regional Votech School Committee to order mr early yes miss Sullivan yes mr rossy yes miss Carpenter here miss De yes mr fitzgerald yes mr paglia yes mr murphy yes miss LOL
yes Mr okana here Miss TR here Miss Okana yes Mr savoski yes Mr wood here already did the pledge of allegiance already next item on the agenda oh statement
uh for those attending tonight's meeting should be aware that the meeting is being audio and video recorded by Woody Votech any audience members who wish to record any part of the meeting must inform the chairperson who who will announce the recording this is to comply with the mass wiretap
statute first item is public comment is there anyone here for public comment public comment once twice no one here for public comment uh next item on the agenda is going to
be approval of the March 12th 2025 uh meeting is there a motion to approve those minutes second miss Carpenter seconded by Mr murphy any discussion seeing none please call the RO mr early
yes miss Sullivan yes mr rossy yes miss Carpenter yes mr li yes mr fitzgerald yes mr paglia yes mr murphy yes miss LOL yes mr okconor yes miss TR yes miss
Okconor yes mr sowski yes basses payments of the bills financial report treasurers report for March is there a motion to approve motion to approve motion by M true seconded by Mr fitzgerald any discussion seeing none
please call the RO mr mr early yes miss Sullivan yes mr rossy yes miss Carpenter yes mr lie yes mr fitzgerald yes mr paglia yes mr murphy yes miss LOL yes mr okconor yes
miss TR yes miss Okconor yes mr soski yes passes next item on the agenda under communications student representative report miss Kaylee Habib you're up good evening Mr chairman Superintendent Lynch and all other members of the committee
meeting starting off with clubs the chess club has been going strong and they've had multiple new people join in student government is hard at working is hard at planning teacher appreciation week where they will celebrate the uh the staff members as they plan to look ahead at spring they'll be planning
their elections for next year's officers drama club's Little Mermaid performance last month was a huge success thank you to everyone who also supported it now the drama club is excited to announce their next event for the very first spring coffee house talent show join
them Tuesday April 15th at 6 PM for an evening of music talent and fun peer-to-peer club's canned food drive is now in full swing they will be collecting the cans April 29th and donating the food to our local food pantries poetry club meetings have been well
attended and members are starting their original poetry more openly and more proudly currently they're planning on a few things to celebrate na and national poetry month in March Multiculture Club prepared for the second annual culture night on March 14th welcoming families
who shared food drives displays of the Philippines Guatemala Ecuador the Dominican Republic Puerto Rico Germany Sweden Greece Bolivia Afghanistan Poland and Cameroon thank you all who participated and supported this event
environmental Club had weather and UV resistant signs made up by fax signs and plastau for their enviral log and interpretive display a woodier trash cleanup day is set for April 14th in honor of Earth Day with volunteers cleaning around the school they're also
promoting Hil citywide cleanup on April 26th through social media and school marketing interact Club has been working on Easter cards for Hil nursing homes Baker Baker Cats and Oxford members of this club helped out during the concession stand at the Little Mermaid and they also had a member participate
in the Bradford Common Cleanup this past Saturday whittier Tech is gearing up for Skills USA state leadership conference in May setting 57 students to compete on both CTE and leadership events they recently wrapped up their community service project five girls in the lac
lacrosse program this year with five of those players coming from our co-op school Amesberry they're currently 0 and1 the boys lost lacrosse team off to a strong start they are currently two two and0 and their team is looking to qualify for the state tournament for the
fourth consecutive year in a row their team has eyes set on competing for the vocational state tournament championship this year boys and girls track with over 100 students signed up for it this year at the opening invitational the girls 100 meter school record was already
broken and they're excited for what's ahead this season the varsity team had its its season opener against Newton South the Wildcats won five to nothing while the woodier pitcher threw a no hitter they graduated seven starters from last year's team and they are working to fill in some key positions
this team is once again aiming to return for the MI to the MIAA state tournament the varsity baseball squad features nine seniors along with several key players from last season squad a few young players are expected to play important roles this season the team is also
aiming for a strong year with a goal of returning to the MIAA tournament thank you thank you great report as always Mr early i want to congratulate you on your no hitter thank you last week yes thank
you [Applause] let's see next item on the agenda is going to be student presentation economics class you do not look like a student you just um I'm just Good evening good
evening Mr chairman what did he just say no uh good evening Mr chairman Superintendent Lynch rest of the school committee members i'm standing here you the the icing is going to be on the cake very soon and I'm going to introduce the student but I just want to preemptively uh read a um a letter that one of our
teachers uh that kind of spearheaded this um whole operation uh Jim Donahghue Jr uh he's a Whitti Techch US1 economics and stock market teacher so let me just read um a letter that he wanted you to
hear dear school committee I'm writing to express my enthusiastic support for for the superintendent and the school committee's initiative in introducing these essential classes they provide our students with practical skills to face real world challenges effectively these
courses serve as a cornerstone for empowering young minds to achieve financial independence while fostering a broader understanding of their role in an ever evolving global economy as we navigate a complex economic landscape
