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okay that makes sense but targeting obviously as you already stated so thank you yes okay any other discussion all those in favor I I okay um Mr can canoro um in 2006 six the district entered into a site a School site conveyance agreement for a 10 acre parcel located almost directly next to Roadrunner Elementary this property was to serve as an elementary school for their planned Community said land was to be um paid for by foregoing school fees assessed um to the community at the time of Permitting in 2023 Landmark Representatives they're the current um developer of that area area contact contacted the school district with a request to resin that 2006 agreement so that the developer could develop the those um 10 acres with homes as part of their new plats and middle after discussion with legal council in Landmark a mutual recess re recision agreement was drafted for the governing board consideration and that's what we're talking about tonight approving this agreement benefits The District in the future the establishment of the of a developer donation agreement formalizes landmark's commitment to pay $1,200 per lot um to the school district when these schools are closed at um to Escrow this obligation is passed on to the purchasing developers if Landmark indeed sells that Master Plan um Community with a with 1,857 homes it's forecasted that the Bros Vos project will bring in about $2.2 million of Revenue that can be used for purpose of adding to or renovating ele um Road Runner Elementary potentially in the future um all documents were obtained by by our district legal council and they approve of these forms and Mr Paul loes is right here if we have if there's questions that I can't answer okay can I get a motion I move the governing board approv the mutual recision agreement with Landmark title in um Assurance agency of Arizona LLC and related documents I further moved to Grant Dr Daniel streer superintendent and Dan contaro Chief Financial Officer the authority to sign and execute documents related to this agreement on behalf of the governing board second any discussion or questions I have some questions okay Tom so how did this come into our possession in the first place and and that was 2006 is that in 2006 it was it was um it and I I don't remember the I believe it was the previous administration to myself is um met with this developer and they they were like we would like to give you 10 makres for a land um for a pro school property because we're going to have 1,00 whatever I said 1800 1800 homes um I honestly didn't know about it I mean as far as the the piece of the parcel was I searched for Mirana Unified School District saw the name of it and was like where is and and then we developed or we figured out what what was going on um it's not going to be something that we're going to it's right across I mean literally across the road from Roadrunner Elementary which has capacity um for um the the students that this community would generate right okay um in general so this is like a global comment whenever we talking about land like this it'd be really helpful to have a picture oh of what we're talking about because I looked it up online and I could not find okay that this yeah we discuss and this was one of the ones that we did did discuss at that study session yeah oh yeah I remember doing that yeah yeah so um okay I guess that's and I have a comment Dan are you done Tom yeah yeah so so someone basically gave us land and now they're basically buying it back for $2.2 million it's probably a different parsel but in in a leen's term it's it's I'm gonna I'm gonna try and if Paul corrects me that's perfectly okay um I wouldn't say give I mean what we were giving up was the the um impact fees so in theory we were going to have to pay the assess value got it by forgoing the um the impact is that correct so in theory they gave us land and but we paid for it with impact fees for gone okay thank you Dan have a followup so is this one of those you know when like they did this over In swaro Bloom where they you know when the developer comes in and makes the the map of the place you know makes it all you know bright shiny colors and all that kind of thing they always designate some section for a school even though we have no intention of building a school there that's that that's what they you know present to the to the B although this one was actually conveyed and maybe that was where it's actually conveyed to us it's in our name so whereas just a spot on a map is maybe a little different I believe Sor Bloom is ours also the same as in the same way and we paid for that one by foregoing and that's okay all right it's just kind of weird that the school was already there and they said hey here's some land to build another school I believe at the time I mean I I we were offered a piece of property that we might have it might have been very valuable for us at that time and at this point it's not it's not the same I mean it's road runners got plenty of capacity and and plenty of land to actually use the 2.2 to possibly even address some of the new growth oh absolutely yeah okay thanks okay all those in favor I I okay Mr can Cano yeah um third the um the district was approached by I 10 a Valley Mining and Development LLC asking for permission to bring public sewer line across our vacant property along I 10 Frontage Road located between t Peaks and a valley um it's on the west side of the highway this agreement would allow sewer line to be buried across the front of the district property and continue to their property located on a Valley Road this will not hinder F future use of this property but rather benefits the district by providing a near nearby sewer um public sewer line um that the district could access without having to pay for the line in the future it is anticipated this will improve the value of this parcel all documents were again obtained by our de District legal council and they approve of these forms can I get a motion I move the governing board approve the temporary construction easement agreement with i 10 abber Valley Mining and Development LLC and related documents I further move to Grant Dan CNO Chief Financial Officer the authority to sign and execute documents relating to this agreement on behalf of the governing board second any questions or comments just a question why aren't we why aren't we sharing this honor with Dr streer like we did the last time did I think I think it's because the signature page I can add you in I can I can amend the motion it's one last thing I have to track him down have one question D are they just going to BU you I mean it's a great deal for us someone's running sure line across our property that doesn't have sewer are they going to leave us any Stouts or they just going to bury it in in the future that that I believe it'll just go through yeah which still is great yeah saves us we if I'm not mistaken you we may have conversations that maybe that's something they could do bring some stub outs or some risers I mean because for them the dirt's open you know to to have some kind of an access would save us money in the future we can have those discussion okay all those in favor I I okay motion carries Mr golgowski good evening vice president maconis members of the governing board Dr streer and members of the audience I'm sharing five policy changes that reflect recommendations made by the Arizona School boards Association the changes are a result of alignment to changes in statute might made by the state legislature and Congress policy ebaa reporting of Hazards Warning Systems the revised policy updates the information that is required to be detailed in a notice to apply pesticides at school campuses and District facilities pest control companies still need to notify the district 72 hours before application but the new statutes referenc in the memo provided in your packet provide specific information on what needs to be detailed in the notice policy EBC on emergencies this policy was updated to mirror language and statute regarding emergency response plans the governing board will collaborate with the superintendant to develop and maintain District emergency response plans and coordinate plans with local First Responders the plan will be maintained by the superintendent but they are no longer required to be approved by Bo the board annually policy ECB building and grounds maintenance new legislation no longer requires districts to have an indoor air quality plan the superintendent will designate an individual who will develop and Implement inspection maintenance repair use and disposal of chemicals and other materials policy e AA Walkers and Riders this revised policy states that a governing board May provide students who do not reside in an established attendance Zone Transportation limited to 30 mil each way the mileage language was changed from 20 miles to 30 miles to conform with the statutory language and the last one policy gbef staff use of digital Communications and ethical device or electronical electronic devices this policy um removes references to outdated devices like blackberries and removes Twitter as a reference because now it's called X you forgot to mention Myspace my oh yeah Myspace got eliminated as well so finally that makes it officially gone it is officially gone now by policy so can I get a motion I move the governing board approve of revisions to policy ebaa reporting of Hazard Warning Systems policy EBC emergencies policy ECB uh buildings and grounds maintenance and policy EAA Walkers and Riders oh and there's one that's not on here GB yeah GB and policy gbef yeah I hurt my thumb on a Blackberry once oh typing too much but I give a second okay any discussion or questions just a quick question on the um Walkers and Riders so does that mean that the we could bus open enrollment right right yeah it could it's just outside of any of the established um any of our boundaries and so forth so yeah and that was by federal code so it's in compliance with I think the um legislation that spe specifies you know providing school lunches and transportation so is that something that we ever talk about but you know giving open enrollment kids it's it's a discussion that can be uh had this specific policy so right now in our policy the language is there for up to 20 miles this policy changes that to 30 miles and then it's it's what's interesting about Open Enrollment is there's some instances where you do bus open enrollment students uh for us it's more of a tuition based if you think about our alra Valley students who are tuition in one of the agreements that we do have with neighboring districts is to not run bus into their attendance areas so not to run buses into AI in return they don't run buses into our area um another area is um Red Rock we we don't run buses into Red Rock so it's it's kind of a it's an agreement that school districts make but it's within the board's purview to make the determination if we run those buses okay all right thank you any other questions or comments all those in favor I okay Mr ban vice president Mike cronis members of the governing board senior staff members of the audience I'm here to discuss also here to discuss proposed asba asba policy advisory changes uh this for policy jfab BDA admission of students in foster care the supporting documentation attached to this memo outlines the policy changes to be considered and focuses on the following uh including a five-day timeline for the best interest determination hearing to take place scheduled by the Child Welfare agency setting a timeline of two days for a foster child a child in foster care to be enrolled at a new school and eliminating the possibility of outstanding fees or fines delaying this process adding that a notice to provider may be required upon enrollment establishing two business days a two business day timeline for completing a schoolto school records request adding assurances that a child in foster care receives transportation and if it is in the best interest of the child and if it's feasible if it's in the best interest of the child and feasible and this may include coordination and information shared with a sharing with a child welfare agency such as DCS uh the Department of Education and local education agencies uh these changes align with uh State Statute and uh have also been reviewed and approved by musd legal council thank you can I get a motion please I move the governing board approve the recommended revisions to policy jfab BDA admission of students and Foster Care second any questions or comments all those in favor I I thank you okay motion carries Dr streer Vice President mcris governing board members members of the audience uh the following policies that I'm bringing tonight are being revised based on the recommendation of the Arizona school boards Association these changes are really a result of alignment to current practices some legal reference updates as well as alignment with statutory language there's not a lot of substantive changes to the policies it's mostly cleanup and then like I said aligning to what our current practice is policy bedb which is the agenda the district email address has been added as an acceptable method of communication PA BGE and BG is the policy communication and feedback and this is just language that's been updated in our policy and revised to align with what our current practices in the district are and then policy cfd is school-based management this is our student councils um and this is just the way that the statute is read it does not specify the number of members on school councils L our policy has been Revis to mirror that requirement in the statute can I get a motion I move the governing board approve approve revisions to policy BB agenda policy BGE um policy communication feedback and policy cfd school-based management student councils second any questions or comments all those in favor I motion carries um yep at this time the governing board needs to go executive session can I get a motion I move we move into executive session second all those in favor I we will be going to Executive session we will come back at that time and close the meeting um as so at this time you're free to go uh thank you so much for attending good job

even on vacation to De exercise so he is my morning Checker and checked all of the tape to make sure that everybody stayed in their room overnight we got a picture of him smiling very big accomplishment old U did a trip through cordsville High School G 10 12 years ago now it's been a long time but um she went to Le GRE and she's still you know she's going to 30 and she still remembers you know how much fun they had in so I appreciate that you take the time I know it's a lot of work on the coordinator side um appreciate that you are willing to take that on it's it's really worth it I got to see so many students come out of their bubbles um we had a student who um is on the autism spectrum we were a little worried about socializing by the end of the trip he got up and danced at our River Dance Excursion in front of everyone um and I had a lot of students who were really anxious about roommates and being with people that they've never known and at the end like this I like made friends with the people that I was with so it was it was really rewarding to not only see all these places but get to see them through their experience one thing I remember my daughter mentioning was that there were other high schools from other states that were like on similar trips at the same time they were and she and the adults that were around that were just talking about how cord olda school students were so much better behaved than many students in much bigger districts and different things and how they were impressed with our kids and that made the kids feel really really good I said that was a long time ago now but the fact they on and they they identify with that we got a similar from our there I that all right is there any other questions to I will approve second all in favor I thank you so much next item on the agenda is consider the CHS student yep I reviewed that and I checked on one thing with j and I would move approval is there a second second all in favor I the next item is the CMS student handbook and with Mr not present this evening I did reach out to him and he did recommend an approval so there is someone motion to C second all in favor next item is the substitute and I yep I reviewed that and I approval second second all in favor okay next is to consider resolution on board compensation who wants to uh so this this resolution is to update our board compensation uh resolution that we have in place right now um isba did put out a new version and it does increase the rate meetings to I believe 150 um you can see the in your packet the dollars that are there um so we would recommend that you approve this resolution just a little commentary on the side here um suan and I have been on the board since 2004 and the state legisl says the level of compensation for four years which has been a Conant 2000 be honest we don't do it for the money but I think it's good that we recognize the uh the time and effort it takes to be competent B board member so is there any other discussion I would entertain a motion to approve this resolution second all in favor thanks moving along to approval for technology advance for the common School fund yes you have the document printed in front of you for this as well as in the electronic packet um we would recommend that the board approve the application for the common School Tech fund advance in the amount of 105,000 and this will cover us for the next 6 to8 months nor this is fairly normal we do these we did not do one last fall but we normally do at least two year is there a discussion I make a motion to approve second all in favor I next is consider approval to apply for construction program advance for the Comm School uh yes so this is the other document that you had in front of you the budget for the Wilson expansion um we would recommend that the board approve this application for the common School construction program Advance uh for $212,500 any discussion to approve second all in favor I all right uh see next item is to consider approval to begin the preliminary determination process pursuing to IC 6-11-20 D31 yes um in your packets I provided a a longer description of why we need to do this but um if you remember legislation in 2023 had passed um for schools with a debt rate between 40 and 80 cents which is where we fall then you would have to go through the preliminary determination process um for any new debt that comes on the construction there is a law we help for a year so that's why we haven't done any common School construction programs which is what we mainly use for our deferred maintenance um and it's what we've used for our elementary projects and so on and so forth but it it was on hold and then remember representative Thompson actually kind of they had the fix um because our referendum debt for the middle school was initially being counted into it which actually put us over the 8 cents but they have that cleared up so we're back to being able to do this but it was just today that we finally were given permission to apply for a common School fund LOE because we were given about a 22-day window to apply for common School fund loans however we have to go through this preliminary determination process which takes 60 days at minum um but we were told today that we could apply with with the board giving permission to begin the process and then we'll have to go through the process um and have in your packet have a basic timeline which our goal would be so we have to public and notice of hearings we have to have two public hearings um and it can and the board has to approve through this and if anybody comes out to you know have questions against doing this process then we could have to the petition to remonstrate so there's a a whole long process there but so we would look that we hopefully by April 17th we can get the Publications to the newspaper newspapers will publish on April 24th newspapers publish on Wednesday is that correct yeah so we give them week early then we could have our first hearing May 7th and then we would need to have a second special Board hearing and here I would say possibly do it on Monday May 13th if that date would work um and then we work through that process those are both so the May 7th would be our normal meeting and then the May 13th will be okay so we can check okay you what's your window [Music] um but I mean if You' got enough so we keep that tenative and then I'll check with K you know so need three but go through that process so I would recommend the board approve us beginning the preliminary determination process so we have sorry we need have the hearing first no we' have the hearing May 7th then May 13 this is you're this is so that I can go back and say our board has approved Esco and they can consider our application motion table I move approval all in favor I all right who you on a Personnel yeah so um start with the two retirements um Chris urb 32 years of service and Steve Spencer 34 years of service service um that both been excellent um prop Community Schools and appreciate their time truly respect what they've given to us and congratulate them on reaching this phase in life so we recommend the board approve retirement of Chris Irv and Steve Spencer appr second all in favor I recommend the board accept the resignations um C through G second all in favor and recommend the board approve the hiring of Emily Brown U music teacher Emily is a MC grandmary graduate she's the daughter daughter-in-law of Angie Brown teach scores at Nicholson currently doing her teaching in Warren Township um so she she will come to us with experience so a semester of experience um and has a lot of choir background and be interesting to see how she brings her choir and hopefully can connect Uber to all the great choir things that we have going on at C so recommend the board Brown music teacher so second all make sure yes next would recommend [Music] Edward brother yeah Edward is um he has re HED once and is back but Edward has um a child in my class my daughter's class and a child younger than that so um Edward's gonna be teaching for a [Music] while um yeah yes um yeah see known [Music] the yeah I was wondering he's um Edward you see him walking around down walking while he reads um I believe I saw drivey didn't read yeah um so he is a true biblo file um and a science teacher so I recommend the board Edward SE science teacher at Crawford High School all in favor hi all right moving right along so Dr this Miss just a couple quick option items for the business manager report um we are going live with spendbridge our new procurement purchasing platform um want to thank Jay and his office staff they did our test subjects for this um every school building including the central office will move to this platform for all of our purchasing um this will help us to get more efficient in central office and help to alleviate some paper that we have right now uh human resources in Pay World we're working through front line to get that absence management piece up and running um we're also moving all of our staff to the time in attendance from Frontline so everyone will be in one system this will help us to automate a lot of our payroll processes to squeeze the time that it takes to do payroll down pretty significantly um and then we're going to start working on annual budget process um gear up for that get ready for the fall um we're looking at preliminary looks right now at all of our funds to see where we need to start um obviously education we've started with that with staff talks already so just prelimary schedule we'll get that out to you at the next board meeting for that that's all I have I apologize I was cooling up my didn't have here um the spend bridge that you're talking about I think that's probably going to be something very Val because have one building order case something that they only need one box of thanks for bringing that to us apprciate that all right I think we're ready to move on assistance super repart yeah uh school safety just a quick update there because we had talked a little while back about um looking at a transition to Alice so we continue to explore that and our next steps uh for that will be to have Amber Reed and officer Bondo um attend Alice training so there is a financial commitment to go to Alice um as a certified district for Alice um so we felt the the good Next Step first would be to continue to explore by having a coule attend that training and never hurts to get a little additional school safety training um anyway so we'll look forward to what what they bring back and share with our district safety team from there so that training will be in June uh professional development and education so we on March 12th we had our first uh new teacher Institute seminar and we had 20 teachers attend um and four Mentor teachers lead uh those in in killboard so we split them up and they are in cohorts with the mentor uh we cover topics around teacher evaluation our high reliability schools of course with that being our blueprint uh specifically with collaborative culture effective teaching in the classroom um super appreciative and and proud of our administrators that that led PD our Mentor teachers did a great job uh working working with their cohorts and our new teachers um as well so it was a great day we had a lot of good positive feedback I'm looking forward to to where that can go um in the future and as we've gotten into candidates season uh we continue to hear from potential candidates just um that's one of the number one things that comes from them is what are you doing to support new teachers so this will be a huge piece to what we're able to to do to support them uh Tammy H and Jen Hall as of yesterday just completed their first year of the Indiana principal Leadership Institute um so they presented their action research projects yesterday so um they have a project that they focus on year one is on um personal leadership capacity and they present and share their findings and then this summer they will turn to year two of the program we still have a couple teacher leaders join them in IPL we to study different aspects of of their schools and that's in line with what we do um as well IPL uses high reliability schools in their year two to to frame their work and so it'll be good continuation we're doing for for them and each of their buildings so um I learned testing begins next Monday so uh April 15th through May 10th is the IEM window grades 3 through 8 will be testing math and language arts um grades four and six also test in science and then grade five will test um in social studies so um most of the testing will get done first couple weeks and then we'll have makeup uh testing from there to take care of um couple areas in in kind of the policy procedur um idoe world um so you know the update on our Virtual Academy so we have submitted for um accreditation that window has opened with the state to be able to submit for that so that has been submitted so we are just in the The Waiting phase for um our response on that once we receive that then we will have our official School number and then we'll be able to get that in kind of the back of some things specific spefically power school that will allow us to kind of gear up for official registration for the 2425 school year so be exciting when we when we get that official number say how that process they mentioned it should be pretty quick depending on how many applications they get so they don't run it through their um actual stateboard meeting um so we don't have to wait for the next meeting or anything um so not knowing how many applications they receed not sure but made it sound like it shouldn't be super long um just a quick little note on um it kind of a heads up if you've seen any of the information on the Indiana diploma changes that are coming out so I won't go too far into the weeds because I don't really know 100% what the weeds exactly reveal yet um Jay and I were on the phone for a while today working through the the slides together together and going through things so but um bottom line is uh it will be moving to two diplomas one is called just the Indiana a GPS diploma so GPS would be graduating uh graduates prepared prepared to succeed yes um and they're specifically referring to it maybe even more so as a flex 40 uh because that's their goal is to offer flexibility and the options that are available um for students and their diploma the second diploma would be the Indiana GPS diploma plus so yes um each of them have three components the first one's the same for each kind of some core um courses in grades n and 10 um that they hit and then the second component starts to get it into um work-based learning and then the third does vary a little bit between the two with one of them kind of hitting your your sat act asab some of those things um and then the the GPS plus end up going to a higher level with the work-based um learning and and dipping into the apprenticeship set as well so um kind of the timeline on that is it is currently open for public comment um they will offer two periods of public comment for that um so we are in comment period number one through the spring they'll make revisions and then they'll open up for a second public comment in the summer um and then towards late summer they will get the final rules in place for those those two departments it would become effective for the graduation C- for of 2029 so the current runs out with our 2028 so uh that would be our current sub graders so um that would be the cohor that we'll be entering which you're hear 2029 but um sth grade that's two years away uh really almost one year so uh so we'll be digging into that uh PowerPoint more I did link that in your packet if you have interest of um having into that IE that is what they use to propose State Board of Education um so if you want to dig into those reads and see some of those things you can but it's only 46 pages long it is only 46 pages long and that is four revisions um but that'll definitely be coming towards the Forefront so I know Mr Strickland's dug into that um and spent some time in there and that'll be definitely something that we'll be having some conversations about uh in the the near future so with that that is your assistant superintendent Dr Dr R excellent um first thank you to the board for making time to come to our groundbreaking ceremony so ni day and fin get a board photo so appreciate your time there just make sure everybody knows well I do love to give Mr Strickland a hard time um only second to maybe Molly white cotton and people I enjoy giving a hard time to truly appreciate first everything Jay does Jay does give it his all to make Prov High School the best place he can be in GL have J as a friend and as a administrator so it is good thank you like where working on it no it is good and um in the community world so I'm on the committee with the Community Foundation looking at how we can apply for the grant eight Lily fund um and working with a partnership there so that we will kind of come along there's some conversations about a lot of conversations about child care and um our English learner population so those things are coming along by the end of the month think we have to have a written proposal so always love working with our community members you I wish we had a larger it is nice because you go to community meeting to community meeting and there's always a very similar people there um but it is great so we're making a lot of progress on the Wilson Preschool Academy renovation isn't plans um it's just like any of our other buildings every time you get a plan done it leads to another thing so um we'll say that like prop electric light and power is working with us on the drops that come into the building and have you know been excellent partners and so that's another relationship in the community that's been very beneficial to us um serving on the mcgomery county Early Childhood Coalition ands the advertisements but there's going to be a family fun day that'll be hosted here on Saturday April 20th um then we'll have free games and activities such as Touch a Truck Story Time and live music there'll be free snacks and the first families will receive a swag bag PBS Kids own Daniel the Tiger will be here along with my favorite mascot Alexander um so that'll be fun and educational world we are working on a 3 to five year educational strategic plan trying to get our budget set out for 3 to 5 years trying to get our education plan set out 3 to 5 years trying to get our operations set out 3 to 5 years and actually have something that you know hopefully by summer when we set our board retreat and we can just have things that are just clearly in front of you and that can guide our discussions um Senate enroll at Act One it requires that certain teachers have a literacy endorsement mainly in prek to five and special education teachers um this is just one of those it's a beautiful onion we keep peeling back and there's more and more to it so right now the state is providing trainings that teachers can partake in um they provide a $1,200 stien for the ads training um it does require s days and completing an exam um so it come down if you break it down to 80 hours it's about $15 an hour um but it is something that's going to be required and for anybody who's in these certain categories after July 1 of 2027 they will not be able to renew their license if they don't have this endorsement um so again this is one of those I think it it I fully support the idea of the training I obviously support the idea a stifen um but it's one of those that there's just going to be so many things that come out a lot of things just like any legislation I think there there there's positive intent it's just now we have to figure out how to work through it so um personal management you know we have the new teacher orientation we also had a top candidate then we had in um seven um brand new 2B College grads um that we had met through recruitment fairs or had other connections with so we brought them in on Friday March 22nd and um had some administrators talk to them we had some new teachers in we had some students in um just had a great conversation with them and um hopefully some of them will be future coer employees was a fun day um as Andrew talked we are working on our staffing for the 2425 year we have three major factors that are driving decisions um on how to staff to meet the needs of our students one the Esser funds are done um two student enrollment that's we going to work through that and three our fund balances um so we are working through those things and again glad to meet with any of you you um to answer any questions I will have the Staffing plan to you hopefully in the very near future I have a draft done we had a first meeting with it with our administrators um we'll also present it to um the teachers organization as well so again that's something that hasn't we haven't done before so getting the format and the layout done um is coming along and trying to make sure that we're not missing anything or we're not misrepresenting anything there's a lot when you're looking at $21 million budget so and then trying to calculate you know the retirements and the pieces that come in so um luckily we have Andrew who's a master of spreadsheets and um yeah so we wake up and the mid the night come up with a question and talk about it for S more it's good um our uh we are having a lot of conversations about our debt where we're at and how to manage that um hopefully by next month I'll also be able to give you a presentation of where we're at so we are looking at ways to bring our tax rate down um while still doing things like the common School fund loans but we I'm hoping that that's the last common School construction loan I ever have to come and ask you for um also the the representatives will do the operations fund Equalization right if you look at um that which is entirely based on assessed value um and that makes things difficult schools that are significantly smaller than us receive twice as much money in operations as we do which means that we have to take money out of the education fund which I don't believe anybody really agrees with so what money could be going to pay teachers we have to move that over to paper things like buses and those type of things so working in the realm there yes I think it is and the common School funds are there for schools like us but then now you have this new legislation that says you have to go through these extra stuff so that is the mechanism that they had come up with to kind of balance things out but you know one law affects another but that's right we're working through it and uh everybody seems to have an ear from the legislators to the dgf to the doe of our situation so as please look at the Oracle outstanding things going on um you know F Fine Arts continue to Excel and as a band Color Guard continue to earn honter but Loose the musical was superbly cast and performed we recogniz it as one of our best Productions yeah outstanding um I love this little picture on here Alexander meeting so he was at Kindergarten Roundup and he's also done some lunch events um and yes you can it is wonderful so that is there announcements legisla breakfast this Saturday at 9:00 a.m.

this uh hearing was re was pushed to 8:00 um to allow for um other business to be attained to the proposed amendments to the zoning bylaw into the ash excuse me on the proposed amendments to the ashon zoning in ashon zoning map the subject matter changes are being proposed for compliance with the multif family zoning requirements for the MBTA Community section section 3A of the Mass General R chapter 40a in specific note noted below this hearing will be held in person in the ashon town hall section second floor hearing in room excuse me second floor select Board hearing room in remote particip participation is available via Zoom video conference platform to join this meeting via Zoom please see the plany board agenda the proposed amendments will be on the following sections of the Ashen Zing bylaw a additions to section 9 8.9 titled MBTA Community ex MBTA communities Pawn Street multifam over District B amendments to section 9.4.1 titled procedures for site plan review and design review C amendments to section 4.8 titled rail Transit District D amendments to section 8.6 TI titled Wildwood mixed use District e amendments to the ashon zon map as followed uh the Ashen zor map was posted with the town clerk it was available uh the proposed zoning Amendment shall be excuse me the proposed zoning Amendment shall be made to the ashon zoning map and to the following Parcels number one amend zoning map by creating a zoning District Pawn Street mixed excuse me pawn Street multif Family overlay District to include the following properties zero Pawn Street assessor map 929 LW 105 369 Pawn Street assessors map 29 lot 151 to amend the zoning map by creating the the zoning District Wildwood mixed use Excuse me Wildwood Wildwood mixed use dis overlay District MBTA to include properties 100 Chestnut Street Ash Mass assesses map 20 lot 271 proposed only amendments in the map the proposed only amendment and zoning map amendments are available in the town clerk's office by appointment during regular Town Town Hall hours Andor on ashlin's MBTA communties website through the following link parties which be held on this matter should should submit comments to the pl board ahead of time and door appear at the time and place indicated above for more information please submit comments to Peter matek in a list my office line and my email address all right thank you Peter so um we have a set of slides tonight um just as a little introduction for anyone that's online most people know this um but uh we formed a working group back in September between the planning board and the select board that consisted of Select board member Joel manani myself Trisha Kendall Town planner Peter machic and um assistant Town planner Alo ELO Esparza who I think is I think I saw him on line as well correct um so um we've been working since September um on a a plan to put forth um at uh at Maytown meeting and so it has been published as Peter has said and um we're having the public hearings to determine um if this is uh indeed something that's that's good for Ashland so if we want to okay slide one so I will just be going through there's a series of 12 slides including this one um but I I think we'll go through fairly quickly and then just get to a larger discussion so next slide perfect okay this is just the review it's a big review for all of us I've heard it a million times but these are the requirements that the state has put forth for these MBTA zoning communities we need to create a zoning District or districts it can be in a number of places they have to Total at least 50 acres um they have to have a minimum of 20 acres or we have to have a minimum of 20 acres within 0.5 miles of our train station the individual areas of zoning so each district can be no smaller than 5 Acres each of those districts has to have um a minimum density of 15 units an acre and all districts have to allow multif family housing with no age restrictions by right so next Pier so that's the basic qualifications we're we're working with so and the other the other component of this so there's acreage and then there is um units so because we're a commuter rail um Community we have to take our current housing units which is 7,495 by the 2020 census we need to multiply by that by 15% and that gets us to 1,124 units of housing none of this housing has to be built um but we do have to zone for it so it's capable of being built next slide so the working group the four of us um these were the priorities as we kind of discussed it over a number of meetings and um figured out how we should approach this problem we decided to use what we have and by that we meant that the planning board and um the zoning board of appeals had already recently approved and number of large housing projects that qualified or nearly qualified for the things that um that the MBTA communities was supposed to address things close to the railway station housing um certain densities and so we decided to use those efforts to help us in our MBT to fulfill the MBTA Community um uh regulations the second was to keep the density as low as we could that's 15 units an acre mandatory but we so we wanted to try to keep it that way if we could and then we wanted to respect the ongoing comprehensive plan process the town has in invested a quarter of a million dollars into our comprehensive plan which is supposed to help us determine where we want density where we want housing and to make a number of decisions about our community and so the working group is a group of four and then the planning board and the select group is a bigger group of 10 to 12 to 14 depending on how we want to count ourselves also didn't really want to take didn't want to make big decisions that should be Town decisions so um so those were that that's what we started with and starting to look at the areas that we ended up working with so we found ourselves settling on these four zoning districts there's sorry three zoning districts there's four properties within those three districts totaling our total acres is 72.9 five remember we need a minimum of 50 and we have 72 so we're fine there um so one of those is the rail Transit District that where that's where Cirrus is one is the Wildwood District which is where the 100 Chestnut Street project is currently in construction and the other is pwn Street which we recently approved a project um near the residents or right next door to the residents at Valley Farm that has been approved but has has not started construction so those are the areas we're working with and those are the areas where the zoning changes have to take place all right and just to look at those in a little bit more detail the first area is um it's the smaller of the two just in the way we labeled things um ugc this is an over 55 community approved for 180 units um this is a project that we've most people know it's currently in litigation and it it's a friendly 40b it would be um 25% affordable it is not currently in construction so we'll go through a little bit later um the current density of that whole area is 20 units per acre because of the way the zoning is written the effective density what it really looks like or what it really is is 14 units per acre we explain that in a little bit and then B is serus Apartments so there's 398 units currently built there it has the same thing it has a cur current density listed at 20 um but an effective density at 14 again we'll explain that so that if someone's reading the proposed bylaws they'll understand what that what that means we would in both of those areas we would need to increase the density a little bit because we need it to be at 15 14 is not good enough to fulfill the MBTA zoning right so um next slide so the other two areas are um are uh properties um outside of that transit district one again is the V Village of the Americas that's the project currently into construction um it has 174 units its current density is 29 and we have put a density of 29 on it so um it just uses what we already have there's no incentive for building more units then other one is 501 Pawn Street that is approved for 125 units though nothing construction hasn't started um that is also a 25% affordable project um the current density is 32 and again we um left the current density at 32 but noted that this property also includes the residence of Valley Farm next door because um 501 Pawn Street is only four acres it has to be five in order to use it so we've used both of those both of those Acres as a district all right so this is the little tricky part when we get back to I wanted to explain a little bit about um when we look at the unit count and I wanted to explain why um the units at ucg and um Cirrus has that um it has one density in the bylaw and it's it's another density of what it actually is and that is because written into those um those zones this is for the U ugc Arabella um the parcel itself is 38 acres but there's some there's a covenant in place that when that parcel is developed 20 acres is given back to the town you know as a gift basically we can't count that 20 acres so even though it looks like 40 we can't count 20 of it because it's a gift to the town and then in that zoning there's written in the zoning it says exactly where you can find it in those zones 30% of it is is set aside for open space 10% well 10% for open space and another 20% for impervious surfaces like parking that you can't build on right so that's when while you go up to Cirrus the buildings are kind of far apart right so the density when you really look at the whole thing up there on those properties it's zoned for 22 but really it's only buildable it only comes out to 15 units an acre because of all this because we have to take out 30% of the land saying you can't build on that 30% so we have to we have to Zone Z it a little higher so um so that's true both for ucg and cus and Cirrus which is the next slide right so same same kind of condition except it doesn't have the 20 acres coming out because the Covenant is about once the last property is developed which is ucg the town gets the 20 acres okay so that's why the kind of the whole process is a little bit not a little bit a lot more complicated than it first seemed because all of the underlying zoning all of any Co any Covenant underneath something also needed to be examined all of that had to be reported to the state in order to see if the solution would work so anyway these were unit counts um if you can go to the next slide basically the number tweaking that we did put us puts us right at the unit count of 1,124 units is which is what we're required to do right so tweaking the numbers that's where that's where we got that's good so in other words we we would fully expect this plan to work Alo has been through it he's um talked to the state I think about it kind of pre submitted it to the state correct so some of the so our bylaws have submitted to the Attorney General's office they've kind of looked at them no red flags yeah um so we were we're good to go so this this should uh this should be acceptable and work fulfilling all regulations of the state it looks at properties that are already built being built or are already approved to be built um the risks there are some risks in this um Michael Herbert mentioned it a little bit at the last joint meeting we had and that is that um even if you the risk is really for the the um the projects with access um with affordable units that if the underlying zoning if the zoning that they're allowed is the same as what has already been approved with the affordable units someone might say well I'm just going to withdraw mine and re re um submit it but without that it would be at 10% affordable I think in one case at 12.5% affordable but right so um but they could just subit submit resubmit it at a lower affordability and it would fit the zoning that we've that we've put on it on the MBTA communities so that's kind of the that's the risk there how much of a risk it is I couldn't possibly say but there's a risk so that that's not a risk of the partials that we have tentatively selected that's a risk anyway if you if you say it's buy right I mean we cannot ask for 25% so I mean I I understand and I appreciate it's pointed out because I think that's important but if we just took had nothing to do with areas built because we Magic Ally had enough acreage somewhere to meet the 1,124 units to zone for we could only require at most 12 a half% correct by right that's right so it fair to say the risk but it's not quite it it's not quite that simple to say we're not getting 25 if they choose to do it because we would only be able to require 10 or 12 a half right no I mean I I think yeah I I'm kind of sick about that those projects could do that but it it's it's not an increased risk of this we're trying to comply we're trying to offer our town a way to comply with MBTA zoning by doing this we're trying to um what we you the working group is doing is trying to provide Our Town a way to vote on complying with MBTA zoning if you didn't take places where there are potential projects we could only ask for 10 or 12 and a half% that's my point so the risk is mushed in there and not unimportant but it I don't want people to think that's an extra risk of because the parcels you chose per se no no no no it's just um we're trying not to we're not trying to lose what we work so hard to gain that that that's the risk okay so next slide this is the big one this is what we call the game changer because just as we were putting these slides together um as everybody knows we got um a notification from the state that 10 to 60 main which we had intentionally left out of our deliberations for the reasons that I stated before um has been submitted to the state as a as um a 40b project there was a walkth through today um about that Marcelo and I attended and um so the question now becomes do we happy to obviously to discuss the plan as we have it but there's no um incentive that I know of for going in May versus versus doing this in November when things are changing um we're wondering and this is um been a question that's been asked to me by um several people is wondering about if 10 to 60 main is going to is is there's an application in there for a 40b why wouldn't we use that app that that acreage as part of what we might do for the MBTA zoning right now at 250 units that's what's being proposed we don't know if it'll be 250 units but that is a zoning of 32 units an acre so even if we put the zoning down there at 15 units an acre we start to spread out we start to spread out a little bit more of our risk in other areas so um yeah for the risk that we have which is maybe the biggest one is at 501 um or we decide to take out we decide to take out um an acreage like for instance at ugc maybe we just wouldn't use that acreage at all right we wouldn't have it as part of the MBTA communities we're just wondering if we want to look at the big picture so correct me if I'm wrong a 40b is 25% affordable so if they go through with the 25 if if the 40b is accepted and goes through that's 25 if we make this a potential area of the zoning you can only ask for potentially 10 or 12 a half% by the economic thing so that doesn't make sense to me to like I mean the it's I hate to even call that affordable because we know a $3,000 a month rent is in my opinion is not affordable so that's a SE issue but how so how the waiting to get us less affordable if you if you Zone that for MBTA I don't understand we're not expecting that it would be used as MBTA it's obviously going to be going forward as a 40b it's about being it's it's it's our first premise of what we as a group had decided to do which was use what we have and now what we have potentially what it seems like what we have now is different than what we had two weeks ago right different now that's a very I mean that's just that hasn't even been applied to the town so I I mean I can see you taking the Gamble and and forcing that down to as low as TW 10 or 12% because the fall town meeting would be november-ish and then it might not get accepted till January but that project we don't know the cue of the timeline of that project no I don't think it's about that so anyway let me let me just finish um actually I I think is that my is that our last slide yeah it's the last slide okay last slide so the point is um the point we're trying to make is that we were asked to do a job with a certain set of conditions that we knew about in town and since that time the conditions are changing have changed we don't there's things that there are things that are yet to play out right and so we as the committee and I'll just speak for myself and let other people speak for themselves um I'm a little wondering personally that I could see why we wanted to bring it to Springtown meeting but I would rather myself have six more months to see how things play out so that I can then make the best decision for Ashland about how we should structure the MBTA communities so that's kind of that's kind of where I am on it so we're looking I guess for comments both on that and on the plan as it stands right is it a good plan nope it's better than anything we should go with it um and and that's what this public hearing is about I don't know if how many we have now two people in our audience welcome Mark um and I don't know how many are online um but that's that's where we're at we're on we're on schedule for May but the in light of the working group the game has changed a little bit so Trisha do we know like is it a if we wanted to play around with it like just 1060 main slot in easily for one or the other like the parameters for yeah acreage and like is it an easy swap okay yeah obviously there's work to be done right where to be done but it's not insurmountable uh and yes you could take 60 M 10 to 60 M and you it's above the 5 Acres it's a little bit outside but we still have plenty of acreage inside the the .5 mile radius from the transation so that's taken care of so you can drop ucg or 501 Pond correct you can depress you can you can you can you you can you can change the numbers around yeah right which also takes some pressure off of the ugc um and it could take some pressure of that off that pawn Street uh by adding in now you can add in as many acres as you want right as long as 40% of the total overall acreage and the total number of units are inside that 0.5 mile radius and we do we can make it work and we can do so because we have Cirrus right cus is a great thing that we have for us um and there's so so yes we can it's not insurmountable but at this point it's too late to to to do it within the model and within the zoning bylaw to get ready for town meeting to do the whole advertisement um and so that is the situation we're in we have a plan that we we we we hit our goal right we hit our goal because we we came up with a plan that is suitable that fits the bill and and that we think um can be adopted Andor um accepted by the state uh but at this point obviously with things changing um 6 months will give us the ability to continue to study right and to continue to learn and but also to to rebuild a little bit and if we were to include 10 to 60 Main Street we could change the numbers around and or play with the numbers a little bit to to to kind of force some pressures off of lots that are right now inside the equation I mean I I have been on board with the working groups plan for you know weeks I me since you guys started presenting it um it made sense and also liked the idea of going forward at Springtown meeting in order to give ourselves some buffer if we needed the fall but I do agree with Trisha that this is you know leaving a potential opportunity on the table that is kind of could be lwh hanging fruit for this that minimizes our risk at other properties which we you just talked about the hard work put in to you know do what was best for the town and some of those other Lots um I mean I would be open to re-evaluating as things change is is 10 to 60 within the0 five miles it's just a it's one yeah it's just outside but um but you can still it's still it still can count so I I mean from what I know right now unless we have a timeline I would not support that because I I think the danger is that's go that could go to a by right 10 or perhaps I don't think we include that in the study area but we can say maybe say the 12 and a half% because it in my experience I mean any 40b friendly or not it was never settled in that time frame so unless someone can kind of convince me I think you're driving that project by adding it down a much much lower um affordability amount so it you can't ask for more than the 10 or 12 a half% so if we rezone to include that they are not going to be completed I I can't see how they be completed accepted and once they're accepted they have two years to build so they can go back and build 10% anyway they can do the same thing that those other partials can do so I I I'm not seeing how that is adding up to make sense wouldn't they either have to do the 40b or go forward with ours wiing so like either either they go forward with the yeah lower lower affordability threshold but then they're back before us which has benefits and that was just or they go forward with the 40b at the 25% which you get the 25% affordability out of that but it's a 40b they they're not going to be able to build what their proposing building in the 40b and also reduce it to 10% that's right so it's one or the other yeah go ahead Joe I'm I'm sorry Joe manani I'm part I'm part of the committee um but you're absolutely correct it it's it's it's one of the other and and they don't have they can't tweak one and then tweak the other to meet their requirements you folks have that ability to do that you folks can put them this is what you need to do during that time frame uh to get to uh Kate's uh some of the concerns Kate has I have the similar concern Kate with with respect to all this the one problem that I that I see is that there is a particular piece of property that we talked about earlier uh that's in that's in land court right now but the developers that had that property and met with the town they were they were ready to go they they would have been built by now this has been going on for almost a year and a half this this land this land battle okay so in in my mind we would have had that that project almost almost done almost done it usually takes 2 years for this particular project what it's it's a year and 8 months already waiting for this to happen and thankfully the Builder has faith that this is going to you know be part of their you know part of their project and for the for the future so if this gives us the opportunity to hold off a bit to make sure where this where this particular uh land pel is going to go then it that falls directly right into our you know right into our hands with the original design of what we wanted to do um and that relieves some of that that pressure of units per acre per acreage that that we were concerned about because that's one of the things that we all we're all were in agreement with is that we didn't want to have it look like some of the pieces of property that are in Framingham they're so convoluted with buildings on a specific area that the they can't breathe type because you have building on top of building and that's not what we want for ashine we want to make sure that there is enough acres for this building for for these buildings and projects to work so that way it's you know you don't have to roll out the window and say hey excuse me I need a cup of sugar and just hand hand it back and forth to one another you know I would use toilet paper but that was kind of gross however I just that's that wasn't our vision our vision was to make sure that we met the compliance of the NBTA zoning requirements which is what we have done but again this this whole new facet that's coming down the road I it definitely puts it definitely puts things in perspective and I would like to see this play out uh I'm not one for waiting but at the same token this may be something to wait for and see how it all plays out and uh again all we we have the plan that's that we feel comfortable with it may even be a better plan once we see where some of these other projects come into play and who knows it may it may be to our advantage that now we have more acreage and we can expand that so that way we're not condensing M the the units on on one smaller piece of property so what's the harm of going to Springtown meeting with this because you're going to have you've already done the work you got it accepted we got the lawyer you if we re-evaluate another another parcel downtown you're going to have to do that work anyway we could redo that at the fall town meeting if it seems like something potentially would make this better I I don't see why that wouldn't you're doing the work anyway and I know that people have an in order amount of work and every every public meeting I saw people recognized that and thanked you and I will add to that thank you right but that work has been done we're ready to go you're going to still do the work to look at that partiel if something comes through and then it can be Revisited at fall my worry with that though is then then in order to get any benefit from that the benefit to us including 1060 main would be removing another property where we feel like there's some risk to the town and some risk to the work that's already been done to get conditions that we want for projects and I worry that like including a parcel and then rolling that back at fall toown meeting I also worry about like the Optics of that with the town to say we just we just did this in the spring we're going to do it again in the fall and do a Switcheroo I I feel like it's cleaner to have one Proposal with that's very well reasoned go to town meeting one time it gives us more time to do public Outreach on it and get people sort of understanding I know there's also a lot of thoughts on the 1060 project and I think um I don't know I wor I worry that going forward with what we have and then swapping out I don't I I don't even know what that would look like trying to remove a property in the F but like we and if we can't then we lose the benefit of including it's just a it's it's a it's a warrant article it's a vote it's a Zone you know and it's just it's part of uh it's part of doing business when you come when it comes to zoning I I just worry that it's like a very quick turnaround to I I understand because I agree with to me it's the the risk that we outlined that's exactly the risk those stuff can happen in those 6 months right so um that that that's just it it will it happen I probably not like I have no idea right but it weighs on the minds of us on the on the working group that you know but and just a note and and I know we have one hand ra Claudia is that we have to be in compliance by December 31st of next year right right and so that's the that's the that's the deadline December 31st of excuse 24 yeah I'm sorry this upcoming December 30 23d uh December 31st I spoke I misspoke uh so we have one person on online with their hand up I'm going to ask uh if you may please Ju Just as a general comment because I was listening to the the the arguments both ways and after hearing all that I think I concur with the description that you that you made Trisha it seems like it's a win-win win uh is re the the potential to relieve pressure from from sites that would develop the way we want them uh the potential to to improve the affordability using that potential forb project um and the ability to do it clean like like uh you were saying um in in one in one thoughtful run I think this more chances that that the town and the town meeting would would appreciate it more holistically and and and voted in favor so that that plan to me makes sense I'm just having being part of the 1060 design process in last year and a half and what we've heard from the town we were anxious when we even heard 185 units now we are seeing 250 units 25% that to the developer is still 185 un units that they still get but what's advantage of that 250 is your affordability past that when they came to us it was 185 minus the 10% so from the developer point of view the 40b is a great approach for them but I I would be surprised if our town is going to just accept this so I'm curious I know we have that as a separate topic but what exactly is what happens after this 30 days time period that we have a discussion on 1060 what happens what is really in our hands or is that just what comes our way because to me I somehow feel what Kate was to me that I feel like the work that you've put in for now yes there is a bit of risk in that but it feels like we need need the town to react on that and if you keep that to the fall it with the hope that 1060 is going to happen which I'll be surprised in like you said in 6 months we are already in April um it would be magic if it will have that clear Direction you at that time when you go back to the town with this proposal and there are kind of lot of back and forth you've lost battle in both sides I think we are asking calling for more risk trying to say let's table this plan and wait to see how 1060 develops I'm not convinced on that myself it's if if I may just add another point to that well but you can if you just have a no let Claud she's had a hand raised that CLA Claudia Bennett I see you with the hand raised I'm going to ask you to unmute good evening uh you know first of all I just really want to thank everybody too I mean there's a uh an unbelievable amount of work that goes into almost everything that happens in the town that people don't realize and uh certainly uh we appreciate all the work that this committee this subcommittee has put forth uh to get us to this point um you know I just want to say just from a very simplistic uh point of view that uh while I understand that a lot of work has been done it would be nice to take it Forward I have concerns with then having to try to change it come fall if that ended up being our best um solution or our best um you know way to proceed come fall I also feel as though uh there's a lot on the plate right now for this town in terms of development and I think we be we need to be able to discuss uh you know openly all the different things that we're faced with at this point in time and this is definitely you know a part of that picture um if indeed it it's going to be a 40b project then I do think that we should get credit for it if you will um and then the other thing in terms of the 30-day um talk back I think for commenting I think that's been extended um I'm not exactly sure the date of the extension but we were granted an extension when Michael applied so we have some additional time for that however we I don't think any of us should get too excited about that because from what I understand um those the the the ability and the opportunity to give comment um often do not prove to be fruitful uh for those who are commenting um so I would I would be in favor of w another few months and and have some additional information take the time to really have the community be aware of all the things that we're looking at in the community around development not even just this single um issue and and be able to bring it to um you know an educated um public in the fall thank you Claudia Joe thank you thank you Peter I don't disagree with what you're saying I would just like that it's just not 1060 Main Street that that provides us the concern it's it's a piece of property that we currently have as part of our formula and that could easily be pulled away and that's the concern for me in a far more than 1060 Main Street is to be very honest with you um because of the stature of the the the project itself and how it would fit very nicely in in this whole area uh and it if it stays the way it's supposed to stay and I hope it does I mean we're putting a lot of we're putting a lot of wishful thinking you know in land court and hopefully it'll get past like I said it's been a year and eight months for this to this to go through and um you know there may be there may be some light at the end of the tunnel coming this way uh so if we get that extension for 6 months and we have that vote in the fall it would be more than likely that we would probably see some decision made on that piece of property and that would be very helpful for for us as this as this committee to keep that property where it is and not have it you know pulled off from underneath us uh and that could easily happen so if we keep if we it's just not it's just not that one specific you know item and you're right 1060 is not going to get passed and voted this going to be a long discussion it's going to get done however it is a 40b it's not a friendly 40b so will it get done sooner than later yeah it will be it will be and probably not to our liking but hopefully you folks can put some you know restrictions on what what can and what can't be done you know so you've got a lot on your shoulders that's going to be coming up on on 1060 Main Street and I and I don't uh I don't envy any of you have to sit down and listen to this and and try to you know and try to Corral a monster that's L A 40b do go does go to the zoning board of appeals just for note note of clarification but you folks can put you can put yes you can put certain things on there as well I think it's oh sorry k i i was G to say I think it's important to note that like I think the idea of including 1060 isn't rubber stamping the 40b project as as approved it's saying if this is going to be built as Jo just said it's going to happen sooner rather than later it's saying let's leverage it and Zone it for I think we had said 15 units an acre which is way under the 32 that they're proposing to build and it just helps us get credit towards what we need to do for 3A so it says we're in this very sticky situation with 40b let's get something out of it for MBT zoning 3A purposes and I think that's an I think it's an important point to be clear about that to the public that it's that including 1060 is is n saying we are super psyched about this project at since 1060 main it's saying let's get something good for the town out of it and be able to exclude another property from this much more generous Zoning for 3A and and leave it out and have a project hopefully be able to proceed as we had planned yes and I think that to me is worth delaying even though I was you know very much in the camp of trying to do everything we could to go to Springtown meeting yeah and just a note from a number standpoint yes and the 1060 is currently proposed at 250 no one is saying let's go 250 right we could do by right we could do zoning that brings it up to you know if you do the minimum 15 units per acre you're sitting at 112 right then right so if you do minimum of 15 units per acre at 112 you can then depress the other the other pressures right across the board on the other properties the further you you move that that 112 up up to say 150 then the leite then you can kind of play with the numbers and so that's what when I say you can kind of shift things around and shift pressure around that's what I was alluding to it's not to say just it's not to say that we have some magic solution in our head here you know because we don't right we were trying to work hard for this which is what we were just thrown for a loop too two weeks ago right when we had to you know just after our last meeting when we had to say okay how does this affect us so I don't know what the best solution is maybe it be right back to exactly what we're proposing but it seems like we should think about it and we should see what happens will ucg come out of come out of litigation probably not but maybe it will will something happen at 501 will they go into construction you know and they got a building perent away Maybe not maybe yes right but all that's more information that we use to make the best decision we can for Ashland and that's what that's I think what weighs on me not that we have a bad proposal here but that now I feel like I'm using incomplete information to make the best proposal I can for the community just not yeah but so with that Kate I have a question so because this argument makes a lot of sense to me what would you say if you can point out what is the great advantage to the town to ignore that argument and go for the vote on in the spring because I don't see it yet if you can explain well let's be honest conditions always change and we had to get the working group got going knowing that UC uh ugc was in Lan Court we don't know it Joe seems to indicate there might be some more information and and I mean if that's part of the puzzle I I feel a little bit differently but I'm not sure that we do have more information or if that's going to be built right and um I feel like the the weight does not make sense to me the way you first explained it maybe all these pieces together possibly but I I I I'm not um definitely not convinced but can you help me pointing what is the advantage because there is no information there is a 40b that has been filed on on on Mass housing um and it will go through who knows how but they are intending to go through we met with them today the developer is there and they have financing and they're moving through the process so that's no information so what would be gaining from not taking it into consideration just move forward as we had a couple weeks ago because there's no way that will be settled by town meeting so we're back we will be in the same situation in November we're just going to do our best to make decisions and what would be the difference if we are back to the same situation then the vote goes as I mean one one big difference and I will repeat that is you now you're putting sort of a uh everybody over a barrel you have to pass this because it it's due by by the end of the year I mean I guess we could say we'll have another special town meeting if it doesn't fail but the the whole point of this was giving people a chance to say Let It fail we we aren't speaking for the community right we're we're doing our best to present something and you're you're taking an opportunity for the community to speak away but you think the community also just learn about these new projects would they not take it into consideration like like some people in the committee are oh I I think so but since it's not going to be settled I I failed to see how that's going to change it much it it's ucg it's a 40b this has always been an issue things that you don't control we're just doing our best we don't control the that zoning law we're trying to react to it so if it was settled I would agree I don't think it's going to be settled and I don't see how that's helpful I don't know that it needs to be in my mind I don't know that 1060 needs to be settled I think like to Joe's Point again and to marcelo's like it's going to happen in some way shape or form and it's going to happen at higher density than 15 units an acre so to me like if that's what the way we Zone it It Whatever ends up being there is going to qualify under the zoning they'll go forward with the 40b no matter what I mean if they choose to go forward under the zoning that we put in place that's great um and it's I don't see how the incentives work for that but I think what we get out of it is using it for this purpose I don't think it has to be settled I think it's of all the of all the variables to me that are out there with all these different project with the unbuilt projects 1060 seems the most certain to become reality and I guess I agree with that because the because the the process that we went through 10 to 60 which was extensive and we put a lot of work into it trying to really craft something that was good for downtown uh but uh the owner of that property has been making an effort for a while now and now he found his way to me that is that that is more likely than not just in any case and we have uh Mark that wants to speak and I think elro maybe maybe wanted to speak but just uh I just wanted to say that like this public hearing also is not about taking any Vote or coming up with any discussion decision it's just a discussion tonight and I would hope that we wrap it up at 9: so okay um I'll let Mark go first Alo and then can okay thank you Mark son 49 haon Road wishing and understanding what's realistic is hurting your decision- making right now the state and this town are on two different odds right now with what to do how to get away from things and how to go forward today April 11th we find out different things came down the pipeline but our zoning has not changed even it's going to be MBTA zoning so what makes the board think if it's going to work for the town if the state's going to go with what they say and then thinking that Ash and Zoning might change for them how can this be an agreeable and not worth the time to go over and talk about it and then change in the last second it's my usual way I'm saying is the two-way street compromise understand so everybody can have an understand of what's going on and come out together on this but right now we're in a pileup of misunderstandings and W in 6 months it could be everything kumay or it could be a bigger pileup thank you thank you mack uh Alo I think you had we want to make a point pal yeah I just wanted to add that I guess when we were looking at the math as well if you see the total permitted for ugc was 180 and if you see at the total permitted for 501 it was 125 that adds up to 305 units and so we were looking at the fact that those were a higher amount of units than 250 at 160 Main so in some way we were putting a Jey those 300 305 units uh while looking at the 200 50 so that was part another reason why um or another point that we had on our last discussion so just wanted to add that thanks bud um so I I thought that the process was after hearing the the planning board does vote to like say this goes forward but is that not true so so it can just either show up on the docket or not so this has been submitted to the warrant it's been added to the warrant so this is the public hearing where the planning board either votes to recommend and to not to recommend right and so the pling board can discuss this and then but what comes out of this yes is a is a vote to either support to recomend and recommend the article at town meeting floor in obviously or to not support the article as printed in the warrant for reasons listed you know and so um and so I think we don't have to come to a vote tonight you know it's very it's very um new it's new right and it's very common for a planning board to open a public hearing as you know and continue it uh but we do have to give a recommendation at town meeting floor uh just with the time frame and and and the regarding the state regulations that we were under and so uh we have to have one public hearing which is what we're doing right now correct did did we did we put on a calendar a second one or do we have one right now so we have one right now was advertised and then it can just be continued to the next meeting April 25th which is obviously this the last meeting before town meeting uh and then the planning board will be asked at town meeting floor to give a recommendation um and neither that comes from a vote to either to support and or to not support the article as printed I feel like one thing that we haven't discussed about a potential upside of delaying including 1060 and this is the last comment I I'll make I'm sorry for being so vocal on this subject but um I mean I think that there's been some some public sentiment around like are we just evading the purpose of this should we really be leaning into the purpose of MBTA commus and there is like an element of okay we don't love that this 40b came in it's not a friendly 40b we don't like this the way that this is designed at 1060 we're not saying Rec psyched about it but it's also 6 miles from the train station and that's probably much more within the the way that this that the intent of 3A was designed in MBTA communities is that you know people are going to maybe just walk up Pleasant Street and and hop on the train I mean I think the Optics of that over some of our other Lots you know we're thinking particularly I think about 501 Pond that I think is a potential additional benefit of including a project that while we are not thrilled that it is sort of eligible now for consideration it is there I I think that's a good point very yeah so so the plany board doesn't have to vote on this tonight I know it's nearing 9:00 and we do have the state sustainability coming on committee coming on at 9:00 but um but we can we can table this matter and just continue it with a motion to uh April 25th if appropriate can I ask one last question so in a scenario where 1060 happens at that point would 501 get off your chart or ugc well that's those are the types of things like I you know I don't know what we we didn't discuss that all we discussed is is this an opportunity or not an opportunity like other things besides 10 to 60 can happen in there that would push one thing us one way or the other push the board not not just not our little committee the the 10 of us or the you know whatever so um I I don't know that that's the big thing it's a big question mark for me and that's why I feel less unfortunately less confident about it than I felt two weeks ago before we knew about tend of 60 yeah inde think the Bigg thing like obviously am if it comes in if if when you when you add 10 60 to the equation right 501 Pawn Street right development permitted that permits live right 25% affordability right if we understand that a new owner is going to come in right and if we change the MBTA bylaw I mean if we adopt The mbt's Zing right and we say they have to then build the affordability component to 12 a half% right that developer may say hey well let's go I'm just going to rep permanent this thing and that's the risk just to paint it right dead and clear that's the risk and so without and then also the same thing with ugc that's a 40b that permit's still live right because of litigation and so that that that shot clock hasn't even started to tick yet a comprehensive permit's a live permit for three years from the date it's filed with the town clerk right and so if we rezone with the mbta's owning that land owner that new own that new de that developer that filed that application could say we haven't even broke ground on this why am I going to do 25% I have this new Avenue I'm going to go in this direction right so to to to wait the six months to see what happens we can me we can kind of continue to work with the model right and massage the model to a point where you're you're not eliminating all of the risk but you're at least moving and shifting numbers around to depress the values right and so that's that is that is to be clear and honest with you that's it right and so you yes you do lose a town meeting to vote on it but what you do gain is knowledge and further information that you can make the most informed decision for the town of Ashlin because we could end up in a lose lose lose situation where we have techy we're not using it and we have these other two project that are permitted and live that now have an incentive to switch things up and and lower affordability than we had wanted corre and that feels worrisome that's certainly how I have been feeling lately with the ways the balls are dropping lose lose lose is how I feel but I think there's an opportunity for a win here and that's what has me Landing with correct and and the win is you you're going to wait six months you're going to see what happens see what happens with 1060 Milli if they file before which I predict they will before fallt meeting you add them into equation you don't increase their densities up to you incre you you build in the model at 150 units right but you're taking those units and you're adding them to the equation where you can then depress it down in other areas and and in theory that's what we're looking at right now so like I said we don't I just want because I just did not ask if anyone on if anyone else people a few people did raise their hands online but if anyone would like to speak obviously they can do so um so please do it right away though now that we're wrapping up I'm just lost in my thoughts here um but otherwise we don't need to make that decision today everyone can kind of try to really think through the details in the next 10 in the next two weeks we'll continue it we'll we'll talk about it again after some reflection and then and then and then see where we are but uh obviously uh we put in a lot of work on the working group there's nothing I would like better than to take something off my to-do list like that love it but I'm not sure I can right now so I'm just throwing it out there transparently and honestly and it's up for us as a group to decide right so um that's kind of where we are so seeing no hands up there on our screen if someone wants to make a motion to continue I'll make a motion to continue the discussion for the MBTA community's um um byow change to our meeting on April 25th is there a second second that roll call vote Marcel I Catherine Jers guy and Trisha Kendall ey so we continue all right before we go off I just want to make a public thank uh just kind of announce a public thank you to alaro Alvaro is our assistant planner in town and and he is the uh the heart and soul behind obviously MBT communities are mapping all the gis work that that he does and so uh so you know Alvaro is is uh he knows MBTA and I'm sure he wants to get it off too but I just want to uh uh you know I just want to give him a look uh at the public meeting yes thank you Alo thank you thank you all right much FKS thanks Jo all right so next on our agenda um is the sustainability committee discussion of the specialized opt-in bylaw and I believe I saw Ash online yep right there in the middle yep uh how how you doing Ash I'm going to ask you to unmute and I will actually make you a co-host and then also um I will also make the gentleman from doe welcome a co-host please unmute in uh Ash the microphone's yours you thank you uh I am going to try and be kind to all of you for you because you've you've gone through quite a bit today uh Dylan thank you for joining us I am going to try and keep my comments as brief as I possibly can uh I want to try and SP save space for any questions you might have um but um we do have a warrant article coming up we we've talked about this topic before and uh the sustainability committee will be presenting uh a warrant article again uh to adopt the specialized optin code um so I wanted to just share a little bit of detail about it uh with the planning board and and hopefully uh all of you will will choose to support it uh at town meeting um so couple of things that that that I'll just quickly kind of put out there this is probably the four biggest points uh to think about when we're thinking about the opt-in code one is it's for new construction um it promotes sustainability increases Energy Efficiency um there are multiple compliance paths and it qualifies the town for additional Grant opportun unities um and and Trisha I'm I'm going to skip a lot of the the side slides on this so so just to kind of ground the planning board and and anyone else who's listening on this um this is a reminder that we as a green Community already have a stretch code in play that goes that that's in effect right now and that gets extended or rather expanded in July 20 uh July 2024 um and uh as part of that a lot of the issues that came up when we last considered this issue at town meeting sort of go away in the sense that the stretch code already extends out to um increase the efficiency requirements the EV requirements you know they they get Incorporated within the stretch code so they become applicable to the noun of Ashlin regardless of whether we we adopt the optin stretch code or not um so so what I'm going to focus on right now is things that would then apply in addition to the stretch code you know uh if you were to adopt the optin code if if that makes sense um so three things really come into play right one is all new buildings must be either fully electric or pre-wired um the optin code does have the flexibility to allow buildings to use fossil fuels but they must be pre-wired to move to electric and the main reason for that is that when you're building new uh construction it's easier to pre-wire in advance and much more expensive to do it after the fact second is if a building is using fossil fuel it must install on-site solar but there are exemptions where Sol is just not feasible you know whether it's due to shading trees whatever at this the site and then the third point that is in that would be IND difference so so that that be separate from the stretch code would be that new single family so this is big houses or big multif family homes uh anything over 4,000 square ft uh must be certified either as Net Zero or if it's 12,000 ft it must be basically certified as a passive house um sorry so so those are the three main things that sort of come into play everything else that we've talked about previously really becomes part of the stretch code that that already applies to to the town regardless right so these are the three things that would be in play with the opt-in code only for new construction it does not in any way apply for refurbishments all of that those issues sort of get pushed to the side uh and then um you know again just making re remaking the point right it's it's new construction not modeling added construction costs there's now actually a a great deal of data that's actually come into play uh since then um there's actually good studies that have been done since 2021 and 2023 which I can share with you if you've got the the appetite for it that that really show that it's it's it's a between a 1 to 4% increase um and and that also gets reduced as you think about incentives and the the the total life lifetime of the building and uh again the the code does not ban fossil fuels there are lots of compliance Parts unless it's a very very large building and um the the biggest thing that's changing and Dylan's on here if you've got questions about it right the the the state is now introducing a climate leader program so so it's you know we've been a green Community we've been a leader in the GRE Green community we've actually gotten access to Grants I think the last account that I had was around 700k of of grants that that the town of Ashland has received as a green Community uh but one of the one of the new things as as Green community st.

