and so when your n counts are that low they're hugely um determined by yeah skewed scores or outside um scores so it it's not something that they look at in terms of um oh my goodness you know like they do look for patterns you want I always want all of them to be within a few percent of each other because then that means all students are successful on our campuses um the ones we look at largely are our ESS and our El because those are sub populations that historically have um we've received targeted instruct or targeted Improvement labels right it's in those two categories so those are the ones that we really focus on when we're looking at where are their discrepancies between how we're doing as a campus and how a subgroup of students are doing okay um yeah I mean the other sub population that makes more sense to me especially just after the presentation about the military students their families and then you know the the Foster of the ESS the El um it all just seemed to make sense to me except for that one so and maybe it's because I I just I don't feel that we necessarily have an issue with that and Dysart but um maybe in other areas that might be make more sense so okay thank you actually I I uh noticed that as well and I I don't know that I'm 100 clear and I just for my own self I want to make sure I understand it so when it talks about subpopulation growth and increasing percentage of students proficiency for 13 different subpopulations we are not saying that we get more points if we move white versus non-white kids forward like if you're a non-white student does that mean if they're talking about increasing the percentage and proficiency for that subpopulation that why are we focusing on race or skin color or ethnicity why are we not just looking at the student why is that even in there what am I missing because it partly goes along with Federal designations when they do federal school Improvement so um it is all the categories it's um white black Asian Hispanic Pacific Islander right but what I'm saying is are we getting more are they expecting if we move a non-white student further then we get more points for them no or less points if you're a if you're uh each one is equally weighted it's all they're all equally weighted all 13 categories so that section is worth 26 points okay but you're going to get more points since there's more ethnicities or races other that are like non-white then you get more points removing those other races yes you could if you had if you're you could earn them in all of them you could move all of your major federal um race designations in the same year I just don't understand why that's a priority I'd understand that I hope I I mean if there's something you can tell me to help me better maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way but I don't know when we're talking about moving kids and celebrating growth why that even has to be a part of anything well I'm saying to I'm sorry no I just want to make I'm I'm honestly asking if I'm understanding it correctly I just hope I am but that's what I'm trying to say like why if we're just educating children we want all children to be successful and learn the materials then and to excel academically why do we care why everyone even recognizing that piece of it I can understand again like Miss Densmore commented military homeless those are all circumstances regardless of race that can impact your ability to learn but race remember Pritchard I I believe this historic is historical from the federal government coming at one point in time some races were underserved as member Dinsmore stated this has not been an issue in Dysart however you know in some places historically you know we can talk the Deep South in the 60s perhaps black students weren't achieving at the same rate so when these rules were put in place and looked at I think that's why they were saying it's just as important to move these groups and so this rule is still in place and in some places when you look El students do not make the same progress you know due to their to their language that's language so that's not race in in some places historically and I'm not saying today and I'm not saying and Dysart but Hispanic kids might not have made the same gains that white children did because teachers they were migrant children or something like that and there were preferences I'm not saying that it happens it happens here or today but it has historically and I do believe that that was their intent when they did it and I think that's a very good point that Ms Densmore and Miss pitcher brought up I do think that is a legislation issue you know I I know Miss Harkin can answer that to the best of her ability but and and I know we get very passionate but we're not directing any of that negatively towards you massage but I do I do think that is something to look into because I share your concern with the subpopulation categories I mean why why why can't we just include everybody but I do think that is a legislation issue that we should consider maybe talking to our yeah I was just hoping I misunderstood yeah it's definitely not a misfortunate issue this isn't her formula but I wanted to make sure because of the response I was feeling I was understanding it correctly which it sounds like I was um but anyway okay and I don't believe it's even an Arizona issue I believe it's a required Thing by the federal government into the accountability plan for the state so we can look at that but we are bound by obviously you mentioned legislation and those type of things for this yeah and I just want to say I mean that's why I prefaced you know my my questioning with you know where is it driven from and it sounds like it's from the board the State Board of Education and conjunction with the Arizona Department of Education so it's not a it's not a Dysart model we're just she's just informing us of what the what the rules are the requirements requirements thank you yep and I can say historically our our district does very well in this area because there are so many ways to gather their points and it is about moving all kids um and as a district we do very well in growth so when you do well in growth you do well in subpopulation growth regardless of who those students are because we're moving all kids um and I think our growth growth scores show we move all kids because we score very high in growth as a district so and just when you think you figured it out come to the high school model right oh is my battery dead sorry you know to piggyback off of what you just said Dr crotto I know in the past we've struggled with you know we can't compare our results to last year because the model changed we can't compare to last year because the model changed it's constantly changing or they're just changing completely all the the rules regulations or they're even eliminating you know the the the the letter grades you know for schools and so we're just keeping with the same letters you know repeating for two three years I think one at one point yes so with that said are we going to be at a point where we can't compare to last year again once these come out no this will actually be very closely compared to last year this will be the same model um the recommendations that the technical committee is making to the board is keep the same cut scores for consistency let us build um although in 21 they ran all the models they didn't give schools um they didn't publish labels but they let schools kind of see where are you coming out of covid and then they published labels last year and they published labels they're going to publish labels this year and for K-8 the cut scores they've used so far have not changed since pre-covered high school they had to put new cut scores in place last year because the ACT was the new test so they had to re-standardize everything but the recommendation being made for that exact reason is we want consistency we work really hard with our schools to make sure they do very well in this system and if you change the rules all the time we're running against a non-target so that is one of their goals is really to create a consistent model that we can use over time um and and get good comparison data great thank you but we cannot guarantee you what's going to happen next year are you still on that task force not on that one so the high school model is a little bit different like Dr Koto said as soon as you learn one you have to learn another um proficiency and growth also there you can see growth is much lower at the high school um it's only 20 because they pick up other things that are much more important High school-wise graduation the college career Readiness index and then English language Learners as well um so when we look at proficiency for the high school it is based on that 11th grade Act and the msaa so just like the k-8s both forms of the test are used and they also use a weighted proficiency scale so um they do the exact same model the really important piece to know with the ECT for the high school is similar in the k-8s where they do the reading test and they do a writing at the high school to earn an Ela score the students have to take the English section the reading section and the writing section so there's three score components that roll into one Ela overall score and then the math is the the math test section so State proficiency this is the um act when we've presented to the board in the past we've always talked about this is our composite score on that scale of 1 to 36 and each of the different sub area scores these are the same that the state uses um but they had to make bans so that they could use that weighted proficiency so on the ACT and Ela the minimally proficient is 1 to 14 and then 15 18 19 to 24 and 25 to 36 and then for math it's 1 to 15 16 18 and then the upper two categories are the same and you can see that note about they have to have all three components so if I did the reading and the English test but I didn't do writing I don't get an Ela score for that year so it's really important that the schools make sure students complete all three sections when they do growth um this year is different we talk about things being a little bit different for the high schools this last year's junior class hadn't taken a test since seventh grade because we switched from the azmerit end of course exams which we did one year of a um azm2 and then they switched to act so that group that cohort had a very unique situation where they had last time they had tested had been so long ago so back in 2019 when we were also making that shift they used subgroup population or subgroup Improvement on three categories so students Improvement in proficiency graduation and Dropout rates so they did all three um similar to the acceleration and Readiness in those categories the really important piece to know even though this year is we're getting a rating for 22.23 graduation is always lagging so those sub population graduation data was 22 compared to 21.
so from this calendar year we have another 12 months and which which town meeting would that need to be spring so we from we would have an annual at the spring but also we would also have a special in the fall so we would fall could be as late as the fall and and I think a lot of towns are in our position a lot of towns are in our position we're saying okay what are we going to do how are we going to get there what's the approach going to be and you know wheels are starting to move um and so there are a lot of funding opportunities throughout the state people are starting to do a lot of work on it obviously we're doing the comp plan and that started up too so we have a lot of planning exercises already rolling um and so but I think tonight is just to set a baseline start thinking about it it's going to be more and more in the newspapers on the news a lot of season towns through the mass Municipal Association will be talking about it and so it's just a conversation starter and I think I think I think um I'm looking at my own notes and I think this information was in one of the memos maybe that Peter had online um but if we take that and I'm not I'm not saying that we should do this but just again as a reference that if we take you know Peter had pulled out three zones that are that we have and are really really close to meeting these so if we pull out Adda which is 22 acres and only needs a an upping of the density if we pull out addc which is two acres and needs multi-family by right instead of special permit and if we pull out a uh rtde which is serious which is 28.44 Acres that's our 50 acres and they're all within they're all within the the 0.5 but that would need to allow for you know two bedroom or no for Mo for um the two bedroom must be removed right in that zone yep so in other words it's like it's already there but I think what we have to consider partly is that okay do we want Adda to be buy right that's that's all of that side of Pleasant Street next to the train station do we want all of that to be um you know buy right 15 units in that kind of density you know that's a choice would that get to the 1124 units or was that that was that was I think that was with that was with all the acreage we need that's the acreage acreage so they'd be presumably more to get to the 11th that's true there so you just have to make that buy right at 23 units per acre well that's the question I think well I think that's that's one of the questions right or that's valid yeah or we can take actual like we can take eight rtde or RTD which are already over 50 acres um and not in downtown which has a lot of historic significance and due density where it's already happening like near Cirrus I think we need to give the public some options as quickly as possible my number one concern is compliance I think this the town of Ashland needs to make this quick and easy accessible to the public and give the public some real options like hey we could do one of these five things we the select board and planning board are thinking one of these five um we want to hear Public's input and move this pretty quick I think just to add one other thing in um on um rtde which seems to be 94 Acres now that's already where the um the cap is right the nienza cap there's some areas of that are unbuildable so even though it seems 94 acres in that zone it's not it's not it's not all available it's I'm not sure that's still eligible how does that work you know I don't believe it is there's how because we don't even have 50 eligible there could be some of it eligible to really cut up to really take a cookie cutter and really dice it up or maybe it's bad terminology um but to really kind of go in and take a take a take a look at it you know there is a housing restriction obviously on that cap for a good reason sure uh and so is that eligible no you know you don't think they'll find it eligible correct so let me ask a question so so Cirrus is a little over 28 Acres we have ugc which is I can't remember the acreage of that that parcel that they're planning to build which is already slated for what it's 180 units 180 units if it goes through yes but I mean if so if we did if we removed the age restriction and you know we think about the units for ugc which is already kind of planned for the units at CRS what else is going in at well we don't need to worry about no no I'm just saying like because I think part of it is what is the impact of the community so I think kind of framing it out as saying okay so we have one serious Apartments built we have another development that's already permitted we have the YMCA which even though we're going to put an overlay you know we're going to change the zoning that's going to be the one the YMCA we have part of that parcel which is Town owned which will be Town it will get it in the exchange with the ugc yeah 2016 Acres so I'm just thinking like could we potentially make it to Anna's Point easy and simple do rtde and basically say to the community you know this is already sort of been you know we're changing the zoning but the impact to the town is kind of smaller because I think that is sort of the goal is to really control how this works because to your point Pete about or Trisha about um Pleasant Street like do we want to rezone Adda and have potentially open that up to a lot of extra development in that area because there's a lot of older homes on Pleasant Street there's a lot of there's part of its industrial that I'm sure people would love to be able to to build on um so I'm just thinking like through because because the other part of it is this does need to go through town meeting so even when we do the public Outreach and we talk about this at the end of the day it will be a town meeting vote and I don't know what what is what is what happens Pete if we get to that point we put it to town meeting and town meeting doesn't approve it I think we just need a easy majority right for this I think it goes through easy majority it doesn't have to qualify for this year I'd like to make a just a point about that and I did to the planning board when it first came up but I absolutely um if we were going forward to comply I want to make sure we target Springtown meeting I don't I don't think it's a good thing to end up the first time it's voted on Fall town meeting because it feels like it's putting in front of the public like an you know you have to pass this and we're smarter than that better than that it can go to Spring there could be tweaks and you have another meeting um to recover I think to be honest with the conversation this is the second time playing birds had similar things that we know there's a a relatively simple way to comply that in theory will have very low impact and that seems like the first pass what we should be focusing on we should get all the acreage and talk you know take the cap out of it take the town on land out of it and really see what we're dealing with and then and Target make a work plan to Target Springtown meeting yeah I agree about the springtime meeting Peter and I were talking about this earlier in the weekend I think you know we want to have two bites of the Apple you know if if things don't go well or if we get some feedback that we didn't anticipate you know I agree that spring is more work for us right now up front but it's the smarter choice can I can I add that like as controversial as this is across the state I do think it's important to remember that it's the MBTA mandate meaning it's linked to transportation and we do have two areas in our community right now that are linked to Transportation where I live Pond Street that area and obviously we have our train station that many people use I prefer to take the train from West Natick but occasionally I go to Ashland so to me it seems very consistent and easy for the public to understand that to meet this mandate those are the two primary areas we should be thinking about because both of them relate to public transport and access in communities commuting to work if you will those are primary routes if you will for people to get into Boston I see the traffic all the time and those are the areas we should be Zoning for for density that's what the state is thinking about that is the intention of this law not to change or downtown historic properties you know what was he I'm sorry what's the other area you were talking talking about where I live uh near 120 126 right behind Shaw's is where I live but I'm very open and understanding that the state has the intention to dense my area because we are on a major road that people utilize including me to transport ourselves to Boston and so what I'm suggesting is the intent of the state of Massachusetts is not to take our downtown the vibrant historic areas of Ashland and make those dents the intention of the MBTA Transportation related mandate is to give us transportation to Boston that is the intention of this so let's make that happen rather than adding the controversy of our downtown historic area to add to that I would think that the state would allow to expand that 0.5 mile radius for that to happen because 0.5 miles is right in the in the heart of downtown Ashland no the downtown is just short of it well it's two tenths of a mile from it but we don't need to even touch it we can meet the requirement without touching downtown okay within within that 0.5 radius I mean Peter can you speak to that right it sounds like we've oh no I saw the map but on that map there's also the nianza capsite uh if they're talking about age restriction locations then that location of ugc is a restricted location I don't know if they plan on changing their uh their thought process on their building design I mean so there's a lot there's a lot of uh unknowns that they're going to have to deal with you shake your head no but I I see that you're going to tell the folks at ugc no you got to change your design that it can't be it can't be age restrictive but it says no no no no no no it's zoning no one has to change anything they don't have to change what they're doing we can just say that the zoning now is 15 15 units per acre acre okay and that's what they can do by right and unage restraint just a paper mandate paper mandate so if something is owned age restricted right now and we not result if something is being built age restricted right now if we rezone that area to be not age restricted 10 years from now that developer could sell that age-restricted property to a developer who could say oh great I have no age restrictions it's just paper yeah so um just to I guess think about where we are procedurally so the purpose of this meeting was I guess the one was to get a briefing and talk about moving forward but the other was I think we had talked in the past about whether we want to comply um or if we have issues or if there's other things we want to do sounds like you know I'm hearing that compliance is possible we need to look at some models but I just want to look at the board because we talked in the past about issues with the the act itself and you know our approach to it how are people kind of thinking about that I had one question about I think the one you know unfairness in this is that 1124 units based it's based on the fact that we have a lot of housing so therefore we have to build more we don't have to build just Zone enough Arizona that's their rationale and so the only thing um I'm just wondering is there is there any there's been some tweaking and adjustments to this is there anything about that going on the 15 of 2020 housing has anyone heard anything about that I have not I personally think that's pretty much that's certain that's gone that's baked you know that's done I think there there has and and I'm signed up to go to a a webinar because the state has changed a couple items regarding mixed use there was some pushback from a lot of communities mixed use how is mixed use especially in the downtown areas where communities are obviously trying to support Commerce um and obviously housing supports Commerce but you need a measurement of both right uh obviously to create a viable and a vibrant downtown so I know there was a lot of pushback across the state about how our mixed use commercial or the residential counted and um and I'm there's a seminar on that I believe in some time in next week or the week after I think there's also still a discussion about allowing part of it to be affordable so all right it's not they're still talking about can we you know you have to do this density by right but some of it can be affordable so being discussed or it's still being discussed and I think from what I've my takeaway is when I go to these when I when I listen in and I and I obviously take part in these seminars um webinars are um the state is allowing 10 so they're saying 10 can be mandatory affordable housing which matches up with obviously chapter 40b legislation any communities typically inclusionary zoning by law so you know 10 is getting the go-ahead anything anything above and beyond I think that's where the question marks are going to be so I think we can definitely lean on and build in 10 of all units shall be affordable which means Chestnut Street could work and Pond Street could work correct okay what's what's the implication of that doing it or not doing does that change the number of units built or how does that no so no so I think we're just saying mandatory if you're going to go through this development process that 10 of the units every game so we could mandate it should we choose to but should we choose to we can mandate that all you that there's ten percent are built affordable and so therefore as a unit per se say it's a for example is it 200 units that come in right 20 well 20 units are therefore affordable so then at the next go around that the two I can't believe I'm saying this at the 2030 census at the 2030 census when those 200 units are added on to the Shi count the 20 units that are going to be built with that development are going to um create no negative impact on that community's percentile okay so just back to Rob's question about comply or not to comply my my understanding is um that communities that decide not to comply with MBTA communities are no longer eligible for for state grants is that correct and then also Transportation related state grants not any state I thought it was everything through like Mass development and I think I know I have no I have not seen a full list of what your what you're gonna be getting what you're not gonna get like I'm sure all communities are chapter 90 funds and they're going to sound like you're going to lose school funding right correct yeah you're not going to lose school funding or Road money what you will lose grants though grants are separate from like chapter seven and when I say grants I'd say you know um the big one we got the mess a mass Works Grant can be millions and millions of dollars right and so the town of Ashland fought very long and hard and was granted a mat a very large sum of money through mathware I mean through masquerade but I mean with all due respect it seems like we as a community probably have an easier time meeting this requirement than many other communities because we've already moved towards density in key areas and so for me it's like a no-brainer we are exactly the kind of community that is a Target because we're on MBTA Community as somebody who uses the MBTA and drives to work it's an easy sell I think to the public because that is why people are moving here they're moving here to quickly commute to Boston they're working in the Greater Boston area so I don't think we're gonna have a problem convincing the public that this is an easy solve for us because we already have it I think the question we have to decide here is do we have consensus as to whether we want downtown to be part of this or not if we can reach consensus tonight then we have six months to town meeting and if we have