marked with inflation trade deficits fluctuating interest rates and national debt the importance of financial literacy cannot be overstated equipping students with knowledge about long-term financial planning such as constructing a
retirement portfolio with lowcost index funds is invaluable strategies like those advocated by Warren Buffett alloc allocating 90% and the SNP 510% in bonds offering timeless
lessons in prudent investing additionally the philosophy of Jack Bogle a pioneer in index fund investing emphasizes simplicity long-term growth and providing students with actionable insights for building their financial
futures as a parent to a daughter I am particularly invested in ensuring that our young women have the knowledge and confidence to navigate financial markets independently and is vital that we cultivate these skills in all of our students empowering them to take charge
of their financial destinies i am incredibly proud to work under a superintendent who is constantly prioritizing success and well-being of our students whittier Techch remains a shining example of excellence forward thinking and education and I'm honored
to be part of the remarkable institution thank you for your leadership and commitment to advancing our students education sincerely Jamesu Jr Whittier Tech teacher US History 1 economics in the stock market investing now I bring
to you Adam come on up Adam one of our seniors uh Adam is in that class who took um as you know we have e we offer economics as well as the stock market he's going to talk about it uh for electives uh Adam is a grade 12 masonry
student from Salsbury Massachusetts uh Adam is on is a model UN he's on the model UN team and recently participated at the Arctic Conference hosted by Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy um he's also going to be attending Northeastern University uh the UN
conference at Northeastern May 2nd he's going to Assumption University he's going to go after his MBA the MBA program uh and also a civic friendship program he's a Skills USA participant 2021 and 20 through 2025 so all his
years here he raised over $1,000 in a fundraiser for his masonry competition and he's also a Mason i I put in front of you today Adam Alaw [Applause]
welcome Adam thank you good evening Mr chairman and Mrs lynch it's a pleasure to be here today i'm here to advocate for our economic and stock market investing class so my background that uh Miss
Lennis also touched upon i'm currently current masonry student here at Woody Tech co-op uh education program 2023 and 2024 and MTA MTA skills USA model UN and future assumpt assumption MBA business
major now unfortunately Ailia isn't here with us today um she was unable to attend but she did work with me on creating the slideshow she's currently enrolled here at Whittier Tech in the design and visual program she was at co-op at CVS 2024 2025 she was a girls
varsity basketball 2021 and 2025 captain senior year and varsity lacrosse she is the main sports photographer skills USA member as well and she plans on going to neco uh she had a strong commitment to this slideshow as well but it is again unfortunate that she was unable to
attend so this is just going to be the overview so during my senior year the 2024 and 2025 year we learned about three crucial topics the economic principles stock market investing as well in depth
so economic principles are important for students to learn because you know there's nothing more important than understanding what to do with your money everybody's got money money is king right it's very important to understand how that dollar might fluctuate over the
course of history it's also crucial to learn about our country's economic history so we touch back on black swan events again co 19 how it affects wall street and main street understand stock market investing so we touched on this was what so half our year was you know understanding economic principles and
the other half was focused on the stock market investing side of it we understood how the S&P 500 works how it represents the health of the stock market we learned from some of the great investors Warren Buffett Jack Bogle and Kathy Wood which I'll touch on later a deep dive into the stock market
so you know we learned again the S&P 500 it's top 500 companies in America and how that really affects Wall Street how it affects you know where your money is in a retirement fund you know it's index fund S&P 500 500 of the best companies
um and really that it really does bring together the stock market so these are a couple lessons from famous investors and we all spent a brief time learning from each one of them each has having their own different investment strategies so we have Warren Buffett we have Jack Bogle and we have
Kathy Wood so there's a couple quotes up there a couple of their strategies and we analyze them and each one has a different portfolio approach and it's all important to you know get different sides of opinions key investment types to build wealth so you know these are kind of the key stuff
that you want to put your money into when you're investing you have your stocks that's ownership and companies high growth risk medium to high you have your index funds again the S&P 500 we have crypto cryptocurrency I know it's very popular right now but it is extremely volatile goes up and down
almost every day and we have bonds it's a fixed income from government corporations and there's very low risk on that building financial freedom and retirement planning so retirement is you know a big topic and I'm sure many of you are thinking about retirement and we do touch on that um how to create a
personal investment portfolio so you know some of you if you're in business you might have a 401k um if you're in education you might have a 403b so what's in these um index funds mutual funds everything that kind of makes your money grow you know you could also set
up a Roth IRA and this is you know not away from your job this is kind of your own personal account and it's taxfree it compounds interest and you have a taxable brokerage account you can put that put in anything you want and again you know teaching kids before they
graduate especially at a tech school that are going into the workforce that really kind of vague now I'm different you know I was going to go into the workforce but I decided to do another four years in the education but it's important for kids to learn you know where to put this money and how to make