e e good evening everyone and it's 7 o'clock so welcome to the Clifton Board of Education general meeting April 11th 2024 please stand for the flag salute and a moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands Nation indivisible withy and justice for all thank you uh Dr Dany is uh is out today it's her Spring Break um so Mr uh shahat please um call the RO miss bassford here Mr brunak here Mr Kenova here Mr Mahia here Mr Santiago here Mr siano here miss Suarez here president Paris here we have a quum the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society and an everchanging world the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clifton Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV V in the local press on the district's website and mail to presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy 0168 so we'll start off to me do we have a student representative report hi Jada welcome um good evening so I'm going to start off with clubs so Key Club the Clifton Kanas family is consisting of CHS Key Club W wion middle school Builders club and the school 17K kids um will be holding a collection in May to the to benefit the St Joseph's Hospital in the pediatric hematology and oncology department they will be collecting coloring books crayle crayons Playdoh character colorful colorful Band-Aids um arts and crafts kits and monetary donations but please note that there they're only taking Crayola crayons um please miss Turk with any questions our mock trial Club um the CHS Mo trial team is the best in New Jersey they are number one out of 250 teams that participated in this year's tournament the Clifton Mo the Clifton mock trial team defeated the Mainland Regional High School from Southern New Jersey and the front New Jersey Supreme Court Justice rabar and the honorable Judge Clark as the US Defense government and Ellis V kirkin our next stop is Wilmington Delaware from May 2nd to 5th to represent the New Jersey National High School Mock Tri Championship the team will argue both sides of a case in a two-day tournament with four rounds so please wish them luck our robotics team qualified for the world championship they are third last week in the New Jersey SL um the Delaware District championship and they won the autonomous award our Mustang ambassadors will be selling ID holders in the Croc jbits for $1 each the sale ones every Wednesday after school in the Clifton High School Media Center um and for sports there have been a lot of great things happening with our Athletics and that includes our girls flag football team our flag blackag football has been rising in popularity since um our our our team has been rising popularity and the Clifton High School is no exception they continue to win um their games and they're on a streak after an impressive win against our Rivals pcti and their last win against Union City one of our captains K Koy shouted out Megan valo and Amanda pido for their hard work and commitment to the team and as always please make sure to come out and support our Mustangs so that's it for tonight good evening thank you thank you [Applause] Jada okay we will do uh start start with our Awards presentations we're going to start with our students of the April students of the month and Ninth Grade I believe Mr President thank you sir thank ninth grade Tiana rubab kova our freshman of the month is Tiana Hub rubab kova as a frequent traveler Tiana enjoys learning about new cultures and languages so it's no surprise her favorite subject is Italian along with her older sister and best friend her eighth grade teachers have been the most influential and impactful throughout her life teaching her independence and lessons she will use throughout high school and her future Tiana keeps herself busy by teaching others how to pronounce her last name playing volleyball in Lacrosse at CHS and is also a part of the Heroes and Cool Kids program Tiana strives to maintain good grades and keep herself involved throughout her years at C CHS she can also see herself taking part in the CH College CHS College programs in my future years in high school such as the Bergen M pccc program certificate of achievement this recognition is certified to Tiana kav kova on behalf of the Clifton Board of Education Administration for CHS student of the month April 2024 congratulations Tiana [Applause] do we have parents here tell Mom to come up do you want to come up I'll take the pictures for you with your camera if you'd like ready [Applause] next up is our sophomore student of the month and that is going to be Lucas Chen our sophomore student of the month has developed a keen interest in chemistry due to his exploration of the different components of life Mr iwan stands out as the most influential teacher for Lucas appreciative for his cond demeanor and will willingness to resolve issues Lucas finds Inspirations in his parents who consistently demonstrate love care and a commitment to doing things that are right his extra extracurricular activities include um being part of the soccer team as well as contributing to success in high school to completing his work diligently listening listening attentively and showing respect to other students previously Lucas participated in the computer science academy indicating a will willingful to engage in academic programs offered by the Clifton Public Schools certificate of achievement this recognition is certified to Lucas Chen on behalf of the clion Board of Education and administration for CHS sophomore student the month April 2024 congratulations [Applause] autoc to much handsomeness in one photo that's funny congratulations congratulations [Applause] sanago no I have her oh commissioner Flores sorry that's fine out of I have the honor to present nasle JIS our Junior uh student of the month nasle JIS our Junior student of the month finds joy in subjects like math English History and Ceramics inspired by her dedicated teachers especially Mr Rogers and Miss Anderson she values critical thinking and overcoming challenges with purpose nasle active AC l participates in extracurriculars such as Key Club mentoring ESL students and contributing articles on medium despite starting as an ESL student she has progressed to honors in AP classes demonstrating resilience and growth with aspirations to become an Eco minimalist architect nasle plans to pursue higher education while balancing her personal and academic Pursuits please uh let's give it up for nle J student of the month Junior conratulations [Applause] yes 12th grade Abel Chong AEL Chong our senior student of the month finds his passion in history valuing valuing its significance and understanding the world around us Dr Cal stands out as his most influential teacher imparting valuable life skills and lessons Abel's mother serves as his Greatest Inspiration guiding him to strive for excellence and supporting him in all his Endeavors he participates in football as an extracurricular activity where he faced challenges during junior year football camp but found camaraderie and growth through the experience looking ahead Abel aspires to become a physical therapist and plans to attend Sean Hall University to pursue his Doctorate with sincere congratulations on your meritorious achievement with recognition by resolution of the Board of Education the desire to excels the formula to a lifetime of success your efforts have brought distinction to you your family and Clifton Public Schools congratulations [Applause] able nice to meet you back a little bit there we go three two one sound like the paparazzi congratulations [Applause] congratulations awarding employe ofri award thank you it is my pleasure pleasure and honor to give this award out I requested to to say this uh District level Vincent Constantino District residency investigator Vincent institutes random residency audits of school students in addition to targeted efforts for students suspected of non-residency he investigates and cons conducts a limited number of residency checks of students selected at random he is part of the security team in visiting schools during monthly drills to ensure all drills are conducted with maximum Effectiveness and safety Vincent has gone above and beyond for all his colleagues such as security and other staff members with different position all throughout the district always manages to keep a smile on his face no matter if a bad or good situation gets the job done when asked to no questions ask a real team player by heart Vincent it always always positive hardworking and ambitious to get the job done Clifton Public Schools district distinguished employee of the month for April 2024 presented to Vincent Constantino for outstanding service dedication and commitment to the Clifton Public Schools Learning Community congratulations friend [Applause] it's okay I can take the picture why don't you leave it I'll take it for you go ahead leave it get in there all right this is who's is who's was this Jess's okay ready this is for Jess 3 two one and then for me hope I didn't break your phone congrats Ben [Applause] pleasure he's an all Hudson County boy you may have to get him Elementary level uh Angela B basan basan School social worker Angela is an exceptional employee Who services half the elementary schools and woodro Wilson Middle Schools working with the most vulnerable students in our district she uses her expert clinical background to effectively assess and work with students in a safe and supportive therapeutic environment Angela is a natural positive and warm individual she provides a sense of calm and security to all she works with she offers an empathetic and supportive ear offers re re reassurance guidance and perspective she adapts to a wide range of students meets them where they are and encourages them to reach their full potential Clifton and the studentry services are fortunate to have her this distinguisher award of the month for April 2024 presented to Angela basan for outstanding service dedication and commitment to the Clifton Public Schools Learning Community [Applause] congratulations of thank you no no are you going up there too huh do family family first I'll take a hug I'm a hug all right Mr Paris you're not visible there you go there right there there you go three two one and then I don't know whose phone I yours right okay all right whoops what's that that wasn't your phone Jess don't worry three two one I'm gonna come all right one more time three two one [Applause] [Music] congratulations midd scho isting next we have our employe of the month for the high school that would be Mr on high school level it is Steven sarano history teacher Stephen pushes his students towards being self-guided Learners step is an expert in his course content and has a keen sense of how to motivate and Inspire high school students Steven empowers students voices and develops them into mobile citizens by emphasizing textual analysis and analytical writing step prepares students for academic autonomy and college preparatory work Stephen has a lifelong has been a lifelong resident and graduated from the Clifton Public Schools district Steve is always building Partnerships with his colleagues friendly relations with the students and shares ideas on how to make CHS the best place it can be Mr sarano goes beyond the call of duty every day he is highly involved in his work with the eras Club kickball competitions ESL tutoring scorecard work during sports events student versus faculty sporting events Junior and senior prom PBIS and countless fun and engaging activities with his social students he always promotes all school events and is an attendance of all of them Stephen I have a PL for you [Applause] I was st's [Music] teer Compu in school English [Applause] I'm just getting to a microphone okay I have the honor and privilege of recognizing uh last month's District level winner who unfortunately wasn't with us last month but is here this evening Samantha DeRose our communication technology [Music] specialist Samantha doose tirelessly navigates the district capturing all of our special moments that tell a visual story of our Clifton one students Clifton one students and staff she is at every Board of Education meeting making sure to share all that happens through our social media platform from our district website to Flyers and posters or banners she is consistently creating for our district at a moment's notice Samantha has been a supporter of Key Club service Endeavors for the past 17 years as a teacher she shaved her head to motivate her students to do well in school and was always to go-to person for Tech help and guidance often leading department meetings and taking her personal time to help her less techsavvy colleagues her intellect and welcoming presence is always visible in everything she does congratulations to a well earned award [Applause] saman got a let her take her picture I'm taking phot hold on you want [Music] me know ready [Applause] you know I I do want to say that I've been with the district for 23 years and in multiple capacities and I have my mom and dad said thank my mom worked in in HR many years ago but in this role as a communication specialist it is an absolute joy to highlight our incredible staff and our phenomenal students it it brings me so much joy every single day and I couldn't ask for a better job because of the staff and the students so I thank you really [Applause] a quick Mr go right ahead Mr President if I may um absolutely little known fact about Mr Rose is that um she's also a rapper and I don't mean like a gift rapper I mean like 50 Cent rapper um she wrapped at a one of the talent shows and I'm not going to put her on the spot tonight but Sam if you're feeling a little frisky later and you want to rap for everybody you know just uh just just we'll we'll let it all out but yeah she's multi multi pent no no I would never I would never do that but I talk about somebody who's multi-talented did you see what happened when all of a sudden nobody could take a picture it was like chaos God forbid she's not here like nobody we know what to do so congratulations to all our uh students of the month and employees of the month all right congratulations to everyone um yes um we would like commissioner bassford please uh read the expression of condolence this [Music] evening thank you it was a heavy heart that I read this whereas on March 21st 2024 the community noted with soloro the passing of Greg dicki and whereas Mr dicki has served the Clifton Board of Education and the children of Clifton faithfully and conscientiously for 15 years until his retirement in July 2013 Mr dicki started in 1998 as vice principal at the high school and in 2002 he became the principal at school 11 until his retirement in 1976 he joined the United States Secret Service as a secret agent Mr Dicky served as a special agent for 20 years working in various positions in New Jersey New York and Washington DC including several presidential campaigns and details Mr Dicky loved science fiction books and movies and cherished spending time with his family now therefore be it resolved that this resolution be forwarded to his Bev family to serve as an expression of the great Regard in which Mr dicki was held by the Board of Education the Administration Employees and the pupils of the Clifton public school system and be it further resolved that the contents of this resolution be noted in its entirety in the official minutes of the Clifton Board of Education for future generations to peruse um dated April 11 thank you commissioner bassford at this point uh I usually like to let people know that um you don't have to stay any longer if you're here for an award Etc um you're certainly welcome to um but it's it's up to you um president uh Parish I just want to note that um the dicky family is in the audience tonight um and maybe um uh you can Dr wazzi maybe you can say a few words to them thank you yeah uh if if if anybody would like to say a few words please you're more than welcome to say a few words um I did not know um M Mr uh dicki but I've only heard incredible things about him so if if if you would like to say a few words please feel free to come up to the microphone and introduce yourself um my name is Abel Chong so I actually had him during my kindergarten years at scho 11 and I'm very sorry to Mr Dicky's family I'm not sure where yeah I'm very sorry for your loss because uh I could tell he really did care about the students and you know it's just sad that he has passed away so I'm sorry for your loss that was very nice of you thank you so much thank you very much able that was nice got an award exactly exactly thank you wow that's awesome that there was a student here it really is um thank you very much to the Clifton Board of Education for that recognition tonight my name is Kim Dicky pentangelo I'm Greg's daughter um and I'm also an educator I've uh I work for the Westfield uh Public Schools as a as a school counselor um my dad passed away three weeks ago today so it's still um pretty fresh and and pretty raw um and it's it's funny because there were a few teachers who um from the Clifton Public Schools who came to my father's wake and it was interesting because they spoke so highly of him and as his daughter you know it's your dad so your impression of your father is always very different um and they spoke so much about how he cared about them as people and I think as a counselor in a school system when you hear that your father cared about his teachers as people that's really what matters um and that's that to me was so important to hear and you know when someone passes away you're always looking for signs and I was talking to Sandy my dad's partner for for the past 20 plus years that I've been looking for signs so often and when we found out that tonight you guys would be doing this recognition of him I started laughing because my grandfather passed away 41 years ago today my dad's dad when I was only nine so my dad used to call me every year on April 11th and say do you know what today is Kim and I would be like yes Dad I know what today is and so today was the first year that he didn't call me to ask me that question so I think it's pretty fitting that today is April 11th and that we're here today acknowledging him Clifton held a very special place in my father's heart he cared very deeply for the work that he did here for his students he cared very deeply for the teachers that he worked with every day so the fact that all of you are doing this tonight means a lot to my brother to myself and to his five grandsons so on behalf of the entire Dicky family I thank all of you very much from the bottoms of our hearts for this recognition and I hope his legacy continues so thank you very much you [Applause] you uh Miss regosa we'll wait for the um Exodus that occurs good to see everyone that's you stay yeah you stay oh okay yes all right good evening everyone um president Paris um Dr roosi who's currently not here but thank you all Commissioners thank you for uh the opportunity to once again showcase what we're doing the wonderful things uh good night everyone um I you know drawing inspiration from um what uh from the dicky family um and for what it means to to be part of the one Clifton community and to be a Mustang tonight's presentation is is really inspir ired by uh something that Miss bassford um asked at one of our most recent meetings um miss bassford you asked um is this working what we're doing in in one of our meetings and we come together every month to Showcase and highlight our staff students and our building administrators on the PBIS uh framework implementation and one of the things that we do once a year usually around the summer is provide you with outcome data from our conversation commissioner bassford um I I thought that it if if one person has a question that means there's more than one of us that has a question so I wanted to provide you all with some um current outcome data on the effectiveness on of the implementation of our framework in in uh Clifton Public Schools you'll see a little bit more of this during the summer months because we'll have complete data uh for some sets but so far this is what uh we have and really really what really grounds all of our implementation are guiding forces such as uh the systems or the place the things that you see in place that drive all of the practices that we recognize our folks for um the data that you'll see in front of you before um in just a few and ultimately all of it is based around equity and the um the really the aspect of everyone in our district mattering from students to all staff in our buildings to all of our parents and caregivers in our community so here are some um I I'll try not to bore you with some of the data but I am a data geek uh myself the first set of data that you see in front of you is called uh the district Fidelity inventory tool and this is a tool that is nationally used by all of um the technical assistance centers out in Missouri where all schools and all states um identify the districtwide implementation of PBIS now from year to year we've been we we started to Pilot this for the center during covid in 2020 and you'll see that we had a significant increases and then something happens from last year to this year that causes some of our domains to decrease you'll see things um by the way this this uh inventory is taken by the district collaborative PBIS team team in which 23 participants on that team answered these questions around these different domains and so some of the things that were interesting to us as we um took the survey uh earlier this winter and started to analyze the trends are the is the idea that there was some decrease I want to give you all an a picture of why most recently this year we have parents and students that joined our collaboration team and so one when folks are taking some of these um when folks are taking these surveys what we instruct folks to say is if you don't know the answer to that you mark it as as if it's not there doesn't mean that it's not being implemented it just means that we have to do better at educating everyone around the table as to what is going on so that's where you see that dip but it's interesting because those responses came from that that the beauty of this is that our team is growing across all of our shareholders not just our um School staff next we have for years um our schools self-rate their implementation and and these these um surveys and tools are utilized to develop uh a uh instructional planning for our students and staff and it measures the implementation of the univers tier system the national average is about 70% year after year this is for our 17 uh K through 12 schools now just this backdrop prek has follows the pyramid model and they have similar data sets but with a different tool so that's why you see 17 schools being measured um year after year Clifton Public Schools continues to to be light years ahead in districtwide implementation scores like this afford US the opportunity to present at a at a state and National level but more importantly it provides feedback to our own staff to say this is what we're doing really well and we want to maintain or these are the areas that we can improve upon again if the data is not there the anecdotal could be great but the data really backs up what we're doing um this next slide so the Benchmark of quality was what the national centers were using in previous years they've now um between last year and this year have turned over to the tiered Fidelity inventory so this is the updated boq for this year right it's called the TFI and um again I think we are getting asked to um officially present at the Northeast conference in May based on our district scores if you notice we have an overall uh overall average across the different subscales of way above average implementation and this all happens because all of our staff is fully really believes in our students um growth and ability to really make a change in the world and that starts by feeling part of the one Clifton Community um last but not least we partnered um thanks to Dr Rob to we've spoken about this with the ruter uh with ruter University and the New Jersey um Sky climate survey platform and so all of our buildings as I mentioned before have uh are have devised the plan spearheaded by um Mr jenera and miss kusal levage and and and uh building administrators to really uh utilize the climate survey results for all of our teams but tonight I wanted to show you our climate survey a a parent portion of it because I thought it'd be fitting for us all the scale for this data set the highest possible score is uh four and um the what the state average is looking for is anything above a 1.75 right because this is their first official year last year they piloted um and so what we see across our schools we're certainly way above that in particular um in particular how so how our parents feel about the Safety and Security of their students of their children and um students one of the things to note is the negative student interpersonal oops behaviors now this particular item is scared is is uh scored inversely meaning that the lower the score the better um this is the way that that platform is set up and one of the things that our our counselors are joining force with us and our teams are around this negative student interpersonal behaviors all the questions deal around how students feel um about uh social media uh influences how they treat each other outside of the school and of course we know that carries over into our building so those things are a little bit more challenging for us to really um to really make an an effect right we can't control what's outside of our buildings however our counseling um teams and our PBIS teams are really trying hard in developing those skills and those uh and those character Ed lessons so that we're teaching things like digital citizenship we're teaching things on how to just interact and be kind humans outside of our school um outside of our buildings and so we did see a decrease in that number as well which which is what we want to see for that particular category um very important to note um I'll have uh the schools in particular will each have plans developed around for the student and staff climate survey results and the the all of these pieces are uh are joined or all the data is triangulate triangulated to really make an an extensive plan on uh how uh how all the different teams can utilize so we have our security specialist using this data so as I mentioned our counseling our PBIS teams are uh building collaborative teams um and and I'm just really excited to provide you all with that because this is all of our work come to life um I want to thank you once again for all of your support because Dr Robos Mrs cus levage uh m Mr shahada and Commissioners this all happens with your full support thank you so much um if you have any questions let me know question thank you very much Paula that was great and it's it's great to see the impact the programs having and how well really really Clifton is is leading um Dr arosi you have comment um M regard go to thank you um data is critical right we we spend a lot of time doing this and we need to know is the time and effort and money we're putting into this having an impact so I think clearly this is um just one question I have did how how we know it's difficult to get people to fill out surveys how was our parent turnout on surveys what was our response rate so all right cuz I well In fairness statistically I know you you don't you don't you don't need a you know you % to be in fairness we In fairness statistically we say if we have 30% feedback we count that as a win that's huge huge 30% feedback and that's on average with five to six different prompts right whether it's through black Blackboard emails roll calls it's it's it's uh so our buildings varied by response where um some of our buildings had as high as 23% response rate which was and some of our schools who really had less than 1% response rate so we're all across the gamut the one thing that I will give the administrators a huge shout out for is um when Mr jenero met with them in October and subsequently in January there were there was a lot of planning on how to get parental and Community involvement so the surveys were kept open longer um to encourage folks for back uh we started that survey collection process in back to school night we we had it in multiple opportunities when when folks were coming in they uh some schools had laptops set up so that parents just visiting the building had availability to do that um we had some schools Who provided uh technical support in multiple languages for when parents came in so um they the administration really worked hard at getting those numbers to increase this year I think that um as as Ed administrators saw what was beneficial and what increased those scores some of our other admin said oh you know we'll try that next time around as well so in all fairness it was all across the board thank you so much you're welcome next on our agenda will be board committee reports and we'll start with uh residency and commissioner Santiago please thank you president Paris so we have two since uh we met early uh March so the first one is um residency security technology committee meeting minutes Tuesday March 12th which was my birthday and we still had a committee meeting but that's okay uh dedicated so the meeting took place on Tuesday March 12th and began at 50:2 in attendance from administration were Mr shihada Mr do missola Board of Education members and attendance were myself commissioner Kenova commissioner siano and president Paris Mr doctor explained that registration for the 2024 2025 school year is now open and we currently have over 265 students in the process of registering that's the first committee report so 265 students it was also brought up that a total of 14 potential non-residents have been identified since the last meeting and current currently being investigated for removal finally Mr doctor discussed some discrepancies with other schools claiming Clifton students the district's lawyers will be consulted about steps moving forward Miss zenola described the security drill of the month and that the drills were completed successfully throughout the district finally Mr doctor provided an update to a question concerning concerning formatting of board docs while the feature is not presently available the company is working to create and will update the district when it might be available the meeting adjourned at 5:35 questions GS I'll read the April committee meeting pleas I read the April okay great so um meeting took place on Tuesday April 9th and began at 5:02 in attendance from Administration where Mr Jenaro Mr shihada Mr doctor miss anola Mr Mountain Board of Education members and attendance were myself commissioner Kenova commissioner siano and president Alan Paris Mr doctor provided an update that registrations for the 24 2025 school year is current is currently at over 350 students either completed or pending miss anol explained that the security drill of the month was completed by all the buildings and that the observations of these drills were positive she also commented on the sidewalk repairs which occurred at school 9 and that she requested from Clifton PD to be notified if construction or repairs will impact any of our schools this topic has been brought up previously at Municipal Alliance and will discussed again Mr Mountain commented on a power outage which occurred due to an out issue outside of the school district's purview generators began working and one server needed to reboot which took less than 20 minutes any long lasting or large scale outages or disrup disruptions will be communicated with board members the meeting adjourned at 5:26 p.m qu questions thank you thank you commissioner Santiago uh commissioner Suarez could you read our policy minutes please certainly thank you president Paris uh the meeting uh in in attendance uh at the meeting was myself uh commissioner Mahia commissioner Santiago uh president Paris and the meeting took place on Tuesday March 12th 2024 began at 4:05 PM an attendance from this Administration is Dr D Danny robero Amed shahada Michael doctor Maggie Miller Board of attorney uh I had mentioned the Commissioners that were present as well Mr doctor reviewed the change to policy 6620 to reflect assistant superintendent of business instead of the title of assistant business administrator this was agreed upon by the entire committee Mr doctor then explained the requested addition and additional specific disciplinary categories to better detail infractions which occur this was agreed upon the entire committee Mr Santiago raised his concerns regarding staff attendance and Associated accountability Miss Miller explained that she had Mr Jenaro have been working on appropriate procedures to address staff attendance which the district can follow moving forward and will bring them to the committee when complete the Mee adjourned the meeting adjourned at 4:37 p.m.

uh overview the committee members and Central administration were warmly welcomed uring a robust understanding of the diverse perspectives present in the room the teacher sub shortage teacher sub teacher shortage and Pathway to teacher teaching was uh discussed Commissioners raised concerns regarding teaching sub Institute shortage and how this is impacting all districts Statewide discuss discussion ensued on what the state has plan to combat this growing issue the assembly woman shared insights on a plethora of legislative Endeavors aimed at addressing the shortage unveiling 12 Bills currently in the assembly notably among these bills are efforts to streamline certification processes such as removing K to6 certification basic skills practice practice portion additionally initiatives to enhance hiring practices by broadening science requirements to General Sciences were discussed the NJ Stars program LED for its commendable efforts at the community college level was elaborated upon particularly focusing on his income based requirements three state aid formula 2% cap Commissioners inquired about the new sapper formula allocations to take place once the current Formula sunsets also there were discussions if the 2% cap tax levy would be raised to combat increased cost currently districts only allow to raise 2% tax with a public vote this for many districts doesn't even cover the contract contractual raises that take place every year a new bill proposed by the Assembly women garnered attention seeking funding for pre-case special education and transportation to alleviate District's burdens a new bill would be proposed to the by the assembly woman garnered attention seeking funding for prease special education and transportation to alleviate District burdens four free lunch outstanding balances Commissioners inquired if there was any plans in place to shift to Universal lunch in the near future due to Soaring outstanding lunch balances the assembly woman was shocked to hear the large amount owed from families speaker coflin cin has legislation and it its strong interest in getting Universal free lunch District asked if there is a possibility to use Cafe funds like prior to years to repay debt number five Charter St School tuitions deliberations unfold around the introduction of a charter school bill a294 4 32944 aiming to fortify regulations and policy framework to enhance budgeting accuracy signaling a proactive stance towards educational reform six additional funding special ed crost technology the transformative impact of technology technological advancements catalyzed by the covid-19 pandemic was reflected upon observations were made regarding District's successful adaptation to one toone technology initiatives now seamlessly integrated into budgetary concerns seven Senate Bill 2421 abolishment of 5756 the assembly woman has a similar Bill about causing harm to others abolishment 5756 Committee Member asked if there was any discussion on this assembly woman said it is in litigation and legislators refrain until that is complete any questions Ju Just one comment the the assembly woman is a Acting Superintendent of school so we have someone representing us that certainly knows how schools work so yeah and many times when we brought up our concerns she ready was like oh yes that's 100% you're right you know this needs to be fixed in the same boat okay thank you commissioner Kenova um commissioner Bashford could you read our club meeting my pleasure um thank you president Paris uh booster club met on April 8th we started at uh 6:30 in the evening and we ended at 7:30 present I'm just going to read the um people from the administration the board I'm going to keep the parents' names um quiet um because the community members Dr roberi Mar chero Amed Shaha um Mr Wata myself um Tanya Suarez and various people that represented soccer um Clifton wreck the cheer team the ba base uh baseball and also basketball um it was basically um to give you a synopsis of what happened it was a open dialogue of the um booster club parents uh Dr robzi facilitated the meeting um to give them a chance to get to know each other and to form a bigger group as a booster club whole so we had a conversation about um how to form uh 5013 or to how to get organized with um fundraising so there's a lot of comments going back and forth and so this is an open dialogue that you see on your on your computers it was really very informative they're going to band together they're going to um be able to help each other in a a more formal way fundraising also if they need help with um vendors and things like that so they had a they had a comment about um the 5013c and how to fund raise then they talked about um uh what if a parent doesn't join a booster club Dr robit you talked about um different uh bylaws that we have in place and also about tagging how we um we don't uh have to get permission anymore for the students to tag from the Clifton police dep department but he um has we have a bylaw about about tagging it the district wants to know when the teams are actually tagging for security and safety for our students that we know they're out there as well but they also have to get permission from the owner and uh one of the parents from that plays a dual role on the rec department and she's on the committee and also the soccer um booster club spoke about um how there's been evidence of a lot of out of town um teams coming and tagging over by Big Lot and over by that area and um I don't know if that maybe what you want to send that to mun Alliance maybe to bring that conversation up again to have about um maybe we should come up with some kind of procedure about how our local teams get first shot it tagging first in Clifton so they were they were um pretty pretty uh robust on that and then we um we went into um about who pays for uh travel Food Services and for events Dr Rober tell he was very clear about that and he uh explained why certain events with certain teams get paid for and don't get paid for um such as like if they if the football team was to play in a state championship and it was all the way down exit one on the turnpike we would pay for their busing because they're representing the you know the the the league in in a championship versus if they go to just a meet up at PCT and they played against and we don't you know Supply them with food prior to them going to that so he he uh actually um um explained that in a very nice way he had and they were they were very receptive to everything that was coming out of the committee so it was a really robust um uh conversation uh we talked about um fut need for future meetings that we talked about um fundraising efforts um we had a new parent in the group that's trying to form a booster club for the basketball team so they all jumped in to support him and um one of the suggests questions were because the HSA um committee um had brought this to task about giving a platform for the hsas to speak to each other so the suggestion was made that we give that platform to the booster clubs as well it's Google Classroom so they can speak amongst each other they can share events um they can share Flyers with the district so we can get them because we don't know when certain events are going on so it would be more but they can share fundraising they can share um ideas or just help each other and support if they have a difficult situation going on so it was really it was a nice meeting we actually got cut off because we couldn't went longer we only had the the zoom on for an hour so it shut off after hour so um the other thing that uh was mentioned um I mentioned to um commissioner Suarez because she was on a meeting with us we were missing um our other member because she was at she was away um was that we would like Dr OB you maybe the board to meet 10 minutes prior to the actual booster club meeting just the board members El with you and um so because it was more of an open dialogue with the booster club parents talking to each other so it wasn't really a formal meeting we had no agenda but it was really really nice to see the dedication of these people and what they want to bring to the table and they're going to be looking for our support so we're going to have another one in about a month and we'll try to do them on a regular basis a quarterly basis but they're um out of it came a couple concerns that I have to bring to Athletics and I'll bring that to the committee level as well and there was also a policy um question that uh was given to um commissioner Suarez and she's going to bring it to the policy committee so it was a good meeting so any questions commissioner Bass Just for those um listening in and the term was new for myself can you please explain tagging oh tagging oh yes I'm sorry so a lot of people don't know what tagging is tagging is when a sports team or an organized team or or a a club or committee from the local schools and I'm going to use safety patrol because it's very common to me the safety patrol will get permission from the superintendent um that they want a tag tag is when they go out in front of a store or a local business with a can with they usually their logo on it and they ask for donations from the community with spare change or dollars or anything like that and they stand say in front of Quick Check and I used to call it Shake in the can because they shake the can to let you know they're standing there and people dump money into their buckets and they go home and all that money is pure profit and um some some teams do it organized some teams don't do it organized some teams if you have to tag and you don't want to you can pay a a fee so you don't have to stand out in the cold or when to do it but there was um when my children did it we had to actually get a permit from the police department we also had to go through background checks for the people that were running the tagging event to make sure we didn't have a criminal wreck it because it was money being exchanged and they wanted to make sure the people that were standing didn't have any VI um um violations against Children's Welfare so the police department doesn't do it anymore but um the one parent did bring up the fact is that outside teams are are actually tagging at our really good spots and the only reason why it goes through the superintendent so he knows when the tagging event is happening and he knows what teams are out there so for security and safety for our children's uh betterment and Welfare does that help you thank you Absol I'm sure others might have had it's an old term it's now bring it back OG yeah I was the same I I knew what it was I never knew it as tagging correct you know that that's a clip basically I wonder if it comes from TAG ett I understand tagging as marking walls up so not graffiti glad that not graffiti okay not graffiti though we don't condone that any other questions thank you great meeting lot of lot of energy and I really look forward to next meeting thank you commissioner B it was great uh this portion of the meeting is open to Residents and non-residents of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to Andor directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to State their names addresses and subject matter comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a respon respon will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board ask that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their commitments there's no one on the zoom call there's no one on seeing then make a motion to close commissioner B motion to close second by commissioner Mahia um does anybody here and like to step up and make some comments welcome good evening my name is Kim Newan PUO I'm a proud alumna of Clifton schools and taught in Clifton schools for 35 years before retiring a few years ago I now volunteer as the communications director for the Clifton Education Foundation one of the best things that has come out of that role is getting to know know Sam Samantha D Rose who serves as our liaison to the superintendent as you all know Sam's professional skills are remarkable but it's her passion and commitment to ensuring that all students are provided a strong education in an inclusive environment that Fosters well-being safety and acceptance that truly makes me proud to call her a friend I know that sentiment is shared by all of our other trustees some of whom are here this evening to see Sam receive this well-deserved recognition we love you Sam you have a heart of gold and the district and our foundation are Beyond lucky to have you for those of you who may not know the CF has been providing grants for Clifton public schools for the past 26 years funding special projects programs and initiatives not typically funded or fully funded by the regular board of education budget to date the CF has funded over one qu of a million dollars to enhance education in our schools most recently the CF has funded has fully funded maker space in every elementary school media center as well as recent and upcoming important mental health and well-being programming on every level the cf's function is to raise funds our trustees work diligently in and beyond our community to raise money to provide these grants and special funding we seek the support of local businesses individuals and often our own friends and family to strengthen our ability to provide more and more funding each year we are extremely grateful for those businesses that provide support we encourage you to visit our business directory on our website www.con education foundation.org or social media pages on Facebook and Instagram to identify these businesses and thank them for by patronizing them embracing the district's one Clifton initiative support is a two-way street and our community should be supporting those businesses that support our schools there are several ways that you can support the CF our upcoming annual fundraiser the CHS cast Film Festival is celebrating 25 years it takes place on May 1st at 6 p.m. and will be a fun family event featuring a DJ photo booth snacks door prizes an alumni reunion dinner and a variety of short films by Clifton High's young filmmakers in the cast program I'm excited to announce this evening that the CF has arranged to have renowned director screenwriter and producer Ron Maxwell CHS class of 1964 whose credits include Gettysburg gods in general The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia The Parent Trap too and a multitude of other well-known films attend the festival Ron will attend the alumni pre-show dinner as well as the film festival then return to CHS the next morning to meet with our young filmmakers to share his wisdom and hopefully Inspire many to do as he did and pursue their dream of creating films we hope to see some of you there that evening and encourage residents to come and see the talent that Educators Mike mccy and Joanna huster have cultivated in the extraordinary cast program we are also currently accepting sponsors and prize donations from local businesses and individuals on May 18th the Clifton Community band's Lollipops and Roses concert at Clifton High School at 2m is another familyfriendly event we are grateful to the Clifton community band and the Clifton Board of recreation for generously donating half of their proceeds to the CF additionally one of our business donors CJ Lori owner of Agames Gourmet delicin and Caterers located on Market Street has partnered with us to donate 10% of each bill to the CF for our let's do lunch and D to donate ongoing fundraisers details may be found on our social media Pages Grant season for the 20242 school year will reopen this spring we are here to support our entire School Community including parent and student organizations we strive to raise our profile and encourage you all to join us by spreading the word about the important work the Clifton Education Foundation is doing in our community and encourage individuals and local businesses to show their support by donating to allow us to continue funding programs that enhance the education of all Clifton public school students thank you thank you Miss PUO is there anyone else who would like to make any comments all right good evening um Clon cion president Elias Ragsdale um just a few things from last meeting um so first it was mentioning of opening up the stadium to the public um as a member of our track team and and I've talked to coaches and other athletes please please do not do this um first of all establishing city parks and ensuring Recreation for the citizens of Clifton is not the job of the board of the school district um that is within the purview of the city city council recreation department and the point is it's the city's Duty um the money used to recently renovate the entire field and track was paid for by Clifton public school district for students and no one else if the city of Clifton would like a track for people to walk on or a football or a soccer field to use then they should go about doing that on their own second but related to this point the facility there is very frequently um occupied with students every single day after school on Saturdays um during the day the middle schoolers use it at in gym class when the weather's nice um track and field team football team I think lacrosse uses it flag football um and I really don't see when the public would be able to be there anyway um just two main things first you know it's the safety issue and then two is it worth opening up to the public um opening up anything comes with liability unlike other public tracks and Fields like this the stadium does not serve just one purpose in addition to being the football field and track and use for sports it's my understand that our maintenance department has an office there and a hub sort of thing um you know constantly trucks are coming in and out that belong to the district a portion of the stadium is blocked off from the rest of it and it's really a parking lot for all these trucks um so I don't know how good of an idea it is to have the public you know roaming around here um last meeting it was also mentioned that we may need to staff security for this as well or make it someone's duty to open and close the facility um and it just sounds like more unnecessary money spent or adding duties to employees of the district which I think most aren't in favor of and then also in regards to liability and issues um the previous question of vandalism destruction of property and similar concerns that go along with this uh people may ride bikes on the track which on the track which can ruin it um and even just the shoes you wear have a big impact on the track and its um sustainability so and I remember maybe two years ago the city was dealing with issues at Moon Memorial Park because people were quite literally destroying the toilets and the public bathrooms and everything um and I think this is just a headache that we can all avoid void it and when that's really not necessary um next there was also talk last meeting about our Athletics and how we lose students and athletes to other districts and one of the barriers when it comes to athlete retention and getting students to participate in sports is the requirement of a physical from a doctor um Rich you didn't graduate too long ago and I know you were an athlete so maybe you understand this and remember it it's like when the season starts the big thing is get your physical in get your physical in um and so many students are denied entry onto a team simply because they didn't hand in a physical on time um you can ask any coach athletic trainer it's an ongoing issue and this isn't an issue without a solution though in fact it's my understanding that we brought this problem upon ourselves I was recently told in the past the district brought a doctor into the high school for about a week before the season and students would be notified of this before the season and simply see the doctor right in the high school with no cost at all I'm curious as to why we got rid of this um Dr bosia I think in Lyndon they do this um pcti they do it um so like why why did we stop it um why limit our athletic ability put the burden on families and make it so much more of a complicated process some students have parents that are constantly working there isn't time to schedule an appointment and see a doctor or whether we like to recognize it or not not everyone has health insurance and can so easily see a doctor the way we'd like them to so now it's even a heavier burden on those that may be of a lower socioeconomic class and make it harder for those students to enjoy the privilege of Athletics and playing High School sports so please I don't know if someone could bring this up or it could be started as an initiative or at least looked into and then lastly um I'm aware that contract negotiations for teachers are still ongoing um and I know we like to remark that the superintendent runs the day-to-day operations of our district which he greatly does but within this District are our teachers as well um I think of it like a bicycle yes for it to be functioning someone must be riding it but you can only ride a bike so well if you don't check first to make sure that the tires have air the brakes are working the chains are clean and to apply this to our situation here we must take care of our teachers which are those gears that you know make the watch turn and make our district run every day um we have an amazing superintendent and it wasn't that long ago that his contract was finalized and we all said he deserves what he was given to him because he's done a good job and we want to keep him here in Clifton so we should feel the same about our teachers we want to keep them here and we should give them what they deserve I understand that money of course isn't growing trees and that there isn't an unlimited amount but we have to assess here what matters in a time where we already have shorters of teachers I cannot stress how important this is I don't think of any of them I don't think any of them got into the profession to become rich and their real motivation isn't the dollar sign but everyone needs to live comfortably and if teachers one are personally or financially worried who do you think is affected in the end and furthermore if teachers feel they are not valued by the district then how do you think they'll respond to District initiatives and the direction of administration that's set in place once again who loses in the end here um of course the answer is students and I just wanted to remind this board that Student Success success is at here as well thank you all thank you lias uh anyone else wish to speak good evening my name is Lori Lama and I am the uh president of the cea today I stand before you to emphasize the critical role of Parental involvement in education as well as being an integral part of our district research consistently shows that when parents are actively involved in their child's education students achieve higher academic success have better attendance rates exhibit improved behavior and develop strong social skills therefore fostering a strong partnership between schools and parents is Paramount to the overall success of our students parental involvement must address a pressing concern that is affecting the learning environment in our middle schools the vandalism occurring in the school bathrooms these bathrooms are nicer than mine the new ones the destructive Behavior not only poses a safety hazard but also detracts from the overall educational experience of our students as we seek solutions to address this issue I believe the parental involvement and support our crucial elements in our efforts to stop the vandalism and promote a positive School environment first and foremost is essential for parents to have an open and honest conversation with their children about the importance of respecting school property and the consequences of vandalism by reinforcing positive behavior at home parents can instill values of responsibility and accountability in their children which will ultimately translate to more respective Behavior at school moreover fostering a sense of ownership and pride in the school facilities can significantly deter destructive Behavior the referendum we've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions actually I'm sorry and for kids to go in and vandalize the brand new bathrooms is absolutely pathetic parents can encourage their children to take pride in their school environment by invoking them in activities such as beautification projects mural painting and other initiatives that promote a sense of ownership and stewardship by creating a positive and inclusive School Community we can cultivate a culture where students feel invested in maintaining and protecting their school environment in conclusion parental involvement and support are essential components in our efforts to address the vandalism occurring in the middle school bathrooms you also have a powerful Catalyst for student achievement and overall School Improvement by implementing strategies we can cultivate a culture of partnership between schools and parents that enriches the educational experience for all stakeholders together let us commit to prioritizing parental engagement as we work towards the collective goal of empowering every student to reach their full potential thank you thank you anyone else wish to speak this evening okay seeing none motion to close motion second motion by commissioner Bast second by commissioner Mahia next is uh adoption of the minutes from March 7th 2024 uh looking for a motion to adopt minutes as written motion motion by Mr Bak second second I commissioner Mahia roll call Mr Shada please M bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano yes Mr Suarez yes president Paris yes motion carries Dr Robert toy do you have anything to report this evening I do Mr President thank you so much good evening uh Commissioners uh those in the audience faculty staff students those in the community watching from home um I'd like to reiterate a couple congratulations uh that Jada had mentioned earlier um a significant achievement a big congrat congratulations to our high school mock trial team who uh won the State mock trial championship of and it's not one of these state championships like in in some of our sports that are by group or by region there's only one there's one state champion state champion in the entire state of New Jersey and Clifton High School um did it not only did we do it we were the first High School from P County to ever win the mack trial state championship so very very proud of our Mack trial team under the leadership and guidance of Mr vanderhey and I'll be asking the board to recognize the team and Mr vanderhey at a a future meeting uh either in May or the beginning of June absolutely that's it deserves a round of applause um also uh I don't have the details but I want to uh and I'll learn more and I want to congratulate our robotics team who qualifi for the world championships in Houston I mean what an opportunity for our students to be a part of these competitions where they get to travel uh across the country to Houston and participate against students from other countries all right so it's it's uh we'll get more details on that and typically we recognize the robotics team they they usually come here and do a little demonstration for us each year which is always really cool so uh we'll recognize them when they do that I think last year that happened in May so we'll do that again excuse me uh School 8 had their annual Tricky Tray on March 15th and the principal and PTO asked me if I could thank the members of the community school 8 staff and all the families who attended and the PTO would also like to acknowledge the many businesses especially the local Clifton businesses who donated prizes for the event um it was mentioned by U Miss PUO from the Clifton Education Foundation but it's absolutely true we should be frequenting the businesses that support our staff and our students so thank you for mentioning that anytime you want to give a plug to a to a business certainly feel free um and by the way thanks to the Clifton Education Foundation for all that you do uh that that crew right there in the back they're they're the heart of the foundation and they do but look they look innocent but don't don't get them started right cuz they you know troublemakers yes they are some troublemakers former nun in the bunch too mhm I'm sorry sorry none of this none of that thank you for all you do because you do provide um extra things for our students and and our staff that that the board can't uh provide so thank you for all you do look forward to collaborating with you again in the future um last year the Clifton Education Foundation supported a uh a dinner for our Governor's educators of the year there's one from each school and our uh support staff of the year and thanks to the Clifton Education Foundation we were uh able to have a nice dinner for them prior to a board meeting and I'm hoping we can discuss perhaps doing that again soon so I'll be in touch guys thanks thanks again Elias did he did Elias leave just wanted to commend Elias he's always very well spoken um and I and I appreciate his his input his perspective from himself but he also does speak on behalf of of of many students and so you know we like to take into consideration some of the things he says um most recently he did approach me uh emailed me formally um I won't get into the details but um talking about naming a facility after um Community a member of the community and this had come up previous ly and we don't have a policy in place and we really should so I've put that on the agenda for our meeting Miss Suarez on Monday we should have a policy in place um when requests come in from any person or organization to name a facility to name a room to name something after um a prominent citizen an employee because otherwise it it could become very subjective it could be done on a whim some people could be recognized some people not so uh from the administration's perspective it would be best if we had a policy that I could follow when such a request comes in on my previous District we did have a policy I I'll share a sample of that with the with the policy committee but basically there was a when a request would come in there was a a committee formed of of of board members members who would review it and then look at certain criteria and it sounds kind of uh funny and I'm not meaning to be funny but one of the big criteria you have to determine is the person have to be dead do the person still be alive and and there's a reason why I I you know I say that because um that's a critical uh factor that you have to take into account in my previous District we named the gymnasium uh as after one of our coaches who happened to be the coach at the time and two years later he left the district and his name was on the court so maybe you don't have to be dead but maybe you need to be retired right or so these are things that why a policy is necessary um for us to to go to so I wanted Elias to know that we are working on that because I believe me if I don't respond to him he'll follow up um so I do want him to know that we're working on that um and also I don't know the uh question he asked about the physicals why we used to do them and we don't any longer but that's certainly something I would like to find out there must have been a reason why we stopped doing it maybe it's something we can look into doing again finally guys um and I'll send you a more formal invite but on April 22nd um there will be a bench dedication for Emmanuel Manny Rodriguez a formal former School 16 student who passed away in uh 2021 after a long foot battle with cancer uh he attended Clifton School 16 and woodro Wilson Middle School he was a member of Team Praise of the Clifton League baseball and a martial arts student the dedication will occur at 3:30 p.m.