some consensus we can start talking about resources of how is Peter's office going to pull this off is it a matter of pulling the bylaw for two or three areas of town and changing a few words making it buy right density or do we need to hire a technical consultant which the state can pay for to get this done and drafted and whole public meetings and so the quicker I think we can reach consensus on the downtown that seems to be the big item for debate I think it's just it's a little bit more complicated than that and I'm worried about trying to get consensus in the next 10 minutes or something in this meeting but only because when we look at the add map up there I agree with like um I know it was quality someone mentioned the historic houses maybe Brandy in that area and yeah so maybe we wouldn't want it that part of our downtown to be included but there is also this whole north side yeah where it is all industrial um the south side is the industry not the purple stuff yeah before you before you hit the road yeah and yeah I would have consensus on that yeah I personally don't have problem touching industrial zones as long as we're not touching downtown where our as people drive through downtown what's the issue with downtown I don't think we need to like go that far honestly like I don't think we've been talk of going to Main Street so well one time we had talked about that that would be useful to include um 10 15 1060 Main Street but it sounds like it's not within the uh so I'm just looking at the rest of the board I mean I think I think it'd be help at least to me you know I think we sound like we're going to be moving forward but I think it would be helpful to see different scenarios of how to achieve this and then that could be the basis of how we move forward and that would be something I think Peter would put together to look at these different ideas like here's one way here's another way and then we could visualize potentially what it could be like because I think we we need to think about that I think that's fair but we should give Peter some guidance like I for one would like to see an option where it's the Pond Street area where I live plus the serious area that is the um rtde that to me is my personal preference I I understand that we could also go towards the industrial area and towards downtown I could live with that if that is the ultimate agreement or consensus or the majority in this room but I would prefer to stay away from downtown I think the south side of Pleasant Street I think where all those were like the churches burnhams all that whole stretch going down to um that all looks to me like a good op a good area to be zoned this way but yeah it's just me and my mentioning that wasn't saying yeah we should take away all those businesses because that's not what I'm saying at all right no it's just a matter of zoning it yeah it's a matter of looking at the zoning and looking at where we are however many years into the future to look at to look at everything right so I mean would um would it be best to kind of create a mini working group you know that even if it's just one member of the select board and one member of the planning board and working with Peter and I assume Michael I don't know on the select word side yeah but to throw myself would be the ones yeah but also to be able to Liaison to bring things back I think that makes sense to make a small working group one from us one from from planning board with Peter and and I don't I don't you know Michael I think toward the end might be good but I don't know that he's you know he's not going to be doing the work for the gis and stuff like that uh the other thing I would say is let's also consider if we're looking at Pond Street also look at the parcel on Chestnut Street because as you look at the area around the train station yes it just has to be zoned a certain way but for me part of this is if it's going to be zoned that way we need to at least have some possibility that in the future if the housing is needed it could be built there and there are certain areas around the TR on Memorial Drive that we don't want to build on so by making it buy right zoning to me that seems disingenuous right but if we can because we can include Chestnut Street right we can make that you know just the section that has the parcel of 100 Chestnut Street that's already going to make a little morsel five acres right yeah right same you know Pond Street and stuff like that so ideally you want to make it you know one area if possible but if we can't meet what we need to within that let's look at other part Pockets that won't impact downtown and I guess the only other question or comment I have is I know we don't want to include all of downtown but if we're looking at you know 10 to 50 Main Street might be built up anyway might it make sense to put that zoning there that's all if I may that project has withdrawn so right but we all know what yeah right now anyway I guess my concern would be I I just affordable housing is a very near and dear thing to me so it's very important for me um and for many other residents who live and stay in town and live in an affordable location I just don't want to blocks out the affordable um units with respect to any zoning aspects that we're looking at you know I know we haven't we've been talking about inclusion Arizona for the last three years but nothing's actually been done about it and actually that's a tool that you can use in in your in your in your toolbox one of the develop them as well we have inclusion every zoning and that takes a little bit of the pressure off of you folks to make those decisions so I mean I just if we're going to do something like this I would like to see that coincide with an inclusion every zoning by law so I I just have something to add with that um I don't know that we need to go for the exclusionary zoning bylaw I think we're gonna I think we can streamline this and start talking to public and present auctions but I think it should be the minimum 10 but I would like to see part of discussions like what can we push that above 10 I read some stuff online that um they're definitely allowing up to 20 if you can show that it's economically you know advantageous or not advantageous so is that in the zoning um it well look all this stuff is loose and changing when they get pushed back in discussions so that is online right now though so if if we make let's just say we make 20 they have you have to say well that's that can or cannot be economically viable and that's a whole uh can of worms that Peter's been helping us we're trying to get an economic development tool but I don't want to settle for the 10 I'm with you Joe I I don't know that we can can settle for only that but I would like to make sure that's a parallel path what is the maximum we can ask for on affordable while we do we have some kind of technical help uh Peter that we can get from the state like if we came out of this meeting with a sense that we want to push for 15 let's say in whatever zones that we create can we reach out to the state and say hey we are thinking about 15 percent what do we need to prove that that can work that that can be economically viable yeah I can follow up you know I think as far as you know I think I do know that 10 is allowed and they're accepting it at 10 um anything above and beyond you know I think that gets into the realm of obviously technical assistance and then you're building okay you know if you're going to get technical assistance for that one element maybe it makes sense to get technical assistance for the whole zoning development you know that's what I would that's what I would say are you recommend I mean one of the things we'll talk we'll maybe decide tonight is whether push for consultant or so what do you have to say about that Pier what's your do you have a recommendation or you know what it's kind of funny in the grand scheme of things I would say yeah great because those would be awesome to bring in however at the same time we already have a consultant right now for the comp plan right and you don't want to put too many cooks in the kitchen and so I think can this be done in-house I think it's a lot of work and I think working with Town Council and you know in in having people able to kind of bounce ideas off would be critical I think going back to a point animate I think a lot of communities are gonna struggle with this zoning however Ashland is is densified over the last two decades and so therefore we do have some opportunities some low-hanging fruit to kind of to or some building blocks to use as a foundation which I think is great so I think can we do it in-house yeah I think we can but also you know does it make sense to go out and get a consultant another consultant for another zoning project on top of the consultant for the comp plan I think you're just adding in more complications than you make let's keep in mind that we don't have to pay for it the state will pay for this consultant for the MBTA project we'd still manage that so it's not like we would have to pay for it the way we did for the comprehensive plan the comprehensive plan consultant is not going to be involved in meeting this compliance role so it's a very very different role entirely what I will say is I love the idea of doing this in-house because it's simple to me it's really really simple if we can come up with the most simple solution possible figure out how much we can Zone at Sears figure out between Chestnut Street and Pond Street put it all together take out the bylaw change a few words it's done I don't think we need a consultant but if we start to make it more complicated if we start to add downtown to it if we start to make it more affordable we're starting to create controversy we have to prove economic viability for higher affordable to Beyond 10 we have to convince the public through multiple public meetings the downtown is fair game we're going to need a consultant for that and so I would make the case that if we are here with some consensus of Simplicity to rezone what's already dense we do not need a consultant and we could do this very quickly so I would say I think the simplest thing if we can make the rail Transit District work for this if we can change the zoning and it meets the density and it meets the area and it meets the acreage and all that stuff the rail Transit District was made for this this is why we developed the rail Transit District years ago was to have an area that was near the train station so true to be honest like you want to talk about something that's easy to convince the public that we have already thought about this like to me if if if the RTD meets the requirements to me that's a no-brainer and that's that's and instead of like like trying to show maps of like different areas that were pulling this piece and that piece and this piece I think this I think if we can make it simple I think that's I think that's our best our best um our best bet especially since since it's already either built or or permitted you know the majority of that that space so I would agree with that I would agree that if we can make it that simple my concern is that we're not going to be able to make it we're not going to be able to either a match the unit numbers that we need for that from that area or that we're going to have enough land but I think we can figure that out pretty quickly like it's not going to be figured out pretty I think we can like I think it's time for us to look at once you remove the cap out of it out of those 94 Acres what do we have left plus what do we have a Chestnut and what do we have a pond and if they bet if we sit down and we actually look at it we can reach consensus pretty quick and this is a quick change Peter do we have survey information for that whole for that whole track of land do we know what's there and what's buildable and what's not buildable is that information that we already have in those files that you just moved to the we have a lot of information okay yeah we have a lot of information we can do so and so and we have a lot of survey data we have a lot of acreage data that I can kind of pull together so um I think you know I think we have some clear you know steps and you know from what I'm hearing you know make it you know the simpler the better yeah and obviously you know within the rail Transit District obviously first however if we do have to look outside we do have to look aside and and I think obviously there's pros and cons to all conversations or in all realities uh and so I think that's something that we'll have to discuss further on down the line so it sounds like Trisha you're suggesting a working group to assist Peter in brainstorming once he has some data yeah I'm suggesting and like I said to keep like you said keep it simple maybe one member from each board to interact with each other interact with Peter brainstorm um so that we can get to some options and bring those here and to bring them to both board as quickly as we can and then whatever snags we hit along the way we can discuss those snags and and what direction we want to turn from there I'm just surprised that no Sultan is going to help us out because comprehensive planning is all about master planning right we are talking about the big picture of Ashland um I'm just surprised that they are of no use at this point for us to this along this process like looking at the zoning itself right they're talking about the big picture of Ashland what is happening in every this one I'm sure they have tools that we could utilize to come up sounds like we're looking at five six options I mean I don't think we have five six options it looks like it's going to be just matter of creating a spreadsheet with those different parameters which feels like simple but I don't think it's simple because it's just not number calculation you're going to have underlaying zoning this one's that's going to have but I'm sure and I'm also curious like between now and our spring um town hall meeting what where is the comprehensive plan team going to be where are they in their process so I mean what I can tell you and I I will allow others to speak on what's going on with the comprehensive plan but my reading of it at least my two sons is that the state has already planned for us and so this is not a matter of us as Ashland needing a consultant to plan right the state is basically telling us this is our plan our plan is that we are the Greater Boston Community need more dense zoning right next to transportation to get people to work so there's not much for planning purposes that a consultant could tell us because the state is basically saying we plan for you you're kind of done you got to do this or else well this setting parameters on the big picture right on the larger scale but we have a team that is so focused on Ashland and what's right for Ashland without us just looking at colors in a legend it's really important to understand like you said let's not touch downtown like those elements is what that comprehensive plan team is looking into so I'm sure they have and the tools that we could steal to make this decision it's just not a metrics that we need to look at we need to look at the big picture because it talks about density whether it's 15 units or 23 units it starts to talk about other implications that this is going to have which which we are probably not seeing because we are going to be stuck with that 0.5 mile radius and that 50 acres or 75 Acres I feel like when somebody is zoned out at that comprehensive level plan they should be able to tell us here are some options I mean they may be but keep in mind I'm going to let you land again I mean so Deepa I think for us to say that they won't help us at all I don't think that's a completely accurate I think we're not going to have them spend a lot of time but certainly when we talk about we're part of the comprehensive plan is looking at art community zoning so this will be part of that discussion and housing right so the the I think part of it though is where is that happening in our timing right we're having our first meeting with the consultant next week and then once we have that going we're going to lay out a plan as to when things happen might we decide to do zoning first but it's a it's a process so I think we don't know that we'll have the zoning discussion completed before we need to have this completed if we want to do this at Springtown that's May right it's September so it also I think it'll be part of the discussion of that but um that's why the comprehensive plan is uh is not rewriting our zoning that is very clear that's not part of the package right they have some recommendations but it is not that is 100 my recollection of the scope of work so I I think between the timing and and their scope of work we're we're not going to be getting more than minimal help as Yolanda said from that consultant yeah I don't think um I don't think deep was implying that a consultant will be rewriting our zoning I think it was more that yeah because when we talked about even the comprehensive plan early on we talked about let's move housing toward the beginning so that we can have these discussions and I think that's what comes into play here yeah but there might not like Yolanda is saying it might not be tight enough to do that so that might be something we just have to see as we go but I I would think as we're having the discussions about housing and and if they're zoning changes with the community certainly the MBTA communities is going to come up right I mean I remember early on when we heard about this we've heard a lot of people saying what what do you mean we have to meet this debt I mean people were not in in town are not happy about this but if we can find a way to do it with things that are already zoned or close to it I think we can help them understand why we should move forward with this I think one of the things the public forgets is that there's been a lot of planning already at the state level and at the local level for these areas such as rail Transit District Pond Street these areas essentially we had Consultants we had planning done decades ago and so in some ways we don't need to replan what we already did we already planned and I would argue that the state's intentions are clearly within the construct of exactly what the town of Ashland already planned for and as controversial as that might be as long as we don't touch downtown we're technically doing exactly what we've already been doing I would say it would be I'll let you jump in well I was just yeah I was just going to say so um before we get into the I personally would like to see a few different scenarios like I wouldn't mind feeders or whoever this working group is presents us different options and ways of doing it I think that's fine um so people can kind of think about it so but um so I think you were suggesting a kind of working group that would work with Peter one member from each committee is that what basically we're proposing here that's what I would propose just to keep it very simple and then have those members obviously report back to their group perhaps every meeting you know because I think we want this to move forward fairly you know quickly yeah but I also think there's a way well you know it's inevitable that the people reporting back also are going to be in touch with the comprehensive plan people because we all sit at the same table and to make sure that connection happens as well if there's anything that they should be mutually informing each other of and the timeline so I you know I kind of think the Springtown meeting is a good goal um so we're actually talking about this is September I don't know yeah next next few months and into February March to have something ready right is that kind of like the timeline what does your timeline look like I think timeline wise you probably want something you know early December to then go options to start thinking about it yeah Oh you mean to for us to start talking about it yeah because I oh sure but I was thinking more like the a product the finished product to start having public hearings and stuff no matter what you know April no I take vacation at Christmas time March yeah no no I'm not saying Christmas but yeah so we're talking about March February or March before you post it yeah yeah you know and and that's gonna be devil's advocate for a second sure the master plan is going to happen right and we're gonna do a lot of work on it right we can take advantage of working with the housing cons you know with our consultant and big deal the deadline deadlines are deadlines right what's the old joke about deadlines deadlines approach to be broken right so the deadline comes December 31st 2024 right the master plan is just starting to wrap up right it's gonna be a lot of work what if we work something through and we say okay we'll propose something for the spring of 25.
so it's a public comment uh I'll open 706 public comment staying none okay the item is information only moving on to item 7.07 the California Department of Education expenditure quarter four report formation aptitude uh at Goss or literacy support Block Run uh this item is for information only so I'll open 7.07 to public comment saying none come on I'll encourage members to read at their earliest convenience moving to uh let's see here 8.01 approved request for approval for our okay meat products for 2023s 24 school year uh motion by trustee Chavez second by clerk Quintero uh super uh Mr Chang thank you for president uh the administration is requesting approval of the contract for food um sorry for food product bit and contract uh to cream company and meet LLC based on pricing and meeting all services level the amount of the contract is three hundred thousand dollars okay I'll open up the public comment seeing they'll probably come in and I am 8.1 questions and comments by members of the board staying then I'll move to a vote I'll call you as I see you trustee Chavez bye vice president aye Club Quintero aye trustee Forrest Shelton yes and myself warming eye item is approved unanimously uh item 8.02 approved unauded in actuals financial reports for 2223 report to the Boron unaudited actuals as required by law do I have a motion second update motion by vice president Herrera second by Quintero I'll open it up to public comments saying no problem uh no public comment I'm 8.02 questions and comments by members of the board staying none I'll move to a road I'll call you as I see you uh wait a minute I do have a quick presentation on this item okay you can eat them breakfast and members of the board um tonight I'll be presenting the uh unaudited Action Report um this is capturing how the district did financially um in the last fiscal year um so we'll start off with the um general fund Revenue uh total revenue that District received last year was approximately approximately 186 million dollars um up with um about 124.6 is unrestricted funds and 61.4 um were restricted going over to the expenditure side of the district's expended approximately 155 million in total expenditures um up with 185.2 was unrestricted and 69.7 uh was restricted expenditure um this captures the um uh revenue and expenditures for the general plan starting off with the administrative Channel fund uh the district started the year uh with approximately 26.7 and beginning balance uh let me see approximately 124.6 in the total revenue um a total expenditures of 85.2 this is made a transfer to the restrictive side mainly for special electrical and restrictive maintenance in the about 27 million dollars and ended that year or last year with a little over 39 million dollars in from Dallas for the unrestricted side on the restricted side the district started the year with about 14.4 with a total revenue of 61.4 uh total expenditures of 69.7 it received contribution from the unrestricted general fund um when being I think approximately 26.7 million dollars and anything yeah last year on the restricted side um I think approximately 32.8 million dollars um this chart shows you um a breakdown of all be restricted uh or general employment or Carrier would actually reference it I won't go through all the list but just want to highlight some of the programs that um thus have a huge amount to the first one uh the expanded learning Opportunity Grant um we had a carry over 10 million dollars and remember this is the grant that provides maybe services for after school program uh before school program intercession um and so you know the state have made a commitment attempts from providing funding for those type of services or programs um the other one is the kind of towards the middle the 4.6 that's related to the Arts music instructional material discretionary block grant um this is a one-time um fund that was provided to the district last year um and this is the fund that needs a plan for career approval before we expend that money um so that we broke me forthcoming in the near future and then lastly um learning recovery Grant um that's also a one-time money um we have a carryover with about 10.8 million dollars and that funds can be used until um June 30th 2028.
the cell moved second motion a second discussion Xenon resolution it's roll call uh Miss Guerrero aye Ms Piercy aye Ms Smith aye MSO aye and I vote I okay okay dude that was 10.8 yeah yeah 10.9 nine no that was 10.9 wasn't it we go 10 10 yes that's what I thought 1010 resolution number 2023-24-e-05 National Hispanic Heritage Month so much second we have a motion in a second any discussion I had a uh the amendment um I had a friendly amendment I wanted to bring up to board was interested um part of the one one of paragraphs I think it'd be um maybe a good idea to update some of the language um I think one of the current whereas is list um the anniversary of Independence for five Latin American countries but it's actually seven throughout the Hispanic Heritage Month um so if that could be amended to include Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras and nicaraga followed by the Mexican Independence Day on September 16th and Chile Independence Day on September 18th which is the second whereas okay okay um and then I had a two amendments to that one and then if we can include um on one of the whereas we're celebrating the group's Heritage culture and if we can include and language our district is really big on Dual language emergence so I think it would be a good way to honor that okay yes we have to vote on what you just proposed okay so we have that's a motion yeah okay any discussion on that all in favor say aye aye aye opposed that's five zero now we go back to the original okay and we have a motion and that's we have a motion and a second already yes so that is a roll call so we have Miss Guerrero aye Ms Percy aye Ms Smith aye Ms Reynold Trejo good changes aye yes thank you and I vote I thank you uh 10 11.