this money grow over time so this might what your ideal retirement portfolio look like so this is uh Jack Bogle we we studied him and this is usually the general retirement portfolio so we have 60% index fund so again S&P 500 you hear that name a lot you have the
international stocks which is 30% these are companies based outside of US you have exposure to global markets and you have your 10% in bonds so this is loans you give to the government or companies uh regular interest rates and very low risk and you know your dollar is
compounding key takeaways don't be one-dimensional make sure you're a financial fortress make sure you have a structure or fallback plan able to sustain you so you know Mr donghue does touch upon a lot that you should have your own investment backup plan if anything were to happen to your employment status or whatever um again
like touching on to the Roth IRA and the taxable brokerages account it's also important to acknowledge the 12 assets of wealth these 12 assets right so this really the 12 how your money is going to work for you cash you know we learned that cash just sitting under your bed or
in a shoe box or wherever it may be is just not it's just not where it should be these days you know you should have it maybe in some real estate invest in a property bonds stocks index funds you know you have taxes advantage account again the Roth IRA taxable brokerage and
then the number one well it is number 12 unfortunately but uh last but not least is your education and trade your skill so again you're coming from a tech school you have that skill with you and that's what makes you the money you know going forward in your career this is why it matters you know with the rising cost
of living in student debt you know again it is important to teach that 17 18 year old kid that's about to go into the workforce where should I put my money on once I start making you know real money real dough you know where are you going to put it how do I make my money work for me and I think this class is really
important it really teaches me you know I'm fortunate i'm going to college for another four years but you know some kids maybe electrical or plumbing might be going right into the workforce they need to know what they need what they're going to do with this money and I think this class really helps sums it up thank
you guys i really appreciate your time and thank you [Applause] questions from the committee any questions mr trum did you cover interest rates and things like
that was that something so in the economic and stock market class we did not but in discrete math and our math classes we did cover that you know check balancing loans and stuff like that it is that is another very important topic yes any more questions any other
questions from the committee sure mr rossi so how likely do you think someone taking this course is going to try to set up a retirement account or an investment account when I thank you when I took this course I had you know a very vague u knowledge about retirement
investing i think that if you do take this course and if you're a student like me and you give you know a good amount of your time to listen to what Mr on USS or any teacher for that matter you really it's really going to put in your head you know the set up that retirement account maybe your company doesn't do it
for you i Yes I I would agree that 100% if you take this course it's going to teach you how to invest your money and make your money work for you over time thank you yep nice job anyone else i think this is a great idea i mean I
work with a lot of young guys at my day job and they come in and it's all about making dollar it's nothing about how they're spending it or how they're saving it exactly they don't learn that till probably five or 10 years that's five or 10 years of 401k they missed out on and and that is kind of what we're
going to try and catch them early here you know it's for me this is their first year they were doing it and I can say and I can speak for my other classmates they're always asking questions because it is important you know you know you go to work whatever you have your job but what do you have as a fallback plan what
do you have as you know a retirement you know when you're 59 60 whatever that age might be when you're ready to retire what money do you have saved up and I you know I I do understand that yes any other questions uh real quick first uh Mr donnie who I
know him known him for a long time very good teacher so you're in good hands um but I I think this is a great course i've said for a long time I think financial literacy should be a required part of the of the curriculum in high school um if you look at the statistics people that um are even you see them 30
40 years old that haven't even started a retirement account yet um and then people that just don't understand um the basics of managing money i think it's extremely important uh that it's something we teach in the high school to prepare people um for the real world so I'm glad it's being done here um and
you're a good example of what happens when these are are done so thank you for your great presentation thank you Mr chairman quite frankly you know we even a year you know it's it's not enough time i think it's a good basis but even you know half the course or whatever I think it takes a lot of time to teach
somebody what to do with their money absolutely yeah absolutely thank you yeah thank you Miss Lo yeah just for clarity um I know you said you didn't address the financial literacy piece but we do we do have that requirement and moving forward and
students have been offered financial literacy at least four or five years six years seven years long time quite a few years now um as a half year elective and it does cover all those basics for all students so that when they do leave they
do have those basic financial management skills so um they're able to start saving some money to put into investments yes anyone else thank you thank you great job thank you thank you guys appreciate it
just a funny story about Adam uh four years ago he stood up in front of his classmates all 320 or 330 or so as a as a young kid stood up in the assembly and I said "Any questions anybody?" Stood right up he says "You know what i love this school