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm going to call to order the workshop for Bullhead City School Board on Thursday April 11th at 5:30 p.m. roll call present Melinda saski Charlene Diaz here Fred rushon here barari here Sheila Barnett here and we're at 1.3 are you going to fill us in well no I'm not but Jen is okay um uh Jen does the title program and a number of other grants but uh she's got information for you Jen this goes with some of that other stuff yes that we have later on okay okay so um we are required by ped meeting so at the meeting these are the things that we're required to go through what P one is um how we do our improvement process and then family and Community engagement and so those are a couple of the procedures agreements that are in the cons first the title one overview um this is what title one is one is based off of our free and reduced lunch um percentages so in our district currently it's anywhere between 70% and 98% depending on the school um it does not the C which is the pre lunch pre-breakfast for all our students is not included in that so what is the forms we still have to send out forms for parents to fill out to see whether they qualified or not for one even though it doesn't affect the actual me School um and what we do with the money is um we have to put it towards helping students who are having difficulties with standards um and the supplements that need to go into that so we do Staffing we have um Title One math and ELA teachers that street and then we have Tas for title one at um elementary schools tile one also pays for School teachers and two pres school paros we pay part of part of my salary all of our instructional coaches um sh our homeless as well as part of a c of the fox so all um part of shar's job besides doing homeless is also doing family engagement and Community engagement um so that's why s for is also included in the family engagement and then we which we haven't done in the past we can use the cred money to actually do things so like um if we were planning a little more ahead than what we did this year we probably could have helped P for some of like our Synergy training next week if we need to pay somewhere to come we could have done that we can pay for parenting costes those so the state changed the process for improvement this year so in the past we've had this huge rubric we've had to go through and and it took at least half of the Daya just through the rubric with with the staff at each school um which is part of the reason last year instructional empowerment came because we weren't getting true results from that from that rubric this year they changed it so first we looked at a bunch of graphs that the state U provided for us where we looked at our free and ruc lunch percentage and then it compared us to other districts in the state with the same or similar percentage ofing look at Matha pred so to see where where we do it in conjunction with the other other districts we had to answer some Focus questions are the eight questions that are on the bottom but they they had manyi rubrics so maybe three questions for three sections per question um to answer and then from those we were to create only a math goal a reading and a reading goal uh we required the middle school and Junior High to do a science goal because the science and then for the district we also did so that the state really cut it down we had a lot of trouble doing this because we're used to having to put a whole bunch of detail into all these Improvement plans and they wanted us to go really broad this year so we all kind of Str with making it a little broader so from all of that information from the schools I put together kind of a spreadsheet that showed what each school was doing in their school Improvement plan and then um Kate tall um Amanda sh Carolyn and I all met to kind of go over what how we could support the schools based on what they were putting in their plans so on the left you have our goals for Math and on the right you have our action steps and like I Broad and you'll see very similar action steps also for meing and for science because some of what we're doing or most of what we're doing supports all of the subject areas I think Fred do you need tat explain to you yes that would okay yes y yes because I I'm picking on you because I needed to explain to me so okay yeah I'm I'm catching on to some of the acronyms but there's so many there all so T is teacher assistance team so what that is is a group of teachers at each school that works to create um like interventions for students who are struggling so they could be struggling academically or with behavior we could have t teams for even attendance if we needed to so they come together they bring in all the data from that student and invite the parents that they can also participate in meetings and they create an intervention plan for the student and that's in place for 30 days at least 30 days and then they meet again and is the student improving or is the student kind of stigant if the student's improving then you know your interventions are working and you just keep going of interventions if the student is not improving then especially in the area of academics you may refer for special ed um testing so the main purpose is give them the intervention so they don't have to be tested we're having some issues in the district with the procedure having too many kids being referred that shouldn't be referred and that thing that kind of thing so Kate is having a committee that's going to revamp all of those procedures to make sure the students are the interventions they need we don't have to keep referring students and really helping the students that need it yep and part of it is recognizing that special ed is not somewhere you send a child so they're no longer your responsibility it's making sure it's just an additional service you're giving a student succeed and that's another kind of a mindset yeah I had a casa kid that uh went through this and it really worked we really thought she was going to end up special ed now the interventions work just figuring out what that they need yeah not always very youa once again our goals are on the left and the action steps are on the right right very similar here um the big difference is for well not a difference but for math we're looking for screeners so we don't we have math tests we have benchmarks but we don't have a screener so to figure out exactly where a student is struggling in map to Target a specific skill um we do in reading and we're we do in reading for elementary but we're working on figuring out some better screeners for the Middle School and and those get used a lot when we get new students you know they come to us from someplace else and and we don't have any idea what their skills are what you know what might be missing we use it with Littles when you know because they're new but it's really helpful when a student transfers in because you have no idea where the student is and it gives you a real quick uh idea of where they are Jen you might want to explain Bo Y and EO y oh sorry oh thanks I was going to ask ask that um Bo is beginning of year and E end of year okay sorry it's okay I'll get there that's [Music] okay the reason we're going from last year's testing to next year's testing is because we don't know the results for this year because we're in the middle of testing right now so we don't know what our Baseline would be if we started from this well I think based on what I learned yesterday is that they're they're really expecting to see a an increase in the uh learning activity of the students because as um oh Kevin was explaining it is that this year's been kind of like this and now everybody's starting to catch on at the end of this year so next year he's expecting the curve to be much different and that makes sense to me I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt but I did okay open Mee I'll add one thing that Jen shared with me I and I recognize that it's kind of a oneoff um but we never have seen this before so Jen was telling me yesterday that one of the sites called was it Fox Creek that called about the student who wrote more than the space that was allowed on the test for writing for writing for the writing test and um so they called the state and said what do we do you know he's not done thought there was a problem with the test yeah and so they said no he'll just have to edit and make it fit the space I I don't think we've ever had a student who wrote more than the space alow so um uh that to me that's that's indicative of kids taking more seriously um uh what they're doing you know I know it's one student but sometimes that sometimes that outlier student reflects what everybody's doing and it was nice he have just submitted what he had written or typed in there but he chose to go back and well I think the excitement among the students is is kind of catching on and it's evident yesterday one of the classes I visited Mr too's class he asked who wanted to tackle this next next question and this one kid just about jumped out of his seat I want to do it you know and that was unexpected because you know I'm I'm still expecting because of um the results that we have seen I wasn't expecting that kind of enthusiasm but I I think and Miss Veer was explaining that this is probably all because of the IE um influence that's going on so yeah it is thank you engagement so we are still um do our we to do our resource like we did last year in November I'm not sure when we and then our strategic planning committee has already started taking on some of the other parent workshops that we're doing one is I know I'm holding this up I'm sorry guys but number two the dot dot dot after because it has a huge description of do we ever get 20% of our parents parents are signed up to come on Thursday of next week forgy par meeting like children to come for start well that's that is that's a good sign thank you that's a went back and especially since James said initially because he's he's on that committee and and he said I'll be really happy if we have five families and so when he walked in yesterday and told me so it's gone up since yesterday when he walked in and told me yesterday he said we have 49 parents signed up I'm going whoa this is amazing so uh yeah so and we've had good advertising yeah we had to move in move it to the cafeteria at Coyote from the library and um but Lance has put out good you know put out good stuff to the press and we've had good coverage in the press as well as social media so uh it's kind of exciting that's our so the next piece is our parent involvement agreement and that's also what's in the and I just kind of went over what we change that it's the same as it was last year this is a format that we get from the state and we can change it it's just not a full L of changes from last year but what we did do is remove first things first um from preschool we are pretty sure we're not going to get scholarships next year and that's for um people who can afford the preschool and then um we also which I didn't put up here took out out age 12 so that's another preschool grant that we have that ends this year so there that as well and then because we did not apply for 21st century for next school year that covers our Flex Fridays and after school programs and so that's why we took that out this year I don't know if anyone had any suggestions on anything they wanted have we got anything to replace that funding for preschool with no what we're going to have to do is go to P preschool um we've been operating two classrooms this year using m&o funds and and um and I because I felt we needed them and didn't understand that we can't really use we're not supposed to be using M funds for preschool so uh I made the decision learned this about November and I thought it's not a really I don't think it's a really good thing to do to our parents to tell them in December that in January they need to start paying for the pre school so we will start uh we will have two foray preschools next year um we will have three special ed preschools we will have classrooms at Coyote we will have one Title One classroom so we will still have six classrooms it'll just be funded differently and I don't want you to think we've lost first things first funding because of anything we did or didn't do um first things first is funded by tobacco tax uh in Arizona and uh fortunately fewer people are using tobacco uh than in the past but that also means that that that funding has dropped the other thing is that uh in the first things first world uh the regional is laas and Mojave County and I am on that Council now uh so I have a better understanding of how it works U but they realized in their um data Study last year that there were a couple of areas in Mojave County that had been underserved and so uh in the in the uh the planning that that they were doing they focused uh what money they have pretty much in those two areas because they've been underserved for you know a long time many years and um so that means the rest of us you know are are taking the cut so it's not anything we did or didn't do uh you know that would have changed it it's just that areas that need the services are getting them the next piece is the School parent compact so for this we did meet leip team which is all of our principles and the directors in the district to go over this because I felt like it was kind of outdated just based on some of the things we're doing now so the changes that we made were under parent responsibilities we added those two things um we do have a what it called a familyfriendly environment statement that you'll see in those schools we decided to add some of that similar ver to this and then adding in the school handb to and then student responsibilities we added the actively participating in their own education and we changed math practicing math backs pring skills and then our responsibilities we added in the child find meeting it's not necessarily required because Ida is separate from title one but it is something that the district does do to inform parents the other piece we made was adding Coyote Canyon as an actual School in the docum so before wasn'ted as own scol is there anything that anyone it's just too bad we have to remind people to be respectful engagement there we go that um we should add as an action St right do do you still offer cookies and treats the night of the family meeting because I know that was the only way we'd ever get to come as we had we are planing um well we can offer that stuff if it's at least a half an hour after the end of the school day but we are doing we do have um first next week we have pizza for that family meeting and then we do have an e meeting for parents and families planned in May and it's to Ser ice cream I believe we do yeah you know usually food will bring bring them in do you get a lot of participation from the parents at these meetings no now we've done pretty well this year with our specific e night but we can only invite um parents and families of English language Learners um in the winter our big draw we believe was because we had Santa come and visit a lot ofation that night and then we plan on doing kind of a BG ice cream party type theme um hope we'll get the same response from that we tend to have a good response when we do fun things like our carnivals our math and science nights those kind of things but when we actually hold parent informational meetings that's when we struggle withits so that's one we're super excited about our meeting next week to have that many parents is a good start good thank you thank you thanks J I Need a motion to adjourn the workshop I make a motion we adjourn the workshop I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barb ziki I Sheila Barnett meeting is a j all [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] it's back on okay James I call to order the regular meeting of Bullhead City school board on Thursday April 11th at 6: p.m.

9:30 what time 9:30 says 9 says 9 o' on here but Tuesday yeah excuse me anybody want to go to Pat vitar concert I was looking at Journey yeah stop yeah oh okay I need a motion to adjourn the meeting please I make a motion we adjourn the meeting I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Melinda saski I'm Charlene Diaz hi Fred rushon hi barbariki whoops excuse me the meeting is now adjourned thanks [Music]

e to the flag of the United States of America and to the for stands one nation God indivisible withy andice for all thank you recognitions and presentations Dr streer you guys want to join me up we have some fun celebrations tonight I'm going to have uh Abby Francis join me up front please and so our first recognition this evening is Miss Abigail Francis the band director at Mountain View High School Abigail was selected as a finalist for the 2024 University of Arizona amazing teacher of the year she was selected by a committee of Educators and community members is one of nine High School amazing teacher finalists representing Southern Arizona schools Mountain View principal Mrs McCrae stated that with a sweeping reputation as a powerful instructional leader transformative program director Visionary policy maker and invested relationship Builder Miss Francis is truly an amazing teacher Miss Francis has an exceptional ability to draw out the very best of all of those around her the music program at Mountain View has experienced remarkable growth under Miss Francis leadership the the increase in program membership in the marching band by 140% and indoor percussion by 200% that's impressive we [Applause] can this speaks volumes about her ability to inspire her students and cultivate a sense of belonging and achievement however her leadership extends well beyond the band room as she holds critical roles in the fine arts department the school's building leadership team and as the school representative for the district teacher evaluation committee all of which emphasize her versatility and commitment to the broader School community community awareness and involvement are integral to miss Francis teaching Philosophy from performances at local nursing homes to collaborating with respected guests from the University of Arizona she ensures that students are always in touch with the community and exposed to a variety of experiences she is also organized and hosted five Statewide High School Marching Band competitions at Mountain View these competitions are large events that welcome as many as 30 high schools per uh 30 high school performing groups and 1500 Spectators these events also function as an amazing fundraiser for students and the BAM program and last year the event raised over $10,000 as a part of the U OFA amazing teacher of the year program finalists were recognized at a pre pregame presentation at a University of Arizona Wildcats men's basketball game featured in a special kgun news4 clip and she received $500 congratulations and thank you for all you do for the students and staff at nonew High School [Applause] all right we are now going to recognize four teachers that recently achieved national board certification so if I could have Jacqueline Chan Savannah and Jessica join me up front [Applause] please I don't know why but we'll do it on this side so joining me up front are Jaclyn beam uh talita Middle School exceptional need specialist Early Childhood through young adult uh feel like that's like some of the things that you do uh chrisan uh Dudson Mountain View High School English language arts Adolescent and young adulthood Savannah Forester de graia Elementary for middle childhood generalist and Jessica Leonard from Butterfield elementary middle childhood General so you can give him a [Applause] quick so national board certification was designed to develop retain and recognize accomplished teachers and to generate ongoing Improvement in schools Nationwide national board certification is is an advanced teaching credential in which teachers have met the profession's highest standards and have the Knowledge and Skills necessary to advance student learning teachers must exhibit a deep understanding of their students content knowledge use of data and assessments in teaching practice the certification process requires that teachers demonstrate stand standard based evidence of the positive effect that they have on student learning in alignment with the five core propositions the national board five core propositions and standards describe what accomplished teachers uh should know and be able to do to have a positive impact on student learning the certification identifies teachers who meet the who meet these standards through performance-based peer-reviewed series of assessment components currently there are 18 national board certified teachers and three nationally certified school nurse nurses in the district attainment of national board certification is one of the most prestigious and respected professional certifications available in K12 education we are incredibly proud of our staff and recognize the extensive amount of work involved in this rigorous multi-year process so please join me congratulating our newest nationally board certif [Applause] head that way for the photo out that way for the photo you all need to scooch down oh going to move okay [Applause] board Communications um I have something to read first um thank you Dr streer and my fellow board members it's been a busy few weeks it was my pleasure to attend two exceptional student service solution team meetings an educational service solution teams meeting a safety solution team meeting an IT solution teams meeting a bond committee meeting I'm participating in the impact Mirana program through the Mirana chamber and I attended the national school board association annual conference with Mr Holt and Mr Willard um I encourage everyone to support our schools students and staff anybody else have any comments I do um yeah I was at the National School Board conference and it was my first one and it was really pretty pretty incredible um one of the keynote speakers was Ruby Bridges and I don't know if anyone seen the picture from Norman Rockwell of the little girl being escorted by the federal Marshalls during desegregation and she she really hit on the head talking about how as a country it's not necess about racism although she had been it's alive and well it's Bridging the aisle Bridging the Gap between each other and just a really positive message and then the next keynote speaker was Dr Tim shrier who heads the Special Olympics uh John F Kennedy's nephew and he looked just like him and he created the thing called the dignity index where they grade politicians um from both sides of the aisle on how much dignity they show the other candidate and called them out I thought it was great um and just really calling people to just increase the level of uh Cooperative communication across all party aisles we learned about low cost security measures for schools um AI CH the AI challenges and blessings in our school and um you know and and I was there meeting board members from Across the Nation I I just realized everything that probably everyone in this room already realized as I already knew it too we live in a great school district and a great City there's so many issues that other districts and States deal with that we are really blessed to live in mirand so thank you it was great thank you uh remarks from the public Catalina Hall would you like to come speak just like how's that great okay my name is Catalina Hall and I'm very lucky to have three grandchildren at Picture Rocks Elementary and sometimes I have to go to pickup Loop to pick them up and what I'm really concerned about is that the staff and teachers who assist the kids to get into the right car you know heaven forbid I get the wrong ones and they are on a very narrow swath of land between the curb and the fence and it's kind to me it looks kind of unsafe um I'm very careful when I drive I drive very slowly around that pickup curve but some persons being on their phone may not and I worry about that also if the school gets out at 2 o'clock that's when it's the hottest any day of the year in Morana and I think that they need more shade over where they have to wait because to me it's a it is a safety and the security issue and I just hope you all will take a few minutes to take a look at it maybe place it on uh any any special committee that could take that takes this up I don't know all that because um my husband and I between us have five kids and and what eight and a half grandchildren so I'm done with knowing all the Committees and things like that um I did my turn five times for sure so I hope that you'll get this to the right committee take a look at it and by the way the Picture Rocks uh uh staff and teachers and even down to the people that work in the uh lunchroom are there're just wonderful people and I really am glad that that my grandkids can go there so don't take away the pickup Loop just take a look at it okay yeah one time I said to a principal that's really dangerous so he stopped it all together that's not what I meant so I had to go back and tell him no that's you know that's not what I met in in my first school district thank you very much thank you Miss [Applause] Hall next is Raina York from uh Mirana Education Association tough act to follow uh good evening governing board members Dr streer senior staff and community members uh first congratulations to the Educators recognized here tonight for their national board certification their commitment to students is commendable and evidence of the dedication our teachers exhibit um I wanted to take a moment to recognize the Morana education association's negotiations team and all of the time and thoughtfulness each has invested into this process I also want to thank Dr streer Mr canno and Miss linela for their commitment to supporting Educators and students through this process this collaboration benefits the entire musd Community um and we thank you thank you [Applause] Rea superintendent comments Dr streer yes vice president M cronis governing board members members of the audience uh as has been mentioned it's been a busy week or a busy month I should say since our last meeting um a couple of things just to share with the community uh last night we had our bond update meeting uh which was a success uh we were able to to welcome several different stakeholder groups and provide some comprehensive updates on the status of some of our current projects as well as provide an update uh regarding some of the summer projects that you'll see taking place around the district really the purpose of that meeting was to provide information uh but it was also to foster a sense of transparency and collaboration and reinforce the relationship between musd and our community so thank you for all of those who attended um Miss micronus had mentioned impact Mirana it was this past Tuesday we had another great impact Mirana day uh we had the opportunity um with along with Miss C Mrs Kaufman uh the Mirana High School principal who's also a part of this program uh to engage with and visit numerous Healthcare Providers and partners across the Mirana Community uh impact Mirana is spearheaded by our local chamber and it continues to showcase the interconnectedness of community leaders and services that make this community uh really so unique so I would encourage anybody who's interested in learning more about the chamber and the opportunities for impact Mirana uh to check that out I know that they're starting to take applications for their second cohort um also just a couple weeks ago we saw the 2340 Foundation celebration of Excellence Luncheon of which several awards were handed out including our Teacher of the Year Julie Bradshaw from ests elementary school our administrator of the year uh Caitlyn Koffman from Morana High School support staff of the Year Pat sard from Morana Middle School we celebrated our student scholarship winners and our alumni hall of fame uh inductees it was a fantastic event that really brought all of our Community Partners together to celebrate all the great things that are happening across M USD I do want to give a huge kudos to Brenda and Gloria and Jan Truitt for all of their hard work in in pulling together another fantastic event and then finally um you got to meet some of our newest and uh national board certified teachers it was back on March 23d that I had the opportunity to attend the azk12 center's excellence and teaching celebration I want to thank Mrs REI and Mr Bane who joined me uh for that event we got to celebrate our newest nationally board certified teachers as well as some of our uh teachers who have renewed their certification uh great event really celebrating our teachers and celebrating teachers across the State of Arizona and once again I just I want to congratulate the 18 national board certified teachers across musd and this concludes my report thank you consent agenda can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda got ask wants to take anything off first does anybody like to take anything off the consent agenda right can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda I move the governing board present the um approve the consent agenda as presented second all those in favor I I all those opposed none okay the consent agenda has been approved on to unfinished business there's no unfinished business new business okay Dr streer M micronus governing board members members of the audience uh Dan canoro has served as the Chief Financial Officer for the past 20 years uh in effective July 1st 2024 Mr canoro will transition to part-time um as we begin to transition a new Chief Financial Officer into this role the Chief Financial Officer position was posted eight applications were received for the opening a screening committee that included uh one governing board member one principal one director uh two assistant superintendents and myself that at the applications and selected four individuals to interview the candidates were interviewed by this committee and one candidate returned for a second and final interview with the same committee and we are very pleased tonight to recommend Mr Thomas Bogart at for the position of Chief Financial Officer Thomas Bogart currently is serving as a Chief Financial Officer for Pima Jed a position he has held since 2021 and prior to that he served as the business operations data manager since 2019 any discussion can I get a motion yeah can I get a motion to approve the appointment for the Chief Financial Officer I move the governing board appoint Mr Thomas Bogart as a Chief Financial Officer effective July 1st 2024 and I second all any discussion all those in favor I I [Applause] uh Mr con all right Thomas you wanted no just K just kidding just kidding on June 88th of 2023 the governing board approved the award of of a request for qualifications for design build services for the new K8 located in gladon farms um they also um approve or you also approved that I um begin negotiations with firms in order the in in the order of Core Construction Chase Building team in Concord as you're aware we were able to um negotiate to terms with um Chase Building at this all right with Core Construction um at this time the district is seeking governing board approval of the first GMP which is the gross maximum price um package due to the nature of the industry it is anticipated that multiple gmps will be brought forward um for such approval this first amend Amendment to the original contract totals 4 um seven almost $4.8 million will be for just the Earth workor site utilities traffic study and long lead items such as the elevator and then electrical switch gear they mentioned um the district has been informed the total budget of this project is at or below the um anticipated um amount budgeted for this project which is 40 million we would not want to bring forward this package without assurance that the project will indeed meet that budget we will seek final GMP approval when design work is further developed thank you can I get a motion I move the governing board approved the Construction contract amendment number one um attached as exhibit a with for construction for the construction of the new K8 located in gladen farms I further move Dan contorno Chief Financial Officer sign all related documents to execute the contract second and I do have one question okay so Dan um you know 40 million and we know it's coming in budget that's the whole goal that's the money we have so is this first piece within the expected budget because sometimes in the beginning if things you know plus two or 3% where we at on this very first package as expect they have not gotten into that detail of the discussion it's they've been looking at the whole package together and this is broken out of that so my assumption I did not hear like oh this was supposed to be 4.

e e [Music] you see that's the assistant superintend nobody respect you then Super not really either Mr you have time to go put your shirt and [Music] tie do I okay I just start it off before this I'm G to break up the chitchat here and say it's 5:3 all right the uh April meeting for the pral school corporation Board of Education uh first item is roll call all board members and administrative pres with the exception of DEET who has a work obligation that is out of town this evening I would remind everyone that we are a car csil Corporation and the pillar of trustworthiness being highlighted today and at this time I would like to invite everyone to join me in the pledge Le pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right thank you next up is Mr Shri building I was told that I had 15 minutes so I'm going to make this very quickly uh back when I started many years go an administrator I used to have a 30 minute window 45 minutes down down to so this is the principal advisory Council so I'm going to let them introduce themselves and they are going to share uh a little bit about their four-year experience at crille high school so very we meet monthly sometimes twice a month uh they provide me with lots of ideas lots of input lots of suggestions um they are my connection uh to the students and yeah I've been very active in lots of events and activities that they're going to to share so I don't are we starting okay we're starting right here Thomas B I'll let them introduce themselves apparently I got nominated to start so I'm Thomas buing uh I'm a senior here at car High School obviously um my future plans are I'm going to attend Indiana University with the intended majors of history and economics um Crawford has meant a lot to me in terms of just the community that it has created um I've been able to you know find myself socially and and find out where my future trajectory is um and that wouldn't be possible without you know the culture that's been created here and I'm incredibly grateful I've been involved in a ton of different activities uh I'm a two sport Varsity athlete with tennis and golf uh I've been in uh most of our plays and musicals uh I'm a leader of our FCA program I'm on our student council I'm involved with our new bring change to mind mental health club um and I think that if I were to describe Crawfordsville High School in one word it would be involvement and I feel like Crawfordsville gives you a lot of opportunities uh to involve yourself in a bunch of different activities and not just one or two uh like i' I've talked to a few people from larger schools they say you get one and that's pretty much it uh and I feel like profit has given me the opportunity to uh sort of Branch out and find out what it is that I really enjoy doing and help me find myself yes is there any particular reason why you chose not to wear a blue sequin vest you know I have no comment on that at this point in time um I'm KR Thompson I'm also a senior next year I'm planing here at I Bloomington and study teach language and Sciences with the hope of going into ideology in the future um I'm involved in a number of things I help the dance team for four years all of high school and then when I was younger um number of clubs NH HS um I'm helping laun the new bring change to mind program in a leadership position uh spirit Club all those sorts of things and one of my most positive experiences being at the high school has been my experiences with the administration and teachers so last year I had to have a really big major surgery and the administration was very fundamental and helping me kind of figure out how to navigate that with school work and my teachers were always very caring and kind and they always checking in on how I was afterwards and very understanding about when I would get homework in and stuff like that afterwards and then I also ended up having to have an emergency surgery right near the end of the school year and uh it was like the Sunday before finals when I found out I was happy to have this so thankfully Mr Mountain that's me from those so that I did not have to stress about that but my teachers found out they're asking me how I was asking me if I was okay just always checking in and I think it's a real Testament to how much the teachers and administration here care about the students and how they really want to check in on us and make sure we're doing okay and also help us succeed in the best ways [Music] possible what was the grp um the change to mind program so it's a um mental health awareness club and so um where what are we doing today on May 16th we're having like a little field day activity fun thing um just to kind of help up student Spirit pre finals U my name isan Horton I'm also a senior I'm a swimmer here at Cil my future plans are to go to Williams College I'll be swimming and studying that's in Massachusetts um and my experience here at C has been pretty twofold uh and those twofold ways are in sports and in the classroom and I sort of divide those up because I think of them as sort of the two classrooms where I've learn a lot of what I will take with me on the next four years of my life and so I learned you know many things of you know whether it be physics or chemistry or English um in the classroom but I really hold on to the things that I learned in the pool whether that be resilience or teamwork or you know um uh rits you know thr that out there um but you know I I look back at the last four years and Beyond and I I'm really glad that I had that twofold experience where I was learning things in the pool and on the soccer field and in the classroom and I know that moving on the next four years and Beyond I'm going to be a more well-rounded and more balanced uh person hopefully parent eventually um because I had that diverse experience and so I'm very thankful uh just looking back to have a place that was accepting of that and encouraging of that because you know one of my favorite things about is that we love our Sports here um and we are really supportive of the sports and so I'm really really thankful to be moving on and having that the back pocket forward I'm sth I'm also a senior um I plan next year doing the exploratory studs program I'm not really sure what I want to do so I'm just going to go and kind of figure it out um my mom's a teacher so I've spent a lot of my life at school but that's something I really love about Cil is that like I spent my whole life here and I feel like my teachers really get to Jo me and so I mean you're just always so understanding and I mean I don't have as much of an experience like Kristen I don't really have somebody like Thomas I just have kind of the standard experience I'm just involved in a lot of things and that's what's really been important to me so I mean I in I mean obviously principal advisory Council I'm in sunshine Society student council I'm part of the student athlete leadership team um I mean I'm on a lot of different things and I play tennis and I play volleyball my sports have definitely been super important they definitely keep me focused I feel like I do better when I'm in a sports season I have a lot going on right now but I think it'll be exciting we got some County chase points so that's always important and yeah that's my name is Gabby Warren I'm also a senior um I plan to go to Indiana State next year and study nursing um I'm also involved with pretty much everything here um two of the things that like have been most important to my College High School experience um I'm in the CTE program for nursing and having that like hands-on experience that networking like all everything about that program has been so helpful to just like have that experience like I'm going to go into nursing next year but also like having that now like all those connections like we're studing for our state test right now and like we just finished clinicals and been her and so having that like one-onone residence like get to experience like what it would be like in my future career it's been like actually like it's so changing like it was amazing and then also I know was Carter is going to talk about this but I also just got back from the Ireland and England trip and having that opportunity was like it was insane like I I made so many friends I made like just like I've never been out of the country and so like having that like to be able to go out and like I learned how to manage my money saving money for the trip in general like I I learned all of this kind of stuff I came to my friends and so we made such good memories and so like having that opportunity was insane like and I hope that everyone else gets it like it I'm been have to about it it made it so fun so all right um I'm Ryan Miller I'm a senior to um I do football swimming track across country um as long as quite a few other clubs um I think that Crawfordville has has a ton of opportunities for every student here um I think that's one of our best attributes here um because no matter what you're into could be chess club it could be varcity football it could be fire like no matter what it is we have it and I think those opportunities have helped so many students here um I also think along like just clubs and stuff there's also academic opportunities that are there um I'm so I'm going to Jacksonville University to study um Aviation management profession Technologies um that's not something a normal high school would have like to even open the window to like to even Explore so thankfully the counselors worked with me and they got me an internship at the local airport last year and I was able to explore it through there and decide like that's really what I want to do I want to do Aviation so um it's because like the help and from the office like the counselors the administration everyone here has helped me to open opportunities that would not have been there just for any other school I think that they've really helped me find out what I want to do and it's something that I think a lot of students are starting to like like start doing so really grateful for that thank you I have a question for uh Mr couron yeah did you not get the memo that you're supposed to be wearing aian year at least at school colors I to speak last I Meo I forgot yeah that's executive decision before Mr Thompson ask any pointless question anyone else have a question not sure that's pointless well Pride we not what I would like to ask you to do is never top stop telling that story because that's important for future generations and we just had a ground breaking yesterday for Administration we're not doing it for all these people sitting here doing it for future Generations students so never to stop telling a story and I would love somehow to come back in 20 years and see what you're all do because I know it's going to be amazing so thank you for sharing with us tonight one thing Mr is going to work on in the future is checking email and responding to emails uh HRS so just uh it's kind of behind you uh which is not the best setup but um and I've actually got six minutes so is that right how many that's not true plge of Allegiance thank you so I mean I know other other schools have presented so real quickly I I know Stephanie shared the the actual presentation that Stephanie shared with you is what I put in front of my team just to kind of celebrate all the work that we did um this this is quite the undertaking I mean it's uh there's a reason the last time I looked at the website which was last week There's only 22 schools in Indiana that are certified in level one uh for HRS so it's a lot of work um fortunately for us at CHS we already do a lot of these things and they were already in place and so it's really just a matter of ga Gathering the evidence together and my uh leadership team took the took the lead along with me and in completing the the process and I gave shout outs to all of them at our at our last faculty meeting and in particular Emily race is very skilled in uh this area and so she she did a lot of the work as well but our survey results were really really really good um when we got him back and I had done a survey previously with IP I and and it was the same it came back really really high and so um obviously this our highest area was the safety piece uh that was our highest rated area across the board for for students and parents and again I give Mark melt our assistant PR a lot of credit for that he's put some really good things in place and and drills and some of the things some of the simple things that sometimes we take for granted that we have like the secured entries the safe visitor program or sign in and sign out um you know our our SRO our vaping sensors I mean there's there's just a lot of things we do to try to be to to ensure that when parents send their kids to our school um they feel safe and they are safe so um oh I didn't realized there's videos up here too so that's awesome so I'm going to skip to the one area where we kind of focused on which is really interesting so 1.6 is simply uh one area that's really hard at the high school level is getting parents involved and and getting and providing the community ways to uh to provide some input so we um our leadership team kind of came up with a couple different ideas that we've already implemented some uh but we are going to create a parent advisory team most of my high school principal colleagues have responded that that's you know good luck with that but that just motivates me more to to make it that much more successful so that was something where we are going to try to get that off the ground in the fall we uh for the first time ever I sent my midyear principal survey out to parents to let them uh give me feedback on my leadership that's always really humbling I think I I think I mentioned that last year like it's it's really helpful but it's also really humbling but it's also really good too I I gained a lot out of that um we have QR codes all around the building uh so parents can come in and hit QR code in the athletic area I think today I've had eight responses on there which is actually um pretty pretty good and some really good things um some suggestions some positives um so we're really working hard at that the other thing that I wanted to point out before I step away in my six minute time frame is we have really tried to make sure that people get recognized here so one thing that I have done a lousy job as a leader the first 20 one years as an educator and probably my first 14 years as a principal is acknowledging people um and I've always been one that's like I don't really need the recognition but when I get it I feel really good and so uh we've established the Athenian way award uh so we give that to students each quarter you can actually see Whit is in one of the the pictures Mr Barton nominated this has been a great way to so we we value Pride respect engagement kindness and grit and um one of the this has been really cool for our staff and students to connect to so a lot of our staff have not different people each quarter um and and we really we celebrate them they get a t-shirt so they love that piece and then we have an end of the year celebration in May every year um and then now we expanded it to allowing staff to nominate each other uh which has also been really cool the Champions walk is something that we get really excited about we are my first year here we did a few and then now like honestly we're having so much success in so many different areas that we've actually done Seasons because we would literally be interrupting the school day like every other day to celebrate championships and and success which is awesome so um the students look forward to that our staff gets super amped up about it and so we do one of those each season so we will do another one right at the very end of the school year to to celebrate spring and and it's not just Athletics obviously it's it's a lot of other activities and groups as well that we highly value and this is the last thing this has been unbelievable so this was an idea that a teacher brought to me last year she I don't I should have brought it but I honestly you can't wrestle it away from the current person it's it's very it is it's the highest regarded uh honor in our building right now among our staff so it's a torch that one of our teachers made it actually has a light on it so lighted and it's it's blue and gold colors um Lucy Becker our PE teacher brought it to me to me at the beginning of the year and said hey I'd really like to do this and so essentially I started with it which that's the only time I've had it since I I don't know what that says but and then I gave it to Renee Tey so she filled in for for Carrie and covered a lot of things in the office uh with a really rough start to our school year and did a great job and handled herself and just amazingly and so that was our first recipient and then they keep it for 2 weeks they display it on their desk uh they display it so everybody can see it and at the end of two weeks they um go and present it to someone else and you know it's a presentation we kind of stop we take pictures they usually read a script um officer viap Pondo our resource officer was recognized we've had teachers ger one of our daytime custodians so it's not just U Mr Melton I mean it's just been really cool and everybody wants it like people are people are kind of waiting when that twoe window comes up but just another way to show appreciation and recognize so I will answer any questions if you had it or if you have any um pretty much an open book so that's it we are we've submitted everything uh we got a little bit of feedback on two areas we've resubmitted that so we're just waiting for the final approval but we're really really close and we're we're excited it it's it is it's a lot of work it's it's not for everybody that's why not very many schools are going in but it's it's worthwhile and it's a great program and it's the blueprint for a great school for sure what I think's great about the HRS the high reliability school system he's talking about is it took off it takes off once the principal realizes he has to use the whole leadership team and then they have to spread out and those type of things so I think the pieces he's hitting are excellent because it does the only way it works is it have a team that will do it and he has a great team on yeah so who currently has the torch that wouldn't let you bring it to the meeting tonight um I don't Shelly clauser has it and she was absent so her defense yeah I didn't feel comfortable going in there without it's it's uh it's funny cuz like Mark does not like a lot of Mark Mel does not like a lot of recognition and I know noticed like he had it on the front of his desk you know he wanted he wanted people to see it as they walk in it's it's really cool just another simple thing is to show some appreciation things I have bragged on our the Walk of Champions that they will do and put it on social media and everything and I told friends um who are in other states you know other school districts about that and how cool I think it is for a you know a small school district and and that this is a really cool and that it's not just sports that it's Robotics and it's all the different sorts of things fire made and everything so it's I think it's great it's social media has been a really positive we've really ramped it up in case you haven't noticed over the last couple years and actually when I got the job Carrie Saunders that was like one of the first things she said is like we have no you have no presence on social media like we got to ramp that up and so she I give her full credit for getting that started and then now Emily pH Wier has just done a fantastic job of just putting it out there we've had people contact us from other states about the torch like hey how' you do that or what is that we we've had the the Champions lock as well so J I want to thank you onal of the school here for all of you do I see your role is not just the principal scho you're the head cheerleader and you do fantastic apprciate thanks app thank you okay moving moving on the next item of business is approve the uh previous meeting minutes are there any additions or corrections I would entertain motion to approve move second second all in favor all right being no old business we'll move on to new business and the first item is to consider approval of student international travel opportunity her as a I have packets for all of you have you recovered from the most recent trip yeah yeah yeah only only took a day or two um but we're it took a little while to get the students back on their back on their feet but it wasn't too bad um in front of you you have um a nice little kind of snapshot of our social media Pages for the travel program Instagram and Facebook page um to kind of keep the community involved in our program um the second page is the official proposal for what next year's or not next year the 2026 trip will be um I do have a list of changes that I would like to make to the program moving forward things that I learned and would like to improve upon if you go um there's also a letter from a traveler you heard from Gabby earlier um I have another student who couldn't be here but wanted to show their support um wrote a little kind of not Manifesto but little essay on what the trip means to him um and then I have uh super excited have the itinerary for the 2026 trip um which will be an Mediterranean Coast trip with stops in Northern Italy France in Spain do the Morocco be not probably not doing the Morocco bece but uh that is just kind of our Our rough outline and see how it evolves over time um yeah but um some of the some of the highlights here um with the changes that I want to implement um the first thing is I'm going to create a uh Behavior plan that is enacted before we leave um just to kind of ensure that students are held accountable for their behaviors and we just have a set rule for students to receive disciplinary uh corrections as we go um right now the general is one OSS will un enroll you from the trip and two iss's will unenroll you from the trip um of course if we as a like committee and administration agrees that a student has like been rehabilitated and learned from their lesson and won't become a repeat offender those might be able to be reconsidered um other things um I do this last trip was for juniors and seniors exclusively I'd like to open it up for sophomores Juniors and seniors for the 2026 trip which would mean pitching them to the current Le graders um as if we do the uh recruitment at the end of this schol year rather than the beginning of next um the goal of starting it so early it's over of almost two years out um is to manage costs I know here in cville we have a very diverse economics uh kind of population that's word I can't think of um and I want to make sure that this opportunity is available to as many stud le as possible um and getting those monthly payments on or around $200 a month is very helpful in opening this up to uh soon you might not have the ability I did the math and if they have a part-time job at minimum wage they only have to work five hours a week in order to pay for the entire trip between now and then um and I in addition would also like to start a club on the activity period rotation so as a group we can come together and kids can kind of take control over their fundraising uh opportunities and also uh find some time to learn about the culture and traveled tips and tricks that they might not have they might have had to learn on the road this last time did you have many kids that started um maybe paid for a few months and then realized it was beyond their means and of step out between the initial signups and like two weeks before we left um I only had three students drw the the program get all um the ones who so the ones who there's a 15-day window after they initially sign up that they can un enroll and get everything back um those who cancelled later on um it depended on the insurance policies that they chose so the one student who did choose to cancel two days before we left um she had enrolled in the uh in the upper level insurance plan and got all of the money except for the $100 deposit that was made your ISS or OSS now that [Music] um um ideally we would have to work directly with the parent um I would do everything in my power to make sure that they don't hit a very big Financial drain from a behavior um but there will be Warning Systems set in place that you are are at ef's rules for unenrolling if you have to uh remove yourself from the tri or we have to looking on the check so insurance is an option yes yes everyone has travel insurance for like in case of emergencies or if there's um a like terrorist issue in one of the areas EF has programs where all of that money will go toward a separate itinerary and they will move us to a safer Place wonder if there was like you know travel to a certain area yes yes EF has all of that taken care of for us and all travelers are automatically rolled into that the cancellation insurance is just an extra step I believe it also covers lost baggage in case of those scenarios which we only look one and it was mail to her door the next day is this the first trip that you kind of organized I know here right but yeah this was my first one ever um I went on went as a student my sophomore year college um and then my uh my high school government teacher now is the regional director of e in Indiana and he reached out to me um if he was uh here at the last one um we can tonight uh but he has kind of looped me in and got got the program started not last year the year before um did you have have any disciplinary behavioral problems on the trip that caused you to really have some struggles or not specifically no um I think my my sh team was fantastic in kind of monitoring how students are um there were only two students that we saw some tensions build and we're like okay they're they're going to not be roommates for the rest of the trip um we're going to kind of separate them make sure that someone is sitting near them at dinner just kind of a presence deterring behaviors um and we were able to kind of make it through the whole time obviously they're teenagers so they're going to complain a little bit here and there but uh nothing nothing nothing insane um we had um we taped them in their hotel rooms every night and um John cuber was one of my chaperons and he is gets up at 4:00 a.m.