now the superintendent may make 167 thousand dollars a year whatever he makes he can afford it these increases because it's dropping a bucket for him but for me it's money that I do not have and if you guys I'm sorry to interrupt you I will come back to this this is what I was talking about at the beginning we'll come right back to this I'm going to call a recess for this first meeting so that I can move to the second meeting or to come right back to you sir I'm sorry that's abrupt but we're right at 6 30 and I have to follow um yeah you're you're recessing the hearing so just the hearing follow the timing protocol for the budget hearing and we'll come back the second budget special meeting I'm calling to order it is 6 30 so for the special budget meeting uh that will happen later is officially called to order may I have an approval of the agenda for the second meeting please so moved and Chris has seconded all those in favor of approving the agenda for our second meeting please say aye and raise your right hand motion carries I'm now recessing that meeting I've got to put that one on ice and now we're back in the first so I'm calling back to order it's 6 31 we're recessed for the second meeting and now we are back in the first meeting I'm sorry for the interruption your your time can continue we're back to order in the first meeting well I didn't I I didn't you you were talking about the expense and that the last thing you said was you were talking about that we speak the language of bonds and Mill levies that was a friend but I have to I'll have to thank you make me move I appreciate it every one of y'all I appreciate your creativity and and clearly you knew you guys still make money because there are 17 I think one year is 17 increase in uh evaluation average and last year was ten percent yes it decreased by seven percent but guess what it's still ten percent more if you have at some other point time so yeah you lost a little bit of money but not really because you're paying 10 percent evaluations people's property yeah you guys want to increase the military to suck more money out for me you know Douglas County is doing a damn good job of taking my money for my for my property and you guys just hop on the bandwagon you know you guys just think we are endless supply of funds for whatever desires you have you know whatever you want is tax and spending taxes but I'm a Democrat and on this I'm a tea party guy you believe me taxes been has got to quit you know bottom line here's your fixed income attachment spend does not sustainable that's all I have to say I appreciate your time thank you very much who else would like to speak when we go back to that meeting yes this is just the revenue neutral rate part but then we'll do all of this again with a separate presentation for the budget yes sir thank you um on September the 6th I'm sorry I sent a memo to USD oh sorry Ruth Miller sorry about that you ready on September 6th I sent a memo to superintendent Dodge and to the school board members now they've received it and I have received a response back from superintendent Dodge but I thought for as a reminder of what I said to the school board and the benefit of those are here I thought I would reread that memo at this time okay and here's what my memo said can you all hear me yes yes this is what my memo said upon receiving the letter from superintendent Dodge telegraphing a substantial proposed increase in the USD 348 budget for 2023 24 followed by the property tax notice received from Douglas County Clerk's Office I was disappointed and frustrated especially so seeing what the USD 348 proposal will do to my property tax burden where I live my total property tax burden increased over four hundred dollars of which approximately 60 percent being in support of the school district your proposed increases come at a time when individual and family budgets are under stress due to the increased cost of everything from laundry soap and toothpaste to food gas and utilities and back to school supplies in managing our individual and family budgets we have to make choices sometimes hard choices between wants and needs unlike a public taxing body which can increase revenues by increasing the mill rate or leaving the mill rate flat and relying on increased property values to generate more Revenue we as individuals or businesses must trim our budgets to find ways to work harder and smarter to meet our obligations many property owners in our school district are senior citizens on fixed incomes we have many farmers who are constantly fighting against weather government regulations and increased costs in most everything associated with farming also worker also working households who find any increase in wages deflated because of the high cost of goods goods and services individuals and business owners have to figure out ways to live within their means so two should our taxing bodies yet when the school desk district is questions about about its increased budget proposal the general response is usually it's for the kids or it's for the students I too want students to achieve above average academic success to achieve above academic success I understand the public school system requires public funds to operate however according to a recently released Academic Year 2022 student achievement report from the Kansas policy Institute only 19 percent of our high school students were College and Career ready and math with 27 College and Career ready in English language arts while the overall school grade for Baldwin Junior High went from a d to a c showing positive Improvement the overall grade at the high school level remained at a d and the elementary intermediate Center remained at a c additionally data shows that higher per pupil spending does not correlate to higher student academic achievement I ask that the board members take a hard look at the 23-24 budget to separate true academic needs towards student academic success from mayor Watts putting wants aside in meeting the board's vision statement of one providing a rigorous balanced education where all students can reach their full potential and two being good stewards of public funds Albuquerque allocating funds strategically The 2023-24 increased tax burdens you are proposing on property owners within USD 348 are truly burdensome and irresponsible now um do I have any more minutes left I guess I don't I will like to say I did get a response from superintendent Dodge which I appreciated [Music] um he did because he did say that it was not there in tension to to over tax but rather was they um to maintain efforts to continuously improve while absorbing increased costs and new legal obligations my property tax is going up to the point I'm sorry my property taxes are as a senior citizen have been increased to a burden thank you [Music] how much money was the ways that when you segregated our children that's something that I really would like to know and then the other thing is if you talk about the ways that is very developing in the last 12 years at least that I know of over half a million dollar has been wasted on this building a brand new ability so the other thing is there is plenty of contractors here in the Baldwin cities never ever has a school and Senator using local non-drivers don't even ask them for a big you're wasting thousands of dollars by using the union contractors from Missouri or far away from Baldwin City where we have plenty of contractors here in town yet never ever do you guys considered even asking local contractors we all you expect all of us to pay more taxes for the school but that when it comes down to work that needs to be done on the building you don't even consider anybody alone though and I think that that is a very big problem I think what you guys have done in the last couple years who are children knowingly and willingly a harmless and I think that that's a problem and that's beyond the increase I think none of us can keep spending like we would like to spend because of the Holy economic situation why would you guys be able to constantly spend more and more money and part of that is really being wasted and I think that that's really something that you guys just looking through submitted a proposal to Mr Dodge and I was wondering if that could be shown to us what what that is it's part of your budget packet it's in here okay and if you could maybe explain to us and give us an explanation as to how that budget could work or not work it's part of the budget presentation we'll get there I'm not trying to be rude but this is about the the RNR side so I'm not trying to be rude to you but I I do plan uh to address that okay would anyone else guarding yes ma'am um bear with me because I've just jotted down notes that might kind of go scattered normally or the other but we're all shareholders here in USD 348 needs to listen and stop being tone deaf to the community last year the people attending the hearing pleaded with you do not exceed the revenue Mutual right we did in the lesson we voted for it the school bond failed as the community said no the community is maxed out on taxes we all have to look at the needs and not wants an example of a want that I saw well didn't see it on your proposal but I've heard incorrectly if I'm wrong that we're getting a new FFA program that is very costly don't get me wrong I totally support FFA my kids were in FFA my son-in-law is an FFA teacher for over 15 years but it's costly it's new it's not a necessity it should not be funded not until there's funds that are not taking extra tax dollars um what is being cut out to provide for this program probably nothing just more cost again a want a very nice want to not only need um I don't feel you're good stewards of the monies when the community has asked for the spending to not increase I fear that low-income families will be forced out of the district with higher taxes then have an equitable education for all be provided how are we as taxpayers best to continue to live in this community when was the last audit performed in the Republic maybe that needs to be done I saw listed on a fund for activity uniforms why it used to be a fundraiser type activity and very well could still be one um as Miss Kelly there had said earlier something to the fact a set of standard worthy of our students then don't have the standard of no not meaning no the community has said no program over please be on the events thank you thank you thank you who else would like to speak okay my name is Ken Steiner uh Facebook last month except I got a uh there's a news article published just a couple days ago by the U.S Census Bureau and I thought it was first part is pretty relevant stating real median household income after taxes fell 8.8 percent from 2021 to 2022 and the poverty rate after taxes as measured by the supplemental poverty measure increased 59 percent up to 12.4 percent so this is 2021-202 data bus the latest we have available I don't think it's going to be any better uh for this year and it just uh highlights the fact that families are hurting we don't have due to inflation the dollar doesn't go as far as it used to and you know for my for my family personally it's going to be tough trying to figure out how to come up with extra money for taxes this year when I spoke up at the County Commissioners meeting last month I I told him it would be quite easy to cut money out of their budget I'll admit school boards harder you know out there because there's just not as much fluff as what the county puts into their budget but I'm running for school board next year I'd love to take a shot at it and uh well to help you out thanks who else hello my name is Craig Cruz we have a shop downtown mechanic shop just so you know we recently were able to purchase our building and however um finding all this tax stuff is immunity got fixed and then understanding that now that I'm in my building it costs me 500 a month just for the privilege of owning that building more than half of that goes to the school oh and I I have to run my business such that we don't spend more money than what we take in and I don't I don't know a whole lot I'm not a good accountant so I can't crunch all your guys numbers and figure that out I I do hear some things the bond issues that you've had in the past that's why I asked I'm kind of curious where that money went um and please if the school spent that much money how do you still have well I don't know what he said seven million dollars in a bank or something um and and why is it necessary that that the way I understand this Revenue neutral thing is that it's supposed to be a law and I don't it doesn't make sense to me how it's neutral I don't understand that but now when you're looking at raising that so that 500 a month is going to go up more and it trickles down into I mean all of you if you get cars fixed in and I have to pay my bills I have to raise what we're trying to say and I know that's a universal understanding but I I just don't know if a lot of people understand how much that really is and and in addition to that the the county also raised our valuation our building by 70 percent so not only is it going up because of this thing you guys are doing but it the property valuation is wrong we have a handful of customers that have noted to us they have to move out of this District because they can no longer afford to pay the taxes to stay in the house um we were looking at purchasing a house I want to stay involved in but I don't know I can afford to live in Baltimore I'm going to have to go to another County or at least out of the school district and I don't know how long our business is going to survive to where it's at it may end up closing I don't know and that's also sales tax revenue for the county involvement as well we taught god with sales tax attorney and everyone so um just so you guys understand where we're coming from and I know you guys have houses also and you pay taxes and all that I don't know if we get hit double because we're in the city as well as in the school district and not out of the country so we get hit a lot harder than that just FYI I would think there would be some way um I did send an email to all of you if I got a response from a couple of you about the grants that are out there available if that would be some other kind of funding that could be used to avoid things like this and reduce some of the tax burden what else would be great and I'd like a plan about the better we can live without learning about better there we go Mike Bradley I'm also running for school board um so something I didn't see in the presentation it talked about Mills but didn't talk about the increase of property values over the years which should be considered you guys raised 27 over the last two years most of you are benefits owners or at least happy or more business owners I cannot protect I if you raise your rates that much and not communicated that properly I could just walk away and go to a different business the same law you guys are complaining about that you lost taxes from from not doing stuff properly it's the same law that will be used to seize our property if we decide not to pay or can't pay I've talked to a lot of people as I'm running going to the door to door I talked to 16 people yesterday knocked at 16 houses 10 of them brought up themselves a lack of trust and transparency in the board the bond showed that as well 55 voted against it I heard that being said they didn't understand what they're getting I don't think you guys are understanding that there's a lot of lack and trust this presentation is a legal requirement your lawyer's here it's making sure it's done but you guys are not doing anything else to explain to me or the citizens are out here of how it's being spent I have a my undergrad has been Finance from the University of Kansas I can look at this stuff I can read but most people can't I have a master's degree as well put in basic simple lameness terms most people out there are farmers good working hard people out there all the way through it's bare minimum you missed the perfect opportunity to communicate the other day when that letter was sent out hey this is the reason nothing said hey this is where the extra money's going to I know you guys are looking to giving a good pay raise to the teachers that's what we want to hear where the money's going nobody nobody nobody is mad about that we all think our teachers underpaid but they don't know we don't know so there's a huge lack of trust again you've heard numbers you heard everything else what are we doing over and over again this this tax Trace is perceived as a punishment by some people because of Bond film plain and simple yeah that's what I'm hearing and perception is reality whether it be true or not I think you all are good citizens and stuff like that we may disagree on execution and stuff like that but I don't think you're trying to actually punish the people here because of bomb fell but that is reception out in the community I used to run organizations in military that was 10 or excuse me a thousand people strong never did I get in trouble for over communicating and talking to the public you have no communication plan to explain what we're doing what you're doing I want to support you I want to help that's why I threw my name in the Hat because we've got to communicate the people out here at how it's done you never get in trouble for communicating too much maybe on the battlefield but in this classroom you don't you don't get in trouble for communicating too much again I know it probably won't change it I know it probably won't do it but just please consider that as you go through and look at that my taxes went up 13 roughly 60 67 is because of the school board again I got kids in the district I believe there should be a fine balance between taxation education my salary for 21 years is paid by taxpayers dollars I understand sequestration all the other stuff hurt me on the ends too I lived to some crappy Barracks I had crappy gear because my we're funded by the taxpayers so that's all I got ladies and gentlemen thank you I think I'd like to speak a little more too you know we talked about um yeah I just have to say you know somebody had mentioned the the more under funded people the people that don't earn this much money and most of those people are renters and a lot of the a lot of the parents here that have kids in school are not homeowners and they're not really well represented here today um and if if housing costs keeps going up for everybody and Taxation is a big part of that then it's driving just more and more people out of our district because of the rent going up so much that the average people just can't even afford it and a lot of these rents that I see these people are moving out what's moving in is what's taken in place is kind of Baker students and and other people like that that don't you know help our district so you know just further increasing taxes is not is not helping those people in any way either I think there right now is overburdened as anybody again one just a reminder yes sir go ahead and come forward that this is part one of our statutory requirement for this evening and the second part is the budget part which is going to drill down into the level of detail of questions that are coming up but we're also keeping track of other questions that are being discussed here yes sir my name is um I actually served on the Blue Valley School Board Advisory board for 13 years so I can appreciate what you're dealing with with the school districts that are growing so fast you can't even fund them so I really do appreciate that I thank the concern that we have and I did attack the people I did the tax protests and appeals and the sensitivity with people you know who are on fixed income and stuff is a real is a real issue and now with rampant inflation you know a lot of people are wondering I've got a daughter that's going to hang on she lost her job she would feel afraid and 30 they laid off 30 000 people so those are issues that are real and I guess what I would just ask you to really be sensitive with the revenue neutral position because these are yeah and it may be that you know our economy will change and we won't have the chance of inflation but right now I just think it's a a real issue and I think all of you would probably remember when reappraisal went in back I'm part of it in the 70s and the boards you know most of the district are the boards the County Commissioners all assuring everybody don't worry about your tax raising once the revenue goes up we'll drop we'll drop the mill it doesn't happen and uh so I guess I guess in that in that sense I just ask you to really take a hard look at it be sensitive do the people like myself now that own fixed income so every day when you look at taxes or food and all those to become an issue thank you thank you anyone else like to speak yes sir yeah my name is looking at this sheet that was handed out here even you look at the actual budget for 21.22 compared to the 23 24 there's a 27 tax increase in your budget there are all of them if you go to the U.S Department of Labor website or replacement rate for the last few years has been about 16 and I understand across the world but we are in inflation of times right now and people I just drove them trying to meet their budgets and their expenses and yes to go above the revenue neutral gold set here that you guys are proposing I think it's really unfair to the public right now and I think that uh we all have to tighten our belts and it doesn't seem like a lot of our government agencies do that I've looked at my city taxes in the last I've moved here in the bought a house in 2016.
this is being sponsored by the senior class I hope everybody helped them out foreign [Music] laughs if not we're just gonna donate it all the senior class [Music] [Applause] is your grand prize winner thank everybody for their participation thank you guys the senior class thanks Allie Coke for donating his half back [Applause] thank you Alan I don't know [Music] here it is you got that one um [Music] I'm not here every day hot rod let's go to work love his nose [Music] you watching porn [Music] Lakers will kick off the start the second half recovered by Blue Devils ball spotted at the sitting on 29 yard line [Laughter] [Music] dead ball false start against the Blue Devils oh my God foreign [Applause] [Music] recordings [Music] TV [Applause] quarterback keeper [Music] no game they're playing at 13.
a little information on this I took a copy of the of the unapproved um things that Carol the the charts because I was really impressed those two asba and was talking to the person who came and taught us a little bit about doing a superintendent's um evaluation and she was overjoyed so she really appreciated the way that Carolyn had done her her goals and give her a big old check mark okay good um do we have anything I don't know that I like I want a big check mark that sounds negative I'm sorry I'm being silly I'm I'm being she was happy I know I know you told me that I was very happy with it I'm just being silly yeah they were extremely happy so you did you did something good Bullhead looked good so so do you want do you want Cass to show the public what I think that everybody needs to see what you did yes please well start with that one this is just this is the document yeah and then probably those of you who are present can't necessarily read them but they're based on timelines for these committees and so these two these two committees um and so those are the other two uh the other two documents and I see an error down there in the evaluation period so I'm going to need to correct that so when you make your motion we need to make corrections to this document okay okay and then so these are what you said that um I can't remember her name Amy Amy yeah who was here what she liked was the um the timelines yeah because she could it's very visual you know that when we come up to that September or whatever 12th thing I could we can say Carolyn did you do that yes we did okay we had the meeting on the 12th and we have a meeting on the 18th she was very happy with that because I gave that gives the board a you know a clueless when things are happening right yeah and then I will say to you uh and I did say this in my notes I think to you on on this item um uh Cass if you'll scroll back to the the first this page okay I will say to you that the meeting we had on on the 12th um uh the committee recognized what I didn't recognize until we were meeting uh is that we're not going to be able to roll out task five to stakeholders after that meeting on the 12th that that it's going to take more than one meeting to come up with a draft to roll out so I made sure that I put into the put this in as it's been created but I want you all to know that things are going to shift and and it's because the needs of the committee are shifting um we're not going to we're not going to lock ourselves into this calendar um uh if that does not best serve the you know the needs of the committee so uh all of this is likely to shift some because if you shift one piece then everything else is going to shift a little bit too and I don't have any problems with that I didn't think you would I just wanted to be upfront about that that you know that as we meet they're they're recognizing that we need we need more time we need more time yeah it's a big it's it the discussion we even had on Tuesday shows that it's it's a pretty complex task so um and then and then there's the second one uh the I mean this is multiple Pages because it's out over the whole year yeah and then the other uh the other timeline is for the strategic planning so uh it looks like this too but again they were they were really really happy with what you had done see and that's very nice I'm really more interested if you all are happy with it frankly well obviously I wouldn't have shown it to somebody even if I wasn't happy with them so what do we need to change on the the performance uh Castle peel put the first one up I just realized that right there the dates are wrong the evaluation period is wrong oh yeah it should be yeah it should have been July 1st 23 through June 30th of 24.
so it had nothing to do with last year's academics but it's always lagging data um and then similar category wise each of those were calculated in their sub ones and then same thing they total it all up and schools got points in that area next year they will be on the same formula weighted formula as the k-8s where minimally moving your minimally proficient students gets you more growth points so they will transition to that next year graduation graduation is actually broken up into two categories as well there's cohort graduation rates and then there's graduation Improvement so we as a when we present to the board we always present you with our four-year graduation rates but there's actually students who are five-year graduates six year graduates or seven year graduates depending on particularly students with IEP services that may take them into the early 20s so every year we get scored on a weighted factor for your four-year your five year six year and then obviously the goal is um by the time you hit your seven year 100 of your students have hit that graduation Mark so you can see the example of what this year's will look like and then there's a graduation rate Improvement if you are above 90 you don't have as long as you hold ninety percent and above um you qualify in that area if you are below 90 you have to increase um from the year before so all of our schools tend to always be above 90 percent we had a little bit of dip during covid but for the most part we hold very steady above 90 as a district um a couple important things to know about this is students are assigned a cohort when they enter high school so when you roll in that freshman year you're assigned your cohort of that four years later and schools are responsible for all seniors in that um school who have ever enrolled there until they enroll somewhere else so if a student comes in freshman year leaves and never enroll somewhere else that school is responsible the last school of attendance is responsible for that student's graduation until they enroll somewhere else so we're work with our principals all the time about making sure if a student withdraws and then doesn't enroll somewhere else making follow-up phone calls what resources can we get to help you get back in school because they're responsible for the graduation of any student who's ever enrolled in their school and then CCRI which is the college career Readiness indicator is has its own Fae dates as well and that's anybody enrolled by October 1st through May 1st and those students are always reported with their cohort Year and that this is important because it includes early grads so if I include if I graduate as a junior I don't go in that graduating even though I may have walked as a junior I actually get reported with my true cohort of my senior year and if I'm a non-grad I get reported with what should have been my cohort year and I don't get reported the next year so you're always a report with their cohort year it is calculated um students when we list our senior class they earn a zero a 10 a 20 or a 22 and I'm going to show you an um what it looks like in a second students um there's a variety of indicators um they call it the blue and the red side the blue side is college readiness and the red side is career Readiness students have to accumulate one point based on the different criteria if they do that they get 10 points towards their CCRI if they get two points all the way across they get 20 points if I am one point blue and one point red then I get 22 points because it's um giving me extra for being a really well-rounded kid that I've demonstrated on both sides so hang with me for a second okay so here's the examples um the blue side students who meet abor which is that core 16 at a 2.0 or higher those are those um college entrance Readiness um indicators so um for math for English my three lab science my social studies requirements arts and a World Language with a 2.0 um in each area or higher students with an ACT score of 19 or higher AP scores students who sit in dual enrollment classes and then students who take college readiness exams so I'm going to take a dual enrollment class so I have to take the the reading placement test to make sure I qualify to be in that course all of those are things that students can earn points on the blue side on the far right hand side is the career Readiness and that students who complete our CTE Pathways and pass the state skills test CTE credentials and licenses so all of our programs end with one of those pieces they earn points for that dual enrollment classes on the CTE side taking the ASVAB and earning the qualifying exam or having work-based learning or an internship so those are all things that are indicators on the red side in the center we have what they call Flex Points so students completing the FAFSA and then all of our new the seals so as you know we do very well in the art seal is our district and then there are other seals there's a seal for financial literacy that is Incorporated in our econ courses and then there's a Civics literacy and biliteracy so those indicators in the center can be applied on either side so maybe I'm a student who has 0.75 in blue but I got my seal here I can move that over to this side so that I have my 1.0 here and I already have my one here and I'm a 22 Point kid now instead of just being a 20 point kid the last one for high school is the same is English language proficiency and it is calculated the exact same way as the k-8s however when they report they do separate High School from K-8 so they'll be a state average for K-8 and they'll be a state average for high school and the high schools are obviously compared to their peers High School bonus points they have a few more bonus points to earn um they get points for having 95 90 or 95 and higher on the Aspire for the reason that they want freshmen to take the Aspire because that's their growth comparison and they want everybody to be compared so they um hold if you have 90 or higher you get partial points if you have 95 percent or higher you get all your points um so that's three bonus points CCRI post military or post-secondary or military so if you increase from the year before the kids who are college going from our Clearinghouse data or the number of students who military enlist if that increases from one year to the other you get your CCRI bonus point and then the other two are the exact same as the k-8s the science comparison to the state average and your special ed percentages and they do the exact same thing um they total their categories together same thing if they don't meet um uh Elfa then they're out of 90 and they have their own separate cut scores the cut scores for the high school are a little bit different than the um elementary schools and I will answer High School questions thank you Miss Archen yes this has been a very informative presentation um very well put together very well explained I feel like I learned a lot so with that I will open it up with questions I'd just like to thank you as well it's very thorough and you explain it very well and I'm probably going to save this so I can reference that a lot so when the labels come out but thank you very much thank you I have a quick question for you sorry sure no you're good um when you when you're doing the calculations for the ccri's are we working closely with the counselor so when the students start that they know that by their junior they need to accom you know yes um our department what we do is as kids as any of these data Pieces come together we have running spreadsheets that we share with the um high school thank you for saying that because I meant to talk about that so we go out I'm at the start of every year and we say here's where your current junior class is here's where your current senior class is so they can work with kids and say hey you're really close here let's work on your FAFSA or hey I know you have a job um let's get you an elective credit for work based learning because you're working anyway and then that helps get you so um although it is points on a rubric for me when I was a principal for me this was us saying we've got our kids ready for their next step and they're great indicators of that so absolutely the counselors and CTE teachers this is one where everybody on the campus contributes to it everybody's helping kids get this um so it's a great kind of how are we culminating our kids piece thank you Madam president um excuse me I'd like to point out very complex two complex systems we would not be able to do what we do without Amy and her department they are masterful at tracking this like you've never seen you want to blow your mind you got to look at the spreadsheets that they put out and it is amazing so I thank you to Amy and her department on this she tracks this she is all over this the amount of data she shares with our principals and our directors is amazing um it's you know we're really on it it is the focus of our data data chats when you talk about that with principals and one of our goals that you said for me these this is the focus we talk about this data and where all our schools are and so as you can see there's a lot of pieces it's more than just people getting good grades and doing all that and giving the school label they're very complex systems that take a lot of tracking and a lot of work in order to achieve good scores so thank you Amy in your department we appreciate you very very much thank you we good all right thank you next we will move on to item G3 Dr kroto all right we have some School uh presentations tonight and Dr acai will uh introduce our speakers it is my pleasure to introduce Mr Andrew Frazier proud principal of Valley Vista High School well good evening Madam president governor board members Dr crota and cabinet thank you for having me this evening I'm Andrew Fraser principal at Valley Vista so I'm going to go over a lot of the data you just heard um from Amy so I think it'll give you a good reference for what I kind of go through so here you can see a comparison from 21 22 to 22 23 for ACT which is our junior level students we've seen some great celebrations right off the bat that I want to focus on uh we had a nice four percent uh increase in our act Ela score and then a slight increase in our math in addition we we celebrate our science increase at 19 even though we didn't hit the state cut Mark um we still celebrate that that growth piece and I'll talk a little bit more about how we're going to focus on that AZ side piece there in addition you can see our act average composite score grew as well um close to a little over a four then we're still going to continue to grow that uh this upcoming year and once the official data comes out from the state we're looking to be right slightly above the state I think in our overall composite as well so hopefully we'll stay right there azella we talked about that as well a little bit ago uh you can see the data over three years um definitely some areas of improvement one thing that we have you can see our proficient level students are are maintaining but we definitely need to focus on some of our students in those those lower um categories and so some of the things that we've done um just looking last year to this year and the things that we've already started before the school year is we we revamped our schedule for our students so we took a look at our master's schedule we actually got some new staff members um in to really focus on this area we have Target instruction targeted instruction and integrated instruction for these um students and then we have trained them specifically on what our English language proficiency standards are so we're teaching those in addition to our grade level standards and then really tailoring the instruction for these students so they've even uh you know grouped some of these students by some of the abilities and what they need throughout their day and are supporting them and all their uh gen Ed contents our CIP and IEP goals obviously a couple big things as Amy pointed out that our our school label a lot of it relies on our 11th graders and our act and so we definitely want to increase um as much as we can on that act and so goal one a minimum of 0.25 overall composite from the previous years what we're wanting to if you remember on one of that first slide we increased uh I think it was 0.43 the last year so hopefully even more than that but at least a minimal just keep our our students growing and moving forward as a whole goal two we know we'll continue this one it's going to continue to be an a rated school I'm definitely proud of that and once these labels come out we're hoping we have that same the same label there on our school um and then goal three obviously we know that we want uh Valley to be the center in that Hub where where staff students and parents want to be and so we want to keep that climate high and that percentage that percentage that we get from uh the feedback from all those stakeholder groups um whether it's in person and or on surveys so I'm gonna go a little bit more in depth on each of these goals just kind of briefly touch on how we're going to reach those um I think it's definitely important to have you know those pieces uh put into place so that we are knowing what we're doing all of this is very out um and talked about with our staff we we go over all of these pieces at the beginning of school and we talk about them consistently throughout the year so goal one obviously we want to align our instruction um to our assessments we um even started this right away with our Benchmark assessment we've reviewed that at the beginning of the year actually with even some of the other school others high schools we've broken out those uh that data and we've looked at what skills our students need on act we've taken those skill bands and we've figured out how that how it's going to be Blended in throughout our instruction throughout the school year in addition we're looking at our unit assessments that are our plcs our professional learning communities are focused on and kind of doing that backwards design making sure that our instruction is matching what our assessments what our students are taking obviously preparing them for Aspire in 9 trade or act in 11th grade and continuing that focus on professional learning communities at Dr crowdo um you know is really we just reinforced this year we're going to do some solutions tree work through Valley Vista as a focus school and so we're excited about some of the work that we have coming up and our professional learning communities focus in with them on what students need to learn and making sure they're learning it and then um you know focusing on what to do after that after we looked at the data in addition obviously we always support our teachers and our students with what's best instructionally and so we as an admin team continue to monitor what's going on in the classroom we give feedback and monitor through our Dysart instructional protocol and some other components but we always make sure that um the best practices out there through professional development as well for our staff goal two we have our College and Career Readiness index that's a big Focus for us as Amy mentioned we we do we already have met with our counselors we have a spreadsheet we're tracking our goal in that one is is to decrease our students that have a zero score and so if we know we get on those students out of that zero get them some type of points have those conversations with them figure out some way to get them some point we at least um we'll have an increase in that area obviously we talked a little bit about Zelda earlier with Az PSI um you remember that the percentage went up but we're still not satisfied with that obviously we need to get to the state level because we get some bonus points once we get to that state level last year we focused on act science this year we know that azside the more content Focus piece we need to Target and so our science teachers are going to be more focused on the content rather than some of the strategies that you'll see in act science piece we think they can get those from social studies in other areas and then goal three um as I mentioned earlier uh we want to make sure that that uh you know Valley's a Shining Light and everyone wants to to be there and it's uh you know publicized in a in a positive way all the time we try to do that through social media we do that through newsletters uh we communicate weekly with our staff through um either a PLC group or a weekly weather report that we send out with just what's going on um so we do that for our staff our parents we have different breakfasts um we do different events obviously for them we just had a counselor breakfast recently I'm going to start hosting um some event uh you know quarterly events where I can bring in uh different community members to kind of hear some direct feedback about what's going on and how we can improve as well um so yeah we want to just hear what we can do um in person as well as surveys that we'll do to our our parents and then with students obviously the most important piece that we we focus on we're going to do some Town Hall meetings this year we have a presidents and captains meetings that we're going to focus on and see how I'm getting all of our group together and I spoke about it assembly at the beginning of the year and one thing that we're really trying to Target is getting students involved in on campus we know there can be more successful when they are not just academically successful but involved in some type of Club Athletics or Arts Valley's known for for Arts we have a lot of great athletic pieces we're continuing to grow in our academics and we know that those that involvement with those students will definitely um help help move them forward and that is it how about some questions for me thank you so much Mr Frazier um I do have a question can you go back to slide two please yeah this one uh this one yes so we've had some really great CIP presentations um but if you just look at numbers your percent proficient for your act La somebody might just look at that 44 and say yeah that's great that you grew by five percentage points very good growth but how does that compare to the state average well the percentage um I don't know if that's been released yet for the percent is that out yet started know about it for this year so I'm not sure why I couldn't compare it for this year I do know the average composite on the ACT is Right looking at about 7.6 but again that hasn't been officially out so I don't know about the proficiency piece but I think we could get that to you and where when it comes out so that you just said the average composite score for the state is seven oh sorry 17.
