry, your experience, you've been on. Um, so I I've been on four now. Pumpkin High School, Constantino. Um, so I think
the makeup of uh professionals on here is is pretty good. I mean, so on the on the ones that I served on, the the other individuals were whoever the mayor appointed by statute is the so there was a combination. Um I don't remember too
many people in the architectural fields or whatever. Maybe there was always one or two maybe. Um a lot of them were other elected officials, school committee members, city councilors, uh things like that. I know that there was you know, people that maybe were known
in the community for um their you raising money for projects got put on uh committees and stuff like that. Um I can say that at least the building committees that I served on uh when we started and when we finished the
committee looked far different um and I anticipate that this one will will do the same. It's a uh it's a working document. you know, you can add I'm sure at some point there's going to be resignations of people that have committed and after a year or two they
have something else go on. They can no longer serve. They're going to resign. Um, so it's always a it's a working document of of people that are there and the people that you start with, you'll have some finish, but probably the the minority of them will actually stay
through. I'm just going to comment on so this project no matter what will be um built in Habil. So I can I don't have a problem with the number of pay representatives just because it's going to be this municipality no matter what.
Right? If it's over to NCC, it's still right. That's all right. The whole campus not divided. So and same here. So so I don't have a problem with having more slightly more representation. Anyone else?
Is there a motion to approve the school building committee names as presented? Motion to approve the school. I'll second it. Motion by Mr. Rossy, seconded by Mr. Early. Any further discussion? None. Please call the
Mr. Early. Yes. Miss Sullivan? Yes. Mr. Rossy? Yes. Miss Carpenter? Yes. Mr. Deai? Present. Mr. Fitzgerald. Yes. Mr. Pagia? Yes. Mr. Murphy? Yes.
Mr. Bow? No. Miss TR. Yes. Miss Okconor. Yes. And the chair. Yes. Passes. Thank you to those individuals that have offered their services free of charge um for a number of years. I appreciate um them
volunteering to serve their communities. Um and I have confidence that they'll all do a good job. So, thank you to them. Next item on the agenda. New business. Establish it. Admission subcommittee. I think we need to formally establish that subcommittee. Correct. I believe I
got from uh Miss Sullivan, Mr. Early look to serve. I believe Mr. B. Uh who am I missing? Who else asked me? Mr. Lie, was there one more that asked me? Oh, and Miss Lel. So, there was five
that have asked. So, if we could have a motion to establish that admission subcommittee, and those will be the members that um volunteered to serve. village yourself. Not me. Motion to establish a admissions committee. Motion by Miss TRS. Is there a second?
Second. Who is the second? Miss Sulliv. So the chairman can serve as an exopicio member of any of the of the subcommittee. So I didn't need to point myself. Any further discussion? Seeing none, please call the role. Mr. Early, yes. Miss Sullivan,
yes. Mr. Rossy, yes. Miss Copen, yes. Mr. Deai, yes. Mr. Fitzgerald, yes. Mr. Paglia, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Bow, yes, Miss TR, yes. Miss Okconor, yes. And the chair? Yes. Passes. Establish a committee to review and
possibly amend the regional agreement. Is there a motion to establish a committee to review and possibly amend the regional agreement? I have a question first. Um, so what the general tonight was talking about earlier, we said form a regional
agreement amendment committee. Is this the same thing or is this is there a motion? Motion by second by Mr. Murphy. Any discussion on the establishment um of the committee?
Mr. Are we going to establish like a number representation? Who's going to decide what the membership of this committee will be? Um, that's a good question that didn't
really ask of I I believe it's the full school committee that would appoint is you got you had the meetings. I wasn't there. So, right. So, you know, going along with the U meeting that we had today with the municipal leaders, they would really like to be that that that um regional
agreement committee um because we have worked really hard um since day one from where we were a year and a half ago to where we are now is is truly amazing and the work um and the camaraderie and the you know having difficult discussions and then still, you know, agreeing to
disagree but still agreeing to move forward. Um, and so I felt today very hopeful. Um, but they would like to be the representatives of that committee. So whether you want to have one person from each town be a voting member of that committee. Um, some some town
managers bring a select board member, other there's town the thing is our our region's so different, right? So we have three cities that have mayors, then we have town managers, then you have town administrators. So um, I think having one representative
from each city and town uh be the voting member but while also having um others at the committee including you know members of our school committee be a part of that um if they choose to be a part of that thoughts feedback
I I heard from my chair that um this working group um is working very very well together and he felt that they would make a good team to work on the regional agreement which I know in the past in other towns it's been
difficult to get a group that can work well together. That's half the value there. So, um it sounds like that we could have a core group ready to go and then we could add to it if we so choose. Mr.