if you're interested or you're going let me know and I can give you some talking points on the summer committee that the legislators are going to have looking at school Deb um isba spring regional meeting is Monday April 15th at the stapes so we talk about par League of Women Voters has have an A literacy panel um Brandy Cooper will be representing us there um Dr steel is moderating the event so it'll be great that's on April 16th to 6:00 here at cero high school teacher appreciation week is coming up and that's May 6th through the 10th our elementary PTO is looking for volunteers um to help with activities and items for the week so if you're interested contact me or you can get on the proper elementary school PTO Facebook page and volunteer through there so and the next board meeting remember is Tuesday May 7th at Nicholson Elementary School I'm Rex rker I am inally it's okay want to next month I'm no um we are we have been a long contract negotiation RFP process we are staying with proactive MD for a year we have a threeyear kind of agreement on pricing um the city of cordsville did leave our group um to they're going to go do something else um so that changes probably how we will operate the clinic and will actually allow us to bring in um some direct pay clients that come along so it's yeah it's been a long one but it proactive MD did finally I think they came the city leaving probably helped us more than it hurt us because I think we actually got the contract we've been asking for for about 8 months after that um and those type of things which on the business side you know we work through that the important part General is that our staff is going to the same building going to see the same staff and currently is offering the same hours that they've had so um that when we were looking at changing there were some other groups that were very close but change when you and our Clinic has definitely served more as a primary care then it has the the original idea of a wellness clinic right where you go get your blood pressure check you would you know do some Wellness things um you know maybe get some minor antibiotics to you know my daughter's 8 years old and that's the only place she's ever been for any medical care um and just it it's important and along long so thank Dr rker business Communications always have a com I'm all commented out all right there is a band concert started 5 minutes ago no start 7 stay there you have 6:30 on my calendar has 630 oh I didn't want you be late the truth is out I have started to learn that Stephanie which I greatly appreciate will she's fix my time yes so that means he's leaving his location at 6:30 right right this book that all Bo those of you at the table have this is uh history of L school which was schoolish years ago during segregation days um written by one of our uh teachers shanon Hudson who a middle school teacher and we had a an exhibit at the carneg Museum on that so that is a book re and I'm going to bring more to Jay and his team um to have that here in the high school as well you don't know it's site of basketball cour to be pickle exactly so that is Lincoln Park that is under renovation because that was the location across from W Recycling that was where Lin school was and well the second midat cross from Midstates back in the day current cross from Midstates back the cabin it's in the park and so no it is different it is different but the cover it was it was on site right well so that actually is the second location the first location is up where where Valentino restaurants kind of where Francis wooden party is up by the am Bethal Church in the north side kind of like Pine Kentucky FR that that neighborhood there was the original location and then the community moved over on the east side then the second building was built on the east side so that Lincoln Park is called that because of L school so that is for all of uh you here and um the there's a committee who is looking at organizing a Jun celebration at the end of June um maybe we'll be at l park but there's other discussions going on Comm but anyway that's for all you guys thank you any other any comments I would motion to Second all in [Music] favor how to go this time Doug this one first

e all right good evening everyone and welcome to the Ashlin planning board meeting of Thursday April 11th um a reminder that the session is being um uh broadcast and recorded So first on our agenda tonight well first I will call the meeing to order at 6:36 and then we always have a Clerk's report Kate yes Madam chair thank you we've received one email correspondence to the planning board since the last meeting all right thank you um next on our agenda is um we start our public hearings they don't go that quickly um the first one is six Chestnut Street site plan approval application this is we are just opening this this this evening um and this is just for the audience out there this is the old Dairy Queen building which has been sitting there for quite a while now yes uh so just to to lead into it uh first this this application was was scheduled to open on March 28th due to some office difficulties notification wasn't provided uh to the abuts and so therefore I just want say thank you to the to the applicants for their patients uh but we're here tonight so to get started I'm just going to read the public hearing notice into the um record so please um bear with me guys um I'm going to hold off a second hey Mackie yeah I just got to text that the the volume is not working the volume on the zoom or the volume on online online yep should be it's coming through one second okay Tech little diffic difficult it's coming through on the YouTube stream okay um can they hear the zoom is that uh Anna I assume you can hear us Anna are other people are you able to hear us she's the only one on the screen I don't know did you text Anna as well you know what it's my fault it's your fault M an can you hear us doesn't look like it oh she's no I just made her a co-host but she should still be able to hear yes yep I just she's in hey co-host yes she should have the ability to un mute herself does other laptop have the audio on because you're recording so it's on yeah should so is the is the person who originally said they can't hear they did they say where they can't hear it I don't know so she can here oh okay this happens a bit too much she can us we think people can line as well okay all right so I I believe we have our audio working to various sources so um if someone's out there listening to us or getting a stream well I guess if they can't hear us they can't hear me give instructions they'll just have to text okay okay um six nut CH six Chestnut Street Peter I think you were going to read the um public hearing correct okay the as the ashon planning board will hold a public hearing on Thursday March 28th due to the situation we are now opening the hearing tonight on April 11th in the second floor hearing room in ashon town hall 101 Main Street this public hearing can be joined via Zoom video conference please see the apping board agenda for this link the plen board will hear the petition of Adrien um Machado requesting site plan review and design review per chapter 48 section 6 of the Massachusetts zoning act and chapter 282 9.6 design review and 9.4 site plan review of the action bylaws the applicant is proposing proposing to revitalize the former Dairy Queen uh currently a vacant commercial property and repurpose it into a fresh produce market the lot area of the site is 18,000 ft and will have adjustments within the existing parking area an additional small landscape area and a minor additions to the existing single story building the property in question is located at six chest Street assessors map 14 Lot 474 deed book 48356 page 462 and is within the highway Commerce zoning District part parties wish to be heard on this matter should submit comments to the ash planning board ahead of time and or appear at the time of place indicated above materials may be viewed on by appointment at Ashton Town Hall during the normal business hours link provided for more for more information please Smit comments to uh Andor contact Peter Mack and list my office number and my office email so at this point I will introduce the applicant um and I already uh so Allan is here as a friend and as interpreter um and uh for the applicant application team then also Terry from Applewood survey is here uh to go over and review the site so the site is going is located at six Chestnut Street the old former Dairy Queen and the purpose is to uh and the proposal is to reinvest and to revitalize that site uh a site that's been vacant for 10 years um and to create a produce market selling meats and produce and maybe some sandwiches um and so that is overall the The Proposal in front of us there are some additions to the site I just want to make a note that this application uh has been heard by the Conservation Commission uh it is within jurisdictional due to the subb river um and the Conservation Commission this Monday night um approved um The Proposal here uh and so I will let Terry kind of walk us through the the site plan and if you want to make a note of uh any conversations that you have with the conservation agent that would be great um but I do just want to make a note that this is in the flood plane it's within jurisdictional boundaries of the Conservation Commission and that was within that memo that I sent out uh to the to the planning board and furthermore the applicant uh survey Terry the applicant survey Terry was able to submit a kind of a color um site plan just to kind of Identify some of the items that we May uh will what he'll present tonight so with further Ado I'll let Ty introduce yourself it's juster just so you can see it a little better I know it's small I'm sure do you want do I could kind of hear it anyway so I think it's okay um the I'm sure you're already familiar with the site what's out there but just real quick um virtually the entire property is paved with the exception of a little spot over here the area down right adjacent to the river and a small little section up at the uh intersection itself it has parking there 25 spaces almost all of them don't conform to current sizes and the aisle whds also are not uh conforming to anything that the the 24t wi with that typically at least Emergency Services likes to see um so uh just real quick with regard to conservation I've stayed out of it I let Susan MacArthur take care of it all we are within most of the properties within the flood zone fortunately for this this application the only area that's outside which is above it is right around the corner here um and uh a little bit over on this side here which is just enough for us to be able to replicate that um flood storage that's going to be lost the reason we're losing flood storage the orange area along here are additions that they want to put on the property off the the right hand side as you're looking from Union Street there's I believe it's a walk-in uh refrigerator or freezer or something that Dairy Queen used to use they're just going to square off square off the building right there this area in the front actually is on top of that concrete pad that you would have stood on if you were ordering from Dairy Queen in there it's got the over hang above it so they're basically just going to drop down from the that overhang the facade of that overhang right down to the uh to the top of the concrete pad and then just Square it off around the side over there um back to the uh the conservation issues again because these a portion of these um additions which is in the upper left corner over there of the plan uh is going to fill in some flood zone we had to replicate it on a foot by foot basis so the the way we're doing that is it's this sort of is a two-fold thing uh in order to play to provide a little bit of landscaping in front um uh all we needed to do is take the pavement out of this area right in here and drop the whole thing down 3 in and that 3 in is supposed to be top of the mulch after they're done so they may go down four or five Ines in order to put a couple inches of mulch on top of that there will be an asbo required by conservation at the end of this thing to prove that they did it right and conservation I'm sure will have jurisdiction to go and check over years over the years to make sure that all of a sudden this isn't all getting piled up in here because they don't take out the old stuff and put in the new um so uh the uh so that'll be the replication area on there um trying to make it look a little bit better we're going to do some plantings up there but we're kind of bound by um plants that the Conservation Commission would like to see out there because we are in in flood zone area and within the River Act area um so I had Susan MacArthur who's more familiar with plants and iron for this area here is proposing four aelas and three Fetter Bush I don't even know what that is but hopefully it's it's nice looking and those are going to go up in the front over here spaced across the whole area and then we're taking out there's a retaining wall that runs right along this uh in between the river and the parking lot and the pavement goes right up to that uh that um retaining wall we're taking out a 10t strip all the way along here um that's going to be regassed again it's not going to be filled in at all because we can't do that CU flood zone um they're putting six Arbor body along that stretch in there just to provide some screening from I guess the Chinese restaurant um there are you know a bunch of trees and stuff in here and when the leaves come out that'll that'll sort of block things from the from the river this will also provide a little bit of um you know right now the general uh flow of the water goes in this direction you'll get some infiltration um down along here this lot is very very very flat the water isn't doesn't move very fast across it at all um just so you're aware uh Union Street is 60 ft wide right here when they put this concrete sidewalk in it doesn't look like it's all that old that's raised up about 6 in off the existing pavement um normally the sidewalks will go back you know put a little Gap in between the pavement and the sidewalk but they put it right up next to the street which is fine but the the town actually owns from the the back edge of that sidewalk you know probably 7 or 8 ft down on this side and you know probably 5 ft as it get up around here they clipped over onto the Locust property as they went around the corner a little bit um so there's a this strip of Pavement in here we're putting this flood storage area and the uh Landscaping in that right of way and the reason we decided to do that is because we thought it would look really strange if we just left this strip of concrete pavement on the back side of the sidewalk and had this little island of of uh of landscaping up there it also helped with uh allowing us for nice aisle with all the way around the building which I'm pretty certain Emergency Services was very happy to have in there um the as far as the colors going here we we dropped it down to a total of 19 space 19 18 spaces the he doesn't need that many I have a calculation down the bottom for what they're doing seven spaces are required but the owner of the property wants to make sure that in the future if changes ever happen he's got that grandfathered then he could always come back in the future and say yeah I know there's a flood zone but I'll put it up on peers and and build a slightly bigger building with obviously with your approval um get through conservation with the flood issues on there but need the extra parking in there which is why he wants it um conservation kind of wanted him to take out a little more pavement but again because he doesn't want to lose what he's already got and if that pavement comes out he'll never get it back um he wants to maintain it the way it is so I've highlighted on the colored sketch here all the purple areas around the the edges here those are all the parking spaces and again those all conform to current parking requirements I also put right next to the building right here a uh sort of a delivery spot I expect that they probably will have no more than like a box struck showing up for uh whatever they're having supplied here that can easily come in off of chest Street go around the building park right there there's a door right in the back of the building they can unload and they can drive right out out on Chestnut Street without any problems coming in and out and that still leaves the 24t aisle coming through there that spot is intended with the exception of deliveries to be empty most of the time um so there shouldn't be any any weaving around cars or anything um with people parking over there at least they shouldn't be parking over there we're providing one dumpster in the back over here the reason I chose that spot was again for ease of of access garbage truck can com in off Union Street straight in pick up the dumpster go right back out just and straighten out without any issues three-point turns or something in the site over there there is a little bit of pavement that goes on to the next door neighbor's property we are removing that permanently uh and and um it'll just be whatever they use for landscape covering here whether it's mulch or it's grass or something that will be done over on their property to replicate um what has been there probably for decades um more than likely no one ever knew where the lot Lins were the light blue area I have around here those are areas that are going to remain Paving but are not part of the parking space areas in there um some of that area can be used for snow storage I expect snow storage will probably happen along um the the southernly border of the property down in here I can't imagine these spaces back here are going to be used very much at all um that's really about all I have to say on this unless you have any questions real quick I think one of the other things that came up in conversation was was opportunity put picnic tables on the river that's possible you know depending on how big these arbores grow into they look like they're spaced enough that they're not really going to create a hedge there might be some space in between them or they could put put them right along the the pavement that's going to remain right along this back side between the end of the parking and the 10ft strip that's going to be turned back from pavement into Landscaping this area is not meant to be a dine in type restaurant you know if someone comes in and gets some sandwiches they can go out and and you know have lunch sitting out in the in the parking lot or something but it's it's everything is take out the the just again the the dumpster and I have a detail on there the dumpster is got a panel fence all the way around it with a gate just to block uh the view so no one has to look at it and to uh try and uh keep any trash that may happen to blow within that area there we cannot have that fence go right to the ground for flood issues so there'll be a few inches up above the ground questions from the board I do have a couple of questions um the the first one U it just the plan in general I think seems to be very efficient and and well planned and compliant with even the parking sizes which we don't see that that often so that that that's all good um is is is there a reason why the handicap parking spot is um placed so further back I mean I see the geometry but is there an opportunity to have that closer to to the ordering um spot because then a handicapped person is going to have to cross the longest way right the we left the the 20t fort aisle just so they'd have access all the way around um if you look at the way had the parking over here before if you came in off of here and try to do 24t aisle you'd have to make an immediate right hand turn which probably a lot of cars would be swinging into the parking spaces in order to get around in that area there or they can come out and around in here um this is about 35 ft from the center of the uh handicap spot to where the front door is this is not an ordering type place like uh like Dairy Queen was you will actually go inside it's like a little mini market sort of thing where okay um but precisely so so there's no there's no chance that the space number 13 could be converted into like swap it to the other side of the of the row so that it's closer to that door the door's up the door's up front so I think I thought you saw that the door is on the side that little there there's a door in the side over here that will be used for deliveries so where's the other one the there's a the main door is going to be right in front when uh when we have have the sheets in front of us but when Peter comes back I'll see if we can put the slides up the so visuals bigger so that's one question just for for for discussion and and and the other one I have no problem if you want it moved over there I have no problem doing it okay um but I will let some the the others um app on that um is there any um strategy at the the Inception of the of the driveway and and the exit to try to dissuade people from cutting their red light and cross through the through the property I guess my first question would be has that been a problem I mean has I don't know um you know I don't know I was out there a few days doing the survey work I do know the police like to sit right here I've seen a cop there every now and then but probably they're not going to be there anymore so more than likely not um is there anything to stop them you know I've seen at another site over in Milford where people were doing that at a light and the it was a liquor store and the guys ended up putting a couple of back hes right there to prevent for people from doing that we obviously don't want to do that not only from a business standpoint but again but you you don't modifying the curb cuts are you the curb cuts are already there so you're not going to change any of we not changing them so you canot change an elevation or anything to make it a little more or put like a texture or something I don't know these These are these this is all part of that new sidewalk that went in there the the aprons that go across we really want don't want to tear up what they just built okay just put up the images here in a minute just to make it a little easier I think that's those were my questions so I I'll let everybody comment I had a question about the um and I may have misunderstood this the the proposed landscape area in the front and this was being put in to kind of trade for the um addition right the space of the addition is that right so that uh the landscape area in the front is being that's the replication area for the Lost flood storage we're dropping that elevation down to 3 in which is it might be the width or maybe slightly more than the thickness of the pavement that's out there um so that if you do get a flood this area is displaced but that water can go over into this spot over here so but you also said I think that and given the um what I think is the property line so a lot of that is is on Town property uh yeah well yeah I'm going to say probably close to three4 of it is so is that I mean maybe it's a question for I I just wondering is that allowed can you know is that for that makeup area of something inside the property to be happening outside the property line like in my eyes I it is a lot you know cont you know it's really kind of in under conservation obviously review because it is kind of it's a it's a flood storage uh matter so so I think it is and I think talking to Becca there was ample there was more flood storage than they're providing more flood storage than they are actually they're exceeding the flood storage far far more far more so even having that off off the in in that town right away uh that still from a numbered standpoint worked for the applicant so the extra flood storage is where it's not in the light blue no it's in this green area right up front that's where the replication going where those aelas and fush are okay so I was I was and maybe I'm not thinking about this right I assumed that they would be I mean they look roughly the square same square footage right now right what does the uh the addition area and the proposed land Cape area are those the two things that we're comparing am I no area area isn't what we have to replicate for we have to replicate for volume volume you could do a much smaller area if you just dug a big hole okay yes okay so you're providing in that area much more than you need right even though the surface area right and and part of the reason for that too was to try and make something that at least looked nice from a landscaping standpoint in the front rather than just the concrete jungle that's there now okay but to have one question what what what you're getting at because that's Town property um the maintenance of that area if something gets degraded um is there going to be an agreement that the owner will commit to maintaining another town well it it's kind of those two questions one is okay yeah the sidewalk what if they do want to put a wider sidewalk in at some point the town you know then I guess that would need to be re negotiated and then yeah the maintenance is a thing too it's not my property it's the town's property so that would have to be a condition I suppose and and I don't think that's a problem my guess is that Dairy Queen always maintained the pavement that was over there you clean it up they didn't want the place to look like a mess I don't think the applicant's going to have a problem saying hey I don't want this to to look horrible I want people to come into my business and not think it's just a a rundown uh building um keep in mind too if the town decided to widen that sidewalk and put it out my gut feeling is that this sidewalk filled in flood zone and it was never replicated when they did it if they were to go out there and say oh hey we're filling in their flood zone conservation's going to go hey wait a minute oh and by the way all the rest of the stuff you're putting in here too um so that they would have jurisdiction over any any future uh stuff that got put out there so if and I understand we are asking to allow this to be put in the on the town's property only because we think it's going to look a whole lot better mhm yeah now yeah yeah just trying to understand uh you know unfortunately I would have put it down here but the elevation drops off enough that it goes below the elevation that we need to replicate that so I mean so that so the area the light blue area just isn't available as replication area because it's too low is it the we need to stay uh in between the 177 contour and the 178 Contour 177 Contour 177 run right along in through here so we would have to dig out an area uh you'd have Pavement in cross-section you'd have pavement and you'd have to drop down and youd pop up back to Pavement over here so we could create an island over here that would push the parking back this way I'd probably have to get rid of that space the delivery space in order to keep the 24t aisle over there um but that also eliminates any um Aesthetics in front of the building too for what that's wor I'm okay with the way the site plan works and everything I'm just trying to understand um and it might be the answer might sometimes be cost right like if there's this big area of light blue that's pavement not being used as parking my first thing is like well why would you dig that up and let let the water soak into the ground you know I'm I that that makes sense and that's what conservation ask could be done and I go back to what the owner of the property who's not the the applicant said that in the future he does if that pavement comes up he will never get it back because of how close he is to the the subury river and in case in the future let's say 20 years goes down the road these guys have made a million dollars and say we're out of here we're going to go retire and he says well you know what I have a chance to put an office building in here or or some other use that requires more parking spaces than what's required right now he wants to make sure he's got that already in place and doesn't have to try and jump through hoops to try and get something that they probably won't approv that he already has now that's from the owner this is from the owner got okay one last comment sorry but but that given uh the fact that that's the owner's kind of intent I would say you could also have a little less parking and create what's needed if the town would say that that's a problem for example uh space number 12 which is at the Inception of the driveway seems like a car back in out of there will probably go into the in on onto the the walkway uh could could that space be um a similar Zone if you don't have it again I had this I had this originally with fewer spaces on there I was told by the owner he wants Jack him up as far as we can I know what the owner wants okay so would would this one backing out over here if it was let's say an SUV like a lot of people are driving nowadays yeah it probably would back back right out onto the apron a little bit but it looks like any car doesn't have to be an SUV would go into The Pedestrian walkway just to back out of there yeah I agree you know I have no problem eliminating it we have far than more than enough spaces out there the existing this image that you see here doesn't look as tight as what the scale looks on the drawing if this is the same spot as what you're talking about that looks like that's pretty comfortable ual for an Su to back out yeah but that's a force perspective I don't think that's uh yeah and I wouldn't put a lot of I don't know how those were made okay yeah you you can force the perspective on that program and just make it look a little wider angle but just by looking at the plan it it just geometrically you can see that the car if somebody's walking there leave the it's not I agree I don't have a problem eliminating space number 12 you know normally I say well let's slide them this way but then we lose our 24t now I could do the 24t off the edge of the building itself but they do have a couple of posts out here because their gas service comes in there the meter's outside and I really don't want people driving right up next to the meter in there no um so you know if you object to number 12 just just I'm clear I don't have any problem with what's being proposed in the front understand Street I'm just saying that that parking spot doesn't look safe to way this La out if it's a safety issue 12 should be eliminated yeah well like like I said I think it would be it' be good to know I mean it's if 12 and the little blue area there you know if if that can be used as water is space what if those can be merged if those can be merged the 12 and the blue space to I'm just not sure about this I I agre I understand that conservation is okay with it but I'm not sure planning is okay with it to be to used Town Land by an owner that's trying to hold on to all this you know all this pavement which which shouldn't be there so I'm not I'm not sure and if if I could it was not the owner who said put that right there that was my decision and again that was strictly aesthetic um if you want us to to put it in a different spot I'll probably put a couple of parallel park well again they're using it right now um we could put a couple parallel parking spaces in there so the owner would say or get some parking I suppose again they don't need it I don't mind it being a green space I have a problem with it being used for the to count for the offset when that's a part of the property yeah I don't have I don't have a problem if you want it's there planted great it it'll look great it'll be a sight Improvement it doesn't have to be that because it like you could say no that's Town property it's that's your problem right to the town but I have a problem with it being used um for to make up for an addition on the site that seems like it should come out of the property then right but if you no I understand what you're saying I'm just trying to see for for future things that may come by this board you this is so flat out there I'm going to have to look at my spot elevations that I have in here on all the survey points to make sure that if you did want us to put that replication back there which means we're going to have to reopen conservation um they uh that this area is within the same 177 to 178 I'm not sure if this comes up a little bit or goes down a little bit because I've got a 177 here 177 there and I I'd have to look at my spot elevation to know whether there's a hump very shallow hump right there or very shallow coming out I would yeah and i' I'd be looking for feedback from the board are you um kind of watching Anna she has a comment because I keep forgetting that she's there um in cyers space um I mean I I agree with that point I'm not sure like I like that this is I think everybody in town let me start I was very excited about this um that using Town property um a landscape versus a specific thing feels like we're we're essentially like giving away something and I I mean we Lisa me's an obvious one to talk talk too how that would be handled but it it's an easement but you're it's an easement for a condition which seems a little bit not probably the right way to handle it okay um what I can do and this was my first um design on this thing and that's when when they said hey we want some Landscaping up front I said oh great I'll just put it over there along this edge of the building that that flood zone elevation runs right along in here I originally had them taking out right along where these parking spaces are taking that pavement out dropping that down now in in cross-section and this is exaggerated this is the end of the parking space Here's the building taking that out lowering this down so the pitch was lower it still would flow out and that's where I had my replication area before um but in you know in doing that and it doesn't matter to me if if if you do that um you won't have any planting or anything up front we're just going to leave that pavement the way it is right now and what would that do to the delivery space can it still delivery space can still be there cuz we're only dropping at a couple inches okay cuz the area is wide enough that just that little bit of elevation difference makes up for the the flood storage we're missing CU we're not really filling in a lot of flood zone in here most of this area right across the front over here that concrete pad is just above the flood zone so we're okay there so it's a couple little areas over here we got it I forgot that there was already something there yeah okay so if let's just say now for the the benefit of everyone if the town took up the pavement there would would the applicant consider putting Landscaping which is sort of getting rid of some imperal service and making it look better if the town took up took up that Pavement in there and happen to lower it by three in that would work for us but I mean it I'm just we I don't control DPW or town budget we just should that's what we're here for to talk about ideas right because aesthetically it would be an improvement for everyone but I guess my point is the applicant's willing to do this on their dime yeah yeah K I I I think that um no I was looking at two things applicant I think should take care of it on the property probably but secondly if this can be an improvement everybody knows that we don't want more permeable surface we want less right so just as part of the project when you're out there doing things if the town took up the pay would they consider putting landscaping and maybe a benefit for everybody is 3 in lower as well yeah um I think that would fall under basically what you're saying well it's the town property you can't do anything on it so we would say all right fine it's the town property you take care of it yeah I think what what we what I believe we were trying to get at is to do that landscape area like you said because I think your design intent it's it's valid but not to rely on that to for compliance but do do the compliance remove parking parking 12 because of safety concerns if you can do it there fine then you're done if not do it the way you mentioned but do both and that would be that that would be a good imp just to jump in I think number one I think we have to check with the volume and how how our conservation agent Becca has calculated volume because I want to find that out first I do it you do it yeah okay so do you need that's why it's so far over it was even a question we we we I I forgot that the numers off the top of my head but you know we're filling in this much and we're replicating this much correct so what my question is is obviously looking at this area the landscaping area right how much replication is taking part on your property and how much is that is just an additional vegetation bed oh oh good question you know what I'm saying cuz I think I know where the board's going and they're saying you know what we're not going to count this whole thing yes this whole thing is being count counted as replication right however that's actually a good point I could probably do that because we have 27 ft right here correct we only need 24 I could always pull this back an extra 3 ft increase the amount of replication and conservation hopefully would say you're increasing it that's fine we don't need to reopen the heing and the sliver on your property would grow to take care of what you have to take care of that's correct to grow that to cross that Nexus and I I can do I can do a total uh volume that we're replicating and I can do a volume just on our property just on your property as long as those meat I think from what I'm hearing from the pl board is that as long as those meat what replication is taking place on your property fits the bill everyone's okay with that yeah they just don't want to we just don't want to count the replication that's being T that's being done on the town own right away I can do that towards the towards on the property that's an excellent idea and I think with marcelo's point of of parking spot 12 I understand that I would just merge that that parking lot 12 parking spot 12 with the with that kind of you know cross-hatching or whatever you know that with that little blue spot with that little blue spot you know just a merge it and so when you go back in here because you'll restripe it right is you're just going to restripe it and you know I don't know if if you're going to cross-hatch it or whatever you do but it's not a parking spot right but I think to find out that that that Nook of information right about what the replication is is going to be the key point and again this is not going to be a problem because if all of a sudden I say oh geez I don't have enough area for the room I'll just go down another inch or another two inches okay wa can we bring up um uh these are the architectural renderings think what we had in our packet yep it's what everyone has in their packet okay so and can we see the The View that's straight on with the addition the the front the front elevation right there yeah yeah that's good um oh I didn't realize it the door's a little closer to that handicap spot probably by about 5T I thought it was right in the middle the door and just to just before we go on do your clients want to make any kind of a statement about the about the their project or about the property or okay so I just to clarify the program is as Peter described meat produce sandwiches other okay all right so then um I just wanted us to since this is an addition as well it's not just reusing the the existing building so those of us have that frequented the old Dairy Queen many moons ago um so the concrete pad is now that glass kind of that glass area in front the edge of the concrete bad closest to Union Street is where that glass goes straight up from okay so that they're extending 8 ft the and the roof is the roof all already the roof is already there it's so it's just enclosing and on the other side so right now it's a symmetrical building right with the roof I think so so down the down the Chestnut Street side they're just extending that roof to cover like I don't remember does it already cover the freezer no I don't believe it do I think I know where you're going and yes that if looking at the front it will no longer be symmetrical no longer be symmetrical so be Oh you mean the gamb is not the gambell will no longer be symmetrical which I'm not sure I have a big problem with I'm just I'm just TR making sure we look at it right so and then that extra square footage inside I just assume just they just extra programmatic space right on that side yes that's an addition of 5.8 ft off the side I can there it is that that shows it asymmetrical uh you can see it would be this side right here yeah and then this side right [Music] here they will probably too Rel landscape that area area right on the corner that's already there that's up that's above the flood zone right in that area they will be putting a sign on the sign post that already exists and you know there are a couple I think they used that are kind of overgrown probably make that area look a little bit better too okay so um yeah so I see there's lighting added to the side that as well the architect added some lighting along the along the side of the building okay yeah I'm just bringing these things up because eventually sooner rather than later on a project of this scale we'll need to go through the conditions that we required to go through for a s plan review you know and um also it'll be going to the design Review Committee and one of the things that we had talked about with um Starbucks this print is terrible that you have I agree um is about one of the things um that may come up is the consistent a consistent visual identity shall be applied to all sides of the building all sides of the building visible to the general public now we take that to me in the streets kind of before you go in that when you circle around the back of the building so in this case obviously I mean that's kind of how it always has been even I don't think there's anything on that side um any windows or anything on that side but I'm just bringing it up as something that that might come up with our criteria if we if we need to discuss that um also I just wanted to go through quickly so people have in their heads the conditions of site plan review this is not a special permit site plan review and I'll just run through those make a note of anything that uh that you think of um one minimize use of wetland steep slopes flood ples and hilltops two minimize obstruction of Scenic views three preserve unique natural or historic features four minimize tree vegetation and soil removal in grade changes five maximize open space retention six screen objectionable features from neighboring properties and roadways seven give consideration to the impacts of the project on Town services and infrastructure um eight is about um utilities being underground um nine is about exposed storage areas Machinery you know being um set back or screened um number 10 site plan shall show measure measures to reduce and Abate noise 11 um site plan shall comply with all zoning requirements for parking loading signage Dimensions environmental performance standards um and 12 is um that it's consistent with the objectives of the comprehensive plan does anyone in that list have anything that jumped out at them that we should disc I me I think the um there there's a little bit of conversation so the river there and we we have talked about like other projects like trying to sort of value that like we maybe in all the planning along the way we didn't right and so that Landscaping along that side if that sort of keeps that that it's at least visible um keeps the river visible well it I mean there's a there's a lot of um what do I call immature trees not saplings but you know they're not old growth trees that are long in there when the leaves are out you probably not going to see that River from that parking lot um it was a little not impossible but a little tough just for me moving around in there getting the survey shots um the arbor are certainly they they take up space there are six of them proposed I don't think they're going to I mean these things have got to be spaced 10 to 12 ft apart I don't think they're going to grow together to create a hedge so there will be space in between but you could say well whatever view you have of the river right there the arbor is going to at least block some of it um more so this time of year than in the summer um but I guess my question would be how many people are actually going to be standing on the edge of their parking lot looking at the river you can't really see it from the street because that drops off pretty good right in that area there is the question then do they want to add them at all like we've never had them before do we need them well trees are good I mean I I think I'm just thrown out like yeah the mo the best use of that I I appreciate that they're trying to improve not only bring a service but trying to improve uh and I would have to check with uh um Susan MacArthur on that to see whether or not those Arbor bodies were required as part of some sort of mitigation with yeah trees are good and then I think um this is not a requirement but we've kind of discussed with applicants like trying to activate spaces for the public and including like a bike rack if possible and you know when you mentioned like the picnic tables that becomes semi-public space which would be amazing yeah I I don't think if you wanted a biker in there they've got plenty of room to stick on right over on this side over here that's a good idea my my only other comment was an infrastructure is the business going to be frying or cooking something on the premises or is just cold cuts okay so there's no problems with grease straps and things like that I think there is one already yeah I know but are they going to use it is there's going to be meats you know like will be meat but to my won be like fried food or things like that yeah we the applicant we did have a tech review Mee we all check we Che checked in with Board of Health so the Board of Health is working with the applicate you know correct yep if it's internal if it's going to be external what the uh obviously what the condition of the external grease strap is for Dairy Queen um what would suit the proposed business the best you know at right now I don't think it's a full proposed commercial kitchen is being proposed um but it's just a matter of what would suit the applicant at this time but they have met with the Board of Health yeah that it's it's an important thing because the gas trap is there we know there was one correct but it's been vacant for 12 years or so so it's probably not in great shape who knows I would know I would I would assume so yes okay just real quick their intention is basically the meets the vegetables a deli counter and they're going to sell sandwiches someone comes in I want a ham and cheese they just cut it you're not cooking anything yeah okay all right so this um this is a project that would be uh sent to the design Review Committee or because it has six or more parking spaces so some of these questions obviously with the um with the landscaping and and things um we can we can let them look at as a part of this does anyone have any comments from our perspective um and um for review but I think either something that else we want to talk about as a planning board and then secondly anything specifically we want to call out to um design review and our typical memo that we that we send to them I would have just three items that they may look into because of the rendition that we're seeing here uh I don't know if the materiality of the building is going to change is that a new sighting or or or what is it it's not clear to me and the roof seems to be the same roof that it looks kind of the way it looks when you go by this but it's going to be a a change in the roof so I assume is if the roofing is going to be new what what material it's going to be maybe they can look into that and then and thirdly the signage do you want some sort of sketches on what the signs are going to look like because my guess is they'll have the one in the building but over on this corner at the intersection the sign post with Dairy Queen sign used to be on they're probably going to put one up I can tell you that the review is going to want to see that so before you go you should be equipped to show them okay renderings or drawings with the yeah that me what's going to be there that meets the there's there standards um bylaws from the town the sign bylaw so that they would just have to meet that but I think it's a good question about the materials because it looks like it just look like the old Dairy Queen right but I think that that Roofing might be hard to match to extend it you know um I don't think that's so I don't know if that's an architect question but we can look into it yeah I'm not sure who to address with questions like that um that uh you know the so for the materials um especially I think the roof the siding is pretty easy to yeah the roof is very visible I mean looks red or orange I don't know if if you're going to put a new roof it wouldn't have to be that color but that's something that can be R yeah when you say it wouldn't have to be that color is it your preference that it was something a little more subdued would you ask yeah yeah just so I can give them some guidance on which way to go with this I think I think in my mind it's not a Dairy Queen anymore and it doesn't need to look like one from now until the end of time are you re Roofing yeah can you ask him if the architect's intention is to re roof it there may be a problem finding the same material that was on that whenever they built that come many decades ago and matching it um from his point of view he would like to basically put in new rou whole building but it would be metal something more up to date okay the whole the whole okay okay they they would like something a little less vibrant than what's there now from what you saying the that's obviously just so that it stands out on the drawing but it would be like a dark brown yeah I think but this is something when you go through the sign review you might want to bring the of what going to okay yeah so I think that's an important I think that's a a good point to come up that uh that at least this group isn't isn't married to the look of the Old Dairy Queen yeah so okay yeah an has her hand oh sorry Anna she's hold on Anna oh hold on Anna I'm Peter's trying to uh get his volume to work with the phone I can try to unmute but I don't think that works we can hear you now oh okay you're on yeah um awesome I don't know how you're hearing me whether it's the phone or or the zoom um I I think my my only thought on this project I think it's great to bring this kind of business into town and that's really exciting I think one of the things part of the comprehensive plan feedback that I've been hearing through meetings in the box is the community wants to see more of these types of businesses to be AC accessible so I think that's really exciting for the town um my only comment was to kind of figure out a way to bring more people to this space who may not be car um have capacity as far as Transportation like the older population in Ashland or the younger folks who might be you know whether it's kids walking from the high school Etc so if if possible if the applicant obviously we cannot require it but if the applicant is willing to um you know keep thinking about the bike racks or some kind of bus shelter to sort of open up room for future connectivity um since we seem to be moving towards more walkability as a result of the comprehensive plan and more interest in transportation and public transportation those were my only comments all right thanks Anna I I don't see a problem with the bike rack um I'm not certain they want to go to the expense of the bus shelter thing I'm not sure if the bus stops there or how you would get that route changed um and I'm not exactly sure where we'd put it and we'd run into the same problem with the flood stuff storage um and putting something like got up the main so the one thing that we can though since they really don't need that much parking is at least maybe put them in touch with mwrta so would they would mwta be able to pull into their parking lot right just to have that planned in slightly so we know what their bus shelter wants to look like pull off the street and stuff that's not happening there but I think it's worth that conversation and putting them in touch with that is it to have them pull in and drop off customers I don't think that would be a problem exactly yeah I mean we should at least it's kind of out of our hands but it's not out of our hands to discuss those things yeah so nothing built but an opportunity for people to be dropped off and picked up okay is that well and if they talk to them it might be some slight configuration of the parking lot and they're like we W make this work I I have no idea but I I think we'd be remiss not to try I would think with most of the size of those buses that I've seen they would be doing the same thing as as everyone else I would probably come in here and go out out there um especially if they if they were going in this general direction pull down chest Street you don't have as much traffic pull in take a rightand turn coming back out on Union and continue on Peter how can we facilitate that conversation or question well I don't even know if I'm I'm happy to put the applicant in touch with them I just I do not think the MW I think their their route is limited to Pawn Street at this point um just just as a note of this conversation but but I'm happy to put the applicant in in you know in touch with MW they don't they don't do uh 135 or anything like that I I don't know or main I do not believe so okay but maybe if they say when we do it this parking lot works for us right or some small tweak it's worth I think at least asking like I said I don't think the applicant would have any problem if customers were busted right to his front door okay all right um so the it sounds like then that's our list for the design Review Committee we'll put together a memo as we usually do send it design Review Committee and then they're free to you know go that way yep so I was just texting with Alvaro and and we'll work with you and and obviously Allan's more working than Alvaro and the applicant and so we'll get you the design Review Committee as soon as possible and then obviously I think there's a couple items just to kind of uh come back to yeah just it just in hindsight as review I'm going to redo this area here to show that we have our flood storage on our own property there will be some on the town's property too and that's just so it looks nice with one big area rather than an island of plants over there we're going to get rid of safe fall that's going to become part of the uh the crosshatch no parking area over there MH and um I'll ask about the arbor um and and see if that was a a requirement through conservation while you do that can you take a take another pass and see if you can have more proximity with a handicap spot through the door um I can tell you right now that's going to be tough to do um yeah just just study it and see yeah I mean like I said I I'll find out whichever distance is the shortest I just my my thinking was I knew the front door was on this side they'd be going right at the front door instead of coming around the building um that's from from this point anyone coming here would have sight distance looking in both directions from here cutting across the building's going to block if a car is coming around this way yeah that's fine okay okay then I think um I think we can continue this is is continuing this to next meeting is April 25th and I think depending on you know I just texted Alo regarding when design Review Committee is going to meet they typically meet meet but we have to advertise so hopefully we can get a meeting with them fairly quick and then we can come back here on the 25th um so I'm not you know I know Alvaro has been in contact with Allen is design review a um like a public hearing yes it is M so you need us here too they you no Zoom they're on Zoom they're on Zoom 100% they they would need representatives to Yeah question they would be discussing materials signage plantings you know that that kind of thing all right so it's more Aesthetics than it is yes okay all right all right yeah um if there is so if there is any information about certain plants were designated for a certain reason then that would be information that would be useful to them I'm going to call Susan tomorrow on that okay okay okay all right so we can schedule to come back here on the 25th and then Alvaro and I will be in contact with Allen and and obviously Terry and the applicant to get in front of the design Review Committee and then come back here at the planning board okay okay good all right thank you very much I'll make a motion to continue six Chestnut Street site plan approval to April 25th plane board meeting second and a roll call vote I think that was an i i Katherine Jers guy and Risha Kendall I so thank you we are excited about someone using that building and um appreciate the effort that'll go into it thank you all right thank you no we started early because we think we'll have a long night actually well hopefully we won't so Al tomorrow and we'll so since we have the other public hearing well so our second public hearing is one thank you so our second public hearing is um 151 Main Street site plan approval application Peter yeah so Ive uh been in contact with the applicant John malun of um excuse me of clover rad brewing and um I think from the last meeting I was able to tell you tell tell the board that the applicants um architect that was working for the firm had left and so there's a new applicant on board I can can tell you that the the the new applicant I mean excuse me the new architect um had been in contact with our Building Commissioner regarding the handicap parking spots and they were trying to tie down some loose ends I me talking to John mun today in um and within an email that you that you'll see email correspondence that kind of came late in the day under tab three um John preferred to continue tonight to the next meeting he apologizes for not having new material um however with that said um he does plan to be here at the next meeting and to bring forth the material that the plany bo asked regarding the handicap parking spot and um any any changes to the um to the area and to the front of the building to the wall with that said I know um with our um 120 days regard goinging s plan review uh that would expire well it would expire on May 3rd I believe and so therefore John mun has concurred that he's going to extend that um date of final action out to May 15th and so that will show hopefully will give the planning board uh at least two more meetings um I do have a draft decision uh for this project that leading up to the next meeting uh with new information I would like to circulate that to the board uh just to get everyone's kind of eyes on it um so we can kind of um conclude conclude this application yeah I had let um after our last meeting um I kind of made a big to-do list for the for the planning board um what kind of things to do between meetings I shared that with with Peter and elro and Anna and one of the things on there is that I did go through the decision that Peter had organized and I filled in well Peter took a first pass on it and then I went through um the criteria which are just the criteria I just read the ones for the downtown 9 to 49 Homer um do not apply for the for the fire station because it's not um it's not doing it's not using the add zoning it's using base zoning so only the ones that I just read apply to that project as well so it's pretty straightforward and we were going to send them out for this meeting too but it seems that we we don't have a it see it seemed a little strange to go go start going through criteria and stuff when we don't have a site plan in front of us right I am okay though sending it to you guys if you want to read those in advance like I said that it's pretty lightweight because of the it's just site plan review so we'll send those out so that it's in your hands and get this thing you know for a small project it's taken a little long but I don't I don't think that's in our court so um we'll get it get it uh through our process as quickly as we can all right so we already continued that right yes we did we took a vote I don't believe we took a vote not for that no okay we oh to continue it right right correct of the other one okay so um motion to continue is that also till April 25th that would include yes to move to may excuse me to April 25th correct so can we do it do we have to do two things or can I do it in one motion you can do a one motion okay I make a motion to continue the uh site plan review for 151 mainst Street till the April 25th planning board meeting and I make a motion to extend the accept the uh applicants request to extend the deadline till May 15th second well I'll second that Anna rollot De Anna tminit I marelon I Katherine Jersey guide and treasure Kendall ey okay so we do so the um the public hearing for the NBTA communities is scheduled to begin at 8 we cannot begin that early so um to the next even though I biggest fan is here Mr Joe manani um so why don't we what else can we take care of get one thing minutes yeah why don't we take care of the meeting minutes that's for February 29th we did get some in just a few days ago for for the next meeting but um we didn't get them in time to really get get it out so it's just the one committed to the last thing last be right in front of the one I guess right in front of the one so on this one Kate with clerk Clerk's report they didn't um it wasn't on the recording the recording wasn't I think happening at the time when you said how many correspondences you have so I don't know if you have that number um is this the minutes that we looked at last time and then said to redo a few things yes so that this is actually so um this is actually redone um mostly it's about um and and this is something we're going to talk about in a larger context at some point but I for one I think there was other people as well weren't comfortable with so many things being in quotes to me that felt like now I have to go back to the tape and make sure that's actually what I said um and confirm it that way and versus saying yeah that's the gist of what I said you know or what was discussed so this goes through and it takes out the direct quotes and summarizes what was said or what the issue was I'm pretty sure cuz I remember to check that last time but I didn't really note that we we actually didn't have any um and I think we could probably say that fill in that we didn't receive any and be okay adequate cuz it will get caught up reported if we did so no correspondence right correct okay okay okay on page three we seem to have voted twice for 320 P Street we must love that project is that right on top page three the first two three paragraphs no the first one is closing the public hearing and the second one is approving the application did we have did we kind of voted separately is that how it yeah we have to do that we did okay because in between there can be discussion usually we're so dis discussed out by then that we don't have discussion between so that paragraph should have come before the voting then the paragraph in between the two wordss no because you close the public hearing and then we can still discuss amongst ourselves but we can't have any other input from anyone okay and then we make the motion to approve [Applause] I don't have any changes I don't have any comments I don't ready for a motion just go ahead I make a motion to approve the February 29th 2024 minutes with the updated uh note for the zero receed correspondence in the C report and a second I'll second roll call vote de an tki i Marcel I Katherine Jers I and Trisha Kendall so those are approved um we have under 15 minutes we can do the uh Jake P to the is that that person's not going to be here right we never can the planning office update or the Starbucks that's in here has one before uh there one above the minut so why don't we do you want to take care of the culber is there anything we need sorry what so what do we land on what we're what are we going to take care of do the Starbucks lad [Applause] okay so in this um the originally was a small paragraph about the comments that were made Marcel had made some comments about following the lines of the building um Deepa had made some comments about actually I think it could be vertical and so I think we ended up kind of taking that out and this was again um Peter wrote it I edited it and then sent it to Anna that we thought maybe it's better just to leave it since since we didn't have agreement amongst our committee and that murals may be changed from time to time that maybe it's best to leave it up to the what would be the cultural Council the artist and Starbucks who is always going to be in the loop on this um but uh obviously it's the letter is from all of us so it's um but that's that's where that's where Anna and I landed seems fine to me yeah feels like it's better to keep it simple yeah simple it's okay okay then um do we need a motion for this yes I think we need a motion to well I'll make a motion to approve the proposed letter for the Starbucks mural as uh written andal oh second second and a roll call vote De Anna tpit I Marcel I Katherine Jers I and Trisha Kendall I so that's taken care of minutes to go we still have 10 minutes we are doing so well guys nine minutes sorry okay we have think 20 minute CH yes Trish in the board I I do have to apologize because I'm I'm traveling um for a personal trip with some family that I haven't seen in a long time I I will have to leave in about just as you guys start um at 8:00 so I apologize for that in advance okay yep that's fine we knew that you wouldn't be able to um stay for the whole thing can we do the updates in between via what the planning updates do you want to do the updates now should we save us for the end the 1060 main can that happen is that a long discuss should I think we might need more time for that 1060 yeah okay that's why I'm wondering can we do the the review Precinct one replacement for the MH yes um is there any do we have anything in there for that we do not but I can just kind of set I'll I'll kind of update everybody so when we did um so when the comprehensive plan was being formed um we received um a number of uh applications it can that can be attested to by Kate and Anna and we broke everybody down down to the precinct um Precinct one I believe had six um applications and we interviewed all I think we inter we we asked questions then we uh ranked the questions and then we interviewed I believe it was a top three is that correct Kate um so Jake Colbert was interviewed he was the number he was the number third person uh the number one uh the person that was selected overall um has resigned from the design I mean resign from the comprehensive plan committee um the second person um no longer uh can um attend the meetings Andor uh could be involved in the process and so therefore Jake colber uh was contacted by our town manager and he is willing to step forward and to fill the role as a representative uh from Precinct one uh and so the select board to my knowledge has already uh put uh has already um made a motion to to um uh Place Jake Colbert on the comprehensive uh planed steering committee and uh if if we all remember that's when we had those large joint hearings between the planning board and the and the select board to obviously um form that committee and so um it was a dual joint uh appointment and so the planning board is at being asked tonight to make a motion to appoint Jake colber to the comprehensive steing committee uh Kate and an I know you were on that committee do you have anything else that to add um no I do not oh lost so um I I think before we just kind of did the candidates in in groups and it kind was previously decided for us so I think um it's just uh making a motion to accept the candidate I make a motion to accept um Jake korth as a Precinct one representative to the comprehensive plan steering committee a second an roll vote oh Anna's not here oh she's here looks like she's Frozen though yeah she might be she not working Anki I okay I Katherine Jersy I and Trisha Kendall I so that is done um okay so little items I think meeting a box is going to take longer than five minutes I think if anyone needs a break we'll just take a five minute break um the public hearing is supposed to start it eight I'm hoping we have more people popping on um and Peter if we can make sure the slides are ready to go okay thanks everyone uh I hope it goes well I'll talk to you all later safe travels Anna yeah why don't we just take a a five minute recess four minutes five minutes just everybody on Zoom we'll come back at 8 o' so for e all right so it looks like we are back on back from a break it is now 8:00 and we are looking at opening um our public hearing for the MBTA Community zoning bylaw um you see we have one person here how many people are um online just the five uh yeah people coming in nobody's coming in just uh two people okay do we wait just a couple minutes and see if we get a flood of people nice presentation thank you yes so we're those in the audience we just waiting a few minutes maybe to hopefully let a few more people in who are looking to attend we tested the slides I sat weighing back to make sure people would be able to see exp more people I was I was so I sat way in the back chair to see if the type was big enough I's going to read this in the just okay yep that's good so as we wait uh for people to come in um I'm just going to town planer Peter Mack I will read the public hearing notice into the record in accordance with the provisions of Mass General Law chapter 48 Section 5 the Ashen py board will hold a public hearing on Thursday April 11th 2024 at 7:15 p.m.