and we're going to use all the work that we've done and we've wrapped it in and yes for five months we're not allowed to you know apply for Grants or something like that but five months goes by like this in municipal government so I think there's two options to think about here you know I don't think to say yes we need to do I I would say yeah let's get it for the spring that's great you know let's do it for the spring and the fall is not that bad either right and and if we're gonna piggyback on some of the work from the comp plan then maybe there's a little bit of a a lag time you know and so you know not just to throw it out there is a play in The Devil's Advocate position um but there's all different elements that you have to think about when you start the president which I was actually going to bring up right we were saying you know we want to do it for spring because if something happens then we can bring it to the fall but we don't know yet how they're going to respond if we say you know what we brought it to our fall town meeting and it didn't quite we have to do some tweaking I don't think we'll get we might you know if that happens we won't be the only community and what do we have to gain we already have developed these areas in a dense way right next to the MBTA just like the state intended we did exactly what we already planned for what do we gain in utilizing an aspirational planning process the comprehensive plan which touches upon so many different areas not just transportation what do we possibly have to gain other than failing to comply with a state mandate being part of one of many areas of our community or the state where the state is threatening lawsuits why would we want to literally follow the advice to break state law I I'm very much against that I'm not comfortable with that and as a resident of Ashland yeah I'm not in favor of bringing state law however you know I think it is pretty important to that it be in a discussion with the comprehensive planning committee you know I the that's a group of citizens who have stepped forward to be extremely involved in the future of our community and so you have people who are ripe to participate in this conversation need to hear it need to be able to take it to the to the larger public and you know to your point I understand the community's plan for like the real transit district and the state has planned that for for us I understand that however you know if you go out in the street and ask people they don't think there's much planning that's gone on to the one Cirrus came down so um you know I we need to take advantage the other thing is when we brought on this team the one I think the most important factor in this particular group was that they were going to they were had the best plan for involving the community I mean this is about the community and and I understand there's it would be great if it works out nice and simply and it really fits into what's already been laid down that's all very good but it has to be a conversation I think in in the within I would agree with that but I don't think we need to miss the deadline I think we can you can make the deadline that absolutely but I think Peter's point is just that it's not the end of the world yeah it's not the end of the world and who knows by the time we were maybe faced with missing the deadline it might be every other community is missing the deadline too so the state might react differently I don't think there's any reason to um I think it's impossible to try to predict right now how this is going to proceed maybe we're going to look at the first plan and we're like this is a piece of cake people the town is going to love this and it'll be all over maybe we'll have 10 schemes and we'll hate them all and we can't figure it out we have no idea so all I can say is like let's start the process Pete a lot of this depends on Peter and alvaro's hours we're going to have to work carefully with them to say oh Trish I can't just get I can't get into this for three weeks right maybe that's going to be the case and let's just see how the process goes and stays in communication about how it goes because we can't predict where we're going to be in December or may or next next November from where we're sitting right now we don't we have we're just starting this is our first discussion about it yeah so again I guess I would say like is there anyone from the select board knows he's wait a minute oh you know I'd be willing to volunteer for this I feel as though um being the least experienced member I'm not some you know I worry about what I can bring to the plate except maybe asking questions because I'm I'm not as well versed in some of this um I Claudia you're bringing a lot of knowledge of Ashland and that's what I bring knowledge however uh you know that so it sounds like we have I say I say we have a volunteer anything wait a minute Joe wants to volunteer the other thing I think you know I think either of you I think either of you would be good how about both of you what I think no I think we wanted to have one otherwise it's a subcommittee and there's all kinds of stuff to do I think it has to be one that's fine I have no idea um one is fine if it's a working group it's different then flip a coin so I mean I think either one of you would be great what I think for you Claudia because this happened to me when I did our when I worked on our first housing production plan I learned so much about rules and regulations and what it means for the community so either one of you whoever you know flip a coin or however you want to do it but so I take it so both Joe and Claudia are interested very interesting Okay so well why don't we we'll you know arm wrestle they don't have to make a decision and we are I mean I don't think it's it's bad to have two members I mean I don't know so uh one question one question well Peter had I'm not sure I understand ability to meet during the day but it's three for us two two oh two makes an official subcommittee okay so let's just stick to one to make it efficient you guys are going to bring it back to us right yeah to this group and while they're thinking Deepa I assume you are you are at capacity I think right I don't want to speak for you but I'm giving you an out if you need it hi okay she looked tired when you got she got here today um and Kate and Anna I assume given I have no problem with Trisha with you doing it in light of your notes you're on top of it this is this is me desperately so if you if you have interest in this topic I would have no issue having you step up and help Peter come up with some tables I certainly don't feel like I have to have it but I know you two are gonna your load's only gonna get heavier and so I wanna I know that I'm offering it but not I keep looking at Kate on the screen here but um no I'd be happy if if you can do that well and as you said okay yeah I can meet I'm very my time is really flexible which helps Peter out instead of having another evening meeting so my challenge yeah and marcelos I mean we're I'll add a willingness to help is when it's time to start rewriting the zoning I would be more than happy to utilize my Northeastern law degree to help pull research um or whatever you might need to change words the one takeaways if we do this in-house and I think it's capable I think it's going to be obviously it takes a village right and in every Community it takes a village and so it's going to take a lot of people a lot of you know experiences like obviously your writing skills and um our knowledge of the community and and what have you so I think it's it'll be a good it'll be a good process and and I'll guarantee it one thing uh Claudia you will learn a lot about zoning if you even if you don't want to so well it could be joke too I know so yeah so we don't need to so we'll talk we're meeting we have a meeting next week that sounds like a good idea is there a way to keep to before we come up to the spring meeting is there a way to involve or let the public know where we are in this process we have to maybe there are brainstorming ideas and maybe there are I mean I know it's hard to segregate noise from the actual facts but if there is a way that we bring along the community in this journey and not just present something come to this right I don't know what's the best way to do that I think maybe once we have a few options I'm not going to say a certain number then maybe that's a time where obviously we get together again and we make sure it's out there to the public that we are going to be discussing these options with would like some feedback because maybe that's where you integrated with the conference and plan process can we agree on November is it time to come back here with your your work and if we have another joint in November We can brainstorm how to get the public involved including the comprehensive plan steering committee so that whatever it is that we land on as a presentation for the public we can deliver to whomever it is that we need to deliver it to would November be reasonable I think so I think I think November planning board gets funny in November just because the fourth Thursday is Thanksgiving and it's my birthday and it's your birthday holy moly learn a lot of things call them Thanksgiving every four years or something like that a lot to be grateful for so with that I think yeah you know I think if it's a Thursday if it you know it may be I'm we may have to schedule it a psych board meeting but I think you know looking at that oh sure look at it could be a Wednesday night uh it could be a Monday night who knows I think we just have to be flexible and um what do we talk about the presentation of the scenario I think you can I think we can start talking about you know presentation and scenarios I think come you know November um and then you know December typically the planning board usually gets a good one solid meeting in December just because things get pretty busy at the end of it with uh old snake neck knocking at the door so you know I think uh Joe but we will have a new associate member who could help us spread the word with the public that could be one important task all right all right so finished here or yes we'll look at it we'll look at one of the November meetings maybe the select board meeting to have this next conversation with some at least draft scenarios like in front of us that sounds great um and the select word will let let us know who's gonna yeah um okay so the other two um so the other two items on the The Joint meeting um the first one is I'm just going to take them both together interim zoning related to comprehensive plan this might have been already discussed in point one and other items of Select board planning board coordination these these two points were kind of not meant to be like another hour-long conversation but more of a a chance for us to brainstorm about things that we wish we do have a chance to talk to each other about and so that they can be put on some future agenda so I just um I guess kind of open up the floor to those kind of topics of just throwing out there about things that we maybe should talk about together so Joe has raised his inclusionary zoning as something for us to come back to so I would suggest that we add that to our next joint discussion um so I want to honor that and what I would add related to that is that we no longer have a housing moratorium and from my understanding certain we're now susceptible to 40b and so I think we should give it some urgency to discuss affordable housing whether it's together with Joe's point of inclusionary zoning or not I think we need to take that very seriously and to comprehensive plan process which could take multiple years before you even start to Zone because usually there's a planning and then there is a implementation phase and so it could take another two to four years before we have an actual rezoning of our community meanwhile we have multiple years of vulnerability to 40b without a plan and we have a responsibility as a planning board with select board support and input to immediately start rezoning so that we can properly address the needs of our community and not simply fly by the seat of our pants whenever a developer proposes 40b so I would say um you know we did do Trisha and I were working with Peter and mapc on um an inclusionary zoning bylaw that we got probably 90 percent to the goal line um and in fact I think the last discussion was with the planning board actually before it went it was going to go to town meeting and then we kind of decided to table it um in you know because the discussion was that it was a it was a rushed thing we didn't want to rush it um it could be Revisited with some tweaks probably without a lot of heavy lifting although I do know that it will become a huge Factor when we start talking about the comprehensive plan so um so yeah obviously when we have that zoning inclusionary zoning slash affordable housing conversation we should not be starting with a blank sheet of paper yep so right so I guess the other thing is and yes I think both of those are things that we need to talk about but I guess the other thing for me and I know Joe supports us as well is in regards to affordable housing we can be doing things before we include before we change our zoning we can be doing you know as a community as a decision it can be said if you're bringing us an art a building of a certain size we are going to require 25 or any size building we're going to require 25 and that's right and hold on Joe and yeah but you don't you don't even have to have inclusionary zoning right as a developer comes in with a project we all know affordable housing is important and we know that if a larger you know anything over four units if it has 25 percent affordable all of those units count and let me finish and we already have a housing production plan that says if we do certain things and make sure that when new developments come in we can include more affordable we'll get to that point so you don't even have to change your zoning it's just an approach when new projects I agree I I agree with you you know I think I don't think you'll find anyone at this table that says not interested in affordable housing we we all have people that we know personally who struggle with that in this community um but I also think you know given the projects we have gone through recently on the planning board it's it's not the only thing we we have to look at affordable housing we have to look at business we have to look at traffic we have to look at schools we have to look at sustainability we have to look at open space so and you do too because you have a budget right so when those things all come into factors on the same project affordable housing doesn't win every time and so that's the thing that so that that I'm just saying that that um that our job is not that straightforward and so it will continue to be complex that one of these things doesn't rise to the top but there is something we can do that is more straightforward which is we can take charge of our own future like other communities that Peter has been involved with who purchase property and build affordable housing so it's much more difficult when you have a private developer constrained by zoning and certain different interests such as traffic et cetera et cetera it is a lot easier if we as a community if the group here can come together and say you know what we're going to develop as a community we can have public housing in this community and that would solve our problem very quickly so that would be that would be wonderful in the real world of Make-Believe because the affordable housing trust has been working for the last eight years to find a contractor that would be willing to do what you just said and we're not able to find one so let's have that conversation because people we're going to stop it I'm just saying so that's why we've been having this come within ourselves we've been having that conversation I I totally I totally understand I had a I had a conversation about similar things well I'm just just recently um but we're not going to discuss it right now right because it's going to be a heated one and we're all looking forward to that so um well it sounds like we've got some good issues to yeah yeah is there anything else besides inclusion Arizona housing which is its own topic so I was I guess but it's all housing it was Kate's yeah also the uh the sewer moratorium I'm sorry Kate can you say that again the sewer moratorium okay thank you because that's kind of related to all these things too so um yeah just to kind of piggyback on that so I saw some you know I suggested this topic um or it seemed like a good good idea because um you know the housing moratorium was thrown out and we are now using the sewer moratorium uh and we can apparently extend that um and although it's not subject to 40b although I think it's a little hazy because I don't know if a sewer system doesn't exist how you can build a big apartment building but you know there is that uh aspect yeah um so I guess what you know is that are we so in in terms of the profile or the the next two or three years until the comprehensive plan zoning recommendations come out so looking at it kind of like a big picture is there other things that we think we should do in the interim to Anna's point and we now have the sewer moratorium as our main um planning tool at the moment and are we happy with that are there other things that we want to identify we talked about inclusionary zoning and affordable housing in general which I think are all good but in terms of zoning things or is there anything we should be thinking about in terms of zoning are other other whether the procedural things about the 25 requirement I'm not sure the the tool for that but is that you know that's the kind of word I thought it's a conversation worth having about those things so I you know so I'm just open to ideas or thoughts on that as we are we happy with the general outlines of the zoning that exists and to go to Anna's point about years of of zoning and thinking are there immediate problems that we see so the next time a big project gets proposed and we all go well that's in the zoning so there's we just have to review it I mean is there anything that we've seen that we want to pick out and say look we know that we want to do something fairly soon so that's I guess I'm throwing that you did at one point um this is a while ago I think it was shortly after uh Western 81 West Union Street that we're starting to sell solar energy yeah so we're starting to look at some of the categories of the zoning of what's allowed in different zones um and uh so what our categories are when the zoning was created which I don't even know how many years ago that was now might be quite different than how we view um you know Pleasant Street now we might view that in a very different way we have a Riverwalk now we have we have other things that maybe are allowed under our zoning right now that maybe we wish weren't right and so those are little tweaks um in the zoning you know it really is a line item take this off I was thinking part of the comprehensive plan discussion when we're looking at our community we're gonna look at okay you know we have this kind of housing we have you know what are our needs I mean some of that will be part of the comprehensive it's true but we also just talked about that this is interim zoning related to comprehensive plan so here here's a challenge we've got 40 Main Street pulling out right and making it quite clear that they may come back as a 40b that's clear to us we do not know if the sewer moratorium will stop that in fact I don't think we want that to happen because we care about affordable housing right so we can't kind of have it both ways ooh we really want more affordable housing but thankfully we have the moratorium to prevent housing you can't do that you have to kind of make a decision as a community what are we doing if we want to create housing and opportunity for growth what does it look like so my suggestion is we start looking at economic development in Massachusetts if you if you you read the Worcester Business Journal what you're seeing is that where are the business needs right commercial real estate is struggling but there are certain forms of real estate that are growing quite nicely there is not enough hotels in the state of Massachusetts there's not enough the hospitality industry is taking off right you can see through the development of airbnbs Etc the future of zoning is going to be in hospitality and airbnbs and if you look at our our communities that are more urban that's where they are we are behind them right because we are not yet dense enough but we're going to be looking at those issues five ten years from now this is not rocket science let's read The Business Journal let's figure out where the economic development is I for one think we should start to rezone downtown to allow hotels which currently is not allowed I think Ashland could become quite vibrant if we attract that type of Economic Development and we stop relying on developers and multi-family housing for tax funds all right so I would say do a huge tangent because economic development is not what we like are tasked with at this point um Economic Development zoning is our task we are the planning boards so I would say Economic Development as part of the comprehensive plan will be a discussion I think a lot of this will be part of the comprehensive plan I think if we jump the gun on on pretty much any of this we're doing the community into service because we had promised that we were going to go through this huge planning exercise spend a lot of money a lot of time a lot of effort to do it so yeah while while I think that it's great to have ideas and it's great to talk about these things I think that um you know for for our time together I'm I don't think we're I don't think it's best served going through things that are going to be part of this comprehensive plan because because that's where the focus should be and that's what we're tasked with to do can I address that just so Ann I think those are great ideas but they do strike me as a comprehensive plan kind of process I guess what I was getting at is what's the near-term stuff that we as elected officials the next time someone files something and people think to think it's horrible and you know do we want to throw up our hands and say well you know 20 15 years 15 whatever they said that that kind of density was great here and this is what the guy's building so that's what's happening so so I'm just like is there something we should take action on we had a moratorium for a reason that's been thrown out what are we replacing it with or what are you know what do we do to be at least on this interim I'd call it a really a four-year period what should we be doing or what you know so I that strikes me as a great idea but I don't see that as a near-term kind of like oh where I mean it's a town meeting model right and so so at any point we can propose owning and the jurisdiction that the planning board including the comprehensive plan is to rezone I don't think one stops the other and the two are really interrelated and our communities that you know immediate there's many communities who have a Old Mill downtown who have done both you can do a comprehensive plan and at the same time Revitalize your downtown at the exact same time all right so we're looking at again we're looking at meetings that one that involves housing and inclusionary zoning and another that still might talk about these interim measures which like like I know that there are things that we may want to take out of the locations there are and I don't want to wait four years that's right until the comprehensive plan says no put that back in there we want that function there right so okay so unless someone has something different to add does the upper Charles Trail committee help and kind of a joint discussion are they hitting a plateau and is there something because it seems like last few projects that's come up a lot and they've seemed like they've gone back and forth they gave us the impression that they've gone back and forth back and forth and hadn't found a home in some ways that'd be great joint discussion I see Jen's waving her Jen you may want to come up here sorry Jen you gotta and then candidates we're going to wrap up and get to the next so we've been working with the upper Charles Trail so that's one of the during our Retreat um was one of the projects that we've tried to put some resources in over the next year so Peter and Alvaro um Michael and I have been working with upper Charles Trail looking at the current Parcels that they need easements sort of our initial look to see you know what kind of work can be done in the next six months and then 12 months um so we may be coming back but right now I think um we've been working just to do some deed work and then also some discussions around you know how feasible of some of the easements that are on the route um with some serious focus on the town owned properties so would that be uh would that be an item that you would give us a heads up or that hey we really could use a joint meeting about this there's things we need to talk about yeah for sure okay that'd be great good right so in terms of process then so in terms of discussing these issues is their kind of willingness to move forward to continue this discussion whether it's inclusionary Zone and some of these others I'm looking at my fellow board members November yeah that's right okay so we'll we'll include that in our November discussion okay [Music] with potential ideas for the MBTA zoning and where that's going to be and I have a feeling that's going to be a long enough discussion especially if we're going to put it as part of one of our select board meetings right because we you know so yeah I would say these other things we need to look at Future meetings to see how we can fit them in with everything else that we're working on I think future meetings and I think also looking at what other players are in here we had a housing meeting before we included other groups in that housing meeting and so um and and I think Brandy I'm looking at you because not too long ago you said hey should we have another one of these you know the one of these housing meetings so um but I do think that should be separate from getting the work done about MBTA okay so we'll we'll put it on some future we're trying to avoid those 11 30 nights that's right all of us are so we do have a responsibility to bring that to the comprehensive plan process the housing piece and I I squarely agree with that and so I would urge those folks who are interested I think we should have a housing venue with I think we had three boards last time and we were so thrilled and excited to get going and then we kind of stopped and I think we need to restart that so that we can deliver some input to the comprehensive plan steering committee as to kind of where we are as a community on those issues what are our limitations right because we've tried this I would recommend that when we talk about housing as the comprehensive plan we make sure that those boards are invited so they can be part of the discussion I don't personally knowing the work you know we have the housing production plan knowing the work that has been done for inclusionary zoning those are documents that can be presented to the comprehensive plan group and it can be part of that I don't know that the three boards need to have a separate meeting to discuss where we're at with these other things send the documents out let people review them and as we're in the comprehensive plan discussion housing and it's not going to be one meeting or one discussion on housing there's going to be a discussion with the public then there's going to be a discussion with the group with the consultant and then there's going to go back out to the to the community and I have no issue with that except we have to remember that's not going to create zoning change and so meanwhile while that really important process is happening we are susceptible to 40b and we have no we're essentially defenseless against any planning measure that we could choose and so if the idea is somehow we have to do one comprehensive Plan before we do zoning that is a mistake because we're essentially making ourselves completely vulnerable I think we got it we got the I think everyone here is well aware of of being in that position so okay so we'll continue that process so uh so we're good for now we obviously I think so lots of stuff to resolve okay um all right so thanks everybody for that I do appreciate you uh joining us here because we have to make some progress on these things it's tough as it is and however our many arguments we may get into all right discussions important discussions yes discussions debate um okay so the next item on our agenda which is in front of me is obviously the um associate member position um planning board was unfortunate to lose our associate member position at the end of June um so the person who is um you know Kevin McLean who was our associate member decided not to um um not to renew for the next three years he has a young child he's travels a lot for work and he just um could not do it though he was an extremely valuable I think everyone on the planning board would say it was an extremely valuable member of our team in the select board had helped him helped put him in that position so we were glad to have him there through some tough projects but that position has been open since the since the end of June so of course summer being a little bit tough time to get you know work done but we're happy to you know start out kind of the Fall with um maybe being able to fill that position I wanted to review just very briefly um as we had been through this in discussions in the planning board before we put someone in in the position uh the last time before Kevin Putin was in the position what the planning board is looking for just to make it clear is that we're we're really looking for someone who will be able to attend most if not all the same the same as any other member of the planning board be able to attend our meetings through the second and third second and fourth Thursday of the month they generally go to 7 15.