and I love the administration." I said "Kid you got five passes next item on the agenda is the principal assistant superintendent report mr lana is school calendar 2526 um good evening Mr chairman superintendent led rest of the school
committee members i know that was a tough act to follow i have in front of you uh if you can believe it the 20 2526 draft of the calendar um you know just I guess some highlights uh the new teachers will come and train uh the 19th
to 20th of August uh and then all our teachers will report back August 26th uh those of you like to pencil in the open house uh is going to be November 2nd uh again that's the the first Sunday in November uh the uh Christmas vacation
and the holiday vacation uh we have uh the front side will be Monday Tuesday uh and then all the schools surrounding schools have the next few weeks off just the way the calendar uh you know is is situated um also if you go down you can
just fly down to uh we have the the graduation the senior prom the 26th next year and then our graduation's the 28th and then the last days will be the 11 12th and that is without the snow day
pretty self-explanatory um just looking for Is there a motion to approve the school calendar for 2526 move to approve motion by Miss Lis seconded by Mr murphy any discussion on the school calendar question m true just want to ask about the start date 19th
and 20th is that earlier than other years no uh usually for the for the new teachers 19th and 20th that's for the new teacher training that's typical i couldn't remember if Yeah it's usually typical and then the the following week then everybody comes through the door
and it it does look like a very short summer when it's August is is showing up okay so thank you for the question any other discussion seeing none please call the RO mr early yes miss Sullivan yes mr rossy yes miss Carpenter Mr lie yes mr
fitzgerald yes mr paglia yes mr murphy yes miss L yes mr okconor yes miss TR yes miss Okconor yes mr sloski yes passes thank you very much thank you next up business manager Cara Cosmos
good evening Mr chairman Superintendent Lynch members of the committee i have a couple of things for you tonight uh the first is the variance analysis it is well p it's past nine months of the year so we're kind of in the home stretch and um I'm actually going to take the wind
out of Miss True Sales because one of the things that she asked me was to explain there's a little bit of a difference this year from what I usually do um you'll note at the back that there are different colors and what we usually do is it's usually green or yellow so
yellow represents accounts that are in the negative right now and a lot of that is because we do budgeting sometimes a year and a half before we're using it so the green which is 340,897 is balance of accounts that I believe are going to be available at the
end of the year so a lilac is the amount of instructional hardware account that I believe will be available which is 75,000 and I believe that there will be 300,000 between active um I'm sorry 250,000 between active health insurance
and retirey health insurance and a lot of that is due to the fact that we had a 0% increase for active health insurance last year and that also affected the retirey insurance so those are the light blue and the pink colors and then pink is bus drivers and it's not that I
believe there will be a savings in bus driver accounts but we put most of the money in the bus driver account and then as we use the other accounts like special ed and homeless and summer and after school we move a lot of that money there because it's hard to know from year to year but we are on track um one
thing I did want to say is if it looks like the negative balance and salary accounts are higher than what you saw back in October that's because the teachers have till October 1st to have their class increases but we don't get a lot of those till sometimes the end of the month and I had done a transfer
after I met with all of you in October but um those are the ones that happened after after that and so those will be closed out at the end of the year any questions no questions on that uh and then you have the Witson's contract
all righty um the second item in your packet is um I'm asking you to please approve amend excuse me amendment number two of the food service management contract with Woodson's Culinary you have a memo in your packet but just to remind you the original RFP is for a
5-year period however the State Bureau of Nutrition does require that the contracts be approved in one-year increments therefore this is the second amendment the second request I'm asking you to approve the management fee will be
12,772 it was 12,238 and the administrative fee will be 59,494 it was 57427 it is an increase of 3.6% 6% based on the March US consumer price index food away from home northeast urban over
the prior fiscal year u I also would like to share as a result of um not not as a result but I'd like to share some good news from our food service company as you're pondering this on March 31st and April 1st we underwent a food service administrative review that usually happens about every four or five
years um are happy to report that our corrective action plan contained absolutely no serious findings but instead a couple of minor housekeeping items that we have to take care of one of them was we have to move a poster from someplace that is more visible in the cafeteria another one is that we
have to expand our existing policy to include uh federallymandated civil rights language but what I really wanted to share with you was that the reviewer could not say enough about how well our program was run and how positively the
staff interacted with the students and what she was most particularly impressed with was the conduct of our students so I do want to thank Joanna Wood and the entire food service staff because they do do a great job to ensure that our students are eating well every day
is there a motion to approve the one-year um renewal request motion to approve motion by Mr drew second by Miss Lel any discussion seeing none please call the role mr early yes miss Sullivan yes mr rossi yes miss Carpenter yes mr lie yes
mr fitzgerald yes mr paglia yes mr murphy yes miss LOL yes mr okconor yes miss TR yes miss Okconor yes mr sloski yes passes thank you thank you next item on the agenda liazison for Woody Techch and Northern Essex Community College