that that the do and Dylan and other members of his team are working on is this concept of a climate leader you know kind of come into play if we adopt the optin code we'd start qualifying for it it's one of the things that qualifies it for qualifies for us it opens up additional grant opportunities I think those are still being worked through but you know some of the things that they're talking about is things like being able to participate in community um um uh Community um sorry don't help me here um the so uh yeah no Ash is doing really really well but uh for for and you know this is a really new thing so I don't I don't blame him so um climate leaders can help fund community outreach it can help fund um feasibility and Technical studies and option studies for um renewable energy projects for municipal facilities and it can also help fund the actual capital investment part of that to the tune of um several hundred, we don't have exact numbers but um since we're still working it out but it's going to be um the same if not more than what's being offered from Green communities which is um 200,000 for Energy Efficiency or 500 for a decarbonization project so we're looking at at least 200 or at least 500,000 with with climate leaders depending on the um depending on the technology that's being and the kind of project that we're of project yeah yeah uh we had a really robust discussion the other day we had an open Forum uh our open Forum today wasn't quite as well attended we chose to use that as a as a comprehensive plan meeting in a box uh for the sustainability committee but but on Saturday we actually had a fairly robust discussion uh on on sort of various aspects about about the opt-in code so so if you haven't seen it you know it is it is available on YouTube we'll send you the link but you know again I won't train this topic too much main thing was for me to share sort of a lot has changed the the the issues at in question are are easier to comprehend um I have 31 communities listed here I think at this stage we're up to 32 33 communities that have already adopted the opt-in code uh we've got much better numbers in terms of uh the actual cost of of improving this uh I can certainly share those with you and uh you know again I I think we're better educated uh here are some of the numbers for those of you who are interested in it and I'll again send these slides out but you know effectively uh for the data that's been collected so far since in the last three years so this is super relevant you know and it's it's across sort of the kind of development it includes highrises includes multi family includes affordable buildings you know by and large 81% of the buildings are are reporting less than 1% construction cost premium and when you're going towards net zero so that's actually a highest standard than the option code requires um so I think we've got got a pretty credible set of data now supporting it and and we have a much more simplified code that we need to adopt uh so so I'd certainly hope that that that as a community we do adopt it um Ash's always been sort of on the Forefront of of uh of climate change and and and adopting stuff like this unfortunately ashin has recently uh been the reason why other communities around us hasn't haven't haven't adopted the optin code so so I'm I'm hoping to correct that record a little bit and and I'm hoping to to Garner your support at town meeting um to to to adopt the code I'll pause your again just being respectful of your time and sort of the the the amount of energy you might have I'm happy to take questions um before we get started thanks Ash um before we get started um Dylan could you just explain your role at the doer and what you do there and your expertise of course um I am the northeast regional coordinator um within the green communities program within the uh Department of energy resources is the green communities uh program provides grant funding for municipalities for um Energy Efficiency and decarbonization for um municipal buildings um I work extensively with um with Sam Riley here um on the call um for for those kinds of Grants as well as assistance with um not just the town of ashin but um across the Northeast any any municipality that's interested in adopting the the stretch code if they want to be a green Community or the specialized stretch code so since I have um been in this position in in October I've helped rough um about um five or six towns with successfully adopting the specialized stretch code and Ashland is one of um 10 um that I'm helping out this for this spring um in adopting the code so we provide technical assistance and grant funding for municipalities great thank you all right I guess um we'll just open it up to questions and comments from the board this is a something that um it's not a zoning bylaw so it's not something that the planning board has to weigh in on we can we can decide to support or nonsupport or provide kind of no decision correct me if I'm wrong on any of this Peter but I don't we're not obligated to take a stand correct this is a general bylaw so the planning board is not obligated to hold a public hearing we can take a stance on it and obviously we can vote to support it and then we could obviously give that report to town meeting and clearly the sustainability committee would love it if you were to support it justement so I just I just have a uh well I'm sure I'll think of more because I've been when I'm not thinking about MBTA communities I'm thinking about the stretch code and specialized code yeah which yes um so I just wanted to clarify and I this this this should be very true okay so in the stretch code and I'm just going to provide an example here in the stretch code um a certain a certain area would apply to the stretch code and as soon as you get say an addition and it gets over a certain amount of square footage then you have to use the um you know you have to use the full stretch code is there anything in the specialized code anything with additions extensive Renovations amount of square footage anything besides brand new groundup construction that fits with that enforces the specialized code no the specialized specialized COD only only deals with new construction um so I made a misstatement at the last town meeting where I actually included that and it was confusing trure so so to your point with that you had made even in town meeting I I was myself confused because the documentation itself is confusing but categorically the opt-in code only applies to new construction and whatever applies in the stretch code is going to apply to us regardless because we're Community but the opin code only only applies to new construction and Dylan you can back me up on this because you've actually been much more into the process than I have that that's correct I have nothing to add okay and that's I'm I'm actually glad you brought back up because because I mean I'm I'm reading this stuff all the time and trying to digest it so I'm glad there's people that are doing it 24/7 like as a paid job that can help us here as well to answer these questions my next question is because I think um on the one hand you know on the one hand there's 4,000 sare feet and above um and and what is affected by that um which has to be if if talking purely single family residents here and that would have to be um all electric um and um but on H on new construction houses that are less than that like sometimes we talk about little infill houses or trying to make these smaller neighborhoods those houses of any size are affected by the specialized code as well right as far as the solar requirements as far as the hers rating or going passive house which would have to be over 4,000 square feet would have to be passive house is that right um Ash do you want to take that because there are a few points that I wanted to yeah so so I think even with greater than Square the greater than 4,000 you actually do have a pathway towards mix fuel so so I just want to be clear but at that stage they do need to be rated at 5 Z which means they basically need to be passive houses and they have the pr Zer okay so yeah yeah so to add to that for any kind of house no matter what size and for any kind of multif family apartment you can still have gas yeah um for a house that's greater than 4,000 ft that's also having the gas option you just need to have enough solar on the rooftop to be Net Zero basically so you can either be um a net zero house or you can be a passive house uh um for for a single family and and also noting that being a house that it's categorized as mixed fuel you could be all electric but now you want a gas cook top or a gas fireplace and that immediately makes you mixed fuel is that correct that that's correct anything any kind of uh fossil fuel that's used for um Heating and cooking and hot water would put you in the mixed fuel The Only Exception would be um like a like a gas grill um like a barbecue grill or a fossil fuel based generator backup generator Backup backup and yeah so you can still backup um because like with a heat pump or something you can have a backup but but otherwise you would be classified as mix field but but keep in mind forish sure that that you know that that's requiring basically that you then achieve a HSE rating of 42 and and this isn't something I'd normally share in a in a wide Forum but given it's the planning board right I I I do believe I think Dylan you you were sharing some detail about you know new new construction that H that's happening and I think um previously we've talked about it like we typically are achieving achieving that H reading on new construction anyway is that is that a fair statement for me to make or am I am I being too too expansive in my statement so um I'm sure the planning board or um at least the the planning department has has more information on this but there are quite a few developments like the there's one I don't I obviously don't want to give away the exact addresses but there's a multi family development and pwn Street um in Ashland that um has achieved uh for most of their units um has in the' 40s um and I think there's another multif family development elsewhere in in ashin that um also has um has units um within the 40s so this is happening in Ashland already um so I it's not a huge I don't think it is a huge stretch for for this town I just I just sometimes want to make sure we we talk about the details absolutely of of the project and make sure that they're clear to Residents as they as they listen to this one more thing I wanted to say is that in listening to the costs and I understand that you know on one thing dealing with costs for um a new build which is very different than a than costs for a renovation addition and which would this wouldn't apply to but um but sometimes in in in my own work work um and maybe I just tell you I'm I'm I'm I'm an architect I do mostly single family homes but sometimes when I'm looking at those costs that are given I can see that maybe the overall cost of a project that only a small component was dedicated to bringing it up to this level of construction but but what I'm saying sometimes is that that occurs after the scope of the project has been reduced because the whole scope of the project could not be afford could not be afforded anymore right so the scope of the project is reduced and then the then what's added on is a percentage so I went so I always have a little bit of question about that because that's what that's what I'm saying in terms of the stretch code in in my own work so that that's all I have for now yeah and I think Trish you're right right the stretch code adds adds uh a level of cost that that's you know whether it's the whether it's the building envelope or or seting and at joints and things like that you know uh or or the type of Windows you're using the the thing to to to keep in mind here is the stretch code expands to these limits for her rating for example in July 2024 regardless of what we do with the opt-in code right so so those are those are built in uh and the optin code you know really starts really focusing on pre-wiring which actually is cheaper you know when you're building a new construction or solar unless you just can't do it in in shaded areas right and and so so it really contributes more towards the life cycle cost actually being lower in the long term for for that new construction rather than being higher and and sort of is a pure benefit for the person who's actually going to own the property and a lot of cases you know if it's a low-income family or something like that this is actually a net benefit to the community and and to the homeowner rather than than a detriment right because the stretch for B yeah I I understand and I I know all that um the important thing to understand in the real world that that I work in any minute that I'm not working on MBTA is is that um is that the the the future benefit isn't money in my client's pocket right now right so that's a cost they have to weigh right so they don't get they don't get a a voucher to use now because their their house is going to be more energy efficient in the future and so I'm not saying that affects what this I you know I think this is a good you know we want to go this direction but I think it's it's about being very honest about what's happening in absolutely in the real world you know and I've I've I've been on listening sessions with different members of the doe doe where they're listening to feedback from the building Community about about the stretch code and there's a lot of issues with it so I'm not saying that's the case here we're already in stretch code I'm just being I'm just trying to offer an honest perspective about the world I'm living in so okay to totally and and super real and and I think on Saturday when when we had Glenn uh you know on on the call as well he he joined our our open Forum he actually raised the same questions to Dylan and and we had a fairly robust discussion about it I think you're totally fair on that right um that there is a cost increment and and I think we've got to be acknowledging that um again the only point I was trying to make was you know the the optin code is separate from the stretch code the stretch code applies in July uh regardless of what we do with the optin Cod and that shouldn't be a reason why we shouldn't vote for the opin code but but I think your point is absolutely W frish I'm I'm not disagreeing with it understood yeah well I I do have some um some comments but I think that was a good start because um I'm also an architect I work on really large projects I'm working on on opting stretch coat uh locals at the moment and and and I've heard um all all all the rosy pictures that typically are sold with this and where you were going Trisha um the real world is not the academic world of when the codes are written the idea that the that the cost is only 1% I would not believe it for a second because I've seen it um the the the the cost is not just the direct cost of construction of a project but the inter costs are humongous and have doubled for the client uh because you have to hire a bunch of Specialists to do a bunch of calculations to do a lot of things so on the one hand we say in the town we want affordable housing we want developers to build things and then all the new construction or those developers are going to have to be hampered with all this cost and then uh Kate was saying for a different topic like what what is called affordable is not really affordable it it's an exercise that I think gets the middle class out of the out of the question because people that want to do something uh just can't it's it's it's it's too expensive already with the stretch code and we hear so the stretch code is already in place in the town it's already get going to get more stringent in a couple of months we're already on the large projects that we have um uh that we have permitted lately have accomplished a lot of what these objectives have so I struggle to see what the need is to impose a yet more string stringent code just for to Pat ourselves on the back say oh we're so we're so um a green a green Community I think we already are and I don't think it's it's necessary um it seems to me like the the this type of Regulation is is very tped down and the incentives come with it it's almost the the government trying to force you through bribing you with with with applying these things that then you have to deal with the consequences the the benefits are in the future in 20 some years for for for for the people that go this route and very few people can afford it um the the in in in general I don't think the the the town needs this I don't think the town would benefit at all from it uh I think there will be uh there there's there's a group of people on the town that are very persuaded about it and I totally see why it's very it's very attractive how it sounds I think uh uh for certain cities or towns that have a different tax base and a different level of uh of uh income and commerce these would be uh uh not really a burden because they will already are a magnet for for economic activity that's not what ashin is Ashan is very sleepy town and we're trying to uh to help it develop um um or orderly and um and fairly and I don't think this is going to help in in in any of those ways so I I I'm working through it uh the Consultants that I work with have clients that that are basically abandoning projects because they simply cannot afford to either either uh uh build to a certain standards and still make money on the project and and that that that is that is the the consequence so um in general terms I I will not support this myself if the if the board wants to to support it that's fine I will have stain um but that's the way that that's where I come from I think that was Marcel I I couldn't make out is it okay if I respond to you oh yes of course I mean I I I I was not um making an argument I just giving my opinion and I appreciate that I just want to clarify just just a couple of points right uh because when we talk about the additional cost we're talking about pre-wiring and when talk well that that that was my point uh hash that that that that that when you when you bring this type of data for the public to hear like oh it's only 1% it it it it lingers as as as as something that is different it's fair Marcelo I I the point I was trying to make was with the a again with the with the with the opt-in code the the main main features again we're looking at the the three issues we're looking at right it's pre-wiring on-site solar Weare it's feasible and and there are requirements for large buildings I'm not I'm not trying to escape that th those those three issues right but but I think it's important to keep the context on those are the three issues right anything that happens with the stretch code that sort of built in uh you know and and so let's talk about what the added cost would be right so so we're really talking about pre-wiring and the reality is that it is much cheaper to pre-wire for electric when when you don't have walls up when when you don't have uh drywall up uh you know because it is is it going to be an extra cost absolutely I'm not I'm not trying to deny that anyway but but but it it's about pre-wiring and the the second reality is that the only approach that that we have for achieving any kind of a net zero goal is to move towards electrification of new buildings and and new buildings are going to live so so it is new construction new construction is going to live for the next you know 40 to 80 years uh at minimum uh and if they're not pre-wired someone's going to have to open those walls up and put the wiring in at some stage because the the the concept that we'll continue to use fossil fuels in the long term is in and of itself not sustainable and and the cost of fossil fuels is going up so well yeah what the optin code does is basically say hey just take the time when it's the cheapest to do it to do the pre-wiring and you have the ability to do it do the solar I I I I don't think that that works quite well and and you're right of course is it's better to do anything before you close walls and it's more efficient but projects in this town are already doing it is my point all the projects the large project of new construction that these will apply to are already doing it so so then there should be no issue right so there should be no need right but there should also be no issue adopting it but but the the changing that regulation cannot be just because oh maybe worse changing a regulation is a solution to a problem and and we need to start seeing it that way so there are benefits though Mar right I about the add let Marcel finish the idea that the idea that all the buildings in in a in in in an imaginary world are going to become Net Zero is also not feasible the geds of our country and our cities cannot tolerate everybody having everything electric that is a fact in in in in many cities where where a higher point of electrification has has taken place uh on emergency there's a reason why the code allows you to have as for a for for a backup generator because because you will need it at some point so so so I think the the my point is that just because a regulation is is always much more than it comes the first time around it's it's an Open Door that's why you should always try to regulate to the the the minimum uh the minimum level of of of of bothering the public as possible to solve a problem just because it sounds good and and people are already doing it oh yeah then then let's put the regulation up I don't think that's an argument for me Fair points uh I I think long-term Massachusetts has a plan to increase the the grid capacity Plenty Of Studies have been done you know and and again totally acknowledging that this is a long-term change it's a long-term change in response to uh to crisis that that is emerging and you know I think it's incumbent on every town every city Every Nation uh sort of to tackle it and and and again the crisis in in question being climate change right um and and as a town we've chosen we've chosen as a town to adopt a goal to try and Achieve Net Zero by 2030 which is more by 2040 sorry which is which is actually more stringent than the than the state itself has chosen to and if you don't make the steps required to achieve like just common sense steps required to achieve that goal then then you know at some level were we lying when as a town we we we we basically adopted that goal we chose a town meeting to say to stand up and say ashin as a town is going to achieve 2040 you know that's zero um so every single time that then we bring up sensible Solutions logical solutions that help us move towards that step to move towards that goal you know that's a decision the town made right I didn't alone town was the town wasn't lying to to saying that and I know because we had this conversation before the 20 the 240 date was brought out of thin air just to be ahead of the of of what messages it has is wishful thinking that is not negative in in and of itself but it's not going to happen the town may desire to happen but then the implications are going to become app parent on on their own weight sure and and my my my statement to you would be that if you don't even take the smallest of steps which is to me this is one of the smallest steps we can take which is in new construction we take the sensible step of saying pre-wire in in advance of closing a wall uh then then we'll never achieve it right so forget about 2040 forget about 2050 which is by the way the state goal uh or 2060 or 70 or 80 or 90 if you don't start making some of those steps we effectively never achieve that goal uh so so it's a decision I think that the town needs to make um what I'm suggesting to you is in in terms of making changes in our behavior for one of the largest crisises that we face um this is truly a min mini step and if if you have uh compunctions about about taking even this step then then let's basically as a town what to not really care about climate change or not care about 2040 uh I think that's not a fair way to put it and the the point that we discussed before that step that you think is important to achieve that is already happening you don't need to change anything it's already happening let me so okay let me ask some let's yeah let's let me just ask some questions about the about this more about the specialized code you have up the slide up here that talks about uh multi family um talk to me about strictly commercial um say ashin you know we're talking comprehensive plan say we have a new biomed brand new biomedical building going up but obviously is going to have to adhere to the stretch code as far as energy it does it have to have solar panels if it's all electric no if like what go ahead Dylan Dylan you had your hand up yeah um if it's a mixed fuel it will have to have solar but there is going to be a rule change um at some point this year that it's going to require much less solar than uh would typically be needed for a commercial plant so let's separate out that biomedical facility for a second and talk about just General commercial like an office okay or even a municipal building so it would require um 75 watts per square foot of building area for the largest three areas for a biom medical building so a um a lab or a hospital those with a very high ventilation in the rooftop that requirement is going to be cut by 23 so it's going to be 0.25 watts per per square foot of building area for the largest three floors so that's substantially that's going to substantially cut the solar requirement on the roof space for um High ventilation needs buildings like like a hospital so still going to require solar but a lot less than another commercial building yes I chose a bad example in saying a biomedical building um so the um so with with the specialized code say if I have an office building the um I'm still following and when we have specialized code I'm still following you know say the the teddy requirements for understanding Heating and Cooling and um and uh if it's all electric it's it's not pre-wired it's just wired right because that's what it would use already Elric the only only buildings that are pre-wiring are ones that are using mixed fuel and they'll only be pre-wiring to certain locations because they still obviously have electricity um but those buildings like an office building would if if it's all electric it's not putting solar panels on it's only putting them on if it's mixed fuel is that right if it's mixed fuel yeah if it's a mixed fuel um off its building then it would require solar um at at the rate that I just mentioned okay I just have one more question um I think unless passive house and that's be and and um that's because Marcelo and I have been talking about this in terms of in terms of some of the buildings he's been working on that have been challenging and so um I just did a little Googling to try to understand what he was saying and and what I thought I understood about the specialized Cod I'm not sure you'll be able to explain this to me this is really more of a question for Dylan but I found two different pages of the cambrid .gv website and granted one of them is older and maybe they didn't have a handle on this at the beginning but both of them say the specialized code will require builders for both new construction and major renovations to meet high performance standards prepare buildings for all electric why does it say that was that a Cambridge mistake do you know if Cambridge has an Cambridge mistake yeah this was this was based to me at some point before and um you know what what I'm actually going to do I'm going to I'm going to make a note to reach out to the Cambridge folks so that that maybe commend that because it is wrong and I can confirm that's wrong and and Trish I made that mistake too you made that we we we all made that mistake I mean Dylan's on the call and I'll say this to him and I've said this to him before the do are really screwed the pooch when they when they rote this out right uh it was confusing as heck it's taken us more than a year to to fully understand the implications of the opt-in code uh and and even then it's taken us a year for for the stretch code to expand to some of the limits of the optin code for us to simplify the the the conversation around the optin code right um but the reality is it is what it is I think all of us were confused uh and now with with the stretch code coming into play with with July 2024 sort of looming I I think I think the the the conversation becomes simpler right it it comes down to these three things and and I think all of us sort of had levels of confusion uh some less more than than than others just one last question because I I I really don't know and I think it's relevant how does the stretch code how does the law in Massachusetts apply for this the the stretch code or the optin code for 40b projects I'm going to ask you know the to 40b um I think I got the most of that it was actually a little bit soft but um so 40b projects anything that's multif family would follow the multif family part of the the code with like the the building code is separate from any planning law so the way that the just the type of the building dictates what um thank I'm I'm just going to jump in I'm going to cut you off I'm sorry I'm Town planner Peter mck I can answer that question Marcelo so that the a 40b application can apply for waivers right and so say in in theory Cambridge or or a community in Massachusetts they adopted the the opt-in stretch code right to the highest extent the developer right would apply for a list we apply for a waiver from that code which when to revert back to the basic state building code on the basic energy code correct okay so that's goes to add to my point so we so we have very confusing codee that people are finishing to understand yet we are going to try to adopt it and and we're going to put all these uh all these new regulations on new development and any 40b project that comes will get a waiver not do all these not worry about climate change at all and we are not going to get any new projects that are not for that's the out that's the outcome until I I think that's a pretty extreme that that's a pretty extreme statement right there because not every project qualifies for 40b um so so I I mean sure I mean you can make that argument but but I think I I think that's a little bit that that's a little bit extreme and again I'll go back to the point that sure you know uh the state codes are the state codes the the the legislations are legislation we we have to operate within the the framework of the legislation that's out there um but but you know um at least as it results in in new buildings I think it's incumbent on us to to take the steps needed and and again we're talking about these three things right um if you introduce 40b sure they they can apply for wers um that that that's their right um and certainly I hope as a state that we'll close that loophole but but that's not that's not in debate right now that what what's in question right now is do we as a town in believe enough in in the need for you know future future proofing our buildings and and adopting some s sensible requirements requirements which by the way you know as you've yourself said Marcelo uh we often times more than meeting uh you know youve you you've validated that for me so you know why not uh take take that step and and then also take advantage of of uh you know being a climate leader you know take advantage of the benefits that come from and and more more importantly future proof our buildings so um I want to offer the opportunity for the other three people just it's been a very technical discussion I know about this and I and maybe maybe I'll State first that I'm I'm not um I'm not where Marcelo is but I'm I'm not I'm not jumping for joy either right because it's a more it's it's a it's a more it's just not as easy and it's more complex than it looks um than it looks just to you know go green it's just it's um and I believe in that I I you know as you know I I've taught courses I've chaired the sustainability committee um but I also have a one foot you know in my everyday practice but but I'm not where Marcelo is I I'm more you know um that's why to me I just want um I want to make sure the truth and the the facts are very transparent absolutely especially especially for th those in our community that maybe building a smaller house or maybe you know whatever so that they understand those things um and then can and then can decide for themselves how they want to apply it so absolutely but um yeah any other three want to jump in at all I mean just I would like to I mean we'll obviously get this and I don't know that I want if we're voting tonight I I'd want to kind of digest more and look look at it I I was not intending that we should have to vote after several deep discussions at 9:30 at night without having time be unfair without having time to digest and and remember that we don't even have to vote we can determine if we would like to or what we want to do but we don't have to do that tonight so I um I think I absolutely share the concern around um the triggers for additions and Renovations and I think that was a point that you know we've said it was said at last town meeting I think that that will be a part a big point of public I'm sorry to interrupt you I can barely hear you so so maybe move closer to the mic um you know any lingering ambiguity around that point is certainly a concern for me especially if there's thoughts that Cambridge has it up and is enforcing it that would be it seems like enough of a concern that's out there with respect to that um but I also think Marcel's point on 40b is a good one I think that you know the more restrictions we put in place that make it sort of harder to use our standard procedures if you can just go 40b and get a weaver I think that's a worry um as a board that's facing you know three of these now the important thing to remember is about a 40b is that once we actually hit our 10% right they we're no longer vulnerable to table of course so it's a it's so it's a limited time frame of of course I think um it's but it's a valid consideration that like sort of the more hurdles folks have to jump through it makes that Avenue look um much more attractive and I I would definely yeah I need a minute to digested it seems like a lot happening at once when the stretch isn't even Fully live I I do want to clarify the Cambridge thing categorically it applies to new construction we've now spent a lot of time and and Dylan again is from the de like I I think we can make that statement very clearly it applies to new construction there is no confusion about it there's no there's no debate about it you know it absolutely applies only to new construction there is no question about it yeah and I'll also add that uh 40b developments do have to comply with State Building Codes that's in the 4B guidelines yes so they'll have to apply they'd have to um um they comply with comply with this the base building code with the State Building Code which is going to be changing I think this year up being upgraded upgraded so so again that that brings us back to you know the limit of what the opt-in code is is is is effectively simplify it so um Deepa um lot to think about here especially after hearing the pros and cons from the two of you but I'm curious there were um ashin you did said there were like 31 communities out there who opted for this um to going back to what Trisha was saying we have lot of single family homes and justifying that cost to what Marcelo is saying do we have data to show that this opting this is the right way for Ashlin is there comparative studies that we could have pulled out from the communities that you have on that scen yes so so and and I'm happy to share here obviously I'm trying to put a slide together right so it's brief on purpose but you know build environment plus has been collecting data data from 2021 to 2023 uh across all Net Zero buildings this is higher than the the the uh opt-in code requires right uh because opt-in code does have the flexibility of mixed use especially for smaller buildings and uh that that's been a pretty active process even beyond what the uh de has been doing right and uh so the the graph that you see on the slide really reflects sort of their collected data and and I'm happy to share the study with you um and off the off the about 30 million square F feet of Net Zero building Net Zero ready building that was completed in in in Massachusetts in the last 3 years and that includes you know everything um 7 million reported their cost data so 7 million gross square feet reported their cost data and 81% of them basically had 1% construction cost premium um that's just fact that that's not made up you know um I I can again share back that study with you so you know I chose to be more conservative in my slide because you know I'm one not a building professional and I wasn't associated with building en built environment plus I'm interested in what Ash's impact would be I I went with the 0 to 4% the 1 to 4% sorry um but 81% of Net Zero buildings built in Ashland that have reported cost data are in that 1% range and that's consistent across all building types right so so again I'll share the study with you um whether you you trust the study or not you know that that's due diligence you'll have to do um but I think that's about the most credible study that I've seen uh that's most recent that's not made up it's not projected it's it's actually based on real built infrastructure today not not from four years back when when costs were different not from 5 years back but from 2021 to 2023 okay so if there's no more questions from the board I think we'll need to I think we'll need to wrap this up for the for the this evening and um obviously we know how to contact you Ash I absolutely and Trish what I'll do is I'll take the the the the five or seven slides that I did did share with you guys the the links that I've talked about including on the slide and I'll I'll share that back with p and yourself and and maybe you can you can circulate that with the board so that they can yes ab abely and digest it yeah I appreciate you coming I appreciate you being organized about it and I appreciate you bringing your your backup do team so that's that's great so I appreciate you you as me very difficult questions last time chish I wasn't I wasn't ready to answer all of them so I fig i' I asked the hard questions cuz I can't figure it out myself right which is why we brought Dylan and and Dylan answered Glenn's questions on on Saturday as well and Glenn acknowledged for the first time that he'd got good answers so I figured I'd repeat the process I'm going to start walking around with someone that can answer all the hard questions that's a good idea go there you go there you go so thank you thank you for coming thank you all right absolutely and and it was a pleasure and and again you know we're trying to do the right thing for ashin right I think we're all aligned on on the right goal absolutely understood yeah so yeah all right thanks everyone thank you bye oh boy okay so I think well the rest of it is just kind of just kind of us we want we had a couple sections from meeting in the Box I think we should try to finish those even if some people can't stay even if there's just a couple people I think we should try to wrap them up I know you have a big deadline tomorrow Marcel um so why don't we have that last and those of us that can stay you could always write in your answers you could always send your answers directly to Kate and she could write them you know um but I know you are you are under a big deadline so the things we just wanted to um do uh is ju um the 10 to 60 Main Street discussion is just about um it's just about a process it's not about discussing anything today but I wanted to share that well Marcel and I went on the walk through this morning um we can talk about that a little bit I also want to share that Marcelo and alvro and I oh earlier in the week met with John um teldon oh me what did I what did I say you said that I met with you guys but oh my God alo [Laughter] alo oh my gosh I'm going oh I'm I'm I'm losing it so yeah so anyway pet Peter this guy Alvaro B those up on the screen um met with John trelon TR traan Tran John traan um who is the chair of the zba he was also on the walkthrough this morning and um and we met with him I I had asked to meet with him to understand um actually to start to understand if we can have a if we can have a meeting to understand what the zba does and how they work and what the planning board does and how they work not to talk about specific 40b projects to talk about process because um John and I I think rightly so thinks that would that's not the way his board should approach having these projects in to be having separate meetings with different boards except about process so that we can understand I mean they have a three-person board we have a five person board they have to be apparently unanimous we don't right so there's different ways that it operates but I think it would be good to establish that relationship and understanding 40 BS are no 40 BS you know it's just kind of the timing of the thing so we we talked about that a little bit he actually already last week I think met and went with the design Review Committee I think he knows Kathy and the design Review Committee and Kathy asked them to talk to the design review committee so they're a little bit ahead of us on this one um um but that'll happen after after town meeting it's not about us putting our comments in or anything like that the schedule um what I'm what I have on the schedule Peter and I talked about on the schedule again it's so now our 25th meeting is kind of getting kind of loaded but for us to talk about what comments we want to put forward um for 410 to 60 Main Street right so we're going to put that on the agenda for 10 to 25 we could we could send comments even in advance to Peter so we have a document to look at if we wanted maybe that would be that's correct 100% efficient way to do it like send in comments we can all have something to look at we can add to it so we that we really start that we're not relying solely on night two weeks one on one night yeah just on one night really you know one night just to make comments and address it so I think it's a matter of compiling a comments a comment letter is going to have to SED to you know the town manager's office you know you know Michael and and obviously I'm here to help Michael in any capacity draft a letter and for the say say that again so so we're going to start with some with something and and reply or may one of us going to well I think if you need have thoughts right you can put them in writing to me yep and I'll print them out and I'll compile a Word document and then I can send them out leading up to the next meeting so everyone can at least read what people's views are and then at the meeting we can come together and kind of maybe outline you know items that we would like to you know create a you know create comments on so I think in because you had said you'll send out an email saying Hey give to as a reminder to kind of provide responses yeah I can tomorrow I can I can resend that link but I think as part of that maybe we should include at the site walk today the um the representative from Mass housing said that there are seven points for lack of it that that Mass housing considers in looking at an application now some of them are financing you know are like but you say also that the commentary they only this is the way I understood it that they were only um review commentary that relates she certainly I think I mean it was a brief comment but I think she certainly gave the impression that like our criteria or whatever it has to fit into the description yeah free it's not a freefor all that's right that's right she's going to send it back right it it's I think it's out there it's not like a yeah so I mean I'll I'll try to dig out she said I believe she said seven so if we have that in the email people will be able to say okay I can't say a thing about financing right I don't know what the financing is but it says this and I'll respond to that so it's really you can say anything you want but so you understand what they might have actually to listen to so is it possible maybe um I know that there's a push to get a lot of public comment in on that link like those is it possible to sort of let the public know that like when you're making comments you know saying that this is you know huge and gigantic and going to stram the school system probably isn't going to work for the state but if you want to fit your comments into these seven things that the state can consider that is because I think that there's a push out there to get people to comment and that's great but it's not I don't want everyone's comments to be sort of fall on De ears because it doesn't fall into the parameters yeah I mean if if we can somehow put that on the um on the website um we can Mass housing criteria something that really makes it clear about direct your comments to these criteria that Mass housing like does have con consideration I'll work with I'll I'll reach out to the town manager's office tomorrow and I'll make that I I'll bring this up as a point well create a form that gives you those seven options only coms nothing more that would be awesome well I think also I mean I'm not sure where this overlaps with with the process but I mean we need to expel out the whole public process right like how are those they're collected there was a form but like what happens and right are we just stapling them all in a binder and submitting them or someone like I don't know right hold on but but the way I from Michael's email he wants comments from the boards yes so we will receive those comments but we will have to filter them and then convention to some comments that we sent out the board to be included in that documentation it's not that everybody's going to come and everything's going to go there that no he's collecting comments he is collecting public comments but since I I mean we I get calls about it you people like I want to be able to explain to if someone asks me for something like what is happening with the process which isn't entirely up to us but like we we should know that what is the public process right how does our stuff fit into that full process and I think also there needs to be like there's not a lot of context for those comments right now like there we got some drawings but like I didn't get anything from you know I don't know if anyone's going to put a memo of the site visit and then I was surprised to seeing the application on 1:30 that there was a meeting with someone in town and there was never I haven't seen any documentation about that so like all that stuff filters a context of what we're looking at like the the more information the better right and everything should be public yeah I mean I think um yeah the exact process um there was supposed to be a document about that too I have not read it like about the 40b process it's spelled out right so that should be distributed it should be posted online it's something we should go through at our next meeting so that we are like okay this is going to happen first this is going to happen second this is this is how it works right and then yes there's our comments and what whatever comments we're collecting that come through us that maybe we can ask Michael more about what does the final thing look like that he submits is it a stack of letters one from each board or does he have to take the stack of letters and squish it squish it into one document that he's allowed to submit like I don't know right exactly but we need to know that yeah and then we we would know better how to write a fancy letter or just give a bunch of bullet points right like which is it you know kind of thing so that's the information we need to have a productive discussion okay next um next week and I you know I guess it's uh you know I um you maybe we can note I'm a little hesitant to we can open it up to the public we probably get a probably get a lot of people I'm not sure right but Mark's gonna this topic May generate yeah but I also want to make sure we as a board that's that we're dealing with it for a year and know the ins and outs of that site probably more than anybody in town um that we have an opportunity to make sure we the five six of us have a chance to have our our voices in there not to exclude voices but I want to make sure we each have a chance to talk about the things we that are important to us after a year-long discussion right I mean yeah you can only write it's too big one time right and that's enough this doesn't sound like a planning board night topic it feels like it needs a separate dedicated unfortunate time that if we are really going to be diligent enough to read all the public comments assuming this is going to trigger a hell lot of comments that's going to be a lot of time consuming work well then all I can do is say we can put I can put out a one of those doodle polls or we can put out one m i mean I guess the first thing is people are I'm we can put out an email with the as well saying what nights in the next three weeks or whatever can you not do it and then maybe we'll see what we have in common usually it's like the Thursday we don't meet but can't do it next Thursday because that's comprehensive plan and I mean they're meetings are shorter so I guess we could pig piggyback a zoom on like an hourong Zoom or something so possible but usually so the first thing would be I think to send out a thing saying here's three weeks when can you not meet between the hours of 6 and 10 what nights can't you meet you know and then we'll see what's left because it's really hard to schedule as you guys know really hard so I also think we have to find out like technically the where we are in the process is under the control of the select board and are they planning on doing a public forum which I don't if they are then we Michael mentioned something correct it was like at a select board meeting which I I adamantly told the people Claudia is listening that I don't think that's adequate for this situation I think it needs to be a separate Forum yeah I think that's going to was my understanding but that's not how they left the last select board meeting but there might have been conversations so if there's a public forum right that planning board can go or not I think that might shift somewhat what you're talking about and and I fully support of like we have I think it needs to be separate one way another just to have enough time like I said with the caveat that it's incredibly hard to get six seven eight people together and so let's you know let's put that out there and so we will see we will try our best I'm not opposed to select board handling their own issues the way they went to so that I don't what they schedule is up to them I don't think we need to direct their stuff but we can decide what we want to do with our stuff so um so anyway that's that that's that's all I wanted to discuss tonight um the meeting I thought today the walk through basically consisted of walking around the building and then the whole thing was about an hour and 20 minutes and then we we went in very briefly not not everyone even went in if you've seen the building on the inside they did take questions the the team the um so Gordon was there um the developer uh what's their name uh uh svl uh svl Ash so I guess it's a Jeffrey inler is the uh principal yeah and then um the engineer whose name bowler bowler was the engineer and then the engineer the architecture um Embark was there mhm so um um and they were yeah I happen to for the architect so um yeah so I thought they were yeah my personal impression was not knowing any of them was that they've done a lot of these they understand the process they seemed um open to listening they were acknowledged that it's an expensive site I think we all know that right with the with all the mitigation issues and the um you know it's just it's not a it's not an open field you know so um you know they talked a little bit about that they I think some of the things they talked about um as far as public spaces and um relating to the community the importance of the site you know they they voiced those you know if you know how much you want to take it with a grain of salt you can but it I thought it I thought it could have been a lot worse I guess was the way I came away from it actually developer opened the statement by saying this is just the beginning of a conversation I don't know how heant is the first yeah that's right so um then uh they also um this was at the end I think you had already left Marcelo they talked about um that it's a bit of an unusual project because um commercial is not usually a part of 40 BS um and that's by by the state they said that commercial can be included but it has to be ancillary to the housing um which I thought was interesting so it don't almost seemed like their the AR the architect anyway seemed uh kind of interested in it because maybe it's a little different because it has a commercial component as well um was my impression so um yeah and then it was just basically a tour of the site trying to understand how far back from the where how far back the building is sitting and things like that so not a lot of detail please I'm yeah no worries um anyone have any questions like answer about the walk through there wasn't wasn't wasn't tons of notes right could to say but but there was representatives there from the historical commission planning board select board conservation uh there was three members of the conserv there was members of the Conservation Commission there John trin's only board of appeals Scott was there Building Commissioner was there I was there conservation agent was there Town planner assistant Town planner yep Jen ball assistant Town manager Michael Herbert Town manager um it it was a fairly well attended group it was two folks from Mass housing um and it was a you know it was a site visit obviously it was run by Mass housing um it was their meeting along with the developer however Embark the gentleman from Embark the architect and obviously the civil engineer uh did kind of comment on their plans kind of as as everyone kind of walked the perimeter of the building so is anyone is Mass housing or is anyone from Ashlin putting a memo that can be made public I feel like the more everything should be public about this or else people just feel like they don't have any say and that's not true they do have a say we can probably put together it'd be a very few notes because I didn't take notes or I I took I probably took 10 notes but I mean between everyone you're saying was there Town manager assistant Town manager conservation who was there basically what we did I think public should know and I think the more transparent the better I think it's fairly easy to do just don't like I said don't expect a whole detailed list of what was you know there's one person there's a couple people I couldn't identify but Peter might be able to might be able to know so all right so we will we will do that we can work on that excuse me I mean that no one did like a signin sheet usually they do on those kind of things I didn't get one no Mass it was okay like again there was M it was mass housings meeting it was not organiz we contact them and ask for any notes from them I didn't they weren't taking any notes they were going on a tour I didn't see them take any notes nope one of them was pushing a stroller with a baby in it and the other one yeah there weren't do we have a timeline of when we're getting 7po decision making checklist do you have like a timeline do you know is it available online yeah it's it's their it's their standard it's like looking up our bylaws okay yeah I'm going to try to research it I'll try to research it tomorrow yeah yeah I think with a very limited time not only for this whole process but also members I think we have to chalk out a game plan just so that we don't L up pointing fingers and not being efficient and really make sure that the public can weigh in and we as a board have time to go through that and if you're nominating one person or two to gather it's a lot of work in the limited time so I think we to come up with the game plan yeah so I would say I mean Peter and I already have like have a a to-do list from this meeting so I would say if you guys are are saying Hey where's that email make sure you guys say hey remember you're going to send us this email because yeah it's a long to-do list so I'll put that on you guys to remind us if if we don't get right back to you that that you were going to send this out and maybe it got lost in the shuffle so yeah we'll try to dig that out and just regarding like 40b I think uh I know tomorrow and you know we're we're looking to add information and and take you know add links and we do have a couple towns that have built up some you know a fairly good library with links about 40 BS and so hopefully we'll we'll get that up and running you know and um no I understand so while we're on 40 BS why don't we we we missing members but I still think we should have it out there about the the other yeah so you know further than obviously the 1060 Main Street we did receive another email that there is another 40b that is poised to apply for Mass Housing and so um you know just to kind of give everyone the heads up that there could be another you know possible Second 40b Coming Down the Line um right now we are at 5.62% in our subsidized housing inventory so we are open right and uh and so um just kind of put that on everyone's radar you know um you know it it really came came from a development company uh it did not come from Mass Housing and or any other state agency that could issue a a letter however you know it it is it is kind of uh we were emailed um and did receive notice through our town clerk's office that um a second 40b could be filed um within Day within days weeks whatever we don't know what that is um but that is the situation that we're Street where's the parcel it would be along uh Waverly Street and East Union Street I thought when we started this MBTA topic we said there are no more Parcels out there to have a large project and hey let's look at what we have but doesn't sound like there's few yeah there's a few you know there's not too many there's no there's not too many easy Parcels yeah but there's a few Joe mentioned a second one which would be a third nope that's what oh he said there were two more that's the one that we have were alerted of yeah uh there's another parcel that um that we have not received any communication on regarding a4b but I think you know um it's it's on folks radar yeah and that would be in the P Corridor so okay so um that's that I also wanted to just um if there's any updates and then we're going to go to meeting in a box um I just wanted to make one update on here that's not on this list is that um because we all received an email regarding 12 Pon Street in the pocket park um so actually after Charlie zimuto what I think I have to recuse myself anything of pwn street so I'll just go I it's they were pretty particular at the state about that so I'll just go get a drink of water all right well I'll just tell you then that um uh so you got that email about uh yeah but I had already commented to Anna at the time that um that uh that I think there was something about a pocket park but I can't remember if we used that term I was you know I I'd have to go back and look at it because I didn't remember I did go back and look at it the very next morning it does say in the conditions it uses the term pocket park in quotes I looked at the drawings it's not a it's kind of they're kind of paved areas with vegetations around and some benches it's not like this big park or anything right so I don't want to put the wrong idea in people's heads but I did talk to so that was we had the meeting Thursday on Friday morning I talked to Peter about that and asked him to reach out to Charlie zudo about about this and you did I take I took the orders and uh no no I did R out to Charlie early this week uh it's following up after well actually yeah after I filed the decision obviously I sent it out they have it uh they know about the the the 9 to 49 but I did have a conversation with him regarding to a Pawn Street and to set up a meeting to obviously finish off that project the state's going up the state will be in that area to finish off the sidewalks and and I did bring I will and I did bring that up as point and hopefully within the coming weeks I can kind of set up a meeting to go out to the site and and meet with Charlie to kind of you know finish up that project uh and and hopefully uh for him as well because I think everyone would love to see some some commercial entity move into those spaces in the basement forist and just not happen well it the the pocket I mean again pocket park is is that the outoor seating that was yeah you remember like there's like there's these little paved areas on the left hand side of the building correct yeah with some vegetation and a few benches and we called it a pocket we call it pocket park it's in it's in the decision that says pocket park but I like I said I think relative to the one even 9 to 49 with the pergola and the painting it's you want to be kind of careful I mean yeah maybe that's why we put quotes around it but anyway um we did want to go go back and say look this is what we approved and this is what's in the drawing and we have to have this so Peter is talking to has has already talked to Charlie about that long before getting the email and so it was in process was just waiting for our meeting to distribute that information so anyway I just wanted to let you that's just that update thank you for closing the loop on that okay and other than that I don't have any updates that I feel are need to be shared yeah I just have one new application uh the Joanne Drive the apartment complex they're trying to they're going to come and try to put solar a solar canopy or solar array over their parking lot uh similar to what the high school has um and so that is no yeah so that's just a new application that we'll see in the planning board process okay other than that I think we have everything's off the agenda unless Kate has something she wanted to report on that any other reports uh um no I'll just do a plug to do meeting in a box hopefully everybody gets to do it with their neighborhood their family something it would help and encourage everybody because the public this phase of public comment the very important is ending April 26th I did do it with CPC but I that was two days ago and I have yet to submit this the stuff have to read write my messy writing I did one last night and it was very it was it was a good it was a good time all right so I think that leaves us with meeting in a box how many sections did we have left oh this will be it's actually pretty easy because we have two but one I think when I I typed I I'm up to-date typing and it's sort of overlaps with stuff we've we've done so uh Activity six ways to play in and experience Ashland imagine the ideal future for Ashland's recreational offerings and cultural spaces events Parks festivals concerts open space ath athletic facilities and cultural landmarks one what would you like to change what would you like to stay the same two what recreational events programs and places does the town offer three how do Arts and Cultural programs enrich the ashin community four what types of gathering places exist in the town what amenities do the spaces have five how is information about community events and programs shared with residents just starting from the end first the sharing it's like I get everything almost information overload from that from the newsletter you know that it it's kind of starts out with all the business stuff and then there's all the event stuff I'm glad it's all in one you just you know that so but I I don't know how I I I don't get it from anywhere else but I I know it's coming on Friday or Saturday and I'm I look forward to okay what's happening but I wonder how people that aren't I don't know maybe maybe aren't on email like if they have a I don't know how else I would get it or how else it's out there besides that newsletter which I which I I'm that's all I need is the newsletter but I'm not sure about other people um a lot of it's social media yeah yeah with the events and stuff correct and then I think there are also those manyi groups for cultural activities that I know that there is a gathering in Corner Spot for something so I think there are lots of WhatsApp groups that's floating out there and I feel like sometimes I find info from there when you talk about social media what do you talk what about besides Facebook like I think it would be Facebook for I don't I don't use a lot of social media yeah I don't either that's F I don't know if like I don't know if The Corner Spot has like an Instagram or a Twitter or X whatever it is like I I they might I see Corner Spot stuff on the Corner Spot Facebook Town Facebook when they I follow those sites so I see them um I mean in terms of like envisioning what we have in 10 years I would love to see um like an enhancement of what we have at Stone Park I would love to see that space really activated it's so Central and would be so incredible to have that I mean you know you know when I think of like park in that way like that's we go there all the time there's a splash pad great playground really beautiful sort of open walking paths and um I feel like Stone Park could be that in Ashland I would love that I would love to see that um you know enhancement at the sort of continuing to build on what's happening at the community center and having that be sort of more of a central um space I think would be of great development 10 years from now um see more more segments of our community more sort of groups being able to use and leverage that space we were talking about this last meeting like it's pretty amaz like sneaky amazing what is in there um too yeah I definitely agree with like Stone Park that seems like a central area that yeah it has a playground yeah it has a basketball court yeah it has Pavilion but none of it's really has a wow factor to it right and it could be yeah and it could it could really you know um so I definitely agree with that I think um you know other places like you know Cadillac Park that I you know which Alo I think was involved in like um it has a lot of potential so I'm interested in seeing What Becomes of that even places like the dog park you know it is a Gathering it's a gathering place right so some of those things are already happening but I think Stone Park is one of the ones where there's no there's no plan for it [Music] um yeah so I think a big one is um like pool facilities and I feel like I'm so intrigued to see what the Y will bring to the table with that kind of thing you in terms of recreation thinking of it will have an indoor Pole right but I don't think and I don't think there's an outdoor pole just at the indoor pole um we have a lot of isolated moments and I think they're too static at this point it would be good to see how our comprehensive plan will help these Open Spaces to be a little more organic fluid and something that's very adaptable with the season changes um it's currently too static and isolated from one another being a we not a large town we are still a small town um so it'll be really good to see how the comprehensive plan will gather all the Open Spaces in Ashlin and start to tie in these moments that when you go across the town there is that fluidity from one end to the other and not a huge difference that all activities happen in just one corner and nothing happens in the other so that' be great also to see how I think we talked about this before about like different fields like the school Fields school like things that are part of school property can how can things overlap a bit more just with residents being able to use those I mean like playgrounds at Warren like I took my kids there all the time right to play at the playgrounds at warring waren when there wasn't School happening and of course it always have to be opposite of school but if those facilities say at the middle school or whatever can be enriched more so that they are really an asset for both like a shared asset between the schools and the town you know that um like you said be more activated during the summer and during weekends and things like that and we do have different Generations in town so I think it' be great to think about stepping back and looking at opportunities for different generations and there may be people who use the same open space in very different ways so opportunities to create for the town folks to I I like my walking PAAD so that's where I want to be but I don't want to be in the noise of when a active kid family is there so I think opportunities for different generation I think as we we are all aging and I think hopefully this comprehensive plan will open door doors for every generation to be and want to be part of Ashland let's see um Arts and Cultural we don't have to we didn't talk about that too much I think we we hit everything else so we can move on or it kind of ties in right like we are a diverse community so I think having that these moments will open up opportunities for different culture and cultural activities yeah I mean I think there are a lot of cultural activities that like I said I get them in the it'd be kind of maybe I know like doce Le um hangs artwork local artwork but I don't know like there other areas that maybe like almost like a a little art gallery or some place that features well it could be some traveling work you know by yeah artists from niic you know but but also featuring local artists you know or I know that would be kind of nice I don't think we have something like that it might just be a room but something I guess the library has some things like that you know has exhibits um but it could be something just for the Arts as well um let's see reflection on identif ify tensions and synergies this be a fun one for a planning board the comprehensive plan contain many different elements for example housing Transportation open space there can be tensions between elements as well as synergies or ways they work together is it important to recognize where hopes for one element conflict or work against hopes for another element in order to brainstorm solutions to balance competing goals an example tension between conservation and growth a Synergy between housing and economic development what are some potential tension points or conflicts between elements of your vision and goals what are some potential synergies or ways elements of the plan and goals can work together what else do you hope will be included in the comprehensive plan that's an easy one the ratio of built environment to open space um I didn't catch the first part the ratio of built environment to open space yeah I think that boy with just what Peter was reporting you know all the the things that are upcoming you know it really makes me think about um affordable housing versus overcrowding in schools you know um or any of the Town resources we've talked any of the Town yeah any of the Town resources but you know we obviously we care about affordable housing it's important we've talked about that numerous times but where's the where's 's the balance and if it grows so quickly like boy wow you know I'm concerned you know um so I think there's also uh you know something we talk about all these different amenities that sometimes it's like well we we want to have all these phenomenal things in our town but we don't want anybody else to come in we don't want any overcrowding so it's like you're trying to make this really good town but you don't want anyone else to live here right and I think that's sometimes we something we have as a town like we want it to be small but we want all these great amenities for ourselves and that's just not how it works right those things if you have all these amenities you have people that are going to want want to come in and then land that gets developed because it's it's worth people will buy those units right kind of thing so um it's a catch22 in a way yely how about what else do you hope will be included in the comprehensive plan I would like to have a real sense of where people want more stuff density orsus right and it might not be residential density I think we're going to that's coming anyway but like we talked about the Pleasant Street around the train station right it that it might be nice to get off the train and there's your your local pub right that you just go right in you meet you know whatever or or coffee shop on your way in or whatever it is it might be a good place what about um you know I think again I can't remember when I who I talked this stuff about but like the front area of Shaw or the front area of like where Mazi is like along the roads like these big parking lot and the building sits way in back like can that support more little stores or offices orice yeah like smaller things so that you have something along the street instead of just street parking lot and a building but something that isn't residential necessarily right like I think we got that we may have that covered but just but I would like to know where people are like yeah we could actually use something here you know or the right thing isn't here we have some industry here but that's not where I want to pop in with my kids you know kind of thing I really hope the comprehensive plan is going to be a real master plan for us to use um as we grow as a town it's going to be very hard to say we are not growing but I hope the master plan will be a good guide not only for planning board but for all the community to say you know what this is our downtown this is how this are these are things that's really special for downtown this is 126 Corridor this is what's really great about that and um I really hope that we are able to gather enough data to create this master plan that we can use moving forward and along those lines I I think um not to this isn't something to be included by I guess to to be very you know specific and actionable like like give us a road map you know this if we have this very aspirational plan that we don't have any sort of idea how to implement or any tools to actually get ourselves there I think that would be um a missed opportunity yeah things that'll allow us to things to that allow us to actually look at our look at our zoning bylaws and say no we're going to Zone this for this reason because the comprehensive plan said we want businesses along the strip you know so that we actually can modify our zoning to to because I'm not sometimes I'm not sure in looking at the bylaws if what's in there is really what the town would want now versus when whenever those bylaws were made y right and so it's like I think we should tweak them but how you know it doesn't have to be rigid but I think like you said need a road map need some tools that we could use which may evolve but it needs we need one I could help with that if you wanted you're right the road map I did most of the zon a updated mhm by email email address so I we kind of hit everything I usually kind of end and it's a little bit harder because we've done this over weeks but I can quickly read I don't know the best way the topics or I I can send this out I full disclosure it's on the printed format what it does is it just keeps scrolling so if you have section one you'll say section one but it just it's weird to read um but I can send that out and then if people have other comments uh maybe before I send it in I don't know the best way to I'm good I don't need to yeah just yes no I meant if you because usually we do it sort of continuously and then we I we kind of push and try to go through it and then give people a chance to anything else which you kind of got but I don't know since the other topics were a while ago if there's anything that needs to be Revisited my guess is you there was a pattern in all that we said in all these um there it was very interesting because I everyone has had a pattern I'm I mean I can say for the public they hit things the planning board did not which I'm very proud of I you hit things the public did but there are many things that public did that planning board did not so it's really fascinating yeah no I think that's great I mean things came up in CPC that didn't come up that I hadn't y so yeah no it's really I'm awesome we've heard many many that overlap and we have a consultant to smush all that together for us yeah well it's kind of in a way there's kind of two groups of things the things that overlap it's like okay but the the unique oneoff items kind of probably really make you think you know yeah yeah it'll be interesting the next um well thank you that's great thank um so we we have yeah we have till April 26 if you I'm just person Peter that person that wrote to me today I'm like here's the link could you do the survey right like every person by person just keep asking yeah just to make a note um I did post the meeting so next Thursday okay the consultant is going to have a our RK I mean I'm sorry rkg uh goson uh is going to have um a existing conditions presentation the slack board the planning board are invited did I did post a meeting uh but just to make a note um traditionally the comp plan was me is has been meeting in the um the basement in the library and Kate this is probably I don't know if this is news to you but that meeting is going to be switched to this room and just because of in the in the library basement the comprehensive plan and I traditionally use The Owl and the owl just like spins around the room and so to fit all the people all with the planing board on S board I was going to do row seating like we already have here in this room now this seating arrangement really wasn't going to work for the owl so I kind of made wanted to call just kind of made the change to bring the meeting here having the meeting in this room allows us to have wacka and wacka is going to come and broadcast live and I know some of the members are going to be on on Zoom so I'll run the zoom meeting just like the planning board meeting however wacka will be able to record this and then we'll be able to link it to our website and so I think hopefully it will hit a larger audience uh from the public it'll be live it'll be on Facebook live and obviously we can just post it and it'll be a higher quality which I think is really important rather than the owl well especially since it seems to be more of a presentation type meeting than a small group discussion type it this is like the end of a phase there's three phases through their process and this is is the like the beginning of something else but the end of a phase and and that's so yeah I I don't it's pretty important I think I'm a little checklist you and I Kate were planning to come in person and I think everyone else said likely Zoom so for for the 18th um I just add my um only life easier harder for her she is there I don't I don't know if I have her yet so yes I don't I won't be there yeah it could be on wacka TV you know what I mean but if you're in the room great but just to give everyone the heads up it's going to be broadcast Facebook live it'll be it'll be it's posted the meeting the plany board meeting is posted for this room with link so it should be all hopefully all set all right anything else remaining members so you have a public comment is it just something that we are oh last thing on the list they have public comment do you have any public comment Mark he was waiting for it one time to the mic you know can't sit down and then go back up again one time to Mark okay thank you Sony 49 haon Rose this is directed to our town planner it's one question which I didn't get a reply from yet okay can I can I speak to him please 100% okay it's on the agenda but never got discussed so I'm going to bring up the questions Mr matek Peter did you get my email you know what Mark I'm not going to lie I've got a lot of emails it's been a crazy week so let me dig through them tomorrow it was about the why W mix use okay and I what I wanted to bring up the questions and I was looking at that what it was on the agenda tonight and I was going to ask the questions was anything going to be changed on it and no is the is the Zone board going to be involved in this in this so the chain so the Wildwood so the Wildwood District right which was dis which so the Wildwood District right encompasses a very large swath right and that would include the the Wildwood District Mark has a couple different subects right and so what we were doing with the NBTA zoning was pretty much picking the one parcel of land which was F 100 Chestnut which that development is going on to satisfy the MBTA now it was cherry-picked right because it had the density and it had the acreage and so it had the unit count and it was about six acres right and so it it fit the bill but to do that you had to create its own new subsect right because I could not select the entire parcel which Village of the America's Encompass right now if included all of Village of the Americas and all that acreage I wouldn't have the density that would have fit the MBTA regulations so to create to so so to take that parcel of land and to take that development to use it within our calculations I had to cherry-pick it and create a new subsect a new parcel called the Wildwood mix use District to therefore then satisfy MBTA requ requirements and by Wildwood mix Special Districts yep 8.6 let's tell you I did look it up there's a table of usage yep is that going to be broken down changed around you know I have to go back and look at it top of my head right now but it was not the it was it was not the um when we when we did all the zoning work for this we we did not we we mirrored it however we we also there was a couple ones that really didn't make sense so we just didn't pull those right over but what we did pull over were all the items that would have worked to meet the MBTA criteria and would the the subcommittee redesign community be involved in this so it really wasn't from a design perspective mark it was really for compliance method okay okay leave that as a know it's okay okay and um and is for doing this is is there got to be a change of purpose and reason and you just told me your cherry picking basically for the M MBTA zoning yeah I'm c not quote unquote cherry picking right I am creating a district so that's the purpose I'm creating a district to meet the compliance of the to to to add those units and add that acreage into my MBT into ashen's MBTA compliance model so I'm creating we're creating a new District to add into the compliance model to help Ash meet compliance for MBT communities so in the bylaw is that bylaw going to be changed well that's going to be a debate uh for the planning board at the next meeting and I think that is also going to be uh up to the planning board to either to vote to either support or to not support the proposed only bylaw and again before I said fall asleep again or whatever I am willing to help because I know all about these zonings and WWI was one of the ones that was very intricate at the time that was with the V Americas and Fa property Mark that that was the most one of the most complicated projects that that I've had to iron out um with this 9 100 Chassy project thank you thank you all right I think that was our last agenda item so I will make a motion that we adjourn at 10:45 is there a second second that let's take a roll call vote Catherine Jersey guy Amanda Hayes I and Trisha Kendall I let's get out of [Music] here thank you Ma are you sleeping back there bud there I forget

any questions thank you okay thank you commissioner Suarez um commissioner Kenova please uh read the legislative committee minutes uh the legislative committee met on March 26 pres was myself Mr brunak Mr Mahia Mr Paris Dr Rober toi um Mr Jango m m Kush Lich Mr shahada um and the assembly woman uh Miss boli so the meeting start time was 12:00 p.m. meeting end time was 1: p.m.