um so that kind of highlights all the um restricted carryovers on the general fund side uh with that I'll be happy to take any questions thank you hey further questions and comments by members of the board [Music] I think I did okay I mean I just wanna I think if I may be vice president something just to reiterate it to hear it and understand it uh especially on these last numbers that you provided you know some higher than usual rights of 10 million the uh 4 million most of those if not all of those were one time and then one of them specifically we can use up until 2028. and it's not I guess used up until is like we get to spread it out based on the needs that it's highlighted correct so the learning recovery Grant um that has a carry over the 10 million dollars that has a lifespan until 2020 like June 30th 2028 the Arts music Black brand also was a one-time money um we have until June 30th 2026 to utilize that my first ones yeah thank you trust the floor thanks thank you vice president for bringing that up because um but that it's in a restricted category so two questions one it can only be used for what right and a good Financial practice would be that you can't use one-time funds for ongoing purposes right like salaries like benefits right so what what is the district's plan for spending it is it supplies laptops whatever so so the two pots of money first let me cover the art music uh discretionary block grant um that has a broader sense but the board has the um necessary in terms of what that money can be used for and we're going to be we're going to put a plan in the near future for the board to consider uh in terms of using that money they can either be used to suppressing music um but there's the language of discretionary so the board does have the latitude um to whatever service they feel is appropriate um but ultimately there will be a plan that will be coming to the board for consideration I'm sorry I was more talking about that 10 million dollar one that was just like recovery learning recovery like not the Arts one which feels more broad but still it's is it restricted those those are restricted to a certain place um they they are on the restricted general fund side it does have some broad language usage in terms of if you maintain or stabilize the Staffing level plus size Ratio or level of services then those funds can be utilized to spam respects with those kind of services but benefits we could I mean the board could make that determination um but it it gives you a guideline of what those money should be spent on but there are some flexibility where that money could be spent on okay but again our but good Financial practice of using one-time funds for ongoing costs that that is that one is that utilized here in this District um that that is not really a good practice for us we have useful time money to keep us afloat for example the asset funds that we receive in the past um you know to avoid any immediate and severe cuts um but best practice it's not utilizing those funds funding you know for ongoing expenditures yeah thank you vice president Herrera thank you I just sparked um thank for those questions because I mean obviously we wouldn't use it to raise salaries if we got to end it at 2028 I mean yeah and then I mean I guess if there was some creativity of um if in the language we can include it in maybe some of the uh one time um God I had the word here but uh not the salary but they get a stipend right a one-time stipend or something like that I don't know if it's if it's uh available yet but I mean I think this is good information 10 million dollars sounds like a lot but it's not so I'm sure we've already you know used part of it I'm thinking also for what it's you know what it says it's for um there's a lot of uh loss of learning loss right and so I mean the tutoring the extra help that our students also need slash supporting our teachers to make sure that that's um yeah but I mean this information is good it's not a lot of money you know it sounds like it especially if we're spreading it out until 2028.
a resolution number 2023-24-e-06 attendance awareness month so moved second we have a motion a second any discussion seeing none roll call fast I'm sorry I was just gonna say I think it's it's uh really important to really emphasize to you know get our students you know to school every day on time and also for the adults to you know model that example too um stay home if you're sick but if you um you know we really really need everybody there we so lose so many um you know instruction hours when kids are late and when you start late and you you it becomes the Habit you know that you kind of get up at the same time get ready at the same time and you become chronically late and that's including that that adds up to being absent so I just want to um emphasize that this is a really important resolution and everybody should really get behind being on time and committee school I think it's very appropriate for Daniella to hear this and know about how important it is to be at school on time every day not only for what she but Miss Randall Trader just said is the monitor aspect but just the learning aspect is have the enthusiasm the excitement to come to school and be with your friends and learn at the same time for their future so thank you appreciate that so that's a roll call vote we have Miss Guerrero aye Ms Piercy aye Ms Smith aye Ms Reynold Trejo aye and I vote I remember 1012 resolution number 2023-24-e-07 Red Ribbon Week so move okay question in a second discussion seeing those roll call Miss Guerrero aye Ms Percy aye Ms Smith aye Mr Randall Trejo aye and I vote aye 1013 resolution number 2023-24-e-08 International translation day Motion in a second and we certainly had an opportunity fat this evening which was wonderful so we want to thank our translator for this evening that helped out in that respect very much [Applause] so this is a roll call vote we have Miss Guerrero aye Ms Percy aye Ms Smith aye Ms Randall Trejo aye and I vote I 5-0 1014 resolution number 2023-24-r-s01 week of the school administrator so moved second Motion in a second any discussion on this I just have a quick story um I was talking with my principal and he was talking with Sandra Berry we all know Sandra Berry very well and uh he said Sandra you know when you were a superintendent wasn't it just the hardest job in the world and she said you know what I think the hardest job are the administrators you know at the school sites and so he uh he felt very highly respected of her opinion because of the day-to-day operations you know uh having to and of course with this tough job we all know that but no disparaging on that but um you know he told me that story and it kind of made him stand up a little straighter and get and feel uh really important but um on the serious side of it administrators do really have a tough job as we all experienced during covid and you know now again getting students and parents back on that track of attending school so um I really appreciate this um this uh resolution and I hope everyone that's out there listening uh really make this a special week for your administrators and administrators at District administrators out on the sites yes so we thank all the administrators not only in our district but throughout all the districts and this is a resolution for a roll call so we have Miss Guerrero aye Ms Percy aye Ms Smith aye it's Ronald Trejo aye and I vote I 5-0 now we're into items of business uh 11.1 uh new board policy nine zero zero excuse me 91105 parentheses 6163.2 in parentheses animals on campus second reading uh some move so we can discuss it second it doesn't have to be we can it can be only information item or it could be going to take it as an information okay I want to make sure yes all right moving on to 11.2 agreement hop skip Drive Inc it's gonna move second Motion in a second any discussion all in favor say aye aye opposed 5-0 11.3 selection of lease lease back contractor for the Western High School site Improvement improvements and gyms modernization RFP number 2024-05.
it makes seven years of my taxes and then you guys are up about 45 of the week and that's just in a seven year period And it's like those numbers are just the state stays the same Palmyra actually uh district has decreased they've adjusted for them for their needs but it doesn't seem like a lot of our government agencies and school districts are adjusting it for those uh adjustments as our property increases and it just doesn't seem I think what I'm feeling from the people I talk to is we're being well while times are good our housing is going up then our government agencies are pulling in the money that they can into your above Revenue neutral seems excessive to me and I I totally believe that the schools that I totally believe that I have three kids two of them went to college and one didn't and the ones that went to college have excelled in their careers the one that didn't she succelled in her career so um but I just think that the schooling is very important that at these levels and uh but I think that we have to be careful of how we spend people's money and we've heard a lot of us I'm retired I'm on fixed and adults and uh but I know that if I don't type life out in a couple years then there's going to be tough for me to make it and I I don't seem like our government agencies in our school districts doing that I see him I look at my taxes since I moved in and I've never seen the decrease in my property theft hearing that but I still hear an excessive amount of about this Revenue neutral um supposedly you're asking for and it just doesn't make sense to me so but I I love Baldwin I love living here since I'm over here it's been a great community and I would I feel the same I I absolutely I can find a place to cheaper place to live in most expensive taxes the first thing I look at is what what taxes so not only from Colorado I have a daughter that's paying four thousand dollars on seven hundred thousand dollar home I'm paying for three thousand dollars so it just seems like it feels that's it so thank you for your time thank you anyone else like to speak one comment about the revenue neutral my name is Nancy Chris and I just want to remind you all that Revenue neutral is fairly new it's recent it was enacted by our state legislators because taxpayers needed relief because people like those who've talked today went to their legislators and said this is what we want we're your constituents we want some relief from the constant increase of taxes in our local areas what can you do to help us and they found a way in Revenue neutral is a balance is a check and balance on these kind of local things that happen where at a higher level they've put something in place that can provide some relief and to ignore that is to ignore your constituents and to ignore that that exists for a reason so as Citizens I hope that you all will just remember why there is a revenue neutral ruling would anyone else have to speak like I believe reasonable time has been offered for this discussion thank you for oh we've got one more yep my name is Stacey Anderson and um has very big concerns about where we are heading in this town I know that these 12 families that have already knew because they will give them tax out to the maps that they can't afford to live here I know at least not anymore who are planning on living and they're going to go ahead and pull their kids out of the school because we cannot afford to live here it is across the board everything has worn up except people's wages we are at a time in this world where everything costs so much that we have to make a decision are we going to put pay our rent or are we going to put food on the table I have a very severe illnesses a lot of them and that costs a lot of money so am I going to get my medication or am I going to make sure that my kid has school supplies and clothes to our school because you guys have money in the reserve it's not that you guys are hurting you guys are mismanaging me that you have been collecting money for years and you have that and you choose not to use it in the appropriate way that it should have been done you guys wanted a stadium and the whole bar thing guess what there is brown bear why can't you build around the Merle Venable sports complex and make a statement that that's what you want instead of trying to get it out of a bond and since the bond is passed and you guys are trying to do this bull crap and I want to know is your decision already made because it seems to me the way this is written and you're thrown in their lack of security and safety and blah blah blah all of that stuff was in the bottom so has decision already been made and you guys you're just snowballing us to come in here and talk to you and to bring our voices to tell you how frustrated as a community we are as a whole and most people will not come in here and say anything and voice their their voices and their complaints about how bad people are struggling as a whole Community because they're afraid of repression either repercussion that they're sitting uh utility bill and it's going to be increased in some way um that they might get pulled over by the cops if they have kids in school maybe you know kids aren't going to be treated as nicely because their parents spoke out about it I've been very vocal Kelly and you know what I have been local with everybody I had tried to talk to us regards about it and experience that happened with my daughter last year she was bullied by a teacher and physically hurt he pinched her he's still working on his goals I don't understand what you people are doing and how you can say it's the kids first and we care about the kids and this is all for the kids when our kids are being bullied by students being bullied by teachers they are failing teachers are putting hands on it and you guys have a whole step load of money somewhere and it is not going where it needs to go our kids are failing my daughter came from homeschooling and she had an A in every class and last year she failed now because you do not believe the criteria that Greenwich that you use for the high school last year this year because I talked to her English and I said this is not right that only high school students get the opportunity to use Greenbush if they are not doing well to get extra help in learning and it's not fair that the other kids do not have that opportunity as well well this year they started at it from six took up to the high school I think it should be available for every kid when our kids are failing and there is a lack of I don't want to know where the money is where is the money that you guys have that you are asking us to put out more but you have that money and you are failing and have failed miserably for years to do any improvements or put in a stadium you put in a trap that's not even regulation and you could have put that in and made it correctly and we would have had our own you want to compare us to every other town around here because they have their own stadium so guess what they were smart when they were building their school when they put it in you guys have had over 20 some years to put that in place but now you're wanting to put the burden on us we're getting hit from every direction everything has gone up utilities water cable Insurance our home runs property taxes we are struggling as a community not just below not just the young everybody is struggling except it seems to be you guys now Mike has come up with a very good proposal and I don't understand why you guys won't even take the opportunity or the time to go you know what this actually makes sense and it will ease the brain on the community members so that our community members who have been long-standing here and some who have just moved here find out you know what we can't afford to with you because this place is our outrageously cut you won't even listen to his proposal to try and make it easier on the community because the community has kids in this school district it's not just the outside you know what I'm going to finish what I'm going to say you need to stop taxing us use the money that you have no idea and our pocketbooks cannot make it this way thank you we cannot we've listened about above the five minutes and we want to make sure you've got a chance to finish your sentence um at this time we're going to conclude the public testimony everyone who wants to has had the opportunity to speak in order to conduct our business at this point okay there are many statements that have been made this is the opportunity for the board to discuss keeping in mind that ideally I would like all of this to be one thing because several of the questions that came up are actually a statutorily required part of our budget hearing and I know that's hard to keep it separate even though it is very much interconnected but the part of that is required as far as setting caps to then pivot and be able to talk about the budget is this step um and that is board discussion regarding the resolution to exceed the revenue neutral rate the floor is open for discussion feel free to among the board if there's anything anyone would like to say or add or answer this is the time to do that for example great so this is our board discussion time guys so let's answer the question in its entirety um let's let's extrapolate on that so so when it's in ninjas can you use um right now I think we just got done paying for payments so even if we wanted to you couldn't take that money out okay by a bus or I couldn't just build a few part of what makes this confusing too is that there are limitations on you can't just move things from one column to the next some areas you can but there are also a lot of limitations on what you can move one thing that I heard that came up well there were several things um but we have dropped Mills historically and you know that this ongoing conversation that is very valid and very real and many of you spoke very respectfully about that um when you talk about the needs of everyone dealing with the cost of living in this environment that's that's everybody we are also people who sit here and live here and pay these same taxes too but the particular point of concern for how all of these decisions do affect everyone but most especially those who are already at the margins those who are on fixed income that that's a real thing um at the same time when we come into a conversation of separating needs and wants this board unanimously approved A needs assessment which is also required as part of our process we're going to get into that more with the next discussion I know um but it is it is a balance between two very important populations our students and the needs that the district has determined that they have educationally and everything else so I do want to um invite us to not run away from that discussion by any means but for the purposes of getting to the next part where we can really discuss that part we have to complete this step first great um Revenue to the neutral rate um what what what are we what does that look like I mean like what are we giving up well I mean obviously fun DS right yeah the difference between the two so I I know necessarily have a question and ask about it I guess I just feel compelled to comment and you know listening to the comments tonight you know a tour of my Heartstrings one you know I'm two years into this and I valuable learning experience today probably can relate to this that we sit in the chair and volunteer with good intentions uh trying to balance and manage so many different wants and needs and opinions and feelings and situations and you know I'm not going to get into you know a long in-depth attacks or political discussion uh and listening but you know I I believe similarly to many of you and frustrations with our tax system from top to bottom and it doesn't change sitting on the scene I learned some of the restrictions and some of the things and the ways that the school district has has got to the main engine in limited usage for funds and special education and things that just aren't mandated makes it makes it challenging uh I wish honestly every one of you that is being impacted by this could be exempt you know you don't have students in the schools anymore you know it worked hard and got into a place in your life that I wish there was some point in all of our world that we became exempt and didn't have to be part of this conversation or funding mechanism but that's not the system we live in so we've got to play The Cars work now and we as board members I feel like have also the obligation of trying to help our district um you know succeed and not just well not just survive but you know Thrive and and that's what you know that's what the parents who have students in the district expect that's what a lot of the community members that's what people that are moving here with their families expect is ones it's why I came to this community it was a school district and uh it's just challenging and it's hard to sit in this spot and attitude you know how to try to balance this because everything you're speaking about we're experiencing as well with the increased cause but so is the school district and uh you know and that's that's difficult and so anyway I I some some of the things I'll speak to the FFA program as an example that's something that this sitting board is very proud of and and if you knew how many times we've been shattered at why is Baldwin City this rural community sitting here without that and how are we letting that happen and and uh you know in the big scheme of things at the out doesn't cost money but it's very small compared to you know many things that we have to we have to fund and deal with so we're very proud that there is you know an AG program so I think we're going to be better because of it um and then budget you know and some people spoke you know really very personally towards us and you know I I apologize sorry you feel that way but you know we are truly sitting here trying to do good for our community and our school district and along to your role and I wish we could somehow make everybody happy but at the end of the day I think we have to do what what our leaders our admin tell us that they need in order to you know be relevant and public school systems that we are leading and and within the area that we are also won't say competing with but there is a new element to this and that is open border School uh rule ruling that just came into effect this year where you know it used to be you know you couldn't just go to school anywhere you want to but now kids and families they can send their kid anywhere they want to and we gotta you know try to protect and make sure that we can keep our kids and our in our community and make sure that we have so I don't know that that helps anything I just feel compelled to say something I took a lot of notes um I would encourage everybody that's in here to approach us and visit with us throughout the year not just tonight after you know I mean a lot of what you have to share we can talk through them sometimes it could have some influence both directions and I I encourage that communication because in this format at this 12th hour of the decision making sometimes it's difficult to completely sit down and and re-evaluate you know the entire process so that's all I have to say are there other points yeah one thing that I think is somewhat related to the RNR that I did want one question if we're ever audit just as a component of transparency um we are required to be audited every year um we have received the highest Commendation every year so that is a part of that's presented publicly at a board meeting it's presented the audit is not just something that happens it has to be presented to the board and accepted by the board so I do want to assure I'm not saying that's going to you know involve Universal agreement about all the other things but having an open and transparent audit process is statutorily required and we're happy to do that it's part of our open meetings it's presented to us we have to review it in Open Session now that we're putting everything on YouTube and videoing all those meetings in addition to being in the minutes are also archived any any of that you can always look up and that's important that you all know that that information is happening all throughout the year the budget process is not just what happens tonight it is a process that that truly is ongoing and um and I'm sorry that people are feeling like it isn't transparent I'm racking my brain trying to figure out how I could possibly you know and how we could possibly be any more transparent that doesn't mean that your opinion is wrong or that there aren't ways that we can and should continue to strive to do better um but there also is no intent to deceive or hide there may be disagreement but there is no ulterior motive for anything that we do we may just have different ideas about how to best get there and doing what's best for the most people um but an annual audit is important I wanted to make sure that was part of the record and to answer your question ma'am um because that's nothing is part of the annual process um yes in the spring it was the spring semester and it happens every year um we will double check I think was it January or February but then when it was presented to us to wear a patron could go look it up everybody has internet access which may or may not be true that's true so so there's got to be a better way but there are also the minutes all of which and those things um I know can be accessed yes at our library but also coming to our district office everything is on file and people are very happy to make sure well I don't want to get into all that in public session because that's that's your that's amazing that's okay we have to have point of order when factual let's let's not the reality is that's not always available to everybody here well the meetings are always open and you're always welcome to come absolutely when we moved out over the I see four years ago that's when we started putting them online so prior that it was always open I mean for the two or three years that I was on the border while we were at the ICA I think I'm sorry the PC now right yeah um well I think I probably had a total of four public comments I mean literally like four nothing ever nothing nothing ever was one thing about sidewalks um but the board makes them always always been open and it's sometimes there's nobody here you know and so we sit up here and have our discussion and put on put online and then people say well you never it's not open you didn't do this at Kelly's Point there's nothing and short of like maybe sending somebody to VHS tapes or of the meetings I mean I don't know anybody can make it more open I'm certainly open to any