sean Ray again good evening school community members superintendent Lynch great to be with you here again tonight to update you on the exciting shared campus building project with Northern Essex Community College um most of the work going on right now is with the municipal municipal working group which I can
happily report that as of today includes representation from all 11 communities the group met most recently this morning right here at the school while I've characterized previous working group meetings as positive and optimistic in my reports today was the best one yet my opinion as it included two rally select
board members as you know Rally had been the lone hold out from the prior working group meeting so we have participation from uh every city and town in the district now the group briefly discussed the final UMass Don report and recommendations which came out earlier this month in which I sent you all uh
copies or links to copies along with our recent press release summarizing where we're at with the project and where are headed in the near and short short term our meeting today our meeting facilator Dennis Daglio gave a brief uh PowerPoint presentation explaining that the main
driver of the shared campus proposal is to reduce cost for our communities by number one opening up potential new state federal higher ed and private funding sources number two utilizing existing potential shared space at the college and number three utilizing more
suitable and buildable land at the college than is available at the current woodier tech site there is also the option of selling or leasing the existing Whittier Techch property which is owned by the district to offset some of the costs of the building project at the college
the main agenda item this morning was discussion of the critical letters that we must provide to the Massachusetts School Building Committee no later than July 1 of this summer in order to continue to move forward with the proposed new Whittier Techch High School in partnership with and on the NECO campus in Hil
every every district city and town including Rowley and a few others who have had some tough questions for us along the way agreed to sign the MSBA letter by the June one by June 1 district will pay the estimated 2.5 million cost of the new project
feasibility study the state provided a significant monetary contribution towards the cost of the first study for the unsuccessful high school building project last year at the Whittier Tech site therefore MSBA has said the district must pay the full cost of the new study
for the shared campus building project proposal superintendent Lynch and NECO President Lang Glenn have committed to uh paying at least 500,000 each from existing school funds for a total of 1 million toward the toward the existing uh toward the $2.5 million estimated
cost of the study woody Tech's part would be of course subject to approval by the Woody Tech school committee that would leave the 11 cities and towns to share the remaining estimated 1.5 million which would be assessed to each community using the existing regional capital funding
formula the local officials asked that their estimated financial contributions towards the study be put in writing and that the MSBA letter include a table showing how much each community is going to be expected to pay towards a feasibility study it was noted that the feasibility study
funds from the communities would not be needed for at least a year from now and that the cities and towns would not be asked to approve these funds until around this time next year as a refresher on the timeline if MSBA receives the required letter this summer what is expected to progress into the
eligibility phase of project consideration this August the feasibility study is expected to begin in the summer of 2026 design cost estimates and creation of a new regional agreement and capital funding formula that includes the state and the college as partners would take
place during the feasibility study superintendent Lynch explained that the Donahghue report would be incorporated into the feasibility study to develop the learning plan for the new school which would drive the project's design and governance any future district-wide vote
on the project is is expected to be at least four years away the second thing the group asked for this morning to be added to the letter they're working on is wording stressing and specifying that the attention of all 11 communities is to quote create a new
regional agreement for a shared campus model at the NECC site," unquote everyone agreed that they are only interested in the shared campus model at NCC and not building a new high school at the current site which was the proposal defeated at the districtwide election a year ago superintendent Lynn
said she would impress that upon the MSBA at a meeting she has with them tomorrow to show unonymity the group agreed that they would fulfill the MSBA letter requirement with a single letter signed by the chief executive of each city and town the local official asked
that the working group continue meeting through at least a feasibility study phase that they be kept informed during the formal search for first an owners project manager and then an architect for the shared campus building project they also asked that a member of the Woody Tech School Committee this group
attend future working group meetings as well as a member of the new school building committee when that panel is formed during the eligibility period which again is expected to begin in August if everything goes according to plan the next working group meeting is May 6th at the college i'll just give
you a quick word on communications u formal communications documenting the miss for working group meetings and a monthly newsletter are coming soon and regular project updates are available and continue to be posted on the Whittier Tech and NECO websites project updates also occur at
monthly Whittier Techch regional school committee meetings as I'm doing here tonight right now the websites um for anyone who doesn't know are www.wittiertech.org and www.nccas.edu edu beyond the working group and as you may know the UMass Donahue Institute
final report and recommendations came out last week and it has been posted on our project project website and was sent to all you or lease links along with a new press release on the project which led to a couple of uh good news stories you may have seen the Donahghue report