It sounds like they're working good together and they probably already have some ideas and I also think it's a good idea each town has one vote regardless of how many people they have on the table. Uh yeah. Well, who did not get a call
from a mayor or or you know town manager today? Me. Yeah. No, I mean, you know, in the last year and a half, Mar the superintendent has done an excellent job working with the town leaders, uh, uh, community leaders to pull pull it
back. And, and you know, again, my comments and my vote, um, is a reflection on just needing to do it perfectly. And, uh, so far it's been great. And, and that's the feedback we're getting. And, you know, they've been driving the bus.
ultimately they're going to drive the bus on this and you know definitely some of us should be involved, some of us should be on that. Um but um you know I'm in full support Mr. Ross.
Yeah, I've I've been contacted by Representative saying that the committee is working great together like to keep that committee solid as it is as it is going forward. feel like they'll be able to make some great strides at getting this accomplished in a timely manner. Mr.
Um I too receive correspondence from uh the mayor. Um I uh I do think that there's some great merit to having you one representative from each town. This working group has been working well
together. My only concern is um I would not want to go forward with zero repres representation from the school committee. I would think you know I heard uh Mr. Heman talk about you know like seven and seven seven from the school committee seven from the working
group. I don't think if we're going to include the whole working group that's going to work but at the very least maybe three or four school committee members that could join them. And I think that's actually advantageous to build out the collaboration even further beyond the working group.
I would agree um with uh Molia that um I didn't get a I'm hurt. I didn't get a phone call. Uh feeling probably won't sleep tonight. Um but I didn't get that call. But anyway, I I do think the municipal working group would be a good
group to put there. I think the question is do we want a couple members of the school committee whether that be three four um you know whatever that uh that number is I I do think it's probably a good thing because ultimately it has to come back to to this board for approval.
So having some input that they could those members can report back to the uh committee here of um of the process in that subcommittee. Um, but I do agree that the municipal working groups been working for a while. Um, and um, I I
think that they would, you know, be a good choice um, to represent each of the cities and towns. So, I I think the only question is is, you know, how many do we think, you know, we can do that? And do we add is it do we add three school committee members? Do we add four school
committee members? I don't really have a strong preference. I don't think I know he had said something but if we have all of them in seven that'd be too massive of a committee. So I would say probably no more if we did it maybe no more than four. um because I don't think we want
to make it too too big that it becomes a a really difficult group to you know thinking about how many you need present for a quorum and just the logistics of a of a super large group uh as a quote unquote working group would be
difficult. So um I would say is there a motion on the floor? Did somebody make a motion? So I would say maybe we could amend it amend the motion to um uh designate the municipal working group to uh 11 members
one from each community to serve as the um regional uh amendment what is it a regional agreement amendment committee um in addition to uh four school committee members. I say four just because that produces an odd
number in case of voting. Y makes sense. Is there a second to the amendment? Second. Second for Mr. Any discussion on the amendment only? The amendment only the and then it will revert to the item as amended. So
clarify it. The amendment would be to that the building uh that the working group whatever includes the municipal uh working group that is already existing. So the representatives there there's one
representative from each community. Correct. Madam superintendent. Sometimes there's two, but yes, but they would only get one representative um from their um from their their community and then four school committee members.
The school committee members going to have a vote. Yes, they would have going to be the 11 communities. No, the school committee members would have a vote. So So it's 11 plus four. Yeah. So it's an odd number of 15. There is
Can I sorry um ultimately as was presented the school the entire school committee would be voting on any amendments to the regionals um agreement. I have um one potential concern with
this. Um however um I would prefer there not to be crossover between the school committee members. So say we nominate four school committee members to be on this committee and two of them are from Habil or from the cities. I don't I think that's disproportionate
representation as it pertains to this committee. Well, I think no matter how you do it, it would be disproportionate if you had four school committee members. They got to come from somewhere. So, it's dis it's going to make the numbers off. I I feel it wouldn't be as fair. You
have two of those four from HRO. I think there should should be a cap for one. I can assure you it won't be two out of the four. I sure no wonder or from or from any community not just from from the cities. I think it would
be better for this community to be capped at one per community if we were to add those four. I mean if you wanted to amend friendly amendment I mean to to do that I mean you can either if it's appointed by the chair
trust that I'll do that or if you don't think if you don't trust me then don't trust me. um and put that in. That's up to you. We trust you. I can assure you I don't want to do it. So, if anyone's worried about that,
um obviously there's a concern about habil um and I'm happy to debate um the habil debate at at a time. I'm happy to debate that of the funding and who funds what and what percent happy to debate.
Is it um Is it permissible for me to just revise my amendment to add that in? You wish. Okay. If that will make that will ease people I'll revise the amendment to that those four school committee members there will only be one member
representing an individual community. What was that again? There'll only be one of the four school committee members. They can only represent, they can only be one from a specific community. So you could have two from Newberry Port or two from
Hsbury or two from Hville. Only one. But we're cities. No cities. So who seconded Mi's amendment? Um I seconded the first.