suggestions um spend an endorsement for the drawings that was privately raised that has nothing to do with us and I'm gonna I'm gonna interject that has nothing that has nothing to do really with the with the part of business that we're doing tonight that was part of a public comment that I was addressing as part of the testimony that was relevant thank you over to everybody is there other discussion no I asked this question this question again we do this R in our hearing first which has always been challenging for me right but just regardless of what happens with this we're just positioning ourselves to be able to I guess would you want to speak directly we're setting uh caps essentially uh maximums uh for the budget conversations that take place in the veterinarian because it's the actual budget that's submitted that actually impacts right the taxation whatever happens right here is not going to impact by exceeding the RNR it allows us to identify specific Mill Levels that we can have in the budget discussion we can always come down from those levels but you can never go above them based on the conversation or what's approved at this time and as a point of reference if my information is correct this is reported in the journal or the state of Kansas which created this statute exceeded the revenue neutral rate I don't know if there's awareness of that so I'm not sure well there's not very many areas it's very small correct um and so as that's related to the procedural lever step that's required for us to go on to the budget part yes Kelly you are correct and then you then you said work through your budget to submit for what actually takes place once you do that you can always come down in front of those Mills which we did last year which we did last year yeah I didn't think one of the questions yeah and maybe we don't have answered as part of it compared to others surrounding school districts how how close are we in the ballpark open Network Mills to Wellsville Indiana give me one second Chris I think I can find out trying to compare ourselves that's cool oh that makes it okay though that's how it works that doesn't mean seriously which is what you guys are this is where this is made please no swearing that's not appropriate Stacy I appreciate your passion and your advocacy and you can do all of that without swearing that's fine and you're entitled to your opinion the public has had its opportunity the public has had its opportunity and you'll be asked to be removed you've had your opportunity we have listened and and let's just all take a deep breath because listen I know we may disagree we're not enemies here and we don't need to have swearing that's too far we're gonna we're gonna keep it orderly okay yeah yeah we've we've heard you we've heard you all right so a question was asked of a board member about surrounding and I'm looking for that spreadsheet I mean I'm struggling well part of the reason why I I think that is relative not because we're trying to be anybody else to because I am listening and I do want to listen and meet you where you are but I'm but it's got to be respectful and professional but to merge what you're saying and then also why is that relevant our inner local partnership is Baldwin Eudora and Wellsville so when we set our budget and we have our special education in our local with those two other schools when if we are miles apart on many things it also makes the educational collaborations that are uh both legally ethically and budgetarily necessary to work if we're a million miles apart that would be one relevant example of just taking a temperature not because it's we're trying to be identical we are Baldwin but we also need to know what's happening around us to take the temperature that helps make sure if you're far off course or if you're on the right track that's always a good thing to check that's why we you know research it isn't a copycat thing in that sense for sure um but it is relevant for a lot of reasons and I think a big reason is is because of that does anybody see that differently no no just that exactly no living rate varies a lot by how much that pulls in like per per male how much money do we bring in berries compared to any of the community right so like for instance has a much bigger industry base and so their meal is generating more money because it is a industry that can pay into that right so right just thinking from a comparative sense how much did it help and the spectrum of you know zero to 100 or whatever there's no other place could be it's out of curiosity wondering what are last year districts have their online meetings already ignorance is tonight I do not recall when uh Ottawa was was and we'll go I think they're just coming up soon the deadline for it is coming yeah and Lewisburg had theirs but they tell us last week it seems like we're doing this in Reverse today why don't we the law this is what the law requires we don't like it either we don't like it either that's what the state the state mandates how we have to have to do that we have to because it feels like I know at your home that you've decided to clear out your budget and then you pay the check I mean the law the law allows for the budget and the r r conversation to take place at the same time but it doesn't require it it doesn't require one before it does it no well it requires the r r has to be our exceeding of the r r has to happen before a budget approval takes place that part has to happen some District you have the flexibility to have conversations at the same time you could have your budget in our hearings concurrently yes and that that's the caste is the State Department of Education recommends you do it this way we're we're following that that protocol and that's another reason why we have an attorney present what else do you do you have any other discussion we've got nothing budget and so and so what we're looking for even right now is it's still less than what we've asked for in 21.2 minutes valuation that's the one that has the the 348 Mills yeah that and again that's our speak for money and I know that that's not dollars and that's not percentage um that was a discussion because we didn't have to give that back so I think somebody at one important times that we you know we never go down well we did and that was a big discussion because we could have stayed you know kept that I think I met that came out a bunch of that came out on an interest because we had a bond that mature it paid off and so my argument at that time was hey look we don't have any use for this money now let's give it back and then that was the whole I mean so I'm kind of a scapegoat for the whole bomb thing and my you know the reason why there wasn't no Levy mutual bond because you know I argued to say let's give that money back and then we had to ask for money back you know by the school districts around is the Eudora did a mill Levy neutral Bond because every time they have a bond mature they just keep that money so that they're able to continue to fund that so that they can come up with a middle name we said as a board I'm like hey we don't have a good use for this money right now we are not going to collect it and so we reduced Mills not because our operating costs went down not because we paid teachers less but because we were we had a bond mature we didn't feel right to keep money that we were not putting towards a bond so again those are middle levees I mean the those Mills back so I'm I'm very fiscally conservative um and like Kelly uses good words about plugging in heart strings I mean I cannot I'm you're a tea party guy tonight I'm a tea party guy all the time um you know so it's a really really hard decision there is there are no nefarious I mean up here you know we don't all agree all the time but there is no nefarious slush fun trying to just like go crazy we don't care about your money we just want to do Stadium no I mean it's we we sat down that whole bond issue and I don't want to get back into that but that was that was well thought out well asked you know well that we are rehearsed everything's I mean I mean hours and hours and hours of time in the community talking to people what do we need to do so this there's nothing about this that's easy to sit here and talk to your neighbors and friends you know Greg Williams my son jack will never get to drive again because it's a really it's a really hard thing to sit up here and have to look at you guys and say hey look you know we as a school district this is where we're at but you know we've got we've got a guy who's you know our financial guy and this is he's saying this is what it's going to take you know we go through the budget I'm not a budget guy you know I'm not a finance major not this is this is I don't even know how to do I gotta you know my math is not good but we have we have to go through and talk about all of this um and it's hard and please in weather whether this thing is right and you know the revenue neutral rate gets surpassed or it gets held up whatever it's not uh um a foregone conclusion and it's not us not listening to you it's about us trying to do what feels like the right spot for me as as a board this guy who's in help you know one seventh in charge of the school district trying to figure out what's best for the school district you know like Kelly alluded to earlier the um the open borders thing that's going to be really difficult because you know here we are you know I don't have any social media so whatever you post on Facebook I don't see my my wife does she shows me this guy's post from wherever the junior high play football and he was like making fun of our football field because he's like there's no bathrooms there's no concession impossible there might be a shame you know if I want to laugh kind of apropos but you know it's we we do have to compete and you know this the school like um Christmas mentioned we don't have a big industrial base I wish we did you know if we have the Amazon Intermodal right here you know property taxes I mean we wouldn't have to collect so much to keep the school running but we don't have anybody to rely on except for you guys I'm 100 agree with Kelly with it sucks to be you know my dad's a fixed income guy he's gonna have to pay taxes you know what his taxes are going um I'll be I I would love to be here and be a fixed income guy someday right I mean that's what that's my goal is I want to be buried in my front yard um you know it's gonna suck someday but you know it's just it's it's really really difficult to sit up here so please I know somebody said oh if you guys made this you're just snowballing us give me a chance no we're not I mean it's it's a really really really hard decision um to do it again the RNR like Kelly said to make super clear that does not mean that we are we could very well you know vote to exceed the r r you know vote how to give our associate authority to collect more money and then go through the budget and then not do that right so I mean there's this whole vote it is it's 100 backwards and last year's the first year of having to do this um you know and that was the whole boater ruling thing we had a grammatical syntax error in the in the manual it wasn't that the bonus slapped us down because we were evil or had some near various plot or we were doing something wrong we read the motion um so that you know I just I want to pour my heart out to you guys to let you know that like that's I mean this is a hard spot to be um you know I'm a little jealous that I'm more you know I don't get to go this is a hard spot to be I mean you know go through all the stuff we go through um but yeah so please know that it's not just letting you guys talk and say stuff and we've got this little cabal of like we're going to do this anyway it's not I mean this what you see here in this before is being open what you see here is all that ever happens we don't have like behind closed doors meetings there's no like secretive slush fund for us to go to Cancun when we all get off the board um you know but we've all been on the boards for varying lengths of time you know we're talking about like you know what happened to this building you know when 12 years ago I don't think anybody maybe maybe Andy was on his first term you know back then nobody else is on the court I don't know 20 years ago with building a stadium I was on the board back then I had to push to build a stadium then I think it's ridiculous that they did I have no control over the fact that the track is you're not irregulation I think it should have been I'm sure at that time somebody was in your complaining about wanting to build a stadium you know and probably 20 years before that somebody was complaining about why you know why are you wanting to build a stadium 20 years from now somebody's gonna look back and say why did you guys build a stadium 20 years ago people were outraged at building the primary center right now it's not long after um that's another reason we were out of room you know things happen but to your point none of us though no no it's okay it's okay um yeah sure um so I do attach myself was lowered at a certain point of time interest for the last three years than you're paying out every year and as a result of that you reserve it on the audience again the start of the system here before you make your happy payment a lot of interest if you're sitting on 4.1 million dollars and when I am trying to accomplish what I'm proposing is that you can reduce the bonded interest levies to taxpayers by five hundred thousand dollars a year so let's talk about that when we get we have we will address that as part of the budget the budget conversation um we'll absolutely address that as part of the budget conversation for sure but in the meantime we have the are the revenue neutral rate I'm going to conclude public comment at this time and move to any action that we I believe we've met the standard of reasonable and I want to go ahead and move to item number four unless the board has any further discussion board members no more okay Megan can you drag up the um all right so in your packets I'm including packets there this is a copy of the resolution that uh is a line alignment with our ask to exceed the revenue neutral rate the purpose of building a budget for this course of the school year um this is the revolution here that we've had crafted in conjunction with our attorney for you so I'll give you an opportunity to read that Megan do you mind scrolling up a little bit so that we can see there tube tie right there the uh the most or the the resolution there it indicates that what the revenue neutral rate Mill Levy is it also states that uh on on this date here we allowed the opportunity for the public to be heard and it's it's necessary for the development of our budget that the district exceed the revenues and that's what this resolution speaks to and it's in accordance with Asa 79-298 which is also provided in your packets Megan do you mind sliding the presentation back up and moving to I will need to possibly final slide this is the recommended motion from the district necessary in the process to exceed the revenue neutral rate by resolution it does require a roll call vote by legislation they can just stepped out to a problem wait for it to come back considering she has to record just record any votes should the uh the motion be made in a second and uh speaking of the roll call the the way that will work um just because ain't nothing about it is fun but a name will be drawn from the envelope all seven board members names are in there that determines who goes first whoever is first will respond with either I or nay and then it will proceed in alphabetical order from there so it won't be drawing out of the Hat every time it's simply drawing out of the envelope to decide who gets to go first when it actually comes to the roll call vote itself but that would only happen after the motion if such emotion were to be made just like always she's getting names thank you what's up I've seen her hand I haven't heard it I'm here I'm here bless you thank you all right um I moved to see the revolutional range by resolution Chris has moved and Tony has seconded to exceed the revenue neutral rate by resolution which is written and will be read as follows resolution of USD 348 Baldwin City to Levy a property tax rate exceeding the revenue neutral rate in accordance with KSA 79-2988 whereas the revenue neutral rate for USD 348 Baldwin Kansas was calculated at 44.886 Mills by the county clerk of Douglas County Kansas whereas the budget proposed by the governing body of the USD 348 Board of Education here and after the governing body will require the levying of a property tax rate exceeding the revenue neutral rate whereas the governing body conducted a hearing on September 14th 2023 allowing all interested taxpayers Desiring to be heard an opportunity to give oral testimony and whereas the governing body having heard testimony finds that it is necessary to Levy a property tax exceeding the revenue neutral rate now therefore be it resolved by the governing body of USD 348 Baldwin City Kansas in accordance with KSA 79-2988 the governing body hereby approves exceeding the revenue neutral rate of 44.886 Mills this resolution shall take effect and be enforced immediately upon its adoption and shall remain in effect until future action is taken by the governing body I will not read the adopted part because we have not voted but that would be the motion in its entirety at this time we will proceed with the roll call vote which Megan will draw a name from the envelope just to see who is going first yeah and a vote of I in favor or nay in opposition Susan I and then you'll just read their last names in alphabetical order and then everyone else I Brown all right hi myself here hi motion carries seven to zero therefore adopted by the governing body of USD 348 Baldwin City Kansas this 14th day of September 2023.
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okay so we'll correct that okay I'm glad to see that you're his calendar challenged as I am um I need a motion to approve the formal or the superintendent's performance goals for 2023 2024 with the um change that's necessary the date change I'll make a motion to approve the superintendent's performance goals for 23-24 school year with the correction on the date timeline do I have a second I second it all those in favor I'm Melinda sabrowski hi Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton hi Barbara zarzicki it's looking good thank you um new business I suppose we could take care of this I apologize Miss Ferguson for not uh not acknowledging you would you like to come up and talk to us I really apologize that was pretty rude no no worries Madam president and board and members of the board good evening my name is Cynthia Ferguson and I am a teacher at Bullhead City Middle School for the past two years and this is my 12th year as an employee of the district I'm able to watch the board meetings via YouTube since I'm normally not able to attend so I would like to personally take the time to thank you guys thank you for allowing Dr Stewart to bring in instructional empowerment to us we have learned so much from them in a short amount of time and love having them on our campus we are excited to learn the next new thing to help us to help our students learn in their Academic Teams next are the facilities even though it seemed like our school felt like a construction zone most of the end of the year our school is looking amazing with the new floors and the other improvements and repairs and lastly I would like to thank you for always putting the students first you truly have the students best interest in mind every time you meet and vote on items again I would like to thank you for everything you do and it makes me proud to be a part of this District I also have a card for you guys that is signed by the middle school thank you okay very nice thank you thank you it's very nice that was really nice thank you very much thank you I think we all needed that yeah yeah thank you guys we appreciate it item 4.1 Emergency Operations planning Madam president and board members we had we had some of these last month and and it didn't I can't remember what was the issue oh it was all of these items were mistakenly not put in for public View they were in the section that only board members could see so uh Cass corrected that so that so that you all would be able to see these plans so uh uh this is just our request for you to approve the Emergency Operations plans for our sites for this school year there weren't any changes no I didn't see anyone no there weren't changes they just were in the wrong place last month okay I I need a motion to approve the Emergency Operations plan I make a motion that we approve the emergency operation planning I'll suck at that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabrowski hi Charlene Diaz hi Fred Rushton hi Barbara zarziki item 4.2 sfob for school year or fiscal year 2024 Capital plan excuse me Madam president and board members this is a document that we have to submit to sfob each year it's essentially giving them information about are are we likely to be asking them to add facilities to our district you know at a new school or whatever it's a it's a document that we have to do every year we don't usually have changes we certainly haven't been building new schools or asking for new schools so um it's a formality I think I'd like to have a motion to approve the sfob fiscal year 2024 Capital plan I'll make a motion to approve the sfob financial year 2024 Capital plan yes Capital plan I'll second that all those in favor I'm Melinda sabrowski aye Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton hi Barb zarzicki okay 4.3 F or j f b e a open enrollment application this is a policy right this is an exhibit an exhibit okay and uh so this is the document that we give to folks who are requesting open enrollment for their students and each year we've we've kind of enhanced it or revised it a little bit to make it um easier for us to keep track of all of these things so the highlighted things are the changes for this document we realized that it was going to be very much easier identifying students if we had their perm ID number and and that came about because we had documents from parents from several parents of students at one of our sites and the parent put the name that they call the student and not the name that's on our registration and so um uh you know we were we were at capacity at that site and so I put those I denied because in that case it happened to be students who lived outside of our district um and only to find out that they'd been going to our schools on open enrollment for several years and that their names on our records were different so we figured if we had the number then it wouldn't matter we'd have the number and have it correct and then we always have some confusion by parents of uh what year you know those two things what grade they are so sometimes they would put the current year and the current grade and they're asking for open enrollment for next year and then then we're all you know it messes up our numbers and whatever and then finally uh that we wanted to have documentation of uh when we sent the letters to the parents about either accepting or putting on a waiting list or uh denial so it's just they're minor there minor changes this is a this is an exhibit and the other version is the Spanish version so we're just asking your approval to uh to update our document okay I need a motion to approve the updates for the document okay I guess I should say the document j f b e a open enrollment application I'll make a motion that we approve the document exhibit jfb Dash E A open enrollment application as we were shown I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabrowski hi Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton aye Barbara zerziki um 4.4 policy HG now this is our first reading so we aren't going to make a motion on this one but Carol Dr Stewart can you explain yeah I can um uh this is uh one of the policies that has to do with meet and confer and the makeup of the those committees um uh so forth for several years it has read as you can see there the list with cafeterian employees cafeteria employees and custodial and maintenance employees have been on there we've not had those folks on this committee because we had outsourced both of those we continue to Outsource the the cafeteria employees but as I was Hamming Cass contact all of the classified employees in these various groups we recognize that our technology department had was not represented anywhere and so I'm proposing that we dropped the cafeteria employees because that's an outsourced service at this time and replace that with our technology Personnel representative on this committee it's a good idea to represent those guys because they're pretty important yes they are so yeah they make us look good so we'll take that into consideration yes for next month okay item 4.5 covid-19 related plans and protocols for students and employees Madam president and board members each year we need to update these and so the return to school plan it has has gone from I think originally in 20 in 2021 it was I don't know five or six pages um and um each year it's been a little simpler more simplified as things have gone along um and so this is our plan for this year and we are required to continue to do to uh post a plan uh we're required by the federal uh and the regulations that go along with our Esser grants so until our federal funding runs out we must have a plan each year so I didn't highlight the changes it's it's simplified from before and I made it match the particularly the bottom part and the last part to match the student return protocol that is the next document so okay I need a motion to approve you want to see the other two I don't know if you want to see the other two I'm sorry that's okay I've forgotten there were two more yeah so this is the return to school protocol for students um and I probably should have just shown you the adult one first uh I went to the CDC website to see what uh uh what protocols they have in place they have very clear ones for adults and there was an an absence of protocols for students uh there were there was plenty of information about how we can do prevention and those kinds of things but they no longer were listing here are the things you need to do so I'm merely uh suggesting and recommending to you that we have exactly the same protocols for students returned to school as we have for employees return to work so should we change the return to work for the students to return to school uh did I miss one because I tried to have it I tried to correct it returned to school returned to school oh right there test deposit for covert 19.