um it's it's almost 100 pages it's got lots of great information um which you know you might want to take a look at its most significant recommendation um is that the wittier tech and NECC should pursue a quote collaborative shared campus model in which the two schools
share space and services unquote so that's my report happy to uh try to answer any questions that's first of all it's great news so thank you for the good news any questions uh I think I saw Mr rossy first then
Miss Dai then Mr early um changing the agreement is that going to be a different committee from this working group that does that you talked about what that looks like and the process for that yeah it would take place during the feasibility study which is overseen by the MSBA and um it would be it would be
in the purview of the uh the new school building committee which will include all the all the cities and towns will appoint the representatives that'll be the school building committee and they'll work um you know with the MSBA and with this school committee um in developing the agreement that how it's
funded correct but uh yeah if I can just jump in I I think the working group probably will be because it's your mayors and your town managers i think they really want to be involved in developing the regional agreement um but that regional agreement will not necessarily be coming through the eligibility phase but through the
feasibility phase of the project and does that agreement um will that occur like will that be prior to the building being done yeah I don't think MSBA will allow us to uh do anything until we have a solid
regional agreement before we can move forward so we could be in this building under a new regional agreement uh not necessarily because I think people want it for the new building so I think that those are things that there are still a lot of things that we have to work through so um yeah thank you yeah today
today was a very good day where everybody uh you know and you skipped the one sentence about Mayor Barrett saying um we all have something we can agree on right um I think everybody was was felt very positive today when we left that we were all going in one
direction um so that that was really great news today just real quick uh the cities and towns don't appoint the building committee correct they have to part of the letter that they wrote us is they they want to have a say in that a say in that okay who did
it last time the well I think all of us I think we just may found people that were interested in being a part of the school building committee but I think this will be a much more formal process okay m uh curious about the 2.5 million estimate for the feasibility study
what's what was the basis for that estimate so I'll answer that okay um so we've talked to other vocational schools that have recently done studies um and that's sort of the ballpark number today um there was some um they really want to
know if we are going to contribute to that feasibility study um I have some concerns about that because I can't commit until I know what's going on with our wastewater treatment plant um and that's been my feeling um but you know I am going to ask um it might be a special
meeting that we can commit 500,000 to the feasibility study um so that because they're really looking for for something to offset those that those costs um and you know we hope later on that we'll actually be able to offset it more but
right now um I feel like that's very conserv conservative while we're thinking about what's coming down the pike for us thank you mr the balance of the 1.5 million do these towns and cities have to go out for votes on that not
necessarily no it's just like how we would uh assess a capital cost um and so you know we just approved a capital cost of $6.95 so that would be what we would be actually presenting to them again and it would be based on agreed that they're going to get their their share they'll
pay they know that they that is part of what they're signing on is that they will help pay off that feasibility study they would like us they would like us to commit to offsetting some of that cost and that formula and that formula comes from the regional agreement the regional
agreement Mr follow it would be my understanding that this the local appropriating authority in each community would have to take a vote to appropriate the money for the feasibility study correct so the city council of Newbury Port for example would have to vote to appropriate their
share right okay just like we they would do for our capital assessment yes just for clarity because I know there was a lot of debate over the last year about who could change and how would this new agreement be made this
committee would be handed a new agreement that would be developed by that group that working group we are we're not a part of that and we're not the approval process of you guys are like three steps beyond me so I mean
that I don't want to be a answer it wrong um but I do think that the municipal group would like to in in last summer they did work on certain parts that they wanted to work on um I believe that that m municipal group will work on that and then eventually it will come
back here but I you're a couple steps ahead okay so I think that I think in it you have to vote on a capital improvement at town meeting so that I mean like so we would like we're going to miss this we're voting on the capital improvement you know May
14th right this year but so for this million right that would have to go to town and I and I believe it would what we're thinking is that we would be able to split it up over two years the feasibility study so that's what we're hoping but the cities and towns what
MSBA is looking for is for them to commit to paying for that feasibility study mr early who's going to actually do the uh feasibility study we have to go out and get an outside firm msba has a very
prescriptive uh way to to get OPMs and um architects the whole thing so it's a very prescriptive method that through the state the process yes thank you Mr p a quick question on if um if feasibility
study goes to town meeting for some of the local towns will um if it doesn't pass what as far as our options go for funding if it doesn't pass the town meeting well as someone said today um if if the towns don't approve the