Do you accept the friendly amendment that that he offered? Um, okay. Any further discussion? Um, um, Mr. I support it and and more of a comment and I meant to ask him a question because at one point he said, you know,
about community engagement and getting people and they can work in the subcommittees people that Yes, they'll appoint. So right now it's not the full group that's on the So the only item for discussion right now is the Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it's more of an informal comment or at least with just
understand the process. I mean so we could potentially have a couple of subcommittees that you know other citizens of different communities and etc could be participating in this. I mean you know I mean that is I mean is
that I mean when he did allude to that I meant to ask it and they didn't I mean do you know if that is a possibility? I would guess that they would take different portions of the regional agreement and break it off into sub committees. Yes. Right. Right. Okay.
So there there I mean I guess my point or hope was and it's been confirmed is there's more opportunity for participation with with community people. Is there um any further discussion on the amendment? I I just want to make a
suggestion. We look when we look at our committee members um I mean our school committee members that we look at putting people who have um or at some point some folks have um experience with municipal finance because I think that's going to be really important when you're
looking at a regional agreement. So it's I'm just saying it's something to keep in mind when when appointing the four members. Any other discussion? Seeing none, I'm going to oppose the amendment. Um I for quite frankly I take
it kind of offensively. I've never appointed someone on the basis of a subcommittee on where they live. I've never done that. So I think the it's inferred that I'm looking to somehow stack this committee with with haver people and and I'm not.
It wasn't just hil people they were talking about the other town. I am making the I'm making the appointment. So, it's look that I would intentionally stack it some way and I I I wouldn't do that. I don't think I've done that since I've been here as chairperson and I would never do that.
So, that's how I feel about it. I don't think that was the intent. Honestly, if that's how you feel, I was just trying to respond to Mr. Padley's concern. So, I'm just as happy to withdraw it. That's the feeling.
I mean, I even said I would serve. So I just that's the way I took it and um just the way I feel. I apologize for you can call the ro uh the role on the on the amendment. Mr. Early, no.
Miss Sullivan, yes. Mr. Rossy, yes. Miss Carpenter, yes. Miss Dag, yes. Mr. Fitzgerald, yes. Mr. Paglia, yes. Mr. Murphy, yes. Mr. Bow, yes. Miss TR, yes. Miss Okconor, yes. And the chair,
no. Passes the original item on the agenda. Uh, it reverts back. So, it'll be to a point to um the the original motion as amended. Now, we'll make a motion. Call us. Any
further discussion on the now amended original motion? So, it's amended that it that it has instead of establishing the committee. It has the the working group and then the school committee members.
So the first one was the regular motion just that motion correct. So it's the first amendment that with that amendment that was just passed. So now it's S1. Okay. So it's to establish the group with the
makeup consisting of the municipal working group of uh no more than one representative from each community and four school committee members not from um more than one community on there. So
that's the amended motion and that's what they're doing now. Okay. Correct. Any discussion on the amended motion? Please call the Mr. Early. No. Miss Sullivan. Yes. Mr. Rossy.
Yes. Miss Carpenter. Yes. Mr. Tai. Yes. Mr. Fitzgerald. Yes. Mr. Paglia. Yes. Mr. Murphy. Yes. Mr. Bow. Yes. Miss TR. Yes. Miss Okconor. Yes. And the chair? No. Passes. Next item on the agenda. Items not
recently anticipated by the chair. 48 hours in advance. There is none. reports of the special committees. Nothing from the executive instructional personnel. Does not have any plant operations. Mr. Murphy, uh, plant operations. We did have a meeting last month. We had a
visit from Weston and Samson. The engineers uh that are doing work at the uh surge treatment plant. They gave us a overview of what the repairs were done last summer and Mr.
gave us a uh report on all the summer projects and I make a motion to approve those minutes. Motion by Mr. Murphy. Second. Seconded by Mr. Fitzgerald. Any discussion? Seeing none. Please call the roll. Mr. Early. Yes.
Miss Sullivan. Yes. Mr. Rossi. Miss Carpenter. Mr. Deai. Yes. Mr. Fitzgerald. Yes. Mr. Pagley. Yes. Mr. Murphy. Yes. Mr. Bow. Yes. Miss TR. Yes. Miss Okconor. Yes. And the chair? Yes. Passes. salaries negotiations. Mr. Early,
I don't think we need a meeting right now. We're going through five tough months, six tough months, and I don't think we need a meeting right now. Do you have minutes for August 13th for approval? I look like there's minutes of the salary
for the wastewater treat. Yes. Is that Are you making a motion to approve those minutes? Yes. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Lie. Any discussion on the salaries and negotiation minutes? Seeing none, please call the role. Mr. Early,
yes. Miss Sullivan, yes. Mr. Rossy, yes. Miss Carpenter. Mr. Dele, yes. Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Pagley, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Bo, yes. Miss TR, yes. Miss O' Conor, yes. And the chair? Yes. Passes. Executive session. None posted. Is there
a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn. Motion by Mr. Murphy. Second. Seconded by Mr. Lie. All in favor of endurement. Anybody opposed? Seeing none, we are