outside of school 16 right next to the tree that was planted for him in 2022 and all are welcome to attend the board had previously authorized um this uh this bench um and it has come to fruition so I will send you a formal invite but just for your calendars April 22nd at 3:30 at school 16 um and last but not least I was remiss and not remembering that tomorrow is is Vinnie Constantino's birthday and uh Employee of the Month Happy Birthday Eve Vinnie hope you have a great birthday tomorrow um that's all I have for tonight thank you Mr President thank you Dr Rob toy um I will hold my comments till the end uh next up is a the first reading of policy it's um policy 5600 student discipline code of conduct and policy 6620 petty cash I'm looking for a motion to approve the first motion second okay motion by commissioner Brin Shack second by commissioner Mahia roll call Mr shot please miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano yes M Suarez yes president Paris yes unfinished business is next is there any unfinished business discuss okay seeing none uh we're going to move on to um some monthly recognitions that we have uh the first is for Autism Awareness Month and commissioner Suarez would you please read that resolution certainly thank you um whereas Autism Awareness Month in April aims to celebrate and promote acceptance for the condition that occurs in one in every 36 children have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and whereas individuals with living autism spectrum disorder can achieve independence and live purposeful lives when afforded the support system and opportunities that each everyone deserves and whereas many individuals and families living with autism know that acceptance is often one of the largest barriers to finding and developing a strong support system whereas policies need to be implemented that break down barriers for individuals with autism so they may succeed in their chosen communities and whereas self- Advocates family caregivers professionals and others who work every day to create more opportunities for individuals with autism should be recognized for their contributions and whereas One goal of autism awareness and acceptance month is to spread awareness Foster acceptance and Empower everyone in the autism Community for the resources needed to live fully and whereas the ultimate goal is to create a world where everyone in the autism Community feels accepted and connected to the support they need when they need it now therefore be it resolved with the autism diagnosis right rate increasing the Clifton Board of Education would like to take the month of April to celebrate the differences of learn more about and Empower autistic individuals where blue this month to recognize and celebrate our population with ASD thank you thank you commissioner Suarez uh April is also Arab Heritage Month uh Mr commissioner siano would you please read uh the resolution absolutely whereas the Clifton Public Schools board of Education recognizes the importance of honoring and celebrating the rich cultural heritage of Arab Americans whereas Arab Heritage Month provides an opportunity for students Educators and community members to learn about and appreciate the contributions of Arab Americans to our society culture and history whereas the celebration of Arab Heritage Month Fosters inclusivity diversity and understanding among students Educators and community members whereas as it is essential to promote cultural awareness and understanding to combat stereotypes prejudice and discrimination now therefore be it resolved that the Clifton Public Schools Board of Education hereby proclaims the month of April as Arab Heritage Month in clion public schools be it further resolved that Clifton Public Schools shall incorporate educational activities programs and events highlighting the history culture contributions and achievements of Arab Americans during Arab Heritage Month be it further resolved that Clifton Public Schools encourages Educators to integrate lessons and materials about Arab American Heritage into their curriculum throughout the school year be it further resolved that the Clifton Public Schools Board of Education encourages H the observance of Arab Heritage Month through various activities such as cultural performances guest speakers art exhibits film screening screenings and Community discussions be it further resolved that Clifton Public Schools encourages students Educators and community members to actively participate in and support the celebration of Arab Heritage Month this resolution shall take effect immediately thank you commissioner siano April is also School library month uh in New Jersey uh commissioner Santiago thank you president Paris whereas the month of April 2024 has been designated nationally a school library month by the American Association of school librarians and whereas School libraries with clion Public Schools strive to provide Equitable access to resources and instruction for all students and whereas Clifton Public School libraries Endeavor to provide materials and resources that reflect the diversity of our students and communities while upholding a student's freedom to read and whereas the libraries of Clifton Public Schools provide resources and instruction to support the implementation of New Jersey student learning standards and whereas the school library media Specialist of Clifton Public Schools develop information literacy skills instruction to empower students to effectively locate evaluate and apply knowledge and where as a school library media Specialist of Clifton Public Schools play a crucial role in literacy development fostering a lifelong love of reading among students and whereas the school library media Specialist of Clifton Public School schools curate literature appreciation activities and promote both content and recreational reading to every student and whereas the libraries of cliff and public schools contribute to students social and emotional learning needs and whereas it is both fitting and proper that special recognition be given to school libraries and the role of certified School library media specialists in ensuring an environment that Fosters reading and learning investigation and research and the lifelong pursuit of knowledge for all students in New Jersey now therefore be it resolved that the Clifton public education Board of Education recognize April 2024 School library month in New Jersey thank you thank you commissioner Santiago all right um I'm looking for a motion to approve the following uh under education Administration items one I'm good through 13 motion motion to approve by bassford seconded by commissioner brunak roll call Mr shot please miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr Kenova yes Mr Mahia yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano yes M Suarez yes president Paris yes motion carries okay under Personnel items one through 24 motion to approve please motion motion by commissioner second by commissioner brunak roll call Mr shida please miss bassford yes abstaining on p21 my name only Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes M uh Mr sianos yes Miss Suarez yes president Paris yes with abstention on C 21 my name only motion carries under finance and Facilities seeking a motion to approve items one through 18 motion motion to approv by commissioner brunak second sorry second by commissioner bassford roll call please Mr shahada Miss bassford question I thought I thought Mr Brun I got a question sorry I had a question on P4 question okay um this is an agreement between us the Board of Ed because we own a portion of main Memorial Park um where we own up to where the pond is I believe right so and what what is the do we it's a dollar what is the lease agreement or is it just a handshake it is a dollar from 1984 thank you that's the only question I have thank you oh I have a question uh thank you for p8 um if you can and maybe um Mr shahada you can explain I wasn't clear what Phoenix advisers um are or what they do for our district it's a low cost but I just wanted to have Clarity around their role this is the company that um like does the bonding for our referendum so we have to renew it every year thank you they're um um they're a financial advisor I read it I just couldn't gain Clarity with the language that was used but thank you any any other questions okay roll call please Mr shot Miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes but abstain on F18 5121 Mr Mia yes Mr Santia M Santiago yes Mr siano yes abstaining on f17 invoice 109 935 tomahawk promot motions because of my business relationship Miss Suarez yes president Paris yes motion carries board member comments so we will start if my memory serves me correct I think we start with Mr siano go for it put me on a spot nice good evening everybody I got some stuff to say here congrats to the students of the month and the employees of the month it's great to see such amazing people our district I do want to give a shout out to Vinnie uh one of the first people to come out and support me because my father was his mailman which is a good reason to support me and Samantha I'm just getting to know you but your dedication really shines so I was very happy to see that tonight uh thank you Jada for always keeping us informed with your student report it's very vital we stay up to date April marks autism awarness month it's a Time dedicated to fostering an increased understanding and acceptance of autism together we should work towards a future that fully includes people with autism ISM this month we also take a moment to appreciate the storied history vibrant traditions and the enduring Spirit of community that Define Arab Heritage I was honored to be invited to attend the CHS project UniFi talent show that was an amazing experience filled with unbelievable Talent just before the meeting I was able to attend the ribbon cutting for the new weit room at Christopher and I think that was a great investment in our students that weight room is amazing some congratulations uh first Clifton earned best community in music education for this sixth year in a row I think we all know how important music is so I'm very happy to hear this and to the CHS mock trial team for becoming state champions that's truly an amazing achievement I can't wait to see what the future holds for you it's also School library month I urge everyone everyone to go to your nearest library and do what I did get yourself a library card consider looking into the benefits of joining the friends of the library it's uh very important to support our libraries and learning never stops go take a look and explore the selections and all the programs that they offer Clifton Junior Athletic League kicked off this past weekend I'm looking forward to attending some games I gave up my Yankee tickets this year for this position so I could give it my full attention so I'm certainly these games will make up for it yeah it's all right it's all right I'm going to go but now I have these games I'm looking forward to it uh to all those in the community who reach out to me regarding concerns please keep it up I ran with an open door policy I stand by that and my phone is always on for your calls I do have to thank Danny and Mark for getting right on top of these concerns as I present them to you I am truly grateful for your help and your care for the district Clifton rec.com has a lot of summer events and programs my personal favorite is music together at the Clifton Arts Center the amazing Kim latiano is the instructor check the schedule it's certain Wednesdays in June and July it's good quality quity time with family singing dancing while learning to support your child's musical development and I hope everybody has a good week that's all I got thank you president Paris so um I just wanted to ask a question first before we start if that's if that's okay so um in terms of using the track um right did actually I think currently right now we use the track for fundraisers do we not like it's Autism Awareness Month I think there's an Autism Walk in May um I think we've had Relay for Life I think we've used that multiple times for similar things is that correct yeah those have been specific use of facility requests from organizations right but and they continue right we have one in May which will be a fundraiser these are all worthy causes but public comes and they walk on the track the day the half the day whatever it is right so we kind of use it in a similar fashion but if via the use of facility right okay thanks um so congratulations to all of our um employees who won the award as well as our students um I want to shout out Abel who I read his I really want to um recognize him for his his uh his empathy um and I want to say um condolence to the dicky family and thank you so much for coming out my older son Anthony went through uh attended school 11 Mr Dicky was his principal I remember him well um then my son Matthew had him for kindergarten in first grade and then we created we built School 17 and had to move him that's a whole another thing but um they both had Mr Dicky as a principal and um when he retired uh he was missed but he will be missed in my do and thank you for coming out um but to Abel thank you so much for doing what you did I mean it's no wonder you won this award and it's just great example of our students thank you um the mock trial team I just have to do this I'm sorry is the first pay County school public or private to win Top honors in the 40 plus years of the State mock trial champ competition Clifton's team the first pay County School to be commanded so not pcti not Little Falls not Wayne on and on Clifton's mock trial team the first pay County school so kudos to them um yeah happy U you know Autism Awareness I um have U someone in my family who is dear to me um and so just um thinking about and celebrating everybody uh celebrating that um School library month I mean thank you so much to all of our Librarians and our media Specialists especially now um thank you for all that you do um Mr Rose thank you for all you do um congratulations very well deserved um and uh yeah happy American uh I'm sorry happy Arab Arab Heritage Month um and uh I think that's it good night thank you president Paris um I first like to congratulate all of our employees for being um employees of the month and a big thank you for all you guys I know most of you probably have other job offers um seeing other opportunities that pay a lot more probably but thank you guys for sticking with us and making our district extremely well um congratulations to all the students of the month in terms of our spring Sports I know you guys are having a terrific season to open it up so keep it up especially the boys tennis team I see that that they're pretty hot right now especially after beating on one of our biggest Rivals Pake um like Mr seano said it was a great talent show that happened over at the high school and as in contrast to the weight room it's beautiful I I was talking to one of the coaches before and a former teammate of mine saying Oh how we wish we would have had this back back when we were there especially because of how good our football team and track team are getting um these past couple years this is obviously going to improve in how they perform on and off the field and a huge shout out to Mr vaner in terms of the Montreal team um back when I was on the Montreal team we made it to the semifinals of that round so to actually be there and celebrating their big win especially versus Midland Regional that's the school that I I believe that's the school we lost to or it was Notre Dame Academy um but it was huge seeing that um the momentum when the judge came out it was almost like a a drum roll of silence and as soon as it came out everyone's burst into into tears jumping up and down um and I knew we were going to win from the moment I heard um their opening I knew we were going to win it from that moment and I said hey it's already a closed case so congratulations to them um I know we're going to honor honor them um hopefully within the next month um and I wish them the best of luck going down to Delaware thank you all right good evening everyone first congratulations to all the award winners I know we have talented individuals here in Clifton and I'm glad that we have an opportunity to recognize them um I was glad to see the pbsa program is having a positive impact um I'm hopeful to see that the behaviors continue forward and outside of school I know that's a um we do have a sort of a barrier there like you said we could only interact and do things within the school walls but I hope that they take that with them and bring that outside of schools as well um my condolences to the dicki family uh the the daughter said she was looking for a sign and as you mentioned you know we had Abel stand up here and say what an impact he had on his life I mean a lot of a lot of reasons why people go into this profession is really for that and they never know who they really you know have have U an interaction with or someone who they that uh they touched along the way so I was glad to see that happen and unfold in in in real world example uh I just want to thank all the groups fundraise for schools clubs and teams I know that's a tough role to do and allows everyone to partake in in everything that we do here so thank you for that uh Mr Elias talked about opening the track and we talked about also what we're doing at the memorial Pond where they're doing some sort of like uh renovation there maybe it's possible and we should bring this to the municipal Alliance meeting maybe it's possible they they put a little track around there for people to walk um if they're just looking for a place to walk it could it could be something that we do there and we don't have to open up the other side of the track for for them um just an idea the doctor physical at back to school night they reminded everyone that get these physical forms in because they do take a while to to come back and I did experience that myself with uh when my daughter was trying to do something with dance so I know there is a there is something there I just don't know what the what the situation is or how to fix it but um there is definitely something there and with the the facilities the bathrooms how they said they're they're marking up the walls maybe we bring that to facilities to see if there's something that could be done to coat the walls or coat the the dividers and tiles to make it easier to clean um other than that just you know instructing students not to do that maybe periodic bathroom checks if you know which students had gone into the bathroom maybe you could identify who's doing it um that's the only ideas that I have um and that's all I had tonight thank you thank you Mr President want to give a shout out to all the students who were invited to the all City strings concert M Mr lewitz and all the other admin and staff who helped make it happen it was absolutely fantastic and at the end they had never done this before because they were about 300 students in all so they ended up doing a um they ended up doing a song at the end of 300 of them and it was amazing what can you say and this is competitively based so congrats to all the kids who made it and got the invitation over there absolutely fantastic fantastic other things going on in the city shout out to the Clifton Junior Athletic League um based out of albian park for all the great work they do for the kids in this city commissioner fantry with youth baseball all the coaches including Bob C Wayne bilau Jason corano Chris peruta Ken Lee all the other volunteers who helped get it done personal shout out to miss Samantha D Rose employee of the month this was the best speech I Have Heard tonight since I was sworn in it was heartfelt selfless message what else can you say but thank God for a high caliber high and qu high quality employee like Samantha thank you for everything you do and finally shout out to principal hamde I had forgotten about the solar eclipse this year till he mentioned it about six weeks ago approximately I don't I don't even remember where we were and um He was discussing this Celestial event and it so profoundly impacted me that uh last week I ended up booking a room on Thursday for Sunday night Sunday afternoon I drove out there to Cleveland and it rained Sunday night so I freaked out and uh my twin brother had been there since Friday so he's like come out 40 40 miles west of Cleveland so I was there and never seen anything like it in my life and if anyone else had the honor to do something like that was absolutely breathtaking and beautiful very emotional event and uh you just see darkness and there's also a red dot at the bottom of the of the Eclipse which I made sure I wasn't hallucinating so everybody else surrounding me and it ended up being a solar flare which was insane but it was absolutely beautiful so shout out to princi principal hamda for mentioning that that's all I have thank you for your time God Bless America good night everybody thank you thank you um good evening everyone to the employees of the month congratulations um to Vinnie and Sam even on the weekends you're at events taking pictures and you you memorialize the beauty of our district in a profound way and your pictures are outstanding so heartfelt thanks and she was also one of my daughter's favorite teachers so yeah well you you you shaped her to go into communication so it's kind of TIG you're it um condolences to the Dicky family and to the film festival on May 1st uh at 6:00 I will be there I have two uh former alumni that were at the film festival we still have Evil Elmo living in my house um my basement was under construction and Samantha turned the basement into a dungeon and thus evoled Evil Elmo when she locked my then young son in a dog cage and evil Elmo attacked my son it was a great we still have it so it's you know the memories that that our students make from the film festival and their products are outstanding so if you have nothing to do at May first sachche over to Clifton High sasche over at 6 o'clock and go watch fine outstanding impeccable Talent the future of our world making films it they're incredible so please do that um congratulations to the mock trial team the robotics team I went to see project UniFi so some of my uh fellow colleagues there to miss PUO and the Education Foundation ladies thank you for everything you do um thank you to Jada and thank you to Elias for getting up and speaking the wait room today was unbelievably beautiful if you have when you go over to the stadium poke your head in if it's open peek in the windows everything was so pristine and and beautiful and for somebody that has to have everything in order all the names are the right up them they the weights say Clifton Mustangs on them it's just the detail was outstanding so go there and see it from what it used to be to what it is now thank you to the residents of Clifton that allowed this board to make that decision to give that to the future of this this District so thank you from the bottom of my heart you know it's just beautiful to see I just hope there's a couple of the projects that have to go on over there I'm hoping that um we we as a board get to see them come to fruition as well um last but not least I have to um send my deepest condolences to Dana Howard um she's an HSA mom I know her for a long time um condolences to you and your family on the sudden passing of your husband Robert my thoughts are with your family with Emma Lucy and James during this very difficult time um deepest con toces Dana you you're you're a you're a rock at school 15 um and your husband was supported everything you did and supported the school system so uh my heart goes out to you and your family if you need anything you know where we are she's a she's a very big um involved parent with the HSA committee she's involved in the district and she's always supported this district with everything that we've asked of our parents so my deepest condolences that's all I have good night thank you commissioner bassford I'll repeat some of my other colleagues comments it's hard not to after they all spoke um but they're important things to recognize um did I miss someone I'm so I am so sorry you're a very forgiven presid me off by starting with Joe commissioner Suarez it's all yours thank you it's quite all right um good evening everyone and um congratulations to all the winner uh our award winners students and staff and um Sam thank you so much for all the work you do I'm appreciating getting to know you and look forward to developing our relationship in the next three years and hopefully more than that um Clifton I say this every meeting and I think I'll continue to say it I I just really appreciate it more and more um the students you know um Mr ragdale this young gentleman young man um I really appreciate what he has to share I agree with you Dr Rober toi that when he speaks it's it it comes with intention and meaning and um I really appreciate what he had to share uh regarding the um physicals and another perspective to take with that as well depending on your insurance um if it's an annual physical that you sometimes they only approve once per year and if your next physical isn't due until February or April some students may miss out on some um Sports as a result of that you know their insurance that have nothing to do with so um thank you Dr Robert toosy for wanting to look into that further um and this is just uh a quick thing from last meeting I mentioned uh to discuss the policy on our recess or rather our recess policy and that will be discussed um in this coming meeting that we'll have next week um and then just other things that Clifton is doing uh I had the privilege to attend project unify talent show um to say I was lighted is an understatement um the students shine so beautifully so brightly with their um their interests and their talents um I just I was in tears with how much joy the parents had um with how much support went in from the teachers and staff and and um the students uh both from the high school and other programs it was just truly truly a beautiful event I wish I could bring my could have brought my son with me so he could um celebrate the diversity of Clifton it was really beautiful um also big congratulations to the mock trial team what a wonderful accomplishment um thank you uh commissioner Santiago for really nailing exactly how special it was um so thank you for sharing that um and yes I I also you um before I came on board and as I shared with the public I I wanted to let you know how I I wish to continue to um better myself as a board member and as an educator today I attended a professional development at hackin saac Meridian School of Medicine right here on Route three and um they're looking to partner with local public schools so I am partnering with some people there just to learn more information see um if and how we can potentially um and of course I'll talk to Dr Rober toi there's nothing there I'm just in conversation meeting people but um things that we discussed today were social emotional learning um teacher retention and the influence of uh the flux of multilingual Learners all things that we've discussed here um so I'm really looking forward to seeing how and if um we can partner cuz um they seemed like they were doing some really good work there and also this weekend I'll be attending the American Education research Association in Philadelphia um this is the stateof art research uh education internationally coming uh here to Philly last year it was in Chicago and and I plan to really learn a great deal there um you have the Educators from around the world doing the Leading Edge um research in education um in all of these things whether it's social emotional learning um what I just mentioned in including technology all things in education so um I look forward to sharing some things that I learned with uh my colleagues here thank you well thank you everyone have a great night thank you commissioner Suarez I'm sorry I it's hard to keep track sometimes what's that should I you want me to mention okay yes um Mr Shad reminds me that our next meeting will be April 25th it will be um at the high school media center and it's a special meeting we call it a board retreat um most people would call it professional development um we have a a representative from New Jersey School Board Association that comes in and helps facilitate some training for us and uh I thank my colleagues for dedicating uh the additional time and also also uh for dedicating this board to work towards becoming a certified board by njsba uh it takes quite a bit of additional training and takes quite a bit of dedication from from everyone's part and it's greatly appreciated and as a board we decided we wanted to do that to improve ourselves uh and be the very best we can be um congratulations to all the award winners uh and particularly uh Mr Rose who's everywhere all the time um if there's anyone who exemplifies excellence and one Clift and it's you um thank you to the Clifton Education Foundation members that are here this evening and Miss PUO who spoke and all you do for our community uh our school Community uh there's just so much more we're we're able to offer our students because of you and it is greatly appreciated and recognized um congratulations to the mock trial team the robotics team um we won someone mentioned I believe uh Tony mentioned or Mr siano mentioned about this is the sixth year that we won an award for music education here in Clifton um it's an area very near and dear to to my heart um but the Arts in general in Clifton um and how they really they really enhance our students learning um be at the uh uh project UniFi uh Talent contest I saw uh displaying uh some fantastic vocalists U and comedians as well who was quite quite the gamut of talent um we had our All City band and our All City strings over the last month uh which were the very best of our elementary middle and high school uh bands all of which I can say perform well above their levels and are quite amazing um our Wind Ensemble our high school Wind Ensemble recently participated in a competition where we took silver uh amongst some very very uh very good bands in the area so I'm very proud of them our cast filmfest that's coming coming up soon something that uh you don't want to miss and just all the areas whether it be the visual arts um music uh Dance Theater you name it I mean these are the things that have not only enhanced students lives but also are quantitatively proven to advance academics and learning uh so it's just a wonderful wonderful program that we have here in Clifton and um I just like to thank all those that help make that possible for students uh May 18th just another Shameless plug uh is uh the Clifton community band uh Lollipops and Roses concert uh half the proceeds are shared with um the Clifton Education Foundation that's here at the high school auditorium uh if you have time uh please come and see us and that's all I have so new next topic is new B new business anyone yeah I have something Dr Robi took a walk outside the excuse himself there's been a lot of chatter on Facebook and social media about um the difference between Abbot and non- abbit District so for the community now that we have everybody's attention could you explain could somebody explain I'm asking the question for you Mr um president uh Paris if somebody from Administration can explain how a district becomes the other question that was asked of me can Clifton still apply can you just tell them the parameters of how this works and then this way maybe we can clear up some misconceptions thank you Mr Shad is aware of that uh far too aware yeah so it was something that was created in the 1980s by the legislature to uh being compliant with the Constitution to give all students an equal access uh education it's mainly geared towards impoverish districts with a low tax base so you know the the Trenton the Camden the Pattersons the pakes unfortunately our neighbors um and they just dumped in a bunch of money into those districts where like 90% of their budget comes from from the state instead of like local Revenue like we have here it in the early 2000s is shifted to SDA it is not an application process it is something that if you just have the community that can't support the taxes that are needed for the Local District the state has to step in and and bear the cost so my question would be does CLI does Clifton currently in 2024 qualify to become an abbit District absolutely not thank you yeah my my understanding It's a combination of real estate value and uh median income and in fact we haven't had a uh real estate reappraisal in 30 years so I think that I read recently somewhere we're appraised at somewhere around five billion based on the old standard which conservatively conservatively the estimate was it would be at least three times that when we do our reappraisal so we're pretty high value real estate District also um we were compar had to Hoboken and now you know I grew up in Jersey City right next to Hoboken and back in the day the community was impoverished and now through gentrification just like Jersey City you can't you can't touch a home on a regular Street for over a million dollars my fa my the house that my grandfather built that my father was born in it's over a million dollars I I wouldn't it's a mashbox you know it's a tinder box and just just to reiterate this is something that was done back in the ' 80s and '90s so so whatever it was at that time you're kind of grandfathered in and comparing Hoboken to us it's not Apples to Apples they're are one one by one square mile you know and we're a city of 100,000 people so there's no real comparison there the other thing that people don't realize is back in the day and we don't no longer get these fundings we used to get what's called a rim funding we used to get an extra little stiens if you want to call it from the state and uh it did help because the communities around the abber district did file suit and they got this Abott Rim money so is there any way because you know it is becoming quite tumultuous for us to look if we wanted to if say we we needed another school we'd have to go to the local taxes um to the community where when we look over to our neighbors and God bless them they're getting all this free money and they're getting school after school after school it's hard for us to answer to the people that we our constituents that we're not getting that money is there any way that now that you have somebody and you've talking to start you start our legislative team is actually working well with the you've you've bridged the Gap somebody in education somebody that understands the needs that we have and is also our 27th District uh representative can we bring this to her about how to make this fair you know the word is fair that we get some more funding from the state as well for buildings we have and and just to clarify so for the past two or three years under Governor Murphy's Administration we re see roughly this year we got $264,000 I guess you can consider it that Rim money and it's used for maintenance project falls under the SDA and to your original question uh Mr Kenova has done a fantastic job of connecting us with the assembly woman and we seems as though we have a really good relationship with her and she understands our struggle she is a superintendent in a in a in a district in East nework so everything that we were reiterating to her she was understanding because she was going through the same struggles we are so I do believe there is light at the end of the tunnel thank you very much I just wanted to clarify that for everybody because I was getting a lot of people are hit me up with messages and I did see the email that Dr robotzi did send back to the Community member so thank you Dr robotzi for answering those questions we I learned something in that email too as well but I think that that's one of the things that we need to do is have open communication people would chat in a way and you know it's it's not fair that we can't get that money but maybe there's a way if we open up voice and as far as assembly woman Rosie boli I know her very well for a really long time and she is an educator first yeah so you have a good person in that seat yeah if I may Mr Paris we we were very impressed with the assembly woman we're happy to have her as our representative we think that's a really good we got up to a really good relationship with her she understands our our issues um and I have to share something that the Community member told me who who had asked me um a few bunch of the budget questions and also Mr shahada spoke to um she was just very thankful that we answered her and I'm thinking to myself I wonder what her experience had been uh in other places because of of of course of course I would answer um sometimes people might not like the answer but we're always going to answer um and she was very complimentary she was very appreciative of the fact that um I was responsive and uh and very also impressed with Mr shahad who got on the phone with her and spoke to her for you know I don't know how long and I and I I said to her I said I like the thing we're very cognizant that we only exist because of our the kids in the community their parents and the taxpayers otherwise we don't exist so um I I say that just to any member of the community if there is a question of course you can come here not everybody can come to a board meeting if you email us we will get back to you we will do our best to answer the question um and I was just very surprised that she was so grateful that we answered it and I guess answered it with transparency can you just explain to the people in the in the audience and the community when they email the board what is the mechanism that happens so this way everybody's clear on how we do this yeah that's that that's that's very important so it is is important for members of the public to know that when when you email a board member with a concern they're going to forward it to me and the response is probably going to come from me or a member of my staff a board member cannot individually speak for the board um they might simply respond to you that they've received your concern they forwarded your concern to the superintendent a board member cannot act on their own individually so what their responsibility is to pass that issue along to the administration it's when the administration does not handle an issue then that issue will be brought to the full board so please don't think that a board member is ignoring you if you email them um you'll probably get a response that simply says I forwarded your concern to the superintendent thank you sanago president Paris um so um yeah I was actually going to share that that person then shared your response and did compare it to other areas that may not be as responsive and um she was very very thankful for that um you know people think like we hide things from them or um you know the Abbot District commissioner Mahia brought this up last meeting and we we discussed that and we answered that and still people think like for looks we don't want to I mean listen I take that personal because I'm on this board and being a part of this board I'm not going to going to let anybody for lack of a better word just commit fraud so that we don't get funds because it's not a good look I mean I'm not going to be a part of that so um yeah the more we just communicate and share what the reality is it is now Hoboken what's the criteria of getting Hoboken out of there Mr shihada thank you it's a tiny tiny small town but I don't know what the criteria is when you get off of that but I know the criteria is how we get on it and we aren't qualifying for that so thanks anyone else any oh commissioner Mia so with uh what Mr Santiago just mentioned I Just Want U if any of you guys could just answer that way the public knows I see it day in and day out people um show me texts about it they show me Facebook post Instagram post about it in the past 20 years were we ever presented with the opportunity and did we neglect it uh Mr shado would like to answer that so it's it's not something that and Dr to correct me if I'm wrong that you're presented with the option and it's kind of yay or nay it's if you qualify for it by the state's metrics you're it it's unequivocal they they put you in that bracket and and you're there until I guess your grandfather that or timed out I don't know how that part works thank you so for the community out there that's the answer we no one here ever said no we don't want the funding if they would have gave us the funding back then I would have taken it yeah um nothing nothing better nothing better than that would take y good morning well thank you again M Shad okay thank you any anyone else yes commissioner Suarez um this is uh a different matter and I just came to me so I I didn't communicate with anyone prior to this meeting um for the public portion on the Comm uh on the computer for Zoom um and of course we can table it and discuss it another time is it possible to keep the zoom open from the start of the meeting just because it's really hard to predict when you're home when the public portion is going to begin so if someone has intention to come on the board for for the public portion and um and maybe perhaps you know went to the restroom really quick and came back and realized we closed the moot we made a motion to close it and they don't have the opportunity um to speak publicly via Zoom is there a potential possibility that we can open it um indefinitely until it's presented and then we can close it just so someone can have the ear out if it's in the background and they go oh okay public for question is now and and let me come to the computer um just because I I've done that last year prior to being a a board member um I wanted to participate and it it was hard because I didn't know it's hard to predict when um it it's going to be unless you have the you know I know that you can participate online uh and in the zoom but I'm just wondering if there might be a disconnect in time there and I'll second that because that happened to me as well but there's also a delay between this and live so some yeah so sometimes depending on how long that delay is and it all depends on you know what they're watching on TV or YouTube or where they are maybe the answer is a simple as reversing what we doing Mr President uh president Paris um I'm four terms on this board so I can tell you my first term we started public com at 8:00 regardless of what was going on somebody made a motion to suspend the or noral Lo of business 8:00 it was public session boom uh we did that because it was similar to the way the count runs there everybody knows you want to go to council meeting 8:00 is public portion regardless what's going on they stop so from from my tenure as my experience I would that would be my suggestion is make it a dedicated time of when public portion is going on I would have public portion in public first and then do the virtual on the actually giving people that time to get on for the delay because I know you yeah because a lot of people did say well I tried to go on and you guys did it already and I couldn't get in so that would just be something and that that I think it would have to go in the policy committee uh yeah we can run through policy but but as I understand we would always break at 8 and the request would be to keep open uh the online portion through the do the public portion first inperson portion first keep it up in the whole time and then go to uh online excuse me are aren't we always in Eric Mountain's waiting room or something like that when you get into that room or the people coming in go into a a waiting room yeah yeah uh then they're let in I mean Mr Rose could explain best how this works she you can see who who's in you can see if somebody's in there waiting yeah I we leave it open all the time right and then when it's minimized you can see if somebody's popped in because it'll display on the screen that somebody's in the waiting room thank you and you know they they can watch or whatever and I just think if we designate a time people will be more cognizant of getting up but getting into that Rhythm it'll take a couple meetings before people get used to it but you know that can be discussed in your committee and then this way you can bring it back to the board and we can have that debate on it yeah I do agree that it'll take a couple of meetings so because it's the expectation um you know and and just wanting to just waiting so if they know a specific time or the the um the time to wait if they're listening in and so either one but I'm open to a specific time I just wanted to bring that up um to increase public participation it would be optimal to have a specific time because the meeting does time out it for inactivity so I constantly have to go up there and jiggle the mouse or whatever which is not a problem but it would just be more efficient and professional if we did have a time but that's just two cents thank you and we made a change uh previously so that we' read all the board committee reports before public recognition so there is a possibility if we do 8:00 we may not be there or do that so but if if the key thing is the timing we can do that we can break at 8 make sure we go to public recognition but we may not get in everything maybe we won't get to committee reports by 8 o'clock I don't know it depends on or get through all of them by then it depends on uh how many reports I guess we have I don't know what time we got to it tonight I'll double check the tape and see okay I I'll work on that it's it's just a it warms my heart and if this board ever decided to go back to the second and uh to the second and fourth Wednesday of every month you would really make me even happier that was changed to accommodate two board members um schooling and we went because everybody set their Clocks by the first and second um the first and third Tuesday of every month was across street second and fourth Wednesday was always here and that would warm my heart but I I I do agree with with my fellow Commissioners that public portion is really because that's what we're a public school that's our constituents we need to hear from them so maybe we have to adjust a time as we go maybe 8:30 you know it depends on you know we have to watch it and watch the whole it's it's going to be a wheel we're starting to invent again so we're going to have to take it from how we see take the data and see what we need to do with it so listen I'm I'm willing to do a test run on this but I've been going into that um Eric Mountain's room since 2021 I'm telling you there just aren't a lot of people calling in the comment it's true it's it's the God's honest truth you know so it's it's sad but true and uh you know to the people that actually come here like uh Elias or whatever Lori she's here all the time you know so dedication and we have it and I believe the city council still does not even have that right they don't have a zoom no so we we at least have it okay and any other new business I have one other one yes um so I don't know how to address this but I just want to bring it up so on social media there are posts sometimes where there's just inaccurate news like wild claims of a painted picture of a dire situation in a school and while I know otherwise I'm a commissioner and I cannot comment to it so is there some way or to say that someone here is that person or someone from Administration is that person or somehow get some information out to the public saying that there's this wild claim that I don't know frogs are falling from the sky in such and such school but that's not the case because I get a lot of calls and emails and all concerned it it's it it's a problem especially the other night with with a very serious claim and people were so matter of fact about this thing happening in in our school and it was very very frustrating to read that I just I have a philosophical issue with giving credence to anything that's on Facebook that's my problem with us giving an official response to social media posts on Facebook however as you know when it started to get a little out of hand I had to have the principal um principal actually asked me could could I send something out um and so we did um you know so I I kind of rather handle it on a caseby Case basis you know what I mean um Mr Rose does alert me she's on those things she does alert me if she sees something that's a little questionable um but to have to say to have Samantha go on there and issue an official statement yeah I don't I don't know well and then you know then there's Twitter and what other media are you going to monitor it's and then you forget one I'm only thinking that in a certain spefic specific group and and even honestly in this setting you know I'm not even a member of that group but people are sending me messages from it um so I know we couldn't be on every group but what happens is in these settings someone will post something 30 people will see and then other people a comment and it's like the bad news gets even worse and then they never hear because they may not have students in the school they may never hear the fact that that was untrue and then their depiction of the school is oh this type of stuff occurs every day that's Clifton and it's just not the case so I don't know I don't know the answer but I just want to at least bring up the problem here so that people are aware and the communities aware that maybe they have answers I don't know can can I just sorry I mean it's it's great because we brought this in and commissioner bassford also alluded to right we are informed of certain things right we are aware plenty of people says hey I'm hearing this rumor are you aware we are aware of certain things right um but yeah you you can't I mean there's rumors there's speculation there's people believe any Story I mean we would be you know you'd be answering that all day long um but to what you're alluding to somebody asked me that crazy same exact thing um and I don't know sometimes you listen I mean I love our students but sometimes you're repeating what a kid said you know what I mean and it's kids and like you got to make sure you I don't know but um yeah you just we can't answer every you know story or rumor I don't I don't know I mean the they'd be doing it all day long we we have a mechanism for this already right there there's emails that you can send to every parent in any school uh we let them know when there's a holiday we let them know when it's a half a day so if it's something that becomes that misconstrued uh Administration can send out u a notification I I think that's probably and that's official that's coming from the source and it's not feeding into the rumor mill you know I think that's probably the best way we could communicate president Paris I have to commend Dr robotzi for his solar eclipse email I mean it was thorough I actually took a screenshot and sent it to a friend of them in another district and I said na na na na and because and they they were very impressed because one thing I've I've learned and I've told you this is that can do or know everything I surround myself with people who are a lot smarter than me that's all Janina that was great thank you and Sam it was a collaborative effort and we also had input from our nursing supervisor and our science um and language art supervisors too so that all of our resources and everything aligned to support our teachers as well her her answer back was crickets from my end and I went like that I gave the emoji with the tongue sticking out so cuz we compare apples to you know oranges and since you know we've never I can tell you from 2011 when I sat here in this well yeah probably this that chair when I first started here the communication was nothing it was nothing so the text message that you get when there's things going on it's it's really good because at least you feel that you you're involved and you're you're well informed so I don't know maybe policy configur fig out Joe what to do maybe you know like there was a message from woodo Wilson I got a copy of that too somebody sent that to me said thank you it was sent down I said that's not me that's the big guy up sitting in the chair so they said but they they feel that the communication is so much more advanced than it used to be and appreciative of so if you don't hear it from thank you the peanut gallery yes it is appreciative and sometimes we do miss things and sometimes there's miscommunication but um we strive we strive to to do better to to communicate and to be transparent there's nothing to hide and so I think we're hopefully getting people to realize that right you know it's it's more work trying to hide something than telling people here's what happened um you know one thing I have to improve on is I I I sometimes will text you guys um got you know there an ambulance going to school so and so for and sometimes I A lot of times I forget to follow up with you and say oh person's okay so I'm going to do a better job of that I'm try to do that a little better um that's well anything else just adding yeah just adding to the um social media thing because that's everywhere and I used to be much bigger on social media than I am now on my personal page because now I don't comment on anything on my personal page uh because of the position that I'm in and I feel once you comment on something they're going to expect you to continue commenting and if you don't comment on something that's tragic or drastic or a blatant lie they're going to assume it's the truth um I only comment on my business page now and it's nothing nothing to ever do with school or the Board of Education I think that's very important I don't know what you could do about that but just to as a commissioner stop commenting on posts just leave your Facebook to be a private Facebook don't be a commissioner on your private Facebook unless you have a page open for that that's the easiest way to go up on it okay anyone else okay um we will have executive session uh this evening uh we will discuss some personnel and legal matters action may or may not be taken um motion to go into executive session second and I had a security matter for executive too okay motion by commissioner brunak second by commission Mia we will take at least an hour right Mr President um I don't think so you don't think so no half okay I'm going to say an hour because every time I say use I'm going to Pat it whatever I say double Mr President that's right so uh we'll see you shortly oh Mr buek yes sorry five minute recess five minute recess yes enjoy e e e e e e e check one two can you hear me Mark okay um switch it back to the uh graphic the uh uh switch it back to input six thank you e e e [Music] [Applause] good evening everybody welcome thank you for coming this is the Mustang band showcase here so excited to have you here tonight my name is Brian I'm the band director here at Clon high school and the first thing I want to share with you is that I have I born and raised in Clon this has been my own Earth forever and when I was a third grader at school 11 I could not wait to join band the following year and so I'm hoping to share some of that excitement with you tonight while we play some really fun music we have a great program prepared and we're going to show you a little bit about what band is all about uh now before we continue our program we're going to do a little thing called tuning so good evening everybody if we can take a seat that would be great welcome welcome welcome on behalf of the administration and the district's instrumental teaching staff I'd like to welcome all of you to our third annual Mustang manand showcase for third and fourth grade families I'm Jason leitz the supervisor of Visual and Performing Arts and I couldn't be more excited to start the festivities just out of curiosity by show at hands how many third graders do we have here tonight who look that H how many fourth graders do we have fourth graders too third and fourth because we have some fourth graders who haven't played an instrument yet who this event is for as well I want to give uh can we get those third and fourth graders a round of applause for starting their Journey out you guys it's so nice to see all of you and you're in for real tree tonight uh while the bands are playing on the stage third and fourth graders make sure you keep an eye on the instrument or instruments that may be appealing to you know that you'll have an opportunity next year to play any band instrument that you hear tonight and you'll also have an option to pick a string instrument as well if you'd like a violin Viola or cello however those instrumental demonstrations will take place at your schools in early June sometime your parents will have an option to either purchase or rent an instrument and uh uh your instrumental teachers will get into all that at a later date but we use a company called the music shop however if you want to use your buy your own instrument off another company or online you can do that as well uh if you do decide the music uh if you do decide to use the music shop hour you can visit their website at the musicshop.com and note that you'll also be getting a copy of all this information from your School's teacher some of whom you'll be meeting later tonight you can also reach out to bva email our phone with any follow-up questions my contact information is listed on the visual Performing Arts page on our district website and before I go I also wanted to make a quick plug for the IC program which you'll be hearing about later on tonight from Miss Lou Who one of our band teachers the IC program stands for the integrated summer enrichment experience and it's a 4-we program that takes place in July only for 4 hours Monday through Thursdays this year it's at school 3 and it's a camp and it's so much fun I've sent my own three children to it we have it sells out every summer and basically you can learn uh an instrument in just four weeks you'll be learning four months versus a lesson for one the lessons in just four weeks time uh and you could also learn coding you can do a musical this year it's called Finding Nemo you could do uh a it's no homework involved it's all fun and the uh Miss Louie and Mr Louie will be passing out flyers later on if you're interested and last ly I want to make you aware of the music Angels a program that was started over 20 years ago to assist financially underprivileged families with the cost of an instrument if you have a child who's on free or reduced lunch please reach out to your school's instrumental teachers about how you can potentially obtain an instrument for only $25 a year and that's about it for my portion of the program so third and fourth graders are you ready I only can hear the front I said are you ready and now led by their amazing director Mr Brian stepneski here's the 2023 2024 edition of your Mustang band [Applause] [Music] show the Northeast featuring [Music] w oh [Music] wo [Music] pap [Music] oh [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music] la [Music] [Applause] all right what you think everybody welcome thank you for coming this is the Mustang band showcase me so excited to have you here tonight I Brian I'm the band director here at clipton high school and the first thing I want to share with you is that I have I am born and raised in clipton this has been my home or forever and when I was a third grader at school 11 I could not wait to join band the following year and so I'm hoping to share some of that exciting with you tonight while we play some really fun music we have a great program prepared and we're going to show you a little bit about what band is all about uh now before we continue our program we're going to do a little thing called tuning so as you can see some of our band members have changed instruments already from how we started the the the concert and we need to make sure that we sound our best for you so it's going to take a quick two minutes we're going to tune up and then we're going to continue with our what [Music] am [Music] d [Music] watch all right we're going to continue the fun and games portion of our program now with a little bit of the theme from Pokemon and then Super [Music] la [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] w [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music] thank you so much I can tell already you're going to be an excellent Crow and so now I invite you to sit back in your seat relax as we take you to the movies and play some of our favorite music from the world of Disney [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music] la [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this [Music] la [Music] many [Music] I [Music] la a [Music] la [Music] a [Music] w [Music] oh w e good okay welcome back from executive session and oh Mr sh please give a roll call M bassford here Mr Brak here Mr kova here Mr Mia here Mr Santiago here Mr siano here M Suarez here president Paris here um very happy you we're making a making looking for a motion from executive session uh to approve items 1 through 7 motion second by commissioner bassford second by commissioner brunak discussion seeing none roll call Mr shahada please miss bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes but obstain on one correct Mr siano yes Mr Suarez yes president Paris yes abstaining on one motion carries okay motion to adjourn motion to close second have a good good evening everyone can I get the bang this again hey I like that e