17.6 and roughly okay so the state average is 17.6 or is that Valley's no ours is 17.63 and then they're looking at when those officially come out we're looking at around 17.6 for the state is what they're projected potentially okay so if you're just looking at this percentage and you're thinking wow that's only 44 we've still got a lot to go um comparatively speaking it's quite possible that we would still be higher than the state average yeah I think we're going to be right around there um and again depending on each each content area Ela or math one might be more than the other but I think overall as an average we're going to be right right at that Mark as a compared to the state thank you so overall we did not get our full full bonus points there's 10 bonus points and we are at um looks like about seven or eight I'm not sure exactly what the percentage is as a state piece though uh the state of Zella reclassification for high school is 21.29 percent thank you so much you're welcome thank you um number one thank you for your presentation um I like all the detail for the um your goals thank you so much for not commenting on tier one instruction needing a focus at your campus um and while so on your pre-emergent for a Zella um what would you say if what are you attributing to the the difference between the 17.44 and the 35.35 this year or for last year 22 23.
we've been pretty good about keeping them at 10 15 or or a little bit less we have been quite a bit later than that though like I said we struggled not to go there anymore um and um and in that position the person really has a full voice in discussion they are um they are able to participate in any discussions that we have on on the various topics please correct me if I if I misspeak about something Peter um but that associate position member is only able to vote on issues that are a special permit so um not on a site plan review only on a special permit as per the Ashland by loss and I make a uh sorry a slight correction that I think it's only a special permit if somebody's recused is that correct oh yes sorry sorry Kate yes so um yeah so on yeah that's kind of critical right yeah thank you thank you yes yes yes and you know I'm not a night person right so um the the social position steps in and votes when a member when one of the five of people on the board has to recuse themselves and which has happened in the past whether it's because the project um the person is a butter to a project that we are that we are reviewing if the person has a I would assume has a um this is a friend or something of the owner of a property that we're reviewing is if there's some reason they need to recuse themselves also it's important for a person to be able to um sit in on those meetings every time because we can have a circumstance where for some reason um a health reason and some other kind of emergency reason that the someone has to a board member has to recuse themselves in the middle of um of a special permit application in which case the associate member could simply step in to that to that missing slot so thank you for that correct that was a big correction so thank you for that that was huge um so um yeah and also the also the note uh tonight is that why we hope to fill the position as soon as we can the planning board and the select board it's a it's a a joint position by majority vote of the two boards but the boards are not under obligation to fill the position so we fill the position when we find a person that we're that we're satisfied would be a good member of the team so um with that um procedure for the night Rob do you want to talk about that um I can if you want but yeah I think you should together I will I think we'll follow your lead in terms of what makes you correct me if I get it wrong I'll do that I'll listen we'll listen obviously I'm not perfect okay so um procedure for that for the discussion is that we will give each of you you know two to three minutes of just a personal introduction um being able to tell us about you know really whatever you think is important your you know how long you've been in Ashland your time here what you might be involved with what you care about um anything you want to share with us and then I believe hopefully you both received a list of just three questions that we had decided to provide you with in advance so you have some time to think about it we'll let you answer those questions and then um we can just individual members of the board can can ask questions after that um I think you should be free as you go along to ask questions of us as well we want to make sure if you're um you know applying for the position that you also get your questions answered and feel comfortable with what you might be going into so anyone have anything to add to that okay all right so I think my agenda again all right so first person on our agenda we went by last name alphabetical order so is Amanda Hayes Amanda I'll ask you to come up to the microphone and just give a two or three minute introduction thank you all so much my name is Amanda Hayes I've been in Ashland for just about four years um I am a commuter into Boston so I like Anna I ride the train um in Brandy I know we see each other often on on the train on the ride and in the morning I found this community by literally following the train line out to an affordable place to raise my young family so we had one little girl when we bought our house and now also have a young son so my kids are four and two and my husband and I moved here right before the pandemic started it was a very interesting time to start to get to know this community um the first places we got to know were the Open Spaces because in the early times of the pandemic we weren't gathering in small in in sort of indoor places with our young kids so um we really fell in love with the character of this town both of us are from the Midwest and sort of Love Open Spaces and appreciate our opportunities to spend time outside with our family I fell in love with this place and and sort of very immediately knew that I wanted to make it our family's forever home um and you know I just really don't Envision a place a time when we would choose to leave and so I think for me community service has always been a really important part of my life I'm an immigration lawyer I've dedicated my life to sort of giving back to to communities in need and you know for me uh it's a no-brainer to to try to seek to be part of the leadership in our town to make it a better place to really hear what residents need and want from their community and to try to build consensus around that and make that happen so um that's what drew me to the opportunity to apply for the associate position I think you know for me as well I I um I am excited about the opportunity to be you know involved in these discussions understanding that it's you know a very limited role in terms of voting um but a really you know for me an important way to help build consensus and and bring perspective and help drive those conversations so that's what's motivated me and a little bit about myself um do you want to sort of delve into the answers to the to the questions or did you or is someone going to ask them I'm going to turn it over to Peter who's going to okay so I'm going to ask you the questions so question number one describe one trait or skill that you use regularly in your profession that would be an asset to work uh to the work of the planning board yes so I'm an attorney by training um so I uh I said I'm an immigration lawyer I deal in very very complex regulations daily that is I am sort of in the trenches with a very Antiquated clunky law instead of regulations and trying to find a way to make that work for um corporate clients I mainly represent large businesses um that is my client population at this at this point in my career so really problem solving and taking sort of you know things that are um complicated clunky not intuitive and finding you know having a problem presented to me and finding a way to drive to a solution that works you know within the parameters of um the the structure that we're given in the regs and the in the legal framework and finding a solution for clients and individuals and individual families and and making that work for them so I think my superpowers are really um you know taking really complicated problems and finding solutions to them um in a way that uh is everyone can be happy with that has like sort of consensus at the end of the day uh thank you question number two describe a situation where as part of a group or committee with diverse viewpoints you successfully work to achieve consensus um this sounds like 9 A.M on Tuesday to me like I think um so my role I I manage a large team and a very large business account for our practice and I would say I sort of opened my inbox thinking I'm gonna do um you know a b and c and I'm immediately doing x y and z um with you know the problem of the day and um really consensus building is a huge huge part of of my job on a day-to-day basis and I think it's a part of it that I'm really quite excellent at um so in terms of sitting down with you know someone saying it has to be X Y and Z for these reasons and I I just can't see a way through it and someone else saying nope it has to be you know this way and I I just it's not going to work whether it's a technology perspective or cost and budget and savings and you know just sitting down and really taking a deep breath breaking it down piece by piece and finding a solution that works for everybody again that to me that feels like you know that's that's sort of what I get up in the morning and do uh question number three in your view what is a member's role in communicating with the public knowing that members are not permitted to speak on behalf of the board as a whole yeah that's a I think that's a great question so I think um I I know I haven't lived in town for nearly as long as many of you in this room um but I do sense that one of the common themes in town is um sort of Engagement and awareness and you know making sure that the community is aware of what's going on and the decisions that are being made um I think there are folks sitting here in front of me that have a great way of communicating I've learned about these opportunities through some of you here in this room um in terms of you know making announcements whether it's on Town forums and town boards so for me I think it's super important to make sure that anytime I'm communicating whether it's you know at the farmers market or making a post on the Community page or former Happy board I'm not really sure what we're calling it um but to understand that there could be a perception question that I'm speaking in my role as a planning board member to take that very seriously and to probably err on the side of not rather than than yes and so and when I am going to post that or sort of engage in that way I think making very clear um that you know you're doing so as your as a as a lay person not as a member of um of the board I will say I think I feel really excited about the opportunity to help engage the community a little bit more in the work of these boards because I've had the opportunity um to join meetings and and to watch and to participate as a member of the public and I think you know when you sit down and even today when we're talking about the you know you all are talking about the MBTA communities regulations you think you know people hear that and they're fired up but there are like 10 people that are so well-meaning and really want to find the right answer for our community and I think that that gets lost in the translation and so for me you know whether it's um I think um Kate is a great example you know posting the opportunity for the comprehensive plan and that committee to be able to say like Hey listen we want as many applications for this as possible because this is a really big deal for our community I learned about um you know that initiative from the from that information that she put out there and so I think there's a huge element to um to driving engagement just with information and I think that that is you know whether it's saying you know this is the agenda for the planning board tonight and you know this is what each item means in Lay people terms you know 1060 that's the Mills you know and making sure that that information is accessible to folks um and so I guess that's a little bit of a word salad but um for me it's sort of two two parts of the problem right making sure that when um you're posting or you're talking in the community that you're airing on the side of cautions I think it could always be perceived as a statement from the board um but then also sort of doing all we can to make sure that the Public's aware of what's going on in the hard work of these boards and um and sort of the thought process that goes into a lot of these decisions yeah so um question to the board because I never quite thought this through do we went to what talk to both candidates or should we and and then ask individual questions or sorry because we have individual questions okay so any um extra questions from any member of the board so I don't necessarily have a question but I did just want um everyone to know so several of us have met Amanda um through the comprehensive plan process so Amanda had joined our project management team meetings way early in the process um way before the steering committee kind of came together she was one of our only members of the public that came to our in-person meetings or joined us on zoom and she was enthusiastic and asked really good questions and was very engaged and even kept coming back even even though some of those meetings were a little on the challenging side so um but when we were talking about and then she applied for the the steering committee and we had talked about when we were um when we were a point in the steering committee that we had some amazing candidates for for the committee and and Amanda's uh Precinct that she had applied for um we had another really strong candidate for as well and so for me personally it was the the one the one thing that I wish we could have appointed to people from a Precinct because um when we talked about what we wanted from our steering committee was really to bring in new people some fresh perspective to have really engaged new members of the public that really hadn't been a part of the boards because we had plenty of representation from other boards so it was um just a really great experience to kind of get to know Amanda through that process and um you know my statement is just that I would I I think it's a it's great that she decided to to throw her hat in the ring for this position and I would highly um I would highly support her so yes thank you um Yolanda you're next I have one question and I always try to ask this of people who either step into a board and then potentially have to run for election so as an associate you don't have to be elected uh it's so important that we have people who run for planning board is it something that I mean maybe you haven't thought about this yet if you were appointed as the associate member and a seat opens up would you then consider running to be a full member of the board I would okay yes okay that's my only question what is what is in terms of is there an open seat no we just have an association we want to fill the associates um Marcel is just not here able to be here this evening I just wanted to clarify I would I don't think I would do that in a situation where I hadn't fulfilled my term as an associate member I think I would I I think I would want to make sure I fulfilled my commitment to the board in that position and but yes I've thought about running and I wouldn't be you know opposed to running for an open seat if it opened up I do think I would want to make sure that you know we weren't leaving the board in a large in terms of not having an associate member I I will add I think we're looking at a potential project that I will be in a butter on so we will have I think I want to say the Shaw's I don't know if it withdrew the project near Shaw's who knows what the latest rumor is but there's always a possibility that one of us will be recusing ourselves and frankly I think that's highly likely now with 40b so uh it I think that even if none of us are running or we don't have an opening we're going to need an associate member yeah I do have a question for Amanda if appropriate I was actually Joe had his hand up hey just one quick question Amanda appreciate all your your thought uh your thought out answers one of the questions is uh you have two young kids yeah and this is going to be time committed will you be able to take that time away from your family and how will that affect your your situation at home um thanks for that question um I have a rock star husband and we are very 50 50 partnership and um we had a family meeting about this before I threw my hat in the ring and he's fully supportive um you know he's got stuff he does once or twice a month for you know hit to fill his cup and um and this would be my thing and I think that's one of the things that I felt so um you know coming to the comprehensive plan steering committee those meetings it was so energizing and you know I I just got this feeling just sitting in the room and you know I got it again tonight listening to the conversation around the MBTA um you know I just kind of wanted to roll my sleeves up and get in there and so I think it is really fulfilling for me and um I I mean I'm a hard worker that's I I have no issue putting in the time um and when I'm I'm pumped and motivated for something I'll find the time and I I have you know 100 percent um I've got the the rest of the haze Clan at my back on on this one okay thank you I appreciate that Anna um Amanda and I'll ask the other candidate the same question I think part of our um expertise as a planning board you know we all have kind of something we bring to the table but we also function as a unit when we make certain decisions to the best of our ability obviously we argue we we fill gaps for each other and our last associate member had some expertise if you will in certain areas that we lacked um kind of watching the planning board in action tonight or other meetings can you give us something that you would contribute to this mix of this specific unique planning board that could help us fill a gap yeah absolutely I mean I think um I don't want to presume to know everyone well enough to know what the gaps might be um I think you know listening to the conversation tonight um I I absolutely would have raised my hand to work with Peter um on the on the sort of um you know the project for the MBTA um to put some scenarios together for you all um because I think my what I really love is taking a really complicated problem and a logical conundrum and dissecting it and coming up with Solutions and so you know my mind was already sort of racing in terms of all right you know you move this here and I think you know Anna you were working in a similar way um so I don't know that it's filling a gap but um I do think that that um analytical skill set for me um in addition to you know I think um I would hope that I could really bring um an ability to sort of bridge some Gap with the community and to be able to sort of um be able to to say you know again this is what's going on tonight we'd love to have people show up here's the zoom link and this is what each agenda item means and even if it's just that um and I think those are the two things that come to mind for me anyone else let's ask one one question then this is uh from a list of questions that Marcelo who's not here tonight the planning board has and it might be apropos for our meeting the planning board has a very supportive and collegial group even when the meetings hearings and decisions are long difficult or filled with challenges and disagreements how can you contribute how can you contribute to help maintain or improve the current collegial nature of the board um I think I don't want to be repetitive I think I might have touched I think building consensus and sort of being diplomatic are some of my um better traits I'm I'm um I'm an oldest sibling of uh three and I have two younger brothers I think I was sort of from the jump um refereeing and and sort of um building Community you know I think if you go back to um whether it's captains of sports teams drum major the marching band resident assistant in college like sort of more of those um cheerleader type roles I I gravitate towards them um and you know I think for me um I really enjoy team building being part of a team and um I am you know all about at the end of the day you get to the same place and then you know that's that's where the team landed and that's that's you know that's where we are and now and now we're a unit so um that's kind of my approach to most things in life all set all right great thank you thank you all right and our second candidate um Stephen Morgan hey good evening I just want to provide us with a two to three minute introduction sure sure um Steve Morgan um I am uh Ashland resident for what going on nine years now um live off of downtown on Concord Street um I think I'm some members are familiar with me although I don't have personal relationships with any of the members um my background is I have an engineering degree from Worcester Polytech over in Worcester um been in doing projects technical projects and construction type projects of clients over throughout my 40-year career I currently work for a leading Pharma company doing um projects ranging from I.T to building modification projects for the for the company we have probably one of the most internationally recognized cultures of operations for interpersonal skills and how you run projects inside the company I run typically you know a dozen projects at one time with financial responsibility and also working with schedulers and and various constituent groups for functions to execute projects so so that's my background I also have some as I've probably mentioned previously I have some commercial real estate experience which I'm not currently involved with but I've owned commercial real estate in the past and have dealt with a lot of the issues that come up with regard to having tenants and buildings and modifying buildings and taking older buildings and rehabbing those buildings for for more modern use so that is part of my my experience space I final point I'd make is uh I recently expressed some interest in a zoning board of appeals position I do have an interest in planning I was advised at that time to come back and look for another position I thought this position you know fed fit the bill where there might be some some hesitancy with a full member position that wasn't elected and this is an associate member position so it seemed to fit the bill with the recommendation I received previously when you apply when you appointed the zoning board of appeals member so when I learned of the position I put my name back in the Hat and it seemed to be a good fit on that basis so that's that's my introduction sorry thank you Mr Morgan so we're going to start the to ask the three questions so first describe one trait or skill that you use regularly in your profession that would be an asset to the work of the planning board yeah so I think it would be a great asset for the planning board you know the team building and the functional execution skills that I use on a daily basis um you know I see a lot of variety of projects a lot of different personalities from different functional groups in order to have a successfully executing project you you have to have a a plan that progresses to conclusion I understand in government work sometimes things take a little longer than in in private sector but you know we're accountable to to work with people and accomplish consensus and get work done on a daily basis so that that is a key skill that I I use all the time thank you uh question number two describe a situation where as part of a group or committee with diverse viewpoints you've successfully worked to achieve consensus sure so um in in my world um I would I would pick a a complex project I did one for Santa Fe uh not my current uh employment but a past contract employment we moved a major regulatory change management system for them they've been working on it for about two years had different plant sites Global audience in addition to local audience different technology approaches being proposed business critical system that was used for product release obviously validated with the FDA and that that team had been struggling to to migrate that system and upgrade it something as simple as think of it as a an application upgrade but in this context dealing with you know so much data that you literally couldn't move it in a timely manner to do to do the work and so building the consensus around that team replanting that project taking the best ideas from the project and putting them into an executable plan um I think is a is a good example of of what you'd be looking at there you need you need to be able to implement things and have people lying to to support the to support the implementation so you know I think that that alignment is part of the key team building or or alignment process that has to happen people have to visualize the goal they have to be aligned to the goal before they can start marching effectively to a goal right so that all right thank you for that answer question number three in your view what is a member's role in communication with the public knowing that a member's excuse me knowing that members are not permitted to speak on behalf of the board as a whole well this is um this is a very key point of of a lot of relationships we have this issue with regulatory filings in in FDA regulated companies all the time because literally any any adverse comment you can make uh anywhere can can be misconstrued as a regulatory concern so here I think the really the focus is on um facilitating communication back to the board um you know not not indicating any answers necessarily but bringing people to the board for discussion being able to communicate documents putting people at things that are necessary uh you know to positively let people know what's going on at an agenda and I think those those those things are are really what individual members would be doing I I don't think individual members can really speak even the chair cannot speak for a board so that is pretty well known I don't know if that's the basis of that question but only what the board does together really really counts for anything in in Pub in public boards yeah foreign thank you I like to open it up to uh questions from either board you want to ask my questions the same when I asked Amanda so if you're an associate member and then someone you know currently on the board decides not to run the seat is open would you consider running for election for the seat I would um I think uh you know once you are working in an area you want to progress whether it's your your job or your appointment you know I think it's a logical progression to move to a full member once you've had the experience of associate member and working with the board I don't I disagree with the prior account a little bit and I think there's certainly no negatives associated with moving to the next to the next level when an opportunity opens up obviously you wanna you could run for election tomorrow with no experience and get voted in so I think it's it's progression you know it's typical of any professional role to move in a progressive way and and I think a voting member would be a progression from an associate member okay thank you Trish um Mr Morgan I asked the same question on did Amanda um take a lot of time and effort to be part of as an associate member and as as you heard uh earlier there's a possibility that someone will have to recuse themselves on a project and you'll have to be you know put into that position and it's going to take a lot of time and effort whether you be able to provide that time for the board to do the work that needs to get done sure I I do invest significant amount of time as as I think most folks know on Town happenings and town doings to stay informed um you know I I attend a lot of meetings sometimes in person not as much recently but I put the time in I also generally bring as as I think many of you know information or or case law or positions that are thought out in advance as opposed to just public comment of my own opinion and so most of my my comments that some are familiar with is based on you know my my understanding of fact based and review review of documents success Etc I'm an actual current planning project obviously I would be recused from the school project that I know we've had discussions on that so I certainly understand that recusal and what that means and the ethical requirements and so forth that are involved in the position so I I would certainly make the time and would review all projects and and obviously as an engineer very familiar with plans and what I'm looking at right so not an architect but I'm an engineer you know yeah I guess I'll repeat my question as well that was the goal um so as You observe the planning board tonight or other meetings you you can see certain gaps or certain expertise that we bring to the table so what would you what Gap if you will would you feel for us to make us a better functioning board sure so I I think the discussion tonight was was useful but I as as an impression of the discussion and I'll use that as a gap I felt I felt the board wandered toward the latter half of your discussion um I think that uh there might have been some attempts to bring the conversation back to conclusion but I think there was really a need there to stay focused in on the topic at hand and um you know that's perhaps something that that I might be able to help with here almost like as a time keeper because I'm a non-voting member is to try and help the conversation move in a positive way um you know again it's a different role than a voting member but here tonight I don't know