feasibility study then you know let us know now so that we can move forward um what the municipal leaders have told us is they are committed to that they have to you know bring that back to their city and town would every town have to approve it yeah well I mean it's part of
the capital project just think of it as the same as what we're doing right now as far as sending out our capital project so twothirds anyone else thank you all right thank you all uh next item on the agenda admissions
updates christine Morrison director of personnel and I'm sorry to say Miss Morrison is uh ill so I will be doing the admissions update so uh in your packet you received the admissions update uh for this school year or for next school year uh for freshmen for the
2025 applications um we had 659 students complete their application um and we have accepted 375 students as of right now and we have 284 students that are weight listed um and I really want to
the guidance department um really everyone it is a full everyone think about that we had 659 students that needed to be interviewed um and they did all of that work so I just really want to thank the guidance department the director of guidance Jill Krakowitz Christine Morrison and the director of
people personnel it's a lot of work um but they got they met that June that um April 1 deadline and um we're looking forward to seeing the next class come through all right any questions seeing none you're up anyway Madam
Superintendent so my update uh on Friday March 21st I attended the Whittier Tech um Northern Essex Municipal Working Group meeting uh this meeting we continue to discuss a path forward on Tuesday April 1st and Friday April 4th I had remote meetings with Lane Glenn the president of
Northern Essics and I just really want to say um a huge thank you to um the president um Glenn um he has been amazing to work with his team Mike McCarthy um they've been amazing to work with and in helping navigate through
this it's difficult territory um and they really have have done yman's work um with me to try to make this happen for our kids and for our staff on Thursday April 3rd I attended the MASS executive committee meeting in Malboro um there was discussion about graduation
requirements DESIE um collecting staff attendance uh and federal and school aid which is obviously something that we are all still very concerned about on Friday April 4th I met with Allin Associates our PR company we continue to discuss ways we can communicate with our 11
cities and towns um about the possibility of of working with Northern Essex Community College that was brought up again they really want to make sure that we all are trained our school committee and then also the school building committee and that we can get
out and share the message um with with everyone in our community so you know one of the things I would like to do is either um early fall or late spring set up a time where we can get some training ourselves to start working on how we can go about doing sent uh bringing that
message to our communities on Tuesday April 8th I attended the Marramac Valley Executive Committee meeting in Lawrence on Tuesday April 8th I attended the Habil City Council meeting president Lane Glenn and I were able to give an overview of the work we've been doing so far the city council seemed very much in
favor of us moving forward together i want to thank Cara Cosmus and committee member Dick Gurley for attending last night's meeting today I attended the remote meeting with Mass Development um with Northern Essex this was an opportunity for us us to discuss possible opportunities for Whittier Tech
if the school moves to Northern Essex Community College today I attended the Whittier Techch Northern Essex Municipal Working Group meeting i'm happy to report that all 11 cities and towns were in attendance we had a very robust and productive meeting i believe all the cities and towns are moving together in
the right direction i want to thank Elaine Buer for an amazing play production of Little Mermaid um and you know it was great to see the kids they did an amazing job miss Bucher gave hours and hours and hours of her time to
to make that for for our community and I just really want to thank her publicly for for that work i also want to thank Deb Santos uh we have had a Scholastic book fair at school over the last week um and it's been great to see the kids excited about literature um and they've
been buying books and some of our staff have been buying books so um that's been great um for the school committee there is Day on the Hill i don't know if you've received the information for Day on the Hill um that is on May 6 from 9
to 11:30 at the UMass um club in Boston and then we head over to the state house and that's when uh we have vocational uh students provide amazing lunch for us um if any of you have ever been I do plan on attending because I think it's a worthwhile event um and I've enjoyed
going and hearing about what's going on and then also having a great little snack for ourselves i have two field trips i have a field trip for the auto tech program to the New England Dragway in Eping New Hampshire and that field trip is set to
go on May 30th you want to just We'll take them both at the same time what's the other one sure the other one is an overnight field trip for Skills USA at Best Western Royal Plaza Trade Center we have uh we have a lot of students attending that um 55 student
approximately 55 students attending all right is there a motion for to approve the field trip requests motion to approve miss seconded by Mr fitzgerald i don't even have to look mr early question paper we will have all the proper paperwork thank you what What
town is the second field trip in malar any other questions call the role mr early yes miss Sullivan yes mr rossy yes miss Coffer mr d yes Mr fitzgerald yes Mr paglia yes Mr murphy miss LOL yes Mr
okconor yes Miss TR yes Miss Okconor yes Mr slovasti yes passes uh old business school committee self-evaluation um we have those results here go over them quickly um with
everybody uh the committee's policies are clear and up to-date uh five agreed three disagreed committee adopted a mission statement five agreed uh strongly agreed excuse me um one agrees
and four uh excuse me two don't know uh the committee members take part in educational workshops and conferences to make informed decisions uh three strongly agree three agree and two disagree roles of the committee officers are