roll call President Melinda saski here Charlene Diaz Fred rushon here barbariki here Sheila Barnett here and could you please stand and do the Pledge of Allegiance with me pledge alce to the flag of the United States of America and to republ for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all this is the time for public citizens present citizens present in I see no real citizens present except for people that I already know um okay some just schol pass that donations this was incredible there was no monetary on here but look at the times look at the hours look at the oh these the one to one this is just great this is beautiful I'm so proud of the community for doing this humongous number very very happy that's great okay I want to thank you thank everybody who donated their time it's just phenomenal what this community can do it was a nice variety of people too you know a real variety of people back just a second who is Grandma penelli penelli uh probably the mom of um of the assistant principal at at Desert Valley probably her mother yeah I thought that was interesting that she put her name in his grandma Yeah neat okay item 2.7 adoption of the agenda do I have a motion to adopt the agenda as Pres presented I make a motion we adopt the agenda as presented I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I bar ziki I Sheila Barnett okay superintendent reports well first of all I'd like Cassie to put up the the corrected ones here um so here is the here's the the com the okay looks a whole lot better doesn't that better um uh yeah um so yeah you can see and with our total of 1707 right now we're we're kind of on track with where we were last year uh a hair below but not a whole lot um um but I think that's going to turn around some too so U but this looks a whole lot better than what was posted with the agenda yeah yeah when I saw 500 at Fox streak and 500 at the middle school I'm going what I find it interesting though that sunrise is quite a bit different than the other schools we're talking at least 60 60 total so 264 versus 195 or 275 um yeah yeah I just found that interesting well and I think part of it is uh you know I'm guessing here Sheila but I'm guessing that part of it is uh as I said earlier the um what is actually getting put into Synergy and um uh and so we'll we'll start fresh next year and and we will have you know any kinds of things put in and and part of the reason it came up uh in our discussion a couple of weeks ago is that when those tat teams are meeting and they're talking about a student having uh say academic issues or having behavioral issues or when we have a student at a site who has a disciplinary situation uh who happens to be a special needs student um the people who need to look at those data those discipline data um uh have been a little bit misled because some you know even when you have just a conversation with a student uh as a principal um uh that needs to be documented there might not be any disciplinary action it might be one of those okay what could we have done differently because it wasn't you know it wasn't that egregious but it's something that you want the behavior to change uh but then when Kate and her team need to be looking at those things relative to say a special needs student who now has done something for which there might be a suspension and she goes in and looks in Synergy and sees that there's no disciplinary action um then you know it raises eyebrows maybe there have been things but they were not necessarily the kinds of things that could get that need to be reported to the state so that led to the discussion of okay next year anytime there is a disciplinary kind of contact the information needs to be put in uh certainly in the in the notes section or someplace in there so that um that we have a record that um just like with academics behaviors are being there are interventions for behaviors so you know not just consequences but interventions so um the numbers will look very different next year but I think Sheila that part of it is that perhaps and I'm guessing here that perhaps Sunrise is only putting in those things that are reportable whereas some of the others are putting in some of the mo everything that's reportable and a few of the other things and so it kind of skews those numbers a little bit and Cass will make sure that in the minutes it not not only has this document but the individual uh site reports that have these numbers so that we we have accurate data in the minutes and also Caroline does sunrise have as many students as the other schools do or they lower numbers uh sunrise and and Diamondback are both low right now Diamondback is our lowest enrollment okay um so if you have questions about any of my other reports I can try to address those oh I did um on the report with the the um repairs facility repairs yeah we had ABM tickets at 136 whatever it was they're almost gone are those big projects or because no and and one of the things that's happening is that when uh when Mark gets work orders and somebody's going out to a site he's always looking back at those to see okay is there something at that site that's on this old list that we can take care address at the same time that we're going out to do this and so uh the the number of those that are being addressed each month has has dropped because there are you know there are fewer of those things So eventually those will all go away um but no none of them's major I will tell you the major things are are what is keeping them busy the things that have not been addressed for 510 and in a couple of cases 15 years are the things that have been keeping them busy and um uh and and I think I even mentioned in my written report that uh you know things like water heaters and toilets and sinks and urine J but then just Plumbing things that um I never had any idea that most of our campuses only had one water Val one water cut off valve for the entire campus so that if you had to work on say Plumbing in one of the restrooms you had to shut the water off to the whole campus so one of the things that Mark King has done uh over the past year uh or so has been to go to Every site and install all a valve for each building so that if we have an issue we can shut off one building you know for a couple of hours and not have to shut the campus down uh so we have things like that um uh and those are just you know those are just everyday kinds of things that we're working on as we go along um but then we have things like uh last week um uh the water line that came in from the street to one of the buildings on diamondb campus so it's a it's a 4 in line blue just bam blue um so they went out and in that case because the first place to shut it off was out at the uh out at the street um and then we're repairing it and and in the process found out that the water pressure was two almost 200 pounds per square inch my it's supposed to be around 70 and um and so they had shut it off and Mark King was replacing that joint or you know that particular place they found other things that were wrong in the in the way that was all installed and he was fixing it but once you put pipes back together then they need time to you know the the glue needs time to dry and whatever well somebody from the city came didn't do bother to check with anybody to see what they were where they were in the process turned the water back on out at the backflow regulator and blew Mark was sitting there and literally blew what he just fixed right up in front of him right up in front of his face so we're lucky that he was not injured uh whatever but when he got it done one of the things we learned is that uh we don't have we don't have the regulator anywhere on our campus that regulates that pressure and um uh so they went around and checked the valves in the rest of the campus and every place and even the fire risers are at close to 200 pound per square inch so I said whatever that is that we need to that we need to install between the backflow regulator and all of our campus needs to be done now and um so we have those things all the time you know we have the regular things we're repairing but then we look at this and and we had no idea we had this problem but it's find the money and do it you know and it's probably a couple thousand well no actually it ended up being more than that Mark thought it would be about 1,500 but I think it's significantly more than that and I said I don't want to blow any more valves and I don't want anybody injured so you know let's take care of it so all of those kinds of things come up you know weekly daily and we just take care of them so um uh yeah and I I could make you lists every month um uh of of those kinds of things and I would do it if you want me to but uh I thought you probably are just as happy having this kind of report where you see that they get new new work orders and they take care of them yeah no I was just curious because I saw it was dwindling but it gosh yeah it seems like it's taking it's taking forever to get all these and and we're down to the little things you know we're down to the little ones so they'll they'll come off of there and that water pressure valve problem you have is a problem up in Fox Creek area right now because I know in my subdivision we're having all of us are going are having water pressure valves put in our house because all of our houses are running anywhere from 80 to 140 and in a mobile home it's not a good place no no we've had several neighbors that have lost yeah and it's uh you know and you and you don't necessarily know that it's happening until something blow to somebody you know somebody has somebody has a thing like that so um we are we are exceptionally fortunate to have an employee who has the skills uh to just go take care of that any additional questions on the superintendent report I do have a couple of updates for you uh uh I am exceptionally pleased uh with the fact that our Science Olympiad team uh was recognized at the state contest with the spirit award oh really and um uh you know they did F they did fine with their science project and whatever but to me I mean it gives me goose bumps even right now to think about it that kids especially Junior High age who always we always hear the negative things and we always hear you know what they can and can't what they can't do and what they're not doing and for our students to be recognized by um I think I think uh Francis told me that it's the uh the people who run the event who select the team that is uh the spirit award and it was because our student students in more than one situation showed uh uh good citizenship towards others and uh and it was noticed and it wasn't like they went seeking to win that win that award so I I'm exceptionally pleased with uh with that recognition uh we plan to invite them for the workshop next month uh so that you can uh say hi to them um two updates on some goals uh I'm hopeful that at next at the March uh the May meeting that um I can present you a draft of our grading uh recommendations um it may not be completely done but at least a draft for you to have some input and and some feedback on and then uh also now that we have our plan done for um the Jen presented to you uh part of it uh our goals at the district level then to have uh the Strategic plan uh to present next month so um we want to have those and and then we'll have a draft budget and a number of things it'll it'll be a little more full agenda than tonight okay thank you item 2.9 board members updates Fred sounds like he had a good time I did I did it was uh very very uh eye opening to watch the the students as I was explaining earlier that the the students um so energized and active and helping each other I saw one classroom where um a student at one of the tables was having an issue understanding something and his his comrades weren't able to help him so this girl jumped up from one table and went over there and helped him get straightened out and it's just that kind of um attitude among the students is so encouraging to see that they're actually getting it and they're wanting to get on board and help each other CU they I think they understand they help themselves too you know yeah so if you can explain something to somebody help them understand it reinforces it within yourself too so yeah it was well worth the time I was grateful I know it was for me so I'm glad it was for you it was very beneficial for me I hit both uh Desert Valley and the middle school and it it was interesting to see the difference between the two schools even though they're both doing real well but I could see more at the Desert Valley the kids buying into because the middle school kids being older and are used to doing it the old way and stuff where the the younger kids are you know they're they're right there jumping on it and stuff but saw it at both schools but it was it was interesting yeah I enjoyed watching the the students Wheels turn like you could actually see that they were trying to think it through and then the fact that they weren't hesitant about sharing their thoughts you know a lot of times they'll just sit there and not say anything but they all were interacting and um you could see the learning that they were doing you knew immediate results you knew who got it who didn't get it who needed a little bit more help um and then in the math class that we went to was kind of cool how they were kind of like ah you did it wrong you know but not in a bad way but in a you know hey we're proud of ourselves cuz we caught that that that wasn't the least common you know number so it was really neat to see the process and another neat thing on that was to to watch the kids they held each other accountable I loved watching the s here saying okay now what do you thinking that he could go she go oh no that does not work ah is not an answer and then the kid had to give an answer and she was being this is what you're supposed to be doing and it was it was fun watching the kids holding each other accountable that way it was a good it was a good experience thank you cathine um I guess Fred and I and um yeah what's her name Barbara yeah the other pole Lo down here are going to get to go to Phoenix to the 88th School Board to learn how to be better School Board member what days of the week is that Thursday Friday Thursday Friday which is a bad thing for you if it was just Friday that would have be okay but two days is rough it wouldn't be rough if I didn't wasn't gone two days the week before just happen to be the same week as a training week in Atlanta well I wonder if she could go just one day couldn't you find out it would be nice to have that many of us down there yeah I would love to go because it does look like something that would be really beneficial maybe I'll pull work in a extra Wednesday or something and that way I can go and you're welcome to join us Charlene except the no no no it's U May 8 9 9 10 9 10 I'll check and see yeah' be nice Fred and his herum so to speak yeah um and then there there's the June thing in in Flag Staff right yeah 6 7th and 8th it's June 6 7th yeah 6 7th and 8th for the ASB one it was it was so beneficial going to the the schools and you guys setting that up for us yeah yes it really okay Cassie setting it up for us thank you Cassie I really appreciate that it would be really neat nice if the once a quarter from now on in we actually had a reason to go in you know to uh um maybe Cassie would want to showcase one of her classrooms or something like that where we could actually schedule that in to do it would be good and in fact one of the uh one of the little items from one of the strategic planning committees uh this that they are talking about is uh excuse me each month bringing as part of the workshop uh either a video of some things going on in one of the schools you know in a classroom and uh and some you know something like that so that um so that we're recognizing the kids um uh and the and the collaboration that's going on so um the combination of those would really keep you all well informed on our progress uh I'm it's kind of a squirrel walk and a walk back a bit but I appreciate the fact that you all are so engaged in uh these training sessions it's been a long time since we've had you know our board members uh uh wanting to participate in uh in uh those trainings either asba ad so it's really it's really nice to to see you all doing that so especially when you can are healthy enough to do so but even even the virtual ones you know they they offer some virtual ones to you all too and so I'm really I'm really pleased that you all are taking part of it thank you but we we definitely are going to make sure that you all get opportunities to see what's going on thank you and I'm sure you noticed that at this point uh the kids are used to people coming in and out of the classrooms and that you know they just kind of look at you like oh and then they just go right back to what they're doing I mean they're they're very uh they're very comfortable at this point with uh with people come you know adults coming in and observing what's going on as opposed to being distracted and and that kind of thing so uh you know that's that's a good thing too of course in my case Julie when we went through the middle school she as we'd walk out she'd say thanks you know she always tell the kids thanks you know I really enjoyed this cuz you know they were working and stuff and she go and miss ziki here she's back in her old crowns she taught in this building for 20 years and the kids go really yeah okay um item 3 point or the consent agenda I would like to to pull the administrative reports on the consent agenda just for some information on some of them anybody else have anything on the consent agenda that they would like to discuss in for okay I need a motion to accept or to yeah approve approve I guess the word is approve uh the consent agenda with the exception of item 3 4 four 34.4 I'll second that motion did I make the motion no you asked for a motion I asked for a Oh I thought you made the motion do you want me to make the motion I move that we accept the consent agenda with the exception of 3.4 I'll second that motion go all those in favor I'm Alinda soski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barb Zar ziki I Sheila Bernett my my thing with um the administrative reports comes to the the principles of the schools okay okay you know um I'll do the best I can no this is this is not this is not uncomplimentary this okay um Cassie do you mind if we pull yours up I'm not going to I'm not this is I want to show yeah it's it's this is a long report she had some wonderful pictures in [Laughter] this okay here we go this is it right here that's wrong one wrong one that was one my computer couldn't open today okay ah here we go this is it this is um they were talking about their 45 day goal thing okay um Cassie has broken down the 45 day goal I believe this is what it is Cass right yeah it's actually not in myard report no it isn't but the the the the school focuses are and those School focuses Point towards the 45 day goal right yeah so those Cassie would you come up to the podium please thanks putting her on the spot here I'm sorry Cassie it's okay I but I think you're doing exactly what I want um so the school focus those three principles are our school Improvement plan goals those are the goals that we get together after our comprehensive needs assessment and then decide what are the three main things we're going to focus on and um the state redid those a little bit this year so um they'll look different going into next year but we always keep those school focus goals in mind when we set our 45 day goal of improvement with instructional empowerment uh the 45 day goal is obviously pretty large to say to teachers like hey in 45 days so like on April 29th that is our 45 Day end goal goal we break it into Sprints typically they're two week Sprints um in this case when we break the goal down into pieces and parts that teachers are really working towards within a certain time they're Progressive steps that if we hit all of those basically success criteria or steps towards the goal at the end of 45 days we should be relatively close to the percentage that we sent for ourselves and for our teachers and for Success so we share those 45 day goals with staff on our daily memo we you know communicate them in our emails um but I think and correct me if I'm wrong the paper that you might be referring to um is we break our goal into those Sprints and we create basically these check boxes under each Sprint um so when we give feedback to teachers within the time frame we Mark the things that we see and we give blows and grows like these are some things that we saw that you're doing really really well towards this goal this is the area that we would like to see you grow towards that goal and and that's myself my instructional coach Maggie Morgan and my assistant principal uh Mary pelli we all use them um and give feedback in that way because we understand that every teachers in a different place working towards the goal so even as the Sprint changes from week one and two to three and four we're still looking for the things in one and two but we're adding another layer on right so if we're really doing our jobs in those first two weeks we should start to see the next part of the Sprint um towards the goal so we continue to monitor that success throughout all 45 days um and we use those sheets to really tell teachers it brings a lot of clarity to the work because I think in whenever we're talking about new work for teachers and you say gosh am I doing this am I not doing this it feels really good to know exactly what steps and what kind of things you're looking for when you're in there and that's kind of what I'd like to see is it and and I probably we should be talking to you but I want to talk to Cassie that's fine please talk to Cassie Cassie as a principle would it be feasible for you to put the 45 day goal in for your school and those Sprints yeah okay on the board reports uhhuh Y and then that would tell us where the schools were headed and and it would be easier to for for me to understand this whole process because I think that's the piece that's being left out for me okay okay but this is the deal I'm thinking that the school that gets the most Sprints done accomplishes them you know gets a gold star they do on their own charts I know I know Cassie has some stars that she um and and I just want to say relative to the paper that we saw at Desert Valley I can't speak for the other schools and how um they IE teams work collectively and do those but I do know that we all develop 45 day goals and they are all broken into Sprint so when I say could we put the goal in the Sprints in the board report to the best of my knowledge it would be doable for everyone I I hate to speak beyond my school but well I'm just asking you if if it's an extra burden on whatever you do they're doing in all kinds of places it would be really easy to put in but I'm thinking I'm understanding what you're saying I I guess the the only thing that I would say to you is we are working very hard and very diligently to do the same thing that we are wanting our students and our schools to do which is to work collaboratively as opposed to working uh competitively and so um uh it's like it's the basis on which I told you a few minutes ago that we're going to make sure in our work in our Workshop sessions and in the visits that you all have that we're recognizing the collective work of our students as opposed to pointing out oh there's the student of the month when we have 400 kids who are working as diligently as that one so that would be the only thing that I would you know that I would say is that we could do that but is it in line with the idea of collegial it probably isn't but what I'm thinking is you know it'd be nice that if Cassie could on the following month's board report say we did this and we did this absolutely this and I think you want to see that from all of the schools and and we said in our goal um we always set a percentage of classrooms that we like to see student evidence because all of our goals are rooted in what we see from students um obviously teachers are facilitating that work but it's really rooted in what students are producing um so we always set that percentage goal so we could probably say like where at in that Continuum in towards that progression of percentages um based on our look and learn data our rigor walk data and also um just like our regular walkthroughs that's what we collect to know are we working our way towards that percentage and I and that's a really good point Cassie because for all of the sites because I've I've told you that they're not all in the same place but U but then when you get those reports what you're going to see is yeah you're going to notice that they're not necessarily in the same place but but what you're going to see is okay how much did they grow how much did how much did each site grow that's what I'm looking for and I know that is what you're looking for I'm not looking to make it compar I know you're I said gold stars because I was thinking Cassie has gold stars absolutely and she's got ducks and she's got all sorts of stuff that are very visual of work for a really long year and I just have to like basically just give all of like that praise to the Desert Valley teachers and staff who have really like jumped on board in students and and we like to tell teachers where they're at in that progression we like to celebrate when they make their own goals because they also are part of the goals um and when we know what we're reaching for we're three times more likely to reach it so we really try to work on that and um I think the other good part is is that even there are times that we've not met our 45 day goal like we have not hit that 45 day goal every single time but we always have a debrief about what's kind of standing in our way how can we keep that skill going even though we're changing the goal they become embedded within each other so we start to still see it's not we like to say like it's not forgotten we always bring it with us right so we've moved on but not forgotten and so we kind of kind to build those skills that way okay thank you thank you thank you and it will be fun to see it will be fun to see the growth you know from wherever wherever each school starts wherever Cassie school starts or each of the other schools start in in J you know in July it will be fun to see the growth each time um and and it's also it's also valuable to know that sometimes sometimes we don't meet those goals you set stretch goals and sometimes you meet them and sometimes you don't and then it's what do you do about it what do you do about it when you don't meet the goal you've set I just think that if we if if this yes it keeps us focused it would keep me focused so I don't go absolutely and I I think that's a great idea um and I like it that um it all goes back to uh what are what are our outcomes for for kids yeah you know it it all goes back to that how is this impacting the outcomes that we want from our kids so absolutely and the and if you've noticed the structure of the reports are similar from each school and that was that was a request of the board uh the board a couple of years ago or several years ago it's easy to add that one one piece to the structure for everybody but I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't be putting a absolutely I'm glad you asked uh oh Cassie's now on the line for four other principles they'll all jump her tomorrow she'll bring she'll bring donuts and it'll be okay it'll be okay yeah um great idea it would it would be it would be kind of nice too um when they have their great level meetings mhm you know if you could I'm sure there's some kind of a riger walk with that too there has to be because everything is cooperative um it would be interesting to be able to send a a thank you note to the teams that are working together the best you know it's not a competitive thing no but they need to be recognized thank you not for doing doing what you're supposed to be doing so if you could come up with some kind of a riger walk I don't know how you say um for something like that so that we as a board could all sign instead of signing just contracts we could sign a thank you note saying thank you very much third grade team you are superior we'll work on that and that really is a recognition that's not a competitive thing that is recognizing them for for the effort and the work that they're doing uh regardless of where they are so I that's a great idea we should do that for the whole organization we should do that for every school oh we would that's her point is to do it for every school because they meet in grade level meetings so that would be all of the third grade and which ones are cooperating the best or I don't know you guys have got figure that out it's not my job um she just gives you guys jobs thas Sawyer that's okay that's what she's supposed that's what you all are supposed to do is give me jobs so now do we have to make a motion to accept the you still have to AC I move that we accept the administrative reports as written I second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barb ziki I Sheila burnup okay 4.1 okay this is we read these last time didn't yes we did and this was the this is the second reading for uh GCO evaluation of Staff members and I will remind you that the changes in this one Cassie if you would scroll down uh that's okay but it has uh mostly has to do with uh some definitions and some changes in inadequacy of classroom performance so um you went past it right there right there so um uh to put some definitions and some uh structure to that yeah I remember this um that we didn't have oh I see a typo down here where um 15 539 there should be a hyphen in there oh 15 539 15 Dash mm they do that to make it hard to read yeah um she does that on purpose to see if we catch it yeah any questions on this instrument okay I need a motion to adopt I make a motion we adopt uh G GCO evaluation professional staff members I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I bser ziki I Sheila Bernett okay there's a whole series of these um our second reading Madame President this is second reading and we actually also went over these in the workshop did last month um uh we have we have pulled from this the one that had to do with high school graduation since it doesn't apply to us um and um uh the changes were fairly minimal in the um based on some Le you know some legislation from uh earlier this year so not a lot of changes in these I think in this case you could approve them uh the whole group I think yeah because if you had anything that you had wanted to pull you probably would have said that at last meeting everything looked good okay I need a motion to adopt the policy asba policy advisory 763 to 786 I'll make a motion to adopt asba policy advisory 763 to 786 I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton I Barb ziki I Sheila Bernett staff appreciation C cass's been working on this I can tell cass's been working on this I can tell um uh she brought to me the the uh quotes from uh these three uh Community vendors and uh asked me to pick one and I said no it's not my appreciation it's the board's appreciation and so uh I thought that you all should decide uh which one that you would like for us to uh contract with for staff appreciation uh and there was some information some specific information for you in the administrative uh information so that uh at least you had all of that um uh for your consideration all three of them sound really good yeah now you know why I did not want to choose y Meen I have a favorite I can I love dangelos their food is very very good but I don't know if fajita bar sounds pretty good yeah where's that from Chartwells yeah that was Chartwells Dicky had the barbecue for yeah I go with the fajita being that were close to Cinco Deo yeah CU that's May 5th versus May 10 very good very good catch that's sort of an off-the-wall justification for fism Off the Wall I'm I to the themes I told you that you know so well guys you realize we won't be here we'll be in Phoenix at of meeting so it won't matter to us know I know that's why I'm kind of disappointed oh my [Laughter] goodness oh my goodness oh that's not good those are a chance of moving that meeting a little bit for us know cuz we really should be at the appreciation just my thought but yeah can't be in two places at once I know try so maybe Charlene decides not to go so she can represent y'all I could go to the appreciation and have my f right okay so how do you guys feel about this we got three choices what do we only have to we can only make one [Laughter] based on the way that based on the way that Cassie put it out for quotes probably yeah okay so which one is the not are not going to tell us you you should have looked at your administrative stuff o ouch who did not who did not do who did not do [Laughter] homework oh you didn't put the I don't oh well she didn't put sorry I'm sorry Charlene I take back my snarky comment I I take it back I thought that the prices were listed in your administrative so she she gave you the menu but not the prices we have the prices so I mean you know all right they were not that different I'm going to move that we go with the faita bar is there a second I I I second that we use chart Wells Vita Bar for our teacher appreciation day okay all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz hi Fred rushon I barbiki I Sheila Barnett and can we send a note to each of these people thanking them for their absolutely and uh tell well tell them it was a difficult decision it was a difficult decision it really was it really was um item 4.4 tabled con continuation of the partnership with instructional empowerment for year to I think we've all had some experience with this now and so we can make a judgment on it that really counts um if we had voted on this last time I could almost guarantee that I would be not doing this but I'm going to make a I am going to make a motion that we continue with instructional empowerment for year two with the caveat that we need to see the Improvement that they're predicting well approximately you know we that we see Improvement um it's still a lot of money and it's still a lot of money that we could put into salaries and that kind of thing but our kids are very important I also think that the teachers who are listening or who will get this message need to understand that the five of us if we vote positive on this are very sincere that they need to get on the bandwagon because we're paying for something that's very specific and very expensive that they need to start participating in and this that we don't need any more foot dragging agree no I agree this is going to be happening so it has to happen with everybody so I have a motion I've placed a motion on the floor is there a second I second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Das I Fred rushon I barbariki I Sheila Barnett and I and I agree it completely Chang changed my mind knowing a little bit more I think that really is what was lacking is we we saw numbers but we didn't really know what was being done and and I think with having some reports and and being able to be as excited as as the the principles are and the teachers are that'll help us to gauge I just want to be as excited as as Fred's kid um carollyn is there any possible way that like next year into the teacher evaluations that we could write in that you know if we've got teachers that are not willing to jump on this program that it can be put into their evaluations and stuff one of the things that you already approved and that we're doing this year is that we doubled uh the point value for the instruction piece in the evaluation um um there there's something else that I have in mind that has to do with what you're talking about uh but since I haven't talked with the appropriate committee about it yet I'd rather not not bring it up to you all right now um but you will see what that is uh soon yeah because you know that way you know the teachers are going to get that we we are definitely serious about this and stuff and and so you know if it's if it's going to be reflect it in their evaluations they might be not dragging their feet so much yeah I have something in mind and and I'm already working on it but as I say I'm not ready to not in a position to bring it to you all yet yeah great thank you soon okay so you get to sign contract well thank you it wouldn't have happened it really wouldn't item 5.1 asba policy advisory 763 to 786 this is the regulations and Exhibits that go along with the policies that we just approved so I'm not sure we need too much discussion on it but I will listen to anything that you guys have to say I make a motion accept it yeah I make a motion to to adopt these exhibits and regulations for asba policy advisories 763 to 786 I'll secondy at that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I bar ziki I Sheila Bernett okay item 5.3 changes in the policy regulation 2b- R class size special education back up one skipped one 5.2 changes in policy exhibits G cc- EC professional and support staff leaves of absent without pay that's yeah if you'll put it back up Cassie um uh a month or so ago you all approved that we use these official documents relative to uh FMLA family medical leave um and uh and then we realized that um there were two forms uh for one action that uh was in there and we had only presented one so when the when the employee requests uh family medical leave FMLA um uh they can request for themselves or for a family member in the past we had just one form um this has two so this is the second form so it would go in the same exhibit it's just that then the employee chooses which one of the two forms that they need to use so we we just need approval to to add this form to uh that exhibit do we want to have the information or was that just an example this is the sample so this is the form that the employee fills out um uh that's why it's an exhibit so most exhibits are are forms that that our employees fill out are there forms that that are reports or there forms that uh students use and that kind of thing so um uh this is just a sample of the the form that we that they would pick to use and how to fill it out and how to fill it out okay so the names that are on there are fictitious fictitious fictitious names besides that they're made up too right yeah okay yeah specti so do I have a motion to adopt I'll make a motion to adopt policy Exhibit gccc DC professional support staff leaves of absence without pay I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barb zeri I Sheila Burnett now 5.3 changes in policy regulation 2BR class siiz special education uh Madam president and board members we presented this document a year ago or so um but uh given the circumstances of um students numbers of students who have moved into the community and those who' have been identified uh and the nature of some of the disabilities we're uh we're recommending some revisions in this um uh fewer students to teacher ratio uh for some of the some of these simply because of the nature of the disabilities that our students have and then a little bit of of change in the uh structure so that we weren't putting average on every single one on the list and we have it at the top so um uh I'm recommending that we uh that we approve these class sizes uh for the various uh disability groups is this going to incude uh teacher it could at some point uh it's probably pretty much in line with what we're doing right now uh the numbers that we have it's pretty close yeah what we're seeing is the other communities around us don't have the support and so they're coming here for the support which are been putting in extra um workload on top of our our service providers who are already at their capacity um limit for their case Lo so um I looked at some various um school districts that are similar to ours in the Phoenix area um and kind of based our numbers off of what they use you know for their numbers as well um we have to think about the student safety and the teacher safety um with some of our hired students so having more in those classrooms doesn't do anybody any any good when I was looking at this this afternoon it seemed like for speech person to do 60 to 70 kids right now they is huge slpas are splitting three 230 students the two SLP the two slps are splitting a case load of 230 students so and we have two therapists as well slpa on the ground here that help you know support those slps but the slps are the ones that have to write the I and do the Tes do the testing and all of that so um our people are definitely in the special ed Department going above and beyond um and so I thought this was just one way we could kind of help to provide them a little bit of a buffer so we we actually have four people who are providing Services speech services to students in our district two of them are speech therapists and uh um and so you know they have the appropriate degrees and whatever but they are the only two who can write IEPs uh and do those things so they probably deal with fewer students because they have the other paperwork and then we have the slpas uh uh who have who have degree have Bachelor degrees in in what they do and so you know they're providing Direct Services probably to a few more students per week than uh than the therapists are it is a it's still a pretty high number but probably not high enough that we could justify another person not at this point not yet at this point not yet I can't tell you what we're going to get over the summer and we're and we're we're adding an occupational therapist right we did add the one additional occupational therapist uh which let us bring those numbers down some because she's right now currently at 79 students on her case Al the new the current one oh the the one that we've already had yeah yeah and we have had the position advertised we've not had any uh indication of interest uh so this may be one that we will work with uh our H1B agency to help us look you know overseas for somebody that might be qualified and might be interested in moving here to do if we don't find I have an idea well Charlene's going to have some occupational therapy here so maybe she can and teach what she lose um I need a motion to approve I'll make a motion that we approve policy regulation I i-r class size special education I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda sabraski I Charlene Diaz I Fred Rushton i b reserv a key a Sheila Bernett okay item 5.4 we discussed this in the workshop last time we did have uh we had the actual uh IGA last time and then we submitted the IGA to the attorneys uh for review um and the attorneys came back with its rather lengthy addendum which by the way was approved by the high school board earlier this week um this has a lot of uh legal language in it that not been attached to any of our other igas uh part of it um the attorneys are recommending that we consider to attach to our other igas but really felt it was important for this one because this is the first IGA that is directly connected to student services to students and so uh they wanted to be sure that we were uh that we had all the legal bases covered since we're you know transporting students to the high school the high school then is Serv those kids and then transporting them back and we're not we're not doing Transportation either way but they wanted to be sure that all of the liability things were covered uh Cassie can you scroll down on this please I have a question keep going keep going okay right there number 16 what exactly does that have to do with a music program between us and the high school uh I don't know that it does specifically but I will tell you 16 and 17 are both in this case there's um Arizona laws that are cited um as having to be part of anything that has to do with procurement and igas um uh 16 has been part of federal uh regulations for as long as I can remember for a very long time and so for instance in our uh any of our procurement uh things that we've done with the sr2 and sr3 funding when we put out the requests for quotes or the requests for um uh proposals and uh and then when we have the agreement with whatever uh vendor that we uh select um this is one of the items that is part of that it's called part of Edgar um don't ask me what those letters stand for because I don't know I don't remember offand but uh it all it's all part of procurement requirements uh in the in both Federal and now in state law when I read that saw that I'm going it just didn't make sense but okay thank you somehow I missed this one I didn't see that one either and there are others that don't stand out quite that much that that as you read them you go what does this have to do with Music Academy uh and yet and yet when when you step back and think about it as a legal agreement between two government agencies it makes a little more sense yeah I need I need a motion to approve I make a motion that we approve the addendum to the inter governmental agreements with Colorado River Union High School District for the Music Academy I second that motion all those in favor I Melinda soski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I barari I Sheila Bernett okay um 6.1 future topics is there anything that you you would like us to ask Dr Stewart to look for or help us with or teach us or set up or whatever is there anything I just like the way that we've been getting more feet on the ground and in the classrooms so any anything that you can think of that would help us so we can be more educated on decisions I think would be good yeah that's kind of important because it's one of our goals that we haven't really accomplished much with and I don't want to just go to the school so I can be at the school I'd rather go and be productive with it yeah I have a purpose yeah a purpose for being there yes yeah and that's and that's a good thing okay upcoming board events um I think we talked about yeah us going to Phoenix and and ju or June May oh yeah May and well yeah May June's in Flag Staff though isn't it and then we have May 10th for fajitas that we don't get to go to um that means we need to change that board meeting just looking at that yeah yeah we got to change our board meeting in May unless Charlene wants to do it all by herself no Charlene look won't be a quorum no quum oh I don't know Charlene's pretty powerful you're right what is it May 9th yeah I will not be in town that next Thursday 16th and there'll be a three-hour time difference so I'm not even offered to do it through phone a you don't want to late visit with us you could always go to a different day of the week so maybe the Tuesday that week when are you going to your conference could uh 9th 9th and 10 9th and 10th I'm assuming we're going to be leaving the yeah she has us leaving the eth right yeah 8th 9th 10th and then we'll come back on the 11th do it like is that it earlier that week or seven how about the seventh yeah she is there any chance for the seventh seven's fine Fred how about you seventh works for me I can do seven BM people from One Day the can we do seven have a meeting on a Tuesday instead of a Thursday that would work yes m is that the C is that the same night as city council I don't know asking is in oh it is no we don't have to go no no we're good with pansy okay oh um May 21st the graduation promotion promotion excuse me graduations promotion um May 2 as many of us as possible should be there yes that would be wonderful what day is that Tuesday May 2 Tuesday the 21st 9:00 a.m.

even on vacation to De exercise so he is my morning Checker and checked all of the tape to make sure that everybody stayed in their room overnight we got a picture of him smiling very big accomplishment old U did a trip through cordsville High School G 10 12 years ago now it's been a long time but um she went to Le GRE and she's still you know she's going to 30 and she still remembers you know how much fun they had in so I appreciate that you take the time I know it's a lot of work on the coordinator side um appreciate that you are willing to take that on it's it's really worth it I got to see so many students come out of their bubbles um we had a student who um is on the autism spectrum we were a little worried about socializing by the end of the trip he got up and danced at our River Dance Excursion in front of everyone um and I had a lot of students who were really anxious about roommates and being with people that they've never known and at the end like this I like made friends with the people that I was with so it was it was really rewarding to not only see all these places but get to see them through their experience one thing I remember my daughter mentioning was that there were other high schools from other states that were like on similar trips at the same time they were and she and the adults that were around that were just talking about how cord olda school students were so much better behaved than many students in much bigger districts and different things and how they were impressed with our kids and that made the kids feel really really good I said that was a long time ago now but the fact they on and they they identify with that we got a similar from our there I that all right is there any other questions to I will approve second all in favor I thank you so much next item on the agenda is consider the CHS student yep I reviewed that and I checked on one thing with j and I would move approval is there a second second all in favor I the next item is the CMS student handbook and with Mr not present this evening I did reach out to him and he did recommend an approval so there is someone motion to C second all in favor next item is the substitute and I yep I reviewed that and I approval second second all in favor okay next is to consider resolution on board compensation who wants to uh so this this resolution is to update our board compensation uh resolution that we have in place right now um isba did put out a new version and it does increase the rate meetings to I believe 150 um you can see the in your packet the dollars that are there um so we would recommend that you approve this resolution just a little commentary on the side here um suan and I have been on the board since 2004 and the state legisl says the level of compensation for four years which has been a Conant 2000 be honest we don't do it for the money but I think it's good that we recognize the uh the time and effort it takes to be competent B board member so is there any other discussion I would entertain a motion to approve this resolution second all in favor thanks moving along to approval for technology advance for the common School fund yes you have the document printed in front of you for this as well as in the electronic packet um we would recommend that the board approve the application for the common School Tech fund advance in the amount of 105,000 and this will cover us for the next 6 to8 months nor this is fairly normal we do these we did not do one last fall but we normally do at least two year is there a discussion I make a motion to approve second all in favor I next is consider approval to apply for construction program advance for the Comm School uh yes so this is the other document that you had in front of you the budget for the Wilson expansion um we would recommend that the board approve this application for the common School construction program Advance uh for $212,500 any discussion to approve second all in favor I all right uh see next item is to consider approval to begin the preliminary determination process pursuing to IC 6-11-20 D31 yes um in your packets I provided a a longer description of why we need to do this but um if you remember legislation in 2023 had passed um for schools with a debt rate between 40 and 80 cents which is where we fall then you would have to go through the preliminary determination process um for any new debt that comes on the construction there is a law we help for a year so that's why we haven't done any common School construction programs which is what we mainly use for our deferred maintenance um and it's what we've used for our elementary projects and so on and so forth but it it was on hold and then remember representative Thompson actually kind of they had the fix um because our referendum debt for the middle school was initially being counted into it which actually put us over the 8 cents but they have that cleared up so we're back to being able to do this but it was just today that we finally were given permission to apply for a common School fund LOE because we were given about a 22-day window to apply for common School fund loans however we have to go through this preliminary determination process which takes 60 days at minum um but we were told today that we could apply with with the board giving permission to begin the process and then we'll have to go through the process um and have in your packet have a basic timeline which our goal would be so we have to public and notice of hearings we have to have two public hearings um and it can and the board has to approve through this and if anybody comes out to you know have questions against doing this process then we could have to the petition to remonstrate so there's a a whole long process there but so we would look that we hopefully by April 17th we can get the Publications to the newspaper newspapers will publish on April 24th newspapers publish on Wednesday is that correct yeah so we give them week early then we could have our first hearing May 7th and then we would need to have a second special Board hearing and here I would say possibly do it on Monday May 13th if that date would work um and then we work through that process those are both so the May 7th would be our normal meeting and then the May 13th will be okay so we can check okay you what's your window [Music] um but I mean if You' got enough so we keep that tenative and then I'll check with K you know so need three but go through that process so I would recommend the board approve us beginning the preliminary determination process so we have sorry we need have the hearing first no we' have the hearing May 7th then May 13 this is you're this is so that I can go back and say our board has approved Esco and they can consider our application motion table I move approval all in favor I all right who you on a Personnel yeah so um start with the two retirements um Chris urb 32 years of service and Steve Spencer 34 years of service service um that both been excellent um prop Community Schools and appreciate their time truly respect what they've given to us and congratulate them on reaching this phase in life so we recommend the board approve retirement of Chris Irv and Steve Spencer appr second all in favor I recommend the board accept the resignations um C through G second all in favor and recommend the board approve the hiring of Emily Brown U music teacher Emily is a MC grandmary graduate she's the daughter daughter-in-law of Angie Brown teach scores at Nicholson currently doing her teaching in Warren Township um so she she will come to us with experience so a semester of experience um and has a lot of choir background and be interesting to see how she brings her choir and hopefully can connect Uber to all the great choir things that we have going on at C so recommend the board Brown music teacher so second all make sure yes next would recommend [Music] Edward brother yeah Edward is um he has re HED once and is back but Edward has um a child in my class my daughter's class and a child younger than that so um Edward's gonna be teaching for a [Music] while um yeah yes um yeah see known [Music] the yeah I was wondering he's um Edward you see him walking around down walking while he reads um I believe I saw drivey didn't read yeah um so he is a true biblo file um and a science teacher so I recommend the board Edward SE science teacher at Crawford High School all in favor hi all right moving right along so Dr this Miss just a couple quick option items for the business manager report um we are going live with spendbridge our new procurement purchasing platform um want to thank Jay and his office staff they did our test subjects for this um every school building including the central office will move to this platform for all of our purchasing um this will help us to get more efficient in central office and help to alleviate some paper that we have right now uh human resources in Pay World we're working through front line to get that absence management piece up and running um we're also moving all of our staff to the time in attendance from Frontline so everyone will be in one system this will help us to automate a lot of our payroll processes to squeeze the time that it takes to do payroll down pretty significantly um and then we're going to start working on annual budget process um gear up for that get ready for the fall um we're looking at preliminary looks right now at all of our funds to see where we need to start um obviously education we've started with that with staff talks already so just prelimary schedule we'll get that out to you at the next board meeting for that that's all I have I apologize I was cooling up my didn't have here um the spend bridge that you're talking about I think that's probably going to be something very Val because have one building order case something that they only need one box of thanks for bringing that to us apprciate that all right I think we're ready to move on assistance super repart yeah uh school safety just a quick update there because we had talked a little while back about um looking at a transition to Alice so we continue to explore that and our next steps uh for that will be to have Amber Reed and officer Bondo um attend Alice training so there is a financial commitment to go to Alice um as a certified district for Alice um so we felt the the good Next Step first would be to continue to explore by having a coule attend that training and never hurts to get a little additional school safety training um anyway so we'll look forward to what what they bring back and share with our district safety team from there so that training will be in June uh professional development and education so we on March 12th we had our first uh new teacher Institute seminar and we had 20 teachers attend um and four Mentor teachers lead uh those in in killboard so we split them up and they are in cohorts with the mentor uh we cover topics around teacher evaluation our high reliability schools of course with that being our blueprint uh specifically with collaborative culture effective teaching in the classroom um super appreciative and and proud of our administrators that that led PD our Mentor teachers did a great job uh working working with their cohorts and our new teachers um as well so it was a great day we had a lot of good positive feedback I'm looking forward to to where that can go um in the future and as we've gotten into candidates season uh we continue to hear from potential candidates just um that's one of the number one things that comes from them is what are you doing to support new teachers so this will be a huge piece to what we're able to to do to support them uh Tammy H and Jen Hall as of yesterday just completed their first year of the Indiana principal Leadership Institute um so they presented their action research projects yesterday so um they have a project that they focus on year one is on um personal leadership capacity and they present and share their findings and then this summer they will turn to year two of the program we still have a couple teacher leaders join them in IPL we to study different aspects of of their schools and that's in line with what we do um as well IPL uses high reliability schools in their year two to to frame their work and so it'll be good continuation we're doing for for them and each of their buildings so um I learned testing begins next Monday so uh April 15th through May 10th is the IEM window grades 3 through 8 will be testing math and language arts um grades four and six also test in science and then grade five will test um in social studies so um most of the testing will get done first couple weeks and then we'll have makeup uh testing from there to take care of um couple areas in in kind of the policy procedur um idoe world um so you know the update on our Virtual Academy so we have submitted for um accreditation that window has opened with the state to be able to submit for that so that has been submitted so we are just in the The Waiting phase for um our response on that once we receive that then we will have our official School number and then we'll be able to get that in kind of the back of some things specific spefically power school that will allow us to kind of gear up for official registration for the 2425 school year so be exciting when we when we get that official number say how that process they mentioned it should be pretty quick depending on how many applications they get so they don't run it through their um actual stateboard meeting um so we don't have to wait for the next meeting or anything um so not knowing how many applications they receed not sure but made it sound like it shouldn't be super long um just a quick little note on um it kind of a heads up if you've seen any of the information on the Indiana diploma changes that are coming out so I won't go too far into the weeds because I don't really know 100% what the weeds exactly reveal yet um Jay and I were on the phone for a while today working through the the slides together together and going through things so but um bottom line is uh it will be moving to two diplomas one is called just the Indiana a GPS diploma so GPS would be graduating uh graduates prepared prepared to succeed yes um and they're specifically referring to it maybe even more so as a flex 40 uh because that's their goal is to offer flexibility and the options that are available um for students and their diploma the second diploma would be the Indiana GPS diploma plus so yes um each of them have three components the first one's the same for each kind of some core um courses in grades n and 10 um that they hit and then the second component starts to get it into um work-based learning and then the third does vary a little bit between the two with one of them kind of hitting your your sat act asab some of those things um and then the the GPS plus end up going to a higher level with the work-based um learning and and dipping into the apprenticeship set as well so um kind of the timeline on that is it is currently open for public comment um they will offer two periods of public comment for that um so we are in comment period number one through the spring they'll make revisions and then they'll open up for a second public comment in the summer um and then towards late summer they will get the final rules in place for those those two departments it would become effective for the graduation C- for of 2029 so the current runs out with our 2028 so uh that would be our current sub graders so um that would be the cohor that we'll be entering which you're hear 2029 but um sth grade that's two years away uh really almost one year so uh so we'll be digging into that uh PowerPoint more I did link that in your packet if you have interest of um having into that IE that is what they use to propose State Board of Education um so if you want to dig into those reads and see some of those things you can but it's only 46 pages long it is only 46 pages long and that is four revisions um but that'll definitely be coming towards the Forefront so I know Mr Strickland's dug into that um and spent some time in there and that'll be definitely something that we'll be having some conversations about uh in the the near future so with that that is your assistant superintendent Dr Dr R excellent um first thank you to the board for making time to come to our groundbreaking ceremony so ni day and fin get a board photo so appreciate your time there just make sure everybody knows well I do love to give Mr Strickland a hard time um only second to maybe Molly white cotton and people I enjoy giving a hard time to truly appreciate first everything Jay does Jay does give it his all to make Prov High School the best place he can be in GL have J as a friend and as a administrator so it is good thank you like where working on it no it is good and um in the community world so I'm on the committee with the Community Foundation looking at how we can apply for the grant eight Lily fund um and working with a partnership there so that we will kind of come along there's some conversations about a lot of conversations about child care and um our English learner population so those things are coming along by the end of the month think we have to have a written proposal so always love working with our community members you I wish we had a larger it is nice because you go to community meeting to community meeting and there's always a very similar people there um but it is great so we're making a lot of progress on the Wilson Preschool Academy renovation isn't plans um it's just like any of our other buildings every time you get a plan done it leads to another thing so um we'll say that like prop electric light and power is working with us on the drops that come into the building and have you know been excellent partners and so that's another relationship in the community that's been very beneficial to us um serving on the mcgomery county Early Childhood Coalition ands the advertisements but there's going to be a family fun day that'll be hosted here on Saturday April 20th um then we'll have free games and activities such as Touch a Truck Story Time and live music there'll be free snacks and the first families will receive a swag bag PBS Kids own Daniel the Tiger will be here along with my favorite mascot Alexander um so that'll be fun and educational world we are working on a 3 to five year educational strategic plan trying to get our budget set out for 3 to 5 years trying to get our education plan set out 3 to 5 years trying to get our operations set out 3 to 5 years and actually have something that you know hopefully by summer when we set our board retreat and we can just have things that are just clearly in front of you and that can guide our discussions um Senate enroll at Act One it requires that certain teachers have a literacy endorsement mainly in prek to five and special education teachers um this is just one of those it's a beautiful onion we keep peeling back and there's more and more to it so right now the state is providing trainings that teachers can partake in um they provide a $1,200 stien for the ads training um it does require s days and completing an exam um so it come down if you break it down to 80 hours it's about $15 an hour um but it is something that's going to be required and for anybody who's in these certain categories after July 1 of 2027 they will not be able to renew their license if they don't have this endorsement um so again this is one of those I think it it I fully support the idea of the training I obviously support the idea a stifen um but it's one of those that there's just going to be so many things that come out a lot of things just like any legislation I think there there there's positive intent it's just now we have to figure out how to work through it so um personal management you know we have the new teacher orientation we also had a top candidate then we had in um seven um brand new 2B College grads um that we had met through recruitment fairs or had other connections with so we brought them in on Friday March 22nd and um had some administrators talk to them we had some new teachers in we had some students in um just had a great conversation with them and um hopefully some of them will be future coer employees was a fun day um as Andrew talked we are working on our staffing for the 2425 year we have three major factors that are driving decisions um on how to staff to meet the needs of our students one the Esser funds are done um two student enrollment that's we going to work through that and three our fund balances um so we are working through those things and again glad to meet with any of you you um to answer any questions I will have the Staffing plan to you hopefully in the very near future I have a draft done we had a first meeting with it with our administrators um we'll also present it to um the teachers organization as well so again that's something that hasn't we haven't done before so getting the format and the layout done um is coming along and trying to make sure that we're not missing anything or we're not misrepresenting anything there's a lot when you're looking at $21 million budget so and then trying to calculate you know the retirements and the pieces that come in so um luckily we have Andrew who's a master of spreadsheets and um yeah so we wake up and the mid the night come up with a question and talk about it for S more it's good um our uh we are having a lot of conversations about our debt where we're at and how to manage that um hopefully by next month I'll also be able to give you a presentation of where we're at so we are looking at ways to bring our tax rate down um while still doing things like the common School fund loans but we I'm hoping that that's the last common School construction loan I ever have to come and ask you for um also the the representatives will do the operations fund Equalization right if you look at um that which is entirely based on assessed value um and that makes things difficult schools that are significantly smaller than us receive twice as much money in operations as we do which means that we have to take money out of the education fund which I don't believe anybody really agrees with so what money could be going to pay teachers we have to move that over to paper things like buses and those type of things so working in the realm there yes I think it is and the common School funds are there for schools like us but then now you have this new legislation that says you have to go through these extra stuff so that is the mechanism that they had come up with to kind of balance things out but you know one law affects another but that's right we're working through it and uh everybody seems to have an ear from the legislators to the dgf to the doe of our situation so as please look at the Oracle outstanding things going on um you know F Fine Arts continue to Excel and as a band Color Guard continue to earn honter but Loose the musical was superbly cast and performed we recogniz it as one of our best Productions yeah outstanding um I love this little picture on here Alexander meeting so he was at Kindergarten Roundup and he's also done some lunch events um and yes you can it is wonderful so that is there announcements legisla breakfast this Saturday at 9:00 a.m.