if anyone on the board felt that but I I felt watching this that about halfway through the discussion on the zoning it started to churn on the same topic and and what seemed like straightforward conclusions were not yet a consensus and So eventually I think an hour and a half in the consensus was reached on a plan but uh you know there could have been some improvement there that would be the feedback uh Kate I don't want to miss you being up on the screen there do you have anything you wanted to ask or ADD no I I was good with those uh free questions okay yeah I was I just I feel like I missed Kate on the last candidate and uh didn't want to do that again if she wanted to ask something okay so I'll repeat um marcelo's question the planning board has a very supportive and collegial group even when the meetings hearings and decisions are long difficult or filled with challenges and disagreements how can you contribute or help maintain or improve the current collegial nature of the board well I think I think you know my background in in planning and project planning really really I think very um analytically and in terms of putting things together um I think there would be some benefit to some additional detail around agendas or topics as they're being developed not just because of an open meeting type concern but just as a way to break stuff down and work through stuff um I know it's been my experience attending meetings that sometimes you know you get your couple minutes and and then you don't get to talk again and so I certainly would support an environment that would allow allow for good focus and and moving through a logical path to conclusion which you know I think is everybody's goal I'm not saying anybody's not doing that I'm just not when you ask for where it could be improved I think some of the hearings I've been on have gone late late for reasons that might might be improved by some upfront planning so I'm not again criticizing the chair I just you know I'm trying to respond to the question yeah thank you um any other questions from the board okay we'll let you take your seat thank you um and then um yeah we just have General General discussion making a note to the board that we don't uh I just a reminder we do not have to pick a candidate but if we want to bring someone forward we we can do so Claudia um yeah I just wanted to comment I um I really appreciated uh some of the comments that Miss Hayes made in terms of I thought when she was talked about clunky non-not-intuitive matters that she works with and unfortunately I feel as though the planning board has to deal with that that those sorts of uh things all the time um you know I felt that she talked a lot about building consensus again it is I think no offense but sometimes it's painful to watch what you folks have to do um I I really appreciated the comment driving engagement with information I think engagement in this community is something that you hear over and over again about everybody's efforts to engage the community we're always looking for ways to do that and um you know driving engagement with information wow I just think that that it's a great little uh phrase and I also really I think that the connection to young families in the community could be a you know that was a useful a benefit other comments you know oh sorry Claudia I just want to say I I do appreciate people stepping forward and volunteering for positions um you know that involve certainly this this will involve a great deal of time um and I think that's uh important I think uh you know that's also a nice thing about our community is people do step forward other comments well I'll just yeah I'll make a comment you know thank you both for coming forward I think it's great especially getting new people involved um and um I think you're both highly qualified um and I think we've got some great candidates to choose from um you know uh you know Steve has you know very strong credentials I think in this kind of construction related that's my impression and you know I don't know if that's um you know is that something that would be you especially useful on the planning board and uh but you know they're both both very strong candidates so we're lucky to have them so um I did have kind of another kind of this is a side question is your design Review Committee fairly full and is there any interest in that or is it all these Architects and designers that you're looking for and it is it is fall at this time actually I think I think actually we we have one associate position open there as well um but the regular members are full yeah okay other comments thank you I guess I'll jump in um I'm certainly very familiar with Amanda's application because I heard of her application at the time of the steering committee meeting I think that um each candidate has certain strengths I keep thinking about kind of the needs of this particular planning board and what we have in front of us kind of the the up and coming challenges if you will whether it's the MBTA communities law or our comprehensive plan there's quite a bit of challenge to both processes that requires a lot of consensus and frankly a lot of cheerleader quality that jumped out at me relative to Amanda's presentation and I do feel like this planning board would benefit from that because although we are very collegial we have had moments of tension and frustration within our within our body if you will as a unit and I think it would be helpful to have that that being said some of the things that jumped out at me about Mr Morgan's application are accountability execution really focusing on those elements of implementation and execution while I don't think the planning board needs that right now I do wonder if at some point we may want to consider an alternative associate position so that in the event one associate member is not available because associate members just like other members could have whether it's family obligations or their own recusal and so I for one would be open to considering an alternative associate position and I do think that Mr Morgan could be beneficial to the planning board unique to specific projects where for example we are currently thinking about a tree bylaw and we are also working on the MBTA issue and we're working on the comprehensive plan and I can see someone with Mr Morgan's project management experience being helpful as an alternative member who perhaps is not present at every single meeting but we could ask him to essentially consult on specific projects and I think if we have that jurisdiction as a planning board we should consider it for specific assignments if you will if he's interested I could see that being a very good role for him those are my thoughts anyone else um I just like to say generally I think that we have two very strong candidates so I see no reason not to to take a vote um this evening to select one I also think um I like in his idea of potential alternate we I don't believe we're actually allowed like an alternate um associate member because we by State law can have one associate member but if there's there certainly is no lack of work on the planning board and if there's other roles I I would certainly be up for exploring that for the candidate who's not selected yes as far as I know there is only while the design Review Committee has two associate alternate members I think they're called there and we have only one us one spot for one associate member so that is what um we are able to vote on tonight um I think in terms of my own comments um what I have learned through my time in the planning board and um dealing with other boards as well many different committees as related to the planning board and sometimes before I was on planning board um is really to be able to with each member always kind of trying to ascertain how much um I can trust that member how much they are who what they say if they're the same person in all contexts um and don't kind of change Personalities in different contexts someone who's very transparent in what they um what their doing on the board what they're doing outside the board what they're bringing to the board um what uh if they're if they're bringing everything in up front way if there's ulterior motives if they're looking to trust their other members of the board and worth work with them if they're able to say you know I think I'm wrong about this or I think I might have made a mistake in order to take another Viewpoint and um and those are some of my you know beyond even um questions of you know experience if you've had experience on this kind of committee before or anything like that are more important to me about you know how you how I can depend on you not necessarily agree with you but how I can depend on you um as a person and um and so I really appreciated um I appreciated Amanda's answered the answer is I feel like she's very straightforward I feel like she's very transparent I've never met her before I have never talked to her before but that's the kind of um that's the kind of feeling I get from what she's saying kind of what you see is what you get and I might make mistakes putting words in your mouth perhaps um but um but I that's that's what I'm weighing and so um so I I guess I would I would support her Candace candidacy to the to the associate position so in terms of process typically if I correct me if I'm wrong this is my proposal that we and we've done this way in the past that we open it for nominations if a person is nominated you then we then take a vote and in fact my count is right that person gets five votes they would then be you are reading my mind okay very good as the chairs here so I will open it up to nominations if there's no further I'll make a motion to appoint Amanda Hayes as an associate member of the planning board for a three-year term ending August 31st 2026 June June 30th thank you all of our appointments are August 31st so okay so June June 30th 2026.
um but yeah that's that's it thank you so much yeah yeah just if I'm a react just to give an example um we have utilized the and the board has approved the learning recovery Grant funds to be used on those Smart Boards that's gonna that has been deployed and will be deployed throughout the district thank you so much yeah well I have a question myself I want to go in uh okay uh I thought it was again no I I thought it was the end I wanted to touch on the Arts um on the Arts pot of money and I completely understand that uh the word discretionary is thrown in there and that is uh but however it's a reason why that that title was given is to invest in arts education and so I'm highly concerned of just simply grabbing the pot and then spending it all on everything else other than Arts other than the artists just simply I think that Arts is what makes life worth money and it's a cool stuff just that the wild boss Wars William said what do we remember about the Romans or the Greeks I remember that great accounting practice system not to knock it will be remembering that one and so it's important to continually invest and make sure that those resources are used to continue to support gardening so I just want to make sure to put that out there before we get to a time we're gonna have to make a decision uh well I do have a question uh Mr King now the uh the Arts Grant has an end date of June 2026 they were learning recovery Grant is uh June 2028 so I guess the the budgeting part of me would say you know in order to make the money last as long as also we would sort of divide you know the the grant money by the number of years available in that Grant in order to stretch it out so for example um the the learning recovery Grant is 10 million dollars this is 2023 so uh if the end date is 2028 roughly 10 million divided by five so you know two million dollars a year to kind of stretch it out like that so I just kind of so how are we how are we uh budgeting these Brands to sort of make it last uh as long as possible so well while that scheduling kind of makes sense um I think you know considering that we're coming out of the pandemic and there's a lot of needs in the immediate time I think a lot more money could be infused towards um additional service that um helped the learning loss and the learning recovery um so it does make sense to fudge it out but depending on the needs on certain years and immediate needs um those numbers might not be divided into equal amounts okay because my I guess then that you know my kind of of fear is you know it's sort of like uh you know uh uh you know they're kind of I don't you know my fear is having it Peter out in the fifth year for example would be learning or category Grant or the third year would be arts arts Grant right so I guess the thing I can understand that there are the needs and it's sort of like you know part of it is uh what is it really you know uh I ca you know my philosophical preferences to kind of even it so it we don't have this one big thing and then have it Peter out at the end if you understand where I'm getting actually and and part of it goes into the planning process as well right um I think we just got this money uh we weren't even sure how much money we're gonna get based on the changes from you know what the governor's opposing back in January what cuts was posing in May and what we actually ended up in June so um part of the planning process identifying uh what those needs are uh what we want to do is be tactical about it we don't want to you know save all this money and then just throw it you know have to spend it at the end um you know that's one of the things we try to coach our administrators with some of those funds and we want to take that same approach to it uh did you have a question yeah they have like super random but since we're just talking about the budget um uh last Friday I was at a round table with Congressman Jimmy Panetta he was talking about gun violence prevention the community and the the question is the last year but I think it went into effect this January the federal government passed the bipartisan uh safer communities act which is supposed is supposed to be moving funds to schools and so I'm wondering when we're going to start seeing it I just asked like the city intergovernmental relations team Mike is the city getting into it so now I'm sitting here going are we going to be getting any money from that and when um we actually just uh they released the RFA a couple a couple weeks back CD did so we did apply for it we finished writing the grant at 11 56 at night on night before next yeah so if it was a little sweepy it's because SEO and student services were working to finish it by 11 59.
the third and fourth second any discussion let's go let's go let's do it Dr nandy you have something you wanted to say yes that'll be great so um Justin would you like come up here and so um this is the contractor that we're recommend to the board as the vice president um Justin Senate and um they're actually currently working on the Magnolia um cyber security building for us at this point they also did the um great work at Savannah as well as Oxford and so we are extremely excited that the firm is being selected for the Western um to that the gym projects over there and that's what's the other side Improvement so just want to make sure that um that he's here if you have any questions for him as well does anybody have any questions of the gentleman at the podium is the gentleman at the podium wish to say anything except smile and not just yeah thank you we've uh We've really enjoyed working for the district over the years it's been maybe five or six years Savannah Oxford all the stage structure work in Magnolia and we've really really enjoyed the partnership and we look forward to starting another one yeah thank you we look forward to it thank you thank you the end result yeah thank you right thank you so on nothing else all in favor say aye aye opposed 5-0 [Music] um Oh I thought there was something else okay um 11.4 yeah 11.4 uh revised board policy 71105 parentheses 6146.1 High School graduation requirements third reading so moved second second and we have a motion in a second any discussion yes I had a quick uh quick uh discussion um for the adjustment of the Civic and cervix learning requirement I just want to read it we're still um uh we're so committed to Civic and Service Learning but you can speak can you speak a little bit about how we're so honored how would we be honoring that during graduation ceremonies yeah so thank you trustee girls so with the Civic learning uh requirement we're still going to recommend keeping it as a requirement for the discussion of the last board meeting and in the work that we did uh it's going to be one integrated into our Capstone program that now every school has so students will not only have it integrated to that experience but they'll reflect upon that experience as a part of as part of our Capstone and we did speak with uh staff at different sites to get feedback along with our Ed staff and and it was overwhelmed we celebrated moving this direction when I think a lot of students were recording with the counselors the anxiety it was creating based on a number they were chasing um what we intend to do because there are students who are motivated to earn certain hours uh the plan is at the graduation ceremony is to recognize students based on a potentially a tiered level so keeping the 40 uh hours that was initially put in place as maybe a bronze and then if you go to 75 is silver and then if 100 plus hours would be gold so students can still push for certain hours because we all know on the college application too they want to be able to say hey I did 100 hours of XY service so so we'd be able to still do that and I want to say that uh I I've had a parent approach me at the one of the back to school nights about that she was very concerned about us getting rid of that requirement so I had to explain to her how we were going to do it how it's still going to be kind of a requirement but we're not saying how many hours but if they want to be involved we have different levels and that they will be getting acknowledgment at graduation for that absolutely advertised and that they um you know staff push you know all the opportunities that students can have to collect those hours absolutely and because how are we going to collect those hours so a couple things so right now it's already self-reported so that's not going to change uh per se but but I think that once the board takes action right we can begin to publicize this this revision and I think remember all schools are California Market schools they all engage in Civic action projects so they're getting hours just doing that project in and of itself not to mention what they do at semaapalooza the servathon or other service opportunities to clubs activities or just their own I volunteer at the church or whatnot so they'll be able to track the hours in the same way the only thing now is they're not chasing a number for the requirement they're just going for the experience and the reflection that comes with it and for those who are chasing a number they'll get recognized with the medallions yeah I just want to add one thing um the board will be presented during their um Retreat information about the district's emphasis on what we call the common data sets these are indicators that top universities ivy league Stanford UC look at and Beyond grades and services very highly high on there as well as other things that are more difficult to measure including things like the five C's so more to come on this but it's really an important piece that the board continues to support this and it would be uh um I think advantageous for us to um and I know it's a lot more work but opportunities for our students and just listing those things for example a couple weeks ago I went to help love Anaheim at an event and the coordinator says you can go on their website and they have something every week and when you go there to volunteer they will give you your your statement right there for students so there it's just uh one I'm sure of many opportunities outside of the scope of our school district but that would be cool if we could get a database you can work on that to get a collection of opportunities and then be able to promote and present to the students so they have options they choose yeah thank you for your work on this and listening to us yes oh our pleasure thank you appreciate it and I have a question about you know service hours our our junior high is doing the same thing with service hours well remember this is a graduation requirement so it's obviously get rich for the high schools but we ex the junior Highs are also California Market schools so they are also getting the experience as a part of the expectations to get that distinction Civic Action project so they are also doing service hours okay and if you you all have been to SEMA plooza you see we have tons of junior high students there and the junior high students are also part of our servathon et cetera so they're getting these experiences as well so then the Junior High kids can start their service hours if they want and start counting them and they can count them all the way up through Senior High correct and remember the Capstone it's it's both at the junior high and the senior high and the E Cadence stays with the student C portfolio so they can reflect on Junior High experiences in the UK dance platform and still have them in the platform when they're seniors and when they leave us that's the other thing these students get to keep what they create in the ekadence platform long after they're gone so they can use this for future employers college applications or whatnot so that's the one benefit is it stays with them whereas the previous platform the moment they graduated it kind of went away so how do they keep it do they make it like it's a web-based so it's a URL or a you know a website that that's attached to them so when they when they leave they have their website database they it's it's they can activate it wherever they are web-based their own specific account yeah okay all in favor say aye aye opposed okay moving on to 11.5 it's all moved purchased through public corporation or agency yeah so we have a motion and a second that was a very early motion I know okay any discussion I think it's a good idea all in favor say aye aye opposed okay five zero 11.6 cloud services agreement net sync Network Solutions Inc any discussion questions seeing none all in favor say aye aye 5-0 11.7 memorandum of understanding mou of Anaheim elementary school district second and that's a motion and a second any discussion yes I had a quick um I understand this is the first time we're doing it with Anaheim elementary are we looking to do it um extend this to our other feeder schools yes so I know our chief technology officer Mr Greenwood is working with the other districts are in a different spot regarding their mou so they're currently working with their respective cabinets in terms of what this might look like but um that is the plan but we're waiting on updates from our other feeders once we get those updates where they are our chief technology officer will provide those updates for all equal thank you for further questions see you then all in favor say aye aye aye opposed 5-0 um memorandum excuse me 11.
all right thank you everyone we have no executive session so if we could have a motion for adjournment then we can proceed to our budget hearing so moved okay all those in favor of a journey please say aye and raise your right hand bye okay motion carries 7-0 meeting adjourned 748 all right do we need a restroom break yep so we are still at recess and the second meeting and now we'll get into the budget work thank you thank you so that's separate in your blue folders you can put away the work of your yellow folder and go to your blue folder thank you so much needs to be talking away are we ready to resume yes okay Megan are you okay if I multitask by calling it back to order okay okay all right we were in recess for the second meeting we are going to call back to order um the budget hearing special meeting it is 802.
they returned to work yes okay so in my uh CDC statement so we we will correct that we can change minor change yeah because I did a copy and paste and then I did a look for these words and replace them so um so you can see that it's uh this for for employees it's fairly similar to what it was but the part that drops out uh now is uh it was that at least five days had passed since the first symptoms and then the part about testing was not there but then it also included that the employee could return uh if they were masked for five days so this drops the masking requirement and um and changes that first part to seven and then it um it says that there needs to be um a test uh you know a viral test so we've been operating under last year's plan up until tonight and um and that still had the five days and the five days Mast and the uh those things so this would just update our practices with our employees and ultimately with our students based on the most recent changes from CDC and shouldn't that return to school protocol rather than return I mean return to work rather than return to school because you know the different employees may not be coming back to schools they might be coming just you know okay I don't see that one Barb okay I'll return to school we have to call it a return to school protocol oh it's not a return to work yeah this is a return it's returned to work but they've also in Even in our other in our previous ones at this point we've said return to school oh okay okay I thought I caught all of those thank you yes what did she says I didn't hear her the return to school plan I didn't get the change in the year at the top it's last year's oops this is the problem of copying and pasting or starting with the previous document and making changes thank you thank you Kate okay I need I need a motion to approve the covid-19 related plans and protocols for students and employees with with the changes that are necessary to make them correct I make a motion we accept the covid-19 related plans and protocols for student employees with the discussed revisions Corrections I'll suck in that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabroski aye Charlene Diaz aye Fred Rushton aye Barb zarzicki okay item 4.6 we're going to I need a motion to convene into the executive session for consideration of negotiation with the city of Bullhead City for Mountain View school property pursuant to ARS 38 4 31.03 A7 discussions or consultations with the designated representatives of the public body in order to consider its position and instruct its Representatives regarding negotiations for purchase sale per or lease of real property do I have a motion to to go into I'm not repeating um I'll I'll make a pollution that we move into executive session for a discussion on possible consideration for the future of Mountain View school property I'll second that all this in favor I'm Melinda sabrasky hi Charlene Diaz hi Fred Rushton hi Barbara we are now in executive sessions [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you play something I need a motion to return to regular session I'll make a motion that we reconvene the public session I'll second the motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabrowski hi Charlene Diaz hi Fred Rushton hi Barbara zarzicki do we have to do another roll call okay um do we have a motion or a direction that we would like Dr Stewart to take I make a motion or direction that we direct Dr Stewart to continue her negotiations with the city of Bullhead to uh for the trade of the Mountain View Property and the prop the improvements that they are going to do on our properties and our parking lots of details please pardon me don't give details please okay for improvements and stuff that they're going to do for us I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabraski hi Charlene Diaz hi Fred Rushton hi Barbara zarziki okay item 6.3 convene to Executive session ARS 38 431.03 A1 discussion of consideration of employment assignment appointment promotion demotion dismissal salaries disciplining or resigning of a public officer appointee or or employee of any public body except that with the exception of salary discussions and officer appointee or employee May demand that the discussion or consideration occur in a public meeting is that did she want this to happen in public not not that we know of okay okay so I need a motion please I'll make a motion that we move into or reconvene into executive session I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabraski aye Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton hi Barb zarzicki we are now an executive session [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] to reconvene into public session make a motion that we reconvene to our public session I second it all those in favor I'm Melinda sabroski aye Charlene Diaz hi Fred Rushton hi Barbara zarzicki um does somebody have a motion to make about the resignation I move that we accept the resignation from Janet Vaughn according to our established procedures I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sobrowski hi Charlene Diaz hi Fred Rushton hi Barb zarzicki 9.1 future topics does anybody have anything that we'd like to ask Dr Stewart to do or to consider or that we would like to talk about or until November I don't have anything I don't either okay except for stools yeah okay hey Polk's gonna buy the stools upcoming events do we have any oh there they are okay okay very cool so our next board meeting is on October 12th is everybody available for the October 12th meeting I'm clear I'm here I'm good I think I am do we have anything that's good nope I have it written on my calendar already I think I do too will we be having a workshop a workshop yeah we'll certainly uh return to um we'll certainly return to policies if nothing else but I also suspect that we would have some discussion on budget and and we might have a hearing you know if I've got things ready for uh for that meeting for a change you know a revision of the budget yeah so 5 30.