defined in the committee policy and understood by all members three strongly agree three agree two disagree uh members receive introductory training and orientation uh when they join the committee two strongly agree
four agree one disagrees and one doesn't know procedures and protocols for committee operations are published and understood one strongly agrees five agree one disagrees and one doesn't know members treat each other with
courtesy and respect six strongly agree two agree all members are encouraged to voice opinions and take positions on the issues six strongly agree one agrees and one disagrees members respect the will of the majority and support the decision
seven strongly agree one agrees members share pertinent information with each other to prevent surprises and promote informed decision-making five strongly agree two agree and one disagrees members do their homework and come prepared to make decisions seven
strongly agree one person disagrees members understand the role of the individual as part of the whole group seven strongly agree one agrees committee regularly evaluates the superintendent using a mutually agreed upon process six strongly agree one
agrees and one doesn't know the types and frequency of communications are agreed to in advance six strongly agree one agrees and one doesn't know the superintendent's accessible to committee members eight strongly agree the committee members contact the superintendent when seeking uh
information eight strongly agree the superintendent informs the committee of major personnel decisions six strongly agree uh one agrees the superintendent committee treat each other with mutual respect and professionalism seven strongly agree one agrees uh the
committee and the superintendent operate on a no surprise model six strongly agree two agree a long-term strategic plan exists and are reviewed five strongly agree two agree and one disagrees the constituencies of the
school district are involved in the strategic planning process five strongly agree one agrees and two don't know the budget document is uh the budget process is documented and published six strongly agree one agrees and one disagrees budgets a development based on
needs from the bottom up five strongly agree two agree one doesn't know the committee as a group presents and advocates the budget to the community three strongly agree three agree one disagrees and one doesn't know the committee receives regular
reports with the budget and financial status seven strongly agree one agrees the committee has a public relationship public relations plan for the school system five strongly agree two agree and one doesn't know the committee encourages the inclusion of community
members as much as possible in the decision-making four strongly agree three agree and one disagrees the committee works cooperatively with other branches of municipal government four strongly agree and four agree um the school system regularly reports
its own progress and accomplishments six strongly agree to agree committee members receive sufficient information far enough in advance to prepare for meetings six strongly agree to agree public input is welcome and and according to policy seven strongly agree
one agrees full and sufficient debate is allowed six strongly agree one agrees and one disagrees discussion is focused on issues not personalities six strongly agree two disagree
physical setting is agree to agree not they agree okay sorry to agree everybody's focused on the issues six strongly agree to agree sorry uh physical setting is conducive to productive discussion and decision-m six strongly agree to agree
and meetings are frequent enough to prevent overcrowded agendas six strongly agree and two agree any questions or comments on low results from anybody mr light do we know I think by my account eight out of 14 so six didn't
respond that's barely a majority do we follow up and try to get everybody's input it's very important I would think assessment of our roles as school members i was just curious um no i don't
think we ever really get 100% of it um you know committee member wants to fill it out they do if they don't um they don't um I can tell you I've never filled one out in 23 years and I
don't intend to um I don't introduce uh to the committee the new representative from Raleigh uh Mr pula uh welcome to the William Tech School Committee um I don't know if you wanted to say anything or not but uh if you do the
floor is all yours thank you Mr chairman a little bit about myself currently a junior at Mar College double majoring in political science and criminal justice obviously um trade is such an important aspect in the societies right now um so many jobs available good paying jobs and
it's so important for young students to get involved in all trades and as long as I'm here I'll work tirelessly for all students interests in pursuing their career thank you thank you for joining us look forward to working with you um and I
will reach out to you so we can set some time to get together and go over kind of policies procedures and give you a rundown um of the important ones um next up reports of the special committees executive doesn't have one instructional and personnel Miss True
nothing uh plan operations mr murphy uh we did not have a meeting until this evening um we went over a lot of items with uh Bob a lot of electrical out uh outages
uh and we got a project an exploratory project coming up during school vacation on the waste water treatment tanks to find out what kind of shape they're in all right that'll take up most of the week so next month we'll
hear the results thank you salary in negotiations Mr early yes we've had many meetings and we have many meetings ahead of us we've got a lot of moving parts um policy mr irvin's not here it's the
second and final i'll do it for him second and final reading of the graduation requirements which are in your packet does somebody want to make a motion to approve the graduation requirements so moved motion by was it Mr connor second seconded by somebody
over here Chris Carpenter any discussion on the graduation requirements seeing none please call the role mr early yes miss Sullivan yes mr rossy yes miss Carpenter yes mr lie yes mr fitzgerald yes mr
yes mr murphy yes miss LOL yes mr okconor yes miss TR yes miss Okconor yes mr sowski yes passes is there a motion to adjurnn motion by Mr fitzgerald second by Mr
early all in favor of German anybody opposed