this uh hearing was re was pushed to 8:00 um to allow for um other business to be attained to the proposed amendments to the zoning bylaw into the ash excuse me on the proposed amendments to the ashon zoning in ashon zoning map the subject matter changes are being proposed for compliance with the multif family zoning requirements for the MBTA Community section section 3A of the Mass General R chapter 40a in specific note noted below this hearing will be held in person in the ashon town hall section second floor hearing in room excuse me second floor select Board hearing room in remote particip participation is available via Zoom video conference platform to join this meeting via Zoom please see the plany board agenda the proposed amendments will be on the following sections of the Ashen Zing bylaw a additions to section 9 8.9 titled MBTA Community ex MBTA communities Pawn Street multifam over District B amendments to section 9.4.1 titled procedures for site plan review and design review C amendments to section 4.8 titled rail Transit District D amendments to section 8.6 TI titled Wildwood mixed use District e amendments to the ashon zon map as followed uh the Ashen zor map was posted with the town clerk it was available uh the proposed zoning Amendment shall be excuse me the proposed zoning Amendment shall be made to the ashon zoning map and to the following Parcels number one amend zoning map by creating a zoning District Pawn Street mixed excuse me pawn Street multif Family overlay District to include the following properties zero Pawn Street assessor map 929 LW 105 369 Pawn Street assessors map 29 lot 151 to amend the zoning map by creating the the zoning District Wildwood mixed use Excuse me Wildwood Wildwood mixed use dis overlay District MBTA to include properties 100 Chestnut Street Ash Mass assesses map 20 lot 271 proposed only amendments in the map the proposed only amendment and zoning map amendments are available in the town clerk's office by appointment during regular Town Town Hall hours Andor on ashlin's MBTA communties website through the following link parties which be held on this matter should should submit comments to the pl board ahead of time and door appear at the time and place indicated above for more information please submit comments to Peter matek in a list my office line and my email address all right thank you Peter so um we have a set of slides tonight um just as a little introduction for anyone that's online most people know this um but uh we formed a working group back in September between the planning board and the select board that consisted of Select board member Joel manani myself Trisha Kendall Town planner Peter machic and um assistant Town planner Alo ELO Esparza who I think is I think I saw him on line as well correct um so um we've been working since September um on a a plan to put forth um at uh at Maytown meeting and so it has been published as Peter has said and um we're having the public hearings to determine um if this is uh indeed something that's that's good for Ashland so if we want to okay slide one so I will just be going through there's a series of 12 slides including this one um but I I think we'll go through fairly quickly and then just get to a larger discussion so next slide perfect okay this is just the review it's a big review for all of us I've heard it a million times but these are the requirements that the state has put forth for these MBTA zoning communities we need to create a zoning District or districts it can be in a number of places they have to Total at least 50 acres um they have to have a minimum of 20 acres or we have to have a minimum of 20 acres within 0.5 miles of our train station the individual areas of zoning so each district can be no smaller than 5 Acres each of those districts has to have um a minimum density of 15 units an acre and all districts have to allow multif family housing with no age restrictions by right so next Pier so that's the basic qualifications we're we're working with so and the other the other component of this so there's acreage and then there is um units so because we're a commuter rail um Community we have to take our current housing units which is 7,495 by the 2020 census we need to multiply by that by 15% and that gets us to 1,124 units of housing none of this housing has to be built um but we do have to zone for it so it's capable of being built next slide so the working group the four of us um these were the priorities as we kind of discussed it over a number of meetings and um figured out how we should approach this problem we decided to use what we have and by that we meant that the planning board and um the zoning board of appeals had already recently approved and number of large housing projects that qualified or nearly qualified for the things that um that the MBTA communities was supposed to address things close to the railway station housing um certain densities and so we decided to use those efforts to help us in our MBT to fulfill the MBTA Community um uh regulations the second was to keep the density as low as we could that's 15 units an acre mandatory but we so we wanted to try to keep it that way if we could and then we wanted to respect the ongoing comprehensive plan process the town has in invested a quarter of a million dollars into our comprehensive plan which is supposed to help us determine where we want density where we want housing and to make a number of decisions about our community and so the working group is a group of four and then the planning board and the select group is a bigger group of 10 to 12 to 14 depending on how we want to count ourselves also didn't really want to take didn't want to make big decisions that should be Town decisions so um so those were that that's what we started with and starting to look at the areas that we ended up working with so we found ourselves settling on these four zoning districts there's sorry three zoning districts there's four properties within those three districts totaling our total acres is 72.9 five remember we need a minimum of 50 and we have 72 so we're fine there um so one of those is the rail Transit District that where that's where Cirrus is one is the Wildwood District which is where the 100 Chestnut Street project is currently in construction and the other is pwn Street which we recently approved a project um near the residents or right next door to the residents at Valley Farm that has been approved but has has not started construction so those are the areas we're working with and those are the areas where the zoning changes have to take place all right and just to look at those in a little bit more detail the first area is um it's the smaller of the two just in the way we labeled things um ugc this is an over 55 community approved for 180 units um this is a project that we've most people know it's currently in litigation and it it's a friendly 40b it would be um 25% affordable it is not currently in construction so we'll go through a little bit later um the current density of that whole area is 20 units per acre because of the way the zoning is written the effective density what it really looks like or what it really is is 14 units per acre we explain that in a little bit and then B is serus Apartments so there's 398 units currently built there it has the same thing it has a cur current density listed at 20 um but an effective density at 14 again we'll explain that so that if someone's reading the proposed bylaws they'll understand what that what that means we would in both of those areas we would need to increase the density a little bit because we need it to be at 15 14 is not good enough to fulfill the MBTA zoning right so um next slide so the other two areas are um are uh properties um outside of that transit district one again is the V Village of the Americas that's the project currently into construction um it has 174 units its current density is 29 and we have put a density of 29 on it so um it just uses what we already have there's no incentive for building more units then other one is 501 Pawn Street that is approved for 125 units though nothing construction hasn't started um that is also a 25% affordable project um the current density is 32 and again we um left the current density at 32 but noted that this property also includes the residence of Valley Farm next door because um 501 Pawn Street is only four acres it has to be five in order to use it so we've used both of those both of those Acres as a district all right so this is the little tricky part when we get back to I wanted to explain a little bit about um when we look at the unit count and I wanted to explain why um the units at ucg and um Cirrus has that um it has one density in the bylaw and it's it's another density of what it actually is and that is because written into those um those zones this is for the U ugc Arabella um the parcel itself is 38 acres but there's some there's a covenant in place that when that parcel is developed 20 acres is given back to the town you know as a gift basically we can't count that 20 acres so even though it looks like 40 we can't count 20 of it because it's a gift to the town and then in that zoning there's written in the zoning it says exactly where you can find it in those zones 30% of it is is set aside for open space 10% well 10% for open space and another 20% for impervious surfaces like parking that you can't build on right so that's when while you go up to Cirrus the buildings are kind of far apart right so the density when you really look at the whole thing up there on those properties it's zoned for 22 but really it's only buildable it only comes out to 15 units an acre because of all this because we have to take out 30% of the land saying you can't build on that 30% so we have to we have to Zone Z it a little higher so um so that's true both for ucg and cus and Cirrus which is the next slide right so same same kind of condition except it doesn't have the 20 acres coming out because the Covenant is about once the last property is developed which is ucg the town gets the 20 acres okay so that's why the kind of the whole process is a little bit not a little bit a lot more complicated than it first seemed because all of the underlying zoning all of any Co any Covenant underneath something also needed to be examined all of that had to be reported to the state in order to see if the solution would work so anyway these were unit counts um if you can go to the next slide basically the number tweaking that we did put us puts us right at the unit count of 1,124 units is which is what we're required to do right so tweaking the numbers that's where that's where we got that's good so in other words we we would fully expect this plan to work Alo has been through it he's um talked to the state I think about it kind of pre submitted it to the state correct so some of the so our bylaws have submitted to the Attorney General's office they've kind of looked at them no red flags yeah um so we were we're good to go so this this should uh this should be acceptable and work fulfilling all regulations of the state it looks at properties that are already built being built or are already approved to be built um the risks there are some risks in this um Michael Herbert mentioned it a little bit at the last joint meeting we had and that is that um even if you the risk is really for the the um the projects with access um with affordable units that if the underlying zoning if the zoning that they're allowed is the same as what has already been approved with the affordable units someone might say well I'm just going to withdraw mine and re re um submit it but without that it would be at 10% affordable I think in one case at 12.5% affordable but right so um but they could just subit submit resubmit it at a lower affordability and it would fit the zoning that we've that we've put on it on the MBTA communities so that's kind of the that's the risk there how much of a risk it is I couldn't possibly say but there's a risk so that that's not a risk of the partials that we have tentatively selected that's a risk anyway if you if you say it's buy right I mean we cannot ask for 25% so I mean I I understand and I appreciate it's pointed out because I think that's important but if we just took had nothing to do with areas built because we Magic Ally had enough acreage somewhere to meet the 1,124 units to zone for we could only require at most 12 a half% correct by right that's right so it fair to say the risk but it's not quite it it's not quite that simple to say we're not getting 25 if they choose to do it because we would only be able to require 10 or 12 a half right no I mean I I think yeah I I'm kind of sick about that those projects could do that but it it's it's not an increased risk of this we're trying to comply we're trying to offer our town a way to comply with MBTA zoning by doing this we're trying to um what we you the working group is doing is trying to provide Our Town a way to vote on complying with MBTA zoning if you didn't take places where there are potential projects we could only ask for 10 or 12 and a half% that's my point so the risk is mushed in there and not unimportant but it I don't want people to think that's an extra risk of because the parcels you chose per se no no no no it's just um we're trying not to we're not trying to lose what we work so hard to gain that that that's the risk okay so next slide this is the big one this is what we call the game changer because just as we were putting these slides together um as everybody knows we got um a notification from the state that 10 to 60 main which we had intentionally left out of our deliberations for the reasons that I stated before um has been submitted to the state as a as um a 40b project there was a walkth through today um about that Marcelo and I attended and um so the question now becomes do we happy to obviously to discuss the plan as we have it but there's no um incentive that I know of for going in May versus versus doing this in November when things are changing um we're wondering and this is um been a question that's been asked to me by um several people is wondering about if 10 to 60 main is going to is is there's an application in there for a 40b why wouldn't we use that app that that acreage as part of what we might do for the MBTA zoning right now at 250 units that's what's being proposed we don't know if it'll be 250 units but that is a zoning of 32 units an acre so even if we put the zoning down there at 15 units an acre we start to spread out we start to spread out a little bit more of our risk in other areas so um yeah for the risk that we have which is maybe the biggest one is at 501 um or we decide to take out we decide to take out um an acreage like for instance at ugc maybe we just wouldn't use that acreage at all right we wouldn't have it as part of the MBTA communities we're just wondering if we want to look at the big picture so correct me if I'm wrong a 40b is 25% affordable so if they go through with the 25 if if the 40b is accepted and goes through that's 25 if we make this a potential area of the zoning you can only ask for potentially 10 or 12 a half% by the economic thing so that doesn't make sense to me to like I mean the it's I hate to even call that affordable because we know a $3,000 a month rent is in my opinion is not affordable so that's a SE issue but how so how the waiting to get us less affordable if you if you Zone that for MBTA I don't understand we're not expecting that it would be used as MBTA it's obviously going to be going forward as a 40b it's about being it's it's it's our first premise of what we as a group had decided to do which was use what we have and now what we have potentially what it seems like what we have now is different than what we had two weeks ago right different now that's a very I mean that's just that hasn't even been applied to the town so I I mean I can see you taking the Gamble and and forcing that down to as low as TW 10 or 12% because the fall town meeting would be november-ish and then it might not get accepted till January but that project we don't know the cue of the timeline of that project no I don't think it's about that so anyway let me let me just finish um actually I I think is that my is that our last slide yeah it's the last slide okay last slide so the point is um the point we're trying to make is that we were asked to do a job with a certain set of conditions that we knew about in town and since that time the conditions are changing have changed we don't there's things that there are things that are yet to play out right and so we as the committee and I'll just speak for myself and let other people speak for themselves um I'm a little wondering personally that I could see why we wanted to bring it to Springtown meeting but I would rather myself have six more months to see how things play out so that I can then make the best decision for Ashland about how we should structure the MBTA communities so that's kind of that's kind of where I am on it so we're looking I guess for comments both on that and on the plan as it stands right is it a good plan nope it's better than anything we should go with it um and and that's what this public hearing is about I don't know if how many we have now two people in our audience welcome Mark um and I don't know how many are online um but that's that's where we're at we're on we're on schedule for May but the in light of the working group the game has changed a little bit so Trisha do we know like is it a if we wanted to play around with it like just 1060 main slot in easily for one or the other like the parameters for yeah acreage and like is it an easy swap okay yeah obviously there's work to be done right where to be done but it's not insurmountable uh and yes you could take 60 M 10 to 60 M and you it's above the 5 Acres it's a little bit outside but we still have plenty of acreage inside the the .5 mile radius from the transation so that's taken care of so you can drop ucg or 501 Pond correct you can depress you can you can you can you you can you can change the numbers around yeah right which also takes some pressure off of the ugc um and it could take some pressure of that off that pawn Street uh by adding in now you can add in as many acres as you want right as long as 40% of the total overall acreage and the total number of units are inside that 0.5 mile radius and we do we can make it work and we can do so because we have Cirrus right cus is a great thing that we have for us um and there's so so yes we can it's not insurmountable but at this point it's too late to to to do it within the model and within the zoning bylaw to get ready for town meeting to do the whole advertisement um and so that is the situation we're in we have a plan that we we we we hit our goal right we hit our goal because we we came up with a plan that is suitable that fits the bill and and that we think um can be adopted Andor um accepted by the state uh but at this point obviously with things changing um 6 months will give us the ability to continue to study right and to continue to learn and but also to to rebuild a little bit and if we were to include 10 to 60 Main Street we could change the numbers around and or play with the numbers a little bit to to to kind of force some pressures off of lots that are right now inside the equation I mean I I have been on board with the working groups plan for you know weeks I me since you guys started presenting it um it made sense and also liked the idea of going forward at Springtown meeting in order to give ourselves some buffer if we needed the fall but I do agree with Trisha that this is you know leaving a potential opportunity on the table that is kind of could be lwh hanging fruit for this that minimizes our risk at other properties which we you just talked about the hard work put in to you know do what was best for the town and some of those other Lots um I mean I would be open to re-evaluating as things change is is 10 to 60 within the0 five miles it's just a it's one yeah it's just outside but um but you can still it's still it still can count so I I mean from what I know right now unless we have a timeline I would not support that because I I think the danger is that's go that could go to a by right 10 or perhaps I don't think we include that in the study area but we can say maybe say the 12 and a half% because it in my experience I mean any 40b friendly or not it was never settled in that time frame so unless someone can kind of convince me I think you're driving that project by adding it down a much much lower um affordability amount so it you can't ask for more than the 10 or 12 a half% so if we rezone to include that they are not going to be completed I I can't see how they be completed accepted and once they're accepted they have two years to build so they can go back and build 10% anyway they can do the same thing that those other partials can do so I I I'm not seeing how that is adding up to make sense wouldn't they either have to do the 40b or go forward with ours wiing so like either either they go forward with the yeah lower lower affordability threshold but then they're back before us which has benefits and that was just or they go forward with the 40b at the 25% which you get the 25% affordability out of that but it's a 40b they they're not going to be able to build what their proposing building in the 40b and also reduce it to 10% that's right so it's one or the other yeah go ahead Joe I'm I'm sorry Joe manani I'm part I'm part of the committee um but you're absolutely correct it it's it's it's one of the other and and they don't have they can't tweak one and then tweak the other to meet their requirements you folks have that ability to do that you folks can put them this is what you need to do during that time frame uh to get to uh Kate's uh some of the concerns Kate has I have the similar concern Kate with with respect to all this the one problem that I that I see is that there is a particular piece of property that we talked about earlier uh that's in that's in land court right now but the developers that had that property and met with the town they were they were ready to go they they would have been built by now this has been going on for almost a year and a half this this land this land battle okay so in in my mind we would have had that that project almost almost done almost done it usually takes 2 years for this particular project what it's it's a year and 8 months already waiting for this to happen and thankfully the Builder has faith that this is going to you know be part of their you know part of their project and for the for the future so if this gives us the opportunity to hold off a bit to make sure where this where this particular uh land pel is going to go then it that falls directly right into our you know right into our hands with the original design of what we wanted to do um and that relieves some of that that pressure of units per acre per acreage that that we were concerned about because that's one of the things that we all we're all were in agreement with is that we didn't want to have it look like some of the pieces of property that are in Framingham they're so convoluted with buildings on a specific area that the they can't breathe type because you have building on top of building and that's not what we want for ashine we want to make sure that there is enough acres for this building for for these buildings and projects to work so that way it's you know you don't have to roll out the window and say hey excuse me I need a cup of sugar and just hand hand it back and forth to one another you know I would use toilet paper but that was kind of gross however I just that's that wasn't our vision our vision was to make sure that we met the compliance of the NBTA zoning requirements which is what we have done but again this this whole new facet that's coming down the road I it definitely puts it definitely puts things in perspective and I would like to see this play out uh I'm not one for waiting but at the same token this may be something to wait for and see how it all plays out and uh again all we we have the plan that's that we feel comfortable with it may even be a better plan once we see where some of these other projects come into play and who knows it may it may be to our advantage that now we have more acreage and we can expand that so that way we're not condensing M the the units on on one smaller piece of property so what's the harm of going to Springtown meeting with this because you're going to have you've already done the work you got it accepted we got the lawyer you if we re-evaluate another another parcel downtown you're going to have to do that work anyway we could redo that at the fall town meeting if it seems like something potentially would make this better I I don't see why that wouldn't you're doing the work anyway and I know that people have an in order amount of work and every every public meeting I saw people recognized that and thanked you and I will add to that thank you right but that work has been done we're ready to go you're going to still do the work to look at that partiel if something comes through and then it can be Revisited at fall my worry with that though is then then in order to get any benefit from that the benefit to us including 1060 main would be removing another property where we feel like there's some risk to the town and some risk to the work that's already been done to get conditions that we want for projects and I worry that like including a parcel and then rolling that back at fall toown meeting I also worry about like the Optics of that with the town to say we just we just did this in the spring we're going to do it again in the fall and do a Switcheroo I I feel like it's cleaner to have one Proposal with that's very well reasoned go to town meeting one time it gives us more time to do public Outreach on it and get people sort of understanding I know there's also a lot of thoughts on the 1060 project and I think um I don't know I wor I worry that going forward with what we have and then swapping out I don't I I don't even know what that would look like trying to remove a property in the F but like we and if we can't then we lose the benefit of including it's just a it's it's a it's a warrant article it's a vote it's a Zone you know and it's just it's part of uh it's part of doing business when you come when it comes to zoning I I just worry that it's like a very quick turnaround to I I understand because I agree with to me it's the the risk that we outlined that's exactly the risk those stuff can happen in those 6 months right so um that that that's just it it will it happen I probably not like I have no idea right but it weighs on the minds of us on the on the working group that you know but and just a note and and I know we have one hand ra Claudia is that we have to be in compliance by December 31st of next year right right and so that's the that's the that's the deadline December 31st of excuse 24 yeah I'm sorry this upcoming December 30 23d uh December 31st I spoke I misspoke uh so we have one person on online with their hand up I'm going to ask uh if you may please Ju Just as a general comment because I was listening to the the the arguments both ways and after hearing all that I think I concur with the description that you that you made Trisha it seems like it's a win-win win uh is re the the potential to relieve pressure from from sites that would develop the way we want them uh the potential to to improve the affordability using that potential forb project um and the ability to do it clean like like uh you were saying um in in one in one thoughtful run I think this more chances that that the town and the town meeting would would appreciate it more holistically and and and voted in favor so that that plan to me makes sense I'm just having being part of the 1060 design process in last year and a half and what we've heard from the town we were anxious when we even heard 185 units now we are seeing 250 units 25% that to the developer is still 185 un units that they still get but what's advantage of that 250 is your affordability past that when they came to us it was 185 minus the 10% so from the developer point of view the 40b is a great approach for them but I I would be surprised if our town is going to just accept this so I'm curious I know we have that as a separate topic but what exactly is what happens after this 30 days time period that we have a discussion on 1060 what happens what is really in our hands or is that just what comes our way because to me I somehow feel what Kate was to me that I feel like the work that you've put in for now yes there is a bit of risk in that but it feels like we need need the town to react on that and if you keep that to the fall it with the hope that 1060 is going to happen which I'll be surprised in like you said in 6 months we are already in April um it would be magic if it will have that clear Direction you at that time when you go back to the town with this proposal and there are kind of lot of back and forth you've lost battle in both sides I think we are asking calling for more risk trying to say let's table this plan and wait to see how 1060 develops I'm not convinced on that myself it's if if I may just add another point to that well but you can if you just have a no let Claud she's had a hand raised that CLA Claudia Bennett I see you with the hand raised I'm going to ask you to unmute good evening uh you know first of all I just really want to thank everybody too I mean there's a uh an unbelievable amount of work that goes into almost everything that happens in the town that people don't realize and uh certainly uh we appreciate all the work that this committee this subcommittee has put forth uh to get us to this point um you know I just want to say just from a very simplistic uh point of view that uh while I understand that a lot of work has been done it would be nice to take it Forward I have concerns with then having to try to change it come fall if that ended up being our best um solution or our best um you know way to proceed come fall I also feel as though uh there's a lot on the plate right now for this town in terms of development and I think we be we need to be able to discuss uh you know openly all the different things that we're faced with at this point in time and this is definitely you know a part of that picture um if indeed it it's going to be a 40b project then I do think that we should get credit for it if you will um and then the other thing in terms of the 30-day um talk back I think for commenting I think that's been extended um I'm not exactly sure the date of the extension but we were granted an extension when Michael applied so we have some additional time for that however we I don't think any of us should get too excited about that because from what I understand um those the the the ability and the opportunity to give comment um often do not prove to be fruitful uh for those who are commenting um so I would I would be in favor of w another few months and and have some additional information take the time to really have the community be aware of all the things that we're looking at in the community around development not even just this single um issue and and be able to bring it to um you know an educated um public in the fall thank you Claudia Joe thank you thank you Peter I don't disagree with what you're saying I would just like that it's just not 1060 Main Street that that provides us the concern it's it's a piece of property that we currently have as part of our formula and that could easily be pulled away and that's the concern for me in a far more than 1060 Main Street is to be very honest with you um because of the stature of the the the project itself and how it would fit very nicely in in this whole area uh and it if it stays the way it's supposed to stay and I hope it does I mean we're putting a lot of we're putting a lot of wishful thinking you know in land court and hopefully it'll get past like I said it's been a year and eight months for this to this to go through and um you know there may be there may be some light at the end of the tunnel coming this way uh so if we get that extension for 6 months and we have that vote in the fall it would be more than likely that we would probably see some decision made on that piece of property and that would be very helpful for for us as this as this committee to keep that property where it is and not have it you know pulled off from underneath us uh and that could easily happen so if we keep if we it's just not it's just not that one specific you know item and you're right 1060 is not going to get passed and voted this going to be a long discussion it's going to get done however it is a 40b it's not a friendly 40b so will it get done sooner than later yeah it will be it will be and probably not to our liking but hopefully you folks can put some you know restrictions on what what can and what can't be done you know so you've got a lot on your shoulders that's going to be coming up on on 1060 Main Street and I and I don't uh I don't envy any of you have to sit down and listen to this and and try to you know and try to Corral a monster that's L A 40b do go does go to the zoning board of appeals just for note note of clarification but you folks can put you can put yes you can put certain things on there as well I think it's oh sorry k i i was G to say I think it's important to note that like I think the idea of including 1060 isn't rubber stamping the 40b project as as approved it's saying if this is going to be built as Jo just said it's going to happen sooner rather than later it's saying let's leverage it and Zone it for I think we had said 15 units an acre which is way under the 32 that they're proposing to build and it just helps us get credit towards what we need to do for 3A so it says we're in this very sticky situation with 40b let's get something out of it for MBT zoning 3A purposes and I think that's an I think it's an important point to be clear about that to the public that it's that including 1060 is is n saying we are super psyched about this project at since 1060 main it's saying let's get something good for the town out of it and be able to exclude another property from this much more generous Zoning for 3A and and leave it out and have a project hopefully be able to proceed as we had planned yes and I think that to me is worth delaying even though I was you know very much in the camp of trying to do everything we could to go to Springtown meeting yeah and just a note from a number standpoint yes and the 1060 is currently proposed at 250 no one is saying let's go 250 right we could do by right we could do zoning that brings it up to you know if you do the minimum 15 units per acre you're sitting at 112 right then right so if you do minimum of 15 units per acre at 112 you can then depress the other the other pressures right across the board on the other properties the further you you move that that 112 up up to say 150 then the leite then you can kind of play with the numbers and so that's what when I say you can kind of shift things around and shift pressure around that's what I was alluding to it's not to say just it's not to say that we have some magic solution in our head here you know because we don't right we were trying to work hard for this which is what we were just thrown for a loop too two weeks ago right when we had to you know just after our last meeting when we had to say okay how does this affect us so I don't know what the best solution is maybe it be right back to exactly what we're proposing but it seems like we should think about it and we should see what happens will ucg come out of come out of litigation probably not but maybe it will will something happen at 501 will they go into construction you know and they got a building perent away Maybe not maybe yes right but all that's more information that we use to make the best decision we can for Ashland and that's what that's I think what weighs on me not that we have a bad proposal here but that now I feel like I'm using incomplete information to make the best proposal I can for the community just not yeah but so with that Kate I have a question so because this argument makes a lot of sense to me what would you say if you can point out what is the great advantage to the town to ignore that argument and go for the vote on in the spring because I don't see it yet if you can explain well let's be honest conditions always change and we had to get the working group got going knowing that UC uh ugc was in Lan Court we don't know it Joe seems to indicate there might be some more information and and I mean if that's part of the puzzle I I feel a little bit differently but I'm not sure that we do have more information or if that's going to be built right and um I feel like the the weight does not make sense to me the way you first explained it maybe all these pieces together possibly but I I I I'm not um definitely not convinced but can you help me pointing what is the advantage because there is no information there is a 40b that has been filed on on on Mass housing um and it will go through who knows how but they are intending to go through we met with them today the developer is there and they have financing and they're moving through the process so that's no information so what would be gaining from not taking it into consideration just move forward as we had a couple weeks ago because there's no way that will be settled by town meeting so we're back we will be in the same situation in November we're just going to do our best to make decisions and what would be the difference if we are back to the same situation then the vote goes as I mean one one big difference and I will repeat that is you now you're putting sort of a uh everybody over a barrel you have to pass this because it it's due by by the end of the year I mean I guess we could say we'll have another special town meeting if it doesn't fail but the the whole point of this was giving people a chance to say Let It fail we we aren't speaking for the community right we're we're doing our best to present something and you're you're taking an opportunity for the community to speak away but you think the community also just learn about these new projects would they not take it into consideration like like some people in the committee are oh I I think so but since it's not going to be settled I I failed to see how that's going to change it much it it's ucg it's a 40b this has always been an issue things that you don't control we're just doing our best we don't control the that zoning law we're trying to react to it so if it was settled I would agree I don't think it's going to be settled and I don't see how that's helpful I don't know that it needs to be in my mind I don't know that 1060 needs to be settled I think like to Joe's Point again and to marcelo's like it's going to happen in some way shape or form and it's going to happen at higher density than 15 units an acre so to me like if that's what the way we Zone it It Whatever ends up being there is going to qualify under the zoning they'll go forward with the 40b no matter what I mean if they choose to go forward under the zoning that we put in place that's great um and it's I don't see how the incentives work for that but I think what we get out of it is using it for this purpose I don't think it has to be settled I think it's of all the of all the variables to me that are out there with all these different project with the unbuilt projects 1060 seems the most certain to become reality and I guess I agree with that because the because the the process that we went through 10 to 60 which was extensive and we put a lot of work into it trying to really craft something that was good for downtown uh but uh the owner of that property has been making an effort for a while now and now he found his way to me that is that that is more likely than not just in any case and we have uh Mark that wants to speak and I think elro maybe maybe wanted to speak but just uh I just wanted to say that like this public hearing also is not about taking any Vote or coming up with any discussion decision it's just a discussion tonight and I would hope that we wrap it up at 9: so okay um I'll let Mark go first Alo and then can okay thank you Mark son 49 haon Road wishing and understanding what's realistic is hurting your decision- making right now the state and this town are on two different odds right now with what to do how to get away from things and how to go forward today April 11th we find out different things came down the pipeline but our zoning has not changed even it's going to be MBTA zoning so what makes the board think if it's going to work for the town if the state's going to go with what they say and then thinking that Ash and Zoning might change for them how can this be an agreeable and not worth the time to go over and talk about it and then change in the last second it's my usual way I'm saying is the two-way street compromise understand so everybody can have an understand of what's going on and come out together on this but right now we're in a pileup of misunderstandings and W in 6 months it could be everything kumay or it could be a bigger pileup thank you thank you mack uh Alo I think you had we want to make a point pal yeah I just wanted to add that I guess when we were looking at the math as well if you see the total permitted for ugc was 180 and if you see at the total permitted for 501 it was 125 that adds up to 305 units and so we were looking at the fact that those were a higher amount of units than 250 at 160 Main so in some way we were putting a Jey those 300 305 units uh while looking at the 200 50 so that was part another reason why um or another point that we had on our last discussion so just wanted to add that thanks bud um so I I thought that the process was after hearing the the planning board does vote to like say this goes forward but is that not true so so it can just either show up on the docket or not so this has been submitted to the warrant it's been added to the warrant so this is the public hearing where the planning board either votes to recommend and to not to recommend right and so the pling board can discuss this and then but what comes out of this yes is a is a vote to either support to recomend and recommend the article at town meeting floor in obviously or to not support the article as printed in the warrant for reasons listed you know and so um and so I think we don't have to come to a vote tonight you know it's very it's very um new it's new right and it's very common for a planning board to open a public hearing as you know and continue it uh but we do have to give a recommendation at town meeting floor uh just with the time frame and and and the regarding the state regulations that we were under and so uh we have to have one public hearing which is what we're doing right now correct did did we did we put on a calendar a second one or do we have one right now so we have one right now was advertised and then it can just be continued to the next meeting April 25th which is obviously this the last meeting before town meeting uh and then the planning board will be asked at town meeting floor to give a recommendation um and neither that comes from a vote to either to support and or to not support the article as printed I feel like one thing that we haven't discussed about a potential upside of delaying including 1060 and this is the last comment I I'll make I'm sorry for being so vocal on this subject but um I mean I think that there's been some some public sentiment around like are we just evading the purpose of this should we really be leaning into the purpose of MBTA commus and there is like an element of okay we don't love that this 40b came in it's not a friendly 40b we don't like this the way that this is designed at 1060 we're not saying Rec psyched about it but it's also 6 miles from the train station and that's probably much more within the the way that this that the intent of 3A was designed in MBTA communities is that you know people are going to maybe just walk up Pleasant Street and and hop on the train I mean I think the Optics of that over some of our other Lots you know we're thinking particularly I think about 501 Pond that I think is a potential additional benefit of including a project that while we are not thrilled that it is sort of eligible now for consideration it is there I I think that's a good point very yeah so so the plany board doesn't have to vote on this tonight I know it's nearing 9:00 and we do have the state sustainability coming on committee coming on at 9:00 but um but we can we can table this matter and just continue it with a motion to uh April 25th if appropriate can I ask one last question so in a scenario where 1060 happens at that point would 501 get off your chart or ugc well that's those are the types of things like I you know I don't know what we we didn't discuss that all we discussed is is this an opportunity or not an opportunity like other things besides 10 to 60 can happen in there that would push one thing us one way or the other push the board not not just not our little committee the the 10 of us or the you know whatever so um I I don't know that that's the big thing it's a big question mark for me and that's why I feel less unfortunately less confident about it than I felt two weeks ago before we knew about tend of 60 yeah inde think the Bigg thing like obviously am if it comes in if if when you when you add 10 60 to the equation right 501 Pawn Street right development permitted that permits live right 25% affordability right if we understand that a new owner is going to come in right and if we change the MBTA bylaw I mean if we adopt The mbt's Zing right and we say they have to then build the affordability component to 12 a half% right that developer may say hey well let's go I'm just going to rep permanent this thing and that's the risk just to paint it right dead and clear that's the risk and so without and then also the same thing with ugc that's a 40b that permit's still live right because of litigation and so that that that shot clock hasn't even started to tick yet a comprehensive permit's a live permit for three years from the date it's filed with the town clerk right and so if we rezone with the mbta's owning that land owner that new own that new de that developer that filed that application could say we haven't even broke ground on this why am I going to do 25% I have this new Avenue I'm going to go in this direction right so to to to wait the six months to see what happens we can me we can kind of continue to work with the model right and massage the model to a point where you're you're not eliminating all of the risk but you're at least moving and shifting numbers around to depress the values right and so that's that is that is to be clear and honest with you that's it right and so you yes you do lose a town meeting to vote on it but what you do gain is knowledge and further information that you can make the most informed decision for the town of Ashlin because we could end up in a lose lose lose situation where we have techy we're not using it and we have these other two project that are permitted and live that now have an incentive to switch things up and and lower affordability than we had wanted corre and that feels worrisome that's certainly how I have been feeling lately with the ways the balls are dropping lose lose lose is how I feel but I think there's an opportunity for a win here and that's what has me Landing with correct and and the win is you you're going to wait six months you're going to see what happens see what happens with 1060 Milli if they file before which I predict they will before fallt meeting you add them into equation you don't increase their densities up to you incre you you build in the model at 150 units right but you're taking those units and you're adding them to the equation where you can then depress it down in other areas and and in theory that's what we're looking at right now so like I said we don't I just want because I just did not ask if anyone on if anyone else people a few people did raise their hands online but if anyone would like to speak obviously they can do so um so please do it right away though now that we're wrapping up I'm just lost in my thoughts here um but otherwise we don't need to make that decision today everyone can kind of try to really think through the details in the next 10 in the next two weeks we'll continue it we'll we'll talk about it again after some reflection and then and then and then see where we are but uh obviously uh we put in a lot of work on the working group there's nothing I would like better than to take something off my to-do list like that love it but I'm not sure I can right now so I'm just throwing it out there transparently and honestly and it's up for us as a group to decide right so um that's kind of where we are so seeing no hands up there on our screen if someone wants to make a motion to continue I'll make a motion to continue the discussion for the MBTA community's um um byow change to our meeting on April 25th is there a second second that roll call vote Marcel I Catherine Jers guy and Trisha Kendall ey so we continue all right before we go off I just want to make a public thank uh just kind of announce a public thank you to alaro Alvaro is our assistant planner in town and and he is the uh the heart and soul behind obviously MBT communities are mapping all the gis work that that he does and so uh so you know Alvaro is is uh he knows MBTA and I'm sure he wants to get it off too but I just want to uh uh you know I just want to give him a look uh at the public meeting yes thank you Alo thank you thank you all right much FKS thanks Jo all right so next on our agenda um is the sustainability committee discussion of the specialized opt-in bylaw and I believe I saw Ash online yep right there in the middle yep uh how how you doing Ash I'm going to ask you to unmute and I will actually make you a co-host and then also um I will also make the gentleman from doe welcome a co-host please unmute in uh Ash the microphone's yours you thank you uh I am going to try and be kind to all of you for you because you've you've gone through quite a bit today uh Dylan thank you for joining us I am going to try and keep my comments as brief as I possibly can uh I want to try and SP save space for any questions you might have um but um we do have a warrant article coming up we we've talked about this topic before and uh the sustainability committee will be presenting uh a warrant article again uh to adopt the specialized optin code um so I wanted to just share a little bit of detail about it uh with the planning board and and hopefully uh all of you will will choose to support it uh at town meeting um so couple of things that that that I'll just quickly kind of put out there this is probably the four biggest points uh to think about when we're thinking about the opt-in code one is it's for new construction um it promotes sustainability increases Energy Efficiency um there are multiple compliance paths and it qualifies the town for additional Grant opportun unities um and and Trisha I'm I'm going to skip a lot of the the side slides on this so so just to kind of ground the planning board and and anyone else who's listening on this um this is a reminder that we as a green Community already have a stretch code in play that goes that that's in effect right now and that gets extended or rather expanded in July 20 uh July 2024 um and uh as part of that a lot of the issues that came up when we last considered this issue at town meeting sort of go away in the sense that the stretch code already extends out to um increase the efficiency requirements the EV requirements you know they they get Incorporated within the stretch code so they become applicable to the noun of Ashlin regardless of whether we we adopt the optin stretch code or not um so so what I'm going to focus on right now is things that would then apply in addition to the stretch code you know uh if you were to adopt the optin code if if that makes sense um so three things really come into play right one is all new buildings must be either fully electric or pre-wired um the optin code does have the flexibility to allow buildings to use fossil fuels but they must be pre-wired to move to electric and the main reason for that is that when you're building new uh construction it's easier to pre-wire in advance and much more expensive to do it after the fact second is if a building is using fossil fuel it must install on-site solar but there are exemptions where Sol is just not feasible you know whether it's due to shading trees whatever at this the site and then the third point that is in that would be IND difference so so that that be separate from the stretch code would be that new single family so this is big houses or big multif family homes uh anything over 4,000 square ft uh must be certified either as Net Zero or if it's 12,000 ft it must be basically certified as a passive house um sorry so so those are the three main things that sort of come into play everything else that we've talked about previously really becomes part of the stretch code that that already applies to to the town regardless right so these are the three things that would be in play with the opt-in code only for new construction it does not in any way apply for refurbishments all of that those issues sort of get pushed to the side uh and then um you know again just making re remaking the point right it's it's new construction not modeling added construction costs there's now actually a a great deal of data that's actually come into play uh since then um there's actually good studies that have been done since 2021 and 2023 which I can share with you if you've got the the appetite for it that that really show that it's it's it's a between a 1 to 4% increase um and and that also gets reduced as you think about incentives and the the the total life lifetime of the building and uh again the the code does not ban fossil fuels there are lots of compliance Parts unless it's a very very large building and um the the biggest thing that's changing and Dylan's on here if you've got questions about it right the the the state is now introducing a climate leader program so so it's you know we've been a green Community we've been a leader in the GRE Green community we've actually gotten access to Grants I think the last account that I had was around 700k of of grants that that the town of Ashland has received as a green Community uh but one of the one of the new things as as Green community st.

uh overview the committee members and Central administration were warmly welcomed uring a robust understanding of the diverse perspectives present in the room the teacher sub shortage teacher sub teacher shortage and Pathway to teacher teaching was uh discussed Commissioners raised concerns regarding teaching sub Institute shortage and how this is impacting all districts Statewide discuss discussion ensued on what the state has plan to combat this growing issue the assembly woman shared insights on a plethora of legislative Endeavors aimed at addressing the shortage unveiling 12 Bills currently in the assembly notably among these bills are efforts to streamline certification processes such as removing K to6 certification basic skills practice practice portion additionally initiatives to enhance hiring practices by broadening science requirements to General Sciences were discussed the NJ Stars program LED for its commendable efforts at the community college level was elaborated upon particularly focusing on his income based requirements three state aid formula 2% cap Commissioners inquired about the new sapper formula allocations to take place once the current Formula sunsets also there were discussions if the 2% cap tax levy would be raised to combat increased cost currently districts only allow to raise 2% tax with a public vote this for many districts doesn't even cover the contract contractual raises that take place every year a new bill proposed by the Assembly women garnered attention seeking funding for pre-case special education and transportation to alleviate District's burdens a new bill would be proposed to the by the assembly woman garnered attention seeking funding for prease special education and transportation to alleviate District burdens four free lunch outstanding balances Commissioners inquired if there was any plans in place to shift to Universal lunch in the near future due to Soaring outstanding lunch balances the assembly woman was shocked to hear the large amount owed from families speaker coflin cin has legislation and it its strong interest in getting Universal free lunch District asked if there is a possibility to use Cafe funds like prior to years to repay debt number five Charter St School tuitions deliberations unfold around the introduction of a charter school bill a294 4 32944 aiming to fortify regulations and policy framework to enhance budgeting accuracy signaling a proactive stance towards educational reform six additional funding special ed crost technology the transformative impact of technology technological advancements catalyzed by the covid-19 pandemic was reflected upon observations were made regarding District's successful adaptation to one toone technology initiatives now seamlessly integrated into budgetary concerns seven Senate Bill 2421 abolishment of 5756 the assembly woman has a similar Bill about causing harm to others abolishment 5756 Committee Member asked if there was any discussion on this assembly woman said it is in litigation and legislators refrain until that is complete any questions Ju Just one comment the the assembly woman is a Acting Superintendent of school so we have someone representing us that certainly knows how schools work so yeah and many times when we brought up our concerns she ready was like oh yes that's 100% you're right you know this needs to be fixed in the same boat okay thank you commissioner Kenova um commissioner Bashford could you read our club meeting my pleasure um thank you president Paris uh booster club met on April 8th we started at uh 6:30 in the evening and we ended at 7:30 present I'm just going to read the um people from the administration the board I'm going to keep the parents' names um quiet um because the community members Dr roberi Mar chero Amed Shaha um Mr Wata myself um Tanya Suarez and various people that represented soccer um Clifton wreck the cheer team the ba base uh baseball and also basketball um it was basically um to give you a synopsis of what happened it was a open dialogue of the um booster club parents uh Dr robzi facilitated the meeting um to give them a chance to get to know each other and to form a bigger group as a booster club whole so we had a conversation about um how to form uh 5013 or to how to get organized with um fundraising so there's a lot of comments going back and forth and so this is an open dialogue that you see on your on your computers it was really very informative they're going to band together they're going to um be able to help each other in a a more formal way fundraising also if they need help with um vendors and things like that so they had a they had a comment about um the 5013c and how to fund raise then they talked about um uh what if a parent doesn't join a booster club Dr robit you talked about um different uh bylaws that we have in place and also about tagging how we um we don't uh have to get permission anymore for the students to tag from the Clifton police dep department but he um has we have a bylaw about about tagging it the district wants to know when the teams are actually tagging for security and safety for our students that we know they're out there as well but they also have to get permission from the owner and uh one of the parents from that plays a dual role on the rec department and she's on the committee and also the soccer um booster club spoke about um how there's been evidence of a lot of out of town um teams coming and tagging over by Big Lot and over by that area and um I don't know if that maybe what you want to send that to mun Alliance maybe to bring that conversation up again to have about um maybe we should come up with some kind of procedure about how our local teams get first shot it tagging first in Clifton so they were they were um pretty pretty uh robust on that and then we um we went into um about who pays for uh travel Food Services and for events Dr Rober tell he was very clear about that and he uh explained why certain events with certain teams get paid for and don't get paid for um such as like if they if the football team was to play in a state championship and it was all the way down exit one on the turnpike we would pay for their busing because they're representing the you know the the the league in in a championship versus if they go to just a meet up at PCT and they played against and we don't you know Supply them with food prior to them going to that so he he uh actually um um explained that in a very nice way he had and they were they were very receptive to everything that was coming out of the committee so it was a really robust um uh conversation uh we talked about um fut need for future meetings that we talked about um fundraising efforts um we had a new parent in the group that's trying to form a booster club for the basketball team so they all jumped in to support him and um one of the suggests questions were because the HSA um committee um had brought this to task about giving a platform for the hsas to speak to each other so the suggestion was made that we give that platform to the booster clubs as well it's Google Classroom so they can speak amongst each other they can share events um they can share Flyers with the district so we can get them because we don't know when certain events are going on so it would be more but they can share fundraising they can share um ideas or just help each other and support if they have a difficult situation going on so it was really it was a nice meeting we actually got cut off because we couldn't went longer we only had the the zoom on for an hour so it shut off after hour so um the other thing that uh was mentioned um I mentioned to um commissioner Suarez because she was on a meeting with us we were missing um our other member because she was at she was away um was that we would like Dr OB you maybe the board to meet 10 minutes prior to the actual booster club meeting just the board members El with you and um so because it was more of an open dialogue with the booster club parents talking to each other so it wasn't really a formal meeting we had no agenda but it was really really nice to see the dedication of these people and what they want to bring to the table and they're going to be looking for our support so we're going to have another one in about a month and we'll try to do them on a regular basis a quarterly basis but they're um out of it came a couple concerns that I have to bring to Athletics and I'll bring that to the committee level as well and there was also a policy um question that uh was given to um commissioner Suarez and she's going to bring it to the policy committee so it was a good meeting so any questions commissioner Bass Just for those um listening in and the term was new for myself can you please explain tagging oh tagging oh yes I'm sorry so a lot of people don't know what tagging is tagging is when a sports team or an organized team or or a a club or committee from the local schools and I'm going to use safety patrol because it's very common to me the safety patrol will get permission from the superintendent um that they want a tag tag is when they go out in front of a store or a local business with a can with they usually their logo on it and they ask for donations from the community with spare change or dollars or anything like that and they stand say in front of Quick Check and I used to call it Shake in the can because they shake the can to let you know they're standing there and people dump money into their buckets and they go home and all that money is pure profit and um some some teams do it organized some teams don't do it organized some teams if you have to tag and you don't want to you can pay a a fee so you don't have to stand out in the cold or when to do it but there was um when my children did it we had to actually get a permit from the police department we also had to go through background checks for the people that were running the tagging event to make sure we didn't have a criminal wreck it because it was money being exchanged and they wanted to make sure the people that were standing didn't have any VI um um violations against Children's Welfare so the police department doesn't do it anymore but um the one parent did bring up the fact is that outside teams are are actually tagging at our really good spots and the only reason why it goes through the superintendent so he knows when the tagging event is happening and he knows what teams are out there so for security and safety for our children's uh betterment and Welfare does that help you thank you Absol I'm sure others might have had it's an old term it's now bring it back OG yeah I was the same I I knew what it was I never knew it as tagging correct you know that that's a clip basically I wonder if it comes from TAG ett I understand tagging as marking walls up so not graffiti glad that not graffiti okay not graffiti though we don't condone that any other questions thank you great meeting lot of lot of energy and I really look forward to next meeting thank you commissioner B it was great uh this portion of the meeting is open to Residents and non-residents of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to Andor directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents and non-residents are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to State their names addresses and subject matter comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a respon respon will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board ask that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their commitments there's no one on the zoom call there's no one on seeing then make a motion to close commissioner B motion to close second by commissioner Mahia um does anybody here and like to step up and make some comments welcome good evening my name is Kim Newan PUO I'm a proud alumna of Clifton schools and taught in Clifton schools for 35 years before retiring a few years ago I now volunteer as the communications director for the Clifton Education Foundation one of the best things that has come out of that role is getting to know know Sam Samantha D Rose who serves as our liaison to the superintendent as you all know Sam's professional skills are remarkable but it's her passion and commitment to ensuring that all students are provided a strong education in an inclusive environment that Fosters well-being safety and acceptance that truly makes me proud to call her a friend I know that sentiment is shared by all of our other trustees some of whom are here this evening to see Sam receive this well-deserved recognition we love you Sam you have a heart of gold and the district and our foundation are Beyond lucky to have you for those of you who may not know the CF has been providing grants for Clifton public schools for the past 26 years funding special projects programs and initiatives not typically funded or fully funded by the regular board of education budget to date the CF has funded over one qu of a million dollars to enhance education in our schools most recently the CF has funded has fully funded maker space in every elementary school media center as well as recent and upcoming important mental health and well-being programming on every level the cf's function is to raise funds our trustees work diligently in and beyond our community to raise money to provide these grants and special funding we seek the support of local businesses individuals and often our own friends and family to strengthen our ability to provide more and more funding each year we are extremely grateful for those businesses that provide support we encourage you to visit our business directory on our website www.con education foundation.org or social media pages on Facebook and Instagram to identify these businesses and thank them for by patronizing them embracing the district's one Clifton initiative support is a two-way street and our community should be supporting those businesses that support our schools there are several ways that you can support the CF our upcoming annual fundraiser the CHS cast Film Festival is celebrating 25 years it takes place on May 1st at 6 p.m. and will be a fun family event featuring a DJ photo booth snacks door prizes an alumni reunion dinner and a variety of short films by Clifton High's young filmmakers in the cast program I'm excited to announce this evening that the CF has arranged to have renowned director screenwriter and producer Ron Maxwell CHS class of 1964 whose credits include Gettysburg gods in general The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia The Parent Trap too and a multitude of other well-known films attend the festival Ron will attend the alumni pre-show dinner as well as the film festival then return to CHS the next morning to meet with our young filmmakers to share his wisdom and hopefully Inspire many to do as he did and pursue their dream of creating films we hope to see some of you there that evening and encourage residents to come and see the talent that Educators Mike mccy and Joanna huster have cultivated in the extraordinary cast program we are also currently accepting sponsors and prize donations from local businesses and individuals on May 18th the Clifton Community band's Lollipops and Roses concert at Clifton High School at 2m is another familyfriendly event we are grateful to the Clifton community band and the Clifton Board of recreation for generously donating half of their proceeds to the CF additionally one of our business donors CJ Lori owner of Agames Gourmet delicin and Caterers located on Market Street has partnered with us to donate 10% of each bill to the CF for our let's do lunch and D to donate ongoing fundraisers details may be found on our social media Pages Grant season for the 20242 school year will reopen this spring we are here to support our entire School Community including parent and student organizations we strive to raise our profile and encourage you all to join us by spreading the word about the important work the Clifton Education Foundation is doing in our community and encourage individuals and local businesses to show their support by donating to allow us to continue funding programs that enhance the education of all Clifton public school students thank you thank you Miss PUO is there anyone else who would like to make any comments all right good evening um Clon cion president Elias Ragsdale um just a few things from last meeting um so first it was mentioning of opening up the stadium to the public um as a member of our track team and and I've talked to coaches and other athletes please please do not do this um first of all establishing city parks and ensuring Recreation for the citizens of Clifton is not the job of the board of the school district um that is within the purview of the city city council recreation department and the point is it's the city's Duty um the money used to recently renovate the entire field and track was paid for by Clifton public school district for students and no one else if the city of Clifton would like a track for people to walk on or a football or a soccer field to use then they should go about doing that on their own second but related to this point the facility there is very frequently um occupied with students every single day after school on Saturdays um during the day the middle schoolers use it at in gym class when the weather's nice um track and field team football team I think lacrosse uses it flag football um and I really don't see when the public would be able to be there anyway um just two main things first you know it's the safety issue and then two is it worth opening up to the public um opening up anything comes with liability unlike other public tracks and Fields like this the stadium does not serve just one purpose in addition to being the football field and track and use for sports it's my understand that our maintenance department has an office there and a hub sort of thing um you know constantly trucks are coming in and out that belong to the district a portion of the stadium is blocked off from the rest of it and it's really a parking lot for all these trucks um so I don't know how good of an idea it is to have the public you know roaming around here um last meeting it was also mentioned that we may need to staff security for this as well or make it someone's duty to open and close the facility um and it just sounds like more unnecessary money spent or adding duties to employees of the district which I think most aren't in favor of and then also in regards to liability and issues um the previous question of vandalism destruction of property and similar concerns that go along with this uh people may ride bikes on the track which on the track which can ruin it um and even just the shoes you wear have a big impact on the track and its um sustainability so and I remember maybe two years ago the city was dealing with issues at Moon Memorial Park because people were quite literally destroying the toilets and the public bathrooms and everything um and I think this is just a headache that we can all avoid void it and when that's really not necessary um next there was also talk last meeting about our Athletics and how we lose students and athletes to other districts and one of the barriers when it comes to athlete retention and getting students to participate in sports is the requirement of a physical from a doctor um Rich you didn't graduate too long ago and I know you were an athlete so maybe you understand this and remember it it's like when the season starts the big thing is get your physical in get your physical in um and so many students are denied entry onto a team simply because they didn't hand in a physical on time um you can ask any coach athletic trainer it's an ongoing issue and this isn't an issue without a solution though in fact it's my understanding that we brought this problem upon ourselves I was recently told in the past the district brought a doctor into the high school for about a week before the season and students would be notified of this before the season and simply see the doctor right in the high school with no cost at all I'm curious as to why we got rid of this um Dr bosia I think in Lyndon they do this um pcti they do it um so like why why did we stop it um why limit our athletic ability put the burden on families and make it so much more of a complicated process some students have parents that are constantly working there isn't time to schedule an appointment and see a doctor or whether we like to recognize it or not not everyone has health insurance and can so easily see a doctor the way we'd like them to so now it's even a heavier burden on those that may be of a lower socioeconomic class and make it harder for those students to enjoy the privilege of Athletics and playing High School sports so please I don't know if someone could bring this up or it could be started as an initiative or at least looked into and then lastly um I'm aware that contract negotiations for teachers are still ongoing um and I know we like to remark that the superintendent runs the day-to-day operations of our district which he greatly does but within this District are our teachers as well um I think of it like a bicycle yes for it to be functioning someone must be riding it but you can only ride a bike so well if you don't check first to make sure that the tires have air the brakes are working the chains are clean and to apply this to our situation here we must take care of our teachers which are those gears that you know make the watch turn and make our district run every day um we have an amazing superintendent and it wasn't that long ago that his contract was finalized and we all said he deserves what he was given to him because he's done a good job and we want to keep him here in Clifton so we should feel the same about our teachers we want to keep them here and we should give them what they deserve I understand that money of course isn't growing trees and that there isn't an unlimited amount but we have to assess here what matters in a time where we already have shorters of teachers I cannot stress how important this is I don't think of any of them I don't think any of them got into the profession to become rich and their real motivation isn't the dollar sign but everyone needs to live comfortably and if teachers one are personally or financially worried who do you think is affected in the end and furthermore if teachers feel they are not valued by the district then how do you think they'll respond to District initiatives and the direction of administration that's set in place once again who loses in the end here um of course the answer is students and I just wanted to remind this board that Student Success success is at here as well thank you all thank you lias uh anyone else wish to speak good evening my name is Lori Lama and I am the uh president of the cea today I stand before you to emphasize the critical role of Parental involvement in education as well as being an integral part of our district research consistently shows that when parents are actively involved in their child's education students achieve higher academic success have better attendance rates exhibit improved behavior and develop strong social skills therefore fostering a strong partnership between schools and parents is Paramount to the overall success of our students parental involvement must address a pressing concern that is affecting the learning environment in our middle schools the vandalism occurring in the school bathrooms these bathrooms are nicer than mine the new ones the destructive Behavior not only poses a safety hazard but also detracts from the overall educational experience of our students as we seek solutions to address this issue I believe the parental involvement and support our crucial elements in our efforts to stop the vandalism and promote a positive School environment first and foremost is essential for parents to have an open and honest conversation with their children about the importance of respecting school property and the consequences of vandalism by reinforcing positive behavior at home parents can instill values of responsibility and accountability in their children which will ultimately translate to more respective Behavior at school moreover fostering a sense of ownership and pride in the school facilities can significantly deter destructive Behavior the referendum we've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions actually I'm sorry and for kids to go in and vandalize the brand new bathrooms is absolutely pathetic parents can encourage their children to take pride in their school environment by invoking them in activities such as beautification projects mural painting and other initiatives that promote a sense of ownership and stewardship by creating a positive and inclusive School Community we can cultivate a culture where students feel invested in maintaining and protecting their school environment in conclusion parental involvement and support are essential components in our efforts to address the vandalism occurring in the middle school bathrooms you also have a powerful Catalyst for student achievement and overall School Improvement by implementing strategies we can cultivate a culture of partnership between schools and parents that enriches the educational experience for all stakeholders together let us commit to prioritizing parental engagement as we work towards the collective goal of empowering every student to reach their full potential thank you thank you anyone else wish to speak this evening okay seeing none motion to close motion second motion by commissioner Bast second by commissioner Mahia next is uh adoption of the minutes from March 7th 2024 uh looking for a motion to adopt minutes as written motion motion by Mr Bak second second I commissioner Mahia roll call Mr Shada please M bassford yes Mr brunak yes Mr kova yes Mr Mia yes Mr Santiago yes Mr siano yes Mr Suarez yes president Paris yes motion carries Dr Robert toy do you have anything to report this evening I do Mr President thank you so much good evening uh Commissioners uh those in the audience faculty staff students those in the community watching from home um I'd like to reiterate a couple congratulations uh that Jada had mentioned earlier um a significant achievement a big congrat congratulations to our high school mock trial team who uh won the State mock trial championship of and it's not one of these state championships like in in some of our sports that are by group or by region there's only one there's one state champion state champion in the entire state of New Jersey and Clifton High School um did it not only did we do it we were the first High School from P County to ever win the mack trial state championship so very very proud of our Mack trial team under the leadership and guidance of Mr vanderhey and I'll be asking the board to recognize the team and Mr vanderhey at a a future meeting uh either in May or the beginning of June absolutely that's it deserves a round of applause um also uh I don't have the details but I want to uh and I'll learn more and I want to congratulate our robotics team who qualifi for the world championships in Houston I mean what an opportunity for our students to be a part of these competitions where they get to travel uh across the country to Houston and participate against students from other countries all right so it's it's uh we'll get more details on that and typically we recognize the robotics team they they usually come here and do a little demonstration for us each year which is always really cool so uh we'll recognize them when they do that I think last year that happened in May so we'll do that again excuse me uh School 8 had their annual Tricky Tray on March 15th and the principal and PTO asked me if I could thank the members of the community school 8 staff and all the families who attended and the PTO would also like to acknowledge the many businesses especially the local Clifton businesses who donated prizes for the event um it was mentioned by U Miss PUO from the Clifton Education Foundation but it's absolutely true we should be frequenting the businesses that support our staff and our students so thank you for mentioning that anytime you want to give a plug to a to a business certainly feel free um and by the way thanks to the Clifton Education Foundation for all that you do uh that that crew right there in the back they're they're the heart of the foundation and they do but look they look innocent but don't don't get them started right cuz they you know troublemakers yes they are some troublemakers former nun in the bunch too mhm I'm sorry sorry none of this none of that thank you for all you do because you do provide um extra things for our students and and our staff that that the board can't uh provide so thank you for all you do look forward to collaborating with you again in the future um last year the Clifton Education Foundation supported a uh a dinner for our Governor's educators of the year there's one from each school and our uh support staff of the year and thanks to the Clifton Education Foundation we were uh able to have a nice dinner for them prior to a board meeting and I'm hoping we can discuss perhaps doing that again soon so I'll be in touch guys thanks thanks again Elias did he did Elias leave just wanted to commend Elias he's always very well spoken um and I and I appreciate his his input his perspective from himself but he also does speak on behalf of of of many students and so you know we like to take into consideration some of the things he says um most recently he did approach me uh emailed me formally um I won't get into the details but um talking about naming a facility after um Community a member of the community and this had come up previous ly and we don't have a policy in place and we really should so I've put that on the agenda for our meeting Miss Suarez on Monday we should have a policy in place um when requests come in from any person or organization to name a facility to name a room to name something after um a prominent citizen an employee because otherwise it it could become very subjective it could be done on a whim some people could be recognized some people not so uh from the administration's perspective it would be best if we had a policy that I could follow when such a request comes in on my previous District we did have a policy I I'll share a sample of that with the with the policy committee but basically there was a when a request would come in there was a a committee formed of of of board members members who would review it and then look at certain criteria and it sounds kind of uh funny and I'm not meaning to be funny but one of the big criteria you have to determine is the person have to be dead do the person still be alive and and there's a reason why I I you know I say that because um that's a critical uh factor that you have to take into account in my previous District we named the gymnasium uh as after one of our coaches who happened to be the coach at the time and two years later he left the district and his name was on the court so maybe you don't have to be dead but maybe you need to be retired right or so these are things that why a policy is necessary um for us to to go to so I wanted Elias to know that we are working on that because I believe me if I don't respond to him he'll follow up um so I do want him to know that we're working on that um and also I don't know the uh question he asked about the physicals why we used to do them and we don't any longer but that's certainly something I would like to find out there must have been a reason why we stopped doing it maybe it's something we can look into doing again finally guys um and I'll send you a more formal invite but on April 22nd um there will be a bench dedication for Emmanuel Manny Rodriguez a formal former School 16 student who passed away in uh 2021 after a long foot battle with cancer uh he attended Clifton School 16 and woodro Wilson Middle School he was a member of Team Praise of the Clifton League baseball and a martial arts student the dedication will occur at 3:30 p.m.